Attack of the Equine Empire

Chapters

A cold, boring, and frankly dull night
Time for a vacation!
The Train
New places, New faces
Would you consider this an attack?
History Lesson
Questions
Setting Out
Getting Out of the Muck
The Bloodied Stallions
Friends
Tales of the Old Days
Meet and Greet

A cold, boring, and frankly dull night

"Greetings, brave soldiers! Hail Princess Cornaria, may her peaceful reign over the fair nation of Mustangia last a thousand years and beyond," said the old pony standing at the toll booth.

"Hail to you too, good sir," Quick Star said with thinly veiled discontent. The elderly stallion said nothing and continued to smile at Quick. He had recited the words, as it was customary for anypony entering the borders of Mustangia. It wasn't required, it was just a nice little gesture that ponies thought was customary for some reason. Quick Star heard those exact words so many times that he told himself if he heard them once more, he would blow away the next pony who spoke them. He told himself that every time.

The night was cold and humid. Every so often it would start pouring for a few minutes, then stop, then start again fifteen minutes later. Quick's armor was starting to rust, his mane refused to dry, and for every step he took there was a puddle waiting to be stepped in. Sometimes Quick Star really hated that Princess Cornaria preferred natural weather systems. Sometimes he just wished they'd have the pegasi manage all the weather like every other country but oh no, the ecosystem benefits much more from it's own weather schedule. Who were they to change it? We're the ponies soaked head to hoof and freezing, that's who! Quick Star thought.

"Okay, let's see your passport," he said to the old stallion. The unicorn used his magic to remove a piece of paper from his saddle bag and he gave it to Quick Star. The young guard walked over to Cherry Bomb, his partner sitting in the booth, and they looked it over together.

"Looks okay to me," Cherry said as he leaned out the booth's window. Every hour they switched who got to stay in the booth with the blanket and who had to walk around outside. For some reason, Quick always felt like Cherry got more time in it than he did.

"Same here," Quick concurred, and he gave the passport back to the stallion. "Okay, you're good to go, sir. That'll be twenty bits for passage. Enjoy your stay in Mustangia." The pony bowed and tossed Quick a small bag of bits. After counting that it was the right amount he signaled Cherry to open the gate and let the pony pass. The dirt road was very narrow with tall trees towering over each side. Most of Mustangia's borders very covered in thick forests. The country's southwestern border that it shared with Equestria was mostly snowy tundras, though, and mountains with some dotted trees here and there. The further north and east a pony goes, the greener and warmer the country becomes. The toll station that Quick Star and Cherry Bomb worked at, however, was the northeastern most border. A border shared with the Equine Empire.

Long after the stallion was gone Quick walked over to Cherry's booth, only to find him asleep. "Hey, Cherry, wake up. No sleeping while on duty."

He refused to open his eyes and merely turned away from him. "Quick, it's the middle of the night. That's usually when ponies sleep."

"Not us. While on duty we are strictly forbidden to eat, sleep, be comfortable, or have a generally optimistic outlook on life." That made Cherry laugh. He seemed to think it was still not worth opening his eyes, though.

"Yeah, if we aren't at our most miserable then we can't effectively kill anypony who forgets their passport. Hell, we won't even be able to stop the Equine Empire invasion when it finally comes." He half-heartedly wave his hoof in the direction of the Empire.

"Considering that is literally ninety percent of our job, I'd say that would be unfortunate."

"Technically though, we don't have to stop it. We just have to signal Command if we see an army coming towards us. Then we just wait here until help arrives. Provided we don't get slaughtered first." Quick laughed and turned to make his rounds again.

"Of course," he said back to Cherry.

"You know what?" He opened his eyes and sat up in the chair. "If the Equine Empire came here tonight, offered me a warmer blanket than this soggy piece of crap, a full night's sleep, and a more manageable weather system, I'd let them in. No questions asked."

"That's treason, you know? Although, on a night like this, I'd probably do it too." Who am I kidding, he thought, on a night like this...I'd do it a thousand times over. Besides, they won't ever attack anyway. They haven't for a hundred years since they became a country and started making their threats, and they won't now.

"Hey, Quick! Look alive! We've got somepony coming," Cherry said from the booth. Quick Star turned to see a young stallion with a bright teal coat pulling a dusty cart that creaked along as it moved. Each rock it went over seemed to bend the wood more and more. The young pony stopped in front of the gate and smiled at the two guards. "Greetings, brave soldiers. Hail Princess Cornaria, may her peaceful reig-"

"Reign last a long time, yadda yadda yadda, just tell us the purpose of your visit and you can be on your way," Quick Star said.

"Oh, of course," said the pony. The smile on his face appeared as if it was trying to out-do all the smiles of every other pony who came to the booth, wishing to enter the "great" Mustangia. "Well, I'm on my way to visit my family and sell my wares in the wonderful nation of Mustangia," he said.

"Very well. You can go in as soon as we see your passport and take a look at what's in your cart." Quick pointed at the old thing. He was about to walk over to it, but the young pony intervened before he could even lift his hoof.

"Oh I don't think that'll be necessary, good sirs. My family members are already citizens of Mustangia."

"Family relations or not we still have procedures to follow. It'll only take a minute." That time he was able to take a step before being cut off once again.

"Look, my family lives in Stalliongrad, just bring them over and they'll vouch for me." The pony's smile had faded by then.

"Sir, Stalliongrad is literally on the other side of the country."

"Oh, well, um, of course! Silly me! I just forgot." Quick Star and Cherry Bomb exchanged a look. Cherry got up from his seat and shook off his blanket. Quick began inching towards the cart. The pony just continued to stand there, as if expecting them to just drop it.

"Sir," Quick said, "I'm going to have to search your cart. My friend here is going to make sure you don't go anywhere while I do it." Cherry stepped out of the booth as Quick Star went around the cart.

"What ever you say, sirs," the pony whimpered. Cherry's horn started to glow as Quick moved slowly around the cart. Against his own wishes, Quick began to tremble as he took each step.

Quick Star got to the back of the cart, which had a tarp covering the goods inside. He paused for a brief second, and took a deep breath. He ripped off the tarp to reveal the contents underneath. Then he was on the ground. The force of what he thought was a hoof making contact with his face forced him down. Blood trickled from his snout and everything went black. He couldn't see but he could hear Cherry Bomb's scream of pain and then silence. The world went from black to spinning as he crawled on the ground, face first in the mud, rain beating down on his helmet.

When his vision returned he saw the young stallion who had pulled the cart, and he was joined by two others. One was large, old, maneless with a red coat, and with a very hulking physique. The other was lean and young with a short mane and a dark grey coat. "Get the uniforms," the grey one commanded. He walked past the cart, stepped over Cherry's corpse, and entered the booth. He pressed the button and the gate opened wide. "Get rid of the bodies. Remember, the code any of ours will use is daybreak. For any others follow normal procedures."

"Yes sir," the two said in unison. As the grey coated unicorn was hooking himself up to the cart with his magic, Quick Star tried to crawl unnoticed into the nearby wood. He moved as fast as he could, but the world didn't stop spinning, and the mud was so thick and so cold. He felt a hoof press on his back, and it pinned him there. He looked up and saw the teal pony standing over him. "Where do you think you're going, friend?" he asked. Quick saw the pony's horn begin to glow, and he almost felt sick thinking about what would happen next.

"Um... sir! It doesn't fit," the big pony had said from over where Cherry laid.

"What do you mean it doesn't fit?" the grey pony said. He had already begun to leave with the cart when the other had stopped him.

"The uniform's too small, sir." The large pony had Cherry's helmet sitting lopsided on his head, obviously unable to put in on all the way, and he struggled to clasp the chestplate over his torso to no avail.

"Suck in your gut," the grey pony yelled from the cart.

"I tried that sir." He tried it again to show that it wouldn't work.

"Seriously? Okay, what about that one?" He pointed to where Quick Star was pinned down. The pony that was pinning him lifted his hoof slightly so that Quick could respond to his inquiries. "What size uniform are you?"

Quick Star didn't know what to do. His mind was racing from Cherry, to what happened, to the three ponies, to Cornaria, to home, then back to the situation at hand. All he could think to say was an answer to the question. "Uhh... I-I'm a size five."

"I'm a size nine," said the large pony, frowning.

"Nine isn't very far from five," said the young pony standing over Quick Star.

"Are you kidding? It's four whole sizes from five. I can't fit in that."

"Shut up!" yelled the black coated stallion. The two promptly did so. "Just wait here until more of ours pass through and you can switch duties with somepony. We don't have time for stupid things like this. We'd like to have everypony at the capital in a few days time and you're not helping." The two ponies gave a "Yes sir!" in unison.

As the large one dragged away Cherry Bomb the young teal pony looked back down to Quick Star, his hoof pressing harder than ever before. "I know you didn't help much with the whole uniform thing, but thanks anyway." Quick saw the pony's horn glow and a bright light flashed, and he was blind again.

Princess Cornaria woke up screaming. She was breathing heavily, her light blue coat was covered in sweat, and her purple mane had become messy from tossing and turning in bed. The two sentries standing guard outside her door burst in almost instantly. "Princess, are you alright?" one inquired.

"I'm fine... I'm fine," she said as her breathing slowed. The guards relaxed their stances.

"Did you have the nightmares again Princess?"

"Yes. They've been getting worse and worse recently. This last one was about..." Death.Cornaria shuddered at the thought. That one was the worst she had ever known. She felt for that poor pony. It felt too real to her to be anything other than what she believed. The dreams she had were almost always omens, and often bad ones. "Have somepony fetch me a quill and paper. I have to compose a message at once."

"Your majesty, it's very late. Don't you think you should try to rest first?"

"No. I need to write a letter as soon as possible." I can only hope that Celestia will respond to it in time, she thought.

Time for a vacation!

The huge doors to Celestia's throne room swung open as Twilight entered. She knew that if Celestia summoned her to Canterlot to discuss something face-to-face it must have been important. "Hello Princess," she said as she approached Celestia and bowed. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, and please, you may call me Celestia now. I'm not your teacher anymore," the Princess said with a smile on her face. Twilight blushed and rose from her bow.

"Force of habit I guess," she chuckled. "So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Ah, yes," Celestia said as she stepped down from her throne. "Tell me Twilight, what do you know of the country Mustangia?"

"Mustangia?" Twilight thought about it for a moment. "It's one of the countries that borders Equestria. It is one of the few countries today that are run my alicorn monarchs, theirs being Princess... Cornaria, I think. Not much else I'm afraid. I read a book about the countries of the world once, but it was a long time ago so I don't remember much about it."

"I see," she said, obviously thinking to herself for a moment. "And what about the Equine Empire?"

"The Equine Empire? They were just a collection of independent villages north of Mustangia until about a century ago. Then they were attacked by dragons from the great migration. After that they banded together and formed their own country, right?"

"Yes, that's correct," Celestia said, still just standing in front of Twilight and pondering to herself. The silences started to make Twilight's dress feel a bit tighter. She had decided to wear the silk and satin dress she was given for her coronation, along with her crown that doubled as her Element of Harmony. To her, she seemed the most Princess-like while wearing them. Only she was, at that moment, worried that her anxiety would get the best of her and her sweat would ruin the dress.

"Celestia, is there something wrong?" she finally asked. The Princess of the sun returned from her thoughts and a smile adorned her face once again, allowing Twilight to give out a soft, silent, and unnoticeable sigh of relief.

"Oh no Twilight, nothing like that," she said. "I merely have a task I would like you to take care of for me, from one Princess to another."

"What is it?" she asked intently.

"I've received a letter from our friends in Mustangia, asking for a meeting between myself and Princess Cornaria. She wrote that it's a matter concerning their neighbors the Equine Empire."

Twilight was unsure how to respond to that. "No offense Celestia, but what does this have to do with me?" she said.

"Twilight," Celestia said. "I can't go to this meeting. I will be busy with some other urgent matters that require my full attention." She rested her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "You're a Princess now. A leader of Equestria. I need you to go to Mustangia and settle this issue. Can you do that for me, and for Equestria?"

"I-I umm..." Twilight tried to say something. When she swallowed she seemed to swallow all the words too. Celestia had entrusted her with more important tasks before, but that time it was different. She really sees me as a Princess now. Not just her student, she thought. She didn't know why she was making such a big deal out of the whole thing. She shook her head to snap out of it. "I would be honored to Prin- I mean, Celestia."

Celestia smiled and put her hoof back down. "I know this is your first official act as a Princess, and going to a foreign country can be a bit overwhelming, so I thought it would be good for you to bring your friends along with you to Mustangia."

Twilight's face lit up. Once she knew that her friends would be there for he, she could feel the doubt slowly leave her the more Celestia talked about the trip. Yet, on the train ride home, a minuscule amount remained at the bottom of her stomach.

"We'd love to go!" Pinkie shouted in excitement. The pink pony jumped in the air as she said that and seemed to stay there a few seconds longer than physically possible for an earth pony. When she came back down she looked at each of her friends, who were staring at her, and she blushed. "Well, I'd love to go." The ponies then smiled as they usually did after one of Pinkie's outbursts had passed.

Twilight had wanted to tell them all the news at once and fortunately they had gathered in her library so that they could surprise her as soon as she had gotten home. Pinkie had, of course, made all the preparations. The library's interior was covered with the usual streamers that were draped across every wall and across the ceiling. Balloons of all sizes filled the room to the point of where you couldn't look anywhere and not see one. All the bright colors of a Pinkie party from the yellows to the sky blues and leaf greens and obviously pinks seemed to explode into place once Twilight had opened the door and her friends yelled "Surprise!"

She had only been gone about a day, but Pinkie had thrown parties for less. None of them could come to Canterlot on such short notice so they had agreed that a welcome home party was in order. They knew that Twilight would return with important news of some kind, everypony was just waiting to know if it was good news and bad news. "Why, I've never been to Mustangia before," Rarity said as she thought about what the country must be like.

"How long d'ya reckon this trip is gonna be?" Applejack asked while she sat and sipped the punch.

"I'm not sure," said Twilight. "Celestia didn't say how long I'd have to be there."

"I could really go for a vacation, so I'm in," Rainbow Dash said as she casually hovered around the room.

"I'll go to," Fluttershy added in her usual hushed tone. "Well, as long as you don't mind me being there and if you don't think I'll get in the way of your meeting with the Princess."

"Of course I want you to go Fluttershy," Twilight said reassuringly. As she said that she put a hoof on the young mare's shoulder and Fluttershy gave a soft smile.

"Ah'd have ta get Mac ta take care of Sweet Apple Acres while ah'm gone," Applejack said after putting down her cup. "Apple Bloom's gettin' to the age where she can work too, so that shouldn't be a problem. Y'all can count me in too."

"Well now I certainly can't let all of you go to an exotic foreign country all on your own. I'll have to come along as well." Rarity said.

"Great, it's settled then," Twilight said. Her friends cheered and went back to enjoying the night. The party lasted for hours. Pinkie made sure it was lively the whole way through. Party games, to dancing, to just talking with each other. Twilight loved every minute of it. It was one of the better parties the six had had in a while.

One by one each of her friends called it a night and went home. By the time the last one of her friends (Pinkie Pie) was gone it was very late. Spike had slunk upstairs to sleep and Twilight sat alone by the fire. It cast just enough light to allow her late night reading. Before her sudden call to Canterlot she had received new books for her library, one of which was a short novella titled The Griffon, the Lion, and the Dragon. Twilight managed to get through most of it before she had to leave. It was in the back of her mind the whole time that she was in Canterlot. Not finishing a book, no matter how good or bad, was a pet-peeve of hers. It gave her this odd feeling in her gut that she couldn't shake until the end of the last page. She knew she could probably finish it before she went to bed, even if she was already tired. As she read the last words on the book's last page, she heard a voice. "Twilight..." Spike said from the top of the stairs.

"Oh I'm sorry Spike. Did I wake you up?" she said as she closed the book.

"No, I couldn't sleep. I think I had a few too many of Pinkie's sweets. So why are you still up?" He rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to the light of the fire.

"I wanted to try to finish this book... also I'm a bit nervous about the trip."

"Why? Is it because of that Equine Empire or whatever it's called that you told us about?"

"Yes...and no. Things don't always go great for us and I'm just worried that something bad may happen. Whether it be that other country or if I just screw up talking with Cornaria. I've never been a diplomat before. Who knows what could happen?"

"Twilight," he said as he walked to the bottom step, "there's nothing to worry about. You'll do great. You're a princess now and you're awesome at making friends. This other Princess is going to love you, I just know it."

"Aww, thanks Spike." Twilight stood up and walked over to the steps where he was and gave him a great, big hug. Twilight walked back over to the book on the ground and levitated it with her horn.

"So what book were you reading?" the dragon asked as he followed her off the stairs.

"Oh this?" She presented the cover to him. "It's The Gryphon, the Lion, and the Dragon."

"Never heard of it. What's it about? Besides of course a gryphon, a lion, and a dragon."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, it's an old fable that was passed down through word of mouth and eventually put in short little books like this one. It's a fairly simple story but I don't want to spoil it for you in case you ever want to read the book."

"I'm not going to read the book so you might as well tell me." He sat down by the fire.

"Alright then." She sat down next to him. "One day, long ago, in a distant land a young earth pony left his farm to go to a nearby market to sell some family produce. On his way there a small rabbit came up to him and told him that he'd get there much faster if he-"

"Wait, the rabbit told him something. How can the animals talk?"

"It's a fable Spike. Suspension of disbelief. So the rabbit told him that he could get there much faster if he went through the nearby woods. The pony wasn't so sure since he had never been in the woods before, but the rabbit said that she would lead him safely through. The pony agreed, but when they were deep in the woods the rabbit snatched the pony's basket of veggies and scampered off. The pony could not chase her because the woods were thick and confusing. The pony quickly became lost."

"That rabbit sounds a lot like Angel."

"Spike," Twilight said as she slammed the book on the ground with her magic. "I'm in the middle of telling a story. Please don't interrupt me."

"Alright. Alright." Spike scooted back a little.

"Thank you," she said, readjusting herself. "The pony had no magic to transport himself away and no wings to fly above the trees. He wandered aimlessly for two days when he came upon a clearing where he met three creatures."

"The Gryphon, the Lion, and the Dragon."

"Yes. Each of them offered help to the pony, but he was cautious for he remembered what the rabbit had done after offering help. The Dragon promised that he would fly him out of the woods and to the town, but the pony saw the beast's dark scales and smelt the smoke on it's breath. He thought that if a small rabbit could do him harm he couldn't imagine what a Dragon would do.The Gryphon offered the same, but once again the pony was worried. The Gryphon had claws and suspicious eyes, whereas the rabbit had not even these. Finally the Lion boasted that he was the king of the woods and that he could easily help the pony find his way. The pony wondered why a king would help a lone pony like himself with no real reason, the same way a harmless rabbit had. The pony did not know who to choose."

"So? Who did he choose?"

"None. He decided to find his own way out of the woods. The book ends with him starving to death." She sat back up and walked over to the bookshelves. Spike sat there, his mouth gaping open.

"Woah...that's...really depressing. I'm glad I didn't read it."

"It's a fable Spike. It's supposed to teach a lesson or a moral." She ran her eyes along the shelf labels, looking for the right one.

"We'll it could of done that with a happy ending. I don't want to read stories without happy endings," he said, getting up.

"It's still a good read." She wasn't surprised. Spike never enjoyed reading much other than comic books. He tried to stay away from stories without happy endings, even if they were really good.

"If you say so. At least you found a way to put me back to sleep." Spike yawned as he stretched his arms above his head. "Are you going to bed?"

"Yes, I just need to put the book on the correct shelf first."

"Okay," Spike said. He walked back upstairs as Twilight continued to scan the shelves. She was going to have to get plenty of rest before the trip. She looked over the different shelf sections. That week the books were sorted by author. She levitated the book into it's place on the U shelf, for Unknown.

The Train

Applejack awoke from a dreamless sleep as the train whistle sounded off. They were leaving the last stop the train would make in Equestria and after that they would arrive in Mustangia. When the whistle had blown Applejack nearly jumped from her seat. Her Stetson had fallen off her face and onto the floor of the cabin. Applejack grumbled a bit and put the hat back on her head.

The girls wanted to take a walk around the town, maybe do some shopping. Applejack didn't quite understand why as they had done the same when the train stopped at Manehatten hardly twelve hours ago. Applejack decided that she'd rather take a nap on board than go prancing around another town that they stopped in.

The train had red and blue carpeting that was soft on their hooves while they walked on it. Throughout the passenger cars were separate cabins that could hold about six ponies each, so they were happy for that. Applejack didn't pay much mind to the food. She had a daisy sandwich that didn't do much for her. Applejack just sat back and waited for her friends to return. While she waited she thought back to when she had left home just a few days before.

"What's Mustangia?" Apple Bloom asked as Applejack was packing her saddlebag. It was early in the morning and the whole Apple family was up. Granny and Big Mac waited downstairs while Applejack packed.

"Well, Mustangia is the country right next ta ours," Applejack said. She didn't have to pack much. She didn't have a ton of clothes to bring like Rarity.

"So why are ya goin' there?" Apple Bloom sat on the bed and watched her big sister pack. She had been asleep when Applejack discussed the details of the trip with the other Apples.

"Cause Twilight asked me to."

"Are yer other friends goin' too? Ya know, Rarity and Rainbow Dash and 'em?" Apple Bloom asked as she sat up and leaned in closer to Applejack.

"Yes, they're goin' too." Applejack slung her saddlebag over her back and exited the room with Applebloom following close behind.

"Is Rarity takin' Sweetie Belle?" the young filly asked.

"No Apple Bloom, and ah know what yer gonna ask next. The answer is no."

Apple Bloom gave out a moan of displeasure. "But ah've never been ta another country before. It's not fair that you and yer friends get ta go all over and ah don't."

"Apple Bloom, ah need you ta stay here with Mac and take care of Sweet Apple Acres while ah'm gone."

"But ah'm too small ta help out, see." As they got to the top of the stairs she gave a few small hops to display her stature, then she suddenly disappeared from her sister's view. Applejack heard a series of thuds and looked down the stairs to see Apple Bloom lying at the bottom. "See...ah can't even...walk down stairs right." Applejack could have sworn to Celestia that she had almost seen stars flying around the young filly's head. She rolled her eyes as she walked down the stairs.

Apple Bloom followed her out the door where they joined their older brother and granny. "Ready ta go youngin'?" Granny asked. Applejack just gave her a nod and a smile. "Good. We've come ta see ya off."

"Eeyup," said her brother Mac. He took her in his strong arms and gave her a tight brotherly hug. He was a stallion of few words but he always got his point across.

"Now stay safe Applejack," Granny Smith said, "You can never tell what you'll find in a place you don't know."

The words echoed in her mind as Applejack woke up again to a slamming sound. She had dozed off and not even realized it. What seemed to have woken her up was Rainbow Dash opening the cabin door. "Yer back before the others," Applejack said to her. Rainbow took the seat across from her.

"There really wasn't much to do. I got bored pretty quickly. How about you? Why didn't you come with us?"

Applejack shifted in her seat. "Ah didn't really feel like it."

