In The Kingdom Of Hope [Concluded]

"Okay, just before we leave, let's do a quick inventory check - ah, screw it, let's just leave." Lampshade looked almost obese from all the papers padding the insides of his coat,and had to slow down his walk accordingly. With Eye by his side he looked like a common overweight pony with an assistant, which in his experience wasn't all that common but felt inconspicuous.

"Slow down the walk... as much as possible let's try to make me just be someone fat instead of someone suspicious."

"What if the guards wake up?" Eye hissed in impatience. "And what if we can't keep up with the others because you want to look fat?"

"...you do realize we only have to slow down when there are others around, right?"

Eye didn't respond, as she didn't consider that, and knew that anything she would say would only open her up to further ridicule. To save her some face, Lampshade took the lead, heading them back to the other administration office, albeit much more slowly. On the silent trip the two just walked on, with Lampshade taking mental inventory of everything they had on them.

"Diurnae and the others, we need to wait for them. Do you think that we have the best chance fighting through then fleeing or delaying with words until they come to us? You may go if you wish, and I will think no less of you for it, I  however, would rather not abandon the others." Mittere easily had all the pieces to stage a hostage situation but that  not a desirable option. Relief had a chance of coming from outside, though how soon was a question. If the guards here didn't report back it might mean the rest wouldn't be in a rush to catch up to them...or they could get even more persistent. 

Ashen seemed to be talking to himself, eyes closed and nodding to himself as though he was psyching himself up for something. Maybe he had an idea, though obviously not one he was comfortable with. 

"Children!" Luna proclaimed loudly, throwing the chains off of herself. "Children," she said a little softer this time, pulling One away from One. "Are you quite finished with little fight? Now, I am here to resolve the problem one way or another. If it comes down to sealing anypony deep away, it will be the one who displeases me the most." 

"But...?" Zephyr asked, turning his head to look at the mare. "It tales more than a tense minute to trust a pony. Sucks that you're just learning that. That fight was cool though." 

On their journey, Lamp and Eye could see a guard leaning into one of the doorways, half of him in, half of him out. Judging by the raised foreleg making gestures, it was clear he was talking to somepony. The question was if it was worth listening, or if it was just banal stuff. His posture was straight, as though he was talking to someone senior, though he had no weapon. 

One 1 sighed and brushed himself off. "Thank you Luna. As for the matter of resolving our differences... That is a little more difficult. We are night and day."

One 2 growled. "I only need your help Luna, to seal this bastard away."

They faced each other, the area around them darkening as they prepared to fight.

"God I am mentally unstable." A new voice said from the doorway. Standing still, eyebrow raised, was a third One, this time shorter, the height of a normal pony. He took Luna's hoof and walked her out of the room. "There's no point reasoning with them. I only needed you here to free the light one so I was a little stabler." He sighed as the door shut behind them, walking her to a small common room, a fire crackling. "I do apologise for their behaviour of course, but when I visited that warlock a thousand years ago, he sealed myself and the good half of me away. Needless to say, a thousand years trapped in my own mind has driven... Over the edge persay. As such... I am not the stallion you knew. I will, however not apologise for that. There is no changing the past after all."

He poured a pair of glasses of wine, apparently out of thin air, and smiled. "You'll want answers for questions no doubt?"


Isabelle sighed and curled herself up. "M- My father taught me... Kisses are sacred... Precious... So I... I thought when you didn't reject it..." She gave a fierce laugh. "I'm not new to the ways of the world of course, but you seemed different. I guess I was wrong."

((By the way, Shield... Cho says that the guards Blade is with are under your control. So feel free to take a bit more liberties with what they might be able to do.))

