> The Roles Ponies Play
>  by Slicer Jen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: The Party Assembles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today is the day! Well, actually, tonight. And it is raining, so that should force everypony to focus on the adventure at hoof rather than be sidetracked by the usual diversions such as odd visitors, local crisis, world destruction. I mean, what could possibly happen at this hour...?

Twilight Sparkle is lost in her tumultuous flurry of thought as she stares out of the window. A moving shadow outside causes her to look back at the table, checking to make sure everything is there and in its proper place for the umpteenth time. She almost jumps when there is a knock at the door. Twilight calls for the visitor to come in. With a burst of rain and wind Rainbow Dash flies in, shaking off the water, "Wow, it is coming down outside! I knew they were planning this for a while, they weren't kidding!" She lands and trots up to the table, looking down at all the stuff arranged on it, "I got your scroll describing what we were doing tonight and thought you flipped your lid, but you are going all out, aren't you?" 

Twilight wrinkles her brow at the criticism and nudges some of the equipment on the table in Rainbow's direction, indicating where she is to sit. "I was hoping everypony would be here all at once so I wouldn't have to explain several times how this will work. Since you are the first and the earliest, minus our other visitor, you will unfortunately have to listen to the overview of rules a few times."

Rainbow shrugs, "I don't mind, that will just make me the expert!" She looks around briefly, then at the table, "I guess this will do. Might as well get into the spirit of things!" She sits down at the table and bangs her hoof on it, "Barkeep! This adventurer needs cider, now!"

The inn is hardly occupied at the moment. It is your typical rustic inn with an open common area dominated by a bar and a few tables, some booths along the side walls, and a stairwell going up the back wall to a single run of rooms upstairs for any travelers finding themselves here for the night. A low fire crackles in the hearth, and the barkeep is at the bar wiping down a pewter tankard with a rag. A lone cloak-enshrouded figure sits at the bar, twitching once at Rainbow's declaration for refreshment. The barkeep nods and goes about getting a fresh tankard of cider. Rainbow and Twilight are sitting at one of the booths with several packs of equipment arranged on the table. Rainbow stares at the cloaked figure at the bar and leans over to Twilight, whispering loudly, "Who is that supposed to be?"

Twilight almost grins as she gets into the role of the keeper of sagely advice and arcane knowledge, not unlike her normal role. "She is the creator of all our obstacles, puzzles and trials. Her role is to devise ways to defeat us, and in turn we must overcome every challenge using our wits, skills and gear."

Rainbow's eyes narrow for a moment before her face lights up, "Oh, so she is the enemy!" The cloaked figure chokes on her ale and falls off the bar stool, hitting her chin on the bar. Getting up, she shoots Rainbow a dark glare from her shadowed hood and shakes her head no slowly, then goes back to drinking her mug. Rainbow cringes a little before noticing the barkeep is standing next to her holding a tankard of cider. A rather short barkeep, with scales. Rainbow shrugs and takes the tankard, gulping down half the drought before wiping her muzzle and muttering, "Well that's what it sounded like. Most bad guys do that kind of thing."

Twilight pokes Rainbow in the shoulder with a wand and says, "This is supposed to be fun and educational, remember? Okay, if you will take a look at your equipment, you are the Cavalier. Your weapon is the lance and cavalry saber, your armor is partial plate and leather to allow movement in combat." Rainbow becomes elated as she delves into the pack on the table.

Just then there is a brief knock followed by a rush of wind as Rarity and Fluttershy trot in, with Rarity in the middle of a conversation, "...you'd have thought I said something horrible. Honestly, do I look like somepony that says horrible things?" Fluttershy smiles softly and hides behind her hair. They stop and look at the other ponies at the table. "Oh, dear, she WAS serious about this adventure thing, wasn't she?"

Twilight sits up defensively, "Now wait! I spelled out everything with specific clarity in the messages I sent out. You know I don't joke around when it comes to training."

Rarity continues on, waving a hoof as she approaches the table with Fluttershy in tow. "Hardly, but I thought this was supposed to be a game of sorts, not some overly drawn out session of strategy and puzzle solving."

Rainbow whispers harshly as she taps her tankard on the table, "Hey, you are supposed to be in an inn, remember?"

The white unicorn smiles patronizingly and replies, "But of course! Thus we enter, thus we entertain tonight's entertainment. Fluttershy, shall we?" She proffers a seat for the yellow pegasus who takes it and sits quietly, not wanting to be the center of attention. Rarity sits down where Twilight is pointing and prods the pack in front of her as if it were a poisonous adder. "Do be a dear and tell me what role I am to play. That scroll couldn't possibly have been right. Also, who is that dark figure over there?"

Rainbow belches and exclaims, "That's the enemy."

Twilight and the dark figure yell in unison, "No she's/I'm not!" Both of them glance at each other. 

The dark figure leaves the bar and strides forward, removing her hood to reveal a dark blue colored alicorn. Luna states, "For the last time, I am not the enemy. I orchestrate all enemy's movement, the hurdles you will face and the dungeons you will explore. I am from this moment forth to be referred to as the Dungeon Master!" The ponies at the table bow their heads. Luna grits her teeth and says, "In court and in public, thankyou. It is not needed here. I need you to not see me at all."

In the Inn, she dissolves into so many shadowy motes, and those dissipate into nothing. In reality, she merely sits at the table and sets up a wall of thin cardboards covered with stat tables, dice rolling charts and other helpful hints. The player specific guides are facing the rest of the ponies while the dungeon master specific charts face Luna. Her eyes barely hover above the boards, as though nobody notices her horn sticking up a foot above her.

Twilight does her best to divert everypony's attention. "As she says, she is the Dungeon Master. I am the Mage. Rainbow Dash is the Cavalier. Applejack, if she ever gets here, is the Barbarian-"

The door bursts open as Applejack gallops in and screeches to a halt, spitting out a scroll and yelling, "Ah ain't no barbarian! Ahm as cultured as warm milk on a brisk winter evenin!" The other ponies stare at her. "That is to say, well, ah ain't no barbarian." She kicks the scroll a  short distance.

Rarity chimes in, "Do be a non-barbarian and shut the door? Or we will all need your cultured warm milk before the night is done." Applejack turns red with embarrassment and goes back to close the door.

When the orange pony returns, she says, "Ah know this is jes a game and all, and ya'll put a lot of time scriblin out dem scrolls, sugar cube, but Ah wanna try somethin diffrent....Ahm gonna be a Palidin of the Goddess of Apples!!!" The other ponies smack their foreheads.

Rarity recovers and smirks at the beaming earth pony, "Sooooo...a servant of princess Big Mac?"

Applejack sits up ramrod straight, "We agreed never to talk of that again."

"I remember no such agreement, darling."

Twilight waves her hooves and pleas to get things back on track. "Applejack, that doesn't mean you are uncultured. BOTH Paladin AND Barbarian are a subclass of the Warrior class. It is just a role depicting you as a warrior who is also in touch with nature. I felt you would love the role."

To her credit, Applejack does look down at the character sheet on the table and settles into her seat, somewhat mollified. "Well, seeing as you puts it that way, Ah reckon Ah can give it a buck. By the way, who is she gonna be?" She nods at Luna. A blue glow muffles Rainbow's mouth as Luna stares down the rest of the sweating ponies. Applejack looks around, "What'd Ah say?"

Fluttershy, who has been so very quiet up to this point, finally looks up from her character sheet and says demurely, "Um, Twilight, if it's not too much trouble....I would like to be...a treeant druid." That last part she mumbles.

Twilight frowns and asks, "A what?"

Rarity, sitting next to her and having the best chance to catch what she says, turns to Fluttershy with stark exasperation, "A treeant druid? Really Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy nearly folds in on herself, "What? I would um...kind of like to be a tree."

Rainbow barks out after the blue glow dissipates, "But trees don't fight or do anything dangerous!"

"Um...I know..."

Twilight stands up on her seat with her forehooves on the table stomping in time to her words, "No. No. No. Fluttershy is a druid. Nopony is changing anything. Rainbow is a Cavalier, Applejack the Barbarian. I am the Mage, Fluttershy is the Druid. Wait, I just said that. Who am I missing? Oh! Rarity, you are to be our Cleric."

Rarity states, "Really, this is all so very droll. I would much rather be the Princess Mage, a proper Princess Mage, ever searching to rescue her handsome prince. As beautiful as she is powerful, she is a true enchantress."

Twilight slowly sits back down in her chair and sighs tiredly, "You do know in adventuring you have to pay for all your spell books, scrolls and magely accessories? A Cleric can sell blessings and blessed keepsakes. How do you plan to pay for all of that?"

Rarity smiles as she looks off into the distance, "I could always find some gems, darling. It's a simple enough spell." Her horn glows and a gemstone pops out of thin air, dropping onto her hoof.

Twilight sputters, grabbing a book, "But you can't! There's no gem-finding spell....." She looks in the mage handbook of spells, pauses on one page, then slams it shut. "ARGH! Fine, be an enchantress! Swap your intelligence for your wisdom and lose the armor. You were supposed to be our Cleric. Now we need a bonafide healer. Who are we going to get for that?"

From behind the boards, an otherworldly voice says softly, "Do not worry, I have that covered." Twilight looks at the boards with the eyes staring at her just above the rim...and the horn.

A blur of pink zips in and Pinkie Pie dumps a whole bunch of board games on the table, "I'msosorryIwaslatebutIthoughtifwegotboredwecouldplayboardgamesuntilthesunboredthroughthecloudsgetit?" Somehow, everypony understands her.

Twilight pushes aside all the games with practiced tolerance of her pink friend's antics and forces out a smile, "We're happy for you to bring all these alternatives, but I think what we have planned tonight is going to keep us from even looking at these other games." She takes a character sheet and slides it over to another empty seat where Pinkie sits down. Twilight says, "And now we have our bard-"

Just then a shadow looms over Applejack. Everypony except Applejack notices the front door swinging in the wind and something is behind the orange pony. Luna sits up from her spot at the table and booms, "SLICER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!"

Slicer Jen, a black thestral with blue highlights and no wings, is standing on her hind legs behind Apple Jack with a long dagger. She removes the point of her dagger from the earth pony's neck and sits back, replying, "What?"

All the ponies stare at the odd visitor in surprise as Luna leans forward in alarm, "This is Slicer Jen, one of my Lunar Guards. She was to fill in for the Rogue. Apparently she is your Cleric, now." Luna eyes the knife in Slicer's hooves.

Twilight smiles at Slicer and chimes in matter-of-factly, "Well then. First, greetings! Second, you are supposed to verbally TELL us what you are doing, not act it out. That is a completely different kind of...um...game." Pinkie Pie hops up in excitement at the prospect of a new game, but Twilight puts her hoof on top of Pinkie's head and pushes her back down in her seat. "And third, the last empty seat must be yours." The thestral moves over to the last empty seat at the table.

As Slicer puts away her blade, Luna sighs and buries her head behind her wall of cardboard stat tables, groaning out, "And why are you attacking your own party members...??"

Slicer blinks as she sits in the spare seat, "They said you were their enemy, so they are my enemy." Luna softly thumps her head on the table repeatedly. Twilight sighs and explains Luna's role as the dungeon master, yet again, while magicking the door closed. Applejack continues to wear an odd look before she puts her hoof down on the table and glares at Slicer.

"Wait just a cotton-pickin minute! Why y'all peg me as the first one ta bushwack?? Ah ain't no danger to nopony!"

Twilight pauses her lengthy dissertation for Slicer to respond quietly, "You were wearing a hat. Once I had dispatched you, I was going to use your hat as a disguise to get close to the others and take care of them."

Rarity takes Applejack's character sheet and slides it over to Slicer, leaning over to say contritely, "Darling, it clearly describes her character wearing this somewhat atrocious ensemble, though bereft of any head apparel. See?" She taps the character portrait that was obviously sketched in detail by Twilight, showing no hat.

Before Twilight can object to Rarity's scathing critique of her character design, Slicer levels a stare at Rarity and says, "I wasn't talking about her in-game hat." Rarity's eyes go wide as Applejack seems somewhat satisfied with the logic of Slicer's response. Fluttershy nearly feints out of her chair before Rainbow zooms in to catch her.

Twilight pushes the character sheet back over to Applejack and exclaims nervously, "Okay! Now that we have everypony assembled, I can explain your roles and how they work...that is..." She stammers to a halt as she turns to Slicer. "Like Luna said, you were supposed to be just the Rogue, but there was a change of plans...so you are our new Cleric."

Slicer spspbt's as she grabs both the rogue sheet and cleric sheet to overlap them. "Fine, I will be both."

Twilight practically has a cow as she flips through the character handbook and retorts, "No, you can't! There is no way you can cross skills and stats to play a dual class cleric rogue class! It says so right here!"

She looks up to find Slicer a mere inch from her nose to nose, the thestral's knife hovering closer to Twilight's chin. "Watch me..........."

Luna is there in a heartbeat and pries the mentally frozen Twilight and seething Slicer apart, "We can amend the rules in this instance to accommodate all party members, yes?" After a few tense moments Twilight nods her head and goes back to her notes, scribbling out lines and rewriting some things on a new sheet while referencing both the rogue and cleric sheets. Luna lightly grabs Slicer by the neck and directs her back to her seat. "And you are supposed to be socializing and making friends, NOT starting fights." Slicer mutters something about ponies insulting her skill sets as she slumps into her seat. Luna heads back to her own seat and sits, looking around the table, "I assume everypony at least knows what they are?" All the ponies nod. "Good, now if we can get on with it-"

A young voice pipes up, "I want to play a great and powerful Dragon Knight!" Spike is standing there, in the bar handing out tankards of ale and cider, and in Twilight's living room...handing out tankards of ale and cider.

Twilight smiles at the breath of fresh air, cooing, "Awww, my little spikie wikie, wouldn't you like to play my familiar?"

Spike holds up a mug and exclaims, "Familiar it is!" He drinks it and gives a loud belch. Twilight and Rainbow clap their hooves as Fluttershy giggles, Applejack gives a hoove's up, Rarity wrinkles her noise at the dragonling's uncouth behavior and Slicer sits with abject dislike at how her night is going when she could be out and about. Typically thestrals sleep during the day and get their errands done at night. This night was turning out to be such a waste. Pinkie hums to herself, playing with all the different shaped dice like they are toys.

Luna continues to bump her head on the table. "A thousand years ago, it took this long to get this damned game going. Nothing has changed........nothing...."

After the moment wears off, Rainbow Dash raises a hoof and asks, "Not to be a party pooper, but are we still in the inn?"

Luna turns her head while it is on the table behind the boards and looks at the clock on the wall. "Yes.........................you STILL are..............."

Rainbow continues to ask, "So what is taking so long-" An aura of blue magic appears again and muffles her mouth. Twilight takes that as a cue to explain the rest of the rules. Once all of the ponies nod in understanding, including the muffled Rainbow Dash, Luna sits up.

"Now the adventure begins."
> The Monsters Rejoice For The Party Is Dead
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna intones, "The Monsters Rejoice For The Party Is Dead."

Everypony at the table exclaims at the same time, "WHAT!?!" Minus Pinkie Pie. She is in the kitchen getting snacks and has missed her turn several times.

Slicer Jen is the loudest. "That's not true! I should be the only one left alive, I win!" Luna tosses her a folded piece of parchment which she unfolds, reads, then flips around to read the other side. "A lightning bolt!?!"

The other mares read what is on the back of the parchment, in Slicer's handwriting. I stab everypony. Twilight spazzes out, "Oh come on, again with the stabbing??"

Luna cuts in, "And thus you defeated your allies before the monsters can. They overrun the town, the countryside, the world. You lose. Oh, and you get a lightning bolt for your ingenuity." Twilight starts bumping her head on the table and Luna leans over, whispering, "Now just imagine trying to run an Equestria, much less this little circus tonight."

Twilight sits up and asks meekly, "Slicer, can't you at least try to use some imagination besides 'I stab everypony'?"

Slicer retorts, "I imagined stabbing everypony for the glory of my princess."

Twilight argues back, "The first time was real, the second time you passed on a secret note just so you could get out of here early!"

Slicer replies, "Can I pretend now?"

Everypony yells, "NOOOO!!!!" Slicer waves a hoof.

Just then, Pinkie Pie trots in with a tray full of snacks, "Oh, did we die? Super! Now can we play the live version?"

Luna and Twilight yell, "NO!" They glance at each other again and Twilight settles down grumpily. Luna sighs and says, "Okay, I'll bite. Why did you do it 'this' time? You know I'm not letting you specifically off the hook until this game is officially done."

Slicer shifts uncomfortably as everypony stares at her. "Do you even have to ask? They were taking forever just trying to get out of that stupid inn! It was either them or me." She fiddles with her knife below the table.

Luna tilts her head and smiles, "She's got a point. We've been at this for how long?"

Twilight responds, "Three hours, twenty eight minutes, sixteen seconds."

Luna nods, "Figures you'd know. Now, Slicer....What is your primary role in this game?"

Slicer stares down at the table and mutters, "I guard their backs from the shadows and fix them when they screw up. That is my role." 

Luna gives her a strained smile. "This is to help ALL of you with building teamwork and social skills."

Twilight chimes in, "And it is for fun, too! Simply do what you would normally not get to do otherwise."

Pinkie Pie blinks, "Oh, well that counts me out."

Slicer says, "Nopony to stab in this inn. Ditto."

Rainbow Dash leans over to Applejack and says, "They are SO not normal." AJ snickers.

As Pinkie Pie passes around snacks and drinks to the other mares, Luna's facade becomes dark. "Alright little fillies, that was your one free pass. The second you step out of that inn, everything is permanent. You will work together in the game or I will guarantee suffering OUTSIDE of the game." She eyes Slicer who takes this moment to be interested in a piece of dried fruit. Really interested. "Everypony knows their roles, the rules, how to use the dice, how to roll for initiative. You understand THACO and armor class...assuming you even HAVE armor." She glances at Rarity who has redone her character portrait in the most thinnest  and longest gossamer of gowns, likely to trip her up more than do anything for her enchantress. "As well as armor penalties, apparently. Now, go forth and adventure!"

Rainbow appears on the road outside of town. A few seconds later, the other mares appear next to her, minus Twilight and Slicer...nevermind, Slicer steps out of a shadow...because there just happens to be a shadow on the road in the middle of the day. It took so long, Luna arbitrarily moved the in-game clock forward to high noon the next day. The mares look around for Twilight. Rarity asks, "Might I inquire, how is it she is the one that arranged all of this and she takes the longest getting here?"

Rainbow flies up in the air, irrespective of the fact that her Cavalier is not supposed to have wings, and squints, "Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Luna tosses a crumpled piece of paper at Rainbow and she opens it up. "Wait a sec, this is the note Twilight gave you...oh, your note is below that....yeah I know I'm not supposed to fly, but it's not like we can't hear her telling you what she is doing." Rainbow tosses away the note. "Come on, Twilight, do you HAVE to orrate every detail of getting out of town? Just WALK out!"

Twilight frowns at Rainbow and continues her tale of how she packs up her gear, checks her spellbooks are secure, secures her staff to her saddle and walks through the door of the inn, then down the street while checking alleys left and right as she heads for the main road leading out of town. She passes several stores that are selling interesting wares and spell ingredients, which she peruses the player's handbook for a list of available supplies. 

Rainbow assumes her role as Cavalier and lies down on her pack in the middle of the road. "Wake me when she actually gets out of town!" The rest of the ponies groan and sit down, twiddling their hooves, or dagger if they have one.

Luna grits her teeth. "I promise things will move a little quicker than this as soon as she joins you. I AM the DM, afterall." She motions for Spike to come over, "Little one, I have a special task for you. How is your imagination?"

Spike grins. "I dream in adventures and wake up to find them!"

Luna rubs his top frill with her hoof, "A drakeling after my own heart. Let's see if we can't heat things up."
> A Shadow of Foreshadow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The distant cloppity-clop sound of Twilight Sparkle's approach gets louder as she finally makes her way toward the party on the main road. Applejack takes it upon herself to rouse the dozing group. "Wake up, y'all. Sun's a wastin, and we gots sum 'venturin tah git ter." She lightly kicks at Slicer who is hiding under a poncho.

"OW! That hurts!" Slicer rips off the poncho, holding her head.

Applejack smiles apologetically, "Sorry there, sugar, didn know that was yer head and all. Hard ter tell wit y'all hidin under that wrap from the sun and from all dis great soshilizin."

Slicer gets up and starts packing away her poncho. "I hate the sun. And that other thing you just butchered."

Applejack grins, detecting only half of what Slicer said was true. As for the butchery comment..."Aw heck, Ah speak with a very distinct awcent. Ya'll shid hear mah cuzins, now that requires sum translatin." She steps over to Rainbow Dash who is blissfully snoring and tilts her hat back (a spot of contention between her and Twilight regarding the finer points of barbaric tribal customs, not to mention Rarity egging Slicer on about in-game hats, which inevitably brought up the subject of stabbing which all the other ponies put an immediate squash to). The other ponies finish brushing off dirt from their flanks and walk up next to Applejack as she says, "Tis a right shame to be wakin up sometin so relaxed and content."

Pinkie Pie puts the finishing touches to her 'wake-up apparatus', complete with bull horns and loud speakers arranged around Rainbow's head when Luna chucks an 8-sided die and pegs Rainbow on the forehead. Rainbow jumps up with her lance in one hoof and a helmet in the other, looking around, "What!?! Where's the fight? Oh, Twilight finally made it." Pinkie sighs from not getting to use her machine but notices something in the air.

"Oooh! A pretty bat!"

A large shadow passes over everypony as Twilight finally steps up to the group. "That's odd, I didn't see any clouds on the horizon-" A large form slams down onto the road where Twilight had just walked a few seconds ago and a tall red form looms over the party. Sunlight imbued with red passes through the leather outstretched wings as a serpentine neck snakes down to inspect the teaming morsels before the leviathan.

Slicer immediately draws her blade and prepares to sprint as she growls loudly, "Dragon!"

Twilight raises a hoof and pulls out the player's handbook. "Wait wait wait. I read somewhere we are supposed to roll for initiative first prior to encounters."

Luna quirks an eyebrow and says, "Oh really? Between your group snoozing in the game and outside the game," as Rainbow sticks her tongue out when she's not looking, "and your vastly detailed and cautious sight seeing tour from inside the inn to the main road, at what point did you think you would get the surprise over any creature, much less a chance for an initiative roll...at least on the first round." Twilight slowly closes the handbook and looks around, then notices the dragon.

"SPIKE???"

The dragon waves down at the group, "Hey guys! The princess thought my inclusion would help move things along, so here I am in all my glory!!!" He stretches out his wings into a wide span and shows off his scales as he preens. A small cough from Luna brings him back to reality, er fantasy. "Oh, right. GROWL!"

The dragon roars at the group below it. Luna requests everypony to roll a save vs petrification for the dragonfear. Slicer glances at Luna with a wrinkled brow, "You have got to be kidding." Luna insists and 20-sided dice start rolling. Slicer gets a natural 20. Twilight gets a 3. Pinkie gets an 18, with Applejack and Rarity at a 12. Rainbow also gets a natural 20 and starts celebrating.

Twilight stares at the 3. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Luna smiles, replying, "Failed save to petrification means you are stunned this round. The rest of you can now roll for initiative since the dragon wishes to bask in your supposed fear." She looks at Spike and motions with her hoof to get him to play up the role.

The dragon grins and hunches up its shoulders, inhaling. Rainbow yells, "Everypony get behind me, I can take this overgrown lizard!" She tucks in her lance and prepares for a charge, with her getting the highest initiative roll. Rarity grabs the mage book of spells and begins skimming as quickly as she can for a useful illusion spell as Applejack and Pinkie ready their weapons and songs. Everypony is about to act when they notice Fluttershy is sitting between them and the dragon, staring up to it.

"Um....hello....mister big dragon.....I know you are large and powerful....and we are small and probably look tasty. But um...I think if we were to talk about taking turns using the road....as well as finding alternative tastier food options.....then all of this fighting can be avoided..."

Luna sadly interjects, "Fluttershy, my dear. He is a chaotic evil red with a nasty disposition for anything smaller than he is. And in this game, the bulk of your allies will be coming from  your friends and the smaller good-aligned creatures of nature, as you are the Druid. Your charisma check automatically fails due to his alignment.....and unfortunately, since you are in between the party and the dragon, they lose their initiative to attack while you, Fluttershy, have to roll to save vs breath weapon to halve the fire damage-" A crumpled piece of paper bounces off Luna's head. Her eyes narrow at Rainbow as she opens it up and reads it. "Okay, strike that. Rainbow continues her charge and rams into you instead, knocking you out of the way, so ignore the save roll. The rest of you get to save vs breath weapon, now that Fluttershy is not blocking the full blast." The remaining mares groan, except for Slicer.

"You did get my note, Princess?"

Luna looks at Slicer and nods slowly, "Yes, and it's DM or Dungeon Master....or 'master' if you really want to make me feel good. But yes, I read it. And yes, you succeeded in moving to the rear of the dragon's position while Fluttershy attempted to talk sense to the murderous dragon." The soon-to-be-burned ponies give the thestral envious glares.

"And my follow-up action since I will be unnoticed?"

Luna nods patiently to Slicer. The ponies caught in the blast roll a 10-sided die, adding modifiers. Most everypony makes the save, taking half damage, except two.

A cone of flames washes over the party. Rarity's gown lights up on fire and she screams, running around in circles. Twilight just comes out of her dragonfear but has no time to react before she is caught as well, a roll of 3 causing her staff and fur to catch fire. She starts screaming, "Stop Drop Roll Stop Drop Roll!!" over and over as she does just that. That is when Slicer launches up into the air and plants her long dagger directly into the dragon's-

"Tail," interjects Luna.

Slicer furrows her brow, "Huh? You said my note was fine!"

Luna shakes her head, "No, I did not. I accepted that is what you 'wanted' to do. A dragon is a gigantic creature, not of normal size. The rules state you cannot backstab creatures beyond large size. Consequently, you just stabbed his tail."

The dragon turns its head to look at Slicer and smacks her with its tail, sending her flying into the trees beyond the road. It turns back to the group, roars again, and then flaps its powerful wings, whipping up the small fires it created in its attack as it pulls itself into the sky and wings away. Pinkie Pie strums a chord as the dragon flies away. "Aw? I had a really nice song I was going to play. It adds health boosts and attack boosts and all kinds of boosts! Does anypony else want to hear it now?"

Applejack lowers her hammer and straightens up, "Well that was jes plain rude! Who comes a roastin and a coastin, anywho?" Rainbow picks herself up and then Fluttershy, while both Rarity and Twilight are putting out flames on each other's smoldering parts. Pinkie Pie bounces by, singing a song she made up, which obviously is not giving anypony any boosts what so ever.

The thestral returns to the road walking stiffly and favoring her back leg. "That's not how I remember my dragon encounters, Princess." She ignores the die that pegs her in the forehead and sits down. "Who needs healing?" All the ponies get in line, starting with Rarity who is crying everytime she moves and Twilight who is fussing about her burned books and staff. Slicer sighs. "If I understand these rules correctly, it will take some time to 'pray' and replenish my healing spells, or I burn off my spare scrolls and we have no emergency backup in case we REALLY get into trouble." Pinkie Pie bounces by with popup tents and a campfire completely formed and lit...in her hoof. The others don't even notice, but Slicer being the new one, stares. After a minute she starts getting to healing and praying.

While she is doing that, Luna explains that the dragon had orders to test the party and return to its master. This information is divined through one of Slicer's prayers and confirmed by a summoning spell Twilight performs to ask the powers beyond. When Rainbow starts to ask if Luna is the master, she gets muffled with blue magic again.

The next few hours out of game are spent with Twilight obsessively redoing ALL of her spells while Rarity takes a sudden interest in Twilight's advice on enchanter abilities. The other ponies spend the time peppering Slicer for what she was talking about regarding dragons, while the real dragon Spike plays the perfect host and cleans up the dishes and cups. When they finally settle down, there is only enough time for one more battle. Their campfire attracts a group of marauding kobolds, which they dispatch in perfect order. Twilight continues to roll 3's on every spell damage roll and save roll. She even gets frustrated to the point she swings her staff at a kobold, rolling a 3 on her d20. The next hour is spent getting her to calm down and taking a break.

Eventually everypony is nearly ready to fall asleep at the table. Luna takes that moment to check the time and walk outside, performing her duties to cycle the moon, her sister raising the sun from Canterlot. Yellow light beams in through the windows as the morning sun begins to warm Equestria, everything starting to dry from last night's storm. The weary ponies go about gathering their things, leaving the table as is to pick up from where they left off when they return. Twilight is still sitting at the table, looking glumly at the rest of the ponies and the scattered papers, handbooks, character sheets and crumpled notes. Rarity sidles up next to her, "Darling, you look so dour you could start another rainstorm. Was last night really so much bother? I can speak to Princess Luna and see if she's willing to end the game."

Twilight shakes her head and waves her away, "No, thankyou, that's not necessary."

Applejack steps over to them slowly, bleary-eyed but smiling, "Naw, sour puss, somethin is downright keepin yah down. Were we that harble?"

Twilight shakes her head and touches Applejack's shoulder, smiling for the support, "No, not at all. My expectations were that horrible. This was a new thing for all of you and me. Princess Luna set a high bar and I wanted to take it head on and finish all the challenges as a team. The very least, last night showed us we have a lot to work on, no matter our past successes." The other ponies stop milling about their tasks and nod in agreement. Except Slicer.

"I am not breaking out into song after all of those fiascoes. We screwed up, we got beat, and I still hate dragons." A mortified yelp comes from the kitchen and Spike sticks his head out, huge eyes welling up with tears. Slicer takes one look at him and squeezes her eyes shut, swearing. Then she walks over to him and says, "That doesn't include you, Spike. Just the mean bad ones...that try to burn me. Besides, you remind me of some of the foals I used to know back home. Uh...sorry I hurt your feelings." Spike seems to accept her apology and hugs her leg. She cringes at the outpouring of love that permeates the room from all the cooing and awing. "Okay okay...going to get a toothache from all this sappy stuff. Adieu." Slicer gently pries Spike off her leg and trots out a little quicker than normal.

Luna smirks after her and yawns, "On that note, us night-dwellers must get some sleep. I suggest naps so we can continue later this evening. Think about how your strengths and weaknesses can complement each other and we'll have another go at it." The ponies bow as she walks out, who in turn scowls since it is not a public venue.

Pinkie bounces out, matching the sun's energy, though everypony knows she will crash as soon as she is inside her home. The rest of the ponies follow her, giving their goodbyes as they leave. Twilight stops Rarity as the last one before she walks out the door. She can see bags under the white unicorn's eyes and hates keeping her from sleep, but her investigative side gets the better of her, "Rarity...the end of your tail, when did that happen?" Rarity turns her head to look back. The tip of her tail is a few inches shorter, the ends slightly singed. She turns white. Alright, whiter than white.

"How?!? When? I...wait, Pinkie Pie, she made hot chocolate for us last night! I said it was piping hot,  didn't I? Did we get so tired my tail dipped in it? No, that is positively revolting, not to mention silly...though I did finish it. Ugh, tail-dipped cocoa-" Twilight puts her hoof on Rarity's muzzle to keep her from babbling further in her tired state.

"No, I don't think it was that. Judging from the height of the chairs, how we were sitting, with Spike having to walk around, it's possible he got too much into his part and let off a wisp of flame. I'll have a talk with him about controlling himself around others."

Rarity brushes her nose and waves a hoof, "No no, that's quite alright. The little drake would probably collapse if he was criticized for his performance. Quite splendid, really, at least I was convinced he was a large evil dragon. In any case I can just curl my tail a little more, always a good excuse to hit the salon!" Her pleasant look drops a few shades as she stares at Twilight's face. "Um, darling...you might need to visit the salon too..." Rarity reaches out and touches Twilight's bangs.

Twilight's eyes cross as she focuses on them, spotting the singed edges. She refocuses on Rarity and asks quietly, "....rarity...what is going on....?"


********************

Spike busies himself with tidying up the table, stacking the papers and organizing the dice. He gets to Twilight's d20 and takes a closer look at it. It has all 3's carved into it. He takes a step back and looks under Slicer's seat to find dust and bits of shavings. Spike chuckles to himself and holds up the die. "Twilight? How come you kept using a d20 die with only 3's? I know you like a challenge, but last night was spectacular!" Twilight wanders over from the library where she was looking into ancient games and chaos magic to take a closer look at it, then she scrambles over to the table to look at her other dice....

"SLICER!!!!!!!!"
> Party At The Castle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The party assembles. Again. Luna, Twilight and Spike receive their guests without much fanfare and everypony is directed to their seats where their dice, sheets and notes are stacked nice and tidy. 

Twilight has a momentary panic attack when she overhears Rarity mention a local crisis. Rarity waves it off as nothing. "Oh no, not like our 'normal' ones we are used to, darling. This is simply scandalous! Imagine perfectly well-to-do citizens of society traipsing around in furs and burlap. Honestly, they would be better featured as extras in a Daring Do production." Twilight shrugs and puts it out of her mind, leaving it to the fashion diva to worry about.

Before they begin, Luna sits Slicer across the table from Twilight. The younger alicorn stares daggers at the the thestral while her opposite looks around with the air of utter innocence. Luna notes the interaction and clears her throat when she sits down at her DM position. "Now then, new house rules first. Nopony touches any other pony's dice. Nopony borrows, trades, or even BREATHES on another's dice for good luck. Make your own luck, that is my philosophy." Luna glances at Slicer, "And absolutely, positively, NO carving of 3's in a d20-" Slicer can't help but snort as she watches Twilight's face darken, "or the rest of Twilight's dice because you feel she has to work extra hard on non-d20 rolls as well." Slicer's head snaps over to Luna.

"What!?!" Slicer had only messed with the d20. Who had carved up all the others?

Luna's eyes ever-so-slightly flick in Pinkie Pie's direction. Slicer stares at the pink pony and gets a small wink from her as she continues to play with her own set of candy colored dice. Slicer works her jaw as it settles in that she can't out the slick pony without openly implicating herself, meaning she has to eat the full blame. Luna smiles shrewdly and continues, "Also, we will have set breaks between modules, so today is going to progress at a proper pace. As excruciating as the previous session was, you needed to experience the basics before truly getting into the game. Let's begin."


Queue Music: Battle Without Honor Or Pony. After the commercial, of course.
 Queue Gratuitous Action Sequence:

Lightning crackles across the clear blue sky in the middle of the day. The ensemble of adventurous ponies walks toward you in slow motion, Twilight Sparkle front and center while the rest of her compatriots follow in wedge formation. Silvery light flashes off Rainbow Dash's highly polished armor, lance and cavalry sabre. Light glints off of Applejack's jagged battlehammer 'Saucemaker' in contrast to the dark shadow her hat casts over her face, eyes burning for justice and truth. Rarity's gossomer gown flows in the wind behind her as wisps of mysterious power surround her and her even more mysterious beauty. Fluttershy strides forth in her druid robes, all manner of small creatures surround her in an aura of pure nature, her visage  the very mask of Gaia's Liege. Slicer....is moving from shadow to shadow somewhere in the woods ("Screw that slow motion crap!"). Pinkie Pie o/~ prances along, singing a song, side...by....side o/~. Strike that, Pinkie Pie is hopping along with her lute singing o/~ I. would. walk. ten. thou. sand. miles. and. I. would. walk. ten. thou. sand. more. <SMACK> Pinkie Pie strides forth, golden brown wood grains and silver fittings reflecting sunlight off the lute at the ready to bash anypony over the head who doesn't like her music.

They are walking.


They are walking....


They are walking.....................for a long time. End music.


"Hey!" Rainbow exclaims, "What the heck are we supposed to be doing anyway?!"

Luna comes out of her reverie with a start, "Huh? Oh, my apologies. I was actually enjoying your descriptions for a change. Even Twilight was succinct." Twilight twitches. Luna tosses around some papers, looking for something. Then she finds it and looks up. "Ahem, the party arrives at a castle...."

The party arrives at a castle, a very tall and ominously dark castle. In the middle of the day.

Rainbow looks up and grins, "Now this is more like it!"

Applejack widens her stance, ready for action. Rarity coos about the possibility of gems and treasure so she can augment her magical accessories and spell book. Pinkie strums a series of chords similar to the beginning of a bull fight. Twilight is ecstatic, wondering what magical scrolls and artifacts she will be able to dig up in the many dark and haunted chambers throughout the massive structure. Fluttershy stares up, and up, and up. "Um....it is very tall...and um...ominously dark. Do we have to go in there?"

Twilight wrinkles her brow and smirks, "Of course we do, silly. This is the obstacle that is before us. The road has led to this grand challenge. Plus, don't you want to find out what is in there?"

"...um...no...."

Rainbow pats Fluttershy on the back, who in turn jumps at the touch, "Ah, this is nothing! Let's just get in there, kick some flank and take some treasure! Just think of it! There could be skeletons! Or gelatinous cubes! Or skeletons IN gelatinous cubes!"

"...um...no...."

Twilight steps up to Fluttershy's other side, "Well, what would you rather do, Fluttershy?"

The yellow pony slowly brushes her hair away from her face with an unusual air of bravery, then starts up in a singsong voice, "o/~ We can walk, all day in the sun....we can cook s'mores, when we're nice and done...o/~"

Rainbow joins in on beat, "We can avoid a bunch of fighting, practically! o/~"
Fluttershy countersings, "That was just what I was thinking, exactically! o/~"

Rainbow phshaws and stops singing. "Whatever. Let's Do This!"

A gout of flame explodes from atop the highest tower a hundred feet above them in a horizontal geyser, the heat of it so intense the ponies down on the ground level can feel it, followed by a distinctly dragonish roar that continues to reverberate in echoes across the land for a solid minute later.






They are walking.


They are walking....

"Now wait just a minute! That is several hours of adventuring back there you just decided to skip!" Luna growls. "You sure you want to keep walking?"

They are walking.

They are walking....

Luna's right eye twitches. "Fine. You can all pull my chariot around for the next month and a half. I have had a hankering to go on a world tour since my long sabbatical on the moon."

Rainbow Dash bangs repeatedly on the iron doors. "Hey, let us in! We're adventurers!" She continues banging while ignoring Twilight's advice to try stealth. At length Rainbow gives up and kicks the door.

Slicer Jen steps up and eyes the key hole, unrolling a cloth scrip filled with small metal implements. "Rudimentary internal mechanism, standard tumblers." She takes a few picks out and begins working on it. "Hm, surprisingly well-oiled, doesn't need much tension.... Some fell creature cares about their work....hah!" She moves her hoof away just as a spring loaded needle pops out, sizzling drops of acid coming off the tip. Fluttershy nearly faints. Slicer bangs the needle with the butt of her dagger that came out of nowhere, then gets back to work once the needle is properly bent safely away, "I don't think so, Mr. Lock. You are no match for the deft skill and steady hooves of a sly surgeon..." She notices Pinkie's face hovering two inches next to hers, staring at the lock.

"I find this Pinkily Dinkily FASCINATING!!!"

Slicer leans away and squiggles her ringing eardrum, "Yelling in my ear breaks my concentration."

Pinkie whispers as Slicer returns to her work, "...oh....sorry......like i was saying i find this pinkily dinkily fascinating you have all these little needle type thingies and you have to be just so careful as you apply slight pressure with the torsion wrench to hold each tumbler in place while you test the loosest keys first and one by one press on each one until you hear a click, unless none of them move then you have to ease off the wrench but sometimes that just won't work so you have to start ALL over and i'm like wow this is taking longer than i thought and there's simply no way i can get inside in time to put itch powder in rarity's luxurious new dress she is supposed to show off at the gala when she returns from the spa-"

"OH MY SWEET DISGUSTINGLY BORING MOON PRISON, ROLL THE DAMN LOCKPICK SKILL ALREADY!!!" Luna booms with her royal voice.

Pinkie is caught in a gale of wind and spit, flying away. Twilight rocks back with wide eyes and says quietly, "she swore on the moon." She smiles sweetly and stares at Slicer across the table. "Sly...roll the die already."

Slicer noddles from below the table and climbs back onto her seat.

There is a nice satisfying click. Score. The doors swing open, light spilling forth into the expansive foyer. The adventurers step inside, weapons and spells at the ready. They slowly make their way to the center of the large room, hallways stretching away from them in all directions.

Applejack rests her hammer on the stone floor with a resounding crunch. "Okay, fearless leader, which way you wantin tah 'splore?"

Twilight closes her eyes and holds up her staff. The crystal atop it glows in a silver light, then focuses into a beam that stretches off into one particular hallway. "That way."

Rarity frowns and takes a few steps forward, eyeing the tunnel. "Pray tell, dear. Why that way?"

"I sense magical objects of importance, naturally."

Rarity sighs and replies in a rough low voice, "Naturally."

Without further ado, the group tightens up their formation and moves forward, taking out torches to illuminate the way. Fluttershy follows behind, keeping her staff sling close to her. As the darkness presses in against their torches and lit magic staff, Fluttershy can't help herself and poses a question. "I know this might be um....a bit late to ask.....hm...and we are meant to come here.....but....um...well, I was just thinking......um.......why?"

The group stops and turns to her. Each pony starts to think about it. Rainbow laughs. "Actually, she's right! Why are we breaking into this castle anyway?" A scroll smacks her in the face and falls into her waiting hoof. "Of course." She breaks Luna's seal on it ("Really, you had to seal it and then hit me with it??") and reads. The rest of the ponies crowd around.

Brave bold adventurers. The land cries out for your help as our princess has been spirited away to a very tall and ominously dark castle. Therein you shall find a way to free our princess and restore safety and prosperity to the land. Save her. Save us. We are counting on you. Ganbatte ne!

The People

Applejack smirks, "Welp, there's yer generic 'save me' hook. Solves that question."

Twilight steps forth, pointing her staff forward. "We accept that challenge. And not just because there are magic items ahead. Panzer vor!" The other ponies roll their eyes as Twilight and Luna share a hidden joke.

"Roll for initiative."

The whole group swears in unison, "Dammit!"
While Fluttershy whispers, "...darn..."

Squelching sounds can be heard a distance away in front of them. Rarity tries her hand at interior lighting by sending up a glowing orb. The light reflects off flat moving surfaces as a translucent and large object glorps its way forward along the hallway floor, squeezing past side doors as it takes up the full breath of the hallway. A giant gelatinous cube suddenly appears!

Rainbow Dash sits back and shakes her head. "Figures." She squints in the low lighting and peers at the distant object slowly closing distance to them. It is so transparent it is barely perceptible, but luckily all of the ponies manage to spot it. "Oh hey! There IS a skeleton in there."

Luna says quietly, "That used to be the last adventurer that roamed these halls."

Rainbow reels back, "Ew....yeah I think we are going to have to fight this thing."

Twilight looks left and right, "You heard her, ponies, fighting formation!" She suddenly finds Slicer standing next to her. "Wait, you aren't sneaking around for a backstab now?"

Slicer shakes her head, "Not this time. No room to get around it. And no back." 

Twilight looks back at the cube and quirks her mouth in acknowledgement. "Right. Here we go." She intones a series of arcane words and a lightning bolt leaps from her staff, impacting the cube. Nothing happens. "WHAT?!?"

Luna grins and leans forward, "Cubes only have a few immunities. You just discovered one of them."

Rainbow lowers her lance and charges. The point slips right into the cube center of mass and she has to dig her heels in to stop just short of touching the cubes surface. "Whew, that was close!"

The cube flips forward one face, completely absorbing Rainbow who is now floating next to the skeleton. The cerulean pony looks at the skeleton and screams, forming an air pocket around her head inside. The other ponies respond with such ferocity, the cube is no match as it gets chopped, burned, stabbed, frozen, and smashed apart. Finally the cube dies and loses cohesion, melting down to a flowing mass.

Rainbow quickly strips out of her armor, flinging off the last vestiges of the gooey stuff. Some of it had started to digest her fur and skin, leaving small pit marks here and there. "Ugh, this crud is nasty! It's going to take a week to clean my armor!"

Their resident cleric looks her over and pulls out a blessed skin cream jar. "Tsk tsk. Everypony has room for jello." Rainbow gives an overly sarcastic 'har har'.

Once Rainbow is treated and her armor mostly wiped down and adorned, the group continues moving down the hallway. Several doors along the passage lead to empty rooms. Applejack opens one door and slams it shut just before sharp black claws punch through the door, but the iron-strap bound door holds. "Yeah...ya'll best move long, nuttin see here!" She hustles down the hallway, the rest of the party edging around the door as cautiously as possible.

The beam from Twilight's staff finally settles on a nondescript door near the end of the hall prior to a spiraling stone stairwell. Twilight grins and puts her hoof on the door latch. Slicer ahems quite loudly and says, "Not so fast, Highroller. We should probably prepare for undead."

Twilight stares at her. "Just like that, you know there is undead in there?"

Fluttershy starts to shake, "UM....i mean...un...dead? The antithesis of life, abomination of nature?" She looks around in fear. "How do we fight such things?" Rainbow and Rarity try to soothe her, actually glaring at Slicer.

Applejack and Twilight stand together looking between the door and the thestral. Pinkie starts up a rendition of 'Living Dead Girl,' acoustic style. Slicer sighs and flips a folded note in Twilight's direction. She picks it up and reads:

prepare for undead

Twilight looks at Luna with a hurt expression, "How come you only tell her these things? Am I not supposed to be leading them? I need to know this in order to make the right decisions." Applejack nods, feeling that withheld information is almost as bad as not telling the truth. Luna merely smiles sagely and raises an eyebrow at Slicer.

The thestral steps forward past the two ponies and puts a hoof up against the door. "Clerics can sense undead nearby." Twilight irks in realization and mutters an apology. Applejack scratches a foreleg in embarrassment. Slicer stares down Rarity. "Nopony ever wants to be the healer, yet we bust our flanks whether you win or lose...." Rarity can't bring herself to look at her. Pinkie slides by on her knees, playing her lute across the back of her neck.

Fluttershy, on the other hoof, is relieved. "Wait....clerics, they can turn undead, yes?"

Slicer grins and eyes the yellow pony. "You just voiced my next move. How do you know about that?"

Fluttershy hides behind her hair, "...sometimes...you just have to study....um...the things you are afraid of...from a distance, of course."

Slicer nods, then looks at the door. "Of course."

Rainbow pulls out her sabre. "All I know is chopping things up works on just about anything! Open that door and let's get busy." Slicer nods and looks to the others. She waits as the magic-users half cast some spells for alacrity and the warrior types prepare their weapons. Fluttershy whips up a neat green leaf shield in front of Slicer, who thanks her in kind.

Twilight waits a few seconds, then lightly taps Slicer's shoulder from behind. "Go." The door is kicked open by Slicer.


"Break time!"

"Oh, come on!!!" several ponies yell at the same time.

Luna holds up her hooves apologetically, "I know I know, it was going so well. But this next phase really does need preparation, for all involved. Go get restroom visits in, get hydrated, Pinkie has the snack run handled. Be back in ten." The ponies grumble and head out of the living room in different directions.

During the break, Slicer slides up next to Pinkie as she is piling snacks onto a tray in the kitchen. "Soooooo....ALL the dice. I was sitting next to her the whole time and never saw you get near them."

For her part, Pinkie wears a huge smile with twinkling eyes while turning to and from the pantry to the tray. "I have no idea what you are talking about. ^,^ Pokie sticks and fruit for you, right?"

Slicer's eyes narrow and she replies, "...riiiight...." She spends the next several minutes trying to stare the pink pony down, difficult when your opponent zips around the kitchen with simply no time to match wills. The thestral gives up and turns away to leave, only to find her nose bumping into Pinkies nose as she appears directly in front of her.

"A good prank is when you prep it without being seen. A better prank is when it works. The BESTEST prank is when nopony ever knows you were there."

Slicer finally gives in and bows her head. "That was the bestest. I think I can learn a few things from you." Pinkie squees and glomps onto Slicer, making her eyeballs bulge.

"Then it's a deal! You won't regret it, and I dare say I will show you a few things even your dragon stories can't top!" Pinkie practically drops the now weak thestral on the floor, grabs the tray and bounces out of the kitchen.

Slicer picks herself up and follows at a slower pace, muttering, "Noooo, can't shut your mouth, Slicer, have to work your verbal judo against THE master of disaster, Slicer. Surviving Pinkie Pie is going to appear on my list of new skills, assuming I survive...."

When the ponies return to the table, they find a large architecture style map with small miniatures of the party just inside the doorway depicted on the table. The room beyond is huge, and obscured by a blue glowing mist hovering over the map. Twilight glances at Luna. 
"Princess...DM, I thought all the details were to be spoken aloud."

Their DM nods. "True, but on rare occasions a visual aid is required when words cannot do it justice." Twilight gets a bad feeling and skims through her list of spells. Luna waits for everypony to get settled in....

The group enters a chamber so large, the walls and ceiling are lost in darkness. Twilight nudges Slicer. Hard. "I don't like this, start turning!"

The thestral scowls as she holds a small silver crescent moon symbol in one hoof ahead of her. Her head whips around back and forth. "I need to see what I'm dealing with. I can turn them with my eyes closed, but we need to see what we are dealing with. It's not like I can toss some spices up in the air and magic them away. By the goddess above, this is a big resonance." Twilight makes a face at the thestral. Slicer in turn quips, "How about...by tossing some spices up in the air and making things brighter. Thestral nightvision cannot pierce this magical miasma." Twilight mutters in frustration as she pulls out a pouch and tosses some shiny dust in the air, swirls her staff in the suspended twinkling cloud and ignites her staff crystal.

The chamber is bathed in light, casting hundreds of shadows behind rank upon rank of armored figures. They line the walls in rows. Their heads begin to face the group, sounds of creaking metal, rotten leather and dry bones emanating all around. Twilight begins her incantation for an offensive spell, the group backing up to the doorway. Slicer finishes her prayer.

The silver symbol flares brilliantly and rays of holy light lash out. Whole lines of skeletons are blasted away, their armor collapsing as the bones become windblown dust. Other bones crack or split, but the majority of the horde is left standing. Slicer drops the symbol back inside her shirt and motions the party back, yelling, "Get out, go! We are outnumbered!"

Their purple leader steps up, surrounded by a magical aura.  "Not without my contribution. Firalis Sphericalis!" An orb of fire leaps from her hoof to the nearest skeleton and-

"Are you sure that is the one you want targeted?" Luna peers at Twilight. The younger alicorn goes into an in-depth analysis of the expansion and proximity of the resultant explosion that should erradicate the nearest group of undead while pushing the rest away, giving them a buffer to prepare for the next onslaught. Luna nods as she listens, and then rolls some dice as she replies, "And thus you accounted for the fact that fireballs double in size indoors. Okie dokes. Roll save vs spell."

"...huh?"

As one, the party is blasted back into the hallway, their clothing smoking. Rarity exclaims, "Two scorchings in one day is not my idea of a good time!"

Applejack nods, propping herself up by her hammer, "Ain't no argument here, sugar." Twilight urges everypony to brace the door. She slams it shut while apologizing profusely, glimpsing a good portion of the horde still standing and marching forward to the doorway. All the ponies find themselves pressed up against the door desperately trying to keep the skeleton horde contained. The door shudders at regular intervals as the undead throw themselves at it repeatedly. 

Rarity yells, "Can't we do something?! Lock it maybe?!"

Slicer growls, "Nope. Stupid me kicked it in. The latch and lock are destroyed." Another weight slams against the door and the thestral grits her teeth.

Twilight frowns and straightens up a little. "Kicked it.....in?" She and Slicer look at each other, then step back from the door. The other ponies hesitate, then follow suit and watch the door. It continues to receive blows from the other side, but remains closed due to the way it sits in the frame.

Rainbow chuckles and says, "Not very bright, are they?"

Slicer pats Rainbow's shoulder and puts her head near hers, saying softly, "They may not have brains, but they want to eat yours." Rainbow turns white.

Fluttershy stands on the other side of Rainbow and says as softly, "...ah...not that I am an expert....per se...um...well, zombies eat brains. Skeletons....mm....they take your bones....to replace theirs.....mostly...." Rainbow turns even whiter.

Slicer frowns. "Okay even I don't know that one. Where are you getting all of this?"

Fluttershy half hides behind the now stiffly afraid Rainbow. "...novels......with....um....vam....vamp...." Slicer raises an eyebrow. "....vampire po......<gulp>...ponies...." Slicer raises her lip, revealing one of her sharp fangs. Fluttershy eeps and hides completely.

Twilight lightly pushes Slicer aside, "Oh stop that. Fluttershy, get out from behind there. Reading those books, no wonder you are so scared " The door takes another hit and starts to splinter. "Well then, we need a plan, and fast. That door won't last very long."

Applejack hefts her warhammer, eyeing the crumbling door. "Well, none ya'll call me a gene-yus, but Ahm guessin this is where we pool heads togetha and pull ideas outa our you know wheres."

Twilight nods, "Group effort, right! We are in a long tunnel. They are mindless, we are not, so we have strategy and options on our side. I can lightning bolt all of them, but I need them in place, lined up. Slicer, Fluttershy, you two seem to know about these creatures. What can you do?"

Slicer watches the door warily and sighs. "I can definitely turn them a few more times. They won't be destroyed though, only driven away from me." Twilight nods and looks at Fluttershy.

The druid wraps herself in her hooded robes. She squeaks out, "Um....vines....."

Twilight nods again. "Perfect. That should slow them down and cause them to bunch up for maximum effect. Rainbow, your lance is an excellent lightning rod. You and Applejack set up a grounding point. Use your hammer to smash through the stone to the earth, maybe set up three doors down that way. Pinkie-"

The pink pony brandishes her lute and yells, "Three Doors Down coming right up!" and starts jamming away on Not My Time. Twilight stands there with her mouth open. Her hoof starts to tap to the song as Pinkie weaves in motivational magic, invigorating everypony and speeding along their tasks. Rainbow and Applejack set off down the hallway to get to work. Twilight turns to Rarity.

"We need a convincing wall infront of us with Slicer in front of it. We cannot give them any incentive to come our direction." Rarity nods, steps over to the stairwell and makes ready. Within a minute, Applejack as broken through and removed a few flagstones to the dirt down below. Applejack uses pieces of her armor and sabre to create a base to hold the lance, pointing back at the rest of the group.

Rainbow calls out, "READY!" Applejack stands behind the setup, hammer ready in case any make it near her.

Twilight steps behind Rarity, "Alright, you're up. A convincing wall." Rarity flourishes her hands and hums. The air between them and Slicer solidifies into what appears to be stone. Slicer swallows and continues watching the door.

Twilight whispers, "When I say duck.......duck, Sly." Slicer snorts.

Crunch.

CRACK. The boards on the iron-strapped door break apart, the metal bands falling away and clanging on the flagstone floor. Several skeletons spill into the hallway. Slicer holds up her glowing symbol again. This time the skeletons are only repelled down the hallway. Once they have cleared the door area, Fluttershy reaches out to the plants and roots that have long struggled to resist the stonework that was placed above them. Vines break up through the stone, grasping at the legs of the skeletons and slowing them down. The other ponies cheer her on with encouraging words. A second wave pushes out into the hallway, with similar results. Then a third wave. Then a fourth. Fifth.

Slicer says out loud, "I'm just about out of faith juice here. Fluttershy, how you holding up?" The yellow pony is sweating. She can feel the strain of the plants. Several of them are starting to snap and give up due to the strain. The front wave is starting to make headway and has almost reached the lance. Slicer turns her head backward, "It's now or never, Eggplant!" She hears a choked gasp from behind the wall and grins, ducking anyway.