"You didn't really feel like it back in Manehatten either." Rainbow gazed out the window. "Look. We're far enough north that it's snowing. We'll be going east pretty soon."

"That's nice," Applejack said, sounding a little more uninterested than she thought she would. The snow was beautiful, though. In Ponyville, the pegasi usually just scheduled one or two blizzards a winter. Hardly ever the soft fall like Applejack saw that night. With the moon and the lights from the train station reflecting off each flake as it floated down. Each flake was gentle in its descent and its landing. Even when it covered the ground or formed mounds and piles of itself, the snow seemed so delicate. Then a slamming sound broke the silence. Once again, Applejack was brought back by the opening door.

"There you are Rainbow," Twilight said as she entered. The others followed, with Spike carrying a few bags behind them.

"I got bored so I flew around a bit, then I came here to hang out with Applejack," she responded. Applejack's friends sat down and Rarity started going through the bags.

"Oh Applejack, you completely missed out on some lovely family run stores here. I simply adore the city boutiques but there is definite charm to these quaint little town shops, much like my own. Look," she pulled out a piece of head-ware, "this hat was woven by hoof by an earth pony."

"So?"

"So?! Look at it. Look how intricate the patterns are, and it was made without magic. It certainly is impressive."

"It's a hat Rare. My hat was made the same way, without magic." She touched her hat, remembering the contest she won it in.

"Well, it would seem that, funny enough, being a unicorn I have much more appreciation for earth pony craftsmanship than you do, Applejack." Rarity sighed and looked out the window. They could hear the conductor yelling "All aboard!" and the train beginning to whistle. As it started moving, Rarity thought out loud. "I wonder what kinds of new outfits we'll see when we get to the capital."

"Ooh," Pinkie said, "I wonder if all sorts of things are different about Mustangia. What if they wear hats on their hooves, or if they eat weird food that we've never heard of, or if they just go to the bathroom on the ground anywhere they want."

"Pinkie that is disgusting," Rainbow Dash said, "just because they're from a different country doesn't mean they don't have toilets."

She receded into her seat. "I'm just saying, anything could happen when we get there."

"Eeyup," Applejack added, looking back out the window. With the train moving the snowfall looked faster, harsher. "We don't know what to expect in a place we've never been."

New places, New faces

A sudden jolt woke her up. Rarity knew right away that the train had stopped. "We're here," Pinkie said. The city of Bastion was in many ways like Canterlot, and in many ways it was completely different. There were brown buildings and red brick ones and ones of muted blue. There were shops of green, boutiques of pink, and she noticed far less purple and white. It was a welcome change from the beautiful but mostly green and rural scenery she had become accustomed to on the train ride. All those buildings could be seen from the train station alone, so Rarity wondered what else could be found deeper in the city. Butterflies swirled in her stomach just thinking about it. By the time they had unloaded all of their luggage a young and, rather handsome, stallion had come to greet them.

"I was told that the Equestrian Princess and her friends were beautiful, but the tales certainly don't live up to how gorgeous you all actually are," he said, bowing and giving Twilight's hoof a kiss.

"Oh," she said while blushing, "that's certainly sweet of yo-" Before she finished Rarity was already standing between the two of them.

"Yes, and what might your name be?" she asked. She smiled and batted her eyes when she looked at him. He didn't even blink, a merely kept a smile on his face.

"Windswept, my dear," he said. "Now may I know your name?"

"My name is Rarity. It is certainly a pleasure to meet you."

"As it is to meet you." He bowed to her and kissed her hoof as well. Rarity blushed and giggled, and Windswept looked over her shoulder at the other ponies. "And may I have the privilege of knowing the names of your friends?" Twilight moved between the two once again.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. You've already met Rarity."

"Yes I have." He smiled at Rarity once again with his bright white teeth. "Our carriage to the Palace is close by. I offer my help with your bags if you need it."

"Thank you very much," Rarity said smiling and batting her eyes once again at the stallion, "but I think we've got it." Together, Rarity and Twilight used their magic to levitate many of the bags in the air, and Spike got the two that they had missed. As they walked to the carriage Rarity thought she heard Spike mumble something from the back, but she couldn't make it out. She decided to just ignore it.

The carriage ride went by fast enough. Windswept recited the names of the sites that they passed. He said who owned the shops they saw, he explained why Bear Park is called that if it doesn't have any bears, and he described the flowers and foliage that comprised the Royal Garden. Rarity didn't even realize that they had arrived at the Palace until Windswept announced it. When she stepped out of the carriage Rarity was floored by the sight of it. It looked like the Crystal Palace, only made of stones infused with dozens of bright colors. No doubt to keep the place from looking drab, she thought to herself. Mosaics of ponies covered blue walls, golden towers shot up from the ground, and a beautiful green keep stood tall in the center of it all. These ponies certainly know how to decorate.

At the gate an alicorn was waiting to greet them. She had a sky blue coat and a lovely light purple mane that flowed down past her shoulders. "Princess Twilight Sparkle," she spoke, "and friends. Welcome to my Palace. I am Princess Cornaria."

"It's wonderful to finally meet you," Twilight said. She stepped out of the carriage and bowed before Cornaria. She then pointed to the others. "By the way, these are my friends Ra-"

"Yes," Cornaria interrupted, turning away from the Twilight. "Now to give you all the Palace tour and show you to your rooms. Get plenty of rest, Princess. Tomorrow we'll begin the diplomatic talks." That was awfully rude, Rarity thought.

"Okay..." Twilight looked at her friends and shrugged. As they entered the palace Cornaria stopped and turned to Windswept.

"Windswept," she said, "don't you have other matters to tend to right now?"

The stallion smiled as he bowed slightly to her. "Well, I've been showing these lovely mares around town so I thought I'd tag along for the tour too, with all due respect."

"I'm sure there are other things you could be doing. Go do them." Windswept looked at the ground, his face contorting with anger ever so slightly, suggesting he had a very scathing and no doubt clever comment barely being held back. A split second later he looked back up to her with a smile on his face.

"As you wish Princess," he said. He turned and walked in the opposite direction that the others were headed. Rarity frowned when she saw him leave, but continued on with her friends anyway.

"It's good to see another alicorn leader," Cornaria said as they walked down the halls. "I remember my own ascension. Although Equestria seems to already have plenty of them. The sisters, and now you makes three. And now that the Crystal Empire's returned, that Cadance mare is in charge of it. Didn't your brother marry her?"

"Yes he did, actually," Twilight said, barely keeping up with her as they walked. "My friends and I were at the wedding."

"That was when you had that Changeling attack. We would never have a security breach like that here." Rarity clenched her teeth as she walked in the back, trying to remember her manners. Cornaria, of course, did not notice it. "Still," she continued, "I see so many countries without alicorn monarchs, and it's a real shame. So many don't respect the old ways of doing things. Saddle Arabia, Zebrica, Germaney..."

"What about your neighbors to the north?" Twilight asked. Cornaria frowned and sighed at that. She knew exactly who Twilight was referring to.

"I have never met their Emperor face to face," she said, her pace finally slowing, "and the stories I've heard about him rarely mention if he has wings or not. They do however say quite a bit about magic."

"They do?" Twilight asked. She and the others were able to walk right beside her by then.

"It seems to be a fascination for many of them, if my sources are correct," Cornaria said. Her voice had lost a considerable amount of pomp. "With a country as secretive as... they are... you can never be too sure. Still, in every story or rumor there is almost always magic, among other things." Rarity looked over to Twilight, whose face showed that she was more curious about that then worried.

"What kinds of magic do they practice?" Twilight insisted.

"I'm not sure."

"Do all the unicorns there study magic?"

"I'm not sure."

"What abou-"

"Princess Twilight," Cornaria said, while stomping down her hoof. They all stopped walking when the ground appeared to shake slightly from the Princess' outburst. "I simply don't know these things. I may not even want to know these things. These are among the issues I wanted to discuss at the diplomatic meeting, so may we please continue the tour and save this conversation for tomorrow?" Twilight averted her eyes and they all resumed their walking.

As they walked, it was never very long between times that they saw guards at their posts. Some were on individual patrols or posts, some were in pairs, threes, fours, even fives at a time. "There certainly are quite a few guards in this Palace," Twilight said, finally trying to change the subject.

"Yes. We've had to hire many new ones to increase the security," Cornaria said in a somewhat lighter tone. "Windswept helped find new recruits to bolster the Palace's garrison by the hundreds. I don't want anything to happen, especially not tomorrow... but enough of that. We'll have plenty of discussions about that at the meeting tomorrow. Our first stop is the throne room. Years ago, when Bastion was just beginning to thrive and the Palace was being built we-"

BOOM was the noise that cut the Princess' speech short. It was immediately followed by a just as loud, if not louder, exclamation of "URSA MAJOR'S BALLS!". Twilight and her friends instinctively rushed to the source of the noise. They found a doorway to a small room with smoke pouring out, a few guards who looked just as confused as the six, and an old unicorn covered in soot. "Great. Just great. This'll set me back a bit," he said, sitting on the floor across from the doorway. His voice matched the scream, and he wore a dark blue cloak with faded astronomical designs on them. He had a blue hat sitting next to him and a short white mane and a bit of white stubble on his face. His hair only looked white, though, after he brushed all the soot off himself.

"What happened?" Rainbow asked as they rushed towards the scene.

"My experiment had two possible outcomes. This was not one of them," he said, frowning. "You see, it exploded. It was an experiment concerning water, so my library thankfully won't burn to the ground. It'll just be a little soggy." He looked up at the ponies standing and floating over him. "You must be the Equestrian delegates."

"She's the delegate. We're the delegate's friends," Rainbow Dash said as she landed and offered a hoof to help him up. He accepted, and when he was on his hooves he turned to Twilight.

"You must be Twilight Sparkle. I've heard a lot about. I've also been that told you like books."

"They're a hobby of mine," she said as she blushed.

"Well, I was going to show you my library, but it...exploded." Rarity looked over the old pony. He doesn't talk like somepony his age, she thought.

"What did I tell you yesterday?" Cornaria asked when she finally caught up to the others. From the look on her face Rarity could tell that she was angry but not at all surprised.

"You told me not to do any experiments while the Equestrian Princess was visiting," the pony said, not looking guilty at all, "but, I had very good reasons for all of this. I was so close to a breakthrough that I couldn't just stop for a few days."

"What was your experiment about?" Twilight asked.

The pony turned away from Cornaria, much to her very visible frustration. "Water purification spell," he said. "Very advanced. Molecular level advanced. You see, there are sewers that run under the castle and all throughout the city. I was looking for a way that we could keep them cleaner, along with our other water sources. I must of messed too much with the hydrogen or something... oh, by the way, my name is Flickering Flame. Some ponies call me Flicker. Some ponies call me Flick. Some ponies call me an idiot but I don't like them as much."

"You don't seem like an idiot to me," Twilight said, smiling.

"Thank you, although I can't help but feel like this is false courtesy. No pony of sound mind would do some of the things that I do." Twilight and her friends exchanged a look. What kind of pony who lives in a library and conducts magical experiments would consider himself not of sound mind, or at the very least an idiot?, Rarity thought. "If you can't already guess," he continued, "my position here in this castle is that of Royal Scholar. I manage the country's science and magic researches and act as an adviser to Cornaria. She chose me for the job because she was drawn to the fact that I am a Child of Star Swirl the Bearded."

"You're related to Star Swirl?!" Twilight's face lit up at the mention of her idol's name.

"Not by blood," Flick said. "By ideas. I follow his teachings and devote my life to the further of intelligence and a general understanding of the world. I am one of few who still do. There have been less and less Children of Star Swirl with the passing of the centuries. Even in Equestria, where the practice was started."

Twilight looked as if she was ready to bounce off the walls. "Oh," she said, "I've read about your order, but there was so little information I didn't think you were real. You just have to tell me all about it. What made you want to study Star Swirl? What drew you here specifically? Is there something special about Bastion that made you accept the offer?"

"Special about Bastion?" he scoffed. "Not really. It's not all that standout. Even the name is unoriginal. There are loads of different towns and cities called Bastion all over the world. My personal favorite is the one in the Griffin Kingdoms."

"Enough!" Cornaria said as she stomped her hoof. "Flick, please go to your quarters and stay there until I can talk to you privately."

"Your Majesty, those were my quarters." He pointed at the smoking room.

"Then go find new ones." Flick frowned, but like Windswept he submitted to the Princess' authority. He walked only a few feet when Twilight faced Cornaria to explain that she didn't mind, and even kind of liked talking to the old unicorn. When she turned back Flick was gone. Rarity hadn't been paying attention, and hadn't seen any bursts of teleportation magic, but he had disappeared all the same. Another strange thing associated with a somewhat strange pony.

Cornaria continued the tour through the Palace, although Rarity didn't remember much of it as she honestly did not care. The Palace was beautifully ornate and had some nice paintings hanging on the walls, yet she still found her mind drifting off elsewhere. By the time the ponies had reached their suites Rarity had thought about Mustangia, about the ride there, about Bastion, its busy streets and shops, about that strange pony Flick and the Children of Star Swirl, and mostly about Windswept. No matter what topic she thought of, she always went back to Windswept. His deep blue eyes, his rich voice, his beautiful orange coat, and his flowing brown mane. Again, she didn't notice when the tour was over and they were shown to their rooms. When they settled down for the night she was relieved to finally sleep somewhere that wasn't moving constantly. And yet, sleep refused to come to her.

After a few hours of tossing and turning, Rarity got out of her bed and decided to go for a walk. She figured she might as well take a look at the palace she had ignored earlier. The only ponies she saw in the hallways were the guards on duty. They either didn't notice her or quietly gave a polite nod and continued on with their duties. As she approached a nearby balcony she thought she heard a voice. It was low, soft but very clear, and it sounded good on the ears. When she got closer she discovered that the voice was singing.

"In the winter, little foals,

All together they do sleep.

By the mantle's burning coals,

They do not make a single peep.

Though the blowing winds are cold,

Their worries and silence they keep.

As not to wake their mother old,

They do not make a single peep.

As the coals go out and the children shiver,

And then, in the cold begins to creep,

They wish not to burden their love giver,

So they don't make a single peep.

And now life these foals did leave,

As their old mother did now weep.

She will now forever grieve,

And forever the foals won't make a peep."

"That's a very sad song," she told the solitary guard on the balcony. She had approached and stood behind him for some time, waiting for him to be done before saying anything. He looked over his shoulder, not very surprised by her presence.

"It's a very old song. Just singing it to pass the time. My mother would sing it to me before bed. She made sure that if I ever felt cold or sick that I would wake her up and tell her. I'm sure she regretted it on some nights." He laughed at that and looked back out at the view. The city was much more awake then the Palace. Lights were on, ponies laughed and shouted, and movement could be seen almost everywhere.

"You have a very lovely voice," she added.

"Thank you. I'm guessing that you're out this late because you couldn't sleep."

"You'd be right, but I think I'm fine now." She had been wide awake when she stepped onto the balcony, but while standing there and listening to the guard's lullaby she couldn't help but feel her eyelids grow heavier and heavier.

"Well, goodnight then," he said as he smiled at her.

"Goodnight." She smiled and went back to her room. She liked that pony. He wasn't particularly handsome, with his almost too large figure and muscles, his dull red coat, and it was hard to tell but Rarity thought he was maneless under his helmet, but he was nice enough and had a wonderful singing voice. As she laid her head down and closed her eyes she thought of his voice and the sad song he sang. She was asleep in moments.

Would you consider this an attack?

The sun hit Applejack's eyes as it began to poke through her window. Time to get up, she thought. It was easy for Applejack to get out of bed that early in the morning, she was used to it. Often she would get up even earlier. Her friends, however, were a different story. When she walked across the hall into Dash's room she wasn't surprised that Rainbow was in her bed, snoring loudly. "C'mon sugarcube. Get up," she said as she opened the curtains blocking out the sun.

"It's too early," Dash half said and half moaned as she turned away from the light.

"C'mon, Twilight's startin' her diplomacy thing soon." Applejack stood over Dash and lightly shook her with her hoof.

"We don't even have to be there. For the love of Celestia, let me sleep."

"If Twilight has to get up this early then we might as well too."

"That's stupid," Rainbow said. She swatted away Applejack's hoof and curled up even more in her sheets.

"Okay then, you got me. Ah just enjoy watchin' you suffer." Rainbow let out another moan. She rolled out of bed and landed on the floor with a plop. Applejack smiled as she left the room. Maybe she did enjoy it, at least a little. The others were able to get up on their own. While waiting in the hall for the others, Rarity told Applejack that at first she couldn't sleep at all last night, until she talked to some guard or something. Then she said she had one of the best nights of sleep in a long time. Applejack wnet to inspect Twilight, who was still in her room by the time even Rainbow was up and ready. She found Twilight was pacing her room in her new royal dress, making Applejack wonder if she had been up even earlier than her.

After a few minutes they were all up and ready to go. The plan was that while Twilight and Spike were at the meeting with Cornaria, the rest of the girls would be exploring the city. "I simply can't wait to go to some of the shops here," Rarity said as they strode down the massive halls.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay here with Twilight?" Rainbow asked. "Windswept will probably be at the meeting."

"So?"

"So? You've only been drooling over him since we got here," Rainbow said as she chuckled. Rarity's cheeks turned a deep red.

"I have not," she proclaimed. She had. It was obvious from the moment they got off the train. Applejack didn't get it. Sure the pony was more handsome than the usual stallion, but that was about it. She didn't really see much else in him. She was about to say as much, if Spike hadn't said it first.

"He's not so great," he said, pushing his way in between Rainbow and Rarity. "And he's kind of annoying too. Remember how he never seemed to stop talking yesterday? He just blathered on and on the whole time."

"Yes... he had so much to say about everything in the city. He must really love this place," Rarity said as she sighed.

"I bet he hasn't even been to most of those places."

"Maybe," Rarity said, sighing even more.

"Ah don't think you're gettin' anywhere, Spike," Applejack whispered when she leaned in close to him. Speaking of obvious, Spike was upset by Rarity's interest in Windswept, just like with all the other stallions she ever showed interest in. Applejack felt a bit sad at times for the poor little guy. One could call it pity, but Applejack never saw it that way. She just thought it was kind of sad. "Well," she started, "Ah think he's-"

Applejack was interrupted when somepony slammed into her and she found herself on the ground. When she looked up, she saw that a hole had opened in the wall next to them and a pony came tumbling out. "Princess!" the pony shouted from the floor. Applejack shoved him off her, and as he staggered to his hooves she finally recognized him as Flickering Flame, the pony they had met the day before. "You're not safe. Come with me. Hurry. We don't have much time," Flick said. Instead of soot he was covered in dust, he was sweating and out of breath, and his eyes darted around the hall as he waited for a response.

"Umm...Flick?" Twilight asked. She backed up a little as Rainbow helped Applejack up off the floor.

"I said we don't have much time, but we can't talk here. Now get in the wall." He ushered towards the hole he had emerged from. Applejack could see cobwebs and the faint light of a torch coming from inside it.

"Flick, what's going on?" Twilight asked, taking another step back.

"I'll explain when you're in the wall," he said again. He looked over each shoulder and then stared at the girls with his eyes open as big as they could have possibly opened.

"I'm not getting in the wall until you explain yourself." She put her hoof down, showing she wasn't going anywhere.

"Wait," Pinkie said. They all looked at the pink pony. She sniffed the air intently. "What is that super fantastically awesome smell?"

"What?" Flick asked after doing a double take. "That's probably just the kitchens making breakfast." She darted off at once to find the source of the sweet smell. Applejack sniffed as well. It smelled like freshly baked pastries to her. "No you stupid mare!" Flick yelled, jumping up and down in anger "Why is nopony listening to me?!"

"I'll go get her," said Rarity. She trotted off after their pink friend, and that only made Flick inaudibly exclaim something through tightly clenched teeth.

"Flick," Twilight said sternly, "talk to me. Tell me what's going on."

"You're all in danger," he said. He grabbed Twilight by the shoulders and leaned in close to her face. "Something's going to happen. I'm not sure what. We can't talk here. Anypony could walk down this hall at any time. We have to go now."

"Hey Twi, I'm going to to go tell Cornaria that you're going to be a little late," Spike said. He slowly backed up from Flick and departed down the hall. Fluttershy followed suit, and Applejack decided it was the best thing to do.

"Ah'm goin' too," she told them. "Whatever Flick's talkin' about, Cornaria should probably hear about it. Ah'll see y'all in a bit."

"No! Why aren't you listening to me. I'm trying to help you. Get back here and get in the wall, damn it!" It wasn't long before his yells had faded. Applejack figured that he either gave up or kept his yelling quiet so not many ponies would hear him. She only hoped that Twilight and Rainbow wouldn't be far behind her. His warnings gave her an odd feeling at the pit of her stomach, but the way he was acting made her unsure of what was really going on.

They entered the throne room and found Cornaria talking with Windswept. They also found a very large number of guards. During the meeting the throne room would be closed to the court, and the room looked full near to bursting with ponies and uniform. Danger or no, the sheer site of them made Applejack feel at ease. "Umm, Princess?" she asked.

"What? What is it?" Cornaria inquired. Windswept counted the ponies and for a split-second, what seemed like a nervous look danced across his eyes.

"Where is Princess Sparkle?" he asked.

"That's what Ah wanted to talk to you about. On our way here Flick stopped us and was yammerin' on about how we're in danger or somethin'. We didn't really take 'im seriously, him bein' weird and all. Still, we thought we should at least ell you about it."

"That old fool," Windswept said. "The Palace is the safest place in all of Bastion." A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face.

"Uhh...Windswept. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's just that...where exactly is Twilight right now?"

"She and Rainbow are probably down the hallway, but they should've been here by now. They're takin' a lot longer than Ah thought they would." She looked back down the hallway and saw tow guards closing the throne room doors.

"I'll go get them," he said as he started walking towards the door.

"No need Windswept," Cornaria said as she looked out the window and to the sun so she could get a bearing on the time. "They'll be here soon. The meeting's supposed to start in less than a minute, but it won't hurt to delay it." Windswept sighed after he looked outside.

"I had forgotten the time your majesty," he said. His eyes remained fixed to the ground, as if he refused to lift them to meet her face. "I'm sorry."

"There's no need to be sor-" A bright light filled the room. It blinded Applejack. She staggered to the floor as she rubbed her eyes. She heard a bang far above her head, guards shouted things to each other, noises and movement all around her, then clangs of medal and something tearing. Her sight returned to her.

That looks like...blood, she thought. Why is there blood on the floor?

"Pinkie! Where are you?" Rarity called out when she entered the kitchens. They were very busy preparing the morning's breakfast. Cooks and servants rushed about between the stoves, sinks, and each other, frantically preparing breakfast for the Palace residents. The girls were hoping to have eaten some of it before they headed out. It did smell fantastic, so Rarity wasn't really surprised that Pinkie ran down there for some early treats. She could have sworn she saw Pinkie run through the kitchen, but all she saw were cooks hard at work.

