Assassinverse: Vengeance of the Star

Chapters

Chapter 1: Snuffed Flames
Chapter 2: Unexpected Executions
Chapter 3: Winds of Change
Chapter 4: The Harmonic Empire, A New Beginning
Chapter 5: Shadows and Secrets: Avenging the Green Star
Chapter 6: To Accept and Thrive
Chapter 7: I Say "Jump", You Say "How High?"
Chapter 8: Lockdown
Chapter 9: The Order (Part 1)

Chapter 1: Snuffed Flames

Rain poured from the dim-grey clouds with the ferocity of a waterfall as thunder rumbled overhead. Not a single ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds... it fit how everyone felt perfectly, as a small yet important source of joy had been taken from Ponyville.

'Even the heavens are weeping...' The white unicorn thought as she walked into the church. The moment she entered her ears were assaulted by the sounds of pained sobbing from ponies that had already arrived. Tapestries depicting a bright green flame surrounding a heart-shaped ruby hung from both sides of the room, while others depicted the event where the young creature-now known as a hero by many-throwing the Crystal Heart up to Princess Cadence.

As she walked down the aisle, she could make out several familiar faces among the crowd, the Cakes, Derpy and the Doctor, the Spa Twins, Lyra (although Bonbon was noticeably absent), Trixie(having abandoned her trademark hat and cape in favor of proper funeral attire), Cranky and Matilda, the Flower Trio, Zecora, even several citizens from the Crystal Empire had arrived.

"Rarity." She heard someone whisper, turning to her left she saw her friends sitting in the front row. Fluttershy was holding onto Pinkie as she sobbed, constantly whispering "Why?" over and over again as Pinkie gently stroked her mane.

The party pony wasn't doing so well either, her entire coat had gone dim and the vibe she gave off was that of complete depression. Her mane was no longer poofy and full of energy, but flat and lifeless, as if if all the joy had been sucked out of her.

Beside the two were Applejack and her little sister, who was doing her best to keep a straight face and not start crying herself. Applebloom on the other hand was crying her eyes out with her face buried in her hooves, her big sister place a comforting hoof around her and held her close.

If Rarity needed any proof the the farm pony cried on the inside, this was it.

"Rarity." The voice called out, slightly louder this time. Looking past the three she found Rainbow Dash, holding a sniffling Scootaloo close.

"Sis?" Rarity looked down at her own little sister, who was on the verge of tears herself. "C-can I sit with my friends?" She sniffed.

Rarity noticed the vacant seat between both Scootaloo & Applebloom, she nodded in confirmation, at a time like this, those three would need each other. Sweetie Belle mumbled a small 'thank you' slowly trotted towards the empty seat. Rarity seated herself next to Rainbow Dash.

"I still can't believe this..." She heard the cyan Pegasus grumble. "If... if I had-"

"Don't you dare start blaming yourself Rainbow Dash." The fashionista whispered harshly before turning her attention back to the altar. "None of us could have seen this coming..."

Rainbow Dash scowled, a lone tear escaping her eye. 'That doesn't make me feel any less guilty… I should've been faster...' She mentally berated herself, remembering that night…

'I can't bucking believe this!' Rainbow Dash mentally snapped as she flew across the night sky, their argument from earlier still fresh in her mind. 'How could she do this to me?! After everything I did, everything we've been through?!'

All her life her dream had been to join the Wonderbolts, to soar with the best of the best, those that were considered elite flyers. And when they came to Twilight for her opinion and conformation... she stabbed her in the back.

"'To stubborn and headstrong' she says... Who the hay does she think I am, Lighting Dust?!" She grumbled as she landed on the cloud overlooking the town. "Guess that's what I'm the Element of Loyalty and not her."

"Some Princess of Friendship you turned out to be." She snarled, glaring at Castle in the distance, as if trying to mentally set it ablaze. "I'd love to see you have that same attitude if you lost something important to you."

She then sighed as she turned away. "I need a bucking drink-"

"SPIIIIIIIIKE!!!" Rainbow Dash froze as Twilight's pained scream echoed throughout all of Ponyville.

"What the-?!" Was as far as Rainbow Dash got as she turned towards Canterlot...

*BOOOOM*

...just in time to see it engulfed in a massive explosion, the cyan Pegasus let out a gasp of horror as a large plume of smoke erupted from the castle.

"TWILIGHT, NO!!" Rainbow Dash screamed in terror as she darted towards the city as fast as her wings would carry her, all the while mentally screaming. 'I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it, I DIDN'T MEAN IT!!'

The cyan Pegasus was brought out of her thoughts when she saw her friend approach the altar, a blue-maned and yellow coated Royal Guard by her side.

Twilight herself looked absolutely terrible, her mane, tail, and wings were all a mess, and while she couldn't outright confirm it, it looked like she hadn't bathed for who knows how long, her eyes were all swollen and puffy and her face was red and lined with tear tracks.

'Twilight... I'm so sorry... no one deserved this...' Rainbow Dash thought as the Princess of Friendship prepared to make her speech.

"I... I remember when I first hatched Spike his egg, he was so innocent... so curious about the world around him..." She sniffed, trying her best to remain composed. "As he grew, so did his desire to help those around him. He-he became the greatest assistant a pony could ask for, no matter what task he was given, he'd try his hardest to complete it." She bit her lip, coming close to breaking down. She turned away for a moment... looking at the casket that held her son: Spike.

His casket was adorned with several purple and green gems in varying sizes, inside was the dragon himself, wearing a small black suit that covered up the wound, his arms crossed over his chest, and his eyes closed, almost as if he were sleeping.

The casket itself was surrounded by flowers of various kinds, along with several pictures of him. Each one depicting their fondest memories, from the time they officially moved into Ponyville to the time she'd officially adopted him as her son. The look on his face when learned this was so precious...

And now here he was before her, dead and gone. All because of them...

A hoof on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts, she turned to see her personal Guard and secret coltfriend; Flash Sentry, giving her a sympathetic look, as if he was mentally asking her if she wanted to continue.

Twilight shook her head and turned her attention back to the gathered ponies, she would finish this... for Spike.

Flash however hadn't taken his eyes off the deceased dragon, mentally swearing that he would find who did this... and they would pay...

Sentry sighed as he left Joe's Doughnut Shop, most guards wouldn't mind a night off, it had been a slow, quiet, peaceful evening... and it was driving the Pegasus nuts.

He wouldn't have minded if he could spend it with Twilight, but she explicitly stated that she needed to be alone. Though Flash mentally disagreed, after that fight with Rainbow Dash he figured she'd need somepony to there for her...

...then again, Spike said that he'd comfort her. He didn't like leaving her, but maybe she just needed some time alone with her 'son'.

He had half a mind to just go home and get some rest, maybe get that special 'gift' he had been saving for her... it would be perfect. With all the crap those close-minded nobles were giving her, he could only imagine the look of joy on her face when she saw the ring!

He smiled with newfound confidence and quickly dashed down the street...

"SPIIIIIIIIKE!!!"

*BOOOOOM*

For a few seconds, Flash's heart stopped. Ponies everywhere were screaming in panic, but to Flash everything was mute. Slowly, he turned to see the flaming wreck that was Canterlot Castle...

...and darted towards it like no tomorrow.

'Please be safe, please be alive!' Flash prayed to Faust and ANY deity above her for Twilight's survival!

The moment he'd arrived, Flash could only stare in horror, everything from the doorframe up had been completely obliterated, blackened and scorched debris littered the surrounding area, he make out at least two corpses among the debris.

And in the center of it all was the heartbroken Alicorn, cradling Spike's body in her forelegs.

"Please Spike, please come back..." The Princess begged as tears streamed down her eyes. "Please... my son, don't leave me..."

"...Spike... my son, I'll always love you... and I hope your soul find happiness in the stars above... I can't think of a more noble, selfless, and pure dragon more deserving of that than you." Twilight finished, finally breaking down and crying right there.

Flash snapped out of his thoughts and wrapped his wing around her, leading her back to her seat. Eventually letting her go to confide in her family, she embraced her mother and father and proceeded to do the same to her big brother and sister-in-law.

As he watched he noticed Shining Armor lock eyes with him. The captain gave him a brief yet understanding nod before turning it into his attention back to his grieving sister.

Flash bit his lip feeling responsible himself. He'd been there first, if he'd been a little faster they'd have them all behind bars...

"They won't get away with this..." He heard the cyan Pegasus mumble. "I don't care how long it takes, or how many doors I gotta bust down." She growled with barely restrained rage. "I will find out who's behind all this..."

Flash held onto Twilight as she continued to weep, he didn't know how long they stayed there, but the moment he finally mustered up the nerve to say something, he heard a familiar explosion. Turning in the direction he heard it he saw an explosion of colors erupt across the sky. The telltale sign that a Sonic Rainboom had just been performed.

Sure enough, the cyan Pegasus herself landed right in front of them. "What happened?! Who did this?! Is Twilight OK-"

"Argh!" A groan of pain caught their attention, the three turned to see two stallions crawling out of the rubble, one a Pegasus and the other a Unicorn. "That damn bitch!" The Pegasus shouted as his partner glared at him.

"This wouldn't have happened if you all had just listened!" The Unicorn snapped in anger. "We were only supposed to-"

"Valiant Wind?! Gallant Heart?!" Flash called out in shock as the two stopped arguing and turned to face the Royal Guard. "What's going on? What happened here-"

"YOU!!" Twilight screamed, before anyone could react both stallions were engulfed in her aura, hovering inches off of the ground. "YOU DID THIS!! YOU'RE THE REASON HE'S DEAD!!" She screamed as repeatedly slammed them against remains of the walls, tears streaming down her face. Unknown to her, dark purple energy seemed to crackle and swirl around her body and her eyes began to glow menacingly. "YOU KILLED HIM! HE DID NOTHING WRONG AND YOU KILLED HIM!! YOU. KILLED. MY. SON!!!"

"Twilight!" Flash called out, trying to snap her out of it but to no avail. And sadly, one of her would-be assailants decided to make it worse and-despite his injuries-laugh in her face! "Yes, we killed that bastard you call a son! May he forever burn in Tartarus for your sins you witch!" Valiant Wind shouted with a smug smirk.

"You son of a-!" Rainbow Dash tried to charge at him, but Flash immediately held her back. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that something big was about to happen...

"I only wish is that we could've sent you there with him, false Princess-AAARGHHH!!" Whatever he was about to say was cut off as his wings were stretched and twisted in ways they were never meant to be. The magic continue to swirl around her body as she imprisoned Gallant Heart in a bubble before turning her full attention to the arrogant Pegasus, her fur becoming a darker shade of lavender as her own wings turned dark purple and began to grow bigger than before.

"You will die, slowly and painfully…" She whispered sinisterly, the magic swirled faster as her mane flared upwards, looking as if it had caught on fire. Valiant Wind's screams grew louder as his wings were slowly torn apart, his feathers being incinerated as his flesh was ripped out of his back at the very base.

Twilight's smile grew wider as her horn grew longer, the edges becoming more jagged as it glowed a bright blue. Then a similar-colorectal "mask" appeared on her face, two circular wing-shaped eyeholes with small flames at the tips. With a single movement of her horn, the sounds of bones snapping echoed throughout the room as Valiant Wind's screams of agony continued.

"Oh, don't think I'm done with you yet~" She smiled sadistically at the suffering Pegasus. "Now I'm going to rip off m your-"

"TWILIGHT!"

Whatever she was about to say was cut off by the sound of her mentor calling out her name. She briefly snapped out of her malicious state as the Alicorn of the Sun and her sister descended towards her. "Princess...?" She called out, slowly coming back to her senses.

"I heard the explosion! What happened?!" She called out before stopping in shock upon seeing her new form.

Luna, despite being equally shocked, approached her. "Twilight... what... what is this-" She was cut off however when Twilight rushed past her and into Celestia, hugging her as if she'd disappear any second.

"They... Th-They killed him... h-he tried to protect me, and they killed him!" She choked out through pained sobs. "THEY KILLED HIM!!"

Celestia stared down at her student, then looked to Flash and Rainbow, who simply looked away in sorrow.

Then her eyes landed on Spike's corpse.

She screamed.

"Rainbow..." The cyan Pegasus turned to see Applejack holding her sister close. "It's time."

Rainbow Dash nodded as four Unicorn Guards-one of them being Shining Armor himself- approached Spike's coffin.

