Prologue - For Want of a Nail

Prologue – For Want of a Nail

On September 1^st 1991, a young boy was introduced to a world that had been hidden just out of sight. However, unlike many other instances of him, he boarded a different train compartment that was not visited by a red-headed child, but was instead occupied by a girl surrounded by books.

In the ruined centre that was once the Great Hall of Hogwarts, two figures stood across from each other in a scene of carnage and destruction; glaring at one another. On one side amidst the twisted forms of defender and Death Eater alike was the greatest Dark Lord to have plagued the Wizarding World since Grindelwald: Lord Voldemort.

The dark wizard's once immaculate robes were now little more than rags, barely clinging onto the emaciated homunculus' form. Several wounds were on Voldemort's body that included large and small burns, bruises and other freshly bleeding wounds that wept out a strange silvery ichor which hissed and bubbled as it hit the stone floor. The largest of which was a great gash across his chest, courtesy of one very brave and very dead Gryffindor.

On the other side, a short boy that looked to be barely out of puberty kept a quivering hand pointed towards the dark lord. Looking far more exhausted and with more visible wounds, the fierce light that shone within the emerald eyes of the Boy-Who-Lived never dimmed as he glared right back at his nemesis. The cloak of Ignotus Peverell was draped around his shoulders, tightly wrapped around a rather deep wound. It was an almost crippling thought of how many more friends he would be apologizing to through the use of the Stone that lay within his pocket. Harry Potter's face was a rictus of rage, sorrow and determination as he stood amongst the broken and awfully still forms of his friends and family.

“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...”

“No more, Tom.” Harry broke the strange silence that had elapsed between the two of them first. The cold power that he could feel within the Elder Wand was so very alien to his old wand. It had a cold, ruthless and very awful inevitable feeling to it that contrasted so strongly to the gentle warmth and excitement of his old Phoenix wand. “This ends here.” But it would be enough to finish the job started so very long ago.

“...Born to those who have thrice defied him,”

Voldemort's face twisted at the utterance of his cast-off name, though he did not immediately devolve into a fit of rage like he had so many times before. That had cost him far too much, thanks to Neville Longbottom, who had been completely bisected at the waist, still clutching the sword of Godric Gryffindor. Both wizards were on their last legs, in terms of physical fortitude and magical reserves.

“Born as the seventh month dies...”

The next spell would be the deciding one.

Voldemort's pale hand tightened around his wand, his lips parting in tandem with Harry's own as the very air seemed to charge itself with electricity. The ambient magic that resided within Hogwarts' ancient grounds mixed with the magic of the two wizards as various detritus that littered the hall were twisted and warped into strange crystalline amalgamations of beast and reptile.

“AVADA KEDAVRA!”

“FLAMMIS IUSTITIAE!”

The sickly green spellbolt of Voldemort's met the golden flames of Harry's, colliding in the middle of the hall with an explosion of sound and color. Magical energy poured into great waves from each of their wands, bolstering their respective spells whose forms began to twist and coalesce into shapes that matched their masters. A basilisk with burning red eyes thrashed against a magnificent golden stag that was wreathed in flames. Each clash between the two great beasts shook the very foundations of the ancient castle.

“...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal...”

'Flammis Iustitiae' or when translated: 'Flames of Justice' was Harry's final trump card. It was a legacy spell (of sorts) created by Dumbledore during his final years as a means of dealing with Voldemort's horcruxes (a backup to venom-enhanced swords and giant snake fangs) that was then passed down to Harry in his sixth year. In fact, it was with this very same spell that he used to cleanse Slytherin's ring of it's parasitic host. The catch was that it was an incredibly magically intensive spell, to the point that only Harry was able to cast it and even then, he could only manage a single casting before being competely drained of all energy. It was only thanks to the sheer power of the Elder Wand and it's similarity to the Patronus Charm that he wasn't collapsing underneath it's staggering demands.

And yet...!

Harry's teeth felt like they were going to crack from how hard he was clenching them. Strange esoteric runes (of which he only recgonized a fraction of) wriggled like worms up and down Voldemort's exposed flesh, pulsating to their own eerie beat that seemed to coincide with a burst of fresh power that further pressed against Harry's own spell. Despite all of the advantages he possessed, Voldemort was a magical powerhouse whose brilliance matched that of Dumbledore's with a depravity that knew no bounds. He locked eyes with Voldemort who had a fierce grin on his face as an unbidden thought came to his mind; the stag faltering in it's assault that the basilisk immediately capitalized on.

'He was going to die a snivelling mongrel.'

'Wait, since when do I-' Harry sucked in a deep breath that sent an agonizing flash through his ribs. Voldemort's chuckle somehow managed to be heard over the raucous magical din.

“Keep those Occlumency barriers up now!” Voldemort had already slipped out of his mind before he could retaliate in any fashion as the spellcasting battle took a decisive turn for the worse.

No matter how much Harry tried rallying up his already fleeting reserves of power, that one mistake had proved far too costly in this magical battle. Sensing that victory was soon within his grasp, it was rather typical that Voldemort could not resist one last taunt.

“This is it, Harry.” putting a mocking inflection on his name just as Harry did with his own. “There are no more professors to hide behind.”

'Professor Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall.

“No more friends!” His growing rage was reflected as the basilisk pushed the stag back even further.

'Hagrid. Hedwig. Ron. Dobby. Neville. Ginny. Luna. Fred. George. Draco. Everyone in the DA...Because of me!'

“No more snivelling fathers!” The cursed basilisk took a particularly vicious bite out of the incandescent stag that sent a white-hot pain coursing through Harry's arm. He staggered backwards, which Voldemort gleefully seized upon and pushed his spell even further.

'Dad! Sirius!'

“NO MORE FILTHY MUDBLOODS!” Black streaks seeped from Voldemort's wand and crept up the emerald snake, which seemed to feed on the wizard's rage and madness as it took on an even more malevolent appearance. The sheer fury coupled with pure ecstasy on Voldemort's face had never made him look more inhuman at this point.

'A red-haired woman pleaded for her baby's life. The baby in question smiling at his mother initially, now crying as she got louder and louder.'

“YOU ARE NOT THE CHOSEN ONE, POTTER! YOU NEVER WERE!”

'A red-faced girl with frizzy brown hair and a sheepish smile. A train ride that was filled with far too many sweets, book recommendations and laughter...'

“LORD VOLDEMORT SHALL REIGN FOR ETERNITY!!!”

“...but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...”

“No.”

The basilisk bounced off the stag that it had previously been pushing back with growing ease. There, almost unnoticeable in it's size, were it not for the white-hot glow that burned even brighter than the stag...was a small otter resting between the antlers.

Harry was always more powerful than his peers. He was stronger than most adult witches and wizards, if not in skill or spell repertoire then certainly in raw power. With the Elder Wand, his natural abilities were enhanced to an even more absurd degree.

'Even so...'

'Hundreds of dementors descended upon an innocent man and his godson. Harry stood hidden behind a bush with Her. He couldn't wait for someone he knew now wouldn't ever come. He stood up, more magic surging within his body than had ever before as an incantation left his lips.'

A Grim burst out of his wand, closely followed by a doe and a wolf; joining the stag and otter. He could feel the Resurrection Stone pulsing at a different beat to his own heart in his pocket. With every beat, another figure would surge out of his wand to join the army that was now beating back a wildly flailing basilisk.

'I wouldn't be here without them!'

'“Oh! Before I forget! I got somethin' fer yer...” the giant of a man turned around and rummaged through his bag in front of the petrified Dursleys and stupefied Harry. He pulled out a rather tattered old box and nervously presented it to the boy.

Befuddled, Harry opened the box and gasped at it's contents: a brightly colored cake decorated with pink frosting with the impossible set of words 'HAPPEE BIRTHDAE HARRY' emblazoned on it in a green icing that matched his own eye color.

“I made it meself!” stated Hagrid proudly. A tear fell down Harry's face as he continued to stare at the cake absentmindedly.

A cake that was made just for him.

Hagrid seemed to lose his confidence and whispered anxiously, “Hope you don' mind the buttercream frostin'. S'all I had on hand.”'

'Their kindness! When no one had paid him anything of the sort before!'

A small, shimmering lamb burst out of his wand and dashed towards where his fellows were doing battle with Voldemort's basilisk. It let out a mighty bleat that belied it's diminutive size; the sound causing the emerald serpent to rear back in pain as the Grim and werewolf gleefully set upon it's weakened form.

“W-What is this magic?!” cried a stricken Voldemort.

'“Wingardium Leviosa!”

The massive club that was about to crush the pair of Harry and Hermione screeched to a halt in mid-air. They both turned wide-eyed to their unexpected savior who was standing at the threshold of the bathroom with a fierce look on his face.

Ronald Weasley slashed his wand downwards causing the massive club to smash down onto the troll's head. The troll moaned as his eyes immediately rolled upwards and took one tremulous step forwards before crashing down to the ground completely insensate.

The trio panted as the adrenaline faded from their bodies and Harry and Hermione stared at the redhead who slowly put his wand away. Ron's previously determined expression faded as he looked at Hermione with a mix of nervousness and shame.

“I...” Ron visibly gathered himself, “I'm really, really, REALLY sorry for what I said Hermione. I hope you can forgive me!”'

'Their loyalty! No matter how rough things got or what happened between them, they would always be there...!'

A jubilant Jack Russell terrier surged from Harry's wand howling as it was surrounded in an aura of crimson flames before dashing off to the defense of it's brethren.

Voldemort snarled and roared something in a language that caused Harry's vision to blur and his bones to ache. A shifting black ichor seeped out of his wand that spilled out into several puddles that hovered just before hitting the floor, before they abruptly expanded into great cloaked figures that joined his spectral basilisk.

'Neville shakily stood up to his feet and faced the three Gryffindors, his wand nowhere in sight.

“You-you three are planning on sneaking out again? Aren't you?” Their guilty faces were answer enough as the pudgy eleven year old tried to form a scowl, “You're-you're going to get Gryffindor in trouble again!”

“Neville, mate, just let us-”

“No!” yelled Neville, cutting off Ron. “I won't let you! I'll-I'll” Harry's eyes widened as Neville put up his fists in a ready stance, trembling all over, “I'll fight you!”'

'Their courage inspires me to keep moving forward!'

A smiling blonde face took the forefront of Harry's memory with another burst of heat emanating from the Resurrection Stone that heralded the arrival of a lumbering bear covered in golden fire that roared and batted away a pseudo-Dementor harrying the terrier.

'Another night with Dursleys, another night sent to his room without any food.

Somehow he thought discovering that he was a wizard would have changed things.

Well, technically he wasn't sent alone to the cupboard anymore.

He had been upgraded to the much classier version of Dudley's second bedroom. His charming cousin had even thoughtfully left old bits of food to attract bugs in out-of-the way places in a never before seen usage of brainpower.

Upsides and downsides, he supposed.

And he had friends!...who still haven't written him despite promising that they would do so.

Maybe they're just waiting to send him a whole bunch of stuff on his birthday. He flopped onto his bed (also an upgrade, if he didn't pay attention to the rusty springs that poked through the mattress) with a sigh.

“Prek!”

Harry blinked and then looked apologetically at Hedwig, going over to her cage and stroking her feathers. He smiled as she leaned into her touch, amber eyes closing in bliss, before chirping once more and flapping to his shoulder. Hedwig nuzzled the side of his cheek with her head, prompting his smile to widen further.

Owls were brilliant.

“Sorry girl. You're probably pretty hungry. I expect you'll have a busy night hunting.” Harry walked over to his window (will the upsides never cease to end?!) and unlatched it with practiced movements, making sure he didn't make too much noise. The warmth of an English summer night hit him along with a refreshing cool breeze.

“Beautiful night too. Wish we could go flying together. Unfortunately we'll have to wait until school starts up again.” He sighed and shook his head, stroking Hedwig's soft feathers, “Listen to me mope. You go enjoy yourself girl. At least one of us should.”

“Prek!” Hedwig's wings unfurled, but instead of the feeling of her talons tensing before she took off into the night, she simply gently smacked the back of Harry's head.

“Hedwig?” In lieu of an answer, his odd owl jumped to the windowsill, resolutely turned her back on the night and then jumped into Harry's arms with outstretched wings. The same feathery appendages gently wrapped around his head as she seemed to content herself with nuzzling Harry and making soft crooning noises.

Feeling like a frog was stuck in his throat, Harry closed the window and slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor with his friend.'

'Their unwavering support! To let me know that I was no longer alone!'

Hedwig's echo soared out like a comet as she blasted towards the otter that was nestled within the antlers of the stag. She flew in a tight spiral, picking up more and more speed that generated a whirling vortex of raw magical energy that caused the pseudo-Dementors to spin out of control from the winds that were suddenly kicked up. None of Harry's army was affected however, and her support helped beat back the tide of Voldemort's spectres.

There was an expression on Voldemort's face. It was something that he had never seen before on the dark wizard.

'His feet were already moving the second he saw the message on the wall.

“Harry-wait! Wait up!”

Harry honestly found Ginny's crush extremely off-putting, even when he didn't consider that she was Ron's sister, Harry had never thought he would be so embarrassed when someone paid TOO much attention to him.

But she wasn't cruel to him.

She may have propped him up on a pedestal but she was on his side even when most of the entire school turned against him when he accidentally revealed his Parseltongue abilities.

The teachers seemed like they have already given up on Ginny still being alive. Now they were focused on trying to protect the ones who were still alive.

Who did he think he was kidding? He was just a 2^nd year student. His and Ron's footsteps became more and more prominent as they separated from the rest of the student populous.

Even so...he had the ability to find her.

Didn't he wish for the same thing before Hogwarts?'

'I wouldn't have a reason to fight without them!'

“You think you've won, Potter?!” shouted Voldemort.

Fear.

“You think a few parlor tricks will save you?!”

That was what he was seeing on Voldemort.

“THAT YOU COULD BEAT ME!”

The newest addition to Harry's forces took the form of a spirited mare covered in dark red flames and galloped towards the battle with a magnificent whinny.

It was something so odd to see on a face that seemed to be set in a perpetual expression of malevolence with the occasional bouts of surprise whenever Harry managed to luck his way out of his latest misadventure.

He remembered seeing it only once before and that was with the diary Horcrux as it realized it's existence was quickly coming to an end.

“Marge won't be making it, tonight, it seems.” groused Uncle Vernon, hanging up the phone.

“Oh, dear! And Dudders was so looking forward to his Aunt visiting him today!” Harry was pretty sure Aunt Petunia wasn't as put out by this piece of news as his uncle was. She never really cared much for Marge and her awful dogs. “What happened?”

“Flat tires. All of them at once! She was furious and rightfully so considering she just got the car from the shop. Told her to go sue those ruddy mechanics for every penny they were worth for such a shoddy job.” harrumphed Vernon.

Just out of sight of the Dursleys, a small bulbous-eyed figure dressed in one of Harry's nicer shirts winked at him, before snapping his fingers and winking out of existence.

'Their dedication!'

A small figure wrapped in warm orange fire came into being behind Harry's legs and marched towards Voldemort, whose hand shot towards his face and ripped out his left eye. With a wordless snarl of pain and hate, Voldemort crushed the bloody orb and cast it's contents towards the basilisk. The 'skin' of the basilisk rippled at the point of impact, which travelled upwards until it the neck of the creature before eight more heads ripped their way out of the sides of the entity.

With newfound strength, along with it's few remaining pseudo-Dementors, it tore into the army that stood arrayed against it.

“I-Impossible.” muttered Voldemort in a hoarse tone.

An army that did not crumble.

There was something to said about chaos.

“Argus! Do something!” screeched Umbridge.

Specifically, the brand of chaos associated with the Weasley Twins.

“I'm trying, Headmistress!”

It was paradoxically controlled; directed against their intended victims with very little collateral damage. The sheer amount of effort and planning that the red-heads put in for their pranks was mind-boggling and were always absolutely spectacular.

“Finite!” yelled one Inquisitor, only for his fellow to try and stop his casting.

“No! Wait, don't try-”

BANG!

Countermeasures were always implemented in the case their recipients discovered the prank too early. Countermeasures for those countermeasures were developed before implementation on all but the most short-notice cases. Fred had once confided in him that the Sorting Hat had said that the two were suited for ALL four of the Houses.

In the end, it was their sheer nerve that was the deciding factor that landed them in Gryffindor, much to the horror of Professor McGonagall.

Harry had a wide smile on his face as he watched Umbridge,Filch and her Inquisitors scramble to get rid of the fireworks that were exploding into some of the most vile and filthy caricatures of Umbridge and her squad. Ducking into a secret passage, he found Fred and George stifling the other's laughter, with tears pouring down their faces.

Fred acknowledged him with a nod, but was having trouble stringing together any words into a coherent sentence.

“Oh, Merlin. I hope she tries vanishing them next! They multiply by ten every time you try.” choked out George.

“Evanesco!”

They all burst out into laughter the second Theodore Nott tried exactly that.

'Their cheerfulness!'

Slinking between the legs of the stag were two Siamese cats that shifted between red and gold colors. With twin powerful leaps, the cats leapt onto the hydra, quickly clawing their way up the body much to the shrieking displeasure of the beast who furiously shook itself in vain trying to dislodge the fiery felines.

Harry thought he would feel happy in seeing that the man who had quite literally haunted him for his entire life scared.

To see him so vulnerable.

So...

Human.

'Harry gave a low chuckle that had the barest hint of humor in it, as he stood together with Draco Malfoy of all people. “Scared, Draco?”

Draco snorted, though his eyes never left that of one of the Death Eaters that had encircled them both, “You wish.”

“Draco...come here. Now.” ordered Lucius Malfoy who was clad in full Death Eater regalia.

With a horrible mix of grief, longing, anger and regret on his face, Draco delivered his succinct answer. “No.”

Lucius' eyes widened with shock, “You would stand against the Dark Lord? Ally yourself with a bunch of blood traitors, half-breeds and mudbloods...?!”

“I would stand with my friends!” shot back Draco, “People who'll be there for me to stand against a monster when my own family wouldn't lift a finger to help me!”

'Their determination!'

A startled laugh escaped his lips when a lion sprang into existence that was apparently his representation of Draco. The fact that Voldemort's face went back to one of his usual favourites (Hatred for all things hairy) also served to alleviate the odd feeling at Voldemort's uncharacteristic display.

“When I was nine, I lost my mother.”

“What?”

Luna's voice had lost that dreamlike quality he had so often associated the blonde Ravenclaw with that it was a shock to hear her without it. Especially when it was about something so personal.

The two were out on the grounds. Harry had wanted to get some space to himself since the whole reveal in the Daily Prophet of his 'Chosen' status. She being the awesome woman She was, had managed to distract his fellow Gryffindors and allow him the chance to slip out of the castle. Harry had somehow wandered off to a small clearing near the Forbidden Forest where Luna had been feeding the thestrals.

She greeted him airily, but otherwise had the uncanny sense that he wasn't in the mood for conversation. Instead, she was just content to simply provide him silent companionship right up until his thoughts took a darker turn towards...Sirius.

Luna scratched the underside of a thestral who purred under the blonde's ministrations, “My mother was an Unspeakable. She was a very good spellcrafter.”

Harry remained silent, wondering where his friend was going with this, but unwilling to push her. “I...was always pestering her to let me see her make a spell. But she always turned me down, saying it was too dangerous. I wanted to see her more often, you see? Her work at the Department of Mysteries meant she didn't have a lot of time to spend with me or Daddy.”

Luna swallowed and sank down to the ground, pressed up against a thestral who was worriedly fussing over her. “Until one day, she said yes. It was meant to be a small thing she was making but I...must have distracted her and she lost control of the spell matrix and...”

She stopped talking and Harry was glad that she didn't finish the tale. He was filled with the horrifying knowledge of why she even brought it up.

“Luna...” What could he say? 'I'm sorry.'? Like he hasn't heard that enough from other people in regards to Sirius.

Still, she ended up proving why she was in Ravenclaw and why he was in Gryffindor with her next words.

“Harry.” she was looking at him, bright blue eyes having lost their usual lidded gaze, “It doesn't get any easier until you start to try and forgive yourself. Even if you want some sort of punishment for thinking that you deserve what happened to them or for wanting to feel better about yourself. My mother gave into my childish demands because she wanted me to be happy. And I didn't want to keep making her even more sad by wallowing in my own mistake.”

He didn't know at what point he felt something hot sliding down his cheeks...

“I don't know who Sirius was to you, but I'm sure he loved you as much as my mother did.”

...nor did he notice when Luna had crossed the distance between himself and her and locked him in a gentle embrace.

“So live, Harry. Don't just survive. If not for yourself, then do it to give them a reason to smile.”

'Their wisdom!'

A wispy hare that was just barely able to be seen with the fire covering it, popped in and out of Harry's vision in more and more improbable locations. Harry put a hand on the odd little animal that now rested on his shoulder. His determination to finish the fight was as strong as ever, but when looking at Voldemort's increasingly desperate expression...

'“Well, what's the bloody point?!” Harry snarled, losing his temper as he so often did in recent months. He was working on a particularly difficult bit of wide-area transfiguration that would allow him to turn the very environment into an all-purpose means of defence and attack.

Dumbledore could do it.

Voldemort could do it.

McGonagall could do it.

And of course: Hermione could do it.

But not Harry.

“The point, Mr. Potter” began McGonagall quietly, her voice piercing the stillness of the classroom and forcing him to meet her eyes filled with an unwavering determination, “Is that I made a promise last year to Dolores Umbridge and to yourself.”

Confused, Harry opened his mouth only to be cut off, “I don't follo-”

“Do you still want to be an Auror, Mr. Potter?”

“Bit hard, considering the whole fated fight with Voldemort coming up-”

“Do you still want to be an Auror, Mr. Potter?” she repeated without batting an eye.

Harry suddenly recalled the meeting he had with McGonagall and Umbridge who had decided to barge in on Harry's plans for the future. Umbridge had scoffed at his tentative dream to be an Auror on that day and McGonagall had retaliated with all the fury of a mother lion, saying that she would ensure that Harry would become an Auror even if she had to do it herself.

'Potter, I will assist you to become an Auror if it is the last thing I do! If I have to coach you nightly, I will make sure you achieve the required results!'

He steeled himself and looked his Head of House dead in the eye, “Yes.”

She nodded sharply and restored the room back to it's normal state with a flick of her wand. It was already getting to be very late in the morning, but she showed no signs of slowing down.

How could he do any less?'

'Their guidance!'

...it was clear that the fight was quickly reaching it's end.

“I AM LORD VOLDEMORT-”

A large yowling cat leapt onto the hydra and unceremoniously severed one of it's heads which burst into a sickly looking ooze that evaporated once it was disconnected from the main body. The leftover stump seemed to bubble ominously for a moment before a hare appeared over it and doused it in azure flames.

“-AND I WILL NOT-”

“Not that I do not appreciate the company, but I admit to being curious as to what brings you to my office today, Harry.” Dumbledore sipped his tea and Harry felt his heart settling down as he drank his own cup.

“It's just...” he began after a few minutes of silence, “...I ran into a group of first years – Hufflepuff and Gryffindors – and...when they saw me...”

Harry took a great gulp of the tea in front of him, wincing as it slightly burned his tongue. “...They must have been talking about Voldemort or his Death Eaters or something along those lines. They...they were so scared, sir. But when they saw me...”

“It was like their prayers had been answered.” finished Dumbledore quietly. “When I had defeated Grindelwald, when Tom was at his very worst...I experienced much the same. Harry, I-”

“But you're you!” exclaimed Harry, his hands shaking as he held onto the cup. “I've been getting better since the year started. I could probably go toe-to-toe with any student in this school and have a pretty good shot of beating them.”

“...but I'm not a genius like 'Mione. Not like you. Not like Him. When it really counted, I relied on dumb luck to get out of a scrap. I'm...not a savior. I'm just...Harry.”

At some point, without him realizing it, Dumbledore's weathered hands had settled over his own. The trembles that were coursing through them, gradually settled down as he looked into Dumbledore's eyes.

“I have made many mistakes in my life, Harry. Things that I still regret even to this very day. But even though you may not be as clever as Voldemort nor as gifted, I believe you will prevail regardless of the odds.”

'Their faith...'

“-I CANNOT-?!”

Voldemort's last rant was cut off as a massive phoenix blazed into existence and blasted all of the remaining pseudo-dementors and the remaining heads on the hydra with a single might sweep of it's wings.

“Yes. You can.” spat Harry. “Not because I'm stronger. Or more clever. But because I have something that is far more precious!”

“POTTER!” he roared, even as he cast a magenta shield around himself to protect him from the forces that now pressed him on all sides.

They were both terrible dancers, but they had still managed to laugh themselves silly as they made more and more snide self-depreciating comments about their own skills that they were giggling like fools as they left the crowded Ball Room.

If there was one good thing about this stupid Tournament, it was that he was with his best friend. She sighed, still giggling slightly under her breath as She leaned against his arm while they walked into the cool night air of the Hogwarts Grounds.

A few other pairs could be seen wandering through the garden that Professor Sprout had created for this night and were off in their own little corners. Harry noted with a blush that more than a few were snogging without a care in the world and by the quick glance he darted down towards Her...

...Well, Her pink cheeks were a pretty good indication that she had noticed this as well.

Without speaking, the pair had trotted off to find their own secluded corner of the garden, the quiet chirping of insects and the fading tones of the music emanating from the Castle being their only accompaniment.

His heart was hammering in his chest, the blood roaring in his ears as he tenderly brushed a lock of brown hair behind Her ears. They locked eyes with each other, feelings that had been building up since the previous year's end were coming to a crescendo in this moment.

“Harry...” She whispered, Her face tilted up to meet his.

“THEIR LOVE!” he roared out.

An army stood against the one who had cut them down. Defiant even in death, even though he had failed them all so badly, they still stood with him to the very end.

In his final moments as Harry's spell began to overcome Voldemort's prodigious arcane defences, the Dark Lord shrieked in rage and thrust out his left hand. His pale fingers forming into a claw that he wrenched backwards.

“If I am to die here...! Then I aM TAKING YOU WITH ME!”

CRACK!

There was a great ripping sound from behind Harry as something flew through the air and impacted his unprotected back. Harry gagged and collapsed onto his knees, the still form of Neville's top half dragging him down to the floor with Gryffindor's sword going straight through his spine and out the middle of his chest.

“...and either must die at the hand of the other...”

The last few ashes that once made up the Dark Lord Voldemort were scattered away by the remaining vestiges of magical power. Harry Potter collapsed onto his side with a weak, pained gasp in a pool of blood staining the already crimson hall. Harry struggled to get up, slipping constantly on his own blood as he attempted to do so. As his mind began to fade and his thoughts grew increasingly hazy, he blindly searched the hall, looking for a familiar brown frizz as his breathing became ever more shallow.

“Hermione.” The Boy-Who-Lived took his final breath.

“...for neither can live while the other survives.”

~Equestrian Elegy~

Harry woke up in a white void.

Naked, too.

It was the second time he had done so and he was already sick of the place.

At least Voldemort was dead.

He supposed he should have been more upset that he died too. Especially considering he got taken down by Gryffindor's sword.

Smarmy bastard.

But on the other hand, it's not like he would have had much to go back to. At least this way he could see his friends and family again. They wouldn't be ephemeral shades that he couldn't touch, but...hopefully they would be something more real.

The station of King's Crossing soon shimmered into view, except this time it was completely empty. No odd Headmasters or Babymorts. He kind of expected to see Voldemort, though he was fairly sure the bastard was dead considering how much he was screaming.

Hopefully his lack of presence meant that he was already onboard a one-way trip to Hell.

While thinking such cheery thoughts, Harry walked over to the nearest bench and plopped down onto it as he waited for his own ride out of here. He was kind of hoping that he'd see some familiar faces on board when the train finally arrived and then thought that it might not be the best idea in the world to be the only one naked.

A set of comfy looking clothes in Gryffindor colors appeared next to him and fit perfectly as he shrugged them on, before sitting back down on the bench. Harry could have been waiting for a few minutes or hours or even longer. He didn't get tired, hungry or feel any particular need to use the loo; content to sit in a state of half-wakefulness that he was pulled from by a familiar shrill whistle.

Fading into existence, just at the extreme edge of his vision, was a nostalgic locomotive that rolled down the tracks, before coming to a gentle stop in front of him. Steam hissed out on all sides as the compartment doors popped open, inviting Harry on board.

Much to his disappointment, he didn't see anyone poking their heads out of the windows.

“Ah, well. I expect they're already waiting for me up ahead.” Harry gave one final look at Kings Cross before stepping up to board his last train, his thoughts on Hermione.

The station, train and everything else save for the white void disappeared just as he was about to take that last step, causing him to stumble in place and blink rapidly at the now missing vehicle.

“...eh?”

Harry spun in place, looking for...well...anything.

Nothing.

He turned around again and saw-

ChaosInfinityEverythingThatIsAndAllThatWillBeLockedIntoAnEndlessSpiralOfMadnessAndGriefAndJoyAndWonderAndHorrorAndLoveAndFamilyFriendsEnemiesLoversSonsMothersDaughtersBrothersSistersCivilizationsEndingUniversesCollapsingRealityCrumblingAwayToTheFinalOutcomeThatAwaitsAllAndDeniesOnlyOne

Harry was on his knees, open-mouthed staring at an all-too familiar structure that had been the source of more than a few of his nightmares and even rarer fantasies. An ancient stone archway with a shimmering veil of mist kept within it's opening, whispers of people that Harry could swear he could recognize but couldn't quite make the connection, filtered out from the structure.

The Veil of Death.

A sinking feeling came into being in his stomach as Harry shakily got up from his position, it was only redoubled as the mist became thicker within the archway as it condensed to fit the now smaller space it had to maneuver around-

Harry's eyes widened as the interior of the Veil began to be filled in with stone at a prodigious rate.

“No, stop!” he yelled out. Harry had the awful, awful certainty that if he didn't make it through the Veil in time before it closed, he would never get to see any of his family again.

Harry's feet pounded against the ground, wishing with all of his might that the distance between him and the archway would get shorter as he raced against time. To his growing horror however, no matter how much he ran or how much he prayed that this world would respond to his thoughts, the distance between him and his goal never changed.

