Order-naries: Z'Nai

by CTVulpin

First published 4th of February, 2012

Canterlot is invaded by evil possesive spirits that feed on magic

The Order-naries have begun to settle into their new lives in Equestria. Ash is experimenting with methods of adapting to Equestria's form of magic with Gale's help while Soul Mage and Gold Heart are looking for a constructive way to use their talents. A brief trip to Ponyville to visit old friends is cut short when it's discovered that Ash and Gale have unwittingly unleashed a nightmare with roots in Ash's dark past. <<A direct sequel to Order-naries (/story/9128/Order-naries) and imported from fanfiction.net>>

Chapter 1

A/N: Since I can't seem to find a good place to bring it up in the story, I'll inform you here that the Carousel Boutique, which was demolished in my previous story, was rebuilt in the time between the end of that story and the start of this one thanks to the donation of time, money, and materials from most of Ponyville with a little financial help from Princess Celestia to cover any shortfalls.

Canterlot was a busy city, with ponies always trotting hither and thither heading to appointments, browsing the many stores with their high-class wares, delivering goods from one place to another, and nodding amiably to the guards who patrolled the streets. The sun shone down, filtered gently by the clouds the weather pegasi were constantly rotating through the area. The great castle of the Princesses, Celestia and Luna, glimmered in the light, a landmark of peace and harmony to all who gazed upon it. The courtiers, staff, and Celestia herself went about their daily tasks inside the castle, blissfully unaware of what was occurring in a large chamber deep in the dimly lit lower levels of the castle. There were two ponies that did know what was happening, and were already on their way to do something about it.

They were almost a matching set these two, both of golden yellow coats and brown manes and tails with cutie marks shaped like complementary halves of a blue fireball. The differences were that one was a male unicorn and the other a female pegasus. Many called them the Impossible Twins, since they were out-worlders, truly brother and sister yet made to inhabit the bodies of two distinct pony breeds when they'd been brought to Equestria. They moved quietly down the hallway, ears open for unusual sounds. Pausing by a door, the unicorn Soul Mage leaned his ear against it and listened. After a few seconds he nodded to Gold Heart, who landed next to him as he gripped the door handle with his magic. It was time to make their move, and to try out a new name for their team. Soul flung the door open and the two ponies charged inside, stopping a few steps inside as Heart took to the air again while Soul wrapped a tendril of his unique ethereal blue magic energy around her. The pair of them were quickly covered in ethereal blue fire as they shouted, "Soul Foals unite!"

Facing them with surprised looks was another pair of ponies- a male unicorn with an ash-grey coat and a mane and tail patterned to look like fire and a brown female earth pony wearing goggles, a protective coat, and holding a screwdriver in her mouth. Next to the earth pony was a machine as tall as one and half ponies, studded with gemstones, and topped by three large diamonds. "So," the unicorn said, "you found us. Good job getting this far, but this is the end."

"Yes it is," Soul said, "the end of your plotting… uh…"

"Smoldermo," the unicorn offered helpfully.

"Smoldermo…" Soul said, picking up steam again, "so, we'll give you this one chance to surrender."

"I think not," Smoldermo said, "Turn it on Gale, let's see how they handle it."

"Aye aye," the earth pony said, pressing a button on the machine. Whirring and electrical sounds came from the machine and the gemstones began blinking until the three diamonds lit up the entire room. Smoldermo laughed as the golden ponies backed up half a step.

"Impressive light show," Heart said, putting on a brave face.

"Oh, it's more than that," Smoldermo said as his horn began to glow, "as you're about to find out." He reared up and two bolts of light shot out of his horn toward the Soul Foals. Heart dodged one while Soul cast a barrier that the other splashed harmlessly against. "Not bad," Smoldermo said, charging another spell. Fireballs materialized around him and flew toward his opponents. Soul and Heart dodged and blocked the attack, never breaking the link of magic between them until a fireball slipped past Soul's defenses and grazed his flank.

"Are you ok?" Heart asked.

"I'm fine," Soul grunted, extending another tendril toward her, "I think it's time to go on the offensive. You ready?"

Heart nodded as the tendril wrapped around her again. She rolled away from another fireball and pointed both front hooves at Smoldermo. "Our turn," she said, "Element Wheel, Fire and Wind!" An energy disk, colored red and yellow, formed between her hooves and shot out toward the grey unicorn. Smoldermo responded by calling up a barrier of his own. The energy disk hit the barrier but remained intact, spinning and flaring as it tried to push through. Blaze reared up and put his hooves against his side of the barrier, starting to sweat with effort.

"Come on, come on," he grunted. Gale simply stood by her machine, watching with bated breath.

The stalemate held for several seconds, and for a moment it seemed like Smoldermo was going to redouble his effort and push the disk away when a voice from the doorway rang out, "What is going on here?"

"Whu?" Smoldermo exclaimed, his concentration broken. His barrier began to buckle, so with a loud groan of effort, he twisted to the right, shifting the barrier and deflecting the disk away from him, sending it in Gale's direction. The earth pony gave a squeak of alarm as she dodged to the side and the disk sailed past her to cut clean through the machine. The gems began flashing erratically as sparks flew out of the breaches.

"No no no!" Gale shouted, running back over and punching a large button. The machine whined as it powered down and the sparking stopped. "Whew, that was close," Gale said. She leveled a silent glare at the ash-grey unicorn, who didn't respond due to staring at the dark purple alicorn who was standing in the doorway looking cross. Soul Mage and Gold Heart broke their link and executed quick bows in her direction.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Princess Luna asked.

"No Princess," Ashen Blaze said, bowing his head, "I'd say this isn't what it looks like, but I'm not sure what you see."

"I think I'm seeing four friends and heroes fighting amongst themselves," Luna said.

"Then it is indeed not what it looks like," Ash said, "We were simply making a game out of testing this." He pointed toward the ruined machine with a hoof.

"Ah yes," Luna said, looking at it, "Your little experiment with magic fields. How is it going?"

"It's working," Gale said, casting another glare at Ash, "but it would go much faster if somepony would stop bouncing spells into it."

"This is only the second time," Ash retorted, "I told you, I always deflect to my right so placing that machine to my left is the best guarantee for its safety."

"I did place it to your left," Gale said, "You turned around keeping those two in your sights."

Ash looked around himself. The golden-yellow ponies were indeed on the opposite side of the room from the door now. "Ah, so I did," he said, and then gave the earth pony a sheepish grin.

"Well," Luna said, "so long as nothing else is broken?" She looked around, nodding after seeing that the machine was the only damaged item around. "I came down here to tell you that it's almost sunset. My sister and I would like to invite you attend us as we make the change to night."

"It would be an honor," Soul said, "but may I ask why? It's not like you need us around."

"This dusk promises to be particularly beautiful," Luna said, "thanks in part to the clouds in the western sky. Besides, I know how you enjoy seeing us work," she added, nodding to Ash.

"Truth," he said simply, bowing, "We'll join you momentarily, but please don't wait on our account." Luna nodded and left the room. "So, can you fix it Gale?" Ash asked the earth pony.

Gale raised her goggles onto her forehead as she looked the machine over. "Of course I can," she said, "the question is, how hard will it be?" She bent down and picked up her screwdriver and proceeded to remove an access panel. "Let's see," she said, sticking her head inside, "Fortunately you didn't hit any of the critical juncture gems. Heck, you didn't hit any gems in here, only the wiring. I can patch that up in a jiffy once I get the materials."

"Great," Heart said, "That just leaves one question for me." She turned to face the grey, fire-maned unicorn, "Smoldermo? Really?"

"They can't all be winners," Ash said, "What about you two?" His gaze took in Soul as well as Heart, "'Soul Foals?' You two aren't that young."

"Hey, it rhymes," Soul said.

"It's inaccurate!" Ash protested, "I'll admit you can't use 'colt,' 'filly,' or whatever, but you can't call yourselves foals."

"What do you suggest?" Heart asked, "because I'm a bit tired of 'Impossible Twins.'"

"Hmm, 'Soul Siblings,'" Ash said, "then you've got alliteration on your side, which flows better than a simply rhyme."

Heart and Soul exchanged a glance. "Po-tay-to, po-tah-to," Soul said, "but we'll keep working on it if you insist."

"Thank you," Ash said, "now, let's go watch the Princesses do their thing."

The Oder-naries had witnessed the changes between day and night from the lower, public viewing area before, so that was where they made their way after climbing out onto the terraces around the castle. As they neared the viewing area, a pegasus in dress armor stepped into their path, causing them to stop and Ash to prickle slightly. "Come with me," he said, "The princesses have requested your presence in the Night Tower." The four ponies blinked in surprise- the Night Tower was where the Princesses stood while ushering in the night, standing across the castle from the Day Tower where the morning ceremony was accomplished. To witness the ceremonies from either location was a very high honor indeed.

"Ok," Soul said. The guard nodded and led them toward the tower. "So, we save Equestria from an evil we never quite understood," the golden unicorn continued, "and now, a few weeks after the fact, we're invited to the Towers?"

"Hey," Gale said, "The Princesses have been very good to us. They've given us the time and resources we need to find ways to make ourselves useful. That's quite the thank-you, I think."

"Sure," Soul replied, "you and Ash have managed to find your niches working around here, so you can appreciate it in hindsight. Heart and I… not so much."

"You'll find something," Ash said, "If nothing else, I could always use a guinea pi… uh research assistant."

"Har har har," Soul said, completely deadpan. Heart and Gale chuckled, coaxing a smile out of Soul. "You're right," he said, "something will come my way eventually." A pleasant silence fell over the remainder of the walk up to the Night Tower. The top of the tower had a very simple layout- no plants, statuary, or any sort of decorations that could draw the eye away from the two alicorn princesses standing side-by-side in the center, or the third, lavender pony who ran over to hug the first non-guard pony to enter the room: Ash.

"Whoa, hey there Twilight," Ash said, surprised, "what are you doing here?"

"Princess Celestia invited me to watch the sunset with her," Twilight Sparkle explained, "I wasn't expecting to see you four here."

"I thought it would be nice if the five of you had a chance to catch up," Celestia said, coming over to the group. She leaned her head in close and said in a low voice, "Also, you four have been very diligent lately and you should probably take a break. Go spend a few days in Ponyville and relax."

"Yes ma'am," Ash said smartly.

Celestia smiled at them. "Very well," she said, "let's get this night started." She walked back to Luna and asked, "Are you ready sister?"

"I am," Luna answered, "Let's begin." She walked toward the eastern side of the tower while Celestia went to the west. Both of their horns began to glow, almost too bright to look at, as Celestia lowered the sun below the horizon, spreading reds, oranges, and purples across the sky as it passed behind the clouds.

"The day is over," the white alicorn Princess announced.

"And the night begins," Luna responded as the moon rose into its position in the sky and the stars started to appear. Celestia's horn ceased glowing as she nodded to the ponies gathered on the viewing platforms, but Luna continued working until the last of the stars was visible. Scattered cheers rose from the crowds as she stopped her magic and joined her sister at the western window. "I thought you'd asked them to stop doing that," Luna said, "I really don't need such displays of appreciation."

"I did," Celestia said, nuzzling her younger sister's head, "but a lot of them seem to enjoy cheering for you anyway." A small smile crossed Luna's face.

"That was amazing Princess Celestia," Twilight said, "It was easily one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen."

"Thank you Twilight," Celestia said, "now, I'm sure the five of you have a lot of catching up to do. Run along and have fun." The five friends bowed and headed for the exit.

"Oh, before I forget," Gale said, pausing at the top of the stairs, "I'm going to need some more copper wire."

"You know where it is," Celestia said. Gale nodded and ran to catch up with the group.

"So," Twilight was saying, "I haven't heard much from any of you since you decided to live here in Canterlot. What have you been up to?"

"Ah," Ash said, brightening up, "so very much."

"He's become an unofficial student of Celestia's," Gale cut in.

"I am an independent researcher," Ash said, looking down his nose at Gale, "My studies are being supported by the Princesses at the moment, but I could be doing them just as well with different sponsors."

"What are you studying?" the lavender unicorn asked.

"Magic," Ash said, "The only thing I'm good at besides getting into trouble. Specifically, I'm trying to figure out how to adapt this world's latent magic into a form I can use."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, "You're a unicorn, you've got a store of personal energy to use."

"That's how y-" Ash started to say, reaching one hoof up to point at Twilight, but since he was still walking he lost his balance and went tumbling down the stairs, slamming the wall at the next turn and ending up on his back, eyes rolling. "Quadruped," he declared as the others ran down to check on him, "still not entirely used to that. I'm fine, nothing broken." He rolled over and stood up, groaning slightly as he discovered a couple bruises and an aching knee.

"You need to have your head checked or something," Heart said, "you were never this clumsy before."