"Hey, Miss. You're not supposed to be here," one of the cooks said. The cook was very tall with a plain face and a square jaw. Rarity thought he looked more like a soldier than a chef. He was holding a whisk that he used to point at her and at the kitchen's exit.

"Oh, I do apologize," she said, "but my friend came through here and I'm trying to find her."

"Is she the pink one with a lot of energy?"

"Yes, have you seen her?"

"She ran right through here and out the door over there. It leads outside." He point at the door on the far end of the kitchen.

I thought she came here for the pastries. "Thank you," she said. A bang sounded overhead. The castle shook momentarily. A bit of dust from the ceiling fell into a pot of something on a stove, making the cook that was stirring it grimace and curse. A bright light emanated from the door that led outside for a brief instant.

"What the hell was that?" one of the serving mares asked.

"I don't know," the large cook said. Rarity walked outside to see what it was when she heard shouting from behind her. She turned and saw two guards talking to the cook who gave her directions.

"What's going on?" the cook asked. When talking to the guards the cook easily stood taller than the two.

"Something's happened. We need to get all of you to safety," one of them said. The cook looked at them suspiciously.

"You two are new right?" he asked. "Some of the ones Windswept hired a few days ago?"

"That's not important right now. Follow us inside the palace where you'll be-"

"I think it's important," he said, stepping closer to the guards. "I'm not moving an inch until you tell me what's going on." The guards looked at each other and nodded. The blunt end of one of the guard's spear flew up into the cook's face. He fell and the others gasped at the sight of it. He looked up to the guards, blood beginning to flow from where the weapon made contact, his face contorted with anger.

"Now shut up and get inside. Come on, move!" one of them yelled. They herded the cooks and servants inside, prodding them with the sharp ends of their spears. Then they started to look around for any others. Rarity gasped when she saw the chef get struck. What in the name of Celestia is going on? she wondered. She slowly backed away to avoid the gaze of the guards, until she backed into somepony. She almost screamed before realizing it was Pinkie.

"Pinkie. What are you doing? And why do you smell so awful?"

"I came down here to have a snack when my Pinkie sense went completely cuckoo. It happened right before that thing showed up." She pointed her hoof to the sky, where a gigantic dark blue bubble had engulfed it completely. "I think it's covering the whole city. I guess bad guys aren't very creative. So I hid down in this hole to the sewers but then I remembered that all my friends were still here so I came back and here I am now let's go get everypony else."

The guards finally spotted them. "Hey you two!" one of them shouted. Rarity didn't have time to think.

"Pinkie, I don't think we have any time fo-"

"Okey dokey. Come on." She jumped down the hole in the ground. Rarity looked at it, then to the guards running towards her, then back to the hole. It took a second of consideration before she dove in after her pink friend. She tried to use her magic to help her float, or protect her from what she was about to land in, or do something, but nothing seemed to work. She landed with a splash.

"Shhh...do you hear that?" Flick said in a hushed voice. Twilight leaned in closer to the wall. She could hear muffled sounds through the old stone.

"It sounds like..." Twilight wasn't completely sure.

"Fighting," Flick said. Twilight had only really been in a fight once, against the changelings. The noises on the other side of the wall sounded different. Visceral.

"But who's fighting who?" Rainbow asked.

"By the sounds of the voices," he said as he also leaned in close to the bricks, "I'd say the guards who are still loyal to the Princess and the ones who started this mess. The fools should just give up. Maybe they'd live."

"But their job is to protect the Princess."

"Well their job right now means going up against at least a few hundred ponies who have a different view of the situation. I can only hope some of them survive this." Twilight looked down when she thought about it. Then a thought hit her.

"The girls are still out there," she yelled. "And Spike too. We have to do something." Flick shushed her and put his ear against the wall.

"That's not a very good idea, Princess," he said. When there was no sign that they had been discovered he backed up once more. There wasn't much room for any of them move around within the walls. The tunnels were small and cramped as they twisted throughout the Palace.

"I'm not going to just stand by while they're killed," Twilight said once more, softer yet without losing any sternness.

"Twilight, this isn't some random attack on the Palace. This was a plot. Planned and executed very carefully." A cry penetrated the walls, a loud shriek of a pony meeting his end. "Maybe not executed too carefully, but still. I don't think they'll kill any of the unarmed ponies, staff or guests."

"We don't know that," she continued to protest. She tried to go back the way they came before Flick in front of her, blocking her path.

"Then we hope for the best," he said. "If you haven't noticed already this tunnel is currently lit by torchlight. All powerful, magic wielding alicorn Princess, please grace us with a demonstration of a simple illumination spell." Twilight frowned and attempted the relatively simple spell. She closed her eyes and focused her mind. She imagined the tunnels lit up as clear as day. After a few seconds of nothing happening she tried again. She clenched her teeth, forced her eyelids as close together as physically possible, and strained at the thought of light as she felt the veins on her forehead bulge. Her horn didn't even spark.

"What the..." she said, opening her eyes to a still dimly lit tunnel.

"Just as I theorized," Flick said. "That bang we heard earlier was an anti-magic bubble over the palace. I suspected as much when my horn became incredibly useless. The bubble makes it so that only the unicorn who created it can cast spells while within it. On the outside, the bubble no-doubt looks like a normal shield spell, and ponies will assume that Cornaria is just enacting what she views as necessary precautions. But this isn't just some simple force-field that keeps things out or in. This is something that reaches out and fundamentally changes each pony within it. Very powerful magic. I'd be astounded, if it wasn't utterly terrifying. The only thing that scares me more, though, is the pony who made the damn thing, whoever he or she is. The important thing is that right now you're powerless, and going out there won't do much good."

Twilight felt something similar to the strange feelings at the pit of her stomach from earlier, only worse. She felt like she was going to start hyperventilating. No, she thought to herself, I'm not going to do that. I am one of the Elements of Harmony, and a Princess of Equestria. This isn't even the first time I've lost my magic. It didn't stop me before, and it won't stop me now But if she really thought that, then why was there a rock in her stomach so big that every step she took made her want to throw up. "Come on," Flick said as they walked down the tunnels, "we have to get out of here. I use these tunnels to get around faster, and to avoid talking to ponies I don't like, but mostly to get around faster. It won't take long to get away."

"I'm still confused about what's going on," Rainbow said as she trailed behind the other two. The top was too low for her to hover so she walked with the others.

"It would seem that a hostile takeover of the Palace has just been enacted. A coup against the Princess that I believe was orchestrated by our good friends the Equine Empire. A few days ago, Cornaria confided in me about a dream she had. She said it told her that the Equine Empire was moving in to attack her, hence the sudden influx of guards. Despite the odd relation between her dreams and the world around us, I dismissed it all as her usual paranoia. This morning, however, I was on my way to the meeting when I heard a noise through the walls. You see, these tunnels have been around for as long as the Palace, and they were made for the sole purpose of eavesdropping. Two guards were talking to each other. The one reminded the other of the time the plan would be executed, and to make sure that both Princesses were captured. I realized that Cornaria's dream had come to fruition, and acted as quickly as I could."

"Their plan didn't go as perfectly as they had hoped," Twilight said solemnly. She would have felt better about foiling their plans if the thought of her friends taking her place hadn't burrowed itself into the back of her mind.

"What do you think they want?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Along with no doubt many other reasons, a small group of soldiers taking over the capital is a lot less costly than a full on invasion of the country, I think. They've no doubt wanted to take over Mustangia for a long time now, and they just might have done it today. But that's not all they're after, I'm afraid."

A growl type noise could be heard behind Twilight. Since Rainbow Dash walked at the back of the line the other two ponies hadn't even noticed that she shared the same frustration as Twilight, and was even worse at hiding it. If Rainbow clenched her teeth anymore she would've broken her jaw. "All of our friends are in danger," she finally shouted, "and not only can't we do anything, but we're down-right refusing to even try."

Flick shushed her without even slowing his pace. "It's not about refusing to take action, Ms. Dash," he said. "It's about choosing the smarter option. Living to fight another day. And they're not my friends, they're yours."

Rainbow stopped dead in her tracks. "Excuse me?"

Flick stopped as well, and turned to face her. Twilight moved aside for a moment. "Look," he said, moving in close to Rainbow's face. "I have my reasons for helping the both of you. I'm not doing this for your friends. I'm not doing this for Cornaria. I'm not doing this for my city. Not even for my country. I'm doing this for the sake of the whole world."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, stepping between the two.

"I mean that an alicorn of your skill may be the only hope we have right now. There was something else they mentioned. When I heard the ponies talking earlier, talking about what they were going to do, one of them was giving commands. He mentioned how important the task at hoof was, and to not forget that what they wanted to achieve today was not all that they were there for. The Equine Empire isn't just here to take over. They're after something else entirely. By the way the ponies talked, I think I may know what it is."

History Lesson

The cavern was nearly pitch black, even with the torches on the walls. Many of them were burnt out due to neglect. Flick said he had a device that could light fires without magic, but it was in his library with his other belongings, and he didn't have time to grab it. Also, it may have exploded with many other possessions of his, according to Flick. Twilight's eyes had adjusted by the time they reached the grotto. "Finally," Rainbow said, stretching. "An open space." She flapped her wings and jumped in the air...only to fall face down on the ground.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know," she said, sitting up and rubbing her head. She tried to take off again, and another time after that, all with the same results.

"Fascinating," Flick said. He walked over to where she laid. He took her wings in his hooves and closely examined each one. He moved his hooves up and down the lengths of each wing, put pressure on some of the joints, and even plucked one of Dash's feathers, resulting in a short cry of pain and a very annoyed look. "Do you feel strange in anyway? Any sort of cramping feeling in your wings?"

"My wings feel a little weird, like there's some sort of block between them and the rest of my body. I noticed it a few minutes ago, but I just ignored it." She went to her hooves. The falls had scraped the knees of her back legs. A tiny stream of blood moved down one of them, but she didn't even seem to notice..

"You don't seem to have anything physically wrong with you," Flick said, stepping back from Rainbow. "That could mean..." He pondered for a moment while the girls waited for a response. When none came, Twilight was the one to break the temporary silence.

"Could mean what?" she asked.

"Great Gods above," he proclaimed. "The bubble shield thing. It's somehow affected Rainbow's ability to fly along with our ability to use magic."

"I'm not so sure about that one, Flick," Twilight said.

"Okay, we'll just consider it a theory for now. But think of the implications! If the ponies who attacked the Palace are also responsible for this, then their magical abilities are unmatched by any beings besides alicorns such as yourself."

"Or Rainbow Dash could just have cramps."

"Or they could be cramps. That possibility is also just as likely, I suppose." He calmed down, but the idea obviously hadn't left him. Twilight could easily see the slight excitement that lingered on his face.

"Speaking of the attackers," she added, "earlier you mentioned that they were after something else entirely."

"Yes, I did. This assault was no-doubt a result of them wanting to quickly and easily take over the Capital. That much is clear. The other part..." He bit his lip and looked to the ground, probably thinking to himself about what to say. Twilight tapped her hoof, hoping to finally get a straight answer.

"Well?" she said after a few seconds when no answer came. Flick looked back up as if he had forgotten they were there. "Oh," he said, "I was just trying to remember if I heard what I heard right. The guards I overheard said Alicorn's Bane, I'm fairly certain, but that can't be. It's merely a myth. An old legend. It's about as real as the Book of the Dead, or the Alicorn Amulet, or the..."

"The Alicorn Amulet is real," Twilight interjected.

Flick seemed genuinely surprised to hear that. "What? No it isn't. It's just an old mare's tale."

"No. A friend of mine found it and used it. Well, when I say friend I mean arch-nemesis, but we're friends now...sort of."

"Oh my. This...this changes things..." He went back to thinking. Can't he ever just think out loud every once and awhile?

"It could still not be real," Dash said, "this Alicorn's Bane you're talking about."

"It's a story built off of actual history. There's no official mention of it outside Mustangian oral tradition. I read about it in an old songs-and-stories book." He paced around a bit while thinking. They had all stopped walking by the start of the conversation, and by the end the girls listened intently, ready to hear what he had to say.

"Well," Rainbow said, "what is it anyway?" Flick walked over to a rock and sat down on it. Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other, then sat down on their haunches in front of him.

"Long ago, after the fall of Discord, when the alicorns came to this continent and were plentiful, both birthed natural kind and ascended kind, and before the War of Day and Night, a kingdom was here. Not Mustangia, but a different one. One ruled by a pony queen named Steelshanks. Steelshanks was an earth pony, which was uncommon for a ruler at a time when there were so many alicorns born of royalty. Some alicorns were given kingdoms right out of the womb, where as Steelshanks had to claw her way up from the lowest possible place to get hers." Celestia and Luna were born alicorns, and they were there that long ago, Twilight thought.

"She grew jealous of their privilage," Flick continued, "of their arrogance, and of the magic they could perform so easily, while an earth pony could not. During the War of the Seven Serpents, when her and her nation's armies sailed across the flowing ocean and battled in foreign lands, they found something. A stone, discovered smoking hot in a massive crater, and bigger than a pony's head, that glowed with a strange golden aura about it. Steelshanks liked the color, so she had it fashioned into a helm for her to wear into battle. When she wore it, though, she noticed something. She could use magic. Not only that, but she could outmatch any unicorn in a duel."

"And she was just an earth pony," Twilight said. She leaned forward when listening to Flick, her ears pricked up and her hooves neatly situated on her lap. Rainbow Dash, contrastingly, sat back with her hoves spread apart and her eyes half open. She yawned more and more often as Flick went on with his story.

"Yes," he said. "Imagine what a unicorn could do with the helm, or even an alicorn." Twilight's stomach churned slightly at the thought. "Steelshanks realized this, and she grew accustomed to never removing the helm. It helped her win the war, and utterly decimate the Order of the Seven Serpents. On her return home, she began planning a vast conquest of the continent. She began by gathering a host of forty thousand hardened soldiers from those who returned home with her, and attacking Equestria. It was right next to her kingdom, and it was also where the two most famous alicorns of all time ruled together. Celestia and Luna met her with their own force of twenty five thousand volunteers, along with several hundred alicorns. They fought in the Battle of...Rainbow, wake up!" When he yelled at her, she woke with a sudden jolt.

"Sorry, it's just...this is really boring," she said while she yawned and stretched.

"It's not boring," he said defensively, "it's about history long passed, it's about heroes and villains, it's about epic battles on a grand scale, it's-"

"Not as interesting as you think it is, and it doesn't help that you're giving us all of it at once."

Flick made an angry yet defeated sounding grunt. "Well it could be important, so listen up," he said, giving Rainbow a nasty look. "As I was saying, the two armies met in a clash that would be known as the Battle of the Burning Bridge. A huge river separated the two armies, and they fought on the gigantic bridge running over it. The helm Steelshanks wore is known as Alicorn's Bane because of what happened that day. She killed thirty seven alicorns in an airborne magical brawl before somepony struck her down into the river below. Some say Celestia did it, some say it was Luna, some say it was somepony else entirely. Records from that long ago aren't entirely reliable. All we know as fact is that there was a Queen named Steelshanks, who upon returning from a victory in the War of the Seven Serpents, launched an attack on Equestria that ended when Celestia and Luna killed her and shattered her host at the Battle of the Burning Bridge. There are no definite records of Alicorn's Bane, and if there ever were they have been lost to time. All knowledge of it comes from word of mouth stories, and those are even less reliable."

"I've read about the Battle of the Burning Bridge, and I've certainly never heard of Alicorn's Bane," Twilight said.

"Yes. There was no mention of it outside local legends, I doubted its authenticity, but there is definite proof that Steelshanks killed thirty seven alicorns that day. Thirty seven. Sombra, an incredibly powerful unicorn in his own right, only killed eleven before Celestia and Luna cast him down. Even that is considered a very large number. For centuries Gods Damn it Rainbow!"

She stopped snoring and her eyes shot open. "I'm up. I'm up."

"For centuries alicorns only died occasionally, and almost never by a normal pony's hooves. The only times anymore perished in great number was when fighting Discord, and during the War of Day and Night. You two should know all about that, being Equestrians."

"Wait wait wait, slow down," Rainbow said, getting up. "I thought that the War of Day and Night and the fight with Sombra and Discord was all just between Celestia and Luna."

"Well, that's what the singers and storytellers like to believe. Celestia and Luna, having been the ones to actually defeat Discord, are the most well known alicorns. And I can see the appeal of the millennial drama between two sisters torn apart by power and jealousy. History is often a little less neatly dramatic. After the fall of Discord, there were many alicorns all over the world. The exact number is unknown, as any alicorn could make anypony else an alicorn. Along with that there were the immortal, naturally-born alicorns, yet those were far less common. It is known that during the War of Day and Night, all the alicorns (along with hundreds of thousands of ponies) picked a side, and by the time Nightmare Moon was sealed away they were almost entirely wiped out. Since then, Celestia has put a stop to more alicorns being made. There haven't been any new alicorns for a millenia. Until now, that is."

"Flick," Rainbow said, "enough with the history lesson and get to the point. What happened to Alicorn's Bane?"

"The legend says that Celestia took it off of Steelshanks' corpse and hid it in an underground temple somewhere in Mustangia. The temple it talks about is a real place, just North of Bastion. Now-a-days, with so few alicorns left to stop it, anypony who finds it would possess the power to take over the world. Like I said, an old legend. There are many legends about objects that improve a pony in some way. I never thought it could be real. Now... now I'm not so sure."

"What if it is?" Twilight asked, standing up. "They're after it. They wouldn't come all this way if they didn't think it was real."

"I know," he said, as he also stood up.

"Real or not, they have to be stopped. We have to send a letter to Celestia as soon as possible and get help."

"Agreed. She needs to know what's happened here. Although, ponies are bound to talk about a bubble covering the Palace. Won't be long before word spreads."

"We haven't even seen a bubble yet," Rainbow said as she stood up with the others.

"Are you doubting my bubble theory?"

"No, I'm just saying that we should keep our options open." Flick frowned at that.

"Well, we'll prove it in a moment," he said. He pointed at the path ahead of them. "If we continue up this path we'll reach an opening into the city. Once we get out, you'll be able to see the huge bubble around the Palace." He pointed and glared at them while he said that. He walked forward and set out farther into the cave. Twilight and Rainbow followed him down into the dark.

No torchlight could reach them after that. Twilight couldn't see anything more than a few feet in front of her, so she kept close behind Flick, and Rainbow kept close behind Twilight. "Are you sure you know where you're going, Flick?" she asked.

"Yes. I've explored these caverns below the main tunnel system many a time. Mostly out of curiosity. Some of the things I've found down here are very interesting..." He trailed off.

"Hey, Flick?" Rainbow asked from the back.

"What?" he called back to her, not stopping to turn around.

"When we get out of here and send a message to Celestia, we're going to go after the helmet, right? So that those Equine Empire guys can't get it."

"One, Alicorn's Bane is a helm, not a helmet. Two, after we send a message to Celestia we wait in the city until she sends help. That is how we stop them from getting Alicorn's Bane, if it's even real."

"What?! We can't just sit around and do nothing. If we can't help our friends, then the least we can do is stop the Equine Empire ponies. Stop what they're trying to do."

"What they're trying to do is take over Mustangia. Why they're looking for a fictional relic is beyond my understanding. Now, Twilight's comments may have piqued my interest earlier, but I logically concluded that an item such as Alicorn's Bane can not possibly be real. Those idiots upstairs just don't realize it."

A sudden change of heart? Twilight wondered. She turned her head to see Dash. The stark lack of understanding was clear as day on her face. "Twilight said it herself, why would they be after it if they weren't sure it was real? The conversation you overheard saved us from walking into a trap."

"But it'll also send us across the country on a wild goose chase that could turn up nothing."

"It's possible, right? That's why you told the story, because it could be real."

"Yes. It's possible. I wouldn't of brought it up if it wasn't. I'm just saying it isn't smart to go after it."

"It's better than doing nothing!" She yelled at him. Twilight and Flick stopped, though Flick kept his eyes forward. Twilight looked to Rainbow, then to Flick, then back to Rainbow. A moment passed. Twilight felt like it lasted longer than they had even been in the caves. The quiet settled on them for so long. Flick said nothing. Twilight could hear heavy breathing through his nostrils. Then he just kept walking. Twilight looked at Rainbow again and followed him.

Rainbow chewed her lip and joined them, but she was far from defeated. "Fine, I'll go." Flick stopped again, and turned to face her this time. His face was now the one with a complete lack of understanding.

"You'll go?" he asked. The question was half laughter.

"Yeah. Earlier, you said Applejack, Spike, Rarity, all of them, weren't your friends. Well they're my friends. I'm not going to sit on my butt while they're in danger. So I'll go and do something about it. Maybe I can't help them right now, but if going after this Alicorn's Bane thing is the best I can do, then I'll do it."

"Are you kidding me? Rainbow, you wouldn't even know the first place to look for it."

"It doesn't matter. As long as I'm looking for it."

"Do you know how stupid that sounds?"

That's enough, Twilight thought. "I'll go with you," she finally said to Rainbow Dash. Flick stood there, his mouth agape with surprise.

"You're joking," he said. "That's the only logical explanation. You're a Princess. I don't really think you should be traveling the countryside."

"I can't let Rainbow go out on her own. She's right, too. If I can't help my friends, I want to try to do anything I can. You can stay here if you want. We're going to get this thing before the Equine Empire can get it. Though," she said, her voice softening, "we don't even know where to start. Will you at least come with us?"

Flick looked like he was about to explode. He opened his mouth to begin yelling at them, but he quickly sighed and surrendered. It was a deep, heavy sigh. He looked at each of them for a few moments before he started speaking. "Princess, I've been a little inconsistent. I say that the world's in danger, then tell you it's nothing. I explain the history behind some magical artifact, then tell you it's just a legend. It's because I want it to be a legend. I read about things like that, and I shudder to think of them being real. If this thing is real, then we're in bigger danger than I could have ever imagined. If those ponies get their hooves on it, the world is in very real trouble. I didn't want to believe that, because then it falls to us to stop them. I know about you and your friends, and what you have done for Equestria. There would be no stopping you from going after this thing. I just didn't want to be left behind. I'm not the kind of pony who goes gallivanting off on adventures anymore. I'm too old. I left those days behind me a long time ago.

"Just this morning, I nearly had a heart attack when I overheard those two ponies plotting. I realized that I fell out of it over the past few years. I had become cowardly, and couldn't bear to let you go to your possible death. So I tried to deny it, for my own selfish reasons. I didn't want to feel like I failed somepony else. But seeing you, you and your friend's determination to save the ones you love..." He knelt down before Twilight and Rainbow. "I would be honored to temporarily forsake my vows towards Princess Cornaria, and swear the oath of my order to serve you, Princess. To follow you where ever you need me to follow, to guide and advise you in anyway I can, for as long as I live. That is... if you'll have me."

"A simple okay would have been fine," Twilight said as she smiled.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm a bit dramatic." He stood up and smiled to Twilight and Rainbow.

"I accept your service, and expect you to do your duty to me to the best of your ability. Now, how much longer until we get out of here?"

"Not long. There's an exit into the city just up ahead. Follow me." He lead them farther and farther down the path. Twilight wanted to say how much she appreciated that Flick was there for them, but when she was about to say it she noticed a light in the distance.