A lightning bolt blasts through the wall, dispelling the illusion. Blue and white energy crackles down the hallway with a life of its own, leaping between skeleton to skeleton, the armor helping it speed along and maintain momentum. When the lightning reaches the tip of the lance, all the skeletons in contact with it explode, bones and pieces of armor flying everywhere. The sound is deafening.

Slicer looks up from the floor and surveys the destruction. One skeleton is left standing near the lance setup. Pinkie Pie walks up to it and smashes its skull with her lute, a nice 'bong' ringing out. Slicer then crawls to the doorway and peers inside. Nothing but remnants of her previous turning. Rarity and a somewhat miffed Twilight step forward to stand over her and look in as well. Rarity exclaims, "Well that wasn't such a chore, now was it?" Rainbow, Applejack and Pinkie join the group, and as one they all step into the chamber. They see a chest glowing with a soft light blue aura at the other end of the chamber.

Twilight says, "And there is our treasure, team!" She strides forth, set on being the first to peer in the chest. As they approach the chest that appears to be on a raised pedestal, Applejack blocks Twilight with her hammer.

"I know ya'll is set on gettin into that. I just caint shake this feelin that it's trapped or somethin." They look around at the moldy corpses of past adventurers that had once died in the throes of agony surrounding the pedestal.

Slicer mutters, "Wonder what gave you that idea. I can't go near it with that aura. Twilight?"

"Oh, you remembered my name? Thankyou." Their leader strides up to the chest and waves her staff. The chest flares blue and the aura dissipates. She shudders. "That was a nasty spell...essentially it is a time warp spell. It causes random areas of your body to progress in different streams of time...ugh...you can imagine what that must feel like, blood slowing down here, speeding up there. Sweet Celestia."

Twilight looks at Luna with concern, "Princess, that is disturbing."

Luna shrugs. "Again, I did not script it. This game was created long before I was born, during darker times I suppose. Many of the modules were pre-made. In any case, are you done with the chest?"

The group stares at the chest. Then at each other, wondering who is going to go touch it. Slowly they start to focus on Slicer. She frowns and chews on the corner of her mouth. "Yes, I know...my turn." Tentatively, she steps closer, studying the stone pillar holding up the chest, then eyeing the lock. Muttering to herself, she unrolls her tools and is about to touch the lock.

"Break time!"

The ponies gasp as their tension releases. Slicer slumps back in her seat, her die still clutched in her hoof. Luna chuckles. "When you get back, we shall find out what is so valuable. Use the restroom. You will not want to miss a minute in this next session."
> Party At The Castle, 2nd Floor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slicer draws her hoof across the multitude of picks in her scrip. Some are simple angled pieces of metal. Others have odd jagged edges or twisted metal. A few are even corkscrewed. She pulls out the most elaborate one in the set which has a silvery glow to it. She whispers, "Plus five to awesomeness," picks up a tension wrench and leans in very slowly to the chest. Squinting and looking away as though something might explode, her hooves tentatively get closer to the chest.

And closer...

And closer until the implements touch the metal clasp keeping the chest shut.

And nothing.

"Oh come on, no damn lock!?!" Slicer throws the die in her hoof across the table and turns to rip Luna about not needing a lockpick skill roll when she sees the princess wearing a similar frown and staring down at her notes. The other mares are stunned, assured that Luna wouldn't take such disrespect from any citizen under her, let alone one in her own Lunar Guard. But Luna waves one hoof as if trying to calm down the thestral as she flips through her notes.

"No, I agree, I would have scripted a lock as well. The whole point of doing tasks is to gain experience and progress your character to unlock levels and gain more stats, skills...spells...I'm not worried about the lock, though." Luna looks up at the group and considers something.

The ever sharp Twilight picks up on Luna's concern and replies, "It's not what is outside the chest, but what's inside that concerns you, your highness...DM?" Luna blinks and then nods.

"Quite. Typically you'd open the chest, I'd roll random treasure, we'd move on. This chest was specifically populated with select items to enhance each of your characters' paths of progression...except...." She trails off, momentarily glancing at Slicer and then at Rarity. The mares lean forward waiting for her to finish. "Except, these items either fit too well or not at all." Everypony lets out a sigh of mixed relief and frustration.

With a flick of her hair and an overlooked swooning from Spike standing in the kitchen doorway, Rarity scoffs, "Oh, such drama! Please, your highness, I'm sure we are old enough to take any surprises Princess Celestia has placed in this silly game. I for one look forward to seeing what grand treasure I will receive to enhance my enchanting abilities!"

Applejack taps the table in agreement, "Here Here! As in, here, give me mah loots!" Pinkie Pie slides over a box of lutes, earning a hoofpalm from Applejack...and then Twilight. Rainbow Dash guffaws out loud.

Luna has a skeptical look, but shrugs and hands out slips of paper to each pony, detailing the item each one has obtained.

Slicer reaches deep into the chest, which seems impossible considering it is no bigger than a lunch box and starts pulling out swords. Three to be exact. Each one is a longsword, elaborately enameled in a particular color. A red one goes to Rainbow. A blue one goes to Applejack. And a green one goes to Fluttershy.

Rainbow and Applejack look at each other and immediately toss the other their sword. As if by magic, they fly back to the original owners, knocking them both back on their flanks. Fluttershy merely stares at her sword and glances around, "Um...I'm very sure...sort of....that this must belong to somepony else. Druids...don't use these. I don't use these....I might cut myself...or something. Um, you can have it back." Luna ignores her and keeps passing out notes.

A small quartz crystal sails through the air and is caught by Twilight who immediately casts a detect magic spell. The crystal is just an ordinary crystal with no magical properties. The alicorn whines about her 'prize'. Luna ignores her.

Pinkie Pie gets a smiley face sticker. She squees. The other mares stare at her in dismay, then at Luna. She ignores them. Applejack looks at her sword with renewed interest, "Ah reckon mah treasure ain't half bad." Rainbow nods in agreement with everypony else having mixed feelings. Fluttershy pokes at her sword and sighs.

A large ancient tome of black leather and silver fittings floats over to Rarity. "Oh, for me? I couldn't....yes, I could." She flings open the pages and pours over them, with Twilight desperate to read it without appearing desperate. "Oooooh, that's how that spell is supposed to be cast. My, I have heard of complicated incantations, but these instructions are intrepidly intricate."

Slicer's eyes narrow and she asks warily, "Why are you talking like a dragon?"

Rarity pulls her head out of the book, bumping it against Twilight's chin who backpedals innocently. "What, darling? I have no idea what you are talking about. I was just examining a minor spell in this glorious spellbook I just won. I can't begin to describe the things I've seen."

Twilight grabs the book from Rarity and scours the pages, wrinkling her nose. "I don't understand. All of these runes are in gibberish. How can you understand any of it?" Rarity politely wrenches the book back.

"Perhaps it is not meant for other minds except my own. Apologies my dear. If I come across anything of interest, I'm sure I can find the time to teach you, once I have mastered it." She goes back to looking into the book. "Incredible. A simple insipid lip reading spell is suffused with similar yet insynchronized psalms of seance.......'seance'?" Rarity looks up in confusion.

The glowering thestral brushes past Rarity and mutters, "It means 'sitting' in old Prench." She stops near Twilight who is intent on gleaning anything she can from Rarity's musings. "I'd keep an eye on her. Anything that sounds dragonish is not good." She whips her head around to the kitchen, "No offense Spike!" 

The little dragon dives for the candy dish he had just dropped and catches it. "None taken, Bats!" Slicer smirks and nods. She knew she had that one coming.

The purple alicorn glances to Slicer, then to Rarity, and then looks at her crystal. "I suppose we should gather our things and head on to the next floor." She pockets the crystal, not really sure what to do with it. The others sheath their swords, Fluttershy reluctantly so, and prepare to leave. Rarity is still nose deep in her pages. Twilight clears her throat. Nothing. Twilight literally coughs loudly next to Rarity's ear.

"What!?! Oh, quite right, yes time to leave, get this leg of the adventure over with, hop back to the inn, learn some miraculous, yet humble spells, and win the game!" Twilight appears exasperated at Rarity's declaration.

As the group steps out of the chamber and back into the hallway, Twilight spots Slicer examining a black shiny figurine of a stalking panther she must have gotten from the chest. Twilight moves over to the thestral and says, "You know, that requires a word or name to summon the spirit infused in that figurine of power. "

Slicer glances up and asks, "Do you know the word?" Twilight shakes her head. "Figures. I understand this game is for fun and training, but I thought this treasure would be..." She grits her teeth and avoids Luna's gaze as the DM looks up from her notes. The DM goes back to examining something.

Twilight nods her head and waits for the rest of the ponies to file out before she replies quietly, "I know. We shouldn't turn our noses up at what we have earned, and yet it feels like it makes no sense. Pinkie Pie got a sticker for crying out loud." At that moment the pink pony goes hopping by, the smiley face sticker stuck to her forehead above the big smile on her face. Both ponies' eyes follow her. "Nevermind." Slicer nods in agreement and puts away the figurine.

The group approaches the end of the hallway and are confronted by a spiral staircase of stone leading up. One by one they go up the steps. They keep walking...and walking...and walking...and walking. After a certain point they take a break. Pinkie's head rocks back and forth, "I don't know about you but I am dizzy." The others are too tired to point out she normally makes them dizzy.

Their leader stares up for a while, and then down. A solid column of stone prevents them from looking all the way down to the bottom, or up. "I can't help but feel we've been climbing these steps far past where the top of the castle should even exist." Several nods of agreement make her feel better that she's not alone. "I wonder...Anypony want to volunteer and go down to find the bottom while we stay here?" Rainbow's hoof shoots up the fastest. "Okay, you are it. Just be careful, you don't have to race down and back, I'm only testing something."

Rainbow scoffs, "Hah! Life is a race!" and trots down as fast as she can, her hooves clacking away on the stones. The sound dims and eventually is gone. A second later the group can hear something from above. The clacking sound gets louder and around the corner from above Rainbow comes, barely skidding to a halt to avoid stumbling into the group. "Woh! How did you guys beat me!?!"

As the others are exclaiming their amazement, Twilight shrewdly steps past Rainbow to glance up the stairs. "I thought so. It's a spatial loop, meant to continue endlessly." Several groans indicate this was not a puzzle they were looking forward to solving. Twilight raises a hoof. "Fortunately I've studied these...unless our DM decides to change the rules." Luna rolls her eyes and hides back behind her DM wall.

Applejack sits down and interjects, "Well Ah don't see a solution. We eitha walk up or walk down, gittin nowhere."

Twilight shakes her head and giggles, "Normally I would disagree with you and provide a complicated answer, but the solution is just that simple. Only, we do both! Stretch the loop and break it. Some of us go up, the others go down."

Slicer crosses her forelegs and sits back against the outer wall. "No." As a whole, the group blinks and looks at the obstinate thestral.

Twilight sighs and says, "Slicer, trust me, even when there are only a few answers, one of them has to be the right one."

The thestral shakes her head and replies, "It won't work. The stairwell is endless. I know this because I've been putting marks all along the wall since I felt this place was wrong. Not one of those marks came back around." She pushes aside the stack of returned notes she had steadily been writing to Luna and had returned almost instantly with the same answer: Still No Mark She pushes off of the wall. "That means the tunnel isn't sliding with us, it is simply infinite. What you want to do has no point of reference since you can't see all the way up or down, making you blind. You can literally get lost in a stairwell with only two directions to go."

The entire time Slicer was talking, Twilight was nodding her head, trying to force herself to listen, even though she felt her own solution was right. When Slicer finishes, Twilight shrugs, "Alright. Tell you what, we will continue with our plan, and you stay here....guard our backs so nothing gets by." She starts to head up, keeping Slicer from seeing her small smile. For Slicer's part, she tries to figure out whether that was a legitimate concern about guarding their backs, or if she was just insulted. At length Slicer grumbles and sits down against the curving wall, figuring she was insulted.

"Fine, I'll stay here, guard your stupid backs. Have fun mastering those stairs." Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Applejack go up as Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity go downstairs. Slicer finds it gets very quiet and very lonely as the others' sounds disappear. "Whatever, I don't need anypony. Just me, my blade, my skills...and you, whoever you are." She refers to the figurine she pulls out and starts inspecting. The small eyes, made of yellow sapphires, sparkle in the dim light as though they glow on their own. There is a calm sureness about the stalking form of the black panther, the black stone highly polished and sleek. "Hm. What's in a name, no?"

She doesn't know how much time has passed before she hears the other ponies approaching from both directions. She grins to herself and never looks up when she says out loud, "So, enjoyed your little jaunt through your spatial loop?"

Twilight responds as she comes around from the LOWER set of steps, "As a matter of fact, we did! How about you gals?" Slicer's head snaps up as she sees each group has swapped places.

Rainbow trots down, grinning at Twilight and Slicer, "Yup! Just like you said, that did the trick!" Slicer looks a tad confused until Twilight approaches her and reaches above her head.

"Excuse me, we have to get through." She turns a handle sticking out of the wall and Slicer falls backward into the terrace outside, daylight spilling into the stairwell. The other mares are chuckling as they step past through the doorway that just happened to be where Slicer was leaning up against. Pinkie Pie giggles and helps the thestral up.

"Oh, don't be so glum," The pink pony consoles. "We got some pinkily dinkily great exercise while you got to rest! Win win for everywin!" To make her point, she takes the sticker off her head and sticks it to Slicer's cheek, then bounces away after the others, lute bouncing counter to her rhythm.

Slicer glances at Luna and mutters, "You enjoyed doing that, didn't you?"

Luna shrugs and says, "To be fair, your lack of teamwork is what solved the puzzle, this time by accident. Teamwork would have gotten you to your destination eventually and with less friction." The thestral replies with some mention of gravity, a cliff and reaching destinations with zero friction too, but the princess chooses not to be baited. "Congratulations, you each receive experience for figuring that one out. You all find yourselves in an open stone courtyard high above the land. This is the top of the castle...and for some reason this castle only has two floors. What a terrible layout." She shuffles through some papers, then flattens one out. "Okay. What you see before you is...

What the party sees before them cannot begin to make sense. A large metal contraption towers above them. Spheres of metal attached by curving beams revolve around a central mass of gears, wheels and machination. It is like chaos and harmony was synchronized by some mad scientist in a hodge podge of metal. As they watch the spheres revolve and crisscross paths, Twilight grudgingly walks up next to Slicer. She opens her mouth to say something, but becomes mesmerized by the contraption. Slicer waits a full minute, then clears her throat. Twilight snaps out of it and says, "Oh, yes. Um, you were correct, about needing a point of reference. If you had not stayed behind, I'm sure the tunnel would have slid along with us, or extended, regardless of your markings." She eyes the sticker that Slicer left sticking to her face.

Slicer shrugs. "To be honest, I was hoping your theory would fail." She pauses and eyes Twilight for a bit. "Why the candid explanation?"

Twilight smiles awkwardly and tears her eyes from the sticker, replying, "You seem the type to go after pretentious know-it-all's. I admit I can be a bit intense..." She stops and looks around. The other ponies are leaning in and nodding, completely ignoring the contraption in lieu of this heart to heart moment. She turns red and continues, "In any case, I suspect the only way to get through all of this is complete cooperation from everypony. That is to say...we need you. I need you. And you need us, whether or not you want to admit it. We help each other."

A low growl emanates from near the whirring contraption as a sinuous serpentine tail covered in oil starts to uncoil from around the base of the structure. The creature shakes off the oil, revealing itself to be the dragon from earlier. Twilight stiffens and says, "And we might be helping each other real soon, apparently."

Slicer nods, "Fair enough. You keep showing me the error of my ways and I'll keep you knocked down a peg lower than you think you should be." With that she pulls out her long dagger and starts moving out to the side away from the group while watching the dragon.

Twilight yells after her, "That's not what I meant!...oh that blasted thestrel, what is her deal?"

A chuckle causes her to look at Applejack. The orange pony pulls out her new sword, holding it in one hoof and her battlehammer in the other. "She's got ya all wound up and strung out, that's her deal, sugar! Roll with it. She hasn't given me a single sour apple since Ah met her, most likely she knows I can take it. Thick skin, honey, thick skin." She twirls her weapons and steps forward rearing up on two hooves, ready for action. The other ponies ready themselves, with Fluttershy casting a leaf shield in front of her and Rarity skimming through her new book before finding a spell to her satisfaction. After a few quick words, Rarity settles into a repeating hum of syllables as a mote of fog and ice starts to spiral above her head. Twilight is hit with a pang of jealousy regarding the book, but chooses to give it up and rely on her own skills in this fight.

A full throated peal of laughter rings out from atop the contraption. The group's attention is drawn to a being floating above the machine that was not there before. As the entity floats down closer to them, it reveals itself to be a black furred tall alicorn adorned in silver armor with ornate scrolling and moon symbols. "WHO DARES TO ENTER MY ABODE AND TAKE FROM THE CHEST OF CHAMPIONS!?!"

Applejack asks, "Anypony gettin that day-fondue feelin?"

Twilight comments, "You mean dejavu?"

"Yeah, whatever that is, it's itchin up my back sometin fierce."

Twilight nods and says, "Applejack, I have to agree with you. Not on the back itching. I might have a topical cream for that. But on the dejavu feeling.Princess, how is this not the same as when we battled you before?"

The alicorn bellows, "YOU BATTLED ME BEFORE???"

"Um, the REAL Princess. Luna. <sigh>, timeout, halt, pause. Didn't we do this already right after your imprisonment?" The group looks at the DM who is now sweating behind her wall of cardboards.

Luna responds, "I didn't write the script, Tia did. Any and all names, characters and events that happen to be similar are purely coincidental." The response is more skeptical gazes. "Hey, don't look at me like that. That's still a sore spot for me these days. My sister came up with this, which is really underscoring my desire to have a nice chit chat with her white self." Now Luna is getting irritated and rather embarrassed. "Just get back to the game, resolve this stupid section so we can move on."

"IT IS I, LUNAR PHANTASM, WHO STANDS BEFORE YOU! And I have not had my beauty sleep, so you get to face my pet dragon instead. Lizard thing, dispatch them." The alicorn waves a hoof at the group a few times and lounges on the stones as though taking a nap. The dragon shakes off the last of the oil and starts to move toward the group.

Twilight quirks her brow, "Okay...hello again Mr. Dragon. Round two?" The lumbering dragon howls and tears through the group, snapping at the scattering ponies.

A final spin clears the immediate area under the dragon and it rears up, bellowing, "Hello my capering crew of crispy critters. Care to continue cavorting with round two? Oh, wait, you asked me that. Yes, let us continue. But as I am a gentledrake under these scales of scholarly sageness, I must ask you this." The dragon's head snakes out and gets very close to Rarity, who is so taken by a page in her book, she is not even paying attention. The dragon notices this and gets closer, barely a hoof's width from Rarity's nose, "Indeed, my succulant savory sample of equine ecstasy. Teeth, or fire?"

Rarity finally glances up and stares wide-eyed, the incantation stops dead in her throat. The suppressed maelstrom swirling overhead explodes, blasting the entire courtyard with a blizzard. Rarity is not touched since she is at the epicenter, but the dragon, just being outside of the eye, is knocked back. The other ponies leap into action, rushing forward to hammer at the dragon, chopping at it, lancing it. Twilight takes Rarity's lead and lets off a cone of cold, further freezing the dragon. Even Fluttershy, wanting to avoid a blast of fire from the dragon, is swinging her sword and hitting the dragon's head, using the flat of the blade. Combined with the ice damage and the free hits from the other ponies while the dragon was stunned, the final blow comes from Fluttershy's non-lethal strikes, subduing the dragon. It intones, "Yay though I am struck down by a beautiful ice queen of frozen touch, I know the heat of her heart and shall never succumb to your brisk frostbite."

Spike flops down on the middle of the playing table, holding a gem-bespeckled rose above his chest. He glued the gems on it himself while he was in the kitchen earlier, anticipating his demise. Rarity coos at his words while Twilight aws and calls out to her Spikey-Wikey. Rarity blinks and says, "Wait, MY Spikey-Wikey." The two stare at each other like strange cats.

Luna clears her throat and says, "Fight over the carcass later. You have other matters to attend to...huh." She looks at note Rarity had passed her earlier. "It seems your 'enchantress' has gotten carried away with her ice spell, made more powerful by her newfound book." Twilight lets the stare go and starts to inquire where Slicer has gotten off to by now.

When the blizzard spell dissipates, so does the ice, except for a solid block of it encasing Lunar Phantasm lying on the ground, staring up. Above her, also encased in the same block, is Slicer Jen, floating a few inches above her leading straight down with her blade aimed at Lunar's chest. Twilight remarks, "Ah, nevermind."

Luna glances at Slicer and says, "The same trick again?" The thestral shrugs and pushes her dice and blank notes away while crossing her forelegs, obviously having to wait until she thaws out before she gets to do anything.

The group surrounds the block and look at each other. Rainbow Dash speaks up, "Well, we could just start chopping at the ice, hope we don't nick them." Applejack chuckles while the others mull over their options.

Straining metallic sounds and steam bursts pull their attention to the contraption. It looks to be having problems moving as its joints are freezing up. Instead of the ice dissipating like everywhere else, frost is actually forming on its surfaces. Twilight glances from their adversary in the ice and back to the contraption. "I wonder...do you suppose she and the machine are tied together?" In an instant they all get the same idea and start yammering about destroying the machine to free this obviously possessed alicorn of whatever fell magic has a hold of her.

Luna groans and says, "Oh just get on with it then!" The group of mares oblige and attack the machine, chopping at it and blasting it with all manner of offensive spells. As they tear it apart, so does Lunar Phantasm's armor pieces start to shatter and melt away, the heat of the melting magic thawing away the ice. At one point, the whole block falls over, shattering and finally releasing the alicorn and the thestral. Once the group has completely destroyed the machine, the alicorn is able to stand without her armor.

Instead of the imposing evil Nightmare...Lunar Phantasm, now stands before them a radiant alicorn with lush fur, gleaming horn on her head, silky mane and tail flowing in the breeze. Quite honestly, she looks to be the most peautiful princess to walk the land day or night...

"Okay okay, we get it, you are the greatest of the greatest, so what's the deal, we beat the game, freed the princess?" Twilights asks.

The alicorn shakes her mane and replies, "Thankyou great adventurers. But our princess is in another castle." The group moans. The alicorn raises a hoof to placate them, "Rest assured, your deeds have not gone unnoticed. I, formerly Lunar Phantasm, am now Silvery Orb, and I will help you on your quest to free our 'other' princess who requires your bravery."

Rarity leans over to Twilight, "Pray tell, master of literature. Is not a silvery orb just another way of referring to the moo-" Twilight makes a throat cutting gesture to shut her friend up.

Twilight steps up to the princess and asks, "I hear the summons and we shall go forth to do battle, gain magical artifacts and levels, and free the 'other' princess. By the way, what is her name?"

Silvery Orb blinks and responds, "Um, heh, I don't know." The group hoof palms.

Twilight asks Luna, "Seriously, you don't know?" Luna grumbles in response and fiddles with her notes.

She looks up and shakes her head, "That's just it, there's not a mention of her name anywhere, only the scripted lines I just gave you. By the way Spike, you can go now, we need the table to finish up tallying experience and setting up for the next session." Spike doesn't move. Twilight assures Luna they can work around the overly dramatic drakeling. Luna takes them through a recap of all the experience they have earned and how to apply it to new skills and stats.

As the group gets up individually to head back to their homes for the night, Applejack asks Twilight, "Is he going to keep hamming it up or what?"

The purple pony glances at Spike still lying on the table, "Aw, let him stay there, he looks cute. Maybe he is waiting for his stalwart warrior princess to come along and wake him with a kiss." They glance at Rarity who appears to not have taken notice.

Applejack quips, "Hope she's into scales and fire extinguishers." Rarity trips over something and the two snicker. After several minutes, Twilight walks over to the table.

"Spike, you can get up now, we actually need to use the table for dinner. Spike?......SPIKE!" He doesn't move. Twilight rushes over to Luna who is looking up at the sky from the window, "Princess, something is wrong with spike! He's not getting up!"

Luna replies, "I told him to play it up. I didn't expect his death would be the highlight of his act. I will see if it is serious or not while I delve him. Slicer, your real medical skills might be needed." The thestral nods and walks over to stand next to Luna.

Twilight frowns and asks, "Wait, you really are a cutthroat AND a medic?"

Slicer quirks her brow and says, "I suppose being called sly surgeon didn't clue you in? Told you I could do both." She resumes examining Spike alongside Luna. Twilight stares at the thestral with a newfound respect, again grudgingly.

The princess and her guard whisper quietly to each other. Slicer shakes her head and traces her hoof around the cranium of the small dragon, similar to the places Fluttershy described where she attacked him in her storytelling. Luna nods and turns to the group. "Alright, I have good news and bad news. The good of it is, he is alive, but just barely. I am not that powerful in healing and my knowledge on dragon anatomy is not extensive, though he should have responded to my magic. And that is the bad news. As he is a dragon, he is somewhat resistant to magic. That's true both in game and out of game."

Twilight still seems confused. "That doesn't make sense. He literally threw himself down on the table...how could he have sustained any injuries from that?" Luna shakes her head but can't come up with a better explanation.

Pinkie Pie does her best to keep everypony's spirits up, "Maybe a kiss WILL wake him up. Who wants to try?" She peers around with a bright expression.

Everypony looks at Rarity. "What, me? I couldn't possibly....I....I" She looks embarrased. "If one were to be honest...I have never properly kissed a stallion." She half turns away, pinking up all over.

Twilight walks over and hugs Rarity, "It's ok, I can't think of a better pony for the task. He always talks about you, your beauty, your skills in fashion design. If anypony has a chance to wake him, it's you."

The compliments warm over Rarity and she straightens up, puffing out her chest, "Well then, who am I to shy away from such a noble deed? Rarity to the rescue!" She leaps up on to the table, bends down on her knees and pauses for a second before softly kissing Spike on the lips. She pulls back after a while and watches him closely.

Nothing.

Rarity frowns and kisses him again, this time, much firmer and forcefully, then pulls back and pries open his eyelids.

Nothing.

Rarity growls and looks up. "Everypony turn around." The other ponies just watch in fascination and curiosity. She growls, "NOW!!!" The ponies turn around so fast, a few do a full circle and have to continue turning to face away. Even Luna is taken aback and looks away, though she continues to watch from the corner of her eye. When Rarity is satisfied 'most' of the ponies are not looking (she accepts Luna has seen worse in her dreams), she takes a deep breath....and goes full muzzle to muzzle with Spike, prying his lips open with hers and snaking her tongue inside. After a few seconds she reels back, yelping. Everypony else turn around, asking what happened. Rarity tongues the inside of her mouth and smiles with chagrin. "His teeth are sharp...I might have cut myself." They sigh with relief.

Luna steps up to the table and looks at Spike, then at Rarity. "If that didn't do it, then nothing of THAT potency will." Rarity goes pink again and makes some weak excuse about using the powder bedroom...kitchen....whatever...and runs off to the bathroom.

Luna turns to Twilight and says, "You mentioned your mane was singed, as well as Rarity's tail, earlier. That coupled with bad fashion sense in town was not much to panic about. This puts things in a new light, however. I need to return to Canterlot to ask my sister about this. I will be back as soon as I find something out. In the meantime, keep an eye on him and send somepony the instant he wakes up. And nopony touch any parts of that game!" With that, she pushes through the front door and leaps into the air, propelling herself toward the city and castle in the distance.

The rest of the ponies try to stay behind for moral support but Twilight makes them leave, explaining they need their rest if they are going to be needed to fix whatever is going on. The last to go is Slicer. She lingers at the doorway until Twilight walks over to her. "You care for him like he's your brother." Twilight nods. The thestral thinks about her next words, and then takes a deep breath. "My experiences with dragons notwithstanding, I tried my best to figure out what was wrong with him. Luna and I agreed there is something, possibly magical or curse related...I don't think anything we did in the game should have caused him harm. Don't blame yourself. We'll mend him somehow." Twilight smiles and thanks the thestral for her kind words. Slicer nods and heads out. Twilight walks over and sits at the table, staring at Spike. Her head starts to dip down to the table and she nods off, taking a brief nap.

After a time, Twilight wakes up with a start, then stretches her neck. She's fallen asleep in a sitting position before while reading books, so this felt no different. She glances at the time but her eyes are too blurry to focus on the hands. It must be very late in the day. She thinks to herself that it's not that long before it's time for the sun to go down and the moon to come up. Twilight looks out the window, wondering why Luna has not returned for a few hours. She thinks back on the game her friends had started to enjoy. Why can't anything just go right for a change? That is when she hears a knock on the door. She opens it to find the rest of the girls standing there. Even Slicer Jen is with them, a frightened look on her face. Twilight asks, "What is it? Something has happened?" The others shake their heads.

Applejack speaks up, "That's just it. It hasn't." Twilight blinks in confusion.

Pinkie Pie pushes her way to the front and says quickly, "I was the one who noticed it but I figured why would it happen if it hadn't happened yet so I asked around and nopony knew or even remembered the last time it happened but it seemed familiar and then I remembered that night that Nightmare Moon returned and 'it' didn't happen so I was like HEY 'it' is not the SAME 'it' but the OPPOSITE 'it' so I had to warn everypony so everypony is here-"

Twilight exclaims out loud, "PINKIE! Just tell me, okay!?!"

Pinkie Pie stares at her for a minute with sad eyes, then looks up and points. Twilight follows her gaze and only sees the sun. Still there. Past sunset. She gets a sickening feeling.

Just then the sun does begin to move, albeit shakily as it wobbles down slowly, getting slower and slower as it approaches the horizon. It almost seems to struggle before it finally disappears. The moon comes up a little quicker, but even it rises slower than the ponies remember it doing in the past. It too struggles to get to its proper position. A few moments later, Luna pops into being behind them and collapses on the ground. The ponies rush over to her, Slicer getting there first and skids to a halt on the ground as she props the dark alicorn's head on her lap. The other ponies suround her in fear that she might have ended up like Spike.

To their relief, she opens her eyes. "Tia....my sister...." She closes her eyes again, trying to gather her strength.

Twilight pleads, "Princess, what is it? What happened to Princess Celestia???"

Luna finally opens her eyes again and says, "Celest....she is missing."
> A Not So Local Crisis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack are comforting Fluttershy downstairs in Twilight's library while Twilight and Slicer Jen attend to the princess Luna on Twilight's bed. In the living room Spike lies on the couch in the hopes he will pop up any minute and regale the mares on his latest greatest dream adventure, though they have been getting a sinking feeling that won't be happening any time soon.

"Darling, you had absolutely nothing to do with Spike's condition," Rarity whispers soothingly to Fluttershy. The other three nod, a useless gesture as Fluttershy literally hides under her blanket of mane.

Rainbow adds, "Yeah, in fact, you could say we all beat up on the little guy at the same time, so it's not all your fault." Applejack growls and bops Rainbow in the shoulder as Rarity glowers at her. Rainbow rubs her shoulder and steps back, adding, "I mean, it's not your fault."

The down to earth pony pushes her hat back and says placatingly, "Ta be honest, you probly saved him by doin that flat sword thing, knockin his lights out before one of us....accidentally...I dunno, this is supposed to be a game, not no life an' death gig."

The conversation drifts up to Twilight's ears as they angle down to listen. "She's right. Nopony was supposed to get hurt, or singed, or disappeared. I guess we're lucky there's no skeletons we know personally, right?" She pauses for a response from Slicer. Silence. She glances to the side and sees the thestral shuddering silently. Twilight puts a hoof on Slicer's shoulder, "Don't worry, the princess is just tired from the strain of handling both the sun and moon, not to mention the teleporting she had to do to verify Princess Celestia was indeed missing."

Slicer edges away from Twilight's hoof and mutters, "You didn't almost kill her. That was my greatest talent, and it only just failed because Sparkly down there screwed up and lost concentration on her ice spell in the game." Twilight's eyes widen as it sinks in. The image of Slicer's blade a hair's breadth from piercing Lunar Phantasm while frozen in ice comes forth with amazing clarity in Twilight's mind. Then she shakes her head.

"No, we can't think like that. There is a logical explanation for all of this. We can figure this out. It might be an influx of raw magic or an unforeseen event...like Nightmare Moon's return. I was lucky enough to even come across literature of that as it was occurring." Luna's eyelids flutter and open at that moment. She turns her head and looks at her student, Slicer, putting her hoof on Slicer's chest. She then looks at her sister's student, Twilight. 

"Neither of you did anything wrong or lacked proper action. This is far greater magic at play. And that is what we must do to get through this, play on." They both nod to the princess and help her up when she tries to get out of bed. The rest of the ponies downstairs notice the movement, and with a little coaxing to get Fluttershy moving, they all assemble around the table where somepony has placed the hexagon labeled movement board and miniatures back in position once Spike was lifted off the table. Sitting down, they try to rearrange their character sheets, but there is a significant lack of energy to it this time around, given the turn of events.

Applejack is leaning on the table while she bumps her hoof against her chin. "Ya know, Ah jes can't help but think this is kinda familiar. Reality and fantasy gittin all mixed up and the like." One by one the ponies start looking at each other. A single word, or name is hanging in the air, left there as each one glances nonchalantly at Fluttershy but looks away if she happens to look back.

For her part, Luna is starting to seethe. Mentally she is kicking herself for not thinking of it sooner, but it all fits. Who else would blend imagination seamlessly into reality? And who else would most likely break their promise to not do evil things? And yet to even summon him might be worse off. Rather than be subtle, he would practically show off once he was outed. Twilight, on the other hoof, and despite all the previous run-ins the ponies have had, tries to err on the side of friendship, at least for Fluttershy's sake. "I don't know. It's true, he has been less than perfectly innocent in the past... in almost all the past interactions we've had with him in the past. But still, would Discord really-"

>POP<

The multi-species assembled draconequus floats above the table upside down right in front of Twilight, almost a little too close than what is proper. "I was wondering when MY name would be dropped. As it were, the focus of all tragedies is heaped upon me whether it be my fault, or not." He tilted his head in Fluttershy's direction, "Why hello, friend! You are not part of this mob of pitch fork pitching ponies, are you?"

She gave a plaintive shake of her head and replied, "Um, I don't think they are actually carrying...uh, forks....Discord."

"Hmm, quite right. Point taken, or not as the case might be for now." >POP< He disappears. The ponies whip their heads around to track where he went. "Down here, lost souls of accusatory anguish." They look down at the table and see that a miniature Discord has grabbed hold of Twilight's miniature and is dancing around with it. Somehow, the miniature has reshaped itself to be up on two legs in a perfect dance position. That gets Twilight's attention.

"Hey! Stop doing that with me...my other self...the miniature...stop that!" She taps the table with her forehooves furiously.

The draconequus shrugs and puts the miniature down, as it is now reshaped to lie down on the board while reaching a hoof up to her former dance partner. "Eh, just as well. You do seem to be a stiff dancer."

"I am NOT!"

Discord rubs his chin and watches the minature. "Your alter ego tells me otherwise." He sits down with Twilight's miniature who is now sitting next to him, holding a hoof up to her muzzle as he leans closer. "Oh? She does? And in full light of the moon? How interesting...." The real Twilight gets up out of her seat, but Pinkie Pie and Rarity are there to grab her and reel her back in.

A throat clears and to everypony's surprise, it is Fluttershy. She cringes a little when she notices all the attention, but lowers her hoof and says, "Mister Discord...."

"Please, call me Discord. We have such swell times together when we are chummy chummy and not accusey-cusey, mmm?" >POP< He is now lounging next to the real Fluttershy while Twilight's miniature is on her knees, holding her hooves to the sky as if a great thing has left her. Twilight growls.

"Um...yes, we do. It just seems, well, with all the chaotic things going on..." Fluttershy pushes her mane out of the way to see Discord better and continues, "well, that is, one might think, um, that somepony familiar with chaos magic might have an insight into the events here."

Discord twists around in fascination of Fluttershy. "Yes, definitely more appreciative of my value than SOME others. To answer your question, no, I did not strike down your Spikey Wikey. Nor did I dress the populace, nor did I steal your goody-four-shoes princess, nor did I spike the punch at the senior citizens' weekly denture cleaning party. No, wait. I actually want credit for that one. The other things I honestly did not do. Please, my fashion designs are so much more 'this millenium' too."

Rarity perks up and asks, despite her suspicion of Discord, "Wait, darling. You recognized those atrocious outfits out there?"

"Of course! They were the wraps of choice back in the hay day. And I do mean hay." A bale of hay pops up in midair and explodes into nothingness.

Applejack leans forward and asks, "Denture cleaning? Wait a hoot, is that why Granny Smith went all-" Twilight waves her hoof to cut off Applejack.

"Not now, Applejack, this is more important. Discord, do you think this game is changing things? Changing reality?"

The draconequus undulates his body until he is back near Twilight, then glances down at the board and the scattered notes. "Hmmm, doubtful. There is no magical fingerprint, though I'm sure you've surmised that with your brainy brain of yours. It IS as if reality itself is changing little by little. Very entertaining, if you ignore the little drake's bad acting up to this point." Some of the ponies flare up, especially Rarity.

Twilight tries to keep the peace by speeding along her questioning, "And the sun princess?"

Luna levels her gaze at Discord, "Yes. What has become of my sister?"

Discord smirks and becomes very still. "Sigh. Yes I said it out loud. Sigh. I suppose I could locate her for you. Watching Moony here flail around in the skies does give me the chuckles come dusk and dawn." Luna glares at him but she knows what Twilight is angling for and stays quiet. Just this once. When Twilight does not say anything else, Discord backs from the table and winks at Fluttershy. "Yes yes, save the princess. As an ass I go into the world to do my duty." With that, a final pop of air punctuates his vanishing.

The group lets out a collective sigh. Luna even smiles at Twilight, "An admirable job handling such as he. To be sure, he would play this out as long as he can to squeeze every last ounce of enjoyment-"

>POP< "JUST TURN ME INTO STONE, NOW!" The draconequus is back, only looking very disheveled and unkempt. Even his goatee is ragged looking. His scales and fur are all scratched, matted and dirty, given whichever surface of his you look at. Parts of him are even burned. "Better a punishment of petrification than what I have been through! That is the last time I go on a wild goose chase for YOU lot!"

The ponies stare at him. Twilight gulps and asks, "What happened?"

Discord eyes her. "As if you didn't know!" He starts walking around the room, arms out, "Months of searching the world and every living creature not having the faintest clue who Celestia is, much less where she is. Then the lot of you up and make Ponyville disappear. And THEN you hide the castle and Canterlot and yourselves while hurtling a meteor at me! You even said, 'Wait here and when we call for you, come in, chaos blazing.' A pox on you, such backstabbing as even I have never managed. I might as well have been in another age for your lack of chivalry, you knights bedamned!"

Twilight looks at the others to confirm she is in the same reality as they are. "Um, you were gone for only a few seconds."

Discord blinks, glances at each pony in turn to see if they are messing with him, but they all nod in agreement. "A few seconds, you say? Huh. I WAS in another age. Fine, you are on your own." >pop< He reappears on the board, grabs the miniatures of both Twilight and Fluttershy and starts marching off the board to the edge of the table towards the door.

Luna finally jumps up out of her seat. "Wait! Why are you leaving?! You know something!"

He hops down onto the floor, still tiny and loaded with miniatures. He spins around and spits out, "Isn't it obvious? No of course not. Even immortal ponies have mortal minds. Time was bent back on itself just for little ole me. Someone doesn't want me helping you. Someone far more powerful than I." He shakes his head as he notices glimpses of hope alight on their faces, "Noooo, not Celestia. She is a whelp compared to this. This entity." He pauses, then shakes off a chill and puts Twilight's minature down. "This entity scares me."

>pop< He is gone. With Fluttershy's minature.

The princess sits back down and slams the table with her hoof. "Burn him, he knows what all of this is about. Nevermind. I have a plan. Everypony, you have defeated the evil that held Silvery Orb hostage and the other princess is actually back at her home castle waiting to reward you. Now!"

The ponies look at each other as they stand in the middle of a castle throne room, not unlike Canterlot. Twilight is shaking her head. "I don't think this is going to work."

"It has to."

Twilight sighs sadly and turns to the throne. The princess stands there, Princess Whatever, waving for them to come forth and receive their gifts. The ponies shuffle forth, get their gifts. The End.

Luna gets up and teleports away. Nopony says anything as they wait. Several minutes pass. Pinkie Pie hops up. "I don't know about you, but whenever I feel sad, I raid the fridge! I'll grab something for everypony!" She hops off to the kitchen, though those closest to her notice there is less bounce in her than normal. The silence drags on. Twilight uses this lull to create another miniature for Fluttershy, as well as reform her own miniature into a more dignified pose. There is a momentary bump in the mood when Luna does return, but the look on her face tells it all as she sits back down at her seat, staring at the notes in her sister's handwriting. Pinkie Pie sticks her head out with renewed hope, nibbles her lip as she reads the mood and goes back to snack gathering.

Rarity sits up and says, "Well, we are certainly not at an impasse just yet. We know the rules. Now we know the stakes. I vote we press on, conclude this business as it was meant to be played. That should win the day, yes?" The simple, straight forward plan takes hold and invigorates the party. Rainbow starts warming up her dice. Pinkie Pie trots in with refreshments, further boosting their spirits. Luna smiles forlornly, admiring the courage but not sure if the others were aware of what the odds were. Skipping to the end didn't work. That means no shortcuts, no cheating. No more gimme's. Whatever manifests from their actions would do so according to wits, stats, and the insanity of randomness granted by their dice. She catches Twilight staring at her with what she can only describe as her inner turmoil plastered across the smaller alicorn's face. Good, at least the group's leader was aware of things.

The DM clears her throat and addresses the eager adventurers before her. "Up to this moment, we have been blind, plodding along, singing a song. Ignorant. Now we know this is no game." She eyes the ponies and is greeted with steely eyes. "Your group stands atop a castle, before a ruined contraption, with a princess who has lost her memory, and another princess who is lost to all, though temporarily. As you decide your next step, keep in mind your actions will now have far reaching consequences. Stick together." She gazes at Slicer, who in turn looks to Twilight and shares a nod with her. "Provide each other strength." Applejack puts out supporting hooves to both Rarity and Fluttershy, who smile their thanks. "Never let the light die." Pinkie Pie beams a grin and crunches into some chips loudly as Rainbow holds her dice in her hoof, ready to get some awesome rolls. "You are the Magnificent Seven.......ponies." There are muted groans from the group.

Twilight mumbles quietly, "That was terrible, your highness."

Luna replies, "Give me a break, I just made that up."
> A Knight On the Town. Or Three.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The regal and magnificent Princess Luna stares at the other seven six ponies with an intensity borne in battle, her mind tempered by trials and sharpened upon the moonstone of emotions. Anger, from not being able to undo all of the alterations in reality, sifts through her mind. Frustration, in not understanding who or what is causing this, pickles her thoughts. Duty, to find her sister and right the wrongs that she alone must now endure, burns in her breast. Annoyance, that there were six ponies instead of seven, makes her eye twitch. She listens to the clock as its pendulums swing back and forth. tick. tock. tick. tock. tick. tock.

tick.

tock.

Tick.

TOCK.

"I'm back!!!" Pinkie Pie bounces into the main room, her personal little adventure to the bathroom finally concluded. The rest of the ponies sigh in relief from the tension that was slowly building. Applejack nudges Rainbow Dash awake, the cerulean pegasus wiping drool off the table as she grins sheepishly.

When Pinkie takes her seat, Luna glowers at the perpetually perky pony, then states to the rest, "Now, listen up! I want this to go smooth and by the numbers. We are all here and ready. We are gonna conquer, and we're gonna get some, is that understood!" The other ponies look at each other and nod rapidly in confusion. "I want swords drawn and maps drawn quicker. We have hardly done squat since we started this stupid game. But now, we are going to finally progress from the one castle with the one room, the one staircase, with the one alicorn guarding some scientific contraption..." Twilight Sparkle sits up, and not just because the word 'scientific' was mentioned. All those details seem to click for some reason, "...and it looks like we may finally get somewhere. When we last left our intrepid heroes, they had freed the unfortunate alicorn from an evil spell, but her mind is still addled. No matter what questions are asked of her...ahem." Twilight scribbles a few more words on her message scroll before she looks up, Luna staring back at her. She stops and folds the paper, muttering something about saving that question for later. Luna finds her place again in the script before her and continues, "No matter the questions, Silvery Orb cannot answer them. It is as though she were incomplete, bereft of all normal thought unless her sister is nearby, so dependent is she on her older...sister...as though day and night...could not exist...what?" Luna growls under her breath and flips through some more pages. At length she throws the pages onto the floor. "Burn this drivel for the insipid garbage it is and a pox befall her...AFTER thou hast found Our daft sister. Forsooth, Silvery Orb cannot remember name nor locus de soror. Ecfectus! Our little ponies, what do thou hast planned next?" They can sense Luna is agitated as her speech dips back a few centuries, so they are quick to respond.

Twilight's hoof is the first in the air, "Examine the contraption!"

Pinkie follows up, "Have a celebration for freeing the princess!"

Rainbow Dash and Rarity say in unison, "Search for more treasure!"

Applejack frowns at her friends and says, "Awd be more comfortable securin the castle before havin any parties or scavenger hunts, yall. What with roamin monsters and the like?"

Slicer Jen says under her breath, "I'd interrogate the princess harder." She notices Luna raising her eyebrow at her and follows up with a quick, "Or not."

Fluttershy waits until everypony quiets down before offering her opinion. "Um...if nopony else is up for it...um, well, I would answer the door, maybe."

Luna and the other mares stare at her with a collective, "Huh?" Just then the banging repeats at the front door, which sounds like somepony had been banging on it for a while. Luna throws up her hooves and kicks away her chair, storming around the room yelling, "Argh! Why do We even bother? Answer the door! Nay, forsaken the entire world hast become,  because of some unknown magic destroying reality and stolen Our soror! Our role be anecdotal at this point. We just narrate a stupidly written script. We art the DM and We get no preparation notes, no insight as to what in Tartarus this whole adventure is about...and that pony at the door better have a good reason for interrupting US!" The last few words are blasted in the Royal Canterlot voice at a cowering Fluttershy.

While Luna continues to vent, Fluttershy is already backing up to the door, waving her hooves at the princess to calm her down and smiling nervously before spinning around and galloping the short distance to the front of the entryway. She inhales deeply, and then throws open the door to say rather softly, "I am quite, um, sorry that we cannot receive you. However, you could come back later once we...um...save-" She blinks and squeaks out, "...equestria?" Her voice squelches to a halt and she stops breathing, her eyes staring past the large group of ponies standing before her. It isn't their clothing that gets her attention, vintage outfits that should only be in fantasy novels. It isn't the soot, ash and blood that covers their faces and clothing. It is the town behind them that is burning, the roving bands of goblins and kobolds and wargs torching what buildings have not yet been set ablaze. The town did not resemble Ponyville anymore. However, this new version, so eerily close to the one in the game, was under massive assault.

With wide eyes and pinpricked pupils, Fluttershy steps back and turns to address the mares inside. "Uh. Twi...princesssssomepony!" She takes a quick breath when she remembers to breathe again. "Um, it's for you." She waves her hoof in the general direction of the crowd outside and hides behind the door out of everypony's sight.

Twilight furrows her brow and pushes out of her chair. She knows her friend is not accustomed to confrontation, but greeting strangers at the front door is hardly a challenge for Fluttershy to get flustered over. She trots over to the open doorway, mindful of her friend hiding behind the door and prepares a generic, 'thankyou-come-back-tomorrow' response to whoever is outside. She takes one look outside. What comes out of her mouth is, "Plot me."

Rainbow Dash falls out of her chair and the rest of the ponies come rushing over to see what shattered Twilight's demeanor. Their reactions are very similar. They stand there for a few seconds just taking in the sight. A small group of kobolds notices the crowd of vulnerable ponies in front of Twilight's castle and start charging at them, lit torches in their clawed hands. All the ponies are frozen in disbelief until they are jolted from their stupor by a beam of blue light sizzling over their heads from behind to impact the kobolds. They explode into smoking bits that fizzle away as black smoke. Luna addresses all the ponies before her, her horn blazing with blue fire, "This seems to be part of the altered reality. Elements, thou art still defenders of the realm. Arm yourselves for real combat. Slicer, gather thy Lunar Guard issued equipment and standby. The rest of yon villagers, inside and take refuge, your rulers shall deal with this menace!" The crowd outside immediately flows in and around the princess as she stands in the doorway, sending blasts of raw power out into the streets, mowing down whole swaths of invaders. The six Elements of Harmony nod and rush to the room where the aspects of their friendship reside. Slicer runs over to her saddlebags to fish out her armor and additional weapons. After a minute, aside from the villagers galloping by, it becomes eerily quiet. Slicer turns back around to see Luna wandering around the room, wistfully humming to herself. She sits down rather slowly at the head of the table again, and idly picks at the scattered pages in front of her.

Slicer walks over to the table while dodging random villagers as they scurry by. When she is close to Luna, she states, "Your Highness, I am ready to fight. What are your orders?" The princess smiles at her softly, completely different from her earlier warlike persona. Slicer is immediately put on her guard and tenses up, ready to fight. Instead, the dark alicorn reaches into a chest that wasn't there before, a chest eerily like the one described in the game. The wingless thestral starts to get a sickening feeling. Luna pulls out a dark figurine, glassy onyx expertly formed in the shape of a prowling cat. As the item is offered to her, Slicer looks up at her mentor and asks with impending dread, "Wh...where did you get this?"

The princess smiles serenely and replies, "From the Chest of Champions, of course!"

Not accepting what is happening in front of her, Slicer shakes her head, "No, that can't be. Princess Luna, this is all supposed to be a game. You said so yourself!"

In a motherly manner, the alicorn shakes her head and pats Slicer's shoulder. "Sooner or later we must put away our games and face reality, yes? Do be a dear and address me as Silvery Orb. Luna is a pretty name, albeit a luney one!" She even has the audacity to titter at her own joke.

With a dejected sigh, Slicer sits back on her haunches and stares down at the figurine. "You are lost to us, too."

Several shrieks erupt from down the hall and what sounds like a stampede signals the Elements' return, minus their Elements. Each and every mare is standing there holding their prizes from the game, now in physical existence. Pinkie Pie seems to be the only one unfazed as she keeps finding new locations to put her smiley face sticker. Twilight steps up to Luna and says, "Your Highness, the Elements are gone! All that was left behind were these things!" She holds up her quartz crystal, seemingly useless in her hoof. While the other ponies seem awkward with their swords, Rarity is almost ecstatic over her book of spells as she delves deep into a rather complicated magical process to boil water.

Luna nods solemnly and waves her hoof. "But of course. Your prizes have chosen you, as you choose your path to wield them and seek your destiny." Twilight sits back and quirks her brow, blinking. She then notices Slicer holding her figurine.

"Wait, where did you get that?" The dark thestral looks up sourly and glances at the chest and the princess holding it. Twilight follows her gaze and it starts to sink in. She closes her eyes, "No...nononono...we need her guidance. With both princesses lost, the sun, the moon. How are we going to-" A guttural roar comes from the doorway, a towering orc standing there brandishing a horribly spiked mace. Several of the villagers scream in terror.

Applejack growls and charges at the orc, spinning around the last instant and bucking the orc in the stomach. The orc doubles over and is flung back outside, knocking down several other creatures. Applejack nods and turns back to her friends. "Like it or not, we still got a job tah do. Twi, yer still our leader." Rainbow walks up next to her and peers out of the doorway.

"Heh, look at that! The orc vaporized into smoke." Indeed, what was left of the orc and the group of monsters it had crushed had already disappeared into nothingness.

This information bolstered Twilight and she trots to the doorway. "That's it! This town, the monsters outside, even the dilemma of the princesses. It's all some kind of illusion." She slowly moves the door to peer behind it. Fluttershy is still there, hanging from the top by her hooves. "That also means you won't be hurting anypony when you beat those bad goblins for scaring your pets, Fluttershy." The yellow pegasus still looks dubious, but she relents by dropping down and coming out from behind the door. The group starts stepping out of the castle cautiously one by one, with Twilight last. She notices Slicer isn't with them and turns around. The thestral is still sitting near the moon princess, staring at her in dismay. "Slicer, we can't do anything for her right now. All we can do is press forward and get to the end of this. We still have to protect the town from what is going on right now. I think that is what we were meant to do in the game, anyway."

For a second, Twilight isn't sure Slicer even heard her. After a time, the thestral  gets up, pocketing the figurine. "Perhaps. Though now I AM tempted to interrogate her a little harder." She looks back at Twilight and nods. "Give me a couple of minutes, then I'll be out there helping you." She adjusts her stance and squares up to the princess, who seems to not even notice the wingless pony about ready to lay into her as she sits in her seat, humming some nonsense tune.

Twilight clenches her jaw and mutters about disobedient guards, turning to head out and see what the state of affairs the town is in. "Fine. Just don't take too long to miss out on your dramatic last minute save the day routine. This script is corny enough to be stuffed with them." With that, the young alicorn pockets the seemingly useless crystal and powers up her horn. When she steps outside of her castle, she finds her friends huddled in close by the alcove of the doorway, bearing witness to the destruction the evil creatures are wreaking on the town. There is hardly any townsfolk left to persue, so the goblins saw fit to continue burning and pillaging the undefended buildings. Lacking other excitement, the smarter orcs were starting to notice the stalwart ponies in front of the castle. Twilight sees the impending attack and immediately takes charge.

"Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, form a defensive line in front. Raise your swords and keep them from getting through. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, we are the ranged attack line, so stay behind your swordspony and do NOT leave the group, whatever you do. Slicer Jen, you are-" She cuts off as she glances behind her, the door still closed. Twilight grits her teeth and sighs, "Right, you are doing your own thing. As usual. Okay, mares, we can do this. Push out and brace yourselves."

As soon as the group takes one step forward, several orcs howl and charge haphazardly at group. Some of the goblins take notice of the orcs' action and lick their lips, thinking of pony flesh and other horrible things. They join in the rush to an almost certain kill fest. Applejack and Rainbow take stances to receive the charge and rear up with their swords out in front. Fluttershy turns the flat of her blade to the enemy and curls up, completely terrified of the spectacle in front of her. That is when Pinkie Pie pulls out her lute and strums the most dissonant chord anypony has ever heard. The sound creates such a sonic pulse that the orcs and goblins stumble and fall, grabbing their ears as they drop their weapons. The two braver ponies take this opportunity to lunge forward and stab at the fallen creatures, the evil denizens immediately turning into mist as the swords are pulled back out. Twilight fires off flaming orbs at the goblins and some wargs that managed to avoid falling down, the wargs exploding into fire as they seem to be highly susceptible to flame. Rarity finally finishes a passage in her tome and several images of her flash into being all around town, confusing the evil creatures and disrupting any further followup to their initial charge. Other orcs and some kobolds walk toward the main group at a slower pace, waving spiked maces and cudgels. it becomes a pitched battle as they press up against the front line, with Applejack and Rainbow doing most of the sword swinging. Rainbow has to repeatedly overextend to protect Fluttershy as she cowers behind her mane, occasionally waving her green sword in the enemy's direction. Once or twice Rainbow and Applejack have to dodge Fluttershy's swinging as much as the filth in front of them.

