Whispers

With yet another mighty yawn, Arcanus reclined lazily in the deceptively comfortable bed and studied the array of magically-shrunken books he had suspended above his head like a rotating buffet table. His sore, heavy-lidded eyes and aching hooves threatened mutiny at any moment, while the blazing fireplace blanketed the room in a soothing layer of warmth – its own attempt at conspiring to coax the weary unicorn into the sweet reprieve of sleep.

He resisted. Such trivial matters as sleep could wait, especially when academic curiosity held them at proverbial knifepoint.

Smiling lazily, Arcanus plucked one particular large, pyrite-rimmed hardcover from the selection, dispelled the size enchantment with a thought, and ceased the levitation spell. The mass of books toppled messily around him, but he paid them no mind. Such an affront to works of literature would strike a nerve on any other night; tonight, he was way too tired to even notice.

How We Got Here: The Pre-Canterlotian Era of Ponykind

By Lady Hindlight

Personally recommended by the librarians of the royal archives, few history books depicting this era were more highly regarded than this one by professionals in the field of pre-classical history. Equally respected was its author, whose proffesionalism, maturity and penchant for symbolic quotations had famously made her work easily accessible and thoroughly entertaining to young and old scholars alike.

It was one he’d recently found a place for on his ‘to-do’ list. What better time than now?

Arcanus immediately skipped to the back of the sizable twenty-eight page glossary, mumbling the key word on tonight’s agenda in a vigorous attempt to keep his fatigued mind focused on the task at hand-

“Alicorn…”

Arcanus took a deep breath, knowing what he was about to do would only exhaust him further.

Opening his mind’s eye and tapping into his special talent, he began to scan the list from front to back at a swift pace most would never hope to match. Something about ‘increasing the chance of noticing other interesting footnotes to mark and come back to later.’ The technique was colloquially known as the ‘Encyclopaedia Expedition’ – or, alternatively, the ‘Ten Book Trick.’ It was a famous, unintentional time sink amidst historians all over Equestria.

Arcanus funnelled more magic into his horn, turning the pages faster to match his enhanced rate of reading comprehension. His dilated, rapidly blinking pupils scanned up and down the pages, capturing and comprehending every last detail while his subconscious analysed it all.

‘Windigo… ethereal embodiments of winter… siphons the physical and metaphysical ‘warmth’ from its surroundings…’

Of course, some details were considerably more interesting than others, and managed to bleed their way into his conscious mind…

‘Void God… hypothetical “fourth” primordial god… theorized to complete the elemental “Balanced Compass” model… existence implied by various anecdotes and unofficial studies into the origin of “dark magic”…’

‘Tartarus… prison fortress famous for containing most of pre-history’s surviving chaos flora and fauna… rendered inescapable by anti-magic seals, reinforced bars, and the ward of reformed demon Cerberus… oldest pony-made structure in recorded history…’

'Tantarian... pre-historical chaotic entity... characterized by eternal patience and an undying thirst for omniscience... thought to have vanished from history to spare itself death and/or incarceration within Tartarus... current whereabouts unknown...'

Before long, the pages were as leaves in a light breeze, barely comprehensible to even the quickest readers in the world, yet it changed nothing. Text and subtext alike, concepts and interpretations of such; all of it flew past Arcanus' mind's eye in a paradoxically clear haze.

'Midas... unicorn alchemist famed for his breakthroughs in the fields of metallurgy and transmutation... known to have devised a spell to transform any form of matter into flawless gold... evidence suggests his career occurred during the 2nd Canterlotian Century following the Age of Discord, but specifics are unknown... all traces of research and personal possessions unaccounted for...'

'Harmony... suggested by most mythologies to be one of the 'four gods' as per the "Balanced Compass" model, representing creation... the term also describes an abstract concept thought to represent cleansing and balance, said to manifest when its wielder empowers six righteous virtues by utilizing an array of cosmic vessels known as the Elements of Harmony... relation between the two iterations of the term unknown...'

'Geryon... King of the Old Crystal Empire... powerful unicorn famous for manifesting space–time magic, the first of its kind in history... aftermath of his despotic eleven year reign considered responsible for the Sundering of Ponykind and subsequent formation of the three tribes...'

