Arcane Shadow (Re-Written)

That night, in the office, Lance sat behind the desk as he went over Spitfire's plan with his Lieutenants, as well as the information he managed to squeeze out of the wraithling. Matt sighed, and shook his head. Natalie frowned at what she heard, shedding a few feathers as she ruffled her wings. "Of course," she grumbled, discontent with what she was hearing, "it just had to be fucking Akron that ate her…"

"Yeah…" Matt agreed quietly, some shadows twisting into themselves as they flickered in and out of existence around him. "And not to mention, the ancient alicorns fucking her over that way on top of it…" He shuddered. "I can't begin to imagine having that sort of chain of events happening."

"Which also means, the ancient alicorns might have sealed Akron themselves. After all… we know of one who is capable of geases, and another of an extremely debilitating sickness," Lance said, shaking his head. "Akron was both sick, and bound by chains that may or may not have been geased to keep him there."

"And not to mention, when he tried to drain us that first time, we barely even survived…" Natalie sat down, shivering at the memory. "I'm impressed we even managed to kill him at a fraction of our power, and then gain the rest of our strength back in doing so."

"... do you think him being drained of his emotions by Katie might have done him in?" Lance asked, putting a hoof to his chin as he pondered. "Because the way he was rambling when we fought him told me that something was wrong with him…" He pondered for a moment, then lowered his hoof. "He talked like he had died inside…"

"Being fully drained by a changeling causes one to die inside… so he probably did, when she panicked," Anna pointed out, her wood rustling. "But being drained by a wraithling? That's probably liable to create something worse than an empty shell. Was Akron obsessed with making everything as empty as he was?"

"No, he wasn't. And that's the weird thing. Maybe eating her gave him his emotions back… or at least, a facsimile of them?" Lance wondered, gears spinning in his head as he contemplated the notion.

"Then again, Godcat did say She created Akron… maybe his emotions were already out of whack when he was created?" Matt proposed. "Because, given his physical body, and his ability to create black holes that ponies can just waltz in…"

"Maybe his death was what triggered the Void showing up wherever we go," Natalie said, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof at the thought. "Because, before, Akron had control of it, even if the Void housed that freaky nebula in its mass." Matt and Lance did not dismiss her notion, nor object to it, so she took that as her cue to continue. "Do either of you think it's also linked to Katie somehow?"

Lance pondered the notion, then nodded. "She said she could sense it, just before it touched down in Greenwood," he said. "And if she can… that means she must have a fragment of Akron's power within her."

Natalie conjured an x-ray, one of a gaunt changeling sporting two hearts, with one heart being crystalline and sporting chain-like arteries connecting to the rest of the body. She looked at it closely, and noted the runes studding the second heart and its network of arteries. "... do you think the second heart we found in her might be that fragment of Akron's power?" she asked, passing the x-ray to Lance to let him look at it. "I mean… we have confirmed that's where the hatred and despair goes, for her to charge her ice magic."

Lance studied the x-ray carefully. "And this was taken…?" he asked.

"While those three fillies were here," Natalie answered. "You know, the ones who wrote that school report?" At Lance's nod, she retracted the x-ray, and showed it to Matt to let him look at it. "Yeah, Alexander woke me up early a few days ago, and had me administer the x-ray."

Lance sighed. "At least he had the sense to knock…" he grumbled, garnering nods of agreement from Natalie and Matt. His brow furrowed. "How could we have missed that? Pestilence punched a fucking hole through her chest…"

"Then again, that maniac summoned a timberdrake. Little details like a second heart are bite-sized in comparison," Matt said, lifting a hoof to hit his face with it. He ran that hoof along the bridge of his snout as he continued, "A convenient distraction either way."

Lance frowned. "Which means the ancient alicorns are definitely hiding something," he concluded grimly. "We only have one piece of a very complex puzzle, sat next to another puzzle regarding the broken barrier that we haven't even begun filing in yet." He turned to Anna. "Did that tree-fucker mention anything to you, as he shoved parasitic plants down your throat?"

Anna shook her head. "No, he was silent throughout the procedure," she answered. "And then he turned me and my sister over to the three clowns and went back to his room." She sighed, the wood on her legs wilting a bit. "The three clowns… didn't offer much in the way of information either."

