We slowly make our way through the Everfree Forest, Galaxia at the front with everyone else fanned out to the left and right. We step as lightly as possible and slowly advance towards the castle ruins, the sounds of the trees rustling in the wind and wildlife, with the occasional twig snap can be heard in the air.

"See anything?" I ask Galaxia quietly as all I see are animals either sleeping in their nests, watching us, or fleeing.

She frowns as she looks around. "Not yet, but we are still a fair bit away from the castle," she replies and looks up into the trees.

We continue on and one of the female guards yelps as a large white spider the size of my head crawls up the tree next to her. "Ha! Scared of a little bug?" a male guard asks her, making her frown angrily at him.

"Shut your muzzle, Iron Sabre! I just didn't see it!" she whispers angrily to him.

I chuckle as they’re shushed and focus back on our task, it takes a good hour of slow travel but we're now coming up to the castle.

"Is the orb working?" I ask Galaxia as I spot a couple of elves in the trees just past the gorge that has a very old rope bridge over it.

Galaxia holds her right hand up, signalling the guards to stop. "Yes, it is," she replies and pulls the orb out of a satchel on her hip, then puts it back inside. "Now then, do we attack and ask questions later, or try to get them to surrender?" she asks me, eyeing the two elves.

One of them yawns and looks our way, he then frowns as he narrows his eyes.

"We may have to attack, I think they spotted us," I reply.

The elf that yawned is now talking to the other while pointing in our direction and readying his bow.

Galaxia pulls back on her invisible bowstring and an arrow forms as she takes aim. "I'll take out the right one. Spitfire, go for the left elf," she says, lining up her shot.

Spitfire hefts up her rifle and aims down the scope. "Fire!" Galaxia says and fires her arrow that flies faster than I thought it would, nailing the elf in the forehead. Next is Spitfire's gunshot which frightens off birds and other animals, but also hits her target in the head.

They both drop out of the trees and Galaxia stands up. "Surround the castle! Don't give them any chances to escape!" she orders the guards.

They quickly get to work and carry the non-flyers over the gorge before veering to the left and right around the castle while unicorns teleport over and to flanking positions.

A horn is blown from the castle and the sounds of an elf yelling muffled orders is heard within. I hear more gunshots and see more elves falling out of trees while I hear bowstrings twang in response.

Galaxia grabs the back of my chestplate's collar and carries me over the gorge and to the entrance where about five elves run up to the derelict walls and start firing arrows at us, some with elemental properties like electricity and ice. Galaxia erects a barrier deflecting their arrows while our forces shoot back.

I cancel my aspect form and channel two earth and two fire elements, making a flaming rock twice the size of my fist hover in front of my shield. I then hold it out to the right of Galaxia's barrier and crudely aim at the wall. When I think I have a good shot, I release the spell and the rock slams right into the wall covering two elves, it detonates sending stone, fire, and debris everywhere and the two elves are sent back in a daze.

I feel a bit jealous as I watch Galaxia just fire more arrows through her barrier without any damage to it, but I guess her arrows are made of the same magic as the barrier so I suppose it'll not be affected by them, or the barrier spell is made to only allow her magic through.

Elven mages now arrive each with a staff who begin firing bolts of mana, electricity, ice, or large chunks of stone via levitation at us and our surrounding forces.

Our unicorns are also setting up barriers where earth ponies, pegasi, and thestrals use them as cover to fire rifles or bows safely, while the unicorns holding up the barriers slowly advance forward towards the walls.

I hear more muffled orders being shouted out as we approach the now panicking elves. I see a few of our guards take hits in the shoulders or head, the ones with shoulder wounds have the arrows removed and have healing wands used on them, while the ones hit in the head are left there for now.

Galaxia frowns as we're now close to the castle entrance, it's had its doors replaced and reinforced with fresh wood and iron.

"Cover your ears!" Galaxia commands all nearby as she pulls back hard on her bow, the limbs creaking in protest. The arrow's head is now a large ball of swirling magic which looks more like a galaxy on the end of an arrow shaft. She then releases it and the arrow soars into the doors, blowing them both off their hinges and damaging the door frame.

The sound is deafening as the ground rumbles and shakes, stone and wood sent in all directions as dust, magical mist, and smoke fill the air.

"Advance! Take any elves prisoner if you can! If not, put them down!" Galaxia then commands as we all rush forward.

Guards start restraining the disoriented elves near the door while Galaxia, ten guards, and I flood into the lobby of the ruined castle. A group of six elves are packing up gear or equipment and I see a zebra tied up and unconscious to the left in an iron bar cage.

I frown and look to Galaxia. "I'll get the zebra, you focus on the elves," I tell her, getting a nod from her.

I carefully make my way to the cage, my shield facing the elves while Galaxia speaks up. "Surrender yourselves without resistance and you shall not be harmed, resist and your lives are forfeit!" she warns them with an arrow drawn at the ready.

Arriving at the cage, I use a water element to soak the lock, then use a cold element to freeze it solid. Once brittle enough, I slam my sword's pommel into it, shattering the lock and swinging the cage door open.

The elves look at each other and nod grimly. I quickly cast a barrier dome around me and the zebra before looking to Galaxia. "PUT UP A SHIELD NOW!" I warn them, getting Galaxia's eyes to widen as the elves start charging up their magic, but instead of putting up a shield, she launches a mist of shadow from her right hand at the elves which engulfs them all.

