In The Kingdom Of Hope [Concluded]

The natural reaction that Mittere had upon being lifted off the ground was to spread her wings, but since Blade had called her a unicorn, it made sense he didn't know, and that was an advantage that was worth holding on to. She instead settled down into a more comfortable position within the bubble. The sensation of being trapped in a bubble felt oddly familiar, though she had no idea as to where from.  

"Very interesting," Mittere said. It was also very nice she had been told the details, but she wanted to know more. "Do you use this spell frequently?" She asked, fishing for slightly more information as to the power of the barrier. Her predicament was slightly better than the path she had counted on. She hadn't expected to retain full control of her magic. It was likely to turn out worse for the guards, as by making it harder but not impossible to use magic, she'd have to resort to a more powerful spell to break through . 

Luna looked at the colt with slight surprise; that young pony certainly had a lot to say, though she probably couldn't guess his real age. All eternity wasn't a commitment she was very sure she could live up to. She nodded at the filly's request and focused on the book in front of her, opening the front and beginning to examine the first page.

"But I need to..." Zephyr said, nodding towards the school, a pained look on his face. He was heavily leaning in one direction, but what if he left and something happened. He looked to Isabelle, which pulled duty even further away from his mind. 

'Sugary' was making the guards feel like idiots, seeing as he was demonstrating the ability to confront them, but was running around avoiding them. Getting themselves together and recalling upon their training and knowledge of the grounds, they could back the pony into a corner quite easily. The unicorns put most of their effort that didn't go into immediate protection into one stallion who began a much harder and much faster sprint as he ran up to 'Sugary's' left side to make him turn to his right.   

As the book opened, One's memory entered Luna's head.

One lay in bed, the clock on the wall ticking away slowly. The door to the bedroom opened slowly, a mare wearing an extremely short maid's uniform, and another mare, this one in a black, gothic dress, stepped inside. The first mare snuck up on One, placing an alarm clock next to his ear as she giggled quietly, the second mare rolling her eyes.

The alarm went off, One leaping a good foot in the air in fright. He spun, searching for the source of the noise, smashing the clock to dust and glaring at the mares. "Thank you for that delightful wake up call Star."

The mare in the maid's outfit giggled some more and bowed. "It was no problem Commander."

He rolled his eyes at the name and turned to the second mare. "And you sweetie, should know better."

Isabelle giggled and hugged him. "Sorry dad. I did tell her not to, but it is already rather late." She gestured to the clock, the hands showing ten minutes past ten.

One blinked in shock. "Ah... Crud. It's today isn't it?"

"Yes dad." Isabelle said, opening the blinds, whilst Star opened his closet. "You're getting married, and it's going to be wonderful."

Star held out his suit, and he took it with reverence, sliding the shirt on and buttoning it up. "How does my sweetheart look?"

"Amazing," Isabelle responded quietly as she stuck her tongue out, centring his tie. "But that's all you're getting. It's bad luck to tell you beforehoof."

"Fine, fine..." He finished putting on the suit. "Thank you my dear." He smiled and quickly trotted down the hall, heading for the church. Bumping into someone, he waved a hoof. "Ah, sorry about that." The pony however, ignored him and kept moving. One rolled his eyes and kept walking.

Love is a weakness.

One stopped and looked around. "Excuse me?"

Love is a weakness. The voice repeated, now louder than before.

One spun now, searching for the source of the voice.

Love is a weakness. Say it, and we'll leave.

"What? No. Love isn't a weakness."

Love is a weakness.

"No, it's not." One repeated, the voice growing in strength.

Love is a weakness. The voice repeated again and again, soon becoming two, then three ten five. Each repetition increased the pounding in One's head.

He screamed, turning and running, the voices only growing in strength. Say it. Love is a weakness.

One fled, eventually stopping outside a warlock's hut. "C- Cure me... Make them stop..."

The warlock chuckled. "As you wish milord." His horn began to glow, and One's mind screamed in protest as it was rent in two. He panted, collapsing to the ground. Love was your strength.