'Dirt Dragon... earth-elemental immortal adult dragon, known for its place amidst the ensemble "Eight Dragons of Tartarus"... pre-historical carvings depict its sand breath as capable of shaving small mountains down to rubble, and sand-blasting ponies and their dwellings alike down to ash...'

Such was the nature of the young unicorn's special talent. While this act of 'speed reading' was very mentally draining, and generally didn't commit what it picked up to long-term memory, its ability to process and retain large amounts of detail in the short term was unsurpassed.

'Amdusias... one of seven lesser draconequi known as the Sons of Discord... best known for his defeat at the hooves of emerging Princess Celestia, representing the first casualty among Discord's followers toward the end of the Age... artist renderings depict a tall, steel-blue horse with four bladed, mantis-like wings and a large, sharply-curved horn.'

Arcanus cut the telekinesis spell on precisely the right page with expert precision, focusing on the particular term he was looking for as his mental processes came down from their accelerated high. He blinked a few times to ease the strain the ability had put on his already weary eyes; power at  a price, and all that.

'... Alicorn. Colloquially designated 'winged unicorn.' The genetic and symbolic pinnacle of equine evolution; a pony whose inherent physical, spiritual and arcane magics have manifested in harmonious co-dominance.'

Unsurprisingly, the term appeared sparingly at best.

Alicorns were a rare commodity, and thus not exactly the most well-understood of topics. Some of the foremost scientific and historical authories still had yet to agree whether the issue came under the banner of natural biology or divinity, and it was hard to apply scientific scrutiny to such a hot issue. Even the royal sisters themselves, while clear physical examples of the concept, were notoriously tight-lipped with whatever insight they most likely had into the matter.

That wasn't to say that equine biology enthusiasts were completely clueless, of course. It was easy to hypothesize what the alicorn was, and how its abilities functioned; the real questions of where and why were the real buried treasure here.

Beneath the term was written a (short) list pertaining to its appearance. Each entry featured both the chapter name and page number in question, and the letters glowed with a subtle hue. Arcanus smirked; it was the tell-tale sign of an old enchantment he hadn't seen with any regularity since his first months under Celestia's tutelage.

The magilink spell.

Magilinks, or "magical bookmarks" were formed by immersing one's quill in a uniquely imbued ink, causing any word written with it to form a "shortcut" of sorts. Unicorn readers could then use the enchanted words to "jump" to whatever page the author had designated to be the target of such a "link."

In this case, the meaningful instances of 'alicorn' boiled down to three chapters: The Old Crystal Empire, Discord: Reign of Chaos and, perhaps most pertinently, Ponykind's Magical Heritage.

Settling on the latter, Arcanus concentrated a tiny wisp of magic on the tip of his horn and touched it to the enchanted words, barely having time to withdraw his muzzle before a barrage of pages whisked past to deposit him at the relevant section. Arcanus immediately rolled his eyes at the opening quote:

"Sometimes I ask myself,

"What am I doing here?

I think of all the reasons,

But it's still not clear."

-Lady Teresa Mane's "Back In Time": Verse 1 Line 1–4

Figures it would come from a love song, a most unwanted reminder that he'd be sleeping alone tonight, and all because the lyrics seemed vaguely relevant to the subject of evolutionary biology when taken out of context. Arcanus shook his head, and started reading.

"Ponykind's affinity for natural and arcane magics reaches back to its emergence as a sentient species, and likely even further. These magics, and the potential to employ them, are succeeded through bloodlines..." He yawned with equal parts boredom and genuine sleepiness. This was old news; alicorn controversy aside, it was widely known that ponykind's magical manifestations were hereditary. "... It is believed that all ponies possess these three magics, and that the 'races' are a result of one of these magics exhibiting mutually-exclusive dominance over the others. In laypony's terms, we are all unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies — just not simultaneously."

Arcanus stopped narrating to himself and skimmed the next few paragraphs; the patience of a sleepy unicorn didn't hold up tonight. He'd learned this stuff years ago. It was nothing new. Just a brief overview of each race's natural abilities, and a thinly veiled poke at the absurdity of considering oneself "highborn" because of a random gene manifestation at birth; an anti-racism message aimed squarely at the unicorn nobility if there ever was one.

