Everen stared at the letter, fearful of what he might read. He opened the envelope, and saw that the letter was written in three sections each by a different pony. It read as follows:
Frost Bite;
Everen, I don't know where you are, or what you're doing. And while I can't say that I'm not terribly worried, because I am, I want you to know that as long as what you're the one steering your path, then you're on the correct path. And know this, when you come home you'll get the biggest welcome home party ever. I love and miss you with all my heart, son, please be safe. And remember us.
Blaze Wood;
Hey, son, if it was your own decision to leave, then you have my full support. I realize you don't have much holding you to Mirudloc anymore, and I'm so sorry for that. If I could help in some way towards this I would, but I don't believe there's really anything I can do. You're the only one capable of remedying that. You need not tell me where you are, as long as you're being true to yourself, I can rest easy. I love you son, don't you ever forget that, no matter what.
Libra Stargazer;
I know I won't be able to convince you to come back, so I won't try. But I'd still like to say a few things to my old friend. I want to let you know that Lily is still single, after you broke up with her she refused to date anypony, it was too sad for her. She's so alone, even Cyrul is keeping away from her more. YOU NEED TO FIX THIS! Or else you'll be the biggest jerk I know, and trust me, I know some HUGE jerks. So work it out, somehow.
Blissful;
Everen, I may not understand your reasons for leaving, or why you broke up with Lily all that time ago, but I'll be your loyal friend, no matter what. But, the way I see it, it was really selfish of you to break up with Lily. I understand you'd blame yourself if she got hurt because of affairs you get mixed up in, but as long as Lily is with you, at least she'd be happy. It wouldn't matter if she's in constant peril, she just wants to be with you.
Cyrulian;
Hey dude, I'm going to be honest here, when you broke up with Lily, I thought it could be my chance to get a mare-friend. But Lily is dead-set on you, she won't even look at other stallions anymore. It's not healthy, and you're the only one who could possibly get through to her. I get it that, with that necklace of yours, you probably can't stay here, but you should take Lily with you, please.
When Everen had finished reading, he went to his bed and laid down, crying to himself. He stayed there for what felt like hours, when really it was probably only ten minutes.
"Everen, your breakfast is getting cold." Karilyn cantered into his room and saw him on his bed.
"I'm not hungry." Everen tried to control his voice and keep it from cracking. He didn't want Kari to know he was sad.
"Oh, Everen, what's wrong?" the mare inquired when she cantered to his bedside and saw the tear stains on his sheets. She sat down next to him put a hoof on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. "Why're you so hurt."
Everen merely pointed at his desk. Kari read the letter, after reading it she gazed back at the unicorn, heartbroken.
"D-do you still have feelings for Lily?" Karilyn asked, not looking at the stallion.
"Yes, I do." Everen answered, his voice trembling.
"I'll understand if you choose to be with her, instead of me." the mare's voice was shaking as well. "But one thing is certain, you have to go see her again."
"I know, but I'm more terrified now than I have been in years." Everen pulled his bedding closer. "Not since I had to break up with Lily. I've already had to break one mare's heart. I don't want to go through that again." Everen began sobbing again, curling up into a ball.
"I-I'll be okay, we've only known eachother for a week now. You've known Lily all your life I'd guess." tears started to run down Kari's cheeks. "You should be with someone who knows you better than I."
The two remained there in painful silence for a few more minutes. Then Karilyn cantered up to Everen's bed, putting a hoof on his shoulder again. "You can't keep running from your problems, life doesn't work like that. It hurts me to say this, but you need to hurry up and figure out what it is you came here to find out, and then you need to go straight home to sort things out there." Karilyn turned Everen over and lifted him into a sitting position. "But for now you have to search for that information."
"Alright, but first I have a promise to follow up on. I've got to help out Kane today." the unicorn got up and put his vest, boots, and necklace on.
"Fine, but after that you continue to look for the thing that brought you here." Karilyn cantered into her room, locking the door behind her.
Everen went downstairs and had a cup of the special coffee Kane gave him. He got to the coffee shop with the morning rush in full swing, Kane zipping back and forth like mad. "I'm here Kane." Everen cantered into the kitchen, and began preparing orders. When the morning rush was over Kane came into the kitchen and gave Everen his pay. Afterwards Everen went to Layla's boutique.
"Hey there handsome." Catalina greeted the stallion in her usual manner, pressing herself against him. "You come here just for me?"
"Sorry to disappoint, sort of. But I'm just here to pick up my suit." Everen cantering to the center of the room. "Layla, are you here? I'm here to pick up my suit." Everen called out.
"I'm afraid I'll be awhile. Catalina, would you be a dear and give his suit and make sure it fits?" Layla requested, her voice coming from somewhere deeper in the building.
"Of course sis, I'll get right on that." Cat complied, going into the back room. She came back out a second later with suit draped over her back. "Come here and I'll help you put this on."
Everen cantered to her slowly, not too keen on having Cat's hooves all over him. He put the shirt and pants on himself, Cat helped him get the jacket on and put the tie around his neck. She adjusted the suit to look nice.
