The Cat in Canterlot Castle

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Ever since the royal sisters made their decision to retire and informed the Elements of Harmony about their decision, Celestia and Luna had been busy. Not just with the final preparations for transitioning their reign over to Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends, but also because the two of them had just returned to their duties after their royal vacation. Even though their trip was rocky to start and both of the sisters had different ideas as to how they wanted to spend their time off, both of them found a way to make amends and enjoy their trip to the fullest.

Now it was the day after they came back from their trip and today, they planned on using the day as a chance to recuperate. They already made sure that there were no meetings with any delegates arranged and even made sure to cancel Court for today. Twilight and her friends had already returned to Ponyville too, which was a relief as well.

Unfortunately, not everything was going well this morning. For as both sisters were about done with breakfast, they got an unexpected interruption, “P-Princess, I apologize, but there’s a situation in the throne room that requires your attention!”

The pony who was speaking was Raven Inkwell, an earth pony that was one of Princess Celestia’s most trusted aides. If Princess Celestia wanted something to be done, then Raven was the pony who would help see it through. Yet this morning, she looked as if she had been running from a parasprite swarm as both Celestia and Luna looked to one another, “In the throne room? Court’s cancelled for today though.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Raven nodded, “Yet, this involves a different matter. It’s about your nephew, Blueblood.”

Luna herself had the urge to groan at the mention of his name. Despite being a member of the royal family, Blueblood was nothing like Cadance or Shining Armor. He treated others with very little respect and only cared for himself, not to mention that some of his outlandish choices, including ordering several guards to remove her pet opossum Tiberius because he thought of it as a street rat, really made her think that the unicorn was not suited for the responsibilities that his title came with. Not to mention being thankful with entrusting their kingdom to Twilight instead of him.

Celestia though, just let out a small sigh as she tried to remain composed, “What seems to be the issue this time?”

“Well, he’s demanding to have the guards take part in the immediate removal of a hostile monster that’s in the throne room,” the earth pony explained, shuffling through papers on a clipboard that she was holding in her hoof. What Luna only assumed was the ‘complaint’ that Blueblood made, “Yet, upon taking a look at it myself, it appears that the monster that he’s referring to is what appeared to be a house cat that was sitting on your throne. Presumably while you were on your vacation.”

“He’s wants to have the guards just remove a cat?” Luna asked as the two sisters rose up from their seats at the table, “Surely, you must be joking.”

“I assure you, Princess Luna, I’m not,” Raven insisted, “If the circumstances were anything different like his previous outburst involving Tiberius, then I would’ve just ignored it and carried on with my duties. However, there’s something different about this.”

Both sisters looked to one another briefly, before turning back towards the aide as Celestia was the next to speak, “How different?”

“Well, the cat had a book that was with it and it appeared to be moving on its own,” the earth pony began to explain a bit as she set her clipboard down on the table in the dining hall, “Then there was the fact that it actually could speak.”

Upon hearing that, Luna flinched for a moment, “You heard this cat… actually speak? Like actual words?”

“I swear princess, I am not making this up,” Raven Inkwell told both of them, “Can you help with this? I fear that these recent developments would have Blueblood try to-”

“Did it say a name?” both Luna and Raven were caught off guard by the sudden interruption from Celestia as she looked towards her personal aide, “Raven… did the cat say a name?”

“I-I think so,” the mare replied, “I think she called herself… Yuumi?”

The answer from Raven was all that Celestia needed to hear, “Allow me to handle this,” she spoke, before immediately proceeding to trot out the door. Both her sister and the earth pony were caught off guard by this, unsure as to what sparked the alicorn into acting so quickly. Luna herself was unsure if whether or not everything that they were told was true as she tried to catch up with her sister.

Yet, Celestia herself had heard about Yuumi before. Two separate letters from Twilight Sparkle had described in detail about her encounters with the magical cat and the book that was with her. She might have been a cat, but Yuumi had enough power to not only outlast King Sombra, but also defeat him when he re-emerged in the Crystal Empire. Now she had emerged in Canterlot and Celestia hoped that her nephew did not do anything to provoke her.

