Chapter 5

“Blunt Force Trauma”

    Peaceful.

    The Everfree Forest was more than just quiet tonight, it was peaceful. Only the gentle buzzing of insects and occasional lazy hoot of an owl filled the air. The full moon that hung overhead bathed the forest in a serene silver light, which only added to the pervading sense of peace that seemed to wash over the land like a gentle stream.

    Even the monsters slept, and one leonine manticore yawned widely and stretched in place, bat-like wings flaring and scorpion tail trembling over its back. The beast shook out its thick mane, one green eye lazily scanning the clearing, but when it saw nothing of interest it curled back up in its nest of foliage. Light snores slipped cutely from between fanged lips as sleep reclaimed it.

    A shadow detached from a nearby tree, skulking past the lair of the creature and towards a nearby lake. The tall, pony-like figure glanced over its shoulder towards the beast and snorted in derision.

    “Awww, what’s the matter,” asked a voice that made the shadowy stallion jump. His head quickly scanned each way before looking down into the water, where his mismatched reflection glared back.

    “You are a persistent meal, Sunset Sparkle,” the dark alicorn grumbled, and began to skirt the edge of the lake towards the nearby river it fed into.

    His reflection trotted along quickly to keep pace, a white pegasus stallion with a multi-colored mane that watched the stallion with barely hidden contempt. “Yeah, you’re not so easily rid of me as all that,” he answered with a smirk.

    “Really now?” The dark stallion asked, raising an amused eyebrow.

    “Besides, it gives me an excuse to needle the great ‘Eclipse’ about how he still can’t figure out how to beat a handful of mares, one of whom who barely managed to defeat me, to get at the Princesses who continue to defy him,” the pegasus nickered, flicking his wings.

    Eclipse glowered at the reflection. “You are trying my patience.”

    “I have to do something with all this time on my hooves, don’t I?” the reflected stallion persisted, the faster and choppier water of the river interfering with his image, distorting it. “It’s not like you’ve got the first clue how to proceed, do you? You had a millennium to plan how to defeat one Princess. Then two generations, roughly, to defeat both of them. Both times you failed. Now, you’re reduced to wandering around the Everfree Forest while dodging moonbeams.”

    “I’m not wandering,” Eclipse stated, and delicately cantered about a clearing lit by the moon. “I sensed some stirrings of ancient magic on the air, which I only noticed now that I’ve become acclimated to the chaotic natural magic of this forest. I am tracking it back to its source.”

    The white reflection frowned. “So you’re looking for leverage,” he stated.

    “Your ‘gift’ is not enough, Sunset Sparkle,” the alicorn teased, and then laughed when the white pegasus threw himself against the surface of the water. “Haven’t you figured it out yet that you cannot break that barrier?”

    “Yeah yeah,” Sunset Sparkle answered peevishly, “it’s a representation of a psychic barrier, and reflections allow those who still possess the willpower to make themselves visible and known to the host. You’ve explained it several times in the dullest and most condescending manner possible.”

    “Then why do you persist in wasting your energy by throwing yourself against that barrier?”

    “Because if I can see, and talk, to you through it, there is a chance I might be able to marshal enough strength to break it,” he grumbled.

    “You do not have the appropriate type of strength to do that,” Eclipse stated dismissively, turning to downriver at a steady roar of a sound that reached his ears. He missed the thoughtful expression from his reflection.

    “Yes, this way I believe…” Eclipse muttered to himself, and followed the river further to where it edged against a deep ravine. He glanced down at the flowing water, now choppy and uneven, to see if his reflection had followed. He had not, the uneven water surface apparently too much interference for him to push through. It was no matter; Eclipse had little use for such distractions.

    Many forget that the Everfree Forest houses a ravine that runs much of the length of it, the final result of the magic battle between the Sister Princesses. It was into this gorge that the water fell in a truly impressive arc. Even in the moonlight, the spray occasionally formed a rainbow before vanishing into the depths. The magic he sensed was somewhere down there, in the darkness. He hesitated for a moment, stories of the many powerful and chaotic creatures rumored to make their home deep within flitted across his mind, sending an irrational spike of fear through him.

    Eclipse stomped a hoof and banished the cowardly thoughts from his mind, his great wings spreading as he let himself waft slowly downward on the air currents, the spray damping his coat. The magic was close, he could sense that he was nearly atop it, and he stayed near the thunderous waterfall as it plummeted into the darkness. His turquoise eyes grew brighter the darker the shadows deepened, allowing him to see clearly in the nearly pitch black depths of the gorge he glided down into. He circled once about the falling pillar of water, searching along the smoothed stone cliff for the source of the magic he felt.

    He was almost on top of it when he noticed the irregularity in the air, and he moved towards what seemed to be a well hidden cave entrance. With a pump of his wings he landed upon the edge of what he expected to be a narrow passage, no more than a crack in well worn stone. What he found was far larger than that, a wide entry with the sides scraped away in massive gouges, almost as if…

    “A dragon!” he hissed, struggling to keep his voice down. “This was carved out by a dragon!”

    Immediately her wrapped a defensive spell about himself and assumed mist form, rendering himself no more than a slash of night amidst the darkness. It was less magically conservative than he wished to be, but a mature dragon could easily rip him apart were he caught unaware, and if it were an ancient dragon, his (or her) magic could easily destroy him. There was a reason he made sure that the Dragons were the first species eradicated by the Imps; a single dragon could destroy an alicorn. The Sister Princesses had been on good terms with most dragons, and that had helped to keep their civilization safe from even the largest of predators. Hunting their solitary numbers down and eliminating them in their sleep with the absorption abilities the Imps had naturally, which was oddly effective and extremely deadly to dragons, was one of his greatest triumphs. To find a lair this well hidden would indicate an extremely powerful dragon indeed…

    His mist form crept forward steadily, and the magic he had sensed coalesced about him as he “looked”. The spells were woven so finely together that they resembled spiderwebs, each thread supporting the next, yet so well supported that you could cut a majority of those threads and the spells would still hold together. And what a spell, or series of spells, it was! An illusion to hide the passage, phantom sounds to scare off predators, darkness to hide everything from the senses, and of course the subtlety to hide the entire thing from even the most intense magical scrutiny. Only by feeling the passive background flow of magic in the forest could one ever notice the slightest whiff of this spell.

    A realization struck him like a splash of cold water to the face. This wasn’t the work of one dragon, but dozens working together. Dragons, the single most solitary species in the world, who generally only came together to mate and migrate, had somehow managed to work together to weave this incredibly complex spell in total secrecy. Why?

    Curiosity drove him forward, and his mist form slithered amongst the barren rocks that formed this dragon created entry. The cave passage angled downwards in a steady descent, changing directions suddenly and seemingly at random, before it finally ended at a massive natural cave. The heat within the cave was stifling, and he noticed the sulfuric haze filling the room indicative of a volcanic vent of some sort. But there was something else within the cave that drew Eclipse’s attention, causing him to abandon his mist form and rise to his full height.

    “Eggs,” he said in a voice that was filled with accusation and surprise, “the dragons hid a clutch… no, multiple clutches of eggs, right under my nose here in the Everfree Forest! Why haven’t they hatched? It’s warm enough….” His horn glowed, and he started to analyze the spell again, before a smile crept across his face.

