Celestia sat on her large bed, tears slowly dripping down her face. Nestled in her soft chest fur was Shimmer Star, who had also spent the hour crying out her grief. The alicorn had held her close throughout it all, wrapping her soft white wings around the young Archmage. When the storm of grief passed, Shimmer pushed herself away from Celestia who gave her a comforting nuzzle.

“I know that anything I say will only make your pain worse,” Celestia said softly. “So I will only offer you my chest to lean on.”

Shimmer nodded her head slowly and began to pull herself together. It was a slow process. Her mother had only been cremated an hour ago after all, but she blew the blonde stripe of her mane out of her eyes and let out a long breath. Her purple fur began to shimmer slightly as she used a wave of magic to erase the more telling signs of her grief from herself. After all, she was the Archmage now and as such had no use for displays of that nature.

Celestia watched quietly as she also saw to her own tear stained fur, as Queen she couldn’t afford to be seen as weak. Not now at any rate.

“I just... I’m going to miss her,” Shimmer said quietly, breaking the silence that had spread between the two. “First dad goes down in a blaze of glory against that dragon and now mom is... dead.”

“I know,” Celestia said quietly as she placed a wing over the mare. “But we must press on despite the loss.”

“Yes... I know,” Shimmer replied softly.

*Knock* *Knock*

Celestia and Shimmer turned towards the doorway, Celestia frowned but rose from her position on the bed while slipping a minor illusion over herself to cover what remained of her visible grief. Then she opened the door.

Awaiting her on the other side was the newest member of her personal guard, Crimson Lance. While still rather young at the age of sixteen, the red unicorn had proven himself several times during training and Celestia had promised him a position when he was older. He met her with a orderly salute.

“My Queen,” he said stiffly, the picture of discipline.

“Crimson Lance, at ease,” Celestia said with a nod as the stallion dropped his hoof to the ground. “What has brought you here?”

“News, your majesty,” he replied as he telekinetically brought a scroll up to float before her. “Xanthos’s lair has been located.”

Celestia’s eyes widened in surprise, but other than a nod, that was all the reaction she allowed herself to show. She brought the scroll up to her eyes and quickly read over it.

To Queen Celestia From General Blueblood the Second

My Queen; firstly I am deeply sorry for the loss of Clover the Clever and I will mourn her in my private moments for many years to come, please pass on my regards to Shimmy. Secondly, and more importantly if you will forgive me for saying so your majesty, we have located Xanthos’s base of operations.

It is a heavily fortified mountain that he has apparently been hollowing out in secret right under our noses a bit north of Manehatten, I apologize for my own incompetence for not having seen it before now on behalf of both myself and my spymasters.

Unfortunately the only reason we were able to decipher its location in the first place was because no more then an hour ago a pulse of twisted magic rolled off of it and sent over two dozen magically sensitive unicorns into a full blown seizure. They’ve since recovered, mostly.

Worse, he has an army Ma’am. Early scouting reports put their numbers in the hundreds (how the bastards remained hidden from us for so long with that many troops is still being investigated and heads will roll when I find out) as well as sightings of flocks of griffin and diamond dog mercenaries.

However, the worst of it is apparently yet to come. We do not know the exact nature of whatever tainted magic the centaur is attempting but if the feeling in my gut is correct it will be magic most foul. I am requesting the immediate assistance of both the Canterlot Army as well as that of the Archmage.

Your trusted General, Blueblood the Second

Celestia re-read the letter twice to make sure that she could recite it from memory before she concentrated on it for a moment and it burst into flames. She then turned back to Crimson Lance who was waiting expectantly for her orders.

“Alert General Ironhide, we march at once for Manehatten,” Celestia stated calmly.

“Aye your majesty,” Crimson replied before snapping a salute and rushing away.

“My Queen?” Shimmer asked from behind her. “What is going on?”

“Find your robes, Archmage,” the Queen stated as she turned to face the younger mare, her mane beginning to blaze as her eyes glowed with firelight. “For we march to battle.”

Sarah let out a yawn and burrowed a little deeper into Luna’s heavenly soft fur. It was almost unbelievable how comforting it felt.

You know... I think I could get used to this, Sarah thought to herself a she absentmindedly ran a finger across Luna’s side. Then she glanced at the alicorn’s face and frowned worriedly. Though... if what I saw yesterday is anything to go by... Luna isn’t all there. I mean... I knew that already, not going to deny it. But that... was the kind of thing that’ll get the both of us killed out here.

Luna mumbled something under her breath in her sleep. “Tia...” it was her sister’s name and if Sarah wasn’t mistaken, her voice sounded sad. The woman frowned and ran a comforting hand down the back of her friend’s neck. Luna shifted slight in her sleep, bringing her wing down across Sarah’s face, turning her world into a wall of light blue feathers.