"Unicorns..." Arcanus continued, laughing at the opening quote in one of the modest unicorn's rare moments of racial pride: 'Unicorns. If thou needst ask what we do, thou livest under a rock.' -Starswirl the Bearded. Apparently the legendary Starswirl the Bearded, tutor and mentor to some of history's most famous figures including the royal sisters themselves, had a sense of humour. Who knew? Perhaps that was the reason Celestia could be so coy...

"Oh, hah," Arcanus groaned the way one would at any other pun: genuinely entertained, but too uptight to admit it. He'd touched his horn to the magilinked words 'what we do' and found himself whisked, unexpectedly, to an article about the cycle of day and night. A basic "pot hole" trap with a stealth punchline, but a trap nonetheless. One thing was clear; he liked this author.

"Raising the sun is merely a matter of knowing where to apply pressure."

-Princess Celestia

The laughs stopped there, though. The unicorn subsection held the usual spiel; "arcane magic channeled via the horn," "limited reality warping," and the like. The only notable tidbit was an evasively-worded concession that "unicorn magic was the most 'versatile' of the racial abilities."

Political wording at its finest, Arcanus knew; replace 'most versatile' with 'best' and you got the real message. The next two sections also held nothing he didn't already know, as he realistically expected, but that didn't stop him from getting a kick out of the quotes:

"Read a book, neglect three. Memorize a spell, forget another. Power at a price, lest we all have it."

-Clover the Clever

"The skies are free and just. If we rule the skies, who could hope to rule us?"

-Commander Hurricane

"Nature checks and balances the pegasi and unicorns all the time. Those fancy wings and horns have their limits, but not us. The land itself is our power, and we will never give it up."

-Smart Cookie

The time for some real learning came, however, with the revelation of a fourth subsection: the crystal ponies. An obscure minority race, an anomaly of nature, warranting mention only because of a technicality. Still, academic curiosity had gotten him this far (past his bed time), and the old motto could keep him going for hours more: knowledge unlearned is knowledge yearned.

"Crystal... ponies..." Arcanus whispered through a yawn, fighting off the urge to retire right then and there. The fireplace continued its seductive work, the flames within dancing like a blazing temptress enticing him to bed, but that would be fixed. The fire could work to his advantage after all, as his own spells to the effect paled before Aurora's.

He amended his previous assertion: the old motto and coffee could keep him going for hours more.

Arcanus shifted his attention, and telekinetic grip, from the book to his bags. He shuffled around within one for a moment, before retrieving a small bag of powdered coffee, a glass bottle of water, and a little copper kettle - the elements of many a student's lifeblood. Igniting his horn, Arcanus felt his vision ripple like a disturbed pool, dissolving away only to reform with him sitting at the table.

Progress, he gleefully announced within the confines of his mind. He ran a mental checklist of the spell's components; spatial awareness, check; compensation for time dilation, check; frazzled mane, very definitely not a check. It was more of an 'okay, teleportation spell not yet mastered, but at least it didn't catch fire this time' kind of thing. Close...

Putting that aside, he went about his improvisation, boiling the kettle over the roaring fireplace and taking advantage of the otherwise dead time to stretch and roll his neck. He could have done this from the comfort of a squishy bed, to be honest, but balancing three or four objects at once, while easy with practice, wasn't a good idea in his mental state.

"Crystal ponies," Arcanus began again, now armed with the coffee he'd waited two agonizing minutes for. Pushing the unfinished chess game aside, he summoned the book to the table and continued reading. "Current inhabitants of the northern Crystal Empire. Descended from a band of defiant earth pony loyalists who refused to leave the kingdom during the Sundering of Ponykind. They are functionally identical to modern earth ponies, save for their reflective, crystalline coats..."

Crystalline... Arcanus mused, as the parallel this drew to the alicorn on the cards didn't go unnoticed. With this epiphany came renewed fervor, or perhaps that was the caffeine deciding to act quickly for a change.

"... These special properties are thought to be a result of prolonged exposure to the crystal flora and fauna native to, and abundant within the kingdom's borders," he continued. "However, as with many details pertaining to the Crystal Empire, this speculation is unverifiable; the Empire's disappearance following the overthrow of King Sombra 85 years prior to this publication has rendered the crystal ponies, and their grand library, inaccessible for study."

