This warmth was strange, unfamiliar; especially here in the castle.

Ms.Prowl, the strange panther like creature who could walk upright on her hind legs, tossed and turned due to the morning ray's reaching across her bed and regrettably her face. She groaned in annoyance, and at first she had no idea what the cause of this strange warmth was; out here where the lady resided, the sun never showed its face; always masked behind the never-ending blizzard. It was only logical she'd be confused. Nonetheless she continued these actions for a little while longer, before finally opening her eyes somewhat to glance over towards her window; where she did indeed see the sun.

The panther woman just stared for sometime as if dumbfounded by the sight; she must've been dreaming. But no, these ray's were real, this warmth was real, this weather was real. The sun was actually out, which could only mean a few possible things. And as she laid in her bed thinking about it, her eyes snapped wide with realization as she bolted from beneath the blankets & sheets; and out of her quarters.

She made her way down the beautiful marble halls swiftly; her paws padding against the cold stone floor as she was unrelenting in getting to her destination. She had to get there, something wasn't right and she knew it! The weather was maintained by the lady herself, and her personality always ensured that the icecream mountains were a frozen wasteland. The only explanation for the sun being visible in this area left only a few unlikely possibilities. The lady was either away; which she wasn't told about, unlikely, she suddenly had a personality shift, or she was dead. As the thoughts streamed through her head; Ms.Prowl gritted her teeth angrily, picking up her pace as she continued to dash down the marble halls.

And upon arriving at the lady's quarters; she found herself stopping in her tracks, breathing heavily.

There was already somepony here waiting for her, and that somepony was none other than Mr.Talon, who just sighed heavily at the sight of her.

Ms.Prowl just looked at him for a second before clenching her fists and gritting her teeth angrily, seemingly infuriated as she made her way past him, shoving his shoulder as she did so and entering into the lady's quarters. "My Lady! Are you alr-" but she paused, noticing immediately upon entering the room Eve was nowhere to be found.

"She isn't here." Stated Mr.Talon plainly.

Ms.Prowl looked back at him with a wince, utterly annoyed by that smug demeanor he always seemed to have. "So where has she gone?! Aren't you supposed to be here to ensure she doesn't just run off?" She got in the dragon's face as her piercing gaze never left his eyes. "I swear Talon, if you did anything to cause this I'll-"

Mr.Talon cut her off. "She went out to take care of some things. She made it clear she wanted to be alone."

"Alone!? Are you insane!?" Ms.Prowl looked down at him, baffled by his idiotic response for a few seconds before she turned, "I'm going after her!" then making her way back down the halls angrily.

As Talon watched her stomp away, he couldn't help but sigh once again. He was a little disappointed by her behavior, but it was expected, and it needed to be done.

Suddenly appearing at the dragon's side was Mr.Sham, having camoflouged himself once again in the background scenery. "Are you sure that was very wise Mr.Talon? The lady said she didn't want to be followed." His large circular eyes fastened on the dragon curiously, his arm twitching a bit as he cocked his head to the left in a peculiar manner.

Mr.Talon didn't say anything for some time himself; but when he did he spoke in a sad manner. "She must see this; it's unfortunate, but like the others, Prowl doesn't seem to understand where I'm coming from just yet."

Mr.Sham cut in. "So you've seen it to I presume?"

Mr.Talon focused on the ground, and a slight shiver ran down his spine. "Yes; and we're running out of time."

Ms.Prowl made her way through the numerous trees; hopping from branch to branch flawlessly, making the insanely difficult task look easy. She was built for these types of things; and as she made her way through the forest it wasn't hard to notice the definition in her muscles tighten with each mighty leap. Yet even though she moved so hastily, her actions were almost impossibly silent. Although she was moving as quickly as she could, she still came off naturally unnoticeable; which was frightening to say the least, well for her enemies that is. She only continued, and thankfully this was the reason why she preferred such clothing, fit for comfortability as well as survival.

Her tanktop clung tight around her chest as her sturdy cargo pants and combat boots prevented her from running into minor annoyances that'd distract her from her task of finding the lady. Her long slender tail swayed and even assisted her with the task of grabbing onto branches; like a lemur in some sense. She gritted her teeth in frustration, squinting her eyes somewhat as she still couldn't seem to find any sign of Eve. She was an expert tracker; but the baby draconequus was on a whole different level, she'd heard rumors of their chaotic prowess but their powers seemed unimaginable. They could fly, summon almost anything at will, and manipulate the weather and landscape. They truly were creatures to fear. But even so Eve was still just a child; she wasn't prepared to take on the burdens of the world alone. She just had to find her!

