"Well, we're here." Starburst lead the Crusaders and Steel Talon into a large clearing. It contained a number of tents and a couple of ponies milling around within. Both of the ponies walked up to Starburst. One was an orange pegasus with a silver mane and crystalline green eyes. The second pony was a dark blue unicorn with a blue and green mane and tail and a light blue eye. His left eye was concealed behind his mane.

"Starburst! You're back early. Who are these three?" The pegasus asked.

"The bandits forced my hoof, Starbeam." Starburst explained. "They captured these three and the forest asked me to help."

"The Everspirit told you to rescue these fillies? He never asks for help unless it's really important." The unicorn said, brushing his mane away from his left eye with a tendril of magic, revealing that its iris was bright green.

"I know, which means that these ponies are special. I'd like you to examine them, Moonstruck." Starburst said.

"Wait, do we have any say in this?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Not right now." Moonstruck said. He grinned maniacally at the Crusaders, causing Sweetie Belle to hug Scootaloo in fright.

"Don't scare them to death or there won't be any pie for you tonight." Starbeam chided.

"There's never any pie by the time I get there." Steel Talon muttered just loud enough for the Crusaders to hear. They looked at each other and giggled under their breath. Perhaps this place wasn't too bad after all.

"Chores?!?" Scootaloo yelled. "We have to do chores??"

"Why wouldn't you have to do chores?" Starbeam looked at her like she was crazy. "We all have to do our fair share around here, and we now includes you."

"Couldn't we wait to include me in we for a little while??" Scootaloo whined. "Like, until tomorrow?"

"No, unless you feel like sleeping out in the open and cooking your own meal and missing out on the pie and not getting to read any books and not getting-"

"OKAY!!! I'll do some chores." Scootaloo yelled.

"Good." Starbeam smiled. "First you can fold these freshly washed sheets. Don't put them on the ground or on the beds or that table there." She pointed at a perfectly ordinary table.

"Why not that table?" Scootaloo asked.

"That's where Steel Talon prepares his meals. He's an omnivore."

"And that should matter why?" Scootaloo asked. "And what's an omnivore?"

"Never mind. Just don't put these sheets on that table."

"Okay." Scootaloo began folding the sheets on another table.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to go find some wood." Starbeam said. "Don't get into any trouble while I'm gone."

"Yes, mother." Scootaloo responded, rolling her eyes.

Starbeam paused at the entrance of the camp, and glanced back at Scootaloo. She almost turned back, but continued out.

"I see that you warned her to not put the sheets on the meat table." Starbeam jumped at the sound of Steel Talon's voice. The bulky griffin was perched in a tree on the outskirt of the camp. He was looking at her, but Starbeam knew that he was perfectly aware of everything that was going on in the forest.

"Yeah, for some reason she didn't know what an omnivore was." Starbeam smiled.

"But there's something else, isn't there?" Steel Talon leaned forward. "When she called you mother... did you notice anything?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Starbeam said stiffly before running into the forest.

"You might have no idea, but it's clear as day for me." Steel Talon said quietly. He looked at Scootaloo, who was having trouble folding a particularly large sheet. "Clearer, as a matter of fact."

"What's that??"

"That's a thaumometer. It-"

"What's that??"

"That's a crystal with a demonic spirit bound to it. I use-"

"What's that??"

"That's a copy of the Necronomicon. It-"

"What's that??"

"That's a spoon."

"Cool!!" Sweetie Belle excitedly said.

"It is indeed cool, as you put it, but could you possibly stop bouncing around and let me scan you?" Moonstruck said exasperatedly. "It's awfully hard to determine why you're special if you don't let me check to see if you're different in any way."

"Okay, but Rarity said to not let anypony touch me without somepony I know with me."

"Don't worry, I won't touch you. I'm going to scan you with this machine here." Moonstruck tapped a giant cage like machine. It resembled a giant spider hunched in a corner.

"Okay, I guess." Sweetie Belle hopped into the machine. Moonstruck turned on the contraption, which was bathed in green light as the 'legs' of the spider moved around its centre. A hologram of Sweetie Belle appeared by the side of the machine. It was primarily green, except for a few purple and blue patches. There were two particularly large purple patches where Sweetie's Cutie Mark should have been, had it been there. The blue patches were primarily located around Sweetie's head, with one covering her horn and two concentrated in her eyes. However, there was also a small red patch, occupying the location where her heart was. As Moonstruck watched, the red patch expanded slightly, then turned bronze briefly before changing back to red.

"What does it say? Why is my flank purple? Is my Cutie Mark going to be a purple blob?" Sweetie Belle excitedly asked.

"I..." Moonstruck began. "I need to show this to Starburst now." He ran out of the tent.

"How do I get out of this thing?!?" Sweetie Belle yelled after him. "Ah well. At least there's this book here." She grabbed a leather bound tome with a pentagram inscribed on the cover and began to read.

