Author's Notes. Well... I am back! Thank you all for being so patient! I have been busy doing real life stuff, as well as working on "Still Mountains, Silent Valleys." Nonetheless, I was able to find a little time to write up another chapter for this story. I have not much else to say other than thank you all for waiting. On to answering some reviews. Oh, but before I hop to that, I will point out that I am permanently changing the style of my "Author's Notes" section. I liked the way I did it in "Still Mountains, Silent Valleys" sooooo much more. Anyway...

To austin xj liu: Hey there! I haven't heard from you in a bit! I hope you are doing well. Hmmmm... You're right, I do believe Summer could be the millionth pony incarnation of Sherlock Holmes. Personally I like to think her as a cross between that brilliant detective and Marvel's Daredevil... With a whole lot more innocence in the mix. And you're right, it does look like they might get knee-deep in some trouble... and swamp mud. *Wink, wink.* See what I did there? Yeah, I know. It was terrible.

To Russet Burbanks: I always liked Dr. Seuss stories, they were always bright and wacky. However, as a personal preference, I actually enjoyed the poems by Shel Silverstein a lot more. He was a wacky guy. If you had not heard of him previously, I encourage you to check him out! If you like that sort of thing.

To PBJNachos: Ohhhh... The Injustice game. Yeah, I might. However, in my mind, that game is actually simply an alternate timeline existing in the mini-multiverse that is the DC dimension. I might incorporate it sooner or later... but not now. Season 2 is a whole lot more wound around the MLP dimension, as opposed to Season 1. But we never know, Season 3 might go back to the sprawling dimension-hopping scale that made Season 1 so awesome!

That is all for now, I hope you guys enjoy the latest chapter!

Dimension: Rerenhaw

Planet: Rerenhaw

Specific Location: Hallway to the Rerenhaw Council Room

Time: Over a year after Lyric loses his leg.

Never in the course of history had a Rerenhaw Council been called together twice within the very same sun-cycle, but with the deaths of Dimensional Lords Lynx and Corvus occurring just as one council session ended, it was practically mandatory that yet another session be called right after to discuss these new developments. And thus the entirety of the council filed back into the room and took each of their respective seats. As Mattimeo sat down, he said, "How are we going to approach this?"

"I would like to say that I knew it was a terrible idea that we call off the search for Harold Dellor like we did all those months ago," said Firestar quietly, "Harold made it quite clear that he wants to face Blue, and now our ignoring of him has led to the death of two Dimensional Lords. We are down to sixteen Dimensional Lords in existence now."

"You are referring to us as if we were exotic chickens under the threat of extinction!" snorted Doxia, a little amused despite the air of foreboding hanging about the council, "I can assure you that we are not."

"That aside," said Jiminy Cricket, "What are we to do about Harold now? Do we give into his demand and set the last living Inquisitors upon him?"

Mattimeo sighed. "I suppose that is our only recourse. We are still unsure about his power levels, so I am loath to set any Dimensional Lords, including Doxia and myself, on him. In addition to that we have been unable to contact High Lord Kytax."

This last piece of news resulted in a collective groan from the council. No matter how powerful some being as Harold was, Kytax would be always at least ten million times stronger. But he had vanished since the Paradox Crises, and it was obvious he had no intention of returning to the Earth Multiverse.

"Well, I am not too worried," said Firestar, his eyes gleaming with clarity and confidence, "I recall the specs of the Inquisition Program. The Inquisitors are fully ready to combat the unknown… They were trained for this. If Harold Dellor wants August and his team to hunt him, he will get his wish."

"I am a little nervous about this whole thing though," added Rosalina, "He specifically wanted the Inquisitors to hunt him… and that means he has a plan pertaining to them. If we give into his requests, does that not mean we are giving into his plan?"

"Not necessarily," said Doxia, still sounding as unworried as ever, "Harold is confident and clever… But so are our Inquisitors. Undoubtedly they will find a way to break his plan and set him off balance."

Mattimeo nodded. "That is true. The Inquisitors are not to ever be underestimated, and Harold's message and current actions suggest he is doing just that. We will call the Inquisitors in, and we will reassign them to hunting down Harold Dellor. However, I still think we should take one more precaution: we shall prepare Amethyst forces. The armada and the vast armies shall be put on standby. Now I will go and call back the Inquisitors."

