Author's Notes:

Sorry this took a while but I've been trying to get the latest chapter of Lightning Master completed as well. For those of you looking forward to it the next chapter will hopefully be out soon, week after the next at the latest.

"Rise and Shine you two." I heard Celestia's voice say before a rush of light met my eyes, which caused me to pull the sheets over mine and Luna's heads. I got a sigh of contentment from my lover as she snuggled closer to me. That is before our cover was yanked from my grip and we groaned in annoyance at not being able to enjoy being in bed together. "Come on you two. We may have the day off but I'm not going to allow you to waste it in Lulu's bed."

"Fine, Luna let's go over to the cave and spend the day in my bed." I told who murmured in agreement as I cradled her in my arms, ready to teleport to the Everfree. As soon as my horn lights up Celestia flicks it as cancel outs the spell and causing me a headache. Thanks to that I'm now fully awake and proceed to blast Celestia out of the room...... ,through the window. After taking care of the nuisance I lightly shake Luna in my arms to get her to wake up. "Come on Luna, it's time to get up." I say sweetly before giving her a kiss on the nose.
"But I want to sleep some more." Luna whined as she buried her face into my chest.

"Luna, sweets, I would suggest you get up now or I'm going to have to make you , and believe me when I say that you're going to hate me if it comes to that." I told her in a sickly sweet voice.
"Mmm, I doubt that Dark Heart. *yawn* Now if you'll excuse I have some sleep to catch up on." Luna said as she snuggled into my chest. I Tsked at her stubbornness and used my magic to opened up the door to her bathroom. I walked in and set Luna down gently onto the floor of the bathtub, though not before casting a warming spell so as not to arouse too much suspicion.
"Last chance Luna." I warned but she still refused to move. "*sigh* Don't say I didn't warn you." I tell her before turning on the cold shower and watch as she flew through her ceiling. I looked through the Luna shaped hole but instead of being met by the sight of my soaking wet marefriend I was instead greeted with the sight of of a blue beam of magic that hammered me down to the floor of the bath tub.
"What the heck Dark Heart, you just throw your marefriend into an ice cold shower and act like it's nothing!?" Luna yelled at me as she flew back down the hole. I couldn't answer as she was sitting on top of the back of my head and keeping my face planted to the ground. "What do you have to say for yourself mister?" Luna asked as she scooted down my back just enough for me to turn my head and speak.

"I did try to warn you that I was going to get you to wake you up plus it's your own fault for not getting up when I asked. I know you're a little tired but considering it's almost noon. I figured you would want to spend what time we have left today before you're back to being busy with your royal duties tomorrow." I told her calmly like she didn't hold my faith in her hands, or under her ass as the case may be.
"Why are you so worried about us spending all the time we have together anyway?"

"Cause of the mess I've gotten myself into." I said sadly.

"What mess?"

"This whole with Diamond Sky and Fratamantus. I'm not saying that I'm having second thoughts about rescuing her but I'm worried. My shadows can travel at incredible speeds at aren't slowed by the same boundaries we are so there's no telling how far I'll have to travel. Then there's me having to potentially fight the entire Windigo race, Fratamantus, and getting Diamond out of there." I paused for a moment to let the information sink in. "Then there's also the fact that besides all of that I'm worried that there may actually be a chance that I may not even make it back at all. All of this has been plaguing my mind since that day and so I've wanted to spend as much time with everypony I care about as much as I can before the shadows locate the Windigo fortress and I'm forced to leave to go after Diamond." I admitted to her with clenched fists.
"Why would you be worried about something like that?" Shocked by her question I stood up and knocked down to the floor. "What was that for?" She whined as I helped her up.
"What do you mean why am I worrying about that stuff like that. One I'm going against Windigos, the same creatures who draw power from the same place I do and they outnumber me one to possible ten, maybe even hundreds, of thousands. There is also the fact that I'll be at a major disadvantage raiding their home and all while making sure I don't put Diamond Sky in danger, so how can you ask me how I can be worried about stuff like this?"
"Well you're talking about it like you're actually thinking of going alone." My jaw dropped upon hearing this and I looked at her like she had grown a second head. "Wait a minute, you mean you really thought that me and Tia would just let you go off on your own to fight Fratamantus and save Diamond Sky?" I nodded dumbly in response. "Dark Heart, I'm appalled that you would think such a thing."

