The Inner Sphere, on New Syrtis...

Granite pulled the bulky neurohelmet from his head and rubbed his sore neck, thinking enviously of the stories he'd heard about Clan technology. Weapons with kilometers of effective range that could destroy an Atlas in one hit, 'Mechs controlled solely by the pilot's mind, no stupid neurohelmets giving him neck pains, and all sorts of other crazy things. He wasn't sure how many of them were actually true. They were only stories, after all.

"How's the new 'Mech?" a voice boomed from the bottom of the stairs. Granite turned to see a yak walking toward him, and the entire catwalk shook as he began climbing the steps. It was Botu, one of Granite's foalhood friends, and another soldier.

"Not bad. It's the same size and weight, so it's really just an updated version of my last one. I'll probably get headaches from piloting it for a while," Granite said, rubbing one of his temples with a grimace. He glanced up at the 'Mech, a slightly modified 7K variant Grand Dragon. Like the original 7K it had a top speed of 130 km/h with MASC activated, an ER PPC in the right arm, three ER Medium Lasers in the left arm, and a C3 Slave unit that allowed it to share targeting data with other allied 'Mechs. The only difference was an SRM 6 launcher in place of the MRM 10.

"That's just something you MechWarriors have to deal with when you get a new 'Mech, right? Do you miss your Dragon?" Botu asked.

Granite shrugged. "I do miss it, but this is a good upgrade. Besides, the militia that bought it could really use some actual firepower. That rednecked piece of garbage isn't enough."

Botu laughed, a hearty and deep noise. "I heard about that. Didn't they just strap weapons to an AgroMech or something?"

Granite nodded. "Basically. They removed the equipment from a Harvester and attached a Light AC/2 and a machine gun. Luckily they haven't had to use it, but with bandit raids becoming more common in that system, they needed real firepower."

"A sixty-ton heavy mech is a huge upgrade from something like that." Botu looked up at Granite's Grand Dragon and sighed. "I wish I could be a MechWarrior."

"You still could if you really wanted to," Granite commented.

Botu raised an eyebrow at his friend. "You've heard what everyone else says about yaks. 'They're no brains and all brawn, good for nothing but cannon fodder and infantry. Strap some steel plates to them, give them rifles, and send them out the door. The sooner they die, the sooner they'll stop eating all the rations.' That kind of thing. Nopony is gonna want me in the cockpit of a 'Mech."

Granite shrugged. "So what? You have the skill set, I know you do. The Techs will install a larger cockpit in a 'Mech if my brother tells them to. All you have to do is go through the training and not fail out."

Botu shook his head. "If only it were that simple." He turned away and started stomping his large hooves back down the stairs. "Anyway, I'll be in the rec room. Come find me if you ever get your head out of the clouds."

Granite snorted and placed his neurohelmet on a rack set into the wall. A soldier was a soldier. It didn't matter if they were a pony, yak, dragon, or whatever. Skill, determination, and obedience were all that were needed. Race was mostly just a visual factor.

"Anything wrong with her?" a voice asked from behind Granite.

Granite turned around to see the chief Tech standing behind him; a pale green earth pony in his thirties or so. He had seafoam eyes and a sapphire mane, and his dark gray uniform was covered in stains that refused to wash out. Granite blinked his gray eyes, trying to think back to the test run he'd taken the machine on. "Oh, yeah. The left knee actuator feels stiff, but other than that it's fine. Can you look into it?"

The Tech nodded and glanced at the 'Mech. "Probably just 'cause she's new, but I'll have a look anyway. We'll get her painted up, too."

"Thanks." Granite trotted down the steps, casting one last look at his 'Mech before exiting the hangar. With his old Dragon, the neural connection between pony and machine always felt restrictive in a way, as if the 'Mech had wanted to resist what he told it to do. With the Grand Dragon, however, it felt almost like floating on air. Other than the stiff knee, he'd never piloted a machine that performed so obediently and responsively.

Granite's lancemates always said his relationship with his 'Mech was unusual. It wasn't like he thought the machine was alive or anything, but sometimes the way it reacted seemed too life-like to be just a simple program. When talking to his brother, Silver Halo, the older pony had admitted feeling similar things from 'Mechs he'd piloted. Maybe it was a hereditary skill, or maybe they were both unlucky enough to inherit the crazy genes from their mother's side of the family. She was mostly sane, but her brother had been confined to a psych ward since he was a colt.

As much crap as Granite's lancemates gave him, they still respected him. Fending off bandit raids was as much combat experience as anypony on base had seen, but even so, the skill he'd shown as a MechWarrior was rivaled by nopony in their Company, except for his brother.

Granite stopped by the road as a transport vehicle sped by, driving at a much higher speed than what was normally allowed on base. He watched it screech to a halt in front of the command building, a hundred meters or so away from where he was standing. A very official-looking magenta pegasus stepped out and rushed into the building, followed by a guard.

