Warnings from the Dark (Edited by AuthorGenesis)

Minos Alliance, city of Lamauros, 2:54pm.

Clank … . Clank … . Clank … .

The rhythmic hammering sound rhythmically resounded through the blazing heat in the town of Lamauros, where a very diverse assortment of cattle-headed creatures, as well as quadrupedal beings were milling around in a cycle known throughout all realities that held up conscious and sapient species … .

It was market day.

The loud calls of the merchants hawking their wares contrasted with the din of the potential customers that haggled with them about their prices—even occasionally hearing insults from both client and merchant thrown at each other or even to other sellers and customers—as if a battle was being waged in a free-for-all.

If you even squinted, you could occasionally see a griffon or centaur peddling their wares as well as small equines of black and white striped patterning, along with equines of several colors, there were even pegasus ponies with one or even both wings missing due to the harshness of the life at the plains.

Looking around you would also see that there were the Diamond Dogs peddling their ores and the Changelings offering their own produce of medications of different kinds for different ills derived from their … peculiar production methods, earning the ire of some Zebra trying to sell his herbal wares.

All of this, however, meant little to the one working in one of the many smithies within the small city of Lamauros, where the sound of the smith’s hammer pounding upon the metal laid against the anvil gave a rhythm to the affairs conducted inside.

He was, according to the minotaur folk that adopted him into their midst … a very strange kind of Minotaur.

His appearance was that of a male which looked like a shaved Diamond Dog. For his age, he visually looked to be in his late twenties for his own kind as he had confessed to them at one point in their interactions. He had long brown hair tied in a knot, leaving some of it to flail in the open with two locks appearing like antennae on his head; peach-toned skin naked to the eye in the parts not covered up by clothing. His build was that of a laborer, with muscles defining the strength his frame contained, and yet he was not overly musclebound as some of the minotaurs who also worked in a smithy as he did.

Where he worked, he had his arms encased in heavy, thick leather gauntlets which covered nearly all of his arm, reaching as far back as his elbows while he worked, protecting him from errant flying hot sparks and the heat of the glowing metal. He wore a thinner leather apron, which protected most of his chest, as well as heavy leather shorts which protected his pelvis and upper triceps under the apron. Woolen stockings covered his feet and reached about halfway up his calves, over which leather boots reached up against about a third way up his calves, thusly completing his smithing ensemble.

The gossip said that there was one minocow which saw him bathing in a natural waterfall nearby. According to her, by accident … the excuse that was not believed in the slightest by her friends. The story went, that he lacked a sheath, and wore a very large tattoo on his shapely, broad back.

All of this, nevertheless, paled to his discreet and silent demeanor, however, he would occasionally display emotions and attitudes which ranged from tough to gentle depending on who he talked to and how he was referred to.

His eyes, however, were the point that drew respect, if not outright intimidation in the otherwise collected individual … the irises were dark brown—with a spot of light brown and red in the blend, giving some unusual—and according to some that had tried to throw him out of town when no one was looking, almost predatory look. What unsettled these minotaurs who didn’t like the human, was how, despite his smaller size, there was a sort of presence that led them to feel intimidated—as if they were facing something truly dangerous and cold.

Despite all this—according to the minotaurs that welcomed him—he had one quality they found out was more than worth some weirdness from the “silent ape”.

He knew the blacksmithing occupation, in which he was setting up shop, too well … Even more so than the town of blacksmiths which had welcomed him into their midst.

After all, he has been teaching them all ever since he arrived at the town, several centuries ago.

Due to this peculiarity—this apparent immortality—and his skills with the forge, he was given an unofficial title by the local minotaur population: The Forge God.

And so, this individual simply focused his concentration on the hot metal object coming out of the forge … brows furrowing as he kept examining the piece with narrowed irises amidst the sparks—only to find an imperfection, or a difference in thickness—correcting the flaws hammering the piece down with strength against the anvil close by, barrels of water and oil at hand when he felt the need to quench the metal at its proper time, and barrels made of steel and glass, containing some very dangerous and noxious liquids which he liked to use for the treatment of his materials.

Naturally, those were kept sealed with locks and chains, to prevent any kind of disaster like last time … .

That had been quite a magical shitstorm … .

To this day, some of the oldest minotaurs still couldn’t stand the smell of boiled cabbage; and that had been the least of their worries at that time.

The rhythmic pounding of metal against metal continued, metal which was being beaten began taking shape, under the watchful vigil of the one wielding his hammer.

This blacksmith felt his sweatband fail to prevent the staunching of the flow of sweat on his forehead, thereby forcing him to briefly stop his work—and to remove his leather mitts—so he could cleanse his sweatband by submerging it in a bucket of water left covered in a corner for this very purpose. Once the sweatband was clean and feeling fresh from the cool water, he continued his work, reheating the piece before hammering blow after blow upon it, as if this one task was of the greatest importance.

The metal contorted, slowly taking the shape the blacksmith beat it into, this latest work which had been commissioned a day ago.

He was crafting the second piece of a set of horn adornments for a minocow who was being wooed by the most successful merchant in town.

The din of metal striking metal ceased … only for the blacksmith to change his hammer for a smaller, more rounded one—and resumed further shaping the metal with quick strikes, and heating it every now and then in order to keep it malleable.

This strange blacksmith wasn’t looked after for his skill in gold or silver, which he had expressed disdain for when asked in the past … . He was sought after his unusual skills in metal-forging and treatment, for he knew how to make a metal for every occasion, from multicolored steel that mimicked the rainbow … to a golden-hued metal of properties so unique, that were fit more of armor and weapons than for engagement jewelry, due to one quality that only gems and crystals possessed naturally: his golden-hued metal could be magically enhanced in a layered fashion, handling even the strain of contradicting spells—something which usually ended in disaster when using crystals, due to their inability to handle the strain placed upon them when having two contradicting spell matrices within the same crystal.

However, he forced himself to learn how to properly treat copper, gold, and silver—after all, alloys allowed for diversity and texture yet he cared not for their softness and brittleness when in the anvil. Then there was also the matter of everyday life, one that desired more than the golden-hued metal … which he barely made at this point in life.

The din of his work drowned all of the other noises around him until he stopped and examined his work so far, withstanding the heat coming from the coal-powered forge.

“Iron Ash! Iron Ash!” a young feminine voice abruptly shattered the momentary silence as the aforementioned kept inspecting his work, comparing it to its counterpart.

“Yes?” He answered, his voice in a calm, almost bored baritone as he turned his workpiece over and over, inspecting the thickness from the inside, ignoring the young one calling to him from the inner entry of the forge.

“Mom says you haven’t had anything to eat, so she sent me to fetch you!” The young one said with a high-pitched voice, as she stood up watching him work with her arms upon her hips, tapping her hoof impatiently as the fire of the forge’s workplace illuminated the young calf.

Iron Ash just kept inspecting his workpiece … until he gave a sigh, shaking his head as he carefully left the piece next to its sister for it to cool down.

“Thanks for fetching me, little one. I usually get engrossed when at work.” He said politely as he turned to meet her … by lowering his sight to meet the child’s, who reached him at the height of the higher limits of his abdomen.

Eyes bright and attentive sat framed in the head of a bovine—’and yet so much human in its facial features’—who was wearing a simple brown dress that covered her chest and upper legs, a leather belt with multi-colored metal threads weaving through it in the likeness of wild clouds, leaving her hooves on display.

Placed on her ears were simple hoop gold earrings—one on each ear, the earrings located near the base of her ears, just before the ear reconnected to the face, and a silver choker on her neck.

She tapped her hoof in a quick fashion, arms crossed and a cute glare that was directed at him.

He simply stared back.

After an increasingly awkward silence, the child broke in a giggle. “Iron Ash, how can you do that!? I can’t outstare you!” Then she turned serious as she added, “Besides, I’m not so little anymore. I’m almost fourteen!”

Without expressing any emotion, Iron Ash replied to her in a very deadpan tone “Of course you are.”

The young girl’s glare returned, yet there was a twinkle in her eyes as she replied to that “If you don’t come now, I’m getting Mom to drag your sorry carcass to the table.”

This drew a smile on Ash’s face, as he simply left his hammer on its place in a tool-rack nearby, and gently caressing the young girl’s hair, which was a surprisingly soft-textured, curly type, ginger hair as her fur was a light grey with brown. “I’m touched you want me to come for supper at the table—here I thought I was the monkey-wrench of the town.”

The young minocow snorted, her glare intensifying as she replied to him at first “That’s not funny, Ash.” Only to add in a much sadder tone, eyes starting to water “You are family … why would you say that? Everytaur knows you’re one of us … always have been.”

Ash simply smiled as they walked into the house, answering calmly “Maybe you find it offensive, and for that, I meant no harm. But I do it mostly because I like to make fun of myself.”

The child just stared at him as if he suddenly grew another head, before shaking herself and keeping her face furrowed in thought, simply moving back to whence she came, with the human in tow.

As they reached the dining room, brightly illuminated by the sunlight entering through an open window, a wooden table was already set with roasted meat, bread, some cucumbers and carrots and a large jar of beer in each place, she finally found it in her heart to say what she thought was wisdom for the ages.

“… I think you seriously need to get out more, great-grandpa.” She snorted again as they took their places, Iron Ash’s face carefully containing an amused look as she added: “Your sense of humor is in serious need of replacement—worse than that piece of armor that was sent here, that isn’t armor, that’s a bunch of rust masquerading as armor.”

Ash smirked in amusement, simply replying “Guilty as charged” as he took a sip of the ale waiting for him at his place while enjoying the company … and above all enjoying breaking the notion that he was some sort of a likable deity; or the notions most mortals ascribed to powerful immortals, for that matter.

‘After all … Who would believe in his right mind that a deity had such a crummy sense of humor?’ He thought to himself while taking a bite from the meat on his plate, ‘I am more of a deadpan snarker, if what I remember from that website I read so long ago is correct.’

Your sense of humor belongs in a grave, Ash
That’s praising him, and you know it
It would be if he had a sense of humor to begin with

Ash’s mood started to sour, as he internally cringed at his roommates’ commentary of his life.

‘Or should I call them soul-mates?’

He took another sip of his ale, hoping to dull their lively chatter.

‘How come I’m still sane?’

I named you my successor for that reason, my friend. It is impossible to rattle you … or nearly impossible, considering the evidence of what happened on that day

‘Damn it. I forgot they can hear me thinking!’

Ashley, you know better than that. You have living beings you can relate to! Make bridges! Throw ropes of communication! Learn and teach! Don’t be a storm crow at a party! I appreciate you keeping us company, but that lil’ girl is waiting for you to be … family

Ash sighed internally as he enjoyed his meal, raising an eyebrow as his table companion, a young minocow named Agria Jazeraint—a name he suggested to her parents when asked—which rose plenty of eyebrows since it broke with tradition.

Hardhorn’s grandpappy, on the other hand, had suggested Golden Plate, a traditional name for female calves.

They took his suggestion after he told them a tale from his homeworld … and the significance of the names he suggested.

“Long ago, in the world I was born into, there was a war that shook the nations. Heroes from both sides fighting one another for the sake of their kingdoms, where morality was going towards the path of total corruption and degradation, with few individuals looking towards what was good and right. Among these, there were individuals decided that which was right should be upheld at whatever the cost … some of them were knights that rose above all their brothers in arms in virtue and strength of character.”

‘Yes,’ he thought to himself while immersed in his mind. ‘I forgot the fact that they like their epic stories. If I didn’t know better, I would compare them to fans of those movies that I saw so long ago … The Lord of the Rings.’

His gaze became unfocused as he remembered that moment while sipping his drink.

“One among them was named Agrias Oaks, bodyguard of Princess Ovelia, and one of the Lionsguard. A Holy Knight with an unwavering sense of justice and capable of handling Holy magic and Light spells, joined forces to rescue her charge with one that sought to change the world for the better.”

“Tough, fair; both in mind and body ... and beautiful like a work of art that came out of the forge.” He had said when presented with the new-born calf, as customary of their kind, only for his eyes to soften as he let the baby grab one of his fingers. “I am not one that likes giving names lightly … only one that truly matches her beauty.”

Ashley’s mind went back further, his conscious self slightly hazed by both the heat of the air outside and the drink, as he reminisced how his adopted great-grandson met his spouse.

“So, your name is Hardhorn … correct?” Ash asked the minocow before him with an eyebrow raised, waving his hand in an inviting motion.

“Yes, Forge-Master Iron Ash … Copper Hardhorn, to be precise,” the minocow in front of him said, fiddling nervously under his stare.

He only eyed the large lady with the same facial expression—knowing she was a lady for the softer details when compared to a male—examining her … until he heard shuffling behind him.

‘Ah.’

“I’d like to ask, Hardhorn … why me? I thought the townstaurus here liked to keep things in the family.”

She fidgeted even more under the scrutinizing stare.

“Sir … If I may say so,” she started to say shyly, to which Iron Ash rotated his hand in a vertical circular motion, gesturing and encouraging her to go on, “everytaur knows that you welcome anyone, not caring much about tradition, but what matters to you is rather the skill, passion, and willingness to learn the knowledge and technique you have to offer the apprentices under your authority and care.”

Ash gave her a nod and looked at her expectantly.

She fidgeted further, going red in the fur of her face. “… I can’t butter it, can I?”

He shook his head with the same expression but internally felt extremely amused as he stared at her.

“… Um, well … Oh, fine!” She said exasperated, slightly despairing on her situation. “I am in love with your son! And he said I was welcome to come and try to become an apprentice like him, so we could be together!”

Well, well, well … so little Steel Resolve has been busy in his off-time, huh?

She stared at him—at first defiant … only for her resolve to start wavering under his unchanged expression.

“… Steel Resolve? I know you’re fidgeting behind the door. Come over, please.” Ash said in his same tone.

The door creaked, and a large minotaur stood out sheepishly, also red in the face.

“Grandfather … How did you know I was there?” He asked with a very smooth, bassy voice that exuded manliness.

Well, Ashley … He’s waiting for your answer?

“Secrets of the trade, Steel. Now … how about you introduce me to your friend here like you’re supposed to, hmm? Then we can talk about … accommodations.”

He was silenced out of the shock for a moment, only to look at Hardhorn—who was also shocked at Ash’s answer ... only for the two of them to grin widely—

And tackle him in a hug.

Still remember the cracking ribs to this day, my dear friend … Oh good old times! He-hee-he-hee!

Ash simply smiled slightly, eyes softening as he looked at Agria, who was too busy eating speedily to notice his look of serenity.

He got a smirk as he said: “Now ‘Gria, slow down your food-scarfing or you’ll—dammit, don’t choke!” He rose up quickly as the young girl started tapping her chest to swallow—only ending when she had a large gulp out of her mug.

He looked at her with an unamused face. “‘Gria … Do eat slower, that way you get to enjoy the meal more fully.”

She grinned sheepishly as she scratched her neck. “Sorry, great-grandpa …” only for her look to become mischievous “… But I was enjoying my meal! That’s why I couldn’t have enough in my mouth!”

Ash only looked at her seriously with an eyebrow raised … only for her to start giggling after fifteen seconds struggling to hold her look on his face.

He snorted in amusement, snickering a bit as he rubbed her head. “Got me there, ‘Gria—”

Ashley! Powerful magic is gathering around us! Quick! Get her out of the way!

He stopped suddenly as he felt a very familiar feeling starting to leach out of his body, Agria looking at him questioningly.

“Grandpa? Are you alright?” She asked—only for light to start gathering under their feet—and the makings of a magical matrix already in motion, runes, and drawings coming to life beneath their soles.

This shouldn’t be possible! This is our spell, flowing back to the caster!

The light being emitted from this matrix was going from hues of red and purple, the shape in its middle very familiar to him—towards colors of white and light blue, the glyph and rune work transforming into one he hadn’t seen in a long time.

This shifting drawing that was manifesting in the inside of the matrix made Ash worry a lot, causing him to move quickly as he tried to shove his grand-daughter out of the matrix. “We gotta move” Ash started saying, only to be cut off by the familiar feeling of instantaneous movement that dragged the two of them along for the ride … .

THREE DAYS AGO,
EQUESTRIA, PONYVILLE, CASTLE OF FRIENDSHIP; 2:56 a.m.

This castle has plenty of unused room—the new structure still largely unexplored, however, the castle’s library was now also used as the town’s library.

If anyone were to step in, the echoes of the hoofsteps would have betrayed their entry—for the entire place was grown out of some unknown crystalline material; rugs in several places, such as the castle’s hallways and communal rooms to keep hooves warm for whoever entered this place.

Inside one of the rooms that are in actual use … we can see a familiar dragon sleeping inside his basket, snuggling his blankets as he quietly snored … a box half-emptied of its contents: several gemstones of different colors and shapes next to his bed; a photograph with a white-coated and indigo-maned unicorn with diamonds in her flank and another one with a purple unicorn—both grinning in the direction of the photographer, resting on the top of a night-stand.

In another room, we can see the shape of a unicorn, light-lavender coat, and possessing a purple mane striped with aquamarine—snoring softly. Next to her, on a nightstand is a photograph of her mentor with her and her other friends, one of them a pegasus who was embracing a mismatched creature to the backdrop of a city made of crystals. On her face, a small smile can be seen, as her body further relaxes into a pleasant dream. On the vanity, there is a photograph of her with a bespectacled unicorn with an orange coat and red mane, looking shyly at the camera with her embracing him—both smiling at the photographer, the picture resting right beside a few perfume vials.

However, when we move towards another chamber close to theirs — this one with a purple star painted on the wooden doors, we can see a furnished bedchamber, within the confines of the bed—where all the sheets are already on the ground, and Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, Element of Magic, Heroine of the Crown … and librarian of the town, stirred restlessly in her slumber—tossing and turning without waking up.

As the observer paid attention to the smaller details, we could see that the bed sheet beneath her is wet from the sweat, and her face is scrunched in a frown—teeth biting down in stress as if she were struggling with some fierce adversary … .

Only for her eyes to suddenly open in a snap, hooves shooting out wildly, all the while with her wailing loudly—abruptly waking up, a scream still coming out of her throat—tears flowing freely from her eyes, which started darting from one corner to the other of the large room … only for her to cease screaming and attempting in vain to strangle her sobs, grasping the fallen sheets with her hooves—only for them to fall down in her vain attempts at grasping onto them without her magic.

Which is why she was surprised when the door was blasted open with magic, and a dishevelled—and still half-asleep—unicorn entered in a rush, rapidly looking around the room in search of the assailant or group of assailants.

“Princess Twilight!? What happened?” she exclaimed as she saw the state of her mentor in the ways of friendship—and a friend herself as she approached her, placing a forehoof on her shoulder as her friend shook amidst half-choked sobs.

“It’s alright … You’re fine …” she reassured Twilight nervously as her mentor just leaned on her, eyes closed and tears still streaming down her face.

A long period of silence went by, and Starlight Glimmer didn’t have any idea as to why … .

Why was her friend and mentor wracked with nightmares this entire week?

Was it her fault this was happening?

“Twilight?” Starlight asked softly at the mare leaning on her shoulder, whose only answer was her wing tightening her grip on her. “It would be best if you contact Princess Luna about this nightmares, so she can help you rest.”

After a moment’s silence, she heard her friend’s cracked voice. “… Starlight, I have asked her from the start … they have only become clearer … more horrid …”

She rose an eyebrow in surprise, only to ask “If so … why the nightmares then?”

“… I don’t know anymore.”

Starlight started to think furiously … and said softly to her friend “Twilight, if it helps … you can tell me about them—if you don’t mind, that is. Perhaps there is something we haven’t realized yet.” She sighed, and added, “maybe even invite Princess Celestia and her sister along with our friends—they might be able to shed some light into this.”

“I don’t—” Twilight sniffed, “I don’t want to be a burden.”

Starlight hugged her tighter as she said: “What kind of friends we would be if we didn’t support and help you when you’re suffering?”

This drew a sniff … and a small smile from the purple alicorn.

“… That’s a good lesson actually, Starlight.”

“I’ll keep you company until Spike wakes up, then you can send the message.”

The alicorn simply nodded as she leaned on her friend and student, eager for Celestia’s sun to finally rise.

FRIENDSHIP CASTLE, 7:30 a.m.

After several hours had passed, and both teacher and student managed to at least rest a bit, Starlight quietly supporting her mentor and friend, they were greeted by a cheerful boyish voice.

“Good morning Twilight!” The young dragon said as he passed … only to return in a split second to the room he just passed. “Starlight? Good morning to you too, but … why are you in Twilight’s room?” He gasped as he saw his adoptive mother’s state, running towards her as he asked “Twilight! Not again!?”, his heart ached to see his mother suffering and he felt sympathy for his mother, suffering from these terrible nightmares as he jumped up to hug her, which she gleefully gave back.

She nuzzled him tenderly, saying softly “I’m sorry for making you worry, Spike.”

He just stared at her for a moment … until she asked “Um … Spike? Is everything okay?”

His face scrunched into a frown, and tapped her chest as he said “We are going to send a message to Luna, Twilight! It’s not possible that she’s been letting you have those nightmares after you asked her to guard your dreams”

The alicorn sighed as she said “Yes, Spike … we were waiting for you to wake up so we could write to her and Celestia a letter.”

The young dragon’s face softened up as he asked, half-scared if the answer would be worse than what he had in mind. “Twilight? ... How much worse have the nightmares gotten?”

She started shivering, her eyes closed tightly and her lips taut and thinned in a rictus of sorrow as crystalline tears appeared and streamed down her face.

He sighed again. “Don’t worry, Twilight. I’m certain that when we talk to Princess Luna everything will be made clear …” only to add with a conspiratorial tone: “Wanna come and have pancakes for breakfast?”

After writing a very short letter, which upon completion, Spike sent to Princess Luna and Princess Celestia via his dragonfire, the three went to the kitchen—Spike being too preoccupied with making pancakes; and Twilight and Starlight both in quiet, just waiting … for the reply and for breakfast.

It went on, that they ate in quiet, waiting for the other hoof-shoe to drop.

And it did happen that as the dragon was eating his last bite he burped a letter without warning on the table, leaving the poor drake nearly choking on his last bite.

As he struggled to swallow, with Starlight trying to tap him back into shape, Twilight opened the letter and started reading … .

My dear Twilight,
What you wrote us is disconcerting, since the nightmares you have been suffering have only gotten worse since the first time you asked my sister about it … We fear there is something worse at work than just mere ill dreams.
My sister and I did suffer something similar when Tirek started to move. With that precedent in mind, we will be arriving shortly, so you can tell us all the details you have gathered so far.
Be brave, my friend. We will find out what is happening … together.
Sincerely yours,
Celestia

She sighed in relief, folding the letter neatly as she sank down upon her haunches.

“Thank goodness they are coming … Spike! I need you to go to Sugarcube Corner!”

“On it, Twilight!”

To the young princess’s embarrassment, Celestia and Luna arrived while Spike was on the way to the bakery … and to her unraveling fear, the looks upon their faces betrayed them as they spoke.

“My dear Twilight, we left just as soon as your letter arrived,” Celestia stated softly as she nuzzled her former protegé.

“My friend, I am so sorry you have been suffering … But so far I’m unable to understand.” Luna said as she hugged Twilight, only to continue “I have been keeping watch over your dreams … and so far they have been calm.”

This drew the attention of Starlight, Twilight, and Celestia, all of whom turned their undivided attention to Princess Luna.

“But … but then that means … ?” Twilight blurted, too numb to properly elaborate a question.

“We fear that what you’ve been suffering are not the product of dreams—but warnings about some future event, Twilight,” Luna answered, trying to keep her voice steady.

“My dear Twilight … What we will ask of you will not be easy, but we are your friends and we want to help you through this terrible time … .” Celestia said kindly, only to continue with a change in tone “Please remember all you can about these … terrors, and tell us all you can about them.” Her eyes hardened as she added, “Every detail is important at this point, my friend—I ask that you leave nothing out, no matter what.”

Twilight’s face paled with the request … only to answer while shivering “I—I’ll do my best …” She cleared her throat nervously, only to mutter to herself while still shivering “I can do this … I can do this …”

After taking a few more breaths, she started narrating recollecting what she could remember of the dreams assailing her … .

In a very dark cave that nearly shines out of pure blackness, I can make out several cloaked figures, many of them carrying torches—the torchlight illuminating the columns lining this cavern, the columns appear to be carved out of some mysterious dark-hued crystals, and several others wriggling figures were being dragged forcefully by this cloaked figures … these prisoners turned out, to my surprise, ponies close to me, all of them with fear expressed upon their faces, their appearance was bloodied, many of them were missing wings, or their horns were broken or torn and their legs were hamstrung.

And I am there as well—bound, gagged, my wings ripped from their shoulder sockets—a bloody mess on my fur; my horn was cut off near the root, a trickle of blood streaming down from the removed horn wound and bleeding out upon my face, I was incapable of moving on my own accord, due to the tendons they cut in my legs ... my pain was not only constant but agonizing as well.

Pain became the constant surety in my life, that and the knowledge that further cruelties awaited my fellow ponies and me.

As I see around, I can see everypony in a situation equal to mine or worse. Those vicious monsters—they even dragged the Crusaders into this evil venture.

Celestia, Luna, Cadie, Shiny, Flurry Heart … they have received the same treatment as I had, my niece wailing in pain from the ripped wings and cut off horn—Cadie, and Shiny trying in vain to comfort her.

Mom … Dad … .

Starlight, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack … Applejack can’t do anything as she tries in vain to move her legs, already hamstrung by a damnable knife.

Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy … Spike.

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle … Scootaloo.

But to my horror, they even have Discord, who looks upon the scenes of cruelty and gore in a dazed look of disbelief, as if the events which were taking place was impossible on several levels. Discord appeared to be trapped in a very detailed and complicated trap of glass—chock-full of magical matrices of non-pony design, he appeared to be in very deep pain upon seeing the pain and cruelty done to Fluttershy and the rest of us, trying in vain to escape—fury unmasked when looking at our sadistic captors.

There were several cloaked individuals surrounding all of us, and several more making preparations in front of our eyes as if there wasn’t a care in the world. All of them chanting, magic of an unspeakable kind charging up in the air.

I can’t understand what they are saying, but they start dragging Spike to the middle of what I can see now is a magical summoning matrix, already coming to life—the magic coming out of it feels wicked—sick, perhaps even unholy.

I can only stare in despair as they bring some glowing odd-looking cutting implement to the task, while Spike continued trying to get away, even though it was in vain.

And as he tries to blow fire at them in anger, one of the cloaked figures squirted some liquid from a bottle at his throat, making him gag out—and for Spike’s horror, when he tried blowing fire he gagged, and puked blood mixed with the liquid he had inadvertently swallowed.

I can’t look anymore, yet one of the cloaked figures force me to watch as they start doing … unspeakable things to my son with that creepy knife, all the other ponies present watching in terror as he cries out in pain—muffled by the gag they placed in his snout shortly before.

… Until his cries die out as he died before our eyes.

The matrix glows brighter as his life bleeds out of his bleeding corpse, and with a bark, they start dragging each of my friends and family, one by one into the sacrificial center.

My heart being rent asunder as I watch them—

All of them looking at me—

Each and every one silently begging for me to help them somehow—as if I might obtain victory against their murderers, in spite of the daunting odds stacked against me! That our foes would either be converted, petrified, or slain as many of the powerful foes which my friends and I had faced; and won when Equestria was in peril. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek, Starlight Glimmer back when she hadn't found the magic of friendship; each one powerful and capable foes whom we either purged or cleansed of the wicked influence driving them to darkness, converted, slain or banished into Tartarus.

One of these … monsters brought forth what looks like the Crystal Heart—

—Only it looks … corrupted, as if Sombra himself had successfully achieved his goals, due to its blackened color, purple fire coming out of it.

In horror I see how they managed to capture the souls of my friends and family—shining balls of fire of different colors—which are fed into that Tainted Heart a moment after.

The bodies of my friends and family lying there, cold … pale and without their cutie marks.

And as they fed the last soul into the Tainted Heart I am dragged right in the middle—

—Where I can barely make out the face of a stallion looking at me smugly from underneath his cloak, the only words I can understand in this horrifying situation.

“You are unworthy of your power … worthless witch, so I’m making it my own. I will be king as it should have always been.” He says to me while wielding the unholy dagger close to my barrel—

“This monster delighted in prolonging my pain, hissing how I had failed to save my friends and family. What good did having a brilliant mind, or being a powerful mage get me if I couldn’t even save anyone! He whispered that I was an abomination, that I never should have been born! But he gloated that I would be useful at the end of my life, that I would help make him stronger, more powerful, and that he would correct the errors of biology and the natural order!” Twilight finished, tears flowing freely—matting the fur on her face— while her voice cracked over as she sniffled, trying to keep her composure and failing.

Up to that point, Starlight didn’t know exactly the nature of the terrors assaulting her friend; and listening to such a detailed and horrifying tale … this made her fur stand on end as she approached her, hugging her as she hiccuped from the crying.

Both celestial sisters looked at one another with seriousness, before approaching the now openly crying mare and wrapping her in a wing-hug.

Celestia started saying “… Twilight. Have you shared this with the other Element Bearers? Have you told Discord about these visions?”

As she hiccuped, Twilight answered with her voice cracking up “No I haven’t—not since I thought they were nightmares.”

Luna hesitated for an instant, only to gather courage and ask her friend “Do you remember the shape of the magic matrix? Perhaps a fraction of it?”

Twilight nodded shakily, answering “It looked weird, with symbols I have never seen before … but the central drawing was particularly odd …”

Silently, both sisters waved their forehooves in an inviting motion, while Starlight only listened intently. Her eyes were looking far away, lost in thought.

“… It was something similar to a very odd letter “t” with an “x” in the middle—like some sort of ridiculous sword.”

This drew a gasp from Celestia, drawing the attention of the other ponies to her—everyone present watching in morbid fascination as Celestia’s nearly white fur had just gone even paler.

“… Celestia?” Twilight asked her former mentor, a weird feeling forming in her gut as Celestia was wordlessly muttering something—eyes unseeing, open wide in open panic—only to snap back to attention when Luna nudged her with a wing.

“Yes, Twilight?” Celestia asked, a gentle smile plastered on her face, and yet still pale from that particular detail, acting as if she hadn’t entered into a panic.

“… Do you know that symbol?” The young princess asked her, eyes full of hope at finally knowing an answer to her troubles.

“I … I think you need to know, my friend.” Celestia started up carefully. “I witnessed the raw power of the one bearing that symbol … A master of dark magic, to the point where reality conformed to his will.”

“Dark magic?! Like King Sombra!?”

“No, Twilight … Sombra was nothing but a parlor trickster when compared to him.”

Twilight, Starlight, and Luna stared at her slack-jawed at her description of him.

Starlight started to shiver from the reaction that Princess Celestia had regarding that sigil … swallowing hard, she felt her body’s temperature drop, despite her body sweating, her eyes darted from Princess Celestia to Princess Luna, before settling on Twilight, and quickly shifting back to Princess Celestia. She nervously rubbed one forehoof over the lower leg of her other forehoof and shivered from what she was now learning about this adept in dark magic.

Her acting, though, went unnoticed ... as everypony present was staring at the solar diarch with rapt attention as she spoke out to them. “He literally is Dark Magic inside a physical form—and he calls himself The Warden of the Dark, and his command of dark magic is unlike anything I have ever seen.”

She waited for any question, but found that the ponies listening were too invested to bother asking questions; with that thought, she continued.

“He can take any shape—even though he favors a bipedal form, can materialize both armor and weapons crafted from eldritch materials out of thin air, and I’m afraid he’s far stronger than all four princesses’ magic and strength combined.” This brought a gasp from them as she said, despair slowly crawling into her voice. “I used to blame him for Luna’s corruption, but I have been corrected since the appearance of Nightmare Rarity and the discovery of the Nightmare Force.”

Her eyes glazed over, face momentarily showing her age, as she continued her story.

“I was unable to capture him, much less seal him … I’m afraid that in his hate against us he’s made a secret cult to take vengeance upon us ponies. Oh, and one last thing … and this is the most important one.”

She turned to meet everyone present, and after a moment’s silence, she added, “The first time we met him in our land, he was looking for someone that matched this description: a long creature, with mismatched antlers, part goat, part pony, part dragon and several mismatched limbs … he called him Galeas.”

Everyone present just turned their heads to one another, trying to grasp this surprising nugget of knowledge, as Luna kept her eyes flinty at the mention of the Warden’s involvement in this potential mess.

The one common thought in all of them was the unspoken question: This description matched somepony else they knew … but he called himself Discord. Could it be there was another draconequus around?

With this and several thoughts in mind, Twilight had enough presence of mind to reply “We can channel the power of the Elements of Harmony, the mightiest magical strength in the whole of Equus … through the Rainbow Power. Is he that powerful that he can overpower the Elements of Harmony?”

Somberly, Celestia replied to her with little emotion in her voice “Perhaps the power you and your friends have is a danger, and so he wants it out of the way—maybe there’s hope yet!” Celestia rose from her slump with a start, a smile starting to form in her face.

“Sister?” Luna inquired, not certain what Celestia was getting at.

“Gather your friends, Twilight … We are going to create a spell to procure a solution to this problem!” Celestia said with genuine relief.

PONYVILLE, CASTLE OF FRIENDSHIP; 10:34 p.m.
THE SAME DAY.

‘Things are going poorly,’ thought Twilight Sparkle as she saw the dishevelled state of both her mentor and her sister, scrolls full of writing crumpled upon the ground, discussing the procedure of how to use the link she and her friends had to the Tree of Harmony, while her friends were trying their best not to interrupt their discussion, all of them with tired looks on their faces.

She herself wasn’t faring any better if she was to judge her appearance by the state of her mane and fur, especially matted from her tears and bags under her eyes when she had to recount the horrors to her friends.

It warmed her heart though, how everypony jumped to hug her as she finished the horrible tale … but even so, she feared for them all.

And of them, Spike and Discord were especially worried.

‘I cannot blame them.’ She thought somberly. ‘So far Spike, despite his growth rate is a dragon, and common materials presented little threat to the drake. The dragon-breath nullifying potion is worth investigating … . I should ask Zecora and Dragon Lord Ember if they know anything that could block dragon breath and cause internal hemorrhaging.’

‘Discord … seemed unusually quiet—that in itself was worrying—but I think it went deeper than that … ’

‘I have a suspicion he also recognized the symbol if judging by the way he flinched when I diagrammed the symbol’s appearance is any indication.’

‘I am certain, however—since I have never seen him nearly going into tears ever since Tirek … and my recount’—especially the way those monsters in the shape of ponies used him as fuel—’seemed to have a serious impact in the otherwise unflappable and irreverent draconequus.’

‘The idea is simple—to call forth a guardian to counter this unexpected force of evil that is agglomerating as we speak.’ At this point, she sighed from sheer exhaustion. The execution, on the other hand …’

‘Our original plan at this point has this steps: We take advantage of our link to the Elements of Harmony as its avatar and our link to the Crystal Friendship Castle and its Map, and through it to the Tree of Harmony itself.’

‘But … we’ve hit a serious snag. It concerns me about both the power required to cast the spell and the vagueness of the spell’s programming matrix.’

“Sister, we have been at this for hours! The intricacy of this spell alone makes it impractical, and let’s not even dwell on the magic required, to even have a chance to make this work, even if all of us Alicorns are present!” Luna stated, mane frazzled, to her tired sister, who was looking both numb and dazed, from their wasted effort.

This comment shook Twilight’s attention back to her surroundings, to focus on Celestia herself, who shook her head as if it would clear her mind … from the cobwebs formed due to the strain. “Yes, it is true … Perhaps we should try tomorrow to brainstorm the elaboration of this spell …”

Turning to meet her dear friend and former student, she said with a sad smile “I guess we better get our rest for tomorrow … and thanks for your help, my dear friend.”

“Of course! How would I miss the chance to make a brand-new spell with the two of you to summon a helpful hoof to assist us?” Twilight tried to answer with some cheer despite her sorry physical state, only to ask much more nervously to her elders, then to her friends, “Celestia, Luna? Everypony? Would you like to spend the night here? I wouldn’t mind at all to have you here for the night.”

“Ah’m sure we’ll find an answer tomorrow, Twi … but I must get back home—I’m dog-gone tired, and everypony’s waiting for me,” Applejack reassured Twilight as she approached her friend, giving her a hug then looking at her in the eyes. “Twiligh’ … Ah'm sure we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

Twilight just smiled as all her friends said goodnight … and started to shiver at the prospect of suffering another terrifyingly horrible nightmare like the one she had last night—

“Twilight … would you mind if we stayed at your quarters keeping you company?” asked Luna with a serene-looking Celestia looking at her former student in expectation.

Her grin and squee was answer enough.

Later that night … inside Twilight’s chamber … .

Twilight was on her bed, flanked by Celestia and Luna, each of whom had one wing over her like a cover.

“Don’t worry, my friend. We will be here for you … now rest.” Luna said while starting up her dream-walking spell.

“I will join you soon enough, Twilight … . Are Spike and Starlight in their chambers?” Celestia inquired to her sister, whom simply nodded. “Alright … then let us rest, the wards will do the rest.”

With this said, her eyelids started to flutter, breathing becoming slow … rhythmic … restful.

Once the two sisters saw that she was in deep slumber, Luna turned her face to her sister.

“Celly, we must talk about the Warden of the Dark … and how you came to know so much about him after our … banishment.”

Celestia simply nodded, her tiredness showing off as she started speaking … .

“And also, how are the … preparations coming along?”

Celestia’s muzzle lost its practiced smile, dropping her head over the cushion with a sigh, eyes watering as she felt herself sag due to the stress.

At the same time the two sisters were talking, their young friend was elsewhere … far from the waking world.

‘Where am I?’ Thought Twilight Sparkle as she found herself in a room that resembled very closely a geode—colors glittering, transmitting light and various hues from one place to another, her reflection showing off in several facets of the growing crystals.

‘At least it isn’t the nightmare I have been having this past week.’ She reflected as she started moving softly on the carpet laid upon the floor—‘Wait, why’s there a carpet here?!’

With an interest in not finding out if the owner of the place was unfriendly, she started to move faster through the corridors, trying to find an exit to the place … .

‘This place looks familiar … where have I seen this layout before?’

As if directed by an outside force, she started moving in a particular direction … and her face scrunched up in confusion as she saw the doors to her bedroom right in front of her.

“Am I inside my home?” she asked herself, only to shake her head in confusion as she saw light and movement inside the chamber.

Using her forehoof, she gently opened the door and peeked inside—where she found a very nice-looking unicorn mare sitting next to a book, waiting for her to come inside.

Her memories immediately summoned the image of Fleur de Lis, a friend of Rarity through Fancy Pants. This mare, though—looked even more stylized, feminine. And yet—

This mare had a coat of a very light shade of coral, her mane contrasting with her coat with some aqua-like color and effect—the aquamarine hue of her mane became lighter in the parts exposed to light, and darkened the less light illuminated her tresses, like water from the sea in some of the paintings she has seen in her youth at the Canterlot Royal Museum of the Arts.

Eyes shining brightly with life, lavender irises greeting her silently.

Her cutie-mark, on the other hand … .

‘Why can’t I see her cutie mark?’

This mare that was waiting for her to enter, waved with her forehoof towards her in an inviting motion, along with moving her head towards herself.

Her gentle smile and very intelligent eyes shone gently in the crystalline room, as Twilight started to move closer in a very slow fashion.

As she got within range, the stranger quickly rose and went to her—hugging her tightly, nuzzling her affectionately afterward without saying anything as if she was an old friend. This pole-axed Twilight, who awkwardly returned the hug to this unicorn mare, only to hear the sound of a hoof patting a pillow close by.

Following her host’s example, she lowered onto the pillow—where she saw the cover of the book that her host was reading.

It involved the same symbol as that horrible spell.

As she started to rise while hyperventilating, Twilight felt a hoof on her shoulder—where she saw the serene face of the strange mare making motions with the other hoof in a placating notion.

The book floated towards them, whereupon the dream-mare shot it with a blast of magic, turning it into a really complex spell matrix … one that the young alicorn realized she could actually understand!

She was surprised when her friend took the floating matrix into her magic field and tapped her shoulder, raising herself and leaving through the door … where she stopped and turned to look back at her with an eyebrow raised and a grin.

Lifting herself precipitously, Twilight went to join her as she started trotting towards a particular destination.

As Twilight immediately recognized the throne room where the Cutie Map resided, the dream-mare made the motion of placing the matrix on top of it, where it disappeared.

“What? Couldn’t I keep it?” Twilight asked in disbelief, as her host simply smiled and the matrix appeared once more—only this time she transformed it back into the spellbook from earlier and handed it to her with a gentle and inviting motion.

Blushing profusely, Twilight smiled at her. “Thank you” the mare added before embracing the book to appease her voracious bibliophilic appetite.

The dream-pony simply gestured to the seats close by, a smile making her face shine in pleasure from the excitement of the purple alicorn, who sat down and started to read the book with ferocity … .

“Celly … I can’t access her dreamscape.” Luna commented to her sister, who was paying close attention to her student by now, who seemed relaxed and muttered incoherent words from time to time.

“At least she’s not suffering as she did during this past week, Lulu,” Celestia replied to her with a warm smile. “Let us discover what Twilight dreamed when morning comes, shall we?”

Luna just nodded with a faint smile as they made preparations for the morning to come.

FRIENDSHIP CASTLE, PONYVILLE. 5:30 a.m.
THE SECOND DAY.

What the two princesses did not expect was the sudden awakening of their friend, who opened her eyes with a snap and a smile on her face.

“I have an idea! Time’s a-wasting'! Let’s go!” Twilight chirped cheerfully as she scrambled from the bed in a rush, grabbing a quill, a bottle of ink, and several sheaves of parchment from their stand with her magic, running towards the corridor.

Shocked at the unusual behavior—that and the oddness of Twilight Sparkle not even saying good morning to either of them—they rose and followed their young companion with a brisk trot, noticing her change in behavior as they made their way to the library room.

“Oh my, you’ve certainly woken up cheerier than yesterday,” Celestia inquired politely as they moved towards the table.

“Oh yes, Princess—I mean Celestia. I had a dream with a very interesting spell—one I’ll write down while it's still fresh, and we’ll review it together!”

Unbeknownst to the purple alicorn, Celestia rose an eyebrow to her sister, which was answered with a quiet nod.

“We will keep you company in quiet so that your efforts are not in vain,” Luna stated with firm resolve as she went to a bookshelf and retrieved a couple of books, handing one over to her sister as they sat to read—or more like pretending to read while they listened to Twilight mutter to herself as she wrote down her impressions with celerity.

Two hours went by, as Twilight Sparkle went through the details of what she had put on paper, while her former mentor and her sister watched her discreetly—until she cried in joy “I’m done!” before rushing her sheaf of papers towards her fellow princesses.

As they examined it together, with Twilight pointing to any doubts they had or asking questions about certain properties and values … Celestia finally said to Twilight: “Let’s see … from the way I understand it, this spell is like a filter for a more complex interaction with another spell—judging by its interweavings, I must suspect a tracking spell of some kind.”

Celestia started muttering quietly to herself, as she reviewed the sheaf of notes, scribblings, drawings and arcane symbols that littered the pages … only for her smile to turn more wanly. “It is very complex, and yet … quite delicate, like a lattice of jewelry. How do you intend to use it, my faithful student?”

“Oh! According to my dream, this should interact flawlessly with the Cutie Map! However … I still don’t understand how is this spell supposed to help me.” Twilight said, eyebrows frowning in concentration. “What do you think, though? Is it worth trying?” Her eyes opened and turned to her former mentor, and asked with uncertainty: “Princess?”

Twilight noticed how the two sisters exchanged glances, and Luna inquired with some delicacy: “My friend, would you share with us your dream? We—I mean I couldn’t enter it last night.”

Twilight’s eyebrows shot upwards, wings flaring involuntarily as she squeaked “You couldn’t enter!? How!?”

To her surprise, both Celestia and Luna made placating motions with their forehooves as Luna asked back “Please, don’t fret. You had a good night’s rest. If anything, that dream managed to help you in your repose.”

“But right now, we are dealing with a strange spell that interacts with perhaps one of the most important magical artifacts of Equestria, one which is linked to the Tree of Harmony itself.” Luna’s face turned grim as she asked again, much more curtly this time: “Will you share your dream with us?”

Taken aback, the young princess nodded at once; and started telling what she remembered of the dream … .

An hour went by, in the blink of an eye, as Twilight described what she had seen inside her dream, all concerning both the mare in her dream and her knowledge of magic.

“… and that’s how I learned this spell.” Twilight finished her telling, only for her ears to fold back, voice quivering as she asked: “did I do right in receiving that present?”

The two princesses looked at each other awkwardly—until Celestia stated “There are events unfolding, my dear friend … we’d be remiss to not try at least, though whether this assistance is a blessing or curse, I do not know.” At this point, she smiled weakly. “But what matters most is what you believe, Twilight. Do you trust the pony who taught you this spell, or is this a trap designed to harm, discourage, or otherwise destroy us? No matter your choice, we will support you. Just remember …” She sighed, remembering a bad time of her life, when she disregarded a warning in the middle of a wedding, “Trust your instincts.”

Twilight scrunched her muzzle in deep thought, trotting from one place to another in a circular circuit … .

After what felt like an eternity to the two royal sisters, their young friend cleared her throat to draw their attention.

“Let’s try it … so far we have seen nothing dangerous from this odd spell. Perhaps we’re being helped … ?”

Celestia and Luna looked at one another, nodding in understanding.

“Very well, Twilight. Let us cast the spell—!” Luna started, only to be interrupted by Twilight.

“Uh … Luna? I think it best if I do it on my own … familiarity with the spell and such. But just in case … can you stay with me?” She turned to Celestia, and added “You too? I hope that this spell doesn’t do anything bad, but I would feel far more comfortable if you and Princess Luna were present, should something bad actually happen.’” Celestia simply nodded in understanding, a neutral face as the three princesses went to the Cutie Map.

‘I have the nagging suspicion that the spell will only work if it comes from me … .’ Twilight mused to herself as they walked in silence.

They stood before the Cutie Map table, two Equestrian princesses waiting for Twilight to cast her spell.

‘Well, here goes nothing.’ Twilight thought as she started weaving the spell matrix over the table, where it started to physically take shape.

As she focused on her work, she heard two gasps from behind her—which drew her tension to an all-new high, since in the middle of the matrix the sword-like shape was being formed, and overimposed on it a stylized drawing of the Tree of Harmony—making it look like a sword-like shape with the Tree itself as the handle and melding to become part of the blade.

‘Why is this spell taking on a symbolic shape? I’ve never seen anything like this before!’

The matrix increased in complexity, the arcane symbols, equations, and links interweaving as her strength started to feel sapped due to the effort.

‘Almost there … .’ Twilight thought to herself as she scrunched up in the effort, her horn flaring repeatedly as she finished the details of the spell, which by now showed up as a very complex drawing in mid-air—just like the dream.

As she finished the last detail, her magic snapped shut—startling her and causing the visualized spell to fall on the Map, where it started to meld with it.

The table stood still as if nothing had happened a moment ago.

“… Mayhaps it required more power?” Luna inquired politely, only for a flash of light to cause her to rear back in surprise, while her sister and friend covered their eyes with their wings, as the table flashed repeatedly.

The blinding light stopped as suddenly as it appeared … only for the Map’s magical display to start acting up in a bizarre manner.

Cautiously getting closer, the three princesses watched the scene unfold before their very eyes:

Several cutie-marks started to light up in the map, some as far away as the Crystal Empire, though most of them were located in Ponyville, the three ponies watching as some mysterious force drew the bearers of the cutie marks towards the castle, as if gathering them to the same place.

Twilight heard some sudden breath intakes as she felt the pulsation of her cutie mark answering the call on the Map, and as she turned she saw that her fellow princesses’ marks were also pulsating.

A buzzing sound turned her attention to the map, where some icons that she had never seen before started to appear along with several cutie marks that she recognized.

Her friends' cutie marks, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Cadance, Shiny, her parent’s marks, Sunburst … Flash Sentry? A purple sphere with green fire? A mismatched orb? A wing and horn next to Cadance, Shiny, and Sunburst?

All of them were inexorably being called to the castle—the icons of the cutie marks outside Ponyville were being shown gathering in the castle, then moving together into … .

‘No.’

‘No, it can’t be.’

‘Why is the map gathering them all together, only to move towards the Castle of the Two Sisters?’

‘What is the meaning of this gathering? Weren’t all of them in danger?’

Her answer came shortly, as a very familiar symbol appeared at their destination: A crystal tree with six different gemstones on its branches, and all of the cutie marks gathered close to it.

The motions repeated themselves, as if in a loop.

Celestia said aloud what the other two were reflecting in deep thought.

“Uh. So that’s why it was a tracking spell.” She then grabbed a scroll, quill, and ink, writing a quick message that she sent to its intended recipient—only to repeat the action with other parchments a few more times.

“Twilight? I think it best if we were to get ready to receive visitors here.” Celestia suggested as her former student just stared wide-eyed at the map’s repeating holographic display.

As Twilight nodded and moved to prepare the castle’s guest rooms for the guests she was now expecting, Celestia muttered quietly, “After all … there is a storm coming.”

Tears started to fall as she said quietly, unconcerned with her sister’s presence “And I couldn’t do anything to stop it from happening.” Eyes closed, she whispered, “I’m so sorry, my friend.”

FRIENDSHIP CASTLE, PONYVILLE. 8:30 p.m.
THE SAME DAY.

‘To say that the ambiance was full of tension was like stating that Discord was slightly random. Why, you ask? Most of us knew at this point that the Map’s behavior had a deep relation with that nightmare-turned-warning issue which I had been suffering from, and those that didn’t know anything yet would soon know why they were summoned. Unfortunately, Discord was missing, but we knew he would appear to aid us at the proper time.’

‘I am so not looking forward to telling my nightmarish vision to my parents, and Shiny and Caddy … .’

‘The same could also be said about me telling Flash Sentry about this … I really, really don’t want to.’

‘Thankfully, all our attention was drawn towards Princess Celestia, who cleared her throat before starting.’

‘Thank you, Princess.’ I whispered within my mind, as I was surrounded by friends and family.

“Welcome everypony, and thank for coming in such short notice—there’s a situation developing that all of you need to be informed of,” She announced in a loud and clear voice.

“Before the incident with Tirek, both I and my sister suffered from visions of the consequences of his freedom, and sought to remedy that … with sad results at that time.”

“However, we are more concerned with some … developments that are occurring outside our scope of influence—events that involve all of us present.” After seeing that everyone present was paying attention to her, she continued.

“We are under the threat of a new adversary … one whom I never thought I’d live to see again. And it is our belief that he fears the power of the Element Bearers here present, as well as the rulers of the Crystal Empire.” At this point, I realized that she was looking at me—sadness in her eyes—before going on further.

“And yet there’s hope, for it is our belief that the one that provided us with the visions of Tirek, as well as others in the long past is aiding us in our time of need.” She waited for the expected interruption, only to receive none, whereupon she continued.

“This adversary seems intent in slaying all of us present for his own purposes, and we will not allow him to succeed! That’s why we’re all here!” She opened her wings, making a swiping motion with her forehoof as she finished, “We believe that by tomorrow morning, we will be in the position to change the visions of death and defeat at the hooves of this monster into a future of hope, peace, harmony, and friendship!”

I felt myself smile warmly at her encouraging speech.

‘After all … hope is what I need most right now.’

“Between the four of us, and with the aid of everypony present, we will seek to summon a hero to aid us to turn this tide of evil back to whence it came!” Celestia finished with a decisive stomp of her raised hoof over the crystal floor.

After a moment of awkward silence, Sunburst asked “Summon a hero? Aren’t you all … like … very powerful both individually and as a team?”

This time, it was Luna who answered.

“Yes, if this were a normal foe … we could fight him together.” At this, she turned to her sister. “Sister, while I only saw him once … you fought him and lived. Would you tell everypony here what kind of adversary we’re facing, an adversary which compels us to summon the help of an outsider to counter him?”

‘Fought him … and lived? Wasn’t it more in the lines of ‘Banished,’ ‘Imprisoned,’ or ‘Sealed in Tartarus,’ with her emerging from the fight victorious?’

As I turned to see her, I could see how she was visibly shivering, ears splayed backward, sweat matting her fur as she seemed to be whispering to herself “I can do it … I can speak about him …”

‘Oh sweet Equus, if his existence is causing her such stress … .’

Nodding to herself, as if affirming her resolve, Celestia started narrating … .

Dark Memories (Edited by AuthorGenesis)

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------------------ 1200 years ago, Castle of the Two Sisters ------------------

Forty years had passed since Starswhirl the Bearded, the Arch-mages, and Luna and I banished Tirek to Tartarus, and ten years had passed since we sealed Discord with the aid of the Elements of Harmony. During that time we were very concerned about the reports our scouts delivered concerning the state of the Crystal Empire and its usurper: King Sombra.

Even worse than the news of the usurper’s victory over the Crystal Empire was the fact that he apparently slayed Princess Amore, who had been a dear friend of ours, through the use of a type of magic unheard of at the time: Dark Crystal Magic.

As we were administering decisions and judgements during our kingdom’s open court, we received an unusual petitioner who wore rags made of … animals? He stood in a bipedal fashion, and at a closer look his attire looked more like skin-armor from beasts slain at his claw … if claws were soft.

His head was covered in a skin and metal helmet—which on closer look, looked like an metal acorn, point side up, with thick skin flaps covering the back of the neck and the sides of his head, as if they were flesh cushions for the metal covering—which he didn’t remove at once … .

He stood before us, looking at us in the eyes, and we could see genuine sadness in his own eyes.

At the time, I didn’t know what he was, or what gender—until he spoke, kneeling before us in an unusual fashion, removing his helmet in one fluid motion.

It looked knightly … if Minotaurs and Diamond Dogs were not such barbarians.

“Greetings to you, Rulers of the Sun and Moon.” He stated, eyes half closed, looking at our schynbalds rather than our faces.

After looking at one another, my sister answered his greeting in the Canterlot Voice.

“Greetings to thee as well, strang'r. What mann'r of creature art thee? We has't nev'r seen of aught resembling thy kind in our timeth on this w'rld.”

Unlike most petitioners, he was unmoved by the Royal Canterlot Voice (R.C.V.), which drew my attention to look at him closer—only to be close to fainting at the amount of pure, raw, dark magic, barely contained in his apparently weather-worn frame.

Our petitioner was Evil to its core … he reminded me a lot of that enclave of necromancers which were mysteriously slain within our borders with a burst of dark magic.

‘This creature is unbelievably dangerous.’

‘And his power … his strength alone is making all those black magic users we have received reports of look like foals. Perhaps he is related to King Sombra … ?’

But before I could say anything to my sister, much less the guard, he replied calmly.

“My kind is unknown in this world, your highness—for I am known as a Man—and this world is not my birthplace.”

Shaken by this strange reveal, which drew several mutterings of “Madness”, “Coystrill”, and “How dareth that gent cometh malt-worm to petition our Highnesses” by guards, nobles and commoners alike, I replied as calmly as possible “What is the reasoneth of thy petitioning, despite not being a pony?”

Without rising, he answered with very well-contained emotion, judging by the way his fore-claws shook in their place.

“Several years ago, my son went missing and all his friends that went with him had their minds wiped clean—they were left like newborns much to their parent’s anguish.” He closed his eyes and swallowed as he continued, “A few years ago, I felt a surge of magic that allowed me to track him down, but I lost his trail just as quickly, for I have not felt his power since.”

At this point, he raised his head to look us in the eyes.

“I found his chaotic magic emanating from this land, only for it to be cut off in a blink.”

I felt my sister’s wrath from where I was seating, and I have to say, to my shame, that I felt the same. Sadly, the hopeful tone that he garnered with his last description and petition went over our heads, as we knew that this stranger before us was incredibly powerful.

“He looked like a mismatched creature assembled from the parts of many different creatures. Do you know where I can find him, so I can take him home with me and find out what happened to him all those years ago?”

Never taking my eyes off of him, I rose from my throne along with my sister, as she declared “We knoweth of one such creature, one Discord did attack our subjects, and f'rc'd our hooves into sealing that ruffian in stone f'r ages to cometh.”

At the moment we saw in his weird face contort into a look of surprise … and pain? right before he mouthed with a questioning look on his face, “Discord?”

‘Must have been my imagination.’

As my sister spoke, so did I.

“Now answ'r, knave. What business hast a creature of darkness masqu'rading as a w'rrying fath'r in our kingdom!?”

His eyes squinted, and as I was expecting him to attack us like an assassin, his face went cold, and all emotions were shut, as if closing a safe.

Shocked from what I just perceived of him, I thought ‘That isn’t normal for fellow living beings to do.’

“I am The Warden of the Dark, and I cannot help being what I am. My business I have already declared, and you have answered me. I will find a way to rescue him from himself—and you—if needs be. May you have a nice—”

As twin corkscrews of magic power shot from our horns, I noticed how he didn’t attempt to evade our spell casting even though our spells were only meant to restrain him. … Though it didn’t matter as our spells fizzled shortly before striking this Adept of darkness as a magic completely different from our own literally destroyed them on contact with his defenses.

“… I do not feel welcome here.” The Warden stated calmly as he simply stood up … and gave us a look—one we normally had reserved to villains, before adding to his parting: “And as I was saying: may you have a nice session, and help the petitioners that truly need it.”

In a short moment, just as the guards and ourselves were preparing to trap him, he vanished as if engulfed in white fire on the spot.

And that was where I saw it.

A matrix of magic dissolving into mist, yet the drawing in its middle spoke everything … an absurd sword with two crossed blades at its middle.

I recognized it … and trembled inwardly, as we had tampered with a place that had the same sigil placed in its middle. … Of course this was before Discord and Sombra rose as menaces to Equestria and her citizens … perhaps even before ponykind arrived into this land … .

“The Gates of Tartarus,” Celestia commented before completing her narration as she took her teacup and gave its contents a sip, only opening her eyes as everypony present were staring at her in awe.

“Princess Celestia, weren’t the Gates of Tartarus made by ponies as a prison for the worst kind of enemies? The ones that were unwilling to change for the better?” Shining Armor asked with an eyebrow raised, yet the way both his fur and mane were standing on edge betrayed his inner emotions.

“Princess? Did you say he called his kind ‘Man?’” Twilight asked her fellow princess in surprise at around the same time, mane frizzing off in random directions while Twilight Velvet fretted over her, trying to comb her hair back. “As far as I know, from the world in the mirror, ‘man’ is another term for ‘human’ … and humans aren’t supposed to have magic—especially not one as powerful as the one you described!”

“Princess? Why was his magic symbol thingie plastered at the Gates? It doesn’t make sense!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, flapping around the free space above them in the library in circles.

Luna answered this time to her question, “Rainbow Dash, at the time we were called to serve as rulers of Equestria, we were informed by scouts of a place full of magic that had an incredibly dense power output … and discovered a sealing spell in place, which had such a powerful mana output, that most of our unicorn guards came down with terrible mana poisoning, and few of us had the fortitude to approach the seal at all—and only the strongest of our Court and ourselves managed to approach the devastating seal, with heavy thaumaturgical protection protecting our bodies from the density of the mana in place.”

Luna took a long drink from her cup of coffee, before continuing her part, “So, we went in with the wisest of the magic users of our era, and sought whatever was being concealed in order to discover the purpose for its concealment and determine whether its existence was malign or benign regarding Equestria and her inhabitants.”

“As we stood before it, studying the spellweave and glyph-work I began to understand its purpose. … It was crafted to let objects in … but not to allow them to escape,” Celestia replied after a moment’s thought. “At the time, I knew it was important to find out what was inside, so as my sister narrated to you earlier; we gathered our strongest and wisest amongst our subjects, and thus, between my sister, Starswhirl, Clover and several other court-mages as well as myself, we dispelled the sealing magics placed upon the gates of Tartarus with great effort and dedication—thus breaking the spell which allowed the gates their one-way nature—but that also brought upon us all the risks which such a dispelling spellcasting might bring.”

Celestia sighed tiredly, before finishing her recount of events of a bygone time, “That’s why we knew where to banish Tirek when he showed up and threatened our kingdom—however, there was one detail we missed.”

“That’s why Cerberus keeps watch, isn’t it? Nopony was able to recreate or repair the seal that made it an ideal prison,” Fluttershy muttered quietly as she hugged a pillow tightly to her chest.

Celestia nodded before adding, “Yes, Fluttershy … that is why we have Cerberus guarding the gates of Tartarus . … However, we know from our explorations and scryings inside that place that Tartarus is layered, and when Tirek imprisoned us within Tartarus, we remained in the outer layers—the most superficial grottos that exist in that prison.”

“We believe, to this day, that if Tartarus were to be compared to a castle, the gate which we forced open would be equivalent to the city gates, way outside of the castle itself,” Luna interjected as she sipped from a cup of tea she had magicked, without anyone noticing, from the nearby table fitted with tea and pastries.

“As we explored this place, we could feel the evil emanating from the very air, the stones, it was … everywhere.” Celestia continued, shuddering at the memories her story was evoking from the depths of her heart, “It felt like being submerged in miasma from a swamp, sticking all over your spirit and your body … with the ever-present feeling of malice towards all of us, and against all living beings that exist outside Tartarus.” Celestia went silent for few minutes, her eyes going dull for what felt like an eternity.

As the ponies gathered started to look at one another nervously, Celestia came back from whatever dark corner her mind had led her to, and continued, “What was worse was the fact that the … presence inside that place started to actually play with our minds, showing us horrible things—”

“Night Watch!? What are you doing!?” Star Swirl yelled in rage at a fellow unicorn that was strangling Clover the Clever, as the other expedition members rushed into the chamber, hooves clacking on the strange stone floors.

“She’s murdered my wife and kids! She must pay for that!” Night Watch yelled, eyes burning with hate as he used his magic to choke to death his victim … until he was struck, repeatedly, with sleep spells from the unicorns and alicorns present.

He collapsed after the twelfth shot, releasing Clover as she coughed and fought for breath, while the witnesses looked with deep concern at the unicorn who fought against the forced sleep spell placed upon him … while Night Watch remained unconscious.

There was only one thought on everypony present at the moment.

‘Why was he accusing her of murdering his family, when he was a single-stallion?’

As everypony looked at Celestia with true horror in their eyes, as a response to that recounting of past events … .

Luna looked thoughtful, and with a nod of wilting determination … ears folding back onto her head, she looked sadly at all the ponies present, and said, “Sister? Everypony? Now that that bad memory has been brought to my mind … I am ashamed to confess that the … thing trapped inside Tartarus did something to me, as it kept feeding me ideas and visions—many of them regarding my qualifications as a ruler, as an equine … “ Luna sniffed out as tears started to appear on her eyes, “questioning even my value as a mare at that time, which drove me to strain myself in proving that-that monster wrong—only to see all my efforts to fall flat, while my little ponies approached my sister, leaving me alone … abandoned by those for whom I wished health and happiness for.”

Luna’s tears started to flow at this point, her voice cracking in grief as she was hugged by Celestia, Twilight, Cadance, Fluttershy, and even the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Constant reminders of my failures, of how I’d never measure up to my sister … of how I wasn’t needed, or wanted—that nopony would care if I even died!” Luna wailed as the ponies cuddling her kept caressing her fur in an attempt to calm the princess.

“What made this worse, was the fact that it was true!!” Luna broke down, as Celestia looked at her with a hoof placed over her mouth and her tears streaming from the corner of her eyes, not believing what she was hearing being told.

Celestia didn’t waste time, and snapped at her sister, “Lulu! While I did raise the Moon, I couldn’t even hope to fulfill all of your duties! I could never match the peace and tranquility you gave your nights; the peace and tranquility which made our subjects feel safe enough to fall asleep during the night! I could never match your artistry with the constellations or how you painted the celestial tapestry in the sparkle of a myriad of stars! I couldn’t even watch over their dreams, Lulu! My tenure alone was of suffering for our ponies … and myself, sister, as there was nopony to help us rest or guard and watch over us and protect us from our nightmares as the night was intended for.”

“Si-sister!?” Luna asked, tears and snot now running free as she looked at her sister with the look of someone in desperate need for hope.

“That monster! Lulu, don’t you realize!? It did do something to you! After your return, haven’t you noticed how ponies behave around you!? How instead of cringing and running away like they used to after our return from that damned place, they actually welcomed you!?” Celestia stated with determination at her younger sister, who was looking back at her with deep relief and tears of joy—ignoring her tears and snot on her face and snout—all the while, the ponies gathered around Luna who didn’t jump to thoughtlessly comfort her, looked at the exchange between the two sisters with interest.

“The-then you mean?” Luna asked, her voice slightly more composed as her dark memories were slowly cuddled to death by the ponies surrounding her.

“The monster locked inside Tartarus planted the seed for the Nightmare in you, Lulu …” Celestia spat with venom in her voice, “and left the means for it to bloom over time with the dark thoughts it planted upon you. … How could I have been so blind, Luna? … That only now have I fully realized that truth—that none of us left unscathed from that dark place.” Celestia finished before lowering her ears, adding, “thankfully, what seeds were planted in me died after … an event which happened later which I had gone through, an event which I will tell you of when the time comes.”

It was then that Luna realized the pile of ponies cuddling her, and she hugged back with a big smile on her face.

Some time passed by as Luna just hugged the ponies next to her, being quiet all the time … until with a gentle smile she dislodged herself—begrudgingly—from her cuddle pile, and went to wash herself in the bathroom.

After a few minutes, a red-eyed but relaxed Luna came back with her face refreshed, and continued where Celestia left, while she went to refill her cup of tea. “Thank you, my friends … I really needed to get that off of my chest,” Luna said to the ponies that now smiled back at her, sipping contentedly from her refilled teacup before saying, “While at that accursed place, there was one thing that surprised us greatly … it was the complexity of the spells within that put to shame the ones at the main entrance, verily … the spellcrafting inside the depths of Tartarus made the two at the main entrance appear as though it were scrawled by a foal.”

Twilight twitched her ears at that comment. “Really, Luna? What purpose did those spells serve inside Tartarus?”

Celestia sighed again, sipping from her cup as she pondered how to reply … .

“They were wards … and seals, and wards over seals, and seals warding even more seals—with an absurd level of intricacy and magic requirements, that we couldn’t even hope to meet.” Luna replied dryly, to everyone’s shock. “Furthermore, we were incapable of discerning the function of perhaps nine-tenths of just one sealing spell, which spoke clearly ‘do not release under any circumstance’ to everyone there at the time. The rest, well … They all bore his sigil: The Dark Sword, as we came to call it.”

“Twilight, all we know about Tartarus is that it is a prison for unspeakable horrors … judging by the quality of the magic involved to contain them, as well as their influence in attacking us despite the seal’s arrangements—and we broke the main gate in curiosity,” Celestia added, ears splayed back as she looked at the bottom of her teacup. “Ever since, I have kept close watch of it, until Cerberus escaped some time ago—”

“And Tirek managed to escape,” Applejack interjected for the first time, her face a thoughtful one—a rare sight for the down-to-earth pony farmer.

Celestia simply nodded. “He, just as the three of us, was locked in the equivalent of the corridor, rather than one of the prisons that Tartarus possesses.” She breathed in softly as she added, “that’s why Cerberus being distracted is such an issue. We don’t really have the keys to administrate Tartarus at all.”

At this moment, after a long, embarrassing silence, Twilight Velvet asked the question to Celestia, “Princess, forgive me if I find the claim of evil from that creature sketchy at best, but wouldn’t it have made more sense for him to … you know, release all the monsters in Tartarus, if all the spells involved have his sigil?” Twilight Velvet persisted, focusing on Celestia’s face, “After all, if what he said is true, Discord is his son—hard to believe, really—or there is another draconequus in Equus, and he used his magical senses to try and find him … only to find out about Discord instead.”

