The Halfway Mark

The moon had done a splendid job of lighting the night through the thick clouds. The night was chill, silent and breezy; a perfect, relaxing evening. Dim moonlight descended on the top of the castle tower, one that had a single door guarded by a lone unicorn who, despite having a flawless field of vision telling him the night was all clear, was on edge. The war had reached new heights recently with the rumors of dragon involvement, after all. It wouldn’t do well for a dragon to get through his guard and take the castle by surprise. His hooves were steady, his muscles were taut, his mind was tense, his eyes and ears alert. Every single shadow in the moonlit sky; be it bird or bee, was a potential threat. Each passing movement or sound made him twitch slightly. Nothing escaped his scrutiny.

There were still seven hours till dawn. He had a long way to go until his shift ended and he was replaced on guard by the next pony. Boredom was his only companion, one he’d learned to throw off the balcony every time it appeared. Boredom meant lack of focus, and lack of focus could mean the lives of the entire garrison.

He let his thoughts wander the slightest bit once the clouds had cleared and enhanced his watch. Times had taken a turn for the worse, what with battles left and right, news of deaths, raids, entire populations razed to the ground. The princesses were gone, still alive, raising their charges as usual, but hidden in order to stay safe from the besiegers of ponykind. On all fronts, Equestria was beset by attacks, from outside, and from inside. The inside attacks were the worst – ponies slaughtering ponies for power. Equestria was divided without its leaders, and soon enough many factions had shown up.

Between the elitist unicorn Horncaste led by that arrogant Blueblood claiming rule by right of birth, to the pegasi of the Wings of Liberty fighting to claim Pegasus superiority, and the earth ponies of the Stonehoof Alliance fighting simply to keep their territory and independence, Equestria was most definitely shattered into many pieces. There were other factions as well, such as the Archivers, who dedicated themselves to the acquisition and preservation of as much of Equestria’s neglected knowledge, and the Blacksmith Guild, the most coveted ally of all the factions, who was still neutral. But one group was feared above all and spoken of only in the most hushed of tones. These ponies were called the Daughters of Equestria, and their goals were unknown like the rest of the group. Only a few things were certain about them – they were known for a fact to have less than twenty members, but each one was a master in her field, feared and respected by their fellows. Their methods varied wildly, but none could dispute their power. Only recently three of their number had taken an entire village from the Horncaste’s occupation and led the villagers into the wilderness where they were reported to have started a new thriving settlement. And rumors were that they had access to powers that were on par with a princess...

The guard snapped back to focus. He’d let himself drift for five minutes – almost inexcusable. Five minutes would be all that an enemy would need to open an assault on Castle Hawthorne. He surveyed the skies again. The clouds had come back thicker, that he had to squint to see properly the silhouettes in them. His hoof edged near the bow slung across his side. That bird looked oddly draconic – was it? It was flying in his general direction, and if it was a dragon, he'd need the advance warning. Better safe than sorry...

His magic drew the bow and nocked the arrow from his quiver into it. Carefully, he took aim, and loosed an ebony arrow. It flew like a sliver of shadow, unseen in the darkness of the night. He waited, and a few moments afterwards, the bird fell to the ground. Obviously a bird then. No dragon would fall that quickly. He put back his bow beside him and checked his quiver. He had plenty of arrows left, and his talent with marksmanship that had put him in this guard position would make sure that the arrows would suffice. Besides, the wards on the wall nearby would alert the whole castle the moment he activated it with his magic.

The shadows were still there, but they were normal creatures of the night. Seeing the same things over and over was starting to tax his stamina and focus. Normally, he would be able to stay on mark much longer, but he’d been forced to pull double shifts ever since the recent skirmish with nearby Wings of Liberty soldiers took several of the guards out of the action.

The imaginary clock on his head ticked. Slowly, he counted down the hours. Six and a half hours left before he could get the first bit of sleep he’d had in three days. A bird perched itself in front of him, chirped, and left. He watched it fly and envied its freedom, reminiscing about the peaceful days in the past. Six hours.

Nothing whatsoever happened, and his jaw was starting to rebel, attempting to yawn. Five hours and forty – five minutes left. He looked up and saw a bigger flock of birds fly toward him. It was migration season, so this was perfectly normal. They approached overhead. Five hours and thirty – one minutes.

