FanOfManyShows

@Blitz Boom Astral followed her closely, looking at the ones on Black Beak's back, curious if she could carry a pony like that. And at the same time, wondering why Chow hadn't woken up yet. "Do you think Chow is okay? He has been unconscious for a while." ================================= Around them formed a sphere of sapphire blue fire, that transported the two mares straight into the canterlot archives. Sapphire looking around after their arrival. "Considering this is a traitorous general we're research for, they might have covered up his betrayal or his existence. So we should keep that in mind." She said, a considerable amount of books pulling out of the shelves and stacking themselves,seemingly on their own. "Here is all there is about the generals, there might be some small mention of him in the magic books, but those are in the, other, archive." She said, mostly referencing the forbidden archives with those words. ================================= Warlock continued soaring through the forest as Iron Wing followed him. Looking above as he saw a fleet of changelings approach the two sisters castle. "No!" He yelled out, this brief distraction causing him to clip a tree branch as he started tumbling through the forest, and then out of it as he ended up falling into a river, floating up. "Gah." He looked ahead, grinning as he looked upon Ponyville. "I will earn an element, sooner or later." He said, floating over to it and lifting up his hoof. "No!" Wing tackled him to the ground, sliding him across it. "You won't wi-" Warlock batted him away and stood back up. "This town is mine! the magic within it is mine! I will win with it!" "That is incredibly cheesy." He said in a rather teasing tone. He growled as he took a hoof, and lifted it upwards in the direction of Ponyville, already considerably close to it. As all the ponies there could feel their magic begin to leave them, to this one pony, his body already starting to leak magic out through him. "Soon you will regret saying that, Iron Wind. Soon everypony will regret seeing me as an equal." ================================= Nectar stood up, looking sternly into the forest, as a changeling similar in color to her landed behind her, her general that she called long ago. "Queen, I've arrived." "Oh, wonderful, now we have a advantage." She said, looking to him. "Not quite, my troops spotted Warlock extracting magic from Ponyville, I can sense it as well." His wings started buzzing as he hovered. She narrowed her eyes as she began hovering as well. "Then let's begin the assault on him, hopefully we can prevent him from gaining the upper hoof." She flew up in the air, the changeling general following her. "And ensure he doesn't get the chance to steal our love magic Leo, we can't risk it." He gave a short nod to her as he acknowledged this, the two of them soon getting followed by Nectar's hive as they flew over the forest. ================================ (A few minutes earlier) Francis looked ahead at Canterlot, as he saw Leo pass by, he gasped softly and jumped in glee. "Oh! the general just flew past, maybe we can help with the fight this time!" He said cheerfully, rushing ahead and about to fly off, looking back to ensure the other was going to follow.

@Blitz Boom Astral looked to Black beak. "The roof is completely torn open on the first floor, and there are many secret exits in the castle, and holes in the failing walls. We could find a way to escape." =================================== Sapphire lowered her head as Scarcity spoke, giving it a quick thought. "Well, she spent most of her years trapped inside another pony, with no control over them. It could be possible she might try to listen to it now if I sounded it, but she might not come to try to reconcile. Even if the place held memories to her." "Yes, we're not exactly battle ready either way." Star added, pointing to his eyes. "That and my family, Astral or my, parents." She paused for a moment, looking down. "They never taught me how to fight." Sapphire picked up a satchel and placed it on her back. "Okay, so you two can sound the horn when you need me." She stood near Scarcity. "Now, are you ready for teleportation?" She asked, a little teasingly. =================================== The feathers from the general's wing flew forward towards Warlock, knocking the swords away, Warlock spun around, gripping back onto one to slice the cloth as he continued to fall down, the general found his wings falling apart as he got closer to brick, as he fell down. "Oh shoot!" He kicked at the air as he fell rapidly, his feathers zooming around him rapidly as they exited the relic's range, returning to their original formation as he extended them out, slowing his decent as he landed. "So glad these are permanently enchanted." He said to himself, looking up as Warlock continued to fall. The swords in his hoof fell apart as he teleported onto the ground quickly, before the Path could consume more of his magic, Iron Wing flying over and tackling him down, Warlock kicking him away and running off into the forest. "Well, he can't go far without an element." Nectar said. "My general will be here soon with my army, perhaps this will end quickly." "Let's hope so." He flapped his wings a few times, soaring through the air and following Warlock into the forest, and hopefully the rest would follow.

@Blitz Boom She had remained still during the time she was carried over, and still was as she was being placed down, but not so much when the booming voice sounded past them. "What was that?!" She said, entering a defense position. =============================== Sapphire sighed and lowered her head, looking to Iron Star, then Scarcity. "He can't see yet, Misty is recovering from a broken leg, and Astral has never learned how to fight with magic. I am the only one here aside from possibly you, who can fight without magic. But yes, knowing anything will suffice for me, and for you." Sapphire turned away, taking a moment to think. "These two don't go by their original names, Athriel is my sister, and was named Emerald, and Warlock used to be General Ironheart, or Chariot Ironheart. Quite ironic for a stallion named that to want Equestrian domination." =============================== Iron Wing flew upwards as te beam blasted down, dodging it but blocking the beam with his wings, Warlock growling as he flew towards the general, wing flying out of the way as Warlock ended up plummeted down, deciding to strike at Enzo. "You, Betrayed, ME!" He yelled, two swords forming as he went for Enzo's head. Wing letting himself fall towards Warlock, ready to strike him.