"Well that's strange," Granite mused as he ruffled his short marigold mane. Whatever it was, it seemed urgent. Another bandit raid? But if it was something as standard as that, why not just send Silver Halo a message on the comms? He shrugged and continued on his way. "I guess Halo will tell me about it later."

After about ten minutes of walking, Granite found himself at the edge of the base. The guards nodded to him as he walked through the checkpoint, and he glanced around as he stepped into the open desert air. He could faintly see the outline of a small city in the distance. It was built around an oasis hundreds of years ago, not long after the planet was first discovered. Being in such a remote location there weren't any other civilizations for many kilometers, making it a perfect place for a military base and unrestricted training exercises.

The base itself was situated at the foot of one of the mountains in a long range of sandstone peaks, and some parts were even inside the mountain itself. Granite liked to explore the mountains and their valleys in his free time. Despite the frequent bandit attacks he had plenty of time to himself, all things considered, and there was a new spot he'd discovered the previous day that he really wanted to check out.

Granite was sweating by the time he reached the shade of the mountain, and the sand coating his cream-colored body was uncomfortable. The desert heat was unforgiving, but in the right areas, it was actually quite comfortable. The place he'd found was one such area, full of ravines and small caves. Of course, in an area like that, he had to be very careful of wildlife. The red-tailed cobra was a very dangerous snake native to New Syrtis, and while its bite wasn't normally lethal to ponies, it could cause all sorts of problems that would put him out of commission for weeks, most likely.

It didn't take long for Granite to reach the area he'd discovered. It was in a massive ravine, with caves of various sizes all along one wall, many of which were too far up for an earth pony like him to reach. He climbed carefully down into the ravine, where the temperature was noticeably cooler. A few small critters scurried out of his way, but it didn't seem like anything dangerous was around.

Granite sat at the mouth of a particularly large cave and peered in. The entrance was massive; about ten meters wide and almost thirty meters tall at its highest point. He couldn't see very far into it, and while it gave off a mildly foreboding feeling, it oddly didn't frighten him at all. He felt content to just sit there and relax for a while. The temperature was comfortable this far into the ravine, and the sandy floor was surprisingly comfortable to lay on. Granite soon found himself dozing off to the rhythmic sound of his breathing. Only...

Granite shot up and stared into the cave, his senses on alert. While he had heard his own breathing, he could have sworn he'd just heard louder breaths coming from inside the cave. He strained his ears, trying to make sure his mind hadn't been playing tricks on him.

Now that he listened closely, he could definitely hear the sound of breathing coming from inside the cave. Whatever it was, it sounded large. He quickly ran through the list of things he knew lived in the deserts on New Syrtis, but nothing was big enough to breathe that loudly. It had to be at least as big as an Ursa Minor, whatever it was.

"Halo will want to hear about this," Granite thought as he turned to climb quietly out of the ravine. However, he stopped after only a few steps, remembering the transport vehicle and pegasus from earlier. It seemed like his brother had a lot on his plate at the moment. If Granite took care of this for him, he wouldn't have to burden his brother with anything else.

Granite scratched his freckled face and slid back down to the cave opening. The breathing still sounded from inside, just as before. He checked his flank to make sure his laser pistol was where it should be. The firearm was strapped to the top of his right leg, and it should be capable of killing whatever it was inside the cave. He slipped his right foreleg through the brace and pulled the weapon from its holster before stepping into the dark cave.

Granite blinked to adjust his eyes to the relative darkness before continuing on. There was just enough light filtering in to see that the cave opened up into a large space; large enough that he couldn't see the walls. The breathing reverberated in his body for a moment, amplified by the cave, before suddenly cutting off. Granite frowned and glanced around, starting to feel a little nervous at his situation.

A loud scraping noise above Granite made him jump, and he whirled around to see a pair of white glowing orbs descending from the ceiling. A massive shadowy shape as large as a medium 'Mech dropped down between him and the entrance of the cave, blocking his escape. Not wanting to give the creature a chance to attack, Granite raised the laser pistol and fired three shots at what he hoped was its torso. The light from the beam illuminated a large navy blue shape, but he couldn't make out what it was from the brief glimpses. Shards of something hard rained down on Granite from the direction of the creature, and he winced.

"Are you done now? I have plenty of rocks to block your shots with. This cave is made of rocks, and I do believe your laser pistol will run out of charge long before I run out of rocks. Many rocks. In fact, you are a rock, if I'm not mistaken," the creature said with a voice like thunder.

Granite scowled at the odd words, keeping his laser pistol trained on the large figure. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you are Granite, no? My eyesight isn't what it used to be."

Granite nodded slowly. "I am. How did you know that? And what are you?"