Cadence however, flew to the altar and cleared her throat. "When the ponies our Empire heard that their greatest and most cherished hero's light had been extinguished we all felt a wave of sorrow not felt since the ringing of the tyrannical King Sombra." She stated, wiping away her tears. "And so, to honor Spikes heroic actions, and with Princess Twilight's blessing, Spike is to be given a crypt in the Crystal Empire. So that his heroic deeds and his noble sacrifice shall never be forgotten." As she spoke, Twilight along with her family and the remaining Elements of Harmony, as well as the CMC, approached the altar as Shining Armor and the three Guards levitated his casket into the air.

Cadence and Twilight gave each other and understanding look before their horns glowed, enveloping everyone around the casket in a lavender glow. Afterwards that was a bright flash of light, and they were gone…

The entire group reappeared in front of the Crystal Palace itself, as the light died down they looked up to see Spikes final resting place.

Before them was a large crystal statue of the baby Dragon proudly holding up the Crystal Heart, standing about three times taller than Celestia herself.

Engraved on a plaque at the bottom of the statue was the following:

Here lies Spike the Dragon.

A Great and Honorable hero and savior of the Crystal Empire, his Brave and Glorious actions shall never be forgotten.

The four Guards approached the statue and gently placed the casket in front of the statue. With a flare from her horn, Cadence summoned several multicolored crystals to encase the casket. "May you rest in peace, young hero."

"I will never forget you." Twilight whispered as she turned away from the statue and trotted. "My son..."

"Twily..." Shining called out to his sister, causing her to stop in her tracks. "I promise we'll find out who's behind all this, and we will bring them to justice."

Twilight didn't turn around. "When you do..." She said as she gestured for Flash and her friends to gather around her. "...you know where to find me." And with those words she vanished along with her friends.

Shining sighed before turning to the three Guards. "You three are to guard this statue with your very lives, I'll be sending three more Guards to assist you later, understood?"

"Yes Sir!"

Unknown to them, Luna watched from afar with a pained look on her face... before vanishing into a wisp of smoke...

And several ponies worked to put out the fires around them, Luna could only watch as Celestia cast spell after spell on the deceased Dragon, but she knew it was all for naught.

Spike was dead.

She shot a harsh glare at the guards responsible, both of whom were contained within special teleport-proof bubbles conjured up by the currently grieving Princess. She then turned her attention to the badly charred corpses, what little remained of their bodies was barely recognizable, The only thing she could make out was their armor, One belonging to the Solar Division in the other belonging to the Lunar Division.

The Princess of the Night scowled. 'So there's corruption even in my own forces...' She thought to herself as she glanced back at the weeping Princess as she held Flash for support, then back to her older sister as she finally broke down herself.

"You bastards!" The voice of Rainbow Dash caught her attention, she quickly turned to see the Element of Loyalty slam her hoof into the bubble holding Gallant Heart. "You murdered an innocent child, A BUCKING CHILD! AND FOR WHAT?!" She screamed, continuously slamming her hooves into the bubble. All the while Gallant Heart refused to meet her gaze.

Luna was about to confront the Unicorn before a new voice caught her attention.

"Valiant Wind you idiot!" The Unicorn mare coughed as pushed the rubble off herself. 'This was NOT how things were supposed to go!' She thought as she crawled to her hooves. 'That bitch was supposed to die, not her stupid pet! All because that idiot just had to go the extra mile and kill the child first!' "I swear if that idiot survived I'm gonna-GAH!"

Whatever she was about to say was cut off as blue blur nailed her in the side, sending her flying across what remained of the room into the wall.

"So there's one more left, huh?!" Rainbow Dash said as she slugged her across the face, drawing blood. "When I'm done with you you'll be BEGGING for the guillotine!" She shouted as she drew her hoof back to deliver another blow, only to be repelled by a magic shield she'd conjured up. The Unicorn quickly dashed away from the enraged Pegasus, and towards her captive comrades. One of which was slowly regaining consciousness.

"Moon Blade! Get us out of here!" Valiant Wind shouted from his prison. Flash immediately bolted from his lover's side and charged the Unicorn head-on.

Moon Blade however quickly teleported out of the way and reappeared behind him, leaving him to crash right into Rainbow Dash.

She was a hair's breath away from the two, only to be intercepted by Twilight herself. "You..." Twilight whispered as she advanced upon her like a lion that had cornered it's prey. Moon Blade froze as she saw look in her eyes, she wanted blood, she wanted revenge. "You took my son away from me... you will suffer..."

"Twilight stop!" Luna shouted as she teleported in front of her. "We must keep her alive for question-AGH!"

In the span of a few seconds, there was a blinding flash of light.

A loud crack as a shield shattered.

And a scream of pain.

The moment the light died down, Moon Blade was gone along with Valiant Wind. The only thing remaining was a small pool of blood where Valiant Wind once was and a scorch mark not too far from the pool.

"So close..." They heard Celestia whisper, smoke rising from her horn. "I was so close..." She choked as her tears continued to flow...

Twilight screamed in rage as she slammed her hooves into the ground. "THEY. WILL. PAY!!"

As Luna re-appeared on one of Ponyville's rooftops, she saw Twilight trotting away from her friends through the rain with Flash by her side and a shield hovering above them to keep them dry. The ponies gave her a wide berth, none daring to stand in her way.

Luna sighed. "This power, this anger... Twilight, how can you contain such malice without losing yourself as I did?" She mused to herself as she glanced at Canterlot, then brought her, attention back to Twilight. "Whatever you're planning to do Twilight, please don't shut yourself out. You have your friends, you have us..." She whispered to herself before turning back towards Canterlot and flying off, it was time to face her sister.

Down below, Twilight stormed through the town not stopping for a second. They would pay, they would all pay for what they'd done! They wanted to take someone precious to her? Well, they'd see how dire a mistake they'd made! 'When I'm through with these murders, their blood that soon shall flow no storm shall meet the task to wash away!'

"Twilight..." Flash called out, snapping the Princess out of her thoughts. "We're here."

The Princess looked up and stopped, the two of them stood in front of Everfree Forest, the very place where their adventures began...

'...and where my new reign shall begin...' She mentally added. However, right as she was about to enter the forest, something caught her eye.

As Twilight gazed into the night sky, a lone green star shimmered into existence before being joined by many others...

A lone tear trailed down the Princess's cheek, and as they entered the forest, Flash couldn't help but notice a small smile on her face...

Chapter 2: Unexpected Executions

It had been two whole months since Spikes murder, and Ponyville's atmosphere hadn't changed a bit. Many of the elements of harmony tried to go back to their normal lives… but it was easy to tell that they were all still shaken by the events that had transpired.

Pinkie Pie never smiled, not even when the cake twins repeatedly crawled up to her. She just give them a blank stare and then moved to another part of the room. Even when she baked the enthusiasm she'd put into her treats was gone.

Fluttershy was rarely seen around town, she'd come when she needed to get more groceries, but other than that she didn't leave the house. Oddly enough though, A few of the guards mentioned seeing Zecora lead her into the Everfree forest on occasion...

Applejack continued to work at the farm as if nothing had changed… however her family could tell that she was taking it just as hard as the rest of them. Occasionally instead of going to sleep she'd make her way to Golden Oaks Library in an attempt to talk to Twilight, sadly she was always absent.

Rarity closed down her shop about a week after the funeral, claiming that she'd "lost her inspiration", every night she could be heard crying herself to sleep...

Rainbow Dash had thrown herself into her training the moment she'd returned to Ponyville, pulling off stunts that were dangerous even for her. She'd been sent to the hospital four times in a single week, despite that the moment she got back out she was back in the air like nothing happened.

And finally there was Twilight.

Her appearances were more scarce than Fluttershy's, every time she did appear the first question she asked was: "Have you found the murderers yet?" And whenever she was asked exactly what she was doing in the forest, the only answer she gave them was "Preparing.", after which she made her way back into the forest with Flash by her side.

But that all changed one day when noneother that Prince Shining Armor himself arrived with some important news:

"We've caught them."

Word quickly spread throughout Equestria that the ones that orchestrated Twilight's assassination had to been apprehended. Many were expecting them to be publicly executed in the most painful way possible.

But much to everyone's shock, Princess Twilight had asked for their trials to be postponed... for an entire month.

This got everyone's attention, what was the purpose behind delaying the inevitable for them? Was it to draw out there suffering? To get more information out of them? What was she planning?

At the end of the month, they got their answer. And Equestria would never be the same because of it…

"...what?"

That was all Celestia could say upon hearing the words that escaped her students mouth. Luna could only stare at Twilight Sparkle (still in her new form) in disbelief as she loomed over fallen ex-guards: Valiant Wind, Gallant Heart, and Moon Blade, each of them looking like they'd been through Tartarus and back, covered in bruises and cuts with their horns and wings removed.

You could hear a pin drop in the vast throne room of the Royal Palace. Everyone from the guards to the press were all in shock at what they had just heard, this had to of been a mistake, some sort of cheap joke at their expense to give them false hope before hanging them from the gallows or whatever punishment she really had in mind, it was absolutely no way they were hearing this correctly.

Twilight simply smirked as she repeated herself. "Did I stutter? Well then, let me repeat myself: I have absolutely no intention of executing any of you."

"Twilight, what are you-?" Luna tried to ask, but was silenced when Midnight held up her hoof. The Princess of the Moon remained silent, but eyed her cautiously, just what was she planning?

She turned away from the ex-guards as her horn began to glow, the ground underneath them was immediately engulfed in a light, the like died down to reveal Twilight and the ex-guards standing on a rectangle that was split into two halves, The side they were standing on was light blue while the other side was a deep lavender, soon after that a grid of lines were magically traced into the rectangle.

"Twilight..." Luna said after a small period of silence. "What in Equestria is that?"

"Oh this? Just a little spell I've been working on for half a month." She stated nonchalantly. "I would tell you about the details but we have a trial to finish. So long story short: it allows me to speak with somepony even if they're far away, I just have to leave a similar spell someplace else in order to activate it." She said as a figure began to form on the lavender side. After a few seconds to figure shifted its shapes to form Flash Sentry. "Think of it as a special illusion of someone who's talking to you from another location."

"Can you see me clearly Princess?" The Pegasus asked.

"Perfectly, I assume the room has been prepared?" Twilight asked while everyone in the room stared at the transparent Pegasus in wonder.

"Of course your majesty."

"Good…" Twilight said before glancing back at the three ex-guards with a malicious smile. "...send them in."

On the lavender side Flash nodded and turned towards the Royal Sisters, both of whom were getting over their initial shock and what they were witnessing. He seemingly made a "come here" gesture to them and Luna hesitantly got out of her seat, only to sit back down in slight embarrassment as several figures made their way onto the lavender side of rectangle. Two rows of Guards dragged a group of cloaked ponies chains onto the scene, each one was either trying to fight against them or begging them to stop while crying.

"Now then, let's get back to the matter at hoof shall we?" Twilight said as the ponies were slowly tied to what looked like a stake. "I said I have no intention of killing you, but someone does have to pay the price… and who better than the ones who share your blood?"

The moment she said that, the ponies cloaks were torn off, the ex-guard's eyes widened in shock and horror as they saw their mothers, fathers, and for Gallant Heart & Moon Blade, even their siblings as well.

"NOOOO!" Moon Blade screamed as she desperately tried to run towards her little sister, the guards quickly moved to stop her but Twilight held out her wing, motioning for them to stop.

Moon Blade, despite her pain and injuries galloped as fast as she could towards her sister, the moment she reached her she attempted to rip off the ropes binding her… only to pass right through her.

"Sister... why...?" Crescent Blade asked, tears trailing down her cheeks down at her with shame. "Why would you do this? Why? Why did you betray us?"

"I-I never..." Moon Blade stuttered as she was dragged back by the guards.

"Valiant Wind..." The Pegasus mare called out. "Your father and I raised you better than this. How could you? How could you murder an innocent child?!"

"Mother you don't understand! I was saving Equestria-" Valiant Wind shouted, trying to justify his actions. Only for his father to cut him off.

"And that justifies murdering a CHILD?!" He screamed.

Gallant Heart only looked down in shame as his family stared at him in shock, horror, and disgust.

"Brother…" Gladius Stride choked out, trying to keep himself from breaking down. "Why did you do it? You told me that loyalty to the crown came before everything else when you were a guard… So why? WHY DID YOU DO IT?!"

Gallant Heart winced at his tone as his own tears started to flow. "I… I had no choice…"

"NO CHOICE?! YOU MURDERED A CHILD!!" His mother screamed in rage. "YOU BETRAYED EQUESTRIA, YOU BETRAYED OUR FAMILY! AND NOW WE'RE GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF YOU!!"