@Blitz Boom She looked down as the griffon spoke, taking the time they had to consider the words, she already knew that Chow probably crushed on her, although hadn't really considered it considering their age gap. But then there was the gap in the floor that was in front of them, exchanging a glance at Blackbeak, letting out a soft chuckle. Her legs lifting off the ground as she floated slightly, not going far up before she fell back down, kicking dust up from the floor. "That should've made me float over." She looked to her hooves, glancing at Brick, then to the Screaming Path. "Oh, right." She said to herself, realizing the magic for it was sucked up by the Path. "Yeah I'll wait here for you to pick me up." ============================================ A smirk crossed the mare's face as Scarcity acknowledged the situation. "I had interest in magical artifacts for quite some time." She stood up and walked over to Iron, stumbling slightly on her fixed leg. "Although, quite a few I discovered long after I could use them." She said, taking hold of the horn from Iron and placing it back on the stand. "Such as the horn, I tried to sound it to draw my sister to me, but she never came. Not even to just chat." "I know a few who can resist the call of the horn, but it only postpones their arrival." Iron Star added, Sapphire nodding. "But at least you came to its call on the first sound." She smiled slightly. "Well, Scarcity, do you have a plan? Because both Warlock and Athriel are still free, and all of us are too weak to fight them. Your Screaming Path is even preventing us magic users from fighting them too." "We have the element of hatred to help us." Sapphire looked to the element that remained in the corner. "We shouldn't use it, it only causes what it embodies, we'd end up with hatred towards the enemy without reason for it." ============================================= He nodded as he landed next to Enzo, hearing the echoing sounds of his speech as they went throughout the castle, birds flying off from the castle, and even some rats running out of the castle as well. "Well, at least they know where here." He drew out his wings and trotted forward. With several minutes to recover, and the lack of a threat to hold him back, Warlock blasted out of the castle at high speeds, looking up to Enzo with surprise as he flew straight up into the sky. "Why do I trust anypony?" He mumbled to himself, putting his hooves together and charging up a ball of magic, and while it wouldn't seem as powerful, it'd be something that Enzo may recognize from last time his traps were obliterated by it.

@Blitz Boom Astral shook her head. "We just met and he helped me carry my stuff to a new home, in Canterlot, and then this mess with Warlock happened." She explained. "Nothing really came of it aside from us forming a friendship." She put a hoof to her chin as she thought for a moment. "I still have no idea why he was there actually, far as I know, Misty and him met and carried me and my stuff away, as I was unconscious at the time." ================================== Warlock grinned as he stretched out, standing upwards, putting magic into his body to stand upright. "Perfect, this castle is falling apart." He said to himself, pulling is element to himself, but looked to it as it freezes in mid air. Sapphire looked to him as she pulled it to herself. "Do you still think you're worthy of these things?" She asked as it flung to her, her ears twitching, looking around as if she heard something. "How cute." The element teleported away, Warlock's appearance growing fierce. "Oh did I hit a soft-" In a split second, Warlock formed a sword and flung forward, slicing past her with it. "SHUT UP!" Warlock yelled as he looked to Sapphire, almost surprised when he realized he just cut off her leg, the ground shaking as he saw her hoof on the floor floating back into place, the blood returning into her with it. The flesh fused back together as she turned to him, with glowing red eyes as cracks formed around the former cut location. "My sister taught me blood magic Warlock, swords won't work on me." She took the remaining blood on the floor, and formed it into a spear and tossed it to Warlock. Warlock dodged it as the spear bent around and redirected itself to him, slicing through his ear on the way back as he moved out of the way again, cutting across his cheek too, Warlock holding a hoof to it as Sapphire jumped onto the wall, kicking him off his other leg, causing him to fall over. "Gah!" He grabbed her leg and threw her down the hall. "This changes nothing! If I can keep your sister in submission, I can defeat you!" As the blood crawled down Warlock's cheek, Sapphire smiled a bit as she held onto her cut leg, wincing slightly. "Yet she didn't want to defeat you, neither do I." Warlock continued to hold his hoof against his cheek. "You are not going to reform me like every other villain! But at least I can rely on the fact you never reformed you own sister!" Sapphire looked surprised to the remark, Narrowing her eyes before she let out a blast of magic to knock Warlock back, before teleporting away. "Damn it!" He yelled while punching the wall, teleporting out of the castle himself. ================================= He nodded as he kept his gaze onto Scarcity. "So shall I teleport us?" "I think we should anyway, we are kinda in a hurry." After that, without much warning aside from Scarcity being able to expect it, they teleported with a poof of magic, only causing the liquid inside containers to shake from the force of it. They landed in his household, Iron teleporting in while standing upright, Misty being placed on the bed, and Scarcity would be placed next to Iron Star, who was already searching for the object they came there for. Iron Star grabbing hold of a horn, held up by two metal plates, lifting it off the stand easily. "The Horn of Finding." He said as he held it. "I've had done much research on this, turns out a unicorn used both Unicorn and Earth pony magic to make it." He held it up to his mouth and blew into it, neither Scarcity or Misty could hear it. With that the Element of Hatred teleported in, and dropped onto the floor, rattling about as it tumbled. "Okay, that is weird, do they normally teleport in?" "No, I wasn't even calling for that." Following the Element, Sapphire teleported in in the corner of the room, covered in shadow. "Hello dear, heard your call." She pointed to Scarcity after she spotted her, the crack forming on her leg visible, seeming black and stone like, glowing red in between the cracks, reminiscent of blood magic healing spells that Scarcity might have encountered, but that Iron Star definitely would've. She leaned forward as she pointed to Scarcity, leaving the darkness to show her face and her fractured gem of an eye, and she would certainly look familiar to Scarcity, having seen each other during a less than desirable moment. "Now what is this witch doing here?" ================================= Iron Star nodded. "There are plenty of streams on the way there." He said, pointing to a stream nearby the sister's castle, although a ways away from it. "Why do you ask?" "If we're stopping for anything we need to make it quick, in case Warlock escapes the castle with his buddies." "Right, we should be ready for fight, in case we spot him near the castle."

@Blitz Boom Astral lowered her head as she followed blackbeak. "Well, he's not really that at all. He's just a friend I met when I came to Canterlot and caused this whole mess." ===================================== Sapphire lowered her head, but then heard a shuffling sound as Warlock moved around on the floor. "You will not leave me with that thing!" "At least prison isn't as bad as the Path Warlock." Sapphire said with a chuckle as she walked away. He growled as he turned his head to Brick, tearing off his element as he realized it was useless here, and was more dangerous if it was on him. "Let's see how tough you really are." ===================================== Iron Star giggled a little. "You really are quite the persuader." "It's almost unnerving" "Once we're out Misty, we should make sure we stay out of trouble anyway." He said, Misty nodding. ===================================== "Chrysalis wanted to steal love from the population there, and Canterlot is a highly populated city, so lots of love to steal." Wing explained as he took off and followed Enzo. "And us ponies are more of a perpetual food source, so if you work with that kind of food source, it works better for you than trying to imprison it." "I understood that, Chrysalis, not so much." Nectar added as she flew up with them. "Kinda wish she did, then she wouldn't be known for trying to invade Canterlot."