Both Celestia and Luna’s eyes widened at the implications of this statement.

“How old is this creature? What is its purpose? Why can a non-pony wield dark magic on a scale which terrified even you, an alicorn connected with the sun itself?” Velvet finished asking, only add at the end “However, I have the suspicion that then wasn’t the last time you two met, correct?”

After some silence, Luna replied to Velvet.

“We know it is evil, for it left in its wake a trail of corpses, specially of mares and foals, and of guards posted on the towns that tried to stop him at the time of his passing.”

Celestia looked with uncertainty in her eyes at Luna, then made the comment, “however, we lost track of this creature once it left the Equestrian borders, towards the Griffon lands and beyond for centuries.”

Celestia breathed in and exhaled a few times—only for her to continue her story.

“The next time we saw his sigil was when we fought Sombra.”

------------------ 1199 years ago, Crystal Empire -------------------

My sister and I were geared in our battle armor, each one of us wielding a weapon in our magic kinesis.

Luna’s weapon of choice was a large axe with a hammerback she had dubbed ‘Gibbous Demise’, a weapon large enough to guarantee either to cleave or completely shatter whatever crossed her path.

The weapon which I chose to learn to use at the time was a massive morning-star I had baptised as ‘Burning Wrath’, due to the size of its head, filled with very thick spikes long enough to pierce even the thickest of armors. Its circumference was about the size of the barrel of a stout Earth Pony.

Neither spellcraft nor the physical weapons which we wielded were working well against our opponent.

A single unicorn overflowing with dark magic who called himself king, and the murderer of one of our dearest friends.

One who wasn’t even wearing armor, but only a cloak of black ermine with a red velvet lining and a crown full of dark crystals, all of them crackling with power along with his warped red, curved horn.

His eyes were glowing with both power and malice against us, though he simply smiled smugly at our efforts at harming him.

“Your reigneth ends the present day, Sombra! F'r Am're, the crystal ponies, and f’r justice!” I roared in my Royal Canterlot Voice, unleashing several magical blasts against my opponent, just as he made crystal spires rise to block them from reaching him.

“Once thee falleth, I shall expandeth southwards.” Sombra stated back calmly in answer, materializing dark crystals and shooting them against me and Luna while we were being pushed back by him.

“Sist'r, we can’t approacheth closeth enow to subdue that ruffian!” Luna complained as she prepared a magical shield, which cracked severely after an impact provided by a crystal spire, one of many which Sombra shot towards us as he slowly walked in our direction.

The smug face he wore just made things worse.

“What about the oth'rs!? Has't those gents did succeed in their mission!?” I asked while blasting several beams of searing magic in our adversary’s direction—only to see how he grew a crystal spire that reflected the blast at an angle—and into the horizon outside the city.

Luna scrunched her muzzle in effort, her horn lighting briefly before she gave a gasp, eyes opening wide as she answered “They has't been routed …”

I shuddered at the sad news, and saw how our adversary grew a crystal panel that started to glow … as he muttered an unusual enchantment—causing the power showing in both his eyes and crown to flare and crackle from the strain.

As we got ready to attack him, we were stopped by a feeling of dread unlike any other in our entire lifetime.

Even our ordeal with Discord the first time seemed juvenile when compared with this struggle for our survival against a powerful adversary, who had learned powerful dark arts and that was actually cunning.

“Ponilkes Itaima Gon Shathga Derdresi Cthul Gend Gylgamoth … Knight of shadow, from ancient slumb'r, the bloody glyph did carve in crystal and flesh, taketh mine own off'ring and obeyeth mine own will … Cha’tturga Ilnnazamire sson Medayda Pegalsa!” Sombra roared with a flair of his forehoof, as the glow took the shape of that same sword with two blades crossing in its middle—only for a shadowy creature to leap out of it after a large ball of magic focused in its middle.

As it consolidated, it looked like … one of our pegasus guards!? Only without a helmet.

Or a head to go along with it. The rest of the armor was devoid of a pony wearing it.

The armor seemed odd, even by Sombra’s standards. Black metal with dark crystals growing along the frame, cloth covered joints and chainmail looking as if filled with a living body, its design brought only one thing to mind: ruthlessness.

“Headless h'rse knight, hunteth and killeth the blue one. The white one is mineth,” Sombra stated coldly as the apparition stood to attention, wings deploying several oversized blades attached to the wing-covers as it started to flap—and successfully float—with each wingbeat.

From the hoof-boots the apparition wore, dark magical claws appeared; and in place of a tail a chain whip full of black crystal shards extended with the metal links jingling softly. Groaning in a manner bone-chilling, it launched towards Luna, whom barely had time to use her axe to defend herself as the apparition slashed at her with its forehooves while in mid-air at an unnatural speed.

Sombra, without taking his eyes from me, smirked as he started to form a sword made of dark crystal straight from the floor.

I rushed him, mace swinging to break him, when I felt terror and turned aside suddenly.

Thank heavens I did that, as I saw how my mace was cut off from the middle, a large chunk missing from the head itself, and Sombra’s sword was smoking as was his magic-encased horn.

“I desire that ye realizeth that this is an exercise in futility, Celestia. I shall alloweth thee liveth as a slave if ye peacefully surrender and throweth thy weapon apart from ye and I and removeth thine armor do-”

I cut him off by throwing my chopped mace at him while raising to the sky, earning the sound of a loud “gong” coming from his face, right as I went looking desperately for Luna, all this while avoiding Sombra’s retaliatory strikes with all my speed and agility I could muster.

There was no way I was risking him getting close to either of us with a sword that sharp. I could only hope that the apparition fighting Luna didn’t have as much on its side.

That was when I felt a sharp pain in my barrel.

Looking down while in flight, I saw a large crystal protruding from a metal plate that covered me—but that wasn’t what made me worry.

I started seeing how the crystal itself was corrupting the armor’s enchantments slowly, causing it to degrade from gold to a chalky appearance, graying over its edges.

At Twilight’s stunned expression, Celestia replied: “Yes, my dear Twilight. That was the same crystal that I used to show you a magical projection of the Crystal Empire.” Closing her eyes for a moment, she reflected loudly, “I am still stumped as to how that crystal could do that, to be honest.”

She smiled at the ponies gathered, and continued her narrative … .

The pain it brought on me, however, seemed to remain constant, so that was one worry less. At least it wasn’t poisonous.

As I moved, the light coming from the city-wide shield on top of us started to dim, and I saw a massive cloud of darkness, with eyes glowing green and purple showing in them looming over us.

‘We has't to moveth festinate, 'r we’re going to loseth.’

Moving quickly, I located my sister as she struggled against the apparition, whom was slowly gaining on her.

Rushing silently, I prayed that the plan I hastily made wouldn’t be my undoing.

Zeroing on the monster, I used a tactic normally used by griffons to deal with other griffons or pegasi in a permanent fashion—by surprise.

Freefalling, I slammed the armored fiend with my back hooves in the middle of what could be thought as his back, metal and crystal shattering on the powerful impact, the blades on the wings falling out of place as it fell to its demise, where it shattered once it impacted with the ground.

Sadly, this only solved the lesser of two evils.

Turning to Luna, I saw how her armor was severely damaged, cuts gouged deep into the metal, blood trickling out of the injuries.

One particularly large gash seemed to be caused by the wing-blades of the apparition rather than the claws.

More superficial scratches seemed the work of that tail-whip.

“Sist'r, art thee well?” I asked as I turned to face the black cloud that was looming closer towards us.

“Couldst beest bett'r, specially aft'r we dealeth with that ruffian.” Luna replied somberly as she rose with me above the towering spires of the Crystal Empire to face our adversary with our last resort.

With a nod towards one another, we prepared another spell, much more complex in size and magnitude as the cloud of blackness rose, several sparkling lights appearing like stars in the dark of night.

That moment was when we realized what Sombra was doing—only to feel the ravages of several thousand shards hitting us like hail, some embedding into our flesh as we tried our best to focus on the spell while protecting our faces from the onslaught.

As we were finishing the preparations for the banishment spell to send him to Tartarus with some gemstones embedded with the power of our Elements of Harmony crafted into our helms, he materialized, floating on some massive geode that defied all our knowledge of reality, sword at his grip and a confident smile on his face.

Thankfully his hubris cost him a defeat—but it was all for naught.

“Princess Celestia? What happened then?” Rarity asked in the middle of the story, the rest too invested to actually interrupt.

Celestia’s face turned grim, and said … .

“Sister! Something’s not right! The spell malfunctioned!” Luna screamed as we saw the spell hit true at our adversary, turning him into a cloud of darkness again—only for him to be sealed inside a glacier far off the Empire.

That, however, made some reaction in the Empire itself, as it started to glow—The Dark Sword appearing in its midst—as if the city itself were a magical matrix, the palace right at the middle of the crossed blades.

It flashed, and started to disappear from reality—and sapping our memories from the place itself in the process.

All the time the two of us felt the leaching of what Sombra had done.

“A city-wide spell? Isn’t that like what Shiny did back at the wedding, or what I did when we were protecting the Empire from Sombra?” Cadance asked, eyes quite open from the sudden revelation of her inheritance.

Luna and Celestia shook their heads … right before Luna snorted as she continued her exposition.

“Nay, niece; this spell seemed amplified by the city itself—as if it were some sort of conditional curse laid by Sombra imbedded into the city’s foundations, only it affected reality itself. We don’t know to this day how he achieved it—but we were certain at the time that the one that called itself Warden had a heavy hoof involved in this.”

Celestia piped in tandem.

“All I’m certain is that we fought Sombra, and banished him, only for him to use magic—of the same kind as that of this Warden—to seal the Crystal Empire with him, sealing all memories of that place. That’s why, Twilight, it was a surprising boon that the crystal he shot at me had some sort of connection to the city itself—as if it were a part that resonated beyond reality.”

Fluttershy said softly as she gripped her pillow really hard “Then we were very lucky that Sombra lost his mind … He would have crushed us if he had fought us like he did with you.”

All her friends turned to meet her sight, causing her to squeak and cover herself with the pillow from the stares.

“Fluttershy …” Rainbow started, only to be interrupted by Twilight’s sudden comment.

“No, she is right, girls. From what I could gather from the story, it seems that this power that Sombra got his hooves on amplified his natural strength to a level equal or superior to that of alicorns. I cannot imagine what could have happened had Spike not being there to help us.” With this, she dragged her little brother-son-friend and gave him a generous hug and nuzzle, causing him to eep from the surprise assault of affection.

“Yes … that’s why we sought to discourage the pursuit of Dark Magic—it not only does continued study and practice of the forbidden arts cause serious damage to the mind, but also appeared to change its wielders’ desires to become unfettered along with the increase in power.” Celestia answered, and added “It was luck indeed that Sombra increased his Dark Magic output, turning him a screeching fool at the exchange of power to escape the glacier and the magic spell sealing him. That’s why I could send you, Twilight, Shining, Cadance … In his smoky state he seemed to lose his cunning, and sustaining both shapes caused his mind to slow down considerably—if not for that, we would have been in dire straits all that time ago.”

Everyone that had been present when Sombra appeared gulped, knowing they had avoided the crossbow bolt by a hair’s breath.

Cadance then voiced her question to the older princesses, “Aunties, would you say that moving an entire city through time, and erasing all memories of it is achievable with Harmony magic at all?”

Luna and Celestia looked at one another—as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Luna answered, “Nay, niece. All magic coming from Harmony follows rules. And this Dark Magic … seems to bend them or break them—that’s why my sister said that the Warden could modify reality.”

“That-that’s impossible! You’re almost speaking as if this ‘Warden’ is a god, if he’s capable of such things!” Night Light replied, eyes wide, and both fur and mane standing up—shock clearly visible to all involved.

No one noticed the nervous fidgeting of Starlight Glimmer as the observations regarding the power of The Dark Sword were discussed.

At that moment, Celestia closed her eyes sorrowfully, replying “I wish it were otherwise. I still have to narrate my last encounter with the Warden … the reason why my sister said I fought him and lived.”

------------------ 705 years ago, City of Manehatten ----------------

Three hundred years have passed since I was forced to banish my sister to the Moon with the Elements of Harmony, which ceased to answer to me after that act.

‘How did she learn dark magic?’ I thought to myself in cold anger as I watched my troops gather at the seaport, climbing the ramps leading to the vessels ready for our departure. Five thousand strong were gathered at the Port of Manehatten, after months of ship-crafting to house the army, plus supplies being gathered to last us for a siege.

‘Who corrupted my younger sister?’

My anger was hot and restless, like an active volcano as I watched the proceedings with a neutral face, wearing full-chainmail enchanted armor and a reforged ‘Burning Wrath’ at my side.

‘This time,’ I thought to myself, a sense of grimness flowing out of my anger, ‘I will find you and defeat you, Warden. To seal your poison away from the world, so nopony gets hurt by it ever again.’

‘The spells I crafted for dealing with you will be more than enough a match—and all my soldiers that can muster have them. The armor we all are wearing will parry your accursed dark magic, my heavy mace and our military might will be your undoing—for it will channel the power of the Sun itself towards its target.’

My face displayed my usual calm and unperturbed face as I thought in the end, ‘I will avenge the Crystal Ponies, and everypony who died at your claws, and my sister … . I will not rest until you are trapped in Tartarus for eternity if you’re lucky to survive our encounter.’

I was brought out of my reverie by Commander Thunder Clap, as she saluted as crisply as possible for a fully-armored pegasus mare.

“Your Highness, we’re ready to leave at your command.”

I simply nodded slightly, as she barked orders while I made my way to one of the ships.

According to the scouts and the intelligence gathered at the time, I knew that the Warden was currently residing inside a city-state called Cairn Niall, where all its residents were either serving him willingly, or embraced his dark arts.

This place was located at the top of a mountain, deep into griffon territory, yet outside the rule of the griffon king at the time.

It was a place where several species gathered under one dark banner.

While making our way through the mountains, I was approached by Commander Thunder Clap, a Cloudsdale stallion with experience at the lands outside our borders, and Arch-Mage Stardust Rain, a Canterlotian unicorn mare who graduated with honors from the Thaumaturgical War School, both of whom had a request concerning my safety in the oncoming campaign.

“Princess Celestia, it … is of concern to us that your emotions concerning this beast affects your judgment and fighting prowess adversely.” Thunder Clap said softly, almost like handling with unusual care an observation that might earn her a demotion if not received positively by its recipient.

“Your Highness, most of the High Command has noticed your … change in demeanor ever since the scouts reported on the finding of the Warden. We can’t lose you—our country depends upon you more than ever!” Stardust Rain asked me with a begging tone in her voice as she pleaded with me.

“Which is why they asked us if you would concede to remain with the Strategists and other members of High Command so we can watch the … proceedings from afar. Best not to get emotionally involved when our lives are on the line with a powerful adversary.” Thunder Clap said with uncertainty … and a bit of fear on his voice at my response.

“To add to that, Princess: while all of us are wearing enchanted armor and weapons gracefully enhanced under your direction, we still don’t know how strong this monster really is—after all, it eluded capture in its tenure inside Equestrian borders. And never once a witness saw him openly using his power.” Stardust Rain stated as she eyed me, trying to gouge my reception of their request.

“If there is any consolation, your Highness, is the fact that we will be striking first with the Hurricane’s 1^st Elite Pegasi Corps at the place where he was last seen and have the element of surprise in our favor.” Thunder Clap said before adding, “Better to catch him by surprise and either slay or disable him instead of facing against him face to face as in honorable combat and so face a fully prepared adversary wielder of powerful magics.”

My first instinct was to tell them I was fine, and going to meet him regardless as the troops cleansed that city of his evil—but they had a point.

‘What would happen if the worst actually came true? What would happen, if my little ponies were left without their ruler?’

It irked me, but I found solace on the fact that the Warden bled just like any other creature. That fortunate luck was what allowed me to partially track him, and send scouts and spies to locate his exact location.

I sighed as I answered to their anxious selves “I will heed thy advice, Commander … Archmage. I will remain far removed from the field of war with Command while the campaign is performed.”

At that moment, I could see them visibly relaxing from my answer.

‘I must steel myself for what is coming—and hope we aren’t too late to purge that darkness from the inhabitants of that city.’

“I didn’t know it at the time, but this campaign would take a turn to the worse in the most dramatic way imaginable.” Celestia finished briefly as she rested while sipping from a fresh brew of mint tea—eyeing a cupcake that was in the middle of the table lying close by—horn lighting up.

“Why do you say that, Princess?” Applejack inquired with an raised eyebrow at the fidgeting the old mare was showing as she took a bite from said cupcake.

Celestia swallowed the bite she took and looked at her with a downcast expression.

“Because I was fooled into doing something I still now regret.”

This was met with confusion on their faces as she continued her story.

“It involved the slaughter of three thousand innocents … and I was played like a fiddle to cause it by selfish parties due to my desires of retribution.”

‘It took a day,’ I thought somberly as I saw the smoke coming out from the fortress. ‘And all was for naught.’

The Warden wasn’t in the city, according to the latest report—but the nascent cult was totally routed.

My heart felt very heavy for some reason, as if I had committed a serious sin while the cheers of victory resounded throughout the Command tent were like buzzing of gnats in my ears.

So, I would have to try again to locate him with that blood stain that still remained—and yet … .

‘If he was residing there, up to the point where some ponies had actually seen him—informing the Guard when travelling back to Equestria, why wasn’t he here then?’

‘Did he grew suspicious at the trickling out of Equestrian ponies out of the city?’

‘Did he leave all those people to their own fate, knowing fully well I was coming to battle him?’

I was wrong—wrong on so many levels, that my hubris blinded me to another possibility … .

One I was warned out by none other than the Warden himself while we were making our retreat in the plains at the base of the mountain, several hours of marching back into friendly Griffon lands.

His voice boomed all over the plains, making me and all the soldiers turn in confusion, trying to locate the source.

“Ruler of the Sun, I left your country, and your treacherous kind to your own devices … and yet you come here and murdered three thousand innocent souls that were just trying to live their lives? All just to get me?”

Panic started to rise from the ranks, as the officers tried to instill order back into the ranks.

“You wanted me … Congratulations, you’ve found me.” The Warden’s voice boomed grimly, lowering several octaves as a massive light showed up in the sky.

I turned my head to see what was outshining my sun, and my heart sank in terror at the sight.

The magical matrix of The Dark Blade was shining brightly above my army—and here this brought me panic—an unknown type of magic was gathering at an abnormal rate within its confines.

Before I could do anything—I saw several stars shining within the matrix—and one word boomed in the field … with a voice so devoid of emotion and several octaves lower than the first statement that it resembled growling from a manticore.

“Judgement.”

And with that word, columns of burning light started to shower upon my soldiers.

I readied a spell to shield my troops—casting it and creating a massive shield to protect them.

This spell had Sombra himself in mind, and was powered by my connection to the sun—knowing dark magic could be dispelled with light-based spells.

It was mere luck that a thousand strong were outside the range of that spell—myself and the High Command at the head, along with four hundred pegasi strong, three hundred earth pony strong and two hundred eighty eight unicorns strong for the remaining strength. Otherwise we would have shared the fate of everypony else that was at our rear.

There was a fatal flaw to my shielding spell … It protected against dark magic, but nothing said it could protect against either harmony-fueled or light-based spells.

I realized that in a gut-wrenching fashion, the moment the columns of light broke through my carefully planned and tested spell and watched in horrified terror as the spell which he had cast literally blasted through armor, spell, and flesh as if a magic blast cleanly vaporized a piece of paper in its path.

The raw might of the magic beams showering upon the battlefield … overpowering any security I had on my spellcrafting, to contain and deviate his magic—breaking my presumptions concerning the safety the armor I helped make.

To make things even worse, the wails of the dying soon filled the air, as the hail of light left a myriad of emotions emanating from the caster.

Rage.

Wrath.

Sorrow.

Regret.

Failure.

Pure, unadulterated hatred—both against us and himself.

The Warden growled, his growl resonating in the entire field.

I couldn’t even move, everything inside me was quivering—a good grace I had gone to the latrine an hour ago, otherwise I believe I would have had suffered a different kind of humiliation to add to this disaster in progress.

I started shivering as I got to the part I feared most in both my story and the reactions from the ponies present.

Daring to open my eyes, I explored the faces of my audience, and saw confusion, which will be cleared up soon enough, disgust, which was totally understandable, and fear from Twilight as she watched me, eyes wide and watering, ears splayed on her head.

It took Luna’s wing hugging me gently to get out of my silence.

Nuzzling me gently, she whispered into my ear: “It’s alright … we’re with you. Please go on with your recounting of the last time you encountered the Warden of the Dark.”

I nodded shakily as I continued my tale.

One second, I am seeing the brutally gored ground filled with the remains of four out of five thousand ponies in different levels of harm—and pieces missing.

In all my time I had never witnessed such brutality in the field—even my stint with Chrysalis and the battle with the dragons didn’t lead to this kind of slaughter.

The next second that came after the first, I was greeted by the sight of the one responsible for the slaughter—unarmored, weaponless, and a face that seemed utterly disconnected from the sense of terror emanating from him.

His eyes fixed on mine at the distance.

“I sought to heal … to build bridges with your people … and all I got was backstabbing, treachery, and sorrow,” His voice boomed on the field, no emotions transferred into the voice like before.

“Your ponies killed my patients … and I sought reprisal against the ones that killed them—all because I didn’t care for your so-called Arcanotherapy.”

He stretched his foreleg, claw at the ready as if grasping air—

—Only to slowly gather something akin to gold dust at its reach.

Flowing faster and faster, what seemed like a trickling turned into a torrent, coalescing into the shape of—

—Of … of a mace that dwarfed mine, more fitting for an ogre or troll than a creature so scrawny-looking, judging by the way the mace at the top jutted three blunt edges almost as thick as the main body of the mace—where it was studded with very thick spikes that had the same distance as the blunt sections jutting out.

He grasped the handle with one hand, raising the massive weight and pointing it our way. He said grimly to us, voice rumbling our bones, “None of you will escape after what you’ve done—and yes, I don’t care what happens to the skies.”

I started gathering as much magic as I could from my connection to the sun in panic as I watched how he started walking the destroyed ground—and swung the mace downwards, finishing up a soldier nearby him with a loud crunch of both metal and flesh.

I could distantly hear orders from the military leaders as several of our troops launched towards him to slow him down—

—And a few were obliterated in return, the moment they strayed too close.

I started to gouge his raw strength from the way that mace literally turned those four pegasi soldiers into a spray of red mush and metal—

“Princess Celestia … the way you’re describing him sounds a lot like a clichéd and overpowered character from a Power Ponies comic book … the ones hated because they are too overpowered.” Spike piped in, taking advantage of a momentary break in Celestia’s narrative.

She tried her best, and nearly succeeded at hiding her annoyance towards the interruption of a very “harrowing” experience as she asked him back “What manner of character are you describing, Spike?”

Spike flinched, eyes widening in response in realization as he quickly answered “just thinking about some ponies saying that the villainous Laughlin was an overpowered, clichéd, Stallion Stu villain, princess.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow towards him, and saw how the poor drake started to sweat drops under her unflinching sight.

From annoyance came a sense of mischief, as she answered “I wish I had dealt with this Laughlin rather than the Warden, Spike.”

Spike’s expression changed, as well as a few of the mares twitched their ears as he timidly asked “Really?”

She smiled at him, and winked while saying “I think his madness-inducing gas would have been preferable to what the Warden did then, to be honest.”

And before him or his friends asked any more awkward questions concerning some of her most choice readings concerning the Power Ponies, she continued telling her tale.

My ultimate spell, one that I haven’t had the chance nor will to use so far in my life—taught to me by none other than Star Swirl the Bearded himself—one that would channel the light, heat and power of the sun and focus it in a small area was already being cast while the soldiers attempted to attack the Warden with spears, swords, and an entire volley of arrows.
I couldn’t understand why wasn’t he evading, allowing himself to be injured until I saw him snap into attention—

—And said the words “Raging Ache”.

If before I thought he was mighty, then he left me speechless.

I saw how whenever he cried those words, an unknown power flowed through his weapon, reducing to mist anypony caught at the point of a swing. Not even the metal was spared from the strike.

I better not think about how when he used it groundwards, the earth shook as his latest victim was made one with the soil.

My soldiers started to retreat at a quick pace as he simply started to slowly walk—just like Sombra did all those years ago—swinging his mace at the dying, finishing them off mercilessly.

“Princess! We are being routed by that monster!” One of the officers yelled while the Warden just slowly came our way—and started casting spells that always materialized that magical matrix, striking down several of the dying soldiers too far away from him to strike personally.

It always was a collection of orbs of light that went to hit and end whomever they struck.

‘Sweet Equus, he really meant his words.’

Noticing how the remains of my troops were behind me, I felt the bright light on my horn raising in a column above the mid-day sun—all the while the Warden unconcerned with my action, focused on slaying the ones that could at one time be saved from their wounds.

‘Is he really that certain of victory … or his hatred blinded him to notice?’

I roared, as I called forth in my Royal Canterlot Voice, “Burning Justice, Light of Retribution, Solar Flare!”

Immediately afterwards it all became white—an innate part of the spell preventing the heat of the sun from scorching all living things outside its perimeter.

Celestia stood still, her breathing labored as she seemed lost in memory.

“Princess … did the spell actually work? Did you … finish him?” Twilight asked in a very low squeak.

The old ruler’s mind snapped back into reality after hearing her friend’s question, and replied, voice wavering—almost cracking up.

“The spell … did its work. As for finishing him off … ”

The cheers of victory from my soldiers started to wane as the light cleared—and the Warden was still standing, parts of him burned, all clothing he was wearing beforehand reduced to ashes along with the bolts that had until a moment ago been jutting out of him. The waves of heat were contained inside that area, reducing all that was within its perimeter to ash—except for him.

A bright aura started to shimmer in his hand as he pressed it on himself—and all his bad burns, missing flesh and hair started to restore itself while inside the magic kiln’s aftereffects.

My hope died, as I felt myself drained of my magic after that finishing spell, panting loudly with my eyes wide open, looking in impotence how he literally mended himself with several applications of, what I now realized, was a very potent healing spell.

‘At least he felt that.’ I thought to myself with a grim smile as he turned our way again—and started making an incantation himself in retaliation, not moving from the heat that would have killed any living being.

Panic overpowering me and my sense of appearance as I started to feel a spell similar to his “Judgement”, I ordered loudly, “Retreat! Retreat before he finishes that spell! Make haste!”

I started to retreat with my remaining troops, until the Warden’s voice boomed once again in the field.

“Dark End.”

The overwhelming aura of raw dark magic threw me and a few unicorns that were close to me to the ground, as the earth itself shook.

Turning to see what just happened, I saw a very large sphere of darkness encasing the rest of my fleeing army, all of whom attempted in vain to breach the sphere.

A sphere that at close looked like having scripts of unknown origin—and the cursed Dark Sword spinning right in the middle.

The sphere collapsed in itself, silencing the crying soldiers in a burst of shadows—and leaving only mangled corpses behind—as if minotaur explosives had done the slaughter.

“Princess, we must leave now!” One of the unicorns close to me exclaimed while trying to lift me from the ground, which I was grateful—I felt myself almost void of anything.

Well, empty except one reality looming over us at a distance.

‘We are going to die.’

Inside me, a flame burst into a burst similar to how the sun came to be, and I readied my mace and stood resolute.

‘I will not let him have victory! We will live!’

“Gather the survivors, I’ll try to teleport us into Griffonstone!” I barked while watching our slayer as he slowly made his way towards us, massive mace at hand.

‘I can only hope I have enough magic left in me to teleport us into safety.’

Then it hit me—how he started to walk towards us slowly, deliberately so—and saw him panting lightly.

He was tired, but as his wounds healed even without his magic, I noticed his panting getting less frequent—too quickly to my frayed nerves.

“Princess … We are rea—” The pony mage I recognized as Archmage Stardust Rain started saying—but got interrupted by the sound of glass shattering.

‘Oh no—he broke through the shielding spell already,’ I thought to myself as I started to fire bursts of magic at him.

They all hit true.

And some strange wave emanated from him after each hit—almost as if soaking the damage and making it something else.

‘If he’s fast, why is he allowing himself to be hit like that? Could it be—Oh buck.’

What I was doing to harm him was in fact serving him well, even if I didn’t know the reason behind—so I started to ready the teleportation spell.

Sadly, any plan—no matter how careful, how well-planned, how brilliant it is—normally fails miserably in contact with the enemy.

One moment he was far away, heavy mace at hand—

—The other he was already within striking distance, swinging his mace at me directly.

I felt the hit—but it was cushioned somewhat.

But by then both the pain and the impact threw me into unconsciousness in a matter of minutes.

Celestia stopped her narration, closing her eyes as she took a breath in and turned to see her audience.

From the faces of confusion one rose from the rest and asked the question in everypony’s mind:

“Princess Celestia, I know this is a first-pony story but how in Tartarus you didn’t end up as mush!?” Twilight Sparkle asked loudly, mane smoking already—frazzled and with one of her eyes twitching—incomprehension and panic showing in her rapid breathing.

“My dear Twilight, I was barely conscious after he swung that mace at me, but I have a theory about how I managed to survive—me alone of five thousand equestrian soldiers.” Celestia replied to her former student sadly, before taking in a few deep breaths—as if steeling herself for what she was going to say.

This failed, though, as Celestia started tearing up, before saying, “Last I remember before blacking out was something hanging from his mace. With that in mind, I believe Archmage Stardust … tried her best to shield me with both her strongest shield and her own body—judging from how I found my armor later, bent with plenty of my bones broken, grimed with blood not my own—and what I think was her corpse hanging from the spikes in his mace.”

Twilight’s face instantly shut down from her panic into a painful expression already too familiar to her younger years—when she felt she had failed her miserably in meeting her standards.

“Princess … I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

Celestia shushed her gently.

“No harm done, my dear friend. As to how I ended up in Manehatten … I think the remaining unicorns joined their strength and teleported me to safety.” At this point her face turned sad, “Only one returned, with a message—and a curse.”

At the shocked faces of everypony present she simply said “Yes, it is way worse than what you’re imagining at this moment.”

I was tended by the best arcanotherapists in Canterlot along with several medical ponies that were masters in their craft, as soon as word got out that our army was completely routed, with me being the only survivor.

Sad to say, even though they were able to mostly mend the damage I had suffered against the Warden, I was informed that the physical trauma was too great and that I wouldn’t be able to fight like before ever again.

The shattered bones in between my left shoulder, left ribs closest to the shoulder, and my foreleg would make certain of that.

As I recovered consciousness after a couple of days of treatment, I retook my post—all while thinking what to do next considering what he had said.

‘Did I really sent all those soldiers into a fool’s errand? Was I truly responsible for the slaughter of innocents, as he claimed?’

I made the choice in my mind—to find out how much of the reports were true.

But, my plans were considerably derailed when a loud flash momentarily blinded all of us present at the throne room, me making out the Dark Sword as it vanished into thin air—and one of the archmage soldiers that managed to teleport me to safety, a Unicorn mare that looked as if she had seen death itself burst out of a cloud of white flames, falling to the ground.

However, she looked fine—as if she hadn’t seen battle for the last week.

That thought got derailed when she woke up, and looked at me—terror filling every fiber of her being.

“Princess Celestia! I bring a message from him!” She said, the tone of her voice not matching her face.

Being wary, I waved the Unicorn to speak, in order to think what to do later.

At this point the Unicorn started to weep, saying “no … please … ” and in a sudden fashion, with eyes closed as if in great pain started giving her message.

The message’s content and voice didn’t match the mare vocalizing it, judging by her begging not to.

“If I find out about you leaving your country to wage war, or find armed ponies from your Guard outside of your borders …” This voice was sounding in tandem with the mare’s sobbing, raising eyebrows from everyone present.

The voice delivering the message lowered a few octaves at this point. “Take heed, for I will drive you and your kind to extinction if you challenge me again.”

“Pray you never see my face again, for the day that you do, it will be the last thing you see before you die.”

At that precise moment, the mare started crying out loudly in pain, writhing on the floor—until the Dark Sword showed in her body and caused her physical body to burst open due to a large surge of raw magic—a death curse worse than all I had known so far.

I didn’t see the real spell coming until it hit me—

All the ponies started looking at one another cautiously, until Celestia finally finished her tale.

“He somehow used a living pony as a carrier of a spell—a curse—that went towards me the moment I used my magic to stop it. Ever since I have felt weakness, and thus I have been waiting for you to mature and grow, Twilight.”

The young princess turned to see her mentor, whom was smiling kindly at her.

“You saved my sister from the Nightmare, stopped and eventually helped to redeem Discord, and defeated Tirek. You will be a wise ruler along with Luna when the time is right.”

Eyes widening, Twilight asked “then you mean …”

Celestia nodded.

“I hope you can understand the nature of the spell sapping my strength ever since that event came to pass. But that is not what is important right now.” She rose from her cushion, and added, “We must make certain he does not get his wish first.”

After everyone either slept in their chambers or returned to their homes, Luna approached her sister cautiously, nuzzling her gently to let her know she was there.

As for Celestia … .

She was drooping slightly, empty teacup in front of her, eyes heavy and an mournful expression.

“Sister, Twilight is asleep already. Will you keep me company as I watch over her?”

Celestia rose silently and nuzzled her sister back without saying a word.

Only as they approached Twilight’s chamber, she finally said “Could things have gone better if we hadn’t attacked him when he showed to us?”

Luna snorted.

“Nay, sister. If we had let that wretch do as he pleased, he would have tried to corrupt others with his dark magic.”

Celestia only continued, her face grim and the spark inside her slowly dampening down.

“I can only hope Twilight can survive after all this. I do owe it to her, after all.”

Luna said nothing as they entered.

“Lulu … there is one thing I didn’t have time to share. Would you hear me out?”

Luna nodded, stopping at the doorway to turn her attention to her sister.

Celestia’s voice cracked.

“I found out … the reports concerning Cairn Niall were false.” Celestia started to weep softly, as Luna placed her wing over her. “I was used … and gained an enemy for all my efforts!”

The slow, soft weeping of the solar princess would be heard by only one dark blue alicorn as she comforted her sister, a pensive look on her face … while all the other ponies inside the castle were either too far away or already asleep to actually hear what was happening at that time.

Friendship Castle, Ponyville. 1:12 a.m.
The morning of the third day.

In the silence that ruled, the snores of several ponies could be heard in their rooms.

On one, Spike cuddled a stuffed doll suspiciously similar to a certain unicorn, breathing slowly—the picture of being at peace.

In other room, Shining Armor and Cadance were cuddling—with Flurry Heart in her crib, well tucked in—and all content with sleep.

Starlight Glimmer fared no worse, as she snored quietly in her bedchamber, dreaming of hopeful things to prevent the nightmare that loomed upon them.

In Twilight’s chamber, Celestia slept quietly along with her former student—who had a content face like the previous day, as if no bad dream could go through the defenses crafted by a very attentive Princess Luna, who looked out of the window in quiet—pondering the deceit that her sister was subjected to.

All in the name of greed.

However, unknown to Luna’s attention—there was action within Twilight’s dream.

The purple alicorn snorted quietly as she resumed her rest.

‘Where am I?’ Twilight asked inwardly as she saw herself being back again at her room—no Celestia or Luna in sight.

Shrugging after recognizing her own room, she started to move towards the door—only for it to open before her, and a familiar pony looking at her with a gentle smile and shining eyes.

She immediately noticed that, while she retained her colors, she was looking odd … .

She looked like an Earth Pony, instead of an Unicorn like last time.

Her violet eyes shone brightly as she silently greeted her with a slight nod.

The second surprise that Twilight got was a very simple one: the cutie-mark of this mysterious mare was clear for view as she approached her.

It was a tree made of glass, roots exposed and branches looming naked above—all within a matrix made of glass.

The dream-mare just smiled at her as she nuzzled her in greeting, while Twilight tried to make sense of what she was now living within a dream.

Wordlessly, the dream-mare nudged her to follow, and started to calmly walk back from where she entered, only turning to meet Twilight’s eyes with a raised eyebrow and a small grin.

Twilight followed, and her entire environment changed the moment she crossed the doorway—ending up in a room curiously similar to the Stained Glass Corridor back at Canterlot, where all the significant events of Equestrian history were left for everypony to see.

Her guide was nowhere to be seen, as she noticed something really important about the stained glasses that were adorning this corridor.

All the scenes displayed were not of Princess Celestia, Luna, or even her own adventures.

This … This was something else entirely.

As the sound of her hooves resonated within the room, Twilight started to see the scenes portrayed in each stained glass.

She looked up, and watched the first scene unfold in the stained glass before her.

In it, there were three … monstrosities that were looming over the land, where ponies of all races, minotaurs, griffons, sheep, cows, dragons and even changelings and an assortment of other species were cringing under their stare.

The first monstrosity, the one on the top left—which looked like a black mass slightly resembling a hydra, with wings and horns like a dragon with several heads. The image around its third seemed broken harshly—the sun and moon present at the same time, snow and sand intertwined, and there seemed to be constantly raining upon the lower half … where drought and floods were present at the same time.

The monster at the middle was radically different from the first.

It resembled a massive spider, and it was portrayed eating a pony, a tree, and the light of the sun. The image at its lower third was something she never thought she would see—shadows, phantoms, or wraiths—in the shape of ponies, attacking ponies and other sapient beings, all of which were running in terror from them.

The third abomination was as different as the first two, it resembled a pony skeleton with carvings in its bones, strings attached to corpses and demons alike, all of which were attacking other beings—all its surroundings looking filthy, as if the filth from a catacomb accompanied it.

At the bottom of the window, as if serving as a counterpoint, there was the Tree of Harmony—its light failing to turn them away.

Hoofsteps sounding too loud in the silent room, Twilight shivered as she turned her sight from that stained glass scene into the next—which showed a wildly different image.

In it, an alicorn pony wielding with his wings a sword shining like a rainbow and a shield was locked in deadly battle with the third of the monsters, the lower image showing the pony—a stallion by the way he looked—rising sword and shield over the slain body of the death lord.

At that moment Twilight paid closer attention to the stallion.

His coat was a light brown, mane slightly darker and with two strands standing as if they were antennae, and his eyes were honey-colored as he stared at the front.

His shield and cutie mark, however … .

‘Oh sweet Equus! Is that the Dark Sword!?’

She couldn’t make heads or tails of this.

‘Who was this stallion!?’

‘Why does nopony knows this story!?’

‘What happened here!?’

‘Why is he bearing that abominable sigil on his shield like a crest!? Why does he have it as his cutie-mark!?’

As her mane started to fizzle, she turned to see the next stained glass scene—where the same alicorn along with a coral-coated earth pony mare were actually portrayed in the process of crafting a world from the remains of that pony-lich—its own soul locked within a magical matrix bearing the same sigil, looking deader than originally portrayed.

She squinted, and saw magic flowing outwards from the soul of the monster—feeding the magic that kept him locked in a magical cage.

‘Oh Celestia, that alicorn cursed that monster … .’

Twilight remembered immediately her mentor’s lesson concerning curses, and how they worked.

‘Remember, Twilight … a spell that feeds off the magic of a pony to keep itself working will make removing it almost impossible, since there is always a constant supply of magic power to ensure its longevity. That is why they are banned—they can drive a pony to—’

“—Die from lack of magic in their bodies.” Twilight finished that sentence with trepidation.

‘But this … this is way much worse than a normal curse. He used this monster’s soul to feed its prison!’

Horrified at the implications involved with this alicorn’s decisions concerning dealing with the monstrosity portrayed at the beginning, she moved on—with her eyebrow twitching frequently.

The new stained glass she came across portrayed a similar battle scene—only this time it was against the draconic hydra beast.

‘Oh sweet maker … why is this scene giving me a headache!’ She screamed inwards, as she felt the scene several times worse than what she lived through when invited at Discord’s World of Chaos for a cup of tea.

‘To this day I cannot look at chinchillas the same way … .’

The scene felt as if time itself disjointed, and the weather varied from summer to winter without warning—the surroundings shifting constantly at the background of the scene.

At its lower half, however—the alicorn seemed to be doing something entirely different.

Frowning as he looked at the hydra, his sword was shown as impaled in the beast’s heart, and Twilight could see a shade made of smoke coming out of the beasts’ dissolving body and entering him—the shade’s expression being one of absolute terror at what was happening to it.

‘How … why … what’

At that moment, she stopped looking at the scenes, panting loudly—her heart working overtime, weakness overcoming her resolve to delve deeper into this bizarre story being told through the glass panes.

Hooves numbing, sweating profusely as she tried desperately to breathe the way Cadance taught her—and failing due to her sense of lack of control.

At this point, she felt a warm presence hugging her … .

Comforting her in silence.

Turning to see who was hugging her, she saw her acquaintance from before simply hugging her, caressing her mane with a hoof—

Twilight started to tear up.

‘Only my mom knows how to do that.’

She sighed in relief, as she relaxed under the loving nuzzle of her dream-friend.

As she regained control of herself after what felt like forever, Twilight smiled at her companion.

“Thank you …”

The mare simply smiled, and nudged her with her head to continue looking at the stained glasses dotting the walls of the corridor.

Inhaling sharply, the young alicorn rose herself with a determined expression—and started walking towards the next stained glass.

In it, she saw this scene unfolding … .

The same alicorn fighting the spider-monster with the same sword and shield, the shadow creatures attacking him from all sides—and at the lower end of the glass, the spider-monster and its shadows were trapped within some crystal caverns by the alicorn knight by using the same magic he used to bind the pony-lich—almost reminding her of the Crystal Empire’s crystal mines that she had explored with her big brother after the stressful events leading to her niece’s Crystalling.

As she moved on, she paid attention to the stained glass presented before her.

In it, the alicorn was fighting a group of bipedal wolves wearing armor—those wolves in the process of using … .

‘Is that … is that dark magic?’

In that same scene, the Tree of Harmony was behind him—as if he were fighting to preserve it from the dark magicians and warriors.

The lower part of the stained glass showed a particularly gruesome ending … .

The image depicted the wolves’ bodies piled up, their shades being sealed within the woods’ foundation's—a magical seal in the process of being made by the same alicorn.

At that moment, Twilight realized something unusual.

‘Why none of the stained glasses show him using his horn when casting?’

With this thought in mind, and curiosity gaining the better of her, she moved on to the next stained window, where she gasped at the sight.

In it, the alicorn knight was leaving his sword buried to the hilt—exactly where the Harmony Box had appeared a few years ago—and placing six stones in the branches of the tree with his wings.

Six very familiar and powerful stones.

‘Sweet Equus, how did he—what in the name of—when did this happen!?’

At the lower part of the glass, however, the scene was different.

The alicorn stallion looked like making a seal linked to the Tree itself—as if it fed from the Tree itself … and his own power.

And from it, the power seemed to divert to three different directions – the Tree apparently shining brightly in response.

Twilight started to turn to look at the other glasses, but found herself back into the corridor leading to her library.

‘Could it be … that this Warden took away this alicorn’s power to himself? If he did … what happened to this stallion? Is he—could he be still alive after all this time?’

As she walked quietly, other thoughts crossed her mind.

‘How long ago did this happen? Who is this stallion serving Harmony? Why do I find his power so unsettling?’

‘More to the point … what happened to him? Why has nopony ever heard of him?’

Her internal musings were cut short, as she entered the library and saw the same dream-mare reading a book—this time its cover was golden rather than the previous one’s red—with the same sigil on its cover.

‘I wonder if she’ll let me read that one as well—judging how the previous one worked.’ Twilight thought with glee, momentarily distracted from her thoughts.

After all, learning new magic was what filled her with the most excitement.

Right behind spending time with her friends and family, that is—she corrected herself as she approached her companion.

Friendship Castle, Ponyville. 4:48 a.m.

Twilight felt like she had just spent an eternity watching the spell-work the dream-mare she now dubbed ‘Coral Tree’ rather than ‘Dream-Mare’, while watching how all the ponies summoned by the previous spell provided worked—providing energy in a vast amount, lifting some of the burden from the four alicorns and the five Element Bearers.

And yet the intent was clear in its design.

‘This spell is spectacular,’ thought Twilight to herself, as she processed what was being done, and then reading the tome over and over again.

‘This will not only summon a hero to help us … it will summon a hero that knows the same brand of magic that the Warden wields! He can even tell me his story! An alicorn born before there was an Equestria!’ She finished her thoughts with internal glee, as she devoured the contents of the spell-book under the amused face of Coral Tree.

‘Uh … Wait a second … ’

She turned to meet the face of Coral Tree.

“Miss … I am right at reading this point? That the Tree of Harmony itself must participate in the spell? As another pony?”

Coral simply nodded.

Twilight squeaked at the implications drawn by that calm nod.

“Is he … is he that powerful?” She asked, voice squeaking and quivering.

Coral nodded emphatically.

‘Oh.’

Twilight scrunched up in thought.

‘On one hoof, I don’t think it wise to summon somepony perhaps stronger than Discord without any assurances about his character … . Then on the other hoof—where is he, then? Why is this spell required to call him to us? Is he dead, or banished, or imprisoned, or—?’

She couldn’t finish her line of anxious thought, as Coral simply got close to her and started to hug her gently but firmly, brushing her muzzle over Twilight’s mane.

‘I guess I must have faith … .’

The nuzzling got only more intense … and only the tapping of a hoof brought her out of her self-made shell of anxiety.

“Uh, what … ?” Twilight asked sheepishly at Coral, whom was simply tapping her hoof on the book, then pointing at a clock nearby.

It showed 4:55 a.m.

“Okay … I’ll memorize this spell, and ask Celestia and Luna to review it together—” Twilight was interrupted by the sudden, hoof-stamp that resounded on the ground.

Coral was shaking her head emphatically, pointing at the book, then at the clock with her forehoof.

Twilight gulped at the possible meaning of this action.

“You mean … there is no time left?”

Coral’s face turned serious, as she snorted, nodding slightly.

“Oh no …”

Twilight started reading the grimoire … only to wince at the very specific requirements this summoning spell demanded.

Specifically, the events involving time—

—And the passing of night into day.

Focusing with all her might, she started to eat the book, familiarizing with the intricacies involved in its casting—and previous preparation.

After like what felt forever, she sighed in relief.

‘The worst part is the casting itself … ’

Summoning Dark (Edited by AuthorGenesis)

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Friendship Castle, Ponyville. 5:11 a.m.

Luna’s vigil and her sister’s rest were cut short again by the sudden awakening of their young friend, who rose quickly—as if in a hurry.

Raising her eyebrow, Luna asked the anxious mare “Twilight, is anything the matter?”

She squeaked at Luna’s question, only to answer in distress “I know why the spell brought all of us together—but there’s no time! It must be performed at the moment you lower the moon and Princess Celestia raises the sun!”

Twilight then proceeded to gently nuzzle Celestia’s neck, making her groan “It’s too early … .”

“Celestia …? I’m sorry, but we barely have time to gather everypony to go to the Tree of Harmony—”

This caused her eyelids to snap open.

“Twilight? What is going on?” Celestia asked, focusing on her former pupil as she rose from the bed.

Twilight simply answered, “I had a dream with the dream-mare again … and she showed me something very important—along with a spell to summon a legend to us.”

At her boggled expression, she replied “I’ll explain on the way!” as she teleported out of the room.

The sisters just turned to look at one another before teleporting as well.

Between the urgency of the awakening, the weirdness present on that day—because of the presence of the diarchs, who were helping in bringing them all together—the ponies gathered at the castle’s entrance, with tension rising between them as they were teleported in a rush towards the edge of town while it was still dark ... caused all of the ponies concerned—and one draconequus and dragon—to hastily chomp on apples brought on by Applejack to curb their sleepiness and nervousness as they waited for their friend and family member to explain.

“Let me get this straight … ” Rainbow Dash drawled between yawns, “That map thing summoned all of us to summon this … past hero of harmony or something?”

Without turning, Twilight replied, “Yes, I think that is what I just explained so far.”

Rainbow answered to that, “Couldn’t your spell work at a better time? I’m losing precious shut-eye here!” before yawning again, glaring softly at her friend—while everyone else just munched on the proffered apples to ward off the feeling of sleeplessness.

Twilight replied cooly while arranging the mass teleporting spell with the diarchs. “Sorry Rainbow, and everypony—but this was something nopony could’ve planned” she then muttered “no matter how much I tried to” before adding brightly “Just imagine this! An Alicorn stallion that has been around since before there was an Equestria!” Twilight’s eyes almost sparkled as she gushed forth a torrent of words that flew over most of the sleepy ponies’ minds, plenty related to “A witness to history!”, “What has he lived?”, “What has he been doing this entire time!”

All this being observed by the drowsy ponies with bemused looks on their faces at the enthusiasm being shown by the young princess … .

… Right before Luna interrupted her bookwormish gushing by simply calling her attention to the task at hand.

“Twilight Sparkle, Cadance … please assist us in powering up this teleport spell so we can get ready.”

As Twilight sheepishly went into her place, Cadance just nodded with determination as she went into her place, next to Celestia—right before their horns started glowing.

“So, when are we—” Starlight started speaking before disappearing—

—And reappearing in a chamber most sacred, with a relic in the shape of a crystal tree.

“—moving into the—Oh?” She finished with her mouth open from the sight of the Tree of Harmony in front of them, it glowing from within with power and magic.

All of the ponies stared in awe at the living relic that gave the same feeling that the Castle of Friendship had—one of loving friendship, the warmth that comes from being warmly welcomed as you are, of acceptance and care.

Few seconds passed before Twilight Velvet sniffed and blinked a few tears away, just like her husband and many of the ponies present that haven’t seen or heard of the living relic in their entire lives.

Flurry Heart also stared at the Tree, eyes wide in awe as her mouth was slightly open from her mother’s back.

“Is … Is it just me, or is it welcoming us?” Twilight Velvet asked while her husband nuzzled her tenderly.

“It may just be doing that, dear. I can feel it too.” He added as he tried to pretend he wasn’t tearing up from the strong emotional impact emanating from the relic, sniffling too.

“Twilight” Celestia called warmly. “Please set us all into place, so we can perform the summoning spell together.”

Nodding at once with determination and a large part of glee, a piece of chalk appeared in one flash of magic as she squeed—right before she went to work, at an insane speed.

All the assembled ponies, dragon and draconequus, just stared at the celerity by which Twilight Sparkle drew a very intricate drawing all over the floor - with places named after each of the ones present … and cutie marks crudely drawn on top of each name.

Discord drew a stopwatch from his fur and stared at it with wide eyes, commenting “Aaand she breaks a new record!” before throwing the stopwatch over his back with a deadpan face.

As the blast dissipated from the explosive time watch, the Princess of Friendship cleared her throat to gather everyone’s attention.

“Everypony! I thank all of you with all my heart, that you’ve come to help me prevent what might be a horrible fate!” She started as everyone raised their ears towards her, looking at her in the eyes.

Swallowing a bit of her nervousness, she continued “Today we will be summoning a great hero from ancient times; the maker of the Prison of Tartarus itself—not to mention defender of Harmony itself before there was Equestria! A certainly powerful and honorable individual … one I believe we could learn a lot from if he speaks the same language as us … ”

She waved her hoof as if it was inconsequential.

“Well … that is the reason I have just prepared a translation spell, just in case!” She added with a smile and confident attitude as she raised her hoof.

Everyone chuckled at that, hearts warming up just from that—their beloved bookworm was back to her old self.

“Well, everypony! Get into your positions according to the diagram I chalked to the floor!” Twilight exclaimed with excitement as everyone present took their places—while Twilight Sparkle placed herself opposite Luna, and Cadance placed herself opposite Celestia … and the Tree itself being the unspoken fifth source of magic.

Flurry Heart remained with Shining Armor as their place was together, almost as—

—As if it were pre-planned to take the young alicorn’s age into account, leaving her with her father to look out for her.

When everyone; including Discord; got into place, the Cutie Mark Crusaders next to their sisters/sister figure, Twilight’s parents flanking Shining Armor and Flurry Heart on both sides, and the four alicorns positioned in relation to one another … Twilight’s horn started to glow with intensity.

At first, nothing happened … and the ponies started to look at the second-youngest alicorn as she kept her eyes closed in focus, her horn starting to glow brighter from the strain—

—Only for everyone present to feel a large pressure building over them, as a sudden sense of tiredness started to erode their strength—making them grit their teeth from the strain.

Twilight’s horn soon was followed by her fellow alicorns—right as a large magical matrix of an intricate design bearing the Tree of Harmony in its middle started to form.

Theorems, magical equations, descriptions of thaumaturgic flows, and glyphs started to show themselves from thin air as everyone present felt the strain of the effort—Flurry Heart included, though her horn wasn’t shining as brightly as her parents’.

As the magical spell consolidated, the pegasi and earth ponies present started to feel the pressure as well, joining their fellow unicorns and alicorns in the power-feeding challenge ahead of them.

“‘C’mon … just a little more … .” Rainbow Dash said to herself as her wings and hoofs were glowing intensely, as Applejack’s hooves and body glowed in both magic and sweat from the focused effort.

“ … Twi?” Applejack asked through gritted teeth and eyes closed, “How … much …”

They didn’t notice the spell changing its drawing until the bright, white light flowing outwards the drawings started to change in color towards dark red.

At this point, it was Rarity the one that spoke out loud with a gasp.

“Everypony? Why’s the spell changing?”

Everyone opened their eyes at once and saw how the previously glowing white matrix was being assimilated into the design of the one that they had heard so much about … it starting to turn red and the design changing slowly but certainly.

As some of the ponies fell to their knees due to the strain, the drawing started to resemble more and more the design of a sword with the Tree of Harmony as its guard and part of the blade.

“ … Twi … light … ” Celestia requested through gritted teeth, “ … cut … the spell … ”, as her horn started to glow with a third layer of brightness, just like her fellow princesses and the unicorns present.

Twilight, internally panicking at the prospect of yet another spell failing on her hooves, made an attempt to cut off the flow from her horn—and failed.

This didn’t come unnoticed by everyone present, as they stared in shock how the spell started to glow as if in fire—

—and two figures appeared from the flames, one rushing the other.

Both were bipedal, and yet the smaller one looked like a minotaur child while the taller one—

“—out of the way!” The taller one exclaimed as he rushed towards the child, and everypony present noticed that he was wearing a leather apron, cotton pants, and leather boots … .

Said minotaur child just stared at them slack-jawed, while the spell remained in operation.

“Is … is he the Warden that Princess Celestia told us about?!” Scootaloo whispered in a panic to Rainbow Dash, who looked ready to strike the Warden if he moved.

The tall individual turned, making the already nervous Celestia and Luna gasp from the shock … as his antennae-like locks on front and the braid on his back, as well as his very familiar, and human-like features revealed fully who was in front of them.

Ignoring the ponies at first glance—his eyes widened, pupils shrinking down—as he looked at Discord, who looked just as shocked from this unexpected turn of events.

The Warden softly asked, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing while in the middle of things, mouthing silently “ … Galeas?” only to change his face in an instant, roaring in defiance “You will not take my granddaughter too, you animals!” as he placed himself in the way to protect the young minocalf, before crumpling on his knees with a cry of pain—magical cracks appearing on his body, caused from the unknown properties from the spell that dragged him over to their presence quickly spreading over his body.

“Grandpa!” the minotaur child that they now knew was female rushed towards the Warden as he panted, looking in surprise at the cracks showing light in his arms and body.

“ … Agria … Tell them what happened today … ”, The Warden muttered, before starting a cantrip that caused magic started to focus in an independent magical matrix beneath the young minocow’s hooves.

“Grandpa! Don’t—!” She screamed in panic as white flames consumed her—sending her back home … leaving the human in front of the conclave of ponies … and stared at the Tree of Harmony.

At first, his eyes were of shock, then they went dull from the implication of what had just happened, as he said softly: “ … So you betrayed me in the end … ”

As the human muttered his final words, the spell keeping his current shape collapsed in a bright explosion of light and magic … leaving behind, to the shock of all ponies present when they finally got their eyes cleared up from the flash … a light brown-coated Alicorn stallion, whose dark brown mane was made up in the same style as his previous form, all coated in some kind of black grime that exuded black magic and an evil aura, while his body frame was slightly larger than Celestia’s own when compared.

Blinking once the flash cleared his sight, he opened his large, brown eyes with streaks of red in the irises again … and fixed his sight on the six figures shining like the rainbow—all focusing a massive amount of magic—before quickly unleashing all of it against him.

He, as if knowing all was lost … simply closed his eyes as the Rainbow Power struck him while he was on his knees.

White light filled everyone’s eyes as the magic did its work—before a shockwave threw everyone back, with the stallion floating like a stringless puppet from the thaumaturgical whirlwind being generated—

—And several shades of what looked like humans of every kind and variety leaving his body, along with plenty of skeletal entities, demons, dragons and phantoms, all shooting upwards—ignoring the rock and crystal above them as they rose into the sky.

When the storm calmed down, they were met with silence … and a prone figure laid on the cold floor, barely breathing.

Four days have passed since the arrest of the comatose Warden—a biological Alicorn, according to the studies done to his body—where he was placed under heavy guard within the Royal Barrack’s Medical Warden, magic horn-sealers in the shape of horn-rings, hoof-clamps with magical seals, and wing-clamps with even more magical wards, placed upon his wings in order to prevent any incidents.

Life moved on for everyone, as tremors started to shake the country—a first for the ponies since arriving at Equestria, and a source of fear for everypony on the ground due to its sudden appearance.

All of the ponies were discussing the reasons for the quakes, yet only a few took them seriously enough … .

Undisclosed Location, Restricted Area.
Hour: Censored.

Within a cavernous place where dark stone melted into shadows, flickering by the finicky crystal lighting system installed on the natural walls … several cloaked individuals gathered around a circular stone table, torches placed strategically so no one could see the other’s face—including spies and scrying spells.

‘It always pays off to be careful.’ Thought the head of the gathering as he looked at his fellow members of their group … and rose his voice to be heard. “The gathering of the Brotherhood of the Eternal Ones is now in session.” The tenor and silky voice called loud enough for the other members to become quiet. “As you know from the latest report, we have several agents infiltrated within Castle Canterlot and Castle of Friendship, playing the part of loyal guards for the cursed alicorns. Ebon Rage, what is the status on the infiltration of the Crystal Empire?”

One of the cloaks cleared her throat before speaking out in a sweet, soprano voice that betrayed little of what was inside her. “Progress is slow, Grand Master Onyx Horn.” After a moment’s silence, she added with barely contained fury, “Between the demands from the Prince Consort, the crystal ponies’ character dead set against our magnificent values, and the cursed influence of both Spike the Dragon and the Princess of Love … we haven’t been able to recruit to our cause from within their society.”

She then cleared her throat once again. “Of course, all that have been targeted for recruitment were mind-wiped the moment they refused, in order to prevent inquiries. It is, to my belief, wiser to take over by military force rather than recruitment. King Sombra managed to do it … by himself. Why can’t we replicate his success?”

Another cloaked figure grumbled as his horn jutted out, glowing briefly as he teleported a cup and a wine bottle from a nearby, almost hidden pantry next to them. “Because unlike him, we have no access to the source of magic that he mastered … The Sword of Darkness; the symbol of the Warden … and the true source of Dark magic.”

Slurping gentlemanly from his cup of wine, he added “Of course, if we were to find out whether his source was the Warden, or a different kind altogether … we could then find out a way to raise ourselves beyond our prisons of flesh and blood … and straight into the path of ascension beyond alicornhood … into real godhood.”

Another cloaked figure sniffed loudly before saying “Of course you’d say that, Noir Agony. The issue is, in fact, the former Bearers of Harmony—two mongrel earth ponies, two traitorous unicorns, two worthless pegasi—and one of those unicorn filth-bloods rewarded for being such a good pet to the worthless diarchy.” He then sniffed again before adding “We and our forces are more than a match—especially if we focus on slaying the Bearers—”

The leader of the group interrupted at this point bluntly.

“Davy’s Torment, your point has been made—but so far it works against us. We need them alive for now,” he waved his hoof before taking a breath, before continuing to say, “until then, we will focus our efforts on finding the key to open the Chamber of Ceremonies that the Warden left behind—that is the only clue that we have from Sombra’s archives before they,” he spat at the word, ”retrieved them and locked them inside the Royal Vault.”

Onyx Horn turned to the table, and asked with iron in his voice, “Now … The report on our … allies. Charcoal Hex,” the unicorn nodded slightly, “… you may proceed.”

The cloaked unicorn replied with a haughty tone “The feather-brains think themselves to be using us for their own profit, and fail to realize,” he snickered mockingly before continuing, “that they are the ones serving us as scapegoats and errand-colts.”

Onyx Horn nodded in understanding. “Are they suspicious of us?” He asked neutrally, already knowing the answer.

Charcoal Hex snickered loudly before answering with “No. Those useless pegasi will not see this coming.”

The leader of the meeting was going to continue, but was distracted by what sounded … quick hoofsteps?

Coming in, right after he chose to keep quiet, a messenger ran into the meeting room, panting—and went straight into Onyx Horn’s seating, and whispered in his ear: “ … Sire! I bring dire news … The Gates of Tartarus are starting to dissolve!”

This caused the entire room to break in an uproar as they heard the whispered message.

“This is … highly irregular.” Coffee Ripper commented to himself as the other members of the group were claiming the news as ‘preposterous tripe’.

For Onyx Horn, though … this unexpected news bodes poorly, as he thought quickly how to turn this in his favor, all while sweating from the implications of the emergency message they received from the Royal Guard Tartarus Unit, who were posted in the vicinity of Tartarus. ‘Our current plans relied on that prison staying shut—We’ll have to see how this plays out in the mid-term if they break down.’

He stared off into the darkness as the cloaked ponies bickered with one another … and wondered to himself: ‘I wonder how the alicorns are handling this unfortunate news.’

Princess Celestia, Solar Diarch, the main figure in Equestrian politics and administration ... was silently looking at the scroll that was handed to her.

A special messenger from the Tartarus Unit had just arrived with an urgent report—right on the time when the meeting with the House of Nobles, where there was a meeting concerning the revoking of the laws discriminating against non-ponies … was in progress.

And thus, Celestia’s attempt at revoking those ancient laws that betrayed all that Equestria represented stayed in place for the near future—for the joy of a small but influential faction of nobles that wanted a purer, pony-only Equestria … and the discomfited grunts of the rest of the House of Nobles that wanted those archaic laws gone—along with several taxes threatening some of their sources of income.

Dismissing the court due to the scrolls’ priority, Celestia rose and left the building with a teleporting spell, flashing brightly before disappearing, and taking with her the messenger that delivered the scroll.

Among the nobles, a few wondered … .

What could have happened, to cause their beloved ruler to cut a meeting she had been pushing into schedule for the last year?

A few others knew already what were the contents contained inside said scroll and simply kept their ears and eyes open, waiting … .

Meanwhile, inside Ponyville’s Castle of Friendship … a silent princess tried to distract herself from the feelings gnawing at her heart, poring over scrolls that she couldn’t really pay attention to.

—“You will not take my granddaughter, you animals!” the Warden roared as he placed himself between the ponies and the minocalf before falling to his knees in pain … .

‘Did we do right in using the Rainbow Power on him without giving him the chance to speak? Did I do right by letting my fear for the well-being of my friends and family rule over me?’

—“Grandpa!” the minocow cried as she rushed to the Warden’s side … .

‘Who is he … ? A villain … ? A hero … ? A hero that fell into darkness … ?’

—“ … Agria … Tell them what happened today … ” The Warden muttered as his magic teleported her away … .

‘Why he didn’t try to fight us?’

—The Warden stared at the Tree of Harmony … muttering, “ ... So you betrayed me in the end …” beforechanging violently in shape … .

‘Betrayed him? Why say that to the Tree of Harmony of all things? Why did he sound so … hurt?’

—Blinking once the flash cleared his sight, he opened his eyes again and saw her and her friends shining like the rainbow—all focusing a massive amount of magic, before quickly unleashing all of it against him. He, as if knowing all was lost … simply closed his eyes as the Rainbow Power struck him while he was on his knees—

‘Why? Why can’t I shake this feeling off?’ Twilight asked herself as she tried to focus on the third volume of thaumaturgical flows by Clover—and shutting it close with a swift move, as she groaned from her lack of focus, and the chaos swirling around inside her mind and heart.

Groaning from her unexpected feelings, she set herself to go out … and have a walk around Ponyville to clear her thoughts—while being shadowed by the royal guards posted to keep her out of danger.

The Warden’s eyes flashed into Twilight’s memory as she walked to Sugarcube Corner—

—The Warden’s look at them before closing his eyes—eyes that actually lost their spark as the seconds went by, dulling off because of heartbreak and betrayal—

‘He felt like Tirek and Sombra—then why did he behave as he did!? He doesn’t make sense!’

Twilight had to know for certain … .

—They were standing in front of the still Warden. Whereas at the beginning he slightly surpassed Princess Celestia in size and musculature … after being purged of the black substance covering him by the Rainbow Power … he was reduced to a size equal to Macintosh Apple, signs of malnutrition and starting signs of muscle atrophy, being the most notorious in his reduced state, fur grayed out as his cutie mark that depicted The Dark Sword looking almost erased.

The feeling of wrongness, wickedness, and evil that was emanating from him so far was gone in an instant … .

… And the feelings filling the Chamber of the Tree of Harmony changed at this outcome, filling with grief not of their own hearts at what happened.

None was certain it was due to the words actually affecting the Tree—unlikely as it seemed—or if it was due to another reason they didn’t know about.

One thing was for certain.

Two completely different figures were one and the same—and was defeated in front of their eyes without any struggle.

Relief could be seen in all of their faces—all but Twilight, Discord and the other Princesses—as they spoke in confidence after a long time of sorrow from Twilight’s vision.

“Now we don’t need to worry about that jerk coming after us!” Rainbow bragged as she took Scootaloo with her into a celebratory flight, the filly squealing in delight at their victory.

Both Apples, though—they looked uncomfortable at what they had just witnessed, and for good reason.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle just hugged one another, as if bathed deeply in relief at having the one threatening their existence defeated.

The same went for everypony else, as Spike went to Twilight and placed a claw on her foreleg in support—

As Twilight ate a cupcake while sitting at a table nearby the counter of the bakery, she asked herself ‘Could I have handled things differently? Why am I feeling guilty at beating him, a veritable threat to all of us? But why, why didn’t he fight back?’

Making up her mind, her face changed into a resolute one.

‘Tomorrow morning I’ll write to Celestia, she will surely know what to make of this.’ She thought to herself as she went to do her chores back into the castle, with the guards tailing her at a distance.

Royal Barracks, Medical Ward.
Intensive Care Unit.
Restricted Area under Royal order.

“Doctor Healing Hoof, has the prisoner shown signs of consciousness yet?” Princess Luna—clad in the same ICU uniform as the medical personnel working within the unit—inquired as one of the medics, who was a gray-coated, mint maned unicorn stallion with white streaks in his mane, whose cutie mark was of a stethoscope crossed with a syringe and a scalpel. To finish the look, this medical officer was wearing glasses, a cloth mask, robe, and stethoscope with cloth hoof shoes—while attending the still body of a particular stallion along with two nurses, all the time checking his vitals with both his magic and the medical devices attached to his body.

The medic shook his head as he approached the ruler of the Night. “No, Princess Luna.” He cleaned his glasses with his robe before continuing, “he’s suffering acute hypothaumic shock, along with what seems like long-term malnutrition and skeleto-muscular malformations on his wings—probably self-inflicted, giving him an abnormal range of movement at the cost of the ability to fly.”

