Canterlot

Organization's Headquarters

12 Hours after the Summer Sun Celebration

The grey unicorn looked up from the stack of papers on his desk as a shadow crossed the papers upon it. Somepony had walked past the lamp in the hallway beyond his office. “Come in,” he called as he opened the door with a small burst of magic.

It had been a long night, his work ended at daybreak and it seemed to be taking forever for the sun to rise today. The shadow cast by the moon slowly crept across his desk. It seemed to him as if it had simply stopped midway. He shook his head to regain his focus on the papers in front of him.

“Hello, sir,” said the secretary pony, lowering the hoof she was about to use to knock on the door. “I have a letter from our informant in Ponyville.” She grabbed the letter from her small saddlebag and deposited it on his desk on top of a stack of paper that towered above the rest.

“And I should care, why?” he asked, his eyes scanning over the many such piles on his desk, some even on the ground nearby. His hoard could almost be mistaken for a bird’s eye view of Manehatten, he thought to himself; a very depressing sight.

“Sir, the letter is marked as urgent.” He patiently reminded himself that she was still fairly new and hadn't gotten used to the ways things worked in the organization.

“Look, dear...” He couldn't remember her name if it was the last thing in Equestria. “What's your name again?”

“Inky, Mr. Chrono, Inky Scribeswell. I started here last month, sir.” She sounded a little vexed that he had forgotten her name; not that he cared much.

“Well, Inky, not to offend you,” he knew it was too late for that. “But I get dozens, if not hundreds of letters in here each day, and almost half of them are marked ‘urgent’.” He let that sink in. “They rarely are; probably just some schmuck in accounting that doesn’t want to wait for my signature." He reached over and swiftly opened another letter with 'URGENT' stamped in red across its surface. He took one look at it and scoffed.

"There hasn't been something really urgent on my desk since that parasprite incident twelve years back.” He smiled as he remembered that incident; the Celestia damned things found their way into his office and ate the letter that was supposed to warn him about them. They ate his lunch too.

“Nothing ever happens in Ponyville. Our little informant probably drank too much apple cider on his way to deliver the letter.”

“I understand, sir, but this is about the Mare in the Moon.” His reaction made her smile, despite her otherwise calm demeanour.

“Has it been that long already?” he mused.

He picked up the letter from atop the pile using his magic, and gently opened it. Inky shifted her weight from hoof to hoof as he read the contents. His scowl grew bigger as his eyes scrolled down the page.

“I want every free operative in Ponyville, ASAP!" he said in a strained voice. "Call the chief counsel, and contact our moles in Canterlot. Celestia's people might know what's going on. I want everything you can get on my desk by the time I get back.”

“Oh, and get someone to clear all this junk,” he waved his hoof around to encompass the entire room. “We have more pressing matters on our hooves!”

He rose up with a grunt, and gingerly avoided the piles of papers scattered all over the floor as he navigated towards the exit, he used his magic to grab hold of a trusty old trench coat and fedora. “I'll be back in a few hours,” he said as the door slammed shut, leaving the secretary pony wondering what she had gotten into when she took this job.

Celestia's Castle

Outer Courtyard Main Gate

17 Hours after the Summer Sun Celebration

The guards of Equestria are trained to be observant. They spend years training to be stoic shields, protecting all manner of ponies and places. These guards happened to be Celestia's royal forces, the best of the best as it were, and in all their years of servitude, they had never seen a scene quite like this one. They gave each other a quick glance, wondering what the proper course of action in this situation would be; no manual covered this.

The dodgy old unicorn did not care about their training or their fancy manuals: he needed to see Princess Celestia, and he was not about to let three dim-witted fools stop him.

The argument at the gate had lasted for over ten minutes, and he’d had enough. “Look, kid, I don't care what time it is, I don't care that you’re some fancy little Corporal, and I most certainly don't care much for your arrogance. Now you and your two little buddies here had better move out of my way, or I will make you move!” He stomped his hoof into the pebbled roadway in anger, his grey face turning a deep shade of red.

The Corporal’s face twitched. He almost laughed at the thought of this old geezer forcing his way through him and the two guards assigned at the gate. “Look, mister, we can't just let you in like that, you need proper clearance and an appointment. Go see the clerks at the administrative building and they will set you up. Now move along before I give you a ticket for threatening an officer on duty and disturbing the peace.” He moved as to turn around and walk back into the outer courtyard of the castle proper.

