Galloping through the castle’s lower hallways, Fireshade maintained distance from her pursuers as she made a break for the dungeon. However, the further she ran, the more her initial rush of adrenaline began to wane. Before long, the nagging aches of her sleep-deprived body began to sharply punctuate each step on the hard floor.

With the entrance of the dungeon drawing near and the Royal Guard hot on her hooves, Fireshade knew she had to think of something fast, or risk the lab being discovered—or worse, being caught.

She groaned in irritation. “Screw this. I am way too tired for all this running crap.” The echoing clop of her hooves slowly came to a stop. Turning to the approaching crowd, she smiled. “So, uh... I’m tired of running. How about we talk this over like adults instead, yeah?” The mob of ponies stopped several yards away from her, with the guards taking defensive stances and mages' horns beginning to glow. “Soo... is that a no?”

A single guard stepped forward, Fireshade recognizing the silvered regalia of an Equestrian military officer. “By order of the Royal Equestrian Court, I hereby place you under arrest for—”

“Yeah yeah, I know the drill,” Fireshade interjected, cutting the stallion off while waving a hoof dismissively. “Kidnapping, murder, illegal research, treason, plotting against the crowns, and all that other fun stuff, right?”

The mare’s blatant disrespect for authority caused the officer to frown. “So you think this is funny, do you?”

Fireshade glanced about the robed unicorns amongst the group before chuckling. “Actually... yes I do.” Her smile turned into a large grin. “You do realize who I am, right?”

The stallion folded his forelegs with a huff. “Of course, Fireshade. But enough of this pointless stalling.” Looking back to the ponies behind him, he pointed a hoof directly at the mare. “Apprehend her at once!”

Fireshade pursed her lips, glancing between the guards and mages advancing on her before raising a hoof. “Uh, you guys do realize you’re all about to die, right?”

The pyromancer’s cold words—spoken so nonchalantly and with absolute certainty—stopped the stallions in their tracks, some taking an involuntary step back while others glanced nervously amongst one another. However, the sound of the officer clearing his throat from behind gave them newfound resolve, causing the group to continue their advance on the pyromancer.

The mare’s face contorted into a large, drawn-out yawn. “Well, whatever. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when they sweep up what’s left of your corpses in dust pans.”

Fireshade’s horn emitted a strong orange glow as a sizable orb of fire appeared before her. She began walking slowly back in order to keep her distance from the impending inferno, and with a nod of her horn, the fireball began to grow larger. The mages reacted instantly, concentrating their magical efforts into a large blue barrier that stretched across the hallway. Wall to wall, ceiling to floor.

As the spherical inferno continued to expand to nearly fill the hall, Fireshade couldn’t help but roll her eyes with a smirk at the mages efforts. “You guys clearly aren’t familiar with fire magic.”

Fireshade strained, furrowing her brow tightly. The glow of her horn intensified as the gigantic fireball shrunk to the size of her hoof in a split-second, shifting the color of the ethereal hellfire from a fiery orange to a blinding, radiant blue. The intense light prompted everypony but the pyromancer shield their eyes. Almost instantaneously, the the air around the small star rapidly distorted into waves, before completely blurring from the sheer intensity of the heat it generated.

With a gentle push of telekinesis, Fireshade started the concentrated flame on a slow journey towards its target. Long before it reached the barrier, the mages began to sweat profusely, the air temperature on their side rising rapidly.

The tiny ball of light abruptly came to a halt as it bumped softly into the blue barrier. Several flares of white energy lashed out from the orb, licking blackened scorch marks upon the stone walls around it. A number of the guards cried out, taking several steps back, some tripping over themselves and falling onto their haunches. The mages, however, grit their teeth as they braced themselves, desperately trying to hold the barrier.

The pyromancer put more energy into the spell, allowing the fireball to rapidly increase in size. As it reached the size of a large wagon, she once again collapsed it into itself, intensifying the blaze ten-fold.

The officer in the back furrowed his brow. “What in Tartarus are you colts doing? Repel the damn thing!”

“We can’t!” one of the mages strained, wiping away the sweat pouring into his eyes.

Another rapidly shook his head. “It’s too hot! I can’t take it anymore!” he called out, the magic from his horn fading as he turned to retreat.

Before he could hope to escape, however, the barrier sectioning off the hallway disintegrated, punctuated by a cacophony of anguished cries. The mages that had been nearest to the barrier vanished in an instant, vaporized by the heat wave that surged past where the barrier once stood.

“Gotcha,” Fireshade muttered to herself with a grin. Releasing her hold of the tiny star, she let loose a furious burst of telekinetic energy, flinging the fireball down the hallway as fast as she could push it.

The officer of the group’s eyes widened. “Fall back!” he called out, immediately retreating for the end of the hallway, the remaining guards following suit.

As the star quickly gained ground on her fleeing pursuers, Fireshade couldn’t help but hop in place from sheer excitement. “Run! Run! Or you’ll be well done!” she cheered, laughing out maniacally as she put more force into propelling the nova.

Cries rang out from the guards as the orb’s speed dramatically increased. Moments later, screams began to rapidly hush one by one, before an eerie silence engulfed the hallway. As the orb reached the end of the corridor, Fireshade halted its advance, its form rapidly dissipating. When the fireball finally vanished, the pyromancer surveyed the empty space before her. Starting several yards ahead of her, the entirety of the hallway had transformed into a glowing-red gauntlet of near-molten stone.

Fireshade’s eyes softened as she tilted her head with a sigh.. “What a senseless waste... We could have really used the new test subjects.” Shrugging, she turned away. “Oh well. Plenty more where they came from.” Taking a few steps forward, the pyromancer noticed a distinct metallic taste in her mouth. Bringing a hoof to her mouth, she was met with a warm, wet sensation. She looked down to see crimson-red staining the yellow fur of her foreleg. “Huh...” Fireshade wiped her foreleg across her face, blood smearing as she rubbed her snout. “That’s probably not a good sign. I guess I better lay off the magic for a while...”

Disregarding her still-bleeding nostrils, she continued her trek back to the lab, resuming her cheerful whistle from before the guards’ interruption.

“Spike completely incapacitated four military trained soldiers in defense of Twilight Sparkle...” Celestia paused for a moment and turned to face General Falx. “And what exactly was she doing during this time?”

The bruised earth pony thought for a moment before answering. “We are not entirely sure of that, Princess. She had barricaded herself in the bathroom during most of the altercation, and we believe that she was devising a way of circumventing our barrier.”

“Uh-huh...” Celestia replied as she slowly wandered around the main room of the apartment, taking in as much detail as she could. “I highly doubt that she was devising anything, General. Twilight already knew how to get through. You don’t seriously believe she could have gotten through your barrier without preparation?”

I’ve made a terrible mistake, she thought. What did I do for it to come to this, Twilight?

The princess raised her head from inspecting the kitchen utensils and drawer scattered across the kitchen floor. “You say she was in the bathroom?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Falx answered quickly as Celestia began to move towards that location. “She had shouted ‘I’m finished’ when she opened the door. I don’t know what exactly she had finished, but I’m sure it had something to do with the markings on the floor left behind after they had teleported.”

Crossing the threshold of the doorway to the bathroom, Celestia quickly noticed the polished steel bowl and spilled blood on the floor below it. She moved to inspect it closer, but instead caught a faint grey outline on the floor from the corner of her eye. She stopped moving and turned her head toward it as Falx appeared in the doorway behind her.

“It was darker when it appeared. Like it had been burned into the floor, but it’s been fading ever since,” the stallion offered, scratching at his greying black mane with a hoof. “The manner in which they escaped seems impossible. I don’t care how powerful Twilight Sparkle is, there is no way she could have broken our barrier that quickly, or been able to take half of my blade with her, for that matter.”

Celestia stood stone-still and deathly quiet, fixated completely on the array etched into the floor.

Walking around to Celestia’s side, Falx looked down to the floor, and then up to Celestia. “Princess?”

“This can’t be,” she whispered to herself under her breath. “It’s impossible.” How did she learn this? Where?

“Princess, what is that thing? How did Twilight escape?” Falx implored.

Shaking herself out of her stupor, Celestia looked to her general. “That is none of your concern at the moment.” She turned and walked quickly from the bathroom. “Your only concern right now is to cordon this area, and apprehend Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Fireshade by any means necessary. They must be taken alive, however.” The alicorn stopped in the middle of the room and turned to face the stallion. “Additionally, the soldiers that were here with you are to be sequestered until a debriefing from myself, and the castle is to be placed on lockdown.”

Falx shouted angrily from the doorway, “How am I to capture them when I don’t know what this magic is that they’re using? What do we do to counteract it? You’re sending me and my soldiers out blind!”

“General!” Celestia barked. “I am not required to explain myself to anypony. Twilight is still in the castle, this specific instance of this type of magic would not get her much further, but if she is given the time to, she could potentially teleport herself halfway across the world.” The princess’s eyes narrowed, glaring at Falx. “As far as counteracting it. You don’t. You can’t. Now, follow my instructions as ordered.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Falx replied flatly.

“I will find you in two hours to check your progress.” Celestia’s horn glowed white for a brief moment before she disappeared from the room.

A pair of guards sleepily stood watch over a line of massive, heavy steel doors. The particular one they stood sentinel over differed from the rest. In the center of the row, a jet-black door stood out from the polished grey metal of the others, glimmering occasionally as a piece of dust bounced into the barrier protecting it.

One guard blinked hard, a long yawn escaping his lips. Just as his mouth shut, a bright flare momentarily assaulted his eyes. The light disappeared and Celestia stood in its place.

She began moving towards the fourth door—and the guards—paying them no mind.

“Princess!” the first exclaimed, both bowing their heads in deference. “What may we d—”

“Move,” Celestia responded with cold hostility.

The guards stumbled a bit and hastily skittered out of the way. “Y-yes, Princess. S-s-sorry.”

Celestia continued approaching the door until her face was nearly touching it. A soft, white glow emanated from her horn, and she tilted her head forward. Just as the tip of her horn touched the barrier, emerald ripples shimmered across the surface as the magical wall collapsed.