One goblin climbs up on a nearby one-story building flanking the fighting group and pulls back on a crude bow, the black metal-tipped arrow aimed square at Twilight's head. The movement catches Fluttershy's attention as she is almost completely turned away from the fighting that is up close. The goblin lets loose and the arrow sizzles in, aimed true. An oval shield of rotating leaves materializes mere inches away from Twilight, the arrow shattering on it just in time. Twilight is about to cast a lightning spell when it is interrupted by the loud noise of the deflection. She sees the shield before it dissipates, then glances up to see the goblin swearing and nocking another arrow. She yells out, "Thanks for the shield, Rarity!" Rarity frowns and briefly turns to Twilight in confusion, then dives for the ground as several more arrows fly in from another direction.

"I don't know what you are thanking me for, Darling, but this situation is fast approaching disastrous proportions!" She sends harmless flashing lights at another group of goblins and they whip around their bows at them in fear. Rarity yells to Twilight again, "I'm running out of incantations!" Twilight nods grimly, already feeling her spell power running low. Initially she had thought to use her most powerful spells up front and take a huge chunk out of the enemy forces, but there were too many of them. Then she notices Fluttershy has crawled away from the group, trying to reach a nearby hedge of bushes that has so far survived the fires. A particularly nasty orc also notices the wayward pony and starts walking in her direction, twisting the scimitar grip in its hand in anticipation.

"Rainbow! Fluttershy needs help!"

Rainbow glances behind her, but immediately is beset by several goblins at once. She only knows that Fluttershy is not nearby anymore. "I have my hooves full at the moment! Applejack, can you get her!?" With a push of absolute desperation, Rainbow flaps her wings hard, punching into the group of goblins with her sword held sideways in both hooves out in front of her. The move bowls over several of them, only to have her scrambling back on her heels as more goblins replace them. Applejack yells and whips around, bucking another orc. As soon as it drops, several arrows fly in from behind it, one pinging off her blade. She grabs the fallen orc and heaves him up, his body taking most of the assault. After a few seconds the orc disintegrates, the stuck arrows clattering to the cobblestones. Something nags her regarding her flank but she pushes it to the back of her mind, concentrating on the orcs moving in to replace their fallen brethren. She also knows Rainbow asked her an important question, yet the adrenaline is keeping her from focusing on it. Even Pinkie Pie has resorted to firing her party cannon at point blank range and bonging the survivors with her lute. Several broken lutes lie nearby, her supply seemingly endless.

Twilight yells for Fluttershy and starts to move toward her, only to have to dodge a low swinging dagger from a kobold. The small reptilian creature was somehow able to swing around behind the sword-wielding mares and was attempting to shut down their magic-user. Twilight takes her staff and punches the kobold in the face, knocking it out cold. She sees the orc raising its sword overhead, Fluttershy oblivious to the creature towering over her as she slowly creeps into the bushes. Twilight yells, "FLUTTERSHY! NOOO!"

A dark shadow moves in on the orc, light glinting off a long knife as it sinks into the orc's lower ribs from behind. The orc twists around, chopping the bushes just to the side of Fluttershy as it howls in pain. The shadow takes on the form of Slicer Jen as she spins around, slamming her blade into the other side of the ribs higher up, puncturing a lung. The orc turns around, attempting to catch the thestral with a backswing, but Slicer rushes inside its reach and throws herself down on the ground, skidding on her knees underneath the orc as she raises her blade, neatly eviscerating the orc as she slides by. She ends up right next to a wide-eyed Fluttershy that just now started to notice what was going on near her. With the orc crumbling into a pile behind her, Slicer leans in close and says, "Bullies are only bullies if you let them be. Your friends need you. If nothing else, you can use the flat of your sword, yes?" She holds her gaze with Fluttershy until the yellow pegasus nods reluctantly. The thestral stands up, sees the goblin archers recovering from Rarity's incantation and starts making her way towards them in an indirect pattern.

With Fluttershy's emergency taken care of and the danger of the archers about to be removed, Twilight refocuses on the fighting in front of her. The press of creatures on Applejack and Rainbow is too close. What few spells she has left, any of them would harm her friends as much as the enemy. Slicer's addition may be a bit late, but doing the figures in her head, she already knows if they had all seven ponies in place, they would still be in trouble. This is no game either, spotting Applejack. The stalwart earth pony is showing several cuts and nicks on her, though her resolve keeps her from being affected by the injuries. Clearly this is real, and they are being worn down. There are at least another twenty creatures beyond what they are dealing with. Firing off her last fireball spell into the back ranks, she charges forward, raising her staff in a desperate attempt to help her friends.

A loud animalistic roar resonates over the fighting. All participants slow their actions, glancing around in terror to see where that came from. A massive black form leaps over the group and plows into the heaviest cluster of orcs that are opposing Applejack. Black blood and shreds of orc armor and flesh are flung about as a giant beast of fur, claws, teeth and yellow eyes makes short work of them. The moment is accentuated when the goblins, orcs and kobolds freeze, staring at the enormous black panther that is dripping in their comrades' entrails. A low thunderous growl emanates from the panther. The wargs are the first ones to yowl in fear and take flight, followed by the kobolds and the goblins right behind them. The orcs, made of sterner stuff, raise their weapons. The leader finally steps out of the rear ranks, several feet taller than the tallest orc, all decked out in necklaces of bones vaguely pony-like. One of its tusks is broken. A hideous scar runs down from it's forhead and the side of its face down to its chest. It raises a blood covered broadsword and yells its challenge at the newcomer.

Before it can finish its battle cry, the panther leaps at it, grabs its throat and rips it out, the battle cry turning into a gurgling escape of air as it collapses. The remaining orcs look at each other and run as fast as they can to follow the other escaping creatures. Twilight, although stunned by the quick sequence of events, does make a mental note that they are heading west, toward the mountain ranges far off in the distance. Her attention snaps back to the large panther that slowly approaches the group. The ponies huddle against each other, unsure what to make of this intimidating animal.

Slicer Jen trots up to the panther and whispers quietly in its ear. They look into each other's eyes and the black panther rumbles softly,  bounding away down one of the side alleys. She watches it leave and walks up to the group. "I sent it to ferret out any creatures hiding in the shadows." No sooner does she finish her statement then a squeal of terror sounds out, cutting off rather abruptly. "Hope that wasn't a pony."

Twilight steps up to her, aghast. "That's not very funny, Slicer! And where did that...cat come from?? I've never seen an animal so large." The others nod, making similar statements. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, is anything but afraid. Her eyes are literally heart-shaped, staring after the panther.

"That was the most magnificent thing I have ever seen," the yellow pegasus says quietly. She notices Rainbow pointedly staring at her, "um...well, aside from other magnificent things, like a rainboom. Maybe." Fluttershy mumbles something else and grows quiet after Rainbow smirks and waves her hoof.

"Don't worry, Shy. We know  YOU know I am all the magnificent anypony will ever need!" As Rainbow poses, the other ponies shake their heads. Fluttershy gives a strained chuckle, but her eyes still wander back to the alley the panther disappeared down.

The conversation between Twilight and Slicer steers back to the panther. "Like I said, where did it come from? One minute, we were about to be overrun, then the next you and that cat sweep through them as if they were nothing, making for a classic dramatic last minute....savethedayroutine oh for crying out loud, you did that on purpose, didn't you!?!" Slicer snorts and shakes her head.

"As much as I'd like to poke your little bubble, no. I didn't plan it that way. I plied the princess with more questions but she seems too out of it, her mind more like a child's. She did spontaneously come out with the panther's name, which happens to summon it from that figurine I got from the chest. That's when things started sounding very bad out here and I knew it was time to help. I suppose if the panther's name was rattling around in there, she might have other information, hidden." Slicer wrinkles her nose, more concerned for her mentor's mind than what might be in it.

The alicorn ponders the thestral's words for a time. She replies, "Then she may still have information we can use, just locked up in her head somewhere. Priority One is information then." She glances at the alley, hearing another scream further off. That could have been a pony. "Uh, what happens to be the panther's name, if you don't mind my asking?" The thestral raises her eyebrow and walks off to inspect Rainbow's cuts on her body. Twilight frowns and mentally pushes away a pang of jealousy. "Stupid crystal." She sees Rarity delving back into her book, tracing a hoof down one page and murmuring about snowflakes and their propensity to destabilize with the slightest breeze. Twilight sighs and looks back toward the mountain range, wondering about where those creatures came from.

Once the townsfolk inside the castle notice there are no more evil creatures, they start to file out of the entrance, thanking the ponies for their bravery as they pass before quickly running to nearby water troughs and wells to put out the raging fires still consuming the various buildings down the street.

As Twilight's friends receive the townsfolk and their thanks, they walk up to her as she stares off toward the mountains. Applejack asks her, "Watcha lookin for, Sugarcube? Didn we have enough excitement for one day without yall tryin to search for more?"

The alicorn turns back to her friend and replies, "They fled in that direction. I thought it important to mentally notate. When one is adventuring, one has to learn these things in case there's a.....an arrow in your flank!" Twilight points at Applejack in horror as the orange pony turns around to look. Neatly sticking out of her flank just behind her cutie mark is a black arrow.

"What? Oh, wouldya looka that. Didn even feel it, tah be honest, Twi." For her part, Twilight is turning pale at seeing such an injury and tries to console Applejack. Fluttershy faints. Rainbow, fending off Slicer's ministrations, attempts to touch the arrow, eliciting a yelp from Applejack, "Hey der pardner, don be touchin that! Hurts somethin fierce when ya do! Twilight, Ahm okay, really, Ahm not gonna die."

Slicer steps up past Rainbow and eyes the arrow, then sits back and pulls her medical kit out of her saddlebag. "Mmm. Arrow wound. I'll have to make a larger incision around the site to back out the arrowhead, treat the wound against infection and sew it up. Can't leave it in or the tissue refuses to heal on its own, with the body attempting to push it out, which it can't. The inflammation alone could lead to other problems, death not exclusively one of them." Applejack looks none too happy, but resigns herself to the inevitable pain forthcoming.

Twilight, on the other hoof, is perturbed for a different reason. She remarks out of the blue with, "This seems awfully familiar, like I read this somewhere."

Slicer raises her brow as she sterilizes a scalpel with some alcohol. "You read stories about torturing pony flanks?" The other mares start giggling. Applejack grits her teeth, trying to remain still.

Twilight turns red and stammers out, "Yes, I mean, no!" Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash literally fall over each other laughing. Applejack tries to chuckle but winces whenever she moves. The adrenaline is wearing off, making her injuries more noticeable. "That is, there is a fairy tale about a donkey and an org...ogre. I said ogre!" More snickering ensues. "Stop laughing, it's a filly tale."

Rainbow cries out. "More like Fifty Shades of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, she means!" Applejack can't stand it and starts laughing, and crying from the pain.

"ARG! I'm just saying this all seems familiar." She pauses, watching her friends. "There is absolutely no way I can explain this clinically, is there?"

They answer in unison, "No!"

"Fine, forget it. Will she be alright?"

The thestral puts aside her mirth and answers, "I have to back out the arrow. That will cause more damage than it did going in, unfortunately." She moves in with her scalpel.

The patient in question pulls away. "Now wait jes a sec, wats this 'unfortunate' business? You ain't backin nothin out til we git that straightened out."

Slicer narrows her eyes and holds up the small surgical tool. "I coated the blade with an anesthetic. I'll be gentle. Whisper sweet nothings, if you are into that." It is Applejack's turn to blush as the others start giggling.

She is quick to recover and holds her head up, closing her eyes. "Ain't none a that necessary, Doc. Jes do yer thing an be done wit it."

The thestral nods and continues with her work, easing the blade into Applejack's flank near the arrow to apply the anesthetic and widen the wound. "Thank you. Were that all my patients were as pragmatic as you..."

Twilight watches her work. She can't help but dig at Slicer for her earlier comments. "Not much for bedside manners, are you," she asks quietly.

Slicer shrugs as if it's nothing important. "I can perform miracles on the operating table, not in the recovery ward. That is what nurses are for."

Applejack twists her neck around, "Best not be insultin Nurse Redheart. She's a fine right nurse, by mah standards."

Slicer is able to remove the arrow and tosses it aside. She applies some treated gauze to staunch the bleeding and prepares the needle and thread. "From my experience most nurses are excellent at what they do. As for me...dear Luna, you bleed a lot." She mutters to herself, mixing in some praises to Luna as she attempts to manage the wound. Applejack feels a warmth in her backside, but dismisses it as the medicine Slicer applied. The thestral, however, is a tad disturbed.

Rarity takes one look at the wound and blanches as she mentally makes the connection between sewing clothes and sewing...ponies. "Darling, are you sure you can handle such an injury as that out here? I am not unfamiliar with injuries in the workplace resulting from particularly troublesome wardrobe malfunctions, especially around the vicious currents of fashion shows. However, we are in the middle of a dirty street, after a bloody battle." She wrinkles her nose at some of the smears left on the pavement, which have not disappeared with their source bodies.

The thestral flares out her nostrils, "As you might be excellent in your sewing, I am excellent in my craft. Just because SOME idiots take me for a simple combat medic, I also happen to be a fully certified surgeon. I can do this in my sleep...in fact, much of my training HAS been while I was asleep. I'm sure you are aware of Luna's dream training." Slicer remembers back on some of her sessions and wishes she had her mentor there now to comfort her. The other ponies nod grudgingly. While she is speaking, she presses the wound closed, about to begin sewing. Applejack tries not to move as more warmth flows through her flank. She almost sighs at the sensation as it relaxes her. At length, the thestral steps back and stares at the healed area.

Applejack flexes her rear quarter and reaches back to rub it. "Well Awl be. That is some might right training you got. I kin hardly feel a thang." The others step up to inspect Slicer's work. "In fact, Ahw feel even better than before the fightin started."

Twilight looks the most impressed. "If my doubts ever offended you, they are gone now. Very good work."

Slicer, however, doesn't look too thrilled. "Uh huh. That's just it. That work is TOO good, even for me. Princess, I need your assistance." She holds up the unused thread and needle. The others stare at the items in her hooves, then back at Applejack. Twilight's brow furrows.

"Wait. How did you do that? What assistance?" The thestral steps up to her and, without warning, punches the alicorn in the shoulder. The other ponies recoil from the unwarranted assault as Twilight covers her shoulder, yelling, "OW! Why did you do that!?" Slicer reaches up and brushes away Twilight's hoof, inspecting the area. She can see it starting to bruise, with some blood welling up in the scratches she caused. Slicer closes her eyes and whispers quietly while laying her hooves over the area. Twilight is able to catch Luna's name in the whisperings. The bruised shoulder becomes warm and there is a soft glow that envelopes the injury. After a few seconds, the glow disappears. Twilight moves the shoulder around, then stares at Slicer. "That was magic! I didn't know thestrals can cast spells!"

The dark thestral sits back and shakes her head. "We can't. At least not in the normal world." Not saying anything else, she lets her unsaid thoughts settle in. As one, the group exchanges glances and Twilight nods her head.

"The game. You are our cleric. Any thoughts or prayers to the one you worship helps with healing magic." She looks at the other ponies with newfound clarity. "We are assuming our ingame roles. That means we are still playing under the games rules. Rainbow, you can fly, yet you can also use your sword. I daresay there are other things we can do." Slicer looks at the castle, brow creasing in frustration. Twilight turns to Fluttershy. "You were the one that cast that leaf shield!" Fluttershy sits back and blinks.

"No...mm, no I couldn't have. I don't think?"

Twilight nods, "Yes, part of your druid powers, or your connection with nature." She turns to Applejack and says, "Which means-"

Applejack exclaims, "Awh ain't no barbarian!" Rarity chuckles at her.

Twilight replies, "I'm not so sure we have a choice at this point. We will have to figure out what other things we are capable of within the bailiwick of the rules. That means examining the game rulebooks back in my castle. First thing's first. Slicer you-" Twilight stops as she sees Slicer walking away from her. "Wait, where are you going?"

The thestral replies without turning, "To the nearest tavern. I need more information on where we are and where we are going next. That way I will be prepared to sacrifice more for this silliness if Your Highness decrees." She trots on down the street. Twilight grumbles in irritation and turns to the others.

"Okay, as much as I hate to admit it, she's right. We do need more information. But how can she not know where we are? This is Ponyville-" A random pony walking by cuts her off by telling her the area is called Ponytowne. The pony continues on with the rest of the crowd. "Ponytowne. How original. Fine. We need to find out how much has changed-" Applejack starts galloping off in the opposite direction of Slicer Jen. "Applejack, where are YOU going now!?"

Applejack bears her head down to gain more speed and yells back, "To find Sweet Apple Acres and mah family!" Twilight groans out loud.

"Argh. Fine. We can...NO! Rarity you stay right here!" Rarity was about to head off to her boutique. She smiles guiltily and turns back to Twilight. "I'm sure wherever your store is, your dresses are safe. Now, will nobody help me gather information?"

Fluttershy steps up to her and says, "Um, I can help you...but...well, that is, as long as we don't have to go into that very tall and ominously dark castle." She glances over Twilight's shoulder.

"What? What dark castle?" Twilight turns around and looks back at her home. It is now a very tall and ominously dark castle, exactly like the one in which they previously fought the cube, the undead, and then the dragon. Spike. He was supposed to be in a coma in her personal castle living room. Along with the player's guide and other game books. Her BOOKS! "Oh Great Celestia, my library!!!!" She tears off in a trail of smoke as she runs to the doors and pushes through them as though they did not exist.

The remaining ponies look at each other. Rainbow Dash pipes up, "Uh, I think we should probably escort her. No telling what is still left wandering around in there, remember?" They all recall Applejack's suggestion to sweep the castle clean. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity agree in unison and make haste to follow their intrepid princess in.

Before they go inside, Rarity hesitates. When the others look back at her, she glances down the street. "I'm concerned for Slicer. I think Luna's condition is affecting her far more than the princesses' plights are affecting the rest of us." While Rainbow shrugs her shoulders, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie nod.

Pinki Pie replies, "I think you're right, there Rarity. Make sure she doesn't  do something foalish...well, something I wouldn't do. You know what, just keep an eye on her! Yeah, that works!" Rarity smirks at her not quite red friend and nods. She gallops down the street to catch up with the thestral while the three ponies left behind push the doors open, with Rainbow remarking to the creepiness of how accurately she imagined the doors to look.

After slowing down to make sure she doesn't miss the right building, Rarity eventually comes across an inn. When she walks inside, it is exactly as she imagined from the game described by Luna. Slicer is sitting at the bar, nursing a large tankard. The rest of the bar/inn seems to be empty. Rarity snorts over the notion of a typical guardsmare drowning her sorrows away in drink and steps up to the bar next to her, peering down at the container in front of the thestral. It is filled with chocolate milk. Rarity blinks in surprise. Slicer notices her expression and grabs the tankard, gulping down half the contents. Rarity says contritely, "Really hitting the hard stuff there, ninja nurse?"

The thestral roughly pushes the tankard away, liquid slopping out of it. "I'm NOT a nurse, you overbedazzled tailor."

Rarity chokes out, "Tailor!?! Tai...I will have you know, well, yes, I AM the BEST tailor in a thousand leagues! And bedazzling does wonders for an otherwise boring gala." Slicer looks at her. Rarity stares back. They both start chuckling.

"Alright, maybe not OVERbedazzled," the thestral offers.

The white unicorn pats the thestral's foreleg. "Quite alright, Darling. We're all tense with what is happening. And the ninja nurse comment was originally Twilight's, I overheard during her many mutterings. While I normally abhor name calling, I can see its need to lighten the mood once in a while." She watches Slicer reach for the tankard and pull another long swallow from it. "Perhaps this is not one of those whiles." Several silent minutes pass between the two ponies. Yells from various townsfolk can be heard outside as they coordinate putting the place back in order. The barkeep has been gone for quite a while, Rarity notes. She is about to call out for him when the door swings open, with Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie walking in dejectedly. Even Pinkie Pie's hair is a tad less bouncy.

Applejack remarks to Twilight, "Yall knew she wasn gonna be much help, jes as Ahw knew mah family wouldn be there." She gets no reply from the bummed alicorn.

Twilight pulls up a stool on the other side of Slicer and looks at her drink. "Chocolate milk. Hard stuff for the Lunar Guard. I suppose one can do worse, eh ninja nur-" She stops as Rarity is giving her the cut across the throat message of 'cease and decist.' For her part, Slicer doesn't appear as angry hearing it again.

"Harder than you think. It reminds me of pain, and death. In my line of work, that is all I will ever have as my companions." The other ponies stare at her. Rarity winces, and presses her hoof to her face, knowing Twilight is trying to lighten the mood, but piling on after Rarity's gaffe makes the moment that much more poignant.

The alicorn gets the clue. "Ooookay." She slides a little away from Slicer and raises a hoof, looking around for the bartender, "I will NOT have what she is having."

A short little dragon pops up, helped by a stool he is standing on. He says, "One 'no pain, no death' coming right up!" and proceeds to pour prune juice in a cup. Twilight and the others stare at him before Twilight screams.

"SPIKE!" She reaches across the bar and grabs up the little dragon, squeezing him. "I thought we had lost you!"

The dragon flails about while expertly setting the cup down, "Woh, woh nilly! Hooves off the goods, miss! The place for THAT kind of activity is down the street. Just uh, don't mention my name. I still owe them." Twilight drops the dragon and sits back, her cheeks red.

"Uh, Spike, did you just...say what I think you said?"

He looks at Twilight, then at the blushing Rarity. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow are dying laughing. Applejack eyes Spike in an odd manner. "What? What did I say?"

Twilight blinks, and then shakes her head, "Nevermind. Still, I'm glad to see you are not, well, completely changed, I guess? You don't remember us, do you?"

The drakeling eyes them, then shrugs. "You gals met up here a few days ago over in that booth, really focused on getting into some kind of adventure. Gee, you know, wish I could go on an adventure." He goes back to pouring more drinks for the rest of the ponies. Twilight thinks about something for a minute. She then takes out a piece of parchment with a hastily sketched map.

"I don't suppose you know where this is?" She taps one end of the map with her hoof, a crappily drawn mountain some distance from an equally crappily drawn town and a stupid looking smiley face on a moon over that town. Spike looks at it and grins.

"Nice! Did your filly draw this? Yeah, that's supposed to be Undermountain. My folks used to go there for the summer, but it's gotten kind of weird the last few centuries. Hold that thought!" He hops down from the stepstool and runs into the back room. Twilight claps her hooves in glee. Finally they were making progress! He returns with a scroll box and uncaps the end, spilling out at least a hundred maps, some new, some very very old. He drags one map over and it mirrors the drawing Twilight has, only it is very well detailed and inked in with color. He lightly taps the mountain. "There you go. Takes some brave souls to head that way these days."

Rarity raises her brow and turns to Twilight, "Pardon, but where did you get that drawing from, Twilight?"

The alicorn sits back and replies, "We spoke to Princess Luna again, after we found her in the 'new' castle." Slicer perks up, interested in what Twilight has to say. "Like our esteemed surgeon has observed, she is very much not there. After rambling on about cake, of all things, she sat down and started drawing this map with crayons, repeating that 'She is under the mountain, under the mountain.' At the time I had a horrible thought that she meant buried. No. She meant Undermountain, a place." Twilight taps the map Spike provided. "This place." As Rarity nods, Twilight looks back at Spike intently, then at the other ponies. They catch on and nod in approval. She looks back to Spike, "You know, we are always looking for another adventurer to join us. Since you have such great knowledge of our destination, what if you took a vacation and helped guide us for a while?"

It was as if the dragon's mind exploded. He literally hopped up and down in anticipation. "That would be excellent! But I would need a purpose. All party members need a purpose. Oh I wish I could be a Dragon Knight, but no, you already have knights. Three to be exact." The ponies look at each other, then at Applejack as she guffaws out loud.

"Told ya, ya apple-rotted knuckleheads, ahw aint no barbarian!"

Spike replies, "To be exact, you are a paladin of Devotion." He looks at Rainbow Dash. "You are a paladin of Vengeance. I certainly wouldn't want to get in your way." He then looks at Fluttershy and smiles warmly, "And you, for all your soft timidity, you are a special paladin." He seems enamored by Fluttershy, who in turn blushes.

The ponies stare at him in awe. Twilight furrows her brow and says, "Spike, how do you know all this stuff? You can't have hatched from your egg all that long ago, and you only met us just recently."

The drakeling grins and leans against the bar. "I might have a new body, but I am a very old soul." He watches their confused looks, then laughs. "I'm just messing with you. It says so on their swords." The ponies twist around to look at the swords strapped to their backs. Applejack draws hers out and lays it on the bar. Spike traces a claw over the runes inscribed on the bluesilver-tinged blade. "It's an old language, something my parents taught me a while back, oh and we hatchlings do live quite a while as hatchlings." Twilight scratches the back of her head. "See, these symbols mean 'honesty, courage, compassion, honor, and duty.' A tough path to follow for most, but you, my dear, are straight up Lawful Good. Oath of Devotion rules your path." Applejack sits back thoughtfully. Twilight peers at the runes, not recognizing them. Spike says, "Dragonish." 

Rainbow slaps down her blade, "Alright, me next! Watcha got on my blade?"

Spike peers at it, tracing the red runes. "You are definitely into punishing others who commit grievous sins. You are not quite so righteous, but you are more of an avenging knight. Your tenets are, retribution, revenge...another version of revenge, single-minded revenge...yeah, that's about what they all mean. Ever walk into a coffee shop for the first time, look around at all the options and ask for coffee? Kind of like that, except, well, revenge flavored." He pulls his claws away from the blade. "Let's just say I don't want to be your target. Justice is ruthless in your position."

Rainbow Dash nods, "Darn straight it is!" She takes up her sword, eyes now bright with the knowledge that her sword speaks for her soul.

The others slowly turn to Fluttershy, who has been so very quietly sitting at the far end of the bar. She clutches her sword, unsure if it will spell certain doom or enlightenment for her. Spike slides over the stepstool and stands up on his tiptoes, straining to read the inscription on the blade. His eyes shimmer and he bows his head, "Hail to thee, Ser Damme, Fey Knight of the Wood, She Who Shelters the Light!"

Fluttershy turns red from embarassment and sits lower in her stool while her friends look on with fascination. "Um, I can't be...um, all that, I think. It's really too much." She sighs and smiles cutely, "But thank you."

Spike shakes his head and reaches out to hold her hoof, "No! Those are not compliments! They are your rightful titles. You fight the darkness to protect and love the beautiful and life-giving things of the world. You follow your own way, much like Nature does. In a way, you are Nature's champion! And my liege! Were I to ever be a Dragon Knight, I would fight by your side, Ser Damme, for you follow the Oath of the Ancients."

Twilight and Rarity glance at each, then clamber down towards Fluttershy's end of the bar, yelling Spike's name and pushing each other and their friends out of the way. Fluttershy and Spike are oblivious to them. Fluttershy looks down and closes her eyes, murmuring, "Thankyou, Spike." Just before Twilight and Rarity reach them, Fluttershy looks up and asks, "Would you prefer to be my squire?"

"Squire it is!" He raises a tankard and gulps down the liquid as Twilight and Rarity freeze right in front of him.

Twilight squeaks out, "Spikey!"

Rarity squeaks out, "Wikey!"

The drakeling wipes his maw and says, "Sorry girls, this one is taken!" He leans over and proceeds to teach Fluttershy how to pronounce each rune in dragonish while the yellow pegasus sits with a glowing warmth. She has acquired her first pet in this world. The two morose ponies push past their friends a second time as they return to their stools, filled with a feeling of loss as though they finally realize they took Spike's adoration for granted. Their friends remain perfectly still, eyes following them, except for Slicer. 

She nudges her tankard of chocolate milk toward Rarity. "Alas, poor Spike. I knew him...all of three hours. A fellow of infinite jest, and most excellent fancy scales." Rarity grabs the tankard from her and takes a swig.

The ponies sit for a while, digesting all that has happened up until now. All of it begins to settle in. The losses of things and ponies they knew, the draining results of the battle, the difference in this reality's Spike. Twilight sits up, duh's to herself and moves to write it all down, only to discover she has none of her writing materials in her saddlebags. She remembers it was all in her castle, where she left them before rushing out rashly to do battle. She sighs and groans, "My library is gone."

Applejack sighs similarly, "Sweet Apple Acres is gone, too."

Pinkie Pie says, "My party stash is gone!" Her hair is even less bouncy.

Rarity thinks about her boutique but says nothing. She is NOT a drama queen, thankyou very much.

Fluttershy thinks of her pets and cries softly, though Spike is there to console her, which make Rarity and Twilight cry more.

Slicer glowers, trying to figure out how to help Luna.

Rainbow hears the anguish from her friends and tries to lighten the mood. "I bet Fifty Shades of Donkey is gone, too."

Despite her eyes stinging, Applejack covers her muzzle in a poor attempt to stifle her laughter. Fluttershy stops crying and her eyes brighten while her cheeks take on a rosey hue, oddly enough. Pinkie Pie's hair gets bouncy again and she sits up. Rarity's eyes widen at the scandalous comment and Slicer, well she doesn't react all that much, though she does snort once as she stares at her drink.

Twilight starts to laugh until she realizes Rainbow is talking about her. She crosses her forelegs in a huff, grumbling about lack of manners and tact. Looking over at Slicer, the cause of her latest uncomfortable social situation, she asks sweetly, "Speaking of disappearing, where would a pair of thestral wings go, if one were to lose them?" Rarity's eyes could not get any wider.

Slicer picks up her tankard and slings the contents at Twilight, drenching the sputtering alicorn in chocolate milk. In response, Twilight throws her cup of prune juice at Slicer, who neatly rolls backward off her stool and out of the way. The cup sails over and hits Rarity in the forehead, it's contents staining Rarity's fur from the eyes down. Rarity calmly stands up as she holds a hoof to her head in pain, regards the two apologetic ponies, picks up Slicer with her magic and throws her into Twilight. As they both topple in a heap, Rarity screams and leaps onto the both of them, pulling any hair she can grab. "Prune juice stain takes DAYS to wash out of fur! How dare you both act unladylike in a public place!" She yells as she rolls on the floor with the other two, of which both try to jab and push the other toward the avenging unicorn.

Rainbow, Fluttershy and Applejack stare at the spectacle. Spike leans over to watch while wiping down the now unused tankard Slicer just emptied. Pinkie Pie plays a honkey tonk tune on an old standup piano in the background as if in a saloon. Spike asks, "When did we get a piano, or is that a secret bard power?"

Fluttershy smiles and replies, "Oh no, that's Pinkie power. You get used to it...um.. Or go insane. Mm, sometimes both."

Spike shudders and shakes his head, "Scary."

The other ponies nod in unison, "Quite."

Applejack watches the three mares roll around on the dirty floor. "Call me a wet blanket, but shouldn somepony,  uh, step in, uh, eventually? So we can leave?"

Rainbow weighs in, "I dunno. Maybe they will get some xp from all that physical brawling. Magic users not being into contact activities, they could level up on that."

Applejack nods. That makes sense. "Still, Awh jes find it aw-ronic we are still in the same inn. From the ver beginnin. Still."

Rainbow looks around, "No way! You're right! But we aren't waiting all day for Twilight to waltz past every shop. This time we tie a rope to a book and drag it down the street and out of town. She'll take the bait."

Twilight stops in midfight to retort, "I heard that!" She stands up and brushes off the dirt as if nothing had happened. "By the way, what book are you talking about?" Rainbow and Applejack have another round of laughs. Rarity gets up and grabs HER book in a huff to go sit in a nearby booth and attempt to enchant the stains out of her fur, repeating the word 'uncouth' several times.

Slicer stands up and works her jaw with a hoof. She eyes Twilight with some respect. "For a prissy princess, you hit like a sack of books."

Twilight smirks, "Thanks. At least you stand up for yourself, unlike so many other Guards that cower around me." She pauses and tilts her head. "I...I am still curious about your wings, all insults aside."

The thestral eyes the alicorn, then shrugs as if not giving a damn this time. "Buy me another chocolate milk and you get to find out why I am the way I am." Twilight eagerly purchases another tankard in anticipation of this newfound subject in psychological evaluation.

The other four ponies, and dragon, just stare at them. Rainbow exclaims, "What the hay just happened?"

Applejack pushes her hat back, "I reckon...Friendship is Magic? I guess?"

Spike shakes his head, "Friendship is Weird with you guys," and continues cleaning his cups and mugs.

The other ponies nod in unison, "Quite."
> The Magnificent Seven. Eight. Oh for celestia's sake, NINE. Sheesh.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The magnificent seven heroes walk along a road of paved sandstone, its light tan yellowish color almost gold in the late afternoon's  light. Okay, eight heroes, if one counted the small dragon sitting on the yellow winged pony's back. They had already walked a good distance from the town and past several other settlements, and were trying to chase the sun in the west, though that would be a race not even Rainbow Dash could win.

A shadow moves just inside the treeline bordering the road going west, a swift glimpse of rippling black fur over lean muscle before it is gone as it moves ahead of the group. Twilight Sparkle glances to the others to see if anypony else noticed. Slicer Jen has a small smile on her muzzle as she follows the progress of the panther through the woods, but continues walking as though nothing is out of the ordinary. Twilight sighs. Fine, NINE. She floats her quartz crystal out of her saddlebag, inspecting it as it levitates just ahead of her. So unfair, she thinks to herself. After a minute, she becomes less focused on the crystal and she hears the conversation going on nearby between Rainbow Dash and Rarity.

"Truly, darling, you merely jested the point, and yet, she DID find a magic-user shop! While her initial expression was absolutely priceless to behold, ahem, I couldn't help but indulge in some shopping, myself."

Rainbow is easily floating along next to Rarity, flapping her wings lazily. She cackles, RITAL. (yes, rolling in the air laughing) "I know, right!?! They had a shop! What are the odds!?"

The purple alicorn grimaces and puts her crystal away, weighing in, "Given the nature of this game, odds were better than average on a single standard deviation bell curve." She smiles primly.

The flying pegasus wheezes one final time and alights onto the pavement, prancing a few steps. "Yeah yeah, sorry I asked. At least we didn't have to torture any books to get you out of town this time. 'Thou art Shakespoeny, how thy cover drageth before yon wayward princess.' " The rest of the ponies erupt in giggling and laughing. Twilight shakes her head, but can't help joining in on the giggling.

She then twists her head around to stare at the pegasus. "Since when did you read Shakespoeny, Dash?"

The pegasus struts her stuff and walks backwards, ahead of the group, "Ah yeah, this flygirl ain't just all about flying. I used to read books like everypony else back in grade school. Some of the greatest flying adventures were showcased in books. '80 Days Around Equestria,' 'Airpegasus,' 'A View to A Cloud.' "

Rarity leans over to Twilight and nudges her shoulder with hers, "Mm, 'Not all about flying.' Yes, we see that." Twilight grins. Rainbow shrugs and hops back into the air, hovering a few feet off the ground.

A twang draws everypony's attention to Pinkie Pie as she is walking on three legs while using her fourth to adjust a string on her....contraption. A series of musical instruments sit on the pink pony, all connected by various rods, strings and pulleys. The lute hanging in front of her by far has the most complicated system on it, designed to pluck strings and hold frets through various levers that have control lines connected to everything else. If one were to follow every control input to its source, one would have to throw their back out trying to get any of it to work. It was amazing nothing was making any noise while she was moving.

Applejack speaks up, "Hey there, Pinkie. Got any road cruisin tunes for us today? Roads jes melt away when the right song is aplayin." In response, the instrument-laden pony...says nothing, her concentration so focused on getting the inputs correct on her lute. Applejack blinks, then moves closer, "Uh, sugar, you awake in there? Need any help?" Nothing. She looks to the rest of the group, but they shrug back to her. Applejack gets a little closer and decides to pluck one of the control strings along Pinkie's ribs.

All the instruments sound off in a horrible dissonant chord. Pinkie Pie jumps into the air and various control lines and rods fire off again, sending out another boom of sound, this one with concussive force. The ponies are knocked to the ground, holding their ears. Spike, who has been riding on Fluttershy's back, gets knocked off. He rolls on the road and stands up, pulling Fluttershy's scabbarded sword off his back and inspecting it in a state of fright, afraid it might have taken damage.

"Nononono, noppity NOPE! This requires that special Pinky T-touch!" Pinkie checks all of the instruments to make sure they are at their original settings.

While the others gather themselves, Applejack picks up her hat and puts it back on her head. "Aw reckon she don't need no help, yall." She spots Rainbow Dash and Rarity giggling. "What yall so giddy abou...wait a tick, what's this T touch an everythang?" That's when the floodgates open, with Rarity and Dash bursting out in laughter. Twilight has her eyes closed and takes a deep sigh.

"They went through the DUSTIER parts of my life...LIBRARY. I meant library. They came across a book." There she pauses and begins walking. Fluttershy, Spike and Applejack wait for her to continue while following, with the other two snickering in the background. Slicer appears to not be paying attention, intent on eyeing the tree lines for any signs of danger. Twilight wrinkles her brow and quickly adds, "And it described a massage technique for pets."

Rainbow cackles in reply, "Uh huh! Not just for pets. And that's not the best part. Go on, tell them!" Twilight wiggles her head in feigned bewilderment.

Rarity picks up after Rainbow with, "Yes, she says dusty, yet the book looked like it was the cleanest, though most used book in the-"

"OKAAAAY," a flustered Twilight responds, "By the way, what were you telling me about your past life back at the inn, Slicer? Dragons, chocolate, a boyfriend? I had a lot on my mind so I didn't catch all the details. Do you mind?" Rarity shakes her head and smiles knowingly.

The recalcitrant thestral keeps her eyes looking outward, though her ear flicks in Spike's direction. "I had a boyfriend. There was a war that involved chocolate as a weapon. Dragons killed my boyfriend. Anything else?" Spike scratches his head and slowly looks away from the thestral, using that moment to pull out his Undermountain map and study it. A lot.

A beetle can be heard in the distance as it buzzes away from a rock. The only other sounds are the slow plodding of the group's hooves as the mirth and upbeat atmosphere is sucked into oblivion. Twilight gulps and mumbles, "Sorry...forgot those parts." The others simply stare at Slicer, wondering what horrors she has yet to talk about.

"There!" Pinkie Pie strums her lute, giving off a nice chord. She starts high stepping. Somehow, a soft metal brush starts scraping against a snare on her back while a short stringed instrument on her flank starts playing two notes back and forth. After a few beats Pinkie starts plucking three notes on her lute with a bit of swing thrown in. The tune causes the ponies to start nodding their heads in time as they walk. Before the sixteenth beat she starts singing:

"o/~ On the road again! I just can't wait to get on the road again! o/~" She slides in between Applejack and Twilight, grabbing them, still managing to keep all her instruments playing, "The life I love is makin' music with my friends, and I can't wait to get on the road again! o/~"

Pinkie trots over to Fluttershy and Spike and leans into them, singing, "o/~ On the road again! Goin' places that I've never been! o/~" She prods at Spike's map with her lute while he holds it up, half studying it, half listening to Pinkie. "o/~ Seein' things that I may never see again. And I can't wait to get on the road again! o/~" She strums her lute for a full chord and plants herself in the middle of the dance line that all the ponies have just now formed. Slicer tries to slink away but Pinkie grabs her and places her front and center, yelling, "Here we go!" as they all start to tap dance and sing together in chorus. Minus Slicer:

"o/~ On the road again! Like a band of Gypsies we go down the highway! o/~" Slicer makes a break for it, all of two feet, before Pinkie yanks her back, "o/~ We're the best of friends! Insisting that the world keep turnin' our way...and our way... o/~" Pinkie finally lets the thestral go, who subsequently falls on her face as the bard goes back to solo singing mode, the rest go back to following along and listening:

"o/~ On the road again! I just can't wait to get on the road again. The life I love is makin' music with my friends, and I can't wait to get on the road again! o/~" With that she goes into her solo playing mode, playing a hermonica, lute, and all the rest of the instruments while the others continue stepping in time behind her. Slicer picks herself up and brushes off the dust, muttering. She stops and watches the group, now concerned.

For their part, the rest of the party is enjoying themselves immensely, all fears and troubles behind them. On cue, they all form a line together, singing in chorus while stomping their hooves and dosey doe-ing, "o/~ On the road again! Like a band of Gypsies we go down the highway! o/~" Rarity and Rainbow Dash swing each other around. Twilight and Applejack swing each other. So do Fluttershy, Discord and Spike. They all continue singing as Slicer follows warily.

"o/~ We're the best of friends! Insisting that the world keep turnin' our way...and our way. On the road again! I just can't wait to get on the road. The life I love is makin' music with my friends, and I can't wait to get on the road again! o/~" They are all smiling at each other and do another refrain, "o/~ And I can't wait to get on the road again! o/~" Then Discord chimes in his solo, "o/~ And I can't wait to get on the road again! o/~"

A string on Pinkie's lute snaps with a loud twang, halting all the dancing and music. The ponies stop and watch Discord as  he continues dancing forward. A few seconds later, he figures out the group is not walking with him and he turns around, "Oh dear, I sang one too many lines in the out chorus again? I ALWAYS overdo that part."

Twilight is the first to snap out of her surprise. "H-hello, Discord. I take it you've decided to get back to helping us look high and low for Princess Celestia? While it might not be you causing all of this, it does help that you are not adding to it instead of stomping off like you did." The others nod as the draconequis gives them that odd-ball look of his. More odd-ball since he acts like he has no idea what they are talking about.

Discord looks at you and replies, "Exactly. I have no idea what they are talking about." It is the ponies' turn to blink and glance at each other in bewilderment. Fluttershy steps over to Discord while Spike waves his map.

"Um, Discord, we believe the princess may be located in this place, Undermountain...um, maybe."

Pinkie Pie perks up, "Oh, under a mountain?! Is that like Candy Mountain!?! o/~ Oh when you're down and looking for some cheering up! Then just head right on up to the Candy Mountain cave-" Applejack plants a hoof over Pinkie's muzzle.

"Not that Awm to look a gift pony in the mouth, but didn yall say we threw a meteor-" Twilight plants a hoof over Applejack's muzzle!

"Actually, what she meant was throwing a meaty. Ah...a meaty party!" Twilight giggles nervously. Now the group stares at her as Applejack flicks Twilight's hoof off her face but says nothing. This lie is so bold, Applejack has to see where Twilight is going with this one.

Discord gets a weird look, which is saying something considering it is him. "A meaty party?" The rest pick up and follow Twilight's lead, all noddling their heads. Slicer clearly wants no part of this and stands away from the group. Discord asks, "That involves, throwing meat?"

Twilight smiles, "Um, sure?" She smiles widely. The draconequis shares a look of professional party host incredulity with Pinkie Pie, who also happens to agree with his sentiments and ews.

"Miss Sparkle," he begins. "There is chaos, and then there is Nasty Chaos. I don't do the nasty." Pinkie Pie performs a double snare hit and cymbal crash behind him. He looks down at the map in Spike's hands. "Hmm. I suppose I could crawl around in deep dark caverns and slimy pits to find your princess of the sun. And yet, it would be so much easier to go where there are places of joy and brightness, and laughter, and..ugh...spare me." He shifts colors and holds his mouth to keep from losing his lunch. After he swallows, he smiles and says, "Still, I did say I would help you find her, so I shall continue my search while YOU go to that dreary sounding place. I doubt the true Celestia would slum around under a mountain. But where else to look...."

"Well," Twilight offers, "you could try waiting in Canterlot for her, maybe?"

Discord watches the alicorn to see if there is any deception. She is playing awfully innocent, yet he can't figure out what the rub is. "I shall try Canterlot again, perhaps wait for her on her throne. Yes. That should more than shake her from whatever summer getaway she's sequestered herself in, mm? And then once you need little ol' me, call. I shall come, chaos blazing!!!" With that he curls up midair in an ever constricting ball until he poofs out of existence.

Applejack pokes Twilight in the shoulder while wearing a frown. "Why ya'll keep me from talking bout that meteor he mentioned earlier, an what's wit all that lyin'?"

The alicorn looks around to make sure he isn't there, then replies, "Because I don't think it has happened yet!" That stuns the other ponies. Even Slicer moves in closer to listen to this one. Twilight swallows, now that everypony's attention is on her. "I don't think he even knows about his returning just a few seconds after he left, while we were back at the castle. He spoke of a time loop. I think we are still playing that part out."

Applejack's frown deepens and she shakes her head, "That still ain't right. He agreed to help us. Very least we can do is give him an honest warnin." Fluttershy nods vehemently while some of the others take on wistful looks, remembering all the trouble Discord has stirred up in the past.

Twilight shakes her head and draws a line in the dust on the road. "No no, it would break the chain of events. We are set on this particular timeline." She draws a half circle linking the beginning of the line to the end of the line. "Dear Celestia, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but Discord, the very aspect of chaos, is the one thing that so far makes sense, now. Do you remember what he said? Months! He was searching for months! Ponyville had disappeared, which we can confirm." She taps along the line, still inside the half-circle. "Then Canterlot. He said he was going there now." She taps further along the line, inside the half-circle. "I suspect that when Canterlot disappears, that will be near the end of this game. If we warn him," She then drags her hoof, causing a tangent line to form and split away from the main line, circumventing the half-circle loop, "he won't accuse us of sending him on a wild goose chase. He might even hide, thus not witnessing the meteor, or whatever event that is, which makes everything else uncertain." She continues the line past the end of the first line, dragging her leg away from the group and whips away her hoof, as though the line continues forever. "It has to do with that time loop he mentioned. We keep to the script he alluded, which is our best chance of ending this. Or, we stay stuck in this game forever." The finality of it all begins to sink into each pony. Rarity nods in agreement, though she furrows her brow.

"That is all well and good, darling, assuming most of us even understood what you just said, but do you have a meteor spell in your repertoire? Game spells or real?"

Twilight glances to the side as she sifts her thoughts, then rummages in her saddlebags, dragging out different mage books she bought in town. At length, she sits back and shakes her head, "No, I don't have anything close to that magnitude." It also dawns on her what Rarity is getting at.

Rarity continues, "I looked through that dizzyingly diverse diary of disparate spells I won from the chest. No meteor. Although, there is an entire treatise on forming a flaming snowball, complete with statistical analysis of its survival rate in Tartarus. How odd." Rarity scratches her head with a hoof. "Who would want to know that? It is intriguing." Twilight clears her throat. "Yes, suffice to say, dear, if WE are not throwing meteors, who is? And if this is going to take months, though you are correct, he mentioned searching months BEFORE Ponyville disappeared....this makes me feel light-headed." The others moan in agreement.

Their leader nods and glances at Spike's map and then up at the setting sun. "I agree. We'll figure it out tomorrow. According to the map, we've already made good time. I suggest we break for camp, off the road and into the woods far enough so we don't get caught by any roving bands of creatures during the night." She looks to Slicer, but the thestral has already disappeared into the woods. Twilight grumbles and they move toward the trees. Just inside the woods, Slicer steps out from behind a bush and waves them over to a small clearing, perfect for their camp. Twilight grudgingly thanks the thestral, who grunts in return and steps away, peering into the darkening shadows. Twilight just shakes her head, not understanding the wingless pony. Wingless. If it was akin to a pegasus without wings, then Twilight could understand at least some of the quirks Slicer had, remembering the thestral's life story back at the inn. "Perhaps I should understand you, given what you've endured," Twilight says mostly to herself, also remembering her own troubles in school, the name calling and teasing.

Slicer turns her head, "You say something?" She looks back out into the woods, as if waiting.

Twilight responds, "Your story, about growing up, back at the inn? I think I understand you better now. You need friends, even though you push them away because you are afraid they will ridicule you." She stands straighter, confident. "Rest assured, my friends and I may kid around, but we are the best friends a pony can have." Slicer watches Twilight as the alicorn beams a smile back at her, all nice and bright. The smile fades into fear as two floating yellow eyes approach them from the depths of the dark woods, the sun finally settling behind the mountain in the distance. The fire that Applejack has started reflects light off its black fur as the giant panther strolls past the two ponies and into the camp. While the other ponies have more or less gotten used to the large cat, they are still a bit hesitant to put their backs to such a large predator. The cat settles down and purrs deeply.

Slicer grins and pats Twilight on the shoulder. "With pets like that, who needs friends. Eh, Flutters?" Fluttershy briefly looks up with a questioning expression, then goes back to talking to Spike, who was telling her about dragon history. Twilight takes it all in, and exhales in exasperation.

"Oh, fine. Everypony has a friend. I was trying to say we are there for you if you need us, and it already looks like you've overcome whatever pitfalls you've endured, and together we are strong, and...and," Twilight pauses, noticing she's the only one standing in the shadows while the rest of them are sitting around the campfire. Slicer is scratching the top of the panther's head and grinning at Twilight. Rarity covers her mouth with a hoof. Twilight snorts, kicks a stone, then walks over to the ring of ponies. "I'm all right. You don't have to worry about me."

Pinkie Pie sits up, "You know, that could work as a song!" She pulls out her lute and starts strumming, muttering, "o/~ I'm alright....nobody worry 'bout me....why you got to gimme a fight? Can't you just let it be. o/~" The ponies start giggling and chuckling. Twilight smirks and gives a light 'ha-ha' to Pinkie.

When they settle down, Rainbow tilts her head and says, "Hey Shy, that last fight we had, we could have used that sword of yours." Spike glances over and holds Fluttershy's scabbarded sword defensively.

Fluttershy pats Spike's shoulder and says, "Oh, uh, I don't think that would have been a good idea. For me. heh."

Rarity leans over, "Really, darling. While physical confrontation is not in my class, game or otherwise as it were, I am not against poking our enemies in the eye." She takes a stick and demonstrates in the air.

Applejack sits up. "Wait a sec, dumplin. You like animals, right?"

"I like squirrels."

Applejack nods, "Okay, sure. An' squirrels, they gots claws, right?"

"Oh yes, very delicate claws that can hold onto bark quite well, as well as grab food, dig holes in the dirt and bury acorns and nuts for the winter."

Applejack waits for Fluttershy to finish her squirrel review. "Uh huh. Doncha think they also use those same claws to fight with, say when some other critter has 'em cornered?"

"Oh yes, but in very dire situations." Applejack face-hooves. Rainbow pats Applejack's leg for comfort.

"Hate to break it to you, Shy," Rainbow says. "That last fight was about as dire as it gets."

"Oh ye...hmmm." Fluttershy looks down, deep in thought.

Applejack peeks past her hoof, then asks tentatively, "So, watcha thinkin?"

"....I like squirrels...." There is a collective sigh from the group.

Applejack lowers her hoof. "Aw see. Good talk there, Fluttershy." The yellow pegasus smiles and curls up, Spike settling into the warm place against her belly as she covers him with a wing. Applejack shakes her head.

Rainbow pats Applejack again before looking up at a nearby tree branch. She says quietly, "We are SO doomed." She hops up into the air and settles in on the branch. The rest of the ponies set up their bedrolls and try to get some sleep. Twilight watches them all, lastly settling on Fluttershy. She lies down and stares up at the night sky, wondering what the next day will bring. When she is ready to get some sleep she rolls over, and is face to face with Slicer.

Twilight yanks back a few inches, exclaiming, "What are you doing!?" Slicer grabs her head and pulls her back, mere inches from her.

"Stop that! And keep your voice down," she whispers back. The thestral picks up her head and looks around. The others haven't noticed. As Twilight does the same, Slicer pulls Twilight's head back down onto her pillow. Before the alicorn can complain a second time, Slicer says, "You reached out to me, I get it. Thankyou, no thanks. I want to finish this game as much as you do and get back to my unit in the Lunar Guard. That means having every hoof on deck and ready to act. Applejack has a point, all animals fight when cornered, but I'm not sure we want to wait around for that scenario to play out before her aversion gets us killed."

Twilight can't help but think it is her duty to protect Fluttershy's innocence. "With Spike teaching her about the ways of a nature knight, I'm sure she will find a way to contribute without undermining what makes Fluttershy, well, Fluttershy." She makes it a point to pull her head back just a bit. "Besides, it's not like she can practice being a knight, unless it's in swordplay, and she only uses it as a shield."

Slicer's eyes narrow, then take on a wistful look. "We could always find some more baddies and make her practice..."

Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Spike all sit up and yell in unison, "NO!" Rainbow resumes snoring up in her tree and Fluttershy murmurs to herself, already asleep. The others look at her with embarrassment and then glare at Slicer. The thestral gets up and walks over to her spot next to the black panther, brushing off their glares.

"Fine, no baddies. What do I know. I've only had to fight for my life, all my life." She curls up against the large panther, who in turn purrs softly to her. For the briefest moment, the panther looks at the other ponies, winks, and lightly licks at Slicer's face. She chuckles softly with her eyes closed, batting away the panther.

Twilight and the other awake ponies stare at the two for a minute. Twilight mutters, "I need sleep," and lies back down, determined to get just that. The others nods, trying to shake that image of the panther's eerie intelligence out of their heads, settling in for a nice quiet night....
> Follow the Yellow Sandstone Road
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I sat in front of him, the early morning light beginning to edge over the horizon. We were on a small cliff overlooking our town, and he was facing the sun. Normally the brilliance blinded us, but he only had eyes for me. I could only imagine what I must have looked like, a dark shadow in a halo of burning brightness. This was my life's moment, that point in time when all things were perfect, innocent, simple. I leaned in close, keeping my sight on those watering mirrors that reflected me, and the sun. And Them. Again, he could not see them, his eyesight was washed out, but I could. I always saw them. like birds slowly flapping leathery wings, they were much closer than they seemed, due to their size. They were dragons, coming to destroy our township, and my Lance. I sat back quickly, saying, "No. no nono, go away!"

Lance glances over my should and nods, getting up, "I will go warn them. Head to the school and make sure it is clear, then the town hall. Those are the two biggest buildings and they will hit them first." With that, he took to the skies, dipping over the cliff, like he always did. The large chocolate Heart and Hooves gift sliding over the edge as well, like it always did.

I turned into the sunlight and yelled, "Come back! You are going to die! Noooo!"

Slicer sits up quickly, moaning, "No!!!" It is still dark in the camp, though morning is approaching. There is a momentary silence before the birds in the trees go back to twittering at each other. Applejack watches the thestral for a few more seconds, then she goes back to building up a small teepee of twigs and sticks, about to start a fire. Next to her is an array of apple skewers and some other vegetables, an appealing breakfast waiting to be unleashed onto the mares. Slicer makes a mental note to hit up the nearest stream for fish to augment their menu. She gets up, stretches, and slowly makes her way over to the orange pony.

Without looking up from her work, Applejack says, "Morning, sugarcube. Having trouble with your nightmares?"

Slicer narrows her eyes and shakes her head, annoyed. "Nope. Nothing I can't handle." She moves around, eyeing the stack of sticks. "I suggest you dig a hole for that fire, with a smaller one coming out the side to breathe the fire. That way the light will be hidden. And use dry wood to keep the smoke down. I have a feeling we are not the only ones out here." Slicer stares off in the direction to the road. "I'm going to go scout ahead. Those goblins and orcs are not likely to make a full retreat if they regroup. Everypony else should stay put until I get back." Without bothering to acknowledge Applejack's stare, she starts walking to the edge of the camp. She hears a snort behind her, followed by a soft comment.

"Y'all know Awm pretty good at it."

Slicer turns around and tilts her head at Applejack, waiting for her to continue. She does.

"Tellin when somepony is lying, that is."

