> Captains, Queens, and Princesses
>  by protopony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prolog : Paperwork
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Twilight's quill ceased transferring words to parchment as it was placed back in its ink well.  She tilted her head side to side and rolled her shoulders, her stiff neck protested the movement.  She took a deep breath and gathered her soreness, frustration, and fatigue held it all for a count of five and cast it all aside in a short crisp breath.  

Six hours! Six long hours locked away in Canterlot Castle.  Going over tax law, property deeds, funding requests, anything and everything that had been shelved or set aside in the many, many open court requests that had been brought before Princess Celestia in the last year.  As good at governing as Celestia was Twilight had suspected that her back log of items to be completed would have been much shorter.  Celestia's attention to detail coupled with her remarkable memory contributed greatly to the efficiency of the Equestrian government.  Not to mention her sincere desire for all of her subjects to be happy, Twilight suspected that was what really drove her mentor to keep the cogs of government well greased, freely accessible and as fair as possible to everypony.

Honestly, that’s what Twilight wanted as well.  An Equestria where everycreature could find their own special talent and be happy.  A land where friends could gather at the end of the week and just be whatever they wanted to be, or do what ever they wanted.  Movie night, game night, club night, or study night.  She frowned, okay that last wasn’t always as popular as she would have hopped but there was hope for some group of friends out there, wasn’t there?

Her frown caught the attention of the mare sitting on the opposite side of the large oak table the four princesses were seated at.  Papers and ledgers covered nearly every inch of the grand table.  It had only been in the last hour that Celsetia had requested that the last remaining table leaf be inserted into it, bringing it from comfortable dinner table size to almost grand ball room proportions.  

“If even dear Twilight has had enough, then I have decided it is time for a break!” Princess Luna brought her hoof down with finality on the table top, shifting papers and blowing the top off a nearby stack to flutter lazily to down to the floor. She had obviously noticed the frown on Twilight's face and in typical Luna fashion jumped on the chance to bring some levity to the room.

“Oops.” She noted.

Princess Celestia looked up from the tax book she was currently referencing but her quill remained writing notes at a furious pace filling several lines in a blur, her golden aura surrounding the quill and paper flashed briefly red as she heated the ink drying it in an instant so it didn’t run down the suspended page.  Her eyes glanced briefly to Twilight but settled on the younger Princess of the Night.

“Luna please, I’d rather not have to work on the rest of this room all alone.” Celestia’s plea was as good-natured as it was sincere.  “While not terribly important these papers do represent the cares and wishes of many ponies who took time and effort to attend Day Court.”  Her smile deepened.  “You might even say they represent the dreams of the populace.”  It was Luna’s turn to frown.  “As the defender of the dream realm this job should, by rights, be yours alone.”  Celestia winked.

“Actually,” began Twilight missing the glares and winks going on across the table, “Most of these documents only require a signature or stamp after a certain date.  In fact, today is the optimal date for almost 90% of everything I’ve personally looked at. Those are remarkably unlikely odds.” She actually began sniffing the Parks and Rec request she had just been looking at.  “Amazing how anything fishy smells like Discord considering he doesn’t have any fish parts.”  Her muzzle scrunched up.  “Nope just parchment and fresh ink.”

Luna looked scandalized “So the trickster was not responsible, then it was you alone that conspired to lock us all in here to do YOUR paperwork!?”

Celestia’s smile began to falter.  “I conspired to cram us all into this room together to take care of some minor issues together.  So we could counsel together.  Then maybe have a nice dinner together.”  Luna’s indignation melted away as Celestia's voice grew lower and lower.  “Day Court takes so much of my week.  Cadence governing the empire so far away and she's a new mother.  And Twilight being Headmistress of her own school…I..I just…”

“You usually handle this so well.”  Luna remarked quietly.  “I have never know you to admit so easily to your own hardship.”  

Twilight nodded.  “You saved all this work for this particular day so we could spend time together?”

The warmth and brightness began to return to Celestia's face until she was smiling again.  “Most of this just had to go through comity or wait for the surveys or results to come back before they could be finalized.  As it all piled up it looked more and more daunting for a single princess to do alone.”

Twilight caught on.  “How much sense it makes then to get all four of us working to finish all of Equestiras paper work. Especially since my school year is over!  Night Court is still on break because of Nightmare Night.  And Cadence is… drooling?”

The nods From Celestia and Luna abruptly stopped as they both looked over to the pink Alicorn of Love.  Indeed sitting at her side of the table The Crystal Princess had a very un-princess like puddle of drool forming on the cover sheet of one stack of paper. Celestia smiled, “Perhaps it IS time for a break.”

“Oh, there’s no need to stop.  I could go for another hour or two just like this.”  Cadence slurred.  Though it was clear she was physically sitting at the same table, it was equally clear that Princess Cadence of the Crystal Empire was a million miles away. The proclamation she was currently rewriting for Celestia lay on the table in its fourth version.  Her quill elegantly copying the words from the third draft into the flowing formal script that would be given to the palace archives after being read.  Her content smile faltered just a bit as the pink aura around her shoulders found another stubborn grouping of sore muscles.  She grimaced for just a second as Shining Armor manipulated his aura just enough to bring the right amount of pressure and heat to chase the cramp away.  Cadence’s contented sigh was this close to being inappropriate for the setting.

“Not all of us have the luxuries you currently are hording Princess.” Celestia’s voice was playful but was that just a touch of envy that Twilight could hear?  Shining Armor just smiled and shrugged form his place at attention against the wall with his two counter parts.  The Prince/Captain of the Crystal Empire/Guard stood at parade rest dressed in his leather barding which had been painted a light metallic purple both to complement Cadences colors and to offer him the freedom he desired of light armor, there we perks, after all, to being the Prince/Captain and not just the Captain.  He supposed that the other castle guards, his former squad no less, might have thought less of him for not being completely armed and armored during these meetings but he mentally shrugged the thought away, he was in a room with the most powerful ponies in Equestria.  If anything threatened the four of them it wouldn’t matter what he was wearing.  

“Captain Flash!” Luna called.  The captain immediately snapped to attention.  

Shining’s casual approach to the meeting was in direct contrast to the pegasus to his side.  Captain Flash Sentry of the Canterlot Guard was strict, no-nonsense, and by the book.  Shinning suspected that in another life he and Twilight would have hit it off and been a wonderfully boring couple.  Reading books about dating and courtship.  Proper guides on when and how to get married.  It was clear that becoming a Princess and having her life turned upside down was the best thing for Twilight.  Flash was a good pony, it was true, but the speed with which he entered then left Twilight's life was just a little too convenient.   

“You’re Highness?” He asked.

“Come, massage my shoulders.  If I must continue to work then I will do so like the heathens of the north.” Lunas voice was harsh but the smile on her lips and the twinkle in her eyes gave her away. Not really use to or comfortable with the banter Captain Flash fell back on  good old reliable protocol.

“I apologize Princess Luna but I don’t think that would be appropriate.” He saluted smartly.  Luna sighed.  Shining Armor rolled his eyes.

“Perhaps our newest Captain would be more accommodating?”  Luna continued, not bothered or surprised by Flash's response. “Come and ease my tension that I may continue to drudge through this accursed paper work.”

Shining watched carefully.  Captain Fizzelpop Berrytwist sat at his other side and made no indication that the Princess of the Night had even addressed her.  Her eyes remained closed and her posture relaxed.  Her dark armor bore Twilight's six pointed star proudly on the chest piece but any other indication of friendliness in the pony was absent.

“My magic is not that precise.” Fizzelpop said, hardly even moving her lips.

Luna's eyes narrowed.  “You have hooves, do you not?”  

Fizzelpop’s eyes opened and met those of the Alicorn of Dreams.  “If Princess Twilight wills it.” she said, again evenly with no excess movement beside her lips.  Luna looked pointedly to the smallest Princess and waited. Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow.  Outwardly Luna supported Twilight in her decision to add the newly pardoned lieutenant of the Storm King to her ranks.  Luna herself knew of the power of forgiveness for misdeeds and her gratitude for the younger Princess of Friendship in that regard gave her the will to trust Twilight.  Still, it never hurt to be wary, this pony did beat three princesses in less than ninety seconds when the Storm King had sent her.  True it was by surprise, but isn’t that the BEST time to attack somepony?

Twilight smiled, “I don’t mind continuing.”  Recognizing that the meeting was going to deteriorate Twilight played along.  “Go ahead Fizzle.”  There was no hesitation, the dark captain stood up from her seated position and stalked around the table to stand behind Princess Luna.  Six pairs of eyes followed her every move.  

Flash shifted his weight to his right back leg just in case he needed to spring forward.  Text book move, Shining thought to himself, but you told the whole world you did it.  He followed the unicorn captain with his eyes only studying her movements as she stalked around the table.  Most guards thudded, mostly earth ponies, a few pegasi seem to glide as they walked along the ground but more of them simply flew, feeling more comfortable with their weight on their wings.  Shining was told he strutted but that was usually from Cadence.  Fizzle on the other hoof, truly stalked.  Shining was reminded of a great hunting cat he had seen on an early deployment to the Zebra tribal lands.  

Though mostly covered by her barding Fizzle's muscles we easily noticeable.  Larger than most unicorns, her bare neck was corded and tight, with no extra skin there.  Her forelegs rippled as she walked, her hoof beats were too light to tell if her shoes were weighted but Shining didn’t doubt they were, probably even sharpened on the outside edge too. 

Her rump and flanks told a different story.  One he was sure that Flash was not reading.  Glancing quickly at the yellow pegasus confirmed his suspicions. Flash's eyes hadn’t left Fizzles fore legs.  Shining winced internally either Flash was an idiot and didn’t know that the most dangerous part of any pony was the hind quarters, which was unlikely, or Flash felt self-conscious about staring at a mares rump for more than a few seconds, childish.  Most earth bound ponies would walk with their weight on the off fore leg, leaving the dominant hoof free to grab or punch if necessary.  This also left the pony free to spin and buck extremely fast. Fizzle carried her weight in the middle of her barrel.  Shining suspected that the dark captain like to get in close and probably had a mean jab-hook combo.

“Sit on your haunches.” Fizzlepop neither commanded nor asked, she just spoke as she stepped out of her shoes.  None the less, Luna complied with a smirk.  “Spread your forelegs out, tuck your wings in tight.” Fizzle continued.  Luna did so looking over to Celestia then Twilight with amusement in her eyes. Slowly the dark unicorn moved up behind the Princess and moved her own forelegs under Luna's and rested her hooves gently on the back of Luna’s neck.  There the Captain of the Twilight Guard stood holding the Princess of the Night in a full nelson.  Five seconds passed. The other five ponies in the room watched as the seconds ticked by nopony saying anything or even daring to move.  Five more seconds passed.  Luna had tensed up the moment Fizzles strong hooves touched her, but as she stood there and time marched on confusion replaced apprehension.  Just as her body relaxed and she was about to ask if the new captain was enjoying herself Fizzlepop flowed into movement.  

A powerful twitch of her hind legs and a quick movement of her forelegs brought Luna up then down in less than half a second.  Her wings exploded outward from her sides as a series of pops raced up her spine and neck stopping at the base of her skull.  A strangled yelp escaped the patron of the night then, silence. Her taunt wings drooped to her sides and she fell forward onto the table her eyes wide, forelegs spread, barrel, neck and head cushioned by the paper gathered upon it.  For a few agonizing seconds nopony moved.  As if held by some magic all present watched as the muscles in Luna's hind legs relaxed.  The princess of the night began to slide backward off the table, her chest and fore legs pulling piles of parchment along with her.  She fell to her haunches and, carried by the momentum on to her back. “Poomphf” went her wings and they flopped onto the marble floor.  Her wide eyes starred sightless at the ceiling.  Pieces of parchment drifted down off the table settling around the fallen princess until all was still.


******


Far to the north in the Crystal Empire, hidden in the shadow of the Crystal Palace sat the crystal guard barracks.  The home away from home for the one hundred on duty palace guards and their fifty support staff. The mood at the barracks was jovial, the royal family was away and most government functions had been suspended. It was the perfect time to put the barracks back in order without the worry of the Princess or Prince making a surprise inspection.  Doors and windows were propped open as the barracks became a hive of activity.  Guard ponies emptied weapon and armor lockers.  The maintenance teams inspecting walls and roofs for cracks and leaks.  Grounds keepers began trimming trees, mowing lawns, and replanting any plant or flower that had been trampled or had wilted.  The small army were of one mind and worked happily together to look good for their leaders.

Blue Berry was no exception, as assistant to the garrison cook her job today was to inventory and resupply the larder in the basement of the barracks.  Her clipboard floated under her nose as she exited the kitchens and made her way to the supply gate.  The crystal ponies attached to the many carts just outside the gate were merrily conversing among themselves.  

Blue Berry sighed.  Civilians.  Loud, undisciplined, un-groomed.  She opened the gate and began directing the various wagons around the loading area. Crystal berries, potatoes, carrots to the freezers.  Flower, rice, cornmeal to the above ground storage.  Blue Berry directed for more than an hour until there were more wagons leaving than arriving. She had filled her clipboard with signatures and was about to add her own to it when a final pony stopped before her. 

“I’m sorry.” she began “But I can’t sign you out if you had nothing to bring in, my list is al-”

“Her Highness,” a deep voice interrupted, “has some special instructions for her dinner.”  Blue Berry’s magic winked out and as she dropped her clip board and locked eyes with the speaker.  The white Pegasus with muted grey hair that stood before her didn’t seem to care enough to hear her.  “Her dinner, desert and snack are going to spoil if somepony doesn’t get it out of the oven. Use all the pepper you have, it must be out of the oven tonight so I may have it tomorrow.”  His message delivered he spun on his hooves took a running start and flew away.  Blue Berry didn’t notice.

Her Clipboard forgotten Blue Berry walked through the loading doors into the kitchens.  Cooks and assistants were busy storing the newly delivered food. She passed a maintenance team inspecting the ovens, filling wood boxes, and ponies washing dishes.  She passed through the dining room doors and out onto the main floor.  Ponies polishing tables and buffing floors jumped out of her way as she strode with singular purpose to the front door.  

She nearly bowled over the gardening team that were working on the front lawn of the main mess hall.  She stood for a moment and scanned the workers until she found who she was looking for.  Once located her determined walk continued until she came to an older earth pony stallion slowly pruning a hedge, his orange body was racked with age and his hind legs twitched and shook as they supported his full weight and the heavy pruning shears in his forehoofs.

“Oh! Blue it’s good to see you.”  He slowly brought the sheers down to lean against them, resting his worn body.  “You decided what to make this hedge yet?  I’ve been squaring it for you for almost a year now.”

Blue nodded, “Yes Mended I think I do.  I’d like Canterlot Castle.”

Mending Fences nodded, “Well it’s been a awhile since I’ve seen that place.  I think it’s a bit to large to carve out of this bush.  Maybe I could take some liberties with it?”  Mending took a wet stone form the small cart next the hedge and began running it over the cutting edge of his shears.

“As long as it has the four main towers on it that’ll be fine, Mending.”  Mending tossed the wet stone back into his cart and stared up at the bush planning his first few cuts.  Without another word Blue Berry retraced her steps form the hedge row back through the mess hall and kitchen through the loading dock and right to where she had previously dropped her clip board.  Her green aura surrounded it and she glanced at it to make sure all was in order.  A deep ‘GONG’ caught her attention and she looked up at the rod iron fence separating the barracks from the city access road. More ponies and more carts were waiting on the other side, impatiently. Blue Berry frowned.  Civilians.

Four hours later Blue Berry walked along an old train access road heading out of the city.  The road was little know and even less used.  It would eventually leave the Crystal Basin and head south.  Blue Berry broke into a run as she saw a small maintenance shack come into view.  As she got closer and her hoof beats became louder the door opened and Mending Fences stepped out followed by two Crystal guard ponies in full barding carrying spears. 

They moved to flank Blue as she ran by.  She passed the trio and they began to run alongside her. The guards were slower at first as their armor slowed them down but they gained speed as spears were tossed aside and barding removed.  Soon the four were running together down the access road their equipment and cloths cast aside.  One would think it odd to see the quartet tearing up the earth as they ran past considering two were pegasi and one of them was old enough to be their grandfather.

One would be further shocked when as one the four burst into bright green flames and crystal coats and fur were replaced with smooth dark chitin.  Feathered wings became ragged and insectine.  One spiraled horn became twisted and bent.  The furious sound of hoof beats was replaced by an equally furious buzzing.  The four changelings took flight and followed the road as it wound through the mountains. South out of the rocky basin that marked the natural borders of the Crystal Empire.  South toward warmer climates.  Toward Canterlot.
> Part 1 : Broken Roads
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I consider the death of King Sombra one of my greatest failures. 

I was so optimistic, so sure of myself.  Why shouldn’t I be? I had  defeated Nightmare Moon. Stood against her in single combat.  Redeemed her.  Celestia admitted she had no idea that Luna, her sister, was even still trapped inside that monster.  I had done it, I had arrived, I had surpassed my mentors exceptions.  She was proud of me, she…she smiled at me.

I peaked.  It was all downhill from there.

I should have noticed with how I started to handle Discord. My arrogance, my hubris.  Discord was a god!  A literal god of chaos and I stood there like I had a chance, like I was a force to be reckoned with.  It’s lucky that he’s more trickster than destroyer I’ll say that much.  Only the timely intervention of Celestia saved us, saved me.

Then the Wedding.  I’m still so ashamed at how I acted, how I threw the biggest fit that’s probably ever been thrown in the throne room.  Once again I was sure that I alone had the answers.  That I was right while everypony around me was wrong.  I set the advice of my friends aside, I set them aside and nearly ruined every relationship I’d ever made.  

I should have realized that my friends were the constant in all of those cases.  That’s why we always get separated.  Even the villains know we’re strongest together.  They were always there and always willing to help.  I should have learned from them.  I should have elevated them as much as they elevated me, as much as I elevated Celestia.  But I didn’t learn. 

Had I always been so blind?  So full of myself?  

Sombra was different.  He wanted to subjugate the entire world.  Was that worse than freezing it by bringing eternal night?  He didn’t fool around either, not at all like Discord.  He didn’t try to break our wills or torture our minds.  He wasn’t protecting his brood, or ensuring the survival of his line, like Chrysalis. He went right for the crystal heart so he could win.  Was that more or less merciful than the others?

 It didn’t matter.  I still didn’t learn.  After seeing, after knowing how important the six of us are together I insisted that I do it alone.  I almost doomed the whole empire, maybe even Equestria herself, perhaps the world. For what?  Because Celestia told me too?  Because I had to prove something to her?  Because I had to prove something to myself?  Was my self-worth really so wrapped up in how Celestia saw me that I’d doom us all for just a chance to please her?  

Unfortunately the answer was yes.  I tried! Oh, how I tried to solve the riddles, find the heart, restore the heart.  Confront Sombra.  Redeem him if I could, imprison him if I couldn't.  Nopony told me, “Kill if necessary.” Was on that list.  

We killed him.  We ended his life.  It took far too long for that to set in.  I was so disappointed that I had failed Celestia I didn’t think about him until months after the whole incident.  All that guilt and anxiety hit me at once.  I couldn’t eat.  I couldn’t sleep.  I when I did the nightmares came.  Trapped in that crystal prison watching helplessly as the dark king took my friends one by one.  Then he’d come for me, and begin to laugh as those crystals grew larger and larger until they crushed me.  Then the dreams got worse.  We started to win those dream battles and ever so slowly Sombra's scream of rage at being defeated got more pained and desperate.  We were hurting him torturing him.  It wasn’t long before he was crying for mercy and begging to be spared.

I asked myself countless questions during those months.  It was Shining and Cadence who actually did the deed. Did that mean I was innocent? Or maybe it absolved me altogether?  Shiny was a soldier, one of the best.  I knew that he’d gone on deployments and maneuvers.  Diamond dogs and griffins did occasionally attack our supply lines and outposts. It would be foalish to think that he’d never taken a single life, even by accident.  Yes Shining must have done it?  Or perhaps it was Cadence’s fault, she had hinted that her past was sordid and not everything was sunshine and ladybugs.  Maybe it was her fault?

Besides the evil king was really asking for it.  He wanted to enslave us or worse.  He wouldn’t have listened to me or changed his ways.  He wanted to rule the empire and Equestria. He deserved it.  He didn’t give us a choice.

If he had, I’d have done my best.  Nopony is beyond redemption, all can change if they want to. If only I’d been given the chance to show him.  I’d helped Luna, surely Sombra wasn’t as bad as Nightmare Moon.  Where were those dreams, I wondered.  The ones where I’d traded my simple life as Ponyville's librarian for one teaching the king in the north all the things he didn’t know. Kindness and understanding. Friendship and Love.  Ethics and Economics.  Vocabulary and sentence structure.

Thinking those things actually helped.  Imagining my life as some twisted version of “The King and I”. Kept the dark feelings and the nightmares at bay.  If only all of life's problems could be helped by the correct application of musical theater.

Ultimately this failure, this…crime?  Has defined me more than I care to admit.  There has to be a way to save everypony.  No creature should be left out in the dark and cold where so many corrupting shadows wait to turn that fear, anger, and depression into suffering and hardship.  My old graduating class at Celestia's school was one taste of casting that darkness out and replacing it with genuine friendship and comradery.  And even though that wasn’t the success that I needed, it was Moondancer who took that final leap across the chasm of fear to take back what I’d removed from her life.

Which brings me to my biggest challenges: Starlight and Fizzlepop. I can’t help but see how both of their lives were defined by the lack of friendship.  Without her best friend Starlight would have destroyed everything even unto time itself.  Tempest helped the Storm King enslave the entire nation not just for the promise of her horn restored but in retaliation for the betrayal she suffered from her friends as a foal.

What happens if I fail either of them?  Will they fall back into their old ways?  Will my betrayal doom all the world? Am I doing the right thing? Am I the right pony to teach them about friendship when it’s clear that I myself haven’t even learned these lessons? 

I suppose that I can only continue to learn with each and every friend I have and hope and trust that WHEN problems arise we can work them out like friends should and not hide the parts we don’t want others to see.

Just like I’m doing.

-Twilight Sparkle
> Chapter 1 : Dinner conversation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flash Sentry took mental stock of the situation.  It wasn’t looking good.  His career in the royal guard might take a slight detour, “The Unforgiving Desert” actually had a nice ring to it.  Princess Luna was laid out spread-eagle half under the great oak table.  Her pupils were pin pricks in a great field of solid white, unblinking and slowing drying out.  Her normally ethereal mane of stars, had frozen in place and while still defying all known laws of gravity was no longer blowing in an unseen wind.  

One Princess down, not an unheard of situation. Technically, Flash reasoned to himself, guard captains for the past thousand years had been one princess down. Even Shining Armor, a living legend among guard ponies, had been one princess down for half his stint as Captain.

Twilight Sparkle would soon join the lunar princess if she wasn’t careful.  Her wings fluttering uselessly, she sat in her chair hyperventilating with the practiced grace that only she possessed, none.  She futilely tried to regulate her breathing but only succeeded in panicking herself further.  The aura around her horn intensified as the papers in her grasp begin to twist and wring themselves into uselessness.  Flash frowned. One minute more like that and she’d pass out.  A quick glance at the table and Flash had a task to complete

Flash moved to Twilights side and pushed a large stack of papers aside.  He grabbed a cloth satchel and pulled the flap open.  The poor frontier town that had sent this over had probably just saved the smallest of the princesses from a trip to the hospital. He upended the makeshift breathing bag, dumping the contents, and helped Twilight place the open end over her muzzle.

“Here Princess, breathe deep.”  Flash held the bag for her then noticed that Fizzlepop had caught his movement toward her charge, she met his eyes briefly and nodded to him slightly in thanks.  That’s one crisis averted.

Shining Armor and Cadence were both shocked at the events but seemed to be OK.  Shining had stepped forward to stand beside Cadence and she instinctively wrapped a wing around his barrel.  Shining glanced to Twilight but Flash had been quick on his hooves and it seemed she would soon recover.  They were both glancing between the fallen Princess Luna and Celestia, who hand not moved a single muscle since the moment Luna hit the floor.  

Without warning Luna's Eyes burst forth in brilliant white light, her horn became a dark beacon of blue/purple brilliance, her back arched up suddenly as if in the moment of climax. The ponies all winced and their ears folded as a sound too high pitched to be heard, but strong enough to be felt began emanating from the fallen Princess.  The glassware in the room shattered spilling nuts, pretzels and wine onto the surfaces and in some cases parchment they were resting on.  The glow from Luna's horn spread down her prone body and she began to lift off the floor, levitating upright her wings spread and her hooves reaching upwards towards the sky.

“I HAVE NOT FELT THIS ENERGIZED SINCE I SLEW THE BUGBEAR QUEEN IN GLORIOUS BATTLE!”  She extended her hooves and spun a circle as she spoke. “NOT SINCE I FIRST FELT THE WIND BENEATH MY OWN WINGS AND FLEW FASTER THEN SOUND ITSELF HAVE I EXPERIENCED SUCH FREEDOM!”  She hovered in place then moved around to face Celestia who still sat in her seat but was watching Luna with rapt attention. 

“NOT SINCE I EMBRACED THE DARKNESS WITHIN MY OWN HEART THAT DEMANDED YOUR DESTRUCTION,” Her hoof jabbed forward to point accusingly and the Solar Diarch, “HAVE I FEET THIS EXCITEMENT!!” Celestia smirked, unimpressed.  

Luna spun and faced the unicorn captain and lowered herself till her hind legs touched the floor. Her upper body still erect, her eyes ablaze, and her horn alight she was everything the great painters and stone carvers strove to capture in their warrior princess.  Terrible and Beautiful.  Awe-inspiring and fear inducing.

“NEVER, SINCE IRON HAMSTRING HIMSELF HAS A SINGLE PONY CAPTURED MY ATTENTION!!”  Celestia started, and hid a smile behind a hoof.

Luna let down her fore hooves and wings and her body returned to its natural posture.  Her eyes lost the blazing inferno of power within and her horn ceased channeling the magic which held her aloft.  

“And,” Luna began again, in a much more conversation and somber tone.  “Not since Twilight Sparkle upon my return, or Twilight Sparkle again upon Nightmare Night, have I felt such gratitude to a single pony for service rendered.”  She placed her hooves on Fizzlepop’s shoulders and pulled her gently for a royal hug. She clearly enjoyed making the captain uncomfortable and Fizzelpop tried to pull away but Luna persisted until then captain had no choice.

A collective sigh resounded around the chambers followed by some nervous chuckling.  Celestia’s horn lit and the glass began to sort itself out from the food and papers.

“A bit over dramatic?” Celestia asked her sister.  Luna shook her head vigorously.

“I can feel my rump again Celestia.  That may not mean much to one who has so much rump, as yourself.”  Cadence tried to stifle a laugh into her hooves and failed.  Scandalized Twilight began again to hyperventilate and breath into her satchel.  

“But my gratitude is true, I’ve had a knot betwixt my wings that is finally gone, and you’ve done for me a thing that only a hoof full of ponies have done for me; you treated me as a comrade treats another, as one who can assist to one who needed assistance. Without hesitation or agenda.” Lunas smile was genuine and broad as she broke the hug and looked closely at the unicorn.  Her gaze lingering on the shattered fragments of horn.  Fizzle meet her eyes and to her credit didn’t break  that contact.  Her discomfort clearly came from the genuine look of gratitude and fondness on the princess’s face something the guard captain was not use to receiving.  This one will be a fine addition to the nation Luna decided, but wasted on Twilight.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle." Luna bellowed.  "Give this one to me!  The Midnight Guard has laid in ruin because no captain meets my standard for commanding it. I believe that has been remedied.” Captain Berrytwist's face remained on the uncomfortable side of neutral.  But she said nothing.  

“…”

“Princess Twilight?”

“…is not with us.” Flash held the unconscious princess in his forelegs.  


****


Twilight awoke to the sounds of forks scraping plates and the aromas of dinner served an hour too late. She lay for a while and got her bearings.  A long cushioned bench had been placed at the side of the room for her to recover on. Meanwhile the remaining royals had not spared dinner on her account.  The large oaken table once straining under the weight of documents and ink now strained under food and refreshment.  A large garden salad sat half consumed in the serving bowl.  And several trays of cakes and small pastries were arranged around it.  It seemed Twilight had missed the main course.  

Shining Armor and Cadence sat at the end of the table, she still working on her salad, Cadence had always been a slow deliberate eater, and he had moved on to desert, his plate piled high with glazed doughnuts.  Flash had four plates piled atop each other but was still working on salad, weather he had decided to go back to the main course after dessert or he just REALLY like salad Twilight didn’t know.  Celestia and Luna shared a side of the table opposite Captain Fizzlepop and were apparently in an animated discussion about what the ratio of main course to desert was appropriate for a princess.

“Princes Twilight, you’ve decided to rejoin us!  Come sit before Luna has all the salad and I have all the cake.”  Celestia’s laugh was easy as she rested a hoof on Luna shoulder. The night princess rolled her eyes but smiled as well.  She nodded her agreement and bade Twilight sit with them.  Twilight rose to unsteady hooves and made her way to the chair next to her stalwart captain. Fizzlepop got up from her chair and bowed low using her damaged horn to pull the chair out for her Princess.

“I’ve asked you not to do that.” Twilight frowned.  Normally Fizzle would respect Twilight's wishes in cases like this.  Twilight was never comfortable when anypony genuflected directly to her.

“Just an apology, Princess.” Fizzle explained “For not being there while captain Flash was.”  If there was one thing that Twilight understood it was guilt for not doing something she felt was her duty, she couldn’t be mad at Fizzle for doing the same thing she'd have done if positions had been reversed.  She nodded to the captain who smiled and waited as Twilight sat atop her chair then she gently pushed it back into place.  Rather then return to her chair the unicorn captain resumed her place to the left and behind the Princess of Friendship.

“Are you OK, Princess?” Celestia aksed, she couldn’t help but lean a bit forward with her inquiry.   Worry creased Celestia's face in a fashion that was missed by nopony preset.  “I have to say you scare me to death every time you do that, Twilight.” A dinner plate was lifted in Celestia’s golden aura and a generous helping of salad was deposited atop it.  The plate floated toward the purple princess and set down before her.

“Sorry Princess, I was worried that Princess Luna was really hurt.” Twilight blushed in embarrassment and cast her eyes down.

“Ha!” Luna barked. “Even a broken back would not have keep me down for long.  But my supposed crippling twas not the reason.  You were upset because I insulted Celesta’s ass.”

“Asss-tronomical appetite!” Cadence finished.  Her glare bore down on the older Alicorn.  Luna was shocked Cadence would interrupt and reprimand her so.  She began again, but Cadences eyes narrowed and her glare intensified she slowly shook her head from side to side. No.

Luna knew that Celestia didn't mind the teasing but it was always fun to tease Twilight about anything.  She mentally congratulated herself whenever she could get the purple princess to lose her composure.  Making her pass out was just icing on the cake.  Still, no point starting an argument with Cadence about it, she was nearly as protective as Celestia where Twilight was concerned.  It wasn’t good, in Luna’s opinion, Twilight was too easy too fluster.  The newest princess panicked too easily, cried too readily and deferred to the three of them much too often.  It wasn’t good for Equestrias image, which Luna cared deeply about, nor did it bode well for those who would one day become Twilight's subjects. No use fighting about it now though.  Cadence and Celestia would present a united front in Twilight's defense.

Very well.  Let them coddle her a bit longer, but she resolved to bring the matter to Celestia's attention.

“Captain Berrytwist," Luna declared. "I require a response form thee!”

“I don’t think it’s necessary to insult Celestia's ass."  The captain said at once.  "It's actually very nice.  In the storm king's lands a healthy, hefty backside was a status symbol.  ‘My house has so much I can afford to indulge.’ That kind of thing.  She would have been an adviser or even rival in the Court of Storms.”  Fizzle was once again seated on her haunches her eyes closed and her body almost completely free of movement.  She spoke without inflection or nuance, but in such a sure tone that the other two captains found themselves nodding in agreement before her sentences had even finished.

Cadence chuckled into her hoof and Shining Armor gave a mighty guffaw.  Flash coughed and sputtered into the beginning of his seventh helping of salad, spraying his side of the table with dressing and croutons. Luna’s smile could have given Pinkie Pie’s best a run for its money.

Twilight was at a loss, although she enjoyed the impromptu factoid, ever curios and always ready to learn something new, the smile on her face fell instantly.  Had her captain just insulted Celestia?  Or was it a compliment.  Were smiles and thanks coming or reprimand and retribution?  Having someone admire the royal assets was OK, right?  She heard plenty of guards say so growing up in the palace.  But to say so openly right to the princess?  She finished writing the fact to paper, properly attributed it to “Fizzlepop Berrytwist, Friendship Guard, Captain.” then proceeded to down the nearest bottle of wine, no glass.  

Celestia’s reaction, however, took the cake, so to speak.  Tears flooded out of the Solar Princesses eyes, and her sides shock with uncontrolled heaves.  Her forelegs wrapped around her barrel holding herself tightly.  She coughed and sputtered nearly vomiting the entirely to large slice of cake upon her pastry covered plate.

“I ca*gasp*…breathe. Can’t…*gasp*I..help!”  The Solar Goddess of all ponies began to turn red as her trusted deserts betrayed her.  A solid hoof to her back just between her wings dislodged the disloyal confection.

“Not that, foal.  I wish to have you answer to my offer of leading the Midnight Guard.”  Luna had trouble keeping a straight face as the sounds Celestia was making became less and less desperate.  Cadence floated a glass of water to her Aunt. 

“Forgive me, but I didn’t think you were serious.”  Fizzle said.  She opened her eyes and fixed them on the Dark Princess, looking for signs of deception or at least of the teasing that Luna seemed to always be doing,  she was still trying to get used to that.  She cautiously returned to her chair beside Twilight.

“Don’t try to swallow it, spit it out!” Flashed begged his Princess.  He too offered her a glass of water.

“Neigh, we were quite serious." Luna went on.  Ignoring her choking sister.   "A warrior of your caliber should be leading warriors.”

“Hold these.” Cadence commanded her husband shoving her golden shoes into his mouth.  She left her chair and began moving to the white goddesses side.

“Like the ones protecting the Festival of Friendship?”

“Ouch, harsh.” remarked Shining armor. 

“It was Princess Twilight's idea to invite the guards as guests.”  Flash said still offering the now gasping princess water but not willing to break protocol and touch her in any way.

“Passing the buck?” Fizzle asked raising an eyebrow at the yellow Pegasus.

“Offering explanation.” Luna corrected.  Striking Celsesta once more on the back.

“I wanted every creature to feel welcome.”  Twilight’s disembodied voice came from the inside of the wine bottle she was currently downing, her horn alight with magic.  “Many nations fear us and Celestia in particular.  I thought the absence of armed guards would ease minds and hearts.”

“A bit naïve” Shining said. Turning Cadences golden shoes over in his hooves.

“Extremely so!” Fizzle accused.  “I single hoofedly took your entire capital.”  She passed another wine bottle to Twilight.

“Yes, you did” Luna conceded.  “And incapacitated three of four princesses with ease.” Luna took the proffered glass of water from Flash Sentry and pressed it into Celestia’s hooves with her magic.  Still Sputtering Celsetia took a small tentative sip.

“It couldn’t be done again.” Cadence promised as she moved back to her chair. Captain Armor returned her shoes to her

“The obsidian orbs will no longer function as normal in the palace.” Said the second wine bottle.  “I isolated their magical signature from the background field.  I wasn't able to deactivate them because I didn't get a good look at what exactly they did.  But if anypony brings one onto the palace grounds it will probably set off the wards."

“Probably?” asked Luna passing a plate full of cake to Celestia.

The cake hung motionless in the air in front of Celestia.  Her eyes grew hard and scornful.

“I just can’t be sure.” The wine bottle defended.  “I designed the spell to do just that but without an orb to test it with...”  Flash removed the offending cake and returned to his chair.

“I don’t need more obsidian orbs.” Fizzle boasted.

"Indeed." Celestia spoke at last regaining her breath and a little dignity. "Tell me something, captain.  Why did the Storm King not send you sooner to our lands?  He must have know of our power for sometime."  

The Captain of friendship grew annoyed.  "He had always wanted to take your power for his own as long as I worked for him.  The temptation to control the weather and actually create the storms he wanted was overpowering.  It wasn't until the obsidian orbs were gifted to him as tribute that he decided the time was right to strike."

Shining Armor's ears flattened.  "That didn't strike you as odd?" he inquired.

"Or at least a bit convenient?" asked Flash.

Princess Luna pursed her lips and rubbed her chin eyeing the dark unicorn.  "I rescind my request, Twilight Sparkle.  It appears I was mistaken your caption is no more fit to lead the Midnight Guard then any other candidate.  A pity, I had thought this one had a mind in that pretty head of hers."

The Captain of the Friendship Guard looked and the Princess of the Night.

"That was mean, Princess Luna.  Please apologize to my Friend."

Fizzlepop didn't appear angry or hurt but genuinely confused.  "You think we were set up." she didn't ask.

"I think." the solar princess began.  "That a weapon that would be ideal to use on targets that relied heavily on magical power, and had grown soft in their physical defense, such as we four ,finds its way into the clutches of one who already wants to attack us, is odd."

"That this weapon happened to fall into the clutches of the Storm King at a time when all four of us would be together, is suspicious." Luna continued.

The third wine bottle joined in,  "And it happened to be at a time when our borders would be open without restriction, that's more than coincidence."

"When our best guards were asked to mingle as guests, that's more coincidence."  Cadence joined in.  

"And," began Shining Armor. "That the attack was carried out by a pony who had conveniently been turned against Equestria and held no loyalty for her, that's years worth of planning."

Fizzlepop’s eyes flashed dangerously at Shining Armor.  "You think I'd believe that I'd been personally set up YEARS before?  That my accident was part of some kind of recruitment?"

"Honesty?" Offered Celestia, "We don't know, Captain.  But the possibility is there, that's a lot of coincidences.  A more important question is : Was it a plan that failed in it's execution, or succeeded in distracting us from some other goal?  And if so what?  And by whom?"

The ponies present looked at one another But no answers were forthcoming.
> Chapter 2 : Overconfidence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna was bored.  Captain Fizzlepop was quietly reflecting on these new revelations no doubt, the Lunar goddess thought to herself.  Celestia had, most likely, formulated any number of plans and protocols which would use the information gleaned here for the good of the nation.  Luna envied her sister for that.  All the intrigues, scheming and planning, they were so easy for Celestia to navigate. How Luna longed for the day when her diplomatically minded sister’s words fell short, allowing her,  the general of the pony armies to once again brandish steel and magic. Those were the answers SHE understood. Alas times had changed, Luna’s sword, once second to none in the known world, sat unused while Celestia’s pen shaped and guided with seemingly effortless ease.

Luna was not truly disappointed as perhaps once she would have been.  The wonders of this new world overshadowed even the greatest accomplishments of a thousand years ago.  Wonders she was sure that would never had been possible had it not been for Celestia. She had stared for hours captivated by the architecture of Canterlot.  Manehatten had seemed a city plucked from the heavens and set upon the shore.  Buildings taller than anything she had ever seen cast in what seemed to be perfect blocks of the toughest stone, or sheets of the purest crystal.  

In the ten years since her return Luna had immersed herself in learning all she could about this strange new world.  Tutors and teachers from across the country had been asked to sum up their fields in to painfully small tidbits for the displaced princess to sample.  For the first year after her return her she had greedily devoured everything she could.

But playing ‘catch up’ for a year caused its own problems.  That first disastrous Nightmare Night in Ponyville highlighted her error.  Knowledge didn’t bring understanding.  The tutoring was great, as a source of general knowledge but unless it was tempered, molded and shaped by practical experience in social settings it would forever be just words on paper.  Twilight Sparkle had said that that lesson was one she had needed as much as anypony.

But here and now sitting around a table for hours signing papers that might have repercussions so small that she may never know of them just made the dark Goddess bored.  It was time to lighten the mood.  She took mental note.  Making fun of her sisters plump rump again would be out of the question. If she did that every time, she reasoned, ponies might think all she can do is insult her size.  Captain Fizzlepop had likewise been poked enough, Twilight was right, the captain deserved an apology, later.  Captain Sentry was a mixed bag.  At times he seemed the butt of every joke being told and at others he just blended into the scenery.  Captain Armor had a good nature and could easily laugh at himself.  So while it was easy to have a laugh at his expense, it was no challenge.  That left...

“So, dear niece, ‘Astronomical Appetite’?” she asked.  Cadence looked confused for a moment then membered her correction from earlier.  

“Surely Princes Twilight has heard ruder and more descriptive insults about my sister.”

Cadence blushed furiously. With a chuckle she explained, “Sorry, I’ve been like that ever since some guard pony said something inappropriate and now Flurry won’t stop screaming obscenities during dinner.” Her gaze shifted to glare at her husband.  But Shining Armor was busy, he was certain that the chandler hand not been inspected in some time.  A pity that it fell to him to inform Captain Sentry there was dust covering the wrought iron and crystal contraption.

“The last thing I need is her shouting ‘ass’ at some dignitary or noble while at the dining table.” Luna, her sport forgotten chuckled at the thought and Celestia giggled as well.  

“I already had to explain to the Yaks that crystal mares aren’t going to sell them their “milk bags” on the street, even in the mists of a harsh winter.”  

Celestia snorted into her drink again, “Please,” she protested. “I’ve only just recovered!”

The younger princesses chuckled.  Luna held her tongue just until Celestia once again began to drink.

“Send them here,” she told Cadence in all seriousness.  “We know several nobles here who have sold them before.”  She waited a beat then looked to Celestia expecting to have her once again choking on cake or sputtering into her drink.  Instead she was met with a glare.  Celestia had raised her cup to her mouth but not begun to drink.

“Cheater!” they said to each other dissolving into a fit of laughter.  The mood at the other side of the table was much more somber.

Captain Fizzlepop Berrytwist had no use for confusion.  It always lead to panic.  And panic, more often than not, lead to hasty decision making.  Those decisions, Fizzle concluded, were usually wrong.  Chasing that stupid ball was a perfectly normal reaction for a foal, Fizzle had long ago absolved herself of that action. Even entering the cave, admittedly not the BEST idea, was still something that any child would do.   All the stories of good deeds and heroes remembered she blamed for why she stood her ground against the enormous ursa minor, she was proud of her willingness to defend her peers at such a young age.  It was what came after that she hated.  

Why?  Gods she hated that simple word.  Why me?  Why?   Fizzle must had said that word to herself a million times, and there were never good enough answers.  These things just happen somepony had said. Such casual indifference from adults was expected but what truly hurt was the reactions from her peers.  The pity was aggravating.  Pity that quickly turned to indifference.  None of them knew how hard it was to relearn to write or lift, or even play.  Ha learn to play, that’s rich.  They went on with their lives and left poor Fizzle to pick up the remains or her own, alone.

She never thought of herself as maimed or crippled even though she surely would have qualified as such.   Hours she had spent alone relearning how to write and read.  How to turn pages with her hooves or mouth.  How to walk three legged so should could carry a glass or plate. It was frustrating to say the least, infuriating at times.  And she had to do it alone.  It was no surprise when that hurt turned to anger.  Anger at her peers, she refused to call them friends, anger at the ursa, her village.  Herself.

And that awful question ‘Why?’  That confusion more than the hurt was what made her leave Equestria.  What was a unicorn that had no magic?  What was a pony that didn’t have friends?  Did she belong among ponies who laughed and sang, and were branded with their identity, when she had none?  

Princess Twilight had changed that.  She had given Fizzle a place, a purpose.  The Storm King had a place for Tempest, the unfeeling weapon.  As soon as Fizzle appeared, with desires of her own, the bitter monarch had cast her aside, broken his promise and included her with his enemies. Why? Ugh that question again.  Did he see that Tempest was loyal, that Tempest got things done?  Why was that desire for an identity of her own worth casting her out?  

Now she learns that the Storm King was just being manipulated as well?  That he was just some pawn in somepony else’s game?  She ground her teeth together.  That worthless imbecile, how dare he be as easily led as she was. Her tail whipped back and forth like an agitated cat’s.  He was supposed to be a King, greater than his peers, better than the rabble around him. But no, in the end he was just as confused and weak as any of them.

