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~Author's Note~

This Story Series may eventually have just about anything and everything you can think of wrote into it. You have been warned...

On a side note, I decided to make a dated list of what I edit of my stories, as well as when I edit them. That way everyone will know if I edited the story itself, the title of it, or just the author's note thing I put either at the beginning, or end of the stories themselves. So, if this story shows up in your watchlist even if you have already removed it after reading it, then I may have edited it in some way. Directly below this paragraph is where the date list will be. I will have the dates starting with when I originally posted this story, along with each date where I edited something within the story. Beside the date will tell you what I did that particular day.

8/4/2014 - Uploaded the Story

~

Well, I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted a chapter. I was hoping to have this out sooner than this, so i guess now is as good as any.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and that it was worth the wait. The series will only get more interesting from here on in. I'm hoping to speed things up after Chapter 3, but as usual, you have to finish a chapter before going to the next one. Hopefully it wont be so difficult to write Chapter 3 as it was to write this one. I learned that the more characters that talk at once, the more difficult it is to keep track as to who was suppose to talk next, as well as who said what during the chapter. Especially when you have to write it so that everyone reading it can keep track of it as well.

So, without any further delays for this somewhat long but awesome chapter;

I present to you, Chapter 2 of "The Guardians of Equestria".

Until the next post I make, Catch ya later!!! <(^_^)>

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The Guardians of Equestria

Chapter 2 - Mornings, Messages, Meetings, and Meanings...

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10am at The Library

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Twilight and Spike had woken up early to get ready for Twilight's first real "Royal Meeting." As usual, things had been more hectic than they should've been. Twilight was always frantic when important things came up, (especially when either Equestria was in danger, or the other princesses were involved). This "Royal Meeting" could easily end up being both.

"Come on Twilight; calm down! You didn't even know Fluttershy and Rarity were at Sugarcube Corner during breakfast, and that was four hours ago! Do you even know why rarity was up so early to begin with?"

"I don't know Spike. Do you?" Twilight had quickly said while adjusting her new saddlebag for their trip.

"Umm... No! But that was because Fluttershy had told Rarity that she wanted to show her something she had found, and that it was a surprise. She also said that she would've invited you as well if you didn't have that meeting today."

"She did?" Twilight asked.

"Ya! See what I mean Twilight? You didn't even know what was being said to you! ...I'm still not sure as to why Fluttershy didn't get Applejack instead of just Rarity. Pinky and Dash had work this morning, but I don't remember Applejack having anything to do today" Spike said while noticing Twilight's saddlebag was new. He even recognized the design and stitching. "Besides, why do you have a new saddlebag anyway? Don't you have three saddlebags already?" He asked.

"My first one was for school, and is now a sentimental memory. The other two were for traveling, but are worn-out from our travels as element bearers. They almost didn't survive the trip to stop that dragon from covering Equestria in years-worth of smoke, and that was a long time ago... Besides, Rarity wanted to make me one that would tell others that the bag is owned by a princess, show off my cutie mark to be both decorative and associative so everypony would know which princess the bag belonged to, and was defensive other than just being an accessory so that only those that had permission could open the bag. That way nothing important could be stolen, especially if it held personal or royal documents.

As far as Fluttershy and Rarity go, I can always meet up with them after the meeting so I don't miss out on anything. To answer your curiosity towards why Rarity instead of Applejack, well, Applejack was forced to try and sell apples over at Town Square today in hopes of making her money back after being forced to pay to fix her apple wagon... The Crusaders tried to make the first go-kart for Ponykind, but they forgot that without a way for it to move without it being pulled, it doesn't work. Not to mention that the apple tree at the bottom of the biggest hill over at Sweet Apple Acers doesn't yield to a wagon... There wasn't much left of the wagon, and she wouldn't take any donated bits to help her out of the mess..." Twilight paused for a moment as she looked at her clock sitting in a corner of the room. While Twilight read her clock, Spike was shaking his head as he remembered the Crusader incident Twilight had just mentioned. "...So, are we going to go through the checklist before the trip, or are we going to talk some more and risk being late?" Twilight had asked after her clock read ten twenty five am. She was hoping to speed things up as well. The meeting was at eleven am after all. Time was getting shorter by the minute.

"Ok, fine, but this isn't over!" Spike said as Twilight unrolled the checklist for the trip to Canterlot. She read the list aloud as Spike began piling things up with each item on the list being checked off.

"List of things to report to the Princesses that haven't been reported yet for some reason"

"Check!"

"Technology report"

"Check!"

"Current info on how our secret mission is going"

"Check!"

"Ink and empty scrolls"

"Check!"

"A copy of the list of complaints from the citizens of Ponyville, towards the citizens of Canterlot"

"Che... Wait, what!? Why do you need to bring that? I thought the Mayor of Ponyville was the one to do that..." Spike asked as confusion took over.

"Mayor Mare has too many things to do right now. She's been over-worked here lately, (especially after what happened a month ago), and asked me to deliver the list to Celestia. Since I'm going to see Celestia at the meeting, I agreed to deliver it personally."

"Ok, check!"

"... ...Well, I think that's basically it as far as the list itself goes. Celestia said that everything else, including what this meeting was mainly for, would be revealed after the basic Royal Duty subjects were covered..." Twilight began wondering how important this meeting might be, but couldn't think of anything that would explain the meeting being called so suddenly, as well as why it required all of the Royals of Equestria...

"Wait!? So you're not going to check the list more than once this time!?" Spike was definitely surprised with this, (especially when she had quadruple-checked the last list he had helped check).

"Nope, not this time. We have thirty five minutes to make it to this meeting before being late. No matter what, we can't be late for a Royal Meeting. Not even for a checklist." Twilight said while grabbing things from the small pile Spike had made with the things from the checklist, and putting them into her new saddlebag. After she finished packing, she turned towards Spike.

"Well, is the bedroom door locked spike?"

"Ya Twi, I did that right after we left the room."

"In that case, are you ready Spike?"

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be Twilight. I'm just hoping your spell works"

"It will Spike. I've tested it several times before to make sure that it'd work if it ever had to be used. If we're ready, then here goes nothing!" Twilight said as she charged her magic through her horn. She was just about to cast the spell, when something else happened instead.

*POP!*

*THUD!*

Twilight was shocked when the magic within her horn dissipated. She was also surprised when she realized that a letter scroll had popped into existence just in front of her face, and had dropped to the floor in front of her hooves.

"Hey Twilight, who is it from? Your crown glowed when the scroll showed up. I didn't think you had anything else going on today..." Spike had asked as Twilight levitated the scroll up in front of her to open and read it.

"I don't spike, but if my crown glowed then this should be from one of the girls. They wouldn't have sent a letter today until after the meeting unless it was important," Twilight said as she opened the scroll and began reading it aloud.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Twilight,

I hope I'm not interrupting your meeting or anything else you may be doing, but I've come across something that may be in need of your expertise. I was invited over to Fluttershy's to help her with something. I wasn't sure what to think at first since it was so early in the morning, but I figured I'd help nonetheless.

When we first went into her house, I went ahead and fixed her barrier spell. I found out soon after that what she needed help with had nothing to do with the spell, but instead, a creature she had found. I'm not sure how to describe this creature within this letter, but I will say that he can walk on two legs, talk, is a bit ferocious until you get to talking to him, and is possibly not from our world.