Whether it is from the morning dew, or the anticipation of the fire, a definite cold chill passes briefly between the thestral and the confident pony. "What is that supposed to mean?" Slicer takes one step toward Applejack.

In turn, Applejack pushes her hat back slightly and softens her expression. "Awm just sayin, Aw can tell when somepony is lyin. Although, there's one pony who can tell better when they're lyin to themselves. You." With that, she pushes aside the pile of sticks and starts digging into the dirt, creating a hole. Slicer flexes her jaw for a minute, watching Applejack.

After a time, the thestral responds quietly, "Maybe, when all this silliness is over...with some help, I'll deal with it." She slowly turns around and continues her trek out of the campsite.

Applejack continues digging, not minding the extra effort to safeguard her friends. She mutters to herself, "Ain't that the truth."

***

The sounds of melodic music drift through the trees, sung by various birds hailing the morning sun. There is a cool feel to the air, spiked by the smell of wood smoke and cooking apples. Twilight Sparkle opens her eyes to the scene of four mares and one hatchling dragon salivating around Applejack as she is cooking a rack of apples over a small in-ground fire pit. Twilight stretches and gets up, making her way over to the breakfast club. She notices Applejack is fiddling with the fire pit, using a stick to keep the intake unblocked. "Applejack, you definitely know how to live outdoors, but uh, why go through the trouble of digging a pit when you can burn wood a lot easier above ground?"

Applejack turns one set of apples before she looks up. "I was gonna do that, but Slicer said it'd be safer to bury the fire, reduce smoke and light in case them goblins an' the like got bit too near. Reckon she knows 'bout that sorta thing, fightin' for her life all her life an' all. The pit concentrates the heat better, it seems."

The groan from Twilight was indicative of a number of things, not the least of which was a lingering headache regarding a certain thestral. She takes a deep breath to shake off the tension and glances around. "Okay, I'll give you that, Slicer. Slicer?" Twilight spins about, scanning the camp. The thestral is nowhere to be seen. "Argh, where did she go this time?" Applejack points toward the road.

"Straight yonder back the way we came. She did say to stay put, though." Applejack watches Twilight march out of the campsight, her grumblings about orders and willful guards reaching their ears. Once Twilight has left the area, Applejack turns back to her apples and starts handing them out. "She coulda least waited for breakfast."

Rainbow Dash chuckles and remarks, "I think she has something else in mind to chew on." The others nod in agreement, but Rarity shakes her head.

"Really, those two should work out their differences," she says.

Pinkie Pie hops up and down, exclaiming, "Oh! I know, they can play a similarity game! See, the two ponies point out each other's differences, then we point out their similarities! And then, we switch roles! We point out their differences and they try to point out their similarities!" Rarity watches Pinkie with her mouth open and is about to retort when a thought occurs.

"Pinkie, sometimes I swear you are a genius, and all of this," she waves her hoof at Pinkie, "is a ruse." All of a sudden, Rarity's vision is filled with pink and a pair of blue eyes just an inch from hers.

"Shhhhhh.....you'll blow my cover!" Rarity blinks. Pinkie blinks. The other mares blink. Rainbow sneaks an apple into her mouth.

Rarity whispers, "Forget I said anything." Pinkie squees and hugs Rarity.

Picking her way through the woods toward the road, Twilight grumbles to herself. " 'Stay put'. I'm going to make somepony 'stay put'. Who is the guard and who is the guarded? Princess Celestia said I would have to learn how to deal with guards. This should be a learning experience neither of us will soon forget." After a few minutes, she realizes Slicer had led them deeper into the woods than she remembered. Twilight muses they all must have been more tired than they thought the previous night. Eventually she reaches the treeline and can see glimpses of the road. There is a final set of bushes before it opens up, so she pushes through them. The sun is bright enough to almost blind her after being used to the shaded woods, but it gives her a good view of the road itself, and the figures moving along it. One of the figures stops and raises its hand above its eyes to look at her.

Something wraps itself around Twilight's mouth from behind and yanks her back into the woods, her assailant staying behind her as they both use the tree to shield them from view of the road. Twilight would have screamed if not for the hoof covering her mouth. Her panic doesn't change much when a knife blade comes up in front of her eyes, but instead of cutting her, it tilts to reflect the image of her face, Slicer's face right behind hers, and the road with the orc standing there staring at where Twilight was just standing. One of the other orcs grunts at the first one. Moments measured in heavy thumping heartbeats pass before the orcs move on, continuing east down the road toward the more civilized settlements. Once they have moved a good distance, Slicer lowers her blade. She whispers, "Congrats, princess. You almost ordered up that practice session for Fluttershy, except this would have come in waves." She releases Twilight and peeks around the tree, making sure the group of creatures has moved on.

For her part, Twilight feels a little embarrassed for the mistake. In retrospect, she agrees that stepping out into the open in broad daylight was a bit foolish, so she admits, "I didn't know they were there." Twilight tilts her head and eyes the thestral. "Hold on. You watched me step out the woods, didn't you? You could have stopped me anytime as I approached the edge. I did some research on your career in the Lunar Guard after that first game night. Your woodcraft is very advanced, enough to see me coming for a good distance and warn me long before I would have stepped out."

Slicer relaxes as she is sure the orcs have moved on. She turns back toward the direction of the campsite and beckons Twilight to follow. "I could have. I wanted to see how cautious you were, and my mentor always considers experience to be the great teacher of things. Incidentally, you weren't, and you learned." Twilight grudgingly follows. And grudgingly agrees.

"Okay, I've learned to appreciate experience. Still, I only saw three of them. You said waves?" Just then, a low horn sounds in the distance, picked up by another horn closer to where that group of orcs would likely be. A third horn, very distant sounds far to the west. The two ponies hold perfectly still until there are no more sounds.

"A patrol," Slicer says quietly and resumes her walking, with Twilight following. "I counted at least two earlier before you arrived. Each one has a horn blower. That was the 'all is well' signal. I imagine an 'all is not well' would have brought waves of more orcs." Hearing the thestral's explanation does not bode well for Twilight. Already thinking ahead, she is starting to run into logistical problems, the least of which is not being able to use the road anymore.

"Right. Good plan. The less fighting we have to do, the more ready we will be for the final fight." Twilight nods to herself and smiles.

Slicer glances sidelong and mutters, "There is never a 'final' fight." Twilight wrinkles her nose at the dour thestral but decides not to argue the matter. For now. She ponders her earlier argument she was formulating to unleash on the Lunar guard about giving orders to the relatively new alicorn princess, and decides to let it go. In a way, the thestral HAD been doing her job, guarding them, in her own, irritating way. There was a lesson in that.

"Oh, a friendship lesson! I need to write this down, so I can send to....ah. Hm, nevermind."

The thestral regards the princess, not quite understanding why she looks forlorn. Was this part of that whole friend thing Princess Luna was pushing the thestral toward? Slicer shakes her head, deciding it was none of her business. Thus the two enter the camp to the sight of the other ponies standing there with weapons drawn. Mostly. Spike is offering up the sheathed sword to Fluttershy who is shaking her head and murmuring explanations as to why she should not wield it. Rarity steps forward. "We heard the horns and thought the worst! Dears, a fight during breakfast is so not good for one's diet."

Rainbow waves a wing while shouldering her sword, "Nonsense! I could use a little exercise to get the muscles nice and warmed up!"

Applejack shakes her head. "To be honest, an that means Aw feel right strong about it, the best fight to win is one you can avoid."

Slicer steps over to her bedroll and starts tidying up. Twilight is grateful Slicer doesn't mention her minor misstep to her friends, who already have enough to tease her with. Twilight says, "We noticed the road is being patrolled by orcs. They were merely signalling to each other that 'all is well'. For them, at least. If we go back to the road, they will blow their horns and call in more waves." Slicer snorts softly. Twilight's eye twitches and she continues quickly, "Incidentally, we need to change our route. Spike, can we look at your map again?"

The dragon had given up on proffering the sword to Fluttershy and was staring at his map. He jumps up in surprise, "Map? Mine? Oh, uh, yes, here it is." He scampers over and hands the map to Twilight, who in turn spreads it out in the air with her magic. Applejack watches Spike and frowns slightly.

Twilight looks it over, tracing her hoof along the road. "It seems this road is the main thoroughfare throughout the countryside. No wonder they are patrolling it." The other mares gather around. Twilight taps south of the woods, showing another road snaking its way northwest. "This road comes up from the south and heads to the mountain itself. No large settlements are down that way, so I would imagine less patrols would frequent that area. And it cuts through the woods, so we can deviate south west, pick it up here," as she taps her hoof on the map, "and follow it without worry of being out in the open. Everypony agree?" The others nod their heads. Twilight looks to Slicer, who is standing a slight distance away from the group. She nods slowly. Good, no arguments from THAT direction at least.

"We will need to gather provisions since we can't guarantee coming across another settlement for a while," Slicer responds.

Twilight nods. "Yes, of course. Everypony, fan out, gather what you can. I heard a brook nearby, so we should get fresh water as well."

Slicer says, "And fish."

Some of the ponies make faces. Twilight nods, "If that is what you want later on, I'll leave it to you. I doubt the rest of us know how to fish." She reaches over and pushes down the tacklebox, fishing rod and lure vest Pinkie Pie was about to don, much to Pinkie's disappointment. "We don't have THAT much time, Pinkie." The ponies start to go about cleaning up the campsite and begin to forage.

Applejack sidles up next to Twilight and whispers, "Not sure about what you saw, but Spike ain't acting all on the up an' up."

The alicorn furrows her brow in thought and sits back, "Really? Has he lied about something?" 

Her friend shakes her head, still wearing her frown. "I dunno. Or he's not told us everythang that's important. Nondisclosure an all is a bit trickier than outright lyin'. Aw get the same vibe, but without the ringin'. Like a bell that vibrates from ringin', yet you don't hear the ringin'. That make any sense?"

Twilight giggles, "Actually, it does!" When her orange friend raises a brow, Twilight pats her foreleg, "Harmonics and resonance play a large part in magic." She smiles and continues, "Don't worry, I'm sure whatever he's hiding, it is for a good reason and we'll find out in due course. We've seen Spike go through a lot, and no matter what role he is playing today, he is still our Spike. We'll just have to be there for him when he needs us." That seems to satisfy Applejack for the time being.

Once the group gathers enough provisions to last them the rest of the journey, they meet up to look at the map again. Rainbow Dash zips up above the canopy to give them their bearing based off the sun and time of day and off they march, as much as they can through thick underbrush and forest. After several hours, the lush foliage starts to give way to more sinister looking plants. Even the animals have long since stopped making their usual noises as it seems this part of the wood is less popular to the local fauna. The shadows start to deepen as the better part of the day has now passed, giving their surroundings an eerie feel to the place. The edgy tension all the ponies are feeling explodes as Pinkie bursts out laughing. Rarity holds her chest in an exaggerated show of a possible heart attack. Fluttershy sails up into the canopy out of fright, realizes it is scarier and darker up there and craters back down into the ground, curling up behind her hair. Spike had the good sense to roll off as he felt Fluttershy tense up. He now helps her back up. The others pull up short and look at their pink friend.

Rainbow finally says, "Alright, Pinkster, what's the punchline this time?"

Pinkie wipes her tears away and exclaims, "Actually, I was thinking of something else, but you know what's weird?" The others stare deadpanned at her.

Slicer massages a spot between her eyes with her hoof, muttering, "Dare I ask...?" The next instant, Pinkie is resting her head on her crossed forelegs, atop of Slicer's head.

"Oooh, Truth or Dare, now THAT is a game worth playing, which might not be quite so weird as this forest, but that also reminds me, it's my Pinkie Sense!" Slicer ducks out from under Pinkie and gives herself an exaggerated shake from the sudden intrusion of personal space. Pinkie merely drops back down to all fours and continues, "I mean really, not one shimmy this entire time."

Rarity replies, "But darling, if we are following a set script, then that's a good thing, right? Nothing to predict since everything will happen a certain way anyway, so no need for warnings to change what we do?" She glances at Twilight, their resident logic nut, who in turn nods.

"That is sound reasoning. Afterall, reading the pure chaos of the unknown future is useless at this point, as Rarity points out. And thankfully, that once again tells us we are on the right track."

Pinkie blinks a few times, then smiles. "Okie dokie smokey! Because I definitely don't feel good about it. Not so much as a shivery shake, or a tally tail switch, or a-" She stops short and looks back it her tail. It twitches. Twice. She turns back to her friends and smiles, "Nevermind, is all good!" She starts hopping in the direction they were headed, giggling to herself, "We are sooo off script now!"

The rest of the ponies look aghast as she hops away, then start following her again, now a little more sullen than before. Slicer stares as they go by, the last one pulling up short next to her, Twilight. The alicorn watches them for a few seconds, then turns her head to Slicer and sighs, deflated, "Questions?" Twilight has a sardonic smile on her muzzle, a mix of feelings from the import of Pinkie's remarks and the enjoyment of seeing Slicer's confusion.

The thestral's right eye twitches. She opens her mouth, closes it. Opens it again, "You have no idea."

"I might. If memory serves, that particular tell means something is going to fall out of the sky." She giggles softly, looking up. "Good thing we have this thick canopy!" Twilight trots on to catch up to the group. Slicer follows, muttering to herself about drop bears and widowmakers.

Deeper into the woods they progress. Once in a while, one of the ponies whispers to Pinkie, to which she responds, "Nopey, not yet. But it's out there, I can feel it!" She pauses, shakes her back, then says, "Withers tingly, ponies entering the Everfree!" Several hoofpalms to the face are heard. Slicer, who is scouting ahead of the group, is a bit more skeptical and speaks up.

"Oh yeah? Which Everfree? The one we are in, or the one back home?" She is met with silence. She stops and turns her head. The other ponies are stopped too, watching Pinkie. Pinkie, for her part, is patting at her left ear, which seems to be half folded down.

"I must have had all these Pinkie Senses backed up. They are just coming one right after the other. Oh, Slicer, I'm sorry."

The thestral waves a hoof and starts walking again, "Whatever, you didn't do anything to me."

"Oh, I know. I'm just sorry I don't have a brush to get all the dirt out of your fur."

Slicer frowns and slightly turns her head in reply, "Wha...?" She doesn't get to finish as she trips and face plants into the dirt. Or not necessarily dirt, but a road of dark yellow sandstone bricks covered in dirt from lack of use and countless rainstorms that produced runoff. The rest of the group carefully step up onto the road without tripping on the raised edge, including Pinkie and Twilight.

Twilight says quietly to Slicer, "You found the road for us. Thankyou for your sacrifice." Pinkie reaches down and helps Slicer up, who coughs out bits of moss and dirt.

"Glad I could be of service," she quips at Twilight. After she brushes herself off and nods to Pinkie, Slicer tilts her head at the pink pony, "I've found everypony has some kind of magic or power. Is the whole prediction thing yours?" Pinkie shrugs and hums softly.

"Hmm, I wouldn't know about magic. All I know is what I know. Now you know." Slicer shakes her head, not wanting to question what sounds to be a very complicated topic. Twilight pats Slicer as she walks by and asks Fluttershy to wake up Spike for his map. He had fallen asleep while riding on Fluttershy's back. When he is awake, he pulls out the map and they roughly gauge where they were.

Twilight looks off in the direction the road continues. The woods are thick on either side of it, barely allowing any lingering light from the setting sun to come through the top. Clearly this way was not used as much as the main road, so the woods has been encroaching on the road for years. "Okay, we should have one or two more hours before it becomes too dark to travel, then we'll break for camp."

Once the group starts moving down the road, Fluttershy speaks up quietly, "Um...we could always make camp now...uh, so we aren't stumbling around in the dark, while making camp, that is." Rainbow laughs and flits over to her, looking down.

"Ah Fluttershy, it's not all bad. I mean, it's not like you have anything to be afraid of out here. You are usually on good terms with most animals."

The yellow pony giggles nervously, "Yes, that is true....except for the really hungry ones. Like....lions, sometimes......most times...."

Applejack scoffs. "Really sugar? With all the critters we're supposed ta be fightin', I doubt that big GM in the sky is gonna be throwin' lions at us. I'd be thinkin' somethin' exotic and the like....like panthers."

Slicer spbpt's, "Please, that's my department. You all are just scaring her."

Fluttershy responds to Slicer, "Oh, that's quite alright, I usually scare myself. MEEP!" She jumps when Rarity pokes her shoulder from the other side.

"Actually, I would be more afraid of bears. The Ursa kind. Remember Trixie?" She directs this to Twilight.

Twilight shakes her head, "Don't remind me. But I do like Applejack's theory. Although, even a lion out this way might be exotic. Just think of what new things we might encounter, from a scientific point of view. In a new reality, a strange forest. Hm." A thought occurs to her as she frowns. "Wait....lions...?"

Applejack leans in, "And panthers."

Slicer responds skeptically, "And Ursas?"

Fluttershy says, "Oh my..." The group starts walking again, a little faster now as though they can feel the animals watching them from the shadows. Twilight is lost in thought and realizes she is being left behind. She tries to catch up.

"Wait, I think I thought of something. Lions-"

"And panthers," from Applejack. She is starting to trot.

Slicer says, "Now wait, my panther is the only-"

Rarity and Pinkie exclaim together, "And URSAS!" The group responds with an 'oh my!' minus Slicer and Twilight. They continue to chant, "Lions, and panthers, and Ursas, oh my!" as they pick up the pace verbally and physically.

Both Slicer and Twilight are trying to catch up. Slicer says, "What is wrong with them?"

Twilight has a determined look on her face, "I have an idea. It's crazy, and don't get me started on what crazy is at this point, but it has to do with books." Slicer groans in reply but lowers her head and tries to overtake the group, Twilight resorting to her wings to fly so as not to stumble in the dark.

Up ahead is a rundown shack just off to the side of the road. As the group is almost to a full gallop chanting about what frightens them and in turn getting more scared, Twilight lands right in front of the group just as Slicer skids to a stop ahead of them and whips around, both of them yelling, "STOP!!!" The other ponies scramble to a halt, panting heavily.

Pinkie's tail shakes again and she sighs, "Ahhh...about time too." She looks up.

The startled ponies stare at her and then up as well, their attention drawn to a crackling sound that is getting louder, followed by a ball of fire that is now sizzling from the darkened sky towards them. A momentary panic in Twilight subsides as she concludes that the fireball is way too small to be a meteor. Still, it was headed for them. She yells, "TAKE COVER!" They all scramble away from the apparent point of impact.

The fireball lands on top of the shack and there is a bunch of billowing smoke. As they watch, the smoke dissipates and they see a large alicorn standing on the roof of the shack which amazingly is still intact. The winged unicorn radiates golden light from her orange  and gold gilded horseshoes, her breastplate and spiked crown. Her eyes have golden irises and her pupils are slitted like a cat. Displayed prominently on the breastplate is the symbol of a fiery sun. Twilight catches her breath.

"No....that's what she meant."

Rarity frowns and whispers aside to Twilight, "Darling....what the hay are you talking about?"

"Princess Celestia...one day she spoke on the topic of the power of alicorns, how if unchecked or used selfishly, would cause hate, jealousy, fear. A corruption that could overtake any alicorn. Even Princess Celestia. She even had a premonition of it once." Rarity blanches at that, if she could appear any whiter.

The fiery alicorn cackles loudly, "Bow before your ruler, for I am-"

Rarity yells out, "PRINCESS CELESTIA?!?" The other ponies gasp, now seeing the symbols on her breastplate and flank for the first time.

The alicorn stiffens, then growls, "N..No! How dare you interrupt me! I am-"

Pinkie Pie cuts in, "Oh oh! A guessing game! I SOOOoo love guessing games! But this is like a mini game inside a big game. Wait, lions, panthers, Ursas, are they considered big game too? Wow, you realize all the cross-references I just thought of this past fourteen and a half seconds??" The alicorn's words are caught in her throat as she is trying to grasp any of Pinkie's speech.

The rest of the ponies yell, "PINKIE!!!" To which she rubs the back of her head with a hoof in apology.

Twilight takes a few steps forward, "You highness, this is just like your sister's plight when you banished her. She was overcome by a dark power and called herself Nightmare Moon. So too do you have a similar name, but associated with the sun, yes?"

Applejack kicks her hat back on her head and says, "Oh aw get it. Somethin' like 'High and Mighty Noon', or 'Sun Burner'."

Rarity chitters, "Oh, how droll. Though I imagine a name like 'Day Breaker' would be a tad cliche."

A single fiery eye twitches in response. The alicorn's hooves start to smolder into the wood of the roof. "I should roast you where you stand, ALL of you! For I am DAWN TREADER!"

Applejack coughs into a hoof, "Pardon me, is that like...treader? As in a wagon wheel tread?"

Dawn Treader steps across the roof to the edge, leaving behind burning hoofprints. "I tread on the dawn! Trample it. They are synonyms." She frowns and grumbles, "Seriously, do none of you read books?"

Twilight brightens and waves a hoof quickly, "Oh, I do!" Pinkie cuts in front of Twilight.

"Not unless you are going on a long voyage!"

Rainbow Dash snickers from behind, "Oh yah, 'book' me a one-way trip on Voyage of the Dawn Trea-"

Dawn Treader yells, "ENOUGH!!! I shall let you insolent curs live. IF, you give me him!" She stabs a hoof at Spike.

Despite the figure of blazing power before them, they turn to look at Spike, who is now hiding behind Fluttershy.

Twilight looks back at Dawn, then at Spike. "Um, why him? Don't you want to attack all of us?"

The fiery alicorn is fairly bubbling in anger. She rears up and fires a red beam from her horn. It seers a ring of fire around Fluttershy and Spike, yet is far enough not to burn them. The other ponies ready their weapons and wait for the next attack, but Dawn Treader manages to suppress her power, the horn's glow dissipating. "My covenant prevents me from attacking you directly as long as Spike is in your company." She barely teeters off the edge of the roof and holds up a hoof maniacally, her eyes boring into the group, "But I'll get you my little ponies....and your little Spike too!" She cackles once more and a large billow of smoke begins to surround her. There is an explosion and the ponies are knocked down as the alicorn flies up into the sky like a fireball. The shack is blown to smithereens. After a few minutes, the ponies are able to pick themselves up off the road, brushing away bits of wood and debris.

Twilight has a thoughtful look, not as confused as the others.

Slicer glowers in the direction the fireball flew, most likely back to Undermountain. "Well, if you wanted a prelude to a boss fight, that was it."

Applejack just sighs, "To think, that is what Princess Celestia would become, if that was our real one. I can't imagine that is really her."

Rarity blinks, then exclaims, "Of course, Applejack! She is under a spell, just like Princess Luna. Even discounting their roles in this silly game, we are still obligated to rescue them. Am I right?" She looks around and gets quite a few nods of agreement.

Rainbow though, can't help but remember a previous conversation. "Um, Twilight. I have a question. Twi?" Twilight is still staring off in the distance. Rainbow claps her hooves together in front of Twilight.

"What? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about books." Numerous groans are heard.

Rainbow replies, "Yeah, sure. Anyway, what I was figuring, what if YOU became corrupt?" To that, Twilight is stunned.

"...huh?"

Rarity walks over and looks at Twilight up and down, "Now that IS interesting. You are the embodiment of friendship, and a powerful magical form at that. What would a corrupt friendship power be like?"

Twilight wrinkles her nose and she speaks in a slow raised pitch, "Eh, I don't know if that is a good thing to contemplate, seeing as how the princesses apparently end up."

Applejack states in a matter of fact tone, "Aw, just think of it. You could be the 'Buddy Buster'." Twilight coughs at the absurdity of that.

Rarity chimes in, "Or the Diabolical Bookworm."

Twilight starts to take offense, "Hey, that's actually kind of insulting."

Fluttershy murmurs softly, "Or she might be Friend Without Benefits."

A sound like a needle scratching a vinyl album is heard. Pinkie looks up from her DJ setup, "Did I miss something?"

Rarity exclaims scandalously, "Fluttershy!!!"

Before any of the ponies can respond, including a completely frozen Twilight, another sound is heard. Followed by more in front of them up the road a distance and a few way south in the other direction.

The sound of hunting horns.
> On the Road Again. Yes, literally again, no singing.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ponies look out in all directions in fright as those braying horns sound, a few up ahead with several more behind them, if not exactly centered on the road. Slicer Jen swears under her breath and begins rummaging through her saddlebag. The others take this as a sign of things to come and start loosening their weapons, spellbooks and staff. Slicer glances up quickly and scowls, blurting, "What are you doing!?! We're about to make a break for it, we have no time for that."

While the others slow their preparations, Twilight Sparkle steps up and puts her hoof down, "Now see here, I am the party leader, and as such I believe we are about to get into a large fight, so we should be prepared rather than stumbling around in these woods. Obviously they had the same idea as we did and crossed through the forest to this road, so we...that is..." Her words stumble to a halt as she sees Slicer pull out the onyx figurine of her panther. "See? Even you believe we are about to fight, so-"

"Hush!" Twilight blinks, glances at her friends in startlement as they shrug back. She gets ready to say something else before Slicer cuts her off again, "Princess, PLEASE!" This time Twilight sits back on her haunches and closes her mouth, probably more from the word 'please' than anything else. Slicer holds the statue out in front of her with both hooves, eyes Twilight suspiciously, then her brow furrows. "In case anything happens, you'll know what to do with this." She closes her eyes and whispers, "Come, Guenhwyvar, I need you." A gray mist coalesces in front of Slicer into the form of a black panther, larger than any normal giant cat. Slicer walks up to the cat and stares directly into the cat's eyes. The horns sound again, gaining the attention of the cat's ears as they swivel to each responding sound. Slicer nods and says, "Plow the road, fight from the shadows, speed is key." The cat rumbles softly and leaps into the woods angling towards Undermountain. Slicer secures her saddlebags as Twilight puts herself in front of the thestral.

"We will discuss that statue later, along with this 'in case anything happens' business, but in the meantime, care to enlighten?"

Slicer finally turns to Twilight. "Yes. I'm sorry to order you around, but we are running out of time. Keep your weapons ready but run that way," as she points a hoof down the road, "and do not stop for anything unless you HAVE to fight. Make it a quick fight but keep running the moment you are done. If this works, we make it past the bulk of their forces. If not, their numbers wear us down. Now GO!" With that she leaps in the direction she indicated, a long knife gripped in her teeth. Twilight and the others jump after her, trying to keep up, but Slicer easily outdistances them and after a minute leaps into the woods to the side of the road opposite where the black panther had gone. Another round of horns sounds, the ones behind them becoming distant very fast, but at least three more are ahead of them, coming up quickly in the darkness.

While galloping, Applejack is able to turn her head and ask, "Hey Twilight, I don't suppose now is a good time to ask why Princess Celest..uh, Dawn Treader is dead set on gettin' Spike, do ya?"

Twilight looks over to Spike who is desperately holding onto Fluttershy to keep from falling off. She shakes her head and levitates her staff out to her side while replying, "You suppose correctly. This is getting way more complicated than a simple game of teamwork. I've also been thinking about Discord, that we should warn him anyway. Script or not, it just doesn't sit well to leave him hanging like that." Applejack beams a warm smile in return and moves close enough to bump her shoulder against Twilight's, who in turn smiles back.

"Honesty is always the best policy, Twi."

Their moment of friendship is broken when Fluttershy rears back to a halt, yelping loudly. Several orc and goblin bodies are scattered about the road. Twilight continues running as she yells, "Don't stop! It's just our scouts clearing the way ahead." They resume the gallop, pressing on down the road.

Just when they think they are in the clear, they happen upon another group of orcs and goblins, alive this time. The monsters seem equally surprised to see a group of armed mares dashing right for them. The lead goblin holds up a horn and is about to blow it. Applejack spots him, lowers her head and charges, smashing him to the ground. His horn flips end over end in the air and falls with a clatter on the bricks. The rest of the mares spread apart and slow to a stop, readying their weapons. Fluttershy hangs back while Spike urges her to take up the sword he is carrying.

Rarity steps forward with her book open and floating in front of her, saying, "Don't worry, I have this! 'Idle is the inkling in iridescent ink, into which wonders overwhelming....' Oh, nevermind, this is a complicated recipe for calligraphy ink. What is that doing in here? Odd really, I- yipes!" She yelps while sliding sideways, a black arrow sizzling past her ear. With Rarity not blocking her vision now, Twilight growls and slams the base of her staff down on the ground. A wave of earth and road rolls forward, smashing into the group of enemies, and one Applejack. To Twilight's relief, her friend weathers the quake well while the other creatures are thrown about and smashed to the ground. While they are dazed, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie move in to finish them off with a series of stabs, swings, and elevator music that causes the goblins and orcs to die horrible deaths.

Before the mares can clean off their weapons and collect themselves, Slicer and the panther make their way back onto the road. She says, "Good, I was hoping you'd finish them off. We took care of the next group ahead, but another is approaching fast. The timing of all their deaths should confuse the rest. We need to get off the road, now." She jumps into the woods, the panther following her. With several questions hanging in her mind, Twilight shakes her head and follows reluctantly, as do the others. They don't have to go very far before they find Slicer sitting low in the underbrush watching the road, the panther next to her. The others take her lead and settle down as well. Twilight turns and opens her mouth, but Slicer raises her hoof and whispers, "In a bit, princess. This next part makes or breaks us." As if on cue, the panther's ears perk up and a small patrol of goblins comes into sight. They find their downed comrades and yell in anger. One goblin blows on his horn and is answered by several others down the road in the direction the mares had come from. The patrol hears the replies and runs in that direction. Slicer keeps her hoof up a good two minutes before she puts it down and sighs, slumping tiredly. "Okay, I think we are good for a while."

Twilight takes in a breath and is about to verbally lay into the guard, but catches herself reviewing all that had happened, most notably the thestral's quick thinking and quicker actions that may have avoided a lot of fighting. She lets her rebuke go and glances at Fluttershy who is still wearing a scared look on her face. She looks at Applejack, who in turn tilts her head toward Spike, raising a brow. Twilight nods. "Right." She addresses Slicer, "Ordering us around notwithstanding, I owe you my thanks for protecting us. You were doing your duty...despite my trying to lead."

Slicer smirks, "Leadership is overrated, like most leaders I run into. I for one- OW!" She rubs the back of her neck where Guenhwyvar just nipped her. Twilight blinks in surprise.

"I thought the figurine of power gave you complete control of the panther," Twilight remarks.

Slicer sighs and grumbles, "Apparently not." She glares at the big cat who seems to ignore her, then watches Twilight for a moment before continuing, "You are a fine leader, except, well, step aside once in a while, let those you lead do their job. A true leader will inspire their followers to do more than if they were ordered to." She glances at the cat, "That is what I meant to say." The cat purrs back at her.

Twilight mulls over what Slicer said. Applejack nods in approval, "Couldn't have said it better. Though Awm thinkin' some other things are needin' to be said right 'bout now." Twilight sighs and turns to Spike, who has been very quiet.

"Spike? Dawn Treader was very interested in you. She knew your name. Neither of you knew our names when we first met, so you must be special to her. I think now is the time to discuss what is going on, yes?"

The small dragon smiles weakly and steps forward. "Well, it's not so odd, in fact. My family is pretty famous among the more magical creatures."

Rainbow frowns, "Oh yeah? How famous?"

Spike holds out his claws wide, "Like that." Pinkie Pie giggles and Twilight puts a hoof to her face.

"Alright, Spike. Why does she want you?"

This time, Spike drops his sheepish grin and becomes very serious. "I'm thinking because she is gathering all the dragons per the Covenant, all the Keepers of the Flame. For what exactly, I honestly don't know."

The alicorn blinks. "Keepers of the Flame? What is that?"

Spike looks at Slicer and asks, "Are we staying for a while?" After getting a nod in response, he tilts his head, "I'm not sure how much history you know of the progression of technology and magic..." Twilight's hoof shoots up and is immediately forced down by Applejack as Spike continues oblivious, staring off into the distance. "This has been passed down through untold millennia, mind you. The Keepers of the Flame were originally formed to keep magic and technology in check. More appropriately, any significant advances were scrutinized and either allowed, or discouraged." He wrinkles his nose at the thought. "Sometimes quite messily. You have to understand the intent was to avoid certain creations that could crack or burn the world," he pleads as justification.

To Twilight's ears, any sequestration of knowledge is harsh to listen to, yet she is able to put aside her prejudice regarding research. She asks, "And this Covenant?"

The dragon sighs and scratches his head. "That is sort of controversial, more like a political bargain between the Keepers and other powerful beings..."

Twilight's eyes widen, "Like the princesses!" Spike nods, frowning.

"Yeah...in fact, the current Covenant in place has them operating the suppression devices, each with its own dragon to power it, and a being of royal title to operate it." Twilight gives him a confused look, so he continues. "Essentially, each device limits inspirational thought, thus diverting any major breakthroughs, in a large area. The one you shut down near the town was that region's main device. I was there on sabbatical to eventually train on it, in fact." He gives a sheepish grin.

Twilight looks off into the distance. "Yes, I see. Rather than having to go door to door and clean up the aftermath of unwanted progress, that mechanical device manages to do it from a central location. Not that I agree to its use, but if it were reversible, it could stimulate-"

"Oh nonono, hahahah...mother's piss NO!" All the ponies turn white at hearing Spike swear. Rarity turns whiter. Without remorse, Spike asks, "Where do you think chimeras came from? Yeah...in hindsight, my ancestors permanently melted out that particular circuit." As the others take all this in, Twilight inhales sharply, remembering they had killed a dragon already. Spike sees her response and quickly waves both arms, "In case you're worried, that was not a relative of mine. He was from a completely different nest. Horrible teacher, actually." Spike looks down at the map. "We used to all have grand feasts at Undermountain several years back, and the devices were mostly a last resort until recently. Something has changed these last few years. Anyway," he looks up at Twilight, "You asked why Dawn Treader wanted me. I don't know. The Covenant allows gatherings to be called by any member. It also stipulates no Keeper shall be harmed in anyway...though nothing states they can be dragon-napped...heh, funny those loopholes."

Twilight responds quietly, "Yes. Always read a contract thoroughly." She walks over to Spike and pats him on the head with her hoof. "Thankyou for telling us. If she is collecting dragons, then they must not be relying on the machines for too much longer." Looking around at her friends, they start to realize just how many powerful enemies they might be fighting soon. The silence is palpable.

Slicer stands up and stretches her legs during the moment of silence before speaking, "And on that note, Miss Fluttershy, we need to talk about your sword handling and when you feel like participating instead of presenting such a juicy target." Fluttershy cringes back and tries to hide behind her mane while lightly nudging Spike to stand in front of her. She is not so much afraid of Slicer, but the totality of the impending battle, with her thrust literally into the forefront, is too much for her to deal with right now. A distinct feeling of awkwardness washes over most of the ponies in the group while Guenhwyvar rumbles in disapproval. The panther is not the only one.

Rainbow Dash gets up and primly puts herself square between Fluttershy and Slicer Jen, interjecting, "No. 'We' don't."

With a scowl of annoyance, Slicer points a hoof at Fluttershy through Rainbow, "Swords are for stabbing, cutting, and keeping you alive. For Tartarus' sake, I'M trying to keep you ponies alive! She needs to learn how to use that thing sooner or later, or there won't BE a later." Rainbow doesn't budge or say a word. If anything, she tenses up and steps forward, like she's about to fight. Slicer gets a slighly cold feeling in her chest as she tries to figure out how she ended up nose to nose with the normally upbeat pegasus. She then glances at Rarity.

Rarity sits up and waves her hoof, "Oh ho, don't even look in my direction, darling, I'm not giving up my book." In perfect Prench defeat, Slicer throws up her hooves. She turns away and holds up a hoof at the panther.

"Yeah, I can FEEL your look. Just...do me a favor and sweep ahead for a bit." The panther exhales a long breath just below audible range and quietly moves into the shadows of the woods. Before Twilight gets a chance to speak, Slicer abruptly stops and turns back to the group, "Yes, princess, I know, you are in charge. With your permission....<sigh>...may I scout ahead?"

Twilight has her mouth open with a ready command before she closes it. She thinks for a moment, then nods. "Yes, you may. And you don't have to call me 'princess', though I am not quite sure if you are using sarcasm or sincerity when you say it-"

Slicer spins back away and trots into the woods while saying over her shoulder, "Sure thing, princess." Twilight is left with her mouth open, again.

Rainbow snickers and says, "Oh yeah, SO much sarcasm." She turns her head to look at the alicorn, "Took you this long to figure that out?" As Twilight sits there trying to sort out how to next handle the thestral, Rainbow steps closer to Fluttershy, "Hey Flutters, don't let that wingless thestral mess with you, I got your back." Spike's puffing out his chest catches Rainbow's eye and she grins, nodding, "And so do the rest of us, Spike included." The dragon beams up a grin.

Fluttershy shakes her head, "Oh, that's quite alright, I know she doesn't mean anything by it." This only seems to galvanize Rainbow and she shakes her head.

"Uh uh, don't you dare, Flutters. She literally called you a coward, and I know for a fact you aren't!"

Fluttershy pats Rainbow's shoulder with her hoof and replies, "That's not really how I took at it. She merely thinks I 'can't' fight with this." She puts her hoof down against the sword Spike is holding, as though it were not recently a viper about ready to bite her like every other fight up until now. "It's just a matter of perspective. I simply 'will not' fight with it. At least, not to the degree that it causes harm."

Rainbow smiles weakly, trying not to upset her friend. "YEeeaah, that still sounds like the same thing. But you know what, doesn't matter. You don't want to fight, then you hang back and take care of us if we get injured. kay?"

Fluttershy smiles knowingly and shakes her head, "If you say so, but Slicer is really the official healer...um...?" Rainbow has already waved her hoof dismissively, causing Fluttershy to go quiet.

"Yeah whatever," Rainbow quips. "She's just full of herself. Like I said, you don't have to listen to her. She gets in your oatmeal again, I'll Dash her one." She hoof pumps the air for emphasis. While Rainbow is still imagining her ultimate smackdown fest on the thestral, Fluttershy looks down at Spike, an expectation about him.

"Dear Spike, I know you see me charging forward at the head of some large forest army, but that's not really the kind of pony I am." Spike makes to say something in rebuttal but Fluttershy stops him with a light touch to his mouth with her hoof. "Perhaps....we can do something about that?"

He tilts his head and asks, "Well, if you don't plan on killing anything, then what?"

Fluttershy eyes Rainbow going through some ridiculous kata moves while she ponders. The other ponies have started making preparations to move, so she says quietly, "The sword can still be used to deflect other swords, right?" The dragon nods. "Then perhaps we can start there. Oh, and I should make more friends along the way, too."

Spike raises an eyebrow, "We need a lot of friends, if I know how this trip is going to end." Fluttershy nods absentmindedly in thought. Gone is the look of dread in her eyes, replaced by a warm resolve that only being surrounded by friends can bring. A lot of friends. Unseen by anybody, a green glow emanates from inside the scabbard strapped across Spike's back, the sword's runes aglow.

The group steps out onto the road once they are sure the coast is clear. The horns have long since stopped, the last one so faint only a light breeze carried it to their sensitive ears. Twilight notices the sun is approaching dusk and tells her friends a good trot for the next hour should do until nightfall. They take up a staggered formation, Rainbow and Applejack up front with Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike midway, and the two magic users bringing up the rear, just in case the goblins figured out their ruse.

As they move out onto the road and set the pace, Fluttershy takes to the air but hovers just a short distance above the group, still in her middle position. Rainbow glances back and laughs, then hops up into the air and hovers until she is alongside Fluttershy to fly formation with her.

While they are nowhere near out of earshot, Fluttershy says quietly, "Hello, Rainbow....uhm..." Her friend grins and rolls over on her back, the light pace set by the group so slow she could swim backwards in the air.

"I gotcha 'Shy, what you got goin' on up there?" She pokes a hind hoof at her Fluttershy's head.

Fluttershy blushes, "Oh, thoughts. Lots and lots of thoughts." Rainbow waves her on to continue. "Um, mostly regarding our Lunar guard." Rainbow wrinkles her nose, all of a sudden not very interested. Fluttershy pushes forward to fly closer and says quickly, "Oh, please hear me out, um,  see, I do think she is trying to help, in her own way..and she has stuck with us despite losing her mentor's...uh...watchful eye? That would seem like fairly good loyalty, especially to a group of strangers. I know I would have trouble...that is...with strangers."

Upon hearing the straightforward case on Slicer's loyalty, Rainbow stops flapping altogether and just sits there midair, "Huh...that didn't even occur to me. damn." She drops several feet before powering back up to Fluttershy's level. "Okay, powerhouse, you've blown my mind. What's the plan?"

Fluttershy warms at the compliment and continues, "I was talking to Spike here," as Spike waves from behind her head, "weeeell...we 'could' try some basic moves, like blocking attacks...and some more blocking of attacks."

Rainbow chuckles, "I suppose so, but I don't want you to go changing yourself just to appease everypony who cops an attitude. You are you, no matter what. Even if she's a right mean bat pony."

Fluttershy noddles, "I know...but we really don't know much about her upbringing or her culture...or her setbacks in life. And kindness does beget kindness, don't you agree?"

Her friend reluctantly nods. "I hear ya. You know, you could talk a raging pack of wendigos into a friendly game of snow angel making, you are that scary."

Fluttershy ducks her head in embarrassment, "Oh, I don't know about that, in a way they are angels themselves, from the right angle."

Twilight snorts to herself as she watches the two chat above them, thinking about the angel/angle word play. "Hey you two, what are you talking about up there?" Obviously she heard every word they said.

Both flying ponies drop down to resume their positions in the trotting formation. Fluttershy replies, "Oh, just discussing kindness."

Rainbow turns her head back and quips, "And loyalty, apparently. Who'd have thunk it?" As Twilight muses over their recent conversation, Rarity turns slightly to address the alicorn.

"You said you researched our friendly Lunar guard?"

Twilight nods, "Yes, skills, assignment history, even her rare absence of wings. Did you know that particular trait skips several generations and can be traced centuries back through almost a single bloodline? Princess Luna knew more about that than any pony else or book, oddly enough."

Rarity absorbs the information, then says, "Adding to what she talked about at the inn. Growing up fighting bullies, fighting dragons, meeting ridgecats, she has led a very chaotic life. Hm, she did leave out how she came to be a guard. Does any of that account for, how shall I put this, her occasional uncouth behavior?"

The other ponies have tweaked their ears back to listen in now. Twilight shakes her head, "Actually, no. When I inquired about her psyche, the princesses were very tight lipped about it. The best I could pry from Princess Celestia was, they 'owed' her." Rarity pulls her head back in bewilderment.

"Owe her? I can't imagine she is receiving any substantial compensation from them, seeing as how she is serving THEM as their guard? Do you?"

Twilight just shrugs. "In any case, I did tell her back at camp we could be her friends, though I don't think she is taking me up on that offer." She remembers her face to face moment with Slicer before they fell asleep. "Yah, not taking that offer."

Rarity flicks her hair, "Pish posh. That is just plain stubborn bravado. Our esteemed paragon of loyalty can attest to that."

Rainbow grins back and says, "Too right! wait...was that an insult..?"

Fluttershy giggles softly into her mane. Rarity continues, "Loyalty is present, with Kindness ready to be offered. She has invariably told the truth, much to our horrid dismay when she first arrived to your home." Applejack nods in agreement. "And if she is lacking any friends, it must have been an act of creation for her to reveal her panther's true name to you and practically will it over upon her death, the only friend she has made so far. The panther, not you, that is." Twilight tweaks her mouth in chagrine. "Generosity in spades. If we get her to experience some laughter, you are teed up for full on friendship!" She finishes with a wink.

Twilight can literally feel the energy from her friends as each aspect makes up the foundation of true friendship. "Now that is an experiment worth performing. Experiment Number 5436878, The Taming of the Shrewd Thestral, logged and ready!" All of the ponies hoofpalm while still able to maintain their pace.

The clipclop sounds of their hooves gets Pinkie to hum to herself. She exclaims after a minute, "Well all this befriending-a-bat-pony talk has gotten real dreary. Time for some laughter! She's bound to be able to hear us." With that she pulls out her lute and contraption that makes it play without hooves, though no other instrument accompaniment this time. And her goto tune? Yes, On The Road Again, though she plays just the first part in instrumental. The other ponies bob their heads to the catchy tune and a tension starts to build as it approaches the chorus. Finally, without skipping a beat (pun!), Pinkie looks at you and grins, saying, "Sorry, I lied!" All the ponies spontaneously start singing:

o/~ On the road again - Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway. o/~

o/~ We're the best of friends. Insisting that the world keep turning our way...and our way...o/~

They quiet down and Pinkie continues playing the instrumental version for the rest of the song.

The group of singing minstrels does not pass unnoticed. Slicer and her panther, crouched low in the underbrush, watch from a fair distance ahead of the approaching group, the two having returned from their scouting. Slicer's eye twitches when she first picks up the early verse string notes with her ears. She mutters to the only other creature there willing to listen, if albeit bonded by a magical figurine.

"I hate that song."

She hears a low thrum emanate from Guenhwyvar, followed by a light push of the cat's muzzle against her flank. She was perfectly balanced in a low ready position on the tips of her hooves, the push causing her to stumble forward. She glances at the cat and settles back into a more relaxed position and retorts, "Oh Tartarus, no! Couldn't stand the line dancing the first time, I'll lick a dragon before I go for seconds." After a minute, the ponies break into the singing, with Slicer sighing, "Really...?" When they reach the 'we're the best of friends' line, she starts to chew her lip, and then blinks hard, the nonexistent breeze bothering her eyes. "Besides," she continues as she sits back, "they seem content, all their buddies together, one big happy group over there. We'll just wait 'til they pass, shadow the rear until they quiet down and decide to rest, then rejoin." She nods to herself and goes back to scanning the area, though they both know that stretch of road is clear for miles at the moment.

Gwenwhyver focuses all its senses on the thestral, measuring her heartbeat, the movement of her muscles, her breathing. As the group gets closer and the song is drawing to a close, the cat's ears catch Slicer murmuring to herself, "...finish this assignment, get back to my original posting, be done with this." The cat's eyes narrow to slits. While the thestral pontificates on more important matters, like anything BUT this adventure, Gwenwhyver slowly sits up in silence and slips behind Slicer, its size easily dwarving her. The cat flexes one paw, regarding the long razor sharp claws, how each one could rend flesh from bone. The claws all retract and without ceremony, the cat shoves Slicer with the paw square in the back.

In complete surprise, Slicer throws her hooves out in front of her to prevent her from tumbling over. The force of the push still causes her to stumble several steps out into the road, right in front of the approaching ponies. Slicer spins around after regaining her balance and yells at the now empty bushes, "What the hay was that for?!" She looks around, oblivious to the other ponies now slowing down as they get very close. "Fils de pute, get back here! You don't get to do that and simply-!" She finally notices the other ponies standing next to her, some of them looking into the woods to see what she is yelling at. Twilight steps up and tilts her head as Spike hops down and stands next to Fluttershy.

"My old world Prench is a tad rusty, but did you just call your cat a-"

"Its nothing! Difference of opinion on what I should be doing at this moment," Slicer interjects. Caught out in the open like this, she can only seethe at the cat's apparent betrayal and all the random disobedience her newfound companion has been showing lately.

Applejack tips her head toward the woods, "Well if ya'll dont mind my saying, Awd sure as heck would like to know what your cat's opinion is, seein' as how your apparent course of action right now is...um...hollerin' at a tree, or two. Maybe a forest perhaps?"

Pinkie Pie dies laughing and rolls on the ground, "AJ that's so brilliant! Forest for the trees! And a life lesson too!" The other ponies start to chuckle or giggle.

As Slicer fumes and refuses to look at them, Applejack sidles up next to her and gently bumps her shoulder to shoulder. "Hey pardner, know any good inns 'round here? A certain set of wayward ponies and a selfless pair of LOYAL guards protecting them could use a rest." A glance back at Rainbow has her friend rolling her eyes and nodding in acceptance, yes she will do her part, but later. Slicer stops her searching, looks at Applejack, and then the others. They regard her without judgement, all waiting for her response. Lastly she sees Fluttershy smiling back at her. Fluttershy pats the sword Spike is holding and nods. Clearly Slicer must have missed a conversation or two, or some other revelation. Even Pinkie is hopping up and down and pointing at the road.

The thestral sighs and points back into the woods, "There are a few spots back that way, which is for the best. A short distance up ahead, the woods thin out into open prairie country, very little cover from above, so this is our last respite before we are in the open." Applejack thanks her and starts heading into the woods. Slicer nods to Fluttershy and briefly glances at Rainbow, who responds with a curt nod of her own back. When Slicer turns to Pinkie, she quickly says, "Not that song. Ever." Pinkie Pie blinks, her hair going limp. A split second later she puffs out her cheeks and her hair regains its fullness.

"Oh whatever, party poo-wetter. Tons of songs where THAT came from!" She bounces by as Slicer's eyes warily track her, with Twilight and Rarity bringing up the rear.

Twilight smiles. "This is sooo happening, just roll with it."

Rarity follows up with, "Yes, and who knows, you might even like it." They both pass the thestral.

Slicer watches them for a moment, and then trots into the brush to catch up and show them exactly where to go, muttering, "In for a bit, in for a bonanza...merde."
> Uninvited Escorts, Unexpected Skill
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slicer Jen's stomach gurgles from the massive amount of s'mores she ate. Normally she eats light before sleeping, but Rarity's incessant generosity had her at the word 'chocolate'. Then there was the infectious singing brought on by their pink bard, along with epic tales of loyalty spun by a fiery rainbow knight, life lessons taught by the resident truthsayer and hints of kindness and acceptance from a very shy forest spirit.

As she lies there on her bedding with her eyes closed and stomach suffering from pleasant fullness, Slicer imagines the other ponies and their overwhelming attempts to win her over as the work of mystical creatures in this forest, whimsies in a whimsical tale that will fade away once she wakes up from this silly nightmare. Sure, in small enough quantities, everyone of them could eventually be her friends. Just not all at once like what she had to endure these last few hours.

"Sooooooo..."

Slicer's face scrunches up and she whimpers out, "Whaaaaat? What do you want, princess?" She grinds out the last word between her teeth and opens one eye.

Twilight Sparkle is lying there next to her, almost nose to nose with a big grin on her face. "Friends yet?"

Slicer ughs and rolls over to face the other way, closing her eye. "Tartarus would freeze over first." There is a brief flash. When Slicer opens her eyes, Twilight is there on the other side of her, nose to nose again. Slicer glares, "You know, it was funnier when I did it." She rolls onto her back, staring up at the night sky partially peeking through the tree branches above.

Another flash and the night sky takes on a very distinct blacked out silhouette of Twilight. Slicer raises an eyebrow at the alicorn floating above her, mere inches away. Twilight quips, "I can do this all night. AND I can research a spell to freeze over Tartarus with all that spare time, too."

Rainbow Dash hangs her head down from a low branch where she set up her bedroll in a tree several feet away. "Yah, don't tempt her, she'll do it, too." Slicer regards Twilight for a few moments, her right eye twitching slightly, then sighs and slowly rolls out from under her.

"Fine. You win." She sits up and scratches her ear with a hoof. "I almost assassinated your precious teacher, Celestia."

Twilight loses concentration and smacks into the ground  with a >POOMF<. She picks her head up quickly and stammers, "What? When?...w..WHY!?!" The other ponies stir, sitting up, minus a snoring little dragon. Pinkie Pie stares wide-eyed at the two, sliding a box of popcorn over to her friends, who in turn slowly grab hoof-fuls and stuff them into their mouths.

Applejack murmurs, "This oughta be good." 

Slicer frowns, noting their interest and tries to ignore them. She did not want her transgressions to get out beyond the other princesses and the guards that were involved that fateful night, but these ponies seem to want to help her. Honoring Luna's desire for Slicer to make friends meant a certain amount of soul bearing, much to Slicer's discomfort.

She lifts her head to look at Twilight. "I had grown up enduring no small number of bullies, from those that picked on me for not having wings to those that picked on me for having a cutie mark that HAD wings." She snorts at the irony of that. "Then later on, learning about the history and politics of the surrounding realm that Celestia had a seeming influence in, it was like all that was wrong in the world was her fault. Originally, after Luna's downfall, thestrals were relegated to live outside the major cities. Then the bad relations with the dragons and their incursion onto our continent, another miscalculation by Celestia. Even certain cosmic events had her hooves in them." Twilight's mouth starts to hang open with each event. She knew Equestria's history, and yet one 'could' misconstrue events. She raises her hoof to make a point, but Slicer leans over and promptly pushes her hoof back down. "You wanted to hear it, then hear it, 'princess'." She didn't exactly sneer out the word...but it was close. "Nightmare Moon had been whispering to me in my dreams for a very long time." She ignores the gasps from the others and half-smiles at Twilight's paling. "She promised there would be a reckoning with her return, thus she taught me many things. Many of my skills you industriously 'researched', remember? Well, you were there. You all made sure the one pony, who had given me purpose in life, was reformed. Made something...less." Slicer raises her hoof quickly to cut off Twilight's response, "Yes yes, she was evil, I got that, eventually. But at that moment, when you all went to have your celebration of my mentor's return to...dare I say, normalcy, I was lost. And I thought I could fix it myself."

Pinkie slowly moves the box of popcorn in front of her to hide in her guilt. It WAS a good party, though.

Twilight processes everything she just heard. There was mention of some commotion at the castle on the night following Luna's return, but nopony would ever fess up. "I thought it was weird when Princess Celestia had me research a repair spell for magical glass. She said her mirror 'fell over'."

Slicer chews her bottom lip, remembering. She picks up a twig and reaches over to the fire, sticking one end in the flames. "See, I got it into my head that Celestia was the enemy, had caused so much grief in the world, had my home destroyed...had Lance..." She slowly pulls the twig out of the fire, its end lit with a small flame. She looks up at the other ponies who are riveted to her every word. The crackling of the fire pulls her attention back to the twig. "I figured if Celestia were gone from the picture, it would right so many wrongs I had seen in my life." She crushes the twig into the side of her hoof, extinguishing the flame. Fluttershy looks horrified. The others, though, have more mixed reactions. Pinkie Pie is spellbound by the fire tricks Slicer somehow knows how to perform. Rainbow is teetering between being defensive for Celestia and sympathizing with Slicer because she remembers her own trials growing up in Cloudsdale under the name 'Rainbow Crash'. Rarity looks almost heartbroken while Fluttershy hides behind her mane. In truth, Fluttershy is not so afraid of Slicer as she is of her friends seeing she might be agreeing with Slicer, knowing she herself has gotten used to living away from others, along with similar bullying when she was a filly. That reminds her, she should ask the thestral about her pet cat. She would really like to study the large animal. Applejack looks the most stoic of the group. Every word has had the ring of truth, no boasting at all.

Slicer shrugs and tossses the twig back into the fire. "Anyway, Princess Luna betrayed me and they set up a trap, but I escaped. Then Celestia did something most sinister. She showed me her diary. A millennia of good intentions, mistakes, and pain."

Twilight sits up, "What? She has a diary??"

Pinkie Pie is sitting next to her and shushes. "It's not about you."

Twilight turns to her, "No, really, she never showed me her diary!" The other ponies shush her.

Slicer regards Twilight somberly, "She didn't mention a word?" Twilight shakes her head no. "Hm...I guess I can ask her if you want to see it. She gave it to me, anyway."