Yet, it was as the doors to the throne room was opened that the two sisters saw what was playing out. The cat that they had heard about only mere seconds ago, Yuumi, was trying to hold onto the book while Prince Blueblood was trying to use his magic to take it from her. “You can’t have Book, Blueberry!! Let go already!!!”

“How many times do I have to tell you that IT’S BLUEBLOOD!! And you clearly stole this book from the archives! It does not belong to you, you filthy street cat-!”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!!” the shout from Celestia startled them both as it had Blueblood’s focus on his magic falter and let go as the book floated by the cats side.

“Oh Aunty Celestia, I’m so glad you here,” Blueblood let out a sigh of relief, his tone changing dramatically as he looked back towards Celestia, “This fiend found their way past the guards and-” yet, before he could say anything else, a quick glare from the alicorn stunned him. “A-Aunty?”

“How shameful of you to act this way, Blueblood,” the princess addressed her nephew in a disappointed tone, “You treat another creature, one that has not even done anything to show itself as dangerous, as if they were a threat.”

“That’s because they are, aunty! We don’t know what this… thing is capable of. Not to mention that the book they keep insisting belongs to them must have been stolen from the archives,” the prince immediately retorted as he tried to argue his point.

“Book belongs to my master!! How many times do I have to tell you that, Blueberry!” the cat pouted as the books pages began to move on its own. Which led to Celestia letting out a deep sigh as she looked back to her nephew.

“While it is true that the Canterlot Archives are home to numerous magical artifacts, I can assure you that the book that she has is not one of them,” Celestia explained to him, “In addition, I had received two different letters from Princess Twilight that explain about Yuumi here. Therefore, your claims of her being a threat are unjustified.”

“Oh, so you’re Twilight’s master,” Yuumi commented, before shaking her head for a moment as she tried to correct herself. “Oh, right uh… What she said Blueberry!”

The whole exchange that was going on right now tested Luna’s effort to stay composed. Mostly because of the amount of times she wanted to just break out in laughter over how Blueblood was getting beaten at his own game. That and Blueberry seemed more like a proper fit for his name rather than Blueblood, if she were entirely honest.

“T-this is outrageous! I can’t believe you would side with that… thing over your own nephew!” Blueblood snapped in anger as his horn glowed again, “Have you have lost your mind!?”

“I am not going to repeat myself on this, Blueblood,” Celestia glared at her nephew, before turning to Yuumi as she thought of something new to ask, “Did you even ask her why she was here?”

“Wha-?

“I said… did you ask here why she was here?” the alicorn repeated herself, “You were so quick to accuse her of doing something wrong that you didn’t even ask her, did you?”

“What point would there be in asking her about that? Surely she would not just openly tell us what her reasons would be-”

“A-Actually, I kind of… need help,” the cat admitted, looking away for a moment. Much to the surprise of both princesses though, it was then that the book that was with her floated up to Celestia and words began to print on the page.

Perhaps it would be better for me to help explain. You see, we were with four others and were fighting together. However, we got caught in a massive explosion of magic from a Nexus and found ourselves here. We overheard that you were home and after remembering what your student told us about you, we believe that you can help us find our companions. Unfortunately, when we came here looking for you, we ran into your nephew instead.

“Huh… I see,” the alicorn replied.

“You found out something, sister?” Luna asked.

“Well, according to… well,” Celestia paused, before looking back to the book, “What do you call yourself?”

Just Book is fine, your highness.

“According to… Book, it seems they were caught in an explosion of magic wherever they were from and found themselves here,” the princess continued, “It appears that they also had some friends get caught in that same explosion, so its more than likely that they are here in our kingdom too. Yuumi wanted to ask for my help, but happened to encounter you instead, Blueblood. Which led to your earlier fiasco.”

“Pfft! You actually believe that!?” the unicorn looked back at his aunt, baffled that she would go as far as to believe them based on a few words inside the book, “If there were others, then where’s your proof-?!”