The birds flew directly overhead at exactly the five and a half hour mark. He paid them no heed, and neither did he pay any attention to the black figure that they dropped behind him, the Pegasus that perched itself on top of the wall. It snuck ever closer, its hoofsteps timed perfectly to the flock of birds’ wing flaps, every sound masked. It got directly behind the guard, and in one motion, grabbed his mouth with one forehoof, the tail end of his body in the other, before rolling to the ground and kicking him off the edge of the castle tower. Just as he was about to scream, one of the birds in the overhead flock flew in his mouth, muffling his voice. Wherever he landed would be a mystery, but it was sufficient to know that he would be out of the fray for days at least. Distantly, there was a splash as though a pony had thrown a pebble into a lake.

The black figure put a hoof to its head. Grasping a lock in the cloth, it removed the head part of the body suit that covered all of it, from mane to withers, and to the tip of each wing feather. The removal of the headgear revealed an orange Pegasus with a magenta mane, who looked every which way, before peering down one side, the one facing the nearby woods. Down way below were two similarly clothed ponies, one white unicorn with a pink and purple mane, and the other a yellow earth pony with a red mane and a similarly colored bow on the back of her head. The one on top of the castle tower received a rope from the birds flying overhead, who chirped and left in unison, waiting in the nearby forest for the rest of the job. The Pegasus lowered the rope to its length, and tied it to a nearby stone crevice in the masonry. The two ponies below took hold of the rope and began to climb, the one above keeping watch for flying Pegasus patrols. So far their information was right – patrols swept the skies every hour, which gave them a solid twenty – eight minutes.

The ascent was slow, in order to not rouse any attention. The special noise – muffling suits could only mask so much, and the sight of two mares climbing up the tower would not help them in the slightest. The imaginary clock of the now – indisposed guard had manifested in the three as well. Twenty - five minutes, and they were only halfway up the tower.

Twenty minutes remaining, they finally rejoined the Pegasus on the tower top. She greeted them and took their packages from their backs, distributing its contents among them. Wristblades, wristbows, some rope for the yellow pony, and a set of maps. Weaponry was more for emergencies - subterfuge was their specialty, not murder. Even the guard that was thrown off  earlier had landed in a deep lake that would leave no more than a few bruises. The equipment having been doled out to their appropriate users, the three entered the upper doors of Castle Hawthorne.

The tower was in one distant corner of the castle, some distance away from their objective – the main treasury. There were nearer towers, of course, but there were also more guards there, and they would have had a much harder time getting in through there. The interior of the castle was a dim candle and moon lit place, with dark stone and dark red carpet lining the corridors. They consulted their maps, and took a left, to the upper residential quarters. More ponies were here than in the other paths they could have taken from that tower. However, their being unconscious was more favorable than trying to sneak past the other guards who were awake.

The dimly lit path forked. One led to the dining hall, the other to the storage rooms. They took to the dining hall, consulting their maps every now and then. Few would be here at this time, and those who would be were chefs preparing breakfast, their din blocking out the very silent whispers and steps of the three. The scouts had informed them of the feast scheduled the next day, so they went away from the kitchen using the very next path they had.

Closer and closer they snuck, avoiding the guards at every turn. The watch was getting more and more vigilant and difficult to get past the closer they got to the treasury. Still, they managed to get ever nearer, until they made a right turn and faced the corridor leading to the treasury itself. It was a long one, with a wooden door in the middle, flanked by two guards. There were plenty of windows here, that they could not trust to the security of the shadows.

“You girls got a plan?” whispered the Pegasus.

“Ah don’t,” answered the earth pony.

“I’ve got an idea,” replied the unicorn. She brought out a stone from her pack. “Applebloom, when I tap your shoulder, throw this as far as you can to the opposite side of the corridor.”

“Now, wait a minute –“

“This’ll work!”

Trusting to the plan of her friend, but still not completely confident, she picked up the stone, and with a silent prayer, threw it as far as she could silently. It collided with the other side of the wall, and the very split second that the stone struck, the heads of the guards looked to their left, which Sweetie Belle took full advantage of by quickly casting her quietest invisibility spell on the three, cloaking its sound with the sound of the stone.