Of course the ponies of equestria would deny Eve but things were different where she lived; creatures that were dangerous weren't treated with such spite and hopelessness. Where was she?! And why did this stinking forest have to be so unbelievably huge! All kinds of things lurked in here and it looked as if she were in a tropical rainforest. The sounds of crickets and other strange insects echoed all around her, and the sounds of bristling leaves and whistling winds only followed. The panther woman was slowly starting to lose resolve as she hopped from tree to tree; but in the midst of her worries, a voice actually emerged in the distance. And the voice was all too familiar.

A relieved smile creeped onto Ms.Prowl's face as she sighed. Thank goodness.... It was her, it was actually the lady; she really had come out here, but what was the business she had to attend to and why did she want to be alone?

Ms.Prowl made her way down from the next tree she'd landed on; trekking on the murky dirt beneath her boots as she made her way through the bushes and leaves. "My lady! Are you there?!"

The voice was faint, and she could barely distinguish the words as she only continued to draw closer and closer to the source.

"Twilight Sparkle, Momma, Princess Celestia, Trixie. All of them were so mean, calling me names, punishing me. I'm no disappointment, I...I did my best and all they can do is complain complain complain...I'm not bad! They're bad, why is momma so mean to me? I love momma, she used to be so nice to me. Momma is nice, but now she's mean. No no no, she just doesn't love me anymore. Twilight Sparkle tricked her. Hehe; they're all just confused. All of them....But I understand, I'm a good girl, I did as I was told."

Ms.Prowl went through a couple of more bushes worriedly; raising an arm over her head to shade her eyes and go through some leaves as she questioned once again curiously, "My lady what're you?-" But she paused, and her eyes snapped wide in horror as she came to a small circular pasture in the middle of the forest. W-What is this? What was-

Surrounding Eve were the corpses of a multitude of manticore. Their blood decorating the grassy field as their innards had been pulled from their bodies; their intestines strewn about the place like a ghastly gore fest. Their limbs had been torn apart piece by piece, and they were barely recognizable if not for the fact some of their severed heads laid about. The baby draconequus just stood there in the middle of this horrific scene, continuously whacking at one of the corpses with a sharp crystal spear she'd manifested. But that's not what frightened the panther the most.

It was the fact the baby draconequus was snickering as she did so. Grinning fiercely as the blood spatter decorated her facial features; and she happily played in the gore as if it were a child's sandbox.

Eve smiled happily as she looked down at some of the pieces she'd gathered. "Small Intestines, Lung, Esophagus, Trachea, Kidney, Spleen, Stomach, Heart! Hehe. Yay! Just like a pony."

Ms.Prowl turned around on impulse, hurling at the side of a tree as she placed her paw on a the trunk; blowing chunks. "Aheck!"

Eve raised a brow as she turned to regard the panther woman with surprise. "Ms.Prowl; You're here? Did you follow me?"

Ms.Prowl took a minute to regain her composure before looking back to the baby draconequus with a sickly expression. "M-My lady...I came out to see if you were okay...w-what...what is- what is this?"

Eve looked at her with innocent curiosity for a moment; blinking a bit before smiling once more. "Oh these kitties wanted to play with me. So I decided to play." She looked back down at the corpse, pecking at it with her spear. "Originally I was really angry with momma because she was so mean to me, but now I'm okay, these kitties made it better."

She paused. "I just don't understand Ms.Prowl..."

Eve then delicately poked at an exposed spleen as her expression sunk, and she seemed a bit confused. "Why does everypony have to betray me? You know; I did a lot of studying and I still don't understand why, I took books, so many books, but none of those books tell me. Ponies are mean to me I know, but ponies who aren't become mean to me later. It's like wherever I go bad things happen and there's no good explanation for why or how. And now I have to die because I was mean once, but they were mean all the time. I don't understand, I thought I did but the more I learn the more I start to wonder why; isn't that wrong? Isn't it supposed to be the opposite Ms.Prowl? Maybe I'm just as crazy as everypony says." The baby draconequus then stabbed at the spleen chuckling; as a black liquid substance poured from the exposed organ. "But I feel like I did everything right and am just told that I'm wrong. Maybe everypony else is just stupid. I could do anything for them, all they had to do was accept me, why couldn't they do that one simple thing? In the end, even momma betrayed me. Maybe I'm just-" And the baby draconequus stabbed at the intestines. "Bad luck!"