There was a brief pause, followed by a loud scraping noise off to the left of the cave entrance. A shower of sparks rained down from the wall and onto a pile of dry brush, which immediately burst into a bright flame that illuminated the large space. The walls were maybe sixty meters high in places, with many other large caves leading off into the darkness. Most importantly, the light allowed Granite to make out the creature.

The creature stood many times larger than a pony, though not as large as Granite had initially thought. It almost looked like a giant navy blue pegasus with an azure belly, except its tail wasn't quite right, and its legs ended in paws instead of hooves. As well as that, it had a cat's head with two sky blue curls beneath its eerily pale eyes, which strangely seemed to lack pupils.

The creature's appearance clicked in Granite's mind with an old tale he remembered hearing, one that took place millennia ago on Terra.

"You... you're a sphinx!" Granite exclaimed.

The sphinx nodded and padded around Granite toward the back of the cave. "Indeed I am. Would you mind putting away that gun of yours? I can't see it, but that doesn't mean I enjoy having weapons pointed at me. I've had enough of that in my life."

Granite hesitantly put the laser pistol back in its holster, though he remained on alert. The sphinx sat down heavily and leaned against the wall. "Sit. I won't hurt you. Sphinxes don't eat ponies."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Granite replied. "Shouldn't you be giving me a deadly riddle or challenge or something? Something along the lines of, 'navigate these tunnels blind and find the talisman before the cobras get you?'"

The sphinx shook his massive head. "I'm done with all of that. Cryptic riddles aren't my thing, ironically. I prefer everything to be crystal clear. I just want to live in peace and watch the galaxy do its thing, and maybe intervene when things take a drastic turn for the worst."

"Watch from in a cave? How does that work? And how did you know my name, and-"

The sphinx waved one paw dismissively. "So many questions. Then again, I knew you would be this inquisitive." The sphinx made a weird rumbling noise and settled against the wall behind him, as if he had a long tale to tell. "My name is Time Strider. Once I was called something different, but I left that name behind many years ago, along with my eyesight. As you noticed earlier, my eyes are pale; nearly white, even. That is because I am blind, and I have been for a very long time.

"You wonder how I became blind. No, it was not an accident. I cast a powerful spell, knowing it would take my eyesight. Not only that, but all of my magic, as well. I can no longer see with my eyes or cast spells, but as a result, I became a powerful seer. I can watch the possible lives of anypony I choose as if it were a movie in my mind. I can speed it up or slow it down, I can see the endless possibilities that the future holds. I study them and commit the most likely ones to memory. That is how I know you, and how I blocked your lasers."

Granite shook his head, having a hard time understanding what Time Strider was saying. "Wait a second. You're saying that you became blind so that you could see the future? And you've watched my future?" he asked. If it were true, could he ask to know what his future held for him? Or would he forever live in fear, knowing how and when he would die?

Time Strider nodded. "I have," he said ominously.

"I'm not sure I like your tone of voice," Granite commented, feeling a pit of dread form in his stomach.

"Nor will you like your future. But first, you would like proof that I can really see the future," Time Strider commented.

"That would be preferable," Granite said. He watched as Time Strider hauled himself to his paws and reached into one of the dark cave openings. The sphinx pulled out a large object- a sandstone boulder about half as big as a car- and turned towards the entrance of the main cave.

"Watch the entrance, and do not make a sound," Time Strider rumbled, holding the boulder as if he were about to hurl it with all his strength. Curious, Granite turned and did as he was instructed.

For nearly a minute they sat there in silence, only the sound of their breathing filling the cave. Granite felt restless, and he had begun to wonder if Time Strider actually planned to show him anything when a sudden gust of wind knocked him sideways. He shook his head and glanced back up at the cave entrance to see the boulder rocketing toward open air. Right before it left the cave mouth a shape whirred by, but it moved too quickly for Granite to register what it was. The boulder caught the object and slammed it into the far wall, shattering into a million pieces and shaking the ground.

Granite stared at the crater the boulder had gouged out of the rock, his mouth agape. "What the fuck was that..?" he whispered.

"Lunch," Time Strider replied. He padded over to where the boulder impacted and picked up a small object; a bird, or at least, what was left of a bird. The sphinx popped it into his mouth before reentering then cave and sitting back down. "Now that you believe me and I am no longer hungry, would you like to hear about your perilous future?"

Granite nodded slowly. "Sure," he said, still more than a little surprised and confused.

Time Strider scratched behind one ear with a familiar expression on his face; one Granite had seen before, defending towns from bandits. It was the expression medics wore when they had to tell a soldier they were going to die of their wounds long before they could reach base.

"War is coming to the galaxy. That much is inevitable. However, one seemingly small event will snowball into the end of the war. The fighting will be fierce, but as long as this event takes place, it will be short-lived."

"Is that event my death?" Granite asked quietly.

Time Strider nodded grimly. "Yes."

