Cheerilee had somehow caught the train to Canterlot. Her student's parents had somehow been able to check out her students in record time. Cheerilee couldn't remember the last time that had happened. Lockdowns like this happened all the time. Ponyville was quite an exotic area. Lots of things happened that forced her to keep her students inside the school building all the time. And every time she'd have to wait hours for the students to be checked out.

Though this time everypony seemed to be ready to pick up their foal. So, when the last student had been safely retrieved; she had grabbed her bags, locked the door, and rushed off to the train station as fast as her legs could go.

As such, she had arrived, completely out of breath, at the train station in the nick of time. The conductor had seen her running her lungs out and paused the train for her.

She had tried to thank the conductor, but she could barely form words with her incapacitated lungs.

The conductor, however, gave her a look of understanding, "No worries ma'am. It's been a slow day. So, it won't be a problem to hold things up for a moment or two."

Cheerilee nodded and stepped into the train car after purchasing a ticket. She took a seat and just focused on putting air into her lungs. It took almost ten minutes till she didn't feel like she was drowning. Afterward, she stayed in her seat and looked around.

It really was a slow day. There were only four other ponies in the train car with her. She turned her attention to the window and watched the indistinguishable color blur together on the landscape. She didn't think much about the train ride, it was a common trip. Instead, she focused on the inventor of Fluttershy's eye and tried to picture the pony in her mind. However, it was such a long time ago and the field trip had been denied, she wasn't able to recall anything other than a blue coat. Though nothing else. She couldn't remember the color of their mane. If they wore glasses or anything of the sort.

All she remembered was the eye that the inventor had shown her when she had first come to visit. It was years ago and the inventor was really on board with having her students come over to learn about physics and other things. Though a week to the visit the inventor canceled with a very curt note. She never heard anything back. So, she spent a few countless nights revising her curriculum to cover for the missing days. However, she would write to the pony in hopes they would reconsider. She did this every year and every year she received the same curt answer.

"I'm terribly sorry but I am unable to work with your students because of some unforeseen circumstances. I appreciate your understanding."

She sighed as she read the note again. Though this time she had a reason to visit the inventor. She was going to confront the pony and ask what her artificial eye was doing in the head of an Element of Harmony. She'd barge through the door if she had to.

And so, as she was thinking she heard the stop for Canterlot. She got up and joined the line for the exit. On the way out she again thanked the conductor for holding the train up and got a smile in return.

"It was nothing ma'am. We are still quite ahead of schedule. The rails and weather were quite clean today!"

Cheerilee smiled and was glad that she was able to make it to Canterlot in a reasonable time. She might have enough free time if this trend continued. Though she was a teacher. So, she very much doubted that. She shook her head of these memories as she continued to the inventor's household.

It wouldn't take her too long, though she wasn't in too much of a rush, so she took her time to admire the colors and smells of the city. There were a few smells she didn't like. Smells of alleyways, and a few of the ponies she passed. No comment was said to avoid contention, but she wrinkled her nose and attempted to focus on the good smells of the city.

The smells from the fresh loaves of bread and bagels tempted Cheerilee's stomach. The pizzas, exotic soups, and many other smells Cheerilee couldn't identify yet they still made her mouth water. So, she reached into her bag and munched on a few crackers. Though it was woefully ineffective.

Though after a while of smelling and seeing the sights of the city she neared the street the inventor's house was on. It wasn't hard to see the house and she was able to see it from a distance away. The house was a very different color palette than its neighbors and very obvious. Though she was used to seeing the door open. The previous times she had visited, the shop had been open with lines stretching to the sides of the building. This time the door was closed and not a pony was in sight. She didn't take too much notice as she had only been here a few times coordinating the school field trip before the abrupt end. So, she walked up to the front door, skipping the line for the first time, and knocked hard on the door.

"Glyph! I have some things to discuss with you!"

The house remained silent. There were ponies in the street but since it was a busy city; somepony yelling at a door wasn't out of the ordinary.

She tried again, "Glyph! You need to help me with your eye!"

There was a noise in the back of the house. Though just a small noise, so she leaned on the door to hear better.

Then a huge noise filled the air of Canterlot. It was as if she was next to a thunderbolt without the electricity. Right after she fell over as the door, she was leaning on, swung inwards.

In its place stood a pegasus with a metal leg and a metal wing. Bright blue coat contrasted the grey steel but her hair stood out a lot more. Bright red colors mixed in with light bits of pink laid in disarray on her head. Bright green eyes looked past with explicit concern.

"Star pulse…." Glyph asked gently but firmly, "Did you hear that?"

"Yes," Cheerilee said but straightened and got in her face, "You said that eye was a prototype! And yet I find it in the face of an Element of Harmony!"

Glyph gave her a look of horror, "The artificial eye was installed in another pony?"

Cheerilee nodded slowly.

"Hurry! We have to go!" Glyph said and ran off to the sound from earlier.

Cheerilee merely blinked and rushed to follow her, not too excited about the worry in her voice.

Not everything is as it may seem. You must have all the pieces to the puzzle before you can see the whole picture.

Scan completed. No anomalies detected.

System additions requested.

Receiving new program files.

Fluttershy frowned, new programs? What exactly was a program?

New programs added via external connection:

Attack mode

Aerial targeting

Dying star subroutines: Supernova

Supernova?! That didn't sound good in any way.

Visual modes: Night_vision, CMI, Ultra_violet, Gamma, Spectral…

Fluttershy attempted to blink but only halfway. There was something in her right eye! But her thoughts discarded that quickly. What was Noah doing?! Attack mode?! Supernova?! CMI?

Missing directory added to system data bank. Applying…

Done.

Calibrating Cutie Mark Gen for additional power.

CMG now running at 50% capacity.

Cutie mark generator. What was that? And what was her cutie mark being used for? What was Noah doing?!

She attempted to ask but found she could not.

Action has been denied.

Core systems have been modified. Would you like to reboot to install these settings? Not rebooting may cause some changes to be lost during operation.

No.

Fluttershy was now panicking, there was something else in her head. That command had not been her own, nor from the computer she had been talking to.

It was from outside her personal bubble.

External program has been started: Void_collection_Phase: one

Fluttershy suddenly felt very strange. Her body felt like it was made of two sections, like an orange. She was the fruit of the orange and her newly discovered mechanics was the skin. Though now, the two were slowly being pulled apart till she could feel a literal gap between herself and her body. Though only a mental gap, it prevented her from interacting with her body almost at all. She could still feel the sensory input of touch and such. Yet, any movements were denied.

There now was only a little string that connected the two parts. This string she gave a desperate tug on to try to move her body back to her mind. Yet, it did not move. The string seemed to be infinite, and any tugging she gave only seemed to make the string longer.

"There we go. All done, and a much too close shave at that." Noah said, removing his hooves from the panel.

Luna frowned, "Do you know who did this? Made modifications to your original design?"

Noah nodded, "Indeed I do. Fluttershy, you may undock."

Fluttershy silently gasped in horror as she felt her legs move without her command. She only felt them move by some other thing. Yet the motions were solid and with purpose. The harness removed its grip on her as well.

"Who?"

Noah gave an evil grin, "Why I did." His mouth gave an evil but low laugh, "That was so close. The fact you didn't realize that I referred to Fluttershy's lance as a spear is astounding."

Fluttershy watched as the three Princesses faces lit up in horror.

Noah began to pace, in a methodical way, seemingly not caring that there were three alicorns in the room with him, "The fact that you almost made it to Glyph. So, tantalizingly close to ruining my plans."

Celestia spread her wings, "And what plans are those?" Her fellow ponies mimicked her action with their own battle poses.