"WHAT!?!?!" Rarity steps in helping with Pinkie Pie to keep the rabid alicorn down as she frantically babbles about how she is Celestia's student and it should be she who is bequeathed such things of massive historical importance. Slicer doesn't seem to notice and continues.

"The princesses saved me from Nightmare Moon's influence, which I learned had a very evil undercurrent. They saved me from becoming what I had vowed to fight my entire life, a bully."

Twilight calms down under the watchful eyes of her two friends and crosses her forelegs, "I would venture to say that's why you take to authority figures like a cup of water to a vat full of boiling oil? We all seem like bullies?"

Slicer nods.

Twilight nods as well, fully understanding what she is dealing with. This was no 'one day and done' friendship lesson. "Alright. I can assure you I would not have any friends if I were a bully." She reaches out and pats both Pinkie Pie and Rarity who were there to help their friend control herself. "They follow me because they care, not out of fear. And it is my responsibility to nurture that care." All her friends voice their approval. Twilight gets an idea. "I propose we both help each other. You advise me on good leadership techniques, and I try to help you with good tenets of teamwork. Deal?" She holds out her hoof.

Slicer hesitates. It sounds genuine, a friendly exchange of help. A bad leader would not encourage help from their subordinates, though Twilight is young. Here is an opportunity to mold the princess into a decent ruler, worthy of following. Few chances like this ever presented themselves with ease. Slicer nods and leans forward, tapping hooves with Twilight. "Deal." The rest of the ponies clap their hooves together in approval, making Slicer grit her teeth in embarrassment.

With the show being over, everypony starts to settle back in on their sleeping arrangement. Except Twilight. She has somehow snuck her sleeping pad right up next to Slicer, who in turn is getting uncomfortable with the closeness. At length, Slicer asks with her eyes closed, "Yes princess?"

"Um, just a minor thing. A trifle really, considering our new arrangement of trading goods and services, and don't get me wrong, I do understand the bartering system as outlined by Level Ledger, a more obscure book keeper-"

"Just spit it out, princess."

Twilight inhales slowly, holds it, then asks quietly, "About that diary-"

All her friends start snickering and giggling. Slicer groans and replies, "A good leader knows when to consolidate her position after having gained the high ground."

Twilight sighs in defeat, "Right, good advice." She settles back onto her bedding and regards the sky above them. If the map is correct, they will be leaving the forest and entering large swaths of grasslands that surround the mountain, their target destination. "Tomorrow, we'll be out in the open, won't we?"

"Oui."

She blinks at the Prench response. Slicer must be really tired if she's slipping into her ancestral language. "And without cover from the skies, we should expect trouble."

"Mmm..." Slicer starts to slip into a relaxed form of pre-sleep.

Twilight leaves her alone, though she herself has trouble sleeping, what with all the plans she has to make as their stalwart leader with regard to the oncoming day. While lost in her thinking, she hears a hiss from the side. She looks over to see Rainbow hanging from her branch again. "Yeah Rainbow?"

"So," Rainbow whispers a tad loudly, "If you are Celestia's star student...and she was Nightmare Moon's star student...wow. No wonder you two are like boiling oil and water." She cackles softly, "That's pretty badass!"

Twilight rolls her eyes and gets comfortable. She wouldn't quite put it THAT way. And yet, a lot of it made sense. She took her mind off that and went back to planning. It wasn't long until she did start to feel tired, and knowing that the next day would be tough, tried to get some sleep. A last lingering thought permeated her brain for a few minutes. If Nightmare Moon spoke to Slicer through her dreams while she was imprisoned, would Slicer have been the only one? Nopony else had shown up looking for revenge, and the princesses certainly weren't being forthcoming about Slicer in the first place. Might be something to ask Luna the next time Luna wasn't acting wacky, she thought to herself. Twilight drifts off, logistical charts dancing in her head.

*******

Birds flit about the branches above, chirping, making morning merriment, ushering in the new day. And annoying drowsy thestrals still not used to the daytime cycle of her pony cousins. Slicer keeps her eyes closed against the slowly brightening light. Recent memories of the night prior, with the princess and her friends attempting to include her into their group, almost put her back into a relaxed state. Almost. The incessant chirping continues. Just as she is about to sit up and grab a stone to throw at the birds, they flutter away. Her face relaxes. Finally, peace and quiet.

A single leaf alights on her face. Typical. She blows the leaf off, keeping her eyes closed. The other ponies are still breathing slowly, or snoring, in Rainbow Dash and Rarity's case, so she doesn't feel the need to get up just yet. It has been a long time since she was this relaxed. Okay, 'perhaps' the group's attempts, as well as those really good s'mores from Rarity, helped give her a good rest she hasn't had in a long time.

Another leaf alights on her face.

Slicer grabs the leaf off her face and sits up quickly, growling. She looks around, but all the ponies are asleep, save one. Fluttershy is curled up around her sword and watching her, giggling. Slicer frowns and says, "Wait, was that YOU doing that? How did you move so fast?" The pegasus shakes her head in mirth and glances up. Slicer follows her gaze and spies a dark mass lazily lounging on one of the tree limbs far above, two eyes glowing in the darkness.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me! How long have you been up there hiding!?!"

Fluttershy gets up and languidly stretches. She yawns out, "Aaaahhhmmm....she has been up there all night, watching over us. More specifically, watching you." That gets Slicer's attention.

"Watching me?....wait, 'she'?"

After a series of rather weak looking morning calisthenics, which amounts to a half pushup and one or two individual leg stretches, Fluttershy walks over and sits next to Slicer. She looks up at the large cat. "Oh yes, she is a she. And she is very protective of you. You can tell how she always has her eyes on you while her ears swivel to every other sound outside the camp...and occasionally inside the camp, when one of us addresses you directly. I doubt she would harm us if we had a cross word with you. Mostly doubt." She considers the cat for a moment, then adds, "...kinda sure..." Slicer regards Fluttershy with surprise.

The sound of claws scraping against tree bark pulls Slicer's attention back to the tree as Guenhwyvar deliberately walks/slides down the side of the tree to thump softly next to her, keeping her eyes level with Slicer's. The thestral points her hoof at the cat and lightly bops the cat's nose, "So what was that all about, pushing me into the road and running off? That figurine is supposed to let me control you." Guenhwyvar's eyes narrow and she huffs. She bends back and starts giving herself a tongue bath. Fluttershy giggles, obviously reading the cat's body language. Slicer gets the idea that she is being blown off.

"I've been thinking on that, Slicer." Twilight is starting to get up, pulling her mane out of her face and brushing off leaves and bits of dirt from her fur with her hooves, though her friends can tell you she so needs coffee in the morning. She spots Applejack near the fire making coffee and bows down to worship her vast wisdom for the act. Applejack chuckles and shakes her head as she settles a pot over a slowly growing fire. Slicer patiently waits for Twilight to situate herself. The alicorn notices they are waiting and is all too eager to continue. "Yes. You see, figurines typically have two aspects to them. They summon and bond spirits' will from other dimensions. The summon part, well, you already know about that. It is the bonding side of it that seems to be missing. Most creators of magical artifacts will tell you the first rule of summoning is to protect yourself from reprisals of said summoned spirits. They tend to be angry when they are ripped out of their natural environment." She tilts her head and watches the cat, almost seeing it for the first time from a different light. "This one doesn't seem to have such safety measures built into the figurine. Hm. Well at least it isn't an angry spirit!" She smiles, as though that is supposed to make everypony there feel better. And everypony IS awake now, staring at the large cat with a little more than trepidation. Except Fluttershy.

She actually steps up to the cat, finally getting the chance to examine her up close. "Oh, she is not angry at all. In fact..." She reaches out and lightly brushes the cat's side, then turns to Slicer, "I think she rather likes when you summon her. You can usually see it in her tail that first minute, how it is confidently displayed-" Fluttershy pauses, watching the cat again, then exclaims, "Oh, you poor dear!" She leans in closer, trying to look into the cat's eyes, who in turn tries to avoid her like a petulant child. Fluttershy turns around to Slicer, clearly agitated, "Um....Slicer...if it's not too much bother...please unsummon her." The confusion on the thestral's face prompts Fluttershy to explain further. "Well, she looks very very tired...how long has she been in this world?"

It dawns on Slicer that she never willed the cat away since their encounter with Celestia, Treader, whatever her name was, "Oh, merde! Yes, too long. I was so irritated I forgot...yes, yes." She pulls the figurine out of her bag, not sure if it needs to be held or not, the familiar sting of guilt creeping up on her. "Go, Guenhwyvar...and I'm sorry I was angry with you...and you shouldn't have stayed up there all night just to watch over me....and now I'm babbling like Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie Pie is crouched, staring at the coffee pot Applejack is preparing. All windows of opportuni-pinkity must wait until this, oh greatest of morning events. ALL windows. Twilight makes a mental note to put that in her secret journal she has been keeping to catalog the pink aberration of reality.

The cat pads forward and licks Slicer on the muzzle. She lowers her large head on her paws, lying down with clear signs of exhaustion that Slicer normally would have picked up, but this time the cat must have been hiding it. Guenhwyvar becomes a mist which dissipates into the aether.

Fluttershy sighs sadly, yet again missing an opportunity to study the wondrous animal up close. Slicer catches the forlorn expression on Fluttershy's face. She leans in absently, knowing the pegasus is a big animal buff, brushing up against her as a friendly gesture of reassurance. They both then act surprised by the move, one from shyness and the other, from, well, not having friends to do that to, and probably being too preoccupied to be prickly. A scoffing sound comes from a hovering Rainbow Dash several feet away. "Oh good grief, that's like, a totally normal social custom. Get in there, Slice, she gives great cuddles!" Fluttershy turns a deep red and hides under her mane. Slicer rolls her eyes and mutters something which causes Fluttershy's eyes to go dinner plates.

Rarity says primly, "Perhaps for the more delicate of us, we prefer subtlety and conservative expression, rather than the amateur antics of the gutter dwellers." She stares pointedly at Rainbow, who in turn laughs and flips over in the air.

"Yah whatever, I live in the clouds, Rares."

The extremely well brushed unicorn who looks like she just stepped out of a salon, in the middle of the woods mind you, replies with a slow shake of her mane, "Yes, nopony is refuting THAT fact, Rainbow."

Slicer ignores the two and leans in close again, whispering to the curled up pegasus. "I promise, when she is rested up, I will bring her back, and you can have all the time in the world to study her." Fluttershy peeks a little out of her mane.

"Um...I wouldn't dream of keeping you from her....if...well, if this is truly just a game of pure fantasy...I imagine we can't take any of our gifts back with us. So....I know she means a lot to you, she should spend what little time we have left with you, not me."

The thestral is taken aback by Fluttershy's words. She hadn't even thought about that part. She makes to say something, then closes her mouth and glances around, thinking. The other ponies have stopped taking jibes at each other and start to listen in. Twilight, who sees her position as the Element of Friendship from an official capacity, and thus protective of the ponies around her, takes the realization a little harder in pure empathy for Slicer. "Oh, Slicer I'm sorry. She's right." She walks over to Slicer and puts her hoof on her shoulder. "I...suppose when we get back...IF Guenhwyvar does not come with us, I could try to create another figurine...?" Her eyes dilate as her brain starts to whir away. She speaks quicly, "It Ssouldn't be too hard to carve the piece, scry for the spirit by name, set up an interdimensional rift, secure said rift from other foreign entities. Somehow tie the spirit to the figurine without rending either apart...." As Twilight goes through each step it seems far more complicated than the end product would belie.

Slicer regards the princess, knowing what she is trying to do. At length she unclenches her jaw and says, "Thanks. I doubt any of this is real so certain attachments are what they are, imagniary. We deal with disappointments in our own way, no? Fluttershy, next chance we get, you can study her. It could be our last." She gently takes Twilight's hoof off her shoulder and releases it. "Since Guenhwyvar is resting, I have to scout ahead alone, make sure our last chance isn't quite THAT soon." Before the others can speak, she slips out of the camp toward the thinning trees.

As they watch her leave, Rainbow is hovering next to Twilight and asides, "Smooth."

Twilight scowls at her and says defensively, "I was only trying to make her feel better. We made so much progress with her last night, I would hate to see it wasted because of some stupid game mechanic disappearing when we finally 'win'. What kind of win makes you feel like garbage, anyway?"

Rainbow takes on an introspective expression. She says in a lowered voice, "The kind where you lose more than you win." Twilight regards her friend and softens her gaze.

"Had your fair share of those?"

The hovering pegasus nods. "Yeah. Along with the lessons learned." She lands on the ground and pokes Twilight gently, "So, you think you can actually do all that, create a figurine out of thin air, summon an imaginary cat based on a game?"

Twilight wrinkles her brow in thought. Something odd has been needling her brain for a while now. At times she had started to voice her concerns, but was always sidetracked. Not this time. "Imaginary? I'm not so sure. Along those lines, I find it strange that while there are personas that are acting differently, i.e. the princesses," and she says quietly while glancing at their dragon friend, "and Spike, most of the other beings are typical NPC's found in this type of genre." Her friends stare at her blankly as Applejack starts passing around cups of coffee. Twilight takes a cup in her hooves and savors the flavors. "Ooooh, AJ, good stuff." She notices they are waiting for her, so she continues. "NPC's, nonplaying characters. Cast of thousands?" They shake their heads. "Nevermind. Anyway, those we know well, like the princesses, they seem more real, versus those that are background characters. Guenhwyvar seems VERY real, like a main character...yet she is from a book. An Earth book, by the way. Also, a lot of things I have noticed are from books."

Her friends wilt and start to go back to the fire where Applejack is setting up breakfast.

Twilight steps forward, "No, wait, hear me out. I think we are being influenced by very specific books and stories." This gets their attention. Pinkie Pie blinks.

"You mean like, Goldyhooves and the Three Minotaurs?"

Twilight groans, "No, not THAT story. Other stories."

Rainbow quips, "Daring Do and the Raiders of the Temple of Crusading Skulls?"

Twilight blinks, "What? Okay, that isn't even a real Daring Do book, and I happen to have read all the Daring Do's so far!"

Rainbow shrugs, "Well it should be." Twilight ughs and throws up her hooves.

Applejack pushes her hat back and takes on a concerned look, "Okay, Twi. Spill it. Which stories?"

Twilight sits back. Finally, they are paying attention to her. "Well...The Bearded Wizard of Oz, for one....the yellow sandstone brick road?" Her friends look at each other, clearly not seeing the correlation. Twilight grrs. "Okay, what about Dawn Treader? That was a clear favorite of children from another world. Narnia?!" Rainbow starts snickering.

"I was just making a joke about that. You know, piss off the end boss into making the fight easier."

Twilight stamps her hoof down, "Alright, fine, then what about that whole scene with the arrow and AJ's flank?" This causes her friends to die laughing and start retelling flank jokes from earlier. Twilight grumbles and walks over to the campfire, picking at some of the morsels Applejack set aside.

Applejack smiles and says, "Don't you pay them no nevermind, sugarcube. I hardly remember the torturin' my flank got." Twilight turns beet red and rubs her hoof across her face, clearly not wanting to further her own mortification at the hooves of her friends. Applejack offers her a hot apple tart. "I get it's all important an' the like. Suppose what ya'll sayin is true, how does that help us?" Munching into the tart, the spices and sweetness filling her olfactory senses, Twilight thinks about it and smiles weakly.

With a shrug she replies, "I guess not much."

Her friend nods curtly and adds, "Important and Helpful. Each of those get their due attention when they're as good an ready, eeyup?"

Twilight snorts softly and replies, "Eeyup, AJ. Thanks." Applejack winks with a smile.

"The book!" This gets Twilight's attention as Rarity sits up, exclaiming, "I forgot. Spike?" The dragon looks up from his map. He really loves looking at that map, Twilight muses...and then starts watching him a bit more. He protectively rolls up the map and secrets it away into his map carrier. She glances at Applejack, who also notices. They both share a look that has 'investigate' written all over it.

"Yes, Enchantress Rarity?"

Rarity feels all warm and gushy from the title, but first things first. "Yes, regarding my book of spells." She reaches into her saddlebag and pulls it out. "It being of dragon make, as I remember you mentioning, I was wondering if you could help me read it?"

Spike hops over and tilts his head, studying it. "Oh, yeah, definitely dragonish. Not the language, mind you, just the creation."

Rarity opens the book and moves her hoof over the pages, "This is quite frustrating. Why can't I read this? Beyond the nonsense it seems to spew forth."

The dragon looks up and says, "Well to 'get it' you have to 'give it'." Rarity blinks in confusion. Spike replies, "I need to explain in depth?"

She glances around to make sure nopony is paying attention to them, which they all are, then conspiratorily gets close to Spike and lowers her voice a bit huskily, "I may be a proper mare, but I am aware of the more seedier forms of business transactions...." Rarity's voice gets so low it is now a whisper. "What are you proposing?"

Spike raises an eyebrow. "I propose it is a riddle of generosity. Give the book to someone and it becomes clear."

Rarity rears back in sudden realization of what he was getting at. "HAHAHahah, oh, OH! That's all! heh." She shakes herself off. "And here I thought it would be...expensive. So, a riddle of generosity, hmm, well that shouldn't be too difficult. I am the Element of that! I don't suppose, that is, I could give it to you?"

Spike chuckles and shakes his head, "Nope. I am a dragon." Upon seeing Rarity's face become crestfallen, he waves his claws in the air, "Oh, it's not that I'm choosing not to. I simply can't. See, I am a dragon. We create stuff for others to use. Kind of like a curse to offset our greed? Was a popular thing back in the day, before the devices were created to curtail magical artifact creation. We can make 'em, just not use 'em. Sucks to be us, huh?"

Rarity shakes her head and pats Spike. "Not at all. I think dragons are splendid, when they aren't eating somepony." Spike chuckles. Something tickles his nose, but he ignores it. "That said, yes I figured there would be a catch. Still, I must find a way to interpret this book so I am more helpful in the next fight. The last one was, shall we say, dreadful?"

Spike shrugs and is about to reach for his map again, when he picks up on Rarity's perfume. His eyes drift up to her. He responds quietly, "Um, we are also not supposed to just give away the answers, but in your case...I could. You just need to give it to one of your friends to read. They verbally read back the phrases and the glyphs reform in your mind's eye." As he speaks, he can see Rarity starting to glow with happiness, making him feel really good for some reason. His voice has gotten very soft too, almost floating. Fluttershy smiles delightedly and nudges Twilight to pay attention.

Rarity looks down at him with sparkling eyes, "Wha....that's it!?!"

Spike puffs out his chest. "Sure! We dragons can be ruffians, but we're not sadistic ruffians."

She picks up the dragon and spins around, hugging him, "Oh, you beautiful beautiful dragon!"

He laughs in reply, "Woh, heh glad to be of......heh...woh.....beautiful." His voice fails him as he stares into her eyes, those beautiful crystal blue sapphire eyes. Like delicious gems, but too exquisite to ever munch on.

Twilight grins and nudges Fluttershy back, "Now THAT'S the Spike we know. Oh, hey, is he still your squire? You don't mind, do you?"

Her friend shakes her head, mane falling forward, "Oh no, not at all. I learned long ago never to interfere with the nature of the heart. You embrace it, feed it, nurture it. Mm, like most things you wish to see grow."

Meanwhile, Rarity finishes spinning around and puts Spike down, "Oh, thankyou thankyou thankyou! By the way, thanks for not blowing my cover, what with the last book you helped me st-...borrow. That one was quite a bit of trouble, wasn't it? Maybe a bit too much inspiration if you ask me."

He catches his breath from all the hugging and looks up quizically, exclaiming loud enough for Twilight to hear, "Huh? What book?" His eyes still retain that starry look while gazing at the divine beauty that is Rarity.

Rarity scratches her head and looks up, catching Twilight's gaze, then chortles softly, "Ohhh, that's right. Different Spike. Nevermind!" She prances off to gather her things, with Twilight starting to follow her.

"Hey, what book? Rarity? We need to have a little talk, I think."

Ignored by her friends, Fluttershy sees they are moving out of the camp. She finishes talking to her new friends, two squirrels and a rabbit. "Oh, yes, I know it will take time. Tell the birds, they are wonderful messengers. Yes, I understand, and I would never willingly put you in harm's way. I just think that we may need your help." Their chittering response warms her heart. "Why thank you! And the cities too. I'm not sure which one the meteor will hit, but even rats need a chance." The rabbit seems to have a different idea about that and scampers off. The squirrels giggle and wave goodbye before running off in different directions. Fluttershy smiles. She can feel nature's approval. While nature is nature, sometimes it too must defend itself.

***

A pink pony head prowls slowly through the tall waving grass. A hat with one side of the brim pinned up sits atop that head, and a very serious voice underscores the culture of that hat. "Yeez got ta keep yeh head on when yeh in the bush. All mannah a prey an' predetahs make this wondrous woop woop country home. Take this sheila, for instance. Tall, proud, colored in lavendah. Kinda squishy in certain pawts due to that book readin, but don let that fool ya, mate. Even within cooee, she'll be hawd yakka ta take down. She may look loik a snag, perfect fo stalkin an killin-"

"HEY!"

"-but Aw reckon she's got it where it counts, too right!"

Twilight glares at Pinkie for a brief moment before going back to staring at the vast grasslands in front of her. She and her friends have been mesmerized for several minutes, just watching the beauty of the savanna. Long golden wheat colored stalks move back and forth in ocean-like waves as the winds invisibly caress them, a soft sifting sound emanating from the countless stalks brushing up against each other. It is almost breathtaking if not for Pinkie's antics as she crawls around low in her safari outfit while speaking in that weird accent...and occasionally referencing Twilight's scrumptious nature as it appeals to natural predators.

Rainbow remarks quietly, "That's a lot of grass."

Applejack replies just as quietly, "Eeyup."

Fluttershy peeks out from behind Rainbow and murmurs, "A lot of camouflage for stalking animals that live in the grasslands....um...to stalk 'other' animals...and sometimes ponies...." She hides back behind Rainbow.

Applejack mutters, "...eeyup."

"No sign of her, is there?" Twilight glances at Rarity for a moment. Her friend has been using a visual spell from her enchantment repertoire to spot any contrasting colors. So far, zippo. She shakes her head no. Twilight sighs. "We'll have to assume she is still doing her duty and press on. Rainbow, feel free to take to the skies, keep an eye on any incoming ground threats that get past her, but don't ignore the skies. That Earth book would have me say 'we are not in kansas anymore, toto' but I have no idea what a kansas or a toto is, much less what lives up in these skies. We could meet anything, and the Monster's Compendium is huge."

Rainbow grins, snaps a salute and wooshes straight up to take on a lazy orbit above them.

Twilight and her friends proceed down the road, difficult to see with its color blending in with the flora. Their saving grace was the fact that the stones create somewhat of a physical path due to the absence of grass, though here and there the flagstones and bricks are showing wear, with grasses growing up between them. A few hours of trekking across the grasslands shows their alertness starting to flag. Pinkie and Rainbow seem to be the only ones making a point of surveying the land, with Pinkie being the lesser of the serious. She hops across the path to the other side on occasion, remarking on a particular bug or plant that stands out to her.

It is after several quick hops back and forth when Twilight finally loses her patience and yells, "Pinkie! Quit that! You are going to attract unwanted attention."

Pinkie has her head stuck in the grass immediately to Twilight's left with her tail thrashing back and forth. She becomes stock still, then slowly raises her head and slowly prances over to Twilight to sit down. "Okie smokie Twilie. I'm done finding all the cat people."

Twilight sighs. "Good, thankyou, now we can continue...wait, did you say cat people?" Pinkie noddles, smiling innocently. Twilight notices movement and turns her head to see a bipedal cat stand up slowly, right where Pinkie had her head buried in the grass. He is holding a drawn shortbow, the arrow aimed at Twilight's head. A quick inspection by Twilight's intellectual mind shows the cat is almost like a tiger, black and tan stripes all over his body. No wonder he was hidden.

Next to him, Slicer jumps up and rears back with a dagger, only to freeze as a spear pushes up out of the grass behind her, gently prodding her in the back of the neck. A similar cat, though with black and white stripes, is holding that spear as it rises up while keeping the point planted right on the thestral's neck. Slicer closes her eyes and growls, "Merde." Several more cats stand, at least ten interspersed near and around the group, most with various weapons like bows, spears,  blowpipes. Surprisingly, no swords.

A glance up in the air by Twilight shows Rainbow still making her wide circles, obviously searching for any threats coming TOWARDS the group, not IN the group. As if on cue, Rainbow makes a beeline for them and slams down on her hind hooves, cracking the stone. "Twilight! I just spotted a black horse on the road, like a real feral horse, but with flames coming out of its eye sockets and off the stones where it steps. I think its hooves are on fire, too! It is directly that way at about five minute's trot." She points, then makes a face at the one cat standing in the way of her view, "Hey, furball, get out of the way! I have to show Twilight here....that threat...oh come ON!" She whips her head around, "Where did these guys come from!?!"

The one cat standing on the road pads toward them quietly, lowering his bow, "We hail from Myth Drannor, and we have been waiting for you so that we may escort you to the Great Maharaja."

Slicer snorts, "Urinate on that, I've been tracking THIS one," she points at the cat near Twilight and Pinkie, "an hour after I left you guys."

The cat behind Slicer prods her with the speartip and says in a female voice, "And we were tracking YOU the moment you left the treeline, weeping and groveling like a mewling fresh off the teat." Slicer whips around with her dagger, but the cat steps back, makes a counter six fencing move with the spear and binds up Slicer's foreleg, dagger unthreateningly twisted to the side as the cat slowly pushes the speartip back up to Slicer's throat again, "A very young mewling."

The cat on the road speaks to the female cat, "Kis'myet, at the ready, as ordered." The cat named Kis'myet snarls softly, but relents and takes a step back, unlocking Slicer's foreleg and lowering her spear while keeping the tip pointed forward. The thestral flexes her foreleg and puts the dagger away while acting as if nothing had happened.

Twilight looks between the different cats and remarks, "Ridge cats, I hadn't thought you would be in here. Slicer, these are your people, back when you left your home, right? Talk to them."

Slicer raises an eyebrow. Twilight motions with her hoof to get on with it. The other one grits her teeth and slowly takes a few steps toward the leader before Kis'myet makes it a point to block her approach, the spear coming close again. Slicer ignores her and addresses the leader, "Pouvons nous parler? Poney au le félin?" The leader stares at her.

She looks down at Kis'myet's legs, noticing there are scraps of clothing wrapped up with thin strands of...muscle, which has been dried and twisted into cord. The clothing is actually leather, with a more coarse grain to it and a higher sheen than some other leathers. Patches of hair have been left on it, tan, to blend in with the grass. Horse hair.

Slicer looks up into Kis'myet's eyes and only sees death there. "Nice pants." Kis'myet lifts her lips, showing sharp teeth. Slicer nods slightly and mosies over to Twilight, whispering in her ear, "These are NOT....my people." Twilight doesn't quite understand what got into Slicer, but if she's giving up the parlay, it is either to surrender or fight.

Before she can say anything else, Rainbow takes matters into her own hooves. "I don't need no stinking roll for initiative, I've got this!" and draws her sword while leaping into the air, all of ten feet before a high pitch sound pierces the air and Rainbow slams back down on the ground, a dart sticking out of her flank. The sword she had drawn plants tip first a short distance away. Twilight attempts to reach Rainbow, but several cats close in with weapons, keeping them all at bay. Twilight looks over at the leader.

"What did you do to her!?"

The leader regards the alicorn and says, "She is not dead, merely unconscious. A sleeping poison, if you will. You are all to be guests of the Great Maharaja. Minus your items, of course."

Twilight looks between Rainbow to her other friends. They all nod, understanding the situation. A look at Slicer shows otherwise. She says to the thestral, "It's only temporary. We will get everything back. I promise." Slicer's hard facial expression crumbles and she goes to reach for her saddlebags, as do the rest of the ponies. Spike keeps his map case firmly on his back, and to Twilight's dismay, the cats grab everything off the ponies except that case. Twilight shakes her head and goes to levitate her bags off her back, but nothing happens. Her horn thrums a little, but that's all. "What the hay!?"

"Hm, a mage...your magic is nullified, tiny unicorn pegasus mutant," the leader says.

Twilight glares at him, "I have a name, it is Twilight Sparkle."

The leader bows, "And mine is Azar. While we are not allowed to have or use magic, we must at least protect ourselves from those that do. Your items, please, Miss Twilight Sparkle." He waves his paw to the growing pile.

She walks over and after a minute of unbuckling the understrap, she shimmies the bags off her and pushes them to the pile, along with the staff strapped to them. Some of the cats upend the bags, spilling the items out. One holds up the onyx panther figurine and exclaims, "Honorable Azar, a figurine of power! The Great Maharaja shall surely be happy to receive this!" He proceeds to put it in his own bag.

Twilight holds up her hoof on instinct but is too late. Slicer is already galloping toward the offending cat with her head down, all reason fled from her eyes. She smashes into the cat, both of them rolling into the tall grass. Kis'myet leaps in after them. The grass hides much of what is going on, though at one point there is a loud grunt. Both the cats get up, the first unlimbering his spear while Kis'myet rears back with hers. They both thrust down, the spears meeting somewhere together out of sight.

Twilight yells, "NO!!!" and gallops forward. She pushes past one cat but is eventually tackled by Azar. She is close enough in the grass to see through the stalks. Both spears are crossed just above Slicer's neck and their tips are dug into the ground, the shafts bearing down on either side of her neck.

Kis'myet leans in on hers and says, "Continue to fight and you will die." The pressure starts to cut off blood flow through the arteries in her neck. Slicer kicks out, just missing the cats' legs. Kis'myet leans in more, "In several seconds you will feel faint. In several more seconds you will lose consciousness. After that, it is a matter of how many brain cells you wish to kill off, and since you will be unconscious, you will no longer have a say in it." Twilight can see Slicer's eyes start to glaze.

"Slicer, please! It will be alright!" Twilight pleads. The thestral manages to spot Twilight in the grass. Twilight nods. "Fight later." Slicer relaxes, showing she has given up.

The cats pull back their spears. Before the male cat can walk away, Slicer kicks him in the shin from the ground. He wails and rolls to the ground, holding his leg. Kis'myet snarls and flips the spear around, thrusting the butt of it into Slicer's head, knocking her out cold.

Azar grumbles as he gets up and walks over to Kis'myet, getting right in her face, "Do NOT injure them! It is his fault for letting down his guard, YOU do not cover for his folly!" He gingerly steps over Slicer's body and kicks the male cat in the other shin. "And YOU do not get to choose what to take. It is for the Great Maharaja to decide." He reaches down into the cat's bag and pulls out the figurine. With a precise throw he tosses it onto the pile. "The rest of you, bag all this up. We must meet that abomination to return home." The cats that are still standing pull out large sacks and push all the party's gear into them. Azar assigns two other cats to each carry Slicer and Rainbow draped over their shoulders.

Twilight watches how the two are handled until satisfied they are not to be further mistreated. Azar notices this and says, "Rest assured, Miss Twilight Sparkle, we have orders not to injure them beyond our self-preservation. I would have gotten that out sooner had I known their...aggressive nature." He waves his paw forward to get everybody moving.

She smiles weakly and starts walking. "Given our last few encounters, it would seem most everypony we run into is an enemy."

He nods. "I can see that. Had I to choose, we would not be. I can also see you are a leader who loves your people, rare these days. I...Jirrat, what is the holdup?" He addresses a cat who is still waiting on Pinkie Pie.

The black spotted cat is standing there with a frustrated look on his maw as Pinkie is pulling item after item out of her bag. Some of the items could never have fit in there in the first place. "Oh, don't forget this! And this! And, oh I can't believe THIS was in here. Twilight, I thought you said these batteries would last at least a fortnight of nights??" Twilight stares at the item and goes white.

Azar stomps over to the cat and watches Pinkie. He tilts his head, "Magic or not, would it be easier to simply take her bag?"

Jirrat hunches over, trying to overshadow the pink pony, "She won't let me."

"o/~ You didn't say the magic woooooord! o/~"

They stare incredulously at her. Azar murmurs, "please?" 

^_^

All the items get shoved back into the saddlebags, even the item Twilight was mortified to have witnessed. Pinkie bounces away to catch up with the rest of her friends, tossing the saddlebags at Jirrat, who is nearly crushed by their weight. Pinkie returns to Jirrat and lightly sticks her happy face sticker on one of the bags. Jirrat collapses under the bags and Pinkie giggles, returning to her friends. Azar smiles and follows her, asiding to Jirrat, "See? You should show more backbone, Jirrat." The subordinate agrees as he struggles to get back up.

Once grouped up, the cats appear less threatening as they put up their weapons and start herding Twilight's group down the road. Twilight addresses Azar, "If you don't mind, I have a question. I thought ridge cats were a nomadic folk? Why stay in a ruined city like Myth Drannor? Assuming it is the one I'm thinking of."

Azar's eyes flick Twilight's way before resuming their scan ahead. "We are not...'ridge cats'. We are Rakshasa."

This causes Twilight to clamp her mouth shut. She has read every entry in the compendium that Luna brought with her that first night of gaming. Rakshasa were a kind of cat demon not to be trifled with. They were very powerful mages and illusionists. Not to mention, some were cannibals. She shudders to think which ones these were.

"Uh, you said you were not allowed magic. Are you not...magical?" That sounds so stupid, bad Twilight, bad Twilight!

Azar chuckles. "We were, once. As was Myth Drannor. Since our city was closest to the temple of the Keepers, we were the first and hardest hit to suffer their decrees. We were stripped of our spells and knowledge, then our artifacts. Only anti-magic was left. They allowed one scrying mirror, which can...do other things they did not foresee. You are their enemy so I do not mind telling you this. All else, we scrape together these days. Even our ability to make potions is nothing more than mixing things found in the wild. Our knowledge of sword making was also taken. We made such wondrous things. 'To preserve the balance of technology and nature' it was told to us. Bah! They might as well take away who we were. And they did."

Jirrat quips, "Don't forget the mirrors, we made lots of mirrors to help with illusions back in the day." Azar casts him a sour look and Jirrat drops his head, falling behind in subservience.

Twilight wants to ask further questions, especially those concerning the Keepers, when the group stops. She notices another being walking toward them on the road. It is the horse Rainbow had spoken of. It stands tall, several heads above the cats and more so above the ponies. Its hide is covered in black fur, with fire for a mane and tail. Its hooves are a kind of brimstone, smoldering against the stone of the road. Embers burn where its eyes should be, and a low kept fire rages down its throat when it opens its mouth to speak.

"Catling, you take your time, and time is upon us. Give us the dragon, and keep your meat and trinkets." Its gaze sweeps the ponies. They pull closer to each other in fear.

Azar walks right up to the horse, a nightmare, if Twilight remembers correctly. "All in good time, creature. You are here to do one job, and not to give orders. The portal, create it now, so we may be home and you closer to the end of your task."

The nightmare's eyes flare for a second. Its gaze lingers on Spike, who is glaring right back at the flaming horse. It then turns away abruptly. "As you wish, catling. Do keep up." It strikes the ground in front of it and walks ahead into a widening tear in reality. The opening shows a different vista on the other side, the remnants of an old city of stone and crumbling buildings among rocky hills, overshadowed by a much closer Undermountain. No grassland at all, lending to the idea a great distance is being bridged. The cats and ponies follow the nightmare through the opening. Once on the other side, it closes up behind them. The light is different, the sun in another part of the sky.

Twilight frowns and remarks, "Azar, if we can't do magic, how come that nightmare can?"

The cat leader grins, "You are a smart one. Do not be too smart, for curiosity has since killed many cats. The portal is an innate ability, it does not have to project the magic to use it. A mage does." Twilight ah's.

"Of course. This is like nullification..?" She is hoping she can elicit that from him.

Azar huffs. "I know what you want, but I cannot let you escape." While watching the nightmare leading them into the city, he slides a paw over his chest, lingering on a ring tied by a leather cord to his neck. "To speak of a nullification ring to our enemy would be unwise, to our friends unsafe. To you..." He tucks the ring under his shirt. "To you, I can only advise not to harm any of us. With luck, you will escape this place alive. More I cannot say." He moves on to walk next to Spike, putting himself between the dragon and the nightmare and making it clear that was his mission now.

Rarity and Applejack get close to Twilight, with Rarity saying, "I sense an opportunity with this one. They do not get along."

Applejack nods, "Eyup, I'd go so far as to say if he had his way he wouldn't give Spike over. More of that Keeper business, that nightmare is representin, I'd wager."

Twilight agrees, "Yes, it would seem so. If we handle things correctly, we can get through this without a fight. You two stay near Rainbow and Slicer. When they wake up, explain the absolute need NOT to fight." They continue in silence as they pass several ruins. There is a ghostly dreariness to the city.

Rarity asks, "Twilight, do you have a moment?"

"Sure, whatcha need?"

"That fight where I, ahem, when I completely embarrassed myself and got stuck on that ridiculous recipe page, I wanted to thank you for saving me from that arrow. If it hadn't been for you, I would now be trying to decide what hat to wear to cover up the extra hole in my head."

Twilight wrinkles her brow with a quirked smile, "Eh...Rarity? That WASN'T me. To be honest, I thought you moved yourself out of the way to give me a clear shot at them. I already had a spell prepped and was waiting for an opportunity."

It is Rarity's turn to look befuddled, "Then if it wasn't you, and it wasn't me...no, clearly it was you."

"Heheh, if it was me, I'd know it." She thinks to herself, i wanted her out of the way, now that i think on it. i even thought the words 'slide right' so i can cast this spell, and ...meh, it's over and done with, no sense wasting brain power while we have so much ahead of us.

Azar drifts back, tapping Spike to come with him. Every once in a while the nightmare turns its head to track the dragon before moving on. Azar leans to Twilight and asks, "I couldn't help but overhear, you made your friend move without being aware of it? No magic?"

"I don't know that I did. I wanted to, but I didn't cast a spell."

Azar muses to himself. "Perhaps all is not lost." Twilight eyes him. He shrugs, "There was a time when we used something other than magic. A light from within, some described it as." Kis'myet's eyes flick toward Azar but linger a fraction of a second before going back to watching the nightmare. She doesn't trust it either. "One could split and refract reality, like light, and move between places. We gave up that gift before the Keepers ever formed." He sighs and continues walking in silence. No other words are spoken until they reach the center of the city, a crumbling massive structure with marble pillars before them. Azar directs the other Rakshasa to take the ponies and dragon to the dungeons.

Applejack exclaims, "What?! Aw thought we were ta be this Mirage's guests!?" Her friends protest in unison.

The leader holds up his paws, "Temporary accomodations, until negotiations are concluded between the Great Maharaja and...other entities." He turns around to end up muzzle to muzzle with the nightmare.

"The dragon is ours!" The nightmare snarls at him.

"Hence, the negotiations. You have not set your terms, only that we had to make best speed to intercept them. We are not your slaves and you are not in your sovereign territory. The Great Maharaja shall dispense as needed per our assistance to the Keepers."

"I care not for your 'terms'. Scratch away in this pile of rocks, it will be the only thing left of your civilization soon enough. For now, the dragon is here, and I shall be gone with him soon, no matter your meager payment." The nightmare storms away deeper into the building, escorted by half of the cats, including the one that Slicer had kicked earlier. The rest lead the sullen ponies to a side corridor and down several flights of stairs.

Twilight addresses Azar, "You can't possibly be thinking of letting that thing take Spike with it!?!"

His eyes flash with anger, "It is not my decision, nor my desire." He turns his head to Kis'myet. "If the Great Maharaja so ordered it, would you kill these ponies?"

The black and white striped cat grins with a sparkle in her eye, "Yes, and drink of their blood and wear their skins to warm my fur in the oncoming winter months soon to smother us." The ponies shiver from her words.

Azar nods as though he were asking what time of day it was. "And should they be the ones to bring down the Keepers and stop Prometheus, would you fight by their side?"

Kis'myet slows her walking and turns to Twilight, "I would fight and die by their sides, knowing if I had to choose between dying on a cold winter morning for lack of any magic or fire to keep me alive, or fighting for a sliver of a chance to beat the Keepers. I would fight." She reaches over to her friend who is carrying Slicer and picks up the thestral's unconscious head by the scruff, "And I would carry this one right up that damn god's leg and chest just so she can stab his eye out with her pitiful dagger and I would piss in his socket, and defecate in the other eye, just for shits and giggles." She drops Slicer's head like yesterday's fish.

They resume walking down the steps to the final landing where rows of wrought iron cells await. Twilight and the others stare at Kis'myet. Twilight asks quietly,  "Prometheus is that large?" The female cat nods. "Wait, why is he so important?" 

Azar's gaze settles on Spike. "I would answer their questions, little one. All of them, while you still have time. I cannot guarantee what happens to you once you return to Undermountain, but your friends will be taken care of, to the best of our abilities." Spike nods to Azar's suggestion, but remains silent as he and the ponies are ushered into a cell close to a large wooden table. Rainbow and Slicer are placed on the flagstones, still out cold. All of their items are dumped on the table by those carrying the sacks. Azar picks up the onyx statue as soon as it spills out. "Tell her I am sorry for this. Word will have gotten to the Great Maharaja, otherwise. I will be back shortly to see if we can release you all." With that he is gone, as are the rest of their escort, leaving the ponies alone.

Twilight waits a few minutes, then turns to the lock and focuses her horn. The spiraled cone of ivory glows, but nothing happens. "I don't understand, the ring is gone." Her friends look at her questioningly. "Azar, he alluded to a nullification ring keeping us from using magic."

Rarity walks over to the bars and taps them gently with her glowing horn, wincing from the pain. The glow momentarily pulses off with each tap. She sits back, looking at all the cells, "Oh my. All this iron is infused with the same anti-magic property as that ring." She continues to test different parts of the cell, especially focusing on areas that appear to have rust.

Twilight walks over to Spike and sits down next to him, studying his eyes. Fluttershy is next to him with a worried expression and says, "Um...he's been shivering ever since he saw that fiery horse. He won't speak to me about it. I'm afraid..." Under her breath she adds, "...for him."

Spike grimaces and pats Fluttershy, "It's alright. I figured this was coming ever since you mares showed up in town and put down my teacher and dispelled Silvery Orb's dillusion spell." He looks up at Twilight.

She nods at him, "Whenever you are ready Spike, we are here for you."

He smiles gratefully. "Okay then. As it was taught to me and all my ancestors,  we were gathered to monitor magic and technology in the world. The Covenant has a clause where we will be summoned to return to a temple and made to give back magic to a being known as Prometheus. All magic."

Rarity blinks, turning around to face him, "Give back? Darling, how can a dragon give back ALL magic?" She gets a dreadful look and whispers, "It's not like Tyrek, is it?"

Spike replies, "Tyrek? Who is that?" Twilight shakes her head, waving him on. "Ah. Anyway, I'm just reciting, or paraphrasing, what the Covenant says."

Twilight clears her throat. "Ah, this Covenant. It seems to be a set of legal phrases dictating exactly what you will be called upon to do. You wouldn't happen to have a copy of it, would you?" The dragon slowly reaches around and pulls his map case off his back. He shuffles out the map to Undermountain and unfurls it. Two other scraps of parchment fall out, but he ignores them. The other ponies look on skeptically until he inhales and blows steam across the parchment. The artwork is overlaid with a glowing set of arcane lines, written in dragonish. At the bottom is a scrawled signature. Twilight sighs, "Nuts, I can't read that. Spike?"

He looks at it and shrugs, "More of that dragon curse. They made me sign on the dotted line and told me 'only what I needed to know'. I can read individual symbols and explain them to someone else, but not for gaining my own knowledge."

Twilight frowns, "That's horrible! Who would make such a thing possible for a whole race??" Spike mouths the name 'Prometheus' without saying it aloud. Twilight starts feeling an anger that has been sitting in her for a long time since hearing about the suppression of magic.

Fluttershy sits up, "Um...I can read it, actually!" Her friends stare at her and she shrinks down. Twilight, desperate for knowledge on this, waves off Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie. Fluttershy whispers, "Eh, Spike taught me." The dragon beams with pride.

"Go ahead Fluttershy." Twilight coaxes. The pegasus peers at the map's glowing words.

"Upon this pedestal lays bear your word as sworn. Upon it, your fire returns the magic all around you born. Upon me, Prometheus, I take back what from the heavens I have shorn, and once all is said and done, for you and technology shall we mourn." Fluttershy rereads the passage, then puts her hoof on the signature and looks at Spike, "Does this mean...you signed here, yes? What does this mean?"

Spike hangs his head, "I am to be instrumental in taking back all magic in existence."

All the ponies that are awake stamp their hooves in protest. Twilight exclaims, "Magic or not, they cannot take you from us!"

Applejack grits her teeth, "Damn straight." Rarity blinks at her friend. Applejack shakes it off, "Damn don't care right now how Aw sound."

Spike raises his arms. "Girls, girls! I don't think we can fight our way out this time. But I have an idea." They settle down and he rolls up the map. He puts it back in the case and hands it to Twilight. "A bargaining chip, something to play when all the cards are down. This isn't just a map, or an infernal contract or bad poetry. It is a lens to focus the energies for magical reclamation. And since I signed it, it is only activated by MY breath."

Pinkie hops up and down, "Oh, it's like a lock and key. Wait, which gets to be the key and which is the unfortunate lock?" Her head whips back and forth between the case  and Spike. Twilight slowly pushes Pinkie aside.

She says to Spike, "Yes, barring THAT kind of weird scenario, they can't touch you without this, I surmise?" Spike nods. Twilight sighs. "Good, now we have a plan."

"Good! Plans Keep Ponies Kicking." Azar has returned. Several guards have shown up with him and stand ready. He waves them forward and they open the cage door, motioning for Spike to leave. Applejack and Rarity scramble to get in front of Spike. Fluttershy wraps her wings around him from behind. Even Pinkie hops right up to Azar but skitters back when a spear is leveled at her. Azar says somberly, "This has to be done."

Reluctantly, Spike pushes past the ponies and turns to them, "Remember, the key to a good bluff, is knowing you have the cards." He winks at Twilight and kicks at the scraps of parchment that had fallen out of the map case earlier. He spins around and makes an effort to keep attention on him while he follows the retinue of guards up the steps, minus Azar. He closes the cage and locks it. The glint from Twilight's crystal on the table catches his attention. He stares at it for a time, listening to the steps of the guards grow fainter. He clears his throat.

"Let me tell you of a story, a great distance back in time. When this city was glorious. It was during a time when one need only think of a place, and he was instantly there. No magic, no memorization of runes or phrases, no smelly essences to burn up in the process."

Twilight approaches the bars and eyes him through them, "Really, you could literally think yourself somewhere without magic?"

He sits down at the table and pokes at the crystal, making it roll over one facet. "Not so immaturely simple. You had to have a vast array of spatial mechanics memorized, to know how to move between worlds. A long time ago we thought differently. Picture all your thoughts, organized in a set where each thought is ruled by two elements, a unique supremum and a unique infimum."

"um...wha?"

He chuckles, "Like I said, well above your understanding. Ours too, centuries later. We became dependent on magic, which simply could not coexist with our older ways of thinking, so we succumbed to its allure. Much to our demise, we were stripped naked of our magicks when the Keepers punished us for our research into the suppression device. We want revenge, don't get me wrong. We want our magic back. To be sure we do not wish to kill you. The nightmare wishes to make you our permanent guests. As permanent as these stones." His foot nudges a broken corner of a flagstone out of its deteriorating mortar. He grunts softly to himself.

Applejack says, "Eh..that's a long time. We got's things to do."

"I spoke to the Great Maharaja. The very least, you are to be our guests until things settle down." The cacophony of protests causes him to raise his paws. "Yes, yes, I know you dislike the outcome of all this. If only there was a way for you to leave without my directly intervening." He kicks behind him and rattles the large table. The quartz crystal rolls off, and before it hits the stones, his tail catches it and tosses it in the air, only to be bumped off his left knee, then his right knee, then a spin from him with his tail whipping the crystal in a spiraled flight through the bars of the cage. Twilight tries to catch it with her hooves, though being out of practice because she uses magic so much, bobbles it and it heads for the stones.

A light blue hoof stretches out and catches it just in time. Rainbow exclaims groggily, "Oh yeah....nnhm...on my back....I'm still the best!"

Her friends groan. Rarity stares down at her multi-colored friend, "Do be a dear, and NEVER....EVER...say that out loud in public." She whispers more softly, "It's not a competition!" Rainbow snorts, then groans in pain.

"OW, my flank! Which one of you cats bit it??"

Azar ahs and pulls out two potions from a belt pouch and hands them to Applejack through the bars. "Here, for the pain and injuries. Health elixirs. Like I said, we can still make potions." Applejack moves to Rainbow while handing one to Fluttershy so she can administer it to Slicer.

Twilight picks up the crystal Rainbow had caught and peers into its facets. Still nothing extraordinary. "No key for the lock, no artifacts to counter the anti-magic. Just...this? Why?"

Azar leans back against the table and tilts his head. "You really don't know what that is?" Twilight shakes her head.

Kis'myet steps out of the shadows. "It is a lattice structure. More to that specific item, a focusing lattice. We used to walk through space and time, focusing energy, to matter, to reality itself, splitting and recombining points of origin with nothing but those crystals and our minds." She stops near Azar and glances at the table. "Helping the prisoners?"

Azar snorts. "My orders are to not give them any their magical implements. That," he points at the crystal, "is not magical, as you well know." Kis'myet's nose twitches. He walks over to the steps and pauses. "I trust you can lead them out of the city without defying your orders?"

She nods, none too thrilled. He smiles and leaves. Kis'myet turns back to the cage and addresses the ponies. "I am to guard you." With that, she sits down at the table as if it's going to be a long wait.

While Twilight continues to study the crystal, Fluttershy picks up the scraps of parchment and peers at them. Her eyes light up and she reaches over to Applejack with one of them. "Um...I think Spike meant for you to have this."

Applejack takes the scrap and reads it. "Oh hey, these are the symbols on mah sword. Aw assume this here says how to pronounce them, and what they mean?"

Fluttershy nods. "They appear to be similar, but with a different message. Spike wanted to teach you and Rainbow Dash...but...um...we sort of ran out of time." She snuffles and says meekly, "we are always running out of time, i'm sorry." She starts to break down and cry. Applejack pulls her into a hug.

"Don't you fret, sugar. I swear, we will get him back!" Applejack whispers fiercely.

Rainbow sits up groggily and shakes her head. "Woh...I didn't think I landed THAT hard." Applejack takes the second note from Fluttershy and hooves it to Rainbow while still hugging the pegasus. "Oh what's this? The symbols on my sword! Sweet! I'm totally going to be using this."

"guen...." Slicer's stirring pulls their attention to her. Rarity helps the thestral sit up. "where...where is she?"

Rarity's hurt expression tells Slicer the news isn't good. "I'm sorry, darling, they took the statue to their Great Mahimahi." The sudden tension in Slicer's body makes Rarity brace the thestral's shoulders to keep her down, "BUT! but, we are going to try and get her back, won't we girls?" A scan around the cage gets a nod from everypony, except one. Twilight is still staring at her crystal and thinking as hard as she can.

Kis'myet groans, "Would you quit that? You are giving ME a headache, just watching you." She rubs her temples.

Twilight sighs and slumps into a sitting position, "Then what am I supposed to do!?! I've known magic all my life. I can feel THAT, at least. I put together simple energies to combine greater constructs, infused with the energy I open up inside and....woosh, magic! Ugh." She shakes her head and looks at her hooves, the crystal rolling to the ground, "I can't believe I said woosh. I am losing it."

The Rakshasa chuckles and lets her spear drop onto the stone floor, the sudden clang causing all the ponies to jump. "Woosh, I have lost my spear, what ever will I do?" She looks at her claws, and then picks at her sharp teeth. "Oh yes, I can use these." Twilight frowns, trying to think through the obvious analogy.

"So I have the ability in me, and wouldn't necessarily need the crystal?"

The cat tilts her head, "It's not just that. When we had two schools of thought a long time ago, one was of magic. We pulled energy from our environment and created things, just as you described. The other school, was a form of energy manipulation called psionics. We pulled from within. All creatures have this energy, chakra they were called. Focal points within the body, each one a foundation for the next. The two schools were so completely different, it was as if they were oil and water." Twilight looks behind her and sees Slicer staring back at her. While Slicer's eyes are heavy with moisture, she nods to the alicorn, confidence hardening her eyes. Twilight looks back at Kis'myet. "It was inevitable one would be pushed aside and the other embraced."

Applejack speaks up, "So what ya'll sayin is instead of outside forces and energy, all Twi here has to do is think inward? Well gosh, she does that on an hourly basis!" Some of the others chuckle. Slicer gets a hint of a smile.

Twilight twists her head sideways to look at Applejack, "Gee, thanks." She goes back to contemplating the crystal. "I'm almost too tired to even think right now."

Kis'myet nods. "Total exhaustion and total mental relaxation is the perfect place to be, enlightenment gained by the fusion of mind and body once both are willing to accept each other. One cannot even be conceptualized without the other." Twilight peers at her with a peculiar expression, but lets it go. She breathes in and relaxes.

A silence descends on the dungeon. On occasion, either Applejack or Rainbow whisper to each other regarding how to pronounce a given symbol, but with the help of Fluttershy, they seem to work out the gist of it. Kis'myet sits in a relaxed position, her eyes betraying her alertness as she picks up every movement the ponies make. Twilight remains perfectly still, thinking inward.

All manner of thoughts flood her mind, worries about her friends, Spike, the future. She harkens back to how she used to prepare for bedtime. Each thought becomes individually compartmentalized, put away for later. It is a calming excercise Celestia helped her to practice when her mind becomes overworked. However, this time she is not preparing for bed, but is staying awake. With soothing contentment, she finds her head is less full, thought by thought, until finally there is nothing but her. An exhausted her, yet she only senses  herself, a thing no words can describe. All things external are gone, and their absence defines what is left, i.e. Twilight Sparkle.

A whisper drifts into her being, a simple directive. "Pick up the crystal." She senses the crystal. She senses the water and minerals that created it through the eons, the rock that directed the creation, the layers of life that eventually created the rock. In truth, she is reliving her first times when she touched upon magic so long ago, yet in this state of mind she knows of the connections without needing the magic to bridge her to them. Simple connections like her hooves touching the floor, the floor to the bars, the crystal no longer on the floor. The air around the crystal. Air that could push or give way. She does not have to use her hooves, for all things around her IS her. She can FEEL. She could always feel, to be honest. It was a matter of stripping away the magic, an existence of thought known only prior to her discovering magic at a time when she knew little of the world and herself. Now, she knew much, much more. She knew an energy in herself that was not magic. There was no loss of control this time like there was during her first magical exam, so long ago. This energy she was familiar with. This energy has been with her all her life.

"..twilight.." Applejack's voice squeaks out, then she coughs quietly. "Twilight, honey? How are you doin that?" Twilight realizes her eyes are closed and opens them. The crystal is floating in front of her. She is not filled with magic, only Oneness with herself.

Twilight whispers back, "I can feel it."

Kis'myet grins and leans forward, "Now, can you feel the lock in front of you. Pour yourself through the crystal, allow its perfect natural structure to realign your doubts. Allow its lattice, a perfect structure of nature, reinforce your strength, and push out to the lock."

Twilight could feel what she was saying. The crystal was never a magical item, absurd now that she truly SAW it. Saw INTO it. She starts murmuring about the colors and light she sees, sparking Rainbow's interest as it reminds her of rainbooms. "Color, vast color expanding into infinity. Like light focusing through, at once pure light split into an infinite number of colors and reformed into pure light, again and again within this crystal. So many facets reflecting and refracting, redirecting the light within the crystal...I can feel it within myself!" She felt the light, and nudged it at the lock.

