Author's Notes:

Oh good Lord I sm not going to be able to do my usual italic and color Editting until I get access to a proper internet connection. Just trying to get the phone to upload this chapter was a waking nightmare!

Just endure this for a little while and as soon as I can, I will go back and edit the coming chapters to the same quality as the previous ones.

...

Why do we call these things smart phones when they make you feel like an idiot just trying to get them to do basic tier functions?

Edit: EDITING COMPLETE ... I think? It's 2am, I need to sleep. Blaaaaaaaaaaaargh...😴

Celestia stared at the leader of her Magi.

It wasn’t an angry stare, or a disappointed one. It didn’t hold traces of fear or frustration, and not a speck of regret.

It was simply a stare, yet it came with the weight of an Immortal with thousands of years of practice at making just a simple stare feel it was crushing oneself. A blank, expressionless stare at Bleak Mountain, the stoic, runic-tattoo covered Unicorn shifting awkwardly from hoof to hoof under the intense pressure of Celestia’s complete, emotionless attention.

“Forgive my bluntness, by really?” Acting Royal Captain Dawn Ray grated, being perfectly mortal and more than willing to vent naturally at the leader of the Equestrian Magi. “You want to torture Sunset Shimmer to make certain she’s telling the truth, and that this isn’t some labyrinthian Tartarian plot to unleash the Succuponies on Equestria once again?”

“I understand your concerns, but are we really trusting Sunset Shimmer, of all Ponies, on this matter? She is arrogant, bigoted, recklessly self-impressed and has already attempted to usurp Princess Twilight’s role as the Bearer of Magic.” The stocky, stoic stallion said in a relatively calm tone, but Celestia could see the sweat beading under his fur and along the edges of his glittering tattoos, Neighponese runes that looked like shimmering gold and silver scars that peeked out from under his coat, hear the slight hitch in his voice that a less-experienced leader might have missed. “And now she’s been physically altered by the denizens of Tartarus. Is it truly so unlikely that they have not also taken advantage of her massive character flaws to also alter her spiritually? For all we know, the Succuponies are actually about to invade our world directly, and this … story … about trying to infest another world with our magic to make some sort of bald apes into living batteries seems incredibly far-fetched.”

Celestia raised a hoof as Dawn took a step towards the Magi, who in turn glared at the aging veteran, the five golden rings on Bleak Mountain’s horn slowly spinning around the Magi’s horn, each representing mastery of a different field of magic and each possessing several potent sorcerous abilities in their own right.

As much as she would have enjoyed seeing Bleak Mountain getting curb-stomped hard enough to knock the stick out of his plot and the chips off his shoulders, she needed Dawn Ray alive to be the Acting Captain, and the ‘imported’ Magi from Neighpone had gotten his job by being very good at casting combat spells, after all. Not enough, possibly, to keep the veteran from literally handing Bleak Mountain his own plot, but enough that Celestia would be down two of her best soldiers right when Equestria needed all the stability it could muster.

“Yes, Mountain, we are trusting her. If I ignored the advice of everypony who disappointed me or let me down, I’d be ignoring most of the planet by now.” Celestia said in a calm, even tone, letting her rage at her Magi’s words remain buried deep under the shell of Princess. “More importantly, many of the defences built into Tartarus were put in place by older Immortals than I, including the Platinum King, the Chromatic Queen and the Forge Master himself. However much we might wish to believe that Sunset was just babbling some sort of fever-dream nonsense, several things she said during her brief period of consciousness match up too closely to some of the most guarded secrets in the world, and thus are too important to ignore.”

“Before he left to oversee a mission of importance on the other side of the world, Starswirl the Bearded sealed away three evil hippocampi sorceresses called the Sirens in the same alternate reality that Sunset Shimmer found herself trapped in. The Sirens were infamous for their mastery of audial magic, focused through three very powerful soul-rubies that they wore as necklaces. Red gems, the size of my hoof, that the Sirens were able to use to hypnotize entire cities, forcing the citizens to fight one another while the Sirens would feast on the unleashed rage and fury to empower themselves further and then move on to their next meal, leaving several realms ruined beyond repair in their wake. And Sunset mentioned them despite the fact that the Legend of the Sirens is known only to a few scholars, and even then is often disputed as a parable rather than an actual event by our oh-so-self-impressed ‘modern’ scholars.” Celestia continued, glaring at Bleak Mountain, who was now visibly sweating at Celestia’s displeasure focused entirely upon him. “She also mentioned that the Succuponies had realized that Tartarus’s magical defences only protected Equestria from a direct invasion, not an indirect one, a flaw that only I and several other Immortals are aware of, and none of us have ever admitted to this flaw to any mortals, for obvious reasons.”