Stepping back, she then turned a large lever and pulled the door open telekinetically. The musty smell of ancient tomes hit her like a wave from the dark vault. “Lights,” she commanded, without looking away from the room before her.

Without a word, a guard ran to a switch panel on the wall near the first door, while the other stood motionless, watching the princess. With a flick, the interior of Vault 4 illuminated brightly.

The princess walked across the threshold, pulling the heavy, black door shut behind her.

Bookshelves stood in rows and lined the interior walls of the large vault. Packed tightly with texts covering a multitude of dangerous and banned subjects, the shelving created a maze of knowledge. Reaching deep within the depths of her extensive memory, Celestia paused for several moments before making her way for the bookcase housing the tome in mind. As the princess trotted down the rows of books, a nagging sensation began to tug at the back of her mind.

It has to be there. Nopony could have possibly breached this vault without my knowing. But then... how could Twilight Sparkle gain knowledge of such magic?

“Unless...” the princess murmured, slowing to a stop as she stared off into nowhere briefly.

Impossible. Every other copy was destroyed. I couldn’t have missed one. ...could I?

Rapidly shaking the thoughts from her head, Celestia furrowed her brow and quickened her pace. Turning down the row housing the book in question, the mare felt her blood run cold as an involuntary gasp escaped her. A sinking feeling welled up in her gut as she found not only one book missing, but a large section of texts around it appearing to seemingly have vanished as well.

“No, no, no! That’s not possible!” Hastily approaching the gap in the bookshelf, she traced a forehoof across the smooth surface of the exposed wood. “How? How could these be missing!”

A sudden realization of horror struck the princess’s mind with the intensity of lightening to a rod, sending a foreboding chill down her spine.

...What else is missing...

Turning away from the shelf, Celestia galloped back the way she came, turning down a narrow passage between shelves and following it until she reached a lone desk on the far end of the vault. Lowering her head, she touched the tip of her horn to the desk as a warm white glow emanated from it. Moments later, a colossal tome appeared atop the desk.

Wasting no time, Celestia opened the massive archive index. Rapidly flipping through pages, she stopped upon the particular bookshelf in question. Biting her lip as she examined its housed contents, the princess’s sinking feeling only progressively intensified in magnitude with each title read. Necromancy, chronomancy, invasive telepathy, amongst others; some of the most dangerous magics ever created by ponykind.

Suddenly, a fleeting thought crossed Celestia’s mind. She looked up from the reference, and slowly turned. “No... It's improbable enough that she would have been able to retrieve these,” she said to the empty room as she began to once again make her way towards the back of the vault.

She quickly stepped between the rows of shelves, approaching a particular shelf set into the wall furthest from the vault entrance. Celestia glanced across the numerous ancient tomes housed there. Her jaw fell open after examining the shelf for a moment. Three obvious gaps in the rows of books presented themselves, leaving only 102 of the 105 volume set resting safely within the vault.

Staring at the collection for nearly a minute, Celestia stood quietly, contemplating how or why Twilight would have possibly targeted these particular volumes of the study conducted on Luna and herself. She looked down to the end of the lowest shelf, noting the position of the hole left by one of the missing books. A very heavy weight formed in the pit of her stomach. The revelation nearly caused the alicorn to lose her balance, her legs weakening as she continued to stare blankly at the open space on the shelf. “Volume 105... anything but that one.”

She spun away from the wall of books and walked towards the vault door, slowing gaining momentum as she moved. By the time she reached the exit she was nearly in a full, panicked run. Breathing heavily, she opened the steel slab and ran out of the doorway, looking around the room and slamming the heavy door closed with a white glow of telekinesis.

Making eye contact with one of the guards, she spoke at him in a loud, commanding tone, “You! Send a message to Commander Rook with the Defense Ministry, and inform him there has been a breach.” She turned to the other guard, still wearing a mask of shock across her face. “Stay at your post; nopony is to enter this facility until the military police arrive.”

Celestia closed her eyes and a light strobed through the vault room as she teleported away.

A white glow emanated from a carefully drawn sigil array in the corner of the clandestine lab as two figures, stacked one upon the other, materialized. The light faded and the metallic clang of General Falx’s broken sword echoed through the room. Twilight Sparkle promptly fell to the floor under the weight of her dragon compatriot. She wiggled out from underneath Spike, rolling him off of her back and onto the floor.

“Ow, damn it!” Twilight exclaimed as she reached to her shoulder. “That bastard hit me with the back of his damn sword!” She rolled across the floor, writhing in pain.

Spike groaned, rolling his head back and forth, still holding onto the deep cut in his side. “What in the world was that?” he asked, reeling from his first experience with the banned magic.

“Sigil teleportation. You’ll get used to it after a few trips,” Twilight groaned as she rubbed her shoulder with a hoof.

“I think I would’ve rather stayed and tried my luck with Falx,” Spike slurred, sitting up on the hard stone floor.

“He would have killed you, and you know it,” Twilight responded, slowly crawling her way back onto her hooves as pain shot through her back.

Silence hung in the room for a moment before the dragon responded. “Yeah, maybe...” A puff of smoke shot from his nostrils as Spike dry-heaved. He swallowed hard in an attempt to keep from vomiting. “Is it normal to feel like I’m hung over?”

As Twilight walked across the room and began rummaging through her cabinet of medical supplies, she called back to the dragon, “Yeah, it should pass pretty quickly.”

Spike began looking over his new surroundings. Dim lighting accentuated the lines of recessed mortar between the bricks lining all of the walls, and several large devices, similar to the data manipulators and energy storage machines in the main labs, stood in a row connected by thick cables. A row of six heavy, metal-clad wooden doors lined half of one wall across from a large workbench scattered with papers, tools, and various other experimental equipment. It was obviously one of the cell blocks of the Canterlot dungeon that had been repurposed to act as a laboratory.

Twilight returned to Spike with several clean rags and a bottle. “Let’s get that cut cleaned up. Sit up on the workbench, so I can see better.”

The dragon complied, limping to the workbench and finding a clear place to sit down. “So, this is where you’ve been,” Spike observed.

“Yep. Move your hand... This is going to hurt,” Twilight said as she removed the cap from the bottle and moved to pour it over the wound.

Spike hissed in pain as the liquid ran across the gash, washing away some of the blood. Twilight then wiped at it hard with a towel. “Ow! Easy, Twilight.”

The unicorn chuckled. “Don’t be such a baby,” she said, setting down the towel and bottle. She then placed her forehooves on either side of the cut and pulled slightly. “It’s pretty deep, but it’s a clean slice. You’re lucky Falx keeps his blade sharp, or this would be a lot harder to fix.”

A soft magenta glow surrounded Spike’s wound as it slowly began to stitch itself closed. “This should only take a couple minutes... Hopefully Fireshade is having better luck than we did,” Twilight mused. “She should be back any minute.”

“So, Twilight...” Spike began slowly, as though he was still trying to figure out the best way to broach the subject. He paused and looked down to the unicorn mending his wound. “What is this all about? What in the world is going on here? Why is everypony after us?”

“We have to leave the city, Spike,” she replied without diverting her attention from the task at hand.

“Seriously, Twilight, I need an explanation. I... I think I deserve an explanation,” he almost begged, flinching slightly as magically induced healing process continued.

“Okay, Spike...” Twilight continued the regeneration spell and looked the dragon in the eyes. “Just don’t forget that you asked for this.”

Spike pursed his lips momentarily before deciding for certain that he was ready for Twilight to disclose the information. “Alright, let’s hear it.”

Only give him what is absolutely necessary.

Twilight inhaled deeply through her nose and held the breath as she thought about how much to give him and how to spin it to her advantage. She slowly released the air from her lungs and began. “The princesses are lying.”

Spike tilted his head slightly with a squint. “And?”

“Actually, I’m not sure how informed even Luna is, but Celestia is withholding tons of information. Research data that could change the world. Research data that could end their rule of Equestria if it came to light. Fireshade and I have been experimenting with some of Section 5’s abandoned research, but that’s not even important at the moment,” Twilight said with urgency and anxiousness carrying heavily in her voice.

“End the rule of the Equestrian Diarchy?” Spike replied incredulously. “You’re kidding... This can’t be real.”

“Look, Spike, I know what I know. I don’t have proof of the princesses’ coup, but I do have proof that they are not at all what they pass themselves off as,” she said as she looked back to her work.

Shaking his head, Spike tried his best to process the information. “No. There’s no way... A coup? And what do you mean ‘pass themselves off as’?”

Twilight’s spell ended, leaving the dragon with a large, fresh scar across the left side of his body, just under his ribs. As the glow dissipated, she looked up to Spike’s face again. “The Royal Pony Sisters are not gods, they are not immortal, and they are not the rightful rulers of Equestria.”

The unicorn turned and walked to one of the open-doored cells, pulling a dozen books out with telekinesis and moving them towards the exit. “Celestia knows that the information I have would spell the end of their ill-gotten power, and it seems that she may be willing to do whatever it takes to stop that information from being brought to light.” Just as she stopped speaking, Twilight dropped the books in the middle of the floor between the row of cells and the exit. She spun around towards Spike and glared at him through narrowed eyes. “I have proof, Spike, but I can’t show you right now. You just have to trust me; time is not on our side at the moment. Now, start helping move my equipment into this sigil array.”

Spike looked at the pile of books, now noticing the huge array that they had landed in. Meanwhile, Twilight slowly walked the perimeter, staring at the strange symbols drawn around the circumference. She stopped—apparently finding what she was looking for—and levitated a piece of chalk to herself from the workbench. “Come on, Spike, we don’t have time to sit around. Bring everything from the bench and put it in the circle.” She paused and looked up. “Except the metal box at the end and the vial rack on the shelf... I’m going to need those.”

Still suffering the slight lingering aftereffects of the teleportation and the initial shock of what he had just learned of the princesses, Spike slid down from his perch, landing on shaky legs. “Uhm... Yeah, okay,” he replied as he began gathering papers in a stack.

Twilight began scuffing out several runes with a hoof just as a winded and visibly shaken Fireshade came crashing through the entrance to the lab. She stopped just inside the doorway, panting as she looked wildly around the room. “Twilight!” she yelled, making eye contact with the unicorn. “We have a huge problem!”