As if to mock him even further, Harry suddenly arrived at his goal just as the Veil closed and filled completely with stone; the archway now resembled a tombstone more than anything.

The symbol of the Deathly Hallows was emblazoned across it's surface

Harry didn't care as he smashed a fist against the unyielding stone.

“LET ME IN!”

Two fists.

“LET ME GO!”

Shoulder charge.

“I HAVE TO SEE THEM!”

He ran around to the other side, only to meet the same sight. He snarled and wailed on the stone for all that he was worth.

“I AM NOT THE MASTER OF DEATH!”

Were he anywhere else, Harry was sure that his bones would have broken by now. As it were, the lack of pain only spurred him to try that much harder. At some point it occurred to him to wish that the Void would at least answer his prayers of a wand. Much to his vicious satisfaction, he received one that he quickly began to use to blast the door with everything he had.

When that failed to do anything for the hundreds of thousands of spells he casted, he started calling out to the other side, hoping someone would hear him.

“HERMIONE!”

Anyone.

“DAD!”

Harry scratched his nails across the stone, seeking to claw open the cracks that ran along the surface of the stone.

“MOM!”

His fist pounded against the doorway.

“SIRIUS!”

Harry screamed as loud as he could against the door.

“RON!”

“NEVILLE!”

“DUMBLEDORE!”

Anyone at all.

"SNAPE!"

“BELLATRIX!”

“TOM!”

“Please. Someone...!” he choked out. Harry slapped his hand against the stone repeatedly cycling through all the people he had loved.

All the ones he had met.

That he'd heard of.

That he'd hated.

All the Gods and Devils above and below. He prayed that he would not be stuck in this awful in-between existence, denied even the meanest of contact.

The Void did not change back to Kings Crossing, nor any other setting. All that remained was the Veil. It's final destination being something that Harry was becoming more and more certain would be denied to him.

Just when he was about to lose that last ember of hope that burned within him, something changed.

The Deathly Hallow symbol flashed, going through a kaleidoscope of different colors as a similar multi-hued circle appeared below his feet, engulfing him in it's light. He smiled, thinking his trial was finally over as he felt himself sinking into the portal, depositing him into a realm filled with shifting colors and shapes.

That was all he could glimpse before his world exploded into pain.

~Equestrian Elegy~

High atop a mountain where a grand castle perched precariously on it's side, two equine figures stood upon a balcony overlooking the picturesque landscape below that was dyed in glorious hues of orange and red from the setting sun.

The tallest figure was a tall slender mare of the purest white, that only stood out in more contrast to her polychromatic mane and tail that floated in an ethereal wind. Two large wings were partially tucked into the mare's side that was used to keep a much smaller pony – a purple filly with a small horn coming out the crown of her mane – in a tight, but not constrictive embrace. The mare had a large, elegant horn expanding from her head that was surrounded by a corona of green energy.

This was Princess Celestia – Monarch of Equestria and one of only two alicorns in the entire world sharing a private moment with her pupil, a unicorn filly entering her eleventh year of life, by the name of Twilight Sparkle.

The two ponies watched in companionable silence as the Sun began a controlled descent down the horizon.

“Tell me, Twilight, what do you feel?” asked Celestia in a gentle, motherly tone.

“Well based on the thaumic field you're currently outputting and the distance from the planet to the Sun, the rate at which the Sun is making it's descent, I'd estimate that the current amount of mana being expended is-” Twilight squeaked in embarrassment as her explanation was cut off when Celestia nuzzled her cheek.

“Don't worry about the specifics, Twilight. Close your eyes and tell me how what I'm doing makes you feel.”

Her cheeks red from the gentle admonishment, Twilight nonetheless quickly complied as she shut her eyes and contorted her face into a grimace. Celestia stifled a giggle at the serious expression the filly had adopted, not wanting to break her concentration.

“Umm...well I feel your magic, Princess. It's...really warm actually. It feels nice.” Twilight's expression became a little softer and she smiled. “But it also feels less than normal...?”

Celestia smiled, “Good, Twilight. Keep extending your senses, let my magic be the guide to yours.”

“There's a very thin...I want to say line, but that doesn't seem like the right word. More like a...cylinder?” Twilight nods to herself and affirms with more confidence, “Yes. A cylinder tapering out into a thinner shape and it...feels like it's getting warmer the farther I go...”

“Don't be afraid, Twilight. Nothing will happen so long as I am with you.” crooned Celestia, “Mix your magic with mine and follow where it goes. Remember the basics of tandem spellcasting, don't force a connection, but instead...?” she trailed off in a questioning tone.

“Harmonize it.” Despite not casting a spell, Twilight's horn lit up in a pale corona of violet energy and Celestia could feel her student's magic ever so gently mixing with her own. She was still a bit hesitant, but as expected, she was still a little better than she was the last time they had tried something like this.

This state of constant improvement was both a source of great pride and a small fear in Celestia. A fear that Twilight's own drive and natural talents would cause her to embark on a road devoted to seeking more and more power regardless of the cost. But unlike with Sunset Shimmer, Twilight at least had her family and Cadance to call upon. She even had a small circle of acquaintances – sadly, they weren't friends yet, but Celestia had hope they would be in time – who she spent time with, particularly one little filly by the name of Moondancer.

Shaking her mind free of such worries for the moment, Celestia instead overlapped her own magic with Twilight's and drew it into a protective embrace. She smiled as Twilight unconsciously snuggled closer to her as she did this as she watched with her mind's eye as Twilight's magic zoomed off towards the sky.

“It's getting really warm now...but it's not uncomfortable. I can feel...more of you the farther I go...” Twilight trailed off half in wonder and half in deep thought. She shook herself free a few heartbeats later, “And there's something at the end of your – our – magic, it feels ancient and so...vast...”

A great molten ball of fire and magic hundreds of times bigger than the entire planet, hovers in the cold reaches of outer space. It casts it's light out in all directions of the void, but if one were to look closer, they would see that a bit more light and a bit more warmth is directed towards a certain spot in Equestria where a pure white alicorn stares back at it.

Twilight gasped, though Celestia was very pleased to note that her magic barely wavered at all, before re-syncing with her own aether connection; a feat that most mages with decades more experience compared to Twilight have managed.

“P-Princess. W-what is that?” Twilight's eyes opened and were wide with awe.

“That is our world's oldest protector. The one who brought warmth to the world and life to it's inhabitants. It is the light that allows itself to be moved so that others may bask in it's presence.” lectured Celestia, her voice taking on a more passionate tone as she gazed towards the source of the mark that adorned her flanks.

“It is a very dangerous and potent power in the wrong hooves. One that could easily take away the life that has bloomed on this wonderful world. My own connection to the Sun is a bit more intimate than most, as I'm sure you can feel.”

“Do...you feel like this every day, Princess?” breathed Twilight, her eyes focused on the same distant (but oh so close) star as she was.

“Over the centuries the feeling of awe has diminished, yet every day when I am raising it and setting it down...” she breathed out deeply, “...that first moment when I make an active connection, I feel like a filly all over again.”

Allowing herself just a brief moment to lose herself in nostalgia, Celestia gained a mischievous twinkle in her eye as she looked at her young protégé. “And today, you'll be helping me give it that last nudge to lower it.”

~Equestrian Elegy~

One of her favourite parts of having pupils was when she got the opportunity to tuck them into bed. Celestia smiled softly at the deliriously happy expression still on Twilight's face as she pulled the blanket over her. Spike was already asleep by the time they got back to Twilight's quarters who was sleepily still trying to ask more questions about the celestial bodies around the planet.

“Good night, Twilight. Sweet dreams.” a slight frown crossed her muzzle at the last part of her sentence, but quickly vanished as she pressed a kiss to Twilight's forehead.

A quick build up of her mana after one last look at her student and Celestia teleported herself back to her room. Her regalia was levitated off of her in an age-old routine as she stepped out onto the balcony, staring up at the moon and the image of a pony plastered across it's surface.

“Oh, Luna...” she sighed. “Six more years. Only six more and we will finally meet again, dear sister.”

Tomorrow would mark the nine hundredth and ninety-third Summer Sun Celebration with the event occurring in Manehattan this year. She was sure the ponies of Equestria and those who chose to visit the nation would all have a wonderful time as usual.

Even as her smiles towards the masses became more strained with every passing year.

The knowledge that she still hadn't found proper successors to all the Elements gnawed on her. She had candidates, for sure, ponies that embodied each of the different aspects of Harmony were in different locations. The most promising were located in Ponyville, as close as possible to where the physical forms of the Elements rested. Some were fortunate happenstance and others she had enticed over with promising job offers or opportunities.

Though she cherished all of her ponies dearly, these ones were secretly watched over by her very best.

~Equestrian Elegy~

Within the sleepy hamlet of Ponyville inside of a small, well-kept cottage, there was an extremely fluffy pink pony with blue eyes who looked at the moon with a stern expression that didn't seem to fit her face.

The fluffy pony then proceeded to promptly blow a raspberry at the Mare-In-The-Moon.

“Thhbbpphhhtttt.”

~Equestrian Elegy~

And Canterlot was close by if any serious problems were to arise, though Celestia knew very well that she couldn't prepare for everything. Despite all the power that was entrusted to her and what her ponies may believe, she wasn't all-knowing or all-powerful.

After nearly a thousand years of ruling alone and seeing friends pass away while she remained untouched by the ravages of time...

Well.

She was certainly glad she had Cadance now. Assuming everything went well, she might – no, she would get her sister back.

And in the very best case scenario, maybe, just maybe Twilight could-

The world lit up as the brilliance of one who has transcended beyond mortal flesh descends upon the world. Their presence serves to be a hallmark of great change as all things that go untouched by time are wont to do. Magic of an an ancient and otherworldly nature seeps through the hidden crevices of reality. It is only known to those who are of it's kin and it's existence serves to deliver a single message:

I AM HERE

Celestia nearly collapsed to her knees at the unexpected surge of...Alicorn magic. Unlike when her niece Cadance had become an Alicorn, this surge contained none of the warmth and passionate feelings associated with love. It felt far colder, more ancient and all encompassing...

...something that felt like the Sun being snuffed out.

Steeling herself, Celestia looked once more towards the moon and breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw that the image of Luna had not disappeared. For a moment however, her breath hitched as she felt the subtle tellings of space warping on the balcony, though considering the wards weren't reacting and what had just occurred, she had a good feeling as to who was paying her a midnight visit.

Pop!

A slender, pink alicorn mare blinked into existence as the light blue corona of her magic faded into shimmering motes of mana. Her normally well-groomed mane and tail was in a mess, as if she had just fallen out of bed and though the night was pleasantly warm, she was shivering.

“A-Auntie C-Celestia-” stuttered Cadance. Tears were prickling the corners of her eyes and were beginning to spill down her face.

It was easy to see her niece was very distressed and Celestia had found herself already closing the distance between them and enveloping her into a tight hug.

“Shhh. It's alright Cadance.” she murmured, as Cadance snuggled into the embrace still shivering. Celestia was saddened as her fur felt increasingly damp with her niece's tears who started to sob in quiet, painful and just awful wracking bursts.

“Something...something woke me up and it f-felt so, so, so sad and lonely as if I'd never see my friends, my parents, or Shiny, or Twili or you e-ever again!” Cadance wailed the last part and clutched at Celestia, seeking whatever comfort she could get from the older princess.

The next words of reassurance and comfort that she was about to say, died on Celestia's tongue when she felt a second, somewhat weaker, pulse of that same – InevitabilityCessationUntiringInexorable – magic made itself known once again. Judging by how Cadance suddenly stiffened in her embrace, it was easy to tell that she had felt it too.

Without speaking any words, the two alicorns linked their senses together and followed the quickly fading eddy of magic back to it's potential source. A frown crossed Celestia's face as she looked towards Ponyville and the ominous forest that bordered it.

Chapter 1 - Millennial Grudges

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Chapter 1 – Millennial Grudges

“Ugh...bloody hell.” moaned Harry. As he returned to consciousness, any lingering aches that he still had, quickly faded away and his vision swam into view. There was a bone-deep weariness that tempted Harry to just sink into the welcome embrace of sleep. It was a familiar calling and one that he shrugged off with force of will, mainly through habit than any particular pressing reason.

Of course that was when another sense decided to kick in.

Harry hissed out a long note of pain as the business end of an ice pick decided to get intimate with his brain. There was something in the air that was pressing down all around him, a tingling sensation that he remembered feeling in areas such as Hogwarts or Diagon Alley.

Amplified a thousand times over.

His eyes were clamped shut as his head throbbed with the sudden explosive addition to his senses, but after a couple of minutes, the sharp pain in his skull diminished to a dull throbbing before fading away as he apparently adjusted to...

...Wherever he was.

Tentatively exploring his...well, calling it a new sense seemed a tad disingenuous, but perhaps saying it was...enhanced? Yes, his enhanced senses quested out into the world feeling out how much more weight the air seemed to have and the odd currents of what he thought was pure magic that saturated it. The air had an oppressive and dark feeling to it that was wreathed with something that Harry associated with death.

'Always a good sign.' he thought. In a way, he was somewhat grateful that he was placed in such a familiar situation as it helped to distract him.

Harry was lying down on something cold and clammy to the touch – stone, he thought. There was light filtering in from somewhere and even though it wasn't much, everything was clear to him as if he were in broad daylight.

Clop. Clop.

Harry froze at the odd sound as he pulled himself off the ground with his hands, unsure as to where it exactly came from. Definitely somewhere close though as he cautiously swiveled his eyes around and noticing for the first time that there seemed to be something in the centre of his visual field.

Lifting a hand to his face, Harry's eyes locked onto the limb that he was moving that was most assuredly not a hand.

“What.”

Where digits and skin should be, there was what Harry could only call as a hoof that gave way to a dark silvery fur as it traveled up the limb. The hoof was a deep glossy black that gave off a dull shine from what little light was in the area. Baffled, he gently tapped the...his hoof onto the floor.

Clop.

“What.”

Harry twisted his head and looked at what he suspected but only just now confirmed: A dark-silvery furred and distinctly equine body met his gaze, along with two rather desiccated looking appendages hanging off to the side.

“Point Me: Mirror.” he muttered absently.

It was a reflexive action borne of the Great Prank War in the Boys' Dorm in Gryffindor in his third year at Hogwarts. Confident in the wards that...she...had taught him, Harry had felt secure in his protection and walked downstairs happy as can be without the knowledge that his face was 'dolled up' in garish red lipstick, massive amounts of blush and obscene amounts of eye-shadow.

It was only half a second later that he realized his mistake as his hoof was attempting to grasp a wand that wasn't there anymore ('and really, how could a hoof properly grasp anything?').

It was even more surprising that the spell actually worked.

He felt the familiar tingle of his magic, which was responding much easier and far stronger than ever before, activate and something on his head illuminated his surroundings in a sickly white glow.

The Locator Spell was a simple one: Simply declare your intent for a specific object to be located with your wand on your palm and the wand would then spin in place like the needles of a compass pointing you towards your goal. Because it was based on intent, like most spells, it would direct its' caster to the closest object that suited their desire.

Whatever was on his head did not swivel in place, however, there was a niggling sensation that prompted Harry to look to his left. He didn't see a convenient mirror there unfortunately, but he did get a better view of his surroundings now that he wasn't so focused on his new appearance.

He was in a large hallway with weathered stone architecture all around him where he lay at the end of a corridor with an open archway in front of him leading into a large hall of some kind – with the battered down remnants of a large gate scattered across the entryway. Harry tilted his head up and took note that various parts of the roof were missing and gave way to an incredibly clear starry sky with a full moo-

“...One thing at a time.” sighed Harry. There, emblazoned on what he was fairly certain was an alien moon, was a series of pockmarks – craters, he thought – on the lunar surface that strongly resembled the head of a unicorn.

Deciding to take his own advice – 'Not like I have anyone else to ask anymore.', something at his sides fluttered oddly at this morose thought before settling down – he gingerly stood up with all four of his new limbs.

Clop. Clop. Clop.

Alright! It was a bit of a shaky start, but Harry felt like he was fairly stable when he settled down into a posture that felt right. Now he just had to take a step forwards and-

Clop. Clip. Clop. Clip.

-break into an easy canter. Harry frowned to himself thinking that that was far easier than that should have been. Then again, so was riding a broom.

Harry decided to chalk it up to magic as he walked into the hall that his...not-wand was directing him towards. The hall in question looked as if Fred and George had used it as their personal testing ground considering how utterly ruined it was. There was no ceiling, scorch marks decorated the walls (the more intact ones, anyway) and large sections of the floor were simply gone that left only great yawning pits that sunk into the earth.

At the very end of the hall, situated on what was probably once a nice looking stone dais were six plinths. The largest stood in the centre and bore upon it a moss-covered boulder of some kind with five other plinths each bearing their own stone that had different symbols etched onto them.

Past the sights of the ruined vista and the sensation of his still active Locator spell, there was an almost...hostile...presence that lingered over the area and set Harry's fur on edge.

'Wow, that is a weird feeling.'

On guard, Harry cautiously made his way into the hall, following his spell's directions as he crossed to the other side of the hall to an opposing doorway. A large mound of rubble blocked off most of the left corridor, but Harry saw his goal lying just a few metres ahead of him. Dismissing the spell – and thus the odd white glow that accompanied it – Harry trotted over to the large shard of reflective glass partially lying against chunks of dislodged masonry.

It was rather grimy, but luckily he had a quick and dirty solution to his problem.

“Scourgify.” Tilting his head towards the glass, Harry was pleased to see the cleaning spell take effect as years of detritus and assorted filth were rubbed away as if something was viciously scouring it to leave a clear surface once more. Harry looked at his reflection and attempted to form a smirk rather than the pained grimace it came out looking as.

Staring back at him was what he could only call was a small unicorn with dark silver fur with a long brilliant silver horn protruding through a short tuft of messy black hair. His face was that of an equine muzzle but with familiar green irises set within eyeballs that were disproportionately huge. It should have been a very ugly thing with such bulbous eyes, but somehow, combined with the rest of his body, it made him look...cute.

'Ugh.'

Moving on.

Focusing on two appendages strapped to either of his sides, Harry tried commanding them to move and was disappointed when they didn't respond in any noticeable fashion. Frowning, Harry tried to flex random muscles on his back, finding it to be both a familiar and alien experience. After a few minutes, he found a set of muscles that felt somewhat right and was rewarded as the appendages slowly unfurled from his sides.

A pair of sickly white wings revealed themselves to him in the mirror, with several sections revealing bone instead of feathers. Where these exposed areas were, the same sickly white light that had surrounded him earlier approximated the shape of feathers. Stretching out his new wings to their fullest extent, Harry was somewhat surprised at their size, just a little over half the size of his horsey torso.

Satisfied, Harry finished up his inspection by gently lifting up the bangs of his hair to reveal smooth...er...normal fur. No scar whatsoever and peering at his right hoof didn't show any trace of the words: 'I must not tell lies.'.

“Well...it's better than looking like Goyle at least...” he muttered to himself.

As was typical for his luck, he ended up getting an unexpected reply.

“Mmm, I wouldst certainly say thou doth look much better than some stuffy old gargoyle.” purred a feminine voice just off to his right. He froze in place at the sound and was about to turn around when a second voice made itself known.

“Really, Periwinkle? Really? We locate the source of our awakening and find it to be the most rare of beings and your first comment is one borne from your loins?”

“Oh, do cease with such prudish behaviour, dearest Azure. We may be dead, but that does not mean that one cannot...appreciate such a fine specimen.” scoffed the first voice who was apparently named-

'Dead?'

Slowly turning around to the source of his voices, just off to his left side, Harry saw his apparent admirer and her friend. The two reminded Harry of the various ghosts in Hogwarts – who were also small horses ('Or is the right term: Ponies?'), as well – on account of their translucent, monochromatic bodies that sported numerous lethal wounds that they seemed to take little notice of.

Another clue was that Harry's voyeur – Periwinkle, the one without wings or even a horn – was halfway off the ground and partially sticking through one of the walls. Conversely, Azure, who was a small pegasus with a large hole in place of where her right eye should be frowned up at her friend before looking back at Harry.

“I...suppose in exchange for your vitriolic behaviour whenever She deigns to make a visit – HATE, HATE, HATE, HATE HER!-” Harry was caught off guard by the rapid shift to frothing rage from the calm-looking Azure, only for her to return to her previous collected self an instant later,“-slaking your apparent undying lust by ogling a – admittedly attractive – stallion is a good trade.”

Azure sighed in evident resignation and Periwinkle giggled at her friend's misfortune. Periwinkle floated forwards a bit more, revealing a long and ugly wound that stretched from the bottom of her chin to the underside of her barrel, and stared hungrily at Harry that reminded him of a more lusty Myrtle.

“I must say, I'm rather glad he decided to turn around,” she sighed dreamily, “I could get lost for hours in those eyes of his.”

“What do you suppose he is looking at?” Azure cocked her head to the side and looked around in genuine confusion.

Periwinkle snorted and gently floated down to the ground next to her friend. “Who cares. Let us just enjoy the sights for ever how long he decides to stay here.” her eyes became slightly mischievous as she continued in a sly voice, “Despite not bearing a Cutie Mark, he does have quite a nice pair of flanks...as I'm sure your wandering eyes have noticed already~”

It was weird seeing Myrtle blush over him and it was even weirder seeing a ghost pony do the same thing as she stammered out denials to her cackling friend. It was probably best to end...whatever this was right now.

“Actually, I'd rather appreciate it if you didn't do that.” interjected Harry.

The two ponies stopped and looked at him oddly before checking up and down the hall with puzzled expressions.

“Perhaps you were on to something after all, Azure. He is definitely talking to somepony.”

'Some...pony? Is that supposed to be a pun?' thought Harry as Periwinkle trotted up with a curious look on her face.

“Honestly, it almost appears that he is looking at me. How queer.”

Harry unconsciously backed up from the pony currently invading his personal bubble until his legs...rear legs hit the wall. Unfortunately for him, this was a rather curious ghost who continued to follow him until he had no path of retreat.

“...Sorry...but, do you mind backing up a bit?” he asked tentatively. Technically Harry could just walk through her, but that always struck him as being rather rude.

Suddenly Azure was also in his face, pressed up against her friend. “You can see us?” she demanded in a commanding and slightly plaintive tone.

“...yes?”

“And you can hear us...” whispered Periwinkle in awe.

Harry briefly debated saying 'No', but then he remembered some of Myrtle's more impressive tantrums over perceived sleights.

“That...would seem to be the case.”

A tremulous smile spread across Azure's face while Periwinkle started to vibrate in place with glistening eyes.

“Hehe...you can see us. Hahaha...” began Azure.

“HeehEheeHee and you can HeAr Us!” Periwinkle's voice started to distort as giggles escaped from her mouth.

'Maybe I should have pretended I didn't see anything.' Harry's eyes were already flickering towards possible escape routes. Both of the two spectral mares voices took on an eerie quality that echoed unnaturally as their faces split open into impossibly wide and demented grins.

“HaHaAhAHaHaHaHaHaAhAHaHaHaHaHaAhAHaHaHaHaHaAhAHaHaHaHaHaAhAHaHaHaHaHaAhAHaHaHaHaHaAhAHaHaHaHaHaAhAHaHa!!!”

“HeeeHOooooHHhaAAHhahahaHAHAHAHHeeeHOooooHHhaAAHhahahaHAHAHAHHeeeHOooooHHhaAAHhahahaHAHAHAHHeeeHOooooH!!!”

Just as he was about to make a break for it, things somehow got even worse when Azure reached out a trembling hoof towards Harry's cheek, as if to stroke it. Considering he was backed against a wall and knowing their own insubstantial nature, Harry wasn't too concerned.

At least, he wasn't really concerned until he felt Azure's hoof touching and making physical contact with his face.

The laughter ceased at once as all three of them goggled at the impossible sight. On Harry's part, it felt as if something with the texture of a soap bubble and was slightly cool to the touch was stroking his cheek. This sensation doubled when Periwinkle performed her own examination on her flank.

“Do you mind?!” yelped Harry, reflexively slapping their hooves away (though he did Periwinkle's first as hers were wandering much lower than he was comfortable with) and quickly brushing past the two who were staring absentmindedly at their hooves. Now with a little breathing room, Harry started to retrace his steps and carefully started to tip-toe away.

This would have been an excellent strategy considering how distracted the two girls were and if he still had toes.

But Harry didn't have toes anymore.

Harry had very noticeable and very noisy hooves.

Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop.

““Stop.”” ordered both of the ghosts in perfect synchronicity.

“Bollocks.” Harry slowly turned around to face the two mares with a sheepish grin. “Uh...hehe...is there...anything else you need, ladies? Because I've really got to be going-”

““How?””

Harry took a cautious step back, preparing a defensive spell and getting into a mode ready for combat.

““How can you see us. How can you hear us? HOW can you TOUCH us?!””

'You're probably in a different world, so magic is probably different. But my Locator Spell still worked fine.' even as he thought this, Harry's mouth was already operating hoping to calm them down.

“I'm not sure myself, to be honest. I'm just as surprised as you are.”

““LiAr!””

'Maybe if I were a Hufflepuff, that would have worked better.'

“I'm not lying to you, I really don't know how what happened...happened.” Harry was still moving backwards even as Azure and Periwinkle started to drift menacingly towards him with increasingly distorted expressions of rage and fear.

““Liar. Liar. Liar. Just like her. Liar. Liar. Liar. JUST like HER. You are LYING. LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! YOU ARE JUST LIKE HER! JUST LIKE HER! JUST LIKE HER! JUST LIKE HER! YOU LIED! YOU LIED! LIAR! YOU SAID YOU WOULD KEEP US SAFE! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!””

Even as their tones became more and more accusatory as they started to overlap whoever they had such a grudge against, Harry didn't lose his cool as he entered the large hall with the odd plinths.

He was a little concerned when he saw a rather large amount of ponies, unicorns and pegasi entering the room through the walls and floor, all of them continuing the same line of accusations that Azure and Periwinkle were lashing out at him.

““LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! TELL US NOW! TELL US HOW! HOW CAN YOU DO THIS?! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE US?! WHY DID YOU LEAVE US?! WHY DID YOU KILL US?! WE TRUSTED YOU! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! HATE YOU! HATE YOU! HATE YOU! HATE YOU! HATE YOU! HATE YOU! HATE YOU! HATE YOU! HATE YOU! HATE YOU! HATE YOU! HATE! HATE! HATE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!-””

“Protego Spiritus Sphaera!”

Harry's horn flared up with power as a protective bubble formed around him in an instant just before the wave of mad ghosts crashed into it's defences. The 'Spiritus' series of spells were great for poltergeists who had more of a physical presence than typical ghosts and based on the ghost ponies tried to ineffectually batter down his shield-

“-DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!DIE! DIE! DIE!-”

-it seemed to work just as well. There was a dome-shaped version of this particular shielding spell, but considering these ghosts could come from all directions, the much more costly sphere version was the better choice.

Not that he felt any noticeable drain on his reserves as his shield continued to stand strong. While he doubted the ghosts would get tired, Harry was very confident that he could keep his shield up and mobile as he searched for an exit from the castle. Hopefully these ghosts worked the same as the ones he had experience with and were bound to a certain location.

And if they weren't...

'I'll wing it like usual.'

~Equestrian Elegy~

The numerous plans, strategies and scenarios racing through Celestia's head went out the window the moment a burst of green flames briefly obscured her vision to reveal a torn scrap of parchment.

“Wha-” began Cadance.

Celestia caught the note in a telekinetic hold before it could be snatched away from the wind and read what was written in a childish scrawl:

“Deearr Prin-ccess . Twili ght had night mare. Crying lots.

Scared. Wants you.

Now!

-Spike”

Numerous tear stains marked the parchment and the pen wavered on several of the letters before making sharp turns, as if the writer – who was clearly in a hurry – kept having their writing hand disturbed.

As her niece peered up at the note, Celestia had a brief moment of indecision, debating on whether or not to leave it to Cadance while she checked on the source of the mysterious Alicorn magic.

It was the smart decision after all. What was one filly's peace of mind compared to the safety of all of Equestria?

“Twilight!” gasped Cadance, she looked at the forest and back to her, evidently reaching a similar conclusion. “Auntie. I can go and check on Twilight. You should go and find...whatever that is!”

She made the smarter decision when she still had Luna by her side.

When Sunset Shimmer was still her prized pupil.

She would be damned if she made that mistake again.

“She'll have both of us, Cadance.” Without waiting any longer, Celestia fired up a teleportation spell that encased both her and Cadance.

Pop!

Once again, Celestia found herself in the room just a short time ago. Except now her attention was immediately diverted to the trembling form of Twilight Sparkle desperately clutching a very worried looking Spike. The room was lit up thanks to several balls of light hovering near the ceiling; their caster was evident by the purple nimbus that spiraled around Twilight's horn. Spike, who looked to be near tears himself, brightened up considerably when he saw the two.

“Twilight! It's okay! Princess Celestia is here! And so is Cadance!”

Seeming not wanting to let her brother go, Twilight simply opened a forelimb and silently implored the both of them for a hug. This request was quickly granted as they snuggled the distraught filly and disturbed dragon between them.

“My faithful student, what troubles you so?” asked Celestia gently.

“I-I-I h-h-had, I had a, I-, I-”

“Breathe, Twilight. Just take nice and deep breaths. We're all here. Me, Auntie, and Spike.” advised Cadance.

“In and out.” piped in Spike, demonstrating himself by taking big breaths with puffed cheeks before blowing them out.

Twilight gave a watery giggle and took several calming breaths, though she still looked rather scared...for Celestia.

“I had a nightmare-” Celestia's breath hitched slightly, though it went unnoticed by all save Cadance who spared her a brief look of worry before focusing back on Twilight, “-and I woke up and my horn was hurting a-a lot! And I felt cold and the room was so dark! And I thought it was just in m-my head when I felt it again...”

“P-Princess, what is Twilight talking about?” asked Spike, worriedly staring at his sister who was still shaking.

Celestia briefly debated telling her student a lie, but she also knew just how intelligent Twilight Sparkle was and her clever little student would spot and falsity in an instant. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't blunt the truth a bit.

