How long had it been? Twilight couldn’t tell. The concept of time eluded her in this space. It felt like she had only been there for a few days, but she knew it must have been at least a few weeks. Being stuck inside this training area with a draconequus or pure chaos magic was perhaps the oddest thing she had ever volunteered for, even for her.

Training with Discord and working on ascension at the same time was not an easy task. Twilight had pushed her body to its limits and beyond, and her mind had been trained to think outside the box. She had learned when it was appropriate to abandon her studiousness and overly organized mannerisms and embrace chaos. She hoped this new insight would give her the advantage she needed, the edge necessary to perform her duties as princess and protect her nation from the oncoming invasion, she only prayed it wasn’t too late.

This training session with Discord was par the norm for the two of them. They sat in silence, eyes closed, but locked in a fierce battle of minds. To the untrained eye it appeared as though they were only meditating, but in reality, the two were having a magic duel of the highest caliber.

The battlefield: their minds.

Inside their connected thoughts, the two were engaged in a duel like no other. Twilight had zapped at Discord with a potent magic beam only for him to dodge without much effort. He hurled a fireball in her direction in retaliation which she flipped out of the way of.

Discord nodded but then cast two beams from his hands, green in color swiping them about like sabers trying to hit Twilight who kept jumping and dodging to avoid them while she charged up an explosion spell of significant magnitude. It would take a few seconds but if she could land it then she could win this fight.

She concentrated while dodging Discord’s attacks, focusing her magic into a small ball just floating above her horn. The more she focused the more the ball of energy began to glow until it finally stabilized, ready to be hurled toward her opponent for maximum damage. She smirked as she felt victory in her grasp but paused when she noticed Discord had a smirk of his own. Blinking, Twilight looked over her shoulder to see the fireball he had hurled earlier had made a return.

Not reacting quickly enough, Twilight was hit by the blast sending her backward. While she was staggered, Discord zapped her with both of his beams sending her in the other direction and eventually off the black disk that the two of them fought upon. As she ringed out, Twilight tried to flap her wings to break her long fall to the drop below.

To her surprise, her wings wouldn’t move. Discord must have cast a spell to stop them from working. She needed a plan, and fast if she wanted to avoid losing yet another match to the creature. Even with her ascended magic, Discord still proved troublesome in a fight.

Closing her eyes, she cleared her mind. She remembered what she was taught about thinking outside of the normal constraints that she was used to. She abandoned logic, she abandoned reason, she abandoned the fear of consequence.

When her head was clear she asked herself an important question.

How can I get back up there?

The answer came to her. It was something she would have never thought to do prior to this training, but she knew how to win now.

She still had her explosion spell. Looking down toward the approaching ground, Twilight hurled the spell downward right underneath herself. Sure enough, within seconds the spell burst causing a massive explosion which caught Twilight in its edges. It was painful, but the shockwave sent her up, high up.

She landed back inside the ring with a tumble, her feathers a mess, and her mane a disaster zone that would make Rarity shriek. Panting she brought herself to a stand and braced herself. Part two of her plan was about to come into effect.

Discord smiled as he hurled another few fireballs at Twilight. Instead of moving or blocking them, Twilight took them head-on, allowing each to hit her. She groaned in agony, the pain growing with each hit, but she stood still. She refused to budge, despite how many fireballs the draconequus pelted her with.

Discord didn’t quite understand her strategy, but it seemed like another easy victory was in his grasp, so he kept wailing on her with all he had, not letting up in the slightest to the alicorn, pelting her with fireball after fireball.

Twilight grinned as her horn began to glow. With a smirk growing on her face, Discord watched in horror as he realized what was actually going on. He had been duped; Twilight had actually managed to outsmart him.

With one mighty blast, Twilight hit him with a beam so powerful that he felt his skin rip off of his body. He felt his very being be ripped apart, split atom by atom until there was nothing left. He wailed in pain before the both of them opened their eyes and returned back to the world outside of their minds.

Discord blinked a few times, impressed by her actions.

“Well… I never thought I’d see the day… That was… Quite a clever combination of strategies there, Princess…” Discord commented.

Twilight was a bit disoriented. While their mental magic duels did not cause them harm, the more strenuous the battles, the weaker they felt when they awoke.

“You used your own explosion on yourself… Damaging yourself just to get back into the fight… And then you took advantage of your opponent’s overconfidence by casting a magic reflection spell on yourself… However, you were clever enough to set the counter spell to build over time rather than deflect everything right away… So by taking great personal damage to yourself, you were able to hit me back tenfold…” Discord summarized the outcome of their fight.

“That is… Very cunning…” Discord smirked.

Twilight rubbed her head and nodded. “Thank you… I think?”

Discord came to a stand and offered his claw which Twilight took before coming to a stand herself.