The stallion snorted as he caught sight of the platoon of heavily armed Royal Guards clogging the restricted section of the ICU medical ward before removing the file of the patient dubbed “Stallion Doe” from the file cart.

Opening it, he kept speaking with Luna while writing his observations in the paper with his telekinesis. “From the report you sent us concerning this stallion in front of us, we can say for sure that he’s been … sucked dry of his innate magic—similar to Tirek’s rampage, only this one didn’t get his power back. There is always the chance that he may wake up someday, but he’ll be nothing but a shadow of his former self.”

Luna sighed in relief … only to ask again “Are you certain? He’s been shown to be capable of handling dark magic of terrifying scale.”

The stallion just stared at the Moon Princess.

“There is a spark of dark magic funneling into him dark magic that we are currently incapable of either excising, purging, sealing or cleansing, now that you mention it … but his body seems to be converting that into normal Harmony magic,” he explained as he jotted down more notes before adding, “we have him on enteral feeding since that is the only thing his body has readily accepted—all efforts to give him a magic infusion have ended with his body purging the infused magic.” He nudged his head towards a wall that had a severe burn mark. “That was our last attempt in the early morning.”

He then turned to face the lunar diarch, and asked politely “Princess Luna? Why is the Royal House keeping this unknown stallion under arrest? I’d have guessed you’d welcome him like a long-lost family member, not treat him like an enemy.” He observed Luna’s reaction to his question, which had caught her by surprise.

“ … We had previously encountered him under a different form that he preferred to use, Doctor. He is, until proven otherwise, a threat—and I’ll do everything in my power to keep my ponies safe.” Luna stated with determination as her answer before adding, “Doctor? I’m going to report to my sister about his condition—and please forgive our decision to keep him under heavy guard, this surely is making everypony working here feel uneasy.”

She trotted out of the ICU, leaving a thoughtful doctor behind as he placed the file he was writing on back on its cart.

Minos Alliance, capital city of Garreus.
Council of Elders,
Four days after Iron Ash’s disappearance.

An emergency meeting had been hastily programmed after the ruler of the Minos Alliance—King Grimara Steel Gauntlet—had been informed about the abduction of one of the most important individuals inside his multi-cultural, multi-specie alliance and nation … by a crying minocalf and her broken-hearted family.

The ponies kidnapped with magic one of their major secrets of state, as well as one of their most important characters … one that had done plenty for the sake of the Alliance … .

The immortal entity known as Iron Ash, grand hero of the fight against the dragon raids of Grenbin, neighbor city of the city-state of Cairn Niall … and one of five hundred survivors that saw the destruction of the mountain city a few days later after the battle against the dragons, all at the hands of Equestrians that tried to hunt him down, before they were given sanctuary into the Minotaur city-state of Grenbin—now called Garreus.

‘What is to stop them from doing the same to the rest of us?’ Thought the King grimly as he witnessed the chaos unfolding inside the meeting grounds, while his court flanked him around his seat.

“I can’t believe this! The ponies dared to put their filthy hooves on our own beloved Eldest Member from the Chamber of Elders!? How dare they!?” An elderly and spry minotaur roared in outrage as the rest of the elders were voicing their displeasure very loudly.

“We were warned by him a few hundred years ago—right after the wipeout of Cairn Niall—that the ponies wouldn’t rest until they saw him either dead, buried, or sealed along with everyone he met … and look at what happened four days ago!?” Roared one of the members, this one a changeling queen of golden chitin and heavy wing covers over her thick, stout frame. She raised her hoof in rage as she roared “The Diarchs used their wardogs they call the Elements of Harmony to sequester him from our nation! They are a threat that needs to be dealt with—lest we are taken by them and conquered, if not annihilated by their cowardly soldiers!”

King Grimara just rubbed his bovine face in a show of impatience—one that caused all of the chamber’s members to go silent … right as he raised his gauntleted hand.

“A message has been sent to our Ambassador residing within Canterlot limits … along with a message for Iron Ash, should he still be alive,” announced one of the court members surrounding the King, before continuing, “while this is indeed dire news, we hope it is all a misunderstanding—there are events unfolding within Equestrian borders, and we can’t ignore those events.”

“What can be more important than our own living national treasure, guide and benefactor!?” Roared another elder from the council, this one appeared to be a very ugly, wrinkled and tiny diamond dog, his appearance at odds with his loud, rumbling voice.

“… According to our spies within Canterlot, an unknown party is preparing to destroy the Equestrian government and go on a campaign of conquest against all non-pony nations surrounding Equestria,” another member of the King’s court, a minocow with heavy armor and a helm portraying her status as Intelligence Commander announced with a resolute voice, “war will mean that one of our business partners—and all our other clients surrounding them—will be in peril due to power-hungry mad ponies pushing for all out war.”

“The ponies can drown for all I care! They still keep their antiquated rules against all non-equine races despite our insistence that such things go against their so-called “Harmony”!” Another minotaur elder called out loudly, to the cheering of many of the members present. “All of us have been trained in the same arts of war that our Eldest went through! Their magic is no longer a concern!”

“Not to mention the armors that he trained our metalsmiths to produce nowadays … and the ones our finest make in the King’s Forges—works of art for the defense of others!” Cheered another elder—another minocow with whitening gray fur—as she hugged the zebra next to her in her cheer.

Said zebra spoke out loud, saying “Fellow Elders, let us not make hasty decisions when overrun by emotions! We all care for our Eldest, but his wish would be for us to do what is right, no matter the cost—that is what will mark the difference: we welcome those that have anything to share with others, and have learned that each other’s strength is our strength as well! If the ponies don’t learn, then it will be upon their heads—but we will be without guilt!” before taking back his seat, next to the elderly minocow and his fellow zebra attendants.

“This will also mean that Equestria, which is our breadbasket, is in grave danger of suffering losses that will translate into famine for those that rely upon its production—us for one, and don’t forget the neighboring nations that rely on the Equestrians for food as well, which are our customers. Thus, it is imperative to secure the stability of their rulers against this threat.” King Grimara spoke out loud, taking advantage of a lull in silence from the bickering elders, who went quiet at that admission from their king.

“Are this reports on that conspiracy accurate?” Inquired an elderly griffon with a powerful voice, feathers dulled because of age—yet keeping keen and bright eyes, and a body as tough as his voice hidden beneath the wrinkles.

Another minotaur from the King’s entourage answered politely “The scryers are certain, but the ones doing this are keen in keeping themselves hidden, so far they haven’t been able to actually locate the commanders, not to mention the intellectual leaders of this speciesist faction.”

The King stated out loud, causing the entire chamber to go quiet: “Due to the Eldest’ wish to remain a state secret to keep the rest of us from harm, the ponies in all likelihood didn’t know about his status within our nation—that will work to our advantage.”

A green-furred, aged female centaur inquired at this point, “Your Highness? What is it you’re proposing?”

King Grimara didn’t turn to see at the centaur elder, just saying “They took our best Risk Breaker—the Grand Master Breaker, out of all people—I say we add another message for our ambassador to give to Iron Ash … our requests for him to perform while inside Equestrian borders, to be specific.”

The entire chamber went silent … until the same elder diamond dog stated out loud “ … Your Highness? Isn’t that overkill for those weaklings? He already despises them, this surely will grind on his patience to no end.”

“He will understand … especially since doing nothing will endanger everyone else.” The King finalized as he rose from his seat along with the rest of his court. “Spread the word—we are entering yellow state of emergency at this point. We will be ready for anything that comes.”

With that said, the elders’ voices roused into a roar at the King’s command as he left the premises.

Two days have passed since Princess Celestia received the report concerning the status of the Seals of Tartarus—and feeling dread as to the reason why, considering what her sister had just shared with her when they had their meal together.

‘Could it be possible that the Warden’s power was feeding into the seal, keeping it whole? Was it a security measure we didn’t know about? Or was it a last-ditch effort to get back at us?’

To make matters worse, in a matter of minutes she would be receiving the visit from the ambassador for the Minos Alliance, a minotaur named Silver Gauntlet, along with his entourage.

‘So far, he’s shown little interest in our affairs—besides aiming to remove those ancient laws regarding species’ rights to improve relations between our nations … why request an emergency meeting with me now of all days?’

Princess Celestia received her answer fifteen minutes later, when Ambassador Gauntlet arrived to the meetings room—carefully protected with spells crafted straight into the walls, windows and doors to prevent both attacks and espionage.

Unlike previous times, he was wearing a body-covering robe that did little to hide the mass of muscle behind him, and was holding a messenger’s sack on one hand.

Normally one of his subordinates did the grunt work. Right now, he was flanked by two heavily armored minotaurs—swords still in sheaths, and yet their hands resting on the pommels—ready for anything.

‘Why did they come like that?’ Celestia pondered as she watched the large minotaur take his sit, placing the messenger’s sack on top of the table.

So far, she had known the serene and patient minotaur as one who was interested in the path of the least resistance. Right now, though … his face was grim, eyes burning in rage as he opened the sack he was carrying, and carefully laid the rolled scrolls he pulled out on the table.

‘What could have happened to have made such a gentlecolt mad? … And his guards are angry as well?’

Without any preamble, he started talking in his grave, basso voice with barely contained anger—which surprised the Princess.

“Two days ago we received a report concerning the kidnapping of one of our most illustrious citizens at the hands of Equestrian ponies—to wit: one of the most respected members of our Council of Elders.”

This caught Princess Celestia by surprise, as she asked wide-eyed “Ponies did this?”

The grim minotaur just nodded curtly.

“His name is Iron Ash, and he has served as an Advisor to the Minos Alliance for the longest time—as such, he’s privy to state secrets that would be paid in gold by those who despise what our Alliance represents.”

“How—how was he foalnapped?” Celestia inquired softly, as her ears were splayed on her head at listening to this.

Clearing his throat, he said “According to the report we received from the witnesses, he was taken out of his home during lunch—along with a minor. The minor returned shortly after, but was in hysterics.”

Celestia’s irises shrunk at that mention—remembering that minotaur foal that the Warden teleported back.

“The funny thing is, Princess of the Sun … according to the witness, four of the foalnappers were ponies that had both wings and horns.” He glared at the now suddenly nervous alicorn, “Where. Is. Our. Eldest?”

At that moment a trail of smoke entered through the open window, and ended up in front of the Princess—where it transformed into a scroll with a very familiar seal and wording.

‘Oh Twilight—Why now of all times!?’

As she smiled apologetically at the angry minotaur, another quake shook the entire city—only this time, instead of protests and complains, silence greeted them … and the early morning light was rendered darker … .

The princess and the ambassador exchanged glances as they waited for the quake to recede … and moved carefully towards the windowsill, where they gaped at the sight.

Floating in the middle of the air, dark clouds gathering all over the Everfree … a Magical matrix projected into it with purple and red lighting the size of the forest itself, judging by the skewed look it had of its drawing—which from the window couldn’t be perceived. Princess Celestia made a mental note to send some pegasi to make a drawing of the phenomenon.

Only for several other scrolls to start materializing out of smoke on the vicinity of Celestia, forcing her to say politely “Ambassador Gauntlet? I think we will have to meet again, after this is dealt with.”

The minotaur simply nodded as he stared at the phenomena being displayed in front of him … right before leaving, thinking to himself: ‘The King and the Council must learn of these events!’

Things were going poorly at the Crystal Empire, as the ponies were panicking over the sudden appearance of a massive magical matrix which encompassed the whole city’s skyscape.

So far, neither Sunburst, Starlight, and the Crystal Guards sent to aid them—those who had scholarly tendencies—had been able to find out why … even after scouring the entire contents of the library and appealing to Sunburst’s privileged memory of all the contents inside.

“Why is this magic matrix appearing here of all places!?” Starlight said in panic, mane becoming more and more frazzled as they kept poring over spell books, grimoires, and tomes of magic.

“From what I can tell, Starlight … It looks almost like a seal. But never in my life have I seen this design being used!” Sunburst replied, as he analyzed the drawing he had made of the spellcraft on their sky.

Outside the library, Flash Sentry watched nervously upon the new sky that graced the city … and shivered just from watching it.

‘Of all the colors, why does it only use red and purple?’ he asked himself, trying to bring the guardstallion mentality to the front in order to control his fear.

The fear that something awful was going to happen to everypony.

The fear that his Twilight was going to suffer … and he didn’t even know where to start—besides waiting for the monster called Warden to awaken, and for him to reveal his plans … .

‘But why … why do I feel something’s wrong with this picture?’ He pondered with his trained mind as he listened to the bickering scholars and sagacious ponies inside the library he was helping to keep watch on.

His mind went into that day as he kept watch … .

… and found himself wondering:

‘If he’s such a monster … why remain behind and be captured? He could’ve left the minotaur filly behind, yet he didn’t.’

His inner-self started to seriously think … and there were too many inconsistencies with what he had heard and what he had seen.

‘Could a heartless monster care for others? Someone who was worse than Sombra, according to the Princesses?’ He pondered.

Right as he saw in his mind’s eye how the one they feared had in fact remained behind … and the look on his eyes as he realized the Tree of Harmony was there—supporting them in the execution of the spell that brought him there.

“ … So you betrayed me in the end …”

‘Those were the eyes of a heartbroken individual …’ Flash ruminated as he remembered the sheer amount of sorrow, betrayal and pain they showed.

‘ … It is no wonder why he lost the will to fight … with eyes expressive of a betrayal by a close friend or lover.’

Flash could only hope that the Warden’s state wasn’t related with this foreboding sensation coming from the new sky.

Meanwhile, at the Crystal Palace, things were not going well at the emergency meeting with the city elders, historians, and lore keepers. Princess Cadance and Prince Consort Shining Armor had bags under their eyes as the old coots continued their discussion without providing any real answers … .

“This must be an vengeance measure from King Sombra in case he fell!” One of the remaining magic specialists, one of the survivors from Sombra’s purge when he took over, stated with a huff and a voice that sounded nasally and masculinely high pitched.

“And I keep telling you, you old coot! This is not his style!” Another specialist, a crystal pony mare that looked good for her age yelled out at the smug expert.

As the more vocal scholars dueled for the high-ground, one of the oldest ones—a crystal pony mare named Hematite Geode, due to her dark coat and mane, with eyes which gazed upon each pony speaking, a trait that highlighted her intelligence, as well as the irises being an emerald green—just hummed in deep thought as she looked at the drawing the pegasi of the Crystal Guard had made of the magic matrix’s lines and symbols.

“ … So, we have nothing on this?” Shining Armor asked tiredly, making the room go silent as the scholars started to blush in embarrassment.

“It’s okay, Shiny. It was too much to hope, that this was somehow related to the Warden of the Dark that we captured a few days ago …” Cadance said before nuzzling her husband to comfort him—before hearing a gasp from the oldest mare in the room.

Hematite just stared at them with eyes wide open as she asked, her voice cracking “You—Your Highness? Did you say that you have captured the Warden of the Dark?”

The couple looked at each other, before turning to face the mare and nod at the same time, with the rest of the members in silence, waiting for her to continue.

“ … I remember, in my young days—when my beloved grandmother was alive—that she told me and my siblings her story of how the Crystal Empire came to be …”

At this point, some of the scholars scoffed in derision at listening to an old mares’ tale from one of their oldest—and in their humble opinion, the battiest—storytellers and historians.

Ignoring their scoffs, she continued narrating, as if from memory “… her grandmother told as to how, once upon a time—when the main tribe of earth ponies went south while we chose to go northwards—our leaders at the time had a vision: one of a plain covered in snow, but rich in wealth and food despite the cold, it being transformed in front of their very eyes into the city as it came to be.”

“How is an old mare’s tale going to help us!?” One of the scholars hissed—only to be hushed by the captive audience.

“And so they journeyed … to the place they thought they were meant to be … . But they found something else living here too … an entity that lived in the cold wasteland, who kept watch … who kept watch over this entire plain.”

She turned her face to meet the now muted audience as she added “… who then confronted the leaders at the time—Quartz Hope and Ruby Embrace … your ancestors, your Highness,” she said softly as Princess Cadance gasped at that, raising a hoof to the mouth from learning a little about her past in such a way, before the old mare continued, “who confronted the leaders along with the tribe as they settled in the plains—as to their intentions towards the land he was given to watch over … this being whom they came to know as The Warden of the Dark. He ordered the ponies to leave these frozen plains posthaste, since these plains were sacred grounds.”

As the old mare looked at the audience she had managed to entrance, she huffed before speaking out, her voice cracking as she teared up, “I think I got too involved with telling this story … foals nowadays aren’t interested in our culture—only Equestrian this, Saddle Arabian that—no one cares about our heritage anymore …” her ears splaying against her head as she looked forlorn, eyes falling to the ground as they closed in hurt, hunching as if feeling drained.

A few moments passed as the old mare simply sniffed softly, as most of the listeners were actually feeling bad from having dismissed the old pony’s words.

And quite a few were giving the stern look to the one who had voiced his displeasure, who now looked as if he were wishing that the ground could swallow him.

With this being said, the soft patter of hooves sounded as somepony had risen … heading towards the sad elder, who didn’t react as she was pulled into a hug.

Rising her head after a few minutes passed by, Hematite was shocked to see that the one who had risen to comfort her was none other than Princess Cadance, who said nothing as she looked at her with great care—care and love for everypony, Hematite herself included.

Her throat got caught in her mouth as the princess asked her softly, “Please, Hematite … please continue with your story. … I want to know more about my ancestors and what they did …” while looking at her with watering eyes, as if silently begging her to continue.

Feeling comforted … and more than a little appreciated, the old mare cleared her throat before continuing, not taking her eyes off the table as she remembered what was told to her when very young.

“The entity ordered them to leave, but … the crystal ponies found a friend in the Warden’s child, a merry, joyful creature that contrasted wildly with its father who wanted to throw us out into the cold …”

As the old mare said this, Cadance’s eyes widened as she remembered Celestia’s words about him searching for his son—who was similar to a certain draconequus.

Not noticing, Hematite continued narrating.

“The little one, feeling compassion for the ponies that had left everything behind, pleaded with his father, to let the ponies establish there—so that they could fulfill the job he was doing in his stead—just so they could be free to wander the world and enjoy its beauty.”

At this point, Shining Armor asked to the historian: “... Does the story tell about what happened to them?”

The old mare nodded, but her face fell as she said “They were welcomed to stay with us, due to the importance of these plains … and in time, he shared why these plains were considered sacred with the elders of that time.”

“Hematite … what happened then?” Cadance asked softly as she kept her grasp on the mare with her wing.

“ … I don’t know, because the story ends with them helping our great-grandparents to settle down in this lands—and for them being banished from our nation after the city and the Crystal Heart was completed,” the old mare shook her head despondently as she added, “to this day, I don’t know why—and the tales don’t say either.”

Shining Armor asked, his voice quiet: “ … Isn’t there anything else you could share with us? A name, perhaps? A description of what he did?”

The old mare furrowed her eyes in deep focus … before answering “I think … the name of the child was … Gaias … no, that’s not right … oh, that non-pony name!”

Cadance’s mouth let go of the name as she gasped. “G-Galeas!?”

Smiling widely, Hematite turned towards Cadance, eyes sparkling as she said “ … Oh my, young dear. How did you know?”

Shining Armor and Cadance looked at each other, eyes wide, pupils shrunken … right before leaving the room in a sprint, the glow of magic showing that they had just teleported to another place.

“Hmmm … young ponies these days … always rushing around all the time …” Hematite said before sighing in melancholy, adding: “Oh, the wonders of youth. How I miss you … my Topaz Dream.”

The rest of the chamber went silent as they processed what they had just witnessed, the bickering resuming as the old mare just left her seat and went towards her home.

A whole week has gone by since the defeat of The Warden of the Dark, and Princess Celestia called an emergency meeting with her fellow princesses and the Element Bearers to address a development which needed to be addressed.

Twilight could just stare at the letter in front of her, which bore a stamp she knew about from her latest studies with her mentor, but didn’t want to see in her entire life due to the implications that it had attached to it.

A golden stamp was the usual type of seal which Celestia used for normal communications—like her time when she sent friendship reports to Princess Celestia.

A blue stamp was used for State Affairs, like invitations to diplomatic meetings with ambassadors from other countries.

But the red stamp … was used for emergencies of national importance, akin to the time when Tirek rampaged through Equestria, when the princesses sent the emergency warning to their forces … and were defeated in his passing to steal their magic.

‘What could’ve motivated Celestia to write to me with such a system, instead of just summoning me?’ Twilight thought to herself as she opened the scroll, ripping off the seal … and staring in terror at the contents.

To your Royal Highness, the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle: Bearer of the Element of Magic,
Your Highness is hereby summoned to the meeting which will take place at Canterlot’s Inner Security Council, at this present day, at 18:00 hours.
Your Highness is required to summon the former Element Bearers; Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, all of whom will participate in the aforementioned meeting after swearing an oath to secrecy, as part of your Royal entourage according to the will of the diarchs, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
Two pegasi chariots will be sent to pick Your Highness and her entourage to travel to Canterlot at 15:00.
Subject of discussion is CLASSIFIED for all involved.
Royal Head of Internal Affairs, Hammer Helm
Royal Secretary, Raven Inkwell
Royal Advisor, Umber Trottingham

“ … I can’t bring Spike with me?” Twilight questioned herself, “nor Starlight? What could possibly be happening, that they want us to attend such an important meeting?”

The fact that this letter arrived by courier at six in the morning, rather than being mailed via dragon-fire could only mean that something major was going on, and they didn’t trust the magical delivery services.

Shrugging, she rose and started making preparations … .

‘I only hope that my friends will want to spend the night at Canterlot Castle.’

“Spike! I’m being being summoned at Canterlot along with the girls! You’re in charge until I come back!” Twilight called out loud as she started to make a new schedule for the day, throwing the previous one into the bin, “Starlight! I’ll need you to help Spike to keep an eye on things until we come back!”

“Sure thing!” Spike called out from the kitchen, where he was busy making pancakes for them.

At around the same time, Starlight came out of the kitchen to ask, “What just happened, Twilight?” before she came closer to her friend.

“We are being summoned to Canterlot, Starlight.” Twilight said as she bit her lip, “sadly I can’t bring either of you with me, it seems that the subject of the meeting is confidential—I was instructed that only the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony are being summoned,” Her eyes started to turn into pinpricks as she looked at the scene outside of the window closest to her.

Focusing on it as she approached it, she could see the image of a massive magical matrix shining above the forest for the last three days, whose clouds were no longer moving towards Ponyville and Canterlot … but rather had taken to orbiting around the woods as if trapped under an unknown influence.

‘I can only hope that this summons is not related to that magical matrix.’

Dark Souls (Edited by AuthorGenesis)

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Canterlot City, Royal Palace.
Inner Security Chamber,
Time: 20:00

From an illusion showcasing a full moon framed by a window—this illumination aid beaming its light down into the candle-lit room, where a large group of ponies were gathered … Twilight and her friends in one section, which had been reserved for them and thereby seating them closest to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, with Cadance and Shining’s on the other side of the Royals of the Sun and Moon.

And just as unfortunate—for Twilight Sparkle and her entourage—was the fact that the meeting was indeed related to the magical matrices which had appeared in Ponyville’s Everfree Forest, The Crystal Empire, and over the wasteland which housed the Gates of Tartarus.

“As you can see, your Highnesses, Harmonic Element Bearers … members of the Council—the projections are clear, if we go by the evolution of the magical constructs being shown to everypony,” Hammer Helm explained to the ones present at the chamber.

Along with all four princesses, the prince consort and the former bearers of the Elements of Harmony; there were also present several noble representatives from the different houses, all of whom held power within the socio-political and socio-economic structures of Equestria in general, and Canterlot in particular.

As to what they were being shown … it was a progression of each magical matrix that appeared in each of the places.

The one at the Gates of Tartarus—officially named Tartarus Matrix—portrayed as its first picture the image of a Tree taking root upon a skull that took a quarter of the image displayed, with the Dark Blade impaled on the skull’ forehead … and the progression detected showed this: the spell matrix was slowly changing into a different one, where the skull was growing in size as the Dark Blade dispersed, and the roots of the Tree were beginning to wither and decay from restraining the skull entangled within its root system. Its current state was of the Tree slowly being uprooted as the skull slowly began changing shape, taking on a sinister appearance … as several bones started to protrude from the skull, as well as shadows that gave the appearance of devils.

‘Isn’t that the Tree of Harmony, portrayed there as taking root upon the skull? Why is it failing to keep a hold of it?’ Twilight reflected as she saw the pictures displayed within the visual component of the matrix.

Silence filled the chamber, with the exception of the sound of breathing, or of one or more ponies taking a sip of water as they examined the findings from the Guard and the Weather teams posted at each site.

In another part of the chamber, the spell matrix over the Everfree Forest—dubbed the Forest Matrix—was showing the most radical changes, much to Twilight and her friends’ concern.

The starting matrix portrayed the following picture: the initial picture, which was drawn two hours after it had appeared, portrayed the same tree—rooting upon the figures of the bipedal, armored wolves which appeared to be dead frozen in place, with the Dark Sword glyph displayed as if it was the counterpart to the tree pushing roots through the bodies, its tendrils digging into them.

The picture which had been taken eight hours ago was of the Dark Sword glyph almost faded into nothing with the Tree losing its rooting—and the wolven bodies were starting to move and shift away from the glyph’s center, as if attempting to fill the entirety of the design with their numbers.

‘What is the meaning of this? Why have the numbers of the wolf-beings increased as the glyph of The Dark Sword faded away?’ Twilight reflected as a part of her consciousness kept track of what the expositor was saying concerning their findings. ‘And why is the glyph of the Tree collapsing without its influence?’

Pinkie Pie, in an uncharacteristically quiet voice, asked herself as if in serious disbelief of what she was seeing: “Are those wolfies trying to break out of the picture?”

Taking that as part of Pinkie’s … Pinkyness, Twilight ignored her, focusing her attention on the next picture … .

The magical matrix being projected onto the artificial sky of the Crystal Empire which showed her a radically different design, yet the changes were just as profound as with its two counterparts.

The initial drawing of the matrix showed the same Tree Glyph, with its roots serving as a cage for the design, while a very stylized Crystal Heart functioned as a padlock, with the body and shackle itself wearing the design of the Dark Sword. The unusual way it was drawn, was that the padlock itself projected chains over all the bars—as if fulfilling a reinforcing function to the Tree’s. And more importantly … .

It seemed to come from the Crystal Heart itself, with the Dark Sword serving more as the padlock’s body—and thus, the protection for the Heart itself.

The thing which they were guarding was unclear, only a black spot could be distinguished in the background.

The drawing made at the same time as the others, on the other hand … .

The matrix had changed, with the padlock all but eroded—its chains starting to show signs of strain in the design—while the bars themselves were beginning to dissolve, the Tree slowly losing its grip on what was trapped within its roots.

At the center, behind the all-but-gone padlock with the Crystal Heart shape being the only thing keeping the bars closed with its chains… was what seemed like a shadow which had no actual shape … if one were to judge if looking at the figure of a spiders’ leg, a crab claw, a dragon claw, a falcons’ beak, a vicious dogs’ flesh-rending jaw, and a plethora of other various limbs and parts with no discernible logic behind the creature’s placement of its body parts.

‘The first picture in the background of the Crystal matrix looked like an orb sealed behind bars… is—is it slowly unfolding as the matrix is changing!?’ Twilight wondered in fearful fascination with the progression between images.

Her attention was drawn back to the one doing the exposition regarding their findings.

“Since we know little to nothing about the purpose or function of these matrices, we inquired with our contacts within the College for Gifted Unicorns … and they reached two conclusions—”

At this point, Hammer Helm struck the floor hard with one hoof to emphasize his point, which caused several of the nobles’ attention—which were beginning to get distracted—to return to the subject being expounded upon in a flash.

“—First, more than a summoning spell being on display, it is more akin to an animated visual warning about the contents contained behind each glyph-work …”

Hammer Helm struck the floor with his hoof once more, while looking at the audience with a frown on his face.

“And second, something must have happened to the magical systems powering these matrices sometime during the last week, which thusly actuated the glyphic power failure early warning system—hence causing the changes within the glyph-work from the time of its first appearance unto this day,” the old unicorn stallion added to his exposition, before snorting in frustration.

“Do you know the geographical source points for these … projections, Hammer Helm?” asked a pegasus stallion wearing an impeccable frock, speaking in a very grave, educated voice.

Hammer Helm shook his head, “No at this point, Lord Kestrelis—and not because of incompetence, before you ask—since the sources of this projections are cloaked in the same fashion as the Gates of Tartarus, but to this day we haven’t found the magical key to expose them, in order to find out what is causing them.”

The Head of Inner Security snorted again, before adding, “The only one we have a clear clue about is the Crystal matrix, since it is being projected with the palace as an epicenter, and the figure of the Crystal Heart is a clear clue that it is in itself an active part in keeping whatever it is employed to contain, contained.”

“Do we know what these … matrices are warning us about?” inquired with might in his voice another of the nobles, this one a unicorn whose coat was white as snow, with his mane and tail graying out from its original blond, and wearing a white tuxedo.

“No, Lord Patrician, the scholars have yet to discover any information regarding that subject,” Hammer replied to the stallion.

“So, whatever warning the glyph-work are giving us, is useless without us knowing the level of danger it is warning us about, or why whatever is contained is deemed so dangerous by whoever crafted and activated these glyphs … we are running a lot of risks with this lack of information, Helm,” chastised another unicorn lord from the council, this one with a coat of grey and sporting a slightly grayer mane, who glared at the Head of Inner Security.

“... that is correct … Lord Hex,” Hammer Helm replied professionally, while his eyes narrowed in a gaze of disdainful loathing as he looked upon the unicorn he was addressing.

“I think that all the current findings concerning these … matrices are indicative of the fact that they are simply warnings, rather than spells designed as either dead-pony switches or a fail-deadly measure against us equines by an unknown party to date,” Lord Martinet Patrician spoke out loud, his grave voice hushing the whispering nobles.

“Your concern is noted, Lord Patrician—up to this point, the scholars have all agreed that the normal thaumaturgical structure for a summoning spell does not follow this design, nor are the measurements which have been taken of these glyphs thaumically draining like a standard summoning spell. It has been proposed that its intent or purpose displayed so far has been this: to simply being … a visible component.”

“Considering that these are all the findings which the Royal College and Royal Guard have acquired so far, I would advise caution and begin preparations for the worst-case scenario and do hereby propose that the Equestrian military begin making preparations to deal with whatever threats which might appear from these three matrices,” another unicorn Lord proposed, while there was an uproar at the proposal of both approval and dissent—with more than a few comments being passed about ‘Equestria’s prosperity will be in peril if this state of things continue further’.

“Motion for the approval of the mobilization of the Royal Army is currently the motion being decided,” intoned another pony, this one a pegasus with a bored look on his face, before addressing the VIP seating area, “Your Highnesses, all motions concerning the mobilization of troops within Equestrian territory fall within your authority. What is your decision? Will the motion pass? Or shall the motion be denied?”

Princess Celestia and Luna looked at one another, an imperceptible nod passing between them before Celestia replied in a regal voice to the audience.

“Motion for the mobilization of troops approved, under the condition that the military outposts along our borders maintain the necessary military pony-nell … and that military campsites are to be established within seven days, and allowed to remain in place near the anomalies for a maximum of thirty days,” Celestia commanded as the ponies gathered within the chamber started an uproar at the conditions, before Princess Celestia motioned for silence before she continued, “Due to the progress of the changes in time registered, we believe that there is less than a month available for the mobilization—there is a high chance that the Forest Matrix will be the first to manifest its nature before an actual base can be established.”

“Motion approved with conditions,” the same pegasus droned on, “all that approve,” as several green lights flashed on the wall, and waited for the lights to go out before droning, “all that disapprove,” and a fifth of the wall lighted up red, with several nobles having abstained from voting.

“Motion carried! Mobilization of troops upon potential regional threats is to be executed within the following seven days to secure the aforementioned areas within the range of these unknown phenomena.” The pegasus speaker then said to one of the secretaries writing notes next to him, “Please send a message to General Iron Spear, for a meeting about the logistics of this mobilization of Equestria’s military. Meeting adjourned,” the pegasus stallion droned before rising from his place, with all the other nobleponies rising at the same time and leaving the chamber … while Princess Celestia remained behind to address some of the issues the nobles which were approaching her likely had concerning her decision in the matter.

However, as Twilight and her friends were making their way to the exit of the room, with Cadance and Shining Armor bidding them goodnight and leaving at a quick trot—as they mentioned that Sunburst was waiting for them with Flurry Heart—their attention was drawn as Princess Luna approached them with a grim look on her face.

“Princess Luna? Is anything the matter?” Twilight asked to her more senior, fellow princess before Luna turned her eyes to see around … the princess of the night humming in satisfaction for some reason before turning to face Twilight and the former Element Bearers … .

As Luna placed her snout close to Twilight’s ear, she spoke to her in a hushed whisper, “Twilight Sparkle … I fear the worst, that this … magical matrices’ appearance is somehow connected with our prisoner,” Luna whispered, “and I dare not say out loud what will need to be done to find out what is the problem, and much more importantly,” she used her wing to close Twilight’s mouth as she was going to voice a question, “what will be … required for us to solve it.”

Princess Luna then turned to face the former bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and said with grim resolve “I’d … like your assistance for a certain task. Would you accompany me?” The last part of her speech—unlike its wording—actually sounded like she was actually begging them to come without explicitly saying so, as she eyed once again the crowd of nobles dispersing.

As if speaking for all present, Rainbow Dash spoke with confidence at her. “Of course, Princess Luna! We’ll never leave a friend hangin’!” while Twilight and the other former Element Bearers nodded with conviction.

Luna’s smile was one of relief, as she said to them, “Then please accompany me, and I’ll let you in on the details as to what needs to be done.”

Luna led Twilight and her friends quietly, teleporting the whole group every now and then—as if afraid of being followed by someone—until they reached a part of the palace which Twilight hasn’t been inside during her entire life as a student of Celestia’s: The Medical Ward of the Royal Barracks.

Upon entering, they saw how one of the Nightwatch guardsmares, who had been posted at the reception desk, exited from behind the desk and approached Princess Luna at a brisk trot.

“Your Highness? How might we be of assistance?” The mare asked after saluting, her webbed wing and yellow slitted eyes being the highlight on an otherwise dark gray coated mare covered in dark blue armor of a draconic appearance.

“I brought assistance to aid me in our research, Lieutenant Rose Palm,” Luna informed the guardsmare matter-of-factly. “And I want the guards who are posted around the unconscious prisoner’s room to remain on high alert for the duration we are inside.”

With her eyes widening, she snapped off a crisp, professional salute unto her highest military authority before barking some orders in an unknown language to her fellow guards, who replied in the same fashion.

Luna grunted, apparently satisfied at what had transpired and without saying a word, motioned at her companions with her wing and indicating that they should follow her, which they did … .

But not before looking at one another nervously, the unvoiced question being: Who’s the prisoner?

As they walked through the silent corridors, a medic or nurse trotting quietly past as they kept moving towards the heart of the complex where the ICU ward was located. At the entrance to the restricted area one of the nurses took notice of them and called them to the side, where she asked them to go to the nurse’s changing room to put on white robes and masks, plus hoof-shoes made of cloth—which made them look like they were wearing hoofy booties for foals—to prevent contamination from that point on for the more delicate patients.

Thus, they kept walking … until they reached an entire section which was under heavy watch by the Royal Guard, which due to the time of day it was, was composed of mostly rousseponies—commonly known as batponies. Upon entering the room, they all saw the prostrated and familiar shape of the same stallion that they had met all those days ago.

“Princess Luna? Why’s he here, instead of in Tartarus where he belongs?” Rainbow Dash asked to their guide with a raised eyebrow, while the others stared at the immobile figure—immobile aside from the slow motion of his barrel rising and falling from his breathing being the only evidence of him still remaining among the living.

“Rainbow Dash … as much as I wanted that, there were practical reasons to not doing that—one of them being the fact that I suspected that such a fierce adversary wouldn’t leave his defeat unavenged.” Luna declared as she frowned at the changes she had seen from the first days that The Warden had been hospitalized.

For one, his wings were bandaged—something she’d need to inquire about, as she didn’t remember any standing orders to treat his possibly self-inflicted injuries to increase his wing-range of action.

Luna turned to meet everypony’s gaze with her own, “And considering what has been transpiring during these last few days, I felt vindicated in that regard.”

“Hmm … Princess Luna? How can we ask him? He feels … wrong now.” Fluttershy inquired as she eyed the unconscious stallion lying still on the cot, his breathing being rhythmical like a metronome.

Luna turned to see Fluttershy … and moved her sights back towards the unconscious stallion next to them, setting her eyes on the figure.

Luna then said to them in a careful tone. “From what the doctors have said from their examinations a few days after he was admitted, he’s apparently been in a coma due to hypothaumic shock … and there is a high chance that he’ll never awaken. This is why we’ll enter his mind by way of his dreams, everypony.”

“Hypothaumia? Coma? Bu-but the Rainbow Power is supposed to bring balance and cleanse wicked influences over ponies, not to harm them!” Twilight exclaimed at the news, feeling sickened at the reality of the situation … as well as realizing why Celestia didn’t reply to her letter concerning The Warden to this day.

Something lingered in her memory, almost recognized, but Twilight Sparkle couldn’t place it as she stared at the results of her decision to preemptively use the Rainbow Power given to her and her friends against this mysterious figure.

“We know, Twilight … we don’t understand either. He was supposed to be either cleansed, as I had been when I was Nightmare Moon, which reduced me to a smaller stature, and magically weaker state—which did happen, as The Warden was the size of my sister before being purged by the Rainbow Power; Or, I thought that he might have turned to stone, like what happened with Discord; or banished to Tartarus, like you did when welding that Rainbow Power against Tirek.” Luna replied in a neutral tone of voice as she looked Twilight in the eyes.

She then turned to meet the gaze of all the other ponies present, for the first time showing fear in her eyes as she said with a careful tone, “I … I don’t know what we’ll find inside, everypony. If you don’t want to risk yourselves I’ll completely under—”

“Now, now, Princess Luna.” Rarity chided the ruler before clicking her tongue, “You’re our friend, and you said that you have a way to find out what is going on with those matrices … if you want our support, we’ll gladly give it to you!” she finished saying as all the ponies present walked closer to show their solidarity toward Luna.

Luna breathed in … and released her breath, determination in her eyes now as she asked them, “Everypony? Are you certain of this?”

“Ah’m as ready as ah’ll ever be.” Applejack stated calmly as she removed her stetson and placed it next to her as she followed Luna’s wing to approach the cot.

“I … I hope we can understand him better. Perhaps he wasn’t such a bad pony? That tar thing on him when we first saw him might have corrupted him.” Fluttershy said softly as she approached too.

“I am ready to kick flank and be as awesome as I wanna be! And I’m already as awesome as I wanna be!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, going airborne for an instant before landing next to Fluttershy, her wing extended over Fluttershy’s barrel in order to calm her friend, who smiled behind her hair at her rambunctious friend.

“Well, who knows what we’ll find inside—so we better make sure that the end of the world isn’t at our doorstep.” Rarity said as she approached the forming circle around the cot, before adding with exasperation, “And I most certainly want to get this over and done with! This manecap’s ruining my mane!”

“Yeeperonni! Maybe this way he’ll awaken and be our bestest friend ever!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she approached her spot, only for her mane to go even puffier than before, and exclaimed once again as she realized, “Ohh! I’ll get to throw him both a ‘Welcome to Equestria’ and a ‘Congratulations on no longer being corrupted and a meany-pants’ parties!”

As all of the ponies present gave the walking sugar rush a look, Twilight shuffled nervously towards her place next to Luna before saying, “Luna? How might being inside his dreams will help us find what we’re looking for?”

Luna shifted a little, discomfort showing in her features as she explained, “Twilight, everypony … I know a spell that will allow us to project our souls into his, and explore his mind in return. But this spell is power-intensive, and I can only use it when the moon is full, as it is today.” She then turned to see everyone present sitting on their haunches, waiting for her to say anything else.

With a nod of determination, Luna started to cast the spell. Her horn began to shine brightly, layer after layer of power manifesting over it … the condensing magic branching out and touching the heads of each member of the Council of Friendship.

At this display of power and arcane arts, Twilight looked with awe at Luna’s spellcrafting as her eyes sparkled. Luna couldn’t help but blush at the unsaid flattery, feeling warmth in her heart as she noticed something had changed—and everything went dark for her, and everyone connected to her spell joined her in her blackout transition.

When Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, she was graced by the sight of several familiar faces looking down upon her with concern. Blinking several times, she straightened up—and as her friends moved a little to give her enough space to rise to her hooves, after which she started looking at the environment they were in.

She also could see how worried Luna looked, as her wide eyes took in the scenery before them: Black, all over—no way to tell where the horizon was, there was no way to see the ground—except for their presences, which somehow were highlighted.

“This—this cannot be! All living beings dream! Even those in the sleep of coma dream! Did I commit a mistake when casting my spell!?” Luna exclaimed in panic, breathing quickly as her wings fluttered, deep concern settling into her as she took in the dead space they were currently stuck in.

“Luna! Calm down! Getting worried about what happened won’t get us anywhere!” Twilight exclaimed to Luna as she trotted to approach her, her friends following close by as they looked at the dark, featureless expanse.

“Princess Luna? Why is this place so … sad?” Pinkie asked as she looked around worriedly, her puffy mane starting to deflate just from being there.

“Here I thought we were going to fight him, and instead we find … whatever this is!” Rainbow Dash fumed as she flapped to maintain her hovering position.

“Princess? Why is everything just black?” Fluttershy asked as she placed herself next to Luna, who was looking around with wide eyes still.

“Well, this is positively worrisome! When I thought we were going to see his mind, I imagined dark towers looming ominously as we demolished his fortifications like heroines from storybooks!” Rarity commented off-hoofedly before noting, “At least we don’t have to worry about wearing those hospital uniforms—how unsightly!”

“Well, everypony … ah can’t say ah’m feelin’ too worriedsome ‘bout this turn of events.” Applejack said as she adjusted her stetson, before adding, “Then again, ah do hope there ain’t surprises in store within this place.”

“Princess Luna? Could it be that … our Rainbow Power actually—?” Twilight started speaking to Luna as a queasy feeling began to overwhelm her, to which Luna immediately placed her wing on the young princess’s shoulder to calm her down slightly.

Luna tried to soothe Twilight’s nerves, saying to her, “Nay, Twilight. It wasn’t your fault, or anypony’s for that matter. ‘Tis nothing but an unfortunate incident—” but was cut off by a voice she hadn’t heard in a long time.

Specifically, the last time she heard him speak out was before her banishment—the same year that they suffered the loss of the Crystal Empire to Sombra’s machinations, when him and his thaumical research team vanished after investigating the magic from Sombra and The Warden, which came to be known as Dark Magic, as well as a potential wellspring of an unknown type of magic to ponykind.

The old stallion’s voice echoed into the expanse, saying to them: “It was an unfortunate incident indeed—but one that could have been prevented … if you all had actually attempted diplomacy—instead of just bum-rushing into attacking someone who didn’t attempted once to attack you even in self-defense, even if you were suspecting him of aiding in a conspiracy!”

------------------ 1199 years ago, Castle of the Two Sisters -------------------

“It wast an unf'rtunate incident indeed—but one ye couldst has't prevented … if 't ye all hadst actually attempt'd diplomacy—instead of just blindly charging foolheartedly into attacking someone who hast not attempt'd once to attacketh thee, even in self-defense, e’en if 't be true ye wert suspecting that non-pony o’ villainy out of mistrust of his craft!” Star Swirl The Bearded exclaimed in rage at the two melancholic rulers in the privacy of the meeting chamber, with Clover the Clever just watching the situation unfold while one of their companions—Smart Cookie—just shuffled nervously along with Private Pansy.

Commander Hurricane, though—he seemed … pensive as he waited for them to finish the discussion to advance the proposal of their agenda. Perhaps him stepping down from Cloudsdale’s command, leaving Burning Feather as his successor to serve as the new ruler of Cloudsdale had something to do with it.

The old unicorn, though—he kept his tirade as the two rulers just looked at each other, then turned their sights on their mentor and guide during the years after Equestria’s foundation, ears flattened on their skulls as he kept yelling at them in anger.

“To maketh matt'rs w'rse, ye e’en wait'd a full year to inform me tha’ th're wast such a pow'rful us'r o’ an mystical and arcane art!? One yond tha’ ye antagoniz'd despite ‘e not being initially hostile, upon which this tragic turn of events end'd with the disappearance of an entire Empire!?” The old unicorn took a breath in, and everypony present in that room reeled from the force his voice acquired to highlight the unmigitated outrage in the aftermath of this most recent disaster which was presented before him after their return from the Crystal Empire. “This chain of events yond did cause a m're unic'rn withstand th’ both of thee and an entire company of royal guardsponies!? This m're unic'rn seal’d aw’y an entire kingdom with a spelleth so devious, its duration shalt last a millennium!?”

The wizened wizard collected himself, breathing in and out in a rhythmic fashion while moving his forehoof back and forth from his barrel outwards … after a few seconds of which, the red flush left his appearance, it returning to his normal light gray fur that he was usually recognized by, beard and wizardry attire only making his appearance further unique to him.
Star Swirl, now having communicated his fury and disappointment during his apoplectic fit, continued speaking with a soothing tone instead of the scathingly scolding one he had employed after hearing the news about the Crystal Empire’s disappearance.

“Well, with what you’ve hath said to me I do think the solution is clear … investigation and discovery!” he exclaimed rather loudly and enthusiastically, whereby making the two alicorns jump out from his outburst. He looked at Celestia and Luna with a raised eyebrow. “Well? since this is as worthy an opp'rtunity as any, h're is mine own proposal f'r th’ ensuing thaumaturgic researcheth; I hereby proposition tha’ th’ thaumic research take place in the dead lands near the Hoofhousen settlement to the n'rth—which shall forthwith include research into this dark magecraft ‘e did employ and discover how to contain o’ destr’y it. ”

He started to further expound his proposal to his rulers as they watched him with both awe and anxiety as he talked … .

Castle of the Two Sisters, Everfree Town.
Two weeks after the meeting.

“Well, mine kin. This is a see ye lat'r, rath’r than goodbye—so by thy leave, wilt ye permit this fusty stallion to journey on with his team?” Star Swirl chortled as he hugged Celestia and Luna, while several pegasi chariots were being readied and stocked full of supplies and various equipment.

“Please, do be careful mine cousin. I know not what I shalt do if we should suffer th’ loss o’ thee! or Hurricane, Clover, Smart Cookie, 'r anypony accompanying ye f'r tha’ matt'r!” Celestia said to him tenderly as she nuzzled him, making him laugh.

“Oh, mine b’lov’d kin! Still, e’er th’ same w'rrywart, aren’t thee?” Star Swirl teased Celestia before turning to Luna. “So, mine own sweet Luna … I desire thee apply yourself to learneth what arcane less’ns I hath left f'r thee af're I return, as I believeth ye to has't th’ most wondrous potential f'r oneirothurgy.”

Luna sniffed, before glomping the old stallion as she said to him, “Please return to us anon, lief cousin! Our castle shan’t be th’ same without thee!”

“Heh! With a foal in the care o’ mine own sist'r, whilest we w'rk at the bord’rs o’ Equestria, return I do so intend!” Star Swirl exclaimed good-heartedly as he hugged his budding disciple.

A few moments passed before they released each other, and he turned towards Clover, who was becoming teary-eyed at the sight while wearing a smile.

“Shall we journey forthwith, mine precious love?” Star Swirl asked her, who simply sniffed and nodded with a smile before everypony started to board the carriages, the twelve pegasi per chariot readying themselves to fly with their cargo.
Luna and her sister watched how they turned into dots the farther into the distance the carriages traveled, going northwards as the sun began to set … .

Hoofhousen, northeastern Equestria.
Six months after Star Swirl’s Research Team departure.

Luna gazed at the burned remains of what had been the settlement of Hoofhousen, the last census made on the settlement numbered the population at around fifteen hundred ponies total. However, no corpses, remains, or survivors had been found within the hauntingly empty structures of Hoofhousen, or on the barren fields and mountain caves outside the town.

Hoofhousen was founded in the unforgivingly cold mountains near where the Crystal Empire used to be—the ashes from the burnt remains of the town was being scattered abroad by the cold winds blowing from where the great city once stood. This gave the impression of a graveyard, for those present and surveying the scene of destruction—as chunks of charred and burnt wood jutted out from where once stood the columns which gave the houses their shape … as if they were the unmarked tombstones of all the ponies missing.

“Is this all that remains, S’rgeant Setting Moon?” Luna asked the roussepony standing by at her side, with a detachment of Night Guard ponies searching through the devastated settlement for any clues as to what might have happened to Hoofhousen, and why all communication was lost with the town.

The roussepony stood at attention as she replied to her. “No, your highness. aside from detecting a large amount of ambient dark magic within the area, but so far our unic'rn exp'rts has't been unable to pinpoint a cent'r.” She shivered as she added, “they persist in declaring th’ thaumic energy signature for this dark force is coming from und'r the affect’d terrain at a slow, but constant rate … as if 't be a true thaumic wellspring.”

“Keep me inf'rm'd of any development, s'rgeant.” Luna replied as she rose into the air, and focused her strength and energy into reaching Everfree town as fast as she could.

All throughout the journey, she constantly found herself fighting back her tears from streaming from her eyes as her gut instinct kept telling her that the worst had actually happened to her little ponies in Hoofhousen—and that somehow The Warden of The Dark was involved in this disaster, as this dark magic echoed with his own thaumic signature.

Castle of the Two Sisters, Everfree Town.
Two weeks after the disappearance of Hoofhousen’s settlers, and six months and two weeks since Star Swirl’s Research Team vanished from the research post at Hoofhousen.

Princess Luna was looking forlornly at the empty court as once again no pony had shown up, which had slowly but inexorably become a frequent occurrence since their discovery and journey inside Tartarus.

She turned her sights towards her roussepony guards posted about the Night Court’s chamber; their slitted eyes, tufted ears, and webbed wings also had been a source of contention from the more … odious petitioners amongst the pegasus and unicorn nobleponies which liked to think of their own tribe as the superior tribe whenever they bothered to ‘honor’ her with their exceedingly dubious and contentious company.

The open doors allowed her to catch sight of a royal nightguard—a mare, judging by the size, Luna thought to herself—as the guardsmare stopped at the base of her throne and bowed.

“Your Highness! I do bring urgent tidings from the investigation you’re o’erseeing! The Warden of The Dark wast seen w’thin the settlement of Hoofhousen!” the courier announced before bowing again to the Princess, whose irises had turned to pinpricks.

Trying her best to calm her rather tumultuous feelings of both anger at the one who had taught Sombra his dark arcane knowledge, and rage at the ponies lack of gratitude regarding her and her plethora of royal duties and her nightly celestial artistry, she replied to the courier: “Did thy companions magically tag tha’ exceedingly vile fiend, tha’ we might follow him at a distance?”

The courier gulped, causing Luna to frown in suspicion, as the guardsmare spoke out softly, “They did verily make th’ attempt, but by the time yond spelleth wast cast, He had already vanished into white fireth! Th’ sum o’ our intelligence ist that He kept staring at the burn'd wreckage o’ th’ city, a’ter which He then stood as still as a statue, as if 't He wast tarrying f'r something, or somepony—only to suddenly vanish ‘nto th’ aer!”

Princess Luna arose from her seat, glaring hatefully back toward the throne upon which she sat before schooling her expression upon her face back into a neutral one, and was going to speak out—

—When she was shaken to her core by a sudden spike in Dark Magic located in the northeast direction … as if a massive spell had been cast.

Unlike Sombra, this show of power felt downright asphyxiating as she tried her best to not fall on her haunches, as the rousseponies next to her looked toward her with curiosity upon their faces as to why she was reacting in the way that she was—Luna feeling something which she hadn’t felt in quite a while ever since she was a foal.

Fear. True, primal fear.

The guards bearing witness to Princess Luna’s breakdown didn’t need to wait long for a counter-response, as Princess Celestia appeared in a blindingly bright flash of teleportation—running straight toward her sister, all of her royal accoutrements missing as she stared in the direction where Luna was staring, her own eyes showing how small her pupils were as she stood next to Luna’s side, as she felt her younger sister flesh quivering under her coat.

“Luna? Did thee perceive it as well, to be o’erwhelmed wi’ such feeling o’ terror?” Celestia asked her sister—whose eyes were wide open with pupils shrunk—however, her sister’s silence remained, like the permanency of the grave.

Luna eventually spoke out after several seconds of her previous state of silence, which had felt entirely too long during this moment of panic and distress. “Sist'r. The Warden wast sighted at the ruined remains of Hoofhousen,” Luna stoically said while looking with her eyes unfocused as she stared at her Court’s wall, as though looking at someplace far away.

Too bad all she could do was consciously stare at a stone wall, rather than a window to at least enjoy the sight of her majesty-filled night that her subjects didn’t even appear to appreciate.

Luna’s mind was reeling from the sheer amount of emotion and memories invoked by that particular voice, only to quickly remember to turn and face the source of that old, outraged voice.

As she did, everypony with her was also turning to the one who had been addressing Princess Luna … and all Luna could do was to ask quietly, as if she were once again a filly meeting her beloved uncle. “Star Swirl? Art thou he, forsooth?”

“My dear Princess Luna! As much as I’d like for us to catch up, there is much to discuss and far too little time by which we may do so!” Star Swirl’s apparition manifested at a distance from the group, trotting towards them to close the distance. As the apparition of the old stallion approached them, Twilight’s expression began changing very quickly.

At first, her face showed elation at finally meeting her idol. Seconds passed by, and as Star Swirl got closer, a frown formed in her face as she stepped in his path toward Luna, and barred his passage as she ignited her horn and barked: “Not one step closer, Warden!”

The bearded unicorn’s expression—who looked stern but with a terse smile upon his face as he had been approaching Princess Luna and her entourage—his smile changed into a reserved expression as he stepped back from the group. As he switched his focus upon Twilight Sparkle’s disapproving gaze—Luna quickly stepped up next to Twilight’s side and berated him, “Fie! To be fooled by your illusion! You truly are a dreadful enemy, Warden of the Dark!” before lighting her horn, the other mares present in her entourage joined her to face him—some more eager to fight him than others.

At first, only the phantasm of Star Swirl was present … but that soon changed when several more shades manifested to approach them—and to their shock, the enemy began to count in the hundreds in a matter of seconds.

At a closer look, they realized that among the equines sent against them, there were many who were not equine in their appearance at all.

Of course, this turn of events caused the more combative ponies to actually step back as they witnessed the sheer number of shades approaching them.

Adding to this, their facial expressions went from glaring at the bearded unicorn to outright nervousness, as more and more apparitions continued to appear before them.

Stallions, mares, colts, and fillies started to gather and look at them with curiosity, the differences in age showing among those surrounding Princess Luna and her entourage.

They also noticed a ram standing at a distance, pride, and arrogance in his posture as he looked down at them; several bipedal pig-like creatures keeping close to him as they watched the gathering.

On another part of this … dreamscape, there gathered deer-like folk with massive antlers adorning their heads. Their leader also looked at the mares with barely restrained disdain, as the ghosts next to him kept their attention focused on them—an animalistic sense coming from them as they eyed the ponies.

“Twilight? Why do all of these ponies appear like ghosties?” Pinkie Pie asked her with her Pinkie Cheer as she procured a cupcake from her mane, offering it to a phantom pegasus stallion in ancient armor that was really close to her—observing her with clinical detachment.

This stallion, after eyeing both it and the mare holding it … actually took it with a slight inclination of his head and went on chewing on it, rumbling “mmmm!” as he expressed his enjoyment of the dream cake with eyes closed in delight. Pinkie’s face lightened up as if it were a lightbulb as she eyed the rest of the phantoms … .

While Pinkie was busy thinking about how to try to bring a smile to the rest of somber faces, a unicorn mare approached Star Swirl and nuzzled him before asking him, “Shall I tell them, my love?”

Princess Luna’s attention snapped to the mare, and asked incredulously “Clover? art thou her?”

The young mare giggled, before replying to her “Please, your highness … we have all learned how to speak modern Equish by living life through our host as the years passed by, so don’t force yourself on our behalf to speak in the old way.” She then eyed Twilight carefully, and her mouth took the shape of an ‘oh’ before asking, “Your Highness? Pray to tell who is this new princess? Much must have changed in the last millennium, for another alicorn to appear.”

Twilight forced herself to smile while she felt unnerved internally as she thought, ‘Star Swirl and Clover the Clever were—are a couple? Why didn’t my history books mention that!?’, before turning her sight a bit and strangling a gasp of recognition, ‘Are—are they Smart Cookie and Private Pansy over there? And Pinkie is with—oh sweet Harmony, she’s now placing a table with Commander Hurricane’s help!? And there are ponies making a file, waiting for them to finish!?’, before speaking out loud in reply, “I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and former bearer of the Element of Magic. And these,” Twilight motioned with her wing to her friends, “are my friends. Rarity.” The white unicorn curtsied. ”Rainbow Dash.” The brash pegasus grinned while attempting to do a cool pose. “Fluttershy.” The aforementioned pegasus squeaked at her introduction. “Applejack.” The farmpony inclined her head slightly at the ghost. “And the earth pony mare helping Hurricane set a table with all sorts of pastries is Pinkie Pie,” Twilight finished while trying to keep her composure at the evidence laid in front of her about Pinkie’s capabilities.

Luna shook herself from the shock that she had received, and said to Clover out loud, “Clover? There is another alicorn as well, who now rules over the Crystal Empire.”

To this statement, all the ponies not in Princess Luna’s entourage redirected their attention and looked at Luna with clear interest in their faces. Star Swirl said with genuine relief to that, “Oh, thank Harmony! You must have been through a lot to force the Crystal Empire to reappear!” He stood still for a moment, before shaking his head and saying out loud, “sadly, we don’t have the time to share stories!”

Before the old wizard could say anything, Luna asked with a tremor in her voice as she remembered something that Clover had mentioned earlier, “Why are you here? And what is that talk about your ‘host’?”

Luna, as well as all her companions, realized that all the ponies present started to look at each other, awkwardness visible in their faces … .

Until at last, Star Swirl broke the silence and replied to them soberly. “We are souls that became tainted when we were exposed to—or touched—the Warden’s power … and cannot pass on to the Elysium Fields because of it, Princess Luna.”

Rainbow Dash cried out in rage at this statement, “What!? That monster did this to you!? When we get out of here, I’ll go buck him all the way to Clouds—!”

“You will be quiet!” Star Swirl roared at Rainbow Dash, who immediately went silent and landed on the ground with a ‘thump’ as she looked at him wide-eyed and ears splayed against her skull.

As the remaining mares looked at him askance, Twilight Sparkle asked out loud to him. “Star Swirl the Bearded? Why are you defending The Warden?”

“Because he’s way more than what you know, your Highness … and your choice to purge him of his power will have serious repercussions for the future of Equestria, if not the entire world!” Star Swirl replied hotly, making Twilight backpedal a few steps from the intensity.

“Ah think what Twilight's really askin’ is this: why ah’ you on his side? He was plannin’ somethin’ awful against us.” Applejack interjected … only to backpedal herself as all the ponies present started to defend The Warden from that accusation fiercely, forming a cacophony that didn’t let them hear clearly what was each individual saying.

An earth pony mare with a ghostly farmer’s hat and old-fashioned formal frock with puffed shoulders replied back calmly to Applejack once the crowd calmed down. “Young mare? All of us here shared access to all his memories, like the souls that kept him company before our arrival.”

This caught Fluttershy’s attention. ‘Shared access to his memories?’ She thought to herself before hearing Applejack reply to the phantom mare.

“What has that got to do with everything?” Applejack questioned the phantom with a raised eyebrow.

Unperturbed, the phantom mare continued. “We all have shared in memories from his past and present. This means that we know him in a way that you do not.” To the silent ponies paying attention to her, she added, “And this stallion had truly little ambitions when compared to beings given power at his scale.”

The ghost sighed in regret, before continuing her exposition. ”Those that inhabit him are fully aware of all his actions and thoughts, as we are a part of him. At first, he was immensely displeased and unhappy with us being lodged within him … yet he still granted us sanctuary as souls marked as tainted. Unfortunately, the slaughter of Cairn Niall happened a few hundred years ago.”

“What happened then? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.” Fluttershy asked softly to the ghost, who smiled wanly at her before answering.

“In his rage, despite our pleas for him to both spare those ponies and to forgive our kin for their madness, he forbid us from speaking to him ever since. But we could feel his paranoia and mistrust growing, until he reached the point where he secluded himself within Minotaur territory—with what we now know was a variation to the unicorn’s teleportation spell that was particular to him, to keep in contact with other races that he preferred to be with—until this day,” This particular earth pony then kept going, as Applejack’s face showed troubled confusion at that statement. “He had no plan to take revenge upon Ponykind if we stayed away from him and those whom he chose to aid.”

The former Element Bearers and Luna looked unsure about the statement—all but Applejack, whose irises were shrunk into pinpricks as the reality of the statement settled into her mind.

Clover cleared her throat before speaking. “Thank you, Smart Cookie. Unfortunately, that desire is now bound to change, as our host lost far more than just power because of your actions.” Clover commented sadly while shaking her head, “to make matters more tragic, all of this could have been prevented, had your Highnesses not attempted to attack him on sight, but rather initiated some diplomacy toward him … to just hear him out despite his non-ponylike appearance.” She then turned her sights on the now extremely uncomfortable ruler of the night, with what looked as genuine regret on her eyes. “I cannot think how, though … something masked his true presence, and even we were frightened of him when he took possession of our souls.”

Fluttershy’s ear twitched at that statement, and wondered inwardly: ‘Was that tar on him what was clouding all of our senses concerning him? How can such a thing be possible?’

Unknowing of the pegasus’s mind, Clover turned towards the two alicorns before her, and asked them bluntly, “Not that we don’t appreciate your arrival, your highnesses … but could you be so kind as to state why are you here? This realm doesn’t appreciate intruders into it, and it is taking our collective strength to prevent your banishment.”

Luna, hearing that statement, immediately projected from her horn a picture of the three matrices and how they had evolved, and said to the unspoken leaders of the herd, “This is the reason why we came for answers, Star Swirl and Clover. This matrices bear his glyph within the designs, and have begun changing after appearing in the sky.” She then added ominously, “I believe they are some kind of thaumic spell crafted by the Warden’s, in case he was vanquished. We need help to disarm them, as Equestria could be in danger from his craft.”

Luna waited for an answer … but all she found was a look of genuine dread on all the ponies present before her.

As for the non-ponies? The ram and heavily decorated caribou started to uproariously laugh at their expressions as their minions just stared at their masters with unreadable expressions on their faces.

Twilight asked the phantom ponies, “Why are you so frightened? Are his spells that powerful?”

Twilight then made a conscious effort to filter out the mocking laughter from the ones that had remained outside the herd of ponies to listen to the old stallion.

Star Swirl started to glare at them, before saying in a dangerously calm voice, “Powerful? Absolutely. Dangerous? Sure, let’s go with that. An intamperable deadly spell? Not at all.” He then started to breathe in and out, forehoof moving back and forth from his barrel outwards. Once he had done the motion a few more times, he said with steel in his voice, “From what we learned of his past while in this world, this individual aided the Maker of this world in the sealing of powerful entities that had invaded her creation … and you just said that the seals containing said entities are unraveling?”

Twilight’s mind immediately reeled, as the nagging memories came to the fore in full strength within her mind … .

—The brown-coated alicorn, along with a coral-coated earth pony mare worked together to craft a world from the remains of that pony-lich, the soul of the pony-lich locked within a magical matrix bearing the same sigil … .

—The spider-monster and its shadows were trapped within some crystal caverns by the alicorn knight by using the same magic he used to bind the pony-lich—a massive magical matrix shown at the place of imprisonment bearing his glyph and sigil … .

—The image depicted the bipedal wolves’ bodies piled up, the shades of their existences being sealed within the woods’ foundation—a magical seal in the process of being made by the same alicorn … .

—The alicorn stallion looked like making a seal linked to the Tree itself—as if it fed from the Tree itself … and his own power. And from it, the power seemed to divert to three different directions—the Tree shining brightly in response … .

Twilight’s mane frazzled in a matter of seconds, as her pin-pricked eyes just stared into the depths of the darkness surrounding them—

And into the many pairs of eyes that looked specifically at her from the horizon, its chained body keeping the entity from approaching and eating them whole.

Twilight could see from the floor at the memorial windowpane, how a shade made of smoke came out of the Shadow Hydra’s dissolving corpse entered the stallion knight’s body—the shade’s expression being one of absolute terror at what was happening to it.

Next to this monstrosity that filled the horizon, there was another one—one that looked as if reality itself cracked around it. What was curious about it, was that it gave the impression of a shifty-looking pony, one that gave her the feeling of the Flim-Flam Brothers and their ‘less than honest’ business practices.

“What have I done?” Twilight whispered softly as she looked at the distance, barely hearing what was going on around her.
Unheard by her friends, it was Rarity who asked the ancient stallion and mare, “If The Warden didn’t taint, and then slay you … who did it then?”

Before either could reply, a haughty and growling voice replied with real pride in his voice. “It was I who slayed the ponies in front of you, after experimenting with them in order to understand the power that The Warden wielded—just so that I could harness it!”

All the ponies turned and saw how the ram who had so far remained outside the conversation marched towards them with a swagger and a wicked grin on his mouth that betrayed the sheer coldness in his heart and eyes.

Rainbow Dash didn’t lose any time in launching at him, her heart boiling in rage as she flew really fast to tackle him—only to pass through him as if he were smoke.

“What the hay!? What gives!?” Rainbow Dash demanded in a very smart tone as she returned to her friends as fast as she was flying, flapping over the ram—who was getting all sorts of stink-eyes from the pony shades.

Luna glared at the interloper and answered as coldly as she could to his taunting. “Who are you, fiend?”

The ram feigned being insulted, before replying in mock offense, “My name is too much for one such as you. As for what I did … hmm!” He gave the appearance of thinking intensely before answering with mockery to Luna, “I didn’t experiment on only the bearded horn and his team of incompetent fools … I imprisoned the entire town next to them first, then went after the fool and his team to learn more about the dark magic they had managed to contain and study!”

Twilight’s ears twitched as she registered the ram’s confession, and started glaring at him too, while Fluttershy simply asked with a quiver in her voice: “Why? Why do so much harm to so many ponies?”

The ram marched around them, eyeing them as he said with disdain in his voice while speaking to them as if they were foals. “The better question is, why not? I was planning to become the lord of this world! insignificant things such as ponykind’s right to exist were things beneath my notice! I researched through the blackest arts all over the world, in order to become a master of them. Of course, this netted me a lot of benefits and successes in the execution of plenty of projects as a result! From my walled city of Tambelon, hidden in another realm … all the way down to researching the myths surrounding this immortal being, in order to learn how to become a true immortal and take over his power!” The unnamed ram gesticulated with his forehooves until he finished speaking … while purposefully ignoring the looks that he was getting from the shades.

Looking at the expressions of befuddlement from the visiting ponies, the ram smirked. “That isn’t all, you know? I learned more in that week than I did in most of my life as a necrothurgist and umbral mage! I learned that all those who become tainted by his brand of magic turn into souls incapable of leaving this world—making them excellent sources of eternal fuel, to raise golems and the corpses of the dead with their power, if one’s willing to handle the power tainting their essences with the blackest of the arts of necrothurgy and umbral magic!”

“You monster.” Spat Luna as she glared at him, wings flaring in defiance along with Twilight and Rainbow.