“That still does not invalidate the theory that Sunset Shimmer is a plant for the Succuponi to distract us from their true agenda.” Bleak Mountain said, narrowing his eyes as Captain of the Royal Guard’s glare turned into a disdainful sneer.

The Solar Princess lowered her hoof was she was certain the two Stallions weren’t going to leap at each other and start fighting. Bleak Mountain’s long history of snubbing Ponies who didn’t possess the kind of natural magical talent that got one recruited for the Magi had long rubbed the other military leaders of Equestria the wrong way, and Dawn Ray in particular apparently, but this wasn’t the time to indulge in letting her underlings vent, then manipulate them into becoming fast friends. “If you truly understood the mechanics of the Demi-Plane of Tartarus, you would understand how flawed your theory truly is, Bleak Mountain. Once I had the time to open a communication spell to the Halls of Judgement, I alerted Gothica and then the other Immortals who are responsible for the mystical defences of Tartarus of the potential danger, and they immediately began investigating for interplanar and extra-planar breaches that would allow just such an event to occur.”

“They found no less than sixteen breaches to an equal number of worlds and alternate realities in one of the minor wings of the Prison-Plane, and Gothica dispatched several warbands of Reapers, Erinyes and even some of her Bargemen to recapture the escapees, most of whom were mortal sorcerers or tyrants who, through some twist of fate, were summoned to other worlds from Tartarus, rather than escaping themselves. In the short space of time between my informing Gothica of the news, and our meeting now, fourteen of the escapees have already been reaped and returned to their cells with even greater bindings upon them now than ever, and their Summoners have been slain and sent to their own Hells for judgement.” The Solar Princess continued, taking a grim pleasure in the way Bleak Mountain’s eyes visibly widened at this knowledge. Yes, my ‘loyal’ Magi, your much-admired collection of forbidden knowledge regarding the Lower Planes isn’t nearly as comprehensive as you’d hoped. And the many denizens who attempted to become Immortals through force or through dark magic are protected now by lethal force and even stronger bindings of new design, which means your little experiments with attempting to commune with the prisoners of Tartarus will continue to fail, and you dreams of forcing an Ascension upon yourself will remain simple fantasies. “Thankfully, the boundaries around the actual Fiendish areas of Tartarus are still untouched, and already Hephaestus and the Chromatic Queen are hard at work reinforcing the barriers to protect against such external meddling in the future. If the Succuponi truly did intend to subvert Tartarus’s defences through using another world, they will be sorely disappointed when their sorcery rebounds on them in a most punitive fashion.”

“So you see, Mountain, we are indeed able to trust Sunset, and once she is well enough to survive another purification ritual, I suspect she will not only be restored to mortality, but be more than changed not only by her experiences, but by the lessons Twilight imparted to her during their time together on the other world.”

Bleak Mountain turned his gaze from his glaring contest with Dawn Ray back to Celestia, his face going through what appeared to be a spasm as the tattooed neighponese Stallion fought to keep his expression calm and serene in-front of his Princess. To a mortal leader, his true feelings would be nearly-unreadable, but Celestia had had millennia of practice, and could read the fear, the doubt, and the rage that simmered under that paper-thin façade as easily as the headlines on the front-page of a Canterlot newspaper.

When she had ‘accepted’ Bleak Mountain as one of her Magi, Celestia had already known that the ambitious young Unicorn, with his studies into Internal Alchemy and a leaning towards magic that was already considered dubious even by the intrigue-riddled courts of Neighpone, was too dangerous to be left alone, that his ‘employment’ under her was merely a polite way of keeping a very dangerous and driven individual under close scrutiny.