"Bah," Ash said, resuming the downward walk, "As I was saying, that's how you work, not how I work. And not quite how Soul and Heart work for that matter... Anyway, I…" He, Twilight, and Gale slowed to a stop, realizing that the golden-yellow ponies had stopped and were sharing a look of inspiration. "Uh, what's up with you two?" Ash asked.

"Heart and Soul," the twins said at once, smiling. "It's so simple and obvious, yet perfect," Heart finished.

"O…kay…" Ash said, blinking, "congrats, I guess." He caught Twilight's confused look and explained, "They've been trying to come up with a team name for themselves for weeks." Twilight nodded in understanding and the ponies resumed their walk again, nearing the bottom of the tower. "As I was saying," Ash said, "I'm used to drawing power from my environment to fuel my spells, with only a little of my personal energy. For some reason, here in Equestria the land's latent magic won't respond to me and I've barely got enough personal energy for a short-range teleport spell or telekinesis."

"That can't be right," Twilight said, "I saw you throw some pretty impressive attack spells at that Tau'rin demon."

"I had help during those fights," Ash said, "Thanks to the seven Gems I was able to get around whatever's blocking my magic sense, to some degree. But, they're gone now and I'm locked out again. Right now I'm working on a device that can simulate the effect of the Gems, and Gale here's helping me keep it in working order."

"Speaking of which, I should probably go fix it now," Gale said. She ran off into the main castle, heading for the rooms where her materials were produced.

"I'd like to see this device of yours," Twilight said, "If only to better understand what you're trying to do, Ashen."

"It's not wholly selfish," Ash said, "Every time I make a breakthrough, I learn something new about magic and the world in general and supply that information for other researchers to play with."

"Gale's been able to turn some of the failures into useful machines," Soul said, "She's come up with a line of magically-powered adding machines that are in high demand throughout Canterlot, for example. Any pony can use them and they work for months on a single magic charge."

"Wow," Twilight said, impressed, "I could use something like that."

"I'm sure you could talk Gale into getting you one at a discount," Ash said with a smirk.

"How about you two?" Twilight asked, looking at Heart and Soul, "What are you doing with yourselves?"

"Freeloading," Soul said flatly with a grumpy look on his face, "AJ'd kill me if she knew."

"Gloomy Gus," Heart scolded him good-naturedly, "We're still figuring out what we can do. I guess that makes us sort of like the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

"Except we have our cutie marks," Soul said, raising an eyebrow at Heart, "they're just next to useless. So far as I can tell, we're just good at fighting stuff, and that's only if we're together, and I don't like the idea of being a full-time soldier no matter how good the pay and benefits are. No offense," he added, nodding at a guard as they walked past him. The guard simply nodded in reply.

"Well, that research assistant spot's still open," Ash said. Soul just glared at him. "Or, with that Element Wheel of yours could be pretty good lumberjacks or stonecutters."

Soul opened his mouth to protest, but snapped it shut as he processed the idea. "Actually, that's not too bad," he said, "Add that to the list sis."

"Sure, why not?" Heart said, rolling her eyes.

Chapter 2

When the group arrived at the research chamber, they saw the rear half of Gale sticking out of the machine's access panel. "We're here," Soul Mage said.

"Yep," Gale said, backing out of the machine, "I heard you walk in. Everything's connected up again if you want to try it again Ash." As she replaced the access panel, Ashen Blaze noticed she was wearing a familiar-looking device on her head- like a telephone headset that covered a large portion of her head with a clear green screen positioned in front of one eye.

"I see you're borrowing PC," the grey unicorn said.

"I hope you don't mind," Gale said, "I wanted his input on how I can improve this thing. Besides, you haven't used him much lately, and he's made his annoyance about that very clear."

"Let me see him," Ash said, levitating the device off Gale's head and placing it on his own. "Now, where's that infinite computer patience of yours PC?" he asked, and then flinched as a response was blasted into his ear at an uncomfortable volume. "One moment," he said to his friends, and then left the room. He came back a few minutes later and put the computer back on Gale's head. "You can keep him," Ash told her, "he insists you're better qualified to use him at the moment." Gale smiled as text flashed across the eyepiece, apparently confirming the unicorn's words.

"Cool," she said, "Now, let's fire this thing up."

"Pay attention Twilight," Ash said as Gale started the machine up, "let me know if you feel anything weird." Twilight nodded and watched the gemstones flash. As the diamonds on the crown lit up, she felt a subtle shifting of something inside of her that she couldn't quite indentify or locate. Ash seemed to perk up slightly at the same time and began scraping a pattern on the floor with a piece of chalk he levitated from a nearby table. After finishing it, he tapped it as his horn began to glow. The pattern began glowing and a ball of light appeared above it. As Twilight watched, the light began morphing into various shapes: a rose, a horseshoe, a black gear, and finally split into seven lights in a rainbow of colors. "And that's about it," Ash said as the light faded away from his horn, "Not my most impressive display, but I didn't want to break anything."

"I thought it was pretty good," Twilight said, "rather like Rarity's light shows, on a smaller scale."

"You're too kind," Ash said modestly.

"Mind if I try something?" Twilight asked.

"By all means," Ash said, "Who better to test how this field affects natural unicorn magic than you?" Twilight smiled, and then began concentrating. Light began swirling around her, slowly at first but growing faster and faster until she was obscured from sight. After a few seconds, the light flared and then faded away, revealing that Twilight's mane had changed to a solid sky-blue color. "Now that's impressive," Ash said.

Twilight looked at her mane and blinked in surprise. "I was trying for gold and purple actually," she said, "I know I was doing it right, so how'd this happen?"

"Interesting," Ash said, taking a closer look at Twilight's mane, "Are you sure nothing felt… off while you were casting the spell?"

"Something felt odd when you turned that machine on," Twilight said, thinking, "and… yeah, I thought my magic was falling out of line a few times during the spell, so I tried to compensate." Ash nodded slowly.

"The local magic field's definitely being affected," he said, "It enhances my power but sets your off-balance." He turned to Gale. "If we're ever going to make this portable, we'll need to try and make the area of effect as small as possible."

"What about power?" Gale asked with a raised eyebrow, "You barely held off a half-strength Element Wheel earlier. Once that wouldn't have given you any pause."

"Do you honestly want me, me, at full power Gale?" Ashen Blaze asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Good point," the earth pony said, "portability comes first then. Mind if I turn this off now?" Ash nodded and Gale turned the machine off. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as the strange feeling inside her went away.

"How does that work anyway?" she asked, walking over to the machine.

"Take a look inside if you want," Gale said, opening the access panel again, "It's pretty much a bunch of crystals and gemstones linked together by wire."

"The idea is to mimic what the Gems did for me," Ash explained as Twilight stuck her head into the machine, "Gemstones are particularly good focal points for magical energy, so I've been trying to find a way to bounce magic through a series of them in a way that creates... waves you could call them, which interfere with and change the flow of energy in the immediate area into a pattern I can tap into. The problem is it takes a lot of gems and a large amount of stored magic power to kick-start the process."

"See that large diamond near the center?" Gale asked, "That's where the magic reserve is stored. It took us three days to charge it up and another week for me to find a way to direct leftover magic back into it to extend its lifespan, so to speak."

"That's amazing," Twilight said, pulling her head out and looking at Ash and Gale, "I've seen crystals used to hold spells before, but I've never heard of connecting a bunch together like this." The grey unicorn and brown earth pony both smiled proudly. Heart opened her mouth to make a comment, but a yawn came out instead.

"Oh my, sorry," she said, "I guess it's getting close to bed time."

"You're probably right," Ash said, suppressing a yawn of his own, "Sun's down, and I'm starting to feel the cost of that spell. Time for sleep"

"I'm still raring to go," Gale said, "I'm going to get busy on figuring out what I can afford to remove or shrink to make this thing smaller."

"Don't stay up too late," Heart said, "I'm going to put out the lights and lock our door in two hours, so if you don't want to sleep in the hall again..." Gale just waved a hoof at her, putting her full attention on the magic manipulator. Heart sighed and left the room, followed by Ash and the others.

"Say, aren't you going to fix your hair Twilight?" Soul asked as they walked.

"Huh?" Twilight asked, looking at her still-blue mane, "Oh, right. No, I made the spell temporary, so it should wear off during the night."

Most of the next morning was spent packing, making sure everything was going to keep for at least a week unsupervised, and general hustling around in preparation for the trip down to Ponyville, which required catching the eleven o'clock pega-shuttle. Only when the group met up at the shuttle dock with fifteen minutes to spare did they have a moment to talk. "Everypony ready?" Heart asked, dropping her saddlebags for the moment.

"Wouldn't be here if I wasn't," Ash said pragmatically, "I notice you don't have PC with you Gale. Did you pack him away? He's not fond of that"

"No," Gale said, "I left him behind." Seeing Ash's dumbstruck face, she continued, "Last night we figured out how to link him into the machine, giving him an inside look at the magic circuitry. He's currently figuring out how to talk to the thing and calculating potential upgrades and refinements. It'll probably take most of the week, so he won't be bored."

"That's good," Ash said, "A bored PC is a very, very annoying PC."

Soul rolled his eyes. "I'm always amazed that you were able to put up… with…" he trailed off as Twilight showed up and walked over to the group. "Twilight, your mane's still blue," Soul said, staring.

"That's not all," Heart said, pointing at the unicorn's hindquarters, "Your tail's starting to turn blue as well."

"I know," Twilight said with a sigh, "Princess Celestia didn't say anything about it when I showed up to ask to use her magic fire to send my letters, but I could tell she was trying not to laugh. I'll have to look up a reversal spell when I get home. I just hope Rarity doesn't see me before I can fix this; she'll either have fit or try to dye my hair. Or both."

"Sorry," Ash said," I honestly had no idea what the field manipulator would do to your spells."

"Don't worry about it," Twilight said with a smile, "Sometimes you have to take risks in order to learn." The conversation lapsed into a comfortable silence for several minutes.

"Say Twilight," Gale said, breaking the calm, "the boys told me you were interested in my adding machines."

"I am," Twilight said, intrigued.

"There's quite a demand for them," Gale said, as if to no pony in particular, "the company in charge of building them can't quite keep up, so if you were to order one you'd probably have to wait for months to get it."

"Oh, I see," Twilight said, slightly disappointed.

"However," Gale continued, "being the inventor and owner of the trademark, I have quite a bit of say in who sits where on the waiting list." Twilight's ears perked up slightly. "And, of course, I can have them build one for me free of charge."

"Could you… I mean, would you mind getting me one, please?" Twilight asked, almost begging as her eyes began shining, "It would make calculating for potions, astronomy, and so many other things so much easier."

"Well, I could," Gale said, "After all, you are a very good friend. However, I can't let you have it for free; I am entitled to a portion of the profits after all."

"How much?" Twilight asked, her excitement hardly dampened at all.

"Thirty-five bits," Gale said, holding out a hoof expectedly, "Right now if you please."

"Really?" Twilight asked, suddenly suspicious, "That seems… cheap."

"They do sell for a couple hundred normally," Gale said, "but most of that's eaten up in production costs, and I only see a portion of what's left over: thirty-five bits for each adding machine sold."

"Well, ok then," Twilight said, opening one of her saddlebags, "I didn't bring much money with me, but…" a bunch of coins levitated out of the bag and moved in front of Twilight's face. She counted them up in her head, and then smiled and dropped several onto Gale's hoof. "Thirty-five bits," she said.

"Thank you," Gale said, putting the money into her bag, "I'll send them a letter as soon as we get into Ponyville. They should have it to you by the end of the week, give or take a day." Twilight's cheers and thank-yous were quickly underscored by the sound of wings, heralding the arrival of the pega-shuttle. Except, this wasn't the usual pega-shuttle approaching the landing platform, rather it was a royal carriage pulled by a team of Celestia's personal pegasus charioteers, assisted with a little unicorn magic to make their load lighter.

"I guess that's for us," Soul said as the carriage opened and the pegasi looked their way, "I could get used to this royal treatment." Heart and Gale rolled their eyes as the five ponies got into the carriage.

When the carriage landed in the town square in Ponyville, it was met by a small group of ponies, five in all, and one baby dragon. The five passengers were greeted with a chorus of "welcome back," as they stepped out.

"Hello everyone," Heart said, smiling at the group, "It's nice to see you all again."

"How's the palace life treating you?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I think it's spoiling Soul here," Heart, giving her brother a playful push, "but I'm still holding strong." Dash chuckled as Soul gave Heart a sideways look.

As soon as Ash had moved away from the carriage, he found himself caught up in a hug from a white unicorn with a fancy purple mane. "Hello Rarity," he said with a longsuffering look on his face, "I take it you missed me."

"Of course I did darling," Rarity said, "I was starting to think you were-" she cut off with a gasp as she saw the last pony to exit the carriage. "Twilight Sparkle!" she exclaimed, "What have you done to your mane?"