Isabelle raised an eyebrow.

Blade nodded as they continued down the hallway, wondering what the mare was trying to do. He guessed that she was gauging the strength of his construct. "It is the one I'm most familiar with. I hope that makes your escape plan a little harder." He said as he suddenly rose and dropped his bubble. "Along with that." He said with a smirk that formed on his face as the other guards gave cautious glances at one another. While they did find the act a little amusing they still did not want to piss off the mare and that they should hurry to place the unicorn in a better place to contain her magic.

(("A Rising Feeling"))

Sugary had been watching the pegasi in the air from his position and the rest of the guards, but the sounds and feel of spells going on in the room meant that Summer had made no effort to escape, was unable to, or was actually allowing herself to be captured. This meant that it was pointless to him to distract the guards outside for much longer as he was possibly about to lose her, and rather than continue to aggravate them further, he settled on making it look as though the illusion had made effort to stop running and halt, and used all of the remaining ice and water near it to form a barrier around it along with the magical one he had slowly been setting up before the protected guard tried to hit it. He figured that leaving it as it was would distract them for a bit longer, but made no further effort to strengthen it, and the illusion and magic barrier made would likely fade away eventually even before the ice would melt on its own.

Afterwards, he got up and looked back inside, now focusing a bit more on keeping himself concealed and exercising caution as he climbed back in as carefully as he could to begin following the guards along with the captured group members. Of course, keeping concealed was only to serve as a defensive act since, now that Blade had removed his barrier from himself, he would finally make use of the muddy soil he had set up just outside the window to attack and attempt to subdue while he had an opening since none of the guards were currently using barriers on themselves.

He flared his magic as rapidly as he could, dropping the effort to conceal his magic and lifeforce entirely but not himself or the color of his magic, and forcefully gathering the muddy soil from outside and making it flow in abundance inside the building through the window and over to the guards to knock them down and away hard with the overall weight of the mud he was using as well as the force he was putting behind it. He was well aware that using his magic like this was likely to alert them however, and would make sure to wrap any of the guards that managed to protect themselves with barriers using the mud to keep them from seeing at the very least while still trying to force them away with it. He had no intention to stop taking as much of the muddy soil as he could for this effort, so even if the ones outside saw the mud flowing in, it was unlikely they would enter right away unless they either forced it to a stop somehow, entered from elsewhere, or were planning on taking a likely dangerous ride in within the spell. Even then, it was unlikely they could tell why that was happening in the first place from outside clearly. "Madam! Do you intend to get caught!?" would be the words he'd say to Summer during the mud assault on the guards while trying to avoid hitting his allies.

They were outnumbered, he would slowly feel his Mana begin to drain over time given what he had done in the day despite the rest, and his patience for the others to rejoin them to then make their now unlikely escape was silk thin. Whatever was to happen to make a decisive change for the better in their favor, he hoped would happen soon... Lest he be forced to make it happen and take more drastic measures to do so as he was not looking forward to loosing the gamble he had made here and now.

"I knew this place. I had been here before, trailing down an artifact at the behest of a madame who was obviously vastly more powerful than I, and now, I have returned, yet I have not succeeded yet. The only thing that changed is perhaps the fact that this is the first time I've been here with such a dame -"

"Shade. Do not go all film noir on me right now. We're busy here. And what do you mean you've 'been here before'? We went in through somewhere else, didn't we?" Eye cut Lampshade's monologue off with a sharp slap of her wing and a gesture to the surroundings.

In front of them stood the main gates, though what importance the main gates had were lost on them, having bypassed it earlier. They only went to it out of a loss of direction, not knowing where the others were. It was a flaw in the plan that Eagle Eye and Lampshade, in all their experience, somehow forgot. They had been circling the same spot for a few minutes now, wondering where to go next.

"It's not like me not rambling will help us find them... besides, I'm still looking around for clues. Shame there are plenty of people here - can't find any prints on the floor that can be properly followed."

