"What d-do you mean Twilight is gone?" Applejack hissed through her teeth, staring wide-eyed at a tear-stricken Rarity.

They were all settled down in their sleeping herd, each of the five friends cuddled firmly together. It had been two days since their night together in the Stables, each of them having been taken away from their herd to work their various jobs around the city. Pinkie Pie was still quite timid and quiet, hair hanging straight and eyes firmly focused on the ground beneath her. It was a technique Earth Ponies had developed to deal with extreme stress, focusing on the ground, their birthright. Granny Smith, before she had been euthanized when Applejack was small, had used to tell them stories about how Earth Ponies could speak to the ground, to call it to come to them in times of pain and hardship. Applejack sadly peered down at the iron boots she, Pinkie Pie, and all Earth Ponies were forced to wear. She rubbed it slowly along the ground, wishing fervently that she could sense her missing friend.

"If those damn C-centaur took her," Rainbow Dash muttered from Applejack's left, "I-I... I'll..."

They were all quiet after that. What could they do? If Twilight had run away, she was already dead. The Centaur had cameras everywhere, and even more automated weaponry; runaways were butchered on the spot. And if her master had gotten tired of her... or if a passing Centaur took his fancy on her...

"She w-was looking q-quite upset when she left, last night," Rarity whispered, eyes closing as all her friends winced and teared up immediately.

Suicide was a sad fact of life in the herds, especially among the empathic Earth Ponies, and the frail, ever-stressed unicorns. More than one pony body was reluctantly handed over to the Centaur each week; some brave herd members made secret pyres in abandoned sections of the city to cremate friends and family. Getting caught usually ended in said family members being tossed onto the pyre themselves.

"S-she said she'd talk to us about t-that, if she decided..." Fluttershy whispered, closing her eyes.

Pinkie Pie sighed faintly, "...I-I hope she... didn't break a Pinkie Promise. If one goes..."

"We all go, together," the other's whispered solemnly.

Applejack sniffed; at her side, a little bundle of amber fur and cherry-red mane murmured in her sleep, nuzzling against Applejack's side. She knew Twilight's pain; Applejack had found a long cut down Applebloom's side earlier, but her little sister had refused to talk about it. Sweetie Belle, snuggled up against Applebloom as well, refused to talk about it either; she had just sniffed, given a few sobs, and collapsed to try to sleep. Not even Fluttershy, who was amazing with the other foals of the herd, could get the two foals to speak. Goddesses Above, Applejack felt like a failure. She had promised her parents that she would take care of Applebloom. She shouldn't have, in the end. You couldn't protect anypony with the Centaur around.

"M-maybe... maybe we should," Applejack whispered, eyes wide- but her voice was carried away by a strong breeze that rushed through the barn, carrying up the surprised cries of their herd.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were on their hooves in an instant, wings spread wide in a defensive positure; driven by instinct, Applejack whipped Sweetie Belle and Applebloom into the center of the protective circle, presenting her broad chest towards their open perimeter, knowing Pinkie Pie would be facing the other way. Rarity was standing tall in the center, her lanky body straddling the awake and shaking foals. This was the ultimate defensive pony posture; one burned into them by a thousand years of social engineering and survival. The pegasi, the consumate warriors of the equine race, would engage the threat, while the earth ponies defend the weaker members of the herd with their powerful bodies, all while the unicorns analyzed the threat, and used their magic to help end it. The ancient ponies would be... satisfied.

"What was that?" Applejack whispered tersely, scanning the doors to the barn; it was nearly dawn, the light of the sun just barely inching over the studded horizon.

"Not sure," Rainbow Dash replied quietly, entire body tense, ears perked in the air, "Felt like a helicopter, but no wind... maybe a-"

And without a sound, the floor gave out from under the entire herd.

********************

Twilight Sparkle watched with wide, awed eyes as the barn floor ever so gently floated down into the cavern. She had been hiding out in the crystal caverns beneath Asherein since the Book had appeared; its first pages had led Twilight to them. In fact, Twilight had been surprised to find that most of the beginning part of the Book was not about magic at all. Hidden spell-zones, secret passageways throughout the city foundations, the crystal caverns and where one could find water and food... And true food, at that. Twilight had been eating processed nutrient sludge her entire life. Being able to cook and devour a pair of hefty mushroom caps over a campfire had been mind-blowing. Of course, not as mind-blowing as having her horn.

