Previously, a big announcement was given through out the land of Coltnelia that a new born baby was getting his own celebration to welcome him to the world. And the entire kingdom was invited. But Fire Rose and Enchanted Belle and her family are unable to attend due to Fire Rose wanting to be ready for the big final tests and Enchanted Belle going away with her family for a while. While things seemed to be going brightly for the ponies getting ready for the big celebration, somewhere within the Wind Kingdom, the X[chi] Knight makes his return thanks to the power of the Secretariat Comet. With his power returning and rising, he regains his power of the Void and uses the Void Ponies to capture Queens Sol and Lua and replace them with imposters. Without any suspicion, the imposters captured the other Queens except for Queen Enchanted Star and replaced them with other imposters. Once the night came, the used the power of the moonlight to send the Queens back to the X[chi] Knight to use their magic to halt the Secretariat Comet from flying away and he can continue growing more powerful with its magic boost. At that time, Princess Diamond Dust spied on the Queens to see what their secret discussion was, only to find that her mother and the other Queens had been captured. Almost getting caught, Diamond Dust returned to her bedroom before the imposters could capture her. But now the imposters are suspicious of a spy and are now keeping a keen eye on everypony. Can Diamond Dust convince the other ponies about the Queens being imposters? Will the true Queens come back? And how will Princess Fire Rose fit in to all of this? Find out right now.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Light
Friendship is Light – Part 2
Morning…
Princess Aerial Ace was sleeping in her bed. Dreaming of all sorts of adventures that she would have and all the discoveries of the world she could possibly find. It was a dream that she never wanted to end. She was living the life she truly wanted. And as ponies in her dream began to ask questions…
"AERIAL ACE!" A voice screamed loudly.
"WOAH!" Aerial Ace screamed as she jumped out of her bed, "MY JOURNAL HAS ALL THE ANSWERS!" She then woke up completely and said, "Huh?"
Aerial Ace's eyes were still trying to get fully awoken. So her eyesight was slightly fuzzy. But what she could see was a pony trying to speak to her.
"Aerial Ace!" The fuzzy pony said with a panicked voice, "You need to wake up now! Come on and let's get the other girls!"
"Mom." Aerial Ace said to the fuzzy pony, "I'm tired. Can't you wake me up when I actually care about waking up?"
"Aerial Ace!" The fuzzy pony said as she leaned down, "It's me! Diamond Dust!"
"Huh?" Aerial Ace said as she titled her head in confusion.
Her eyesight then began to adjust and things were getting clearer. And once the fuzziness faded away, Aerial Ace saw that it was her best friend, Princess Diamond Dust.
"Diamond Dust?" Aerial Ace said as she squinted her eyes, "What are… ahhh…." She yawned as she stretched her hooves, "You doing up so early? The sun's barely up."
"No time to explain!" Diamond Dust exclaimed, "Get up now! We need to get the girls and meet up in my room! This is an emergency!"
"What are you talking about?" Aerial Ace asked.
"Just hurry up and get off the ground!" Diamond Dust ordered as she panicked some more, "We can't waste time!"
"Alright! Alright!" Aerial Ace said in an irritated tone, "Just stop yelling! My ears are already ringing!"
"Oh." Diamond Dust said as he turned red, "Sorry about that. I've been practicing my Royal Icicle Voice. Did it sound regal enough?"
"You don't think THAT was regal enough?" Aerial Ace asked while looking like she's about to explode with anger.
"Let's go get the girls, shall we?" Diamond Dust asked while looking innocent.
"Good." Aerial Ace agreed while looking at Diamond Dust with a spooky expression, "Then I can get them to raid on you."
"Eep." Diamond Dust yelped as she and Aerial Ace left the room.
Soon at Diamond Dust's room…
They got the other Princesses out of bed and they all went to Diamond Dust's room to discuss what Diamond Dust had to inform them about. Unfortunately, none of the Princesses, except for Diamond Dust, were really ready to be out of bed.
"This had better be important Diamond." Rock Polish said in a cranky voice, "I usually don't get up until it's almost noon."
"I was still dreaming about when clouds can make root beer rivers." Topsy Turvy added.
"Is everything okay Diamond Dust?" Dolphin Tail asked as she looked at Diamond Dust's eyes, "You look… ahh…" She yawned, "Like you haven't gotten much sleep."
"I couldn't sleep well last night." Diamond Dust answered, "I've been up most of the night because of what I saw last night."
"What did you see last night?" Topsy Turvy asked.
"I saw… I saw… I saw… I saw…" Diamond Dust stammered.
"Yes! Yes!" Rock Polish said while getting impatient.
"IsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsawIsaw –" Diamond Dust stammered while her sweating began to look like a waterfall.
"GET ON WITH IT!" Aerial Ace shouted loudly, "WHAT IS IT YOU NEED TO TELL US!?"
"I couldn't sleep because I saw my mother get captured my monsters." Diamond Dust finally said.
The other Princesses didn't say anything at first and instead just gave surprised looks frozen on their faces. Not a lot of them knew how to respond, except for…
"That's all?" Aerial Ace asked while finding her answer ridiculous, "You mean to tell us that you woke us up really early just to tell us about a dream you had? I was having a pleasant dream before you called us in."
"Dream?!" Diamond Dust asked while sounding insulted, "Are you suggesting that I had dreamed about that? How dare you make such an assumption. I would never lie about something so serious."
"But we just saw your mom in the living room." Aerial Ace replied, "And so did you. Look, we all have bad dreams. But sometimes, ponies have dreams they don't want to wake up from. And I'm one of those ponies."
"Aerial Ace!" Dolphin Tail exclaimed, "Don't be rude. Diamond Dust is asking for help and we should do what we can to help her with her dream."
"Dolphin Tail!" Diamond Dust yelped with a sad look, "You don't believe me either?"
"I didn't say that." Dolphin Tail replied with a slight stutter in her voice.
"You kind of did." Topsy Turvy whispered.
"Look." Dolphin Tail began, "Let's just start again. Tell us everything about what you're trying to tell us. And we'll see how we can help you."
"Ok." Diamond Dust agreed. She then breathed in and out and then began with, "My mother told me about a meeting she and the other Queens would have last night and my annoying brother dared me to sneak in and come up with a smart Queen-like solution to the discussion they were having. He said that if I lose, then I'd serve him for a whole year and of course, I didn't want that. Plus, I really wanted to see what the meeting of the Queens was. And when I got there, I saw all of our mothers and the Two Sisters turn into these tall black ponies and –"
"What're you talking about?" Rock Polish asked while looking confused, "Did the pollen finally get your head or something? I warned you about that. But you apparently can't resist being in nature."
"Ooo…" Topsy Turvy said as she got an idea, "I think I know what's going on. You had some apple cider before going to bed. And you had some of that special kind of cider. Heh, heh." She chuckled while smirking, "Diamond Dust, I never though I'd see the day. When a pony who strives in being the perfect Queen does something so… bad. Don't worry. I think these wacky ideas will leave your brain alone after a good long rest."
"I can't rest after what I saw!" Diamond Dust exclaimed.
"Wait." Dolphin Tail said as she looked at Topsy Turvy, "Topsy Turvy. How do you know that drinking the special kind of apple cider will make you say these kinds of things?"
"Uh… um…" Topsy Turvy said while sweating, "So!" She yelped while looking toward Diamond Dust, "Care to continue your story?"
"It. Was. Horrifying!" Diamond Dust exclaimed as she began to get a little crazy, "Thesestrangeponieswithstrangemagicjustappearedoutofthegroundbecauseofotherstrangeponiessummoningthemtocapturetheotherqueensandtalkingaboutsomebigmasterthattheyserveandhowhe –"
"Woah! Woah!" Rock Polish interrupted as she waved her hooves around, "Princess! Calm down. We can't understand you when you talk all over the place like that."
"Start again." Dolphin Tail said with a smile, "And remember to use your words really slowly."
"But not too slowly." Aerial Ace added, "I want to get at least one more hour of sleep before Mom and Dad make me practice for me and my siblings' part of my new little brother's party."
"That's just it!" Diamond Dust said, "It's about your mother Aerial Ace!"
"Huh?" Aerial Ace said with a confused look, "My mom?"
"And yours. And all of yours too!" She continued while looking at the other Princesses.
"What's wrong?!" Dolphin Tail asked with worry, "What about our mommies?"
"They've been captured!" Diamond Dust finally said.
The other ponies remained silent for a moment and started to get a little worried about their friend. They looked at each other with their confused expressions and were at a loss for words.
"Say that again." Rock Polish said.
"I said that all of our mothers and the Two Sisters have been captured!" Diamond Dust answered again, "They've been captured by strange black ponies and were taken somewhere else!"
"Hahahahahahahahaha!" Topsy Turvy laughed out loud, "Oh… that's a good one Diamond Dust. That's just like in that old story that they read to foals once. One where evil witches kidnap moms and force them to raise the newborns that the witches have so they can focus more of their witchcraft. That story scarred a lot of fillies and colts."
"What?" Diamond Dust said with a surprised look, "No! It's nothing like that! I mean they were captured by something that isn't a witch! Some strange tall ponies that used the night to cast some strange magic! And they were all twitching like insects! It was horrifying to watch!"
"Strange black ponies?" Dolphin Tail asked while looking concerned, "Were they Dark Ponies*?"
(*Ponies who have lost their light in their hearts and became ponies of pure darkness that can cast evil magic with their hooves.)
"No." Diamond Dust answered, "I don't know what they were. I was too scared to keep looking at them."
"Dolphin Tail!" Aerial Ace exclaimed, "You don't actually believe her, do you?!"
"I'm just trying to get some pieces of the puzzle, that's tall." Dolphin Tail answered.
"Aerial Ace!" Diamond Dust said while sounding insulted, "You must believe me! You said you believed in Fire Rose! So can't you do the same for me like the loyal friend you are?!"
"I want to," Aerial Ace replied, "But… we all saw your mom when we were going through the living room. And you saw her there too."
"She's right." Rock Polish replied with a nod, "I saw her too. And I saw my mum on the way out of my family's room."
"Me too." Topsy Turvy added, "And same with my ma."
"I have to agree." Dolphin Tail said, "I saw your mommy too. And my mommy was in my family's room too. Diamond Dust, are you sure that you didn't just have a bad dream or something?"
"It wasn't a dream!" Diamond Dust replied, "I swear it wasn't! It was too real to be a dream!"
"So you're saying that all of our mums have been captured by these tall black ponies?" Rock Polish asked.
"Yes!" Diamond Dust said while getting annoyed of saying the same thing, "I saw it with my own eyes! My eyes are still burning from all the fright!"
"So if our mas have been captured," Topsy Turvy began, "How come we saw all of ours in our rooms looking perfectly safe?" She then got an idea and said, "Oh my gosh. What if we're dreaming right now? I really hope I don't get into the sugarcubes again."
"You still haven't gotten over that sleepwalking habit?" Rock Polish asked.
"Now you'll know why all the cupcakes are in halves. *Squee*" Topsy Turvy replied with a smile.
"You only think you saw your mothers," Diamond Dust answered, "Because they're not your mothers! They're those monsters I mentioned! They can somehow take the form of any pony! Our mothers have been replaced with imposters!"
"This whole dream conversation is dragging on for too long." Aerial Ace said while looking impatient, "Can't you just get over that dream already and move on? Dreams aren't real so they're no big deal!"
"For the last time!" Diamond Dust exclaimed, "I did not imagine the whole event! And I can prove it to you! Let's go talk to my mother! Yesterday, my mother only called me daughter instead of my real name!"
"So what?" Rock Polish asked, "Some mums call their daughters that. It's kind of a formal thing."
"Yes." Diamond Dust replied, "And I thought it was one of those times too. But then I noticed that her eyes were twitching slightly every time she called me that. It was almost like my mother didn't know her own daughter's name. Not only that, but when I asked her about what she discussed with Queen Sol, she took a moment to think about what to say." She then smiled as she continued with, "And as everypony knows in my kingdom, Queen Shiva Jewel always knows what to say. When she's given a question, she answers right away. Never does she need a moment to think about it."
"Hmm…" Dolphin Tail hummed as she thought about that, "You know, she does make a good point."
"Exactly." Topsy Turvy said with a sneaky grin, "Because she's a Unicorn! They always make the point!" She finished as she touched Diamond Dust's horn.
"No…" Aerial Ace said as she facepalmed herself, "Just… just… no…"
"You'll warm up to the joke." Topsy Turvy said.
"Anyway," Dolphin Tail began, "Diamond Dust is right about one thing. Her mommy is always quick to answering questions. I remember all the times I asked her something. As soon as I finished the question, she immediately knew how to answer it. She's like…" She continued as her eyes widened, "A walking book with all the answers."
"This is getting ridiculous." Aerial Ace commented, "Now all of you are stuck in Diamond's dream."
"I don't know Aerial." Rock Polish said as she looked nervous, "Diamond does have a –" But as soon as she saw Topsy Turvy's face, she quickly changed her sentence to, "She does have a good idea."
"Let's go with her idea and talk to her mommy." Dolphin Tail suggested, "Let's see if her theory holds water."
"Funny coming from the Princess of Water." Topsy Turvy joked.
"Heehee." Dolphin Tail chuckled, "Good one."
"Augh." Aerial Ace and Rock Polish groaned.
So they exited Diamond Dust's room and headed for the living room. When they got there, Queen Shiva Jewel was sitting in a chair and having some crumpets and a drink of tea. Diamond Dust was giving a suspicious glare at her mother. Rock Polish, Dolphin Tail, and Topsy Turvy were looking nervous, and Aerial Ace was just waiting to get this over with so she can go back to bed.
"Hello Mother." Diamond Dust greeted with a suspicious look in her eyes, "You're up early."
"Oh." Queen Shiva Jewel replied as she look at Diamond Dust and her friends, "Young ladies. Good morning to you too."
"Sorry for ignoring you when we came in." Diamond Dust said, "We just had some business to deal with."
"Is that so?" Queen Shiva Jewel asked, "What were you all discussing together?"
"We all were thinking about something and we thought we could use your opinion on something." Diamond Dust answered.
"Oh?" Queen Shiva Jewel wondered, "And what would that be?"
"We were talking about the kind of sea creatures live in the Ice Kingdom." Dolphin Tail said with a smile, "We were very curious."
"Penguins of course." Queen Shiva Jewel answered quickly.
"No." Rock Polish whispered, "That's not going to work. Everypony knows that penguins live in the Ice Kingdom. Even an imposter would know that."
"Oh." Dolphin Tail whispered back while looking red, "Sorry. I just started thinking about penguins because of a funny dream I had last night."
"Get serious." Diamond Dust whispered in a scolding tone, "Let me handle this." She then turned to her mother and said, "What we meant to say is that we wanted to know what the meeting you had last night was about."
"We were only discussing about the Secretariat Comet that was flying over Coltnelia." Queen Shiva Jewel answered, "And what creatures can grow powerful with its magical boost. We were thinking of the best strategic ways to keep our land safe from the dangers of the comet."
Diamond Dust was surprised at how quickly her mother answered the question. It took her almost no thinking at all. Like she knew what to say before the question was given. It was then that Diamond's friends were beginning to find her story a little hard to believe. Then again, Aerial Ace already had a hard time believing it. So this outcome wasn't doing Diamond Dust any favors when it comes to Aerial Ace.
"Oh." Diamond Dust said as she began to look nervous, "Is that so. Well…" She continued as she tried to find a way to convince her friends that she was telling the truth, "What if I said that I had a solution? Why not ask the Crystals to –"
"Not possible." Queen Shiva Jewel interrupted, "We need the Crystals' power to keep our Crown Cities from being attacked by the Dark Ponies. If we ask the Crystals for help in this matter, it may take longer for them to recover so that they can use the barriers again."
"Well…" Diamond Dust said while looking rather defeated, "I…"
"Now if you don't mind," Queen Shiva Jewel said as she picked up the cup of tea with her magic, "I'd like a bit of peace and quiet before I start the day. Go along with your friends now my dau –"
"Diamond Dust!" a voice exclaimed from behind them.
The voice caught the ponies by surprise and each pony turned to where the voice came from. To their surprise, it was Diamond Dust's brother, Prince Frozen Pride. Standing in the entrance to the hallway where the bedrooms are.
"Brother?" Diamond Dust said with a surprised look, "You frightened me."