"Luna, no, I can't ask you two to help me, even if me, you, and Diamond are in a herd now."

"Oh I don't mean us I'm talking about Hyperion." Luna stated calmly.

"And when the hell was this established?"

"The day you sent out the shadows. We were all coming by to talk about plans on finding the fortress and decided to head into the Everfree Forest when we had no meetings for the rest of the day and ran into Hyperion, who was hoping to meet up with you as well. When we saw the spell you were working on to improve your shadows' tracking capabilities we hung back and watched to make sure nothing went wrong. While doing so we got into a conversation about what our ideas were but Hyperion had pointed out one crucial thing that wouldn't have allowed any of our plans to work."
"And what would that be?"

"That you're doing this alone." Luna stated with a seriousness I've haven't seen since our encounter at Neighburg. "It was this fact alone that made us realize why none of our ideas were of satisfactory, it was because we were forming them around the idea that you would have help. Once that thought crossed our minds I had to ask her if she would be willing to accompany you to storm the Windigo stronghold and considering how well you two seem to work together when it came to facing the demon lord I would feel much better having her go with you. Hopefully once you've reached Diamond she'll be willing to fight back alongside you two as well which should make things all the better."

"Hyperion, I guess fighting that demon lord really got her going if she's going to come with me to go fight the Windigos knowing that there might not be a chance we will make it back. I'm not saying I'm already anticipating our defeat but it will be a bitch fighting those asshole, definitely won't be coming back in one piece but I'll live." I said with a shit eating grin as the thought of ripping Fratamantus apart.
"And the condition of those two are of little concern, how unthoughtful of you." Luna lightly scolded.

"Those two are going to be the reason I'm going to get so fucked up in the first place, you know how my protective instincts like to kick in whenever those I care about are in danger, besides who do you think is going to be carrying me home?"
"Well hopefully the fortress will be somewhere relatively close to the Crystal Empire so you won't have to come all the way back to Equestria from the frozen north."
"Well odds are that if it's anywhere it's the-" I stopped when I heard a familiar voice speaking to me.

"Dark Heart please come for me soon." I heard Diamond's plea before an image of the a fortress made of ice and obsidian appeared within my mind as well as its exact location, along with numerous windigos roaming in and around the structure. That image faded into another, a palace in the center of the walls that were surrounded by it's own walls those these seem more heavily guarded and tougher to get through. The image faded again and it seemed as though I was walking down the halls of the palace and had just walked into the throne room where King Fratamantus was sitting. It didn't stop there and moved to another hall to the right of the throne and moved to a door at the end of the hall. Going inside the room I saw that sitting there at a desk was Diamond Sky and she was looking miserable as she seemed to be looking through paperwork.
Yet again the scene vanished and I became once again aware of my surroundings as I was met by the sight of a worried Luna. "What happened Dark Heart?" She asked when she saw me blink rapidly.
"I saw the Windigo fortress and the city that lies inside it. I also managed to see Fratamantus sitting his fat ass upon his throne in his palace along with a miserable looking Diamond Sky." I told her as I stood up and walked over to the balcony.
"What does it mean, do you know where to find them?"

"It means that one of my shadows have found them and that I could finally go rescue her." I said as my eyes were already flashing with the images of the Windigos falling at my feet.
"I take it that you'll want to leave right away then?" Luan asked sadly.