Now, that was a name Arcanus hadn't heard in awhile: King Sombra. Celestia made almost no mention of him, despite having lectured the class on unicorn magic's colorful history and even mentioned dark magic itself on occasion.

It hadn't even been a century since, as the story went, the dark magic-wielding rogue unicorn had been felled by the alicorn sisters, and already history was doing its best to work around him. It was as if his brief reign could be considered Canterlot's ultimate embarrassment; that the royal sisters' decision to depose him wasn't so much a righteous act, and more of a humble apology: 'we're sorry the biggest mistake in the history of our magical education system decided to waltz up north and enslave you.'

That was all beside the point, though. The crystal ponies, while an interesting tidbit, weren't the main attraction here. Their inclusion brought the canonical race count to five, which meant... "Alicorn," said Arcanus, turning the page to reveal a subsection dedicated to exactly that, complete with an artist's rendering of the alicorn sisters. "... An alicorn possesses the racial abilities of all three pony types, earning itself such nicknames as 'winged unicorn', 'unicorn pegasus' and rarely 'pegacorn', although this last term has fallen out of favour in recent years."

What followed was a quote from a figure Arcanus didn't recognize.

"Divided you fall, together you conquer. A rope of one strand breaks; a rope of three strands holds strong."

-Array the Controller

"It is one of the oldest symbols of ponykind's quest to discover its roots, and fittingly, the concept is shrouded in both uncertainty and mythology. Credible arguments can be made to suggest the alicorn as a rare biological anomaly with three concurrently dominant genes, or as a preternatural demigod-like figure of divine origins."

Arcanus paused, realising that for all the lecturing Celestia had done on the nature of an alicorn — most of what this book had to say on the subject, really — she had never once implied her own beliefs on the matter. She had a tendency to stick to the facts, after all, and the genetic nature of pony races had long since been established as such.

"... These conceptions are largely influenced by one's willingness to accept mythical reasoning in preference to (the lack of) hard evidence on history's shadier periods. No history book, no matter how reputable, can decide this for the reader. However, the one element of the concept conceded by all sides is that alicorns possess exaggerated magical and physical attributes far in excess of ordinary ponies."

Most other readers would have nodded thoughtfully at that; Arcanus could only narrow his eyes at the understatement. Words couldn't do justice to what he'd seen that night. This author had no idea. She hadn't personally witnessed the princesses shattering marble with their bare hooves, moving so quickly as to leave after-images, or manipulating the heavens themselves in afterthought. Forget raising the sun and moon; the royal sisters had proven that doing so wasn't even a challenge.

"... It is believed that the nature of this power is derived from the three racial magics forming an interdependent, symbiotic triune in which they empower and reinforce one another to near-godlike levels. Assuming this theory is correct, it is by this mechanic that such feats as moving the celestial bodies are possible for a single alicorn. By contrast, this process required the combined efforts of dozens of unicorns prior to the rise of the royal sisters."

"There have been two confirmed alicorns in history. The existence of a third has been evidenced by various elements of Crystal Empire lore and history matching up with those of legend, but is not universally accepted by all historians at the time of this writing. It is included for the sake of fair portrayal and concession of evidence."

Arcanus smiled. Finally, some actual details amidst all this theory! Best of all was that a third alicorn was all but confirmed; mythological or not, there was a good chance this was what he'd been looking for. He looked down at his coffee, the pause in his train of thought allowing him to realise what was missing. Huh, no sugar... He plucked a sugar cube from his bag and plopped it in, rocking the cup back and forth to allow the sugary sweetness a chance to stir.

"...The most well-known, and only confirmed alicorns in history are the royal sisters — Princesses Celestia and Luna."

Arcanus sipped from his newly-sweetened coffee, his expression neutral; he actually considered skipping this subsection. Not that his idol didn't make for excellent reading material, but how much could possibly be in here that he didn't already know?

"... Princess Celestia was born in the 14th year of the Age of Discord, 606 years prior to this publication. Princess Luna's exact birth date is unknown; Celestia has personally stated that she was roughly five at the time. Their mother is thought to have been an unknown pegasus mare, most likely slain toward the end of the Age. No evidence exists to suggest the identity of their father, and the sisters have professed their refusal to elucidate."