No doubt Bleak Mountain’s ego had assured him that Celestia, the very ‘Goddess’ whom his people worshipped slavishly, had picked him for some greater destiny, and Celestia had spent a good deal of effort subtly deflecting the stallion’s less-than-romantic attempts to woo her, knowing that Bleak Mountain had only been after the authority of becoming the Royal Consort and the narcassitic appeal of bedding a goddess. Instead of becoming a God, Bleak Mountain had been tricked into becoming Celestia’s magical errand boy and being shackled by duty and sorcerous bindings strong enough to slow the drift of small continents, which had probably been a very rude shock to the arrogant sorcerer who had long ago become accustomed to being untouchably powerful back in his homeland.

Manipulating the powerful and deceptive Magi into serving an actually noble purpose in life for the past sixty years had been difficult, but Celestia’s skin crawled at the thought of what Bleak Mountain, with his towering intellect, ruthless ambition, domineering charisma and a prodigiously deep well of personal magic power, could have achieved if left uncontrolled in the chaotic maelstrom that was Neighpone’s political scene during that period of time. He’d probably be ruling the nation and using the current Empress as a hoof-puppet to gather whatever resources he needed for his experiments as the Empire crumbled around him, at best. At worst, I’d be dealing with another Sombra...

And whatever she might have felt about the other nations of equine-kind across the world, their policies, their societies and their baseless usurpations of her name and authority to justify their actions, they were still her people, and she their Immortal. They were her responsibility, and where-ever she could, Celestia would try to turn Ponies like Bleak Mountain to a better destiny than the ones their selfish ambitions drew them towards. Most of the time, Celestia’s schemes resulted in success, and the Ponies she drew to her grew into heroes and beloved champions that in turn would possess the necessary qualities, and a ingrained need to help others as they had been helped, to in turn inspire generations of their people towards more lofty goals, but Bleak Mountain’s lust for power stubbornly refused to yield to his need to be accepted …

“As my advice is no longer needed, your Radiance, may I withdraw? There are many more magical matters to deal with before the day is done.” Stoic Mountain said in a voice just shy of respectful, and Celestia waved him away, giving Dawn Ray a look of her own as the loyal Guard bristled at the Magi.

“As you will, Bleak Mountain, but I will insist that you leave Sunset Shimmer alone. The Fourth Circle Magi will be sufficient guardians over both my former student, and the mare she partially infected.” Celestia tried to throw a bone to Bleak Mountain’s ego in the hope of placating him, but noticed how the Magi’s eyes were boring holes in the air above her head. The peace offering was being rejected, again. “I want your efforts focused entirely on mapping Queen Chrysalis’s body, down to her smallest artery, vein and nerve-ending. You will be assigned two members of the Fourth Circle to assist you and take exhaustive notes on everything you discover, and all three of you are to glean every possible secret you can from the Changeling Queen without doing her any harm that could cause the blood-pact to activate and rebound on you. We cannot leave a single clue to the identity of the Changelings’ creator up to chance, not if we are to protect the world from an ‘Empress’ capable of flesh-crafting on a scale this advanced, this terrible.”

“Is that all, your Radiance?” The leader of the Magi asked, still staring holes above Celestia’s head.

Sighing heavily, Celestia nodded and said nothing else as the Magi stalked out, then lowered her head to the table and began banging her muzzle on the polished oak surface in frustration once she was certain the proud Neighponese stallion was far enough away to not hear the loud thumping.

“Princess Celestia, forgive me for speaking out of turn, put perhaps it is time to find a new leader for your Magi? Bleak Mountain talks a lot about other Ponies’ disrespect, but it is well known that he’s just shy of openly rebellious towards you and your sister when he’s amongst his Magi subordinates.” Dawn Ray grumbled, rocking back and forth on his hooves as he waited for his monarch to finish her most undignified actions. “For all his talent and raw power, Bleak Mountain is as much a danger to Equestria with his selfish pursuit of magical knowledge at all costs as, well, Discord himself used to be.”