Ignoring the now furious ponies and shades, the ram continued. “But the best prize was provided by my dear bearded unicorn here,” the unnamed ram ruffled Star Swirl’s mane deprecatingly before adding, “since he found a way to handle this new type of magic and to bind it into place and focus it into a wellspring of magical power.”

The ram scoffed in derision at the old stallion, “the fool just wasn’t able to tell just how useful that was,” and his voice lowered as he ranted at the end, “but still … in the end, it was all useless against this elder being’s might, even as I attempted to drain him of his power!”

Luna’s mind rewinded to that moment, half a year after Star Swirl and Hoofhousen’s disappearance … and how she and Celestia felt a massive output of dark magical power in that region.

She unconsciously gulped before focusing her sight to Star Swirl, who looked just as displeased as all the other ponies present at the ram … and asked him, “Star Swirl? If you know what needs to be done, please aid us—the spell I used was supposed to link us to his soul and allow us to read his memories through his dreams.” Luna turned her head ashamed as she continued saying, “instead, we are here—inside this bizarre realm within him, where all of you are inhabiting somehow.”

Twilight’s ears turned in the direction of her idol—and failed to pay attention to Fluttershy’s squeak as the entire environment started to distort from afar, the princesses and her friends too preoccupied to realize that. The shades apparently didn’t notice either, as they were focused on what was being discussed.

“Um … girls?” Fluttershy squeaked very quietly, fright being all that she was feeling at this point, as the entire location they were inside started to ripple in ways that started to give her goosebumps. ‘Are—are those ripples within ripples in mid-air? And why is the background rippling in layers? Are—are those parallel lines intersecting with each other!?’ Unable to stomach what was happening, Fluttershy closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind of the disconcerting things it had just been subjected to.

There was no way that the whirlpools were suspended horizontally—and all the images of rotting flesh and bone still moving towards her, which was being shown within many of the whirlpools—were good to the well-being of anypony who looked at them.

Unknown to the shy mare’s plight, the phantoms answered to Luna. “Well, the answer is really hard to give, as we ourselves don’t know exactly what this place is,” Clover answered awkwardly as Star Swirl nodded in assent. “All we know is that when we were under this … mad and twisted fool’s thrall after dying, we were in pain while inside his golems and diverse constructs—the kind of pain that can and will drive you insane if exposed for too long. When The Warden defeated him—we all were absorbed into him, and ever since then we haven’t felt that pain.”

“My name is Grogar, you insolent fo—” The ram started to roar in rage, only to receive a hoof-full in the mouth to keep him quiet, courtesy of Clover who simply looked at him with a look normally reserved by mothers to let children know they are way out of their depth.

“However, there is one thing that one of the older souls that used to live in here shared with me.” Star Swirl said as he glared at the living ponies in front of him, before scrunching his snout and brows in thought. “I think she called herself Mullenkamp, that nice hyuuman mare—” only to be softly smacked on the shoulder by a pouting Clover, causing him to chuckle at her jealous reaction, giving her a nuzzle to reassure her before continuing, “Don’t deny it, Clover—she gave such ear scratches and tummy rubs that one could feel as melting! I remember you cooing as she did that to you, too!”

Clover just gave him a raspberry before smacking his shoulder again. Laughing at her reaction and noticeable blush, he continued speaking to his visitors. “She once shared with me that only those that didn’t desire The Dark could control it … and by sacrificing one’s phantom soul one could inherit the right to command The Dark after performing a ritual of succession. And much, much later in another time, she showed me how proud was she of her descendants Sydney and Aldous, who guided their chosen successor to inherit the full power of The Dark, which no hyuuman had been able to fully contain up to that time—one who Sydney knew would not abuse its god-like power for his own benefit.”

“Excuse me for finding that hard to believe, my friend—but no normal pony would slay an entire army of ponies for no reason other than spite, as the battle was long over after he showed up to confront my sister.” Luna said, all while trying her best to not grit her teeth at that statement coming from her former mentor, defending what was to her knowledge a monster—

—A monster who, to her knowledge, might just as well be toying with them … manipulating their emotions through their memories in an attempt to sell them deceit masked under truth to seal their damnation while inside his … what was this place in reality, anyway? Why there were Caribou among the phantoms and more to the point … what was this talk about ‘the souls which were living here before they arrived?’

‘Why can’t I shake this feeling that something’s not right … but not in the way I expected it to be?’, Luna asked herself before reflecting on what she knew of magic—and the forbidden arts of necrothurgy she once learned in order to surpass her sister shortly before her fall. ‘There is no force—not even necrothurgy and umbral magic—capable of denying passage to the souls of sapient and living beings … so why do these illusions feel so … alive? So much detail, so much knowledge they have despite everything. This must be a trick to lure us further into darkness, right?’ Luna’s mind realized something but was drawn to the shade of her mentor’s voice as he replied to her statement.

“No reason?” Star Swirl answered back, disbelief in every word coming from his mouth. “I don't claim moral superiority, as I would’ve done the same if it had been within my power—if an army came and took from me all I cared and loved for no justifiable reason!”

Fluttershy, though … was distracted looking at the changes that were happening in the dark, dreary place they were in.

“Star Swirl? We’ll probably get in trouble for this … but why not help them see who The Warden really is? They will inevitably see the memories about the Seals, while at it.” Smart Cookie proposed as she eyed Princess Luna carefully.

Taking the initiative, Luna spoke out loud. “Star Swirl, I cannot fully trust anything that any of you say, as you might as well be tricking us into a trap to ensnare us to our demise … which is why I must ask you to do this.” Luna made a pause as the old stallion looked at her askance, his ear twitching in a familiar fashion. “Prove to me that you’re real and not some construct by the Warden intended to deceive us.”

Star Swirl examined his former student carefully, only to be interrupted by the flapping of wings from one of the phantom pegasi present.

Landing quietly, Star Swirl turned to meet the face of Private Pansy, who spoke out softly. “Your Highness? Can you use your magic to check on other ponies’ dreams while inside here? Or more precisely, wander into our inner selves?”

And it was at this point that some of the shades began to notice the changes around them as well, being too distracted by Pinkie Pie’s pastries that she somehow brought to them, many of the foals chewing joyfully her cupcakes stopping to see the ripples spreading through this place.

“Everypony? Something’s happening to Ashley’s core self.” Commander Hurricane commented as he eyed the sub-world changing around them, the feathers from his wings fluttering a little as they moved restlessly—betraying his true feelings despite his apparent coolness to the ponies around him.

Luna felt how her dream magic started to work as if she were within one of Mythy's creatures, rather than her previous sense of disability that had so far hampered her progress into The Warden’s memories. However, she thought while reeling inwardly from the changes happening within this place, ‘Ashley? What kind of name is that?’ Before wordlessly testing her dreamwalking spell on Private Pansy to test her claims about their ‘inner selves’ … only to snap her eyes open in shock as she stared at the pegasus, who smiled sadly at her. Luna started to test her magic again on Twilight next to her, then chose Star Swirl and Clover for comparison … and gasped as she took a couple steps back, eyes wide open as she now looked at the shades in front of her.

“Remember, your highness? How it is said that those who pass away are resting in Elysium, waiting for their loved ones to join them? That we are, in fact … slumbering down to the end of the world, waiting for our return to life with our Goddess when she remakes the world anew?” Pansy said softly, her eyes digging down on Luna’s conscience, who now was on the border of tears as she realized just how wrong this whole scenario was, and how it sickened her that her friends were now bound as slaves of a dark beast’s mind.

‘What in the name of Tartarus is this being?’ Luna thought, an unnameable fear growing within herself.

As this occurred, the former Element Bearers stared at the changes as they happened all around them.

From where there used to be darkness, now stood alien structures all around them, some seamlessly fusing as if in a transition between architectural styles. As the ponies and shades looked carefully at the changes happening around them, Rarity noticed how on one section there was a building style very similar to Trottingham, another part looked very much like Manehattan, with plenty of architectural notions that made them gasp as to their raw alien nature.

For one, some of the buildings were incredibly tall—impossible architectural designs which caused Twilight’s mind to reel, while reminding her of the pictures and structures that she had seen while on the other side of the mirror with her friend Sunset Shimmer.

Twilight’s attention was broken away from staring at Luna’s reaction after using her spells on the shades in front of her—and looked for the first time into the distance, where she noticed the architectural pattern manifesting into this realm. Turning in a circle, she took it in … and realized that the architectural pattern displayed seemed to drastically change at one point.

To her surprise, the change from modern Manehattanite towers for human scale changed into one much more primitive, one that resembled the ruins that one archaeologist had brought pictures and drawings from—the ancient Roam and the neighboring Hyppolia—and from there it grew up stranger still.

Steppes, prairies, woods, deserts … even frozen wastelands and structures made of ice, and others made of what looked like pelts from animals.

She reeled at the sheer scale that this whole display showed—it even showed bizarre architecture with plenty of curves, made of wood which seemed to seamlessly blend with its surroundings.

And which for some reason abused the sculptures of truly bizarre dragons—too long when compared to their claws, as if they were distant relatives to Discord. Also, they all held a sphere on one claw for a reason.

Or the sculptor got bored and decided to add in an orb for the dragon to hold.

Her ears twitched, as she thought she heard something truly abnormal. As she turned around to meet her friend’s sights, she realized that they were looking pale, ears twitching as well as the sound came again to their ears.

The sound of foals laughing.

Turning around, Twilight saw the reason why her friends were pale—ethereal shadows of humans passing by within the structures—from human foals to elder humans—all coming and going … and all turning to dust as more replaced them.
This scene was happening in all the aspects of the varying architecture—until it showed itself once, then twice, repeating itself as if in a loop within each defined section.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked the shy mare kindly as she saw her walking towards what looked like the human equivalent of Trottingham’s structures, where a single boy looked at them with an empty look.

Fluttershy’s curiosity and empathy drew her towards the apparition, feeling drawn to the human foals’ expression—one that she had seen when receiving visitors from the Ponyville Orphanage, who took the foals out on excursions to learn from her animal friends.

The face of a foal who has finally realized the fact that he’s been abandoned by his own flesh and blood.

The kind mare felt her heart being ripped apart at the expression being shown within the child’s eyes, while outwardly the child had a look of calm resignation all over his face and posture.

As if drawn by an unknown force, Fluttershy extended a hoof towards the translucid figure and asked him. “Why are you sad?”

“Fluttershy! Don’t touch tha—!” Twilight started saying but got cut off as their entire environment swallowed them up into parts unknown.

The last thing heard was Pinkie Pie’s squeal, screaming as if she were on a very long slide down towards a pool.

Shortly after the end of the meeting of the Security Council, Princess Celestia found herself talking to several of the nobleponies who stayed afterwards—feeling a pang of envy as she saw her sister Luna approach Twilight and her friends, only to leave afterward.

She sighed within her mind, as she tried her best to pay attention to the noble complaining about how this decision would cause a great increase in expenditures, and where pray would she be getting the funding for such a decision? drone on and on, with the regular cacophony of the hooflickers sending their fabricated evidence to validate their claims.

‘At least Luna’s getting to be with our friends.’

After being stopped by the fifth noblepony who said the same thing as the rest, she managed to return to her quarters—surrounded by her guards for a change. Once inside, she felt a numb pang running through her heart at the empty chamber. Shrugging it off like she usually did, she snorted and with a spark of her horn all her royal garments went into their places over upon the ponnequin.

As she got ready to go to bed, she noticed over her desk a scroll from the Royal Guard, with a red seal on it with glyphs surrounding the scroll.

In a rush, Celestia defused the magical glyphs securing the parchment, and she quickly scanned the document … only to read it again at a much slower pace, to make sure she was reading right.

***URGENT***
***FOR PRINCESS'S EYES ONLY***
***FROM AGENT SPEARHEAD***
Griffinstonian agent reports troop movements through Griffinstone and Minos Alliance territories.
Estimated headcount: twenty-five thousand strong.
Races found by cloaked scouts: Minotaur, Centaur, Roussepony, Griffon, Zebra, Diamond Dog and Changelings sighted among the Minos Alliance forces.
Minos Alliance forces currently staying within Minos Alliance territory. Performance of military maneuvers has been witnessed by our scouts.
Troops are practicing defense against sharp weaponry and magic in live exercises, and unknown class of harmonic magic has been observed in action.
Observations: Lethality of weaponry reduced to minimum when accompanied by use of unknown magic, plus actual live healing magic has been observed in addition to a variety of spells ranging from offensive and defensive spells used in tandem with close quarter combat maneuvers.
Request from the nobles from Griffon lands to diplomatically intercede, as they are both confused and deeply concerned at this sudden change in policy from the neighboring nation.
***END OF MESSAGE***

‘This—this is bad.’ Celestia thought as she shakily placed the scroll in a metal bucket, where the enchanted parchment caught fire and reduced itself to ashes. ‘If facing The Warden once was terrifying enough … how will we fare against twenty-five thousand strong that know his arts, if they come our way?’

That night, Princess Celestia didn’t sleep well.

For one, the fact that the scouts went undetected by the Minoan forces was hard to swallow, considering that they had both Diamond Dogs and Changelings among their forces.

The second, and most scary fact to her, was to fully know that the Minoan Army could be martially powerful enough to conquer its neighbors quite easily—Equestria included.

She shivered as she remembered the reports from her contact within Minos Alliance Armed Forces that she received ten months ago … .

Canterlot, Royal Palace.
Celestia’s Private Quarters, ten months ago.

Another day at court, and another day that she felt that the same group of nobleponies were trying their hardest to bring out the worst in her with their insane notions about ponykind’s superiority over the other species.

‘Really? Is it really that hard to understand? That friendship with other kinds will only strengthen our bonds, rather than weaken them?’ Celestia wondered with a heavy heart. ‘Why the opposition? We ponies are a friendly and welcoming race now. We even have changed from the early years from before the Windigos. … Have we not learned that hatred will bring winter upon our lands and hearts?’

Using her magic to remove all of her royal accoutrements, she saw a glyph-protected scroll over her private desk. She felt as if her heart had skipped a beat when she recognized both the spellwork and the glyphs used to protect the contents from prying eyes.

A very special glyphwork, attuned to be disarmed by her very own magic. Another pony—her sister included—would find themselves with a burnt document that would be cursed to not be allowed to be rebuilt to its original state.

Definitely, her contact outdid herself when making that spell.

Opening the scroll with her magic, Celestia unrolled it and started reading the contents.

***URGENT***
***FOR PRINCESS'S EYES ONLY***
***FROM AGENT SPEARHEAD***
Performance of military maneuvers from Minos Alliance been witnessed by scouts.
Indeterminate magical capabilities witnessed from trained soldiers within ranks.
Brand of magic unique, yet Harmonic in nature at its core, thaumic potential unknown as any specie can handle it, shown by Diamond Dog soldiers resisting Changeling magic bolts thrown at them.
From the mentioned example, plus many others, conclusion is: Non-ponies have the capability to defend themselves from pony magic, as shown by changeling recruits shooting magic at the training soldiers.
Nature of spells wielded by soldiers: Unknown.
Recommendation: Diplomatic and peaceful approaches are suggested to prevent or discourage conflict.
Efforts to rescind outdated and specieist laws should be an acceptable show of good faith for Minoan authorities about the sincerity in Equestrian interest in coexisting with them.
***END OF MESSAGE***

“How is this possible?” Celestia asked herself as she placed the scroll inside a metal bucket, where it caught fire and burned down to ashes. ‘I—I never knew that other species could wield magic in the way that ponies could. Were we wrong in that assumption?’

She looked down at her copy of her own schedule for tomorrow … and blinked as she saw a block of time devoted to a meeting with a certain ambassador.

‘Well, I will have to do my best. That is all I can do at the moment.’ Celestia thought to herself glumly before getting ready to go to bed.

‘But perhaps a cup of jasmine tea would do the trick to calm my nerves.’ The princess thought as she eyed her small kitchennette, where one teapot and source of fire were, along with several small cans containing an assortment of flavored infusions, teas, and seasonings to accompany her drinks.

Celestia rose up from her bed and went on to prepare herself a cup of jasmine tea, hoping that the hot beverage would allow her to relax a little, so she could rest.

‘Just how much knowledge and power did The Warden share with the Minoans?’ Celestia wondered as she digested the report, sipping on her jasmine infusion delicately—letting the naturally sweet and slightly bitter aftertaste cleanse her queasy stomach. ‘Did he know other classes of magic besides Dark magic? What if … what if we were wrong from the beginning? What, then?’

She just stared at the flames crackling on the hearth, her belly upon the carpet as she held her teacup on her magic kinesis.

Unknown to Celestia, there were others who were awake at this time, as they made plans for the near future.

In the darkness, a male voice talked out. “Ma’am. The units are in position—and all have successfully planted the thaumical charges to detonate when the signal is released.”

“Are the Reliquarians in place?” the other, older voice speaked out, her distorted voice crackling through the air.

“Been planted during the last year, ma’am. No one expects janitors and salesponies to turn on their neighbors.” The same voice spoke out cryptically in reply.

“And our Black Templars? Are they in place as well?” the elder female asked again.

“They will move to slay the alicorns and royals along with their supporters while the Reliquarians are moving against the Guard and the civilians as a distraction.”

“Good! Good! We will take our opportunity that the alicorn loyalists are distracted by the diversion to prevent our true intentions.” The crackling voice said before going silent for a few seconds, only to add abruptly, “We must move out within three days, when they move out a part of their garrison towards the three places. This plan must succeed, All Star.”

“The plan is foolproof, your highness.” The stallion said, a smile being felt in his words. “How is the alicorn child? Is she ready to serve our cause?”

“She has been trained since young, and we took measures so that the white nag couldn’t detect her. Tell our agent that soon he will be given what he is seeking in exchange for him granting us his child.”

“I will, your Majesty! The Alicorns and the Element Bearers will die for our cause!” The one known as All Star exclaimed as he cut off his side of the communications.

The mysterious figure said to herself, now alone. “And now … to wait until all the ponies are tainted with Dark Magic, now that the seals are being unmade. My Lord … soon we will join you when you come in power.” She started to giggle to herself, before speaking out in joy. “I hope that the sacrifice that we’re preparing for your feast is to your liking!”

Within Canterlot city, another group made plans for their own purposes, unaware of the plots being performed within the city by other interests.

However, this time they had their meeting inside one of the noblehouses closest to the palace, courtesy of one of their most influential members.

“Taupe Rose? Are our agents keeping track of where the alicorns and element bearers currently are?” Grand Master Onyx Horn inquired towards the noblemare in front of him, sitting across the table—the candlelight being the only source of illumination showing the mare’s cold expression.

“Of course they are, Grand Master.” Taupe Rose snorted. “We also are keeping those mud-blooded fillies and dragon back at Mudponyville under watch.”

“What about that student of the blood traitor?” Onyx Horn inquired neutrally.

“Of course she’s under watch as well. We are only waiting for the chance to bag them, after our agent manages to secure the artifact from the museum.”

“Excellent.” Onyx Horn replied, apparently satisfied at her answer before wordlessly bidding her goodbye and making his way out of the mansion.

Walking on the empty streets of Canterlot, under cover from the elements by a dark grey weather cloak, the unicorn reflected upon his plans. ‘Soon, all the pieces will be in place … and we will become as gods, and lead unicorn-kind into a new age.’

‘Or should I say … I will become a god.’

This last thought brought a predatory smirk on his face as he continued moving within the shadows of night-time Canterlot.

At the same hour, within the Minos Alliance Embassy at the Embassy District of Canterlot City.

“An alicorn, you say? A stallion alicorn? Did I hear that correctly?” Silver Gauntlet asked his agent within the Royal Guard, who simply nodded in confirmation as the minotaur tried cleaning out his ear.

“This stallion’s appearance happened seven days ago and is being kept a secret by Royal order, who is currently being kept under heavy guard. Then there are the rumors that are now trickling through, that this stallion … is apparently a powerful Dark Magic user. There is even a spark of Dark Magic funneling continuously to him, only for it to be converted into Harmony Magic through some as of yet, unknown process, if what the thaumic examination report information is correct,” the Royal Guard mole stated before pulling out of her saddlebag a sheaf of parchments. “This here is an exact copy of the thaumic examination report, sir,” the mare said before handing over the documents to the minotaur, who received them with an outstretched arm and opened hand and nodded.

Having disbursed Equestrian governmental secrets to Silver Gauntlet and a cavalier wave of dismissal from her client, the roussepony guardsmare left the building under the cover of night.

The minotaur started to examine the sheaf of papers … and frowned at the diagnosis.

’This—this is bad. If Iron Ash is truly incapacitated and turned into a pony—Harmony knows how—then we are down a really strong asset.’

Silver Gauntlet then turned to observe the sleeping city outside his window.

’Can we stop the incoming tidal wave without his strength?’

Remembrance: Memoirs from The Dark (Unedited Version)

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Author's Notes:

Well, I finally did it.

The fifth chapter of The Equestrian Vagrant is up, and it was a struggle to finish, let me tell you all.

Please do leave commentary, as I am not exactly pleased with this results - in all likelihood, it will be rewritten at a later time if needed.

There will be spoilers for Vagrant Story in this chapter, but I made an attempt to keep the story itself self-contained - just so as to make it so that it isn't a requirement to know the source material. Then there are the liberties I took, in order to enhance the original storyline while taking into account all the sparse details that canon shows, in order to make an attempt to make Iron Ash make sense in every regard.

In case you want to know the whole deal, leave comments behind asking for it, and I'll post links for Youtube and the translation of Ultimania, which gives a broader look at what happens within the game.

In any case, I hope you enjoy this late release - as I'm on a roll, and will work on the one that comes after.

Have a nice evening.

It is the afternoon, and several hours have gone by since Celestia was informed out about Luna’s reckless attempt at digging out for information from The Warden’s mind, looking at the prone bodies slumbering while a mist-like aura surrounded them—coming from the unconscious alicorn stallion, of all ponies—and couldn’t help but bit her lip in concern at the sight.

‘Why did you do it, Lulu? Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, this happened right under my snout.’

Celestia sighed despondently, before focusing on the ponies coming to the castle from Ponyville.

‘I hope Starlight Glimmer is giving some comfort to Spike—the news were grim, after all.’ The princess thought privately, a tear trying its best to escape its prison. ‘And then it is how Cadance and Shining took the news of this reckless action by them. Why is everything around me coming apart at the seams these days?’

---------8 hours after the Security Council Meeting----------

The sun rose over Canterlot, as Princess Celestia ensured its place in the sky—not before lowering the moon while at it, feeling curious as to why didn’t Luna do it in tandem with her—and teleported to the entrance of her sister’s quarters, intending to do one thing that she had left on the backburner for too long.

‘Luna, I’m so sorry for having left you out of the loop for so long about this … I hope you can forgive me not having informed you about what is happening with the Minos Alliance government, as the situation has gotten worse at a quick rate.’

“Luna? Are you in?” Celestia asked after knocking on her sister’s bedroom, only to receive silence for an answer.

Her ear twitched as she heard somepony clearing her throat, and turned to see one of the Moon Tower’s guards, a roussepony in dark blue armor who shifted nervously as her employer just looked at her.

“Hum … your Highness? Princess Luna is not here at the present time.” The guard said after standing to attention.

That brought Celestia’s attention, as Luna was normally very zealous of both her duties and her sleeping schedule. “Do you know by any chance where is she?” Celestia asked the nervous guard, before adding while sighing inwardly, “At ease.”

Relaxing, the guard replied to her dutifully, “Unfortunately no, your Highness. If you want me to, I can start inquiries as to her whereabouts—“ but was interrupted by another roussepony guard, who stood to attention in front of the princess.

“Permission to speak, your Highness!” She blurted out, eyes betraying her emotions—fear, this time, to Celestia’s frustration.

Celestia, taking care of placing her mask, asked in her trademark fashion. “At ease, guardsmare. What is it that you need to speak to me about?”

The guardsmare blinked once, relaxed a little and blurted out: “Princess Luna and the Bearers are at the medical ward’s restricted area with the alicorn stallion!”

Celestia blinked at that statement given in panic. ‘Alright, I know that Luna and the Element Bearers being there is no cause for alarm … I wonder what the issue is about.’ Out loud, she asked the guardsmare, “Guard? Report what is the cause of your alarm.”

The guardsmare started to scuff the ground, ears splayed on her head as she reported, “Princess Luna and the Bearers are linked to the prisoner's mind by an unknown spell with Princess Luna’s signature, and now a powerful force-field is being generated by the stallion himself—“

The answer to that statement was heard even in the foundations of Mount Canterhorn—where several cloaked figures were readying a ritual circle linked to the magical charges above them, deep within the depleted crystal mines at the roots of the mountain they were gathered in.

“My sister did what!?”

“My sister did what!?” echoed through the mountain city … and unbeknown to Celestia—the one she had a meeting later this day, Ambassador Silver Gauntlet heard the dismayed cry. Taking it in in stride, he refocused his attention at the status report that his roussepony contact had just given him—the status report concerning the mystery stallion—presumed to be the missing Iron Ash.

‘So Princess Luna and the former Bearers of the Elements of Harmony are now within Iron’s mind, and out of reach for all those around them.’ The minotaur thought grimly, as he tried his best to not crush the already crumpled metal vase on his hand. ‘And to think that I’ll have to see Celestia’s face again, and pretend that I know nothing … ‘

He turned his glare towards Canterlot Castle, and continued thinking, ‘We can always try a forceful abduction, but that would mean an act of war if the ponies keep thinking that Iron Ash is an enemy of the State—considering the fact that they have been unhelpful as they have been busy calming the populace about those portents in the sky, all I can think of is … King Grimara, what are you thinking?’

The minotaur huffed in impotence, as he tried to calm himself down. ‘Certainly, that’s a rhetorical question—we are way too reliant on their food and gem exports, all things that require growth from the earth. However … do we have to be chained to them?’

Now calmed down, knowing what is at stake, Silver Gauntlet couldn’t help but sigh despondently—shoulders lagging a little as he released the vase where he drank his mead, it making a thumping sound as metal struck well-seasoned wood. ‘My Liege, I sure hope you know what you’re doing.’

The minotaur glared a dossier that laid open on his bedside table and thought grimly, ‘If those reports are true, then things are coming to a head—and we have no way of knowing how to prevent it!’

‘I can only trust that the agents from the Riskbreaker Unit staying undercover are up to this challenge. And I must place my hope in the new Equestrian Riskbreakers that we took in our midst after their own futures were taken from them by circumstance.’

“Nononononono!” Celestia was muttering as she dashed through the corridors towards the castle medical ward. ‘Oh Luna, what drove you to this foolish act!?’

The princess was so focused on her trip to the restricted area of the ICU, that she failed to notice a unicorn wearing white medical robe placing a suspicious bundle behind some equipment—a bundle which began to glow with the glyphs sewn and carved in its surfaces with green, purple and red-hued lights.

Once the running ruler was out of sight, the mystery unicorn left the premises with the characteristic flash of a teleportation spell.

This flash, however … had a particular magical circle on the ground disappearing into the air as the white flames went out, leaving no trace behind.

Which led to her current situation—waiting inside the Royal Medical Ward after putting all court activities in hiatus—as she waited for the prone figures of her sister and shared friends to wake up and rise as nothing happened.

Of course, this meant she was feeling again the sense of uselessness that she loathed most—as well as waiting for her loved ones to rise again.

‘How can I help them, when my magic doesn’t even allow me to touch them?’

She felt bile rising to her throat as her thoughts darkened—until a squeak of surprise came from one of the nurses posted at that room. “The shield’s dispersing!” The unicorn nurse mare cried out, taking Celestia out of her spiraling thoughts—only to see the mares waking up in a jolt.

Luna and her escort—the former Element Bearers—woke up startled as they felt a shockwave coming from the stallion in front of them. Before Luna, Celestia or anypony present could generate a shield or brace themselves, the wave threw all the ponies present off the room—Luna, the former Element Bearers and the nurses bursting through the wall because of the shockwave—while causing several windowpanes to break and equipment to burst from the sudden peak of magic originating from him.

As the guards and several nurses and medics rushed towards them, Celestia and all the ponies who still had their wits after the deafening shock saw how the alicorn stallion started to unconsciously generate from the horn a mist that surrounded him—and began to chew out all that stood in its way, eroding even the thaumically inert floors and walls on contact.

“Princess Celestia!? What just happened!?” one of the guards asked her, while eyeing cautiously the display of power—while several sparks of magic flowed over The Warden’s coat, giving the appearance of lightning flowing over the fur.

“Check upon the nurses, my sister, and the Element Bearers, and send them to me when they are cleared off!” Celestia commanded, only to run towards Luna and Twilight to hug them fiercely, before starting her glare at Luna—who gulped from the sudden descent in temperature inside the room as she looked at her really angry sister, tears forming at the edges of her eyes.

“Lulu? Once the medics have given you and everypony a clean bill of health, you will come with me for a talk along with everypony here that joined you on your … adventure. Have I made myself clear?” Celestia growled at her sister, who meekly nodded at her in reply.

Tightening her wing-hug, Celestia’s face softened up as she whispered, “Truly, Luna? What would I have done if you, and everypony with you had died while inside him?” before doing her best to clear her eyes and nose, sniffling a little before rising from her place and leaving the ponies to the beleaguered medical practitioners—only for them to swamp the Lunar Princess, the Princess of Friendship, and the Element Bearers—as they started examining them despite their protests.

The sound of a guard crying out “Oh buck!” did little to distract the medics and nurses, but drew the attention of Luna and Twilight—

Who saw a guardsmare heaving in panic, as the spear she had apparently used to probe the mist surrounding The Warden had a clean cut—yet no spearhead, nor part of the shaft present.

Only dust could be seen at the base of the mist surrounding the one known as The Warden of The Dark, as it swirled around him.

Twilight couldn’t help but gulp at the realization of what that shield actually did as orders were barked to prevent injuries or deaths from touching that mist.

After an hour had passed with the medical ponies fussing over them, Luna and her fellow ponies were now sitting inside a private chamber with Princess Celestia waiting for them patiently to speak out.

Only to hear the knock on the wooden door, and Cadance speaking out. “Auntie Celestia? We came as soon as you called us!”

Relaxing a little, Celestia called out to her niece. “Come in, Cadance! We’re all here now!”

The door opened, and a worried dragon rushed towards Twilight, glumping her and crying out, “Twilight, you dummy! You had us worried sick!”

“Twilight? Everypony? Thank goodness you’re alright!” Starlight Glimmer ran towards them with a genuine smile as the seven ponies and dragon went into a group hug.

“Hum? Princess Celestia?” Fluttershy asked softly, causing the attention of all the ponies present to turn to her—making her squeak from the sudden focus of attention turned towards her.

“Yes, Fluttershy?” Celestia asked kindly to the pegasus.

“Hum. We have the ‘clean bill of health’ here if you want to see it.” Fluttershy offered as she took the paper out of her wing-hold and waved it shyly.

Celestia, despite the tension in the air almost choking her, tittered at her friend. “Please, we’re here because all of you entered the mind of one of the most dangerous and barely understood beings on the whole world … one which apparently has strong ties with the Minos Alliance leadership, of all people.”

This caused Luna’s eyes to widen in worry, as her ears splayed over her head. “How did you find out, sister?”

Celestia snorted before saying to Luna, “That was the reason I went to your quarters earlier this day, Luna … only to find out that you had beaten me to it. As to how I found out, I am not proud of my procrastination, sister. The ambassador from the Minos Alliance came to me earlier this week about the disappearance of one of their most discreet and influential members of their Elder Council.”

Twilight’s ear twitched as Luna broke the silence that ensued. “We—I knew.” Luna then set her gaze on Celestia, who waved her wing for her to continue. “It was while we were inside him, right at the end of his last millennia on this world. He founded the Minos Alliance, sister.”

Luna lowered her sight to the floor, soon followed by Twilight and the other Element Bearers, as their ears fell and sad looks appeared on their faces.

“Celestia? Remember my friendship report about Zecora?” Twilight asked her mentor, who nodded gently, as she raised her sight to meet Celestia’s while keeping her head down. “I failed again … and I fear that this time there won’t be forgiveness to be attained by me.”

Celestia blinked at that statement.

“Sister? Among the things we learned from him, we found out how his power works—and why he sought to prevent any investigation or exploitation of his power.” Luna said to Celestia, who perked at this comment.

“Why was it, Luna?” Celestia asked curiosity etched on her face.

“His power … it grants a great boost of power at the expense of eternity.” Luna’s eyes began to tear as her voice cracked. “We found the entire settlement of Hoofhousen and Star Swirl’s research team inside The Warden, in the form of souls tainted with his magic presence alone … he’s literally their refuge, as reality seems to harm them gravely, judging by the memories we found.”

“Celestia? I think we should start at the beginning, then continue onwards to prevent confusion.” Twilight suggested softly.

“Ah guess we should start right at the beginning … Fluttershy? Would ya do us the honors?” Applejack asked her friend, who meekly nodded and cleared her throat.

“We found ourselves inside within a black expanse, and … .”

Thus, Fluttershy—well against what most would consider her characteristic shyness, proceeded to narrate what they learned at the start—which felt really short for her when in fact an hour had passed by.

Until she stopped and sipped from her teacup, while her friends did the same.

“How is it possible? All these things you’re speaking of, they sound like madness.” Celestia said in shock to the story told by the pegasus.

“Oh, Princess! The story only gets worse after Fluttershy touched that phantom out of curiosity!” Rarity exclaimed while the aforementioned pegasus squeaked from the hoof pointing.

“Please, do tell. Who is The Warden?” Celestia asked, nudging them to continue their story.

“His name is Ashley Riot.” Rainbow Dash said softly, her eyes trying to find something within her empty teacup.

“And he had no family to call his own,” Applejack added, sadness in her voice as her eyes looked dull. “None but the Military. Ah wonder if I and mah brother and sister would’ve ended like that if not for Granny Smith if we hadn't been taken in by our extended family.”

Celestia’s eyes opened in shock with that statement. ‘Then, that means—’

Fluttershy continued her narrative, meekly continuing. “Hum … well, after I touched that ghostly child, the whole world changed around us…”

One moment, Fluttershy had touched the resigned human foal’s face with her forehoof—the next she was looking at an incredibly annoyed, infuriated, and scared Twilight Sparkle—causing her to squeak as she backpedalled, hitting something hard and wooden with her rump.

“Humm … Twilight? Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked behind her mane as if it would protect her from the irate Sparkle.

Twilight took a moment to breathe in, then said to Fluttershy. “No, Fluttershy … we got separa—”

“Hey! You’re here, too!” Rainbow Dash’s voice exclaimed from behind Twilight, whose face turned from annoyed to relieved as she turned from Fluttershy and looked at her friends. Everypony was accounted for as they came towards her, with a worried-looking Luna trailing behind them.

“You’re alright!” Twilight exclaimed in relief, while Fluttershy let go of her breath, relaxing now that Twilight wasn’t going to get … loud with her for her mistake.

“Twilight Sparkle? My spell is fully operating now, yet I can’t control it anymore!” Luna cried out in panic as her eyes shifted—and snapped open at the scenario in front of her.

It was a study, where a bearded human dressed in a white robe with red highlights on the sleeves and skirt—The Dark Sword in an upside down position adorning his barrel as it hung over his neck—was looking at someone.

The ponies present began to feel a myriad of emotions as the scene began to fully take form in front of them.

There was confusion, wonder, and one that wrenched their hearts, nearly making them gag.

For Fluttershy, it was a very familiar feeling—as it was one she had lived with through her entire life.

It was fear and sorrow, yet not knowing as to the why she felt that way.

Then there was an unfamiliar scent among the familiar ones—from smoke to dust, down to age-old paper—which seemed to emanate from the elder human.

It took them a moment to realize that all this perception was coming from the second figure sitting in front of the bearded, elder human. How they knew, on the other hand … was something that they would have liked to know as they took in the whole scene. In front of the elder human, It was a human child with nearly white skin, brown hair that ended up in antennae-like headlocks and brown eyes, dressed in a simple white shirt and brown pants.

A child who looked at the robed individual with wonder, as a voice spoke out in front of the mares, causing them to go silent. The adult spoke out with a stallion’s voice that sounded surprisingly soft. “Young one, do you remember how you came to Valnain? Or why were you found unconscious inside a restricted area, where Bishop Arreolas has his private study?”

The child just shook his head, only to return his sights on the adult in front of him.

The human adult kept asking the child in front of him. “What about your parents? Do you know their names? Where they live, or what is their trade?”

The child’s eyes dulled a little as he looked to the boots of the man in front of him.

The bearded man scratched his beard while looking at the child in front of him, before saying to him with a small smile on his face. “I am Brother Arcturus Astora, from the Priesthood of Iocus.”

The ponies looked at the scene in front of them with questions within their minds, before the child spoke out softly, “Br—brother … Arc—Arcturus? Iocus?”

The older human smiled before asking back: “And who might you be?”

The young child just shook his head, slumping down where he was seated as he looked at Astora’s boots.

After a few seconds in silence, Astora rose from his seat. “Come, little one. I believe I know what happened to you … and how to help you.”

The child rose from his seat and silently followed the priest—only for the scene to shift itself to the two of them being in front of a much older human male sitting behind a desk.

Here, along with the scents that they were smelling was the smell of wax coming from the candles, as well as an aromatic substance that felt overpowering to the ponies’ noses.

The one that is known to them as Brother Astora apparently continued speaking, as if his voice had been forgotten, then remembered as they heard him saying to his superior. “Sire, it is my belief that this child has been a victim of dark forces, as he doesn’t even remember his own self, much less the reason for his appearing at your study! He barely even knows how to speak, yet he’s demonstrated to be quick to learn—if we take him under our wing and teach him!”

The ponies watched how the human named Arcturus exposed his view to a much older-looking man that had gone bald—yet who exuded authority—who simply asked his subordinate: “What about his parent’s whereabouts?”

Arcturus just shook his head despondently. “The Guard hasn’t found any parents lacking children, and our guest doesn’t even remember his own name.”

The older human looked at the child appraisingly, and the mares noted a gleam passing through his eyes. Time seemed to go by before he grunted his assent in a gruff voice. “Very well, Brother Arcturus. Send him to be taken care of at our sponsored orphanage, and see if we can take his hand down Iocus’ faith in Ajora Glabados.”

Celestia asked in wonder to Fluttershy, “He was an orphan?”

“Yes, Princess … but the odd thing was, how to say it?” Fluttershy wondered out loud, before being beaten to the punch by Applejack.

“Well, Princess … the thing is, we weren’t the only ones inside the Warden’s … wherever we were in.” Applejack scratched her chin in thought as she continued telling their experience to their audience.

“This is our very first conscious memory.” The child’s voice said to the pony ears, making them turn around to see how the child that was in front of them spoke to them in the ear, finding no one present but themselves.

“Fie! Warden of The Dark! We came to learn about the matrices bearing thy mark, not to hear your life story!” Luna barked back, one eye noticing how the scene had frozen.

“You cast the spell linking yourself and your companions’ souls to our own … and yet you didn’t worry about the consequences?” The youthful Warden asked neutrally.

“Consequences? What do you mean?” Twilight asked out loud, her feathers ruffling as her tail swished repeatedly.

“Your companion wanted to know the why, and was the first to move towards our start—thus her wish to know us was granted, and your control over the situation has been all but taken away.” The Warden said out clearly, but without any resentment.

This time, it was Rarity who responded to the disembodied voice. “Well, dear. I remember those phantoms saying about how you sacrificed your soul to gain command of this … dark power. How come you’re talking to us still when you’re soulless—and Princess Luna’s spell was supposed to link our souls to yours?”

The youthful voice started to laugh merrily, before replying as the scene changed. “The reason is simple … this ‘dark power’ you speak of is the soul, and we don’t take lightly to invaders trespassing uninvited.”

“What do you mean by that!” Rainbow Dash roared in challenge as she took to the air.

“You’re here! Oh, thank Harmony!” The voice of Star Swirl the Bearded resounded as the shade approached them while trotting. “Since you’re already in Ashley’s memories, I might just as well accompany you through this journey!”

“It seems that you now have a guide … as for me, you will regret invading our self.” The young voice said with a growl at the end before going quiet and the scene changing again.

“I … I didn’t know that this realm knew how to speak.” Star Swirl said with eyes wide open as he had heard the last words coming from the aether.

Unknown to the ponies now sharing their story with the Princesses and friends, other events were unfolding within their host’s core essence while they were traveling through a literal memory lane … .

These hidden events occurring at the part of any sapient being that defines ‘I’.

How much time had gone by? In this white expanse, time seemed to be frozen—as he laid on the ground, seizures and contortions wreaking havoc in his consciousness as he felt himself change at a fundamental level against his will.

This feeling was a slowly creeping feeling of sheer wrongness that had taken a lot out of him to resist—push back; perhaps even repeal—yet kept moving on within, the cracks of bone resettling and flesh tearing as it reconfigured.

The ancient human who was known now as Iron Ash looked with dead eyes at what his forced changes consisted so far: he had lost one hand and one foot—them turning into hooves as the fingers melded into one another, pain receptors going haywire from the strain—as light brown fur already covered them, slowly creeping over his limbs as the unsettling sounds of bone and flesh echoed within his consciousness, slowly but certainly turning into one of those equines.

Permanently, judging by an extra limb growing close to his shoulder blade—which had never occurred before, when he conversed with Her in days gone by.

The pain that made his body cringe over his shoulder blades meant that there were changes happening at an internal level at that height, too. ‘I could have lived without the wings, though.”

And he could do nothing to reverse this curse inflicted by those beasts of burden masquerading as people.

‘Why, Harmony … why did you sell me out?’ the lone human thought, as he stared with dead eyes, all sign of contentment gone as he felt himself … getting sullied further with every passing moment.

‘Why do I feel violated? I know that your power is naturally a cleansing one … .’ Iron Ash thought to himself as the pain returned in force, and he used all his mental training and mental fortitude to oppose what was happening to him.

And yet he knew somehow, that whatever power Harmony granted those ponies had grievously harmed his very own archetype, if the rate at which he was being forcefully changed was anything to go by.

‘If I change … will I remain the same? Or what will I be turned into?’

He felt his temperature drop as a long-lost feeling started to crawl upon his guts, a feeling he believed to be all but gone due to his … circumstance.

‘Will I remain being Ashley Riot? Will my identity remain the same, or I’m bound to become nothing but a mockery of my old self? Will my existence afterwards consist of nothing but being a puppet at another’s mercy?’

His eyes took a dangerous glint as his resolve reignited.

‘No. I will not be another one’s puppet. That much I will fight against … then again, why am I reminiscing about my early years?’

This troubled Ash more than anything, as he wasn’t one to linger in his memories and past—or to his knowledge, lack thereof.

The ponies watched how in front of them The Warden—or ‘Ashley’, as their journey through The Warden’s memories had identified him—lived his early years at the Iocus Orphanage, being taught of many things, from their faith to rules, to social rules to what was expected of him and his brothers of home. What they didn’t comprehend, as they watched the speeding events unfolding—yet understanding every tidbit and detail shown briefly—was this question: ‘ We are looking at years of life shown in instants, yet we’re learning and knowing as well as if it were shown in slowly! How is this possible!?’

One interaction brought their attention to the fore, as the quick-moving yet informative scenes slowed down, and showed them this interaction between Ashley and a different elder, at a scene that reminded them of their own childhoods.

It was a school day, with other children in the classroom present—yet only Ashley and the elder human were colored.

“Father Morgan? Is this true?” Ashley asked with child-like curiosity at the elder man, wrinkles and white wisps of hair on his eyebrows and ears.

The old man spoke out loud with an authoritative voice. “Of course, little one! God is fundamentally Good, and is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent! Why do you question that?”

“If God knows all … does he know who I am? Where I came from?” Ashley asked innocently, the ponies noticing their very selves being filled with what was, in fact, hope, trepidation, and fear.

They noticed how the old man’s features changed from authority to … was that pity?

“Yes, young Ashley … if one being would know, that would be Him.” The old man replied carefully.

The unknown guests felt their hearts overflow with hope, desire, and … uncertainty?

“If I pray … if I’m a good child … will he answer me?” Ashley inquired again, his eyes focused intently on the old man in front of him.

The one known as Father Morgan chuckled gruffly before saying, “Only when you’re ready to receive your answer, young one—yet the answer may prove too much if you’re not careful! Truth is best taken as medicine—a little at a time, or you might get ill from it!”

The scene shifted again as the ponies digested this … intimate view of who they still saw as a terrifying creature.

The feelings that filled their spirits were no longer those of hope and willingness, but now it was hope intermingled with doubt, shame, self-hate and sorrow as the new scene started in front of their eyes.

Ashley was kneeling next to his bed, hands clasped together as he was talking to someone who wasn’t there.

No one but the same icon that the Iocus Priesthood used in all of their uniforms, and which hung upon their necks.

A young voice interrupted Ashley, and the ponies felt both relief and irritation within them as they heard the new child talk. “You know that god they talk about is nothing but an illusion, right?”

It was at this moment that the ponies noticed that Ashley looked older and taller than before.

Turning their sights, they met the sight of a boy who looked similar in size to Ashley—but whereas Ashley looked hopeful despite everything—this child had the eyes of one who had seen too much, understood too much, and was going to break the news to one who was naive.

“I still hope, Jan … that one day they’ll come back and take me back to their embrace.” Ashley replied innocently as he rose from his place and met the other boy in the eyes.

“Face it, Ashley! We’re orphans—the refuse of our world, ones forsaken by our own flesh and blood! Nothing will come our way if we only wait and have ‘hope’ as you speak!” Jan exclaimed to Ashley, who took a step back from the intensity of his roommate’s eyes and emotions. “We can only work at what we have, and you—” Jan pointed out towards a book that the ponies knew somehow that it was about The Knights of The Cross, “are aiming at impossibles!”

“To want to serve as a knight, in order to help those who cannot would be a good use of my time and life, Jan.” Ashley pleaded, only to stop and ask him back, “Wait, what do you mean by that? That I’m aiming at impossibles?”

Rosencrantz huffed. “The Knights of The Cross only accept noblebloods, Ashley … sorry to break it to you, but that is how things work! At most you’ll be a Brother like Astora, and then you know how that worked out for him in the end!”

The ponies felt in that moment several emotions drowning what they now knew were Ashley’s feelings at the time. Grief, pain, sorrow … self-hate and failure.

Tears unshed, as the scene blinked at Ashley looking down at the cloth-covered body of Arcturus Astora—them feeling Ashley’s heart breaking down, as well as growing wiser at the concept of mortality, and the consequences to prayers unanswered.

“Is it that bad, Jan … to want to reach something truly out of your reach? To perform … the impossible, and return home?” Ashley asked sadly at his brother of home.

“Home!? Now you’re pulling my leg! We are homeless, Ashley! The ones forsaken by both this world and our own flesh and blood!” Jan laughed bitterly as he shook his head, one hand rising to caress his own head as he did, only to change his demeanor and spoke again to Ashley in a much more jovial tone, “Since you want to play knight in shining armor so much … I heard from the monks here that in three days time, a representative from the Valendian Knights of the Peace will be coming here, to check for potential candidates for their rank and file! If I were you, I’d aim there instead! They don’t care about bloodlines, they care about potential!”

Ashley’s eyes opened wide, before asking Jan, “Are—are you going to apply then?”

“Of course, Ashley! I am aiming to become the best, and there I won’t have to worry about my future and purpose, as those will be things that will come from above … just like that god of the Iocus. The only difference being, that Parliament is actually real.” Jan exposed to his friend with a grin, before asking him, “Will see you in three days, ‘knight in shining armor’.” Jan lead himself out with a shit-eating grin on his face as he left behind the dumb faced Ashley, his face turning thoughtful as he digested the news.

The ponies heard the echo of his thoughts speaking out: ‘Would—will I be able to break out of my fate? Can I surpass this curse—the label known as Forsaken?’

“When we were given that insight on his life, I couldn’t help but feel … I don’t know!” Rainbow Dash said in a desperate outburst, interrupting Applejack’s narration of the events unfolding back then.

“What is there not to understand, Rainbow Dash?” Cadance replied kindly to the pegasus. “What you felt was empathy—and I imagine you went through something similar when young, right?”

The flapping pegasus stood still in mid-air, muzzle and brow scrunched in thought … right up to the moment she returned to the ground, ears wilted as she grumbled “Yeah. Back at Flying Camp, and even a few years ago at the Competition where I did the Sonic Rainboom.”

Shining Armor chipped in a comment, after having remained quiet for most of the conversation. “Rainbow Dash, I believe that feeling you had and still have shows that you’re a good pony at heart.”

Rainbow couldn’t help but blush as she muttered in reply, “Thank you, but you all know I’m awesome like that.” Sitting down and taking a pastry from the table, biting into it with a vengeance.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash! You weren’t the only one affected by that memory! I know for certain that it affected me too!” Rarity exclaimed before continuing, “Please do excuse me, Applejack—but I believe that this part is where I come in, as Rainbow here—as much as I know she’s smart—isn’t one that waxes poetics!”

Thus Rarity continued with the retelling of their experiences inside The Warden of The Dark and his memories … .

Out of the ponies present at that exchange and an intimate view of Ashley’s thoughts, the ones most affected by that scene were Rainbow Dash and Rarity—both ambitious in their own ways, yet for different reasons.

‘Why are we being shown this? What purpose does it gain in showing us what most would hide away?’ Rarity questioned herself, while the second line of thoughts went down this way, ‘I can relate to wanting to grow out of one’s place in life, to want to do the impossible to impress others … but why is he the way he is now?’

Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was feeling more and more disturbed by the revelations and changing scenes in front of her. ‘He’s a monster that even enslaves souls! Why are we being shown that he’s not so different from a pony!? Why can’t we just take what we want and leave!?’

The scene in front of them changed—and was surprised to see Trixie Lulamoon on her first arrival to Ponyville, stirring some deep-seated conflicting feelings within the former Bearers of the Elements.

“Come one, come all! Come and see the Great and Powerful Trixie! See her shows of power and beauty!” The blue unicorn mare called out loud as the scene unfolded—and froze in place.

The one thought that crossed everypony’s mind, with the exception of Star Swirl—who looked confused at this sudden change of scenery—was: ‘Why is this memory within him!?’

“Ever heard the words: If you stare at The Abyss, The Abyss will stare back at you? Even if it pains me how … cliché it sounds to me to this day.” The youthful voice of Ashley boomed through the air, causing the hairs on their necks to stand on end.

“You’re reading our minds!?” Twilight screeched as the scene moved quickly down to the point where Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash started to complain about Trixie’s claims—with Spike’s complaints added to the mix as well.

“Your souls, in fact.” Ashley replied cooly before speaking again in Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s ears, “You who claimed her to be a fraud … you who called her vain and arrogant … you are nothing but hypocrites.” Ashley’s voice rumbled through the scene as the three alluded ponies saw themselves in Trixie’s place, all exclaiming to their counterpart—

“I am Rainbow Dash, the fastest, most awesome flyer of Equestria! And nopony, and no one can match my prowess in flying, weatherworking, and sports!”

“Ah am Applejack, and here at Sweet Apple Acres we have the best apples, cider and produce of all of Equestria! Take no substitutes!”

“I am Rarity Belle, fashionista extraordinaire! I, who can give—even the ugliest mare—a chance at shining like a polished jewel, to impress others with my fabulous designs!”

Rainbow Dash didn’t take this lying down, as she retorted by saying: “Well! She claimed to have been able to defeat an Ursa Major! She was nothin’ but hot air, when an Ursa Minor did appear!”

The scene shifted to Rainbow Dash rushing towards an equine sculpture made of wood while inside a library, where she exclaimed to her friends—”It is simple: We give him the boot!”—only for the scene to shift to Rainbow Dash rushing and bucking the smoke-puffing dragon … and flying for her life as the now-angry dragon rushed at her.

The scene changed back to the three doppelgangers staring at their counterparts.

“How loyal of you to endanger your friends with your desire to show just how awesome you were.” Ashley replied dryly, causing Rainbow to stutter, before interrupting whatever she was going to say with, “Ever heard of the concept of theater? Perhaps I need to dumb it down for you sorry excuses of civilization … does the concept ‘Entertainer’ or ‘Story Teller’ come to mind?”

Twilight took point, as she retorted, “Yes, we all have made mistakes that we regretted … and learned from them! Rainbow Dash isn’t the same mare that she used to be back then! And so we all! We are even now on speaking terms with Trixie nowadays!” She then snorted, “And yes! We know of those concepts!”

Rainbow and Pinkie Pie exclaimed at the same time, “Yeah!” only for Dash to look askance at Pinkie, who was grinning back at her.

“... You must feel so proud of your cleverness.” Ashley dryly commented at the mares.

Luna’s ear twitched, as her brow scrunched up in deep thought … and called out loud with steel in her voice. “You’re not The Warden, are you?”

The girls went still and looked quizzically at Princess Luna, who just paid attention to the surroundings.

“Hum. Now that you mention it, Princess Luna—Ashley isn’t the lecturing nor mocking type.” Star Swirl commented while rubbing his beard in thought. “His character is more within the lines of sarcasm, if not outright termination, rather than toying around with others like this … will given voice talking to us.”

A mirthless chuckle echoed in the scene as it dissolved back to the interaction between Ashley and Jan. “He’s one who is disconnected from his own self … and the power you unleashed upon him all those days ago will make certain to correct that.”

Luna’s eyebrows shot upwards as she realized the significance of what was happening now, while Star Swirl and Twilight’s minds were working overtime to discern what this apparition meant by that.

The three ghostly mares disappeared—and were replaced with Luna of all ponies.

But whereas Princess Luna had a calm demeanor and aura surrounding her, this simulacra felt off—her vanity, arrogance, and insolence seemed to surround her like flames from a oven as she stood in front of them, geared in armor from ancient times and a dark blue cape fluttering over her barrel as she stared at them with her chin held high and eyes barely looking at them.

“But you are so far the worst of this little group. Princess Luna, the one who is worth as much as dust.” Young Ashley said with scorn at the alicorn, who rather than fuming out … looked scared at the apparition.

“Princess Luna is an awesome pony, a good friend, and she’s been working hard to be a good ruler after her return!” Twilight roared in a challenge at the one mocking her friend.

Luna only whispered as tears began to form in her eyes. “Please, anything but this … I beg thee.”

“For someone who believed herself so deserving of attention and lavishing from all those around you, you always were less than your sister—and that is saying something, considering what I feel about her.”

The scenario changed, as Luna cringed as actual memories were projected from her self … .

And the ponies present were buffeted with rage, jealousy, and haughtiness, as they looked at this illusion Luna now in a scene roaring at her sister at her quarters.

“This is madness, Sister! Why do those ponies keep ignoring me despite my efforts to attain their attention!? Am I not good enough!?” Luna roared, tears of rage flowing down her eyes.

“Lulu! You know that isn’t true! You are Princess Luna, Guardian of Dreams and of the Night! You are important to us! You are important to me! Isn’t that good enough!?” Celestia cried out at her, trying to close the gap between them as Luna stepped back, teeth bared out as she glared at Celestia with a gleam in her eyes.

“Important enough to just be used to suppress those tribalist factions, yet not important enough to be even taken into account by the ponies I was sworn to serve! The ponies I went to help ran from me, Celestia! They called me monster after all I had done for them.” Luna snarled in response, causing Celestia to stop in mid-step—disbelief and horror written all over her face.

“They what—” Celestia managed to say before being cut off by Luna, as she began to transform in front of her, darkness beginning to seep through her coat and mane as if it were funneling from within.

“It is your fault! You’re the one who set everypony against me! They will love me once I’m done with you! The day will be forgotten, and the night shall be forever!!” The Nightmare roared as she launched a blast of magic to her sister, who barely managed to shield herself before being sent flying from the impact.

“A real ruler always places his subjects before his own needs.” Young Ashley stated to the weeping princess, as everypony there watched in horror how the Nightmare came to be, all while being buffeted by winds of madness and despair.

The voice continued, as the fight went on. “You could have always chosen to step down from the throne and leave your sister be the one ruling, and could have always chosen a different path in life. Your madness … your unfettered desire to be loved and appreciated above all, without regard for others.” Ashley paused, only to state coldly at her. “Would have cost this world more than what you can comprehend, by killing all life in it. Consider yourself lucky that we were still on our way to euthanize you when you were defeated by your sister and sealed in the moon.”

“You don’t get it! She was manipulated by a dark force from Tartarus! She wasn’t truly herself back then!” Twilight screeched in rage, as she placed a wing on top of the quivering Luna, who was weeping as she stared at the shade of her old self—her deepest shame exposed to everypony present.

Soon, Luna felt a more ethereal presence comforting her, and she turned to meet Star Swirl—who simply nodded once at her.

“Tartarus? What is Tartarus?” Young Ashley asked neutrally, before giving the impression of a psychic shrug—causing Luna, then Star Swirl to fall on their belly in pain as the voice changed pitch when he said to them, “How did you do it? We ascertained that no one but us and those whom Harmony wished could interact with … oh. So that is why … .”

Young Ashley began to laugh mirthlessly, the voice betraying too many things while the entire dreamscape shook and reasserted itself, as he spoke out loud in a higher pitch than the one he had been using earlier. “When the process is completed, we will be fully aware of what transpired here … I do not envy our conscious self when he realizes the consequences of what you did, and that all we went through to contain those evils was all in vain!”

“We didn’t know back then, what the entity that called itself his soul meant by those words.” Rarity finished narrating this part of their experience, shuddering a little before taking a dainty sip from her teacup.

“We found out the hard way, though—but that was at the end of our adventure, so that’ll have to wait.” Rainbow Dash chipped in, eyes lost in thought as she stared at her empty teacup.

“Well, what else happened then?” Celestia and Cadance asked at the same time, only to look at each other and giggle at the same time.

Once the voice of Young Ashley went quiet, the memories dug from the mares dispersed, and the scenes shifted further in time … .

Down to the point where the children were ordered into a line outside the stone building—the light from the sun illuminating their clothing, which now they saw was a uniform, with a human male that didn’t have a beard on his face—severe eyes and appearance, dressed in what the pony witnesses realized was some kind of uniform.

The emotions were blurry at this point, from hope to fear, down to feeling intimidated by the uniformed man taking notes as each child went forward.

Rarity, despite the queasy feelings invading her gut, looked intrigued at this example of alien fashion—one that resembled what the nobles and Royal Guard wore for office work, when not at war or wearing the traditional golden armor. ‘I wonder why the members of this religious sect favor white with red trimmings, while this military male favors dark grey with that coat of arms and golden details.’

Twilight’s eyes were drawn towards an artefact that was in front of this officer. From all appearances, it was a crystal slab with unknown letterings etched on its surface—held into place by strips of silver which had the same letters onto a wooden table, partially submerged into the surface. ‘What is that officer looking for? And how does this magical device work? What use does it have?’

Pinkie Pie’s thoughts were ‘Why are they so unhappy? The monkies were good ponies! Perhaps the lack of parties, or cake, or fun, or family is responsible … is it?’ as her mane and tail slowly deflated at the sight with every child that placed his hand on the slab and was sent back, them looking dejected as they marched back into the building—

Whereas those to whom the device reacted: light sourced from within the crystal slab, which shone brightly in response to some of the children. These ‘chosen ones’ stood at one side, waiting for the line to be done while they chatted among each other.

The ponies witnessed how the device reacted with sparks of lightning when Jan’s turn came, whereas when Ashley touched it … .

The device didn’t as much shine brightly, nor produced crackling lightning—but shifted in an assortment of colors before normalizing into a grey light that glowed dimly.

Twilight noticed how the eyes of the government clerk widened in shock for both cases, only to feign being not impressed and told them to join the ranks—showing that from two hundred kids present, only fifty were chosen.

‘Now, what are the elements being sought after that would require such a device? And why did it react so strongly to those two, and in such different ways?’ Twilight thought to herself, taking her mind off for a second from the fact that it was a military man who was taking kids with him for his purposes.

The scene shifted forward in time, where the kids were herded along to a different part of town, flanked by several soldiers with hands on the pommels of the swords and the shafts of the halberds. The shifting of time slowed down, when they reached a military fort at the edge of town, several of the kids sweating and breathing hard from the effort.

The feeling of being overwhelmed, intimidated and feeling genuinely frightened filled their hearts, in an echo of their owner’s memories.

The uniformed man who guided them, though—looked as if he had just taken a stroll, not a bit of sweat in his face. This man turned to face his charge, and after a moment’s silence where he breathed in, he started the induction.

“You Forsaken are now part of a greater being, which is the Valendian government!” Roared the uniformed military man in front of the children, making many step back as they cringed. “For as you see, your mother is now The Valendian Knights of the Peace! And your father is Parliament! I and my own are your new family, recruits!”

All the kids looked at the man with intrigue in their eyes, as the soldier grinned privately.

“I am Sergeant Vinheim! And to this day you have been pampered by those softies of the Iocus Priesthood! Now, you will be turned into men of good!” Sergeant Vinheim roared at the children, only this time they attempted to stand their ground despite their faces cringing from the treatment.

‘Good, good! I can work with these runts—hum? Who might this two be, that stood their ground?’ The sergeant wondered inwardly as he saw two of the kids at the end of the row remain in their places, faces neutral yet attentive.

“Now—I want each of you to take a step forward; introduce yourself; state what you want; then step back and wait for me to give you your second name! Have I spoken clearly!?” the sergeant ordered.

A chorus of “Sir, yes sir!” from the children gathered in front of him was enough to answer for him.

And as each child took his place and spoke out, the sergeant made notes of who would need … re-education to become a better asset, as he loudly stated second names for each of the kids, who grinned or looked in pain as they received their new second names.

The ponies looked in horror, especially Luna—who thought privately: ‘Children!? To train children as soldiers!? Not even when the three tribes were in conflict we did such things!’

Whereas Star Swirl thought, ignoring the faces of shock and horror from the companions of Luna and Twilight: ‘It is no wonder that his mind and personality are warped … to do this is a guarantee to break kids apart down at the foundations of their spirits.’

The group then paid attention to Jan’s introduction.

“I am Jan! And it is my vision to grow in both power and wealth! To no longer be a Forsaken!” The cynic kid stated smugly, before returning to his place.

“Jan Rosenkrantz!” The sergeant bellowed as Jan returned to his place.

Their audience paid attention to the mystery known as Ashley, or Warden of The Dark, as he stepped forward and spoke out.

“I am Ashley, and I want to become a knight and serve my country!” Ashley stated with vigor, as several of the kids started to laugh at his desire as he stepped back.

Fluttershy noticed, though, how the sergeant looked with eyes that she would recognize anywhere, as she had seen them herself.

Eyes of both concern, and pity.

Not missing a beat, the sergeant bellowed “Ashley Riot!” as Ashley took a step back.

“Why did the sergeant look at Ashley with pity?” Fluttershy asked herself out loud, only to be surprised as the scene shifted—

And they saw Ashley being interviewed by a female in a dark grey uniform, within a stone room that only had a wooden table in between two chairs and a guard at the doorway.

“I am Inquisitor Beatrice Galthena, young Ashley … and I was called due to certain concerns related to your behavior this last month.” She explained softly as she placed a dossier on the table carefully.

“I—I don’t exactly know what you mean by that, Inquisitor. I really don’t.” Ashley replied earnestly, a tinge of fear within his answer.

“You don’t need to be afraid, Ashley—despite our reputation, we have many purposes … among them, is counselling.” The inquisitor replied with a motherly smile, before asking him, “Tell me, Ashley … what is in your mind that keeps distracting you? What is it that is worrying about your friends and family?”

Ashley replied without any reservations, “I don’t even know myself … I don’t remember my parents—I only feel longing, for them to come back and to let me know why. Longing for a normal life, longing to be more than just an orphan—a Forsaken child—to know … if I was loved at all or was nothing but an accident. More to the point, to know who am I.”

Applejack interrupted Rarity’s narration, and said softly to the Princess, eyes watering a little as she spoke out sadly. “Princess? When ah heard that, I couldn’t help but feel my determination falter … all ah knew was that this Warden character was nothing but a no-good varmint, and there we were—hearing a foal trying to act grown up, with no real support for him and his fellow kids.”

“Applejack? We all did feel and believe that, too.” Twilight replied softly, as she nursed her teacup before taking the final drink from it and placing it on the saucer, it clinking as she released it.

With a grim look, Rarity cleared her throat and continued telling their experience within … .

The faces of all the ponies present changed as they heard that confession coming from what they believed so far to be a monster. Of them, Fluttershy and Pinkie even tore a little at the honesty in the display.

‘Even monsters love … right?’ Rarity thought privately as they kept seeing the scene unfold.

The Inquisitor kept making notes with a quill on the dossier, and said at the end of the interview to the kid in front of him, “I will arrange for treatment later this evening, Ashley.” She took the piece of parchment she had been writing on so far, and added, “take this to your superior officer, and rest until the appointed time. I’ll be waiting for you in the address written here, and don’t worry about getting lost—your superior officer will take you where the treatment will begin. Dismissed, Ashley Riot.”

Taking the parchment with one hand, Ashley saluted after standing from his seat and left the room.

“Treatment? What did she mean by that?” Luna asked herself—

Only to see how the scenario shifted and distorted, as Ashley’s perceptions of this point shifted … .

“Well, dear. I hope you know what you’re doing by becoming a recruit for the Valendian army.” A woman with flowing brown hair and loving eyes said to the child next to her—who to the ponies’ surprise was Ashley Riot—who nodded at her and the man next to her.

“Yes, we may not be nobles, but I want to make a career here, to serve the King as part of the Kingsguard!” Ashley exclaimed seriously, as the two adults tittered at his antics.

The scene shifted, as if suffering from interference, and showed Ashley seating on a chair, bands of leather and metal keeping him in place as he screamed out in pain.

On his head, a device similar to the one used to choose among the orphaned kids were glowing brightly—while an agent clad in grey was producing some sort of power that was being fed into the device.

“What—what is the meaning of this!?” Luna and Twilight exclaimed, while Star Swirl looked at the scenes now shifting between two stories that were too different to have the excuse of time for them … and frowned at the implications.

“This is troubling.” Was all that he said while his companions gawked at the now swirling confusion of images and emotions being cast upon them.

“Mind modification spellcraft.” Celestia spat venomously, causing the ponies present to look at her. “To think that his people would resort to those means … it is a wonder he remained sane after that.”

“Hum. Princess? It is way worse than that.” Rarity said nervously, while the other members of the impromptu audience only twitched their ears.

Clearing her throat, Celestia said to Rarity. “Please, Rarity … do continue. What did you all learn of next?”

Cries of pain echoed through the white expanse—physical pain, as the transformation, proceeded unabated—and emotional pain, as memories that he thought at first weren’t his own surfaced one after another, adding to the confusion and pain that he was feeling.

With a show of might and mental fortitude, Ashley Riot—known within the Minos Alliance as Iron Ash—grabbed the frayed edges of his sanity and mind, and attempted to make sense of what was happening to him.

Or at least, that was his intent, when an unwanted visitor showed up at his doorstep.

A coral-coated alicorn mare with a crystal tree symbol on her flank materialized within the expanse, and cried out in worry: “Ash!? What is happening to you!?”

Despite the pain, the fact that his mind was unraveling—and thousands of years of buried baggage being turned inside out from the depths of his self—and the fact that he was undergoing a transformation at a primal level, Ashley turned his glare to the approaching shape, and replied coldly to her—cutting off the physical and metaphysical pain he was suffering.

“This is your work, and of your puppets … Harmony, why did you sell me out to them? Did I fail in fulfilling my part of the contract?”

Harmony turned her head in shame, eyes watering out as she answered to his accusation: “I am sorry, Ashley … I hoped that my intervention would have assuaged any misgivings to your presence.” She attempted to nuzzle the fallen human—only to get her head shoved aside by his hand.