    “Interesting, the eggs are in a sort of stasis,” he mused and strode amongst them, careful not to brush against any of them, lest he destroy or disturb the spell that was keeping them dormant. “They won’t hatch until a dragon alters or triggers the spell. But all the dragons have perished, so these little ones have continued to sleep in seclusion. They must have been mating like crazy to get all these fertilized eggs, there’s almost enough to repopulate Equestria with… dragons…”

    A dark smile washed over the alicorn’s face, and his horn began to glow. He would need to understand every facet and nuance of the spell.

    Eclipse now had a plan…

    “I’m sorry, Princess.”

    Celestia shook her head. “You have nothing to apologize for, Professor. I did not expect this to be an easy task for you.”

    “If it were easy, I imagine the Princess would have done it herself,” the zebra nearby pointed out. The sandy colored unicorn shook his head.

    “That’s not it,” Professor Relic answered simply, “I expected this to be difficult. But I expected at least to have a few leads, to be making progress somehow. I feel like I’m spinning in place, like a foal looking for his cutie-mark. I am just not finding any leads--”

    “Princess!” a sharp call from the door interrupted the sandy unicorn, and the three ponies turned to face the guard as he burst into the secluded library. “Princess, I apologize for disturbing you, but we have news on the liaison’s company to the gryphon lands.”

    Celestia looked pensive. “Judging by your excited tone, it is not good news.”

    “I… I apologize, Princess,” the guard answered, lowering his voice. “We have word that Lieutenant Commander Swan Dive has reached the border town of Flankfort, and is currently suffering from extreme exhaustion and muscle strain. Reports indicate she reached the guard on duty, stated she had an urgent message for you, and collapsed. She has not woken since, but the doctor from town has indicated that she is in stable condition.”

    “Can she be moved?” Celestia asked softly.

    “I believe so, Princess.”

    “Alert my sister to meet me in my study, my pupil as well. I would discuss with them what I plan to do before we move.”

    “Should I arrange for a chariot to retrieve the Lieutenant Commander?” the guard asked.

    “Yes. Send the fastest you can,” she commanded, “and if you cannot have her in Canterlot by noon, I or my sister will teleport there and deliver her personally.”

    “I’ll speak to the Commander, Princess,” he answered simply, “I will have the answer for you in minutes.”

    “Have the Commander report directly to my study; it will minimize all this galloping around.”

    The white stallion saluted with a wing and barked, “Yes, Princess!” With that he was out the door.

    “I apologize, Professor, I need to take my leave,” the Princess said with a delicate bow of her head towards the sandy unicorn and zebra.

    “Certainly, Princess,” the stallion answered with a bow of his own. “That sounds far more important than my non-report.”

    Celestia turned to leave, trotting out of the room with a quick gait that belied her own concern. Once the door closed behind her, the Professor let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

    “Well, she took that better than I expected…” he sighed, and then blinked at his zebra friend, who was staring intently into the four crystals that comprised part of the Elements of Justice. “Quagga? Are you alright?”

    “There was a reaction in the Elements,” the zebra stated, his gaze never wavering from them. “It was subtle, and I barely noticed it, but deep within each crystal there was a glint of light when the trooper entered and gave his report, and again when he saluted and left.”

    “What… what in the world?” Relic asked breathlessly, his brow furrowing as he scrambled over to his friend. “If it were one of them, it would have possibly told us that the guard was a potential element bearer, but to have all of them react?”

    “I do not know, my friend,” the zebra answered evenly, “perhaps chance has given us the clue your research could not.”

    “Yes, but… what does it mean?”

    “Ya’ll find it?”

    Clockwork smiled as she slid out of the barn, nudging the goggles resting on her brow that pushed her short unruly mane back and away from her face. “Eyup,” she answered smoothly, “I knew I’d brought them along.”

    Apple Bloom nodded and locked the barn again, then led Clockwork away from the red painted structure, the smell of fresh hay and apples filling the air about them. Bright sunshine of the early afternoon dappled the grass, while beyond the fence-line ponies both of Apple Bloom’s kin and hired on for the job worked steadily at planting this coming season’s crops.

    “I figger we’ll head on out to Scoot’s place an’ get what we can,” the elder mare said as she stepped around the white painted fence that signified the edge of farm’s land. “Antythin’ incriminatin’ is prolly long gone, but ya’ll never know.”

    “We have to start somewhere anyway,” Clockwork answered with a shrug, “and, no offense, but you aren’t quite as hi-tech as the rest of the Ponylands up here either. There’s a good chance that they missed something simply because they aren’t expecting somepony to be able to look for it, or even just ignorant it can be looked for.”

    “That there sounds like a-- uh oh,” Apple Bloom interrupted herself, and motioned forward with a hoof. Ahead of them, on the dirt “road” that linked the town to the farm and orchard, trotted a trio of ponies that the pair knew all too well. They consisted of a spindly stallion with a muted gray coat and a flat green mane that covered his eyes, a unicorn mare trying desperately to offset her pink coat and lavender mane with as much studded leather as she could possibly wear, and a large sea-green mare that bulged with muscles and possessed red eyes that all but gleamed with hatred and barely contained rage.

    “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Clockwork groaned, and covered her face with her foreleg, “those three shouldn’t even be on the streets after what happened last time!”

    “Oh, they were out pretty danged quick,” Bloom answered, frowning as the trio continued to trot their way, “Marmalade done made sure they got off with just a slap o’ th’ tail.”

    “So… you think Marmalade hired them again?”

    “Nah,” Bloom answered with a shake of her head, “I think they want revenge for gettin’ the best of ‘em last time.”

    “Well well,” the group’s leader growled as they approached, “lookie who’s back in town.”

    “Are we seriously dealing with a schoolyard gang?” Clockwork groaned. “Didn’t you three outgrow that phase?”

    “You cost us a payday, you tramp!” the leather clad unicorn shouted at them.

    “Yeah,” the stallion sneered, “Lily Pad and I had to suffer Bittercup’s whining all winter.”

    “I wasn’t whining,” the unicorn growled angrily, “if you want whining, I can show you whining!”

    “Knock it off, you two,” Lily Pad ordered the pair, before she turned to look at her intended victims. “See, this ain’t about gettin’ paid no more. We gotta reputation to maintain. We were paid to rough up some foals who wasn’ playin’ along, but you two didn’ get roughed up. That means more than losing bits, it means losing respect. Ponies start thinkin’ we can’t hold up our end of the contract, and that’s bad for business.”

    “Oh, so ya’ll are gangsters, that there makes it all better,” Apple Bloom spat. She never saw the skinny stallion move before he slammed into her, sending her tumbling back head over hooves.

    “Y’see, we don’ like to let on that we’ve got powers,” Lily Pad grinned darkly, ignoring Clockwork’s cry to the elder pony. “But I found out you two are specials… somethin’ the mare who hired us didn’ mention last time. So this time, we ain’t gonna hold back. You’re going into the hospital… or the grave, if you struggle too much.”

    Clockwork only half heard the large mare’s statements as she rushed to help Apple Bloom up, who was uninjured save for a growing bruise on her cheek. “I’m fine,” she protested, but glowered darkly at the trio over Clockwork’s shoulder.