The woman sighed and lay back once more, hey, she’d tried right?

Then, her mind turned to the other subject eating away at her. Her father. She’d known that he was a scientist... or at least a doctor with a leaning towards science... but Sarah had never imagined that he’d worked on something the size of Project Purity. Even now that she’d had a night to think about it, it didn’t seem real.

Her father was working for the one thing that could possibly save the Wasteland.

Even put into such a simple sentence her mind reeled away from the possibility. Her father was a patient, slightly distant, and thoughtful man... not... a genius with dreams of curing the entire Wasteland. Not... that there was a problem with that or anything... it was just... a large bridge to cross in her mind.

The revelation also presented another problem. Mainly that of what she was going to say to her father when she finally got to him. Until now she’d been planning on demanding to know why he’d abandoned her in the Vault... but now that she knew, it was... difficult to keep any sort of anger burning within her. Of course, she still wanted to know why he hadn’t told her that he was leaving... but in the face of all this she just couldn’t be angry with him for it.

Truth be told, if she were in his position she’d probably have left earlier. After all, the Overseer wouldn’t have gone to the drastic measures he had if Sarah had been, say, ten. Sarah winced internally at that thought as the memories of the old man bleeding out filled her mind, along with the friends she’d killed to escape.

Sarah’s breath caught in her throat and she clenched her teeth. No, I’m not going to think about it, she thought. She didn’t have time... or maybe the will to. Beneath her, she felt Luna begin to stir. The alicorn’s wing moved away from Sarah’s face and she turned her head so that her blue eyes could look into Sarah’s.

“Well don’t you look comfortable?” Luna asked her with a sly smile.

“You’re comfy,” Sarah replied with a small shrug, though she let a smile slip across her face. “So, you ready to get moving?

“Why yes of course, but first I believe we must pick a destination,” Luna stated.

“Right,” Sarah agreed with a nod and a small blush as she lurched off of Luna and the bods, landing easily on her feet. “That and breakfast,” she added, leaning over and beginning to ruffle through her duffle bag. “You up for snack cakes?”

Luna nodded. “That sounds fine to me,” she replied.

Sarah tossed her a container to Luna who tore it open with her magic and began to eat the cakes while the woman started on a can of spam.

“Sarah,” Luna said, gaining the woman’s attention.

“Yeah?” Sarah asked, glancing up from her meal.

“I fear I may have done something rather foolish yesterday,” Luna stated.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sarah replied, shrugging. “I could tell you needed the hug.”

Luna frowned and shook her head. “That was foolish as well, but not what I was talking about,” she stated.

“Oh, sorry,” Sarah said, frowning. “Then what were you talking about?”

“My flying,” Luna answered. “It was... rather stupid.”

“I for one enjoyed it,” Sarah said. “Once I got used to it anyways. To be honest Luna, it was probably the most amazing moment of my entire life.”

A touched smile spread across Luna face. “Why... thank you Sarah,” the alicorn said, a mixture of softness and care in her words. “But still, it was incredibly stupid of me.”

“How do you mean?” Sarah asked, still not understanding what Luna was beating herself up for.

“Well, one of the first lessons Jonathan taught Tia and I of flight when we were very young, me in particular, was to never fly in the day if we were being hunted. Or in his words ‘don’t stick your head out of the cave unless you want it to be separated hastily from your neck’. This rule is doubly so when the ones hunting you have access to ranged weaponry. Something that happens to be abundant here,” Luna finished with a deadpan expression.

“Oh,” Sarah said simply before facepalming. “Okay, yeah, I see what you did wrong.”

“The fact that we weren’t shot amazes me,” Luna said with a shake of her head before she frowned. “That’s... an odd feeling.”

“What is? The snack cakes making you sick?” Sarah asked.

“No, no, it’s as if... I’m being pulled,” Luna said, looking quite confused.

Magically pulled if I’m not mistaken, Nightmare stated. And I am not mistaken.

“That’s weird,” Sarah said, frowning. “Are you alright?”

“I believe so...” Luna said, getting to her hooves and quickly pulling taking a few clopping steps around the room.

“Okay, if you’re sure,” Sarah replied, shooting the mare a slightly anxious frown.

“It’s fine... it’s just as if there is a string tied taught around my hoof and it is trying to pull me somewhere,” Luna said, shaking her hoof in an attempt to dislodge said string.

“Hmm... anything I could do to snip it?” Sarah asked as she got up from her seat on the bed and walked over to Luna, putting a hand on the side of her neck.

“Not unless you know advanced magic, something we doubt you do,” Luna replied, her eyes slightly cat-like. “Do not trouble yourself strumpet, this is a matter of magic.”

“Strumpet?” Sarah asked Luna, narrowing her eyes slightly.

“Ignore her,” Luna said with a shake of her head. “She is rather irritable at the moment.”