"I do believe we have a bet to finish." Prince Frozen Pride said as he approached his sister, "Were you able to help out with the Queens last night? Did your little delusional mind come up with the best solution that can benefit our already crumbling land? I'm waiting to hear that you failed."
"Frozen Pride!" Diamond Dust said with anger, "I don't have time to discuss about our bet last night! I'm in the middle of something really important. Go find Father and help him with his science studies or something."
"Do I sense a bit of fright in my little sister's voice?" Frozen Pride asked in a mocking tone, "Looks like I won the bet and I have myself a servant for the next year."
"Now see here!" Diamond Dust exclaimed, "I did spy on the Queens last night and I was indeed planning on helping them like a real Queen! But –"
But as soon as she realized she was talking too much, she covered her muzzle and stopped talking. But it was too late. For Queen Shiva Jewel, who was actually an imposter, heard the conversation and learned about Diamond Dust's name and how she spied on the Queens last night. It was then that the imposter remembered that there was an intruder last night. After hearing what Diamond Dust said, she began to get suspicious.
"Frozen Pride." Dolphin Tail said as she walked up to the flamboyant Prince, "We're in the middle of something right now. Can you and Diamond Dust talk about this later please? We need her right now."
"Well, hello there." Frozen Pride said to Dolphin Tail in a handsome voice, "Little Princess Dolphin Tail. You're looking rather fabulous this morning. Did you do something with your coat? Because it is rather glowing today. I suppose I shouldn't expect anything less from the Princess of Water. Especially the kind who spends most of her time in water."
"Oh!" Dolphin Tail yelped as he turned red, "N-no. My coat has been the same since forever. I mean, I guess it shines sometimes. But I don't think swimming as to do with it."
"Say no more my dear." Prince Frozen Pride replied, "You may borrow my sweet sister for a bit. Anything for you. After all, somepony needs to make sure that my little sister doesn't embarrass herself in front of the peasants."
"I'm older than you!" Diamond Dust growled.
"I'll see you all later!" Prince Frozen Pride said as he headed for the door, "I've got servants to make serve me!"
He then left the Ice Kingdom's room and went to get the attention he thinks he deserves.
"No offense Diamond Dust," Rock Polish said, "But your brother gets on my nerves."
"How could that offend me?" Diamond Dust asked, "You're just lucky that you don't have to live with him."
"Diamond Dust." Queen Shiva Jewel began as she stood from her table, "Come here a moment."
From the sound of her voice, it caused shivered to go down Diamond Dust's spine. She had a strange feeling that something bad was about to brew. Normally, if it was her real mother, she wouldn't be as frightened because the worst thing a mother can do is ground her child. But since she knows that this is an imposter with strange magic, the stakes were high in this scene. To make matters worse, she used Diamond Dust's real name instead of calling her daughter like she claimed her mother to have done yesterday. So now, she was looking even more silly in front of her friends. So Diamond Dust walked slowly to her 'mother' to see what she wanted.
"Y-yes?" Diamond Dust asked while sweating a bit.
"Is this true?" Queen Shiva Jewel asked, "Did you spy on me and the other Queens last night?"
Diamond Dust was frightened to answer. She knew that the imposters were looking for the intruder. And since this imposter is questioning her about last night, she was in hot water here.
"Well," Diamond Dust began while nervously smiling, "N-n-not exactly. D-did you just hear what my brother and I were conversing about?"
Queen Shiva Jewel just looked at her daughter and raised an eyebrow, so to speak.
"I-it wasn't what you think it is." Diamond Dust defended, "H-he was exaggerating a bit. I-I wasn't actually spying on you and the other Queens. T-the bet was a-a-actually to walk around and see what it's like t-to be a guard during the night shift. And y-you never know where you're going to go when you're watching an entire castle. Especially one as enormous as this. My brother was just jesting. You know how he is." She finished with a nervous smile, "*squee*."
Because her friends found it even harder to believe that Diamond Dust's mother was an imposter, they saw this moment as a tense mother and daughter moment. And were even wondering if it was even safe to be in that room where the discussion was happening.
Meanwhile, the imposter posing as Queen Shiva Jewel was not fooled by Diamond Dust's story. She could tell from how nervous she was that she was lying. And that she is indeed the intruder from last night. It was then that she knew that she couldn't risk their cover being blown. So she needed to take care of Diamond Dust quickly.
"I believe we need to discuss this in private." Queen Shiva Jewel stated, "Come with me Diamond Dust. To my room, now."
"I don't think that'll be necessary." Diamond Dust declined as she moved away from her 'mother', "I've got things to do with my dear friends."
"Your friends can wait." Queen Shiva Jewel replied, "We talk about this now." She then turned to the other Princesses and said, "Children. Leave us now. I must deal with my naughty daughter."
"Finally!" Aerial Ace cheered, "I can get some sleep!"
"Good luck in there." Rock Polish said to Diamond Dust, "You're going to need it."
"Don't worry." Topsy Turvy said with a smile, "I'll get in trouble on purpose. That way, we can have something new in common. Getting in trouble on the same day."
"We'll see you soon Diamond Dust." Dolphin Tail said as they began heading for the door.
"No!" Diamond Dust said with fright, "Wait! Don't leave me!"
"You're not going anywhere Diamond Dust!" Queen Shiva Jewel said with an angry tone, "You disobeyed my order, and now you will suffer the –"
She then grabbed Diamond Dust by the hoof to try and drag her. But as soon as she did, something stung her.
"Augh!" Queen Shiva Jewel exclaimed in pain as she pulled her hoof back.
"Mother?!" Diamond Dust yelped as she saw her 'mother' holding her hoof in a painful way.
The other Princesses saw this and were puzzled as to what the hay they just saw.
"Woah." Aerial Ace said, "What just happened?"
"Your Majesty," Dolphin Tail said with worry, "Are you okay?"
"Ah." Queen Shiva Jewel growled as she looked at her hoof.
She saw that her hoof was reverting back to its Void form and quickly hid it before anypony could notice it.
"I-it's nothing." Queen Shiva Jewel answered as she turned away, "I'm fine. I must've just pulled a muscle or something."
"Do you need us to help you?" Dolphin Tail asked politely.
"No!" Queen Shiva Jewel answered harshly, "I'm fine. I'm fine. Let me just go put something on it and I'll be fine." She then turned to Diamond Dust and said, "You can go with your friends. But don't think that this conversation is over. Understand?"
"Y-yes." Diamond Dust answered before gulping in fear, "I understand c-c-completely Mother."
The Queen then left for her room. And as soon as she was gone, Diamond Dust knew that they needed to turn tail and run.
"What just happened with –" Aerial Ace began.
"BACK TO AERIAL ACE'S ROOM!" Diamond Dust screamed as she used her magic to push everypony out of the room.
In the bedroom of the Queen and King, the imposter posing as Queen Shiva Jewel sat on the bed to see what had happened to her hoof. It was still stinging like the devil.
"Augh." The imposter growled, "What was that? As soon as I touched that child, my hoof began stinging."
She looked at her hoof and saw how it was exposing her true form. She then used her Void Magic to remedy the situation, but the pain was not completely gone.
"That pony that stung me." The imposter said with an angry tone, "There's no doubt in my mind. She's the intruder from last night. I need to let the others know."
Using her Void Magic, the imposter casted a spell that would contact the others. The faces of the other imposters posing as the other Queens showed up on the magical circle coming from her magic.
"What is it?" The pony posing as Queen Cherry Fire asked with anger, "You almost got me exposed!"
"I know who the intruder is." The imposter posing as Queen Shiva Jewel answered, "It's the Princess known as Diamond Dust."
"How do you know?" The imposter posing as Queen Aqua Ring asked.
"I heard a conversation she had with her brother and she flat out admitted what she did last night." The imposter posing as Queen Shiva Jewel answered, "And it seems that she's trying to convince her friends that the Queens have been captured."
"No!" The imposter posing as Queen Lua exclaimed, "We can't let that happen! All of you! Keep an eye out for that foolish child and her friends! We can't let our secret be revealed before our master grows invincible!"
"Agreed." The imposter posing as Queen Shiva Jewel replied, "But don't let the girl touch any of you."
"Huh?" The imposter posing as Queen Lucy Twirl asked, "Why?"
"Something strange happened when I touched her." The imposter posing as Queen Shiva Jewel answered, "It seems that coming into contact with her stung me and made a part of my disguise disappear. I can't say for sure if that'll happen to all of you if she touches any of you, but just to be safe, do not let her touch you."
"How strange." The imposter posing as Queen Sol stated, "This hasn't happened before. As far as I can tell, nothing could hurt us. When we capture her, we may need to see if there's something different about her."
"My thoughts exactly." The imposter posing as Queen Shiva Jewel replied, "Be prepared. All of you."
She then stopped the spell and kept holding her hoof that was in slight pain. She then thought about how Diamond Dust stung her and how it was the very first time she ever felt actual pain before.
"This is impossible." The imposter said in anger, "We Void Ponies are supposed to be unstoppable. No pain can come to us. Whatever that Princess is, she clearly must be stopped before she can do any more damage."
Aerial Ace's Room…
Diamond Dust pushed her friends into the room, shut the door with a slam and locked it tightly.
"Ah…ah…ah…" Diamond Dust panted with fright, "We…ah…made…ah…it…ah…"
"Ow." Rock Polish said as she looked at her hoof, "I think my hoof hit a brick that wasn't put in the ground properly."
"What the hay Diamond Dust!" Aerial Ace exclaimed, "You know that we all can walk ourselves!"
"She knows!" Diamond Dust yelped with fear, "She knows that it's me! My 'Mother'," She continued while doing quotation marks with her hooves, "Knows that I was there!"
"Yeah." Topsy Turvy replied while looking unsurprised, "Maybe because you just said out loud that you were there last night? I think anypony could figure out what's going on with that information."
"You don't understand!" Diamond Dust said as she was getting hyper, "That monster knows that I saw our mothers get captured and now she's probably going to get the others to come and get me! And when they do, they may come after you next since you were there when she saw me!"
"Your mom is a pretty strict pony." Aerial Ace stated, "She always has been tough on us when we do something wrong. Though she's more tough on you than us."
"You were spying on her and the other Queens when we were supposed to be in bed." Rock Polish stated, "I don't think it's that big of a surprise when she was getting angry at you. It is kind of reasonable."
"It's reasonable to her because she knows that I saw their evil plan!" Diamond Dust exclaimed, "How can all of you still not believe me after what you all just saw?!"
"Well," Topsy Turvy began, "You tried to prove that she wasn't your ma by showing that she doesn't do any of the stuff she normally does. But she did them all. She knew the answers to your questions as soon as you asked them."
"She called you Diamond Dust instead of Daughter," Aerial Ace added.
"And she was acting like how she always does when she's about to punish you." Rock Polish finished, "I'm sorry Diamond. But it seems like you just had a bad dream last night."
"But it wasn't a dream!" Diamond Dust argued, "And that imposter only knew how to answer the question I was asking because she was conversing with the other imposters about that comet! And my brother came in and called me by my real name! So I say that what happened back there was not a fair chance!"
"And are we just going to ignore the fact that we saw how she was in pain as soon as she touched Diamond Dust?" Dolphin Tail asked.
"Huh?" Diamond Dust said as she turned to Dolphin Tail, "Y-yes. Yes! That's right. Didn't that seem strange to any of you?"
"Actually," Topsy Turvy answered, "That was kind of strange. As soon as she put her hoof on you, she looked like she was bit by a spider. Too bad I don't know what that's like since I've always used illusion spiders rather than actual spiders." She finished with a smirk.
"Get real girls." Aerial Ace said as she looked annoyed, "Our moms are all old. Their bodies start to get hurt at their age. Can we please just accept that it was just a dream so I can get back to mine?!"
"Don't talk about our mothers like that Aerial Ace!" Diamond Dust exclaimed, "You and I know perfectly well that our mothers are not that old! Especially my mother! She's still so beautiful that she doesn't even have bags or wrinkles yet!"
"I don't know Aerial Ace." Dolphin Tail said with some concern, "The way that Diamond's mommy was in pain kind of rubs me the wrong way. Like Diamond said, she's not that old, and I actually spotted some stuff falling out of her hoof."
"Huh?!" Topsy Turvy yelped as she looked queasy, "You… you mean you saw… b-b-b-b-b-b…"
"No Topsy Turvy." Dolphin Tail answered, "Not that. It was more dust than liquid. Plus, it was black. Not red."
"Oh thank Sol and Lua." Topsy Turvy said with relief.
"I didn't see too much though." Dolphin Tail added, "She covered her hoof immediately afterwards."
"Black!" Diamond Dust exclaimed, "The same color as those monsters I saw!"
"I didn't see anything." Rock Polish said, "All I saw was Diamond Dust's mum acting like how she always does. And I doubt that a simple touch like that could cause a pony to bl—" As soon as she saw Topsy Turvy's face, she quickly changed her statement to, "To get hurt that badly."
"Still," Dolphin Tail said, "I'm starting to think that maybe we should at least look more into this before we come to an official conclusion."
"I'm never going to finish sleeping in today." Aerial Ace groaned.
"Here's the plan." Dolphin Tail said with a smile, "We each go interact with our own mommies and see if anything is out of the ordinary. And maybe even try to see if any of that black stuff falls out of them like I saw with Diamond Dust's mommy. And if they either of those things happen, then it proves that Diamond Dust wasn't just dreaming and that there may be actual danger coming."
"Sounds like a plan." Rock Polish agreed.
"I agree." Topsy Turvy added, "Let's do it!"
"No way!" Aerial Ace denied, "I'm getting my sleep for the morning now!"
She then began to head for the bed. But before she could make it all the way, Dolphin Tail flew right in front of her.
"Aerial Ace, wait!" Dolphin Tail pleaded, "Come on. Don't be like that. You've had the entire night to sleep. And you'll have the entire night tonight to sleep then. Right now, Diamond Dust is trying to warn us about how our mommies could be in danger. And from what I've seen, it might be true. What if your mommy really is in danger? Don't you want to find out what happened to her? And save her?"
"You don't know if what Diamond Dust saw is real!" Aerial Ace argued, "It was probably just a dream like I've been saying this entire time!"
"And if it's not?" Dolphin Tail asked.
Aerial Ace thought about her response for a moment. She never thought about if what Diamond Dust was saying is true. Perhaps it was maybe worth a try after all.
"Alright." Aerial Ace replied with a nod, "Let's do it."
"Yay!" Dolphin Tail cheered, "Then let's go on an investigation!"
"You all go." Diamond Dust told them, "I'll stay here. I have a feeling I shouldn't be out there after what happened with my 'mother'."
"Leave this to us." Rock Polish said to her with a smile.
From there, the other Princesses left the room to go converse with their own respective mothers. Meanwhile, Diamond Dust remained in the room alone and left with thoughts about what might happen to her friends if they get caught by the imposters.
"Be careful my dear friends." Diamond Dust said to herself.
Aerial Ace and her mom…
So each Princess went to see their mothers. With Aerial Ace, she found her mother, Queen Lucy Twirl, with her husband and some servants of the castle. Aerial Ace asked to speak with her mother alone. The Queen, who was actually a Void Pony in disguise, saw an opportunity to try and capture the Princess before she learns what Diamond Dust is trying to convince her of. Arriving in the Queen and King's bedroom, Aerial Ace could try to get the truth out of her mother alone.
"So," Queen Lucy Twirl said to her daughter with a smile, "What'd you want to talk about? I'm not particularly busy nowadays. Hoho!" She chuckled, "How many times have I said that before? I think I've said that enough times for you to know that that isn't true. Heehee."
"Yeah." Aerial Ace answered with a neutral tone, "Anyway," She continued as she got back on track, "Gosh. Sure is a lot of pressure to get this celebration going. I mean, all the decisions you have to make? All the planning? You must be getting stressed Mom."
"How could I be stressed when I'm showing all of Coltnelia my baby boy!" Queen Lucy Twirl exclaimed, "I'm as excited as a bear at the end of winter! Nothing can keep me from being happy around this time!"
"Mom's annoyingly persistent eagerness of being happy? Check." Aerial Ace thought.
"Mom." Aerial Ace began, "About Dad wanting to dance with me. Can't you tell him to dance with you or any of my sisters? I can't be seen dancing with my dad. I'm going to be seen even more like a Princess and Dad will just show all of his annoying banter at me the whole time."