@Blitz Boom Astral followed the griffon close by, her eyes scanning across her. "Well, that salary becomes a different story when your life is in danger, if you die, that money might not go anywhere." She said as she looked to the ground. "Does that ever bother you?" She asked, looking to Blackbeak. ================================================ Sapphire kneeled down to her. "Screaming Path?" She asked, a tad bit of fear crossing her look. "They brung that creature here?" She stood up and scoffed. "I might actually need to turn you two to stone just to protect you." She looked away, putting a hoof up to her muzzle. "But you two have been trapped in enough places, an ancient relic, the blood and body of a pony, and stone." She said, slowly turning to them. "You leave your body upon death, you don't pass on like other ponies Emerald. You pass on to another body or even into a object, and share minds with the pony, I thought you'd get that." She said, pointing to her with her hoof. "I thought you'd come find me once you escaped the relic, and then we could talk it out, but some foolish griffon forced you into Chow's mind, only able to escape once a ward was broken. I was never able to get to the relic once you went into it, wasn't able to even track it down after our fight, I never knew that you were put inside Chow's mind all those years until after I was stuck inside a crystal gem. I would've searched but the filly I had distracted me, I was going to search with her when Astral was older, but I passed away from a disease I never knew I had." Warlock shook within the body, and thought "Let me go! Don't join her!" As Sapphire finished talking. "But alas, you are the one who wields deceit here. Make your choice to believe me." She said, looking away and walking out of the room. "If you're lucky, the Screaming Path will leave you alone until you catch up sister." =============================================== "Well, while I would prefer teleporting there, getting checked out before hoof would be a smart idea." He said with a slight chuckle. "Plus in a time like this, two patients going missing won't be good for them." =============================================== Nectar looked up at the large beast. "Onyx Mosquitoes? I'm nothing like them, I am a reformed changeling, my name is Nectar, and I am the queen of my hive. We share love instead of stealing and eating it." She explained, as Iron Wing nodded. "Her hive has had relationships with Canterlot for a long time now, partly messed up from the changeling invasion from Chrysalis, now if you can let her go we can continue with our mission." He said as he flew over to Enzo. "I could answer further questions on the way there." Nectar said.

@Blitz Boom Astral got up and walked next to them. "Considering everything Scarcity does, how do you stay? You two seem to almost die quite a bit." She asked, looking to Brick and Blackbeak. ============================================== Sapphire started letting herself get pulled forward by Warlock, Warlock grabbing her by the neck as he continued to suck out her magic. "Y-You're making a big mistake Warlock." She said, starting to tremble. "Are you threatening m- GAH!" Warlock knelt forwards after Sapphire hit him in the chest, causing him to get hit by his own element's necklace as he slid backwards a bit. She started panting, exhausted. "You seem to not be aware that there is a ancient relic that chases magic within this castle." He looked at her and growled. "That old relic is nothing compared to me!" He said, lifting his hoof up, but then falling forward as his metal legs suddenly failed. "No matter how powerful either of us are we can not resist it, and the more magic you yield the more it wants to consume you." She said, walking away as Warlock tried to levitate himself, falling down as he felt his magic get consumed. He watched her walk away as he tried to stand again, looking to his metal legs, trying to slip them back on as they just fell off. "Sister, I had no control over where you landed after I freed you from your body, your soul wandered and ended up in that bauble, I never placed you ther- Ah!" She let out a yelp as she fell over and dragged across the floor. "Stop talking! We have no time for family problems to be resolved!" Warlock yelled as he leaned against a wall, limping slightly. "I have a witch to defeat, and I do NOT need two of them!" He yelled as he shook angrily at her. Sapphire looked up to him, almost frightened. "You'll have three, Warlock." She corrected, with a bit of a smirk. She was pushed away across the floor again, tumbling across it. "Where is your sister?" He yelled, leaning over her as he still leaned against a wall. "In the walls, and she needs a body, only way she can help you." She looked to Warlock with a grin. Warlock only tilting his head as Sapphire moved her hoof to her side, leaning her head on it, seeming to be laying down, as she then levitated a rock over and hit him across the head, knocking him out cold. "Come on sister, we need to talk properly." ================================================ He looked down, a little distraught as she asked that. "Summon her?" He asked, not trying to make eyesight even with his unfunctional eyes. "I have what you need in my household, it's a old relic and I'd much prefer you find out what exactly it is when we get there, and that only I use it, and that I keep it after." He said, with a sigh. "Much safer that way." He said, slowly raising his head up. "As it doesn't just summon Sapphire, but it summons anypony or thing you desire to your location, and they will follow it until they get there, whether they are good or bad, and in anyway possible." ================================================ Nectar gasped as she spotted the cloth headed at her, realizing she should have informed the Sphinx of her presence, as she fell to the ground, again. "Oh come on I already fell once today!" She cried out after impact. Iron Wing paused his flight as he looked down. "Nectar!" He flew down to the queen, having spotted her on the way down to the trees. His wings cutting out the leaves and branches that got in the way of them, sprinkling the ground with them as he landed, cutting gashes into the trees next to him. "Are you alright?" "Random strips of cloth took me down, is your new partner responsible for this?" He looked up to Enzo, still doing so if he had landed by now. "I'd assume so, and she's with us, should've mentioned a changeling queen was on our side but she hadn't told me she was joining us." He said, turning to her, with narrowed eyes. "Okay, okay, that's on me."