Lance ruffled his wings a bit, and his frown deepened, but otherwise he kept a neutral expression. "Which means… Pestilence might have also been geased into silence." He regarded Anna with an even look as the words left his mouth. "Meaning… he might have had no choice in the matter."

"While I saw no geas scars on him, it is plausible, with how old he is…" Anna closed her eyes and shook her head. "Either way, in that situation, death would be much more preferable."

"It's good that at least one of us is vouching for the geased and insane… because it means we still have our equinity," Lance said, wearing a tiny, rueful smile as he said that. "We can't lose sight of it, or else we'll become just like them."

"Hey, I'm still in their horseshoes on that second part," Anna argued.

"Yes, but you can become sane again, under the right circumstances," Lance argued, his tiny smirk falling back into a neutral line. "In fact, I'd argue that you're turning sane right now." He shook his head. "Even after all these years, I never thought I'd be in this situation…"

"Hey, life's unpredictable; it's just down to us to adapt, or drown," Matt said, grinning slightly. "Even we can't predict everything, and most ponies on this planet seem to think we're precognitive or some shit like that."

"I still wouldn't be surprised if the ponies from Greenwood threw another meteor-flinging accusation at me…" Natalie stated, wings drooping at the thought. "Especially the village dumbass."

"Eh, we won't have to worry about the village idiot for a while. I heard Pinkie Pie put him in the medical ward, by shooting him in the sack with that cannon of hers," Matt stated, shaking his head. "I also heard the other villagers didn't help him at all with that predicament."

Lance sighed, and proceeded to bring the discussion back on track, "Anyway, that second heart Katie has… we'll need to run further tests on it. We'll have to run training diagnostics and the like, to see how that thing functions. If it really is a shard of Akron's power condensed into an extraneous organ, then we'll have to take no chances—we have to make sure Akron won't be able to come back through that thing."

"Of course, we can't do the unethical thing and just rip it out of her… so yeah, training her in her limited skill set seems like the way to go. We'll need to figure out a way to fix her horn somehow, so she'll be able to cast again without having to stab things with the stub," Lance said, sighing as he willed the gears of his brain to try and figure out a way to bypass the conundrum. "I mean, we could make her a magitek horn, like we made magitek wings for Scootaloo, but… how in the hell would that work?" That caused the hamster wheels of his Lieutenants' brains to start spinning as they considered the question.

"Let's sort that out after Redpine is dealt with," Matt proposed. "Those whackos are gonna launch another attack once their magitek is repaired, and they'll ground out on our asses. The other solution is to include her in the weather training; we don't know what the second heart fully does yet, and she uses ice for crying out loud." Lance nodded, but didn't object to the notion. "For all we know, it could give her some measure of weather-related abilities we don't know about yet."

"Alright. I'll inform Spitfire that we're including the wraithling in the weather training tomorrow morning," Lance said, standing up and stretching his wings. "Should we check up on Redpine before we retire for the night?"

Matt nodded. "If nothing else, we can watch with popcorn," he suggested, lighting his horn to conjure a bowl of popcorn from the ether. Lance relented, opened a drawer to pull the map out once more, and spread it across the desk before lighting it up to see what the idiots of Redpine were doing now. As soon as the crystals lit up, they could tell that something was wrong with the ponies of the volcano: they were sweating a lot more than usual, despite the fact that they were sitting outside of their base's interior. Even the leaders of Redpine looked nervous, as they beheld the volcano in its terrible glory, almost as though they were suddenly reconsidering their life choices.

A quick glance at Redpine's interior revealed why; the volcano bubbled more than usual, and the Illicit Instrumentation had ceased functioning completely, with not so much as a spark being issued from its mass. In addition, the heat of the volcano turned the entire base red-hot to the touch, and withered its crops with impunity. The cement cracked in the cells, and fell through the gaps in pieces, the floor of that floor having already given out and splashed into the magma sometime earlier in the day.

As if it were the cherry on top of Redpine's woes, a fanciful message lit up over top of the volcano, sparkling in polka dots, confetti, and glitter, reading loud and clear to anyone who saw it: "Happy birthday, General Boltwing~ From, Dissy~" And as soon as Lance had seen the message, it shrunk in on itself, twisted itself into a birthday cake, and vanished from above Redpine… to reappear on his desk with a collection of twenty-six lit candles waiting to be blown out. Lance shrieked and jumped from the desk, knocking the chair over as he regarded the cake which had not been there before. The cake… it looked normal enough, with white frosting and sugary scrollwork on a three-tiered masterpiece, all beset with chocolate fondant and orange and red candies circling the candles.