"Spell mishap," Twilight said, self-consciously.

"I like it!" Pinkie Pie declared. Rainbow Dash and Applejack both looked like they were holding in laughter, but Dash seemed closer to bursting.

"It certainly is… unique," Fluttershy put in quietly.

"I simply cannot let that remain!" Rarity declared, releasing Ash. The grey unicorn heaved a sigh of relief as Rarity dragged a protesting Twilight toward the Carousel Boutique.

"You really don't have to do this," Twilight was saying, "I can probably fix it with a spell."

"I think they're gonna be late to the party," Applejack said with smirk.

"What party?" Gale asked. She laid on eyes on Pinkie, who was wearing a bigger smile than usual, and said, "Oh, right. Silly me."

"You know it!" Pinkie said, "Come on, we're all set up at Sugar Cube Corner!" She started moving away with her signature bounce as Ash shook his head sadly.

"Do we have to do this?" he asked.

"Lighten up," Heart said, "Pinkie parties are fun and you know it."

Luckily for Ash's peace of mind, the party was a small one- just the six Ponyville friends, Spike, and the four Order-naries, along with the Cakes who were in charge of the food, were invited. Things got off a relatively slow start until Rarity and Twilight finally showed up about an hour later. Twilight's mane was still very sky-blue, although well-styled, and Rarity was looking quite disheveled and frustrated. "This is absolutely infuriating," she complained to no pony in particular as she walked into the shop, "I tried all my dyes and none would stick for more than a few seconds."

"I'm really sorry Rarity," Twilight said, "I appreciate the effort though. Like I said, a simple spell should fix it."

"You might want to get to that soon," Ash said, "it's overtaken half your tail already." Rarity heaved a dramatic sigh and made her way over to the refreshments.

"How in Equestria'd you manage to bungle a spell like that anyway Twilight?" Applejack asked, "I don't know much about magic, I'll admit, but a color-change don't sound that complicated."

"Ashen Blaze there developed this machine that alters magic," Twilight said, "It's supposed to make him better at it, but it messed up my spell when I tried to cast it."

"All in the name of science of course," Ash said as everypony turned to look at him.

"What good is a machine that makes most unicorns bad at magic?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Not much, unless you use it around a unicorn you don't like I guess," Ash replied, "It does enhance my ability though. Gale and I are going to try and adjust it so it only affects me when we go back."

"You're helping him?" Fluttershy asked the brown earth pony, "That's nice of you."

"He'd be helpless without me," Gale said, "He can theorize about magic all day, but I wouldn't trust him to fix a broken door, let alone build a complex machine."

"Hey," Ash said, "I'm not that useless at detail work. I built PC you know."

"So you say," Soul said, "He was already operational when we met you."

"Hey now you two," Heart said, stepping between the two stallions, "This isn't a time for one of your ridiculous quip-battles. This is a party; let's try to have fun without the sarcasm."

"Whatever you say dear sister," Soul said, rolling his eyes.

"Yay!" Pinkie said, jumping up as high as she could, "All right everypony, you heard her, lets party!"

Chapter 3

During the next few days, Soul Mage, Gold Heart, and Gale tried to make the most of their week off by exploring the town, meeting new friends, and lending a helping hoof wherever possible. Ash kept up with them for a day or so, but soon stuck to hanging out at the library trying to continue his research. Twilight and Spike put up with him as best they could, but his habit of replacing books in the wrong spot on the shelves started to wear on them by the third day. On day four, he arrived to find the library locked and Gale waiting for him by the door. "What's up?" he asked her.

"Twilight told me to tell you two things," Gale replied, "One: you're not allowed into the library until you promise not to try and put books back- just stack them up for Spike to sort. Two: she thinks she's got an idea about whatever it is you've been wasting time on this week – those are my words by the way – and she wants to talk to you about it."

"Ok," Ash said slowly, "so, is she home?"

"Nope, Rarity's putting her through another attempt to cover that blue hair with dye," Gale said, "I'm starting to get worried that she hasn't found a solution for that yet, and it's claimed her entire tail now."

"She'll sort it out," Ash said, "So, I guess I'll go find something to do until she gets back." He started to walk away, but Gale stopped him with a hoof on his flank.

"Nah, I think you should get this over with now," she said, and then pointed dramatically, "To the Boutique!"

"No, no, I'm fine with waiting," Ash insisted, trying to walk away again. Gale snorted and moved to block the unicorn's path.

"You're just avoiding Rarity," she said, "I don't get why. She likes you, and while she may be a bit too fancy at times, she's a good person, er, pony. There's no reason you can't be around her and be nice."

"But…" Ash said.

"No arguments," Gale said, giving Ash a push in the direction of the Carousel Boutique, "Just walk." Ash glowered at her as he allowed himself to be herded toward Rarity's shop. Along the way they encountered Heart and Soul, who were just finishing extracting Ditzy Doo from a tree and picking up her scattered mail. Once the wall-eyed pegasus was straightened out and back on her route, the golden-yellow ponies joined their friends on their walk.

"Why is she a mail-pony?" Ash asked.

"She's normally good at it," Heart said, "that was only her third upset this month."

"Month's only half over," Ash muttered.

"Well you hardly ever use the mail service anyway," Gale said, "so don't complain."

"I'll complain about whatever I want to," Ash snapped, "And on that note, I don't want to go see Rarity!"

"Well, you're not," Gale replied, "you're going to see Twilight Sparkle, who happens to be with Rarity right now." Ash's eye started twitching, but he simply grumbled to himself the rest of the way to the boutique. When they entered the store, they were greeted by a low but audible moan of aggravation from the back room and a bored-looking Sweetie Bell lying on a cushion by the stairs.

"Hi Sweetie," Soul said, "No crusades today?"

"Nope," the filly replied, "I have to watch for customers while Rarity's working with Miss Twilight. You're not customers, are you?"

"Nope," Heart said, "we're here for Twilight."

"Oh well," Sweetie sighed, "I guess you can head on back then." Ash grumbled a bit more as the four ponies headed into the back. Rarity was in the process of removing strips of foil from Twilight's stubbornly sky-blue mane, and there were empty bottles of purple, pink, and slate blue hair dye scattered everywhere.

"Going for the 'no kill like overkill' approach I see," Ash said in a deadpan.

"I give uh-uh-uup!" Rarity sobbed, throwing herself onto Ash's tense shoulder, "I've tried every method, every formula, every brand of dye I know and none of it will stiiick!"

"There, there," Ash said, very uncomfortable but not crass enough to remove the distraught unicorn, "It'll be ok… eventually." Rarity just kept sobbing. "So, Twilight," Ash said, trying to ignore the tears soaking his shoulder, "You wanted to talk to me about something."

"Yeah," Twilight said, removing the rest of the foil from her mane, "but it can probably wait until Rarity's calmed down." Ash shot a meaningful glance at Gale, who returned the look with extra narrowed eyes.

"Here," Heart said, "Let me…" She nudged Rarity a few times and, not receiving a response, lifted her off Ash and led her over to a cushion. The white unicorn lay down facing the wall, her sobs fading to sniffles.

"Thanks," Ash said, brushing lightly at his wet shoulder. "So," he added, looking at Twilight.

"Right," Twilight said as her horn lit up. A scroll levitated out of a bag in the corner of the room and flew over to Ash, opening up when it reached him. "I was reading over some of my old notes last night when I came across some tests I'd done on the Elements of Harmony. I'd discovered that the necklaces and my tiara are able to focus and enhance magical power and natural talents. Of course, each Element only works for the pony it belongs to."

"Uh huh," Ash said, reading the notes, "What's your point?"

Another sheet of paper flew over, showing a sketch of a necklace made of gemstones. "I recalled what you said about that machine of yours being a substitute for your magic Gems and I thought, 'would it be possible to make an artificial Element of Harmony?' What I came up with was this: a series of gems strung together with gold and copper which may, if built right, focus and strengthen any magic used by the pony who wears it."

"Wow," Ash said, blinking in surprise as he took the paper into his own magic grip and looked it over, "For someone with none of my research to work with, this is incredible. I'll have to go over your calculations and fill in the gaps, but this might just work! Twilight Sparkle, you're amazing!" Twilight blushed and smiled. Ash found a pencil and began pacing slowly as he looked over the sketch, occasionally stopping to write something down or scratch something else out. Gale noticed that Rarity had stopped crying, although her eyes were still red, and she was watching Ash at work.

"Say, Ash," the earth pony said.

"Hm?"

"You're going to need gems and other materials to put that together, aren't you?" Gale asked with a sly smile.

"Obviously," Ash said, not looking up from the paper, "When we go back to Canterlot I'll requisition everything we'll need."

"Why wait?" Gale asked, "I think I know one way we can get it all right here in Ponyville."

"What are you…" Ash asked, finally looking up and trailing off as he met Gale's gaze. His eyes slid over to Rarity and then snapped back to the earth pony, who subtly tilted her head toward the white unicorn. Ash blew out a sigh, forced a smile, and turned back to Rarity. "Rarity," he said, "You wouldn't happen to have some gemstones I could use?"

"Why yes, I do!" Rarity said, jumping to her feet, "And I'm sure I can scrounge up some old gold wire and whatever else you might need."

"Wonderful," Ash said, partially sincere, "now, I don't have much, but I should be able to compensate you for-"

"Oh, no," Rarity said, "I couldn't take your money. Just think of it as a gift, a donation for the cause of science." She started dancing in place as ideas for the necklace began running through her head. "Come on, let's get started!"

"Yeah!" Gale shouted, just as eager.

"Now hold on a minute," Ash said, backing away from the two mares, "I-I'm not even-" the two ponies grabbed him and carried him out into the front room and up to Rarity's workroom as he continued his protest, "I still need to correct these blueprints girls! Put me down!"

Heart and Soul watched the scene with amusement clear on their faces. "I honestly never thought I'd see the day," Soul said, "that Rarity the fashionista and Gale the mechanic would get so excited over the exact same thing."

"I actually feel a little bad for Ash," Heart said despite her smile. She kicked a dye bottle that was on the floor next to her and said, "Well, they're going to be awhile. What do you say we clean this place up for Rarity?" Soul nodded and began gathering trash together.

"I'll go get some bags and a mop," Twilight said, heading into boutique's kitchen.

As the three ponies worked to clean up the remains of the failed mane-dye job, the sounds of discussion and the occasional disagreement between Gale and Rarity filtered down from the second floor. In what seemed to be a surprisingly short time, an argument ended with the sound of hooves clattering down the stairs. Heart, Soul, and Twilight stuck their heads out into the main room to see Ash, now wearing a crude necklace of small gems, bolting down the stairs with an upset Rarity waving a pincushion hot on his heels. "That thing is an affront to style!" Rarity was shouting, "I demand you bring it back and let me fix it!"

"It's fine you crazy filly," Ash retorted, heading for the back room. Twilight and company moved back to let him inside. Ash ran through the door and took shelter behind Soul Mage. "Look, Rarity," he said as the white unicorn stood glaring at him from the doorway, "We can pretty it up later. Right now it's just a prototype; I have to make sure it's going to work before we make any adjustments."

Rarity stood in silence for several seconds, sides heaving as she caught her breath, clearly trying to find a balance between Ash's words and her own drive to fix what she saw as imperfection. "You… are not… a… judge… of proper… fashion," she finally panted out. The fashion designer was obviously winning.

"This isn't a Gala dress, Rarity," Twilight said, "I know this is hard for you to accept, but function has to take precedence over form this time."

"Yes, listen to the sensible Mage," Ash pleaded, "Just let me try a couple of spells and then we can go back upstairs and try to make it look good. Please."

Rarity's eye twitched several times and her mane started to frizz, but finally she sighed and said, "Very well, if you must."

"Thank you," Ash said to nopony in particular. He trotted out into the main room and looked around. He looked back toward the back room and lit up his horn. A full bag of trash levitated and flew slowly across the room, out the front door and to the left, and landed gently a good ways out of sight. "Telekinesis, slightly but noticeably easier," Ash muttered, and then concentrated harder. With a flash, he teleported to the top of the stairs, then to the front door, and finally back to his starting position. He was breathing a little harder as his horn ceased glowing, but a smile crossed his face. "Three teleports in rapid succession,' he said, "That's a new record." He turned toward the group and announced, "The concept's sound. Artificial Element of Magic is a go."

"Great," Rarity said, "now, let's go make one that's actually worthy to see the light of day!" She grabbed Ash by a hoof and started marching him back upstairs. They were about halfway up when the front door swung open and Spike came jogging into the boutique.

"There you are Twilight," he said, "Some peagsi just showed up with a big package for you; I think it's that adding machine you were talking about. I hope you don't mind, but I already signed for it."