Before anyone in the room could register what was happening, what looked to be a glowing orb flew past the back of Blueblood’s head before redirecting itself and slamming across Blueblood’s face. The impact was enough to knock several of the prince’s teeth out as he was sent crashing into a supply closet. Yet, before Celestia could speak up, a small portal popped open from the floor as someone new emerged.

It was a bipedal creature that had a long mane that closely resembled that of Celestia and Luna, just with the colors of a setting sun. A strange necklace was around their neck along with several trinkets as they giggled a bit. “Man, there are so many weirdos here. This place is awesome!!”

“Zoe!!”

As the figure turned around, Yuumi pounced off of Book and landed in their arms. Which led to Zoe laughing in glee at the sight of the magical cat as well as her petting the cat, “Yuumi, you’re here too?! This is amazing!! Who’s a good kitty? Who’s a good kitty?!”

“Would… that happen to be one of them?” Luna now asked as she looked towards her sister, before noticing some more words being printed on Book’s pages.

Actually, yes, the words on the page formed, That is Zoe. If what I happen to know about her is correct, she’s the embodiment of mischief, imagination and change where we are from. Known by a few as The Aspect of Twilight and The Everchild. Many things that she is capable of are beyond understanding.

“Now doesn’t that sound awfully familiar,” Celestia thought to herself. The last few words reminded her of Discord and the many things that he could be able to do with his own magic. Yet, the only difference was that Zoe here appeared to be forever young while Discord would be around the same age as her and Luna.

Of course, what they did not expect was for Zoe to notice them as the Everchild let out a gasp and pointed at Luna’s mane, “Hey! Your hair flows just like mine!! Who are you guys?”

Now Luna decided to take a turn to answer for Celestia, “I am Princess Luna and this is my older sister, Princess Celestia. You must be Zoe, I assume?”

“Yupperoni!” She said, before letting out a gasp and diving through a portal that she created out of nowhere and then reappearing right next to Luna, “Your hair looks so pretty!! Can I pet it? Can I!? Pretty please?”

Now it was Celestia’s turn to try and hold in her laughter after seeing how Zoe was acting around her sister. Yuumi herself was enjoying it and even going as far as to encourage Zoe to go ahead and pet Luna, much to the night princess’ dismay. However, it wasn’t until the cat noticed Book’s pages shuffling a bit that she floated off for a second. “Oh, come on Book. We have time.”

“Is… something wrong?” Celestia asked, before looking at the open page for Book.

As I was trying to tell Yuumi, we should try to spend our time finding where our other companions are instead of messing around. We only met Zoe by chance, but I really doubt that we will find the others the same way.

It was as Celestia finished reading what was on the page that a knock was heard on the door to the throne room as they heard a voice speak outside, “Pardon me, your highness, but are you busy? I heard you talking with somepony on the other side of the door.”

Both sisters looked to one another for a moment, before Celestia looked back to the door. “No, we’re fine. You may come in.”

As the door opened, a light teal pegasus mare with orange eyes and a green mane. Luna recognized the mare, for she was with her when they originally brought Cozy Glow to Tartarus after what the filly tried to do at the School of Friendship. “Guardian Angel,” Luna addressed her by her name, “What brings you to our chambers this morning?”

“Ooh, Another cute pony!” Zoe gasped in joy, “Her helmet looks like Pantheons!!”

The pegasus took a moment to try and process what she just heard, before letting out a sigh. Despite her… numerous questions regarding the creatures that were in the Princess’ own chambers, the lieutenant had a job to do as she let out a small breath, “Your majesty, we received a report from the Sheriff of Appleloosa about a recent disturbance that happened in the area,” the guard used her wings to open a paper scroll that contained the report, “The locals were mentioning they spotted small biped creatures along the border of the town as well as them carrying weapons-”

Immediately, they heard Yuumi gasp as the cat realized what that meant, “Yordles!! My friends must be out there!!!”

“Yordles?” Luna asked, before turning to her sister, “Have you heard of them before, sister?”

