Chapter 4: The mysterious figure

It was night over the Chrystal Empire. A silent night. Everypony slept. Well, nearly everypony. Some royal guards patroled in the floors. A guard just past a window. Suddendly she turned her head to the window. The guard had seen a shadow moving across the window. But the light of her horn didn't show anything.

"Now you're starting to halucinate. Maybe you should have taken the day-shift after all.", she said and continued her patrol.

Suddendly she heard a noise. She turned around. But the floors were empty. When she tourned around to her patrol direction again she saw a figure silently running into the floor right of her.

"THAT was no halucination. I should take a closer look.", the guard said to herself.

She charged a magical blast and followed the figure. When she went through the floor she clearly heard hoove steps. The closer she came to the next cross of floors the louder the hoove steps became. The guard slowed down and began walking next to the wall. Now she heard the hoove steps clearly. The figure closed in. The guard changed her face into a self-confident look, jumped in front of the figure and shouted:

"FREEZE!", just to be hoove-punched into her face.

When she realized who stood in front of her she said:

"Very good reflexes, Sir."

Then everything became black in front of her eyes. But only for a short moment. Then she opened her eyes and saw into the face of the captain of the royal guard, Flash Sentry.

"Everything all right, Guarding Filly? I didn't know that it was you.", he said.

"Everything all right, Sir. I just saw someone. That's why I went this way.", Guarding Filly said while Flash Sentry helped her up.

"Really? Hm. I can't remember anypony petrolling in this part of the castle at this time except us."

"You mean it could be an intruder?"

"It is possible. The patrols were tribiled since Sunset Shimmer but sadly it can happen that intruders who know what they are doing can still, well, intrude. Here's the deal: If there was really a pony crossing this cross of floors, this pony could only ran to the left or in a straight line. You check the floor right of me and I take the other one. It's better to be sure that it was just a halucination befor we ignore it. If you meet the figure raise the alarm and keep him or her in check."

"Yes, Sir!"

Their ways partened. Guarding Filly ran towards the "Round Tables", a room where the princesses discuss happened events which are dangerous for all of Equestria like Tireks escape some time ago while Flash Sentry ran in the direction of the Chrystal Library, the biggest library in Equestria after the Great Library in Hoovefield, the "Town of Knowledge".

"But what would an intruder want?", Flash thought.

"Intruders want physical things, not knowledge. And the table is unstealable. It's part of the castle. And he should have broken in another part of the castle to -"

When he saw the door to the library his thoughts vanished: It was open! But it shouldn't be open. Unless...Did the intruder went into the library after all? But why?

"Only one way to find out.", Flash thought while he entered the room silently.

In an instand he noticed a bright light. It came from the second floor. The room was divided into two floors: The first was the ground floor where Flash stood. The second had no entrance. You could only enter it by climbing up the stairs right and left of the door through which Flash entered the room.

The right and left second floor weren't connected. A handrail esured that users of the library didn't fall from its edge.

On each side of each floor the shelfs stood behind each other in a row. Six shelfs (one at a time) on each side on each floor stood at the beginning of each row.

A figure took books from the third shelf of the right side, looked at them for a moment and put them into a bag. Judging from the light he or she used a horn for the magic of moving the books.

"An intruder stealing knowledge. Now I've truely seen everything.", Flash thought.

He called out: „Stand down! You're arrested for burglary and stealing!"

The figure dropped the book he or she was holding at that moment and stood still as a poker. Flash got ready for a pursuit since thiefs don't have the backbone to fight. That made him even more suprised about the violet beam coming towards him.

Guarding Filly was just explaining the situation to three guards, two unicorns and an earth pony, when they heard the explosion. It came from the Chrystal Library. All four ran towards it immidatly. On their way they heard two more explosions. Also two more guards, a pegasite and an earth pony, joined them. When they entered the library they saw a figure on the second floor right side shooting white-light blue magical beams at the flying Flash Sentry. In front of them as well as two times in the ceiling there were holes.