    “Snakeskin,” Lily Pad growled. “Soften ‘em up a little bit.” The skinny stallion grinned toothily, and his figure blurred as he dashed forward at the pair.

    Clockwork pushed Apple Bloom away, knocking her back onto the grass just before the stallion plowed into her. The world spun as Clockwork tumbled head over hooves across the lawn, sprawled out in a most ungainly manner as she tried to recover her bearings. When she struggled to stand, Snakeskin plowed into her again, eliciting a cry as she went down hard.

    Clockwork stayed prone for a moment, trying not only to clear her head, but to come up with a way to outsmart this super-speeding stallion. It was then she noticed the sound, a hissing sound not unlike a snake. It was new… and as it got louder she rolled away from it. Snakeskin missed her by millimeters, but Clockwork now knew for sure where the sound was originating from.

    Unsteadily, the mare got to her hooves, but kept her eyes downcast. She didn’t bother trying to look for the stallion, instead her ears twitched as she listened for his approach. He made a long turn, hinting to her that he had to conserve momentum, before making another approach. Clockwork rolled to her side and thrust a hoof out at his churning legs. She was rewarded with a cry from the stallion as he went crashing into the ground, skidding along the green grass until he bumped to a halt against a nearby tree. Clockwork looked up and frowned at the gray stallion as he rose. His coat seemed darker, almost like the night sky… his face longer, leaner, almost…

    Her ears twitched and she sidestepped, barely avoiding him, but he was now trying to approach now from an odd angles. Unfortunately for him, Clockwork not only understood said angles, but the math behind them. A single hoof sent him sprawling once more onto the grass. Clockwork watched again as he lifted himself up, the light all but gone from his coat, his face lengthened into a bird-like hooked bill. Talons flashed and wings darkened the sky as he screeched a babble of non-sense words at her, which she promptly ignored. Then he was moving again…

    Clockwork squawked as the Imp’s next assault sent her tumbling across the carpet of grass, a bruise forming on her side from where it impacted her. She stayed down and rolled under the follow-up as she struggled to find an answer to its renewed onslaught. He was looping about in wide arcs to maintain his momentum, his speed growing with each pass. Clockwork smiled grimly when the idea struck her and rolled to her hooves, but made no attempt to dodge when he came at her. Instead, with nearly supernatural timing borne of precise calculations, she reared back and planted both fore-hooves right into his face. The collision sent her rolling over backwards until she hit the fence, her forelegs numb from the force of the impact. She shook the stars from her eyes, but smiled grimly when she spotted the imp, who lay unmoving on the grass some distance away, either out cold… or dead.

    Clockwork heard the high pitched whine as she struggled to her hooves, and hobbled behind a nearby tree as the blast of energy struck it. A beam Imp, she immediately concluded. She realized after a second blast there was only one of them; the final Imp was simply more muscular than its allies had been. She ducked back as another blast hit the tree, shaking some feeling back into her forelegs as she formulated a plan… then heard a screeching cry. A glance about the tree showed her that Apple Bloom hadn’t been so out of the fight as she thought, and while the imps had focused on Clockwork, Bloom had gone invisible and circled around. Now she was tackling the beam Imp in hoof to hoof combat, the elder mare’s specialty. That left one Imp still unchecked.

    Clockwork barely heard the whistling sound of an incoming claw before she dove aside, and the tree she’d taken shelter behind exploded in shower of splinters. Clockwork frowned, the strong one had chosen to target her, and she rolled to the side and scrambled to her hooves. The Imp roared and dove after, forcing Clockwork to circle about the newly created stump as she tried to get a few extra inches of maneuverability and breathing room. But the Imp refused to back off, screaming in a constant stream of nonsense pony words her mind refused to try and sort.

    Sometimes being smaller than the average pony has its advantages, and Clockwork chose to use that “advantage” as she dove between the crossbars of the fence-line. The Imp was momentarily trapped on the wood bars she proved too large to fit through, but its strength shattered the wood as easily as the tree before it. Still, it gave Clockwork a few extra steps of leeway. She couldn’t count on Apple Bloom to rescue her; she had to do this herself!

    For a moment she desperately wished she had her armour with her… wait! She had the goggles! She yanked them down over her eyes and snapped on the remote connection. The world was bathed in green as it powered up, and she continued to plow ahead as fast as she could, the babbling Imp nipping at her tail. She smiled when her sight cleared of the monotone color and flooded with information, mimicking the display readouts of her helmet. Targeting display, altimeter, condition, and more… everything she needed. Her imagination momentarily added the comforting weight of the Dragonfly armour as she slammed her hooves into the turf, skidding to a halt and facing the pursuing imp.

    The Imp roared in victory, even as the alerts and information poured across Clockwork’s vision. She reflexively ignored the ones she didn’t need, and found the exact approach vector information, complete with speed and force estimations. The khaki mare let out a grunt as she twisted her body under the approaching claw, rolling onto her back and kicking all four of her legs upwards and into the Imp’s elbow joint.

    Her ear flicked as she was rewarded with a loud “crack” that was followed shortly by a howl of pain. Immediately the imp clutched at its injured arm, but Clockwork wasn’t finished. She rolled back to her hooves and launched herself at the Imp, slamming her hooves into its chest and knocking it onto its back, where its wings would be useless. She didn’t give the Imp a chance to recover, and slammed her hooves into its face over and over again, watching with some satisfaction as its beak and face began to distort, blood opening from where her hooves cut its skin, bruises swelling where she’d slammed her hooves at its eyes or mouth. It was almost beginning to resemble a pony…

    “CLOCKWORK!!” shouted the voice in her ear, and a pair of forelegs grabbed her and yanked her back and off the imp. She flailed and struggled, sure it was another imp.

    “What th’ hell is wrong with you girl?!?” the voice cried again, and Clockwork belatedly recognized the accent, the voice… and she stopped flailing and began to relax.

    “Y-you’re okay,” she managed to stammer weakly to the mare who grabbed her.

    “I ain’t so sure you are,” Apple Bloom answered, her voice grim. Clockwork blinked owlishly over her shoulder. Certainly she could see the imps…

    Apple Bloom pointed at one of the “imps”, and Clockwork felt her bowels turn to ice. On the grass, only feet away from her, was Lily Pad. She clutched her broken fore-leg desperately, shuddering and whimpering from a combination of fear, pain, and shock, her face reduced to a barely recognizable mess.

    Clockwork looked down at her hooves, eyes wide with horror when she saw the blood on them.

    “I am strongly against this, Princess.”

    “So you’ve reminded us,” Luna pointed out, “every five steps.”

    The doctor, a startlingly pink earth-pony with a silvery mane, huffed at the Princess of the Night before turning to block their passage down the pristine white hospital corridor. Trixie frowned and shared a concerned look with her mentor, Celestia.

    “Doctor,” Celestia interceded, before he could renew his objection, “the mare has information that cannot be gained any other way, and it is possible that the lives of at least two others may rely on what news she carries. We must know what she has learned.”