"... Madam, I'd prefer not to abandon the others either, but we must move out of this room at least. I'm positive more guards are on the way after what's been done, and even the blinded ones here outnumber us. Trying to meet up again out in the open might well be risky, but it's better than expecting the others to come find us on their own in this place and escape later anyway with no issues... If one of us makes enough noise, we're bound to alert the others if they haven't been already." Shortly after saying those words, he flared his horn again as a golden brown aura surrounded his horn, waited for a moment as he tried to assess the position of the lifeforce of the guards past the door, and them stomp the floor to release a kinetic wave under the guards and force the floor beneath them to rapidly become broken, brittle, and uneven in an effort to get them to panic, and lose some balance and more of their composure if they had any left after the use of the Pepper on them.

Trusting as well as he could on the barrier that remained, he went over to the window once more, took out the wrapped relic from the Inventory, and seemingly offered it to Summer. "I'd like to try and be the distraction. But first, I want to make an opening either for myself, or all of us... Please take this for safekeeping..." He was waiting on another set of guards to pass by and try to incapacitate them afterwards, or simply wait for the coast to be clear enough on its own once more. He had heard Ashen speak, but could not make out what he said in such a hushed voice during a rush moment.

Lampshade noticed out the corner of his eye the presence of a conversation. Afraid to lose any more time and possibly miss the others, he tapped Eye on the shoulder and gestured his head. The two didn't need any words - in fact, most of the words they used while working were out of simple comfort. Eye floated herself up and planted herself backwards on the ceiling with one hoof on her mane to stop it from succumbing to gravity, then inched closer to the pony until she was in hearing range.

Lampshade split with her and went straight ahead, heading back towards the entrance in an attempt to retrace their steps. Eye nodded to his final gesture, and eavesdropped from above. Before Lampshade could fully disappear, she tossed the map to him and grinned, as though confident that she would not need it.

The guards went into a sneezing fit as the pepper went onto them. Their eyes tearing up from the sting of the pepper on their eyes. A few lucky enough got to avoid the pepper by Blade's warning though that was because they were further away from the door. The green stallion really didn't know what to do at this point since he really didn't know how to help ponies that got the equilivate of pepper spray. Once, the pepper started to fade as a few guards ventured back to their comrades.

Then, the ground started to shake and threatened to cave if they continue to stay on it. "Earthquake?" Blade questioned since he hadn't heard of a spell that could do something like this. He let first layer of his constructs peel of him and extend across the floor though making sure not to touch the walls since they had glowed only a few moments before. He quickly let it pushed under the feet off the guard which had basically tripped because of his construct which got him a few glares and groans. "Yeah...not my best idea." He thought to himself.

"If that is what you wish to do, Mr Market, I cannot stand in your way. I do feel I must air that you do not make me begin to care for you without consequences. I shall do everything I can at the first piece time I can spare should things not go overly well." Mittere looked to Ashen, she could have swore he had said something, but it wasn't like it mattered. She held onto the relic, though relic implied she didn't know much about it. Though she knew not how they had hoped they could  benefit from it. 

Luna followed as she was led, it was nice to be talking to the real One
"Your mind is indeed, a mess," she said in agreement. It seemed even with One more stable, his apologies were still subpar. "I hope I played no large part in that." The wine was likely to be as good as imagined, and time in dreams was something that progressed at an odd rate. "I certainly can spare the time to listen as you shed some light upon the black spots of my knowledge." 

"Maybe you were wrong," Zephyr said wistfully. "Or maybe you just needed to catch me on a different day. I can't say your father lied to you though, but the kind of kiss matters a lot. If my dad kissed me, my reaction would be the precious thing." 


"You're not one of them are you?" The guard chuckled, shaking his head in disappointment. "If you honestly believe that, you're an idiot." Whoever he was talking to, the guard didn't seem to fear reprimand. 

"I fail to see how I am," a mare's voice answered adamantly. "It's right here, it has to be, why else would-" 

"We haven't even been able to get a good look at the mare at this point," the guard said, cutting the other pony's sentence short. "There's no evidence to suggest what you're saying is true."  It was almost as if they were trying to be vague, though it was likely they had already established the topic. "I can see there is no changing your mind on this though. I'd honestly be in my right mind to not escort you." The guard began to back up out of the room. 