“Just a few minutes ago, Cadance and I sensed a...worrying bit of magic near Ponyville. It could be dangerous, but I'm sure that I will be more than capable of dealing with-”

“NO!” screamed Twilight, startling everyone as she clamped on Celestia's forelimb in a tight vice-like grip. “You can't go! I s-saw the Sun going out!”

Celestia's eyes widened at this proclamation and her heart turned to ice as Twilight clutched onto her even tighter with fresh, hot tears spilling from her eyes.

“...I saw you d-d-d-di-” she tried to complete her sentence but soon gave it up before begging Celestia, “...please don't go. Please?”

Twilight had an incredibly intimate connection with magic, as was made clear by her Cutie Mark. Her so-called 'nightmare' of the Sun going out certainly had the possibility of killing Celestia. Her unprecedented control over the Sun and intimate connection was a two-way street: what affected one would affect the other.

“Please stay. Don't leave. Please...please...!”

But even though it may not be a fitting action for a monarch who was charged over watching all in her nation, right now, her focus was on reassuring her precious student.

“Twilight.”

“...please don't go...”

“Twilight. Look at me.”

Ever the faithful student, Twilight gazed up at her that was filled with so much concern and love that it nearly took Celestia's breath away.

“Twilight. Yes, it may be dangerous, but that is why I have to be the one to investigate. I want to keep everyone safe. You, Cadance, Spike, your brother, your parents – I am responsible for the protection of everyone in Equestria.”

“But-”

“I know you're scared of me getting hurt, of something even worse happening to me,” Twilight's breath hitched and Celestia nuzzled her reassuringly, “But we can't let a fear of the unknown paralyze us with indecision just because something might go wrong.”

“Besides, she won't be going in alone.” chirped Cadance. The cheerful tone belied the steely glint of determination in her niece's eye.

“She won't?” said Spike curiously.

Honestly, she should have expected this .

“Cadance-”

Cadance was not a noble that relied on her title. She was the rare soul that earned it through her spirit and determination.

“Celestia.” stated Cadance firmly, forgoing the use of any sort of title or familial affectation which stopped Celestia's own protests cold. “I am also a Princess of Equestria. One alicorn is powerful, true. But, two?”

Her niece was growing into a fine ruler indeed.

“We can overcome anything if we work together.”

She gave a confident grin for the benefit of Spike and Twilight, whose expressions were becoming more relieved and hopeful.

~Equestrian Elegy~

“-DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE-”

All things considered, this wasn't the worst situation to be in.

“-DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE-”

He wasn't in too much danger as despite the increasing fury of the mass of spirits out for his blood, his shield was holding as strong as ever. A little bit of thought and subsequent application of his magical muscles, had Harry carefully padding his way to a potential exit.

“-DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE-”

The sheer amount of spirits made seeing a little difficult and more than once he had ended up in a corner or had to make a detour around a large hole, but overall it wasn't too difficult to push his way through the wailing ghosts. As long as he kept calm and a steady pace, he should be fine.

The ghosts suddenly froze and stopped their relentless assault on his shield. Before he could make a move, the ghosts' heads turned as one towards the direction to where Harry was retreating.

“““She...is...coming.”””

Their faces which were briefly blank and void of any emotion, slowly started to darken with a familiar anger.

“““Coming...to...apologize. To say She is sorry! Always, always ALWAYS to the Moon first!”””

The madness was quickly coming back as several ghosts started to pull away from Harry. Indeed, most of them were flat out ignoring him in favour of the one who had apparently killed them or at least contributed to their deaths.

“““NEVER to us! An afterthought! NEVER GOOD ENOUGH!”””

The same person who was coming here right now.

“““YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE! TRAITOR! MURDERER!”””

'Bugger!' Harry kept the curses internal, lest he attracted the attention of his attackers once more.

The ponies were all starting to stream past to where Harry had hoped to retreat to. Now that his vision wasn't being obscure anymore, Harry found that he was in the same corridor where he had first woken up in this place. Opposite the side of the entrance to the hall and a little bit to his left was another archway bearing the remains of a shattered doorframe.

“““LEAVE! LEAVE! LEAVE! GO AWAY! HAVE YOU NOT DONE ENOUGH?!”””

And just past this door was a wide entranceway where the spirits that had previously been harrassing him were congregating to form a very loud and very angry roiling mass of madness and grief. Harry had a brief view of the outside world – a rather rickety looking bridge leading out into a forest that reminded him of the Forbidden Forest – before his sight was blocked once again. As the ghosts shifted and writhed against an invisible barrier that prevented them from crossing onto the bridge, Harry was able to get a glimpse of something in the treeline rustling.

It may have been a trick of the constantly shifting ghosts, but it almost looked like there were a set of numbers making their way through the shrubbery.

Harry shook his head free of the odd thought as the ghosts' screams began to reach a crescendo and they once more devolved into incoherency with one final intelligible cry.

“““CeLeStIAaAaAaAa?!?!?!”””

The last ghost that was attacking his shield finally left and Harry made the quick decision of dismissing it, backing away into a side hallway so that he wasn't presenting himself to whatever was outside. He would rather not have the attention of whatever was coming here and needed a new plan. Different illusion and disguise spells rapidly flitted through his mind before he decided on a mix of a sound-dampening charm and a Disillusion Spell.

It was as Harry's thoughts were focused on hiding and fading away that he felt an odd sensation of something gently tugging on the ends of his hair. Harry's eyes widened as he spun in place, only to discover nothing as he felt something drape over the rest of his body.

'What...?'

Despite not casting a spell, his entire body had somehow become invisible as that same sensation once again occurred over his head. A strong sense of déjà vu permeated Harry's mind as he recalled all the times he had used a certain Hallow passed down in his family.

“...The Invisibility Cloak...” breathed Harry in slight wonder.

It was perhaps understandable that Harry was a bit preoccupied with the fact that one of the Deathly Hallows had crossed over to him and the possibility of the other two having done so as well. There was also the fact that he was in a totally unfamiliar location in an alien body with very heightened senses that he was still adjusting to. Finally, there was the incessant screaming from the clearly restless spirits that haunted this castle that served as an extra bit of distraction with all of the racket they were making.

All of this added up to him being very caught off guard when a two white ponies in gleaming armour passed within spitting distance of him, causing him to suck in a deep breath and backpedal reflexively. Harry clamped down on the hiss as quick as humanly possible, forgetting once again that he had hooves now.

'Please be quiet, please be quiet!'

It was to his slightly giddy relief that while his hooves came down onto the ground the second he had made that prayer that no sound emanated from them at all. The armoured pony nearest to him – a unicorn with blue hair and purple and gold armour – turned sharply and looked straight at Harry, who froze immediately.

“Something wrong, Captain?” asked the other pony in a low soprano. It was a bit hard to make out the mare's words over the noisy spirits, who remained out of sight for now, but he managed.

“I thought I heard something...” replied the so-called Captain, staring at Harry and then around the corridor he stood in.

'Noooo, you definitely did not.'

“Is there a problem, Captain Armour?” asked a feminine voice just outside of Harry's view, one that was tinged with both a quiet dignity and rich majesty.

“It appears not, ma'am.” Captain Armour straightened at the voice, though he still did not turn his back on Harry as his horn lit up with a pink glow and briefly built up in power before discharging a wall of energy that raced down the hall and over Harry before he could react.

“At least nothing I can detect.” he reported with a slightly less suspicious frown.

'...That was too close.' Harry inaudibly relaxed a bit as the captain finally turned around. The Cloak that had once given away his location thanks to a similar spell, now no longer seemed vulnerable to magic that checked for concealed presences. That was when Harry took notice of an odd little feature floating over both of the ponies' heads.

'27 3 21'

'31 5 8'

A set of three glowing red numbers hovered above both of the ponies' heads, with the first set belonging to Captain Armour. The last two numbers of each set shifted almost constantly, while the first ones remained static-

'27'

'28'

'Huh.'

This odd numerical mystery was further compounded by the next four ponies who trotted in after the armoured ones. The two in the back were also armoured and whose eyes were constantly scanning the area.

'A feral grin was on the scarred Auror's face as he slammed a fist down onto the table, causing everyone who was drowsing to shoot up in alarm.

“Constant Vigilance!”'

A stab of pain shot through Harry's heart and he forced himself to focus on the more interesting and relevant pair in the middle. The first was a pink pony bearing both wings and a horn and who was adorned with a golden choker and matching tiara. Honestly, the first thought when Harry looked at it was 'pretty, pink, pony, princess.' and felt that he wasn't being too disingenuous in that thought when she spoke.

“Always so thorough, Captain Armour.” said the mare in a teasing tone.

'132238697300 02 14'

“The safety of the Princesses is paramount to the safety of Equestria. To do any less would disrespect you and the nation we serve.” he replied stoically.

“Do not discount your own importance so readily, my little pony. All life is precious and everyone matters.” gently chastised the large white mare, who towered over everyone present. Adorned in larger and finer regalia than the smaller princess, her hair and tail floated by themselves in an unseen breeze, giving the mare a very ethereal quality.

'5450000627 06 21'

Their numbers were far larger than anyone else's, though Harry didn't really understand the reason for the huge discrepancy other than the extra appendages having something to do with it.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Harry didn't have much time to ponder on the odd floating numbers much longer when the ghosts blasted into the room screaming with rage. They passed through the bodies of all the new ponies, but seemed to focus particularly on the white pony princess-

“DiE!!!cEleStIA!!!!!”

-of whom he was fairly sure was called Celestia. The ponies didn't seem entirely unaffected, however, as there was a certain amount of tension present in all of them based on the way they held themselves. He still couldn't get a good read on Celestia which left Harry with two choices:

Follow them and try and find out what they're doing here, which would perhaps let him get a better grasp on their personalities as it would be nice to know whether or not they were a pack of sadistic murderers.

Or, now that they had the attention of the angry spirits, wait for them to proceed deeper into the castle ruins and escape whilst they were distracted. Shelter was something that he might not find in the forest, but it was a higher priority for him to get a better grasp on his new body and magic without getting mobbed by spirits.

Harry nodded once to himself firmly and made his decision.

Perspective 1 - Shining Armor

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Warning: There is no Harry in this chapter, so feel free to skip it if you came for that or you don't like Shining Armor. I'll get into why this chapter was even made in the AN at the end.

Also, I made some minor cosmetic changes to Shining. Y'all probably won't even notice.

Perspective 1 – Shining Armor

Moondancer sat patiently in the lobby of the bank reading through a copy of 'Advanced Runic Configurations, Volume 3 by E. Nigma' while she waited for her daddy to finish up some business. The text on the book was a little blurry to her and she was glad that they were going to the optometrist after this to hopefully fix this issue.

She had only read through this book twice, after all.

“Excuse me, Miss? May I sit here?” a rather pleasant tenor tone rang in her ears, prompting her to look up from her page and meet the visage of a blue-maned unicorn stallion.

A stallion with a charming smile that was directed at her.

A very attractive stallion who was talking to her and waiting for her to respond.

She looked at the empty space on the bench she was sitting on and the rather crowded building that all had various ponies and even one or two griffins, occupying them already.

Moondancer's eyes twitched back to the stallion who she just noticed had a cast around his left forelimb with well-wishes in various inks and styles scrawled on it. She also took note that the pony was leaning slightly on his uninjured side.

A stallion who was also patiently waiting for her to actually say something already!

“S-sure! O-of c-c-course!” Oh gosh, she sounded like such a spaz right now. Luckily he didn't seem to mind and instead gave her a warm look of gratitude before dipping his head low in a bow and 'Oh Faust, what is he doing in front of everyone here-!'

“Thank you for your generosity, Lady Moondancer.” he looked up at her with a playful smile and winked at her. Moondancer giggled nervously, hoping her voice didn't crack before she considered the stallion's words.

“You...know my name?” Moondancer wasn't exactly unaware of her bookish nature or less than stellar looks. The only ponies that ever really noticed her were her parents, her teachers and the librarians at Canterlot's main library and Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.

“Of course!” he gave a boyish grin as he sat down, a smile that sent a hot flush racing up her cheeks that she quickly covered with her book. “You're one of Twilight's friends, aren't you? I met you and the others at the park last weekend!”

Confused, Moondancer asked him, “Twilight Sparkle?” he nodded in confirmation, “How do you know her?”

“...She never mentioned me?” For a brief moment, Moondancer had the ludicrous vision that there was a raincloud that spontaneously appeared over the stallion's head who sported a miserable expression. Any sign of imagined dejection quickly disappeared in the face of the proud smile he wore on his face. “I'm her older brother! Shining Armor!”

“Wait a second...” Moondancer ~~temporarily lost in those gorgeous blue eyes~~ now frowned thoughtfully at Twilight's ~~handsome~~ older brother, “We were all reading together in a park, but...I don't...remember seeing you-”

Bang!

Her next words were cut off as a bombastic voice boomed throughout the building.

“ALL RIGHT, EVERYPONY, THIS IS A STICK-UP! FLANKS AGAINST THE WALL!”

The double doors at the front of the Equestrian National Bank had been slammed open and a trio of ponies – an earth pony and two unicorns – were standing with smug smiles at the entrance. Flabbergasted at the sudden turn of events, and more than a little scared, Moondancer peeked at Shining Armor who looked oddly...relieved at the trio's entrance.

'I really do need glasses after all, huh?'

~Equestrian Elegy~

'Hey, look! Bad guys! Now she won't find out that We were stalking Twily to make sure they weren't bullying her.'

Stalking is such an ugly word.

Shining preferred the terms of 'protective' or 'watchful' or 'making sure that Twily is safe and happy, but doing so in such a way that she doesn't know that he's there and won't get mad at him'.

'Sounds like stalking to Us.'

'Focus. We've got three targets. Roll for Initiative.'

'Ugh. Use a Free Action to comfort Twily's potential friend first, ya' dingus.

“Everything will be okay, Moondancer. Just make sure to stay behind me.” whispered Shining Armor reassuringly to Twily's friend as he looked at the would-be trio of robbers.

'Rolling for Perception!'

'Fourteen.'

Two cream-colored, muscular unicorn stallions flanked a dark green earth pony mare in the centre. The stallions bore Cutie Marks of large sledgehammers while the earth pony had a seed with green shoots coming out of it. All three of the ponies were also wearing several saddlebags.

'What's in the bag?!?!'

'Stop trying to be funny. We aren't. The stallions possibly have talents aligned to blunt force – their magic may reflect this as well. Talent of the mare might be one of expeditious plant growth.'

Maybe. But the floor of the bank was covered in stone tiles that was more than a few feet deep before any soil could be reached.

“DID I STUTTER?! FLANKS AGAINST THE WALL!” spat Sledge Number One, who fixed a gimlet stare on the transfixed people and ordered, “NOW!”

'Pretty gutsy deciding to rob a bank in the middle of a day, though!'

Very true. Perhaps this was merely a distraction for something greater?

Shining Armor remained calm even as a series of frightened screams (from the ponies and one of the griffins) and enraged cries (from the remaining griffin and a particularly pair of crotchety looking elder pegasi) broke out amongst the civilians. Step by step, he was gently nudging Moondancer towards the back of the bank so as to 'comply' with the robbers' orders like a good little colt.

“Just take nice and deep breaths, Moondancer. Don't look at them, just focus on me.” Shining continued to mutter gentle reassurances to the poor trembling filly even as he waited for the robbers to move just a bit further into the bank.

'The Summer Sun Celebration is tomorrow. The Royal Guard has been sent out all over Equestria to deal with the influx of travelers, leaving Canterlot a bit short-handed at the moment. Still, it's not like the Guard presence in the city is minuscule.'

'Good thing We're on vacation then, eh? More time to work out this little mystery~'

'This should be far enough, We believe.'

Sledges One and Two along with Green Seed had confidently strutted further into the bank and were far enough from the entrance that they couldn't make a quick escape in the off chance they were ridiculously agile.

'One Isolation Bubble coming right up!'

A pony's Cutie Mark was a special thing. While it did not define all that they were as some foals ('And some unfortunate adults.') might believe, it did mark what the pony was especially talented or proficient in.

For Shining Armor, anything to do with protection – whether or not it was magical – seemed to just click with him. Complex formulae for various barriers were unneeded as pure instinct helped him to design and discharge the spell in a manner that was just as efficient as his dear Twily was able to pull off.

A pleasant warmth suffused his body as his soul, heart and mind worked in perfect unison to build up the required mana needed and link it to the ambient energy in the air surrounding the robbers.

Schink!

A delicate looking web of dark pink lattices of energy surrounded the trio, curving into a spherical shape that pierced through the floor without actually damaging it. To give them credit, while the three were briefly taken off guard, their faces were fixed in scowls of concentration as they tried to break through the spell.

'Key word on 'tried'.'

Sledges One and Two's horns lit up, while Green Seed elected to simply punch the barrier as hard as she could. Belying it's fragile appearance, Shining Armor's 'Isolation Bubble' was as unyielding as Harmonic Steel.

'Or about half as thick as Iron Zest's skull.'

'Don't exaggerate. At best, the Bubble is only forty two percent as thick as Captain Iron's skull.'

There was a dull boom that resulted from each of the three's attacks, yet the bubble did not budge in the slightest.

“Gentlecolts. Ma'am.” Shining nodded pleasantly to the two unicorns and then smiled at the mare encased within the pink bubble.

“Royal Guard?” spat Green Seed.

“I'm actually off-duty at the moment.” he wiggled his somewhat injured forelimb in front of them for emphasis.

'Honestly. It's already been three weeks! A shattered humerus and a few broken ribs should not be proper grounds for a forced sick leave this long.'

'Or a thinly-veiled threat of threatening to tattle on us to Twily and Cadance if We do anything more than paperwork.'

“That being said...” The trio shivered violently at the smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, “I think that I'm more than capable enough of having a...conversation.”

The Captain of the Eighth Division of the Royal Guard hoped that a minor incident like this counted as 'taking it easy'.

~Equestrian Elegy~

Skrtch, skrtch, skrtch, skrtch...

Deep inside Canterlot Castle, a regular visitor to the hallowed halls would find a curious sight within an area reserved to the Royal Guard. While the ponies carried out their stalwart duty with aplomb and patrolled the castle with all the seriousness that was expected of them, a practised eye would notice that a small area was given a very wide berth.

...skrtch, skrtch, skrtch, skrtch...

This area happened to be the location of a rather nice looking office that bore a simple numeral of '1' above it's empty door-frame. The office was neatly arranged with filing cabinets, several chairs, a small cot, a large mahogany desk with a small photo frame, two framed certificates – one from the Royal College of Medicine and another smaller piece of writing signed by Princess Celestia herself – and a small potted lily that permeated the room with a subtle, yet pleasing fragrance.

...skrtch, skrtch, skrtch, skrtch...

The office was currently occupied by four figures, three of which were in front of the desk in varying states of consciousness and another behind the desk who was nonchalantly filling out some paperwork.

Shining Armor would be the first one to say that he was a rather unusual pony, if only in relation to his family.

Sure he had the typical family set up: a wonderful mother and father and an amazing 'Little Sister Best Friend Forever'. However, he doubted most ponies came from a long line of Royal Guards on their father's side or a mother who personally oversaw the largest library in Equestria.

Or who had a very special and absolutely adorable little sister who was so talented in magic that she was personally picked up by Princess Celestia herself to be her pupil at the age of five.

While he wasn't nearly as good as his family was (and not even close to his little Twily), Shining still thought he had done a decent enough job for himself at twenty three years of age.

Granted, it wasn't like he was the Head Captain...('Now that would be just silly. We're not nearly scary enough to be in Her position-' 'Avert Our eyes!')

...skrtch, skrtch, skrtch, skr-

The Head Captain briefly looked up from her form and caught Shining's eye before it could escape. He ruthlessly fought the urge to shiver as she once again examined his somewhat ruffled appearance: A slightly singed mane and a bit of dried blood on his cracked cast from when he had used it as a makeshift club. Shining Armor barely managed to stop himself from sighing in relief when she returned to her work.

“Hm.”

'Holy Faust, Mother of All. We thank you for your blessings and the life we enjoy today...'

...skrtch, skrtch, skrtch, skrtch...

...but it was very surprising that he was made Captain of the Eighth Division of the Royal Guard after only five years of joining.

Really, it's not like he did anything special.

'After all, We are...'

'...completely average and...'

Totally normal.

Besides, there were seven other captains with much more impressive records and accomplishments than himself.

'Eight others. Don't forget about the Zero Division!'

'That is nothing more than an urban myth passed around in the barracks by bored soldiers.'

'It makes sense-'

'It does not.'

'-that the Princess would have her own super special elite group though!'

'We, that is, the Royal Guard, are the 'super special' elite group under Her royal purview. Besides, what on Earth could be so important that she would need to have an entire division dedicated to it?'

~Equestrian Elegy~

Hidden amongst the rafters of a well-kept barn, a pink fluffy pony with a black mask that concealed most of her face, except for her eyes, spied upon her target. With a pair of binoculars in hoof, it only took a few moments before her enhanced gaze settled on a small filly. The filly in question had an orange coat with a blonde manecut that was styled in the form of two long pigtails bound in red ribbons. Her Cutie Mark was a trio of red apples stamped proudly on both of her flanks.

Currently the small orange pony had a concentrated and adorable scowl on her face as she bucked against a tree that was heavily laden with delicious looking apples. Though the filly's bucks were strong, very few apples fell out of the tree until she re-adjusted herself. Her next attempt was met with a much greater degree of success as evident by her smile that was elicited by dozens of apples falling into the baskets situated below the tree with satisfying 'plops'.

“Thppptbhhhh.” The voyeuristic fluffy pony blew a muffled raspberry in satisfaction that one of her charges was okay for the moment and checked off a box on a clipboard that she had pulled out of her fur.

Creak...

Suddenly the barn door below the pony opened and a dark red stallion, that looked as if he was just coming out of colthood, trotted into the barn. The crimson stallion trotted into the barn and stared curiously at the shadow on the ground that was overlapping the plow he was moving towards.

He looked up and met the unwavering blue eyes of the fluffy pink pony.

“...”

“...Thbbthph.”

“Nnnope.” Wanting absolutely nothing to do with the current situation, the stallion grabbed the plow with his teeth and left the barn, resolutely closing the door behind him.

~Equestrian Elegy~

This series of a loving family, drop-dead gorgeous marefriend and his own somewhat impressive achievements certainly helped to bolster Shining's own confidence and courage.

Skrtch, skrtch, skrtch, skrtch

However, this same confidence and courage seemed to quickly evaporate when he was in front of the Head Captain's desk.

'Don't show fear! Mares can smell fear!'

'Fact.'

Faust knows that both Cadance and his mother were easily able to tell when he was hiding an injury. Hopefully Twily wouldn't awaken to that particular feminine gift anytime soon.

The Head Captain of the Royal Guard, Rouge Blossom, was many things. She was a prodigious healer who had an extensive understanding of the anatomy and physiology of several different species – not just ponies – and often spent her free time helping out in the Emergency department of Canterlot General. Captain Rouge was easily the strongest fighter of the Royal Guard, beating out her own son – Captain Iron Zest of the Fifth Division, who was a monster in his own right – despite being a rather slender off-white pegasus.

She was a quiet and thoughtful individual that Shining Armor and practically everyone else in the Guard truly respected from the bottom of their hearts. Captain Rouge protected the soldiers under her command from such things as arrogant nobles seeking to abuse their authority or small gestures such as making sure that various guards were not kept from their friends and family for too long.

Skrtch, skrtch, skrtch, skrtch.

Captain Rouge set aside her pen and gently moved the completed form to the top of a small pile situated at the corner of her desk, folded her hooves and smiled at Shining Armor.

The room dropped several degrees in temperature as Green Shoots curled up on herself into a barely audible whimpering pony-ball while the knocked out earth pony stallion encased in an 'Isolation Bubble', suddenly appeared to be locked in the throes of a nightmare.

'She's also more terrifying than the foulest demons of Tartarus.'

'Fact.'

Right. That too.

In the back of the minds of most of the Royal Guard, carefully locked away and thoroughly repressed, was a certain incident involving a group of four thieves who had managed to sneak past the Guard and break into the castle vault. Supposedly the first thing they saw instead of the hordes of bits and rare magical artifacts was Captain Rouge calmly sipping on a cup of freshly brewed tea with four empty teacups in front of her.

'We can still hear their screams...'

'Stop thinking! Put it back in the box!'

Three of them were still in prison serving a twenty year sentence.

The fourth, who was the leader, now lived in a padded room at the Canterlot Home for Mental Wellness.

“Captain Armor.” It was the first words she had spoken since Shining and his two captives had entered the office twenty minutes ago.

“Reporting in, ma'am!” Shining somehow managed to repress the stutter that so badly wanted to escape his mouth. He tried to force his spine into an even more rigid form as she raised one elegant eyebrow in response and tacitly prompted him to continue.

'Start at the Bank and include the time of the incident. We have the timestamp here...'

“At approximately twenty five minutes past noon, a group of three ponies led by Green Shoots here, attempted to rob the Bastion Street branch of the Equestrian National Bank.” Shining indicated the earth pony next to him who trembled violently when she felt the weight of Captain Rouge's gaze on her before it was lifted and returned to Shining Armor.

'No casualties. Mention Our method of capture and lead into the interrogation of the suspects.'

“No civilians were injured in the time they made their entrance through the front door and before I subdued the three of them in a containment bubble. I then conducted a brief interrogation of the three, with a focus on Ms. Shoots in particular-”

Green made a squeaking sound from her still cowering position and Shining could have sworn he saw Captain Rouge's lips slightly turn up in a ghost of a smirk.

'Yeesh, We really ARE more tired than We thought.'

'Visual hallucinations are not uncommon with sleep deprivation.'

Soldiering on, Shining continued: “-which led to the discovery that the so-called 'heist' was one of several illicit activities being conducted within the city to serve as a distraction for a much larger smuggling operation dealing in narcotics and volatile magical armaments.”

“Volatile? What Class were they?” interrupted the Captain.

'Thirty-seven Class One Artifacts. Seventy-two crates of assorted illicit drugs.'

“Thirty-seven Class One Artifacts, which included melee weaponry geared for both quadrupedal and bipedal use with military grade enchantments of sharpness and durability. The narcotics were in much larger and varied amounts and appeared to be the 'main draw' of the auction, as it were. Dozens of crates were packed full of these drugs, discovered by my Third and Fourth Seats.”

“Wellspring and Everglade, correct?”

“Yes ma'am. Good ponies and very thorough investigators.” assured Shining emphatically, unable to keep the faint sense of pride out of his voice.

Captain Rouge chuckled a bit and asked, “And the narcotics?”

'Bucking Amore...'

Any sense of happiness in his subordinates' abilities were wiped away at the memory of the primary drug that was being sold at the auction. “Some high-end euphorics such as Zebrican maufi and Spirit Nectar. The main draw was...”

Correctly interpreting the reason for Shining's displeasure, Captain Rouge finished the sentence for him: “Alicorn Dust, correct? Captain?”

Shining took a deep breath and slowly exhaled to calm the anger boiling inside of him, “...Yes, ma'am.”

Alicorn Dust, also known as Amore, was the hot new drug to appear within the world in the last ten years. It was a powerful stimulant that functioned similarly to an aphrodisiac, yet it enhanced everything that would be associated within a romantic relationship. People who took the drug acted with a partner, or someone who they had amorous leanings towards, as if it was Hearts and Hooves day; pouring everything they had into making a relationship successful and not solely towards satisfying lustful urges.

Amore also acted as a potent magical enhancer, instilling a feeling of power and significantly boosting a person's abilities; thankfully without a berserker state. This enhancement somehow translated into a mutual sympathetic effect on the recipient of the user's affections, but without the side-effects and at a reduced level. It was highly addictive and only showed signs of tolerance within minotaurs and dragons, who were forced to take larger and larger amounts of the drug to achieve the same effect.

Though in recent years, newer iterations of the drug have shown their creator to have been improving their formula and decreasing how fast minotaurs and dragons adapted to it, leading to a new surge in popularity in their populations.

'Nothing says fun like a suped-up Dragon...'

The most dangerous aspect of the drug, however, was that once it wore off, people became extremely flat in their affect and would have great difficulties in expressing their emotions without it's usage. Chronic usage would also inevitably lead to a person just...burning out like a candle. Their magic would be permanently crippled and they would no longer be drawn into Heartsongs, even by those closest to them.

Dust users would go through the motions of life without feeling...becoming husks of their former selves, never to return any semblance of vivacity they once possessed. While most ponies were appropriately horrified by the drug's effects, some chose to use it for the power it promised or the potential fulfillment of a romantic relationship.

Shining had known ponies who had taken the drug and he had very luckily managed to catch them in time before they had ruined themselves forever.

'Poindexter...'

'Just the icing on the toilet cake that the street name for the bucking thing is named after Cadance!'

Throughout it's career as a street drug, no political body or agency has ever found out who was creating the drug and supplying it. Drug raids had been carried out before and their orchestrators questioned with zero success – all those who would have been promising leads had had their memories tampered with. Some of the best lamia mind mages in the world had worked on the problem and found their own skills wanting.

They were always one step behind.

Even the raid conducted today and the people Shining and his ponies had captured didn't leave him with much confidence that they'd find much.

'Or what We'd managed to save anyway.'

'Our friends are safe. That's the only kind of win that matters.'

Captain Rouge was kind enough to let Shining calm down before she gestured for him to continue on with his report.

'...follow up with the location of the Auction.'

'Don't forget about Minty getting us those permits!'

“The Auction was being conducted within an old warehouse on the eastern side of the city. One of the soldiers from the Second Division got the building permits and tracked their owners down to a bloc of merchants who were using it for storage of excess goods – primarily spices, some of it local and some imported from other countries.” Shining Armor paused in his report and briefly considered his words, something that Captain Rouge easily picked up on as she held up a hoof for him to stop talking.

“Clear?” The soft voice of Captain Rouge was immediately answered by a gentle, but firm tone.

“Yes, ma'am?” Lieutenant Clear Aspirant, Rouge's second-in-command of the First Division, was just behind Shining at the threshold of the room based on the location of her voice.

'We ain't dumb enough to look away from the Head!'

“Please take Captain Armor's captives to Interrogation Room C and assist in the questioning. Bring me a report before the end of the day.”