"What's wrong with that?" Queen Lucy Twirl asked, "You know that your father is just wanting to be with you more. Why, out of all the daughters in the family, you haven't let him be in your life that often. I think spending time with him in a dance will be good for both of you. Besides, what's wrong with being a Princess? It's what makes you who you are. You wouldn't be Aerial Ace if you weren't a Princess."
"Wanting me and Dad to get along? Check." Aerial Ace thought, "Encouraging me to be happy that I'm royalty? Check. This is a big waste of time."
"Oh boy." Queen Lucy Twirl said as she looked at her mane, "Look at me. I'm a walking mess. I guess I got out of bed quicker than I thought I did. Let me freshen my mane up again."
She then went over to her desk, sat down and look in the mirror to freshen up her mane.
"You know," Queen Lucy Twirl said, "I'm maybe thinking about trying pigtails like you. It really suits you well. I thought I might look good with them too. After all, if you have my sense of excitement, then I must have your good looks when it comes to pigtails."
"Thinking that she and I get excited over the same things? Check." Aerial Ace thought while looking more and more angry, "Yep. This was a waste of time. Maybe if I go now, I can still get at least ten minutes of sleeping in."
But right before she could escape…
"WAHHHH!" the baby Prince Crescent Zephyr cried loudly, "WAHHHHH!"
"Oh no." Aerial Ace said with horror, "Not now!"
"Oh dear." Queen Lucy Twirl said, "The baby probably had a nightmare. Aerial Ace, could you be your mommy's special girl and help him calm down?"
"But Mom!" Aerial Ace replied, "I've got to –"
"HE'S YOUR BABY BROTHER AND YOU NEED TO BE THERE FOR HIM!" Queen Lucy Twirl shouted with anger, "NOW SIT YOUR RUMP DOWN AND CHEER HIM UP!"
Aerial Ace then felt like she shrunk to the size of a mouse because of how scary her mother looked from the yelling.
"Loud yelling when things don't go her way? Check. Gulp." Aerial Ace thought, "Yep. That's definitely Mom."
Aerial Ace then went over to the crib, picked up her baby brother and sat down to calm him down.
"Come on now little brother." Aerial Ace said with an irritated voice, "Stop crying now. It's getting really annoying really quickly. Not to mention that a bed is crying for me. And I want to get to it quickly."
"WAHHHH!" Prince Crescent Zephyr cried, "WAHHHHH!"
"There, there?" Aerial Ace said as she pretended to smile, "It's not that bad?" Her eye began to twitch because of how annoying the crying was getting, "Rock-a-bye baby?"
But the crying was too much and Aerial Ace couldn't hold in the anger any long. And like a volcano, her anger was beginning to build up. Reaching for the top for it to explode. And then…
"AUGH!" Aerial Ace screamed in anger, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! WHY AM I EVEN DOING THIS?! MOM ALWAYS TAKES THE CRYING JOBS!"
But as soon as she finished her screamed, she realized something in what she just said.
"Huh?" Aerial Ace said as an idea popped in her head, "What a minute."
While the baby was still crying, Aerial Ace looked over at her mother, who was still freshening her mane. She realized that it wasn't her mother that was dealing with the crying job and had asked her to do it instead. That wasn't how things went around the house. Aerial Ace knew how the scene should've played. Aerial Ace knew what she had to do. But first…
Aerial Ace picked out of a feather from her wings and gave it to her baby brother and said, "Here. My feather. Remember? You always liked my wings."
The baby looked at the feather and grabbed it from Aerial Ace. Soon, his crying ceased and was replaced with laughter.
"Heehee." Prince Crescent Zephyr laughed.
"Okay." Aerial Ace said to her baby brother while placing him in his crib, "You just play with my comfy feather while your big sister has a talk with mommy." The baby then laid in the crib while playing with the feather that Aerial Ace gave her.
"Hey Mom." Aerial Ace said as she approached her, "So what made you want me to deal with my brother's crying?"
"Well I have to fix myself up." Queen Lucy Twirl answered as she was doing her mane, "I can't watch a baby and make myself presentable at the same time. Golly. It must've been from the meeting me and the Queens had last night. It was quite a long debate."
"Yeah." Aerial Ace replied, "But what I find strange is that you never miss an opportunity to spend time with a baby of yours. Whenever a baby is crying or needs feeding or needs to be dressed or rock it to sleep, you always take that opportunity to spend time with that baby. Even if you're doing something important, you just drop everything for a baby of yours. And you never let anypony else deal with the situations I just mentioned unless they're with you."
"Ah!" Queen Lucy Twirl yelped as her face was frozen in shock.
"I've been watching my mom take care of babies since the day I was born." Aerial Ace added, "I know how my mom is around babies. Especially her own babies." The Queen was silent and was growing nervous deep down. She knew that the Princess was on to her and that she probably should've taken more time to get into the character of Queen Lucy Twirl.
"Maybe Diamond Dust wasn't dreaming after all." Aerial Ace thought, "Because it seems like I've got her stuck in a corner. I wonder how the others are doing."
With all the other Princesses, they were conversing with their mothers in private as well. Rock Polish with her mother Queen Amethyst Harmony, Dolphin Tail with her mother Queen Aqua Ring, and Topsy Turvy with her mother Queen Scarlet Rose. Each of them tried to catch any bit of out-of-character behavior from their mothers. But everything seemed to have checked out at first. But with Rock Polish, she noticed that when her mother was ignoring any bit of dust or spider-webs that stood within the bedroom she was staying in with her husband. Rock Polish knew that her mother always disposes of anything displeasing to the eye such as dust or spiderwebs. She doesn't leave a single bit of either in the room she stays in. She called her out and the Queen of Earth, or so it seemed like her, found herself up a creek without a paddle. Dolphin Tail noticed that her mother was wearing less pearls in her mane than normal. And she knew that her mother loved pearls from a clam to death and she never goes a day without them. So Dolphin Tail knew something was wrong with her mother as well. And Topsy Turvy figured out that her mother wasn't who she claimed to be because how more demanding she was with the servants. Topsy Turvy knew that her mother was much nicer and sometimes mischievous to the servants that help her. It was then that the imposters posing as the Queens that were being questioned were exposed and they had to get rid of the Princesses before they could expose their plan.
Back with Aerial Ace and the imposter posing as Queen Lucy Twirl, the imposter continued looking at the mirror with a face that slowly turned evil. Angry, but then a smirk appeared. She knew that something needed to be done now. And she liked what she was thinking of doing.
"You know what?" The imposter posing as Queen Lucy Twirl said to Aerial Ace, "I've just remembered something. Thank you for reminding me of that." She said as she turned to the Princess, "And I actually have a favor to ask of you in return."
"Quit the games!" Aerial Ace shouted, "Who are you?! You're not my mom! I've already told you why that is! I know my mom better than anypony! I know what she would do and what she would never do! And missing an opportunity to be with her babies is one big thing she would never do! No matter what! So tell me who you are and where my mom is!"
"Aerial Ace." The imposter said with an evil grin, "How could you say that? I am your mother. And your mother needs you to do her a favor." She continued as she walked frightfully toward the Princess, "You want to make your mommy happy, right?"
"Stay away from me!" Aerial Ace demanded as she stepped backwards, "I know what's going on!"
"What will you do?" The imposter asked, "Nopony will believe you. You may know your mother more than anypony, but I've already fooled everypony else. And even if you can somehow convince them, I'm afraid you won't get the chance to."
"Where is my mom?!" Aerial Ace demanded.
"She's safe." The imposter answered while looking calm and collected, "But only," She continued as she looked evil again, "If you come with me!"
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Aerial Ace denied. She then began flying for the door. But she was stopped by the imposter's Blizzard magic keeping the door from opening. "Augh!" Aerial Ace yelped as she saw the door get frozen shut, "No!"
"Get over here you feathered mule!" The imposter demanded as she tried to grab Aerial Ace.
"No way!" Aerial Ace denied as she flew over the imposter. She then saw her baby brother and realized that he couldn't be left in this room with the imposter. So she went to the crib, picked him up and went for the window. "Okay Little Brother." Aerial Ace said to him, "Hang on ti –"
Suddenly, she was grabbed by a magical aura and thrown to the other side of the room. "Augh!" Aerial Ace screamed in pain as she hit the ground. The baby then looked at the imposter and noticed how it looked like his mother. So he began crawling toward her. "No! Crescent! Don't get near her! Whoever she is, she's not Mom!"
"Sorry Princess." The imposter said as she picked up the baby, "But the baby always returns to his mother. Now that I have a little hostage, surrender yourself and I won't have to hurt him or your mother."
Angered about her having her brother and being called a Princess, Aerial Ace prepared her wings to move as fast as she could. "Don't call me a Princess!" Aerial Ace yelled as she charged against the imposter. She then tackled the imposter and pushed her to the wall. "Augh!" The imposter growled as it hit the wall. The baby then flew in the air and was caught by Aerial Ace. "Got you." She said to her baby brother with a smile.
"Why you little –" The imposter hissed as it began to get up. "Dah!" She screamed in pain, "W-what?! What's happening?!" She then looked at the part of her body that was tackled and saw that her disguise was disappearing and revealing her true form while causing some stinging pain in the process. "What the?! Augh!" She screamed in more pain, "Look at what you did!"
"Woah!" Aerial Ace yelped as she saw what was happening. She saw red and black appearing on the imposter. Revealing its true form. And some dust falling right out of the area that was exposed. "That's weird." Aerial Ace said as she shivered a bit, "W-who are you? What are you?"
"Why you clumsy…" The imposter hissed as it tried to get up. But the pain was too much and it couldn't find itself to get back up. "Augh…"
"Come on Crescent!" Aerial Ace said as she began flying, "Let's get out of here!"
She then flew to the big windows that were across the bed, opened them and flew outside to escape. At that moment, the imposter was using whatever strength it had left to follow the escaped Princess. It got to the window and saw her flying off with the baby. "Grr…." She growled in anger, "That stupid Princess!"
With Aerial Ace, she was flying outside of the castle and felt the breeze and sunlight of morning. And saw the Crown City of the Wind Kingdom on top of the high mountain where the winds where very strong. But now was no time to relax and enjoy the view, for Aerial Ace needed to find her friends immediately.
She flew around the castle and looked at every window that was possible to try and find her room again. And when it came to view, she looked through and saw that her friends were already gathered. But they looked as though something was amiss. Aerial Ace knew exactly what it was.
She then entered the room through the window and joined her friends. "Girls!" Aerial Ace exclaimed, "My mom isn't really my mom! Diamond Dust was right! She is an imposter! I noticed that she wasn't trying to stop my brother crying like she always does and when I told her I was going to expose her, she attacked me!"
"Mine too." Rock Polish replied, "The imposter that was pretending to be my mum said she would order her master to hurt my real mum if I didn't go with her."
"Her master?" Aerial Ace asked, "Who's that?"
"I don't know." Rock Polish answered, "But it sure was scary. I barely escaped. But not before stopped her from grabbing me. And when she did, suddenly her hoof went all black and red and some dust was falling out of her."
"The same thing happened with the imposter posing as my mom too." Aerial Ace said, "I attacked the imposter when she grabbed my brother and she was looking black and red too."
"Same with the imposter posing as my mommy." Dolphin Tail joined in, "She was trying to convince me that nothing was wrong in a really sweet voice like my real mommy does. I actually almost thought it was really her. But as soon as she touched my face, her hoof went black and red too. And the dust was falling from her too. I was really scared. I'm surprised I was able to escape."
"I. Was. Terrified!" Topsy Turvy shouted, "The imposter pretending to be Ma was really mean-spirited toward the servants and even started to demand things from me. I knew for sure something was wrong. And when I started to claim that she wasn't actually Ma, she tried to take me somewhere and grabbed me. But… I think her hoof went black and red too." She continued while looking a little sick, "But I couldn't tell. The world began spinning as soon as I looked at it."
"It did look like it was… well you know. The b word that you don't like hearing Topsy Turvy." Aerial Ace stated, "So yeah. Her hoof was black and red with the dust too."
"So all of our mommies are not really our mommies." Dolphin Tail said with worry, "They're…"
"They're fakes!" All four ponies exclaimed.
"See?!" Diamond Dust asked while her eyes were twitching, "I told you! I told you that they weren't our mothers! I kept telling all of you, but no, no! You wouldn't listen to me! You always treat my troubles like they're just no big fuss or just fantasies! Well just because I'm a Princess who fantasizes her future, I can have a grip on reality, thank you very much!"
"Okay! Okay!" Aerial Ace said to Diamond Dust, "You were right! Our moms are imposters! Can we forget about that now and figure out what the hay it is they are!" She then looked at her baby brother and added, "And what am I going to do with him? I brought him with me because I didn't want the imposter to get him."
Suddenly, they heard a knock on the door and were worried that one of the imposters may have caught up to them. "Oh no!" Diamond Dust yelped as she shivered, "I think it's one of our 'mothers'!" She finished while doing quotation marks with her hooves, "Am I doing this quotation thing right?"
"Dolphin Tail!" Aerial Ace said as she handed her the baby, "Hold my brother and get behind everypony!" She then headed to the front and said, "I'll deal with the imposter! No imposter is going to hurt my friends!"
"Aerial Ace!" Diamond Dust exclaimed, "Wait!"
The door began to open slowly and Aerial Ace got ready to get whatever was coming. The chills began to crawl on all the Princesses spines as the door inched closer of revealing who was behind it. And Dolphin Tail hid the baby the best she could so he wouldn't get hurt. Soon, the door was completely opened, showing who was entering the bedroom. And then…
"Girls?" A male's voice said.
"Huh?" The young Princesses said at the same time as they saw who it was that entered the room, "Cricket?!"
It was none other than Cricket. The small dragon who looked a little concerned about something.
"There you all are." Cricket said as he entered the room, "I've been looking everywhere for you five. Listen, I've been looking for all of you because I need your opinion on something. Do you think that I would –"
"Cricket!" Topsy Turvy exclaimed as she went to hug him tightly, "Thank Sol and Lua you're here! I needed something cute and non-vicious to comfort me!"
"Ow!" Cricket cried as he was getting squeezed, "W-what do you mean?! What's going on?!"
"She means we've got –" Diamond Dust began. But she was interrupted by Topsy Turvy still squeezing the little dragon really hard. She used her magic to stop the panicking pony and said, "Let the dragon go!" Topsy Turvy then sat down trying to remain calm without the comfort of a small dragon. "Anyway," Diamond Dust continued, "She means we've got trouble."
"Really big trouble!" Aerial Ace added.
"Trouble?" Cricket asked as he fixed his clothes up, "What kind of trouble?"
"Well," Diamond Dust began talking while panicking, "ItallstartedlastnightwhenIwenttospyontheQueensofColtneliaintheirmeetingallbecausemybrotherdaredmetoitsincetheyhadanimportanttingtodiscussthereandInoticedthattheywereallactingfunnyandit'snomrallyfinewithLucyTwirlsinceshealwaysactsallexcitedandtriestobringlightintothemeetingsandthenIsawthattheywereactingfunnybecausetheywere –"
"Diamond Dust." Dolphin Tail said calmly as she put her hoof on Diamond Dust's muzzle, "Use your words."
Diamond Dust then took a deep breath, calmed her nerves and then shouted, "OUR MOTHERS AREN'T OUR MOTHERS!"
"They're… wait what?" Cricket asked.
"The ponies that look like our mothers aren't our mothers!" Diamond Dust repeated, "They're imposters posing as our mothers like imposters!"
"Please tell me she didn't just say imposters posing like imposters." Rock Polish said while putting her hoof on her face.
"Imposters?" Cricket asked, "The Queens of Coltnelia? Oh Diamond Dust. You must've had some strange dre –"
"It wasn't a dream." Aerial Ace interrupted, "Our moms really have been captured and replaced by imposters. I saw it. We all have."
"Most of us didn't believe Diamond Dust at first." Rock Polish said, "But we all figured it out since they all weren't acting exactly like our mothers. And when we touched them, they turned into these weird red and black creatures and have some dust falling out of them."
"The redness and blackness." Topsy Turvy said as she shivered, "It made me go whiteness."
"Red and black creatures?" Cricket asked, "So they were Dark Ponies?"
"No." Diamond Dust answered, "I thought they were too. But something was different about them. They gained power from the moon and can create more of each other."
"That sounds bad." Cricket commented, "And every Queen of Coltnelia was an imposter? Even Cherry Fire?"