I was wondering if you could possibly round up the girls (besides Fluttershy and myself) so we could figure out what to do afterwards. I told him that our elements allowed us to send mind-linked and hoof-written messages to each other. So far he seems to believe it, so he doesn't know that we don't have the actual elements anymore, or what the Tree of Harmony had helped us with not too long ago. He does seem to know a lot about us and many things within our world, so that will be a question to bring up later on. We are probably going to have a long conversation with him once we are all together, but that is for after your meeting.

I hope this letter made it to you before the meeting just in case it's relevant for discussion with the other princesses, but I will definitely ask that you not get the girls, or come over, until after the meeting. I know how you can get when something like this comes up, but an important meeting (especially with it being your second real Royal meeting as a Princess) needs to come first. Fluttershy and I will be waiting for everypony at Fluttershy's cottage for when your meeting is adjourned... Oh! And before I forget; this creature goes by the name of Jonwolf Smith. You're probably going to have a talk with him about his name alone with how he pronounces it. That's for later on though.

Until then, I bid you adieu.

Rarity

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When Twilight finished reading the letter, she silently read a couple more times to make sure she didn't miss anything within the scroll. She rolled it up afterwards and put it in her saddlebag while thinking of what creature Rarity might be trying to describe. Nothing came to mind except for either a Minotaur, or a possible mythical creature that didn't exist. The ferocious part was what confused her. Minotaurs were mostly brutes with a hoof full of civilized ones amongst them, but weren't really ferocious unless you started a fight with one. She pondered this for a minute or so until she glanced back at the clock.

"So Twilight; is it important?" Spike asked.

"I don't know Spike. It's from Rarity and Fluttershy, and might be another subject for the meeting... At any rate, we need to be on time and we are down to twenty minutes. Are you ready for another try with the spell Spike?" She asked. Spike opened his mouth to reply but never got the chance as they blinked out of existence of the Library with a flash of light.

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Canterlot Castle, Twilight's Old Room

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When they reappeared, they blinked into existence with a flash of light. Spike gasped for a bit as he tried to catch his breath.

"A warning... would've... been nice..."

"Sorry Spike... but like I said... I can't be late to this meeting..." Twilight said while catching her breath as well. "I now know that... taking a deep breath... before using that spell would've made... ... it a smoother trip when using a long-distance teleportation spell on more than just myself... Would've been better if Celestia had told me though... Looks like she's still trying to be my mentor... It's definitely different compared to a basic teleportation spell." Twilight took a quick glance around her to confirm that the spell actually worked. "Well, at least the spell worked. It's been awhile since we were last in this room of the castle. Doesn't appear that Celestia changed anything in it either... Well Spike, let's get going. Should be able to make it there just before the meeting was set to begin," Twilight said as she walked out of her room, while at the same time levitating Spike from the floor over to her. Her purple-ish magical aura swirled around her horn, as well as around spike as he was gently placed on her back. She used her magic to close the door as she kept walking towards the meetings location.

"Hey Twilight, did you forget to bring your Royal Shoes? I thought you had them on before using the spell..." Spike mentioned. Twilight looked at her hooves as they walked before casting a spell. Spike watched as Twilight's golden shoes popped onto her hooves after she had cast the spell.

"Looks like the spell needs a little work to make sure that my stuff teleports properly, at least my crown didn't disappear... Still not sure as to why it has to be so pointy though. It's as if they wanted it to be sharp or something..." She said while making a turn through one of the palace corridors.

"Twi, didn't Celestia say that your new crown had to deal with your cutie mark, as well as what kind of princess you are?"

"Indeed she did Spike. There are 5 points on the crown that represent each of my closest friends as well as the other element bearers of harmony. Each point has a diamond shaped jewel that is the same color as my cutie mark as well as element so that everypony knows what element I represent. The design of the crown itself represents the power I wield to both protect and help Equestria... I just didn't expect each point to seem so sharp. For all I know the crown might somehow end up hurting somepony if it ever fell towards the ground." She said as she turned down another corridor.

"Come on Twi, don't you remember what else was done to the crown. Celestia and Luna enchanted a protection spell together against the crown so it would never be given the chance of hurting anypony, nor would it be so easily broken no matter what you are doing during your reign as the Rainbow Princess of Friendship." Spike said while embracing Twilight's neck in his arms.

"Thanks Spike, I needed that... ...Well, we're almost there, so hopefully everything is fine so we can get back home. We may be taking another trip today." Twilight said when they got within 30 hooves of the throne room door.

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Canterlot Castle Throne Room

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Those that were called upon for this "Royal Meeting" had been waiting for it to start for the past 15 minutes. When they realized that Twilight Sparkle was the only one to wait on, they knew that they would be waiting until it was really close to the starting time mentioned for the meeting. She was always the most on-time pony they knew of after all.

"So how on-time do you think she will be this time Shining?"

"I'm not sure Cadance, but it will probably be closer than last time. She is normally here by now, so she probably has an explanation ready for us when she gets here," Shining said with a grin. Shining Armor, Twilight's big brother, knew that Twilight was always looking for ways to perfect things. Those that knew her knew of this as well. They also knew that she always started with being as on time as she could be, whether it was as important as this meeting, or as basic as some casual gathering of some kind. Shining grinned even more when the throne room doors opened and Twilight entered with a minute to spare.

"Sorry I was late everypony. I wasn't sure if I had everything for the meeting and got a bit distracted during breakfast. If it weren't for spike I probably would've been later than I am already." Twilight said as she walked over to a chair with an engraving of her cutie mark on it. Spike hopped off her back so she could sit down. Turns out that Spike had his own chair next to Twilight, which had an engraving of a fire symbol on it. While Spike was admiring his chair, she opened her saddlebag and pulled out the list she was supposed to pass on to her mentor. "Celestia, Mayor Mare wanted me to pass this onto you. She's a bit tied up with things in Ponyville at the moment, and asked me if I could deliver it." Twilight said as she used her magic to levitate the list over to Celestia. Celestia opened and skimmed through it real quick as she realized what it was. Twilight didn't expect Celestia to actually face hoof herself as she rolled up the list and set it aside on the table.

"Celestia, is something wrong?"

"No Twilight, nothing is wrong... I just was not sure when I would receive this from Ponyville. It is part of what pertains to this meeting, so we'll get to it in a bit..." Celestia looked across the table before continuing. "First off, I would like to thank you all for coming on such short notice, and welcome to the second Royal Meeting of this year. Does anypony have anything to say before we begin?" She asked before waiting for a reply. She noticed that Twilight put one of her front hooves on the table to let her know she had something to say. She nodded towards Twilight and waited to hear whatever it was.

"I might have something important to add to the end of the meeting. It pertains to part of what distracted me this morning, and may be about something unknown to us." For a moment Twilight thought she saw a flicker of fear in Celestia's eyes. It was only for a moment so it could've been nothing, but not much got past her and the other element bearers, (Especially since they've gotten better at reading others by just their body movements alone. That might've been from hanging around Applejack a lot though. Then again, Pinkie could do the same thing, but knew even more about others without even looking at somepony. She could even do it towards pony's she'd never even met before). Celestia nodded towards Twilight again as she looked towards the others. Twilight looked as well and noticed that for a moment, Luna seemed to have the same fearful eyes before it disappeared and was as if it didn't occur at all.