    “Princess, despite what my contemporary to the north judged as stable condition, I can state with certainty that she nearly killed herself from exhaustion and dehydration. If my guess is correct, she had been flying constantly for at least a day and a half, if not longer. During this time she had not eaten, drank any water, or slept. It’s a bucking miracle she’s alive at all, given what she put herself through. Her condition may be stable, but she pushed herself to the brink of death, so unless you plan to ask her for the information in the Summerlands--”

    “Doctor,” Trixie cut in sharply, surprising the Princesses with her harsh tone, “you know not of what you speak. I would recommend you not continue that statement, lest your loose tongue digs a hole you cannot climb back out of.”

    “How dare you!” the doctor cried. “I’ll have you know--”

    “She dared because she’s my sister’s student,” Luna answered evenly, “and while I think she was more harsh than was necessary, she is not incorrect. The mare in question was sent to the Gryphon Lands with liaison Filigree, a friend of ours and bearer of the Element of Honesty, and another pegasus guard. Now Commander Fleethoof and the Liaison are missing, and the only clue as to why lies on your bed in a drugged dreamless sleep. Were it not for that last fact, I would have gone into her dreams myself and spoken to her there, but the dream state of a pony in a drugged stupor is inaccessible, even to me. It is not the healing sleep she needs, Doctor.”

    “Her body needs rest before she can do anything else,” he answered, running a hoof through his mane. “She’s hooked up to intravenous feeds to rehydrate and give her desperately needed nutrients on top of the severe exhaustion she is suffering from. Once her body has recovered we can worry about the ‘proper’ type of sleep she needs mentally.”

    “And all that will be for naught,” Celestia slid in smoothly, “unless we know exactly what message she is carrying.”

    The doctor looked pained for a moment, running his hoof through his mane yet again, pulling at it as he tried to find another reason to stall or turn away the Princesses and their mouthy little unicorn.

    “Doctor,” Trixie spoke, surprising the Doctor with her gentle tone, “we’re not asking for her to get up and dance around the room, we merely need to speak to her and find out what happened. This could save the lives of two others and, depending on what she has discovered, there may be repercussions far beyond that. Please, we need to speak to the Lieutenant --”

    “Lieutenant Commander,” Luna corrected.

    “Actually, I think a promotion Commander is in order,” Celestia said, “if for nothing else than in recognition for her efforts to deliver this information. Should her information be helpful, I will see about pulling a few strings; I could always use a good courier for sensitive and official mail.”

    “Regardless,” Trixie pushed on, a hint of irritation touching her voice, “it is imperative we know what she learned.”

    “It’s not just about her body moving, it’s about the rest of her as well,” the stallion argued. “It’s about keeping her heart rate down, which won’t happen if she becomes emotional or excited in any way. We need to keep her calm, relaxed, and as passive as possible so that her body may recover. She strained so many muscles it will be weeks before she’s walking again, and another month before she’ll be able to fly any distance without pain. In short, Princess, her body can’t handle the strain.”

    “Then, Doctor, it is a good thing you will be there with us,” Luna stated in her most reasonable tone. “I would recommend that you keep a tranquilizer handy if she gets too over-emotional, and drop her back to sleep if she begins to tax herself.”

    The Doctor chewed on his lip and ran a hoof through his mane one last time before bowing his head in defeat. “Alright,” he sighed, “but if her heart rate even thinks about climbing, I’m tranquilizing her and sending her straight back into la-la land!”

    “We understand, Doctor,” Celestia answered softly, and the trio of mares fell in behind the brightly colored doctor. Nurses and doctors stopped to bow as the Sister Princesses passed on their way, but Celestia was oblivious to them, lost within her own thoughts and concerns. Luna, instead, acknowledged them so they could continue on their duties. Word spread like wildfire through the hospital about the Princesses’ visit, and any patient who was mobile and every doctor or nurse not otherwise occupied followed along the door lined hallway like a morbid parade. Much whispering about the purpose of the visit was made, but almost all focused around the guarded room the procession approached, and who or what might lie within it.

    The guard outside the door snapped to attention and quickly offered a salute with his hoof, a dusky gray stallion representing the Royal Guard’s ground force. Celestia nodded to him, and the trio followed the doctor through a large wooden door and into the dim hospital room. Trixie closed the door behind them as the Doctor raised the light just enough to see by via a slider switch near the door. He then made his way to the side of the prostrate mare on the bed, patting her shoulder apologetically through the starched sheet. The blue mane of the unconscious pony spilled out over the pillow like a pool of water, and her coat looked listless and gray under the dim light. The doctor used a hoof to check the temperature of her brow, inspected the machine that kept track of her heart-rate and blood pressure, before finally taking a needle and injecting the medicine into the line of her intravenous drip.

    The first change took several minutes to occur, and the machine beeping nearby began to track the increase in her heart rate, earning a dark look from the Doctor. He looked sharply at the Princesses once more before moving to unconscious mare’s bedside. Moments later her bleary eyes fluttered, and then finally opened, taking several moments to focus on the garishly colored pony hovering above her.

    “P-princess…” the mare croaked before the doctor could even speak, “H-have to… report…”

    “I am here, my little pony,” Celestia said in a gentle voice, moving to stand opposite the doctor at the bedside. “You made it to Flankfort before collapsing, Princess Luna teleported you directly to the hospital here in Canterlot. You’ve been unconscious the entire time.”

    “H-how… long?”

    “Early afternoon of the following day,” Celestia answered smoothly. “You have my ear, Lieutenant Commander Swan Dive; please tell me what you know.”

    “It… it was a trap,” she answered weakly, licking her lips, “T-the…  King Goldtalon set her…  Filigree up.”

    Celestia frowned deeply, but it was Luna who asked, “Goldtalon? He was second in line, after Goldshrike, wasn’t he? And what happened to King Goldbeak and Princess Goldshrike?”

    “Not important right now,” Celestia answered quickly, and returned her attention to the mare on the bed, “Filigree was captured then?”

    The mare nodded so shallowly it was almost missed. “She… couldn’t… Goldtalon was going to… torture her family if she… she couldn’t abandon them….”

    Celestia nodded to her sister, who answered with a relieved looking smile, before turning back to the mare, “You’ve done well. You need your rest --“

    “The… gryphons are… preparing for war,” the mare interrupted, but the stunned silence that followed made her every word clear as a bell. “They were… equipped specifically to… fight ponies. King… King Goldtalon said… we are the enemy. He… isn’t interested in negotiation and… he’s far better equipped than… than he should be.”

    There was a very long pause as nopony seemed able to respond to those words, only the beeping of the heart monitor and the mare’s rasping breath filled the room for several long minutes. “What happened to Commander Fleethoof?” Celestia asked softly. The heart monitor immediately began to spike and flutter, telling the Princess what she needed to know.

    “He… he gave his life to… to stop a gryphon patrol…” she managed, her teeth clenching as tears filled her eyes. The Doctor immediately shot a worried look to the Princess, who answered with a quick nod. “He… said one of us… had to survive… to warn you…” she choked off with a sob, and the doctor stabbed the injector into the intravenous drip, emptying the tranquilizer into her system. “I… had to… survive… to… make his sacrifice… worth… while…” she managed to finish before the drug took hold and dragged her back under for the sleep she desperately needed.

