In The Kingdom Of Hope [Concluded]

"Waste away without purpose? Well... that would still be preferable to complete annihilation of consciousness I suppose... And who are you to tell me whether I can rest or not? I suppose you know someone older than I? I do not assume myself to be the most ancient, but I think I certainly deserve some time off... I would rather rest with my consciousness than without it." Fearful blinked in surprise, before smiling genuinely. "Well now, that is something I am glad to hear," he said, giving her a gentle hug. "I am glad that you see yourself as independent, and I am glad that you are happy with your path. Better you walk a dark path under your own will than a light path against your will, though do not think I called your path a dark one..." He shrugged.

"Well done? That's a new one, to be sure. I can't say I've ever met a villain who congratulated me on beating al of his security systems," he shrugged again and chuckled. "Things always get better, you just have to give them time." He stepped forwards, trotting happily ahead. "Yup. Maybe we finally get to see what's killing the planet."

Blade sighed and shrugged. "It's not like we have much of a choice do we? We might get lucky and it actually will." He covered up his body in a construct around himself before waiting for the others to start moving as well, making sure to stay near Celestia since she still seemed off to him, he had to pick up the slack for her though he wasn't entirely sure how. He wished that he had at least managed to keep his armor since he still hadn't gotten the new one yet. Blade doubted the figure was lying since he didn't even have to tell him about the armor much less lie to him.

Sugary seemed to persist with his simple spells, that were powerful, but the intent and effects were all too clear. Luna did not sigh or roll her eyes as the stallion approached wrapped in water. The damage to the ground that had already been inflicted was great with a large part of the street underneath them torn up already. Sugary’s blast mostly propelled small stones and flecks of dirt. She let this all impact on her, not seeing it as worthy of much concern, but as the underlying soil hit her face and some got into her eye, she was forced into jerking her head in reaction, throwing any concentration she had on her spell. With one eye open she was unable to have any accuracy, so she called down a lightning to sweep in front of the stallion's path whilst she rose a leg to her eye.

"I am a friend not wanting you to disappear before your time," Mittere said looking at the ground. Her head raised as locked up, feeling the hug from a pony she previously not would have imagined it coming from. He’d invaded her space with all the best intentions. It was odd. He certainly seemed to be treating this friendship thing seriously. If he thought he could get her expand that to the princesses he was mistaken however.  “I would also say that the path makes no difference also, we sometimes do that which we have to. I would not be offended regardless. You are meant to be a creature of darkness after all, and it is not as though you are bad."

“Have you spoken with many villains, Fearful?” Luna asked, his comment prompting curiosity from her. "I have. Were it not for others restraining me, I would have destroyed them." She hoped a little that mention of overcoming past threats would prove to be motivating.

"What about...?" Mittere looked to the way they had come from.It was the first time she had shown worry over Sugary’s fate, but she was a little hesitant now that everypony seemed so eager to move on without him. She grunted and shook her head and began moving again, moving moving into moving into a space where it was wider and be she could not hold anypony up.

"We should keep moving forward,” Celestia said with a nod. "He shall be fine." It was of little doubt to her these words would do nothing, but she would always trying. Things would never improve between them without trying. She took to the front, overtaking Mittere and Fearful as she moved towards the light that could be seen further down the spiral staircase that offered the only way down and onward.

He chuckled and nodded slowly, stepping back once he was done hugging her. "Well now... I'm glad you're my friend." He considered her statement, before snorting and shaking his head. "Yes well... I guess I'm not, am I?" He was clearly not the same stallion that she had met at the beginning on their journey, and he seemed to be better for it.

He glanced back at Luna, shaking his head. "I have spoken with a few actually... Sombra, Discord... And uh... What was that other one? Tirek? He rocked up to the Isle... And then left almost straight away." He chuckled. "I must say, that was a good day~"

Fearful stopped as Celestia overtook him, before glancing at Miterre. "Do you want me to go back?" He asked, resting a hoof on her shoulder. "I can look after him when he comes back, and I'll bring him here when he does."

Sugary was more technical than one might think right away, as one did not wield great power properly without focus and discipline. That the blast had its intended effect was a bonus, but the moment Luna threw her lightning... he continued onwards, shifting some of the magic flow that went into controlling the water onto the ground on his sides to accept the electricity coming his way with more ease, as well as raising his own magic output to the limit to compensate effectively. However strong her electricity might be, the water should be quite able to disperse its energy within it safely, while excess was veered towards the ground to the sides, further dampening it. He intended to keep any of the energy he could within his whirlpool with his magic, countering by sending a large chunk of the gathered water and extra energy right back at her in a furious blast of pressure at the distracted mare, hopefully giving her a taste of her own medicine after shocking Mittere...