"Thank you Spike," Twilight said, and then looked at Rarity, "You're done with me for today, right? I'd really like to try the adding machine out."

"Go on, play with your new toy" Rarity said, "there's nothing I can do for your mane anyway it seems."

"I'll come with you," Ash said, trying to come back down, but Rarity restrained him.

"I need you," she said, "I simply won't be able to get that… thing to look right on you if I have to work from memory." Ash shot a pleading look down to his friends.

"Sorry pal," Soul said, "you did promise she could 'pretty it up' now that you've tested it." Ash grumbled and climbed the stairs. Spike climbed onto Twilight's back and the lavender pony headed out of the boutique and toward the library at a speed close to a full-on gallop, eager to get back home and try out her new adding machine. Soul and Heart followed her, chuckling at Twilight's excitement.

Just as the group reached Mane Street there was a flash of light and Ash was suddenly running along beside them, looking quite smug. "Teleport range vastly improved," he said, ignoring the looks being aimed at him.

"Ashen Blaze," Heart said with a mild rebuke in her voice.

"Ah, Gale knows what she's doing," Ash said dismissively, "I made sure to lay out the calculations in a way that she can follow, so they don't really need me at the moment." Soul and Heart both rolled their eyes but didn't press the issue. The four ponies reached the library a few minutes later, and Twilight flung the door open in her excitement. They looked around, briefly confused by the lack of a box or other shipping container, but then Soul pointed to a desk that was now taken up with a large contraption similar in appearance to a cash register, but made of wood and with several small gemstones in place of the normal buttons and no visible display.

"That's it," the golden-yellow unicorn said.

"That's odd," Spike said, jumping off Twilight before she dashed over to the adding machine, "I could of sworn it was still packed up when I left, and the delivery ponies flew off before that."

"How does this work?" Twilight asked, with her front hooves up on the desk in front of the machine.

"The ruby in the top-left corner turns it on and off," Ash said, "The rest of the gems are etched with the number or symbol they're used to input. The numbers will show up as a hologram above the machine. From the looks of it, Gale gave you the most advanced model- it can do trigonometric functions, allow you to program in formulas you use frequently, and I think it comes with some basic geometric formulas pre-programmed. Just keep it charged or you'll lose whatever you've stored in it."

"All right," Twilight said, "let's try it out." She reached out a hoof and tapped the on-off ruby. There was a faint hum as the gems began to glow softly and a big zero made of light materialized above the top-right corner of the machine. Twilight giggled slightly as she tapped in a simple arithmetic problem: 3 + 4. When she tapped the '=' gem, the holographic equation suddenly warped into a tangle of light and something black shot into Twilight's chest, knocking her backward several feet where she collapsed on the floor.

"Twilight!" Spike shouted, running over, only to be knocked back by a black shadow that sprang out of the unicorn's side and retracted just as rapidly. He hit a bookstand and landed on his tail, still conscious but completely shocked.

"What the skeb is going on here?" Ash asked, moving cautiously toward Twilight.

"Careful Ash," Heart warned. Another shadow emerged to take a swipe at Ash, but he stopped just outside its range, staring at it intently. The shadow pulled back and Twilight suddenly twitched, and then levitated off the ground, hanging limply in front of the increasingly worried ponies. A strange sound came from Twilight's mouth, almost laughter but more like the buzz of electricity mixed with guttural growling.

"Identify yourself," Ash demanded, taking a firm stance and beginning to focus his magic. The possessed Twilight gave another not-laugh and opened her eyes. Everyone gasped, but no one louder than Ash. Twilight's irises and pupils were gone, replaced by a strange symbol vaguely shaped like a capital Y made of tiny concentric circles and curved lines. "No," Ash whispered in horror, backing away a few steps as his horn faded, "I-it can't be. How? How can you be here? How could you possibly be in her? Impossibility… Skvetchte impossible creature. Begone!" His expression hardened again as he channeled his magic through his necklace and fired a bolt of light at the possessed unicorn. She responded with a smirk and swatted the bolt aside with a hoof before charging bodily at Ash. "Restrain her!" Ash shouted as he rolled to the side, "Do not let her leave this tree!"

"What's going on?" Heart asked as Soul extended a link toward her.

"Explanations later," Ash said, prepping another spell. A pair of magical ropes appeared and tried to ensnare Twilight, who snapped one out of existence with her own magic and floated around just out of reach of the other, heading for the stairs. Ash snarled in frustration as he conjured more restraints and Heart and Soul threw out bolts of their ethereal blue magic, all of which were dodged. As the possessed Twilight continued to float up the stairs, she beat back all attempts to attack and restrain her and retaliated with bolts of darkness and flashes of lightning. Ash took one bolt to the neck and tumbled backwards, stunned, taking Soul down with him as he fell down the stairs. Heart continued to pursue, stretching her link with Soul to its limit as the stallions recovered and ran to catch up. Spike also recovered, but he simply cowered under a desk, completely bewildered by what was happening to his closest friend, mentor, and surrogate mother.

The fight, if it could be called that, continued as the possessed Twilight made her way around the library, laughing as she continued to frustrate all attempts to contain her. Eventually they wound up in Twilight's room, and in the act of dodging another stun bolt from Ash, the possessed unicorn collided with the bookshelf by the bed, knocking several books and other objects off it, including a tiara with a large, starburst-shaped gem set in it. Twilight laid her odd eyes on it and paused, seemingly attracted to it. Ash tried to take advantage of the lull by charging in for tackle, but was brushed off by a shadow tentacle. Twilight descended toward the floor, reached out with her front hooves, and grabbed the tiara, the Element of Magic.

"Oh, crap," Soul said, "Heart! Stop her! Now! Any way possible!"

"R-right," the yellow-gold pegasus said, reluctantly charging her ultimate attack. She was too slow; Twilight had already placed the Element on her head. She cackled as she turned toward the ponies, and her horn began to glow with unnatural dark light. Suddenly, the false light faded as she gave an unearthly shriek that no living creature could possibly have made and collapsed to the floor. A shadowy something rushed out of her and zoomed down the stairs. Soul Mage took off after it and watched as it retreated back into the adding machine from which it had originally come. He stopped at the foot of the stairs, keeping both eyes on the machine as he tried to hear what was happening upstairs.

Ash simply sat where he'd landed, staring into space as he muttered to himself in a strange tongue. Heart approached Twilight with caution and, when she wasn't attacked, gently touched her with a hoof and then leaned in close to listen for breathing and a heartbeat. Both were present, to Heart's relief, and Twilight came too within a few minutes, her eyes normal-looking again. "Ow…" she moaned, putting both front hooves against her forehead "What in Celestia's name… why am I wearing my Element? What happened?"

"You were possessed," Ash said simply, standing up and heading for the stairs, "It didn't seem to like what the Element was doing to it, so it fled. I just wish I knew where…" Heart and Twilight followed him, confused but not willing to ask any questions yet. "Did you see where it went?" Ash asked Soul when he reached the bottom floor. Soul just pointed to the machine. "Good," the fire-maned unicorn said, "Let's keep it there." He scratched a quick pattern into the floor and an orange barrier sprang up around the adding machine, only to be sucked into it a second later, accompanied by a discordant chuckle. "Ah skvetch, I just fed it, didn't I?" Ash asked nopony in particular, "Although by all rights, I shouldn't have…"

"Ok," Soul said with an emphatic stomp, "that's enough enigmatic musings out of you Ashen Blaze. Tell us, what is that thing?"

Ash didn't seem to hear him. "Inhabiting a magical contraption…" he mused, "possessing a living being, a very magical one at that, at such a low stage… Absorbs regular magic but balks at the Element…"

"ASHEN BLAZE!" Soul shouted, tensing up as if to give the ash-grey unicorn a solid kick.

Ash whirled on Soul, and then gazed about at Twilight and Heart. "Gather the Elements of Harmony Twilight Sparkle," he said, "And somepony find us a way to get to Canterlot ASAP. We've got a serious emergency on our ha- er, hooves, and I'm sorry to say I had a hand in causing it."

"Wha-" Twilight began.

"I'll explain when everypony has gathered," Ash said, his cold, green eyes brooking no argument, "just go!" The ponies, and Spike, scattered to fulfill Ash's request. "Wait," he called before they left, "Twilight, put that adding machine inside a magic bubble, will you? It shouldn't be able to get out if the barrier's made by the Element of Magic. I hope."

Chapter 4

Forty-five minutes later, the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony and the four Order-naries were loaded into the Ponyville hot-air balloon and flying toward the mountain-side city of Canterlot. Well, only seven of them were actually in the balloon's basket; Fluttershy, Gold Heart, and Rainbow Dash were hitched to the basket and pulling it to speed their journey along. Even considering that, it was a bit cramped in the basket.

"You finally gonna explain' what's going on Ash?" Applejack asked, speaking for everypony.

"Yes," Ash said, turning away from the side of the basket, over which he'd just dropped the possessed adding machine into a large lake. He was sporting a new necklace that Gale and Rarity had presented to him when they showed up. It was both more aesthetically pleasing (although still not up to Rarity's standards) and increased his magic threefold over what the old one had been capable of. He still wasn't too hopeful about the outcome of this mission he had drafted everyone into, though. "This goes way back for me," he said, "Into that part of my life I wish I could erase from my memory. What we are facing are the creations of one of my old... compatriots and rivals. They are an artificial life-form, self-aware computer viruses in essence, called the Z'nai."

"Whats-it viruses?" AJ asked.

Ash sighed and rubbed his forehead for a moment. "Oh, I can't think of a good parallel you lot would understand," he said, "Just go with me on this. They live inside machines, often spending years in a dormant state where they are extremely hard to detect. When they're active, their primary purpose is to spread, making copies of themselves that infect other machines and whatnot, causing death, destruction, and general mayhem along the way. They derive joy out of turning whatever they inhabit into weapons or instruments of death. The big problem with them being here is that they have nothing to do with magic. And yet, the one I just disposed of – hopefully – was living inside a magically powered machine and had possessed Twilight for a short time, and then proceeded to absorb my attempts to seal it up after it was forcibly evicted by the Element of Magic. Somehow, these Z'nai, and I'm sure there's more of them all over Canterlot by now, have changed to thrive off magic instead of data."

"But, if they're from… back then, how'd they get here?" Gale asked, looking nervous, "That one was inside one of my adding machines, so… I… I didn't make one, did I?"

"Oh no," Ash said reassuringly, "The Z'nai are far too complex for one to be created by accident, let alone from something like a simple calculator." He sighed, becoming very sober. "I'm afraid I'm the one to blame for their being here, although I can't imagine how it could have happened. The Z'nai came from PC. The design I used to build him was originally meant to be a means of inserting Z'nai into a society under the guise of advancing technology. PC's artificial intelligence borrows heavily from the Z'nai's code."

"PC is a Z'nai?" Soul exclaimed.

"No," Ash replied emphatically, "the Z'nai in him is, or so I thought, sealed behind multiple firewalls and security barriers to prevent it from awakening and growing. PC is a separate entity even though his basic code is derived from the Z'nai in him."

"Well, I'd say this throws that assertion into question," Soul said.

"Truth," Ash said sadly, "The only way to know what happened is to find PC and see what kind of state he's in. After that, we'll need to find a way to destroy the Z'nai."

"And just how do we do that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"And do we have to?" Fluttershy asked meekly.

"Yes we do, and I'm still working on that," Ash said, "Under normal circumstances, a single Z'nai is not a problem once you know of it- you'd simply have to isolate its host system from all other electronics and then wipe the system clean to delete the thing. The problem is that there's never just one, and just because you clear a system of one doesn't mean another can't move in to replace it later. I'm hoping these ones work on a similar principle- we'll have to isolate them from the magic they can feed on and hope they wither away. Oh… there wasn't anything magical in or about that lake back there, was there?" He looked back toward the lake he'd dropped the adding machine into.

"No," Fluttershy said, "Just, you know, fish and turtles and frogs, and all kinds of other animals that go there to have a drink of water." Her eyes had taken on an unusually hard glint as she spoke. Ash gulped and laughed nervously.

"I'm sure it'll be fine then," he said, looking away from Fluttershy, "Assuming Twilight's barrier's still active, it won't be able to go anywhere, and hopefully the machine was smashed by the impact with the water, which would leave the Z'nai without a proper housing and even if the barrier didn't hold, the thing should die before it finds a proper host."

"So, we've just got to break all the adding machines and other magic contraptions in Canterlot?" Rainbow asked, partly serious, "That shouldn't be a problem. There's probably only hundreds of them throughout the entire city!"

"That would certainly be a good start," Ash replied flatly, "However, the Z'nai can possess unicorns as well and we can't very well go around breaking them."

"What about pegasi?" Heart asked.

"What about pegasi?" Ash asked in turn.