Granite let out a shaky breath. This was what he had been afraid of hearing; that he would die sometime soon. Time Strider hadn't said how soon, but the words 'short-lived' didn't instill a lot of confidence. "How does it happen?"

"There will come a time where you will meet an opponent you are not meant to beat. There was a slim chance before that you would win the fight - about one out of ten. Now that I have told you the importance of your death, your fate is sealed," Time Strider said with finality.

Granite swallowed, his mind still trying to process what Time Strider was telling him. "Who is this opponent? What makes them so skilled that I only have a ten percent chance to win? Why is my death so important in the first place?"

Time Strider shook his head. "You will know when the time comes. You have an upper hoof in terms of raw skill, but this opponent has been through many hardships and has been taught the intricacies of combat since a young age. If you both were to fight in similar tonnage 'Mechs that didn't have a technology difference, it would actually be a very fair fight.

"As for why your death is essential, that is a story I do not have time to tell. Just know that you will be saving the lives of countless innocent ponies with your death." The sphinx rose to his paws and stretched his large body. "You should head back to base. Your brother is trying to contact you," he said before turning down one of the tunnels that branched off from the main cave.

Granite stood slowly and walked to the cave entrance, but stopped before he stepped outside. "How do you know I'll go through with this? Now that I know my future, I could easily avoid it," he called over his shoulder.

"You won't avoid it. There isn't a single future where you two do not fight," Time Strider replied. He turned his head to face Granite, his sightless eyes staring straight through the pale pony. "You are morally strong, and you wouldn't hesitate to give your life to protect even a single pony. We both know you will willingly lose that fight now that you know its significance. It's a shame. Had it not been for the war, you would have gone on to do many great things." Time Strider nodded respectfully to Granite before disappearing down the tunnel. "Farewell."

Granite scratched his nose and sighed. He still was having a hard time accepting what Time Strider had told him, but after what he'd seen, he didn't doubt what the sphinx had said. "Maybe I should get my affairs in order," he mumbled as he stepped out of the cave.

"...Granite, are you there? Hello?" a crackly voice said as Granite walked into the open air. He reached up and pressed a button on the small device hanging around his neck.

"I'm here, Silver Halo. What is it?"

There was a noise on the other side of the comms, something like a worried sigh. "It's... fuck, it's really bad."

"Halo, what's wrong?" Granite asked again, though he had a guess as to what his brother was going to say. Time Strider had said war was coming, and he had mentioned something about technology differences between sides. There was only one possible enemy who fit that bill. An old enemy who had nearly destroyed them all, five centuries ago.

"It's the Clans. The Inner Sphere is going to invade them."

---

On Terra, ten months later...

Twilight Solace glanced quickly at her hooves to make sure her invisibility spell wasn't wavering. After a year of failed attempts to get solid evidence condemning Shadow and Vendetta, she'd decided the only way was to go to Carousel, the capitol planet of the House of Generosity, and search for evidence in Shadow's castle. But she couldn't take her personal DropShip without arousing suspicion. She would have to catch a ride on Shadow's 'Ship, a modified Monarch-class DropShip named The Black Opal, and hope she wouldn't be discovered. That was why she was here, waiting in the Canterlot Spaceport for Shadow to arrive.

Hoofsteps and the sound of conversation made Twilight's breath catch in her throat, and she slowly turned her head to face the approaching ponies, still feeling nervous even though she knew her spell hid her flawlessly.

"...won't be much longer now. My soldiers are where they need to be. Now we just need to wait for the right time."

"That's Shadow. But what is he talking about?" Twilight wondered right before the gray alicorn appeared around the corner. She knew who the other pony was long before she ever saw him, though. There was only one creature in the Inner Sphere with that unique gait.

Vendetta grunted, a noise that set Twilight's teeth on edge. Everything about that creature made her feel uncomfortable (why were the six legs necessary?). "Good. The sooner everything starts, the better. All this waiting around is making me impatient."

"You and me both. At least it won't be much longer now..."

Twilight frowned to herself after the two ponies passed, still holding her breath. She hadn't expected Vendetta to tag along with Shadow. That complicated things. His unnatural hearing would make sneaking around difficult, at least without another spell. She could cast a sound muffling spell, but that combined with the invisibility spell would take a fair bit of concentration, and she would need to be careful.

Remembering back to her great-grandmother's spell book, Twilight bit her lip and channeled her magic through her horn. She felt a light tingle through her body after a moment, and she experimentally tapped one hoof lightly against the floor. Not a sound came from the movement, and she let out a breath of relief. It was extraordinarily difficult to keep two high-level spells going, but she knew she could do it.

Twilight trotted up behind Shadow and Vendetta, now confident that she could follow them without being detected. Unluckily they had finished whatever they had been talking about and were now walking in silence, but she wasn't sure she could focus on two advanced spells and eavesdropping at the same time anyway.