"So, you're assassins?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yep. We help to keep the world in balance by killing off the bad guys and protecting the good guys." Starburst explained as she stirred something in a pot over the campfire.

"And you're all assassins here?"

"No, our organization is divided into three classes. My class is the actual assassin class. We're trained in martial arts, acrobatics, armed and unarmed combat, and espionage to a small degree. Steel Talon belongs to the second class, the agents. They're a combination of the assassin class and the third class. They can hold their own in a fight and are excellent information gatherers. They often work as field support for assassins and members of the third class, the infiltrators. Infiltrators are masters of disguise and excellent liars. They are usually used to scout out a location before agents or assassins are sent in. They are only lightly trained in combat, making disguises, lies and the element of surprise their primary weapons. Starbeam is an infiltrator, but you wouldn't know it from looking at her. Everyone thinks she's an agent. Pegasi usually become agents, earth ponies often join the infiltrators and unicorns often become assassins. Of course, there are many exceptions, like me. Was that too much?"

"No, it wasn't. Your organization seems really complicated. Who runs it all?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Nopony knows his true name, but the pony we all answer to calls himself the Mastermind. We don't know anything about him besides that. Nopony has seen his face, and nopony even knows what kind of pony he is. Most think that he's an earth pony, but nopony is sure."

"Cool." Apple Bloom looked curiously at the bowl of soup that had been set down in front of her. It looked like liquified caterpillar, but she wasn't sure.

"Don't worry, it's potato and carrot." Starburst reassured her.

"Where's the potato?"

"Must've dissolved."

"Where's the carrot?"

"Must've dissolved."

Apple Bloom decided to stop questioning the soup and just eat it. Halfway through, Moonstruck ran up and pulled Starburst aside. After a minute of urgent whispering, Starburst told her to go into Moonstruck's tent.

Sweetie Belle hummed to herself as she turned a page of the Necronomicon. It was a fun book to read. She decided to try out the 'Wrath of Cthulhu' spell she'd found on page 32 at some point. The image looked kinda weird, but being able to summon a clutch of writhing tentacles at will seemed pretty useful. The summoning spells seemed complicated, but she hoped that she could pull off one of them one day. Getting an 'Occultist Priest' Cutie Mark would be pretty cool! What would it look like though? She was yanked out of her imagining by Apple Bloom running into the tent. She quickly put the book back onto its stand.

"Hey Apple Bloom!" Sweetie chirped.

"Sweetie Belle, what are you doing in there?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I couldn't figure out how to get out." Sweetie Belle admitted sheepishly.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You're still here??" Moonstruck asked incredulously as he and Starburst walked into the tent.

"I didn't know how to get out." Sweetie Belle explained.

"It's easy. All you have to do is lift the latch here and walk out." Moonstruck demonstrated.

"Oh." Sweetie said, embarrassed.

"Don't leave yet, though. I have to show Starburst something."

"Okay."

"So what do you need to show me, Moon?" Starburst asked.

"This." Moonstruck said, turning on the machine. The spider moved its 'legs' once more, showering Sweetie Belle with green light again. The hologram appeared again, almost unchanged. Almost. The red patch was slightly bigger now, although not by much.

"What am I supposed to be looking at here?" Starburst queried.

"This red patch here. It turned bronze while I was looking at it the first time. I think that it might be the energy signature of a clairvoyant enchantment."

"What does that mean?" Apple Bloom asked.

"It means that Sweetie Belle is the subject of a prophecy, and a powerful one at that. If it is one, it's the strongest one I've ever seen. More powerful than Princess Twilight Sparkle perhaps."

"Wait, Twilight? She's the subject of a prophecy?" Sweetie Belle asked incredulously.

"You know Twilight Sparkle?" Starburst asked.

"Yeah, our sisters are her friends."

"Which ones?"

"Is this relevant right now?" Moonstruck asked. "Because I don't think it is right now. What is relevant is the fact that Twilight Sparkle was the subject of several prophecies, many of which have now been fulfilled. Yours, Sweetie Belle, is unfulfilled and therefore still active. This prophecy is an extraordinarily powerful one, which means that it is very important. It might concern the entire world for all we know."

After that immense proclamation, there was a moment of silence. Then Scootaloo burst into the tent.

"Why are we all standing around looking at that weird cage thing that Sweetie's standing in?" Scootaloo asked. Everyone looked at her, then burst out laughing.

"What?" She said.

"I think that Mastermind needs to see these three as soon as possible." Starburst said, chuckling.

"I agree." Moonstruck agreed.

"We'll leave in the morning. For now, get some sleep." Starburst ordered. "We have a big day tomorrow."

To be continued...

Author's Note

I can't believe how fast I've been writing recently. It took only two days to write this entire 2K+ words chapter, which is probably the fastest I've written anything. Thank you all for liking this so much, and I hope that I can complete this story before the school year is over. Thanks for reading and please tell me what you think, as always.