"Please Princess!" Everyone looked to see Moon Blade at Twilight's hooves. "I'm BEGGING you! Spare my family, spare my sister! I'm the one who took the mission to assassinate you! Please don't let my family suffer for my crimes!"

Everyone in the crowd stared at Twilight for a moment, would she really go through with this? Would she really execute innocent ponies simply because they were related to the guilty ones?

Twilight slammed her hoof down on Moon Blade's left hoof, causing her to scream in agonizing pain. “You killed Spike even though he was completely innocent! He was of no threat to you, so why did you kill him? Was it guilt by association? Well then, that rule should apply to your family as well shouldn’t it? After all, since Spike was apparently guilty of the same “crimes” I committed, so the same should hold true for your family!”

"STOP!" Celestia called out as she landed in front of her, her mane glowing intensely. "Twilight Sparkle what is the MEANING of this?!"

"It's simple, I'm giving them a taste of their own medicine. They took somepony precious to me, now I'm returning the favor. An eye for an eye as they say..." Twilight explained, not even flinching at the sight of her enraged mentor.

"So they took something from you so you'll do the same to them?! Be no better than they are?!" The Sun Princess questioned, slamming her hoof into the ground for emphasis. "What would Spike think of this?!"

"Yes… What would he think about this? Maybe we should go ask him-OH WAIT, WE CAN'T BECAUSE HE'S DEAD! BECAUSE OF THEM!" Midnight fired back, pointing at the trio of traitors.

"AND YOU WILL CONDEMN INNOCENT FOALS TO DEATH AS WELL?! YOU WILL BECOME SOMETHING AKIN TO A MONSTER?! NO BETTER THAN THEM?!" Celestia snapped, her mane now taking the form of a raging inferno.

Instead of quivering in fear however, Twilight simply took a step back, breathed, and asked her mentor. "Tell me Celestia, do you know why they were so willing to act against me? So eager to try and assassinate me despite knowing what the consequences would've been?"

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two powerful beings, Twilight waiting for an answer and Celestia not knowing how to give her one. Everyone in the room and waited with bated breath, some contemplating on whether it would be wise to stay and watch or flee while they still could before a fight started.

Twilight however, broke the silence with an answer of her own. "It's because they weren't afraid to die, they were more than willing to give their lives for this supposedly "noble" cause. However they believed that their families will be safe from any consequences they would have to face. As such, if we execute them they'll simply become martyrs for those who oppose my supposed "tyranny". But if their families die, they won't be so eager to oppose me, because they know that it won't just be them but their entire families lives on the line." She explained.

"So instead of de-horning them or taking away their wings you'll take away their families? Ponies who are innocent of the whole thing? Yes that makes much more sense Nightmare Moon, or would you prefer Sombra?" Celestia snapped, growing more and more impatient with her former-students cruelty and indifference towards innocent ponies.

To her surprise however, Twilight smirked at her. "You seem to be forgetting two things: One, both of those tyrants wanted to enslave all of Equestria, I could care less about that. Two, would you be willing to risk your family shouldering the hatred and pain of your actions? After all, that worked out so well in the past..." She added before casting a glance at Luna.

Celestia winced as several painful memories came back at once, she gave her sister and apologetic look. 'The blame was my own… but the punishment was yours… I could never force you to go through that again...' Celestia then looked to the bound families... as a ruler, many harsh choices had to be made… each one more painful than the last... "Twilight... if you do this and I can't protect you from what will come next."

"You couldn't protect me from what came before this either, and because of that I lost my son." She retorted.

A lone tear trailed down her cheek as she turned her full attention back to her former student. "...very well Twilight. If you truly have no room for mercy in your heart, then finish what you came to do."

Almost instantly the screams of several nobles and the ponies themselves assaulted her ears.

"ARE YOU MAD CELESTIA?!"

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!"

"DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN, THAT WITCH IS MANIPULATING YOU!"

"SILENCE!!!"Twilight shouted, putting the Royal Canterlot voice to use. Almost immediately everyone in the room went quiet. "YOU WORMS ARE NOT IN CHARGE OF THEIR FATES, I AM! I LOST MY SON, AND NOW I WILL HAVE JUSTICE!!" She turned to Flash and the guards. "Burn them alive."

Celestia couldn't bring herself to watch as they lit the flames. As the family's screams of agony met the traitors screams of despair. She could only look away with tears in her eyes, while Twilight watched on eerily quiet and content...

She didn't know exactly when it finally ended, but by the time she realized the screams had stopped Twilight had already undone the spell. She then walked up to Celestia and merely whispered something in her ear.

Celestia glared at her for a moment, but nodded, she spread her wings and flew up to sit beside her beloved little sister, who gave Twilight a less than happy look but said nothing.

Twilight then turned her attention to the trio of traitors. "And now for you three…"

"You've already taken everything from us you monster! What more could you possibly take?!" Valiant Wind screamed, his eyes red from constant crying.

"Simple, this." Twilight's horn glowed a sinister deep lavender as she began to draw out the magic from their bodies in the form of three streams of magic, one blue, one gold, and one red, their pupils started to shrink as their magic continued to flow into Twilight's horn, until their cutie marks faded from their haunches as the last wisp of energy left their bodies forever.

"You three are hereby banished from Equestria, should he ever return, my guards will send you back in worse condition than before." She stated before leaning down and glaring into their eyes. “Now you will know the pain I will have to suffer for the rest of my life, the pain of knowing that your actions have cost you your family, the pain of knowing that you will die alone, with your entire bloodline hated by all of Equestria. The pain of knowing that your entire legacy is now tainted. All. because. of. you. Now get these traitors out of my sight.”

As the guards wasted no time dragging the three ponies screaming and kicking out of the throne room She turned to the crowd of ponies, each and every one of them staring her in shock and horror. "Let this be a lesson to anyone stupid enough to try and assassinate me again. You're welcome to try, but just remember: I won't take your lives, but I'll take everything else."

One month later...

Flash yawned as he stood guard in front of the cave, however he quickly shook himself awake. Looking to his left he couldn't help but notice how content the Timberwolves seemed as they rested in the circle around Fluttershy, who was scratching one of them behind the ears.

Not too far off Zecora he saw continue to chant an incantation in a language he couldn't even begin to understand as she placed several ingredients into a boiling brew. He'd ask what it was for, but the last time he asked she'd simply told him not interrupt the incantation as she dropped a Cockatrace scales into the brew.

A flash of light from within the cave caught his attention, he glanced behind himself to see Twilight emerge from the cave. She seemed tired, but had a content smile on her face, as she exited the cave she leaned down (he was still getting used to his marefriend being bigger than him) and gave Flash an affectionate kiss which he happily returned.

"I'll assume that means it's finally done?" He asked as they broke the kiss.

"Yes, it took three months but the preparations are complete." She smirked, glancing back to the cave as the object within began to shine brighter. "Now we just need the others..."

As if on cue, a Sonic Rainboom exploded across the sky, and from it’s center a rainbow-colored streak shot out and flew straight towards them.

Rainbow Dash landed in front of the lavender Princess, she was noticeably more disheveled along with several bandages covering her hooves. "I got you message Princess, what's the emergency? Was there another assassination attempt?!" She asked, only to notice Fluttershy and Zecora. "...what are you guys doing here?"

"To answer your questions Rainbow Dash, no there wasn't an assassination attempt, not this time. However I do require your assistance, along with the rest of the Element wielders, which is why Fluttershy's here." Twilight explained as she glanced at the staircase leading up the side of the dried-up moat they were in. At the top she saw Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie with a team of six Royal Guards.

"And Zecora?" The cyan Pegasus asked as their friends made their way down the steps.

"I know more about this Forest than even you, and the Princess's plans require this brew." The zebra answered as she approached the two.

"Twilight, what's this all about?" Rarity asked nervously, as much as she hated to admit it, being around her friend was a lot less comfortable when she willingly executed several innocent ponies for the sake of spiting the guilty ones. She still remembered the dark tone in her voice when she was questioned about her horrific methods of dealing with the traitors.

“I tried to lead by example, but they refused to see reason. They took someone precious to me, so in turn I shall do the same. Unless those who conspired to take my life are brought forth, I shall hunt them and their families down myself, and they shall all share the same fate as those traitorous guards!”

Rarity was brought out of her thoughts
when Twilight spoke. "My friends… you have all been called here in order to assist me in making Equestria a better place, not just for ponykind, but for many species in general." She elaborated as she turned her attention to the cave behind her, the light inside now pulsating rapidly with multiple colors and glowing brighter. "Today will mark the beginning of change, the beginning of a truly harmonic world... but first, we must stand as one."

Applejack was about to ask what she was talking about, only to hear Fluttershy gasp in shock as she was surrounded by a yellow aura. Applejack was soon engulfed in a gentle yellow-orange glow, followed by Rarity as a blue-violet aura wrapped around her figure, Pinkie Pie gasped as she was lifted off the ground and the pink energy enveloped her, Rainbow Dash could only look around in confusion as her body was enveloped in blue light.

Flash, Zecora, the six Guards and the Timberwolf pack slowly backed away as the group was surrounded by a clear bubble, the light within the cave glowing brighter as five streams of magic flew out of the five mare and into the cave.

"Soon..." Twilight said as she herself was engulfed in a lavender aura, her sixth stream joining the rest m. "...soon Equestria will change… for the better…"

A pillar of rainbow-colored light erupted from the depths of the Everfree Forest, and everything changed...

Author's Note

I have to say it was the fastest I've ever gotten a chapter finished!

I'd also like to thank my friend VampDash for the dialogue between Twilight & Celestia!

Chapter 3: Winds of Change

In Ponyville, many of its citizens were going about their business... until a pillar of rainbow-colored light erupted from the depths of the Everfree Forest. Everypony stopped what they were doing and gazed up at the mysterious light, all of them wondering just what was going on, had another evil creature been defeated by the Elements of Harmony? Had they unlock some sort of strange new power from the elements? Or, as a few conspirators were thinking, have the remaining element wielders risen up against Twilight herself?

Their answer soon came as 5 bright beams of energy shot out from the pillar towards the town, each one landing in a different location around the town.

The pink beam landed at the edge of Ponyville, on the opposite side of the stream that bordered the town.

The purple beam landed just on the edge of Rambling Rock Ridge.

The yellow beam landed near the edge of Froggy Bottom Bogg and Ghastly Gorge.

The orange beam landed at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres.

And finally, the blue one landed right at the top of Winsome Falls.

For a moment everything was silent, the beams slowly took the forms of orbs, each the size of a full-grown pony, and slowly sank into the ground.

Then, a powerful earthquake shook the entire town, soon the earth where the orbs had landed fractured, shafts of brilliant yellow light shining up from underneath, in each area a slim crystal spire began to rise out from the cracks, it started out small, but new structures pushed higher and higher in a blaze of light they soon rose to the point where it dwarfed town hall in size.

Eventually the towers stopped growing, they were each tall, slender, and seemed to be fashioned from a certain kind of crystal, each one the exact same color as the orb that produced them. They all rested on a type of arch, making it look like a miniature version of the castle from the Crystal Empire.

Just when the citizens thought it was over, another quake occurred, however this one was less powerful than the first. Each tower glowed its respective color and immediately an aura emitted from them, slowly the aura expanded from both sides of each tower, both auras from the respective towers meeting in the middle, creating a circle around Ponyville, Rambling Rock Ridge, and the entire Everfree Forest.

As swiftly as they appeared, the auras merged together before solidifying into a massive wall made out of crystal circling Ponyville and it's surrounding areas. While the lights emitting from the towers and the wall, one location was still glowing:

The Castle of the Two Sisters, which was engulfed in a bright lavender glow... along with most of the Everfree Forest.

Deep in the forest, the Castle was undergoing a drastic change as well, The ruined castle, once abandoned over one thousand years ago and left to collapse, collecting dust and cobwebs over the years was slowly brought back to its prime by the magic from the Tree of Harmony and the ones who wielded it's very Elements. The trees roots slowly erupted from the ground and encased several parts of the abandoned the castle, slowly growing into new parts and merging with the old structure, encasing it with blueish-violet crystals while several streams of magic with the halls and windows, blasting away the moss and vines while thoroughly repairing it to the point where it looked as if it were brand-new. The collapsed bridge was rebuilt in seconds, the shattered windows were immediately restored, every corridor, every room, even every trap had been brought back to its prime.

And right before the entrance, the apparatus that originally held the Elements was repaired as well, but instead of a gem held on each pedestal, there were statues of the elements current wielders, each one in a pose that demonstrated them perfectly.