“Get off of me, deceiver.” Ashley ordered while gritting his teeth, his mind cracking under the pressure of what happened long ago.

All his preconceptions, all what he thought was long-lost and buried now being brought to the fore of his mind.

Harmony looked at him as if he had kicked her aside in spite, eyes now tearing up as she called softly, “Ashley? I—I didn’t want this happening to you!”

Ashley didn’t wait to reply in scorn, “It was your power. Yours, that you chose to give to those that don’t welcome strangers at all.”

As Harmony made an attempt at saying something, anything, Ashley added with barely contained fury, “You could’ve ceased your flow of power to them, to prevent my work from being undone … and you chose not to.”

Any further words that he meant to speak out loud died in his throat, as the plethora of changes and pain washed over him once more.

All that Harmony could do was stare in pain at what had occurred, and the results that were showing up to this point.

Her heart ached, for she meant what she said, and was made to be a liar to someone who valued truth above all things.

It didn’t take long for the memories to stabilize—and for the ponies to see the mindscape settling down—before they continued witnessing his growth as a member of the Valendian Knights of the Peace as years passed by in a blink.

Among those memories, was the part where he was trained in the Kingsguard’s combat foundations—which drew immediately Twilight, Luna, Rainbow Dash, and Star Swirl’s attention, as the scene unfolded … .

“One of the requisites for applying for the Valendian Armed Forces elite groups—the Royal Guard, known as Kingsguard; and the Dangerous Task Force Unit, also known as the Riskbreakers—is the capability to tap into one’s source of strength: The Soul! That is the reasoning behind the offensive and defensive battle abilities that we call the Life Spark Abilities and the Break Arts!” Roared the bearded man in front of the young teens, who stood still as he spoke out—several iron cages serving as backdrop for the trainer addressing the trainees.

“Life Spark Abilities? Break Arts? Soul-fueled skills? What in Tartarus does he mean by that?” Twilight asked herself as she heard the explanation … and gasped when several furious, big and muscular dogs were brought in metal prison-like boxes to that man.

The ones carrying the cages were armored individuals who were struggling with the dogs slamming the sides of their cages—joining the dog-containing cages to the larger-sized cages by the sides.

“For the next stage of your training, you must tap into your very souls to draw forth the power that fuels the Life Spark Arts!” The sergeant roared at the kids—many of whom were visibly shaking as the dogs barked in rage. “If you fail, you will die! So, do not die! Don’t waste my efforts in training you into the right mindset, so you can tap onto that source of strength!” The man roared again, entering one of the cages for the trainees, before nodding to one of the armored soldiers—taking the signal, the soldier opened the latch of the box and its occupant rushed at the sergeant.

Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel angry at the treatment given to those dogs, even if she feared what those jaws were capable of—if she believed her reasoning about the size of their heads and necks.

Dogs bred to maim and kill with bites of great force, plain and simple.

Managing to avoid the rushing sergeant’s fists, the dog got its chance and bit the weathered trainer at the shoulder-neck level, provoking a blood-letting wound—

—Only for a spark of light to repeal the dog, causing it to yelp in pain as the trainer bled through the bite wound given to him, spurts fountaining rhythmically from the wound.

Princess Luna didn’t say anything, as she saw that the wound was a lethal one, even if treated right away—

Or so she thought, as the sergeant rushed at the dog as it attempted a second rush, and started to punch and kick the animal in a methodical fashion—the aura of light manifesting with each impact, and the wounds closing to the point that they didn’t even appear in the form of scars.

This happened, while the once ferocious dog let out yelp after yelp of pain as it tried to escape its prey—now at the offensive.

Fluttershy couldn’t help but cringe at the show, sniffing at the brutal treatment of both animals and men as she felt herself wanting to weep from the pain it caused her heart. ‘Why? Why so much cruelty? Haven’t those kids suffered already? Why didn’t they remain with the monks, who were kind to them?’

In between strikes, the seasoned trainer exclaimed. “I trained you to both pay back the pain and harm given to you, and to heal yourselves the more you attack and use your soulfire to fuel the Life Spark Abilities!” The sergeant turned to the now scared-to-the-gills young teens, before barking to them while holding the whimpering beast in one hand by the neck, strangling it in the process. “Now! Each one of you to one cage! When inside, a dog will be released as well! You pass on to the next level of your training when you defeat four war dogs at the same time! Now get to it!”

The sergeant finished his phrase by throwing the dog inside one cage without any care, as the now tearing children entered each cage and prepared for the onslaught.

The scenes shifted away—while the ponies felt the pain of Ashley Riot, and his grim resolution to succeed or die trying—as the screams of pain from children forced to become soldiers in exchange for a place in society vanished into the dark recesses of his memories.

The mouths of Celestia, Cadance, Shining Armor, Spike, and Starlight were open from both shock and rage at such cruelty for training children.

The one who broke the silence was Spike, who gulped before saying out loud their thoughts: “You were right … it did get worse.”

Twilight Sparkle felt her stomach grumble as her mouth salivated, feeling her guts churning and giving her grief, while her heart was upset at both the methods and the means to train from young the future soldiers.

‘Training to kill in close-quarter-combat; tactics; psychology; strategy; terror tactics; wilderness survival; metalsmithing; leatherwork; infiltration; espionage … so much being taught, and so little that is constructive for a life outside the military.’ The young princess thought, the scholar in her fascinated at such a look at an alien military life—whereas her equine side couldn’t help but feel wretched at the waste of potential for the lives lost—children denied their childhoods, as they were trained to become elite warriors.

Luna, however, was more preoccupied with what the training involving the Lifespark Abilities encompassed—as she herself had learned of something similar to it a long time ago, when she learned that some Zebrican tribes and Deerfolk—that lived at the outskirts and within the woods of the Everfree respectively—trained themselves in the same fashion that Ashley went through. At the time, found herself curious—down to the point where she learned that it was perhaps the most dangerous of magical thurgies of the entire world.

Soul Magic. Or at least it felt similar. Too similar … .

‘Warden of The Dark … Ashley Riot … what went through your mind when teaching others this magic?’

This was the unspoken secret to Tirek’s capabilities concerning the theft of harmonious magic—his capability to funnel his soul’s power to rip the magic of other living beings and add it to his own. A secret that both she and her sister had kept from Cadance and Twilight, as the implications were bad enough.

‘Didn’t those trainers know? What happens when one uses the essence of the self for this purposes?’

Twilight and Star Swirl, thought—they were intrigued by the way that the Lifespark Abilities were taught.

Twilight Sparkle wondered this: ‘How can this be possible? Humankind isn’t supposed to be able to harness magic—and the human world at the other side of the mirror obtained Equestrian Magic because of my Element and thaumical transfer—yet these people succeeded in weaponizing their own souls to have an equivalent! But why rely only on oneself, when team efforts are what give the best results? Why haven’t they taught those kids about making friends, or working as a team?’

Whereas Star Swirl couldn’t help but frown, as he remembered his own research on the power of The Dark that The Warden wielded and the conclusions that he managed to obtain before his end. ‘The Dark resembles too much this soul-fueled skills, even their reliance on emotions linked to power—the power to change reality at a really small scale … can it be possible … ?’

“We were exposed to his entire childhood and entry into adulthood, Princess … and ah think that was the turning point that showed us who he really was.” Applejack explained, ears drooped as she eyed the cupcake on her hoof.

“That’s very true, Applejack.” Rarity offered kindly in return, causing the farm-mare to smile wanly at her in return.

Luna added to the ongoing conversation, after taking a drink of her tea. “Verily, we saw how his government employed him and his companions—as state-sponsored assassins.” She spat at the end, “As the slaughter went on against those that their government branded as enemies of the state, criminals or destabilizing elements, more and more of the ones recruited from that orphanage and many others went mad, died from mission-related injuries, or both. Only very few remained at the end of those years in relatively good health.”

Shining Armor asked in a tone that the mares hadn’t heard from the Prince Consort, one that showed as his eyes were, in fact, tearing up as he spoke out. “Princess Luna? How many suffered that fate?”

Luna turned her sights on Twilight, who dropped a tear as she replied to him, “... The fatality rate was around seventy percent, and much of it could have been prevented had their superiors lessened the deployment of them … the Dangerous Task Force Unit, Riskbreakers—or at least given them some kind of therapy to lessen their burden somewhat.”

Pinkie Pie exclaimed in an outburst, forehooves raised in exasperation as what Twilight said sunk into their audience, “Not only they offered them a future, but lied about it! That’s not what good ponies do to one another! Many he saw die by the hands of their targets or those who guarded them, all while his heart went colder with each one he had known for so long go out like that!” Pinkie’s mane had deflated at this point, tears spilling out as she was wing-hugged by Fluttershy, taking her comfort like a lifesaver in the midst of a storm. “They even struck the ones who gave their all for them out of their registries! Not even a sign of recognition, no hope, no future, nothing!”

“So they used them as nothing but tools?” Cadance whispered, her heart aching at the description of such calculated cruelty.

“Yes.” Twilight and Rainbow said softly.

“What was it that you saw, the ‘turning point’ for your opinion of him changing?” Celestia inquired gently, eyes glistening a little as she looked at the thoughtful and affected ponies. ‘No one comes out unscathed from bloodshed, especially my little ponies who have not seen war for so long … oh, Twilight, everypony. I’m sorry you had to find out our burden the hard way, with this adventure you went through.’

Twilight cleared her throat before she continued from where Rarity had left the story, “We were introduced to Ashley and Jan working together as team on behalf of their government, as they were picked for both their grades and temperaments, both being top of their class—with Ashley being chosen as the head of the two-men team by their superiors.”

Twilight’s eyes became dull as she continued talking with less enthusiasm. “Unlike everypony else, they kept going mission after mission—with little rest in between—while keeping a spotless record of efficiency. Key assassination, robbery, man-hunting—they did it all.” Her eyes took a shine once more as tears fell from her eyes, as she said to them, “Until that last assignment, where Ashley finally showed who he really was … .’

The ponies were feeling sick at the scene in front of them—all sense of pity gone, nothing remaining but disgust at both Ashley for being nothing but a state-sponsored killer, and his superiors for taking advantage of the Riskbreakers’ impunity for their actions.

And yet … something stirred in the memories they were witnessing, as they glared at the image of Ashley standing still as he stared at the body of the woman—once a mother, once a wife—that he had killed, sword dripping with her blood as he stared and felt his heart churn a new feeling, one that he didn’t recognize from before, a pain and sorrow bubbling from within his deepest self … until his attention was drawn towards his teammate—Jan Rosencrantz, as he exclaimed to him, “Well done, commandant! Both stabbed through the heart!” as he examined the corpse of the simple dressed man, him and his son stabbed through the chest as well—their blood seeping into the soil.

The ponies were shaken out of their disgust by that heavy feeling in the memories of the one who they had grown to despise at this point—and heard the echoes of his thoughts back then. ‘Why am I feeling this now? Could it be, that their deaths were not meant to happen by our hand? Have I gone astray from what I hoped to become like a member of the Valendian Knights of Peace?’

“... What? They’re just peasants.” Jan stated in business-like fashion while Ashley’s sight turned from the downed man to the child whose future he had taken from by his blade—kneeling to examine his own handiwork as his heart all but cried out ‘Murderer! Sham of a knight! Disgraceful!’ at him, dulled emotions from the bloodshed bubbling and breaking the surface of his machine-like self-imposed separation from his actions. Unknowing of his remorse, Jan continued to twist the knife in his friend’s heart. “Their luck ran ill, that is all.”

‘Their luck ran ill!? Where did I go astray!? This—this isn’t what I signed up for!’

“All witnesses to our operations must be ‘dealt with’. It is in our code.” Jan continued speaking out while Ashley just remained silent, kneeling beside the corpse of the child. “They were wrong to picnic here.” A few more moments of silence, before Jan added “You are the hand of justice. We … we are the hand of justice. It is for the good of the realm. A few sacrifices are nothing—”

The ponies felt a shift in the memory they were witnessing. A shift towards rage and self-loathing, as Ashley coldly replied “A few sacrifices?” causing the ponies’ eyes to open wide, realizing that something had changed—something deep within him.

His rage rising as he rose from his kneeling position, Ashley confronted Jan and questioned with barely contained anger, “You tell me why these people had to die! Why we had to kill them!”

The anger and self-loathing gave place to sorrow, as they heard him cry out in pain, “They were innocents … Is it not our charge to protect these very souls!?” before he threw his bloodied sword at a side—the tip of the red-stained blade burying itself into the ground as he stood his ground to his teammate—

Only for him—and the ponies present—to feel themselves fainting, as several security wards placed within his mind went into action … causing Ashley to fall to his knees, as Rosencrantz exclaimed in disbelief, “What has come over you? You sound like an addle-pated preacher!” only for Ashley to fall to the side, consciousness going black as he heard his last words … “C—Commandant! What is wrong!?”

“This was the point where we questioned ourselves … have all we have done been twisted into evil? Were we nothing but killers, instead of Knights serving the Parliament?” Ashley’s voice spoke out—but this time it sounded older, the same voice that had confronted Jan in that field, the shade of the tree serving as a witness.

Before the ponies could say anything, the entire scene shook as glimpses of Ashley strapped to a chair with the same device on his head cried out in pain—and memories were apparently replaced and shifted to a room with one gray-uniformed man interviewing Ashley.

“Why are you interested in joining the Dangerous Task Force Unit? The Kingsguard is a proper post that will allow you to grow into a career.” The officer asked him.

“All of that no longer matters … I have nothing left, my wife and son were murdered by fallen knights—I want this, I need this … as I could do nothing to save them.” Ashley replied, the ponies shivering from the tone and the creeping chill into their very hearts … .

Only to hear the officer reply with all seriousness: “Welcome to the Dangerous Task Force Unit, Commandant Ashley Riot. We will arrange the paperwork for your transfer, and you’re expected to show up at this address.” The officer passed up a piece of parchment to Ashley, who took it without even checking it up. “You’re expected to arrive at 0800 hours. Dismissed.”

“Those buckers …. how dare they do that to him?” Shining Armor snarled hatefully, disgust seeping into his own heart as he heard this, with Cadance, Celestia and both Spike and Starlight Glimmer showing the same feelings concerning that act.

“That’s really bucked up—to force someone to keep serving you, even if this goes against any morals he might’ve had.” Cadance couldn’t help but whisper, as Shining nuzzled her for comfort.

“From a military standing point, I can understand this though.” Shining Armor said, causing everypony present to look up at him questioningly. He shrugged the looks and kept going, “If these ‘Riskbreakers’ were involved in what you described as black operations, espionage and assassinations, that’d mean that they possess delicate information that could get leaked at any point—thus being a security nightmare for those involved. So, the best option would be—”

“To keep them under watch, while availing to their services,” Celestia muttered, ears drooped as she looked down on the ground forlornly.

“Oddly enough, Prince Shining … that is what came up in later memories.” Fluttershy commented, as she shivered a little before speaking out. “Would anypony take it at this point? Just remembering what happens after is … way more scarier than dragons.”

Twilight and Applejack couldn’t help but wince in sympathy, as Applejack said to Fluttershy, “Ah can’t blame you on that one, hun. A hundred successful assignments without suffering another breakdown, while hatin’ yourself for not being able to save your loved ones can be a horrid thing to live through.”

Starlight and Spike went slack-jawed at this statement.

“A hundred assignments!? How many missions did he do in total without going mad!?” Starlight screeched in shock, feeling incapable of imagining herself in that position—or withstanding the regrets or the simple fact of having to kill others just because she was ordered to.

After a moment’s silence, Luna spoke up in a quiet tone. “I believe it was around one hundred and seventy assignments in total, Starlight Glimmer.”

Spike shivered as he hugged Twilight more tightly, and said softly, “I don’t think I could even stomach five missions like those you have spoken of, how did he do it? How did his heart stand up to that life?”

“His loyalty and self-hatred, plus a great desire to avert his life happening to others, Spike.” Rainbow Dash said to him, wings flexing a little as the feathers ruffled and settled into place.

“I have the distinct feeling that this wasn’t the end of the story, am I correct in that assumption?” Celestia asked them gently, ears twitching as she found herself willing to hear more of the mysterious figure that they had so far assumed was an adversary.

“Yes, there is more. In fact, we lived through his life—all ten thousand years of it—” Twilight began, only to stop suddenly and look at how Celestia, Cadance, Shining Armor, Starlight Glimmer and Spike just stared at them … .

Until Starlight Glimmer asked her: “Seriously? Ten thousand years old?”

Twilight sighed, “Yes, Starlight, and it was a very long life with little highlights, as he went into hiding for the rest of his life,” before continuing the narrative. “The changing point was his last assignment as a Riskbreaker … when he pursued his prey to that place … .”

Joining Twilight, Luna and the other Element Bearers said at the same time, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie closing their eyes as if it brought them pain: “The cursed city … Lea Monde.”

Remembrance: The City of Darkness (Unedited)

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The ponies couldn’t help but feel oppressed, hearts wrenching within them as they wilted under the darkness of the Valendia Knights of Peace’s Headquarters at Valnain, where they witnessed how was Ashley given his orders by members of Parliament and the heads of the VKP.

All hushed up, in the middle of the night. This rose plenty of alarms in the back of their minds, even if this had happened at another place in a far-away time.

As for Ashley … the ponies couldn’t help but feel wonder as to how somepony could learn to suppress what made them equine, yet do whatever it took to fulfill what assignment was laid up for him and return to his base for more—which Twilight privately blamed on the brainwashing procedures that the VKP apparently favoured—as all they heard him ask was for details pertaining as to why they were getting involved instead of sending in the unit responsible for dealing with cults.

After his breakdown at that important place, and after having been ‘conditioned’ once more, he turned almost golem-like in the execution of his missions. Never batting an eyelid, heart and soul sealed shut when given a mission to fulfill—his very self nothing but an expectator the moment he received his orders.

Loyalty to Parliament was everything, any sense of right and wrong left for them to decide—mentality aspiring to become akin to a tool that cares not for what its owner used it for—only to perform his duty and return to headquarters.

“Girls … how dare they to take away his principles, what made him better than what he is now … turning him into—into this!” Fluttershy wailed, tears trickling down her cheeks while she waved her hoof at him as her fellow ponies just looked at the scene unfolding before their eyes, details of the discussion left vague as Ashley didn’t particularly pay any attention to the plotting done by his superiors.

“Fluttershy? This happened a long time ago, so there is little to be done about it … alright?” Rainbow Dash fluttered towards her aching friend, giving her a wing-hug to calm her down.

The discussion went on, with the ponies having little to no context on what was being said, besides them twitching nervously at the mention of one Duke controlling their country’s Parliament from the shadows while funding a cult—one which apparently had attempted to slay their King at some time past. And for said cult to take an entire manor hostage, one which was the property of said Duke. All of this done while they were making demands against the VKP to release their political prisoners and the stepping down of Cardinal Batistum—whoever that was.

Their attention rose at this point of the conversation, “The reason we’re getting involved is because Mullenkamp and thus its leader Sydney Losstarot’s coin comes from the Duke himself—a hero of the Valendian Civil War.” Grand Steward LeSait stated before adding, “Furthermore, we must find out why Cardinal Batistum mobilized his Crimson Blades to deal with this incident without our approval. Thus, your orders are to detain Sydney Losstarot for questioning here at the VKP for his involvement in the attempt against the King’s life during the last winter.”

‘Why did I know their names now?’ Luna asked herself, while something in the air changed around them—as if there was a feeling of change deep within Ashley’s mind, almost as if it were waiting for this moment to arrive.

However, Star Swirl’s ears twitched at the mention of those names, before a now-calmed Fluttershy asked him, “Mister Star Swirl? I hope not to offend or anything, but … didn’t you mention those two names before? Mullenkamp and Sydney?”

“Yes I did, fair pegasus.” Star Swirl replied before the memory continued.

At that moment, the leader of the VKP continued speaking, “Inquisitor Heldricht will explain.”

The hard-looking woman began issuing her orders to Ashley: “You will go to the Graylands immediately. A map of the manor grounds is in your carriage.” Her eyes took a gleam as she continued speaking to the silent Ashley: “I’ve sent one of my agents ahead; she will fill you in when you arrive.”

“They were in the same situation as you and the others, then?” Fluttershy inquired at the old unicorn while the scene unfolded and felt Ashley’s emotions shift.

While the two discussed, the image of Ashley questioned, “She … ?”

Displeasure could be felt at this imposition, the training they had witnessed coming to mind—along with the contradictory repurposing of the Riskbreakers into single-acting agents instead of two-member teams coming to their minds.

“Agent Merlose.” The Head Inquisitor replied, her tone indicating that the meeting was over.

Taking the unspoken order, Ashley left the premises and headed to his destination—familiarizing with the map provided and the dossier attached to it with machine-like efficiency.

After a moment’s silence, Star Swirl replied to her. “Indeed, Fluttershy. They were the previous wielders of the power that Ashley now wields,” the old wizard replied smoothly to the inquisitive pegasus, leaving her in a thoughtful mood.

The memories shifted further in time, as the ponies felt his essence surround itself in a cocoon to shield itself from Reality, embracing a willing tool-like mentality on the journey … until he arrived at the meeting place with ‘Agent Merlose’. She could be seen watching the imposing structure of the manor, only to hear Ashley’s deliberate attempt at brushing past some bushes, where she greeted him cooly: “Agent Riot, I presume?”

At his silent answer, she continued introducing herself: “I’m your partner Callo Merlose. But please, call me Cal.” Only to be ignored by Ashley as he went past her, ignoring the proffered hand. “How was your journey?” She continued lamely in an attempt to make conversation with the elite Riskbreaker.

“Wow, that’s cold.” Rainbow Dash commented with wide eyes at the disregard shown for human contact, while Rarity turned up her nose at the disrespect in disapproval, while Pinkie’s mane deflated the more she witnessed his demeanor.

“How many are there?” Ashley asked in a business-like fashion, staring at the manor where the hostage situation was ongoing.

Entering too into the mentality of an agent, Merlose replied to him: “... our scouts report a dozen men. Of course, we have yet to spot Sydney, and there may be more inside the manor.”

“Hostages?” Ashley asked again.

“Including the Duke’s family and servants, thirty-four,” Callo replied dutifully. “Thankfully, the Duke himself was away at the time.”

“Wait, that is too convenient for such a thing to happen.” Twilight Sparkle commented at that detail, to which Ashley’s memory agreed silently.

“The Duke was not taken captive?”, Ashley questioned the young Inquisitor, who simply replied with “Nay.”

“How fare the Blades?” Ashley asked again, turning back to see the quiet manor.

“We will have to wait and see. With the hostages inside, direct action is perilous. We will have to negotiate with Sydney while we collect information to aid our final—” only to be derailed as the manor took on fire.

A manor that looked made of stone with plenty of wood in the framework.

“What is this!?” Merlose questioned in shock.

Ashley, now immersing fully into the assignment, replied coldly. “It seems the siege has begun … the Cardinal’s Blades have made their move.”

“We have given no such order! They are acting in direct defiance of our authority!” Merlose yelled in outrage.

“... Perhaps their hand was forced?” Ashley replied to her, his detachment helping him keep his cool as his companion seethed—only to begin moving towards the burning manor.

Shaking off the indignation, Merlose asked him as she saw him moving away, “Wait, where are you going?”

Stopping on his tracks, Ashley replied to her. “The Blades have provided the perfect distraction.”

“It’s far too dangerous!” Merlose called back, “We must wait for reinforcements!”

“Reinforcements?” Ashley questioned her as he turned his head to a side to stare at her … only to turn towards the manor and continue walking while stating: “I am the reinforcements” before rushing towards the manor’s main gate, cutting off the log keeping the gates open to shut them down behind him as he continued his journey into the manor.

At that statement, the seven mares blinked … only for Applejack to make this comment: “Okay, that last phrase sounded pretty much like Rainbow here when wanting to look like a badflank.”

“Oh come on, Applejack!” Rainbow whined as the girls tittered at their exchange … tittering which died quickly as they saw how he infiltrated the manor while killing a few cultists on his way without blinking—moving within the shadows and evading more cultists until he heard two in a discussion at the other side of a majestic oaken doorway.

Naturally, for the soft-hearted mares the majesty of the whole manor—with its inlaid reliefs and sculptures made from stone, plush carpeting, and delicate paintings—went largely unnoticed as they felt the tension in the environment and inside Ashley’s mind, not to mention their efforts to keep their lunch inside.

Eavesdropping, Ashley heard cultists speaking out loud—sound muffled by the wood and walls—causing him to wait in the shadows behind the pillars close by as the cultists moved away. Moving again towards that same door, Ashley kept bidding his time as he moved again to hide from the second to last cultist as he left.

Once he was gone, Ashley discreetly made his way into the chamber—where the seven ponies and phantom watched a frail-looking human with metal limbs go to retrieve something from a table, exposing his back to them—

“Is—is that The Dark Sword!?” Twilight exclaimed in shock, only to be silenced as Ashley pointed a loaded crossbow at the frail man—demanding that Sydney tie himself with a rope that he threw at him. As this happened, Sydney behaved nonchalantly—moments before the cult leader made an attempt to rush at Ashley with his sword.

His move was in vain, as the ponies gasped how Ashley put a crossbow dart through Sydney’s frail chest, piercing his heart. Once down for good, Ashley got closer and ascertained that he was indeed dead—only to turn his back on the body when he heard the door opening up with another man carrying a boy, who shouted “Sydney!!!” in shock.

As Ashley rose to confront the other man, he was pushed to the ground, and reacting quickly he turned to see a corpse-that-was as it gasped to him: “I … I’m the one you want,” before ordering his minion in between gasps: “Hardin … go quickly … go … to Lea Monde.”

Nodding in acquiescence, the man the ponies now knew as Hardin left the premises with a child under his arm swiftly.

Ashley yelled at him, “You! Stop!” before quickly turning and dodging Sydney’s attempts at killing him, reacting quickly to Sydney’s unnatural speed.

“That—that’s how Sombra and its summon moved!” Luna exclaimed in realization, as the mares kept looking, unable to close or wink due to the tension present in the moment.

Star Swirl nodded his head in assent at her outburst. “It is true, Princess Luna—those who channel the Dark are capable of feats greater than magic! If it weren’t for the cost it demands from those it touches, it would’ve been a great boon to ponykind … .”

As the ponies kept feeling their attention split up, the sound of steel screeching against steel caused them to turn their attention back to the scene—

Whereas they saw Ashley make some distance from the cultist, Ashley unsheathed his sword—and demanded from his adversary, “What is going on? You were most certainly dead!” grumbling at the end, “Leave the back-from-the-grave stuff to the faerie tales … .”

“It was at this point that all that I deemed real was challenged, and what walls I built to rise to the challenge of surviving and keeping my cool began to crumble in front of that man.” Adult Ashley stated to the ponies present, who couldn’t help but stare at Sydney’s jerking motions, as if he were not in full control of his limbs. “That man … was much more than I thought he was back then.” His disembodied voice commented to the ponies as they cringed from Sydney pulling out the shaft from his chest, blood spurting from the injury as the shaft clanged on the solid ground.

Spewing some blood from his mouth, Sydney dryly said to Ashley: “You’ve … given me … quite … a scratch …” before glaring at Ashley, “Show … a little more respect … for faerie tales, Riskbreaker,” Only to suddenly yell out “D’tok!!!” followed by an immediate backjump—

—To give space for a massive creature to break through the glass dome at the top of the chamber and land with a shockwave. Reacting quickly to prevent getting crushed, Ashley jumped back as well both literally and metaphorically—seeing another thing that caused his certainty to crack at its foundations and his machine-like mentality to start grinding apart at the joints … .

A massive reptilian creature with wings the size of large tables, with spears having found a way into one of its eye sockets and several points of its body, serpentine neck waving at the sides as fire flickered within its blood-stained maws … .

“This creature was one from myth … a thing that shouldn’t exist in my world: a wyvern.” Adult Ashley noted neutrally as the ponies fell to their knees from the memory of the stench of blood and sulfur coming from the wyvern’s mouth as flames flickered within its maws, feeling themselves going green from the impression alone. In a dry tone, the voice of Adult Ashley continued describing to the nauseous mares, “And that … was the smell of its menu that night: fresh Crimson Blades from the Cardinal’s reserves, mixed with its own flame.”

As the scene unfolded after a beat, Adult Ashley noted: “That was something that was harder to believe than an immortal, yet was far from being an illusion.”

Forcing herself to open her eyes, Twilight watched how the one called Sydney made his way towards one of the stained glasses adorning the window frames of this chamber, and after apologizing for not remaining behind and toying with him … .

‘Did he just commit suicide!?’ Luna and Twilight asked themselves in shock as they realized the oddness of this scene, witnessing how Sydney jumped through the window to his own apparent demise—his exit framed by the wyvern roaring to the skies, getting ready to eat the Riskbreaker as it towered over his shape.

As the wyvern reared to strike—the ponies feeling the flames pouring out as if the doors of a kiln were open before them—Ashley quickly rushed at it and pierced hard muscle and scale with his sword, putting a stop to the massive heart moving that monstrosity in front of him.

Not having time to process the feel of striking down stronger-than-human flesh still running down his arm, he turned his sights towards the broken stained glass that had marked Sydney’s retreat from the manor.

At that point, the ponies began to feel something just out of reach watching the memories like they were doing—and shivered as they instinctively turned around to see if they could get a glimpse of the new watcher, only to see themselves and the darkness.

Watching from the open space, Ashley saw that there was no trace of Sydney painting the cobblestones at the ground, nor there were any cultists around anymore.

His mind was divided as he muttered to himself: “... Lea Monde?”

The ponies could feel it, though—the uncertainty, a divided thought that struggled between his Riskbreaker self that wanted to return to Headquarters and report what little had been gleaned … .

And his Ashley self, who wanted to pursue Sydney for cracking his view of the world—ignorant of the aura of darkness that surrounded him like a halo.

“Back then I didn’t know that Sydney had taken an interest towards me, and left a seed planted in my essence through the slaying of that wyvern … .” Adult Ashley commented to the ponies as if they were hearing a soldier report his experiences. “Unknowingly wrapped up in the reality-warping mantle that surrounded him, I pursued him in search of answers instead of following my training and reporting to headquarters—an unconscious interest back then to interrogate and question the man who had cracked my mentality and actually made me question myself … and all I believed to be real.”

The scenes shifted as Ashley evacuated the manor, and took Callo Merlose with him in his hunt towards the city named Lea Monde—hot in pursuit of the elusive prophet. “I didn’t like that at all, as it caused me to be unable to separate my soul from my consciousness, not letting me achieve the point of emotional silence that swords and blades have in order to forget myself if only for a while.”

“That isn’t a healthy way of thinking, mister Ashley.” Rarity replied with some sympathy despite her misgivings towards the strange individual. “It is because of one’s emotions that one knows that is alive. So is coping with loss and moving forward, as our loved ones wouldn’t have wanted us to suffer silently for our failings and loss.”

Adult Ashley replied coldly to Rarity’s comment, “Duty and purpose is all I had back then … it is all I have here and now … to this day, it is all which drives me forward—”

His voice changed to a growl of rage at the intruders, shocking the ponies as they heard him snarl at them, “Contentment at my situation—bad as it was—was all I had left, as happiness was something beyond my grasp in this material world … and your kind stole from me what little I had managed to grasp at straws, leaving me with nothing but dust to grasp.”

“Twilight? What did he mean by that?” Spike asked Twilight, whose ears drooped as Rarity briefly paused to let her speak.

“It all makes sense in the end, Spike—just bear with us for now, please?” Twilight asked him softly before giving him a nuzzle.

Feeling the awkwardness in the air, Shining Armor cleared his throat and asked in an attempt to clear the air, “So … what was Lea Monde, then?”

The former Element Bearers and Princess of the Moon looked at one another with ears splayed on their heads, before the normally bubbly party pony Pinkie Pie replied to him with her hair all straightened out, thus continuing the narrative … .

“It wasn’t a joyful place where I’d like to make a party—not after we learned why were things the way they were … .”

Lea Monde, an ancient city-state that resided in a holm protected by the waters surrounding its perimeter—a perimeter which had mighty walls that had resisted the passage of time and the wrath of nature … .

At its beginnings in its 2000-year history, it hosted the cult of Kiltia founded by Mullenkamp, priestess of the cult and founder of that fortress city. One who started contact with the powers of The Dark and earned the city its nickname: The City of Darkness, or in other parts of the continent: The City of Shade.

After the Civil War that ravaged Valendia, the religion of the Priesthood of Iocus gained strength within Valendia’s population and leadership—managing to convert the Kiltian people into their faith, who build in honor of Iocus the Great Cathedral to showcase their conversion to the new faith. This, of course, gave the Iocus a homestead for them to live—in a place full of ancient history and myth worthy of their attention and study of its numerous mysteries.

This, of course, was done over the remains of the Temple of Kiltia—as a sign of their change for the better. This happened 31 years ago … .

25 years ago, disaster struck the once-bustling city—slaying its five thousand inhabitants … .

Of course, at the time it was old news over Valendia, as a young Ashley heard the priests discussing this event as ‘the wrath of God unveiling against the wickedness of the inhabitants of this city’.

And he wondered: ‘If God is All-powerful, All-knowing, and All-present … wouldn’t it have made more sense to spare the just, and remove the wicked hiding in that place?’

But, as the ponies were presented with snippets of his memories and linked information as he saw the once-mighty city-state from a distance, the now adult Ashley Riot scoffed at his own naivete—knowing now that the priests kept the peace with words the same way the riskbreakers did with their swords—as he and his colleague examined the area that led to a tunnel into the isolated city … and finding several of the guards they had brought with them dead with sword wounds along with some of the Crimson Blades.

Despite this grisly finding, the ponies could feel his thoughts wandering in a methodical fashion as he evaluated his options: access at sea was now impossible, due to the dangerous whirlpools that would devour anyone on board of a ship and the sharp rocks that protruded from the base of the holm would shred anyone who took a swim in the channel.

Air access was among the dreams of the mentally deranged … of which the scholars were among their numbers, being prominent among the Valendian society for their quirks.

So, with no open connection between the ancient city and the Graylands, it left only one option for entry … .

The Wine Trail, a tunnel that went deep underground—deep enough to handle the strain of having the weight of the sea above it without collapsing after two millennia. Marking it as a wonder was the fact that it was an example of ancient engineering, a marvel waterproof by means still unknown to the Valendian architects and researchers to this day.

As he and Merlose went down to examine the dimly lit entrance, the ponies felt something stirring subtly within the memory itself—while they briefly examined the armored corpses of two Crimson Blades, only for the memories to blur a bit while Merlose explained how this individual named Sydney was capable of many things, from looking into one’s past down to even read hearts. All this was spoken out loud while Ashley employed force on the mechanism that controlled the gate’s lifting in order to open the path into the dead fortress-city.

As he entered the tunnel leading to Lea Monde’s Wine Cellar, he gave his last order to Merlose through the bars of the gate that came tumbling down: “If I do not return by morrow’s eve, inform HQ, will you?”

Once inside the tunnel, it felt for the ponies like eternity within the barely illuminated tunnel … until Ashley was ‘greeted’ as he entered the Cellar by a large rumbling of the ground, pieces of the ceiling falling down as dry rain as he waited for the rumblings to cease … and deadpanned: “... No live burials today, thanks.”

The ponies’ hair began to rise, as their instincts started to conflict with their knowledge that this was only a memory—the groans and moaning echoing through the darkness being too lively to be the result of soil and rock being ground to dust by the pressures causing said quakes. Torches placed by the cultists flickered in the dark, their numbers unable to banish the darkness from all its corners—as the darkness gave the impression of hiding predators within its cloaking, them waiting for their unwary prey to lower its guard to hunt and feed off them.

Ashley’s memories shuddered, as they felt they were not alone in the dark, even as he started to see visions of loved ones long dead … .

“Rather telling, the fact that a door that threw lightning at a knight didn’t harm Ashley once he tried to open the door as well.” Twilight said softly after Pinkie drank some tea from her cup—soothing her heart a bit.

“To tell the truth, it was as if the powers inside that accursed place were … welcoming him in.” Luna commented in a thoughtful fashion, hoof touching her chin. “Even if his mind began to suffer harm from being inside that catacomb, the power flowing through its very air started rejuvenating him—even as he suffered damage from lucky strikes by beasts and corpses moving with malice! It was a gradual process, this rejuvenating property of this city.”

All the ponies and dragon present ate or drank some of the procured fruits and pastries, deep in thought at that statement.

“Sydney didn’t help in the matter, as he ripped apart some of the seals imposed on his memories, and made him question himself before giving him a lure to force him to go deeper into this … city.” Twilight growled in barely concealed rage, making the ponies around her to look at her in surprise. “He took his companion Merlose as a hostage.”

By sheer force of will, Ashley focused his mind and took its frayed ends together as he kept seeing someone that had died in front of him a long time ago—a boy who used to call him ‘papa’ … .

As he moved within the catacombs that were once the city’s wine cellar, he was mystified at his lack of fear when surrounded by monsters, beasts and the undead corpses roaming the catacombs—things so out of what nature saw as normal that many would be left as mad wrecks, shadows of their former selves. The appearance of fellow human beings hunting him down no longer registered—except to silence them if they threatened his life and the execution of his mission.

‘Who is this that is keeping watch over me?’ The ponies felt, rather than heard as Ashley suddenly turned around to see … nothing. His heartbeat at a high, and breaths coming shorter, Ashley forced himself to calm down, years of training coming to his aid plus an unknowable instinct hammered on his self as everything turned back to their normal rates and continued his journey.

This cool composure—the ponies realized—was in fact his mental defense against the madness surrounding them, which up to this point had been flickering due to the voices and visions he kept seeing superimposed with his perception of reality—returned with force as he stared at the towering monstrosity that bore the head of a bull, a body worthy of a semi-deity … and a hammer capable of reducing its victims to a crushed mess if it struck true.

And yet, the challenge to his sense of reality cracked its foundations further as the hammer that sent him flying from the impact, shield and armor being of no concern to it … and yet didn’t do much more than cause bruises to his body—instead of slaying him as he thought.

Quickly rising from the ground as the hammer tried to make him one with the stone floor, Ashley turned towards his adversary with celerity. They fought to the bitter end—hammer striking soil, sword striking the hammer’s handle—both waiting for the chance to end its adversary… only for Ashley to come up triumphant, sword embedded in the beastly minotaur’s chest as he watched the creature turn to black dust and something else entered his body—albeit unseen. Rising his eyes, Ashley noticed a door on top of a ledge and approached towards it with the intention to climb.

Once close to the door, he moved towards it to see what laid behind—only to hear a slow, rhythmic clapping behind him. Slowly turning around, Ashley exclaimed “Sydney!” while glaring at the intruder, as the prophet standing on what was the arena that watched the battle between him and the minotaur giving a slow, metallic clap with his hands. The fact that said arena was devoid of life once he had dealt with the monster a moment ago featured heavily on his mind as he kept his glare on the newcomer.

As he processed how it was possible for Sydney to sneak up on him, the prophet questioned him as he glared at him in defiance: “So this is a Riskbreaker. Most men complacently accept ‘knowledge’ as ‘truth’. They are sheep, ruled by fear. But you! You are different. Always calm, detached. A smooth flow of thought into action. Indeed …”

Twilight, Luna, and Rarity noticed how Ashley—in front of a foe he was tasked with taking to VKP Headquarters for interrogation … gave him an dramatic pause of all things as he talked—and wondered without saying anything out loud: ‘The nerve of this stallion!’

“It is almost as if … as if you had no soul.” Ashley didn’t say or do anything as he glared back at the prophet. Sydney took a few steps away from Ashley—still on the ledge leading to the door—and asked him: “How do you do it? Body and soul are one ... yet yours are separate, like a child from the knight in his storybook.” At this point, he stopped as if wondering something … or realizing what was going on with him while keeping his back towards Ashley. “Where is your soul, Riskbreaker? Is this VKP training? Or did you see something that made you shut your soul away?”

As Sydney finished saying this phrase, he turned to face Ashley again—where the riskbreaker felt something shift within him as Sydney commanded in a voice that brooked no opposition, arm extending towards him: “Show me your soul.”

The moment Sydney’s words reached Ashley’s brain, they caused him to relive memories too painful, still bleeding to this day—

Like his memory of the last day he had known joy … as fallen knights slew his wife and son before his very own eyes … with him incapable of saving them.

Twilight screeched at this point, causing her companions to turn to face her. “A memory spell done by an simple voice command!? What kind of wizard is this Sydney to command such power!?”

Fluttershy countered softly at Twilight’s outburst, “I’m more sad for him, Twilight—he doesn’t know at this point that they are nothing but an illusion … and he loves them to this day. Shouldn’t that be enough proof that he’s not a monster like we assumed so far?”

Before any of the mares or silent ghost could say anything to her, they felt the painful memory end with Ashley on his knees … self-loathing and guilt eating at his heart and soul as he fought the tears from flowing out of his eyes due to both the physical and metaphysical pain inflicted on him.

It was at this moment that Sydney chose to show a more cruel use of this strange power of his—he stabbed at Ashley’s sense of guilt as he accused him: “You killed your beloved wife and child … .”

“... They were slain by fallen knights, jackals.” Ashley replied, teeth grinding from the shock of having his memory forcefully pulled to the front of his consciousness—as if he were there once again, impotent at the mercy of the killers.

The words twisted the metaphysical wound, making it bleed as Sydney replied coldly to him. “Wrong. You failed to protect your wife, your child. You failed in your duty as a knight, as a husband, as a father … .”

A moment went past before the knife plunged in deeper within his heart, as Sydney added in a cry of accusation as he pointed his metal finger and arm at him, “You killed them!”

The ponies were gasping at such cruelty as Ashley rose from his pain and rushed at him—only to see the prophet fly out into the air. This act of levitation coming from Sydney caused Twilight and Luna to gasp in shock—as levitation of that level was something that rarely any unicorn managed to grasp … .

And Sydney made it look like child’s play.

Sydney bellowed to Ashley, “Try to catch me, Ashley Riot! Look outside yourself to find your truth.”

As this scene unfolded before them, Twilight felt something familiar about it … this show of power and agility brought memories to mind—memories of a certain unicorn that sought to separate her from her friends by removing the Sonic Rainboom event of her youth from existence.

But it was nonsense! If she had access to that power … why didn’t she said anything before? Why keep silent about knowing of The Dark Sword’s existence, or any power that had it as its source?

Twilight’s mind brushed away that fleeting thought, knowing that Starlight Glimmer was a good pony now—and a friend that could trust her with anything … and turned her attention to the drama unfolding before her and her friends, where they heard Ashley demand from Sydney: “What's your game?”

The ponies gasped as the memory allowed them to feel a burst of power coming from Sydney as he bellowed “Hardin!”

The ponies watched how the leader of the cult’s second in command showed Callo Merlose in binds, and yet … .

“Merlose!!” Ashley called out to the bound woman—

The memory blinked for a second before the two and their words disappeared, leaving Ashley calling out into the emptiness where they stood—only for the memory to continue in front of them as if such interruption didn’t happen at all.

The captured riskbreaker called out to Ashley, crying out to him, “Pay no heed to me! Take them, Riot!!”

Twilight shivered at that last statement being said—as it reminded her of when her friends or family called out to her to do her best instead of worrying about them. This reminiscence got cut short as Sydney started behaving like Princess Celestia or Shining Armor in times where they needed to inspire his fellow guards against the Changelings or the rampaging Tirek … .

Raising his arms into the air, Sydney preached to Ashley in a compelling voice that belied his appearance: “The city of shade will forgive your sins, my son—” and bellowed with strength in his voice, “and call forth a power ... a power that lies within you even now!” Sydney rose up as he floated in midair at this point, saying with seriousness and a glare at the riskbreaker, “This is my game. I run, you give chase. I am the hart, and you the hunter. But this hart has laid a few snares of his own … .”

Sydney challenged Ashley before leaving into the darkness above the chamber: “I am waiting for you, Riskbreaker.”

Seeing his objective leave up into the air, Ashley’s addled mind couldn’t keep up as he yelled at the retreating prophet: “H-hold! Sydney!!” before changing goals, focusing on rescuing Merlose before realizing that Hardin had taken her with him as he was distracted.

“Damn!” was all that could escape from the frustrated riskbreaker before regaining his composure and starting to walk towards the doorway he was heading to—only to fall to the ground on his knees as the magic keeping part of his mind and memories restrained fell apart and power flowed into his self—lighting bolts of purple flowing over his skin in the process as a small shockwave manifested around him, the spells containing his true potential unmaking and reacting with the ambient Dark suffusing the catacombs as he grasped his head with both hands … .

Gritting his teeth, as well as the ponies present sharing a bit of his pain—which was saying a lot, fell to the ground with tears in their eyes as they felt something shift within the memory … .

And the instincts of the warrior coming to the front once more, without him realizing their meaning … .

“What—what is happening?” Ashley asked to himself while on his knees … before hearing the wind form words coming from within the darkness, calling to him.

I am waiting for you, Ashley Riot.

Struggling to stand once more on his feet, Ashley made his way again to the doorway where Hardin had taken Merlose with him—

And the ponies found a badly wounded, gray-faced knight on the ground that turned to stare at the riskbreaker.

Kneeling at his side, Ashley began examining him before the soldier croaked, life almost spent on his dying body, “Ur ... I ... I b-beg of ye ... Sss ... stop the ... p-pain ... .” before coughing out blood and crumpling on his last resting place … .

Only for several strands of purple light to enter the dead man and a wisp of smoke and gray fire to come out of the body into the air itself.

Ignoring what just happened—and focusing on his assignment to avoid encumbering his mind with unanswerable and possibly maddening questions—Ashley kept on walking to the next doorway … .

But stopped when he heard shuffling behind him—and turned to see the dead Crimson Blade rise from his resting place … and asked himself: “Is this some magick, or merely the power of Lea Monde ... ?”

At that point, the corpse rushed at him with its sword at hand.

Cadance chose to interrupt at this point in the conversation, asking the question that was also burning on Celestia’s tongue:

“Was that … was that necrothurgy what you just described?” she gasped, color draining from her face as the ponies present nodded.

“And from your … perception, it wasn’t him who did it? Rather, the place itself which behaved like a necrothurgic mage?” Celestia asked, ears betraying her cool tone.

They nodded again, only for Luna to reply sadly at her sister, “While Ashley couldn’t perceive the true nature of his surroundings, we did … it was much more complex and dangerous than that, sister.”

“It was what could be called the origin point of impossibilities meeting reality.”

The ponies stared at how Ashley brought down the corpse attacking him with a few well-placed strikes and proceeded down his path.

Once he crossed the doorway, he met several corpses in different stages of decay rising from the ground while groaning as they gripped deadly weaponry that their former owners kept at hand at the time of the disaster, which caused him to ask himself in the murky silence … .

“... Is this, too, part of your game, Sydney?”

“What was that ‘Sydney’ goal, by driving Ashley deeper into that place?” Shining Armor asked pointedly as everypony took a small break from the dark story.

“… Trust me, Shiny—the answer to that question comes later in what we’re narrating.” Twilight replied to her brother softly.

“All we do know was the fact that Ashley’s unease only grew as he stepped deeper into Lea Monde, all while hearing voices from nowhere and seeing from time to time the ghosts of his family,” Luna stated as she nursed her cup. “And what’s more—his cool composure was constantly under siege by two very strong and terrible adversaries for any soldier alone at the field: Doubt and Paranoia.”

“I do remember how he kept glancing at the shadows in the corners that the torches couldn’t touch, while we felt how his instincts all but screamed at him that he was kept under watch by something just out of grasp from the fringes of the darkness around him,” Rarity added to the conversation while taking another bite of an apple that she had grabbed from the table. “As if something in the darkness cloaked itself in ‘darkness’, and was waiting for something.”

“To me, it felt as if somehow another Ashley was keeping tabs on him, and that was what was making him nervous,” Rainbow added as she glared at the apple in between her hooves. “I don’t get it! We never saw such a thing happen!”

“Yah’ll forget what he got involved with after that?” Applejack asked in between bites of her apple.

Fluttershy sighed. “It was … it was scary … .” She then turned to Celestia, and added, “It was scarier than the memory you shared with us, about the golem at Sombra’s thrall.”

The ponies kept feeling shivers as they heard echoes of a memory long past, ‘Is ... is this me, or the real me is outside—and is waiting for me to vanish as an illusion?’

Ashley kept a steely grasp on his composure, banishing for the moment those doubts as he stole a glance at the border of his sight, and he could’ve sworn he saw a shade keeping out of sight at the borders of his perception.

That thought struck fear into Ashley like nothing else could, as the ponies kept on watching his progress through the catacombs. ‘If that "other" isn't illusionary … does that make me and my thoughts about myself … to be the illusion? Is all I believed about the world around me to be false?’

The ponies all but jumped as a sudden, high pitched squeal echoed in both the memory and their perception of it.

“That sounds like sharp steel being dragged … ,” Luna commented as her ears twitched from the ear-raping sound echoing—

Only for an shriek that sent shivers down their spines rumbled through the air of the massive chamber in which Ashley found himself—a steel blade being drawn across a stone floor. Soon the deep, hollow thud of metal armor joined it, creating a chilling cacophony that filled the air.

“Eeenope, that was the sound of metal being dragged by some … thing … .” Applejack couldn’t finish saying the word as the apparition came to their sight—

A monstrosity reminding them of Princess Celestia’s description of the golem thrall that assisted Sombra when summoned—only patterned as a ‘human’ instead of equine made its appearance, lurching out of its hiding spot while dragging a long one-handed sword without any visible body.

Pinkie’s hair completely deflated at the impact the mares felt of its extent of hatred for all living things, while Rainbow Dash quickly got in between her and Fluttershy who was grounded on the spot and placed a quivering wing on each back, calming them somehow.

As for Ashley … the ponies realized that all the maelstrom of emotions and questions that had been slugging him down evaporated, his cool composure returning as he examined the newest thing that was most certainly going to try and stop him with deathly force.

‘What in the hell is this thing?’ Ashley pondered as he met the self-moving armor … only to reach the realization that this thing was a mythical creature from Valendia’s long history. ‘... Dullahan? Father Leoria would’ve been proud to see this thing before it killed him.’

The "living" armor slowly turned to face Ashley … which was in itself a wonder, due to it having neither a helm—nor a head to put it on; nor a face—yet managed to transmit that effect towards him.

“If I were a betting man, I would’ve guessed that it was, in fact, snarling at me despite not having a face.” Adult Ashley commented casually as the ponies’ coat rose from the intimidation coming from the memory of that entity.

Gathering power in the tip of the huge blade in its hand, Dullahan struck the floor, leaving behind a deep gash in the stone as a massive thaumic matrix circle manifested underneath the monster as if it'd been waiting for him to arrive to fully power itself for battle.

A deep red light shining from within the cursed metal as more power poured into it from the Dark that permeated every inch of Lea Monde—strengthening the marionette's strings to the armor itself—manipulating its impromptu puppet like a master.

The mares realized they could feel without words how Ashley was feeling at that moment and felt as one with him.

There was going to be a fight. That, he could immerse himself into. His self as a Riskbreaker and Agent of the Valendian Parliament could come to the fore, would become more real. It didn't matter if his opponent be man or monster, he could shove all unnecessary thoughts and worries to the back of his mind and bury himself in the fight. For at least a little while, he could be simply a weapon, nothing more. As the death-match with the entity across the hall ticked closer, an odd sense of peace descended on him.

What it did next, no one would have thought possible. Moving several times faster than any living creature of the same size, it closed to within two steps of Ashley. A bare fraction of a second later, its sword—easily longer than a man is tall—swung down like a lightning bolt.

Ashley did manage to block the strike and his shield did not crack, but the arm holding it felt on the verge of doing so. Numbness shot down his arm, every muscle fiber quivering with the stress of the blow.

Yet such a massive, sweeping attack left Dullahan wide open, an opportunity Ashley promptly pounced upon. While the greatsword still swung with the momentum of the slash, Ashley stepped into the space created, quickly closing the last two steps. Aiming for the joint in the armor's right arm, he struck. Steel met steel in a clash that sent sparks glittering into the dim light.

Surprisingly, Ashley's attack didn't stop there. Throwing all his strength into it, he hit the same place again. Dullahan staggered, unable to bring its sword back into position to counterattack. Five, six, seven times Ashley's sword connected with cursed steel, the metal visibly deteriorating each time, becoming much weaker.

Cushioned in the white haze of no thought brought on by the fight, a new worry suddenly bubbled into Ashley's peace. When did he learn how to chain attacks together like that, not allowing even the slightest chance of counterattack? He'd never done any such thing before setting foot in Lea Monde. But now it was like he'd practiced the technique for years upon years until the pattern had soaked all the way into his bones.

The armor has taken more damage than it could handle, the Dark abandoned Dullahan and the empty metal started to crumble. Another cold shiver of fear sliding down his spine, Ashley stepped back and asked himself; "What am I?"

Shaking his head off, Ashley shrugged the feeling of being watched once he was done with the armored puppet, and went through the doorway leading him out of the Wine Cellar into whatever awaited him.

At that point, both he and the ponies watching the memory unfold were briefly startled when the scene shifted to another place

“What happened at that moment?” Cadance asked towards Fluttershy.

However, before the shy mare could say anything else Twilight asked her gently “Fluttershy? Do you mind if I take this part?”

The pegasus nodded meekly before taking a sip of her tea while Twilight took on the narrative at this point.

After clearing her throat and going into what was known to her friends in private as ‘nerd-mode’, Twilight replied to her with some stops to clear her train of thought. “Well, Caddy … at that moment things took a turn to the weird—”

In that brief moment, the ponies saw the whole scenery change from that dark corridor following the battle with the headless, bodyless armor into one quite different…

As if floating around a room, they saw Callo Merlose, Sydney Losstarot and the second in command known as Hardin inside what looked like an abandoned place of prayer.

Sydney looked quite entertained with the use of a mason’s lead on the floor, scratching echoing in the chamber while Merlose just looked at him and Hardin … fidgeting every now and then due to the restraints she had on her arms, keeping them on her back.

Briefly looking back towards Merlose, Sydney simply stated to her “... Do not attempt escape, and no harm will come to you” as he kept his focus on his drawings on the stone floor—the hagane arm moving swiftly and with purpose as the sound of scratching kept echoing inside that room.

With a frown, Merlose inquired with some restrained venom and plenty of curiosity to him, “... What evil are you working here?”

No longer turning to answer, Sydney replied with an honest “Just a little drawing, my dear. What think you, Hardin?”

As Sydney kept on drawing on the floor, moving every now and then to continue his work … Hardin didn’t reply to him, as he was seeing something that had his nerves fraying further if that was even possible.

He was apparently scrying on Ashley’s actions up to that moment—including the defeat of a monster that could’ve made the Royal Army take pause. He muttered his shock as he kept on scrying his progress within the catacombs, “Gods ... Is he even human? He fights with the strength of a brigade ... .” He turned to face Sydney as he inquired with barely concealed shock, “Are Riskbreakers all this powerful?”

Rising from his work, Sydney replied to him without turning to face him “I think not. Our Ashley is a vessel, you see. He has merely partaken of the power around him. It is as I have foreseen.”

Shining Armor piped in at this point, and asked with disbelief etched through “… Vessel? They were planning to make him a vessel of that power?”

“As odd as it sounds, Shiny—but I digress!” Twilight chirped in before continuing.

Hardin turned in expectation to his friend, “... What next, then?”

Nonchalantly, Sydney answered “What next? Let him give chase a while.”

It was in this point that the ponies realized how much stress the one known as Hardin was suffering as he snapped at him imploringly, “This is madness, Sydney!! The Blades will hold this town soon, and we dare not face their undivided forces!! We've no time to play cat and mouse!”

Stock still in place Sydney answered in a calm mood to his subordinate, “Relax, my good Hardin. Remember, it is all part of my plan.”

Hardin all but screamed, cheeks flushed in both rage and fear at Sydney, “Were the Duke's betrayal, the Cardinal's meddling ... and a Riskbreaker strong as a bloody Titan all part of your precious plan, too, Sydney!?” To which the ponies felt a strong impression of power, intimidating and asphyxiating as Hardin’s demeanor changed into a much humble one as he lowered his sight a little. “... Sydney, forgive me.”

Turning away from staring at Hardin, Sydney did the closest thing he could to a shrug before answering politely, “Be calm, Hardin. It is of no account.” Of course, he then turned to their prisoner slash guest and inquired with a raised eyebrow at her, “You impress me, Inquisitor ... . More concerned about our doings than your own fate?”

Defiant despite the odds against her, Merlose answered in return as she glared at him, ”What villainy are you planning, Sydney?”

Giving her his back, Sydney replied nonchalantly while raising an arm in pure dramatic fashion, “Why, I'm preparing a feast for your friend.”

Sydney then placed his hand over the scrawl drawn on the ground and began chanting, “Gylda-meundes-haati-smohta ... Ferdes-raati-salba-gylmota ... Emperor of shade, descend from the dark ... Honor sin-soaked contracts of kinship; lead your beast unto me.”

To the mares’ surprise and awe—especially Twilight—the moment he had finished his enchantment that the floor’s drawing came to life in bright light blue as it animated on its own and something began to materialize while crackling with power within an orb of very light blue light.

Wordlessly, Sydney nodded to Hardin once—causing him to take Merlose by the arm and to follow the prophet out of the room … .

Where light continued to manifest at the cracks between the door and the stone frame keeping it in place—and a very familiar roar shook the premises as they evacuated towards the depths of the dead city.

Still shaken by the roar, the ponies saw a grayed-out boy which appeared to be only in Merlose's vision, saying with resolution “I must help Father ... .”

“Alright, this is turning weird, Twilight. So, in between phantoms speaking, calling forth monsters to ‘feed’ Ashley’s strength like a gardener would do to his roses with fertilizer, and him getting stuck in a point and place where should he fail he’d become another lost soul … am I the only one concerned with that picture?” Starlight questioned Twilight with a frown as she nursed her now cold tea.

“… Starlight? How could you tell?” Twilight asked neutrally as she sipped on her teacup.

“It isn’t exactly a puzzle if you pay attention,” Starlight replied cooly to her before Celestia interjected.

“… Does it have to do with what happened to that Crimson Blade that he met after fighting the minotaur? Or the corpses that remained from the long-past disaster which rose to fight him?”

Raising an eyebrow and attempting her best to hide her squee—she never got any luck with getting ponies’ attention like this before—Twilight cleared her throat and answered innocently, “You two are more correct than you know … but do you know the why?”

Celestia tittered as she simply answered back, “Why, the dark power flowing through that place, of course!”

Puffing her cheeks and pouting that she had done her job too well, Twilight cleared her throat at the giggling that followed Celestia’s outburst. “Well, the vision was over … .”

As Ashley stood still, the ponies’ point of view returned towards the corridor where he stood still at this moment. Ashley couldn’t help but ask in disbelief: “ … Merlose?”

Shrugging off the bizarre feeling of seeing something from a third viewpoint and understanding it, he moved through the corridor—climbing wreckage from the earthquake that had struck the city while fending off mutated wildlife inhabiting the long-darkened corridors, from aggressive bats to wolves that breathed fire … .

Until he reached the doorway—and found a massive dragon waiting for him as it roared in defiance the moment it sighted him.

“Dragon? What kind of dragon did he fight?” Shining Armor inquired to his sister. Waving a hoof he added, “We ponies always had trouble fending off dragons, and in our history, we always were the underdog due to their resistance to magic and most forms of offense due to their scales.”

“That is true, Prince Armor,” Luna interjected before replying, “this dragon looked like one of the adult ones we once fought off and shrugged off both blade and hammer … .”

“It didn’t have any luck with a spear that he had scavenged from the corpses he fought, though,” Fluttershy muttered sadly as she nursed the bottom of her teacup.

“Ashley moved quickly, though … didn’t let it gain any initiative and stood close to avoid getting roasted with its fire breath, stabbing it repeatedly in the head and using techniques taught to him by the VKP until the dragon died and dispersed into dust.”

“While we were inside we felt the hint of something off increasing in strength as his own power grew,” Rarity added matter-of-factly as she took a dainty bite from a flower of the snack bowl.

“I never thought that I’d miss the light of the sun so much—I could feel my mane losing its puff inside that place!” Pinkie exclaimed in an uncharacteristic outburst, “but things under the day sky didn’t help much for that … .” At this point she had all but darkened, ears splayed on her skull as she looked forlornly at her pastry—

Before eating it in one gulp, then returning to her previous state of misery.

“It was soon after that he found out about that which you figured out, Celestia—that there could only be one wielder of complete immortality, with everyone else touched by its power left as wandering spirits in constant torment … unable to move on.” Twilight added morosely. “It was there and then that he figured out that he didn’t want anything to do with such a thing, and hoped instead for a complete death for his self—yet he was inevitably doomed to either triumph or become one of the wandering spirits … all while having his own mind besieged by guilt, visions of his family and other worse things like beginning to question himself: Was he another corpse killing others to prevent their conquest of his own flesh? Only to force himself to remain sane, if you can possibly believe that.”

“I believe that we should skip right down to the choice he made, right before the end, Twilight.” Rarity suggested as she waved a hoof. “There is much to share, yet too little time to do that—just look at the time!”

The Celestial Sisters turned to see the clock—and right on cue, an alarmed knocking on the door echoed through the chamber.

“Your Highnesses? Are you alright!? It is eight’o’clock in the night, yet the sun still stands high!”

“Oh no.” Celestia and Luna said at the same time before wordlessly looking at the group of ponies present and leaving at the same time towards the door.

“Well, I must say I didn’t see this coming!” Rarity chirped in … and wondered out loud, “How come we have been eating and drinking all this time?”

Soon after, the sun went down and the moon rose to its proper place—shortly followed by the two royal sisters speaking to their secretary Raven Inkwell.

“I am sorry for having gotten distracted from my duty. Please do not feel concerned with interrupting a private meeting like this in future, in case such an event were to happen again.” Celestia asked gracefully to the gray unicorn mare holding her clipboard and having dark circles under her eyes.

“Will make sure of letting you know, your highness.” She answered tiredly before politely leaving her and Luna—closing the door behind her with a soft ‘click’.

Silently they made their way towards the still-seated ponies and took their places at the table.

“So … where were we?” Celestia asked politely as she looked at Luna and the Element Bearers.

“Well, in between him finding out that the ‘cardinal’ wanted Sydney’s secrets and immortality, getting hunted down by his knights; undead; dragons; lizard-things; fish-things; ghosts; phantoms; revenants; golems; elementals; and many assorted beings before reaching Sydney in the cathedral were he was …” Pinkie’s outburst died out as she reached the end, sniffling a little.

Fluttershy took the narrative at this point with a pensive look. “The leader of the knights that went after Sydney had stolen the key to the power—power that was going to suck that knight dry if left unchecked—a key which was tattoed to Sydney’s back. So, the prophet laid on the floor, a pool of blood around him when Ashley found him as the entire city shook—a new Master of the Dark beginning to be made.”

“That is the moment we mentioned—the moment that showed us he sincerely wasn’t a monster,” Twilight added grimly as she continued the tale.

The ponies bore witness to the developments happening in front of them, ears splayed as they knew who Rosencrantz really was as his body turned to dust by a golem brought to life by Sydney.

As they came to terms with what they saw, they felt how Ashley mulled over the recent revelations that had been presented to him by the now-deceased Rosencrantz, who had previously stated that he had past bonds with him as a second-in-command to Ashley’s and spoke of things he no longer recalled.

Then again, he shifted his focus back to what had just transpired as he made his way to the Cathedral once he had dealt with the Dark-animated golem.

‘Sydney never had any plans to kill him? What was he trying to find out of him? What did he gain by sending him into the monster-and-undead infested depths of Lea Monde?’

“I did realize that dying meant that I wasn't up to Sydney's requirements, whatever they were.” Adult Ashley’s manifestation spoke out to the silent ponies from the borders of their perception, as the equines watched his movements through the mostly-intact edifice. “However … survival meant a growth in power on my side—as with each beast slain by my hand, my mastery and physical memory over my weaponry and training grew along with the Dark’s roots sinking deeper into my soul as a result. This of course meant to leave behind by inches my human limitations, and my humanity as well.”

It was Rainbow Dash who interrupted his monologue as the memory kept on moving, asking in bewilderment, “Hold on a second! You’re saying that you were trained during this!?”

“Sydney’s purpose for his limit-pushing training for me was simple.” Adult Ashley continued, only to be cut off by Young Ashley.

“His reason for this was to obtain an Heir to the Dark. He was too weak to keep hold for long of the Wellspring, and needed a successor … .”

The ponies gaped at that, with Luna, Twilight, and Applejack asking simultaneously the same question: “Why did he choose you?”

“To put it in simple terms, the Dark was the last thing I ever wanted to lay hands on, to the point where I didn’t trust it and was sparing in the use of what I had at hand.” Adult Ashley answered.

Young Ashley continued, “This appeared to be reason enough, according to Sydney once I asked him after the debacle. This alone was his reason to give unto us the power equal to that of a god.” He sighed, lowering his head. “And with it, the only possible escape to an eternity of torment and madness—as my soul was long-since stained black with the Dark's touch. As Sydney's successor, I would inherit Complete Immortality.”

The ponies—especially Luna—realized then how everything Rozencrantz, Guildenstern, the Cardinal, and the VKP were searching so desperately for … and Sydney was handing it all to him on a silver platter.

“ ’Tis a risky gamble, to trust something that lasts forever to someone who may change the way mortals are wont to do,” Luna muttered in disbelief.

“Under normal circumstances, I’d agree—however, back then I didn't want it. Any of it.”

Fluttershy looked at the apparitions with pity. “There weren’t immortals in your world? No one to turn to?”

“Nay. Immortals were the product of myth, or so I thought before meeting Sydney. All I knew was this: Was it really possible for a born human to live and function in a human world once he'd become something entirely different?” Adult Ashley replied neutrally, only to add with a wistful look on his face, “With all I had lost, the only things allowing me happiness and enjoyment as a man; a father; a family man … I was—am still—trapped within an ever-burning, gnawing desire for something I could never have again. This is my personal hell: to never be able to fully regain that which I lost, no matter my efforts in the matter to this day.“ This statement alone caused the ponies to look at him with what seemed like newly garnered pity at this point, prior misconceptions now gone and an indescribable fear beginning to grow within them.

“I’m … I’m sorry they took everything from you, even the chance to remake your life … .” Rarity told him softly, interrupting his thoughts in the regard.

“Since this power was equal to that of a deity … couldn’t you have used it to, you know … heal yourself?” Rainbow asked him exasperated, thinking that she had found a flaw in his reasoning.

“I knew that The Dark was no miracle cure for my ailments, as it couldn't sate that desire by bringing back my family from the dead or allow me to relive the simple, quiet happiness I'd known.” Both Young and Adult Ashley’s phantoms spat at the same time to the floor as they had spoken in a chorus. “This power, no matter how mighty it was … it couldn't tell me if I'd ever really had a family and a happy life in the first place, as by then I had realized that my memories were in all certainty tampered with.”

The seven mares and pony phantom felt his despair surge once more. “It certainly couldn't change my past as a licensed murderer in the VKP.” Adult Ashley whispered.

“Nay, the Dark was akin to a saltwater drought—one that would parch a throat further for every sip taken from its skin.” Young Ashley echoed the feeling.

‘Where's Merlose?! I must save her!’ His mind echoed as he rushed through the ruined Cathedrals’ labyrinthine remains, seeking a way upwards.

‘God, if you even exist … let me save Merlose at least.’ The ponies felt this thought, full of both yearning and shame of his own skill. ‘If I can do nothing else, let me manage to bring her safely out of this fairy tale turned waking nightmare.’ The memories of this moment turned both grim and resolute. ‘I failed once before to protect my family … and even if those memories were no more than warped lies, that still doesn’t change the fact of my guilt in the matter.’