It didn't take long for the trio to reach Shadow's 'Ship, and after passing through the checkpoint at the entrance (which Twilight had had to teleport through- she was a little surprised she didn't drop the other spells in the process), they were on board and The Black Opal was preparing for takeoff.

Twilight glanced around the clean interior of the DropShip. A part of her had almost expected it to be dark and sinister, but as far as she could tell, it looked more or less like any other of the alicorns' 'Ships; shrunken internal space to allow for increased armor and a fair amount of weapons, luxurious passageways, art and décor hanging on nearly every wall, and the many hidden cameras that she could assume were present. They were on every royal 'Ship, though not many ponies knew about them. All of the important areas would also have thermal cameras and magic sensors, so she would have to be careful about where she went.

As Shadow and Vendetta walked through the DropShip, Twilight decided she'd better find a place to hide until they arrived at their destination. She needed the perfect hiding place. Well thought out but not too obvious; somewhere nopony would think to look. If the layout of The Black Opal was anything like Twilight's own Monarch-class 'Ship, Starchaser, then the garden would be the best place to check first.

Luckily for Twilight, the layout of the two ships seemed to be identical, or at least mostly similar. The garden was in the same place as her own, but she had completely forgotten that she'd had the garden of her own 'Ship enlarged decades ago. Rather than filling an entire deck like the garden on Starchaser, the one she was met with was roughly the size and shape of a buckball field. Not much to work with, but she decided to have a look anyway.

The garden was fairly simple, with sandy paths lined with round stones and hardwood benches, various bushes and flowers growing underneath dogwoods, hornbeams, and other small trees, and a large alicorn fountain in the center that stretched to the height of the trees around it. There were also various rock formations and statues littered throughout the room, one of which was of a fairly large dragon with half-opened wings, wearing spectacles and holding an open book in each hand. The space underneath one of its wings looked just large enough for her to curl up in, and with a fairly simple illusion spell that should last the whole trip, she could stay there without fear of being discovered.

Twilight made herself comfortable (or, as comfortable as a princess could get inside of a stone statue) and started thinking about how she would have to alter her plans now that Vendetta was present. It would take about ten days from departure on Terra to arrival on Carousel, so while she had plenty of time to think, she also had to remain hidden for that time. She sighed to herself. This was going to be a long trip.

---

Twilight blinked her eyes a few times as she stepped out of the small spaceport, trying to adjust to the blueish light cast by Carousel's sun. She'd always wondered how Shadow could live under the strange glow, but every time she thought that, she reminded herself that he probably thought the same thing about the rest of them.

The sound of a vehicle firing to life brought Twilight's attention back to the present, and she shook her mane. She could feel sad about Shadow's betrayal later. Right now, she needed to stop him from murdering her and her friends (which she was still having a hard time accepting).

Shadow and Vendetta had climbed into a large armored van, which had begun making its way down the road to the massive castle in the distance. Rivaled in beauty and age only by the Canterlot Castle, Château d'Opalescence was a magnificent sight. Supposedly it was designed and named by Rarity herself over a millennium and a half ago, but likely only as a fantasy of hers. She'd have had no way of knowing it would actually be built one day, when the Great Houses were formed. It and Canterlot Castle were the only two of the royal castles to not have been completely rebuilt at some point, though modifications had been made as technology progressed.

Twilight sighed in annoyance and tried to bring her focus back. She could admire the castle from a distance some other time. She had work to do. Dangerous work that could very well end with her dead, based on what she knew now about Shadow. She hadn't told anypony where she'd gone, just that she was going on a trip for self-reflection, so her "disappearance" could easily be fabricated.

Twilight looked around the area for a place where she could safely drop her invisibility spell. The spaceport was set on top of a flattened hill, surrounded by a dense forest where she was certain nopony would see her. As she stepped past the tree line and dropped the invisibility and muffling spells (which felt somewhat akin to finishing a marathon), she turned back to face the castle. It was about three kilometers away, set into the side of the mountain. She had been inside a few times and was somewhat familiar with its layout, but getting lost wasn't her main concern. Figuring out where Shadow might keep potential evidence was.

The air around Twilight crackled as she channeled her magic. It was a long distance to teleport, even for an alicorn. Even so, when she opened her eyes she found herself standing behind the cream-colored silk curtains of one of the castle's large ornate windows. She shook her head, feeling a little lightheaded at using her magic so heavily for nearly two weeks. The sooner she could finish this, the better.

Twilight took a deep breath and recast the invisibility spell. That should be enough to get her through the castle, if she were careful. She strained her ears, trying to listen past the curtains. She didn't think there were any guards patrolling by, but she waited a few seconds before emerging into the large hallway just to be safe.

The hallway looked just like she remembered; tall ceilings, a thick red carpet with intricate gold embroidery running down the middle of the hall, gold lanterns sprouting from the walls, and a painting hanging between each of the windows, which were spaced a few meters apart. Even though the castle interior looked medieval, Twilight knew it would be full of modern security features, and she would have to be careful.