“Yeah, I know. The Royal Guard is searching for us; I already had a run-in with Falx,” she said without looking up from her work. “It’s only going to be a matter of a few hours before they find us here.”

Fireshade continued huffing, blood still slowly dripping from her nostrils. “No—I-I mean, yes... Yes, but it’s worse than that!”

Beginning to scrawl new runes in place of the ones that had been erased, Twilight paid no attention to the pyromancer. Meanwhile, Spike stood, staring with a clawful of papers at the bloodied figure that had entered the lab. “Uh... Twilight?”

Twilight dropped the chalk, and quickly raised her head. “What!?” she exclaimed as she turned and got a full view of Fireshade. She stopped moving and stared at the unicorn. The lower half of her face was completely covered in blood and crimson streaks lined her chest. “Oh my gosh, Fireshade! A-are... Are you alright? What the heck happened to you!?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I had a bit of a run-in, too. I rended almost a dozen ponies to ash to get away, and I may have overexerted myself in the process.” She moved to the pile of books and began looking at the spines of each one. “Thank goodness you haven’t sent these yet; I need the sigil book.”

She’s going to kill herself. She’s no use to us dead.

“May have overexerted? You look like your face exploded! Fireshade, you need to rest or you're going to give yourself a brain hemorrhage.” Twilight stopped for a moment, finally registering the rest of the yellow pony’s words. “Ash? What happened, Fire?” Twilight asked sternly.

She is obviously willing to do anything to protect us. This is not a time to be worried about those who would try to stop us.

A dozen soldiers! This is beyond unacceptable! Twilight screamed into her mind.

Fireshade pulled the book out of the pile with telekinesis, toppling the rest, and went to the workbench. “I tried to run, but they wouldn’t let me go. I almost made it to the entrance to the dungeons, but they caught up to me. So, I killed them. All of them,” she stated as she strapped into a saddlebag from the bench.

“Damn it, Fireshade! You can’t just go around killing ever—”

“Look, Twilight, if I hadn’t done what I did, they would be knocking that door off the hinges as we speak!” Fireshade yelled back, placing the tome of sigil magic in her bag. “As it is, I bought us some time, but we certainly don’t have a few hours... maybe a half-hour at best before they’re here. The damage I did to the corridor is going to make it pretty obvious where I was heading when they find it.”

“This is bad... this is really, really bad,” Twilight muttered to herself.

“That’s not all, the military is involved now, too. It’s not just the Royal Guard. The officer commanding the ponies that tried to catch me was definitely wearing a military uniform.” Fireshade grabbed several pieces of chalk, throwing them in her bag as she headed for the door.

“Should have taken my offer, Fireshade,” called out a voice from behind the mares.

Twilight and Fireshade froze, turning to one of the locked cell doors. In the small, barred window Arcana’s hornless face glared at them with a faint smirk. “It’s only a matter of time before you both are executed.”

“Arcana’s here!?” Spike yelped, looking to the cell. “What in the world is going on?”

Fireshade bolted across the room, putting her nose mere inches away from Arcana’s. “You shut the hell up. The only one here with a death-sentence is you, old stallion.”

“It was unavoidable, Spike,” Twilight answered the dragon. “Just keep packing.”

Arcana responded to Fireshade with a chuckle. “As soon as the princesses arrive, you will have no choice but to submit.”

“I. Said. Shut. Up!” yelled the pyromancer, pushing him brutally hard with a blast of telekinetic energy. The stallion flew to the back wall of the cell with a sickening crack as the back of his head made contact with the bricks. He crumpled to the floor, motionless except for his chest moving shallowly with each breath.

Fireshade stepped away from the door, holding a hoof to the side of her head. “Ow, that probably wasn’t the best idea...”

Spike looked on, horrified. “What did you do!?”

“Meh... He’ll be fine,” Fireshade said indifferently. “We’ll leave, he’ll be found. All is good.” She then turned and headed for the exit to the rest of the dungeon.

“Both of you stop screwing around and help me!” Twilight shouted, looking to Fireshade with clear anxiety-driven panic present in her tone. “Wait! Where are you going? I need help moving the equipment!”

Fireshade stopped, turning to the other mare with a look of clear concern. “We won’t have time to move the equipment, Twilight! They’ll be storming the dungeon at any minute!” The mare paused briefly, glancing to the door to the dungeon behind her. “So I’m going to slow them down for you. Buy you two time to finish.”

Twilight rapidly shook her head. “You can’t go back out there! What if you get caught? Or killed!? I need you here with me if something goes wrong, Fireshade!

A soft smile spread across her blood-soaked lips. “It’ll be fine, Twilight. I’ll be right back, I promise.” Before the other mare could further protest, she ran out the door, the metal entrance slamming shut behind her.

Twilight let out a frustrated groan. “We need to hurry, Spike,” she stated, scanning the room and pointing a hoof. “Grab some of those boxes under the workbench and start packing things. If Fireshade’s right, then we really are out of time.” She once again picked up the chalk and began carefully finishing the augmentations to the teleport array.

Spike pulled out an empty box and started sweeping items blindly off the bench with his arm. He barely cleared a quarter of the gigantic desk when the box became full. As he placed it in the array next to the books, Twilight finished drawing the new runes and began dragging the massive data manipulator across the floor, leaving a trail of gouges in the stone.

The large machine settled into position, and Twilight used her magic to bring the small metallic box that Spike left on the bench to herself, wrapping the attached harness around her midsection. Leaving the the box hanging from her left side and four cords dangling loosely, she began buckling the straps tightly around her.

Spike began filling the next box as he watched Twilight from the corner of his eye. She approached the huge energy storage device still occupying its original location and picked up two small magical energy batteries. Disconnecting the silver metal boxes from the larger storage battery, she slid them into strap holsters on the harness, opposite of the other box.

Halting his progress, Spike watched the unicorn methodically choose two wires and plug them into one of the batteries strapped to her side. “Twilight, what are you doing?”

“I’m getting ready to teleport this stuff to our new lab. It’s a very long distance, so I need a... boost,” she calmly replied, closely inspecting the plugs at the end of the remaining two loose wires. “Keep packing.”

“A boost?” the dragon asked inquisitively.

Twilight determined that the plugs on the end of the wires were acceptable, and nodded. “Yeah, a boost.” She then moved the plugs in a magenta glow towards the back of her neck, plugging them into ports just beneath the base of her skull.

The dragon’s eyes opened wide with horror. “Twilight, what are you doing!?”

“I told you, I need a boost of magical energy,” she answered disinterestedly. “This is the only way to do that. I’ll explain more about it later. There’s no time now.” She stepped away from the teleportation array as she flipped a small switch on the box hanging on her left side. “You may want to cover your eyes, Spike.”

“Wha—” Spike’s voice was cut off by a deafening cacophony. A brilliant light flooded the room, momentarily blinding the dragon.

Moments later, the noise ended and the light dissipated. Spike rubbed at his eyes, trying to readjust to the normal, gloomy lighting of the makeshift lab. He looked to Twilight as she switched off her energy transfer device, still awestruck by her newly implanted technology.

Twilight looked over her shoulder to the dragon. “Come on, Spike! We don’t have time to be standing around.”

“Uh... Y-yeah,” Spike stuttered, continuing to slide items off the workbench into the second box.

Twilight picked a vial and syringe from the bench with her magic and made her way to the cell containing Apple Slice. Opening the door, she walked inside while drawing the blue liquid into the syringe.

“Subject Two, can you hear me?” Twilight asked.

Several seconds passed with no response. “Hey, Apple Slice! Wake up!”

The pile of blankets in the corner of the cell stirred, and the head of a green mare poked out from underneath. “Mmmm... What do ya want?” she inquired.

Putting on her best smile, Twilight moved closer to the mare. “It’s time for you to go. Just one more treatment, and you can put this all behind you.”

“Go? Go where?” asked Apple Slice inquisitively.

“Home, hopefully... Eventually.” Twilight tossed the empty vial to the floor as she prepared to inject the test subject with her last dose of the compound. “There’s just a couple of things I need from you.”

Apple Slice turned her head, ready for the experimental injection. “What things?”

“When they ask where you have been, you don’t know,” Twilight answered, closely examining the responsiveness of the mare’s eyes before positioning the injector. “And when you see me again, you will do everything that I ask of you, no matter what.”

The earth pony smiled. “I can do that, easy,” she said lethargically.

“Good, very good.” Twilight pressed the needle into the base of Apple Slice’s neck, pressing the plunger down slowly. “Now repeat it back to me.”

“I-I don’t know where I’ve been,” she said as her pupils grew. “And I’ll do anything you ask.”

The needle pulled out and Apple Slice turned to Twilight. “I can go home now?”

Twilight smiled. “Yes. As soon as someone finds you.”

With a magenta glow of Twilight’s horn and a quick flash of light, Apple Slice was gone. Hopefully dropped safely on the outskirts of the city.

In a corridor just outside of the entrance to the Canterlot dungeon stood more than twenty, armored unicorns and earth ponies, checking and rechecking their weapons and armor. Nervous excitement hung in the air as they quietly whispered about the rumors of the rogue mage they had been sent to apprehend.

Two floors below them, Fireshade was placing the finishing touches on a small sigil array on the wall of a wide hallway. “Barrier, barrier, barrier,” she sang to herself as she dropped to the floor on her belly and looked to the book next to her.

She flipped through the pages of the tome, looking for a particular design. “Hmmm, I know I saw it in here somewhere...”

“There it is!” She giggled to herself like a child filling in the pictures of a coloring book. The unicorn looked blankly towards the ceiling. “I wonder if ten’s gonna be enough?” she asked. Shrugging, she went back to her drawings. “Whatever, it’ll slow them down, I’m sure.”

She finished her work and placed the book into her saddlebag. Standing up, she wiped at her muzzle with a forehoof, causing flakes of dried blood to drift to the floor. “Well... here we go,” she stated, beginning the trek out of the dungeons.

Fireshade could hear the voice of a pony well before she approached the exit. He spoke forcefully, but she couldn’t quite make out the words. Starting up the steps, she could now clearly see the iron gate at the top that demarcated the boundary between the subterranean expanse and the rest of the castle.