“You’ve done it, Twilight Sparkle… You’ve learned how to think chaotically… In the harshest of fights, you may sometimes need to confuse your foe with tactics that they would never anticipate… Combine this with what you’ve learned about chaos magic and your ascension that you’ve completed and I’d say… You’ve completed our training together… You may now be the deadliest mare to ever walk Equestria.” Discord smiled.

Twilight couldn’t believe it. When they started their training together she first focused on ascending. Once she had achieved that, she was told that her training would only be complete if she could best Discord in an all out fight.

She was given as many attempts as she needed to get the job done and it had taken hundreds of tries before she finally had beaten him. The old draconequus was clever, slick and difficult to predict. In the past, she relied on her friends and the elements of harmony to defeat him, but in this place all she had was herself. She never realized how much more difficult defeating Discord would have been without those elements.

“So you’re saying…” Twilight blinked in disbelief.

Discord nodded. “You’re ready… Your training is officially complete, there is nothing more I can teach you…”

Those words felt unreal.

With the snap of his claw, the white space around them dissipated and the two were left standing in a gorgeous field with a few trees scattered about it. Looking toward the south, a door that allowed them to escape the room where they had spent considerable time together was ready to finally be opened.

Looking up at her new mentor, Twilight gestured toward the door with her hoof. “Let’s go then. I’m sure our friends are eager to see us again.”

Discord chuckled and nodded as he floated toward the exit. “It will be nice to finally be able to stretch outside of this container. I was starting to feel a little cramped in here…”

Rolling her eyes, Twilight pushed the door open and stepped outside.

A stairwell waited for them, and the two made their way up slowly. Sure enough at the top of the steps, there was a face that Twilight expected to be there ready to greet her. It was the face of Starlight Glimmer, her most trusted and faithful student.

“Twilight! Discord! I can’t believe it! You’re actually out!” Starlight exclaimed before bolting forward and gripping Twilight in a hug.

Twilight returned the embrace before letting Starlight go, who gave Discord an awkward hug which he seemed to not really enjoy before the two split it up.

“Sorry for worrying you…” Twilight frowned.

Starlight shook her head. “I’m just glad you made it out okay! There was always the possibility that you could have… Well… It’s not important anymore… What is important is that you’re here!”

Twilight giggled at her friend’s giddiness and was glad to have such a welcome party from her.

Twilight peered around the room. “Where are the others?” Twilight asked.

Starlight blinked and then rubbed her neck. “They’re sort of off doing various duties… A lot has changed since you’ve been in there, but don’t worry I can gather them all tonight and we can bring you up to speed as quickly as we can!”

Twilight didn’t want to ask what came to her mind next, but she knew that it would be far too important to know to simply ignore it. “Starlight… How long… Have we been in there?”

Starlight blinked. “How long? You mean you don’t know?”

Twilight shook her head. “Time feels odd in there… It felt like maybe a few days… Perhaps two weeks?”

Starlight sighed and sat down. “Twilight… You’ve been in there for eight months…”

“Eight months!?” Twilight gasped.

She knew there was no way she had completed such a difficult training in only one-hundredth of the time it took others far greater than her, but she had hoped she could have cut down how long she was in there to under two months. It was a long shot, but she couldn’t afford to be gone that long.

Starlight grimaced before giving a sheepish smile. “Hey… Eight months is a new record at least?”

She had a point there. Twilight shook her head and dismissed the problem, realizing that there was nothing she could do about it now.

“I guess we have no choice but to move forward then…” Twilight sighed.

Starlight perked up and nodded. “Right… There’s a lot you need to know, Twilight… I’ll bring you up to speed…”

After a short briefing, Twilight was brought up to speed on what had transpired in her absence.

“And so that’s the story…” Starlight finished explaining from across a table sitting next to Spike.

Twilight couldn’t believe all she had heard. She knew that her absence would have resulted in some change and that an omen was looming over Equestria, but she never anticipated anything like this. Serenade Dazzle, the demon sister of Adagio Dazzle seeking revenge? No one could have seen that coming. She was kicking herself for knowing that Adagio had a sister but thinking little of it.

This demon was unlike anything she had heard of before, her power unprecedented. While she was familiar with a creature like Tirek that could drain magic from others, this was a completely different scenario. She had to consider the other capabilities that Serenade possessed. Not only could she drain her prey entirely of their magic, but she also had the ability to control them and infest them with dark energies, thus bending anyone to her will. To top that off, she had dark magic of her own to utilize.

According to Starlight’s explanation, the mare had some kind of black tendrils that she could use as weapons as well, which apparently protected her from incoming attacks and reports suggested they acted as an early warning threat detection as well.

She was a formidable foe, one that wouldn’t go down so easily without a fight, that was for sure.

