Five days later, a train pulled into Ponyville station with a hiss of steam and squealing brakes. A young dragon waited on the platform beneath the starry sky, nervously tapping his claws together as he observed the disembarking passengers, their breath frosting in the air.

Finally, his eyes widened as he spotted a group of eight ponies exiting the train. “Twilight!” Spike called in delight, leaping up and hugging her around the neck.

“Spike!” Twilight cried, hugging her little assistant back as she and her friends climbed onto the platform. “Oh, we missed you!”

“I missed you, too!” Spike said, hugging Rarity, Flash and Starlight as well. “You’ve been all over the papers!” He held up a folded-up newspaper, revealing the headline: Intrepid Adventurers Capture Pirates and Recover Long-Lost Treasure!

Flash chuckled. “Yeah, we saw those papers, too.”

“We called ahead to the Baltimare Guard to tell them we were coming. You should’ve seen the look on their faces when we sailed into the dock!” Rainbow laughed.

“Hey, where’s Phil and Dar—er, Irene?” Spike asked, looking around.

“They stayed in Baltimare to take care of the treasure,” Flash explained.

“More than a dozen museums are already placing bids on the treasure,” Twilight stated, lifting some of the books from the chest out of her saddlebags. “But I want to look over these first. There’s just so much knowledge here!”

“Which can wait until later,” Flash said firmly. “It’s late, and we all need some rest.”

Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie all waved goodbye, with Pinkie promising to host an adventure party tomorrow. Spike, Starlight, Flash and Twilight made their way back to the Friendship Castle. The crystalline structure seemed to twinkle faintly, as though it had absorbed the light from the stars above them.

Starlight affectionately patted the crystal doors as they passed through into the main hall, then hurried into the study. “Starlight, aren’t you going to bed?” Twilight asked.

“Later!” Starlight said, taking out a quill and inkpot. “I need to write down what I’ve learned!” She started searching through the drawers of the study, her eagerness slowly turning into confusion. “Where are my notes?” she asked, opening up a dozen drawers and searching through them all. “And the crystal shards? Where are they?!”

“I didn’t touch them,” Spike said.

“Didn’t you put them away in the same drawer before we left?” Twilight asked, joining in the search.

“I’m sure I did!” Starlight said. “I—” She stopped suddenly and looked up, a strange glimmer having caught her eye. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing up into the corner rafters of the room. The others all looked up and saw what she had spotted: a small piece of crystal, a slightly different shade of blue from the rest of the walls, affixed to the ceiling. Twilight used her magic to pull the strange object down to examine it. It was a piece of crystal, carved into the shape of a lens, polished to a mirror-like shine.

“What is it?” Starlight asked, staring at her own distorted reflection.

Flash’s eyes widened. “Is that what I think it is?”

Twilight cried out in surprise as the crystal suddenly shattered, dissolving into a pile of dust before their eyes. She stared at the artifact’s remnants, then slowly nodded.

“That was a surveillance crystal.”

Miles away, a green pegasus with a brown mane flinched, his blue eyes widening in shock as one of the images in front of him flared white and vanished. “Oh, hell,” Star Watcher muttered, racing out of the secret alcove and through the great room with the organ and the painting of the Final Judgement. Sprinting down the hallway, he raced up a set of stairs, circling upwards and upwards three floors and hurrying to the room at the end of the hall. Panting, he rapped at the wooden door.

“Come,” a voice called through the door. Star Watcher swallowed and entered.

On the other side of the door was a grand bedroom, decorated in luxurious furniture and carpeted in alternating black and white squares, like a chessboard. A king-sized four poster bed decorated in scarlet sheets and black curtains sat in the center of the room. Zugzwang was laying on the bed, curled up next to a pearl white unicorn mare with silvery-blonde scarlet-streaked hair. Both of them were admiring a brown unicorn foal with a tuft of a dark red mane, who was yawning and cooing sleepily.

“Dies Irae, Dies Illa,” Zugzwang was crooning, playing a glass harmonica in the corner with his magic. “Sovet saeclum in favilla…” He paused the song, looking up at his apprentice with an expression of irritation. “What is it, Star?”

“Master,” Star panted, bowing. “It’s Princess Twilight and Sentry. They found one of the surveillance crystals. It’s only a matter of time before they find the rest of them.”