Continuing up the dark stairwell, she moved deliberately slow and as quietly as she could in order to get a peek of what was going on outside the gate. As the massive corridor beyond came into focus, Fireshade froze, spotting at least a dozen armored military ponies. Assuming there were probably more outside of her field of view, she waited and listened closely to the pony speaking.

“...and they are both considered extremely dangerous and are to be approached with caution. If we are unable to apprehend the fugitives, we have been ordered to fall back and send for the princesses. However, we will not fail! Are you foals ready?”

To Fireshade, the echoing response sounded like an entire regiment yelling in the affirmative. The gate became shrouded in a green glow as her eyes widened. As the gate swung open, slamming into the wall, she turned to make a retreat back to the lab. Missing the step, she tumbled sideways down the stone staircase, landing in a groaning pile at the bottom. She opened her eyes just in time to witness a small ball of light fly overhead, stick to the wall, and brightly illuminate the once-dark hallway. “Oh, crap...”

“There’s one right there!” announced the first mage entering the stairwell. His horn lit up as he sent a volley of destructive arcane magic her way.

Fireshade flailed her legs, pushing herself out of the way just as the bright-blue bolts of magic slammed into the wall at the bottom of the stairs. “Damn it!” she screamed, returning to a standing position.

She could hear the rattle of armor as the stallions ran down the stairs. The pyromancer’s horn began to glow orange, preparing to unleash a blowtorch-like hellfire on the first soldiers to round the corner, but she thought better of it, looking down to her bloodied foreleg. The glow dissipated as she stepped back and turned, galloping for the nearest sigil trap.

Turning a corner, she deftly weaved past the waiting array to the far end of the hallway before turning back to watch the results. “I sure hope this works like I think it will,” she mused, listening closely as the sound of the guards approaching drew nearer.

A trio of stallions stormed around the corner, readying their weapons upon spotting the pyromancer. However, upon taking a few steps forward, two of the guards stepped hoof directly into Fireshade’s waiting array. A blinding light lit up the hallway briefly. Immediately upon it’s clearing, cries of horror and agony echoed down the hallway.

Fireshade’s features beamed in absolute excitement at the results. The first of the two stallions who had triggered the trap now found himself lodged into the stone floor, his rear legs melded with the rock up to his hips; while the second met a similar fate, with his forelegs sunk into the floor nearly to his neck. The remaining guards turned the corner, unaware of their comrades condition, and barreled over the top of them, tripping and falling into a pile.

Fireshade laughed hysterically at the heap of stallions as they parted, trying to pull their comrades free. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you” She called out to them while trying her best to compose herself and stifle her laughter.. “They’re part of the floor now.” She pursed her lips. “I’m not sure how or if it can be reversed, but eh, I’m sure a surgeon might be able to cut them out or something.”

The remaining stallions looked to her, bewildered. “Y-you, you monster!” one called out from the back of the group.

The pyromancer shrugged indifferently. “Well, I would say not to follow me, that there are plenty more and far more gruesome traps ahead, but I want to see how well they work.” She shot the stallion a sinister smirk. “So by all means, please do follow me.”

Turning the corner at her end of the hallway, she raced for the next set of arrays, taking position a safe distance down the hallway. “Now these babies... oh yes, this ought to be good.” Despite the mare’s anticipation, several long moments of silence passed causing her to click her tongue in clear disappointment. “Did they seriously already give up? After just one?”

Several minutes passed as the pyromancer waited for her next wave of victims. Before too long, her ears perked up as the sounds of hoofsteps could be heard again. A group of mages this time turned the corner, their helmet obscured faces glancing all about the hallway as their horns glowed with an array of different colors. Fireshade couldn’t help but smile at their efforts. If Arcana couldn’t see them, there is no way you clowns will.

“Just a little bit closer...” Fireshade called out to the mages, earning a collection of glares from them. “The hallway is not—”

Before the mare could finish, the four ponies across from her unleashed a swarm of magical projectiles. Despite the rapidly approaching missiles, Fireshade held her ground until the last possible moment, closing her eyes and turning her head away. However, the moment of impact never came, as the assaulting magics exploded harmlessly a few hoof lengths away. She tentatively opened one eye. Upon realizing she had not been hit by the attack, a smile grew across her face, and she stood defiantly, taunting the mages before her. As the air cleared, a brilliant orange wall of light stood between the mare and the magics.

“Awesome! This one works too!” Stepping forward, she brought her foreleg to the barrier before passing through it and back. “Yep, just like the book said. It only stops magic.” She waved a hoof to the soldiers in the hall. “Hey! You guys want to try that again? This time with a bit more oomf behind it. I want to see how much this thing can handle.”

“How dare you mock the battlemages of the ERA!” responded one of the mages.

Fireshade chuckled at the noticeable annoyance of her opponent. “Oooooo, Equestrian Royal Army battlemages... Why dontcha come say it to my face, big guy?” she asked with a wink.

A mage at the front of the group grit his teeth before running forward.

Unknown to the stallion, he passed over another waiting array as he ran at the unicorn ahead of him. Unfortunately, to Fireshade’s dismay, nothing happened. “Aw... that one’s a dud, I guess.” She pursed her lips in disappointment. “I really wanted that one to wo—”

Before the mare could finish, the array’s runes appeared, glowing a bright orange, and then violently releasing an unseen explosion. The sheer force of the blast sent the approaching stallion sailing at remarkable speed, passing through the orange barrier and narrowly missing Fireshade herself. The mage’s flight was abruptly halted with a meaty splat on the wall behind the mare. Turning back to assess the damage, Fireshade’s eyes widened at the broken and disfigured pony as it slowly slid down the wall it had struck.

“Whoa...” Shaking the awe from her mind, she turned back to the remaining mages, craning her neck back having only found their previous location replaced with a grisly scene. A massive spray of blood created a halo around the interior walls, along with several piles of unrecognizable flesh and shredded metal armor scattered throughout the hallway. “Uh... yeah. I think I see why this stuff was banned now.” She paused briefly, scratched her chin as she stared off into nowhere for a moment. “Then again. I don’t think whoever designed this levitation array anticipated somepony trying to weaponize it...”

After a few moments Fireshade giggled, turning down the hall and making her way the the next set of arrays. Opening a door to the left at the end of the hallway, she took a moment before entering to examine the remains of the splattered mage beside her with a cringe.

“I’d sure hate to be the poor guy who has to clean this up...”

Celestia appeared in the darkened room with a muffled pop. She waited a moment for her eyes to adjust to the lack of light, and then, with her magic, tore open the heavy curtains covering four enormous picture windows. Sunlight spilled into the room, exiling the artificial night.

“Luna!”

A muffled groan could be heard from the luxurious bed in the middle of the room as the thick blankets stirred.

“Luna! Wake up!” Celestia shouted, taking several steps towards the bed. “This is an emergency!”

A hoof appeared from under the comforter at the corner of the bed. Luna pulled the covers from herself slowly, exposing her head near the foot of the bed. “Surely, this is something you can handle, Sister,” she yawned disinterestedly.

“Luna, I need you, now!” Celestia screamed, stamping her forehoof into the floor. “Twilight Sparkle is using sigil magic and there are books missing from the vault.”

Luna’s eyes shot wide as a jolt ripped through her body at her sister’s words. “Which books?” The princess bolted upright in her bed, her heart now pounding furiously. “What is missing, Sister?”

“Eleven very dangerous offensive spellbooks, but those don’t matter right now,” Celestia said very quickly. She paused for a moment before continuing in a raspy whisper. “Three of them are gone, as well.”

The princess stared blankly at Celestia, trying to process the gravity of their shared situation. Shaking her head slightly, Luna looked to the ornate grandfather clock standing along the wall of her room. “It... It’s only been a few hours since we spoke with Falx.”

“Yes, well much has happened in this time,” Celestia stated as Luna stepped down from the bed. “Falx engaged Twilight and Spike less than an hour ago, and Fireshade is, as of yet, still to be found.”

“Engaged, you say?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow before crossing the room, towards a ponnequin holding her royal regalia and continuing past it to another.

“Yes. Quite furiously, if I am to believe the general’s account and the condition of her apartment,” Celestia answered, eyeing her sister's actions curiously. “Twilight used a runic sigil array to escape through a high-grade security barrier... What are you doing?”

“How long has she had access to the books?” Luna asked calmly as she began unstrapping pieces of glossy-black armor from the stand with her magic.

Celestia continued watching her sister, dumbfounded, until the rattle of the first pieces of magically-imbued steel plates falling into place across Luna’s shoulders shook her from her trance. “Maybe a week, possibly several months. There’s really no way to tell for sure... Why are you putting that on?”

Luna took a deep breath and turned to face Celestia. “Because, if what you say is true and Twilight has had access to these war-magics long enough to study them, she would pose a very real threat to either one of us.”

Celestia craned her neck back, eyeing her sister skeptically. “You’re not suggesting that Twi—”

“I am not suggesting anything, Sister. I am merely taking appropriate precautions, and I would suggest you do the same,” Luna interrupted. “Something is very wrong with Twilight Sparkle, and as much I loath to admit it, judging by her recent behavior, it would not be entirely surprising that attempting to take her into custody would cause an uncharacteristically violent reaction from her.”

Luna turned back to her task, continuing to place pieces of armor over herself while Celestia mulled over her sister’s statement.

“You and I both know that Twilight would never attack us!” shouted Celestia as Luna placidly strapped a curved piece of black metal across the front of an upper foreleg.

The Princess of Night lifted her cuirass off of the stand, focusing on the lunar crest emblazoned across the chest with disdainful regard. “Celly... Do you recall the last time I donned this armor?”

Celestia expression fell as she lowered her head. Unsavory memories from days long past washed through her mind like a raging tide. “I... try not to remember those times, honestly.” She let out a low sigh. “It’s been over a millennia since either you or I wore our battle armors, though the memories are as clear as though it were only yesterday.”