"H-h-how the—" Lance stammered, regarding the cake as if it decided to grow legs solely to punch him in the beans. "How the fuck did that goat-faced maniac figure out my birthday!?"

Matt regarded the cake warily, remembering the last time Discord had given him and Natalie a book that threw pies into their faces. He lifted a hoof, very gently touched the fondant and frosting, and retracted his hoof without smearing either sugary treat on its surface. Anna self-levitated to check the top of the cake, seeing the candles and "Happy birthday, Lance~" written on the top in crimson frosting. She conjured a regular wood-and-stone arrow, and poked a candle with it, finding nothing wrong on that front. She looked over the cake to regard Lance.

"Seems good to me," she said, before levitating back down. "Of course, Discord might just burst out of the damn thing…"

Lance sighed and collected himself, and moved to put the chair back in its proper position before trotting around the desk to regard his subordinates. "... seriously, though, how the fuck did Discord figure out today was my birthday—a day I specifically don't celebrate?" he grumbled, turning to regard the cake with a disappointed expression.

His Lieutenants collectively shrugged. "Well… it's cake. Maybe he'd figure out you wouldn't turn down cake," Natalie said, also turning to the cake to regard it with a critical eye. "That being said… it's a bit excessive. Three tiers? You're liable to accidentally knock it over." She lit her horn and carefully lifted the topmost tier off with her magic, conjuring a plate to set it on from the ether so it would not stain the map as she set it on the desk. In doing this, she revealed wooden skewers holding the layers up, presumably stretching all the way to the bottom tier. A quick glance at the bottom of the top tier revealed red, moist goodness lurking underneath the layers of sugar. "... not one I'm familiar with," she added as an aside. She then moved the middle tier off onto its own plate, setting it aside to reveal something interesting in the bottom tier.

Inside the bottom tier, there were candies nestled into a large hole, ringed by the skewers which were deftly plucked out. There were two variants of candies, one of them colored in metallic, edible paint, and crafted to look like standard bullets. Alongside those candies were tiny chocolate bottles, painted up to look like drinks they couldn't name. Natalie plucked a bottle-shaped candy out and crammed it into her mouth, eyes widening as the taste of chocolate mixed with liquid alcohol graced her tongue. She savored the taste for a moment, and then swallowed. "Holy shit… you can put booze into candy?" she said, turning to Lance and regarding him as if she had made an important archeological discovery.

Anna plucked a bullet-shaped candy with her magic, and put it into her mouth. She got a surprise of her own, in the form of a gel-like substance nestled within chocolate that gave off the taste of berries. She savored, chewed, then swallowed. "The bullet candies seem normal to me; they have berry filling," she reported.

"But… did Discord make this cake himself, or commission someone else to do it?" Matt asked, regarding the cake as he sent the popcorn bowl back to the ether. As if to answer him, a burst of more bullet and bottle candies exploded in the air above the desk, the candies gently floating down to rest on top of the cake's bottom tier to reveal a folded card addressed to Lance specifically.

Lance trotted over and plucked the card off of the cake, opening it up to find a message from, of all ponies, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. "Apologies for the unusual cake, General, but we got an order from Pinkie Pie to fill on relatively short notice. We had Discord deliver it to you, and seeing as we heard you don't celebrate your birthday, we decided to waive the standard fee for a cake of this size and nature. Hope you enjoy~ Mr. and Mrs. Cake. P.S. The cake is red velvet, since we heard you don't have many options for cakes over on Fantasia." In addition, the card had been signed by Pinkie Pie as well, her signature drawn in a cutesy balloon boasting a smiley face.

Lance set the card on his desk, and wore a tiny smile on his face. "First a cute-ceañera, and now a birthday cake…" he muttered, trotting over to the topmost tier with the candles studding its surface. "Pinkie's pulling out all the fucking stops for my miserable ass? She certainly goes about it in a weird way…" He regarded the candles for a moment, sighed, and inhaled deeply before blowing them out. Afterwards, the candles were plucked out and set to the side, after being cleaned so they wouldn't stain the map of course. He turned to Anna. "I think Maria and Rapier should try the cake, too," he said.