"We didn't see Fire Rose's mom." Aerial Ace answered.
"But I saw her get captured as well." Diamond Dust added, "And get replaced with an imposter."
"If what you all are saying is true," Cricket said, "Then that means this castle is in danger. Do you know where the real Queens are?"
"No." Dolphin Tail answered, "I ran before I could get the imposter to tell me."
"Me too." Topsy Turvy said, "Although my imposter almost got me because everything was spinning as soon as I saw the dust."
"And there's no way I'm going to ask my imposter." Diamond Dust stated, "She already knows that I know. As soon as I get in there, I'm as good as a captured Princess in another castle! And I don't want to be a future Queen that gets captured to another castle! I want a perfect road to Queendom!" She cried.
"I did get something out of my imposter." Aerial Ace said, "She said that she's safe somewhere. But I didn't get any further than that."
"I got something too." Rock Polish said, "My imposter said something about her 'master'. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that this master she referred to as something to do with our mums' disappearances."
"That makes it easy then!" Aerial Ace said with confidence, "We find the evil master guy, put him in his place, save our moms, then we'll save the day before whatever evil plan this evil master guy has comes to take over Coltnelia or whatever the plan is!"
"Yeah!" Dolphin Tail agreed, "That means going on an adventure!" She cheered as she began dancing around, "I've been wanting a fun adventure for such a long time! This has to be the best birth celebration that's ever happened in Coltnelia! Yay!" She yelled loudly.
"Shhh!" The other ponies shushed, "Do you want the imposters to find us here?" Rock Polish asked.
"Oh." Dolphin Tail replied while smiling nervously and turning red, "Sorry."
"Normally I'd skip on an adventure to stop evil." Diamond Dust said, "Because I'd rather deal with more casual situations like tax disputes, trades with other Kingdoms, or even taste testing bakeries." She then looked furious as she yelled, "But anypony who captures my mother and the Queens of Coltnelia answers to the future Snow Queen! Princess Diamond Dust!"
The others just looked at Diamond Dust with a surprised look. As they're more used to her regal personality. "Great!" Aerial Ace said to break the silence, "Then let's go kick some flank!" She declared as she began heading for the door.
"Yes!" Diamond Dust agreed, "Let's!"
"I'm with you!" Topsy Turvy joined in, "Let's save our mas!"
"Watch out master what's-your-name!" Rock Polish said as she followed, "You messed with the wrong Princess!"
"Girls." Dolphin Tail said as she watched them heading for the door, "I love all of your energy. But one problem: We don't know where the master is. Let alone who he is."
The other Princesses then stopped in their tracks and saw Dolphin's point. They were going after the villain blindly. No destination and no identification of the villain they're after. They had nothing to work with besides the information that was discovered. "Oh. Right." Aerial Ace said while rubbing the back of her head, "I knew that. I was just joking around."
"Heh, heh." The other ponies chuckled nervously. "Why don't we go see if we can learn anything about these imposters?" Cricket asked, "We could see if the library has any answers."
"Good thinking Cricket." Diamond Dust said with a smile, "The library is full of knowledge. We're bound to find something there."
"Then let's get moving." Aerial Ace said as she headed for the door, "But let's move quickly. Since the imposters know we're on to them, they're probably going to tell somepony to keep an eye on us."
"Or create more of themselves." Diamond Dust added.
"What do we do with your brother Aerial Ace?" Dolphin Tail asked, "We can't just leave him in your room."
"You're right." Aerial Ace replied, "We'll just have to take him with us. We can't risk him getting taken to the imposter pretending to be my mom. I don't trust what she's going to do with him. Just keep holding him for me."
The others then headed out of the room to head for the library. But were cautious about who they run into. "Um. Aerial Ace." Dolphin Tail said with worry, "I'm not –"
"Wahhhhh!" Prince Crescent Zephyr cried loudly, "Wahhhhh!"
"Not good with babies." Dolphin Tail finished while looking like she wanted to cry too.
The library…
They made it to the library and found some guards protecting the entrance. Aerial Ace was the first to head for the entrance. But the guards stopped her with their wings. "Halt!" One of the guards exclaimed, "Princess! Aren't you supposed to be practicing your part with your siblings?"
"Grrr…." Aerial Ace growled in anger, "I thought I told you…"
"She is." Diamond Dust joined in, "But her father requested a book about his family history. He thought he would tell it to some of the foals."
"Is that true?" The guard asked, "I thought the Queen specifically asked for no changes whatsoever."
"That's why he's doing it in private." Diamond Dust explained, "And I know you'll keep quiet about it, right?"
"Well…" The guard replied, "If the King requested this, okay. But if you get caught helping your father in this Princess Aerial Ace, I sure hope you're ready for the Behemoth to awaken."
"Grrr…" Aerial Ace growled in anger, "Don't call me a…"
"Let's get inside before Behemoth Jr. awakens." Topsy Turvy said as she pushed Aerial Ace inside. The others followed, but then one of the guards noticed that Dolphin Tail had the baby Prince, who was dangling on Dolphin's wing and having fun. "Oh, my poor wing." Dolphin Tail said in misery.
"Stop!" The guard ordered, "What is the baby doing here?"
"Huh?" Dolphin Tail yelped, "The baby?" The guard then came closer to the water Princess and said, "Yes. That baby. Why isn't he with the Queen like he should be?"
"Why?" Dolphin Tail said while sweating, "Um… uh…. Well… It's like this…. Um…."
"Aerial Ace's mother wanted her to get to know us better." Diamond Dust answered as she joined in the group, "And right now, it's Dolphin Tail's turn to hold the baby. And what a splendid job she's doing. Just the way she lets him hang on her wing like that."
"We are?" Dolphin Tail asked while looking confused. "Oh." The guard said with a convinced expression, "Well why didn't you say so? That's nice of her to do. Alright. Enjoy the library." He then looked at the baby and said, "Especially you little Prince."
"Come on now Dolphin Tail." Diamond Dust said as she and Dolphin Tail went inside, "When we get inside, I get a turn with the baby." Dolphin Tail looked relieved as she said, "Thank you."
Inside of the library, the group saw that there were many books upon many shelves. And it can only mean that this would take some time to accomplish. "Look at all these books." Topsy Turvy said with amazement, "This library is so big, I bet you could fit an Ursa Major. Or something bigger!" She then gasped as she said, "Wow! I actually thought of something bigger than an Ursa Major! Now I regret it!"
"There sure are a lot of books." Rock Polish commented, "It may take some time to find the book that could help us."
"Not if we split up." Cricket said, "Let's all look in different places to make the work go faster. Try to find something that involves certain evils that have attacked Coltnelia."
"Great plan." Aerial Ace agreed, "Now let's get to work! Dolphin Tail, you stay there and make sure my brother stays safe!"
"Actually," Dolphin Tail said as she presented the baby to Diamond Dust, "Diamond Dust will watch him now." Sadly, Diamond Dust looked away and said, "Sorry Dolphin Tail. But I shall not sit here while my mother is in jeopardy. I'm going to find the right book as well. Besides, I have magic, so it'll go faster if I go."
"But you said –" Dolphin Tail tried to say. "Have fun sweetheart." Diamond Dust interrupted. As soon as everyone else left to find the book, Dolphin Tail was left with the baby. And from experience, babies don't do well with Dolphin Tail unless they play with her wings or climb all over her. "Ah." She sighed as the baby climbed up to her head, "Well this is miserable."
Time went on for a bit and the group was unsuccessful so far. Meanwhile, Dolphin Tail's mane had many hairs out of place as well as the tail. Some of her coat looked unbrushed as well. Dolphin Tail couldn't last another minute having the baby play on her like that just to keep him from crying.
"Of all days that our mommies had to be captured." Dolphin Tail said with a miserable voice, "Why today?" It soon got to the point where she needed to do something about this. So she grabbed the baby with her hooves and said, "Little baby Crescent." She began with a smile and an eye twitch, "I'm sorry to do this, but I think you need a time out. It's clear that you have no respect for personal space. And this foalsitter needs a break."
"Wahhhhh!" Prince Crescent Zephyr cried loudly. "Ack!" Dolphin Tail yelped from the crying, "No! No! It's okay!" She said while trying to calm the baby down, "Don't cry! Don't cry! Don't you know that you're supposed to remain quiet in a library? No. I guess not." She then thought about letting the baby play on her wing again. But her wing was in so much pain that it just wasn't worth it. "Oh… there has to be something I can do to make you stop crying." She then looked at the shelves and got an idea, "Wait! That's it! I'll read you a book! Surely that'll calm you down." She finished while getting up and holding the baby in one hoof.
She headed for a shelf featuring fictional stories that were well suited for ponies of all ages and began searching for the right book to read. "Let's see now…" Dolphin Tail said as she looked around, "What book… what book… Oh!" She exclaimed as she saw a book that caught her interest. The book read The Misadventures of Solley and Luana and featured ponies that resembled Queen Sol and Queen Lua. "Hm." Dolphin Tail hummed, "I don't remember this kind of book before. But it looks funny. Let me read you this one little Prince." She then went to grab the book to read to the baby Prince. But as soon as she pulled it.
Click!
A click noise suddenly sounded and was followed up with a much louder noise. Along with some rumbling. The noise and rumbling caught both the Princess and Prince by surprise. "Ah." Dolphin Tail said while shaking a bit, "W-what's that?" And then from the area the book was at, a small hidden passage way opened up. "Wow." Dolphin Tail said with amazement, "What's this?" She then put her head inside to take a peek. And as soon as she saw the rocky passageway that had opened up, Dolphin Tail knew that something had to be found in here that could help them. "I've got to get the girls and Cricket here!" She exclaimed as she quickly went to find the others.
She soon found everyone that had split up and led them back to the passageway she discovered. Along the way, the group discussed how unsuccessful they were with finding the right book.
"It was a pain." Diamond Dust said with her regal accent, "No book telling the history of the Wind Kingdom or the stories of Orb Sah have revealed anything. I surely do hope that your discovery helps with anything."
"I think it will." Dolphin Tail said as they arrived at the scene, "Here it is. See?" The others looked at the passageway and felt as though they were getting on the right track. "Well I'll be." Cricket said with a smile, "There really is a hidden passageway. Looks rather unsettling in there though."
"Ain't this topsy turvy." Topsy Turvy said, "Why the hay would anypony have a hidden passage like that? Heehee. Gives me an idea for another illusion."
"Whatever the story behind the passage is," Aerial Ace said with determination, "It's our only chance to find out what's going on. Now let's go see where it leads."
"Right behind you Aerial Ace." Rock Polish said with a smile as the others lined up behind her. "Yeah!" The others said at the same time, "Right behind you!" Aerial Ace looked at how they were perfectly lined up and put her hoof on her head and sighed.
The group, led by Aerial Ace, headed inside the passage. The passage looked as though it belonged to a cave hidden in the middle of nowhere as it's interior looked rocky and ancient. The passage was leading down the stairs and unfortunately, the setting did not look better as they progressed. It's a miracle that the Prince remained quiet the entire time. But that was because Dolphin Tail had no choice but to let him play on her wings. Combined with the unsettling atmosphere, Dolphin Tail was experiencing a nightmare.
Soon, the group's journey down finally ended as they came into a room that was lit by candles on the wall. When they entered, there was a book sitting on a pedestal and had a design that looked like it belonged to an evil warlock.
"Look at this place." Topsy Turvy said with amazement, "It looks like we could have a secret meeting down here. Hey! After this, who wants to make this our secret hideout! The place could use some redecorating though. Maybe we could give it a crazier and more lighthearted look."
"Focus Topsy Turvy!" Aerial Ace exclaimed, "We can plan all that later! Right now, look at that!" She said as she pointed at the book. "Is that a… book?" Rock Polish asked while looking a bit underwhelmed, "This big sinister room was hiding a book?"
"Don't think so low about it Rock Polish." Diamond Dust said as she approached it, "Clearly there's something about the book that the Queen and King doesn't want anypony to know about if it's all the way down here. The only way to find out is to read it." She then looked at the front page and saw that the title read: Spells of X[chi]. "Spells of X[chi]?" Diamond Dust wondered, "What in the heavens does that word mean?"
"Key?" Aerial Ace asked, "So the villain uses keys for evil? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of!" As the baby continued pulling on Dolphin Tail's tail, Dolphin Tail commented, "I sure wish I had some keys to keep this baby nightmare off of me!"
"There has to be some meaning to this X[chi] word that the book says." Cricket said, "Open it up and let's see what it says." Diamond Dust nodded and used her magic to open the book. She read a few pages and learned from the words what the book tells. It was a list of spells that contained a certain language that was impossible to read. Diamond Dust knew that they were spells however since they contained symbols that normal spell books contained. "It's a spell book." Diamond Dust said to the group, "A strange one at that."
"Alright." Aerial Ace said with a smile, "Now we're getting somewhere. What kind of spell book is it?"
"I'm not sure." Diamond Dust answered, "I can't read the spells. They're written in some kind of foreign language." Rock Polish then looked at the book and saw what Diamond Dust was saying. "You're right." Rock Polish said, "What are those words? They just look like something that a filly would write. Or maybe something that Topsy Turvy would write." She finished while looking toward Topsy Turvy. "What?" Topsy Turvy asked, "Is it my fault I never finished school to begin Topsy Turvy Festival and never learned how to write properly?! You know it's worth me having bad hoof-writing! You know it is!"
"What about the beginning of the book?" Aerial Ace asked, "Maybe there's something there that could help us." Diamond Dust nodded and said, "Excellent idea. Let's see." She finished while turning to the beginning of the book, "Here we are. Oh!" She yelped, "You're right Aerial Ace! The beginning part is in Ponish."
"What does it say?" Cricket asked. "Yes!" Dolphin Tail exclaimed, "Please hurry! I can't take much more of this!" She screamed as the baby pulled off some feathers really hard.
"It says," Diamond Dust began before reading the book, "Thee who seeks power must overcome a trial. If thee succeeds, thee shall be granted power most hostile. An armor created from the Void containing power blacker than darkness. Thee shall have the magic to plunge your enemies to despair and sadness. Use these spells and use them wisely to blacken the light. For thee shall be the unstoppable warrior known as the X[chi] Knight." She then looked puzzled by something as she repeated the last words, "The X[chi] Knight?" She then looked at the next page to find a picture of a Unicorn knight armed in a black sinister armor with a strange sigil on the chest and helmet.
"Gulp." Topsy Turvy gulped in fear, "I get the feeling that that's the knight the book is telling us about. And golly. That book wasn't lying about him."
"The X[chi] Knight?" Rock Polish asked, "What does all that mean?"
"It's a spell." Diamond Dust answered, "It's meant to grant whoever reads this the power the book offers. And since it didn't work now, that can only mean somepony already used the spell and is already this X[chi] Knight that was mentioned. The book also mentioned something called the Void. Does that name mean anything to any of you?"
"I've never heard of – ow, that word before." Dolphin Tail said as the baby continued playing on her, "But since it was in that book, it can't be good."
"Who cares what this Void is." Aerial Ace asked, "Does the book say anything about creating whatever those things that are impersonating our moms?"
"Looking right now." Diamond Dust answered as she turned the pages again, "Aha!" She yelped as she found something, "Here it is!" The others looked and saw the spell that Diamond Dust was pointing too. "Look at this." Diamond Dust said, "I can't actually read the spell. But look at the art for the spell." The others examined it and noticed something familiar about them. The coloring and the abilities they have. One of them being able to take the form of anypony that they see. "Those colors." Rock Polish said as she began to piece everything together, "They're black and red."
"Just like those creatures." Topsy Turvy finished. "And it says," Aerial Ace continued, "That they can become anypony that they see. Sound familiar to you girls?"
"Yes." Diamond Dust replied, "Whatever those creatures are, they're most likely working for this X[chi] Knight villain. Which means our mothers are wherever he is."
"Alright!" Aerial Ace cheered, "We've got something! Now that we know who's behind this, we can stop him!"
"That answers the question of who our enemy is." Rock Polish said, "But we still don't know where to find him. Or what he's planning."
"I may have an idea as to what it is." Cricket said while smiling. The Princesses looked down to the dragon to hear his theory. But as soon as they did, his eye glowed yellow for a split second as an evil grin formed on his face. "And you just helped me get my master an inch closer to achieving that plan!" He exclaimed. "Huh?" The Princesses yelped from his sudden outburst.