The lock on the cage explodes outward, right at Kis'myet. Her spear flies right to her paw and she spins away on the bench, barely dodging the shrapnel that peppers the far wall and table. Twilight jumps in surprise and the crystal makes several chime sounds as it bounces on the stone. "Ohmygoshohmygosh I'msosorry!!!" Her friends gasp for a few moments, then begin congratulating her.

"Unbelieveable, Twilight!" Rarity exclaims, "I knew you had it in you, really I did!" Rainbow and Applejack clap her on the back while Fluttershy looks on with astonishment. Slicer, now fully recovered, steps over to the barely attached door and pokes at it with her hoof. It falls off its hinges with a loud clang.

"Subtle," she murmurs. Rainbow scoffs and wheels around to defend her friend when Slicer raises her hoof, "and completely devastatingly effective. I like." Rainbow smirks and then holds out a hoof. Slicer bumps it with hers.

A dust covered cat girl stands up and brushes herself off. "A powerful mind you have. Years of studying the world around you, conditioning your mind, practicing with magic. It's ironic, the two cannot blend, and yet here you are, a child of both. I envy you." She looks down at the door. "Yes, that should do. No way in the abyss of Hades can they accuse me of letting you out with that destruction on display." And of course, sounds of several guards are heard running down the steps. As a large group of Rakshasa fan out with weapons drawn, Kis'myet points her spear at the door. "Our prisoners have just psionically blown the lock off their cage, and they plan to fight their way to Undermountain if we stand in their way. Who is first?" With that she shoulders her spear and walks past the guards to the steps and waits there, not having a care in the world. The guards look at each other, and as the words start to sink in, each one puts away their weapons.

Twilight picks up her crystal and waves her friends forward to the table, where they start gearing up. Slicer gathers her weapons and bags, staring at Kis'myet the entire time while keeping one hoof hidden. The female cat stares back, idly rolling her spear between her digits. Twilight sidles up next to Slicer and whispers, "Are we going to have a problem?"

"You and I? No, thought we fixed that."

Twilight sighs, "I mean you and her. Azar all but said if we did not hurt any of his people, we could make it out of this."

Slicer remains fixated on the female cat. "They have her, Your Highness."

Twilight moves in front of Slicer, locking eyes with the thestral. She whispers confidently, "We will get her back, even if we have to tear down this building on top of them. Are you with me soldier?"

Slicer studies Twilight for a moment. "A leadership decision?"

"A friendship decision."

Slicer nods and slides her dagger back into its sheath on her saddlebag. "My blade is yours. Cut or cure, name the target."

Twilight nods and motions the rest of the group to move out. Kis'myet shoulders her spear and pads up the stone steps, the pony entourage in tow.

Pinkie pie breaks the short silence halfway up the stairs, "Hey Slicer, can you cut and cure at the same time? That sounds an awful lot like extreme dieting, which to me seems a complete waste of waist since someone and I mean SOMEPONY can put away a pastry or two, am I right Rarity-"

"WHAT?!?"

"-because seriously, multitasking an operation on mm m mmMmmmm mmMMM mm mm...." Pinkie continues to muffle away while Rarity's horn glows. Everypony else whispers their thanks.

They reach the top, practically near the entrance they initially entered the building. Kis'myet turns to Twilight. "From here we shall move to the far side of the city. It is a day's run to the foot of the mountain, another day of climbing to reach the entrance, though you should have a care. They have been building up their encampments around the base of the mountain the last several days. I imagine losing a dragon would make a fanatical cult just that much more paranoid." The ponies each look away, guilt marring their features. Twilight sits and shakes her head.

"No. We will meet your Great Maharaja, reclaim our party member and then leave the city."

There is a stillness in the air. Twilight watches Kis'myet. Kis'myet stares back, unblinking. Pinki Pie stares at Rarity, who turns to her and pushes Pinkie's head to stare at a wall, "Do be a dear and look that way. It is awfully unnerving when YOU do it." She moves next to Twilight and says quietly, "Our Twilight is not the only psionicist, is she?"

Twilight catches her breath for a split second and responds, "I thought I was the only one that caught that."

Rarity flares out her mane, "Please, I am trained to spot inconsistencies. A thread out of place, a color improperly matched to its complimentary color," she pauses, eyeing Kis'myet. "A spear that falls up? The real question is, why not flaunt it?"

Twilight nods, "Yes, why do you hide it?"

The catgirl scoffs. "You must ask such stupid questions? There has not been a single mind warrior for eons! I would be locked away as some precious antiquity, unable to hunt and roam free. The Great Maharaja has an equally great heart, but he can become distracted at times. He would fixate on me, demand to know how I do it....he was never patient, a skill vastly needed by a psionicist, Miss Sparkle."

"So he would cease fixating on a certain statue, if given the right...trade?" Slicer muses, walking up slowly.

Kis'myet hisses at the thestral. Twilight spins around to address her, "Don't you DARE use her as barter, Slicer, I mean it!"

Slicer shrugs, replying "As you wish, princess," and trots on by. Nopony is convinced she is going to listen.

They move on, their walk takes them deeper into the building and through long dark hallways with only lit sconces lighting their way. The ponies can't help but admire all the tapestries they pass, some looking very ancient, others almost new. Each one has some depiction, ranging from a nice waterfall or field of grass, dipping to some very horrific or risque scenes. All the while, Slicer makes snide remarks about each one they pass. 'Oh, I bet they didn't MIND the results of that battle. Now here is one, I wonder if that was done without magic, you know, with willpower alone,' or 'Yeah, mind powers.' To her credit, Kis'myet ignores most of the comments, but a well-trained eye would notice small details like her starting to growl under her breath. Rarity picks up on this and murmurs something to Twilight.

Twilight takes it upon herself to get close to Slicer and whispers, "I don't know what game you are playing at, but we cannot afford to anger anypony at this point. I can feel we are nearing the checkmate phase of this, and we need all the pieces we can get. We are too few as it is."

"That's why I am trying to put her off balance." She scowls and eyes Twilight, "An unwilling ally is better than a smug enemy. Besides...Guenhwyvar is by far the best fighter of our group. We need her more than any of us. If worse comes to worse, we lose one piece before this day is done." Twilight blinks at Slicer's explanation. She tries to get Slicer to clarify what she just said, but the thestral trots on ahead to walk next to Kis'myet. Great, Twilight thinks to herself, more 'unbalancing'.


Before she can jab again, Kis'myet quips, "How's the skull?" A small curl at the corner of the cat's maw tells Slicer she has recovered and wishes to poke back. Okay.

"Not bad, after using that potion. Had a great nap, aside from some weird dreams. I was riding a cat, up a leg and chest. You wouldn't happen to interpret dreams with your skills, would you?" A quick glance sees the cat's eartips turn red. "So you CAN go into our minds."

Kis'myet stops and snarls in Slicer's face, "I would NEVER do such a thing! Or allow such an idea to persist. I was merely making a point aloud. It was just an example!" She blinks and realizes she may have overreacted. "You probably overheard it during your nap and created the sordid dream yourself."

It is Slicer's turn to blink. And blush slightly, "Your example was me riding you...?" They both stand there as the rest of the group looks on. Kis'myet's head tilts slightly to catch them staring and each one finds something worthwhile to do, like 'don't look at the awkward pair' something.

Kis'myet takes a steadying breath and continues walking on, the others following. "I shall explain this to one who does not have the spark. Miss Sparkle, you should listen to this." Twilight's ears perk up. "I saw two outcomes, beyond hypothetical. One was where I am ordered to execute you all. The other...yes, if you must know, riding is involved. Both are a result of what you say very soon." That gives them all something to think about. Slicer finds it tactful at this point to not respond anymore. Or glance at anypony, though she can feel their eyes borrowing into her.

Twilight murmurs to herself, "Now who is unbalanced?" A question that Slicer overhears, but cannot answer.

Eventually the hallway opens up to a large hall with pillars holding up the vaulted ceiling. Dominating the center of the room is a large dias, several steps leading up to the top platform where a gilded throne is displayed. An older Rakshasa sits on the throne, leaning to one side as he speaks in a low voice to Azar. Several guards are arrayed around the room walls, near pillars and a few posted at the dias. The clipclop noises from the ponies catches their attention and the elder cat, who appears to be this Great Maharaja, sits up in surprise. His paw holds something close to his side, something shiny and black. He raises his voice, "What is the meaning of this, Kis'myet!? They should be locked away, as per our agreements with that creature from the mountain!"

Kis'myet waits until they are at the foot of the dias. The guards, noticing the group has all their gear and weapons back, raise their spears and bows, but are conflicted since the group was led here by one of their own. Kis'myet pads up the steps to stand on the other side of the Great Maharaja, opposite of Azar. "I was ordered to guard them. I have. They did not commit any crimes, other than blowing the door off their cell."

The Great Maharaja waves his paw dismissively, "Impossible, those cells are magic-proof. Perhaps they used an explosive chemicle hidden on one of them."

Azar raises his brow and says, "Well, did they use anything to assist them?" He has a knowing look.

"The purple one used a crystal."

The elder leader pauses to regard Kis'myet's words, then leans forward, "We were the last race to utilize psionics before falling in love with magic. Of course. A mind warrior emerges on the precipice of our own doom. Since you will most likely cause us more bother than to help us, I am tempted to let you go, though given more time I should keep you close. The Keeper's wrath will not be too much more than what they've already done, or are about to do." He holds up the statue and Slicer tenses. He sees this and directs his gaze at her. "You know its name, yes? Give me what I need, and you may continue on your journey, all your other belongings you can keep."

Twilight moves to speak but Slicer raises her hoof, blocking her. Slicer responds, "She is not just some pet...she is...We need her. I need her, to finish what we started. We are going to get our dragon friend back and fight Dawn Treader."

"Dawn Treader?!" The Great Maharaja spits out. "That sycophant for Prometheus? She is a nobody, her power only a table scrap gifted to her by her god."

Twilight exclaims, "Prometheus is a god? What does he have to do with these Keepers and magic suppression?"

Azar answers, "He is the giver of magic and technology, to ALL worlds. All those damnable devices come directly from him, too. All orders to suppress magic and technological advancement come from him. Our suffering, it comes from HIM."

The Great Maharaja says, "In a word, he is the true enemy."

Rainbow says defiantly, "Then we will fight him too, if that's what it takes." The ponies agree in unison.

The cat leader asks, "You would go up against a god? You!?"

Slicer slowly walks up to the steps and puts one hoof on the first. The guards dip their spears at her. Ever so slowly, she draws out two daggers and drops them with a ringing clang on the first step. The guards look up to the Great Maharaja, who in turn nods and motions her forward. The guards step back and Slicer begins walking up the steps.

"I dont have magic." She deftly pulls out a longer blade, this time with an odd metal pattern on it, like it was forged from a meteorite. Before the guards can respond, she drops this on the steps, but continues. Azar grins slightly. "I dont have wings, though all others of my kind do." She undoes her saddle buckle and it drops off her back, a whole array of throwing knives lining the underside of it. "I don't have any treasure. All I have is a very specific set of skills." She shakes out her mane, dropping two needles. "Skills designed to kill, and heal." She shakes it again, and a pack of bandaids falls out." Kis'myet chuckles. The Great Maharaja is not amused, watching the long line of weapons that his guards have apparently let through their protective ring. "None of this is important to you, but that figurine is. It is also my friend." She reaches the top platform. "I don't have a lot of friends. So when you lay claim to her, you lay claim to a part of my soul." She reaches around and peels a miniature dagger right off her cutie-mark, colored to blend into it, and drops it. She does the same to the other side. "I have the option to fight for my soul, trade for my soul, or to lay it bare." She steps very close to him now. She can hear drawstrings grow taught. She fishes around in her mouth and spits. A tiny needle twangs into the wooden arm of the throne next to the Great Maharaja's paw. To his credit, he remains still. "Decisions, decisions."

She sees Kis'myet's jaw clench out of the corner of her eye. Slicer meets her gaze, two pairs of eyes steeled against what the next few moments will bring.

They needed allies, Twilight had said.

Slicer sighs. "In exchange for Guenhwyvar, I offer servitude-"

"Now wait, Deary, you just can't give away service, not to mention all..those weapons, without consulting your princess first!" Rarity interupts her. "You know, on a sidenote I have to actually wonder where you might still have some more...nevermind." She shakes her head and steps forward, "As for servitude, I myself am a free agent. I noticed your wardrobes are replete with the most atrocious fabrics." Rarity, to everyone's dismay, trots over to the nearest guard. "Ugh, your enemies' skins are SO last holocaust season. Trust me on this," as she leans in, poking at the guard's clothing, to the guard's total discomfort, "silks, red and gold for the haired help, and purple for the more anointed." She finishes with motioning to the Great Maharaja. Rainbow cringes, working her mouth around the words 'haired help'.

Before the Great Maharaja can reply or Slicer can close her mouth, Applejack steps up, "I don't know, Rarity, they sure can do with some healthier food, maybe a decent farm around here. Their own skins practically falling off to where you wouldn't need to figger more n one way to skin a cat, am Aw right?" She chuckles out loud.

Nobody else laughs. Her friends wince.

Applejack pulls her hat low, "Yeeaah, maybe ferget that last nibble there."

Rainbow swoops in, literally. "I could pull in some clouds, irrigate this place, and not just for farming. Heck most of your buildings need foundation watering if anything. A snap with pegasus power!" Classic pose on the floor as she lands.

Even Fluttershy comes to the rescue, "And I could teach you to speak to animals, even giant cats. You wouldn't need magic for that...just some...understanding..." She sees everyone's attention is on her, so she goes back to hiding behind Rainbow.

Twilight walks up to the dias and puts her hoof on the first step. "And I can teach you magic, again." She stares directly at the cats' leader.

Slicer stands there, unable to say anything. For all her trials and hardships, there were only a few times she was ever reduced to a quivering mess of emotion. This moment threatens to make it on that list. She does everything she can to keep from losing it, way up there up top where she so rashly decided to confront the adversary.

With each offer, the Great Maharaja is moved. He is struck both by how each of them put so much worth into the statue he held in his paw, and equally how the value of that statue paled to what the ponies truly showed. And Slicer's willingness to give away every single advantage. Self-sacrifice.

He was even given the panther's name freely. At first he thought it a miscalculation on the dark pony's part, but now...now he is unsure. He traces the figurine, the panther's name in his mind. "I believe you would all give up everything for a cause greater than yourselves. Each bearing what gifts you have without demanding a price. Such bravery. We once had that long ago as well, until even our own self worth was taken from us." His eyes linger on the statue.

Kis'myet places a paw on his shoulder, "Oh, give over, Father." She points at Slicer, who is now more shocked then before. "You owe me for this." She growls, then closes her eyes and the statue lifts out of a surprised Maharaja's paw and floats over to Slicer. The thestral gingerly takes it, as though it will shatter if she drops it or it might be taken away again. The Great Maharaja turns to Kis'myet.

"You would withhold this...this secret from me? After all I have done for you? How long have you been able to do this?"

She leans closer and touches her forehead to his, whispering, "A long time, dear father. I was afraid of the future, had you known. I will ALWAYS be grateful for our past." She straightens and takes in both Azar and her father. "Can you not see it? They move against the Keepers, at a time when the Keepers would snuff out ALL instances of magic, both living and artifice. Sooner rip the soul from this world...as you would have done, father, had you kept that statue from her." She nods at Slicer.

The elder cat regards his daughter for a short time, thinking. At length he sighs and says, worry in his tone, "You are going to fight, too? Rhetorical, as I can see it in you already. I would do anything to protect you, this long lost skill making you our most precious treasure."

She places her paw atop his head and starts speaking softly, slowly raising her voice, "If you spend a lifetime forging a powerful weapon and you create a masterpiece, do you hide it away, denying its nature, or do you bring it forth, for it to live within its role, to smite your foes, to shout at the world that we WILL NOT DIE!?!" Her words last seconds later in the echos of the hall. She says again, softer this time, "Yes, I will fight, but not alone with them. I stay behind just long enough for us to finalize what we shall do now."

Azar nods approvingly. He had been trying to convince their leader to move against the Keepers for some time.

Her father nods. He looks over the ponies and waves his paw. "Go then. We shall send you on your way and place you as close to your destination as we can. And we shall send help. You will not stand alone."

Azar calls for the guards to drag over a large mirror. They drag an ornately carved silver framed mirror over to the group. One of the viziers standing in attendance steps forward and traces the frame, reciting the inscriptions seen in the metalwork. The surface of the mirror ripples like silver water and shifts to show a great cave on the other side.

Azar says, "Step through, and delay them as much as possible."

Slicer thanks Kis'myet and she nods back, warrior to warrior, then the thestral makes her way back down, laboriously picking up all the weapons she had dropped. As she passes Twilight who looks aghast at all the knives, Slicer raises a hoof, "Yeah yeah I can feel your look, princess." Twilight shakes her head and motions her friends over to the mirror. With some final waves of hooves and thankyou's, the party steps through the mirror, and the surface ripples back to reflecting the inside of the large hall again.





Azar turns to the guards and raises his voice, "Bring out every scrying mirror that has been hidden since the dawn of our demise!" While the Keepers have allowed them to have just the one mirror, they had been busy copying it. "Contact every city, every nation, every world. Myth Drannor calls upon them, ties more ancient than the Keepers. We are done hiding and licking our wounds!"

Guards everywhere run to each tapestry on every wall and in every hall. Ropes are yanked, tapestries pulled down, and dozens of mirrors are revealed, hidden behind those tapestries. Quick Rakshasa strip down to just their bodies and go forth into each one, runners to send word that Myth Drannor calls. That Myth Drannor is angry.

The scrying mirror Twilight and her friends used does indeed put them as close to their destination as possible. The ponies stand on a path bored out of the mountain face, a gaping tunnel mouth open in front of them.

"Alright!" exclaims Rainbow. "It's about time something went our way!"

"Hm...oh breezie poop."

One by one, Fluttershy's friends slowly turn their heads to look at her in dismay. Rarity is the first to unlock her mental gears. "Uh, darling...d-did you say.. breezie p...poop?!" Fluttershy nods but says nothing else. She also happens to be facing away from the entrance, looking at something behind them.

It is at this time a rhythmic sound can be heard, heavy stomping and drum cadence, along with a low guttural drone of voices yelling in unison. From the ponies' position, they can see the entire valley of foothills reaching almost to a distant smudge on the horizon, which looks to be Myth Drannor. Covering several miles in every direction are columns of troops. Thousands. Maybe a hundred thousand. All manner of dark creatures can be seen by the more eagle-eyed pegasi. Orcs, goblins, kobolds, trolls, wargs, and all other manner of creatures. It is as if Tartarus belched up its denizens to invade the land of good.

Twilight whews, "Well, at least we were able to skip that mess!"

A soft chuckle is heard above them. They all look up to see Dawn Treader staring down at them from a small wooden tower she is sitting on, at least a dozen nightmares surounding its base. It would appear she was overseeing the movement of the troops below, while several ogres use large flags to send signals down to the ground commanders. Her chuckle gets louder and louder until it is a cackling. The ponies grit their teeth in a mix of fear, dread, terror, but mostly frustration.

Twilight calmly takes out a small book, turns several pages and traces her hoof down one page, then looks up at Dawn Treader. "Parlay?"
> Let's Finish the Game
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another dark hallway, lit by torches. Not as picturesque or decorated as the one her short stay in Myth Drannor took her through. This is a simple passageway, a cave hewn into solid rock deep into a mountain. Undermountain. Could they not have come up with a different name? Twilight Sparkle squeezes her eyes shut and vigorously shakes her head to clear it. They is an amorphous term, for whoever came up with this game and script. She chides herself to remember that, despite the trials she can foresee about to be thrust upon her and her group. The group that is not with her at the moment.

In the course of being teleported right in the middle of Dawn Treader's pass and review ceremony before the armies marched upon the soon to be stripped-free-of-magic world, Twilight had kept her head and requested a formal meeting with the evil alicorn's boss, Prometheus. Her friends were led down a different passageway by some of the nightmares while both Twilight and Dawn Treader went this way. Whatever insanity grips her former mentor, it does not completely cloud Dawn Treader to the edicts of parlay. 

"Though lots of talking is typical prior to executions, anyway," Twilight mumbles to herself.

Dawn Treader turns her head to look behind her as they trek down the long tunnel. Twilight is following her, with a cadre of nightmares bringing up the rear, their fiery steps smoking out the tunnel behind them as they pass. "Did you say something, little morsel?"

"I was merely commenting on the possible futility of my future conversation with Prometheus. Morsel? I thought you loved cake and abhorred meat."

Chuckling softly, her captor turns back down the tunnel and continues. "Never speak of my cake. Mortals such as yourself cannot possibly comprehend its subtleties. You are to be my god's morsel. If only I had rice and some dried seaweed, I could present you properly. Alas, no chopsticks either."

Laughing nervously, Twilight shakes out her mane and waves a hoof, "Oh, no need to show off your superior chef's skills. I'm fine as is. Hope my horn doesn't tear out his vocal chords on the way down, wouldn't dare miss out on his monologuing!"

A throaty laugh explodes from Dawn Treader. "A fine jest, little one! Perhaps he might spare you, if you are this entertaining to him when you two meet. I dare say much will be spared these next several days."

Twilight frowns, tilting her head, "Why is that? Why let him take away magic and THEN terrorize the world with all these creatures?" She motions behind her as though pointing to the the army outside. "You are an alicorn, a being of magic too. You must know you will be cut off from magic as well!"

The light natured humor vacates the larger alicorn and is replaced by a seething anger, practically radiating off her. "Once he has ascended, he is to honor me as the divine ruler of this realm and restore my powers. He will not be punished by the other gods for giving worthy individuals his gifts. Magic shall be kept from the masses of creatures who did not earn it." While the explanation makes sense if one were to believe in divine beings, Dawn Treader's mood speaks of more hellish thoughts, like total domination of all things on the mortal realm.

Yet another thought that has been bothering Twilight finally comes to the forefront of her mind. "What of your sister, Lun...uh, Silvery Orb? Will she not suffer the loss as well, possibly die, or are you planning on protecting her?"

Her captor's reaction is so swift, Twilight has little time to react before the larger pony pins her against the side wall of the tunnel with both forelegs. Dawn Treader's muzzle dances dangerously close to Twilight's eye, fangs glinting. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK THAT NAME TO ME!!!?? She was perfectly fine in her tower under that disillusion spell while in charge of the suppression mechanism! All she had to do was keep it running, nothing else! Now she is...back to her wispy wistful wishy-washy pathetic self!" Dawn Treader shoves Twilight against the wall again for emphasis, but has less strength in it this time. "Next she will be wanting my cake again, the dark furred bitch." Dawn Treader trots away like nothing has happened while a wide-eyed Twilight slides down the side of the cave wall. Some prompting from the nightmares gets her to resume following the crazed alicorn.

They walk in silence for several minutes, the sounds of their hooves the only things to reach their ears. Twilight says quietly, "I'm sorry. I thought we were freeing her from an evil spell."

Dawn Treader snorts, "It was evil. But it was more evil to listen to her prattling for millenia after millenia. Never a thought or care to the reality around us as the world became more dangerous. As magic spread and grew, more creatures and spells came into existence, able to destroy us all if discovered by imbeciles who had not lived countless lifetimes to know what caution truly is. Imbeciles like YOU who prattle about hopes and dreams. Dear Prometheus...the DAMN DREAMS were the worst, always Orb bothering my virtual vacations from reality while going on about seeing so-and-so's fantasy and how sublime it would be if that WAS reality, all the while changing MY dream reality." Dawn Treader growls to herself while remembering. "Death would be a good thing for her. If simply not to put her out of my misery but so she would never come to her senses and realize how she wasted all these eons paying attention to make-believe things while I forged as much of this world as I could into some semblance of order."

The stark comparison between the game story and what she knows of the princesses in her reality is enough to give Twilight the willies. If she ever gets out of this mess...should she even touch on these subjects with them? Even on a less serious note, she feels there is a whole history in this game just waiting to be explored, if only she had the time. Knowing she does not, she continues to pick away at Dawn Treader's sense of order. "Sometimes we need our freedom to realize our own mistakes, even if it takes eons. Mistakes that can still be corrected, only if we choose to look at ourselves."

Dawn Treader slowly turns her head to Twilight, eyes half-lidded with weariness. "There was a time when one could say I invented philosophy and reasoning, or at least gathered it from those too mortal to live long enough to spread it meaningfully. I have lived long enough to certainly know when I'm hearing it used against me. You, who have barely lived, cling to what is 'good' as though there is one side or another. 'Good' is the naivety of the young." Dawn stares at the wall, studying the imperfect marks of whatever tool or claw tunneled out the passage. "The longer you live, the longer you die. That is the meaning of life." She blinks and glances at Twilight. "And no, this is not a mistake. This time tomorrow, all mistakes will be erased. Starting here." She steps forward and pushes on a large wooden door that is at the end of the tunnel.

Beyond the doorway, Twilight can see a gigantic cavern, nearly the size of a city, certainly larger than the Canterlot she remembers. The tunnel entrance is on the very edge of what appears to be a crater inside the mountain, the slopes sweeping down and then coming back up to a point at the center of the crater, while the ceiling curves away in shadow, only to return and meet the floor of the cavern at its center. It is as though a donut with a very small hole at the center were hollowed out and they were inside it. Inside a torus, as Twilight remembers from her class in advanced mathematics.

And to equal the size of a city, there are houses of all manner and construction populating the valley part of the crater. It is as though a thousand different architects from mudbrickers to steelworkers and glassblowers built whatever house where ever they felt like. They are all empty. Given the vast size of the ill-planned living arrangements, she deduces all the residents are outside, assembled in the armies ready to go forth and conquer. The other detail she notes are the many slim columns of shiny glass-like stone supporting the upper part of the mountain from collapsing. She recognizes dragonglass when she sees it, but it is incredibly brittle. True it can hold vast weights up and down, yet cross-wise, one would only have to...

Twilight's eyes go wide and she moans, "That's how you are going to do it." Dawn Treader stares at her curiously.

"Hm...you are too dangerous." Dawn Treader grins in a way that Twilight never wants to see Celestia grin. "I like that in a pony. But you belong to Prometheus." They proceed down into the crater toward the central plaza.

A few minutes later, a cautious shadow of a thestral flits silently from one pillar to the next, following them.

***

"She left AGAIN!?! Can't she just stay put once in a while?"

The rest of the group is in a side cave visiting with their newly returned member, Spike. Apparently this cave is the vaunted summer getaway he spoke of way back in the inn. Rarity raises a brow and sniffs lightly. "Well, my dear Spikey wikey, this could definitely use a mare's touch." Spike's cheeks turn a shade pink and he starts scratching random hearts in the floor with his toe claw. Warmed by his response, Rarity spares him by glancing over at Rainbow who is prancing around, fit to be tied. "I'm sure Twilight had good reason to request an audience with their leader. After all, she is a leader, too."

Rainbow blinks incredulously at Rarity, "Wha...? No! I mean that wingless batpony! She took off AGAIN, after Twilight told us all to stay together so we don't get lost in these caves."

Spike raises his paw, "Oh, it's not that hard to find your way around here, most the caves on the periphery are just dragon homes-"

"You're not helping, Spike!" Rainbow cuts him off. He lowers his arm and mumbles something. His rather large father sitting in the shadows smiles quietly. Life in the caves hasn't been this lively since a much smaller Spike had discovered the gunpowder foundry.

"Or, she could be lookin' after Twilight, sugar. That is her job, right?" Applejack asks as she blows a lock of hair out of her eyes. She is more used to being above the ground working it, not under it. She frowns to herself, trying to remember any instances of claustrophobia in her family. A grunt to herself reasserts the fact that she IS an Apple, made of tougher stuff. Still, those stone walls look like they are moving inwards in the flickering torchlight... 

***

Past the small city of houses they move until they approach the central area, a large walled off plaza. Dawn ushers Twilight in through an opening and she is treated to a large amphitheater with hundreds of platforms all descending at a downward angle, much like the older coliseums of pegasi make she has read about. The amphitheater slopes down to what appears to be a giant egg made of stone with a door set into it. The top of the egg cannot be seen as it is encased in rock, most likely the giant cavern ceiling dipping down at the center. They walk down an aisle of steps passing several of the platforms. Twilight spies a few dragons lounging here and there, though they take no notice of her. Each platform has a podium and a large claw made of copper, palm facing up. Dawn sees Twilight's curiosity.

"The most loyal of His people. They chose to arrive early, so now they wait for the ceremony."

"The ceremony to take away their fire? Do they know that?" Twilight can barely contain her anger.

"But of course!" Dawn Treader grins in amusement. "They have always known. The collecting of treasure, the constant sleeping. While each generation did not know when it would happen, they did prepare. Without magic, there is no creation of precious metals or gems out of thin air. While treasure has the added benefit of feeling good against their scales, dragons have always thought toward the future. A pity you do not."

The logic of this script continues to thwart Twilight's arguments, a fact she grudgingly admits as she growls to herself. She sifts her brain for any additional questions she can use to stump the older alicorn, only to find herself before the door. Dawn raises one hoof and taps it reverently. A single word reverberates through the wood and rock, "COME!" Dawn pushes open the door and waits.

A few tentative steps inward and Twilight's eyes widen, taking in the view. What appeared to be just a large egg from the outside is actually a massive egg-shaped chamber inside. Given normal spacing and physics, this larger room inside should not be so big, but it is. Columns of white marble ring the outer edge and reach far up. Where the walls start to curve up above, there is actually a hole at the very top, a shaft that goes up through the rest of the mountain. She can see it is dark outside. The sun was going down when they had stepped through the mirror to reach the mountain. Time certainly flies when you are talking about the end of the world.

A loud chuckling from the center grabs her attention. "It may feel like the end, but it is not. Perhaps one can say it is a very rough beginning."

The voice comes from a tan skinned bipedal being with no fur who is chained to a large piece of rock. The rock itself is partially sculpted on top to provide a flat, if somewhat hard, bed. Large iron chains bolted to the rock are fastened to wrist bracelets on the creature's arms, though the lengths of the chains give him plenty of room to move around. Currently he is sitting on the ground with his back against the rock. A 'he' definitely, if she can deduce that from the bare chest and loincloth. He appears to be a minotaur of sorts. Minus the bull head. Instead, his head is shaped more like a monkey or gorilla. She frowns. No, more like a-

"HAhahahaaaa...yes, one might make that mistake if you have never met a god before, though what you have been used to barely qualifies as more than simply 'powerful.' No, I am not a human."

She blinks in surprise and takes a step back. "You can read my mind?!"

The being tilts his head. "To an extent. This close, most certainly. My powers have been diminished throughout my punishment, yet they are still there." He shifts his arms, the thick chains rattling.

Since the being appears to not be as hostile as those he has surrounded himself with, Twilight steps closer, her scientific side taking over. "I am going to assume you are the god Prometheus, the one these nightmares and Dawn Treader follow." A nod from him gives her the courage to continue, "Then if you are not a human, how come you look like one. At least, that's what I read they look like from a well-known unicorn."

Prometheus stares at Twilight for a few moments, studying her. His face alights. "Aw, Starswirl the Bearded. From how you regard him, he is a planeswalker. Hm, yes, I can understand that now. I am a god ripped from a pantheon of many gods and goddesses. Humans were an experiment, created in our image, and unfortunately run amock on a few worlds we were shepherding. My fellow gods would lay some of the blame on me, but those are debates that take centuries to explain. I would be amused if I were to return and find the same old arguments going on."

That brings the issue at hoof to the forefront and Twilight takes the initiative. "Yes, your return. I've heard others say all of this, this ceremony, the dragons, the raid on the town, is for your return. Why do you need dragons? Why does Spike say he has to give up his fire?"

"Fire, the analogy of fire, anyway, is what I gave to the universe. It did start with the humans, but in the short span that they flourished with their new gifts, their new technologies, I became euphoric, so I gave it to more. Far and wide, civilizations rose, fought, destroyed each other and themselves by the very gifts I bestowed upon them all. In my arrogance, I thought I could claim adulation for my singular act, raising mortals from their mired doldrum existence as savages. Little did I know then, even as a god. You mortals are savage BECAUSE you are mortal. I was worshiped for a time. Do not scoff," the god admonishes Twilight as she wrinkles her brow, "It is a very real thing to be worshiped. For a mortal to spend time contemplating and loving a being such as myself, it empowers us, breathes greatness into our very essence. To grow forgotten is the worst thing that can happen to a god, and so that has happened to me. But it was not the fault of mortals. I was imprisoned by my brethren and kept from visiting my enlightened children, so they carried on, using the gifts I gave them, eventually forgetting their benefactor."

Twilght, while soaking in all this plausible history, starts to grow impatient about her question. "Um, dragon fire?"

Prometheus waves his hand, "Yes, I forget you mortals have such short lives. So much to know and so little time to do anything with it. I created dragons to be the vessels of the soul of magic. Beyond what you and any other creature can do, magic moves beyond the limits in which you can study it. Its nature is inter-dimensional, strands threaded throughout existence as it permeates everything around it. So how can it be contained? A lot of creatures were born magical, a manifestation of magic. When I contemplated how to overcome what I did, I found I could recombine those creatures and draw into them the strands themselves, thus I brought forth dragons. The race of dragons was once vast, as was their need to be in order to pull in these strands. When one dragon dies, the strands absorb into the rest. There are few enough dragons now to finally gather them in one place and retrieve all those strands and snuff out magic forever."

The scope of it all threatens to crush Twilight's heart. Game or not, the diabolical nature of it brings into question whether or not she was ever worthy to know magic. The scientist in her pushes her to question the god. "In a way, you have distilled all of magic, its fundamental essence, into the few remaining dragons? What happens if they die without you taking their breath?"

Prometheus raises a brow and chuckles, "And here I thought you were not vicious." Twilight reels back, realizing how her question came across. Did he think she was evil enough to...Before she can protest, he stands up and starts to climb onto the large rock slab, "Do not fret, I know what you were asking. 'Is there a way for magic to stay?' In a word, yes. Even a single dragon would allow magic to slowly creep back into the universe, though I will not allow it. My fellow gods would still see it as a betrayal to their existence. Mortals are not allowed to achieve greatness beyond their predestined existence. A lesson I have learned through great suffering since." He lies down on the worn form-fitting impression in the stone. "It is their role to be enthralled by us, and it is our role to hold power over them. Simply put, THAT is chaos and order itself."

The two legged entity rests his head back against the rock. "I have known this place for eons untold. I have paid my penance for the selfish act I committed. Now I can return to my pantheon, cleansed of my selfish act, embraced for my work to right that which was wrong."

"Wrong? Yes I will admit magic is a gift, yet to take it away just so you can return to your home, that is just another selfish act! What you are doing is evil, not to mention stealing the very breath of dragons. I am not a fan of their breath, but still-"

"HAhahah....mere mortal, had I several lifetimes to explain to you the mechinations of the universe, I would, for the simple satisfaction to see that logical look on your face crumble into terror as you realize how much you do not know. There IS NO good or evil. They are concepts used to control you. There is merely order," He raises one hand, and then the other, "and chaos. Within those boundaries does existence reside. What you think is evil, at its heart is just selfishness. Yes, I am selfish, but so are you in wanting to keep your magic. Your desires, no matter how carefully you tiptoe and plan around not inconveniencing others, inevitably DOES. When you go to eat a piece of food, drink, breathe air, that item is no longer available to another. Selfishness itself is only realized when another notices."

Twilight's brain works through the nuances and sees a cold truth to the god's words. She shakes her head, refusing to believe everything in her life, including friendship, amounts to a series of selfish decisions. "No, there is more to life than taking from others or balancing order and chaos. The feelings of an individual, while I still have a difficult time working those out, they are real, they are quantifiable. It is in those feelings you will ultimately cause harm, and ultimately be weighed as an evil act. If you strip away magic from the world, you will deaden it and make so many lives miserable for the sake of you being released from here."

"Oh, you think my containment is by the existence of magic? No, this is a formality. My ascension will follow the removal of magic. My release from this prison, unfortunately, requires magic, though I am loathe to admit it. As the dragon's breath has made brittle the pillars that hold this mountaintop up, magic will lift half of my prison so I may step out and administer the cleansing."

With the confirmation of what she already suspected, Twilight wracks her mind to figure out a hole in his plan. It is on a scale even she is having a hard time contemplating. One thing still bugs her and she voices it. "Wait, if dragons can soak in the essence of magic, and they transfer that to you...won't they continue to soak it back?" A twitch in his face shows she hit pay dirt.

"It would have been a divine pleasure to spend the centuries with you, little Twilight Sparkle, instead of that maniacal winged terror Dawn Treader. Yes, they would indeed. As well for other reasons, but that specifically is why they must die." Twilight gasps in horror. Then a cold icy feeling gnaws at her very center.

"That dragon we killed...he wasn't adhering to the summons, was he? He was protecting Silvery Orb from her sister...we were supposed to kill him!"

Prometheus turns his head to gaze at Twilight, "Supposed to? You could call it that. In reality, Spike was to assume his teacher's role once he had died of old age and eventually return here with the rest of the dragons. Your killing his teacher accelerated things. Thankyou, by the way."

The heat coming off Twilight's face is a mixture of anger, embarrassment, and frustration, and guilt. It is quickly cooled by dread, seeing how everything was coming to a close, now. "Then there is nothing else for you except to do your evil, which is what it is. Strip this world, make it barren, kill a few hundred dragons, and leave Dawn Treader to ravage what is left. A worthy legacy for a god's selfish ascension."

The god shakes his head, staring up into the dark shaft above. There is a faint light beginning to show. A screech can be heard far off. "In due time, I might be able to wrought something else out of this world. There are so many moving threads in this reality I could spend centuries explaining each one to you, how they connect. Alas, I must endure one last session with an old friend." Distant flapping can be heard high above. Twilight looks up and squints, barely seeing a large eagle approaching. "I am not wholly cruel, so I would spare you this vision, though I do a disservice to my cause by keeping you from seeing one of my reasons for doing what I do." A nightmare nudges Twilight with its muzzle to move, so she reluctantly walks back to the door she had walked through earlier.

She lingers a moment to see a large eagle alight onto the slab. Prometheus turns his head and sees Twilight watching. He says, "What is evil but the selfishness of those to the discomfort of others. I have endured far more than any creature, mortal or immortal, has a right to claim privilege for!" When the eagle's head strikes down at his ribs, he yells, "GO!!!" Twilight pulls her head back but can still hear flesh being ripped and rended, echoed by the size of the chamber. In horror she looks up at the nightmare. There is no scream, but a low grunt now and then.

The nightmare's smoldering eyes show no emotion as it says, "He stopped crying out long ago, embracing the pain as a welcome friend to change the monotony of his existence. Is your magic worth that much to you?"

She blinks, finally realizing the extent of the god's punishment. "I did not ask for him to be punished. Won't you lose your magic as well?"

The nightmare shrugs, "Then maybe I shall learn to be a normal horse. Eat grass instead of burning it." It looks down at its flaming hooves. "For now, I am what I am, and I am instructed by Him to return you to your dragon friend, with the contract you have in your possession." It begins walking and Twilight is left to follow, glancing back at the door and then the map case she is carrying. This is a twist in the script she had not expected. It is also a moral dilemma she could not trust herself to speak her mind on just yet.

Several minutes has the two passing a few pillars of brittle rock vaulting into the shadows of the ceiling. Twilight spots Dawn Treader speaking to several nightmares. After she points at the columns and then to Prometheus' cell, she notices Twilight and waves a hoof at her subordinates to go away before asking, "Can you imagine the sheer torture of it, day after day, for years, hundreds, THOUSANDS of years? Nothing, living or divine, can withstand that kind of treatment. One would have to go mad..." Dawn Treader giggles to herself, then snarls, "But why am I telling you this, child. You are too young and ignorant to understand these things."

"I'm not blind to what I have seen, of course he would go mad enduring that treatment, it is horrible!" Twilight turns back toward the cell.

"Him? Who said anything about HIM!?! I'm talking about ME! Enduring my idiot of a sister, day after day, prattling on about, midnight butterflies or moon moths, or some other luney nonsense. And THEN she has the audacity to ask me for my cake...NEVER AGAIN!" She wheels around and marches off, her nightmares quick to follow. She says over her shoulder, "Soon, she and all who oppose me shall be no more and I...yes, I will be a god!" Dawn Treader cackles maniacally.

Twilight quirks her brow and waits it out. Yeah, Celestia must have loved writing out this part. "Soooo...when do I get to meet up with my friends again?" She calls after the alicorn.

Dawn Treader continues walking, "Yes, yes, you and your little friends should scamper around one last time before being ground under the wheels of our glorious war machine. Honestly, you have such limited vision, like my sister. Hm, soon you will be JUST like my sister. HAH HAH hah aah nnnn...." She hiccups from laughing, then goes back to laughing some more. Dawn Treader glances back at the lone nightmare that was leading Twilight and motions her head up one of the sloping climbs to a side tunnel. The nightmare nods and resumes heading in that direction. A slight movement in the shadow of one of the pillars almost elicits a paranoid response from Twilight, but noticing the shape of a certain wingless thestral, she is able to keep her mouth shut. The nightmare leads her up the way Dawn Treader indicated, while the nightmare's leader makes her rounds along the outer wall of the cavern, inspecting it, and poking her head into different smaller tunnels to address a dragon that lives inside each one.

"Hey Twilight!" Spike waves his arm as the purple alicorn comes into view, who in turn bowls him over and hugs him. Much to his embarrassment, he has to spend several minutes prying himself out of her surprisingly strong hug. "Okay okay! See? They wouldn't harm me." The nightmare, having seen its job as done, turns around and gallops to catch up to her mistress.

A rumbling to the side has Twilight getting up onto her hooves in an instant. She knows a dragon's growl when she hears one. Or not, since it is more like a chuckling sound, if a rockslide could be described as chuckling. A large red dragon moves into view from the shadows and lowers his head to Twilight's eye level. "I take it you are the leader of this ragtag group, hmm?" Vapors of brimstone pour from the dragon's nostrils, choking Twilight.

"Yes-<coughcough>-I am their leader! Eh...Twilight Sparkle at your service!" She sticks out her hoof. At the dragon's mouth, she realizes after the fact, and mumbles, "Unless you are into eating ponies, then definitely NOT at your service."

The dragon snorts and briefly bumps her hoof with his large snout. "Doubtful I would do such a thing to you. Too little meat, too many bones. What we prefer is shiny gemstones." The dragon sits back and glances at Spike, "My son has told me much about you, about your friends. While I would have words with what you did to his teacher, I also understand he attacked first, thus it justifies the ends. He was always a rash drake. Didn't improve much into his adult years, apparently. I thank you for delivering my son unharmed. While I personally regret the erasure of magic from this world, it is what we have prepared for all these generations. Spike is too young, I would say, to take part in this, yet he officially tookn his teacher's place on that day. All dragons are summoned. None can be left out, else the ceremony will fail, no doubt."

Twilight sighs. She can hear the same steadfast tones in Spike's father that she heard in Prometheus, yet she will not let it go. "Why must magic be taken away? Have the peoples here not regulated themselves within reason to preserve their world? Has it ever been threatened by self-destruction?"

The dragon smiles wanly at the naive pony. He had explained these things many times to Spike to quell the little drakeling's questions, so this was an old conversation for him in the past. And yet, now at the precipice of the ceremony, he is tired. Tired of many things, or simply tired. "I could relate the merits of prevention, prophecy fulfillment, honor of heritage and vows..." A sour look crosses his visage as he sees Dawn Treader approaching the cave mouth, though she is still a few minutes away. "This I will share with you. ALL of you." He gives Spike a meaningful look. "We do this to restore Prometheus to his glorious heaven so we will be done with him." Spike blinks, taken aback by his father's blunt statement.

"I know." Twilight regards the larger dragon and taps her chin with a hoof. "He has dictated the existence of all dragons on this world for so long, the price of magic is worth removing him from the picture?" The dragon nods. Twilight shakes her head, regarding her friends' similar disapproval. She says, "I just feel that price is way too high, the removal of all magic. AND, he told me you all have to die, too."

The dragon shrugs and looks at his claws, "I believe we can recover from losing our fire and magic. He does ask much of us, but to kill us all too? Even a god would be foolish to move against us." He looks up and sees Twilight's incredulous expression. "While he may have gifted the first races with magic, it exists in other manifestations. Artifice, forging, creating with one's own claws, paws, hands, hooves in your case, anything can be returned to what was. He will have his peace among his fellow gods in his return, and we shall be done with this suppression nonsense, and thus rebuild. Yes it will be arduous, but good has always come from honest hard work."

Applejack leans in and whispers to Twilight, "There's honest hard work, and then there's deluded slavery. Care to figure which one ole Dawn Traitor is going to choose, sugar?" Twilight smirks and nods to Applejack, already ahead of her. Before Twilight can bring up the point that Spike's teacher was tricked into dying, a certain alicorn crosses the threshold of the cave entrance and clears her throat.

"Hello guests! Comfy? All chummy with our resident dragons? Good." She raises her head to the larger dragon and says, "Bloodfang! The ceremony begins soon. Move yourself and your son down to the amphitheater. Also, by order of the power invested in me by our leader, Prometheus, and thus, I can do what I wish....KILL these annoying ponies. Burn them, smash them, stick-em-in-a-stew....HAHAHahaha, while that would be amusing, don't do that last part. The trolls fouled up this cavern with our previous guests for ages, took sixty years to get the stench out. Anyway," she shakes her mane out, as if she were giving a laundry list. "Just dispatch them. And then don't be late for the ceremony. Loss of limb will not excuse any dragon from the party." She spins around and clip-clops out, leaving several stunned ponies behind, a fainted little dragon, and a rather large dragon to lower his head and regard the creatures in front of him in a different light.

***

A shadow flits from one column to another. Each time, the shadow inspects the column and moves on to the next. Dragon glass. Strengthened tenfold from its original stone to withstand pressure lengthwise, yet can shatter like glass if struck perpendicular to its surface. Slicer Jen squints from her hiding spot behind the column and stares at the far wall of the cavern, focusing her eyes to see in the dark. The same blackened glass comprises the whole circumference of the massive chamber. She saw Dawn Treader paying particular attention to all of these things. Why? And why would they spend so much time carving out this cavern and making the columns and outer wall brittle in the first place? She closes her eyes shut, trying to make sense of it. The whole top of the mountain, which also happens to keep the egg-like cell to this god Prometheus capped shut, sits above their heads, and is now held quite well by the strong columns but could easily come down on their heads. If Dawn Treader has sway over the dragons and made them weaken this whole area, is she trying to bury Prometheus alive forever?

She had seen the alicorn walking from cave to cave, ushering the dragons to the center where an amphitheater of at least a thousand platforms surounds the innermost chamber. Each platform has a podium and a metallic claw off to the side, palm facing up. Several of the dragons already await on their individual platforms. So they listen to her orders, obviously, yet they show no love for the alicorn. Slicer Jen wrinkles her nose. There was a time she could relate to them. Now though, she has to focus on threading this enemy territory. She watches Dawn Treader eventually make her way to where Twilight was escorted, and after a few minutes, the alicorn emerges again and teleports herself and her retinue of nightmares to the entrance just outside the amphitheater.

Slicer glowers at the magic-using bitch and curses magic in general since it makes her scouting that much harder. She is about to make her way to the next shadow to catch up and follow Dawn Treader when she notices her party members pouring out of the cave they were in, galloping headlong down into the valley. Once they reach the valley floor, they fan out. Spike can be seen riding on Rarity's back holding on for dear life as the mare runs with an unnatural speed. A few moments after that, a very angry and hostile, not to mention LARGE, red dragon explodes out of the small cave mouth. The thestral shudders, recalling another time in her past where a similar scene played out. Now she misses not having her ridgecat friend here. Gritting her teeth, she flexes her neck. Typical, always a dragon around when you don't need one. 

After loosening her knives, she springs out of her hiding spot, starting at a trot, then progressing to a canter and eventually into a full gallop. Using her statue now would be a mistake since she feels this is still not the main event, but she has to do something to help the other ponies. She sees them slowing down and start to turn around as though to face the dragon. Rainbow and Fluttershy take to the air while the magic users charge their horns. Applejack begins a reverse flanking move circling around back toward Slicer. Good, she thinks to herself, they learned to spread out since the last time they were hosed down by fire. Slicer angles to try and hit the dragon from the side, closing distance. Nothing fancy, since backstabbing a creature this size is impossible. She focuses on the back leg; the tendons will be a good place to start.

Unbeknownst to her, Twilight was looking for a moving shadow from the beginning and had immediately spotted Slicer at the canter. A yell from Twilight had changed Applejack's path, who in turn had nodded and was making a beeline to cut off Slicer, the earth pony's unusual speed causing her to blur. Just as the thestral jumps up and extracts two knives from her saddlebags to hold in each front hoof, Applejack leaps and slams her head into Slicer's barrel, completely removing both of them from that spot in the air. Slicer's two knives flip harmless and clang onto the stone floor, the dragon rumbling by without a care for the two. Once Applejack and Slicer slide to a stop, Slicer kicks the earth pony off of her.

"Tu es stupide merde...MERDE MARE! What are you doing!?!"

Applejack picks her hat up and puts it back on her head. "Stopping you from stabbing that dragon. Now act like you died, or disappear, or somethin." She winks at Slicer, "We's got a shindig to put on." That's when Pinkie Pie starts strumming her lyre, and a multitude of other instruments join in as she starts singing 'Word Up'.

Slicer stares at the other ponies in wonder as Applejack grins and gallops after the lumbering dragon. Applejack stops short, pulls out a lariat and after several spins in the air, she throws  the loop at the dragon's tail and hauls back with her hooves and teeth. The dragon feels a yank on his tail and slips, slamming his belly and neck onto the cavern floor, shaking everypony. He picks up his head and is about to snap at the pony wrangling him when a burst of fizzling fireworks smacks him in the side of the head. Rarity's horn glows while Spike stands up on her back, yelling very polite swear words at his father. Out of the corner of her eye, Slicer notices Dawn Treader watching from a distance. This is a ruse, or some show of a fight. Slicer fakes a few coughs and makes like she is crawling to a nearby pile of rocks, then collapses. She tilts her head just enough to keep watching Dawn Treader. The alicorn giggles to herself, probably delighting in watching the party betray one of their own. Once the alicorn's eyes wander to watch the rest of the fight, Slicer pulls herself behind the rocks and crouches, trying to figure out what is going on. Little does she know there was a candid conversation held up in that cave shortly before all this...whatever this is, started.

*** Several minutes earlier ***

"Kill? Father, don't you dare!" Spike, little Spike, stood very small before the larger dragon. And the larger dragon saw a very tall son before him.

"You would protect them with your life, Spike?" Bloodfang gauged his son, seeking any kind of weakness in the drakeling. And saw none.

"They would for me."

The larger dragon clacks his jaws in amusement. "Then I have a proposal. While I cannot disobey the order to kill them...perhaps I can mostly kill them."

Pinkie Pie bursts out laughing as her friends look between her and the large dragon, not really wanting to bother figuring out which one is more insane. Rarity raises a hoof, "Uh, dear dragon Bloodfang, is there a way 'mostly kill' can involve not bleeding? Blood has a way of making me faint." She begins dragging a fainting couch from out of nowhere.

The dragon chuckles and peers down at the white unicorn. "Never look a gift dragon in the mouth."

Fluttershy sits up and murmurs, "I never look any dragon in the mouth...um, it gives them ideas...."

A pink hoof claps a startled Fluttershy on the back, causing her to jump and tumble forward. "That works too!" Pinkie Pie exclaims.

Bloodfang grumbles, "Be that as it may, it must be done in the eyes of our masters. Choose spells that either cannot harm me, or elemental spells where my natural resistance to fire and ice shall make me immune. But no metal weapons...a small secret, I am deathly allergic to them." Spike's eyes go wide. His father has only ever told one soul in all existence that secret. The next part that follows, no soul has ever heard. "It is not a genetic defect, mind you. Prometheus is also susceptible to them. It might be a derivative to his chains slowly poisoning him over time, or his original punishment. It has been a thing we dragons have always closely guarded, until now. Hence why we dispatch armor-clad knights so quickly. Easier to burn them than chew on them and risk the metal cutting our gums and we die of knight-in-mouth disease." The dragon shudders, "Embarrassing."

The ponies nod and make their way to the cave mouth. Fluttershy touches Twilight's shoulder, "Um...I don't know if anypony else has noticed, or lack of notice...well....um, Slicer is..." Her eyes flit to the dragon, "She's not here. Didn't she have a...uh...not quite pleasant meeting...or two, or more...with them? And her, um," She then whispers, "K, N, I, F, E.....S's.....hm, V for plural. I misspelled that, didn't I?"

Twilight grins and pats the flustered Fluttershy on the shoulder, "Don't worry. That is Applejack's job. I saw Slicer sneaking around the columns, keeping an eye on Dawn Treader. She'll know something is up as soon as we go pouring out of here into the cavern. If I know her by now, she'll hit from the side once this starts. Applejack...please, not 'too' hard?"

Her friend nods, grinning, "It'll be close, jes hope she don whip around like a rattlesnake on me." For luck, Twilight casts a haste spell on all the ponies, with a double shot on Applejack. That should cope with their resident surgical assassin's speed.

Twilight looks back at her friends, then up at the dragon. "Okay, we may not get experience points for this fight, but it should be exciting all the same. Charge!" They all rear up and rush forward out into the cavern, a snarling 'angry' dragon giving chase.

***

One good roll of the dragon's tail causes a whipping loop to travel down to Applejack's end, sending her flying. A brief pulse of magic from Twilight's horn creates small shields to cover Applejack's hooves a split second before she plows through a nearby pillar hooves first. The explosion of glass shards covers her safe landing on all fours, her earth pony abilities kicking in. Before the billowing cloud of debris can clear, Applejack throws herself down on the ground, appearing to be broken with her limbs all angled wrong.

The dragon laughs and flexes his wings, dirt and dust flowing away as he takes to the air, the ceiling more than high enough to allow dragonflight. Rarity yells to Twilight and TK's her book over to the alicorn. Twilight smiles in gratitude, leaping up while levitating the book in front of her. Spike pats Rarity on the neck, indicating that was the right move. Rainbow zips in, slapping the dragon in the snout on the flyby while Fluttershy hovers around at a much safer distance. The more timid pegasus knows this is all fake, yet a healthy margin for error is always, well, healthy. This line of thinking is immediately dropped when the dragon looks around to see who slapped him and notices Fluttershy. He begins to inhale.

Rainbow is about to make another pass and notices what is happening. "Flutters! Shield up, now!" The order cuts through her frozen fear and layers of green druid leaf shield swirl into being not a moment too soon. Gouts of red flame pour onto the shield and around the sides. The first layer is incinerated. The second blazes up and breaks apart under the onslaught, but the third holds, barely. Rainbow flies above Fluttershy and yells her approval.

Twilight finally finds an enchantment spell worth casting. She yells down to Rarity the appropriate syllable runes. In turn, the runes form glowing glyphs in Rarity's mind's eye, and a single thought places them in the appropriate pattern. Rarity grins.