    The room once again fell into complete silence as the foursome looked at the incapacitated mare on the bed. Then, with the suddenness of breaking glass, Celestia turned sharply. “Luna, Trixie, you’re with me,” she ordered, her hoofsteps already sounding on the tiled floor as she trotted for the door. “Thank you for your time, Doctor, this may save a lot of lives. Please be sure that she gets your finest care, and notify me the moment she is healthy enough to talk at length about what happened. Also, do be sure that not a word of what was said leaves this room.”

    “Y-yes Princess,” the stallion stammered as the mares left. The door closed with finality behind them, leaving the brightly colored doctor to shudder at what he had heard.

    “Ya’ll alright in there?”

    Apple Bloom already knew the answer was a resounding “no”, but the small khaki mare had been denying that there was a problem. Clockwork had spent the last twenty minutes in the bathroom trying to scrub off bloodstains only she could see, along with the flesh of her forelegs and hooves it seemed to the elder mare. Of course when Apple Bloom looked in on her, she was casually drying her hooves on a floral print towel and doing her best to look nonchalant.

    “Sure… sure thing. I’m fine!” Clockwork answered in a brittle voice.

    “Ya’ll gonna tell me what happened?” Apple Bloom tried again.

    Clockwork ignored the question as she moved past Apple Bloom and into the living room. The elder mare had repeated that question four times… that she remembered, since the “fight”. Once on the road before the sheriff arrived, once on the road after the sheriff left, once when they arrived at Scootaloo’s home, and a fourth time here in the pegasi’s home (thankfully on the ground) as they recovered from the incident. Instead of answering, Clockwork snapped her goggles on, not entirely trusting her own sight after what happened, and did a quick tour of the home.

    It was a lovely home, obviously custom built, with more bedrooms than Clockwork had ever seen crammed into one two story home. Many of those bedrooms stood as guest rooms now, with one turned into a study, all richly decorated in warm earth tones with occasional glimpses of blue and white. There was an odd sort of game of “find the rainbow” in each room as well. Her goggles found each one within seconds, but they were in a different place in every room, making Clockwork wonder purpose they served.

    The living room and foyer were both welcoming and comfortable, obviously designed for a great number of ponies to sit and talk. Couches and chairs were set in a loose circle, at the head of which a large stuffed chair that sat near a curio cabinet, where rested a collection of memorabilia from the Wonderbolts and Lady Rainbow Dash. It was sad, in a way, to see the photograph of a very young looking Rainbow Dash smiling from one of the photos, with a signature and some writing. The goggles translated the chicken-scratch writing almost immediately as “Don’t worry squirt, I promise we’ll get you to flying next summer!” There was no date on it. Clockwork turned away…

    …and found herself face to face with an unhappy looking Apple Bloom. The bruise on her cheek was covered by a small bag of ice from Scootaloo’s freezer to hold the swelling down. “Ya’ll almost killed that filly, Clockwork! Sure, she bucking deserved to get her flank thumped hard, but you... you… you ain’t gonna to tell me, are ya’?” she asked, her voice was as tight as a piano string.

    “I’m not sure what happened,” Clockwork answered softly and looked away. Something about Apple Bloom’s gaze made her uncomfortable.

    Apple Bloom made a sound halfway between a sigh and a grunt and looked away herself. It was several moments before she spoke again, “The Sheriff said we’re in th’ clear. Enough of mah cousins were in th’ field to see ‘em throw the first hoof. But he ain’t gonna arrest ‘em after gettin’ beat that bad.”

    “They won’t bother us again,” Clockwork said with certainty.

    “No, they won’t,” Apple Bloom agreed, and looked and the khaki mare’s now clean hooves. “But--”

    “I started seeing them as imps,” Clockwork interrupted, and pushed the goggles up. Her eyes were bloodshot, as if she were on the verge of tears as she spoke, “All I could see was the enemy. When they attacked us, they ceased being ponies. I couldn’t even understand what they were saying, it was just a jumble of meaningless words and… and…”

    Clockwork shuddered as the elder mare’s forelegs wrapped about her, holding her closely for several long moments. Apple Bloom expected the small mare to crack, to sob, to cry… but she did none of those things. Instead she shuddered once more and pulled the goggles back down over her eyes.

    “We should get to work.”

    Apple Bloom watched as the smaller mare made her way into the kitchen, her head swaying side to side to make up for the loss of peripheral vision. For the first time, Apple Bloom wondered if maybe asking the Princess to send Clockwork Key was a mistake…

    “You’re not supposed to be up!”

    Filigree smirked at her sister. “Oh hush,” she growled playfully at the smaller gryphoness, “I’m not so helpless that I can’t preen my wings.”

    Verdigris blinked widely, “But, with as hurt as you were and…”

    “They used magic to heal the worst of the injuries,” Filigree stated simply, “and most specials heal more quickly than normal. Even then, I’m not the sort to sit around waiting to feel better. No, I’m waiting, but not for that.”

    “W-waiting for what?”

    “Rescue, little one, rescue,” she sighed softly. “No matter what happens, I have friends who will come for me. I have to believe that. I have to believe they won’t abandon me.”

    Verdigris seemed about to say something further, but all that came from her was a squeak as she quickly pushed herself to Filigree’s side, hiding behind her. The larger gryphon’s expression darkened as she turned her head to regard the doorway, and the pair of gryphons that entered through it. She knew both of them, but only one did she expect to see here.

    “You are a marvel,” King Goldtalon offered with a broad smile, “only two days after one of the most dramatic beatings I have ever personally witnessed, and you’re already up on your claws, if a bit unsteadily.”

    Filigree’s blue eyes looked past the king and to the white gryphon by his side. “Hello, Alto.”

    “Hello, Filigree,” the white gryphon said with a thin smile, his yellow eyes looking back with a mix of concern and apprehension. “I’ll admit this wasn’t the most ideal of methods to…”

    “Oh no, you don’t get to squawk like a fledgling now!” the king laughed, earning a sour look from Alto. “You were losing the battle for your chosen mate, and allied with her family! Well, technically Duke Silverwing and his son, since they held her leash last.”

    Filigree frowned, and looked to Alto again, “You expect this to change my mind?”

    “I said it wasn’t ideal,” Alto answered, then puffed his chest out a bit, “but I was not about to lose you to my brother!”

    Filigree frowned but didn’t answer, instead turning her attention to the King. “I can see what he gets out of this, but what do you get out of it?”

    “Isn’t that obvious?” King Goldtalon smiled before continuing, “Information. Maps, fort locations, approximate troop sizes, even anticipated resistance points and preferred armaments. Plus, as a naturalized ‘pony’, he can slip in and out of pony territory to scout out defenses and suitable targets once we begin our invasion.”

    “The Gryphon Clans are still heavily outnumbered,” Filigree pointed out, “and you would still have to contend with the Princesses themselves.”

    “The Princesses will not enter into battle, no pampered and spoiled pony royalty would dare scuff their hooves in a real fight,” Goldtalon scoffed.

    “I have witnessed both in battle,” she stated simply, “and their power individually is far more than any special… sorry, any cursed could handle.”

    “Oh dear, whatever shall I do?” the king mocked, and Alto looked startled at the king. Filigree watched on keenly. “I suppose we’ll just have to give up! Oh wait… I have ‘Godkiller’ on my side…”

    “Godkiller?” Alto asked, “What in the world is--”

    “It’s a special,” Filigree answered.