"A fight? That means…"

Guarding Filly shot a red light beam to the ceiling of the floor they came from. The light beam, a special spell from the Chrystal Empire, was bundled up by the chrystals and got reflected in every direction. That's how the red alarm light reached every part of the palace. The intensitie of the light became less bright the more distant it was from its source. This way guards could follow the light to it's source where it was the most brightest. This uncommon but clever alarm system was only possible in the palace of the Chrystal Empire due to its special arrangement of special chrystals on the ceilling and high parts of the walls.

Meanwhile a pegasus guard flew towards the figure but was shot and fell down to the floor as an ice block.

"Ice? What kind of spell is that?", Flash Sentry thought while calling out to the rest:

"Flank him!"

Guarding Filly and the other unicorn guards climbed up the stairs to the second floor, left side and came into position in front of the figure while the two earth pony guards climbed up the right stairs. Also another earth pony guard and two more pegasite guards enterned the room. The two pegasite guards flew up to Flash Sentry and the one earth pony guard joined the other two ckimbing up the right stairs. A last time the figure shot a magical blast and froze the nearest earth pony guard. Then he or she looked around. Now there were eight guards against him alone.

"You're surrounded! Stand down!", Flash ordered.

But instead the horn of the figure became a very bright light which blend every guards because they all focused on the horn.

Flash Sentry was the first to get to see again. He saw how the figure ran down the corridor between the shelfs with the bags. In the opposite direction of the handrail.

"The window!", Flash thought.

The intruder ran towards a small window. Maybe he or she had a partner who waited there for him or her. Flash followed him fast without noticing the other guards or the reinforcmence. After a few minutes he saw the intruder. Flash became even faster. He manged to reach the intruder and crash into his back which caused both of them, as well as the bag, to fall down. Only a few meteres away from the window. The intruder got up and tried to reach it. But Flash stood on the figures cape-and pulled it off the body of the figure. The figure stopped running and turned around to Flash Sentry. Flash Sentrys eyes wided themself. His mouth stood open.

"No. No. That, that can't be! That's completly impossible!"

Flash took a step back. The intruder looked on him very angry. He or she jumped towards the stunned Flash Sentry with a crazy light on the top of his or her horn.

Guarding Filly got her eyesight back with the rest of the guards. She saw how Flash flew into a corridor between the shelfs. She ran down to the ground floor and wanted to follow him. But in the same moment Princess Cadeance and Shining Armor, as well as dozends of other guards suddendly entered the room.

"What happened in here?", the princess asked.

"Your majesty! An intruder! He's responsible for all this mess but ran away! The captain is chasing after him!", Guarding Filly reported after a short bow.

"Show us the way!", the princess ordered.

Together with every other guard they climbed up the right stairs. While doing so they heard a short but painful scream. Now with double speed they ran down the corridor and reached the intruder who just finished taking on his cape again. The bag still laid down on the ground. The title of a book was visible laying out of the bag. Guarding Filly took a quick look. She read:

"The bloodmoon and its mysteries. Written by Starswirl the bearded."

Then she saw Flash Sentry. He laid on his back next to the bag. His hooves twitched. His pupils were very small. Some foam came out of his moving mouth.

"What did you do to him?!", the princess asked.

The figure didn't answer. Instead his or her horn shone in a black light. And suddendly everything was dark. Guarding Filly couldn't see anything. She only heard what Flash Sentry said:

"The circle is closing itself. The end is near."

Some minuites later the darkness was gone. And with it the thieve and the bag full of books.

"He still has to be in the palace! The window isn't broken! Search and find him!", Shining Armor ordered.

"You! Send a message to Canterlot and tell them about what happened here this night. But only the short version! I have to meet with the other princesses!", Caedance ordered Guarding Filly who ran to the post office.

"I'm afraid this is only the stard of the horror.", the princess said to herself while carrying Flash Sentry to the palaces hospital station.