“Surveillance crystals?” Scarlet Letter asked.

“I told you once before of the night I reintroduced myself to Phillip Finder, almost two years ago,” Zugzwang replied. “While he was busy rescuing his friends, I planted surveillance crystals in his homes and his friends’ homes. It has proved quite useful.”

“But sir—” Star started to say.

Zugzwang ceased his speech with a raised hoof. “Hush. You are disturbing our son. If they have found it, it is out of our hooves.” He turned to the carved desk in the corner. “It is already too late; were it not for these surveillance crystals, I would not have learned of Frau Glimmer’s research.”

Sitting atop the desk was a group of scrolls, stacks of hoof-written notes, and a collection of dark purple and blue crystals, some of them broken-off shards and some carved into a variety of shapes.

“Because of her, our plans can accelerate,” Zugzwang declared.

Scarlet’s eyes widened in rapture and a delighted gasp passed through her lips. “You mean…?”

“Dies Irae will happen soon, my love,” Zugzwang smiled, taking her hoof in both of his and raising it to his lips, kissing it delicately. “Soon, they will remember why the Scarlets are the elite, and Crimson Prince will be in place to inherit the greatest criminal empire in Equestria.” Zugzwang turned to Star Watcher. “Find Coin Toss and Tinderspark. Tell them that our day has come.”

Star Watcher felt a great smile crossing his face. At last, he thought, an elation filling up his core. “Yes, sir!” he declared, running back out of the room.

Scarlet Letter giggled in delight and nestled herself up against Zugzwang, kissing him on the cheek. He curled up with her, his eyes on his sleeping son.

At last.

Several floors beneath them, in a dark laboratory, a pegasus with a ratty, pale yellow coat that clung to his bones and greasy strands of dark brown hair bent over a beaker set atop a Bunsen burner. The pale orange liquid within it bubbled merrily over the flickering heat.

A raven flittered down to sit on the table next to the pegasus. He absentmindedly reached out to stroke the bird, his blood red eyes glowing with delight.

“At last, Lenore,” Doctor Nevermore breathed.

Further down the hallway, a unicorn mare with a white coat and a long pink and white mane sat tending to a pearl-handled pepperbox revolver, cleaning out the barrels with a long brush. A green-coated unicorn with a light brown mane and mustache watched in silence, tossing a golden bit to himself.

Taking out a box of .33 bullets, the mare calmly placed a bullet in each of the eight chambers, the clinks echoing through the small room. Snapping the barrels onto the pistol with a click, she turned and raised the weapon, taking aim at a paper target mounted on the wall four yards away from her. The silhouette was blank and white and only vaguely resembled a pony, but a face was planted over the head: a photograph of Pinkie Pie, smiling back at the mare.

The unicorn emptied the gun in a single, four-second salvo, the gunshots seeming to shake the whole room. Each bullet found their mark. When the mare lowered her smoking weapon, Pinkie Pie’s face had been obliterated.

A smile crossed Laurier de Montaigne’s face, her emerald eyes glittering. Coin Toss laughed and burst into applause.

“At last,” Laurier grinned, turning to the Mareish enforcer.

“Our day has come,” Coin Toss agreed.

With a roar, a jet of flames burst from the crude flamethrower and ignited the mannequin. The pony-shaped figure crumbled in an instant, the flames rapidly reducing it to a scorched, shapeless husk. The fire continued to burn for more than a minute, filling the basement with foul-smelling smoke and the sound of crackling and popping.

The orange, fiery-maned pony in the torn and tattered fire-retardant coat watched in silence, the flames reflected in the visor of her gas mask. She grunted, shrugging her shoulders to adjust for the weight of the flamethrower on her back. The pilot light mounted on the muzzle of the gun flickered as she shivered, her breath hissing through the valves of her mask.

Finally, the flames died down, leaving behind a pile of glowing cinders and ashes. The mare lifted the gas mask from her head, her smokey gray eyes alight with pleasure. She licked her lips slowly, breathing heavily in the afterglow.

“At last,” Tinderspark breathed.

Author's Notes:

Zugzwang has a surprise for us. It is not one that you will like.

Get ready for Endgame, coming soon!