    “Your talents were so wasted on that idiot son of the duke’s,” the King chortled. “You are correct; ‘Godkiller’ is a very special accursed gryphon. She is completely immune to any and all magic. We have even tested her with ancient artifacts ensorcelled by the Princess in ages past for my ancestors, and beyond, and found her abilities completely capable and viable against the very magic of the Goddesses! In fact, the only magic we believe she can be affected by is the Elements of Harmony.”

    “Thus, you did everything you could to remove that ‘weapon’ from play. Even if your secret weapon were as capable as you say,” Filigree noted, “how would you get her past the few hundred non-magical ponies who will defend the Sister Princesses… not to mention those specials who, like me, would stand against you?”

    “I have an army prepared to handle that obstacle,” he noted with a broad smile. “Now then, enough stalling, I have a pronouncement to make.”

    Filigree frowned sourly. “You are promising me to Alto.”

    “That’s the plan,” he grinned, “the price for his acquiescence was your promise. Since he was unable to acquire the promise from parents who refused to acknowledge your existence, he came to the Duke, and in turn came to me when the Duke was unable to help.”

    “While it hardly absolves him of guilt, knowing that he followed tradition softens the blow…”

    Alto puffed his feathers, “I hoped you would see it my way.”

    “…much in the same way a kick is softened by the presence of a boot,” Filigree concluded coolly. Alto’s face dropped and the King laughed.

    Goldtalon’s laughter died on his beak when his gaze lit upon Verdigris, who in turn squeaked and pressed herself tighter to Filigree’s side. The elder sister curled a wing protectively about her as she regarded the king evenly. The king’s dark expression and cold glare seemed to lower the temperature of the room by several degrees.

    “Oh, I suppose you can keep her,” he said finally, dismissing the tension suddenly, “assuming that you don’t give us any trouble. She’ll be good leverage if you act up. Anyway, it’s a day late but, Filigree? You’re promised to Alto now. Good? Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got things to do, places to be, and invasions to plan.” He waved a claw at the air and strutted from the room as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

    Alto looked uneasily at his “promised” and cleared his throat. “Well, I’ll have to plan the ceremony. I hope you don’t mind a simple one, I don’t exactly have a lot of bits…”

    “Losing to your brother meant that much to you?” Filigree asked softly.

    “He’s always won!” the white gryphon shouted, startling Verdigris into burrowing further under her sister’s wing. Alto surged forward until he was beak to beak with Filigree, her expression remaining neutral even as his contorted with rage. “He always got the best! He was always the ‘perfect’ son! He was always the favorite! He was always the better hunter, the more handsome one, the easiest to get along with… the best at everything!!”

    “So that gives you the right to take my freedom?”

    He stopped cold at the statement. It wasn’t an accusation or incrimination, it was a simple question spoken so evenly that it threw the gryphon. For a moment his beak worked, his amber eyes staring into her unreadable blue ones. Finally he just shut his beak and turned away.

    “In two days it will be official,” he said over his shoulder in an oddly flat voice, “then it won’t matter anymore.”

    Filigree’s eyes never left his retreating form until it was gone from sight. Only when the white gryphon was gone from sight did the little gryphon relax and poke her head out from under the wing. Filigree silently braced herself, expecting a deluge of curious little questions about what she had just heard. Instead, she got the one question she hadn’t anticipated…

    “What’s a boot?”

    “Sorry I’m late, Princess.”

    “Take your position, Rainbow Star,” Luna answered smoothly and looked to the ponies assembled about her in the dimly lit meeting room. Two of the seats were empty, and Luna’s eyes lingered over the place that belonged to Filigree, the Element of Honesty, and the orange wings engraved on the dark wooden table just before the orange colored cushion. Only one other cushion remained empty, a green one resting right before an engraving of an emerald winder key, reserved for the element of Loyalty, Clockwork Key. The rest of the places were filled around the large table.

    Luna looked briefly to each pony, letting her eyes wander over the team that had saved Equestria from the terror that was The Nightmare. Celestia sat directly to her right, and beyond her sat Flourish, the Element of Laughter, a grey unicorn with a pink and lavender swirled mane who lounged on her red cushion before the ruby engraving of a rapier. Next was the open place for Filigree, known also as Steelwing. Rainbow Star slipped into the space between the two empty seats, the white pegasus with a rainbow hued mane known additionally as Spectrum or the “Element of Kindness”, and she settled on a yellow cushion before an amber engraving of a five-pointed star. On Spectrum’s other side was the spot for Clockwork Key, known also as Dragonfly. Beyond the gap sat the cyan unicorn known as Tome, Trixie to her closest friends and the Element of Generosity, who rested comfortably on a blue cushion before a sapphire engraving of a star tipped magic wand. Trixie was trying not to look apprehensive, but frequent and furtive glances to the empty spot to her left belied her feelings. By Trixie’s side sat Galaxi, the Element of Magic, who watched the room with her empty, blind eyes. She was a white earth pony with a sea-green mane, and she rested on a purple cushion before an amethyst engraving of an oddly shaped six-pointed star, and shared concerned looks with the mare beside her frequently. Finally, completing the circuit about the table, sat the only stallion in the group upon a large pillow, the large gray pony with an ever-present smile known as Skillet.

    “Good, everypony is present that can be,” Luna said, her voice filling the room. “We have a crisis on our hooves. It seems that over the winter, King Goldbeak passed away and was replaced by his ambitious and war-like son, Goldtalon. As you all know, Filigree was sent two days ago to the Aerie of her home Clan in a final attempt to negotiate peace with the gryphon clans. This has fallen through. One of her escorts barely made it to the town of Flankfort, and nearly died from exhaustion.

    “We were able to interview the pony in question and get a basic report of what has happened. Filigree has been taken prisoner, and the gryphon clans are preparing for war… against us.”

    Murmurs rolled around the table, and even Flourish sat up and took notice, her brow furrowing. Luna pressed onward, raising her voice only slightly to quiet them, “We spent the better part of this afternoon independently verifying reports that the clans had begun to distribute new armor and weapons amongst their soldier and elite classes. These weapons seem specifically designed to counter any advantage a pegasus might have in combat, and the armor is designed to withstand heavy blows. What source these weapons and arms have, we do not yet know. Our seers are doing their best, but are running into a great deal of interference, which perhaps indicates that the gryphons have strengthened their mystic and mage castes.

    “My sister and I believe that this capture of Filigree was to intentionally deprive us of the Elements of Harmony as a potential weapon. This indicates a basic misunderstanding of the Element’s capabilities, but it may be useful as a method of creating a stalemate and preventing an all out war if they believe we have the Elements of Harmony prepared to counter an invasion.”

    “Question,” Flourish spoke up, and continued before Luna acknowledged her, “isn’t that exactly what the Elements are? I mean, we used ‘em to blast the heck out of The Nightmare… twice!”

    “No,” Celestia answered for her sister, “they are not. First and foremost, the Elements of Harmony are a defensive magic, and cannot be used in any offensive manner. Further, the Elements of harmony focus on the emotions of the individual targeted. The Elements are for purification, not elimination. They attempt to purify or neutralize threats, stripping away harmful spells or possession of their mind, but unless their nature is directly opposed to what the Elements represent they are not destroyed. My sister was the target of the Elements twice, yet she still stands here today.”