"Stop complaining and just go ask some guards for details, will you?"

"Fine, fine, if you say so." Lampshade turned away, and knowing that Eye could still hear him, began to monologue in his faux noir voice. "She sent me away, but I know that she wants me there, just like -"

"No monologues!"

Lampshade smirked and went on his way to a guard at the gates who, strangely enough considering the crowd, was not all that busy. "Hey, um, have you seen a unicorn pass through here? Okay, obviously you have, but anyway, this one unicorn had a red hat with a feather on it... maybe you saw one that had such a hat?"

Mittere once again was under a great deal of temptation to unfold her wings as she felt herself getting jerked up and down. She was most displeased by the disruption to her comfort, it seemed like a definite act of misconduct on Blade's part, though she doubted she'd get the chance to report it, or that anyone would listen. Regardless, she still felt uncomfortable, mildly embarrassed, and annoyed at Blade. She had no problem with expressing her opinion openly. "Have I done something to upset you personally? I thought I was being a good little mare by coming with you. I did not expect such handling. Once I am successful I will make a point single you out and react appropriately." 

Around a minute after she had finished speaking, the mud Sugary had summoned reached it's way into the halls. Now seemed like the time to break free, but only of the construct around the her horn, she may as well get some use out of the kindly provided bubble she inhabited. Her horn lit up, waiting for when Blade had his attention elsewhere, she cast a small arc cutting spell, designed to apply a great deal of cutting strength to a small point. She hoped to draw enough energy from the surround parts of the construct to cause it to collapse. 

"Spirited resistance around so many ponies could have proven dangerous," she stated in response to Sugary. It wasn't too much of a problem for Mittere, but she knew it would be for Sugary, and she had fewer and fewer issues with limiting herself for his sake. 

The pony slammed into 'Sugary' far harder than originally planned. The barrier had prevented the injury to guard, but the damage to 'Sugary' was minimal. With the 'pony' still, the other guards came in closer. While some went back towards the school, those that stayed would take a while to actually conclude the pony was not a real pony. 

Luna felt a degree of contempt as she finished reading, the same contempt that was once held towards One being redirected into a pony unknown. Somepony had been trying to mess with One, and they picked the wrong way to do it. There was nopony to be angry at though, as the culprit likely died long ago. She kept herself immersed in the book, a contemplative scowl on her face. The exact information certainly changed a few things...

Whatever Zephyr had opened his mouth to say was gone before it was ever there, the noise of hoofsteps putting him on alert. "If anything happens, I think there is something you should know..." Zephyr said in a serious tone as he approached Isabelle, getting very close. "...I'm not sure if I love you yet," he finished with a laugh, the dark tone completely disappearing from his voice. Still feeling rather smug and happy with himself, he approached the gate where he was greeted with a question. He felt a little disappointed that the pony had mentioned a specific unicorn, so he couldn't just give a smartass reply. 

"Nope. It's been pretty quiet. And I'm sure I'd remember many things about pony who calls that good fashion." Zephyr closed his eyes and sighed, before opening them again. "I suppose you want me to pass on a message? I'll ask him where he got the hat if you want one."  

Blade nodded to the mare's state meant. "Well, its the fact you seem to be a rather powerful unicorn and with that I thought a few distractions would be good. It was a dumb idea. I'll stop." He said as he continued down the hallway, hoping that he would never get to see the mare 'single him out'. The other guards were happy for Blade's decision and continued to walk down the hallway in silence. While they did so Blade felt things were going a little too easy for them, the group he was with. He lite his horn to make another construct, in case that somepony jumped them.

Then, him and the other guards were hit with mud.