"Well, that could take some time. However, I can simplify enough, I think. When we first met, you were a child to me, young impatient. After the death of Frozen Tempest... I did not trust myself enough to love again, with the first dying at my hoof, and the second refusing to follow me into immortality. However, when you grew up into, well, you, I realised that I had met someone who I could love. I was a bit like a puppy I imagine, eager to serve, and to please. I don't know what happened, but around the time you turned into the Nightmare, just before it I believe, I suddenly began to hate you. Well, not you exactly, but love. Regardless, I pushed myself away from you, and sought a warlock. He sealed the good in me, in an attempt to cure this lovesickness... He did his work to well, and sealed me away as well. From there, I was driven by hate." By this time he had passed her the glass of wine, and had almost finished his. "My mind of course was thrown into disarray. I've spent the last thousand years trapped in here, trying to fix it. Thanks to you, I've started to repair it..." He stamped his hoof, the walls of the room vanishing, revealing a swirling void of madness outside, before reverting. "But I have a while to go. I have a question of my own of course, and It is rather important. It will dictate my actions from here, and whether I tell you something I think you'll be glad to hear." He paused.

"Do you still love me, like you did all those years ago?"


Isabelle smiled sadly. "So... about what you said when we first met..."

((The appearance of the guards here are with permission.))

((More tricks!))

"Madam... Please look at it this way... I'd rather try to meet with the others while facing those that are purposely trying to stop us, than those who aren't even trying." Sugary points to all the blinded ones in the room to make his point. "... I'd rather keep casualties to a minimum, but I'd much prefer not to get anyone not involved in opposing us hurt. I'd sooner face 5 guards than one scholar, lest we be seen as more of a threat to the populace than necessary..."

Soon after he got a clear pass, he hoped out of the window and began to charge his magic once more, this time making a much, much larger illusion of himself as he currently was and began to fill the inside of the oversized illusion with conjured water. It was showy, it was flashy, but his purpose was to try and draw the attention of all in the immediate viscinity, even at the risk of grabbing the attention of guards. So long as the members were reunited quickly and had a chance to escape afterwards, it was all that mattered. Once more of the regular patrolling guards made a pass around the corner again, he made the near two story tall illusion look down upon them immediately in an attempt to startle them, and then unleashed the water held within from its mouth much like a small waterfall to wash away the guards. "Lamp! Eagle! Diurnae! Isabelle! One! Come to me!" It was crude, but his immediate option was to literally call upon loudly on the other members that should have been close enough as far as he was concerned. He hoped that from the windows of the school, or any other area in the property and outside it would get the attention he wanted with his efforts. He did of course, make sure to move away from the window that he hoped out of and keep the attention on himself than on Summer should anyone undesirable pass by...

"...a mare... could it be..?" Eye whispered to herself as she inched closer to better hear. She was beginning to feel disoriented from the blood rushing to her head and the effort of flapping her wings gently in the wrong way to keep herself planted on the ceiling. She considered for a moment the pointlessness of being upside - down to simply eavesdrop, and then she reasoned that it would at least give her some shock value should she be noticed and buy her an extra second or so of escape time.

Lampshade was headed back to the main entrance but made a detour first - he hid himself in a corner where he took inventory and managed his things. Most notably, the torch he got from Mittere's estate some time back was kept in a much more easily managed position. Deeming his inventory arranged sufficiently, he left the corner and headed on back to the entrance.

Those that were unlucky enough to get hit by the pepper started to finally finish their sneezing fits though were still blinded by it. Luckily, a few had managed to avoid it entirely or only got the sneezing fits. "You all," He said as he gestured to a few earth pony guards "go take them to the bathroom, water fountain, or whatever as long as it has some water. Regroup with us afterwards." The guards nodded and took the blinded ponies and headed off. "All pegasi I want you all to fly around the school and see if anyone is leaving the building, if so turn them back the best you can. Use the clouds to defend yourselves." He said as the guards can to the nearest window or place to get them into the air. "As for all unicorns were going to blast down this damn door." He said as his horn began to lite. 