All of a sudden, Cricket's innocent and gentle, little dragon appearance disappeared and was replaced with a much larger red and black dragon with sinister yellow glowing eyes. The appearance of the monstrous dragon frightened our Princesses and had them shivering in their hooves. "Woah!" Dolphin Tail exclaimed as she helped the baby and hoped to keep him safe, "W-what is that thing?!"
"Not Cricket!" Aerial Ace answered while looking ready for a fight, "That's for sure!"
"T-t-that creature…" Diamond Dust whimpered, "It's the same as t-t-t-the ones I saw last night."
"Thank you for helping me find my master's spell book." The creature thanked, "Now you will do me the pleasure of handing it over to me." Aerial Ace then grabbed the book from the pedestal and said, "No way! You're not getting this book! Not while we're here!"
"Um, Aerial Ace." Topsy Turvy said with worry. "That's right!" Rock Polish joined in as she got her bow and arrows out, "If you want the book, you have to get past us!"
"Then you invite your doom little ponies." The creature said as he reached his claw out, "Prepare yourselves. For even if we can't touch you for some reason, we have other ways to defeat you and take what our master desires." He then turned his claw around and clutched them. In doing so, smaller red and black creatures came from the ground in the form of ponies. Much of which was a shock to the Princesses. "Woah!" The Princesses exclaimed. "More of them?!" Aerial Ace asked, "And they looked like ponies!"
"Void Ponies!" The dragon creature ordered, "Unleash the magic of the Void on them and get the book!" The Void Ponies did as they were told to do and prepared their horns against the Princesses.
"I don't like where this is headed." Diamond Dust said with worry. "Don't worry." Aerial Ace said with a smirk, "All we have to do is touch them and we'll be fine! Watch!" She then began flying toward them in hopes to do harm to them by touching them like before. "Wait! Aerial!" Diamond Dust exclaimed, "Something doesn't feel right!"
"Just watch this!" Aerial Ace exclaimed as she got closer to the Void Ponies. But as soon as she did, she had run into something that couldn't be seen. "Augh!" She yelled in pain. It turns out that they had already a barrier spell prepared so that the Princesses couldn't harm them. "Hahahaha!" The dragon creature laughed, "Is that all you got?"
"Ohh…" Aerial Ace moaned in pain. One of the Void Ponies noticed that she dropped the spell book and quickly retrieved it before Aerial Ace could recover. "Yes!" The dragon creature cheered, "We got the book!"
"No!" Aerial Ace shouted as she got up quickly, "Give it back! Come out of that barrier and fight me like a real monster!" She challenged as she banged on the barrier hard. "Aerial Ace!" Rock Polish said while preparing a shot, "Move up!" Aerial Ace looked behind and quickly did as her friend asked. "Take this!" Rock Polish exclaimed as she shot one of her arrows at the Void Ponies. But they just went right through them as if there was nothing for the arrow to hit at all. "W-what?!" Rock Polish yelped while looking puzzled, "My arrows didn't work?"
"Sleep now our prey." The dragon creature said softly, "Sleep…" As he said that, the Void Ponies began casting a spell that filled the air with a strange purple fog. And as it began filling the entire room, the Princesses began to feel strange. "Oh…" Dolphin Tail said as she started to look tired, "Why am I so… sleepy?" But before she could get an answer, she fell to the ground and everything went black.
?...
Dolphin Tail's eyes began to open as she felt herself waking up from the sleep she was put under. "Huh?" She said as she lifted her head up, "W-what? What happened? Where am I?" As soon as she began to feel more awake, she noticed that all her friends were asleep. "Girls!" Dolphin Tail exclaimed as she ran to them, "Girls! Wake up! Wake up everypony! It's time to wake up!"
Soon, all the other Princesses began to wake up as well. Each of them looking more tired than the other one. "Ah…" Aerial Ace yawned as she stretched her hooves, "Boy. I finally got that extra sleep I needed." Topsy Turvy then got up and asked, "Did we miss brunch?" Rock Polish then got up and asked, "Woah. What just happened to us?"
"It looks like those monsters put us to sleep." Dolphin Tail answered, "And now… wait." She said as she realized something she didn't think about, "Where are we?"
"I was wondering when you were all going to wake up." A familiar voice said. "W-who…" Diamond Dust said as she got up, "Who said that? It's not Lua, is it? Because that would mean I'm still dreaming."
"You're not dreaming." The voice continued, "You're very much awake. And our new prisoners." When their eye sights finally adjusted, they realized they were in a dungeon cell that was below the castle grounds. They looked at where the voice was coming from and saw that it was their friend Cricket. Just sitting on a stool watching them sleep in their cell. "Cricket?" Topsy Turvy asked with a smile, "Boy are we glad to see you. Care to lend a hoof? Or a claw?"
"Not Cricket." Cricket replied with an evil grin. He then revealed himself to be the same red and black creature from when they found the spell book. Only this time, he was much smaller and didn't keep the form for long. "Surprise!" The creature said in a cheery tone.
"You're not Cricket!" Aerial Ace exclaimed, "Who are you?! What did you do to the real Cricket! And where's my little brother?!"
"I'm a creature of the Void." The creature answered, "And servant to the X[chi] Knight himself. I am a Void Dragon. And for today, you're capturer. As for the real Cricket," He continued, "He's perfectly fine. My master has him in a secure place."
"You mean with the X[chi] Knight?" Dolphin Tail asked.
"And as for your baby brother Princess," The Void Dragon continued, "He's perfectly safe with your 'mother'." He finished while making quotation marks, "Hahahahaha!" He laughed mockingly.
"Grrrr…." Aerial Ace growled in anger, "If you or that faker hurt my little brother…. I swear I'll…."
"Who is this X[chi] Knight that the spell book mentioned?!" Diamond Dust demanded to know, "And what does he want with our mothers?!"
"You don't need to know much since you won't be able to do anything about it." The Void Dragon answered. "Tell us now!" Aerial Ace shouted, "Before I rip you from piece to piece and feed you to the hydra!"
"Oh." The Void Dragon said in a sarcastically frightened voice, "How frightful. Very well. I suppose I could give you a hint." He then began pacing around the room as he explained, "Have you heard of the Secretariat Comet and what it can do to magical creatures?"
"I know what that is." Diamond Dust answered, "My father goes on and on about it. It's a kind of comet he's been wanting to see for a really long time. It can do all kinds of strange things to magical creatures when they're exposed to the comet. Like increase a Unicorn's magi –" She then stopped as she started to realize what the Void Dragon was telling them. As soon as she figured it out, she looked deathly frightened about what the X[chi] Knight's plan is. "Oh no!" Diamond Dust yelped, "So that's why you captured our mothers!"
"Huh?" Aerial Ace said with a curious look, "What're you talking about?"
"What does the comet have to do with our mums?" Rock Polish asked. "The Fairy Alicorns have the ability to move comets with their magic!" Diamond Dust explained, "And these demons have captured our mothers so they can be forced to keep the comet in place so that it never leaves Coltnelia again!"
"And that means our master will continue growing more powerful with each passing second forever!" The Void Dragon finished, "As long as the comet remains in his grasp, nothing will defeat him! Soon, he will have the power to rule all of Coltnelia and then the rest of the world! That is once he has the power to destroy the crystals."
"That's not going to happen!" Aerial Ace assured, "We won't let it happen!" The Void Dragon just mockingly laughed, "Hahahahahahaha! YOU won't let it happen?! What can children like you do against an all-powerful knight like my master? Normal magic like the one that the little Ice Queen-wannabe there has cannot harm him. And you non-Unicorn creatures are no threat either. What hope do you possibly have?"
Aerial Ace then noticed a key hanging on the wall right behind him. Seeing as an opportunity to show him off, Aerial Ace said with a smirk, "Care to see what hope we possibly have? Just watch!" She then turned to Diamond Dust and said, "Diamond! The key!" Diamond Dust then looked to where Aerial ace was pointing and saw the key that could help them escape. "Got it!" Diamond Dust replied as she tapped into her magic. "You'll regret ever mocking the true future Snow Queen!" Diamond Dust told the Void Dragon.
But even though she was focusing her magic on grabbing the key, her magic couldn't get to it for some reason. It was as if there was nothing there to pick up. "W-what?!" Diamond Dust yelped, "I can't pick it up!"
"What do you mean you can't pick it up?!" Rock Polish asked, "Just aim your magic right at it!"
"I am!" Diamond Dust replied, "But it's like there's nothing there!"
"Hahahahahaha!" The Void Dragon laughed, "What?! Did you really think we'd just leave the key out in the open in a way that's so easy to grab with your magic?! We're not fools you know. The key is protected by a spell that prevents any sort of magic besides a magic from a Void Unicorn grab it. I just put it there to get a good laugh from this. Hahahahha!"
"You dare make fun of me!?" Diamond Dust said in an insulted tone. "I do dare!" The Void Dragon replied, "Oh. And allow me let you in on something. Even if you do somehow escape, it's better to not come and prove to everypony that the Queens have been captured. Do so, and I can't guarantee the safety of your families Princesses." He finished while looking with an exceptionally evil grin.
"Daddy?" Dolphin Tail said with worry, "And my little brother and sister?"
"Father?" Diamond Dust said with worry, "And Frozen Pride?"
"Pop?" Rock Polish said with worry, "And my little brothers?"
"Pa?" Topsy Turvy said with worry, "And my six uncles?"
"Don't you dare hurt our families!" Aerial Ace shouted with rage, "Do so and I'll destroy you!"
"Double jeopardy, Princesses." The Void Dragon told them, "If you do somehow escape and expose our true identities, you'll face the full fury of the creatures of the Void and put your families at risk! And if you don't, perhaps our master will be kind enough to you serve him alongside your family rather than imprison you in a dungeon forever!"
"You're rotten!" Dolphin Tail insulted. "Thank you my dear." The Void Dragon thanked with a bow, "Now I shall leave you with these lovely thoughts since I have an important event to get ready for. And just so you know, it's not the celebration your mother was planning for Princess Aerial Ace." He finished with an evil chuckle. He then headed for the exit and Aerial Ace was trembling in anger. Having a hard time keeping her temper under control.
"This is horrible!" Dolphin Tail said with a horrified voice, "Our families are in danger up there! We need to go up there and save them before they get hurt!"
"Are you crazy?!" Rock Polish asked, "If we go up there, then those Void creatures will hurt them! You heard what that freak said! No. We need to get out of here, find out where the X[chi] Knight is and stop him before he gets too powerful!"
"That's an even crazier idea!" Dolphin Tail argued, "There's no way I'm leaving my family with those monsters! We have to make sure our families are out of harm's way first before we do anything else."
"I'm with Dolphin Tail on this one." Diamond Dust agreed, "After all, a Queen never deserts the ones important to her. Now I may not actually be Queen yet and I may have a bit of a complicated relationship with my family. But nevertheless, I won't leave them in this horrible position."
"Have you two been paying attention?!" Rock Polish yelled, "The moment we set hoof up there, then our families will be in greater danger than they're already in! It's best we deal with the problem from the source! Besides, our pops have Mystic Magic and Mystic Artes with them. And a bunch of Royal Guards. They'll be able to hold them off for a while until we deal with the problem."
"No!" Dolphin Tail denied, "I can't do it! I can't go off to stop the X[chi] Knight until I know for sure that my family is safe!"
"What kind of pony are you Rock Polish?!" Diamond Dust asked, "Leaving your family behind when they're in the presence of monsters that can create more of themselves! Don't you care for them?!"
"Of course I do!" Rock Polish answered, "It's because I care for them that we should go to the source of the Void and stop it from making more of those monsters!"
"Why you heartless –" Dolphin Tail insulted.
"STOP IT!" Aerial Ace shouted with all of her anger, "Stop it all of you! Can we argue about this later?! Right now we need to figure out a way to get out of here!"
"But how?" Diamond Dust asked, "I can't pick it up because it's protected by the spell the Void Ponies used."
"Well we can't just sit here and give up." Rock Polish stated. "And we don't have to." Topsy Turvy said with a sneaky voice, "Because look what I got." The other ponies looked toward Topsy Turvy and saw that she had the key right in her hoof and was spinning around feeling like she was on top of the world. "Woah!" The other Princesses yelped. "Surprise!" Topsy Turvy exclaimed.
"Topsy Turvy?" Diamond Dust said with a mind-blown expression, "How did you get it? It isn't possible that your hooves extended, did they?" She asked with a smile. "Heehee." Topsy Turvy chuckled, "That would be topsy turvy. But that's not it. That magic the Void Ponies used kept Unicorn magic from grabbing it. But the Void Dragon didn't say that an Arte can't get it."
Rock Polish then looked at Topsy Turvy's small necklace around her neck and realized what she meant. "Oh." She said with a surprised look, "Your Illusion Arte." Topsy Turvy smiled and replied, "Correct. I saw that a barrel over near the key. So using my Illusion Arte, I used a barrel from in our cell to reach my hoof inside this barrel and have it end up on the other one for me to get the key. Now we can get out of here."
"Splendid job Topsy Turvy!" Diamond Dust praised, "That's really pulling it out of a barrel!"
"It's hat Diamond." Topsy Turvy corrected, "Pulling one out of a hat."
"I know." Diamond Dust replied, "But… you know because… because you used a…. a…." She slowly got quiet as she felt embarrassed by her joke.
"You're not good at this." Aerial Ace stated. Diamond just looked down while looking seemingly annoyed as she asked, "Can we escape now?"
"I sure would like to." Rock Polish answered, "But there's a problem. We have the key on the inside. But how are we going to unlock the cell when the keyhole is on the outside?" Topsy Turvy's reign quickly died out as she realized that she didn't exactly think her plan through. She then stopped spinning the key and the key fell to the ground while she felt utterly defeated. "Oh." Topsy Turvy replied, "I guess the keyhole is on the outside."
"Great." Aerial Ace said while sounding frustrated, "We're still not getting out."
"Can't you use your Illusion Arte to get the key to the keyhole Topsy Turvy?" Dolphin Tail asked. Topsy Turvy nodded no and answered, "I can't. My Arte Necklace needs to rest. If only I had the kind of Arte Necklace that Pa has."
"We need to figure out a way to get the key into the keyhole quickly." Diamond Dust said with concern, "Our families are in danger!"
Meanwhile up the stairs…
There was a large gathering of ponies in the Party Room. Peasant guests, guards, but most of all, Royal Ponies. Most of them being siblings to the captured Princesses and some being other kinds of relatives. The most notable of Royal Ponies, however, weere the Queens and Kings of Coltnelia. They all sat together in a large table at the front of the room. The Void Dragon posing as Cricket sat next to Queen Sol's imposter. The gathering was a small party declared by the Queens as a lead-in to the big celebration of Prince Crescent Zephyr's birth. That was as far as the Kings and other ponies knew. But the truth was that the Queens, who were actually the Void Ponies in disguise, were waiting for the signal from their master to attack and capture everypony in the Party Room and save them for the master as his army of slaves. During this time of waiting, King Star Chaser had the baby Prince with him, and the other ponies and guests just talked amongst each other. Except for King Astral Flash, the King of the Fire Kingdom. He remained silent throughout the party as he felt sad about how his daughter, Princess Fire Rose, wasn't coming this year. And after all the excitement he felt about seeing her again.
"Everypony is having a great time." The Void Pony posing as Queen Lua stated. "A really fun time." The Void Pony posing as Queen Sol agreed, "A good time for them to have fun."
"The suspense is killing me." The Void Pony posing as Queen Lucy Twirl communicated to the others with her mind while growing impatient, "When can we begin the attack?" She asked. The Void Dragon posing as Cricket then turned around to look at an orb. The orb featured the X[chi] Knight back at his hidden cave. "Master." The Void Dragon whispered, "Our little servants here are growing impatient. When can we begin?" He asked.
At the X[chi] Knight's cave…
The X[chi] Knight sat at his throne with his spell book on a pedestal and an orb that featured the Void Dragon. "It won't be long now my little pet." The X[chi] Knight answered, "First, I find the spell that I need in order to complete my plan. Let's see now…" He said as he turned the pages, "Aha! Here it is! The final piece of the puzzle!" He exclaimed as he pointed at the spell, "Prepare yourselves my friends." He said to the orb, "Because our time to rule the entire world is at hoof!" He then used his magic to carry the spell book with him as he got up to head to the room where the Queens of Coltnelia are.