"Why would I tell you that? It's got to be a surprise after all."

Pinkie frowned, "Normally, I love surprises. Though this surprise stinks."

Noah's grin seemed to only grow, "I've waited for years for this moment. My moment to finally tackle my biggest ambition." He lifted one hoof as a sort of half-bow, "Let's not keep the audience waiting. Fluttershy, Star pulse."

The alicorns began to close in, though Noah didn't even flinch, "Oh and don't worry about the house. I have copies of everything here."

Fluttershy felt herself nod and something began to charge inside her.

CMG boosted to 52% for Star pulse charge. Using 25% for base charge. Damage inhibitors? Off.

Fluttershy felt a sudden energy bloom inside her barrel, then with a catastrophic blast, it blew outwards. It passed through her and Noah with no reaction at all. Though whatever else it hit it picked up and sent it flying outwards. The electro magical devices, trinkets, and books were flung off their shelves. The harness was ripped to unrecognizable bits and it too started to fly outwards in differing colors of steel, red, and gold. The walls splintered and became a dangerous stream of razor-sharp confetti.

Ponies and alicorns alike were suddenly relieved of the duty to gravity and launched into the air. Though the flight didn't last long.

There was a magical flash of purple and the scene froze in a magical glow.

"Help!" Twilight cried, her magic being strained as her horn was fiercely sparking.

Magical purple was mixed with various shades of light and dark and the strain on Twilight seemed to fade. Then, with a white flash, the debris lost all of its momentum and was once again tied to the ground.

"Thanks!" Twilight said, not removing her gaze from Fluttershy.

Fluttershy returned the gaze though it wasn't her doing. Her eyes were doing a damage assessment and seeing what Twilight could do in the situation.

From her vision, she saw that Twilight had weakened herself considerably with her spell. Though not enough for it to physically show. She literally could see her friend's cutie mark energy in her vision. Or that's what the system told her.

Her friend was consumed by a swirling purple energy that was circulating in her body. A percentage next to it was slowly rising from 89%

The realization came that Twilight used a little more than ten percent of her power. Though even as she watched, the percentage slowly climbed to full.

System on stand by. Phase one waiting for target…

"Target required," Fluttershy felt herself say.

Noah walked over to her, "Celestia."

"Target acquisition confirmed. Forming battle plan…" Fluttershy said in a monotone voice. Her gut turned inside out when her actions were denied.

Simulating response from Twilight Sparkle…

In her vision, hundreds of translucent copies of her purple friend appeared. Each doing something different. Some conjured up a shield, others flew up into the air, and a few stood there with a dumb folded look on their face. There was so much purple that she couldn't keep track of everything but something in her head was able to.

Responses simulated.

Beginning Phase one. Using simulation 4378…

Fluttershy felt herself take a step forward and stare at Twilight. It was like she was living in a horror movie where she was the main character. Yet, here she was; living the entire experience and not being able to do a thing about it.

No! She wasn't going to sit idly. She knew she couldn't control her movements but was there something that she was able to control? Her voice? Eye movements? Breathing?

Action denied.

What about something on the inside? She closed her mental eyes and reached out the outer skin that felt out of reach. She felt something, yet, it was not something that she could describe.

It was sort of like when she was learning to move her wings. She had been able to instinctively flap her wings, though when she'd try to move them independently she just couldn't feel them. Now she was able to gently move and guide animals with her extra limbs. Yet, could that have been just a program? A trick?

She didn't care. She had been able to learn how to control her wings, regardless of them being made up of flesh or some other non-natural material. So, she tried again, feeling towards the skin with relative haste. Though she just couldn't reach it! She could feel its presence yet unable to touch it in any sort of way…

She shoved away from the feeling of despair clawing into her mind. This was not a time she was going to give into her soft side. She had seen that had gotten her almost nowhere. There were a lot of times for a gentle touch, though this was not such a time. This machine was intruding on her personal space and controlling her very actions, she was not going to roll over when her friends were in danger!

Twilight stood there aghast. There was her friend. Standing in front of her after setting off an explosion that had sent the group and everything in the house flying. She had just barely been able to hold the dangerous debris from hurting anypony before her fellow alicorns were able to help and put a stop to its momentum.

Though Noah and Fluttershy seemed to be unaffected and Twilight felt Fluttershy was looking through her. Or rather, inside her. She felt exposed in a magical sense. Even as she felt her magical reserves recover from the spell from earlier, she felt that her friend could see it and was waiting for another response.

She glanced around at her other friends, ignoring the screams echoing around her. Each one had the same reaction as her. Surprise, shock, and anger. She could feel it burn in all of their bones. How could she have missed the mix-up? Had her brain seen it as a slip of the tongue? Why? She already felt uneasy about the environment that Noah lived in. Ancient history books dating back to before Luna and Celestia became alicorns, a book she would very much like to read, and other trinkets that looked more broken than functional. Not to mention a very dark color palette.

How did she let that slip?

She took a breath and looked back at Fluttershy. It didn't matter at that very moment. Right then, she had to help her friend. If there was anything left to save…

She paused however when Fluttershy took a single step forward and flared her wings.

She frowned and didn't move. There were swords emerging from Fluttershy's wings. Six swords seemed to materialize out of her wings and hovered in the air. Then, without any motion from Fluttershy, swung around with the blades facing Twilight.

The blades weren't that special. Just a standard sword with a light, steely, grey blade with a golden handle that had the color of Fluttershy's coat, only if it was made up of metal.

The blades glinted off the dying light and shot towards Twilight. Even though the danger was coming, her limbs froze in place and she watched the swords close the distance quickly. However, a white-colored body slide into her vision and she watched a golden shield cover the area above them.

Her mind was suddenly back at the Everfree forest earlier that day. Back to where she was unable to affect Fluttershy nor her lance with any type of magic. Also, when Fluttershy passed right through her shield as if it wasn't even there. Her eyes widened and she lit her horn. Then, in a blink of an eye, teleported the two alicorns out of harm's way.

When her vision cleared, she saw the shield they were under slowly fading. Yet there was a tangle of swords on the ground where she stood just moments ago.

"Fluttershy is immune to magic! She can pass through shields and her lance was able to as well. It seems her swords have the same effect!" Twilight informed her Mentor.

"In that case…" Celestia said calmly and ignited her horn. There was a flash and a bronze halberd materialized next to her.

"Celestia…" Twilight started to say but the words died in her throat.

"Do not worry Twilight. Fluttershy is not my target, but if I am to defend against swords without magic I need a physical object. I will not hurt Fluttershy." Celestia gave her prodigy a comforting look, "But I need you to figure out how to release her from Noah's control."

Twilight's mind instantly went to work, "Maybe we could attack Noah?"

Celestia nodded, "A plausible route. Though it seems Fluttershy's movements aren't tied to those blades. So, Noah may have her protect him."

Twilight nodded and watched the blades come out of the ground with no movements from the yellow pegasus, "Well, we can try…"

Twilight heard Luna perk up, "You two shall attack, I shall defend. Noah may be after the Elements of Harmony. So, it may be unwise to put all of our power in attacking."

Celestia nodded, "Agreed." Then her halberd swung up towards her head and she danced forward. Her weapon blocked an incoming sword and became a blur as it swung around her body, blocking swords left and right. Her flank was also protected without her turning around, her weapon seemingly having a mind of its own.

Though the thought seemed to gain ground in Twilight's mind as she saw no glow from Celestia's halberd. How was she holding it?

She shook her head. Focus, she told herself and gathered magic in her horn. She wove it into a plasma charge and launched it at Noah. It never made its mark however, Fluttershy's hair seemed to gravitate towards him and caught the attack. Then with a fluid shake, the plasma was launched back at her.