Apparently, quite a lot.

"... The Age of Discord is a shakily understood era. The chaotic imbalances incited by Discord's influence resulted in the destruction of many historical records and works of literature; some were burned, others rewrote themselves. As such, the sisters' childhood is an ill-understood period. It is confirmed, however, that an unknown occurrence in their youth blessed the sisters with six artifacts now known as the Elements of Harmony..."

Arcanus' ears perked up as he downed the rest of the coffee in an instant, instinctively inking a quill and readying a scrap of parchment for note-taking.

"... which they used to unseat Discord from power. The Elements are most likely a wellspring of malleable energies — energies that attune themselves to the wielder's strongest virtues and manifest accordingly. The sisters have yet to reveal these virtues. See this publication's sister work, Magical Underpinnings of Reality for a deeper analysis..."

Arcanus closed his eyes, recalling the words Celestia had cited that night. Witnessing the manifestation of the sisters' legendary power had been an unparalleled honor, even under such dire circumstances. "Honesty... Loyalty... Generosity... Laughter... Kindness... and Magic."

As each word came to mind, he sketched six crude gems in a hexagonal pattern and filled each one in accordingly. For added effect, he used his magic to alter the ink and shaded each gem a different color, before lastly adding six arrows that converged in the centre to form, literally and symbolically, a single word: "... Harmony."

"... Eyewitness accounts claim," he continued, setting the quill aside as the brief — and unrealized — epiphany passed, "that the Elements resembled 'a rainbow of light shooting forth from the ground, swirling magnificently and lighting up the sky before crashing down upon Discord; all that remained in its wake was a statue of the former tyrant.' Discord's sealing led directly into the brief period known as the Hour of Twilight, during which the sun and moon co-existed in the sky — stranded without the chaotic energies Discord once provided to guide them."

"Throughout the following years, the sisters traversed the land in search of damage to undo and residual chaos energies to purify, ultimately culminating in the taking of their famous charge to maintain the cycles of the sun and moon, and to provide them unto ponykind to this day. For this heroic deed, the sisters were crowned the nation's new rulers — and, according to some legends, earned their cutie marks."

So enthralled he'd been by the surprisingly invigorating tale of his idol saving the world that he'd only just noticed the room was starting to become unbearably hot courtesy of Aurora's magical flames.

Wiping his brow, Arcanus summoned the fireplace poker and spread out the wood as best he could, stopping only when he withdrew the warped, bright orange iron to find it shedding ash and charcoal fragments like a snake would its old skin. Smiling sheepishly, he placed the warped poker aside and returned his eyes to the book... just in time for the good part.

Skipping past the disclaimer, he read aloud: "... According to mythology, the third alicorn descended from the heavens around 1600 years prior to this writing to lay the foundations for the Old Crystal Empire, under the banner of which he united the scattered remnants of ponykind."

Arcanus smiled, his eyes drawn to the rightmost exhibit: an intricately detailed drawing of a sky blue alicorn, complete with shimmering silver wings and a radiant golden horn. To the left sat an artist's recreation of an old stone carving depicting that same alicorn dodging the sand breath of a large dragon while clinging to, and twisting, one of its giant claws.

"... From there, he carved out the abyssal depths of Tartarus and sealed most of the chaotic flora and fauna — which had dominated the land for centuries — within. Ponykind was at last safe, and able to settle down and build a stable civilization, which thrived for years to come under the alicorn's omnipotent reign. This alicorn came to be known as *Array the Controller*."

Arcanus stared at the name in silence, chastising himself for not making the connection sooner. It should have been obvious! But if he's considered a myth, why was he portrayed on playing cards of all things? And... why did he represent the king, when Discord — an unpleasant memory though he may be — could just as fittingly play the role?

"Array's lordship of the Old Crystal Empire was absolute and unquestioned. All aspects of everyday life were orderly tied to his will, removing any sense of responsibility or stress from the common pony's agenda. The sun and moon, weather patterns, and even the growing of crops were monitored by the artifact we know today as the Crystal Heart, by which Array could spread his will across the entire kingdom. From this, his title 'the Controller' was derived."

"Following his sudden disappearance roughly 500 years into the Empire's life, Array went on to become a historical footnote at best... or an idealistic myth at worst."