“Understood, ma'am.” Shining felt a horn charging up with power behind him and then the sound of the lieutenant clearing her throat, “Captain Armor...would you please dismantle your containment spell?”

“Well, Lieutenant I-” began Shining as he gave a significant look to Captain Rouge who narrowed her eyes briefly before nodding.

“Actually, Clear, please take Ms. Shoots with you and begin the questioning. As it stands, I believe Mister...” she trailed off leadingly, looking towards the silver-furred earth pony laying unconscious within Shining's Isolation Bubble.

“Sterling. Oval Sterling.” supplied Shining.

“Mr. Sterling is indisposed at the moment anyway.” finished off Captain Rouge as she looked past Shining and at her lieutenant, trading some form of silent communication between them.

“Yes, ma'am. Ms. Shoots? If you would please come with me?” The gentle order surprised Green Shoots who looked nervously between Shining and Captain Rouge for permission. Captain Rouge nodded once at her and Shining gave her a thankful smile, causing the dark green mare let out a shaky sigh of relief and trot meekly out of the office.

“Alright, Captain. Out with it.” ordered Captain Rouge brusquely.

Shining gulped and nodded, “There is another matter, ma'am. One that I'd like a bit more privacy for with your permission.”

Her eyes narrowed but she acquiesced quickly at the serious undertone in his voice. The Captain slid a hoof under her desk that caused a sunny yellow crackle of magic to leap out of the fine wood grain and quickly expand out to encase the room in a field of power, before seemingly winking out of existence. Shining's horn tingled with the telltale signs of power in the air that indicated the privacy ward was still up and running.

He tapped the bubble around Sterling and made a small adjustment to it so that no sound would pass through before proceeding onwards to an increasingly concerned-looking Captain Rouge.

“The pony conducting the Auction was...apparently one Oval Sterling.”

“'Apparently'?” Captain Rouge's eyes sharpened and ordered in a clipped tone, “Elaborate, Captain.”

'I mean...it's possible We could have imagined things.'

'But...We cannot be one hundred percent certain that We did not.'

“Well, ma'am, this is what I saw...”

~Equestrian Elegy~

A few hours ago...

Shining Armor had only ever seen a few minotaurs in his life, but he had to admit that the dark brown biped was the burliest one by far. Standing menacingly outside of the large double doors that marked the front of the dingy looking warehouse, the minotaur would have been an extremely effective deterrent to any curious civilians. The location of the building was in a rather remote area of the city and the warehouse itself didn't look much different to the other several dozen that occupied the region apart from it's smaller size.

While Shining wasn't worried about his chances of beating the guard, this was meant to be a stealthy operation. Minotaurs had the lowest percentage of magic users amongst the sapient races inhabiting Earth. But what they lacked in spellcasting, the the world had granted the race blessings of regeneration and brute strength to a degree that there were several minotaur warriors that could give the Royal Guard Captains a run for their bits.

Well.

Perhaps not Captain Iron.

'Definitely not Captain Rouge, either.'

'Considering his former position, Captain Goldenheart would likely have no trouble either.'

'Captain Sharp would be able to take them easily with that massive stick shoved up his-'

'-Regardless! ...All of the other Captains have years of experience that would allow this operation to be conducted with a near one hundred percent chance of success.'

Even Captain Candy would do better than him.

'Unfortunately.'

'Stupid know-it-all...'

So what if he knows a little more magic than everypony else and that he can teach Twily just a tiny bit better than Shining himself could when the Princess wasn't available.

'We're sure that we could easily do this – better than that stupid Bucket Head even!...If...We weren't the new guy.'

It had only been two months ago since Shining was promoted from his former position of Lieutenant to Captain of the entire squad. While he certainly wouldn't show it in front of the others, he still felt a little uneasy with his new command.

“This is going to suck if they have a sensor on lookout.” muttered Everglade.

“No doubt. But it's not like there's a whole lot of cover between us and the warehouse. They'll see us coming from pretty much any direction. Teleporting is the only way to go.” replied Locus Wellspring.

'No time for wallowing though. We are the Captain of the Eighth Division.'

'Right. We can just cry about it to Cadance later when she gets back from Manehattan like We usually do.'

'We do not cry!'

'...Riiiight.'

'...We simply get a tad overemotional every now and then in the company of Our very understanding and sympathetic marefriend.'

...It was not the first time that Shining was glad that nopony present here could hear his inner thoughts.

“As long as we get the griffins and pegasi on the roofs, we should be fine. Minotaurs are more likely to face a threat head on, rather than call for help.” assured Shining. From his concealed position, he could see the four winged guards that were scanning the skies also turned their sights to the ground every now and then.

'This would be SO much easier if We could just Isolate the entire area.'

'Undoubtedly. But without knowing what kinds of goods are being dealt and how many, an explosive detonation of Our spell from the usage of unknown armaments would be rather...deadly.'

'We could always just direct the force upwards.'

'While that would protect everyone on the outside...'

'Yeah, yeah. We know. It wasn't a serious suggestion, anyway.'

“Besides, I'm sure the talented members of the Second Division will be able to get us in position without anyone detecting us.” Shining glanced over at the armoured forms of the ponies he had wrangled for this operation. By the time he had gotten the info out of Green Shoots and her associates, the so-called 'Dark Auction' was already underway.

The Princess had taken Twily out for the day for a lesson that needed more room than what the city could provide and the two Captains of the four stationed within the city (including himself) went with the pair. Captain Rouge was needed at the castle just in case anyone was dumb enough to break in with her standing guard, which was entirely possible with newer and woefully ignorant criminals.

This left Shining having to quickly gather any free Guards he could on the way that weren't dealing with the other distractions in Canterlot and send messages to Captain Rouge and his lieutenant in the castle to inform them about these developments. Luckily, the ponies he gathered included a strong amount of his own division, two from the Third and six from the tricky Second.

One of the Unseated members of the Second looked at Shining with a faint blush on his cheeks, “Thank you, Captain. We won't let you down.”

“I know you won't.” said Shining with full confidence, turning in place so he could catch each of the assembled ponies' eyes, “I know none of you will. Because we're the Royal Guard and we will protect this nation!”

While none of them cheered ('As that would kind of ruin the stealthy approach...' 'Shh!' 'Oh come on! Out of everypony here, We don't need to be quiet!' 'SHHH!'), their eyes gained a steely glint of determination in them and gave firm nods to Shining. The faint glow surrounding the horn of the Second's eighth seat – a mint green unicorn by the name of, funnily enough, Minty Fresh – briefly had a slight increase in it's illumination before it faded to an almost unnoticeable shimmer.

“I...believe I am as ready as I will ever be, Captain.” said Minty through gritted teeth and closed eyes, as she suppressed as much mana as possible while preparing a rather specialized variant of the Harmonic Convergence spell.

“Sixty seconds, ponies. Locus, start counting down.” ordered Shining as he trotted up to Minty.

'Sixty.'

Everglade, Shining and a pony by the name of Ground Springs – an Unseated earth pony from the Third, but the most experienced of the Unseated guards that Shining had managed to collect – stepped up right next to her as Minty's eyes opened to reveal two glowing orbs of power.

'Fifty nein!'

Fwoosh!

There was a disconcerting sensation as Shining felt every part of his body being gently tugged in completely different directions and an odd giddiness that briefly blossomed into being. He blinked once as he took in his new position just behind a tawny male griffin with Minty by his side sizing up her own blue pegasus target. Shining noted with silent approval that Everglade and Ground were in position on the other end of the roof behind a ebony colored pegasus and a brown griffin with a spotted coat.

'Fifty-six.'

The griffin suddenly stiffened and was about to turn around when Shining and Minty surged forward. Shining leapt onto the griffin's back and clamped his hooves around his neck in one smooth motion. The sudden and unexpected addition of Shining's weight brought the griffin down as Shining also clamped a wing with his hindlimbs to pin it in place.

'Fifty Three~!'

This afforded him a good view of the situation his raid members were in and he was rather smugly pleased that they had subdued their own targets without any issues. Shining grimly held onto the griffin as he continued to weakly struggle in vain to shake him off with the little amount of movement he could manage. All too soon, however, his struggles decreased in intensity; Shining never letting up on his grip until the griffin's eyes rolled backwards in their sockets.

'Forty-one.'

Both he and Minty held their targets for a few moments longer, making sure they were truly knocked out before releasing their holds. Shining gently lowered the griffin's slowly breathing form down onto the roof and watched as Minty did the same with her pegasus. Her limbs were trembling with the sudden burst of physical activity coupled onto the strain of her earlier casting, but Minty had assured Shining that Captain Violet had put her through more strenuous paces.

'Twenty niner! She'll be fine! Check on Ever and Ground now!'

Shining caught the eye of Everglade who silently signalled him that there were no issues on their end.

'Twenty-five.'

The enchantments embedded into his armor allowed Shining to trod silently over to the lip of the roof's edge and sneak a glance at the minotaur on the ground. Restricted as he was from using external spells, Shining instead relied on his innate Talent to protect and reinforce his plastered limb. It was a neat little trick that he had picked up when he had made the somewhat suicidal decision to spar with Captain Iron and one that he had mastered with repeat bouts.

'Definitely one of Our dumbest decisions...that somehow worked out great. We should do that more often!'

'Keep counting. Twenty.'

Shining's unique talent, combined with the bouts with an Earth pony like Iron Zest, allowed him to manipulate his mana in such a way that it was not released from his body like other unicorns. Instead, a purely conceptual spell focused on protection remained internalized and flowed through his body to bolster his natural defences to ludicrous levels. While he was still working out some of the kinks, Shining was able to reliably strengthen at least one part of his body in a fashion similar to Earth ponies.

'Well it's reliable most of the time. Anyhoo...Eighteen!'

Shining carefully gauged the distance between him and the minotaur lookout – 'Approximately twenty five feet below Us. Two rotational cycles can be completed to maximize impact within imposed limits.' – and took a deep breath to stabilize himself before...

'Fifteen! Finally! Let's go, go, GO!'

...hopping lightly off the roof, somersaulting twice in the air to increase his velocity as much as he dared to slam his casted forelimb onto the minotaur's unprotected cranium.

Crack!

“GURK!” choked out the minotaur, swaying drunkenly on the spot, but managing to impressively remain standing even with Shining hanging onto him by the horns.

Smack!

“GAH!” Shining quickly rained down another hammer blow with his impromptu cudgel, aiming to concuss the minotaur (if he wasn't already).

'Wow, this guy has got some pretty high bonuses to his CON saves!'

'Eleven. Also, minotaurs have advantage on saving throws versus Constitution.'

As the minotaur stumbled and his feet staggered into the direction of the street, Shining yanked hard on the horn he was holding onto into the opposite direction. The conflicting vectors and what was probably a very severe headache played hell with the minotaur's locomotive capabilities and sent him spiralling down to the ground.

'Eight seconds. Hmm...We should be good here. He's facing away from the street now.'

Some primitive combat instincts must have kicked in at that moment, for Shining's new “friend” somehow managed to catch himself from faceplanting onto the street. One massive fist slammed itself into the ground, slightly cratering the surrounding stone from where it impacted as the minotaur collapsed onto one knee.

'Five seconds remaining.'

The minotaur growled low and dangerously before letting loose a chuckle that dripped with malice, “Nice try, punk. But you should have brought your-”

His threat was cut off as he was tackled from behind by the rest of Shining's raid group who had come charging down, headed by Locus, and taken down their designated target. Still clutching his horns, Shining took the opportunity to slam his face down into the ground and further stagger the guard's senses. The minotaur was quickly ponypiled and gagged before he could let out any sort of warning now that he realized just how outnumbered he was.

A particularly bulky earth pony from the Second Division was working together with a mare from his squad to compress certain blood vessels on the minotaur's bulky neck. The minotaur shuddered as their hooves quickly pressed in six areas on both sides of the neck before his muscles relaxed and his eyes rolled backwards into his skull.

Finally, the smaller mare tapped a space on her armor in an intricate pattern that caused the magical plate to shift in place and reveal a hidden compartment. Her hoof disappeared into the expanded space and pulled out a set of shackles that she summarily slapped onto the minotaur. The metal vibrated slightly as it was opened and placed on the minotaur's wrist, before it started to expand and better fit the circumference of his wrist.

“Good work, everypony.” praised Shining. He was pleased to note that while this elicited smiles from the ones in earshot, they did not relax their guards. “You two,” he said, indicating the two ponies that had finished knocking out the minotaur, “Keep an eye on him. The rest of you will split into three groups and case either side of the building. Two groups of ground-pounders and another for our fliers who will go over the roof and relieve Everglade for a sitrep.”

Shining waited a scant few seconds as the ponies shuffled themselves into their assigned groups before he continued, “Check for side entrances, windows, anything that might be a point of entry. If you find anything of the sort or an area that warrants further investigation, send a pony back to me with details before anything else. Keep things quiet, quick and only use spellcraft if there's an absolute need for it. Move out.”

Quickly hopping to their work, the raid group split into three and began to canvass the sides of the building. A few seconds later, Shining spied Everglade gliding down from the roof and onto the ground in front of him.

“Anything interesting on the roof, Ever?” he asked without much hope.

The pegasus mare shook her head apologetically, “Nuthin' I could find while you were tussling with your new coltfriend.” Shining's lips twitched upwards as she continued, “There's another building pressed up against the backside of this place that looks as if it's in for some construction. Lot of the roof is missing and there's a bunch of scaffolding and some random power tools. Bunch of the other guards are checkin' the place out, but I didn't see anything move from above.”

Shining sighed, “Well it's possible there may be some hidden entrances. I want you back on the roof just in case we have any runners.”

Everglade looked displeased with the notion of not participating in the upcoming raid, but understood the value of not letting anyone get away. “Got it. Can I get another flyer up with me? Would help in case there's multiple runners.”

“I'll get you the two batponies from the Second when they come back. Split yourselves so you have overwatch in all cardinal directions.”

Royal Guard hierarchy dictated that guards would follow the lead of the highest ranked officer, unless told otherwise – 'Or when there's a certain cake-loving, face-stuffing mare on site, hehe.'

'[SMACK!]'

'OW!'

'Show some respect.'

'Fine. When there's a certain cake-loving, face-stuffing Princess on site.'

'Better.'

Odd potentially treasonous and/or blasphemous tangents aside, of the ponies in his raid group there were only four seated officers including: Himself, Everglade, Locus and Minty. While Shining had every bit of confidence in Ever's abilities, even in enclosed spaces, she would be better served coordinating overwatch efforts with magical support from Minty.

Shining and Everglade continued hashing out the details on her patrol patterns until a flier from his raid group, and a member of his squad no less, came soaring down to the two of them.

“Sir! No windows or side entrances were discovered on the western side of the warehouse. Nothing significant in the other building on initial inspection either.” began Soaring Heart. “Same with the eastern side along with the building behind the warehouse. Northern wall of the place is pressed up right against the back of the place. No doors though, concealed or otherwise that we could find. Officer Locus wanted to inspect the place a bit more though considering it's location.”

“It is an odd design choice...” mused Shining thoughtfully as he constructed a mental map of the area:

Shining mulled over the information briefly and gave his orders, “Relay this back to Locus: I want two ponies from the Eighth at his discretion to investigate the building, the two batponies from the Second to join Ever on the roof and everyone else to reconvene back here to join up with myself and enter the Warehouse.”

Soaring Heart gave a sharp nod, saluted and flew off to carry out Shining's orders who turned back to Everglade. “Best if you head on up to the roof now, Ever.”

She looked at him critically for a moment and then settled for a lazy wink, “Good luck, Shining. Try not to do anything too crazy, or we'll never hear the end of it from Cold.”

They both mock shuddered and shared a laugh before Everglade flapped her wings and returned to the roof as Shining turned his attention to the two Second division members who were guarding the downed minotaur.

“I'm going to ask the two of you to hang back and watch over our new friend here.” he began, giving a pointed stare to the minotaur, “Will you two be alright by yourselves?”

A confident grin bloomed on the muscular Earth pony stallion, “We may not be Seated officers, Sir, but our Lieutenant whipped us into pretty good shape.”

'Minotaurs should not be taken so lightly. Hmm...We should roll for Perception by the way.'

'Sixteen!'

Just as Shining was about to chastise the stallion about the dangers of overconfidence, he was beaten to the punch by the mare next to him.

Smack!

Literally.

“An extra unicorn would be appreciated, Captain Armor.” The grey earth pony's voice was soft, but rang clear in Shining's ears. She ignored the reproachful look from her companion with what looked like years of long practice. “Or, if you cannot spare an extra pony, I would like to volunteer my companion Umbral Bulk here who makes quite an excellent meatshield in exchange.”

'Hah! This mare's great!'

“Silent!” squawked Umbral in protest.

“What? It is one of your few outstanding features. Right next to your excellent oral hygeine.” asked the now-named Silent with what seemed to be genuine confusion.

Shining snorted at the odd exchange, stopping whatever retort Umbral may have had to Silent's assessment of him. “I can spare an extra unicorn for you two. And Umbral, I didn't mean to denigrate your abilities. It is just that minotaurs can be rather tough opponents and many ponies underestimate their regeneration speeds...”

As expected of Second Division members, the two guards quickly caught on to what Shining was hinting at. Though perhaps Umbral only caught on after he saw Shining's forelimb in motion rocketing towards the not-so-unconscious minotaur.

WHAP!

“Oh...come...on-!” the minotaur was once again summarily cut off as Shining sent him back into the realm of dreams with a single blow.

“...Although to be fair, this is definitely the fastest recovery speed I've seen from a minotaur.” Shining chuckled as another possibility came to him, “Or I'm not as strong as I thought.”

While he tried to play it off, Shining was a bit worried that he had hit the minotaur a bit too hard that time as he could see some bright-red blood decorating his cast.

'...He'll most likely be fine. Minotaurs are fairly robust.'

'Which means he can totally take another hit! Hit him again!'

'No, wait!'

WHAP!

“Mggrrrlll.” This was the best transcription that Shining could use to describe the odd strangled groan that poured out of the minotaur's throat.

Umbral and Silent were a bit wide-eyed at the sudden (and repeated) display of violence but admirably regained their composure a moment later. Shining noted with approval that Umbral was more on guard now that the minotaur's resilience had been demonstrated and hopefully took this lesson to heart.

'Woohoo! Another point for acting on Our impulses! Suck it, logic!'

'Was that REALLY necessary?'

'Ehhh...probably? He might be locked up, but that doesn't mean he can't break out. Better safe than sorry, right?'

“I'm not so sure we'll need that unicorn anymore...” muttered Silent looking between Shining and the insensate bovine.

“Ehehe. I've learned from personal experience that sometimes it's best to just double tap for people or creatures that can take a solid hit.” The bright reassuring grin that Shining flashed towards the pair seemed to make them more nervous for some odd reason.

“...That was a tap...?”

“Pardon?” Umbral said something in a very quiet voice that he couldn't quite make out.

“N-nothing, Captain Armor! Thank you for the advice!”

Shining gave him a slightly confused smile, “Anytime. So, you two, soon to be three, will be on duty for this minotaur. The ponies on the roof will be watching your six, so you don't have to worry about that. Though if any of the buyers in this Auction come out running, focus on them. If the minotaur gets away, it's not too big of a problem. Priority is on the buyers, not the hired help. Clear?”

““Yes sir!””

“Excellent.”

It was only a few moments later that Locus and most of the raid group returned which left twelve ponies, including Shining, that would be heading inside. A mixture of six unicorns, three pegasi and three earth ponies from all three Divisions present gave a decent amount of versatility to Shining. None of the ponies present had anything on hoof to grease the hinges of the door, so their entrance wouldn't be totally soundless. The best he could hope for was that nopony had heard any sounds of the scuffle outside of the warehouse.

'Not with Our luck.'

'Indeed.'

Still, they could not delay any longer. If there was a hidden exit that Locus and his team had not found, then it was entirely possible they could lose all of the major parties involved in this black market deal.

“Reverb. Willow.” The earth pony and unicorn of Division Eight that Shining had named, snapped to attention, “Be ready to open the doors on my command. Ease it open just in case the noise isn't too bad, otherwise, slam it open.”

'Shield wall should be a solid opener.'

'That assumes an enemy adopting a linear configuration. A warehouse such as this would likely have rows of shelves creating multiple potential avenues of attack. We have a team of twelve, so perhaps-'

“-We're going to divide ourselves into three groups of four ponies which will be known as R1, R2 and R3 respectively. Team leaders will be myself heading R1, Locus heading R2 and Willow Wizz heading R3.”

The ponies were quickly shuffled into their groups in which the final makeup of each platoon was comprised of one pegasus, one earth pony and two unicorns. It was possible that Shining could have chosen better leaders for each team, but on such short notice he had to rely on his experience with his own squad members.

The upcoming battle would tell if it was the correct decision or not.

'Even if this is not the optimal path, We-'

'-Will protect-!'

Everypony and everyone.

Shining and Locus formed two points of what would be an inverted triangle with their teams as Shining gave the signal for Willow and Reverb (who was part of R3) to get the door.

ScreeeEEEEEE!

'So much for the stealthy option!'

THUNK!

Evidently Shining needed to work on judging just how rusty door hinges were, as the sound that erupted from the squeaky doors as they were opened could have woken the dead. It certainly attracted the attention of the group of people at the end of a long row of shelves.

The group in question was quite easily the sketchiest and most diverse gathering of species that Shining had seen in his entire life. There were ponies, griffins, hippogriffs, goats, deer, zebras, a few lamias a minotaur and even a violet-scaled dragon whose massive frame towered over everyone within the building.

'None of them would look out of place in a police line-up...'

'Appearance is not evidence of guilt.'

'Really? Well it appears that a couple of these fine upstanding citizens are participating in a trade with, Ooh let's see, is that pony selling some Alicorn Dust? Weird! Well, We're sure that's just a bag of purple-colored sugar and this is just a motley crew of criminally underrated bakers!'

'...Sarcasm does not befit Us.'

At the front of this gathering and situated behind what appeared to be a ramshackle auctioneer's podium was a silver earth pony with a well-maintained dark brown mustache peppered with flecks of grey, who seemed just as caught off guard as the rest of his customers to Shining's secret satisfaction. In the auctioneer's hoof he held up a large plastic bag filled with a disgustingly familiar violet powdery substance. A large wooden crate by the pony's side was opened and appeared to be full of similar bags with Styrofoam peanuts littering the base of the box. When the stallion caught Shining's eye however, he was a little disconcerted to see alarm temporarily switch to a very brief flash of...

'Anypony else see his eyes just flash green real quick there?'

'That intense...hungry...stare is a bit more concerning than an eye color change.'

Shining marked it as something else to ask for later when they were all in chains.

'Yeah! Time to be a Captain! Let's open with a super sarcastic opening!'

'Indeed, We shall start this in a manner befitting of a – Wait, what was that last part?'

'Sweet Faust, We're actually in agreement for once! Hahaha! Yes! All aboard for the Sarcasm Ship! Whoop! Whoop!'

'We will most certainly NOT be boarding that ship-!'

“Sorry to interrupt this obviously very legal exchange of illegal goods and weapons, everyone.” began Shining with mock cheerfulness ('Nice!'), “But as a Royal Guard of Equestria, I am going to have to ask all of you to submit yourselves peacefully for questioning.”

Waving a hoof to Locus, the two of them and their groups started to slowly walk forwards with Willow and R3 hanging back for now.

“Oh really?” drawled one of the lamias sensuously, her lower snake half raising her higher above most of the crowd, “From what I can tell, we outnumber you five to one.”

The lamia slithered out between her compatriots revealing a large, toned crimson-scaled serpentine body. The scales on the lamia's lower body were comprised of differing intensities of red that formed a pattern resembling that of a demonically grinning maw. Her violet eyes flashed with a mischievous light and Shining felt a featherlight pressure on his skull coinciding with a seductive voice that slipped out from the lamia's smiling lips.

“Now, why don't you be good little hatchlings and forget about seeing anything here and go on your way.”

'Mental probe incoming.'

'Ugh. Mind magic sucks. Stupid lamias.'

'Careful. She's not very powerful, but some of her mana has already slipped in. A negligible amount to be sure, but-'

'Oh, gross! Get the buck out of Our meat palace!'

'...Meat palace? Really?'

'AND STAY OUT! Also,what's wrong with calling Our brain a palace? We're part of the Royal Guard! Emphasis and underline on Royal! Our digs should definitely be something equally ritzy~ '

'Ugh.'

“I-Impossible!” choked out the lamia with wide eyes.

Shining took some satisfaction in the way the lamia reeled backwards in shock as her mental probe was destroyed. Her concentration broken, the tentative holds she had on the other guards were similarly broken as they shook themselves back into lucidity.

“There are quite a few Guards outside as well, Miss. So I think it'd be better for you all to-”

In his peripheral vision, Shining saw bright orange flames lick the side of the dragon's maw which opened and disgorged an enormous fireball straight towards Shining and his friends in the span of a heartbeat. A blinding light and skyrocketing temperature occupied nearly all of Shining's senses as mana surged within his body faster than he could ever recall.

''SHIELD!/SHIELD!''

BOOM!

KRSHHHH!

A translucent, colorless shield was barely brought up in time to meet the horrifically strong fireball and wavered dangerously close to shattering when it was hit. The impact deafened Shining and his ponies at ground zero and the left over concussive force that his shield partially redirected, knocked over the row of shelves to Shining's right with a resounding crash.

“Phew.” muttered Shining, thankful that his shield held up to the blast.

Dragonfire had the rather terrifying property of burning through both mundane and magical defences. In this regard, the Royal Guard was rather fortunate – 'Or unfortunate, depending on who you asked...' – that Captain Zest's wife was so...enthusiastic in helping out her husband's coworkers. The only good thing about the dragon's attack was that the blast had created a convenient cloud of smoke that obscured he and his unharmed squad from view of the now bickering crooks.

“ARE YOU INSANE, NYXERION?! YOU COULD HAVE IGNITED THE DUST IN THESE CRATES AND KILLED US ALL WITH THAT STUNT!”

Within the smoke, any poor visibility was significantly mitigated by their helmets. As such, Shining was able to convey a series of hoof signals to the pegasi in R1 and R2 to slowly start spreading out the smoke in a more favorable position. Willow and R3 were stealthily approaching from behind and Shining signaled for her to wait.

“Yet I didn't.” callously rumbled what was probably the dragon. It was hard to tell who was who with all this smoke. “All this hiding, bribing and...sneaking around business is beneath a dragon such as myself.”

Sheesh. Talk about an ego.

'Right?!'

Though that bit about bribery would be something good to follow up on later. The smoke was dispersing on either side of them and into the two rows adjacent to the one Shining, R1 and R2 were at the entrance of. R3 was directed into the row on Shining's left and told to wait for his signal as he communicated the plan of attack to Locus.

“Only the Sun Goddess would be a worthy opponent. Not her shiny little pets or her so-called 'Dragonkin'.” sneered Nyxerion.

'Does...does he actually think he got Us? Or that he'd even stand a chance against the Princess? Also, clearly he hasn't even met Zesty, sheesh.'

'Thank Faust,that Spike won't grow up to be such a dimwitted moron.'

Not looking particularly pleased that Shining would be leading the assault, Locus nonetheless acquiesced to his orders with a single sharp nod.

“To hell with the guards, where did that slimy Sterling run off to?!” interjected another voice in the growing din of voices.

It was as good a distraction as any as Shining swept his right hoof sharply down and the pegasi behind him blasted the fog in their row forwards with Shining charging within it's midst. He felt the telltale flare of mana as the unicorns behind him projected shields just in case any of the crooks fired blindly down the row.

The lamia who attempted to penetrate his mind was halfway to turning around with wide eyes as she caught sight of Shining. Smirking, Shining lit her up with a powerful concussive blast that blasted her off her tail and rocketed her into the crowd of crooks behind her.

An orange glow lit up the smoke and framed a draconic silhouette, giving Shining an excellent target to encase in his strongest barrier, with a slight modification, around as a second blast was fired off.

THWOOOMP!

“RAAAGGGGHHHH!!!” Nyxerion roared in impotent fury as his flames ate through the shield, but ultimately failed to penetrate through to Shining's great relief.

'Seems like he ain't too happy with us!'

'Indeed. We should call for the first two teams now.'

“R1 AND R2! FIVE REVERSE STAGGERED CHARGE!” shouted Shining with a magically amplified voice. Unseated or not, Shining made sure to train all ninety-nine ponies of his squad very thoroughly in strategies and physical training. In this case, R2 would head out immediately into the fray followed by R1 five seconds later.

'We can give 'em a bit of help on our way though!'

Shining grinned as he started to blast the toughest looking targets with stunners and sedation spells on his way to Nyxerion who continued to pour out swelteringly hot flames out of his gullet to batter down Shining's shield.

'With astoundingly little success.'

Shining doubted he would break out of the shield, but in the off chance that he did, Shining wanted to make sure Nyxerion's attention was solely focused on him and not his raid group.

A griffin with heavy facial scars took a vicious swipe at Shining as he weaved through the stumbling crowd. Shining smoothly ducked at the last second and briefly slowed down to deliver a powerful buck to the griffin's side, cracking her ribs with the impact.

'Our shield didn't even lose to Tia! It ain't gonna fall to some no-namer like this scrub!'

“You little bastard!” screeched a second lamia with black scales and dusky skin, as she attempted to slam her muscular tail down onto Shining's skull.

'One wonders if that moron even realizes that Our Bubble is oxygen proof and that his own attempts to break out will soon be his undoing.'

Shining rolled out of the way, sprang up to his hooves and charged up a concussive blast at the Lamia's midsection.

“Locus! Hang her up!” His Third Seat looked up after taking down leather-clad goat with three quick Stunners and nodded.

“Stay still WORM!” The lamia's cerise eyes glowed ominously as she deployed her magic.

'Wow. She sucks. Also, to be fair to Nyxy-'

'Nyxy? Get set for calling out R3 after this.'

Shining fired off his prepped spell and sent the howling lamia on a corkscrew path that bowled over a charging doe and was intercepted by Locus who arrested her velocity by clotheslining her neck with an outstretched forelimb.

“GAH!” The lamia choked out with spittle foaming at the edge of her lips as Locus summarily dropped her to the ground.

'-We never would have been able to pretty much reflexively cast that without practising with Tia. We should definitely get her some nice sapphires as a present after this.'