The unicorns took the hint and lite their own horns. "On three." He said as his magical reached its peak. "One...two..." The sudden sound of Sugary's voice interrupted his counting. "Three!" He yelled out as the Sugary finished out his call. All of the unicorns horns reached their required light and fired their blasts at the barrier.

Spring and Ashen weren't next to the sides of the door, ready to run if the way became clear, or jump any guards if it did not. Without the casters constant reinforcement, and the fact Mittere made no attempt to do so either, meant the barrier eventually dissipated. Mittere remained confident she could defeat any threat that made its way in, she was drained from the light spell, but the energy that would have been put into the door could now being put into ending the threat. She sat down rather casually, making sure at least one of the unconscious ponies was behind her. As the guards enter, they would be greeted with Mittere sat with a smile. "Seeing as you knocked so hard, I assume this is important. How may I help you ponies?"

Sugary had not seemed to draw any immediate attention, or at least any that had gathered the composure challenge him yet. The grounds in his vicinity didn't leave him with an amazing good line of sight with the high, though now slightly waterlogged hedges. If he stuck around that could be a problem, of course movement meant he might be able to outmaneuver anypony after him. 
 
"I hate you for you put me through," Luna replied simply. "You did not even try to consult me. If you had spoken out, I could have changed something. If that was the true character of the pony I had invested so much of myself into...I don't have feelings for you and never would have." She took the wine, but mostly just to glare at it. "And while it would be foolish to speak with certainty about the future. It's been a long time for us both, we've both become different. Some of us holding on to our sanity better than others. My choices for a long term suitor are very limited, but I hold fast in the belief that I can manage more than some shadow of a pony."  

"What about it?" Zephyr asked, curious as to which thing he'd said. His ears pinned fiercely as he heard the shout. If it was loud enough to make him flinch he wondered what effect it would have on the closer guards. He began to stand up, not feeling comfortable relaxing with how things seemed to be going. 

The guard stayed standing outside of the door, his eyes wandering in all directions...except upward. He sighed and turned his head over his shoulders, calling back into the room. "I don't see what is taking you so long, miss." 

"I seen to have misplaced a rather sensitive report. One that might be of use to the big thing going on right now."

The guard shook his head and didn't reply. She certainly was one of them, buying into the metaphysical of something she had apparently read.

"I see." One sat extremely still for a moment. "But how could I approach you? How could I tell the mare I love with all my heart that for some reason, some inexplicable reason, I now hated the word love? You think I wanted this? You think I want to spend eternity alone? I love you Luna. I no shadow of a pony, not anymore. As for my mental state..." He paused and stood up, gesturing. Again the walls cleared out, but now the storm of chaos was being forced back, replaced with order. "I'm working on that." He faced her, bowing, a small ring extended. "Luna, I swear to honour and protect you, to love and respect you. I swear on my name, and the name of my family, to be with you for all of time. I swear to be with you in sickness and in health, and I am sorry... so sorry, for what I put you through."

"I ask you again Luna... Do you love me as I love you?"


"About you taking me to the station and having some fun." She said quietly.

Desperate as his attempt was, Sugary hoped to at least catch the attention of more guards and get them to follow him or focus on him. Instead, he was left with little to no opposition as he stood outside with the illusion he had made, and some wet soil which made him feel fairly frustrated at not even serving as a proper decoy while dealing with any guards he could in the meantime.

The moment the guards at the door began their assault on his barrier however, he had considered reinforcing it, but it would mean splitting his efforts even more so. He had a feeling that Summer knew what was happening, and yet it didn't seem like she was making any attempt at keeping hidden from the would-be troops to break through.