Blade tried his best to keep up with the Princess. He didn't have any other reason to be by her side outside of simple feeling that he had to. The small unicorn was always a few steps behind the much taller alicorn, but was making a effort to keep by her side. He heard a few memorable names being brought up, Tirek ringing the most bells for him. The guard was there simply to evacuate most of Canterlot and provide a flimsy protection for the powerless Princesses against Tirek. They would have put up a good fight in their magic wasn't drained the moment the centaur saw them. Strangely, that was only the second villain he had been unlucky enough to come across, Chrysalis being the first. Sadly, most of led to the Guard either beating each other senseless, beating a changeling senseless, or sometimes even a random civilian due to the mix up between pony and changeling from time to time. This led to the Guard looking even worse in the eyes of most.

This pieces of dirt were proving quite troublesome to remove. Luna was forced into giving up trying to pull them out, instead resorting to blinking in order to clear her eye. She was forced to give a hasty response as Sugary attacked, even if it were not at its fullest. She decided now was a worthy time to deploy one of her dark orbs in order to be able to start mounting an attack again. Luna looked to the building behind, tearing some of the wall off, as a princesses life could not hope to compare to such insignificant damage. The orb struck the approaching water, diffusing all of the magic it held, causing a puddle as the water splashed to the floor. The orb had now shrunk in size, but Luna still tossed it over to Sugary, forcing it to behave similar to one of his previous attacks, causing blast on proximity.

"Tirek?” Luna said with a frown, trying to recall the identity of the one with that name. “Ah, that one. Of all creatures I am curious as to why you mentioned him,” She was certainly aware of his rather nasty power. “I would think if he showed up in Equestria we would be more than ready to deal with the threat. In Celestia's search for a way to end all of this, she and I have certainly grown to face greater challenges challenges than before. We have solved a certain conjecture that shall make the magical world cheer. What we knew was not enough, so we had to expand what is known." Luna was not the one to go into details shout such things. Unlike her sister she was far better at giving answers than explaining them.

Mittere placed her hoof on Fearful’s, but only to slide it off. "He shall be fine. I just wish I could see that for myself. He must be going through something a little more vigorous than everypony else. Really, if Blade was fine, Sugary shall have no issue." Mittere seemed to jump and turn around, her tail flicking Blade as he walked past. "You have met Sombra?" She asked excitedly. "There is a pony I wish I had not missed. I am aware of his active younger days." Sugary now seemed absent from her mind. Sombra checked all of her boxes. He was tall as Celestia, meaning he was bigger by proportion. The stallion was also rather handsome she had heard, and he was knowledge about things other didn't dare to touch. There was however, also the evil warlock aspect, as well as the slavery, but on very rare occasions she did not mind being held against her will.

"I would be careful when labeling villains," Celestia stated. "It is a loaded term." She didn't appear to be talking to anypony, and was just mentioning a fact. She knew she face that label herself after the last few months. “While not always justifying ones, there are sometimes those with reasons behind their action. Some may know no other path than what they walk, and it is as Mittere said, they should walk how they wish, I greatly despise encouraging such behavior. I always try to promote the better way when it is realistic.” Blade trying to keep up with her was something she had noticed, and it caused her to slow down. If the guard had some gut feeling about danger, it was best to not dismiss it.

"Hmmm?" Fearful cocked his head. "Why did I mention him? Well... Because all those I have have heard of or faced, he is the only one who could make any sort of direct threat to the Isle. He feeds on magic, and what sustains my race? Magic of course. Had I allowed him more than five minutes upon the Isle than he may have grown to a great threat. Fortunately, I was in a particularly good mood that day, and I let him leave with all of his limbs attached... I probably should have taken his horns as a trophy now that I think about it..." He paused and glanced at her. "What did you discover?"

Fearful chuckled and nodded. "Met him? I was friends with him for quite some time. We exchanged many a correspondence over the course of years... A shame what happened to him really. He looked to far into the dark arts... Too far even for me. I wish I could have saved him really. He had a mind like no other. Perchance you know his current whereabouts Tia? There is of course no way that he died on the day the Crystal Empire was reclaimed." Fearful smirked and smiled at Mittere. "At the rate her student has been reforming those the ordainary pony has classed as villains, you may very well meet him."