A hoof on her shoulder broke her reprieve.  Startled for the first time in a long time her right hoof came up and across, the sharpened outside edge of her shoe cutting through the air in the room like so much parchment.  The bladed shoe rang out against the flat of Shining Armors blunted shoe, a shower of sparks fell upon them both.  

If he was surprised by the strike, Shining didn’t show it.  He simply held the offending hoof against his own and slowly guided it to the floor.

“Easy Captain.  Just breathe.  It’ll pass.”

Fizzle’s breathing was hard and heavy but the calm tone of Shining’s voice allowed her to focus.  He began to breathe in and out loudly offering her a template to follow.  As she focused on the sound and matched it with her own breaths the anger began to ebb. It was soon replaced by shame and embarrassment, to lose her control in the presence of these ponies, she’d never live that down.

Angry tears began forming in the corners of her eyes before she blew out a breath and blinked them away.

“The feelings of being used won’t ever leave you.”  Shining said as he continued to keep his breathing at an audible level for the hurting unicorn. “And every time somepony brings it up, it’ll start all over again.  Panic attacks are real and you don’t have to be ashamed or afraid of them.”

It was the wrong thing to say.  “I’m not afraid and I’m not panicking!”  Fizzle roared, her anger flared right back up at the perceived insult, her glare snapping back onto her face and her turquoise eyes meeting the light blue of his. She jerked her hoof away from his the bladed edge again scraping and throwing an angry shower of sparks to the floor.

This won’t end well. Shining thought to himself.  Angry and agitated the scarred unicorn shifted her weight forward as her hoof met the floor her flanks quivering in preparation for a kick or even a buck.  Shining shifted his legs bringing the line of his body perpendicular to Fizzle’s presenting the smallest target possible should she decide to lash out.  No novice to combat Flash was up on the table in an instant.  His head and forelegs low, wings and rear up, he resembled a cat prepared to pounce, his rump wiggling as his hind legs fought for purchase on the slippery surface of the table.

The three mortals held position and traded glances with one another as the princesses looked on. Like a bead of water growing fat from a leaky tap the tension grew.  Fizzle knew that if she adjusted her legs for a kick that Shining would strike. Probably with a magical blast to her presented shoulder.  She trusted her armor to absorb the hit but wasn’t sure what the pegasus would do. Flash’s wings were flared backward a flap would send a blast of wind in her direction, not terribly dangerous so he must have some other trick there.  She cursed herself for not having any idea of pegasus combat tactics.  

The drop grew fatter.

Flash had to ignore a bead of sweat making its way down the side of his face.  His wings ached.  Choosing this stance for an attack was not a good idea he decided.  The throwing darts nestled in his wings weren’t exactly heavy but holding them aloft for such a long period of time compromised his aim. If this went on much longer he’d have to forfeit the throw for fear of hitting the white captain.

The drop began to fall.

Shining Armor once again locked eyes with Twilight’s captain and slowly sank to his haunches.  His tail curled around his legs and he slowly raised his hooves.  “Easy Captain,” he said again. He patted the air gently with his hooves,  “We’re not going to do this, Flash stand down.”

Grateful for the opportunity to stand down without losing face Flash slowly lowered his wings and stood to his full height. He didn’t dare try to dismount the table though, just in case.

“I don’t want a fight here, captains.” Celestia’s voice was calm but had an unmistakable sharpness to it that shook the three captains from their trance.  Like a mother reprimanding her children in a crowded store the effect of Celestia’s words were immediate on Shining and Flash.  Fizzle on the other hoof didn’t defer so easily to the white goddess.  

“Please Fiz,” said Twilight her voice small,  “Shiny doesn’t want to fight you, he was trying to help.”  

The drop retreated as the tap was turned off.

*Knock Knock* went the door.


*****


Like all ponies Raven Inkwell loved her job.  She supposed there might be at least one pony who didn’t love what they did.  There was a skip in her step that let anypony around know that it was not her.  She loved smooth running government, all the little cogs working tougher for the good of the nation.  Working at the highest level, with Princess Celestia herself was such a thrill.  The princess was everything she ever hoped she would be.  Kind, regal and so caring.  The image of the Princess in her mind’s eye was the standard to which Raven held herself.

Having the four princesses together in one place usually meant trouble for the nation of Equestria.  So far however the biggest issue had been locating enough ink for the marathon signature session that was supposed to be going on. Any other time throughout the morning when she had supervised the refilling of snack bowls or wine pitchers the small gathering was in good spirits when they weren’t being down right jovial.  Raven loved hearing her princess laugh.  Not the proper socialite chuckle or the polite fake laughter of court.  Honest laughter was something the Goddess of the sun did not get enough of.  Raven was hoping to get another image of that for her mental collection.  

The seven ponies froze as Raven knocked curtly then opened the double doors, just as she had done nearly every hour today.  The three captains had simultaneously snapped to attention with heels clicking and sharp salutes all around.  The professionalism of the action was monumentally ineffective as Captain Flash was atop the table, Captain Armor was seated on his haunches, and Captain Berrytwist was in the middle of what appeared to be a buck aimed directly into the face of the former.  

The four princesses were in various stages of inaction.  Princess Luna stood near her seat at the table her eyes alight with excitement as she had watched the tension build.  Princess Cadence had been moving towards her husband in a vain attempt to save his face from the impending hooves.  Princess Twilight had her magic wrapped around the hind legs of her captain. Her action effectively nullifying the attack and keeping the captain balanced on her front hoofs.  She was impressed that Fizzle could hold that much weight completely still for any amount of time, that impression had turned to distraction, then embarrassment as she realized she had been staring.  Princess Celestia let out a great sigh of relief. Thankful that a fight had not broken out during her working vacation ploy.  

If word got out that the “Important business” was interrupted by fighting guards, the House of Nobles would insist that they be allowed to sit in and “help” with the work.  That would be the end of this tradition that the Princess was secretly trying to start.  Most of the Nobles meant well but if Celestia was honest with herself she had had quite enough of their bickering and fighting by midday.  Why couldn’t they be more…Noble?  

‘Ah Raven dear,”  she smiled,  “So good of you to join us.  We were just stretching our legs.”  Strain began to creep into her smile as Raved looked at each pony in turn.  The surprise on the administrative unicorn’s face slowly ebbed away to be replaced with...anger?

“The Princess worked very hard to make this meeting happen,” Raven began.  Her eyes still looked angry, but an odd smile was creeping to her mouth.  “If any of you are jeopardizing the sanctity of this meeting…”  She let the threat hang in the air while her gaze lingered on Flash.  She levitated a scroll to Shining Armor, nodded to her princess and took her leave, closing the doors behind her.

Twilight released the legs of her captain and turned to the princess.  “Raven knows about this meeting? I mean she KNOWS?” she asked.

Celestia chuckled, “She saw that I was holding specific paperwork till the end of the year.  There was no way to hide so much from her.” She smiled fondly,  “She actually asked me several months ago if I wanted her to draft letters to each of you asking for a summit of sorts, she’s quite quick on the uptake.”

“A bit creepy too.” Fizzle remarked eyeing the yellow captain.  “What was the look for?”

The gathered ponies turned to Flash as he hopped once then glided to the floor.  He sighed dejectedly, “Just ammunition.”

“Prince Armor?” Celestia asked.

The Crystal Prince broke the seal and began unrolling the parchment.  “Captain?” he asked, addressing Fizzlepop.  “I apologize, I wasn’t patronizing.”

Fizzle’s gaze softened, a bit. “I’m sorry too...?”

The gathered ponies stopped. For an instant the air seemed to grow heavy.  The torches dimmed in their sconces.  Authorization for winter was a few days away but until then it was still fall, the evenings should be pleasantly warm.  Since Celestia had only recently set the sun, it should still be warm, but an icy chill permeated the room.  The moisture on the windows began to crystalize as the temperature plummeted.  Celestia saw her breath, ghostly and pale, as a deathly chill worked its way up her tail and along her spine.  Twilight hopped up from the suddenly freezing floor, her rump and the frogs of her hooves chilled.  Normally not too affected by the cold Flash fluffed his wings bringing a layer of insulating air around himself.

Fizzle twitched nervously. Magic inside of Equestria was supposed to be tamed and controlled, nothing like the magic in Storm King’s domain. The unnatural magical frost seeped up her legs and made her metal shoes uncomfortably cold.  Uncertain she looked up for answers.  What she saw froze her blood.

In truth she liked Shining Armor.  He was quite intelligent for a guard, nowhere near as smart as Twilight but no raw recruit. He was witty and had a deep genuine laugh to compliment it.  A loving father and husband she was told, those were good qualities.  She was more appreciative in the way he treated Twilight, with respect.  Under the Storm King’s rule younger siblings who out shown their family didn’t last long. He was handsome she admitted. Well-muscled and lean, in another life she might have laid claim on him.  

The thing she like best about the Prince however was that she had not personally bested him in combat. He wouldn’t know it but catching her punch earlier had truly impressed her.  It was a purely reactive move on her part, how had he parried so quickly?

As she looked at him now ,that respect was replaced with an emotion she thought she bested long ago. Shining’s normally kind and brotherly eyes had turned into a visage of icy rage that bore down on the unfortunate parchment.  Death was promised in those eyes.  Not a swift merciful death, but a cold, painful, lingering ordeal.  His easy going smile had been replaced by an animalistic snarl.  His lips pulled back to bear his teeth.  His breath came in angry bursts and it morphed from there to a throaty growl she didn’t know ponies could make.  Fizzle took a single step back her metal shoe clacking loudly on the frozen floor. 

The loud noise broke the spell and in an instant the ghostly cold was gone.  The warmth of the autumn evening was back.  Torches burned bright and high and there was no frost to be found on window glass.  Even Fizzle’s shoes were no longer cold.  Six ponies looked around in confusion.

“I’m going to head back to our room, Hun.” Shining said.  The coltish twinkle in his eye and his easy smile returned.  He levitated the scroll to his wife.  “There were some problems that came up in the barracks.  I need to pack up and take the train first thing in the morning,” he was practically shouting.  “You and Flurry should stay on a couple days and catch up.”  A quick salute and a nod and he was on his way. He was halfway down the hall before anypony could gather their wits.

“CAPTAIN ARMOR!” Luna shouted.  She tried several times to ask a question, finally settling on “What the buck!?”

Shining stopped. Turning to look over his shoulder. Fizzle wasn’t sure but she swore she could see those eyes again.

“Prince,” came the reply cold and icy.  “Prince Armor.”

He walked away.


*****


“Cadence dear?” Celestia’s voice was uncertain and shaky. Her horn lit in a golden corona and a blast of heat filled the room, though nopony looked much warmer.  The six huddled close in a circle heads together. Celestia’s glowing horn providing comforting heat, the three larger alicorns draping their wings over the smaller ponies and snuggled them close.  Grateful for the warmth Twilight looked up at her mentor from under a great white wing teeth chattering.

“T-t-that was so s-s-s-trange., she said, teeth chattering.  “That w-was no kind of m-magic I’ve seen b-b-b-before.”

On Twilight’s opposite side Cadance nodded, her wings wrapped around Twilight and Flash.  “Shiny has never had an affinity for ice magic before, that wasn’t him.”  She held the rolled scroll like it was a snake in her hoof fearful that It may unroll itself and strike at any moment.

“Emotions can be powerful amplifiers to one’s own magics.”  The Lunar princess offered bitterly, eyeing the scroll.  One wing tucking Flash close to her side, the other draped over Fizzlepop.  Celestia longed to give comfort to her sister knowing she was referring to her loneliness and jealousy of over a millennia ago.

“Shining hasn’t been emotional at all!” Cadence snapped.  “He could have yelled at Fizzle but he didn’t,”  she pointed an accusing hoof in the unicorn’s direction.  

Twilight reached out with her magic and held the scroll aloft.  A parchment and quill bust forth from her mane and she began to write. “Standard messenger parchment. Two inches by eight inches.”  The quill recorded her narration.  “Large enough for a few sentences.  Color is normal off white.  Seal is a broken from when Prince Shining armor opened it.  Delivered by one Raven Inkwell.”  Despite the situation Celestia smiled, Twilight would never change, the studious former unicorn absorbed information like  a sponge and any opportunity to learn something new was pounced upon with as much mental force that Twilight could bring to bear.  Fortunately they needed some knowledge in this situation.  Celestia couldn’t name very many situations where she was at a loss for explanation.  

“No spells, cantrips, or enchantments are present.  Message reads as follows:

Spring Cleaning going well.  HQ, spotless. Mess hall, possible infestation. Possible Sickness,  Asst. cook Berry, Asst. gardener Fences, Pvt. Windsheer, Pvt. Kettle – Imcap.  24 hour bug? Please Advise.        –E.Breeze

“This note contains no codes or ciphers that I’m aware of from the Crystal Empire.”  Captain Flash stated, realizing the boon of Princes Twilights skills and brains right now.  “Ernest Breeze would be acting Captain of the Crystal guard in the Prince’s absence. Crystal Pony, well liked, spotless record.”

Twilight nodded her thanks to Flash, the quill recorded his words.

Celestia nodded her agreement, “Nor are there any keywords or phrases I’ve given the captain.”

“There is one discrepancy and two blatant references to past threats to Equestria.” Twilight commented. As she warmed and fell into the familiar pattern of observing, processing and teaching Twilight began to relax and her words started gaining a momentum of their own. “The term ‘spring cleaning’ makes sense in context but is anachronistic in this case, it’s fall after all.  It could be referencing to the Windigo’s as their winter connections are in direct contrast to spring.  The other two references are more compelling.  The mess hall being ‘infested’ and a 24 hour ‘bug’ lead me to believe that Shining received a warning about changelings.”

Luna stopped Twilight with a raised hoof.  “The Queen has not been seen for some time.  When she escaped last she had no changelings following her.  And, as I recall, she vowed revenge against Starlight Glimmer not Shining Armor or Cadence or the Empire for that matter.”

Twilight pursed her lips in thought, “We didn’t see any changelings follow her from the ruined hive Princess Luna.  That doesn’t mean she was or is alone.”  she began to pace.  “She may have had other agents in the area.  Or met up with other cells hidden around the country.”  She stopped, she didn’t like where this train of thought was going.    Could another invasion be coming in the near future?  She didn’t like to admit it to herself, but they had assumed that all changelings had joined Thorax, not just those in the hive.  “Cadence?”

Cadence’s eyes were filled with unshed tears and her speech was quiet and unsure.  “Shiny and the reformed changelings get along well enough. Windigos haven’t been seen in Equestria for ages. He has never acted like that before, and like I said he’s never shown any inclination to ice magic either.”

Fizzlepop finally spoke. She was currently sandwiched between Celestia and Luna with a look of supreme discomfort on her face, but it wasn’t directed and either princess.  Twilight thought the image would be a pleasant memory to frame, except that Fizzle was visibly trembling and hunching down, apparently trying to make herself seem smaller or less threatening.

“I’ve seen such tantrums before.  The Storm King was full of them.  Childish and hurtful.”  She shuddered again.  “Rage was in his eyes, he’s past anger right now, past retribution, and he wants something dead, more than dead.” She corrected herself, “He wants it to suffer.”

“My Shiny is good and pure,” the pink alicorn’s voice answered, deathly calm.  “You take that back.” The tears in her eyes began to fall as she charged her horn.  “He’d never do anything like that.” Celestia’s outstretched wing stopped her from releasing the magic.  “He’s nothing like you.”  She spat at the unicorn then flew out of room down the hallway.  Her wings beating furiously, her sobs audible for some time.


****


The Royal apartments were nestled behind the palace proper.  The dozen villas overlooked the royal gardens and were connected by well-maintained pathways to the royal kitchens and the grand ballroom.  Thus ensuring that the guests had access to the fine foods and diverse entertainment that Canterlot had to offer.  Celestia’s love of fine food and even finer deserts ensured that the kitchens ran almost non-stop with a near constant stream of waiters delivering meals or snacks.

Should any of the visiting diplomats or dignitaries become bored they only had to wander towards the ballrooms. Thanks to the return of Princess Luna a renaissance of sorts had been kindled in the theatrical community.  Acting troops from across the country were invited to perform for the benefit of the time displaced princess.  Much had happened in the last thousand years and all that could be dramatized was.  More than happy to have history presented to her in song and verse Princess Luna made it a point to visit at least twice a week.

Celestia gently knocked on Cadence’s door.

“Come in,” came the subdued reply.

The trio of princesses and two captains slowly filed into the sitting room of one of the larger apartments.  Decorated much like a fancy hotel room, the villa’s sitting room had plush couches, cushions to sit on and a low table to gather around.

Cadence allowed the herd to settle where they were comfortable then spoke.

“Captain Berrytwist,” she swallowed, “I’m sorry for how I acted.”  Fizzle’s eyes widened in surprise but she said nothing.  “It was unbecoming of me to treat you so.  I didn’t like what you said but that’s no excuse for my actions.”  

Once again unsure of how to react Fizzle nodded and tried to offer a smile.  “It’s fine.”

As the other ponies sat or reclined Cadence continued, her voice once again subdued.

“We must have just missed Shiny.  I was just in to check on Flurry Heart.  She and Sunburst are both asleep.  There was a note pinned to his cloak.  She offered the still closed envelope to the solar princess, then sat next to Twilight her eyes still raw and red.  The smaller alicorn wrapped one wing around her sister-in-law and did her best to offer comfort her by nuzzling her neck, and leaning into her to offer support.

Celestia opened the envelope and unfolded note. Scrawled in the familiar horn writing of her former captain was a concise note.  She read, “Taking care of this.  Wait here. I expect you to LISTEN to your mother, Flurry.  You know I love you, right?”

Cadence began to tear up again.  “We’ve always handled things like this together why would he tell me to wait here now?”

“Perhaps Captain Armor fears leaving your foal without parents?” Luna offered.

“No, that doesn’t sound like Shiny,” Twilight mused.  “He’s chivalrous and all that but he knows that he’s multiple times stronger with Cadence beside him.  And he knows that we’d take care of Flurry if anything should happen to him and you.” She nuzzled Cadence again.

“We could just stop him.” Flash spoke up.  “It wouldn’t take much to just stop the trains for the evening. If he just left there are only a few he could take anyway.”

Celestia nodded, “Very well captain, find Shining Armor. If this is indeed some threat, then Equestria could be next and I’ll not jeopardize the country for one stallion.”  Flash saluted then left the apartment.

“Twilight will you stay here keep Cadence company?”  Twilight nodded and pressed closer into the princess of love. 

“Of course, Princess.”

“Luna?”

The night princess shook her head, “Apologies sister but I meet shortly to finalize my decision with the night court.  Pip should be waiting for me in the council room.  Unless you need more comfort than dear Twilight can give?”  Luna posed the question to Cadence.  

Cadence wrapped her hooves around Twilight and hugged her tightly afraid that if she let go she might also leave.  

“No, just let me get over this and I’ll head down to the train station.  I need answers.”

Celestia nodded. “Very well.  I’ll head there now.”  She offered a comforting smile to Cadence and started for the door.  “Walk with me please, Captain.”  Twilight was already nodding her consent, confident her captain wouldn’t go without her permission.

As Celestia and Fizzlepop headed for the door. Twilight gently guided Cadence to the couch and set her upon it.  Once reclined Cadence felt Twilight gently pull a wing out with her magic.  “Let’s get you cleaned up OK?”  Cadence was still chilled and tense form the strange ordeal in the signing room.  But as her younger sister in law preened and fussed over her she felt herself relax and settle more comfortably into the couch.


*****


The trio exited the royal suite and Luna began walking toward the council chambers.  Celestia turned to watch her go hoping that the three of them could speak for a moment.  Fizzlepop, on the other hoof had turned back toward the conference  room and was unwaveringly moving away from the Princesses.  Unaccustomed to not being waited on Celestia found herself trotting to catch up to the long-legged pony.  Celestia’s golden shoes making almost no noise even while trotting compared to the captain’s sharpened steel shoes.  

“I’m really not interested in talking about Princess Twilight with you,” Fizzlepop said as Celestia moved up beside her and matcher her pace.

“That’s good,” Celestia countered.  “I actually wanted to talk about you.”  Normally Celestia would take much more grace a subtlety in having a conversation with a pony.  Being all but worshiped by everypony made her conversations a delicate balance of hint and suggestion.  Fizzlepop clearly did not attribute respect of any kind to any of the princesses, except Twilight.

“You seemed much shaken up after Shining’s outburst.”

“Yes.” The captain stated, not slowing in the slightest.

“Any thoughts on the matter?”  The Princess asked, in a tone that would have had the entire palace sweating.

“No.” She stated.

Celestia’s wing unfolded blocking the unicorn’s path. Fizzle stopped, impatient.

“Captain,” Celestia began, emphasizing the title.  “You’re actions suggest otherwise.”

“I want to take a look around the conference room.  Confirm something.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed, another pony would be seriously reconsidering their tone and words.  

“Twilight vouches for you Captain,” Celestia said, again emphasizing the title.  “Though you’d have not only enslaved my country, you’d have killed the four of us.”  Finally Fizzle did wince.  “It is not only Twilight that offers friendship and forgiveness.”  The unicorn captain stared forward and said nothing.  “IF you learn anything please let us know, we’ll most likely be at Northern Spur Station, if Captain Armor truly did go north.”  She folded her wing and allowed the surely pony to pass.


*****


Fizzlepop didn’t end up going to the conference room.  She knew what she saw there and needed no confirmation. She wasn’t sure that Celestia believed her but the Sun Princess had soon left.  Fizzlepop continued on for what seemed like enough time then doubled back.  She was certain that Shining Armor was going north, but his declaration of taking the train was too loud, too obvious.  If it were her, she reasoned that would be the perfect decoy.  OK? Decoy for what? She asked herself. It was several hundred miles to even the border of the crystal empire.  Not something you travel by hoof.  That only left air as a viable option.  Did Shining have access to a chariot or airship?  Flash had only frozen the train system.

Shutting down the rails would probably stop him from leaving.  If she was wrong no pony would blame her for covering all bases.  If he’s even still in the city. Fizzle had positioned herself in the gardens near the throne room entrance.  If anypony wanted to get to the skyport or aviary from the apartments they’d have to pass her by walking right through the gardens.  For ten minutes she felt extremely foolish as nopony passed.  A door opened behind her, her ears swiveled of their own accord and Fizzle heard the distinct sounds of a three steel shod hooves echoing on the marble floors.

Raven Inkwell exited the hallway connecting the throne room to the gardens.  An enormous stack of papers and parchment held under one foreleg. The unicorn visibly started upon noticing the captain but continued on past her offering no other acknowledgement.

She had just started past the captain when Fizzle struck.  A powerful kick of her hind legs had her hind quarters airborne, a twist of her forelegs and her right rear hoof came down blade bared on the unfortunate unicorn’s neck.

With a cry Raven allowed her left hooves to slide under herself.  She fell to her side and rolled passed the deadly blade.  A sizable chunk of marble chipped away as the unyielding steel connected with it.  Dropping her papers and continuing her roll put Raven directly under Fizzle’s barrel, caught with all her weight on one rear leg Fizzle could only watch in horror as Raven’s horn lit with a familiar pink aura.  Her eyes only grew wider as the aura spread down Raven’s horn and chest and back up her forelegs headed for her horseshoes as the white unicorn punched up with both hooves.  Deciding that she had a better chance with broken ribs instead of punctured lungs Fizzle allowed her leg to buckle.  

Her chest touched the outstretched hooves a split second before whatever magic Raven was channeling could reach them.  She grunted with the impact, even wearing her barding Fizzle knew that she had at least one broken rib. 

The sacrifice brought her full weight, so to speak, against the diminutive secretary.  Or it should have. Whatever magic had been headed for Raven’s forehooves ended up encasing her rear hooves instead.  Ignoring the awkward position she was in and the fact there was no way she had enough friction to do so Raven, flat on her back, planted her hooves and kicked, sliding out from under the larger guard captain before she was bodily crushed.  

She was up on her hooves in a second parrying a right cross from Fizzlepop who had accepted the fall to the floor and bounded right back to her own hooves.  Sparks flew as the bladed edge of the shoe glanced off Raven’s blunted one. 

She wasn’t wearing steel earlier. The dark unicorn shifted her weight to her left and kicked off the floor a second time, allowing the momentum of her strike carry her hind quarters around, her left rear hoof arching around in a slash so fast the leading bladed edge began to whistle in the cool night air.  Fizzle knew it was a gamble as the smaller unicorn was deceptively fast and chances were she’d again duck under the attack and try to get in close for a body shot.

Raven instead used the parry to force herself away from the larger unicorn breaking contact and allowing the round house kick to pass harmlessly between them.  Raven’s sides heaved and her breathing was much too heavy for the small exchange that had taken place.  Empowering her hooves must take a lot out of her.  Fizzle stepped forward her turquoise eyes alight with excitement.  

“I hope you’re not getting too tired,”  she taunted. “This is the most fun I’ve had since I came here.”

Raven’s horn lit up again in that familiar shade of pink, she sunk a bit lower in her stance, but held her ground.  

Understanding last ditch efforts Fizzlepop decided enough was enough.  Once again her right hoof lashed out.  It almost connected this time, the parry coming much later then the first.  Fizzle’s left hoof came up this time the sharpened edge useless in the uppercut aimed at her opponents chin.  Raven dodged to the right just as Fizzle expected her to do.  The uppercut merely a feint to bring the unlikely combatant’s head into line.  Her follow up strike, a flash kick from her rear left hoof would have taken the head from Raven’s shoulders.  However as Fizzle arched her back and began to start the rotation she hesitated.  

Gone were the heavy breaths, and heaving sides from the pencil pusher, a triumphant smirk splayed across her muzzle, and a twinkle in those familiar blue eyes.  Unable to improvise Fizzle had no choice but to follow through with her attack, but as her fore hooves touched the marble floor, her body arched in a perfect upside-down “U”, she knew she was beaten.  Her rear hooves refused to leave the floor stuck in place by the same magic Raven had used earlier to escape Fizzle’s falling body. She watched helplessly as the pink aura encased her fore hooves as well, gluing the overconfident captain to the floor.  She baited me.  Pretending to be tired, that the magic was draining her too fast, she even feinted into her feint with the uppercut.

Beaten in combat for the first time in ages Fizzle was strangely at peace as the white unicorn stepped into her field of vision.  Raven had retrieved her papers and documents and was again carrying them under one leg. Fizzle hadn’t anticipated being killed in such a manner, never in her wildest dreams.  But she was a witness and she knew it.  

“Thank you,” she said. Surprising Raven and herself with how calm she sounded and felt.  “I meant what I said, that was fun.”  

Raven studied the captain but said nothing.  

“Is Twilight your target?” Fizzle asked, her voice full of worry.  If this one came for her, Twilight’s only chance would be to strike first from a distance.  Something she would never do.

Raven said nothing, watching.

Fizzle swallowed a lump in her throat, her eyes grew moist. “Please,” she begged.  “Twilight is good, she doesn’t deserve to die.  Please just talk to her before you…just talk with her, you’ll see.”

Raven had apparently made up her mind, her horn lit and her hoof was shrouded again in pink magic. Captain Fizzlepop Berrytwist’s eyes locked onto it as it slowly rose, hung for a second, and then quickly descended. Her chin exploded into pain and her vision turned white.  Then, slowly the pain faded and the white became darkness.
> Chapter 3 : Bitter Memories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Castle Canterlot sat atop the mighty Canterhorn deep in the heart of Equestria.  For nine centuries the Princess of the Sun had ruled from this marvel of ancient pony construction.  The golden spires of the city caught the rays of the setting sun and held them fast long after it had set.  The city was a beacon of hope and prosperity to all Equestria which had just finished the renovations made necessary by the attack of the Storm King.  Artisans and contractors from across the nation had come forth and banded together to restore their beloved diearchs home and seat of government.  Here they were given a unique chance to update the normally singular color scheme that permeated the city.

After nine hundred years the celestial pallet of white and gold was accented with lunar tones of blue and purple.  The darker colors encouraged some craft ponies to try some new styles of architecture and artwork.  New grotesques and gargoyles turned their stony eyes upon a city in the mists of a transitional period.  Classical and gothic districts began to pop up near the castle adding a surreal checkerboard pattern to the city.  A welcome change after the progressive sameness the city maintained for generations.

A greater change still from when there was only a small one chamber cave near the peak of what was once called The Wailing Mountain.  After the destruction and abandonment of The Castle of the Two Sisters nopony dared approach the towering peak.  Day and night the refugees who farmed at the base of the mountain could hear the keening wail of sorrow that emanated from on high.

Ten years later for the first time crying would stop at night as the princess finally slept. More time passed and the ponies below finally began to send their best fliers up the mountain side with food and drink for their heart broken princess.  It wasn’t long before it was perceived that those delivering to the princess may be finding favor with her, and eventually when the princess was done mourning her lost sister there was little doubt that those she favored would be rewarded for seeing her through such a hard time.

For a year the earth and unicorn ponies sat in impotent rage as the pegasi flew to the top of the peak delivering food and water by the arm full.  Till the day one determined earth pony completed work on an ornate copper plate made from an old shield.  It had taken the craft pony months to emboss the ornate sun and moon symbol into the surface of the plate.  And longer still to convince one of the pegasi to jeopardize her place in the race by carrying it, instead of the large basket of bread she normally took.

But the efforts paid off as the next day after a year of silence the princess finally responded. A small tear stained note was found with the empty baskets and water skins.  “Thank you for the plate.  It’s very beautiful.” It read.  An arms race of sorts began.

The fastest pegasi were no longer guaranteed to find favor with the princess.  Instead they had to band together with the best earth pony artisans to make suitable gifts for her.  Many alliances were foiled as certain gifts were returned with the empty containers. It was quickly learned that the Princess had no care for daggers or spears or weapons of any kind.  The battle with her sister was apparently still too painful.  

Likewise any item with the sole depiction of the sun or moon were rejected.  Only the sun and moon together or none at all were accepted. The earth and pegasus ponies had never worked so well together.

The unicorns protested. None could teleport that far, and no enchantments or spell they could weave would last long enough to be of use to the princess.  In desperation the fastest unicorns raced up the mountain side trying at least to be the first unicorn to give some token of their empathy.  And by shear dumb luck and not a little inconsideration they learned how to level the playing field.  Their furious stampeding up the mountain woke the princess from one of her reprieves and her crying began again in earnest.  The pegasi near the cave entrance had to turn away least they be blamed for disturbing the princess and causing more grief to come upon her.

When the unicorns again woke the princess in the middle of the contest, this time on purpose, tempers flared.  Under the shadow of the Wailing Mountain and the very sound of grief itself, an agreement was reached.  No pegasi could fly to the princess cave, and in exchange no unicorn would cause the window of opportunity to close on any non-unicorn victor.  All racers would travel by hoof.  

Celestia went many days without food as the racers would eventually grow so loud that her slumber would be disturbed and her grief would overcome her once more.  On the 7th day no pony dared race up the mountain for fear of causing another wild run that would again bring the princess more pain.

It was here that two ponies began their way up the mountain, earnest in their attempt to bring refreshment to the famished Princess but determined not to wake her from her rest. All eyes were on them and many breaths were held as they advanced to the cave.  Their easy steady canter up the mountain path didn’t seem to wake the slumbering Celestia and their families held deathly still convinced that at the last second one would sprint ahead of the other.  But they simply deposited the small offering of food and wine at the bedside of the slumbering Goddess.  Successful in their endeavor the example was followed and from that time forth the contestants cantered up the mountainside and any runner who broke this rule was forbidden from participating further.  Thus over the years as Celestias grief was cried away the Wailing mountain because known as the mountain ponies only cantered upon, or the Canterhorn, and the city that sprang up as Celestia began to reform the country became the place ponies canter to, Canterlot.  

The city was much smaller then but thanks to Celestias contest the tribal segregation was minimal at best.  Years of fighting together for favor had erased much of the old prejudices and it was a victory for her when she was asked to join several families of the "contest" winners together.  She thought she was finally making progress when the royal guard was reestablished and all ponies were eligible for service regardless of tribe.

How Celestia wished that manipulating ponies was as easy today as it was then.  Maybe then she wouldn’t have to trick her little ponies into letting her spend time with her family.  A rare smile found it’s way to her face.  Family.  Deprived of it for centuries Celestia and finally been able to bring one together for herself.  Her sister returned thanks to Twilight.  A beautiful niece with her charming husband, with an adorable foal to spoil.  Her surrogate daughter away on her own but reconciled to her, again thanks to Twilight.  And Twilight herself, ascended.   It had taken FAR too long but they were here now and they were hers.  Too many mistakes had already nearly ripped parts of it from her. She’d protect it this time.  Her smile became a frown.  Thinking about the good always came with a price.  The unwanted memories followed shortly after. 

Celestia pushed the memories away as the coach stopped.  A small commotion arose as her guards dismounted and pushed the gather crowd back.  She was greeted with the usual “ooohs” and” ahhhs” as she exited the carriage.  She smiled and waved to the crowd, singling out fillies and colts, and foals especially. Her public satisfied she allowed Captain Flash, who had touched down a moment earlier, to lead her into the station.

Norther Spur station was a fine terminal.  Clean and functional.  With ample room to send and receive large numbers of travelers.  A small outdoor cafe served any passengers who planned for a quick snack or meal on their trip and the unfortunate late comer who had missed their departure time and was forced to wait.  The Pegasus captain made  way to the small guard post and began speaking with the ponies on duty.

Celestias presence would have halted service at the station as travelers and workers would have stopped to gape at that solar princess.  If it hadn’t been stopped already.  Even though most had lived all their lives in Canterlot chances were that only a few had ever actually seen the Princess up close.  The demands of government and the nobles, kept her in the palace most of the year.  Mostly the nobles.  If it weren’t for Day court Celestia might not ever see the everyday pony.  Gilded cage indeed.  She thought to herself.

“Your highness.”  A very low, very scared voice interrupted her thoughts.  “Warbling Whistle at your service, what can The Northern Spur do for the crown?”  The voice was attached to a black unicorn stallion in a hit top hat. His two toned green tail twitched nervously. 

Celestia offered an apologetic smile to the unicorn.  “I’m sorry to inconvenience you so, Mr. Whistle, but I’m afraid we’re looking for somepony, perhaps would could talk in your office?”

The business pony nodded and held out his hoof directing the princess to the offices.  Flash and the guard began a search dividing themselves into two pony teams and headed for the trains. 


*****


“Pip! A thousand apologies for my tardiness!”  Princess Luna burst into the council room her magic throwing the doors open wide and amplifying her voice.  “A happening most strange occurred and we were waylaid.”  The council room was enormous.  Set in a side chamber just off the throne room the solid marble in the room was dark and clouded.  Torches along the wall appeared to reflect in the polished surface of the stone.  The white flecks in the black marble swirled and looped lazily. Even the marks and lines in the floor and had been positioned in such a way as to draw the eyes to the head seat, one normally filled by Celestia.  The felt topped circular table was low giving the impression of those seated around it of being gods on high.  The Sturdy high backed chairs and been carved from the finest ebony wood that could be found and cushioned with the alternating colors of the Solar and Lunar courts.  White then purple.  The felt on table top was patterned in such a way as to represent all of Equestria and was stretched along it marking every road, town, city and public works in the country.  Luna briefly wondered what it would take to commission a magical map as fine as Twilight Sparkles in the castle of Friendship.

Pip Squeak sat at the head of the table.  As his name suggested he did little to fill the Celestia sized seat.  It had been eight years since that wonderful Nightmare Night in Ponyville. Pip had just moved from Trottingham.  Mrs. Mayfly had asked the older fillies and colts if any of them felt comfortable enough to transfer to other orphanages to open room for the overcrowded one he currently resided in.  Though he was scared Pip was confident he could manage and a small town like Ponyville, nestled just under Canterlot had to be the safest place ever.

He’d never been so happy to be so wrong.  Living in Ponyville was a disaster a day, and he wouldn’t have changed it for the world. The cutie mark crusaders keep every day exciting and the Elements of harmony occasionally even brought real danger to their door steps.  But by far the greatest thing was meeting Princess Luna on Nightmare Night.  Every year after that the Princess would visit Pip in person asking after his friends and his life.  Was he eating well?  Did he have a warm bed to sleep in?  She had been so proud of him after winning the student council election.  Pip was overjoyed to have somepony so interested in him and his life, his eyes had filled with tears as the Princess presented him with a simple set of dark feather quills and a crystal inkwell.  Even thought the inkwell had probably cost more that the lifetime budget of the school, the simple quills, a pair of Luna's own discarded feathers were Pips most prized possession.

After getting his cutiemark, a white parchment with bits on it, for reducing wasteful spending in Ponyville, Miss Cheerliee always bought too much chalk, the princess had insisted he intern at the castle and see if he liked actual administration.  Three days a week he served as Mrs. Inkwells gopher during the day and gave an accounting at night to the princess.

Luna loved the little colt, his earnest desire to help and his naturally upbeat attitude brightened her spirits.  His simple declaration that she was his favorite princess had meant so much to her at the time, and still did.  Once learning that Pip had no parents Luna had vowed ever after that Pip Squeak and his daughters and sons would be favored of the moon.

The princess of the night trotted to his chair and prepared to lift him in her magic.  Weather by some trick of the light or perhaps her state of mind she saw Pip differently.  Gone was the tiny foal who had melted her heart with his adoration. In its place was a fine young stallion. “By the full moon itself!” She exclaimed.  “When did you grow so?”  She placed an affectionate kiss on his forehead and set him on the floor.  “Let me look at you.”

Eight years of decent care and been good for the once undernourished colt.  Pip had reached the stage of growth where he, like most ponies his age, were all legs.  He had added nearly a foot to his stature but thanks to Luna he was bit thicker than others his age.  He turned a couple of circles and trotted in place.  The splotches in his coat were well defined distinctly marking the boundaries from white to brown.  He wore his mane in a medium length uncombed but well cared for.  The brown blotch over his eye had darkened considerably Luna thought it quite dashing.  

Her eyes grew glossy. “How did this happen?  When did you become so handsome?”  She sat on her haunches and stared.  “How long before somepony comes and steels your heart away from me?”  Though her tone was light Luna was indeed worried.

Pip groaned the way all children did when odd complements made them uncomfortable.  He walked forward and placed his hooves around her neck in a tight hug.

“It better not be that Diamond Tiara.” She mock scolded.  “I much prefer your pegasus friend Rubble? Rabble?”

Pip laughed, “Rumble and no, not Rumble, Princess.”  

“Ah yes, ‘work hours’.” She sneered making hoof quotes.  “No, We shall stay this way a bit longer then we may work.”  She pulled Pip in closer and wrapped her hooves around him then she slowly opened her dark wings and wrapped them around him as well.  “I am so proud of you.”  

A muffled “Fank you.” Sounded from somewhere in her wing.

Luna broke the embrace and sniffled as she wiped the moisture from her eyes.  Pip likewise cleared his throat and rubbed his forearm across his snout smearing the fur with his tears.  Luna sighed.

“Very well Councilor.  Council us.”

Hopping back up into Celestias chair Pip made a grand gesture of pulling out a number of files from his ledger.  He took several moments to arrange and organize them as Luna also chose a chair and made herself comfortable.

“Have you told Princess Celestia about your proposed plans for Night court?”

Luna winced, “We have not.”

Pip started. “Princess, it’s nearing the end of the fiscal quarter.  If you don’t hurry several members of the staff who serve in night court will have no time to find gainful employment when you dissolve it.”  Luna winced again Pip had advised her when she first suggested the course of action that may ponies would find themselves out of a job by years end.

“Assistant Judge Stone just relocated form Manehatten and he brought some of his staff with him.  Bunny Ears a public defender, Spinning Lariat a state prosecutor, and a minotaur who served as their bailiff.”  Pip began making notes.  “I’ll get the paperwork ready and see if we can have them either transferred back to Manehatten or to the Day court, whichever they decide on.”

“You have our thanks, Pip.” Luna stepped down from her chair. “We shall talk with Celestia before daybreak, though I am loathe to do it, hardworking ponies my come to harm by my inaction.  Was that all?”

Pip Smiled and nodded as he began to gather his files, “With night court suspended for as long as it has been yes, your highness."  He bowed low.  "It’s my pleasure to serve Princess.”

The pair straitened the chairs and left the conference room.  The great golden throne of Canterlot sat vacant as the two ponies left the throne room.  The silence was loud in Lunas ears and she stopped and stared.  The throne seemed to mock her.  Its cushioned seat was far too large for the moon.   Se set her jaw her decision was right, lunar court was a disaster.  In ten years she had had only a hundred or so petitions that were worth mentioning.  The first year had been the worst, ponies who had had their solar petitions denied seem to think that the lunar court was some kind of appeals board and ninety nine percent of them were petitions that Celestia had already heard.  The one percent was Lady Rainbow Dash demanding to be made a Wonderbolt.

Far better for her to be either patronizing the arts or bringing the military back up to standards. Thanks to the Storm King it might be easier to insist that ponies had grown a bit soft in her absence.  Perhaps Celestia could be convinced the country could use a more dedicated fighting force.  Not likely.  She thought.  Even a thousand years ago Celestia was a consummate diplomat.  Not even the changeling queen besting her a few years ago had convinced Celestia to mobilize the troops.  She walked passed the throne.

So where did that leave Luna? Celestia fought tooth and nail with the nobles to reinstate Night court.  It was clear she wanted the younger Princess around and active in Cantelot Politics. Luna was just still having troubles fitting in, she would find a place.  First thing was first, Night court had to go.

Pip was quiet.  Princess Luna was deep in thought and young stallion didn’t really know what to say to her. He was sure that the Princess didn’t want to talk to Celestia about her decision but unless she did a lot of ponies would be seriously inconvenienced and soon.  He was about to mention that Princess Twilight was always ready and willing to help him and his friends when they had a problem but he was stopped by Lunas outstretched wing.  

Pip stopped immediately and looked to the Princess.  She stood silent as she surveyed the gardens, her eyes and ears rotating slowly.  Her wing folded back to her side silent as a shadow.  A crumpled form lay on the ground just inside Pips field of vision.  Lunas horn lit and an ornate long sword drew from her right wing.  Pips eyes widened, a real sword!  The blade was made of a dark metal he couldn’t identify and the surface was either mirror polished or just reflected the stars in the sky by default. The hilt was made of what appeared to be white ivory carved into the likeness of two wolves.  His heart was pounding in his ears and his hooves felt numb with excitement.  He nearly fainted when Lunas magic placed a similar dagger in his mouth.

“Be alert young one, trouble’s ahoof.” Her voice was quiet but urgent.  Be safe.  She silently pleaded.  

It had been many years since the princess of the night had actually used her blade in battle.  Relatively speaking.  The last time she remembered even unsheathing her sword Discord had been in power, or perhaps King Sombra, she wasn't quite sure.  The blade felt good and familiar in her magical grasp.  Her wings closed tightly to her sides and her muscles tightened under her fur.  Her mind raced back millennia ago "A cunning foe will help you forget all you know." Her zebra blade master had once told her.  Though every instinct compelled her to rush to aid a fallen pony she continued to scan the immediate area, carefully checking every shadow for waiting enemies.

Luna cautiously approached the form crumpled on the marble floor.  The mess of fiery red hair concerned Luna and there was no mistaking the dark barding covering the maroon fur.  Captain Fizzlepop had been beaten, possibly killed.  Luna measured every step as she approached the unicorn.  Her body was oddly positioned, rear legs folded under her body forearms extended past her head.  Luna was reminded of a yoga instructor Celestia asked her to meet with.  She had finally made it to the fallen captains side and breathed a sigh of relief. Fizzles barrel was slowly rising and falling, she was alive.  She stood over the prone form for some time, waiting for the ambush to come.

Pip shook with excitement and fear.  His mouth had long ago gone dry and even though the dagger was unfamiliar and tasteless in his mouth he dare not spit it out.  Magic gathered in Princess Lunas horn and a cluster of red fireworks shot forth into the night sky.  Within seconds a flock of pegasi touched down and the entire garden area lit up it magical lights. Pip felt a hoof on his shoulder.

“Easy son, no sudden movements, yeah?” Pip nodded, slowly.

Lunas voice echoed across the gardens. “The colt was with me. Clear him and escort him home, leave him armed.” Having no other choice Pip allowed himself to be led away.