The fabled appendage was beautiful, when she had been able to see it in a clear puddle of water. Long and slender, it was tapered to a wicked point, with grooves swirling along it. According to the book, now that she was full-grown, Twilight's horn would be incredibly difficult to remove, and the Sisters had developed spells to make it impossible. Those Twilight would learn ASAP. She would never be bereft of magic again. Not after she had felt its kiss for the first time... the first unicorn to use magic in centuries... The arcane energies had rushed up long unused capillaries in her body, fulfilling a biological need so long ignored that it burned at first. Twilight had screamed during her first spell, tears streaming down her face at the torrent of fire in her body. But the pain had faded. The fire had slowly cooled, and began to pulse with each second of her spellcasting, feeling all the world like one of Aloe's deep tissue massages. At the memory, Twilight's eyes had drooped. Poor Aloe and Lotus, locked in the Centaur-only Stables day and night...

To Twilight's surprise, that feeling of pity had not abated like it had once done. She could do something about it now. She had the magic, and the book! Her teeth had gritted together and Twilight's spell, originally just a simple light spell, had begun to morph.

All ponies are attuned to a certain shape, style, and element of magic.

Fire had begun to dance along Twilight's horn, leaving a tingling trail that left her mouth dropping open in a small gasp.

Pegasi tend to be attuned directly to the sky, or in some cases water, in order to fill clouds with rainwater. Some lucky pegasi are directly attuned to the elemental lightning, allowing them to create storms. Only an odd few find themselves attuned to fire, and that usually means they have unicorn ancestors.

The fire had traveled along Twilight's mane and across her withers, turning her fur into a blazing sheet of plasma.

Fire is the birthright of the unicorn race. It was unicorns who first brought fire to the other races. It was they who helped teach the first Earth Pony shamans to delve deep into the molten earth, to bring forth lava to suit their purposes. The greatest among the unicorn magi were known as archmages, Those unicorns with archmage-level magic, attuned to the elemental fire, were known as pyromancers.

When Twilight had opened her eyes, they had blazed with light, an ecstatic smile spread across her lips. She had felt... free. Two decades of stress burned away like so much trash, and she could only imagine what would happen to her master's whip if it struck her shimmering body then. Amazingly, the Book was not harmed by the crackling flames, flames so hot that the very stone was beginning to warp. And for hours, Twilight had studied on, sitting in a cavern of crystals as a living flame. She had so much to learn, and so very much to share with her herd.

To the several hundred ponies on the floating floor, seeing Twilight Sparkle was an utter shock. She looked brighter, her fur shining in some way that gave her far more luster than her counterparts. Her head was held imperiously, a small smile on her face; eager, and happy. And, of course, the horn. The unicorns in the crowd gave a united cry, surging forward frantically the second the floor touched to the ground; few noticed as the ground above closed in around the hole. Questioning voices and gentle nuzzles surrounded Twilight on all sides, and she giggled softly, gently quieting her friends with little taps on the muzzles. Rarity was staring at her in awe; she had never heard her friend giggle.

"I know you all are curious," she shouted over them happily, "Just sit down, and I'll show you. Everypony! Gather around, please!"

Obedient to a fault to any voice that seemed in authority, every pony quickly gathered in a semi-circle around Twilight, gazing up at her with a mix of apprehension, awe, and worry. Smiling softly, Twilight scooted close to her friends, leaning over to nuzzle each of them on the cheek. To their surprise, little tears were running rivulets down her own. Rainbow Dash had scooted forward in an instant, the loyal pegasus gently wiping the tears away with the back of her hoof.

"I-I nearly broke my promise," Twilight whispered softly, closing her eyes, "I'm... I'm s-so sorry... I just couldn't... t-take it anymore. My s-statue had been perfect t-tonight. My Master... was never going to l-let me see my son."

But before her friends could reply, Twilight's eyes snapped back open, her horn beginning to gleam a soft lavender hue as a fierce grin, one unseen on ponykind for centuries, split her muzzle.

"But if he won't let you see him, then we'll just... have to take him, huh?" Applejack breathed, her friend's confidence shockingly infectious.

"And your's, Applejack... Rarity's too... Rainbow Dash..."

"A-and mine?" yelled a soft, timid voice from the crowd.

"What about mine? I've had three, a-all I ever w-wanted was to have them..."

From across the herd, hundreds looked to Twilight with wide, pleading eyes. The Centaur had been holding the young of ponies as hostages for generations, working to break their herd bonds and make them more pliable. For some herds, it had worked. They had fractured into smaller and smaller groups, easily corralled and manipulated by the Centaur, their hopes slowly dashed by familiar colts and fillies who were sent back to them, but wanted nothing to do with their parents. Twilight and her friends had seen many suicides by the hand of despair and destroyed dreams. Twilight's own herd closed in around her, trembling and trying to share their own needs and hopes.

The lavender light grew in intensity, as did Twilight's smile.

"We will get them back," she promised, gesturing to the Book with conviction, "We will get everything back. The Sisters have shown me the way."