“Of course we’re irritable,” she said again, her voice noticeably deeper and different. “There is currently a string of magic pulling on our soul and we are unable to do anything at all about it! It is as if we are a mere fish caught on a line!”

“Still, that is no reason to take out your frustrations on Sarah!” Luna retorted. “She has done nothing to deserve being called a strumpet!”

“Ha,” the Nightmare replied. “It isn’t as if she-”

“Be silent!” Luna snapped, cutting herself off. “This argument does nothing for us!”

“We are not arguing, we are are simply saying that-”

“Enough!” Luna growled before looking at Sarah, who was staring at her with wide eyes. “Sorry... that happens sometimes when we’re at an impasse.”

“It’s... fine,” Sarah said, shaking her head and once more deciding that she didn’t really want to know. “But... this string thing; what’s up with that?”

“I honestly don’t know...” Luna murmured. “The signature of the magic feels like a dear friend of mine, or she used to be a dear friend at any rate, but I digress,” Luna stated with a shake of her head. “One thing is for certain... it is not her.”

“Okay... so what does that mean for you?” the woman asked.

“Well, that depends on what the string of magic is meant to do,” Luna said as her brow furrowed in thought.

“Examples?”

“Well, it could kill me,” Luna stated. “Or it could be meant to track me, or perhaps even to... retrieve me,” the alicorn continued, her frown deepening.

“So... none of the options are good?” Sarah asked.

“Depends on how we look on it,” Luna said carefully. “A tracking spell is to be expected we suppose, and as much as we ‘enjoy’ helping you we would prefer to return home as for a kill-”

Luna’s words cut off and her eyes rolled back in her head before she suddenly collapsed.

Celestia and Shimmer stepped off of their chariot as one. The former was clad in thick golden armour which burned the eyes of those who stared for too long, a golden sword the length of most ponies sheathed at her side. The latter wore a full length robe of blue, emblazoned freely with silver stars, for she did not need a blade or ‘true’ armor.

Off in the distance was a single mountain of dark stone, a sickly green beam of energy shooting from the top as a large mass of dark figures moved about in its shadow. As they’d flown by the pair had felt an unsettlingly familiar magic signature surging from within it that had made both of their fur stand on end.

The camp that they had arrived in was a huge, yet orderly, encampment and Celestia smiled internally at the level of organization and discipline Blueblood the Second was keeping it. The pair quickly and silently walked across the encampment, ignoring the bows and nods of respect from the ponies around them until they shortly arrived at a simply appointed golden tent. There were a pair of guards waiting directly outside of it and one stepped forwards.

“Identification,” he stated neutrally, holding up a halberd to impede their progress with his white magic aura.

“Queen Celestia and Archmage Shimmer Star,” Celestia answered, not in the least bit phased by the halberd.

“You’re free to enter, your highness,” the stallion said, stepping back into position.

“You had the balls to do that?” she heard the other guard whisper to the other as she and Shimmer walked through the tent flap to find General Blueblood the Second standing over a campaign table. In Celestia’s opinion, he was just as handsome as his late father had been, of course, he wasn’t hers to pursue.

The white coated stallion looked up at them and nodded, waving them over with a hoof. “My Queen, Shimmy,” he said, nodding to each of them.

“Shimmer or Archmage at the moment please,” Shimmer stated flatly.

“Of course,” the general said, wiping the small smile off of his face.

“What is the situation?” Celestia asked patiently as she walked up to the table and looked over it.

“Xanthos’s army is staged around the western approach to the mountain. Impassable canyons filled with thresher-thorns surround the others along with several flights of griffins patrolling the sky passages so anything gained by surprise would be lost by the sheer number of troops we would lose,” Blueblood explained, gesturing to the map.

“I see,” Celestia mused as she looked over the map. “So, I assume that our only point of attack is from the front.”

“Indeed,” Blueblood stated with a nod. “And judging by the entrenchments and sheer number of troops at his command I doubt we can break his lines with only our army. How long until the Canterlot Guard gets here?”

“Too long,” Shimmer answered for Celestia with a frown. “And judging by the waves of power raging off of that mountain, we have less and less time with every moment,” she said, an undertone of fury boiling in her voice.

“It’s your mother’s magic,” Blueblood said, his tone a mixture of anger and sorrow.

“Yes. Yes. It. Is,” Shimmer stated flatly as her mane began to swirl slightly with ambient magic.

“Save your power, Archmage,” the Queen said, placing a hoof on the Archmage’s shoulder. “We will need it for what is to come.”

“My Queen?” the General asked her.

“General, ready your troops,” the Queen stated simply. “We charge in an hour.”

“An hour, your Majesty? the General asked, looking at the Queen with a frown.

“Indeed,” the Queen answered, her mane catching fire. “I shall lead the charge, personally.”

Author's Notes:

Next chapter is already half written and should be out within a day or so.