“R3!” Shining roared out for the third group to join the fray now that most of the criminals were focused on the row where R1 and R2 had emerged from. He also conjured several quick shields to section off the crooks so as to make them unable to exploit their number advantage.

'...Captain Iron will most likely use the opportunity to...request...a spar from Us however.'

Thus they were taken completely off-guard when Willow Wizz and her group came from an adjacent row. Shining noted with approval that Willow was keeping R3 together to take down targets as a team as he absently batted aside a glowing dagger with a hoof.

'Not if We bring Cadance along!'

“Pretty quick there, brat! But to match mighty Zafir, you'll have to do better than tha-URK!”

Shining cut off the zebra's rhyme with a cross chop to his cheek while wrenching Zafir's knife-holding hoof down into the ground with a telekinetic hold. He frowned as the blade of the enchanted knife smoothly pierced the concrete and sank up to it's hilt, before taking it out of the equation by snapping off the blade at the hilt which caused the glow to fade.

Zafir stared at the rather fragile knife with dull eyes from his position on the ground, “I thought this knife was practically a steal, but it seems obvious that I have made a terrible deal.”

'...That is a surprisingly sound plan considering how well she gets along with Cherry and Lady Tiamat.'

Shining scanned the battlefield and was happy to see that the Guards were tidily mopping up the criminals without much fuss. He continued to help out by throwing up shields every now and then and boxing in the weaker-looking mooks.

No one but him would be getting hurt on his watch if he had anything to say about it.

'Our plans are amazing!'

'Even a broken clock is right twice a day.'

'HEY!'

“That's what ya get for being cheap, Zafir!” laughed a new voice. A paunchy minotaur with a rather menacing looking battleaxe was running towards the pair. Shining was privately relieved that he wasn't nearly as bulky as his compatriot outside and hopefully wouldn't take much time subduing.

The almost certainly enchanted battleaxe introduced an element of uncertainty in the upcoming battle. Thus, Shining sought to remove this variable in the simplest manner possible as the minotaur flung his shiny toy back in a telegraphed downward strike.

This was achieved by firing off what was considered a 'Party Trick' spell and greasing the minotaur's palms.

Fwip!

““Eh?”” Zafir and his bovine acquaintance both made similar noises of confusion as the axe slipped out of the minotaur's slick and shiny hands and bounced off the shield-encased Nyxerion with a dull thud before clattering noisily to the ground.

Shining took a mighty leap off the ground that took him face to face with the taller minotaur and which would have carried him slightly over the bull had he not hooked his rearlimbs around his neck. Using his neck as pivot point, Shining rapidly spun around the bull with such a high velocity that he brought the minotaur crashing to the ground with Shining poised right above his skull with two hooves to send him to dreamland.

'Ah, We can do better than that!'

'A particularly showy display might convince the rest to lay down peacefully without further violence.'

'How's the dragon?'

Shining chanced a glance at Nyxerion who was definitely slowing down and panting as he tried to batter down the Bubble. He had stopped blasting fire on it and was now making use of his powerful draconic body to shatter Shining's shield with brute force.

'Roll for Performance.'

Shining gave him a mocking wave and cheeky smirk to accompany it, though Nyxerion didn't really seem to notice in his dogged attempts to break out.

'A seven?! Come on!'

'Well they can't all be natural twenties.'

'Let's...just focus on the minotaur.'

Silently apologizing to the dazed minotaur for what he was about to do, Shining conjured flashy, but ultimately useless and meaningless circular sigils around him as he started to reinforce his body. The dazzling display caught the eye of several crooks who had then been taken down in their moment of distraction.

“I'll try not to hit you too hard, but you might want to brace yourself regardless.” advised Shining sincerely to the minotaur.

“W-wait, l-let's talk about this-!” began his target fearfully.

'Reinforcement ready. Be advised, We only have ten seconds before Our body begins to break down because of the drain on maintaining the Bubble.'

'Freakin' dragons...Also, We should probably let the others know what We're going to do.'

'Another sensible idea...truly remarkable.'

Ignoring his Inner Voices' banter with the ease of long practice and a concealed grin ('Hey!'), Shining very briefly commanded his sigils to flash in a coded pattern.

'PLAY – ALONG.'

Without further ado, Shining's left hoof came down onto the prone minotaur's face, impacting his cheek hard enough to bruise, but not enough to break bone. His right hoof joined the fray as he pulled his left hoof back, making sure that it touched one of the sigils behind him as he punched the minotaur with slightly more speed.

Two blows.

'Analyzing regeneration speed.'

Four blows.

'Estimating endurance levels.'

Eight blows.

'Comparing to guard outside and referencing notable mentions in Minotaur warrior caste. Adjusting force accordingly.'

Sixteen.

'Conclusion:'

Thirty-two.

'This won't be permanent.'

Sixty-four.

The magic in Shining's body poured throughout him as his punches came faster and faster, all the while he mentally directed the sigils to give off more and more light, blinding his 'audience'. Only one out of every four blows landed on the minotaur and for those he made absolutely sure to pull his punches. The rest Shining expertly timed ('A trivial matter.') with particularly bright flashes of light from the sigils upon which he directed his blows to the concrete.

Through it all, Shining kept a blank face, even as the minotaur's nose broke in a particularly messy manner and a spout of blood sprayed up and coated his muzzle. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that many of the crooks watching the 'fight' were trembling as he reeled back his right hoof for one final blow.

“You should have come quietly.” he stated to the battered minotaur who looked much worse than he really was.

BOOM!

His hoof came crashing down even as he obscured the area with another bright flash of light and shifted his blow at the last moment to the ground, fracturing it for several feet around. Chunks of concrete were ripped from the floor as the kinetic energy of Shining's punch raced through it and caused all who were on the ground to feel as if the very earth was quaking for a brief moment.

It was a fortuitous bit of timing that, as he dismounted from his last opponent, that Nyxerion had used up all of the oxygen remaining in his body and slumped to the ground. The sounds of struggle had stopped and the battle came to a halt as he dispersed of the sigils that expanded slightly and burst into colorful motes of pink mana that sent more than a few flinches throughout the crowd.

'Well we're never going to get a better chance to end this without anyone else getting hurt. Roll for Intimidation with Advantage.'

'Uh...thirteen and...HAHAHAHA! NATURAL TWENTY, BABY! WOOOOOOOO!'

Shining glared out at the remaining criminals who were standing with open mouths (and for some reason, a few of his fellow Guards were looking a bit scared) and once again ordered:

“Surrender.”

Clang! Clang! Thunk! Thump!

All around, the criminals who were still up and weren't otherwise subdued by Shining's raid group started dropping their weapons one after the other and submissively laying prone on the ground. The guards started to lock up the criminals one after another, starting with the ones who looked like they would be capable of teleporting who were outfitted with more specialized cold iron manacles and rings. Shining's eyes flickered over the group when something caught his attention.

“Did anypony get the auctioneer?” asked Shining with narrowed eyes, not seeing the silver Earth pony that had looked to be heading the auction. His frown deepened when he was met by increasing amounts of negative responses.

“T-there's an office at the back!” stammered a weedy-looking deer sporting numerous bruises over his face.

'Might be where a back exit is.'

“Don't you say another word, you little-!” began another tougher-looking doe.

'Criminals tend to know their own den the best after all. It would be strange if he did not have an exit strategy.'

'Speaking of exit strategies, it's kinda weird that none of the magic users tried teleporting out. Then again, they probably didn't want to leave behind all their shiny new purchases.'

'Arrogance and underestimating the Royal Guard is another likely reason. Had they a full understanding of our abilities, they would have likely fled at the first chance they got.'

“Shut up.” Shining cut off the doe gently, who stopped talking immediately when she met his dispassionate gaze. He turned to the deer who had spoke up with a slightly warmer look. “Continue.”

With a nervous glance to the frozen doe beside him, the deer began again, “There...there's an office in the back of this place on the right s-side. B-behind a bu-bunch of crates. I s-saw Oval take off to there...”

“Locus, you're in charge of these people, I'm checking out the office!” Shining called out behind him as he got the needed information.

While still maintaining the barrier around the dragon, as it hadn't yet been ten minutes since he had fallen unconscious, Shining warmed up a speed-boosting spell on himself and had enough leftover mental fortitude (and training) to layer it.

'Accelero Triple.'

Due to the gravitational nature of the spell, Shining had to adjust his galloping posture so as to not waste the magic's effects into excessive vertical momentum. As a result, he was much lower to the ground than normal and was hooking his hoof around whatever he could find to give him an extra boost. This all served to propel him at a blindingly fast pace, one that neared Reinforcement levels, across the warehouse interior.

'Wheeeee!'

'Focus. Save the whooping for when we're with Twily.'

His destination became clear and took the form of a large stand-alone unit with two large bay windows with the shutters drawn and a closed door that had smoke pouring out from the cracks. As his mind processed and quickly took in the scene, there was a dull roaring sound and a flash of green that briefly filtered out of the office.

'Fire?'

'He might be getting rid of any evidence!'

Shining's eyes narrowed, and foregoing any semblance of stealth, ripped off the door from it's hinges with a powerful burst of telekinesis. The loss of the door unleashed the roiling cloud of smoke that was laying contained within the office as it came pouring out and spilling out into the warehouse. Shining's eyes widened briefly at the amount before focusing and banishing the smoke obstructing his view to an uninhabited part of the warehouse. Soon enough, his efforts were rewarded as the interior of the office cleared up and he was able to see what was going on inside.

“What on Earth...?” muttered Shining, he briefly assessed the office for any threats-

'Got a seventeen for Our Perception!'

'All clear.'

-before moving into the office to smother the fires on top of what was probably once a nice desk and hopefully salvage the documents that were being lit up. Through it all, he kept a wary eye on the unconscious form of the auctioneer, Oval Sterling, who lay prone on the ground in front of a thoroughly scorched and partially melted locker.

The only clue as to what may have lain inside of the destroyed locker was a ebony-colored chitinous substance ensconced within a corner of the locker that wasn't as badly burned as the rest. Shining only managed to see it because of the contrasting green...ichor that dripped from it. Tapping his armor to open up it's expanded compartment, Shining retrieved a small jar and bottled the substance for later analysis.

“Well...hopefully this wasn't a total loss.” he mumbled, holding the sealed jar up to eye level.

'Pffft. Yeah, right.'

~Equestrian Elegy~

Captain Rouge was silent for a few moments as she digested Shining Armor's story who finished off his report with one final additional piece of information. He had saved it for the last because the implications were very worrying.

'That. And it will undoubtedly infuriate the Head.'

'Understatement of the freakin' year.'

'Within a private alcove in the bank, as was loaned out to him by the very thankful manager. Shining quickly got to work on questioning his captives, loosening their lips by constricting their Bubble cages every few seconds they refused to talk.

Shining also offered the lifeline of reduced sentences and protection as well to coax any of the ponies into talking. Scared, but not of him, the trio traded significant looks with each other until Ms. Shoots hesitantly began talking about something she was definitely not supposed to hear. This was in return for a lighter sentence being placed on the two unicorns while she would get a heavier incarceration period.

“...And I knew me and my boys were being suckered. The amount they were paying us? Pah!” spat Green Shoots, “Nothing compared to what was probably the real money-maker. They were real secretive too, but I managed to overhear something with my plants.”

“Your Talent, I presume?” asked Shining.

She flashed Shining a mean grin, that quickly faded when her cage tightened a bit more. Green glared at Shining, which he returned with a cold smile.

“Bit harsh for a Royal Protector, aren't you?” she muttered.

“You scared my little sister's friend.” he shot back. “Stop stalling or our deal goes off the table.”

She licked her lips and nervously looked around the space they were tucked away in, searching for some hidden danger. Green Shoots voice dropped into a conspiratorial whisper, “Saw some guys who looked like bigwigs ordering around the guy who gave us our orders. I...keep some plant seeds on me. Got a special kind of vine that's a little hollow but good for carrying sound.”

Green licked her lips nervously, “Real tough-looking griffin and pony. Nice clothes too. Real nice. Real dangerous vibe too.” she smiled sadly at the two stallions with her, who Shining realized, had faces younger than their size would indicate.

“But I wasn't about to let that stop me from getting a good deal. So I had a vine grow and follow them. They didn't talk much, but...one of them, I think the griffin, mentioned that they had already been in town for a few days now and they still hadn't gotten the signal to start. Only other thing I got was where the 'Big Deal' is s'posed to go down...”

There was a lot of concerning information in her words, but Shining had to deal with the most prevalent situation at the moment and focus on finding and shutting down this operation.

“Where is this supposed to happen?”'

“...In addition, Shoots' testimony when I questioned her at the bank implied that this Auction had been ready to go for some days. The fact that events only started to kick off when the Princess and two Captains were out of the city is...” Shining didn't want to finish his sentence and it was clear that the Head Captain had understood all too well what he was leading towards.

“That,” Shining held his breath as she fixed him with a deadly stare, “is a very serious implication you are making there, Captain.”

Shining swallowed nervously, but soldiered on through, “I know, Ma'am. I don't want to think that there's anypony who would-!”

'Calm down.'

'Yeah. We can scream about this later.'

His voice was steadily rising before he managed to reign himself under control, “But if there's any chance-”

He stopped at Captain Rouge's raised forehoof, “Captain...Shining. It's...well it is certainly not okay, but if there is a chance of a traitor within the palace or the Guard itself...”

Captain Rouge closed her eyes for a brief moment and rallied herself just as quickly with an almost palpable aura of determination, “This does not leave this room until I have had a chance to talk to the Princess later tonight. This Auction will be a significant setback for whatever parties were involved, but that means they'll also be spooked and that much more on guard. If either of us make any sudden moves or...inquiries...we might lose a chance of catching this potential leak.”

It was typical of the Head to predict that Shining would start his own investigation after getting confirmation of his ('Hopefully.') outlandish theory.

“What about Cadance?” he cut in, foregoing the use of her formal title in his worry.

“If you do not see her before I do for whatever reason, inform her. The last missive I received from Captain Goldenheart stated that she and her retinue would be due to return to Canterlot soon. But make sure to take all precautions when telling her and only her.”

“...Yes, ma'am.”

“The two of us, along with Princess Celestia and Princess Cadenza, will work together on...whatever is occurring here.”

“I will be participating as well, ma'am?” Shining was surprised at the task, considering he was still very much a rookie Captain.

Captain Rouge favored him a sly smile, “I think you underestimate yourself too much, Captain Armor.”

“Well...I feel it's better to be cautious and prepared rather than overconfident.”

Captain Rouge rolled her eyes, “A lesson that I wish my idiot son would learn.”

Shining couldn't stop the startled snort leaving his body, “To be fair to Captain Iron, he is a bit of an outlier in terms of strength.”

'Is there an Alicorn version of an Earth Pony?'

'We believe that in the latest O&O Creatures Vault, there was a Dire Earth Pony entry. That could fit.'

'So...like a regular earth pony, but more dire?'

'Precisely.'

Pay attention.

''Sorry./Sorry.''

“Anything else you would like to add to your report, Captain?”

“Only that Oval Sterling, based on Doctor Berry's assessment, is that physically Oval is a healthy enough stallion. However, despite multiple attempts, nopony has been able to rouse Mr. Sterling from his current...state.”

“How's his response to stimuli? Auditory, noxious or otherwise?” Captain Rouge was settling into her medical persona as she came out from behind the desk and peered at Oval. While her lab coat was long, it did not quite conceal the large burn scar on her flank where her Cutie Mark would be.

'Noxious stimuli?'

'Pain.'

“Minimal. A grimace was noted when Doctor Berry pressed on his sternum, but nothing vocal. That was the only response he managed to get.”

“Hmm...if you would lower your shield, Captain? And please levitate him for me. Make sure to keep his head and neck stable.”

Quickly complying with her orders, Shining watched with mild fascination as Captain Rouge smoothly transitioned into her role as an extremely accomplished healer. Gentle hooves poked and prodded the unresponsive Sterling as she personally assessed the pony's condition.

“I would definitely agree with Doctor Berry that he is physically okay. Though we'll only know for sure once we do some more detailed tests on him...” she frowned and looked at Oval's hooves thoughtfully before asking Shining, “Was it just his body that was looked over? Not his magical network?”

“Correct ma'am. I only met the doctor on the way back to the castle and asked him if he'd have time to check Oval out quickly.”

“I see. Please put Oval on his side on my bed, Captain. Hooves facing towards us.”

Curious as to what she had discovered, Shining was a bit distracted situating Oval on the bed that he didn't realize that Captain Rouge was already by the bed holding her potted lily in one hoof. Were she not the Head Captain, Shining would have been more concerned that he didn't even hear her move or even see her go to the desk to retrieve the plant.

Captain Rouge swiftly bit the stem of the lily and partially severed it, while her wings unfurled and slowly started to flap them. The water vapor within the office was condensed into several droplets by the Captain's pegasi magic that she deftly guided into the pot.

“A wounded plant, water to quench it's thirst...” hummed Captain Rouge as she gently took Oval's hoof and planted it into the pot, “...and an earth pony to guide it's recovery.”

Shining refrained from craning his head around his superior to see if any change had occurred, but it was clear from the deep frown Captain Rouge that something was wrong. She sighed after holding the pot for a few seconds, even taking the time to push Oval's hoof deeper into the soil, yet her expression did not change.

“As expected...”

“Captain Rouge?”

She shook her head, “I will inform you later, Shining. Not because I do not trust you, but simply that I want to have a clearer picture myself.”

She removed the pot from Oval's hoof and placed it back onto her desk before turning back to face him, “Before you leave, I'd like to remove that cast you decided would be a good cudgel.”

Shining gave a nervous smile and shakily held out the plastered limb out to Captain Rouge, wondering if the limb was about to be re-broken.

'Don't worry! We're more useful mobile than we are in traction!'

Perhaps sensing the nature of his thoughts or knowing her own...colorful reputation, Captain Rouge gave him an amused glance, “Relax, Captain Armor. I think it's been clearly demonstrated that even when on sick leave, you still manage to get into trouble.”

“Haha...well, I definitely don't go looking for it that's for sure...”

Captain Rouge gave him a saccharine smile that darkened the room briefly, “Oh trust me, Captain Armor. If you had done such a thing, we would be having a very different conversation. But...you would never do something like that...right?”

“YES, MA'AM!”

'YES, MA'AM!/YES, MA'AM!'

“Good boy.” She let his hoof fall to the ground, causing Shining to blink at the unfamiliar sensation of cool air on his suddenly free forelimb. Two cracked halves of plaster lay on the ground already as Captain Rouge continued, “As far as I can tell, your fracture has healed nicely. As such, I am permitting you to return to light active duty until the end of the week, Captain Armor.”

Shining felt a goofy smile break out on his face, but he managed to string together a dignified reply, “Thank you, Captain Rouge!”

“I think a certain Princess of Love, will be happy about the news. Dismissed.” Captain Rouge gave him a knowing smile in return before turning back to Oval.

As he was leaving the office with a slight skip, Shining caught a glimpse of the potted plant now back in it's usual position on Captain Rouge's desk that dulled his jubilance of seeing his marefriend.

The lily was unchanged.

~Equestrian Elegy~

Despite the day he had been having, Shining was in a pretty good mood as he made his way through the castle with the knowledge that he'd be able to see his awesome marefriend very soon.

'It's been like six months since We last saw Cadance!'

'...It's only been a day.'

'Months, We say! MONTHS!'

'Regardless, it will be nice to talk to her again. Hopefully her Manehattan visit wasn't too exhausting.'

'Consider how much hooflicking their Mayor does, it probably wasn't that bad.'

'Doubtful. High society types aren't so different in Manehattan than they are here in the capital.'

Equally annoying.

'Indeed. And while We do not have to interact much with them as Guards-'

Thank Faust.

'Preach it.'

'-We should also consider that this is the first year that Princess Celestia let Cadance handle preparations on her own...'

Shining stopped in the corridor suddenly as this thought occurred to him/Them.

'Mayyyybeee We should stop on by the kitchens and get some of her favourite Triple Fudge Brownies.'

“Bit for your thoughts, Captain?” the low soprano of a mare echoed from an opposing corridor.

Shining Armor glanced as his stoic lieutenant, Cold Trapper, fell into step beside him. The earth pony mare flicked her braided light blue mane over her side and began to move around Shining and examine him for injuries.

“Is there any reason why you were not reporting to the Head Captain alongside me, LT?” Shining bore with her inspection patiently as his lieutenant conducted her practically daily routine.

'Ever the worrywart, whether you're a newly minted Guard or the Captain of a Division.'

“I would not want to step beyond my station, sir. After all, I was not present for the raid.” she replied with a tinge of annoyance.

“Moral support would have been appreciated, nonetheless.”

“I also value my own health.” Apparently satisfied with what she found, or didn't find, she gave an approving nod to Shining before walking alongside him once more.

Shining Armor snorted, “Fair enough, LT.”

“And yours as well.” she added seriously.

'Well...We certainly cannot laugh that off.'

Shining frowned and slowed to a stop as Cold did the same. Despite the both of them knowing that Shining had things well in hand, even if he was by himself, Cold was a bit of a motherhen even when he wasn't injured.

'A bit of a motherhen? Pfft. That's putting it lightly!'

“The auction was already underway and you-”

“Were here in the castle. Doesn't mean I and the rest of the squad won't worry, Shining.” she shook her head distressedly, “It's just frustrating how these kinds of things keep happening when we're not all with you. Other ponies would have to actually seek these situations out whereas crazy seems to be drawn to you.”

Before he could say anything, Cold's next words trailed off into what was sounding like it would be a chastising tune:

♫ COLD♫

“It seems that a day cannot go by,

Where I don't let out a sigh.

When my colt of a Captain

Is raising up one hell of a din.”

♫ ♫

Cold gave a mournful stare out the window that she then directed to a cringing Shining, before she kept on singing.

♫ COLD ♫

Trying to get my Captain to relax,

Is just so hard

When the world is on the attack!

Trying to get him to sit still,

Is just so tough

As everything that could kill

Also tends to play rough!”

♫ ♫

Feeling somewhat vindicated, Shining sang out teasingly in return to his overprotective lieutenant:

♫ US ♫

“So you see my problem?

It aint my fault

That I'm always dancing

On the edge of a razor!”

♫ ♫

The cheerful singing of Everglade cut in before Shining could direct the nature of the song away from some of his more...flashy escapades.

♫ EVERGLADE ♫

“So whose bright idea was it, exactly~

To take on an Ursa Major?

You try and act so sweet.

Try and seem like a helpless boy

That you just happen to be

Life's favourite chewing toy!”

♫ ♫

Cold and Everglade both smiled at each other in greeting as they started singing in tandem, flanking both of Shining's sides. With a wry smile, he saw other ponies of his Division attracted by the music and looking very much like they wanted to join in on the teasing.

♫ COLD & EVERGLADE ♫

“Trying to get our Cap to chill

Is just so hard,

When even a broken leg won't keep him still!

He says he'll take a rest

Try and take it easy~

But then we'll see Captain Zest

Blowing him away like a Breezie!”

♫ ♫

“I'm impressed that you even know what Breezies are.” deadpanned Shining.

“Hey, you try and find a better word rhyming with easy!” laughed Everglade

“It seemed to fit, considering how easily the Captain punted you through a wall.” added Cold with a half-hearted reprimanding glare. A small smirk tugged at the end of her lips as she continued, “That high pitched scream you let out when that happened, also fit.”

“'EEEEEEEE!'...is how I remember that going.” pantomimed Everglade as she acted out the supposed 'memory' of Captain Zest kicking him a bit too hard.

Shining placed a hoof over his heart, “Oh, woe is me, that the mares of my squad are so cruel!”

♫ US ♫

“It's not like I plan these things, LT

Even if I try and stay away,

There'll always be a dragon or Captain, you see

Who wants to brighten my day!”

“Don't matter whether there's light!

Don't matter whether its during the night!

Don't matter if I'm in the wrong or right!

I'll always end up getting drawn

Into a fight!”

♫ ♫

“Such a trouble magnet...” sighed Cold with a roll of her eyes.

“Well that's why he's got a whole squad to manage him.” Everglade winked at him as she nudged Cold, “We're doing pretty good too, considering Equestria isn't on fire.”

“Oh, are we giving Cap a hard time already? Count me in!” butt in his Fifth Seat, Cookie Crumble. The dark brown unicorn stallion profferred a hoofbump to Ever, that the mare happily returned.

“Hey, I want in on this!” laughed another voice.

“Me too!” joined in another pony.

By the time the kitchens had been reached and the brownies that he was sure Cadance would adore were obtained, he had a small crowd of Guards cheerfully poking fun at him as they started singing what would hopefully be the final verse. However, Shining couldn't help the dumb grin forming, when he listened to the lyrics:

♫ EVERYONE ELSE ♫

“Oh, Oh, Oh!

No matter how!

We'll find a way!

Oh, Oh, Oh!

We'll be okay,

We'll stick together

And see it through!”
♫ ♫

♫ COOKIE ♫

“By his side, a worried Cold,

Our Cap leads with a heart of gold!”
♫ ♫

A slightly blushing Cold scowled at Cookie and smacked him as Locus joined in with his own baritone.

♫ LOCUS♫

“A stalwart soul,

Who tends to charge in

Like a reckless foal.”
♫ ♫

♫ EVERGLADE♫

“Don't count us out, Cap!

Cuz' we'll be fine!

Don't matter what we face,

We'll hold the line!”
♫ ♫

♫ EVERYONE ELSE ♫

“So don't you forget, Cap!

That we got your back!

Through thick and thin!

Rain or fire!

Day or night!

No matter what comes today,

We won't ever stray or sway!”
♫ ♫

Shining smiled as his friends gathered around him with their support and love, singing out as the music started to dip down in volume.

♫ US ♫

“Ooooh, I know you all worry,

But I know that no matter what

Through this crazy ride

I can count on my friends

To be by my side!”

♫ ♫

♫ EVERYONE ♫

“Oh, Oh, Oh!

No matter how!

We'll find a way!

Oh, Oh, Oh!

We'll be okay,

We'll stick together

And see it through!”

♫ ♫

The song ended on it's final note with a good amount of Division Eight and some castle workers, who were in time to witness a lavishly decorated carriage pulled by two guards descend from the skies and touch down lightly onto the grassy courtyard. The ponies pulling the carriage were Hearty Soul and Sharp Petals, the Captains of Divisions Three and Six respectively.

Once they were on the ground, the two unicorns dismissed their flight spells and went to open the carriage door, though Captain Hearty gave a cheerful wave to the assembled ponies before doing so.

“HELLLOOOOO, CANTERLOT! IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK!” Captain Hearty's good mood was infectious enough to get the watching ponies to break out into a chorus of cheers and good-natured catcalls.

The red-furred Captain Hearty's scruffy appearance was a stark contrast to the cool austere beauty of the dark pink coated Sharp, who with a long-suffering attitude, gave his fellow Captain a swat on the head to hurry him along.

“I would rather not wait for you to finish saying hello to everypony in the courtyard, Captain Hearty.”

“Aw, lighten up, Sharpy!” pouted the older stallion.

“No. Shut up. Open the doors.” curtly responded Captain Sharp.

The familiar bickering got some easy chuckles and snorts from the watching ponies and Shining idly wondered if Princess Celestia had them grouped together so often for that sole purpose.

'That probably ain't too far from the truth. She does like her pranks.'

'To be fair to the Princess, they do have a remarkable synergy.'

With practised eyes, one could tell that even on palace grounds, they were both scanning the area for any signs of hidden danger. Captain Hearty even caught Shining's eye with a significant look that he returned with a fractional shake of his head. Captain Hearty winked and happily trotted over to one of the carriage doors where Captain Sharp was waiting in front of the other. While he knew it was protocol, Shining couldn't help but let out a mieu of disappointment that caused a nearby Everglade to start snickering, when the first pony who stepped out was not Cadance.

Instead, a small white earth pony mare with a pink mane styled in a pixie cut appeared from within the carriage and looked out at the assembled ponies nervously. With a slight tremble in her voice, she mumbled something that was too quiet for anypony save the two captains and the carriage inhabitants to hear.

“Speak up, girl!” boomed a genial voice from within the carriage.

Gloria Sunrise, Lieutenant of the Fourth Division stiffened at her superior's voice and responded much more loudly that had Captains Hearty and Sharp wincing from the volume change. “Y-YES SIR! A-ALL C-CLEAR, PRINCESS!”

Despite the meek and frail demeanour of the pony, Shining knew that Lieutenant Gloria was certainly capable of guarding a princess. It also helped that Cadance would definitely appreciate another girl being with her, considering Captain Violet was with Twily and the Princess.

'Just goes to show that you can never really tell just how frickin' scary somepony is based on their appearance...'

'It is not as if it is very well-known amongst the Guard, either. The Lieutenant's case is really one where 'seeing is believing', after all.'

Shining smiled widely when a muscular older white stallion with finely groomed facial hair helped a resplendent Cadance down from the carriage.

“Thank you, Captain Goldenheart.” Cadance smiled sweetly at the Captain of the Fourth Division and oldest serving member of the Royal Guard who gave a broad smile in return.

“Simply my duty and my pleasure, Princess.” he said with a regal bow. As Cadance stepped onto the neatly trimmed grass, the rest of the ponies, including Shining, followed suit and bowed.

“Please get up, everypony. And thank you for coming out here to meet me when I know you are all probably very busy.” said Cadance earnestly.

Her words were sincere, but Shining could tell that she was a tired from her trip and probably just wanted to relax. Still, Cadance did not balk at the ponies that greeted her warmly, their love for her having a clear strengthening effect that also served to wash away the lingering discomfort that came with other people bowing to her. The tension in Cadance's muscles eased as she continued to mingle with the now dwindling crowd of ponies when her eyes lit upon Shining.

“Shiny...” she breathed out.

All lingering traces of exhaustion fled Cadance's eyes when she espied the chocolate offering held in Shining's hoof and was replaced with a familiar ('And intoxicating!') hunger. She seemed to struggle with maintaining her royal station but Shining could almost see the gears turning in her mind as a decision was made.

“Oh, screw decorum.” Moving faster than even Captain Violet, Cadance's form practically blurred before everypony's eyes and reappeared as she pulled Shining into a searing kiss.