The hit made them stagger a little as their magic flickered on and off the suspects before catching them again, with the exception of Blade's constructs. Blade quickly slammed his hoof onto the ground to create a construct and, had it extend ten feet behind him and in front of him, to feel out the attacker. He soon felt the constructs around Mittere shatter from her spell as he made around his body that took off the mud. The stallion luckily could guess where she would land and made a piece of the construct shoot up to where was supposed to be and hopefully keep her stuck onto the ceiling. He started lite his horn to prepare for another attack.

One stood up, glancing at the library door before walking towards the wall. He passed through it, striding down into the sea of chaos, his head bent. As he strode, the madness around him changed, warping into an ordered street. Eventually, he reached a park, the land ahead of him stretching out into shadow. He lay down, resting his head on the ground as he started to think.

Isabelle blinked and lent forward, kissing him again. "Well, then, I'll just have to try harder."

"Nah, I prefer my own hats, but thanks anyway... is there some sort of office where I can ask about who comes and who goes around? See, this guy isn't exactly the kind of guy to show up late, and I think it's he just got lost. Or perhaps in trouble. We tend to be trouble magnets." Lampshade leaned himself against a wall and took a long drink of cold water from a bottle, then offered it to the guard. "It's cold. Want a drink?"

Eagle Eye busied herself by the front gates, attempting to look as inconspicuous as possible, which she found simple enough thanks to the crowd. She found herself fidgeting and fidgeting in impatience, with her mind drifting farther and farther away from any sense until she stood by the gate with her jaw open and her eyes blank.

"No resistance is hardly a better choice now, is it!?" retorted Sugary to Summer as he let the invibility spell he had cast upon himself eventually fade away and slowly reveal his armored form to all of them.

Once he had taken as much of the mud as he could, he made sure to use the last of it to forcefully mold it onto the window frame and harden it into a solid wall, while the abundant rest of it kept harshly forcing itself upon the guards than were not well protected. The blow was hardly to be considered soft unless one had effectively shielded themselves against it all, and even then he'd still actively make sure to surround anyone that did so with it to prevent vision as intended while pressing it upon them constantly to add pressure.

He had, of course, noticed two things at that moment: One was Blade himself whom he recalled from earlier in the day, and the other was his ability to use constructs in retaliation. The fact of the matter, however, was that Sugary still had the first strike and wasn't about to let up on the offensive as he fully flared his magic, making a brief aura rise up from the ground, and continued his assault on the guards and the constructs that were trying to keep his allies contained. Knowing they had flickered meant for him that they weren't fully focused on their spells and would proceed to counter Blade's attempt to retaliate with the construct he had made, and attack it directly with Rasping and Dispelling energies as he himself stomped hard on the ground to release a shockwave meant to break away with those energies the oncoming ground construct well within his view and fire away at the bubbles made upon his allies with those same energies to try and release them, put pressure on his foe, and still push away and distract with the mud and raw telekinesis back at Blade, the guards, and their defenses, ready to catch his allies even much like his foe had been doing instead so far with his own spells. "If you try to reinforce your magic, Guard, my next assault will be aimed right at you! Please, stand down! I only want their release!" He shouted, demanded and pleaded specifically to Blade as he slowly applied more and more pressure, hoping he had been heard well enough. His threat to attack more harshly not being a bluff as he readied himself for stronger offensive magic while his eyes slowly gained a light pink glow from under the helmet, and the equally colored aura slowly appeared around his legs again while the nearby air around his horn crackled with controlled force. He was no prodigy nor particularly young, but he was a mercenary by trade, a warrior sage, and had years of formal and informal training, knowledge, and experience to back up his demand and his might.

As soon as Mittere could feel the smallest part of her hooves touch the floor, a force propelled her upward from underneath. It was in response to this that she once again wanted to spread her wings, using them to help slip out from the construct that was meant to trap her. She didn't though, as much as it annoyed her to let herself be restrained by this pony she had not really taken a liking to. She instead allowed her mobility to be limited to give Blade a false sense of security she could exploit. That and a chance to see Sugary in the hero role, though he may not have anything left for the finale. She was saving herself for Celestia, that was what got her into her present predicament, but even if the group only delivered her there,that would be all she needed.