Ms.Prowl remained silent as she only continued to look at her precious lady become this unfamiliar sadist. Was she even aware of what she was doing, what she was saying? She sounded absolutely insane. But the panther woman wouldn't be able to dwell on her thoughts long as Eve cut in once again.

"You know Ms.Prowl, I've been thinking. It's not often I meet others like you, Mr.Talon, Mr.Sham, Ms.Tusk, and Mr.Komo, you're all so kind to me, so nice, if I didn't know any better I'd have to say you're all planning to betray me since the world never seems to change." The baby draconequus chuckled playfully as she used her telekinesis to rip the cecum from the body. "Hahahaha! Look at how much stuff there is inside, it's so weird! To think that all these things are so important for us to live. Life is so funny, my life is so insignificant and worthless yet these kitties had such insignificant lives to, it's hard to think that their lives could end so fast!"

Ms.Prowl took a few steps back nervously as she gulped. "M-My lady...let us return to the castle....it's dangerous out here."

Eve stopped her stabbing for a moment before looking to the panther woman confused. "Hm?...The Castle? Oh Ms.Prowl, there's nothing dangerous here yet. Twilight Sparkle still hasn't arrived to punish me! Twilight Sparkle always punishes me for doing bad things you know, so she needs to come and do it again. But when I talked to her yesterday she wasn't able to come; I guess she's late, maybe she's playing with her friends. She's so lucky, to have made such weird friends. Not saying that you all aren't my friends, but you all treat me really weird."

Ms.Prowl snapped at the draconequus on impulse; a shakiness in her voice. "M-My lady! Come this instant! You're not feeling well!"

Eve's eyes widened as her expression sunk dramatically and she winced at the panther woman. "Were you just mean to me Ms.Prowl?....I thought we were friends." She paused. "Friends aren't mean to each other." The baby draconequus dropped the crystal spear as she took a step closer to the Ms.Prowl; staring at her with cold eyes.

A shiver ran down Ms.Prowl's spine as she raised her paw at her waist, preparing to go for her combat knife in a second. "M-My lady...I didn't mean it like that." But as she saw the baby draconequus unfaltering in her approach, she cringed. She wasn't literally intending on killing her was she? S-She cared for the baby draconequus since she'd arrived here, of course Eve could see that. But she wasn't herself at the moment, no, her condition was worsening, becoming more severe. It was only obvious now, this was bad, extremely bad. But she didn't have time to worry about Eve's health more so than her own; if she didn't do something fast then she was going to end up no different from those manticore. Ms.Prowl trembled; what was she going to do? She couldn't bring herself to attack Eve; and even if she could, there was no guarantee she'd last long.

Eve only drew closer and closer.

Ms.Prowl's eyes widened as the baby draconequus slowly started to raise her bandaged arm. The one she never used. She was actually going to do this?! Just because she said one thing in a disrespectful manner?!

Eve then stuck her tongue out playfully as she grinned, chuckling wildly and pointing her paw at the panther woman. "Hahahaha! You should've seen your face Ms.Prowl; you looked so scared!"

Ms.Prowl's expression sunk as she fell to her knees; looking at the ground.

The baby draconequus spread her arms as she walked up to the panther and embraced her in a hug. "A lot of ponies were scared of me one time, Twilight Sparkle is scared of me; that's why she's preparing." She then eased her embrace, slowly backing away then making her way past Ms.Prowl, back through the trees in the direction of the castle.

Ms.Prowl trembled on the ground as she sighed with relief. A little shocked she was still alive. P-Preparing?.....

"What're you doing Twilight?" Asked Princess Celestia who sounded surprisingly disappointed with her student, based on her tone of voice. As Twilight stood before her bedroom chambers; holding up a map in her face. "Go back to Ponyville."

Twilight's brow was cocked as she looked quite baffled by Princess Celestia's reaction. She objected, raising a hoof. "What do you mean princess? Go back to Ponyville? This isn't the time to just run away and forget! I have an obligation to the citizens and the guard's who lost their lives in that attack as well. Please princess, I only want to ask you a few questions then I'll continue about on my way; I promise."

Princess Celestia fell silent for a moment as she recalled Eve's words.

Some meetings are only destined for heartbreak princess. Twilight Sparkle, she will bring an end to my story.