“Sweet,” whispered Scootaloo. “Follow my lead now.”

The three snuck closer to the two guards. As they approached, Scootaloo whispered to the others, “I’ll take the guy on the left. Applebloom, right. Sweetie, get ready with your sleep spell. We’ll silence them, and you put them out.” The other two nodded in agreement as they took their designated places; Scootaloo on the right side of the guard on the right of the door, and Applebloom on the left side of the guard on the left. Sweetie took her spot right in the doorway. The muffling of the suits and the invisibility made sure that the two guards took no notice. “Now!”

The guards barely had time to react. No sooner had they twitched on hearing the whispered word, were they muted by the hooves of their attackers. As their eyes widened from fear of their unseen enemy, they soon fell to sleep as a dim flash of magic washed over them. When they had slumped to the floor, the invisibility spell wore off, restoring some of the unicorn’s stamina. They unlocked the door and entered the treasury.

It was a room stocked full to the brim of all sorts of trinkets and coin. All of these they ignored, searching for a very specific artifact. A golden curve shape was all they were interested in, and after minutes of searching, they found it, stored within a tiny chest. Scootaloo took it and placed it in her pack, and brought out one other thing. It was a tiny piece of parchment, which she put in the shelf in place of the chest. It read:

The Daughters of Equestria shall restore this land of ours.

Equestria Prevails!

“All done.” She then motioned to the other two, and they drew to the middle of the room. “You can teleport us away now, Sweetie. And remember the instructions.”

“As noisy as possible, I know.” Her magic flared up in preparation for the modified untraceable teleportation spell she was about to cast.

“Ah still don’t get why the hay we have ta be noisy on our way out.”

“We can ask later when we get back. We just have to be.”

“Ready?” asked the unicorn, as the light grew to blinding. The two nodded, and in an explosion of white light and a rumbling sound, they were all gone. Moments later, the guards rushed to the treasury, only to find the two unconscious guards and the note of the Daughters.

“Oh, thank the heavens they’ve left!” exclaimed the leader of the castle upon seeing the note and surveying the damages. With the reputation of the Daughters of Equestria, he was glad that the castle was merely robbed. In all likelihood, they could have taken the entire castle. Such feats were not above them should necessity call for such extreme measures. He slumped on the wall relieved, for nopony that was visited in the past by the mysterious Daughters was ever visited again.

The three materialized in the woods at the corner of the castle. The flock of birds was there, silent in wait. The ponies lined up and said in unison, “Though the sun might fade and the stars might fall, the light of harmony will survive. The Daughters of Equestria will live on. Good will win, evil will lose, and as always, Equestria prevails!” Their hooves went up to their foreheads in a salute to the birds, who chirped their bird codes. In unison, the flock flew up, and went south, followed by the three ponies. The mission was a success.

Three hours of walking had gone by, and the three mares were tired. They were still following the birds, who thankfully had dropped from the skies and flew low, entering a dark cave in the middle of the grassy hill. The woods surrounded the cave from all sides. From the distance, this place was invisible, unless one had a bird’s eye view, and even then it looked simply like a massive natural monolith that was slowly being reclaimed by the forest. Grass was in its cracks and its exterior was coated thinly in some places of moss. The opening was concealed by an overhang, and into this opening the three walked in.

Six steps in, they stopped and lined up. If one attempted to walk straight ahead, the floors would open and they would fall to the depths below, magically enchanted to transport any entity falling through to the bottom of a nearby shallow lake, which they could then swim to the surface of and to relative safety. However, these three weren’t just any ponies; they knew this place’s secrets by heart. A nearby pair of large eyes opened in the darkness of the cave, and asked, “Who?”

“Applebloom.”

“Sweetie Belle.”

“Scootaloo.”

“Who.” The pair of eyes disappeared and there was a flapping of wings, the click of a stone button, and a hiss as the wall opened in some places to reveal lights, and the entire back of the cave floor flipped open to reveal a trapdoor which all three ponies plus the owl entered. It led to a staircase descending into the insides of the hill, stopping in front of a door and a small hole in the side of the walls barely big enough for a filly, let alone the three mares.