As the guard led Pip away Luna breathed a sigh of relief.  “Sound the general alarm, we’ve intruders in the palace.  If they still tarry find them.”


*****


“Ooooooooohhhhhhhh.”  Twilight was extremely uncomfortable.  How come every time I do something nice it blows up in my face?.  She scolded herself.  Her preening had found another bent feather and she worked carefully to realign it among its fellows.

“Mmmmmmhhhhhhhmmmmm.” After a few minutes of Twilight working on her wings Cadence had finally relaxed and had floated a small container of cleaning cloths, makeup and cotton balls within reach.  She had begun removing the makeup ruined by her earlier breakdown. 

That’s when the moaning started.

“Wow Twight you are good at that!”  The surprise in her voice masked her unspoken questions.  But Twilight had been expecting as much from the alicorn of love. “I take it you get a lot of practice on your friend Rainbow Dash?”

Normally such questions would have caused Twilight to cough and sputter and insist that Rainbow and she were indeed just friends.  Not that any pony ever believed her.  But after ten years of slumber parties, awkward mix-ups and just plain colt-foolery Twilight had grown weary of the adolescent game.  Weary at least of being on the receiving end.  Why couldn't anypony just ask her if she was seeing somepony.  She wouldn't be offended.  She had no reason to be.  All this tenderhoofing around the subject made thinking about it distasteful for the Princess of Friendship. 

Cadence though she was so clever huh?  Fluster me a bit with some inappropriate moaning and hope I’d spill some juicy detail about my love life?  “On Sunday yes.” She tried not to smile, to keep her expression bored and passive as if she just kept talking without even thinking.  “We had to change because I don’t think she knew that Fluttershy and I were already doing it on Wednesday and I didn’t want her to think I’d been double dipping.”

“Double Dipping?” The surprise in Cadences voice would have brought a smile to Twilights muzzle had it not been full of feathers.

“Is that not the term?” Twilight asked casually.  “I never promised Rainbow that I wouldn’t do it with anypony else, and Fluttershy can be so dirty.”  She smiled deviously.  Excellent execution, Twilight. Why thank you, Twilight.  

Cadence coughed and cleared her throat, rather loudly.  “So you’re pretty partial to feminine wings then?”  Twilight smiled no wonder ponies did this to her all the time, it was so easy.

“Not necessarily, Rarity and I polish each other’s horns at the spa on Thursday days.”  She heard and felt Cadence stifle a giggle.

“Wow, Twilight. I never would have imagined, what about Pinky Pie or Applejack don’t tell me you exclude them?”

Crabapples.  Twilight thought, she’d already laid on enough innuendo that if Cadence wasn’t suspicious now she definitely would be if she added more.  Abort or double down?  Double down and get caught lying and Cadence would never let her live it down.  Back out and Cadence would just change tactics later and try again.  Deciding that the game had run its course anyway and that she and Cadence could laugh about it later she made her choice.  An alarm horn sounded, magically amplified throughout the apartment startling her and interrupting her train of thought.  Panicked she blurted out, “AJ, Pinkie and I have a threesome on Tuesday mornings!!"

Thankfully Cadence had not heard her as she had moved to look out the window leaving Twilight seated on the floor, several feathers sticking from her lips.  Oh thank CelestiaShe had begun to stand and join Cadence at the window when a sleep voice stopped her.

"What's a threesome?" A blurry eyed Flurryheart asked her Aunt.

Cadence spun around.  "Twilight!!"

“Buck.” She stated.

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!"  Cadence was aghast.

Flurryhearts wings covered her mouth. “Uuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm.  Somepony’s gonna get iiiiiiiiiitttt.”

It's a curse. Twilight thought.

“Perhaps.” Interrupted an authoritative voice.  “But not now.”  Princess Luna strode into the room, she motioned the three smaller princesses away from the couch and directed the two guards with her to it.  The pair moved in on hind legs physically carrying the larger unicorn.

Twilight gasped as the guards carefully placed her stalwart captain on the couch then retreaded through the doors.  “Fiz! Oh no! Fizzlepop can you her me?  What happened?”

“We know not.” Luna started. “Pip and I were in the conference room and heard nothing.  It appears that you also heard nothing?"

Cadence shook her, No.

"No." Twilight added.  "We were talking and didn't hear.  You mean Fizzle was attacked just outside?"  Twilight looked horrified.  Her Captain, her friend attacked just beyond her door!

"Neigh, twas closer to the me than you."

"Celestia!  Somepony nearly took her head clean off.  Medic!! Somepony!"  Twilight had begun a simple medical scan of the unicorn.  An bruise the size of a watermelon that covered nearly the entire underside of the captions chin was illuminated. 

The front door of the apartment opened and a guard pony with white medic bands covering his shoulders came into the room.  He saluted Princess Luna then began emptying his bag.

"Field medic Midnight Tonic, princess can you give me any particulars?"  The medical pony had begun pulling bandages, potions and ointments from his bag.  He glanced at Fizzle and noticed the Spell.  "Taking over princess."

Twilight stepped aside and transferred the simple spell, she moved by Flurry heart and lifted the small alicorn and set her on her back.  "Good evening!." she tried to smile and leaned forward. "I could use some nuzzles right now."

The tiny alicorn giggled and leaned forward happily touching noses and rubbing them together with her aunt.  "Ok.  Auntie Twi."  Twilight relished in the simple act.  Enjoying the physical contact seemed to help push her worry and anxiety away.

"I'll tell you something embarrassing about daddy if you promise to forget all the words I just said." she whispered conspiratorially.

The alicorn filly giggled again.  "Promise?"  Twilight nodded.  Chewed her bottom lip then turned to the couch.  Flurryheart stood taller on her back and rested her front hooves on Twilights head so she could see.

"We need you to ensure her health but not wake her."  Luna was explaining to Midnight.  The medical pony looked confused but didn't interrupt the Princess.  "We must know what happened and to learn it we will go to her mind."  Midnight nodded and finished applying a healing ointment to the bruised chin.  He then carefully wrapped a brace around Fizzles neck. He looked reproachfully at the Dark princess.

"Will that keep her under or shall I sedate her?  Also In the future please be more careful about moving anypony in such a manor, Princess."

Luna nodded accepting the reprimand.  "Our magic will keep her slumbering.  Take your leave find Captain Flash and my sister, they will need to be here."  The Princess of dreams settled down on the floor near the captain and lit her horn.  

Twilight began to lift Flurryheart and passed her to her mother.  "Can you bring me with you?  I have to know she's OK,"

An outstretched wing stopped her.  "We will find all our answers together Twilight Sparkle, all of us."  Luna's voice was unyielding.  "But Fizzle slumbers and we must protect the privacy of her dreams, they may be  mine to shepherd but they are HERS.  Explain our situation to Celestaia when she arrives and be ready."
> Chapter 4 : Sweet Dreams
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Luna stepped from the ether and into Fizzlepop’s mind.  Dream walking in and out of ponies lives was her special talent, but slaying monsters was her favorite thing.  There was no monster or demon she wouldn't face.  For generations her blood lust had been sated and her skills honed to their finest edge thanks to the nightmares of her subjects.  She had lost count of the times she told herself she had seen everything, but there was always something new, some new darkness, some new fear brewing in the minds of her subjects and they all seemed to take such monstrous forms.  However this era was woefully underpopulated with monsters, physical and dreamed alike.   

A thousand years with Celestia on the throne making the world a better place had ensured that most of the creatures she was use to vanquishing were now close allies and friends or confined to the heart of the Everfree Forest.  She had been more than ready to drive the her sword into the Dragon that had taken residence near Ponyville those few years ago but Celestia had stopped her.  So that left the dream realm.   Most dream monsters terrorized the foals and adolescents of the nation as in this new time of prosperity different terrors seeped into the minds of the adults: debt, declining health, loss of a family member, loss of employment.  It was much harder to fight those things.  It was testament to the advancement of the species Luna supposed and wondered, not for the first time, where she fit in this time in history.

Musings for another night, she decided.

Fizzlepop's mind was well organized and uncluttered.  A lifetime of focusing on a single goal and never deviating from it.  There were no paths for unrealized fears nor unrealized dreams, or monsters lurking in the dark, none that she could see anyway.  Shadows and the unknown didn't scare this pony.  As she descended she saw a space surrounded by what appeared to be caves and mountain cliffs.  In the distance she could see the great blue starry hides of thousands of Ursa majors patrolling from cave to cave, the guardians of her mind.  

Though she knew little of Fizzle's past, she did know that the astral bears held some pivotal role in the unicorn’s mental development.  Sensing the intrusion hundreds of the beasts focused on the alicorn and a wild roar rang out.  Waves of mental rejection pulsed at her.  The wave struck head on and Luna was actually surprised and how ineffectual the blast was.  The mental force was all show and no substance, leading Luna to wonder if it something had weakened Fizzle's mental  defenses or if perhaps her damaged horn or her separation from Equestria itself had caused the captain’s weak mental prowess.  Perhaps the scarred unicorn’s dedication to the physical arts had left her mind vulnerable.  She resolved to mention it to Twilight Sparkle when she could, it wouldn't do to have somepony so close who was susceptible to mind magics.  Perhaps here was her new purpose, a new role for her Luna thought as she  paid the defensive constructs no further mind.  

Igniting her horn the Dreamwalker shrouded herself in a protective bubble.  The mind could still be a very dangerous place even for the trained.  A strong enough will  was still able to shape the mindscape and from what Luna had seen Fizzle's will would still be quite formidable.  She continued to descend in to a small thatched roof village. Several foals ran up and down the streets all of them chasing yellow bouncing balls.  She wasn't sure but something about the foals wasn't right, they unnerved her in some way.

She touched down atop of one of the thatched roofs.  Fizzle’s dream was unusually quiet, no winds blew, nor bird chirped.  Luna just noticed that the reason the foals unnerved her was because they weren't laughing or playing they were just running through the streets chasing the balls.  She allowed the bubble to vanish.

"Captain Fizzlepop?" Luna called.   She kept her voice conversational and calm in case the unicorn was in an agitated state.  Not receiving an immediate answer the princess cautiously walked to the edge of the roof and looked over.  The small village was could have been featured on any number of "wish you were here" postcards.  The houses were similar but not copies of each other as most buildings in dreams would have been.  Fizzle must think a lot about this place.  Luna lighted off the roof and touched down on the street timing her landing to drop in front of one of the playing foals.

Large purple eyes looked up at her.  Luna put on a smile.  Normally foals would bring a genuine smile to her face no preconceptions or prejudice in those innocent eyes.  Just curiosity and trust.  Pip sprang to her mind and her smile became genuine and much warmer.  But these foals were not foals.  At best they were just placeholders, old memories from Fizzle's foalhood, at worst mental defenses disguised and ready to repel any intruding entity.  The lunar goddess wasn't overly worried, though Fizzlepop was indeed strong willed her mental training was non-existent these were most likely just aspects of her subconscious.

The foal looked up at her, "Playing?" she asked.

"Neigh," Luna replied, " I seek your mistress."

The foal cocked her head in a curious gesture,  "What's that?"

"Fizzlepop, I need to speak to Fizzlepop."  Luna clarified.

The little blue filly hung her head, "Fizzlepop never came back."

Alarms went off in Luna's mind.  There was a great shift in where Luna was standing and she nearly lost her footing.  A great ripple spread forth from her hooves, it raced along the ground up the filly standing before the princess, up the home to her right.  The dreamewalker cursed herself this filly was not some distant memory, and she wasn't part of Fizzle’s mind. This isn't her mind, this is a dream, perhaps a nightmare!"  And she just interrupted the narrative.  

She lit her horn channeling her magic and shrouding herself in another protective bubble this time separating herself from the events of the dream.  The blue filly looked confused as the princess vanished in front of her but after a moment the look passed and she resumed running through the deserted streets of the small village.

Luna scolded herself.  Disturbing a dream in progress could be dangerous, doubly so if the dreamer wasn't even present.  The dreaming mind didn't like to deviate.  Luna could only hope her presence hadn't been noticed.  She stood still for a few moments and waited.  The filly, or different versions of her, she wasn't sure, passed her by several times chasing the ball.  She could just make out the filly coming up the street again when a crack of thunder exploded above the her.  The sky darkened and and Luna saw several small blue fillies head up a side street.  Grateful for the change Luna followed the mob.

Separated from the dream by her magic Luna was in no rush and several of the fillies darted right through her on their way to what Luna soon recognized as the town square.  The blue fillies lined up around half of a circular fountain while a group of similar aged green colts lined the other. They began to jabber at one another and it took Luna a moment to realize there were no actual words just sound.

The sky darkened above her and a familiar obsidian airship descended below the clouds.  It looked far more menacing then Luna remembered,  Molten lava poured from the exhaust vanishing before it touched the ground.  The glow of the molten rock created a patch work of grotesque faces on the polished surface of the craft.  The Storm King’s emblem glowed an unnatural blue and cracked with barley restrained lightning.  The roar of the engines was deafening and the fillies and colts all drooped their ears and covered their heads, prostrating themselves on the ground.

A crash and an over exaggerated tremble in the earth announced that the craft had finally landed.  The exhaust from the airship released in a great wave that blew many of the ponies away with its force, the dream constructs crying in terror.  The hot wind blew through the unfeeling Luna as she calmly moved to a better vantage point, the dream bubble following her mental commands.

Floating over the crowd Luna felt a disturbing amount of déjà vu overcome her.  The Airship sat menacingly on the ground casting a shadow that seemed to swallow up everything that fell under it.  The fillies and colts were deathly quiet.  With a pop and a hiss of steam the boarding hatch of the ship opened, a heavy hoof beat followed by another and from out of the dark came Tempest Shadow, or some nightmare version of her.  Her fur had gone from a deep maroon to lightless black. Her dark steel armor replaced with the deepest obsidian, flecked with red impurities.  Luna laughed aloud the red on black on black color pallet comical in its need to be evil and foreboding.

"You look stupid!"

Luna's ears swiveled forward of their own accord searching for the source of the sound.  Her laughter forgotten Luna moved her dream bubble closer to the front of the crowd.  Slowly passing over the silent and cowering children she studied each one trying to decipher if anyone of them had broken the silence.  Tempest continued to descend the plank and began a mechanical laugh.  Luna winced as she listened.  If the color pallet was overdone, then the laughter was just pathetic.  No change in pitch or variation in tone, it as just a simple loud "Ha Ha Ha!" over and over again.  Fizzlepop's idea of what nightmare meant could use some work, Luna decided.

"Ugh, you SOUND stupid too!" the voice taunted.

If Tempest heard the voice or not was unclear.  The armored cliche finally set hoof on the ground.

"DO something!!!" the voice cried.  "Don't just stand there laughing!"  

Luna continued to hover over the crowd following the voice.  It continued to encourage Tempest to begin whatever calamity was suppose to be happening in this dream.  Luna got the sense that she might not have entered a nightmare.  She soon pinpointed the source of the commentary.  Upon the top tier of the central fountain set precariously near the edge was a head.  At first Luna thought it to be attached to the fountain overlooking  the town square but as she got close she could see a severed neck portion which was jagged and cracked as if it were broken glass.  The neck ended just past the chin so that it sat in the water while the chin, hooked over the side of the basin, keep it from floating away.  The head continued to shout at the scene before it, insulting the comical captain and the prostate foals.  Princess Luna had found her quarry. 

Fizzlepop was practically foaming at the mouth as she shouted to the crowd.  "Attack them!  Fire the cannons!  DO something!  Or just leave!  Don't just stand there!"  Luna stopped.  This was indeed Twilight's captain, but she could hear a slight hint of desperation in her voice.  She was angry but she was also trying to change the course of this dream, trying to deviate it from some outcome.

Luna decided that this dream intervention had to be short, she and the other princesses had questions that needed answers.  She moved the dream bubble forward until it covered the body-less head.  As it did so, an intact Fizzlepop stood on her own four hooves and noticed the princess.  She wobbled as feeling came back to her, and her mind cleared itself of the dream, her tail thrashing widely behind her.  

"Wha...? Home?  That's me!" The scared unicorn placed a hoof against her temple and took in a few breaths,  Watching her evil self begin to roughly move the foals aside.  

"Captain, we are short on time.  I need you to focus." Luna began to explain.  "You have experienced this dream before, but we must unravel it if we are to get to your mind."

The Captain closed her eyes pressed harder on her temple.  "Dream?  Before?  Uhhhh...  She's coming.  Twilight's gonna die!"  Her hoof dropped from her head and she turned to the Princess her eyes wide and panicked.  "She won't fight back.  We have to..."

Luna sighed, "Why does everypony boss me around in the dream realm? Neigh Captain, we have need of your mind, we must either follow this dream to it's conclusion or resolve the matter to end it prematurely.  I'm sure that Princess Twilight is fine I just left her with Princess Cadence in her apartment, guards are posted outside."

Fizzle rubbed her chin and muzzle.  "Why does my face hurt?"

Luna chuckled, "Your assailant most likely is to blame, you've a sizable bruise in the waking world."  She stepped forward and the bubble expanded so they could both stand comfortably.  "Now tell me of this dream that we may end it.  What is going to happen and why?"

Fizzlepop glanced around.  "This was my hometown.  That's Briar Patch," indicating the green filly.  "And Sapphire Dust.  Eventually  Princess Twilight will show up to stop me."  

Luna nodded watching Tempest laugh comically and bat the foals aside with lazy swipes of her hooves.  "I see, does she convince you to turn and flee? Or to give up your villainous ways perhaps?"  Luna made hoof quotes, Tempest being no more villainous than a foal’s storybook character.

The maroon unicorn looked down ashamed.  "She doesn't win,"  she said sadly.

Luna turned in surprise but her response was cut off as a pillar of purple light crashed down from the sky.  A blast of wind and a high pitched ringing forced the foals away form the pillar while Tempest Shadow squared herself to it and waited. Twilight emerged.

Luna waited as well, curious.  Her eyes widened as she beheld the figure, then they widened some more.   Half again as tall as Celestia the goddess that strode from the purple pillar of light was breathtaking.  Hooves as large as serving platters shod in golden shoes attached to legs as think as her own barrel.  Her fetlocks were unshorn and the thick fur dragged along the ground in a very appealing way.  Thick and muscled as Luna had never seen before, like steel cords wrapped in not enough velvet, firm and taught as if in full gallop even while walking.  The powerful front legs supported chest and shoulders that seemed too large to exist.  She looked as though she could have born the world itself on that broad muscled back.  Luna was sure that something so large and muscular would look decidedly male, and though her thighs and hips we're enormous compared to a normal mare, her proportions made them appear sleek and delicate.  Her purple fur, where it could be seen, sparkled as she walked as if delicate hint of gem dust had been brushed in to it.  Her wings sat at her sides larger than Fizzlepop herself.  The purple of her coat gradually becoming a darker purple near the wingtips.

Glorious segmented barding covered her back and side, contoured to every curve, moving like a second skin.  As she moved her chest strained against the leather straps threatening to tear them in half, dropping the armor and exposing the enormous mare underneath.  The armor stopped where her neck began leaving it naked until just under her chin where a intricate collar of gold was fastened.  The collar was adorned with a multitude of precious gemstones all cut to perfection.  Though somewhat foreign Luna could see still Twilight in the distorted face.  Her muzzle elongated to ridiculous proportions her eyes smaller and set farther apart, yet still possessed of the patience, goodness, and caring the Princess of Friendship was famous for.  She wore a crown upon her head that only seemed to consist of five stars that were set in some invisible metal for they followed the movement of her head unerringly while being physically attached to nothing.  Her mane was't ethereal as she expected it to be but gathered and bundled in a simple tail that cascaded down her neck.

Luna had seen many things in her time shepherding the dreams of ponies, but she could safely say this was a first.  "I swear to you Fizzlepop," she said in all seriousness, "so long as you 'suffer' from this nightmare I shall be here to assist you."  She looked over to Fizzle who was seated on her haunches and had the nerve to NOT be embarrassed by the vision of perfection manifest from her mind.

Fizzle stared at the dream Twilight and spoke.  "The minotaurs have a legend of a great god named Atlas who has held the world in the sky for eons because no other could.  There was a giant statue in Minos, carved from granite.  All Muscles and power."

"Was?" Luna echoed.

"He was the epitome of beauty, endurance and strength for the minotaurs."  Shame filled her eyes.  "I shattered it."

"Ah," Luna faltered. "I can see then why you would cast Twilight in his likeness"

Fizzle spat.  "Twilight is NOTHING like that depraved monster.  Atlas didn't hold the world because he was selfless, he did it because he could, because he was the strongest and had to prove it."  Her voice grew loud and angry.  "He wanted to be rewarded for it.  So the minotaur hordes brought him food and wine and treasure and slaves!"  She rose and stepped toward the pair stopping just shy of breaching the dream bubble.  "This Twilight is all wrong"  Her eyes narrowed and she glared balefully at the dream version of her princess.   "She's strong from within, from her convictions.  Her strength is for others not herself."

Luna moved them both forward, "That must be the reason you have given her this form.  You do hold physical prowess in high esteem."  The pair settled in close.  Twilight was speaking, her voice had not changed at all and though hearing it come from this enormous pony might have been funny, neither of them laughed.

"What happened Fizzle? Why are you doing this?  You forgave these ponies." Twilight asked.

Tempest Shadow scoffed, "I don't care about them or how they feel.  I knew that hurting them would bring you to me."  She stepped forward and struck the Princess on her snout.  The dream walkers blinked at the action, confused.  For there was no possible way the normal sized Tempest could have reached the gigantic Twilight.  "You lied to me!!" Tempest stated as she stuck the goddess again.

"You said friendship was magic!" another strike.

"That ponies would forgive!" Another.

"That I would be welcomed back!"

“That I could have friends of my own!”

The dream Twilight was bleeding freely from several cuts on her face, she spat blood and broken teeth from her mouth.  "You do," she cried. "Rarity, Rainbow, the girls they are all your friends!"

Tempest growled and struck again,  "They are YOUR friends and you tell them to humor me!"  A blast from her broken horn had the Princess reeling on her hind legs.  "Nopony cares, nopony wants me around!"  Another blast and the purple alicorn lay flat on her back staring up at Tempest.  With an evil grin the dark unicorn brought a hoof down on Twilight's gigantic wing.  Fizzle winced slightly and Luna cringed in sympathy as a bone shattering crack reverberated in the dream scape.

Apple sized tears dropped from Twilight's eyes as Tempest moved from her wing to stare directly down at her.  "All your lessons!  All your advice!"  She screamed striking Twilight across the muzzle each time.  "Worthless! Worthless! Worthless.  Just like you!"

Luna had seen enough, this was no simple problem but a familiar one.  Still she had to turn away as the angry scene played out  before her.   Watching Twilight submit to such an beating was bad enough, but in her current form it was heartbreaking.    Fizzlepop sat and witnessed the entire event her eyes unblinking.  She started as a dark wing draped over her and pulled her into a tight embrace against Luna's side.

"You and I have much in common Captain," she began.  "Our respect and love for Twilight Sparkle most of all."  She waited for the Captain’s reaction as she was surprised and glad that it did not devolve in pointless arguing, time was of the essence.

"Love?"  the unicorn asked.  She blinked away her tears and stared at the Princess.  "You love her?"  The smile that she received was warm and genuine.

"There are many types of Love, dear Fizzle.  Though romantic is the one most ponies concern themselves with.  But I speak of love born from gratitude.  You see,"  she willed the dream bubble to rise above the ghastly scene until they both floated high over the village.  "Twilight came to me at time when I was lowest, a time where the darkness in my heart and mind threatened the very world."  She tried to open a vision of the battle in the Castle of the two sisters but Fizzle had not yet relaxed enough to allow the Princess to do so.  Undeterred she continued.

"She was able to stop the nightmare that I had become, but that was just the beginning of our tale, much like yours."  She nuzzled the captain’s cheek with her own, trying to relax the agitated pony further.  "Lost and alone after a millennia of imprisonment Twilight offered me Friendship in a way that I do not ever recall it being offered to me before."   Fizzle settled a bit more and leaned gently against the comforting wing of the Princess. "I have not really ever felt worthy of it."

"After our battle I waited in Canterlot for many moons.  Waited for a letter or for the mare herself to appear in court and demand her boon."

"Her boon?" The captain asked.

Luna nodded and tried again, this time she was rewarded as the dream of Fizzlepop's village was replaced with the Princess’ dark marble chambers.  A great stone desk occupied a section of a roughly hewn stone wall.  A small bundle of rolled a scrolls had been spread across the desk and Fizzle could just make out Twilight's writing on the tops of several letters.

"A reward," the princess explained.  "Twilight had done great services to the nation and the crown.  In my time such actions would surly grant lands or titles or gold beyond counting.  And many heroes of the age served us in the hopes of receiving such a gift from us.  I have given countless dreams, discarded feathers, a kiss to a foal once, two hairs from my head, and a night in my bed for such deeds."  She paused remembering then smiled. "Two nights," she corrected.   "Greater still, she had served me personally.  I owed her greatly.  At first i thought the time was a courtesy granted that I may first spend time with my sister before being carted away to some corner of the kingdom to become the noble wife or the less noble concubine of a great hero of the nation."

Fizzle had been busy watching the vision of a much smaller Luna read through the letters and converse many times with Celestia.   There were hugs and tears and even a few shouting matches but the vision always returned to Luna gazing out of a small window overlooking Ponyville.  The last comment had her jerking her head away from the vision to stare at the dark alicorn.  "You thought she'd make you marry her?"  

Luna shrugged her wings.  "She had already saved my life, as far as I was concerned, I was indebted to her for it.  I often wonder what that would have been like.  If perhaps that would have been better.  Of course it never came to pass.  I had assumed that Twilight did what she did for glory or gain, the knights of my time were heroes it's true, but many were not so...dedicated.  I know not of one who wouldn't have tried to get a leg up on the other noble houses."  Luna knew she was on the right track as Fizzle turned away and studied the little Princess staring out the window her expression haunted.   "Imagine my surprise when Celestia informed me that that Twilight was no knight but a bookkeeper, a librarian.  And she scoffed at the idea of Twilight asking anything from me."

Fizzle found herself nodding.  "She's never asked me for anything either, not even for me to say I was sorry."

"After a year I had had enough, the uncertainty was maddening.  I traveled to her village determined to extract her demands or nullify them altogether.   What I got was my first and most trusted friend in this era.  She made no demands or requests.  It appears she just genuinely enjoys my company and I love her for it."  The night princess lifted her wing from off of the captains back and refolded it against her side.  "So it is with you, captain.  Twilight has offered her friendship to you as she did to me with no motives, or strings attached,  Yet here you are attacking her and denying her efforts on your behalf.  Why?"

Fizzles eyes darted from side to side as she thought.  The vision changed once again and they were back on the street watching Tempest scream at and strike the beautiful but strange version of Twilight.

"Worthless! Worthless!"

"It's me?" She whispered.  "I'm the worthless one?"  Her anger returned.  "That's just stupid!  And Cliche!  And it's a stupid Cliche!"

The Princess of dreams chuckled.  "No my silly captain, you ARE not, but you FEEL that way. Do you not?"

Fizzle still fumed but looked again at the scene.  "Do I?" she asked.  Frustrated and angry.  She looked to the crowd and the foals still lying prostrate on the ground.  Back to Luna with that insufferable know it all smirk.  Back to Tempest standing above the defenseless Twilight.  As Tempest struck Twilight again Fizzle caught the briefest flash of blue in her eyes.  After recoiling the dream Twilight began her crying once again but it turned from a pitiful sobbing into hearty maniacal laughter.  Twilight open her eyes to reveal small pupils on a field of blue.

Twilight's laughter grew pained as the teeth in her lower jaw began to grow.  They soon became two enormous yellowed tusks much too large for her mouth.  The elongated muzzle began to shrink and the laughter turned to screaming.  The golden shoes crumbled to dust and fell away as the beautiful hooves split down the center becoming cloven, dull, and grey.  Her front hooves also became cloven but then continued to split as the hardened hoof elongated in to bony fingers.  The ankle bone cracked and popped as it grew to form a wrist and the third finger of a clawed hand.

Luna and Fizzle watched in horror as the soft purple of Twilight's fur bleached itself to an ugly yellow white.  The crack of bone and joints reforming as her chest began to taper near the waist.  The pitch of the screams grew deeper and less pained.  A vulgar guttural sound of pleasure replaced them and the pair of ponies grew uncomfortable.  The glorious horn cracked and splintered and fell to the earth.  Twilight writhed and convulsed her way to her haunches but the bones weren't oriented correctly anymore and she fell to her knees which had become twisted versions of her equine legs, the hooves cloven and cracked.  The bleaching effect on her fur rushed up her legs and Luna gasped while Fizzle wretched as Princess Twilight Sparkle became the Storm King.

Unfortunately for Tempest Shadow she had also been staring in horror at the transformation of her former princess and before she could recover a clawed hand reached out and engulfed her head.  The Storm King had keep Twilight's ridiculous proportions, slowly climbing to his hooves to stand at his full height, towering over the surrounding buildings.  Tempest wriggled uselessly in his grasp.

"Oh, Tempest, so good to see you again!"  He wrapped his other hand around Tempest’s neck and released her head, bringing her to eye level.  He looked around at the pitiful foals and their village.  "What have we been doing?  Are you plundering again? Tsk Tsk," he clicked his tongue.  "You're not a pirate anymore."  He brought his free hand up again a booped the squirming unicorn squarely on her nose.  "You are my lieutenant." His grin deepened and his eyes narrowed.  "My Lieutenant,"  he purred.

Before the restrained captain could react, before the dreamwalkers suspected what was coming the Storm King brought the helpless unicorn close and forcefully kissed her full in the face.  Fizzlepop brought a hoof to her mouth and retched. There was a mighty clash of thunder and the dreamscape began to distort and twist. Unprepared for the level of turmoil the strength of Luna's dream bubble faltered and a wave of mental force washed over the travelers.  Fizzlepop fell to her stomach and retched again.

"No!" Luna cried, lighting her horn and reforming the barrier.  "Fight back captain you mustn't falter, we cannot afford to begin this all over again!"  A foul wind began to blow through the dream village and the images distorted further.  Fizzlepop heaved once and a torrent of reddish black smoke spilled from her mouth pooling in the bottom of the bubble.  Spewing the cloud from her mouth Fizzles eyes rolled in their sockets searching for the Princess.  Luna knelt next to her and covered the pair of them with her wings blocking their view of the dream.

"Your subconscious mind is trying to tell you something." Luna began, "We must either figure out what it is or continue the dream until it concludes.  Only then will it be safe enough for us to delve into your memories of this evening."  

The information coupled with Luna's voice and her wings muffling the wind helped Fizzle to focus.  Slowly the smoke pouring from her mouth abated and she could hear the wind die down.  Luna smiled and nodded.

"Good, Captain very good.  Now think!  What is this dream about why are we here?  What lesson are you trying to teach yourself."  The night princess lowered her wings and Fizzle could see that the distortions were no longer in the village, they had retreated to the surrounding mountains but were still visible distorting the shape and movement of the Ursas.

A sharp rap on the tip of her nose startled her.  "Fizzlepop!  Focus please!"  Luna had been speaking to her.  "This dream," she began again. "Where did it deviate from the last time, what is new?"

"When Twilight changed." She answered shuddering, she belched and a small blob of smoke drifted from her mouth to settle in the bottom of the dream bubble.  The level of the smoke was well below their hooves but Fizzle didn't like it.  The thought of the stuff filling the bubble completely did not sit well with her in the slightest.

As the pair stood up Fizzle wobbled on her hooves and Luna wrapped her wing around her once more.  "Why the Storm King?" The princess asked aloud.  "Why this dream?"

"Ughhh, I don't know!" Fizzle cradled her head in her hooves.  

"You do know" The alicorn stated.  "This is your dream, the symbols and the meanings are for you and you alone.  Nopony else can interpret them even I."

Luna's voice had begun to rise, she was nervous and that was not a good sign.  Fizzle racked her brain thinking she looked widely around the dreamscape and immediately regretted it.   The kiss between Tempest and the Storm King had escalated into a heated mess of foreplay.  Girlish giggles and deep chuckling were intermediately mixed in with the sound of heavy breathing.

"You want me," Tempest purred.  The Storm King responded with a sloppy wet kiss.  Fizzle heaved again and more dark smoke pooled in the bottom of the dream bubble.  The armored unicorn pushed the King away with and with a sicking wet sounding 'pop' he backed away.  Her eyes half closed and she ran her tongue lightly over her lips.  "I'll let you,." she whispered.

Fizzle hung her head in shame and fell back to the floor of the bubble, more black smoke poured from her mouth and leaked from her nose.  Unknown to her however the Storm King’s eyes had flashed with lust and desire but Luna, more observant, noticed, something else in those hungry eyes.

"It wasn't like that." Fizzle growled away her shame tempering it to anger.  "I wanted protection!  I wanted the others to stop leering at me."  The dark smoke began to leak from her eyes the bottom of the dream bubble and filed and the pair found themselves hoof deep in it.  The smoke churned and writhed as Fizzle stomped angrily at the ground.

Tempest’s eyes and cheeks bulged as the Storm King again forced his mouth over hers.  "Look!" Luna bade the captain as once again a brief flash of something crossed the Storm King’s face, fear?

"No! I won't apologize for staying alive!  The whole group would have had their way with me if I hadn't."  The black smoke continued to rise and was now threatening to wash over Fizzle as she lay on the floor of the bubble.  Luna reached down and raised the unicorn up.  She brought the unicorn close in to a hug and spoke gently but firmly to her.

"I do not belittle your plights nor the hard decision you've no doubt had to make."  Fizzle began to pull away but Luna took firm hold of the sides of the scarred unicorn’s face and turned to look into her eyes.  "You need fear no judgement from me, you are a dear friend of Twilight Sparkle whom I trust and care for deeply.  Moreover," she lowered her hooves and stood tall, her voice growing reverent.  "Nothing here will ever be spoken of by me to anypony.  It cannot negatively change the way I see or feel for you.  I am truly here to help just as the sun sustains the body so do I sustain the mind.   I ask you to place your trust in me and look, something is wrong here and YOU must see it."

Anger and shame filled the captain’s eyes.  "I'm not weak.

A soft smile crossed Luna's lips.  "No." she agreed.  She placed her wing over the unicorn and firmly turned her to face the scene.   Fizzle’s lips curled back showing her teeth.  Tempest was in a precarious position but seemed to be in complete control of the situation.  The Storm King was so large his claws were wrapped easily around her barrel.   He was casually holding her at face level as they kissed.  He was eager and could easily have overpowered the smaller unicorn.  Tempest was wise though, turning away from the kisses when they grew too bold but engaging in enough so to keep the monkey-like being from growing frustrated and angry.  She was like a toy in his hands and should he decide that he didn't like the game they were playing Luna had little doubt the direction this nightmare would take.

Fizzle on the other hoof just seethed as she watched the foreplay unfold.  She was too angry to be uncomfortable even when it became apparent that the Storm Kings was veryinterested in his companion.  He dove in for another round of kisses but Tempest turned away at the last second.  She clicked her tongue.

"So eager!" she teased as she turned away.  That's when Fizzle saw.  Her narrowed eyes widened and her eyebrows raced to her forehead.  In that instant of rejection instead of the anger or frustration she expected the Storm King instead looked confused and hurt.  For a split second his tiny eager pupils became large and ringed with purple.   His prominent brow became less pronounced and softer.  The unnerving predatory grin became an unsure self loathing wince.  The Princess and the Captain widened their eyes in realization.

"Twilight!?" they exclaimed in unison.

There was a dramatic screeching sound as if a record had been ripped from its player and the dream froze with Twilight's confused soulful eyes staring at the flirting captain.  The light seemed to dim and all grew dark except those eyes staring, wondering.  Fizzle’s former village was replaced with a familiar marble balcony and the dreamwalkers saw Princess Twilight and a much more subdued Tempest staring out over the countryside.  There were several pillars of smoke and bald patches of earth where Tempest’s forces had subdued the citizens during the invasion.  Twilight's eyes were wet with tears as she stared over the kingdom.  Tempest stood by her side as the purple alicorn broke in front of her.  Her sobs became deep heaves of sorrow and regret.  Tears and mucus flowed freely from her eyes and nose.  Tempest stood uncomfortably beside the princess completely out of her element and bewildered at what she should be doing.  A pathetic wail escaped Twilight before she wrapped her forelegs around her barrel and covered her heard with her wings.

Luna stepped forward instinctively trying to go to her friend to comfort her.  She stopped as the dream bubble crushed her nose painfully against her face.  Massaging her sore snout Princess Luna placed her other hoof against the bubble.  Tempest slowly moved to help the weeping alicorn to her hooves.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry.  I just can't stop, it won't stop.  There's been so much."  Tears and sobs continued to wrack the alicorn’s body.  The crying drew the attention of five other mares who stepped forward from the shadows.  The five friends gathered around Twilight and Tempest and before she knew what had happened Tempest found herself pushed aside as the six friends huddled and hugged together.  The cries of the overwhelmed princess soon became cries of joy as one by one her friends spoke with and comforted her.  That soon gave way to laughter and the small herd stood as one and began to walk away.  There was an unmistakable gap where a seventh friend could have walked.

Fizzle and Luna witnessed silently as Tempest Shadow stared at the group who began to to quickly move away from the armored captain.  Though they were still walking as a group together they retreated into the distance much to quickly.  Soon Tempest sat alone on the marble balcony.  Like an stage actor who had forgotten her blocking Tempest stood staring at the ponies until they faded from view and thick darkness gathered around her.  The beautiful sky faded, the countryside darkened till it was lost in the void.  Soon Tempest stood completely alone, the world around her absent.  The dream pony stared forlornly at where Twilight and her friends had vanished.  Slowly as the dreamwalkers watched Tempest too began to fade, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, and before she was able to release it she too was gone.

Fizzlepop was quiet for some time.  Luna stood silently by unsure if she needed to offer some words or comfort to the captain.  After moment a chuckle escaped Fizzles lips.  "I've been alone for years, not going to worry about that now," she scoffed and spat.  She sniffed and turned to the princess,  "Now what?"  With a soft pop the dream bubble surrounding the pair vanished.  Princess Luna blinked in surprise.

"Odd.  That usually doesn't happen until after the problem is resolved."  She eyed the unicorn suspiciously.  

"Does that mean we're finally done here?  Can we get on with finding some answers?"  the captain asked impatiently.

Luna narrowed her eyes and studied the unicorn.  She may as well have been a brick wall.  "So be it,"  she conceded.  "This is your dream after all and if you are at peace with what has transpired we are done.  But there is more here" she pressed.  "If not with me, I encourage you to resolve this with somepony, preferably Princess Twilight."

Fizzlepop said nothing which disappointed the Princess more than a little.

The lady of dreams fanned her wings out in a grand gesture.  "We must view the memory of what transpired before I brought you to the apartments.  You've been accosted and we must learn by who.  With your permission I shall bring my sister, Princess Cadence, Princess Twilight, Captain Flash, and provided they found him Prince Armor."  Fizzle looked stricken.  "I swear to you," Luna assured "only the memory of the assault will I call up, nothing else."

For the first time Luna saw trepidation cross the captain’s face, the look lingered and Luna immediately took a dislike to it.  It was strange but her mental image of the Captain just would not allow her to associate such a pitiful expression on the unicorn.

For her part Fizzle was torn, the information was needed, it could end up saving Twilight.  Reluctantly she nodded.  "OK, bring them, lets find out what's going on."
> Chapter 5 : Addled Minds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight's gaze lingered on the pair of ponies seated on the couch together.  Fizzle was in a fitful rest, her hind legs giving an occasional kick.  Luna's graceful neck lay over her and if not for the dark aura of Luna's magic the two could have been mistaken for taking a Sunday afternoon nap.  Twilight chewed her lip and worried.  Midnight Tonic had carefully removed Fizzle’s barding and had used his magic to repair two broken ribs.  He had then applied a salve and wrapped her chest with bandages, leaving instructions for the captain to take it easy for an hour. He had then retreated outside to stand with the other guards.

Her reprieve was broken by a soft touch on her withers.  Princess Flurry Heart had cozied up to her aunt and was trying to get her oversized but still too short wings around her.  "I hope aunt Luna can help her," the young pony offered.

"She's in good hooves." Twilight smiled.  The concern on her niece’s face made her deeply proud of the young pony.  "Now come on it's your turn."

Flurry Heart giggled, "There's no turns in War silly."  She moved to resume her seat.

Twilight, Cadence and Flurry Heart sat around the low table, a deck of playing cards was divided among them.  Flurry Heart sat happily munching on carrot sticks and holding her cards aloft in her magic.  The trip to Canterlot had lost its appeal quickly as both her parents had been in meetings all day.  Sunburst was nice, but it wasn’t the same as spending time with her parents.  Sitting here wither her mom and aunt playing cards was the highlight of this vacation.  

"There aren't any other card games we can play?  I hate War."  Twilight's reserved mood crashed 		

"Mom says that's ‘cause you can't memorize everypony’s cards."

Twilight scowled, "Games, and card games in particular are supposed to help a pony exercise her memory and mental quickness.  They can help with statistical analysis and probability even."  Twilight’s lecture had turned to more of a rant.  If it bothered Flurry Heart, it didn't show.  Her smile even grew wider as Twilight's speech became faster and more frantic.  She was happy she'd be able to tell dad that she got aunt Twilight’s hair to do that thing all by herself.   Come to think of it...

"What is War good for? It doesn't teach anything except to play the hand you're dealt.  Ugh War, not helpful in any way in my opinion.” " Twilight continued until she saw Flurry Heart’s hoof waving in the air.  "Yes?"

"Where's Dad?"

Twilight paled, "Ah...yeah dad, where is your dad.  That's is a great question.  Right Cadence?"  Twilight's rant quickly turned to panic.

Cadence sat staring off into the corner of the room, her expression didn't change nor did her eyes blink.

Twilight reached out softly with her magic and gave a gentle shake and squeeze to Cadence’s shoulder.  The older alicorn jumped slightly at the contact her eyes finally blinking several times.  She turned and looked questionly at Twilight.

"Where is Shining Armor?" Twilight prompted.

"Oh? Oh! right.  Honey, daddy had an emergency..."  Cadence paused desperately trying weigh the pros and cons of not telling her daughter more than she needed too.  "He went back home and said we should stay here until he sends for us."  She did her best to put a large grin on her face but she was sure that it was unconvincing at best.  

Flurry Heart watched her mother for a short time, she was upset about something but Flurry Heart wasn't sure what about.  She really didn't care anyway, extra days in Canterlot! That alone made her forget the odd look she was getting.  She sprung to her hooves and danced around the small table.  "Woohoo!!! Staying in Canterlot!  We're staying in Canterlot!"

The noise and motion broke Cadence’s stupor and she found a moment of joy watching her daughter prance around just like Twilight used to.

"I'm sorry Twilight I'm not very good company right now I just want to know what's going on."  She glanced at the alicorn and unicorn sleeping on the couch.  "I just need something to take my mind off things."  She fixed Twilight with a poignant look lifting her eyebrows in askance.

Twilight's head dropped and she sighed I'm going to regret this. "Alright, just don't push it, OK?"

Cadence looked genuinely hurt, "Come on Twilight my interest in your personal life isn't just meddling, I want you to be happy, I want somepony to make you happy.  If anypony deserves to be happy, it's you."

"What if being alone makes me happy?"

Cadence sighed, "Twi, this isn't about a few nights a week reading a book or locked in your lab doing research.  We're talking about every minute of every day, alone.  Do you really not want to hold hooves with somepony special?  Or make a romantic breakfast together?  Do you want to preen your own wings or brush your own coat, forever? To never be...amorous with somepony?"  Cadence cast a quick glance at her daughter then leaned forward and fixed Twilight with a hard stare.

"What does amorous mean?"  Flurry Heart asked.

"Older pony things, sweetheart."  Cadence’s smile returned as she addressed her daughter.  "Being alone is a curse Twilight, the worst ponies can suffer.  You are surrounded by many mares and stallions, anyone of them could be right for you."