Anna nodded, conjured a knife and two plates, and regarded the cake. "Which layer, and with the bullet candies?" she asked. Lance pointed at the bottom tier and nodded, and Anna carved out two moderate slices to put on the plates before sprinkling them with some of the bullet candies and removing the alcohol candies. She put the knife on top of the leftovers of the bottom tier, teleported out of the room, and returned moments later without the cake-laden plates.

By the time she had returned, the other three got slices and candies of their own, and were tucking in with forks as they regarded the three-ring circus that was Redpine's map projection. "They ate the entire slices, and candies," Anna reported with a grin. "Rapier especially liked it."

Lance nodded. "Did she smear frosting all over her face?" he asked.

"No, I showed her how to use a fork," Anna replied. She promptly summoned another plate, and got a slice of her own, with some more bullet candies. "Maria loved her slice, too."

Lance grinned. "Glad to hear it," he said, before using a fork to shovel another slice of sugary goodness down his mouth. He had to admit, it was leagues better than popcorn, made with love and care, as any birthday of this nature should warrant. And hey, as long as nobody was throwing confetti in his face, he figured he could appreciate this day. Just this once.

The schadenfreude he got from watching his genetic donors start to lowkey panic over the conundrum occurring on their home turf added to the flavor of the cake. The smattering of alcohol candies helped, though he made sure to be conservative with them, just in case the alcohol contained within them was absurdly strong to make up for their small liquid quantities. The bullet candies added extra crunch and sweetness, and the frosting and fondant on red velvet made the whole thing come together. He made a mental note to thank Mr. and Mrs. Cake later; they made some mean pastries, after all, and free food was not an invitation one could easily pass up.

As for birthday presents? The schadenfreude more than made up for it. The liquor candies were a close second, though. Watching the beginning of Redpine's fall? A distant third, since he wasn't up there to see it in person. But hey, he had a safe distance between the Aerie and Redpine, so the consolation prize of basic safety would have to do. As he and his cohorts watched Redpine's every move, they didn't notice the door silently clicking shut behind them.

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Twilight wore a bit of an amused smile on her face as she stood in front of Pinkie Pie, who was grinning as the door to their guest room clicked shut behind them. "Let me get this straight: you commissioned the Cakes to bake Lance the biggest birthday cake they could legally make yesterday, while Discord was temporarily here, and paid for it out of your own pocket to have Discord deliver said cake to said General?" she asked, exasperation showing on her face. "How did you find out today was his birthday?"

Pinkie grinned. "Lance told me the date, a few days ago. He said he'd consider celebrating it for once, if I could make him smile even an eentsy bit," she answered. "And I did make him smile an eentsy bit." Her grin widened. "I even asked the Cakes if they had those special bottle chocolates, and I told them I wanted it in the middle of the birthday cake as a nice surprise."

Twilight sighed, shaking her head even as she smiled. "So… you're liquoring him up, is what you're telling me," she said somewhat ruefully.

"Yepperoni! I figured if anypony deserved liquor candies on their special day, it'd be him, silly!" Pinkie replied. "Of course, Anna can't drink, but I'll get her some for her twenty-first birthday too, and do the same to her cake." She wilted a little. "And I got Discord in on it too; Redpine's too big and nasty, even for the Aerie to tackle without killing their hostages… so I promised Discord that if he could get the hostages out, we'd turn a blind eye to whatever he does to Redpine otherwise."

"... you bribed Discord," Twilight said dryly, her smile fading a little.

"It's not bribing, if money doesn't pass hooves," Pinkie retorted. "And besides, Twily, Redpine's a nasty-wasty volcano! There's no way we could crack it open without using the Aerie's ION Cannon anyway—lots of nasty casualties, and nopony of that trainwreck of a community getting saved! Lose-lose all around." Pinkie gravely shook her head. "Not even the Elements of Harmony can fix death, and that's the last thing we'd want for the hostages." She sighed and slumped. "And even then, Discord could only get the fillies and colts out; he told me their mothers were unable to smile again."

Twilight's ears turned back at the news, and her smile fell completely. "... are they…"

Pinkie nodded. "He told me he put them away from Redpine, closing their eyes and putting them six hooves under," she confirmed sourly. "The fillies and colts got their stupid taboo spell reversed, and they're in the Aerie's hospital." She looked at Twilight with a sour, angry, sorrowful look, and it was difficult for her friend to tell which emotion took precedence in her expression. "And… Lance's parents decided that he failed them, so they made another foal to try their stupid plans again. Discord got that little filly out, too, and she can't giggle at the ghosties too much because she's gotten sick from all those yucky volcano gasses and awful treatment."