"I was just getting acquainted with these lovely gentlecolts," she said, not giving the correct amount of seriousness to the situation. Her voice was both sweet and laced with spite towards Blade, a gesture to prove she could still be nice, even if he was going to be unprofessional. "I do not volunteer myself into any situation unprepared." Mittere was going to mention her armored saviour by name, but she did not wish to mire the Market family's good name in anyway by implicating them in such things.  

Luna reread the passage, though she knew it wasn't going to change anything if she did. Even in the face of such groundbreaking evidence it was not his fault, years of hard feelings had made a very strong foundation it was going to take work to shift. She rose properly and set the book down. She knew that she would, at the very least, be obliged to apologise to Fearful and have a proper talk with him. That remained true even though she wasn’t sure he could reciprocate the feelings the colt had mentioned he had for her. All eternity wasn’t a decision she needed nor wanted right now, especially with Celestia being how she was...

"You've just been in there, you tell me," Zephyr retorted, knowing full well that he wasn't being helpful. "Far as I know they should be tracking who goes in and out..." He looked to Isabelle, realising that there probably wasn't anypony near the entrance if her friends had made their way in. He had no idea of their intent. "And unless you are an approved restaurant with a 4 star or higher health and safety rating, I'll suffer," He waved a hoof dismissively. “Some of the water I’ve had recently wasn’t exactly top notch stuff and I have no intention of repeating those times.”

"Ma'am?" The filly asked. "Are you done reading? We can escort you out, or to Master Fearful if you want..." She smiled nervously. "Or we can get you something to drink if you want."

One meanwhile had slowly reclaimed some of his mind, and with it, enough aura to send off a few messages to certain ponies. They now stood with him, their bodies covered in a shadowy aura. "So, are my troops mobilised?"

"Yes sir." One of them replied, gesturing to a map of Canterlot laid on the grass. "We are able to move a moment's notice."

"Excellent. Nova." The shadow saluted. "Go look after my daughter." The shadow nodded and vanished.

"Star." One of the other shadows giggled. "Go look after your brother." She nodded and vanished as well.

"Now then... You lot, I need some energy... I have a few messages to send."

Miss Spring. I require a briefing on what is happening at the school if you would.

Isabelle my sweet. Are you okay? I've sent Nova and Star to look after you.



Isabelle sat upright, her eyes wide. She looked around, her eyes searching.

Blade felt his construct pin Mittere to the ceiling and looked back at his follow guards that were struggling with maintaining their magic because of both the mud and Sugary's energies. Blade himself was again smacked with the mud, annoying him slightly, as he kept his constructs and not fading away, though the construct that had reached out to Sugary had faded and was only a foot away from Blade now. The stallion quickly wiped the mud off again as Sugary spoke to him and hoped that he didn't do it again.

If they retreated then Sugary might attack them all and trying to keep the suspects with them would prove even harder, especially with Mittere. The thought of using one of the ponies as a leverage crossed his mind, but quickly shot it down. He wasn't that type of pony to do such a thing. The other guards looked over at Blade as the got some mud of their faces, waiting for his decision. "First, I want you to answer a question? Why do something like this? The Princesses would have been open for discussions, but yet you use force. What justifies it?" He asked hoping to both buy them some more time and to have this simply question finally answered.

Sugary would continue his attempts at keeping Blade's spells at bay with his own while continuing to break away what keep his allies trapped still carefully, but quickly as he forced his magic onto the constructs. He took note of Summer's words, and left it at that for now.