Princess Luna, Princess Twilight, Spike, Princess Cadence, and Prince Shining Armor were waiting for the meeting to get underway before Princess Celestia suddenly broke the silence. "If nopony has anything else to say, then we shall begin... I hereby bring this Royal meeting to order." She said as she slightly stomped one of her front hooves against her chair so the meeting could begin. "The first order of business is a question for you Twilight. I remember how last year went for an important event that occurred, so hopefully this year went more smoothly for you and the others. How did the Breezie Migration go this time around?"

"It went much better this time Celestia. The Breezies sent a few scouts ahead of them to mention an offer to me and the girls. They said that the end of the swarm of Breezies is always the rookies of the group that's chosen to make the journey each year for the migration. They said that after they all heard that I was able to use a spell to transform me and the girls into Breezies, and that since we helped the ones left behind get back home; That if we wanted to, we could join the migration each year to bring up the rear of the swarm to encourage the rookies, so that they could make the journey without any problems. Me and the girls used the spell and made the same journey we did last year. I can say that all the Breezies made it back to their world and home safely... In fact, they said they were on-time this time around. Because of this, me and the girls were allowed to visit their world for around an hour before going back through the portal before it closed," Twilight said with a grin. Spike, whom was sitting next to her, was holding a scroll open for twilight to glance at so she could report the information to the Royals. It still felt a bit awkward to do so though. Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were her mentors, Princess Cadence is her sister in law, Prince Shining Armor is her big brother, and even Spike had a small stake in being a form of Royalty. After helping save the Crystal Empire not once, but twice, he was more worshipped by the crystal ponies than he already was. Because of all this, Twilight wasn't sure how to feel about anything. The past few years had changed everything.

"That's good to hear Twilight. If the Breezies were on-time then anything that deals with special flowers should be very worthwhile this year. Ok, second order of business. Luna, do you have anything to report?" Celestia asked as she looked over at her sister.

"Indeed I do sister." Everypony was surprised at Luna's choice of words. Luna had always spoken in Old Equestrian so this was definitely a surprise for everypony. Celestia smiled as Luna continued. "The first thing to report is that I have finally aced my Literature, Grammar, and Language courses through thy sister's school." Luna looked between her sister and Twilight. "Thy words may bounce between Old and Modern Equestrian, but between thy sister and Twilight, I can say that your tutoring sessions have paid off. I can finally talk as everypony else does most of the time." Luna said with a grin.

"Congratulations Luna!" Everypony said as all eyes were on Luna. Everypony was proud of her achievement.

"Other than my accomplishment, I can also report that things within the dream world have died down compared to how things started after that event a month ago." There wasn't a smile in the room after that event was mentioned. "The things that happened are still on the minds of our subjects and fellow Equestrians, but the main things lately deal with the behavior of the Canterlot Nobles and Prince Blueblood." Luna said as she looked down and slightly shook her head.

"It's good to know the dream world has died down after what happened, even if only a little. That's actually the tenth thing on the list so that will be talked over later on. As for Prince Blueblood and the Canterlot nobles, that brings us to the third and fourth things on the list. The scroll Twilight gave me from Mayor Mare of Ponyville is proof of it, as are all of the other scrolls I have received from across Equestria. I can put off the law requests from Blueblood and the Nobles for another three months, but after that we need a decision before things get drastic. Does anypony have anything to say towards this as we try to find a decision?" Celestia asked while shaking her head. This was one thing she wasn't sure how to handle this time around.

Twilight spoke up with what they already knew in hopes that it could be changed towards the subject. "The last time we discussed this, the law requests were somewhat manageable. Now that the requests are a bit too harsh to do anything with, we'll probably need to try and limit what kind of things cannot be requested as some things go against what Equestria stands for. What happened a month ago didn't help with this at all and only made things worse." Everypony nodded their heads in agreement while Twilight continued. "However, over the time I've studied over this in hopes of getting an answer. I've come to the conclusion that we might not be able to compromise with them without the high possibility of them turning on us... Some of the requests worried me a bit, (Especially with Blueblood's requests). I don't think I've ever come across a pony that hated earth ponies more than anything else... If they turn against us, we would face a national crisis that Celestia has been trying to stop from happening for almost a century now."

Shining Armor's ears perked up to that news before asking the obvious. "What do you mean Twilight? What crisis?" Twilight was surprised that her brother didn't know about this already, but did realize that he was always busy with physically or magically protecting Equestria. The few struggles that could potentially become battles were probably hidden from everypony in Equestria unless they either noticed it, or had something similar happen to them that gave them a heads up on the potential threat...

"Brother, are you aware of how many Equestrian bits the Nobles control compared to us?" When Shining shook his head, Twilight realized she'd have to explain it. "From time to time we have to get a Noble sponsor so we can get a job done. We have several get-togethers in hopes to persuade the nobles to donate bits so we can help the ponies of Equestria. We have enough gold to back the price of the current bits used in Equestria, which is at ten Bit-Trilla right now. That would be a total of ten trillion bits. It sounds kind of awesome, until you realize that the Nobles control ninety five percent of that." The moment Twilight told him the percentage the Nobles controlled was the moment everything he thought he knew about them was tossed aside. A thought came to mind though.

"Sis, what about gems? I've seen diamonds go for as much as a thousand bits." Shining looked worried when the faces of the princesses around him fell downward. He was surprised at what Twilight said next though.

"Since dragons both eat and hoard gems, and since gems are hard to find as it is, gems have a unique value. This value can sometimes make a pony very rich with just a single gem. However, this value put into the economy of the golden bits we ponies use, can backfire." Twilight thought for a moment for a simple example. "If a cupcake is worth two bits, and the emerald gem I have is worth five hundred bits. How do I get my change back if the seller doesn't have the change to give?"

"Twi, wouldn't it be easier to simply cut the gem to a manageable size? That way the five hundred bits could simply be split into pieces worth ten bits each." This idea sounded reasonable since every seller had around one hundred or more bits to use as change. His sister always knew of something he didn't notice though... Was he that bad with financial stuff?

"That would be the basic idea and is used from time to time, but it comes with a catch. I would have to go to a gem shop to have my gems cut. It costs one hundred bits to get any gems cut. That price is good for ten gems. Gem number eleven would add one hundred more bits to the bill. I would lose bits since the original bill amount works for ten gems, and I only have one gem to cut. I need to have the emerald cut, so to pay the bill, I would need bits. Not having bits is what got me into this mess. I do, however, have a sapphire worth a hundred and fifty bits with me. The gem cutter could give me fifty bits in change as just five 1Bit-Ten coins, (That way I would have just five coins to carry around and still have the fifty bits total) but I would still be losing money because I am only needing one gem cut instead of ten. A bank can't cash out the gems without having the gold to back the bits they were trading for the gems. The banks that do this without worry are sponsored by a noble that has the bits to back the gems...