Twilight had heard of her conquest of the Crystal Empire, of her swift defeat of Celestia, and now her siege on Manehatten. Rarity and Starlight alternated between assisting in keeping the anti-dark energy barrier up during the day and Luna took over at night, but their strategy couldn’t hold forever, they would need to eventually get on the attack, but the question was how.

“Thank you for informing me, Starlight… I’m sorry that I took so long… I tried to work as quickly as I could…” Twilight informed.

Starlight shook her head and gave a dismissing hoof. “I wouldn’t have wanted you to push yourself beyond your limits. You could have died if you pushed too far, but the fact that you finished so quickly at all is truly remarkable… How did you even do it?”

Twilight blushed and looked away, not expecting such praise. “It wasn’t easy… I had to think in ways that I had never thought before… Imagine possibilities that I previously would have never entertained… Discord showed me much, and I intend to use that knowledge to make a difference out here…”

“What do you plan to do?” Starlight blinked, curious as to how Twilight planned to proceed from here.

The mare stood up and began pacing back and forth to clear her mind. She needed a plan, not just any plan either, the greatest plan she had ever concocted in her entire life. She needed something that would defeat Serenade, eliminate any need to kill the innocents that she mind controlled and do so without risking losing her magic to the demon. Just one of those feats would have been a tall order, but all three? It sounded next to impossible.

She paused in her tracks and closed her eyes, focusing.

The lessons of Discord began to ring in her ears.

Think outside the box.

Attacking her head on would be suicide. Traditionally she would power herself up with her friends and go head-to-head. With Serenade’s magic draining ability, that wasn’t an option. Using the elements was out of the question too, as there was no doubt that Serenade would merely absorb the blast and gain more strength.

She needed something that the demon siren couldn’t anticipate, something that would trip her up.

Twilight had mastered chaos magic, but it still was magic nonetheless; if she tried to utilize it in a fight, Serenade would only drain her, adding a new deadly weapon to her already impressive repitoire.

Unless she set a trap.

What kind of trap would trick a demon siren? A trap made of dark magic, of course. It all began to come together in her head. A spell Discord had taught her would allow her to disguise her magical aura as that of dark magic. Serenade wouldn’t even notice it, it wouldn’t fall on her radar as she focused herself on tracking down the magic of ponies so she could drain it.

It was possible that she could create a magic trap and hide its energy with a fake dark magic aura. Then all she would need to do is trick Serenade into springing the trap.

It seemed possible in theory, but Twilight would need time, plenty of it too.

“Starlight… I think I have a plan…” Twilight stated as she opened her eyes and placed a hoof on her chin.

The unicorn in front of her perked up and blinked in shock. “Really? What’s the plan?”

“It’s going to be tricky and complicated, so I need you to pay attention and do exactly as I say from here on, okay?” Twilight instructed as she paced back and forth, still piecing together the final bits of her plan in her head.

“Alright…” Starlight nodded.

“I’m going to utilize a spell that Discord taught me which should hide my magical aura and make it appear as one of dark magical energy,” Twilight began.

Starlight tilted her head in confusion. “Why do something like that?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Because Serenade is not tracking dark magic, she’s searching for regular magic. Dark magic will fall off of her radar because she has surrounded herself with so much of it that she would be able to tell if it’s just her own magic bouncing back at her.”

Starlight’s eyes lit up as the pieces of Twilight’s plan began to click together. “Ohhhhh! So you’ll hide the trap in plain sight by cloaking it with dark magic! I see now!”

Twilight nodded with a smile on her face, proud of her student. “Yes, then I will set a trap that will immobilize her. After that, we can use a reverse magic drain spell on her, weaken her enough to contain her and then we’ll take her away. With all of our magic back we should be able to break the hold she has over ponies with relative ease.”

Starlight liked this plan, it was the exact kind of thing that she could always rely on her mentor to come up with.

“It sounds like a great plan!” Starlight exclaimed.

Twilight frowned at those words. “One problem though…”

There was always a caveat.

“What is it?” Starlight asked.

The alicorn returned to pacing back and forth as she thought out loud. “This kind of spell will take weeks to prepare. I’ll need as much time as you can give me to pull this off… So you, Rarity and Luna need to keep Serenade occupied with Manehatten long enough for me to do this…”

Starlight came to a firm stance and gave a salute with her hoof. “Consider it done, Twilight.”

Twilight smiled and approached the girl, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “I knew I could count on you…”

“I can’t promise we can hold her forever, but we’ll do our best to keep her at bay. I’ll buy you all the time I can spare,” Starlight promised with a nod.

“That’s all I can ask of you, Starlight… You best get going though, it’ll be nightfall soon, and you should be resting at Manehatten so you’re ready to take over when daylight comes…” Twilight informed.