As the lavender light began to die down, the final part of the castle was completed, near the very back of the castle where most of the upper-structure had become nothing but rubble, a structure took form. The most prominent part of the entire castle, what looked like a cross between the Tree of Harmony itself and Twilight's library, it's doors, roofs, and balconies were made of gold, and a large star in the shape of Twilight's cutie mark at its top.

Twilight, her friends and the Royal Guards immediately appeared in front of the castle doors, all of them looking over the new and improved structure in awe.

"By Faust..." Flash whispered. "Is... is this...?"

"Our new home..." Twilight finished for him, giving him a subtle wink before trying to addressed the entirety of the guard. "I need you all to head back to Ponyville and reassure the citizens that there is no need to panic. I will be with you shortly to explain the situation to them."

"Yes, your majesty." Flash bowed before he took off into the forest, the remaining guards quickly following behind him.

Twilight then turned her attention to Zecora and the Timberwolves, who were carrying the cauldron filled with her brew. "You know what to do, make sure you don't waste a single drop."

Zecora simply nodded as she made her way back into the forest as well.

“And now… for the real trial...” She told herself. Concentrating hard her horn glowed brightly and she soon found herself in her throne room with her five friends.

“Now... I know you all have a lot of questions, and I’ll try my best to explain.” She told them, the five mares said nothing as they gathered up… Applejack in particular looked angry.

“Yeah... Ah got some questions alright...” She grumbled as she stormed up to Twilight. “-AH CAN’T BUCKING BELIEVE YOU!” She shouted as she socked Twilight across the face, to which the alicorn barely even responded.

"Yes darling... where do we start. OH RIGHT! THE PART WHERE YOU BECAME NOTHING MORE THAN A SELFISH CRUEL PONY! HOW COULD YOU?!" Rarity screamed at Twilight with tears in her eyes, she hadn't been so eager to voice her opinions before, but Applejack's bold move seemed to give her a good amount of confidence to speak out.

“You know… that actually hurt just a bit Applejack.” Twilight told her, with no indication that it registered as pain to her. She sighed, she knew they'd react like this... though she mainly expected Rainbow Dash and Pinkie to join in. "Nothing to say?" She asked, turning to the ponies in question. "I figured you two would be just as vocal as they were..."

"I do particularly care about what you did to the foals Twi... but other than that I don't particularly give a crap about what you did to the adults." Rainbow told her with a shrug.

"ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME RAINBOW DASH?!" Applejack screamed, now inches away from her face. "YA'LL ACTUALLY SUPPORT THIS MADNESS?!"

"Not all of it Applejack." Rainbow said before she pushed her friend away from her.

"Not all of it?! Innocent lives were taken!" Rarity added. "They were forced to pay the price for a crime they didn't commit!"

Twilight shifted her attention to the Party Pony, her mane still completely deflated and her coat dimmer than ever. "And what say you Pinkie?"

"I... I don't know what to say Twilight.... I just think what you did was wrong but it happened." Pinkie said quietly. "Nothing we can do to change that."

"Oh, but there is something… rather something I already did to change it anyway." Twilight stated calmly, getting everyone's attention.

"What did you do Twilight?" Rainbow asked her cautiously.

"It's actually quite simple..." Twilight began. "You see, there's a reason I have postponed their executions for an entire month…"

"What is it then, ya no good varmint!?" Applejack snapped at her.

Twilight ignored her and continued. "It all started on the very day that they had captured the traitors..."

Twilight stood before the the Royal Sisters in the throne room, having just arrived after her brother told her the news. "Where. are. they?!"

"Twilight we're not telling you until you calm down." Celestia told her. "We can't have you doing something rash..."

"I'LL CALM DOWN WHEN THE PONIES WHO KILLED MY SON ARE DEAD!!" She screamed, had the Sun Princess not cast a soundproofing spell beforehand Twilight might've shattered every window in the room.

"And then what Twilight?" Celestia asked her.

Twilight blinked. "What do you mean by that?! You can't honestly be suggesting that we spare them?!"

"I'm not Twilight, they will be brought to justice, but I'm asking you... if you just go off and murder them... then what?" Celestia asked her.

As Twilight calmed herself, pondering over the same question… then what? She had to come here wanting justice for her son's death... but what came after that?

"I...I just want them to pay..." She began, tears threatening to fall. "I just want them to feel the pain that I felt when I saw my son die..." It was at that moment Twilight's eyes widened as she realized... she had just the thing to truly hurt them, and send a message to anyone who planned to stand against her.

"Luna... Celestia... when will their trials be held?" Twilight asked.

"In two days.... why?" The Lunar Princess asked curiously.

"I would like to make a request... that you postpone their executions for an entire month."

"What?" Luna asked her.

"I realize now that I've been going about this the wrong way… I need more time to think, but I also need to be present for their trial..." She finished with a bow. "... could you possibly grant me that request?"

"Very well Twilight... and once more I... I'm sorry about Spike." Celestia told her while Luna was just... silent.

With but a simple nod, she teleported out of the room…

"All Ah'm hearing is you slowly becoming a psychopath." Applejack told her.

"There's more to it than just that." Twilight stated. "Upon postponing the trial I did some research on who exactly my assailants were… including their family lineage." Twilight paused, expecting another interruption.

"You... you took their families.... Twilight Sparkle I thought you of all ponies would understand family but this.... i-if this is where you're going then I good conscience can't be your friend." Rarity finally said.

Twilight sighed, she'd been expecting this, it was time to drop the big one. "Before you make that decision, tell me, have you ever heard of the phrase "What the ears hear and the eyes see, the mind believes"?" She asked. "You see, ever since we started accepting more species into our culture Luna had taken the opportunity to bring some of them into her employ, a few Griffins, a Diamond Dog or two, and of course, Changelings..."

"Wait, the creatures who become anypony they want to?" Applejack interrupted.

"Exactly. After Chrysalis' untimely demise, we made an effort to make peace with them... under certain conditions." Twilight shook her head, she was getting off-topic. "The point is, she was planning on relocating them after their family members after they were sentenced, but I came up with a way to use them to both send a message and provide a legit cover story for their "disappearances"…"

Twilight entered the throne room with a seemingly content look on her face. The Royal Sisters stopped their current conversation and teleported in front of her. "I can assume that the preparations for the guilty parties families have already been made?"

Luna nodded. "You need not worry, I've managed to recruit enough changelings to impersonate their families."

"And I've already given them new false identities and have made arrangements for them to be relocated." Celestia added. "They've already been warned about what will happen if they ever reveal their real identities... but I'm curious as to why you requested that you be allowed to handle that the explanation for their disappearances?"

"You don't need to worry about that, I've already taken measures to ensure the reasons for their "disappearances" are legit and believable... as for any other traitors that may be associated with them, I plan on sending the message to all of them during the trial… all I ask is that you play along, otherwise it may have the opposite effect..."

Celestia gave her a confused look. "What kind of message will that be?"

"A simple one: if they attempt to assassinate me again, there will be consequences… dire consequences."

"So... Celestia & Luna knew?" Rarity asked in shock. "...it was all an act?"

"In a sense, she knew that Twilight was going to send a message, she just didn't know how she would send it." Fluttershy started, getting everyone's attention.

"Wait, you knew?" Rainbow Dash asked, outright dumbfounded by how the Pegasus scared of her own shadow could've possibly known.

"The reason I was in the forest most of the time was because I was helping her tame the more ferocious animals there… when I brought the Timberwolf pack to her I saw the fake execution..." The shy Pegasus explained.

"Who else knows about this?" Rarity asked curiously.

"A few of the more loyal Royal Guards, Zecora, my brother, and Princess Cadence."

“Oh, is that all?!” Rainbow exclaimed as she just glared at her. “Twilight… if they find out about this, if ANY noble found out, then this whole thing goes to shit! You know it will!”

"You don't think I know that?!" Twilight groaned. "I had their families sent to more remote areas in Equestria. And I have at least two teams of Royal Guards watching them. The point is that the message has been sent."

“Er… one question then.” Rarity meekly asked.

“What is it?”

“What did you tell Celestia?” The fashionista continued. "I mean, if she knew, then she seemed awfully mad..."

Twilight just smiled at that.

Twilight then walked up to Celestia and merely whispered into her ear.

"I've been cleaning up your messes for long enough, now it's your turn."

Celestia glared at her for a moment, but nodded, she spread her wings and flew up to sit beside her beloved little sister, who gave Twilight a less than happy look but said nothing.

"She's just mad that I made such a spectacle of it. And now she's saddled with cleanup duty and has to do damage control." Twilight scoffed as she turned to the window. "Like I said before, if I had executed the guilty parties they would simply become martyrs for more to rise up against me..."

"And you don't think that killing innocents will have the same effect?!" Applejack snapped. "If anything you're just giving them an even bigger reason to fear you!"

"Correction, I'm giving them a bigger reason to fear acting against me." Twilight stated, not turning around. "I'll ask you the same thing I asked her; would you be willing to risk your life or the lives of your family just to achieve your goal?"

"Mah life of course!" Applejack responded without a second thought.

"Exactly, however if your families lives were on the line whether you failed or succeeded, would you still be willing to pursue that goal?"

Applejack went silent, realizing where this was going.

"Besides, even if I had simply executed the guilty ones the families would still be suffering in some way or another. Think about it; they would forever be associated with the one who murdered a Princess's son. Ponies would persecute them and treat them as criminals even if they weren't the ones who committed the crime, even if they had nothing to do with it the fact that they are related to the one who was guilty would be more than enough for them to treat them like criminals."

Pinkie winced as she remembered some of the gossip she'd heard at Sugarcube Corner before the executions. A lot of ponies were less than subtle with voicing their hatred towards the assassins, some of even going as far as to curse their families for "raising traitorous bastards". A small shudder went through her body as she imagined what those families might have gone through had they continued their old life with the public now hating them for being the relatives of a traitor.

"So by faking their deaths and giving them a new life somewhere else I have effectively "wiped the slate clean" for them, I have given them a different life, one that they can live free from the taint of the crimes their traitorous family members have committed."

"I still can't believe that the princesses would allow this…" Rarity said. "I mean, sure they objected during the trial… But to simply let you go through with it…"

"It's because they knew they were in a tight spot, they couldn't stop me from going through with it without revealing what they know… and if they did then the message would lose its impact and would probably result in those who oppose me to become more bold in their so-called "Noble" attempts to remove me from power."

"I still don't like it…" Pinkie muttered to herself.

“Me neither.” Applejack agreed.

"You don't have to." Twilight responded as she turned turned to face the five mares. "They just need to fear my wrath, and I've instilled more than enough fear to make sure they think twice before assuming I'll just lay down and die for them.” She explained as she trotted towards the door. “Granted, some may still try to oppose me, but it will be hard for them to find more support when many know that their necks won't be the ones on the chopping block if they get caught."

"So... what happens now?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

“Why I thought it was obvious Rainbow?” Twilight said as she opened the door. “I start making my kingdom.” She stated before teleporting away…

In one of the towers of the castle, Twilight sighed as she watch her friends leave, she then felt a small chill and turned to see Luna standing before her.

"I was expecting you sooner..."

"Hello Twilight." Luna said as she walked towards the Princess

"Well? What do you want Princess of the Night?"

Luna glared at Twilight. "I think you already know. What in Equestria is all of this?!" She asked, gesturing to the Castle. "First you pull that stunt a the trial and now this!"

"What? I'm a Princess am I not? Shouldn't it be fitting that I own a castle?" Twilight asked innocently.

"Don't play innocent with me!" She snapped. "And what about the wall surrounding the entire town as well as the forest and the mountains?!"

"I just don't want anyone invading it is all. You really are overreacting Princess Luna."

"Do talk to us as if we were some naive foal!" Luna shouted before calming herself. "Do you not see how your actions are affecting not just your image, but me and my sister's?! Ponies are branding you as a tyrant, and and my sister are merely seen as your "enablers"!"

“So what if what I’m doing makes me look like the villain right now? I can protect ponies! I can guard them better than I could before! So if you will excuse me if I don’t seem all that excited and appreciative of your threats Night Princess.” Twilight told her with a sneer on her face.

"Do you really think this is what Spike would have wanted?!" Luna fired back.

"DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO ME ABOUT WHAT HE WOULD WANT!" Twilight shouted at Luna. "I WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT HE WOULD WANT BECAUSE NOT ONLY IS HE DEAD BUT BECAUSE YOU DID NOTHING TO WARN ME ABOUT THE ASSASSINATION!"

Luna winced at that. "H-how did you even-"

"Shining Armor had a little "chat" with Gallant Heart sometime before the trial." Twilight interrupted. "I had one of my own little spies listening in, he told me everything."