@Blitz Boom Astral looked ahead to Brick curiously, smirking a little. "So the first time you speak to me and it's just one word?" She said, chuckling a little, looking to Blackbeak. "Well, not really, I'm unsure what happened, I just shattered a gem, it exploded, and I fell unconscious, to summarize. I can go into detail if needed." ============================================= "And yet I stand here, doing nothing to you." She said, putting her sword away as she said that, but lowering her head as Athriel kept speaking, taking a deep breath. "I didn't want my family to see me as a monster sister, that includes you." She looked up, turning towards and continuing to look towards Athriel, even as she wasn't visible. "What we would've done would've been irreversible. I desired to let you live, I didn't want to kill you." She lowered her head again. "But if I was able to separate you from your failing body, I was going to." She said with a sigh, sitting down on the floor. "I am sorry, sister." Footsteps approached them from the hallway, magic starting to burn through the corridors as Warlock approached their location, walking right through Sapphire. "Sapphire! I know you are here, reveal yourself!" Sapphire stood up behind Warlock, lowering her head as she appeared into the reality plain. Warlock turning to her. "You asked for it." She said, tossing him away with a quick magic blast. Warlock stopped before he impacted the wall, sliding across the floor as he reached out a hoof. "You are your sister must have a lot of weight to get out." He said with a grin, as Sapphire realized he heard them. "Let me help with that." He pulled his hoof back as Sapphire bent backwards, her magic blasting out into Warlock's element. She pushed her hooves forwards against the ground, trying to escape his grip. "S-stop this now Warlock!" "Who says I have to listen? Not like your sister will stop me." He said, walking closer as her magic poured out into him. "So much dark magic within you, not so good are you?" ============================================= He looked to the book with curiosity, having seen a similar book in Sapphire's hooves before, although she had burned it after she started using light magic. "Sapphire is incredibly powerful on her own, she knows many spells, and she has never revealed to me anyways to stop her if she turned." He said as he looked away. "At least, not intentionally." He said with a sigh. "Warlock is still able to extract magic from her, but unlike most ponies she can resist it, but since she's just been resurrected, she'll be weaker, so If we needed to stop her, expose her to the element of greed, or the amulet of gluttony, but since we are unsure if she's turned, she may have the time to adjust and get stronger, which may or may not be good." ============================================= Iron Wing nodded to Enzo as he unfurled his wings and ran ahead, flapping his wings as he flew off the ground towards the Everfree forest. Nectar did a course correction as she saw them head off, soaring just past them towards the Everfree forest, although this did allow them to see her fly past due to how close she was to them already. "Well you are someling, but so am I, she only pays attention to me more since I'm new to the hive, she might stop after I get more accommodated." He said, rather modestly. "But I suppose we could wait here instead, since I am pretty sure neither of us are good fighters against the magical ponies they plan to face."

@Blitz Boom She sat down next to Chow once he fell unconscious, and the spell wore off. She looked ahead and sighed. "What did I get myself into..." She asked herself, lowering her head. ========================================== Sapphire found herself in the library of the castle after she teleported, looking around. "Emerald! Why do you hide? Too scared to face your sister?" She asked, a sword extending from her hoof, a smile coming across her as she closed her eyes, stepping forward the air seeming to shatter around her as it cracked open, Sapphire walking directly into the astral plane like she had many times before, bringing the sword with her, floating up and diving through the floor, looking from room to room. "Come on sister." Her voice echoed throughout the plain. "Where are you?" She stepped down onto the floor of a hallway. "I know you can hear me like this! Why don't we meet face to face like we used to?!" She yelled out. ========================================== He looked at her curiously. "Well I suppose so. Although around me, being able to speak freely isn't very necessary." He said, chuckling softly. "Since I can read minds." Iron Star wasn't one for subtly when he revealed his ability to ponies, but if Scarcity had been given such a precious artifact by golden, he knew she was safe to reveal this too, and he did so bluntly. His voice seeming omnipresent when he communicated to her through her mind, yet his mouth never moved, aside from a smirk as he briefly hoped she'd figure out what he did. ========================================== Nectar nodded. "Make sure you notify me of their arrival before you tell them to come here, so that way I can make sure they know of our plan." She looked ahead, out the throne room window. "In the meantime, I shall see their progress." Nectar took a step forward as she extended out her wings, leaping out the window and soaring down to Iron Wing. "I sure hope she realizes the sphinx has no idea who she is" Francis commented, as he then face hoofed, looking to Dandy. "Well, guess we should catch up, should we wait until she lands?" Iron's wings spread out as he saw Schorn hit Zhu, although he quickly drew them away, He then looked to Enzo, watching him as he flew up, then looked around himself. "Guards!" He yelled out, attempting to catch the attention of those around him. "I will need a group of guards to follow us to the Everfree Forest so we can be properly prepared for battle." He said, looking to dew for a moment, hoping that these guards would recognize he was the new authority.

@Blitz Boom Warlock looked to Chow, rolling his eyes as he looked down the hall. Completely ignoring Chow and Astral as he floated over her before setting his hooves back on the ground. "Sapphire!" He extended out a sword as he yelled, looking through the hallways for her. Astral's eyes flickered open, looking around as she started to get up, groaning a little. Spotting Warlock and attempting to run after him before freezing in place, and the same would happen to Chow if he attempted to do the same. "Gah!" He turned to her, seeing her trembling as she tried to move. "Your mother is dangerous Astral." "She's dead Warlock! you have no advantage!" "Is that what you think?" He said with a chuckle, looking away and heading down the hall. "When you broke that gem, it brought her back." He said, leaving the two there in the room, frozen in place. She let out a gasp of air, slowly realizing what she did as she remained there, silent as brief tears went down her face, even as the spell slowly deteriorated, which would allow them to move, she remained there. =============================================== He looked down for a moment. "I feel disturbed from the magic loss, but with care, I could recover." He said as he raised his head, looking to Scarcity once again. "Wait, Screaming Path? That's a powerful dark entity, how did they contain it? For that matter, how does a pony like you get a hold of it?" He asked, sounding genuinely curious. =============================================== Nectar looked to Dandy. "Ah how fortunate. then we'll be able to proceed with the plan once they arrive." She said with a nod. =============================================== Iron Wing looked to Zhu with narrowed eyes after Enzo spoke and revealied that Zhu knew what they could find is valuable information. "It would be helpful to know information like that, even if uncertain. but it's less helpful to hide it." He said as he looked over to Dew. "It'd be easier to check the castle first, since that's closer, if they fail to be there we can head to the pyramid, if we do head to either place we should make sure we're prepared for battle." he turned back to Enzo. "And with a creature of massive size we'd overpower them, with your cloth magic, even more so."