Twilight dodged and immediately realized her mistake. Her friends were behind her!

Though when she looked back, she was relieved to see that Luna had conjured a shield and blocked the attack. "Stay behind me!" Luna called to the rest of the elements, they heeded her call with disappointed looks.

Twilight sighed, knowing that her friends were safe. Well, most of them. She turned back to Fluttershy, who was walking towards Celestia in a slow, menacing walk.

The blades dancing around the white Alicorn were moving faster and faster. Twilight could see a few nicks and cuts along her coat quite well. She also noticed that her mentor was using her metal covered hooves to block the blades as well. Though Twilight could tell that she was slowly being overwhelmed.

Twilight then looked at Noah and warped her form to his location with a small pop. Noah's eye's widened but a black sword materialized in front of her. She dodged the blade and summoned her own, swinging it towards Noah's shoulder.

However, her construct was stopped by a yellow leg. Twilight's eyes lit up in surprise, her sword did not affect her friend's leg. It didn't even leave a mark!

Then Fluttershy's leg flashed and there was a light, translucent blue blade surrounding her hoof. It was angled around her hoof and ended in a point. Just like a flat raindrop, just with a razor-sharp point. Her sword construct was pushed away from this new blade. Then in a fluid motion, Fluttershy's leg swung up and around Twilight's face.

Twilight applied pressure on her blade in an attempted to block, only to realize her mistake. Fluttershy's blade went right through her magic sword and sliced open her cheek. She backpedaled and lost her thought on her broken blade, causing it to disappear. In shock she lost her footing and fell to the ground, landing hard on her rump. She stared at her friend in fright, watching her blade disappear as she placed her hoof on the ground.

She glanced back at Celestia and saw the swords still dancing around her form.

She turned her attention back to Fluttershy but saw a black sword hovering close to her neck. Twilight froze, feeling blood pooling from the cut on her cheek started to drip off her chin. It wasn't a terrible nuisance, she had encountered more painful moments, but this one had come from her friend. A friend under some pony's control but her mind was having trouble registering that.

"As much as I would like to eliminate you and get you out of my hair, I require you in my final plan. Fluttershy? Phase one target switch to Twilight."

Twilight felt numb as she registered the words coming out of Noah's mouth, "Target?"

Fluttershy's gaze seemed to pierce through her again and Twilight noticed that her hair was slowly extending towards her. Fluttershy wouldn't hurt her? Right?

Her world vanished and she recognized the space between spaces as she was pulled back out. She then found herself next to the Princess of night. Luna must have teleported her. Though she still was looking at Fluttershy. Her hair was slowly retracting back into her scalp. Both friends kept their eyes locked.

"You okay?" Luna asked gently.

Twilight nodded slowly, "I think…" She said breaking eye contact and looking around.

Her friends were around her and Pinkie commented on her cheek, "what happened?" she asked, pointing to her face.

Twilight put a hoof to her cheek and pulled away a red hoof, "I attempted to take down Noah to try to stop the swords. But Fluttershy was suddenly there, and she cut right through my sword…"

"And your face!" Applejack said defiantly, "If I ever get ma hooves on his scaly hide…"

Twilight didn't respond, but pushed some healing magic to her face and felt her skin knit back together. Normally she wouldn't use healing spells, but it was such a small wound that she didn't care. She just wanted to stop the bleeding. Once the spell had finished, she wiped off the remaining blood and looked towards Noah again. Though a powerful voice grabbed her attention.

"Enough!" Celestia shouted and Twilight saw her lock eyes with Luna for a split second.

Luna frowned but lit her horn. Twilight felt and saw her magic envelop her and her friends in an unknown spell. But she trusted Luna and was not worried. She was more interested in what Celestia was doing.

Celestia's horn had gotten a bright orange glow that made it very difficult to maintain her gaze on her mentor's horn. Though in a less bright but similar color, were runes covering her body. Or at least Twilight assumed they were runes. It was impossible to tell with Celestia moving around blocking swords. Yet these symbols intensified in brightness and Twilight waited for something to happen. Yet, nothing happened.

At first.

Then Twilight noticed a slight anomaly around the end of Celestia's horn. It looked as if she was looking at the heat distortion from a campfire. Yet, this distortion was circular in motion and was occurring just above the horn.

Celestia's new glow gained yet another level of intensity as she jumped to avoid a blow. Then smashed her hooves down. At that moment any sort of path the swords were on was abruptly changed and they gravitated to Celestia's horn, disappearing from view an inch from her horn. Though they shrunk and thinned as they disappeared. Though one sword managed to leave a two-inch cut along the side of her face. Loose stones from the road leapt upwards and joined the swords as a dust cloud seemingly was vacuumed up.

Then it stopped and the dust cloud swirled around, its pulling master gone. Twilight found her breath catching in her throat. Above Celestia's horn was a small ball the size of a marble. It was mostly grey with swirling patterns of yellow. Celestia had created a black hole. A controllable, miniature, black hole.

Twilight struggled to understand what had happened and how the event had occurred when she noticed the cut on Celestia's face was glowing. Glowing with the same intensity and color as the glow from earlier, yet, when the glow faded the cut was gone.

The marble fell to the ground with a metallic ping, and Celestia slumped forward breathing heavily.

"Celestia!" Twilight cried out and started to move forward, noticing Luna's magic fading.

Yet she stopped when the air reverberated with wingbeats. Then in a fluid line, there were guards landing in front of Celestia.

"Halt!" One of the guards shouted, he started to say something but stopped when Noah gestured menacingly.

"Bring it." He said gleefully.

Fluttershy front legs crouched down ever so slightly and her wings flared to their full extent.

The guards did not respond immediately, "You are surrounded and outnumbered. Unless you surrender, your defeat will be swift!"

The guards beat the butts of their spears in a single thud, emphasizing the words.

Noah laughed, "Not mine."

The guards did respond this time and charged the two ponies. Closing the gap in little time.

"Hold them," Noah said, unfazed by the approaching guards.

The guards were then stopped entirely stopped by an unseen force and lifted up into the air. Each giving shouts of complaint and annoyance. Some of the unicorns fired beam projectiles but landed on Fluttershy with no effect.

"Disarm them."

The spears were pulled from their grips and levitated away from the floating ponies. They became very quiet.

"Return to sender," Noah said with an evil tone.

Then, to Twilight's horror, each of the guard's weapons turned to its owner. Giving the ponies a very sharp edge to stare at. Twilight noticed Luna's horn beginning to glow and she ignited her own, preparing to pull the guards Luna's spell wasn't affecting into teleportation.

Though she and Luna were too slow, the spears suddenly raced forwards to their previous owners with lethal speed. Then, stopped mere inches from the targets.

Noah and the others looked at Fluttershy, who was twitching in the effort. Her face didn't show any change but Twilight was sure that she was the one stopping the lethal blows.

"Hurry Twilight. I shall take the left!" Luna cried.

Twilight nodded and turned her attention back to her spell, enveloped the guards under her charge, and let the magic loose. The guards vanished in a flash of purple and blue light and reappeared behind the two alicorns.

"Is everypony okay?" Twilight asked, turning to the group.

The lead pony took a look at his battalion and nodded, "It seems we are okay. Thank you and the Princess of the night."

Luna merely nodded at the mention of her title but didn't remove her gaze from Fluttershy and Noah.

"What happened?" Twilight asked curiously.

"I don't know," The guard responded, "It felt like my armor was grabbed by magic and it lifted me up. Though these suits have anti-magic enchantments. It should have at least blocked a little…" The guard trailed off.