"A good idea," replied Doxia, getting up from his seat, "But remember: The being who is sowing all this chaos is a single being. The last being to kill more than one Dimensional Lord was myself, and my power is considered unprecedented. And what is even worse is we have no idea exactly what Harold is… except that he can bend corrupt Imagination Energy to his will… something only Angels of the Heaven Multiverse can do."

"A-are you insinuating that Harold Dellor is somehow an angel?" gasped Rosalina.

"I do not think so," interjected Mattimeo, getting up as well and signaling that this emergency meeting was over, "But Heaven no longer communicates with us directly to confirm such things, just like Kytax."

And so the meeting adjourned, but as everyone left for their own dimensions, Doxia called out, "This is the Age of the Darkness, but though we are far past our prime, we cannot give up on our fight to protect the Earth Multiverse. We will consolidate our forces and show that we are ready to stand up and fight once more."

Dimension: My Little Pony

Planet: Equestria Earth

Specific Location: Canterlot Castle

Time: Over a year after Lyric loses his leg.

"Right this way, madams and sir," said a young Unicorn guard, "Princess Luna, Prince Samuel, and the council are not presently in the hall of Thrones. I will show you to their current meeting place."

Starlight nodded to Pumpkin and Pound and followed the guard down the entrance hallway and into the Hall of Thrones. Aside from the two massive thrones of Day and Night that were set sentinel at the end of the massive room, several other large crystalline chairs had been set alongside the thrones, positioned in a circle. In these other seats sat Cadance, Shining Armor, the president of Equidor, and Samuel Dellor (the husband of Princess Luna). There was only one other seat free, making it clear that the invitation sent out to Starlight had actually only been meant for her. Nonetheless, Pumpkin Cake trotted up to Samuel boldly and gave him a hug.

"Hey there!" she exclaimed, "How are you?"

Though it was clear that there had previously been an air of "professionalism" about the Hall of Thrones, whatever professionalism that Samuel had been holding up in the meeting melted. He grinned and patted her head.

"What is the meaning of this?" exclaimed the president of Equidor, "Where is the Starlight Amber you spoke of?"

"Oh… Hello. That's me," interjected Starlight, looking curiously at the president of Equidor. She hadn't been told about meeting the leader of the Equidor nation. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was a private invitation. I thought I was just going to visit Luna… so I brought some good friends along."

The President of Equidor did not look too pleased, but he nodded his head, showing that he would speak of it no further. However, he still looked very skeptically at Starlight… Almost as if he was attempting to stare into her very soul.

Starlight looked to Celestia and then to Luna in alarm. The way the president was looking at her made her feel like he wanted something from her.

Celestia looked somewhat grave as she said, "Starlight Amber… We are here to ask something of you."

Starlight cocked her head to one side and bent her back leg's knees together. "O-okay?"

"Already I see this is not going to work," snorted the president of Equidor. "This is not the warrior you promised me!"

"Warrior?" Starlight slowly repeated. She glanced inquisitively at Luna, who bowed her head.

"I know you don't like to remember what you had to do in the past, Starlight… But we're talking about the time you were a fighter," she said.

Starlight's ears bent back. "I… What…? That was about five years ago! I haven't handled anything but chalk and chalkboards for a while now!"

"As I said… This is not going to work," interjected the president gravely.

Starlight was about to nod her head when she saw the shockingly desperate look in Celestia's eyes. She quickly turned to the president and said, "Umm… Please, sir… What is it that you wanted me to do anyway?"

"The fruits of the peace conference between my country and the Stallion Empire is nothing but a front," said the president. "War has been declared and now I want you to be part of an entourage to protect me."

The words that had just come from the president's mouth literally made no sense whatsoever to Starlight. She blinked. "What…?"

Samuel – who had been talking to Pumpkin and Pound this entire time – finally turned back to the events of the actual meeting. He saw the confusion in Starlight's eyes and sighed. He then turned his eyes to Shining Armor and said, "Shall we start from the beginning?"

Shining Armor glanced at Cadance, unsure, but then sighed, "Very well."

Shining then turned to Starlight and said, "You saw the celebration of the successful Peace Talks between Equidor and the Stallion Empire?"

"Y-yes…"

"Well… They were just a front. The Peace Talks completely disintegrated and ended in an ultimatum from the Stallion Empire that went along the lines of: 'If you do not give us the Trimareian region and a trillion bits-worth of monetary compensation by the end of the week we will start invading you and the island.' Do you understand the severity of the situation now?"