"Is that it?" she asked.

"Yes," Flick responded. "That's the sun, ladies."

"I've missed it so much," Rainbow Dash said.

"We've only been here for at most a few hours."

"Still..."

"There's going to be a metal grate covering the exit, but we'll be out of the bubble so we can use magic to get past it pretty quickly."

Twilight let out a breath of relief. Hours in the near pitch black gave her a craving for sunlight, fresh air, and her magic. She wasn't going to let it get her down, yet she always felt strangely naked without her powers. Flick reached the grate first and stared blankly out of it. "What?" Twilight asked, "What is it?"

"...crap."

Questions

Spike used the toilet paper to write on, but finding something to actually write with was a challenge all on its own. Applejack watched as he tore the cell apart looking for anything he could use. She told him it was pointless, but he refused to give up on it. She asked Fluttershy to back her up. She didn't. Fluttershy still wasn't talking. Spike finally found a small rock with a bit of dirt on it that could make marks on the paper. He repeated what he wrote out loud as he wrote it. "Help. We were attacked by... by... who captured us again?"

"They didn't say," Applejack responded.

"It was probably the Equine Empire," he said. "You know, those ponies Twilight told us about. Cornaria was worried about them too."

"We don't have a lot of paper," Applejack told him. Spike counted out the letters for 'the Equine Empire' on the fingers.

"By bad ponies. Send help fast please. Spike." He rolled up the paper and blew on it. It burst into flames and crumpled into bits in his hands.

"It didn't do the smoke thang," Applejack pointed out. "Where the smoke flies off into the air."

"I don't think it worked." He sighed and sat back down. Applejack cursed under her breath. They had only been in the cramped cell for a few hours, but it felt like so much longer. After what happened they had been escorted to their new room. The three of them, and also another pony. Applejack hadn't learned her name. She had a yellow coat and a grass green mane. She just seemed to be a Palace maid, but she had a cupcake for a cutie mark. Applejack had wondered if she liked baking if that was her cutie mark. The guards took her first. They didn't bring her back.

For awhile nothing happened. Spike hatched his scheme, Fluttershy sat in the corner, and all Applejack could do was pace back and forth in the middle of the cell. She would often look over to Flutters and frown. When the attack happened, they killed a guard right in front of her. She didn't make as much as a peep since.

Spike threw the rock against the wall as hard as he could. "I can't believe this." He sat down on the toilet and put his head in his hands.

"Are you okay?" Applejack asked.

"Not really. We've been thrown in a cell after the Palace was attacked by those ponies. You'd think that Palace guards are the ones you can trust more than anypony else. If you can't trust them..." He sighed in frustration. "Better still, we have no idea what's happened to Twilight, or Rarity, or any of our friends."

"Ah don't know about Rarity or Pinkie, but Twilight and Rainbow could be okay. Flick might have gotten them out. They could be hidin' in the walls right now, even."

"Maybe. I'm just worried, is all. After what happened..." He trailed off, and his head went back into his hands. She hadn't considered that the pony dying might have had an effect on him as well. Applejack was the only one of the three who hadn't actually seen it happen.

She was blinded by the flash of light from the bubble spell. She saw the aftermath, though. The guard was on the floor, his eyes wide open and his legs twitching and shaking a little as he choked on his own blood. Another guard put a hoof on his back and pushed off as he slid his spear out of the stallion's torso. That sight alone still burned clearly in Applejack's mind. No matter how hard she tried to think of something else the pony kept coming back. If that disturbed her so much, she couldn't even imagine what seeing the spear go in was doing to Fluttershy and Spike.

Other guards were killed too, but not a whole lot. Any they found in the Palace that surrendered went to the cells with the rest of the staff. From what she saw in the throne room, AJ guessed that about three quarters of the guards were in on the plan. Only one other member of the staff was in on it as well, she gathered. If she ever saw Windswept again, she didn't know what she'd do. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be pretty.

The large metal door swung open, and two guards emerged from the outside. "You, orange one. Come with us," one of them said while pointing at Applejack.

"What if Ah don't want to?" she said, taking a few steps towards them.

"Fine. We can just take one of those two," the other said, eyeing Spike and Fluttershy.

"No," she said, stepping in front of them. "No, Ah'll go with you."

"Good," the guard said with a smirk on his face. They led her out of the cell and down a long hallway past the others. As she went by, she could hear ponies in the other cells crying, or cursing at the guards, or trying to make a bargain to get out of the dungeons. They only went up one floor, and she was deposited in a small grey room with nothing but a center table and a chair on opposite sides of it. She sat down in one of the chairs and waited while the two guards took their places at the far end of the room.

She didn't wait long. A pony came into the room with a clipboard and sat opposite of Applejack. He was a young stallion with a sharp grey coat and jet black hair. "So," he started, looking at the clipboard, "your name is Applejack, correct?" She didn't say anything. "You were born and raised in Ponyville, lived there your whole life, orphaned at a very young age, currently live with your grandmother, your older brother, and your younger sister. Is this correct?"

"How... how do you know that?"

"When we were told that you and your friends were coming all the way from Equestria just to pay a visit to Cornaria, we made sure to find out everything we could. All in all, your presence didn't change our plan very drastically, just forced us to act sooner than anticipated. Although, you're proving to be more and more of a nuisance." He looked up from his clipboard. Applejack met his determined gaze with an unsure one. "Don't worry," he said, "we just need you to answer a few simple questions."

"Why should Ah answer any questions?" The grey pony sighed.

"Applejack, you're one of the Elements of Harmony. Honesty, right? Honesty begins with trust. My name is Greyhorn. I was born in a small village to a poor family and worked on our farm until I joined the military. We know each other a little better now. That is how trust begins. What is your relation with Princess Cornaria?"

Applejack opened her mouth to speak and the word just came out. She didn't quite know why. "Ah just met her yesterday. Haven't even talked much to her." He wrote down something on his clipboard after she answered.

"What are your feelings towards Mustangia?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Applejack, your time for questions will come eventually, but for now you must wait your turn." He stared at her with piercing red eyes. Those eyes made her shift in her seat slightly. She paused a moment before answering.

"It's alright, Ah guess." He wrote something down again.

"Do you know much about it?"

"No."

"Anything about its history or even its legends?"

"Nope."

"Have you ever heard of something called Alicorn's Bane?"

"Not that Ah can think of..."

"Are you sure? It's a helm. You know, a war helmet. Does the name Steelshanks mean anything to you?"

"No." Answering the questions was easy for her. She just told him the truth.

"Okay. Applejack, moment of truth. Where is Twilight Sparkle?" AJ experienced a brief moment of relief. They didn't have Twilight. The moment passed quickly and was replaced with a fear of what might happen next.

"Ah don't know."

"She's your friend."

"And Ah don't know where she is." He put the clipboard down and folded his hooves on the table.

"She was supposed to be in the throne room this morning," he said, leaning forward, slightly, "but you were there instead."

"Ah said Ah don't know."

"Any Information, even a sliver of it, would be acceptable." Applejack tried not to think of Flick and the hole in the wall.

"Ah don't know." She looked away from him.

"All of your rooms were next to each other and we checked each one. She wasn't there. I'm guessing you all woke up at about the same time." Applejack tried not to make eye contact. She looked at the floor, at the wall, at the table, never at Greyhorn. "You and your two friends were at a diplomatic meeting you didn't have to be at. You said something to Cornaria about the pony Flickering Flame. Did Twilight go somewhere with him?"

Applejack stayed silent. Sweat began to form on her brow.

"Seven of you came to Bastion. We've found three of you. Where are your friends?"

"Ah don't know."

Greyhorn sighed. "I can see why you're the Element of Honesty. You are a terrible liar."

Applejack wanted to protest but before she could she was blinded by a sudden flash of light. She felt air part as she moved and a sharp pain to her back and her head and neck. Sight returned to her and she observed her chair fallen over and herself on the floor, against the wall. Greyhorn's horn stopped glowing as he opened the door to the room.

"I'll be back in five minutes," he said as he walked out. When the door shut behind him, the two guards did not hesitate with their actions. They darted over to Applejack before she could steady herself on her knees and struck her down, back to the floor. They began their work of beating her. They started with her stomach and ribs, then moved on to her limbs, then to her face.

The pain was intense, extreme, a blade being forced into her a dozen different times every second. The ponies were clearly trained to cause pain, and they were good at it. Artists of pain. That was all she could think of while they brutalized her. The pain. Pain. Hurt. Ache. Agony. It was all she could think about. Whatever the name, Applejack tried not to acknowledge it. She had to take it. For Twilight. For her friends. If she gave in then they would be in danger. Greyhorn and Windswept and all the others would have gotten better of her. She was stronger than that. She would show them. Violence would not break her.

When the time was up, Greyhorn returned. He casually walked over to where Applejack was on the floor and stood over her. "Ready to talk?" he asked. She said nothing. He sighed and rubbed his temples with his hoof. "I'll be back every five minutes. Try to make this go faster, for everypony's sake." They continued their bloody work.

Every time was the same. By the first minute she was able to take it. By the second, her strength started to leave her. By the third, unwanted tears came to her eyes. By the fourth, she was begging them to stop. By the time Greyhorn returned she couldn't keep herself from sobbing, even after the guards had ceased her punishment. Yet she still didn't talk. She got a second wind every time Greyhorn came back in, but after an hour she found she had nothing left in her. She sobbed and tried to block the guards' blows with her hooves fruitlessly the whole time, towards the end. After the last five minute increment, Greyhorn approached the broken Applejack and knelt down beside her.

He didn't have to ask the question. He didn't have to say anything. His eyes said it for him and more. "Flick... th-the walls... she went with him... into the walls." Greyhorn stood up and left the room, still silent. The guards picked her up and dragged her back to the cell.

Applejack slid in and out of consciousnes. She didn't know where she was. She was in a field, with rolling hills, a bright blue sky, and the greenest grass she had ever seen in her life. She ran, and rolled, and laughed as she tumbled through it. She laid on her back, looking up at the sun, and her body made two shadows in the grass. They grew bigger and bigger, until they stood over. She couldn't see their faces, but they laughed with her and smiled. She just knew they were smiling. They rose in the air and flew off into the sun, their laughter growing fainter and fainter as they went higher and higher. No! Applejack called out. Don't go! Don't leave me! Why are you going? Why are you going? Why are you going?

"Applejack!" a voice called out. Why are you going? "Applejack," it called again.

"Why are you going?" she whispered as she opened her eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere, Applejack," Spike said. He and Fluttershy stood over Applejack, who was lying on the cot in the cell. By then she had stopped crying, and talking to herself. The pain returned again, seemingly out of nowhere. She was covered in bruises and cuts and sores and gashes. One particular gash had opened up above her right eye, letting blood seep down and sting it. She hated herself at that moment. She told herself to be strong, but she failed. She'd been hurt before, surely she could have taken a beating without giving in. It was just...

"They... they questioned me. And they beat me," she told them. "Ah'm sorry. Ah didn't want to, but Ah talked. About Twilight and Flick. Ah tried to stay quiet. It just hurt so much."

"It's okay, Applejack. It's not your fault," Fluttershy told her.

"Hey, at least you're talking again," Applejack said as she smiled.

"Yeah, I guess so..." The bed Applejack laid in wasn't anything more than a thinly stuff mattress on top of a stone slab, but Applejack found comfort in it.

"We're just glad you're back. We thought we might never see you again. Dear Goddess, you look awful," Spike said.

"Thanks Spike, that makes me feel better already."

"I'm sorry. Is there anything we can do?"

"We don't have any bandages or anything like that, so Ah think all that can be done to help me is for me to get some rest."

"Okay." He let her do just that. Soon after, Spike took up pacing around the room, and Flittershy went back to not speaking. At least it was for a little while, she thought.

It hurt for her to go to sleep, but she needed it so badly.

Setting Out

"Well... at least you were right about there being a bubble," Rainbow Dash told him.

"Yes, but it's a lot bigger than I anticipated," Flick said. Twilight could see it through the metal grate as it stretched across the sky. To her, it looked as if it reached over the entire city and past the walls. The grate was located at the bottom of the hill that the Palace was sitting on, so Twilight couldn't see it when she looked upwards. She thought about her friends again. Twilight was able to hold onto her confidence the whole way through the tunnels, but when she saw the bubble the situation finally caught up to her. She was brought back for a moment with a loud slamming noise.

Flick bounced off the grate and staggered backwards before barely steadying himself. Even then he looked ready to collapse. "Sweet gods above that hurt," he said as he grabbed his shoulder.

"Why did you do that?" Twilight asked.

"We still don't have magic... I thought about it... and decided on something stupid to see if it would work." He went to his knees and inhaled with his teeth tightly clenched.

"And it didn't."

"Stupid hurts..." he moaned. Twilight and Rainbow Dash helped him up.

"Are you okay?" Rainbow asked.

"Sort of. This was my plan. This stupid Grate." He kicked it when he spat out the words. "Now..." He stepped forward and gazed back out through the opening's in the grate.

"It's alright," Twilight said. "I'm sure there's another way out of these tunnels. Our friends are still okay, unless they're not. Maybe they're being killed or tortured and we're just going to be stuck in the dark down here."

"Twilight?" he asked, turning back towards her.

"We could starve down here." She didn't remember taking the first few steps, but she soon found herself pacing around the tunnel's interior. "We can't just eat rocks, that's ridiculous. Who eats rocks? We can't eat rocks. So we'll have to get out of here before we start eating rocks." She started breathing faster and faster. The room began to spin.

"Twilight, you're hyperventilating," somepony said. She couldn't tell who it was or why they would say something so ridiculous, so she ignored it and focused on what was really important.

"So we have to wander the tunnels. What if the torches go out? What if we get separated and don't even realize it? We could be walking along and say 'Hey Rainbow, are you eating rocks yet?' And she doesn't say anything back and I'm all alone and I don't know what to do and-"

"Twilight!" Flick yelled. Twilight stopped talking. Her frantic breathing continued. The tunnel's spinning slowed. Twilight forced her breathing to slow too. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. And another. Once she had composed herself, she opened her eyes and saw her friends with very worried looks on their faces.

"I'm sorry. I just get a little anxious sometimes," she said, forcing a smile. It quickly dissipated. Flick looked over to Rainbow Dash.

"Is it usually this severe?" he asked.

"Sometimes," Dash said, "but not too often. Are you okay, Twilight?"

"I'm fine now," Twilight said. "I'm fine. I'm good. I'm a Princess. I can handle this." Twilight took one last, deep breath. She looked back out the grate, then at the others. "So this isn't our way out? We need a new plan."

"Agreed," Flick said. "No use dwelling on past failures, mistakes, and or miscalculations. Now is the time for brainstorming, ladies."

"What if," Dash started, "we all slam into the metal grate together at once? We'd be able to break it down then."

"I don't think that'll work," Twilight said. "If it does we'll be stuck in the city instead of being stuck in this tunnels. Not much better if you ask me."

"Oh."

"What we need is a way past the bubble entirely," Flick pointed out. "If we can't think of anything else, we can go with Dash's idea, avoid any Royal Guards, and improvise a way past the walls."

"What about a teleportation spell?" Twilight asked.

"That could work if we had enough power, but neither of us can use any magic while under the bubble shield." Flick sat down and stroked his white and grey stubble. Rainbow sat down as well and put her hoof under her chin. Twilight thought about the situation for a moment.

"We're under the bubble, and we can't use magic," she said.

"Yes. We've established that," Flick responded.

"How deep do these tunnels go?"

"Well, there are several levels of catacombs. The ones in the actual castle, these tunnels within the hill that go down even further, and some lower down that I still haven't explored yet. Why do you ask?" Twilight smiled at him while he thought about it. Flick's face lit up with the realization. "Oh," he said, standing up. "Oh that is brilliant. It's so simple. How did we not think of it earlier?"

"I know, right?"

"Umm," Rainbow said, "what are you guys talking about?"

"You see, Rainbow," Twilight explained, "the bubble shield is covering the city, preventing everypony from using magic or flying. That's as long as they're within the bubble, within its influence. So maybe, if we go far enough below the bubble..."

"It won't affect us," Flick finished.

"Will that really work?" she asked when she stood up as well.

"It better, because it's all we've got," Flick said. Twilight nodded. Rainbow smiled and jumped in place, ready to go. They turned around and delved into the caverns below the Palace one last time.

To Twilight, it once again felt like they had been walking in the dark for hours. The blackness melted almost all sense of time while traversing it. The torches had fully gone out, and as they went deeper there stopped being any torches at all. They stumbled through the dark, closely staying behind Flick. He seemed almost as lost as the others, but he had a determination to get through the ordeal that Twilight admired. "Hey, Flick?" she asked.

"Yeah?" he half-heartedly called back to her. He appeared to be more focused on navigating their descent into the bowels of the earth than answering Twilight.

"I never got the chance to ask you about your order. The Children of Star Swirl, wasn't it."

"Yes, and no, you didn't get the chance to ask me. I'd say this isn't the time or place, but then again what else are we going to do to pass the time down here. What do you want to know?"

"So much," she exclaimed. Twilight thought that getting her mind onto other things would no doubt be relieving for her. "I don't know where to start. I've read so little about it. How long has it been around?"

"Centuries. Ever since the days of Star Swirl. As you no doubt know, Star Swirl never married and never fathered children. He was always focused on his work, so he viewed his students as his own children, and they viewed their students as children, and so did those students with their own. The learning experience and the passing-of-the-torch just have such a resonating effect between Master and Protege.

"Teachings were always passed down from Masters to Proteges, and the Proteges became full-fledged Children of Star Swirl and served any who they swore their oath to. Having a Child of Star Swirl in your court was once a point of pride for any country all over the world, and for the towns and cities for which a Child would gladly serve. But now our members are few and far between." He stumbled slightly when he said that but he never slowed his pace.

"Why is there so little information about the Children?" Twilight asked.

"We're a very secretive group of ponies. We keep knowledge of our practices to ourselves mostly, and like I said, we're a dying breed. Less and less young ponies care about pursuing knowledge these days. Masters are growing old and fading away without any Children of their own."

"But you wanted to learn."

"No, I didn't."

"Oh... then you must have had a great Master to convince you otherwise."

"Something like that."

"So, what was he like? How did he convince you to become a Child of Star Swirl?" Flick didn't say anything. He kept on walking in the dark. "Flick?"

He stopped for just a moment. "That was a long time ago," Flick said. For the first time, his age truly reflected in his voice. Twilight paid no mind to his years before. He always talked and moved with such energy that she didn't ever take notice. Even in the dark, with his face turned away from her, Twilight could see the lines on it. She could see just how old he was.

"Flick, do you have any Proteges. Any Children of Star Swirl?"

"Twilight, no offense to you, but I think this conversation is over." His sternness surprised her, maybe even frightened her. She could tell Rainbow felt it too. Flick kept walking.

They walked for a long time. In silence. Twilight wanted to apologize, but the words refused to come to her. She almost finally said something, but Flick stopped suddenly. His previous energy seemed to have returned to his voice. "Okay, problem. That's a big hole," he said.

They looked past him and down into the abyss. Unlike the tunnels, where it was darkness that their eyes adjusted to over time, the hole was complete darkness. Utter, and endless. Despite how long they stared, it remained. No pony could know how deep it went. "This is as far as the tunnels go, and my magic still doesn't work," Flick said.

Oh no, Twilight thought. Her magic still didn't work either, and neither her nor Rainbow Dash could fly or even hover off the ground. They must have been incredibly far below the surface. Was she wrong? Did the plan fail? Were they at the same place they started, just farther down? Twilight couldn't accept that.

"On three, we jump," she said.

Flick did a quick double-take. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"This is the deepest we can go by walking. That hole is our way of going deeper," she said as she peered over the edge. "If it works, then Rainbow and I can fly and catch you before we hit the bottom."

"And if it doesn't work?"

"Then we'll probably die."

"Oh good," Rainbow said from the back, stretching out the word 'good' when she said it.

"Twilight," Flick said, "this plan is terrible. I'm sure there are other tunnels we can take if we go back. We may have missed them."

"We don't have time. We've already been wandering around down here for hours."

"Twilight, think logically about this." Twilight thought about it. Should I? Should I think about this more, or should I just take action? A moment passed. Then she walked off the edge.

"Twilight!" she heard Rainbow yell as the brightly colored mare dove after her. Twilight plunged into the abyss as she tried extending her wings. She still couldn't fly, and that didn't change as she fell. As every second passed, the fear that she was wrong came closer and closer, like the ground that approached her. The air blasted her as she descended. The fear made her close her eyes, and nothing changed. Then it happened. Her wings caught wind, and she stopped mid-air.

Twilight gave a gigantic sigh of relief. A streak of rainbow blazed downward past her, and Dash floated upwards to meet her. "I guess your plan worked," she said, smiling.

"Thank Celestia." Twilight couldn't help but giggle, and then she started to laugh as if she had no choice. Rainbow joined her and they laughed together for a brief few seconds. "Now we have to figure out how to get Flick without flying up there." Right on cue, she heard a distant scream that grew louder and closer as it continued. Flick sped by and Rainbow dashed and caught him just in time.

"Miss Sparkle," he said in Rainbow's arms, "you are fortunate that I have so much faith in you. I am extremely afraid of heights, and I will be looking upwards while we enact the next step."

Twilight smiled and cast an illumination spell. It felt good to have her magic again. They were all blinded for a moment by the light. "Now we just have to teleport all the way past the bubble," Flick said as he tested his magic along with Twilight

"I'll be honest, I'm not too sure if I can."

"Have you never teleported that far before?"

"No."

"Well, you jumped into a bottomless pit pretty confidently, so I think you can do this. Alright, Twilight. We're going to do this together. Rainbow, hold on tight to me. Twilight, slow your breathing. Close your eyes." She did as he asked. "This is going to take a lot of concentration and power, but I know you can do it, Twilight."

"Alright, I'm ready."

"Good, now picture the outside of the bubble. The outside of the city walls. Picture it as clearly as you can. Focus your mind on the sounds, the smells, the feel of the wind in your mane. You see the trees to your front, you hear the city to your back. You feel the grass underneath you. You don't look, but you just know that there's a sky above you. And... you're there."

She opened her eyes. The sun was setting over the horizon. She looked behind her, and saw the bubble covering the city. To the right of her were Flick and Rainbow standing there. She smiled widely. "It worked!" she exclaimed as she hugged her two friends.

Rainbow fell to the ground and rolled around. "Grass. Beautiful, not-at-all-rocky grass. I never thought I'd miss you."

"I'm afraid we don't have time to celebrate the wonderment of... grass. There's a village not very far from here. We can get a letter to Celestia there."

"Well let's get going the-" Twilight started until she collapsed, breathing heavily. Flick was on the ground too, clutching his chest. Rainbow got up from the ground and went to her friends.

"Don't worry," Flick said, gasping for air. "This is normal. Short distance teleportation is fairly simple, but teleporting that far and through that much material... that would take a lot out of the most powerful magic users. Creates a lot of strain on the body. Even for an alicorn. To a much larger extent, me." He sat up and leaned against a rock. Rainbow helped Twilight stagger to her hooves. "It starts out easy. It's the aftermath that'll kill you. Okay. I'm good. Are you good?"