"Well," Heart said, pointing into the distance, "Something's coming at us. It looks like a pair of pegasi, and they don't seem friendly." The ponies in the basket all followed the golden-yellow pegasus's hoof until they saw the approaching figures. As they drew closer, the group saw that they did look like pegasi, but only vaguely. They were actually shadowy facimilies of pegasi wearing full sets of royal guard armor and each was being followed by a spear. "Z'nai," Heart said.

"Yep," Ash said, looking at Twilight, "I guess this means the armor the guards wear is magical?"

"Yes," Twilight said, "They're enchanted with simple barriers and spells that make it easier for earth ponies and pegasi to hold and use their weapons. I take it that's enough for the Z'nai to take it over?"

"So it seems," Ash muttered darkly, "Twilight, Rarity, this is going to have to be your fight for the most part; they can absorb my spells and I don't think we want them close enough to engage hoof-to-hoof."

"I never did land a hit on the first one," Soul said, "What say we try again Heart and see how they respond to our magic?"

"I'm all for that," Heart said. Soul wrapped the linking spell around Heart, who began charging the Element Wheel between her front hooves. "Get ready," she said, looking over her shoulder at Twilight, "If this just ticks them off, we're going to be in big trouble." Twilight nodded and pulled a book entitled Spells for Self Defense out of her saddlebags. Heart turned her attention back to the Z'nai, who had spotted the balloon and were moving in with spears extended. Heart reared back into a vertical position, holding the charged energy disk off to one side, and then threw it with a cry of "Element Wheel, Full!" The disk spiraled toward the Z'nai on the right, expanding slowly as it flew. Unlike the one from the adding machine, these Z'nai didn't try to dodge until the Element Wheel cleaved the first creature's breastplate in half and then curved down to take a chuck out of the rear leg greaves. The damaged Z'nai's unnatural shriek of pain assaulted the ponies's ears as the broken armor fell off and the shadow dissipated, leaving the remaining armor and spear to hang unsupported in the air for a second before gravity kicked in. The second Z'nai came to a stop, looking around wildly for the source of its companion's demise. Under Heart's control, the Element Wheel arced back upwards and came at the Z'nai from behind, catching it off guard and bisecting its helmet. Damaged but still mostly intact, the shadowy pony shrieked and flew toward the balloon, not stopping even after the Element Wheel spent the last of its energy destroying its spear. Fluttershy squeaked in terror, trying to take cover under the basket as the Z'nai approached. Heart backed up until her rump hit the side of the basket. Rainbow Dash, however, stood her ground, so to speak, and spun around at the last second to buck the creature in the breastplate. It was knocked back, a pair of sizable dents visible on the breastplate, but the Z'nai was still alive.

"My turn," Twilight said, pushing her way up to the front of the basket, her horn shining with unreleased magic. She waited until the Z'nai resumed its charge toward the balloon and then released a focused beam of purple energy from the Element of Magic that pierced the center of the breastplate and continued on through the shadowy Z'nai. Another ear-piercing shriek filled the air as the Z'nai dissolved and the armor fell to the earth below. "Wow," Twilight said, panting slightly, "That actually worked. Good." She slumped to the floor of the basket, catching her breath.

"Well done everypony," Ash said, "So, we know we can fight them, but let's try not to bring a whole army of them down on our heads."

"Where do you think they got that armor from?" Pinkie asked, looking over the edge to watch the falling pieces.

"Oh dear," Twilight said, very worried, "If they got into the royal guard's barracks, they might have gotten to the Princesses!"

"Don't panic," Ash said, "Yes, that is likely, but I'm sure we can handle it. Let's just take this a step at a time. Step one: getting into Canterlot despite whatever resistance the Z'nai might give us. Step two: get into the castle and find PC to learn what happened. Step three: use that information to come up with steps four and beyond. Any questions?"

"Seems simple enough," Rarity said, and Applejack nodded in agreement. Fluttershy simply whimpered from her spot under the basket.

"I've got a question," Dash said, "Am I the only pony who's noticed Twilight's legs are turning blue?"

"Huh?" Twilight said, looking at herself. The sky-blue color of her mane and tail had somehow found its way onto her hooves and was starting to reach up to her knees. "That's… a little disconcerting." Ash sighed and turned his attention toward Canterlot.

"Is it too much to ask for a creeping color change to be the worst of my problems?" he asked the unheeding sky.

The ponies noticed two things as the balloon approached the castle: first, there were no Z'nai guards above the roof level of the city proper and those guards never looked up, and second, the sun had not moved in the entire time they'd been traveling. By Twilight's calculation, it should have been late afternoon, but the sun was still near its zenith. The implications of the sudden halt in the normal cycle chilled everypony to the bone. "Bring us to the upper viewing platform," Ash instructed the pegasi, "That'll get us in over their heads and into the castle. Don't let yourselves get separated from the group- especially you three," he looked to his compatriots, "The Z'nai should only be able to possess unicorns, but I'd rather not take the risk and we don't have the Elements of Harmony protecting us."

"Sure you do," Pinkie Pie said, "We'll stick right by you and protect you from those nasty shadow monsters."

"That's not quite what I meant, but thanks Pinkie," Ash said, smiling.

"You're welcome!" The pink pony reached up and pulled at the cord to open the top of the balloon as the pegasi brought it to a halt over the upper viewing platform. They landed with a soft thump and leapt out of the basket and harnesses, keeping several eyes out for Z'nai or possessed ponies. The coast seemed clear, so they ran inside the castle and headed for the nearest staircase.

"Gale," Ash said when they stopped near the stairs, "You said you left PC connected to the magic manipulator, right?"

"Yeah," Gale said, "He was supposed to be calculating ways to improve its performance."

A thoughtful expression crossed Ash's face for a few seconds. "Ok, so that means he'll be down in the lower levels in the room I was using as a workshop. Follow me." He moved down the stairs as fast as he safely could, only to skid to a halt half a flight later when he encountered a Z'nai possessed unicorn that looked very unhappy. "Yipes!" Ash yelped, backing away and causing a slight jam among the ponies behind him.

"Move!" Twilight yelled, struggling to lift herself above the press. She focused her magic and struck the unicorn with stunning spell. The poor thing collapsed, but the Z'nai inside didn't seem to leave. Ash poked at it with his magic a few times and then tip-toed past it, followed by the others.

"A simple knock-out's not going to free them," he said glumly.

"Poor thing," Fluttershy said, nuzzling the unconscious pony as she passed by. Her Element flashed as her nose touched the unicorn's side and the Z'nai sprang out of it with a shriek. It flew around, trying to possess one of the ponies and rebounding off the Elements of Harmony several times before fleeing. Once it was gone and everyone calmed down, they all looked at Fluttershy and smiled. The pale yellow Pegasus blushed and tried to hide behind her mane.

"Kindness in action," Twilight said, "That makes sense I guess."

"Oo! Oo! Oo!" Pinkie said, bouncing in place, "Does mean I can laugh them out? That would sooooo cool!"

"I guess it's worth a shot," Twilight and Ash said at the same time. They glanced at each other and shared a quick smirk. "Let's go ponies," Ash said, starting to head down the stairs again. Fluttershy hesitated for a few seconds, checking on the unconscious former possession victim, and then took flight to catch up with the group. Their trip down into the lower levels of the castle was interrupted only a couple more times- once by a Z'nai armor that Heart and Soul managed to break apart at the cost of a few disk-shaped holes in the wall, a chunk of railing, and part of Dash's tail, and once by a scared but clearly not possessed earth pony trying to find a hiding place. Fluttershy and Rarity managed to calm the poor mare down and Twilight cast a charm over her to protect her from harm until she could reach the relative safety of her home. Ash was not happy about the time lost to accomplish all of that, but he kept his complaints to himself. Eventually they reached the right floor and increased their speed. Their progress was halted a short time later by a large group of Z'nai-controlled armor mixed with a few unicorns. "Took you guys long enough to put the welcoming party together," Ash quipped, falling back behind the group to be out of the way.

"This doesn't look like much a party to me," Pinkie said.

"How astute of you Pinkamena Pie," said a hauntingly familiar voice underscored with an electric hum and a deep growling noise. The crowd of shadowed pony shapes parted slightly as a large shadow descended from the ceiling into the cleared space and resolved itself into a large pony-like shape. As the ten ponies watched, the shadows fell away, revealing a tall, regal, white alicorn wearing a golden crown and a matching collar and hoof shoes, and pure white eyes bearing the sign of the Z'nai. Its posture was somewhat limp and unnatural, but still managed to command a measure of fear and respect. "You all know who this is," it said, its voice coming through unmoving lips, "And since I control her completely, I know you all as well as she does. I know your strengths and, more importantly, your weaknesses."

"Get out of her!" Twilight screamed, horn glowing as tears welled up in her eyes. She stood there, charged with magic but unable to bring herself to attack her beloved mentor.

The Z'nai laughed. "Your love for the Princess is your weakness Twilight Sparkle; I fear nothing from you."

"You ain't our Princess!" Applejack shouted, pressing up against Twilight to support her, "We'll stand together and put a stop to you, right girls?" She looked around and received nods of agreement from Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. Gale and Gold Heart nodded too for good measure.

"Talk all you want Applejack," the Z'nai said, "You may hold an Element of Harmony, but you are worthless when up against me and my kind. Buck and kick all you will, you'll only hurt your precious Celestia, or one of our other hosts. The same goes for you, Pinkamena, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and even you Rarity. If your friend Twilight can't bring herself to unite your Elements, you have no hope. And she won't, now will she?" Twilight shuddered as the possessed princess turned her alien eyes toward her.

"I… I…" she stuttered.

"Bravo," Ashen Blaze said, stepping forward, "Most excellently played. And may I say how impressed I am you've developed to such a degree in so short a time; this new connection to magic must be doing wonders for the Z'nai." The Z'nai's head swiveled to face the cocky ash-grey, fire-maned unicorn. "You must be the Prime of these Z'nai, or at least the Beta, since I suspect the Prime isn't able to leave its original host. You do use those terms, yes? Prime for the original, Beta for the first copy…"

"You're the one who brought us here," the Z'nai said, forcing a smile onto Celestia's face, "The Prime told me of you, fallen from your place of glory and always on the run from your shame."

"Yes, although I prefer to see it as having risen out of the darkness," Ash said, "And although I try to hide from my shame, I do so by fighting tooth and claw to keep it away from me and my friends." He fired several bolts of magic from his horn, all of which the possessed Princess and the Z'nai around her absorbed. Barely cocking an eyebrow at that, Ash turned to look at Twilight expectantly, only to be disappointed to see that she was still in wide-eyed shock. "Ah skvetch," he groaned, face-hoofing, "Twilight! That was your cue to pull yourself together and blast the Z'nai right out of her! All that posturing and bravado, wasted!" The Z'nai laughed in triumph, only to be cut off by another, more natural laugh from the hero's side. Everyone turned to look at Pinkie Pie, who was lying on her back and laughing her head off, apparently at Ash's performance and its utter failure. As she laughed, Pinkie's Element necklace began to glow brighter and brighter. The possessed princess flinched back, trying to shield herself from the light with a wing, and then finally gathered shadows around her and fled up through the ceiling. Among the remaining Z'nai, most of those possessing guard armor fell apart and all those possessing unicorns abandoned their hosts and fled, some dissipating before they could get away. Heart and Soul linked up and took out the remaining armor Z'nai, all of which were more or less stunned by the Element of Laughter. "I shall never underestimate the power of comedy again," Ash said, his deadpan delivery threatened by the infectious nature of Pinkie's laugh.

Even after the hallway was cleared, it was several minutes before the ponies could continue, since they had to wait for Pinkie to stop laughing so hard that she couldn't move and for Twilight to come back to her senses enough to walk. As they walked along, Pinkie came as close to bouncing as possible without actually doing so, humming "Giggle at the Ghostly" as she went. Twilight's dour mood lightened somewhat as the music brought back memories of her first real adventure with her friends. The rest of the group was also in high spirits thanks to the pink pony. "Say Ash," Soul said, in the mood for banter, "You almost seemed to be enjoying yourself with that speech of yours."

"If I was," Ash said, putting on a superior air, "it was only because I knew how important it was to get that Z'nai's attention off of Twilight. By the way, I do forgive her for not taking the opportunity, since Pinkie provided a most satisfactory Plan B." Pinkie just nodded, her humming transitioning to a new tune. "Hold up," Ash said, slowing to a stop, "I'm pretty sure this is the place." He trotted over to a door and looked it over.

"That's it all right," Gale confirmed, joining him. She pressed the latch, but the door refused to budge. "That's not good," she said.

"Let me at it," Ash said, focusing his magic on the latch.

While he was working, Soul continued with his banter. "If I didn't know any better," he said, "I'd say you are actually having fun dealing with these Z'nai."

