Digistructing into my own universe again I caught a glimpse of Discord before the light faded, leaving me in complete darkness.

Comforting Rainbow, I said, “Discord, nice to finally see you.” I took a flashlight out of my bag, turning it on and pointing it at the stone draconequus.

The feeling isn’t mutual, He thought-texted me.

I turned to leave. “Okay then, I guess I’ll just leave and forge-”

WAIT! He interrupted. I turned back to look at him. He sighed, Fine.... It’s good to see you too.... What’s with the three fillies?

I smiled, hugging my foals a little closer to me. “There’s a lot that you’ve missed. I’d be glad to tell you once I get Luna and Celly to agree to letting you out.”

What. ...There’s a catch, isn’t there?

Nodding I said, “Yep, I’d like your help with some things and you can only help me if you’re not trapped in stone.”

Great, can’t wait to help you take care of your foals, he texted sarcastically.

“What I have in mind is much more exciting than foalsitting. I want your help tracking down a pegasus,” I said as I turned to find the door. I noticed that we were in a large room, larger than the throneroom. The room was bare except for the token and Discord’s statue and I had no trouble locating a lever on the far wall next to an indent big enough for the statue to fit through while upright and still have a few feet of clearance.

That’s all? I’ll be done with that in only a month, he texted in a dismissive tone.

“There’s that, and I would like for you to find the Goddess of the Wheat Harvest and ask her if she would come talk to me.”

Holo won’t like that you’re with Celestia; she’ll take one sniff and demand that you get right to business.

Kinda figured Celly wouldn’t like a wolf the size of a barn, I thought before saying, “Be that as it may, I would still like to talk with her.”

Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

“I won’t,” I said as I walked away.

Reaching the door, I pulled the lever and waited as the wall lowered. Once it was half-way down I heard sounds of fighting. Metal hitting stone and other metal, cries of pain, the thump and schlick of a blade driving into a body, the moans of those too badly injured to fight or crawl away, the boom of cannons, and the whine of spells and missiles through the air.

Wha- DAMNIT!!! I was gone too long! I thought as I leaped up onto the stairs that were reversing their incline, coming out into the throne room just as a pegasus drove his dagger into a space between Luna's armor, driving it to the hilt and twisting it.

The stallion had a sneering smile on his face as he said, "Long live the princess." With that he pulled the knife out and whistled, the other pegasi turning and blasting out through broken windows, him following right after.

I caught a glimpse of pink and gold on the other side of Luna and dread filled me. N-no.... N-no, it-

I was suddenly standing over the dying bodies of Luna and Celestia, their armor dented and chipped. Luna was wearing light plate armor, mostly hardened leather with sheets of metal stitched in it, that was a dark blue with lighter highlights. It looked like she had been beaten with several war hammers, cut with who knows how many blades, then sat on by an Ursa Major. Celestia, though, looked worse. Her gold and white heavy plate was almost completely shattered and her warhammer was laying beside her, the head broken into shards.

Tears filled my eyes as they looked up at me, relief and acceptance written on their faces.

"M-Max... it is... good to- good to see you," Celestia choked out.

I knelt down next to her, a guard taking my foals from me, "Shh, d-don't worry. W-we'll-" I begin.

"No, they used.... There is no way we shall survive this," Luna said, her breathing labored.

"N-no, I can rewind time and-"

"No, Max," Celestia interrupted, sighing. "My sis-... sister is tired of ruling, and I w-would rather be your lov-er then run a country."

"B-but-"

"No-" Luna coughed and blood dripped from the corner of her mouth, Her lung had been punctured. "No. We had been talking of-... of giving you our power and thrones. To be ponies once more... "

"Y-you are ponies.... You're-" Celestia put her hoof on my lips and I let my tears fall.

"We would- have prefered to," she drew in a shaky breath. "live to be old, and go peacefully." She looked to my side and smiled, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "I had dreaded not being able to see my foals.... Please, raise them right. D-don't let them be f-filled with hate...."

I grabbed her hoof and kissed it. "I will. I p-promise I will." I sat down and pulled Celestia's head into my lap, kissing her as the sisters gave me the last of their strength.

With day coming later than normal, all of Equestria knew something had happened. I was made aware of it by a letter being delivered by a maid to Celestia's -- now mine and mine alone -- rooms. It was sealed by a piece of purple wax bearing the symbol of the moon.

I was sitting on the bed, Golden, Light, and Rainbow on my lap sleeping. "Open and read it, please," I said, my tears having run themselves out and left me empty... So so empty.

"Yes, your highness," the maid said. Dimly I remembered her as the one that always brought Celestia and I breakfast. Her name was... Hearth Flare? She cleared her throat before reading, "Dear Luna, Ponyville is in an uproar about the delay to set the moon and Mayor Mare asked me to send you this letter to ask about it. I hope nothing is wrong and it was just a prank that distracted you. Signed, Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle."

I closed my eyes and said, “Write a response-”

Hearing a commotion out in the hall, I went to the door and walked out. I felt something hit my shoulder and let out an “oof!”, a wing coming around in front of my face, almost knocking me over. A second or two later something else crashed into my leg, sending all three of us to the floor.

“Halt!” I heard a guard shout, the two that knocked me over tensing to jump off. Before they could, I stopped their muscles from getting the signal to move.

Lifting the one that was basically wrapped around my head I said, “Thank you guardspony, I shall take it from here.”

I took in the pony in my hands and saw that it was nothing more than a filly, just about to become a mare, in what looked like an assassin’s outfit -- complete with wrist-mounted miniature crossbow -- with a burglar’s mask. She had a dark blue coat and a brown mane, her emerald eyes looking into mine with defiance and a bit of fear. The filly, I noticed, had large wings; almost as big as Celestia’s it looked like. That filly is cute and fluffy.