“Thankfully, there are multiple individuals amongst the Fourth Circle who could step up should I need to remove Bleak Mountain immediately, much as you were able to replace Captain Rosebush, but for now I need Bleak Mountain where he is … specifically under my watchful eyes and bound by the blood-oath he swore to do nothing that can cause harm to Equis or the beings who live upon it.” Giving the veteran a weak smile, Celestia sat back up in her well-padded chair and stretched her neck left and right, grimacing at the loud popping noises the movements generated. “I still hold out to the hope that the stubborn old mule will let go of his plans for power and realize what a gift he has already on his hooves as the leader of an elite team of the finest magical minds of this Age. For all his ego and dismissive attitude towards those without magic, Bleak Mountain has mellowed immensely from what he used to be like as a young stallion. Back then, if you two had squared off, I would have had to wrap you in enough protective spells to withstand a point-blank mana-bomb explosion just to keep all of your limbs attached.”

“… Well now I’m even more concerned that somepony with that type of personality is in charge of our elite magical troops!”

“Don’t forget, Captain Dawn Ray, to become a Magi in my nation, one must swearing several magically-binding oaths that anchor themselves to the soul of the one who swears them to even be considered for the selection process, and due to the wording of those oaths, I am made immediately aware of when an attempt to either subvert or escape those oaths is made. To reach the level of power and influence that Bleak Mountain now occupies, there are layers upon layers of bindings and compulsion charms built into and ontop of his oaths, the same as every other Magi who has worn the five rings of that station, to ensure that none of my Magi can, directly or indirectly, become a threat to this world.” The Solar Princess gave her new Captain of the Royal Guard a friendly shove with her wing, to which the aging Unicorn grumbled slightly. “Bleak Mountain has always been a risk, but at least working as the head of my Magi, his ambitions are given a reasonable outlet without causing undue harm to the civilian population and his power is channelled towards a nobler goal than mere self-empowerment like most petty sorcerers from the wider world aspire to.”

“Be that as it may … what are we going to do with Sunset? Leave her in the Cell of Ultimate Confinement? It might be the safest move we could make right now.” Dawn Ray murmured, glancing at the piles of paperwork on either side of Celestia’s desk.

“After you just chewed out Bleak Mountain over torture? Continuing her imprisonment when it is clear that Sunset is as much a victim as Trixie?” The Solar Princess’s tone was playful, but her eyes narrowed as she turned her full attention to her acting Captain of the Royal Guard.

“I am more concerned about how badly things could spiral out of control if she runs into the Changelings. Technically, Sunset Shimmer hasn’t been a citizen of Equestria since she was officially declared missing after my predecessors failed to find her when she … uh …” The unicorn Captain began strong, then began to splutter out as he realized what he was about to say in-front of Celestia.

“You mean when she ran away from me after suffering a fit of egotism? When my high-hoofed teaching methods drove away one of the most promising students I’d ever been blessed with?” The Solar Princess’s smile turned gentle and sad as Dawn Ray reached a hoof out towards her, mouth opening to speak, before the Stallion’s features turned into a mask of misery and he retreated, emotionally, into a parade stance to hide his distress. “I am certain the wording of Chrysalis’s blood-pact does indeed include Sunset Shimmer since she is legally a citizen of Equestria, but you are correct to be concerned. Thus, I have an excellent solution.”

“And that is?”

“We will be moving Sunset Shimmer into her old quarters in this wing of the Castle, and I shall be seeing to all of her needs while she is under … confinement.” The Solar Princess repressed the urge to chuckle as Guard Captain’s eyes bulged and his jaw dropped to the point she was almost worried he’d dislocated something.

“You do realize that Bleak Mountain will pitch an absolute fit when he hears about this? As in, a literal, actual fit, complete with screaming, crying and flailing, right there on the floor.” The aging guard pointed out after nearly a minute of stunned silence.

“Oh, I am aware, but quite frankly this is the best chance I will ever have to make things right with my former student, and however much protection the Cell of Ultimate Confinement might provide, both to prisoner and the rest of the castle, it is still a prison.” Celestia sighed and leaned back into her chair, feeling a sense of rightness to her actions that had been missing for so long. “I am more than capable of warding the chambers on my own if Bleak Mountain refuses to obey, and I will have grounds to consider dismissing him due to refusal of a direct order should the need arise. You all seem to forget …”

Tapping a gold-shod hoof against the equally-gaudy looking chestplate of her Regalia, Celestia gave another smile, this one tight and more akin to a grimace.