Twilight smiled her strained smile.  How many times would she have this conversation? She knew that Cadence meant well and she did want to have what she and Shining Armor had.  Plus, darn it, she was right.  Twilight relished her study and personal time. She was the Element of Magic, but Twilight had never stopped being a student of magic.  It was great to study with Starlight and exchange papers with Moondancer.  But when the experiments were done and the correspondence complete, with the lab locked up and the books closed. Twilight Sparkle lay alone in her bed thinking, wondering, hoping that one day her bed wouldn't be so empty and cold.  That a kind voice would one day be there to great her in the morning.  IF that was to happen maybe it was better to have this conversation in a safe place away from ponies who would be less than receptive.  

She took a deep breath.

"Love....and..." she stopped and started again. "I'm not..."  Cadence and Flurry Heart tilted their heads.  "I don't know who or what I want right now or even if what i want possible."

Cadence chuckled, "Love isn't complicated Twilight you-"

"It's not for you!" Twilight interrupted louder than she intended.  "I don't have that kind of courage to just approach somepony and tell them I may love them.  To put my heart in their hooves and take theirs in mine."  Cadence’s surprise softened into a loving smile and she gave Flurry Heart a tight squeeze before standing and moving around the table to sit at Twilight’s side.

"Wait!" interrupted the smallest alicorn, "I thought that that pony was your special somepony."  Flurry Heart's tiny hoof was pointed at the unicorn resting against Princess Luna.  

Twilight smiled, "No silly.  Fizzlepop is the captain of my royal guard."

Flurry Heart looked confused.  "Yeah, just like Dad, and his special somepony is his Princess."  The logic could not be refuted.

"Well," Cadence began "that's not how it always goes.  Remember dad was Princess Celestia’s captain for along time, but he was still my special pony."  The young filly looked confused.  

"I don't have to marry dad when he's captain of my guard?"

The older princesses giggled and Cadence magicly lifted the filly in her magic and brought her close.   She wrapped her legs around Flurry Heart and kissed her forehead just under her horn.  "No silly filly you can't marry daddy and hopefully dad won't be captain long."

Flurry Heart began to nod then stopped, "Why?"

"Because I want dad to be the Crystal Emperor soon." Cadence declared proudly.

Flurry Heart nodded again but still looked puzzled.

Cadence turned back to Twilight a hungry smile on her face.  ”And why didn't you just tell me this before when i was asking?"

Twilight sighed, "I didn't tell you because I don't know what I want or what I'm doing when it comes to that.  I know that sometimes ponies get hurt, but being the one potentially doing the hurting...I have to be sure I don't do that."  The pain was etched on her face, the droopy ears and eyes the self hating grimace.  Twilight couldn't even look up and make eye contact she was so ashamed of herself.

Cadence didn't know what to say to that.  She had suspected that Twilight would have some trouble where love was concerned but she was certain that Twilight would rise to the occasion. Despite her fears, she was a mare that had never shied away from any challenge before.

What ever Twilight's issue was, it would have to wait.  After a short uncomfortable silence the front door opened and Flash Sentry followed by Princess Celestia stepped into the room.  Stepping to the side, he snapped a crisp salute.  Before Cadence could speak he shook his head.  "There was no evidence that Captain Armor ever went to the station, he probably never even left the Palace."

Celestia walked past the Captain to stand over Luna and Fizzlepop.  She stared intently at the duo,  "The trains north are still suspended until morning, just in case."  Her horn lit as she gently probed the sleeping pair.  Thanks to their ethereal manes it had been ages since she was able to brush the locks of hair from her sister’s face, settling for a soft caress to her cheek seemed the best alternative. She turned and sat down before the sofa.  Her horn lit and a familiar tea set appeared on the coffee table.

Celestia hated this, back to waiting once again. Always waiting on somepony else. The Princess of the sun held no disillusions about her role in the world, government after all was what kept everything moving in this day and age. There were times, however when she wished her role was more active and more involved but she had long ago hung up her sword.  Now here was Luna, her baby sister, back on the front lines, she hadn't lost her edge or her desire for adventure it seemed.  Celestia's frown was becoming more and more pronounced as she found opportunity to use it more.

A quick flash of her horn and she was ready to serve.  "Come Captain sit with us, we must wait until Luna is done."  Celestia sat and took several breaths, ages of hiding her personal tells of anxiety and apprehension making it seem that she was much more at ease then she actually was.

Unaware of the issues that currently plagued the royal family and unable to contain her excitement Flurry Heart deftly leaped over the small table.  "Grandmare!"

Gone were the days when the youngest alicorn could have easily grabbed on to and held fast to Celestia’s head.  But the young princess either didn't care or didn't notice.  Her arms and wings extended as far as they could then wrapped securely around the white princess’s neck.  "I missed you!" she cried happily as she did her best to crush the neck of her captive.  "Me and Sunburst saw all your pictures in the great hall today!"

“Sunburst and I.”  Twilight corrected automatically.

Halfway through the deep breath that she would need to explain the convoluted royal family tree Twilight was interrupted as a golden magical aura clamped down on her muzzle.  Surprised she looked to the Sun princess.

"Hush." she smiled.

Celestia decided that she might need to get use the odd things.  For just as she was not used to catching up to the almost insubordinate Captain Fizzlepop, she was also not use to being struck unresponsive by a single simple word.  Every manner of honorific imaginable had been applied to her name during her reign, but there were a few that she wished came with more frequency.  Among others she'd longed for ages to be graced with the wonderful title of 'mom' and though Sunset Shimmer was separated from her by the multiverse she considered the prodigal unicorn her daughter in every way.  

She had tried to keep Twilight at a much more painless distance since that relationship had taken its course.  The wound of Sunset’s betrayal and her own mishandling of the unicorn left the edges of her heart raw and aching, she was not willing to duplicate such feelings again.  Still, she considered her protege her daughter in many aspects and hoped that Twilight reciprocated her feelings.

Perhaps it was do to her being older when Cadence came into her care, perhaps it was the recent loss of her sister. Whatever the reason, she held the ascended pegasus further from herself, maybe she wasn’t ready for a family..  Whatever it was, it had a hoof to play in calling the Princess of Love merely her 'niece'.

Yet hearing the tiny alicorn place upon her a much coveted title released a flood of tears that Celestia knew were buried somewhere deep within her.  She was immediately overwhelmed with the desire to pinch her cheeks and make annoying cooing noises.  She settled instead for a great hug which squeezed the tears out of her eyes to roll down her perfect cheeks.

"Well you just tell 'grandmare' all about about it!"  she placed the tiny princess on the ground beside her and listened intently as Flurry Heart babbled on about the grand art gallery and the wonderful paintings and sculptures she had seen. Though the tears burned her eyes and her cheeks stung from the constant smiling Celestia, the grandmother, hand never been more content.  

Twilight watched the scene with mixed feelings.  The bliss on Celestia's face was infectious and even though she tried her best she couldn't smile for her mentor.  First, because Celestia still held her mouth shut.  Second because she had been denied a chance to share a bit of helpful knowledge with her niece.  And third, because Cadence was missing the whole thing once again staring off into a random corner of the room, her eyes no longer red and puffy but still visibly upset.  Stymied as she was Twilight was not going to let the tender moment be lost for the young mother.  She reached out with her magic and tapped Cadence gently on her shoulder.  When their eyes finally met she motioned over to the hugging pair.

Cadence, confused and hurt glanced over and instantly her heart felt lighter.  Her beautiful daughter smiled and laughed as she blissfully told Celestia of her busy day touring the palace, and spending time with Sunburst.  All the boring activities that she had complained about became the most wonderful story that she just had to tell.  Cadence smiled as she saw Celestia's entire world fall away and nothing but Flurry Heart was important.  

"..and that dragon was breathing fire on you, like FOWWWWSSSSHHHH!"  the tiny alicorn cupped her hooves around her muzzle then trust them outward mimicking the great gout of flame depicted in the painting.  "But how...how come the dragon looked so sad?"

Celestia had been listening intently her eyes widening at the correct times and her ears perking forward when appropriate.  But to her great delight she realized they weren't the practiced motions of 'Princess Celestia'.  She wasn't reacting as a statesmare did or should.  She was profoundly happy to be reacting as an engaged half of perfectly wonderful meaningless discussion, and she couldn't have been happier.  

"Well," she began. "Dragon Lord Torch and I have an...interesting relationship."  The tiny pony began to nervously chew on her hooves as she stared at the Princes her eyes growing wide.  She chuckled,  "Oh it's not that interesting you see..."

But as soon as she defused the tension Flurry Heart immediately lost interest.  "Oh and next to that was the window of you and Queen Nova. She's so pretty. Do you know her?"

Celestia blinked.    Flurry Heart wasn't some noble making small talk or a political rival looking for an opening.  She was a child.  A child currently looking up at her with wide excited eyes waiting for a story not a political maneuver.  Fortunately Celestia was up to the challenge.

Though she was out of practice she allowed a measure of excitement and girlishness to creep into her voice.  "I do!  And she is.  Oh my dear you should have seen her."  Her horn lit in bright gold, she spread out the hair of her flowing tail in a wide fan which she flapped several times.  "Her tail is so beautiful and big!"  

Flurry Heart squealed in delight as Celestia fanned her tail over her head several times.  Her tiny hooves reached up and played with the hairs.  "Did you have tea together?"

"We had a lovely talk about our kingdoms becoming much better friends,"  she explained.  "And there was a lovely banquet with the best seaweed and fish I have ever eaten."  She shivered.  "It was so slimy, it tickled my insides."  She seized the tiny pony with her hooves and began tickeling her mercelessly.  "Like this!"

Twilight’s feelings didn’t improve, though seeing her mentor so happy brought a smile to her face.  Celestia's smile, her real smile, was fleeting and it never really seemed to reach her eyes.  Now, her smile and laugh were so pure and unreserved it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.  

"Twilight you're glaring."  Though the quiet whisper in her ear startled Twilight but she was able to keep herself from crying out in shock.  Cadence had leaned over and after watching the tender scene was going to reiterate the importance of family to her sister-in-law. 

The scowl on Twilight's face stopped her cold.  "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," she responded quickly.  "I'm glad they're having a good time.  I’m worried about Fizzlepop."  Her eyes never left Celestia and Flurry Heart.  "She's one of the strongest fighters I know Cadence.  I can't imagine what it would have taken to beat her.  I can't believe I just sat here while something like this happened."  Her breathing began to shorten and the shorter hairs on her head began to spring out of place.  "I don't know how i'm going to make this up to her.  I told her nothing would happen to her.  I'm not that important, I'm not worth protecting."  

Cadence’s heart fell as she watched.  Though she was speaking rapidly and not breathing properly Twilight’s volume never increased nor did her demeanor change.  The scowl remained firmly on her face and there was a there was a hardness in her eyes that profoundly unnerved her.

"You shouldn't talk like that Twi.  Don't jump to conclusions." she pleaded.

Twilight blinked, "When I lear-"  She stopped herself as she saw the aura around Princess Luna's horn wink out.  The Lunar princess's eyes snapped open.  With a flash of light and the faint sound of tinkling bells Twilight was at Luna's side.

Luna looked at the purple princess, not at all surprised that she was the first thing she saw.  Her jaw was set and there was a sharpness in her eyes that Luna hadn't seen since Twilight left the palace with the magic of all four alicorns contained within herself those many years ago.

Twilight said nothing.  Luna nodded.  "To me ladies, captain!"

In a flurry of hooves and feathers the gathered ponies positioned themselves around the couch and the slumbering captain.  Luna did a double take as she noticed her niece sitting in the circle.  The small princess noticed the eyes upon her, she giggled into her hoof and waved at the princess then sat as regally as she was able, happy to be included with her fellow princesses.

Luna smiled back at her and lit her horn once again.   In turn she leaned over and touched Celestia's horn, Flash on the brow, Cadence's horn, Twilight's horn and with a wink Flurry Heart's.   Her magic spread to each and soon the apartment was filled with the calm sound of the slumbering.


*****


Celestia opened her eyes.  She was not one to panic, but when nothing but blackness greeted her her heart began to beat faster in her chest.  She tried to jump to her hooves but she found herself floating aimlessly in a great void.  Her hooves found no purchase and her wings beat uselessly.  She turned quickly as she plainly heard her name called out in the void.

As she turned to find the speaker the world exploded into existence before her.  Five ponies sat in the walkway outside the royal apartments.  Celestia cast her eyes about and saw that the immediate area past the gardens toward the kitchens and toward the the ballrooms began to fade and lose color until they were lost in the inky blackness of the void.  Her eyes fell on Twilight and she ceased thinking about their location.  Celestia paid great attention to her protege.  Twilight’s tells were varied but well known to her.  

"I'm glad that you're OK.  I'm so so sorry."  Twilight's fore legs were wrapped around Fizzle’s neck her face buried into her shoulder  Twilight's voice was even and calm, devoid of the frantic nature she normally displayed.

"It's not you-" Fizzlepop began.

"SILENCE!"  Twilight snapped.  The ponies around her were shocked.  Twilight had reached that volume before but never had that tone come from the purple princess.  "I know I didn't DO it, but I didn't stop it either.  You are a great captain.  I know a captain puts herself in harm's way for her princess.  I'm not just your princess.  Fizzle...I'm your friend, and I failed you.  Hold me accountable.  Let me apologize."  She had pushed away from her hug and looked hard into her captain's eyes.

Fizzlepop tried to sever eye contact with the princess, but Twilight didn't back down, her eyes were locked and her jaw set in a grim frown.  Celestia found herself shifting nervously from hoof to hoof as the two stared at each other.  Finally Fizzle dropped her eyes and sighed.  She met Twilight's eyes again and nodded, "Later?" she offered.  

Luna had herded the remaining ponies together near the center of the gardens.  Twilight and Fizzle stepped up to join them and Luna nodded to the unicorn.  "This is your show, as they say, captain." 

"Wait!"  Cadence placed a hoof on Luna's shoulder.  "Where's Flurry Heart?"  Several heads turned to and for looking for the tiny princess.

"Worry not, she slumbers.  Though she cannot come here with us I didn't have the heart to send her away.    Her dream shall be pleasant and exciting."

Cadence chewed her lip but nodded.

Fizzlepop turned toward the gathered ponies her face a mask of uncertainty, she looked at Celestia, "After our conversation I went back to keep an eye on the aviary.  It just seemed obvious that we were all looking at the trains so I followed a hunch.  You can see me in the alcove there."

On cue they all moved forward to see the captain standing in the shadows not obvious but making no real attempt to be hidden either.

"First though..." She hesitated as all eyes turned toward her.  "I haven't been very friendly to any of you and...I...I want try to be."  She met the eyes of each in turn.  "Princesses, Captain, I'm sorry."  She nodded deeply.  

Fizzle’s timing was perfect.  The initial shock was just beginning to wear off when the sound of hooves on stone could be heard.  The ponies spread out as the sound grew louder.  Fizzle’s eyes narrowed as Raven Inkwell emerged from a side room and began walking toward the gardens.  She moved with a large bundle of papers tucked under a foreleg.  Her current course would bring her right alongside Fizzlepop as she entered the gardens.

"Why isn't she using her horn?" Twilight asked aloud.  Ever observant she was quite pleased with herself for noticing.  She turned to her companions to speculate.  Her self satisfied smile faltered as every other pony fixed her with odd looks.

"That's not Raven," they all said.

Twilight looked shocked, then embarrassed.  Her ears drooped.  

"It's ok princess." Fizzlepop said as she lead Twilight closer.  "IF we work together all the things we notice will add up to something."

Celestia nodded.  "I've know Raven for roughly ten years, this pony doesn't move like a secretary she moves like a soldier."

"She's wearing steel shoes."  Luna added.  "Three at least but it's more likely a full set.  You can hear the difference on the stone."

Flash brought his hoof to his chin.  "How accurate is this Princess Luna?  Can we make judgments based on what we see here?"

Luna smiled patiently and ruffled Flash's mane with her wing.  "Captain do remind me to have you flogged later.  This assault happened not one hour ago.  It is as fresh and accurate as it ever will be.  Perhaps after a day the details will start to fade until lost.  I'd say three days at most is the acceptable time frame for such a venture.  Then details will be forgotten and the mind will begin to fill in the missing pieces."

By this time not-Raven had reached the stationary Fizzlepop.  The pair glanced at each other.  As soon as not-Raven turned her head and stepped even with the captain, Fizzlepop struck.

The gathered ponies gasped as Fizzlepop's steel shoe tore a chunk of marble from the floor.  Cadence was shocked.  "You could have killed her!"  Twilight was likewise at a loss.  She met her captain’s eyes pleading for an explanation.

Luna's horn lit and the combatants paused mid conflict.  Fizzlepop directly above the imposter as she was currently extending her hooves upward.  "Twas a fine strike captain, but we must agree with Princess Cadence.  We would have learned nothing had you succeeded."

"I also must add, my little pony,"  Celestia normally tempered her actions and responses for ponies who were unfamiliar with the harsher side of life.  "I'm extremely disappointed in you, and in you Princess Twilight."   Here however, amongst the leadership of the nation, among ponies whom she thought knew better her wrath was unrestrained.  "To kill in the heat of battle is one thing, for a common soldier."  Her eyes held a subtle glow, and her main and tail began to whip widley back and forth.  "You are not common soldiers.  You are two of the most powerful ponies in your positions.  I expect better than that from you!"

Twilight stared at her mentor terrified and shaking.  She'd always feared coming down on Celestia's bad side and this was every bit as awful as she expected it to be.  Had she been in the waking world she was certain she'd be swallowing a mouthful of her own bile or sitting in a puddle of urine, probably both, definitely both.  She nodded mutely unable to tear her eyes away from the angry princess.

"From now on I wa-"

"I wasn't going for a kill Princess."

The glow completely drowned out Celestia’s pupils and the vibrant colors of her mane and tail receded as the angry orange of a blazing inferno replaced them.  "I'm not used to being..interrupted, Captain".  She advanced menacingly on the captain.

Fizzlepop flinched as Celestia practically spat her title in her face.  She set her hooves and hunched her shoulders ready to be on the receiving end of more than the insult.

"Sister!"  Luna was aghast.  If she didn't know any better Celestia was two breaths away from striking the captain.

Celestia rounded on the darker princess.  "Perhaps this is your doing?"  she eyed Luna suspiciously.  “You always were to ready solve problems with the sword.”

Luna's eyes widened in shock and indignation.  She lit her horn and charged it considerably.

Celestia backed off a step.  She was in quite a predicament. Here in Fizzlepop's mind she had no magic and if Luna decided to try something she had little defense.  She cursed her sister, this must have been her plan from the start.  Using her student's little damaged captain as an excuse was so obviously a falsehood, how had she not seen it?  The only question was, how deep was Twilight in this plot, it's mastermind perhaps.  She had to be, Luna wasn't this cunning.  She should have known better than to trust another prized student.  The little whore had been planning this from the start!  She bared her teeth and snarled at the opposing ponies.  Twilight's head would tumble from her shoulders for this outrage!

Luna's magic was loosed and the six ponies found themselves encased in a massive purple bubble.  Several things happened at once.  Luna collapsed as she had to expend more dream magic then was probably wise, her reserves having not yet refilled from the turmoil she and Fizzlepop had endured.  Twilight and Celestia clutched their stomachs with their hooves and covered their heads with their wings.  They were both noisily sick and great gouts of reddish black smoke poured from their mouths.  

Twilight heaved several times.  The crippling fear she had been suffering from had vanished the instant the dream bubble formed.  She felt like she had swallowed a bag of broken glass and was certain that expelling it was wreaking havoc on her insides.  She could feel Fizzlepop standing above her hooves resting on her back offering support and comfort.  

Cadence had jumped to Celestia’s side and knelt beside her.  More afraid than she had ever been Cadence, did what she could to help the larger Alicorn.  She leaned over and began to whisper faintly into Celestia’s flattened ears.  "You're ok.  Please be OK.  Get it all out.  I'm right here.  I won't leave you."  She furiously kneaded Celestia’s heaving side, like a worried mother cat ministering to her kittens.  The contact and the movement seemed to help the convulsions as the smoke continued to poor out of the unfortunate mare.  

Celestia was in pain and confused.  Her throat was raw from the heaving and she was certain she'd never speak again.  It felt as those a river of broken ice shards had been released from her stomach.  Destroying the inside of her body on the way up her throat.  She cried as the pain intensified but she also cried for the shame.  

Where was this coming from?  How could she think those things about Luna her dear sister?  She loved her and was so happy to have her back.  Fizzlepop was rough around the edges but she was honest with the all the Princesses and brought a sense of comradery to the royals. Plus her disregard for the Princesses status was refreshingly liberating.  With great force of will she looked toward Twilight.  While Cadence and Fizzlepop were between them, for a split second she saw her.  Prostate on the ground, eyes scrunched up against the pain, tears flowing freely.  She longed to go to her side and apologize, but another wave of pain and bile wracked her body.

Flash moved to support the Night Princess.  Luna flopped a wing around around his shoulders and tentatively rose to her hooves.  She looked down to the churning smoke beneath her hooves.  "The Tantabus will feed well tonight,." she mumbled.  She placed her hoof to her head.  "I have no earthly idea how this is happening.  Only my magic should work in this place, but clearly something is influencing them, perhaps all of us."  She indicated the outside of the bubble.

Flash looked up and his eyes widened.  A red mist covered the mindscape writhing and coiling like a snake around every surface.  Every sconce, every flower was entwined by the mist.  The prone form of not-Raven and the frozen form of Fizzlepop was covered in it.  It writhed around them and did it's best to consume the pair.  

"This entire place should be still.  Tis naught but a memory.  Yet whatever that is..."  she shook her head in confusion.

Flash shrugged glancing at Fizzlepop and Twilight.  "I still have memories that make me feel sick."

Luna's next statement died in her throat, she blinked.  "Captain, that flogging I promised you… cancel it."  Flash sighed.  "Take me over to Princess Cadence."  Luna leaned heavily on the pegasus.  

The last dregs of smoke fell from Celestia's mouth.  Tears still fell from her eyes and her sides has stopped heaving.  Her breaths were deep as she gained control of herself.  Luna shrugged Flash off near her older sister.  She swept Cadence up in her wake and stepped  to the edge of the bubble.  "Forgive me, what do you see?"

Cadence looked passed the transparent barrier, annoyed.  "Captain Fizzlepop and a fake Raven fighting, frozen."

Luna shook her head, "Do you see the mist?" she pressed.

Cadence looked again and squinted harder.  Indeed as she widened her perspective she could see the streams of red mist coursing around the combatants and the gardens.  "What is that?" she asked squinting.

"Forgive me again."  Luna lit her horn, grabbed a hold of the Princess of Love’s head and shoved it through the translucent barrier.  

"HEY!"  Cadence tried to no avail to resist the pull of Luna's horn, all four of her hooves angled and straining to pull her head back in to the protective area of the spell.  Just as she was getting use to the idea of her aunt treating her like a house plant she was jerked back under the effects of the spell.

"Notice anything out there?"  Luna asked conversationally.

"Not reall-woaaaah!"  Luna moved her head back past the bubble.

"Interesting." she mused.

"Not from thisside!"

"Captain observe!"  Luna preceded to pull Cadence’s head once again back under the bubble.  Flash watched as the red mist coiled and flowed to fill the space that once was filled by the head of the love princess.  With another shove Cadence’s head again breached the barrier.  

Flash's eyes narrowed as the red smoke was immediately repelled.  It fled from Cadence as if startled then continued to pull away from her.  "You, yourself gave us the clue.   Tis some manner of negative emotion, and our resident bundle of love  keeps it at bay."  She pulled Cadence back once again and nuzzled her gently.  "Well done niece."  With an unceremonious pat on the rump she sent her back to Celestia’s side.

"Eeeep!"

Cadence's glare softened as she sat near her aunt.  Celestia's condition immediately began to improve and she finally began to breathe normally.  She used her wings to wipe the remaining tears from her eyes and leaned heavily on the smaller alicorn

"Flash move!"  Flash jumped aside as Fizzlepop quickly carried Twilight to Cadence’s other side.

"No, don't" Twilight gasped between words.  "Not worth it. Rather die"  The reddish bile continued to spill from her muzzle.  Cadence raised a wing and Twilight buried her face under it like a terrified sick foal, unwilling or unable to face the gathered ponies.  She groped around until she was able to pull the wing down over her head.  The heaving sick noises were soon replaced with sobbing.

Luna hesitated.  They needed answers,  an assault had occurred right in the middle of the palace, their own home.  If this was prelude to some action or attack...  "I'm sorry sister, dear Twilight we must press on.  You are protected from whatever that is so we must continue.  It seems the rest of us are either unaffected or untargeted."

Celestia raised her head high and took several deep breaths.  Composure was her middle name and she'd be thrice damned before she allowed a memory to break it.  She steadied herself against Cadence’s side, still too weary to stand and nodded to her sister.

Twilight was not so eager.  Her loyal captain placed a hoof on her withers.  At the slight contact Twilight jerked away huddling close to the pink alicorn of love.  "Don't," she whispered.

Luna sighed, defeated.  She hopped that Twilight would rally and join them, her insights and sharp mind could prove invaluable.

The remaining ponies gathered and watched as the melee resumed.  

Flash watched with unease as not-Raven raised her hooves up to intercept the falling captain.  His eyes widened in shock as her magical aura began to creep up her arms.  Flash had to catch himself before speaking out.  He knew that Raven's magic was typical for a unicorn, levitation, dictation and the like.  He was unaware that she knew any spell that made it necessary to channel through the hoof. 

The gathered ponies never got to see what she was up to however.  Fizzlepop elected to fall on the outstretched hooves before the magic reached them.  

Luna was very impressed the captain was able to make such a quick decision in the midst of combat, quite a risk taker.  Apparently not-Raven didn't appreciate it.  The magic instead redirected to her rear hooves, Flash, Celestia and Cadence gasped as two pink spherical bubbles grew rapidly form the frogs of not-Ravens rear hooves.

They were apparently very tangible, for the speed of their growth added to the very sharp kick that not-Raven made against their surface was enough to slide the prone pony along the marble floor and out of the shadow of Fizzlepop’s descending body.

"That's Shining's shield spell!" the crystal princess cried.

Celestial nodded her consent.

"Lots of ponies can make shields." Flash countered.

Cadence rounded on him.  "Not that fast, or precisely," she declared.

Flash had nothing to say to that.  He studied the second exchange watching the way the ponies moved.  Fizzlepop was aggressive and decisive something he had suspected but watching the lithe unicorn in action was certainly a thing to behold.  It wasn't aerial combat but there was  certain beauty to the dance.  

Not-Raven's movements seemed to flow from one to another.  She parried one strike and used the momentum of the move to carry her into a retreat from a wicked rear hooved roundhouse kick.  Patient and calculating, never using too much or too little force, just like Shining Armor.  Watching the secretary move in such a manner was disorienting.  The sight of Not-Raven breathing hard and overmatched confused the pegasus.  

The gathered ponies watched intently as Fizzlepop moved in on the clearly overmatched pony.  Only Luna raised an eyebrow as they watched the final exchange.  Well done. she silently congratulated the imposter.

Celestia winced as once again Fizzlepop attempted what she considered a killing blow.  The uppercut was close enough to shave a bit of fur from Not-Raven's cheek as it passed.  There was a communal gasp as two pink spherical shields began to form from the ground up as Fizzlepop’s forehooves came down.  The timing was perfect, the hooves meet the marble the exact moment the shields closed around the ankles instantly locking them to the ground.

"That's Shining Armor."  Flash pointed an accusing hoof at the small unicorn.  "He's used that technique against me on more than one occasion."  

Cadence and Twilight perked up and moved to the edge of the bubble.  Cadence’s breathing became short and distressed, and Twilight had to furiously rub the tears from her eyes so she could see.

Fizzlepop stared at herself pinned to the ground.  The thought of witnessing a defeat she didn't even remember was completely foreign to the warrior.  Like it was somepony else who had fallen for the simple trap.  The thought didn't comfort her for long, only the childlike voice in the back of her head quietly crying foul for the use of magic kept her from counting the match as a total loss.

Fizzlepop struggled uselessly as a the pony in question retrieved her dropped papers.  Twilight had to rub at her eyes again and make sure there were no tears distorting her vision.  The entire stack, which was six folders full of paper lay neatly upturned on the ground.  Yet no twine or binding was being used to keep them together.  No magic was used to pick up the stack,  Not-Raven casually grabbed it by the middle and the entire thing moved.  The loose ends didn't even flutter as they were retrieved.  

Twilight cursed, without her magic it was impossible to tell if it was some physical trick or if some magical illusion was in play.  She watched as the pony moved to stand over Fizzlepop.  What she heard both touched her heart and infuriated her.  

Fizzlepop pleading for her princess's life.  Calmly staring into the eyes of, for all she knew, her killer.  Then in a sharp harsh blow it was over.  The imposter delivered a solid strike directly to the pony’s upturned jaw.  Fizzlepop collapsed in a heap.  She was about to rush to her captain’s side, but Luna was already there.

The scene grew fuzzy and began to lose all color.  The lines that defined certain shapes began to bleed into each other until nothing was left but a jumbled mess of black, whites and grays.

Luna looked over to the quiet captain, her eyes full of awe and respect.  "It seems I have once again underestimated you captain."  She stretched a wing over the unicorn and draped it over her shoulders.  "Twas a marvelous fight and for you to be prepared to meet such an honourable end..."

"Not so honourable,"  Celestia interrupted.   "At least twice you tried to kill."

Luna was already shaking her head.  "You've spent too long with a scepter in your hoof, sister. Have you forgotten the things we… I did to protect our little ponies and their fledgling nation? That was a time when we trusted our captain’s to know how best to respond to a threat, a trust Fizzlepop deserves."  Luna looked deep into Fizzlepop’s eyes and knew she was right.  “Captain Fizzlepop should be commended for her quick thinking and selfless attitude.”

Captain Fizzlepop pursed her lips and her eyes wandered upward,  "I really don’t know Princess, I don't quite remember this yet.  I've only seen it from the outside.  But no, your highness I wouldn't kill wantonly."

Celestia sighed and shook her head.  The lights around them seem to come back on and once again they were seated in the center of the gardens a glance toward the doors confirming that the memory had restarted.  Luna stepped away from the captain as Twilight slowly wrapped her wings and arms around her once again.  "I'm so sorry, Fizz," she said again.

Not wanting to interrupt another quiet moment between the pair Luna stood at Celestia’s side, waiting for not-Raven to appear.  "If what we suspect is true, and Shining Armor is indeed behind this..." she let her statement trail off.

"That is the key."  Celestia said indicating the bundle that Shining Armor was carrying.  

"I can't believe he's all right."  Cadence had quietly stepped to the other side of the princesses and Celestia gave a slight jolt of surprise.  She hadn't heard the movement or felt it at all.

"She's moving just like Shining, look at that strut!"  Cadence's tone was confused and annoyed all at once.  "Those are his eyes too..."  Her voice trailed off and she stared at the image of Raven just before Fizzlepop struck.  The more she stared, the easier it was to see her beloved hiding just below the surface.  While Cadence had rarely been interested in watching martial training of the crystal ponies, she begrudgingly accepted the fact that their presence in and around the palace kept her family safe.  Yet the subtle movements and the easy way she carried herself left no doubt in Cadence’s mind.  Shining Armor was there before her wearing another pony’s form.  

The bundle bounced away and instead of falling and scattering papers all over the ground.  It came to rest on the steps leaning impossibly to the side still in a bundle.  As soon as it left Fizzlepop’s field of vision the lines around it began to blur and it's color began to fade.  

It still vaguely retained its shape and color but longer Fizzlepop focused on fighting Shining Armor the more abstract it became.  Twice the color and definition returned to the bundle as Fizzlepop must have glanced at it or seen some small part of it.  Celestia and Luna stared at the bundle willing it to give up some clue as to what it was and what this entire situation might mean.

Cadence could only stare at Shining Armor disguised as her aunt’s secretary.  Stare and worry, and wonder. The lovers were as close as two ponies could possibly be, yet there had never been any indication that Shining was capable of such clandestine actions.  And now they did seem clandestine to Cadence.  She had to remind herself that Shining used to serve the greatest chessmaster in the known world.  Celestia was a cunning diplomat, and accomplished statesmare, not always in a benevolent sense, if the stories were to be believed.  Though she trusted her adoptive aunt, here now, watching her husband wearing the body of another, a mare no less, doubt crept into the corners of her mind.

Finally as the combat was once again coming to a close the gathered ponies got their first clue.  As Shining Armor called up the two shields that caught Fizzlepop and held her fast, the illusion, for that's what it proved to be, around the bundle collapsed.  The elder princesses stared as the bundle of papers faded away to reveal, what appeared to be an oversized cast iron oven.

"Princess Luna, please stop the memory and move us closer, Twilight! Fizzlepop!  I need you here, now!"  The urgency in Celestia’s voice was the only thing that caused Twilight to release her captain from her grasp. Silently the ponies gathered to stare at the object.  It was a squat little thing, wider than it was tall and would have reached Celestia's shin had she been standing near it.  Circular in shape it was little larger than the bottom tier of the cakes that Celestia loved so much.   It was made of what appeared to be darkly colored iron and was bound around with a silvery chain of mythril links.

"Our first clue, though I'll admit has me more confused than worried,"  Celestia stated.

"Raven would have had access," Flash commented.

"But...for what purpose?" Luna asked aloud.

Twilight leaned heavily on Fizzlepop and said nothing.

"What is it?"  Fizzlepop finally asked when it was apparent that nopony would be explaining.

Celestia swallowed,  "This brazier contains both the last pieces of Queen Chrysalis's throne, which retain its effect.   It held very powerful magic nullifying effects.  Strong enough to stop even Discord's magic."

"More potent than the Obsidian Orbs?"  Fizzlepop asked.

Luna nodded,  "In its own way. It will not physically trap a pony but imagine a portable mile wide area where nothing but changeling magic will function."

Fizzlepop let the implications sink in.  "I think that's all we can learn here I'd like to wake up now."  

The elder princesses nodded their agreement.

Princess Luna lit her horn reached out to touch Princess Cadence on the horn. *pop* she was gone.  With two more popping sounds Celestia and Flash were also gone.  Luna allowed Twilight to cling a bit longer to her captain before also touching her horn *pop*.

Luna then bowed low to the unicorn captain.  She raised her head and winked *pop*  she too was gone.

Fizzlepop stood for several seconds waiting.  

"Am I supposed to know how to, oh never mind."  Her body began to fade from view as she felt the familiar stirrings of being pulled from sleep.

As she faded from view the gardens, a disguised Shining Armor, and an unconscious Fizzlepop also began to fade.

*pop*
> Chapter 6 : Wakefulness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle didn’t want to open her eyes.  She could hear the stirring of the other Princesses as the magical sleep released its hold upon them.

How she wished that she could have awoken first and rushed or teleported from the apartment to her room at the palace, or her home in Ponyville, or the bottom of the sea.  No amount of mental preparation could prepare her for what was about to come.  Of course she would try to stand her ground she would try to tell Celestia why she was upset, that she needed time to process the feelings.  

But then Celestia’s eyes would droop and her ‘never quite a smile’ would turn in to that ‘inward frown’ of disappointment.  Then her resolve would shatter and her pain wouldn’t matter, she would beg forgiveness for making that beautiful smile vanish.  Then she’d hate herself a little bit more.  

“Captain Sentry.”  Celestia’s voice was tentative.  “Take a squad  and check on Raven.  Be careful, Shining Armor may be looking for her as well.”

Fizzlepop’s ears perked and she turned to face Celestia.  Flash saluted then exited the apartment.

“Raven is either uninvolved or dead,” Fizzlepop observed.  “You know that right?”  Fizzle cursed under her breath as she removed the neck brace and ripped the bandages from her barrel, effectively standing naked in the room.

Cadence’s eyes widened and Twilight gasped.  

“I have to believe that it’s the former,”  Celesia said.  “That Shining Armor is acting alone and of his own volition.”

Cadence took a breath ready to defend her husband.  Yet any defense she might have offered fell apart.  She settled for looking desperately at Princess Luna.

“I must return to the dream realm and find out what manner of magic or creature has invaded my domain,”  Luna apologized. “I will do so from my chambers under proper wards and protections.”  Celestia nodded and began to turn.  She was stopped as Luna’s outstretched hoof touched her cheek and forcibly turned her to face her baby sister.  “You and I must speak.  Do not retire until we do.”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow but nodded.  She tried to turn away but Luna’s hoof didn’t budge.  “You and Twilight must not allow this to come between you.  Do not talk about what happened in that memory, yet.  You, the both of you were influenced by...something.  To do so would give credence to whatever it is.”  Luna was surprised, she felt pressure as Celesta leaned against her hoof drawing confort from the contact.  Luna leaned forward and kissed away the tears forming in her sister’s eyes.  

“Captain Fizzlepop,” a small hint of sharpness crept into her tone.  Fizzle would have snapped to attention but she was in the process of lifting Twilight from the floor.  The purple princess looked to Luna and tried to make eye contact with Celestia. “Take your Princess to her room, her mind needs rest.  Princess Cadence, can Celestia stay here with you?”

Cadence nodded, “Of course.  I won’t leave her side.”

Satisfied, the Princess of Dreams placed herself between Celestia and Twilight and spread her wings wide.  She maintained her position as Fizzlepop gently led Twilight across the room to the entryway, 

Cadence gently placed one of Celestia’s forelegs over her back and gently stood.  Celestia tried desperately to get a view of Twilight around her sister’s body but Luna moved expertly. Unable to see around Luna’s wide wings Celestia had no choice but to be led away, Flurry Heart floating along close to her head still asleep. 

The front door shut. It may as well have been a tomb sealing, the sound was so loud in Celestia’s ears, so definite and final.  A familiar cold began to creep into her body and for the second time that night she began to shiver.  A soft sobbing began to echo in the hallway and it took Celesta a moment to realize it was coming from herself.

The hallway ended at a moderately sized master bedroom.  It was a cozy place, dressed up in the same pinks and yellows as in Cadence’s mane and accented with furniture in the lighter shade of Shining Armor’s blue.  The torches in the wall sconces lit as the trio entered.  The flames were soft and welcoming, it was the very picture of ‘hearth and home’.

Picture frames sat on the nearby dresser and Celestia slowly studied them as Cadence turned down the large four poster bed.  She held back the floodgates enough to admire and appreciate the story unfolding in the photographs.

A much younger Shining Armor his coltish face splotched with a bit of acne walking uncomfortably next to a picture perfect Cadence, her hoof covering her mouth as she laughed softly.  A much younger Twilight Sparkle rode unnoticing on Shining’s back her nose buried in a book.

Several of the early pictures depicted the trio in various states of high school life, the only real changes being Twilight’s height and Shining Armor’s build.

Celestia smiled as she found a picture of Shining standing in a crisp new uniform, the campus of the Platinum Military Academy in the background.  Though he was doing his best to maintain his military stoicism, the hints of his wide smile played at the corners of his mouth, and his eyes were alight with pride.

A soft pressure on the back of her legs urged her toward the bed.  She awkwardly lay down, the mattress was just a bit bigger than was needed for two ponies of Shining Armor and Cadence’s size.  It was just barely large enough for Celestia to rest her back against the side of Cadence’s barrel.  The smaller alicorn wrapped her forelegs around Celestia's neck and gently tucked Flurry Heart in her grandmare's embrace.

Celestia’s sobs grew deeper and a few tears escaped from her eyes.  A commotion near the dresser drew her attention.  A small box of cookies and a decanter of wine rose from behind it to float over to them.  

“Once upon a time,” Cadence began.  “You helped me come to terms with who and what I was to be in this world.  Do you remember?”  Celestia nodded, afraid that to say anything would cause her last measures of resolve to flee.  

“You told me that great ponies are not born.  But sometimes little ponies have the capacity to do great things and become great ponies.”   Cadence seemed more to the white alicorn then, older in some way.  “It was exactly what I needed to hear at the time.”  She gently laid her wing over Celestia doing her best to mimic the motion that was seared into her memory.  “I hope I can be half as good to you.  Tell me please, what’s wrong?”

*****

With a crack of thunder and great whooshing of air Princess Luna appeared in her chambers.  Her state of urgency was rare.  Never had something so odd transpired in the dream realm.  Even during the collective dreaming in Ponyville many years ago.  She had lost control over the Tantabus it’s true, but the dream itself had had no influence on the populace.

Her trepidation for the situation was trumped by the simple joy of finding another who had control over the dreaming.  Another pony?  Some other entity perhaps?  How exciting.  IF she played her cards correctly, this could be quite fortuitous.  Her mind raced through the possibilities.  Another lonely soul perhaps, eager for companionship?  An old master waiting to pass on his knowledge?  Or something new to the dreaming, in need of guidance and tutelage?  She knew she was foolish for not entertaining the possibility that the entity, whatever it was, wasn't benevolent especially considering it’s apparent effect on her beloved sister and her savior.  She frowned, wouldn’t that just be her luck?

Her horn ignited and a perfect circle carved into the floor and ceiling of her room lit.  She walked slowly around the perimeter tracing several runes and words of protection in the air at key points along the outside of it.  Satisfied with her work she stepped through the translucent wall and stood in the center of the circle.  Moving carefully she weaved more runes from her horn placing the strongest wards she knew that would safeguard her mind from the influence of outside emotion.

What would that be worth she wondered.  Celestia’s mind was perhaps the most secure and most powerful in existence.  It’s only real enemy was itself as evidenced by the suppressed persona of Daybreaker.  Celestia’s shadow self had never seen the light of day, so to speak, to her knowledge.  If she had, Luna was certain the world would have been burned to a cinder.  Daybreaker was Celestia’s naked desire and need for instant gratification, the indulgence of whim, the very image of carelessness; in short, she was bucking crazy.  But that’s not what was manifest this evening.  

No, Celestia was angry, more so then Luna had ever seen.  Certainly more so than Celestia had ever been.  Daybreaker was impetuous and foalish, what happened tonight was pure unadulterated anger and rage, directed particularly at Twilight Sparkle.  

“Now that is something I’d love to see,”  purred a sensual voice.

Luna rolled her eyes as the dark draconic form of Nightmare Moon rose from her shadow.  The inky blackness slowly condensing into her likeness.  Clad in her dark armor Nightmare Moon bowed low to the princess her leathery wings spread out and down.  

“Show me just a glimpse and I shall happily help you with whatever task you desire,”  she purred again.

Luna laughed,  “As if you had a choice, demon.   You are defeated and shall assist me as I see fit.”  Normally this was enough to send the nightmare into a angry rage.  One key aspect of Luna’s darker half was freedom from authority and any attempt to control her was met with swift opposition.  But the only things that Nightmare Moon hated more than Luna was Twilight Sparkle and ultimately Celestia.  

“For now,” she conceded.  “But we are eternal you and I.  It is only a matter of when I am free again.”  Her draconic eyes twinkled as her fanged smile grew wide.  “Then I shall reign.  Then your whore sister I’ll place in the deepest darkest pit I can find but not before I make her bitch lover mine!  Not before she breaks both your hearts!”  She spread her wings wide and took a deep breath ready to finish her threat with a burst of maniacal laughter.  

“Oh spare me, I’ve had enough of that for one evening.  There are more important matters at hoof.”  Luna didn’t waste any time as Nightmare Moon shot her the dirtiest look she could muster.  “There is something new in the  dream realm.”  

Nightmare Moon’s indignation soon gave way to curiosity as Luna shared her experience with the red mist.  She didn’t have to say where she encountered it, or that Celestia and Twilight seemed to be under its influence, but she did so anyway.  Nightmare Moon seemed to be aware of some events that happened in the waking world and not others but she wasn’t always privy to Luna’s thoughts.  Or she was just a skilled liar.  She also mentioned that it was encountered in a memory and not a dream and was abated, somewhat, by Cadence’s mere presence.

After hearing the tale the Nightmare sat back on her haunches and folded her forelegs.  Her draconic eyes were closed and her brow furrowed in contemplation.  “Did it appear to grow stronger or weaker as it influenced these ponies?”

Luna hid a smile as she watched Nightmare Moon.  This side of her, the contemplative calculating side, was what she had come for.  Weighing a potential ally or foe was something that came naturally to her, power sought power, after all.  Though short sighted she was quick to notice weakness or strength even with small details.

“I do not believe so, no,” Luna replied.  “It did not ‘feed’ on it’s victims.  Just changed their behavior.”

“Fear and anger?” she asked.

“In two seperate ponies, yes,”  Luna confirmed.