"Ha!" Ash said, "As if. Consider this Soul Mage: if I had a choice between the Z'nai and Nightmare Moon I'd-" The door suddenly flew open to reveal a midnight-black alicorn with a starlight mane wearing a light purple helmet. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Ash exclaimed, eyes twitching as the other ponies gasped, "I was being flippant!"

"Out of the way," Twilight ordered, beginning to focus her magic as Ash and Gale moved to comply.

"Wait," Nightmare Moon said in a perfectly normal voice- Luna's voice at that, "It's not what it looks like, I promise. Come in quickly before they find us."

Chapter 5

The ten ponies were understandably cautious as they walked into the workroom and Nightmare Moon closed the door behind them, locking it with magic. However, since it had been Luna's voice to come out of the alicorn's mouth and not Nightmare's more arrogant tone nor a Z'nai buzz-growl, they were willing to give her a chance to explain herself. After making sure Nightmare was well-watched, Ash took a moment to look around the room. The magic field manipulator machine was where he'd left it, and stuck into the side of it he found his now-suspect computerized assistant, PC. He probed the machine a few times with magic before approaching it slowly and looking it over, keeping an ear open to hear Nightmare Moon's story.

"It happened less than a day after you all left," she said, "These Z'nai creatures seemed to come out of nowhere and began attacking the guards down here and ponies throughout the city. My sister managed to trace their source to this room and tried to deal with it personally. Most of her escort was taken over or killed, except for one pegasus who managed to report to me, telling me that ordinary magic was like food to these monsters. I was the only one who could face what my sister had become, and only if I allowed myself to use my power as Nightmare Moon. I managed to contain Celestia in this room and took on her duties over the daytime while I tried to find a permanent solution and stop the spread of the Z'nai. Just a few hours ago, my seal was broken and Celestia broke free. This time our battle ended with the Z'nai inside of her attempting to possess me, only to find itself trapped in the same corner of my mind where Nightmare Moon is held. Another Z'nai took over Celestia and I used the time to escape to this room. I've tried to find a way to exterminate the Z'nai, but it's all I can do to keep it contained and my Nightmare powers under control." She sighed and hung her head.

"Interesting," Ash mused.

"She's tellin' the truth," Applejack said, "I can feel the honesty in her voice." She tapped the gemstone in her necklace as her friends turned to look at her.

"So," Rainbow Dash said, "That means we're locked in a room with a pony who could go crazy in two completely different ways at any moment."

"That's one way to look at it," Luna said glumly.

"Ah, it'll be ok," Pinkie said, optimistic as ever, "If you go crazy we'll just knock it right back out of you again." Luna smiled faintly.

"Personally, I'd rather that not happen," Ash said, removing PC from the machine. He looked it over and went to put it on his head. "Girls," he said, pausing, "If you aren't at the ready, get there. This might go bad." Without waiting for a response, he settled the computer on his head, adjusted the mike and eyepiece, and spoke into it, "PC? Are you still in there?" The eye piece flashed as garbled text ran across it. "Whoa, slow down," Ash said, "Your output is… oh. Oh, I see… Can you spare time for a quick explanation? Keywords will do, but try not to skimp." He fell silent for several seconds as he read the display. "So," he said when the text vanished, "The Z'nai Prime in you slipped a copy past a firewall hole created by interfacing with the magical system in the manipulator which you didn't detect in time and now it's fighting you for control over your system, correct? All right, good luck buddy, I know you can do it- there's only one of him." He removed the computer, put it into his bag, and looked at the group. "Anything you girls, and Soul, didn't catch from that?" he asked.

"Is there a Z'nai in that machine or not?" Heart asked, indicating the manipulator.

"There was," Ash said, "the one I'm now going to dub 'Magic Z'nai Prime.' It jumped out and took over Celestia, but now it's inside Luna and Celestia's being controlled by a later copy, most likely the Beta. PC doesn't know how his Z'nai adapted a copy to work inside the manipulator, but he's making sure it can't put another one in, so the manipulator's clean. Probably the only magical item in Canterlot that isn't." He grew silent, gazing at the machine contemplatively.

"I take it we've reached step 3 of your master plan?" Twilight asked him.

"Use the information we've gathered to concoct a master plan, yes," Ash said with a brief smile.

"So?" Dash asked impatiently.

"This will take time," Ash said, "Talk amongst yourselves, brainstorm if you wish, just give me time."

"You weren't this slow to act the last time you came to save everypony," Luna said, a bit of Nightmare Moon creeping into her voice.

"Last time we were fighting a foe we'd grown accustomed to," Ash replied, "I haven't seen a Z'nai in years, and this is the first time I've actually tried to root out an infestation of them. The big hurdle we must overcome is how to pull the Z'nai out of all the unicorns, Celestia, and the objects they've inhabited quickly enough to insure none of them have a chance to reproduce. What we need is some sort of bait, something they'd rush out en masse to get to."

"Well, there's that thing," Applejack said nodding at the manipulator, "You said it's empty, and from the looks of it I'd say it's something a Z'nai'd pay good money to get into. Y'know, with it being so big and all, they'd have plenny of room to stretch."

"That's not likely to be attractive to them AJ," Ash said, "They don't really take up any space; they're just magic energy that can think. However…" He walked around the machine a few times, and then smiled, "It is a pretty potent source of magic, and their Prime did inhabit it. At any rate, the simple fact that it's unoccupied makes it darn near irresistible. I bet the only reason they aren't rushing in and fighting for the right to get inside of it is because the Prime's the only one who's been near it since the infestation got started. Heh heh." He patted the machine. "The only problem is once a Z'nai gets inside it the rest will lose interest and go about their business. With the right kind of spells, though, we can prevent the Z'nai that get inside it from escaping or broadcasting their occupancy of it, keeping it attractive until every single Z'nai in Canterlot is stuffed inside."

"What do we do with it then?" Luna asked, "Destroy the machine?"

"No, that would just let the Z'nai out again," Ash said, thinking hard, "We'll have to burn that bridge when we come to it. Just getting the Z'nai out of the ponies is good enough for now. Questions or comments anypony?"

"I assume we'll have to use the Elements of Harmony to cast the spells you mentioned," Twilight said.

"Of course."

"Which means you'll need to tell me what they are and teach me how to do them."

"Truth," Ash said. His brow furrowed as he looked at the machine again. "You know," he said, "this might work a little better if this thing were in a more… prominent location. I'm thinking the Day or Night Tower.

"Well, just how are we gonna move it without bein' spotted by any Z'nai?" Applejack asked.

"I can handle that," Luna said, "Although I won't be able to take it and all of you."

"Once it's up there, it's sure to been spotted by the Z'nai," Ash said, "If any of them get inside before we can set the spells, we're sunk."

"Well then, set the spells first and then I'll take it," Luna replied. Ash shook his head again.

"The spells I have in mind will need near-constant attention," he said, "especially once some Z'nai get inside and start trying to get out. However, a spell to make it invisible might do in the meantime. Think you can handle that Twilight?"

"Probably," Twilight said, "I just hope I can find the spell in the books I brought." She dug out her books and began flipping through them.

"I know this is important," Rarity said, "And I don't wish to come across as a whiner, but must we go all the way up to the top of the towers? That's such a long climb."

"And those creatures are probably going to do everything they can to get in our way," Fluttershy put in.

"I'm with them," Soul said, "Maybe we should set up on one of the viewing platforms."

"Upper one then," Ash said, "Although, that's where we parked the balloon…"

"Balloons can be replaced," Gale said pragmatically, "Heck, I'll pay to replace the thing if it gets destroyed or whatever. We should try to minimize the risk if we can."

"Celestia and I will replace the balloon if need be," Luna said, "It'll be the least we can do if you can fix this."

"Found it!" Twilight said, tossing all but one book aside and holding the last one open in front of her face, "It's a bit complicated, but with all the Elements I should be able to do it without draining myself too much." Her five friends arranged themselves behind her as the other ponies moved to give her room to work. Twilight closed her eye as her horn began to glow, followed by her Element tiara and each of the necklaces in turn. A rainbow of colors swirled out from the six gemstones and spun around the magic manipulator several times as it quickly faded from sight. When the spell ended Twilight gave her head a quick shake and then smiled. "No problem," she said. Gale walked over and extended a hoof toward the invisible machine and tapped it a few times to make sure it was still there.

"Your turn Princess Luna," she said, walking away again.

"Wish me luck," the black alicorn princess said, taking a deep breath. She dissolved into a sparkling mist that flew over and surrounded the invisible machine before shrinking down and flying away through the wall. "I'll see you at the viewing platform. Good luck, my little ponies," Luna's voice rang softly through the room.

The group made it up to the ground level of the castle before running into trouble. First, there had been a large group of possessed unicorns blocking the stairs, forcing the group to detour out into the hallways. Second, they encountered a small cohort of Z'nai in guard armor while crossing the entrance hall to find another staircase. Soul sighed as he and Heart formed their link, "You think they'd have figured out a new way to come at us by now. That armor can't be the only magical stuff in Canterlot." As if in answer, the floor shook and a large alicorn statue broke its way through a door way and lowered it horn to charge the group.

"Happy now?" Heart asked sarcastically.

"Oh yes," Soul replied with just as much sarcasm.

"Hey," Rainbow Dash said, "That's the statue from the Gala! I didn't know it was magic!"

"I don't think it is," Twilight said, "They probably just enchanted it."

"Either way, it's coming at us!" Ash shouted, throwing fireballs at it. They splashed harmlessly against the stone, but weren't absorbed. "Goody," Ash said, changing to slashing bolts that scored the legs of the statue. He was unable to stop it, and the ponies were forced to dodge out of its way at the last second. The Z'nai Armors began to charge into the fray, brandishing spears and blades. "Physical fighters, help me take the statue down," Ash said, "Twilight, help Heart and Soul with the Z'nai. Whoever's left, find a way to be useful or get to safety." Fluttershy immediately took off, flying up to the ceiling to hide behind a chandelier. AJ and Rainbow Dash followed Ash as he charged the statue, which had stumbled in its attempts to stop and turn around. Rarity took a quick look around before closing her eyes and using her magic to pull a tapestry off the wall onto a bunch of Z'nai near the back of the group. She winced at the sound of their weapons tearing at the nearly priceless art in their attempts to free themselves and tried to block it out by running through ideas for a dress worthy of Celestia in her head. Pinkie Pie… bounced around improvising a song and somehow managed to stay out of everypony's way.

"Typical Pinkie," Soul said, shaking his head and smiling as he jumped away from a Z'nai's swinging sword. "Sis, they're getting a little close for comfort here.

"Working on it," Heart said, hovering above the mass of Z'nai as she directed an Element Wheel through their ranks, "This would be easier if I could make two of these things at a time."

"Work with what you got," Soul responded, focusing his magic into his rear hooves as he spun and bucked his assailant away, cracking the breastplate in several places and disrupting the Z'nai's form. Twilight finished it off with a spell that widened the cracks until the breastplate fell apart.

"Why do they bother with the rest of the armor if their entire being is linked to the breastplate?" the lavender unicorn asked.

"No idea," Soul said, diverting part of the link tendril to pluck off a Z'nai's helmet. Its "head" wavered and vanished and the creature dropped its weapon as it tried to reorient itself. "I'd guess the rest's there to let them take on a shape, but why they'd want to do that is beyond me."

"Soul!" Heart shouted, "I'm losing control here! Put that link back together!"

"Sorry," Soul said, complying. Heart snorted and let the Element Wheel disappear, forming a new one and throwing it out as she dodged several thrown spears.

Over at the animated statue, Applejack was dangling from a rope after her attempt to hold the thing down by the neck with a lasso failed due to a lack of something to brace herself against. She considered letting go and dropping to the floor, but since the alicorn chose that moment to rear up and prepare for another trampling charge, she bit down harder and silently begged Rainbow Dash to see her plight and come to the rescue. She started to panic as she felt the rope begin to fray in her mouth, only to find herself being supported and lifted from behind. She glanced over her shoulder to see Dash wrapping her legs around the earth pony's torso. "I've got you," the blue pegasus said.

AJ spat out the rope and said, "Thanks sugar cube," as Rainbow carried her out of the way of the statue, which came down with a crash and began charging, heading straight for Pinkie Pie, who seemed oblivious. "How do we stop this thing?" Applejack asked as Dash set her on the ground next to Ashen Blaze.

"Your rope trick was on the right track," Ash said, running along side the statue as he untied the lasso from its neck with his magic, "We just need to reposition it." He brought the rope down and tied it around one of the legs. "Grab a hold!" he shouted as he brought the other end to his mouth and bit down on it, digging in his hooves as he tried to stop. Applejack and Rainbow Dash hurried over and joined him. With their combined weight, they managed to stop and pull the rope tight, causing the statue to trip and fall forward. Pinkie stopped bouncing and looked toward the mass of stone that was falling toward her. She took two steps backward and reared up on her hind legs as the statue hit the ground in a cloud of dust and broken stone.