@Blitz Boom Sapphire's body reformed as she looked around, the gem that contained her now shattered, but retaining were it used to be; were her right eye was, but remaining shattered. She looked to Chow, narrowing eye at the pony, a sense of powerful magic would wash over Chow, rather painlessly he could feel the effects of a healing spell, but after it repaired any damage to his lung and other organs, the bones that were healed next, didn't heal without pain. Sapphire looked away as the healing spell did it's work, leaving Chow's old scars intact even after it was finished a few minutes later. "CHARIOT!" She yelled out as she looked around, seeing Astral, who was knocked out by the blast. "Oh what have they done to you that lead making you attempt to kill me?" She opened up a portal behind herself as she turned around. Warlock heard this portal open, looking behind himself. Quickly he started running towards Blackbeak and Brick as he was dragged towards this new pony, sliding across the floor as he was pulled through the portal and tossed away into a wall as the portal closed behind him. but for that moment either Black Beak or Brick, would be able to see where they were. "AGH!" He yelled out upon impact, quickly healing his wounds after with a quick spell. "You look rather fearful considering the battle we had Chariot." She said, with a smirk on her face. He looked to her as he formed a new sword and ran to her. Sapphire moving out of the way as he slid across the floor. "My name isn't CHARIOT!" He slashed the sword at her as she formed a magical construct, slicing through his sword, leaving the pieces burning like ashe" She chuckled as she lowered her sword. "Oh so Warlock is a better name?" He growled and leaped forward as Sapphire teleported behind him and pushed him ahead into a wall, looking around. "Emerald! What body do you plan to steal this time?" "Who's, Emerald?" Warlock asked as he struggled to stand. Sapphire looked to him, smirking as she looked away teleporting away soon after. Warlock ran to her, attempting to grab on, but he was tossed away yet again towards the same wall. "AGH!" He punched the wall as he growled, looking to Chow. ================================================== "She's with Warlock and Athriel, and they'd only resurrect her if they wanted to turn her." He explained as he looked to Scarcity. Misty looked down. "I sure hope they don't succeed." ================================================== "I will ensure nopony imprisons or harms you again, but we will need to make sure you don't get into trouble after, beyond that, you'll be free." He said, looking to Dew and Scorn. Nectar looked to Dandy. "They'll stand guard until I can ensure the ponies are aware it's not an invasion. And as soon as we find out where Athriel and Warlock are, we can locate them while they are weak and leave to defeat them." "But they aren't, Warlock has an element, in fact we should find those Null and Void ponies, they could cancel out whatever magic the two have." Nectar looked to Francis as he spoke. "I will keep that in mind, but I have no idea where those two are." "Could ask the generals down there." He said as he pointed down to Dew and Iron Wing. "Although, you would be in public view if you did." "I shall wait until they get back up here then."

@Blitz Boom Astral looked to the gem around Athriel's neck, narrowing her eyes at it. "If you really want to break her spirit." The smoke inside continuing to hit itself against the walls of the gem. Astral clenched her teeth, forming a sword in her hoof. Throwing her sword at Athriel as she ran at her, while it would certainly look like she was going to strike at Athriel and as in turn, Chow. She was aiming for the gem, and that would become apparent only as the sword was slicing into the gem. "Do it RIGHT!" She yelled out as the gem cracked, making it already too late as she pulled the necklace forward into the sword, slicing apart the gem, sending out it's magic in a powerful explosion that shook the castle and even cracked walls, sending the two ponies flying apart. Quite loudly they could hear the screams of a pony echoing out throughout the castle, originating from the gem itself as it split. "AAAHHH!" ===================================== Warlock collapsed quickly as the enchantments of his armor were torn apart, the magic of the element pouring out, soon after Blackbeak and Brick would be able to hear the sounds of the pony as well as the explosion that shook their surroundings. "Sapphire!" He yelled out in fear, the first time he'd ever do this, attempting to teleport away, as the object tore apart the spell, Warlock looking back to the two as he was instead left with fire surrounding him, constantly trying to teleport away. Lifting rocks up to toss to them, attempting to not hit the glass and instead the ponies who wielded it. ===================================== Misty looked down as she took a moment to think. "Well, kinda, there's still the fact we're certainly overpowered. But there is some hope. Right?" Iron Star jerked away as he took a gasp of air. Misty looking to him. "Is he alright?" He took in deep breaths, trying to calm down, mostly ignoring the doctors that may be gathering around him yet again. "N-No, I am not, neither is Astral, I-" He paused for a moment. "I think they freed Sapphire." ===================================== "Warlock and Athriel must have tricked you into thinking your enemies were alive then?" He said, turning down his defensive position. "And you guard the element of hatred, but that doesn't mean your only purpose is to feel hatred, but you can help with saving Equestria, and become a hero." Nectar lowered her head as she watched the events unfold, turning to the changeling. "Stand guard, I have no idea if Enzo needs to be held back yet, but I am sure that this Warlock and Athriel need to be, but we have no source that determines where they are." She said, looking to Enzo from where she stood. "I called one of my generals here, he'll come with my army, and we'll stand guard until Warlock and Athriel return, and yes, I made sure he knew that's what we were doing." She said, looking to Francis, as he seemed like he was going to ask that.