“Hmmmm, a spell or enchantment gone awry perhaps?”

“Perhaps,”  Luna agreed.  “We must find it to be sure.”

Teal, draconic eyes snapped open in shock.  “You would allow me into the dreamscape?”

Luna nodded.  “Bound of course, but yes.  It is a part of me and therefore a part of you.  I trust you with very little, but it might mean our continued existence and I trust your sense of self preservation.”

Luna pursed her lips.  “I shall start with the dreams of Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia.  I must make certain they are free from it, and I want you far away from them.”

“Awwww, but I so wish to seem them again,”  she ran her forked tongue over her fangs.  “Especially If what you say is true.”

“Which is why,” Luna smiled,  “if you agree, you’ll observe only. I shall lock you in a dream shield, and you shall search.  I care too much about these ponies to leave them to your twisted mind, but we don’t have time enough for me to act alone.”

With a defeated sigh the nightmare pony nodded.

Luna stood before the black alicorn and lit her horn.  “Swear to me.  You will do these ponies no harm or mischief.  That if you should find what we seek you will tell me at once.  On both our lives swear it.”

Nightmare Moon stood and lit her own horn, her aura was dim but she stood tall and proud,  “I swear it.”

Luna nodded.  “Start with the bearers, then those closest to them.”  She wove her spell around the dark alicorn and sealed it.  

The nightmare bowed mockingly low and turned away.  With a quick motion of her head, her horn sliced into the air tearing a great rend in the barrier that separated reality from the dreaming.  She stepped through and was gone.  .  Luna sighed, she hoped this was the right decision.  Nightmare Moon could indeed one day be strong enough take control of her body once again.  That day was far off though.  The insecurities and difficulties that empowered her in the first place were not strong enough to help her, yet.  But someday perhaps. 

Or perhaps this could be a new start.  Twilight had turned several of her personal enemies into trusted allies.  Luna wondered if that was possible for her and Nightmare Moon.

At the very least she had saved herself some time.  Nightmare Moon wasn’t strong enough to break free.  And there was nopony else that could help search the dreamscape.   At least that’s what she repeated to herself over and over as she flitted from one dream bubble to the next searching for some sign or hint of the mist.  She wasn’t really following any pattern or criteria  she was merely hoping to get lucky until certain dreams became available to her.  

She’s not strong enough.

She’s not.

*****

Captain Flash Sentry was never nervous.  He would admit to being occasionally concerned but that was it.  The reins of command didn’t allow for much but concern.  But as the “Pride of Cloudsdale” led the small contingent of guards to Raven’s apartment he found himself terrified.

It was no secret that Cloudsdale expected Flash to be ten times the captain that Shining Armor was.  The disgrace of having a unicorn chosen for the position after nearly five hundred years of pegasi domination chafed the high council to no end.  Didn’t chafe them enough to be prepared though,  he thought bitterly. 

Tradition held that the captain of the royal guard, chosen by Celestia herself, was an appointment for life.  Celestia had never removed a captain before, there had never been a need.  Thanks to Celestia’s leadership the position was largely ceremonial.  The last six Captains had peacefully passed away in their own beds surrounded by loved ones and the princess herself.

Leave it to Shining Armor to buck another trend.  His unlikely rise to model officer infuriated many pegasi families who had spent generations upon generations and no small number of bits training and grooming their sons and daughters for command.  It also didn’t help that some pegasi in high places considered unicorns no more than mobile artillery.  Much to the chagrin of Canterlot nobility who outwardly praised and extolled a fellow unicorn but behind closed doors and in hushed tones decried his lower birth.

In fact, the three races might have finally found common ground in their hatred of the young officer.  If only the reasons behind the animosity weren’t so archaic.  Racism for the pegasi, classism for the nobles and oddly enough sexism for the matriarchal earth pony clans.

Luckily for them Shining Armor was Captain for only three years.  Unfortunately for Flash they had not expected to need to have a proper candidate so quickly.  Flash knew he was qualified, he had it on good authority, but he couldn’t help but feel resentment to the high council for sacrificing his career just to get the position filled by a pegasus and expecting him to outshine Shining Armor with the half-hearted training he had received.

But his terror now was for another.  Raven had no special training save the semi-mandatory self defence classes the castle staff took.  Even if she’d had her personal detail with her no two guards in the palace were a match for Shining Armor.  IF they had a week to train together maybe Fizzlepop could help Flash overpower him.  

Flash didn’t hate the unicorn captain but he wasn’t about to start training with her.  He wasn’t surprised in the slightest that she had somehow found her way into Twilight’s services.  Princess Twilight, he corrected himself.  The Sparkle house was either blessed or cursed he decided, and he didn’t really care to find out which.  Right now all he wanted to do was make sure Raven was alright.

His small gathering of guards spread out as they approached the dwelling.  He send Midnight Tonic and a large burly earth pony to cover the rear entrance.  The pegasus scout he put on overwatch.  He then quickly covered the distance to the front door.  He jiggled the knob and the door opened.  It swung silently on well oiled hinges.  

Crouching low Flash crossed the threshold into the a small living area.  The lights were on and the pungent aroma of cooking vegetables assaulted his nostrils.  There didn’t appear to have been a struggle.  No furniture was disturbed, and no lights were broken.

He waved to his right sending somepony to check the kitchen.  There was a guest bedroom on the ground floor that was empty and unslept in.  He quickly but cautiously exited the bedroom and met his companion near the base of the stairs.  

“Bedroom clear,”  he mouthed silently.  “Water running,” the guard mimed pointing upwards.    Flash nodded.  With a deft flap he left the floor and began to slowly ascend the stairs. Tucking his legs tight to his barrel.  He flapped gently enough to silently propel him up the staircase.  
Once on the upper landing Flash held completely still.  The sound of running water was loud in his ears, and it drowned out all other noise.  Cautiously he moved toward the noise hopping that the sound was loud enough to drown out his hoofsteps.  He placed his ear against the door and closed his eyes waiting.  The only sound he heard was the spray of the shower head echoing in small room.  No voices and no struggle.  Satisfied he released the breath he had unconsciously held.  He waved back toward the stairs as he saw the head of the guard who had slowly followed him up the stairs.  He pointed left then at himself then right then he held is hoof straight up and pumped it once.  The guard nodded and quickly moved to check the room on the left.  

Satisfied Flash began to turn to the second room.  His eyes widened as the knob was encased in a light grayish raspberry magical aura.  Flash crouched low and raised his wings.  A small container floated out of the room followed by a unicorn pony with a pair or towels draped across her back.  Flash could see that the container was a small tub of toiletries, shampoos, soaps, brushes, combs and picks, definitely nothing dangerous.  Raven calmly turned to close the door to her room and stepped casually toward the bathroom.  Her eyes widened visibly but didn’t seem to surprised at what she saw.

“Flash?  Hey, you’re home early.”  She noticed the raised wings.  “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.  I’m a mess but I started dinner it’s got about an hour.” Aside from the initial surprise and finding him she didn’t react in any odd way.  “I don’t mind if you don’t wait for me.”  She smiled gently and moved past him.  Her magic opened the bathroom door, causing a hefty wall of steam and moist heat to assault them, instantly fogging up her glasses.  She ignored her momentary blindness and even swatted his nose playfully with her tail before closing the door.

Flash stood motionless staring at the closed door.  After a moment to gather his thoughts he waved the earth pony guard over to follow him and headed down the stairs.  As he exited the stair well he gave a short sharp whistle, calling in the entire squad.  In short order they were all gathered in the kitchen.  The pungent odor of vegetable soup surrounding them.

“I’m not concerned but we need to be sure.  Ms. Inkwell is in the shower, I’ll wait here and speak with her when she’s done.  You three set a perimeter but stay close.  Be prepared to stun everything in the house if I give the order.”  He looked at Midnight.  “She’ll probably be a while. IF you can do it in 10 minutes grab a pick me up, then set the perimeter.  Private, “ he indicated the pony that had followed him upstairs.  “I want you close but out of sight, I want her to think I’m alone.”

The guards saluted, then moved to the appropriate exits.  The earth pony glanced around the kitchen looking for an appropriate hiding place.

“Private?”  Flash asked after the others had exited the back door.  “I’m not going to order you.  But I’d like to ask for your discretion about what happened upstairs.”  Flash hated this.  He’d been captain for years after Shining left.  In all that time nothing had ever tainted his record.  Aside from Tirek of course,  but there seemed to be an unspoken agreement that since no regular pony could have stopped that incident it didn’t really count.  He’d even survived two grand galloping galas where Discord had been invited!  Now his record, perhaps his career rested on the decision of a random palace guard.  He swallowed.  “If you do feel the need to report it I’d request you file an ‘’311-O”  There it was.  The first nail in his coffin.  Granted it was his first but soldiers had lost their position for less.

The Earth pony turned to look at his captain.  They locked eyes and Flash knew the solder was sizing him up.  Internally Flash winced,  he was not the largest pegasus, and many of the guards under his command did indeed tower over him.  Flash had made Captain young but not younger than Shining Armor so that wasn’t going to be useful.  Flash was just about to turn back and sit at the table when the guard finally met his eyes.

“I’d just as soon not report it at all, Captain,” his voice wavered.  “Your business is yours, sir.”

Flash sat and offered the other chair to the guard.  “What’s your name, soldier?”  he asked.

The earth pony declined but eased his stance.  “Wet Stone, sir.  From Baltimare.”

“Then explain to me in your own words what you think is happening here.”

Wet swallowed, then he looked up and gathered his thoughts for some time before looking back at the yellow pegasus.  “You and Ms. Inkwell clearly have some kind of...relationship going on sir.”  Flash considered this, then nodded for him to continue.  “I’ve never heard anything about it so either it’s not common knowledge or it’s a secret.”  

Flash nodded.  “Secrets sink ships,” he quoted.  “Stone, I knew the moment that I found out she was involved, this would come to light.  I hoped it wouldn’t.   Hiding it only endangers all of us.  You know what a 311-O is right?”

Wet Stone nodded, “Princess’ Eyes only,” he replied.

“Why do we have them?”  he pressed.

“So we can bypass the chain of command if we feel the chain is broken.”

Flash nodded.  “Me hiding things from the princess isn’t wise.  Now that you know we’re both compromised.”  He took a breath.  “So I’m asking that you report it to just the princess.  Otherwise the house of nobles will get wind of it, which I’d rather that not happen,” he finished evenly.

Wet Stone considered the captain, his eyes narrowing.  “Saving your career sir?”

Flash sighed dejectedly, “Partially,” he admitted.  “Hers too.  Also because if she’s still in danger it might help her.” He took a deep breath.  “The princess needs to know, and IF the nobles are involved somehow, we need to not alert them.”

Wet Stone swallowed.

“After your squad gets back I’ll swap you out with one of them.  You go straight back to the barracks and you file that report.  That is an order.”
> Chapter 7: Reconstruction
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Though Twilight’s tears had stopped by the time she and Fizzlepop had reached her room, she still hiccuped with the occasional sob while leaning heavily on the taller unicorn for support.  Her eyes were raw and red, and mucus dripped freely from her nose.  Her mane, usually done up in her simple style was matted and creased.  With her tail drooping and her ears folded downward she reminded Fizzle of the sad, sorry, defeated pony that once occupied the iron cage in the hold of The Outcast, her obsidian airship.  She recalled when the sight of the beaten Equestrian Princess filled her with something bordering on glee.  Or at least “not anger” enough for an impromptu soul song to burst forth.  Seeing her beloved princess in such a state now filled her with formerly unfamiliar emotions.

Fondness and appreciation.  Fizzlepop relished little moments like this.  There were times that Princess Twilight seemed regal and unflappable, commanding a respect and authority that impressed the tall unicorn.  Her students at school thought the world of her.  The citizens of Ponyville relied on her.  The nobles of Canterlot hated her, but they hated everypony.   These more subdued moments, however, endeared Fizzle to the purple pony.  

Twilight was in touch with her emotions in a way that intrigued Fizzlepop.  Not the outlandish outbursts of petty jealousies like the Storm King nor the high almost unattainable stoicism of Celestia.  Twilight reminded Fizzle that under everything, the highs and the lows, laughter and sadness, that she was just a pony trying to make it through one more meeting, or one more day.  One more mistake.  In the quiet of her room Twilight wore her emotions on her fur.  She laughed heartily, worried fiercely and cried ugly.  It made her care for the young princess.

That admittedly confused the guard captain.  Twilight was not as strong as the Storm King, she wasn’t even stronger then some of the older dock bosses she worked with on her way to the Storm Spire.  She certainly wasn’t stronger then Fizzle herself, at least not in a physical sense.  Their own practice and training sessions proved that.  Magicly however Twilight was on an entirely different scale, though she didn’t care to flaunt it.  Still Twilight possessed an unmistakable inner strength that moved proverbial mountains… literal mountains once she had been told. Fizzle respected that, she wanted that.  She also wouldn’t say no to being able to move mountains.

But these instances of self doubt were only reserved for a special few that Twilight trusted beyond measure.  The other Element Bearers, Spike, and Fizzle herself.  She found it strange that seeing these moments of unashamed weakness improved her opinion of Twilight’s station and especially of the mare herself.  She had thought that showing no weakness was what true strength was.

She opened the door to the suite, half leading, half carrying the Princess inside.  She sat Twilight near a duplicate of the low table they had just been sitting around and continued on to the kitchen.  With Spike still on his extended tour of the Dragon Lands it had fallen to her to learn the proper art of tea brewing.  

Her shattered horn sputtered to life and her weak magic filled the small but lavish kitchen.  As the stove heated she rummaged through the cupboards.  Cookies, hard candy, chocolates were there in abundance and she selected a small tin of chocolates that she knew Twilight would like.  She continued to rummage for herself, having not grown up in the literal sugar bowl that was Equestria, Fizzle had not developed a liking for the candies and pastries that other ponies loved so much.  She finally settled on a box of simple soda crackers.  She added the two items along with a box of those instant tea packets that Twilight wasn’t particularly fond of to a serving tray and headed back toward her charge.

Twilight sat quietly trying to recapture her composure, her eyes closed tightly, her posture rigid and uncomfortable.  Normally Twilight would fidget slightly or even fluff and refold her wings occasionally but she didn’t move or make a sound as Fizzle set the tray on the table and sat beside her.  The pair sat in silence, only the tick-tock from the hallway clock could be heard.  

Twilight tried several times to say something but each time her mouth closed with an audible click.  She worked her jaw a few times but never formed a word. Fizzle waited patiently.  A shrill whistle announced that the kettle was finished.   Without thinking Twilight’s horn lit, and the noise from the kitchen subsided.  The kettle floated lazily through the door and over to the table and set itself between the pair.

“I’m, sniff, I’m not good at this am I?” she asked.  As she poured the steaming water into the cups.

Fizzle chuckled.  “I’d say you’re the best at crying, Princess.”  Normally Twilight would have at least snorted at a line like that,  and that would have been enough to turn her mood up enough to help her on the way to recovery.   This time Fizzle met her eyes and she knew that this was much more serious.  

“I’ve spent my entire life trying to please her Fiz.  Doing my best to make her proud of me.  Trying to show her that I’m worth all the effort she put in to me.”  She closed her eyes and sighed.   “How do I keep doing that now?”  Her eyes locked onto her captain’s,  the pain and anguish in them actually making it hurt to keep eye contact.  “When now I know that she hates me.  That nothing I’ve done has mattered to her.”  She looked down and the last of her tears dropped to the table.

With the last of her tears gone a quiet resolve filled the ascended unicorn.  Her eyes were still moist but the hysteria had run its course.  Twilight grew calm and collected much like how she normally carried herself.  Which was a problem, she was now being logical and calculated her fear and anxiety crushed under the pain of her failure.  “What do I do now?”  I can’t just leave.  I’ve got responsibilities now.  Ponies depend on me.”  She tapped her chin with a hoof.

“Starlight can run the school.”  Fizzlepop offered still munching on her crackers.  Personally she didn’t care for the abrasive unicorn.   Starlight was loud and impulsive.  Not exactly bad qualities, but add that to her ‘magic is more’ mindset and you got a pony who thought a little casual brainwashing was perfectly acceptable as long as no pony got hurt.  And yes, it was a sore spot that she slung magic around for everything.  Fizzle had to carefully measure her magical output on an hourly basis and while she prided herself on the physical strength and discipline that gave her she couldn’t help but envy and resent the guidance counselor.

 “We could disappear, nopony could find us if you don’t want them too.  You’re smart enough to do it.”  She munched another cracker.

Twilight began nodding as Fizzlepop spoke to her.  “Yeah….yeah.  I am.  I can do this.”  Her horn lit, pulling a parchment and quill from her mane.  The quill sped along the paper drawing several checkboxes with the accompanying items.  ‘Emergency Equestria Evacuation’  the quill titled the paper. ‘Identify cause of conflict’ the subheading followed by accompanying check boxes, she wrote under the line ‘Celestia secretly hates me.’    Creating the checkbox that would determine her fate should have felt more dire, but right now the purple Princess found solace in the familiar task.  

She didn’t want to remember a time in her life when checklists weren't important.  Though she was certain that her father had inadvertently introduced the organizational chart, it was Celestia who had used them as a distraction for her foalhood anxieties.  There was something cathartic about taking the overwhelming problems of life and confining them to parchment where they could easily be broken down into much smaller and manageable pieces.  The relief they brought to her mind could not be measured.  

It was with a happy smile that Twilight began to write out the rest of her master plan that would take her away from Ponyville and Canterlot.  Away from Celestia and Luna, Dash and the girls. Spike.  Forever on the lam to one of three preselected locations around the globe that she had already decided would be excellent places to lie low for several hundred years.  She was nothing if not prepared.  

She glanced up to her captain,  “Dragon, Breezie or Seapony?” she asked.  Fizzle popped another cracker into her mouth and pretended to consider the options, though she had no idea what the three things had in common, she wasn’t even aware what a Breezie was.

“Seapony,” she said at length.

Twilight nodded solemnly,  “I was afraid you’d say that. It’s still a good choice though.  More than half of the planet is covered in ocean and there’s no way Celestia could search enough of it fast enough.  In retrospect choseing anything but a sea faring creature seems dumb now.  Nopony is ever going to look twice at another pair of seaponies.  As long as we avoid Seaquestria we should be fine.  We’d better start eating.”  She opened her mouth wide and shoved every piece of candy that Fizzle had laid before her.  

“Eating?” Fizzle asked raising an eyebrow.

Twilight nodded still smacking on the mouth full of treats.  “It we’re going to be seaponies for the rest of our lives I need to remember what Chocolate tastes like.  We won't  be able to take many things with us.”  He eyes widened in realization.  “I’ll have to leave my books too.”

“Ah,” Fizzle said, “How silly of me not to realize that.” She lifted her armor from the floor and began inspecting it.  “So I take it you’re expecting me to join in your self imposed exile?”

Twilight’s parchment ripped in half and her left eye twitched.  “Yes?” she said quietly.

Fizzle shook her head, “No, that’s not going to happen.  There’s no way I’d be able to give your brother the payback I owe him if I go with you.”

Twilight’s breathing quickened, “But...you’re my captain you swore yourself to my service,” her voice desperate.

Fizzle nodded as she lifted and inspected the pieces of her armor.  She was quite impressed, whoever had removed it from her person had carefully redone the straps on every piece ensuring that the jumbling and bouncing buckles were not able to ding and scratch the armor itself, she’d have to thank whomever it was at a later date.  “Yes, but how does the friendship oath of service end?” she began to dress.

Twilight swallowed deeply.  After a moment of mumbling to herself the beginning of the oath she quietly spoke aloud,  “...and should the choice arise I swear to not pursue duty for duty's sake,  but to always act as the truest of friends.” 
 
Fizzle nodded again easily slipping her armor around herself, though her aura was pale and her magic was weak few ponies knew their way around their own armor as she did.  “And I need my friend Twilight,”  she said.  “I’ve no idea how to hunt your brother down, I’m no tracker.  And when I reach him I’ll need you to help me subdue him.”  She sighed deeply,  “I don’t think I can beat him while he has his magic, hell I don’t think I can beat him hoof to hoof, that’s a first for me Twilight.”  The last of the buckles tucked itself under her greaves and she turned to face the alicorn,  “I need your help.”  

Twilight’s distressed breathing stopped abruptly and a wide smile grew on her face.  “Did you just…?” Her eyes grew as wide as her smile.

“You asked me to help you!  You ASKED for help!!!”  she began to pronk happily around the table.  Somewhere Pinkie smiled knowingly.  Twilight stopped she seemed to realize what she was doing and the fur around her eyes turned red in a fierce blush.  She cleared her throat and refolded her wings.  “Wait!” her eyes narrowed in suspicion.  She walked toward the captain with a critical eye.  “Why are you asking me for help?”

Fizzlepop sighed.  “I have one friend Twilight, you.”  She shook her head as Twilight took a breath to speak.  “I like the girls but they are really your friends.”

Twilight looked hurt.  “You need to give them a chance Fiz.”

To her surprise Fizzlepop nodded.  “I will, for you.  But I need to find Shining Armor, for me.  He’s a warrior Twilight.  He’s trained and honed his body to be completely under his own control.  He’s like me.  He’s the only one in this whole blasted country like me.”

Her blush intensified.  “Wow Fizzle that’s...um sweet?”

Fizzlepop scoffed, “Hardly, something has usurped that control, he’s not himself anymore.  Whatever was in his eyes was evil.  Pure and simple.  I can’t say I know Shining Armor well but something tells me he’s a lot like you.  He’d risk everything if it were you.  Once you are thinking straight again you’ll risk everything for him.”  She stood tall and proud and snapped her head to the side, her mane falling into place.  With a crack she tested the edge of each of her shoes.  The blades easily cutting through carpet, padding, and into the marble below her.   “I’m going to stop whatever taint is infesting him, you’re coming because you need to save your brother, after that we can decide what to do about Celestia.”

*****

Wind blew roughly through Flurry Heart’s mane and tail.  A well aimed blast of magic singed the trailing edges of her hair as it rushed past.  She ran a few more steps and she jumped, neatly clearing the gap between train cars.  Her hooves skidded as she landed and she nearly took a headlong tumble off the top of the train.  The unforgiving desert floor was not a good place to have a crash landing.

“Flurry move!”  a panicked voice brought her from her musings.

A brownish blur touched down moments after she vacated the spot and pulled her along in its wake.  Bulging saddlebags slapped against well muscled flanks and several gold bits slipped from them, falling onto the tin roof of the train car, the noise drowned out in the rush of wind.

The pair galloped along jumping from train car to train car.  She glanced over at her companion.  A red bandana was tied about his muzzle masking his features.  He turned to look at their pursuers and taunted them in a slightly accented voice.

“Mind the gap!”   He winked at her.  She heard the smile in his chuckle. She tried to give him a smile in return but it was then she noticed that she too was wearing a red mask around her muzzle.  Another blast of magic passed between them.  The colt’s eyes widened and he dove for the gap between the next car.  His tail snaked around her neck and pulled her along.  Flurry cried out as the tug put her off balance, instead of making a deft hop she careened headfirst between the cars. The speeding tracks filled her vision as they rushed up to meet her.  

She stopped sickeningly close, her bangs brushing along the steel rails, the colt had caught her around the middle and was holding her aloft over the tracks.  “Got ya.  Don’t worry.” he said.

“W-W-Who’s worried?” she answered back trying to sound confident.  A quick twist of the colt’s forearms and Flurry was nose to nose with him.  She finally got a good look at his eyes, light brown, full of good humor and excitement.  His eyes closed in what she knew was large smile and she noticed the patch of brown that colored the fur around one of his eyes.

He pulled her back and over the safety railing.  They fell together back through the train car door.  Once through the doorway he firmly shoved her away form the open door.  She was able to catch herself against the wall of the train car as a blast of raw magic tore through the space they had been standing.  “That was close,” he winked.

Despite the danger Flurry Heart found herself giggling.  He slid the heavy iron door closed and locked it.  With a quick motion of his head signaling her to follow he ran for the opposite end of the car stepping around and leaping over crates and luggage.  Flurry had to double her pace to keep up.  She needn't have bothered.  The far door flung open and white unicorn stallion stood in the doorway, his horn charged.  The silver star pinned to the center of his wide brimmed hat glinted in a mote of sunlight.  

“Reach!” he bellowed, head lowered, targeting the advancing duo.  The colt planted his hooves and swung his hindquarters around with a lightning quick movement.  Flurry Heart just had a moment to see him wink at her again before he bucked once then twice, sending two small crates hurtling toward the lawpony.  His blast of magic blew the first crate apart into tiny splinters.  The second crate took him squarely on the horn.  Flurry winced as the stallion collapsed to the floor of the car.  The colt was at his side before he could rise, his brown hoof placed threateningly on the stallion’s throat.  The stallion looked up menacingly at the colt and swallowed.  “I’ll never be able to make this right,”  the lawpony said, in a regal, but extremely unsettled voice.

“You heard Princess Luna, this is nothing that either of you did or didn’t do.”  Her mother's calm musical voice flowed from the colt, thoroughly disappointing Flurry Heart.  She blinked her eyes in disbelief until the train car dissolved into the master bedroom of the suite that her family were currently housed in.  She felt warmth on either side of her and determined that she was sandwiched between her mother and grandmother, tucked tightly under the comforter of the bed.  The older ponies had not noticed she had awoken and she wriggled her face under her wing, feigning aversion to the lights in the bed room.  

Several boxes of tissues lay strewn about the bed and floor of Cadence’s master bedroom.  Flurry Heart snuggled closer to the large alicorn.  Celestia's sobbing shook her small frame, the larger alicorn’s body made the entire bed frame creak.  She marveled at the size of her grandmother, she was currently snuggled between her forelegs facing away and looking at her mother’s pink chest.  Celestia's long white forelegs encircled her, the fur unnaturally soft and surprisingly cool to the touch. 

Her musing was interrupted as she heard Celestia pull more tissues from the box, she heard a faint rustling then the hork of somepony blowing their nose.  

“I’m so ashamed Cadence.”  Celestia croaked, her throat raw from the sobs.  “I’ve only ever felt hatred that strong for two beings: Nightmare Moon, and myself for what happened to Luna.  I just can’t believe I was so mad at her.  I still am.”  she stared past the room, her eyes unfocusing.  “It was so real.  So visceral.  It still is.  I feel like I could just walk right up to her and wring her neck, what’s wrong with me?  Ugh I still feel sick.”  she raised a hoof to her temple.

Cadence reached over to Celestia and brushed her tears a way with her wing tips.  “You and I both know that hatred between you and Twilight is impossible.  She adores you she fawns over you.  She’s a little infatuated with you.”  she said biting her lip at the end, her trepidation evident.  “Once you two clear this up I’m sure you’ll only grow closer.”  She sought Celestia’s eyes.  “That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”

“Yes.” Celestia whispered.  “It would.”

Cadence froze.  “You don’t mean that.”

“I’ve just used up any progress and good will that I’ve been building for what? Thirty years?  You didn’t see her.  Her face. Her eyes.”  Celestia sniffed.  “We probably can work it out but, this will only make her MORE paranoid about what I think of her.”  

Cadence reached forward placing her hooves on Celestia's face and looking into her watery eyes.  “I didn’t see her face, but I can feel her heart.  She loves you, don’t give up on her.  Please.”  

Celestia met those purple orbs.  “She fears me Cadence, do you not see how unfair that would be to us?”  Cadences eyes narrowed and she took a breath.  “It would taint a relationship before it even had a chance.  No, I will reconcile with Twilight and we will make this right, but anything romantic that might have been between us is gone.”

“It can’t be,” Cadence argued.  “You can’t let it die like that.”  Tears filled her eyes.  “Twilight is as good as my sister in every way and you, my friend, my confidant, my teacher.  My...my mother.”

Celestia snorted into her tissue, laughing.  “So you’re adamant about your mother and sister being in a romantic relationship?”  She even had the gall to waggle her eyebrows at the pink princess.  

Despite her frustration Cadence snorted as well.  “Aside from Shining and Flurry, you two are the ponies I care about most in this world.  I found something special in Shining Armor, a love that transcends time and race and station.  And I knew Celestia, I knew that we were meant to be together!”  She took a calming breath.  “And I know that you and Twilight can have the same.  I want you to have the same.”  she sniffed.

Though her heart had done a few flips when Cadence had called her mother, she knew that this topic was too important to set aside to celebrate.  “That’s not all though,”  she leaned over and nuzzled her daughters check with her own, “is it?”

Fear and hurt filled Cadence’s eyes and her posture slumped.  “I’m afraid for you.  I’m afraid you’ll miss it.”  She took another steadying breath.  “Shiny and I won’t get to grow old together.”  She locked her watery eyes on Celestia’s.  “I’m the Alicorn of love,” she declared,  “And I will lose the one I love most of all.  I can’t let that happen to you or Twilight.”

She got up abruptly off of the large bed.  Flurry Heart had been on the edge of tears listening to her mother.  She gave a yelp of surprise as the mattress on the bed shifted and she tumbled back toward Celestia.  It was Celestia’s turn to yelp as Flurry Hearts tiny hooves hit the center of her chest right above her golden petral.  It wasn’t painful, it would take more than that to even make the white alicorn uncomfortable, but it was a reminder that they were not alone.  

It wasn’t the first time that Flurry had pretended to be asleep for the chance to hear the adults talk openly so she knew how to cover an interrupted nap as well.  She began a pitiful but nearly silent whimper as Celestia cradled her to her chest in her magic rocking her silently.  “It’s ok my little pony,” she whispered.  Flurry quieted down but pressed against Celestia’s field of magic.  Celestia responded by constricting her field just a little.  

“It hurts me Celestia.  To see you alone, to see Twilight struggle.  So many ponies want to love her but her heart isn’t free right now.”

Celestia ‘s ears perked and her eyes widened hopefully.  “You think so too?  How I have hoped that somepony would approach her.  One of the other Elements perhaps?  Luna must have propositioned her by now, do you think?  The way Fizzlepop stares at her makes me think she’ll say something soon. Tell me who do you think?”

Cadence looked incredulous,  “It should be you!” she all but yelled.  

Celestia smiled but there was no joy or happiness in it.  “No,” she said with finality.  “I will not initiate a relationship with Twilight or anypony else for that matter.”

Cadences jaw dropped, her legs gave out and she sat heavily on her haunches.  “Bwah!?” she said elegantly.

Celestia’s smile grew larger but still no joy found its way to it.  The corners of her eyes grew moist.  “Who, alive today, could possibly know me well enough to love me Cadence?”  her chuckle sounded more like a sob.  “Who would be honest with me about their wants and needs?”  She lifted Flurry Heart and wrapped her hooves around her, hugging her tightly to her chest.  “She’d never deny me.  She’d never be happy.”  She nuzzled Flurry Heart under her chin and the tiny alicorn began to stir.  

Cadence shook her head not happy with Celestia ending the conversation.  Celestia saw the anguish and defiance in her daughter's eyes.  She sighed.  “I’d never initiate...”  she said again still trying to wake up her granddaughter, “..but if she would stand on her own, face to face, horn to horn.  If she would look me in the eye as an equal and not my faithful student, I’d have no reason to turn her away.”  She blew gently into Flurry Heart’s ear, giggling at the involuntary reaction.  “She deserves that much.  I deserve that much.”

“That could take decades, centuries after what happened tonight!”

Celestia nodded,  “It could.  And if what you say is true, wouldn’t it be worth the wait?" 

“Wakey, wakey sleepy pony.” 

****

“I kinda figured you’d be working late tonight.  The royal get together and all.”  Raven crunched her salad.  Her eyes danced over to her dinner partner.  Flash sat uncomfortably at the dinner table his soup growing cold.

“Yeah, about that…” Flash let his sentence trail off.

Raven rolled her eyes.  “You can’t even smile when you say that.”  She smiled beautifully and framed her face with her hooves.  “It’s not that hard, come on.”

Though it was impossible Flash got more uncomfortable.  He cleared his throat.  “Ms. Inkwell,”
Raven’s eyes narrowed “Ms. Inkwell?” she mouthed.  “How long have you been home?”

“Only about thirty minutes, Captain Flash.” she sneered.

“And you went right home after your shift?”

Raven nodded,  “I came right home, Flash what is this about?”

Flash ignored her.  “How well do you know Prince Armor?”

Raven’s eyes widened.  “Well he had your job before you did so, fairly well.  We had weekly correlation meetings.  The Princess, myself and he were practically joined at the hip.   You know that work doesn't stay nine to five in the palace.  We...” she trailed off  comprehension dawning in her eyes.

Flash leaned forward.  “We…?” he prompted.

Raven met his eyes.  “Are you...is this you checking up on me, Flash?” 

He leaned back in his chair.  “Were you and Captain Armor involved in any way, personally or professionally?”

“That’s not fair!  You can’t shake me down to get answers about my personal life.”

Flash stood up from the table.  “Shining Armor just attacked the Twilight guard, he stole from Princess Celestia’s personal vault, he’s missing now, and he used an illusion of you.”  Flash’s voice never rose beyond the level of casual conversation.  His voice and his tempo never faltered.  His eyes bore into Raven’s and despite herself she couldn't help but cringe and sink deeper and deeper into her chair. 

“Tell me you are not involved with this.”

Raven looked up.  “Of course I’m not Flash.  I’m a secretary.  I keep Princess Celestia on schedule, not that she needs me.  I carry paper and ledgers all day.  I have limited access to the vaults that’s it.”  She looked into his eyes as best she could trying to show him the truth of her words.

Flash's eyes darted back and forth across her face, her brow, her hooves.  He studied the brown haired mare for a long time.  He swallowed,  “Tell me you aren't involved with him.”

That made Raven chuckle.  “In another life maybe.  No Flash, I don’t think Shining armor has eyes for anyone besides Princess Cadence.  Was that Captain Flash or just Flash asking?”

Flash responded by blowing out a heavy sigh.  “Both.  Shining stole something big, something dangerous.  I don’t want you near him or his sister.  They’re both trouble.”

Raven studied the pegasus captain.  Flash was level headed and by all accounts a model officer.  Paranoia and hysteria were not words that were used in conjunction with his name.  Yet he clearly winced when mentioning the siblings.   “What happened Flash? You and Twilight were friends, good friends.  There were plenty, myself included, that had you pegged for another royal wedding.”

“Princess Twilight and I never had that kind of relationship,” he corrected.  “And I’d appreciate it if you’d let everypony else know that.”  Flash was good at his job but he was unable to keep the bitterness from creeping into his voice.

Raven blinked.  She reached out and touched his cheek.  “Did she hurt you Flash?”  Her voice full of concern.  It was common knowledge that the young princess wasn’t the most socially adapt of ponies and it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that she had done something to damage the feelings and/or the reputation of another.

Flash sighed,  “That’s really none of your business and it’s not important anyway.”  He sat back down and his demeanor once again reverted to that of a consummate royal guard.  “We need to determine if Prince Armor is in trouble or if he IS the trouble.”

The pair were caught off guard as a royal guard entered from the living room entrance.  Wet Stone moved up to the pair but then stood unnaturally still as the Guard captain and royal secretary stared at him.  

“Yes, Stone?”  Flash prompted upset but not angry with the apparent lack of protocol from the guard.  But Wet Stone just stood there unmoving, barely breathing.  If Flash hadn’t seen him walk into the room he’d have sworn the guard was to most realistic looking statue he’d ever seen.  He was about to berate the pony when the something chilling caught his attention.  The scalirra of Wet Stones eyes were bone dry as if he had not blinked for some time, but worse still they were tinted a sickly green.  

With lightning quickness Flash upended the table he and Raven were seated at.  Cold soup and warm salad painted the stationary guard in an array of colors. He pulled Raven behind him and tucked her between the legs of the table.  “Don’t move.”  he hissed.  He took a quick breath to steel himself the left from behind the barrier to face the guard.  

Wet Stone stood calmly where he had been, the salad bowl upturned and covering his head like some foal’s idea of a guard helmet.  He heard hooves on the floor behind him.  He snapped his wing out then spun to face the second intruder.  

The fake feather flew from his wing toward the standing guard.  It came apart as it darted through the air till it was nothing more than a thin crystal needle piercing the air.  It flew true and shattered against Wet Stone’s barding.  The rune suspended in the crystal flashed briefly then expanded.  If Wet Stone had been aware of his surroundings he’d have a split second to be worried.  The air around him grew stale and solidified.  He soon stood in the middle of the kitchen encased in magical stasis crystal.  

Trusting in his equipment he spun away to face whatever came in from the living room.  He wasn’t expecting a sunrise yellow unicorn stallion in a lounge coat with a bad comb over.  He stood in the doorway smirking at the guard captain.  

“Dad?”  he paused.  Oh buck me.  

“Hey, pin cushion,” the unicorn smiled.  The blast from his horn knocked Flash right to the floor.

Raven poked her head out from behind the table.  She stared.  “Daddy?” 

The unicorn smiled like he hadn’t just knocked another pony unconscious.  

“What are you do-AHHH!”  Her body seized up as a pair of fangs sunk into her neck pumping her full of venom.  Her body relaxed and her eyelids dropped.  

Queen Chrysalis moved her head away from Raven’s neck, she licked the blood from her fangs and spat in onto the floor.  The foul taste remained and she scowled.  “This is going to make things much more difficult.”

******

Celestia, Cadence and Flurry Heart had just opened a new box of cookies.  The discussion of Celestia’s personal life and how it affected Twilight, and vice versa, had been tabled if only to avoid uncomfortable questions and little ears.  So more cookies and milk were procured.  Though it was nearing the middle of the night Flurry Heart would not be sleeping anytime soon.  She instead found the opportunity to get some very nice ‘grandmare’ time   

Cadence looked on and laughed easily but there was a measure of uncertainty behind her eyes.  Knowing that her beloved husband was acting odd and nowhere to be found inside the palace, most likely not even in the city anymore tore her up inside.  She was just glad that Flurry Heart hadn’t asked about any of it, she hated the idea of fabricating a story just so she didn’t worry.

Celestia’s mask was perfect.  If Cadence didn’t already know that she was tearing herself up inside about Twilight she never would have suspected.  Celestia appeared to have exactly zero cares in the world except for having a good time with her grand daughter.  The pair were currently playing tag on the ceiling.

A mouse sized Flurry Heart was chasing a larger mouse sized Celestia.  They were recklessly  slaloming around the chandelier giggling like school fillies.  Celestia had been out of practice, it took nearly all her mouse sized speed to stay ahead of the smaller pony.  Flurry Heart had obviously much more time and freedom to fly.  She turned on a bit and was able to close the distance between them every time Celestia changed direction.  

She was busy formulating a plan of escape when the presence of tiny hooves on her flank startled her.  She giggled again and with a quick flip of her wings she spun and caught the speedy alicorn in her hooves.  The pair plummeted from the ceiling and landed with a quiet ‘poomph’ on the king sized bed.  

They were about to take off again when Cadence placed a cookie before each of them.  Flurry Heart’s eyes grew to almost their normal size as she hugged it to her chest then partook with wild abandon.  Celestia on the other hoof had already finished hers and looked expectantly at the full sized Princess of Love.

Cadence sighed and tossed the entire package at her adoptive mother.  Celestia happily clopped her hooves together and caught them in her magic.  She was about to divide the spoils between her and Flurry Heart when a fracture of light opened in front of the bed. It began as a small mote of light but then seemed to rip the very air in two.  The fracture widened like a split seam.

Luna stepped through it into the bedroom and looked about.  She spotted her diminutive sibling and smiled widely.  Celestia knew that smile and instead of smiling back she settled herself for the bad news.  

“I am going to eat this bag of cookies first, only then you may rain on my parade.”  She declared in a high pitched diminutive voice.  She sat defiantly and messily devoured the cookie currently in her hooves.  

Luna was about to protest but a small pony traveling at high speed effectively diverted her attention.  With a soft splat the pink alicorn filly landed between the darker princesses eyes.  “Aunty Luna!”  she squealed.  The gathered princesses had to cover their ears the pitch was so high.  Guard dogs sheltered miles away in the barracks whimpered their agreement.

Luna’s eyes widened,  “Nopony has informed me that the Alicorn of Insects had decided to grace us with her press ants.   Behold!”  she turned striking a fine pose.  “Be sure to capture my good side!”  Flurry Heart giggled.

Cadence groaned.  “‘Press ants’, really?”  Luna smiled.

“Dad says the best side of any mare is the south side.”  Flurry proudly repeated.

Luna nodded sagely, “Your father is correct, and quite wise.  You’ve chosen well Cadence.”

Celestia chuckled spraying crumbs on the bed sheets and Cadence could only sigh in frustrated agreement.

Luna sat at the foot of the bed.  Fishing out a few cookies for herself.  “I’ve found no trace of the entity from Fizzlepop’s memory present around  you or Twilight.”  she began.  “Neither of you have dreamed so I shall visit you both tonight.”  She crunched noisily.  “However, that is not to say no other trace has not been found.”

Celestia began crunching on another cookie waiting for her sister to continue.  It was good to know that she and Twilight may begin to patch up their relationship sooner rather than later.

Luna swallowed.  “I’ve found traces of the mist emanating from the dreams of one of the relatives of the Element of laughter.  The eldest sister to be precise.  I dare not confront it without some form of defence however.” She looked to Cadence,  “I have some questions regarding your magics and wards.”  Cadence nodded.

Celestia tried to put the pieces together.  “To my knowledge Fizzlepop and Pinkie Pie’s family have had no extended contact.  I fail to see how such a thing could be connected to them.”  She tapped her chin.  “Still this is more information then we had.  It may well prove useful.  Thank you Luna.”

Luna scuffed her hoof on the floor.  “I’m afraid I’m not ready for a dismissal quite yet Celestia.”

Celestia bade her continue.

Luna lit her horn, removed Flurry Heart from her horn and placed her back with her mother.  She took a deep breath.  “It is time we faced a hard truth Celestia.  Night Court has been a disaster.”  She sat heavily and raised a hoof forestalling any debate or argument.  “I will of course defer to your judgment in most things, but for this thing for the good of Canterlot and my own piece of mind,  I am ending it.  Judge Stone and his staff have my gratitude for their assistance and hard work.  And I am prepared to compensate them from my own coffers for their stalwart service.”

An uncomfortable silence was broken only by the sound of the diminutive alicorn crunching on cookies.  She calmly ate two more while Luna could only look on.  Finally after her third cookie Celestia stood.  With a flash of her horn she restored herself to her full size.   She swallowed.  “It’s not just Night Court, is it?”  Though it was almost imperceptible Cadence saw the muscles under Celestia's flanks quiver ancient fight or flight mentality subconsciously manifesting itself.

“I love you sister.”  Luna said stepping forward and placing her face along the side of Celestias.  “I love our subjects and I love Canterlot.  This is my home and I will stay as long as you let me.”

Celestia’s body had stiffened and though she looked relieved at Lunas last statement her prompting was barely a whisper.  “But…?”

“I am no administrator nor ruler of Canterlot.  I did not build, shape or defend her.  I have only gotten in the way of it’s true ruler, I have caused delays and mischief to her citizens and stewards.”  She retreated so she could look into Celestia's eyes.  “Once that would have angered me.  Once that DID anger me.  I am ashamed to admit that it has taken a thousand years for me to see my folly.  I am not you.  I can not gain the trust or the love of our citizens by being you.”

She took the decanter of wine and drained it.  Celestia seemed to be at a loss and Cadence only shrugged in response.  Flurry Heart was a bit confused as to what exactly was going on but even she could tell that something big was happening.  

“I am in over my head Celestia.  The nobles despise me and the populace distrust me.  I need to reconnect somehow.”   She stood tall and looked Celestia in the eye.  “You are Queen of Canterlot in all but name.  A title earned over a millennium through action.  It is something I too must earn again.”

Her horn lit and her starry longsword drew forth from her wing.  She bowed low, bending her left leg and sliding her right far forward.  Her wings extended and the sword set lightly on them hilt on the left and point to the right.

“I am the Alicorn of Dreams.” she declared.  “The edge of night.  I stood with you against Chaos and Shadow.  I fell once but now stand tall.  I am the full moon and the guiding light.”  A warm wind swirled around her horn billowing her mane and tail in large plumes of translucent star light.  “The lost traveler and the weary sailor call me friend.  The artist and performer name me inspiration.  I am the mind given purpose.”  She laid her sword at Celestia’s hooves.