The mares realized at that point that there was a sensation echoing with that of the owner of the memories.

Guilt, with something else mixed in.

It was Luna who whispered sadly, “We—I know that feeling too well.” Self-loathing for having failed in her duties, to having failed her beloved subjects … to having failed her sister with whom she had lived since she remembered from her youth.

The mind focused despite the maelstrom of power gathering above him as he moved. ‘This time … I will not fail in this duty.’

Young Ashley chose at this point to answer Rainbow’s questioning by asking back: “Tell me, loud mouth … can your speed and might recover that which is lost? Can it reveal truths buried deep within oneself, not to mention others?”

To that rebuke, Rainbow simply lowered her head at him, ears splayed as she said nothing—looking down in both shame and thoughtfulness not characteristic of her personality.

“I thought not.” Young Ashley replied with scorn, squinting at them.

“Well, that is certainly a change from when he started at the gates of Lea Monde.” Shining Armor commented, deep in thought at what he had heard so far.

“What do you mean, Shiny?” Twilight, Cadance, and Celestia inquired while everypony else waited.

Eyes full of pity, the prince said softly to the waiting audience, “I’ve seen from time to time as Captain and Prince how—when a daily assignment goes wrong and ends up in tragedy—most ponies in the guard or even civilians involved blame themselves.” He looked up to look at them in the eye. “Even if it wasn’t really their fault that said assignment or mission or circumstance went to Tartarus leaving them behind.”

In a whisper, he added softly “I know that feeling too well, Twily. And while I can’t see as well what you mean by him ‘not being responsible, nor a monster’ … I can relate to his desire to see things change for once in his favor, no matter the expense at his own person.”

“It’s called survivor’s guilt, dear,” Cadance answered with some sadness as she nuzzled her saddened husband.

“I agree, my niece,” Celestia replied, drawing the attention towards herself. “To go to such extents to hide his pain once the procedures done to his mind were partially undone. It certainly shows that he indeed had a conscience.” She eyed the grandfather clock at the corner of the room and sighed despondently. “I believe that we’ll stay until the end of this part of his life, then continue tomorrow. Does that sound okay?”

Luna, Twilight and the others looked at one another … and nodded reluctantly. “We’ll finish this, then continue with the meaning of those matrices that appeared through Equestria, Celestia.”

Rarity interjected, “It certainly must be heard, your Highness. That’s all we’ll say for now.”

Nodding in acquiescence, Twilight took the point and continued narrating their experience … .

With each elemental responsible for the fall of Lea Monde which had taken the Great Cathedral as home slain, the strength within Ashley increased as he continued with determination to explore in a hurry the ruins—the sound of leather sole against stone pavement echoing through the haunted former place of worship … .

And all that Rarity could ask in disbelief was “Why!? Why a crab of all things!?” as the others gaped at how he dealt with it ruthlessly, force feeding it his sword until it dispersed into black dust.

Continuing his journey without giving himself any rest, Ashley Riot moved on towards his destination—briefly stopping as he felt Merlose’s voice echo directly into his mind, causing him to focus on to where it was coming from.

“… The upper floor!” He muttered to himself before quickening his motion towards finding a way up the next floor.

As he made his way, he stopped and couldn’t believe his own luck. Laying on the floor was a corpse still within its armor—armor which on closer examination was in good shape. Of course, due to circumstances and hurry, the Riskbreaker set in to remove it from its former owner—

And after examining the set to check for cracks and other weak spots, he removed his own weakened armor and began changing into it—silently focused in his task. As he finished, he kept his own gauntlets while keeping the new ones in his gear backpack … only to move around somewhat to get used to the new set over his damaged leather and cotton paddings—punctured, ripped and with plenty of bloodstains.

The bloodstains were his own—each attack that managed to pierce the protection of the armor or an impact which managed to cause a bone of his own to break the skin. The skin underneath was almost without blemish—each wound swiftly mended with a quick healing cantrip, though the incurred loss of blood forced him to chug on a healing tonic he had pilfered from the Crimson Blades he had fought on the way here.

Funny how the Blades had potions to restore their health, with none the wiser as to their existence.

Changing his focus, he focused on overseeing his own weaponry—his trusty Fandango scimitar and hagane-reinforced shield; a morning star hanging from his belt; pike and crossbow hanging from his back—to confirm that they were in good shape despite their prolonged use.

Nodding to himself in approval of his examination, he made his way towards the stairs which would inevitably lead him to the top of the cathedral—

Where the leadership of the Iocus made their home once … and an ideal, narrow place to defend from intruders if there was such a need.

The visitors, on the other hand … .

They were feeling more nervous by the second—the feeling of something hiding in the shadows was getting oppressive at this stage, and it only continued to grow in weight as they saw the human climbing up the stairs to the top floor.

—Only to hear a groan of pain coming from behind the door.

Silently, they watched as Ashley opened the trap door leading above—only to find a bizarre scene.

Laying on a pool of his own blood, there was Sydney Losstarot—barely able to move from where he lay.

The one who immediately noticed what the ground and the ceiling had as adornment was Rarity, who exclaimed at the sight: “It is the Dark Sword of the Warden, everypony!”

Twilight noticed that the surroundings were filled with lit candles in a perfectly circular pattern, and asked herself in confusion: “Candles? What use they could be at this point?” She then took a double take at the scene and gasped at the hurt human in front of them—raising a hoof to her mouth from the impression.

They were awash with a sense of trepidation as Ashley got down to one knee and asked the downed prophet while helping him sit up, “What's this?”

Luna’s senses were shrieking to her at this point—the power continuously accumulating both in the chamber and on the floor above was telling her something that Ashley didn’t catch back then.

A being of immense power was being formed as they spoke.

Looking up to Ashley while gasping for air, Sydney answered with pain in his words, “You're late, Riskbreaker ... .”

Deliberately ignoring the swath of missing skin on Sydney’s back, Ashley’s interest and nervousness showed up with his question towards the fallen prophet. “Where's Merlose?” His grip tightened somewhat on Sydney’s shoulder as he asked with more urgency to him. “What happened to Callo Merlose?”

Sydney looked down to the floor, pained breaths as he replied to him—no longer there was that sense of satisfaction or awareness, there was only fear. “Worry not ... I sent her to a safe place. She will escape ... unharmed.”

The ponies could feel now Ashley calming down before he asked patiently once again: “What has happened here?”

Coughing up blood from the puncture he suffered at the leader of the Crimson Blades’ rapier, Sydney gasped as if begging, “... Look, and know.”

Ashley focused briefly, and his attention was drawn to a side, wherein the middle of the Holy Rood there was a phantom that he recognized from earlier.

And it was this time that Fluttershy gasped at the familiar sight of the ghost boy in Ashley’s sight.

The ghost spoke out: I wanted to help Father. This city was his only hope... .

Turning to see Ashley, Sydney muttered in wonder, “You can see ... .”

I wanted to help Father. As he helped me when I was born.

At this sight and words, the ponies’ minds were running overtime to catch on to the meaning behind those words, with the limited exposure that Ashley had on during his mission.

With a hiss from the touch on his skinned back, Sydney supported himself on Ashley’s leg as Ashley used his left arm to support him as well. With sadness in his voice, he despondently spoke as his eyes shed tears, voice cracking at moments.

“He wanted the city destroyed, even if it meant his own death.”

“His own death? Whose death he refers to?” Twilight asked herself, only to receive an answer from Adult and Young Ashley’s phantoms, their voices uncharacteristically tender.

“He meant his bond with his father, Duke Bardorba.”

Before she could ask further questions, she got her attention drawn to the memory being played in front of them.

Tears of frustration, of failure, tinged his voice at this moment. “Then he implored me ... do not let them use it ... the power.”

Putting his hand on Ashley’s knee, Sydney Losstarot turned to face his chosen successor—putting his hope on him, the one he had chosen to inherit the terrible power of The Dark. Face grim, tears rolling down his face as he panted in distress, he begged to Ashley while making an effort to look at him in the eyes. “Stop him ... . Stop Guildenstern. Those who crave the Dark cannot control the Dark. You must stop him, kill him—” He shivered as he gathered strength to finish his phrase, “before the Dark sucks his living soul dry.”

At this moment the ponies felt how Ashley’s composure returned with force, as he asked neutrally to Sydney: “Where is he?”

With a lot of effort, grunting from his prone position as he moved his arm upwards, he simply pointed above. Strength taxed to his limits, Sydney’s arm slumped down from the effort—only to be placed on the floor by Ashley.

Voice quivering, Sydney gasped to him as he kept his sight on him, “Ashley, I ... I'm ...”

Still on his knee, Ashley answered to the injured man before rising to meet the one upstairs while turning his eyes to the stairs leading to the top of the chamber—where the workers would have once risen to clean the dome topping the temple. “I know.”

It was at that moment that Ashley saw her—Guildensterns’ companion—within the blink of an eye as she dropped past the Atrium's window. Trailing behind her was black dust drifting from her body, sharing the fate of every Crimson Blade led by their Captain into the black heart of Lea Monde.

“The chamber of secret sacrifices was what laid above us then.” Adult Ashley answered the unspoken question, leading to many others for the ponies present.

‘Sacrifices? Why would they need sacrifices?’

“Remember the sacrifice of the phantom soul to ignite the succession ceremony I mentioned earlier?” Star Swirl spoke out, serious in his demeanor as he glanced at the mares.

They stopped for a moment to think, then nodded at different times.

“As to the feeling that we’re all most certainly feeling. Grogar projected such a drowning presence when he overwhelmed us.” Star Swirl—up to now uncharacteristically quiet—said softly. “It is raw dark magic, focused in ways I never could understand.”

It was at that moment, directly beneath the Dark maelstrom at the heart of Lea Monde—the Great Cathedral, when everypony heard it.

The voice of a mare calling out—reverberating into their very souls with emotions dipped in agony.

It was a wail.

Please save him!

It was Guildenstern’s lover—her body dissolving and her soul slipping away towards the maelstrom gathering outside as she joined the dead.

Please save him from himself, riskbreaker!

Everypony could feel it. The raw emotions felt and images—fear of the bleak, blood-drenched future her lover was chaining himself into—all in his desire, his thirst for the power of a Dark God, the ultimate dictator of mankind.

Save him from himself, I beg of thee!

The sense of resolution deepened as she cried to Ashley.

“She called to me. Her enemy. Her lover's enemy. Their only possible savior from what amounts to be power ruling over man, if Sydney’s words were correct about the nature of The Dark.” Adult Ashley calmly stated as next to him and Young Ashley an agglomeration of ‘darkness’ began taking form, sending shivers of both cold and fear into the ponies’ backs.

“I intended to do so.” Adult Ashley and Young Ashley echoed one another. “We accepted the duty of stopping Guildenstern from Sydney, and now from his lover. That was the least we could do—save him from himself and his delusion that he could control that which he wasn’t intended to handle.”

Ashley stepped out into night air saturated with the rain and the Dark, all of Lea Monde stretching out below him as the sky was darkened as night began—black clouds cracking with thunder as they swirled around the dead city, the Cathedral as its epicenter.

He walked into it with a calm spirit, just as the Cathedral was the calm inside the storm in development—the unnatural winds rampaging through the structures making space for his arrival as he moved with purpose.

It had been a conceited and entirely inconsiderate thing for Sydney to do against him—to shove into his arms the inheritance of the Dark. This otherworldly power was something with which he didn’t want anything to do with. His anger towards Sydney and the way the other man had provoked him, manipulated him—playing on his fidelity to the fulfillment of a mission and his deeply buried desire to save his family and Merlose—in order to shape him had all but faded away at this point.

Shape him? More like grind him in the way a weaponsmith grinds the edge off his work to give it its sharpness before heat-treatment. Any hard feelings towards him had all but evaporated as he now understood him and his intent—all of it, callous disregard aside, was part of a meticulously tailored plan hoping to save the ones he loved, first and foremost.

He could sympathize with Sydney’s hidden hopes and desires concerning his plans. He could understand perfectly, no matter how much it hurt him to have been played like that.

But that plan failed in front of another one willing to take what he didn’t understand for his own gain. Thus, Sydney placed that burden—the burden of his own failure to even save his loved ones and prevent the rise of a monster into power—right on to Ashley's shoulders.

Sydney entrusted the Riskbreaker as his chosen successor to right what went wrong.

“Here, we knew with all of our being that Guildenstern’s plans were going to become the undoing of mankind itself. Do you know why?” Adult and Young Ashley echoed one another as they waited for the equines to make their answer.

As they looked at one another, it was Pinkie in a moment of uncharacteristic quietness that answered, “I—I honestly don’t know. Why was he?”

“This is our own belief,” Adult Ashley answered in response. “Where ‘law’ forms solid pillars that regulate and stabilize mankind, it is "emotion" what creates the crossbeams that link the pillars together into the latticework called ‘society’.”

Young Ashley chorused as Adult Ashley finished his phrase, “It is 'emotion'—one’s love and kindness for one's parents; affection, love, honesty and loyalty for one's children and love and friendship for our brethren; loyalty, hope, kindness, honesty and passion for one's spouse—who’s the best friend as well as a loved one; loyalty and faith, trust and kindness and hope for one's friends,” Young Ashley grimly smiled, unsettling the ponies watching and hearing this as the memory had all but frozen, “there is even a strange sense of loyalty and rivalry, a queer sense of friendship ruling one’s respect for one’s 'best enemy'—one’s eternal rival. All of this is what holds the human world together in the way that glue does to what it bonds together.”

“That is what we believe in.” Both Ashleys chorused to the gobsmacked equines who were still trying to get a hold of what they had just heard.

‘He—his beliefs … they weren’t that different than ours, even under the brainwashing he underwent.’ Twilight reflected with surprise visible to anyone bothering to watch her expression, the realization dawning on her like sunrise shining through dawn. ‘Oh no … what have we done? What have I done?” At this point she hoped against hope that he’d forgive them for their actions—actions done under duress and fear out of him and what he could do.

Unaware of what was going on through Twilight’s head, the ghostly manifestations chorused at the same time: “Within a world without those soft ‘emotions’ buffering ‘law’, it would be outright impossible to value human life. Solemn laws and strict punishments alone lead only to cowering fear and stacks of corpses rotting in mass graves from those unfortunate enough to be caught—and plenty who were innocent but were blamed instead for coverage.”

The ponies began hearing it then—voices through the blowing wind, echoes of memories long gone in the passage of time. All immortalized in the shadowy mindscape of the one they had infiltrated to gain knowledge.

He wants to be as a God

I beg of thee, save him!

He sacrificed us for his own gain

The cardinal’s been betrayed by his most trusted one

They murdered us

Avenge us

Turned to kindling to fuel the fire lodged deep within

They didn’t care

Iocus betrayed us

Help us

Give us reprieve

Give us your flesh

Kill ‘em all

Spread the Dark to the corners of the world

Plenty of corpses to share

Set us free

Relieve us from our pain

The chorus of the two Ashleys continued. “We could see it now—from the whispers of the souls led to this Charybdis of the spirit. We could see it coming—Guildenstern intending to forge such a world through the power of the Dark—taking advantage of circumstance and the preparations done to take away Bardorba’s inheritance for their own profit, disregarding the cost in lives and suffering. Guildenstern intended to bind together the admittedly softened pillars of ‘law’ into one hard column; all while he placed himself at the very top—above Law, Emotion and Society and what defines Man in relation to one another.”

Crouching on the rain-drenched Cathedral roof, the man who would be a god completely ignored Ashley's entrance as the memory jumpstarted then paused at the sight.

Pointing towards the man giving his back to the Riskbreaker, both Ashleys continued speaking with determination and no small amount of fierceness. “We could not allow such a monster to thrive—thus we were to strike it at its birth. That’s the meaning of what Sydney and Guildenstern's lover begged of us. To save him from his delusion—his madness about thinking himself the ideal God to rule Mankind!”

They both roared at this point. “I am a Riskbreaker, and I made it my mission to eliminate Guildenstern. Not for Parliament or Valendia, I faced this power-mad creature of the Dark that the Crimson Blade Commander had become! I made it my purpose to spare the people from all over the world from its threat, just so that they could continue to live peacefully in the way they were supposed to live—as people!”

It was thus, that while shouldering the hope of humanity, that Ashley brought to bear a power that transcended mortality

This came not as a thought, nor a whisper. It was something that echoed deep into the equines’ hearts—something which they couldn’t comprehend in full as to the why.

As the memory continued progressing, the ponies got a clear look at what was on Guildenstern’s back—and they heaved at the horrid sight.

The stolen Blood Sin was on Guildenstern's bare back as he seemed to enjoy the rain falling from the spiraling clouds above as the sun fully set.

It was Rarity who whispered in disbelief, “The skin isn’t sliding because of the rain ... .”

They could only stare at the black-inked swath of skin had melded completely onto his back, now as much a part of him as it had been of Sydney.

Amidst the oppressive, evil-tinged, power-drenched air, Ashley yelled; "Guildenstern!!"

The man in front of them lazily spun around, locking cloudy-white eyes that looked upon Ashley with wicked glee and madness.

"Come, Riskbreaker … ." The man invited with satisfaction as the summoned Dark through the ritual of succession focused in a flash upon the Crimson Blade. "Your death will be my rebirth as the new God of this world!" He bellowed before the quiet patter of the rain returned to the ambient.

By instinct, Ashley protected his sight from the eye-burning glare with an upraised arm—feeling the power gathering on his foe, feeling goosebumps on his skin at the deep-seated instincts telling him that in front of him there was no mere man, but something else entirely … .

When his night-vision finally cleared from the flash—despite the shielding that his arm provided against the raw source of momentary light, Ashley immediately noticed how the being in front of him was not the same Guildenstern who he had seen a moment ago.

For one, while there were similarities in between before and after—the Guildenstern in front of him now was at some fundamental level, wrong.

Purple bolts of pure energy slithered across skin dyed midnight black.

It was not a simple case of his skin changing color. Muscle, blood, bone, organs—every last cell in Guildenstern's body was drenched in the Dark, its color staining his skin from the inside out.

The transformation into the avatar of something truly wicked hadn’t come to his body alone—as with power focusing on his hand, it literally ripped away at the Holy Rood tipping the top of the dome … .

And had shaped it into a sword—one with Dark embedded within the metal that conformed it, giving it a golden dark tinge as the large blade shone from within—the shape of the Holy Rood distorted into something else.

Taking the initiative, Guildenstern tested Ashley’s defenses, and while Ashley survived the prodding he got a deep gash on his gut that cut through his armor like it was not there. Reacting quickly, Ashley sealed the wound with a quick healing cantrip while keeping Guildenstern on his sights.

"Well parried, Riskbreaker. You truly are the greatest bloodhound—” Guildenstern’s tone shifted into something cruel at this point, “blood-drenched, hellhound—that the VKP has ever turned out from its depths. But you cannot destroy me. Lea Monde is mine. I am a GOD!"

Not intimidated by the foe in front of him, Ashley retorted with half-lidded eyes as his grip on his sword and shield toughened up. "… Oh. I'll kill you, Guildenstern. You belong in this world no longer."

A power equal to that of the usurper was born from the Dark within him—straight from his will and choice—to do what needed to be done and to fulfill that purpose for which he was made

And lo! In the skies above Lea Monde, two different 'Darks' intertwined as they fought one another for supremacy—two different natures, one who would be crowned

To the equines’ horror, they bore witness to a fight between ‘monsters’ like no one had seen both in the real world and within Ashley’s memories. Both sides retaliated without quarter—taking advantage of minute flaws in posture, overextending their swings, footstance—until at last one came out triumphant, blade caked with a black sludge which drew the ponies’ attention.

This slime exuded a wicked power, one they had felt before almost ten days ago.

Both Twilight and Fluttershy realized then, unaware of each others’ thoughts, ‘Wasn’t that slime over him back then?’

Ashley’s vision of his downed opponent shifted as Guildensterns’ corpse detonated in a ball of light and lightning, sending Ashley’s mind elsewhere … .

Where they find themselves watching another Ashley watching them.

This didn’t last long before the vision shifted once more—where they saw that there were two Ashley Riots facing one another.

It didn’t take long for the equines to realize something.

For one, whereas one Ashley wore armor … the other one was in regular clothes—the same clothes he had in his last memory of contentment with his family.

They heard the echoes reverberating through their very cores as they managed to make up words for what was being said.

Forget that which pains you ... . The civilian Ashley suggested to him as they saw how the white field changed along with their perception of where was who … or more likely, what.

Ba-dump … .

You cannot reclaim what is lost to time.

The civilian Ashley vanished from where he stood—from behind Ashley.

Let it go. There is only regret here.

Ba-dump … .

What difference does it make? Whether you lost a wife and child or killed an innocent family, you cannot bring back the dead.

Ba-dump … .

The ponies gasped as Ashley was shocked from the apparition—a vision of Guildenstern having manifested to confront Ashley, phantasmagoric from a distance.

Your hands are tainted with blood. Truth or no, your sins are eternal.

Ba-dump … .

The equines saw what had appeared in front of Ashley, and felt tears rush to their eyes as they knew now what was going on … .

And they wouldn’t wish it for anyone to suffer through.

Ashley lowered his head and stared in sadness at the vision of Tia’s corpse bleeding to the ground.

Release the past, look the the future. Join us, Ashley! Come home ... .

Ba-dump … .

“This was Guildensterns’ last chance to enthrall us to his service—to be as an avenging angel to his god complex.” Adult Ashley snarked as his vision-self spoke out loud after having retreated for a moment into his self to reflect upon what he had heard.

He moved towards his phantom self as he spoke out, “There is no growth without birth.” Standing in front of his mirror-self, he continued—looking at his other self into the eye. “Without a foothold in the past, we cannot walk towards the future.”

Ba-dump … .

He snarled to the shade, “Get thee gone, Darkness!!”

It was at this moment, that the memory shifted from the white plains down towards a colorful memory.

A memory that the equine guests already knew was fake … .

Beneath a tree, there were his wife and child looking at him in expectation—his armor gone, only the clothes of a civilian when in their company.

The memory shook, and cracked as it played out … .

“It seems … that the cleansing process you kickstarted is already affecting our memories from back then.” Young Ashley commented with some sadness in his inflexion, before turning to the equines with a grim expression. “You managed to do something that not even a man-made monster could … you took away something far more precious than gold.”

Behind him, they could hear the child running towards his father while calling to him with joy “Papa!!” before Ashley embraced him and put him back on the ground.

“I’m sorry … I didn’t know back then … .” Twilight apologized as she looked at the phantom with sadness, pity and plenty of shame and remorse at this point. “I should have given you a chance to explain, not letting my fear get the better out of me—”

With an uncharacteristic tenderness, Ashley told to the boy in front of him, ”Forgive me, Marco. You must have been lonely ... .”

Rarity’s breath hitched as Marco’s reply, ”Nuh-uh, I'm brave! Just like Papa!” reminded her plenty of Sweetie Belle’s words whenever she saw her parents come back for her in between journeys.

Applejack said nothing, but there were tears escaping from her eyes at the scene—and at feeling how honest it was. No deceit, no show. It was something that she recognized as akin to someone’s most cherished memory.

And they had broken it without knowing.

The memory began to crumble as Reality and Truth superimposed upon millennia of sealed memories, gathering dust for so long coming to the surface and removing what this memory represented with harshness.

Forgiveness … and a Home to come back to.

Voice distorting as the memory came undone, Ashley’s voice managed to speak out as if in disbelief at the sight. “ ... Tia.”

The handsome woman greeted him, voice and appearance cracking as everything continued to disperse around them—dust beginning to be blown away from her and Marco’s bodies. “Welcome home, Ashley. You've done all you could for us. 'Twas a short time, but I knew happiness with you. You gave me a lifetime's worth of love.”

Phantom Ashley, Young Ashley and Adult Ashley began to tear up at the exchange for different reasons, while Twilight and her friends could do nothing but watch the result of what they had brought to bear—with a few eyes now wet from the emotions being transmitted despite the Truth causing it to lose that precious spark that made it Ashley’s most prized possession.

”Don't cry, Papa. See, I'm not crying. See?” Marco pointed at his father, whose breath was hitching at his point—unshed tears beginning to choke him from regret and longing.

“But ... This ... .” He managed to squeak before Tia lifted a finger to stop Ashley’s words from leaving his mouth—and heart.

“Do not be misled by others' words. Believe your heart.” Tia whispered to him even now, parts of her body missing along with the boys’. Embracing him with tenderness, she stepped back and took Marco’s hand with her remaining one. “I love you, Ashley.”

The two of them smiled at him before turning to dust and getting blown by a cold wind.

An unknown voice echoed at this point, drawing the attention of everyone present but Ashley’s memory of himself.

... Come home, Agent Riot. Your story is not yet finished ... .

The Power is now without the ruler—the usurper is gone, only instinct remains … .

The equines managed to see a shadow version of Ashley—or more likely, what Ashley would’ve become had he been as ambitious as both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, skin black, red dots where the irises were, jets of black spurting from his form before vanishing along with the memory.

Once Ashley’s vision returned—the equines were met with a bizarre sight. They were standing on top of a mystical, otherworldly magical matrix bearing his symbol—The Dark Sword—spinning around as something arose from the depths of the darkness surrounding a broken structure that didn’t resemble anymore the Cathedral they had seen from afar.

From the depths, something started to rise—something that might have been human at one point but rose as an abomination to the sight of the equines. From having several wings, arms, and something resembling a human torso corrupted to the point of sowing doubt as to its origin. The way it roared as it took the sight of Ashley only served to cement that fact.

The Dark’s intent given form, its malice, and madness exuding from the eldritch construct as it held parts together without connective tissue of any kind, nor its appearance gave the thought of flesh and blood. In a sense, it was more akin to insect and bird lined up with monstrosity than man.

And thus Ashley embarked on his final struggle—one against the intent behind the power, wielding its puppet against him in order to be free once more.

The battle was brutal, the ‘Dark Angel’ attempting to keep out of reach to cast its spells—only to be interrupted every now and then by Ashleys’ Break Arts or his Defensive Arts to protect himself from its onslaught.

Sword cracked then blew as time went on, the shield fared little better from the powers at hand.

Swiftly changing each weapon as it broke down on him, Ashley kept his pressure—healing himself every now and then to relieve pressure from his body due to the stress that each use inflicted, linked to overuse of Break Arts.

It was on his last dregs of strength that his lance finally shattered, and was left with nothing but his fists. They couldn’t believe it—a mortal enhanced by the same power as his foe was going to keep on fighting until the bitter end, bare-fisted.

“Unfortunately, the threat didn’t end there and then—even as he became the warden of the power given to him.” Twilight finished before yawning—a yawn that spread really quickly to the rapt audience to the story being told. “He was forced to deal with something else that was intending to break free—a Goddess of War, locked in the foundations of Lea Monde to fuel its Wellspring with her suffering … and the source of the upheaval that the city was undergoing, causing the spells containing her to collapse from the outside.”

“Let me make an educated guess, my dear Twilight,” Celestia interjected kindly to the tired mare, who simply nodded as she waited for her to speak. “He took Sydney to safety, then marched into the depths of the city to deal with it … the question would be: How did he know that?”

“The souls and spirits showed him what lied beneath—and what would happen should she break free,” Fluttershy spoke softly, sniffling a little. “Rather than rest and wait for her to come out in the open … he went after her—at the point where he actually met her, it too long too late for that deity to be even saved from her fate.”

“Hold on … .” Spike and Starlight said in chorus, which caused Celestia and Cadance to giggle despite the findings their friends and family had gotten out of their adventure. They spoke again in unison, disbelief dripping from every word they said to Fluttershy, “You mean that this ‘Dark’ actually corrupted a deity? Are you serious!?”

“I am serious here. So is Fluttershy, guys.” Twilight rubbed her face tiredly with her hoof.

“This adventure of yours does lead to many questions, my dear Twilight,” Celestia replied soothingly. “However, I’d like to know … what are the matrices for? And for what reason did he take it so personal when he wasted the Equestrian Army seven hundred years ago?”

“The matrices are seals fed in power by the Tree of Harmony and his own, and serve to seal abominations that are capable of more terrifying things than Discord, your Highness,” Rarity chipped in before realizing in despair as she clasped her cheeks with her hooves, “Oh, no! I just realized! I’ll have eyebags in for sunrise for staying up this late!”

“Well … the reason … ah don’t know how to properly say it, Princess … .” Applejack hesitated in his tone before a yawn and a drooping head nearly caused her to fall asleep then and there.

The other ponies weren’t faring any better.

“Let us do this, everypony.” Celestia proposed to the tired audience around her, “Let us rest properly, then we can continue tomorrow if Harmony allows. Does that sound alright for everypony?”

After looking at one another, they nodded in acquiescence and started to bid goodnight to each other before heading out of the chamber—

Where a few guards of the Night Guard were already in waiting for them to leave.

“Guards? Please lead my guests to their rooms, and I’ll head to my quarters with my sister.”

Nodding in acknowledgment, the guards led the tired ponies away—leaving Princess Celestia and Luna to their own thoughts as they too made their way to their chambers.

When reaching the bifurcated path that would lead to each other’s tower, Celestia noticed Luna’s hesitation—and kindly offered to her, “Lulu? Would you mind resting in my chambers? I would … like the company, as too many things have happened these days.”

It didn’t come as a surprise Luna’s expression of relief as she nuzzled her sister and the two went in the same direction, not another word shared as they began their slumber.

Elsewhere, Twilight Sparkle was making herself ready to rest just like her friends and family were—Spike already on the spot of the bed where he would sleep with her—but saw a sheaf of parchments next to an inkpot and quill … and after biting her lip a little in hesitation, her resolve steeled and started writing a letter with a particular address in mind.

‘I haven’t written to Flashie in a long time! I must correct that mistake!’ Twilight giggled tiredly as she sat down on the stool and got her horn ready to do its job.

The quill scritch-scratched through the silence of the night … .

Elsewhere, within one of the mansions belonging to the noble class—in one of Canterlot’s most exclusive sectors—a small group of equines made their plans.

“We start Operation: Total Nightfall within the hour. Have the darksmiths ready the charges to create the Spring and prepare the sacrifice!” The commanding, self-assured voice crackled through the ether, crystal device buzzing and glowing in a purplish tone before shutting down along with its glow.

The device crackled and buzzed again, only to regain a purple-greenish tint as the owner of the device spoke out with determination.

“In an hour, the alicorns and the Element Bearers must die. Prepare the distractions, Reliquarians!”

“Yes, Lord Patrician!” The chorus echoed through the ether before the device died out.

Turning to face the ponies in front of him, Lord Martinet Patrician’s face showed up through the light coming inside the window from the stars and moon up in the sky.

He looked upon another white unicorn with golden mane and tail—the cutie mark of a compass rose on his flanks—with stoicism.

“Blueblood. You have been the leader of the main arm of the Black Templars stationed here since last year, and your training has proven your real worth,” He intoned with half-lidded eyes at his son, who nodded determinedly without breaking eye contact as tears began to fall from the younger unicorns’ eyes—eyes which twitched, and showed anything but sorrow while contradicting the grim resolution on his face.

‘Humm. Just as I feared, the enthrallment is due to expire. This plan will take care of this loose thread for certain.’

Patrician’s expression turned to stone. “In case the plan fails or the alarm is sounded too quickly, you and your team will focus on the new one and whoever is with her at the time.” Power echoed from the elder unicorn towards the younger unicorn and his subordinates. “Do not fail me.”

Lord Patrician looked upon the team often unicorns clad in robes and five pegasi wearing light armor—both specially treated to change color when the Spring was in place to allow them ease of identification towards their allies as they performed their duties.

“There is one alicorn kept in the depths of the Medical Ward of the palace. Put him down with prejudice—he shouldn’t cause you much trouble, all evidence indicates that he’ll never wake.”

They quickly saluted—Blueblood joining them in a trot—before turning and leaving through the back door of the mansion leading towards the gardens of the compound … .

And straight towards the perimeter of Canterlot Castle.

Once alone, he turned back to his room—walking quietly through the deathly silent house—and where he saw his wife laying on the bed. Just as he had expected, she couldn’t help but take a glass of milk with freshly made almond flour before going to bed—the partially empty bottle next to a glass which looked used testified to it.

The smell of almonds drifted from it, slightly stronger than what it used to smell—but the plan had been successful.

Coming to a close, he approached her and placed a mirror at her snout.

It didn’t cloud.

“You performed magnificently, my dear,” Patrician stated with cold eyes at the prone mare. “You provided a foal—one with great potential, harnessed to perfection and now on its way to perform its purpose … its reason to exist.”

He turned and gave his back to the body, “Thankfully I managed to obtain much better offspring elsewhere, you filthy-blooded mare.” As he walked away, he finished with scorn in his voice, “I got an alicorn as a descendant, something to which you could never aspire to give birth … as expected from a unicorn with earth pony and pegasus in her bloodline.”

As he made his way down to the lobby, Lord Patrician thought to himself, ‘Perfect. All is going according to plan. Once the ties are cut when they execute Blueblood, no one will be able to track these events to my Master.’

Without changing his expression, he took the way out to the servants’ exit—where a cart already laden with what he would require as he made his escape from the doomed city.

Putting the yoke on with as much dignity as he could muster for such a lowly action, he silently made his way towards the castle town’s entrance.

It would be there that he would give the final signal to the mercenaries posted with the Reliquarians within the city's borders to cause as much damage as they could before retreating.

The fall of the royals and their supporters was ideal. To turn the mountain city into a new Wellspring of power was the goal.

No matter how many corpses it garnered to do so. Then again … .

The Master’s power was drawn towards such places.

The communications device turned red, filling the chamber with its bloody tone.

“Welp, it is time ladies.” A grizzled unicorn mare intoned—the red light highlighting the scars and small pieces missing from her body—while the rest of the mercenaries got up and started to get ready, putting on heavy armor along with crossbows and jars full of explosive gelatin. “When the lights come out, we go and do our thing! From looking to putting to fire the mansions and houses, with their owners preferably inside!”

They kept watch of the time like their life depended on it.

This scene repeated all through the city’s lower levels, where the nobles never passed through without armed escort or by hoof—the ponies that had lodged them not knowing what was going to happen soon enough.

The clock kept on ticking until hour zero … .

The darksmiths took their positions around the summoning circle they had been painstakingly been empowering and carving through the crystal mines deep underneath Canterlot’s mountain, Mount Canterhorn through the last month.

A clockwork device began to ring within the darkness, which was answered with hoofsteps approaching the device and shutting it down.

“It is time.” The leader intoned as he approached as a magical matrix began to take form below him, shortly followed by the dozen mages inside the cavern.

They all started chanting simultaneously, while the matrix that occupied most of the floor began to glow along with the ones beneath each and every one of them. “Mirthaulas icthon damul … ivernel chatturga parkentarul … from the depths we call upon thee, Master of the Dark … accept the sacrifice being bestowed at your feet … just so that your might may suffuse us all … so that we may become one with thee in your arrival to our world … .”

“I trust that the plans will be performed to perfection during this night and sunrise?” Grand Master Onyx Horn inquired towards the cloaked ponies sitting in the dining room of his own mansion—the caves they usually used no longer practical due to the pressing schedule upon their own goals.

“As we speak, there is a team making its way to Ponyville to retrieve the off-shoots—the main force is making its way through the catacombs towards the palace, and our inside sympathizer will lead them towards where the sacrificial subjects are lodging.” One of the mares reported dutifully, earning a curt nod from their Grandmaster.

“Good. Let us hope that all goes according to plan and they catch them by surprise.” Another cloaked mare commented, earning some huffs of displeasure from her brethren.

“In any case, they are wearing both thaumic neutralizers and sleep mist, there is nothing to worry about—”

And the night turned into day without a sun.

“You know the plan, Elites!” An lightly armored roussepony barked at her teammates—a team comprised of four changelings, two unicorns, a pegasus, a zebra, and eight diamond dogs. “In two days-time we’ll be retrieving someone of great importance to our nation! We will succeed! When the guard makes its shift from Night Guard to Day Guard inside the Medical Ward, we move in from underneath—”

The basement close to the battlements of the palace shook as cries of shock trickled through the thick stone above them.

“What the bu—!?”

Twilight Sparkle was shaken from her concentration writing in the scroll by a massive surge of power overflowing through the air itself that shook even the mountain to its roots.

This power that felt all too familiar from her still-fresh experience within Ashley’s memories.

Her eyes widened further when light began to glow from above the city as cries, shouts, and screams started to filter through the open window in her room.

And the door exploded—a cloud of oak, iron and stone shards—with an unusual sight in front of her as she had instinctively raised a shield to parry any incoming particles to defend herself.

Blinking twice as she took in the intruders, she couldn’t help but backpedal in Spike’s direction while facing them.

She screamed from the shock as she looked at the unexpected visitor and his retinue of five. “Blueblood!? What the buck are you doing!?”

He had spent all this time unconscious—having felt like being through one nightmare after another. He couldn’t even move, couldn’t hear, feel, nor sense. He was literally a prisoner inside his own body, and couldn’t move—didn’t have the strength to move.

The only thought that crossed his mind after violently reacting to something that had invaded his inner sanctum was this.

‘How … why am I so weak … .’

Among many terrible things, he had dreamed that his new family had been taken from him … and had invaders rummaging through his mind, violating what sanctity remained of his self in glee—even stealing what memories he had that soothed his consciousness.

He dreamed as to how he lost something he clung to—something precious, yet couldn’t put a word to it anymore.

A pulse from outside—power which immediately latched onto his waning own and became his like water falling down into the sands of the desert started to bring him out of his barely awake state—

Right into full consciousness—the cloud protecting him dispelling as he opened his eyes and saw something that caused his brain to halt.

He was inside a hospital, judging by the colors of the walls, the equipment and the cot he was laid upon. The hole on the wall, scorch marks and signs of erosion didn’t fit into the image, but that didn’t deterred him from furiously thinking as he took in his surroundings.

This led him to ask into himself … .

Sydney? Callo? Lich? Anyone?

…

We’re sorry

We’re the only ones who remain

The ones who came with you were cleansed

Please forgive them – forgive us

They didn’t know

Ashley’s eyes shot open as he took that last answer while looking at his hands.

Or more precisely, where his hands were supposed to be.

In despair, he dug into his self to see what had changed and what remained from the smoking wreckage which was now his essence … .

Tears slowly shed from his closed eyes as he realized what had happened to him. Breath hitching as he fully took in what he had lost.

And something stirred deep within.

Eyes still closed, teeth grinding in a snarl as he breathed in—

And roared to the heavens, lightning crackling over his skin as he screamed in rage—frost forming around the room he was in, jets of purple and green flames flowed from his closed eyes and horn as he did so.

Dark Tidings: Terror from the night (Unedited)

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Once he was done venting all his mixed emotions—the red fog slowly clearing out as the echoing heartbeats within his ears receded, being replaced by emptiness, unending grief and a desire for vengeance … .

Iron Ash briefly stood still, subjected to the storm that was his menagerie of emotions and conflicting feelings. From sorrow to loneliness, passing through rage and outrage in a constantly shifting maelstrom—all of which was causing him to lose focus on his current predicament and how to handle himself.

With a cold glare that belied his barely contained rage echoing through his very core, he took in the place he was currently lodged—frost forming around the areas where what appeared to be equinoid phantoms of sorts circling him around, phasing in and out of existence all over the room around him.

White walls, white tiles, white-colored ceiling, chromed metal adorning the shelves with bottles and devices of what he could now acknowledge being of a medical nature. Eyes narrowing even further at this realization, he inadvertently ‘heard’ the sounds around him—his drastically different ear placing and sensitivity several times increased when compared to his ‘real’ self’s auditory sensitivity.

He grunted in regret, as such sensitivity was something to which he never got used to—screwing with his ‘trained perception’ of the environment; however, the shift of the eyesight was one he had been forced to cope with a long time ago when he had first woken up into a brand-new world without his consent.

This background noise drew his attention, as they were too familiar to the sounds of cries, screams of pain, the clanging of steel upon steel … .

The sound of battle raging in the proximity. Frowning at that, Ash shakily stood on his feet—or that would be what he’d like to believe anyway if he were still bipedal, as he briefly stood on his hindlegs before falling down back into all four.

His frustration rose another notch as he tried to use the limbs he had stopped caring about in all these years—only to find out that the second set of arms—scratch that, wings were bound with shackles and bandages under them. He looked upon his feet—hooves now, he regretted correcting himself at this point—where he saw boot-like additions to his four hooves.

The dim lights over them indicated to him that they were supposed to restrain him if he went by the thing he was wearing on his arms—wings now.

“The weakened alicorn stallion is in the ICU, commander! Follow me!” He heard from afar, stark in contrast from the din trickling down into the silent medical ward, causing him to grit his teeth.

‘So, they want to deal with me at my lowest?’ His teeth almost ached from the pressure as he made an effort to regain his composure. ‘I’ll find out what I want from them, then I’ll seek out the authors of my fall.’

Shouldn’t you be worried about the foreign flow of Dark Magic towards you?

‘Right now I don’t care about that—I’ll fulfill my word to that worthless, white treacherous wretch!’

Please! They didn’t know you! They didn’t know you beyond a bad reputation!

‘You will be quiet. I won’t be putting up with you lot now, not after what you did to aid them in their quest to see my innermost memories—not to mention assisting them in tearing my hope apart with what they did!’

We did no such thing! We only wanted them to know the real Ashley—!

‘You will be silent.’

Iron Ash finally managed to calm his turmoil after wasting valuable energy into shutting them up.

‘Damn monsters … .’

“Are you certain that the scream we heard wasn’t him!? We may be equipped to deal with him, but there was serious power behind that scream alone!” Another voice echoed through the corridors as he shakily sought out what he could use as a weapon—settling for the IV stand for use as a makeshift two-handed mace.

He groaned as he felt his newly remembered wings tug into the binds—and blinked twice before starting to focus his ebbing strength into breaking the bonds. Just to make certain he had a way to deal with the incomers, he bit down into the IV stand hard enough to leave an imprint.

He pointedly ignored the feeling of warm iron that began to flow into his tongue as he made some practice swings, as well as ignoring the phantoms circling him—making him a metaphorical eye of a freezing cyclone.

‘I may not be able to use it fully—but it’ll be enough for now.’

His ears picked up the sound of groaning—metal being stretched out slowly but surely. He smiled grimly despite the situation he was in.

‘Heh, at least these equine freaks haven’t learned to properly make metal—that’ll work to my advantage.’

Eyeing the corridor out of his room, he found an open door leading to one of the resting quarters for the personnel—appearing to have been left open in a hurry, judging by the tossed towels and sheets thrown aside haphazardly as he made his way towards it as discreetly as he could with metal boots.

Naturally, he tilted his head and inwardly grumbled at that indignity—tilting his head aside just to enter the room and hide with the stand in between his teeth for their arrival—as he waited for the ones coming his way.

He placed himself behind the open door—leaving him sight of who entered without giving his position up as he paid attention to what was happening.

“Stop the attackers from injuring the civilians! Guards! To me! To me!” The voice of a woman cried as the din of battle worsened. “We have intruders in the ICU!”

He shifted in the metal shoes—wondering just how they weren’t making noise against the white tiles on contact—before he saw a unicorn in white robe leading a group of four unicorns towards where he had been for an indeterminate amount of time.

They were wearing lightweight leather armor with metal strips sewn over them—which caused Ash to raise an eyebrow in appreciation.

‘Whoever they are, they are certainly practical in their approach to gear… . If this were happening to someone else, I’d pity the local equine guards—favouring the bulkier and heavier plate armor that so defined their ‘guard’ over more practical and mobile gear.’

His attention was drawn towards a certain detail as the sound of them trashing the room echoed through.

‘Humm … that feeling, it has been a while since I’ve felt that … .” He frowned unhappily as the realization struck him harder than the six mares had done with that rainbow spell he had no defense against—dazed as he was from the feedback of the broken Polyform: Spell that had kept his real shape in this forsaken world for millennia.

These newcomers were users of The Dark.

Users of The Dark who were after him. Even the one he assumed to be a medic was tainted by its power.
Considering how the others who went after him through his life so far fared when attempting to deal with him, he pondered briefly: ‘Are they ignorant, overconfident or just outright suicidal? … . They probably don’t know who they’re dealing with.’

This was little comfort to him, as he tried to answer questions he never had the answers to—or at least, without the collected wisdom and support from the former bearers of The Blood Sin and the plethora of victims tainted by The Dark.

‘How in the name of God did they manage to tap into the Dark without me knowing like I did in years past!?’

This was both good and bad, as he quickly thought out plans out of the blue—settling for the one that would garner most information at his own expense.

‘I am really not looking forward to have to listen to their whining—but if I’m to find out what they are up to, I’ll have to … .’

Plan already set onto his still-fuzzy mind, he heard an outcry from his former room. “Queens’ sake! Is this frost!? In mid-summer of all things!?” One of the unwanted visitors cried out in shock, disbelief dripping from his exclamation.

“Check the other rooms! The alicorn hasn’t eaten in days—and has no magic to call, so he couldn’t have teleported!” The voice he had tagged as ‘Commander’ barked as he heard hoofsteps clattering on the hard floors. “He must be still in the vicinity—leave no stone unturned!”

He bit his makeshift weapon further, earning a groan from the metal he was biting into as his muscles shifted in anticipation.

And his composure returned, dusty yet not forgotten.

Hearing the sound of hooves hitting the tiles, he bided his time as he waited for the inevitable to happen. So, he greeted the unicorn who went into the room in the way he currently believed could grant in his existing state of mind.

With a swing that made it look as if the IV stand itself bent from the motion, he didn’t bother to register the brief widening of eyes from the soon-to-be-crushed equinoid until it was too late for it to defend itself—the sound of glass shattering and a meaty ‘crunch’ in short sequence echoing through the hospital as all the others seeking the weakened alicorn out halted in their rush at hearing that sound.

Seeing with disdain the one slain, he moved with purpose despite the shivers he was feeling from the strain—pointedly stepping on the dissolving corpse on the floor as he made his way towards the doorway leading to the corridor. The moment he reached the corridor, he only bothered to glare at the wide-eyed intruders clad in leather armor with their guide in robe, only to look in disinterest at them as they started charging their horns on instinct.

So, he rushed at them with celerity—waiting to unleash his suppressed emotions for later.

Princess Twilights’ Guest Chamber
Canterlot Castle, Guest Wing
Two minutes prior to Ash’s quickening

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and former Bearer of the Element of Magic was not having a good day.

First, in her rush she had forgotten lessons she supposedly learnt with her friends long ago—not jumping to conclusions; not judging others by reputation like the Crusaders had learned when they met Troubleshoes; and not letting fear get the better of her—and had as a result gained Equestria a now properly motivated adversary, if not outright villain with no interest in hearing them out now.

An individual who had left them alone for seven centuries, and whom they used the Rainbow Power on—just to make certain that he’d be cleansed of wicked influences. Just in case he was a case like Luna.

So, in this chain of events that she had been involved, she had failed in her duties as a Royal and being the Princess of Friendship by assuming the worse and acting upon it, despite him not having moved back then to attack … but to defend what she now knew was the daughter of a Minotaur couple of whom he had raised the father of the foal as his own—making her his grand-daughter, judging by her call.

She had been forced to sit through ten millenia’s worth of memories, plenty of which would have fascinated her if not for the fact that they soon turned to be boring to the extreme due to repetition of what was shown.

The interesting memories were few and far in between, and mostly pertained to how he traveled, how he had ended up in a variation of the Human World she knew of by the Mirror, and how he had ended up … someplace else he didn’t know the name of before waking up in their world, already changed in physical form. As more details showed, now she knew that he wasn’t the one who had made the jump towards them—he had been brought while unconscious by the maker of their world for dealing with the monstrosities that infiltrated their world.

Not to mention Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie complaining about the abundance of boring memories about daily life—as if those pieces of ‘daily life’, interactions with other human beings that Ashley watched from afar were memories worth treasuring.

Besides, embracing boredom was a subject alien to her and her more ‘active and outgoing’ friends due to her desire to learn and do things, and was forced to swallow the fact that yes … boredom can indeed be refined into an art to her everlasting regret.

All of this was rendered moot, having been surprised by several events that happened in short order as she was finishing her letter—before she could get a good few hours’ worth of rest for later today.

Interrupted first by what amounted to a second sun bursting with magic, only to be fully shaken by what she could’ve sworn were cries of pain and terror coming from the outside.

This of course was topped out by the door leading to her temporary quarters blown to sawdust by unexpected trespassers coming in at non-social hours.

So no, she wasn’t happy to have unwanted visitors—Prince Blueblood being the first in that list.

She screamed at the unexpected—and unwanted—unicorn noble. “Blueblood!? What are you doing in my quarters at this hour!?”

She glared tiredly at the five ponies who all drew brownish-red hued short swords upon which the light seemed to get defiled on contact—upon the sight of which her eyes shot wide open and felt fear at the realization of who was she warned against by her visions.

And she had made their one possible ally into an enemy by her actions. She could’ve made the attempt at befriending him—make sure that he got redeemed like it was done with Discord and Starlight if he had been a misguided somecreature or pony—but now there was something bad at her literal doorstep.

She could blame herself properly once she had taken Spike to safety.

She backpedalled—trying to get closer to Spike, who was still soundly asleep at this time of all things—while eyeing the now unfriendly killers at her presence. She stuttered with ears splayed, looking at Blueblood while keeping his hostile ‘friends’ on sight. “B-blueblood? Why are you here? And w-why are these ponies wielding—”

She gasped in recognition at the material the blades were made out of. For one, they always appeared at the hoofs or claws of villains.

The second point was, as to their nature. This wisdom was courtesy of Moondancer, when she had shared with her how ‘Legendary Materials and Forgotten Uses’ was the most thorough catalogue of available—and no longer available—materials for a diversity of purposes.

Twilight had at one point questioned the usefulness of making something named Hellsteel due to its described short life—and she had suffered nightmares when Moondancer shared with her how it was made, and why only villains would’ve used it.

The only problem was, that the records of ‘hellsteel’ was black and turned gray and crumbly when not fed with innocents’ souls at a constant rate. And it didn’t discriminate when feeding, as it was one of the few metals which could kill dragons – piercing dragonscale, armor and magic defenses like they weren’t there … as this cursed alloy fed on the thaumaturgic fields that emmanated from the soul, trapping it within its structures by a mechanism or spell unknown to date.

And Dragon Souls were the mightiest ones in theory, but scarcity of innocent dragons had always made the task hard for the monsters that used this Tartarus-sourced alloy for their own endings.

Hopefully, they wouldn’t remember that detail—not with Spike this close to them as she hovered Spike from his basket onto her back and kept a hold of him with her magic.

‘Oh thank you, Moondancer—and here I thought I wouldn’t be able to get sleep again after hearing all of the details … .’

Shakily, she asked in defiance—getting ready to cast a teleportation spell to get her dragon baby and herself away from the intruders. “Why are you wielding such wicked weapons?” She glared harder at the smirking intruders, “And why are you with them in my room!?”

“You and the other alicorns must die. The same with the so-called Bearers of Harmony. That is all you will need to know.” Blueblood answered as he looked at his hoof with disinterest—the hind legs twitching as if in panic while his front was calm. Without raising his eyes, he simply ordered. “Get her.”

Twilight tried to spark the teleporting spell—only for it to fizzle out in her horn.

“Oh, see that light outside? That is what makes certain that normal unicorn teleportation spells won’t work, you harlot.” One of the unicorns approached her with intent as the two pegasus raised to the air, blades held at their hooves as Blueblood and the other unicorn started to trot to her side—boxing her into a corner with the still-sleeping Spike now placed behind her back as she spread her wings.

Twilight gulped at the realization, when other unicorn asked: “Sir? Can we torture the welp in front of her first? I bet she’ll cry beatifully before joining the rest of the filth once we are done with it!”

As she gritted her teeth in impotent rage, getting ready to sell her life as costly as possible … .

The impossible happened—

And the artificial light outside died out—shortly followed by a roar of rage.

And this roar had power reverberating behind it, judging by how the attackers collapsed from the impact with shock upon their visages—leaving Twilight to ponder after that later on as she had others to warn about.

‘Why the buck was I unnafected!?’

Quickly shaking his head off, Blueblood roared as he struggled to scramble back onto his hooves. “Damn it, get her!”

Yelping, Twilight teleported out of the room with Spike—the last sound she heard in there being “Gather the others! … .”

The Black Templars that comprised Blueblood’s second team of three—the one intended to permanently put down the royal residing at the Guard’s Medical Ward—were shell-shocked after being greeted in the form of a nasty surprise.

They stood stock-still after hearing the sickening crunch from a room behind them, and how the supposedly commatose target—a gaunt, discoloured and still-bound alicorn stallion—came out of one of the rooms they had passed by on their rush to find him with one of their numbers entering that room.

The weakened pony had his head and neck covered in blood and other grits—which they correctly presumed belonged to their now-deceased comrade. And judging by the way the stand he was gripping with his teeth was bent—a large bloodstain in its newly gained curve—it was obvious what happened.

A supposedly weak, malnourished and thin alicorn, bound by shackles apparently meant for alicorns was standing in defiance of them—glare never faltering. The wrongness of the picture kept repeating inside their heads: this target had already slain one of their own with an IV stand, while bound.

If it weren’t for their training in … acquiring the resources needed to create the hellsteel, they would’ve vomited at this point from the metallic sweet scent cloying their nostrils, and the visceral disgust at seeing bits never meant for exposure to the outside shown in all of its gory glory upon them.

As he glared balefully at them, frost began to form around him—the Templars realizing that the one in front of them hated them in ways they couldn’t fathom, judging by the phantoms surrounding him and freezing the area, air becoming chilly at a fast rate.

The same thought crossed their minds: ‘… Windigos? Are those windigos!?’

On instinct, they lit their horns as they took in the full extent of his emotions transmitted through his glare—and shivered as they could’ve sworn that they were seeing red dots deep within the pupils as his eyes drilled at them—

—And yelped as he rushed at them with the stand in between his teeth with terrifying silence, as if he had done such things before.

It was both fortunate and unfortunate that half of them focused on making a shield, while the others pelted him with magic bolts empowered with The Dark.

Ignoring the bursts of magic hitting him despite the piercing effect they had on him, he swung his makeshift weapon upon their hastily formed shield—the IV stand crashing through the shield by raw strength alone.

The feedback of such an impact made the unicorns focused on defending to reel from the shock, but it also resulted in the stand the alicorn was using to stop being usable as it broke in pieces, leaving the alicorn with only a bit of metal on his mouth.

The commander, not willing to wait what else the monster in the guise of a royal alicorn had hidden under his hoof … she rushed at him with celerity as he was spitting the metal in his mouth—

And cleaved his head off his neck with one swing of her sword before he could react to her.

The Templar barely managed to avoid the burst of blood as the head fell off with a heavy thud, the stallion’s eyes briefly opened in surprise before closing down. ‘Huh, who would’ve thought?’ She thought as she finished the job by impaling his barrel at the height were the heart would’ve been. ‘Heh, now my blade’ll be really mighty by what it … took … on … .?”

She blinked in incomprehension as the previously brownish red blade began to deteriorate instead of shining brightly as it was meant to do. She looked at the corpse at her hooves, then to the blade—as if not understanding of what was going as the assimilation of a soul under this alloy was determined by its shine after the deed.

Her blade crumbled to dust, leaving her shocked face clear for her fellow Templars to gaze on.

“This one is dead, commander. Let us go support the other team to finish up quickly.” One of the unicorns suggested with her voice quivering, her legs shaking from the impression of their now-deceased target … before noticing that her team leader was still reeling, and nudged their leader out of her stupor with a hoof upon her wither.

Quietly, said commander moved in tandem with her teammates, but couldn’t help but feel that something was off about this whole situation … until she was given the sword of the fallen comrade, which she took without a word.

None of them cared to investigate as to how the windigos hadn’t dispersed from surrounding the corpse and freezing the surroundings, making their retreat at a sedately fast pace.

Lord Martinet Patrician, future inheritor to the title of Grand Lord of the soon-to-be Royal Empire of Helighet Hengellinen—being second within the court only to the Queen and self-proclaimed Empress—when the conquest campaign started upon the neighboring nations … was confused as to what was going on inside Canterlot.

He observed the fires started by the mercenaries trickled in by the other members of the Reliquarians—fires that could be barely seen under the Sygil’s light—and the echoes of cries of ponies fighting one another.

On one hoof, the plan so far had gone as expected—The Dark Sygil of their God shone brightly into the nightsky, summoning the power of the Lord of The Dark into their world and slowly tainting the souls of all the inhabitants of that place in order to make a Wellspring of Magic to fuel their conquest.

Only for the Sygil to have flickered out and died out soon after being summoned, shortly followed by what could only be described as a scream of rage that brought him and many of his Helighetian supporters down to their knees.

The question died in his mouth when one of them asked in disbelief, “What in Tartarus’s cesspit just happened!?”

Lord Martinet took his communications device, and with a shaky flicker of his horn activated it to contact the darksmiths at Canterhorn’s heart.

“Master Izdelave, why is the beaconing sygil gone?” He inquired with barely restrained rage at the crystal device.

“… Lord Patrician?” The darksmith’s voice echoed shakily as it could be heard how he took a breath. “We—we were brought low by some kind of roar of power, bu—but other than that event, the matrix is still operational! Why do you ask why the sygil is gone?”

This rose bells of alarm within the unicorn noble, whom inquired “At which level is it now, Izdelave?”

The answer was promptly given.

“We’re currently at the seventh glyph in complexity, my lord.”

‘That’s-that’s not possible!’ Lord Patrician questioned himself in alarm—the way they measured the strength of magic flow was measured in ‘glyphs’ in concord with the flow of The Dark to empower their equine magic power.

And it was somehow being sent back—that was the only explanation he had without further data. ‘Hum! To think that the royals would be able to counter this call of The Dark by their own means! But all things have a limit … whereas The Dark doesn’t.’

He reflected as to how the original plan involved the casting effort equal to thirteen ‘Glyphs’ for the creation of a Wellspring of Dark Power at Canterlot. So, in order to fully stain the Equestrian equines it was calculated that way before ‘harvest’ just to make certain of the fact.

The stallion reactivated the communications device. “Darksmiths. Increase the power output up to fifteen glyphs of power at once, and make sure the flow increases further.”

There was stuttering transmitted within the device, only for a meek “Yes, my lord.” To end the communications between them.

The stallion smirked before settling himself to see the creation of a new Wellspring of Dark magic with which to settle themselves, before their conquest campaign started up against the neighboring nations.

The one named Minos Alliance was the one who could put up a fight on equal terms despite the advantage that The Dark provided the unicorn-exclusive kingdom.

‘I will only regret not being able to see the sun-handling narwhal’s face when her protection fails against the might of The Dark.’

Ashley’s essence frowned at what he had just learned from the equine he hads slain a moment ago—her soul now a part of the collective within him … .

It galled him to no end to use that for his benefit—forced by circumstance to hasten his knowledge at the expense of undesirable fanatics now being part of his constant pain that was having unwanted equines and others inside him.
He just stared at what used to be his body—separated from his head by a blade supposed to steal that which he no longer had, blood pooling down at the places where the blade struck.

Or more likely, how that blade lost everything that gave it strength on contact—its contents becoming his—as what passed for his ‘essense’ was too strange for Reality to properly take a hold on, especially by means of that material the blades were made out of.

The ones trapped within—the souls of many beings—which had been stained with The Dark, used for the manufacture of such a cursed material. So, he now had more beings inhabiting him to his displeasure.

There would be hell to pay towards those who dared to use this twisted power for their own agenda. It was a pity that he was brought out of his contemplative mood by an arrogant-yet-annoying ram opening his mouth.

I would be proud if it had been other creature, to use my discovery and weaponize it—Mreehehehe … the wonders of tartarean alloy—to be able to steal other beings’ souls and magic to strengthen itself up. And all of it thanks to you, Master of The Dark

‘I suggest you keep silent, Grogar—my patience is running thin as it now stands.’

As if I had nothing better to do than to admire my work at the hooves of fools—

‘I could’ve released all of you into the blade, but I declined to fall down to your level. Wish to test my resolve?’

Ashley heard lots of whimpering and more than a few muted ‘we’ll be good’ from those inside him, and felt his rage bubble again despite his efforts to keep down his composure into place.

‘So. I still possess complete immortality despite my downfall… . Fantastic.’

And Ashley Riot, later on known as Ash Lee Brannigan and now known as Iron Ash remembered Sydney’s words concerning his fate—

Such a thing felt like an eternity ago.

He fought back his grief down to below the threshold as time lost meaning, and he felt like reliving that moment, so long ago … .

The phantom of Sydney Losstarot intoned in a measured way, once Ashley had taken refuge in the outskirts of Valendia after several days’ worth of nonstop travel.

As the real master of the power granted by the blood-soaked contract that is The Blood Sin, I have to inform you of all the effects of having taken this mantle upon yourself

“Effects? What is that you speak of, Sydney?” Ashley questioned out loud—a frown forming on his brow—while he waited in an abandoned hostel, wind causing the sign to creak as the rainstorm continued its wailing upon the structure.

He heard Sydney clearing his throat, and sheepishly started to explain to him: As you now know, all those who have been stained by The Dark have taken refuge within you—and that is because you sacrificed your Phantom Soul in order to fully inherit what I gave upon you

Sydney’s words were drowned by the voice of the one who whispered and taught him how to cast the Teleport Spell: The Lich-King of Earernum Thrumbar—probably a place out of his world. What the fool says is this: you no longer possess what is called a Soul, unlike your predecessors! This means there is no chance of you ever reaching The Other to see another cycle of reincarnation, nor complete death!’

His deathly, raspy voice growled in his own matter-of-fact exposition to their host. ‘You are now the ultimate undead! No matter what happens to your physical body, you’ll endure and regain it! You’re now immune to those seeking to put your soul under a yoke—as The Dark itself is now your Soul, and it is too big to be controlled by foolish mortals and deities alike! You’re a god-lich—one who’s above all liches, preserving your body in its prime without fearing for its loss! And what’s more: unlike us lesser liches … you will always rise from oblivion

“… I see.” Ashley answered quietly, slowly coming to the realization that his sacrifice of his former life—to prevent the misuse of the Dark for humankind’s sake—would have even deeper effects upon his life than he assumed at first.

To not fit in with his kind anymore. To no longer be able to make connections with who used to be his fellow man.

He then asked out with his eyes closed in thought, “If the loss of a body means exposure to Reality—then what will happen to all of you if I lose my body for any reason?”

The same raspy voice answered back mockingly to him. Hehehehehehehe … you still believe that the flesh you carry around is your real body?

The suggestion brought him a headache, from the sheer wrongness of its content.

Through thick and thin we will be with you, Master of The Dark—right down to the end of time

This concept brought him no relief, as he waited for the storm to abate … .

“Good shot, private!” Bellowed the Valendian officer to the soldier standing close to Ashley’s body—crossbow bolt stuck onto his head from behind.

The officer barked at the squad’s closest two soldiers. “Now, get him onto the box—”

Both soldiers backstepped as the corpse rose from the ground with little effort, and the empty and quite dead eyes glared at them, with the point of the bolt protruding from his head.

Now he had a massive headache, and his formerly somber mood was now coldly enraged because of it. “I should have known I would be hunted.” Ashley simply spoke—but the voice sounded off to the soldiers present.

“Quick! Get him down before he runs away!” The officer cried as the soldiers rushed him … .

‘I shouldn’t have let my memories go that far.’ Ashley muttered darkly before beginning to take over his own body again—

“Did anyone feel that?” One of the black templars asked as her ears twitched, the others shifting awkwardly as they felt the air change around them—becoming colder.

Clack … .

Their ears swivelled—and their guide asked, trying to mask his fear. “Did-did the sound came from behind!?”

Clack … .

They turned their heads to see the source of the noise—

Groan … .

Only for the sound of metal groaning as it was stretched to the tearing point to join the sound of … of … hoofsteps. Thus, they saw the source of the noise, and blanched at the sight presenting to them.

“Co-co-commander!?” One of them whimpered as they took in the sight of the headless alicorn standing on straight, the wings slowly breaking the bonds of cloth and metal keeping them stuck into his barrel.

And holding on one hoof was the head, which was glowering at them. One of the templars’ could’ve sworn she saw red dots deep into the irises of his now-living eyes.

Frost was forming on the surroundings around the body, as ethereal beings started to circle him faster, as if the maelstrom was growing worse by the second.

Snap! Rip! Clank-clank … .

The hoof handed over the head of the alicorn to one of the newly freed wings once the broken bonds clattered onto the floor—

“Rrrruuuuunnn!!!!” Their commander wailed as they took up speed to leave the thing behind them eating dust—hooves skidding over the white tiles as they made their way out, screaming in terror.

The body stood still for a moment, only to start moving in an definitely non-pony fashion as it followed them out of the medical ward.

If there had been anyone well-versed in biology and wildlife looking at that moment, they’d have seen a headless alicorn holding his own head with a wing—and moving forward by pulling with both forelegs at the same time, shortly followed by a propelling push from the hindlegs.

The same gait used by feline predators when pursuing prey.

Ambassador Silver Gauntlet couldn’t help but glower at the bodies littering the embassy, his Riskbreaker Guards having dealt with many of the assailants … .

However, several managed to continue into the living quarters—where they met their target.

As his bloody fists and bloodied sleepwear could attest, they hadn’t been lucky in attempting to get rid of the insomniac minotaur reading in his chamber.

The middle-aged minotaur growled. “Lieutenant … we’re moving now. Gear up, and wait for me—this farce has gone long enough as is.”

The officer—a changeling wearing armor—didn’t naysay him, but simply saluted by crossing his hoof over his chest before barking his orders to the other guards, moving them to scramble.

“Damn it all—they are already moving!” the ambassador growled in rage before moving towards the armory, where his subordinates were putting on their gear.

‘I can only hope that the infiltration team does its job before all goes to Tartarus even further.’ He then turned his sights on one of the barred windows leading to the chaos outside, where at one point had been a magical matrix of unknown design shining upon the city before flickering out and vanishing almost as quick as it had appeared.

He shivered at the memory of the roar that followed its disappearance. ‘What in Tartarus was that scream?’

Digging down the battlements towards the medical ward of the palace had taken the retrieval team twenty precious minutes at the paws of the diamong dogs in the team supported by the changelings, all just to make a tunnel big enough for them to trespass upon the hospital’s wing where their target was supposedly lodged in.

Supposedly—due to him no longer being there—the tunnel having been done to perfection straight down into the chamber that was supposed to host him, white tiles broken and sullied by dirt and stone dislodged in their hurry to reach the place. The retrieval team was scrambling around, while their leader just sat there looking at the mess … .

“He’s gone.” The roussepony leader—named Night Track—stated at the still-frozen ICU room and blood-stained corridor, leading deeper into the castle’s Medical Ward proper.

Behind her was her team, all wearing their specialized infiltration gear—all looking in awkwardly at how FUBAR’d their mission had gone, what with the blood-stained nurse’s room and corridor … .

And what appeared to be the remains of a really rusted sword lying down at a pile close to the corridor’s pooled blood.
However, they were a team of Riskbreaker Elites—and the mission was what came first, no compromises even if the parameters changed during its execution.

“You know what needs to be done: We find the stallion, and bring him in for questioning to confirm his identity.” The roussepony officer barked as her fur bristled. “We split now to search for him: Coffee, Bailey, Lady, Hunter!” She looked at the four diamond dogs called, who stood to attention.