    “However, maintaining the illusion that it is a weapon will help keep the peace in the short term,” Luna said, before resuming a more commanding tone. “This said, we must mount a rescue of Filigree, and deliver her back to us. I would like to send two of you in as a covert mission to try and extract Filigree with a minimum of fuss, if possible. You will have full discretion to act, but withdraw if you cannot accomplish your mission. We will attempt a new approach if this fails, and in all likelihood it will entail recalling Clockwork and sending your entire team with a few wings of pegasi in a show of force.”

    “I volunteer,” Spectrum called, jumping to her hooves.

    “Noted,” Luna said simply, and waited until the pegasus sat down before continuing. “There will be a secondary objective while in the Gryphon lands. Reconnaissance and scouting of enemy positions and forces will be imperative in order to plan where to fortify and what towns might be in immediate danger. Find out what you can, disrupt what you are able, and come back in one piece. Do not overextend yourselves, your safety is top priority.

    “Spectrum has already volunteered, but I would ask for another to join her.”

    “I’m in,” Flourish answered, lazily raising a hoof. “As much as I love hanging out in Canterlot, I could really use some excitement, and stealth missions are just my cup of tea.”

    “Very well,” Luna answered with a nod, “Prepare for departure in one hour. You will be using the cover of twilight. I cannot alter the phase of the moon, but I can adjust its trajectory to provide you as much cover as possible. Still, be prepared for anything. Skillet? You have a long night ahead of you; you’ll be coordinating and keeping them in contact with us here.”

    “I expected as much, Princess,” the burly stallion answered. “I will warm gear up, ya?”

    “The rest of you are dismissed until further notice,” Luna commanded, “but everypony is on call and may be summoned at any hour.”

    “Does that include me, little sister?” Celestia asked, feigning shock.

    “You especially,” Luna teased, “who else is going to make my tea?”

    “Any luck?”

    “Not yet,” Clockwork answered, slowly panning her vision over yet another corner of the kitchen. The room was fastidiously clean, or would have been had it not been the scene of Scootaloo’s sudden emergency. The usually pristine tiled floor was muddied by a multitude of hoofprints, most of them belonging to the early medical response. Clockwork was completely certain that other hoofprints belonged to the sheriff and his assistants, as well as the tell-tale fashion shoe prints that belonged to Marmalade. To Clockwork, it was starting to look like everypony in town had come through this kitchen since the incident.

    “I’m startin’ ta think ya’ll are wastin’ yer time,” Apple Bloom said, “there don’t seem to be nuthin’ here. I’m sorry fer draggin’ yer tail all this way for a wild goose chase…”

    “Apple Bloom,” Clockwork interjected, “you’re putting the cart before the pony. I warned you hours ago that this was a time consuming process, but I am slowly eliminating possibilities. For instance, we can be sure it wasn’t Marmalade who did this, or her hoof-prints wouldn’t be everywhere here.”

    “How c’n you say that?”

    “Simple, she had those fancy fashion-plate shoes on when she visited. I can see the H.T. initials in the imprint. If she was sneaking in for any reason, she wouldn’t have worn such easily identifiable shoes, which even the sheriff could have seen even without my sensors,” Clockwork answered.

    “Durn, here I was hopin’ we’d have th’ goods ta hang her,” Apple Bloom grumbled.

    “She’s smarter than that,” Clockwork answered, “but we also only have a day or two worth of data. Unless I miss my guess, Scootaloo ran a mop over the tiles a day or so before she had her attack. I can see some older imprints, but they’re so smeared that I can’t make out more than that.” Clockwork sighed and stretched her back a little.

    “So, it’s a wash?”

    “Not yet, but I’m just not getting any data… from…” Clockwork trailed off. Her goggles didn’t note anything wrong, but her eyes saw it. She pushed the goggles up to her forehead and peered at the cabinet across from her, the door for it just slightly ajar.

    “Clockwork?” the elder mare asked, watching as the smaller pony picked her way across the kitchen like she was in a trance. Her gaze was locked on a cabinet, which she reached up a hoof and nudged lightly. “Ya’ll okay there?”

    Clockwork didn’t answer. Instead she bumped the door closed, only to have it fall oven by about half an inch, the catch inside either too worn, or too broken, to hold the door shut. “How long has this been broken?” she asked suddenly.

    “Ah… what?” Apple Bloom responded intelligently.

    Clockwork nudged the cabinet door open and set her hooves on the counter below. She paused for a moment, casting about for… something. Finally she grabbed one of the kitchen chairs and pushed it under the cabinet, climbed onto it, and then onto the counter, where she could lean close enough to examine the catch for the cabinet. “This is broken. Do you know how long it was broken?”

    “Ah’m sorry Sugah, I don’t rightly keep track ‘o such things,” Apple Bloom answered. “Why? Is it really all that important?”

    “This was intentionally adjusted not to latch properly,” Clockwork answered, leaning her face so close to the catch it looked as if her head were lost inside the cabinet. “A simple turn of the screw loosened the catch enough that it wouldn’t hold the door shut. There’s no wear on any of the parts. If I had my tools here, I could fix it …” Clockwork suddenly yanked the goggles back over her eyes and began to tap the side of the goggles, her eyes squinting at the various readouts. Finally she seemed to get what she wanted. “There’s scratch marks, recent by the looks of them, on this screw…”

    “Wait, why go through all ‘o that trouble ta just make a cabinet door loose?” Apple Bloom asked reasonably, “I mean, what good is getting in there with all her glasses and… teacups.”

    Clockwork and Apple Bloom shot each other a look across the room and the elder pony dashed over to the sink, immediately rooting about the still soiled dishes with her hooves. The sink was half filled with soapy water that dripped off the offending teacup as it was lifted.

    Clockwork frowned. “Somepony cleaned up after themselves,” she noted softly, and turned to face the orderly stack display of teacups in the cabinet. She noticed a large scorched spot on the lowest shelf, and frowned. “How often did Scootaloo drink tea? She doesn’t strike me as the type… coffee maybe, but tea?”

    “Daily,” Apple Bloom answered, pointing to an electric powered kettle on a nearby counter, “she was unda’ orders from the Doc ta’ drink some sorta herbal remedy daily. Zecora taught me a bit about alchemy way back when I was a filly, so I figgered out how ta’ mix ‘em with some tea leaves to make ‘em a lil’ less bitter.”

    “You’re full of surprises,” Clockwork teased as she turned back to the cabinet, “but that means she would go through a lot of teacups. How would they know which one she’d use…?”

    “Mebbe they didn’?” Apple Bloom offered. “They rig up one, an’ wait until she done used it?”

    “Too random,” Clockwork mused, “if there was any sort of timetable involved on when Scootaloo needed to be out of the way, that sort of rigging could take months, if not years to work, depending on how good Scootaloo’s luck was. No, they’d need something more… reliable.”

    Clockwork hopped down from the counter and made her way to the electric teakettle, tipping the top open to peer inside. Her goggles changed the ambient light filters so that she could see inside clearly, and she spotted a layer of leaves at the base of it, where the water had simply boiled off. She tapped the side of her goggles, hoofing through a few displays before settling on one.