The full gravity of the international situation finally struck Starlight upside the head. She groaned and facehoofed as Cadance picked up the narrative. "Of course this is the Stallion Empire's version of declaring a war while being political about it. If they win, they can easily manipulate the history books to seem fair and innocent in the face of a brutal fascist Equidor retaliation. Anyway, now that all of the world's countries know there will soon be military encounter, there is a rush of countries claiming sides in case this eventually escalates into a world-wide war of some sort."

"And that is why we meet here with the President in secret today," said Samuel, "We are preparing to choose a side."

"Well, of COURSE you have to choose the Equidorian side!" cried Pumpkin loudly suddenly, "I paid attention to history class, and I know how much the Stallion Empire has terrorized Equestria!"

"True enough, Pumpkin Cake," replied Luna, "But it is not as simple as that. Equestria is still recovering from us having a near-civil war thanks to that Dimensional Lord Paradox-Crises-induced xenophobic craze that decimated our political spheres just around twenty years ago. We cannot give our full support to the Equidorians without risking the wrath of the Stallion Empire. They were defeated in our last little skirmish over the Crystal Islands several decades ago, and they have been quite set on 'getting revenge.' If we clearly choose a side when the war begins, the Stallion Empire will assault civilian sites with a will, and we will be pressed to stop the onslaught."

"But as I said before, they will do the exact same thing to my people if I do not find enough allies to help deter the enemy!" cried the President of Equidor, "The Stallion Empire is ruthless, and my armies alone cannot stop their vast military power."

"We understand that," said Samuel, "But as we said before we cannot expose ourselves. We will give you weapons and support but we must be obscure about it. For everything we do for you, we must deter Stallion Empire suspiciousness with equal force. They will ignore Equestria civilian targets and focus on their war with you if we seem neutral."

"But what about my ponies?" shouted the President of Equidor, "Surely their lives are no lesser than the lives of your ponies!?"

Luna closed her eyes and sighed slowly. "We said we would give you all the weapons and support that we can… but at the same time we must take steps to appear neutral."

Luna opened her dark eyes again and looked to Starlight. "That is where you come in, Miss Starlight Amber. And now we are back where we started."

They were indeed back to where they started, but Starlight was still a little confused. Everything was happening so fast, and it seemed that everything was starting to suddenly involve her to a very high degree… and her brain did not appreciate that. Starlight blinked. "Uhhhh… huh?"

"You are part of all of this," Luna continued, "We need you to act as a front to protect our support for the Equidorians."

Starlight rubbed her temples with the tip of her hooves. "Okay. I think understand that. But… how?"

Luna nodded to Samuel, who picked up the explanation once more. "The Stallion Empire Ambassador Harvest Snowfall is going on international peace talks to describe how his country is not totally evil or something like that. Equestria has offered to provide security for him as he speaks in places like Equus, Irrum, Bray, and the Crystal Empire. Equestria has minor jurisdiction in all of those areas, so it is allowed internationally. Well… we want you to be part of that entourage."

Starlight shook her head sharply. "First off, I haven't handled any type of weapon – be it sword, gun, or missile launcher – for many, many years now. I even think I mentioned that previoudly… Second, I hate the Stallion Empire for all of the troubles it has caused in the past. How can we possible show any form of favor to such a despotic nation?"

"Listen to the girl!" cried the President of Equidor, "We must band together and wipe out this deadly cancer before it can get any more lethal!"

Luna shook her head as well. "We cannot. They may be a cancer… but the main issue is that they are powerful… and as you said: they are deadly. We have innocent lives within our borders to think about, and so we cannot risk aggravating them any more than we have. We will support you, but this entourage will defuse any pressing issues that will give the High King of the Stallion Empire any reason to send bombers to decimate Manehattan. Starlight Amber… please… You will be doing this for your country… you will be doing this for me."

Starlight looked into Luna's eyes. Up front they looked cold and stern, but beneath that Starlight could see pain, hurt, and stress. Starlight closed her eyes and sighed loud and long. Probably the wear and tear of worrying constantly about Inquisitor Blue.

"Fine," Starlight said after a long and deliberate pause, "I will be on this 'entourage.' But I am not doing this for Equestria. God knows it has done nothing for me for over this decade. I am doing this for you and all of my friends."