“The world and the ponies we once served is lost to me.  Until I have earned that place again I submit to your rule.  Accept me and I shall be the shield of their dreams, and the sword of their desires.”

Celestia stood quiet for several moments gathering her thoughts and looking between the sword and her sister.  She grasped the hilt in her magic and turned the blade under Luna’s chin.  With light pressure she raised Luna up off the floor and pressed the blade into her magical grasp.

With tears in her eyes she embraced her and spoke quietly into her ear.  “You made it sound as if you were leaving.”  She hugged her so hard the tears once again flowed from her eyes.  “I could never bear that again.  If this is what you want, if it will make you stay I’ll give you anything.”  

She buried her face deeper into her sisters embrace.  Her relationship with Twilight had been through so much and she wasn’t even sure how it turned out.  Possibly losing one member of her family was hard enough.  She’d never survive the loss of two.
> Part 1 Interlude
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia was tired.  She didn’t really need sleep but the habit of winding down the day and ending up in a comfortable bed wrapped in the finest sheets her subjects could make had become so familiar that her body longed for it.  Add that to the severe emotional draining she had experienced today and she had decided that sleep was a perk that mortality just didn’t get to horde tonight.

She had clung to Luna far longer than she ought to have.  She had grown weary and sleepy in her one sided embrace.  Luna had held fast and allowed her older sister the time but once the embrace had been broken she had taken one look into her eyes and called for the guards to escort her to her room.

“No dreams tonight,”  she promised.  “You shall rest well.”

Not too reluctantly Celestia allowed herself to be dismissed.  

The Solar Tower was not far from the apartments.  Outside the on duty guards had finished their investigation of Fizzlepop’s fight.  They had left and now the royal engineers were replacing the few marble floor tiles that had been damaged in the scuffle.  

Under normal circumstances Celestia would have at least given a casual greeting to the pair of ponies.  She knew, without being too vain, that a word or even a simple smile from her could mean the world to a pony who would otherwise never see her in person again, but this evening she was simply not willing to expend the extra energy.

If not for the silent guards on either side of her she feared her wings may have already been dragging along the ground.  It was then that she became aware that the guards were saddled right alongside of her and we carefully pressing their bodies against hers.  Guiding her.  Helping her. Painfully aware of her current state.  As quickly as she could she glanced left into the face of one of the guards.  The white stallion was walking unerringly forward his eyes focused in the distance.

“Apologies princess,” he said.  “I’m a little clumsy this evening.”

She nodded wordlessly.

They were soon upon the last hallway.  The guard to her right stopped walking with them and positioned himself at the entryway.  He nodded slightly as the pair continued on.  “Princess,” he said.

Celestia leaned hard on the remaining guard and her right wing dropped considerably.  Their hooves were muffled on the thick carpet that ran the length of the hallway up to the double doors marked with her familiar sun cutie mark on either side.  She was tired but reached up with her hoof tracing the golden sun that was set into the wooden door.  The rune of protection traced into the gold flashed briefly then faded as the door unlocked.  

“Thank you,”  she whispered.

“Good night, Princess.” He replied.

Without thinking Celestia ambled over to the a small rack in the entryway.  There her four golden shoes joined eight others just like them.  Her golden crown came off next, she placed it with practiced care on it’s stand, her golden peytral following a moment later.

The thick carpet soothed her bare hooves as she left the entryway and stepped in her living area.  She turned a slow circle taking her room in.  She frowned hating everything about it.  The white marble walls and floor.  The gold filigree along the baseboards.  The red silk of the upholstery.  The warm yellows of the light shades.  Stylized suns everywhere.  There carved into the floor.  Stamped on the table cloths.  Painted onto her ceiling.  

Her appreciation for her little ponies was wearing paper thin.  That wasn’t fair for it wasn’t their fault today went pear shaped.  Today was supposed to be nice and relaxing, and for the most part it was.  Six solid hours at the same table with her family was heavenly.  A little reward that she was able to give herself for a job well done.

But now thanks to this business with Captain Armor and Captain Fizzlepop things were just more confusing and complicated. Twilight and her feelings of anger.  Cadence with her simple maturity and wisdom.  Luna and her now vacant throne.  If she had had any tears left to shed tonight she’d be shedding them.  

She padded over to the back of the living area where a narrow staircase lead to her personal chambers.  Somehow she was able to climb them without stumbling.  She was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief as she entered her room.  Dark purple curtains were pulled tightly closed as she entered.  The only illumination the golden glow of her horn.  

Her body once again fell into familiar routine, her eyes not even needing the light that her horn provided.  She pulled her mane back and tied it up in a simple bun.  Keeping it out of the way as she delicately brushed the cookies, milk, and wine from her teeth.  She filled a small cup and drank deeply without swallowing.  She swished vigorously enjoying the feeling of the water flowing around her teeth.  She lowered her head and carefully spit the spent water into her sink.  

The action broke the spell of her stupor and she watched it slowly disappear down the drain.  With a frown she sat on her haunches and stared at herself in the mirror and, not for the first time, was disgusted with what she saw.

Her tired eyes studied the lines of her face hoping, wishing to be able to find some flaw or blemish that would betray her state of mind.  The slight discoloration under her eyes was a good start but her body, not really needing sleep, and constantly renewing itself, just didn’t wear down like a mortal body would have.  No bags had actually developed under her eyes and she knew that if she wanted she could sit there and watch her body repair itself and be good as the day she had gotten it, long ago.  She enjoyed looking pristine, it wasn’t simple vanity, but she couldn't be seen running the country in such a state.  Her little ponies needed her to look ready and be ready for anything.  The problem was that when she looked perfect ponies expected her to BE perfect.  

The constant crying today, more than she had done in several years actually, had wreaked havoc on her throat, eyes and nose.  Even though it was mending her snout was still tender to the touch.  Even the softest tissues stung as she tried to clear her sinus.  There must be a better way she thought.  A slight tickle in the back of her mind had her acting before she could think.  She sniffed mightily and snorted with her entire breath.   With a loud horking noise she drew the phlegm and mucus from her nose to the back of her throat and with a mighty hack she spat the disgusting mess into the sink.

She blinked, shocked.  The slimy ball of muck sat there refusing to be sucked down the drain.  She couldn’t believe her eyes.  That mess had somehow come from her was unthinkable.  That she had actually done that!  What had she done!? How had that even worked!?

She sat bewildered.  

Harsh laughter began to ring in her ears.  Laughter that was all to familiar.

“I can’t believe you did that!”  The laughter intensified.  “That was glorious!”

Celestia gagged, the taste still on her tongue.  She grabbed a bundle of tissues in her magic and carefully fished the offending object out of the sink.  A disgusted shudder started at the base of her tail and ran up her spine and she had to fight to dismisses it.  The thought of it touching even her golden magical aura giving her the jibbles and she shuddered again.  She wrapped the tissues around it and incinerated the offending package with a burst of heat.

That taken care of she leaned over and turned the faucet on all the way and repeatedly filled her mouth and spat several times.  The laughter continued.  “I wish somepony had been around to see that!”  

Despite her tiredness Celestia chuckled.  “I wish I’d have seen it.  I’m not even sure what I did.”  

“What you did was step off of that lofty pedestal for a moment,”  the voice retorted, in a pout.  “Honestly you whine and mope that no one TREATS you like a pony but when do you ever ACT like anything but a princess?   Can you even imagine how you could have made Raven’s day if she had seen you do that?  She would have loved it!”

Celestia had finally succeeded in getting the foul taste out of her mouth. She did have to admit, her sinuses we completely clear right now.  In fact should couldn’t remember the last time she could breathe so cleanly through both nostrils.

It was true that Raven would have been overjoyed to see Celestia do something mundane and pedestrian.  She would have shared a wonderful laugh with her princess.  The voice agreed.

“Then after that wonderful laugh, that’s when you pounce.  Capture those lips with yours and trap that laugh between you for all time!”  Celestia sighed, that didn’t take long.

“I don’t feel that way about Raven, Daybreaker.”  She levitated her robe from her closet and wrapped it around herself.  Carefully threading her wings through the slits.  Daybreaker moaned suggestively as each wing pushed through.

“Last time I checked ‘feelings’ weren't a requirement for coupling.  The populace expects you to have a dalliance or two.  She’s attractive, you’re attractive.  Let her warm your bed for a night.”  

“Then what?” Celestia snapped back. 

“I know two handsom stallions who happen to be in shouting distance that could spice things up.”  

Celestia seated herself at her vanity and bean to brush her mane.  “I don’t want a relationship with Raven.”

Daybreaker shrugged, how Celestia knew this escaped her, “Send her away, fire her, behead her,”  the last suggestion was offered with casual indifference.  “You’re the Queen now, WHO CARES?”

Celestia’s magic winked out and her brush fell to the floor.  Her hooves shot to her eyes so she didn’t have to look at herself in the mirror.  “I don’t want to be Queen,” she whispered.

“Since when has it mattered what YOU want?” her shadow mocked.

She carefully raised her eyes and there she was staring at herself in the mirror.  Fanged teeth framed by a sadistic grin.  

“Whore,”  she accused.  The mirror flashed a scene of herself and Raven engaged in her bed.  Their lips locked, their bodies writhing.

Celestia cringed but didn’t look away.

Piercing yellow eyes set in a field of black. “Slut.” Daybreaker spat.  Her mirror flashed again this time to the guard barracks.  Tables and beds lay ascue on the floor.  Stallions spent, scattered along the debris.  Mares used, propped up in vulgar positions.  Herself clad in leather, a saddle placed scandalously on her back, stirrups dangling at her sides, and a silver bit pulled tight in her mouth.  Whip and riding crop held aloft in her golden aura.

Her fur an angry white with orange fires burning just beneath the surface.  “Pervert.”  She smiled.  Her mirror flashed again.  Twilight, young and impressionable.  Her cheeks red in a bright blush.  Celestia's hoof caressing her flank.

Celestia scowled.

A fiery mane of hair and a tail to match, blazing bright.  “Despot.”  Daybreaker continued changing tactics.  It was always a chance taunting Celestia with images of Twilight.  Sometimes it was enough to break her, at others it steeled her resolve. 

Her mirror flashed again.  The nobles and Celestia sat fat and happy high in canterlot.  Her subjects starved around them, dying in their fields, devoured by beasts and monsters.  Sieged by bandits and enslaved by griffons.

“Murderer.”  Daybreaker continued, her voice excited.  Once again her mirror flashed.  Dragons fell from the sky parts of them burned to ash, or their wings sheard away as they tumbled to the earth.  A steady rain of ash fell within mixed with beaks, talons, and feathers.  Large swaths of land carved into great valleys filled with fire.

“Home wrecker! Oh this is new!”  Daybreaker laughed.  Cadence and Flurry sat in each other’s embrace crying as Shining Armor walked away from them, abandoned them. He found his way to Celestia and the pair embraced passionately. 

Daybreaker began to giggle her laugher becoming more unhinged.  “You refuse to look away?  Excellent, you shouldn’t shy away from what you want.”

Celestia took a deep breath.  “These are whims not wants, passing thoughts nothing more.”

Daybreaker put on a soothing voice.  “Oh Celestia you don’t have to lie to ME.  I’ll never tell anyone.  After all your secrets are my secrets.  And we wouldn’t want anypony to know what you really want would we?”

“This is NOT what I want.”  She said again her ire rising.  “You don’t know what I want!” she snapped angrily.  Her eyes narrowed and her mane began to whip angrily back and forth.

Daybreaker’s giggling stopped.  Her black eyes filled with compassion.  She placed an armored hoof against the mirror.  “You want your ponies to be safe.”  she stated.

“It would be so much easier if ponies owned this whole planet.”  Celestia whispered.

“You want the nobles to care about all ponies and not just themselves.”  Her fiery mane began to cool.

“One or two beheadings a decade would set an excellent example!”  Celestia answered, her voice rose.

“You called several favors and made many promises to get Night Court reinstated,”  her coat cooled to an alabaster white.

“She didn’t even last 10 years!  She didn’t even try!”  If she had tears left they would have been burned away as her fur grew hot.  Her silken robe burned away in an instant.

“Cadence doesn’t know how lucky she is.”  The black in her eyes and all but faded away.  Leaving behind the mirror a colder more subdued Daybreaker her coat a frosty white tinged with blue.  Her mane and tail an ethereal snow flurry of blue and white.  A frozen dead star cutie mark adorned both her flanks.

“I have wanted a foal of my own for CENTURIES!!!” Celestia screamed.  Her mane burst into an orange inferno.

Daybreaker was barely audible now the next statement a whisper.  “Not just a foal.”

Celestia nodded. Her eyes eager and crazed.  “I want love!  I want somepony to love me and care about me.  I want to be important to somepony.  I want somepony to care about ME!  Not the throne, not the country, not the princess.  About Celestia!  About me!”

“Take it.” Daybreaker pleaded.  “It’s yours already.  You have the power.  You can TAKE it.”

Celestia's black eyes met her counterparts.  “You know I will not.”

“No one could stop you.  The whole world couldn’t stop you.”  Dayberaker’s mane and coat began to warm.  

“You’re wrong.”  Celestia said as her own coat and mane began to cool.  “It only takes one to stop me.  Myself.”  She was too tired to smile.

Daybreaker sat at her vanity and waited until her mane had returned to its blazing glory.  She sat for a moment then gleefully clopped her hooves together with a childish giggle.  “I’ve NEVER come that close before Celestia!  Not since Nightmare moon!”  Daybreaker was genuinely happy then, like a foal on Hearth's Warming morning.  Her laughter continued and Celestia might have found it endearing if she didn’t know what unleashing Daybreaker would actually mean for the world.    

“That was wonderful.”  Daybreaker continued.  “I’ve forgotten what IMPULSES you can unleash.”  Her voice grew husky and she began to pant heavily.  Clesetia could only roll her eyes as Daybreaker’s hooves began to roam her own body.  “I’ll be sure to keep your family close to me this evening Celestia. “  The ponies that Celestia cared for appeared around the Nightmare dressed as the playthings that Daybreaker so desperately wanted them to be.  “If things keep up at this pace, I'll be free before the year is out.”  She was about to cackle maniacally when her harem pounced upon her.

Celestia cursed.  There was no way she’d be getting any sleep now.  Not with the menagerie of familiar voices moaning in pleasure in her mind.  There was also no way she would risk asking Luna for a last minute dream, least she become aware of her shame.  Luna still thought that Daybreaker wanted to burn the world to ash, that she only craved destruction.  How could she explain to her baby sister all the thoughts and vulgarities that Daybreaker subjected to her day after day?  

Unable to rest she instead made her way to her private desk.  Using her hooves and mouth she put several pieces of parchment, quills, and ink on the surface.  She found that refraining from using her magic made her concentrate more on what she was doing and it made it easier to ignore the orgy going on in her head.  

She began to sketch.  Simple shapes at first.  She filled several pages just getting use to the quill and the feel of drawing with her mouth.  She had never had a talent for art, it was mostly just the next thing she did to distract herself form Daybreakers debauchery.  

Still she threw herself into the act and before long a simple sketch stared back at her from the parchment.  Two simple wireframe ponies walked blissfully along a tropical shore one large one foal sized.  A mother and child enjoying a moonlight stroll she decided as she resized the orb near the top of the page.  

She spent the morning hours refining the scenery until it resembled a moonlit lagoon with a mother and daughter strolling along merrily.  Once her sketch was done she pulled charcoal sticks from her desk and filled in the color by hoof.  Chalk was dreadful in the mouth after all.  She furrowed her brow in concentration, not that the art itself was hard but focusing her mind on keeping Daybreakers activities to a minimum.

It wasn’t really a masterpiece but she was proud of the job she did.  The mother had become Cadence and Flurry Heart strode easily by her side.  She put birds in the sky and fish in the lagoon for good measure.  Finally just before she was to raise the sun she finished and Daybreaker broke into her thoughts, as she always did.

“Make <huff> no <huff> mistake <huff> Celestia,” she panted.  “One <huff> day <huff> this <huff> world <huff> will <huff> burn!” Celestia waited patiently as Daybreaker finished with her fun very vocally.  “But not before I’m satisfied.”

In nine hundred years Celestia had never found a rebuttal good enough to answer her shadow.  She simply walked to her balcony and lit her horn.  Her magic called out to the sun and it began it’s slow rise over the valley.  She held her drawing before her face and with another burst of magic burned it to ash.  Her eyes remained fixed on the faces of the mares and she resolved, as she did every morning, that she could burn parchment, she could burn pictures, but she would never, ever allow herself to burn away her world. 


End of Part One

> Prolog : Dark Tidings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash had never before felt uncomfortable in her Wonderbolt flight suit.  Quite the contrary was true actually.  There were times when it was more comfortable than her own skin. She had known, even before she could bust clouds that she would end up buried in the thing.  Once she had beaten every record ever set to paper and earned every award Celestia could think up. 

Today however, the blue and gold body sock was bucking restrictive.  The pressure on her chest and barrel made it difficult to breath.  It was the second day of a four day reconnaissance flight for Delta Wing. This was the first time that Rainbow wanted to be anywhere but on assignment.

She was staring at what should have been a busy morning farmers market place.  Yet the main street of Smokey Hollow seemed untouched and unwalked for what it looked like days.  Rainbow had lived in Ponyville most of her life.   Her unceremonious removal from Cloudsdale to Ponyville had forced her sleeping habits to change.    She knew that this should have been the busiest time for the small town.

There should have been animals in the streets making it hard for ponies to navigate and converse.  Farm ponies should be there working hard to sell their wares before too much of the day escaped them.

Smokey Hollow had sprung up shortly after the Elements of Harmony had ‘encouraged’ a wandering dragon to move on.  Even had he awoken and ceased covering Ponyville in Dragon smoke he’d still be a problem. Dragons were fiercely territorial.  The green dragon that called the Everfree home would not permit a rival to claim a lair so close.  When dragons fought over territory everypony around them suffered.  With the dragon gone the mountain had been claimed by a small but enthusiastic group of miners and artisans. 

Ponyville had supplemented the tiny mining village for some time.  Supplied with Apple family apples. Populated by stout hard working miners the community had grown. The old growth surrounding the mountain had turned into fine buildings and homes.  While the raw ore from the mines turned a fine profit. 

Now?  It may as well have been a museum piece.  The town was pristine, a bit dusty, but none the worse for wear. The trio of wonderbolts stood at the town's edge, their ears straining to catch any sound or noise.   All was silent.  There was no clue as to what might have emptied the village.  

“You know what this reminds me of?”  Soarin whispered to his companions.  Two pairs of goggled eyes looked back at him.  Despite herself Rainbow smiled.  “There was this mare who made me peach cobbler once.  She was from Manehattan, good looking mare, nice coat.  It was awful, I almost died.” 

Rainbow and Shockwave Smiled but refrained from chuckling out loud.  Soarin’s happy demeanor flipped like a switch.  “What’s the play here Crash?”  Rainbow did chuckle then, quietly. 

“I’m not one to back away from a fight, you know that. But I don’t like this.  At all.”  She sniffed.  “The air here is stale.  Hasn’t been flown in weeks.”

Shockwave nodded.  “Air’s heavy.  Should have been a few pegasi here.  A courier or two.  Mail carrier at least.”

“We need to find where the ponies went.  We need clues.  We got to search the place.”  Rainbow was no longer smiling.

Soarin nodded.  “OK.  Fan out.  Let's get this over with.  Quietly!”  he hissed.

The three Wonderbolts edged cautiously into the city limits.  Ears and eyes swiveling, they stepped lightly on the dirt road.  The skin and fur on the back of her neck itched and Rainbow had never felt more unnerved.  It was early morning and Celestia’s sun was barely peeking over the horizon at her back. 

The squat buildings of the small town seemed to grow larger as they advanced.  The reflective flash of yellow eyes caught Soarins attention from a doorway!  He flared his wings signaling them all to stop.  He stared into the doorway eyes squinting behind his goggles.  His brow knit together and his vision zoomed into the darkness.  The mechanism in his goggles reacting to the tightening of his brow.  The darkness filled his enhanced vision and he scanned it carefully. But no eyes blinked at him, no movement became clear.  He was certain he hadn’t imagined it.

He relaxed his eyebrows and the lenses snapped back to normal.  Pegasi vision was already second to none.  Yet the enhancement of the goggles made great vision near perfect.  He clicked his tongue once and turned to face the open doorway.  Rainbow and Shockwave immediately flanked him with Rainbow facing away covering their backs.

The town was deathly still as the trio advanced.  Soarin was just about to step off the main road into the immediate yard of the house.  Instead he snapped his wing out sending a thin crystal needle deftly into the darkness.  There was a muffled pinging sound followed by the shattering of crystal.  Instantly the inside of the shop filled with brilliant blinding white light. Soarin and Shockwave were momentarily blinded as the enchantment in the lense of their flight goggles turned opaque at the exact moment the crystal exploded. 

Rainbow cautiously kept an eye on the other side of the street and the rest of the town.  Her goggles darkened briefly as the stunner crystal exploded.  Her wings itched.  She wanted to see what was happening.  She wanted to be part of the action. But she had learned enough to know that much of those Daring Do antics were embellishments, if not outright fabricated.  A squad worked together with each member giving one hundred percent to their job.  Right now her job was to cover her comrades, and she was glad to do it.

As the light from the stunner crystal faded Rainbow noticed an area near what looked like a saloon, that appeared unaffected at all by the light.  It was pony sized, perhaps a little bigger and was slowly approaching the trio.  Moving in a familiar quadrupedal manor.

“Clip!” she called.  “Contact nine o’clock.”

Soarin stepped back from the doorway and to Rainbow's side. Shockwave immediately turned to face behind her teammates covering their backs just as Rainbow had done.  The figure continued it’s slow approach.

“Stop!” His hoof outstretched Soarin spoke with calm authority.  “Identify yourself!”

The dark figure stopped but remained silent. 

Soarin stepped forward boldly, doing his best to not be menacing in the process.  “I am asking you again.”  he said,  “Please identify yourself.  I won’t ask a third time.”

The figure stood  in the center of the road and gave what rainbow could only describe as a long suffering sigh.  It breathed one word which sounded suspiciously like “Sorry.”  Then all hell broke loose.

Its vaguely pony shaped body burst apart into two shapes. One floated ominously above the road while the second bounded, impossibly fast, toward the trio.

Soarin and Rainbow moved to flank the figure. Shockwave spun about and violently thrust her wings down launching herself into the sky.

The stunner crystal she let lose shattered against the beaten road. The enchanted goggles went opaque for a split second.  The three Wonderbolts watched with satisfaction, the figure slowed as the intense burst of light blinded it, halting its charge.

The blinding light revealed it to be a grey unicorn stallion. He stumbled about and shook his head trying to clear the after images burned into his eyes from the stunner. His mane shook about dirty and unkempt. Silver grey striped with white and matted in places with suspicious reddish brown clumps.

Rainbow was just preparing to wrap her hooves around the pony’s neck and bring him to the ground when a pained cry sounded from above.

Faster than they had been able to follow the dark shape had separated itself from the attacker and rushed at Shockwave. On leathery bat like wings it flew impossibly fast and struck her head on. Spinning her about head over hooves.

Whatever the thing was it looped around and positioned itself above the Wonderbolt clearly intent on hitting her again.

Soarin’s ears folded by reflex as Rainbow, faster than any mortal had any right to be, launched herself at her squad mate. She intercepted her at sonic speeds and even had the pleasure of planting her rear hooves into the dark thing as she passed.

Whatever it was was solid enough to absorb the blow and allow the prismatic Pegasus to springboard herself back to the ground. Shockwave cradled gently in her hooves.

The thing careened widely off course and crashed heavily through the walls of a nearby building.

“Yeah!” Inflicting pain had never been something that Rainbow relished, but she had to admit that that felt good.

Shockwave’s head lulled in a stupor. Rainbow pulled the goggles from her face as she landed behind an abandoned cart.  Her teammates' eyes were cloudy and unfocused. A trickle of blood seeped from under her maneline down her brow and between her eyes.

“M’bow?” The wonderbolt slurred.

Having had many in her life Rainbow knew a serious concussion when she saw one.

“Ok Shock you gotta stay put, copy?”

The wounded Pegasus nodded. “Is bad?”  She asked.

“You aren't flying out of here, no.”

Her eyes dropped.

“But we won’t leave you. Promise.”  Rainbow gave her wingmate what she hoped was a winning smile.

“Put your goggles on.” She commanded. “And stay down!” She yelled as she jumped over the cart determined to aid her remaining teammate.

The grey stallion hasn’t spared the pair a second thought. He and Soarin were facing off on the main road testing each other’s defenses.

Soarin danced about keeping just out of grappling range with the stallion. Who had yet to ignite his horn and display any magical side to his attacks.

Thick barding protected his neck, sides and flanks. Offering no opportunity to finish the fight quickly. It would sure be nice to have a teammate in a situation like this. Soarn thought to himself.

Two high pitched clicks brought a smile to his muzzle.

He flared his wings. Drawing his assailant’s attention fully to himself. The stallion's eyes narrowed.

Rainbow sailed in from the stallion’s left, her rear right hoof leading aimed directly at the stallion's shoulder. The thick steel had stopped Soarin from delivering any meaningful strike on the grey stallion, lightly armed as he was.

Rainbow’s blow would have been equity ineffective if the Pegasus had been facing off on equal footing. But Rainbow Dash, the fastest Pegasus in the world, wasn’t on equal footing. The dozen feet between her and their adversary was more than enough to put her hoof into near sonic speeds.

The resounding THUNK was music to Soarin’s ears. The gray unicorn became nothing more than a grey blur as he sailed with a grunt into the side of the building he had just exited.

Rainbow pumped her hoof in victory and landed beside Soarin.  She was about to say something appropriately devastating to the downed assailant when Soarin stopped her.

“There were fifty ponies in this town. We need answers, we need him alive.”  Rainbow’s ears dropped. She never remembered a reprimand coming from Soarin before. The senior Wonderbolt had a legendary reputation of being the most laidback of any pony alive. Still he was right and she nodded her understanding.

Unfortunately the grey stallion probably didn’t see things that way.

“Shock is hurt. Not bad, I think, but she won’t be flying out of here. We…”. She stopped herself as her ears twitched. She lurched to the side tackling her superior officer and pushing him out of the way as the thing that had attacked Shockwave rushed at them.

She swallowed a scream as it’s dark wings drew a line of blood across her exposed flank. The thing banked sharply then flew into the darkened building, reuniting itself with the grey stallion.

Anger drowned out the pain and fear in Rainbow Dash.  First her teammate then herself?  This thing was begging for a beating and she would gladly oblige it.

“Get Shock and get her outta here.” Rainbow ordered. Though she couldn’t see his eyes, his posture stated he had no intention of heeding her.

“You can’t give me orders, Crash.”  He responded, spitting dirt from his mouth. He raised himself from the ground lifting her with the bulk of his body. “I told you. We need answers, more lives are at stake here than ours.”  He gave her a questioning glance.

Rainbow shrugged the expected question off, her tail automatically moving to cover the ghastly wound. She felt her tail soak up quite a bit of blood.  How am I still standing?  She wondered.

The front of the building blew outward scattering wood and glass and pottery at the Wonderbolts. Soarin winced as a section of door frame caught him in the gut. 

Calmly, boldly the grey stallion strode from the ruined doorway. The black thing was again draped about his shoulders like a cloak.  It billowed about his body as if it were agitated.  If Rainbow didn’t know better she would have sworn it was itching for the fight to continue.

He continued to advance on the duo.  His eyes glancing back and forth between them.

“The town ponies are...fine.”  He said in a clear deep voice.  The kind that resonated in your ears long after you hear it.  It was well spoken and regal as if being addressed by Princess Luna or the court herald. 

“You will join them...soon,”  he continued.  The dark thing on his back flowed forward and collapsed on itself, changing shape.  It grew narrow and long, it seemed to suck all the surrounding light into itself.  “But you, Loyalty, I’m...sorry.”  He now held a dark scythe in the crook of his foreleg.  It’s shape and outline seemed to wobble as if it couldn’t make up its mind on what the exact form of a scythe was.

Without warning he dashed forward.  The scythe reached back behind him. The blade cut into the warm earth digging a narrow furrow with effortless ease not even slowing down its wielder.  He swung it forward in a great arc.  The very air seemed to scream as the meat of the blade cut towards Rainbow’s neck.

Any other pony might have been stunned by the unnatural screaming sound the scythe made. And a lesser warrior might have deftly dodged aside.  But at her core Rainbow Dash was a pony of action and bravado. She expertly rushed to meet the stallion, her speed making it easy to close the distance and get past the killing arc of the scythe.

She wanted to take the hit from the haft on her shoulder but the blow never came. As soon as the scythe was useless against her the stallion changed tactics. He released the haft and it shot out toward Soarin morphing and changing shape in mid flight. The dark thing struck him as he tried to dodge aside. The crystal darts he was poised to throw flying uselessly wide.

Rage drove Rainbow then.  Her wingmate down. Her commanding officer was down.  This bucking stallion who knew who she was. Knew what she was.  The thought didn’t comfort her. How much did he know?  And why apologize to her?  Was she the first Element he had encountered? Or...she swallowed hard…the last?

Her left hoof jabbed out catching the grey pony on the side of the face. He responded by hip checking her into the dirt.  He leapt high, intent on crushing her with his hooves.  Instead of dodging Rainbow again went offensive, rolling to her back and bucking straight up.  One of her hooves connected with the meat of his wrist and pushed it aside.  His other hoof made brief contact with the inside of her thigh.  She’d have a bruise, but she’d live.  

She twisted her torso, windmilling her hind legs catching him once, twice across the muzzle.  She left a smear of her own blood along his cheek.  He rolled with the hit spinning a circuit and bringing his rear hooves to bear. But Rainbow had already thrown the appropriate defense. Her hooves were crossed before, catching the double buck and she nearly laughed aloud. AJ bucked harder in her sleep.

This amateur might have fancy armor and a silky smooth voice but he’d never be able to take her in a fight. She launched herself forward over the stallion’s hindquarters preparing to throw a wicked rabbit punch to the base of his skull. Her cry of victory became a yelp of surprise as the dark thing intercepted her in mid air.  Before she could recover it had wrapped itself around her like a straightjacket, her wings pinned to her sides and her forelegs pulled tight behind her.

The thing constricted. Squeezing the air from her lungs. She kicked futilely with her hind legs. Looking for purchase to mount an escape. But her hooves found no leverage and the thing only grew tighter and tighter as she expelled her strength.

The grey stallion lifted his horn and a dark blue aura surrounded her and she felt herself rise from the ground. She spun to face him and he shook his head ruefully. 

The dark thing wrapped itself around her ears and yanked them back forcing her to look into the stallion's eyes.

Rainbow saw genuine remorse and pity in those eyes which surprised her. But she also saw quiet resolve and determination that unnerved her.

He spun around and began walking to where Soarin and Shockwave had fallen. “Be quick about it,” he commanded.

Rainbow screamed. Her raspy voice reaching every corner of the small village. Her body was on fire. She could feel the thing heating up. She could feel as the fibers of her flight suit smolder and catch fire only to be immediately extinguished as the thing smothered her. Where the dark thing touched her she could feel it burning her fur scalding her skin.

Her flight goggles fell to the ground, the leather strap no match for the appetite of the thing. Her ears burned as the dark thing seemed to turn to liquid and oozed over them.  Her prismatic main fell from the ruins of the flight suit only to be burned away as the dark thing touched each hair.

Panic brought renewed strength and she struggled mightily. Her wings pushed from her back. Flapping desperately to pull her from the things grasp.

She screamed again as she felt the heat reach the bone of her wing joint. The actual bone!  Liquid fire burned through the skin and bone.  With a sickening plop her wing fell to the earth a puddle of the dark stuff had separated it from her body.

She started horrified as it began to dissolve into the blackness. The beautiful blue feathers melting into nothingness. She screamed, still feeling the heat on the severed wing. Watching in disbelief as the dark thing consumed it.

She shook her head side to side trying to dislodge it from her ears but she could feel it entering the canal reaching for her brain.  Her left foreleg fell and joined her wings on the ground slowly melting. Sizzling as bright blue was consumed by the inky darkness.  Her hind quarters followed.  Her legs still kicked futilely as the dark thing devoured her flesh.  She could feel the heat on her legs and the pain in her hips.  She screamed as it reached the base of her tail.

The pain was unbearable. Her hooves, long consumed felt like she was holding live coals. Her wings were still on fire, still blazing.

She was soon more puddle than pony, her neck and head still floating above the mess. So little of her blue coloring was left. She cried. She cried like a foal. Her beautiful body gone just like that. Her story, over. Her friends…her friends. “Sorry Shy.” She whispered as the darkness flowed into her mouth.  The blue aura holding what was left of her winked out, with a plop and a renewed scream the Element of Loyalty fell. Pain filled her every thought, pain and fear.  

The screaming stopped as the darkness filled her mouth consuming all it touched.  Her tongue tasted it before it began to melt away.  It was terrible like chili powder and black licorice.  She would have gagged and thrown up but there were no muscles left to do either actio, no stomach to empty. 

She could see the sky then but the inky blackness was creeping around the edges of her vision.  AJ. She thought, no longer able to form words. I should have told you. Tears were impossible then. I should have said it. Then all thought was gone and there was nothing but darkness. Darkness and pain.
> Part 2 : Hostile Places
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I used to think that mom was the luckiest mare in the world.  Not because of me or Shining Armor. Because of dad. Night Light never did anything that wasn’t for our family. I don’t remember a single thing that didn’t encourage one of us to reach our potential or build us up. 

Dad met mom in the hospital, of all places. He spent many hours there reading to and talking with any pony that needed him. 

Mom had broken her leg skiing. She always had an adventurous streak.  Dad stayed with her. Talked to her. Helped her.  She was so bored. She hated being stuck in a bed. 

But dad had a secret weapon. Dad had books, and wove for my mom an entire universe of wonders. Mom lay listening to those stories and Night Lights calming voice and the rest is history.

I'm not sure when I realized that my parents loved each other. I think I thought that it was just a given. I understood romance and love from a literary view when I was a filly. The stories I read for enjoyment were chalk full of half hearted and half realized relationships. 

I suppose since very few of those ‘romances’ were built on nothing more than literary tropes and author appeal I never thought much of them. 

Mom and dad were married and had foals. Therefore they must be in love. I mean nopony EVER had foals with somepony they didn’t love,  right?

It was a few years after my ascension when I learned something extremely profound. Mom and dad weren’t just lovers. They were friends, they were best friends. Dad spent every waking moment of his life making my mom smile. Mom, in turn shared all the things that made her happy with dad. 

Mom could find joy in anything, rock climbing, rafting, lawn darts, even paperwork.  My father, while less enthusiastic about such things, simply came alive when he was with mom.   They shared silent smiles, and warm embraces. There were fights and arguments to be sure but they always seemed to make things better and strive for each other. 

I used to want that. I think every filly does. Not everymare has to have a handsome prince with a fairytale castle. Just somepony to be with me when I’m lonely. Or read to me when I can’t. Somepony to hold me when the world isn’t fair or when things go wrong. 

I remember the exact moment I stopped wanting that. I remember it because it was the same moment I stopped wanting a lot of things. The moment when my life came into crystal clear focus. 

When I saw HER raise the sun. I knew then and there that I belonged at Celestia's side. Apprentice?  Protégé?  I didn’t know what those words meant at the time.  They were merely the first steps.  Head Librarian?  Archmage?  Princess?  There were so many things I could have ended up as.  So many careers to choose from.   So many Doors.  I honestly  never thought I’d end up what I am today.  

Love was the furthest thing from my mind after that.  Further than friendship even, and we all know how I felt about friends before Celestia sent me to Ponyville.  Growing together with them for nearly a decade made me rethink so much.  They were the best friends anypony could ask for, the very thought of being seperated from any of them for an extended period of time tore me up inside.

Looking at them now how can I not say that I love each of them?  All of them.  They are each dear to me in so many different ways.  Cadence was wrong.  There aren't so many ponies out there who would be right for me.  There's a set that completes me.  How could I choose just one when each and everyone of them makes me whole as a pony and a princess?  I’d be nothing without them.  I’d be nothing without a lot of ponies.

I know it sounds selfish and It almost certainly is. But if I’vei’ve learned anything about friendship it’s that my life has gotten better with more friends.  Love is just the next logical step past friendship.  I can certainly see myself with anyone of my closest friends, but all five?  Herding hasn’t been common in Equestria for many years but it’s hardly an ancient practice.  With a suitable stallion my herd would be perfect.  The six of us together, helping and supporting each other, who could say no to that?

That’s the easy part.  I’ve little doubt that the six of us could come to some marriage agreement that satisfies us all.  What I’m more concerned about, what bothers me the most is what I do about The others. 

Celestia has been alone for so long and it’s no great secret that I’ve harbored something of a crush for her for years.  I’ve watched her fight hoof and nail for her subjects against ponies who, at best think their youth lets them see something the princess has missed and at worst are actively fighting for their own interests at the expenseexpence of others.

I’ve never grown tired of her smile but it’s so fleeting, how I wish I could fix that.  I don’t hold any illusions that I could ever fix it forever.  Yet if there were some way, something I could do to bring joy and happiness into her life I would do it.  I don’t know what she would think if I invited her to join my herd.  I don’t know what she would do.  Would it insult her?  Would it hurt her?  The only thing I know for sure is that if it did either of those she would never tell me.  While I know her better than most I don’t think I'd realize if she was truly lying to me, especially if she really didn’t want me to know.   

What would Luna think?  What would she do?  How does she fit in all this.  Does she fit?  If Celestia is the mare I know best then that certainly makes Luna the most mysterious, I can see the appeal in that. There is just something so otherworldly about her, so alluring.  And being time displaced for a thousand years means she’s just as clueless as me when it comes to courtship, in the present anyway. That would take a lot of pressure off. 

Fizzlepop?  I’ve gone from fearing her, To hating her, To pitying her, to trusting her in such a short time.  I’ve seen the way she looks at me. The glances when she thinks I don’t notice.  Is that what I look like when watching Celestia?  Is that how bad it is?  At what point do I just say enough is enough. 

Each of them could be right. All of them could. And at the same time things could go horribly wrong with each of them.  That’s the risk right?

This is so frustrating.  What do I do?  Remain alone like Celestia?  Break that cycle of solitude?  Surely it can’t hurt to just ask each of them?  I think I have room enough for each of them in my heart.  Am I fooling myself again?
 
What about the viability of such an endeavor?  Everypony knows that herds of four only have a twenty three percent success rate after the first three years.  I can only imagine the degradation each additional mare incours on the relationship.  How could I even think of setting us up for that kind of disaster?  

Most importantly, most shamefully I don’t even have a stallion to offer any of them anymore.  Not since Flash and I...not since…

-Twilight Sparkle
> Chapter 1 : Sunrise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cupcake awoke to a smell that hadn’t been known in her shop for more than twenty years.  A smell that should have been common in a bakery, for no chef was perfect and even the best had off days.  In fact producing that particular smell was something of a right of passage among pastry chefs and confectioners.  It was common enough in kitchens around the world, every absent minded father, well meaning foal and overworked mare burned meals on occasion, it was no great crime.  

Yet within the sacred walls of Cupcake Corner, within the hallowed kitchen that Pinkie Pie had herself consecrated with the finest of flour and the purest of cooking oils, the unfamiliar scent of burning cake filled the mare with confused worry.

Pinkie was perhaps the most absent minded pony she knew, yet within that absent mindedness a sort of cooking zen was frequently achieved.  She could zone out for hours and still have enough cupcakes, pastries, and bread prepared to precisely and exactly serve every patron that frequented the shop.  Talking the ear off of every customer as she went or humming to herself wordless tunes that had fillies and colts alike humming along with the party pony.

Cupcake rose from her bed and quietly donned her robe.  She passed the nursery, now Poundcake’s room and then Pinkie’s which had remained quite the same save that her daughter, Pumpkin Cake, now occupied it.  

Pinkie had consistently been staying later and later at Princess Twilight's new school.  Many of her personal belongings had found their way to her office on campus.  Used for some lesson or visual aid. Many nights were spent asleep on the couch there or wedged uncomfortably in her chair grading tests that were more suited to party games than higher education.

Cupcake had a few bitter sweet memories of trotting to the school, past that gaudy castle and firmly waking the pink party planner and making sure she had, at least, a homemade breakfast before she began her day.   

Cup winced as she tried and failed to descend the stairs quietly. You’d think after nearly twenty years of living in the same house she would remember that the fourth stair from the bottom always creaked. 

She needn't have worried. As she entered the kitchen it was clear the errant sound would not have disturbed Pinkie. For Pinkie Pie wasn’t in her kitchen. 

But a very similar looking pony was. 

“Pinkamena?” she asked. Startling herself with her rising volume. Fear, worry and confusion all rolled into the unfamiliar name. She had seen this side of Pinkie only twice before. Both were harrowing experiences and she didn’t look forward to this one. 

She cleared her throat “Pinkamena.” She said calmly remembering the instructions given To her by Cloudy Quartz, Pinkie's mother, those many years ago. 

“Pinkamena is a somber filly,” the grey mare had told her. “Her feelings kept hidden because she believes it is what I and her father want.”  She gently stroked the filly’s hair. Cupcake could not believe that just minutes before the quiet straight haired little filly sitting at the picnic table had been the same high energy party pony with curls not unlike cotton candy, who had been playfully bounding from pony to pony wishing all who could hear a ‘very happy I’ve thrown my very first party in your town’ party. 

It was apparent that it was not in this mare’s nature to be overcome with emotion yet her eyes began to shimmer with wetness. And her monotone voice became choked. “Oh Pinkamena! What am I to do with you?”  

“It’s fine mother,” the filly had lied. “I’ve gotten it all out. I need no more partying.”

The grey mare grew stern. “We do not lie in this family Pinkamena. Even to spare feelings.”

“Yes mother.” Came the emotionless reply. 

Cupcake’s heart had been moved that day. The day she met Pinkamena. The day Pinkie Pie came into her life. 

She called Pinkie again, and this time the muted pink ear flicked in her direction. “Oh.  Morning Cupcake.”  Her greeting complete she turned to look out the kitchen window. “Did the screams wake you too?”

Cupcake blanched, “There was no screaming dear. We’re you screaming?”

Pinkiamina shook her head. “Not me. A friend of Pinkie’s, I think..”  

A bit of relief filled Cupcake. Pinkie was dear to her in many ways and she hated the thought of her in pain or anguish.  

“Is her friend going to be ok?”  She asked. Pinkie’s strange gift for clairvoyance was all too familiar to her. 

Pinkiamina turned slowly, her face devoid of any emotion. “I don’t know. It just stopped and that’s normally bad. But this time…”. Her gaze returned to the window. “I think it’s worse.”

Mrs. Cake didn’t know what to say to that. Even though she trusted Pinkie’s odd senses she rarely if ever understood anything about it. She glanced around the kitchen, the oven was slowly leaking dark smoke so what Pinkamena had burned hadn’t been in there long. Yet every surface was occupied by filled Sugar Cube Corner boxes, she had been cooking for hours. 

“You’ve made so much food Pinkamina, are you throwing a party?”  

The somber pony shook her head. “Pinkie's friends are meeting at the Castle this morning. Fluttershy asked her to bring a light breakfast for every pony.”  

Cupcake tilted her head. “That’s odd, isn’t it?” she asked. Following the advice she had been given many years ago.  “Fluttershy doesn’t usually call for meetings does she?”  Keep her talking. Let her lead the conversation. 

Pinkamina shook her head again this time a noticeable bounce was returning to her hair. “Yes I suppose it is.  Flutters only calls for a meeting if something is REALLY bothering her.”  She snorted. “The last time was the bats in Applejack’s orchard.”  The shades in her coat got noticeably lighter.  

“I don’t think you’ve told me about that.”  Mrs. Cake said as she began to organize the boxes on the table. She offered one to Pinkamina and, distracted, she took it in her teeth and placed it with its fellows at the far end of the table. 

Meanwhile Cupcake donned her oven mitts and carefully removed the ruined cake from the oven placing it in the sink before turning the appliance off. 

