Their destination was on the second floor, described as 'Conference Room 01'. A big, adorned by into the door crafted leaves, ebony colored and out of wood made entrance was the place where Fast Scribbler parted ways with the group to return to her own workspace.

The room itself was plain, but it was enough for what was to come. A big, oval shaped, white table with a lot of wooden chairs represented the interior and in front of every chair upon the table was a glass and a small bottle of water at its side.

Six chairs were already taken. On the biggest at the end, all others were slightly smaller, sat, much to Cheerilee's, Luna's and Celestia's joy, Mayor Mayor Mare. An old and good friend. And this woman meant business.

"I still think it's a little childish that Mary dyes her hair every few weeks. Who cares that her original color is fuchsia? It doesn't look any 'less professional', as she always claimed, I saw much worse on the head of politicians. Look at Tia, her hair looks like colorful toothpaste and I never met anybody who disrespected her because of her coiffure," Luna thought, internally shaking her head. It made no sense to her.

The mayor wore semicircle formed golden glasses on her nose. A waisted purely white blazer, sophisticated white cloth slacks, black pumps and a modern, professional looking black blouse gave her an authoritative appearance. She was a little taller than Cheerilee, but not as tall as Luna. Her hair was smooth and colored in light cornflower bluish gray with a lighter streak. The skin pale, light grayish amber and moderate phthalo blue eyes observed the group like a hawk.

With a warm smile, collected on the surface, but tense on the inside, Mayor Mare opened the greetings and stood up to shake hands with the newcomers, "I see that my secretary informed you, good. Captain Spitfire, Captain Will, an important matter reached my ears and we need to discuss an appropriate plan of action."

She looked at the team from Sweet Apple Acres and hugged Celestia, Luna and Cheerilee, briefly for now with so many witnesses. She planned to talk with her friends later on in greater lengths, private.

The mayor didn't expect to see Rainbow Dash, a mere teenager. She recognized thanks to Shining Armor's uniform that he was a former officer of the Canterlot Police Department and Igneous Rock Pie and his business were well known in Ponyville, "It's wonderful to see you alive and well. But why did you bring your student with you, Principal Celestia? I don't think she should partake in this conversation."

Before Rainbow Dash could open her mouth without thinking, Celestia put a hand on her former student's shoulder to calm her down and looked a little sheepish at Ponyville's highest politician, "I understand your concerns, Mayor Mare. And you are right, this here is indeed one of my former students. Her name is Rainbow Dash and she has the same reason to be here like everybody else. You can trust me on this." A short eye contact promised a more detailed talk about this topic later.

"I know the world has changed for the worse, but are we really involving minors in an important conversation between adults nowadays? I can understand the attendance of respected individuals, like Principal Celestia, Vice-Principal Luna, Mr. Igneous Rock Pie and even Ms. Cheerilee, as someone who always contributed to the beauty of our fair town with her ideas. And this young man is clearly a former officer from the Canterlot Police Department, you have my condolence by the way. It is truly tragic and horrible what happened to Canterlot City. But what could a child contribute, what her elders could not?" a man in his mid fifties from the right side of the table asked in great patience, he had a strong Canterlot accent. But the sarcasm was thick.

"Your personal opinion is duly noted, Mr. Fame," Mayor Mare replied neutrally, "May I introduce you to Mr. High Fame, leader of the recently founded political party known as the Noble Reformer Party."

High Fame wore a royal purple tuxedo with a queen blue tie around his neck and a coppery colored shirt. The suit pants were royal purple, too. Finely crafted van dyke brown leather shoes and a very expensive looking silvern watch around his wrist completed his character fitting wardrobe. The man had steel blue colored skin, vermillion eyes and on his head a thick smoky black side parting as coiffure. High Fame was at least 1.85 meter tall and had wrinkled skin, displaying signs of his age.

"Your negative attitude is totally killing my vibes. I think you should try to meditate more, it relaxes your chakra and mind," Tree Hugger suggested from the opposite of the table. Even the word 'relaxed' wouldn't do the woman justice.

Rainbow Dash would never say that in front of Fluttershy, but it was impossible for her to take this woman seriously. Well, still, her childhood friend loved the older caretaker to bits, insisting that Ms. Tree Hugger was never anything else than compassionate and ambitious in her beliefs.

It was kind of hard to believe.

And she wasn't sure if this woman's voice was permanently changed because of very high amounts of certain things or if it was really her normal way of speaking. How did that even work? Was the owner of the shelter Flutters worked supposed to be baptized as an infant in some holy oils and the responsible priest to this time accidently mistook the bottle with his private stash of essential oils?

It was a possibility.

Tree Hugger was in her early thirties, had pale, light grayish purple eyes, a light amaranth rasta hair style with light vermillion highlights and light harlequin skin. She wore only an amber colored, with white flowers adorned, headscarf, a willpower orange maxi dress with different small pictures of flying birds upon it and wood brown water buffalo sandals. Her satisfied and relaxed expression on the face, as nothing could bring her out of her good mood, made many people think that she only lived in her own world and should better be left alone.

Another woman in her late forties besides Tree Hugger chuckled softly and glanced amused at the now visibly angry looking High Fame.

She had a slight brown skin color, pink eyes and white hair in the style of a long ponytail, pulling off the feat of wearing white doctor clogs and a white coat, furthermore an ochre colored shirt beneath her coat and white cloth trousers, looking perfectly fine in her outfit during this meeting. Some would even say good or beautiful.

"Ms. Tree Hugger, Dr. Noble Heart, there is no reason for antagonizing Mr. Fame. He and his colleagues are doing their part for our society, no matter if you like it or not," the second man at the table scolded the duo in a deep voice.

"As you already heard, these two women to my side are Ms. Tree Hugger and Dr. Noble Heart, the leaders of the Flora Fauna Federation party. And the gentleman besides Mr. Fame is Mr. Political Drive, the leader of the New Amarerica Party," Mayor Mare continued the introductions with practiced ease.

"It's a pleasure and honor to meet you all. I hope we can all work together to rebuild our once proud country and defeat our enemies at our doorstep in unity," added the lastly mentioned politician.

He wore like Fame a tuxedo, but in black, like the trousers and shoes. A gray tie and a white shirt completed the outfit. Slightly wild, pale turquoise hair with a white streak in the center presented his cut, a man one head taller than Soarin. Moderate palatinate purple eyes and jade colored skin marked his appearance. He was in his late thirties, so most guessed.

"Iron Will admits, he is a little concerned. Why are all leaders of the most influential factions here? And why were we called to this meeting in the first place?" The captain of the Ponyville Militia put his focus on the mayor to get answers.

All seats were taken by now after everybody gave a short introduction. Rainbow Dash had no position or rank she could use, so her introduction was fairly short. The chromatic girl loved it to make an awesome impression, but she knew that this meeting was serious business and swore to herself that she wouldn't mess this up.

After a few seconds of observing each other, just in case someone would like to say something before Mayor Mare started, Rainbow saw that as her cue and stated the obvious question, "And who are you, Ms... ?"

"Oh, is it finally my turn? Thank you my dear, it is exhausting to listen to so much political talk and polite truisms day for day. It can get boring quite fast, don't you agree, Ms. Dash? And don't worry, in opposite to Mr. Fame here I appreciate the honest opinion of all of those attending. But to finally end this little charade, so that we can start with the truly important matters, I shall introduce myself as well. My name is Prismia, humble founder of Justice," she said in a silky voice with an accent that could let assume that she was from Saddle Arabia and bowed her head in a greeting manner.

"So you are the infamous leader of Justice we heard so much about? Interesting, but no less it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Prismia," Celestia said with her known welcoming smile.

"And young, too. I thought that the leader of so many people and such a hostile political movement would be much older to be honest," Luna added with a raised eyebrow and a cold undertone, crossing her arms.

Prismia looked like a woman in her mid twenties to early thirties and was as tall as Cadence. Long flowing, wavy antique fuchsia colored hair, amaranth purple eyes with amaranth deep purple eyeshadow and pronounced, well-maintained eyelashes, combined with the perfect and pure looking ash gray skin and admirable figure could make the founder of Justice desirable, if not for the coldness in these eyes. An aura of an inaccessible and unforgiving beauty. A platinum colored necklace surrounded her neck, a crowing raven as the showpiece.

Nobody was sure if it was real platinum or not.