"Nice, you look pretty hot in a suit." Cat commented, staring at him.
"It fits perfectly too, give my compliments to Layla." Everen ignored her flirting.
"Sure thing." the mare closed in, nuzzling his neck yet again.
"I'm going to head out now. I have somewhere I plan to go." Everen made for the door, not bothered by Cat's behaviour.
As Everen was cantering out the door, Cat smacked his flank with her tail. This made Everen jump in surprise, he manages to keep his balance though.
"What the hay was that?" Everen recoiled, annoyed.
"Told you I'd get you back, consider us even." Cat grinned, shutting the door.
Everen rubbed his forehead, trying to alleviate his headache. He started to canter through the alley's until he arrived at Umbra's tent.
"Umbra, you here?" Everen peered inside the tent, not that he thought he'd see anything in there. It was as dark as ever in the tent.
"Yeah I'm here, what do you need?" Umbra said from inside the tent.
"I need to know where Blaxe J lives." he replied, taking his head out of the tent.
"Hold on, give me a moment." the earth pony began rifling through what sounded like a stack of papers. "Aha, found it. Here's his address, from my intel he won't be back from wherever he went until tomorrow." Umbra handed a sheet of paper out of the tent to Everen.
"Thanks, what do I owe you?" Everen inquired, grabbing his bit pouch.
"The information I got from our last deal was more than enough, it can pay for this too." Umbra held up a hoof, refusing to take his money.
"Okay then, I'll be going then, thanks again." Everen cantered off, making his way to main street north. He moved down the road, as he neared town hall, he gravitated towards it. Everen made it to the front door and opened it. It felt as though it were larger on the inside. Everen looked around and he noticed a mahogany-colored earth pony with strange light brown markings on his fur. His hazel eyes stared at Everen drearily, as if he were half-asleep.
"I've been waiting for you, Everen Shamrock you've come earlier than you said you would." the pony spoke with a foreign accent Everen wasn't familiar with.
"Well I had nothing else to do today. So here I am." Everen suddenly felt like taking a nap, he was so tired. "What's going on, why am I so tired?"
"It's the incense. Here, eat this and you'll regain some energy." the stallion held out a piece of what looked like yellow taffy.
Everen took it and ate it without a second thought, the incense clouding his caution. As soon as it hit his stomach, Everen's senses became heightened. His vision, hearing and smell sharpened. He could see little details that the normal eye wouldn't notice, hear the breathing and heartbeat of the pony before him, smell the individual scents in the incense.
"So, what exactly did you bring me here for?" Everen questioned, taking a step in the pony's direction. "And just WHO are you?"
"I am Ethereal Veil, and I need to ask for your help." he answered, calmly. "Someone close to me has been stolen, and locked away. And I need your help to free her."
"Why my help, and what makes you think I'd help?" Everen gazed into the Ethereal's eyes, his pupils seemed to glow with a spectral light.
"Because you wear that, and the one who was stolen is an alicorn." Ethereal explained, pointing to the necklace around Everen's neck.
"What does my necklace have to do with this? And where is this alicorn?" Everen inquired, putting a hoof up to his neck.
"That item was crafted for the sole purpose to protect those in need of protection. Namely alicorns." Ethereal moved closer raising a hoof. "And the alicorn is held in the caverns to the southwest of town, in a prison made just for her."
"I'm going to need more details before I rush in blindly and rescue somepony I don't even know." Everen backed up defensively, ready to fight if need be.
"Just listen to your instincts. Do you believe I'm lying to you, or do you need further proof." the earth pony touched his hoof to the shamrock on Everen's necklace, and the room melted away.
Everen was now standing before a battle raging between princesses Celestia and Luna, and an enormous shadow. The sisters were blasted to the ground, they appeared to be crippled, but then they stood up once more, summoning the elements of harmony. They used the elements on the body a shadow, and it was scattered.
"The alicorn sisters battled a great evil called the shadow kin, the elements of harmony had separated it into mere fragments of it's power, and those parts could only be reunited through the deaths of alicorns. Once the alicorns had discovered this Celestia called a meeting with several other alicorns." the voice of Ethereal spoke as the scene shifted.
Everen was now in a council room with Celestia, Luna, and five other alicorns.
"Please have a seat everyone, this matter must be solved now." Celestia brought the room to order, sitting around a circular table. "The shadow kin is not dead, and the pieces of it roam Equestria." Celestia kept her voice level, despite the pressure she felt. She knew that if she remained calm, so would the others. "These smaller shadow kin have been killing alicorns so as to combine with one another. And to make matters worse they've discovered how to nullify alicorn magic so unless we do something now, we will be hard pressed to survive." Celestia set a necklace on the table. "The seven of us will enchant this necklace to be able to create a magical, and indestructible shield. Are you all ready?"
The other alicorns nodded their consent, lighting up their horns. They each channeled all the magic they had into the amulet. Afterwards they collapsed from exhaustion, and a pony came in to steal the amulet, getting away with it.
The interior of town hall came back into view, and Everen breathed heavily as he regained feeling in his body.