With a dull boom, the magic blasted from her horn in a mix of lavender and white light; to a unicorn's sight, they would have noticed tendrils of light joining the magical flare from the floor; Twilight's magic had tapped directly into the ley line nexus old Canterlot had been built on. According to her book, the nexus was the reason for the site of the construction. It had given the original unicorns the needed power to draw the marble, basalt, and granite up from the mountain's depths. And in doing so, they had left massive voids in the mountain's inner workings: the crystal caverns. The great crystal mine of Equestria, its greatest storeroom, and the source of its most powerful magic. Even that to heal and restore.

The pegasi in the herd cried out in bliss as the tendrils of magic poured into them; thaumaturgic magic latched onto their clipped wings and under-used flight muscles, warping and healing the damage so long lived with. Fire lanced across their spines for the briefest moments... and the world opened up like a great book. Rainbow Dash let out a small sob of wonder as scents and a new way of seeing opened up to her. She could smell each and every scent and pheromone of each individual pony in the room, and was certain she could distinguish between them; moisture in the air, earthy and tinged with metal, danced among the pheromones and, with a twitch of her forming wings, powerful layers of ozone. Rainbow-tinged lightning coursed across each feather and down her spine, causing Rainbow's hooves and tail to curl in bliss. It was practically sensory overload, and the young pegasus was close to sobbing as she realized just how much she had been missing her entire life.

It was only through the pegasi that Equestria was made strong. While they were consummate fighters, there was more to their race than war. They controlled the very heavens themselves. Clouds bent to their will, and rainbows poured their weather control mago-technology. For millenia, not a storm happened in our borders that was not planned out to the letter. When we were at war, it was custom that the pegasi send a mighty storm to herald our approach and our displeasure, and to give our enemies once last chance to sue for peace. It worked many a time. To have a strong and independent Equestria, you will need the stewards of the sky.

The magic latched onto the iron horse-shoes of the Earth Ponies first, vaporizing the metal instantly and flinging the atoms away in a great cloud of discarded tyranny. Applejack and Pinkie Pie cried out in surprise, joined by a horde of their fellows, as their soft hooves were unused to the ground beneath them. But the magic wasn't finished, and poured into their bodies, super-charging senses long dormant. Long ago, Earth Ponies had been thought as magic-less, called mudponies and other, worse things. That was far, far from the case. In the Book, Twilight had learned that Earth Pony magic was some of the strongest elemental forces at work. With effort and concentration, Earth Ponies could draw water directly to the surface from underwater springs, or find patches of nutrients to bring to their trees. Rocks and earth bent to their will like water could to unicorns, or the air to pegasi. And there were few with as much predilection to runic magic than a strong Earth Pony. They were quite literally the foundation and bedrock of pony society.

My sister and I were often saddened by the tribalism showed to the Earth Ponies. Unicorns believed they were lesser for not having magic they could easily see and quantify, and the pegasi looked down on them, quite literally, for being stuck to the ground. But that is the Earth Pony way. It is hard to move a mountain from high in the air, after all. The strength of a herd of determined Earth Ponies is manifested in just how much ground they wish to move. I have seen more than my fair share of stone walls breached by their hooves, or lava surging from the depths by the call of their shamans. Keep them on the ground, and an Earth Pony can work miracles in your name. They will fight, they will create. They will help shoulder whatever may be thrown against you.

Twilight winced in shared pain as the unicorns of the group screamed in surprise and pain, their horns emerging with a flash of multi-colored lights and sickening cracks. Those screams quickly, however, turned to yelps of bliss and joy, their minds opening up to the arcane so long denied to them. To their eyes, the dim lights of the ley lines they had seen before would change to a brilliant radiance. Where such brightness would blind other races, unicorn eyes were incredibly durable, able to fixate on lights as bright as the sun with no hope of being damaged. Many unicorns instinctively dug them into the magic of the ley line nexus, shaking as their mana reserves were instantly refilled. An eternal emptiness, one that drove many unicorns mad with a desire they could not place, was gone. All around the herd, crystals and rocks glowed with a variety of colors and auras as they rose into air. The unicorns simply couldn't help it. With so much magic, they had to let it out, somehow.

Unicorns are the light that guides Equestria. That does not, under any circumstances, make unicorns better than any other race. If anything, it adds responsibility to your species, Twilight Sparkle. Your kind control the arcane. You are the ones who give life to the magotechnology, once it is created and energized by the Earth Ponies and Pegasi. While they grow the food, become craftsponies and artisans, and control the weather, it is the unicorns who study magic, and help improve the empire. Only when all three of you work together can Equestria be great. We forgot that. Hubris on the part of all the races led to the death of the first Equestria. It led to our banishment. Twilight Sparkle... you cannot allow that to happen again. Guide the unicorns... and guide Equestria.