“Unfortunately, I have not,” Celestia replied as she shook her head, “Though, if Yuumi happens to know who they are, then it would be best for us to assume that they might be here too,” with that though, she looked back towards Luna as an idea surfaced in her head. “If you would excuse me, there’s something I need to retrieve from my quarters that could help with this. I think I have an idea”

Look! Yordles!!

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On the edge of Appleloosa, two strange figures were on the outskirts of the apple orchard that bordered the town. They found themselves in this place under unknown circumstances and were trying their best in order to be able to survive. However, no one would say that it would be easy. Especially when each decision that they made was one that could possibly attract the wrong kind of attention.

“Are you really sure that this was a good idea?” the first one asked, “I mean… we’re in an unknown environment and all that did was draw unnecessary attention to ourselves.”

“Hey, you said yourself that the first thing that we should look for was food,” the second one spoke now as they began to pick up some of the fruit that was scattered on the ground, “Plus, it’s not like we can go in and ask for help. We don’t even know where we are.”

“Does that really justify firing your cannon at an apple tree, Tristana?” the first one addressed their companion by her name as they readjusted their grip on the hammer, “If you weren’t careful, the apples on the tree would’ve been blown to smithereens by now.”

“Well, that didn’t happen, Poppy,” the yordle gunner addressed her comrade, “Now come on, let’s grab this stuff and get going.”

The yordle with the hammer just let out a groan as she began to pick up the apples on the ground all around them. Ever since the two of them were caught in the middle of a blast wave from an exploding nexus with the rest of their team, both of the yordles found themselves in a place that was anything unlike that of Bandle City or anywhere else on Runeterra.

To make matters worse, they were separated from their comrades. They had already spent a majority of the day looking for their allies, but found no traces of them anywhere. With the concerns of nightfall approaching soon, the two yordles realized that they needed to find some resources to have on hand and make a makeshift camp to stay the night.

Originally, the idea was to find some wood to make a fire with. However, when the two of them realized that where they originally landed was a swamp with flaming geysers, they decided not to go with that as they sat by some trees and began to eat the fruit that they salvaged.

It was as they were having the apples that Tristana decided to ask a question, “Hey Poppy? Mind if I ask you something?”

“You kind of just did, you know,” Poppy told her as she broke off a couple of pieces and threw an apple core into a nearby geyser, “What is it?”

“You had been traveling around Runeterra for a long while now,” the gunner continued, “I barely see you around Bandle City anymore. Are you still trying to find that hero who would wield that hammer?”

“Yeah, I still am,” she replied, “Yet, any chance I think I found the right one, it doesn’t work out. Even Garen told me that it was too heavy and he swings that giant sword around like it’s nothing.”

“Have you ever considered that you are the hero it was looking for?”

“Pfft, me? The Hero? Nah, that’s ridiculous,” Poppy shrugged it off, “I’m just a yordle with a hammer. No big deal really.”

“Right...” the gunner remarked, before realizing one more thing, “Oh, um… random question, but have you come across any other yordles on your travels?”

“Some times, yeah. Why?”

“Remember the cat that was with us when we were last at Summoner’s Rift? Yuumi?” Tristana’s question was followed by a nod of the head from Poppy as she continued to speak, “Well, when I was in the bottom lane with her, she told me that she was looking for her master after she disappeared from her home in Bandle City one day. It’s a yordle that went by the name of Norra. Given what you said just now, I thought that maybe you might’ve met her at some point.”

Poppy scratched her chin for a moment, before looking back to Tristana and shaking her head, “No, I don’t recall meeting anyone like that. Sorry.”

“Drat,” Tristana sighed, before shrugging her shoulders, “Well, can’t blame me for trying,” though, as she placed her hand down on the ground, she found her hand touching the ground instead of grabbing hold of another apple. “Huh? I could’ve sworn that I had a few more here.”

“Something wrong?”

“Yeah, the apples that I had here are gone,” the gunner told her, before narrowing her eyes at the warrior, “Did you take them?”

“What-? No! Mine are right-” she said, before looking down to see that her apples were missing too, “-here.”