Some Nobles trade the gems for gold from the griffons. Nopony knows why the griffons would want the gems, but they own one of the largest gold mines in the world. So nopony asks anypony as to what the gems were for... The gems are traded for twice the amount of gold that the gems are worth. That way the Nobles can give half of that amount to us Royals, and keep the other half. We mold the gold to a size that can be stored, and the gold's price amount is added to the national currency number. It's how we keep track of how many bits are used within each town or city, and how much is controlled by which Noble... It doesn't help if the gold given to us is still controlled by a Noble though... The girls and I have many nobles on our side. They donate to us when their bits reach a certain number. It's kind of like giving us their extra bits for our charity so we can keep things around Equestria running smoothly... The Nobles that aren't on our side don't donate much too any charity, and are too greedy for their own good... We as Royals wouldn't be able to do much about it because it is their decision as to what they spend their bits on. The only time we can do something about it is when they break the law, which doesn't happen that often..." Shining wasn't sure what to make of any of this; Being told that the nobles had more financial power than the Royals sounded like a bad thing altogether.

"Well Twi, if the Nobles truly control that much, then what can be done to help Equestria in a situation like this?" Shining didn't like the look Twilight gave him though, and her words didn't help matters none at all.

"Unless we were to somehow find a major gold mine, or somehow pull gold out of thin air, I'm not sure how we're going to solve the matter at all... As it is, we could end up with a civil argument that might turn into something worse if we don't figure it out. Equestria needs more bits to fix things so it can run smoothly. The fewer amount of bits we have, the less amount of harmony is on the minds of our subjects that need the bits the most..." Twilight's words stung everypony in the room, but everypony nodded nonetheless.

"Well, we have three months to figure things out. I'll send warnings to both Blueblood and the Nobles that requested the most harmful of laws. They should know better than to be cruel to our subjects, or to threaten the Royals... The worst one so far is from Blueblood, and was towards Applejack's apple farm. It would seem that he still hasn't forgotten that apple fritter he had eaten instead of some hors d'oeuvres at the Grand Galloping Gala a few years back..." Celestia shook her head at that as everypony else nodded to her decision for now. Things wouldn't be simple at all when those three months were up though. "With that taken care of for now, Twilight, do you have anything to report towards the "Technological and Inventive" research project I gave you?" Eyes were on Twilight once again as she gave the other Royals her report.

"Technological research and new inventions have slowed down as of late. Ponies are running out of ideas for either new things, or to improve the things they already have... Unless more ideas are thought of, that probably won't change for a while. Even I'm not sure how to improve anything any further than I have. Improving the Statue Garden was interesting enough as it was..." For once, Twilight wasn't sure what else could be done for now.

"It would seem that we will need to keep an eye out for any ideas to keep things going. By the way Twilight, thanks again for your help with the Statue Garden. It desperately needed an upgrade from how things use to be; especially towards the safety of Equestria." Twilight nodded with a grin as Celestia continued. "Shining Armor, how is the "Manehatten Bridge Project" coming along? And to add to that, how are things going with the investigations dealing with the borders of the Everfree Forest, as well as throughout Equestria?" Celestia asked. Everypony grinned as they watched Shining Armor look through his saddlebag for his report. They were surprised that he didn't already have it on the table to read off of. Shining began reading his report the moment he found it.

"The Manehatten Bridge has been finished for three days now. Because it's much larger than our normal bridges, the builders have begun inspecting the bridge for any mistakes. The bridge will open once it passes inspection. Hopefully that will take just a week and no more... As for the investigations, the Everfree borders have reported that the timberwolves have not been attacking like they were when they first started trying to invade the towns that border the forest after what happened a month ago. Most of those reports came from Ponyville though. There is something about Ponyville that the Timberwolves want more than anything else... With the Investigations across Equestria, well, they don't make any sense. After Cadence and I's misfortune with our wedding, there were many changeling sightings across Equestria from practically every town, city, and village Equestria has.

They died off after a few months so we figured that they grabbed as much love as they could before going into hiding. From there they almost vanished completely, but then their sightings vanished entirely during what happened a month ago. After what happened was taken care of, they were just as bad as the timberwolves were. Only, they were very good at getting away without being caught... We couldn't even find a magical trail to pick up on..." Shining glanced at the table and set his report on it as he closed his eyes, and shook his head. "It's almost as if something showed up that both the changelings, and the timberwolves know about, but don't want to face whatever it is... There still haven't been any sightings of Queen Chrysalis, so we may not need to worry about her anymore." Shining Armor looked up and noticed that Twilight was glancing between both Celestia and Luna. He did the same, and noticed the fear in their eyes before no emotions could be seen within them. He noticed Twilight was now looking at him with a worried look. He was about to ask about it when Celestia mentioned the next thing on the list.

"The Manehatten Bridge will be interesting to visit when it opens... The timberwolves and the changelings may have ceased much of their activity, but they might be waiting for a good opportunity to strike back. Everypony, keep an eye out for them. Hopefully we won't have to worry about them anymore, but there is always that chance of something happening..." Celestia paused while in thought for a moment as she glanced across her list for the meeting. "Before we start in on the heavy things for this meeting, Twilight, how has your new home been for you for the past month?" Everypony was surprised that a couple minutes went by before Twilight replied to Celestia's question.

"Well... I can say that it hasn't been easy... My crystal tree is everything I could have dreamed of in a castle... But the Golden Oaks Library tree held memories that have made me the pony you all see today..." Twilight had a couple tears running down her face as she continued. "Several of my best memories were within that tree. The fact that it took Tirek a few seconds to destroy it... I-it shows me how short life can be... If I had been even a second late when I had grabbed Owlowicious, a-and jumped out the front d-door of the library as Tirek's spell blew it up... I'm not sure what would've happened to me or Owlowicious, let alone what would've happened to Spike or anypony else if they were there during the battle..." It was a shock that Twilight wasn't crying by this point. Her voice showed her sadness and her tears showed how terrible it truly was, but the fact that she wasn't having a meltdown at the moment; It showed everypony just how strong Twilight had become over the years since becoming an element of harmony...

Everypony had tears dripping from their faces as the full truth of what could have happened that day was put before them. What could have been lost that day was suddenly on everyponys' minds, especially Spike's. Nopony had expected to hear what Celestia said next though.

"Twilight... I-I'm sorry..." All eyes were suddenly on Celestia as she closed her eyes and tilted her head downward. Twilight was completely shocked that Celestia had said this, but mostly because she was confused as to why such words were said. She watched several tears fall from Celestia's face before Celestia slowly opened her eyes and continued. "I-I'm so... So, sorry; that I didn't try to stop things, s-such as what Tirek had done to Equestria... F-from happening..." The sadness in Celestia's voice definitely caught Cadence's attention.

"But Celestia, h-how could you have known that Tirek had actually escaped from Tartarus? I-it's not like we have anypony that's capable of guarding the place besides Cerberus."

"Because Twilight... I had forgotten about something important until what happened a month ago... Luna and I wrote it into law so that we would never forget about it... Since Luna wasn't here to help out after what happened a thousand y-years ago, it fell upon me and me alone to keep up with the law... I didn't need to use that law for a while because it wasn't needed at the time... In the time Luna had been gone, that law wasn't needed at all. I-It was as if the darkness in Equestria had vanished... Since that law wasn't needed for several decades before a few centuries had gone by, I had forgotten about it... I-It wasn't until you and your friends brought Luna back to me and Equestria that darkness had shown itself once again... It was only then that I realized that the darkness of Equestria had only lain dormant, eagerly waiting for an opportunity to strike again... Three major crisis events past and I couldn't remember about the law. It wasn't until what happened a month ago, a fourth crisis event, and a major one at that, that I had remembered about this law... The law me and Luna wrote to keep things like this from happening, was that when something big happened in Equestria we would check the prisoners of Tartarus to see if anything had changed... If I had followed this law when you said you had to take Cerberus back to the gates of Tartarus, Tirek would not have escaped and the terrible things that had happened would n-not have been done..." Everypony was surprised that even they didn't know about this law for some reason, and were surprised that ignoring such a law could cause such a risk to Equestrian's. Before anypony could say anything, Twilight began to reply towards Celestia's words.