"No, I'm sure Hyperion will have to gather supplies before we head out but just in case she's already one step ahead of me then yeah, I'm going to want to leave as soon as possible. The longer I linger the longer Sky has to suffer her father's oppression, sorry Lulu." I pull her into a hug and nuzzled into her cheek.
"It's okay Dark Heart, I want her here with us as well so I don't mind. The only thing I'm really sad about is that we didn't get my time together but I guess I could just have you make it up to me when you get back." Although I couldn't see it I knew she had a devious smirk on her muzzle. We stayed like this for about twenty more minutes as we sat on Luna's bed before she pulled away. "Now go on and go inform Hyperion of the news and if it turns out that she indeed has to prepare then you better come right back here, alright?" She asked before giving me a kiss and leaving without waiting for my response.
I smile fondly at the door where my lover just exited before getting up and ran off the balcony. Halfway down to the ground I saw it fit to draw one of my blades before kicking off the wall and throwing into the wall. In proved effective in providing the necessary propulsion to launch clear across Canterlot and land in the streets, with the added bonus of kicking up dirt and dust and having it cover the nobles wandering the streets upon my "landing".
"How dare you get filth on me you scoundrel. I shall make you pay dearily for this atrocity!" I heard the all too annoyingly familiar voice say from behind me. The only thing I did was groan and began to walk away seeing as I have more pressing matters to deal with. That is until I was picked up by a blue aura. "Figures it would be you who would have performed such a heinous act." The insufferable "Prince" Blueblood said as he stared at me with narrowed eyes.
"Blueblood, I have no time for your fucking whining today so put me down and I'll consider not breaking off your horn and shoving it thoroughly up your ass you pompous prick." I stated as calmly as possible. The resounding gasps of shock from the ponies around us was tempting me to mess with Blueblood but time is of the essence.
"I doubt there's anything you do that's considered important." He sneered.

"Then go tell that to your dear aunties but right now I'm not dealing with your shit." With that statement said I tapped into the magic channels and got into contact with a nearby shadow. With its orders received it came into view rather quickly and snaked up Blueblood's leg and up to his horn. As soon as my shadow made contact Blueblood's magic was cancelled out and I blasted Blueblood towards the castle.

Once he was out of sight I teleported back to my cave and made my way over to Hyperion's home which isn't that far from mine. As I came up upon the entrance of her cave I could hear a humming resonating from deep within. I followed the sound until I reached a door where it seemed to be coming from. Pressing an ear to the door I could water running on the other side and decided to wait for her in the living room.

While I waited I revisited the scene shown to me earlier by one of my shadows and examined the details of the fortress and find the best way to traverse through the city undetected. By the time I found a path halfway through the city and to the palace, Hyperion had finished her shower and walked out into the living room with nothing but a towel on.
"Aaaahhh, Dark Heart what are you doing here!?" She screamed when she took notice of me.

"Hey Hyperion, sorry for just coming in unannounced but I had some news that I thought you would like to hear." I told, never taking my eyes of the map I was making.
"And this news couldn't wait until later?" I think I caught someone in a pissy mood now haven't I.

"My shadows found the Windigo fortress and I came here to tell you that we're moving out as soon as you're ready. In the meantime I'm making the two of us a plan of entry so that we can attract little to no attention from the civilians but we'll have time on the way to improve it as my shadow feeds more info." I told as I got up and started to leave, though not without leaving behind a pendant that I made for this type of situation. "Use that to contact me when you have everything in order, I don't want to leave Sky there longer than I have to." And with that I walked out and teleported back to my cave to grab a couple of things and then proceeded to teleport back to the castle's dining room.
When I got there I looked up from the map again to find Luna and Celestia speaking to an injured Blueblood and I couldn't help but notice that Luna was trying to hide her smirk from her nephew. "And then he had the gall to use his disgusting black magic to cancel out my magic and blasted me towards the castle." Blueblood finished up.
"Well it sounds to me dear nephew that you are most definitely wrong in this matter. Dark Heart indeed has a very important mission that could very well change Equestria for the better and you were getting in the way of that. We've told you once already but apparently you must reminded that he his part of a special branch of Equestria's royal guard. A branch that only follows our orders on, or off duty, plus it sounds as though he didn't even know that you were there and throwing a temper tantrum like a little filly most definitely isn't helping your case." Celestia stated with her calm demeanor as she and Luna were drinking there tea.
"Oh Celestia that's just insulting." I stated making my presence known to the three.