'Oh, buck yes.'

'Mrgllll'

Through the pleasant haze of his thoughts, Shining dimly heard members of his squad wolf-whistling at Cadance's typical display of affection. Perhaps it was because she was the only mare he had ever kissed or because she literally embodied the aspect of love, but their makeout sessions were always mindblowing.

“Yeah! Get some, Captain!” hollered what was probably Everglade. “OW!” The subsequent smack she received could have been anypony, though.

“L-lewd!” That was definitely Lieutenant Gloria.

Rearing back from the kiss with a lascivious grin, Cadance's horn flared with a cerulean hue that matched the lighter tone of Shining's mane. “I'm going back to my chambers and you're coming with me, buster!”

Fwooosh!

“...I really hope they remember to put up a sound-dampening barrier this time...” muttered Captain Sharp.

“Hah! Those two remind me of how much Sweet and I used to go at it!” laughed Hearty boisterously.

“'Dreamy and I certainly put in a lot of effort into making our little angel. It's good that those two are starting earlier than we did.” chimed in Goldenheart approvingly.

Thump!

That proved to be too much as a crimson-hued Gloria fell over, covering her face with her forelimbs and muttering incoherently about public displays of affection.

~Equestrian Elegy~

“Wow...That was...just...Wow.” puffed out Shining, rolling to the other side of the bed and off of a very satisfied looking marefriend.

“Wow, indeed, Captain Armor. You did your country a great service.” Cadance's seductive croon morphed into a mock serious tone that had them both laughing and clutching each other.

'Faust, We love it when you do...that...tongue thing. Wow...'

“Considering how early Logic conked out, I think that's obvious.” replied Cadance with a cheeky smirk.

'Love...you...'

There were only four ponies in the world who knew about Shining's odd...roommates. They included: His parents, Princess Celestia and of course, Cadance. He wanted to wait until Spike was a bit older before telling both him and Twily, so that neither sibling would feel left out.

“Oh! Looks like he's back!” piped in Cadance.

Due to a strange combination of her position as an Alicorn of Love and their own romantic relationship, Cadance was the only pony able to hear his other selves. While just as surprised as the others were, she simply shrugged and said she loved all of him, right before pouncing on him with a husky look in her eyes.

'That reminds Us...'

“Mmm, since you didn't give me a chance to say it before: Welcome back, Cadance.” murmured Shining as he nuzzled the top of Cadance's mane before tenderly kissing her forehead.

Cadance giggled, “Shouldn't have brought me brownies then, dork.” she then sighed contentedly and sank her head into Shining's barrel, “I missed you too, Shiny. Those nobles in Manehattan were so annoying!”

'We figured. Considering how a lot of the ones here suck.'

Cadance snorted, “I suppose in comparison they're about equal. But since Auntie wasn't with me this year, they focused all their attention on me! It was just supposed to be a discussion with Mayor Fern about how preparations were going! Decorations, security, food, venue...simple!”

She huffed, “But, nooo. He decides to bring in a bunch of hoity-toity ponies who want to talk about limiting who can participating in the celebration. Or that as some of the backers who were helping to fund the celebration, they should get certain tax benefits? The other ponies who helped but aren't high-society? Oh, what about them?!”

Cadance proceeded to go on a mini-rant about each of the nobles she met in Manehattan and started to list off the ten most annoying quirks about all of them. She probably would have worked herself up into even greater heights of anger had Shining not constantly been stroking her mane or murmuring affectations in her ears.

“...and then they go on and on about how well their own businesses and holdings are doing and wouldn't it just be a marvellous idea if I could go down and visit them? Maybe even meet one of their sons!”

'“What. What. What.”'

Seeing the look on his face, Cadance kissed him which temporarily halted all plans of impending violence. “Easy there, Captain Armor. I said it in very clear terms that this Princess was already taken.”

“Lucky me, then.” he answered with a kiss of his own.

Cadance broke away with flushed cheeks and a smile, “Don't get too high and mighty there, dork. Twilight is the reason we even got together, you were just a side benefit.” she teased.

'Oh, it is so on!'

“You might be a princess, but don't think you'll be able to take my LSBFF from me that easily.” growled Shining, rolling on top of his marefriend.

“Do you think yourself strong enough to deny a Princess of Equestria, commoner?” she mocked imperiously. It was a challenge that Shining gleefully replied to by locking their lips together in a passionate embrace once more.

The ensuing amorous battle was shorter than their last encounter, but no less pleasurable and soon enough they were both breathily moaning the other's names. But like every time they got into such an 'argument', there was always only one pony who came out consistently on top.

Feeling a great deal more weary, Shining half-heartedly glared at his smug looking marefriend. “That...is...so not fair...” he huffed.

'Mrggglll...'

'Uh...We think...We're done...for tonight...'

Cadance languidly stretched her alluring form across the bed, showing no trace of exhaustion whatsoever from their sexual activities. “Alicorn of Love, baby. All that lovin' only made me stronger. Doesn't matter how much PT you do, though it is very much appreciated. Mmmmm~” Cadance gave a little throaty purr of approval that was almost enough to get Shining going again.

'No can do Cap, We be dry as a bone.'

“You suck.” Shining wasn't entirely sure who he was referring to, but it was Cadance who chose to answer.

“I know that very well and so do you, based on how much you were moaning my name.” countered Cadance with a wicked smirk that set Shining's cheeks aflame. “But I'll let you rest for now. Can't do much guarding if you can't move after all~”

Shining weakly chuckled and cuddled up next to her, “Faust, I missed you.”

Cadance sighed happily as he enveloped her in his forelimbs, “You still up for telling me how your day went?” she asked.

“If you'll listen. It's been kind of a long day.” he sighed.

“Bad?” asked Cadance worriedly.

“No, no...just...tiring...” reassured Shining as he started to cover most of the events of the day, saving the part where he suspected of there being a traitor within the castle for the end.

At one point in his retelling, Cadance had turned around in his embrace and gave him a flat stare. “A dragon, Shiny? Really? You fought a dragon?”

“N-No, not head on!” he explained hurriedly.

'We didn't even touch the guy! We just choked him out!'

'Magical asphyxiation. No physical contact needed!'

“All this and a Dust auction...that wasn't a bad day?” asked Cadance incredulously.

“No. No one got too hurt-” he began earnestly.

'Apart from those minotaurs.'

“-Well, they weren't banged up too badly. So...yeah today wasn't great, but we got to catch a lot of criminals today and stop them from potentially hurting others in the future. And I even got to spend more time with you!”

'There is one other thing though. We can't say this out loud either.'

'Only Captain Rouge, the Princess, Us and now you are to be informed about it.'

Cadance had a grave look on her face, but nodded for Shining to continue.

'Now this ain't a definite thing...might even just be Our imagination. But...the Head thought We were making some sense.'

'During the course of Our investigation we came upon the potential discovery that there may be somepony within the castle...leaking information.'

“Shining, what-?!” Cadance looked rightfully alarmed as he held up a hoof to her lips.

'We don't have anything definite. Captain Rouge said she'd look in on it before getting a proper start on it tomorrow.'

'It may turn out to be nothing at all, but for obvious reasons, this needs to be kept quiet.'

Cadance was understandably upset, but she nodded before settling back onto the bed, “Still not a bad day, then?”

“No. Not today, at least.” said Shining quietly.

“...Things were so much easier when we were still in high school...” whispered Cadance after a few moments of silence.

“Says you.” snorted Shining, “Working up the nerve to ask the most popular girl out is still the scariest thing I've ever done.”

Cadance chuckled and nuzzled Shining fondly, “Well, I'm certainly glad you took the plunge, Captain Armor.”

They cuddled for some time after that, telling each other little innocuous things that they had heard or seen as their eyes started to droop shut, even though only one of them really needed a regular amount of sleep.

“Gloria was such a darling today, you know? Managed to sneak me this great hayburger during the luncheon the nobles prepared for us.”

It was a ritual the two shared as they talked about the good things that had happened, so as to end the day on a positive note.

“So she was a good choice to go along with you, then?”

“Oh, definitely. Not that the others were bad by any means. They all kept me from bucking some of the more pompous nobles in the face.”

“Yeah?”

“Like, Sharp would out-noble them with better manners or knowledge and they would all be impressed and trying to suck up to him, or want to suck his face in the case of one mare, while Hearty would be looking and acting like a total slob and he'd be the only one Sharp would give the time of day to!”

“And Captain Goldenheart?”

“Basically acted like a doting grandfather to me and Gloria and terrifying anypony who looked at her funny.”

'Classic Goldenheart.'

“One of the ponies in my squad – Fair Winds – told me that he found out yesterday that his wife was pregnant.”

'Most of the city knows, considering how much he was singing about it.'

“Aww, that's wonderful. I'll have to pay them a visit for sure.”

“He's got a little daughter too that's really affectionate. Tries to hug the stuffing out of everypony who enters.”

'She really gets good use out of those tiny wings of hers, that's for sure.'

“So that'll definitely be on my schedule tomorrow.”

'...We might be a little busy tomorrow, Cadance, the-'

“-Summer Sun Celebration is tomorrow.”

“...Hm.”

“Cadance.”

“I only need to make two public appearances tomorrow after all.”

“...I'm technically cleared for active duty now. I can go in early tomorrow and direct our route to pass by his place.”

'Is there a way We can make a whipping sound effect in here?'

“Yes! Best coltfriend ever!”

Shining rolled his eyes as his marefriend started giggling and set up a basic perimeter ward and a few dozen passive shielding spells around their bed. Seeing the defensive spells being erected, Cadance huffed with a bit of exasperation, though didn't raise any objection considering this was how he normally behaved anyway. Just before they drifted off, however, they traded the most important words they said to each other at least once a day.

“Night, Cadance. I love you.”

'Always.'

She gave him sleepy smile, “Goodnight, Shiny. I love you too.”

'Now and forever.'

~Equestrian Elegy~

The next thing Shining knew, he was being frantically shaken awake by a terrified-sounding Cadance.

“Shining...? Shiny! Wake up! Please!” It wasn't a loud sound by any means, but it was filled with so much awful terror and sadness that it had Shining instantly propelled into wakefulness.

'Nothing in the room!'

“Cadance?! What's wrong-?!”

'Scanning perimeter.'

His eyes focused on the watery-eyed smile of Cadance in the dim moonlight flooding the room. Cadance choked down a sob and flung herself at Shining, holding onto him desperately. “You're still here! You're still here...! I didn't miss it...! There's still time!”

Flabbergasted as to what could have happened, Shining didn't have enough time to get in another word before Cadance ripped out of the embrace and looked out the window with fear etched on her face.

'There's nothing out there...?'

“Auntie...” she whispered. Her horn glowed a shimmering blue that enveloped her entire body before she-

Pop!

“CADANCE!”

'We need to get to her side!'

Thump! Thump! Thump!

“Princess! Captain Armor! Is everything alright?!” a rapid series of knocks came on the door and a voice belonging to Gloria Sunrise, lacking any of her typical nervous demeanor, rang out clear and true in the ensuing silence left behind by Cadance's exit.

In lieu of an answer, Shining ripped open the doors with his magic while simultaneously putting on his armor that had been scattered across the room. Gloria was the first to enter the room, closely followed by Captain Sharp as the two carefully took in the room. Before either could get a word in, Shining beat them to it:

“Cadance had a...nightmare of some kind. One that scared her enough that she was legitimately worried for the Princess' safety and Displaced herself, presumably to her side.” he began, holding a hoof out to Gloria. Understanding his intentions, she immediately grasped hold of it while Captain Sharp started to power up his own Displacement spell.

Pop!

“What the-?!” One of the guards stationed outside of Princess Celestia's chambers started when Shining and Gloria appeared in front of him. He and his partner both levelled their spears at them before realizing who they were, though Shining only had eyes for the dimly glowing orange sun above the doors.

“Captain Armor! Lieutenant Sunrise!” exclaimed the other guard.

Pop!

“Captain Sharp? What-?”

“Soldier, report. Any odd activity within the Princess' chambers?” cut off Shining with a brusque wave of his hoof.

Straightening at the tone of command in his voice, the soldier replied: “Two cleared ward flashes, sir. A few minutes apart, with the most recent being a few seconds-”

Everypony present stopped and stared as the solar symbol above the doorframe lit up with a dark blue glow before fading out into nothing.

“She left? But she just got-”

Without a word, Captain Sharp pushed open the doors to the Princess' room that was devoid of any sound, save for the soft breaths of the Princess' pet phoenix. Shining, Gloria and the two guards who had gone very quiet seeing the seriousness of their superiors followed in after him. One of the last ponies to enter must have flipped a switch as the room suddenly became engulfed in light.

'Rolling for Investigation.'

'A seven?! Come on!'

The memories of Cadance's stricken expression impeded Shining's abilities to effectively case the room for clues. Luckily, he had some very reliable comrades who did what Shining could not in this moment. Captain Sharp tensed for a brief moment as his eyes caught sight of something on the balcony before his horn was wreathed in a pink nimbus of power. An answering pink glow came in the form of a slightly torn sheet of paper held within the telekinetic grasp of the Sixth Division Captain.

'There's writing on it. A letter perhaps? But who-'

“Deearr Prin-ccess . Twili ght had night mare. Crying lots.

Scared. Wants you.

Now!

-Spike”

“Twily.” gasped Shining.

'She's probably in their tower!'

Captain Sharp was saying something and Gloria was looking at him worriedly.

'She NEEDS help!'

He barely registered his horn giving off short sparks.

“Captain Armor, calm yoursel-!”

'Too slow. Too slow! TOO SLOW!'

It was all just white noise to him and it just. Didn't. Matter.

'WHY ARE WE STILLHERE?!?!'

Pop!

“TWILY! CADANCE!”

“Shiny?” “S-Shining?” “Shining!” “Captain Armor?”

'Rolling for Medicine.'

Shining absently noted that the Princess, Cadance and his siblings were in the middle of a hugpile. Spike's letter flashed in his mind, however, and so he frantically checked them all over for injuries as best he could.

'Ahhh, We got a four!'

“Twily?! Cadance?! Are you two okay?! What happened?!”

“Shiny, we're fine-”

Pop!

““Captain Armor!”” Captain Sharp and Gloria had evidently caught up with him.

The multitude of voices started to increase in volume until it was silenced suddenly by one pony.

“Enough.”

It was a single word. But coming from the Princess, the gentle command was enough to quell everyone instantly.

“My little ponies...and precious dragon-” she added with a wink towards Spike who beamed happily towards her, “Please, calm yourselves and let me explain...”

~Equestrian Elegy~

'Castle of the Two Sisters, huh? Yeesh. Talk about a spooky location.'

“It's definitely not the nicest place in the world, from what little Auntie would tell me.” whispered Cadance, keeping her voice low so as not to disturb the tense standoff taking place within the throne room.

'Spooky may not be the correct term. Not by itself anyway. Dangerous would be another good descriptor. One can only imagine the kind of environment left behind in a pitched battle between three alicorns.'

“So why ban Captain Rouge from coming along, then?...” trailed off Shining, who like his marefriend and everyone else were observing the voiceless battle of wills between Princess Celestia and Captain Rouge.

'...It's possible they're using telepathy.'

'No duh.'

Cadance let out an odd cough in her attempt to stifle the snort that Shining had seen building up and bumped him gently in admonition. Assembled within the cavernous throne room were himself, Cadance, Captain Goldenheart, Captain Sharp and Lieutenant Gloria. All of them, even Captain Sharp, had their mouths hanging slightly open at the totally alien expression of defiance and sorrow on Captain Rouge's face.

'This is making Us REALLY uncomfortable...'

Captain Rouge suddenly sagged in place looking very tired, speaking up for the first time in five minutes. “Still no good, then? Figures-”

The Head Captain's bitter words were cut off as she was suddenly enveloped in the warm embrace of Princess Celestia. The alicorn's large wings blocked off whatever expression Captain Rouge was wearing and whatever the Princess said to her was for her ears only. Shining let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when the hug was ended and the two ponies weren't looking so sad anymore.

“Behold the power of Auntie's hugs~” breathed out Cadance with a slightly euphoric smile.

'They have a lot of love?'

“Tons~” she sighed happily, before absently pecking a kiss on Shining's cheek.

Princess Celestia and Captain Rouge pulled apart from one another, smiled softly at each other, and turned to face the rest of them.

“My little ponies, the individuals who will be accompanying myself and Princess Cadenza to the Castle of...” Princess Celestia looked pained for a moment before she began in a softer voice, “...to the Everfree Forest...”

She paused and then made sure to lock eyes with everypony within the room, “...will include Captain Sharp, Captain Goldenheart-”

The two senior Captains nodded, tacitly accepting their orders.

Princess Celestia's lips curved upwards, “-Lieutenant Gloria-”

'Solid choice.'

'Mhmm.'

“M-Me, your m-majesty?” stammered Gloria.

“I would not ask if I did not think you capable, Gloria.” said Princess Celestia gently.

“All you're missing is CONFIDENCE, girl!” laughed Captain Goldenheart, though he did so with a kind smile and a proud look in his eyes.

Flinching at her Captain's loud voice, Gloria had a small smile building up and looked at the Princess with renewed determination. “I won't let you down, Princess.”

“And Captain Armor.” added Captain Rouge, still looking a bit withdrawn.

“Of course.” agreed the Princess amicably. She looked at Shining out of the corner of her eye with a sly smile, “I am sure that even if he wasn't chosen, he would try and follow regardless of orders.”

Cadance being the adorable traitor she was, started giggling as everypony within the room looked at Shining expectantly.

'...Roll for Deception...'

'Seventeen, oh yeah!-'

'...with disadvantage...'

“That's not true.” lied Shining as best he could.

'...Nine is still pretty good.'

The smiles and soft laughter that followed his words helped dispel the tense atmosphere considerably and Shining figured he would take the hit to his dignity with good grace. Still, he was apprehensive at the upcoming journey to the Everfree and what they may find there; a feeling that did not go unnoticed thankfully.

Sensing the lingering knot of fear within him, Cadance's hoof overlapped his own and she leaned against him slightly. “It'll be okay, Shiny.” she whispered softly.

'Hopefully.'

~Equestrian Elegy~

The Royal Guard

The following is a list and basic description of the Royal Guards who appeared within this chapter. I will repeat this every time with an updated list for every similar Perspective chapter featuring the Royal Guard.

Division 0

???: Fluffle Puff

Species: ??? Pony, Mare
Appearance: Pink ball of fluff
Cutie Mark: [REDACTED]

Division 1

Captain: Rouge Blossom

Species: Pegasus Pony, Mare
Appearance: Off-white coat and black mane that is set into an intricate braid curving around her neck and hanging underneath her chin. Slender and long-legged, she has the looks of a model rather than an elite Guard. She is often seen wearing a doctor's lab coat that covers her flanks. Where her cutie mark might be, there are large burned areas obscuring whatever it looked like.
Cutie Mark: Completely obscured by large burn scars.

Lieutenant: Clear Aspirant

Species: Unicorn Pony, Mare
Appearance: Larger than several stallions and lithely muscled. She has a cream coat and light purple mane with two long strands braided and hanging down past the corner of her right eye.
Cutie Mark: A steaming bowl of porridge.

Division 2

8^th Seat: Minty Fresh

Species: Unicorn Pony, Mare
Appearance: Smooth mint-green coat and white mane
Cutie Mark: A sprig of mint

Unseated Officers:

Umbral Bulk
- Black earth pony stallion who worked with Silent and Shining to subdue a minotaur guard during the 'Dark Auction Raid'
- Cutie Mark: A large, dark-blue cloak
Silent Steps
- Grey earth pony mare who worked with Umbral and Shining to subdue a minotaur guard during the 'Dark Auction Raid'
- Cutie Mark: A pair of hooves on a dark cloud

Division 3

Captain: Hearty Soul

Species: Unicorn Pony, Stallion
Appearance: Scruffy appearance with a spiky black mane, wispy beard and dark red coat.
Cutie Mark: An explosion

Unseated Officers:

Ground Springs
- Earth pony stallion with a deep brown coat – Participated in the 'Dark Auction Raid' led by Captain Shining Armor

Division 4

Captain: Goldenheart

Species: Unicorn Pony, Stallion
Appearance: Pepper grey mane with hints of gold and several wrinkles on his face. White body. Finely groomed moustache and chin beard styled as a van dyke. Pretty heavily muscled. Handsome
Cutie Mark: Cartoon golden heart

Lieutenant:Gloria Sunrise

Species: Earth Pony, Mare
Appearance: Slight white pony with a pink mane styled in a pixie cut.
Cutie Mark: A roaring, fanged maw

Division 6

Captain: Sharp Petals

Species: Unicorn Pony, Stallion
Appearance: Austere beauty with a dark pink coat and long black mane. Attractive to both genders.
Cutie Mark: Sakura blossom petals floating in the wind.

Division 8

Captain: Shining Armor

Species: Unicorn Pony, Stallion
Appearance: White coat with a two-toned blue mane. Slightly above average height for a stallion. Muscular and toned body.
Cutie Mark: Knight's shield with symbol of Magic emblazoned on it's surface, with three blue stars just above it.

Lieutenant: Cold Trapper

Species: Earth Pony, Mare
Appearance: Grey coat and very light blue mane styled in a flowing manner and bound in a loose ponytail on her side. Muscular for a mare and tends to wear a crooked grin.
Cutie Mark: Vibrant looking grass covered in hoarfrost.

3^rd Seat: Locus Wellspring

Species: Unicorn Pony, Stallion
Appearance: Slim with a black coat and a light green mane.
Cutie Mark: A clear pool of water ringed by small, burnished grey stones.

4^th Seat: Everglade

Species: Pegasus Pony, Mare
Appearance: Dark green coat with a short brown mane.
Cutie Mark: A pair of fully unfurled pegasus wings.

5^th Seat: Cookie Crumble

Species: Unicorn Pony, Stallion
Appearance: Dark brown coat with a long grey mane pulled into a ponytail
Cutie Mark: Shovel halfway buried in dirt

Unseated Officers:

Soaring Heart
- Pegasus stallion who participated in the 'Dark Auction Raid' led by his Captain
- Light blue coat with a shortly cropped black mane.
- Cutie Mark: A pair of interlocking rings
Willow Wizz
- Unicorn mare who participated in the 'Dark Auction Raid' led by her Captain. Was made team leader of R3 during the Raid.
- Pink coat with a triple toned mane of blue, red and green pulled into a ponytail.
- Cutie Mark: A slender tree bending in an unseen wind.
Reverb Notes
- Earth pony mare who participated in the 'Dark Auction Raid' led by her Captain
- Silver coat with a black mane partially braided on one side and reaching down slightly past her jaw.
- Cutie Mark: A pair of musical notes that look like the mirror image of one another.

Author's Notes:

Sorry about the long wait folks! Lots of procrastination and writer's block don't really make a story update so fast.
Go figure.

So! This chapter is less of a 'plot progression' type and more of a 'plot expansion' in which I show a bit more how my version of the MLP world differs from canon.

Also, early changeling stuff because I don't like doing things in order.

The main reason I chose Shining Armor as the feature of this 'Perspective' chapter and did the whole Royal Guard restructuring was because I made a mistake in the last chapter. In the last chapter, Cadance referred to Shining as 'Captain Armor', which would have made sense had this been in the canon timeline, rather than in the past where Shining shouldn't have been in the Guard long enough to oversee the entire damn thing.

Now any sane author would have just retconned this and apologized in the following chapter for the confusion, but I decided to double, triple and quadruple down on everything and try to write myself out of a corner. In doing so, I created a whole new Royal Guard system (with a lot of inspiration taken from the anime Bleach to fill in the ranks. And for those who know the show, don't worry, there'll be none of the crazy powers seen in that series crossing over into this story.) and put in the changeling stuff that I was going to hint at in the next chapter anyway.

Not sure where the inner voices stuff came from (and their origin WILL be explored later on), but I'm a huge Dungeons and Dragons nerd and Shining being the equivalent in canon was just something I had to shoehorn in somehow.

The result is as you see.

Not sure how it turned out though, but I like it.

As you can see by the word count, it turned out to be slightly longer than I was expecting.

These 'Perspective' chapters won't come up often, so rest assured that we WILL be moving back to Harry next time (whenever that may be...). That being said, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and if not, try and keep the insults to a PG-13 level so as not to damage my fragile ego too badly.

Chapter 2 - Gaze Into The Abyss

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AN: To those who were worrying about the last chapter, Harry IS present in this chapter and he does not have a good time. There are also two characters that make an appearance near the end of the chapter and I'd like to ask people who comment on the story and use their names to please put them in Spoiler Tags. I'd like it to be a surprise for readers who stumble onto this story!

Chapter 2 – Gaze Into The Abyss

'Right. I'm leaving. No way I'm staying here.' Harry took a couple of still magically silent steps backwards just in case one of the creatures decided to get closer.

Too much was happening.

Too much had happened.

Harry needed time to...not to think or dwell...but just...

He needed to get away from everything.

Just for a bit.

Even if the ghosts weren't screaming at their possible killer, Harry would still have chosen discretion for more than just an opportunity to catch his breath. Something about this Celestia was filling him with an uneasy feeling that he didn't get from any of the other talking horses...ponies.

'...Still better than talking spiders.' considered Harry even as he ran through potential spells in his mind that might work in driving them off if, or more likely when, a fight broke out.

He could only really make out the four armored ponies and the pink winged unicorn ('Pegacorn?') as they weren't obscured by the writhing mass of enraged spirits that surrounded Celestia. Despite their transparency, the ghostly ponies had aggregated in such large numbers that they were partially covering the majority of Celestia's features. Only those mysterious numbers that were floating above everyone's heads could be clearly seen through this spectral shroud.

The fact that they were having no noticeable effect on her only seemed to infuriate them further, partially drowning out any conversation the ponies might be having with each other. The one with blue hair looked down the hallway where Harry was hidden underneath his cloak again and he froze on instinct as the others in his entourage did the same.

'...I'm pretty sure they know something is here.'

“-most likely – phantasmal sound – ... – Captain?” said Celestia as a particularly vengeful shriek that he recognized as belonging to Periwinkle drowned her out.

“Auntie?” asked the pink pony. So she was the niece of this Celestia person?

Harry missed Celestia's reply but it had the pink one biting her lower lip slightly and looking in Harry's direction before turning towards the direction of the big hall. With equal amounts of worry and relief, Harry watched the odd troupe walked past his hiding spot and-

'You have got to be kidding me.'

They had barely moved forward a couple of steps before stopping, hovering around the area where Harry had first come to consciousness in this weird world. Although luckily, he didn't seem to leave any footprints, or hoofprints now, technically, on the stone floor due to a surprising lack of dust in the area. Though considering there was a bunch of holes in the roof that left the ruins exposed to the elements, perhaps that wasn't so surprising.

“-has been closed. Cad-?” began Celestia which caused the pink one to respond.

“I don't...really sense anything, Auntie.” replied the pink pony, who shook her head in the negative with a pained look.

“-kay, Cadance. It is some – when – older.” Whatever Celestia had said seemed to cheer up the pink pony who Harry thought was called Cadance. It was as good a temporary name as any.

Pinkie seemed like it would fit, thought it also felt kinda wrong for some odd reason.

“Auntie...did somepony...?” she trailed off leadingly and then frowned at whatever non-verbal response Celestia gave her. “Then, what should we do from here?”

“Shall we check further inside, your majesties?” One of the two guard ponies who had not spoken asked a question suddenly and directing Harry's attention towards him.

“Snrk-!” Harry stifled an incredulous snort, with a real smile threatening to break out on his lips for the first time in what felt like ages. The pony who had spoken up had an honest-to-Merlin van-dyke beard with a mustache that resembled his Uncle Vernon's one-time attempt at such a style, but one that was far more well-kempt.

On a talking unicorn of all things.

'Shut up, shut up, shut up!'

It shouldn't have been funny, but Harry was finding it increasingly difficult to contain himself as mirth bubbled through his frame. The cloak was doing a good job in concealing his ill-timed snorts though and by the time he had calmed himself, the group of magical ponies had already moved further inside the ruins. Taking a couple of deep and slow breaths, Harry cautiously moved forwards and peeked around the corner to make sure the coast was clear.

Based on the screaming, the ghosts still hadn't let up on their rather ineffectual assault, though it did sound more distant. His auditory findings were confirmed as he saw all six ponies carefully poking around the large hall that Harry had found those strange stone spheres in. Seeing them from the backside also caused him to finally notice that all of them had tattoos of some kind stamped on their hindquarters.

'...Maybe it's a cultural thing?'

It wasn't a mystery he was going to solve anytime soon he thought and it was rather minor, all things considered. It was weird enough hearing the ponies speaking and sounding like Americans, no less.

Shaking his head free of the odd tangent his thoughts had decided to meander through, Harry carefully proceeded towards the exit of the ruins, while throwing a glance behind him every now and then to make sure the group wouldn't double back anytime soon. While his steps were still muffled, Harry felt an immediate difference with his surprisingly sensitive hooves when they touched down on dirt rather than stone steps.

“Almost there, Harry...” he whispered to himself and then frowned, “Wherever here even is, anyway...”

Harry felt a little bit lighter outside of the ghost-infested ruins, even if he was in what appeared to be an alien-version of the Forbidden Forest. Straight ahead of him was a single rickety-looking wooden bridge overlaying a chasm that was pouring out fog. His body was moving automatically towards the bridge, but he didn't really know where to go after that.

'Say I go into the forest...maybe even find a town or something. Then what? What would even be the point?'

Harry stopped and trotted to the edge of the gap, away from the foot of the bridge, peering down into the misty depths as if it might have the answers he would seek. An incredibly morbid solution for his problems came to mind immediately that he dismissed just as quickly.

Taking...that option would be spitting on everyone who had protected him.

“But...then what should I do?” muttered Harry.

Perhaps he could figure out how to turn back into a human. Maybe find out if there are any other humans on this world.

He might even find a way back to his own world.

'Would I even want to, though?'

In the end, after all the pain and terror and death that was his life to end Voldemort's reign of terror once and for all, what did Harry Potter even have left?