“Oh, I have had enough of this! Move, now! This is your last warning, boy. I swear you'll be crying for momma if you don't get out of my way right this instant.” The old stallion was screaming and poking at the guards armoured flank with his fore-hoof. The corporal turned slowly to face him once more.

Nearby ponies gawked at the spectacle unsure of how to react. Something fairly rare in Equestria, especially near the royal castle of Canterlot . As the commotion at the gates continued, a small crowd of ponies started building up, some of the ponies were placing bets on how quickly the old fart would get knocked out. The Corporal looked at the crowd and knew he had to do something. He couldn't let ponies think they could get away with this level of disrespect, after all.

“Guards! Carry this pony to the cells,” the Corporal yelled. Seconds later, two other soldiers galloped out from within the courtyard and headed towards the old man. “Be gentle, he probably just forgot to take his pills, no need to hurt him,” he added in an undertone, betraying his stoic demeanour.

“That's it! Last straw! Don't say I didn't warn you.” The old stallion's horn began to glow, making his black and white streaked mane shift. He positioned his hooves in a fighting stance and closed his eyes in concentration.

Some of the ponies in the crowd giggled, some requested that they get their money back, all except the unicorns, who could feel the old one’s spell.

The corporal sighed. Obviously the old stallion was past his prime and unable to harness any real magic. He moved forward and put a comforting hoof on the old pony’s shoulder. "Look, sir, it's all right. I'll talk to the folks inside. Maybe we can arrange something for you later this week?"

As the old stallion concentrated the Corporal’s body was surrounded by the grey sheen of his magic. Hel was lifted several feet into the air, eyes wide as he ran without touching the ground. He was soon followed by the other four guard ponies. “Wha... but you can't, the armour!?” The surprised guard stammered.

“Oh, you mean your magic repelling armour?” The old pony smirked at the surprise on the Corporal’s face, ignoring the beads of sweat that were flowing down his head and matting down his mane. “Oh yes, lad, I know about that well kept little secret. I am the one who designed them, after all.”

His horn began to glow once more, and part of the castle’s structure began to move and shift towards the guards, eventually forming a cage around the helpless group of would-be protectors. “Humph. Now about that ticket, mister Corporal?” He said, turning the guards rank into an insult.

The old stallion huffed as he trotted into the castles court yard, muttering something about foalish youths and painful bones.The guards did nothing but paw at the ground, unsure of what just happened. As the old pony left, the gathered group of ponies stared at each other, too stunned for words.

Celestia's Castle

Upper Floors, Her Royal Highness's Bedchamber

18 hours after the Summer Sun Celebration

He could hear laughter and small talk from the other side of the door. A door that was currently guarded by two very nervous, uniformed ponies. Thankfully, they were unaware of his presence as he stood at the other end of the hallway, poking his head around the corner occasionally to spy on them. He was unsure of how to get into the guarded room from his position. He thought about it while staring at the clean white marble walls of the castle.

He had snuck through the entire castle to where he was now without being spotted, his old tricks were a little rusty but the lack of any real action or fear on the part of the guards made them dull and easy to fool. Getting to where he was was rather easy.

Aldecry fiddled in the pockets of his trench coat until he found a few bits. He poked his head around the corner once more and looked at the guards. They were almost asleep as their heads nodded in a vain attempt to keep awake. He levitated the two coins into the hallway and fired them past the two sleepy guards with his magic. The coins clattered against the marbled ground and rolled into the corridor beyond. The two followed the progress of the coins then turned their heads in unison towards his grinning face.

“Oh,” he said as he lost his sheepish smile. The nearest guard charged towards him, his hooves clacking against the ground noisily. “Oh well.” Aldecry ran forward and met the running guard halfway thought the corridor with a hoof to the face. The guard stopped mid gallop and flopped unto the floor.

The second guard stared at him wide eyed them looked at his downed partner. “You-” The rest of his sentence was cut off as Aldecry levitated him into the ceiling above, smashing him into the hard rock and letting him go. The guards fell into a lump on the ground in front of him. “So much for the stealthy approach.”

He inspected the hallway and the door. The halls were the same as anywhere else within the castle, but the door itself had intricately carved symbols and designs, it was also reinforced by some very strong magic. He knew that this was either Celestia's own room. Or maybe the vault. Either way, he wanted in.

He looked at the lock and decided to save himself some trouble. He flipped over the body of the still breathing guard and stole his keys. With a small push of magic, he opened the unlocked door and trotted inside.