Samuel nodded. "That is good. Thank you, Starlight."

Starlight, deciding she had had enough of this, got out of her chair. As she did so, she said, "Don't thank me yet, Samuel. I have been the teacher of the Ponyville Schoolhouse for at least five years now. I may know nothing about protecting ponies anymore."

"Only time will tell I suppose, but in this case we seem to be low on that very component," Shining Armor sighed, "Nonetheless, now that we have your consent we can adjourn the meeting. Mister President, my guards and I will see you to your airplane in the next dozen minutes. Starlight, I will see you tomorrow to explain to you what will happen next."

Starlight nodded. "Okay. When will I be sent to the entourage?"

Shining Armor shrugged. "We do not yet have an estimate. The Stallion Empire seemed to be pleased with us offering personal protection for their ambassador, but they are not quick in hammering out details."

Starlight nodded once more. "Okay. Well, now that I know I am on some sort of a timetable, I will be cancelling all other obligations I have here in Canterlot. I need to get back to Ponyville to meet with my mom and dad. I need to talk to them about this… and about Harvest Snowfall."

Luna tipped her head regally, but her eyes gave away how haunted she was. "Very well, Starlight. We understand. And now… Meeting is adjourned."

Shining Armor and Cadance immediately went into their own private whispered conference as Celestia, Luna, and the President of Equidor began to discuss lexical semantics for no reason whatsoever.

As this went on, Starlight, Pumpkin, and Pound all gathered around Samuel to talk to him.

"How is Luna?" asked Starlight.

"Not too well," sighed Samuel, looking at Princess Luna with worry in his eyes. Starlight did likewise. The Princess of the Night had bags under her eyes, and the eyes themselves were red as if from crying. Her hair look frazzled, and she did not look regal in any way whatsoever. In fact… the only thing she looked like was a mother who had just lost a child to a deadly disease. In truth, that was not really that far off from reality.

"I've tried to keep her occupied with her responsibilities and leisurely activities, but somehow she always finds a reason to go back talking about August."

Pumpkin's face screwed up with anger. "Who does August think he is? So what if he has a shiny suit of armor and a pair of psychotic BFF's?! He has NO RIGHT to abandon us like this! I don't care if what he think he is doing is important… He has people who care about him and he is totally ignoring us."

Pound nodded his head solemnly. "Luna is not the only one greatly worried about him. I've talked to Night Shade… and he is freaking out about not being able to contact the Inquisitors any longer. Samuel… What do you think of what August is doing?"

Samuel sighed loud and long as he thought of a response. He cocked his head to one side as he replied, "I… Well… I guess all I want is for him to be happy. If he truly believes in what he is doing… I do not want to wish ill upon him, even if he chooses to utterly block himself off from us. I just… I just… I just want him to be happy."

Dimension: A Story about my Uncle

Planet: The Center

Specific Location: The Underground

Time: A couple days before the events of "A Story about my Uncle."

"So, Madeline… could you repeat what you saw again? On last time?" said Sunflower. He nodded his head in a kind way at the small, female, anthropomorphic salamander creature that stood before him. He put an armored hand gently on Madeline's shoulder.

Madeline blushed and scuffed one of her hand-feet on the earthy ground. "I was standing at the same spot I usually stand on when I wait for Fred… He's… He's a really good friend. I've known him all my life. It was strange… Fred isn't usually late. However, he did say that someday he might miss a day or so…"

"And we totally care about this 'Fred' loser, right, Mad Maddie?" snorted Dark, his gravely voice full of contempt. "Oh wait… No we don't care."

Madeline looked hurt. She stomped a hand-foot down angrily. "I told you not to call me that!"

"Dark. Be quiet and let Sunflower talk," murmured Blue. He motioned for Dark to step back.

"Yeah… I'm the people person, remember? You're a giant hunk of psychopathic doom," snapped Sunflower, frustrated that Dark was terrifying the little girl. He then turned to Madeline and prompted her to continue in a friendly way.

Madeline, who had been glaring at Dark, smiled at Sunflower and continued. "Well… Anyway… So I was waiting at that spot. Over there, you know… Near the spiral peak… And then I saw it. It was a giant hole in… in… well, EVERYTHING opened up in that stalactite. An armored creature jumped out. It landed on the peak and looked straight at me! I was soooo scared! But then it looked away, opened up another hole out of nothing and jumped through it. Then it was gone!"