It took quite awhile for the herd to finally work through their excitement, but Twilight was patient, sitting among her best friends in the world as the rest of the ponies settled back into the semi-circle. Only once she was sure everypony was paying full attention once more did she rise back to her hooves, and begin to speak.

"The odds are against us. The Centaurs hold absolute power over Equestria. They have guns, and missiles, and Sisters' knows what else. But we do have something... something they can't fathom."

Twilight firmly stomped on the crystalline ground, purple light shimmering out.

"The average Centaur knows no magic. None at all. Only the Magisters hold true magical power. And there are one hundred and twelve of those inside the city. We already outnumber them over three to one."

Twilight's smile was dark and mirthless, eyes hard as she gazed at each and everypony. Finally, she turned towards the wall at her back, horn flashing once. A deep rumble shook the cavern; the herd cried out as a whole, rising into a defensive posture. Few had worked in the mines before, though many Earth Ponies stood still, eyes wide as the fake wall slid down into the floor. And revealed a true treasury of ancient Equestria. Or, in this case, an armory. The room was massive, lit by brilliant sunstones set high into the marble ceiling; weapon and armor racks lined the sides of the armory, over seven rows deep. Gleaming spears inlaid with a mix of small rubies, sapphires, and emeralds were settled in some, side-by-side with warhammers with heads of crystal, silver wing-blades, and warshoes made of still-shining steel. The pegasi were quick to flutter to the weapons first, carefully lifting and testing their weight and make. Judging from their impressed murmurs, Twilight imagined the weapons were high-quality. And she could tell from a glance that each and every one was enchanted.

The unicorns and earth ponies congregated on the opposite side of the armory, whispering to each other as they eyed the pony-sized armor settled on the armor racks. They were sleek, made of large, interlocking golden plates, with runes etched onto each of them, with sloping helmets with a single, circular viewport. There were three styles of armor: one, obviously made for earth ponies, was larger than the other two, with thicker plates and a built in battle harness for hook-up weapons. The hind leg armor was noticeably thicker, with arcano-servos to amplify the strength of a buck. When she lifted up one set of armor, Twilight was surprised to see that the front boots were opened to the ground.

"To allow elemental contact," Twilight whispered, giving a slow grin at the genius of the construction.

The pegasus armor was sleeker and more aerodynamic by far, with less armor along the sides, but plenty on the back and belly, to protect from strikes both above and below. Cables, inscribed with earth pony runes, ran directly from several pouches up to the foreleg armor, with had hooks to implant a variety of weapons. For the wings, stripes of armor with wing-blade indentions would attach to the shank and outer edge of the wing, while the rest of the feathers would be left free. Curiously enough, every third pegasus armor had a large communication crystal embedded between their wings: Twilight had seen one of the curiosities before with her master, though he had not known its use. It had taken Twilight much study to figure it out herself, honestly.

The unicorn armor was, rather obviously, the most interesting to Twilight. While not as bulky and powerful as earth pony armor, the silver-gold armor was practically covered in amplifying runes and circles. The helmet had a strong, and bladed, horn guard made of adamantium, also inscribed with empowering runes. Crystals, ranging from red, to blue, to green, to even black, lined the sides and forelegs, and the bottom of each boots was tipped with enchanted silver. A quick check revealed a long-lasting sticky cantrip, or an activated long-jump spell.

"Offense, defense, and support," Twilight murmured, horn gleaming as she quickly brought the book around; to her surprise, it was already opened up, just after the point she had paused in her reading before.

If you can see this, then you have decided to open the armory. We are glad. As much as my sister and I detest war, we were always prepared for it. At least, we believed we were. While we had steered our ponies towards peaceful pursuits and culture, we keep the weapons of our more war-like days in a place of protection. In the days of the empire, our armies boasted everything from flying sky-ships, to arcano-golems, to the Spires of Canterlot. Their activation is simple; I have drawn the rune here on this page. Merely have an earth pony draw the symbol on the floor of the armory. Then have a pegasus brush one's wing across it. And finally, a unicorn must add their magic to it. Once this is complete, you will have full control over every weapon and piece of armor in Canterlot. You must perform the same ritual in the throne room of the castle, in order to gain access to the Spires of Canterlot defense system.  Finally, information and specifications on all the weapons and armor in the armory will be written on these pages, once the ritual is complete. Use them well, Twilight Sparkle.

A dark smile still spread across her muzzle, Twilight Sparkle turned back to her awe-struck friends, and waved them close. It was time to prepare for war. The Centaur wouldn't know what hit them...