Part of the reason for Sugary to use most but not all of the water he had conjured was so that he'd have something to defend himself with should his attack prove unsuccessful. Now was as good a time as any to use the water as an impromptu shield against the remaining amount of the dark orb to have them cancel out each other. Since he was still approaching a dangerous opponent, he went about to making a shield over himself as he charged ahead now that he didn't have as much water. If all went well, the water and shield should absorb the blast well enough, letting him tackle down Luna hard himself after charging ahead without hesitation, horn still flaring for more of a confrontation. He hadn't forgotten about the other dark orb the princess set up, but whether or not she'd have the time to call it towards her was debatable.

Blade managed to keep pace with the Princess just in time hear what Celestia thought along with the fact that he was being used as a standard. He decided not to take it personally since it wasn't meant to hurt his pride. The small tidbit about her wanting to see Sombra was a bit shocking to him. He only knew Sombra by the few rumors that he had heard of the king and no one them sounded like anything anypony wanted to be around. The fact that One had met Tirek and easily defeated him look glance at One, laughing at the fact Sombra would be reformed as well. "Last thing I've heard of the king, he exploded because of the Crystal Heart."

It would take more of the water in order to absorb the blast of the orb, it also placing a very slight strain on the shield, but ultimately not enough to stop the determined Sugary. Luna was left breathless as the stallion tackled her and pressed her chest to the floor with his weight. She'd fought through worse before, and while the stallion was big, she was larger. Any contact Sugary made would now play to her advantage. Instead of leveling any spell at him, as her horn lit she would become the weapon. Her hairs all stood on end as energy ran through them, ready to cause shocks equal to what Mittere suffered. He could share her fate for all she cared.

Celestia seemed to bite her lip lightly as Fearful dared to speak to her on Sombra. “The common narrative leads you to believe he just wished to keep climbing to the next step, before mistaking a step for fall, but I just think he was given an excuse to exercise his true nature.” Celestia seemed to very opinionated about the pony. “He was an annoyance that thought he knew everything about the world before he knows was even thirty. He very well could have been one of the most cunning and clever politicians of the time, but he was a shallow, arrogant, and petty stallion who rarely ever respected those around him. He was always pushing and manipulating others to try to advance himself and he didn’t care who got stepped on to do it. He was not able to cultivate the loyalty of his peers and subordinates and as a result they were not willing to follow him when he started to take a path that proved to be too much for him. The nicest thing I have to say about him is that he loved his mother. He was the only one I can say I took pleasure in exiling, so that he may be a nuisance some place else.” Her face flashed with a little tension. He certainly did cause trouble elsewhere. Could she blame herself for that? It was way too far gone for it to matter anyway.

The fact Celestia expressed such disdain for Sombra was only another point in his favour, no matter how childish it was. “His huge aristocratic excess, cunning mind, love affairs, war fighting, being thrown into exile, and possessing a mixture of affectionate sweetness and playfulness, by which it was impossible not to be attached. He was such a strange mélange of good and evil that I think his name is worthy of being remembered forever as what a real pony is, even in spite of his later years, which dominate most discussion.” It was clear she held a much more romantic framing for the deceased king’s life, perhaps one cultivated more by stories than by fact.  “And I also believe that my grandson would be just as capable at bringing him back to something more favourable.”

Diurnae shook his head very slightly, a pleading look on his face. He really didn’t want to be brought into any competition. He would make friends with Sombra, or Twilight, or anypony he wanted. The wanting part was a big deal though. Sometimes he felt all he was meant for was to boost Mittere’s ego. That was great, he didn’t mind her being proud or helping her out, but he’d rather help her from the background, instead of being on display.

"I could pay to watch a stage show where a pony seems to disappear," Luna stated in answer to Blade. "As one fond of such illusions, you should not trust your eyes first glance. None of us were there to see the moment it happened, so it is more than possible he fled that day. The world is a large enough place to hide one pony. I doubt he will ever recover as a threat, and therefore I do not exert the energy to determine the truth. Out of sight, out of mind, I do believe is a saying in use by ponies in the present."