The room followed the same pattern as the door. Every hoof-pace of wall and piece of furniture looked as if it cost as much as the average pony's house , which they most likely did, rich dark woods with gold-leaf patterns adorned everything. “And this was just the sitting room,“ he thought to himself. Luckily, he didn't have to barge into the Princess of Equestria's royal bedroom

“I told you, I do not want to be disturbed." Said a serene, yet regal voice with an undertone of authority..

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sat side by side on a beautiful divan in the centre of the room, the smaller of the two nuzzling her dear older sister as if she hadn’t seen her in millennia. The older sister beamed overjoyed at being with her sister. Her brow furrowed a little, miffed that somepony had interrupted such a private moment between siblings.

“Now, now, Celestia, don't blame the guards: it's hardly their fault. With all the cuts to your guard force, did you really expect them to be able to find me?" boasted Aldecry as he trotted into the room and sat only a few feet away from the pair.

Celestia quickly and gracefully rose up and landed between the old stallion and her sister, wings ruffled and brow furrowed.

Her initial reaction of outrage was replaced by recognition. “Is that you, Aldecry?” Celestia stepped towards the old unicorn, bending down as to bring her head to his height.

“Aldy!” Cried Luna as she raced towards him and tackled him in an embrace. “Oh, Aldy, I missed you so much! I wanted to see you, but I just arrived and...” Celestia dragged Luna by her shoulder and placed her behind an outstretched wing, calming her younger sister back into her usual quiet and reserved nature.

“Aldecry Chrono: I haven’t seen you in over a century, and then you just pop up. In my chambers. At night... I believe this requires an explanation, wouldn't you agree?” Celestia had regained her famous calm composure. She walked back to her sister’s side and sat down gently.

“Just as stuck up as ever, huh, Celly?” He gave he a sly sarcastic grin.

Celestia simply humphed at this and looked away, offended at his lack of manners. “Please get to the point.”

“Well, I was in the neighbourhood and decided to stop by and see lil' Luna here. It's been a while since I last saw her.” Aldecry trotted around Celestia and smiled as his old eyes met Luna's.

“Aldecry, if I remember correctly, you were always a great fan of sarcasm?” she stepped towards him menacingly. “Usually I wouldn't mind a little exchange of wits, but this is a private exchange between my sister and I.” Another step. “I would greatly appreciate knowing why you are here, and when you will leave.” Celestia paused in front of Aldecry and reared her head to it’s full height.

“Fine, I will depart from here as soon as you answer my little questions.” He tapped his hoof against the marble floor impatiently.

Celestia stopped her advance and started calculating whether it would be easier to teleport him into a cell or call the guards to drag him away.

"Wait, Tia. I-I want to hear Aldy again." Luna's shy smile made up Celestia’s mind for her.

"Guards! Take this pony down to the dungeons!"

Both Luna and Aldecry shared a look of bewilderment as the two ponies, both wearing bruises to both their heads and their prides, walked in and grabbed Aldecry, quite rudely as he later reminded everypony, and started dragging him out of the room with smiles.

"Wait, stop, I can explain! The elements are unbalanced! If we leave them like this, all of Equestria will be in per-" The rest of the conversation drifted away as he was dragged out of the room and down the hallway.

The princess of the sun hesitated then called back with a sigh. "Wait, bring him back." Celestia said, not too pleased with herself.

After a brief moment, Aldecry was back in the room, straightening out his jacket, and gave cold stares to the two guard ponies and Celestia. "As I was going to say before a particular Princess of the sun, whom we shall not name, rudely interrupted me.." Celestia glared at him.

Aldecry decided that cutting to the chase would be in his best interest. "For the past four hours, the day and night cycles have been unbalanced, most likely by the return of Nightmare Moon and her whole fixation on eternal night." Celestia glared at him once more.

“Is this going anywhere, Aldecry? I have better things to do than to hear you ramble on.” Celestia sighed impatiently at him and looked longingly at her sister who was fixated on the old unicorn. Her face reddened in anger but she remained seated.

“Let me finish, please.” He coughed into his hoof for emphasis. “I am going to go on a limb and guess that Nightmare Moon was defeated?" He gave a quick glance towards Luna, who wore a look of bewilderment, confirming his suspicions.

"Unfortunately, the only thing that could stop Nightmare Moon is the use of a powerful Element." He walked toward the back end of the room, four pairs of eyes followed him.

"I know of only three active elements in Equestria that have the power to do this: you, Luna, and me. We can rule out myself for obvious reasons."

"You'll never let me forget that." Celestia mumbled.

"Shush!" He quieted the powerful leader of Equestria. Luna glanced at the two and marveled at the lost of decorum since her departure.