@Blitz Boom Warlock rolled his eyes as he turned and walked to a shelf of books, he knew Athriel had a plan with Astral, and didn't want to interfere. As he left them to do their thing, he materialized a helmet in his hooves as he lifted them up. putting it on as his mane poked out of the back of it, it was designed similarly to a helmet for a Canterlot guard, but lacked the golden shine of them, soon after the rest of the full set of armor started forming on Warlock, the element of hatred working it's way deep into his armor, making sure it was far away from ponies to strike. "I sense somepony near, other than us." He said, looking to Athriel, then closing his eyes as he looked throughout the castle and finding Brick and Blackbeak with ease. But then suddenly Warlock vanished from his position in the room with Athriel, as he teleported towards the location of the two, swords drawn, and ready to fight. Astral jumped towards Warlock as he teleported away, although too late as she just scooted across the ground towards his original location, kicking dust up off the ground. Her teeth clenched as she punched the wall, cracking it, with a loud sound that echoed throughout the castle. The cracks burning like embers, despite the walls being made of stone. "This will end in both of you returning to stone." She said, turning to Athriel. ============================================== Misty looked at the gem she was holding, but as soon as the words 'Element of Depression' got to her head, she yelped and tossed it away onto the floor. "I had no idea what that was!" She said, looking to Scarcity. "I thought it was a different element! Like, deceit or something." She said, backing to the end of the bed, away from the element. ============================================== At this point Iron Wing wasn't sure how to react to anything, but stood his defensive stance to make sure he'd be ready if Enzo suddenly lashed out. ============================================== While that mess was going on, Nectar was standing herself up in the throne room, struggling to walk once again. "Did he receive the call Francis?" She asked to him, as he sat with her, looking out the window to the outside. "No idea, but the ponies might react badly to an army of changelings at this time." "I need them to notice, then I can change their image of us." "You're a changeling, you can do that already." She chuckled a little to that, sighing a little as she walked to the window, looking out. "If he did receive the call, he should be here any moment. With the rest."

@Blitz Boom She almost chuckled at Athriel's line, standing off the ground. "I've told him before I've had a crush on him, and despite all of this madness, it's still there." She said, with narrowing eyes. "Although it's as if you'd ever know what that is like." Warlock rolled his eyes at the situation, starting to back away from the two. "Her sister betrayed her to love." The gem's smoke reacted harshly to that sentence, Warlock chuckling as he looked to it. "But refuses to reunite for it, do you want to follow a similar path?" "I'd much prefer it, so I can go a life without a need for more." She started walking towards Warlock, who just stood there. "Unable to fill that hole that resides deeply inside me." She slid backwards, looking down as Warlock pushed her away with magic. "Both of us are fully aware I lost a family, no need to remind me." He said with a growing frustration towards her. ========================================================= Misty looked at Scarcity, shivering a little, trying her best to hide her fear. "I-I don't know what to say." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I keep losing them, we're separated so often now. I don't know why she even brings me along with the danger I get into." In her hooves Scarcity might notice a gem of sorts, which had been there for quite some time, it was a deep blue, almost glowing as Misty spoke, the gem was similar in color to the Element of Depression and while Misty might not clue into what it was, Scarcity might. ========================================================= He looked away, Iron Wing knew of course that the pillars had saved Equestria many times, but his feathers were prepared to slice at Enzo if the situation went south, as every single one of them orrented forwards towards Enzo, ready to strike. Wing nodding as Dew spoke to him.

@Blitz Boom Astral froze as she saw Athriel run to Chow, But then an idea came to mind. Suddenly there was a seemingly harmless burst of teleportation magic, around the griffons neck. Then Sapphire's gem appearing in her hoof, Glowing a deep red, almost like a ruby as the soul of Sapphire rammed against the outside of the gem whilst Astral's anger grew, she extended a sword outwards. "We'll see about that." Astral looked to the gem, then to Athriel as her eyes turned blue around Sapphire's presence, much stronger than before. "She's trapped, you can't free her." Warlock stepped forward and was ready to charge at her. "You have no idea how to free her either." Suddenly the gem went flying to Warlock as he then caught it in his hoof. "Not like we need another pony against us anyway." Astral gasped as he took the gem away, grabbing the sword and running to him, ready to slice through him. Warlock grinned and slid to the side and lifted his hoof up and pushed her to the side, causing her to land in front of Athriel, as well as the sword, Astral trying to get up but then falling back down, seeming as if Warlock was keeping her down. "We've overpowered you." He walked away from her, knowing she was in Athriel's hooves now. "No need to delay the inevitable." He formed a necklace around the gem again and handed it to Athriel. "After this is done, we can free her." He said, with a growing smile on his face, already seeing himself winning this fight with Sapphire working for him instead of against him. ============================================== Feeling such a surge of magic pour out of him was certainly not healthy, as he started shaking, as if his body was trying to chase the magic that left him, but with restraint. His eyes then would turn grey, as he'd fall unconscious. ============================================== Iron Wing did land well, already haven experience enough hard landings to deal with this one. Although after watching what happened to Enzo soon after, he approached the Sphinx, and looked it in the eye. "Why would you join Warlock? He has nothing to offer you, in fact it seems he's taken the gem you protected." He said, raising his wings up, letting the blades of them shine light to show how sharp and polished they were, mostly as a form of threatening Enzo. "Unless he does?"

@Blitz Boom Warlock felt the spell tear apart, but where it sent them was luckily not that far apart, instead scattering them around the area Warlock wanted to teleport to, Brick and Black Beak would be thrown against trees as Warlock was not there for them to capture. But these two would find themselves nearby the two Princesses original castle, but not together, they were put there far apart, but they could find each other, along with Scarcity who'd end up near by Brick, but she'd still be quite a ways away. Meanwhile Warlock collapsed onto the floor off some seemingly random part of sisters castle, seeming to be in pain. "Are you INSANE?!" He looked up, to see Scarcity wasn't there, but instead Astral and Chow. "I feel that should be directed at yourself." Astral's snarky comment didn't help his rage, and the element he wore only amplified it, he leaped forward as a sword materialized, stopping inches from her neck. "You would be lacking a head, if we didn't need you alive." Instead he swung his hoof back and cut off part of her mane before he pushed her away. "You on the other hoof!" He said, pointing his sword to Chow after it cut through Astral's mane, she tumbled across the ground, looking to Chow as well. Warlock seemed to briefly checking if Athriel was there, and she was, although she'd find herself in a similar condition to Warlock's when he came in, on the floor. "Oh she'll enjoy taking you apart!" He said, looking at Chow with a smile, tossing his sword to Athriel, it sliding close to her. Astral ran over to the sword, pushing Warlock out of the way, although failing as Warlock just floated out of the way of her hooves as she ran to the sword reaching towards the sword, hoping to grab it before Athriel did. ======================================== It didn't take much thought as he looked to Scorn and Dew, before Iron Wing leaped out of the castle window, which was still broken, soaring towards Enzo, spinning around in the air as he sent several of his metal feathers flying outwards, towards Dew and Scorn, but instead of hitting them, it'd slice through the cloth, and several more were heading to Enzo, and considering that these were sharp metal objects, stopping them with cloth would be significantly more difficult.