Instead of opening the door, the three faced the wall where the hole was. In single file, they stepped through the wall beside the hole, which was merely a magical illusory barrier designed to keep out the luckiest and the best of thieves and scouts. From that barrier extended a very long and narrow corridor lined with doors, which was called the Webway by the Daughters. These doors were all magical portals leading to the various exit points of the organization, and the various points through which they slipped in and out of the lands of Equestria, to procure supplies, survey enemies, and the like.

At the very end was a shimmering portal. To this portal the three walked, still in single file, the only possible formation here. When they were all directly in front of it, the one in front turned to the right and opened the door there, stepping into a massive hall of oak, lined with many things – books, potions, windows, supplies, among other things. There was a spacious dining area there, and several more doors leading to several other places. They headed to a yellow one leading to a meadow full of the chirping of birds and the buzzing of bees, and the other sounds of springtime.

“Hi, Fluttershy!” they chimed in unison, slightly startling the Pegasus. She leapt back a little, and smiled when she saw the three girls. “Hi, girls. How was the mission? I’ve heard plenty from the birds, but they didn’t know much what happened inside,” she said, offering the three a pot of tea while the animals gathered. They had come to like these three who often spent their time in the grasslands. Not even a war could break their spirits and they love of the outdoors.

“Oh, wow, it was an awesome day! A little hard, sure, but nothing we can’t handle,” said Scootaloo, sitting down in a chair with the other two beside her. “Where do we begin...”

The three recounted their tale to Fluttershy, with an audience of animals around them. Fluttershy was most relieved that the three had come out safe and sound. As much as she hated to put them in danger, they were the best at what they did, and Fluttershy couldn’t ever deny that. She trusted their abilities to the fullest, and they trusted her information as well. That was why they had become close, because they had to work together more often. Every single pony of the Daughters of Equestria was a sibling, if not by blood then by spirit. Still, there were things like favorite siblings.

“... and we teleported out so noisy, they would have to be deaf not to hear it!” exclaimed Scootaloo, her hooves in the air for emphasis.

“Oh yeah, why do we have ta go out so noisy always?” asked Applebloom.

“I think you should ask Twilight. It was her idea, of course. I – I mean I know why, but I think she can explain better,” was the reply.

“Sure, but we haven’t seen her in weeks! I know she’s probably busy and all, but she’s been missing out on our lessons!”

chimed in Sweetie Belle. “She was supposed to teach me the other day!”

“I know, Sweetie, and I’m sorry about that, but I think she really has a lot on her hooves. After all, she is managing all those portals and every single secret entrance and exit we have, plus she has to handle our atmosphere here so we can work properly. I’m honestly a little scared for her health,” said Fluttershy, putting a hoof on the mare’s mane and ruffling it. She liked doing that, because it always brought her back to the days of peace ten years ago, when the Daughters of Equestria didn’t exist yet, and when the Daughters weren’t needed at all.

“I guess you’re right. We’re just really worried ‘cause we haven’t seen her for so long.”

“Don’t you worry about her. We’re always going to be here for you, and for her as well. I think you should get inside now, it’s about to rain...”

The four headed inside as the critters went back into their dwellings that had been so painstakingly carved by Fluttershy into the surroundings of the hideout. They were cared for and supported by the Daughters, but it wasn’t completely free, what with their situation and all. Even with Twilight’s spatial magic providing them ample space and security from the outside world, the farms they had weren’t as big as the ones that sustained Ponyville in the past, so the animals had to carry their weight. They found the perfect role as the information network of the Daughters, and with them under Fluttershy’s command, there was no part of Equestria that they had no surveillance over.

The four waited in the dining hall for the rest of the ponies – at least those that stayed here – came back. There was only a hooffull of ponies that lived here in what they called The Tree, and they were usually out on jobs of their own. Tonight was scheduled to be a meeting however, and so all permanent dwellers would be there for dinner.

Dinner was delightful, with plenty of conversation over apple pies and hay salad, courtesy of one of the hold's two resident chefs, Applejack. Applejack, as always, was most relieved when the three mares were present at the dinner, as were the rest, but none were as happy as the sisters of the three. Rainbow might not be Scootaloo’s sister for real, but for all intents and purposes she was.