Right after getting question by Blade, however, he scoffed mildly under the helmet as he arched an eyebrow by force of habit at what he felt was an incredulous inquiry on his opposition's part. "Young stallion, where, exactly, have you been lately!? Have you not noticed that the world, or at least this territory, is under severe drought!? Or that many have been, and continue to suffer from the heat one way or another!? Water is fairly scarce nowadays, and victims of heatstroke have been on the rise for months! There have been numerous attempts to meet with Princess Celestia, yet the main gates have been closed to the common folk for a long time! She has practically remained unseen, things are getting worse day by day between the occasional riot and general discomfort, and now you're telling me that after causing trouble like this, you claim that she will lend us an ear just like that...!? We do this to try and get the Sun to no longer cause harm to all. Frankly, we could do with more support on this! Or have you been so busy with work or just plain naive that it hasn't crossed your mind how bad things really are!? Have you even seen the state of the Princess yourself for that matter!?"

Blade felt his constructs cracks slightly as the guards behind him seemed to have trouble with keeping the other suspects at bay. The stallion took a step back cautiously as he listened to Sugary's words. The guard could only sigh and shake his head to answer Sugary.

"I haven't been that oblivious to what's going on nor have I seen the Princess since the heatwave." Blade looked a little uncertain for a brief moment, but quickly stook it off. He couldn't let his thoughts be distracted now. While yes there had been many failed attempts to see the Solar Princess, but with this mare it might be different. Or at least he hoped it would.

"But, the Guard must maintain the small bit of order left and sadly Ms. Mittere hasn't done much to help that at the moment. And, I get a strange feeling the Princess might actually want to see her like how a certain "vampony" might get a lucky chance to see Luna." He said as he strained to keep his constructs from breaking entirely.

(("Proof of the Strongest - King of Hearts"))

The instant Blade mentioned the word 'vampony', Sugary furrowed his brows in mild anger, and his use of magic became more forceful and aggressive little by little against the constructs to get his allies out of them. "Vampony!? Do you mean a male pegasus!? Is he the damn reason there are so many guards here and now!?" The more he thought on it, the more furious he became on the inside, though he never lost focus of his concentration or the situation they were all in. "He was supposed to at least send someone to warn us ahead of time, what the hell is he doing now!?"

He took a deep breath and snorted, the gesture of doing so being obvious despite the armor he wore. "... I commend you for your work, but what we're trying to do was supposed to be far more discreet in the long run. Getting so many involved wasn't our intention since it just slows down everything that still needs to be done; Time is a luxury at this point... I have decided that I would follow and aid the Madam in getting the Sun to not threaten the lives of everyone further! Call it a gamble if you want, but it's better than letting everything fall apart. But suppose we were to cooperate. Suppose the Madam ordered me to cease the struggle and come with you... Are you, and the rest of the guards, ready for the possibility that Princess Celestia won't make things better? What will you do then? Will you just keep doing your jobs? Will you face her? Because I am very much ready to face her, her relatives, and all of you if it means making a change happen... I know the risks I am taking, and what it may cost me... What are you willing to risk?" He'd keep up his efforts still, but awaited on both Blade, the other guards, and even Summer's reaction. He was, of course, ready to cease his own efforts on her command as he had proclaimed just now as he was ready to open fire upon the guards. It was all for the greater good, or the lesser of two evils, either way, or so he hoped...

Blade continued to struggle with his constructs and was tempted to poor more energy into his construct around Mittere, but decided against it. The other guards started to back away from the two to hopefully get out of reach of the aura and be able to feel their magic better. The green guard could simply nod when Sugary told him that they hadnt meant to bring so much attention to themselves, though obviously that wouldnt change things now.

He looked over at Sugary and sighed. "If I ever found out that Celestia would not stop things and would keep the heat waving I..." He closed his mouth and seemed rather conflicted for what he said next. During, the slight pause a few more guards had made their way back from helping the others recover from the pepper, but seemed to move fastest as they saw a few ponies being held in the air by their comrades. "...would do what any guard should. I would protect Equestria and uphold it's laws the best way I could, even if that means taking Celestia out of power. I would even join your group if you all allowed it." The thought of it obviously didnt sit well with the guard, but looked as if he was telling the truth.

The new group of ponies looked at Blade strangely, wondering why he talking about such things, treasoness things. While, yes it their duty to protect and serve Equestria, but they also did the same for Celestia as well.