The entire cavern is filled with hundreds of Rarities, but every single one is made of some kind of gemstone. Ruby Rarities, Sapphire Rarities, Diamond Rarities. Both father and son are momentarily stunned at what they see. Bloodfang is almost completely fooled by the multitude of delicious ponies. Almost. His son, on the other claw, has a sudden headrush and passes out, while still maintaining his riding position atop the real Rarity. Bloodfang narrows his eyes. "That spell was a dragon's breath away from being deadly. I congratulate you." He coughs sharply in her direction. A single fireball spews out of his maw and explodes in Rarity's face, encompassing her and Spike in fire. When the flames subside, Spike is left atop a pony figure of pure ash. He falls to the ground as the ash billows out in all directions, the dragonling untouched by his father's flames.

"You killed her!"

"Enough foolishness. The ceremony awaits." Bloodfang rolls over in midair and slaps an incoming Rainbow with a massive leathery wing. The pegasus goes rolling through the air, crashes into Fluttershy who simply can't get out of the way and they both splat on the ground directly below the dragon. He looks down, then sneaks a glance at Twilight to see if she is watching. She is, her horn barely glowing. He tucks in his wings and plummets, aiming one of his paws directly at the two grounded ponies. A split second before he lands, the ground below them sinks a few feet, but is hidden as the dragon crashes into the ground. He lifts his paw slightly and wrinkles his snout. "Smears. I hate smears."

Pinkie Pie comes flying in from out of nowhere and smashes her lyre over the dragon's head. Along with the instrument making a most horrible chord and splintering sound, Pinkie yells, "Ka-BONG!!!!"

The dragon merely looks up cross-eyed at the pink pony standing on his head with the neck of her lyre in hoof. She smiles weakly and squeaks, "Parlay?"

Bloodfang replies, "French gives me gas," whips his head around and snaps up Pinkie in his maw. Twilight, not knowing whether or not the dragon went too far, screams for her friend. Bloodfang lunges for the flying alicorn, grabs her with his claws and scoops her into his mouth too from one side, the side conveniently facing Dawn Treader. On the other side of his mouth he dislodges his jaw and pushes both ponies out with his tongue into his other awaiting paw and surreptitiously deposits them behind his bulky body where they sit perfectly still, dripping in oozing dragon spit.

While her pink friend is just barely managing to hold in her laughter, a similarly drenched alicorn is glowering back, muttering, "I swear to Celestia, if you tell anypony about this..."

Bloodfang looks up at Dawn Treader, who in turn nods back to the dragon and walks away into the corridor to the amphitheater. He sighs and steps back from the small hole so Fluttershy and Rainbow can climb out. He says quietly, "That should suffice. Hide until the ceremony is over, then we shall discuss saving this world."

While the ponies get settled behind a rundown hovel and Bloodfang shifts his weight to leave, Spike hangs back, watching his friends. His father notices his hesitation and asks quietly, "What is it Spike? We cannot linger or Dawn Treader will return."

Spike's eyes follow his friends. He says nervously, "I wish they could come with us. I'm scared to lose my fire."

The larger dragon mulls it over in his mind. Spike has never shown any social initiative before. Perhaps these ponies are a good thing for him. "I would choose one. One that can stay hidden very well." For a minute, all eyes turn to Slicer.

Her eyes go saucer-wide and she shakes her head, "Merde on that, I'm not into dragons." She winces as soon as she says it and is immediately surrounded by gasps and admonishments. To her credit, she puts a hoof over her head, "No offense, Spike. Again. Just that...well, uh-"

"Oh that's quite alright," Spike cuts in. He bites his lip and glances at Rarity, "I was hoping for another lovely mare, NOT that you aren't, just, that, well....uh-"

"Say no more!" A slightly blushing Rarity steps up. "I shall escort you. I dare say this might be the worst day in your life, but rest assured you will not be alone." Slicer sighs, glad she won't have to be in the presence of so many dragons.

The larger dragon's head looms over the two, a smile creeping onto its maw. "And how do you propose to make yourself less noticeable? By all accounts of my son, you are the most noticeable creature he has ever met." Both Spike and Rarity seem petrified with embarrassment. Thankfully, Twilight is way ahead of them, reading from Rarity's book.

The symbols spring to life in Rarity's head and a few thoughts later, she shimmers into nonexistence. Spike jumps and looks around quickly, "Rarity? Are you there?"

"Quite," Rarity's voice replies. "I am simply invisible. Now you can feel perfectly comfortable I am by your side." She lowers her voice to herself, "While I will be perfectly uncomfortable not being noticed for once. Still, sacrifices must always be made, I suppose."

Bloodfang rumbles in his throat, "True sacrifices come from the heart. Ah, young love. Another time, I would relate to you the poems I read to your mother, Spike. While she was not much for romance, she did dazzle me the way your friend dazzles you."

Spike squirms in place, looking at the ground, "Yeah...let's save that mushy stuff for later, father." A similar squeak next to him confirms he's not alone as small hearts are absently drawn in the dirt by an invisible hoof.

Twilight takes this time to lay out their plan. Once the ceremony is over, the dragons and Rarity can make their way back to the exit tunnel of the mountain and they can try to get back to Myth Drannor, knowing they have allies there. Another plea from Twilight regarding the impending dragon deaths is shaken off by Bloodfang.

"If he or that crazy alicorn try anything, we still have our claws and teeth. We are close to one hundred strong." Bloodfang answers Twilight's concerns, though she does not look convinced. He nudges Spike, "We must go, now. Stay hidden, the rest of you. Many things change tonight." The two dragons and a hidden unicorn make their way to the amphitheater.

The rest of the ponies give them a few minutes. Twilight shakes her head, "He won't listen." She is on the verge of tears. Her friends watch her, feeling similarly upset, though Slicer grinds her teeth more out of anger. She can smell a setup.

"I can go." The thestral says. "Maybe I can spot something, or...cause a distraction..." Twilight watches her struggle to talk herself into doing something she obviously loathes. Twilight shakes her head.

"No, Spike is in good hooves." Twilight watches her friends disappear through the doorway. "While Rarity might not be a fighter, she thinks fast and can handle a rapidly changing situation with finesse. We need you scouting ahead of us so those nightmares don't spot us and blow the whistle on our clandestine operation. I have to trust in Rarity and Spike to handle themselves, while you protect us."

Slicer looks around at the other ponies. They nod in agreement. "As you wish, princess." She darts off toward the outer wall before Twilight can stammer a surprised thankyou for using her title.

***

Bloodfang settles down on his own platform and nods to the next platform for Spike. The drakeling climbs onto the platform and stands before the podium, his rolled up contract in claw. Rarity silently pulls herself up and stands to the side. A female dragon on the other side of Spike frowns slightly. Her clear double eyelids close and she looks down directly at Rarity, using a special dragonsight. Rarity can tell she is seen and nervously waves a hoof. The female dragon looks up at Bloodfang with a raised brow.

The male dragon shrugs. "Social experiment." The female dragon snorts and resumes her post behind her podium, her own contract in place. Rarity sighs and takes a moment to gather in her surroundings. Clearly this amphitheater was meant to house more dragons, but of the hundred or so she sees, they are mostly gathered around this half. She can see Dawn Treader patiently waiting down at the bottom before a doorway into an oddly large egg-shaped chamber. From a few comments by Twilight earlier, that must be where this god Prometheus resides.

To either side of Dawn Treader sit a large marble goblet and a copper goblet. Not very aesthetic, Rarity muses to herself. Though they do match the podiums and claws on each platform. Must be a pegasus thing, what with the whole ancient architecture attempt.

Bloodfang leans over toward Spike. "You will have to stand on the podium to deliver your fire onto the contract. We have practiced this before, but there is no way you can hold the symbolic claw in dragon unity AND cast your fire. Typically why one as young as you would not participate." Spike nods and scrambles up onto the podium. A quick glance behind him at empty space and a responding hoof touch to his leg quells his fears.

Dawn Treader clears her throat and the murmuring dragons quiet.

"For lifetimes and beyond, we have gathered you here to strengthen your oaths and remind you why you exist, for you are the children of Prometheus, and he has now finally called upon you for your gifts to be returned. As it has been, so shall you do so now, clasp the Claw of Unity and stand before your contract."

Some dragons patiently wait at their podiums while others move into position, reaching down with their right arm to grasp the copper claw sticking up from the platform. This has been done so many times, most do it without thought. Rarity, however, is bothered a bit. She can sense something about the copper, as though they are more than symbology. Her thoughts are cast aside when a new voice intones loudly from the opening doors behind Dawn Treader.

"My children, I thank you one last time in observance of your oaths as Keepers of the Flame. You have been the unwavering light through all that we have suffered. So many have caused such strife throughout the lands, but today you and your brethren will fix that."

Bloodfang snorts softly, chalking up a few others who have caused strife. The female dragon next to Spike smirks as well, agreeing with Bloodfang.

"Now, bring forth the fires of magic upon your contract. Call forth the essence of magic so that I may cleanse all realms of my mistakes." In reponse, all the dragons begin to inhale, a veritable sucking sound throughout the amphitheater. Spike sees that he is falling behind and inhales as well, though his lungs can only take in a small amount of air. Each dragon reaches their peak and belches forth fire, incinerating the contracts in front of them. Spike does so as well.

Rarity's first sign that something is wrong is not from the marble goblet filling up with a red fire of its own, but electrical arcing around the copper goblet. Similar, all the copper claws on each platform, including Spike's, begins to close, entrapping every dragon paw that was in them. The dragons exhaling their fire do not notice this until they are done, red tendrils seeming to come out of their mouths and absorb into the podiums. In their weakened states, it takes them a few minutes before they realize they cannot remove their paws from the copper constructs.

"What is the meaning of this!?! Release us!" A younger female drake on a lower platform demands. Similar sentiments of resentment resound in the chamber, starting to build into a cacophony.

Bloodfang struggles against his arm, yanking on it, but it is held fast. In a second he knows his doom and looks over in terror, only to find a similarly scared Spike still sitting on his podium. Bloodfang whispers harshly, "Spike! Jump down, NOW, before she sees you." Spike hops down quickly, just missing Dawn Treader's passing gaze as she ensures all the dragons are held in place. Spike hides behind the podium.

"Father? What is going on?"

The larger dragon snarls softly, "Betrayal...and change. The next few hours will define who you are. Unfortunately, you may have to discover your mettle without me." Before Spike can protest, Bloodfang clacks his jaws with a glare, silencing his son. His gaze softens, a tingling sensation starting to tickle his entrapped paw. "Don't think about what is going on here. Think to your friends, to your future. Do not let our enemies win by letting them strike you down. You life is revenge enough. Now you need to go." Spike shakes his head and hops over to the next platform to grab at his father's trapped arm. The older dragon pushes Spike away with his snout. "No! It could arc and take you as well. Do what I say!"

While the two dragons argue, Rarity sees all the other dragons' faces starting to contort. Electrical blue energy can now be seen crackling around the copper claws and up the dragons' arms. A few of the younger ones are starting to slump, overwhelmed by the pain and stunning force. She glances at Bloodfang, who is still standing strong. She knows he must be feeling intense pain, but he shows no weakness before his son. Any moment though, Spike is going to see his father die.

Rarity bites her lip and lunges across the aisle to Bloodfang's platform. She nips Spike by the back of the neck and picks him up with a surprised yelp, planting him firmly on her back. Out of the corner of her eye, the copper goblet is starting to fill with a blue fire. The voice of Prometheus flows from the doorway of the egg chamber.

"Dragon fire to give magic to the world, and the dragon's heart to stoke the flames of the forges of the world long into the night. Molten rock, metals, minerals, all flow from the vigor of dragons  as their very existence has helped the world shape such great creations, from the lowliest spoon to the greatest artifact of power. All must be forgotten when the last dragon heart is stilled. But I will not forget you, nor the sacrifice you make this morning. Before the first rays of the sun alight, the last rays of you will fade, and I will forever regret the pain I cause you now. Perhaps in another lifetime you will forgive me. Let these words of peace follow you into the afterlife."

Several unruly swear words and phrases follow his speech from some dragons a little less keen on his sentiments.

Bloodfang looks down, the strain almost beyond what he can endure. His visage cracks finally and he yells, "Please! Take him!" The invisible Rarity spins around and gallops, Spike holding onto her and appearing to fly a few feet off the ground. 

The female dragon that had noticed her earlier collapses, along with Bloodfang following suit once his son is out of sight. Through the web of electrical fuzz that is starting to blind her, the dragoness still manages to say, "..experiment...was a success..."

Bloodfang can no longer see, but only feel his life ebbing away into the copper. "I thought so....too." Then he feels no more.

***

Rarity doesn't stop, even after the invisibility wears off. She can feel Spike sobbing against the back of her neck, yet she keeps her head low and legs swift. Several nightmares notice the unicorn galloping towards them and try to stand in her way. A few delicately placed slashes with her horn as she runs by deters them from any pursuit. Aside from the headache the hits cause her, she feels no remorse. The two continue until they are halfway into the ramshackle city. She can spot her friends in the distance now, waiting on the top slope near one of the main tunnels, most likely the exit. Rarity glances back, "Hold on Spike," and alights her horn. They teleport right next to her friends and skid to a halt, just barely keeping Spike on her.

Twilight and the others note their moods. Twilight closes her eyes briefly before she asks, "Are they...?" A simple nod from Rarity tells it all. Twilight and her friends surround the two and console Spike, who continues crying, not wanting to let go.

***

An insane alicorn walks among the aisles of dead dragons, two large goblets down below glow with the flames of all they ever were. She barely contains her giggling, lest she angers her master. How she hated dealing with these arrogant serpents. Now she has no equal...almost.

"It is time. Release me, Dawn Treader." Prometheus intones from his chamber.

The alicorn raises her head. Her horn begins to glow a reddish gold color. A pulse of magical energy blasts a circular wave outward, the pulse passing out of the amphitheater and across the city, as well as inside the egg chamber. The chains on Prometheus' arms dissolve and he stands, looking up patiently. There is only one way out of this magical cell.

The ponies on the opposite side of the crater watch in horror as the pulse sweeps across the subterranean city, striking columns and shattering them as it expands outward. The energy wave eventually reaches the outer wall of the giant cavern. As the columns had exploded, so does the wall, a horrendous crack spreading throughout the circumference of the mountain, billions of glass shards showering everything. The top of the mountain trembles and threatens to settle into the crater and crush everything still left alive in it. The ponies turn to the tunnel behind them, only to stare in dismay as the tunnel crumbles, blocking off their exit.

Dawn's horn blazes golden red and the mountain top shifts. Upward.

The weakened wall of mountain rips apart just above the heads of Twilight and her friends, opening up a mesa of rock behind them. They take the hint and climb up the short height, then gallop under the rising ceiling of rock until they reach the other edge of the cliff. The valley down below with the armies in formation, the grasslands, even a distant smudge with lights they can make out to be Myth Drannor are spread out before them in the lightening dark. The sun is about to peer over the horizon behind them as it has been lightening the sky. The ponies look up and stare as the entire upper half of the mountain continues to rise far above. Music begins to emanate all around them. Twilight is about to chastise Pinkie when she notices her friend staring wide-eyed and shaking her head, hooves empty of any instrument. The sound seems to be emanating from Dawn Treader's horn, pulsing with the waves pushing against the rock.

Goddess in the Morning

After several minutes, Twilight snaps out of her reverie. She lowers her eyes to find Dawn floating above the now open chamber that houses Prometheus. Twilight yells out, "Dawn Treader, you can't cast that rock aside! You will kill thousands, hundreds of thousands!"

Dawn looks down, "You little insects, you are still alive? I should have destroyed you! Hah, you have just given me a perfect location to put this down. On my sister. You awakened her, now I shall put her to sleep. Permanently. Hahahahahaaa!

"But this is just a big stupid game! How can you want to kill your own sister, your only family!"

A sneer from Dawn shows Twilight she is making little progress with her plees. "A game? For once, you and I agree. Life is a game, for some. I suppose life is all too real for others. Time to finish the game!" Movement from inside the chamber distracts Dawn from her conversation with Twilight and she looks down into the chamber. "My Lord! Arise, breathe in the air of freedom!"

A hand grasps the outer edge of the half-egg shaped chamber, a hand much greater than Twilight remembers it being. As the god lifts himself up, he is notably bigger than before, and continues to increase in size. As his head reaches farther into the air, Dawn Treader floats up higher while concentrating on the giant piece of mountain, both lifting higher and higher up in the air.

Rainbow pokes Twilight softly and murmurs, "Um, Twilight...being a bit of an expert with things way up coming crashing down way low, the more distance a thing has to accelerate down, the bigger the crash. Ah, not from experience, mind you." The tremor in Rainbow's voice causes Twilight to look at her colorful friend.

"I'm scared too, Rainbow. But I have to believe this is all part of the script...which would mean she is going to obliterate the town with Princess Luna in it!!" She turns and looks in the direction of the, town, though it is quite a bit further than she can see. "I think I can teleport there."

Prometheus holds up both hands. In one is a large red flame, and in the other a blue flame. He looks up to Dawn and intones in a rolling thunder of a voice, "If you do not wish to be crushed, release that hunk of earth you cling to, before I erase all magic from the realms."

Upon hearing his voice, Dawn nods, and with a last evil grin aimed at Twilight and her friends, the alicorn flicks her head. The mountain top, now miles up above them, accelerates toward the direction of the town, much to the screaming ponies down below yelling at her. She tucks in her wings and hurtles to the ground, cracking the stone under her hooves.

Prometheus nods and closes his hand holding the red flame. An invisible wave shifts through everything. All the ponies feel it, even Slicer, though she has never shown any magical inclination. Rainbow and Fluttershy try to hover but fall right back to the ground. Rarity looks around in shock and tries to access her saddlebags, but her horn fizzles. Twilight blinks, her eyes going cross-eyed as she looks up at her horn.

"Oh no....he did it! I can still feel some residual magic in my horn, maybe because I'm an alicorn." She follows the mountain top's track through the sky way up above them. "I might still have time, and just enough for us to get there and back." Her friends look at her in fear.

Applejack raises a hoof, "Now Twilight, I know we are witnessing an apocalypse of, well apocalyptic proportions. But let's not be too hasty-"

Twilight pulls everypony together and teleports them away.
> Checkmate
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group reappears back in town at the front of the castle where Silvery Orb (Princess Luna) is supposed to be. Slicer Jen throws up. Twilight, feeling guilty for the forceful teleport, rushes over to help her but is waved away by the thestral. The rest of them, also a bit queasy, stare around at the buildings, now shuttered up and empty, the streets devoid of any life. In the middle of the day, no less. "Gee willickers, why didn yall teleport to Undermountain from the git go?" Applejack steps slowly over to the door, her ears flicking uneasily, as though she can hear something far off, yet not a single pony out and about on this fine cataclysmic day.

The rest of the ponies are feeling it too, fidgeting. The hurtling meteor momentarily forgotten, Twilight looks around briefIy before answering her friend.  "I didn't have that destination memorized or visualized until we were physically there. I did have this spot memorized just in case we had to get back here quick."

"Oh, we got back here quick alright," Rainbow grouses, watching the skies. "Right before we get splattered by that mountain of rock headed our way." A small mote of darkness can be seen in the distant horizon, getting larger. All their heads whip up, faces paling as they barely make out the splotch in the sky.

Pinkie tilts her head in thought, tongue poking out. "I wouldn't say quick, Rainbow Dash. It only took 1 year, 3 months 2 weeks, 1 day, 16 hours-"

"We get it, Pinkie! It wasn't my fault," Twilight argued. "It was...was...mmm." She lowers her head, pain crossing her face. 

Rarity blinks at her in alarm. "Twilight darling, what is it?"

After a brief nose wipe, she continues, "Nothing, just a slight headache. Right, everypony into the castle! We have to find the princess and teleport away from here!" With the smear of blood hidden on the inside of her foreleg, she ushers them quickly inside. They barrel through the front door, down the long hallways, and skid to a halt when they pass what appears to be the castle dining room. It is resplendent with tapestries hanging from the walls and rugs adorning the stone floor. A large wooden polished table sits in the middle of the room. Princess Luna is at one end, smiling docilely while sipping from a tea cup. Discord is at the other end, his eyes alight at Luna's behavior. He too has a tea cup, but it is upside down. And he is still somehow able to sip tea from it.

The troupe of ponies stop short at the scene, at a loss for words. Rainbow blurts out, "Discord? What is HE doing here?"

Twilight says quickly, "Who cares! There is a mountain of rock hurtling this way, we have to leave now!"

Discord tilts his head, "Mm, indeed, why should I be here? For lack of a city, I would imagine. But first, a mountain of rock?" He squints an eye at the ceiling, as though he can see through it. "Doubtful. I have scried the heavens of order just so I can produce chaos. A 'meteor' is not scheduled to arrive for at least a few more eons...pity that. Incidentally, Canterlot has disappeared." He drapes his arm over his head as he stands, sloshing tea from the upside down cup over his shoulder. "First I was sitting there, on the royal throne since it was so temptingly empty, getting rather bored by the lack of patronage one would expect from the peasants in the surrounding city. You would think they had no manners to recognize a ruler when one comes along. Then poof..." Yes, he poofs, and is replaced with himself when the smoke clears. "I'm hovering over a barren wasteland. Frankly, it is something I have always wanted to do anyway, but such little imagination was involved." 

In the span of time Discord was explaining his terrible experiences, the sky seems to have darkened somewhat. Twilight notices the change and taps her hoof on the floor. "No, you don't understand!" She approaches him with pleading eyes, "Princess Celestia has directed a meteor here, because we cured her sister." She pauses, then turns back to the door, "Wait, the townsfolk! We have to evacuate them!" She is practically prancing in place now. Pinkie wants to crack a pee-pee dance joke so bad right now, she's almost prancing too, but the drama unfolding is more overwhelming. She offers her box of popcorn to Applejack, who gets a worried look and stares at Pinkie incredulously.

A wave of a paw gets Twilight to settle down. "Hm, regardless of this insanity, and trust me, I do like this side of you, they all skipped town right after I arrived here. Apparently they felt there was another invasion imminent. Imagine, me, invading." He takes on the most perfect innocent anime sparkly eyes.

Rainbow deadpans at Discord. She sits back and crosses her forelegs, "Seriously?" A flash of color catches her eye and she spots a chandelier over him, the suns rays glinting off the glass prisms and causing light to paint the walls in rainbow colors. With her entire speech designed to rip into Discord forgotten, she reminisces on a random memory of one of the few times she enjoyed being in school rather than out playing sports. At the time, her teacher was explaining the effects of how light could be split. She had taken ordinary crystal prisms and put them down on a board, then had a magical crystal send out a beam of harmless focused light. The prisms were set up to split the beam into colors. Along with a few positioned mirrors, the teacher had also been able to demonstrate the light recombining from colors back into the single beam of light. While the color show was neat at the time, and aside from the beam casting crystal, it was especially neat since none of it was accomplished with magic, aside from the light source itself. Just ordinary prisms. The show was cool, from a foalhood standpoint...not as cool as a rainboom, Rainbow thought to herself. Still, one of those things better left to eggheads to ponder. Like Twilight! She chuckles to herself. Aw the shiny little distractions of life.

The sky has darkened noticeably now. Discord looks out the window, "How odd. In any case, a proper meteor would have to be enormous in size. A simple pebble would burn up long before it-" A low thunderous roar finally reaches the threshold of their hearing. Twilight strains with what little magic she has left, attempting to grab as many of her friends as possible with another teleport spell. Her eyes widen in horror.

"Dear Celestia, no. There are too many of you! I...I miscalculated! I should have left-" She whips her head around at each of them, horror on her face. "I thought I could split my reserve with just enough to get back, but it took more than I thought just to get here. With Princess Luna, not to mention Discord, it's just too many! I should have left one...no, TWO, at least..."

"Please," Discord cuts in, "Nobody teleports me but me." He gives them another dismissive wave. Discord glances at Twilight briefly, then turns back to the window, grinning. "Is Celestia lowering the sun early today? Even she has gone off the deep end now, oh this is delicious!"

Rarity tilts her head at Discord, "Wait a second. Did you not feel your magic being stripped away in the slightest? You can still teleport?"

"Hahahaha, whatever are you talking about, my delectable tailor? Tailorest? Sewing girl. Hm, yes, that should do." Rarity bristles as he continues,  "Any hoot, I am eternal, and move between worlds, so I am not confined by an elder god's corporeal control of this floating dustball." He hums to himself about not having strings to hold him down, to make him fret, or make him frown, along with some other nonsense.

As the sky continues to get worses, Twilight struggles with her impossible decision, partially distracted by what Discord just said. Obviously he isn't going anywhere, and yet he could move between worlds if he wanted to. She pauses...and remembers back when they were all at the table playing the game and he reappeared, a little worse for wear. He was supposed to get hit by the meteor. The time differential, it was catching up. This was meant to happen.

The others, though. She didn't have any evidence what would happen if she left any of them behind. She also didn't want to contemplate what would happen if she took a chance. Why did she make such a rash decision to teleport them all in the first place?? Her eyes connect with each one, mind racing with calculations upon calculations and alternate methods of travel. Short distance hopping? No. Long, no. Back and for-...no, that would drain limited reserves even more...damn this missing magic!

Running a multitude of formulae on teleport variations through her brain, mixing in variables and figures, all exponentialized by the number of ponies she would have to bring with her, she begins to think herself into that horrible place when everything is on the line: a corner with no options. She whispers, "Too many. Still too many." Her brain finally exhausts the last of her formulae and reaches one conclusion. She raises her voice, "I'm sorry, I panicked. I didn't know what to expect here, and I needed you with me, and...I couldn't leave any of you behind." Slicer raises a hoof and she cuts her off, "ANY of you! B..but in doing so I have doomed at least some of us. If I don't decide soon, I doom all of us."

Slicer steps away from the group, stamping her hoof down, "Take the princess," nodding at Luna, who is still oblivious to everything going on around her. "Her protection is the priority now, not mine." The others look aghast, most of all, Twilight. Applejack pushes her way forward, too.

"Now hold up there, Sneakypants, didn' we just get over this fatalistic...stuff, back in that there cat city? Ain' no way we are sacrificin a few for the many." Applejack quirks her mouth and says wryly, "Not when I volunteer first."

The thestral scowls, "That's not how this works-"

Rarity jumps in, "Now just you wait, DARLINGS. You can't possibly...I am throwing my name into the hat, as it were. Applejack, you have a hat. Let's go." Applejack blinks, then snorts and gives a slightly scathing retort about her hat, yet again sparking the earlier argument about hats. The three of them, along with Pinkie Pie hopping up and down, all begin squabbling over who is to be the sacrifice. And hats. Pinkie is drawing a circle around her heart with a pen and describes the best way to conduct a sacrificial offering, further agitating the others.

While feeling a certain warmth for their willingness to throw themselves into danger, Twilight quickly moves to Slicer's side and grabs her shoulder, whispering, "No you can't! I don't care what you hope to accomplish by doing this, you will not sacrifice yourself. There is a way. It's fatal to the caster, but it would require me to burn my soul-"

Slicer gently moves Twilight's hoof off her shoulder, "This is not a complicated experiment or a choose your own adventure with multiple choices. It is a simple math problem. You've done the math, run the numbers. But the wrong numbers. You all are higher value assets. Simple sequential order of importance." The other mares overhear this and cease their squabbling.

Twilight's expression hardens. She clenches her jaw before addressing the thestral. "I have gotten to know your value, something a mere math problem will never divulge. You need us, just as Princess Luna said way back in the beginning. And we need you. Your outer shell might be burned and scarred from your experiences, but I can sense the inner you. I can sense...magic? No, not magic...." She sits back for a few seconds, her gaze drifting to the side. There was something there, just a moment ago. A stirring behind Slicer's eyes that resonated in Twilight's head.

The thestral raises a brow, debating whether or not Twilight is cracking under the pressure.

Rainbow still seems enamored by the colors on the wall from the chandelier, not just because they form rainbows. Definitely not that! In a way they ARE related to her rainboom. Heh, she thinks to herself. Look at me thinking about science, she muses. Oh wait, it has to do with flying, aw yeah! So a speeding object, like my-awesome-self, first causes sound compression, then leads to light compression, assuming one were to believe that garbage about wave vs particle theory egghead speak. All that matters to an impossibly fast pegasus is that once you get ahead of light itself, you literally split it as it compresses. An implosive-explosive reaction one would call it, if one were an egghead. With all of that energy being created and released, normally it just expands outward in colors. Rainboom.

The pegasus can't fly, so she hops up from atop the table and plucks a crystal off the light fixture. Discord, all but forgotten up to this point, fills his teacup again to resume watching Rainbow's antics, yet he hesitates. He can definitely hear something. He leaves her to her vandalization and wanders over to the window, looking outside. 

As for Rainbow, she had never thought of the rainboom event outside just being a stunt, until now. She stares at the crystal, the colors reflecting on her hooves. The chandelier seems to have triggered a flow of thought that causes her to relate rainbooms to what the chandelier is doing...which is absurd considering we are about to die. Now back to thinking about awesomeness. So you can combine all those colors back into its point of origin, like in class. What if a rainboom was done that way, or an anti-rainboom? It would be a light implosion, I suppose, as Twilight would call it. I mean, I remember a unicorn mentioning that energy and matter could be converted back and forth. If light is energy and energy is everywhere, and it can be bent and imploded since it has both particle and wave aspects to it, why not matter...? Damn, I think I just figured out how to teleport with magic. Can't let THAT get out, would lose coolness points. Too bad that big bald dude took away magic. But with light, what if you converted matter to light energy, bent reality like light, then reconverted light to matter? I suppose you would need a crystal to do that. Rainbow grins and says to herself, "Well that merely sounds like teleportation without magic."

You could hear a pin drop in the room.

Rainbow purses her lips, glancing at the others. "Uh, I was just thinking...we have the means to recombine two points in space like light. Bend light, matter to energy conversion...stuff. No magic, right? Like science class?" All her friends stare at her as if she has two heads. Except one. She ventures further, "Light-splitting prisms, anypony?"

Twilight opens her mouth. Her brain just zipped through what Rainbow had been thinking the last several minutes, but in nanoseconds. Normally she would use the scientific approach rather than Rainbow's haphazard method. She glances in Rainbow's direction and sees her holding up a faceted glass prism. Rainbow, who has just now figured out what she herself said, yells, "Between worlds! Rakshasa said they used to FOCUS energies, recombine points of origin, split and refract reality! NOT JUST LIGHT!" She waves the chandelier crystal as it casts rainbows about the room.

Everything clicks into place. Twilight's knowledge of how magic changes things in the world, alternate dimensions, her understanding of physics in this world and the next. At lightning speed her mind cleanses all trappings of magic from her formulae, leaving just pure mathematics. New ideas begin to glow in her mind. Without magic infusing everything, it all looks completely different, but also completely doable. "Eureka!" she yells before turning to a confused Slicer. She can FEEL it, that sensation behind the thestral's eyes. Its her actual emotions! They are a sense of grim determination, ready to accept Twilight's decision to leave her behind, yet a single thread of hope. Twilight shakes her head no and smiles as she can feel that thread of hope grow in her newest of friends. "Nopony ends this scene alone!"

She glances at Discord, who is looking out the window. Twilight shakes her head and smirks, remembering the battered draconequus from a time long ago. He'll survive this, as usual. "Well, almost nopony." Slicer regards Twilight silently, then looks at the other gathered mares and Spike. They all look to the young alicorn with questions on their faces. She responds, "It's like the Rakshasa said! You need an overreaching knowledge base well beyond just thinking yourself somewhere. Magic makes all of this vastly easier, and yet it actually gets in the way! Understanding the movement of celestial bodies, 'like the moon and sun', coupled with what we've experienced with portals, taking in general physics most worlds tend to accept, but also applying string based harmonics where two particles can share the same space-time. Light shares properties of both a wave like in an ocean and a piece of matter like a grain of sand. Both concepts were minor theories in Celestia's academy, but when combined...dear Celestia, just think of it! All of that still exists even without magic. In fact, without magic, a whole new realm of possibilities exist because-"

"TWILIGHT!!!!" they all yell.

She blushes with both hooves over her mouth and muffles, "Sorry!"

Slicer sighs and says, "Try to not to kill yourself doing this, Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Slicer has finally acknowleded Twilight's full name and title, she realizes, which fills her with a confidence like the first time she fell in love with magic. Not to waste what reserves she has left, or bleed more, she uses her hooves to fumble in her saddlebags for her quartz crystal, this time seeing it for what it truly is. Discord notices the crystal and looks on in curiosity, "A focusing lattice? How droll. I haven't seen one of those in centuries." Something outside catches his eye, a movement in the sky. Twilight closes her eyes, feeling for the crystal she is holding in her hooves. The others get closer, not sure what the radius this new form of transportation is likely to have.

Fluttershy frowns. Since they are not reliant on magic now, could they not take her friend too? With all that talk about...physics and stuff, that must have slipped everypony's mind. She raises a hoof, looking back to Discord, "um..you know we can take Discord now-" The ponies, Spike, and Luna vanish, leaving Discord to stare out the window.

"You know, you were right. There is a meteor coming." He turns back to where the ponies were left squabbling. "And to think I was going to let your whole meaty party routine go as a moment of mental breakdown when you were clearly covering up...saying meteor...." He glances around, "Hello?"

He looks at you, "Now that's just plain rude."

The meteor hits.

***

They reappear in the middle of a grassy field, far far away from the impact site. The bottom half of the mountain looms nearby. Luna laughs and walks among the tall grasses, letting her wings brush the tops.

Rainbow jumps into the air, forgetting she can't fly anymore, yelling, "That was brilliant!" At the last instant she catches herself and plants all hooves on the ground, the lack of flight darkening her mood.

"If you say so, Rainbow. My head hurts after thinking through all of that." She sits back, staring at her crystal with newfound pride. She had done the impossible. Teleportation without magic. And yet, she feels she could have always done this...maybe even before-

Rainbow giggles, "Teehee! That's called a brainstorm, you wonderful egghead you! Like a rainstorm, except if you are underneath it, and get zapped, and you crash." She starts to draw circles in the dirt with a hoof, "Which did NOT happen to me those seven times." Rarity and Applejack deadpan each other and shake their heads slowly.

Twilight smiles warmly, sharing her friend's pain, "Trust me, if you do enough brainstorms, you'll get used to them." She had just done a brainstorm in record time.

Her multi-colored friend smirks and shrugs, "I'll take your word for it. And no, I won't be doing enough brainstorms to get used to them."

Before Twilight can raise another point regarding the value of brainstorms, Rarity places a hoof on her friend's shoulder, "Really, darling, now is NOT the time to go into this subject. Our situation is far more dire, at the moment. As our authority for extremism once put it...." She glances over at Fluttershy, who is now staring back toward the mountain, Rarity says quaintly, "Breezie poop."

Twilight's eyes widen at her friend, then squeeze shut as she grimaces. "Don't tell me, I put us all right next to 'her' again." 

Rarity sighs and nods. "You could say that," she mutters.

Twilight slowly turns around. The entirety of Dawn Treader's army is advancing on their position not more than a few minutes gallop away. Twilight urgh's. "No! no no!" She begins stomping the ground in anger. "I thought of some random spot out in the valley to the side, to monitor their direction first so we could be far enough from the-" They hear a rumbling sound far off in the distance where the town would have been several days travel away, followed by a wave of heat and wind washing over them a minute later. "Yeah, from that." A small mushroom cloud can be seen way off in the distance. 

Another sound, now getting louder, takes the form of feet stomping the ground. Thousands of them. The ponies watch as the army is slowly approaching them, a white alicorn marching behind them yelling orders to the subcommanders, while a monstrous bipedal creature, still naked, slowly takes one massive step at a time down the mountain side.

"Huh, well they musta changed directions, pumpkin," Applejack exclaims, "and they's about to be smashin us real soon!"

A peal of laughter rolls off of Pinkie Pie as she rolls on the ground, "Smashing Pumpkins! I actually know those songs!" Her friends watch her for a second. Applejack's ear twitches.

"Uh huh. Anywho, we need a plan of action, Twi," Applejack continues.

The alicorn noddles, "Right." She turns to Slicer Jen. "You are our resident soldier. Given our resources, the enemy position, what they can bring to bear, and our overwhelmingly positive attitude because, afterall, WE are the heroes...what is our best strategy for winning this fight?" She delivers her question in an upbeat tone. Her friends all beam smiles at her while Slicer's face turns steadily sour, glancing between her and the horde in front of them.

Slicer lowers her voice and says, "I know you are asking for their benefit, but you and I both know this fight is, as you would say, academic. There's just too many of them. They will wear us down and overwhelm us with sheer numbers."

Twilight smirks with a newfound confidence and tilts her head, eyes sparkling, saying nothing.

"You are planning something big," Slicer states, raising an eyebrow.

"My mentor once told me to go big or go home. It ended with me blowing up her lab back then. A few times. But the concept is still sound. Slicer, I just opened up a whole new school of scientific study! Psionics!" She starts to trot in place, then catches herself and stops. "Now imagine all those overwhelming numbers of troops teleported in all sorts of ways. I dare say you could probably take some snack breaks with what I'm planning."

Slicer snorts, not quite so worried now, a sentiment Twilight can feel now, along with the glowing admiration from her friends. The thestral glances in the direction of the enemy in a different light now, the light of a new day as the sun continues to rise above the enemy's backs and shine on the ponies. There had been only a few times when the sun was more welcomed on her face. Perhaps one time, sitting next to a love only remembered in painful memories. Painful, yet good. "Alright, princess, sounds like we are going with your plan," she says quietly, turning to face the enemy, planting her hooves. "You mentioned game pieces and checkmate earlier. Which game is that?"

"Chess. Earth origin." Twilight turns as well. The other ponies and Spike begin to prepare their equipment.

"Need a lot of pieces to win?"

Twilight nods, watching the orc leaders bellow commands to the goblins. "Improves your chances exponentially. But on a rare occasion, just two can do it. A very rare occasion." Her hooves slowly press into the ground, readying her combat stance as well.

A glance at their assembled group hardens the thestral's visage. "Well, we have more than two, just not that many pieces to write home about," she says firmly. Slicer slowly pulls out a blade and holds it in her mouth instead of her hoof, knowing she is going to be doing a lot of running. She brings her panther's name into her mind, whispering around the knife's handle. After the mist dissipates, the large cat lightly bumps against Slicer and stares at the enemy, already knowing the situation.

"No we don't, but these pieces have never failed me." Twilight briefly glances at her friends, then looks at Slicer and Guen. "ANY of these pieces."

A long pause ensues between them, the ponies watching the enemy as they march closer, the ground vibrating. The tall figure of the god Prometheus sways in the distance, following the army from behind. Finally, Slicer breaks the silence by speaking in a low tone, "MY mentor once told me that unicorns, alicorns and pegasi were regarded as myths by us thestrals in ancient times, a time when we were completely isolated from the world. It has also taken me a long time to trust any non-thestrals, especially royalty."

Twilight regards Slicer with a thoughtful expression and waits for her to continue. The others lean in, obviously able to hear her since they are right up against her back. She turns her head slightly at them, then at Twilight, "I will believe in you if you believe in me." She pushes back slightly against them in acknowledgement of their presence, "All of you."

Twilight nods solemnly and bends one leg, dipping to show respect. Her friends back up and do the same, even little Spike bowing at the waist. Slicer tilts her head slightly to keep some annoying water from leaking out of one of her eyes. She grits her teeth and grins, lowering her head forward, "Then let's roll...for initiative."

"I doubt dice will determine the outcome of this fight," Kis'myet mutters while standing next to Slicer, also watching the approaching army.

Slicer narrows her eyes, refusing to look at the newcomer. "I get it, you can sneak up on me."

"She's not that good, if you care to know," Azar says.

Slicer glares and turns her head, "Oh come on, you....too....?" She stammers to a halt as a portal right behind them continues to pour out more cat warriors directly from the throne room of Myth Drannor. Hundreds of holes have also appeared out of thin air in a long line to the group's left and right with multitudes of Rakshasa surging out of each one. 

Twilight turns her head up and down what appears to be a massive battle line forming, with her and her friends at the center. Not just Rakshasa arriving, but elves, humans, dwarves, minotaurs, occasionally some ponies with racial differences she had only read about in rotting historical records, and all other races of creatures. "How?" She and Slicer both say in unison.

Kis'myet grins. "When Myth Drannor sends out a message, all the realms respond." She raises her voice and her spear, yelling in a psionically enhanced voice, "AND THE MESSAGE IS FIGHT!" All the soldiers on the battlefront respond in a massive roar of rage and defiance while and raising their weapons. The enemy have taken notice to the new arrivals and start to lose their formations, some units faltering into a jumble of marching confusion, their leaders whipping them to keep ranks. Kis'myet turns her head to Pinkie Pie and asks, "Got something harsh to play?"

The pink pony nods, pulling out an electric guitar. A few notes echo across the field, then again. Then...she begins playing a riff and starts screaming. All of her friends hold their ears, except for Twilight. She smiles, recognizing this one from the human world. Once the screaming stops, she nods her head and mouths the words as the music crescendos, "Welcome to the Jungle"

The song energizes the emerging fighters and they throw themselves forward, slamming into the enemy just as the first ranks of orcs arrive. The next several minutes, or hours it seems at times, are a blur of sound, action, and war, the likes of which the ponies had never experienced before back home.

It is quite a while before Twilight and her friends get into a routine. The purple alicorn had started off with teleporting large portions of the enemy and dropping them hundreds of feet from the sky onto other portions of the enemy. Now she is dropping only one creature at a time, physical exhaustion setting in. Kis'myet notices and psionically blinks to a spot next to her, crouching.

"How are you holding up?"

Twilight pauses, catching her breath. She replies, "Tired. Not magical exhaustion, but actual physical strain. I didn't realize using your mind could drain your body like this."

The catgirl smiles and nods. "We are still mortals, despite the immortality of the energy in us. These skills tap your constitution. As with magic, you can burn yourself out physically. Perhaps you can rest, take in sugars and carbs. Our forces are pushing forward-"

Just then a spear slams into the ground between them. Kis'myet glares at a nearby kobold that threw it. In an instant she dashes forward, a sword of pure light in her hand and leveled horizontally to pass through its midsection. She pauses just long enough to make sure the creature is dead before nodding to Twilight, "Eat and drink something!" She leaps back into the main mass of fighting. Spotting Slicer and her panther clearing a small area around them, Kis'myet angles toward her. Twilight sees the thestral say something to the catgirl, and despite her cheeks reddening, she nods. Before she can see what they do next, a group of fighting elves and orcs obscures her view.

Looking down, though, she notices the body of the kobold still twitching, bleeding darkly onto the grasses.

"That seems incredibly illogical," Twilight remarks to herself, not quite having the appetite at the moment to due as advised. Applejack overhears her and stands to, taking a break from all the sword swinging she was doing with both hooves, and occasionally her mouth when she had to get more mobile around various enemies.

"Eh pardner? Like what, the giant monkey thing trying to crush all life AND magic in the universe, the flightless-Celestia-evil-alicorn-creature, or thousands of cat people jumpin out of thin air using mirrors, or how bout the fact that we're still alive in a game??" Applejack stares wild-eyed at her friend. Oh yeah, Dawn Treader was still out there, marshalling her rapidly disorganizing forces in the face of the opposition she had not planned for.

"Uh, well, now that you mention all of that..." Twilight muses.

A sword whistles over Applejack's head while she ducks and rushes forward, flipping around to deliver another classic double-hoof kick to the creature who dared to interrupt their conversation. "Oh jes spit it out! Kinda busy here, dumplin!"

"Yeah well, weren't these dead bodies supposed to be vanishing in smoke, like in the beginning? Look at them now."

They both pause and step back to look around. One by one the dead creatures, and some dead allies, Twilight winces in observation, start to turn into black smoke and dissipate.

"Oh COME ON!!! They weren't doing that five minutes ago!!" Twilight yells to nobody in particular. Applejack cracks her friend a half-grin and pats her shoulder.

"Let the dead fend for themselves. We have plenty more livin thangs to worry about, like twenty to thirty thousand goblins and orcs, I reckon." A kobold rushes up and gets his face crushed by Applejack's hoof. "Yeah and you too, you ugly poor excuse for...ugly!"

The alicorn shakes her head and looks straight up in the sky growling at 'someone', "You did that on purpose!" She notices a couple of nearby Rakshasa give her worried looks and move away from her, lest her insanity is catching. She blows out her bangs in exasperation and glances at Applejack, "Ever get the feeling you were being watched?"

Applejack laughs, several goblins bearing jagged swords pushing down on her blade while she rears up on her two hind legs. Through sheer brute strength she drives back the whole squad into several of their mates, causing all of them to fall down. Half of them impale themselves or others with their weapons. "Yah, I'd say 'bout twenty to thirty thousand goblins and orcs, and kobolds!" She eeps, stumbling to the side. "There, yall's happy!?" She yelps out, taking an arrow to the...flank. Again. Applejack flips her sword around to snap off the shaft and glares at her wide-eyed friend. "Tarnation, Twilight! Can't you come up with something to end this a tad quicker than one enemy at a time?" She pulls back into the group and lowers herself to all fours, her blade hitting the ground. After a few breaths, she says in a quieter voice, "I don't know bout the others, but I'm used to workin' all day long. As it is, even I'm startin to feel mah muscles ache."

Twilight rips her gaze from her friend's wound and notices that Prometheus has stopped thundering forward. 

A black form can be seen clawing her way up his side as he starts to twist around, and amazingly enough, Twilight also spies Slicer riding another cat up the other side, this one with black and white stripes. Twilight's mouth gapes open.

"Applejack," she squeaks out. "Can you...are you..."

Her country friend is standing next to her, mouth similarly open. "Well, if that ain't the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

Prometheus is now fully engaged with fending off the black panther while the other cat and pony go unnoticed.

Rarity steps up next to them.

"Darling, I've noticed you stopped reading spells out of my book, and while I do try to be considerate of the others' situations, clearly you...have...oh my." Rarity tilts her head. Then she notices the god raising the hand with the goblet of blue fire. "Twilight! The cup! All the dragon life spirits reside in it!"  Rarity knows it well and has backfilled Twilight regarding its significance.

"The others?" Applejack asks, then nods back to Spike, who is standing there, reliving that horrible moment in his mind. "His kin. It took their life energy away from all of them, except Spike?

Rarity nods to her friends, eyes on the cup. "He jumped down off the podium and avoided a similar fate." She watches the god a moment longer as he holds up the cup to the sky. "He means to offer up their essence, doesn't he?" Twilight nods slowly, beginning to pale as her mind fills in the pieces. Rarity frowns, shaking her head. "But that's absurd! That would mean...all things made..." All the things she has created in her lifetime-

Twilight nods. "All things made stemming from fire will be erased. Needles, thread, metal, weapons...BOOKS!" The horror starts to sink in. She looks down at the book in her hooves.

Laughter from behind them draws their attention, Rainbow Dash holding her sides.

"Oh get out of here! You mean to say everything that was ever made from anything after the discovery of fire is going to-"

Rarity and Applejack gasp. Twilight looks up and watches the horror unfolding. Prometheus crushes the cup, and what happens next leaves them shaken to their core, unable to help Slicer and the two cats as things get horribly worse for the daring assassins.

***

"Enjoying yourself, pony of the shadows?"

Slicer smirks, keeping her eyes on an orc in front of her until she dispatches him, two quick cuts to either side of his neck. She hops back, notes Gwenhwyvar sweeping around to clear the small area they are in. Turning around, Kis'myet is there, balancing her spear in one clawed hand. "All in a day's work, ma chere." The god's earth-shaking steps behind the armies pulls Slicers attention to him. She asks, "Is this the part where I ride you?" while keeping her face neutral with just the slightest twitch of one brow.

The catgirl's ears pink up and she mutters with a nod, "I wish I never had that vision. But it would appear we are the best chance to take that thing down. Your friends are resourceful, but cannot fight while grounded."

With a quick scan to make sure nothing was going to sneak up on them, Slicer drifts closer, one dagger in a hoof while she tripple-steps. "We don't have to do this. Gwen can easily carry me. I'll rig a harness-"

"No," the catgirl cuts her off, "The vision is the vision." Doubt crosses her face and she shakes her head. "I cannot explain it. Only that your panther must be free to distract him long enough for you and I to get close."

Slicer frowns. "Close? To what?" She studies the massive thing, from foot, past the exposed genitals, up the giant chest, to the head. "...the eyes."

Kis'myet nods, also watching. "Yes, that, and it must be by your blade." To the thestral's confused expression, she clenches her jaw. "The dragons are the key. Their weakness is his weakness."

Slicer shakes her head, "Not anymore! He killed them, all except Spike, who has been with us since nearly the beginning of all this." 

The revelation shakes the feline to her core, but she shrugs it off. "No matter. They are STILL the key. These claws," Kis'myet flexes her free paw, "can only scratch and cause superficial marks. Weapons, specifically metal, are lethal to dragons." She glances up at the god, "and him." She leans back on her spear, eyeing Slicer's blade.

It clicks into place. Magic, artifice, why all of it is being stripped away. If they are truly gifts of the gods, then they are also their weakness, the very thing the gods fear. It is the riddle of steel, a very old fairy tale passed down beyond the oldest myths, even among Slicer's tribes in the dark places of Equestria. Was flesh stronger than steel? Was magic stronger than flesh and steel? All three were weak, by themselves. It is the will to wield all three that is truly strongest, strong enough to challenge the heavens. That was why Prometheus was punished.

While Slicer always found it to be obvious what the answer was, it never made a real impact on her until now, played out on this battlefield. She frowns, "But he already vanquished magic. Rarity's magic tome, how is that still working?"

Kis'myet rolls her eyes, "It is an item of artifice, not true magic. Yes, it bends magical forces, but it does not originate from within, not like real arcane power." She waves her hand, "This conversation is pointless. Just take it from me, your blade will hurt him."

"Right, then I should be on Gwenhwyvar."

"No!" The catgirl shakes her head, "He will go for the obvious threat. I am smaller, lighter. He will not notice me while he focuses on your panther." She kneels and pulls a leather harness of buckles and straps from her satchel. "I made this long ago when I discovered my true nature. I never knew why, until my vision...until I saw you on my back. I couldn't believe it when your group showed up on the plains. That is why I stuck to you so closely. I thought if I could...I thought I could avoid this, yet it would have meant the death of my people. Sometimes we do what we must."

Slicer wrinkled her brow at her. "We've all suffered indignities. Choosing to kill us or kill him, I'm glad you went with the latter. I don't see the problem."

Kis'myet smiles wanly, a calm passing over her as she drops her spear. "Perhaps you will, soon. Just remember, where there is death, there is always death."

Slicer nods, "I will deal with it."

Eyeing the pony one last time, Kis'myet nods solemnly. Slipping the harness over herself, she falls to all four, morphing into a more four-legged version of herself, a sleek striped panther. Gwenhwyvar growls softly and edges toward the direction they are about to run, turning to watch Slicer's next move with amusement in the dark panther's eyes.

Slicer shakes her head and clambers up onto the smaller cat, placing her rear hooves into the straps behind her and wrapping a main strap around her own barrel, buckling it in place. She draws a second blade and holds both in either hoof, ready. She leans low and says, "Okay. Gwen, you approach directly at him, we'll swing around to the side. Get. His. Attention. Understand?"

The panther nods once and is away like a deadly arrow, slipping past the fighters. Kis'myet rips furrows into the ground as she leaps ahead, Slicer dropping even lower onto her back for fear of falling off. Soon, she is able to feel the rhythm of the feline's loping and is able to anticipate the rising and falling of her mount, while still fighting off conflicting thoughts in her head. 

Flanking to the side, they spot Gwenhwyvar leap onto the god's foot and start clawing her way up his side. This obviously gets his attention and he attempts to swat at the small creature scratching up his leg. Kis'myet chooses that moment to scramble up his other side. Now all three assassins are scrambling up a living god, hoping beyond hope that he doesn't simply squash them between arm and body.

Prometheus raises the blue-flamed goblet to the sky while mildly swatting at Gwenhwyvar.

They actually make it up his waist before they hit a slight snag. As the god bends his arm around to ready a backhand at the black panther, a glint reflected from the rising sun manages to catch his eye. The glint off one of Slicer's knives. He yells, spinning around with the goblet of blue fire and crushes it in his hand.

A wave of energy, similar to the one they experienced in the mountain, pulses out. But this time something completely astonishing happens. All manner of items dissolve into nothing or revert to their constituent parts. Swords, armor, leather, buckles, spears, clothing, all disintegrate or change into unrefined ores and animal skins. While the ponies are not quite as surprised to see their saddlebags and other items fall away from them to disappear or change into something else, both warring armies are taken unawares.

Archers pull back and find their hands empty or holding sticks, bits of feathers or tree branches. Others discover lumps of iron ore in their hands where once a sword was about to block another weapon coming at them. While the denizens of evil lose what little organization they had at this sudden loss of killing ability, the forces of good resurge, not allowing such a minor thing as a missing sword, shield, and clothing to stop them. While some humans struggle to handle their nakedness, quite a few elves and rakshasa seem to be enjoying the change of events. Many of the fighting groups go back to fighting, instead using armlocks, wrestling moves, and choking tactics to subdue their opponents. Claws, talons and teeth start playing a larger part in the arsenal that is left for all the fighters.

Kis'myet continues to scramble up the side, managing to get to his shoulder, even faster now that she doesn't have a weight on her back-

All artifice is destroyed, the thought flashes through her mind.

She spots the pony falling away from her and does what she knows is her last act as the god swings around his hand. Kis'myet springs off the god's body surface and grabs the falling pony midair, wrapping all four legs and paws around the delicate creature while twisting around, to receive the god's open hand awash with blue flames.

For Slicer it is all a blur of a few seconds. The energy pulse, the straps falling apart for lack of buckles, the weapons in her hooves disappearing. A discolored scar on the god's rib cage goes by as she falls slowly, and then a blanket of black and white fur envelopes her. Before she can even process all of that, a massive force crushes them both and sends them flying sideways. Her overloaded brain registers several crunching sounds that come from the catgirl's body when they are struck, along with blue fire, burning fur and rushing wind.

She and her former mount drift slowly apart in the air, the god getting smaller and smaller by the distance they are covering in flight. Her mind starts counting the seconds. One. Two. Kis'myet is back to her original form, neck bent at a horrible angle, eyes glazed. The two are drifting apart and Slicer is starting to turn to the ground. Three. Four. A shadow on the ground moving along underneath her and getting closer as she descends. Odd, it is not shaped like a pony. Five. Here comes the ground. Si-

Halfway into the last second before oblivion, that shadow spins around and grabs the pony with all four legs and paws, this time a blanket of black fur. They both impact the ground, Gwenhwyvar taking most of the grinding as they slide several yards before coming to a halt, though Slicer did take quite a few cuts from bits of rock, ore, wood, and all manner of debris left by the god's action.

They lay for a few minutes, catching their breaths after the weirdest wildest thing she has ever done. Up to this point, that is saying something. Slicer looks down in her hoof, seeing she still has the figurine. Somehow, she had grabbed it in the air when she started falling off Kis'myet's back. The thestral gingerly steps down onto the ground while Gwenhwyvar rolls onto her side. She reaches out to the cat and scratches her neck with a hoof. "You've done things for me that I can never repay. So has-" Then she remembers what happened.

Gwenhwyvar growls in pain when she stands, yet she remains determined as she scans around them, looking for their lost compatriot. Slicer shakes her head, reaching a hoof to her shoulder, "She's gone, dead before we hit the ground. I saw her eyes...." Her voice broke. The cat turned her head to regard Slicer. Seeing the tears well up, the panther sits down and nuzzles the pony.