"I'm good," Twilight said as she steadied herself. Flick stayed on the ground for a bit while waiting for his breathing to normalize.

"I'm good too," Rainbow said.

"Miss Dash, you're not funny," Flick said, finally getting up, "and you didn't just take us each apart molecule by molecule and move us miles away with your brain."

"You're being very rude, Flick."

"Well I've been having kind of a bad day."

"So have I but I'm not being rude about it."

"I... I don't like you. Okay, let's get going." Twilight rolled her eyes at that. She had a feeling that Flick may have been sarcastic, but she wasn't entirely sure. She didn't say anything about it on their way to the village.

The village of Bastion's Gate was almost just that. It was hardly a few miles from the entrance to the city, and Flick said much of its prosperity comes from ponies on their way to Bastion who stay in the inns, buy the food, and trade some of their wares. Some ponies said that as the village grew it would one day just be absorbed by the city. Flick stopped them on the outskirts.

"Wait," he said. He squinted at the ponies in the distance. "Twilight, take my cloak. Wear it over your wings."

"Royal Guards?"

"Yes. They're over there in the town center, questioning villagers. We can't stay here overnight. We send a letter and we go as soon as possible." Twilight donned the cloak and they moved quietly into Bastion's Gate.

After purchasing food, camping supplies, and a quill and paper with the money in Flick's cloak pocket, Twilight inscribed a simple message. Dear Princess Celestia, Bastion is under attack. We believe it is the Equine Empire who are the perpetrators. Send help as soon as possible. We believe they are after something called Alicorn's Bane. Any information on it is incredibly important. Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle.

"You forgot the Princess part," Flick pointed out. "Isn't it supposed to be Princess Twilight Sparkle?"

"Oh... it's already written. Might as well send it," she said. Flick shrugged. They sent the letter off in a puff of smoke.

The response came quick enough. Dear Twilight, I am sending aid as soon as possible, but it will take a number of days to reach you. Help will arrive as soon as possible. They mustn't get their hooves on Alicorn's Bane. Sincerely, Celestia.

"Well there it is," Flick said. "We have to get to Alicorn's Bane before the Equine Empire does."

"Do we know where to start?" Twilight asked.

"The tales say its last resting place was a temple to the north. We can start there. I suggest we go before anypony here notices us." Twilight looked around at the ponies going about their business before the moon came out. Almost all they talked about was Bastion. Most said the bubble was just precaution, but they still speculated about exactly why the bubble was there, and why no ponies were going in, but plenty of ponies were coming out. Royal Guards poured out of the city constantly. They did little to stem the speculation. All they did was say the bubble was just a drill and then they would ask their questions. Flick was determined that they leave before any guards noticed them. They walked along the road leading north, ready to set out.

Twilight stopped. "What's wrong?" Rainbow asked.

"Don't tell us you're having second thoughts," Flick said.

"It's not that," Twilight said,"it's just that... we're going to be so far from our friends. We don't know what's even happened to them. I'm starting to think this may not entirely be the best way to help them."

Flick put his hoof on her shoulder. "Twilight, two things. First, that's the exact definition of having second thoughts. Second, as a Child of Star Swirl in your service allow me to advise you on this. I had my doubts about the plan too, but now we know that it's really all we have. That's not what convinced me. What convinced me to go along with this incredibly stupid plan is you and Rainbow. You two have a love of your friends that is real, like nothing I've seen in a long time. It sounds cheesy and stupid, I know. But there's something there. I've seen it. I bet Celestia saw it too. It's in both of you." He Rainbow a soft smile. "Rainbow came up with the idea, and you supported it, because of your friends. That is something a lot more ponies need these days. Like I said before, I'm with you to the end." Twilight's eyes began to water. She hugged Flick tightly.

"I'm so glad I met you," she said. He hugged her back.

"Come here you big saps!" Rainbow joined in as well.

"Okay. Okay. That's enough. I feel like I'm going to choke on all this emotional stuff," Flick said. "Well, there's nothing left to do but start walking."

"You know, most of us have wings," Dash said.

"Yeah, but I don't. When we're out of sight of Bastion's Gate we can start flying if you want, but you two will have to carry our saddlebags, and me."

"On second thought, we can walk for awhile." They started, but not before Twilight looked back at Bastion. That was all she needed, and they began their journey.

Getting Out of the Muck

The stench was certainly the worst part of the whole thing. Rarity could hardly breathe, and it didn't get any better as she and Pinkie walked through the filth. It got to the point in which she could almost taste the air. "Pinkie," she asked, "do you know where we are even going?" Almost as terrible as the smell was the sense of disillusion the situation had created. Rarity wasn't quite sure what was going on. It was bad, though. That much she knew. After Rarity and Pinkie Pie dived into the sewers, Royal Guards came in after them. The two mares hugged the wall of an adjacent tunnel and spied the squad of guards who moved almost silently through the dank passageways. The only noises they made were the sounds of their legs slowly wading through the sewage, and their leader's occasional calls out to the girls.

In a soft tone, he would yell reassurances to them, that they should come out and they wouldn't be harmed. The guards kept their weapons at the ready, and Pinkie's Pinkie Sense caused her to continuously shake. It was all Rarity could do to hold her steady so that she didn't make too much noise. The two ponies thankfully remained unseen. They waited for the squad to pass before going in the opposite direction.

The sewers were large, uniform passageways filled more than knee high with waste. The Palace was large, so it obviously needed large sewers like that. Flickering Flame mentioned that they connected to the rest of Bastion, so that was where they needed to go. Pinkie led the way, insisting she could find a way through the large, interconnected marble tunnels. Rarity wasn't too confident that she knew how to get out of the sewers and into the city, but the pink mare had surprised her before, so she gave her the benefit of the doubt. Each hour underground caused her confidence to wane a little more.

"Pinkie," she said, "you didn't answer my question."

"We're going to find a way out of these sewers, silly," Pinkie replied. She smiled and hopped as she went through the sewers, causing small splashes of waste land on Rarity. It didn't help her mood.

"Pinkie, I'd hate to say it, but I don't think you're taking the situation very seriously."

"Things aren't too serious yet."

Rarity had to do a double-take. "Not too serious? Pinkie, there is a giant magical bubble over the city, the Royal Guards are hunting us, we have no idea what has happened to any of our friends, and furthermore, my mane is absolutely ruined. I see that as plenty serious." Pinkie returned the rational thinking with her usual smile and went back to her hopping.

"Things won't get too serious until later," she said. "For now, we're alright."

"What does that even mean, Pinkie? You're not making any sort of sen-" Pinkie stopped moving suddenly, causing Rarity to bump into her. The pink mare looked upwards, and her friend did the same.

"Look, there's a way out," Pinkie said. Rarity saw a light coming down through a hole in the ceiling. In fact, she saw several lights coming from various sized holes running all along the ceiling of the passageway, each spaced out slightly different, and going as far as the sewer seemed to. She looked back up and frowned.

"Why this one?" Rarity asked.

"Look at all the others. They're too small. This one will be a tight fit, but we'll be able to get through. Just give me a boost, okay?" Pinkie said.

"Dear, I'm not sure if I'll be able to lift you, and it seems awfully high."

"Don't worry about it, just do it," Pinkie said gleefully before jumping into Rarity's hooves. Rarity did all she could not to fall backwards as she awkwardly stood on her hind legs. She was surprised by how light her friend was, and how easy it was to at least hold her up. Pinkie must hardly weigh anything, she thought, even with all the sweets she eats all the time. I wish I knew how she did it. Rarity didn't have much time for her thoughts, as despite Pinkie's weight she found her legs starting to shake more and more the longer she stood there holding her. She summoned all the strength she had and forced her front legs upward as hard as she could.

Pinkie flew into the air. She slowed as she went higher, and Rarity didn't know if she'd even make it. She released her breath when Pinkie reached the edges and pulled herself up. For a moment she stayed there, halfway through the hole. Rarity heard movement, then a muffled "Hello," from Pinkie, then very clear screaming. Pinkie disappeared for a brief second before looking back down the hole and smiling. "Jump and I'll pull you up," she said, extending her hoof.

Rarity sighed and leapt into the air, grabbing Pinkie's hoof with her own. She crawled her way through the opening, and she felt her stomach churn when she realized what she was in. "Pinkie," she said, "if you mention to anypony that I entered somepony's home through their toilet, I will end you."

"Pinkie Promise that I won't," she giggled. Rarity struggled out of the toilet and onto the bathroom floor. She looked up to see a stallion standing in the doorway holding a wooden broom in a defensive position.

"I don't know who you are," he shouted, "but if you don't get out of my house in the next five seconds I swear to the gods I will use this."

"The broom?" Rarity asked. He looked at his weapon of choice and shrank a bit, but regained his battle stance mere moments later.

"Yes the broom. I know how to use it, don't doubt that. And I will. Just get out, okay? We don't want anymore trouble than we've already had." Rarity got back on her hooves slowly, all while making no sudden movements towards the pony. His broom was still as stone, along with the rest of him. Pinkie just kept smiling as Rarity sought a way to diffuse the situation.

"We're so sorry to intrude. We'll be on our way."

"Why did you come out of my toilet?" Rarity blushed, not knowing what to say. Pinkie answered for her.

"We're running from the Royal Guards," she said. Rarity covered Pinkie's mouth and smiled as big as she could at the stallion.

"No, you see, we're just... umm..."

"We don't need criminals in our home," he said sternly.

"We're not criminals. We don't even know what's going on. We were chased out of the castle and-"

"You came from the castle?" he asked, lowering the broom.

"Yeah," Pinkie interjected, "we were invited there to meet the Princess but then we were warned that something bad was going to happen and then it did then the bubble appeared out of nowhere then we went into the sewers then the Guards came after us and then we ran from them." She took a deep breath. "Then we wound up here."

He stared at the two of them. His face was unreadable. To Rarity, he seemed just as likely to let them go as he was to beat them to death right then and there. He stood there silently for what seemed like ages. Rarity made ready for anything. "You both smell terrible," he finally said. "Clean yourselves up. I'll be waiting to talk to you in the next room." He closed the door as he left the bathroom. Rarity stood with her mouth gaping open as she stared at the door. She stammered to say something while Pinkie turned on the shower. After washing up, they slowly walked out of the bathroom to see the stallion sitting at the kitchen table.

The house was small and cramped. Rarity could tell it was old. It looked lived in for some time. The walls were blandly painted white, with some of the paint beginning to peel. There was a bit of dust on some of the shelves and surfaces, and the floor creaked just a little as they walked on it. Rarity had a chance to look over the stallion without fearing for her life. He was an earth pony with a dull brown coat and a mane that was a lighter shade of brown with a bit of grey here and there. He was clean shaven and middle aged, though the only real indicator of that was his mane. "I want the both of you out of here. Now," he said.

"Can we have some food first? I'm really hungry," Pinkie said. Rarity shushed her.

"Pinkie," she whispered, "he's done enough for us already."

The stallion seemed to ignore what Rarity said. "I'm sorry. We barely have enough food for my daughter and I. She's going to be home from school in a few minutes, so again I ask you to leave."

They headed to the door, but a thought made Rarity stop and turn back to the stallion. "You were ready to attack us earlier, when you found us in your house. What changed?" she asked. He looked down at the table. The door behind them slammed open.

"Daddy! I'm home!" a young, white coated filly exclaimed. She flew past Pinkie and Rarity and into the stallion's embrace.

"Calm down there," he said as she hugged him. She looked back at Rarity and Pinkie.

"Daddy, who are these ponies in our house?"

"We're just friends of your father," Rarity said. "We were just about to leave. It's been nice meeting you miss...?"

"My name is Fruity Zest," she said as she smiled. Rarity smiled back, and once again turned back to exit the house. She reached the door and touched the knob. She paused just a second before turning it. She thought about the stallion for just one second more than she really needed to.

Then there was a knock at the door. The stallion put Fruity down and jumped out of his seat. Rarity and Pinkie stepped back a few steps. Another knock sounded on the door. The stallion pushed them aside. "Hide. Now," he whispered. Without even thinking, Pinkie grabbed Fruity Zest and dove behind the nearby couch in the next room and Rarity followed suit. On the floor, they crawled under the couch and looked out the other side at the stallion's hooves. Rarity heard the stallion take a deep breath and saw the door swing open. "Can I help you, sirs?" Rarity heard him say. She hugged the floor and looked at Pinkie, who had her hoof over Fruity's mouth.

"Have you seen any of these five ponies?" a stallion's voice asked. Rarity saw two sets of armored hooves standing in the doorway.

"No, I'm afraid I haven't. Is this all you've come to talk to me about?" There was a pause before a second stallion spoke up.

"Look, Mr. Hammer, this isn't a random search. We're checking up those who are most likely to harbor these sort of fugitives first, and we've seen your record. We're going to have to search your home." One of them took a step forward before being stopped by the older stallion.

"If you really have seen my record then you know why that is such a bad idea," Fruity Zest's father said. Rarity then heard something else after that. It sounded like whispers, but she couldn't make out exactly what it was. Another moment passed. Rarity looked over to Pinkie. Her eyes were full of worry for what seemed like the first time in a long time. Rarity could guess that her own eyes looked the same. A bit longer and we just run for it, she thought. She only hoped Pinkie thought it too. She didn't want to be alone in all of this. The sound of a voice startled her and brought her back to the living room floor.

"Sorry to disturb you. We'll be on our way," one of the stallions said. The door closed and Rarity could breathe again. She, Pinkie, and Fruity crawled out from under the couch and got up from the floor. While Rarity and Pinkie fell onto the couch and took a few much needed breaths, Fruity immediately went to her father.

"What was all that about?" she asked. Rarity stood up and saw clear confusion on the little filly's face. Something about it reminded her of Sweetie Belle. They're about the same age too, she thought.

"Just the Royal Guards coming to ask me something. Now go to your room and do your homework," he told her.

"Oh, I don't have any homework today." His face didn't change as he stared at her. She made a low and whiny groan. "But I don't wanna." Still not saying a word, her father's expression turned into a frown. "Ugh, fine," she said as she grabbed her bag and flew off down the hallway.

"I'm sorry for that," he said once Fruity was gone.

"Oh, it's quite alright," Rarity said, walking over to him. "My little sister gets that way sometimes."

"Not that. I'm talking about what happened with those guards." He walked back to the kitchen and sat down at the table. "You should wait here for a while. You'll have a better time slipping away when all of this blows over. My name's Iron Hammer, by the way. I realized I hadn't properly introduced myself before now."

"Thank you so much," Rarity said. "It's more than either of us could have expected. I just have one question. Why? Why help us?" Iron Hammer shifted in his seat for a moment before speaking.

"I have my reasons, and right now they're not important. For now, just accept my generosity. I recommend that you and your friend get some rest. You may not get the chance later." Rarity simply nodded and turned to Pinkie, who wasn't there. Where did she run off to now? she thought. She gazed down the nearby hallway and saw a light coming from one of the rooms. She trotted up to it and opened the door.

"How much do you know about math?" Fruity Zest asked Pinkie. The filly and the mare were both sitting on Fruity's bed, pouring over her homework assignments.

"Not much," Pinkie said. "Just some stuff that I have to know, like how many cupcakes are in a baker's dozen."

"How many is that?"

"Thirteen."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"I don't understand math most of the time," Pinkie said as she giggled. Her laughter was infectious, and Fruity started to giggle as well. Even Rarity smiled a little before realizing what she wanted to talk to Pinkie about.

"Excuse me Fruity, but may I borrow Pinkie for a moment?" she asked.

"Okay," Fruity said. Pinkie hopped off the bed and followed Rarity out to the hallway.

"What's the matter?" Pinkie asked. Rarity peered over Pinkie's shoulder to where the kitchen was.

"I'm not so sure that we can trust Iron Hammer," she whispered.

"Iron Hammer?" Pinkie said. "Oh, you mean Fruity's dad. Why not?"

"He was ready to throw us out of here when he thought we were merely intruders. Now that he knows we could be even more of a danger for him and his daughter he helps us."

"Hmmm," Pinkie said as she rubbed her chin with her hoof, "that is suspicious."

"He says he has his reasons, but he won't tell us. I hate this way since he's done some much for us, but something about him just..." She thought about what was whispered between Iron and the guard. "I don't know. I just think we should be cautious from here on out."

"Okie Dokie Lokie," Pinkie said, saluting Rarity and then going back into Fruity's room. Rarity smiled, but it didn't last long. She joined Pinkie in helping the little filly with her work.

The Bloodied Stallions

"Come on, get up," she heard a voice say. No, she thought, a little bit more time. Come back later. Twilight's memory of her dreams quickly began to fade. No, not yet. "Twilight, we don't have all day. We have to get moving before dawn," the voice said again. She forced her eyes to stay shut. With how little sleep she had gotten that night, she figured that she could be a little bit selfish. No, I can't. She had a job to do, and friends to save. She slowly lifted her eyelids.

"What... what is it?" Twilight said, feigning drowsiness.

"Sorry to wake you, Princess, but we really should get moving," Flick said. He walked over to where Rainbow Dash laid and gave her a soft kick. "Come on. You too." Rainbow turned over and moaned.

"The sun isn't even up yet," she said.

"That's kind of the point," he responded. He gave her a harder kick for good measure. She finally relented and got up from the grass, no more awake than she was before. She shot him a dirty look, but the old stallion only smirked at her. He sat down and began to pack their things for the day's travel, and Twilight figured that she could be of some use now that she was up.

"Have a good night's sleep?" Flick asked.

"It was alright, I guess," she said back to him. She sigh softly to herself, keeping her eyes on the ground in front of her.

"Any good dreams?" She thought back on what she remembered.

"I forgot some of it," she sat down next to him, "but I dreamt I was in Canterlot. Everypony was there. They talked with each other, and I tried to join them, but they all ignored me and just kept talking. It made me sad, so I flew off and then dived into the ocean. Then I made friends with some sea-ponies, and together we went searching for sunken treasure. Then I woke up. I know there was more but I can't remember. Do you ever have a dream and you remember a specific feeling it gave you but you can't remember what actually happened in it?"

"Yes, that's happened to me before. It's actually quite common. You see-"

"You know," Rainbow said as she walked over to them, eating an apple for breakfast, "I heard that dreams can sometimes predict the future. Like, this one time I dreamt that I saved the Wonderbolts from certain death, and then a year later I did." Flick turned and shot Twilight a look that said, 'Really?' all over it.

"Rainbow," Flick said, turning back to face Rainbow with all the visible condescension he could seemingly muster, "aspiring to do something then doing it is very different from prophecy."

Rainbow frowned. "Yeah, but I dreamt that I specifically saved them from falling, and a year later I did."

"Again, if you dream of something that could realistically happen, and it happens, that's just a coincidence. It's nothing amazing." Rainbow sat down with them, still eating the apple.

"I'm just saying that Twilight's dream could mean more than we think," she argued in-between bites.

"Dreams are at most reflections of the subconscious. They can't predict the future."

"So I secretly want to go treasure hunting with seaponies?" Twilight interjected.

"Well," Rainbow said, "it sounds more fun if we were going to do it than just wanting to do it."

"Yes, but that isn't the case." Flick said, seriousness growing on his face. "A dream can't be a prophecy,It's impossible to accurately predict the future. Prophecies aren't worth crap. A prophecy is just a vague guess made by somepony who thinks they know how things are going to turn out. They are rarely ever right."

"You seem very passionate about this, Flick," Twilight said as she chuckled. He looked to her, and his mood lightened. He smiled and chuckled slightly along with Twilight.

"I'm sorry, I was on a bit of a tangent there. Just trust me on this one, Rainbow. I've dealt with a few prophecies before, and it's made me a bit biased."

"I'll say," Rainbow said as she leaned back and finished her apple.

"Hey Rainbow, where'd you get the apple?" Flick asked. "We didn't buy any apples back at Bastion's Gate."

"I got it off one of the trees," she said, not bothering to sit up.

"Why didn't you just eat something we had?"

"I couldn't find any of our food." Flick's smile faded quickly.

"What do you mean you couldn't find any of our food?" Rainbow sat up then.

"I mean when I looked through the bags I didn't find the food bag." Flick shot up from the ground instantly and ran to where the other saddlebags laid. Twilight and Rainbow got up as well. Twilight looked over to Rainbow, whose face was even more full of worry than her's. Please no, Twilight thought. She looked back at Flick tearing through the supplies. Please not this. Flick stomped back to the two mares.

"Princess Twilight, Rainbow, I have good news and bad news," he said. His voice sounded as if he was using all his might not to shout obscenities. "Good news," he continued, "I found the food bag. Bad news, it's empty."

"What?!" Twilight yelled, still wishing it wasn't true.

"Rainbow," Flick said, "last night, when I asked you to put away the food bag, did you close it up properly? You know, so no animals could come in the middle of the night and, I don't know, eat all of it!" Rainbow chewed her lip. Twilight could see in her face that she knew the answer and the last thing she wanted to do was say it out loud. Flick could see it too, and he immediately turned and stormed off in a fit off rage.

"Where are you going?" Twilight yelled.

"I'm going to look at some maps!" he yelled back. He went past the other saddlebags where the maps were and past the trees and out of sight. Why do I even bother? Twilight thought. They had barely been gone one day and they had no food. They were careful to spend what money Flick had with him on just enough food to get them north. That's where they were headed. Flick said the legends suggested that Alicorn's Bane was placed in one of the temples of Fairlyn Forest, though getting to the forest was proving to be more of a challenge than anticipated.

"Rainbow," Twilight started.

"I'm sorry, okay," she snapped at Twilight. "I didn't want this to happen." Rainbow sat down and sulked. Twilight wanted to be mad, but only felt sorry for her friend.

"It's okay. It's not your fault. We just need to figure this out, together." And to do that we need Flick to come off his tantrum, but I don't even see him anywhere around here. Almost as if on cue with her thought, a millisecond of blinding light caused Twilight to blink and step back. Flick was there between the two mares. He laid out a map on the ground between them, and they both leaned in close to see it.

"Alright, my judgement says we're about here," he said. He pointed at a patch of trees called the Greenwood north of Bastion. "Not too far into the Greenwood and not too far from the Green Road either. In this situation, that'll be to our benefit. There'll be vendors, or merchants, or a caravan of some kind that's carrying food on the road. We take what money we have left, spend wisely, then we keep a better eye on what we have and we should be fine."

"I thought we decided to ditch the roads as soon as we could?" Dash reminded them. "The Empire's probably already got ponies searching for Alicorn's Bane."

"True," Flick said, "but avoiding the roads was merely precaution. The Equine Empire soldiers are probably flying more than searching by hoof, and we need to find some food. Only enough to get us to the temples of Fairlyn Forest. A few days from now, we'll have gotten Alicorn's Bane and Celestia will arrive at Bastion with an army in tow and the Equine Empire will be running with its tail between its legs." He rolled up the map and put it in his saddlebag.

"You seem very confident," Twilight said.