"That necklace, is the one I'm wearing right now. Isn't it?" Everen panted, staring into the stone hanging from his neck.
"Yes, it is. There is more to this story than that, but you will have to free the alicorn to find out." Ethereal elucidated, opening a cabinet on one of the walls.
"Alright, I'll do it, but I'll need a little time to prepare." Everen lit up his horn, ready to summon a few things from his room.
"You will require this to break the alicorn from her bonds." Ethereal held out a dagger made of amber.
"Got it." Everen said, taking the knife. He summoned the jumpsuit, leather jacket, cloak, the shuriken, and the sword he got for his birthday. He took off his vest, replacing it with the jumpsuit and leather jacket, strapping on his sword and pulling the cloak on over it. "I'll be going now. Can I trust you to take care of my dragon until I return?"
"Of course you can. Please bring the alicorn back safely." the earth pony requested.
"I plan to." Everen left town hall and galloped through the alley's. The stallion made it past the edge of town unnoticed. He was passing by Pine's garden when the mare crashed into him.
"Hey Everen, where ya goin'?" Pine asked, holding onto the unicorn.
"To rescue someone. Please don't try to come with me, I don't want to see you get hurt." Everen hugged he mare back before holding her out in front of him.
"Who're you rescuing? And I won't get hurt." Pine appeared offended. "Despite what you may think, I can hold my own in a fight."
"This is a maximum security prison I'll be breaking into, the guards won't be any pushovers." Everen said, turning to continue his progress.
"That's not going to deter us Everen." came a voice from behind the two. They turned to see Karilyn standing with Note, Remix, Catalina, Tia, and Kinetic.
"What're you all doing here?" Everen questioned, alarmed.
"Following you of course. When you left I went after you to make sure you followed up on our agreement. These five just happened to be on the way as well." Karilyn explained, glancing back at the group. "What's this about a dangerous rescue mission?"
"Please don't get involved. I don't want any of you to get hurt as a result of me." Everen backed away, towards the cave that would lead to the prison. "Did you hear any of what happened in town hall?"
"I could only catch you agreeing to save an alicorn from a prison." Karilyn looked a bit confused, what was Everen hiding? "And it's too late, we've already decided to get involved. We are your friends through thick and thin. And we don't care HOW dangerous your life is, we want to be a part of it."
"Life's rather dull around here. You make things interesting, so I'm going to stick with you." Tia added.
"Besides, it's not like we can't handle ourselves in a sticky situation." Note said, reminding Everen of the time they drove off Azure.
"Plus, you're going to need all the help you can get by the looks of it. You're good, but there are worse things out there than Azure and his goons." Remix chimed in.
"You having a dangerous life would only make me want to be around you more, I crave danger." Kinetic commented, sidestepping closer to Tia.
"You're too amazing to keep away from anyways, and I've always loved the idea of getting out of this mountain." Catalina gazed at the main entrance to the city, wanting to see the world outside.
"You're the first real friend I've had in years, don't think you'll get away from me that easily." Pine looked at Everen happily, grinning widely.
Everen held back a tear as he spoke. "Thank you, all of you. I don't think I could ask for more devoted friends."
"What's the plan?" Remix asked curiously.
"I'm going to go in, analyze their defences, and plot out the best course of action from there." Everen turned around and started for the cave.
"So basicly, you don't have a plan yet." Remix assumed, smirking.
"How could I have a fully thought out plan when I have no idea what I'm up against?" Everen asked, rhetorically.
"Right then, I'm guessing you'll find a way to fit us into your plans." Note moved right next to Everen to get his attention.
"I'll see how you can help once we're there." he replied, already thinking of different ways he can utilize their skills and abilities.
They reached the cave and the unicorns in the group provided light. They cantered along through the tunnel, keeping a lookout for any movement. The group reached the end of the tunnel, which opened up suddenly to reveal a fortress before them.
"Woah that thing is so massive." Karilyn said in awe.
"Let's find concealment, we don't want to be spotted before we have a plan." Everen moved to the left, behind a collection of large rocks, the others following closely. "Alright, two guards at the front gate, probably opened from both sides." Everen started, poking up from the rocky barrier to analyze the fortress. "A rocky outcropping coming close to the left wall, the pegasi can sneak in through there. Blind spot between guard posts at one of the windows." Everen closed his eyes in thought for a moment before going back behind the rocks to tell his plan to the others. "Alright Kari, Tia, you two sneak out onto that cliff and fly quickly over the wall, making sure you aren't seen once inside, you will work your way to the gates and take out anypony guarding them. Kinetic, Note, come here so I can create a telepathic link with the two of you." the unicorns complied, moving forward and lowering their horns. "Kinetic, when I give you the okay, take Catalina and approach the front gates. Neutralize the guards and be ready to help open the gates." Everen looked to the remainder of the group to be assigned. "The rest of you will come with me to a blind spot on the front wall. We will break in through a window, and find the alicorn. Once we have her, we will rush back to the gate, I need you four to open it together." they all nodded their consent. "Let's go save an alicorn."