Twilight frowned. She opened her mouth to speak, only to consider what she would have said in that moment and closed it back up. Pinkie nodded. "And the doctors told me that the filly's albino, which made her even weaker than the usual foal. She's not gonna be walking out of that hospital until the doctors help her with all her nasty-wasties," Pinkie said severely, shaking her head. She smiled a little, though. "Anna did give her some cake, though, and she said it brightened her day up."

Twilight continued to frown at the news. "Do you think we could visit this albino filly tomorrow?" she asked.

Pinkie nodded. "Lance is gonna be super-duper busy wiping Redpine off of Fantasia, so if anypony can help brighten that filly's day, it's gonna be us," she affirmed. "In fact, the doctors took some of her loose feathers and ran it through their magitek to tell them her birthday, so she'll need a nice surprise of her own when that day comes." She rustled her tail a bit, not quite a twitch that would have indicated things falling, but more of a slight shimmy at its very tip. "However, her next birthday won't be until next year, around the same time the Grand Galloping Gala's gonna happen."

Twilight nodded. "Plenty of time for the filly to come out of her shell, then," she surmised. "And also plenty of time to recover from some of the physical ramifications of living in a volcano."

"And plenty of time for the filly to learn that there's two whole worlds outside of nasty-wasty Redpine," Pinkie agreed, smiling a little bit at the thought. "We gotta make sure she goes to bed with a smile on her face every night."

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "And how do we do that? She's probably been abused her whole life—no doubt her genetic donors ramped it up, after they learned Lance failed them the first time they tried," she pointed out, even as she willed the gears of her brain to crank into overdrive. "She's gonna be a really tough customer to make a smile for, if she's older."

Pinkie nodded. "Then we go visit her right now," she said, in a tone brokering no argument. "We just find a soldier who can take us there. But first—we gotta see if Rarity's awake." Twilight nodded, and the two turned to the door before Pinkie pronked over to open it. They trotted out into the hall, and looked around to see if they could find one of their friends. They went around to the door that was to the right of the one they had left, and knocked on it. It opened, and Fluttershy popped her head out, letting out the sound of a rabbit screaming obscenities in doing so. "Heya Flutters, is Rarity in there?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, but she's in the next room over," she answered. "Angel couldn't help but overhear your conversation, and…" She gestured behind herself. "He's been saying really nasty things about Lance's parents, and I can't get him to stop." The screaming in her room intensified in volume.

"Not that I blame him for letting loose with what he really thinks of them," Twilight sighed, shaking her head. "Wouldn't be surprised if Owlowiscious and Harry think the same thing, to be honest."

Fluttershy sighed. "They've been… quieter about their thoughts," she said somewhat dejectedly. "Though I have heard them threaten to pluck eyes out, and rip and tear, depending on who lets it slip."

"Would they like to visit the medical wing of the Aerie?" Twilight asked. "Maybe seeing the children I keep hearing about would be good for them." Fluttershy mulled it over, then pulled back into her room to translate the question to her animal friends. A moment later, she returned with a soft smile and a nod, and stepped out of the room with Angel and Owlowiscious on her back, and Harry shadowing her steps. Now, they weren't uttering obscenities, much less screaming them in animal, but still looked very sour about the whole thing. Afterwards, they went to knock on the next door over, and after a moment it opened to reveal a frazzled-looking Rarity. On her head sat NoLegs, holding a measuring tape in his mouth.

"Oh darlings, you've come at a bit of a strange time," Rarity said.

Twilight glanced up at NoLegs for a moment, then let her gaze drop back down to her friend. "Did the cat commission a military uniform out of you?" she asked.

"No, nothing of the sort… well, yes, he did commission me, but certainly not for a formal uniform," Rarity replied, sighing. "You see, he was briefed this afternoon by one of his superiors, and he came to me to see if I could make a few plushies for the foals of Redpine."