"Twilight-"

"No. No I want a straight answer. What... what made you POSSIBLY think it was a good idea to keep this away you... MORON!" Twilight shouted as she punched Luna.

Luna wiped the blood from her lips before giving Twilight a cold stare. "I was doing it to protect you, you so much to deal with and didn't want to pull you into the middle of this conspiracy." Luna explained, I had already sent one of my own to infiltrate their little organization and stop them from within, I just didn't realize how quickly they intended to act... or the their leader was aware of my attempts and by the time I was made aware it was too late..." As she finished she looked down at the floor, ashamed that despite all of her spies and connections, she failed to realize her contacts had been found out until it was too late… and an innocent child paid the price for that.

"You.... you are nothing more..... than a selfish... arrogant princess who thinks that she should hold the whole world on her bucking back. You're so... so HARD HEADED I can't believe you even agree to everything that your sister says!" Twilight shouted at her throwing another punch that hit Luna. "You didn't want her to know because you wanted to be first at something! This was pure selfishness! You let my son die because you did nothing! YOU! ARE! NOTHING!"

"ENOUGH!!" Luna shouted as a shield appeared around her, her glowing fiercely as her mane flowed like it had become a hurricane. "I TAKE NO PRIDE IN THE FACT THAT MY SPIES COULDN'T PREVENT SPIKES DEATH, BUT DON'T YOU DARE INSULT ME BY SAYING I KEPT THIS A SECRET FOR MY OWN SELFISH DESIRES!!"

The Princess of the Night calmed herself before continuing. "I kept things hidden because I couldn't risk letting the organization know that I had discovered their intent or even their existence. Otherwise they would have covered their tracks and we be back to square one, had I known they had found out about Gallant I would have warned you myself!"

She paused, taking a deep breath. "Twilight... you must understand, even I couldn't have foreseen this outcome. And with everything you were going through before the assassination, do you honestly think you could've handled the knowledge of the fact that someone was planning to kill you? Worse, the fact that they had many spies in the Royal Guard, the very guards that you trusted with your life?"

"I-I... I could've...." Twilight stammered as she tried to find a response. There.... there has to be one. Luna HAD to be in the wrong somehow. It just HAD to be her fault!

It was at the point where she turned away, directing her attention to Canterlot. "I understand that you are upset with me, I truly am. I know that I should have been more careful while keeping tabs on the organization... but these ponies are nothing like what you base before. They are not only very crafty, but they have been around for longer than you could possibly imagine, even before I had returned from my banishment."

She then turned to face the Princess again. "I'm not going to stand here and say that this is in no way my fault, far from it. But I will not be accused of simply letting a child die for my own purposes. If your spy heard everything then you should know what's coming... and your current actions are only adding more fuel to the fire."

"I.... I understand." Twilight said as she felt tears come to her eyes. "I-I'm so sorry."

"I understand your pain Twilight.... believe me I understand your pain." Luna said.

"I-I know..." Twilight stuttered as she wiped away her tears. "...but these ponies...they can't be allowed to roam free after what they've done. I will see to it that they are brought to justice, one way or another…"

"Please be careful Twilight..." She said before she vanished into smoke, Twilight simply nodded.

"Awww... that's sweet..." A voice chuckled, getting her attention. "...so sweet I might just throw up."

Twilight simply rolled her eyes as one of the Royal Guards stepped out of the shadows. "Shut up, Stag."

"I'm just saying, you're playing a very dangerous game Princess, one that many nobles have been playing since before your parents were even born..." The guard said as he left the room.

"Then it's a good thing that I'm a very quick study…" She said before casting a glance at a familiar mirror, its surface slowly starting to ripple. "And I plan to even out the playing field..."

Chapter 4: The Harmonic Empire, A New Beginning

In the eight months that passed since the creation of Twilight’s Castle (which many now called “Castle Everfree”), Ponyville had become much larger due to Everfree, Winsome Falls, Froggy Bottom Bogg and even Rambling Rock Ridge being turned into part of the village. With a few houses being built around the Castle itself, Twilight eventually converted the rest of Everfree Forest into another part of her Kingdom.

At Zecora's insistence, after the more feral creatures had been relocated while she had a part of the forest where she lived preserved and remodeled into a park almost the same size as Ponyville itself, allowing several of the rare plants that she used for her potions to thrive and grow while letting some of the more docile animals dwell there peacefully.

It was at that point she revealed that each of the towers would serve not only as a lookout but hold a secondary function as well, however at the moment only two had been revealed:

The more feral creatures that formerly dwelled in the Everfree Forest were relocated to the Yellow Tower near the edge of Froggy Bottom Bogg and Ghastly Gorge, which doubled as an animal sanctuary that Fluttershy herself was put in charge of (at her own insistence).

The Blue Tower at the top of Winsome Falls was quickly converted into a base and training ground for Ponyville’s branch of the Wonderbolts, which also accepted other species like Griffins, Changelings, and other flying species.

While she had yet to reveal the secondary functions for the other towers, she wasted no time posting several guards at every entrance and exit before enveloping her Kingdom in a powerful triple-layer teleport-proof shield cast by both her brother and herself.

Soon after this, Twilight revealed her own personal Guard to the public:

The Dusk Guard; who wore armor similar to Celestia and Luna’s Royal Guard, only dark lavender in color with the same six-pointed star over the chest area.

The Skyhawks: the elite flyers of the Wonderbolts, their armor consisting dark blue coverall-style flight suits with red lining, in addition they wore visored helmets marked with yellow lightning bolts.

The Stone Crackers; who mostly consisted of those who specialized in brute force and had the strength to back it up. Earth Ponies and Minotaurs made up their forces and their armor consisted of dark gray-brown coveralls with knee/hock pads.

As far as the public knew, these were the fractions that served under Princess Twilight. However, there was in fact a fourth...

The Silent Feather; the group that handled the stealth missions, out of sight and in the shadows. As far as the public knew, they didn't even exist...

With all these changes, Ponyville soon became known as “The Harmonic Empire”.

Trixie sighed as as she made her way through Ponyville, ignoring some of the glares that some of the citizens sent her, not that she could blame them… considering the last time she was here she outright enslaved the town. There were bound to be ponies that were more than uncomfortable with her presence.

She had to admit, she’d been surprised when she was contacted by the Princess… and very, VERY nervous considering what happened in the past few months… sure she said she'd forgiven her…but then again things could change...

She quickly shook her head, mentally berating herself for thinking like that. The Princess wouldn't have summoned her here just to take vengeance.

...right?

"Keep it together Trixie.... s-she doesn't hate you. That'd be ridiculous.... yes. Yes it would. You're proud. You're Trixie Lulamoon." She told herself as she saw the castle in the distance.

And as she got closer, her nervousness only got worse, the fact that she’d witnessed just how far Twilight was willing to go during the execution was not helping.

Eventually she found herself crossing the bridge to the castle, the double doors leading inside bearing a large six-pointed star on the front with each of the symbols of elements of harmony surrounding it. Trixie stared up at the massive castle before her and took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing…" She said as she knocked on the door.

Immediately the symbol at the bottom of the star (Laughter) opened up and the cyan Unicorn was immediately greeted by an orange Pegasus mare with a yellow mane wearing purple foreleg shoes, a sleeveless violet and dark purple tailcoat with a six-pointed star-shaped pin at the throat. “May I help you ma’am?”

"U-um… P-P-Princess T-Twilight summoned me?"

“Your name…?”

"T-Trixie Lulamoon… the Great and Powerful Trixie, Trixie the Apologetic?" Trixie told the mare with worry in her eyes.

The mare continued to stare at her, as if silently judging her, determining whether or not she was a threat. After what seemed like an eternity she closed the window and opened the door.

“The Princess is overseeing her troops at the moment, please follow me.” She stated bluntly.

"Oh... well thank you." Trixie said as the mare walked away. Trixie followed right behind her as the door closed behind her.

The mare lead Trixie down the main hall at a steady pace, passing by several statues of guards in armor, as well as several stained glass windows depicting several events, including Nightmare Moon's defeat, Fluttershy befriending Discord, the day Spike saved the Empire from King Sombra.

"Ten-HUT!"

Trixie was brought out of her thoughts as they passed by the courtyard and glanced down, seeing all of Twilight's forces, all of them standing at attention in the presence of their Princess.

"Your highness. Your appointment has arrived." The mare said. Twilight turned to them and nodded.

"I understand. I'll be there in just a moment." She told them.

Trixie couldn't help but shudder nervously and she met Twilight's gaze, before her was not the same Unicorn that choked when put under the spotlight. No, this mare was one who gave off the vibe that she could completely destroy you in an instant if she felt like it.

As Trixie was lead away, Twilight turned back to address her new guards. "So.... when will Twilight turn her attention to Trixie?" Trixie asked the guard.

"My guess? When she's ready. So for now just wait." The mare told her. As they continued through the castle they eventually found themselves just outside the throne-room. The cyan Unicorn blinked when she noticed a yellow Unicorn with a red and yellow mane waiting there as well, said Unicorn stared at her for a few seconds before rolling her eyes and returning to her book.

"Um... who was that?" Trixie asked the guard but the mare remained silent. "Oh... going to use the silent treatment hm?"

“I was merely told to escort you here.” The mare replied. “You are to wait outside the throne room just like her until her Majesty arrives, if you really need somepony to talk to, make due with her, I have work to do.” She stated before flying off. Leaving the two Unicorns alone.

"So.... what are you here for?" Trixie asked the other unicorn.

Looking up from her book, the yellow Unicorn sighed. “Well, the Princess sent me a message to assist her in “helping Equestria advance” as she put it.” She explained. “It's been awhile since I’d last been in Equestria, and after hearing what happened to Spike well… I knew she'd need all the support she could get, and I'm going to help her to the best of my abilities… it's the least I could do after what she did for me.” She briefly glanced at her book before turning her attention to Trixie.

"Well... that's good." Trixie mumbled, though curious about what events transpired between this Unicorn and the Princess, she decided not to press the issue.

"So what about you?"

"Pardon?" Trixie asked.

"Well I'm curious as to why the Princess of Magic would summon the "Great and Powerful Trixie", what's your reason for being here?" She asked.

"I don't-wait," Trixie blinked. "How do you know my name? I didn't even mention it...."

For the first time since they started talking, the yellow unicorn looked nervous, however she quickly regained her composure. "I... saw a few of your shows..."

"Oh... well that's not surprising. Trixie does get around." Trixie said with a flick of her hoof to get a hair out of her face.

The yellow unicorn did her best not to snicker at the accidental innuendo. “I suppose you do…" She replied with a small giggle. “Since I already know you it would be rude not to introduce myself,” She stated as she held out her hoof. “I'm Sunset Shimmer.”

"Trixie Lulamoon." She told her, shaking her hoof with a smile on her face.

"It's good to see you two getting along so well…" Twilight's voice echoed throughout the hall, catching the two off guard. The doors to the throne-room were enveloped in the lavender aura and pulled open, revealing the Princess herself sitting on her throne.

“Please, come in, both of you. We have much to discuss…”

"Um... Twilight may Trixie ask... what's with the whole… evil overlord look?"

Twilight chuckled. “I've simply undergone a change... for the better.” She explained before glancing at Sunset, who seem to be less shocked by her appearance and more concentrated on covering the lower half of her face with her book, seemingly hoping the Princess wouldn't notice the tinge of red on her cheeks. “Good to see you made it, Sunset. I trust the modifications I made to the portal are working properly?”

"Well yes, with the power sources you provided were very useful." Sunset smiled, no longer feeling flustered. "With our portal now perfectly synced to yours we can travel to and from-"

"Sorry for the interruption, but am I missing something here?" Trixie asked with a downright baffled look on her face.

"My apologies Trixie." Twilight stated as she made her way back to her throne. "That little bit of information will be elaborated upon once I have your answer..."

"What answer, exactly?" Sunset asked curiously.

Twilight sat down on her throne and gave them a much more serious look. "What would you do to reach your full potential?"

"Well... I'd certainly love to be the apprentice of a great teacher." Trixie asked.

"Same here." Sunset said. "I mean that's more or less the best way to do reach your full potential."

“And should you find such a teacher will to take you under their wing, how dedicated would you be to them?” Twilight asked, her expression unchanging. “Would you be willing to follow their orders without question?”

"Well.... yeah." Trixie said. "Most definitely.... unless that teacher was a serial killer or a criminal in which case I would try and find someway to leave their apprenticeship."

Sunset nodded in agreement.

Twilight paused before asking. “And if you teachers were the targets of those who sought to kill them, would you defend them even if it meant your end?”