Arcanus blinked in disbelief. Wasn't there more? He turned the page; surely enough, there wasn't. His interest piqued, though, he sought out the next logical step if he wanted further answers. The first instance of "Old Crystal Empire" happened to be magilinked, and he wouldn't know unless he tried...

"I look at places to go,

There's nothing near.

So take me away from this,

'cause this place I'll hardly miss..."

"So take me back in time,

to another world..."

-Lady Teresa Mane's "Back In Time"; Verse 2 Line 1–4, Chorus Line 1–2

"The Old Crystal Empire..." Arcanus whispered. "Isolated kingdom to the north of Canterlot, surrounded by the Crystal Mountain Belt. Known for the unique crystal properties of its various fauna, most notably the crystal berries. First pony civilization, possibly founded by the third alicorn, et cetera..."

Arcanus' eyelids drooped, a wordless reminder that he should skip the redundant formalities. It was just more 'Array is a historical supposition' disclaimer anyway.

"... While the 500-year reign of Array the Controller is disputed, the earliest surviving records do support the notion that following his hypothetical reign and disappearance, ponykind fell into a brief recession. Lacking a functional economic cycle, not to mention guidance for the natural orders of day/night and the weather, ponykind is thought to have gravitated toward a socialist model. Desperation is thought to have led to the discovery of the pony race's inherent abilities — pegasi controlling the weather, for example — during this period, further suggesting that Array, or some other driving force, existed prior."

Arcanus immediately made a note: 'find out Princess Celestia's opinion on the maintenance of the day/night cycle prior to her reign.' For a supposed "myth" this Array character's existence seemed entirely too plausible, especially given that myths had a curious tendency to be true all along. In a kingdom ruled by demigods, myths were simply 'old stories that sound mysterious because they describe fantastic things years after the fact.' Hay, years from now Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony will likely be considered mythology.

"... Society lasted an admirable hundred-odd years under a libertarian socialist model. However, the inevitable invention of currency—"

A knock at the door dislodged Arcanus' intense concentration, causing him to leap to attention with a filly-like yelp as Moonthistle staggered her way into the room. Her eyelids hung lazily, an inane grin plastered on her face. These things, plus her inability to stay upright betrayed just how downright hammered she was.

"How're y'doin', 'canus..." she mumbled drunkenly, and with an unmistakable hint of naughtiness in her glazed-over eyes. Arcanus eyed her warily, slightly unnerved by the sheer 'glee' in her inebriated grin. Just looking at her made him tired. She shakily held a glass of water in her psychic grip, rocking it back and forth unconsciously. "Just wanna say... sorry."

"... Uh, sorry for what?" he replied cluelessly, nonetheless standing up and stretching his stiffened legs, wincing as the bones popped.

"For... hic," she paused to scull what remained of the much–needed water, dropping the glass, "for what I said earlier. 'bout Stella." She staggered over to the designated mares' bed, almost toppling over before Arcanus swiftly caught her in his own black aura. "'Twas uncalled for, I know... heh." She looked up into his eyes, allowing the unabridged glimmer of perversion to return as the slightly flushed colt continued to hold her. "Hee hee... a gentlecolt."

Arcanus mentally facehoofed, then actually facehoofed when he realised he did, in fact, have a free hoof. Summoning a little of his will power, he heaved the petite mare onto her bed and covered her up. A barely-audible "Silly 'canus..." escaped the mare's lips, before the unmistakable sound of snoring filled the room within seconds.

Arcanus looked back at the book on the table with a sigh. He'd been a moron for staying up this late, if even hard drinking party-girl Moonthistle considered it time to hit the hay. He took one last look at her, noticing her adorable pout a little too closely for his comfort, before hopping into his own bed.

He was out like a light.

*******

"Yeah, I don't have a clue what happened last night..."

"You confirmed that we're never mixing Castelmare and Amare'ula again."

Arcanus opened his eyes groggily to the sound of barely restrained chewing, spotting his companions seated at the table around a big plate of breakfast. The smell of crisply cooked daisy immediately weaseled its way into his muzzle, poking tantalizingly at his appetite.

Unfortunately, the unwelcome sensation of a sore throat made its presence known as well.

"I do believe our boy 'canus is awake," Moonthistle stated around a mouthful of sandwich. "'bout time, too."