Twilight's gaze flicked back to the measuring tape. "I see… and how has progress been on that front?" she asked as her gaze came back down once more.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful—I've found I'm a few vital cloths short… well, actually several, since the order's for a few foals, and I'm also lacking quite a bit of stuffing…" Rarity wilted a bit, starting to look just a little more frazzled. Down at her hooves, and between door and frame, Mr. Muffin poked his head out to look up at Twilight. "It was fortunate that Mr. Muffin offered to volunteer for measurements, because otherwise, I'd be simply lost."

Twilight traded a glance with Pinkie, then turned back to Rarity. "Do you think the military might have spare cloths they aren't using?" she proposed.

Rarity nodded. "I asked a soldier if there were a few earlier, and he still has yet to get back to me on that one. He's probably rooting around, seeing what he can find," she answered. Twilight nodded, and turned back to NoLegs.

"Do you think any of the children of Redpine are up right now?" Twilight asked. NoLegs nodded with a muffled mew as he took the measuring tape in his magic and gave it to Mr. Muffin. NoLegs then hopped onto Twilight's head, lit his tail, and teleported himself, Twilight, and her friends sans Rarity to the medical wing. He teleported back to Rarity afterwards, allowing the group of six to take stock of where they were.

A silver-ribbed changeling nurse approached them from behind, the sound of a trolley squeaking along to announce her presence for her. Twilight turned to look at the nurse, who grinned sheepishly. "Got ordered by the higher-ups to see if any of the foals here want dessert," she said. "And yes, we're moderating how much they get, considering they vacuum up their food otherwise."

Twilight nodded. "Makes sense—the sulfur probably permeated Redpine's crops, and poisoned them that way," she grumbled.

"I know—it's not nutritious, either way," the nurse agreed with a sigh. "Poor kids are malnourished, starving, some are suffering from other ailments…" She shook her head. "The dessert's more to help them bulk up a little." She conjured a clipboard from the ether, as well as a pen and some ink. "Let's see… next on the list… oh, the higher-ups already gave her some cake…" She crossed something off of the list. "Don't wanna stuff her with too much sugar, after all…"

"Given that the sulfur is probably permeating Redpine's crops, that makes the whole force weak by default," Twilight said, wilting a bit.

"I know, right? It's a miracle they even lasted as long as they did, against both us and the sky pirates," the nurse agreed with a nod. She looked at Twilight evenly, sending her pen and clipboard back to the ether. "You'll meet the sky pirates probably soon, assuming Redpine's not harassing them again."

Twilight nodded, and smiled at the nurse. "Is it okay if we check on the filly who had herself a cake slice?" she asked. When the nurse nodded, Twilight lifted a hoof and waved at the end of the hall her tail was facing. "Lead the way." The nurse nodded, grabbed the trolley in her magic, and promptly took point in the formation, leading the three ponies and their animal friends down the hall.

The nurse did have to stop at every door, solely to check on the patients and see if they needed any food to fuel their bedtimes. A few did, so she gave them plates laden with sugary goodness to eat off of, and then returned to stack the plates onto the bottom part of the trolley before continuing. Eventually, she stopped at a particular one and poked her head in, before coming back out. "This one's still up, and she's playing pretend with her plush friend," the nurse warned, smiling. "Be prepared to get dragged into playtime." Twilight nodded, and went into the room, her friends following her.

Rapier was talking with her plush friend, using her hooves to wave his little arms as she pretended that he talked back. "Bad ponies of bad Redpine need wingies cut off," she said, frowning.

"'But bad ponies of bad Redpine could use bad magic through Fantasia,'" the plush friend argued. "'Bad alicorns could make plants die.'"

Rapier shook her head. "Good plants don't need die," she said firmly. "Not like bad ponies." She looked up when she noticed she had visitors. "Why ponies come with weird fuzzy friends?" she asked.

Twilight strode forward, and sat next to the bed. Owlowiscious flew to rest on her head. "We wanted to ask you some questions," she said as Pinkie trotted over to sit at the other side of the bed.

"Didja like the cake?" Pinkie asked. Rapier turned to her and nodded.

"Sweetie crunchies and soft cakie lots good," Rapier answered with a soft, tiny smile as she moved her plush friend to her chest. "Want more."

Pinkie beamed. "We'll get you some more tomorrow. Don't want any tummy aches," she said, giggling.

Twilight smiled as Fluttershy put Angel onto Rapier's bed. Angel hopped up to her and looked her over with a critical eye, and then crawled up the pillow to sit on her head. Rapier smiled at the little bunny. "Fuzzy friend lots soft," she said. "But why head?"