The woman's outfit consisted out of thin black fingerless gloves which reached to the beginning of the wrists, on both gloves was on the backside silvern pictogram like pictures of the same raven she wore as jewelry. Sturdy, comfortable looking coal black leather boots in knee length, a white shirt, a purple cloth vest and dark sienna brown jeans completed it.

"My, my, what hostility. I'm not here to start a fight, but I won't back down either if unjustifiably provoked. So please, at least try to remain civil and we have no problem with each other," Prismia taunted smugly.

"Hey! Don't you dare to speak with Ms. Luna like-" Misty Fly was cut off by a calming gesture of Spitfire.

"You should maybe honor your own word, Ms. Prismia," the captain of the Wonderbolts suggested dryly.

The founder of Justice laughed in a very unexpected rumbling tone, "Some people can't take humor I assume. But let's not talk around the obvious any longer and just say it out loud. In the moment I introduced myself our honored new visitors looked immediately at me like I just kicked a puppy." She glanced briefly at the leader of the militia, "I have the strong feeling I have to thank you for that, Captain Will. And everybody else tries his best to ignore me, if not outright scowls in my direction. I'm not blind, nor stupid and I know nobody her seems to like me because of my, how Ms. Luna put it so fittingly, 'hostile political movement'. That being said-" Prismia locked eyes with Mayor Mare, "-should I leave this room now or do you have a reason for inviting me to this meeting, if not for being the center of negative attention, mayor?"

The addressed politician wanted to answer, but Shining Armor glared at the mocking woman and replied coldly, "As I see it we have very good reasons to be wary of you. For example because you and your party seek to eliminate everyone who is in any shape or form connected to magic and such straight racism has to be fought."

Many nodded firmly their heads in agreement.

Prismia's usually serene face was replaced with righteous fury, "Did you all already forget what happened to Canterlot?! Do you refuse to learn from the past?! These creatures of fire massacred thousands of citizens and burned the city to the ground! Humans are nothing more than prey for the predators of this new world, most weapons are useless against magic and all forms of communication ceased to exist!"

She spoke herself into a frenzy, "And how do you respond? With naivety! You think we can just start from zero and make everything like it was before? No! Our life on Earth changed irreversibly and we have to do our best to defend the innocent at all costs! Hundreds of people support our course, brothers who lost siblings, mothers who lost children, fathers who lost their entire family and many more. We have to secure us a place in this world before we are driven to the edge. Canterlot, Fillydelphia, which town shall fall next before you see reason?!"

The delegation from the Apples' farm was caught off-guard by the last sentence, "W-what does she mean?" Cheerilee asked fearfully into the round.

The rest of the those present glanced saddened at each other, like asking per telepathy who had the inglorious honor to tell them about the city's fate. Nobody saw it, but Prismia smiled in satisfaction to herself. Iron Will shook his head, he knew this topic would be brought up eventually.

Mayor Mayor Mare cleared her throat, deciding that she should tell them, "There is no way to describe it gently. Fillydelphia has fallen."

That the team from Sweet Apple Acres was shocked would be an understatement.

"Seriously?! Did these fire elementals attack Fillydelphia as well?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed furiously.

Now is was the others' turn to look confused and Celestia gave a short explanation of what happened with Cinch and how the summoning of High Recruiter Igniticious most likely had to do with Canterlot's fate. Especially Prismia looked interested for some reason the solar knight couldn't determine.

"It is disturbing that these 'fire elementals' are intelligent and able to recruit and transform humans for their rows," Political Drive shared his opinion worriedly.

"I think it is much worse that this 'Cinch' character summoned one of these beings to Earth. Who knows how many fools made pacts with unknown forces in the past already?" Prismia commented, playing convincingly disturbed.

"Thou wanted to avouch who invaded the port town, Mayor?" Igneous Rock reminded politely.

"Why yes, thank you Mr. Pie. As I wanted to say, Fillydelphia was attacked a few days ago, we were informed about it when first refugees, who managed to escape, arrived in Ponyville yesterday morning. They said that the city was invaded by hundreds of pirates and some kind of giants. The police in the city was drubbed after a brief and hopeless battle from what the rumors and stories claimed. We don't know if Fillydelphia was raised to the ground or if they took over. So we, Captain Spitfire, Captain Iron WIll and I, decided to strengthen our borders as soon as possible just in case those outlaws think they can attack Ponyville or Cloudsdale as well."

Her eyes narrowed, the pointed gaze roaming over every politician, "But now to the reason why I called you all to this meeting. As Ms. Prismia already told you, Justice has a lot of followers under the population, if not the most. Be that the case because of many different reasons. Then there is the fact that promis and most economists are part of the Noble Reformer Party. All who desire to live without violence against others and in accordance with the local wildlife follow the FFF, founded by Ms. Hugger and Ms. Heart. And then there is a fair share of citizens who support the New Amarerica Party, especially the craftsmen guild. To sum it up, Ponyville is driven apart in different groups of interest and I can't allow that to be the case any longer as the selected mayor. We need unity to face the incoming threats, no division."

"With all due respect, Mayor, we don't collaborate with the lunatics from Justice," High Fame replied decidedly, looking sincerely insulted.

Mayor Mare gave him a piercing glare, "Mr. Fame, I know that you all have your own ideas how to run things in this new age, but we will lose everything and are easy targets to pick if every faction fights only for itself. I want from all of you to talk with each other here and now, no matter if you like it or not. Our survival is much more important than petty wars of virtues and opinions, did I make myself clear?" Everybody agreed, if not all for the same reasons.

"And then there is another important matter that needs our attention. As you all know, innocents were caught and taken away in the last days, like several reports or people stated, but we never had a clue who was responsible. That has changed. An elf woman with the name Makara is the perpetrator," Mayor Mare finished her reasoning.

"Elves exist, too?" Dr. Noble Heart spoke for the first time in surprise, very interested by these news.

Every politician shared the woman's wonder.

"Indeed. The Wonderbolts told me about this so called 'Makara' shortly after they arrived and I think you all have a right to know about it, too. A witness, Mr. Fire Streak here to be precise, barely managed to escape an ambush she and her demons, which are known as 'Frost Hounds', prepared. I know that's hard to believe, but it is true. In addition, she called herself by title a 'Beast Tamer' and that she was a member of a race called 'Dark Elves'. Beast Tamer Makara kidnapped a family he wanted to escort to the ruins of Canterlot City and-" The solar knight cleared her throat, "Yes, Ms. Celestia? Is something the matter?"

"I apologize for the interruption, Mayor. But actually that's exactly the reason why we are here. Captain Iron Will told us that everybody in Ponyville remembers the event of being mind controlled by magic. Our group knows who the enemy is, please let me explain," Celestia declared urgently.

The former principal didn't mention anything about magic on their side or their group's whereabouts. Only that a friend of them and Cheerilee, discovered the base of the Adepts of Khom where they met Filthy Rich, who told them about the cult and the Soul Prisons. Then about the murdered co-directors, but that the siblings could be saved and the cruel prisons be destroyed, without mentioning the demons or undead who guarded them, what led to the end of the mind control curse.

She lastly explained her opinion about what most likely the cult's intentions was, that Punisher Vyndrak and Beast Tamer Makara were probably working together and that the by the Dark Elf mentioned base called Jormun was the location where formerly Camp Everfree stood.

Celestia withheld important details on purpose, because the former principal didn't trust Prismia, High Fame and Political Drive with too much information.

She wasn't sure either with Ms. Tree Hugger, but Dr. Heart reminded her much of Fluttershy, or the other way around. Once she brought her own pet to the woman in the past. Celestia was sure, the doctor was more than trustworthy. Years ago the Solar Magic user found an abandoned little eagle and took it in, or more, her. She gave the bird the name Philomena and hoped the eagle was well enough nowadays. She had to let her friend go after Philomena was old and well enough to be returned to the wild.

The Wonderbolts and Iron Will didn't know that Filthy Rich was involved from their earlier talk, but in the end of things it wasn't the most important information for them.

Most of the politicians, except Prismia, etiolated after hearing some of the more gruesome details concerning the Soul Prisons' nature, High Fame even left the room to release his breakfast. He came back a few minutes later.

What they didn't know was that the knight of the sun didn't spare any details in these regards, because she wanted to see how the 'highest politicians' reacted to the news. If they were in any shape or form allied to the cult, then the details wouldn't have surprised them as much as it was the case, neither making them look sick for that matter.