@Blitz Boom For a brief moment one might notice Warlock's fear expressed through just the way he looked at the strange object, he clearly knew what that thing was. Putting away his swords subtly, although the sound of a sword slicing could be heard as it dissipated into his hooves. He didn't break his stance. "Feels idiotic to let that thing near me." He stepped back with Athriel, his appearance expressing more fear very quickly, but then he glanced down at one of his legs, then back to the object. Smirking, drawing out his sword and throwing it to the object. Iron Star lifted his hoof up and froze the sword in mid air. "Don't break it!" The sword was inching towards the object, even if anypony tried to move it, it would remain frozen, sparking with magic as it shook. Astral breathed deeply, recalling her earlier explanation of levitation, they could only put so much magic into the object while levitating before it exploded. "Why did you bring this deadly monster here? You're risking the potential of hundreds of ponies dying!" He asked while he looked to Scarcity. Warlock struggled to move now, grinning as he felt Iron Star's power pour through him. "Oh yes he is right, Best we stay far away from these ponies." The sword retracted away as he backed down the hall, the sword returning to his hooves as he looked to Iron Star. "Thanks for the magic by the way, I only need so much for this." Iron Star looked confused for a brief moment, but as it dawned on him, the magic inside him exploded outwards, passing next to Scarcity, giving her a rather good view of Warlock's power, as he took all of Iron Star's magic storage in one fell swoop, as it poured into the Element of Hatred, Moments after that, behind Scarcity, she could see Astral, Misty, Chow, and Iron Star, disappear into a explosion of fire. Although since Warlock left some magic with Scarcity, she may be able to run after them. Athriel was teleported as well. Warlock teleporting them to a distant location, but the time taken would give Scarcity and her employees the time to grab onto him to come with him. Unless they decided to let him get away, for whatever reason. =================================== As he flew down the halls, racing to the dungeon, the dungeon guard spotted him flying in. "General what is wrong?" He asked. Iron Wing landed at Zhu's cell as he looked to the figure. "I need a key to open his cell, turns out we do need him." "He's always right with those cryptic words, this is the third time I've let him out in m time working here." He walked over and opened the cell, putting away the key. "Don't go harming guards again Zhu." He pointed his spear at Zhu as he said those words, pressing the spear forward. "Or the punishment might last, longer." With a loud thud he hit the spear down as he set the spear upright. "I hope whatever is going on is resolved without my help." While it seemed like an odd thing to say, last time he was needed to help, was because of his anti-magic armor so he could contain a powerful evil unicorn. "If I am needed then the situation must be dire." He walked back to his post as Iron Wing walked out with Zhu. "I will return to you the moment you are needed." He nodded as he watched Iron wing fly off again, recalling when he dealt with that unicorn, luckily she recognized the errors of her ways once his armor allowed her removed the Alicorn Amulet. Meanwhile, Iron Wing eventually returned with Zhu to the throne room. "Suppose we should let him get the rest of his sentence after all this?" He asked as he looked to Dew.

@Blitz Boom Warlock grinned, looking to Enzo as the fires of the teleportation spell whisked them away, it was a powerful spell, taking them to Canterlot despite the distance. Iron Star couldn't help but quiver at the sense of power, "Well here we go then" Astral closing her eyes as she teleported herself to Iron star. "You distract the ponies, I'll deal with our enemies." Warlock stated as he walked towards the hospital, the three of them out in the open surely going to attract the attention of many ponies, but if Enzo truly wanted to distract ponies, that would be one way of doing it. There was an explosion outside, Nectar startled by it as she looked out. Her horn glowing as she expressed fury. "I hate it when I'm right!" She took Francis and teleported away, without warning. Briefly before she teleported Francis did manage to get one thing out. "Warlock is back!" Warlock teleported a second time, straight into the hallway of the hospital there, where they held Iron Star and Misty, and now currently Astral. Extending out his swords. "Well dear Scarcity, you speak like a villain!" He yelled out as she said the last of her words. "I suppose I could say, we met again but you've already said that." He said, chuckling a little, ready to fight her and the other ponies there, Scarcity might notice he'd already started to drain their magic, slowly, but soon they'd be too weak to fight him. Even with Chow's minimal magic usage he'd be able to sense that small amount of magic drain out of him, but Astral, she'd get hit hard considering how much magic she had gathered today. ======================================= They could all hear the distant explosion and the following sound that was similar to that of a powerful teleportation spell. "Well seems we need to get ready right now." It almost seemed that Warlock arrived meer moments after they just said 'If Warlock suddenly shows up out of nowhere' "I'm not sure what he can do to help, but he has power over the wind, so that could be useful." He had already started walking out of the room at that point. Furling out his wings and giving a brief window of time for them to mention anything else before he'd take of. Although at the same time Nectar teleported in with Francis,falling onto the floor exhausted as her horn glowed briefly. "Warlock is here, Generals. and I've alerted my army to come and help." She said before picking herself up, struggling to stand.