Back with the imposters…
The Void Dragon put away his orb and went to give the news to his comrades. "He says it's almost time. Get ready!" He communicated with them through his mind. The Void Pony posing as Queen Aqua Ring then said with an evil smile, "Excellent. Once he gives the signal, we'll show our true selves to all these fools and then release the imitation magic from our horns."
"Once that's done," The Void Pony posing as Queen Shiva Jewel joined in, "The crystals will no longer recognize us as the real Queens and realize that the real Queens are in danger." The Void Pony posing as Queen Cherry Fire then added, "And once that happens, the crystals will begin to go out of control and won't be able to use their magic to protect themselves. Leaving them vulnerable to our master's power. And that's when our utopia begins."
"Hahahahahahahahaha!" The Void Ponies and Void Dragon laughed evilly through their minds.
The X[chi] Knight's cave…
The X[chi] Knight arrived in the room that contained all the captured Queens of Coltnelia. Each Queen trapped in the vines created from the Void and forced to use their horns to keep the Secretariat Comet over the cave. An additional prisoner was also forced inside. Cricket, who was sent to the cave by another Void Pony back at the Wind Kingdom. "The time has come at last! I have all the Queens of Coltnelia to take care of the last step for me! With this spell, I shall now acquire all of the Queens' magic and make them my own! Combined that with the power of the Void and the comet giving me the boost in magic, I shall soon become an unstoppable being and rule the entire world!"
"You fool!" Queen Lua shouted as she felt the pain coming from her being forced to use her magic, "Thou may become more powerful, but thou will never be invincible!" The X[chi] Knight then looked walked over to Queen Lua, put his hoof on her chin and said, "Queen Lua. I'm going to enjoy acquiring your magic and using it to crush your crystal the most." Queen Lua gasped and replied, "Straight Arrow! Please stop this! I beg of you to –"
"I don't want you to beg!" The X[chi] Knight exclaimed, "I WANT YOU TO SUFFER AND LOSE EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS TO YOU!" He then looked at the spell book and prepared his horn. "Please!" Queen Sol begged, "Don't do this! Wake up from the Void!"
"Too late!" The X[chi] Knight said back, "Here we go!" The spell began and the aura in his horn was glowing bigger and brighter than before. Suddenly, the ground began to shake because of the immense power that was coming from his magic. And suddenly, the magical aura coming from Queen Sol's horn began flowing over to the X[chi] Knight. As soon as it touched his horn, he felt an indescribable power flowing through his horn and his entire being. Combined with everything else giving him power, he felt like he could move mountains or even destroy asteroids. "AHHHHH!" Queen Sol screamed in pain as her magical aura kept flying to the X[chi] Knight. "Hahahahahaha!" The X[chi] Knight laughed, "Yes! Yes! This power! This magic! So this is how you feel on a daily basis, isn't it Queen Sol?"
"Ahhh…" Queen Sol moaned in pain. She felt weak, unable to lift her head up. Though she still had enough magic to be forced to keep the comet in place. "Sister!" Queen Lua exclaimed. "Now for the other Queens!" The X[chi] Knight said as he began acquiring the magic from the other Queens. First, Queen Aqua Ring's magic was acquired, then Scarlet Rose, Lucy Twirl, Shiva Jewel, Amethyst Harmony, and then Cherry Fire. Each of them felt as weak and tired afterwards. Barely able to move and still felt pain from the after effects and the vines they were trapped in. "You fiend!" Queen Lua said with a horrified voice, "Is there truly no chance of you reforming Straight Arrow?"
"Stop calling me that!" The X[chi] Knight demanded, "This Straight Arrow stallion died the moment you betrayed him! You knew I was meant to be the captain! You knew it was what I dreamed of the most! I gave you my trust! I gave you everything! But when the cursed Moon Crystal said otherwise, what did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?! NOTHING! YOU DID NOTHING! ESPECIALLY WHEN I NEEDED YOU ON MY SIDE THE MOST!"
"The darkness in thy heart prevented thou from continuing!" Queen Lua explained, "It wasn't my fault!"
"Not your fault?!" The X[chi] Knight asked in rage, "Who inspired me to follow my dreams?!" He asked as he began to acquire her magic. "AUGH!" Queen Lua screamed in pain as she felt her magic being taken. "WHO DROVE ME TO WORK HARD UNTIL MY BONES CRACKED?! WHO DENIED ME MY DESTINY!" He exclaimed with an echo. When the echoing finished, he acquired all the magic he needed and Lua was left weak and defeated just like the rest of the Queens. "Oh…" She moaned in pain while leaning her head down, "S-s-straight Arrow… please…" She said weakly.
"At last!" The X[chi] Knight said as he felt the immense power in his horn, "The magic of all the Queens of Coltnelia! The time is almost here!" Cricket watched the entire thing happening and was horrified about what he witnessed. So horrified that he couldn't speak. The X[chi] Knight then left the room to head back to his throne room.
When he arrived, he went to the center of the room where the ceiling contained a large opening featuring the comet. Feeling his magic being increased, he prepared himself for the spell. "With all the Queens of Coltnelia's magic in my horn," He said to himself, "And the power of the Void mixed together with the power of this comet, I shall now gain the power to destroy the crystals and create new ones from the Void and turn this entire world into the Empire of X[chi]!" He then looked into the orb from before and said to it, "Minions! Prepare yourselves! Our moment has come!"
Back at the Wind Kingdom…
The Void Dragon and the Void Ponies heard their master's orders and looked at each other with sneaky evil looks. "Hehehehehe." They all chuckled evilly through their minds. "The time has come!" The Void Pony posing as Queen Lua said through their mind communication, "Make the announcement." The Void Pony posing as Queen Lucy Twirl then stood up from her chair to make the announcement the other imposter mentioned.
"Fillies and gentlecolts!" The Void Pony posing as Queen Lucy Twirl announced, "May I please have your attention?!" Everyone in the party stopped what they were doing to listen to the Queen. "I have an important announcement to make! And this may be the only time I can say this, so listen carefully!" She continued as she slowly began to smile evilly.
Back with the X[chi] Knight…
The X[chi] Knight then looked into a spell from the book of his that would grant him the power to destroy the magical crystals and create the ones he needed for his empire. The spell required the magic of the Queens of Coltnelia, and a great source of power to give enough magic to the horn. "Here it is." The X[chi] Knight said with fascination, "The spell I wished to cast years ago! Now I shall finally have my dream come true! If I can't be the Captain of the Royal Guard for a Queen of Coltnelia, then I will become the Emperor of Coltnelia and the rest of the world!" He then focused his magic into the spell. And when it started, black cloudy smoke began to come out from the ground and swirl around the circle of the light the X[chi] Knight was in.
From the light, a big large symbol that resembled something out of a glass art began to appear on the ground. The large symbol contained eleven different smaller circles that would require some power in order to complete the spell he wishes to obtain. "O, symbol of destruction! I give thee these magics of the great ones! And I hereby grant you a much greater magic from the Secretariat Comet!" He chanted as the aura in his horn began to enlarge, "I grant thee these required ingredients to awaken the ultimate power! I demand thee now, grant your master the Ultimate Power of Destruction!" He finished with a large echo at the end.
Once the chanting ended, the magics of each Queen of Coltnelia he captured began to flow out of his horn and each magic landed in a different circle that represented the Kingdom that the respective Queen ruled over. When they each got into their circles, they began to create a darkness that was spreading across the symbol and coming toward the X[chi] Knight. When they reached him, he began to feel the power he desired years ago. The power that would help him create the dark empire. The Ultimate Power of Destruction.
"This is it!" The X[chi] Knight said as he got excited, "The power is almost mine! Now Secretariat Comet, finish the spell! Grant me the power to create the ultimate empire!" He exclaimed loudly, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" His horn began to spread his boosted magic across the symbol to finish the spell. And it was then he began to feel invincible, powerful, demonic. It was almost complete. The power he worked hard for. But suddenly…
Everything he started had suddenly disappeared and the power he was feeling quickly vanished along with it. And everything was like how it was before the spell began.
"W-what?!" The X[chi] Knight exclaimed in anger, "W-what's happening?! Why did the spell just stop?! Where is my ultimate power?! Where is my path to the empire?! Ah!" He gasped as he remembered something. He then looked into the orb and ordered, "Minions! Stop! Don't begin the attack!"
Back at the Wind Kingdom…
The imposter posing as Queen Lucy Twirl was about to give the dark announcement. When all of a sudden, "Minions! Stop! Don't begin the attack!" The orb exclaimed. "Huh?" The Void Dragon posing as Cricket said as he looked back at the orb, "Why?"
"Something's wrong." The X[chi] Knight answered, "The spell won't finish for some reason. If you attack now, you'll expose our plan before we can execute it! Stop now!" The Void Dragon quickly went to the Void Pony posing as Queen Lucy Twirl to tell her the news. And thankfully he made it right before she could do it. "W-what?!" The Void Pony posing as Queen Lucy Twirl exclaimed out loud.
The audience heard her shout and were left puzzled about her outburst. The imposter just looked back at the crowd with an embarrassed look along with her cheeks turning red. But she already had the attention of the audience, so she had to think of something to say. Although, she hadn't really prepared herself for this. "Uhh…." She said as she tried to think of what to tell the audience, "Um….. I uh….."
"She just wanted you all to know," The imposter posing as Queen Sol explained, "She's overjoyed to see all of you this happy." The imposter posing as Queen Lucy Twirl saw where her comrade was coming from and said, "Yes! Exactly! And I'm proud to say that I have been given some news from our dragon friend that our surprise for all of you is coming soon as a way to make this experience all the more joyful." The audience commented on the news they were given. But Star Chaser was surprised by this as he was never told about this from his wife. So he stood up from his chair while carrying the baby to question his wife.
"A surprise?" King Star Chaser asked, "For the guests? Just for having fun at a small party before the celebration? That's oddly jolting. You usually don't do something like this until the actual celebration begins." His 'wife' smiled at him and replied, "Oh. I'm just feeling happier than normal. I have so much happiness that I can't help but let it all out and give it to all of you!"
"She's going to give something alright!" A voice exclaimed, "But it's not happiness!" King Star Chaser, the imposters and everyone else in the audience chamber were surprised to hear the voice and quickly turned to where it was coming from. At the entrance of the Party Room, there came Aerial Ace, the cause of the voice, and the other Princesses. "Princess Aerial Ace?!" Astraios asked with a surprised tone. "And the other Princesses?!" Captain Nimble Force added.
"Well look at that." King Star Chaser said with a smile, "My little girl and her friends are joining after all." The imposters looked furiously surprised and found themselves only to blame the Void Dragon. "How did they –" The imposter posing as Queen Lucy Twirl said before getting back into character, "Uh, I mean, sweetheart!" She said with a motherly tone, "Where have you and your friends been? I thought you were in the Crown City spending some time with each other before you got really busy."
"Dad!" Aerial Ace shouted as she and her friends rushed over to the large table where the Kings and the imposters were standing, "Get away from them!" She ordered while getting in between her father and the imposters. "W-wha…?" King Star Chaser said while looking confused, "Aerial Ace? What do you mean get away from them? They're just the Queens. Need I remind you that one of them is your mother?"
"Dad!" Aerial Ace began, "I know this is hard to believe, but that isn't Mom and these aren't the Queens of Coltnelia!"
"What?" King Star Chaser puzzled. The other guests in the chamber began to question Aerial's statement and her siblings were thinking she was going crazy. "It's true!" Diamond Dust joined in, "These aren't the true Queens! They're imposters posing as the Queens! The real ones have been captured!"
"Diamond Dust!" King Comet Venture exclaimed as he approached his daughter, "What're you doing?! Have you gone mad child?!" Diamond turned to her father and answered, "Father! I swear I'm telling the truth. I was watching the meeting last night and I saw the Queens get captured and set somewhere else. They were replaced with the Void Ponies!"
"Void Ponies?" King Rock Smash said as he approached his daughter Rock Polish, "Where in the name of Coltnelia did you get that from?" Rock Polish approached her father and answered, "It's a long story Pop. The point is, the real Queens have been captured by an evil knight called the X[chi] Knight! And he's using their power to keep the Secretariat Comet in place so he can get more and more powerful!" Dolphin Tail joined in and said while pointing at the Void Dragon, "He told us! He kept us imprisoned in a dungeon downstairs told us everything!"
"Dolphin Tail." King High Flyer said as he approached his daughter while looking a little embarrassed, "Listen sweetie, I know you really love to make believe. But I think you're taking this a bit too far. You know how your mother can get when you embarrass her like this." Dolphin Tail then responded, "It's the truth Daddy! When I went to speak with 'Mommy'," She said with quotation hooves, "I noticed that she was wearing less and less pearls than normal. Daddy, when has there been a day where Mommy wears less pearls than what she normally wears?" King High Flyer look a little nervous as he answered, "Well… I guess… I mean your mother does like to wear pearls."
"High Flyer!" King Gold Miner said as he joined the group, "You can't actually believe please civilians, uh, cheese millions, uh, grease miltons, uh…"
"You don't actually think that these young ones are telling the truth, do you High Flyer?" King Astral Flash asked in his proud voice while approaching the group. "Yes!" King Gold Miner yelped, "That's what I was trying to day, uh, say."
"I mean," King High Flyer said while rubbing his hoof in a nervous manner, "My wife usually wears more pearls than this. And…" The imposter posing as Queen Aqua Ring quickly defended with, "Oh. I'm just cutting back a little because I want the attention on the baby and not on me. You know how precious my pearls look."
"You see?" King Gold Miner asked, "There's nothing abnormal about less pearls. She's just rhowing sespect. Uh, showing respect." Topsy Turvy then joined in by saying, "Pa! We're not making anything up! When I spoke to my 'Ma', she was really mean-spirited to the servants! And then she started acting all weird and tried to grab me! And then…" She was unable to finish the sentence as the thought of what happened began to make her queasy. "Topsy Turvy?" King Gold Miner said with concern, "Are you okay?"
"What's gotten her stomach in a knot?" King Rock Smash asked. "What she's trying to say," Rock Polish answered, "Is that when our 'mums' touched us, we began to sting them and they turned into these red and black ponies called the Void Ponies we mentioned earlier!" Dolphin Tail then added, "And then they kept talking about the X[chi] Knight and how he plans to rule the whole world with the power of the Void!"
"In fact," Aerial Ace said as she looked toward the imposters, "I bet if we touch them now, we can reveal their true form." The imposter posing as Queen Lucy Twirl looked nervous as she said, "Now Aerial Ace, I know you and your friends love to role-play on Best Friends Day, but I think you're going a little overboard on this one." Queen Lua's imposter then added, "Keep them away! We mean no disrespect, but we love to have our space for the moment! And by we, I mean we!"
"Rock Polish," Queen Scarlet Rose's imposter said with a scolding tone, "You're acting like a child. More than usual." Queen Cherry Fire's imposter then added, "Perhaps because they are children. Just look at them interrupting a fun time for the guests just to get attention."
"Get attention?!" Aerial Ace yelled, "You think we're doing this just to get noticed?! You're stupid!" The guests then gasped at what she said and began to scold her for saying such words. Even Aerial's siblings couldn't believe what they heard. "Aerial Ace!" King Star Chaser scolded, "That's going too far! I know you don't exactly like being seen with your mother, but that doesn't give you the right to talk that way about her!" Aerial Ace then argued, "Yes it does! Because that's not Mom! Dad, when the baby was crying, she didn't take the chance to take care of him like she always does! You should know better than anypony that Mom never misses a chance to bond with a baby of hers!"
"That's… true." King Star Chaser replied, "But your mother has been working a lot more than usual lately. So I think she had a reason to step down that one time!" King Astral Flash then questioned, "And one thing. If the Queens of Coltnelia have truly been captured by a villain, why haven't the elements that the crystals control gone out of control?"
"Uh, that's right!" King High Flyer yelped while trying to look professional, "T-the crystals are in link with the Queens and they can sense when they're in danger. If our wives have been in danger, we would be able to tell just by seeing the land go into chaos."
"We don't know." Dolphin Tail answered, "But they must've done something about it. Daddy, you have to believe us." Aerial Ace then raised a hoof and said, "Just watch. Look what happens when I touch my 'mom'." She then turned around to get to the imposter. But before she could make it, a yellowish-red magical aura stopped her from doing so and the magical aura had the other Princesses as well. "W-what?!" Aerial Ace yelped.