Sugary simply looked upon Blade in respectful silence. He was glad to hear that he might find an ally in the likes of Blade if worse came to worse, and yet was fully aware how difficult it must be for one who swore service to the crown to have to make a claim to stand against it for any reason.

But even that didn't change their current predicament. It didn't look like many others were immediately in agreement with the construct making guard, but Sugary didn't exactly have the time to assess every single detail as even more guards showed up, and more pressure was put upon him to come to a decision on his next course of action. His choices seemed to be either to get captured himself, or force his way out. Though he was aware that Summer wasn't lacking in making her own efforts from within her confinement; He just wasn't sure what she was up to or what she would say given his conversation with Blade and the possibility of having him as an ally than an enemy. If someone or something else didn't help him out in this tight situation, he'd likely end up going with the rough exit. "... No hard feelings... But I'd rather not be facing your kind in the first place..." In a way, it was directed to the surrounding guards, but it was mostly meant for Blade who had actually taken time to share his thoughts.

"Suit yourself - by the way, it tastes absolutely fantastic in this heat. Once you get past the whole 'water has no taste' thing, anyway. So, uh, you guys notice anything interesting going on? Inside's a lot less lively than I'd have thought considering the crowds out here. Unless ponies are lining up to stay in the sun, I'd say that's weird."

The way Light saw the situation, there were two possible general outcomes that could stem from his pestering of the guards. Either they would end up divulging some information that could be used, or they would get fed up with his antics and push him away. No matter what the result, he figured that so long as this guard did not recognize him, he would lose nothing, and so opted to keep pestering the guard for information, leaving Eye slack - jawed in the middle of the grounds from impatient contemplation.

It was far more effective to let Sugary talk than for her to speak. Mr Market had a certain charisma in the aura he projected, ponies were far more likely to talk and be swayed by his passionate and heroic manner than her passionate and less than heroic manner. She personally had it in for Blade, and every word she said would have had that looming over it. Sugary lacked such an issue. Mittere just struggled slightly but was otherwise a good little prisoner, even if it was to Blade, though at least he had seen how smart it was to avoid her ire. She was still more than ready to make a break for it if Blade wasn't prepared to stand down soon.

"I am done reading, yes," Luna said with a nod. she expected one of the children to pick it up and return. Getting foals to do work for felt odd, but they weren't real, or at least physical, so she wasn't going to give it too much thought. "If you could show me the way to your master, that would be satisfactory, thank you." She had no idea what she wished to say, but was sure it would all come come together when given the opportunity. She should at the very least say goodbye on the way out his mind, manners being very important to a princess.  

Oh, we're having plenty of fun with all these guards. I do believe a certain unicorn enamored with a certain alicorn is rather displeased with you at the moment, so unless you have a good reason for going dark... Spring responded, the hints of frustration not even subtly hidden. She had been a lot more active in her struggle, though unsuccessful at breaking free, not like there was much of a plan should she get free. Mind telling why you've neglected your duty and got us into a mess? It’s not like we’re on the cusp of failure or anything, take your time.

"Maybe you should go back inside and look for your friend," Zephyr suggested in a rather bored manner. "If he really is in trouble, I imagine he might get the tiniest bit annoyed if he has to deal with it alone. Also, tell your other friend to try and catch a few more flies, they're everywhere with weather being as is. If she wants to earn some money I've had this big one buzzing around for days I just can't catch." Maybe, he thought, if he acted as unhelpful as possible he could make the pony leave him alone. It wasn’t a skill that came with any real difficulty to him. He was more or less universally loathed by his peers. When he turned his head to look to Isabelle, her face seemed as though she had been visited by a spirit of some kind. Something had gotten into her, that was for sure.She wasn’t exactly normal, he could tell, and that wasn’t exactly off-putting.