You could maybe act surprised, but not fake nausea on command like it was the case with nearly all of them.

High Fame was definitely no suspect any longer, judging from the disgusting smell his breath had taken when he shortly told her that he was fine when she asked him if he was alright.

And once more the young woman and leader of Justice surprised the former principal. She appeared to be shocked, even if not as much as the others, when she heard about the details, but otherwise she seemed... fine. Not even disturbed in the slightest. But that was not a real hint on anything. Maybe she just had a strong stomach, or perhaps Prismia witnessed already cruel acts or sights which hardened her character and heart. Besides, Celestia was watching the woman purposefully as she talked about the Soul Prisons and saw no spark of recognition or knowledge. No, her reaction was real.

"Such atrocities. W-we have to do something! This 'Jormun' can't be allowed to exist any further. And Filthy Rich needs to pay for his act of treachery! We should send the militia to deal with these monsters immediately," High Fame demanded foolishly.

Iron Will chuckled dryly and rolled his eyes in annoyance, "You say that as if it would be the most logical and easiest solution, Mr. Fame. But we don't have the people to attack it. The Ponyville Militia was founded two and a half days ago and most of Iron Will's subordinates are former civilians who want to fight for what they believe is right, without any magic of their own in opposite to the enemy, Iron Will might add." He glared at Prismia, who ignored the giant like he was beneath her, "They just had first training sessions, no real combat experience or anything like that. So how you do think would an open assault end? Iron Will can tell you that, it would be a massacre on our side. And he refuses to send his fellow soldiers, who put their trust in him, into certain doom for nothing."

"Same here. The Wonderbolts need most of their forces to secure Cloudsdale, which is much bigger than Ponyville, and to keep track on what kind of threats are around the city. We can't risk that enemies like the pirates who raided Fillydelphia attack in the moment we try to aid you and I can't make that decision on my own without informing my superiors anyway. Colonel Wind Rider and General Firefly would have my head if I led Wonderbolts into battle, because I feel like it. Or at least the colonel as long as the general is, wherever she is," Spitfire said with an apologizing gesture.

"Come on Spits. You underestimate mom, she is pretty chill when you do something for the right reasons," Rainbow Dash assured positively and facepalmed after noticing that she had said too much.

The Wonderbolt had to stop herself from groaning at how informal her former fellow Wondercolt addressed her in front of the political leaders. She would have a private talk with Dash later about place and time when addressing the young woman with her title, "Please don't take it the wrong way Rainbow, but I fear I can't just take your word for it."

"Wait a minute. This girl is the daughter of the legendary General Firefly, the Thunder Demon herself?" High Fame looked at the Heavens Magic user like he just found a gold vein and smiled much too friendly all of a sudden, "Young lady, I think we cou-"

"Oh no, you don't, Mr. Fame! I won't let anyone here chuck Ms. Dash into one of the parties' agendas just because you think you could abuse her connection to her mother for your own gain," Mayor Mare cut him off, deadly serious. She glared at everyone involved. She was supported by the rest of the Sweet Apple Acres team.

All who thought about speaking to Rainbow continued once more to ignore the girl and were talking with each other instead.

The chromatic teenager grumbled on the inside, ignoring the heated discussions in the background. She wasn't really annoyed about Spitfire's response, it was understandable for her that she had to speak with her higher ranked officers before the captain could do something. Nor about the mayor's statement, she was secretly very grateful that the women blighted any advances on her person from anyone because of the revelation of who her mother was. No, what angered her was that normally she would give an awesome speech of motivation and together with her friends she would save the day, the end.

But that was completely out of the question!

Now she couldn't even mention the word 'magic' in relation to them without blowing their cover. And how could they even help Ponyville? If they offered to help fighting the threat these guys would immediately want to know how and it would have to be revealed that they could use magic on their own.

And that would just open a whole new can of worms nobody of their group wanted to touch even with a stick.

"Uggghhhhhh... I HATE politics! Why do we have to talk and behave like eggheads?! I came to Ponyville to help making them understand that we all have to work together so that we can kick these warlocks into the next week, but noooo, all are just interested in their own political games. And in the bloody meantime those demon worshippers are planning who knows what! It's like playing Monopony with Twilight and Sunset! These two always make calculations like they were real-estate brokers before rolling the dice. Here like there, in both cases people think too much instead of just doing the obvious! And most of all, they all ignore me like I'm just decoration!" Rainbow Dash ranted furiously in her mind, frowning.

She felt a comforting touch upon her shoulder. Rainbiw looked up into the kind and warm pink eyes of Dr. Noble Heart. Her anger deflated. "So you are the infamous Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy has told me a lot about you," the woman said in a soft and motherly voice. It was calming.

"Really? Err, I mean of course! I see my awesomeness is well known by now," the chromatic girl boasted, "So... you know Flutters?"

Dr. Heart chuckled in amusement, "But of course. I know the little angel since her first days in Ms. Tree Huggers animal shelter years ago." Her smile changed to an expression of great worry, "Is Fluttershy alright? I hope nothing bad happened to her."

"Yep! My friends and I keep her safe, don't worry doc. I won't let anything bad happen to her," Rainbow promised faithfully.

"I couldn't imagine a better guardian for Fluttershy than her childhood friend," the co-leader of the FFF adulated with a coy grin.

The magician blushed up a storm from embarrassment.

When regaining her countenance, Rainbow Dash replied with a slight stutter, "OK, you got me, I give you that. I can't wait to tell her that you and Ms. Tree Hugger are alive and well. Or you could talk to her yourself," she suggested excitedly.

"Perhaps, but Ponyville faces many trials in the moment and sadly I can't leave the city alone." Then she whispered quietly, "And to be honest, I fear what could happen if I let Tree Hugger handle everything alone. This woman has her heart at the right place, but I'm not entirely sure if it's the same with her mind on all occasions. Obviously you don't have that from me and if someone asks I don't know what is going on."

The younger woman grinned, "I can already tell that we will have no problems with each other, Dr. Heart."

"Oh, I sure hope so Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy's friends are always welcome in my office. So if you ever need an open ear, just seek me out. I'm sure we can always make an appointment," she tried to joke. It didn't work.

"Did you just seriously made a doctor joke?" Rainbow asked in disbelief, her face a deadpan.

It looked strange for the magician to see a grown older woman pout, "Fluttershy always loves my humor."

The Heaven Magic user rolled her eyes, "Well, duh. We are talking about Fluttershy. That girl is so super polite and much too kind for her own good, that she would giggle and smile at the worst of jokes to not hurt someone's feelings! As long as you don't bring wits about dark humor, or worse, suffering animals, Flutters will always encourage someone that it was funny, even if it's not."

She was very serious with never mentioning jokes where animals got hurt or you would receive... the stare.

"I know what you mean. People always underestimate her passion, courage and determination. But I see you don't pull any punches when it comes to being honest, either." Dr. Heart sighed dramatically in defeat.

"Nope! That's me in a nutshell. The super awesome Rainbow Brutal Honesty Dash. Rarity and Applejack always tell me how tactless I am sometimes." Her eyes widened, "But err, I apologize if I offended you, somehow." She looked sheepishly.

The grown doctor giggled, "Oh please. I wouldn't be much of an authoritative figure in my party if I had thin skin. I can take it. Besides, it's very refreshing to meet someone like you for a change these days, who isn't afraid to voice her mind. You wouldn't believe how tiring it can be when people try to talk to me in a way that I fear that they could slip on their own trail of slime," Noble Heart assured with a wink of an eye.

Now it was Rainbow's turn to laugh. She did it so loud that Luna turned around and saw how Dr. Noble Heart interacted with Rainbow Dash. Not knowing the older woman personally, but that she was one of the leaders of the Flora Fauna Federation, she stepped besides the duo, not trusting the doctor's intentions.

"I see you two have fun. Dr. Noble Heart, I don't think we ever met before. My name is Ms. Luna, no longer 'vice-principal', as Mayor Mare introduced me. But please, call me Luna." They shook hands.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I have to admit, I didn't expect you to appear in Ponyville under these circumstances. You can call me Noble Heart, or Dr. Heart. I really don't mind." She switched to a more serious tone for a few seconds, proving her sharp mind, "I know why you are here, but I can put your fears to rest. I would never even dream about abusing Fluttershy or her friends for politics." She was friendly and kind again, "That being said, I'm glad that you look out for one of your former students. Even if you are no longer their official vice-principal or directly responsible for their well-being any longer. You have my thanks."