"My sources, which are always accurate, tell me that you were banished to the sun by Nightmare Moon. You were no longer in Equestria. You were helpless. So the only remaining suspect is Luna here, but that is impossible since Luna was Nightmare Moon at the time.”

“Yes, you are correct. What are you trying to say?” Celestia paced around and gave Luna a quick, nervous glance. Luna looked at her eldest sister, then at Aldecry, taking all this information in.

“What I am trying to say is that you, Celestia.” He pointed at her. “ You summoned one of the Elements without telling us.” He sat down with a content huff, proud of having accused a goddess.

“I had no choice! Nightmare Moon banished me to the sun before the solstice. I couldn't possibly stop her on my own from there.”

“It never occurred to you to ask us for help?” He cocked his head to the side.

“Of course it did!” she glanced away guiltily. “I just wanted to handle the situation on my own.” Celestia looked down, ashamed of her actions. “I left clues about the location of the Elements to my student so that she could defeat Nightmare Moon, or at the very least distract her for a decent period of time so that you and your little group could react. I would never dare to endanger Equestria.”

Aldecry deadpanned. “I see... You let a mere student use one of the most powerful weapons in all of Equestria, just so that you could resolve the situation without exterior help?"

He sighed as he got up and headed towards the exit. "Very well, I will have to brief that student of yours. Teach her about the curse you laid upon her.” Aldecry gave Celestia a look of loathing. “Which Element does your student have?”

“The Element of Magic. It matches her mark, she should be able to master it in a few years. I am not so sure about the others,” Celestia said, now avoiding his gaze.

"Fine." Aldecry took two more steps, before stopping dead in his tracks.

“Others. Others?! You used more than one Element? You should know better than that Celestia! If the order of the Elements is thrown out of balance, Equestria will become twisted once more! You've been handling both the Element of Light and Dark for the past one thousand years, trying to keep that very balance in check, now you go and give away not one, but two Elements!”

Aldecry was in a absolute rage. He paced back and forth, fuming for a few minutes. Celestia waited for him to compose himself. “Which one?” he asked her once he had calmed down.

Celestia gulped. “Generosity."

"Well, I can handle two. It will be tricky, but we will manag-"

Celestia cut him off, " As well as Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, and Loyalty. They were given to one unicorn, two earth ponies, and two pegasi respectively.”

Aldecry's jaw dropped and his eyes grew bigger and bigger as she listed them off. “A-all five of the Elements of Harmony.” Rather than going into a rage ,one that he was more than entitled to, he simply sat down on his haunches and stared at the ground. His reaction surprised Celestia.“The Elements were all stored in different facilities across Equestria...” he said in a quiet voice.

“I had them moved.”

“Did you warn them? Did you tell them of the consequences of using the Elements, even once?”

“No.” Celestia's face became grim. “If they knew, they might have refused to do it.”

“My goodness. The last time so many Elements were in play was just before Nightmare Moon was born." Luna blushed and turned her head away from Aldecry.

"This is bad, Celestia, very bad.” Aldecry paused in thought. "Maybe... if their compatibility is low, we could separate them from their elements..."

"It will not work," said a quiet voice that made both Aldecry and Celestia jump. Luna shied away from the attention. "I... well, I used some magic on the bearers of the elements..." Her voice faded away.

“And?” Aldecry encouraged.

“The lowest compatibility came from the blue Pegasus, it was about eighty percent.” Luna finished in a rush.

Aldecry's hope was smashed once more. “What should we do then, Celestia? Should I order my men to eliminate the problem?”

“No!” cried Luna, once more surprising the other two occupants of the room. “They used the Elements to save me without knowing that it might harm them. Please, you have to let them live.” Luna pleaded.

The room grew silent for many minutes as the three contemplated their possibilities.

“They have one year,” Aldecry said quietly as he turned to leave. “My people will watch over them and... evaluate their usefulness. We will meet again then.”

Aldecry left the room, ending their discussion just as it had began.

Big Thanks to Jelfes for his incredible editing, Ɗiscord for being chaosy, the folks at BROHOOF HQ for their help, support, and tolerance and all the Bronies out there for being twenty percent cooler than anypony else. Big thank you to Equestria-Prevails for letting me use his pic as cover (Link http://equestria-prevails.deviantart.com/ )

To anypony else: If you ever spot an error or mistake and wish to report it, simply Quote the entire paragraph then write down what is wrong after it. (you can place this in the comments section to the top right.) Thank you

-Ravens