If Twilight remembered correctly, Shadow's sleeping quarters were down the hall and up a flight of stairs to the left, at the end of the hall. It felt weird to be sneaking around her friend's castle (ex-friend's castle, rather), but the sick feeling in her stomach reminded her why she had to be there.

It didn't take long for Twilight to find her destination. There were guards at the door, just like she had remembered, but luckily there were only two. Shadow's personal guards were nowhere to be seen, which meant he hadn't arrived yet. Considering he hadn't teleported over it wasn't a huge surprise, but it didn't hurt to check.

Twilight took a deep breath and stepped back out of sight, trying to calm her racing heart. There would be no turning back after this. Either she saved her friends and the lives of countless others, or she died here and failed completely. No pressure.

Twilight glanced quickly behind her to make sure no other guards had appeared before dropping the invisibility spell and walking around the corner. Both of the guards at the door immediately glanced her way, and while they looked shocked, she was relieved to see they weren't hostile. They must not have known about Shadow's plans.

"Princess Twilight Solace? It's a surprise to see you here so suddenly. Is Prince Shadow Chaser with you?" one of the guards asked.

Twilight nodded. "He is, but he had something he needed to check up on. He told me to meet him in the council room. Is this it?" she asked as she walked up to the guards, nodding to the large wooden doors behind them. She needed to be close to the guards for this spell to have its maximum effect, but preferably not so close they became suspicious.

The second guard shook his head politely. "No, ma'am. These are the private quarters of Prince Shadow Chaser. The council chamber is on the other side of the castle. I can escort you there, if you wish."

Twilight shook her head. "That's okay, I wouldn't want you to get in trouble for leaving your post. I'll find another guard or a map or something. Thank you anyway."

As Twilight turned to walk back down the hall, she watched the guards from the corner of her eye. When they were both at attention and facing forward again she immediately cast a spell, one she had learned from her grandfather centuries ago. It was originally only meant to "catch" objects, reducing the value of any force acting on them to zero. One day by accident, they had discovered this spell worked on living things, as well. Twilight had missed her spell and had hit her great-aunt instead, but luckily it had worn off after only a few seconds, and she'd had no memory of what had happened during that short time. While Twilight had been young and didn't realize the spell's true worth, now she understood how useful it could be. The guards would likely be confused when they regained consciousness, but they would be unharmed. She just hoped they wouldn't be punished for negligence.

Both of the guards' eyes now glowed with the color of Twilight's magic, and they stood stock still. When she waved a hoof in front of their eyes they didn't react, and she nodded to herself. "Okay. Two ponies from a distance of about three meters- I should have at least thirty seconds," she thought as she went up to the door.

Shadow was a brilliant enchanter. There was no way the doors were inert. But that was where Twilight Sparkle's spell book came to use again- a spell that briefly allowed a pony to walk through walls. It was difficult, required an immense amount of magic, and would kill a pony if they dropped the spell without stepping fully out of the wall. But it was effective, and it was needed now.

Twilight Solace took another deep breath and gritted her teeth from exertion as her horn began to glow, and she felt the familiar nauseating effect of the spell. She knew she could only keep this spell up for a few seconds, so without wasting any time, she stepped into the walls and walked around the door. Right at the end she felt her magic falter, and she launched herself into open air just as the spell failed. She crashed to the floor and lied there for a moment, allowing herself a few seconds to breathe. Luckily her whole body had made it through, otherwise there would have been a giant puddle of blood on the floor by now.

Twilight pushed herself unsteadily to her hooves and glanced around. Shadow's sleeping quarters were large, but mostly empty space. A massive bed, a couple of ornate dressers, a large mahogany desk, and a door that led to the bathroom were all that occupied the room. She had thought this might be the most likely hiding place. It didn't look like it would be anymore, but at least there was less to search through than she had expected.

After nearly five minutes of frantic opening drawers and checking underneath and behind things, Twilight realized there probably wasn't anything of use there. It seemed like the only things Shadow did in this room were sleep and change clothes. Even the desk was completely scratch-free, which didn't happen by cleaning it. He wouldn't have evidence in a room he was rarely ever in.

"This is a waste of time. Shadow is probably already in the castle. I have to search somewhere else," Twilight thought. His computer would be a good place to look, but she didn't know where to find that. It could be anywhere in the massive castle. Twilight thought back to the list of rooms she had considered searching, but none of them seemed particularly promising. None of them, except for one.

It was a door set in the middle of a hallway, high-tech and strangely out of place. Even stranger was that there were no guards posted at it; at least, none that she could remember. She'd never gone inside, but something about that room called to her. It had to hold what she was looking for. She could feel it.

Twilight sighed and channeled her magic again, casting the invisibility spell before teleporting herself next to the odd door. A quick glance around told her nopony was in sight, and she stepped out in front of it.