Luna smiled in embarrassment at being caught, "I see. I guess I misjudged you, Dr. Heart. Excuse my harsh approach, but I still feel indeed responsible for them and I will do everything in my power to prevent others from tricking them into something they don't want to do."

"Come on! We aren't that young anymore. I thought saving the world like a bazillion times convinced you that we can handle our own," Rainbow Dash complained.

"Be it as it may Ms. Dash, you are still high school students in the eyes of the law and what my common sense tells me. No matter if still valid or not. So don't expect from others and me to treat you and your friends like admitted members of society," Luna answered in a lecturing tone. Except maybe Sunset Shimmer, if Tia told me the truth about her age.

Rainbow groaned. Now she knew how Scootaloo felt when Applejack, Rarity and she held their younger siblings on a tight leash to keep an eye on them.

"You can't be serious!" Cheerilee shouted angrily.

The trio returned to the rest in an instant, "What seems to be the matter?" Noble Heart inquired carefully.

Igneous Rock answered this time, clearly peeved, if his furrowed forehead was anything to go by, "Ms. Prismia pledged that she would help and argue with the rest of Justice's members and followers in order to bring unity to Ponyville. In reverse she wants more political influence for her faction."

"I don't know where the problem is, Ms. Cheerilee. Justice has the highest amount of support of all political parties and the biggest part of this town's population follows us. So it makes only sense for me that we should have the right to influence the troops’ movements of the city as well. I don't even talk about the pathetic remains of the police. No, the Ponyville Militia suffices completely," Prismia defended herself.

She triggered Twilight's big brother.

"How dare you talk about the deaths and sacrifices the Ponyville Police Department has made in such a way!? They died for the likes of you! To defend this town from threats! You should show the respect they rightfully deserve!" Shining Armor screamed, livid as rarely before in his life.

Prismia looked bored at her perfectly manicured amaranth colored fingernails, "Are you done? Respect, as you claim they deserve, has to be earned, Officer Armor. I don't think such 'heroic' actions like getting slaughtered and running away like cowards earned them any respect at all. No, I fear you fell prey to disillusions. As you should know by now, the understandably scared and uncertain citizens of this stricken town lost their faith in the police. The PPP is, to put it plainly, a laughing stock. 30 so called 'elite forces' ventured bravely into the Everfree Forest, with the best possible equipment at their disposal... and they were massacred. I know, you as a fellow officer think it is your duty to protect your colleagues' pride and honor, but, well, they already lost it on their own. I know such honesty pains your heart, but I think you have to face the truth." Her voice was filled with mocking sarcasm.

Shining Armor nearly used his magic from utter fury, but Celestia stopped him in time from doing something he, and their group for that matter, would regret in one way or another. She positioned herself between the paladin and the now smirking woman. But she could understand him well, the Solar Magic user truly wished she could wipe that arrogant expression from the face of Justice's founder.

She put as much neutrality and edge into her voice as possible, "Do you have no shame? You disrespect the dead, no matter what you might think they deserved. You constantly taunt everybody in this room and now you demand having influence on the militia's forces? What. Is. Your. Game. Prismia? If the Adepts of Khom attack Ponyville, then you will face death, torture, maybe worse, like everybody else in the city. How do you think will that work out when you drive a wedge between us? Between the people of Ponyville? We need a solution, but everything you do is mocking us and our ideas. It is like you don't possess any drive to create peace and harmony, only desire to sow chaos and distrust."

Most felt the same kind of anger in themselves like Shining Armor. This woman practically begged for a black eye.

First she didn't react at all, then Prismia snorted quietly, later chuckled and finally laughed her head off. When she wiped the tears from her eyes the tall young woman looked sincerely amused at the magician, "Game? What game, Ms. Celestia? What you see as 'mocking' and 'taunting' is only my honest opinion. I thought honesty was such an important virtue for people like you? Or is it only important when it suits your fancy? When it helps with achieving your own plans? Typical. Insulting others, but in the end you are not better. You just don't show it so openly in opposite to my humble self."

Prismia switched her attention to the glaring Mayor Mare, "Mayor, this is my one and only condition for helping you. I even budge an inch. Yes, I want to have something to say when it comes to deciding where the patrols are going and what the troops should do in the case of an attack, but you can overrule my decisions in a heartbeat if you want. Hm? How is that? Captain Iron Will can even ignore me to his heart's content, as well as his soldiers, should they judge my orders as dangerous, suicidal or otherwise unacceptable. So, what do you think?"

Mayor Mare bended her head down a little bit, closing her eyes to think. Silence. After what seemed like an eternity, for everyone else in the room who waited to hear her decision, she replied in a most diplomatic tone, "I accept your condition. For the peace and continuity of Ponyville I will grant you your wish. Nothing more." She held up a finger, "But I warn you only this one time, Ms. Prismia. When I see or hear of even the smallest evidence that you abused my trust for your own selfish goals, I can promise you here and now that it will have dire consequences for you and Justice. Understood?"

"Crystal, Mayor. You won't regret it, but there is one more little thing. I don't trust somebody's word alone in these uncertain times. It can always happen that people claim that I am a liar, or someone of this room who doesn't like me spreads rumors to ruin my reputation. I would sleep much sounder if you could sign this." Prismia put a shortly written letter on the table in front of the older woman, "This little contract here was prepared by me in the unlikely case you might accept, of course you can read it through to make sure that everything's in order and shall be the physical proof of our agreement. Afterwards nobody can claim otherwise. Please sign it with your name and a seal of approval. As you can see, I already signed it with my own. It is official then."

Rainbow Dash was rarely so creeped out before in her life. Reading about it in Daring Do books or seeing it in awesome movies is one thing, but witnessing it with her own eyes? This woman prepared everything to a T, even the freaking contract! It was like being attestor of how the mayor was shortly before signing a contract with the devil. Or a demoness.

The more experienced politician raised an eyebrow at Justice's founder, not amused at all, "You planned for this situation? That doesn't make you any more trustworthy, more the opposite, but be it as it is. I expect from you to keep your part of the deal, Ms. Prismia," Mayor Mayor Mare pointed out politely.

"I know how it looks like, but can you truly blame me? We both know that I have more than enough political enemies who would just love to see me fall," Prismia answered curtly.

After the contract was signed and approved, the tall woman took it into her hands, "Perfect." Prismia glanced at the others in the room, "But I can feel that my presence is no longer appreciated. I will go now and leave you all to your own business. Have a nice day everyone." She bowed one last time to the crowd in respect and left.

Iron Will said bluntly what most thought, "Mayor, Iron Will thinks you just made a terrible mistake."

"I concur. This woman is like a snake in human form. I don't trust her as far as I can throw her," Fleetfoot supported venomously.

"So that's it? We all go out empty-handed and she can just come in here, blackmail you into submission and gets what she wants? I can't believe it! Mayor, I demand that we from the Nobel Ref-" High Fame didn't have the courage to finish his own demand because of the cold look he received by her.

Mayor Mare hit her fist on the table, "What do you all expect me to do?! To toss her into prison? For what? Accusing her of blackmailing me without actually having anything tangible as a proof that she blackmails me in the first place? That she has the choice of obeying me or that she won't see the light of day ever again and rot in a dark prison? That would be abuse of power from my side and a crime I won't commit. Furthermore, I could have just said 'no' and be done with it. But I accepted, because I swore an oath on our constitution! An oath that I would do anything in my power to protect the citizens of Ponyville as their mayor! I won't present this cult the whole town and its entire population on a silver tray. That, I can promise you. If I need to swallow my own pride and accept one single condition to give this woman the satisfaction to have power over the militia, which can be overruled at all time I might add, in order to save Ponyville, so be it! I would do it again." She glared challengingly at the rest of political figureheads, "Do you have any other important topics to discuss with me or can I return to my office?"

Political Drive, Tree Hugger and High Fame left the room, the rest stayed behind. Mayor Mare looked critically at the remaining crowd in front of her.

"Mary. There are many things I left out, because I don't trust most of the people who left the room with these informations," Celestia admitted, what gained her the wanted attention.

"Tia. You are my friend, and I trust you, but I hope there is a very good reason why you just kept important information on purpose from leading figures of the most influential parties of this city," Mayor Mare stated warningly.