Starlight nodded and gave the girl a quick hug, which Twilight returned. “Good luck, Twilight.”

“Thank you… I’m probably going to need all the luck I can get…” Twilight laughed.

As she stepped away and toward the exit, Starlight shook her head. “I know you… Luck never has anything to do with your victories.”

Twilight laughed and nodded, glad that she had raised such a wonderful student.

Days of laboring away at Serenade’s statue had left most of the camp tired. Galeal and Eclipse no exception. When they weren’t working on building schematics, they were out assisting with the actual labor element of the job. Though their positions granted them a slightly more cushy setup, they were not completely immune to the suffering that all were forced to endure.

Sitting in their tent together, most were annoyed that they would have to share a cramped tent space with another, but not Galeal and Eclipse whom both were snuggled up close to each other, Galeal wrapping a wing around the young unicorn and keeping his head rested on his chest.

Eclipse listened to the griffon’s heartbeat as they laid there on the somewhat uncomfortable cot that was provided for them quietly. Labor wasn’t exactly in Eclipse’s list of skills, but Galeal recognized that and worked twice as hard to make up for him while they were in the quarry or at the construction site.

It wasn’t all bad, Eclipse at least got some amusement by watching the griffon flex his muscles, something that brought him great joy. Their flirtatious behavior, however, was kept to a minimum so that no others would see. If the guards caught wind of the fact that the two actually were enjoying each other’s company a little too much then they would likely separate them. Instead, they kept every intimate interaction restricted to when they were back in their tent when no one was looking. It wasn’t too out of the ordinary for them, given that the nature of their relationship had been kept private since they met.

Eclipse tried to think of how long it had been since they had found each other, it seemed like an eternity, but he knew it couldn’t possibly be that long. When they met they were but young teens who slowly became infatuated, but now they were approaching the end of their teenage years, qualifying for adults by Equestrian standards. Soon they would be old enough to get their first jobs and purchase their first homes.

Eclipse had gotten his cutie mark some time ago before Serenade took over Equestria. His mark was of a sun being covered by a moon, representative of his namesake. He had learned a long time ago that he excelled at magic revolving around light and light manipulation. He was confident that he wanted to go into astronomy when he was done with high school, and Galeal said he would join the royal military for Equestria in Canterlot so that they could be close to each other when Eclipse accepted a position at the Observation Center of Canterlot.

Their future was already planned out, and it seemed like only yesterday that they were discussing it, but now it all seemed like a lifetime ago. Serenade taking over Equestria thwarted everything they had plotted together, and now they would be lucky if there even was a future for either of them that didn’t involve being worked to death like some of the others in this forsaken camp.

The concept of death, however, was lost on Eclipse. Did he care if he died? Not really. Life had always been rather empty for him anyway. On top of that, the only things he really felt was affection toward Galeal and anger or hatred toward Serenade. He remembered his parents were put to death directly in front of him, how she laughed and smiled as she ended them, how she enjoyed their suffering. After an event like that, the only thing that Eclipse could feel was hatred, his positive emotions, and energy reserved exclusively for Galeal.

That creature was more than a demon, more than a siren, she was a heartless monster, a creature that deserved nothing but a swift death. He knew he would at least push himself to live long enough to end her, after that, he didn’t know. He had to survive though, so it was a good thing that he was paired with Galeal. Galeal would keep him going, prevent him from giving in before it was his time; he couldn’t afford to die until he finished this. He wouldn't allow himself to end until he was certain that Serenade breathed no more.

Serenade’s power was vast, her abilities almost god-like. Eclipse hadn’t a clue how he, a lowly unicorn now with no magic was going to bring her to her doom. It was a work in progress, to say the least, but he was determined that it could be done somehow, he just needed a plan, and luckily his situation afforded him plenty of time, and with that time he would formulate his revenge.

Stirring in his sleep, Galeal grumbled and opened an eye seeing the stallion resting on him was wide awake. In his usual aloof behavior, he yawned and questioned the pony.

“What’s up?”

Eclipse shrugged. “Just thinking…”

“Do I dare ask about what?” Galeal sighed, clearly not wanting a long story or explanation.

“Just… If we’ll ever get out of this situation… That’s all…” Eclipse lamented.

As predicted, Galeal just shrugged and seemed indifferent toward it all. “Dunno… Probably not… I mean that demon cunt is super strong. Bitch could split cities in half without even trying… I don’t see her going down… We're pretty much beyond fucked.”

“What about Luna? I heard that she is still fighting, and there’s Princess Twilight out there somewhere…” Eclipse reminded.

Galeal gave a dismissive claw wave. “They’re wasting their time. Serenade can’t be beaten… She’ll mop them up like they were nothing… It’s better to just accept that this is Equestria now… We're toast.”

“You’re pretty defeatist…” Eclipse frowned.