Twilight took a look at the armor. It was standard-issue; purple, blue pieces of metal stitched together with magic and other alloys. Yet how did Fluttershy or Noah lift them with so little effort? She looked back to see Luna blasting one of the guard's spears to magical dust as it was sent in her direction. Her friends, however, did not seem to be a target. Which relieved Twilight but she was still wary.

She thought about the swords and Fluttershy's lance. What did they have in common with the armor? Well, they were all metal. So, did Fluttershy have a magnetic device? Or perhaps it was a cleverly hidden spell?

No, Fluttershy was a pegasus, not a unicorn, how would she power such a spell? Then again, she countered, could she count her friend being a pegasus?

Her frown deepened as her brain completed the thought. She was not going to look at her friend as a lifeless shell made up of metal. She was going to see it as an illness; only Noah being the virus.

She then looked at her friend with this knowledge and concluded that somehow, she was lifting the objects with something other than magic. Or did Noah find some way to gift Fluttershy with magic?

She looked at her friend and found herself entertaining the idea. Fluttershy had many seemingly new abilities, swords and other weapons included. The ability to heal toxic poisons and being immune to magic when she wanted to. It would make sense to have a magical answer. Though why now? If she had all these abilities, why show them now? They would have been helpful to their many other adventures. Though there was a simple answer for that. She didn't know about them. So how could she use them?

That then brought up another question, then why did they start appearing now? What caused Fluttershy to go haywire? Noah? The Reception 'ception? A ticking clock?

She frowned. Staring at Fluttershy and the floating spears around her. The spears were attacking her fellow princesses but the two were defending themselves with summoned weapons. She needed to figure out the cause so she could figure out a solution. Though right now she needed to figure out how to help her fellow princesses.

All the objects Fluttershy was able to levitate were made of metal. And since she didn't sense any magic in the area she assumed it was magnetism. It could be something else, she reasoned, though she wasn't helping just standing there. So, she gathered her magic in her horn and sent it down to her limbs. She opened her wings and used them to swing in a full circle. Runes and markings appeared in a circle around her as her hooves slid along the cobblestones. The marks shifted from black to blazing purple as she pumped magical energy into it.

Fluttershy, in some sort of unnatural fashion, snapped her neck to look at her. Twilight froze mid spell, waiting for some sort of action to occur. Yet, she kept staring. Then in a sudden realization, she broke the gaze and refocused on the spell. The circle of runes pulsed and the air blurred a bit as her spell took effect.

The clanging of metal filled the air as the spears Fluttershy was holding dropped out of the sky. Twilight smiled but remained in her spell. She would have hooked the spell to her but she wanted the biggest area of effect. She looked to her fellow alicorn Princesses and the two nodded.

Fluttershy was still watching but her hair was lying limp on the ground around her. Twilight smiled. Hopefully, she was going to be able to be stopped. She was not happy about her friend being under control…

The two princesses started to circle Noah and Fluttershy and the rest of Twilight's friends joined her by her spell circle.

"What's that doing?" Applejack asked, looking at Twilight's hooves.

"I'm disrupting any magnetic fields in the area. I believe that's how Fluttershy was able to control those objects." Twilight answered, still watching the Princesses circle.

"You mean by magnets? She was using magnets to move those objects around?"

Twilight gave Applejack a glance and nodded.

"Well, I'll be," Applejack stated quietly, "Didn't realize that magnets could be so powerful."

"Neither did I…"

Her friends didn't say anything more but watched intently on the Princesses. They were still watching Noah and Fluttershy closely, saying nothing say for their body language. Wings were flared, legs tense, and wide eyes that squinted ever so slightly.

Noah however didn't portray any sort of fear. Only smug overconfidence lay on his face as he examined his hoof. Fluttershy still kept a battle stance, though in a less strained fashion.

"I must commend you for figuring out Fluttershy's magmatic extenders. Without them, it will be a tad more difficult, but only just…" Noah said directing his words at Twilight. His tone was devoid of worry, despite the ponies able to move celestial bodies were circling him.

Twilight frowned, why hadn't the Princesses done anything? She took a deeper look at her mentor who returned the look. Though only for a second before returning her attention to Noah.

Twilight kept her face steady. Celestia had given instructions in that look. It was a look that told her to prepare. She again pulled from her magical stores and prepped a magical shield. The most powerful one she could muster with her current spell. She also noticed the guards near her fly up and hurried to the nearby homes. They knocked in a hard a specific pattern prompting the owner of the house to leave. Soon ponies were running from the area with only the sound of rebellious foals and hooves on the cobble filling the noise.

Twilight noticed that Fluttershy was looking at her again. Though this time she alternated between her and the two alicorns circling her.

Twilight looked back at Celestia who gave her the same look as before. Twilight frowned what else could she do? There was no pony around except them. Those in the area had a shield. Did her mentor want a shield to contain any outreach? That made sense, but in that case what were the two up to?

Twilight modified her shield spell to cover her and her friends as well as create a circle to contain anything that could emanate from the Princesses. Whether it be magic or physical objects she was sure that her shield could be able to contain it.

Upon the reading of her spell, she saw a look of approval on her mentor's face. Then the two Princesses started to run around Noah till they were in full gallop. Then from each of the alicorn's horns came a stream of magic. Golden glow and a purple depth mixed till the two colors were barely indistinguishable. Then the alicorns slide to a stop facing each other, their horns still attached to the glowing circle of energy.

Twilight activated her shield, and a purple glow surrounded the entire group, polygons shining on the magical surface.

The two Princesses then angled their horns towards each other causing the magic circle to suddenly shrink down, rapidly heading towards the two in the center.

However, the circle stopped shrinking when Fluttershy's hair split into six sections and held the circle at bay. Then the hair lifted the circle upwards at a speed at which Twilight could barley track. Then with a crack that seemed to split the sky, the circle shrunk to a ball and exploded. The explosion was filtered under a green light as Fluttershy's shield blossomed into existence. A deep thud echoed through the air as the shockwave hit the green shield.

Twilight let her shield fade, letting her magical energy recharge. She kept up the anti-magnetic spell, however, not wanting whatever a magnetic extender was to be in operation.

"Nice counter!" Luna cried out, "Though it has left you wide open!" The two alicorns fixed a beam of plasma to their horns and launched it at Noah. However, a cylinder of a shield dropped from the green shield above and shielded them from harm.

Then the shield bulged outwards, smashing into the two Princesses. They gave out a cry as the interaction gave them no time to counter but instead were sent flying. Celestia managed to regain her footing, sliding a decent distance before friction allowed her to stop. Luna wasn't so graceful, tumbling a bit before getting her hooves under her.

"Rusty as a nail…" She muttered and returned her attention to Noah.

"I'm never, 'wide open', as you say," Noah said in his smug voice, "Not with Fluttershy around. Though let's stop the child's play shall we?"

Fluttershy's gaze snapped to Celestia and she bounded towards the white alicorn with surprising speed.

Though Celestia held her ground and lit her horn.

Twilight was beside herself but kept quiet. Why would Celestia use magic against a magically immune opponent? The answer was comical.

A single slab of stone was pulled up from the ground right in front of the charging pegasus. A dull thud and sickening crunch accompanied Fluttershy as she ran into the sudden wall. The wall then retreated into the ground and Celestia gave Noah a dark look.

"To use one's friends against them is a dark trick. Yet, some attacks take a subtly that you seem to lack…" Celestia said darkly.

"Who said I was attacking?" Noah said gleefully, "Wonderful execution!"

Celestia frowned in confusion and attempted to take a step back, only to realize a pink string was wrapped around her legs. Multiple of these threads held Celestia's hooves to the ground and Twilight saw her wings flare in panic.