"She knew. She knew she was going to die...and I think she wanted to hate me for it, or drive me away. She only thought about her people and all I could think about was how awkward it was, or how I had to unbalance her, or compete with her, all of the other selfish stupid fucked up merde fils de pute putain-!" She cannot continue, grief taking her. Gwenhwyvar comforts her, occasionally roaring at nearby unarmed creatures that drift too close. Prometheus can be heard bellowing something, but the thestral blocks it all out, only concentrating on this moment, next to her friend.

After another minute, Slicer collects herself and stands up, furiously turning to the god. "I said I would deal with it, and I will." She checks herself and finds all her weapons, hidden or sheathed, are gone, along with...everything else she had. Only the figurine remains. Looking down at it, then at the panther, she murmurs, "Somehow. I swear it." The panther huffs her approval. Slicer wipes her nose with a foreleg. "Right. First thing's first. We have to get back to the others. They are like merde magnets."

Just then, a stream of fire blazes out at the god, who deflects it with a hand. He roars in rage. Only now does she notice things have truly changed on the field. Not only is every moving creature without item or clothing, there are masses of animals running through them, dragging down the forces of evil like they are nothing. A blue energy shield zips up to Prometheus, who in turn knocks it away with his other hand. But now he is focused on the area where those attacks are coming from.

Her friends.

"See what I mean?" she mutters to the panther. Gwenhwyvar crouches low enough for Slicer to climb up, the pony still wincing as cuts open up again while the cat takes it with a single grunt. She hugs onto the cat for deal life and whispers, "You know where to go." With that, the two surviving assassins lope back to the center of the approaching god's attention.

***

Back where the ponies were fighting a minute ago with everything they had, the are now standing with just their items they got from the chest. Everything else is dissolved. This minor setback is momentarily forgotten as they see what happened to a certain catgirl and thestral.

Once the ponies lose sight of Kis'myet and Slicer flying through the air down into the masses, they look at each other with despair.

"Do you suppose they made it, Twi?" Applejack asks softly.

Twilight shakes her head sullenly, "I don't know." She holds up her crystal, the only thing she now has. That and the book she was sending spells to Rarity's mind with.

They look back at the god who is now holding up his hands to the sky...and getting angry.

"I don't know about you, but it would appear he is not happy with the way things are progressing," Rarity commented. She peers down at her book in Twilight's hooves, sighing in relief that it is still there. She does not want to think about all her dresses and designs that might be gone forever.

"You heard Princess Celestia...Dawn, whatever she is supposed to be," Rainbow cuts in. "He has no interest in the mortal realm. He hasn't stopped looking up. Tartar, neither have I, since I can't flippin fly now!" Rainbow is really starting to feel the frustration of zero flight today, hopping in place.

Twilight, on the other hoof, has a little more insight on the puzzle. "He's waiting for the other gods to welcome him back...or he is waiting for that giant eagle to swoop down on him again, maybe?"

Applejack tilts her head to her friend, "Say what now?"

Twilight glances back at them and replies, "In his prison, I saw a giant eagle swoop down on him to...to bore into him. Supposedly this happens on a daily basis." She shudders, remembering the sounds. "It is his punishment, he said. Now...he believes he has taken back all that he has given to us mortals." A movement to the side catches her attention. Spike valiantly holds the sword at the ready for Fluttershy to draw, if only the timid pegasus would. Twilight stares at Spike. Things click. "He can't go back." She looks at the god, who is getting very angry now. "He hasn't given all he has stolen back to the gods."

"THAT will soon be rectified, after I kill my sister!!!" A blur of white, gold and blood orange plows through the center of their group, a long bloodied alicorn horn aimed directly for Luna.

A lone pair of eyes, always at a lower level than everypony else, can see many things. Given enough knowledge, they tend to see a lot more than can be unseen, specifically if you are one gender constantly surrounded by the opposite gender. Yet a good heart reigns in one's desires and redirects those flames for a just cause. In this final battle, Spike wants to see his damme go forth and be knightly, sword in hoof. Yet up to this point, Fluttershy has been reticent to wield her weapon. He understands her connection with nature itself and how she leans more to the serene side of things. He also understands that nature can be tempestuous in nature. Surely in this fight of the ages, she is ready to assert herself? All she had to do is-

His lone pair of eyes, not held by the image of a god shouting at the heavens, sees terrible movement on the ground in the form of Dawn Treader charging at them. A quick glance to Fluttershy shows she is not ready, not yet, and there is no longer any time to get her there. As Dawn announces her plan and target, Spike whips around and dives to the side, long sword in his claws and drawn. Dawn pushes through all the surprised ponies, horn leveled at Luna's chest. A sword crosses her vision and with a quick snap of her head, knocks it away from her. A split second later her leveled horn pierces into what she thinks is her sister, rejoicing in how it feels for the fleshy body to slide up against her forehead.

She is shocked to find the weight is still hanging from her head as she gallops several more feet before turning, eyes crossing to see what is impaled on her horn.

It is Spike.

Twilight and Rarity shriek in agony at the sight.  Applejack and Rainbow Dash yell in rage and run at her, swords in their mouths as they want to use the full momentum of their legs. Fluttershy simply stands there, going pale. One moment, Spike was in front of her, encouraging her to raise the sword to help her friends, and the next moment, he is there atop Dawn's head, her sword landing several feet away from the pegasus.

Before Applejack and Rainbow can bring their swords to bear on the alicorn, Dawn swipes at them with both her wings, knocking them  on their backs nearly the entire distance they had charged.

Rainbow coughs out while trying to catch her breath, "That was stupid...<hack>." She rolls over, groaning from what feels like cracked ribs in her side.

Applejack's reply is just as winded, "Yer tellin...<cough>...me..." She'd taken worse from a belligerent brother in the past, she figures. Maybe. Wince...maybe not. 

The eyes of Prometheus sweep the carnage and instantly spot the impaled brave dragon. "YOU FOOL, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" The god bellows down at the grounded alicorn. "THAT WAS THE LAST DRAGON ALIVE! I NEEDED HIS LIFEFORCE TO PASS THROUGH THE TEMPLE SIEVE, NOT WASTED OUT HERE IN THE MUD AND DIRT! HIS ESSENCE IS NOW SCATTERED!!!" The ground shakes with the deafening reverberations of his voice.

Dawn Treader throws her head to the side, tossing the body off of it. He lands, bounces once, rolls to a stop, and never moves again. The large alicorn backs up and paces around the group in a widening circle. Once the two sword-wielding ponies pull themselves up, they try to create a limping defensive perimeter around Luna, Dawn's primary target.

All the while Fluttershy, dear delicate Fluttershy, stares at Spike's still form. Oblivious to the pacing of the others, she takes a few paces past a mildly amused Dawn Treader, only to crumple to the ground at his side and grasp at him, pulling the still form closely to her. Her friends are similarly shaken, but probably none so much as Twilight. Even though she knows somehow this cannot all be real, that all they have to do is reach the end, it doesn't stop the flood of memories of all the times she and Spike were together, some good, some bad, but all together.

Fluttershy whispers, "No...you were not meant to fight for us. We are supposed to protect the princess...and you."

Whipping her head around to shake the blood off and stare up at the god, Dawn yells, "But the only weapons left are those swords! Puny next to you, Great One! What can they possibly do?" She turns back to spy Silvery Orb (Luna) hiding behind the ponies before her. She yells back at Prometheus, "Allow me to finish some loose ends and I shall build you another collector to retrieve the last of the essence here and send you up to the heavens while I rule all that is under them!"

The towering god begins to yell profanities regarding the time it will take to accomplish that when his entry back was so close at hand, as well as colorfully addressing Dawn's lineage, but none of that is heard by the intrepid group of adventurers, brought low by a single deed of suicidal bravery. Rarity holds her hooves to her mouth, starting to break down. Applejack takes her hat off, discovers that it has disappeared too, but holds up her sword to keep Dawn at bay.

Pinkie Pie dropped her musical instrument the instant Spike was impaled, her mane almost turning inside out from deflation. Twilight cries openly while trying to figure out what to do next, aside from keeping Dawn off them. In contrast to all of them, Rainbow Dash shows pure anger and attempts to rush forward again, but Applejack grabs her by the shoulder at the last second, choking out, "Wait up, sugar...you can't take her alone, not again." The earth pony isn't about to lose another friend quite so soon. Dash continues to push forward, despite cracked ribs and an earth pony latched onto her.

After a time, a second or an eternity, Fluttershy slowly looks up, tears drying off in wisps of steam as she starts to burn with anger. "I was supposed to protect you," she whispers. She lets go of the dragon's body. Dawn tilts her head back to regard the yellow pegasus, momentarily distracted from staring death at her sister. 

Looking to the side, Fluttershy sees the blade she had fumbled with not a few moments before Spike gave everything he had, everything to see her become...more. "All my life, everypony dismisses me on what I can do, and that is alright. Except for this moment." Standing up, she reaches down and delicately picks up the blade, balancing it on one hoof before flipping it over like a baton. It gracefully slides off and into her other hoof as she stands on her hind legs, holding the sword in front of her with booth hooves now. She no longer fears the sword, or what it can do.

"What can we possibly do, you ask?" She no longer has fear at all. "This moment, I will show you what I can do."

Dawn's sneer slowly fades when Fluttershy raises the blade high, a soft green glow emanating from its edge. A soothing memory forms, a memory of Fluttershy and Spike sitting in a tavern, the small dragon teaching her how to pronounce the symbols on the sword. "Bidh fiaclan nàdair..." The first couple of symbols on her sword flare brilliant green.

Another memory, Spike tracing his claws to the next ones, "...a 'bìdeadh an fheadhainn..." the pegasus says louder, a normal speaking volume to most everypony else. Dawn Treader turns to this new threat, roars and lunges forward. Fluttershy twists her sword to face edge on while lowering it, deflecting Dawn's horn exactly as Spike taught her once upon a time. Dawn Treader rears back, head ringing as ivory chips fly away.

Fluttershy closes her eyes, feeling the serenity of the land, the skies, the oceans. She intones once more, now in a voice so loud, it rings, "...a bhiodh a' cronadh oirre!" The Teeth of Nature Bite Those That Would Harm Her. The final symbols flare and the sword is engulfed in an aura of power, at once chaotic and yet calming. A tone, felt deep in the soul of every living creature, a tone all life everywhere is familiar with at some subconscious level, permeates everything. It is the vibrational tone of nature itself. Dawn Treader lowers her head, preparing to attack again.

"Finally the floating butterfly is willing to sting like a bee. Do you plan to fight instead of hiding behind your friends?"

Fluttershy shakes her head, opening her eyes while smiling demurely, "I will not fight, nor will I AND my friends hide any longer." Dawn Treader sneers and glances around at the other ponies, all barely holding themselves up after the hordes of creatures that were throwing themselves at them for the last hour, and then the alicorn's attack.

"Your friends have their hooves full, I think. It is time to end this sham of a fight." Dawn Treader charges, throwing all her weight into it this time. Fluttershy closes her eyes and points the sword down, directed at a very small spur of stone sticking out of the dirt.

She whispers, "Not those friends," the sword tip still hovering over the stone. The others, too intent with protecting Luna, and tired from the earlier fighting, finally realize Fluttershy is vulnerable and look on in horror as the diminutive pegasus is about to be impaled by the alicorn, just like Spike. At the last instant, Fluttershy peeks one eye open, then drives the sword point toward the rock. On the way down it catches Dawn Treader's horn at the midpoint and sheers it in half, the shock to her skull diverting the alicorn off to the side where she crashes to the ground. She thrashes and screams while holding her head in pain. The sword makes a similar scream as metal grates against stone, driving into the spur until it stops halfway in. The tone emanating from the blade is muffled, but those nearest her briefly glance at the ground, feeling the tone under their hooves and feet as the sound waves now pass underground.

As if bubbling up from the ground through hidden holes, swarms of creatures appear. Rabbits, mice, badgers, moles, prairie dogs, rats, and all manner of small animals practically flow from the earth itself. Insects, clouds of bees, wasps, mosquitos, and things too creepy crawly to mention, also come forth and fill the air, but stay away from the ponies, much to their relief. Larger animals spring up from hiding places, like wolves, bobcats, lions, tigers, and yes even bears (Fluttershy oh my's) slip around and in between friendly fighters to attack and slaughter what kobolds and orcs have not started running. Flocks of birds, from the smallest finches to the largest condors, fill the skies, swooping down to attack creatures too distracted by what is on the ground to cover their heads.

Eyeing the glowing green sword still in Fluttershy's hooves, Rainbow momentarily forgets the pain in her body and holds up her sword, turning to a group of orcs that were keeping an eye on Dawn Treader, but are now moving in since their leader has fallen. She recites what was on that scrap of paper Spike left behind at the cats' jail.

"Bidh teine dìoghaltas a 'losgadh an fheadhainn a bhiodh a' dochann mo charaidean." The Fire of Vengeance Burns Those That Would Harm My Friends. A beam of fire lances out at the oncoming orcs and kobolds, incinerating them into piles of ash suspended in the air before showering the churned up dirt below.

Applejack grins and says, "Bidh sgàilean na fìrinn a 'dìon an fheadhainn a tha a' seasamh an aghaidh olc," while holding her blade up high in both hooves. The Scales of Truth Shall Protect Those That Stand Against Evil. A blue shield forms in front of her, its movement sensitive to how she moves the sword. With a flick of her hooves, she sends the shield forth into the enemy mass, mowing down scores of orcs as the shield travels off into the distance. It reforms in front of her, ready to go again. Grinning more widely, she yells, "Awright! This I can work with!"

Not to leave the cause of all this turmoil hanging, Rainbow aims her sword at Prometheus and fires again. He holds up a hand and deflects the beam, growling in fury. The pegasus blanches. "Aw, come on! It's fire! Burn dammit!

Applejack sees what happens and aims her sword as well. The shield is similarly deflected. "Was a good idea though, Dash. Just would be nice if we knew how to take that thing down."

Prometheus sees the effects one escaped dragon has on his plans to return to the pantheon; mortals wielding implements of artifice that should have been removed. Determined to crush this last pocket of resistance, he begins to wade through all the creatures underneath him. Barely clothed and squabbling amongst themselves with tooth and claw, he finally sees them the way his fellow gods did, do, and will always. He sees why the other gods tried to convince him before his imprisonment. They are insects to be ignored, and crushed if they cannot be ignored.

A dark form slips in among the group and deposits a very bruised and rough looking thestral. Slicer groans from the impact, and then groans more as she fends off the panther's attempts to lick her wounds. "Alright alright, I get it, you care! Your tongue isn't going to heal anything. Might even infect some of it." The large cat huffs at her ward, but relents.

Twilight runs over and kneels next to Slicer, trying to inspect her injuries. With an amused expression, the panther backs off and sits, keeping a wary eye over the chaos around them, though now their forces are pushing back the horde, thanks to all three swords' devastating magics.

Slicer now has to fend off the poking princess. "Please! Alright already! I'm the medic here, remember?! Nothing is broken, see?" She shows Twilight that all her limbs work properly, though there are cuts all over her. 

"Where is your friend, the one you keep competing with to sneak up on each other?"

Bittersweet mirth crosses Slicer's face, but she answers solemnly, "It's probably galling her that I made it, and she didn't."

Pain crosses Twilight's face, despite the fact that Kis'myet is probably just a fictional non-player character. Still...she gave so much to Twilight and her friends. Slicer tries to move and groans again, hissing at some of the deeper cuts.

She notes Twilight's sympathetic wincing and shrugs, "Gifts from Prometheus, a thorough slapping and a six second flight through the air. That was the first time I ever flew, actually. I don't recommend it." Another six seconds go by and there is absolutely no reaction from Twilight. Slicer's eyes narrow and she glances around, "Okay, what happened? I saw the fire beam and animals. I wasn't gone that long-" She spots Spike's body.

"DAMMIT! Why the @#$%^ does this !@%$ happen when I'm not around!" She verbally goes somewhere even ancient Prench does not cover. Making a mad dash for him, she almost reaches the body before she finds herself floating a few inches off the ground and slowing to a halt. Slicer looks around to see whose horn is glowing, but there are none. Oh yeah, magic was wiped.

Twilight walks slowly to her side and lowers her head. The thestral alights back onto the ground. The princess levitates a nearby abandoned cloak over the body to cover it.

Glancing down, Slicer murmurs, "I'm sorry, your highness. I was supposed to protect you all. Kis'myet and I...we thought we could take him down, before he did any real harm. Had I been here-" She cuts off when Twilight's wing touches her shoulder.

"Maybe you would have made a difference, maybe you would be dead. We all have our roles to play, I am beginning to learn." She glances at Fluttershy, who is instructing a flock of birds to fly up to the god's head and pester him. The pegasus actually seems to enjoy watching them go up there, though she winces out of worry when Prometheus starts swatting at them, his walk towards them momentarily paused. Twilight continues, "For now, Spike's role is done. Ours, however..." She trails off, watching the god slowly starting up his walk again, just a tad more annoyed than before.

"He looks pissed," Slicer says. Then she frowns. "I noticed we kept our items after he wiped out all of technology." Looking down at the covered form, "Do you think Spike...could he have...?"

Twilight closes her eyes and finishes, "Could he have known that giving his life would buy us the time we need to use the swords, the book, my crystal...?" She can't bring herself to talk about Pinkie's sticker. That is just absurdity. She shakes her head, "I don't know. We've dealt with everything and survived as a team, mostly. And everything has brought us to this point in time. Here we are, all together, and I don't know what to do." She looks back at her friends who are now watching her, waiting for her orders. She switches to Slicer. "I don't know what to do, against that," she adds, noting the monstrosity making his way toward them.

Slicer looks to Guenhwyvar and sees those piercing eyes staring back, waiting patiently. She says, "The run up his side didn't do much good. Those swords have their powers, but he brushes their powers off like they are nothing. I doubt we will get close enough a second time to stab him. The forest creatures have even less impact than my panther, not to mention a sticker never defeated anypony." Spotting Pinkie Pie's sad face while staring down at the happy face stuck to her hoof, Slicer smiles weakly, "Sorry, Pinks."

Pinkie holds up her sticker, "My treasure was never meant to harm. It has always been to make everypony smile." She holds up her hoof in front of her mouth as though the sticker is talking. "Mister Fire Stealer up there needs to remember what friends are for."

Applejack blurts out, "Yeah, I wouldn't mind him having another get-together with his eagle friend, eh Twily?"

Twilight turns back to the god, staring. He has stepped halfway through the leftover forces, taking his time since he knows they cannot outrun him.

"Of course," she whispers. Then she raises her voice, "Everypony, bring what you got, put them in a pile near me!" Despite confused faces, they all comply. All except a certain thestral, who drifts back behind the others. Closing her eyes, Twilight breathes slowly, whispering under her breath, "Please work, please work. All I ask now is that this works." She forms in her mind's eye the image of that eagle that had come swooping down at the god back in his chamber.

The items on the ground, the swords, the tome, the crystal, even the sticker, start to vibrate, and then lift into the air. The book's leather expands to form an oblong body while the pages fly out and attach themselves to either side of it, forming rudimentary wings. The green glowing sword flies to the front and inserts the handle into one end of the leathery body while the red and blue swords move underneath, grips elongating to make the legs, pommels inserting into the body while each blade splits into three, forming razor talons. The sticker expands and floats to the green sword grip, wrapping partially around it and the leather to make a strange looking yellow face with black eyes. The smiling mouth melds into the blade, splitting it to form a kind of beak. Once everything is attached and the warping stops, the construct settles down to the ground.

It looks like something a young colt would glue together in art class.

Rainbow wrinkles her mouth in disgust. "Uh, Twilight, is THAT what you were aiming for?"

Rarity has no words. Just the clash of color alone...she looks around for her fainting couch, forgetting Prometheus has erased that as well.

The eagle is not quite as large as the earlier one Twilight had witnessed, but it feels right. She can't believe how right it feels! Except...it is still just a hodgepodge of parts thrown together.

Twilight's face falters, then panic sets in. "It's not working! It all feels right, everything in its place, but it's missing something. It's just an inanimate construct without...a soul..." She turns to face Slicer, who has been hanging back all this time. Twilight whispers, "...a heart." Twilight, eyes tearing up, reaches one hoof out toward Slicer, "Oh Celestia, it needs a heart." Tears stream down her face, all the exhaustion, the pain of the last few days, the unfairness of decisions she's had to subject her friends to and the losses of friends, all of it is finally weighing down on her. "It needs a predator's heart!"

The others turn to see what Twilight is looking at. Slicer is sitting on her haunches, the black panther nuzzling her. Down on the ground, hidden behind her foreleg until she moves it, is the onyx statue of the cat. Fluttershy whispers roughly, "Oh no, Slicer, she can't mean..." She spins around to face Twilight, "You can't! It's her...her friend. You can't-"

"It's ok, Fluttershy. It must be done." She picks up the statue in one hoof. 

Fluttershy protests, "But we never got to...to chat with her, and you were doing so well...and..." She can't finish what she wants to say, hiccuping softly. Slicer smiles at her.

"Nothing good ever lasts, does it?" Despite her brave demeanor, they can see she is trembling, only just able to hold her voice steady. Guenhwyvar huffs and bumps her head into Slicer's, then looks up at the approaching god. The thestral follows the panther's gaze and nods. "I promised I would deal with it. It's time." She holds up the statue on her hoof to the princess, her own wet eyes blurring the image of the figurine in front of her.

With an apologetic look, Twilight floats the statue out of Slicer's hoof over to the construct. "I'm so sorry for this, Slicer. I truly am."

The statue touches the bird replica and fuses into it, disappearing below the surface. Immediately Guenhwyvar dissolves into nothing, quite different from her normal misty exit. The bird, on the other hoof, changes. The leathery surfaces of its body ripple and start to shape into a covering of feathers. The wings, which were large pages of arcane text, fade and darken to lustrous brown primary and secondary feathers edged in white. The talons and beak lose their metallic sheen and start to curve, looking less like swords and more like real weapons of a large predatory bird. The face, once a ridiculous visage with the enlarged sticker wrapping it, morphs into the striking resemblance of a noble eagle. But most of all, are the eyes. They are not the eyes of a bird. They are the yellow piercing eyes of Guenhwyvar. The construct, a paltry label to call it such now, starts to move and flex.

Twilight stumbles back, calling to her friends, "I'm losing control of it. It's...it's like a living creature and moving on its own! I can't control it!" True, this latest use of her new abilities drained what has to be the last physical energy out of her, but she also felt something wrest control away from her, like a leash being yanked from her mind. The others back away as well, except for Slicer Jen.

She slowly strides forth, pulling away from Twilight when the princess reaches out to grab at her feebly. Once she is within reach, the thestral stares up at the large living fusion of artifice and animal. "Are you in there, Guen? Can you hear me?" The bird lowers its head to eye level while spreading its wings. Both horrific and awesome, the thestral would be a snack if this thing were to snap at her with that massive beak. And yet, there is no threat. Knowing eyes meet knowing eyes. "You're in there. Good. One last ride, to save the princesses and their friends. How about it?"

The bird clicks her beak and spins away, swatting at the thestral to knock her backwards. She rolls after she is hit to avoid falling injury and recovers several feet away, glaring up at the bird. "What the Nox, Guen!? I thought we were in this together!?!" Her words come out more hurt than angry.

A gentle alicorn wing touches her across her withers. Twilight says quietly, "She is protecting you, and letting you know that this is something she must do on her own to save us."

Slicer remembers how two felines in a single minute saved her life. To think harshly of them now would be an insult to their honor. Remembering what Kis'myet did also reminds her of a marking on the god's side. A scar. She looks at Twilight. "The eagle...where did it bore into him, every day since the beginning?"

Twilight's face lights up, renewed with brain activity. She raises her voice to the eagle, "Gwenhwyvar, he is vulnerable to the upper ribs, where the liver is located, I think! That is your best chance!" Guenhwyvar nods, then faces Prometheus. She spreads her wings wide and shrieks long and loud, the kind of screeching that can be heard for miles. Both armies, what is left of them, pause in their fighting, some out of awe, most out of fear.

That same fear is shared by the god who has also stopped walking, now within two strides of the group. Fear shows in his eyes, his skin pallor showing similar reaction. "No," he intones. "NO! You are not to arrive until the morrow! YOU CANNOT BE HERE NOW!" He holds up a hand, as though to project some power a god might have.

With one powerful sweep of her wings, the eagle throws herself into the air and straight at him like an arrow, punching through his palm and leaving a giant hole almost wide enough to reach either side. Before shock can set into the god, Guenhwyvar wheels around in the sky behind him and flies back in at a steep angle, banking at the last instant to bury herself into his side, where Slicer saw the scar. The deadly eagle is momentarily lodged halfway into his body, but using her wings and powerful legs, she claws her way in deeper.

The god Prometheus bellows, surprising even himself as he feels pain he has not known since...since that first day the eagle came for him to begin his torment. His legs give out and he stumbles forward, slamming one knee into the ground. Everyone, both forces of good and evil, and the ponies, can read the writing on the wall and start running in every direction. 

Twilight screams for her friends to follow her as she mentally prepares for another psionic teleport, but as before with her magic, she is feeling the strain to her body, and unlike before, she is truly empty now. As the god starts to topple forward, she is somewhat relieved that they chose to run at an angle so his fall will miss them, but just barely.

They gallop, attempting to stay away from the mountain of flesh dropping to the ground. Twilight is overcome with a sense of calm. She looks back at her friends. Their faces reflect what she is feeling, both inside her and what she can sense from their minds. That same calm. This is it, what they have been working toward all this time.

Checkmate.

A monumental boom of sound and shaking of the ground under her hooves causes her to stumble and momentarily fall to the ground. She barely raises herself off the ground when she sees a giant wave of dirt and debris, and some creatures mixed in, approach her at incredible speed. There is no escaping this. All she can do is close her eyes when it hits, knocking her unconscious.

***

Once they can see again, they find themselves in a large library with no walls and only an infinity of glowing white light. And books. Rows of books, as far as the eye can see, going on and on into that infinity. She knows she has died and is glad to spend eternity here, in her own private heaven.

"No, young one, this is not heaven, nor is it private," a male voice says.

She turns around to see a tall bipedal creature standing some distance away near one of the book cases. He is wearing robes of white and is holding a book in his hands. The cover looks like it has a dragon and some ponies on it.

She takes a step back, only to bump into Applejack. "Woh there, Twi. I see him too." Her other friends are behind her as well. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy. And Slicer Jen. A new friend, but definitely a friend. She turns back to the creature. He vaguely looks like Prometheus, only smaller, like a minotaur. And not as menacing as either. A...human, perhaps?

"Well," she says wistfully, glancing around at the books. "There goes that dream."

The being smiles and puts the book away into the book case. He slowly walks up to them. When they stiffen, he stops and looks down at them.

Twilight regards him in wonder, finally starting to sense the nature of this being. Her eyes flick to the books behind him, catching some titles like "Creation 101: Your children and their worship to you" and "How To Train Your Adam. Lilith Is Another Story." She stares at him.

"You're Him..." she whispers.

He tilts his head and asks, "Him?"

"Him! HIM! The One. Alpha, Omega, Equestria!!!" She looks to her friends for help, but they all shrug. She turns back and whispers, "...the creator...of everything."

He chuckles and kneels, making him seem more approachable. "That is such a simple viewpoint, I believe you can do better." As her face takes on a confused look, he holds up a furless hand, "Perhaps not right now, but eventually. Let's just call me by a name for now. I am Gan. And you are Twilight Sparkle, princess of Equestria, the Element of Magic and Ambassador of Friendship." She blushes, despite his obviously being in a position to know everything. He addresses each pony with their names as well, smiles and blushes returned for each name. His gaze lingers on Slicer Jen for a second before returning to Twilight. He says, "You have questions."

Twilight's mind is a storm of critical thinking. If he is responsible for merging realities and even curtailing Discord, then he is beyond anything she has ever heard of. And yet, she feels no fear. If anything, she sees an opportunity to learn far more than any unicorn, or alicorn for that matter, has ever done in the history of...well, everything! Lightly shifting from hoof to hoof, she says in her most plaintive voice, "Please, Great Gan, I know I am not worthy, but I have to know! I have to know...it all! I am ready to learn all there is to learn!" Internally she kicks herself at how stupid that actually came out. How do you ask the overseer of the multiverse to teach you 'everything' without blurting it out just like she did?

Gan chuckles softly and reaches down, lightly caressing Twilight's cheek, "Dear child, your appetite for knowledge is endearing." He shifts size to equal hers and sits down in front of Twilight. "Picture an infant unicorn who attempts to use her horn for the first time to reach for a tasty treat from her crib, but instead of using the most basic of TK, she instantly has access to all the magic spells you have ever done, could ever do, or ever dreamed of doing but had yet ferreted out the formulae. Oh, and the little filly uses it all at once just to see what it ALL does."

Twilight pales visibly. She utters, "hm, sounds like Shiny's little foal Flurry Heart, only worse. Knowledge is truly power. Dangerous power." She looks crestfallen, understanding she will not be getting that knowledge today.

He nods, "Wisdom and experience make it attainable and...eh, somewhat safer. That is why the secrets of the universe cannot be told, but discovered. You've taken your first step already, and a wondrous gift it is. The school of psionics is a long lost art too few worlds dabble in these days."

A thought occurs to Twilight and she twists around to her saddlebags, only to discover they are not there. Glancing at her friends, none of their equipment is with them either. Not even Slicer's figurine. Her heart going out to the thestral, she thinks back to when they first started the game. All their gear was imaginary, it would seem. She says to Gan, "The crystal. I don't have it anymore, apparently."

He smiles and replies, "You analyzed it correctly. It was not magical, just your average quartz crystal. I dare say you know a friend or two that can help you find similar." He notes Rarity's blushing in the background. "In any case, your knowing what you know now will help you in the discovery of doing so many things in your future. You found that a crystal can be a focus point." He pauses, then whispers, "And here is a freebie. It can amplify." Twilight's face brightens as she contemplates

"How? how?" She is prancing in place

He smiles. "Your next steps, little one. Your next steps." He looks over the other ponies. There are one or two faces that do not share his smile.

Rainbow crosses her forelegs and sits back, "So all this killing and suffering was...what? To make us run around in your private little game while you tweaked it here and there? We had friends that died!"

Twilight turns to scold Rainbow, but pauses. Her friend does have a point, looking back to Gan.

He holds her in his gaze, knowing what she is thinking. "Not at all. You found you could think beyond your own glory, Rainbow. You out-thought most unicorns on a good day." The pegasus beams at him. Aw yeah!

Applejack understood her existence well, ever the steady earth pony that she is.

Rarity raises an eyebrow when Gan gazes at her. "I suppose it is not just about giving, that makes one feel good." She glances at Twilight, remembering the tome. "It is not about making one or oneself feel good. It is simply a good thing to do." He nods.

Slicer regards him darkly. To that, he sighs. "I know what you want. Perhaps your friends could devise a way to recreate the figurine, but could you truly anchor her to your realm, if you do care about her?" The thestral looks away, then down, shaking her head.

"I could not. I will not."

He nods and says, "Anything is possible." Slicer looks up at him quickly, confused.

He then addresses Twilight. "Death is merely a transition, and certainly not a game, despite the rules that might be in place at any given time." He regards Rainbow. "You ask why the suffering? If you knew you were being controlled, manipulated as it were, how would you act?"

Despite her anger, Rainbow starts to shrug, saying, "I guess I would find the quickest path to your plot and kick it?" That earns a loud laugh from the being.

"Indeed, an expected response in an experiment so controlled that the inevitable conclusion is not even worth pursuing."

Twilight blinks. Experimentation? This kind of discussion she understands. "Contrary to an experiment's expectation that the sample's behavior is genuinely its own," she interjects. "The result is corrupted and not worth pursuing. So..." she tilted her head, "...we are an experiment?"

He shakes his head, smiling kindly, "No, no, never an experiment. You are so much more. Forgive me, the analogy is used to describe unwanted results."

She frowns and asks, "Results for what?" Her friends gather around her, now that they are getting to the reason for all this strangeness.

He spreads his arms to encompass all the books behind him. "All of reality is connected. Too much control, too much rigidity in willpower, it would tear itself apart at the slightest mistake or conflicting variables, like canvas drawn too tight over a drum or a taut sail with too much wind." He tilts his head, "Conversely, too much chaos, and if that chaos goes unchecked, it tears everything around itself into smaller and smaller bits of reality until there is naught BUT chaos. I'm sure you have already had a taste of that aspect." All the ponies grumble, remembering 'things' about a certain draconequus.

Twilight nods after a minute. She muses, "Like running a country, like Equestria. It must breathe to grow. That is why the princesses do not grip it too tightly or have too loose a reign on its governance."

Gan nods, "A narrower way of seeing it, but yes."

Slicer snorts quietly, "Politics...."

He raises an eyebrow at her. "Mm, sometimes a necessary restraint. Sometimes, not."

Rarity speaks up, "So you are the true supreme being. Leader among the heavens."

Gan stands, groaning as he stretches his back. "I lead nothing. I merely nudge now and then."

Applejack scoffs, "Ahem. Nudge? The game spilled into darn near...everything! THAT was a nudge!?!"

He chuckles at her, shrugging, "Too much." They all groan at him.

"I will say, dear. Those outfits...atrocious! I will have to spend many days at the spa just to cleanse my memory of them." Her friends can't help but stare at her. Everything around them, all that has happened, and she can only think of the spa.

Twilight glances at her own mane and tail. Truth be told, she could do for a visit too. She looks up to the being and says, "I have to agree with my friends. Why go through all this? Why involve so many worlds, just to give a nudge? It wasn't just our world. It was...countless! All those mirrors, all the realms that gave so many lives. All the ones that died!" She takes deep breaths to calm herself. Then she asks, "Are they okay...are they even real? Was any of it ever real?"

"Does it matter?"

"YES!!!" all ponies in unison.

"Think of it this way. All life, reality itself, is a reflection of something else, of what is, or what could be. Are they any more meaningless because they do not exist in your world, or as passages in a book? The things you learned, friends you made, are they ever valued more or less based on where they come from? Or where they could be one day?"

"No," Twilight answers confidently. This she has learned many times in her friendship lessons. "It is how they touch us, here," she presses a hoof to her chest. "That makes them real."

His eyes glisten as he replies, "If I could teach every soul in existence that simple lesson, there would be no pain. Unfortunately, pain can be a powerful tool, too." He regards them as they wait for a more definitive answer about all those lives, all those realities. He smiles down at her and says, "They are as they always were, as real as anything can be. Only you seven were truly affected. Maybe eight."

More confusion crosses Twilight's face. She is starting to get frustrated being confused so often now. "But...why?" So simple a question. And yet...

Gan smiles again and kneels, this time putting a finger to her forehead gently, "This wonderful brain in there...oh Twilight, you and your friends have achieved so much, and you have such long lives ahead of you. Can you not think of a reason why?"

She looks to her friends, one by one, and ends with Slicer. She remembers how much the prickly thestral has come along, and is now a better pony for it. All of them may not have each learned as much as the other, but as with all their prior adventures, this gave them a lot to think about.

She turns back to him, nodding, "Because we have so much more potential left to be discovered." She pauses and closes her eyes, "That has always been the answer, hasn't it?"

He pats her head gently and stands, this time growing to his original larger form and stepping back to the bookcase. "Smart as always, my child. Each of you can choose to be content and live happy lives for it. Or you can continue to learn, grow, evolve." He pulls a different book from it resting place and opens it. While she can't see the pages, she can see the spine. Its title swirls, as though trying to figure out what it should be called. Odd that she knows that's exactly what is it trying to do. "Your actions inspire others around you, and still more beyond them, forever changing the tapestry of reality." He glances down at the book's title and grins, "Forever writing your own stories."

Rainbow speaks up, now in awe, "So the plan is to make us more awesome!?!"

Laughing, he claps the book shut and it disappears. "The plan is...there is no plan! Only a desire for you to learn and grow."

Her pegasus friend spluttering about how egghead that sounds, Twilight takes a step forward, "Why couldn't you mention this at the beginning, in some way so as not to change results...but...well that would. Arg!" Now she is answering herself, something she could do back home, not here, at the center of the multiverse!

Rarity nods and says to her friend, "We would make his decisions, not ours. Not very generous." Twilight glowers at Rarity for a moment, then nods in frustration.

"I get it," she sighs. Looking back at Gan and pawing the ground with a hoof, she mutters, "I don't suppose you can still tell me 'some' secrets of the universe?" Her friends groan at her again.

Crossing his arms, Gan asks, "Now where is the fun in that?"

Rainbow ughs, "You sound like Discord!"

He raises his brows in surprise, "I suppose I earned that one." He looks them, noting they have lost their questioning spirit. "I think you are ready to go home, yes?" They nod, now eager to return to what passes in Ponyville for normal.

Twilight starts to walk back to her friends, but pauses and turns to him. "Will we meet again?"

He thinks for a second, then nods, "Tell you what. I guarantee we will. Then...we can discuss anything you want." Twilight nearly squees. Not that they were paying attention, but most of the books have faded away, and it is just a few rows left, the being, and her friends now.

One of her friends has been very quiet.

Pinkie Pie walks past her her fellow ponies. The rest are stunned that they didn't notice the normally hyper talkative pony before now. She steps up to Gan and sits at his feet, staring up at him with big blue eyes. He crouches down and asks curiously, "And what may I do for you?"

She smiles and boops him on the nose, leaving a nice little smiley face sticker on it. "o/~ Just keep smiling, just keep smiling, smiling smiling, and never ever dying o/~ She keeps humming the little tune as she takes her place back among her friends.

Twilight stares at her friend, then at Gan who remains there, the sticker on his nose. Her mouth opens, but she is at a loss for words. She glances down at herself and notes her crystal is still missing, then she looks at Pinkie Pie and raises a hoof.

"WOH! JUST ONE MIN-"

All is nothing.
> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A king. Arguably the weakest piece on the board. And the most important. Twilight stares at a black and white checkerboard with a variety of carved pieces on the playing field. Starswirl the Bearded had brought the game over from one of his many visits to other worlds, along with the full set of rules and instructions.

The role of the king always intrigues Twilight, who is used to powerful rulers in real life. One would think the queen piece should be the ultimate ruler, with the movement abilities she has in the game. And yet...one can win even without her, if one were clever enough. All it takes is brain power.

Spike toddles back into the living room from the kitchen, having finally cleaned up after the Wacky-Game-Night/Weeks-After-Party Pinkie Pie threw in honor of finishing one of THE WEIRDEST GAMES EVER!!!!!, or so Pinkie and Rainbow chimed together. He didn't know what the fuss was, or why Rarity and the others, esssPECIALLY Rarity, showed much more adoration for him. Seriously, game night was only like three nights. Spike shrugs and walks halfway across the room before he notices Twilight still staring at the chess board. You'd have thought he had royally slaughtered her this time.

Once the board game was over and done with earlier, Luna had stood up, saying a few rather rude things under her breath before steadying herself, holding her head high and proclaiming, "That plot sucketh!" Luna continued, "It REALLY really sucketh. By all that is just, SUCKETH!!!" She then stomped over to the nearby fireplace and threw the sheaf of papers onto the hearth, incinerating them with her horn. Then spit on them. Then incinerated them again. Twilight pleasantly stated she would fix the fireplace and the newly created cave underneath her residence later.

Luna then instructed Spike, "I have need of your scribely duties. Please write this down." He grabbed a scroll and quill. "Dear Sister. Your writing doth SUCKETH huge. I will write the next script and YOU officiate." She glanced at Spike, "You wrote the word 'sucketh' and 'you' in upper case, yes?"

He nodded, "Yep!"

"With royal underscoring in multiple inks?"

He just got finished putting away the eleventh quill with mauve ink. "As per Twilight's Standard Emotionally Heart Felt Correspondence protocol, done and done!"

Luna nodded curtly, then incinerated the hearth one last time, per Luna's Sucketh protocol.

Laster after all the other ponies had passed out, Spike and Twilight sat down for a friendly game of chess, and somehow he had won. For several of her turns, the alicorn seemed distracted. He only won by the most reckless of moves near the end, which seemed to have thrown Twilight off her typical logical approach. After each loss of a piece, finally her queen and then at checkmate, all she would mutter was 'I did not see that coming.' It really bothered her, Spike noted.

He sighs. At least the other mares had left before the two finished their chess game. Before witnessing her defeat, Spike mused to himself, though only Twilight would have made a big deal of it if Rainbow Dash had caught wind of that catastrophe. Aside from Princess Luna, nopony else could normally match Twilight's ability to see several moves ahead. At least, not counting this last session. He reaches out to touch her foreleg and says plaintively, "Twilight? It's only a game."

She is startled and blinks, looking around. Then she focuses on her dragon friend and smiles, "Oh I know." She giggles softly at his words and says, "I think we've had our fill of games, at least until the next Pinkie Pie fill-in-the-blank party." She glances back at the board for a moment. Spike's black knight is within jump distance to a cornered white king, her white queen on its side a short distance near a black pawn. Once she had lost her queen to Spike's pawn, that part of the board was ignored to the end, the queen left lying there as a testament to the power of the weakest of game pieces. Weakest, but NEVER lowliest.

She sits up and pats her friend on his head frond. "I'm okay, Spike. Really. I've just been thinking a lot lately."

Spike chortles at that, "Self awareness of one's thinking. 'Am I a thinking mare, or a mare thinking?'"

Twilight laughs. "Spike! You've been reading philosophy! What do you think so far?"

"Eh, some of it puts me to sleep. Some of it gets in your head so much I think myself to sleep."

She giggles again, "Perhaps it is not for everypony. In some cases, thinking can be a dangerous past-time."

Spike remembers every experiment thought up by Twilight since he had been living with her. He bobs his head and replies, "Don't I know it! By the way, want me to put that up?" He points a talon at the board.

She shakes her head and responds softly, "That's okay. I want to study it a bit longer." Spike grins and heads off.

"That's the Twilight I know!"

She smiles wanly, glad to have the Spike SHE knows back, as well. Twilight stares at the board for a few more minutes. When she is sure Spike is taking a nap from all the work he did in the kitchen during cleanup, she levitates a small wooden box over to her from a high shelf and opens the lid with her hoof. Inside, nestled on a velvet cushion, are three magic nullification rings. She picks up one with her hoof, hesitates, then slowly drops it down onto her horn. She has been so dependent on magic all her life that just the thought of the temporary magical arrest is unnerving. Steeling her resolve with the sentiment she can always toss her head to the side and throw the ring off, she closes her eyes and focuses on her breathing, making each exhale longer than the last.

At length she opens her eyes and stares at the white king. And stares. And stares. She inadvertently starts thinking of their recent adventure. A simple exercise of teamwork that spiraled into life and death. Roles were realized, expanded. Merged realities, alternate personalities, worlds beyond this one. The universe, the multiverse. All of it so overwhelming that she finally does something she never thought possible. She empties her mind, if only to avoid the onset of a migraine from all the overthinking, which has happened before. And yet this one time is only different because she made a conscious decision to do so. Conscious emptiness. She is everything, and nothing....





The king starts to vibrate.

***

Slicer sits on a cliff, overlooking her home. It is a home now long gone, now just a dream she finds herself in once in a while. A cliff where she sat staring into the eyes of a loved one, now long gone. She pointedly stares at the sun beginning to rise, anticipating the stinging it will bring to her eyes.

A form moves behind her. She has had help with this dream in the past, from her mentor, so she recognizes when she is here, sees the dream for what it is. Nostalgic memory. In the past, her mentor has shown up. This time, the large form takes the shape of a big black, familiar, panther.

Slicer smiles delightedly. Here she has no inhibitions, no walls to put up to keep other ponies out. Here, she can express herself openly, yet rare are the times she is happy. Like now. "There you are!" For some reason, she missed the panther, trying to understand it was just a thing of imagination, or a construct, or a-

"There I am." A soft, deep, purring feminine voice.

She sits up in shock and exclaims, "You speak!?!"

The panther nods and walks slowly over to the pony and settles down, turning her large head to the thestral, "I always speak. Sometimes you do not listen." Gwenhwyvar bumps the pony with her nose gently.

Slicer settles down, looking away, then back at the cat. "But, I thought...That was a game. Were you not a figment of an imaginary game? Are you real?"

The cat purrs softly and says, "Life is a game, with rules we do not always understand. Yet that is part of the fun, learning as we go."

Slicer groans and settles up against the cat, both frustrated with this 'reality vs whatever' topic, and happy her big snuggle pillow is back. "You sound like HIM now, that Gan thing." A thought suddenly occurs to her and she turns her head to ask cautiously, "Was your job to keep me from being a complete jerk and screwing up Twilight and her friends' roles in their 'learning game'?" She raised her hooves to accentuate the quotes.

The big cat huffs and bats Slicer's shoulder gently.

"You give yourself too little value in the role you play in the universe," the panther murrs. Then she licks the side of Slicer's neck once. "You remind me of another lonely soul I used to hunt with. It took him a while to accept who and what he was, but more importantly, what he was capable of. Peace with one's identity can heal many wounds."

They both look out to the rising sun, its light starting to blind Slicer's eyes. The cat continues softly, "Even those wounds we inflict on ourselves."

Slicer looks down to avoid the sun, only to see a large chocolate heart appear next to her, hoof prints marring its surface.

"I don't know if that wound is ready to heal yet," Slicer murmurs.

The panther's whiskers twitch in amusement, "Then it shall be a fine hunt to track down the right medicine."

Slicer scoffs, "You're a cat! How do you know about medicine?"

Gwenhwyvar replies, "My soul exists beyond the mortal realm, and as such, it can touch many realms, not just the astral plane where I live. This dream is in between worlds, so I have come to know many things, many dreams. Many medicines..." The cat's ears perk up and swivel. She gathers herself and stands, much to Slicer's silent disappointment. The cat looks out behind them, now alert. "I should rest. Your mistress approaches and I have not the strength to play cat and mouse with her today. She is very strong willed, worthy of a well rested opponent." She glances at Slicer, the corner of her mouth quirking.

The cat turns to leave, but pauses while Slicer sits up. She levels her gaze at the pony. "I shall be here from time to time. You never have to feel alone, again." Before Slicer can say anything, the cat bounds away into the hazy boundaries of existence and is gone, a telltale mist settling to the ground. Slicer can't help but chuckle, knowing somehow the cat left that familiar effect behind on purpose.

As the air settles from the stir, another dark figure approaches from a different direction. This time it coalesces as Luna, the princess of dreams. She looks around as if expecting something else, then walks over to sit next to Slicer. "I sensed a powerful entity here and thought you might be having a nightmare. As it is, you appear calm. And the entity appears...not here."

Trying to hide her smile behind a hoof, Slicer knows it is a futile act with her mentor. Luna sees her knowing smile, then for some reason, lets it go, for now. The princess looks out to the rising sun basking them in its orange light.

"This dream again? Normally the sun hurts the eyes of my night children, yet you dream of it often enough. Does it still sting to look at?"

Slicer watches the sun for a moment. She finds it is not so blinding as before. It is a beautiful thing, if one could see it in all its glory. So much she has seen, and not yet blind. She shakes her head, but asks, "The dream, or the sun?"

Luna smirks ruefully and looks down at her student from so long ago. "You tell me."

"No," she responds at length, looking back from Luna to the sun, "Not this time. Normally it does hurt, despite how often you remind me it is only a dream sun."

"Hah!" Luna says out loud, puffing her chest out. "Then you are making progress. After that game we played, you subjects have had the wildest dreams yet, even to the point of rescuing me and my sister from some evil spell or what not. Are your rulers so fragile in your eyes?"

Slicer shakes her head, growing concerned, "No, your highness, never fragile. Just...very important to us. I suppose when we dream like that...we...change our roles? It helps us to understand you better...and ourselves." A simple answer, to hide a complex problem. Gan. As to the dreams she's had so far, they were not only of saving Luna, but others as well. She shrugs. Silly stuff, she supposed.

Luna is visibly impressed. Slicer sees that and debates about what to say next. Would the immortal alicorn even believe her? Keeping secrets was tough, and rude, when Luna has meant so much to her. She sighs.

"Your highness. Something...unexplainable visited us. I don't know if the others are willing to discuss it, but since you were involved, I feel compelled to at least make you aware of it." Luna raises her brow but waits patiently. Slicer then relates everything that happened to them, from the moment they arrived at the gaming table to the moment they woke and saw Luna getting up to make several comments about Celestia's horrible script writing skills. Even Silvery Orb's docile behavior that a written script simply could not convey in words to the DM. During the entire retelling, Luna's face remains impassive. Even after several minutes of silence.

Slicer breaks the silence, "And that entity you sensed...that was the panther in the game. She was here, before you arrived." Luna's brows raise.

"Indeed?" She mulls over it all, dark blue almond-shaped eyes staring off in the distance. She finally says slowly, "I will tell you this, yet you must never speak of it to Tia or the elements. My sister and I encountered a similar being who helped forge our destinies. Now that you have brought this to my attention, I remember more of him. I can feel impressions from that memory, a dream within a dream as it were. I loathe to think some deity controls us so strongly that we know not the leash that is on us, yet I cannot ignore the signs of his influence."

Slicer frowns, remembering Gan's discussion on influence. "I never got the impression he was controlling me, or us. He even said he wanted to avoid anything he did influencing how we made our decisions." She paused, thinking again over their experiences. "Is a change of perspective considered control?"

Luna can't help but smile in astonishment. "Good question. A good, mature, question." She taps her chin with a hoof, thinking. "Perhaps only if you do not like what you see."

They both watch the sun for a time.

"I have no complaints," Slicer says quietly.

"Neither do I," Luna acquiesces. "You have given me much to pontificate. Sleep well, my wandering thestral. And tell your big cat I am onto him."

"...her."

Luna raises an eyebrow while in mid-turn, "Hm?"

"Her. She thinks it is a game of cat and mouse with you." Slicer pauses, then says delicately, "She didn't tell me what roles either of you played."

Luna ponders over the insights from her old student. She smiles devilishly and says, "I will enjoy this age-old game."
> Epi-Epilogue, dont equestrian it!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Epi-epilogue, seriously?" Discord scoffs and pokes at the book on the table.

Pinkie grabs the book and holds it tightly to her, "Like the title says, dont equestrian it."

Discord walks away, waving his paw dismissively, "Questrion equestrian whatever." He also holds up a small sign that says: 'Don't = Punctation = ???' while not bothering to use his breath on addressing it.

"That too. Besides, that's how a Pinkie does it." She sticks her tongue out and beedah's at the multi-part creature.

Discord stares at you with his lopsided eyes and a lopsided grin.

Gan says, "Discord, knock it off. We don't need THAT label attached to this story, too." He leans down and pats Pinkie's shoulder, whispering something. She smiles and puts the book back down, flipping to the very first page that shows the title, another depiction of the cover art and several colored labels indicating content.

"Fine." Discord snaps his claws. A certain randy label disappears off the list of tags. Still a mature story, but not THAT mature.

The book closes of its own accord, the D&D artwork fully displayed on the front cover.

Gan spends a moment admiring the artwork, then takes a certain smiley sticker off his nose and puts it on the winged horse in the background. If one were to look very closely, one of those ears was not an ear, but an alicorn's horn. The book floats over to a vast bookshelf and inserts itself in an empty spot between two books. He smiles at Pinkie, who is positively bubbling with happiness over the sticker, or something else. Maybe both. He hums to himself and murmurs, "I wonder if she will ever know the pivotal role she played, instead of just writing a terrible script."

"Giving is getting!" She exclaims. "Now that THAT silliness is settled, I have to get back and throw a party." She leans over to Gan and uses one hoof to keep Discord from hearing as she whispers, "New pony hitting the scene! He is white with a...mark that is black, and blue, and thin, and straight as a-"

"Pinkie!" Discord exclaims, obviously hearing every word, though this time he is serious for once. That is kind of scary.

"No...totally not even close to being a Pinkie, well, he is straight, but like he's nowhere in the same ballpark, comparing my version of straightness to..."

Gan clears his throat, "Ahem...Pinkie Pie." He points at you.

Pinkie glances at you and blushes, "oh!" she squeaks out.  "Totally didn't even forget they were still here." She zips up her mouth, literally, and throws away the zipper pull. Literally because you just saw it in writing. BAM!

Discord watches the little metal tab bounce away. "Hm. I would have used a KEY myself..." He pauses, then tilts his head, "Please do correct me if I'm wrong, for I so love a challenge, but are you and he not in two completely separate universes?"

Pinkie grins, zipper nonexistent,  "When has that ever stopped me? Besides, he isn't due back for at least an assassination attempt or two. Okily dokily see yas arounds!" She hops up and bouncies into the aether.

Gan watches her leave and sighs, "I sometimes question the unleashing of either of you on that world." Discord eyes him. He waves a hand, "Worlds."

"Yes, indeed, the truer question is which of us do you pay attention to more," Discord ponders absently. Gan knows better than to take the bait, so he raises a brow, waiting.  "In any case, the answer to your question ever remains the bedrock that shoulders the suffering and...dare i say, chaos?" Gan quietly watches the embodiment of chaos expectantly. Discord rolls his eyes and says flippantly, "Stagnation. Or to avoid it, if one were to narrow it down to understandable terms." He winks at you. "Well, here is to keeping the old wheel turning." Discord takes a long pull on his cup of chocolate milk after raising it briefly.

Gan smiles softly and nods. "You didn't mind at all?" 

"Of course not." Discord wipes away his mustache, which jumps off his arm and runs around on the floor until he stomps at it a few times. "It was stimulatingly refreshing and simultaneously regressing, right down to the cataclysmic main events." A small mushroom cloud puffs above his cup. He stares into the cup with one big eye and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I did have you in mind, and I pay more attention than you care to acknowledge." Gan clearly is trying to poke at the embodiment of chaos. Or is it something more? Discord also knows well to quit while he's ahead, regardless of what Gan says or does. Whatever rules that dissolve in Discord's purview, Gan's would be followed.

Discord quirks one eye at Gan, as if he were a giant cup of chocolate milk that just had a meteor land in it. "Yessss...as did they, for all the accusations I received during and after. You know that little lavender minx of a Twilight accused me of knowing far more of what happened than I had let on. The nerve!" Despite Discord's drama, Gan catches his dual meaning.

He grins at Discord, "Indeed. Just think if I had entrusted her with the secrets of the multiverse."

Discord shudders. "And I thought I was the spirit of chaos. Now to go fix my already useless reputation, or make a new one. Oh what role must I play now...no hints?" Gan shakes his head 'no'. Discord shrugs and snaps his claws once more, flashing into nothingness.

Gan muses, "I wouldn't say useless, not by a long shot, my child."

He fades away, only to reappear next to the bookshelf and idly scans the titles. Forgotten Realms, Shrek, Narnia, Oz all tickle his brain, whole story arcs playing themselves out in his mind's eye as he remembers them. His eyes alight back onto the most recent addition. He reaches up and takes the dragon and pegasus illustrated book back off the shelf, perusing the cover. His eyes brighten at the haphazardly cut and pasted artwork. After an eternity, or a moment, he lightly caresses the smiley face sticker with his fingers. "...all my children, and all the roles you play."
> Epi Epi Epi...you get the idea.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie rolls out on a little kid's tricycle, towing a wagonload of board games. She gravels out, "I want to play a game...."


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