At this point, Tristana was beginning to feel more alert as she got up off the ground and grabbed her cannon. If Poppy didn’t take the apples that she had with her just now, then something was out here in this burning marsh that was taking everything. “Poppy… I don’t think we’re alone out here.”

“Now, what gave you that impression, little ones?” the two of them heard a newfound voice approach them as they saw the creature that it belonged to. One that had the body of a tiger, the flank and head of a goat and a snake for a tail. As they tried to make sense of what they were looking at, the tiger head began to speak “The smell of those apples were so tantalizing. Did you not think for a moment that it wouldn’t draw out any predators?”

“It would be foolish if you did think that way,” the goat head spoke next.

“Indeed it issssss,” the snake head hissed, “Yet, thesssssse ones don’t look so frail like those ponies that crosssssss through here. Maybe they will be tastier too.”

“Oh brilliant… we’re haven’t been here for less than a day and now something wants to eat us,” Tristana groaned internally as the beast approached them. Only for the tiger face to get struck by a shining buckler.

“If you think that we’re just going to sit here and let you devour us, then you better think again!” Poppy snapped as the buckler landed by her feet, a golden aura glowing around her.

“Hah! Like that little toy you threw could harm the likes of us!” the goat head declared.

“I barely even felt that hit me. Is that all you children got-?” the tiger head added on, while the serpent just hissed. It was at this point that Poppy just smirked, gripping onto her hammer tightly while Tristana prepared her cannon and aimed it towards their foe. At this point, the beast was beginning to realize that it made a crucial mistake.

Never call a yordle a child. “If you want us to hit harder, all you have to do is ask.”

“Thank you so much for coming on such short notice,” Sheriff Silverstar spoke as he let out a sigh and looked towards two pegasi that just arrived in Appleloosa. One of them was a mare that wore the armor from the Royal Guard while the second looked to be that of a pegasus who carried an odd book with her and wore an amulet around her neck, “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe I know your names.”

“I’m Lieutenant Guardian Angel,” the first one introduced herself, before turning towards the other, “This here is Light Breeze. We were asked to come down to assist you since most of the Royal Guard are doing a cleanup operation in Canterlot at the moment.”

Light Breeze just nodded as the sheriff let out a sigh, “In all honesty, I’m glad for any help I can get. I wanna find whoever’s been causing such a ruckus and hold them accountable.”

“Could you tell us a bit more about what’s been going on? The more information that we have, the easier it’ll be for us to get to the bottom of this.”

The sheriff nodded as he began to describe in detail about what had happened over the last few hours. Both of the mares listened and followed Silverstar as he brought the two of them over to a few ponies who got a glimpse of what had happened and heard them speak about what they saw. The sheriff went further and said that Chief Thunderhooves and the Buffalo didn’t happen to notice anything out of the ordinary either.

After listening to the townsfolk’s stories, the two pegasi were brought over to the apple orchard along the border of the town. At the orchard, one of the biggest apple trees looked to have been destroyed and the apples were gone. Whether they were destroyed or stolen was unknown, but Silverstar believed that the ones they were looking for were responsible for the disturbance.

As the sheriff left though, that was when Guardian looked back to Light Breeze, before letting out a sigh, “How are you holding up, your majesty?”

Light Breeze just let out a sigh, “I’m alright. It’s been some time since I last used this amulet, so it takes a bit of adjusting,” as she said that, the pegasus let the book she was holding drop on the ground, before it opened up as Yuumi finally emerged from it.

“Aw man… I felt like I was going to cough up a hairball if I had to stay there any longer,” the cat groaned, before looking back at Light Breeze, “Though, why you decided to wear this skin? Couldn’t you have just come here like how you normally look like?”

Light Breeze, or as both Yuumi and Guardian Angel knew as Princess Celestia, just let out a breath before looking to the cat, “It has come to my attention that my sister and I have… in a sense, gone overboard when it came to helping every creature as of late. So, I believed it would be easier if I took on this appearance instead,” as she said that, she tapped the amulet that she was wearing. It was an artifact that allowed for her to transform her appearance into that of a pegasus and something that was dangerous if it fell into the wrong hooves, “In addition, I had you hide in Book because the sight of you might make the townsfolk uneasy. Especially with what the sheriff had just told us.”