The meal was bright and light – hearted, although it wasn’t long until the serious tone started. Twilight entered the room, looking more exhausted than ever. If it weren’t for Rarity and Fluttershy constantly keeping watch over her health, she’d probably have collapsed long ago. Thankfully, her protection spells were now self – sustaining, and her recovery was in order.

Twilight cleared her throat to speak. Upon hearing the “ahem” of the tired mare, all fell silent and sat down, waiting for the unicorn to start her talking. She began, “Let’s get right down to business. Today, we have reached an important mark in our quest for the recovery of Equestria. We have successfully completed half of the sun icon.” There was a general applause at these words, but the three mares who had recovered the most recent piece didn’t join in. Instead, they said, “We don’t see why that’s important. We know you have a reason and all, but could you maybe at least tell us?”

“Sorry, about that. I never told you? Really?” asked Twilight, somewhat confused; perhaps the exhaustion was getting to her. When they all shook their heads, she sighed, and began to explain.

“As you know, we need the princesses to restore balance here in Equestria, and then push back the invaders in our country. But all we know about them is that they’re in hiding until we can muster up a force to protect them from the outsiders long enough until they can protect us. With that siege of the Necruus on Canterlot, and the princesses’ narrow escape; we can be assured that they won’t be appearing until we can secure them, with those things on their tails. We can handle the Necruus now, as we’ve proven, so now the problem is finding the princesses themselves. They won't have been caught, since they can handle those things on their own, but they won't be able to protect Equestria unless we protect them in turn.”

“That’s where the sun icon comes in. It wasn’t originally in that many pieces, naturally, but she broke it up just before she disappeared. It has plenty of her magic in it, but it’s useless in pieces, which was precisely her point. By breaking the sun icon, and scattering it, she ensured that no one can abuse her stored magical power. Once we reassemble this icon, the magic will reactivate, and we can trace her magic back to her, and bring her back to Equestria.”

The three mares looked up in understanding. The weight of the knowledge that Twilight had just given them was very heavy. They didn’t know that their work was so important. The others had told them that it was a rite of passage, but now they knew the truth. And it was inspiring, to say the least. However, there was one more thing they had to know.

“If what we were doin’ was so important, why didn’t ya’ll tell us in the first place?” asked Applebloom, looking around at the rest of the ponies, who were looking away, apparently trying to find a reason.

“See, the thing is, we weren’t willin’ ta let you in the operations, but we had ta, the way ya’ll insisted fer months, and with the war, we need every hoof we can get. We agreed ta not tell ya the truth so it didn’ get in yer head, and we hoped that ye’d quit when ya saw how hard it was. None of us wanted ta risk ya’ll gettin’ hurt,” said Applejack.

“Yeah, but you kept insisting, and even if we gave you unimportant but difficult missions, you still did them, so we trained you all instead as hard as we could. You were all really stubborn and refused to quit, and we figured, there was no point giving you pointless jobs if you were that willing to do them,” continued Rainbow Dash.

“We all agreed that even if we gave you our best training and our best equipment, you would still always be under our watch. For your past few missions, we had Discord tailing you, but Twilight made him search for the princesses instead, so somepony had to replace him. This most recent mission that you three girls had, you were followed and constantly watched by Rainbow Dash,” added Rarity.

“We just wanted you all to have a normal life, even with this war, which is why we objected so strongly to your trying to join our work,” ended Fluttershy.

“Which is also why the three of you are going off duty for now,” said Twilight. “I’m sorry, I know you want to help, but it’s only going to get more dangerous from now on. If ever we’re going to send you again, it’s going to be with one of us.”

“Aww... We were just getting the hang of things!” complained Scootaloo. She knew that they were right, of course. Nonetheless, she didn’t like the idea of just sitting in the sidelines.

“Don’t worry, if we do this right, we won’t be needing you to get the ‘hang of things’ anymore,” said Twilight. She closed her eyes and prayed. Hopefully she was right. However, the darkness of current times would only get darker in the near future. Still, they were allowed to hope, right? Besides, no matter what, they were always going to be together, and together they would be able to weather anything. Come what will, she thought to herself, pulling all of them in a hug. The Daughters of Equestria would win. And as always, Equestria prevails.