"Of course!" Trixie said. "I'd defend my teacher to the death if that was the case!"

“...would you take a life for them?”

Sunset glanced at Trixie. For a moment, the Unicorn seemed nervous and uncertain about her answer, but after a moment of thought she regained her composure and took a deep breath. "...if it was the only way to save them...yes."

With that final answer Twilight soared from her place on the throne and landed right in front of the two. "Trixie Lunamoon, while in the past you tended to talk of big game and boast about your abilities…but I cannot deny the fact that-like Sunset here-you do have potential hidden within the depths of your body..." She stated that she leaned down to meet her eye to eye. "...and I would like to be the one to help bring out that potential..."

"Wait.... you.... you would be my..... Trixie's teacher?" Trixie asked her with a shocked expression on her face. "But.... Trixie-"

“Believe me, I was just as shocked as you were when she came to me with this offer…” Sunset smiled.

"B-B-But... for Twilight to be Trixie's teacher..." Trixie stammered.

"If you feel that this would be too much for you, I won't argue or force you to join." Twilight said, placing her hoof on her shoulder.

Trixie took a bit longer to consider but made her decision. "Trixie wou-no, I would love for you to be my teacher." Trixie said as she bowed. "I would be honored."

“Good.” Twilight nodded as she started to trot around the two. “Sunset here has been my apprentice for a little longer than you. Should I not be present she will teach you what I have taught her.” She explained, to which Trixie nodded.

“Keep this in mind though…” Twilight continued, her tone now becoming much darker. "...I'm not going to sugarcoat anything, as my apprentices your tasks will be not only difficult, but life-threatening.” She began as she paced around the two. “These self-righteous terrorists think that they are "freeing Equestria" by removing my "corrupt influence".” She scoffed. “They are nothing but pretentious cowards too afraid to see the land around them change, and as my apprentices you will end their lives if they try taking my life. You will NOT hesitate to kill them if you get the chance.” She stated firmly before stopping in front of them. “Remember, both of you have been given a second chance to change, a luxury I have no intention of sharing with these self-righteous fools, I suggest you that do not squander it."

"I understand." Trixie said as she bowed before her. "I'm glad you chose Trixie as your student. I will not let you down."

Twilight gazed down at her for a moment before giving them a sincere smile. “Thank you, I assure you the choice you have made will be most beneficial…” She stated before her horn glowed, a second later the same Pegasus mare from before entered the room.

“You summoned me, your Majesty?”

“See to it that my newest apprentice is escorted to one of the guest rooms for now.” She ordered, gesturing to the cyan Unicorn. The Pegasus nodded and proceeded to escort her out of the room.

“Well, that went better than expected…” Sunset said as she watched them leave. “Laid it on pretty thick there, I thought she'd at least hesitate a little after that speech…”

“She needed to know what she was getting into… I couldn't afford to sugarcoat anything, I will not allow her to go into this situation blind.”

“Nor will I.” Sunset added sternly before turning to face Twilight. “So why exactly did you call me here?”

“It's simple really, when I visited the human world there was one thing that stuck in my mind: the fact that even without magic, these creatures had made so many technological advancements… and yet our world, with all it magic still relies on steampunk technology.” She stated that she made her way back to her throne. “It baffles me that other nations are developing their technology to the point that Equestria is falling behind, even Equestria's medicinal knowledge pales in comparison to that of the Minotaurs!” She explained, her voice raising ever so slightly as her wings flared open, causing Sunset to flinch. The Alicorn quickly calmed herself. “ that is why I have summoned you, I intend to bring Equestria out of it's medieval stasis, but in order to do that I need your help.”

“I understand your Majesty.” Sunset said with little hesitation. “If we are to bring her kingdom to a new age of technological prosperity, we need to study the technology of that world in order to better integrate it into ours.”

“My thoughts exactly." Twilight replied with a smile. “Sunset, you are return to the human world and bring back the most basic technology we can understand, we’ll then modify it and slowly integrate it into our society.”

“Understood your Majesty.” Sunset replied with a quick salute. “I'll head back immediately-”

“One more thing, you have relocated the portal on your side right?”

Sunset nodded. “No need to worry about that, I had the statue moved to the storage basement of the school and replaced with a different one in order to keep anyone from discovering and or stumbling into it. Only Principles Celestia and Luna know about it and only I am allowed access to it.”

“Good call Sunset, report back to me once you return.”

With a simple nod Sunset left the throne room via teleportation.

“Celestia… Luna…” Twilight mumbled as she glared out the window towards Canterlot. “You've let this farce go on far too long, change is coming… and those who can't accept it will simply be left behind…”

Chapter 5: Shadows and Secrets: Avenging the Green Star

Cosmo groaned as he picked himself up, his head was pounding! 'What in Equestria did I do last night?!' He thought to himself as he looked around, it took him a few seconds to figure out that he wasn't in his mansion anymore, but in a cave if some sort...

"What in the.... HELLO?!" He shouted into the cave. "IS ANYPONY ELSE IN HERE?!"

At first the only response was his own echo, but after a few seconds another voice made itself known.

"You can't do this to me! I'm an upstanding citizen of Canterlot!" The voice, unmistakably female, cried out.

The next sound was that of a hoof slamming against her as she cried out in pain. "Shut up bitch! Soon you're going to be nothing more than a smear on the ground." A third voice, a stallion’s, told the female.

"Whoever you are you're making a big mistake! Do you know who I am?!" Cosmo shouted searching for the source of the voice.

"Simple," The voice responded. "An over-privileged, spoon-fed bastard!" Seconds after he finished, a shadowy figure rushed out of the tunnel at him. Cosmo had little time to react before a hoof connected with his face and sent him flying into the wall. He groaned as he slowly picked himself up and looked around, expecting his attacker to strike again, but he soon realized that he was already gone...

"H-hello? I-is somepony else here?" The mare’s asked in a worried tone as she exited one of the tunnels.

"Shush! Keep it down! He might come back for more!" Cosmo growled as he turned to face said mare… only to recoil in shock.

The mare was a light orange-coated Unicorn with a brown mane and an open book with a scroll flying out of it for a cutie mark. The poor pony had a black eye and had bruises all over her body. "Good Faust, who did this to you!?" Cosmo asked the mare.

The mare just snorted at this. "That horrible sparklehead of a stallion! He... he said I was going to die alone down here where nopony could find me!"

"Why that... I knew they were mad but to try and do this?! This is an outrage!" Cosmo snarled as he patted the mare gently. "Come, let's try and find a way out of here."

"Th-thank you," The mare said as they made their way to the caves exit, upon which they found themselves in a large cavern with numerous tunnels. "Oh dear... this isn't good..."

"That bastard put us in a freaking tunnel system." Cosmo growled as they tried to decide which tunnel to go down. "You're a Unicorn right? Use your magic to make a path!"

The Unicorn bit her lip. "I tried to when I was first brought here, but that horrible stallion injected me with some sort of drug that messed up my magic flow." She explained bitterly. "No matter how many times I tried I can't even manifest a simple spark!"

"This is a problem. Whoever this is knows how to incapacitate a pony of any race.... but it doesn't matter. His efforts will be in vain once the world knows how much of a horrid choice Twilight Sparkle is as a leader." Cosmo grinned. "In two days that fraud will be exposed and they will all beg for us to kill her."

The Unicorn's eyes widened. "You... you mean that?!" She asked, hope evident in her voice. "Thank Lord Fuasticorn! You wouldn't believe what she's been trying to do to the foals… poisoning their minds in our very schools!"

"Really? The schools?" Cosmo asked utterly repulsed at the very idea of her getting into the minds of young foals and colts. "What lies has she been spreading?"

"It all started when she allowed those repulsive Changelings and Griffins to integrate into our society…" She explained, disgust evident in her voice. "After meeting with some of their leaders she had the nerve to request that several of the history books to be changed and brought "up-to-date" to match the "actual facts" of what happened... the lies she spread, I felt like I was going to puke!" She took a deep breath for a moment, calming herself before continuing. "She actually believed the Griffin's claims that during the war against them they didn't attack any of the hospitals at Horseshoe bay even when they had a clear shot, or the fact that we actually attacked several of their civilian districts while killing innocents!"

"That insane nag." Cosmo snarled as he heard these facts. "Why should she believe these outlandish rumors when it's clear that they DID do those horrid things! As for us attacking their civilians well if they weren't in our way we wouldn't have a need to strike them!"

“I guess it's true what they say, history is written by the winners." Another voice echoed throughout the caves. "Or in this case, ponies who are so secure about how good and noble their ancestors are that they constantly have to edit and fabricate it to remind our youth how great they are!" He added mockingly.

"You're the bastard who threw us in here, aren't you?!" Cosmo shouted. "You're the one who kidnapped me and this innocent unicorn mare aren't you?! Coward! Come out and face us without using the damn shadows!"

"Oh, well in that case..." The Pegasus Noble barely had time to breathe before an agonizing pain shot through his left wing. As he fell to the ground in pain he heard the unicorn cry out in terror before hitting the ground herself.

"Sorry, I prefer to stick to the shadows...." The voice chuckled before everything went silent once more.

"G-gah! My wings!" Cosmo shouted. He lifted a hoof and felt one before wincing in pain as he realized they were slashed. "Y-you bucking bastard you cut my damn wings!" He shouted.

"Not again, for the love of–it hurts!" The mare screamed and she pulled a syringe out of her side. "That bastard injected me with more of that drug!"

"That coward." Cosmo snorted. "He'd rather fight in the shadows like some weak assassin then face us head first like a real pegasus."

"Ugh..." The mare groaned as she struggled to stand. "I... I think I see a light at the end of that tunnel..." She stated, pointing to the cave on the opposite end of the cavern.

"Then let's go before he comes back to finish us off."

"R-right..." She said as they made their way into the caves. As they continued on their way, they soon came across what looked like train tracks, and upon going further than mediately came across a mine cart and another cavern, this one containing a bridge going across a large pit.

"I... I think I know where we are!" The mare exclaimed as she looked around. "These are the Canterlot caves!"

"Wait... then that… but that doesn't make sense! That means someone from Canterlot did this to us!" Cosmo exclaimed. "This doesn't.... nobody from Canterlot would do this!"

"No one except a traitor!" She snapped. "Like those guards that arrested me..."

"Wait... the guards arrested you?" Cosmo asked. "But you're an upstanding citizen of Canterlot! Surely you must be mistaken!"

"It turns out that Twilight's corruption spreads farther than we thought." She said as she made her way across the bridge. "My job was to keep the records of Equestria's history up-to-date. When I protested her altering history she ignored my requests, and even planned on sending the new history books to schools across Equestria! I tried to stop her the only when I could: I snuck into the archives and took the altered books... but it turns out she was prepared and had several guards posted there just in case… and well, you know the rest."

"Wait... of those guards did one of them look blue?" Cosmo asked. He had a feeling he knew what one of those guards were... and if he was right then those weren't guards at all. "I have to know. Was one of those guards light blue.... possibly cyan?"

She pondered for a second, as if trying to recall who arrested her. "Yeah, now that you mention it…"

"I knew it... that wasn't a guard. It was that idiot Rainbow Dash." Cosmo growled... but then smiled and began chuckling. "Oh if we get out of here we have some REALLY nice ammunition to give to Amadeus."

"Amadeus? As in, Prince Bluebloods father?" The mare asked.

"Yes ma'am. He knows how to hit the bitch where it hurts." He chuckled. "To date I don't think anyone has ever stumped her as bad as he has. To be honest he's the only reason why Twilight hasn't gotten away with everything just yet."

"What do you mean?"

"She has several more idiotic laws she wants to pass but Amadeus so far has kept them away and put them down like the horrid plans they are." Cosmo boasted. "He's never once allowed her to even come close to owning the court. The day Twilight Sparkle truly owns Equestria is the day Amadeus dies."

"But... Twilight's already created her own kingdom!" The mare said, remembering how the light engulfed Ponyville and surrounded it with a wall and a castle near the end. "At this point she's probably working on building an army of her own! Not that I don't have faith in our Nobles but how does he plan to fight her?"

"Simple. Bit by bit he's chipping away at her wall. Finding weak points in it and attacking them viciously." Cosmo told her cryptically. "As for her army? Even if it wasn't true, if Amadeus found out he'd tear her to shreds.... verbally of course."

"You make it sound like he already has a force of his own..."

"Well it might help that... the whole conspiracy around her is lead by him." Cosmo boasted. "Remember the death of her repulsive Dragon? The assassins were from us."