Yuumi let out a slow yawn, “Is that why Zoe’s staying behind too?”

Light Breeze nodded her head again. Given the circumstances, it would be much easier for them to get to the bottom of what was happening if Zoe stayed with Luna. Plus, she thought that Luna was more than capable of keeping her occupied for the time being.

“Sorry if I’m interrupting, but I think we need to get back on track. There’s no telling when the Sheriff will be back,” Guardian Angel spoke up now as she looked back at both of them, before pointing to the tree, “Yuumi, right? Does something like this seem familiar to you at all?”

The cat and the book turned around to look at the demolished tree, “Whoa! Book, you thinking what I’m thinking?”

The book just nodded, before facing both of the pegasi as some new words emerged on the pages, Indeed. This looks like Tristana’s handiwork.

“Tristana? Who’s that?”

She’s a yordle that’s in charge of the Bandle Gunners and guardian of the bandlewoods back where we are from. She was one of the team members that was with us before we ended up here and she’s known for carrying around her cannon with her.

“Wait, a cannon?” Guardian Angel interjected, “But those are some of the heaviest military equipment in the kingdom! How can she carry something like that?”

To be honest, I don’t question it. However, one thing that I do know is that an explosive shot from her weapon could be the only way something like this would happen. None of the other Yordles that we were with have weapons that could cause something like this.

That just prompted a new question from Light Breeze as she looked towards the book. “What exactly do they happen to have?”

The other two have more conventional means for weapons. The first one, Poppy, is a warrior that carries around a giant hammer with her. While-

BOOM!!

All of them, including Book, were caught off guard by the sudden noise that they heard. “What was that-?”

I believe that was an explosion.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Guardian Angel retorted sarcastically as she took in her surroundings, “But where did that even come from?”

At first, Light Breeze was unsure how to answer that question. Even with what they just heard, she didn’t notice anything that would seem out of the ordinary. Though, as she turned around, the pegasus then realized something. “Lieutenant… if I may ask, what’s the closest region that borders Appleloosa?”

“If I remember correctly, the Badlands were to the south and Flame Geyser Swamp was to the southwest,” Guardian replied, “Why?”

Light Breeze’s only response was pointing a hoof towards a pillar of smoke that began to rise in the air. Yet, that was only the beginning. Not far from the pillar of smoke, the royal guard notice that something was emerging from the swamp and could make out two small figures. One was carrying a cannon, the other was holding onto a hammer and both of them were trying to get as far away as possible.

“Yuumi… are those-?”

“Yordles!!” Yuumi proclaimed, before realizing what it was that they were doing as her ears dropped, “But… something’s wrong.”

“Wrong?” Light Breeze then asked, “What do you mean-?”

“What made you think that setting off an explosive charge on their face was a good idea, Tristana!?” the yordle with the hammer shouted, “All you did was make them mad!”

“Hey, we needed a chance to run and that was the only thing I could think of! Don’t blame me, Poppy-”

“Why is it that all of your good ideas involve blowing up something?!” Poppy retorted, “First it was an apple tree and now its the face of a monster that wants to-” she then stopped, before noticing who was nearby as the keeper of the hammer looked at the gunner, “Tristana, is that-?”

“Yuumi!?”

“Tristana!!” the cat replied, before she and Book immediately floated over to the Yordles, “Are you okay?! Here, let me help,” swiftly, she attached herself to the gunner as a pulse of magic went off, healing any injuries that Tristana might have obtained. “Who’s next-”

“Uh, I know this is a nice reunion,” Poppy pointed to the swamp, just as the monster that they were running from broke through the clearing, “But let me handle this first.”

“You fools think you can run from me?!”

“Oh no,” Guardian Angel gasped, realizing what the creature was, “It’s a chimera! We need to-”

“Wait,” Light Breeze motioned a hoof in front of the guard as she noticed something glowing from the hammer wielding yordle, “I have a feeling that we might not have to intervene.”