"Is that so?" Aurora asked, sneaking a peek at the colt in question. She frowned. "What gave it away?"

"Oh, that's easy," Moonthistle replied offhandedly. "He stopped snoring. Morning, 'canus!" she chirped, not a single sign of the hangover she most certainly should have had given the state she passed out in.

"Good morning, ladies..." he rasped, practically falling out of bed and going straight for his bags in search of water. Luckily, he had one bottle left, which he promptly drained. He turned to say something, but found a sandwich suspended in a magical aura all but shoved into his mouth.

"Eat," Aurora commanded. "We meet with the governor soon. They want us to bring all our possessions with us as a 'sign of sincerity."

"How long?" Arcanus asked quickly, more than happy to dig in to the sandwich. Daffodil and daisy, too.

"Ten minutes."

"What?" Arcanus looked himself over in a panic. "... Is there someplace I can shower around here?"

"The inn offers communal bathing for patrons," Aurora confirmed, turning her nose up at such an option, even as her shiny clean coat made it blatantly obvious she'd settled for it. "Might be somewhat busy this time of morning, though..."

"I doubt I have time for that—" Arcanus was cut off by a look of pure, unadulterated happy as Moonthistle stared straight at him, her horn already glowing as droplets of water began to condense around it. "Uh... what?"

"Well, if that's the case, I've been practicing the Hydro Pump spell..." She rose to her hooves and sauntered her way over, only to find herself stalking thin air. Arcanus had hastily teleported past her, but she wasn't about to give up so easily. "Canst thou think of a better mare to hose thee down?"

Arcanus was already at the door. "Communal bathing it is..." he called back in practically one breath, galloping down the hall.

...

If the tavern's deceptively highbrow decor hadn't been an obvious tip-off, the elegant interior of the town hall most certainly was for Arcanus. The furnishings weren't the disheveled mass of splintered wood he was expecting, nor were the walls peppered in all manner of elaborate, shabby patchwork repairs that Aurora had repeatedly alluded to on their travels.

On the contrary, the walls were decorated up and down with paintings and carvings in all shapes and sizes, some ornate, others modest, but all clearly worth some kind of money. Small captions were often etched beneath them, stating who painted them and when. At first glance, it would come across as more of an art gallery than a rural town hall.

The trio exchanged no words as the orange stallion from the night before quietly escorted them up a spiral staircase along the left wall, ushering them into what seemed to be a dusty attic refit to serve as some kind of study. It was dimly lit, with no visible light source besides a half-dozen candles, and littered with dust. A disorganized mess of papers cluttered the floor around the center of the room, obscuring the cracked floor, but the trio of seated ponies — two stallions and one mare — didn't seem to care.

"Ah, yes. I do recognize the green mare, from last night," said the center stallion, a slender blue earth pony sporting a bookish set of reading glasses. "I'm Ledger, governor and financial manager of the Pony'borough province. This is my wife, Esther."

"Honored to meet you," Arcanus responded, introducing himself and his comrades. "We come in peace—"

"Let's start on the good hoof with trust," Esther cut him off, nodding at the orange stallion. "Check their bags. Do you bring weapons into my town?"

Arcanus and Aurora shook their heads, opening their bags for inspection.

"Well..." Moonthistle said slowly, smiling awkwardly. She rustled her saddlebag a little, playing a chorus of metal grinding against metal. "Only by the strictest legal definition." She dropped the bag and used her magic to push it aside. "Disarmed. We good?"

"Clever," Ledger said with an amused smirk, before his expression hardened. "Allow us to get to the point, then. When are you leaving?"

He's not wasting any time... Arcanus thought.

"We... intend to leave as soon as we have delivered our terms," Aurora reasoned, taking charge as she magically dipped into Arcanus' bag to withdraw a letter bound with the royal seal.

"Very well. Make your case," Esther said. "Depending on what you have to say, we may ask you to leave immediately."

Aurora cleared her throat, levitating the bound letter toward Ledger for him to take. "We are charged on behalf of Princess Celestia to express the kingdom's, and her own sincere intentions. Our orders explicitly forbid the use of coercion or force."