The griffon just shrugged once more. “No reason to be optimistic for me… The world sucks, all that’s different now is there’s a different creature making it suck.”

“If you could do something about it… Would you?” Eclipse asked.

Galeal paused for a moment, not sure of how to answer that question, not sure what his honest answer even was. Did he have it in him to do anything about someone like Serenade? Probably not. He was tough, but Serenade would rip him apart in a matter of seconds in a one-on-one fight, hell even in a ten-on-one fight.

“I don’t know… Hard to say… No point in fantasizing about it though because the facts remain that we won’t be in a position to do something about it… She’s an all-powerful almost Demi-god level demon and we’re… Just some griffon and a faggot pony…” Galeal pointed out.

Eclipse rolled his eyes. “You know… You’re a fag too…”

“Me? No way. The only queer here is you.” Galeal shook his head.

“And yet you’re the one always making out with me…” Eclipse chuckled.

“Keep that up and that’ll stop…” Galeal grumbled.

Shaking his head, Eclipse crawled over the griffon and planted a kiss on his beak. The two locked mouths for a moment before breaking the kiss. “As long as we have each other, this doesn’t bite so much…” Eclipse said.

Galeal blushed and looked away. “Yeah… I guess…”

Twilight had spent a few days preparing herself for what was to come, her mind was filled with all the ways that all of this could go wrong and blow up in her face. What if her trap wasn’t powerful enough? What if Serenade didn’t fall for it? What if she couldn’t finish it in time to be used against the demon?

Her old mistress of self-doubt had returned full throttle and she had brought with her, her close friend: anxiety. Twilight was worked up, she needed this plan to succeed, but she wasn’t completely confident that it would.

Sitting at a desk, she began to scribble down notes. Since it was the one place where they knew that Serenade could not find, Starlight, Twilight, and their friends had agreed that the Royal Training Grounds would be their base of operations. The area was large enough to house a few thousand ponies and was out of the way and easily hidden within a large forest on the edge of the country. An illusion spell prevented outsiders from entering who would only see woods and get lost in said woods.

To the trained eye though, they could be granted passage and in turn grant others passage as well. It was the perfect kind of place for their new headquarters.

Twilight looked over her notes, her designs, seeing her spell come together brought her a semblance of joy. She could see the fruits of her labor starting to blossom.

As she magicked a quill against parchment, a familiar giggle rang in her ears causing her to sigh.

“What is it, Discord?” Twilight asked aloud.

On cue, the draconequus appeared before her and bowed politely before coming to a full stand. “Brilliant deduction… How did you know it was me?”

Twilight didn’t even look up from her work. “I spent many months locked in a room with you. I can recognize virtually any and all sounds you make at this point.”

“Always observant, I see.” Discord smirked before floating in her direction, wrapping his long body around the mare in her chair. His long scaly tail flicked at the mare and the tuft at the end brushed under her chin.

His mismatched paw came about and landed on Twilight’s cheek as he floated behind her. She swiped it off of her before returning to her work.

“And just as much of a killjoy as ever…” Discord sighed.

“You may have taught me to think outside of the box, but that didn’t kill my work ethic… This isn’t a time for playing around, the entire nation of Equestria is counting on me to make this spell work…” Twilight explained.

Discord blinked and snapped his finger. With a poof, he appeared in front of Twilight laying across her desk, shrunk in size to about an eighth of his normal mass. “Twilight, are you stressing yourself out again?”

“No, being stuck in a room with you for eight months stresses me out… This? This is a cakewalk…” Twilight smirked in response before gesturing for him to get up.

He poofed himself off of her desk and now was standing at her side with an arm around her back. “Twilight, if anypony can pull this spell off, it’s you. I’m sure your friends have complete confidence in you…”

Twilight sighed and shook her head. “Sadly, there have been a few times where I wasn’t able to deliver, Discord. I’m smart, sure and I’m definitely talented at magic, hell after my training, I’d dare even suggest that I could go head-to-head with some of the best, but that doesn’t mean I am invincible or infallible. This Serenade Dazzle… She sounds really strong… I’m trying not to underestimate her, but to be honest… I’m not entirely confident that I can beat her…”

“That’s loser talk and we all know how I feel about losers…” Discord stuck his tongue out and shook his head. “From now on we’re only going to talk like winners over here.”

With those words, he poofed a big foam finger reading “Twilight #1” onto his claw and a baseball cap that matched it.

Twilight sighed but found herself smiling at his gesture. Discord was an odd one, but he meant well in his own strange way. Twilight realized that she had plenty of support on her side and that at least instilled a little confidence in her, but she hoped it would be enough to make a difference.

Twilight looked over at the Draconequus and allowed her expression to soften. “Hey, Discord…”

He blinked and looked over at her face, noting how serious it had become. “Yeah?”