"I think if I told you the most important things you will understand why I didn't tell everyone in this room the details. Well..." The solar knight glanced at Dr. Noble Heart, not sure how the others of her team would react.

"You can tell her, sister. Dr. Heart is a trustworthy woman," Luna of all people assured her sibling, surprising Celestia a little bit. She nodded in appreciated acceptance.

The now as a magician known former principal retold her story in greater detail and included her own tale how she found her magic to give an example how the process of discovering someone's own abilities could work. From their departure from Camp Everfree to this day without explaining the individual adventures they all had in small groups, for time reasons. She even gave very short summaries of the magical events which took place at CHS since the Fall Formal, with dramatic material, provided by Rainbow Dash.

But she kept quiet about Sunset's origin, Princess Twilight or Equestria and the portal. They all decided together that Equestria couldn't become public knowledge outside of their group. Too many unknown forces and factors were now in play, what could endanger Sunset's homeworld if it gained the wrong kind of attention.

Mayor Mare gave a forced smile and could only shake her head in mental exhaustion, "So Canterlot City fell most likely because of a foolish woman, who couldn't accept a tie in the Friendship Games. And to top it all off, you had a near death experience with the leader of this invasion."

Celestia smiled empathically, "Believe me, I know. I wouldn't believe half of these events myself, if not for witnessing them first-hand."

Though some things sounded almost too fantastic to believe for Mayor Mare. Like that the awoken magic of this world was supposed to be responsible for the happened changes on Earth, or that Rainbow Dash and her friends allegedly discovered mentioned power in themselves first, essentially making them somehow the first humans who ever used it.

She judged the chromatic teenager's face for any signs of a lie, "I think I recognize you now, Ms. Dash. Then the videos I saw from the Fall Formal when this demon attacked and the Battle of the Bands are real as well and not only that, but Sweet Apple Acres is now something like a secret collection site for mages?" Mayor Mare thrummed with her fingers on the table, never losing sight of her oldest friend, then she chuckled dryly, "You drive me to drink, you know that, Tia?"

Celestia gave her friend in response an excusing grin of her own, "You have to decide on your own if you want to believe me or not."

"It's not that. Really, I do after everything that happened. But I have no idea what we can do now. We can't bring any of your mages to Ponyville, nor Ms. Zecora or Ms. Dawnseeker because of the sheer amount of hostility against magic in general and all non-humans. A fair share of the citizens will immediately run away, or worse, attack you, no matter if I tell them that you are not a threat. Anxiety and hatred run too deep in some people right now, but without you I fear we won't have a chance against this 'Punisher Vyndrak' at all. Worse, they might even think you control my mind like it happened already to Ponyville in general. And then there is Ms. Prismia. I can't make any sense out of this woman. Sometimes she acts noble, like the people were truly her first interest at heart, and then there are situations like we all witnessed when she does something incredibly selfish. Well, at least she promised to work together with the rest from now on."

"I agree with Rainbow Dash now and think that Senior Airman Lightning Streak should take a closer look on her with the help of his magic," Shining Armor said firmly, trying to keep his cool this time, "Only to make sure that she really doesn't has any shady plans up her sleeves. If we are wrong, then so be it, he doesn't even have to say anything at all in this case. But we need to know about it, should she plan something dangerous."

Mayor Mare shook her head, "Denied. Ms. Prismia may tend to act irrationally and she is very difficult to deal with on enough occasions, but never was there any cue on her planning something of malicious nature. Everything that happened, except the mind control incident, took place outside of the city's borders or in the Everfree Forest. Even the kidnappings took place somewhere else, but never in the town itself. Since everything started we had no cases of sudden disappearances, only Ms. Zecora and Ms. Cheerilee went missing, but now we know the truth. And nothing out of the ordinary happened, either. No cases of mysterious murder and merely three minor cases of theft, which were dealt with swiftly. In other words, there is absolutely no reason to hurt or ignore Ms. Prismia's civil rights as a woman of this country and a refugee from Canterlot City." She wasn't leaving room for discussions.

Spitfire agreed, "I think I made my point earlier. Without physical proof or a strongly justified reason, except a simple gut feeling or hurt pride, I won't allow such shady undercover missions to take place."

"Permission to voice my own opinion, Madam?" Lightning Streak himself asked humbly.

The Wonderbolt captain gave her subordinate an analyzing stare before she answered, "Granted soldier."

"I think there could be the possibility that Ms. Prismia may indeed attempt to betray Ponyville, as Officer Armor and Rainbow Dash fear. Her actions are too conflicting to be ignored. With your permission, I would just like to make sure that she stays in town. I won't go too far, only when she leaves Ponyville or does something very suspicious, visiting a dark alley for example, or when she meets people who already look shady on their own. Otherwise I will completely ignore her and grant Ms. Prismia the deserved privacy," the Senior Airman suggested without any judgement in his voice.

"Hmm... what do you think, Mayor?" Spitfire asked curiously.

"You make a good point, Mr. Streak. Alright, I shall allow it this time, but you will follow your own rules. No spying beyond what you offered to do," Mayor Mare ordered seriously.

"You heard the woman, you have your mission, soldier," his commanding officer added forcefully.

He saluted, used his Chameleon Magic to turn invisible and searched for his subject.

"Then there is only one thing left before we take a better look at the city ourselves." Luna turned to look at Iron Will, "You. What is your secret and how are you so tall? I'm very sure you were never that much of a giant, Iron Will."

"Well, you already saw an elf and a troll. I hope you are ready to see more," Soarin said mysteriously.

"Please don't scream. I know my true form can be very... intimidating," Iron Will warned with a grin.

"OK?" Cheerilee replied unsurely.

He took off a harmless looking golden ring, bare of any special features, from his left ring finger. Suddenly his body started to glow in a bronze colored energy. When the light vanished the quintet saw it for the first time in their life. A living and breathing minotaur and a hulk of a bull.

Iron Will grew taller to 2.70m and was built in a way that let even the best trained human body builder look like a pushover in comparison. It seemed for them his colors didn't change that much. His eyes and haircut stayed the same, the skin, no, fur, turned maybe one to two shades darker on the upper body and dark grayish cobalt blue hair concealed now his lower half. Luckily for all, his clothes changed as well.

Or was that his real outfit? Rainbow Dash asked herself that sometimes as well. What happened with the clothes she got from the geode and what happened to her original set when they switched? She was no Rarity, but the athlete couldn't deny that she had found herself in situations when she was curious about the answer, already because her cellphone was in them.

He wore now coconut brown leather pants which reached shortly below his knee and an open giant vest in the same color and leather, with a crest upon the right side on chest height. A black bull hoof of a minotaur and a bright brown bow and arrow in the background. Iron Will possessed besides all that huge black bull-like hooves and a gray nose ring in his face. Some of the present humans winced alone from looking at the thing and had to fight the urge to touch their own nose in discomfort. The goatee was longer than it was the case when he was human and the utmost front of his bull-like face, not completely as long as that of cows, where his nostrils were, wasn't covered by hair like his upper half, but black and void of fur. The two most protruding features though were two very characteristic body parts of minotaurs. Tail and horns. The horns were silvern, U-shaped, long, broad at the basis with visible rings like they were carved into them and sharp at the end. The tail was colored like his upper body, starting where the tailbone of humans would be and the hair at the end of it was the same color as his hair upon the head.

"Holy cow!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in shock without thinking what she just said. Cheerilee fainted on the spot.

"Iron Will takes offense to that..." Iron Will muttered in a slightly deeper, but otherwise recognizable voice. An annoyed snort followed, because once more a human felt the need to lose consciousness around his true body.

"Hey, High Winds! Didn't the same thing happen to you when you saw Captain Iron Will the first time in his real form?" Soarin teased shamelessly.

The sergeant's cheeks burned, "I did not!"

"Wow... this is so fascinating!" Dr. Noble Heart exclaimed in sheer joy. Her inner veterinarian was happy and curious like rarely before, "Do you have the same anatomy like a human? Or a bull? Of a hybrid like in the Greek mythology?"

"Both? Iron Will never cared, because he was never ill since he received this new form. Iron Will knows his blood type is the same, but somehow changed as well." The minotaur shrugged cluelessly, "He didn't listen to what the clan shaman said exactly," Iron Will answered honestly.

"But I-you need to know such things in case you get ill, or poisoned, or hurt! Please visit me in my laboratory to your earliest convenience and let me take notes on your anatomy. It may save your life one day," Dr. Heart argued sternly.