Luna then shifted attention towards the question she had been asked. "I am unsure how well read you are on the subject, but we together managed to formulate a proof to dismiss any doubts surrounding Glow’s conjecture, meaning the approach to harnessing celestial mechanics shall be made easier. While it has of course yet to be formally ratified, we have already been forced to change things before after a mistake on the 200th page. It shall not effect a great deal of ponies, but for us it is rather large.”

It wasn't hard to tell that Celestia probably had a thing for Sombra in the past and that it probably didn't end well. He really didn't know much about the stallion himself since no one even seemed to remember him up until recent times though the same could be said with Princess Luna, or Nightmare Moon at the time. Also, Luna didn't make him feel any better with the comment about how the king could still be alive and may never be a threat again, he felt like the Princess was going to eat those words in a couple hundreds. The pony ultimately pushed the comment about Mittere's grandson aside since he obviously wasn't on board with the his grandmother's plan. Blade was starting to think that she had some pretty intense dreams about being alone with the king. The thought of Mittere dreaming about anyone made him snicker a bit, finding the image to be silly. He was tempted to be childish and make fun about her attraction to the evil pony.

Fearful was quiet as Celestia spoke, her biting of the lip not having gone unnoticed. He shifted his stance slightly, before shaking his head. "The common narrative, as you put it, is often quite accurate. Frighteningly so sometimes. Of course, I will also acknowledge that it can get things horribly, terribly wrong. Unfortunately for your little argument this time Celestia, I believe the common narrative is fairly accurate. Shallow, arrogant and petty? That is all of us as children Celestia, even you. He certainly had hubris, but he never let it control him. Personally," he said, twirling a hoof slowly. "I believe that he was corrupted. Their are tomes on this planet that house information that no pony should ever have control of." The image of the small black book flashed through his mind, but he shook it off and continued. "They say absolute power corrupts absolutely. I am in possession of the knowledge that there was such a tome in the Crystal Empire at the time. There was also a rumour that, whilst is nothing more than hearsay, suggests you two had a relationship. And from how... Violently you reacted to my mentioning of him, I take it he cut it off? Perhaps... Perhaps he was corrupted before that moment..." He murmured, just loud enough for Celestia to hear.

He blinked at Luna for a moment, seemingly having skipped over Miterre's input. It wasn't that he didn't care what she had to say, but he disliked the idea of a mare fawning over a stallion simply because of what she had heard about him. "I cannot say I am too well read on the matter... But from what you just said, I gather it means you will have an easier time moving those celestial objects that perform a delicate dance above our heads?"

He glanced at Blade and nodded quietly. "Indeed, he did explode. Quite violently in fact. Unfortunately, when one explodes, there are pieces that go flying in all directions. It is entirely possible that he imparted his consciousness into one of those pieces. And for a stallion as talented as he, it would not be hard for him to rebuild his body."

It was hard, but Sugary had managed to tackle Luna as intended. The problem came when she began to make herself into a living outlet, to which he was forced t- "HHAAAAAAAA!!!" ... but there was no thinking, only acting as he raised his hoof to keep on the offensive, move forward, and try to strike the side of her head with his hoof hard. If he was lucky, the static she had amassed wouldn't have built up fast enough to be too dangerous for him, and the solid part of his leg might make it harder for him to get shocked through the hoof itself as he wasn't going for skin contact. Luna was indeed larger by virtue of having wings to spread out, but he was bigger in terms of height, girth, and muscle... which he did not hesitate to use against her in an effort to KO her through brute force.

Luna was not fighting with unbridled rage alone. She had her mind in this too, though it was operating slower than needed. She really wasn't ready when Sugary punched her, her head rebounding into the ground and causing her to lose he spell, but as instinctively as he did she kicked out at his face herself. While it probably wasn't as hard it would be just as fast. Perhaps this would degrade into a fight that was far less proud. The princess' wingspan was great, enough so that she was able to move her unfolded wings around to Sugary’s side, her horn lighting up again, making the first order of business to charge up her wing with the charge she had from before. Anything he could hit her with was not going to break her concentration on the spell this time.

“It is nice of you to try what you are doing, but it really doesn’t matter,” Celestia stated. “It was his choice whether he read such a book and fell victim to it or did it himself. What you have pieced together as a relationship is really not so,” she claimed. “I discussed his behaviour with him in private a few times, and I thought treating him with some favour would help with that.” She nodded. That was her story and she was sticking with it. Luna had better not betray her now. “It did not. And you may think me a fool, but I am not scared of such knowledge. If I was forced to choose for the good of the nation or the good of the people, the ponies win. I always thought that I would never be a danger to them. The past few months have proven the damage I could inflict, as well as that I would not have the heart to follow through.” She smiled softly at the one good things that might have come out of this for her.  