"I think we've seen enough." King Astral Flash stated with his horn glowing in a yellowish-red magical aura, "You children have embarrassed yourselves and your mothers enough. If you want to play make believe," He continued as he began carrying them away with his magic, "Then do it outside."
"Let us go!" Diamond Dust exclaimed, "We can prove that they're not the real Queens!" Topsy Turvy then added, "I really wish we didn't have to touch them to prove it. I can't have my sight go blurry again."
"Dad!" Aerial Ace yelled, "You have to give us a chance!" King Star Chaser responded with, "You need to think about how you behaved young lady! Especially when it's almost time for your little brother's big celebration!" Aerial Ace then looked at the imposter posing as her mother and saw her give an evil smile as a well to mock her. The mocking expression on the imposter's face became so insulting to the Pegasus that she had more motivation to fight back. "Get over here you… you… you faker!" She exclaimed at the imposter while trying to fight against Astral Flash's magic.
"Princess!" King Astral Flash said as he began to struggle against her, "Stop this now! You're acting more childish than you are!" Aerial Ace then growled, "Don't call me a Princess! And I'm not letting that faker get away with this!" Dolphin Tail saw how her friend was struggling to break free and started to worry about her. "Aerial Ace, stop!" Dolphin Tail pleaded, "Don't push yourself like this!" But she didn't listen. She kept trying to break free and wanting to get the imposter quickly before she could get a chance to hurt anypony. Especially her family.
"I'M! NOT! LETTING! HER! GET! AWAY!" Aerial Ace shouted loudly while putting more strength in fighting back. "Princess!" King Astral Flash exclaimed as he fought to pull her away. "Princess Aerial Ace!" King Star Chaser shouted, "Stop that right now!" Aerial Ace growled in anger as she tapped on the necklace she was wearing. Once she did, it began to glow and she felt a great energy flowing within her. A limited power given to her by the Wind Crystal. The power of her Arte Necklace.
"Twisty Tornado Arte!" Princess Aerial Ace chanted as she flapped her wings hard. Suddenly, a big strong bluster of wind blew from her wings and twirled in the entire chamber like a tornado. The guests had a hard time not being pushed back by the force of the wind. The wind was so strong that King Astral Flash began to get blown away from the Princesses and was unable to concentrate his magic on them. Because of this, the Princesses were quickly freed from his magic. "No!" King Astral Flash exclaimed. Taking this opportunity, Aerial Ace turned to Diamond Dust and said, "Diamond Dust! Teleport us!"
"Right!" Diamond Dust replied as her horn glowed brightly, "Teleporta!" She then teleported herself and her friends over to the imposters. The imposters were distracted by the wind that was blowing from Aerial Ace. But as soon as they looked up, they panicked at the sight of the Princesses. "Dah!" The imposters exclaimed. "Girls!" King Comet Venture exclaimed, "Get away from your mothers right –"
Before he could finish, the Princesses touched their respective imposters posing as their mothers. As soon as they did, each of those Void Ponies felt a horrible sting. "DAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" The Void Ponies posing as the five Princesses mothers screamed in pain. When the screaming stopped, their true forms were being revealed. Their black and red forms with dust falling out of them because of how they were touched by the Princesses. "Grrr…." The imposter posing as Queen Lucy Twirl growled in pain, "Ah! Oh no!" She yelped as she saw her true form exposed.
"Huh?!" King Star Chaser said as he looked at his 'wife', "Hey. That's not Lucy Twirl." Suddenly, the baby in his hooves began to cry, "Wahhhhh!" While King Star Chaser tried to calm his newborn son down, King High Flyer examined his 'wife'. "What's going on here?" He asked while looking confused, "That's not Aqua Ring."
"And that there isn't my lass, Amethyst." King Rock Smash added while looking at his 'wife', "These five aren't the Queens of Coltnelia!" King Comet Venture was shocked at what he was looking at and was forced to say, "It seems our daughters weren't pretending after all. These are imposters!"
"That's what we've been telling you Father!" Diamond Dust exclaimed, "I swear, even at home, nopony ever listens to me!" Meanwhile, Topsy Turvy was getting nauseous from looking at the dust and moaned, "T…tha…..ooks….like…..like….b….blo….. ahhhhh….." She couldn't finish her sentence because she had fainted and landed in her father's hooves. "It's okay Topsy Turvy. I'm here." King Gold Miner told her. He then turned to the imposters and asked, "As for you! What are you and who do you want! Uh, who are you and what do you want?!"
"That's what I'd like to know as well!" King Astral Flash asked as he approached the imposter posing as his wife, "Who are you creatures and where are our wives and the Two Sisters?! Speak now, or face the consequences!" He finished with an angry tone as his horn was dangerously glowing. The other Void creatures felt like they were up at a brick wall since the Kings now knew that they weren't the true Queens. And their secret was exposed before they needed to be. While the remaining Queen imposters didn't know what to do, the Void Dragon certainly had something up his sleeve.
"My good friend." The Void Dragon said as he walked up to King Astral Flash, "I'm afraid the only one who will suffer consequences," His eyes then glowed bright yellow as he exclaimed, "IS YOU!" Suddenly, he reverted back to his original form and grew in size. "Ah!" King Astral Flash yelped as he saw the Void Dragon enlarge. "First!" The Void Dragon said as he looked at the Princesses, "You five!"
Using his Barrier Magic, he trapped each of them in their own barrier before they could react. "Augh!" Aerial Ace yelped as she tried to break free, "Hey!" Dolphin Tail then pleaded, "Let us go!"
"With pleasure, Your Majesty!" The Void Dragon exclaimed as he threw them across the room. "AHHHHH!" The Princesses screamed as they flew across the room in their barriers. They hit a wall and their barriers broke. "Oof!" They each groaned in pain as they hit the wall and landed on the ground. "Girls!" The Kings of Coltnelia exclaimed as they reached for the Princesses. "My allies! Show them your true forms!" The Void Dragon ordered them. Just as they were told, each Void Pony, except for the ones posing as Queen Sol and Lua, revealed their true forms in front of the Kings. The Kings were shocked by their appearances and were left speechless. And before they had a chance to move, the Void Ponies raised their hooves in the air and caused a strong force to push the Kings away.
"AHHH!" The Kings exclaimed as they got pushed by the force of the Void Ponies' magic. The baby slipped from King Star Chaser's hooves and was flying in the air over the Kings. "No!" King Star Chaser exclaimed, "Zephyr Crescent!" But before he could hit the ground, he was saved by the Captain of the Wind Kingdom's Royal Guard, Sharp Blade. "I've got him Your Majesty."
"Phew." King Star Chaser sighed of relief as he got up, "Thank you Captain. Keep him safe for me." Sharp Blade nodded and kept the baby with him as ordered. King Star Chaser, along with the other Kings of Coltnelia then faced the Void Ponies getting ready in case they needed to fight them. Well, King High Flyer was a bit more nervous than the others. But he knew he needed to be brave for the people of Coltnelia. "You hackit nyaffs!" King Rock Smash exclaimed, "Attacking our daughters and then nearing hurting a baby just like that! You're worse than monsters!"
"Who are you?!" King Astral Flash demanded as he stood at the front like a leader, "And what have you done with the Queens of Coltnelia?!" The imposter posing as Queen Sol then smiled and said, "I'm so glad you asked my dear King. And I surely hope you pay attention to what we say. Because this may be the last time you ever hear of the unstoppable creatures of the Void!" She exclaimed as her eyes glowed in a bright yellow. After her small speech, she and the one other imposter then transformed into their true forms. However, they were much larger than the other Void Ponies due to them posing as the Two Sisters. "Hahahahahaha. Hahahahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The two leading Void Ponies laughed evilly as their true forms finally revealed themselves.
The Princesses got up and witnessed what was happening and were shocked at how many of them there were. The Kings couldn't believe it either. It was unlike anything they've ever seen before. Even Captain Nimble Force and Captain Sharp Blade didn't know what to think of this. "Behold!" The first leading Void Pony announced, "We are the most powerful creatures you shall ever see! For we are creatures that contain the power that originates from the almighty Void! But to keep it simple, you may call us the Void Ponies!" She then turned to the Void Dragon and added, "Except him. He's a Void Dragon."
"Where are our wives?!" King Rock Smash exclaimed, "You fiendish yellow-eyed dobbers had better not hurt them!" The second leading Void Pony responded with, "Your wives shall remain safe. As long as our master has use for them."
"Our daughters say your master is somepony called the me blight," King Gold Miner stated incorrectly, "Uh, steam light, uh, glee fright, uh –"
"The X[chi] Knight!" The Princesses exclaimed. "Yes! The X[chi] Knight!" King Gold Miner said proudly, "What is he and who does he want with, uh, who is he and what does he want with our wives?!"
"You want to know?" A Void Pony asked, "You'll have to force the answer out." Aerial Ace smirked as she began flying in the air and said, "Don't bother with them, Dads! We'll wipe them out and tell you everything!" She then charged at the Void Ponies. But as soon as she began charging, she hit something really hard. "Dah!" Aerial Ace screamed in pain as she ran into an invisible wall. She then fell back to the ground feeling dizzy. "What the…?" Aerial Ace said in confusion.
Rock Polish went up to where Aerial was and felt some kind of invisible wall in front of them. Preventing them from moving from that spot. "What's going on?!" Rock Polish asked, "I can't go any further!" Dolphin Tail and Topsy Turvy then went to feel the wall and the former asked, "Is this a wall or something?" While the latter asked, "Now this is a strange illusion." Diamond Dust then felt it and was beginning to worry a bit. "We can't move." Diamond Dust said while breathing a little heavier, "W-why can't we move?"
"Ha ha!" The Void Dragon laughed, "Don't think we didn't prepare for you five pains in the neck! Those barriers I used to grab you broke apart when they hit the wall. But as soon as the pieces fell to the ground, they formed a brand-new barrier to keep all of you in that place without any chance of escape! Hahahahaha!" He laughed evilly at the end. Aerial Ace grew ticked really easily as she replied with, "Why you little –"
"Now, now children." The leading Void Pony interrupted, "The grown-ups are talking. Just talk amongst yourselves while we get things settled." She continued while turned toward the Kings. "Leave the young ones out of this!" King Venture Comet ordered, "They're only children!" King Star Chaser then added, "You already captured out wives! But you don't need our kids too!"
"But we do." The other leading Void Pony disagreed, "For they shall make wonderful servants for our master once he creates his dark empire!" As if it were enough to spark his righteous flame, King Astral Flash lit his horn with his magical aura and prepared himself to fight against these monsters. "That won't happen!" King Astral Flash exclaimed, "Not while we, the Kings of Coltnelia, stand here now! You will tell us where our wives are and what this X[chi] Knight plans to do with them one way or another!" As soon as he said it, King Comet Venture prepared his horn as well and Kings Star Chaser, Rock Smash, and Gold Miner prepared their Mystic Arte Necklaces. King High Flyer was slightly hesitant though.
"We welcome you to it." The leading Void Pony replied, "But… that won't happen since we are invincible creatures! Go! Attack!" She ordered the other Void Ponies and the Void Dragon. Then the Void Creatures charged at the Kings to engage in an epic fight. "Defeat these Royal Fools and capture every peasant here to begin the large army of slaves for our master!"
King Astral Flash then raised a hoof, waved it at the Void Creatures and exclaimed, "Kings of Coltnelia! We must protect our subjects at any cost!" The Kings, except for High Flyer, then charged at the Void Creatures to try and defeat them and get some answers. King High Flyer was hesitant to fight due to him wanting to be a pacifist. "Uh…" King High Flyer said in a nervous tone, "Is there anyway we can settle this in a more well-manner way?"
King Gold Miner was facing off against the Void Pony pretending to be his wife, Queen Scarlet Rose. He fought off against her using his Mystic Arte, Sweet Seven. A Mystic Arte where seven gems with different abilities appear around him and he can send any one in any order to attack and use its unique ability. Those abilities being Confetti to make the abilities even stronger, Sleep to hopefully put the Void Pony temporarily to sleep, and then attack with Treasure Raid and Aero.
King Comet Venture faced off against the Void Pony pretending to be his wife, Queen Shiva Jewel. In his fight, he used his Mystic Magic, Scientific Warrior. He's granted mystic armor from his magic and gains an ancient magic that allows him to create small meteorites to fire at his foes, also create potions with different kinds of effects like potions to heal a pony, help grant more magic for worn out horns, or even red potions that cause explosions. It was this scenario where he used the red potions. He also had a special kind of Gravity spell where instead of keeping his enemies floating like a normal Gravity spell would, it can cause the opponent to fall on the wall or ceiling instead. There are other things that King Comet Venture can do with his Mystic Magic, but more will be seen in the future.
King Rock Smash was facing off the Void Pony that posed as his wife, Queen Amethyst Harmony. In this fight, King Rock Smash used his Mystic Arte where he can pull out spiritual versions of the ground below him and toss it against his enemies. Though they looked like they were only illusions due to how they glow, they would deal real damage to the enemy that Rock Smash faces. Not only that, but he can even cause an earthquake and can jump in the air and use the Meteor Crush ability to summon a giant rock to land on his opponent.
King Star Chaser fought off against the Void Pony that pretended to be his wife, Queen Lucy Twirl. He fought off with his Mystic Arte, Cards of Justice. He can summon as many cards as he can and can send them off to do a raid attack on his enemies. When he has enough cards, he can perform a special ability where he draws out two chains of multiple cards to surround his enemy and then have them attack in an ability known as Card Chain.
King Astral Flash was facing off the Void Pony that posed as his wife, Queen Cherry Fire. His Mystic Magic was a powerful spell known as Courageous Dragoon. The spell arms him with spiritual armor and a spear created from his magical aura. With this Mystic Magic, he can perform a High Jump ability against his enemies where he launches himself in the air with his spear and then deals a hard attack on his enemies when he lands. He can also all-mighty powerful spheres of magic in this form, but can quickly tire him out if done too many times. Other abilities include Lance Burst, Lance Barrage, Cyclone and many others.
The Kings fought off the Void Ponies as best they could with their Mystic Magic and Artes. Except for King High Flyer of course. But nothing the Kings did were doing any sort of damage to the Void Ponies. They were like sponges. Every time the Kings tried to harm them, the Void Ponies just absorbed their attacks and magic like it's nothing. Sadly, the Kings couldn't protect themselves from every attack. "Shesh." King Star Chaser said as he fought his opponent, "If only Solar Daze were here. His Mystic Paladin magic would be really useful right now."
"Well he's not here." King Astral Flash replied while avoiding a spell from his Void Pony, "We have to do what we can." The fight went on and unfortunately, things were not turning out well for the Kings. Meanwhile, Captain Sharp Blade was keeping the baby safe with him and looked toward the Princesses trapped in their invisible prison. But then he got the idea that his ally, Nimble Force might be able to do something about it. "Nimble Force!" Captain Sharp Blade said, "Go see if you can help the Princesses!" Captain Nimble Force nodded and replied, "Yes sir!"
Nimble Force then rushed over to the Princesses and said, "Hang on Your Highnesses! I'll get you out somehow!" He then tried to use his magic to get them free. But no matter what spell he used, nothing seemed to do the trick. "It's no use!" Diamond Dust told him, "Magic doesn't work against it!" Not wanting to give up, Nimble Force kept trying to break the barrier. But he was unable to succeed. "There has to be a way!" Captain Nimble Force exclaimed.
"Dah!" A bunch of voices exclaimed. Nimble Force and the Princesses turned to where the voices came and saw that the Kings of Coltnelia, except for King High Flyer, laid on the ground defeated. "Hahahahahahaha!" The leading Void Pony laughed mockingly, "This is the power of the Kings of Coltnelia?! What a disappointment. I was hoping for a much tougher fight."
The Princesses were shocked to see their fathers bruised and easily beaten. "Dad!" Aerial Ace screamed. "Pop!" Rock Polish screamed. "Father!" Diamond Dust screamed. "Pa!" Topsy Turvy screamed, "This is horrible!" Diamond Dust then looked toward the Void Ponies with anger and shouted at them, "You horrible fiends! How could you do this to our fathers?!"
"They got in our way." The other leading Void Pony answered, "So we got them out of our way." Nimble Force then rushed over to defend the Kings and shouted at the Void Ponies, "You monsters! Nopony harms the Kings of Coltnelia on my watch!" One Void Pony just snickered and said, "The Kings of Coltnelia stood no chance against us. What makes you think you're any more of a threat to us?"