"OK, OK. Iron Will shall visit you." On the outside Noble Heart looked pleased, but not excited. While it was christmas in her mind.

"Thou have a 'clan', Captain Will?" Igneous Rock Pie asked, not bothered by his appearance at all.

"Yes, Mr. Pie." He pointed with his finger at the emblem on his vest, "This here is the crest of Iron Will's clan. We are the Blackhoof Clan and have hunters for the most part in it, with some shamans and druids in between. That is why ours is a black hoof with a bow and arrow behind it. Iron Will is a good and proud hunter. He remembers his greatest battle when he walked the wide lands of Magoth, you know it under the name of Greece, together with his fellow brothers and sisters to hunt Blood Claws. It was a glorious battle. Iron Will killed at least six. His arrows were truly guided by the White Hunter."

"White Hunter? Blood Claws?" Rainbow Dash wanted to know. These Blood Claws sounded cool.

"The White Hunter is the being we minotaur hunters believe in and in his teachings. To balance out the land's fauna, should the need arise. Blood Claws are sneaky oversized lizards on four legs and reproduce like rabbits. If you are not careful they get you with their acidic spit and believe Iron Will when he says you'll literally lose your face, when it lands a hit," the minotaur explained patiently.

Not so cool anymore.

"Since when does your kind exist? It can't be that long, otherwise we would have heard about it that minotaurs were walking on Earth," Celestia wanted to know.

"Four months? Yes, Iron Will is sure. And no, that wasn't necessarily the case. Our shamans and druids created immediately as one of the first things this ring you saw on Iron Will's finger. We took on an illusion that let us appear like very tall versions of how we looked before we became minotaurs. Our chieftains weren't sure how to approach the situation at first, but then the leaders of the Druid Sanctum could verify that the magic of this world awoke faster and faster and that the whole planet would soon be changed. New animals and plants followed shortly after us. The day of the Dawn of Magic came near," Iron Will taught like he was told.

"The what?" Rainbow Dash threw in intelligently.

"Dawn of Magic was the name of the day when all the magic of Earth would awake completely. But something was strange..." He looked thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Shining Armor inquired this time.

"The druids of the sanctum are the wisest, oldest and most powerful of our people, containing druids of all clans. They could feel with their connection to the world how the process of the magic's awakening was accelerated over time, it was like something helped along. Or so explained Iron Will's leader of the Blackhoof Clan, Chieftain Fierce Blood."

"I knew it! So there is a bad guy who did all this!" Rainbow Dash shouted in victory.

"Rainbow, there exist most likely hundreds of possible reasons why that happened. It doesn't really mean that someone lent a hand in this matter," Misty Fly voiced her opinion.

"Maybe. But it doesn't mean that it's impossible, either," the chromatic girl countered logically.

She liked her version. Whoever was responsible would get the trashing of his life. Or her life, in the case it was a female. Until now every crazy magical maniac was a female, now that she thought about it. So Rainbow's bets were on a woman. Whoever it was messed with the wrong group of friends!

"What I never asked you before. Why did you return to the USA anyway? I would have thought that all minotaurs were needed in... Magoth was it, right? Man, I don't envy historians and geographers these days. Their jobs must be torture now," Soarin commented, pitying those poor souls.

"Iron Will lived a long time here and decided to return a month ago to make sure not too many innocents suffered during the transition process. He was in Canterlot when the invasion happened. Iron Will could only watch helplessly and made sure that as many as possible could escape, with baiting the fire elementals away from the civilians. He never expected something like this attack to happen, an occasional predator to take care off, yes, but not this." He looked outside and saw that a lot of people made their way to the training grounds, "Iron Will's recruits wait for their next training session. Enjoy your stay in Ponyville, but be on guard, just in case." The member of the Blackhoof Clan put his ring back on and returned to his human form before he left.

Mayor Mare glanced shortly at her own clock and sighed in defeat. It was time, her arch nemesis was waiting for the woman... paperwork, "I think I end this day's meeting and declare it a success. For the most part."

"That sounds good. I have to write Colonel Wind Rider about the newest developments anyway," Spitfire agreed, already writing the letter in her mind.

"So, what now?" Rainbow Dash asked Celestia and Luna.

"Now we take a closer look at the situation in Ponyville and for a place to sleep for the night. Maybe we find an inn," Luna answered, stretching.

"I can show you a few places," Fire Streak offered generously.

Everybody hoped they could somehow talk the inhabitants into a more positive mindset when it came to magic. And more important, that Prismia kept her part of the deal.

The founder of the biggest political party of Ponyville, Justice, strolled purposefully through the streets. At least that was what Senior Airman Lightning Streak thought when he followed the woman.

It was truly a shame in his opinion. The appearance of a super model, the voice of every man's wet dream, but the character of a stone. Cold and unforgiving.

Lightning followed Prismia through half the town, but nothing of interest had happened. She sat shortly at a café and enjoyed a sandwich and a glass of water. Nothing suspicious there, the woman didn't even talk with anybody. Afterwards she went into the Ponyville mall and examined the newest, available fashion designs behind the shop windows, without actually entering the boutiques themselves. Yep, no conspiracy here, either.

"I get the feeling this whole mission was a giant waste of time," Lightning Streak thought in utter boredom.

It seemed he spoke too early though. Strange, as a refugee who lost everything to the flames of the fire elementals, the Chameleon Magic user would have thought that she would go to one of the converted gyms or generous taverns whose owners offered shelter for the victims. But no, she was walking straight to the most noble part of the city after hours of roaming through the park.

"OK. That's certainly interesting," he concluded professionally.

The Wonderbolt never expected to see the man who opened her the door when Prismia knocked. It was an expensive looking mansion. Like seriously, great gardens, an out of marble built fountain with little horse figures as spouts. Who would live here and had to do business with his target? Well, it was good that Lightning was no gamer. He certainly wouldn't have guessed that High Fame of all people was the owner of said property.

If that wasn't suspicious, then nothing was. Time for the interesting part.

"But that doesn't make any sense! He looked disgusted and angry at her like everybody else during the meeting!" Could this self-centered man, who wouldn't care less for others, even if they were starving at his feet, really be such a good actor? The mage was baffled.

The unequal duo talked for a little while in front of the door before High Fame let Prismia in and followed swiftly. Sadly he couldn't hear anything. Lightning Streak was maybe able to turn invisible, but that didn't count for other signs of his presence. Like breathing noises, footprints or the sound of his footsteps in general, nor things like smell. No, he could only fool the eyes so far with his magic and it was out of the question for him to close the distance between them. The whole entrance area in front of the mansion wasn't made out of cobblestones, but fine gravel.

They would have heard him a long time before he was even in range to listen.

"Did they just seriously let the door ajar instead of closing it? I hope they don't mind if I invite myself in," he joked to himself.

Now that he thought about it... that was another problem of his new magic. Lightning had to stay quiet at all time as long as he was invisible and couldn't speak with anyone. The number of soliloquies easily tripled since he discovered his magic. It happened when he was trapped by a group of vagabonds during one of his patrols. One moment he just stood there, preparing himself for his bloody end, and the next time he opened his eyes the gnolls, or whatever they were, looked around as if Lightning Strike wasn't there anymore. He was convinced they were messing with him at this time. But no, they were searching for their disappeared prey elsewhere in confusion and fury. He didn't even realize that we was invisible the whole time on his way back to his unit until Lightning spoke with Misty Fly and she ran away, screaming something about ghosts.

In retrospect, it was hilarious!

"Huh. I think I even heard a voice in my head that said the name of my magic, but I was so terrified from seeing these walking pigs for the first time in my life that I completely ignored it..."

The entrance hall was gigantic. Paintings, busts, stairs leading to higher locations. Maybe they were there? He didn't take 10 steps into High Fame's mansion, when suddenly a big dark brown magic circle, with runes and symbols the shocked Wonderbolt never saw before in his life, appeared beneath him and big lance-like rocks shot out of the ground, trapping him. There was no escape.

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" Lightning screamed his mindscape, very nervous now.

High Fame came running from a room to his left, shocked and furious, "What have you done?! Do you know how much this carpet was worth?! It was a unicum from Yakyakistan! There is no possibility for me to replace it!"