The mare just stared at him in shock. "Surprised? Most usually are. I might even say that offing the dragon was the best thing that came out of that whole debacle." Cosmo told her. "It's only a pity that they never killed both of them."

"And the canary finally sings!" The voice called out once more. This time the mare was prepared for it and ducked right before the shadow hit her, sadly same could not be said for Lord Cosmo, who was immediately socked in the face and sent flying into the cave wall.

Cosmo tried standing up but he felt very weak and looked to his side and saw that a crystal had stabbed him in his side. "Y-you bastard.... you.... gah." Cosmo got out. He was NOT going to die bleeding out to this.... sparkleheaded bastard.

“Are you ok?! Can you stand?!”

"Y-yeah..." Cosmo said as he tried to get up only to be hit right in the wound. He tried again but got the same result... and saw that the blows came from the mare.

"Good... because I want a shot at you myself!" She smirked deviously before slamming her hoof into his face again. "You have no idea how much I wanted to do that!" She said as the Pegasus landed next to her.

"But... but you HATE Twilight!" Cosmo shouted as the mare nailed him in the gut. She turned to the stallion who handed her a wash rag and a mask. "W-what is going on here?!"

"Awww, is the poor Pegasus confused?" The mare chuckled mockingly. "Well then here, let me spell it out for you."

Before Lord Cosmo could ask what she meant, the mare immediately pulled off her mane, revealing it to be a wig along with a fake horn, letting her long mane flow freely.

"So tell me, who's the idiot now?" The mare asked, taking pleasure in seeing the corrupt Noble's horrified expression.

"Y-you... you can't do this!" Cosmo stammered. "Y-you're a pegasus! W-we stick together! We don't need the Unicorns or Earth scum!"

"Ah, how quickly that bravado goes out the window when you're flat on your ass… it's kind of sad actually." She sighed, shaking her head. She then immediately slammed her hoof into the wound once more, earning another scream of agony from him. "You see, that's where you're wrong. All ponies stick together to make Equestria a better place, we depend on one another to survive, and we DON'T murder innocent children when we don't get what we want!" She snapped, kicking the Pegasus close to the edge of the bridge.

The Pegasus stallion snorted and her a mask, which put on as she approached the struggling Noble, the last thing he was gonna see were her two eyes staring into him with nothing but pure hatred. "P-please... m-m-mercy..." Cosmo begged as the mare leaned down and brought a sharp crystal to his throat.

"Oh sure, I'll give you mercy… the same amount of mercy you gave Spike!" She shouted before jamming the crystal into his throat, leaving him to fall over the edge.

If the fall didn't kill him, choking on his own blood certainly would.

The stallion turned to her. "We need to head back. Things will look suspicious if we don't."

"Yeah, yeah, I know..." She said as she pulled off her vest, spreading her wings and stretching them a few times. "Let's get going…"

The two then began flying towards the exit, which was literally just a short distance away and then left for Canterlot castle.

[Five Days Earlier]

Rainbow glared at her opponent. Yes she had gotten better, yes she is more brutal when it came to fighting.... that still didn't help her as her opponent was a former member of the Royal Guard. She narrowly dodged a punch that was thrown at her only to feel her hooves get sweeped out from under her by her sparring partner. She landed with a grunt and a small groan. "Oh.... that sucked.... hard."

Her opponent landed next to her with a look of disappointment on his face. "You really need to stop rushing in headfirst like that." Flash stated as he helped her up. "I was able to pinpoint at least five openings in your stance, and need to be able to read your opponent's movements in order to react properly."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm not practicing for a dance recital Flash." Rainbow growled but then smirked. "Been awhile since I saw someone match my speed though."

"Maybe you haven't fought for very long against a Guard. I was moving at my normal speed." Flash told her. "You were just throwing haymakers all over the place."

"Seriously?!" Rainbow signed in irritation. "Just great... how am I supposed to help Twilight if I can't keep up?!" The Pegasus groaned.

"Try and NOT get frustrated for one thing." Flash said as he took another stance. "Don't leave yourself open. This isn't supposed to be fun but it's not supposed to be a brawl to the death either."

The cyan Pegasus stretched her wings for a moment before flying to the opposite end of the ring. "Alright, let's go again!" She shouted, taking her stance.

"Quite the diligent ones, aren't you?" A disembodied voice called out.

Rainbow instantly froze as she tried to pinpoint the spot where the voice came from. "Alright.... whoever did that..... you better have a DAMN good reason for interrupting us." Rainbow said as she looked at Flash and nodded to her right. Flash nodded and quietly started to sneak around.

"No need to search for me..." The voice continued. Suddenly there was a puff of smoke in the middle of the ring, revealing a cloaked pony. "...for I can simply come to you."

Both Pegasi turned around and quickly took flight, ready to attack if the pony was a threat. "And who the hay are you?!" Flash snapped.

"Remain calm. I am a friend and messenger." The pony said calmly.

"Yeah? For who?" Rainbow snorted as she glared at the cloaked pony.

"Another friend of course." The pony said plainly. "We seek to help Twilight Sparkle end Equestria's First, but she cannot do much in the Court Room. However.... if key members were removed then they will be able to hurt the group more."

"....We’re listening..." Rainbow said as she and Flash relaxed.

"It's simple, we cannot actively oppose them, as they are too politically powerful and influential. However, should they be taken out discreetly, not only will the council slowly lose power, but Princess Twilight would be able push for her reforms with less difficulty..." The pony explained.

"Rainbow.... I know you want to jump in on this but we need to be careful." Flash said while glaring at the pony. "We want proof that you're on our side. Do you have anything that can prove it aside from just your word?"

The pony at first said nothing and simply reached under its cloak, Rainbow and Flash tensed, expecting some sort of weapon, but instead the pony pulled out a small box. "I believe this should eliminate any doubts that I'm on your side." The stated calmly as it opened the box, a small glow emitted from within.

The two Pegasi gawked at the box's contents before turning their attention back to the cloaked pony. "I-is that...?"

The pony then closed the box. "It is... now can I assume you'll be willing to help us?"

".... where do we start?" Flash asked. "Oh and one other thing.... we want Twilight to know what is going on and what we are doing."

"Yeah. What the big idiot over here said." Rainbow said with a quick smirk. Flash just rolled his eyes.

"You underestimate our intent, we fully intend to alert Princess Twilight of our involvement, my master is even meeting with her as we speak." The pony stated as it tucked away the box.

"Alright... when do we start then?" Rainbow asked the pony. "I don't suppose you wouldn't just come here without a reason for something like this?"

The pony simply pulled out a file and gave it to Flash. "I will meet you in Canterlot with more details, but for now, here is the rendezvous point." It explained cautiously, however before the two of them could retort, the pony dropped a small ball which exploded into a cloud of smoke that engulfed the entire room.

"A Pegasus noble..." Flash said as he read the file. "Lord Cosmo, second eldest son of the Starwing family. He's a member of the Night Court... and has been very firm in his belief that Twilight is nothing but the future tyrant of Equestria.” He he finished with a scowl, remembering some of the meetings he had attended where the stuck-up Nobelpony had done everything in his power to verbally tear down his lover.

"Wait.... the Starwing family? I feel like I've heard that name before." Rainbow said while scratching her head. "Seriously.... it's on the tip of my tongue but I can't say it."

"Well they were originally from Cloudsdale..." Flash said as he closed the file. "They moved to Canterlot over fifteen years ago after their oldest son died in an honor duel."

"Let me guess.... the older son was an asshole to?" Rainbow asked Flash. "It wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.... guess it doesn't really matter right now..... how are we gonna look when we kill him?"

"...we're gonna be wearing full black bodysuits, what else?" Flash said bluntly.

"Uh huh.... and NOT show him why not to screw with royalty? Nah we're going fancy for this shit." Rainbow retorted.

"Fancy how?" Flash asked, though he dreaded the answer considering Rainbow had a very eager look on her face.

Flash's eye twitched in irritation. "You do realize that this mission is going to require stealth, right? Also, I seriously doubt that our employer is going to take us seriously if we show up looking like we just walked out of a Power Ponies comic."

"Saying that like it's a bad thing?" Rainbow asked curiously. Flash considered yelling at her... but then slowly realized part of the problem.... she didn't fully realize how serious the situation was. That they were about to end someone's life and it might be her that ends it. He needed that to get through to her.

"Rainbow Dash..." Flash began, his tone more serious than ever. "This isn't like one of those journeys you went on with your friends, we are being tasked with ending someone's life. We can't afford to be sloppy with something as important as this, if we fail, that bastard will link us back to Twilight, that's something I can't-no-WON'T let happen!"

"......" Rainbow was just stunned at this..... and realized that yeah.... he's right. This isn't just a fun trip just to scare someone. This was nothing different from what happened with Spike..... and look what happened to his innocence..... they murdered him...... they took him away....... and nopony was making them pay. "..... I'm sorry Flash.... I guess I was just trying to calm myself more then anything."

"We all have our ways of coping Rainbow..." Flash as he placed the file on the floor before tapping the center with his hoof. "...but we need to keep a level head in situations like this."

The center of the folder glowed as a familiar symbol appeared on it, suddenly the folder went up in orange flames, much to Rainbow's shock. The folder continued to burn until there weren't even ashes left.

"I uh.... take it that was just in case anyone took that and sympathized with Equestria First?" Rainbow asked Flash who just nodded. "Well they're smart I'll give them that..... so you were saying full black body suits huh?"

“We can discuss this further later, according to the file we have at least five days to prepare…” He said before making his way to the opposite side of the ring. “Now then, let's pick up where we left off, shall we?”

[Present Day]

The two pegasi exited the cave, both of them wearing a black bodysuits covering everything excluding their wings, light metallic armor covering their hooves, chests and wings, a mask shaped like an equines head, minus the ears, and finally a black hood covering up the top part of their heads.

"Well that was easy enough..." Flash mumbled.

"Guy pussed out like a bitch." Rainbow retorted. "Seriously he was such a fucking sore loser."

“I see your mission was a success…” A familiar voice called out, the two looked up to see the same cloaked pony standing on a nearby cliff looming over the entrance. "Well... what did he tell you?"

"Apparently Amadeus Blueblood is behind the entire conspiracy centered around Princess Twilight..." Flash explained.

"Really now?” The pony mused. “The master will be very pleased with this information… and what did you do with that moron Cosmo?" It asked, turning its attention to Rainbow Dash.

"Slit his throat and threw him down a hole." She proudly proclaimed. "Don't worry though, we made sure to collapse the exit. No one's going to find his body."

"Impressive.... you two have done something great today. I hope you realize this." The pony said. "If you wish for some payment then it will be done.... but now that we will contact you again for as many targets that will come."

The two watched as the pony threw down another smoke bomb and vanished. Rainbow and Flash then gazed up at the night sky, more specifically the green star that stood out among all the others. "Huh...... you know I bet there's a sci-ency answer but I always wondered.... what is with the green star?" Rainbow asked Flash. "I mean now that I asked it's gonna bug me for a while. You can't just ask that and not want to know."

“Oddly enough, that star appeared right after Spikes funeral…” Flash stated as they proceeded to trot through the forest. “From what Twilight told me, it's rumored that when a Dragon passes on if they were pure of heart they take their place in the stars…”

"....well then I hope his star shines the brightest." Rainbow said with a tear in her eye as she took her mask off. "You deserve it little buddy."

"Rest in peace, young hero..." Flash said as he spread his wings and took to the sky. "Let's get back to the Empire..."

"Right behind ya." Rainbow said as she put her mask back on and took off after him.

Up above them in the night sky, the Green Star shined just a little brighter...

Chapter 6: To Accept and Thrive

Applejack sighed as she trotted through the Everfree Park. Five months, that's how long it had been since Empress Twilight had taken on Trixie as an apprentice.

Most of her friends weren't very optimistic about this choice to say the least... well, mostly Applejack and Rarity, Fluttershy was more open to the idea considering her friendship with Discord, while Rainbow and Pinkie didn't really care (although Pinkie did threaten to "remove her mouth the hard way" if she pulled another stunt like she did with the Alicorn Amulet).

"Sis? Somethin' wrong?" Applebloom asked her sister as she walked up to her.

“N-Nothin’... just thinkin’ about… Twilight…” Applejack sighed as they trotted through the Everfree Park. “S’cuse me,” She mumbled as she brushed past a Pegasus Stallion, however she blinked and looked back, realizing that said stallion seem to have a faint glow about him.

A Changeling.

She wasn't exactly sure how (Although she had a small suspicion that it had something to do with that brew Zecora made before the Castle was built), but ever since Twilight had established her empire, every time a changeling would take the form of someone or something a faint glow seemed to surround their figure.