Blade felt the tension start to build as the other Guards came back. While, the ones that had just arrived were just piecing together together what had happened and what was going on the ones that had stayed and heard were having second doubts as well. It was obvious that they would let the prisonsers go willing if Blade asked them to though it didn't seem like it was going to be the same with the other Guards. The green guard looked at Sugary and sighed.

"Looks like you are going to do something you don't like then. As I said I will only side with you if I think Celestia will not do it herself." He let his horn light and started to add more power into the construct around his body. "Take the other prisoners and GO!" He yelled out as the other unicorns happily moved away from Sugary with the other Guards moving to let them through.

The colt nodded and took the book, placing it back on the shelf. "Alright then, let's go." He trotted to the door and opened it, whilst the filly grabbed Luna's hoof and trotted out of the room. She gestured, a hole appearing in the wall. She stepped through it, leading Luna down the stable and winding path though the chaos. Eventually, they reached the garden/park that one had created, where he stood virtually alone. Only one shadow was standing next to him, and they seemed to be in a heated debate. The colt coughed, and One turned. "Archimedes? What are you–?" He stopped when he saw Luna. "Ah, Luna."

The shadow next to him whispered something and he nodded. "Yes. Go retrieve them. I feel they require the assistance."

Daddy? I- is it you? I'm alright...

Yes sweetie it's me.

At this, Isabelle teared up, before wiping them away, now watching Zephyr again.


There is no need for sarcasm, or anger really. I was arrested, and am currently being held in a cell. However, I have it relatively under control. Furthermore, I am myself one again, and have managed to connect with my sub commanders, one of whom I have sent to assist you. Tell Mr. Market to stop whining.

((Warrior of Light vs. Green Lantern))

Sugary frowned as he had truly hoped to avoid what he was about to do. "I wish we'd met in nicer times. But there's no backing down for me!" Raising his hoof slamming it down, he forcibly made pillars the size of a large stallion's hoof, much like his own, from the nearby concrete on the ground, walls, and ceiling ram against and towards all the guards that were behind Blade hard to knock them down towards one another in the hall and deliberately injure them with the harsh impact to keep them from acting properly and moving far away with his allies.

Along with what he was doing behind Blade, there was another pillar that would force its way up from under him to try and knock him briefly into the air even under the protection of his constructs. Whether or not it was successful was only part of it as he launched a non-elemental orb of raw energy a foot in diameter from his horn like a canon straight at Blade. Even if the strong and fairly explosive concussive spell somehow didn't break through the barrier, the lift from the ground, or the possible distraction of the attempt of being lifted from the ground, would likely weaken Blade's stance and send him forcibly tumbling back the moment the spell made contact. Even during this moment, even though he was no longer trying to break the shields of his allies for their safety in this assault, he was still concerned about how things were turning out and felt he needed to hurry...

The stallion confused about Sugary saying that he was trying to back down from the fight. His thoughts quickly focusing on more important things as him and his comrades were hit with the pillars. All of the guards all fell and stumbled onto the ground. The guards that were carrying the prisoners had dropped the barriers around the suspects, but had managed to get to the larger group of guards as they did so.

Blade felt himself get knocked into the air by a few feet as the pillar hit him and while it hadn't done much damage it had knocked the air out of him. Soon, he saw an orb fly towards him and quickly lite his horn as he jerked his head to the side, creating a crescent of energy to hopefully cause the orb that was flying towards him to explode prematurely.

While Blade's efforts would help him, the shot of raw energy would still fly a bit past the crescent and send much of the concussive and harmful explosion towards him after it made contact, so he wasn't exactly completely safe either unless his shield were tough enough.

Once his allies were free, he'd aid them by slowing down their fall from where he was as he charged up for more in case there was more resistance. "Dammit, stop forcing me to fight!" It was a message to the guards in general, but mostly at Blade whom he hoped would be at least well enough to survive his attack and listen. With the guards on the floor, he also made the mud that had only been cast aside and not gotten rid off to slowly wrap around their limbs and try to entrap them to pin them down further.