"It's where he likes to sit when he travels," Fluttershy answered, as Harry came over to extend a paw. Rapier regarded the paw, then touched it, watching as Harry gently gripped her hoof and shook it softly with a pleased growl. "And Harry's really nice for a bear; you could cuddle him all day, and he wouldn't bite."

"But anyway…" Twilight sighed and took a breath. "How did the plants of Redpine taste?"

Rapier made a face as she turned to Twilight. "Lots yucky. Bad parents made me eat bad plants with bad claws," she answered. "No taste good like good plants in nice bed." She shuddered. "Bad pukies every night, got hit with bad claws because of bad pukies."

"... can you keep the food down here?" Twilight asked.

Rapier nodded. "No more bad pukies in nice bed," she confirmed. "No want be bad sickies no more."

Twilight nodded, relieved that Rapier was getting the nutrition she desperately needed, without the putrid taste of sulfur ruining the mix. "Do your bad parents have names?" she asked.

Rapier nodded again. "Fleh-ge-thon and To-lo-mia," she answered. "No know what funny names mean, but… those names bad."

"Phlegethon… and Ptolomea… those are strange, and bad names indeed," Twilight agreed with a slow nod. "And are they the only ones of Redpine who have names?"

Rapier nodded again. "Bad parents said nopony of bad Redpine need names. Everypony of bad Redpine worth nothing," she said, wings drooping with the thought. "Would bad parents try take my name?"

Twilight shook her head. "We won't allow them to," she answered. Angel chittered in agreement, patting her ears with his paws. "We'll make sure you get to keep your name and plush friend."

Rapier's smile could have lit up the sun. "No more bad parents?" she asked.

Twilight nodded firmly. "No more," she confirmed. She moved to gently hug Rapier, who allowed herself to relax. Once she pulled away, the little filly laid her head down on her pillow, and Angel hopped off to return to Fluttershy.

Rapier unleashed a mighty yawn, and used a hoof to pull the covers up to the necks of herself and her plush friend. "Going have good dreams… good dreams about bad parents getting beaten by good not-ponies," she said, closing her eyes.

"Goodnight," Twilight said, and with that, she and her group quietly walked out of Rapier's room to let her have some sleep. She gently shut the door behind her and her friends, and moved away from the window before teleporting herself and her group back to the guest rooms. Once in the hallway with said rooms, they went back to one of the rooms to continue their discussion. "Once she gets better, she's gonna be a real hoofful…" Twilight said, smiling faintly.

"I really hope she gets better, though… I'd rather have a healthy, rambunctious alicorn filly, than a sickly one who can't get out of bed," Fluttershy said, shaking her head. "At least she's on the road to recovery now." Angel and Harry nodded in agreement to that one.

"Right-o," Pinkie agreed, her face hardening. "We gotta do something about her awful, no good, terrible, no fun parents to keep them from having any more children to hurt like they hurt her."

Twilight sighed. "Let's face it: Fantasia's a bucked-up planet," she muttered, shaking her head and letting her smile drop at the thought. "But anyway…" She turned to Pinkie. "Rainbow told me that the alicorn filly and Lance have the same set of parents… which means Lance automatically gets the rights to geld his own sire." She looked at her friends evenly. "Do either of you have any objections to allowing him to do so?"

"Nope. That meany-pants doesn't deserve kids anyway," Pinkie said.

"I agree. Some ponies simply shouldn't have foals—it would be kinder for them not to," Fluttershy added, with a firm nod.

"Then it's settled: we'll help Lance castrate his father however we can… without doing the deed ourselves," Twilight said with a firm nod. "After all, Harmony can only do so much under hard limits—and we have our own hard limits."

"Also, we should do the same for Lance's meany-pants mom—let him castrate her, without doing the deed ourselves," Pinkie piped up. Then she put a hoof to her chin. "Then again, how do you castrate a mare? They don't have the same bouncy body parts a stallion does…"

Twilight sighed, but made no motion to object. She knew better than to argue with Pinkie on some things, and she would sooner retire for the night than to attempt to ice skate uphill. And sometimes, she realized that one would have to take some terrible, but necessary steps to ensure things would work out in the end. Better the Fantasians doing so, than she and her group.

In the meantime, maybe she could watch the General and his Lieutenants tomorrow. Maybe some good would come of that.