"At least he sees some of my-"

"Even the most spoiled of fillies don't throw a tantrum half as bad as Blueblood here, and here I thought you cared for the children." At this point Luna was having difficulty holding back her laughter, but Celestia didn't, as much at least, as she let out a brief giggle. Old Blueblood looked like he was about to pop.
"Yes, I suppose you're right, that is very insulting to fillies everywhere but I simply have no other comparison to the way he acts when he doesn't get his way." Celestia stated as she rubbed her chin in thought.
"What is there to compare it to other than his previous tantrums. Your nephew is in a league all his own so I don't really see the point." I picked up Luna off the chair and took her place as she placed upon my lap and I wrapped my arms around her waist. "Now Blueblood, if you would kindly leave as the adults need to talk about urgent matters that are too complex for your feeble mind to comprehend."
He gawked at me like I had grown a second head before glaring at me. "You dare to continue insulting you insolent pest, the only reason you haven't ended up in a dungeon is because Auntie Luna seems to fancy you for some reason. Note that the moment when you least expect it I'l-"
"And that's enough out of you for the day." I said as I sealed his mouth shut and teleported him back to his chambers, tied up to his bed, so that we could proceed with our meeting.
"So I take it Hyperion has to prepare?" Celestia stated as soon as Blueblood was gone.

"Yeah, and she really needs to invest into a door that has a lock. She was in the shower when I got there but I just opened the door and walked right on in. If this doesn't clue her in then somepony worse amy stumble upon her humble abode and who knows what could happen then." Celestia nodded in understanding and was about to say something but the doors to the dining room opened up and another voice cut her off.
"Auntie Celestia, I've been looking everywhere for you and Auntie Luna, though I should have known you two would be in here." Came the sweet voice of Cadance. I've met Cadance and Twilight's older brother, Shining Armor, twice since I've been released and both time were for some little errands that the sisters have sent me on. Shining Armor was straight up hostile upon our first meeting since he had seen me using my dark magic to recreate some of Sombra's dark crystal's for examination. He didn't last very long in that fight as I took him down very easily, and he used to be captain of the royal guard. Ever since then he's been wary of me but Cadance on the other has been pleasant to be around and accepted my dark powers without hesitation. I've been meaning to make it a point to spend a little more time with her since we did have fun when we're around each other, even more so when Cadance convinces Shining Armor to join on our antics.
"You know they're always stuffing their faces with cake right? I mean I know that with plots like this one's," I grabbed a handful of Luna's ass and squeezed the fleshy orbs till the excess was overfilling them, which got a good, loud moan from her. "but I've seen their workouts and I can honestly say that they aren't slacking in the slightest to keep themselves in shape." I finished as Cadance was smiling deviously at me once she spotted me from under Luna. Said alicorn was staring daggers at me as her whole face had turned red, needless to say that I was going to be in the dog house when I got back.
"Now what do you think you're doing over there mister?" Cadance asked playfully as she giggled.

"Nothing much, just enjoying my marefriend's company as we discuss a plan for infiltrating the Windigo Fortress and rescue Princess Diamond Sky." Gesturing towards to map, I ushered her to take a look at it.
"Wow, you actually found it, and it seems to be pretty close to the Crystal Empire." Cadance said as she looked over the map.

"Actually it's still a fair distance away, the map isn't really up to scale; I mainly made for planning my path through the city. There's still a lot I don't know yet that I'm having my shadows look into so that I could come up with a better plan before me and Hyperion get there in a week." I told her as she set the map down in front of us.
"A week, really, I thought I would have been much further away than that." Luna said with amusement.

"Of course you would think so but you seem to be forgetting one little, itsy bitsy thing my dear Luna."

"What is that Dark Heart?"