"Perhaps, but then I wouldn't have realized how important it is to not only have a life, but rather to live that life to its fullest... Each of these crisis events have taught me something important whether I wanted to learn them or not. Purging the darkness from Nightmare Moon so your sister could be herself again showed me that we are nothing without our friends, as well as our family. Cadence and Shining's wedding showed me how fragile a friendship can be, and that taking risks can sometimes be the only thing that keeps you going in life. What happened in the Crystal Empire showed me that sometimes you have to trust others to do things for you in order to do what's right... W-with Tirek, I learned that you have to make the best out of life; otherwise that life may hardly be worth living... With what you've said and explained just now. I can say that I now know that everypony can make a mistake, and that some mistakes may be worse than others, but that we should bank our mistakes off of those around us in order to possibly correct the mistake, and do our best to move on no matter how difficult it can be, (Especially when that mistake effects those that are closest to us more than ourselves...) Celestia, is this why you gave me that secret mission?" Everypony was surprised at how much wisdom Twilight had to share. She could easily be wiser than any of them. They were proud of her for this, but they also wondered what this "special mission" entailed. Since the mission was from Celestia, they knew they were in for something big.

"Twilight... I am very proud to have been your mentor. You seem to have learned even more than I have when it comes to both friends and family," Celestia said with a grin. She was so proud of her faithful student that she was speechless for once. She knew they had to continue the meeting though. "And yes, your secret mission does deal with trying to fix the mistake I have made. Everypony, for those that don't know, I put Twilight on a secret mission in hopes of finding a way for the prisoners of Tartarus to not be capable of ever escaping... The magic of Tartarus may weaken its prisoners so that they can't escape by normal means of magic, but we now know that they can escape if Cerberus isn't there to guard. I still haven't figured out how he ended up in Ponyville instead of staying on guard duty in Tartarus, but if a prisoner can escape; then there is no telling what we might end up facing if something isn't done about it. Since Equestria only has certain prisoners on file, there's no telling if a prisoner that isn't on file may have escaped during the same time that Tirek did... So Twilight, have you made any progress with your mission?"

"As a matter of fact, I have, Celestia. It's nothing I ever expected to learn about, but it turns out that the answer was at the entrance of Tartarus the whole time. I went through everything that Star Swirl had wrote to see if he had any notes towards things he may not have told others about. It turns out that even though Cerberus is the three headed dog that guards the gates of Tartarus, he also has a certain magic that helps him do his job well. As long as he is in Tartarus territory, Cerberus has a dark and unnatural magic that allows him to know which prisoner is trying to escape, as well as where they are and how to battle them so the prisoner can be put back in their cell. It was only when he left Tartarus and ended up here in Equestria that his magic stopped working... I used Star Swirl's notes to figure out how this dark magic worked, and was surprised to find out that whoever built Tartarus had already made defenses for the prison. They were just not activated yet. It wasn't easy, but I figured out how the magic flowed through the prison's barrier walls as well as the gate. I used a basic search spell on the gate, and the defenses were suddenly activated... We won't have to worry about any more escapees, unless they had escaped the same time as Tirek." The table was silent for a moment as the realization of what Twilight had just said settled in.

"Twilight, you mean to tell me you've already succeeded with your mission?"

"Yes Celestia."

"...Do you by any chance, have any details?" Twilight didn't expect Luna to be the one asking this time. She didn't expect her report scroll to not have everything on it either. She looked at Spike as he went to her saddlebag to check for the rest of her report. He found it after a few moments of searching and opened it up for Twilight to begin reporting in.

"According to Star Swirl's notes, the magic of Tartarus is too strong, dark, and unusual to not be capable of doing more than we know. In a modernized version of his words, "since Tartarus was said to be created by ancient Ponykind, then there should be some sort of magical hoof print to use as a spark to ignite what has been lying dormant within the walls of Tartarus itself. That way it would never give anypony any worry." Going inside Tartarus is impossible unless your being locked up, so I figured this spark had to be done from the outside of the gates of Tartarus. It took a few weeks to finally figure it out, but I noticed that Star Swirl didn't have some of the spells we have today in order to perfect things. I used several spells, including some detection spells in hopes of finding this spark... I realized that they didn't work, so the magic needed to be as faint as possible... I used the only spell that came to mind that fit that description..."

"What spell would that be Twilight?"

"I used a placebo spell Celestia. The spell literally doesn't do anything at all, but the spell itself is extremely weak and faint when used. So weak that it doesn't leave any magical hoof print at all. The moment I did was a surprise I didn't expect... The spell grew and flowed across the gates and walls of the entrance of Tartarus. It was like dark shadows had always been there, and were just waiting to be released. The shadows formed pony like shapes, and suddenly came off the wall... I was basically looking at ponies made of pitch black, fiery shaded, shadows... Some had wings, some had horns, and some didn't have either one, so I figured magic from all three species of pony had helped create these creatures... The creatures bowed towards me before going through the gates of Tartarus. The last one walked to me and said that they've been waiting many millennia to finally carry out their purpose. It said that they were the dark guards of Tartarus, and that they will make sure nothing escapes the prison, nor will anything be allowed in that could heed in any escape attempt..." Twilight looked up at Celestia as she finished the rest of her report. "He also said that if we need to contact them for any information regarding the prisoners, that all that we'd need to do is have one of us Royals be within twenty hoofs of the gates. There will be two guards inside and two guards outside of the gates for conversations involving anything that deals with Tartarus..." Everypony was in aww at how much had happened for the safety of both Tartarus and Equestria, as well as how simple it was to do...

"That's basically everything I have to report in unless something else came up without me knowing it yet..."

"Thank you Twilight, for fixing my mistake... I wasn't sure if it was even fixable... If that was all you had to report then does anypony else have anything else to report in?" Nopony said anything, so Celestia waited a few moments, and then proceeded. "Very well then, if that is all the basic things to report in this time around, then let us get on with why I called this meeting to order on such a short notice... Have any of you noticed any changes within the places you watch over?" Everything was silent for a few moments while everypony thought about everything that may have changed.

"It doesn't matter if the changes are big or small. Any changes at all within the places ye watch over may count as an important answer towards thy sister's question," Luna added to help everypony think about what may be helpful.

"Celestia, Luna, does this have to do with why you both seem to be fearful towards some of the things mentioned so far in the meeting?" Twilight asked.

"I was wondering the same thing," Shining added. Their answer was given when everypony saw Celestia and Luna nod their heads.

"It does... And it is of dire importance that we figure out everything that deals with this question... There is much more needing to be added to this, but this question is a big start into the situation. You'll know more in a bit," Celestia said while her and Luna thought about anything they may have missed that dealt with this question. A few minutes went by in silence as everything that might be of interest was thought about.

"Other than what we already mentioned within this meeting, I don't see anything else that may be of importance right now," Shining answered. Everypony nodded to basically answer with the same thing, except for Luna that is. Everypony glanced over at her, wondering if she'll nod as well, or have something to say.