"It's better than thinking we're all screwed," he responded. You have a point, she thought, and I pray to Celestia that you're right about all this. Flick used his magic to pack the other saddlebags. Their blankets and pillows were covered in the light blue glow of Flick's horn, and then the bag levitated and rushed at Rainbow's face. She didn't react fast enough and the bag hit her square in the face. Twilight saw her bag in time and stopped it with her own magic.

"Let's get going. We want to find some food, but we also want to keep moving north as fast as possible."

"Thanks for another update on what we're doing, again," Rainbow moaned as she picked up her bag off the ground and slung it over her back.

"I do believe there is somepony here who, for various reasons, shouldn't be complaining about anything the rest of us say or do, especially not after what she has said or done." Rainbow fumed, but Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder and she calmed.

"Fighting won't get us anywhere," Twilight told her.

"Fine," Rainbow said. She furrowed her brow when she spoke.

"Dash, don't be like this."

"Like what? I told you, I'm fine." Twilight could clearly see that she wasn't. She was about to say something before being cut off.

"You two coming or not?" Flick yelled from a distance. Rainbow ran to catch up with him, and Twilight sighed and followed. It wasn't long before they found themselves a road, but it was long before they came across anypony selling food. They saw the occasional traveler on the road, but it wasn't until mid-day until they saw a middle-aged stallion sitting in a cart that had been unfolded to reveal a food stand.

"Greetings travelers," the stallion said as they approached him. "Are any of you interested in some healthy, all natural food?"

"Very much so," Flick said, pulling a small purse out of his saddlebag. "We have more than enough money for it too." Twilight leaned in close to him.

"I don't think we should just be yelling that for everypony to hear," she whispered to him.

"What? By everypony you mean this guy selling us food. I think we'll be fine." He moved closer to talk to the pony. Twilight looked around. He has a point. I don't see anypony else on the road. The dirt road was barren. There were trees on either side of it, but no thick brush for ponies to hide in. "Good sir," Flick continued, "do you have any food that is suitable for long journeys? Preferably food that won't spoil over the course of a few days." The stallion put his hoof to his lips.

"I think I may have something for you," he said. He kneeled out of sight. Twilight could hear rummaging sounds for inside the stand. Flick turned and gave the two girls a smug smile. The kind of smile that told them that he knew what he was doing without speaking a word. That smile faded when he turned back to see the pony had emerged not with food, but a loaded crossbow. There was no hesitation before Twilight's horn began to glow, but the light faded when she felt cold metal against her neck.

"Woah there girl, calm down," a voice said into her ear. Several ponies descended from the trees above them. The pegasi floated downward with weapons in hoof, the unicorns appeared out of thin air in a flash of light, and the earth ponies landed on the ground with a thud. "We'll just be taking your gold and leaving."

There were more than a dozen of them, easily. They were all armed, besides the four unicorns among them. They didn't need weapons, they were born with them. Flick backed away from the crossbow staring him down. Dash spun around to see how many there were. She looked as if she was going to charge them all, but she saw Twilight with a knife at her throat and she surrendered. Twilight didn't try to struggle. She knew it'd be useless. "Now," the voice started, "don't be teleporting anywhere anytime soon. I'm faster with this thing than you think."

He read her mind. Only one solution left. "Alright," Twilight said, "take our money, and let us go. If you don't hurt any of us, we won't report that this ever happened."

"Report to who?" a young pegasus with a sword asked. "Hope you don't mean the Royal Guard. We're more than five feet from Bastion, so they won't give a shit about it." They all laughed, including the pony holding Twilight in place.

"Don't worry," he said, "you and your multi-colored friend over there are pretty, so we'll be gentlecolts and let you go. Just don't try anything funny."

"I thought we'd keep them because they were pretty," another stallion yelled. They laughed again. The laughter was suddenly silenced by the voice of the pony in the food stand.

"I don't know if we should do that," he said. "One of these little ponies is more valuable than you all think." Oh no, Twilight thought. Her eyes widened. They recognize me. I don't know how, but they recognize me. She tried to keep her breathing in check, but it wasn't working. It got heavier and faster.

"What do you mean?" the pony with the knife asked. Knife at her throat or not, Twilight had to do something. She looked around at all the bandits. So many. She started to panic. She screamed on the inside. Her friends looked as if they were doing the same. They all realized what it could mean.

"This one," he pointed at Flick. He was just as confused as the outlaws.

"What? Me?" Flick asked.

"I was in Bastion two months back. The Princess was giving a speech to everypony in the city square. I forget what it was about. I wasn't listening, I was just there. What I don't ever forget is a face. You were standing by her side, as you always are whenever she goes about the town. You're her... her..."

"Advisor," the pony with the knife suggested.

"That's it. Advisor. You're her advisor. How big of a ransom do you think the Princess' own advisor could get us?" Flick gulped. He had taken precautions to ensure Twilight wasn't recognized, with her cloak and all, but didn't think to disguise himself. The pony behind Twilight laughed.

"Cobalt, you old bastard, you're brilliant," he said. He tossed Twilight into the hooves of a massive earth pony. "Take him. We'll bring him back to the hideout and hold him there. Might as well take his two friends too. They may be worth something." He sheathed his dagger in a saddlebag while others surrounded Rainbow and Flick. Twilight's panic was too much for her to bear. It finally manifested itself into a strong buck to her captor's groin.

His yell got the attention of the rest. Two rushed her, and beam of magic from her horn sent them to the ground. Rainbow took off in a blink. A pegasus went into the air after her, but was brought down when Dash circled the air and tackled him into the ground. A trail of colors followed her as she charged into the next stallion. Twilight ducked under the swing of a pony's sword and blasted him backwards. Before she could even breathe, she looked up to see something hurtling towards her face. She stopped it mid-air with her horn, turned the crossbow bolt around, and sent it flying into the shooter's shoulder. He yelped in pain. The pony with a sword came at her again, but a purple glowing bolt hit him in the leg before he reached her.

Twilight saw Flick punch a pony in the face with his hoof and take his sword. More came at him. He was slower than the younger stallions, but he knew how to fight. He held them at bay, and even incapacitated a few as he went along. Twilight didn't have time to wonder where he learned swordplay. A flash of light appeared next to her. She knew what it was, and she turned to face the unicorn. She only saw the club for a brief second before it struck her.

The world started to spin. The ground moved beneath her legs, which now felt like melting sticks of butter. She sent a magic blast where she thought her assailant was. She wasn't sure. She felt something warm trickle down her face. It came from where her head hurt the most. Her vision cleared to see Flick take a blow to the back of the neck, forcing him to the ground. She saw Rainbow being pulled off a bandit by four others. When they hit her, Twilight's sight went red. She steadied herself, planted her hooves, and took in a deep breath. "ENOUGH!" she yelled.

A wave of magic, force, and fire burst from within her. She saw it hit everypony around her. Ponies without wings took off into the air and landed hard. White light erupted from her eyes and she was blind. When she could see again, she saw the ponies on the ground, bruised and moaning. She saw herself standing over a black, roasted patch of earth. She saw tree with black branches, still on fire. The pony who had made her so powerless before stood up first. "She's an alicorn," he said.

Twilight's cloak had caught flame and fell off her long ago. Her wings were outstretched. She could feel her horn glowing brilliantly. The ponies covered their eyes from the light. Then the light faded. Her wings receded. All of her strength left Twilight in an instant. She fell, but wasn't awake long enough to know if she had hit the ground.

Friends

"Thank you again, so much," Rarity said. Iron Hammer took her empty plate, and Pinkie's as well, and put them in the nearby sink.

"You've probably thanked me over a hundred times by now," he said as he turned the faucet. "I think I get the picture." The water at first spat out onto the dirty plates before turning into a steady stream. With rag in hoof he began scrubbing away the remnants of the strangers' meals. With what little he has he's just sending the leftovers down the drain, Rarity thought. She wouldn't complain out loud, though. It was the first time she had eaten in two days. A whole day in the sewers. A whole day in Iron's house. Not a single morsel.

The meal itself had been plain. Daisies and wheat bread with lettuce and crushed tomato paste. He also had a bit of cheese that he said he had been saving for a special occasion. It took awhile, but Rarity convinced him to save it for a bit longer. She didn't understand why, after nearly kicking them out of his home, he was treating them so kindly. "I just want you to know how grateful we are," she said. He chuckled.

"I'm the one who should be grateful," he said, turning off the water. I don't like the sound of that.

"Why is that?" Rarity asked. He didn't answer. He was on his way out of the kitchen when she asked it. Rarity had the sneaking suspicion that Iron Hammer's generosity only went so far. Nopony's ever been that welcoming to her before, especially nopony as poor as him. She couldn't help but feel like he would ask for something from them. Something they wouldn't want to give. No, she thought, he wouldn't do that. The way he treated Fruity. He wouldn't...

She looked at the empty doorway, then to Pinkie. She smiled her usual innocent smile. If nothing else, I pray to Celestia that he doesn't ask it of Pinkie. She looked down at her front hooves. Crossed on the table, they were shaking softly. She shook her head. I'm worrying too much. Nothing's going to happen. He's just a kind pony showing us some of his kindness. A knock at the door brought her out of her thoughts. Her heart stopped. Iron emerged from where ever he was. "Don't worry. It's not danger," he told them.

He opened the door and without invitation a stallion entered the house. "By all means, come in," Iron said as he closed the door. The pony had a dirty white coat and a black mane with grey streaks running through it. He looked middle-aged. Not too far from Iron Hammer's age. He leaned against the old couch with a sense of familiarity.

"So," the pony started, "you called for me, and at your own house too. What's going on?"

Iron smiled and walked into the kitchen. "Snow, I'd like to introduce you to some friends of mine." He waved his hoof as he presented Rarity and Pinkie. The stallion was unimpressed.

"You talk to me for the first time in thirteen years so that we can go on a double date," he said. Iron groaned at that. "Well," Snow continued, "they're good looking, I'll give you that. Young too." Rarity didn't like the way that he looked at Pinkie, even if it was only for a moment. "Might be too young for me, though."

"I'm not introducing you to some mares for us to date. I'm introducing you to the missing Equestrian delegates." He looked more impressed by that. He stood up from against the couch.

"Wow. Now this visit is interesting." Snow had a different kind of look in his eyes now. It's even worse, she thought. "Where the other ones? The Royal Guards are breaking down doors and smashing in skulls looking for five ponies. I only see two."

"We don't know," Iron said. "These two found their way from the castle into my house this morning. When they told me that, I knew they were Equestrian."

"Of course! Cornaria, ever the paranoid despot, has been preparing for their visit all week. And the whole town has to know about it, of course, so they could be on their best behavior," he blurted out in a mocking tone. "Now she's got the whole city on lock-down and she's searching for missing ponies." He looked at Rarity and Pinkie. "A lot of ponies are thinking that the only thing to get her that on edge is if she royally screwed up... what ever you were doing at the castle. What nopony knows is exactly what happened and why you disappeared. Do you lovely mares have an answer to that question?"

"Snow," Iron said, "you can save that for later. We have other things-"

"No," Rarity said. They all turned to her. So much confusion about that day. I have to at least try to sort out what happened. She hesitated for a moment. "We have to tell somepony." I'm putting trust into you, Iron. Don't let me down. She looked at Snow. Or you... "We came with our friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and she was going to set up an alliance or a peace treaty or something. Twilight said it was because of the Equine Empire."

"Ah, our friendly neighbors to the north," Snow chuckled.

"It's not funny," Rarity continued. "Yesterday, when we got up, somepony who worked for the castle warned us of danger. We got separated. There was something wrong with the guards. We ran to the sewers. They chased us for hours. Then we ended up here." There was silence when she finished her story.

"Shit," Snow whispered under his breath.

"It's not Cornaria doing this..." Iron said.

"If they're looking for five ponies," Rarity said, "then we're two of them. I think I know the other three. Twilight, Rainbow, the stallion from the castle. Flickering Flame... I think. That leaves some of my friends still in the castle. Who knows what's happened to them?"

"More Equestrians are in the castle?" Iron asked.

"Yes... three of them." Fluttershy. Applejack. Spike. She must've thought about them every few minutes since they got to Iron's house. Or she wished she did. Whenever her mind wandered she forced it back on them. She wasn't going to forget them at a time like this.

"Looks like we have less time than I thought," Iron said. "If those guards weren't Cornaria's then they'll be back." Snow's eyes widened.

"Wait, wait, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah. Guards? Royal Guards? They were here?" he asked.

"This morning there were two asking for the Equestrians. I told them off. They probably just left us alone to keep up appearances."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"If I told you you wouldn't have come." What kind of friend would that make him? Rarity thought.

"Hell no I wouldn't have come. According to these mares, they aren't even the real Royal Guards for gods' sake. These guys could come into my house and drag me off and torture me or something for all I know."

"You don't even know why I asked you over here."

"Fine. Why did you ask me over?"

"I need you to sneak these two out of the city. Through the barrier and hide them somewhere safe." Snow stood in silence for a moment before a laugh burst from his lips. As he laughed, Rarity noticed that Pinkie started to giggle too. She glared at her and Pinkie got the hint and stopped. Snow cackled for a few seconds before calming down and catching his breath.

"You... you want me... you want me to transport fugitives for you? Iron, I don't even know these girls. Even if the castle wasn't taken over by those crackpots from the EE, this would get me a tiny cell in the royal dungeons for the rest of my life. Especially with my record."

"I know I'm asking a lot, but you have to admit how important this is. I knew something was wrong from the start. At first all I wanted was to get these two out of Cornaria's reach, but now somepony has to get in contact with Celestia. Tell her what happened."

Snow seemed surprised for some reason. "This was your plan even before that little revelation?"

"Originally, yes. But now I'm coming with you, along with my daughter. It's not safe for us here. Those guards may suspect something. They may come back here. I have to get Fruity out of here."

"So now I've got two more ponies to smuggle out," Snow said. What's two more ponies to you. Your old friend and the daughter he wants to protect. Rarity's previous misgivings about Iron completely left her by then. She saw his position and how close he seemed to outright begging Snow for help. "That'll make the little Princess happy," the stallion continued. "Heh, I'm shocked that you'd go behind your friend Cornaria's back like tha-"

"She's not my friend," Iron snapped. The flash of anger came so suddenly that it startled Rarity. Through the whole conversation she had only been sitting at most two feet from where Iron was standing. What are they talking about, she wondered. These two ponies had a history. That much was obvious. What she hadn't yet grasped was the connection to Cornaria. In her brief meeting with the Princess, despite barely even talking with her, Rarity assumed she wasn't the kind of ruler to interact with many of her subjects. Especially not ones as poor and common as Iron Hammer and whoever this Snow pony is. He didn't seem surprised by Iron's outburst.

Iron's rage subsided and disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "Please. You're the only pony I know who can do this for me. I don't have your connections. I don't know what to do or how to do it. Please, Snow."

"I'm sorry, but no. It's been nice seeing you again, but I'm not going to risk my life for a couple of mares I don't even know, even if that includes your little girl." He started towards the door. Iron looked defeated, but all Rarity felt was frustration. Frustration over sitting around and not doing anything. Frustration over not knowing what was going on. Frustration about being kept in the dark by these two. She was frustrated by this Stallion who refused to do anything. A voice was screaming in her head and it refused to do nothing. The frustration boiled in her gut. She felt like she was going to throw up, but what was forcing its way up her throat and out of her mouth wasn't vomit.

"Now you listen here," Rarity proclaimed. She stood on her hind legs and slammed her front hooves on the table. Snow stopped in his place. Rarity could see out of the corners of her eyes that Iron and Pinkie were taken aback, but she kept her gaze straight on the white stallion. She took her hooves off the table and slowly but steadily walked towards him. "Some of my friends have been captured by guards. The rest are on the run, including myself and my friend Pinkie Pie. We are in mortal danger. Furthermore, this pony who has shown us nothing but kindness is asking you to help him and his little girl escape the same danger, but no. It's too much of a risk to yourself."

She backed him against the wall. He was taller than her, but at this moment she was bigger than he could ever be. He held back his head as she leaned in close, nearly touching their noses together. "If you were a real friend of any worth who has known Iron Hammer for as long as you say you do, then you wouldn't hesitate to help him. Not because it benefits you, or because it's easy, but because it's the right thing to do for your friend." The room was silent. Nopony moved. Nopony spoke. Rarity didn't break eye contact. Her face of anger was unchanging. He was the first to falter when he looked past Rarity and to who she assumed ws Iron.

"I like her," he said. "If all Equestria mares are like her, I'll have to visit someday." Rarity allowed her body to loosen. She took a step back from the old stallion. "I'll help you. For old time's sake. And for this one here. This little beauty's convinced me."

"I think 'scared the shit out of you' is a more appropriate description," Iron said as he laughed. Snow gave a sarcastic smirk before rolling his eyes.

"So when are we going?" Snow asked.

"Right now," Iron said. "I'll go wake up Fruity. We won't take more than we need and we can carry."

"Fantastic. This'll be a bit more difficult, but I may be able to manage it if I can contact the right ponies. Let's just pray to the gods that we don't mess this up, or we're all dead. Or worse, if the stories about the Equine Empire are true."

Tales of the Old Days

The sun shined bright and brilliant above her home. She saw it burn. She felt its warmth take her in its arms. It was illuminating. It became brighter and brighter, until it flashed like lightning and left a black shape in the sky. No! she screamed. It was all that could come to her mind. The black shape, like a scab in the sky, burst open and an ocean of blood poured out of it. No, she said. It was all that she could say. She saw the blood as rain and tears and finally a raging river coming towards her. Princess, it roared. She would have run if she remembered how. Princess, it bellowed as it washed over her. No, she whispered. It was all she could feel as her body turned to foam and faded away. No.

"Princess," a pony's voice said. Twilight's eyes snapped open. She was in an old bed inside a room made out of makeshift wooden materials. The room was small and had little else besides the bed and the dirt floor. She rubbed her eyes and could here ponies talking and moving about outside. Twilight sat up in her bed and saw a young stallion sitting in a chair across from her. "I see that you're finally awake," he said, smiling. At first she didn't know where she remembered his voice from, then it hit her.

"You attacked us," she said. Twilight sat herself straight up in the bed, ready to run if she needed to. "You stuck a knife at my throat and you tried to rob us."

"And now I'm bringing you your dinner. Life's funny like that." He picked up a plate of food off the ground and placed it on her lap. Twilight stared at the food, not knowing how to proceed. The Stallion noticed that. "It's not poisoned or anything," he said as he sat back down in the chair. "I'll admit to being a thief, but I don't kill ponies with their own meals." Twilight still hesitated, and the pony seemed to just ignore it. "I have some questions for you. Number one, are you a Princess?"

Twilight stared at him. "Wh-what?" she said. She could still feel her head spinning a little.

"It's a simple question. The only alicorns left in the world are Princesses, so if you're an alicorn then..." He trailed off, waiting for Twilight to fill in an answer.

"Yes, I'm a Princess," Twilight said. No use denying it, she thought. She could feel it in every inch of her body. She wouldn't be escaping from these bandits anytime soon. The stallion smiled. It didn't come off as smug or sinister, but rather as if he was proud of himself for making a very easy deduction. Twilight could see him now, without distraction. He was young. No older than herself, it seemed. He was an earth pony. His bright red orange coat and yellow mane stood out amidst the drab colors of the room. His looks reminded her of Applejack, in a way. His coat was darker, though. She made the unconscious assumption that it was true of their personalities as well.

"Glad we've settled that. Next question, what were you and your friends doing all alone on the open road?" Twilight tensed up again. She was equally worried about what would happen to her and her friends if she told the truth, and what would happen if they didn't, if these ponies were curious enough. He seemed to read her mind as he seemed to do before. "I understand your mistrust of me. I wouldn't trust me either," he said. He reached over to her food tray and grabbed the apple sitting on it. It seemed old and a bit bruised, but he merely rubbed it on his chest and took a bite.

"But how would we... get anywhere... without trust?" he spat out through his chewing. He swallowed and narrowed his eyes on Twilight. "Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Grift, and despite that I am considered very trustworthy. I never break a promise, and I never go back on my word. The fine fellows you saw in my company are the Bloodied Stallions. The best band of lovable scamps in all of Ambleson. From the Griffin Kingdoms to the Equine Empire, we're known and cheered on by thousands, maybe millions. I am, of course, their skilled yet humble leader. At your service." He made an exaggerated bow from his seat.

Twilight smirked at the display, but regained her composure. A Princess had to be stern and intimidating while dealing with his type. "Lovable scamps? You mean thieves, right? The Bloodied Stallions are a world renowned band of thieves. You're criminals." She could see that he was genuinely insulted by this, but he played up just how insulted he was. He let out an over the top gasp.

"Why, your majesty, that accusation is not only an insult to my honor, but to the honor of each of my men. We're not simple criminals, as you would put it. We follow the example of our favorite folk legend, Robin Hoof. We are on the noble quest to steal from the rich and give it all to the poor."

"And when you say the poor, who exactly do you mean?"

Grift thought for a moment. "We're pretty poor," he said. Twilight rolled her eyes. "Now look here. After spending what we have to on food and international transportation, then even our largest scores don't last too long." Twilight smiled on the inside. Looks like I struck a nerve. Let's see if I can hit it some more. Twilight knew that she wasn't going to simply escape, so she had to think of a way to talk her and her friends out of their situation. Before she could do that, she wanted to know how far the bandits' leader could be pushed.

"Really? From what I've heard, you haven't had any 'big scores'. The Bloodied Stallions aren't known for stealing. They're known for evading the authorities for so long. To me it seems like the only thing you're good at is running away." She hoped for another outburst, but was surprised when he answered calmer than before.

"Well all that's about to change. It just depends on your answer to my question. What were you doing in those woods?" he said with cold determination. Twilight was more worried than ever before. That sense of worry brought a familiar thought that had been plaguing her quite a bit in recent times.

"Are my friends still alive?" she asked him.

"Yes. Both of them," he answered immediately. Twilight was unsure, but was inclined to believe him. She didn't know why, just something about him told her it was all okay. She could wait it out. Spend precious time thinking of a way to free herself and her friends and continue on their journey. Although, that plan would cost them precious time in trying to find Alicorn's Bane. Maybe enough time for the Equine Empire to find it. Even if she had time, trying to arrange a way out would require him to trust her. In trying to get him to trust me, I'd inevitably end up trusting him more than I'd ever want to. She was heading down that path anyway, it seemed.

Grift didn't say anything.He was willing to wait for an answer. Now or never, Twilight thought. She'd have to put her trust in him. If she lied, he wouldn't believe her. If he did, he wouldn't let her go. He'd hold on to her until he could ransom her and her friends. By then it'd be too late. The Equine Empire would have Alicorn's Bane. Celestia only knows what they'd do with it. She could say nothing, and just promise to pay them later with money from Equestria if he let them go. He might not do that either. She didn't know. She could only hope that he could understand the importance of her journey, and let them go. Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?

"You said that you never break a promise?" Twilight finally asked.

"Never," he said sternly.

"I need you to promise me that no harm will ever come to me or my friends. Can you promise me that?"

"Yes."

She wasn't satisfied. "Say it."