"Calm yourself, fool. A carpet shouldn't be your highest priority in the moment. Not when we have a guest to entertain," Prismia replied coldly and stepped in front of the Bolt's stony prison, glancing over the 'empty' space inside, "Please, show your face. It is just polite to introduce yourself to us. I know that you are in there, I felt that you were following me for a long time. And I apologize for the uncomfortable situation, but I don't like stalkers." Her voice was almost scolding, like the trapped mage was a naughty child.

Lightning Streak sighed and turned visible again. High Fame gasped, "A Wonderbolt?! Great! We are doomed!"

"H-how? I was always careful to keep a great distance to you and we never walked on ground where you could see footprints!" he asked in sheer disbelief.

"I fear you stepped into things much beyond your pay grade. But I guess I could enlighten you before you are free to go-" she was rudely interrupted.

"What?! B-but this man just saw us! We have to dispose of him! Even when he was ordered to follow you, the others have no proof that it was us if something happened to him!" High Fame gave to consider fearfully.

The woman's eye twitched before she glared at her 'ally', "Do you really think the Wonderbolts, this meddling Iron Will, the mayor and this self-righteous group around Celestia will just accept his disappearance as a mere coincidence? That they won't make us both to their first suspects? Or that he was the only mage in their rows? Who knows how much they kept from us. I saw it in Celestia's eyes, she told us only what she wanted us to know. No, he shall return and report to his captain that he saw nothing of interest." She glared back at Lightning, smiling coyly, "Yes. I have a much better idea. You will provide us with the opportunity to throw them off until the task is complete."

"Are you stupid? I will never work with the likes of you! I would rather die than betraying my friends and comrades!" Lightning Streak defied heatedly.

"Now, now. You talk like you would have a choice. Let me show you what I mean," Prismia replied joyfully.

She tapped the raven figure around her neck four times with her finger and suddenly the formerly trivial looking piece of jewelry began to glow. After a briefly given show of blinding light and tossing winds, Prismia's showed her ascended form.

Her hair changed its color to a dark chestnut brown with highlights made of black stone, literally. The eyes were now a brilliant ice blue, what looked like white crystals moved around her irises, if someone focused long enough on the woman's eyes to notice the slow movements that was. The eyeshadow changed to a dark shade of tan. Prismia's ash gray skin was still there, but much darker and more appearing like perfectly polished earth instead of skin and flesh. And she grew a little over the height of Celestia.

The outfit was now consisting out of a dark metallic silver robe, fit for battle, with flying splits of obsidian around her shoulders. The robe itself had only short sleeves and metallic violet highlights around the edges, a big, fist-sized blue topaz was embedded into the center of the robe. Then there were to below the knees reaching boots made of Zyphorium in dark jade-green. The same color and material was used for the vambraces she now wore. Enchantments to protect her body, soul and mind from any form of hostile influence were casted upon them.

"I hope you are impressed, my little Wonderbolt," A clear distortion could be heard in her voice and a strange distant sounding undertone that reminded Lightning of a rock slip whenever the wom-whatever she was, spoke.

"W-what in the bloody hell are you?!" he asked stammeringly.

She looked down upon her prisoner, "My full name is Depths Seeker Prismia, Scion of Earth and servant of Rubyleon the Invincible. One of the Seven Pillars of Continuity and faithful servant of our great lord, Granrok of the Unbending Earth. And to answer your question how I knew that you were following me, well, much to your misfortune I was the worst kind of scion you could have met in the case of a stealth mission. It would have worked if you had anybody else as a target, but not me."

At his fearful look she chuckled cruelly, "Every earth elemental and half-elemental like me is connected to the very earth itself through our inner elemental magic. We feel it when someone walks the ground, no matter if visible or not. I can feel every presence around me in a diameter of 60 meter and I have to admit it was truly confusing at first when my magic was telling me that there should be someone where you stood, but nobody was in sight. So I tested if my senses were somehow affected, what shouldn't have been possible, or not. I continued to feel every step you took behind me, it made me very curious. What kind of person had the ability to walk unseen? I told High Fame here to let the door open for you so that I could trap my pursuer. And see? My plan worked out flawlessly," Prismia explained tauntingly.

"B-but when Ms. Celestia told us all about the fire elementals and Cinch you reacted as shocked as most of us did," commented Lightning Streak in confusion.

Prismia circled around the Wonderbolt's cage when she continued to talk, "Yes, I didn't know that the fire elementals were the ones responsible for the attack on Canterlot City. I was... training you might say and wasn't up to date about the past events. Three days ago I returned to Earth with a mission my master gave me and only heard rumors and stories of the refugees when I came to Ponyville."

She had founded Justice immediately, because Prismia needed enough political support to convince Mayor Mare that she should have influence, too, as leader of the biggest faction. Of course playing the 'aggressive, magic-hating politician who was out for revenge and justice' made a good cover. And Prismia never heard of other humans taking up the honorable mantle of a scion, so she believed that she was the only one, until now. Prismia already decided to ask her master if he knew anything about the recruitment of fellow Scions after she had completed the her given task.

It would be interesting to have colleagues who understood her on a more personal level for a change.

"What?! And you are just fine with the fact that they erased an entire city from the map?!" the mage screamed at her in disbelief and fury. High Fame jerked at the volume.

The Scion of Earth was absolutely unimpressed, "I couldn't care less what the other elemental tribes are doing." Prismia looked into the far distance, "Once I called Canterlot City my home as well, you know. I was respected, loved, had many friends, but then she happened, Mi Amore Cadenza. You might know her as Dean Cadence." She was disgusted from saying the name out loud and spoke the next sentence with venom in her voice, "This woman came into my life and ruined everything."

"What are you talking about? Dean Cadence is a very kind and compassionate person. I can't imagine that she would hurt others at all," Lightning Streak replied neutrally.

Even High Fame wasn’t sure, he heard about the young dean's flawless reputation when living in Canterlot and there was never anything else than highest praise for her.

Prismia rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Of course. Like always Cadence is the little innocent angel in everybody's eyes, but you know what?" The Scion of Earth stomped on the floor with force, creating cracks into the tiles around her, much to High Fame's dismay, "She is nothing more than a lying backstabber! Did you know that I wanted to become the dean of Crystal Prep Academy, too? I worked very hard so that I may attain this position and there was a time I even called her a friend during our common studies at Canterlot University, but then she got the very thing I desired! And why? Because she thought I was wrong and she wasn't! I had visions! Ideas. How I could improve the school system itself. To make it possible for all kids from a young age on to be educated under the best circumstances, to become the best. Hard working members of society."

The ground beneath her feet shook this time, the tiles, much to the owner's growing dismay, cracked even more, "And what did Cadence say? That I couldn't do it! That I would 'destroy' the childhood and social life of the younger generations with my plans. Or that I would have pressured the students too much and 'having the possibility of making friends' and 'fun' would be much more important than solely focusing on academic success and good grades. That my new rules would have destroyed the will of many future students of even desiring to go to school any longer and that my ideas didn't nurture hope, inspiration or motivation, but only great fear of failure." Prismia ranted herself into a frenzy. It was most unusual to witness the scene for the two men, normally she was always very controlled.

"M-Ms. Prismia, please c-calm yourself. I don't think my mansion is made for withstanding earthquakes," High Fame pleaded timidly, noticing how some of his walls started to crack as well.

She took a deep breath, the rumbling ceased, earning herself a relieved sigh from the older man, "Showing love and compassion was her way, unyielding discipline and cerebral stimulation mine. Or as I saw it, the way of revolutionizing one day the entire education system. And in the end the school board had the audacity to kick me out of the closer choice for the position when Cadence ran to them behind my back, just because I didn't listen to her. She explained to them why I shouldn't become dean and what my visions would cause in the future. And they agreed! These pathetic lowlifes offered her the position as dean of Crystal Prep! How dare they taking everything I worked for away from me and falling so easily for a pretty face with a sob story!"

Her voice was now thick with apathy, "It was always the same in the following years. One complimenting article after another for this woman and her way of handling things. She was adored and loved by all and I was left behind, reprimanded in front of the entire school board like a child and alone, because my so-called 'friends' heard from my ideas and plans somehow and tried to talk me out of it as well. When I didn't budge, they abandoned me, saying I should only come back when I understood how 'wrong I was' and 'Cadence right'." She chuckled bitterly, "I understood then that humans were truly disgusting beings. Smiling and acting like they cared for you, but were ready to stab you in the back if you dared to do something they didn't approve of."