Mittere was somewhat glad that she had gone mostly ignored. She perhaps had gotten carried away. Still, it had removed worries of Sugary's safety for a little while. "When is it we are due our well done?" She said, sounding impatient and whiny, though it seemed to be intentional. She motioned for Celestia to move on, but she seemed to be busy chatting. She hadn't even made it to the stairs, stopping in front of them. "Blade," she said in a commanding tone, behaving like she was his princess. "Do come. We can investigate further while everypony else remains comfortable here." She didn't really have many options to choose from when it came to company that was not too busy, so she called upon the guard.

“That and a few other things, yes." Luna nodded as she answered the question  "The less time and effort expended on the stars means there is more for what lies underneath them. Hopefully there are some transferable ideas in there as well. If I may give some advice, it would be to use your near infinite time on learning about such soul crushing things. No, I think gardening would be a much better way to spend it your time. I heard that much of what you spoke with of with Mittere. I do hope that if things do work out you will still make yourself useful.”

Blade hadn't realized how little progress they had made until Mittere spoke up and understood her reasoning for once. The thought did not sit well with him at all. When she stopped in front of them and then asked for him in their scouting mission, he was shocked to say the least. He hadn't even taken in the fact about how she spoke to him because of the disbelief. He would nod and move over towards Mittere in order to make for his current uselessness in the group.

Sugary certainly felt the kick, being reminded just how sturdy Luna was as she still fought on. But he was fairly hard headed, so he kick hurt, but wouldn't knock him down so easily as much as painfully make him flinch just as she did. That didn't keep him from seeing her wing movements though, which he didn't forget at all as he conjured one of his shields from his inventory to block the wing strike as he held it with levitation immediately after. His opponent was still a danger though, and so he kept his own magic flared up to try and protect himself from her static by pushing out with his energy in case she landed a strike in him, or tried to access his own Inventory, as he fully intended to grab the shield after parrying the strike to hit her with it on the head again, harder still and with a somewhat greater reach.

If he failed to parry with the shield, and only block and struggle, then he'd conjure a second shield, grab it, and try to bash her head anyway before she got up too soon to use her other wing. The pain he received he could endure, but failure was not an option. He needed to strike her down quickly while he had the chance. The approach to knock her out in a rough scrap might be simplistic, but only one of them would have any chance to think properly and uninterrupted when the other was seeing stars, no matter who won.

Fearful was quiet for a moment, before raising a hoof. There would be crack, his hoof smacking Celestia's cheek. It was not a hard slap, but it was loud. "How. Dare. You. It seems you have forgotten, already, how easily corruption can be forced upon a pony, through any number of means bar their own. By your logic, then my corruption was my own fault... The corruption of ponies at the hands of Discord, that was their fault... I'm sorry, but you cannot accuse him of such thing without evidence... Lest I mention your sister?" He shook his head and spun. "As for your relationship... Well... Why don't we ask Luna. Lulu, did your sister have a relationship beyond what she claims?"

"I already know plenty of soul crushing things... Once this is over, would you mind if I became the Royal Gardener? I think I would enjoy that..." He smiled at her, though he was a little annoyed he had lost his cool with Celestia. His tone and mood had shifted for a moment to when the sisters had been children, and he had been scolding them.

Luna was not going to stand for being hit like that. She wasn’t going to stand for much on the floor like that. Even against the shield, her wing wasn’t going to take no for answer. Her wing had hit it hard the first time, but it waited until the shield had moved to try again. Unfortunately for her, the shield happened to move to her head. Her head being pushed harder against the ground this time, she really wasn't in a position to launch any new attack, but she continued with her current one. Sugary using a little energy to protect himself wasn't going to deter her as she had reflexively increased the intensity. This was also an acknowledgement of a possible defeat if she di not change circumstances.

Celestia winced at the result of the slap on her already sore cheek. She didn't want to react violently. He made a valid point, but it wasn’t one she could agree with. “I...Assert that it is. I do not shy away from responsibility. There are always other options that could have been taken. It is her fault but it is also mine and everypony else's. Things only happen because they are allowed to. The truth of the matter is you have been in control of your life the whole time up until something tries to take hold of you. There are always a million different opportunities to divert events. Unless you were already under the control of an unseen force then the blame always rests on you. To condemn him on suspicion of such things would be wrong, however, that does not mean I cannot condemn his later actions.”