Harry's ruminations were cut short when he glanced back at the castle just in time to see a blinding and all-powerful light erupted from within it's depths and poured out of the castle. What sounded like hundreds of spine-chilling screams rang out in the silence as the searing light washed over him. Harry felt...something...inside him recoil at the light which seemed to be comprised of–

-Warmth, Power, Li-

It was a feeling that brought to mind images of hot summer days ('Relaxing by the lake after exams...'), expansive greenery ('A dirty, pudgy Neville beaming in Herbology...') and jubilant expecting mothers ('Tonks!').

They were truly bittersweet sensations, things that he knew were good but which felt slightly uncomfortable to him for more than just the associations that they triggered within him. Harry felt something over his body being peeled away and his eyes widened as his hoof came back into visibility.

All of these conflicting alien feelings caused him to stumble in place and cry out as his hooves stepped too close to the edge and sent him careening downwards into the foggy abyss.

~Equestrian Elegy~

'“Come on, Tia! Hurry up!”

“Coming...ah...Lulu.”

Celestia stifled a yawn as she followed her giddy little sister through the darkened boughs of the Everfree. She had been about to retire for the day when Luna had popped into her chambers and somehow convinced her to sneak away from the castle for a midnight jaunt. Luna had been jittery about something all day and Celestia had been unable to discern the reason for it, save that it was something that made her precious sibling smile.

For a smile that was becoming increasingly rare nowadays, that was worth all the lost sleep in the world.

“I had a most wondrous idea, Sister. Something that would brighten up the night, so that all of our subjects would be stricken with awe!” squealed Luna.

“That sounds truly amazing, Luna.” Celestia gave her little sister a mischievous grin that set Luna's hackles up with immediate suspicion, “I must confess that I am most curious as to what occupied your mind so today, that thine eyes didst not even wander once to Captain Glass' posterior.”

“TIA!” squawked Luna with a fierce blush.

Away from the suffocating decorum demanded in the Royal Court, Celestia was treated to the nostalgic experience of her little sister tackling her to the ground.

She and Luna had already been well into their first century of life before they had finally managed to defeat Discord and by then the Guards had not truly been a necessity for their safety. Their strengths continued to grow with every passing year and the need for a guard detail became more and more irrelevant. But the ponies were ever so grateful to the sisters and were so earnest that neither Celestia and Luna had the heart to turn them away and the two simply hoped that their passionate fervor would soon die out.

Celestia supposed that one didn't need to be young to be naive.

Since that particular idea didn't quite pan out, the Royal Guard now served the dual purpose of protecting the rest of Equestria and, in this moment, being most excellent blackmail material.

“Oh, how his eyes doth shine with the passion of a raging fire, but his voice only speaketh tender words that carry promises of velvet embraces-mpph!” Celestia's teasing was cut off as Luna clamped her hooves around her muzzle.

Luna's head quested rapidly from side to side, hoping that the object of her current amorous affections was not anywhere near. Capitalizing on her inattention, Celestia heaved her body, pushing off with one wing from the ground so that their positions were now reversed.

Removing Luna's hooves from her mouth in a manner befitting her position as the older and more mature sister was a simple matter of extending her tongue and licking their underside.

“EEERGH! SISTER! THAT IS MOST IMPROPER!” Luna recoiled in disgust, wiping her hooves on the grass in an attempt to wipe off Celestia's slobber from them.

“One wouldst think that as the Primary Wielder of the Element of Laughter, you wouldst approve of such methods.” stated Celestia primly.

“Nay, Sister. Mine own methods are not nearly so crass and wouldst involve something more akin to this!” Luna gave a cocky smile as her horn lit up and quickly faded.

No matter what others may have said, and despite Celestia beating her sister out in raw power and wielding Magic, Luna had always eclipsed her in terms of finesse. Thus, Celestia's reflective actions of projecting a shield around her in preparation for whatever was coming her way, did not prepare her for Luna's delayed spell from going off.

“Heehee! Hoohaha! Ah, what did you dOOoo, LulUUu, haHAHAH! Staahhhp!” The bits of grass that clung to Celestia's body stuck fast to her fur and started to move in wriggling, writhing motions that tickled her into a fit of helpless laughter.

Luna's smug smile quickly faded when Celestia kept a firm giggling hold on her sister as she unfurled her wings and used them to start tickling Luna right back.

“TiaAAhahahHAH!” whined Luna through breathless laughter.

“Y-Yield, heehee!, little sister!” demanded Celestia.

“You-You hahah! Firs-first!” Luna's horn glowed once more and the grass upped their assault on Celestia's ticklish barrel.

“HAHAHA! Ahahah! N-No you first!”

“No, you! Heeheeheehee!”

The playfight went on for several minutes until both sisters were lying side by side on the grass with exhilarated smiles. Their hooves were slightly stretched out until they were touching the other's with a tranquil, but comfortable, silence coming into being.

“I missed this.” sighed Luna quietly. She gently tapped Celestia's hoof and giggled like a schoolfilly when Celestia bounced hers right back.

Clip. Clop. Clip. Clop.

“As did I.” replied Celestia, smiling softly at Luna. This playful, goofier side of Luna was one that she had sorely missed and it warmed her heart to see a bit of light return into her sister's eyes.

How long had it been since she had properly interacted with her little sister like this? Something more than just a short greeting as each went about their day?

Days?

Weeks?

Surely it can't have been longer than that...

...Right?

Celestia wondered if she should ask Luna, but was afraid of what her answer might be.

So she didn't.

It felt like only a short time had passed when Luna tentatively released her grasp from Celestia's hoof and spoke again, “Well...before we must return to our duties, shall we proceed to the main event of tonight?”

Celestia gave a small chuckle, “Come, sister. Let mine own eyes see what new miracle thou hast wrought.”

Luna's eyes positively sparkled at the comment as she leapt to her hooves and dragged Celestia to hers with a quick burst of magic. While Celestia could have easily pulled herself out of Luna's telekinetic grip...

“...and then I had the thought that if I were to simply aggregate the mana around mine wings with a streamlined focus – dost thou remember Starswirl's conjecture on the nature of...?”

...she didn't want to interrupt the exuberant babbling streaming out of her little sister's widely grinning mouth. While the technical explanation was a bit hard for Celestia to follow, Luna's excitement was infectious enough to keep her interested until they had reached a particularly nice clearing in the forest. The opening in the dense canopy offered a perfect view of Luna's gorgeous night sky; stars twinkling like little cosmic jewels with the moon being the brightest gem of all.

“Beautiful...” whispered Celestia with wide eyes.

“Is it not exquisite? I have to re-position my moon justso every night to get everything to look...perfect.” stated Luna proudly.

Her heart flared with pain looking at her sister's smile. When was the last time she had even gazed upon the night sky? Paid her sister a compliment?

“It's wonderful...” Celestia looked at Luna with a loving smile, “You are wonderful, Lulu.”

“...Thank you, Tia. I only wish that our subjects would...” murmured Luna in a voice so quiet that it seemed like it would disappear at any moment. She shook her head sadly, “No...It doth not matter.”

“Luna-”

“So! As I mentioned, this is less a spell and more a...highly specialized movement technique. One that I believe with time and effort may not just be limited to the sole purview of alicorns!” Luna frowned and then tilted her head thoughtfully, “Perhaps a pony with just the right build, mana network, positioning, at a specific height of course and...hmm....”

Celestia accepted the change of subject with good grace, seeing that Luna was clearly in no mood to discuss it further. But her words still stirred loose a nugget of caution.

“Luna...” began Celestia carefully, not quite sure how to phrase her thoughts in a delicate manner, “This...technique...it is not dangerous to observers and passerby, correct?”

A few years ago, Luna had created an incredibly powerful single-person teleportation spell that she had named 'Shooting Star' as an improvement to the more mana-intensive 'Displacement' spell. Using her nature as a being of magic, Luna cast her being into the aether and harmonized it with the magic of the planet rather than forcibly displacing the material components in her targeted area.

Unfortunately, in her haste to show off this new untested spell of hers, Luna had forgotten to take into account her own strength as an alicorn and used the same amount of power that she would for the older Displacement spell. The end result was a crowd of ponies being at ground zero for the quite literally explosive entry of their Princess, causing more than a few injuries. Luna's reputation, which already wasn't too good in the public eye, plummeted even further while her horrified sister locked herself away in the castle, refusing to come out for several days in her grief.

Luna froze at Celestia's inquiry, no doubt remember the same series of events as a quick series of fear, sorrow and shame played across her face. “No...Tia. I...I learned my...lesson. But, I will admit that I did have some doubts which is why I asked, no, needed you-”

Celestia cut Luna off with a gentle, but tight hug. “Whatever you need, Lulu.”

“...I know, Tia.” came her sister's muffled reply.

Celestia nuzzled Luna before pulling back slightly and asked, “The night grows late, dearest one. I implore thee to demonstrate thy latest magical advancement.”

Luna giggled and gave a queer reply instead, “Well then, sister mine. Wouldst thou like to have thine eyes feast upon a rainbow?”

“Auntie?” Cadance's soothing voice gently stirred Celestia out of her reverie and prompted her to properly take in her present surroundings.

“Do you know, my little ponies? This little patch of forest right here,” Celestia tapped her hoof down on the dense vegetation of the Everfree for emphasis, “This spot was where the world's first Sonic Rainboom occurred.”

Where there once was a clearing a millennia ago, now was overtaken by the voracious plantlife of the Everfree. It looked so different from how it used to be and yet...

'BOOM!

Celestia gaped as Luna broke the sound barrier with the most carefree laughter that she not heard in for so, so long.'

...in Celestia's eyes she could still see a truly awe-inspiring rainbow trailing behind her little sister, painting the night sky.

Celestia smiled as both her niece and the Guards started to re-evaluate the location that she had targeted in the Everfree with new eyes. Even the ever-stoic Sharp Petals had a look of keen interest as he examined the otherwise unremarkable surroundings. The pulses of Alicorn magic had long since faded and it allowed Celestia another excuse to delay their journey to her former home.

It was a cowardly indulgence.

Celestia suddenly felt the soft touch of a hoof on her withers in the midst of her self-recriminations. While the trials of the day had served to form cracks in her usual mask, Celestia knew that the Heart was not something so easily concealed from one such as her niece. Cadance smiled reassuringly at her and gently rubbed her hoof back and forth on her withers.

“Princess...Auntie...Luna was the creator, right, Auntie?” asked Cadance softly, attracting the attention of the others who gave Celestia looks of undeserved sympathy.

As far as the rest of the world knew, Luna had been killed by a third alicorn known as Nightmare Moon whom Celestia had succeeded in banishing. Nopony and noone had survived that terrible night and knew the awful reality of what had occurred.

Of what she had allowed to occur.

“...Yes, she was truly brilliant, my Luna...” Celestia stared up at her sister's visage in the sky plastered on the moon's surface.

“Did you know that many ponies had thought that I was the first user of the Sonic Rainboom?” she chuckled and shook her head self-depreciatingly, “I was always the blunt hammer of the two of us when it came to magic. But Luna? Oh...”

Celestia caught Shining's eye and smiled at him, “She was much like your sister, Captain Armor. There was so much artistry woven into each and every one of her spells. Luna was as elegant as the night sky she ruled over and which she painted a magnificent canvas for all the world to enjoy and delight in.”

The confused look on Shining's face turned into an extremely proud smile, “I hope you told my sister that already, Princess.”

Celestia chuckled, “I'll send you the pictures I took of her face.”

Cadance snorted suddenly and slapped Shining's shoulder playfully, “Dork.”

'I wonder if one of his Inner Voices said something just now? I know Luna would have loved a mystery like Shining Armor's case.'

“As much as I might wish to tarry longer here, we should set out for the Castle now.” Celestia took the lead and deftly led her party through the thick brush. “While I am capable of transporting us to the castle directly, I felt it would be better to approach it from a distance so as to better prepare you all.”

“Dark Magic, Auntie?” hazarded Cadance with a guess.

Celestia nodded approvingly at her, “Of a sorts. It is nothing active, but more of a lingering taint. Normally it would not persist for so long, but considering the source...”

“Alicorn Magic.” harrumphed Goldenheart. Celestia knew the old Captain was worried, but chose to not show it for the benefit of his younger fellows.

“Precisely.” affirmed Celestia quietly. “It will only take a few minutes for us to reach the site, but you will all most likely start to feel the effects of the environment soon enough. You may have noticed already that the sounds associated with the forest have already begun to dim.”

Indeed, the many nocturnal insects and fauna that roamed the Everfree, no matter how dangerous they may be, took care to not wander too close to the ruins. The chirping of crickets and occasional howls were becoming more and more distant the further they progressed.

“For sapient species, the castle will dredge up the darker emotions of the Heart. Hatred. Fear. Greed. Envy. Spite. All of these and more will continue to build up the longer we stay within the vicinity. I can ward it off with my own Alicorn magic, but doing so in this case would wipe away any traces of what Cadance and I hope to find.” continued Celestia patiently.

“...What...can we do to s-stop this, P-Princess?” asked Gloria tremulously.

Gloria squeaked and glanced at her bashfully when Celestia gently stroked her mane with a partially unfurled wing. Celestia stopped, turned and addressed her attentive audience: “By being informed of the dangers you are all already somewhat protected.” began Celestia, waiting for the information to sink in before proceeding, “But there is an additional measure you can all take-”

'Only you though. Not me. Not here.'

“-by focusing on positive memories. Memories featuring kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty and loyalty. Feelings of hope and friendship and family and love! Hold onto those! Focus on them! Let their light...act as your shield against the darkness.”

Goldenheart, Gloria and Sharp all closed their eyes and focused, their expressions softening and faint smiles appearing on their lips. Shining and Cadance, as expected, simply drew closer to one another and drew their strength from each other. A few moments passed until they had finished steeling themselves and looked towards Celestia.

“Well done.” praised Celestia softly, “Come, let us move on.”

'Before I delay us any longer.'

Conversation dimmed as their group proceeded through the short stretch of the forest as all the sounds of the environment faded out entirely leaving only an eerie silence and an increasingly hostile feeling in the air. Celestia's little ponies drew closer to one another, eyes scanning their unmoving surroundings with an unnerring vigilance that persisted even as the treeline thinned and their destination came into sight. A thick roiling fog pouring out of the gorge in front of them served to be a darkly appropriate accompaniment for the crumbling ruins that was Celestia and Luna's former home.

'The venue that the spirit lounged in was annoyingly beautiful, mused Celestia. It had strange and impossibly vibrant flowers blooming out of a lush royal-purple carpet that rippled like water with every breeze. Six pillars with intricately, and yet oddly familiar, carvings supported a crystalline roof whose many facets were showing moving images of places in Equestria and possibly the world beyond.

It was this kind of magic that had people favourably inclined towards the chimeric being when he had first shown up. His true nature was something that was easily revealed, however.

A closer inspection of the crystal roof would show that in every single image being projected displayed people of all races, known and unknown, in states of abject misery that the horrid Spirit took great delight. With every display of chaos, every trial and tribulation, every tear shed, the spirit hooted and hollered with sickening glee.

“DISCORD!”

Celestia winced as Luna shouted towards the hateful being relaxing on a bejeweled throne outside of his castle. While she shared her sister's disdain for Discord, she only wished that Luna could perhaps be a bit more aware of how loud she could be.

The mad Chaos spirit simply giggled and waved cheerfully to her sister, which only seemed to enrage poor Luna further.

“Well, well, well! If it isn't my two favourite pieces of entertainment!” Celestia gritted her teeth at the insult. “Lulu, it's a shame to see that you still haven't learned the difference screaming and talking! Chin up! I'm sure a smart little filly like you will get it in a few centuries!”

Luna growled and Celestia placed a wing on her sister's withers to calm her before looking at Discord. “It is over Discord! Thy reign-”

“-of terror has come to an end and so forth and so forth.” finished Discord with a bored yawn. “Honestly, Celly, you could at least try and change this tired old spiel every now and then.”

“This time is different thou most contemptuous mongrel!” spat out Luna.

“Alas! T'would seem that we are doing this old spiel again.” mused Discord. Before either she or Luna could get another word in, Discord snapped his fingers and the two were frozen in place. No matter how hard they struggled, the best they could manage was a few flaps of their wings to which Discord had the typical gall to look surprised at.

It was so incredibly frustrating that with every encounter they had had with the accursed spirit over the past four decades, that he would always...ALWAYS show them just how much he outclassed them.

Discord hummed thoughtfully while grinning at them, “...Well, before you two unveil your latest trick, let me just set us up with a proper audience.”

Discord waved his right hand towards the roof, causing it to unravel like one of Luna's latest attempts at knitting. The reflective surfaces filled up with a polychromatic ink that washed away the previous images that had previously played across it as they arranged themselves in the sky to surround the area. Knowing what was to come filled Celestia with a sense of dread, despite feeling that she and Luna had what was possibly their best shot at finally defeating the Mad King. The panes of rainbow-stained glass all had a number appear in their centres that started to slowly count down in time with Discord's words.

“And in five...four...three!” Discord mouthed out the last two numbers as the panels became more and more transparent until on the last count they fully blended in with their surroundings.

With grim frowns, both Celestia and Luna looked up towards the sky to see a giant projection of their surroundings. All across the world, Discord had woven a spell so that the people could once again see their latest attempts at toppling Discord off of his ill-begotten throne.

“Now, since you did forget yourself last time we tussled, Lulu-” Luna growled at Discord, but otherwise held her tongue, “I will remind thee that we have impressionable young minds watching, so thou may wish to keep thine lurid obscenities of my person to a schoolfilly level, hm?”

Discord waved his hoof and the two sisters were once again free to move, they looked at each other and nodded solemnly before making their way to what would hopefully be their final confrontation with Discord. The knowledge of what was contained within Celestia's saddlebag emboldened Celestia as much as it frightened her with the knowledge that this may not work. As Discord began to monologue to himself as the two sisters approached, Celestia and Luna took the opportunity to steady their hearts.

“Truthfully, this whole King-ship thing was becoming dull anyway. Every new challenger always has the same old strategies that the last ones tried. It's so boring!” sighed Discord.

“But you two!” Discord giggled like a foal and gazed at them with a disturbingly hungry gleam, “You don't age! You keep getting stronger! Keep trying new things!”

Discord sighed with such inordinate fondness that both Celestia and her sister looked at him with absolute revulsion, “Truly, you two are the gifts that keep on giving!”

“Cease your attempts to anger us further, worm! Otherwise thine end may not be so swift!” hissed Luna venomously, thankfully at a more normal volume this time.

“Aww...but thou art so much FUN when thine art particularly livid, Lulu! Pray tell, dost thou recall that time when thou lost control and flooded a village? And that 'twas I who was the one who saved all those poor, widdle ponies from dwowning?” cackled Discord.

Discord's form shimmered and was replaced with that of a white and brown spotted Earth pony foal that directed eyes glimmering with tears towards Luna, “W-W-Why d-did y-you break our h-house, Miss? D-didn't y-you s-say you w-would p-protect us?”

Luna recoiled in horror, but Celestia was quick to steady her sister with an extended wing. Luna looked up at her thankfully before steadying herself with a large shaky breath.

“...T'is true that mine anger for thee has hurt many innocents. And that it is both due to luck and thee that no lives were lost...” began Luna quietly, before she glared at Discord. “But know this, foul Spirit! I will not let you make me make that mistake again!”

“Really? Not even were I to do something like this?” the Mad King floated up from his throne, splaying his arms out to the side like a streeet performer about to unveil his latest trick. It burned Celestia for her to let Discord go about this, but they might only have one shot at this and she knew from past experiences that Discord would be arrogant enough to let them have at least one free strike.

So long as they played along.

But neither she nor Luna had to fake a gasp when each of the stone pillars started to partly crumble away and reveal what lay inside their cores. Locked in a state of wide-eyed frozen terror were the forms of Rockhoof, Somnambula, Flash Magnus, Mage Meadowbrook, Mistmane and...

““TEACHER!”” shouted both Celestia and Luna at once when they beheld the disturbingly blank-faced visage of their teacher Star Swirl. Both sisters leapt forwards, beating their mighty wings with powerful strokes, only to be repelled from reaching any of their comrades by an invisible barrier.

Discord tutted at them disapprovingly, a pair of spectacles forming over his eyes, “Now, now. I believe thy teacher taught thee better than that. What say thee, Star Swirl?”

In response, Star Swirl slowly blinked, his head questing back and forth between a stricken Celestia and Luna and a grinning Discord without any real sense of alarm.

“Star...Swirl...? Yes...that is my name...” he said slowly.

“T-Teacher?” whispered Luna.

Star Swirl looked at Celestia without any glimmer of recognition but when he looked at Luna there was a brief spark of something taking form. He opened his lips to speak-

“A-Aahhh...” Star Swirl groaned, his eyes rolling backwards in their sockets slightly as a pink glow bloomed from behind him.

“Oooh, whoops. I completely forgot about this little thing.” chuckled Discord nervously. A clawed hand reached behind Star Swirl and pulled free a wriggling insect that was squirming futilely in the spirit's clutches. “One Arvaxian beetle, several hundred barrels of Taurian wine, a dash of Chaos and a smile for the road certainly makes for an interesting product.”

Discord chuckled and shook his head as the beetle continued to struggle, “I must confess that I am rather unsure as to what the little bug even does-”

“RAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”

There were no words that came from Luna's mouth, only a primal scream of absolute fury that her sparking horn and frothing mane only showed the barest depths of. Her eyes were filled with an eldritch energy as her Alicorn Magic suffused the air, marking its presence upon the world far more distinctly than mere mana ever did or could. The hatred radiating from Luna that would be the foundation for Dark Magic in any other being had no purchase on the strange force that Celestia and her sister could now call upon.

Even after all of these years, Alicorn Magic still frightened her, to be honest.

But against someone like Discord, Luna could not stand by herself.

The image of a sun – no, her Sun – came into being within the confines of her mind. It was a simple memetic tool for Celestia to be able to properly call upon her Alicorn Magic and she focused on thoughts of gentle Warmth, revealing Light and terrible Power. Just as Luna's Alicorn Magic was associated with more than just her Moon, more than a reflection, so too was Celestia's more than just a source of heat and light.

The initial burst of power from Luna shattered Discord's simple barrier and the draconequus blocked the rest of the attack from her sister that came in the form of a coruscating beam of violet energy. Discord yelped and tossed away the beetle in his hand and just barely caught the attack in time before it impacted his body. As Celestia brought her own power to the fray, Luna's Alicorn Magic responded and grew greater in it's presence.

The powers of the Moon. Of Transitions and Change.

The powers of the Sun. Of Expansion and Life.

The conceptual powers of Celestia and Luna came together to do battle with the Lord of Disorder and Chaos.

“'Tis good to see that you two have improved!” called out Discord with a relaxed smile.

And yet...for all their strength...they were still young to their powers and Discord was most certainly their senior.

The space between the violet laser that was cupped between Discord's palms contorted into an impossible geometry that generated a ripple and which was sent cascading down the beam's length and back to its origin.

““AHHHH!”” Celestia and Luna both screamed as an explosion blasted the both of them off of their hooves and sent them tumbling across the ground at such a high velocity that they carved a deep trench through the Earth and through something surprisingly soft, flaky and...sweet?

Klang!

Their journey came to an abrupt end as they both passed through a blueberry-scented soft and squishy barrier and hit a metallic wall that briefly had Celestia's head ringing. Woozily, Celestia got to her hooves as the ringing quickly passed only for Discord's riotous laughter to take it's place. The sweet taste of blueberry filling was on her lips and the normally delicious treat now had a very sour aftertaste as she quickly realized what Discord had just sent the two sisters crashing through. A quick look at a furious Luna who was drenched in filling and flaky bits of pastry only confirmed her suspicions.

“I h-hope you two like pie!” guffawed Discord as the two sisters dragged themselves out of the holes in the giant blueberry pie tin that Discord had generated. Her own bedraggled appearance was made all too apparent by the giant reflection of herself still high in the sky.

Celestia didn't think she would enjoy pie so much anymore.

“Alright, alright. Well, I believe we should start with the main meal first. Such naughty little fillies you two are, having thine dessert so early.” tutted Discord with a disapproving wag of his finger.

Luna caught her eye and Celestia nodded back at her, valiantly ignoring the taunt as their moment arrived. The two sisters slowly started moving forwards once again towards the expectant spirit. They had had no practice runs with the artifacts they found for fear of early discovery, only that they were...amplifiers of some kind.

Items...fruits...elements...that bloomed on a very special tree that had a strangely similar feel to their Alicorn Magic, but which felt more...pure.

Three gems floated gently out of Celestia's saddlebag that felt like physical embodiments of Kindness, Generosity and Magic. These were the ones that resonated most strongly with Celestia, even though she felt that the last should have gone to her sister. Luna had laughed it off by saying that obviously the bigger gem would resonate with the sister that had the bigger flanks.

An inaudible tune sang through Celestia's mind as Luna's own gems came out of their confines, the jewels glowing brighter as they started to circle around the two sisters. The plan that she and Luna had hashed out involved Luna locking down Discord, with Celestia providing the power to do so and yet...

“My, my, my...” breathed out Discord with genuine wonder in his voice, “What have you two unearthed?”

...much like when they had first called upon their Alicorn Magic or when they moved their respective celestial bodies, higher thinking was tossed aside in favor of something more instinctual. Memories of the precious moments she shared with Luna, good and bad, flowed through Celestia as their sisterly bond formed an invisible, peerless linkage between the jewels that seemingly glowed even brighter than her Sun.

“Unearthed?” repeated Luna, seemingly halfway in a trance, “This is something that has always been present, Discord.”

The two did not know what to call the gems other than things like Fruits or Embodiments of Power or Hope and other such things. Nothing seemed to fit quite right until this moment when they faced their greatest challenge.

“'Tis a power forged from the bonds between others, one that will overcome all adversity!”

A name arose unbidden in their minds, as if it were there all along, simply waiting for its moment to announce itself to the whole world.

A name that felt right.

““BEHOLD, DISCORD! THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!””

They shouted in unison as the Elements unleashed their awesome power towards Discord who welcomed it with wide open arms and a deranged smile.

BOOM!

A self-contained explosion centered on Discord rapidly expanded outwards from his body before reeling back in on itself and locking the spirit within a bubble of Alicorn-tinged energy. Discord experimentally let loose a blast of Chaos magic that shot out from his eye and impacted harmlessly upon his magical prison. Celestia's spirits soared and she could feel Luna's giddiness too through the Elements as an even stronger burst of Chaos failed to break Discord out of his cage.

It shouldn't have been as surprising as it was, but even the knowledge of Discord's character, lacklustre as it was, did not make it any less profoundly unsettling when Discord reacted as he did to the Elements' power.

A single eyebrow was raised in interest as the Elements of Harmony's power took effect and his body slowly started to turn to stone from the bottom. Discord gave his now petrified hoof an experimental shake, paying no mind to the fact that he was held within the grip of the powerful magical artifacts. His eyebrow continued to rise higher on his brow and his lips curled upwards with interest as a blast of his odd magic did nothing to abate the petrification. Discord's eyebrow had gone past his forehead and left his body entirely as it rose above his head, before meeting the outer edge of the bubble he was encased in and snapping back onto his face.

“Heh.” A startled snort burst out as a puff of flame from the draconequus' snout. His skin split as his smile grew and began to separate his jaws into equal halves as he literally threw back his head and began laughing in earnest.

“HaaAHEOHOOO[WONDERFUL]HaHAahaHA[SUPERB]HEOEHEHEHE

AHAH[MAGNIFICENT]AHAH[MORE]AH

HAH[ENTERTAINMEMORE!]AHAHAHA!”

A fanged grin that was impossibly wide split his face in two aa Discord roared with a laughter that was so unhinged and so demented that it chilled Celestia to her core. Snatches of words could just barely be heard ringing with the mad Spirit's laughter, words that were so heavily laden with a desire and lust for wanton chaos that it caused a burst of euphoria to spring into being within Celestia. She turned a pair of horrified eyes to Luna who was starting to sport a mad grin of her own.

The light from the Elements dimmed ever so slightly.

“L-Luna! Stay st-trong!”

The Pillars of Equestria began giggling uncontrollably with tears streaking down their faces. Even the now apathetic Star Swirl was giving off dry, rasping laughs.

Discord's laughter suddenly stopped, along with all remaining sound within the area, possibly the whole world for all Celestia knew with how still everything seemed. As the last part of his body was about to turn to stone, Discord smiled at her and Luna and giggled his final parting words.

“!UnTiL nExT tImE, dEaRsIsTeRs^!”'

Even as Celestia's mind drifted into recollections of the past, she was still coherent enough to guide her little ponies safely across the old bridge that hung over the yawning chasm separating the rest of the world from the castle. A concerted application of telekinesis from all of their casters made sure that the old wood would hold under their weight.

Instinctively, they all gathered around her, seeking gladly provided shelter in the form of her wings. It was as if they had passed a barrier that the full darkness of the place finally sought purchase upon them all. Illusory screams of anger and fear could just be barely be heard from a source that seemed to emanate from all around her and muddled both her physical and magical senses. From the way the Guards were reacting, based on subtle twitches of their ears and eye movements, they were experiencing something similar.

“Take this moment to adjust yourselves everypony. It will be worse inside.” she advised them quietly.

Interestingly, after her niece of course, Shining Armor was the first to rally himself with a deep inhalation. “I would like to request that both Lieutenant Sunrise and myself enter in first, Princess.”

Celestia grinned faintly, as his tone made it sound like anything but a request and responded in kind.

“Both you and the lieutenant will remain within my wingspan's reach at all times.” She met Shining and Gloria's deadpan expressions evenly until they both sighed and acquiesced.

It was a small enough distance that Celestia was confident she could throw herself in front of anything that would seek to harm her ponies while also not straying too far from the ones behind her either. While she could not sense any Alicorn Magic through the dark miasma that overlayed the ruins, that did not mean that there was no hidden danger.

'Still...why did it have to be here of all places?'

With no further words and careful steps, they proceeded onwards and into the castle. Celestia tensed as her ponies passed over the threshold and caught the sound of something resembling a hiss. Cadance stiffened, whether from hearing the sound or the way that Shining's head suddenly snapped towards the supposed source.

“Something wrong, Captain?” asked Gloria.

His reply was slow in coming and carefully measured: “I thought I heard something...”