"Pinkie Pie!" Dash cried, unsure of what had happened to the earth pony. The dust cleared to reveal Pinkie standing a mere inch in front of the statue's head. She gave it a light punch, giggled, and bounced away. Dash breathed a sigh of relief, only to gasp in surprise as a chandelier fell onto the statue's head, breaking the horn off and apparently ending the enchantment. All fighting stopped as everypony and half the remaining Z'nai looked up to see Fluttershy hovering by the broken chain that had held the chandelier until just recently.

"Oops," she said, "Sorry. I tried to land on it and it just… broke."

"No worries Fluttershy," Dash said with a laugh.

"Oh, ok," Fluttershy said, and then squeaked and fled as the Z'nai tried to throw spears at her.

"I think it's time we finished this," Ash said, nodding at the Z'nai, who were engaging Twilight, Soul, and Heart again.

"Right," Rainbow said as AJ nodded. They galloped into the fray, bucking and kicking to drive the Z'nai into small groups that Heart could decimate or Twilight could zap. In short order the foes were defeated, either destroyed or in retreat to the nearest unoccupied magical item. A couple tried getting into Ash's mind, but a blast of magic from Rarity drove them away, leaving the ash-grey pony a little dazed for a few seconds. Besides that, the worst injury they'd sustained was a shallow sword wound on AJ's flank from the same blow that had separated her from all but a few inches of her tail.

"Ah phooey, I liked that tail!" she said, glaring at the pile of blonde hair on the floor while Fluttershy applied a bandage to her wound, "It'll take forever to grow back out."

"Really?" Rarity asked, acting surprised, "I would have guessed you'd be happy to have a short tail now- it would be one less thing to get caught in something while you're working after all."

"If I wanted a short tail, I'd have cut it myself before now," Applejack retorted, "and I certainly wouldn't cut it this short. This ain't a tail, it's… I dunno, but I don't like it."

"Girls, this isn't a good time," Soul said, "We can't keep Luna waiting much longer."

"Just give me one more moment," Rarity said. Her horn glowed and the severed tail floated off the floor, flew over to AJ's rump, and reattached itself to her.

"Hey, thanks a bunch!" AJ said, giving her tail an experimental flick, "It's good as new."

"Hey," Rainbow Dash said, "Why didn't you fix my tail when it got cut back in the stair-well?"

"You didn't complain about it," Rarity said, "So I assumed you were ok with it."

"Oi," Ash said, impatiently, "Princess and valuable machine, out in the open, virtually unguarded. Let's go!" Rainbow shut her mouth with a disgruntled snort and followed the group as they galloped to their destination.

When they reached the next staircase, a terrible laugh echoed through the castle, bringing the group to a halt as they prepared for trouble. "Run and fight all you wish ponies," the buzzing, growling voice of Z'nai-controlled Celestia rumbled around them, "There are more of us than you can possibly imagine, and even if you destroy every piece of enchanted armor in the entire land, we still come for you in numbers beyond counting."

"Come on," Twilight said, gritting her teeth and trying to force back her tears, "She's just taunting us. We can do this, we can save Princess Celestia."

"That's the spirit," Ash said encouragingly. The ponies resumed their run, heading up the remaining flights of stairs to the floor that housed the upper viewing platform.

As they ran, the Z'nai continued trying to break them. "I thought you should know," it said, "we're getting much more powerful now. A few of us have managed to take control of the flying ponies. You thought we could only take the ones that can use magic, right? Turns out the flying ones have quite a bit of magic potential in them, just not as much as the horned ones. I bet the 'earth ponies' have some magic too, so it's only a matter of time before we can worm our way into their minds."

"Oh I hope that's not true," Ash muttered, "if they can do that, there's probably nothing in Equestria they won't be able to possess. Still, it took them the better part of a week to get into pegasi, and only just. If it's telling the truth."

"We'll stop them," Twilight said, eyes hard and full of fury, "We have to." A chorus of agreement and a "Woo!" from Pinkie Pie greeted her statement. They reached the right floor and galloped toward the viewing platform. As they burst through the door and out onto the platform, waves of shadow began creeping toward them. Fluttershy squealed and shut her eyes as she somehow found the energy to speed up, beating the rest of the ponies to the hot-air balloon, which she dived into. Princess Luna was nowhere to be seen, and the ponies were forced to stop as the shadows gathered in front of them and formed up into the possessed Celestia.

"Trying to escape are we?" she buzzed, "I don't think so." Her horn began to glow with dark purple light as the group tried to back away. Celestia's spell and laugh of triumph were cut off as a sparkling mist came up from behind her, wrapped a tendril around her neck, and resolved into the midnight-black Nightmare-form Luna straddling her sister's back and pulling her head back in a choke-hold.

"You will not force my sister to kill anypony," Luna snarled, "Least of all her favorite student." She looked at the group and said, "It's in the center of the platform. Hurry!" The nine ponies nodded and ran past the two alicorns as Celestia tried to shake Luna off.

"Center of the platform," Ash mused as they neared the spot, "but how exact is-" He was interrupted by the sound of Pinkie Pie smashing into something mind-bounce. He looked to see her sprawled out on something he couldn't see.

"Found it!" Pinkie declared happily, hopping off. Twilight's horn glowed as she undid the invisibility spell, revealing the magic manipulator.

"Ok," Ash said, "Twilight, I need you to pay close attention. We've only got one shot at this. Come stand by me." The lavender-and-blue unicorn did so as Ash fished a piece of chalk out of his pack. "I'm going to trace a pattern on the ground," he said, "I need you to focus your magic and follow it with your eyes as closely as you can, and try not to blink if you can help it. Once I'm finished, tap the pattern with a hoof and turn your attention to the machine, willing it to have a barrier that will let Z'nai in but not out. Once we get that in place, I'll cast a spell to advertise its presence throughout the city. You ready?"

"I… I think so," Twilight said, "Though that seems like an odd way to do a spell."

"That's how I do them," Ash said, "You've seen me. We don't have time to translate this spell into a format you're familiar with, so let's hope you can do it my way." Twilight nodded and began focusing as her friends arranged themselves to facilitate the flow of power through the Elements. Ash put the chalk to the ground and began tracing, going as slow as he dared to give Twilight a chance to keep up. While they worked, Gale, Soul, and Heart turned to watch the fight between Luna and Celestia. Luna was holding onto her sister's neck for dear life as the possessed Princess jumped and bucked and pestered Luna with magic. This went on for several minutes until Celestia finally broke Luna's chokehold and threw her toward the center of the platform. The three Order-naries caught the black alicorn and settled her gently to the ground. The sound of Luna's cry startled Twilight, but Ash quickly snapped out, "We're almost done- just a few more seconds. Focus!" Twilight gulped, forcing herself not to look away from the chalk line Ash was laying down. A few tense seconds later, Ash lifted the chalk and gave Twilight a quick nod.

"Here goes," Twilight grunted, reaching out to tap the pattern. As she did so, the chalk began to glow purple, and then each of the other colors of the rainbow as the Elements of Harmony activated. With a brief smile, Twilight looked up at the machine and unleashed her magic. The machine was quickly coated in a translucent rainbow aura that swirled about randomly. "Did I do it?" Twilight asked.

Ash smiled and nodded, horn glowing as he said, "Far better than I could ever do. Keep an eye on it- it may need an energy boost now and again." He etched another pattern on the ground with his chalk, tapped it, and wrapped the machine in another spell. The machine turned on, and Celestia gasped and fell to the ground, groaning as darkness seemed to leak out of her coat. Luna spasmed briefly, and then changed back to her normal form as a black shadow flew out of her and into the machine. A few seconds later, another shadow flew out of Celestia, struggling as it was pulled into the machine as well. A shriek that threatened to shatter eardrums rose up throughout the castle and the city below as a wave of shadows rose up and began converging on the machine, some of them dragging pieces of royal guard armor with them.

"Something tells me you made that machine more than 'attractive' to the Z'nai," Soul shouted over the noise.

"On the contrary," Ash replied, "I made it as attractive as a magnet, and the Z'nai are the iron!" He laughed as the shadows reached the platform and began pouring through the barrier into the magic manipulator, the tag-along armor bits bouncing off as they hit it. The rainbow barrier began bulging in places, and Ash instructed Twilight, "Give it more magic, and expand the radius if you can. Tap the tracing again if you have to." He quickly rubbed out the one he'd used to avoid confusion as Twilight channeled more magic into the barrier.

Princess Luna had regained her feet and was watching the scene with a mixture of awe and horror at the amount of pure darkness flowing into the machine when a groan made her turn around. She ran over to her sister and helped her stand up, checking to see if Celestia's eyes had returned to normal and sighing in relief when she saw they had. "Ugh…" Celestia moaned, "What… what time is it?"

"Long past time for the sun to sleep," Luna said, looking up at the sky, where the sun still hung on the western side of is zenith.

"Oh dear," Celestia said, looking around her and then up at the sky, "I'm still weak. Will you help me set this right, dear sister?"

"Of course," Luna said, rubbing her head against Celestia's chin. The two alicorns focused their magic, and the sun sped across the sky to sink below the horizon. Celestia's light faded as Luna quickly turned to the east and brought the moon up to light the sky.

"Wowzers, that was trippy," Soul said after he reclaimed use of his dropped jaw.

"Wowzers?" Gale asked incredulously. Soul stuck his tongue out at her.

"What is going on here?" Celestia asked, seeing the Z'nai being sucked into the manipulator as Twilight expanded the barrier again, "The last thing I remember is fighting one of those shadow creatures. After that… just flashes and foggy… Oh dear…" Luna leaned up next to her as her legs threatened to give out, "What did I do?" she demanded.

"You didn't do anything," Gale said as Celestia allowed herself to be helped into a laying position, "You see…" she then proceeded to summarize the events of the day and what they knew of the Z'nai invasion.

"How many of them are there?" Twilight yelled as she expanded the barrier yet again. The manipulator was barely visible through all the shadows roiling around inside the rainbow cage. Here didn't seem to be an end to the waves of Z'nai flying from the city, and there was an impressive-looking pile of armor around the barrier.

"A lot," Ash replied simply, "These things propagate as quickly as they find new places to inhabit."

"They're like shadowy parasprites!" Pinkie said, smiling at the realization, "Except, these things probably don't like music so much."

"Probably not," Ash agreed, "How are you holding up Twilight?"

"I'm starting to feel the strain," Twilight responded, "If this keeps up much longer I'll either collapse from exhaustion or go ballistic from magic overload. If we're lucky, the latter one will just result in this barrier becoming dramatically larger, but I can't promise that."

Ash looked out over the city. Straining his eyes, he thought he could make out a thinning at the edges of the waves. "Keep it up as long as you can," he said, "I think I can see the end of it." Twilight nodded and took a more solid stance. After several minutes, she began to shake and her eyes began to glow faintly white, but the waves finally began to peter out and the shrieks ceased rending the air as the last Z'nai was pulled into the machine. "We're good!" Ash shouted, thrusting a hoof into the air.

"Great," Twilight grunted, "Now what? They're pushing against that barrier so hard, it'll collapse if I let it go."

"Oh… uh," Ash said, thinking, "Great… we've got to put these things somewhere where there's not enough magic for them to feed on. But where in Equestria…" He trailed off as his gaze went to the horizon. His expression went stoic as his eyes hardened and he turned to face the machine. He strode purposefully forward and stopped just short of entering the barrier. Everypony's eyes were on him as he picked up his chalk and etched a spell pattern onto the ground.

"Ash," Soul Mage asked, getting worried, "what are you doing?"

The ash-grey unicorn with the fire-like mane ignored the question as he finished his pattern and placed a hoof firmly on it. As his horn and the pattern began to glow, his gaze went up until it settled on the pale moon above him. "Destulf feryp, lunar surface, Transport!" he shouted. There was a bright orange flash and Ash, the machine, the Z'nai, and the barrier all vanished from sight.

"No!" Gale and Heart both yelled, running toward the vacated area. Soul simply stood where he was, stunned.

"What… just happened?" Fluttershy asked as the magic around the Elements of Harmony faded away and Twilight's legs gave out.

"Destulf," Soul muttered, "set destination. Feryp, large area of effect, I guess, or line-of-sight." Everyone turned to look at him as he shook his head sadly. "The moon," he said, "he took them to the moon, using the only spell he knew could handle the load- personal transportation."

"Why though?" Rarity asked.

"He needed a place where there's little to no magic," Soul said, slumping to the ground, "Barring that, some place the Z'nai can't get back into Equestria from. Either way, the moon seems like a logical option."