"A day's walk from the empire leads into the Desolate Fields." The three gasp upon hearing this as that name caused even me to shudder. It was the very place Sombra used to perform horrific experiments and the crystal ponies as he tried to turn them into the perfect army. After Celestia and Luna had defeated Sombra many of the test subjects had escaped from their containment in the underground facility and have claimed the area for themselves. The experiments were a success in terms that the subjects were extremely hostile and held no remorse whatsoever. Many have made attempts to get in contact with their inner self but all have died in the proces. After many failed attempts the area was sealed off and from what Celestia has told me it has remained since then.
"You're tellin me that we have to walk through that horror show to get to the Windigos' fortress!?" Hyperion shouted as she walked into the room. Before I could say anything I heard barking coming from behind her and soon me and Luna were knocked out of the chair and I felt something licking my face.
"Why is there a timberwolf licking Dark Heart's face, and more importantly, why are we just letting this happen?" Cadance asked as she watched Ember cover my face in her sappy drool. "Actually forget those questions, who is this?"
"This, Cadance, is Ember and she is my pet and one of my best friends. I've had her since my second day back and, as you could probably tell, she's really affectionate when you get to know her." I tell her as I pull Ember off of my face and hug her to my chest and nuzzling the top of her head.
"Ah, she looks so cute, does she have any siblings because I would love to have such an adorable pet to keep me company during my royal duties." She said as she scratched under her chin, Ember just eating up the attention.
"What are you doing here girl?" I asked Ember which caused her to turn around to look at me with a serious expression along with a bark.

"What did I do?" She bit me as an answer and I believe I knew what she was trying to say. "You heard about me leaving to go rescue Diamond and want to come along, don't you?" She smiled up at me as well as wagging her tail back and forth very quickly to show her excitement. "Are you sure Ember, we're going to be heading to the frozen and I'm not sure how well you can handle that kind of cold for a week." She bit my leg in response as she growled at me. "Alright, alright girl, I'll take you with us. Are you ready to go now." She nods to and I look over to Hyperion.
"Yeah I'm ready." I saw that she was carrying a pack behind her so I wasn't going to bother her about it any further.

"Alright then, let's get going." I turn to Luna who was shyly kicking her hoof on the ground. I walked up and gave a hug. "I'll see in you again soon Luna, and I'll be sure to bring Diamond back with me." She looked at me and gave me a quick hug. I saw her smiling when she pulled back.
"Make sure you do Dark Heart, and make sure you're both in peace." With that said she let me and the three of us made our way out. It wasn't long before we were on the train to the Crystal Empire. I waved to Luna and Celestia as we were pulling away from the station.
"So are sure you're up for this now?" A shorter Hyperion asked.

"If you weren't ready to leave you should have said because I want all three of us to be well and ready for the journey ahead of us." I told her as I stared out the window.
"That's not why I'm asking, something seems to be bothering you and I was wondering if it was going to affect us in any way while we're out there."
"Don't worry about it Hyperion, it won't. If anything it'll only aid us should things go haywire." I said as an evil grin came upon me.

"So then it's about Diamond then, well I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure once she knows that we're here she'll help us fight. Who knows maybe she even has a few of her people to help her out." Hyperion offered up her own opinion and I couldn't help but have at the image of Diamond coming to our aid with a miniature army of her own as well as the expression on Fratamantus's face once he sees that his own daughter has betrayed him.
"I'll admit that's a little too optimistic for me but who knows, from what I could pick from what time I have spent with Diamond is that she can be an evil genius when she wants to be."
"Yeah I know but I thought I put something out there to help lift your spirits." She pulled me closer to her into a strong hug that threatened to crush my spine but I didn't say anything as I enjoyed being around Hyperion as much as Luna and Sky. We stayed like that for quite a while though we shifted our position so that Hyperion was laying her head on my shoulders so that she could get some sleep and Ember had the same idea as she was laying on Cadance's lap, the princess of Love having dozed off quite some time ago. I stayed awake and watched the scenery pass by the window.
Don't worry Diamond Sky, we're on our way. I thought as the grassy plains turned into endless fields of snow and ice.