Why doesn't Celestia just cut them? Then with horror, she realized that they were strands of Fluttershy's hair!

Fluttershy slowly started to get up from her interaction with the wall. Pink hair covered her face but even as Twilight watched, the hair parted to reveal her eyes. Wide and unnaturally open eyes stared at Celestia. A sharp blue glow replaced the pupil and iris for a couple of moments and her hair flowed with a blue radiance.

The ground shuttered as a couple of pipes were ripped from the ground, water spilling out from their broken paths. Fluttershy's hair was threading the metal tubes and held them in the air. The ends connected to Celestia also lifted her in the air. The alicorn struggled but didn't have any ground to apply pressure, leaving her awkwardly flailing her limbs. The struggle was restrained as the strands further covered the Princesses leaving pink trails along with her white coat.

There was a loud pop on the Princess of the sun teleported out of the living chains. Yet, Fluttershy's head snapped to another direction; the same direction that Celestia reappeared. Fluttershy's pink hair streamed towards her location and Celestia jumped into the air, quickly gaining altitude.

The hair didn't give chase but rather retreated back to Fluttershy's head, leaving the metal pipes to go clanging to the ground.

"Try the fall recovery projectile. That ought to slow her down a bit." Noah said with an eager smile.

Fluttershy didn't respond this time. Instead, her side opened and a small, tube came out. It was still connected to a metal arm that extended out of the blue glow of her insides, but it seemed to be able to swivel up and down. It swung upwards and a small rocket came out of the metal grey tube with a small swish. The rocket looked like a black shiny firework, except smoother and fins on the bottom side with perfect symmetry.

Though unlike a firework it angled itself upwards and towards Celestia. Celestia rolled to the right and the rocket sailed by her. She gave Noah a defiant, but wary look.

Though behind her, the rocket made a sharp turn and retuned its trajectory to Celestia.

"Celestia! Behind you!" Twilight shouted at the top of her lungs realizing she was using her super voice a little late.

The message got across, however, and the white alicorn turned around to dodge the projectile again. However, the projectile changed direction and hurtled itself towards its target, again. Celestia frowned and teleported away this time. The rocket continued to fly towards Celestia, once she had reappeared.

Twilight looked to the side and noticed that Luna was attempting to fire projectiles at Noah, yet a small circle of green blocked every shot. Twilight frowned, understanding why Luna was keeping her distance. No pony knew exactly what Noah could do, and his smugness was concerning.

Twilight thought about using her magic against the missile but assumed that it was magic proof, just like the rest of Fluttershy's gadgets. Though a small rock suddenly hurtled through the air and missed the rocket by a small margin.

Twilight looked over and noticed Rarity holding a rock with her magic. With a small grunt, she sent the rock flying, this time scoring a hit on the rocket but noticed no effect. She frowned, "It was worth a shot…"

Twilight smiled and the rest of her friends mimicked her notion. She then felt a bit of pressure on her spell and increased its power a bit. She was not going to let any magnetism occur on her watch.

Celestia again disappeared with a golden pop only to have to avoid the rocket as it changed direction. Though this time as she lit her horn for another spell, the top half of the rocket popped off. A black device shot out and latched onto Celestia's face, completely obscuring her mouth and nose. A small cord connected the mask and the rest of the rocket. Without missing a beat, it started to shrink at an alarming rate. Celestia's magic took effect, making her change positions. Yet, the rocket had joined in on the spell and was still attached to Celestia's face. The cord shrunk to nearly nothing and the alicorn suddenly disappeared in a thick cloud of sparkling white mist as the lower half of the rocket connected to the mask.

Twilight's horror was abolished as she saw the mist part as a translucent golden object fell through it. This golden object was crystal in nature and had completely encased Celestia, bringing her to the ground. It reminded her of the spell Starlight had used on her during their whole time-fiasco. Twilight grimaced, stopping the anti-magnetism spell, and extended a hand of magic to the golden chunk, only to feel it go right through.

The encased princess landed on the cobblestones with a crash, bits of the golden shell scattering into the deserted streets. She watched as she shakily got up from the ground, her right-wing still encased in the golden material but seemed relatively unharmed. Bits of the stuff still stuck to her body and she shook her head as the mask popped off her face with a small hiss.

The metal pipes that had been ripped from the ground began to levitate and gravitated towards Celestia, though they returned to the ground not even halfway when Twilight returned power to her spell.

Fluttershy gave Twilight an empty look, a look that made Twilight's soul freeze and began to send her hair towards Celestia. Twilight frowned, were they in stalemate? Celestia could just take off again, right?

Though it seemed that she couldn't get the golden chunk off her wing, so she lit her horn and Twilight noticed her sway a bit, then a chunk of stone slid from the floor once again. This time the quick blockade did nothing to stop Fluttershy as the hairs went right through the stone. Once through, they started to once again wrap around the white alicorn. Though this time the strands wrapped from top to bottom, quickly wrapping up her horn before anything else.

Twilight looked at her hooves and saw her glowing runes on the ground. Where would she be needed most? Luna, after a quick glance, was struggling to get to her sister's side. The green shield she had been grappling with had blocked her movements almost entirely. Magically moving from side to side in a crude joke.

Though she returned her gaze to Celestia as a green shield appearing around Fluttershy and Celestia. She frowned, noticing that Noah was in the shield as well, making the shield-shaped like an egg cut in half.

She charged up her horn and fired a bolt of plasma into the green matter but it didn't even leave a mark. She could hit it with a lot more force, though it would mean that she'd have to break the spell she was holding on the ground. Which probably wasn't the best idea given the things the magmatic extenders were capable of.

She then watched as Fluttershy's hair started to spark with power, blue bolts of energy dancing along the pink strands. It climbed its way through the pink strands and reached Celestia, giving her an eerie blue glow. Celestia didn't cry out but Twilight could see her facial expression morphing into surprise and resistance. She took a double-take and noticed that she couldn't hear anything from inside the shield. Was it soundproof as well?

It seemed to be. Though she watched her friends go over and start pounding on the shield with a futile attempt to break it. Pinkie even tried to drill underneath the shield but found that it extended underground as well. She took another look at the runes at the ground and let the spell fade, the purple glow fading as well. She then gathered much more energy to her horn and prepped an even stronger plasma bolt.

"EVERY PONY MOVE!" Luna's canterlot voice pierced the air and caused every pony to move away, though that wasn't the only factor.

Luna looked like Nightmare moon once more. Dark black coat and even more space-like mane. Though her eyes were not like a predator but retained their original color and shape. Her wings were open and she used them to jump into the air, leaving blue fire in her wake. The fire tried to follow but left wisps of energy as Luna gained altitude. The fire on the ground had already ceased as Luna began to divebomb. The air around her gained a dark blue glow, so dark that Twilight almost mistook it for black. Though as she dived, the blue fire once again blossomed around her swirling with her movements.

Twilight pulled her retreating friends close to her and used the energy from her previous spell to summon a hexagonal shield. Then created a secondary shield to deflect any magical rebound that could occur when Luna hit the shield.

This time, the green circle did not impede her, so she hit the shield with incredible force. Enough to send a shockwave that traveled through Twilight's lungs. Making her flinch slightly. Though there was a light blue ring that flung itself from the impact site and at Twilight's shields. Both shields shattered on contact, but they were able to deflect the energy upwards. The ring then shrunk slowly till it collapsed in on itself, become thousands of glowing particles in the sky.

Twilight couldn't hear Noah but she could tell by his green masked face that he was laughing, gloating at the fact that he had corrupted her best friend and was forcing her to fight them and the Princesses. Hot anger started to burn in her chest, making its way up to her forehead.