“I am no longer content to sit back and let things play out according to Fate’s decree. From this point onwards, I am the one who controls where the dice fall, and how.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Applejack sighed as she packed her suitcase with what she needed for her stay in Canterlot.

Oh, Luna had assured her it would be a quick visit, no more than one or two days at the most, but multiple experiences had taught Applejack that the Princess was either under-estimating the sheer amount of weirdness to crash down on them all, or was over-estimating how swiftly matters would be dealt with.

Of course, there were … other matters that made Applejack sigh. Soarin, a honest-to-Faust Wonderbolt, was being an absolute gentlestallion, helping Granny re-arrange the spare room to provide sleeping quarters for whichever Royal Agent was present on a given day, listening intently to Big Mac as the giant oaf explained the chores the Pegasus would be performing while Applejack was absent, since …

Woulda thought some fancy athelete woulda spit his chips if asked to buck apples down from a tree, but he up an’ tried a dozen times, an’ seemed more crushed e’ry time he failed to get ‘em to drop. Poor Stallion’s tryin’ his heart out, an’ … Applejack felt her cheeks heat up a little as she remembered the look of shame on the Stallion’s face when Soarin had caught Applejack snickering at his first, and painful, attempt to buck the apples out of the trees. Gonna head on down to the kitchen after ah pack an’ get a pie started as an apology. Soarin ain’t no city-slicker, he’s a Royal Agent an’, from what ah can gather, a right honest and strait-shootin’ stallion. That he’s willin’ to put aside his career an’ work like an’ Apple on mah farm is proof of that. Ain’t right to make him think ah’m mockin’ him, not after all o’ that.

Normally, Applejack wouldn’t take much in the way of clothing to Canterlot, the Princess didn’t really care much for the Bearers wearing frippery stuff, Rarity excluded, but her dress from the disasterous Grand Galloping Gala, a few fancy scarves that she’d bought when she had a few bits spare and felt like showing some femininity, some makeup and a large box in which to store her Stetson hat all went into the suitcase. Ain’t no way was she going to show up to Canterlot and risk walking round the halls of the castle like she was going to market, not if she really intended to ask the Princess if Applejack could still have those bits.

Luna’s insistence that they all come immediately also worried Applejack, but for different reasons. Unlike Celestia, the younger Princess didn’t play verbal or mental games or speak in couched terms when trying to explain something, Luna just up and went with her heart and that endeared the Lunar Princess to Applejack far more than Celestia’s double-speak and false platitudes, a fact that Applejack kept trying to tell her inner self wasn’t treasonous in the slightest. So when Luna came up, acting like a broody hen that’d had her eggs stolen and been half-plucked to add insult to injury, the farm-mare took the message seriously.

“You sure ‘bout this, Jackie?” The orange mare jumped in place as Granny Smith spoke from the doorway, surprising Applejack. “Could be takin’ some more stuff if’n you want. Got some other suitcases and carry-bags in the back of my wardrobe. Ah know some of these missions you an’ your friends go on take a while.”

“Consarn … no, granny, ah’m jus’ takin’ some simple stuff an’ mah best business clothes, don’t need to be dressin’ up fancier than ah actually am. And ah can’t very well be askin’ Rarity, not after what’s happened an’ sure as spit not with the poor mare stuck in that cast o’ hers.” Turning in place, Applejack ducked her head and gave the ancient matriarch of her family an apologetic look.

“Hmmph. Seems to me she’s learnin’ a lesson, but she’s your friend, an’ if you’re willin’ to let bygones be bygones, so be it. Now … ‘bout this stallion that’s hangin’ round.”

“Oh, Soarin? What, did he hurt himself trying to buck my apples again?” Ears pricking forwards and a hint of dread entering her voice, Applejack took a step forwards in concern. “Ah hope the idjit didn’t take mah laughin’ at him personal an’ tried to prove he could do it …”

“…” Granny Smith merely narrowed her eyes, staring Applejack over, before shaking her head and grinning like a cat that just found the cream. “No, y’durn fool, he’s off with Mac seein’ to the grain silo. Handy, havin’ a stallion with wings ‘round to patch the roof an’ get the rain-clouds right where the fields are driest. Might be we could keep him ‘round, maybe plant a few more things in the orchard, hmmmmm?”