“If… We don’t make it… If Serenade wins… It was… an honor learning from you…” Twilight grinned.

Discord froze for a moment before his response. “Consider it repayment… For all you’ve taught me…”

Serenade grinned as she looked over the reports of how swiftly research was being completed on the item necessary to complete her capture of Manehatten. Luna was a tough hold out, and while Serenade didn’t know how she was keeping her strength up enough to keep the barrier that kept her out up, she knew it would hardly matter in the long run. Eventually, her amplifier would be complete and she could neutralize the problem in a matter of seconds then, provided that stupid doctor hurried up.

She peered out her window from her study in the Canterlot Castle. Down in the streets, she saw her guards policing the population, ponies wearing the appropriate jumpsuits that she had provided them with, and orderly conduct left and right. Canterlot was running under her hoof and she made every call on what was and what wasn’t okay to do. Mortals obeyed her, and if they were defiant enough to try and do otherwise, they would become mind slaves just as quickly.

It was all happening right before her eyes, she was the new ruler of Equestria, she was the all-powerful one. She just needed a few more pieces on the board and she would own it all. There was nothing that could stop her now, her conquest was so close to completion.

A tap on her door interrupted her gloating, causing her to grumble in annoyance. “Come in…” She barked.

Opening the door and taking a gentle bow was the face of Shield, one of her trusted subordinates. “Shield… I am assuming there is a good reason for why you’ve interrupted me?”

He nodded and removed the hood of his cloak. “Master, our scouts have searched high and low for Princess Twilight Sparkle…”

“And?” Serenade raised a brow.

“She is nowhere, master. Gone from Equestria, we’ve searched every inch…” He smiled.

She blinked. “And this is good news, how?”

He came to a proper stand. “Master, she has abandoned Equestria, she doesn’t dare threaten your power. She is not even an obstacle.”

Serenade growled and stomped her foot. “I want her found!”

Shield had not expected that reply. “But Master… Why?”

Serenade’s tendrils shot out of her back and stopped only inches from Shield’s face. The siren walked closer to him slowly, each step with purpose. “I won’t leave anything to chance… Not found means she could still try and pull a fast one on me when I’m not looking…”

“Master… With your powers…” Siren was cut off by a tendril tapping his chin, Serenade dangerously close to his face.

“I’m not taking that chance… You will find her… You will capture her… And you will bring her to me… Do I make myself clear?” Serenade growled.

He nodded and saluted. “Crystal, ma’am.”

“Good… Now get out of my face…” Serenade hissed.

Bowing, he obeyed and vanished from his master’s presence quicker than he appeared. There wasn’t a subordinate of Serenade’s that didn’t know that when the master barked, you obeyed and you obeyed the first time without question. There was only one acceptable speed for Serenade and that was “right away”. If she had a chance to tell you a second time, you were already in violation.

She definitely was a stern master, one who ruled with an iron hoof, but she praised success and the more success you brought to her, the easier your interactions with the siren would be. Her tolerance for failure and questions were perhaps as low as one could get.

Once the siren was alone again, she sighed and shook her head lamenting at how difficult it was to find competent minions that didn’t ask stupid questions. While she didn’t see Twilight’s abilities as any kind of threat, she did acknowledge that she had heard time and time again that the mare was crafty. Tales of Twilight’s exploits were well documented in the archives that Serenade now possessed. She had saved Equestria numerous times with those friends of hers, against odds stacked heavily against her no less.

Serenade’s power was far greater than anything Twilight had likely faced in the past, that was almost certain, but that didn’t mean the girl’s wits would cause no problems. Serenade was strong, but not arrogant enough to believe she could leave a princess with such a high magic reserve to just wander about and do as she pleased, even if she was outmatched.

Twilight would need to be dealt with and swiftly. It was merely a matter of how to proceed.

Serenade closed her eyes and tried to see if she could latch onto any magical energies larger than normal. A pony like Twilight certainly had a high amount of magic, easier to track than a common unicorn.

No matter how much she tried though, Serenade felt nothing that could be strong enough to be considered Twilight. Was she dead? Not likely. Could she have discovered some kind of way to hide her power? Was such a thing possible? Not even Celestia and Luna were capable of such a mastery, but then again Twilight was more motivated than those two according to the stories.

It bothered Serenade that the mare had not appeared at all yet either. Why was she stalling? What had taken her so long to show herself? There was no way that she had planned for Equestria to be half destroyed or conquered before she would intervene. Was Twilight enough of a utilitarian to allow her own mentor to be kidnapped and drained along with her brother, her niece and her sister-in-law just to lure Serenade into a false sense of security? No. It wasn’t possible. Everything that Serenade had read suggested that Twilight Sparkle was goody-two-shoes who gave long speeches about the importance of caring and not abandoning your friends. There was no way that somepony like that would allow her loved ones to be kidnapped all for a plan.