He looked around high and low and brought his illusion over to himself while preparing another set of spells. Once it came right over him, it shone in a bright but brief flash of light to attempt to divert the attention of anyone that might have been looking in his direction. The result: He had left a normal sized illusion of himself in the middle of the field with the appearance that he was flaring his horn but was actually just a trick of the light spectrum and it held no actual magic on its own aside from the magic used to keep the illusion there. It was however, surrounded by several water orbs that were real, seemingly ready to defend itself, when it was in fact Sugary keeping them there. As for Sugary himself, he had carefully made his way back to the window under both an Invisibility spell, and a light coat of dispelling magic above it to try and keep himself hidden from plain sight and try to suppress his own magical output as best as he could to avoid being detected as he lay close under the window, ears perked to listen into the room as best as he could while keeping an eye out on the field to distract anyone within view with the water spell and illusion he had left there, away from him and those in the room still. He had chosen to remain loyal to Summer in an effort to ensure the success of the mission, and he had no plans to abandon her. He stood nearby quietly, ready to act and continue to lend his support as the door opened...

Eye silently cursed the equine habit of speaking in vague terms and wondered how long she could float upside down without succumbing to headaches. She opted to stay a bit longer in the hope that something concrete would be said at some point, though she could feel her durability taking an intense strain.

Lampshade had, for all intents and purposes, disappeared. Taking his mission to heart made him act completely different, and with all haste and skill that he could muster, he cut a short and silent path down empty corridors, all the while blaring imaginary swing jazz music in his head. In his haste he found himself at the halfway point, where ponies were starting to appear again.

Blade saw the ponies laid on the ground unconscious first, but the steady raise and fall told him that they were still alive. He slowly trotted in with his fellow guards behind him. His eyes caught glance of the few ponies that were in the room and from the they were still up meant they were cause of this sleeping ponies. He recognized Ashen from the time, feeling a little bad about having to turn in the pony. He heard the mare in front of them speak and looked over towards her. "You two get them out of here, you two cover him." He told the guards to him which split from the group of five, Blade included.

"Well, I assume you are Mittere, correct?" He asked as he let his magic flow over his body in a weak attempt to protect himself from getting his throat slit like the guard at the gate. "If so then I wish that you let us take you in peacefully."

"I do believe I am entitled to know what I am being detained for, as well as a reading of my rights in this situation. Until you show the proper conduct, I am under no obligation to recognize you as an official authority." Mittere was rather obviously playing a game with Blade, but if he could not do his job properly , she would not do her job properly. Her mind did flash with a few creative things she could do with this one pony, but the fact there were other ponies around made her hesitant of that. She stood up, implying that she was willing, or at least willing to play willing. She hadn't been arrested in a long time. 

"Anypony could say those words. This may be what you feel you want now, but look upon how your desires change in time," Luna answered, a face torn between options. "You grew weary of love before, what is to say that will not happen again. It is something of a cliché, but they often are for a reason; it's not you, it's me. It is not the fact you are a bad pony, I base this rejection on purely selfish reasons. If I ever said yes I would be tearing myself up inside, wondering when you were going to go again. Your honour has degraded in worth substantially."  

"I'm pretty sure there are a few laws against that," Zephyr said with a shrug. "But, suppose I was being serious for a second..." He was rather curious about the direction that they were going.

"Magic is not wondrous, you study it as a science, how can you do that with any integrity when you believe something, somepony, can survive in those kind of conditions," The guard said, letting his viewpoint out. 

"It is true," the mare said, making herself known by stepping outside of the door.Her mane was a few shades of black darker than her coat. She stood rather tall and had a lanyard around her neck to hold a pair of reading glasses. She was using magic to try to keep several books in the air as she passed them over to the begrudging guard. "That magic can create more problems than it solves. From your reaction, I guess you've heard the story before." 

"From the surveys, all that is underneath Canterlot is an all but depleted mine." 

"Has it ever been explored fully?" The mare asked, knowing the answer. 

"There's nothing worth looking for aside from your nonsense claim," the guard answered. Of course, common sense wasn't going to get through to this pony, and he would be duty bound to go on a stupid little quest for something non existent. 

"Then I would be more than willing to follow." She whispered quietly.