"I will do what I have to for the protection of this land!" Captain Nimble Force answered, "Even if I don't stand a chance! Your Majesty!" He exclaimed while turning to King High Flyer, "Get back! The last thing we need is for you to get hurt as well!" King High Flyer, being the pacifist King, did as he was told and was started to get back so he wouldn't get hurt. But as soon as he started walking, "Daddy!"
"Huh?" King High Flyer said while turning to where the voice was coming from. He saw that it came from his daughter, Princess Dolphin Tail. "Don't give up Daddy!" Dolphin Tail pleaded, "Please fight for Coltnelia! Don't let those monsters get away with hurting your friends and kidnapping Mommy!" With the combination of seeing his daughter trapped like she is, his wife getting kidnapped, the Kings getting defeated, and the words his daughter gave him, King High Flyer found the courage to put aside his pacifist side and turned around to face the Void Ponies.
"Stand down Captain." King High Flyer ordered Nimble Force. "Huh?" Nimble Force asked while turning to the Water King, "No! You need to –"
King High Flyer then walked past Captain Nimble Force and said, "This is my fight. I need to protect my land." Nimble Force just watched him walk by with an expression showing admiration for the King that's normally socially awkward or is a pacifist. "Oh this should be good." A Void Pony said as it watched King High Flyer step up, "It's about time this little pipsqueak stepped up. What's your little ability going to be, huh? Make us shiver like a kitten like you were doing a second ago? Hahahahahaha!"
"You evil fiends!" King High Flyer exclaimed with an angry expression, "You've captured my wife, hurt my fellow Kings, and trapped my daughter along with her friends! You've done enough damage for one day! So step down now and tell us where the Queens are!" The leading Void Pony just looked at him with an evil smile and asked, "Aw. Did you really think that by acting all tough would make us want to answer anything you ask?"
"No." King High Flyer answered as he began to float in the air, "And I'm glad you didn't want to answer me. Because now, I can end this fight right now!" Revealing his Arte Necklace, he tapped on it with his hoof and began activating his Mystic Arte. "Mystic Arte!" King High Flyer chanted as his eyes glowed in a violet light, "Fairy Tales to Reality!" As soon as he chanted the words, four books suddenly appeared and floated around the King. The Void Ponies were intrigued by this arte and wanted to see how this goes. The pages in each book began turning really fast before the all suddenly closed. Then, the King spread his hooves out as he chanted, "Fairy Tale Creatures of my choosing, arise! And do as you're told!"
The books then laid on the ground and then opened up with their pages turning really fast. Suddenly, from one of the books, sprouted a magical ogre that glowed with bright green colors. From another book, sprouted a magical lion that glowed with bright orange colors. And then from the third book, sprouted a large magical dragon that glowed in bright purple colors. "RAHHHHHHH!" The dragon roared before turning to the Void Ponies, "RAHHHHHHHH!" It roared right at the targets that the King ordered them to attack. The Void Ponies looked surprised as one commented, "Ooookay. That's interesting." King High Flyer then pointed at the Void Ponies as he ordered, "Go! Eliminate our foes!" The magical fairy tale creatures did as they were told and charged right at the Void Ponies. "Well," The leading Void Pony said with a cocky voice, "This should be entertaining!"
The fairy tale creatures fought off against the Void Ponies as best as they could. And King High Flyer tried to help them out with some equipment from the fairy tale stories they originated from. But unfortunately, it seemed that not even the power of magical fairy tale creatures from his Mystic Arte were enough. And each one was defeated and magical sent back to their book. Despite that his Mystic Arte was unable to defeat the Void Ponies, they at least put up a better fight and lasted much longer. "Ah." The leading Void Pony said as it stretched a bit, "Well, I'll admit, that was rather impressive. But unfortunately for you," It continued as it approached King High Flyer, "All your little magic show did was buy time!" King High Flyer stepped away from the Void Pony while shivering slightly. "W-wait now…" He said with a slight stutter, "D-don't make me have to –"
Suddenly, the Void Pony grabbed him with its magic and raised him in the air. "High Flyer!" King Astral Flash said as he tried to get up, "Don't let that demon defeat you like it did to us!" King Star Chaser then added, "You're too strong to just let it get to you like this! Don't let it just get to you like that!" The leading Void Pony then fired some magic beams at the two Kings to get them to fall back down. "Augh!" Kings Astral Flash and Star Chaser exclaimed as they fell back down from the hit. "Pathetic Kings." The leading Void Pony said before turning back to King High Flyer, "You're a special case though. Hopefully, our master will find a special place for in his army of slaves. Maybe as his personal slave."
"That would be nice." King High Flyer replied before slowly making a smirk, "But… we'll have to do this some other time. Because it looks like your friends are hurt." The leading Void Pony just titled its head and asked, "What are you talking about?"
"DAHHHHH!" One of the Void Ponies screamed in pain. "Huh?!" The leading Void Pony yelped as it turned to see the damage, "What's going on?!" It then saw that one of its allies was getting attacked by Princess Rock Polish. She was touching the Void Pony and causing it great pain with her touch. And as the pain continued, the Void Pony was beginning to fade away. "AUGH!" The Void Pony exclaimed, "G-get away! Get away from me!"
"How did she…" The leading Void Pony said. "DAH!" The other Void creatures screamed in pain. It was due to the other Princesses touching them and causing extreme pain to them. And just like that one Void Pony, the others were beginning to fade away because of how the Princesses were damaging them through their simple touches. "No!" The leading Void Pony exclaimed, "What's going on?! How did they escape?!" King High Flyer smiled as he answered, "Didn't you notice that I had four books and not three?" The leading Void Pony turned to the King and exclaimed, "What did you do?!"
"I called upon one of my favorite fairy tale creatures from one of my favorite stories." King High Flyer answered, "The Chosen Mole!" He finished as the very character came up to the scene glowing in a bright green glow. "He's done many heroic things in his story. And now one of those things was digging the way out for the Princesses while you all were distracted by the other fairy tale creatures!"
"Grrrrr!" The leading Void Pony growled in frustration, "This doesn't change anything! Our master is still going to prevail! Just watch you sneaking son of a – AUGH!" It screamed in pain as she felt something sting her hoof. Because she was distracted by the pain, she dropped the King and he landed on the ground on his rump. When he landed, he saw that his daughter, Dolphin Tail, was the one saving him. "Leave my daddy alone!" Dolphin Tail told the leading Void Pony. "Great job Dolphin." King High Flyer praised, "I'm so proud of you." Dolphin Tail smiled and said, "Thanks Daddy. You too."
Diamond Dust then went to the Kings, prepared her horn and chanted, "Curaga!" She then used the healing spell to heal all the Kings of Coltnelia that were beaten down before. Most of the pain they felt had vanished and they were able to stand up again. "Whew." King Star Chaser said with relief, "Am I haven't been this bushed since the first time I had some of the good apple cider." King Comet Venture stood up and said to his daughter, "Good job, Diamond Dust." Diamond Dust just simply smiled and replied, "A good future Queen always comes with well-prepared magic."
"Augh!" A Void Pony screamed in pain, "I'm too damaged! I can't cast magic!" The Void Dragon then asked, "How do you think I feel?! I'm falling apart!" King Astral Flash then saw an opportunity and said to Comet Venture, "Comet Venture! Gather some of them with your magic!" King Comet Venture nodded and replied, "With pleasure."
With the Void creatures weakened from the touches of the Princesses, Kings Astral Flash and Comet Venture used their magic to gather each of them together and then used their Royal Chains to keep them from moving. King Star Chaser then told his daughter, "Aerial Ace. If you and your friends would be so kind to…" Aerial Ace smiled and replied, "Gladly!" Aerial Ace and the other Princesses then approached the captured Void creatures and then touched them one by one. "DAUGH!" The Void creatures screamed in pain. Just like before, each one began to fade away due to the touch of each Princess causing them incredible pain. Eventually, one by one began to break apart into dust and then the dust landed on the ground lifeless. It soon got to the point where there was only one Void creature left and was surrounded by the dust of its defeated allies. That Void creature was the leading Void Pony.
"Wait." King Astral Flash told the Princesses before they could touch it, "You there." He said to the Void Pony, "I shall give you one last chance. Tell us where the Queens are and you shall be spared. What does this X[chi] Knight want with them?!" The Void Pony just smirked as it was laughing very weakly, "Hehehehehehe. What does it matter if you turn me to dust like you did with the others? My master can just make more and more with the power of the Void. All thanks to the Secretariat Comet!" It exclaimed as it looked up with a slightly insane look. "Ah!" King Comet Venture yelped as he knew the name, "The Secretariat Comet?!"
"That's right." The leading Void Pony answered, "And with that comet's power, soon, not even the touch of your little miracles here will be able to stop him! All it takes is a little extra power from the comet and the magic of the Queens of Coltnelia! There's nothing you can do to stop him! No power and no pony can ever match up to him! Hahahahahahaha!" Suddenly, Aerial Ace, in a fit of rage, stomped on the Void Pony with her hooves and caused it to turn to dust like the others did. "Ah…ah…ah…" Aerial Ace panted, "That thing was getting on my nerves."
"You read my mind Aerial." King Star Chaser replied with a smirk. "Now that that's done," King Rock Smash changed the subject, "What happened to all of ya? If you weren't spending another Best Friends Day today, what were you doing?"
"We got captured by the Void Ponies." Rock Polish answered, "And put in a dungeon below the castle." King Star Chaser then asked, "How did you all escape?" Aerial Ace smirked as she answered with, "Oh. It wasn't hard at all."
Flashback…
With the key in their possession, Aerial Ace was trying to use her Twisty Tornado Arte to get the key to land in the keyhole so they could escape. It wasn't easy since she had to keep her arte at a low level so it wouldn't blow far away and to make things worse, her arte had a limit.
"Almost got it… almost got it…" Aerial Ace said as she tried to concentrate her arte, "Get in that keyhole…" The wind from Aerial's arte carried the key carefully close to the keyhole and it seemed like they were going to escape soon. But as soon as Aerial Ace smiled, "COME ON AERIAL ACE!" Dolphin Tail panicked, "OUR FAMILIES ARE IN TROUBLE!"
"AUGH!" Aerial Ace yelped as she lost concentration. The key then began to fall to the ground and the ponies knew that if that happened, there was no escape left. "NO!" Aerial Ace and the other ponies except Diamond Dust screamed. "Blizzara!" Diamond Dust chanted as she shot a tall pile of snow to catch the key. With the key not hitting the ground, the ponies sighed of relief. "Dolphin Tail!" Aerial Ace scolded, "Are you crazy?! We almost lost the key and our only way out!"
"Oh…" Dolphin Tail said while rubbing the back of her head, "I'm sorry… I still have trouble with my outburst habit. Heh heh…" Aerial Ace then rolled her eyes and said, "Okay. Let's try this again." She then tried to use her arte again. But a small noise came out of her necklace. And she knew that that noise meant that her necklace needed a moment to recharge. That was enough to make Aerial Ace bang her head against the wall.
Present…
"We bashed our way out." Aerial Ace told her dad, "And hurried here as fast as we could." King Star Chaser then looked at his daughter with a neutral expression as he said, "You realize that you're going to have a talk with your mother about that, right?" Aerial Ace flinched and then tried to say, "Well, I mean… what I meant by that was –"
"Never mind that!" King Astral Flash interrupted, "Everypony come look!" The others then gathered around the dust and noticed something was glowing out of eight of the piles of dust. "What's going on?" Topsy Turvy asked, "They look so pretty." Suddenly, the glows began to rise from the ground and take the form and eight different orbs glowing in all different colors. Bright yellow, dark blue, red, teal, grey, white, blue, and green. And as soon as they had arisen, they quickly flew away from the group. Catching each pony surrounding them by surprise. The orbs then flew out of a nearby window and flew off really fast. "Those orbs just blew, uh, flew away!" King Gold Miner said as he looked out the window.
"But where are they going?" King Comet Venture asked, "And what were they exactly?" All of a sudden, the quietness was interrupted by a large shaking. The ground shook so much it felt like a terrible earthquake. "WOAH!" The Royal Ponies and other guests exclaimed. "Woah!" Dolphin Tail screamed, "W-what's happening?!" Suddenly, wind from the windows began to blow really hard like a tornado was about to pass by. "Aerial Ace!" Diamond Dust exclaimed, "Cease your arte! It's all good now!"
"It's not me!" Aerial Ace defended, "It must be coming from outside!" The Royal Ponies and other guests went to the windows to see what was happening and saw that the wind was indeed coming from the outside and was blowing out of control. "AH!" Rock Polish screamed as the wind blew on her, "What's happening?! What's gotten into the wind?!" King Star Chaser, containing the knowledge of the wind, explained, "This can't be happening! The Wind Crystal is supposed to maintain the wind and keep it from –" He then stopped as he got a realization, "The Wind Crystal!" He exclaimed, "I need to go see it now!"
So he rushed over to the Audience Chamber with the Kings and the Princesses as well as Captain Sharp Blade accompanying him. After opening the stair way to the Crystal Chamber, they went to see the Wind Crystal. And unfortunately, they were met with a rather unpleasant sight. The Wind Crystal glowed in its teal magic, but it was shaking like it was shivering the deep cold. And as the secondary guardian of the Wind Crystal, the King of Wind himself knew that this wasn't how the Wind Crystal was supposed to behave. "Something's wrong." King Star Chaser said with concern.
"What's happening Dad?!" Aerial Ace asked, "Why's the Wind Crystal acting funny?!" King Star Chaser then turned to his daughter and answered, "It's your mother Aerial. The Wind Crystal senses that she's in danger. And because of that, it's going out of control and therefore, the wind outside is blowing like mad."
Meanwhile, in the other Kingdoms of Coltnelia, each crystal, except for the Magic Crystal, was going through what the Wind Crystal was going through. Each of them sensed that their guardians were in trouble and therefore were beginning to lose control of themselves and causing the elements that they control to also go out of control. The fires across the land began to spread and cause hazards in many towns and forests. The wind was blowing and causing dangerous blows. There are earthquakes going on and off across the land. Ice freezing towns and even innocent ponies. Water raging like it was in a terrible storm. And different plants and trees going larger than they normally would and even the vines going on a rampage across many towns. And above the skies, the sun and moon were moving all across the sky at the same time. Carrying both day and night where ever they went. It was chaos for the land of light and the ponies across the land were in panic in the midst of the mass hysteria.
In the Sun Kingdom moments before the mass hysteria…
Right before the disasters were ravaging through out the land, Princess Fire Rose was still in the academy practicing her spells. She was taking a break from the studying for the final tests to go to a training room to practice the spells she has yet to master. "Teleportation is the one I have the most trouble on." Fire Rose said as she looked at her book, "Okay. Full concentration, no distraction of the mind, knowledge of the place you wish to teleport, I've read this multiple times. I just need to make sure I do it exactly like the book says. Okay then." She said as she prepared her horn to do the spell, "Let's give it another go! Let's teleport to my room! And here we –"
But before she could finish, she felt an earthquake and began to grow incredibly scared. "AH!" She screamed as she cowered to the ground and covered her head, "W-w-w-what's happening?!" She asked loudly. "Princess!" A voice said from the entrance of the training room. "Huh?" Fire Rose said as she turned to the voice. It was a Royal Guard pony coming to check on her. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Fire Rose answered as the guard helped her up, "W-what was that?" She asked as she shivered in fright. "It's terrible." The guard answered, "You need to come see what's happening." As the guard guided the frightened Princess to a nearby window, Rose gulped in fear as to what she was about to witness. "I really don't think I want to." Fire Rose said with a frightened voice. The guard finally got to a window and said while pointing, "Look! Up at the sky!"
Fire Rose looked up and saw that the sun and moon were spiraling across the sky out of the control. Rose was surprised by this and wondered deeply what this meant. "W-what's going on?!" Fire Rose stuttered with great worry, "Why are the sun and moon moving out of control like this?!"
The guard then answered, "There's only one way the sun and moon would be going all chaotic like this. And it's our worst fear." He continued as he sweated a bit. He then turned to Rose with a concerned look and finished with, "Something must have happened to the Two Sisters!"
"What?!" Fire Rose yelped, "The Two Sisters are in trouble?!"
To be continued…