“You will join Storm Cloud and Silken Shield as they track him down.” The pegasus and unicorn stood to attention before joining the four diamond dogs. She looked at the distance, where the bloody imprints of hooves moving in a definitely predatorial fashion from the coagulating blood.

“Clark, Shawn … you will cover them as you’re versatile enough to serve as backup sentries in case the stallion proves to be too aggressive or isn’t our target.” The two changelings flittered their wings before joining their comrades.

“The others … with me. We’ll look into the palace proper while the confusion reigns in, so you will look upon the outer parts of the castle. Hunter, you’re in charge until we meet again.”

The buffed diamond dog saluted before barking to his team, “Get movin’, you bitches! We got work to do!” before they moved with determination towards the bloody trail of red imprints.

She gave them some time to make distance before barking herself, “Get moving, everyone! We have wasted enough time as is!” Thus, her team started moving towards the interior of the castle with decision.

Ambassador Silver Gauntlet may have known about the threat looming over their Equestrian-sourced resources by means of unhappy specieists—and that there were plans to protect their interests inside the pony nation, and yet … .

What he didn’t know, was how a plan had been concocted by the Inteligence Service, supported by the Crown four years ago. A plan put into motion once they received reports from the few spies and scryers that survived going into the unicorn kingdom of Helighet—who with unknown resources managed to track down, subvert or downright execute the ones unable to adapt to the dire circumstances or make their swift escape back home.

Among the ones that returned, a few caused the loss of four valuable officers before the enthralled spies were neutralized with equal parts confusion, indignation and regret. Thus, they decided to act preemptively with what little they had garnered from the survivors that were sane and loyal to the Crown.

The origins of their interest in the specieist nation stemmed from one detail: A cohort of unicorns from that nation attempted an infiltration and assasination of the Royal house. And was theorized that they gained entry by mean of naval access, according to the investigators who later on investigated the matter.

All reports of the incident were classified, as what they garnered from that first time was plenty to instill wariness upon the Minoan Knights: all of the prisoners managed to cast spells without using their horns, they were arrogant and self-deluded, and believed them to be nothing but filth in need of clearance.

No survivors stemmed from that battle of attrition—but the arrogance was easy to find: so certain they had been in their victory, that they used their royal gear. From this stemmed two opinions on the equines from Helighet: they were either stupidly overconfident, or it was a deliberate attempt at diverting attention towards them … .

Or away from them purposefully, by seeding doubt in the process.

So, in deliberation over this spiny matter—a conclusion was reached within closed doors at the Intelligence branch in concordance with the Crown: Further investigation would be required, as Helighet—once it was determined if they were indeed a threat once an investigation was performed unto the matter—was too far away to deal with successfully without full Equestrian support in case of open war.

This was currently not possible, due to noble houses in positions of power and influence having ideals similar to those of Helighet within the Equestrian Government—the same ones who were constantly hampering the efforts for equality and equanimity among sapient species that they instilled and promoted.

They couldn’t help but find funny how the Royal Alicorns—who were favorable to their ideals, as they believed in them too—couldn’t put in place the nobles causing problems for them.

It was a mixed blessing that they had one who only interfered when things went out of hand too much, like that one time with the Exclusivists. It was then that they saw the importance of an immortal who served as stabilizer for the power-that-is as long as it was fair to the population they were tasked with being wardens of.

Thus, Iron Ash had earned fear—as he had executed summarily the ones responsible for the coup when he was called by the then young Grimara, only to raise him to the fine Minotaur he was now.

His line would persist, as the children he now had could attest to. And he’d teach them the same things that he himself was taught by his foster father the God Smith.

Taking those lessons to heart, the King suggested back then a secret course of action while keeping appearances: without informing their Equestrian counterparts about what had happened four years ago, they quickly proceeded to work into a plan that’d secure their presence on the Equinus Continent in case of emergency ... .

The creation of an unofficial Riskbreaker garrison, the fruit of hard labour provided by the paws of diamond dog squads while assisted by the hooves, magic and reinforcing biomass from supporting changeling engineers—in order to secure both a permanent presence without raising suspicions … right above and inside the bedrock that comprised the foundation of that mountain as an added measure of defense in case of discovery.

The tunneling into the abandoned crystal mines after their existance was reported was only a matter of time and effort—thus making their access to the city and palace proper easier by chance.

They didn’t say it out loud, but thanked the mad changeling queen known as Chrysalys for having shown them the way up to the top of the mountain when she attempted to overthrow the equine rulership. The tracks that her kind left behind were ideal, as other changelings could track them successfully even if they had gone cold over the years.

Naturally, the Equestrian Royal Guard’s efforts to detect and intercept changelings after that debacle caused more than little stress—until they had found out that the equine’s magic could be absorbed without changing its attributes by using a chameleonic uniform branded as ‘Thaumic Masking Countermeasure Suit’ made in a combined effort between changeling, minotaur, and zebra alchemists and scientists, thus preventing the alarms from being triggered by changelings geared up in the TMCS.

Thus, in between shifts for digging the cavern while keeping the appearance of Minoan businesstaurs’ hired ‘ponies’ and diamond dogs; the processing of the material removed towards selling it back to the city’s inhabitants, if not into other towns; the smuggling of enchanted spellstones into the city proper, meant to serve as two-way repeaters for communications—to be buried into the soil by squads of diamond dogs and then reinforced by changeling biomass; down to smuggling personnel down the tracks they had made from houses ‘the businesstaurs’ owned, as the Equestrian record-keeping about inmigrants/emigrants was nonexistent.

The Minoan officers’ opinions on that regard were divided between ‘offended’ at not being valued as worthy of watching, and ‘relieved’ that they wouldn’t have need to be under watchful glares from unfriendly locals.

A travesty, King Grimara the Steel Gauntlet had decided—that needed to be taken full advantage of due to the seriousness of the situation.

Need was, of course, his main and only concern … to keep relatively secure their main-and-only supplier of food, enchanted artefacts, and mineral ores of varying qualities.

So, a Riskbreaker branch was posted beneath Mount Canter in anticipation for the right time—and preferably without raising any suspicions.

Thus, this secret garrison was fully manned by changelings and diamond dogs—with a separate detachment of rousseponies and a team of medics trained in the biology of each of the races that conformed Minos Alliance.

Diamond Dog, Roussepony and Changeling. All who could work in the dark. All of which could coexist under the ground without going insane over long periods of time per shift within the silent darkness permeating the underground.

It was because of this, that they didn’t hear the roar that echoed through the mountain—nor could perceive what was going on beyond the caves. For that purpose, they required message-couriers and thaumic-coded instant-messages in order to know what was going on in the surface.

So, within the unnoficial garrison there was the regular activity and training programs for the personnel—as in between shifts inside they couldn’t leave the complex for security reasons due to their ‘plausible deniability’ clause.

Within this garrison, there was the regular activity of the Thistle Hive volunteers, scrambling around in their daily toil within the Communications Chamber. Silent yet precise, one couldn’t see two changelings slamming onto each other despite the gloom curtailed by the green-glowing gems attached to the walls and ceiling at regular intervals.

Then there were the diamond dogs—undergoing their daily combat, stamina, and Break Arts training within the complex’s lower levels.

As for the rousseponies … .

They flittered with precision, also going through aerial combat with their changeling teammates, while refining their instincts and use of the arts wielded for defense and offense like their diamond dogs comrades.

This peaceful, organized chaos of sorts was broken by a message that reached the communications officer from the receiving department—which when materialized, was marked with the deployment brand: red.

Without wasting any time, the officer opened the message … and started to flitter his wings before leaving his post in haste. “Sire, we got bad news!” he reported with barely concealed anxiety as he approached the captain of the makeshift communications center, scroll held out by its telekinesis as he moved quickly through the cavern towards the alcove wher the changeling captain was overseeing the activity of the chamber.

“Report.” Intoned the changeling captain before shifting from his place to gaze at the incomer.

“Sir! The Minoan Embassy reports that they—and the city—are under attack by unknown equines now!”

The changeling captain growled, “So they hastened their steps …?” He turned to face the courier and barked at him, “Send out the order to the Riskbreakers stationed here: cleanse the city of the assailants—keep prisoners only if practical to do so.” His horn glowed before materializing into an orb of stable magic—which the courier took with care.

After keeping a good hold of it, the courier saluted before running back to his post, and slammed the orb of stable magic into fresh, self-teleporting parchment … .

Which immediately recorded instructions on it, glowing green before the parchment vanished into the air.

With this, the chain of command begun operating … .

And the orders were sent to their preset targets, up at the surface and within the crystal caverns’ forgotten depths.

All they could do now was wait for them to bring honour to the Unit by not getting noticed by the natives as ordered.

After all, it wouldn’t do to let a ‘friendly neighbor’ know that you’ve been living under his basement for some years now—without letting them know about that tiny, little detail.

As the situation stood, they were doing it for … future minoatarian purposes.

While events unfurled into one gigantic maelstrom of disaster for all parties involved, shadows had already penetrated the privacy of Canterlot Castle. From guardponies’ bodies barely hidden behind columns, down ot the ocassional servant who suffered the same fate, the shadows moved with purpose—guided by one who worked inside the premises towards the guest quarters.

It was a wonder that the two intruding parties didn’t meet sooner, as they met at the corridor where the Royal Guests were harbored—from cloaked ponies hiding powders, liquids and poisons along with their daggers, glaring down at the team of pegasus and unicorn ponies in light armor which were bearing weapons that caused their hairs to stand as they glared back at the cloaked ponies.

This of course was a source of alarm for Flash Sentry and the royal guards posted in the corridor—outnumbered precariously by the new arrivals from both sides.

Realizing that their targets—or prey, depending on who you asked—were in danger of being stolen, each of the unfriendly sides figured that it was them the superior one.

And with one mind, one determination, and one serious case of overconfidence … .

They charged at one another. As quietly as they could … just for the chance to not alarm their targets before their due, ignoring blatantly the guards who were now clinging to spears and short swords—already seeing the fight to ensue.

As this happened, within the guest quarters—housing the five remaining Element Bearers; Twilight’s student; Princess Cadance, Shining Armor and their daughter Flurry Heart; and the babysitter Sunburst who was next door to them—the ponies inside were drawn out of their beds at the same time for a myriad reasons that could’ve been blamed on contrivance except for two … minor details.

The flaring of the sygil up in Canterlot’s heights which blazed like an artificial sun … and the roar that followed its disappearance, waking up the remainder of the city which hadn’t been woken up by the shining sygil in the process—the Royal Guest Quarters included.

There was a plethora of reactions within the quarters due to said events unraveling.

Within Fluttershy’s chamber, her instincts screamed at her to move a brief moment before the light that came inside her room in a flash, causing her to squeak in fright and take flight up the roof in knee-jerk fashion—only to see downwards towards a gobsmacked pegasus mare looking at her, wearing a robe and what looked like a bottle in one hoof and a wad of cotton in the other.

Fluttershy promptly escaped through the open window screaming her lungs out in fright, followed shortly by the pegasus in the room … and another one wearing light armor who went after them, intent clear on her eyes as she drew her sword.

Of course, Fluttershy’s shrill scream brought all her friends on the defensive right before hearing the sound of battle, cries of pain and fear coming from the city proper—only for the very loud roar of rage that followed the disappearance of the unnatural light source to echo through the entire city—and what places remained with their ponies asleep rose up, lighting turning up in the neighborhoods and buildings.

To make matters worse for them, they realized that the roar appeared to originate really close to their current position—as their flight-or-fight instincts kicked in and shoved adrenaline down their bloodstreams.

Adding to all of this, they heard Twilight screaming in her Royal Canterlot Voice—a rare ocurrence onto itself: “Everypony! We’re under attack! Wake up! Wake up!”

The doors to the remaining respective rooms crashed open at almost the same time—only for the now aware guests to be met by either a cloaked unicorn or pegasus pony fighting off another lightly armored unicorn or pegasus pony—in a mockery of competition as to who would get to them first.

Even if they weren’t synchronized, the royals and element bearers moved as one to escape the intruders coming for them at unhospitable hours.

Rarity, being the lady that she was … was well-versed in the neighponese martial art named ‘Josho Suru Uma’, as she was inscribed into a ‘dojo’ by her parents in her teenage years while she was away at Manehatten—as her parents had said, ‘to give her the means to defend herself from … unsavory equines’ while out in the big, dangerous city.

And as she had proven at the changeling invasion, she used her skills and wit—as she quickly dissasembled her bed and sought to do the first part: remove their mobility in order to escape without a scratch on her pelt.

She noticed how despite their determination, something had shacken them up as their struggles were more in line with tired ponies than freshed-up ones. So she took full advantage of the current lack of focus among the ones that crashed into her room in their struggles, floating the bedsheets, towels, and other acoutrements present in the room with her magical aura.

They turned at the same time, realizing that the element of surprise was all but gone. Taking in their looks, she quickly moved—binding them both with the floating clothing before quickly approaching them when immobilized, kicking out of their hooves and telekinetic hold their weapons with little fanfare, but plenty of pragmatic style before tut-tutting them.
She swiftly made her way out, with a statue held in her aura as she took in the chaos unfolding around her.

Applejack, on the other hand … did what she did best. The moment she registered the shrill scream of Fluttershy, shortly followed by the bellow of rage—sleep had all but gone away. The moment that she heard the door splinter out due to stress applied to it, she acted quickly—rolling to the side to fall onto the floor with her forehooves.

With practice earned with age and experience, she tensed her muscles—

And bucked her bed upon the intruders now at her doorway to their dismay, as the action was too swift for them to evade—and for reasons she couldn’t fathom, didn’t use their magic to defend themselves.

So, as the whole bedstead impacted them against the wall, she swiftly turned to face them on her four hooves and approached them with decision—where she bucked the head of the more dangerous-looking unicorn first before jumping out to the corridor, leaving a crumpled unicorn on the floor and another dazed out unicorn sticking out of the oaken remains of the bed that had crushed her against the wall.

Rainbow Dash … dashed through the window, followed by a sword-wielding pegasus who went after her too who looked out of sorts, shaking his head as if warding off sleep. The unicorn who entered the room immediately after just sighed as she went out—and was greeted by a swinging statue that hit her up the head, crumpling in a heap in the aftermath.

Outside, as the pegasus assailant took on impulse in his desire to reach his target … he would most certainly regret taking things to the sky. A chief reason among them being that Rainbow Dash was out looking for her childhood friend—and wasn’t exactly in the mood for open-air daring-do with a violent individual that kicked down her door and the door of her friend at such an late hour.

As she sought her friend out, Rainbow put into practice the historical lesson in aerial combat from Celestia’s story when facing Sombra, and after nearing her ‘Rainboom threshold’ in terms of speed she outmaneuvered and quickly got rid of him the same way Celestia did all those years ago with that monster.

A sickening ‘crack’ echoed through the night sky when she did that to her pursuer.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash cried before dashing towards her persecuted friend—aiming towards the lightly armored pegasus hunting Fluttershy down, who made the mistake of slowing down and turning to see where that horrid sound and call for her prey’s name came from, only to meet the same fate at the hooves of the flying wonder.

Pinkie Pie, on the other hand … dealed with them in her trademark fashion.

Pulling of her party cannon from out of her mane left the two intruders of her quarters too baffled to react due to the absurdity of the sight—ending in them stuck to the wall, plastered with wet and above all gooey-sticky cake batter dripping over their entire bodies.

As she left in a hurry, they could only stare at one another from their immobilized place and ask themselves … .

‘How the buck did she do that!?’

From the team that had gone into Starlight’s room—having confused it with the Crystal Royals’ room due to a legitimate mistake in the registry roster and Cadance having asked Starlight Glimmer to change rooms with her, however … .

They weren’t given warning, they in fact didn’t see what was coming to them as they met … a unicorn sprawled on the ground? Nevertheless, the trespassers started moving towards her at their leasure—an easy victim, too tired to move from their point of view.

Starlight, on the other hand, growled while keeping her glare unto the invaders from the floor where she was strewn—still reeling from the impact that the brief roar had had onto her very constitution, feeling sickly and dizzy as she had tried in vain to get to the bathroom due to that overbearing desire to vomit. Ignoring her churning guts, she focused—her eyes flaring purple as she shot them a particular spell she had studied long ago and had helped her when she was on her own before founding her town … and later used for stalking Twilight after she set her plans on fire back then, horn flaring in tandem with her eyes shining brightly in purple-black flames as she kept the flow of magic … and that one power she hadn’t used ever since Twilight had made her open her eyes in that empty wasteland.

Glaring at the intruders who were gritting their teeth as they attemtped to shake her spell off … she began inchanting—her horn and eyes flaring furthermore in tandem with her words: “Demestas Cogeria Persuaderi, Fiducia Compellus eterni … chiatturga temerus conerdin … from the shadows of wrath, by the blood-soaked pact of darkness I call yokes upon thee … .” She felt herself drained further upon the effort before growling at them, “You will obey me and stop.”

The assailants felt the pressure as if they had run head-first into an bronzen wall, crushing and painful as they attempted to shrug off the impact in vain. There was only one question that crossed their minds before blacking out: ‘Why was her spell steeped in with the power of The Dark of all things!?’

Once the compelling spell did its full effect, their thoughts died out as their eyes dulled, standing to attention as they awaited for her next command.

She weakly grinned as she thought how to use this development to her advantage under these circumstances … .

In the meantime, the outnumbered guards fought for their lives as well as trying—trying being the operative word—to prevent the trespassers from entering the rooms they were assigned to guard, with many of the invaders going deeper into the complex where soon enough the sound of combat started to flow towards them.

From six guards present at that moment, four fell to what could have been thought of as a quick-acting sleeping powder, one died at the hooves of one of the lightly armored intruders—the bloodied blade shining brightly after killing him.

The final guard—a pegasus—quickly followed the couple of armored equines that had entered the Crystal Empire’s rulers’ room.

The guards remaining stood against the intruders in the corridor with as much mettle as they could muster—many of the invaders having fought their way into the rooms somehow despite their efforts—before they received unexpected reinforcements as their brief siege was brought to a halt by different parties.

As all of this happened—by the time the doors were blasted open—Cadance and Shining Armor were already on the defensive, with him casting a particular brand of dense, one-way shield spell while Cadance quickly cast unto the invaders several quick sleeping spell bolts—while shielding their daughter’s cot from the intruders with their bodies.

Upon contact with one of the intruders—which were two mares in armour—one of them fell into an unconscious heap as she was the first to be on the line of fire, whereas the other one swung her sword—and the spell bolt died on contact. The unicorn smirked at them as the blade glowed brownishly after absorbing the spell.

She demonstrated her intent by advancing menacingly towards the royals—only to be interrupted by an orange hoof patting onto her shoulder.

She turned quickly, but not quickly enough as the royal guard Flash Sentry disarmed her swiftly with his wings before quickly turning and bucking her into a wardrobe with as much strength as he could muster.

“Your majesties! We must evacuate!” He exclaimed before turning and hovering over the top of the wardrobe, tilting it upon the unicorn that he had bucked into it—pointedly ignoring the cry from his victim as its oaken weight pressed down onto the assailant, her cries muffled out by the oak.

“We must rejoin with Auntie Celestia and Luna, Private!” Cadance exclaimed—inadvertently waking up her daughter, who started to wail once she took in the emotions in the air.

“My fellow guards are badly pressed by the intruders—we must make haste!” Flash exclaimed—only for three mares to come to their room in different states of distress and shock … .

And Starlight Glimmer, being assisted in moving by dull-eyed ponies wearing hoods or light armor as she shakily walked towards them, sweating profusely while looking at them with a guilty expression. The enthralled intruders were also carrying the sleeping bodies of four guards, fast asleep.

Everypony present just stared at Starlight with expressions ranging from outrage down to shock and passing through what could be considered ‘are you serious?’. Starlight Glimmer pouted at their expressions. “What? They were trying to kill us, remember!?” She whined at the judgmental expressions upon their faces.

Shacking the shock of the scene, they quickly made plans as to how to reach the Royal Sisters and Twilight who were still inside the palace proper.

A palace that had been infiltrated by hostile equines, and who were sporting magic-eating weaponry.

This was going to be tricky.

As these events happened at Canterlot, the ‘lightworks’ caused panic kept in the nearby town of Ponyville—where several ponies had gone out of their homes to see what had caused both the weird-matrix-thing over Canterlot, like it had happened to the Everfree Forest … and the wrathful roar that followed its disappearance from the sky.

One thing they could agree on was this: the shape of an altar with an alicorn, pegasus and earth pony burning over it wasn’t exactly the image that would bring comfort to them under these grim circumstances—especially with the mere fact that it involved ponies being immolated before the matrix vanished in a too-quick flash.

Another tidbit that the equines could agree on too was a big concern with no answer so far, was the matter of the quakes that had been slowly increasing in both strength and frequency to date.

Never before had they suffered from such natural events on their fair land.

So, among the ponies which were woken up by the soundwave and were watching with dread the weird spectacle—of which the roar somehow reminded them of when Fluttershy was enraged that one time—there was a small herd bunched up together close to the downtown fountain.

A bone-white unicorn mare with blue mane and tail with the cutie mark of two linked eighth notes; her roommate, an ash-gray earth pony with a bow-tie and dark gray mane and tail with a treble clef; their friends, who were respectively: another unicorn mare with mint coat, tail and mane with the mark of a lyre; and her earth pony best friend and herdmate—a white coated, blue and pink-streaked mane and tail mare with the mark of three wrapped candies. They sat together in the park, viewing the dim fires’ glow coming from the otherwise calm city at the mountain.

“Vinyl? What do you think is going on there?” The gray-coated mare asked her friend, eyes not departing from the red and orange glow coming from the city far up the mountain.

“Not really sure, Tavi—but I sure hope it wasn’t Princess Luna’s cry when stepping on a building block.” Vinyl answered her friend, uncharacteristically serious. “Whatever’s going on must be serious, though.”

“It is a battle within Canterlot.” The white-coated mare stated, eyes squinting with a frown at the sight. “But who would dare attack the seat of power of the Royal Sisters?”

The mint-green mare turned to her herdmate, fear showing in her expression as she leaned onto her. “Bon-Bon? What do you mean by that? What does this mean?”

“I honestly don’t know, Lyra. I honestly don’t know … .” Bon-Bon said with a frown as she watched the grim lightshow at the distance—where some motion caught her eye at the edges of her vision.

Years of training and honed instinct caused the mare to turn her head—only to see three unicorns and a pegasus hovering over a cart the unicorns were pulling, a cart with a tarp on it … .

Where what appeared to be a foal’s hoof hanging near one lower corner of the tarp covering the open part of it when a wheel got caught up onto one stone protruding out of the dirt path.

Without taking her eyes of the now-openly suspicious cart, she waited until they were at a bigger distance before growling, “Those buckers foalnapped somepony … .”

The three mares turned towards the frowning face of Bon-Bon with shock … before glowering indignation replaced it. The candy-maker asked them with steel in her voice, “Girls? I’ll need your help in stopping them before they get away Tartarus-knows-where with their victim.”

They nodded resolutely at her, before discreetly standing up and keeping their sights on the retreating car as they whispered how they’d go about it … .

‘Nopony foalnaps a foal and gets away with it.’ The former monster hunter agent now known as ‘Bon-Bon’ thought to herself with rage. ‘Not if I can help it.’

It had been an hour since Luna had comforted her sister until she fell asleep, and she followed suit into her private quarters … .

Only to be forcefully shaken up the moment she had hit her mattress by several events that followed one after another in short order.

From the flash of light coming from the night sky, the roar that sent shivers down their spines, down to the familiar sounds of battle and cries of pain and fear had succeeded in removing Celestia and Luna’s sleep from their eyes the way coffe and a cold shower only could.

This was compounded by their fellow princess and friend crying out the alarm with the R.C.V. —which in itself was unusual, as Twilight Sparkle’s usual way of panic involved a frenzy of teleporting bursts in addition of hyperventilation.

So, as it was already agreed on beforehand in case of disaster, Celestia and Luna entered in contact with one another by a quick beaconing spell—and once they were sure they were not on their own, each ruler went to support their guards as they fought for their lives against the invaders trying to reach the Royals.

“That mighty roar took the fight out of the invaders, your highness! It’ll take us some effort, but we’ll eject them from these premises!” The night-guard lieutenant assured Luna when she arrived to support them as best she could, all this despite the infiltration reaching almost to her Night Court’s private wing and living quarters by the point of her arrival.

At almost the same time, Celestia was gaping at the carnage at her literal doorstep—many Day Guard’s bodies littering the hall alongside their assailants that they took with them … and her beloved friend releasing blast after blast of magic at a corridor, before squeaking as a bolt almost made it to her and in quick thinking blasted the ceiling—sealing the corridor with the rubble.

“Twilight! What about the others!?” Spike cried out while keeping a hold onto her neck.

“We must find Celestia and Luna first, Spike! They must know what to do—Princess!” Twilight exclaimed in surprise and relief as she saw the white alicorn at the distance.

“Twilight? Spike!?” Celestia called out as she quickly moved towards her student, who also rushed and embraced her, crying into her fur as the elder alicorn covered her friend with her wings.

“My dear Twilight, what happened here? Why are all my guards … .” Celestia asked her former student softly, feeling tears running onto her face as she fully took in the price of her safety.

“I—I came too late … .” Twilight whispered with her voice cracking out. “I—I thought the worst had happened—”

“She was mad, Princess!” Spike exclaimed from the depths of Celestia’s wings. “She took the sight, and went all gun-ho like with Tirek! She forced the surviving attackers out of here!”

Twilight’s cries only increased in volume as she clung up tighter to her mentor.

Only this thought crossed Celestia’s mind as she hugged her to calm her down: ‘I am so sorry, my dear student … I never expected things to get as bad as they are now.’ Her tears increased in frequency as this new thought crossed her mind and plagued her spirit: ‘My plan to save you from the ones plotting against you failed … I’m so sorryI failed you.’ Her attention briefly flickered to the bodies of her loyal Guardsponies, and whispered out, “I’m so sorry you’ve lived to see this, my friend … .”

They were brought out of their brief respite by yells coming from the other side of the collapsed corridor, and with a brief nod—Celestia teleported the three of them towards Luna in order to see how they’d go about gathering the others.

All they could do was trust in their friends’ skills until they saw each other after this disaster.

Dark Tidings: From the darkness they strike

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Author's Notes:

Well, finally managed to wrangle this chapter into shape--mostly--and I hope that I managed to convey that the ponies are very close to what canon portrays.

Whether I succeeded or not is up to you, dear readers, as this chapter caused me more than one mental hernia until I managed to write myself out of the corner I inadvertently ended into.

I also am thinking whether to copy the example of TKepner, Hiver, and other writers that finish the story before publishing at a regular schedule. Share your thoughts as to this plan, as both sides of the argument 'publish per completed chapter vs publish once completed' have good and bad points. Going the whole 'finish writing first' would cause this story to be tagged 'hiatus' due to the challenge ahead of me.

I hope that you enjoy the closure of the first third of the story.

Next... to upload the interlude the first. *Sighs despondently*

The herd of ponies moved briskly to meet with the princesses in the midst of the pandemonium assailing the castle’s corridors—among them the Element Bearers, who held hope that their friends Twilight and Spike were alright, as their room was thrashed by the time they arrived searching for them—when Pinkie Pie started to quiver and shake, ears and eyelashes slapping at random as she ‘ooh’d’ at the sensation of her ‘Pinkie Sense’ entering into action.

Rainbow Dash was the first to voice her opinion in this matter as she quickly turned back, and began pushing Pinkie’s butt with her head one moment after landing behind her.

“Seriously!? Your Pinkie Sense’s working now of all times!? How come it didn’t warn us before these horseapples happened in the first place!?”

In between the vibrations, Pinkie giggled despite the situation they were in. “Silly Dashie, my Pinkie Sense works in weird ways! And this one’s a doozie, if I go by the way it is coming!”

“Oh, come on!!” Dash’s exasperated response echoed through the empty corridors of the castle. “Isn’t all this already one big fat doozie!?”

Looking at Reality as a wraith was something Ash never liked doing, as the currents buffeted his being akin to a maelstrom of fire and ice impacting at the same time without contradiction.

In short, it burned while freezing him from outside in—creeping into what he knew was his self—his dread increasing as it slowly advanced, an instinctive rejection of the sensation working at the same time to halt it within a threshold.

Adding to that, his perception of the surroundings was misty gray at best, with only the souls of other living, sapient beings shining like beacons through the mist surrounding him.

He also had to be mindful of where he moved, as more often than not he had head-butted into a wall if not attentive of how the ‘mist’ conformed around him, all while braving the fierce currents around him.

However, unlike the times before where he had being left in this state, Ash immediately realized something was wrong as he pursued the ones who were after his ‘life’.

For one, whereas in his earlier experiences he could feel all limits go away despite the creeping dread … now, instead, a deep tiredness started to assault his senses a few minutes after rising again as a wraith, when pursuing the ones who had come to try to slay him.

And his dread rose when the sensation kept on advancing inside him—beyond the threshold that he was accustomed to so far.

And that was troubling for him, since to his own awareness he was currently more of a Dark-empowered wraith than a mortal—unbound to mortal limitations, or supposedly so—which only lead to one conclusion … .

His bond to The Wellspring of The Dark had somehow been compromised by the equines that reduced him into this state.

Not willing to test his luck even further and risk nasty surprises, Ash stopped at once and gave a brief look to his surroundings—where his eyes took in the sign: “Medical Supplies” on a plaque next to a door that was open.

Voicelessly grunting, he sidestepped into it—quickly taking in the canisters, jars and containers of diverse substances organized through the shelves through the mist that was the result of watching Reality through Dark-bound senses … along with one beacon of light hiding in that room.

His body quivered, the wing holding the severed head shaking along with the body as the sense of exhaustion grew worse by the second.

‘Why am I feeling so drained—so weak? Why … ?’

Feeling that he had pushed his luck as far as he could, he placed his head back into place—the squelching sound growing in intensity as the two cut surfaces entered contact and aligned themselves as if they were two pieces of a jigsaw.

The point of contact started bubbling in an unnatural fashion as they merged back into one whole; hair, fur and dirt foamed out along with clotted blood in a matter of seconds leaving only the blood staining the fur from the attempted murder … .

With a snap, Ash felt himself once more wrapped up in the flesh of his body—where he retched, the sensations overwhelming his physical vessel as he felt the symptoms of his situation by experience and by medical report.

Symptoms of his once mortal vessel which he hadn’t suffered since that day that he was given complete immortality.

The cold storm surrounding him now didn’t help matters, as everything around him began to gather frost—the bite finally reaching his weakened constitution as his mood worsened along with the accumulation of ice.

‘What did those monsters do to me!? Even if everyone was cleansed back then when offered cleansing … my remaining strength should’ve remained untouched! My bond to The Dark should’ve remained intact!’

Iron Ash tasted bile as he heaved into a nearby bucket in vain—nothing having come out from the dizziness that was dominating him at that point, hearing the very fast beating of his heart beating through his skull.

“Jumpy, feeling weak and clammy … it—it seems I lost too much blood. Damn it, th—is is the only thing that fitssh.” Ash muttered to himself in an attempt as he clumsily moved to see if anything in the supply room could aid him, vision blurring and beginning to tunnel out—the thought of having missed something the moment he returned to his fleshly vessel … .

And heard someone eep while he struggled to remain on his feet—causing him to stand still, eyes widening slightly in shock … which he on instinct schooled back into neutrality, despite his hearing still feeling like someone playing the drums next to his head.

Ash remained immobile, and strained to listen to his surroundings while attempting to remember where did he saw that soul. To be able to do this was a feat on its own, in between his mind becoming sluggish due to the lack of blood, the din of battle happening elsewhere and the drumming of his heart wailing upon his hearing … until he managed to get a hold of someone’s breath, breathing in and out from behind some large canisters in what its owner believed to be a discreet fashion.

“… If you help me out now, I’ll … .” Ash almost bit his tongue as he felt his guts churn at what he was going to do out of necessity.

‘As if I had any pride left when they brought me to this point … .’

They’ll help you out, just ask

Let them know you’ll deal with those who’re trying to harm them and their patients—they’ll support you now

_{What will your final choice be, when all the pieces of your self-awareness fall down into place?}

You are a pony royal in their eyes despite everything—

Take command! Take advantage of them!

‘Quiet.’

As his mind slowly went quiet, he almost felt like an eternity had gone by after commanding the ones inside him to be silent.

So, he waited for the one hiding to make a move … only to realize that he had been distracted from his offer’s detail.

He tasted the metallic taste of bile as he finished the phrase he left hanging—going against all that which he believed up to this day … . So, with a herculean effort, he finished it as another wave of dizziness washed over his senses.

“I’ll drive out … the ones that came here to ca—cause trouble to you and your patients. Do … .” Ash leaned himself against one of the canisters to avoid falling down, and gasped out—equal measures of displeasure and the need to endure long enough to leave and plan out his reprisal within the time he’d be inside monster country. “Do—do we have a deal?”

He waited as he eyed carefully the labels of the containers and jars—keeping a close eye on the ones that he could use to his benefit.

Mind feeling as if filled with cotton, he still could notice among the shelves several containers of pure alcohol of different types, containers of oxygen of different sizes, and one that made him raise an eyebrow at its sight in this place: a cylinder that had explicit warning signs engraved into the metal, ‘Thaumatic Infusion Tank. Extremely inflammable. Handle with care when full. Do not shake repeatedly. Keep away from heat and sparks.’

He kept sight of the cotton wads, towels and several cases with surgical instruments as he felt movement from behind … .

“Who are you?” Inquired a matronly voice behind him as he kept still. “And how in Celestia’s name were you able to move while holding your head on a wing!?”

Ash could do nothing but sigh at this.

‘Do not kill this fool. Ignore the fool’s attempts at banter. Focus on recovering, then cleaning up the Dark-users.’

Trust us—they won’t turn their tails on you if don’t turn on them

They are wary, but will help you if you help them

_{Will you keep on rejecting change, instead of moving on with the hand given to you?}

Don’t make threats, and you’ll do fine

As much as it galls me, you need to bide your time until reprisal is possible

Gather your power, and impose thy will upon them

_{Will you not adapt to your situation, and seek companionship in the end?}

‘As if I were in a position for threats … why am I even bothering answering you? Didn’t I order you lot to be silent!?’

Outwards, Iron Ash simply turned—feeling dizzy as he carefully moved—until he faced a pudgy regular pony in a white robe, whose appearance brought forth unpleasant memories involving dogs throughout his long life.

She was looking at him with equal measures of outrage, fear, and what appeared to be an attempt at sizing him up.

Ignoring the meaning of her stare, Ash painfully gasped while returning the stare, “We have more pressing matters to attend now, ma’am.”

“Excuse me! Mister horny!”

The three unicorns didn’t lower their pace, and the pegasus keeping watch glared at the unexpected new arrival.

Lowering himself down to a hover very close to the ground, the pegasus kept his distance to the cart without taking his eyes out of the mare approaching them now. This pegasus, who on closer look had a brown mane with a hint of red which looked as if some hardening mane potion had been used due to how spiky it was. This contrasted wildly with the peach-toned coat that he had over his body, while his flanks had the cutie mark of a looking glass. This pegasus barked at her, glowering all the while. “We’re busy, mare. Go bother someone else!”

Lyra grinned at him. “Oh, my—that won’t work at all!”

The stallion looked at her askance before being hit with a bench from behind by Bon-Bon.

Unfortunately for her, she forgot to take into account the sound of the impact from the bench, and the sound of the impact that said pegasus would make when hitting ground.

“Damn it all! Gallop you two! Run!” Cried one of the unicorns who had turned his head to see what just happened to their lookout before running with the cart behind, all sense of discretion now gone from them.

Bon-Bon was about to tell them to stop when she got bucked in her barrel. Hard. Hard enough that she heard her ribs crack from the hit, making her wheeze whenever she tried to breath in.

Coughing up, she tasted metal, but couldn’t think much about what entailed—hearing the cart moving away from them with their victim.

She was distracted further from what was looming over her.

“Damn you, you’ll pay for blind-siding me, you filthy mudbuck.” Growled the pegasus as he stood shakily on his hooves, wings open to the sides as he approached menacingly the downed mare.

“Hey! Leave her alone, you foalnapper!”

The stallion turned, where he got hit again with the woodbench that Bon-Bon had used the first time. Unlike before, he stood his ground—albeit shakily as the pieces fell to the ground with Lyra gawping at the sight.

The stallion’s eyes told Lyra everything that she needed to know about him, as he looked at her as if she were a maggot on his plate.

Gulping, Lyra steeled herself as the stallion blurred before she got sent flying towards a tree with force, coughing up and tasting metal as she nursed two hoof-shaped bruises in her chest which were quickly worsening in feeling.

She briefly looked at Bon-Bon, before realizing that the pegasus was approaching her friend with bad intent. Lyra glared at the stallion’s back as he got ready to stomp on her mate’s head. ‘Not on my watch.’

Thinking quickly, she grabbed a large stone close to where she was laid prone by the buck with her magic … and threw it as hard as she could after a brief prayer to whatever deity existed for it to land on target, and land hard on the stallion’s head.

The pegasus didn’t stand a chance, too focused as he was on making Bon-Bon suffer where she was. With a loud ‘twack’, the stallion fell heavily to the side—thankfully missing Bon-Bon’s barrel, falling instead over her hind legs.

Grimacing as she tried to move from her spot, Lyra wondered how she would do it to take Bon-Bon to the hospital and ask for help in stopping the other foalnappers while they looked over their injuries.

‘Vinyl. Octy. Be careful … these guys aren’t pushovers … .’

Unknown to any of the mares present, a slithering shadow hovering over them had been watching … and decided to interfere at this point.

Lyra and Bon-Bon’s ears twitched as they heard a now-familiar snap from out of nowhere—and their injuries were now gone.

As they rose and quickly went to each other and briefly hugged … a bright flash went off—new guest appearing next to them in his own special fashion.

Both mares were grateful that Rarity was not in town, lest they had heard her wails of despair at the sight. From an inflatable beach ball that was bouncing unto invisible walls, to the draconequus lazily floating with a bizarre bottle that made their eyes hurt. They blinked twice before realizing that he was sipping noisily from a straw leading to the bottle. All of this topped by his clothes. Discord, dressed in a bright orange tuxedo that clashed brilliantly with his flamingo pink tie and light lavender tu-tu.

He cackled after taking another sip from the strange bottle. “My, my … and here I thought you ponies were all about talking your issues with one another rather than using the head-crackin’, rock-hard approach!”

“I still insist that this is foolhardy, mister!” The mare—who by now Ash had labeled as ‘annoying monster pony nurse: Ratchet number 5’, by how annoyed he had been by the nurse’s constant chattering, “this transfusion should be done over a long period of time, not in a matter of minutes!”

She cringed as Ash squished the cold blood bag connected to his foreleg. Ash grimaced as the blood flowed into him. “I’ll endure … now, how’s battle at the entrance?” He inquired, trying his best to be polite at his temporary ally … before seeking answers from the ones wielding his power, then retribution against the ones who broke him down.

Unaware of what was going through his mind, the nurse huffed, “You are not supposed to be even out of your room, mister! What with your distinct lack of magic to even help yourself with! And I don’t know what your story is with the Royal family, but they weren’t keen on leaving you on your own!” She stomped her hoof on the floor-tile before snorting. “Instead of going out, leave the job to the Guard! That’s what they’re trained for! Besides, there will be reinforcements coming from Cloudsdale and Hoofburg! We will resist until the reinforcements arrive!”

Ash coldly regarded the now empty bag connected to his arm, looked down to the two bags already drained, and without any doubt pulled at the needle with his free hoof in vain.

“What do you think you’re doing? You’re messing up the intravenous line!” She cried out to him, making an attempt at removing his hoof from the needle.

“I’m removing this—we lost enough time already, and the trespassers will be already on the defensive.” Ash pointed out with his free hoof as he glared at the nurse. “Remove this. Now.”

“It’s far too dangerous!” The mare complained. “We must wait for the reinforcements to arrive!”

Ash kept his glare on the nurse … until she sighed and wordlessly removed the needle and IV line from his foreleg.

“I still believe you should remain with the patients while the Guards keep the intruders at bay.” She looked up to him, sadness and concern showing in her eyes. “Please wait for the reinforcements to arrive.”

This exchange caused Ash’s breath to hitch for a second before he stamped on his emotions to put them back on check.

“… Reinforcements?” Ashley questioned her as he turned his head to a side to stare at her … only to discreetly move towards a supply cart, and start to put on it several canisters, one thaumic tank that was full, and one smaller tank of oxygen followed by another one of nitrous oxide along with sheets and towels—which he used to bind the containers and tanks into place.

Quickly thinking about it, he took with his wing something that he hadn’t noticed before—a box with the description ‘Thaumic Cauterizer: Three-second preheating’.

He put it on the cart too.

Once he was done, he turned towards the nurse for an instant before giving her his back as he bit on the handle to drag the heavy cart … .

He paused for a moment, releasing the handle being held on his mouth and added without any emotion: “I am the reinforcements.”

Briskly, Ash moved to bite onto the handle, until he stopped again for a moment—as if he had realized something … before turning his head towards her.

“Would you point me towards the Reception Room?” Ash requested while he metaphorically chewed upon his liver at the need of making such a request.

The nurse was going to kick the unknown alicorn being kept in the depths of ICU for his madness … until she saw the determination backed up by his glare.

Gulping, she realized her opposition to this plan was meaningless … so she meekly, wordlessly nodded before taking point—the creaking of the cart being almost dragged on the pristine grounds echoing through the ghost-like facility while the sounds of battle echoed through the silence.

Fifteen minutes later
Riskbreaker Retrieval Team

Night Track frowned, muzzle scrunched as disbelief dripped from her question to the changeling that returned to report to her. “Come again?”

“There are a lot of frightened civilians and guards hiding in the depths of this place, ma’am!” One of the agents of the long-gone-awry mission answered back, as they just stared at the blown-up wall and crater that was at one time the reception area of the Medical Center.

Her eyes briefly flittered to the remains of what appeared to be pony and heavy armor that were dispersed around the blast radius of whatever explosive spell had been cast onto the attackers.

“Have they spoken about what happened here?”

The changeling agent shifted uncomfortably as his superior kept her gaze on him.

“We have little time before the equines turn on us after this crisis passes, so report quickly.”

The changeling cringed, and with a grimace, he started unveiling his report. “Well … .”

The attack had been done in stealth and with brutal efficiency, deadly spells being thrown from the invader’s side without reservation towards the overrun defenders—whose armor’s thaumic defenses barely protected them from the onslaught.

This desperate fight wasn’t happening only within the castle grounds … it was happening everywhere within Canterlot borders.

From the Night Guard’s efforts at protecting the civilians down to the garrisoned Day Guard—who were woken up by the din of battle from their comrades keeping watch over them; within the depths of the Castle, where the servants supported the Guard however way they could to distract the assailants from doing more damage.

All this happened while several unicorn officers tried to send ensorcelled scrolls to the garrisons in Cloudsdale and Las Pegasus for aid, only for the spell to fail.

Naturally, this lead to the second line of communications: deploying the pegasi couriers for the task.

The couriers flew with the call for help in their satchels swiftly; determination oozing from their very beings as they left with the call for help in order to rout the adversaries laying urban warfare within Canterlot walls.

They were grateful that their innate magic wasn’t rendered useless like their horned companions, as they found out quickly enough that many types of standard unicorn magic spells had been rendered null by means unknown.

What the overrun guards did notice, was how they recovered when the weird magic circle looming over Canterlot sputtered out … only to be followed—to everypony’s surprise—by a very loud roar that echoed through the city.

For all the intruders who were counting upon discretion, disorder and the magical circle’s effects over Canterlot’s ponies this meant a disaster, as now everypony was awake, aware and unhappy with the chaos that was unfolding at their very doors.

An unforeseen consequence resulted of whatever had caused said magic circle to die out and the following roar: it softened the tough assailants down everywhere through the city proper—though for some unknown reason, while it shook them emotionally … it took the fight out of the hostile ponies attacking them.

Topping that off, was the fact that the formerly blocked unicorn magic was available to the defenders and the population of Canterlot proper once more.

Thus, acting as one despite there being no leaders to lead the charge, the pony civilians—and many of the immigrants living within the city—started a swift counterstrike against the weakened hostile ponies preying upon the city’s inhabitants and causing property damage with the fires they were starting.

Most of this counterstrike involved the use of furniture, nails, tools, hammers, and many other things besides rocks being tossed against the now overwhelmed and disadvantaged malicious equines.

But this didn’t matter to the Night Guard posted at the Medical Ward, desperate as they were to prevent the hostile equines from going inside the Ward.

Unfortunately, in their last clash a group of them managed to get through—wounding several of the guards and a few civilians in the process before they could do anything about it.

One of the fighters, a roussepony officer named Nightingale was worrying over that. ‘They went straight into the ICU … .’ Her eyes widened at the realization. ‘Can it be? Did they go after the comatose alicorn! How’d they know he was kept there!?’

She was drawn from her questioning as she heard a shriek coming from the depths of the Medical Ward.

This wasn’t ignored by the ones pushing in, one of whom voiced out in concern, “It was supposed to be easy pickings! What’s going on deep in there!?”

“Force them back! If the crack team failed, it is up to us to do the deed!” Another of the black-armored unicorns bellowed as his underlings started to shoot spell after spell onto the defenders. “Leave no survivors!”

Nightingale’s crumbling fortitude steeled out at those words. “Everypony! Force them out! Force them out!” Which she followed by aiming her crossbow towards the enemy, firing a bolt to their exposed flesh.

Once done, she dropped it and received another one from her comrade—who quickly used the cranequin to force the empty crossbow back into position before placing a bolt into place, moving on to the remaining crossbows that remained intact.

To that guardsmare, the bolt count was unfortunate.

“Ma’am! Only ten shots left!”

Nightingale’s hoof shook momentarily at that statement. ‘Please let every bolt count!’

Before she could point her proffered crossbow, she felt her body freeze on place—panic quickly rising through.

But instead of the death that was assured, she realized that the team of intruders that had gone into the Medical Ward returned—all of them dishevelled and outright scared as they quickly made their way to the panting black-armored equines.

Nightingale’s attention was drawn towards a unicorn medic which was with them, and bile rose to her throat at such treachery before getting distracted by their exchange of words.

“Sir! We must go all at once to end that thing!” The leader of the returning team wailed as she attempted to return her breathing back to normal, heaving from either the exertion or the fear dripping from her words and her expression.

The leader examined her and the new arrivals coldly. “What happened to Light Strike?”

The same officer panted before wailing. “He—It brained her! We were supposed to slay an dead-in-all-but name alicorn! Instead, we were received by a roar that literally weakened us! … then, adding insult to injury, we were surprised by hearing metal crushing bone when we couldn’t find the body! It killed her without any regards for her life! Weren’t these ponies life-and-peace loving cowards!?”

The medic traitor stuttered as the mare finally succumbed to panic, helping her void her stomach on a nearby pot. “That-that wasn’t the worst, sir—I’ve never felt such hate focused personally upon me! He was beheaded … but—but!”

The leader’s face scrunched as if he had tasted a particularly bitter lemon. “But?”

The creaking of an overloaded carriage echoed through the corridors, drawing the attention of guardsponies, intruders and civilians alike.

The medic gulped. “… It rose again after getting beheaded. And getting stabbed in the heart by Sacred Spear here.”

“Damn monster managed to destroy my sword on contact!” The heaving mare whispered out, her stare fixated on the entrance points to their place as the cart wheels echoed.

“Sir? It felt like the Guardians that the Queen can summon from the Sacred Shade. Only incredibly hostile towards us.” Another one of the unicorn hit-ponies—a stallion—softly added as he started to shiver, “The Windigoes were surrounding it when we went to find our target … . What’s worse, they kept following it even after it lost its head.”

The templar scrunched his face at that statement. “That is indeed troubling.”

“Is it just me, or is the temperature lowering?” One of the nurses in hiding whispered to another, as they waited for the inevitable.

This question didn’t go unnoticed, as the team that had pushed through and returned began to panic.

“Nonononono!” The mare suffering the breakdown started to mutter, pupils shrinking down into pinpricks as she took in the sight of the one who didn’t die despite her efforts; great advantage from their self-empowering weaponry; and increased strength in magic on their side … all pitted against what should’ve been a corpse in all but name.

“H—how did he rejoin his own head? That’s simply impossible.” The medic inquired, before straining into looking at the distance. “Hold on a second. … Is it just me, or is that cart on fire?”

The speed of the cart increased as the one pushing it accelerated towards them.

The templar leader huffed. “If he thinks that sending a burning cart our way will be enough to vanquish us … then he’s a fool.” He lazily brought his glaive to bear. “When he enters our range … make mincemeat out of him.”

The paralyzed guards were placed in the way by their captors’ telekinetic hold to their own regret, as they could do nothing but watch the cart coming their way along with the one pushing it with determination.

“He’s a pony royal—his subjects come first. He’ll stop the cart ‘lest he hurts the hostages.” The templar snorted disdainfully. “Just in case … Cravat, get some of the medical personnel to add to the hostage wall.”

Wordlessly, the templar underling dragged several of the personnel in hiding—who cried and whimpered out when subjected to the rough manhandling—and floated them towards the guardsponies. At this point, the black-armored equines were sweating profusely from the strain imposed upon them from keeping their hostages both paralysed and floating.

“In the name of the Queen of this land we’ll succeed.” The unicorn leader snarled as he readied his glaive.

The cart’s speed increased as the temperature lowered even further—and at this point everypony present could see the wraiths surrounding the figure now moving with celerity towards them, the path behind covered in frost from the ground up to the walls and ceiling.

“… He’s not going to stop, sir.” Another templar gulped. “I suggest we throw the hostages aside and focus on stopping him before he arrives—”

What happened next none of them saw coming, as the bleached alicorn jumped to the front of the cart and bit into the lower bars while throwing himself to his back—wings helping his grip as he flipped the burning cart over towards them with assistance from his forelegs and hind legs.

The templar officer cursed, tossing the hostages and guardsponies aside followed shortly by his subordinates. “Mere fire won’t stop us! Focus shields on the front! Keep some of the ponies frozen, too!”

The cart did another flip when it contacted their shield, and plopped without ceremony behind them in a cacophony of muted steel, burning uselessly.

Keeping their shield up, they watched the stallion recovering from sliding on the floor with some effort—only to grab an I.V. stand close by with his teeth as he glared at them, eyes betraying nothing but cold rage.

“Is that all you can muster, Equestrian royal!?” taunted the leader at their silent adversary. He stopped just out of their range of attack and after a short beat made a choice, and ignored them as he went inside one of the rooms adjoined by the corridor.

This sudden entrance was ill-received by the Canterlotians, judging by the cries coming from inside the room before they went silent.

Frowning at that, he almost managed to order his soldiers to go after him before their target returned with another cart—one which held several canisters, bottles and what looked like surgical instruments haphazardly strewn over them along with the stand.

Their target then chose to say one word. But the way it was said was less of a question and more in lines of a command that brooked no challenge.

“Move.”

The templars blinked, their concentration waned as their hold upon the hostages lessened by the weirdness of that statement.

The moment they felt the hold weaken, their former hostages took the chance to move aside and get refuge with the others while the stand-off persisted between them.

“You dare to command us!?” The unicorn leader roared in outrage at him, followed shortly by his subordinates.

“You worthless alicorn! How dare you speak to your superiors!?”

“We will be teaching you respect, you mockery of a unicorn!”

Their mocking continued as the alicorn just glared at them.

“No. It is a statement.” The alicorn growled as he used his wings dexterously to remove several of the surgical instruments—scalpels, by the looks of them—before he tossed them at their faces without warning.

By the time the scalpels had rebounded of their makeshift shield, he was already tossing towards them a canister—one that broke on contact, and began to release freezing liquid from its contents that forced them to retreat to where the burning wreckage was.

“Damn you!” The templar roared before unleashing an empowered armor-piercing spell towards the one that forced them back.

The spell hit the royal stallion … only for a mysterious light to emanate from his body, removing the injury that had trespassed him a moment ago at the neck—leaving only a bleeding gash.

Their adversary simply pulled from his side what looked like a surgical cauterizer and pressed it onto his wound, closing it up without blinking … .

To the templars’ confusion, they heard the hissing too close to them despite the source being at a distance as well—only for their target to swiftly move backward using his hind legs alone, toppling the cart over to its side with his forelegs and hiding behind.

The templar unicorns and their mole didn’t get the chance to act upon this development, the upturned cart behind them exploding a moment after in a ball of super-compressed, burning thaumic essence.

The explosion was large enough to cause part of the ceiling to collapse along with the wall blowing up backward from the output of said blast. The crumbled ceiling partially filled in the crater made by the cart, while the wall blowing up outwards wreaked havoc onto the templars that were serving as reinforcements.

There was silence, broken only by the grinding of the masonry falling apart; the crackling of fire; the hissing of raw thaumic power still burning through the floor tiles, ceiling and what remained of the walls. All of these sounds competed with the now-empty cryo-thaumic container.

The frost that was formed slowly sublimated from the floor, the enchantment sustaining its temperature dispelling as the environment’s temperature canceled it out.

At this point, the shades surrounding their vanquisher had all but dispelled, their ice slowly melting from the frozen corridor.

Having been shoved back quite far from the backlash, the alicorn rose from his defensive position … and took in the damage to both targets and environment with a calm look, ignoring the cries beginning to come from the ponies’ hiding spots. Moving with certainty towards the wreckage—ignoring the rubble and pieces of what once was fully healthy equines that were turning to dust as he moved—until he took a glaive that had escaped the explosion fairly intact.

His ears twitched as he glanced at the source of the voice calling out to no one in particular.

“Please … help me … everything hurts … .” Wept one of the black-armored unicorns, whose armor was all but melted into her flesh, hind legs nothing but charred stomps that were still smoking from what had just transpired—all of this framed by broken forelegs and a horn shattered from the thaumic feedback.

Hearing out the medical personnel gasping at the sight, he simply nodded once before searching out among the rubble. With a grunt, moved towards one stone that he moved with the glaive serving as a lever—revealing a regular sword as the stone grind with the glaive’s wooden handle.

Taking it with one wing while the other one kept the glaive, he moved towards the fallen equine as the same nurse who had guided him to the main corridor now fretted over the soon-to-be-dead attacker.

Shoving the medic and nurse to the sides, he plunged the blade into the templar’s neck without a word, ignoring the gurgling sound that the dead enemy soldier made before finally going quiet.

Turning from the deed with grim determination, he was met with several looks of shock, outrage, disgust, fear, and regret from the medical personnel and the guardsponies still conscious.

“She was no longer a threat! How could you just murder her like that!?” The nurse wailed at him, while the other equines present were now glowering at him as they started to approach.

Pointedly ignoring their stares and the outburst, Ash answered back without emotion. “As part of the deal, I’ll go out and hunt the stragglers.” Moving with decision despite feeling for the first time in a long time the signs of exhaustion, he briefly stopped on his way out, dropping the sword and glaive while at it. “Once that is done, I’m going to express my displeasure to the ones responsible for turning me into a broken man before dragging me here.”

Before any of the still-rattled guardsponies could say anything on the matter or move to stop him, the alicorn picked up a still-serviceable crossbow with its remaining bolts and calmly moved out of the Medical Ward.

The changeling’s ears were splayed as he finished. “And that’s what happened, from what they reported.”

‘The witnesses described a Riskbreaker Defense Art … we must find him. Fast.’ Out loud, Night Track asked the agent. “Did he take anything else?”

The changeling just shook his head. “No, ma’am. Though there was that statement that he was going to find the other invaders, then the ones responsible for bringing him here before leaving the Medical Ward.”

Night Track’s anxiety increased at this point.

‘If he’s indeed Iron Ash, then he’s aiming for the ones who kidnapped him! We must stop him before he does something that will turn bad towards Minos!’

“Coffee! Go with your agents to the Royal Quarters! We must intercept our target before it gets too far away from us!” Night Track barked, causing the diamond dog to briskly nod before mobilizing with his team out of the Medical Ward.

“This goes against the parameters of the current mission, everyone—however, split up and weed out the assailants! Avoid casualties unless necessary—we need answers as to who they are and what they’re doing here! Now!”

The roussepony’s stomach twisted as she saw the gratitude in both the civilians and overwhelmed guards, who actually smiled at her as her medics on her team assisted the pony specialists in giving emergency care to the casualties.

‘Can this situation turn any worse!?’

Iron Ash retrieved with his teeth the spent bolt from the heap of armor that once housed one of the dark-touched equines, the body had dissolved into dust and its power gone to him—only to leave as soon as it had come as their souls joined with the ones remaining within him to his everlasting disgust.

He didn’t delude himself. He knew fully well that whatever power he managed to scrounge from these fools went straight towards the seals—arcane devices that Sydney and the others had made long ago in coordination with the being that brought them here. All of this, to imprison the monstrosities that broke this world’s reality rules originally laid for its independent function.

Moving with decision, he passed by one room that had a broken window of what he had garnered were part of some ‘Royal Guest Quarters’ from a sign … .

Only to come back briskly, hooves noisy now as he disregarded all sense of stealth as he rushed into that room—noticing how at the distance the glow of a sigil of immense proportions, skewed by distance and angle hovering over a very familiar forest, one which now had a town next to it.

But still, his eyes half-closed in both recognition and trying to remember the why and the what.

‘… Didn’t Bardorba said something about ‘an early warning system’, when they finished up the matrices to keep those monsters imprisoned?’

Iron Ash sighed at this, head lowering along with his wings. Eyes closed, fighting for the first time in a long time the tears as he had done in his youth, he whispered sadly. “Sydney, everyone … I need your help, yet you’re gone for good … .”

… . We know some of their memories … but, are you willing to give us a chance? To let us aid you in this time of need?

_{Will you realize the truth of your existence in this path?}

Will you reject us and our aid because of the mistakes of our kin?

‘… As much as it pains me, I’m left with no choice. Do not make me regret this … . Speak.’

The Seal of the Shadow-Warg army resonates from that direction … .

Ash stood still at hearing those words, now straightened up and looking at the horizon, ignoring the orange lights sourcing from fires set within the city proper and the sounds of combat.

‘… Come again?’

Please forgive our fellow equines—they didn’t know about your bond to these places

They acted with fear leading their actions, to their own detriment

The cleansing done by the spell, with its wide-ranged sacred power called forth by the will of the caster, brought forth a chain reaction that caused the return of all souls from your own world back to the Other

—you’re now weaker than ever, all strength remaining being drained to power seals you are no longer able to fuel

_{Will you finally learn to live rather than just exist, and to forgive yourself and others for their past and future mistakes? Will you learn mercy?}

We cannot tell about the state of the other two seals, but the one over the woods … it looks almost undone, three days at most before breaking

We’re sorry, please don’t hate us

We beg of you, don’t throw us out to Reality! Please!

Ash’s eyes frowned as he tried again to cool down his composure, face growing hard as his eyes turned into flint, mood growing fouler by the second as he remembered how they dared to kidnap him along with his granddaughter for no real reason that he could pinpoint on his side.

“They will pay for this unwarranted assault.”

Breath getting ragged as Ash bared his teeth, all composure was now gone as he stated to nobody in particular, “They made their final mistake by coming for me at this point … when I finally had put my losses by their hand behind me … taking from me the ones who kept me company all this time, even endangering my current family while at it just to get me. Again!”

And snarled at a mirror still in one piece in the empty room—the reflection of a gaunt, greasy equine face and hair, all discolored for reasons he didn’t know. Teeth bared as his expression showed something that he hadn’t shown since his youth. Unfettered rage, despite the weakness of his very being dragging him to the ground. “This ends now! These animals won’t get away with undoing my work, taking away my long-lasting support, my family away from me, and endangering this entire world with their idiocy!!”

Once done with his venting, he continued making his way deeper into the complex, all interest on why there were ponies wielding some of his power now gone from his mind.

The equines weren’t going to let him be at peace. That much he knew.

It was time to make arrangements to remedy that … albeit as late as it was at this point, heart bleeding at the loss he had suffered at their hands.

The reprisal wouldn’t bring the ones who had kept him company—the closest he had to an actual family in terms of relation and support—for the last ten millennia, that much he was aware of.

Dealing with them though … permanently, would most certainly assure him peace of mind for what meager quality of life he could get … once he had dealt with the ones responsible for his downfall.

So focused he was, that he failed to pay attention to his surroundings—and the discreet flapping of a set of wings coming from up the chandelier that illuminated that section of the castle that started to discreetly follow him from a distance as he moved deeper into the compound.

“Twilight! Spike! Auntie Luna, Auntie Celestia!” Cadance called out first, followed shortly by her friends as they met Luna, Celestia, Twilight, and Spike along with about a dozen Lunar Guards, as the herd of equines made their way towards the Lunar Wing of the palace to find Luna.

What followed was a cacophony of warm welcomes and inquiries as to their present state coming from both sides despite the grim situation they were in.

“Cadance? Everypony!? You’re alright! Thank Harmony you’re alright!” Celestia called out to the herd approaching them, relief in her voice and expression.

“Guards! Join their escorts—we’re moving to evacuate them, then we return to fight these invaders!” Luna commanded sternly as she too approached them, relief all but written on her visage.

“Everypony! Thank goodness you’re here!” Twilight called at her friends before rushing in with Celestia and Luna to greet them.

“Guys! You’re alright! You won’t believe what has been going on in the last half-hour!” Spike cried out as he clung to dear life at Twilight’s neck as she moved towards her friends and family.

Trotting alongside the remaining Element Bearers was Starlight—still weakened, and being carried around by her current ‘thralls’—and Sunburst, who looked unnerved at the sight of his friend commanding them, still in their robes and black armour and with eyes vacant.

The guards escorting them were being led by Flash Sentry—as besides the guardsponies guarding the Royal Guest Quarters, they had come across other guards—their own officers targeted by the hostile unicorns in the decapitation strike before they managed to fend them off.

It was fortunate that the intruders had lost much strength during their operation, as it allowed for retaliation by the remaining guards against the otherwise formidable intruders.

“Fluttershy! Have you managed to get a hold of Discord?” Twilight asked her friend, who sheepishly shook her head.

“No, Twilight. I’ve been too busy trying to not freak out under this situation, and we were rushing to find you.” She meekly answered, before briefly closing her eyes and adding with determination now on her voice, “but now I think it would be a good time to do so.” She sheepishly asked to the air: “Discord? Please come over here with us, we need your help here.”

To their surprise, they heard his obnoxious voice transferring over from the air, but no sign of the draconequus. “Fluttershy? I’m so, so sorry … but you see, there were some mean ponies here at Ponyville who tried to take something they didn’t own. Specifically, the younger sisters of Rarity, Applejack and that rambuctious pegasus filly so fond of Rainbow Dash, Scuttle Loo or something like that.”

The mentioned mares plus Fluttershy couldn’t help but answer back.

Rarity was the first mare to cry out, “Sweetie Belle!? Is she unharmed!? Did you turn those cretins into dustbin sale dresses for their gall!?”

Rainbow Dash rushed too to ask out, concern in her voice as her wings fluttered. “Scootaloo!? Ohmygosh, is she alright!?”

Followed shortly by Applejack, “Well, thank ya kindly Discord, for saving Apple Bloom! Ah hope you keep those no-good varmint in place until the Guard takes them in!”

Waiting patiently for her turn, Fluttershy was last as she spoke to the air. “Thank you so much for saving them, Discord! I’m so happy you rescued them. Now … would you be so kind as to come over? We really need your help here.”

To their surprise, there was … a sheepish laugh coming from him.

“Well, you see … whatever they had for dinner is making things most interesting for me, as I’m currently having trouble not ending up in a jar of all things!” Discord whooped as the sound of someone muttering lay at the background noise, “Close, but no cigar! Here, have one!”

The sound of an explosion with the echo of a clucking chicken, a quacking duck and goose, and a cat’s screeching echoed through the air, only to be followed by silence.

Silence broken by Discord of all beings.

“Seriously, first a statue, then a glass jar. What’s next? A big-mouth Billy Bass?”

By the time everypony shook their glazed-over eyes at the concept of somepony being able to put a fight against Discord of all beings, only Spike and Starlight—with the barely-contained guffaw from Luna, Cadance and Celestia—saw Twilight hugging Flash Sentry briefly, but with intensity as she whispered something into his ear.

And whatever that something was, it made his grim look change into a big smile.

Unfortunately, what followed next removed Flash’s giddy smile from his face.

An arrogant speaker questioned from the depths of the corridor from where the new arrivals had come through. “It is quite funny, really. You all think you’re going to make it out of here alive.”

The Guards quickly scrambled, forming a perimeter around the Royals, Element Bearers and guests, before raising their spears, swords and many a horn glowing towards the corridor.

Starlight didn’t lose time in commanding her thralls to help the guards in stopping the ones coming their way, to which they replied with a dull ‘Yes, master’ before stepping into place next to the guards.

While they got ready, a figure approached—becoming visible from one of the remaining night-lights glowing at a wall … revealing the figure of Prince Blueblood, flanked by seven unicorns and five pegasus hovering over him.

Next to Blueblood was one of the unicorns, whose face was one of abject despair—yet kept pace with the noble with self-restrain and a thousand-yard stare.

Luna did a double-take before asking in disbelief, a tremor in her voice. “Stalwart Shield? Have you betrayed your mission? Have you forsaken us already?”

Her answer was silence, as the lights of the corridor revealed that behind the twelve hostile equines were soon joined by the appearance of several black-armored equines, all staring balefully at them as they started to make a row in front of Blueblood—swords at the ready, and a couple of unicorns wielding glaives.

“Do not concern yourself over this failed mole of yours—he knows where his loyalties lie now.” Blueblood sneered at the stallion next to him, whose hair heckled but remained still. “Even with the devastation brought by that supposedly dead alicorn stallion to our forces within this castle, there are still enough of us to deal with you unwanted lot with celerity.”

At this point, Twilight’s brain took a second to start a second train of thought to manage this revelation. ‘Alicorn stallion? He is awake … he’s awake! … Oh Celestia, no! He’s awake! How will I manage to apologize to him after what happened inside his mind, and what we inadvertently caused by purging him!?’

Her panic monologue was abruptly cut off, as she heard Spike speak out loud, “You won’t harm them.”

She could feel Spike trembling from where he was perched, claws grasping her coat firmly as he growled, rage barely contained as the grip tightened further. “You won’t harm my friends!” He proclaimed as he got down of Twilight’s back and glared back as much as he could to the approaching equines.

“Aww! Look at it! The slave thinks it can threaten us.” One of the unicorn mares in leather-plate sneered as they slowly approached, while the royal guards and their wards readied themselves for the inevitable confrontation.

The Equestrian guards opened their eyes widely when the unicorn mare that mocked Spike’s words moved—leaving an aftershadow in her motions—by the time they had reacted to halt her advance she had already gone behind them towards her prey with a sadistic smirk on her muzzle.

Spike flinched as this happened, watching the enemy move through the gaps in between royal guards straight towards him—blade wielded by the horn’s glow, ready to swing with a smirk on her face.

Remembering the desires—the emotions he felt when that massive iceberg was going to fall down the Crystal Empire’s stadium, that it was going to hurt everypony; Spike steeled himself, breathing in as the mare was almost upon him—blade already swinging.

Spike’s thought as he exhaled fire, looking straight at the mad pony’s sword coming to hurt him: ‘If I can make them back off from hurting everypony … then we’ll stand a chance!’

To the unicorn’s regret, her swing was far too gone—and when the blade entered into the stream of fire as she sidestepped to avoid the brunt of the flame, everyone close by started to hear the sound of glass cracking.

“What the—?” The soldier muttered intelligently before the screeching blade started to smoke as its appearance cracked, before exploding into dust right next to the dragon … some lights escaping into the ether from the still smoldering ashes.