“Granny, you know pegasi make terrible farmers. They might do well as pickers or temporary farm-hooves, but they don’t do well on the ground, not like those who make their living off farming do.”

“Oh sweetie, you give that boy the right motivation, I’ll bet he could plow your fields like you never even dreamed.”

“With those wings, he’ll never be able to wear a harness like Big Mac so he’d never be able to till the fields. An’ he’s gotta go back to the Wonderbolts after all this mess is dealt with.” Applejack pointed out, her own eyes narrowing as the grin on her grandmother’s face grew and grew. “You ain’t talkin’ ‘bout farming no more, are you?”

“Great grand foals!” Granny Smith cheered, shaking a forehoof into the air in premature victory.

“Granny, no! Faust’s sake, ah jus’ met the poor stallion, ah ain’t gonna assume the position an’ ask him to mount me!” Blushing furiously, Applejack turned back to her suitcase and fussed with the padded box she’d been grabbing to store her hat in while she slept. The fact that Soarin was not only a damn fine looking stallion, but also polite, respectful and down-to-earth wasn’t doing her heart much good, especially with the lingering effects of the aphrodisiacs still lingering in her system. An’ there’s another reason to get to Canterlot an’ away from the farm. Big Mac an’ ah both still have them durn pills in our bodies, an’ we share a bathroom...

“Well sweetie, if’n your granny was a decade younger, I’d be all over that. Might still give it a try, if’n you’re not brave enough to even ask how Soarin’ feels.”

Applejack’s head snapped back to look at her grandmother, who was still grinning at her.

“Granny, Soarin is a Wonderbolt Co-Captain. He’s probably got the prettiest Mares of Equestria just waiting for him in every town, city and village. Ain’t no way he’s gonna be interested in a dirty ol’ farm mare like me, an’ he ain’t gonna be interested in an’ ol’ mare like you.” The heat in her words left Applejack stunned. Now where in the hay did that come from? Ah know Granny’s jus’ teasin’ me, like always.

“Maybe, but I reckon I’ve got somethin’ none o’ them youngin’s got, not even you.” Granny’s smile didn’t fade a bit as Applejack’s words washed over her.

Against her better judgement, Applejack rose to the challenge. “Oh yeah? Ah can’t wait to hear what that is.”

With a loud pop, Granny Smith reached up with a hoof and pulled her dentures out, her gums sagging and lips flopping down and away from her mouth as she did so, so her words came out a little slurred.

“De’hachable teef.”

For a very precious, irreplaceable moments, Applejack’s brain refused to process the scenario, before her subconscious unhelpfully provided the mental images to go along with Granny Smith’s words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What was that?” Soarin yelped, lifting his head and banging it on the flared rim of the grain silo, wobbling in the air as he wavered under the self-inflicted blow to his noggin.

Big Mac, with long experience on the farm, as an older brother, and as an Apple, just shuddered in place for a long moment before answering his ‘guest’.

“Ain’t nothin’, jus’ Jackie probably got more’n she bargained for.” The hulking red farm-pony shouted up to the pegasus repairing the leaky roof of the grain-silo.

“Seriously? It sounded like somepony was given the scare of their life while being figged in every opening in their body! What if your sister is in trouble?”

“Trust me. If mah sister is makin’ a sound like that, ain’t neither of us want to be anywhere near the farmstead for at least a few minutes.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Discord?” Celestia asked in concern as her serpentine lover lifted his head from inspecting the wards placed around the outside of Sunset’s room and stared, hard, in the direction of Ponyville. “Is something wrong? Another attack on my sister and Twilight?”

“No …” The Chaos God said, but he sounded hesitant, unsure … and annoyed. “But somepony just made a serious attempt to take over my spot as Equis’s number-one prankster.”

“… Should I be concerned?” The Solar Princess put down the enchanted mithril chisel she had been using to inscribe the warding runes into the marble walls and placed a wing on Discord’s slender shoulders, to hold him back or give him comfort, she wasn’t sure.

“No, but I suspect you might need to give Applejack a little bit more time with your therapist than you were originally planning to.”