"We have something that may be of importance, but it may not need to be said just yet..." Luna said while thinking some more...

"Well, while we think upon this question, just remember that we all need to be on guard towards even the basic things that we do for a while. We need to keep our eyes and ears open for anything, big or small, that may heed us towards a better tomorrow," Celestia said. Everypony was suddenly wondering why this was so important now, especially if it worried both of the head princesses of Equestria.

"Celestia, May I ask what has both you and Luna so worried and fearful today?" Twilight asked. Celestia and Luna looked at each other for a moment before Celestia began explaining what happened earlier that morning.

"Something woke me up nearly an hour before I was supposed to be... I still have not figured out what woke me, but I could not get back to sleep... I began walking through the castle towards the gardens. I figured a walk through one of them would be nice. I heard somepony talking over in the Statue Garden, so I began walking over there. The guards are at the exits of the gardens, so talking within the garden itself would mean a report towards something that may have happened... I realized that Luna was receiving a report as I walked closer. Luna does not go to the Statue Garden that much, so it may have been important. Since I was already up, I figured I might as well hear the report and see if I could be of any help..." Celestia stopped for a moment before looking towards her sister for more of the story to be said.

"When I first began talking to the guard, he was congratulating me for graduating from Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. I had aced my test just after the night had begun... It was around three a.m. when another guard showed up with a report. After reviewing thy report, we began walking through the garden. We had been informed of a possible missing statue..." Everypony other than the two head princesses gasped. A missing statue from the garden was never a good thing, especially with what had been locked up there. Luna continued after a few moments of letting that settle in with the others. "We reached where the statue was supposed to be, but there was no evidence that there was ever a statue there at all. It had a plaque, but there was nothing wrote on it. The only thing that told us something was ever there were old records. The records spoke of a statue either almost the size of or bigger than a full grown earth-stallion; along with eight names that were on the plaque. The names were supposedly in an ancient language that nopony could read. Not even my sister could read it. I knew we would not be able to go forward with thy issue until my sister woke up... I didn't expect to suddenly see her before me at such an early hour in the morning though." Luna looks towards her sister since Celestia knew the rest of what needed said. Things got quiet for a moment as everything so far settled in with everypony.

"When I had reached where Luna and the guard were in the garden, I asked about what was going on. I noticed how much Luna had achieved with her modern language courses... It was after sunrise when I found out she had passed her test..." Celestia smiled while looking at her sister. She was so proud that Luna had graduated from the school. It may have taken Luna four years to graduate from the school, but she did it nonetheless. Celestia looked down slightly as she continued the story. "What needs to be said was from what was discussed before sunrise... I looked across the report from the guard and noticed that they were discussing statue marker four... While talking about the issue, I realized that the issue itself was that statue four was completely missing..." Everypony was definitely shocked to hear about this. Twilight was a bit confused about it though. She had made a perfect spell to keep the statues under control after all.

"Celestia, what do you mean missing?"

"Twilight, the statue is not in the garden... It is as if it was never there to begin with. The plaque was still on the marker. You said that if the spell itself had been broken, the plaque would have been on the ground... I didn't receive any warning signals from the garden barrier, so nothing supposedly escaped out of the barrier. I had the guards search the garden, but we could not even find a magical hoof print... It is literally as if nothing was ever put on that marker..." Shining and Cadence looked worried by this point. The only thing to ever escape the garden was Discord, but that was because he had chaotic magic on his side. Everypony noticed that Twilight had suddenly teleported away real quick. Even Spike was surprised as he looked around and didn't see Twilight anywhere. She suddenly teleported back, along with her saddlebag half full of paper...

"Twilight, what is all of that?" Shining asked as Twilight looked across the papers she had just dumped onto the table.

"These are my notes I used to create the spell for the statue markers... I made it impossible for anything to escape the statue marker without being noticed; and definitely impossible for anything to escape the garden barrier..." Twilight looked across her notes quickly as she took in all of the information the spell had within it. She came to a conclusion afterwards, but it wasn't something anypony would've liked though. "The only way anything could pull this off, was if they were never turned to stone to begin with..." Everything was dead silent after Twilight gave her answer. If everypony wasn't scared now, they definitely were now...

"Twilight, what about the marker plaque, did you not say that once the plaque holds the name of the creature when the statue is placed on the marker, that the creature is forever bound?" Twilight thought about Celestia's question for a moment. What she realized had happened was definitely a bad thing... She needed proof though.

"Celestia, Luna, what did the air smell like around the statue marker?" Twilight asked. She was hoping she was wrong. She got her answer soon enough though. Celestia and Luna talked for a moment before giving an answer.

"The air had a faded smoke smell to it. Kind of like the smell of soot or ash... That part of the garden has always smelled like that. We figured that it was because of what creatures were imprisoned there... Why do you ask?" Celestia asked. She was definitely curious as to what Twilight was thinking. Twilight had her eyes closed as she looked downward while shaking her head. "Twilight, what is wrong?" Celestia asked with worry in her voice.

"Celestia... That kind of smell is the same smell that comes from the inside of Tartarus... That means that this foe was never meant to be within the garden... If you didn't get any warning signals that a statue prisoner escaped, then the prisoner was never actually there... Since the plaque had writing on it, then what was on the marker had to have something from the prisoner's body on top of it; a very faded or weak amount of magic from the prisoner would answer that... Since there was an actual statue there, and now there isn't one at all; not to mention that you couldn't find any traces of one ever being there, and that the spell on the plaque and marker aren't broken... The only thing that would make sense to that is if there never was a prisoner there to begin with. Only a faded form of his magic was there. His magic encased in stone would be enough to make a statue version of his body without his physical body being there... The only thing that would cause the statue to disappear, would be if he had gotten his magical power back..." Twilight finished explaining as she put her notes back into her saddlebag. The silence in the room and the scared looks on both Celestia and Luna's faces had everypony worried. "Celestia, Luna, what haven't you told us about this prisoner? Normally you get serious about catching them... I don't think I've ever seen either of you actually scared of something..." Twilight was worried about how bad this actually was. She saw how bad Tirek was, but even then the head princesses were serious about what needed done without showing fear...

"Celestia knows more than I do," Luna said while looking towards the floor. The only thing that had ever scared her like this was the thought of becoming Nightmare Moon again... Nothing else had ever come close to making her feel this way...

"Twilight, this prisoner was turned to stone before Luna and I were born..." Celestia said. The room was suddenly too quiet as that sentence settled in. The look on Spike's face showed exactly how scared everypony in the room was...

"Celestia, does that mean you and Luna had parents? I don't remember reading about them in any of the Equestrian History books."