"Is that so?" Ledger asked, knowing in advance that he'd most likely not get an answer. He passed the letter to Esther, who promptly went about opening and perusing it. "And what intentions do you have should we choose to ignore your 'terms?'"

"Indeed, promises are cheap," Esther added, briefly showing the letter to her husband before crumpling it up and throwing it over her shoulder. "Actions speak louder than words, young ones. And believe me when I say we have seen much action," she added cryptically, nodding at the other stallion by her husband's side.

"Of what actions dost thou speak?" Arcanus asked a little heatedly before Aurora had the chance, allowing his obedience to Celestia to do the thinking for him. "If thou meanest the dethroning of Princess Luna, I believe that was clearly explained in the letter. Any 'conspiracy' is little more than slander perpetrated by—" The air ran out of his sails, as the administrative pair gave him an incredulous — and slightly aggravated — stare.

"... You don't even know why you're here, do you?" Ledger asked sincerely, though in no way politely.

Arcanus replied with a textbook answer. "Are we not here to defend her highness' integrity against malicious slander, and to decry its perpetrators? To convince you that secession is not the answer to a misunderstanding?"

"Misunderstanding," whispered the other stallion — a beefy, dust-brown earth pony with a glaring scar on his left cheek. All eyes were upon him in an instant; his dull, almost shell-shocked tone was enough to guarantee that. "Ah fail t'see what's misunderstanding about royal guard looting mah damn village and bullyin' those'a us with the gall to defend ourselves! Wha'dya think's so vague about that? Barely made it outta there with mah life, let alone belongin's. What nonsense d'ya babble about 'slander?'"

Arcanus was stunned silent as though struck, although he retained his composure. Inside, his mind swam with questions like a school of frenzied fish. He cast a brief glance to his side, and unsurprisingly, his companions weren't much better off. This isn't about the royal guard letting bandits run free... The bandits *are** royal guard. The lord-general's information was wrong? Was he lied to? Was he lying?* Too many crucial questions, and not enough damn answers.

"What, a crucial revelation?" Ledger asked, making note of their dumbfounded expressions. "I see you need some time to think it over. If you're sincere in your ignorance, then you may stay here for the time being. Just one word of warning: do not antagonize us further. You are outnumbered and unarmed—" he paused, looking at Moonthistle "—for a given value, anyway."

"Thank you, sir," said Arcanus, doing his best to be out of that building in a hurry. "So, what now?" he asked of his allies once they were safely outside, huddled together for an improvised 'strategy meeting.'

"This complicates things..." Aurora mused, stating the blatantly obvious. "It's hard to say, though. Our objective is to defuse their hostility, but they have a much stronger case than we thought. If what that stallion said is true, we may have a genuine conspiracy, or treason, on our hooves..."

"Sounds to me like we've been had," Moonthistle added. "Or somepony else has, anyway. The question is, whom?"

"That's the issue..." Arcanus conceded.

It could be any number of ponies along the chain of authority; alternatively, there may be no deception at all, and the lord-general's intelligence gathering was simply incomplete. The "bandits" could even be disguising themselves as royal guard, for all he knew. That would actually be quite an effective strategy to exacerbate exactly this kind of crisis.

"... We may know soon enough, though."

A tell-tale dust storm had kicked up, accompanied by the steadily increasing sound of mass hoof beats. Before long, seven figures galloped out of the dust cloud, waltzing straight into the village without a care in the world to form a semi-circle in front of the town hall. Six of them were clad in dark blue armor adorned with prominent, razor sharp spires. The seventh — a large, jet black-coated mare — merely wore a red cloak with a hood that obscured her face. The soldiers' unannounced arrival had already drawn many ponies out from their homes, but none dared make a sound.

"... Aurora Borealis?" the mare suddenly asked, stepping forward and removing her hood to both end the stare down and reveal her identity. She sported red eyes that positively glowed with power, wisdom, and an imposing presence above all, while her lengthy dark purple mane, split into various shades, hung thickly over her shoulders like a torn rag. Leaning in closer, the mare smiled confidently despite having received no response. She didn't need one; her answer spoke for itself. "Ah, yes. I heard you were here. Good to see you, sis."

Aurora visibly tensed up at the address, but nonetheless scowled up at the intrusive mare, while Arcanus and Moonthistle could only look on in quiet astonishment. "Belphegor."