Spike smirked, feeling elated at what had just happened. ‘Heh! It isn’t the same when the other side plays chicken too, huh!?’

Judging by her widened eyes and how she teleported back to her fellow equines’ side before the guards on their side went down on her, the gamble worked properly.

The dramatic effect of this reversal, to Spike’s regret, was quickly broken by the pony closest to him.

“Spike!? What were you thinking!? She could’ve killed you!” Twilight’s frazzled face shook Spike by the shoulders, briefly ignoring the situation they were in before hugging him fiercely. “… Thank goodness you’re alright, Spike … but please, don’t do that again!”

Shining Armor, Cadance, Luna and Celestia looked at each other … .

Nodding, they joined streams of magic towards Shining Armor’s horn—allowing them a brief respite as the reinforced shield separated them from the assailants.

Twilight’s friends quickly stood next to the alicorn, a variety of expressions on their faces showing—from rage down to relief, passing through resolution as they nodded at each other, the guardponies quickly placing themselves in the middle to shield their wards.

“Really? You lost your blade to the whelp out of all beings?” Blueblood drawled in dismissal at the scene being shown, ignoring the shocked mare, who submissively lowered her head as her ears splayed over her skull.

“I’m sorry, my Lord.”

“You should be. All of you,” the equines standing at the noble’s side straightened up, “keep them busy, I’ll create a well of The Dark to tap from to end this charade. Self-destruct if you must, but keep them away!” Blueblood snarled as a very familiar glyph appeared beneath him in blood-red glowing with his horn and eyes … .

Where tears began to stream from, at odds with the treasonous noblepony’s expression.

Stalwart Shield looked defeated as he stood straight, joining the invaders in the frontline. Shineless, empty eyes greeted Luna as the former mole crossed sights with her, causing her to gawp in disbelief at the sight.

The lull only lasted a moment before some words came out of the failed mole as if it were a sigh.

“I’m sorry, everypony.” Stalwart Shield muttered before he joined the invaders as they rushed the barrier in an unnatural silence, magic-devouring blades held by their magic.

Light Scalpel was not having a good day—or night as it were.

Fluttering as discreetly as he could, shooting sleeping spell after spell to put down the ponies torching houses down and the ones wielding weapons trying to hurt unarmed ponies and creatures—all before them realizing that he was there, vanishing into the darkness.

He really didn’t want to be doing this.

Being a changeling medicine professional who was working undercover within Canterlot’s walls as a ‘mailpony’ didn’t give him time nor a chance to pursue his calling, only attending ‘visitors’—fellow infiltrator changelings or rousseponies from the garrison hidden within the mountain in order to avoid them going missing for long periods of time, and the minotaurs and diamond dogs that never came for his services.

This, of course, meant that his schedule was truly skewed towards him being a ‘morning pony’ rather than a ‘bloody batpony’ like some of the more … unsavory locals liked to say. He much preferred ‘night-owl’ to that other one, being perfectly honest.

Many of his friends were rousseponies after all.

Being what most Minoan changelings would call ‘a soft-spoken, soft-shelled ninny’, he barely managed to survive the brutal training that allowed one to become a Riskbreaker—and thus the freedom to live outside of Minoan borders within reason—by the end of his chitin, all for one purpose: to go to medical school, then go outside Minos.

An opportunity arose by an advert by the time he had been a freshly minted medical officer—for which he quickly volunteered for.

Who was he to say no to free food, lodging, and a place within a city considered a jewel of Equestrian culture? This naturally meant that he’d get to be part of what he now knew to be a small part of the network that supported the Garrison within Mount Canterhorn.

Back then he had his own reasons. Selfish reasons, reasons that would have already made the shy changeling into a laughingstock to his peers.

He wished to get to know ponies, and how they lived in harmony with each other. Now he knew. Oh, by the gods, he now knew.

It wasn’t much different from Minos’ large cities being perfectly honest—only pony nature made him feel as if stepping on eggshells, as more often than not he heard the gossip told by … certain equines that didn’t deserve the title ‘harmonious’. More often than not, he had to meekly agree with whoever was insulting him involuntarily, but alas! That was the way he learned his lesson.

There are good people and bad people everywhere. Or perhaps it was the location, who knew?

His already disrupted schedule was broken further by what appeared to be a sudden ‘bout of civil war on the streets outside, where he could see ponies fighting ponies to the death or until unconscious—surrender didn’t seem to grant mercy from the assailants for their victims.

The bizarre glyph glowing in the sky—as brief as it was—was unsettling on its own, judging by the emotions that it transmitted.

Raw hatred against everypony and creature living within Canterlot’s walls and what they stood for.

Hatred against Harmony, Love, Friendship, Discord among equals that brings forth discussion, dialogue, and the other three… only subjugation to a single party.

The roar that followed its disappearance was both unsettling and welcome reprieve, as that poisonous emotion disappeared along with the glyph.

He did what he could, his disguise as a pegasus now being a liability—tossed aside as he moved like a shadow, putting down to sleep what ponies he felt were too vicious towards their fellow equines.

Their choice of gear made things easier too in that regard.

Fluttering above the chaos, turning into stones, gargoyles, and other common things to avoid detection, he kept doing what he could to keep his neighbours safe.

Just because they didn’t know he was a changeling was no reason to leave them to their own devices, or at the tender mercies of the ones assailing them in this forsaken hour.

He passed over the domicile of some particularly friendly nobles that had gotten somewhat close to him in the time since he received his post in Canterlot when his peripheral vision detected flashes within the house proper.

Stopping in mid-air, he quickly changed his coloration to match that above them: the night sky’s cloudy tone, and kept watch over the doorway.

Frowning, he realized that a cart with a carp was already parked in front, with a pegasus latched onto it—

When four unicorns came out of the house’s entrance with his friends over their backs, his acquaintances Night Light and Twilight Velvet being unceremoniously shoved into the cart by the four unicorns.

Light Scalpel gulped as he inwardly panicked at the sight.

‘Th-this is wrong! Who are they!? Why did they take them out of their home!? How do I get into contact with the Garrison!? The Guard!? What do I do!!??’

… .

The changeling’s expression shifted through a myriad of emotions as he pondered the situation—keeping the cart on his sight as it moved away from the building taking advantage of the chaos.

And one particular emotion bubbled above his meekness.

With a frown and his fangs bared, he started following the kidnappers.

Iron Ash furiously made his way to one of the many corpses of the Royal Guard littering the corridor, where he quickly started to fumble around with the cuirasses—hoping against hope to both find something his size from the few pegasi strewn around, and that said parts of armor to be relatively whole after the ordeal they went through.

Perfect wasn’t required for what he had in mind—regular condition was good enough, as long it held the right proportions and colours … .

“Halt! You will not harm the Princesses! Not at this time, not ever!”

Iron Ash stood still at hearing the determined female calling at him in the darkness behind him.

“What makes you think that you’ll be victorious?” He asked as calmly as he could, letting training take its course as he fumbled with his wings against the straps holding his prize on the ground—a gut feeling beginning to form as he realized something that so far hadn’t crossed his mind: all his previous kills had been potshots from the shadows at open spots in the helmets or at the necks, and the closest thing to a sword-type close encounter he had literally lost his head due to overextending his reach.

His stomach fell as he realized that he simply wasn’t accustomed to the four-legged and two-winged configuration, nor was he proficiently trained in his own battle arts for this situation, and only a few of his techniques had worked out of everything that he had tried during those encounters with Dark-tainted attackers.

None of the Defensive Battle Arts that involved rejuvenation of any sort worked as well as they should despite his hope of securing some strength from that source.

Strengthening his determination with grim resolve, he kicked viciously the body aside and roughly placing the enchanted armor on his barrel with his wings, he hooked his hoof over a helm that was without an owner and asked to the air: “… I suggest you leave. No need for you to lose more than a match.”

One moment he was saying that, the other he was tumbling over the ground with a massive ache on his head, helmet clanging at a distance. Vision dancing, he tried to focus on his assailant … .

“Sorry, can’t hear you over your groaning!” The mare flapped at a height over the prone man-turned-pony. She growled after a beat, “Surrender, now!”

Ash glared at the roussepony flapping over him from where he laid … and proceeded to rise from the ground.

The mare saw this and growled again “I don’t have time for this—” before yelping as a bolt nearly impaled itself on her.

Ash threw the useless crossbow as he tried to focus—

A stronger buck at his barrel sent him sprawling, armor barely defending him as it slid off of him … only this time, with one of the few Defensive Battle Arts that he found out that he could use shortly before, he sent part of that buck back at her.

“What the—!” The mare whispered in disbelief before a shock tossed her up without control, plummeting with a loud smack onto the ground.

She quickly took notice of the sound of metal scraping stone, and cursed under her breath as to how the sickly stallion was already close to her with a potted plant on his wings’ grasp and a vacant look on his face.

She quickly scrambled onto her hooves while turning to buck—and bucking she did, though she felt another of the bizarre shockwaves hit one of her hind legs—and as she screamed in inordinate pain, she believed to have heard her hind leg bone crack as the potted plant struck her hoof.

Eyes watering, she tried to move back—only for a hoof to backsmack her face, sending her sprawling as she found difficulty in using her magic to move. Raising her hoof to defend herself, another strike hit her flesh and she felt her body go numb as a result, making her movements groggy.

She watched her assailant in a vain attempt at defying him to the end … only for him to stare at her—

And a flash of light to originate from the other side of the corridor, where soon afterwards screaming started to be heard.

The screaming of mares in terror.

As she tried moving in vain to go towards that corridor—feeling as if her body was submerged in solid cloud—she could see the alicorn stallion crumple to his belly and cough up blood as his breathing echoed loudly through the air.

Even though it was a whisper, she could hear his muttering.

“… don’t have … much time … left. Must … .” He shakily rose back to his hooves, whereafter he shifted towards a wall, where he helped himself to remain up. “… Must finish this … or they … they’ll … seek to undo me … never allow me any peace.”

To the Night Guard’s horror, she saw how he struggled to move … and move he did, with a determination not frequent to see in her experience as he reached over to the armor and helmet laying on the ground, haphazardly placing them on his body before trying in vain to secure the straps.

Her heart fell as she saw how the enchantments kicked in and his appearance changed to that of one pegasus Royal Day Guard … with a horn showing from the unicorn helmet being used.

As he trudged away from her, the guardsmare took that lesson in determination to heart—

—and started to force her body to move as well, despite everything in her complaining about that, hind leg included as she favored her other hind leg to reduce the strain.

The shield erected by Shining Armor and three Royals lasted thirteen seconds of constant hacking by the horde—whose rage, with exception of their involuntary guest—that made them gawp their mouths in disbelief.

Still, it was enough.

By the time the shield fell, there was nothing they could do as the former Element Bearers once again shone brightly with the power granted to them and their unity, a colorful wave washing onto all their adversaries swiftly—who could nothing but scream as it rushed them like a tidal wave at the beach that brushes away all that stands in its way.

It was enough.

As for everypony else, they were forced to cover their eyes in an attempt at saving their battered night-vision for later.

The sight that greeted them the moment their sights returned was both soothing and alarming for many reasons.

From the attacking ponies, all but five were turned to stone. To their surprise, Blueblood, Stalwart Shield, one unicorn and two pegasus were spared from that fate. Instead of belligerent, they were laying haphazardly on the floor … unconscious.

The shadows rising from the stoned equines, the prone equines and Blueblood’s prone body though were a cause of alarm—solid masses of shade giving the appearance of rips on space as they coagulated into one mass.

One mass that shortly afterward shoot up tentacles and grabbed every pony present, causing more than one scream as the congregation of shades started to squeeze. From wings down to hooves, horns and bodies being disabled as pulses of ruinous power started to poison their nerves and thaumic pathways, their screams increasing in intensity—

Instead of silence, they were greeted with a sound they wouldn’t have expected from something that had eyes inside mouths, mouths around what appeared to be wings, legs, and claws more in line with scorpions than with the draconic ones appearing and subsuming at random.

The monstrosity began to chuckle.

“Well, this is awkward. I thought my vessels would have been enough for you … so much for planning. But I digress.”

It started squeezing harder, drawing gasps from its victims as they began struggling against the stranglehold.

“Our goal will be achieved in the end. We will be fully free—of hosts, of fools, of lifeforms other than us. Only we deserve to inhabit this and all worlds … .”

Frost began to gather in the corridor, causing the warmth in the air to flee as if chased away by ghosts of hatred which were starting to show up.

Shivering from the cold joined at the fright caused by the appearance of the monstrosity, the trapped ponies weren’t focusing properly on the environment with such a threat literally squeezing them.

The Element Bearers—in a show of will to go against the beast—tried to tap once more their power to purge it from this world. They were answered by a pulse of power as they screamed in pain, feeling electricity coursing through their bodies while their inherent magic slowly but surely began to corrode from exposure to the wrongness within the monster’s power.

The monster tutted at them from over a hundred wrongly-shaped mouths. “Now now now, we don’t want that show of light ruining the mood now, do we?”

Hoofsteps falling onto stone started to be heard at a distance, drawing the amalgamate to silence.

It started chuckling as its eyes focused on the newcomer, submerging into the mass and turning to its other side to watch. “Look what have we here … another pony coming into the slaughterhouse. Eager to be turned into a rug and glue, are we not?”

The hostages couldn’t help but gasp at the sight despite their predicament—a heavily battered unicorn from the Royal Day Guard, glowering at the monstrosity despite helping himself moving with the wall closest to him, metal scraping against stone as he slowly approached them.

To their disbelief, the guard remained both silent and at a distance from the amalgam of shades, not showing any regard to their current state. Distantly, the alicorns gathered barely noticed how the cold currents were surrounding that guard though the sensation of sickness penetrating their bodies kept them too unfocused to think beyond that sight.

If the mass had a face, it would’ve frowned at the sight and the unnerving feeling it was getting from the guardspony. “Despite my obvious superiority, I feel curious … what do you expect to gain by standing there and doing nothing? You fools normally cry out ‘For Princesses and Equestria’ before dying ignominious deaths—”

The horn of the guard started to gather power—and to both the shade mass and the ponies’ surprise—it wasn’t magic.

The helm broke in half, the two pieces falling down at the heads’ sides and causing the disguising enchantment to fail as the gathered power—a blue orb of light that quickly changed into a shining spear exited through the horn—

Moving quickly, the amalgam created a wall of shadow to absorb the magic the same way it had done so with its prey’s magic … but the beam punched through both the wall and the amalgam’s core body to its shock.

The ponies screamed as the shade started to shake and scream in a legion of voices with eyes emerging from the mass of shadows, staring at the source of this attack as it couldn’t help but see another horn-sourced beam already on its way to its core.

Once the beam pierced what passed for its heart—punching a hole into the stone floor behind it—the mass started to dispel on its own with gurgling that felt more in context with a drowning pony. As it gurgled, its last words were “Oh no … it is you—” before collapsing in a cloud of dark dust, all its hostages falling down to the ground.

The ponies groaned as the black mist started to move as if caught in a current … away from them and towards their ‘savior’, while the cold snap increased in force.

Ignoring that bizarre event, the ponies started to regain their sense and checked their states, until they noticed something was wrong when one of the guards inquired in awe: “How did you do that!?” before his awe changed into puzzlement, “Magic wasn’t working … on … that … thing … ?”

Nothing but silence as an answer.

The Royals and the Bearers turned to look and blanched at the sight as they realized just who was standing in front of them.

Black mist was entering the body of the one they believed wouldn’t wake up again, fur matted with sweat and blood, all of his fur and mane’s color grayed out, blood coming from his mouth and a big dent on the cuirass being held mostly by his feather-misaligned wings—a nimbus of mist slowly forming in the space surrounding him.

After a beat, it was Fluttershy of all ponies who said in disbelief at what was coming from her now even-more-frightened self. “Oh … oh my, mi-mister Ashley.” She quickly lost her nerve as she took in the feelings shown in his face, finishing with a lame, “You don’t look … too good?” as she quickly back-pedaled behind Rainbow Dash.

The stallion remained silent, glaring with teeth clenched in absolute loathing that froze her in place as the mist finally finished entering his body, and what appeared to be some kind of pitch black smoke started to pour off of his body as if it were streaming someplace else—his previously bleached cutie mark glowing with an eerie red as the flesh over it started to burn, smoke wafting from their places as his body slowly but surely showed signs of mending itself as the influx of power rejuvenated him.

One of the guards gagged at the smell of burning flesh and fur coming from the equine, while the others started to take positions in front of their charges with an uncertain look on their faces.

Iron Ash simply glared at the herd in front of him and turned his sights on Celestia, upon which his body started to gather power once more, horn starting to glow blue at its tip as he snarled at her.

“Congratulations, ‘princess of the sun’,” Ash spat at the alicorn who couldn’t help but flinch at the tone, “you won.”

“Sir Ashley! We didn’t know! We honestly didn’t know! I’m so sorry! We’re really sorry about what happened!” Twilight cried out as she tried to place herself in front of her mentor, her friends, and Luna quickly joining in.

Ash’s glare didn’t move from Celestia as he growled at them, “Ashley Riot was murdered at your hands several days ago … I’m only ash that was left from your deed as you burned me and my own to oblivion.”

The brightness in his horn increased as he ignored the ponies calling out their apologies while keeping his sights on Celestia, who at this point looked at him with tears in her eyes and an expression that he couldn’t quite place.

“The ones responsible for the endangerment of this world and Minos, and for taking everything from me must be dealt with. Permanently.”

The Minoan garrison stationed in the depths of Mount Canterhorn mobilized efficiently, quietly and discreetly—showcasing their training and discipline within the Minoan Knights the moment they received their mission parameters.

Of course, the paths leading up to the mountain city were problematic on their own for several reasons.

From the layout of the connecting tunnels down to the eldritch nature of the caverns deep within—as the massive geode-like chambers that filled the heart of the mountain were labyrinthine by themselves, and the large crystalline outgrowths acted like mirrors that could reflect even magic.

Both changelings and diamond dogs had reported unusual phenomena because of said outgrowths when exposed to light sources—which more often than not led them down into uncharted places that were hard to backtrack due to both layout and the illusions passively caused by the formations.

Naturally, this would force anyone who entered the heart of the mountain to do so with a map and a changeling guide to the side in order to be able to tell the signs that only a changeling’s eye could perceive in the darkness.

Some of these markers included pheromones, as sight would be compromised for any unwanted visitor—whom would get consequently lost in the depths and die in loneliness.

Within these caverns discreet action was taking place, as a roussepony soldier trotted briskly to report to his officer in command, softly whispered to his ear. “Sir, we have unknowns in chamber seventeen. Team Ore’s waiting for orders.”

The diamond dog in charge frowned at this report. “Unknowns?” he growled with a raised eyebrow.

The soldier nodded. “What are your orders, sir?”

The dog grumbled while scratching his neck. “Let us see who’s being a non-paying tenant to these ponies.”

It didn’t take long for the officer—led by the roussepony soldier to reach the tunnel leading to the chamber, changelings, diamond dogs, and rousseponies all in armor and staying in silence.

The officer peeked out from the reflective crystal formations to see who was in the way … only to bear witness to equines in dark purple robes doing things that gave him a headache just from exposure.

Equines in these gods-forsaken caverns, standing in the path of the Minoan Riskbreakers, performing unknown procedures involving unknown magic in the uncharted depths of the mountain’s crystal caves.

Silently, the dog made hand signals to the officers close by, to which they briskly nodded and started mobilizing as silently as they could, while the unknowns’ voice echoed through the chamber.

The ears of those who remained at that post quickly twitched as a couple of the ponies collapsed on the side, heaving violently as if being under extreme pressure. As the rest continued—albeit at a much slower pace—one that looked like their leader took hold of some crystal device within his cloak and ignited it.

He spoke out in distress at the device. “Lord, we’ve reached the limit that the current glyph array allows for the maximum output of The Dark into this plane!” The cloaked equine gesticulated while sitting on his haunches with his free forehoof. “If we are to meet your current demand, then we need more time to rework the glyph array into a more complex one, in order to channel it without having it blow up the mountainside!”

The answer was even more enlightening to the Minoans, as the crystal device’s voice clearly echoed through the chamber. “I do not care what needs to be done, as we already lost the element of surprise to factors unknown! Find out what is wrong, and deal with it, fast—the mercenaries are already struggling, the same with the Dark Templars and the Reliquarians!”

The robed figure nodded acquiescently. “Yes my lord. We’ll be on it at once.” He then turned to this fellow robed equines. “Adjust the runes and the summoning craft! We must increase the outpour—something happened on the surface—!”

The Riskbreakers moved in at once.

Lord Patrician frowned at what he was looking—or more precisely, what he wasn’t seeing up to this point.

Everything had worked out just fine at the start of the Glyph of the Calling Dark … until it flickered and died out. An eyebrow twitched as he pondered just this:

What in Tartarus had the Princesses done to cancel it out with such efficiency? Had his plan been compromised by that mole despite his precautions?

He frowned at the thought of that annoyance. The busy-nosed mole he had managed to get his hoof on was no longer an issue. A trump card of his own would make certain of that.

One that employed the mole’s fatal weakness.

He was brought out of his thoughts by another refined voice belonging to a mare.

“Lord Patrician, what news did the darksmiths gave? What is happening most certainly is not part of the plan discussed, you know!”

Lord Martinet was no fool as he thought out how to answer the lady—and through her the supporters of this course of action, all too willing to become greater than alicorns with the aid of Helighet’s deity … .

All of them interested in the perks that wielding The Dark provided them, making certain their superiority to the other pony tribes and the vermin that thought themselves people outside Equestria’s borders.

In the beat before answering Lord Patrician felt a distinctive ‘cancelled-out’ feeling concerning another point of interest: the magic he had placed on Blueblood and the group that went with him. He frowned at that, glowering at the city that had red spots giving light into the night.

Pulling out a contraption with a crystal wired to it he simply said: “Kill the hostages.”

The noblemare simply rose an eyebrow at that while waiting for his reply to her question.

Patrician’s other crystal communication device crackled, drawing him out of his attention towards the mountain city.

“Sire! We’re under atta—!”

After a moment of stunned silence that drew the nobleponies closer to the mare and Patrician, he glared at the city. “We’re leaving to Helighet, we’ve lost everything that matters for this mission to be a success.”

Further crackling from the crystal communication device started echoing calls for help from the mercenaries and their supporters.

All of them involved ‘help to fend off’ among many things: vicious diamond dogs, rousseponies, and changelings of all things.

All that was missing was the appearance of the comatose alicorn stallion joining the fray and it would be the ideal picture of the worst of setbacks.

Their ‘god’ wouldn’t be happy in the slightest about this.

Unfortunately for him, his other crystal communication devices started to crackle—a cacophony of retreat cries, and reports of unknowns rising to support the Royal Guard against their onslaught.

They failed to hear the mission report concerning said alicorn stallion’s current status.

Patrician’s frown could make competition if put next to a lemon. “We need to reassess our plans under better circumstances. Mobilize at once.”

By the time the guards started to move towards Ash, it was too late—the piercing magic was already unleashed towards their ruler who could only see her death approaching in slow motion.

To the surprise of everypony present, a battered roussepony guardsmare divebombed towards the crippled stallion, rushing at him to climb onto his back—using her forehooves to force his head up in a vain attempt at diverting the beam going Celestia’s way. She screamed in pain and effort as she struggled with her targets’ neck, “Protect the Princesses!”

Briefly blinking in surprise by this turn of events, Ash’s focus wavered—and along with it the guidance of the Break Art Ruination that had come out of his horn.

As this was happening, years of training had already taken over Shining Armor’s body, who moved quickly towards Celestia with determination—body-slamming her into the ground as the ‘spell’ turned upwards and scoured a groove on the ceiling, nearly missing Celestia’s ear as it passed over where her head had been at one point.

The shot had missed, so Ash did not waste time and slammed repeatedly against the walls to force his assailant into releasing her stranglehold of him.

Taking advantage of the distraction, the guardponies that remained functional quickly rushed to subdue the berserk assailant—and were met with a series of unexpected reversals.

The unicorns that tried to stun the alicorn with stunner spells saw their spells either miss by his reflexive sidestepping, or him actually using the mare on his back as a shield—causing her to yelp before ending up stunned, with him biting her broken foreleg to keep her limp body in place to intercept the spells coming his way that he couldn’t move away from.

Their second surprise was when he backhooved the guard closest to him—and she slumped into the ground with eyes wide open in shock and unable to move. The others tried to body-check him, and found out the same result—until one hoof struck armor rather than the flesh, and the guardsmare punched Ash into the side of his muzzle.

As Ash’s head was thrown aside from the hoof that struck him, light gathered around the guardsmare—who reeled in shock shortly after from the impact due to the light giving her a diffused smack to her body, eyes widening at the unexpected retaliation.

Hoof moving fast, Ash struck her down like the rest with one paralysing strike before being struck himself by a rainbow streak, tossing him like a ragdoll against the floor a few meters from the guardsmare—crunching over the gathered frost as tiny crystals of ice were forming from the air.

Focused as he was—and given to his rage as he struggled with the pony guards—Ash didn’t hear Twilight’s quick plan to her friends, who while looking uncertain nodded with decision at her, which sent Rainbow to run interference at him while the others prepared for him.

“Seriously, dude! We know we screwed up, and now want to make things right! But we can’t do that if you don’t. Stop. Trying. To kill us!!” Rainbow screamed at him from the air, before a splash of light crashed to the ceiling above her as she evaded, Ash panting as he glared balefully at her as he kept her on his sight.

He got blind-sided again by a pink, fluffy pony that launched at his side before climbing over him as if she were a crab—hugging the stuffing out of him while whooping out as he bucked to send her flying as if he were some ride.

A hug that was preventing his use of his wings while at it to strike at the rainbow-maned nuisance, leaving only his hooves and horn to defend himself with.

Enraged further by that violation of personal space, Ash tried to slam her against the wall as he did with the other guard—only to find to his surprise that he hit himself against the stone wall, leaving him in a dizzy state.

“Nopperoni, I am not interested in surveying the quality of the walls! Oh, wait! I didn’t know you were a fan of rocks! Maud will be happy to meet you!—”

“Silence, you bloody fool!!” Ash raged on as he tossed himself to the ground to avoid getting hit by another buck from the pegasus dive-bombing him. “Stand still, you flying eyesore!” were his words only to be pelted by hard, rough and round objects on his exposed parts that made him grunt and focused him on a certain unicorn that was looking at him with severity.

“As much as I understand your rage towards us, and I freely accept that we were mistaken, and hurt you much … this isn’t the proper way to express your displeasure at ourselves.” She snorted as her horn glowed, more small-sized rubble rising along with it. “It is most uncivilized, dear sir.”

Ash’s eyes closed in on her forming a scowl unto his face, immediately chanting a cantrip as he did his best to ignore the pink pest and the flying eyesore running interference to distract him.

“Ventaval eniltes parcrulta erunis … .”

Panic immediately reflected in the ponies around him as he moved to avoid them, focused entirely on the now even whiter unicorn.

Twilight’s screams were soon heard. “Stop him! Rainbow! Pinkie! Stop him from casting!!”

“… parcresu desduri per calderu … brightana Zephir!” Finished Ash with a wave of his hoof towards Rarity … only to find no result, and a multicolored streak to send him flying again from his formerly current position.

Confusion dripped into his consciousness, muddling his rage with despair even further. ‘The magicks of the dark … why was the cantrip empty? Where … how.’

His fleeting thoughts were silenced by a scratchy laughter coming from above. “Oh Celestia, the look on his face when his spell didn’t work!”

‘I will end that eyesore of a nag—’

He rose, only to stare into eyes that gave his own glare competition in the unsettling and intimidating departments.

Cyan eyes attached to a pink-maned, yellow-coated pegasus judging by the wings escaping from his field of vision as the intruders’ irises consumed his every thought, removing the memory of the face they were attached to, the appearances … filling him with something indescribable though very similar to one that he felt once, long long ago … .

Terror … terror that would have consumed lesser men, had he not been through a similar situation once—when facing The Dark-posessed Romeo Guildenstern at the top of the Cathedral all those millennia ago.

The terror that the thing was inflicting him with that glare slowly gave way to resolve bubbling forth from the depths of his torn self, kindling his rage further.

As this happened, words flowed out of the owner of said eyes, and yet he was no longer able to understand their meaning as everything turned from hot and red to deadened, cold grey … .

As he once used to be before being awakened by Sydney’s machinations at Leá Monde, being merely a watcher to his own body moving towards a single purpose … .

With the mentality of a free-willed sword.

“Mister Riot! How dare you hurt all these ponies in a fit of rage! You should feel ashamed of yourself for your lack of self-restraint!”

Twilight trotted towards Fluttershy with a weak, strained smile as the pegasus glared at the now frozen alicorn stallion according to the plan as the normally shy pegasus kept on her tirade. “Thank you Fluttershy, you really pulled us out of the fire! Now, we need you to keep The Stare just long enough for Rainbow and the guards to get the shackles to immobilize Mister Riot.” At the end of this last statement, she sighed despondently. “How can I make it up to him, everypony? I bucked up … badly.”

“Ah don’t know, sugarcube though ah do have this rope in good condition.” Applejack announced before tying the stallion’s wings to his barrel and looping it into his four hooves, tying a knot out of range of his neck. “This’ll have to do while we wait for Rainbow and the others to come back with the shackles.”

The farmer sighed as Fluttershy kept her attention and words flowing towards Ashley. “Ah don’t rightly know, Twi. Thing is, nopony knew much—it was either that or facing another Tirek at full power in the least if we were wrong ‘bout him.”

Twilight was going to reply, but Fluttershy’s words were cut off brusquely.

“I know that we hurt you badly, and we’re sorry for that—”She was cut off by the sound of rope breaking, followed by ”EEEEKKK!!”

The ponies turned—and saw Fluttershy stepping back in terror as a now blank-faced alicorn stallion was moving, ignoring the ruptured rope formerly holding his wings and along with it the tautness holding his hooves together, moving towards the pegasus who now was frozen in place as he approached at a sedated pace.

Before any of the ponies could react to this sudden change of demeanor, Ash backhooved her to the floor the moment that the pegasus was within hoof-striking range, earning a pained croak from the poor girl as she fell.

“Get away from Fluttershy you big jerk!!!”

It took a moment to register to Twilight, but by then it was too late for her to prevent what was coming.

“Rainbow Dash! Stop!!” Twilight screamed as she readied her magic to protect her friends from the now—terrifying foe at their hooves.

A multicolored streak moved to strike Ash, only for him to quickly grab Fluttershy with his jaw by the scruff, brutally tossing her towards the irate pegasus coming his way when she was too close to avoid his projectile as if he were throwing a rock or wielding a mouth slingshot.

Tumbling into one another, the two pegasi were briefly held by a blue aura that tried to arrest their momentum and draw them back before Ash closed the distance swiftly, striking the aura holding the two downed ponies with a wing in a particular motion that emitted a slight glow.

The aura holding the two ponies popped like a bubble, the two pegasus falling into a mess of feathers and hooves.

Picking a rock from the ground that appeared to have once belonged to the stone ceiling, Ash silently approached his soon-to-be victims—when he was approached by Starlight Glimmer, looking at him in the eyes with her horn glowing before said glow touched Ash’s head.

“I command you to stand still!”

Ash’s body stood still for a moment … only for the cloud of magic around his head to fizzle out and earn a scowl. There was no time for Starlight to react before a quickly chucked rock struck her straight into her forehead, toppling her down with a pained cry as she clutched her bleeding forehead, horn sparking erratically as she whimpered.

A beam of magic grazed his side, followed by others from the royals and remaining unicorns capable of such that he ignored and even tanked as he moved with absolute certainty.

Without breaking stride and tanking a few spells, he stomped on Rainbow’s right wing while she was trying to get up from the floor—causing her to cry out as the bone cracked, stomping again for good measure and grinding against the floor before Rainbow passed out from the agony he had just inflicted, face indifferent to her suffering.

“Rainbow Dash!” The mares cried out in fear for the state of their friend but were not given a chance to rush the stallion.

In one motion, he picked the crying, shivering and frightened Fluttershy again from her neck with one wing—earning a pained gag from the half-conscious pegasus—moving towards his assailants, disregarding the beams coming his way as he placed the pegasus in front of him to receive the spells.

Having realized why Ash had deliberately done what he had done, Twilight cried out in disbelief “Fluttershy!!”. In a blink, Twilight made a choice with a decisive look. Her horn flared, forming a shield in front of Ash’s hostage where the beams struck one after another, causing her and Fluttershy to flinch with each impact that made that shield ring like a bell, cracking with the final shot done by Luna as they stopped.

“You … you are hypocrites—I recognize the power that your worthless pawn wielded against me … another fool playing with might never meant for your witless kind to handle … .” Ash growled with loathing while moving towards them, body smoking up upwards while his face was at odds with his voice—impassive, as if he was doing nothing more than walking through the park.

The sound of a cannon exploding followed by a shower of cake batter came his way where he simply used his hostage to receive the brunt of the batter while ignoring the spatters falling onto his body.

With that done, and ignoring the sound of a deflating balloon he picked up from the ground one of the shaft-broken spears that the Guards had thrown aside with his other wing—pointing the sharp edge of the spear’s broken shaft towards his hostage’s neck.

“You lot are nothing but Celestia’s witless lapdogs—give me that monster for me to put down, and I might spare your sorry hides.” He snarled at this point, almost hoping that the herd in front of him refused. “Refuse … and you’ll join your enabler even if it costs me all I still have.”

Luna’s mouth was opening to try and call for them to negotiate when a sorrowful voice answered at him.

Shakily standing from her spot and ignoring Shining Armor’s attempts at pushing her back, she lowered her head and ears as she spoke out. “Mister Riot, I beg of you—please understand, we honestly didn’t know … I honestly didn’t know that you did not have a part in this disaster in the making. I now know I wronged you in ways that cannot be repaid, I hurt an innocent—letting my assumptions drive me. … I beg you, let my ponies leave, and I’ll do as you wish … .”

Applejack at this point tried to get closer to Iron Ash without making a sound with her hooves as the princesses kept him distracted.

“Fie! Sister, don’t listen to him! As much in the wrong as we may have been, he doesn’t have the right to try and murder us all, much less you!” Luna answered with outrage at her sisters’ attitude while glaring at her now foe. “You cur! We can’t believe we were speaking in thy favour to seek to redress thee the moment that thee regained consciousness! Give up thy hostage and vengeance, and we might spare thee the reprisal to thy madness!”

A blank faced answered her outburst. “Brave words coming from one who would have let the world die just to fatten up thy wounded pride.” Ash raised an eyebrow at her, “Isn’t that right … Nightmare Moon?” Luna blinked at that, rage momentarily forgotten. Pressing the shaft into Fluttershy’s neck until a bead of red formed and a whimper came, Applejack stopped on her tracks until she stepped back, Ash reducing the pressure on the pegasus’ neck.

Ash continued as if speaking of the weather—all former emotions now locked away with dead eyes looking straight at hers. “You speak of redress? You attack dogs kidnapped my granddaughter along with me from our abode; broke the spell keeping my real shape in place; assaulted me with your so-called ‘harmony’ and raped my essence and soul until it was scrapped to nothing … just to make me fit in the same mold as you vapid, shallow creatures … all with no cause!.”

Fluttershy choked, the wing holding her standing on her hindhooves cutting off her already low air supply as Ash snarled. “To make matters worse, you monsters purged forcefully out of me the closest thing to a family I had for the last ten millennia—the main part of my burden that has kept me sane to this day!”

He ignored the gagging noises and the vain pawing of her hooves to push his wing away coming from his hostage, keeping his empty glare focused on the royals. “I do know this: you endangered this whole world by your witless actions … you did the impossible and broke my power, and with it the seals that kept the Shadowbeasts sleeping.”

Ash’s eyes focused on Twilight, who stepped back on reflex. “The irony is, we were researching a way to make those seals permanent and leave this world to its own devices, as we knew we didn’t belong in this place … no matter the so-called guarantees that the treasonous bitch that created you gave to me in regard to my presence in this domain.” He briefly laughed mirthlessly before snapping back into an indifferent, cold-rage. “It didn’t matter in the end—she sold me out for you to strike me down, no matter what the terms of our deal said originally.”

Ash tilted his head as a wan smile worked its way into his face. “How ironic, that the race meant to keep the world moving and living for all living things to thrive was the one responsible for sealing its fate, and taking away the only thing that kept things as they were … or had a chance at fighting the abominations off.” He shook his head as if to clear it of the smile and something that came to his mind while at it. “Even now, I wage war with myself—the vapid overlay that you lot imposed on my self. I will not falter—” He snarled at the end, froth spitting out from his mouth. ”I shall not falter and become like thee, down to the bitter end!”

The toothy grin that came after that statement drew a chill out of all the ponies that saw it. “You need six to wield your weapon … so, what would happen if that number were to be lowered?”

A blink of incomprehension passed by from all ponies present before comprehension dawned on them—along with a look of horror.

Fluttershy whimpered as she felt the jagged point of the shaft dig against her neck once more—

Within the depths of the caves of Mount Canterhorn a brutal battle raged on, where an explosive device thrown by a diamond dog rebounded from one of the crystal walls and landed by chance straight into the border of the ritual circle where it flared briefly from the intrusion—missing the group of remaining unicorns that were pelting them with lethal spells to keep them from overrunning them by a couple feet.

The following blast tossed them to the wall with a sickening splat, and a massive roar echoed through the ground itself, going upwards as the summoning circle unraveled.

Iron Ash’s eyes widened as he felt his newfound strength leaving him at an exponential rate—wooden shaft falling from a now limp limb as it fell to the side of his hostage.

“No! Not like this!” He cried out in despair before he fell to the ground in a heap, his former hostage making a break for freedom while at it as the dark smoke coming from him flared up briefly before leaving him dry—cutie mark ceasing to shine and nearly disappearing as this happened.

Soon after the weight of two earth ponies landed on him with force, forcing his air out from the weight slamming onto his weakened body.

“We’re sorry things came to this, mister Riot. Believe me … .” The accent of an apologetic farmer muttered remorsefully. “However, you threatened mah friends—yeh hurt Fluttershy … Rainbow … .” The same voice growled in barely contained anger, “Ye’ll regret doing that, mister.”

The broken stallion pawed the stone floor in vain, body too weak to move as he ignored the threat and muttered weakly as if it were a mantra, muscles shivering as he tried to raise himself with the two ponies keeping stuck to the ground with their weights: “You must … be stopped … no matter the cost … .”

A canister clanged on the floor in the middle of the gathering, shortly followed by another. One of the guards only had time to say “What in Tart—” before the first canister exploded into a cloud of light and noise—shortly followed by a cloud of irritating smoke that made everypony present reel back from the shock.

“What in tarnat—!?” The same farmer cried out in shock—briefly lifting her weight from Ash’s body before a green spell struck tossed her to the side, shortly followed by another shot that tossed the other earth pony aside.

Ash winced as he felt how someone within the smoke stuck a needle into his shoulder—consciousness quickly deserting him as the drug took hold onto his weakened constitution.

As what felt to be paws swiftly lifted and carried him away from this place of defeat, he managed to hear from his rescuer:

“Target found—move him quickly away from this place … .”

Darkness claimed him as he lost his hold onto his consciousness.

Interlude the First: Broken Hopes, Shattered Dreams

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A white clinic currently lies all but empty, as I wait for the results of the battery of tests I requested. Walls painted in what someone thought as a relaxing pastel green that unnerves me, a couple of potted plants that shine too suspiciously in the artificial lighting of the fluorescent tubes hidden behind their plastic diffusers.

The painting of a clown hanging in front of me is the focus of my attention though. Why would anyone keep such a creepy object hanging in such a high place? And why so many!?

Mayhaps the medicinal expert has an ancestor in the entertainment industry?

Don’t be foolish! You’ve seen the man? Compare their noses, it is a self-portrait masquerading as a generic painting!

Are you certain you wish to know why you can’t conceive, my friend? That’s usually a question that makes the inquirer feel emasculated when proven true

‘I am not insecure in myself to become broken by that—it is only confirmation that what I know is, in fact, true.’

I had offspring, and my offspring had offspring … though I must admit, none of us were ever true inheritors of The Dark’s power. Maybe that is what is interfering with your capability to have offspring … ?

You do know that the clowns have fake noses usually placed for exaggeration purposes?

I don’t know why the complaints, I find that painting full of emotion

You’re one to speak, Rosenkrantz—your taste in art is as awful as your taste in fashion!

I was brought out of my musing—and from enjoying the peanut gallery discussing the dubious art sensibilities of the medical practitioners residing here by a middle-aged woman.

The medic’s secretary.

“Señor Josefo Bran, por favor pase a la puerta número tres. El doctor lo espera para darle los resultados de sus pruebas.”

I nodded at the woman, muttering a thank you and moved towards my destination … .

Memories within a dream?

It was the year 1849, and I was walking through the cobbled path towards my destination.

In front of me loomed the Victorian edifice housing the newly-opened Hope House Orphanage in Ipswich—within the county of Suffolk, England—thinking how to achieve my goal without the usual structural supports that such an endeavour would require.

It was a foolish dream in my current situation, and I even more foolishly tried to go on regardless without updating my current mindset to current culture and expectations.

“I am terribly sorry, Mister Ashtington—but we cannot allow an adoption to happen if there is no provable source of income and living conditions.” The severe-dressed woman in charge of the orphanage stated matter-of-fact to me.

“I … I see. It is a good thing to keep in mind. May I inquire as to if there is anything I can do to help out in this establishment then?” I inquired, deliberately raising an eyebrow as the ‘gentlemen’ of this time did.

“Donations are always welcome, whether of money or materials. The secretary can assist you in that regard. Good day, mister.”

I inwardly sighed at that response as I moved.

Things were not as hard to attain during Phillip’s rule in France despite conditions being … terrible.

This-this is a storm! How can he stand it and remain sane!?

I couldn’t believe my eyes as I saw the exhibit at the local museum.

A caché of mine was the focus of this exhibit—dug out by accident by the builders of a new complex and donated to the museum for ‘social reasons’.

If this had happened to this one … what about the other cachés I scattered through the centuries?

I must find a point of anchorage, ‘lest I am drowned by the tide of memories!

I cried over the broken body of my son—waylaid by rogues in the pass through the Pyrinnees, hugging his body in vain to tell him that I loved him one last time as the soldiers watched in silence … .

He was my tenth through the centuries, and it still hurt as if he were the first.

I will truly cry when I no longer feel pain at losing someone I raised and loved as my own … .

“Our power may allow the ones harbored within you to become cleansed and be free to go and reincarnate into the Other. Would you be willing to free them from your rule?” Harmony offered kindly as I sat cross-legged in front of the crystal avatar of her personage—the first time I had been able to do so in centuries since arriving at this gods-forsaken realm once access to The Dark had resumed albeit at a minimal amount.

I blinked at the question and focused myself inwards.

‘As much as I do not mind harboring all of you, and value your aid and continued support throughout my daily life … I leave the choice up to all of you—I may be able to command you at will, but I refuse to do so for this. Please decide amongst yourselves, and give me your answer to this offer … .’

A cacophony of voices rose immediately, drowning all details as if I were close to the shore—listening in to the waves of the sea during a stormy night.

It felt like an eternity until the legion went silent … and their answers echoed through.

We shall remain

Until you bid us farewell, we shall stand by your side

You granted us reprieve

You aided us in our time of madness

To the bitter end we shall support you

I am sorry … I am so sorry … .

This continued for what felt another eternity, to which I simply answered as a single tear escaped its prison.

‘Thank you.’

The sound of crying echoed through the frost-covered woods, as the snow crunched beneath the worn soles of my boots.

Scrunching in confusion, I couldn’t help but ask myself … .

‘Am I hearing right?’

It appears to be so

That type of cry drills to the skull, make it stop

Perhaps it is edible

You disgust me

It sounds like a baby abandoned in the woods … we don’t see a happy ending if the creature isn’t found. Fast

Aren’t there predators that masquerade as newborns?

You’re thinking about a Tiyanak

Bah, changelings do the same

Shaking my head at the discussion going on, I attempted to pinpoint the source of the wailing—and barely saw movement at a short distance followed by what appeared to be … .

I blinked at the change that happened within a radius of the source of the distortion—where there was snow, now it was something fluffy and with clashing plaid purple and blue with spots of dark brown where a furry, serpentine creature was climbing on top of, with the trees within the bubble turned into bars with red and white stripes and a green-and-orange striped cloud raining down some sort of brown liquid over the creature.

It looked as if it were looking for something—

‘Or someone.’ My own treacherous thoughts added grimly as I cautiously approached. At a short distance I made my presence known to it.

“Hello, little one.” I introduced myself with gentle firmness, trying to figure out if it was a mere beast or a sapient being. Its eyes focused on me immediately—and my surroundings twisted as I felt gravity go to the wayside, colors twist as sounds and sounds tasting oddly like licorice as everything turned Spotted Plaid.

The Blood Sin on my back burned my flesh harshly for a second before an instinctive pulse of power echoed through the bubble that the youngling had summoned to curtail my approach.

‘Note to self, remember how to do that at will if I end up raising him.’

It isn’t too complicated, though its Dark is different from ours

Aww! Isn’t he the cutest!?

‘Merlose?’

Yes, Ashley?

‘How can you tell it is male?’

A boy, Ashley—dear lord, you’ve been a husband, and have seen parents through the years. Can’t you tell as well?

I lowered my sights and saw the being—the baby—wail as it tried to move away from me, the snow slowing his passage through.

Without a second thought, I approached him and brought him up to cover with my cape. The poor thing was shivering in cold, whimpering in fear at me.

My heart cracked at that realization, but why was he afraid of me?

“I must find shelter … and a food source.” I vocalized my thoughts out loud—too long without using my voice made it harder for me to remember how to speak again, I had learned that to my distress when I spent two centuries in silence then tried casting a cantrip in a time of need.

Quickly casting Barrer’s cantrip over the two of us to ward off the cold—I would have to serve as a source of warmth for the time being for the baby if I were to make certain that he could survive the harshness of the cold.

His shivering slowed down, but he kept his whimpers underneath the cloak as I wrapped my arms around him supportively.

I started singing a lullaby … until his crying intensified.

‘It appears that I grate him.’

Analyze him—if he is different from other newborns, then a different type of song will be the solution

‘Understood, Mullenkamp.’

Another cantrip—which soothed him out a little for reasons I cannot fathom—and I got my answer.

‘A being of magic.’

A being of chaos magic. Big difference

‘Explain. I thought The Dark was inherently chaotic.’

This world’s magic is orderly—he’s a natural byproduct meant for balancing it out though it doesn’t explain how he appeared in this place

It has a soul. Thus, it is alive. It means it is either a spirit, or the spawn’s parents left it to die here. End of story.

Grant me permission to speak, and I shall sing him an ancient Kildean hymn

‘… Mullenkamp? Am I to expect that the creature I am holding in my arms right now is a God of Dark?’

Not exactly … though his Dark is untainted yet unique. It doesn’t match the Dark that the natives wield. That merits study on its own merit

‘I … I see.’

Very well, to answer your question … no, that hymn isn’t devoted to a god or any deity, so stop being you, Ashley—and allow me to sing

I grumbled at her. ‘… Permission granted, Mullenkamp.’

My mouth opened up—but I was no longer in control of it, moving towards shelter as the unknowable song of pure magic and will, lyrics that appeared to be more madness than anything else soothed the child’s worries … which added plenty to mine.

We kept on singing regardless ….

Blue eyes watched me from the depths of the woods, and moved within to keep track of my path.

Darkness … darkness that is replaced by a wooden hut, where a distressed Earth Pony mare is facing me with hatred in her factions.

She yelled at me as she readied herself to pursue me out of her property. “Murderer! I trusted you! Get out of my house!”

“Murderer!? What are you accusing me of—ugh!” I fell with my back to the ground, where the grinding teeth of the grieving mother opened up to yell at me again, too close to my face to properly see her eyes.

“My child! You claimed that you had cured him, yet I found him dead on his way to the well!”

My mind grind to a halt at these news … .

“Take me to him.” I grit my teeth back at her.

An unknown, yet satisfied male spoke out from out of the range of my sight. “There is no need. Thank you ma’am, we’ll make certain that your son is avenged and that this rogue is sent to the gallows for pretending to be a practitioner of the healing arts.”

I rose my eyes—only to see several spears pointed my way and a unicorn at the lead who looked way too happy to be there.

I scowled at the implications as I was forced to stand … .

We know where this memory fits in now, but it still galls me how badly we failed.

The once verdant valley was now covered in snow. An eternal winter, the consequence of a war of attrition between the three pony tribes that didn’t know they had essentially doomed themselves by their actions.

The royal house of Platinum was gathered, a massive gathering at the meeting grounds attached to the castle town hearing captivated at their ‘wise’ ruler. “With this new development in the art of magic, we will strike down the rulers of the Earth Pony and Pegasus tribes and situate ourselves as the rightful rulers of Ponykind!”

There I was, all but invisible to the casual observer and to many a master of the arcane … and couldn’t believe the madness in front of my eyes as the glyph bearing The Blood Sin floated above the castle.

‘When, how—I know I haven’t freed The Dark, so why is it there!?’

Spirits rose from the ground, gathering into an unholy army—only to be assailed by another army composed of ghostly flying equines, and a gathering of earthbound ghosts starting to breach the walls of the defending unicorns.

All of them register as tainted by the Dark

I joined the raging battle to try and save what I could … .

‘Damn you and your plans … Harmony.’

Mexico’s state during the eighties was a mixed blessing. On one hand, it meant relearning their version of Spanish—as the one I knew then was closer to the one brought by the Conquistadores than the modern one descended from the colonists. Corruption was also bad—and as much as it shamed me, useful for having an identity and capability to move unimpeded as long as I remained in the system and didn’t draw attention to myself.

It was expensive, and every half-century or so the price rose up.

Regardless of legality, it helped me immensely as I couldn’t employ the healthcare services of many first-world nations due to the issue of constant vigilance and digitalized documentation. Thus, my current position as Josefo Bran, entering the Consult to find out answers that I feared hearing.

The man barely contained in a lab coat at the Gynecology Consult greeted me effusively by the hand. Tanned, well-dressed and walrus-moustachioed, with a voice that made the windows vibrate and the doorframes loosen up a bit whenever the man spoke.

He explained to me why. The pain of my heart, the cold burn of my soul.

Why I couldn’t conceive and have offspring of my own.

Everything worked … but there were no seeds being produced from my gonads … .

I had no way if it had always been like that, or if The Dark had done it when I inherited its power in its full might way back in time—before arriving into this world.

Deadened, I thanked the man and made my way out of the premises, numbly making my way through the crowded streets of the Federal District of Mexico City watching how everyone moved faster than I.

As painful as it was to get evidence, this did explain why I couldn’t impregnate anyone in both worlds through what I estimated were four millennia combined of experience, falling in love, then failing to make a family of my own.

I made a mental checklist of my available caches of coin and precious metals—and was reminded by the ones keeping count that they were dwindling as the bribes rose up in price.

Best to think of something to make them last before leaving this world for the next one.

But first … .

There was a ‘taquería’ joint that was calling for me to drown my sorrow and hunger in delicious local cuisine.

A shadow followed me at a distance—so accustomed as I was to such a perception, did not bother in paying attention to it.

Winged, horned and quadruped … it followed me at a distance as if it were a Latin-American ‘black dog’.

An aurora adorned the night sky in the northern edge of the Umbral Crown Seal, where Galeas and I stood watch, chatting amongst us to ward off the boredom. The stars shined brightly through the multicolored phenomena, giving an unusual color to the snow and ice covering the mountains further north of our shack.

Stones keeping the cold-warding spell into position made this spot snowless though the cold still seeped in, making it look as if a brown spot marked the center of the plains, and it would be correct.

Within our relative refuge, Galeas sought every now and then to distort my surroundings to make a joke at my expense, or make me uncomfortable at the least which was how he practiced his own magic … and I practised counter-spelling his efforts and harnessing my own class of Chaos.

From a flash came tentacles that gave off rap music and was hatching tiny little grey aliens inside their flying dishes—swiftly replaced by the chilled wind-blades of the air itself with a pulse of my own magic. From another flash of my son, the soil sourced dwarves made of ice brandishing what I believed were elves tied to their icicles, clashing them against their shields and making the elves weep childish poems that grated the nerves with shrill voices.

Unfortunately for me, my way of thinking didn’t lead itself well to casting Chaos Magic with harmless results.

My son laughed at the result of my attempt—what appeared to be toy soldiers fighting each other wielding tiny horses made of one piece, their colors being too suspiciously similar to the ponies though their factions were too different … too feral to be the same.

I may have thought them to be eyesores clashing with the whiteness of the snow plain.

My son thought them hilarious, the results of the cantrip coming from my subconscious belief at what was ‘chaos’.

Can’t say I fault him, as there haven’t been any sapient in this world that I felt was more insane that ponykind. Not after what happened to Dream Valley, and how it is now frozen beneath several meters of ice—with the warring majority of its inhabitants long ago frozen to death without any regard to their lives.

The wind cut through our souls as the chill extended, testing the capability of the cantrip to its limits while Galeas watched with interest the new arrivals slowly coming our way that we were supposed to assist.

‘Harmony … what is your real goal in leading these fools here of all places?’

I pushed my thoughts aside, as some equines separated from the main group and slowly made their way towards us. If I’m correct, they’ll be a cabal of impromptu leaders, being led by a couple of unicorn … and earth pony?

I blinked at that in disbelief.

That said couple had a resolute expression didn’t deter me from comparing their faces to those that the pug breed of dog has.

I may be uncharitable, but I long lost any sense of patience when dealing with their kind.

Out loud we welcomed them to our relatively warm spot, right at the center of the seal occupying the entire plain.

The first couple that came first—the pug-ponies—had quickly dismissed their expression when they saw me scowling at them and backing it up with raw disgust at being close to them.

Despite that, we were civilized. So, from pleasantries came their plans and why where they here.

They were being led by a vision of building a city made of crystal—a city that would be protected from the weather by the warmth of their loving hearts. Personally? I believed them to be fools by their insane designs, and Harmony even more for filling their heads with nonsense.

“Allow me to understand this.” I stood in front of the crowd leaders—an unusual mix of earth ponies and unicorns, three unicorns and four earth ponies. “You wish to replace us as wardens of these grounds, and build on top of it a magically sensitive city that will be protected … by what again?”

“A barrier that will be powered by the love of our hearts for our fellow ponies as a community, which will not only protect us from the Windigos, but keep your prisoner trapped as you designed, Warden of Darkness.” The former pug-stallion stated in what I believe he felt was a decisive tone.

“Love.” I glared at them in disbelief. “You want me to risk having the abomination trapped underneath be freed by such a fleeting emotion, such a faulty design? What, you’ll sit on a throne all day and night basking in the love and adoration of your band of vagrants, and with that faith and love flowing in to back your … power,” I coughed in disbelief, “you’ll power up a barrier that will span several hundred gallops by your own selves?”

They looked at one another and quickly huddled into a whispering crowd … .

…

This time the same couple of pug-ponies came to my encounter, the others following at a short range.

“Harmony guided us here, and revealed to us that Love is the direct counter to the Umbral Crown. That said”, he shuffled uncomfortably, “we have a resource that might help, but it isn’t intelligent nor sentient—it is incredibly risky to use as a focus as it cannot distinguish between emotions.”

I raised an eyebrow at that quick change of attitude coming from them.

We might be able to work with them

I wonder what they have in mind

My greater interest lies in what is their ‘foci’ they speak of

I nodded in acquiescence. “Very well, let’s hear out what it is about.”

The group nodded amongst each other, then procured what appeared to be a rough-hewn semiprecious stone the size of my head presented by a dark blue pony with moon markings on its spotted flanks and sorrow in her eyes.

“This is the foci we speak of. We discovered it on our way through the mountains … .”

“We want you to leave this place, Warden of the Dark.”

I blinked after hearing that order … and rose my eyes from my workshop to the face of the mare leading the crowd, all glaring daggers at me.

“Why should I?” I question them back.

A mare from the crowd yells at me. “We know how you murdered the former rulers for a dark ritual of yours, and we cannot abide your evil miasma no more in this city of light and hope!”

Several heavily armored ponies—clad with designs derived from the originals I taught their grandfathers—stood in the way of the crowd … only to turn my way and gruffly repeat the same nonsense order as the fools.

I started gathering power to fight them … until Galeas appeared in a puff of confetti and a cloud of chocolate-and-salted-fish smelling smoke. Naturally, whenever he appeared the ponies turned skittish though I wonder why he chose now to make an appearance. “Dad! Can we leave on a journey!? That was why they were supposed to stay, don’t you remember!?”

One of the leaders of said crowd stuttered at that. “Ho-hold on a second—wait, Sir Galeas! We aren’t tossing you out, but that wicked creature!”

Once I met snakes that puffed up when threatening something into leaving, and Galeas’s reprise of that shut the crowd up. “That wicked creature is my father, you nincompoop! How dare you lot turn on him as if he were a Windigo in the flesh!?”

Realizing at once that Galeas was right, and that our time here was up—I rose up and closed the entrance to my now former workshop to make preparations to leave.

Though it galled me that the so-called ‘royal promise’ wasn’t worth the paper it was written on it wasn’t really worth fighting over, so I summoned several Crusaders and Imps to help gather everything up into my swiftly summoned trunk.

I guess now the most dangerous of the Abominations would be now under the watch of ponies … .

Oh dear lord, the most dangerous of all Abominations will be under the watch of these ponies.

I shuddered at that realization.

‘Well, I hope that Galeas is interested in traveling westward … the seal is strong, and the upkeep won’t be heavy on their shoulders. It won’t be as if they’ll be suborned from the inside by a shard of the Umbral Crown!’

With a lighter heart, I decided that if we ever made a home, it would be in more hospitable soil.

Ponies … were all bastards to this day.

Within the shadows of my former workshop, an equine face watched me go with wretchedness etched onto her eyes.

A multitude of rotting corpses stood in front of me, at my sides … and instincts long instilled warned me about the ones on my back.

Unlike before, I now stood before them as a worthless quadruped instead of my usual bipedal self.

Where before I could stand above the rotting, bleeding, crushed, burned, dismembered and impaled bodies … now I stood below their height, now I was the focus of their hatred as a lesser being. Nevertheless, I steeled himself for what was to come, as a change that I couldn’t describe had occurred.

This is not the same nightmare that has assailed me since before arriving at this gods-forsaken world.

First, there was the chanting coming from the crowd—buffeting me from all sides, burrowing beneath my skin and attempting to break my resolve.

Murderer

Trickster

Child-killer

Kingslayer

Monster

Failure

Bastard

Arrogant twit

Self-righteous monster

Why!?

Are you proud of yourself!?

Everywhere you go … .

You leave bodies behind!

You deserve no future, as you took it from us and our families!

We will always remind you of your blood-soaked ways, you will never be allowed respite!

And look at yourself now! Now, you resemble your newest victims! The ones that you believed yourself superior to!

Where is your superiority now, Ashley Riot—no, not Ashley Riot … Iron Ash the vapid pony freakshow!

What is this madness!? Mister Ashley, do not heed their words!

Jeers and mocking laughter echoed from the multitude as more joined their numbers of bleeding corpses. Unlike before, this new multitude was one formed out of ponies and other quadrupeds, minotaurs, griffons, dragons, in an assortment of sizes and ages.

For some reason amongst their number was a weirdly familiar alicorn ruler of blue hues, looking around in horrified shock.

What is this nightmare!? This isn’t right! It isn’t answering to my magic!

You killed everyone I loved!

You drew the army of the Sun Princess towards our humble city!

You murdered her soldiers in cold blood, even those that begged for mercy!

Parent-slayer! You made our children watch as you murdered us as an example!

Where is your so-called justice!? You deserve oblivion, to not even have your works be remembered!

You monster claim to be saint, yet you’re worse than anything that Tartarus has ever produced!

You made an oath to join the troops of Niall for the time of its need, and yet you were not there when we were crushed!

Oathbreaker!

They made you royalty at Minos with the blood of Niall, and yet you hide the evidence beneath your cot! Coward! You were entrusted with Royal Authority, and yet you hid it out as if it were something shameful!

Disgraceful!

I loved you, you heartless wretch!

You’re The Vagrant, unwanted everywhere! Warden of The Dark is too big a title for one such as thee!

Mister Riot, none of this is real! Stop this self-flagellation!

I steeled myself and addressed the blood-thirsty crowd as I did whenever this nightmare rose up to bring bile to my throat.

“I never claimed to have righteousness at my side, nor sanctity for that matter!” I waved my arm—hoof at this point—in front of me as I snarled back, “I did what I could, the ones I slew I admit to having done so for either King, State or my own selfishness. I am no god, I am fallible as anyone can be!”

Shadows began wrapping up around the environment—cloaking the myriad of corpses as I spoke out, “I know my failings, which is why I keep in mind, my victims … the ones I failed to protect, and the ones I loved and failed badly in keeping safe … .”

Mister Riot … . !

“I have many regrets, and will outlive your very world while keeping them in mind … so spare me your accusations, you shadows of my existence!” I cried out in anger, “I fully acknowledge you’re my self-loathing and guilt, and you’ll find no purchase in my existence! Begone, fiends of my mind!”

Wait!

Everything turned black as the shadows covered me—leaving only the burning Blood Sin shining through on both sides of my arse as all twisted and vanished.

I stood still, watching in disbelief at the compact disc case in front of me.

“Mister Brannigan?” my employer’s voice cut through the storm of chaos that was my mind now.

“Yes, sir?” I answered back, not taking my eyes off the case.

The gruff, potbellied mountain of muscles I called boss came to a side and hummed at my object of interest. “I believe that this is not a music CD, Ash.”

My eyebrow raised a bit as I finally shrugged off the existential crisis that I just went through. “I agree, though methinks that your eldest would appreciate it.”

He laughed out loud before waggling his eyebrows. “Good try, Ash—but we both know that he’s too focused on that ‘Lara Croft’ if you get my meaning!” He then did a double take at the picture gracing the case. “Well, if that ain’t the world’s biggest coincidence then I don’t know what is! He’s your cartoon twin!”

I smiled at that response—and made a resolution to see if that Playstation game had more than a passing similarity with my own life.

After he slammed his hammer-sized palm on my back good-humoredly we moved away, leaving behind the case with the words ‘Vagrant Story’ and a cartoonish depiction of myself and Callo Merlose in front of it tinted into a partial sepia tone.

A snout brushed past the case, only for the scene to change again … .

A shattered mirror, and what appeared to be the remains of a human body that was used as a shield against a hatchet-wielding maniac was splattered all over the wood floor.

The body was mangled beyond recognition, torn into pieces that no longer fit into one another … only for a blood trail to lead someplace else.

Within a darkened corner there was a pony shaped figure that had parts missing—showing its internal organs somewhat working but slowly but inexorably slowing down its pulsing. Where parts met, its bits glued with darkness and some rainbow hues flowing through the multitude of cracks—and plenty of the ‘material’ glueing him or outright replacing parts of him was distributed amongst three … sculptures.

Within the shadows, blue eyes watched in horror at the scene laid in front of her.

The pony-shaped figure limped towards the broken mirror and watched itself … cheek ‘stitches’ tearing themselves up at his sight as he screamed at the sight.

The Blood Sin shined red as if unaffected by his condition—raising wafts of burning flesh and fur into the air as they shone from their new places close to his butt.

The shambling figure stumbled upon the sculptures and witnessed their visage, head barely lifting itself from its position to examine them.

One of them was a cloud of darkness producing shadow ponies—including one very familiar stallion amongst their midst, crooked horn, fanged snarl and purple, green and red smoke pouring out of his eyes while wearing a crown and ermine cloak over his armor. At his side were the Nightmare and another shade that was similar to a smoky, inky stallion posing at the unicorn stallion’s flanks as if escorting him.

What is the meaning of this?! Why are Sombra and Nightmare Moon depicted in there!? He never met them personally! And what is that third figure? We’ve not met it before … .

Shambling to the next sculpture, the figure was overcome with the same chorus of accusations and rage emanating from the cloud of darkness—briefly falling down … and yet forcing himself to move forward until he rose and examined the second sculpture.

Three-toed and fingered, mouths opened up into a snarl that would have made a Timberwolf move backwards … the robe-clad figure rose its staff and sword, surrounded by effigies of thousands of beings similar to it. All of them looked as if having risen from a grave, and all of them looked enraged. The Blood Sin hanged over them as if it were an unholy halo, showing their connection to The Dark.

The sound of spellfire rending flesh, rock and reality itself made itself known amongst the howls and snarls of rage and unfettered hatred for all living beings made the pony crawl away from it—and towards the last of the sculptures.

A skeleton playing puppeteer, strings hanging from its hands that flowed into many—amongst them a miniature figure of the Moon Princess changing half-way into Nightmare Moon, a draconequus torn apart with one part gone missing into the air, strings entering a frail-looking stallion forcing him into a smoke-and-ink figure, and a menagerie of monsters coming from summoning circles depicting the Blood Sin in their middle, strings flowing into them as if pulling them into Reality.

The entity laughed out loud as the sculpture ‘moved’ its pieces haphazardly. The broken pony just stared at it and moved onto the rubble of what was once a statue.

He stood and watched over the remains of one of the heads of what once might have been a Hydra. He slammed his hoof over it, crushing it to dust before said hoof turned into a mangled mess that slowly stitched itself together.

He stumbled upon the floor—making his way towards the broken mirror, point which Luna couldn’t resist any further and stepped noiselessly into the light.

Without raising his head, Iron Ash asked plaintively to the air, “I believed that any intruder would be stopped by your worthless carcasses. Explain yourselves.”

Luna stopped herself as several equine ghosts appeared from thin air looking worried—and once they set their eyes on her, they turned fearful as they moved towards Ash.

One of them whimpered, “Sir, we honestly didn’t know—”

They were all at once dispelled as Iron Ash turned to face Luna … and she could do nothing but gulp at the horrible sight now exposed to the dim candlelight fluttering in this chamber.

“Enjoying yourself at the fruit of your labor, monster?” He asked, eyebrow raised as blood flowed from the stitches keeping said eyebrow in place. A face with parts of flesh missing, teeth exposed along with the blood red of muscle tissue shown where it shouldn’t have, body in a similar state of disrepair.

Luna felt tears coming to her eyes, and spoke out plaintively to him … but no words came out of her.

Mister Riot … nopony wanted this—not like this. Twilight is remorseful at what she’s done, and so is everypony. Please … let us help you, since we have failed since the start to uphold our values towards you—much less behaving like we were meant to be.

“I see … nothing of value came out. No great loss, that.” He snorted in a horselike fashion which froze Luna, “get out of my head … .” At this point his body started to fall apart as the ‘glue’ keeping him together flowed away until his eyes shone brightly like embers in the dark, “and never come back ‘lest I slay you within my mind!!”

Ghosts of every equine and quadruped touched by The Tainted Dark swarmed her—giving no quarter to her as she attempted in vain to control the dream to pacify it.

As she started feeling torn apart she screamed and vanished from the now-breaking-dream as Iron Ash stood watching the dream unmake itself.

Darkness … cut off by light turning everything red in sight.

The Equestrian Vagrant.

by FTR2017

Warnings from the Dark (Edited by AuthorGenesis)

Dark Memories (Edited by AuthorGenesis)

Summoning Dark (Edited by AuthorGenesis)

Dark Souls (Edited by AuthorGenesis)

Remembrance: Memoirs from The Dark (Unedited Version)

Remembrance: The City of Darkness (Unedited)

Dark Tidings: Terror from the night (Unedited)

Dark Tidings: From the darkness they strike

Interlude the First: Broken Hopes, Shattered Dreams