@Blitz Boom Astral thought for a moment, but that thought was interrupted by his realization of the situation. "Well do we walk back or teleport?" She asked, looking up to him."Because if he doesn't come back right away, we'll get in trouble." =============================================== Warlock rolled his eyes at her question. "That depends, they are capable of holding us back if they have the motivation to." He looked to Athriel. "Well I assume you are all ready then?" He asked as if he was genuinely curious, which he was, even as he was preparing to teleport. Canterlot was in for a treat when Warlock got there, he could feed off the magic of all the ponies there and contain it inside his new Element, which considering his current emotional state, would amplify his power. Allowing him to defeat the ponies much more easily, he almost wondered if he could get that Element of Greed back with enough magic. =============================================== While he was told that, agreeing with the fact would be hard to do, as he was still able to get this terrifying feeling that something was coming. "Well, I suppose that might be it." He stated, not really letting that idea sink in. as he heard the commotion in the hallway. "Although at the same time it might not be." He said with a bit of a smile. =============================================== Nectar stepped off the bed, struggled to walk a little, almost falling over before getting back on her legs. She walked forward as she quickly started walking normally. "I sure hope we can remain well even after he arrives." She said walking behind the lieutenant, looking back at Francis. He seemed to be looking out the window admiring the view, but after that he fluttered his wings and flew ahead to catch up. "This place is big." She rolled her eyes as he flew next to her. "You hadn't noticed earlier?" The two of them laughed a little at that as they followed the Lieutenant. =============================================== Iron Wing stepped back a little. "Element of Hatred, under these circumstances it's possible Warlock would be more powerful using that element." He looked down, trying to think something up that would result in their victory. But not much really came to mind. "Will we be able to retrieve anything that could benefit us in time for his possible arrival?"

@Blitz Boom She sighed for a moment, looking to Chow. "My eyes change color depending on magical presences. But I would normally transfer that to my necklace, but since I don't have it, it ends up being my eyes." She said, looking around. "That felt like a powerful omnipotence spell." She looked down, the dust revealing hoof prints, ones that were missing the front and back leg. "So powerful in fact anymore magic and he could project his body along with his mind." She said in a rather terrified tone. "We can continue with the magic lessons though." She looked back to him. "And about shooting magic lasers, that is just focusing massive amounts of magic into one object, so much of it it becomes visible, but it can destroy the object entirely." She said, in a rather serious tone. "But with Athriel, she can just hop from body to body if you destroyed it." ================================================== Warlock just rolled his eyes. "It's unlikely they could track my spell back to my location. and it seems Astral is teaching your prison how to use magic properly, although not very well." Even as he said that he was frustrated, this only added to the amount of enemies they had who could fight back. "But every other pony who could fight us is currently incapacitated." He said with a smirk. "So take those two out, and nopony could fight us, or dragon." He glanced up at the Sphinx, smiling as he looked to Athriel. "We attack now and we could potentially eliminate every threat against us." ================================================== Iron Star sighed. "I felt a presence here." He looked towards the space Warlock occupied moments earlier. "I believe Nectar may have felt it too." He looked ahead of himself, his ears turning as he took a brief peek into the doctor's mind, checking if they knew who Warlock was, before saying it. "It was similar to the presence I felt when a pony named Warlock was here." Nectar looked over to the other room, picking her name out for a moment. "Being able to warn them directly would be beneficial." She said, looking back to Shimmer. "Besides once we get out of here I belive he might be in need of a change." She said, looking to Francis. "Haha, very funny." He said, his wings appearing to have more sparkles on them than before, that brief taste of love that was given intentionally, had felt more pure than what he had tasted before, so without even thinking he was sharing love with Nectar. "Although if I do end up transforming, being outside of these hospital conditions may help anyway." He said with a chuckle. ================================================== He looked to the dragon as he stepped in to the room. "Check what signs?" He asked, walking forward towards the dragon. "And did something happen?" He asked as he looked to Dew.

@Blitz Boom Astral smiled brightly at teaching a pony how to use magic. "You've caught on quite easily." She said, but for a moment Chow might be able to see her eyes turn a dirt brown color, the two of them could even hear Warlock laughing quietly. "Uh, oh." Chow's words quickly became irony with those two words, as even Chow could feel Warlock's presence, just by his magic alone, which was far reaching enough to leave even the sent of dark magic. Warlock grinned, his eyes closed, as to him he was able to transport himself directly to Chow and Astral, the dust moving around him, even though he wasn't there, with this power he was able to see anything he wanted to, then he simply stepped over, as the world moved around him, transporting his mind to Iron Star, who looked directly to him. "Warlock." He thought, Warlock able to hear his thoughts as clear as speech. He looked to Warlock, who was standing to the right of his bed, but invisible to anypony. He was only seeing this, but Iron Star could sense his mind's presence there. "You won't win." "I am glad this is the real deal, but I don't need to see if it is much longer." Warlock looked up to the Sphinx, but seeming to be looking at the ceiling, but Iron Star couldn't yet see this, Warlock disappeared as he went back to his body, no longer casting his omnipotence spell. "Now even if you did kill this dragon, I'd hope you don't turn against us." He said, grinning as he created a spark of magic next to himself, without even lifting a hoof. Having fed off the magic of the wards now, forming a necklace out of this crystal as he wore it around his neck. "Now, we search for the next element, yes?" He shivered as he felt Warlock's presence leave, most ponies there might even get fur raising on their backs as if a dark entity passed through throughout the time Warlock was there. "Well Doctor, I have the slightest feeling you'll need me, instead of me needing you." He said, knowing he'd be able to heal his eyes entirely soon, and that Warlock may come with more power than before. ======================================== Francis shrugged, his wing more sparkly than before. "Not entirely sure how I feel." He said, looking to Nectar. "But I am doing better." Nectar expressed a little bit of terror, feeling drained as she felt a wave of hatred stronger than before pass over, it felt eerily similar to... "Warlock, you need to warn the generals he may have just gotten a new element." She said, sure the doctor wouldn't know who that was, but saying it anyway. "What makes you think that?" He said, smirking, not really believing her, since he wasn't fine tuned on his emotion sensing, but Nectar was. "I felt his hatred, never felt anypony with that much hate since Chrysalis." Well, now the two realized that was either Chrysalis or Warlock, and with Warlock, Chrysalis was the preferable one for it to be. "Well I sure hope it's just a fluke." He said, smiling and chuckling, although it only sounded fake, very fake. ======================================== Iron Wing snickered, turning away, knowing since Zhu only left a note, it'd be alright not to take it, and at the same time he was now done checking on the two ponies. "Well I'm pretty sure the Princesses are my higher ups now." He said as he walked off, but then paused to look back. "Since well, my current duty is being a General." He left them with that to think of as he walked away back to the throne room, giggling to himself. Since those two were so concerned with being punished by a General, admitting it to them after that worry wasn't relevant, was just teasing on his part. Although at the same time, he'd at least leave them with the fact he'd still joke about it even though he was a General.