There had to be something that was preventing Twilight from being able to act. Could she have actually been waiting due to knowing how strong Serenade was and not being able to take her in a one-on-one fight? That was definitely in the realm of possibilities.

It was more likely though that she was up to something. Serenade could smell a plan hatching, and while she couldn’t pinpoint what that plan entailed she knew she had to foil it somehow.

Serenade would need to split her focus. While Manehatten was still her primary target, Twilight Sparkle’s plans needed to be on her radar. She needed to be vigilant and sniffing about for any kind of hint at what Twilight was up to.

She found herself sitting back down in her chair and pondering some more. Twilight may have had her guessing, but that didn’t mean she had bested her.

“Twilight Sparkle… Whatever you’re planning… It’s not going to work…” Serenade thought out loud.

Twilight sat with her mentor speaking of her dreams of a dark omen looming over Equestria, visions of a darker tomorrow on the horizon for their kingdom. She bore everything to the Princess she looked up to, every last detail. If there was trouble afoot in the kingdom, Celestia deserved to know first and foremost.

“What does it all mean?” Twilight asked.

Celestia sighed and trotted closer to the balcony in her bedroom, standing there and looking up at the sky wondering how her sister was faring this night. While Celestia prepared for bed, Luna would watch over the night and the land of dreams. It was a difficult balance for the two sisters to maintain, but a necessary one for the good of all of Equestria.

In the past, Celestia had to handle the raising of the Sun and the Moon, but she was thankful that her sister had returned from darkness to her side. She was more thankful that she was reluctant to give into the darkness that was inside of her, turning her only into an impure demon instead of a pure one, had the latter happened… She would likely have never returned.

Night always reminded her of that fateful night where her sister lost control, where she turned into a demon right in front of her, where she was forced to use the elements of harmony to banish her. Celestia hated herself for not seeing the warning signs, for failing to adhere to the omens being shown to her, she vowed she wouldn’t ever make the same mistake. Twilight’s dreams were to be treated as premonitions.

“Twilight… I sense you may be right… I fear there is something waiting for us all… Something sinister…” Celestia began, her eyes locked on the stars.

Twilight blinked and came out to the balcony herself and looked up, trying to see what her mentor saw, but instead, all she saw were balls of gas in the sky millions of miles away twinkling back at them.

“How bad are we talking?” Twilight asked.

Celestia bit her lip and kept her focus upward. It was difficult to say exactly. While she was sensing something evil coming, she could not measure how terrible it was. All she knew was that it should not be underestimated.

“It’s hard to say… However, I would say we should prepare for the worst…” Celestia sighed.

Twilight released a similar sigh herself. “Then… I would like to request your permission to head to the Royal Training Grounds, your majesty…”

Celestia blinked as she turned to see Twilight bowing her head respectfully as she made that request. “The training grounds? What for?”

“If it is as you say, then I will need to prepare myself… In my current state, I might not be strong enough to stand at your side and protect our nation… However, if I were to reach ascension…” Twilight began.

Celestia frowned but nodded. “You do know the risks involved don’t you?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, but I am prepared to do anything necessary to protect Equestria. I knew that when I agreed to be a princess.”

That statement brought a smile to Celestia’s face but a pain in her heart. The thought of losing Twilight was too much to bear, but her unwavering loyalty made Celestia feel proud as a teacher.

“If we are playing this smart, however, you will need more than mere ascension…” Celestia explained.

Twilight blinked and looked up at her teacher with confusion. “What do you mean?”

Celestia sighed and looked back over the balcony, down at the city. A few ponies were still walking the streets in the low light of the streetlights, and night shift workers were beginning to move about while the ponies of the day tucked into their beds and prepared for slumbers until the next day was upon them.

“I’m proposing… You take Discord with you into the Royal Training Ground…” Celestia stated.

That statement only confused Twilight more. “Discord?”

Celestia nodded. “I think you will need more than just power, you will need a strategy. While you are already absolutely brilliant, to face true evil… Evil beyond our greatest fears… You will need to imagine. Think outside the box… Discord may be just the creature to teach you that… Something that I can not.”

“I’m not sure I’m too keen on being locked away with him for prolonged periods of time with nopony else…” Twilight grimaced just at that thought of being trapped in a room with Discord. A part of her could already hear his annoying accordion playing.

“If there were better ways to accomplish these things, I would say to do so, Twilight… However, the reality is that we may not have the luxury of time on our side… With each moment we do not even know how much closer the threat to Equestria gets. We must do whatever we can to stack the deck in our favor…” Celestia explained.

Was Twilight truly prepared to do this? Sure, she said she would do anything for Equestria, but was being trapped for possibly years in a room with no company but Discord one of those things?