Luna’s eyes softened at her sister’s obviously painful recollection. “Then you must also recall what caused it... Who caused it.” Luna felt her chest tighten painfully as she tried hard to not choke on her words. “The callous destruction, the unnecessary death, the senseless anger...” She rubbed her snout with a small sniffle as she turned the piece of armor; placing it across her chest and clasping the steel to the piece hung over her shoulders. “Seven years of unspeakable horror. A war that eclipsed anything Equestria had ever seen, or will likely ever see again.”

Shaking her head slowly, Celestia stepped towards her sister. “The war was not your fault. That thing wasn’t you, Luna! You wouldn’t let—”

“You’re wrong!” Luna interjected vehemently, tears welling up in her eyes. She quickly turned to face Celestia, her mouth twisted into an angry sneer. “I didn’t even try to stop it! I knew what I was doing. I knew what I was to become—but I did not care—my hatred and jealousy wouldn’t allow it! I harbored the feelings that allowed my Nightmare to take over and thrive! It was all because of me that it happened!”

Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but paused as her sister’s tears slowly broke into pained sobs. Crossing the room, the elder sister caught the younger in a warm embrace. Luna nuzzled into her sister’s chest, returning the hug and tightening her grip around her. “I’m so sorry...”

Celestia closed her eyes and shook her head. “Luna... Sister, you know you were not in control then. I know you, and that was certainly not you commanding armies against Equestria. There is no need to be sorry, as I know you would never do that willingly.” Celestia said in as much of a sympathetic tone as she could muster.

Luna paused, nodding several times before pulling away from the embrace. Rubbing her muzzle with a sniffle, she glanced off to the side briefly. “Then, you understand why I am once again wearing this uniform...”

Celestia lowered her head dejectedly. “I do... I don’t want to, but I do.” The white alicorn silently pondered for a moment before looking back up to her sister. “Still, there is no reason to believe that Twilight Sparkle would wish to attack either one of us.”

Luna pursed her lips, her gaze at her sister hardening. “You are correct, Sister. Twilight Sparkle would never wish to harm either of us, but Twilight Sparkle would also never attack a general of the Equestrian Royal Army. Nor would Twilight Sparkle go out of her way to learn banned magics after being explicitly forbidden from doing so. My Twilight Sparkle would never lift a hoof to harm anypony, except to protect others.” Luna exhaled deeply before pulling the last piece of armor from the stand with her magic. The helm floated to her and found its place, snuggly wrapping her head. “As much as I hate to say it, I do not believe who, or what, we are dealing with is Twilight Sparkle at this point, and I plan on approaching this situation as such.” She looked to the other mare. “I would highly suggest that you do the same.”

The two alicorns stared silently at each other for several long moments. Finally, Celestia sighed deeply and nodded. “Yes... Yes, you are correct. I-I should go and ready my equipment.”

Luna nodded in approval, turning to her sister. “We cannot afford to take any unnecessary risks because of what we hope won’t be true. We need to be prepared for the worst case scenario, just in case.”

Just as Celestia was about to turn to leave, a scroll popped into existence in front of her and dropped to the floor between the princesses. They both angled their heads down, looking to the paper, waiting for the other to pick it up. Luna’s impatience made sure that she would take the duty of reading it first.

Luna lifted the scroll in her magic, simultaneously removing the wax seal and string holding it closed. Her eyes widened and complexion paled as she silently read through the message. “Oh no...” she whispered under her breath.

“What is it, Luna?” Celestia implored. She reached a hoof out to take the note, but thought better of it at the last moment.

Luna looked up from the letter to her sister. “It’s from General Falx. They have positively identified Fireshade, and he believes Twilight to be in the same location, as well... However there has been casualties.”

“How many?” Celestia asked without emotion. The memories of Luna’s Nightmare and the bloody war that followed already beginning to reforge her harden psyche to the possibility of coping with the same pain once again.

“Five confirmed, nine missing and assumed dead. Falx has ordered a withdrawal to a safer location at the entrance to the dungeons and is rallying more soldiers to—hey!”

Celestia quickly snatched the letter from her sister’s magic and began reading. “Fourteen dead...? This is completely unacceptable.” Her eyes continued scanning the document until she gasped in alarm and looked to her sister.

“I was still reading that,” Luna deadpanned.

“Falx believes that the nine were vaporized during a confrontation with Fireshade. During their second encounter, she led Falx’s advance group into some sort of latent magical traps...” Celestia trailed off as she continued reading. “This is very bad, Luna. One survivor reported seeing strange symbols arranged in a circular pattern just as the traps were set off.”

“Fireshade is using the sigil arrays, as well...” Luna speculated. “They never even made it to Twilight. If Falx’s stallions can’t handle that child, they have absolutely no hope of even beginning to challenge Twilight Sparkle.”

Celestia merely shook her head. “We need to move quickly. If they are using arrays as weapons, our soldiers will not be able to get anywhere near Twilight.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to clear her mind. Thinking for a very short moment, she opened her eyes and spoke, “Go to the dungeon, find Twilight and await my arrival before you attempt to speak to her.”

Luna bowed her head reverently. “Yes, Sister.”

With that, a flash of light strobed, and Celestia now stood alone in her sister’s bedchamber. With the other having departed, the older alicorn finally let the tears she had been holding back stream down her face as she brought a hoof to her now quivering muzzle. “Why did it have to end up like this, Twilight...”

Fireshade sat quietly in a lower corridor of the dungeon, listening intently and waiting for any sign that the next wave of soldiers might be on the way. Guess they gave up, she thought. I wonder what they’re waiting for. With a shrug, she once again pulled a piece of chalk from her bag and began drawing replacements for the spent arrays as she slowly made her way to the lab.

At the same time, five mages stood in a line facing the dungeon entrance, ready to attempt to stop anything from potentially exiting. The flash of light from behind didn’t even cause them to flinch as Luna appeared next to Falx. The earth pony glanced slightly to his right, regarding the heavily armored princess for a moment. “Princess,” he stated curtly, slightly bowing his head.

Luna looked ahead to the brightly lit doorway beyond the mages. “What is the situation, General?”

Falx took a deep breath before answering. “If I’m to be quite frank, it’s a train wreck, Milady. The advance squad entered prior to my arrival, and immediately made contact with Fireshade. Half of them were wiped out; two are stuck in the damn floor, and are not expected to survive... I have four squads stationed outside at the rear exit, and four more on their way here as we speak.” He took a step to the side and turned to face Luna. “What is this magic they’re using? What was described to me here is exactly what Twilight used to escape from me at her apartment.”

“It is sigil magic. Very similar to the runes etched on your sword, but designed in such a manner that many multiple runes can be linked together to create a myriad of results. It has been banned for nearly a thousand years, and—as your soldiers have found out first-hoof—it is exceedingly dangerous. Consider your order to capture Fireshade alive rescinded. I would prefer to be able to speak with her, but she is leaving us little choice in the matter,” she said without averting her gaze from the doorway.

With a huff, Falx nodded. “We were unable to make much headway inside. I suspect that the dungeon in it’s entirety may be booby-trapped with this sigil magic.”

“That is likely the case, General. You are to hold this position until otherwise instructed by Celestia or myself. My sister will be joining you shortly,” Luna ordered as she began to walk towards the entryway. She stopped just behind the line of mages. “Gentlecolts, if you would please make way.”

The line split before her, shuffling to each side to grant her access to the iron gate. Luna breathed deeply, closing her eyes and readying a spell that she had not used for many centuries. A dark-blue aura enveloped her horn as she concentrated on pulling the physical manifestation of her more violent tendencies from the intangible ether in which it had been stored for so very long. Soon, a swirling disc of midnight-blue light surrounded by a bright white halo formed just above her left shoulder.

She could hear the murmurs of the ponies around her, speculating as to just what they were witnessing. This should make an interesting tale to tell their grandfoals someday, she thought as she allowed the tiniest of smiles to grace her lips.

From the portal that manifested, something began to slowly appear. A sharply pointed piece of steel advanced gradually out of the swirling miasma. The bladed weapon quickly took shape as it reentered the physical realm. A cross guard consisting of four, shorter razor-sharp edges in a star-like pattern across the center of the main blade emerged. As the end of the massive sword cleared the opening in space, she grasped the middle of the blades with her magic, and the portal to the other realm quickly closed. The surrounding stallions stared in awe at the levitating mass of metal beside the princess. Lacking any obvious position to grasp, it was clear that this multi-bladed weapon was not intended to be physically wielded, but magically.

The murmurs of the soldiers turned to gasps and excited whispers.

“It’s the Eclipse!” one whispered excitedly to the pony next to him.

The other stood, mouth agape. “It can’t be... that weapon is only a legend,” he whispered back. “Besides, the Eclipse is said to be made of six individual blades.”

Glancing back to the stallions whispering behind her, the princess smirked. With the will of her magic, the six edges simultaneously detached from one another, fanning out as each blade twirled independently several times before reassembling and locking back into their original star-shaped pattern. Luna strained slightly as she pushed more magic into the blade, reimbuing the long-dormant enchantments. The weapon began to emit an aura of darkness, seemingly absorbing the light around it.

Luna looked to the pair of mages to her right. “You two, what are your names?” she asked.

“Corporal Stark, ma’am,” answered the closer, heavily armored light-blue unicorn, .

The other grey unicorn hesitated, slightly. “Uhm... P-Private First Class Pike, m-ma’am.”

“Very good. You shall escort me,” she stated, stepping forward as she deftly levitated the weapon over to her other shoulder’s side and back before rotating it in a pinwheel motion briefly and attaching it to a mount on the back of her armor. “We shall see about these magical traps ahead.”

Entering the dungeon, Luna advanced down the staircase, the pair of selected mages hesitating briefly before quickly following after. As the group reached the bottom of the stairs, Luna could distinctly hear the pained groans of one of Fireshade’s victims. They continued walking towards the sound until two ponies came into view. Luna sighed, instantly recognizing the work of a powerful matter phasing spell, and steeling herself for the carnage that she knew was yet to come.

The farther of the pair heard the hoofsteps approaching, and turned his head side-to-side, attempting to see who was coming.

“H-help me! It hurts so much. Help me, please!” he shouted. “My legs are stuck, and Stronghold’s dead...”