"I promise that no harm will ever come to you or your friends," he said. Twilight gulped, then took a deep breath.

"My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. I came here with my friends to negotiate an alliance with Mustangia. The castle was attacked by ponies from the Equine Empire. I managed to escape along with Rainbow Dash and Flickering Flame. We learned that they're not just here to take over the country, but they are also looking for an ancient and powerful artifact known as Alicorn's Bane. We decided that before Celestia arrives at Bastion with an army, we are going to dedicate our time to finding Alicorn's Bane. Even if the ponies at Bastion are defeated, we can't let them get their hooves on that artifact."

Grift pondered what he had just heard. "When you say powerful," he spoke up, "how powerful are we talking?"

"Unbelievably," Twilight said. She didn't know for sure. All she knew was the story that Flick told them, but being dramatic never hurt at times like this. She hoped that it would prove to be an exaggeration. He sat back in his chair.

"You know," he said after a long time, "I was just going to let you go." Goddesses please, no. "I figured that we didn't want to try to contain a being of mind-numbing magical power who could vaporize each and every one of us. We would have let you and your friends walk and head for the hills, hoping you wouldn't seek bloody vengeance and bring all the force of whatever country you run down upon us. This conversation wouldn't have even happened if I didn't receive those reports an hour ago."

"Reports?" Twilight asked.

"We send out scouts into the countryside to warn us of guards approaching our hideout. Some have brought me information about Royal Guards, but they aren't acting like Royal Guards. These are guards who are roaming the area, asking villagers and travelers about old local legends and such. Some are even killing ponies that give them quite a bit of information. One of my men saw this happen with his own eyes. Royal Guards are bad, but they're not that bad. There's that strangeness, then there's the bubble over Bastion that I've heard of, and there's also the alicorn princess that I found traveling alone and in secret. I assumed there was a connection."

"And I told you it. That is why you have to let us go," Twilight pleaded. She felt relief that he may just let them go, but her thoughts quickly turned to what Grift's scouts reported back. They're searching, and they're killing. I wonder how far north they've gotten.

"I agree, Princess. I will release you and your friends. But I need you to make me a promise." Grift got up from his chair and bowed next to Twilight's bed. "On my honor, I pledge to escort and protect you on your quest. The road is dangerous for three ponies traveling alone. You'll need a band of hearty fighting stallions at your back. The Bloodied Stallions are yours, your majesty." Twilight was taken aback by his proposal. She only hoped to be set free, and certainly didn't expect to receive an escort. Nor was she sure if she even wanted one.

"I'm flattered by this, but you said it yourself. I'm a being of mind-numbing power. I don't need bodyguards" I don't need ones who'll draw attention to us. And I don't need to be sleeping next to criminals every night.

"If I may be so bold, your majesty, you are powerful but you were captured by about a dozen ponies. You gave us some bruises but you're not what I would call skilled fighters. The imperials won't take you alive, I don't think. We can protect you, if you promise me that every stallion in my company will die a very old and very rich pony."

There it is. You wouldn't do this out of the kindness of your heart. Still, he's risking his life. That has to count for something. A few extra ponies would help if they came across any guards. How many extra, though? "How many are in your band of... scamps?"

"One hundred and fifty, your majesty. Including myself, of course." His tone had completely changed by now from what it had been at the beginning of their meeting. It showier and more mockingly regal. Twilight tried her best to ignore it.

"I can't travel discreetly with one hundred and fifty stallions."

"No you can not. That is why our party will only be comprised of thirty of my best men, including myself. The rest I am sending on various assignments to... pester the imperials." Twilight had to admit, that sounded very promising. She still wasn't sure if it was a good idea, although every second she internally debated it was a second lost. I can't believe I'm doing this.

"Grift," Twilight said. Now it was her turn to do the regal voice. "You and your company of... adventurers. Yes, adventurers. You and your company known as the Bloodied Stallions shall henceforth be sworn servants of the sovereignty of Equestria. For your service you all shall be justly rewarded, as long as you are loyal towards myself and my country." Twilight had to make sure she covered all the stops. She was making it up as she went along. Although, certain words began flooding into her memory. She remembered reading about an ancient oath of chivarly and servitude from long ago. "Swear to me an oath of loyalty and that you will uphold it until your death."

"I swear, upon my honor as an adventurer that I will serve my noble princess," he said. He knows the words. Or it's just a lucky guess. Twilight wasn't sure. "I will fight for her, wait for her, stand up for her, and die for her, from now to the last day of the setting sun. This I swear." So it's not a lucky guess. She'd have to ask him about that later.

"Rise, Grift of the Bloodied Stallions." He rose, His pledge had unsettled her in the same way Flick's had. She had not been a Princess for long, and already there were ponies swearing their lives to her. She made sure not to let it show. She expected to see a smug smile on his face after sealing the deal that guaranteed a mountain of gold from her. I hope Celestia doesn't mind me promising away a few fortunes. It was much to her surprise that when he stood up he had a look of... pride? "When do we leave?" she asked him.

"As soon as you can walk. In the meantime, I'll go inform my men of their new situation." He started towards the door but Twilight stopped him.

"Wait," she said. She strained to get out of the bed, to no avail. He turned and saw her struggle.

"Your majesty, get some rest. We'll leave first thing in the morning." Her whole body ached. It screamed for her to just lie down and go to sleep. As she pushed off the bed her limbs shook violently. But she had to prove a point. She wasn't sure what it was or why she was so driven to do it. She just felt like she had to. One by one, she dug her hooves down into the dirt floor. When she was stable she stood up as straight as she could manage.

Grift was visibly impressed. "Fair enough," he said. "We'll leave as soon as possible. Come on. You should meet the boys." He headed out the door. Her first step was almost enough to send Twilight to the ground, but she pushed forward. She found that it got better the more she did it.

She walked out to see their encampment. To Twilight it looked like her room was the best that they had. The whole place was just a scattering of tents, campfires, and a few hastily constructed shacks. Not surprising, considering it was only a temporary hideout. The light made it seem like it was close to late afternoon. Twilight hoped this meant that she was only out for a few hours, and hopefully not a day or two. She followed Grift to a table set up next to a cookfire and some tents.

At the table there were mostly strangers, except for one pegasus who she instantly knew was Rainbow Dash. She was playing poker with several of the Bloodied Stallions, and by the looks of it she was winning considerably. Twilight also saw Flick brooding by the fire, not joining in on the game. Just as they approached Rainbow won a large hand and there was a collective groan by the players.

"Son of a bitch," one of them said, mourning the loss of his money.

"Fucking hell, Dash. I can't keep playing with you like this," said another as he chuckled. Dash laughed as she dragged the pot towards her.

"Don't hate the player, fellas, hate the game. Who's up for another... Twilight?" she said when she saw her. The players turned to see the Princess. Flick jumped up from where he was sitting and darted towards Twilight.

"Are you okay? How are you feeling?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. I'm fine," she said. He gave a sigh of relief. Part of Twilight was surprised that they weren't being held captive, and another part of her wasn't.

"Does this mean we're going?" he asked. He shot a look to Grift that was full of venom. Grift didn't seem to acknowledge it. He looked back at Twilight. She knew he wouldn't be happy with her answer.

"Yes... but we're going to have some company."

"What?" Flick asked flatly. Grift took this time to address his men.

"Alright boys, we've got a new job. It's the best we've ever had and it's legit. You are no longer a group of bloodthirsty thieves. You are now contracted adventurers in service of the great nation of Equestria."

One of the poker players magically removed a cigar from his mouth. "I heard Equestria's full of cunts." They all laughed except for Grift, Flick, and Twilight. Rainbow tried to hold back a laugh unsuccessfully. Grift waited for the laughs to die down.

"Then you'll feel right at home, Zeal." The other players laughed. "Besides, we won't be working for cunts. We'll be working for the great and beautiful Princess Twilight Sparkle." He outstretched his foreleg to show off Twilight. They looked at her unimpressed. She blushed, slightly, and said hello to them. Grift continued. "I'll fill in the details later, but all you need to know is that Mustangia is under attack and if we help protect this princess on her quest, we'll all be rich." Their ears perked up at that.

"That's right. Every single one of us. All you have to do is swear an oath of loyalty to Princess Twilight."

"Oh, that won't be necessary," she tried to say. Grift stepped in front of her.

"It's mandatory. You won't get paid unless you do it. Zeal, get Cobalt and tell him to start picking out thirty of our best fighters. I want him to include both himself and myself in that group. Everypony else start spreading the word on the job, and start separating yourselves in groups of twenty and wait for specific tasks from myself. Come on, move your asses." They all sprang from the table and galloped off in different directions. Twilight could tell that they knew they weren't fighters, and that this new non-illegal job was just dropped right in front of them, but when their leader says they're going to be rich, they believe him.

Grift too quickly galloped off. Just as he left Flick confronted Twilight. "Twilight," he said, "what's going on?"

"Grift and thirty of his best men are going to escort us to Fairlyn Forest. They're going to protect us from the Equine Empire."

"Awesome," Rainbow said, happy to get to travel with some of her new friends. Flick was much less thrilled about the whole thing.

"Why would we do that? Travel with thirty dangerous criminals. They could just be using us to get to Alicorn's Bane and to take it for themselves. Hell, for all we know they could be working for the Equine Empire."

"They're not," Twilight said. "I just know it. It's what my instincts are telling me." Though the thought of betrayal had crossed her mind, she wouldn't say it.

"You can't always follow your instincts, Twilight."

"We followed yours."

"And they got us captured."

"And they got us new friends. Friends that can help us on our way and slow down the imperials." Flick sighed.

"Princess, it's a wise thing to not trust so quickly."

"It is also a wise thing to not mistrust so quickly," she told him. She hated the way he was talking to her. Like she was a child, that she didn't know what she was doing, that if he made his point clear enough she'd realize she was wrong and change her mind. Think, Flick! she thought. Don't you think I've thought this through? Don't you think I've been just as worried? She wanted to say as much but the words kept getting jumbled and wouldn't come out. "Just trust me, okay?" was all she could manage. She said it as sincerely as she could. He clearly disapproved, but relented anyways.

"Alright. I trust your judgement," he said. He walked off, presumably to pack his saddlebags. Twilight understood that he was just being cautious, but she had hoped for a bit more faith in her decisions. She got just that from Rainbow Dash.

"Well I think it's a great idea," the pegasus said. "A little bit of muscle might just be what we need."

"Thanks Dash. Although, Grift's confidence in his men is entirely shared. I personally would have preferred trained soldiers." Twilight's thoughts went to Celestia, and the army she was supposedly bringing. How long has it been? Two days? Three? Give her time. She'll be here. She won't let us down. She wouldn't abandon me. Abandon. Twilight didn't know why that word came to mind. Celestia said she was on her way, so worrying that she wasn't made no sense.

She was brought out of her thoughts by an unfamiliar voice behind her. "Umm... Princess?" it asked. Twilight and Rainbow Dash turned to see a young pegasus, possibly younger than both of them, standing before them.

"Yes? Can I help you?" Twilight asked. The pony murmured something before taking a knee and bowing his head to Twilight.

"I'm supposed to give an oath or something if I want to get paid." Twilight had completely forgotten about that. She looked past the bowing stallion to see a fairly large line forming behind him.

"Well, have fun with... this. I'll talk to you later," Rainbow said. She did not want to face the tedium that Twilight was about to, so she left as soon as she could. The oaths didn't take as long as Twilight expected, but she expected them to last centuries so that wasn't saying much. She made them shorter than Grift's had been, but there were still over a hundred of them. Almost all were taken reluctantly, some more than others, but they were all taken. When it was finished, Flick and Rainbow had gathered their things, each Bloodied Stallion had his orders, and Grift had his thirty ready to move. It was getting dark, but Grift insisted that they get at least some distance before setting up a temporary camp.

They had only gotten a few miles northward when they stopped. It was past midnight, and Grift said they would move again at first light. Thieves constantly on the run were used to hours like that, but Twilight and her friends were not. Rainbow was particularly annoyed, and in all honesty, Twilight didn't like it either. Of course, sleep evaded her. She tossed and turned in her bedroll for what felt like an hour. It was actually a few minutes. Damn it, she thought, finally relenting and sitting up. Her head still hurt a little from earlier. She had never before displayed power like she had earlier that day. Or it was the club to the head.

She could see that Rainbow was having similar problems by the way she was rolling around. Flick remained still in his bedroll, but Twilight could tell by how tense he was that he was still trying to fall asleep. A figure walked towards them through the dark. "You too?" Grift's voice said, though it was muffled by something in his mouth. He spat out the pieces of wood from his mouth between the four of them. "Do you mind lighting that for me?" Twilight's horn glowed and the sticks caught flame.

"Thanks," he said, sitting down. "What I would give to be a unicorn. That would make life so much easier. Let me tell you, trying to grip and hold things with your hooves is not easy. Not impossible, but not easy. It's either that or use your teeth, and that's just unhygienic. With a horn you can cast spells, levitate shit, all sorts of things."

"I've used my hooves for things before," Twilight said.

"Well, yeah, I'm just saying, you know? You can just levitate things. So anyway, you can't sleep?"

"Nope," Rainbow said as she sat up. Her hair was even more mussed than usual.

"It's always when you want to or need to the most that you can't sleep. But I have just the remedy." He pulled a musical instrument off of his back. It looked like a guitar, but different. The name escaped Twilight but she had definitely seen at least pictures of it before. "Another thing that would be easier with magic, playing a lute. It's kind of a bitch with hooves." He strummed his instrument, and it was sweet on Twilight's ears. She hadn't heard music in a while, and the simple sounds pleased her.

"So you're a musical criminal?" Rainbow asked.

"Actually I was a bard before creating the Bloodied Stallions. I traveled all over the place singing songs and telling stories amd such. It's been a while so I've forgotten a lot of the ones I memorized, but I still remember a few. Any requests?"

"No singing," a muffled voice from inside a bedroll.

"But I want to hear him sing," Rainbow whined at Flick, as though he was the deciding factor in it.

"I'm trying to go to sleep," he growled, "and I can't with a lot of noise right next to me. No singing." He wrapped himself up even further and scooched away from them.

"Okay, no song," Grift said. "How about a story?"

"Which ones do you know?" Twilight asked.

Grift leaned back and tuned his lute. "I know a few. One of my favorites is this old myth, from this region." He plucked the lute and made a simplistic melody as he talked. "It's about the creation of the world. Funny story, the creation of the world. Well... not really funny. More like tragic. That's the point. Anyways, I think it goes like... eons ago there was the sky, bright and beautiful and full of life. The stars would dance and sing without end. There were other creatures, along with the stars. One of them was Gaiaus, the first one. He fell in love with the moon. It's said that when they were together their dancing was reverent and jovial, and their singing was so pure and soft as to make anything shed a tear if they heard it. Then some other stuff happened with Gaiaus and the moon that I don't remember, then Gaiaus was walking alone when the moon's sister, the sun, saw him. She instantly fell in love with the beautiful pony, and Gaiaus, unable to resist the beauty of the sun, fell in love with her despite also loving the moon. Some more stuff happened that I don't remember either. I think there might have been an evil star or creature or something.

"Anywho, the moon found out about her sister and her lover, and they yelled and battled and fought over Gaiaus for seven days and seven nights. It was only when they settled down at the end of those seven nights that they had realized that they had torn Gaiaus into thousands of little pieces. They wept for another seven days and nights until they didn't have any tears left to weep. Their tears became the oceans, and Gaiaus' body became the land. From his remains sprang forth all life. The trees, the animals, and of course the ponies." Grift stopped talking. The tune slowed in tempo. When he spoke again his voice was softer, more somber than before. "Nopony knows why, but over time the sky went dark. The stars stopped dancing and singing. All the sun and the moon could do anymore was to go around their lost love, watching over his offspring. Keeping them warm, and safe, until the end of time. Now they can't even do that after Discord broke them."

"Right," Twilight said. The story was unfamiliar, but everypony knows what Discord did so long ago. His chaotic rule of Equestria did too much damage to the natural order of the world. When Celestia and Luna defeated him they noticed the sun and the moon stopped moving, and took it upon themselves to keep them going every day. That's what every young foal is taught in on the first day of school.

"I think there was a song that went along with it too." Grift looked over to Flick, who appeared to be fast asleep. He strummed a tune on his lute. He seemed about to sing something, but kept strumming while searching for the lyrics. "Okay, I think the first line is,

In days of old, the stars of new

Were out to play and dance and sing.

The moon was one and he made two,

Lived in the space where love was king.

Alright, I don't remember the next few parts. Then I think the end was,

The world was born and filled with life,

when they cried so much for love's fall.

There would be no hate and no strife,

the sisters would keep safe them all."

He ended the song and waited for their reviews. "Well," Twilight said, "It would have been better if you had remembered all of it." Grift shrugged, as if he had heard it before.

"Your voice is beautiful," Rainbow said. They both looked at her. Her eyes were half closed, perhaps because she was tired, and she had a soft smile on her face. Grift was visibly taken aback. Hasn't heard that before, Twilight thought.

"What?" he asked. Rainbow's eyes shot open and she blushed.

"I mean, it's a good song, and stuff. And you sing it really well. That's all I'm saying. It really worked, I mean, I'm super tired right now, so I'm just gonna go to sleep. Goodnight." She dived into her bedroll and pulled it over her head. Grift shot her a look and a smirk. Please don't, Twilight thought. Her face must have matched her thoughts, because the look on his face seemed to respond to her thoughts. Please. We need to stay focused. This trip is serious. His smile showed that he was very serious about this.

"Goodnight. I'll talk to you two tomorrow," he said. He slung his lute across his back and stood up. He walked away with a smile on his face and a swagger in his step. Twilight rolled her eyes. She laid down and was about to close her eyes when she saw another figure approaching.

"Princess Twilight," the figure said, "can I have a word with you for a moment." Twilight rubbed her eyes. When the figure was close enough to the fire, she could see that it was the stallion Cobalt, Grift's second in command. He was younger than Flick. Closer to his fifties, but he was well built. It was clearer to her then than it was when he was disguised as a merchant. Blue coat, cyan mane, and not a trace of grey.

"Of course," she said as she got up. He lead her away from the fire, over past the other sleeping ponies and into a small clearing. "What did you want to talk about?" Twilight asked him.

"I see you're getting more and more acquainted with Grift," he whispered to her. She wouldn't have used the word acquainted, but she couldn't really find another one to fit their situation. I've had two conversations with him, and he's sworn to serve me. He's enthusiastic, that's for sure, she thought.

"Yes. Not very much yet, though. A lot of this has happened so fast."

"Yes. Our whole little group swearing oaths left and right. Impressive, considering who we are. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. You understand why they've all done this, right?" Isn't it obvious? It's for all the money I've promised them. The thought left Twilight bitter. Maybe she expected too much from them. She was used to the selflessness of her friends when it came to situations as serious as this. The greed bothered her. Almost as much as Grift's smiles bothered her. It bothered her that the same greed was behind those smiles. She tried not to focus on it too much.

"It's the money at the end of it all. I know that," Twilight said softly. Her eyes went to the ground when she said the words.

"You obviously don't know," he said. Twilight's head snapped back up.

"Excuse me?" she said.

"You don't realize the very simple fact of the situation. They didn't swear those oaths because some Princess said there was money in it for them. They did it because Grift said there'd be money in it. If you don't mind my frankness, they don't give a shit about you." That much I knew. She also got the feeling of loyalty to their leader from the Bloodied Stallions. Twilight didn't know what Cobalt was trying to say. His face was unreadable. The only thing she could do was ask.

"Your point being? Grift is in it for the money too, just like the rest of them," Twilight said coldly.

"No he's not," Cobalt said, his face like stone. "I've known Grift since he was a foal. He's brave, but he's a naive fool. He told you that he was a bard before all of this. It's because of that that he's got this idea of chivalry in his head. He wants adventure. That's why I helped him start this damned band of thieves. He wants to be a knight in some old story that gets to go on some epic quest and save a Princess. He wouldn't have gotten us all to swear those stupid oaths otherwise. This way of thinking is cute, but it's going to get him killed."

Twilight wrestled with what to think of what she just heard. If it was true, which she had the sneaking suspicion it was, then the smiles from Grift began to change in her mind. She didn't have anything to say yet. Once again, her face must have been so easily readable. Cobalt saw it, and just continued talking. "Every single Bloodied Stallion knows that. They know what kind of pony he is. But they follow him all the same. Do you know why?"

"Why?" she asked.

"Because he inspires them. He feeds them all this nobility bullshit and they eat it up. All because he has the ability to make them believe it. Really believe it. Almost as much as he does. He knows them. He knows how to talk to them, how to appeal to them. They don't follow them because they have to. They follow him because they want to."

"Why..." Twilight struggled with the words. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because it's something you have to hear. I've heard the news. I know you're new at this and you're already in a tough situation. These stallions have formally sworn oaths to you, but in reality they've sworn oaths for Grift. It's the last thing I would ever want, but if something happens to Grift on this little quest, those oaths don't mean anything. You have to make them mean something. Make them know they've sworn to you."

"Y-yes. I'll do that. Thank you," Twilight said. Cobalt, having said his due, made his exit. But he stopped before he left.

"You know, I haven't sworn my oath yet," he said.

"I know." Twilight didn't remember seeing him earlier that day. Even if some of the faces blurred, she would have remembered one like his.

"I'm not going to either. Not until I know it'll mean something." He left her there in the clearing, alone with her own thoughts. In a way, it was a perfect end to her day. So many surprises. Her alicorn power explosion, her new band of thieves, and lastly some leadership advice. I need to sleep. She returned to her friends. They were already far gone, and the fire had been put out. She slithered into her bedroll, and closed her eyes. It was so late, and she was so tired, that sleep took her without a fight.

Meet and Greet

She could move her hooves again. They still hurt like hell, but she could move them. Applejack tried to push herself as much as possible. It was getting her somewhere. It had only been a day or so and she could almost stand. That's good, she thought. She was strong enough to take what the guards dished out. Or they went easy on me. She pushed that thought away. She wouldn't accept it. Only the worst beating they could have possibly given would have made her talk. She knew that for certain. Applejack stood up from her bed. She felt her knees shake. She tried to move her hooves to steady herself, to lock her knees. She failed, but Spike was there to catch her.

"Woah there," he said. He helped her to sit on the side of the bed. "I think you should get some more rest before you try standing."

"Ah'm fine," she said. "Just gotta keep workin' at it, and Ah'll be back to normal. All they gave me were a few bruises."

"Applejack, the bed still has your blood on it."

"They gave me a few cuts too. So what?" Applejack's head started to split open. She held it in her hooves and rubbed her temples, hoping to ease the pain somehow.

"If only I had some daisy and noodle soup," Fluttershy spoke up from the corner of the cell. "It'd be perfect for your headaches. And it would help with your sleep problem, too."

"Ah don't have a sleep problem," Applejack snapped. Fluttershy whimpered in response and Applejack immediately regretted it. She was happy that the pegasus was talking again. She fits so cleanly into the role of caretaker. Fluttershy couldn't do much in their minuscule cell, but she did everything she could. She most often pleaded for Applejack to get some sleep. No. No sleep. Not after the dream she only half remembered.