"She..." Luna's eyes looked to Celestia for some instruction as for how to answer. “Did not to my knowledge. I am wholly unaware of their being anything more to it than she stated.,” she affirmed with a nod. “As for your position, all residents of the palace have their particular favourites you shall have to juggle with. I am sure you can manage that though. You do not disappoint without good reason.”

Mittere was pleased that Blade complied with her request. He wasn't her first choice but of all the guards that were present he was the one she knew. "Thank you," she said, taking the leading step downwards  “If we are to be spending any duration of time together, I should say that I am sorry. You do not seem to have had a great day so far, and I been an exacerbating factor, or perhaps the main cause.” She reached the bottom of the stairs where the light was dimmer still than before. It was a good job she brought blade, as he could function as a lantern at the least.

Circumstances were not particularly better for Sugary, as a small mistake by this point could cost him the Second Wind he had with him. Fortunately, he did have the advantage of being the attacker towards a less threatening Luna this time, and would make the adjustment to go through with his initial tactic of hitting the mare with a shield, and then conjuring a second one to block the same wing twice. She had not changed her approach, and so was easier to predict.

This time though, he'd either grab the second shield with the other hoof to hit her while watching his footing, again and harder still, over the head again in an effort to effectively give the stubbornly sturdy mare a proper concussion if she didn't already have one by now, or... If the intensity of her rise in energy expenditure proved too much for the second shield to parry as easily as before to grab it, then he'd try and settle the score once and for all... with his own head as he dove right at her for a headbutt while still grasping the first shield, putting his whole body weight into the precise yet rough strike. Both were horned creatures, but Sugary was quite used to purposely hitting enemies and things with his head in recent years, tempering the hard skull he was already born with to hold his horn; It was debatable if Luna could claim the same, but then she was the one meant to be on the receiving end.

Fearful dropped his hoof slowly, his voice soothing as he pulled her into a hug. "Look, I'm sorry for slapping you..." He blinked as he actually processed her words and he stepped back, staring at her in surprise."I... See. Well now, at least you stick to your words. Unfortunately... I cannot support you anymore. If you blame ponies for events that were beyond their direct control, but because they did not resist and defeat those forces, it is their fault, then I am no longer in support of you. I'm sure that those corrupted by Discord moments after his release, with no warning... I'm sure they would find solace in your words."

He glanced at Luna, but his emotion had drained from his face. "I see... Well..." He turned slowly, and shook his head. "I'm sure I can meet everyone's needs..." He sighed and glance behind him. "I will wait her for Mr Market. You two go ahead..."

The stallion cocked his head to the side when he the alicorn thanked him for going with her. The stallion was again shocked to see Mitttere to apologize and was both grateful to have gotten it while groaning on the inside about not making his joke. It was a minor thing and he could always do it when everything was over, that was if they had succeded. "You are." He said while he added more energy to the construct around him to brighten up the path. "But, since you seem to actually mean it I'll accept your apology" He paused briefly as he thought about he had done to. Mittere. "Would you accept my apology purposely dropping you when you were in the bubble?" He felt it was a minor thing and might have already apologized, but he still saw it as something he had to do.

It was slight, but a small crack that could be heard. Luna stopped moving after that and her magic deactivated itself. As the mare lay underneath her with bruises forming on her head, conscious, but not enough so to do anything, it was Sugary's fight now. That was until she began to move again, kicking out with a leg to show she was still not dead or done for. Compared to what it could have done, it was very minimal damage, just pushing enough to push him back off of the mare, who began to shakily rise. If Sugary resisted being pushed back, then the force would increase. He was not facing anything like Luna at this point, just something with the same form as her. "You have wasted enough time here, don’t you think? If you and her can barely defeat a pathetic thing like this," Luna said, waving over herself. "What is your plan against something greater? You might be able to get an inch or two closer with your power, but you are wasting your time." The world around Sugary began to break apart in the next few seconds, with Mittere and Luna being the last things lost to the blackness. His senses returned to him in a more familiar and real way as he appeared in the room where he had left. Two guards were waiting in the room, trying to keep warm. They were surprised to see a stallion appear before them, even if it was the one they were meant to be expecting.  