One stopped, choking out for a second. "M- my honour..." He stood up, wavering on his hooves. "Fine... I understand, you can't trust me. I get it. But I did not stop loving you. I never said that. I said I hated love. You know how susceptible to mind magic I am. I could have easily been influenced and not even know it. Why don't you take inside my memories, they're right over there," he said quietly, gesturing to a door. "Just leave an old, tired stallion... To contemplate his wasted life."

Almost immediately, the filly and colt reappeared, seemingly having changed colours. "Come on Miss." They said in unison, dragging Luna into a huge library. "He does love you Ma'am," the filly said quietly. "Does he not deserve a second chance?"

"Yeah," chimed in the colt. "You got a second chance after all."

They stopped in front of a shelf, the filly grabbing a book down. "Here you are Ma'am. This contains all his unaltered memories of the day he was... Changed."

Blade nodded as she told him to go through proper procedure, taking the statement as a yes. "First, you were a prime suspect for attacking a guard. But, after trying to bring you in for questioning I'm now going to add on resisting arrest, magical assault, and wondering if there is anything you'd like to add to list." The guards had started to get a good portion over the unconscious out of the room while the ones that had their back switched from the two other suspects and Mittere, especially as she rose. "You have the right to remain slight. Anything you say or do can be used against you in the court of law. You also have the right to an attorney. If you can not provide one then the government will do so for you." He paused for a brief before he continued. "Now will you come with us peacefully?" He said as he gestured to the door that they just had to blast through.

"Can't... hold..." quietly groaned Eye as she inched backwards before her wings could give out and reveal her. She floated as far back as she could silently, and when her wings were close to giving out she flipped and used the last of her wings' strength to come to a soft landing. While she still had the chance, she took as quick a soft step she could and headed back to the entrance.

She mulled over the possible implications of whatever was being studied underground. This thinking did little to slow her down on her rush to Lampshade, and only the sudden appearance of a cane mere inches from her face stopped her.

"I take it you're done listening in?"

"Obvi - where did you get those clothes?" Eye asked, as Lampshade seemed to be sporting a darker version of his traditional coat.

"...from before we entered this school..? These are my normal clothes, just darkened with some quick - dry paint I found earlier."

"That can't be right -"

"Yeah, you're right, it's just the lighting in this corner. Find out anything useful?"

"Nothing solid, but it seems there's some sort of expedition involving magic and caves below Canterlot."

"Let's get that info to the other then... where do you think they are?"

"It doesn't matter what I think, does it? Let's just retrace our steps as planned."

Sugary kept his ears perked as he remained hidden just outside the window with the spells to keep him further concealed active. "Hm... Now what...? Still no sign of the others... And then there's this group of guards to deal with... Why oh why didn't the others follow me out...? No choice but to add some insurance..."

Slowly, very slowly and discreetly as he could, he began to conjure some more water as close as possible to the ground, seeped it into it, and began to make some of the soil nearby extra muddy. He had no intention of making use of it just yet though, and instead kept as alert as he could to his surroundings, the conversation in the room, and occasionally moving the illusion copy of himself over in the distance to keep it as a deceitful tactic away from the windows and prevent other guards from possibly surrounding Summer further.

Mittere was rather pleased with the response she got, though she had no real reason to, she smiled. She got a trial? That was very generous given the activities she was up to. "May I refuse to disclose information on potential other charges that could be used to aid in prosecution against me?" She placed her front legs close together and offered them in Blade's direction. "And why wait for questioning? You have me now, there is nowhere I can run. Restrain me if it gives you some piece of mind." She was unaware of how Sugary was faring, the last she heard was his yell, which hopefully worked. She didn't want to proceed without anypony, though there was the matter of Blade, whom she planned to humour for the time being. 

Some guards,wet and some dry, had slowly and with great hesitance began moving on 'Sugary's' position, wondering why the pony was behaving a little strangely, but each had their own explanations, such as nervousness or a deeper plan. 