"Luna, move out of the way!" Twilight cried out and prepped the most powerful beam of plasma she could. Transferring any emotional energy she dared into her horn, causing it to flash and spark with raw energy.

Luna obliged and took one flap of her wings to move out of the way.

Twilight let the spell go, and felt the energy leave her to become a plasma bolt, speeding towards the shield. Though she saw a blue reflection spell suddenly appear in front of her target.

It was filled with circles and runic markings and it took a second for Twilight to understand what had happened or where the spell came from.

Luna had cast it. Her form was still black as the deepest night sky, yet her magic still felt like Luna's… She took another look at the spell she had cast, it had absorbed Twilight's energy instead of reflecting it as she had thought. It was an energy focus. How had she missed that?

With her spell in it, the floating blue lines started to glow purple. Then her spell exited the other side of Luna's spell with a much tighter radius, but with much more power. Yet, the shield remained unyielding. The occupants giving very little attention to the attack.

"No! Sister!" Twilight heard Luna cry out. She had jumped back onto the shield and was bashing on the shield with glowing hooves. She even tried to blast the energy but then slumped in defeat, leaning heavily on the green shield. Her appearance changed back to normal as she almost collapsed onto the mysterious barrier. Twilight frowned as she saw Luna breathing heavily and noticed she herself wasn't much better. Her magical stores were still recharging from the non-stop use against alicorn magic. So, she knew that she shouldn't be throwing around magic if she could avoid it. Though looking back in the shield made her stop and stare.

Celestia was now glowing with a golden glow, her face contorted with concentration and worry. The pink hair was still glowing and crackling with blue energy. Celestia's eyes suddenly went wide and her mouth formed an unheard word. Then her entire body was overtaken by the golden glow and Twilight wasn't able to determine any features she was used of her mentor. Face, hair, and even her metal adornments were all masked by this mysterious energy. It flowed like a liquid and started to shrink out of the hair's grasp, taking Celestia with it.

Twilight could only blink as her mentor was reduced to a small glowing orb the size of a marble. The hair that had wrapped up Celestia dispersed, leaving only a few strands to face the orb. Causing it to levitate in the air. But even as Twilight watched the orb float down to Fluttershy, she noticed that her mentor's cutie mark was emblazoned on the orb.

Fluttershy's chest then opened up, the yellow panels sinking inwards and sliding away to reveal a glowing circle. This circle was quite bright and was surrounded by thin vertical plates of metal circularly layered on one another. Each metal plate was spaced a bit apart, leaving black lines on the copper-toned material. Pipes of various sizes snaked around these plates and disappeared below the glowing circle. Another circle of copper color surrounded the white circle, obscuring some of the plates and pipes like a large flat doughnut. Though this ring had visible indents that were circular in nature.

The marble that was Celesta hovered over to one of the indents, guided by Fluttershy's hair. The marble sank into the indent and the center circle gained a solar yellow tinge to its glow. Her hair retreated and the panel on Fluttershy's chest closed, leaving no trace of the Solar Princess.

Fluttershy was beyond thoughts with horror. Her brain simply wouldn't process the fact that she had transformed the solar Princess into a small little ball of energy. Then her chest opened, something she could feel quite vividly, and the little marble went in her chest and it closed.

Celestia containment procedure completed. Phase one of collection complete. Proceeding to phase two…

Fluttershy felt her eyes look around and eventually fall onto Luna, who started to move away in alarm.

Then, it felt like someone had ripped her vision away the same way some pony would take binoculars away. She blinked at the sensory input and was unsure what happened.

She was now in a room. A navy blue greeted her eyes from the walls of the room with lines of red, green, and various other colors running through the blue on straight designated paths. Each color left a small trail that faded after a few moments. She continued to watch the colors run around a bit, wondering where she was and how she had gotten here. She looked at herself and noticed that she was able to move her limbs normally. She examined herself for anything odd but didn't notice anything. Except for the holographic lines floating around her front legs. They formed squares and words and moving the appendage created a small color change in different areas.

She was about to read the words floating around her limbs when she noticed the wall to her right opened in a large circle. It revealed a tunnel that Fluttershy couldn't see the end to, but noticed a white blur coming up. It came closer and closer till Fluttershy could see what the object was, or rather, what creature.

Celestia was floating through the tube at the speed of her gallop, then, at the end of the tube, she flipped around and landed with a thud on the ground. Her wings were flared as she scanned her surroundings.

Her eyes fell on Fluttershy which caused the pegasus to pedal back in alarm, "So, you've given Fluttershy the ability to capture opponents through mimicry of Tireck's power. For what? Torture? Power siphon? Imprisonment?"

Fluttershy didn't respond, but realized the Princess was asking her, "Um, I don't…know?" She said hesitantly, realizing that she could now speak.

Celestia's face darkened, "You act like Fluttershy, yet, Noah had control over you. How far that control goes I do not know. But I do not what to be caught off guard a second time…"

Fluttershy frowned and looked at her front legs. She was able to control her limbs again, though she could still feel that mental gap she had felt earlier. So, was this her body? Where had they gone to? Did they die?

Celestia's face lightened a bit, "I know one way that you could prove that you have control over your form."

Fluttershy brightened but was also slightly worried at the Princess's request. If she failed, was she going to become sunburnt particles?

"Synchronize yourself with your element of harmony."

Fluttershy blinked, then closed her eyes. That was easy enough, she wouldn't be able to maintain it for too long without her friends synchronizing to their elements, but she didn't think that Celestia was looking for that. So, she called out to her element and the answer came immediately.

It was a warm comforting feeling. It filled her body with a wave of memories of her friends and for a second, she lost herself in those memories. Adventures and lessons passed by in the longest heartbeat she had ever felt. The feeling faded with a smile on her face, wishing it could stay.

Celestia's frown faded, but did not entirely go away, "You are indeed Fluttershy. The element would not answer a call so swiftly. Though how does Noah have such control over you? Are you a prisoner like me?"

Fluttershy gave Celestia a blank look, "I'm not so sure, but how were you able to sense my call to my element? Or its answer?"

Celestia smiled, "Before you and your friends wielded the elements, it was me. Before that, me and my sister. I can still feel their power. Even if they do not respond like they used to."

Fluttershy nodded, "Okay…" She looked around, "I'm not sure about your earlier question though."

"Which one?"

"If I was a prisoner as well?"

Celestia nodded, "Did Noah put you in a machine and bring you here?" She gestured around her with her wings, "Then just place a machine in your place?"

Fluttershy frowned. Her gut told her no. No matter how much she wished that was the case. The scene she had seen and felt when Noah had first tried to repair her eye was too real. She felt like she was being disassembled at a biological level. Then, she guessed, replaced with metal and electromagical components.

"I don't think so." She stated and told what she had experienced with the dream.

Celestia frowned and scowled at the same time, "If there is even a sliver of truth in that, I will personally send him to the sun."

Fluttershy paused, wondering if you could walk on the sun. Though she remembered the sun was a ball of plasma and grasped the full meaning of Celestia's statement.

"It just felt like he was disassembling me. Maybe replacing with what I have now?" Fluttershy said after a moment of awkward silence.

Celestia's frown was still on her face, yet it turned thoughtful as she thought about what she said, "Possibly. Though how are you able to move now? Before it seemed you could only barely stop yourself with the guards. If that was you?"