Pinkamena began stacking the boxes and quietly relating the story of the vampire fruit bats that had besieged Applejack’s farm years ago. Cupcake listened quietly and kept the pink pony busy handing her the remaining boxes and guiding her to the delivery cart. Pinkamena grew more and more animated as Pinkie took over the story more and more. Any story involving her friends cheering her up and pushing away unwanted thoughts or feelings.  Mrs. Cake wasn’t sure if the practice was healthy.  Yet according to Cloudy Quartz, Pinkie's strange gift needed to be redirected on occasion. 

The two mares loaded the cart as Pinkie began to tell more and more of the story. By the time they had finished she was just nearing the end of the tale. 

“And that’s why Shy-Shy isn’t allowed to have cider anymore!”  She smiled widely.  “Are you sure I’ve never told you that before Mrs Cake?”

“Fairly sure Pinkie.” Cupcake smiled back. 

Pinkie's eyes grew tired, “We don’t lie, not even to spare feelings Cupcake.”  

Mrs. Cake spun about looking at Pinkie but expecting Cloudy Quartz to be standing in her yard. 

Pinkie looked questioningly at her. “Something wrong Mrs. Cake?” She asked as she hitched herself to the cart. 

She took a deep breath. “You were sad Pinkie. Sad enough to become...her...you know.”  Her voice trailed off. 

Pinkie studied her. A very un-Pinkie thing to do. “Did I tell you why?” She asked seriously. 

Against her better judgment Cupcake replied, “Yes, you said it was a friend, and it was worse than bad.”

Pinkie nodded somberly then swallowed.  “Then I have to make sure I make it all better!”  

“If anypony can Pinkie, it’s you.”

Pinkie smiled, or tried to. “I sure hope so Mrs. Cake.” She started down the road toward Twilight's Castle. 

*********

The stallion winced as the feedback from his horn overwhelmed his senses. “My spell is useless now,” he protested.  “I don’t have the strength to repel them.”  

No.

Strong, gentle loving Hooves embraced him. “My love will give you strength!” Said the mare, beautiful and perfect. 

No, not again!

Derisive chuckling interrupted them. “What a perfectly lovely but foolish sentiment.”

Wake up!

The mare was close. So close he could smell her. He charged his horn reaching deep within himself for the strength, for the power to save his bride. To save his sister and her friends. To save his Princess and his city. 

Luna! Damn you where are you?

The strength wasn’t there. His well had run dry his energy sapped by that disgusting parasite.  Then he could feel it. Small at first but then growing as The mare poured her strength into him. Her love overwhelming, doubling every instant

Why are you never here?  Why won’t you help me?

Power coursed through him. Then back into the mare. Then back again ten, a hundred times stronger than before. It was intoxicating. It felt good. It felt right. 

No. Get out!  Please!

Magic power surged around the lovers.  Their eyes met, then filled with radiant power.  Then he cast. He cast the spell of his namesake. The spell that defined him. 

Not again!

Shining Armor awoke as he always did. Relieved.  He couldn’t remember when the dream had started. But he also couldn’t ever remember NOT having the dream.  Which was crazy. Still any morning he woke before the end of it was a good morning.

His ears twitched. Birdsong?  Here in this part in Canterlot? In the heart of the palace?  No something was wrong here. 

Had he fallen asleep in the gardens?  The pine needle mattress he was sleeping on seemed to confirm the guess. But the distinct lack of some royal gardener poking him in the ribs with a rake dispelled that notion. 

He opened his eyes, slowly.  He was in a small grove of trees. Clean and healthy. Not the Everfree then. Whitetail perhaps?  Certainly not cold enough to be back in his own lands. 
 
He turned his head and found his first real clue. The remains of a royal tactical glider.  One of the main support struts cracked right in half. Further investigation yielded the culprit. A small perfectly round boulder. 

Diamond dogs. In the heartlands?  He continued to turn his head and sure enough Canterlot and the Canterhorn were there in the distance.  So he’d finished dinner, taken a glider, and been attacked while headed...somewhere?

He stood and inspected himself for injuries. No bones broken, no burns, magical or otherwise.  His guard and special training took over his mind calculating the time it would have taken to get this far and the likelihood of the boulder thrower being nearby. 

He absently rolled each hoof along its opposing leg and stopped as he felt the distinct impression of two notches in the edge of his shoes. He’d fought somepony. Somepony strong. The notches were deep. 

Shining rarely wore blades. He preferred weighted shoes to edged ones since they interfere less with his trusted spear. He wasn’t the most subtle or graceful of fighters. Preferring to let his size and strength speak for itself. He winced at the thought. 

He was a unicorn! From a noble proud family. He should be relying on his magic or at least incorporating it to his fighting style. 

On a whim he checked his reserves. Looking deep within himself. Searching for that vast well of power inside. He wasn’t sure but it felt low. Not quite full. As if he had used more Magic then he could recover in one night. 

Either he had used much more than normal. Or the night's sleep was less restful than he thought.  He hadn’t really taxed himself since the Changeling attack during his wedding.  Even his brief fight with Sombra hadn’t drained much of his magic before it had been locked away. 

He rooted through the remains of the glider just to be through.  His eyes grew wide when he found the brazier. 

He may not have been Celestia's captain. But he did command a sizable auxiliary force, and  reports still came across his desk. Having the brazier out in the open was incredibly dangerous.  It was one of the few things that could topple Equestria as a world power. Magic may not be unique to ponies But it was certainly vital to them. 

Why did he have it? Why couldn’t he remember?  He’s pulse quickened. It became hard to breathe. The familiar sensation of missing time triggered something inside him. Something he knew he had never really overcome. The panic hit hard like a sucker punch to the temple. Shining Armor collapsed to the ground. His body curling into a fetal position, his ears folded and his tail wrapped protectively around himself. 

Her voice cut through his thoughts. Laughing at him. Taunting him.  Making fun of his failure to recognize, to act, to protect. 

“Pony machine crash here!”  

Diamond dogs!  The timing couldn’t have been worse. He tried to focus, to stand. He had to secure the brazier.  He had little doubt what would happen should it fall into their paws.  

Yet his body wouldn’t respond to his commands. His teeth chattered as an involuntary bout of chills raced along his back. His hooves felt numb and he couldn’t seem to unclench his jaw. 

The ring of drawn steel sounded in his ears. Horseapples. He set himself to regulate his breathing. Forcing his body to breathe deeply. His lungs burned and he felt light headed. His body demanded he fuel the adrenalin rush with oxygen.  

Several of the creatures entered the grove. Their mangy knuckles dragging along the forest floor. 

“Stay pony!” Came the harsh command. “You give gems we go. You no give..”.  The gorilla-like dog let the threat hang in the air.  

Shining didn’t believe a word of it. There were plenty of stories of raids on Diamond Dog dens. Horror stories for the ponies being held captive and forced to pull the primitive carts filled with glittering gemstones. 

Still unable to fight back effectively. Shining Armor nodded. He lit his horn and pulled his captain's insignia from under his armor.  “Only have this.” He was able to say between breaths. 

He floated it to the nearest dog. Who plucked at it greedily from the air. His eyes widened and not just because of the large diamond set in the center of it.  

“Wait!” 

The other dogs and one pony all stopped. 

“You guard pony?”  His eyes narrowed. This dog was different. He was built lower to the ground than his Comrades. He was covered in reddish brown fur. Which was bare in several spots along his arms and legs.  His face was narrow and sharp. Shining thought he was built more like a fox than a dog. 

He nodded slowly. “I am.”

The Diamond Dog considered this. “Help pony up then take to town.”  He glanced down at the insignia once more before prying the diamond from the center then tossing it directly in the center of the clearing. 

“Sludge can’t help,”  the Diamond Dog protested.  This one was much more familiar to Shining. Near twice as tall as himself. Covered in dirty grey fur. It looked distinctly like a gorilla and bulldog had spent a night of passion together and the resulting offspring had been worked over by a Minotaur.

And this was one of the more healthy specimens he had seen. 

The leader looked blankly at the dog.  “Why?” He asked calmly. His paw reaching up to pinch the bridge of his muzzle. 

“Sludge not have helping stick.”  He pointed to another dog across the clearing. 

Shining swallowed. The ‘helping stick’ was a club that was nearly as tall as the dog wielding it, it was also much too thick to be referred to as a stick. More like a log. The rust colored stains on it were quite alarming as well. 

The smaller dog sighed. “No. Help for real.”

Sludge cocked his head to the side clearly not understanding. “But Mange say to help.”

Mange rolled his eyes and squeezed harder on his muzzle. “This time help for real!”  He said again. 

If the dog cocked his head any further it would be upside down. 

“Sludge still not sure…but Sludge do. Come pony!”  

The dog casually grabbed him around the middle. Hoisting him onto his shoulder like a pony sized sack of potatoes.  It felt ridiculous to be carried in such a way but he had little choice. The muscles in his legs refused to relax and his breathing wasn’t stable enough for a fight. 

The Diamond Dog under him tensed “Mange!  This pony hurt inside.”

Shining blinked. 

The foxlike leader padded over to the pair. He looked up at the white stallion. “You broken inside pony?  You shaking.”  

Concern? From a Diamond Dog?  Something strange was going on here. He needed to know what.  He shook his head when a grunt from Mange reminded him he had been asked a question. “Yes, I’m afraid of heights.”  He responded.

It was Mange’s turn to blink.  “You fly from pony city?”

Shining nodded. 

“You no like being up?”

Shining nodded again. 

“...”

“You stupid pony.”

Shining chuckled.

Menges ears flicked. “Get pony machine. Get stove.” He indicated the brazier. “Get back to town before more guard ponies come looking.”

Sludge turned and began to walk east toward the rising sun. He shifted his shoulders adjusting the weight of the pony.

Shining heard faint chanting and he felt the twinges of mana being pulled from the air. He couldn’t turn to look but he heard the sound of shattering crystal followed by the outraged protest of a few Diamond Dogs. 

He was certain that somehow Mange had shattered the diamond.  

Something strange was going on. He should find out more.  As long as he kept the brazier in sight he was certain he could retrieve it. Once the panic wore off completely these dogs would face a very fresh, very uninjured royal guard in their midst. It was hard not to smile. 

******

The Dawn Council sounded much more important than it really was.

“Good morning everypony.” Celestia said. 

Firstly it wasn’t much of a council.  Sure the ponies in attendance spoke with Celestia. Few would argue that he actually gave council. Celestia never outright ignored any council member.  But what exactly does one say to the one who literally brings the sun every morning?

“Hello Fancypants, Fleur. My goodness you look radiant this morning.”

That, Blueblood decided, was the second problem. It was more like post-dawn. Celestia would go to her balcony overlooking the country. Raise the sun, in splendid fashion. Admire her work. Then launch off of her tower to glide directly to the council chamber’s terrace entrance. 

“Should we have a nurse sit in today?”

How could anypony give council to a god after such a display?  

“Very well but the slightest discomfort please say something?”

So Blueblood never did give advice. He had plenty but knowing Celestia as he did she wouldn’t approve of it. Besides his mother, Platinum Setting, had plenty of advice to give for the both of them. 

“I suppose we’d better get started?”

How he wished his mother would just accept the fact that she’d advanced the line as much as she could. The minute bit of prestige was nothing compared to the influence and wealth they could lose. 

Yet here she was constantly trying to present herself and him as just slightly ‘more’ than their peers. 

“Let’s all take our…”

He sighed deeply. Perhaps too deeply. 

“Something you care to add, Prince Blueblood?”
Celestia had interrupted herself to ask the question. 

“Yes Aunty” he smiled. “This is all frightfully boring can’t we just call it a day?”

Derisive chuckling could be heard from every seat save two. The scowl on his mother’s face was priceless. He could even see little wisps of smoke coming off her horn.  He’d pay later but it was worth it. 

What his mother failed to realize was that his antics were not without reason.  She continued to miss the point but Blueblood saw his role clearly and had no problem taking the heat.  He happily said the things he knew Celestia couldn’t say. If his mother stopped to think for a second she’d see how perfect it was. 

Yet she never would. She had played politics for too long. She was good at it to be fair but she was so set in her ways she couldn’t see how futile it all was. 

He saw so much in fact that he was certain nothing Celestia could ever do would surprise him. 

“That is a marvelous idea Blueblood.” Princess Celestia said in a weary voice. 

Blueblood was surprised. 

“Nothing would bring me more pleasure than simply not bothering today.”

Several jaws fell open. 

“Princess Luna and I have discussed a large change we wish to implement.  And I do mean large.”

Celestia walked over to her chair. It was twice the size the other council seats. She stared down at it, her face a mask of concentration. 

Blueblood felt an elbow nudge his ribs. “Bound to work one of these days wasn’t it?”  Fancypants trottingham accented voice whispered in his ear. 

Blueblood shared a chuckle with the popular noble. 

“It is large enough news that I want to get three important things out of the way first. Then I will tell you, afterwards I do not wish to discuss it at present.”  Celestia met the eyes of each pony. They lingered on Platinum.  A silent plea and warning crossed her eyes. One that would certainly be ignored.

“Two items pertain to the weather department.”

A bright yellow Pegasus far past his prime perked up. He opened his ledger and waited. 

“First, I want to thank you all for your patience.  I know some of you were greatly concerned that I needed to call in My fellow Princesses for yesterday’s meeting . I assure you they helped me more than you can possibly know.”  She paced to the other side of the chair.   

“Secondly I’d like the rainy season to start a week early this year please.”  Celestia was calm as she spoke but the fact that she hadn’t sat down in her seat  kept every pony on the edge of theirs. Her tone was also noticeably sharper than normal. Had she not slept well?

“I want to double the amount of rain we send to Minos this year. Take a little from every country that can spare it.”  

Blueblood waited for the arguing to start, surely somepony would object to additional rain for a non-allied nation. Yet nothing but silence followed. Blueblood scratched his chin. Very odd, this new abrasive attitude from the Princess seemed to have cowed the entire room. 

Granted for nobles it was hardly worth mentioning but coming from Celestia was strange enough to keep anypony from questioning her. Very odd indeed. 

“Additionally, “ she continued, her voice gaining even more of an edge. Did she know? “I want plans drawn up to begin training a quake team.”  The weather director gasped slightly but said nothing. “The pressure continues to build under Zebrica. And I fear if we do not help, the resulting earthquake could devastate the region permanently.”

She began to pace back and forth behind her seat. Clearly agitated. “I’ll work closely with the diplomats.  I also want all of you to do what you can with your friends and business contacts. Hundreds of thousands of lives could be lost if we are not prepared to help.”

The nobles glanced back and forth between themselves. 

The yellow Pegasus began to raise his hoof.  

Celestia preempted him. “Four hundred. That’s how big I want the team Director Coldfront.”  Celestia's eyes were not hard but her stare was quite intense. 

The yellow Pegasus wiped his sweating brow with a cloth napkin. His voice trembled “of course Princess we’ll begin speculating today.”

Blueblood leaned back on his chair doing his best to give an air of ignorance. He had a certain reputation to uphold but this knowledge concerned him. 

His aunt had never shown this lack of personal control. She was consummately composed twenty-four hours a day. What in the world was going on?

Celestia's horn lit in brilliant gold. She nodded to Coldfront and her chair slid back from the table. She finally sat. The other ponies in the room did not relax. 

Several in attendance jumped as Celestia blew out a frustrated sigh. 

“Princess Luna has abdicated her throne.”  Celestia seemed to sink into the chair. “Effective immediately.”  She met the eye of each pony present. For the first time Blueblood could remember she looked tired. “Please begin redirecting, reassigning and reworking anything associated with the Lunar Court.”

Several gasps were heard around the table. Blueblood looked at his mother. 

Platinum Setting was a vain pony. Probably the worst he had ever met.  He had inherited his blond locks from her and while his still held the strength of his youth, hers had begun to fade. Rather than dye her hair as most older generation nobles did she had completely shaved it away. 

Her wig was just like her: completely fake and all for show. Which was common knowledge. Which was why she stunned the entire room, guards and all, with the most sincere statement she had ever uttered. “We caused this.” She said barely loud enough to be heard. 

Celestia looked up to the noble her eyes questioning. 

Platinum swallowed hard. “At first we thought she was as politically savvy as you.”  She hung her head. “I know that I was not very patient with her.”

Several others nodded. 

“When we learned she wasn’t,” Continued Money Clip, “We tried to take advantage.”

Blueblood couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Apparently Celestia couldn’t either. 

“I did not expect you to welcome her with open arms.”  The tiredness in her voice had turned to impatience. “But she is my sister,  my own flesh and blood.”  Again she looked at each pony. “I am hurt deeply by these actions.”

The nobles had the decency to bow their heads in shame. 

“I am adjourning this meeting. I can’t even look at you all.”  Celestia, true to her word, for the first time that Blueblood could remember turned her nose up to the nobility, walked to the balcony and flew back up to her tower. 

The council members sat for some time around the table. Fancypants sat with his hooves steepled staring at where the princess had excused herself. He leaned over.  “Prince Blueblood?”

Blueblood nodded indicating he was listening. 

“I’m going to get Fleur home. Can we speak before day court starts?  I don’t think we should leave things the way they are.”

He got up and carefully helped a very pregnant Fleur de Lis from her chair. 

Blueblood nodded. “Why bother? She’ll be back to herself in no time. Probably just some spat over desserts.”

Fancypants scowled back at him. “Very well. Good morning.”

Blueblood was smiling as Fancy walked away. It wasn’t that he didn’t agree with the noble. Certain appearances had to be upheld that’s all. 

He wandered through the throng of nobles and administrators to where his mother stood along with Money Clip and Coldfront. 

The small group turned and ended their conversation as he walked up. Yet when she saw it was her son she relaxed considerably. 

“I suppose I owe you thanks for ending that before she could really get going?” She droned. 

Blueblood waved a hoof nonchalantly. “I didn’t want to be chewed out anymore than you, mother.”

The matriarch sighed and her hoof came up to her forehead. 

“I can’t believe this.”

Coldfront glanced side to side. “What are you talking about?  We wanted Celestia off balance.”
He smirked.  “That seemed right on the ball to me.”

Money Clip winced. “It’s too fast.”  He whispered. “She’s not just frustrated. She’s angry.”

Platinum nodded.  “ And angry ponies lash out. Even Princesses.”

Blueblood frowned. “Celestia doesn’t lash mother. She strikes.”

“I’d rather not find out for sure.”  She turned. 

“Make sure the petitions we sponsored can’t be traced back to us.”

Money clip nodded. “Shouldn't be a problem.  Just remember my part in this.”  The banker stood and made his way to the exit. 

Money Clip made Blueblood nervous. He was young for a banker. Which meant he was either very gifted at what he did. Or very naive about the risk versus the reward associated with his position.  His rust red coat stood out in the throng of old blood nobles who tried their best to emulate Princess Celestia in all things. Particularly coat color. 

Still he was useful, not in money or capital, but in up and coming contacts. Ponies willing to do a little paperwork in return for a favor later down the road. 

“You realize that you are going to get caught don’t you?”  Blueblood inspected his hoof. 

Platinum's eyes dropped. “I’d almost welcome it.” She said dryly.  “I hate that I’m doing this all for you.”

Blueblood shrugged. “Then stop. We’ll never rise above Celestia or the alicorns”. Platinum winced. “The best you can do,” he continued, “is stay just behind her.”

“The best I can do?” The aged matriarch asked. “Implying you can do better.  I should be so lucky to die before I see that.”

The blonde prince smiled. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

******

“I still think it was too much.” Celestia said as the trio of princesses made their way to the throne room. 

“They deserve far worse.” Luna groused. “Openly admitting to trying to deceive me.”  She puffed her cheeks in annoyance. “Not that they would have.”

“I don’t want them in open rebellion Luna.”

“Quiet rebellion then?” She replied. 

Celestia had to give her that. “I just feel so petulant. I’ve never stormed out of the council room before.”

“You need to show them that you have feelings Celestia, that they CAN hurt you.” Cadence walked along Celestia's other side close enough to nudge her occasionally for support. 

Luna raised an eyebrow. “You two seem awfully cozy.”

Celestia smiled and draped her wing around Cadence’s barrel. “We finally said some words that badly needed to be said.”  Her other wing reached out around Luna. She pulled them both close to herself. 

“No tears today. I have my sister who can actually spend some free time with me.”

Luna gagged trying to pull away. 

“I have two beautiful daughters. One to nurture and love.”

Cadence scoffed. “I’m not twelve ...mom.” She smiled. 

“The other living her best life out in the multiverse.”

“A granddaughter to dote on in your golden years.” Cadence offered. 

Luna laughed aloud. “Golden years indeed.”  She then pursed her lips in contemplation. “You also have a brilliant handsome nephew. For as long as we are expanding the family tree then I claim young Pipsqueak as my son.”

Celestia smiled and nuzzled Luna's cheek with her own. “That’s wonderful Luna, he is such a sweetheart. You shall be a wonderful mother.”

They were soon upon the double doors that would open into the princesses foyer. A small sitting room where the presiding Princess could relax and take a recess from the rigors of open court. 

Luna nodded back smiling.  “Indeed.  The best.”
 
“Wait just a second. Neither of you carried yours.”  Cadence said haughtily. She brought her hoof to her forehead in dramatic fashion. “Nor did you take part in the miracle of foaling. Arguably the best part of having a foal. The best mother is clearly I.”

“I love Pip dearly.”  Luna began. “But the best thing about foals is making them!”  She smiled broadly.”

“You didn’t do THAT either.”  Cadence pointed out. 

Luna's smile dropped immediately.  Celestia too replaced her smile with a neutral look.”

Cadence giggled like a school filly not noticing the silence.  The sisters glanced at each other noticing the discomfort and the shame on each other's faces. 

“After court we should talk.” She whispered to Luna.  The night princess nodded. 

Cadence noticed that the larger alicorns were no longer following alongside her. She turned to admire the results of her banter.  Her mother and aunt were silently staring at each other but with odd looks on their faces. She was about to offer an apology, perhaps that had been a bit mean.

The three alicorns stood exchanging glances uneasily with one another. 

“Sorry.” Cadence said sheepishly. “I didn’t think it was a tender subject.”  

“It’s fine dear.”  Celestia answered. “Were not worried about that. But I think we would like to speak with you after Day Court adjourns.”

Cadence cringed. “This sounds bad.”

Celestia smiled softly while Luna simply nodded.  “Not bad. Perhaps just overdue.”

Cadence flicked her ears in annoyance. 

The Princesses left the sanctuary of the antechamber and entered the Canterlot throne room. Celestia's golden throne sat flanked by Luna's smaller silver throne and a very fancy high backed chair topped with a reasonable imitation of the crystal heart for Cadence. 

The petitioner's floor was paved in smooth grey marble with the celestial insignia of the moon in silver circumscribed by the sun in gold. After Twilight’s ascension, six platinum stars were added, surrounding it. 

Bullhorn, the herald, cracked his staff three times on the marble floor. The pounding drowned out the din of noise caused by the nobles in the wings and the few petitioners able to see inside from the waiting hall. 

“Our beloved Princess of Canterlot, Celestia. Sol invictus. Avatar of light and bringer of the dawn welcomes all to this the one hundred and four thousand nine hundred and seventy-fifth Court of the sun.”

Celestia sat tall on her throne. Day court was one of her favorite times of the week. No sniveling nobles grubbing for favor or clout. Just everyday ponies finally getting a chance to air their grievances or ask for a royal favor. 

Ponies who genuinely needed her help and her guidance. How she missed this. How she hated dealing with the nobles day after day. How she envied Luna. 

A wave of murmurs sounded from the anti chamber. Followed by the sound of complaining.

Bullhorn with his vantage point made a quick decision. His staff once again struck the floor. Quieting the crowd. “The petitioners will please step back and allow the guards to pass.”

The trio of alicorns glanced at each other. 

The heavy double doors opened and captain Flash and one of the guards from last evening were leading a trio of ponies up the carpeted hall. 

The double doors closed and the muted murmuring form the petitioners began again. 

This was soon joined by murming from the nobles in the wings. It got much louder as ponies began to recognize the escorted ponies. 

Flash walked directly to the petitioners floor. The raised dais with the three thrones overlooked the semi circular area where petitioners could be heard by the princess or pony currently in charge. 

He held a thick iron chain securely wrapped around one hoof.  The jeers coming from the nobles were directed at his captive. 

The prisoner was tall. Tall enough to be seen by all the commoners who had waited in the hall. Certainly tall enough to be seen by the many nobles that sat and participated in court. 

Many cries of “murderer” and “invader” accompanied her as she walked behind Flash.  It was with an awkward limp that Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings followed the guard captain and the burly earth pony. Her dark hooves made strange noises on the marble tiles. Not the usual clip-clop of hooves but a strange muted ticking.  She wore her normal haughty expression, not even bothering to grace the gathered nobles with her gaze. 

She ignored the jeers and continued walking forward, her eyes only losing focus when she saw Cadence sitting on Celestia’s left. 

Two ponies brought up the rear and went mostly unnoticed.  Raven Inkwell walked stiffly behind Chrysalis. She kept her head lowered, not making eye contact with anypony. 

If the rest of the congregation had been paying attention to anypony but the changeling queen they may have thought it strange that Coldfront, the weather director, was also walking behind her. His eyes darted this way and that taking in every face, every movement. Until the group reached the petitioners area and his eyes settled on the Queen. 

Flash led her to stand in the center of the Celestial insignia. 

“Queen Chrysalis,”  Celestia began calmly, “This is quite unexpected.”

The queen nodded then spoke in her strange doubled voice. “It is certainly not how I imagined my return, Princess Celestia.”  She looked to Flash then the ponies behind her. She pointedly ignored the angered nobles. 

Celestia too glanced to her side. Luna's eyes were hard. She had drawn her long sword and had the blade half concealed beneath her wing. She was leaning forward slightly ready to rush and engage the insectoid pony. 

“Peace sister.” Celestia calmed her sibling.  

Without looking away from the queen Luna motioned her brow to Cadence. 

Celestia looked over, what she saw surprised her. 

Cadence was radiating hatred. Her eyes had whitened with internal power and her mane writhed like an angry sea of snakes. Her crystal bow was drawn and a single silver arrow was notched. Pointed directly at Chrysalis' heart. 

“Where. Is. My. Husband?”  She spoke in deathly tones. 

Her eyes promised swift death if she didn’t like the answer. 

Chrysalis’ ears perked and she took on a stricken look. To her credit, the changeling queen didn’t falter. She did swallow hard. She had little doubt whether Cadence would miss at this range. 

“First a peace offering if she’ll lower that.”

Celestia nodded. “Please Cadence.  No more death here.”

The gold stripe in Cadence's mane pulsed and momentarily turned a sickly green color. “I won’t let you get away again.”  Her voice was angry and her eyes narrowed. She eased back on the draw and lowered the bow but she didn’t put it away. 

Dark chitin flexed as the queen blew out a sigh of relief.  She raised her chained hoof and shook it. The manacle fell away immediately. It hadn’t even been locked. “I came here of my own accord.  You three step away.”

Flash and his companion guard both walked off to the side. Raven came up to join them. 

Blueblood leaned forward studying the three. “Flash!” he whispered worriedly. 

“I bit them. Right now they are subject to my suggestions. But other than that they are not harmed. We did not feed off of them.  I return them to you unspoiled.”  She took a deep breath.  

Coldfront moved forward to stand next to the tall changeling. 

“I wish to hold no captives or force any conflict  Princess Celestia. Not today.”  

Celestia breathed an internal sigh of relief. Flash, Raven and Wet Stone were much too close for her to attempt a rescue. A lingering pain in the top of her horn reminded her how well fighting the queen went the last time. 

“You’ve made quite the effort to be here today. Pray, tell us what you want.”  Luna's words were tense. 

“I want to help you find Shining Armor and I want Clemency for the changelings still under my control.”  She breathed out a sigh as she said it. As if she were taking a great stone from her back and placing it on the floor. 

Celestia looked and as the initial shock of the meeting had begun to wear off she saw that Chrysalis was much thinner than she remembered. The bright polish to her chitin was faded and she appeared more grey than black. Her eyes had sunken considerably. There was a tremble in her stance that she hadn't noticed at first. 

“In return I shall surrender. I’m not long for this world and if exacting justice for my crimes will help those left behind, I offer myself.”

The trio of princesses rocked back on their hooves. Celestia blinked in surprise. Cadence snarled in disbelief and Luna sheathed her sword in disgust. “I shall never draw blood again, shall I?”  She said just loud enough to be heard. 

Chrysalis let out another sigh then hung her head. “I can no longer lead the Changelings that follow me.  I can’t feed them anymore, they will starve if something isn’t done.”

Cadence sneered, drawing her bow once again.  “If you think for a second that we believe you, you are mistaken.”

Chrysalis took another deep breath. Luna stopped.  She gently lowered Cadence's bow with her magic. These weren’t pauses for effect or drama. Nor was she being particularly loud.  The Queen was having trouble breathing. 

“Prisma, come here,”  she wheezed. Coldfront stepped forward.  His eyes darted back and forth between the princesses on the dias. Terrified. 

“Celestia,” the Changeling croaked out. “I surrender. I yield. I give up.”  Her whole body slumped as if a great weight had been lifted. 

“I only ask that you not punish those I have left behind.”  She gasped again. 

Coldfront walked up to her “Rest my Queen I shall handle the rest.”  A flash of defiance crossed the weakened Changeling but it passed quickly. Chrysalis nodded and took a step back. 

Coldfront raised his head and looked Celestia directly in her eye.  “The queen of the changelings  can no longer lead us. She has surrendered to an enemy and is therefore no longer worthy.”

Chrysalis let out a weak chuckle. “Well spoken.”

“I claim my birthright, such as it is.”  With a deep breath green fire engulfed the yellow Pegasus. His form shrunk considerably and his wavery voice became young and feminine accompanied by that strange double vocalization. 

The throne room grew quiet as the fire revealed the strangest changeling anypony had ever seen. 

“I am the Queen of the changelings.”  She was just a bit bigger than a foal and covered in white downy fur. Her legs were free from holes or insectine joints. She had four delicate furry wings covered in that same white fur but highlighted with baby blue swirls. Her eyes were more akin to the reformed changelings like Thorax or Ocellus.  The eyes were wide and inviting and were the same shade of blue as the highlight in her wings.  

She had a kind of collar of white fluff around her neck like a bee or a moth. Aside from the eyes and the wings she looked very much like a normal alicorn foal. The top of her head adorned by two blue furred antennae and a solid white blade like horn with no spiral or grove on it sat in the middle of her forehead. 

She was adorable. Even the serious contemplation on her face just enhanced the foallike aspects of her. She tried to stand tall but aside from being short it was clear she was terrified of her audience. 

Chrysalis breathed deep yet again “My heir, and the rightful leader of the changelings. My...my daughter and Shining Armor’s first born.”
> Chapter 2 : Self Warnings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Changeling Magic has been detected.  Priority 002”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes snapped open.  Her wards were finely tuned to intrude into her thoughts, even rousing her from sleep if needed.  Her fear and anxiety evaporated.

With a crack of arcane magic she teleported from under the blankets of her bed, consuming them in purple flame.  She stood tall and regal in the center of her room, her wings and legs spread wide to steady herself.  

Fizzlepop burst through the door alert and prepared for combat, her hooves pawing the floor in anticipation.  She had been dormant standing guard outside of Twilight's room, ready and waiting to perform her duty at a moment's notice.

Arcane energy flowed around the princess in the form of bright purple motes of light swirling around her, as a magenta aura lit her horn.  The motes around her body began growing larger and brighter, pulsing with energy.  Pools of white brilliance cast a mystical glow from her eyes, bathing her chambers in soft light.  

“My wards were tripped.” she spoke aloud, her voice carrying a strange weight, reverberating around the chamber.  “Changelings, in the throne room.  Seventeen seconds until teleport.”

Fizzle nodded and was about to move close to Twilight's side when a purple spell ring began to  draw itself onto the floor.

“Stand back for a moment.”  The alicorn's words were gentle but firm and Fizzle found herself moving away before she could think twice.

Fizzle watched in awe as magic radiated from Twilight's horn, the air around the Princess growing charged and heavy.  She felt strange excitement deep in her chest and the core of the stump on her forehead began to itch as she saw Twilight coursing with power.  Power that the transformed unicorn was unconsciously controlling with ease.  Twilight’s small body surged and an unseen wind began to billow her mane and tail upward.

Brilliant purple lines traced three concentric arcane circles around her, the first filled with runes, the second with swirling lines connecting to more runes held in the third. 

The excitement overpowered Fizzle's trepidation.  Watching Twilight turn herself into a conduit for such power brought a rare genuine smile to her muzzle.  This is what it truly means to be a unicorn.  This is what I’m missing.  

The power brought forth from her horn coursed through Twilight's body flowing along mystical lines from the top of her horn to the tip of each hoof, feeding the teleport spell-frame formed beneath her and her captain.  

The Arcane lines traced a perfect circular pattern along the floor drawing around the Element of Magic and outward in six separate lines.  Equidistant and perfectly spaced if measured to the smallest fraction of a degree, They traveled a short distance and drew six  more smaller circles spread around the conduit that was Twilight.  

The Princess reared up on her hind legs in a fluid motion, her tail dropping to compensate for the change in her center of gravity. Fizzle gasped, not only was Twilight still powering the teleportation spell but now she was doing it with only two contact points anchored to the frame, wisps of smoke rose from her legs and thighs, the mana channeling through her legs would have burned a lesser unicorn's clean off!  

Fizzle's eyes widened in awe.  The Element of Magic wasn’t finished.

The purple princess clapped her hooves together and a small multicolor spell ring formed around her left wrist.  Twilight looked at the ring, muttering to herself, the ring rotated back and forth several times.  

Fizzles smiled broadened, recognizing the spell.  She would forever be unable to match the power coursing through Twilight's spell-frame so something like teleportation would remain a dream for her until the day she died.  Not that she didn’t try it, at Twilight's insistence, but she just didn’t have enough horn left to move that much mana and succeed at something so complex.  Not without  causing permanent damage. 

Twilight's second spell, the one centered on her left foreleg, was more Fizzle's speed.

Most unicorns had the strength to maintain at least one astral pocket indefinitely.  They were simple dimensional gateways that could be anchored almost anywhere and it took very little mana to establish one.  A small bit to stabilize the gateway and simple exponential progression to maintain the size.  

Twilight had spent months with Fizze helping her to learn and understand the principles and equations that controlled the pocket dimensions.  She was adamant that Fizzle was more than capable of the skill.  Her horn had been damaged but it was still able to convert the needed mana, Fizzle's fireworks spell proved that.  

Arcane mathematics had never been Fizzle's strength but Twilight was not only a gifted mage but a gifted teacher as well.  Thanks to her Princess, Fizzle had a small astral pocket hidden snuggly in her left armpit.  It was very  small, large enough to hold only a single golden bit but she was deeply proud of it.

Twilight had three pockets, that Fizzle knew of.  One in her mane hidden right behind her horn where she kept parchment and several odd writing devices.  A second behind her right ear where she kept notes and papers that she had meticulously memorized.  Fizzle had to wonder;  If they were memorized why would Twilight carry them?.  And a third hidden in the frog of her right hoof.  It was the only one of the three that had a lock on it.   As anypony with sufficient mana could open an unlocked pocket if they knew where to find it.

Fizzle watched, entrapped, as Twilight undid the lock.  What would Twilight need that she would have taken the time to seal away?  

A shining mote of light escaped from between Twilights clasped hooves as the lock released.  Her left hoof grabbed the end of a wooden staff and pulled as her right hoof pulled away.  She reached the end of her span and still the staff protruded from the end of her hoof.  The astral pocket shone bright as the purple unicorn grasped the staff close to the mouth of the portal, once again pulling.  After a few more hooflenghts the head of the staff came free of the pocket.

The staff forked near the end and in the cradle of the two branches sat an enormous tapered blue crystal.  The Staff of Sarcanes.

Fizzlepops smile fell. 

Although she was not responsible for the Storm King's possession of the staff she still felt responsible for its use against The four princesses, Twilight especially.

There was however no time to think more about it.

A flash of purple light momentarily blinded the dark captain.  When her eyes cleared she was standing in the center of what appeared to be a large recreation room.  Several couches, and a few pool tables were spread around the room along with several white coated ponies in golden armor.  

The Canterlot Barracks.

The looks on the guards' faces quickly turned from confusion to high alert.

“Princess Twilight!” came exclaimed calls and murmured words for all around the room.

Twilight's voice was strained as she spoke.  “I need four of you, your best, to prepare for combat.”

With only a few looks between themselves to see who was available and which of them were armed, four guards stepped forward.  Fizzlepop let an impressed look creep to her face, not enough to smile but very close.

With a surge of her horn the Element of Magic anchored the teleport frame she had been carrying to the floor.  Still on her hind legs with her tail dropped and the Staff of Sarcanes in her grasp acting as a counter balance she walked to one of the empty circles luminated on the floor.  Each step seemed heavy for her and Fizzle could see mana coursing through the crystal in the staff.

“Pick a circle. Facing in.” she said.  “Changeling Magic was used during Day Court.  Celestia could be in danger.”

The four guards and Fizzle complied, each taking a circle and facing each other across the empty center of the frame.  Horns were lit, weapons were drawn.

“We’ll be placed in the throne room on the Celestial insignia.”  Voice still strained, Twilight drew in another deep breath.  “On my stars, Celestia will be behind me, in … fifteen seconds”  

Fizzle marveled at the feat of strength.  Twilight had devised and started to charge a multi-passenger teleport frame and anchored it to herself, mostly with only two contact points feeding it.  That was in addition to unlocking a dimensional pocket of moderate size, casting a multi user teleport spell WHILE being the anchor point for the six pony Teleport spell frame.  Then, to top it all off, transfering the anchor of the spell frame to the floor.  

The Purple Princess drew in another deep breath and a second corona bust into life over her horn.  A pained groan escaped her lips as magical energy filled her.  The guards in the circle and around the barracks watched in awe as the energy changed her.  She had to reposition her grasp on the staff as her physical form added a few inches to her height, her legs thickened slightly and her wings grew wider, mimicking Celestia's own broad shape.  More glorious than that was her horn, it swelled a bit at the base then stretched out becoming longer, the second corona faded back into nothingness as the larger horn was able to channel the necessary mana.

The guards not in the circle filled out of the barracks and galloped to the throne room.  A flash of purple light and the faint sound of tinkling bells filled the common room as they left.

******

Rarity decided she didn’t like it.  Every Time she visited the castle her left eye twitched.  Everytime she even walked by, her brow furrowed in disgust.  The castle wasn’t ugly, not by any means.  It was made of crystal, one of her favorite things.  She loved the way it caught the light.  The way it glittered.  The strange idea that something that was made of such mundane things, in the right configuration could dazzle and captivate could be desirable made her smile.  It was right, it was...beautiful.

Rarity sighed.  It was just wrong.  She decided she still didn’t like it.  

It was a beautiful crystal castle set off to the side of a beautiful rustic farming community.  If you were to look at them separately they were perfect.  Ponyville had its own charm and its own aesthetic.  And that, Rarity supposed is what made the crystal castle so gaudy.

She tilted her head slightly back.  The thatched roofs of Ponyville disappeared from her view and the castle stood alone in the morning light.  Much better.  Rarity sighed, her heart raced just as it always did when she saw something beautiful, something perfect.  

“Ah don’t much care fer it.”  drawled an upbeat voice.

Rarity nodded.  She nuzzled her friend along the cheek as the farmer walked up to her.  “It certainly takes a critical eye to appreciate it, AppleJack.”

Applejack spat on the ground. “Critical nothing!  It’s an eyesore.”  

The fashionista scowled and looked at her friend. 

Time had been kind to Applejack. Her brilliant orange coat had remained the same shade as the day Rarity had met her.  Her winter coat was starting to come in which meant that AJ had not been to the spa since fall started.   It was hard to tell at first but Rarity knew what to look for.  She let her eyes wander back to Applejack's face and sure enough the dapples on her cheeks were nearly gone, the overgrowth of orange fur overpowering them.

A small smile washed over Rarity's face, followed by a sigh she hopped wasn’t too noticeable.  So many years had passed.   Where had all that time gone?  And why did Applejack still look so young?

Her body was still stout and full.  Years of farm work had kept her strong and her muscles well defined.  She had grown thicker in her legs and barrel but anypony mistaking it for winter fat was in for a surprise.

If Twilight hadn’t become an alicorn AJ would certainly have been the largest of their small group. 

“Ya look nice Rarity.”  AJs smile was genuine and wide. A comment like that in Canterlot or Manehatten would have had Rarity examining it to determine if it was backdhoofed in any way. But with Applejack there was no fear of double speak, the Element of Honesty always said exactly what she meant.

“Much better’n this castle.”  Applejack shrugged off the saddlebags she was carrying and leaned her head down. She stretched out her forelegs and a mighty crack sounded along her back.  “Must say, sure is nice ta have ya back. Stayin’ long?”

There was a time when Applejack's colliocul vocabulary would have irked Rarity. Her ears did threaten to betray her by flapping shut.  But try as she might, it just felt too good to hear the apple farmers' voice. 

“As long as I am able, dear.”  Rarity smiled. “Winter will be here soon so I need to start thinking about the new spring line.”

Applejack nodded, her blond ponytail bobbed in the early morning light. “Ah’m sure it’ll be perfect Rares.”

“I was sorry to hear about Granny Smith.”

Applejacks smile never flattered, “Tough old apple.  Every tree comes down at some point.”  She leaned over and nuzzled the Unicorn's cheek with her own once more.  “She’d appreciate it if ya went an said ‘Hi’.”

There was no malice or rebuke in Applejack's words.  Rarity nodded.  “Certainly, I plan too.”

“Good morning everypony!”  Pinkie Pie’s normal greeting was somewhat muted, instead of appearing from nowhere and smothering her closest friends in full body hugs she settled for trotting up to the castle steps with the biggest smile she could offer. Which was still nearly half the size of the large delivery cart she was hitched too. “Sugar Cube Corner'' displayed proudly on either side. 

Applejack threw a foreleg around the baker. “Good mornin’ Pinkie.”  

The pink pony seemed to melt into the embrace.  “Hi AppleJack.  It’s so good to see you!”  

This was certainly a surprise.  “Pinkie dear.”  Rarity began.  “Are you well?”  She thought she could see tears in the baker's eyes.

Pinkie sniffed.  “I’m just super happy to see you both.”

Rarity found herself pulled into the embrace.  Pinkine sniffed again and buried her muzzle deep into Rarity’s mane.  The smell of cotton candy and baked bread filled Rarity's nose as Pinkie's mane engulfed her in turn.  Pinkie's voice whispered in her ear.  “You’re safe.  You’re here.”

Applejack unhitched herself from Pinkie's cart with a puzzled expression but seeing her friends brought her smile back to her face.  “Good to see you too Sugarcube.”  Pinkie was back at her side in an instant. The party pony breathed another sigh of relief. 

The apple farmer put her hoof around her friend again.  She patted the back of the pink mare a couple times for reassurance. “Now, anypony care to tell me what we’re doing at the castle so early fer?”

The residents of ponyville had begun to congregate. The sun was officially up so that meant the morning market was winding down.  Time to get ready for the breakfast crowd. The tempting scent of roses wafted across Rarity’s nose.  She almost called out to Rose, the eldest flower sister,  for one but the promise of baked goods made by Pinkie reminded her to be patient. 

“If Fluttershy called for a meeting I’m certain it is important.” Rarity said. “You know she would never ‘bother’ anypony if she didn’t have too.” 

Pinkie nodded vigorously and Applejack merely chuckled. 

“Come on AJ, help me set up?”  Pinkie had walked to the side of the front stairs of the castle where a narrow service ramp was cleverly hidden. The apple farmer nodded absently and began to help push Pinkie's cart. 

Rather than do nothing Rarity firmly grabbed hold of the cart with her magic and gave a solid heave. It wasn’t really hard work, just three friends helping because they could, to pass the time. To be together. 

Rarity missed this. Manehatten was her jungle, her adventure. When she wanted to feel challenged with her skills put to the test, that’s where she went. Yet when all that was done, when she needed a recharge or just a break. She knew she could always come here. Ponyville. Home. 

The three friends entered the Castle of Friendship and made their way to the map room. The throne room only being used when Twilight was holding court. 

“Durn draft makes it too cold here.” AJ complained. “Warm the halls a bit will ya!”  she yelled into the empty chamber.