"I'm sorry," Fluttershy squeaked. It cut right through Applejack. She had so far been watching what she said in fear of her friend's returned silence. She hated herself for slipping up.

"No, no sugarcube. It's my fault. Ah shouldn't have snapped at you. Ah'm just tired."

"Because of your sleep problem," Spike pointed out. Applejack glared at him and he promptly averted his eyes and whistled a bit. The huge metal door to the cell scraped open. Two guards entered. The same two who had entered before. Spike and Fluttershy stepped back but Applejack didn't move. She just gave them a look of expectance. She wasn't truly expecting them, but the look on her face was a perfect mix of anger and annoyance to give off that impression. They walked up to her, and threw what looked like a dress next to her.

"What's this for?" Applejack asked.

"It's for you to wear," one of them said. "You have to look presentable. You've been requested to attend a meeting in the castle dining hall. Now put on the dress and get moving."

"What kind of meetin' is it?"

"An important one. So hurry up."

"Ah can't walk." No sense explaining why. They already know.

"Then we'll carry you," the second one said. His voice was full of subtle venom. "We have orders to bring you to the meeting."

"Ah'm sorry, but Ah'm gonna have to skip this one. Ah need to get my rest, and Ah really couldn't care less about your orders." The second guard didn't hesitate. A plated hoof shot out at Applejack. When it reached her face she fell back onto the bed. Her vision was replaced only by the sensation of pain. It lasted no more than a second. She opened her eyes and saw a purple and green blur jump on top of the blur that hit her. Her eyes focused to see the first guard hit Spike off of the now bleeding second guard.

"Fucking drake piece of shit bit my fucking ear off!" the second guard yelled. He sent a kick to Spike's stomach. The young dragon winced in pain. The two guards started hitting him in a very familiar way.

"STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!" Fluttershy yelled. They both halted mid-hit. They turned to her. One of them walked towards the pegaus. He stood at least a head taller than her. They locked eyes, neither faltering. Fluttershy couldn't say anything or else he'd hit her, but she didn't have to say anything. He tried to be intimidating without hitting her, but he couldn't match her. It was in the eyes. Applejack always knew there was something to that stare of her's.

"Put on the dress," he said to Applejack as he stepped back. The second guard gave Spike some space. Applejack glared at them. A certain bile had begun to form in her throat the more she had thought about the two guards while laying in the bed. Guilt had kept it in check earlier, but once she saw what they did to Spike the guilt was replaced with anger.

Even with that, she realized that there was nothing she could do besides make then angrier. She complied with the guard's command, and slowly but surely put on the dress. She was still too hurt to walk, so together the guards carried her. They each took a side, and her back hooves dragged along the floor as they moved. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Fluttershy didn't waste any time moving Spike to the bed. Applejack didn't regret what happened her. If it wasn't her, it would have been Fluttershy. She doesn't deserve that. She doesn't deserve any of this. Applejack thought of home.

They took her from the dungeons below to the castle above. It was emptier than before, but had the same number of guards walking around. They dragged her through the throne room, past Cornaria's ornate golden chair, up a flight of steps and into a cramped room hardly bigger than her cell. The steps were the hardest, for Applejack and the guards. The room they eventually entered was far more humble than the throne room. There were no extravagant wall decorations or red velvet carpets leading to a gigantic golden throne. It was a small room lit with torches and sunlight coming through slits in the walls, with a table and chairs located in the center. Sitting at one of the chairs was the unicorn Greyhorn. He was looking at various levitating pieces of paper when his attention turned to their entrance.

"What's all this?" he asked as he lowered the papers to the table.

"She can't walk, so we had to bring her up ourselves," one of the guards said hesitantly.

"She can't walk?" Greyhorn sighed. "Put her down and leave." They took her to the nearest seat and plopped her down without any care. He shot them a look telling them it was the wrong thing to do. The two guards made their exit as fast as they could. "I'm sorry about them. About what happened. Sometimes we're so determined to get what we want that we... we don't really think."

"Why am Ah here?" Applejack asked. She didn't want to hear his apology. She could tell how much fake sincerity it was laced with. Greyhorn frowned.

"I'm serious. You know that, right?" I don't know anything about you, she might have said. She instead stayed quiet. Greyhorn sighed again and leaned back in his chair. The silence was broken the sound of a door opening. Applejack turned her head and saw Cornaria being escorted into the room. Even with what was going on, she tried to look as proper as she could. Applejack didn't understand why she would even care. She noticed that Cornaria was wearing her mane differently. At first it didn't seem too different, until she saw that it hid most of her right eye. The small part of the eye that was visible was surrounded by dark purple skin. Cornaria sat down as far away from both Greyhorn and Applejack as possible.

No pony spoke. Silence hung low in the air. Greyhorn turned his gaze back and forth between Applejack and Cornaria. He had the look of somepony who severely didn't want to be where he was. Applejack had seen that look before. Ah've known the feeling, she thought. She looked up and saw that the guards who escorted Cornaria were still in the room, stoic and still as stone. They hadn't been kicked out like the guards Applejack knew. After a time that felt agonizingly longer than it probably was, Greyhorn finally said something.

"You both probably want to know what happened and why, so I will explain," he said. "You see, the nation that I represent, the great Equine Empire, has sent me to negotiate terms with your great nation of Mustangia, and now with Equestria as well."

Cornaria retained her regality while she asked, "Terms for what?"

"Our alliance, of course."

"You're jokin, right?" Applejack blurted out. She couldn't help but do it. The whole thing was too ridiculous. It took her a minute to realize there was a big, stupid grin on her face. She hid it as fast as she could. Greyhorn ignored her.

"For the longest time we have been trying to have council with both you, Cornaria, and Celestia. Both of you have shunned our requests. Even our Emperor himself offered to come here, and you denied him. That disrespect is something we have never seen the likes of before."

"You killed those guards who were loyal to me," Cornaria said. She didn't sound saddened. She sounded like a mother scolding a foal that didn't know what it did wrong. "You imprisoned and tortured my servants."

"This whole thing was supposed to be bloodless," Greyhorn admitted. "Your invitation to the Equestrians and the security measures you took because of it forced us to change our plans. But there's no changing it now. What's done is done, and here we are."

"Mah answer is no," Applejack said. She thought of the guard who died in front of her, but the image in her mind wasn't him. She saw Rainbow Dash bleeding at her hooves. She imagined him as Rarity and Twilight and Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Anger made her veins pulse and her bruises hurt. If Cornaria felt the same, Applejack couldn't tell. The Princess was much better at hiding her emotions. In the very least, she wasn't as obviously terrible at it as Applejack.

"I agree with my... friend, Ms. Applejack. After recent events I must decline. In fact, your actions are no less than an act of war, and an insult to me and my people."

"Princess, if my country wanted to go to war, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. It has always been in my Emperor's best interest for our nations to work together in a more unified fashion."

"It's in his best interest, is it?" Cornaria said. Her voice changed, and she developed a mocking tone. A sarcastic smile grew on her face. "He cares so much for me and the ponies of Mustangia? Is that it? All of this awfulness over the past few days is out of the kindness of his heart?"

"Yes," Greyhorn said. His voice remained calm and unchanged as he spoke. "If it was up to me, you wouldn't have a head right now." Cornaria's smile was gone, replaced with a frown and a furrowed brow. It was all in the way he said it. It didn't come off as a threat or some kind of attempt to establish dominance. It came off as a simple truth. It was enough to send shivers down a pony's spine. Applejack was hoping for something like this. She knew he wasn't who he said he was, and the more she watched him the more she learned. What Ah'm gonna do about it, Ah don't know yet, she thought. But she felt in her bones that she was going to have to do something.

She wasn't going to just sit back and listen, though. "If it was up to you?" Applejack asked. She had an uncontrollable desire to just start pushing buttons and see what would happen.

"Yes," Greyhorn said. He looked between the both of them. "I'm under strict orders to make peace with Mustangia. I'm loyal to my Emperor, but I've always thought actions spoke louder than words, and the only thing that can truly drown out the words is blood. What I'd do is, I'd grab your mane with my hoof, drag you from the castle, kicking and screaming, and drop you right down in Bastion Square. I'd stomp on your legs and wings to make sure they were broken, and as you crawl around, crying for help, I'd take my sword and I'd remove your head with however many swings it would take." Once again, there was silence in the room.

Greyhorn didn't wait for a response. "So, let's discuss the terms," he said with a smile. He levitated the papers in front of him and split them evenly among the the three ponies. "Cornaria, those documents are your agreement to become a protectorate of the Equine Empire. This opens up trade between our countries, creates joint military interests and management, allows free travel of Equine Empire citizens between the countries, gives governing responsibilities to both nations so that you can work more closely with Emperor Seromors and our Senate, and all the little things that come with our new relationship. Applejack, your proposal is much simpler. That merely guarantees that, as a representative of Equestria, you give your word that your country won't retaliate in any fashion to what has happened here until Celestia meets with Emperor Seromors."

"What kind of name is that?" Applejack asked in a mocking tone. Greyhorn looked at her with annoyed contempt. Applejack took some pleasure with that, even if it was only a little. The feeling passed quickly. Yer just gonna make him angry. That's not the way to do it. She had a strong desire to make him angry. Her bruises started shouting at her. They yelled at her to be better than him. To do everything the best way she could. She wanted to yell at Greyhorn. Call him the worst things she could think of. Jump over the table and buck him in the face. But she couldn't. She had to reign in her anger. She had to be smart. She owed that to Spike and Fluttershy. To her other friends, wherever they were. And to her family back home. An image of somepony, she didn't know who, but somepony standing at Sweet Apple Acres flashed in her head. The pony was telling Granny and Big Mac that she had died.

"It's a title," he said, bringing Applejack back to the table in the small, stone room. "Our Emperors give up their birth names and choose new ones. This meeting isn't really about the culture of my country, so I suggest we-" Cornaria let out a laugh. "Is there something funny about what I said?"

"I'm sorry," she said through her giggling. "When you said culture, I just couldn't hold it in." There was silence once more. Cornaria was giving Greyhorn a smile full of venom and glee. Applejack wanted to smile too, but stopped herself when she saw the building rage within Greyhorn's eyes. Both her and Cornaria wanted to hurt him anyway they could, Applejack knew that. But that wasn't the way to do it. Just accept the deal and wait for Celestia to bring help, she thought. She hated that she had that thought. Part of her wanted Cornaria to blast a hole between Greyhorn's eyes. She hated that she had that thought too.

"Cornaria," Applejack said, "Ah don't think it's a good idea to talk like that."

"And where do you get off telling me what to do?" she shot at Applejack. "I wanted Celestia here, but instead I got her teacher's pet Princess and her low born friends."

"You don't seem to be taking this meeting very seriously," Greyhorn said.

"Oh, I am taking it seriously. I've put in a lot of thought and I already have my answer. War. Munstangia declares war on the Equine Empire. It will fight to the last pony to see you out of our home. We'll see how you like being dragged through the streets and beheaded." She was standing now. Her chair was on the floor. The two guards stepped forward to restrain her but Greyhorn signaled them not to. Her voice started getting louder and louder. "And we won't stop there. No, we won't settle with that! For this insolence, for this idea in your head that putting a sword to my throat would allow you to do whatever you want, for that we will march on your land. We won't stop until every single one of your fucking cities are burned to the ground. We will salt the earth for your actions here."

"You keep saying 'we' as if anypony but you would want this war," Greyhorn said. He began to raise his voice as well.

"I've done my research, Greyhorn. I know about your nation's ways. A bunch of peasants have their villages burned down by some dragons a century ago and they suddenly think they have the right to build an empire? A brutal dictatorship built upon the backs of those you see as lesser than you. Anypony would fight to be rid of you."

"Hypocritical, considering you and your family are no different."

"How dare you!" Cornaria slammed her hooves upon the table. "How dare you slander my family like that! My ponies love their country! They love me! They'd do anything for me! I know it!"

"You have a funny definition of love, don't you think?" Greyhorn was standing now, too. "I've also done my research. How long has it been since your last armed revolution? Twelve years. How long until the next one? You've been a disaster with running Mustangia. You make terrible and meaningless decisions while your ponies starve and resort to crime or die. They hate you, Cornaria. They've always hated you. They've hated every single ruler that's come out of your family."

The confrontation had turned in Greyhorn's favor. "Say what you will about me," Cornaria began, her voice quivering and her body starting to shake, "don't you dare say anything about my family!"

"Why? It's true! You've all been unfit to rule this country and the ponies here have hated you for it. They've hated you, your parents, your-"

"No!" she shrieked, cutting Greyhorn off. It was so loud and full of pain that it made time stand still. The guards, Applejack, even Greyhorn, it seemed, were all taken aback by it. Cornaria's eyes began to water. Her breath and her body were both shaky. "My mother and my father were loved by their subjects. They died for this country. They died, so that I could live. So that I could lead it. I am not going to lose it. I can't lose it." She was breathing heavily. She tried her best to maintain her composure but it was impossible at this point. It was all she could do not to break down right there, right then.

"Cornaria," Greyhorn said. His voice was soft. Applejack knew better than to think he was as sincere as he sounded. "You've already lost it."

Her face showed an expression of a pony trying her best to hide complete and utter despair. A tear rolled down the dark purple skin around her eye and onto her cheek. She turned and ran out the door without saying another word. The guards moved to stop her but Greyhorn said, "Let her go." A few seconds passed before he let out a deep sigh. "She won't go far. Find her and put her in her room."

"Both of us?" one of them asked.

"I'll be fine here." They left without any further objections. Applejack didn't know what to say. There was nothing she could say.

"Seromors told me something before I came here," Greyhorn said. "He said, 'Greyhorn, the world is changing. It's changing faster now than it ever has before. The only thing we can do is change with it, or get left behind.' Cornaria is one of those ponies who will never change. She's a dying breed. The old monarchies are failing. Mustangia, Germaney, Zebrica, Prance, the Griffin Kingdoms, Saddle Arabia. They're all a few poor decisions away from being overthrown. The only ones that seem remotely stable are the Crystal Empire and Equestria. Why do you think that is?"

"Ah don't know," Applejack said. Greyhorn chuckled.

"I expected a 'Because we're better,' or at least some pride in your country." He sat back in his chair. "As for the Crystal Empire, I think it's just a relief to not be a slave to Sombra. Give them a few years, and it'll be like all the rest. Equestria, however, is much more deeply rooted in its loyalty."

"Celestia's better than the others. She's always been there for us," Applejack couldn't help but say. She surprised herself with how quickly she defended the Princess. She could tell where he was going with his little speech, and speaking up seemed like nothing more than instinct.

"It's still unclear to me whether it's because you're all afraid of what would happen without somepony to move the sun, or if it's because you've deified her and her sister so much."

Applejack didn't pretend to recognize the word deified, but she could guess what it meant. She reckoned it meant something like looking at a pony and not seeing what's wrong with 'em. Applejack may not of known that word, but she wasn't stupid. She knew what he was getting at, and wanted the whole thing to be done as soon as possible.

"And y'all are any different?" she asked. The question he was waiting for. She could see it on his face.

"The Equine Empire chooses its leaders based on ability, not lineage. Any unicorn stallion can be elected to the Senate, and any great citizen of the Empire can be chosen by his peers to become the Emperor."

"So everypony's just peachy in yer neck of the woods?"

"Why shouldn't they be? Back home, everypony knows their place. The rebellions, like the one that took place right here a decade ago, are all born from disillusionment. Not despair. Not poverty. Those have always existed and they always will. Revolts are created when ponies who aren't satisfied with their lives start thinking that they deserve better. That wouldn't happen in my country. Ponies are born with the lives best suited for them. No offense to you, but you won't see an earth pony joining the senate anytime soon." He let out a laugh. Applejack glared at him and his smile quickly disappeared.

"I'm just saying," he continued, "it works. It's worked for a hundred years..." there was a pause where a normal pony would say, 'and it'll keep working for a thousand more.'

Just send me back to my cell, she thought. But she didn't want to go right away, though. First she wanted to go to Cornaria. Applejack barely knew her, and part of her even hated the stuck up Princess, but she still felt for her. Ah know what you're feeling. With your parents... Her whole body ached. She knew Cornaria was off somewhere crying. She wanted to go to her, comfort her like Fluttershy would, make her laugh like Pinkie, do something. She hated sitting still and hurting. She needed something, anything to do to make things better.

"I'm sorry. I ramble sometimes. Anyway, the more important issue." He pushed forward the agreement. "This little piece of paper needs a signature. You don't need to sign it now, but it needs to be signed sooner rather than later. And the longer you make me wait, the more impatient I'll become." Applejack's bruises throbbed with pain and she thought of the first time she met Greyhorn.

"What's Alicorn's Bane?" she asked.

"Don't change the subject," he spat at her. His frustration was growing palpable.

"You asked me about it before. It seems important to y'all. What is it?" And why do y'all want it so bad? For once, Greyhorn seemed hesitant to speak. His mouth made the smallest possible movements, as if talking through his response without anypony noticing. Before he could say anything somepony else did it for him.

"Careful, Greyhorn. We don't want too many ponies knowing about your secret little scavenger hunt," Windswept said as he entered the room. Applejack's stomach turned a little when she saw the smug smile on his stupid face. Greyhorn sunk into his chair and sighed.

"Oh gods, Windswept," she heard him say under his breath.

"I'm glad that my presence cheers you up so much, but if we could move past your obnoxious disdain and get down to business that'd be great," he said. He turned towards Applejack. "What's she doing here?"

"We were negotiating the terms," Greyhorn said.

"Is that the reason for the blubbering mess I saw being dragged from the throne room? Applejack seems to be taking it better than Cornaria. Rather than anguish you're feeling anger. And a lot of anger by the looks of it." He wasn't wrong. Applejack was never bothered with wearing her feelings on her sleeve, even at a time like this.

"And the same results with both of them," Greyhorn said as he levitated Cornaria's treaty towards himself.

"That is why you leave the administrative aspects of our operation to me, and the stabby-stabby torture aspects to you."

"You mean my operation, don't you? The one that I planned and put together and chose to bring you in on when I could have easily let you wallow in the dungeons with the rest of them?"

"Please," Windswept chuckled as he walked around the table, "without me you wouldn't have gotten nearly as far." He plopped the stack of papers he'd been carrying in front of Greyhorn. He flipped through the first few and had a look of dread on his face Applejack never thought she'd see from him. "I don't think it wise to discuss today's tasks with an Element of Harmony here," Windswept said, looking at Applejack.

"Ah'm sorry," she said, "but Ah'm not really in a position to leave right now."

Greyhorn waved his hoof. "I'll send for some guards to get her. It doesn't matter if she hears a few things before they get here. Let's just get through this so I can get some sleep."

"Alright," Windswept said, his eyes not breaking off from Applejack's for a long time. "We have officer's reports, new equipment requests, etc etc, just the usual. There are a few things that need attention. Firstly, there was an issue with one of the maids and some of the soldiers, ahem, mistreating her."

"Not one of my soldiers," Greyhorn said as he wrote something on a piece of paper and sent it flying down the halls with his magic. "I'd bet my horn it was one of the undisciplined goons you hired. Until we find out for sure, get her out of the cells and into one of the suites. I'll put ponies I trust on her."

"Well there's some issues with that... but I can explain later. Next, there was an incident at the barrier last night. Guards caught a group of ponies trying to get through. The report suggests four or five of them. They captured one and they think they killed another, but they couldn't confirm it."

"I'll be down to talk to the one they captured later today- finally, you're here," Greyhorn said as he looked up from the papers. Two guards entered the room. In fact, it was the same two that escorted Cornaria in earlier. A large and muscular red stallion and a a thin, teal one.

"You asked for us sir?" the teal one asked.

"Take her back to her cell," Greyhorn told them. They nodded and made their way towards Applejack.

"Wait!" she cried. They stopped and she turned towards Greyhorn. "Put all the prisoners in rooms inside the castle, out of the dungeons."

"Excuse me?" Greyhorn asked. It was half disbelief and half laughter when he said it.

"She didn't even say please," Windswept chuckled.

"If y'all want me to sign your piece of paper, then you're gonna put everypony you took prisoner and put them in those nice rooms in the castle. Ah won't do it otherwise." It was at that moment that Applejack took everything that had happened, everything that she had gone through, all the anger, all the sadness, all the feelings of powerlessness, everything she had inside her, and she focus every single solitary ounce of it into one stare. She wanted the stare to pierce through rock. She thought of Fluttershy's stare, and tried to channel it. She was solid at that moment. Everything moved around her but she remained still. She didn't even breath.

The target of her gaze was Greyhorn's own stare. He didn't flinch, and some irrational part of Applejack thought that meant it didn't work and she should just give up. But she didn't give up. Even something as small and insignificant as what she asked for seemed like some grand prize, some lofty goal to achieve with this stare. She didn't even blink.

"The Royal Guards," he said, with a pause that almost broke Applejack. "stay in their cells. The staff, and your friends, can get the rooms." She breathed a massive sigh of relief, but tried her best to hide it.

"Greyhorn, I don't think that's a very good idea," Windswept said. Greyhorn waved his hoof.

"Windswept, shut up," he said, annoyed. "Guards in the cells, our own stallions all over the palace, nothing's going to happen and I don't need her to be mad at me right now. I've got enough of a headache as it is." He rubbed his temples as he turned to Applejack. "Are you going to sign the damn paper now? Because if not, then can you please leave us to our business?"

Applejack smiled as best she could, and tried to push herself up from her chair. "For the love of... you two. Take her to one of the rooms, then get Beta squad on moving the others." Applejack felt hooves take her. They weren't rough with her, so she didn't resist.

They took her out of the room. When going down the stairs they lifted her in a surprisingly gentle way. They walked through the throne room. "I'm glad that the Princess finally shut up," the teal one said. "Could barely here myself think over her wailing."

"This is a painful time for her," the red one said. You have no idea, Applejack thought. She could see the tears on Cornaria's face. She was still there, in that little room, crying. Applejack's bruises ached when she thought of it. They moved out of the throne room and into the large hallways of the palace. "Here we are," the red one said as they stopped at an ornate door. Applejack recognized it as one of the rooms where her friends stayed when they first arrived at the city. That made her smirk.

They opened the door. The room was similar to the one she had, but it wasn't the same one. Either that, or she forgot exactly what hers looked like. The two guards dragged her towards the bed. "You know," the red one said, "Greyhorn's not all that bad. Not all the time."

"Windswept's a piece of shit, though. We'll give you that one," the teal one said. They lifted her onto the mattress. They started back towards the doors.

"Can Ah ask you somethin'?" Applejack said as she sat up.

"By all means."

"The mare, who got mistreated by some soldiers..."

"Who?" the red one asked.

"Do you mean the maid who died today after she got-" the teal one started before being elbowed by the red one.

"What does she mean to you?" the muscular guard asked.

"Nothin'," she said. "Just... nevermind." She laid back down on the bed to rest. Everypony gets comfier beds now, she thought. She may have gotten them that much, but she didn't get them out of the pit of rattlesnakes yet. At least, not yet.