She shook her head and erased any doubt. Even if Discord was not exactly her first choice for company, she couldn’t have any doubt. She would do it for Equestria, no questions asked.

Princess Twilight Sparkle bowed to her mentor and smiled. “If that is what you believe is necessary, then I am prepared to do so, Princess…”

Celestia smiled but felt a slight pain in her heart. While it pleased her to see Twilight owning her responsibility as a Princess, it pained her to know that she was putting the mare into a situation that had she not had the loyalty and sense of duty that she had, she would have gladly declined. Twilight was Twilight, but that meant she was easy to read to those who knew her. The Princess of the Sun chose to say nothing about her concern, however, lest she allow Twilight to go into this training with guilt on her mind; Twilight didn’t handle having a busy head too well in times of stress.

When Twilight came back to a proper stand, Celestia nodded at her. “Your service to our nation is most appreciated…”

Twilight shook her head. “Thanks are not necessary, I would do anything for Equestria…”

Celestia sighed and nodded.

There was a short silence between the two before Twilight turned to take her leave only for Celestia to call out to her. “Twilight…”

Twilight blinked and stopped in her tracks, she turned to face her mentor with a raised brow and a “hm?”

Celestia stepped forward and came close to her former student. Examining her up close, Celestia sat on her haunches and lifted both of her hooves to take Twilight’s face in it, holding her cheeks as she stared at the mare. Twilight was mesmerized, unsure of what was going on, unsure of why the Princess was staring at her.

The regal mare examined every detail of the studious pony. She wanted to take in her appearance as much as she could recognizing that there was a chance it could be the last time she would ever see it. “Twilight… There is… a small chance…”

“Hm?” Twilight raised a brow once more.

Celestia gulped and closed her eyes. “A small chance… That you will not survive the training… Those who push themselves too far too quickly…”

Twilight nodded. “I’m aware… I’ve read up on the process…”

“Please… Don’t push yourself too hard… Come back alive…” Celestia pleaded.

Twilight sat there staring at the Princess. As she looked into the alicorn’s eyes she could see… Sadness. Not just any sadness though, the kind of sadness that came with old painful memories.

“Have you lost someone due to the ascension training, Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked. After asking she instantly was internally scolding herself for not using more tact on such a subject.

Celestia nodded. “I have had many star students, Twilight… Some achieved greatness… Others fell from grace and a few… Never got to realize their potential…”

Twilight blinked but kept quiet.

“One of my first students… He was a very inquisitive unicorn, much like yourself, but bolder I would say…” Celestia grinned as memories of this pony came back to her. “His name was Astral Sky, they say he always had stars in his eyes, and if you met him… You’d agree… He dreamed of achieving space travel, he was a brilliant astronomer and destined to become one of the greatest star mages this land had ever seen…”

Twilight kept her tone quiet as she replied. “Sounds brilliant… I would have loved to see his work…”

“His contributions to magic were limited, but they were astounding. His power was his imagination…” Celestia grinned.

“That was eight hundred years ago though…” She frowned as she was remembering the rest of the story.

Twilight almost didn’t want to ask, but she had a feeling that Celestia was waiting for her to do exactly that. “What… Happened to him?” Twilight’s voice was trembling.

Celestia looked up at the stars in the sky. She was reminded of him every time she did. The stars held many memories, those of her sister and those of Astral Sky, two painful reminders of times where she had failed.

“He tried to ascend like you’re doing… He wasn’t ready though… I could see that, but I didn’t want to break his spirit… He was so determined that I didn’t have the heart to tell him he needed more time…” She closed her eyes as a single tear dripped down her face and fell from her chin. “He did not survive… The training destroyed him… He would have been the Prince of Friendship were I not so careless…”

Twilight could barely believe what she was hearing. This stallion would have held the title she now held. He would have essentially been what Twilight was.

The sadness in Celestia’s voice made Twilight speak up. “It sounds like… You loved him…”

Celestia bit her lip but decided to say the words that she had been keeping held in for hundreds of years. “Yes… I did… I never told him, but I really should have… There is nothing I can do now though. He is gone and I am still here… I won’t make the same mistake…”

Composing herself, Celestia stood up straight and placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Twilight… No matter what happens… You’re like a daughter to me… I have confidence in you, but please do not push yourself too hard… I want you to come back…”

Twilight looked at her mentor and for that moment she could feel her pain. The pain of losing somepony that you loved. The pain of having to carry that pain for centuries.

“You’ll see me again real soon…” Twilight smiled.

What a shitty week!

Some drama at work and my internet “upgrade” turned into a total disaster. Making it a miracle that I am able to get this out on time. Unless of course something went wrong that caused me not to and thus this message is now a reminded of my failure.