I glanced over at the guards that slid to a stop, they were being led by the current captain; Stronghooves. Once he caught his breath he said, “Thank you for stopping them, your majesty. We will-”

“You will find how they snuck in and make sure no one else can,” I interrupted as I set the filly down and disentangled myself from the pony around my legs, my anger flaring. I walked over and circled him saying, “This is twice. TWICE! In twenty-four hours that someone has been able to sneak in here. What’s the problem here: your stallions and mares aren’t trained enough or nopony really cares about protecting their leaders?”

“But-”

I interrupted him again, stopping in front of him, “I’m talking right now; you listen! I should have your helmet after tonight. Now, go find how they got in or you’ll be court martialed for insubordination.”

He hesitated and I tore into him again, “Very well then, tomorrow night you’re to turn in your armor and receive the plain gold armor of a private. Don’t even think about choosing a replacement, I will choose who it will be.” I waved my hand, dismissing him, “Go find those holes in the defenses and make arrangements for fixing them.”

I turned my attention to Hearth and smiled, “May you please get drinks for my guests and I?”

“Y-yes, your highness,” She said as she bowed and trotted off.

I looked back at the mare and filly who crashed into me, releasing them enough for them to stand up and getting a better look at the two. The mare had a greyish coat and a red mane above blue eyes, which were also defiant and a little curious. She was also in an assassin’s outfit with a burglar’s mask over her eyes.

Now, who are these two? Doesn’t matter, I need their skills to track down commander Hurricane, I thought as I walked over to them again. Once I was in front of the two I said, “How about we go sit down and talk a little?” I turned to head back into my room. “You want to get an even bigger bounty or a way to pay it off?”

I noticed that Rainbow was rubbing an eye when I entered the room and picked her up, sitting back down on the bed. I smiled down at her and rocked her back and forth in my arms, humming to get her back to sleep.

“What was-” I shushed the grey mare. She continued with a softer voice, “What was that about paying bounties off?”

I looked up and fixed the mare with my gaze, “I want you to find some ponies and report their every move. You help with this, you can consider yourselves free ponies. Do it exceptionally well, you will have a job as my personal spies. I will not care how you complete missions and you will have total amnesty from the law.”

“Don’t you have -- I dunno -- hundreds of guards around here to do that for you?” the filly said.

I shook my head. “They clomp around in armor, not exactly what I would consider sneaky. You’ll get great benefits aside from those already mentioned.” Then I realized: this was Sky Runner and her sister Shadow. I can definitely use their skills. I have to make this sweet enough that they can’t turn it down.

They both looked at me suspiciously and said, “what kind of ‘benefits’?”

“Your own quarters in the palace you can use whenever, state of the art equipment, you will be able to appoint your own doctor, unlimited funds when it comes to missions I give you, and you’ll be able to give me one pony’s name so they will have the same as you. Not to mention a thousand bits per month.”

Sky flashed me a smile that didn’t reach her distrustful eyes and opened her mouth. I frowned as I interrupted her, “You lie and just take off, your bounties will change to ‘dead’ instead of ‘dead or alive’ and increased to twenty million. Each. Try to fuck me over, the same thing will be done. I don’t care if you trust me or not, as long as you are truthful your bounty will stay the same.” My face grew harder as I thought of Hurricane. “I want this pony bad enough that I’d tear apart this entire world atom by atom to find him, if I had the power.”

Sky glanced at her younger sister, before saying, “What did this pony you want do?”

Seething with anger and rage, I harshly whispered, “He killed my lover and her sister! With or without your help I will have him in my hand.”

I forced myself to put that away until Hurricane was captured. Once I was calm again I opened my eyes and said, “Celestia was my first love. S-she... gave me Golden and Light. And because of that-... that pegasus they have only me.” Tears streamed down my face as I tried to get my emotions under control again. “I-I... I don’t care what you have to do, who you have to kill, fuck, interrogate, I don’t even care if you have to destroy half of Equestria. As long as Hurricane is in front of me, you’ll be pardoned for everything you have done, you’ll have a room here, I’ll pardon another pony of your choosing, and you’ll get to keep whatever you collect on the way.”

“What about all the rest?” Shadow asked. Both were even more suspicious now.

“That’s if you accept the position as a personal spy for me.”

“I thought that was if we did ‘an exceptional job’?” Sky said.

My smile was hollow as a drained coconut. “Changed because I know who you are now. It’s not often a pair of burglars catch the attention of Luna and even rarer that she talks about them at dinner and breakfast. I had been thinking of approaching you anyways about this, but tonight....” My rage boiled once more as I thought about what happened. “Tonight made it that much more important to me.”

Just then Hearth Flare came in, a tray with three mugs on it in her magic. I forced my anger down again as she passed out the drinks. Once she left Sky spoke again, “We’ll need some time to talk this over.”

I nodded in acquiescence and pulled a cord near the head of the bed. “Ready a room for my guests, they’ll be staying until after the funeral. Make sure they know where everything is as well,” I told the servant that showed up. “And tell the guards that if they touch these two they will be no longer employed.”

Turning back to the two mares, I said, “Please stay out of the restricted sections. There is plenty to explore without going there. If you’ll excuse me, I need to be up in about two or three hours to feed my foals.”

Sky and Shadow nodded and left without another word.

“Would you still like me to write a response to Twilight?” Hearth asked as she stepped into the room again.

I sighed as I laid down and pulled my foals up on top of me, “Tell her that Celestia and Luna are dead and have named me as the next ruler.”

Author's Notes:

Sky Runner and Shadow are Happycamper's OCs. Go read his stuff if you haven't already.