As Luna passed the first casualty, she looked to the figure with grim regard, his now-still face and lifeless eyes contorted in absolute terror. She passed the second, and turned to face him, kneeling down to be closer to his level as her escorts looked on.

“Princess! You can get me out of here! Please, help... It hurts,” the pony said quickly, tears staining his face. “We have to hurry, before she returns!”

The princess closed her eyes. “I am so sorry, my little pony,” she stated morosely, opening her eyes once again. “There is nothing I can do to save you. Only offer you a swift release from your pain.”

“P-please, Princess, I-I have to go home! I want to go home. You must have the power to get me out!” he pleaded to Luna.

Luna slowly shook her head. “No magic in the world can undo this level physical entanglement.”

His eyes grew wide as he began thrashing against his imprisonment. “No! I have to go home! I have to see my children... m-my wife!” Slowly, his outlash diminished. Breathing heavily, with tears flooding his eyes, he looked to Luna. “Please... Please, Princess, I beg you. I can’t die like this.”

The princesses horn emitted a soft glow before the same magical light enveloped the stallion’s head. “I’m so very sorry that this happened to you...” she spoke softly as the magic took hold, the stallion’s eyes slowly closing as his head gently lowered to the stone floor.

The mages accompanying Luna stood stoically, watching in absolute silence as their comrade expelled a final breath from his lips. Stark removed his helmet, bowing his head respectfully to his lost comrade while Pike continued to look on in shock from the event that unfolded. The princess stood up and looked to them with a face of immeasurable rage and terrifying anger. “Come. This ends now.”

Following the waning glow of the magelight spells the previous group had cast, Luna began walking further into the dungeons beneath Canterlot, the two mages quickly finishing paying respects to their fallen compatriots before following after her. The musty smell of the disused dungeon was overwhelming until the trio rounded the next corner.

A staggering, sweet, metallic odor assaulted their senses as they entered the next brick-lined corridor. Luna immediately recognized the smell of death hanging thick in the air. Soon, the limited power of the lighting spells dwindled, casting the already dimly lit surroundings into near darkness. Slowing her pace, she continued down the shadowy corridor, not wanting to use a light of her own for fear of alerting her quarry to her presence. Several minutes passed, quietly stepping one hoof at a time until one of her armored forehooves brushed against something with a heavy metallic clang. She stopped—Stark and Pike stopping with her—and looked down, squinting in the darkness.

The tip of her horn illuminated in a soft glow, revealing a short, wide streak of blood terminating at a helmet below her. “Light,” she ordered dryly.

Her two companions immediately obliged, each firing two magelight spells into the ceiling above and ahead of them. The hallway instantly became awash in white light, exposing the silver helmet and the severed head of a unicorn within lying in a small pool of blood. Luna looked up from the mess only to observe what appeared to be the site of a complete massacre. Crimson painted the middle part of the hallway, fanning out from a central point. Hearing a noise behind her, she quickly turned her head just in time to witness Pike turned away from the blood and unidentifiable chunks of ponies, vomiting on the floor.

She waited patiently for him to finish retching. He spit a mouthful of bile onto the floor and raised his head, wiping his mouth and turning towards Luna.

Knowing that these soldiers had never yet been exposed to the true atrocities of battle, the princess decided to be far more lenient than she had been with ponies under her command in the past. “Are you ready to continue?” she asked calmly.

“Y-yes, Princess,” the Pike replied, bowing his head to her. “Sorry, Princess.”

“Very good. You and Stark check the cells,” she ordered, motioning to the half-dozen doorways lining the hall. The mages immediately went to their assignment, opening each door and glancing inside before moving on.

Turning back to the spray of blood, Luna’s attention centered on the apparent source of the glossy red fluid painting the interior of the hallway. She walked towards it, noting the two doors nearest the epicenter had been completely torn from their hinges. Moving swiftly, she stepped over pieces of muscle, bone, and the occasional, twisted shred of silvery metal. Approaching the cleanest area in the middle of the mess of blood, she was able to clearly see the cause of the slaughter around her.

Astounding... she thought to herself as she examined the now-dormant drawing on the floor.

A large circle, scrawled in chalk, with intricate runes lining the inside of the mark. Within the large circle, two more circles overlapped each other. Two triangles configured into six-pointed stars patterns filled each of the smaller circles, with a single, wildly-complex rune filling the center of each star.

A pair of levitation arrays did all of this? No... no that can’t be right. Upon closer inspection of the complex sigil formation, the princess’s eyes widened. This isn’t just two arrays bound together, it’s two arrays bound with opposing polarities...

“Princess?”

...and the sheer number of force-runes added to the binding alone is staggering. It would have went off like a bomb...

She continued studying the runes, trying to determine exactly what all Fireshade had done to weaponize such a utilitarian array. A loud cough from behind suddenly jolted her out of her fixation. She looked to the escorts before her, Pike nervously glancing around while Stark stood like a statue, watching her.

“Excuse my interruption, Princess, but we’re finished. There’s nothing of note in any of the cells, the last doorway on the left is a staircase... Perhaps we should get moving?” suggested Stark before noticing to the array before the princess. “Unless you’ve yet to finish your examination. In which case, take your time, Ma’am.”

Turning back to the array, she regarded it for a moment, still thoroughly impressed by the ingenuity of the augmentation before turning back to the stallion and shaking her head.. “No. You are correct, Corporal. We should proceed. There will be plenty of time for this later.”

Fireshade is more talented than I’ve given her credit. Although, this may be more credit to the tutelage of Twilight. Such amazing potential thrown away on both accounts.

The soldiers waited for Luna to pass before falling in behind her, matching her pace. Nearing the end of the hallway, the princess suddenly stopped. She lifted a forehoof and reached forward slowly, her metalclad hoof meeting with a sudden force and began to sparkle with a dim orange glow. “...Interesting,” she mused as she glanced to the wall at the small array powering the ethereal wall.

Magic quickly pulsed through her horn, and an orange glimmer passed across the hallway in front of them as the barrier disintegrated. She then began walking and turned left down the stars, descending further into the bowels of Canterlot Mountain.

The small group exited the stairwell into the next corridor. Luna took several steps forward before stopping suddenly, cocking her head slightly to the side and listening for something that her escorts had not yet noticed.

Fireshade sat happily in the middle of a dark corridor with her eyes closed. Her horn glowed with the faintest halo of barely discernable magic, using the least amount of energy possible to probe into the expansive dungeon. Suddenly, a crazed grin expanded across her bloodstained muzzle, her eyes shooting open. “Here they come again.”

She stood and began running towards the signatures of magic perceived in her mind. Several turns and long corridors later, she slowed, approaching the last corner to the hallway—at the bottom of the stairs, one level below the blood-soaked massacre—where she knew her enemy would be.

Backed up to the side of the corner, Fireshade scooted as close to the edge as she could without being seen. Her ear twitched as she heard indecipherable murmurs from the end of the passage. Damn it, they’re not moving... They need to be closer.

Just as that thought cleared her mind, light flooded the brick wall across from her as the hall around the corner lit up. I guess they’re just being cautious...

Standing dead-still for nearly a minute, Fireshade decided that waiting wasn’t working. She took a deep breath and spun herself around the corner, in an attempt to draw her enemy nearer. What she saw as she exposed herself from the relative safety of her cover caused her jaw to drop and her heart to jump into her throat. As she stood in total shock of the scene before her, Princess Luna locked eyes with the pyromancer; the sight of the alicorn regaled in her full battle-armor nearly causing Fireshade to lose control of her bladder.

A blue aura surrounded Luna’s horn as she cast several spells simultaneously. Eclipse unlatched from its place on her back as every hidden sigil array scattered across the floor lit up in a orange glow, before quickly transitioning to a deep blue and darkening in rapid succession; easily rendered powerless by her magic.

“You can hide nothing from me, child,” Luna stated coldly, taking an offensive stance.

The sizable sword came apart into its component pieces and Luna flung all six blades towards Fireshade without so much as blinking. The unicorn yelped as the sword fragments careened towards her. Without thinking, she curled herself onto the floor and poured every bit of her magical ability into constructing a shallowly sloping barrier in front of herself. The shards of the weapon reached Fireshade just as the barrier coalesced, causing it to flicker wildly as the blades ricocheted off ineffectually. She coughed a spray of blood, with a sharp, stabbing pain shooting through her head.

Fireshade looked down the hall towards her pursuers to see Eclipse, now in its singular form, flying back towards Luna as two bolts of arcane energy flew towards herself. Her vision blurred in response to the pain in her head as she pushed more and more power into the barrier. I’m dead, either way, she thought as blood began to once again drip from her nostrils. Better make them work for it.

Tightly closing her eyes, the pyromancer gave one last push to the barrier just as the mages’ attack made contact. The magical wall exploded outward, swallowing the arcane energy and rapidly speeding towards Luna, Stark, and Pike.

Luna lowered and turned her head away from the shockwave as it passed, leaving her unfazed, but knocking the two less-experienced mages to the floor. They promptly scrambled back to a standing position and ran forward to position themselves between the princess and... an empty hallway.

Nostrils flaring, Luna exhaled with a huff and a creased forehead. “Thou wilt not evade me, Fireshade!” she bellowed into the dungeon, knowing the pyromancer could not have gone far. “Thine traps are nothing to Us! We created sigil magic, it is a trivial matter for Us to dispel it! Nothing you can do will cause Us to falter.” She paused, listening for any response. “You and Twilight Sparkle shall both answer for this!”

Twilight Sparkle jumped from the teleport array as the door to the lab flew open, crashing into the wall. Turning just as it slammed closed, she saw Fireshade with her back to the door, trembling and flailing a hoof towards the handle, attempting to throw the latch to lock the door. “Luna—” Fireshade began before abruptly cutting off into a winded wheeze. “Luna’s here!”

“What!?” Twilight blurted, craning her head back as her eyes grew wide. “Where?”

“This isn’t good, Twilight,” Spike commented, while placing a box full of papers precariously on top of the pile of equipment and parts within the circle.