Fluttershy nodded. She remembered feeling the invisible energies grasp the guard's armor and spears. When the energy attempted to throw the spears at the guards, the gap between her mind and her body had shrunk, giving her the ability to fight for control. She couldn't truly explain it but she supposed it had felt like a tug of war. She just didn't know who or what her opponent was…

She relayed that to Celestia hoping that she could give some insight. Celestia paused for a moment then said, "That makes me think of mind magic." She paused and looked Fluttershy in the eye, "The controlling sort. Yet, I do not think that's at play. It just doesn't feel like magic, but I can not conceive any other explanation! Answers bring more questions! For example, how did you lift the guards without me, Luna, nor Twilight sensing magic? How did stands as thin as hair block a combined attack from me and Luna!" She paused to take a breath, "Okay. Let's assume that you were just body swapped with an electromagical device that could mimic your behavior enough to fool us and it just imprisoned me here with the real you. That could explain what happened. Yet that brings more questions! How is it powered? How did I not notice when I looked at your eyelid? Even better, where is here?!" She gestured around strongly, then lowered her head in defeat.

Fluttershy said nothing, unsure how to respond.

Celestia chuckled, "I'm starting to sound like Twilight, aren't I?"

That got her to smile, "A little." Fluttershy replied, and looked around, "I'm not sure where we are but I do not think I was, body swapped."

"Why?" Celestia said curiously, looking up.

Fluttershy paused, wondering how to put it into words, "I'm not sure but I feel everything. Each moving strand of hair, my leg opening," she paused then put emphasis, the memory running through her mind, "My chest opening. I'm not sure how but I'm sure that, that's me. I've been doing all this just not at my command."

"Well, do you know how you lifted the guards then? It may offer a clue, or at least a confirmation." Celestia implored.

Fluttershy nodded, "There are invisible energies that I can feel coming from me. It can grab things from a distance, and I can manipulate whatever it's holding. With that guards, it grabbed their armor and then lifted them up."

"Why not the ponies themselves?"

Fluttershy shrugged.

"Okay," Celestia frowned, thinking, "Could you feel the energies like a limb?"

Fluttershy nodded.

"What did it feel like? A wing? Hoove? A nose even?"

"A magnet?" Fluttershy said hesitantly, realizing that ponies did not have magnets as limbs.

Celestia just stared.

"Well, I mean," Fluttershy sputtered, "It felt like I had an extra hoof and it hooked to things like a magnet. Just more liquid in nature-than a hoof, I guess?"

Celestia's face did not change, yet her head nodded, "What has Noah been working on under my nose? This kind of device is groundbreaking and yet instead of being used to help ponies it's being used as a weapon!"

Fluttershy frowned and looked down at her legs. The holographic lines moving slowly to her movements. Had she really given Noah permission to modify her in this way? She frowned knowing that she wouldn't be willing to give up her biological form for something so far from nature. Especially when she was so close to nature. Then why did Noah do such a thing?

Her leg caught her attention. Floating just above her knee was the words, Share view. Share a view on what? Could she share her view on things with Celestia?

She paused and looked at the rest of the words on her legs. Feeling interface, Internal to external mic, Bio-scan, Power siphon, and quite a few more. Though one word stood out the most at the top of her leg, MMO Virtual interaction HUD.

"What's that?" Celestia asked, coming closer to look at Fluttershy's legs.

Fluttershy shrugged, "I'm not sure. I had them when I was first pulled here…"

"Pulled here? So, you were pulled here as well?"

Fluttershy nodded, but she could still feel the gap between her mind and body. Yet, she could also feel her body here in this room?

"Yes," Fluttershy replied, "Though it felt like somepony just removed binoculars from my eyes…"

"Hmm," Celestia frowned, "It felt like Tirek was attempting to pull out my cutie mark's magic."

"Really?"

"Indeed. It is not a very comfortable situation."

"I can imagine," Fluttershy responded, vividly remembering when Tirek had stolen her magic. It had felt like a vital part had been taken from her, not letting her do many things. Though that had given her a thought.

"Hold on, you had your magic stolen by Tirek correct?" Celestia asked, beating her to the punch.

Fluttershy nodded, changing her words she had been about to speak, "Yes. Do you think that I was this way back then?"

Celestia nodded after a pause, "Unfortunately I do. Do you remember the incident with Starlight and the town she created?"

Fluttershy nodded.

"From the recounts that I've been told, you attempted to go and retrieve the cutie marks from the cave but detoured to go spy on Starlight."

Fluttershy nodded again, remembering the experience.

"You were able to move out of sight on two occasions without the use of your cutie mark magic. You had a magic that inhibited such movement. Starlight has told me that she had wondered how you were able to get out of sight fast enough."

"I guess that answer is pretty obvious now isn't it?"

Celestia gave her a look of compassion, "So it would seem. Though I'm very curious about what's powering your augmentations." She paused, giving her a thoughtful look, "I wonder if it's being powered by your cutie mark. Which would make sense."

Fluttershy nodded sadly. Exactly how long has she been this way?

She again looked at her leg and looked at the, Share view. Could she share her view with Celestia? Maybe that could help her figure out where they were?

"Hang on. I recognize that interface." Celestia said abruptly, "Glyph made that system and I was tempted to add it to the castle. Though it would require some serious renovations…"

Fluttershy gave her a confused look, "Glyph?"

Celestia smiled and nodded, "Glyph was the other inventor we tried to visit. The one who didn't answer her door?"

Fluttershy slowly nodded, "Okay? I thought Noah was the pony who altered me?"

Celestia paused, "Indeed."

Fluttershy lifted her leg, "Then why is one of her inventions in my leg?"

Celestia frowned in thought, "I remember Luna talking about a dream of the inventor. It was a nightmare where Glyph was worried her inventions would have been stolen. Oh, why didn't I mention her name earlier?!"

Fluttershy didn't respond. Not that she would have known what to say anyway…

Celestia shook her head, "That would have probably jogged my sister's memory. Stupid…" She stomped her hoof and took a deep breath, "Either way, the thing on your leg is called an interface. This one looks like you would just tap on the things you want to activate. For example, Glyph offered to code it a way to allow me to light up sections of the castle independently from each other. All with simple taps from pretty much anywhere in the castle! I could light up my room before I even got there! Though we would have needed to install a power source, make wall cuts for the wires, and other things." She sighed, "It would have been a lot of work even with the assistance of magic…"

Interface? That didn't sit right with Fluttershy, taking into account that it was an interface for her. Or at least she thought it was part of her. Pushing the uncertain thoughts aside she tapped on the word with her hoof and a glowing rectangle appeared in the air in front of her. It was a very large rectangle, easily the size of a wall belonging to a large room. It remained empty for a few moments then flashed with color and Fluttershy saw the image that she saw before she was yanked to the room with Celestia.

It showed Luna; frozen mid-retreat. Her green shield was still up and it tinged the blue alicorn with a greenish hue.

"What's happening?" Celestia asked urgently.

Fluttershy took a second to respond, "I'm not sure…" After capturing Celestia the computer had said that phase one was complete. Was capturing Luna phase two?

She didn't have time to think about it as glowing blue lines started to dance in front of her eyes. They formed a rounded rectangle in front of her eyes and she could see several lines in her peripheral vision.5

"What's happening?" She cried out in alarm and attempted to backpedal. The lines followed her movements, however, and she felt the feeling in her body fading. She shook her head, but to no avail.

She had a chance to look at Celestia turn to her in alarm, then her vision switched to what she saw in the bigger rectangle. Luna was about ready to retreat. Though this time she was moving. She watched as Luna jumped and weakly flapped her wings to get off the green shield.

Celestia? Fluttershy attempted to say but found herself getting a now-familiar response.

Action denied.

Fluttershy could only internally groan in protest as she watched as the shield dissipated as her wings folded back on her back.

"Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy face instinctively scrunched up in confusion. Did she just hear Celestia?

"Fluttershy? What happened? Can you not move?" Celestia said again.

She was now moving towards Luna with careful steps as the alicorn joined behind Twilight and the rest of her friends. She frowned.

Action has been denied.

"Fluttershy? I heard you groan, are you okay?" Celestia's voice again emanated from, somewhere. Where?

Not really? Fluttershy said in her head. Yet, this time Celestia didn't respond, instead repeated her question.

She frowned. Where was Celestia? It sounded like she was nearby. Yet, she could hear the Princess's voice from her head! She had heard her groan, why not talk?

Her mind thought back to the train when Pinkie had helped her talk to the machine inside. Was she talking to the wrong area of her head perhaps?

She heard Celestia's voice again, this time accompanied by nervous steps. She also noticed that Luna was being protected by the rest of her friends. Each one of her friends had nervous and upset expressions laid on their faces. This time, however, she focused on Celestia's voice and noticed that it did seem to have a direction in her head.

"Hello?" She said, aiming the words towards the origin of Celestia's words.

"Oh, thank goodness. Can you move?"

"No. I'm back to where I was."

Celestia's voice radiated confusion, "What do you mean? Your right here…"

Fluttershy tried to frown, "Yes, I am. Though I think it's a bit bigger than that. I'm talking inside my head, and you can hear me. Which means that your—"

"Inside your head?" Celestia finished.

"It would seem that way."

"Hmm. If that's the case I may know a spell that might help." There was a pause. Then panic, "I don't have my magic! I mean, I can feel it nearby but I can't use it!"

Fluttershy was about to respond but noticed that her friends were running at her. The battle mode was also noticed, and a battle plan was formulated in seconds.

Her friends had formed a v-shaped line with the point facing towards Luna. Applejack was at the vertex with Pinkie and Rainbow on her left, and Twilight and Rarity on the right. When they got close Fluttershy felt herself lunge forward like a snake and grabbed Rarity's front leg with her own. Then, with surprising ease, swung her around once then threw her upwards. Rarity screamed as she easily gained a few hundred feet of altitude.

"This is much less enjoyable without wings!" She heard Rarity shout.

"Rainbow!" She heard Twilight shout, even as she felt Twilight pull on one of her front legs. Her alicorn strength pulling it to the ground.

Rainbow shot upwards while Pinkie grabbed the other front leg and equaled Twilight's strength in pulling her other leg to the ground. Her head shot to the right to look at the pink pony. Her eyes saw a glowing purple aura flowing from the pink pony to the purple alicorn.

Fluttershy felt her hair begin to move, causing confusion to swell in her chest. The feeling didn't last long as her hair suddenly went limp.

Error. Interference detected at 45/R

Her head snapped 45 degrees to the right and zoomed in. Next to a house was the teacher Cheerilee. She was holding out her hoof with something attached to her hoof. It was glowing and looked like a small metal sock.

Error in Hair modulation. Forming new plan…

New plan formulated. Deploying long-range weaponry. Type=SS Rocket.

Fluttershy felt her wings move as a panel on her back began to move. Though it stopped abruptly when Applejack, without her hat, placed something on her face. She placed two hooves on the side of her head and held her head in place. Fluttershy noted that Applejack was also glowing purple in her vision.

"Now Princess!" Applejack shouted moving her head out of the way to give Fluttershy a good look at Luna.

Luna's horn was glowing white. She looked tired, but beneath her hooves lay the runes that Twilight had made, only they were glowing blue now.

Warning! Dream magic amplifier in proximity. Halting previous plan.

Done.

Deploying countermeasures…

Fluttershy felt herself pull backward, angling her entire body back. Her friends leaned with her, till Fluttershy launched the other way and headbutted Applejack in the face.

The orange pony stumbled backward in pain and shock, while Luna launched a white energy beam at the object on Fluttershy's face. Without Applejack holding her down, she was easily able to duck, causing the blast to land on her back. It landed with no effect.

Luna suddenly collapsed, breathing heavily in the now dark runes.

Fluttershy again felt the invisible limbs reach out from her and grab something underground. Pipes erupted from the ground and weaved themselves around Twilight and Pinkie as if it were a string. Once properly restrained, the energy pushed the two ponies to the side, leaving them struggling.

Twilight's magic started to work on the bars, but the energy had made sure to wrap Twilight extra snug. The bars started to move, yet the energy moved them back into place. As Fluttershy felt another limb pull another pipe to restrain Applejack, she shook her head and the item on her face fell off.

It looked like a dream catcher. A simple circle encompassing a star-like pattern had small blue feathers hanging from the bottom. She wondered if Luna had made it herself.

Her gaze lifted and rested on Luna. She looked back with a worried expression, her horn igniting slowly. The symbols at her hooves started to glow gently and Fluttershy felt her invisible limbs weaken slightly. Though they strengthened when Luna's horn stopped glowing and she took deep, shuttering breaths.

"Why did you use that form during the day…" She heard Celestia say in her mind.

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked, feeling her hooves move her towards the disabled alicorn.

Though before Celestia could respond, another pony landed hard in front of her.

It was a pegasus, like her, but with a light blue coat. Bright red and pink hair flowed around as her body displaced the air. Fluttershy also noticed a metal wing replacing a right wing with the right front leg replaced with a metal leg.

"I'm sorry for not answering the door Fluttershy…" The mare said in a somber voice.

"No!" Noah shouted from behind her, and the battle mode immediately tagged the pony in front of her as an enemy.

The pony's wings flared and the right wing began to faintly glow white. Her hearing was replaced with a faint humming sound.

Error. Ear calibration required.

She paused for a second, then watched as the pony lifted her metal leg and threw a small disk at her face. The device attached to her right eye and a flurry of text filled her vision.

Docking device detected.

Error external docking checks are not recognized. Requesting additional security requirements.

Silver bird emergency codes have been confirmed. Booting MMO for authentication.

Error. The request has been denied by .

External docking device has connected to hardware mainframe.

External docking device is requesting access to: Core system management. Allow?

The text stopped. The single word stayed in her vision silently allowing access to something that she had no idea about.

"Come on…" The light blue pony said urgently in front of her. She raised her hoof as a dark magic bolt rushed towards her location. The bolt exploded on her leg but left little damage. Regardless, the pony shook it slightly with a pained expression. "Darn it, hurry up!"

Fluttershy was only able to lip-read what she was saying, completely oblivious to the outside world except her invisible limbs holding her friends down and her vision. She stared at the new pony, unable to look elsewhere. Could she trust this pony?

"Celestia?" Fluttershy asked.

Docking procedure placed on hold. Rebooting containment communication network.

"Fluttershy? What's happening? Hello? Can you hear me?" Celestia's frantic voice seemed to blossom in her mind. Relieving the constant hum in her ears slightly.

"Yes. I can hear you. Can you hear me?"

There was a sigh of relief, "Oh thank goodness. I thought I had lost you…"

"Oh. Um, well I'm still here, but do you know this pony?" Fluttershy asked, still hoping that Celestia could see what she was seeing.

There was a frightening pause, as the pony ducked under another black bolt of magic.

"Yes. That's Glyph if I remember correctly. I did trust her, though remember. She is the one who created some of the things you now have."

Fluttershy internally frowned. Things didn't add up. Noah had obviously replaced her biology with mechanical parts. Yet, if Glyph had been a part of that. Why is she trying to get in her way? If she was truly on Noah's side, wouldn't she have let her get to Luna?

She focused on the words in her vision again, only for more to appear.

Docking procedure resumed. External docking device is requesting access to: Core system management, Allow?

"Yes." She whispered silently.