Rarity was about to ask when Twilight had decided to staff the castle.  And, incidentally, why she hadn’t been consulted.  Instead her ears perked as a strange rumbling noise began at the top of the castle and wound its way down to the entranceway.  The foyer and hallways brightened and warmed noticeably as natural sunlight began to shine down from the ceiling.

“Thank ya kindly!”  The orange farmer called out.

Still staring at the ceiling, Rarity flicked her ear in annoyance.  

The orange pony chuckled. “Castle is pretty friendly if’n you ask nice like.”

“What happened?” The fashionista asked.

AJ shrugged. “I don’t rightly know how it works fer the heatin’, but the castle walls turn all clear like. From the top all the way down to the room you’re in. Brings the sunlight all the way down. Purrty fancy.”

Rarity nodded. “Quite amazing. Why didn’t the castle do that earlier?  Did Twilight find a set of instructions?”

AJ beamed with pride. “Nope! She put a spell on the castle herself. Spent weeks ‘searchin an fretten’.  Ain’t much Twi can’t do when she got time ta do it.”

The three friends pushed the large double doors to the map room open.  The mystical friendship map, a gift from the tree of harmony, sat in the center.  A small magical overview of the entire world was projected from the stone surface.  Rarity half expected to see a pair of cutie marks floating over the map. An indication that harmony itself detected a problem that needed to be solved. 

As the double doors to the map room opened, the three friends stopped for there were indeed two cutie marks over the Friendship map.  The familiar magic wand and magical swirl of Trixie Lulamoon, and the eight pointed starburst and mystic swoosh of Starlight Gliimer.  And, more importantly, the two mares themselves.

Starlight was lying on her back in the center of the map, her forelegs wrapped around Trixies neck, her eyes were closed tightly and she was panting slightly.  Trixie had the lower lobe of Starlights left ear in her mouth.  A fit of giggles escaped the performer as cute little mewling sounds escaped Starlights lips.

The three friends were caught completely off guard, not a word escaping their lips.  Rarity’s white cheeks flushed bright red, the brazenness of this little liaison embarrassing her.  Applejack made a mental note of what Trixie was doing.  Now she’d have something nice to give Rainbow when she returned from her assignment.  

Pinkine gasped, her head tilting to the side, “The ponies in Baltimare are going to need some serious therapy.”

The gasp that escaped Starlight was NOT Trixies fault.

A flash of light and explosion of multicolored smoke startled the trio. Pinkie pie reared up on her hind legs, her forelegs flailing madly. 

AppleJack had taken a more active approach.  She had jumped in front of her friends.  Placing herself between them and the pillar of smoke.  Spinning in midair she cocked her hind legs preparing to place anything that might threaten any of them into low orbit.

The suddenness of the move shocked Rarity and she found herself backing off a step. Her hoof rose to her chest. Her breathing quickened.  

As the smoke cleared a familiar pony clad in purple wizards garb stood up tall on the map. The stage magician, none too subtly, climbed from off the table and stood in front of it. She raised her hooves high.  

“Ta-da!” she said.

“Trixie! Glimmy Glam!!!”  Pinkie yelled happily, forgetting her earlier fear.  She would have leaped over to the ponies except for being hitched to a party wagon.  

Starlight's eyes were wide, her pupils darting between the three friends.  She squeaked and her hooves jumped to her mouth.  Her blush took nearly to the tips of her pink ears.  She was making stangeled protesting noises, but they were unable to get around her hooves as she began nervously chewing on them.

Pinkines laughter continued and Applejack smiled broadly.  “Ah hope y’all don’t do that here often.”

Hooves still stuffed into her mouth Starlight nodded vigorously.  She seemed to realize what she was doing and quickly changed her mind, shaking her head side to side instead.

Still unable to speak, Starlight crawled forward falling off the edge of the map when her hooves failed to leave her mouth to catch herself.  The purple unicorn gasped as the bulk of her weight crashed down to the floor, most of it being absorbed by her knee.  The purple pony hissed in a breath of air her hooves finally leaving her mouth to cradle the injured appendage against her chest.

Starlight wasn’t what most ponies envisioned when they thought of what the protege of the Princess of Friendship would be.  She had taken to making friends easily enough.  Twilight was an excellent teacher when it came to that process. Starlight just had some personal baggage that came with being somepony who had nearly destroyed the world.  Baggage that Twilight did her best to help carry. 

Starlight was earnest in her desire for reform and to be allowed to interact with the citizens of Equestria, but the poor dear had a personality not unlike rough sandpaper.  Useful and even helpful on occasion, but very abrasive.  There were certainly no fence sitters where it came to Starlight, Rarity included.  The Element of Generosity knew that Starlight was trying her best and that her particular faults mirrored Twilight's own, if in the extreme.

Rarity couldn’t quite put her hoof on what made Starlight special, or what compelled her to be patient with a mare who had once stripped her of her taste and refinement but she wasn’t the type of mare to hold that kind of grudge. Not really.

It had taken her considerable time to extend the same courtesy to Trixie. Considerable for Rarity, at any rate. Trixie hadn’t been paticurly malicious that she recalled. A bit more directed and vindictive, but certainly not malicious.

Whatever Trixies faults showmanship was not listed among them.  With Another explosion of smoke and a fanfare of trumpets she sauntered around the map table drawing attention away from Starlight. 

“Tis I, the great and powerful Trrrrrrixie!” She bellowed, rolling the r in her name with an annoying number of extra syllables. “Princess Twilight! What a pleasure for you to have the best entertainer in the greater, southern half of Ponyville in your home!”

A third burst of sound and light and the performer appeared in front of the trio.  Only hesitation kept Applejack's legs from bucking the unicorn back where she came from. 

“Twi ain’t here. Hasn’t been fer a few days.”  The earth pony reported. 

Trixie visibly deflated.  “That mare is never where Trixie needs her to be.”  The baby blue unicorn stomped back around the Friendship Map muttering under her breath.  Her hoof clops echoing her frustration.  Her eyes softened when she got back to Starlight's side,  “Have fun in your meeting, do not keep Trixie waiting.”  She leaned over and kissed the older mare several times helping her to her hooves. “Trixie will miss you.”

Starlight's blush had nothing to do with the kisses. 

Trixies horn lit and a fourth flash of light and plume of smoke erupted all around her.  The large door of the map room opened and closed quickly as she slipped through it. The remaining mares in the room politely took no notice. 

The three elements of harmony turned their eyes on Starlight. 

Twilight's apprentice withered under the gaze.  She had spent most of her life feeling unwanted in an orphanage, how she wished then for attention.  She had once confessed her undying love to her foalhood friend Sunburst, who promptly rejected her, how she longed for companionship.  She had once made a fool of herself by forcing reconciliation between Twilight's very own mentor and her sister, the very rulers of a land she had hoped to one day overthrow, she wanted Twilights approval!  And now she had been caught making out with her marefriend in Twilight's own throne.  

How she wished to be back in that orphanage now, to be alone and ignored once again.

Thankfully Rarity could see how uncomfortable the situation had made the gathered mares.  

“Let’s set everything up, shall we?” She placed an arm around Pinkie Pie.  

Starlight caught her eye and Rarity saw the enormity of gratitude displayed there.  Rarity wasn’t surprised.  Starlight was a gifted mage and a fine student, in her opinion.  When it came to social graces however her growth had been severely stunted.  Rarity smiled a bit at the thought of a pony such as Twilight Sparkle, who had her own challenges where societal norms were concerned, had taken it upon herself to help Starlight find a better way.  Just one of the many wonderful things about Twilight.

The Four worked in silence.  Setting up a small serving table and allowing themselves to just be around one another.  Pinkie unboxed and arranged the fruit pastries and drinks with practiced care as her friends brought the boxes to her.  

The spread had nearly been completed when the sound of the main doors being opened reached them.  

Pinkine’s ear turned towards the noise and she looked puzzled.  She pulled a cupcake seemingly at random from the table,  it was strangely frosted in gray and sprinkled with golden candy crumbs.  She scrutinized it for a few moments and gave it a tentative lick.  Her muzzle scrunched and her eyes watered immediately.  “They are way too early.”

A muffled voice could be heard steadily growing louder as it moved from the main entrance to the map room.  It was certainly too loud and excited to belong to Fluttershy.  It wasn’t long before the door swung open and with a bow and a flourish the God of Chaos, Discord, with his best smile and best manors gestured forward and allowed Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness entrance to the map room.

If Rarity didn’t know better she would have thought that Fluttershy had grown ten years younger since the last time she had seen her.  Her manestyle had changed from the usual heart frame she was well known for,  it had been gathered and bundled higher than normal and allowed to fall in layers down her neck and over her shoulders.  It was still brilliant pink, not a single strand of white or gray to be found.  It was gorgeous.

Rarity had never been jealous in her life but she certainly envied her fiend.  She considered Fluttershy one of if not the most beautiful pegasus in all of Equestria.  She had to admit that a lot of that beauty was a result of the subtle changes that her friend had endured over the years.  The once nearly homebound pegasus had grown confident and bold and now her homebound tendencies were more of a conscious choice and not a forced necessity.  

That confidence worked wonders for Flutershy.  She did not flaunt herself as some ponies did, but she certainly stood out in a crowd now, instead of deftly trying to hide in the shadows that the crowds themselves formed, her shoulders no longer hunched instinctively and her head was held at a normal height, she even would answer the occasional casual hello with one of her own. Couple that with her demure smile and nature and it was no wonder that the Element of Kindness was as popular as ever with the tabloids.  Thankfully She insisted on Rarity managing that side of her life.

Designing for Fluttershy was so challenging yet so rewarding.  The yellow pegasus was tall and lean even compared to other members of her tribe, with wide, full wings built for soaring like Princess Celestia and Twilight.  Her proportions were slightly off, her legs longer than average, and more slender near her hoof, her neck just a tad too long.  It made it particularly rewarding to design garments for her that accented her hind legs, and thighs…and hips…  

Rarity had caught herself staring more than once.   

Fluttershy's pink mane was pulled back today, allowing her bright eyes and bright smile to wash over her friends.  “Good morning everypony.” she said in a clear confident tone.  Amongst her dearest friends there was no fear or anxiety, she knew there were no judgments here.

They each echoed her greeting.

Hugs were exchanged all around, as the four friends pushed through the awkwardness left by Starlight and her paramore.  

Discord made his way to the map table, he was educated in friendship enough to realize there was some tension left in the room but not enough to realize that Starlight was slowly slinking away because she was the cause. His foot falls were audibly uneven his horse hoof clopling loudly while dragon talons clicked and scraped across the crystal floor

“Are you hiding?” the mismatched God asked.

Starlight sighed.  “Not well enough it seems.”  Her eyes widened in surprise as the Draconequus swept his lion-like paw back in the direction of the bearers and the map table.  Offering to usher her back into the conversation.

“Thank you.”  She could still fill the hot blush on her cheeks. She hated this. There were always so many uncomfortable moments around every pony.  Deep down Starlight knew she would have to make up for the pain she had caused, and the damage she had almost caused.  She just wished it was easier. 

Trixie had helped with that. A warm smile crept to her face as she thought about the traveling performer. Starlight had thought that a relationship of this nature was years away. If it ever happened at all. Trixies affections were intense and focused, Starlight wasn't opposed to that but it was quite a surprise when it happened. 

If she had known that relationships were as easy as the proformer made them she might have tried sooner. The most friction in their relationship seemed to come from Trixies history with Twilight. Anytime the performer and the Princess were in the same room the tension spiked, neither one of them could seem to breach the topic.  Despite Starlight's reassurances that no one held it against her, Trixie would still stiffen and bristle when the princess was around.

“Are you ready for this?” Starlight asked the Spirit of Chaos.  As they walked to the map.  She searched his face for any sign that this morning's meeting was causing him discomfort or distress.  “Any pony would be nervous. No pony would blame you.”

Discord appeared to be in good spirits.  He waved his paw and the stack of papers that had been following him floated over to the map table and sorted themselves among the empty places. 

“I've never been nervous in my life.” he said.   “I’m sure it wouldn’t agree with me.”

“It’s a big step.”  Starlight told her friend.  “I’m happy for you.” 

A small smile curved the draconequus lips.  “I’m happy for Flutershy.” 

“Are YOU happy?” the unicorn asked her eyebrow raised.

Discord raised his own in response.  “I’m not…NOT happy.”  He glanced at the element barreres.  “It’s what Fluttershy wants.”

Starlight put a hoof on Discords leg “Is it what YOU want? It’s best to be honest in situations like this Discord.”

“It’s best ta be honest in EVERY situation, sugarcube.” Applejack said, stepping into the conversation.  “Now come on an get some grub and let's get seated, Daylight's burning.”

“Grubs?” Discord asked.

“Thank you for all coming today, it’s so good to see you all again and I’m very happy to share my happiness with you…my sisters.  Starlight?”

Starlight nodded, a quill and inkwell were pulled from her bags and she began writing.

The quiet pegasus stood from her chair, she blushed fiercely but spoke in a confident, if a bit quiet voice.  She spoke words she had wanted to say for so long, words that most mares had longed to speak.  Words rehearsed in the quiet moments of everyday life.  Or to oneself in the bathroom mirror.  Words of love and longing, words of binding and trust.

“I, Fluttershy Posy, first daughter, have asked Discord to be my stallion.”  Discord stood and took Flutershys wing in his paw.  “I wish to share my happiness.”  The pair briefly looked at one another and shared a deep smile. 

“In turn I offer a place in my herd to my dearest friends, offered without expectation, declined without malice.  From now until such time as we must part by death or by deed.  May Celestia bless my house.” Fluttershy's words had never  been bolder or more clear.

“And Luna, my home.” The gathered mares echoed the expected response.  

Rarity’s horn lit and she pulled a small blue gem stone from her saddle bags.  It was cut to perfectly match one of the gems in her cutie mark.  She was practically vibrating, longing to prance and cheer for her friend but refined enough to make sure she followed the appropriate protocol for the situation.  “I,”  she giggled “Rarity Bell, first daughter, am not speaking or spoken for.  I am not opposed to joining your fine herd, I will hear you.

Protocol was no such concern for Pinkie Pie.  She jumped from her seat and wrapped her arms around Fluttershy and Discord.  “I’m so happy for you!  I had no idea!”  Her face fell.  “Now I owe Gummy my Allowance.”  She blinked several times, her blue eyes filling with tears.  “I, Pinkamena Diane Pie, third daughter are unattached.  I will hear you.”  She reached into her mane and pulled what appeared to be a brightly frosted sugar cookie from her mane.  It was shaped like a balloon and frosted bright pink.

AppleJack smiled when Pinkie was finished.  Her hat was upturned in her hoof, she had reached inside and pulled a small hoof carved Apple, much like her cutie mark, hanging from a simple bit of twine.  She had carved it from a fallen branch of the Apple side of the Apple/Pear tree that was hidden away in a secret grove that only the three living apple siblings knew of.  It swung back and forth in her mouth.

“I, Applejack Apple, first daughter, am in love with another an I’d have to talk to her first.”

Fluttershy chuckled and revealed the ring from her bag.  “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that AJ.”

Applejack's green eyes had caught sight of the ring that Fouttershy was holding. She had seen it and her heart had broken.  Right down the middle.  It split open and the greatest pain that Applejack ever knew flooded into her chest.  Far greater than the day that she learned her mom and dad were never returning to their farm.  

Fluttershy head a marriage ring in her teeth.  A simple iron ring a little larger than a key ring.  It would soon be placed above Fluttershy and Discord's hearth.  On it one of her bright yellow primary feathers hung.

Discord was smiling and holding up a claw that had been clipped from his lion paw.  It would be placed on the ring, next to the feather, to signify their coming wedding.

Applejack had initially been over the moon with joy for Fluttershy.  Discord was odd but the pair seemed to love each other.  As much as Discord was capable of love.  And far be it for one such as Applejack to deny that any two beings who loved one another shouldn't be allowed to join themselves together..

No, her heart had broken because on the ring, on the other side of Fluttershy’s feather hung another primary feather.  This one bright blue.  Bright blue and perfect.  It was the most beautiful blue that Applejack had ever laid eyes on.  It was Rainbows.

Rainbow Dash, her Rainbow Dash was already married.  
> Chapter 3 : Captians Choice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The clean, healthy pine trees of Whitetail Woods bobbed merrily along past Shining Armors eyes.  He smiled.  “This must be how Flurry feels.”

Beneath him Sludge grunted.  “Who Flurry,  Pony?”

Shining turned slightly so he could speak directly to the Diamond Dog.  “Flurry is my little filly.  I carry her around like this all the time.”

Sludge missed a step and stopped walking.  “Pony steals his own pup all the time?”

Shining chuckled, “Flurry would get a kick out of being called a ‘pup’.  No, I just carry her alot.” His smile faltered a bit.  “When she isn’t flying.”

Sludge made a dismissive sound.  “Ponies flying, bleh.”

The unicorn captain nodded his agreement, Bleh indeed.  He let his head swivel back to its normal position.

Sludge readjusted his load and again began walking.  The diamond dog had been the first to leave the clearing so he was at the head of the column and thanks to that Shining was able to take stock of every member of the small pack.  It wasn’t a very dignified way to gather intelligence, he decided, but it was a small price to pay.

The captain counted five dogs following the path through the woods.  The two closest to him weren’t exceptional, that he could tell.  But their actions told him more than enough.  They didn’t look around very much and only rarely, if ever, turned their ears towards any sound the forest made.  They were quite comfortable, apparently not much in this part of the forest bothered them.  They were comfortable here.  Like it was home.

The pair picked an easier path through the forest than Sludge, the brazier carried between them one paw on each side handle. They weren’t particularly careful with it but the mithril chain kept it sealed tight. 

The large dog that carried the helping stick, followed after that, the log swung easily in one massive paw. The dog that carried it, Shining hadn’t yet caught his name, actually kept his eyes on his pack mates more than anything else.  If either one came too close to him his other paw went to the stick immediately.  Looked like ownership of it was more fluid than Shining first suspected.

Mange followed after that.  There was something very strange about that one,  His eyes and ears were on a constant swivel and he would occasionally sniff the air.  His muzzle would scrunch and he never looked completely comfortable or at ease.  Most importantly, he never allowed the brazier to stay out of his vision for very long.  He would glance at it often and never allowed the dogs that carried it to get too far from him.

Sludge’s stride began to slow. Shining felt him look up more than a few times.  The other dogs were soon grouped around him.  They were clearly nervous about moving forward.  Facing the gathered dogs, Shining couldn’t see what had stopped them but he had a good idea, the forest had been thinning for the last few minutes.  He turned his head to look past Sludge, beyond a short clearing he could see the outbuildings of a small village.  

“What wrong?” Menge asked.  There was a lot of shuffling of feet and clearing of voices.  

Shining almost thought that the other diamond dogs looked at Menge with incredulity, boarding in contempt.  He was about to ask Menge the same question when, under him, Sludge tensed.  A loud whimper escaped him.  The other diamond dogs drew their weapons.  

Out from the ground, in the clearing just past the tree line before the forest floor gave way to the foothills of the mountain two enormous forms burst from the ground in a spray of dirt and rocks.  The air was filled with the smell of rotted meat and the sound of clicking mandibles.  The diamond dogs around him cringed but held their ground.  Shining wasn’t so lucky.

The smell was so foul it began to overwhelm his nose and his eyes began to water.  His stomach threatened to release its contents down Sludges back.  Shining furiously tried to rub the tears from his face so he could see.  He could hear that whatever had moved against them was large.  Large enough that he wanted eyes on target.

Sludge noticed Shinging's distress and whipped his head around to face him.  The quick movement reflexively brought the captain's head around to meet the eyes of the tall diamond dog.  Without so much as a word Sludge's wide tongue darted out and whipped the end of Shinnings muzzle.  Shock and confusion filled the guard captain as Sludge shrugged the dead weight from his shoulder and reached for a stone topped club tucked into his belt.

Shining was about to curse the diamond dog for dumping him when he realized he could breathe again and his eyes were no longer watering.  The slobber covering his nose, while not pleasant, was protecting him from the debilitating smell.  He had to remember to thank the diamond dog for his quick thinking. That thought caused him a quick double take.  Were diamond dogs this smart?

As if reading his mind the dogs spread out in a defensive formation, Sludge and the other larger dog taking spots on the ends of the line, the smaller dogs in the center. They had left the brazier behind Mange who had placed himself behind the defensive line.   The helping stick was secured to the larger dog's back and he lifted two large stones from the ground.

Mange took his place behind the line near to Shining Armor and pulled a finely crafted mace from his belt. “You help, pony?”  He asked.  

Shining nodded, getting unsteadily to his hooves.    

The smaller dogs began whimpering noisily.  too noisily, Shining noticed.  He realized that they were baiting whatever was bearing down on them.  His opinion of diamond dogs went up considerably.  He’d have bet good money the dogs would have broken ranks and routed.  

The clicking grew more fervent and Shining caught sight of the monsters.  Moving on eight chitinous, segmented legs the creatures shuffled forward toward the dogs. Large twin pinchers began snapping in their direction. Shearing left and right over and over, searching as much as attacking.  Giant crustaceans covered in dirt and rock, beady eyes extended on thin stalks.  Mange and his comrades began shuffling nervously side to side, but they held their ground.  The large gray pinchers, marbled with green mossy spots, reached out testing the air in front of them.  They lumbered forward, their mandibles clicking hungrily.

“Rock lobsters don’t have very good eyes.”  Mange informed the captain as Shining took a place between the smaller dogs and began whinnying in what he hoped was a distressed manor.  

Equestria held a diverse amount of wildlife and Shining wasn’t too concerned he hadn't heard of these creatures before.  This close to the Everfree there was no telling what might have wandered from the borders of the wild forest.  

Random encounter. Poindexter's voice narrated in his mind.  Two ‘Rocklobsters’ medium sized crustaceans, high armor class, medium speed.  Burst from the ground in a surprise attack, means the loss of initiative.  The party starts at a disadvantage.  

Years of playing Ogres and Obelisks helped as he analyzed the situation.  As far as anypony else was concerned the Captain, ever confident, was so skilled that no situation seemed to bother him that he always had a plan and an answer.  But Shining Armor knew better.  He knew that every bit of knowledge he gathered filled his experience, every book and report read, every story visited.  And with a sibling like Twilight reading and gathering knowledge was just the way things were growing up.  Shining had an answer and a plan because formulating them had become second nature.

Though he knew nothing of this particular creature, every little detail he could confirm would build a winning strategy in his head.  “Only newbies rely on chance and the dice.”  His friend Pointdexter would always say.  Shining wholeheartedly agreed.

“Just keep them focused on you, they’ll never know what hit them.”  Mange spread his legs wide and began changing in a language Shining had never before heard.  He began waving his arms in large motions as if coaxing some power or creature from the ground.  The temperature around the strange diamond dog plummeted, and Shining felt a chill race along his spine.

Menge clenched his fists and they glossed over with an unnatural frost.  He grunted to the larger diamond dogs and they each lifted their respective weapons in his direction, their longer arms easily bringing them into range of Manges hands.

Still chanting, Mange laid his palm on the stone head of the mace and on each of the boulders.  Once his palms touched the weapons the frost spread outward covering the head of the mace,  The nameless dog shuddered as the frost covered the boulders in his hands and reached his fingers.  His shudder became a pained hiss but he held fast.  

Mange blew out a tired breath and fell to one knee behind the line.  He shook his head in frustration.  “It shouldn’t be that difficult.”  he muttered under his breath.

Your strange companion seems to recognize the beasts. Poindexter narrated in Shinings mind.  He clearly isn’t a local as Diamond dogs have no known magical abilities and he does.  He casts a Frost brand on his companions weapons but it takes a lot out of him.  Sub objective : protect the caster, give him time to gain mana and cast again.

The closest rock lobster lumbered into range reaching for the smaller creatures, its mandibles clacking together eagerly.  Once it was in range the first beast took a direct hit to its head,  Sludge’s mace crashing down, breaking armored carapace and snapping the twin eyestalks.  The creature screeched in surprise and pain covering its head and hunching into its shell.  It’s flesh freezing and crystallizing.

Rock lobsters are weak to Ice and freezing attacks.  Poindexter noted.

The improvised formation worked to the dogs advantage as the two lobsters pushed forward in the center of the line giving Sludge and his companion the perfect opportunity to surround the beasts and attack from behind.

The remaining rock lobster seemed to realize its brother had fallen in its path and with an effortless display of power it reached under and flipped the now useless creature out of its way.
Mange grunted as the crustation, nearly four times his own weight, came crashing into him.  His frosted mace dropped from his paws as he reflexively reached out to cushion the fall.

Unfortunately his left paw landed awkwardly on the mace.  It rolled to the side and he howled in pain as it twisted his wrist out of position.  The crack of bone was followed by a louder piercing howl.  Mange cradled his broken wrist to his chest, the white of broken bone showing through ripped bleeding skin.  He whimpered pitifully and tried to scoot away from the battle.  

“An enemy's critical success is the same as your critical failure.  This doubles the odds of both.”  Shining winced, not now Dex. 

The rock lobster rounded on the downed diamond dog, its mandibles clacking excitedly as it smelled the blood in the air.  It began to prance excitedly with its segmented legs sending a coordinated rhythm deep into the rocky foothills of the smoke shrouded mountain.  

Mange and his pack of dogs began to panic, their ears dropped and tails tucked tightly between their legs.  Whimpering that had been loud enough to use as bait became quieter but more desperate as the pack cohesion visibly deteriorated.

“Get out! Get out!” Mange’s voice carried an air of desperation that immediately raised Shining Armors hackles. He reached over and chomped down on the vest of the closest dog and with a powerful twist of his neck cleared him from the line. 

As he reached the other direction to pull the second dog away the ground they both stood on erupted in a spray of rock and dirt that blinded them. 

A third monster joins the fray.  Roll a moral check.

Shining cursed.  If they flee, Sludge is as good as dead.  Diamond dogs have no morale to speak of, they are going to run.

It came to the surface sweeping its arms in wide arcs. Slate gray pincers marbled with mossy green growth rose from the ground snapping in earnest. 

Shield him! Drop a shield over him. Shining yelled to himself.  His horn wouldn’t light.  His magic wouldn’t work.  Another life he couldn’t save.

Stinging dirt and smaller pebbles peppered Shinging's belly and undercarriage. A small involuntary hop saved him from losing a foreleg. 

No. He said to himself.

The smaller diamond dog wasn’t as lucky, and a pincher caught him around the chest and ribs as the rock lobster pushed itself from the earth. 

Not this time.  Save him MAKE it happen

Out of breath and disoriented the dog offered no resistance as he was raised to the waiting mandibles. The remaining members of the pack howled with rage as the beast bit into the meat of the dog’s thigh. 

“Flea! NOO!”  The diamond dog that Shining had pulled to safety howled as he drew a small bone knife from his belt.  He scrambled to the Rock Lobster the beast easily twice the size of the pair that had initially risen against them.  Instead of mindless attacks the dog grabbed one of the segmented legs that held the beast firm and drove the point of the knife deep into an exposed joint. 

Eye stalks swiveled to focus on the creature that had attacked and for a moment considered the small dog.  Then with a dismissive turn of its head back to its meal a second leg moved over to crush the distraction.  The poor dog, trying to save his comrade, would never know what hit him.
Shining Armour's flying tackle saved the dog's life.  The body blow shoved the diamond dog out of the path of the aimed leg, and a quick powerful kick from Shingings rear left leg drove the bone knife through the joint, shattering the knife and knee all in one go.

Off balance the attacking leg reflexively moved to catch the body weight of the Rock Lobster.

Shining armor knew that Flea would soon perish if he didn’t do something but trying to cast his shield again wouldn’t do him any good.  He swallowed his frustration knowing full well that to fail to act would mean the loss of life, no sentient creatures deserve this fate.

Now.  He told himself.  It’s a beast, I’m the Captain of the guard.  Celestia's Shield.  My basics are more than enough.  Can’t use my spells, I need my spear.

Shining Armor lit his horn and reached out with his magic, his pink aura manifested around the helping stick that had been dropped nearby.  It flew to his side and positioned itself horizontally in front of the captain. He swept his hind quarters around and whipped his tail across the eye stalks that stayed focused on Flea.  It didn’t phase the beast much but it did slow it down.

Special Feat : Morale boost.  Shining new that the dogs needed to rally or they would lose this fight and two members of their group, it was time to step up. 

The guard captain opened his mouth wide and the astral pocket that was anchored on the tip of his tongue opened.  A Brilliant silvery spear head emerged from the pocket along with two sets of fine rivets.

Shining continued his spin avoiding a second crashing leg from the Rock lobster. 

As the white unicorn spun away the mythril spear head set its blade on the edge of the helping stick.  Shining used his magic and the stick spun along its length in a furious blur.  The spear head slid along it.  A satisfying buzz and a spray of sawdust filled the air.  BLASTING INTO THE lobsters eyes and maw. Still dodging legs from his attacker, Shining felt the weight of the staff he had just created and hacked the ends off leaving it perfectly balanced for him.  The spearhead carved a grove in the end of the staff, something for him to grip, then capped one end and the rivets flew into place locking it together.

Shining hopped and bucked, his rear hooves slammed into the elbow joint of the Lobster disrupting its meal once again.  The eye stalks turned to consider him but the kick also pushed the captain too far out of range.  His magic cradled the spear as it fell along his back, the hairs of his tail sliding along its length till they found the grove at the end then holding gently, almost a caress.  Holding a spear again excited him, filled him, like the touch of a lover long lost.

His tail pumped forward, the spear glided along his back, the blade slicing into the thumb joint of the claw crushing Flea. The dog fell into Shining's waiting pink aura and was pulled from the creature's maw as his tail retracted then pumped forwarded again he bent his rear legs lining up the shot.   The spear shot forward again, slicing into the mouth parts of the beast and expertly missing Flea’s leg.  Shining pulled Flea away, dumping him into Mange’s waiting arms.  His hooves moving furiously to keep his balance.  He would teach this beast a lesson.

*****

The sun was not very high in the sky and this far north the shadows stretched a bit further than normal.  The conditions were ideal to hide the entrance to a small cave that was far off the beaten path to the northern wastes.  The cave itself was not one that he would normally approve of as a safe location for changelings but thanks to the love famine that the hive was currently experiencing there was no choice.

The white pegasus had been watching the entrance for several hours.  He couldn’t risk himself or any other loyalists falling to that fool Thorax and his soft skinned princess.  

The pegasus hopped from the tree and landed in  the clearing near the cave entrance.  He clicked out the passcode “This Day.” he said.

After a moment a voice responded. “Imperfect.”  A changeling drone poked her head out from the cave.  Seeing the pegasus seemed to calm her and she clicked a few times then led a small force into the light.  

The pegasus frowned, one drone and two soldiers.  This wouldn’t do.

“Your signal said there were four of you.”

The drone nodded. “Mending Fences…sorry, Spiracle starved in the night.”  Her lip trembled but she looked the pegasus in the eye.

He nodded and looked over the small group, the two soldiers had good coloring and bright eyes.  They would be helpful if they survived the trip.  He considered the drone, he needed warriors, he should order them to devour her and share what little love she had left.  But they were already so few in number and they would need drones if they were going to survive.  Vengeance couldn’t be the only goal here.

Green fire engulfed him.  White fur and feathers melted away.  The changeling captain spread his legs wide and motioned the others close to him.  He was larger than the soldiers, blessed by the Queen herself, his chitten shined with health and vitality and his dark red crest marked him as a decorated warrior.  His shell proudly displayed the spike granted to officers.  He was one of the few to survive the direct castle assault during the Canterlot invasion.  


He gathered the refined love that had been entrusted to him by the Queen and forced it to the tip of his horn. A small drop of bright green love colasect and the Captain bent over the drone who looked up and opened her mouth wide.  It dropped into her mouth and she swallowed it greedily.  He did the same for the soldiers and then ushered them into the mouth of the small cave.  The refined love would sustain them for about a week.

“We’ll slowly make our way south to the capital.”  He explained.  “Her highness should be confronting Celestia now and with any luck we won’t have to sneak in.  We’ll travel at night and lay low during the day.  Save your love and don’t draw attention.  We’ll gather a few more changelings on the way, if we can.

“Yes Captain Pharynx!” they replied

The changelings huddled down near the back of the cave.  Pharynx stayed near the entrance he had the most love and didn’t want his forces to expend it if they didn’t need to.  His purple eyes fell on a freshly disturbed section of the dirt floor where it was clear that Spiracle had been buried.

He kept his anger in check but added his name to the long list of the fallen and vowed that those responsible would one day pay.  No matter the cost.  The Queen would take care of the white princess.  

So it fell to him to avenge his troops, to take vengeance on the pony that was responsible for the invasion's failure.  The one responsible for so much death.  He would kill that pony, eat his heart and steal his love for himself.  No matter what.  Even if the Queen forbade him.  Even if he was punished.  It was that pony who caused the Queen to lose her way in the first place, his love was too powerful; it had caused her to abandon their normal method of survival, to expose them all, to place their very race in jeopardy.

He wouldn’t let that happen again, he would protect his Queen, even from herself.  She would choose the white unicorn again if given the chance. 

Before that happened he would intervene.  Shining Armor would die.

******

A silence fell over the throne room.  The implications of what Chrysalis said sinking in.  

No sooner had she finished then Spike's voice interrupted Celestia's thoughts.

“Changeling Magic has been detected.  Priority 002.”

Celestia glanced to her sides, both Luna’s and Cadence's ears had twitched, they’d heard the disembodied voice.  Luna had a grim frown on her face and her sword still at her side, but the look on Cadence's face filled Celestia with dread.  Wide panicked eyes, tears full of hurt and betrayal.  In the instant she had heard Chrysalis declare the worst possible scenario was probably running through her mind, Celestia had to absolve the Captain, she knew that Shining would never hurt his wife like this, not knowingly, at least.  She had to protect her daughter, and her family.

“You violated my Captain?” she asked harshly, a furious scowl appearing on her normally serine face.  The whole court just heard you say Shining has an illegitimate foal, I have to get you to say you seduced him.  

A brilliant flash of purple tinted light interrupted anything the Queen might have said.  After blinking away the afterimages Celestia was confused, but not surprised, to see Princess Twilight Sparkle standing between the Queen and the three Princess on the raised dias.  A shimmering dome of purple energy surrounding the petitioner's circle.

Twilight was standing on her hind legs, her wings spread and a glowing staff held in her hooves.  Celestia starred with awe at Twilight.  Her former student stood tall over the Queen, the staff in her hooves pulsing with power.

Celestia could also see Captain Fizzlepop positioned behind Chrysalis and four other guards under the shield, surrounding the pair of changelings.

“Queen Chrysalis, stand down!”.  Twilight didn’t yell but her voice was heard by all present.

To Twilight's surprise the Queen bowed her head.  “As you wish Princess Twilight.  As many times as it takes.  I surrender.  I’ll do anything, just save my daughter.”

Unfazed Twilight nodded.  “Celestia, grant me authority.”

Celestia stood.  “She has already surrendered Twilight. I can handle this.”

The younger princess didn’t turn around.  “I am not letting her hurt you again.” there was a silent plea and a mountain of emotion in the statement.  So much so that Celesta sat back down.  “Clear the throne room, and grant me the authority I need.” Twilight said.

Celesta nodded, then seemed to realize that Twilight could’t see her.  “You have it Twilight.”  She then motioned to the guards who began to usher the nobles from the chamber.  

“You will renounce your claim to the Changeling throne.  You and your line after you.” Twilight started.  She had long wanted to ensure that the nation and Celestia would never have to suffer under Chrysalis again and had run though exactly what she would do if she was ever under her power.

“Formally and publicly you will endorse Thoraxes' reign, and allow any other changelings to become his subjects.  You will be subject to me and me alone and will never again set foot in Canterlot.” During her speech she had scrutinized the smaller changeling and her odd form and coloring.  The conclusion was obvious and uncomfortable.

“You will stand trial for the Rape of Shining Armor.”  Tears filled her eyes but remained unshed.  “You did, didn’t you?” she couldn’t help but ask.

Chrysalis slowly got to her hooves.  “I will agree to become your subject and follow your commands.  I will allow the changelings that follow me to choose King Thorax as their leader.  My Captain is slowly moving south with the few that remain loyal to me.”  She took a deep breath.

“I have already renounced my throne to my daughter.” She indicated the white changeling child at her hooves.  “You will have to speak to her about that line of succession.”  She breathed deep again.  Then looked past Twilight to stare at Cadence.

“I did, I took advantage of Shining Armor, there was no way for him to deny me.  I admit my guilt in his rape.  He had no choice.”  The Queen didn’t break eye contact as she spoke.

Cadence's eyes grew wide, her crystal bow trembled at her side then fell to the floor.  Cadence let out a wail of pain and grief and collapsed into her throne.  Celestia was immediately at her side, her wings unfolded and engulfed the pink alicorn and she held her daughter in her hooves.

Twilight closed her eyes and absorbed the information.  She let out a sigh then focused on the changeling child, her niece if Chrysals was to be believed, and Twilight saw no reason to doubt her.

Chrysalis stepped over her daughter, placing herself in Twilight’s way.  “I have done what you asked, that is in my power, in turn you will do all you can to save my daughter.  You will use all the knowledge and magic you possess to help her.  Won’t you? Please Princess.”  

Twilight had tried for years to be as discerning as Applejack in her dealings with others.  So many had lied to her for their own personal gain and reasons.  She studied the Queen’s face as hard as she could.  She nodded solemnly, “Yes Chrysalis, I will.  Now stand back.”

“As you wish.” The changeling said, and she stepped back.

Twilight looked down on her niece.  “I am Twilight Sparkle.”  She began.  “It’s nice to meet you.”

Blue eyes that were eerily familiar stared back up at her.  “I can taste you.” the filly said.

Twilight blinked “...huh?”

“You…what?”  Chrysalis longed to step forward but she held back doing her best to obey Twilight.

“Mother I can taste her, I didn’t know it was her at first but with you over there I can distinguish you both.”  The filly grew excited and glanced quickly between her aunt and her mother. She bounced on her hooves, and she licked her lips hungrily

Unable to control herself further Chrysalis rushed forward and held the filly in her graying trembling hooves.  Tears fell from her eyes and she openly wept.  “You see, you are going to be fine. You will live.”

Twilight glanced at the guards, they still stood and alert and came closer.  Her staff floated just over her shoulder, the crystal pointed at the pair of Changelings. Then she sat before the pair and placed a hoof on Chrasylis shoulder.  “I think you should explain a bit.”

The former Queen nodded.  “Before the invasion...I..and…Shining. I violated him.”  She glanced at Cadance who still had her face buried in Celestia's wing but she could see her ear pointed at them, and Celesta was looking right at her, an unreadable expression on her face.

“It was…different, it’s not how Nymphs are conceived and I didn’t know what to expect.  I laid her egg a few weeks before the invasion and thought there was something wrong.  She wasn’t growing.”  She had relaxed considerably believing that Twilight would help.  

“I thought she had perished because I was unable to return to the caves under the castle for so long but she was rescued and brought to the badlands.  She was alive but exactly the same as when I laid her, I was bothered by this but during my recovery there was little else I could do but pour love into her egg.”

The sound of writing on paper caused her to stop.  Twilight had unconsciously started taking notes.  A strange writing device scratching the narrative and clicking every few words.  A wry grin appeared on Luna's face, she had left her throne and was circling the shield listening and watching the Queen with rapt attention.

“I haven’t fed since the invasion.  Shinings’ love was so pure and filling and I thought that it had solved the entire hives’ problem.”  She glanced at the surrounding guards. “It’s how we were able to bounce back so quickly.”

Twilight stopped her.  “You mean our entire fight in the badlands, you hadn’t fed at all before that?”

The throne room had mostly been cleared but there was a small group sitting just outside the shield.  Luna had stopped near Flash, Raven and a second guard pony.  Twilight could see Blueblood, of all ponies, fussing over Flash, his mother standing nearby.

Chrysalis' faded mane bobbed as she nodded.  “I’m not sure what happened but I can’t remember tasting any emotion after being struck by Shinings shield.”  Her grasp on her filly tightened.

“Prisma has never been able to taste another pony or creature besides me.  Probably because she is half pony, that’s the only explanation I have.   A few months ago I realized that the love I had gathered from Shining was running out, it wasn’t infinite as I had thought.  Right now she has enough love to last her three days, maybe more, and I will be dead by tomorrow.”

“That doesn’t explain why she can taste me.”  Twilight said.  She had already formulated a few theories.

“No.”  The former Queen agreed.   “But you can worry about that after you feed her and ensure that she has a future. I am your subject Twilight but Shining is her father.  If Cadence allows it, please introduce them, tell him…tell him thank you for her and that I’m…sorry, I don’t know what else to say.”

Cadence finally found her voice.  “You waited this long so you wouldn’t be punished for hurting Shining!”  Celestia’s hoof covered her mouth, and she shook her head.

“I can’t refute that but I will take my punishment.  Whatever you desire.”  Chrysalis said, she turned her green eyes to Twilight.   “Please Princess feed Prisma.”

Twilight's notes stopped and she blushed.  Under her in her seated position she brought her knees closer together.

Lunna chuckled.

“How do I do that?” Twilight asked.

What appeared to be a genuine smile appeared on the changelings face.  “Just think of somepony you love, the one you love most would be best.  Just let yourself feel love for that pony.”

Twilight gulped and closed her eyes.

“OK Prisma like I taught you, reachout feel the love and open yourself, let the void in you be filled, The love will flow in.”

“Yes…I can feel it.  It’s there, it’s different but it’s there.  I can taste it..it’s….it’s….HURK!” Her cheeks and her eyes bulged, and she began to cry.  Cadence’s tears vanished, the sound of a crying child awaking her maternal instincts

The small changeling briefly covered her mouth then was noisily sick, a dark green jelly like paste spilled from her mouth.  She wailed with pain.

Chrysalis panicked and pulled her child away from Twilight “NOOOO! GET AWAY” she screamed at the princess.  “HOW COULD YOU?  YOU’VE KILLED HER.”

The accusation stung Twilight more than she cared to admit.  She had been called many things but a foal killer was not one of them, and hearing a filly cry and knowing she was the cause devastated her.  She backed off and exited the area of the shield, leaving the guards with the crying filly and her mother.  The remaining princesses came close.  Celestia and Cadance tried to push through the shield.

Celestia placed her hooves on the shield.   “Chrysalis what happened, what do we do?”

“Twilight's love is spoiled.  It’s poison for any changeling that feeds on her.”

Celestia was incensed “How dare you! Twilight loves everypony.  How could that hurt anypony let alone a child.”  Twilight herself winced, tears began to form in her eyes

Chrysalis didn’t answer and Celestia could see magic gathering in her horn.  She blinked, in an instant Fizzlepop had the sharpened edge of her shoe pressed against Chrysalis neck.  “Stop casting.” she ordered.

The former Queen didn’t stop.  “It’s love, it’s all I have left, please let me give it to her.  She’ll die.”

“Captain please, let her finish.”  Celestia's voice was calm.

“Twilight didn’t want you two to be close,  I won’t let her hurt you.  I’d kill her before I let that happen.”  Fizzle didn’t flinch.  “This could be a trick.”

“She won’t Fizzle, she’s protecting her foal.”

“It only LOOKS like a foal.  Stay back.” she replied

Cadence longed to cradle the unconscious filly in her hooves. “What did you mean about Twilight’s love being spoiled?”

A bright green orb of concentrated love formed at the top of Chrysalis horn.  “Give her this, it will buy her time, you have to save her.”  She locked eyes with the Princess of Love.  “I’m truly sorry about Shining, I was weak and he was so good to you.  I…I love him.”

Tears filled Cadence's eyes but she nodded.  “Twilight.” she prompted, as Fizzle's weak aura surrounded the drop of love and placed it in Prismas mouth. 

The last bit of color faded from Chrysalis' mane and she leaned forward against Fizzle's arm, unable to hold herself up.  “Her love…has spoiled.”  She said again as the chitten of her legs began to turn a sickly gray and flake away from her body. “Her heart…has been…broken.”

Cadence gasped, her sister, her friend, broken hearted.  How had she not felt it? How had she not seen it?

Chrysalis Green eyes closed and she let out a final breath. “My foal…please.”  With a final plea, never once paying for her crimes the changeling Queen died.