“No shit, Spike; how about you just keep moving stuff? We’ve got a couple minutes, tops.” Fireshade took a deep breath, rubbing her temples and groaning. “She tried to kill me. She attacked the second she saw me, she didn’t even say anything until after I was running for my life. I really don’t think they’re interested in capturing us anymore...” The pyromancer grit her teeth as a spike pain of shot through her head. “Gah, my head hurts so bad.”

“No... Luna didn’t try to kill you. You wouldn’t be here, if that were the case. Now, as far as you trying to kill yourself, that’s a whole other thing,” Twilight replied, noting the fresh blood running from her friend’s nose, and a new trickle forming from her left ear.

“She threw a sword at me! Pretty sure that counts as ‘trying’; and if I hadn’t used my magic, I’d be dead anyhow. She caught me in a no-win situation!” As Fireshade’s breathing calmed, she looked around the lab. “What the hell is this, Twilight? It’s been twenty minutes... Why isn’t everything gone yet? We need to get outta here!”

We still need a sample.

This really isn’t a good time for that.

No, it’s a perfect time. Luna will bring it to us. All we have to do is watch for an opportunity to collect it.

You expect us to confront the princess!?

Not confront. Collect. We do not need to stay here any longer once the sample is acquired.

Twilight paused briefly before hesitantly nodding to herself. “O-only two more teleports, Fireshade. The array was damaged when we loaded the big equipment. I’m still fixing it,” Twilight explained, turning back to the array with her chalk floating nearby. “Put your saddlebag in for the next transport. We need to get that book out of here now, or risk losing it to the princesses.”

“We? We!? I don’t even know where we’re going or how to work that untethered death-machine!” Fireshade ran to the array, throwing her bag in. “There, send it now! She’s probably right outside the bucking door by now!”

“Would you calm down!” Twilight screamed without looking away from the runes taking shape. “I’ll handle the array. Just let me concentrate long enough to fix it.”

Fireshade began hyperventilating with a twitch of her eye. “How am I supposed to calm down!? There’s a murderous alicorn on her way here right now!”

Twilight tossed her piece of chalk away, standing and moving away from the array. “There, I’m done.” She turned to her dragon assistant. “Come on, Spike. Time to go.”

Spike stepped forward. “But... But what about you?”

We must wait for Luna.

I know... We’ll get it.

“We’ll be there soon. There’s still some stuff to send after you, and I have to take care of something before we can leave,” Twilight told the dragon. “Please, Spike, just get into the circle, so I know you’ll be safe.”

“Alright,” he replied defeatedly, walking across the room and stepping into the array with the equipment and other various items.

Walking over to the array, Twilight stopped just outside the circle across from Spike. “If we’re not there within the hour, I want you to take these three books and start heading south,” she said, passing the dragon a piece of paper with a hastily written list. “The D’Larame government should gladly grant you asylum in exchange for those.”

Spike looked to the list, and then to Twilight with confusion. “But you said you would be there soon.”

Twilight stepped back, flipping the power switch of her energy device with a soft smile to her lifelong friend. “Bye Spike, I love you.”

“Twilight, wai—” Spike’s voice was cut off as the array activated, sending him and Twilight’s supplies to the new lab location.

The light from the teleportation subsided, and Twilight turned around, looking to Fireshade. “What’s left?”

Fireshade surveyed the lab for a moment. “Not much... Some chem equipment and supplies, the med cabinet, a few components for whatever it was you were going to build.” She glanced towards the cells and glared. “Arcana.”

“Let the princesses deal with him, we’re finished with our experiments concerning that subject,” Twilight said, reaching under the workbench and pulling out a tool that appeared to have been pulled out of a nightmare. “Move the rest of the stuff into the circle.”

“Uh... no magic,” Fireshade said mockingly, waving her hooves about her head.

“Fine, I’ll get it,” Twilight huffed. She gathered everything using her magic and within ten seconds, the last pieces were landing within the teleportation array.

Glancing to the to the device in the other mare’s hoof, Fireshade raised an eyebrow. “And what in the world is that thing anyway?”

“It’s a device for collecting a large tissue sample as quickly as possible,” Twilight replied proudly, holding the tool out for Fireshade to see. A curved, serrated blade extended nearly a foot out from a sample container. “Stick it in, pull it out. Quick and efficient!”

“Looks like a torture device,” Fireshade said cynically. Her eyes lit up. “Wait... Is that why we’re still here? Please tell me you’re not going to try to do what I think.”

The tool settled onto the empty workbench with a thump. “I need a tissue sample from an alicorn. Specifically Luna or Celestia... Both would be preferable, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“Bucking princessing hook...” Fireshade mumbled, rolling her eyes. “Have you completely lost your mind?” Fireshade paused momentarily, furrowing her brow. “Or have I completely lost my mind that I’m the one having to tell you that you’ve completely lost your mind?”

Twilight rolled her eyes with an annoyed frown. “No. This is an absolute necessity, Fireshade,” she stated calmly, trying to push away the doubt in herself. “I need you to try to distract Luna while I get the sample. The procedure will hopefully stun her long enough for us to escape.”

“Just for the record, Twilight, this is nuts. How do you expect to even get close enough to use that thing?”

“While you’ve been running around with that sigil book the past week, I’ve been studying other things,” she claimed with a smile. Twilight then turned to the last of her equipment and powered the array, switching off her energy device as soon as the teleportation began.

Just as the blinding light of the teleportation died down, two more smaller flashes of light illuminated the lab from near the exit.

A white light flared next to Luna as she walked. As soon as it dissipated, Celestia was walking next to her, wearing golden armor that matched her sister’s in nearly every way.

“We’re nearly there,” Luna stated without averting her gaze from the hallway or the dimly lit doorway ahead. “Pike, Stark. Return to your formation and relay a new order to General Falx. He is to hold for fifteen minutes, then proceed to this location with his full force.”

“Yes, Princess,” the two soldiers responded in unison, before teleporting away.

The sisters continued, their armor-shoed hooves clanging against the stone floor. “Is there anything I should know before we go in?” Celestia asked.

“Yes. Fireshade is surprisingly adept with sigil magic. However, when we made contact, she seemed severely weakened. I believe she has overexerted herself.”

“So, she is no longer a threat?”

“We said no such thing. She is still quite powerful, but to her own detriment. She likely will not survive the magic exertion required to mount another effective defense,” Luna replied, stopping short of the doorway and turning to face her sister. “It may be most effective to eliminate her first, should it come down to it.”

“And what of Twilight Sparkle?” Celestia asked, shifting uncomfortably under her heavy armor.

Luna sighed. “We are still unsure of the status of Twilight. She is here; We can sense her. Perhaps she will be more open to a negotiation of surrender, but that is yet to be seen.”

Taking a deep breath, Celestia attempted to clear her thoughts. This is not Twilight Sparkle, she told herself as she readied her mind for whatever may come. She glanced to Luna standing beside her. “Are you ready?”

“Verily,” Luna answered, staring at the door.

Celestia’s horn illuminated, and both sisters were instantaneously teleported to the other side of the door. As the haze of the teleportation spell cleared, the sisters were greeted by two unicorns, standing in defensive stances and horns glowing. Luna responded by drawing her weapon and lunging it forward towards Fireshade.

“Everypony, stop!” Celestia pleaded as Eclipse halted immediately, floating between the two pairs. “We only want to talk.”

The pyromancer glanced nervously at Eclipse. “That’s a strange way of talking,” she declared, motioning towards the huge blade levitating in the middle of the room.

The room fell completely silent from there on. No one moved as Fireshade and Twilight stared down the two alicorns across the room. All ponies present waited for someone to make the first move. Watching for any tell that may indicate an incoming attack, Fireshade quickly grew tired of the impromptu standoff.

“Sooo...?” Fireshade prompted, glancing between the others in hope to gain some sort of response. “Somepony going to say something, or are we just going to stand here staring eachother down all day?”

They do not wish to talk. They wish to capture or kill us.

That’s not happening.

Twilight raised her head, glancing briefly to the mare beside her before turning her attention to the alicorns, the aura dimming from her horn. “Unless you two are willing to answer questions, there’s nothing to talk about.”

Celestia took a step forward with a look of confusion. “Is that what this is all about? Questions? If you wanted answers, you needed only to ask.”

Twilight forced a laugh. “I seem to remember trying that a number of times before. As you can clearly see, that method didn’t work out so well.” The mare narrowed her eyes directly towards Celestia. “Why did you lie to me!?”

“I would never lie to you... I was only trying to protect you, Twilight,” Celestia answered in a motherly tone, taking another step forward. “I never meant to offend or upset you.”

She’s still lying.

Shaking her head slowly with a frown, Twilight held her gaze with Celestia. “Withholding the truth is still lying. Besides, you weren’t protecting me, you were protecting yourself,” she said with finality. The unicorn looked to Luna. “And what about you? What do you know of study 612718?”

Just get the sample now, and we can leave.

I can’t... Celestia will react in a fraction of a second, I need more time than that.

We can make it. Don’t hesitate.

Luna recoiled slightly, stumbling with how to answer. “I... We do not see how that is relevant. It is a subject that deserves no interest.”

Twilight raised a hoof towards Luna and looked back to Celestia with a quizzical grin. “See!? This is exactly what I mean! I ask the questions, and what do I get? Evasion and misdirection...” She glanced down to the floor, shaking her head again. “However I already know what it is... I don’t require answers from you anymore,” she stated quietly.

Celestia took yet another step forward. “Twilight, plea—”

Twilight stopped a hoof, cutting the princess off. “No! Damn it, you just don’t get it, do you?” she screamed, her voice echoing off of the brick walls. “I already know. I know what the study is; I know what the conclusion was. I know what you are. Your entire rule has been a ruse from the start! You’ve been lying to everypony!”

Celestia slowly raised a hoof. “Twilight, just surrender to us, please. We can still work through this... I can offer you immunity for your crimes.”

She’s lying. We’re clearly in no position to make a deal. She knows this. We know this.

“What about your crimes!?” she shouted, ignoring the voice in her mind.

“My sister and I have committed no crimes,” stated the princess confidently.

Twilight snorted, trying to hold back laughter. “Really? How about usurping power from the rightful rulers of Equestria? What about lying about being immortal? Or what about being gods?”