I hear them yelp, startled by the mist but it's followed by six thuds. Once the mist clears, the elves are on the ground fast asleep. The mana they were gathering slowly dissipating away.

Galaxia looks around the room before looking at our guards. "Round them up and bind them, if they wake up, knock them back out," she orders the guards who quickly do as she says.

I go back to checking over the zebra for any injuries but find only a few bruises showing under the white fur. I cast a healing beam at her and the bruises heal leaving only dirt and dust on her fur.

"Is she alright?" Galaxia asks me, she's still on guard for any more elves as other guards start walking in with either out cold or dead elves as well as six dead guards and seven more injured.

"She's alive and I healed her wounds. But she's under a sleep spell which I can just nullify," I reply and channel an arcane and shield element to cast nullify. A small dome spreads around me, dispelling all magic around me and the zebra.

She groans as her eyes slowly open. "W-Where am I..?" she asks slowly as she tries to get up.

I help her to sit up as she rubs the sides of her head. "The old castle in the Everfree. Elves abducted you and put you to sleep, but we've dealt with them now and you're free," I tell her as I then help her onto her hooves and out of the cage.

She groans in discomfort, still holding her head as Galaxia walks over. " Your ordeal is over, we shall escort you out of the forest and arrange passage back to Zebrica if you want," she offers the zebra.

"I thank you for the offer, but my home is within this forest," she replies groggily.

Galaxia nods and smiles. "If you are sure, then I shall have a few guards escort you to your home," she says as she instructs three guards to escort the zebra back to her home.

I look around at the equipment of the elves and don't know what over half of it is even for, I never studied elven magic or runes so I suppose it would be sent to Twilight to figure out what they are and do.

With everything clear and done, I turn to the remaining guards. "Round up the elves and their gear! I'll try to revive the guards we lost while we get ready to leave!" I tell them getting affirmatives as they start gathering up the equipment and materials.

---

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All this research and the theories Starswirl left behind, extended teleportation range with less mana used, new experimental runes to increase a staff’s magical potential by seventy percent! So many spell formula and alchemic concoctions yet to be tested and made... Oh gosh my heart is beating so fast my excitement is about to make it burst.

I flip through another page detailing the rune network needed for the staff, if I can boost mine, my brother's and Adrian's staffs and shields with these runes, they'd be able to fight harder and take down any threat faster.

The sound of glass shattering on the floor startles me out of my excitement.

"AAAAAAHHH!" I scream and fall backwards off my chair which breaks due to its old age.

I get up and look at a sheepishly smiling guard next to a broken, but thankfully empty, test tube on the floor.

Next, the sound of a pop with a poof of pink smoke goes off.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" I scream again as Discord appears right in front of me.

He winces and rubs the inside of his left ear, making squeaky noises as he does. "By all that is chaos, you have a rather impressive set of lungs..." he says and shakes his head rapidly with a rattling sound.

"Discord... you nearly gave me a heart attack!" I tell him and sigh.

He chuckles and grins. "Sorry my dear, but I bring news. Celestia and the others have defeated the Sphinx phony who turned out to be a puppet of Gorgar. They're on their way back to Canterlot while Adrian and Galaxia along with guards are dealing with the elves in the Everfree. So other than that? We can continue your training and or carefully continue ol' Beard's research," he explains to me.

I grin and retrieve the rune network research. "I would like to continue with this, it could be very useful for making mine, Adrian's, and Shinning's magic through staffs and shields more powerful," I reply and carefully hold out the old papers to him.

He takes them and puts a pair of silver reading glasses on. "Ah yes, I remember these. This and the teleporter runes were the last things he worked on before he was called away to the battle he lost his life in..." he tells me with a sad expression, but then smiles at me and hands the papers back. "And I agree, these will help tremendously. I think you might even be able to improve on it," he says with a wink before snapping his talon's fingers.

An old box floats out of the storage room and gently sets down on the main table. I look inside to see both finished, partially done, and blank stone runes.

"Now then, shall we get to work?" he asks me while wearing a lab coat and goggles.

I giggle happily and start to carefully set the runes out on the table.

---

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We arrive back in Canterlot, and I have a powerful headache that the life element can't get rid of. I managed to revive four of the six guards before it became too dangerous and too hard to focus to attempt another.

Galaxia gently sets me down as we land in the courtyard, I'm breathing heavily and wincing at the throbbing pain in my head. A guard rushes over to me before I could collapse and holds me up with my right arm over his shoulder.

"Nice catch," I mumble with a weak chuckle.

He chuckles as well as we all head into the Castle with our elven prisoners, the two remaining dead guards, and the elven equipment and gear.

I as well as the four revived guards along with the two dead ones are taken to the medical wing of the castle while Galaxia takes the elves and their stuff to the throne room. I hiss in pain as my headache flares up for a minute before calming down.

"Are you alright, my King?" the guard carrying me asks in concern.

I can only wince as I answer. "Just a bad headache... just need to lay down for a few hours..." I reply as we just enter the medical ward.

After a bunch of commands from the doctors to nurses, we're all taken to rooms where I start to feel light headed.

"Not to alarm you all but... I don't feel too good..." I say lethargically as my vision goes dark.

Next Chapter: Chapter 101: Arcane Contract Estimated time remaining: 12 Minutes