Prismia's hand illuminated with her magic, which looked like dark brown swirling wind, filled with dirt, playing with her powers like a child, only bare of its joy, "So I switched into a field that fit my second greatest love besides education, botany. The art of understanding and working with Earth's most silent inhabitants. I developed over time a true passion when it came to learning about the inner life of the planet and how it affected the flora."

She let her magic surround a vase with a beautiful purple-whitish colored petunia in it. The harmless looking plant grew a little bit, looking healthier than ever before, much to the men's amazement, "Then the rumors started about newly discovered animals, beings of mythology. However, what interested me weren't the animals, but the new plants. So I prepared myself for a field trip and left Canterlot City behind me to see the newest wonders this new world had to offer. It happened near the Neighagara Falls when I encountered Treants, guardians of the the flora. I thought I was done for, but suddenly they stopped and retreated not a moment later. The earth broke apart and he appeared before me, Rubyleon the Invincible. He recognized my talent for the earth and offered me the chance of a lifetime. Joining the ranks of the earth elementals under his guidance and being a part of something much bigger than I could ever hope for as a mere human."

The Scion of Earth channeled some of her power into the earth in the vase's bottom, providing the petunia with much more nutritious humus, "Do you see now? He understood me, acknowledged me and my potential, granted me a new chance. Something no human was ready to do. So here I stand before you, Depths Seeker Prismia, Scion of Earth. One with the earth. And I won't lose any sleep when worthless trash gets disposed of like it was the case with the invasion of Canterlot. In this new era, only the strong strive and the weak tremble in fear. That is something you and the rest of your little group around Captain Spitfire and Celestia don't seem to understand. You still want to play hero and think if you just try hard enough, you could bring, what? A happy ending? Harmony for all?" She scoffed mockingly, "Give me a break! There are things lurking outside of Ponyville which would make you cry in despair, but I see you will have to find that out on your own. On the hard way." Prismia laughed darkly.

The captured mage shook his head in great disappointment and disbelief, "I'm sorry for what happened to you and that you really believe that everybody abandoned you. I think your friends did their best to make you understand that life was more than just a sheet of paper with good grades. But seeking revenge? Sowing hatred and distrust? You are blinded by jealousy on Dean Cadence and it seems to me that you took up this offer from beings who have no sympathy for human lives just out of spite. What makes it all worse, you even support them." He glared challengingly into her eyes, "I will fight you to the very end, we all will."

"Cute. Should I shake in fear before or after your empty threats are boring me to death?" Prismia asked with rolling eyes.

Lightning Streak thought about what to do next. She was right, he had no chance to escape her, "I'm curious though, you said that you are a 'Scion of Earth', but Abacus Cinch is a 'Scion of Fire', from what Ms. Celestia explained. How many kinds of elementals are there?"

She considered his words and chuckled in amusement, "Well, you will forget this meeting anyway. Five, there are five different tribes of elementals and each has a domain of its own where most elementals live. All five domains exist in a different world known as the Elemental Planes. There is for one the tribe of the fire elementals, who live in the Burning Mountains. Then we have the thunder elementals, who are calling the Gleaming Isles their home. The water elementals, their domain are the Roaring Oceans. Next the air elementals, whose home is known as the Torn Heavens. And lastly the kingdom of the earth elementals, the Sunken Jungles."

Lightning had to admit that their kingdoms had the coolest names he had ever heard. Spitfire and the rest seriously needed to know about what he discovered. That was all much bigger than they ever imagined.

Prismia took hold of his face with cold, smooth fingers, "And you wouldn't believe what for interesting plants I found there. Most elementals don't care for the effects of flora on living organisms, because they wouldn't be affected anyway, so it was usually left alone. But as a passionate botanist I just had to see what was hidden behind the names they were given. I found a flower named 'Season's Dream', and it wears this name with pride, I can promise you that. At first I only found crude descriptions of how it would show different effects, depending on the season its spores were exposed to. Spring, summer, autumn, winter. I had to look through a lot of books before I found what I wanted to know. Its spores influence how someone dreams. During the spring, Season's Desire gives a person who inhales the spores visions of the past, an alternative, if you would have taken another route in life. During the summer it gives you very vivid hallucinations or the worst nightmares, depending on the time of the day and if the sun or the moon is out. As long as the sun is out the spores give a person hallucinations and under the moon of the night they punish you with most terrible nightmares. During autumn the flower lets you see your greatest desires of the present and during the winter it shows you what could be happening in your future. Isn't that a wonderful creation of nature? Now the big question. What season do we have here in the moment?" Prismia asked innocently.

"Summer..." High Fame answered the question silently, but loud enough for all to hear. Lightning Streak gulped in fear.

"The sun is shining and I can completely understand that observing me for hours can be very tiring if nothing interesting happens. Who can blame you that you fell asleep, taking a well-deserved nap?" the woman stated in a compassionate tone.

She took a little bag out of her robe and grasped into it. Prismia stood directly in front of the mage's face and blew Season's Desires' red spores directly into his face. He thought holding his breath would be enough, but in the end it didn't matter, because it was already sufficient when the spores entered the body over the nose or eyes. Not that he knew it, as long as Lightning didn't sleep, nothing would happen to him.

When the, for the naked eye, visible spores disappeared out of the air because of his wild arm movements the young mage breathed in loudly before looking victoriously at his captor, "Ha! You can't harm me, because that would just provoke unwanted questions. And your spores are gone. What do you plan to do now?"

She didn't display any visible reaction at all, only answering forcefully with glowing ice blue eyes in form of one word, "Sleep."

"What are you talk... ing ab... out..." he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"What just happened?" High Fame asked dumbly.

Prismia disbanded her created prison, "Like fire elementals have the strongest offensive spells, air elementals the strongest illusion spells, to name two examples from other tribes, so have earth elementals the strongest spells when it comes to standing firm and overpowering their foes with raw strength, great defense abilities and will. Earth is known as the unbending element for a reason. In the moment he looked me into the eyes, I connected to him with my mind and magic. Imagine it like a cockatrice or basilisk. They do the same."

If one had a very strong will, your enemies couldn't overpower you. Of course in theory it sounded much easier than it actually was. The Wonderbolt was weak and unprepared, not remotely able to withstand the Scion of Earth in a battle of minds.

"I see... a-are you sure this man won't talk when he wakes up?" High Fame asked worriedly.

The Scion shook her head at the politician's cowardice, "The hallucinations. Season's Desire tortures its victims with them in their sleep, they are like the nightmares at night, so cruel, terrifying and adapted to the victim's personal life that his mind will have to protect itself. A defense mechanism of the body will be activated in cases of very traumatizing experiences to protect someone's sanity and mind. It happens for example with children who experienced something horrible in their youth. Suppression."

Satisfaction dominated the older man's features, "That is what I call a well-executed plan! Everything works out perfectly. So he really won't remember us?"

Prismia had to stop herself from groaning, "No, he won't remember anything. The book said that besides the hallucinations themselves in his dreams, the victim will lose at least 2-3 hours of his memories before the person in question started to sleep. More than enough time so that he won't be able to remember this entire conversation at all, but enough after he started following me to come to the conclusion that what I did was so boring that he fell asleep on his own. He will be confused once he wakes up, yes, but that is not our concern." The Scion looked down at the man, like he was a bug, "And you will take care of him, bring his body to the park without raising any suspicion or being seen," she ordered casually.

"Why me?!" Such dirty work was beneath a man of his status!

"You desired riches, power and a guaranty that no harm shall come to you by any means. Wasn't that what you wanted? In exchange you convinced your colleagues that especially the Flora Fauna Federation and the New Amarerica Party were to be kept low on public support so that I could influence the mayor into granting me authority over the militia to some degree as the biggest political faction of town. That was the deal. You don't need to know why I need it, that's none of your business. But you will work for your reward," she clarified with a warning glare which destroyed any contempt he felt for the task before him.

"Y-yes Ms. Prismia, as you wish. As long as I'm on the side of the winners and survivors when these warlocks attack Ponyville and get what was promised to me, I'm happy." High Fame left the house in a controlled hurry to search for people who would perform his job without failure.

The chubby man didn't hear the dark cackling of his ‘partner’, "Oh, don't worry. In the end, humans like you get always what they rightfully deserve."

Author's Notes:

Greetings my avid readers!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

So the fourth Scion appeared... bets on the last one? I challenge ya!

Important: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/801480/actual-news-editing

Thank you very much for reading and stay tuned!