'Yet, Gloria did not?' Earth Pony senses were acute and Celestia knew that Gloria was no slouch in terms of physical prowess.

Celestia looked at Sharp and Goldenheart with a raised brow and they shook their heads in the negative, unlike Cadance who gave a slow and hesitant nod.

'So only the Alicorns heard it along with Shining Armor, hm...'

“Is there a problem, Captain Armor?” asked Celestia as calmly as she could through the growing sense of hostility enveloping the area.

'It's faster than usual...is it because there's more ponies here?'

Shining straightened up slightly at her voice and answered crisply, “It appears not, ma'am.”

Despite that, Shining was thorough in his duties as point-guard as his horn lit up with a pink glow. The detection spell, a rather high-level one based on what she could sense, was unleashed from Shining's horn in short order and flooded the area he was interested in.

“...At least nothing I can detect.” announced Shining, relaxing slightly and turning back to Celestia. She noted that Gloria was still remaining watchful for anything that would take advantage of Shining's seeming dismissal and was pleased to note that nothing occurred.

Still, Celestia did not want to take any chances and joined up with the two Guard ponies.

“Always so thorough, Captain Armor.” giggled Cadance, sticking close by to Shining, but admirably maintaining a carefree smile.

“The safety of the Princesses is paramount to the safety of Equestria. To do any less would disrespect you and the nation we serve.” replied Shining seriously.

“Do not discount your own importance so readily, my little pony. All life is precious and everyone matters.” admonished Celestia.

'Would you still think so highly of me, Shining Armor? If you knew what I had done to my own sister? Would any of you?'

Shining Armor frowned, but otherwise dipped his head in acknowledgement to her words, glancing once more down the suspicious hallway. If something or someone was hidden and watching them, she was unsure as to whether their intentions may be for the group.

“...As I mentioned before my little ponies, this place has been tainted by magics most foul. Most likely, any odd sensations were similar to a phantasmal sound.” mused Celestia, before dropping her voice slightly, “I believe that the solution I proposed before would dispel these things, so let us finish our investigation before we need to do that. If you would, Captain?”

“Auntie?” interjected Cadance before Shining could reply. She had a worried look on her face, possibly based on something she had heard from Shining's Inner Voices.

“Two alicorns can overcome anything, if they work together...right, Cadance?” smiled Celestia softly.

Cadance gave a little smile back as her own words were returned to her and nodded slightly. The group hadn't proceeded more than a few steps through the corridor before Celestia suddenly froze at a certain spot just before entering the throne room. It was so faint, an ethereal sensation that touched upon the deepest depths of her soul and whispered that she stood at the fading entrance to something truly vast.

Shining and Gloria had only gone a few paces more when they realized Celestia and Cadance had stopped. Though a glance towards her niece showed that the younger alicorn didn't exactly know why she had even stopped in the first place and was turning around in place with a frown.

“The Realm was opened, but now has been closed. Cadance, can you feel it?” stated Celestia with closed eyes, feeling the lingering remnants of eldritch energy permeating the air. It was more experience than any one thing that Celestia could point to that let her know that this was not the result of an Alicorn-level artifact or even something opening up a passage into the Realm of Wishes.

An Ascension had occurred.

'As expected...But where did the new alicorn go? Or...are they still here?'

“I don't...really sense anything, Auntie.” answered Cadance apologetically.

Celestia delicately cupped her downturned chin and raised it with her hoof, “It is okay, Cadance. It is something that I am sure you will be much better at when you are older.” Celestia released and her hold as Cadance's troubled expression cleared slightly.

“Auntie...did somepony...?” Celestia nodded and put a hoof to her own lips, giving Cadance a significant look. “Then, what should we do from here?”

Understanding the byplay between her and Cadance faster than any other pony, Celestia was not particularly surprised when Goldenheart suddenly piped up.

“Shall we check further inside, your majesties?” Celestia turned and met the grim stare of the aged Captain.

“Yes...I don't believe anything is here.” said Celestia carefully, putting a slight emphasis on a single word that elicited a flash of understanding in Goldenheart's eyes.

“Right then, let's not stay here any longer than we have to in this foul place.” groused Goldenheart and fixed Celestia with a mock-aggrieved look, “You need to stop dragging me to these kinds of places, Celestia.”

“As I recall, you were the one who requested me to bring you out of retirement, Goldie.” giggled Celestia, delighting in the bemused twinkle in Sharp's eyes and the scowl on Goldenheart's.

The atmosphere eased slightly as Celestia bantered with Goldenheart, though their guards did not relax even as they stepped into the throne room. The lighthearted barbs and ripostes quietly faded and the mood became more sombre when the ponies beheld the ruined hall. It was easily the most damaged of the areas within the castle and the place where Luna – Nightmare Moon – had finally been banished.

'Celestia was more injured than she had ever been in her entire life. Bruised and battered, she had her back against the open display holding the Elements of Harmony, staring fearfully at what Luna's deep-seated resentment, fears and insecurities had turned her into.

“Luna-” began Celestia, only to be cut off by a black beam of pure mana. It wasn't tainted Alicorn Magic, only meant as a warning, rather than to cause any harm.

She still flinched badly as it dissipated harmlessly against her fur.

“Nightmare Moon, Tia. Do keep up.” corrected Luna with a deranged smile. She landed daintily on the ruined throne room, folding her wings against her sides as she nonchalantly strolled towards Celestia who had tears leaking from her eyes.

Thump.

[Honesty.]

Luna, no, Nightmare Moon, paid no mind to the bodies of the ponies that had stood against her. Even poor Azure Star, the Captain of the Night Guard, was cut down when she refused to overthrow Celestia in a horrific display of violence and pained betrayal. The scream of anguish that Nightmare Moon had let out when she had committed that awful deed had made Celestia think that she could still be brought back.

Thump.

[Generosity.]

Instead her hesitation had led to the deaths of dozens of other ponies who had rose against Nightmare.

Thump.

[Loyalty.]

Her continued refusal to fight against the mare that she had practically raised from fillyhood by herself resulted in dozens more dying as she fought to contain her sister.

Thump.

[Kindness.]

“How does it feel, Celestia? To know that soon the world wilt no longer be a herd of repulsive Sun-lovers?” cackled Nightmare.

Thump.

[Laughter.]

How...how had things gone so wrong?

Thump.

[...]

“That all of thine pathetic attempts to deny mine rightful place as ruler of Equestria have come to naught?” a real hint of anger was beginning to overshadow her mocking tone.

Thump.

[...]

Had it really been so awful for Luna?

“Dost thou still revel in thine supposed superiority?!” snarled Nightmare Moon, firing a concussive blast of force that tore massive pieces out of the floor as it raced towards Celestia.

Thump.

[...]

Were things really so bad that her sister had resorted to combining Dark Magic and Alicorn Magic that had turned her into this...this...monstrosity?

Thump.

[...]

“LAUGHING AT ME LIKE ALL THE REST!” she screamed as her previous spell was just barely stopped by Celestia's last-second shield before shattering, which only incensed Nightmare Moon even more.

All in an effort to surpass her supposed superiority?

“I NEVER THOUGHT THAT, LUNA!” shrieked Celestia, stopping the other alicorn in her tracks, her horn fading to a dim glow.

Thump.

[...]

“I...never thought I was better than you, Luna. And I am so, so, SO sorry if I ever made you feel that way.” choked out Celestia. “But you have to stop, Luna. Please! So many have been hurt already and more people will be hurt if there is no sunlight-”

It was the wrong thing to say as a bolt of sickly-colored purple lightning erupted from Nightmare's horn and struck Celestia.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Thump.

[...]

“AHHHHH!” Celestia let loose a blood-curdling scream as the Dark Alicorn Magic-empowered spell ripped past her natural defences with terrifying ease.

They were supposed to endure eternity together.

Thump.

[...]

As sisters.

Thump.

[...]

As family.

Thump!

[...]

“Mine magic is great enough that foodstuffs will be aplenty in the moonlight, Celestia. As for those who continue to reject my glorious Moon...!” began Nightmare Moon coldly.

Celestia's sight flashed white as her body was wracked with excruciating pain, just barely managing to hold onto the Elements' power, but still unwilling to take that final step.

“WILL!” Celestia's screams doubled in intensity as Nightmare increased the power on her lightning spell even further.

Thump!

[...]

Visions of a great seal binding a shattered Moon danced through Celestia's mind and the passage of a thousand winters showed the cracks slowly healing until the seal faded entirely.

“ALL!” The stone crackled and melted all around her as an odd smell permeated Celestia's senses.

Thump!

[...]

Celestia did not know if this was a true vision like the one that had guided her and Luna so long ago to the Tree of Harmony. Or if it was merely a cruel delusion borne from her own selfishness and cowardice.

But the possibility of a future with a restored Luna was so enticing that she wanted to make that gamble.

“PERISH!” The spell that was rising in crescendo culminated with a massive explosion that blew off the remainder of what was left of the roof and left Celestia a horribly, disfigured twitching mess on the ground.

Even if the pain of harming her Luna was more terrible than any spell...

“L...una...” croaked out Celestia, gaining the contemptuous attention of Nightmare.

Thump.

[...]

“I...love...you.”

...Celestia still yearned for those happier days with all of her heart.

Thump.

[Magic.]

Nightmare Moon recoiled in shock as the Elements of Harmony activated and only managed one final parting cry filled with unending rage:

“CELESTIAAAAAAA!!!”'

Celestia, somewhat distantly noted that she had somehow arrived in front of the dormant Elements, a hoof already placed on one of their moss-ridden surfaces. The powerful artifacts were wholly unique within the world and Celestia had in all her centuries not come across anything their equal.

'No matter how desperately I searched.'

“...Still, you continue to slumber.” whispered Celestia.

“Auntie?”

“A part of me expected there to be some reaction from the Elements, Cadance. I suppose that was a foalish hope.”

The pink alicorn's eyes slightly widened as she re-evaluated the seemingly innocuous stones. “Then...these are the Elements of Harmony? I thought those were just a myth!”

“Once upon a time they were quite real and they were the key to solving many threats to Equestria. They became inactive when I had used their power to banish Nightmare Moon and have slumbered ever since...”

“Loyalty. Kindness. Generosity. Honesty. Laughter. Magic.”

Celestia named each of the Elements and while there was no outward reaction from the stones, the darkness seemed to have abated slightly more with each utterance, allowing the briefest of respites before it pressed downwards on them all again.

“So why not move them, Auntie? Perhaps to Canterlot?” asked Cadance in the silence that followed.

Celestia stroked the unresponsive sphere with a hoof and an unmoving gaze, “...Because there is meaning in symbolism, dear niece. If the Elements are to return, they will do so in the place where they were last used and when they are most needed.”

Celestia sighed and let her hoof drop from the sphere to turn around and face her Guards, who had evidently given Cadance and her some privacy...

“Well, there is still more of the castle to explore, shall we cont-?”

...or so she thought.

“Nnnot realll. Didd We f-fail a WIS check or sumthin?” slurred Shining Armor, looking like he was having trouble on focusing on something in front of him that only he could see.

'This is too fast! Is it because somepony Ascended here?!'

“Shiny...?” asked a very concerned Cadance before giving a small gasp as she beheld the state of the other three ponies.

“I...won't leave you, Scarlet! Please, please believe me! I did not write that letter!” shouted a distraught Sharp Petals towards a piece of rubble, looking utterly heartbroken.

“I'm, I'm not a m-m-monster! I'm not!” whimpered Gloria, huddling in on herself.

By her side, but not really seeing his distressed lieutenant, Goldenheart was silently mouthing the names of his deceased family members.

“Auntie, what is going-?!”

“Illusions triggered by staying in this place. We're out of time, Cadance.”

Without further ado, Celestia swiftly called upon her Alicorn Magic and unleashed it in the next breath as an all-encompassing light.

~Equestrian Elegy~

Despite being locked in a free-fall to what was probably an extremely painful and lethal landing, Harry's mind had felt much clearer now that he was away from the magical light. The fact that this wasn't even the third time that he found himself falling from a dangerous height only served to calm him further as he realized that he was no longer dependent on a broomstick anymore.

Instinctively, Harry's new wings spread out and caught his descent and transitioned it into a high-speed glide. A nostalgic and familiar exhilaration arose within Harry, a freedom that had felt denied to him for far too long. The wind rushed past his face, yet his eyes did not water and remained as clear-sighted as ever – no, even sharper than what they had previously been in his true form.

Unfortunately, the same ease through which he had managed to walk properly on four legs and ride a broomstick ran into a hitch when he attempted to flap his wings and get some proper height. He still needed some time to familiarize himself with the still alien muscles controlling his wings.

But as his high-velocity glide carried him deeper into the foggy gorge whose walls were getting closer; time was something that was not on his side.

“Bloody stupid wings!” cursed Harry as he opted for heaving his body to the right to force his still rigid wings to follow and narrowly avoid a sharp edge of the cliff that was jutting out in his flight path.

Harry twitched a set of muscles on his right side that rewarded him with a couple of flaps of the wing and sent him spiraling out of control, bouncing hard off the wall until he managed to re-right himself and open up his wings. His shaky glide was restored, but now at a much lower height, which let him appreciate just how deep the gorge was as he still couldn't see the bottom.

What Harry could see was the rather abrupt end of the trench he was gliding through and a rather painful looking wall of stone that had a few holes dotting it's surface. Since he still hadn't managed to figure out the trick to flying just yet, Harry angled his body as best he could towards the closest opening on the rapidly approaching wall and slipped on through into the dimly lit cave.

However, even with his enhanced eyesight, Harry would be hard pressed to do much coordinated gliding in what was becoming increasingly a dark void.

“Lumos Solem!” A bright beam of light shot out from his horn and gave Harry just enough warning that he was about to plow into the rocky wall of a fork within the cave.

There was no sudden slowing of the world, but Harry still found enough time to breathe out slowly as he twitched another muscle that caused his left wing to flap a slight amount and help smoothly transition his entry into the right fork. The cavernous system he was in, or perhaps just the tunnel Harry had chosen, was quite large as he sped through the darkened passage. As he sped through the network, Harry's eyes espied numerous side passages leading ever deeper into the rock and caught the occasional flash and skittering movement of creatures that called this dark place their home. The fanged maws, sharp claws and occasional snapping towards him definitely gave Harry the impression that this wasn't the best place for him to be in.

Still, he didn't feel any real sense of danger, exulting on the feeling of flight as he quickly picked up the trick to moving his wings and started to flap them even faster. Harry felt a small grin tug on his lips as the rest of the cave and it's inhabitants zoomed by him, increasing the intensity on his light spell so that it would be able to keep up with his new speed.

The cave was a damp, dark, weirdly-smelling place and no doubt full of things that would enjoy making a meal out of Harry and yet he felt somewhat detached from it all. His mind was clear of any distractions and was just focused on navigating through the subterranean world with his more and more familiar-feeling wings.

No doubts.

No fears.

Just...something...that was not quite peace nor apathy.

The only light came from his horn or the odd bits of slightly luminescent moss plastered on the walls, giving no real reference for how much time may have already passed. His breaths came out in measured spurts, even as he kept a steady pace with his new wings, automatically making minor adjustments to his flight path without really having to think about it.

Thus it was more than a little jarring when Harry shot out into fresh air suddenly and reared up in mid-air like a horse ('That's never going to stop sounding weird.'), using the change in his body position to flap his wings hard and stop himself from plowing into an opposing cliff face.

“Close...call” puffed Harry, his heart rate slowly returning back to normal after narrowly avoiding a forceful termination of his flight.

SKREEEEEEEEE!

KRRRSSSSSHHHH!

“OH, WHAT NOW?!” demanded Harry, head swiveling towards the direction of where the loud sound had come fro-

'You have GOT to be kidding me!'

Harry was shakily hovering in place for a brief moment in a large gorge of some kind before he shot off like a rocket towards what appeared to be a large red train of all things coming off of the railroad tracks that spanned the expanse of the gorge. The conductor's car and the next two after it were already pointing straight down into the gorge with the rest of the train not too far behind it.

Shrill screams of terror pierced the air and Harry could see numerous equine faces in the windows of the cars all bearing a familiar triplet set of glowing red numbers above them that Harry could clearly see even from this distance.

61 07 11

33 04 25

98 01 03

07 11 20

40 08 13

All of which...

61 07 11

52 05 02

...were now...

33 04 25

27 04 11

...rapidly decreasing as the train continued it's descent into the gorge.

'I think I'm starting to get what those numbers mean now!'

Harry wasn't thinking of how much the train probably weighed.

He didn't think about how his magic felt so much stronger.

All Harry felt was a grim determination to save as many people as he could and the second he felt he was within range of the falling locomotive, he cast the strongest Slowing Spell he could muster.

“ARRESTO MOMENTUM!”

SCREEEEEEEEEEeeeeee!

There was a horrific shrieking sound of metal grinding on metal as the train was slowed down by Harry's magic until it halted completely-

'“Technically an object in motion that is affected by the 'Slowing Spell' doesn't actually lose all of it's velocity.” happily explained Hermione to a slightly glassy-eyed Harry and Ron, “It's still moving, but just in very, very small amounts!”'

-Harry gasped both at the sudden memory and the fact that he lost control of the spell slightly caused the train to shudder hard as it regained it's speed and then lost it an instant later. The movement was apparently hard enough for one pony in the cars hanging out over the void to fall through their car's window.

21 07 13

9 02 15

0 0 01

“BUTTERCUP!” screamed a masculine voice.

A plain looking pony without wings or a horn let out a bloodcurdling scream as she fell. The numbers above her head were growing steadily darker as they decreased exponentially until there was a very distant sound akin to a glass shattering as the numerals morphed into ominously glowing black numbers:

0 0 45

0 0 43

0 0 40

0 0 36

Harry didn't ponder the mystery any further as he reflexively stretched out a hoof towards the falling pony and hastily incanted a Summoning Spell.

“ACCIO BUTTERCUP!”

As if tugged on by an invisible fishing line, the falling tan-colored pony was dragged through the air flailing (and still screaming) right into Harry's outstretched arms.

“Oof!” Harry caught the still freaking-out pony whose swinging hoof inadvertently buckled a joint on his wing, that caused him to sharply drop. The pony – Buttercup, he assumed – did not take this very well and there was a brief moment of renewed screaming until-

“Oi! Calm down! You're safe, Buttercup!” Maybe it was his tone or the usage of her name, but the pony choked down her next scream and settled for hyperventilating and clutching onto Harry's neck with a death grip.

She wasn't particularly heavy, but Harry had to do a tricky bit of rotation with his wings to hover closer to the train that he was still maintaining his spell on, getting a better look at the occupants of the off-rail cars. What greeted him were a lot of scared-looking ponies behind partially reflective glass.

It seemed that only Buttercup's car was unfortunate to have had their window rolled down at the time. An extremely relieved looking yellow pony with red hair in her car stared at the two of them with tear-filled eyes.

“Buttercup...! You're okay! I thought...I thought...!” choked out the...stallion?

“Mac!” yelled out Buttercup, having gotten her breathing under control, but sounding no less joyous to see her companion.

“Hold onto something...Mac? Was it? I'm going to tell everyone else in the train to do so too while I pull it back onto the tracks.” interrupted Harry.

'I mean...I can stop this train in it's tracks, right? What's so different about lifting it with a levitation spell?'

“Sonorus Tria.” Harry applied a triple numerical modifier to the Voice Amplification spell so that everyone would hear his words without deafening them that a 'Maxima' modifier might. “Everyone stay calm! I've stopped the train from moving any further and I am going to lift the train back onto the tracks with a spell. I need everyone to hold onto something right now!”

The familiarity of being in a crisis helped to calm any doubts that Harry had about lifting a multi-ton vehicle. Willpower was a huge component to spells in his own experience and he'd rather not gamble on his enhanced magical power being only a temporary blessing.

“Wingardium...Leviosa!” After giving a bit of time for the passengers to hear and hopefully comply with his orders, Harry started the laborious task of lifting the train cars.

Harry went slowly, making sure not to jostle the train with any sudden movements with surprising ease. Granted, it felt as if he was lifting a great weight, but one that went past his comfort zone rather than a weight that was flat-out impossible.

'Don't question it, Potter! That luck won't last too soon, enjoy it while you can!' thought Harry with gritted teeth.

The majority of the train that was still on the tracks, rolled backwards as Harry levitated the parts that were hanging off back on and he continued to push the train backwards until it was off of the bridge and firmly back on the other side of the ground before he released the spell. Through it all, he made sure to narrate what he was doing for the benefit of the train's occupants, remembering with a wince of how a similar technique worked for the more nervous members of the DA back in his Fifth Year.

Once his task was accomplished, a veritable rainbow of ponies began shakily making their way out of the train as Harry gently set Buttercup down onto the ground. She took off like a shot to meet Mac halfway through and the two embraced each other fiercely with tears streaking down their faces. Harry sighed with relief and noted that what was quickly becoming an unsurprising phenomenon, the numbers above their heads had changed yet again.

82 11 23

80 04 16

The first set of numbers, now once more a bright red, belonged to Buttercup while the second belonged to her...brother?

The two ponies shared a passionate kiss with one another and Harry hastily re-evaluated his analysis of their relationship, burying his mistake deep within his mind. A young excitable looking orange pegasus with long purple hair decorated with pink ribbons bounded up to Harry and started happily whinnying incomprehensible babble to him. Harry figured that the filly who was half his height, must have been too young to know the language yet or she was speaking in some odd horse dialect.

“Um...hello to you...too?” Thus Harry could only smile unsurely at the little girl whose face scrunched up in confusion at his words.

“Summer! Don't bother our hero too much, now! Lifting a train can't have been easy!” chuckled a tired voice and drawing the attention of the little pony.

Harry's eyes fell upon the source who was a dark orange pony with cropped dark blue hair. Harry blinked as the girl babbled something incomprehensible back to her possible father, but nonetheless acquiesced with a pout, though not before giving a very surprised Harry a hug. It was a fleeting, warm sensation that had Harry's heart horribly aching at the familiarity of it and because of how soon it ended.

“Excuse me? Sir?” a polite voice that reminded Harry of the cowboys he had seen on the Dursley's telly, broke him out of his morbid state.

“I just wanted to thank you for saving my Buttercup, 'fer saving all of us!” a beaming Mac and Buttercup looked at Harry with incredible amounts of gratitude in their eyes.

That opened the floodgates for the rest of the ponies who had somehow surrounded Harry without him really noticing, all of them showering their praise and appreciation for him.

“Thank you so much for saving us!” cried one pony.

“THANK YOU, THANK YOU!” blubbered another.

“You're a hero!” chimed in the blue-haired orange pony with the pegasus filly.

'“Harry Potter will save us!” assured a confident sounding First Year Gryffindor to his scared classmates.'

“No, I'm really not-” Harry tried to correct that false assumption before others repeated the other pony's cry.

“And he's so strong! He lifted the entire train by himself!” purred a purple pegasus.

'“With the Chosen One on our side, Voldemort and his followers will NEVER win!” boasted Scrimgeour.'

“You're amazing!”

“No! I just-!” Harry's heart started beating faster as the undeserved praises kept coming from the crowd.

“A hero! A real hero!”

'“Even if Dumbledore's gone, you'll beat him, Potter. You always do.” scoffed Draco.'”

“Hey, now, don't crowd him-!” began Buttercup.

“I bet he's saved tons of other ponies!” said one pony knowingly, something that was heartily confirmed by multiple other ponies and drowning out Buttercup.

'“You're a really powerful wizard, Harry. You know that, right?” chuckled Hermione.'”

“STOP!” shouted Harry, his magic instinctively reacting to his distress and pushing back the crowd several metres. As if it were an automatic defensive maneuver that was hardwired into his new body, Harry's wings expanded to their full extent, ready to take flight at a moment's notice.

There was a series of gasps from the surrounding ponies that were sharply cut off in the stifling atmosphere that had erupted from his knee-jerk display. Everyone was silent and stared at him with ears that flicked back and forth and very human-like expressions of worry, hurt...and fear.

“I-I-I'm sorry, I didn't-didn't mean to!” hastily explained Harry, getting up slowly from the half-crouch he was in and reaching out a hoof towards the crowd.

He stopped when the majority of them flinched at the motion.

'I need to leave!'

Harry's wings flared out and he took off into the sky, ignoring a few cries for him to stay. He didn't know where he was going, all he knew is that he just needed to be anywhere that was not here.

'“Oh, come on!” groused Harry as his Queen was neatly beheaded by Ron's Knight.

“Gotta stop leaving those openings, mate.” chuckled Ron, overlooking the chess board with undisguised glee.

“I'll beat you next time!” vowed Harry.

“Pfft, in your dreams.”'

Harry felt like his heart was in his throat.

'“Mornin', Harry! Up for helping me out a bit before class? Feelin' just a bit nervous is all...” confided Hagrid.

“No problem, Hagrid!” Harry would always make time for one of his first friends after all.'

It was so warm. This stupid, bloody fur covering his body was too hot!

'“I love you.” whispered Hermione'

“Grk...!” Harry dry heaved in the sky, feeling a powerful wave of nausea overtake him.

Guilt and shame rocked his body in such powerful waves that he fell from the sky in a drunken spiral. Harry barely noticed crashing through the treeline and impacting the ground with a crash as the deluge of memories dulled any sense of pain from coming through.

'A horror-stricken Harry sank to his knees at the sight of the mangled body of Luna Lovegood.'

He stumbled to his feet...hooves – 'Whatever!', swaying unsteadily as he took a few shaky steps forward. Harry was breathing faster but he didn't feel like he was getting any oxygen into his body.

'Can't...I can't...breathe!'

“Grrrr...” a low dangerous growl somewhat attracted Harry's attention to a large creature that looked like a lion with a scorpion tail making it's way towards him with a hungry gleam in it's eye.

More and more dead friends that he had failed to save. That had died because of him raced through his mind even as he raised a hoof towards the beast.

“P-Protego!” The flimsy looking shield that had been constructed in his distraught state surprisingly managed to ward off the blow from the beast who swiped a paw towards him.

“GRRRRR!” Harry somewhat distantly noted that it reminded him of a manticore.

“Go...go away!” shouted Harry to which the manticore snarled in response and hit his shield again.

He couldn't deal with this.

Something inside of him rustled at this thought, different from his magic.

“Bugger off!” he shouted again. The scorpion tail shot out from the manticore with a shocking speed and managed to penetrate his shield.

He didn't want to deal with this.

There was an incomprehensibly deep well of power that he had never known had existed within him and seemed to stare back at him.

Almost as if it were waiting for permission.

“Just. LEAVE. ME!” The manticore ripped his tail out of the shield and shattered Harry's protection completely.

“ALONE!”

The manticore died mid-leap with an almost...sapient light of terror in it's eyes. Harry watched in open-mouthed horror as the beast's flesh was peeled back like an onion straight down to the bone while not even halfway through it's travel through the air. What was left was a rapidly disintegrating skeleton that splashed over Harry's frozen form-

“Gah!”

'It's in my mouth!'

Bile bubbled up Harry's throat and met the remains of the quickly disappearing...dust...still stuck in his body. Tears stained his vision as he felt the grass losing it's soft texture, while attempting to hack up the remains of the manticore, and he could just barely make out a wide swathe of destruction spreading out from him as the epicentre.

Crack!

The trees withered and decayed into lifeless husks, with the closest snapping at the trunk and smashing to the ground. What were once vibrant and thick foliage covering the trees rapidly rotted away before Harry's quickly clearing vision. The taste of vomit still on his tongue and the lingering memories of ash.

Even the very air seemed to lose the magic that was present in it, leaving behind an empty void in the glade where nothing lived.

Where nothing could live. His paradoxical heaving gasps for oxygen did little to dissuade him of this sudden, awful certainty.

It was all of this and-NothingEscapesItUsMe-more...that had Harry snap back to his quickly fraying senses and desperately try and reel back in whatever-Finality-was pouring out of his body. Thus, Harry was startled when the terrible-Natural-power that he had unleashed quickly acceded to his demands and settled down, halting the spread of...

...Death...that had started to spread outwards from him.

“What...what is happening to me?” whispered Harry in the awful stillness, a tear falling down his cheek and dropping down onto the dessicated ground. “Why...WHY...!”

'I don't know what's going on! I need...!'

Harry felt his wings fluttering.

“Dumbledore, he would know what to do for sure.” muttered Harry.

The muscles controlling his wings gave an odd twitch and caused them to flap once.

“He could tell me what was...what I did wrong...!”

Another flap of his wings occurred and Harry couldn't muster the energy to try and stop the spasms.

“I wish...you could...tell me what to do.” croaked Harry.

A third flap of his wings and Harry felt his fur standing on end. An odd sensation in the alien well of power had him terrified that he was about to lose control again until he heard an impossible voice.

“Hello, Harry.”

“...Professor?”

Author's Notes:

AN: Well this certainly came out faster than I thought it would! (Yes, I consider 3 and half weeks to be fast). So most people will have noted the presence of Applejack's parents who were the primary reason I started writing this story. The whole Romeo and Juliet-type love story of Pear Butter and Bright Mac was a very wholesome and heartwarming piece of television that ended on such a tragic note with the implication that the two died very young.

The very first chapter in this story of Harry and Voldemort fighting was meant to be a gateway chapter, a kind of transition for which I could insert an AU Harry into different universes. But when I saw that MLP episode, all I could think of was: "How the hell do I save these two adorable little ponies?"

And so, Harry Potter and the Equestrian Elegy was born.

Very basic, I know. And when that first chapter was published, I didn't have much beyond a vague idea of some fluff stuff. But when I was forced to write myself out of a hole with the 'Perspective: Shining Armor' chapter, I got some REALLY cool ideas (cool to me, anyway) and I started expanding Equestrian's Elegy's lore, reworking how magic worked, what alicorns were, who Faust was, what the Deathly Hallows were and I think it's shaping up into something pretty unique.

I can't promise that I'll be able to finish this mainly because of how much IRL stuff I got on my plate, but...I'll definitely give it a good shot and I hope that whatever and however much I'm able to write, that you guys and gals will enjoy it regardless.

Have a wonderful day!

Edit: Special thanks to Jormungandr of Spacebattles for some solid advice and a cool little scene with Harry flaring out his creepy alicorn wings in front of the ponies he rescued and with the manticore!