"It does Twilight. Every creature, no matter what species, has parents... We do not remember much about ours. That is why it is not in a history book. What is in the history books is that Luna and I were chosen as Princesses after freeing Equestria from Discord's reign of chaos over it... I am not sure where we even were before Equestria was here. Around a few centuries after Equestria was created was when Discord found it and began his reign. A few centuries after that was when Luna and I discovered and wielded the elements of harmony against him. A month went by before we heard we were chosen to be princesses if we wanted the position. We have been here ever since... I cannot even remember what they looked like, or much less what their names were... I remember our parents teaching us about our abilities and responsibilities. Rising and lowering the sun and the moon are very important after all... I was around five or six when our parents suddenly vanished... I do not r-remember how, but our lessons on things kept us alive as t-time went by... I do not even remember how we ended up away from home during that time. We learned about the prisoner statues, but after our parents vanished we were not anywhere close to where the statues were. There was nopony to look after them... This particular statue has eight names, which are actually eight different titles the creature was given... This foe is said to be impossible to track, and that it was impossible to see it until it was ready to attack us. Our parents had fought and lost against this creature many times... M-mother once said that if this creature had ever escaped, Equestria would eventually fall back on hard times... If the creature was to get strong enough, Equestria could easily be no more. From there, the whole world would be in danger..." When Celestia finished explaining most of what needed to be known, everypony was more scared than they thought they could ever be.

"Celestia, is there anything else that could help us with this? Such as what the creature looked like, what kind of magic it uses, the titles it was given, and how your parents stopped it?" Twilight just knew there had to be something they didn't know just yet. Everything that happened was always known to somepony. The hard part was always figuring out who knew about it.

"That is just it Twilight, nopony could read the language the titles were in. Our parents kept things hidden from us in hope that certain things would never get loose. If a prisoner should never escape, then there is no need for anypony to have a key to their cell... All I know is that the creature looked like an earth-pony stallion and yet was not, that it had eight names used as titles that were actually parts of this creature... There was also a saying that was used back when it was free that went with the titles without actually letting you figure out what the titles were... Nopony knows what magic it uses... As for how it was stopped, that is the biggest problem of all... The only thing that could stop it was somepony that already knew how. Since the information was either hidden or lost as time went by, I do not know of anypony that would know about it. Our parents turned it to stone, but somepony else stopped it so that could happen at all... The one that supposedly stopped it so our parents could turn it to stone, passed on to the next life shortly after the battle ended... This was before we were born, so there are many things beyond our knowledge that was lost with him, including his name... Mother told me that it was a "he" that had helped us when we were in dire need... I went through all of the journals I have kept over the years, and found a pattern I had wrote that mentioned a legend our subjects had talked about for several centuries before the legend disappeared... The legend itself was never put on paper, but the main character of the legend was always known as the initials, T. P." When Celestia finished talking, everypony began thinking of everything that was said. Twilight knew there was always something missing though. The only thing left that wasn't said became her next question.

"Celestia, what was the saying that went towards the titles?" Twilight was sure she might get somewhere with this saying, even if it was only a small lead to help with things. Celestia took a deep breath before giving an answer.

"Eight parts to link them together,

Eight parts to scare them all,

Eight parts that make us fall,

Until only they, stand before us," Celestia said while looking at the floor. Everypony could feel their blood run cold as the fear of the saying frightened them. Twilight was already busy trying to figure this out. She had already wrote down what Celestia had said about this creature to reference later on. She knew that she'd definitely need the girls on this one.

"Other than what I have just explained, does anypony else know anything that may pertain to this creature?" Celestia asked in hope of getting an answer. Nopony said anything for a few moments until Twilight spoke up.

"Well... I'm not sure that it necessarily pertains to this creature at all, but it may be a start towards it... On top of going through Star Swirl's notes for my mission; I also went through the Special Archives in the Canterlot Library... Several of the history books and journals talked about different things that had been seen throughout history. It took a while, but I found a book that contained basic doodles and drawings of these things... ... ... And for once, I can't remember what some of them looked like..." Twilight said before suddenly teleporting like she did earlier. Everypony was definitely curious as to what Twilight had supposedly found. They didn't have to wait too long before she teleported back. She opened the book and moved the doodles around on the table so everypony could look across them. "Some of these go back to ancient times. Some of them are of ancient paintings that no longer exist, but most them are just basic doodles and drawings that show what use to be found in many remote places around Equestria, as well as the world. I couldn't find any information towards some of them though..."

Everypony looked across the table over what use to be in the book. Only a few pages were actually attached to the book, so it was fairly easy to move the drawings across the table as everypony took in what information the book contained. The copied paintings were set aside as the doodles and drawings were separated and looked across. The basic creatures of the world were set aside as everypony already knew most of them. Dragons, griffons, diamond dogs, and the three different species of pony definitely stood out as not needing to look at right now. They even found a few alicorn doodles within the pile of paper on the table. Some of the styles of the artwork told them that many creatures from not just Equestria, but from around the world had helped create this book... After a while, Twilight had just moved aside a few drawings of some of the dangerous creatures within the Ever Free, when she came across something she didn't expect to see. She stared at it for a bit while thinking about what it could be... Everypony else noticed that Twilight wasn't searching through the drawings anymore, and began looking towards what she had found. Nopony could tell what the species was. They didn't even have a guess towards it. Nopony had ever seen something like this before, so it was definitely too new to know anything right off.

"Sis, have you ever come across anything like this, or perhaps heard anything about it from anypony?"

"No Luna, I have not... The first thing that comes to mind is a minotaur, but that doodle is too thin to be that. Not to mention that a minotaur has horns, and that doodle does not have any..." Celestia said as she thought about anything else it could be.

"Celestia, would you mind explaining the difference between a doodle and a drawing?" Celestia was surprised with Shining Armor's question, but answered nonetheless.

"A doodle can be anything from a stick figure to a shaded drawing with either no detail, or some detail used for the frame of it. A drawing is always more realistic because it always has a little detail used in several places within it. Some drawings are so detailed that you cannot tell them apart from actual photographs..." When Celestia finished explaining, Shining nodded and looked back at the doodle they were trying to figure out. Everypony wondered what Twilight knew towards this doodle. If something had her attention then she knew something about it... She also usually gave a speech towards whatever it was, but that was beside the point.

"Twily, do you know anything towards that doodle? It's been a while since the last time I saw you stare at paper so seriously..." Shining's question was definitely on everyponys mind at this point. What they didn't expect was for Twilight to go back through her saddlebag. What she pulled out of it only made everypony more curious as they watched her unroll a scroll and read over it... A few moments went by before Twilight looked at everypony. She realized all eyes were on her as she thought about what to say...

"Well everypony... I don't exactly know anything about this doodle, but it reminds me of something that was mentioned to me today... It was why I was late for this meeting and deals with a letter I received from a couple of friends... I'm not sure if it needs to be mentioned just yet, but I now know that it definitely needs to be said in this meeting..." The room was silent for a while after Twilight had stopped talking. Everypony was curious as to what Twilight was in need of saying. Nopony expected what was said next though.

"Twilight, I discovered something last night and have a question for ye because of it... I am not certain about whether it may pertain towards thy creature we spoke about, the doodle, or if it may be of any importance at all. While I went through the dream world last night, I found a shielded and cloudy spot I could not enter. A cloudy spot could easily mean that you or any of us alicorns didn't want me to look over your dream that particular point in time. However, that does not mean I could not enter the dream. I would still be able to hear what happened during the dream. I just would not be able to see it. Discord is able to make his dreams cloudy just as much as we are, but he tends to show off everything... I don't visit his dreams as much as I use to... I do not think I shall ever forget some of the things he had within his dreams... Anyway, no matter what, it is practically impossible to actually shield thy dreams from me. The only creature that has ever shielded me was Tirek, but that was after he had consumed half of Equestria's magic..." Luna paused for a moment before continuing. "This shielded area was on the edge of Ponyville, and is on the opposite side of town from thy castle... Do you know anything about this?" Silence filled the room again as everypony saw Twilight look back at the letter scroll she had retrieved from her saddlebag. Twilight thought about what Luna had said and described while thinking back to the letter. She realized that Rarity and Fluttershy may be in danger, but wasn't sure as to what she should think about this... The only thing she knew now was that she needed to explain what distracted her this morning...