"He might love me, though we don't always get the things we want, do we?" Luna had to avoid wincing at the mention of second chances. That kind of personal appeal was a cheap shot, one she wouldn't permit to hit. Her outrage stayed subdued as she asked her next questions as she took the book. "I just read and it will all make sense? I'll give a heart fluttering yes to the offer?"  

"Oh? I'm not a traitor now?" Zephyr said in confusion, though he understood well enough that there was a slight of happiness mixed in. "Cool." He raised a hoof to his neck, grasping lightly before lowering. "I have to wait for guys to come back first. Heh, my guys...they hate me." He laughed at the end to signify he was rather content with things being that way. "I'm gonna have to stand in the way of any of your friends too." 

The filly sniggered. "Dunno. Maybe, maybe not. Neither of us know what's actually in that book. We haven't read it after all."

The colt glared at her, tiny teeth bared. "You're not very nice to Fearful, are you? He tried his best to look after as you grew up, protected you, even outside your father's wishes. He stood by you and your sister loyally for Millennia, swore his heart to you, and now, after one small incident, you throw him away like garbage." He was shaking with rage. "He loves you with every fiber of his being, and can be with you all eternity..." He went to say more, but his sister gagged him.

"Ignore my brother, just read the book please."


"Can't we go now?" She purred.

((Not-so-gallant Tantalus))

Sugary was worried that Summer might actually be detained by the guards, or that a struggle would happen soon. All he could do was to wait it out for the time being until while hidden, until more guards started to show up on the open field.

He had hoped for an opportunity like this. It seemed the bait was working well enough, but then he got an idea on top of it. He figured, if he could cause the guards outside enough trouble, the ones in the room with the others might be forced to lend some aid, or be distracted enough to allow Summer an escape opportunity.

He made the illusion take a more defined stance as opposed to simply making a few movements to seem a little more realistic, as well as control the water orbs around it more delicately and precisely. Some of the orbs were given the shape of shields around him as they were turned to ice, while others were left half frozen at best. Before the guards got a chance to surround the illusion or get too close to it to see it in detail, he had some of the half frozen orbs rotate around him fast and tossed a few at the closest guards in an effort to bruise them and force them to trip, not cripple them, and have the illusion run about. Since it was incapable of making sound on its own, he had some small solid pieces of ice strike the ground to make it seem as though the sound was from it galloping and not just the ice alone as it tried to have the guards pursue it and tire them out somewhat with it around the field, shields ready to take oncoming attacks as he could not allow the illusion to be 'hit' as it was not solid. Now that he had gathered enough water onto the soil though, he could focus on slowly conjuring a barrier around the illusion to prevent it from being fired upon easily, or at least resist any shots or thrown objects that the shields might miss catching, though he would not be able to sustain it for too long if it came under too much damage as it moved around. Again, he hoped, this would also distract the guards inside as well.

"That is true." He answered. Blade felt a little uneasy for a mare that she had smiled about being turned in. As she held out her hooves the guard stared at them for a while wondering why she was coming in so easily. He did not have any cuffs on him and doubted that a construct on her hooves would keep him and the others safe. "Well, since you seem to be a unicorn with great precision and power of magic we will have to use another way." So, he created to small orbs of energy and moved them over onto Mittere's horn. The other expanded and created a giant bubble around her which lifted off the ground a few inches. There were small number of holes on the top to allow air to come into it.

"As you can see the thing on your horn or as I called it a construct will not stop you from magic, but if you try to use it will be stuck inside of construct unless broken. If so you will have another barrier to deal with and we will restrain you appropriately. Is this understood?"

He looked out of the window and for the first time actually paid attention to the pony outside. The stallion wondered for a moment to whether or not to go to help. Blade spent less of a second on it and moved the mare in front of himself as he went outside of the room, the guards carrying the other suspects in their magic. The unconscious ponies had finally been taken out of the room.

The pegasi had managed to get outside from a nearby window and were now airborne. They also noticed the unicorn with ice-shields protecting it. Each one grabbed onto a cloud and flew down to get closer to the guards on the guard to help aid their efforts, but were still a good distance away from them.