Standing there in front of the metal sliding door, Twilight suddenly felt a strange sense of foreboding, as if entering the room would put her in immense danger. The feeling became so overwhelming she nearly gave up and went home then and there, but she stamped down the unexpected feeling of terror. She couldn't back down now.

Twilight bit her bottom lip. She had enough strength left to hold the permeation spell for half a second, maybe less, but she didn't think there was any other way inside without setting off some sort of alarm. Steeling her resolve, Twilight backed up against the opposite wall and took a deep breath. Then she charged forward.

"I sure hope this wall is as thin as it looks!" Twilight thought as she leapt at the wall and cast the spell again. She immediately realized she had done it too soon, and for a horrifying moment she thought she was about to become corporeal inside of the wall. However, a desperate surge of strength allowed her to keep the spell going for another fraction of a second, and she appeared on the other side in one piece before landing heavily on the floor. Well, a large chunk of her tail had been left behind, but she was mostly in one piece (losing half of her tail was a damn sight better than losing half of her body, she noted).

Twilight shook her head nauseously and pushed herself upright, breathing heavily. Now that she could stand again, she looked around her surroundings and was surprised at what she found. From what she could tell she had in fact found Shadow's computer, but that was it. It was just a screen sitting on top of a simple wooden desk, with a similarly unimpressive chair in front of it.

"That's... anticlimactic," Twilight muttered as she walked up to the computer. A laser image of a keyboard projected itself onto the desk as she neared, and she scratched her nose. That was kind of cool.

A quick glance behind the screen revealed a couple of data transfer ports, a power cable that ran to an outlet underneath the desk, and a few other miscellaneous ports. Twilight turned back to the front of the screen and tapped the spacebar on the projected keyboard with her magic. She didn't want to physically touch anything in case it was enchanted. The computer instantly pulled up the desktop, and Twilight frowned to herself. "He doesn't lock his computer? That's kind of uncharacteristic of him," she thought. She instantly recognized a communication program and opened it.

The program opened to reveal a long list of conversations sorted alphabetically; longer than Twilight could hope to read through. She scrolled down the list, skimming through the names. They all seemed fairly standard. Just the kinds of things she or any of the other alicorns normally dealt with.

Twilight had begun to lose hope when Vendetta's name flashed past on the screen. She quickly scrolled back up and opened the conversation, which immediately proved all her worries. "This is what I was looking for. I have to show this to the others," she thought, reading through the conversation.

"Dear Celestia…" Twilight whispered. It- everything was worse than she had initially thought. Shadow's treachery went back centuries, not long after the Clan invasion. In fact, if she remembered the date of his coronation correctly, it was only a couple hundred years after he inherited the Element of Generosity from Rarity's bloodline. And it got worse. Twilight pulled out a device from her small saddlebags and slotted it into one of the data transfer ports, watching as the conversation was copied over to the storage drive.

The century-long infighting between the Clans. That was when all of this madness started. The Khan and SaKhan of Clan Draconequus- they weren't of Clan blood at all. They were direct descendants of Shadow, dating back hundreds of years. Other ponies had been bribed into letting them take power (maybe that was just Shadow's politically correct way of saying he enchanted them to), and through them he orchestrated a war to cripple the Clans and allow their destruction, during which he was planning to kill off the other alicorns and seize control over the Inner Sphere for himself. Even Discord regaining his magic was planned for, though Vendetta was an unexpected addition.

Twilight suddenly became aware of a presence in the room and spun around to see Shadow standing in front of the door, his face grim.

"Hello, Twilight," Shadow said coldly. "I didn't think you were the one who was tailing me this whole time."

"No! This is bad!" Twilight thought in panic. She quickly pulled the storage device from the computer, praying that enough data had transferred over, then tried to teleport away. However, she was too slow. Halfway through her teleportation spell Shadow reached up and flipped the light switch, which caused Twilight's spell to immediately fail. "What?"

Shadow smirked and stalked over to Twilight. "This entire room is enchanted," he said, noting her confused expression. "Didn't you know I was talented with enchantments?"

Twilight nodded stiffly. "I did. Knowing your conniving nature, I should have expected something like this."

"Ooh, ouch. Words cut deep, you know." Shadow tilted his head at Twilight. "It still surprises me that you're the one following me. Your hiding location on The Black Opal was genius, I will admit, but hitching a ride on my van was uncharacteristically ill-thought on your part," he said as he walked behind her.

Twilight scowled, confused. She'd teleported over. That meant somepony else was following him- but who? Luckily Shadow didn't see her expression, so she didn't think he'd caught on.

"But still, you managed to get to my computer extraordinarily quickly after we arrived here. Your mind is as sharp as your great-grandmother's. Or so I've heard, anyway. I underestimated you," Shadow continued, walking back around in front of Twilight. "An invisibility spell as complete as yours is no small feat, even for an alicorn. Pair that with a silencing spell and short range teleportation, and there are probably less than ten other ponies in all of the galaxy who could have snuck on my ship the way you did."