"Well everypony, it looks like what I was in need of explaining is now in need of being said." She took a deep breath as she thought of how to begin, and began with what she knew so far. "Spike helped fill me in on everything I wasn't paying attention to this morning. I had been going through everything I needed for this meeting, but in return I didn't catch what Fluttershy and Rarity were talking about during breakfast at Sugarcube Corner... Spike said that Fluttershy wanted to show Rarity something she had found, and that it was a surprise... I didn't think much about it until I received a letter from them just before teleporting over here... I didn't think it was too important until reading the request they gave me. This letter may clear up some of what needs to be said, as it holds some information that might be of importance with this meeting...

Fluttershy supposedly found a creature in the Everfree Forest and wanted somepony to see if they knew what it was. They would've called me for help, but they knew I had a meeting to get to. Rarity was the only one that was free today since I had this meeting, and everypony else had to work. From what they described, this creature supposedly walks on two legs, can talk, goes by the name "Jonwolf Smith," is supposedly a bit fierce until you get to talking to him, and might not be from our world. As you can see, that description is almost perfect with the doodle on the table... I've never come across, nor have I heard of a creature like this before, so I'm not sure what to do exactly... They wanted me to round up the girls so we could talk to this creature in hopes of figuring out what to do from there... From what we've heard towards the creature that is supposedly loose from the garden, there is a chance that either this creature is the prisoner in disguise, or he may know something that we don't... No matter what, I'll know more once I get back to Ponyville..." Everything was quiet in the room as everything that was said was thought over. Celestia spoke up after a bit though.

"...Twilight... From what I know about the prisoner from the garden, it looks like an earth-pony stallion. If this is true, then it would have to look like a pony no matter what. It may change its appearance from time to time, but it is always pony-like in person... Therefore, this creature over in Ponyville is not the prisoner... I do hope that it may know something about it though... Since you guard over Ponyville and watch over the Everfree Forest, I will leave its safety in your hooves. If you need any help with this creature in any way, please do not hesitate to let us know... Since this creature is able to keep Luna out of his dreams, he may be a bit dangerous. Not to mention that his name is like nothing that you would normally hear about in Equestria... Since we do not know anything more about this, we shall be waiting for a letter about it later on..." Celestia paused as she thought about everything that was mentioned so far, and couldn't think of anything else she may not have said in the meeting. There was only one thing left to do in that situation. "Since I cannot think of anything to add, does anypony have anything else to add to all of this?" She asked. Shining put a hoof on the table shortly before asking about something.

"Celestia, why is it that most of the pictures in the history book that Twilight has are doodles drawn with the same color?" Everypony looked at the doodles they had been sorting and realized that they were indeed in the same shade of black. Not to mention that almost all of them are doodles.

"As history goes on, things get ruined or changed. If the picture that describes something in history gets ruined, the caretaker of the book will either refurbish the ruined parts, or make a perfect doodle of whatever the picture once was... Back in the day, everything was done in a black dye of some kind... I believe charcoal was used the most during the era that those doodles were done..." There was a pause after Celestia was done explaining.

"Oh..." Shining nodded and sighed as he thought of how difficult it would be to take care of old books and tomes. Not to mention how boring it must be for anypony.

"Does anypony else have anything to add to this meeting?" This time when Celestia asked, nopony could think of anything to add. "I shall remind you all to keep your eyes and ears on the lookout for anything that may be suspicious at all. Hopefully this prisoner will be caught before it can do any damage... Until we have more to discuss outside of a letter, I hereby bring this Royal meeting to a close," Celestia said before slightly stomping one of her hooves against her chair again. Everypony except Celestia and Luna began to grab their things and head for the door. Celestia looked over at Luna with a question at hoof. "Sis, do you want to help me with the day court today?" Celestia knew it had been a while since they had helped citizens from across Equestria at the same time. The life cycle of day and night had always kept things split between the two sisters. Today's meeting had shaken things up a little though.

"It has been quite a while since we had been together for the court... Very well, the day court has waited for us long enough. Lead the way sister." Celestia smiled at Luna's words as she began to lead the way to their thrones at the other side of the Throne Room. When the others reached the doors of the Throne Room, they saw the sound barrier unseal from the room, and the doors magically open. There was a guard on each side of the door, along with a line of ponies along the hall. Everypony suddenly bowed towards the Royals. The Royals bowed back as they started walking down the hall, away from the crowd. Shining noticed that Twilight looked slightly uncomfortable. He realized what it was the further they got from the crowd.

"Hey sis, you still getting used to being a princess?" Twilight nodded as she looked up towards her brother.

"A year may have gone by, but things here in Canterlot are nothing like back in Ponyville... I don't have to worry about bowing that much over there, but here, it's an everyday thing..." Shining nodded as they stopped just ten hooves from Twilight's room in the Castle.

"It starts out rough at first, but it gets easier as time goes by. Things definitely took some getting used to when I became ruler of the Crystal Empire," Cadance said. She knew it wasn't easy, but that things always got easier as time went by. Even the difficult things could be done better with each time it was done. She continued after a moment. "Our next difficult task is to help catch this prisoner. We can't do that from here though, so we'll be heading back to the Empire now. It was nice to see you again Twilight." Twilight nuzzled them both. Spike, who had been on Twilight's back the whole time, gave them a hug before Twilight took a couple steps back.

"It was nice to see you both again. Hopefully we can see each other soon after this prisoner business is over with. Have a good day at the Empire," Twilight said while her and Spike waved towards them. They waved back as Cadance's bluish magic circled around her and Shining Armor before they both teleported out of the hallway and back to their Throne Room back in the Crystal Empire. Twilight and Spike had just entered Twilight's room and closed the door when she looked back at Spike.

"Are you ready Spike?"

"I'm guessing we're about to teleport back to Ponyville?"

"Yep!"

"Then I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Spike said as they both took a deep breath and held it. Twilight's purplish magic flared up before they suddenly blinked out of the room and appeared back in Ponyville.

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Back At The Library

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"Well Twilight, now that were back in Ponyville, what do we do from here?"

"Well Spike, we have an unknown creature that could potentially be dangerous over at Fluttershy's cottage. Both Rarity and Fluttershy are with this creature right now. We have a prisoner on the loose that needs to be captured before something bad happens... The only thing left to do in a situation like this would be to send letters to the girls that aren't over at the cottage telling them to wait outside of it until I get there... After that we would need to make a trip to Fluttershy's Cottage... It's almost noon, so we need to get a move on." Spike hopped off Twilight's back as a question came to mind.

"Twilight, does this mean another checklist needs to be made?" The moment he saw a grin on Twilight's face, was when he knew what his answer was. He sighed before going to a desk to get a pen and some paper. I looked back towards Twilight and waited for the first thing for the checklist to be said.

"First thing on the list, double check the checklist to make sure we are prepared for our visit to Fluttershy's cottage." Spike sighed heavily as he wrote it down. The moment Twilight had said "double check" was the moment he knew this was going to be a long day...