Celestia stamped a hoof to the floor. “There would be no Equestria without us!” she yelled back. “You speak of events with no context! Yes, we overthrew governments—Fourteen of them to be exact! We unified the ponies. We did it for the good of all; we created Equestria, and without us, there would be—will be—no Equestria!”

Twilight felt a body lean into her side, looking out of the corner of her eye, she saw a yellow coat.

“Uh... They’re stalling, Twi,” Fireshade whispered into Twilight’s ear. “A lot of ponies are on their way...”

She’s right. They are stalling...

Twilight paused, using a low-level sensory spell, she probed the outlying reaches of the dungeon. Ten, twenty-five, forty, sixty... She cut the spell, having seen enough. “Here you are, lying again! You’re both just buying time for your reinforcements to get here!”

We have no time for this. We have to do it now.

She was done trying to talk; the grand magus made the irrevocable decision to act. Twilight’s horn glowed bright magenta as her body was enveloped in a magical glow. Celestia watched her form turn into a scratchy blur, like a bad signal from a television.

From Twilight’s perspective, everything except herself slowed to a near standstill. Sound stopped; all she could hear was the thump of her own heartbeat. The mage bolted for the workbench, picking up her sample extraction tool with a hoof. Not being able to use her magic outside of the temporal distortion she built around herself, she ran at Celestia as fast as she could. She glanced to Fireshade, noticing the telltale burst of light of a spell just beginning to form at the tip of her horn. Meanwhile, Celestia seemed to still be confused by what was happening.

Just as she arrived at Celestia’s side, Twilight noted Eclipse beginning to move ever so slowly towards Fireshade. Celestia had just began to react, flinching to the side as Twilight brought the point of the hook up to a scaled split in the golden armor. The blade found its mark and pushed through the joint between plates easily while Celestia’s horn lit up with a bright, white light.

Twilight pulled back as soon as the blade bottomed out, droplets of blood flying past within the temporal bubble and slowing to a crawl as they exited the other side. The unicorn watched the princesses face slowly change from shock to absolute horror over the course of several seconds. Celestia then disappeared, her teleportation spell being a split-second too late. She reappeared several feet behind Twilight, pouring blood from her left side.

Running past the princess back to the position she had started from, Twilight watched as Fireshade teleported across the room just before Eclipse ran full speed into the floor where the pyromancer had just been, pieces of broken stone slowly floating into the air as the sword hit it’s mark. Fireshade looked to Twilight, her eyes slowly widening over the course of several seconds.

Watching the sword as it slowly came apart into its separate pieces, Twilight attached her tool to the harness wrapped around her middle and readied herself to remove the time dilation spell. In an instant, reality caught up with the mare, numerous sounds coming in a flash. Twilight had not even been given a moment to collect her bearings before she fell under attack. A telekinetic shove pushed her to the ground, closely followed by two of the shorter blades of Eclipse. Knowing a follow-up would come behind the relatively weak push, she immediately teleported, narrowly avoiding the razor sharp shards of steel, and bringing herself to Fireshade’s location several feet behind.

The distance between the pair of unicorns and alicorns widened greatly as Eclipse circled back, the six blades forming a tight halo orbiting its wielder. An intense silence filled the room as the four combatants stood stock still in defensive stances, each side waiting for the other to make their move.

We have the advantage. Celestia is injured and Luna can’t maneuver her weapon properly in such close confines.

“Twilight... You are toying with magic that you don’t understand,” Celestia panted, grimacing to the searing pain of her deep wound beginning to heal itself.

“I know enough to get what I needed,” Twilight retorted with a smirk. “I think the flash-step spell worked flawlessly.”

Shifting her weight off her injured side, Celestia tried to calmly talk to Twilight. “Chronomancy is dangerous, Twilight. The slightest miscalculation could prove catastrophic for yourself, possibly the whole of our reality... Please, Twilight, you have nowhere to go. Give this up.”

Twilight silently watched the alicorns, waiting for their next attack. After several seconds, Celestia’s stance began to waver as she clenched her eyes shut, a new wave of pain pulsing through her body shaking her off balance briefly. Spotting the moment of vulnerability, Twilight’s eyes emitted a bright-purple glow as she reacted instantly. The unicorn reached up to flick the switch on her energy device, while simultaneously readying a spell to exploit the opening in the alicorn’s defense.

Luna also noticed her sister waver, and willed her blades to barricade against the inevitable attack against Celestia. Eclipse flew in front of the white alicorn, creating a criss-crossed shield of darkly glowing steel just as Twilight unleashed a furious blast of arcane energy flowing from the tip of her horn directly towards her target. The room became awash with purple light as the radiant beam met its objective.

Staggering back, Luna could do nothing but watch as the beam burned violently into her own armor chestpiece. The six blades shielding her sister clattered to the floor while Luna redirected all of her energy into an attempt to repel the assault. She pushed as much power as possible into a telekinetic blast directed blindly towards the two unicorns ahead of her. The energy beam swiftly dissipated as an invisible wall careened across the room, ultimately throwing Twilight and Fireshade to the floor and pushing them towards the back of the room.

Twilight was on her hooves in a flash while Fireshade struggled to return to a standing position. The pyromancer looked to Luna, a thin haze now hanging in the air from the primal force used by Twilight.

“Wow...” Fireshade whispered to herself. The armor across Luna’s chest had been heated to the point that it still glowed a dim orange. The fur across the front of her neck was all but burned off and continued to smolder as Luna gathered the pieces of Eclipse and reformed them into a single blade.

Celestia and Luna began slowly walking forward, closing the gap between themselves and the unicorns. An aura encompassed the horn of the elder sister as a bubble of white magic surrounded Twilight and Fireshade.

“You will not escape. We can not allow you to leave this place under your own volition,” Celestia stated as her and Luna continued their advance. “You will either come with us, or we will take you.”

Fireshade looked all around herself at the glowing barrier trapping her and Twilight. “Twilight, we really need to go now... If your gonna do more of that glowy-eyed shit, now would be a good time,” she said quietly out of the corner of her mouth to the unicorn next to her.

Ignoring Fireshade, Twilight took a small step forward, nearly touching her nose to the glimmering barrier. The magenta glow in her eyes was still as bright as when the phenomenon had started. “You still truly believe you can stop me, Celestia?” she asked in a voice thick with malice. “You, yourself, taught me to wield the power of magic... You didn’t believe that I could surpass you, did you?” She tilted her head forward slowly until the tip of her horn contacted the barrier. The discharge of electric-like energy across the surface of the magical wall caused the princesses to halt. “I am faster than you. I am smarter than you...”

A crazed grin spread across Twilight’s face as her horn lit up impossibly bright. “And I. Am. Stronger!” she yelled with finality as the barrier in front of her shattered. Twilight’s eyes dimmed back to their regular purple coloration, her right ear trickling a small trail of blood down the side of her head. She quickly shook off the dreamlike feeling and teleported her and Fireshade to the opposite side of the lab.

Fireshade looked to her shifted surroundings and saw that she had landed inside the teleporting array, her and Twilight now both between the princesses and the exit. “Can we please go now!?” she pleaded.

Before Twilight could even think, Celestia was on her, colliding with the small unicorn with her full armored heft. Twilight landed next to the doorway to the dungeon, gasping for the breath that had been so unceremoniously knocked from her.

Luna followed suit, running at the pyromancer as fast as she could carry herself. Fireshade back-trotted to the best of her ability, inevitably taking the brunt of Luna’s armored shoulder to the chest and sliding across the floor, out of the array and into the corner of the room.

Looking to Celestia, Twilight saw her horn aglow, obviously readying another offense. Without hesitation, the unicorn erected a barrier between herself and her attacker. A shaft of plasmic energy shot towards Twilight from the alicorn’s horn, slamming into the barrier with an enormous amount of force behind it. Sweat trickled across Twilight’s brow as she strained to keep the barrier in place, hoping that she could outlast the relentless attack.

Meanwhile, Fireshade’s head reeled, stunned from the devastating physical attack. She opened her eyes to see The Princess of Night slowly walking towards her with Eclipse hovering over her shoulder.

Fireshade attempted to teleport to no avail. The extraneous circumstances of the last day had left her defenseless and without use of any higher level magic. I’m dead... I’m so dead, the unicorn thought to herself, desperately looking around the room for anything within reach that she could use to defend herself against Eclipse. The princess came within five feet of the fearful unicorn, raising her blade for a finishing strike. Luna thrust downward with Eclipse, and Fireshade’s horn flashed momentarily.

The teleportation array roared to life, a column of light erupting in the middle of the lab. The commotion caused Celestia to cease her attack just as Twilight’s nose became bloodied from the exertion of holding her barrier against the onslaught.

Celestia and Twilight both paused momentarily, looking to the light of the sigil array as it waned. The light disappeared and a deafening silence shrouded the room. On the far side of the array, Luna fell to the floor hard, Eclipse falling with her and breaking into its six component pieces as it collided with the stone. As their eyes readjusted to the dim lighting of the lab, it became clear that something catastrophic had just happened.

Fireshade paled noticeably, sitting on her backside and pushed into the corner as far as her limbs could possibly drive her. Her eyes focused on Luna’s face and a mouth opening and closing repeatedly, attempting to draw a breath that would never come. The front legs of the dark-blue alicorn scraped at the floor, slowing to a sporadic twitch as the life slowly drained from the princess’s eyes.

Celestia’s legs quivered as she opted to take a sitting position on the floor. Staring to her sister as her eyes welled with tears, she sat in silence with a slackened jaw. A pool of blood quickly spilled over the stone floor from the gaping wound where Luna’s back half would have been. Her body from just behind her shoulders had been cleanly cut away from her, teleported to an unknown destination.

Focus, Twilight. We must escape while Celestia is distracted.

But... b-but Luna.

It’s far too late to worry about her well being. We are still alive, and the only way we will remain that way is to leave. Now.

“R-right...” Twilight managed to mumble out loud. She quickly teleported herself and Fireshade into the center of the circle. Watching Celestia sit like a statue, she focused her thoughts on their new home and fired one last burst of energy into the array before the pair vanished in a pillar of light.