Twilight snorted. "How long are you going to stand there, monologuing like a supervillain?"

Shadow chuckled and grabbed Twilight's chin, pulling her face close to his own. "Oh, my naïve little Twilight. You have no idea." He released her and looked up at the light in the ceiling. "Isn't it fascinating? It's such a simple enchantment, yet incredibly effective. I developed it myself, after years of research and practice. It's strong enough to cancel even Discord's magic."

"So you're the one who gave him that ring?" Twilight asked.

"Indeed. That was the first object I enchanted after perfecting the spell. It was a crude enchantment, nowhere near as elegant or powerful as what I can do now, but its inhibiting ability got stronger as it absorbed more magic. I'm quite proud of that one." Shadow walked over to the computer and placed a hoof over it. "This one, too. I know whenever anypony goes near it, and I can teleport myself back here anytime I need, from anywhere in the galaxy. It's a one-time use enchantment that takes nearly a full two days to cast, but it's quite an effective security measure, if you ask me."

Twilight shrugged. "It seems a bit overkill, if you ask me."

Shadow laughed. It was a cold laugh, one that she was unused to hearing from him. That made it a little easier to separate him from her memories of him. "That is why you could never hope to understand. I don't do things for efficiency. I do them because I want to. This all started with me wanting to wipe out the Clans, and now look at me. I've realized what I truly want, and I'm taking it. That's what true freedom is, young Twilight. The freedom to crush ponies between your hooves and dictate their every action."

"That just sounds like somepony who's been corrupted by power." Twilight reached subtly into one of her packs with a wing, reaching for an item that she had planned to use for something else. It seemed like her last option, though. "But why tell me all of this?"

"Because how often to I get to gloat like this? Besides, it doesn't matter what I tell you. If you think I'll let you leave this place alive, you're-"

Before Shadow could finish, Twilight pulled the item from her pack; a small sack of magic absorbing powder. Using it now would make getting off of Carousel a little trickier, and it wasn't strong enough to absorb an alicorn's magic, but she had no other option. She flung the open sack directly into Shadow's open eyes and bolted for the light switch as he roared at her in anger, smashing his hooves on the floor where she had been moments before.

"If I can reach the light switch, I'll be able to teleport away," Twilight though as she raced across the room. While it had seemed small when she had first entered, now the seconds it took to reach the other end felt like an eternity. She lunged for the light switch and prepared to teleport away, but when her hoof was only a couple millimeters away from her target, she felt her body suddenly slam to a halt. "What... what's going on? I can't move!"

A weight crashed into Twilight from behind, knocking the breath from her lungs. She suddenly became aware of a piercing pain that stretched from her left kidney up through her left lung that grew worse as she was lifted high into the air. It left her unable to move or defend herself; she wasn't even able to scream as she realized what had happened. Shadow had impaled her on his alicorn horn. Weak from all the magic she had been casting and completely drained of hope, all she could do was hang there limply.

Shadow grunted from exertion as he flung Twilight's limp body off of his horn. She crashed heavily to the ground, though she could barely feel it through the pain in her body that got worse with every passing second.

"Damn, you're more of a fighter than I thought," Shadow said as he wiped the powder from his eyes. He pulled out a pristine white cloth and used it to clean the blood from his horn and face.

"How..?" Twilight coughed out. It had started to feel like she was drowning, which meant her left lung must have been punctured. As well as that, she was losing blood onto the floor at an alarming rate. She didn't see a way out of this.

Shadow flung the now soiled cloth to the corner of the room and blinked his eyes, still trying to clear the powder from his eyes. "I'm the one who made the fucking enchantment. You think I couldn't figure out how to make it not affect myself? Fuck! Why'd you have to throw it in my eyes?!" he shouted as he shook his head vigorously.

"Sorry for the... inconvenience..." Twilight muttered. She must have hit her head really hard or something, because she could barely keep her eyes open.

Shadow growled and glared at Twilight. "Whatever. There's nopony left who can stop me. I'm sure you can guess what's going to happen next." He levitated the storage drive from Twilight's packs and flung it against the wall hard enough to make it shatter. "You'll probably be dead by the time I get this shit out of my eyes, which is a shame. I'd really love to torture you after what you just did, but bleeding out on the floor will have to do. Have a nice rest, princess," Shadow said as he turned toward the door.

Twilight gritted her teeth, feeling herself slip from consciousness as his blurry shape passed through the doorway. "D-damn it. I guess that's it then." She coughed and felt a stream of blood begin to trickle out of her mouth. "I'm sorry, everypony. Everything was on me. And I failed."

Next Chapter: Chapter 13 - The Quiet before the Storm Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 2 Minutes