    “Let’s see… that’s medicine… tealeaf… more medicine… tealeaf… more tealeaves…” she read from the display, and leaned back, shaking her head. For a moment she simply tapped her hoof to her chin, until her eyes lit on the spout of the teakettle. She leaned forward and looked into the spout itself…

    “We have a winner…” Clockwork said grimly.

    “Are you sure?” Apple Bloom asked, trotting over to her.

    “Unknown chemical composition, dried granulation over the inside and tip of the spout,” Clockwork answered. “We’ll need to take it to an expert, but I think we have our culprit. Placed in the spout, where nopony would spot it, it would guarantee a poisoned cup of tea every time. If it was slow acting enough, Scootaloo would have just enough time to start the dishes and clean away the evidence before it took effect. It looks like she was just starting that process when it happened, thus why the dishes are only partially cleaned. There’s a scorch mark on the shelves, so she must have stored this in the cabinet as well as the teacups, putting it away when it’s still cooling off, which accounts for the scorch mark in the cabinet and why someone would tamper with the latch. Somepony felt that latch would make too much noise when they wanted to apply the poison…”

    “Yer one regular Sheerluck Hooves there,” Apple Bloom whistled.

    “Don’t congratulate me yet,” Clockwork answered, “we still have to figure out who did this, and why they went through the trouble of adjusting the latch. That last part would suggest to me either a two pony operation, or someone who had been here multiple times.”

    Apple Bloom nodded as she picked up the tea kettle and peered into the spout for a long moment. “I figger we oughtta let Belle know about this. If somepony is after us Crusader’s, then--“

    The words died on the elder pony’s lips as she turned, finding herself face to face with an earth pony clad head to hoof in a white bodysuit. There was no hint of a mane or tail, only wide coal black eyes with no trace of a pupil, and a large number zero where her cutie-mark should have been. The pair stared at each other in stunned silence.

    “Who the hay are you? How the buck did you get in here?!” Clockwork demanded, shattering the moment of shock between the two ponies. With a fluid motion, the unknown pony twisted and lashed out a forehoof to knock the tea-kettle away from Apple Bloom.

    “Whoah theah!” the elder mare shouted, and chased after the kettle as it bounced and skittered across the floor, the unknown pony keeping step with her. The pair glanced at each other, and the white suited mare threw out a leg to trip the other mare. Apple Bloom responded with a stiff-legged shove, pushing the other pony back away from her.

    “Oh no you don’t!” Clockwork cried, and attempt to ram into the suited mare. The mare simply leapt up and over the attempt, striking out with a rear hoof that sent Clockwork crashing to the floor. Apple Bloom answered with a sweeping leg when the mare tried to land, flipping the unknown mare over. The mare rolled to her hooves in a smooth motion, leaning back on her rear hooves with a smooth and easy grace.

    Apple Bloom grinned and tugged at her cowpony hat. “Well now,” she drawled, “yer usin’ a zebra style, Fallen Caesar if I remembah correctly.” The elder mare circled slowly, cantering sideways as she lifted the nearest leg to the strange suited mare. “Pretty good style, fer a ninja, but I always preferred the Neighponese forms mah-self. Lemme show ya some o’ my Risin’ Phoenix Style.”

    The strange pony’s eyes widened as Apple Bloom ducked forward, planting her lifted hoof and arching her body up and over with it, whipping a rear hoof down in a dangerous arc. The suited mare sidestepped and countered with a twisting fore-hoof strike, which Apple Bloom blocked with a crooked foreleg, only to clamp her leg over the hoof and drag the unknown mare forward. For a brief moment the pair exchanged a series of fore-hoof strikes that seemed to literally blur in the air before the suited mare found an opening and shoved her shoulder inward, followed by the hoof strike to the elder mare’s chest.

    Apple Bloom tumbled over backwards, knocked free and sporting a new bruise. A last second twist of her torso prevented the strike from breaking a rib, and she quickly rolled to her hooves, ducking her head low and under the attempted buck from the other mare. The mare planted her hooves and threw herself upright still facing away from Apple Bloom, which the elder mare tried to take advantage of, striking out with her fore-hooves at the middle of her opponent’s spine. The suited mare flowed with the motion, twisting upwards as she used the momentum to flip herself in mid-air. Apple Bloom yelped in surprise and rolled to the side, barely avoiding a four-hoof strike to her back. The pair eyed each other warily and began to circle one another, Apple Bloom keeping her nearest foreleg raised while the strange mare continually reared back on her rear hooves.

    “Well now, ya’ll ain’ much fer banter, are ya?” Apple Bloom joked. The unknown mare answered by ducking in at Apple Bloom, swinging her hoof upwards at her chin. The elder pony dipped her head to the side and stepped inside the arc as it passed, thrusting out her lifted foreleg before pivoting to sweep with her rear leg. The other pony hopped over the sweep easily enough, and attempted to drop a hoof on Apple Bloom’s leg, which the elder pony responded by shoving her shoulder forward, lowering her head and catching the leg just behind the joint with an upward swing of her head, throwing the unknown pony back. The suited mare rolled easily to her hooves and flexed a hoof, showing the cowpony hat she’d swiped from Apple Bloom, and pulled it down on her own head.

    “Oh, now yer just tryin’ to make me mad…” Apple Bloom growled, and watched the unknown pony tug the brim of the hat down over her eyes. Clockwork, of course, chose that moment to try and pounce. She had the force and velocity worked out, and had leapt from the kitchen table to try and catch the suited mare unawares, but the strange mare belied every statistical model and easily caught Clockwork and tossed her towards Apple Bloom.

    “Sorry sugah!” Apple Bloom cried, and ducked under the smaller mare, seeing her chance to strike at the momentarily unbalanced position to catch a rear hoof under the suited mare’s shoulder. The blow momentarily staggered the mare, which Apple Bloom took advantage of, pressuring the unknown pony’s block before sweeping low. The mare hopped, just as she had before, but was met mid-air by Apple Bloom bucking with her other hind leg, literally knocking the unknown mare out from under the cowpony hat. Apple Bloom just grinned as it fell on her head, and tugged it lightly into place.

    “Ya dun’ mess with mah hat,” Apple Bloom chortled, but her face fell when she realized the unknown pony had not only rolled easily to her hooves, but also had managed to grab the tea-kettle in the process. The suited mare gave a broad wink, and took off the other way, dashing up the stairs of the two storied home. Apple Bloom tore after her, but slowed by age she was only able to spot the unknown mare as she leapt from a window on the top floor. Dashing to the open window, Apple Bloom looked out onto the street below but saw no sign of the intruder…

    “Did you get her?” Clockwork asked, and rubbed her head as Apple Bloom trudged back down the stairs.

    “No,” Apple Bloom growled, “she done pulled a ninja and vanished out a buckin’ window.”

    “She took the kettle, didn’t she?”

    “Eyup.”

    “What are the odds she was a special, in addition to being the assassin?” Clockwork asked softly.

    “I’d reckon danged near one-hunnerd percent,” Apple Bloom answered, wincing as she touched the bruise on her chest.

    Clockwork nodded. “We need to go back to my chariot then.”

    “Why d’ya wanna do that?” Apple Bloom asked.

    “I want to be ready for the second round.”