"You are being childish,” Celestia asserted. “Pity strengthens no one. We can make mistakes, it is how we resolve to make sure they they do not happen again. Once you have been burned you are far less likely to for put your hoof over the flames again. The fire does not care about your ignorance of its potential. Most ponies love their life in safety, I understand their concerns. It hurts me that I cannot shelter them from everything, nor do I think I should. Now, there is certainly a chance what I believe is wrong….or maybe it's not. I think learning something for yourself is part of the journey to enlightenment. Ask my student that and see her answer.  Maybe talking to you was a mistake. If you understood the intent of my words then you would understand it is not your fault but mine. I apologise if I sounded uncaring, or like I was trying make less of you for circumstances. Be happy with where your words and actions have gotten you Fearful, I shall see you when this is over.” Done speaking, she began to press on ahead herself, making her way down the stairs followed by a portion of the the guards.

Luna looked at Fearful, as well as how his enthusiasm was gone. She honestly found it a little offensive, and she could say with confidence that Mittere would to. He wasn’t supporting Celestia, that would put her as the sole leader, and that’s not how things were at all! Her loyalty was with the pony who had not betrayed her trust in the past though. “I am sure we can find time to discuss the details more later. I do hope the stallion you are waiting for has something to say to you this.” The remainder of the guard left with her.

“Hey,” Diurnae said, being the last to move to leave. “Not scared of being left alone in the dark are you?”

"That was fun," Mittere stated after a short period of silence as she looked around. "I could have fought back at any time, but I was curious as to how you would handle the situation. I am not sure I mentioned,  but I do not mind being held against my will once in a while. I wish you better luck with your next arrest," Her mind drifted to talk of Sombra still fresh on her mind and began to flick her tail slightly. Sugary could not come back sooner.  The light Blade was making did prove useful, and stretched visibility a little bit further, but the darkness pressed in on them, as if they were deep in the stomach of some continent-sized creature. With strained eyes and full use of all the senses however, one could see this room was quite different from the previous ones. Instead of a nice and smooth floor forged and crafted expertly, the floor and walls were just dark brown rock.There was only one narrow passage leading to a small circular platform surrounded by tall, thin walls. Another bridge of sorts connected on the other side of the platform which led to the way out of the room, and deeper into the depths, which, with hope, were not too much deeper. Everything else in the room was nothing but a deep abyss, a one way ticket to whatever lurked in the dark below. Being careful with your footing was likely a good idea.  “It is like a great dragon’s lair,” the mare commented softly to herself, noting the shift from the freezing cold to the more familiar heat.

((The Crimson Knight returns!))

Sugary was attempting to hold down Luna nonetheless, almost tempted to go for a barely less than lethal strike to disable her, but that soon changed as the voice that came from her was different somehow. Feeling the fabric of reality distort around him, he listened and listened well, but he wasn't sure what to think aside from thinking it was related to their location, and Summer.

As he returned, feeling fatigued after the events that transpired and without his armor, he looked to the Guards before him, feeling the presence of the Phantom within him still. While he would have inquired to her about who had spoken to him, finding the others first was of a higher priority as he recalled what room he was in now. "Take me... Take me to the others!" He'd practically demanded that the Guards escort him on the double as he struggled to get up and move.

Once he was close enough to the group in due time, at least the wishes of one of the others would be fulfilled with his return as he called out to the group ahead once they became visible enough, his own magic lighting the path for the Guards and himself from behind in the darker area. He would, first and foremost, seek out Summer herself, though that didn't mean he'd ignore the others along the way; Especially Celestia and Luna. "Madam...! Madam, I return!"

"I'm being childish? In what way? I do not pity them, I pity you... You keep talking about mistakes, and being burned... You keep treating the problems like it is the ponies who are corrupted fault. I'm sorry Celestia, but you are effectively telling me that if a pony is not overtly paranoid to the point that they are not prepared for every eventuality, then it is their fault for being attacked. I honestly could not care less about myself, I'm a monster. It is entirely possible I am wrong... But I cannot blame ponies for events entirely beyond their control."

He could see that Luna did not have faith in him, but in her sister. It was understandable of course, and at this point, it was good. If he sneered all ties now, he would have the strength for what would come later. "Yes... I'm sure we can..."

He shook his head at Diurnae on the way out. "The dark is afraid of me."

He turned as Sugary came running into the room. He raised a hoof slowly, slinking into the shadows so that he would trip the running stallion.