How come that child's insight at that moment was above her own, and how could she have seen Twilight's persistence in such a way? Princess Celestia looked back down towards her student; reaffirming her position. "Twilight, I told you that I would handle this. I don't want you getting involved in this matter, I realize that you're an alicorn now and your will is your own, but please, don't do this. There are many things you're not ready to know my dearest Twilight."

Twilight's eyes widened as her expression saddened and she seemed speechless. "P-Princess what're you saying?...Not ready for what? You have to give me a chance with this! I need you to trust me..." She practically pleaded before the mare of the sun. "Please!"

Princess Celestia fell silent once again, just looking down at her student before sighing heavily. "Come Twilight..."

The princess then made her way out of her bedroom chambers and down the long halls towards Princess Luna's quarters; alongside Twilight. The whole way there, the two didn't speak a word to one another, and there was a uneasy tension looming about all the way up to Princess Luna's chamber door. Princess Celestia raised a hoof followed by a heavy sigh; before knocking on the door.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

They waited for a brief moment, before one of the large chamber door's creaked open; revealing an exhausted Princess Luna, dark crescent shaped bags underlining her eyes as she wore a bedrobe.

The princess of the night patted her mouth followed by a lengthy yawn as she eyes the two figures tiredly, almost as if she didn't believe they were really there for a moment. After taking a few seconds to actually take in the fact they actually were here at this time in the morning, Princess Luna felt a little distressed; it was her turn to sleep, this wasn't fair. She spoke in an annoyed tone. "Why sister, Twilight Sparkle; what a pleasant surprise."

Princess Celestia chuckled softly before stating. "Humblest apologies dearest sister but, this is important."

Princess Luna stated right back at her. "So is my sleep."

Princess Celestia's expression then turned serious all of a sudden. "We require your aid dearest sister; please."

As Princess Luna read over that expression with ease, she sighed heavily, nodding in contempt. "Alright alright sister, please, just give me a minute to-" she yawned "To wake up."

"And you see kid! That's why you gotta pay attention, learn the ropes from the best of the best heh." Said a bat pony; adorned in ebon black armor. She had a crescent moon seal marked on her breastplate; a black coat with violet eyes, and a snow white mane with purple streaks acting as bangs. It was none other than the disguised changeling Silver Shade as she raised a hoof in her own confidence of her abilities and snickered. "I feel you've got potential, and you seem pretty loyal to the princess but you're young, new, fresh meat! Get it, got it, good?"

Listening to the rambling's of his superior was a younger pony; not a colt but still not completely of age. He was a stallion and his fur coat color was about the same shade as light brown sand, his eyes a beautiful light blue shade in similarity to the sky. His red mane was long enough to partially cover his face, revealing only one of his eyes at a time. His mane also had two different colored stripes in a pattern similar to Twilight Sparkle’s, and the two shades of color for the mane’s colored stripes were light-cyan and sapphire-blue. He almost seemed depressed to be standing there listening to these compliments of Silver Shade's and it wasn't hard to tell he had something else on his mind.

He was a new recruit; well not a recruit just yet, a hopeful recruit. He was a potential soldier in training, and after the recent attack on Canterlot was hoping maybe he could manage to find a place in the Canterlot Royal Guard. And more importantly beside his greatest joy. As he looked towards the lower right, he sighed heavily; not wanting to speak out against the bat pony. He wasn't particularly good at talking to mare's, let alone assertive ones. So he just kept his mouth shut as she spoke. But as he stood there; eventually something caught his eye, and this something was too important to ignore.

Trotting off in the distance was Princess Luna; alongside Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight.

W-What?! The young stallion was shocked; Princess Luna didn't tend to come out so early in the morning. Whatever it was it must've been quite important. And the stallion found himself speaking on impulse "P-Princess Luna!..." as he began to trot off in their direction.

"Yea so I think that you sho-....." Silver Shade stood there for a moment, dumbfounded as she couldn't really believe what she'd just seen. Did that subordinate really just trot off while she was speaking. "HEY! WHY YOU DUMB BR-" But the bat pony paused as she cocked a brow at the sight. The stallion was approaching Princess Luna, but that's not only what caught Silver Shade's eye; it was the fact she was with Twilight Sparkle as well. Interesting.... So the prodigious mare returned, but for what? Queen Chrysalis would most certainly be interested.

Seems like things were finally starting to pick up the pace again. How fun. The disguised bat pony smirked anxiously.