"But he had to trap himself there as well to do it," Heart said glumly, "Idiot. He always seems to find a way to sacrifice himself to put an end to his problems…"

"Not this time!" Luna declared. A sparkling mist surrounded her as she grew to match her sister's height and her coat turned midnight black. "He's done nothing to deserve that," she insisted, her voice now that of Nightmare Moon. She vanished from sight as the mist flew away toward the moon.

"Can she do that?" Soul asked, looking at Celestia, "why'd she stay there a thousand years if she can just-"

"I sealed her to the moon," Celestia said simply, "That seal's gone now, so she can go wherever she wants. I just wish she didn't have to become Nightmare Moon to get that far."

"I second that, Princess," Applejack said.

Any further comments were cut off as the mist returned and deposited Nightmare Moon and a very upset Ashen Blaze onto the platform. "No no no!" Ash was shouting, and then smacked his face with a hoof when he saw where he was. "Skvetchte…" he muttered, and then pulled PC out of his saddlebag. "PC, status," he said as he put the computer on his head. He nodded as text flashed across the screen and then began slowly rotating in place. "Scan for Z'nai," he said, "And… no, I can examine myself, thank you very much!" He completed a few revolutions and then pulled PC off his head and gave Nightmare Moon a hard look. "You," he said slowly, "are so lucky I can't even begin to describe it. Do you realize that, in your haste to get me, you could have brought a Z'nai or two back with us? You didn't, and so I guess I can say thank you." He bowed his head, and continued in a sincere tone, "Thank you Princess Luna for bringing me back from my self-imposed exile. I suggest you don't do anything fancy with the moon for a long while. Moving it shouldn't affect the Z'nai much, but I'd be careful." He turned to walk away, but then looked back and said, "Are you going to put the Nightmare away, or do you need some… assistance?" Luna shook her head and changed back into her normal, purple shape. "Now, if you'll excuse me," Ash said, "I am in dire need of some food." He galloped off before anypony could speak.

"Ash! Wait up!" Rarity called, running after him. Gale watched the white unicorn leave with an amused look on her face.

"Well," Soul Mage said, looking around, "I think that's it everypony. The Z'nai are gone. We win."

"So it seems," Princess Celestia said, "Well done, all of you." Her words seemed to break the tension still hovering over the group, and shouts of celebration broke out as the ponies leapt about and hugged each other in joy.

"Yeee-ha!"

"Yeees!"

"Woo! Party time!"

"Yay."

Rarity had somehow managed to lose Ashen Blaze somewhere between the front gates of the castle and the city of Canterlot proper. She wandered about, watching as ponies began to emerge from their homes and shops and gather in small groups to gossip and speculate about what had just happened. Rarity fought the urge to join one of those groups and tell them the whole story; it was going to be up to the Princesses to inform the citizenry and decide how much to tell. If Rarity were to try, she'd either be laughed at as one of the more outrageous rumor-makers, or her story would be expanded and changed beyond recognition as it spread through the city. Rarity loved being the center of attention, but this was one time when staying out of the spotlight was the better choice. She blocked out the voices of the rumor-mongers as she searched for Ash, trying as he probably was to find a café or restaurant that had opened for business.

She found him at a diner trying not to lose his patience as he explained his desired order to the waiter. "It's not that complicated," he was saying, "It's like hay fries, only you use sliced potatoes instead of the hay. I know you've got potatoes back there because you offer them baked and mashed and even raw with a side of… Ok, there, you see how the raw potatoes look? Cut them up like that and stick them in the fryer for a few minutes until they're golden-brown and crispy, then put them next to my sandwich and bring them out. Think your cook can handle that?"

"I think so sir," the red-on-cream unicorn waiter said, scribbling furiously at his notebook.

"Good," Ash said, "and get me the blueberry smoothie to drink if you please." The waiter finished writing, took the menu, and headed back into the kitchen.

"Um, Ash?" Rarity asked, spooking the ash-grey unicorn.

"Rarity!" he exclaimed, whirling around in his seat, "H-hi. What are you doing here?"

"I came to see if you were all right," Rarity said, taking the seat across from Ash," You ran off so quickly…"

"I've spent all day running around up and down castle stairs, avoiding creatures I couldn't properly fight, coming up with a plan to fix everything as I went, and topped it all off with a pair of very powerful and draining spells. I am starving." He chuckled as Rarity gave him an empathetic smile and sat back. "You know," he said, "I am amazed you ponies don't have the concept of the French fry. I'll forgive you the lack of processed soybean patties and whatnot, but how could a society make it so far without coming up with deep-fried potatoes?"

"I… don't know," Rarity said, somewhat confused. Ash smirked, and then his face fell into a melancholy expression. "Ash, what's wrong?" Rarity asked.

"Why do you like me so much Rarity?" Ash asked, "Not even my own teammates are so quick to check on me when I go off on my own. Of course, they're used to me doing this, and going places they can't follow me…" He shook his head. "I'm trouble," he said, "Nobody should want to have anything to do with me. My team sticks by me out of loyalty and because they know I can't be left to my own devices, but you? Your friends, the Princesses, every pony in Ponyville and Canterlot and beyond, none of you should want me around. Trouble always finds me: Tau'rin, Nightmare Moon's second return, and I brought the Z'nai here! I caused this!" There was a clatter as the waiter, who had arrived with the food, dropped the platter, stared at Ash, and then ran into the kitchen. "See, he has the right idea!" Ash exclaimed, "Now, I'd better get out of here before they try something." He got up and ran out the door.

"Ash!" Rarity called out, running after him. She caught up a couple streets later and imposed herself into his path. After he skidded to a stop, she grabbed him and pushed him up against the wall of the building they were next to. "Now listen to me," Rarity said, "You'll never be able to forgive yourself if you keep thinking so negatively! You know what I see when I look at you Ashen Blaze? I see a hero. I see a pony who has looked danger in the face and laughed. A pony who refuses to back down no matter what stands in his way. A pony who knows who he can trust and how he can work with them to accomplish what needs to be done. I also see a pony who has a bad habit of claiming responsibility for every bad thing that happens around him." Ash opened his mouth to protest, but Rarity put a hoof over it and continued, "I don't know all of what you've done in the past, and honestly I don't think I care to learn, but I know this: nothing that happened since you and your friends dropped out of the sky into Fluttershy's chicken run has been your fault, not even the Z'nai. You didn't know they could get out through your machine. What's more, as often as you claim responsibility, you act to fix the problem. You don't cause trouble- you clean it up. If that's not the definition of a noble hero, I don't know what is." She released Ash and stepped back.

Ash stood in silence for several seconds, head hung low. Finally, he looked up and met Rarity's eyes, appreciation shining in his own. "I've been told something like that before," he said, "Thank you for reminding me of it. You truly are a great friend Rarity." The white unicorn blushed, and then chuckled as Ash's stomach rumbled. "Come on," the grey unicorn said, "Let's see if we can find a restaurant that hasn't heard I'm the big bad mastermind behind the Z'nai. I'll pay." Rarity laughed as the two of them walked side-by-side down the street.

Epilogue

A few days later, after Princess Celestia had fully recovered from her possession and life was starting to return to normal in Canterlot, a ceremony was held to honor the ten ponies who had saved the city, and the world, from disaster once again. The Princesses sat in the throne room, Celestia on the throne itself and Luna to her right. The six holders of the Elements of Harmony were bowed before the dais as Celestia praised their strength, courage, and most of all their friendship. Ashen Blaze, Soul Mage, and Gold Heart waited at the other end of the room for their turn, and they were looking around anxiously for their missing member. As Luna took her turn thanking the six ponies before her, Gale slipped quietly though the chamber doors, quite out of breath but smiling. "Where have you been?" Ash asked.

"Checking the inventory at the production house for my adding machines," the brown earth pony said, "After we'd cleaned out Canterlot, I realized we only knew there was a problem here because of the Z'nai inside the machine Twilight got."

"Oh… crap," Ash said, "If any other infested machines got out of the city…"

"Don't worry," Gale said, "I personally compared the inventory of unfinished machines and parts to the shipping records. The only machine that left Canterlot after the Z'nai broke out went to Ponyville's library." Everypony breathed a huge sigh of relief; there was no way they could deal with an Equestria-wide infestation. A round of cheers and hoof-stomps told the four that the Princesses had finished with Twilight and company, and now it was their turn to approach the thrones. The six Element bearers stood in a line off to the side, and the four noticed with pleasure that Twilight's natural coloring was back. The six nodded pleasantly as the Order-naries arrived at the dais and bowed.

"Ashen Blaze, Soul Mage, Gold Heart, and Gale," Princess Celestia said, "We owe you as large a debt of gratitude as we do to the Elements of Harmony. The have told me, and as I recall from the glimpses of reality I had while under the control of the Z'nai, that you four were instrumental in the successful eradication of the shadows, none more so than you Ashen Blaze. We commend you for your unwavering drive that united these ponies and kept them going despite the obstacles placed before them. I recall the speech you made when my controller first confronted you, and I must say it was a truly valiant effort. However, it is true that the Z'nai could not have attacked if it weren't for that… device of yours, PC."

"That is true Princess," Ash said, "The Z'nai that spawned the rest came from PC and in fact is still inside of him. We cannot eradicate it without destroying PC's personality and most of his functions in the process. I can honestly say I never imagined the Z'nai could make the leap from a computer like PC to items and creatures of a magical nature, so if I am to be held at fault, I plead for leniency on the grounds of ignorance to the danger."

"And I was the one to link PC to the device the Z'nai spread from," Gale added, "So I am just as guilty as Ash."

"Then you are both innocent," Celestia said kindly, "You are both honest ponies and your actions to clean up the mess prove you would never unleash such horrors upon my subjects willingly." There was a cheer from Pinkie Pie that spread quickly through part of the room and died away just as quickly.

Princess Luna stepped forward and spoke, "For your efforts, there must be a suitable reward."

"Oh please no," Heart said, "We were only doing what we had to. We don't need any fanfare or parades or anything."

"Very well," Luna said, "Although there must be some sort of celebration, since that's inevitable anyway." She smiled at Pinkie Pie, who winked back with a huge grin on her face. "I for one simply can't let you four go on with your lives unrecognized in some manner. For Ashen Blaze, we will continue to support your research into the nature of Equestria's magic."

"Provided you don't stick that PC of yours into anything else you build," Celestia put in.

"Of course," Luna and Ash said at the same time. "For Gale," Luna continued, "we'll compensate you for anything you may have lost in terms of designs, tools, or essential equipment to your inventing needs."

"I'm not lacking for anything expensive," Gale said, "The Z'nai seemed strangely unwilling to try and build more things to take over. However, I did promise Twilight there an adding machine, but since we had to dispose of it…"

"We'll pay for the replacement," Luna said with a nod. "As for you two," she said, looking to Heart and Soul, "Just what is it you do again?"

"Nothing much," Heart said, "Our talents aren't the most… constructive."

"Yes," Celestia said, getting a mischievous glint in her eye, "I saw what you did to those Z'nai. Between the two of you, more than half of the royal guard's stock of armor has been destroyed- especially the breastplates. It will be months before the smiths can make enough to outfit all the guards on duty, let alone those that are off-shift at any given time. Until then, our defense is going to be quite weak." The golden-yellow ponies cringed, not because they feared Celestia's wrath, but because they had an idea what kind of "reward" she was leading up to with this, and they didn't like it. "Therefore," Celestia continued, "until such time as the guard is back to full strength, I will grant you two the positions on my traveling honor guard."

"Traveling Honor Guard?" Soul asked hesitantly.

"Yes," Celestia said, suddenly looking a bit tired, "After what has transpired, both Luna and I feel entitled to a little vacation. Of course, we can't both go off at the same time or the cycle of day and night would stop, so we've decided to take turns. Next week I will leave to travel across Equestria visiting some of my favorite relaxation spots while Luna stays here to keep things running. I'll be gone for a week, and then it will be Luna's turn. While we're out, we'll need some ponies to help protect us, and since we can't spare many guards at the moment due to the equipment shortage, the two of you will fill in for a couple of them. Once we've had our breaks, we will call on you from time to time as duty demands that we travel to other places."

"So," Heart said, her eyes starting to shine, "We'll get to see all of Equestria?"

"Yes," Luna said simply, "And if you wish to remain on the guard after your term of service expires, I hear the pay and benefits are to die for."

"And on our off-time?" Soul asked.

"Just keep out of trouble and stay where we can contact you," Celestia said, "That should allow you live anywhere in Canterlot, or Ponyville if you so wish."

Heart and Soul exchanged looks for a few seconds, and then looked back at the Princesses and said, "Thank you so much," at the same time.

"Wonderful," Celestia said, standing up and addressing the entire throne room, "Once again, our thanks to these wonderful ponies. Now, go your way and make this day better than the day before!" The gathered ponies stamped their hooves and then began to clear out of the throne room. "So," Celestia said as she and Luna descended from the dais, "did I hear somepony mention a party?"