It was then that Poppy began to spin her hammer above her head as the golden colored glow began to grow in size as the beast charged at her. As it got closer and attempted to strike, Yuumi attached herself to Poppy and created a shield of magic to deflect the attack. Which provided the right opening for the Keeper of the Hammer as she slammed her hammer into the ground as a massive shockwave ripped through the ground. Then, a giant hammer burst forth from underneath as it sent the beast flying back into the Flame Geyser Swamp.

“AND DON’T YOU COME BACK!!!”

Both Light Breeze and Guardian Angel were stunned beyond belief. They just stared at Poppy as she stood triumphantly nearby her companions, before the cat that was with her pointed in their direction as the yordle turned around, before letting out a sigh.

“I… believe you might have some questions. If you want, we can try and answer them for you,” the yordle offered.

After subsequently launching the chimera that was chasing them back into the habit that it was from, Poppy and Tristana began to find out more about the ponies that were with Yuumi. They learned that it was not exactly the cat’s first time in Equestria, that Light Breeze was in fact Princess Celestia and that more recently, one of their other companions that was with them was in Canterlot right now with Princess Luna.

“For the time being, that is what we know,” Light Breeze explained, “Though, I think we should return to Canterlot before we discuss this any further. I understand that the two of you were trying to survive, but your actions could be considered as destruction of property and disturbing the peace. So, I believe it would be safer for you to come with us than have the sheriff find you.”

The yordle with the hammer looked back to both of her companions from Runeterra, before shrugging as she looked back to Light Breeze, “Sounds good to me. Lead the way, your majesty.”

“Um, Poppy? Shouldn’t we… I don’t know… be looking for-”

“I think he’ll be fine,” Poppy told the gunner, “Besides, he’s not entirely the type to attract attention to himself.”

Epilogue- Marching away

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Somewhere in Equestria...

“So wait, what’s the problem now?” Tirek then asked as he was with Chrysalis and Cozy Glow. All three of them were far away from Grogar’s lair as the changeling queen was holding the bewitching bell in her magical grasp. An ancient artifact that once belonged to Grogar and was said to hold a vast amount of magical power.

Yet, at the moment, things weren’t entirely going according to plan.

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to use this properly, but nothing I’ve done seems to be working,” Chrysalis replied back to the centaur.

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

“Cozy, it’s a bell. I don’t believe it works like that,” Tirek deadpanned.

“Sorry, I’m just trying to stay positive,” Cozy Glow sighed, before an idea began to surface inside of her head, “You know, Twilight Sparkle may be the worst, but she does know a few things. One time on a field trip, she mentioned that the Canterlot Archives had a restricted area.”

The mention of this soon sparked Tirek’s interest as he added on to the conversation, “If there was anything that Celestia and Luna wanted to keep hidden, it might be there. They always seem to have the answers for everything.”

“My triumphant return to Canterlot? I like the sound of that.”

“Road trip!”

Unfortunately for these three, they didn’t quite get too far.

“Uh, is it just me or did I just step on something?”

“I think you did, Tirek,” Cozy added, “Golly, it looks like you stepped on a mushroom.”

“A mushroom?” the changeling asked, “Who in their right mind would go as far as to plant mushrooms on the ground in the middle of nowhere?”

“There’s one under your hoof too, Chryssy.”

“What-?” the changeling queen looked down, before she noticed that she stepped on one. Seconds later, two sudden explosions went off with enough force to send the three of them flying back towards Grogar’s lair as they crashed through the ceiling.

As the smoke cleared, a yordle emerged from behind a fallen tree log as he looked around. “Huh… looks like something did hit my traps. Hope it just scared off whoever tripped them.” When they looked at the ground, the yordle noticed something that was laying there. It looked like a stone bell, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.

“Huh. That’s weird. Wonder why they were carrying this,” he said, before placing it in his backpack, “Oh well, better get back to finding the others.”

And with that, Captain Teemo was back on duty. “Hut, two, three, four… Hut, two, three, four… Hut, two, three, four…”