Madeline looked distressed, so Sunflower sat on the ground and motioned for her to follow suit. He then waved at Dark and Blue to shoo them away. Dark immediately took a step forward to make life difficult for Sunflower, but Blue put a restraining hand on Dark's shoulder. Dark threw it off, but then backed off, following Blue to the opposite side of the floating stone island.

"You were very brave, Maddie," said Sunflower. "Take a deep breath and tell me what it looked like…"

Suddenly Blue stepped forward and gently tapped Sunflower on the shoulder.

"Sunflower. I just received a call. We need to go. The mission has been called off and we are being recalled. Mattimeo's orders."

Sunflower sighed. "Okay. Hey, Maddie. I have to go now."

Maddie blinked. "But I haven't even told you what the monster looked like!"

"It'll be okay," said Sunflower. "Our friends have set up wards so that thing can't come back to hurt any of you."

Maddie nodded. "Okay. Thanks! I like the color of your armor!"

Sunflower reached back into his armored pack where he stored his weapons and gently pulled out a small turtle made of Protosteel. Its shell was colored yellow, like his armor. He gave it to Maddie. "A little present from me to you."

Maddie's face broke into a bright smile. "Thank you Sunflower!"

Sunflower patted Maddie on the head. He got up and turned to his teammates. "Alright. Let's go and see why our mission has been cancelled. Chronomorph Nathan Prescott is a dangerous individual. He needs to be eliminated, and Rerenhaw knows it. They better have a good reason for this."

"We will see soon enough," replied Blue in hushed tones. He gently gestured in the air with his right hand, opening up a portal in space. Dark leapt through. Blue was right behind. Sunflower hesitated. He then turned, waved to Maddie, and then finally followed. The portal closed behind him immediately.

"That was an absolute waste of time," growled Dark as they immediately found themselves in one of the many halls of Rerenhaw. "I've got more done by killing allies."

"Calm down, Dark. The Chronomorph will be stopped… and you will have the privilege of stomping his skull in if you so wish," said Blue quietly, "But until then I ask you to be quiet."

"… And that is another thing," snarled Dark, still frustrated, "The REAL Blue would have disregarded our orders and hunted down Nathan Prescott."

"Don't start this again, Dark," snapped Sunflower, "We all already know you are an idiot, you don't need to continuously remind us every other second."

"If you already know that I am a fool, then you won't mind me mentioning that August – because he is NOT Blue – should go run home to his pony family," continued Dark, his dark visor going front-to-front with the sweeping, black, crystalline plates of Blue's visor.

"I have no home," murmured Blue. "I am an Inquisitor. That is the only thing I have in life… and thus I have no life either."

Dark stared at Blue quietly for at least a minute. Then he chuckled. "I digress. You are a little more like Blue than I generally acknowledge."

Blue turned away from his teammates. "Enough. Let us go and see what Mattimeo deems so important that we call off our 'free time'."

Author's Notes. No one likes Dark. Such a jerk. However, he packs the largest punch, and so he is integral to the John 3 Inquisition Chapter. Nonetheless, do you all see the major problem with Blue's team? They don't play well together in any shape or form. I bet you an apple to an acorn that Harold knows of this, and is going to exploit it somehow. I just wonder in what way...? Anyway, as a side note: have any of you ever played the video game "A Story about my Uncle"? Just curious. It was a short game, but I will admit that I think Maddie was one of the best sidekick-like characters ever. I don't know why, I guess I read too deep into every character I see or use in somewhat short-termed games. I tend to do that a lot. Anyway... I hope you enjoyed that chapter! It was tough making it, as it involved very little action. But then again, for any meaningful and entertaining action to ever take place, one must set a proper stage first! Let us hope it is set up in the proper way when the sparks start to fly. If you enjoyed this chapter, or were at least momentarily distracted from the harrowing presence of reality, don't forget to leave a review! If you leave a review, I will give you a portal gun. A whole portal gun that actually works (and is invisible). Why? Because the cake is a lie. No other reason. You must figure it out. I bet you that while you do that, you will find some way to confirm Half-Life 3 for the umpteenth time. Oh... and before you all go, can anyone tell me who Nathan Prescott is?