"Weird." Applejack said to herself as she continued to walk along the park. She was fine with... most of Twilight's reforms and had to admit that most of the Empire’s citizens honestly had better lives because of her.

She still remembered the look of shock on everyone's faces when it was revealed that Fleur was actually a changeling, and what's more, Fancy Pants had proposed on the day interspecies marriages had been legalized within the Empire!

Although there certain citizens who were still somewhat uncomfortable with the ones that once invaded Equestria now living amongst them… she remembered a few fights that had broken out either because a Changeling overstepped his/her boundaries or a few ponies couldn't let go of the past and antagonized one.

Then there was Twilight herself, almost everything about her just felt… aggressive and cold, even when she tried to act friendly, she could feel the intimidating vibe behind her tone...

As they continued to walk through the park, they noticed a dark-green Pegasus wearing the Dusk Guard armor approaching them, upon getting close enough he stopped in his tracks and stood at attention. ‘This has gotta be important.’

“Miss Applejack.” The Guard began. “Empress Twilight requests your presence immediately. It concerns the tower that has… ‘grown’ on your property.” He explained, as if having trouble putting it into words.

"Ah understand. Thank ya." Applejack said as she turned towards the castle. The guard in turn went back to wherever duties he had to perform. "Bloom, head back home." She said as she trotted off, her little sister simply watched her leave with a small look of uncertainty on her face...

“...and thanks to the full citizenship granted to the Diamond Dogs, we can use their mines as a construction site around the purple tower.” Mayor Mare explained as she and Twilight conversed in the main council room, which had a round table in the center displaying a near-transparent image of her Empire.

“I can see this… but, what about their- ” Twilight was about to ask, only to noticed Applejack enter her throne room. “We’ll continue this conversation later.” Mayor Mare nodded as she grabbed her papers and left the room.

"I'm glad to see you made it." Twilight said as she approached her friend.

"Howdy Twi." Applejack greeted, tipping her hat. "Ya wanted ta see me about somethin'?"

"Indeed I do… you see, I've been going over it with Mayor Mare, and apparently the tower that manifested on the edge of Sweet Apple Acres is technically you family's property..." She explained as she guided her to the map. "I have some ideas for its secondary function that I need to go over with you..."

"Whaddya mean?" Applejack asked her friend who had a small smile on her lips.

“Well it would be used to store food in case there's a shortage during winter or a crisis in which resources are limited, as well as several devices that would not only help the work go faster, but also restock and ship supplies throughout Equestria.” She explained as she cast a spell on the map, immediately several train tracks seem started extending from the orange tower towards the main railway connected to the pink tower. “You see, ever since the Empire had been established and expanded, I've been working re-modifying the railway system and made the pink tower the newest central station with several smaller stations being built throughout the Empire…” She explained to the farm pony, however she looked away for a moment, a bit hesitant to bring up the next subject.

“Is there… somethin’ yer not tellin’ me?” Applejack asked curiously. "So far this seems mutually beneficial. Ah’d have to go over a few things with the family… but we ain't got no reason ta go against ya."

"It's not that, it's just... in order for this to work there would have to be several… technological modifications to your farm, that kind that would help the workflow go smoother and faster mind you..." She explained, upon noticing Applejack's skeptical look she decided to stop beating around the bush. "...and the ponies who are the most qualified to be working on said modifications happen to have a history with you..."

“What histor-" Applejack stopped as she slowly realized exactly who she was talking about. “No, absolutely not. Twi Ah don't care what ya think they can do but it will only benefit them. They're snakes and liars. The moment they get a INCH of mah land they'll kick me and the family off!" Applejack yelled at Twilight, refusing to entertain the idea of the to brothers who almost drove her family out of business owning any part of her family’s property.

“That might’ve been the case… if they weren’t under constant observation by the Royal Guard no matter what they do.” Twilight stated confidently, getting the farm pony's attention. “Plus, they won’t be given any land, they’ll only be allowed to make modifications.”

“Yeah and at the first chance they get they'll find a loophole it to make it work for them!” The farm pony protested, still unconvinced… until she saw Twilight’s smile. “What did ya do?”

Twilight chuckled lightly. “Well you see, before I came to you I looked up their history at various towns and cities where they've pulled their little swindling stunts. As a result I-or rather you, will basically have them on a very short leash, either they provide their inventions for the Empire, or they get shipped to the prison of the last town they swindled, complete with bright shiny bows on their heads.”

Applejack arched a brow. “So yer sayin’, they really can't afford to push their luck… ‘cause it's either work for us and provide technology…”

“...or get thrown in a cell in a town that’s screaming for their hides.” She finished as she trotted towards her friend. “Applejack, I know I’ve been very cold and distant for a while, but I-no, WE need to modernize Equestria, and those two are very adapt at developing technology. This will be a big step forward for the Empire.”

Applejack stared at her eyes, uncertainty written all over her face. "Okay Twilight. Is that the case? Then explain how this makes ya any different than any of the tyrants from the past? Cause Ah'm not a good history nut but most of them claim it's fer the best." Applejack replied. "Ah ain't budgin' 'til ya give me a satisfyin' answer."

Twilight sighed and took a moment to collect herself. "Because advancing our our society and technology is the best way to advance Equestria towards a brighter future. Applejack, you may not know this, but Equestria is just, if not more, stubborn about following tradition than you were." She held up a hoof to halt any questions or arguments AJ had. "We currently live in a society that mostly believes that if magic cannot do it, it is impossible and saying otherwise is nothing short of blasphemy. Case in point; Pinkie Pie.”

“What does she have to do with this?” AJ asked, confused as to why the former party-pony was now being brought up.

“You see, she has a condition that has her constantly hearing voices in her head, said condition has happened to past members of the Pie Family as well.... sadly they were... driven insane… or went as far as to take their own lives..." Twilight stopped for a moment, letting the farm pony register this before continuing. "The only reason she can function normally in society is because her family is wealthy enough to afford medicine from the Minotaur Kingdom. Without it, she would've been sent to an asylum in the middle of nowhere, a place where ponies born with mental conditions are left to be forgotten about by society, all because these problems cannot be fixed with magic." As she finished, she gave Applejack hard look. "Now tell me Applejack, if advancing our technology can prevent more ponies from going through that, can you honestly call me a tyrant for wanting to change Equestria for the better?"

"....fine. Ah'm in.... on two conditions." Applejack said with a glare, Twilight shrugged.

"Name them. I'm all ears."

"First; those two are tah be watched at ALL TIMES. Ah don't care if they're eatin', sleepin', bathin’, or even takin' a piss, they're tah be guarded 24/7!" She stated firmly. "Second; they are NOT to make any "modifications" unless me, mah big bro, or Granny Smith approve!" She finished, giving Twilight a look that made it very clear that this was not up for debate.

"Understood Applejack. You can calm down now." Twilight said as she held up a hoof. AJ huffed a bit but soon calmed down a bit later. "I promise that what you have asked will be done."

"See that it is, ah don't trust those snakes as far as Ah could buck 'em." She replied.

Twilight watched from the balcony as Applejack exited the castle, a small smile on her face as she trotted through the park.

“Quite a bold move you made, my Empress...” A new voice called out, Twilight turned to see a Unicorn mare enter the room, escorted by a Griffin Skyhawk, a Diamond Dog Stone Cracker, and a Changeling Dusk Guard, all of whom stood at attention by the doorway. Said mare had a light pink coat, bright blue eyes, a deep purple mane with one streak each of lighter purple and light green. Her cutie mark was a four-pointed violet star overlaid on a white one, trailing wisps of swirling bluish-green light. “I’m glad to see that you’re not afraid to bring down your hoof when needed… though I find it odd that you’d put them to work instead of locking them up and throwing away the key...”

“They could have used their talents to help ponies, but they choose to swindle them out of their money instead.” Twilight stated before heading back inside. “Well they’ve forfeited that choice. They will use their talents to help others whether they like it or not. They’ve dug their own grave and will be tossed in if they step out of line.”

“And where does that leave me?” The Unicorn asked in a neutral tone.

Twilight turned to face her. “While you had a point that cutie marks shouldn't dictate what one does for the rest of your life, you went about spreading that message in the worst way.” She stated. “Simply giving everyone the same mark in your little village wouldn't have let you slip under the radar. If my patrols hadn’t come across your little village, chances are you would’ve been found and arrested anyway.”

The Unicorn scoffed, not liking that she was being told how pointless her actions were.

“However, you have a unique gift… and that’s why I’ve decided to keep you close, because that gift that can be put to good use if placed in the right environment...” She continued, approaching the Unicorn before spreading her wings. “However, I will be keeping you under close surveillance, and I have zero tolerance for those who step out of line. So do not test my patience, understand?”

The Unicorn bowed respectfully. “I understand, my Empress.”

"Princess!" Trixie called out as she rushed into the room, pushing past the guards. "We have a situation!"

"What is it Trixie?" Twilight asked, rather worried when she saw how panicked she was when she entered the room.

“It’s Sunset, she just sent me a message that there are three girls on… the other side…” Trixie explained, warily avoiding spilling any info in front of the Unicorn. “...have been using magic to hypnotize an entire school!”

“I’ll be there shortly. Wait for me by the throne room!” She stated, Trixie nodded and teleported away.

Twilight briefly turned her attention to the Unicorn before her. “Think long and hard about the option I’ve given you… I foresee great things for you Starlight Glimmer, don’t disappoint me.”

And with that, she teleported away...

Author's Note

Gonna be blunt, this hasn't been updated in a while because I'm in serious need of a co-writer. If anyone's interested in helping dust off the cobwebs on this story please PM me.

Chapter 7: I Say "Jump", You Say "How High?"

Twilight let out a content sigh as she stepped out of the portal, no longer was she greeted by the front of the school, but instead the basement that the statue had been moved to. Despite being the more logical location for the portal, she did miss gazing upon Canterlot High when entering this odd world.

She briefly held up her hand and swirled it around few times, causing the magic aura to appear in thin air. ‘So Sunset was right, the spell does keep your magic active after you enter the portal…’ She thought to herself, satisfied with this result she exited the storage room while stretching her arms, only to come face to face with Sunset Shimmer and... a girl that looked just like her… save for a few distinct differences… such as her hairstyle that was tied into a bun, and those glasses she wore.

“Hello, Sunset. I see you've acquainted yourself with my human counterpart...” She smiled as she approached the two, her human self taking a step back in surprise.

Sunset perked up at this and took the human Twilight's hand. “Y-Yeah, this is my girlfriend.” She explained, blushing as she brought her close and whispered. “It’s okay, there's no need to be nervous. She’s basically you... only well, Royalty.”

The human Twilight seemed to calm down at this, adjusting her glasses as she made eye-contact with her other self. “H-H-Hello, m-my name is Twilight Sparkle. According to my girlfriend, you're my alternate counterpart?”

“Yes, I am. It’s very nice to meet you.” Princess Twilight said as she shook her human self's hand, not lost to the surrealness of the situation. Despite having come here before, she'd never actually met herself. “I do understand how you feel however, the first time I came to this world I encountered an entire group comprised of alternate versions of my friends. It was… very surreal, to say the least…”

“It’s nice to meet you as well. I have to say I feel the same way.” Human Twilight giggled, now feeling less awkward about the situation. “This is very interesting though, I mean, to think there are other worlds we have yet to explore… by any chance, does your world have a version of Spi-”

Sunset tensed at this and was about to cut her off, but the Princess simply held up her hand to halt any questions her human self might start asking. “As much as I would love to discuss the possibilities of other realities, I still have business to attend to…” She stated firmly. Her human self looked disappointed, but nodded in understanding.

The Princess' expression then became more serious as she turned her attention back to Sunset. “Now then, tell me more about these three girls, Sunset.”

“Yes, Princess.” She nodded, sighing in relief... an action that was not missed by the human Twilight....

“...so you’re telling me, that three girls showed up at CHS with unknown magic, and began hypnotizing the entire school with their singing?” Princess Twilight asked as Sunset and her human counterpart escorted her up the stairs leading out of the basement.

“That’s right, the moment they started singing in the cafeteria everyone immediately started arguing. Everyone's been at each other's throats ever since they arrived.” Sunset explained. “We need to do something about them before they cause anymore harm.”

The Princess opened her mouth to speak, but her human counterpart (unintentionally) cut her off. “But how do we do that?” She asked in a nervous tone. “If they can hypnotize anyone with their voices alone, what chance do we have of catching, let alone stopping them? All they need do is hum a little tune and command us to leave them be!”

“No exactly, I managed to catch them alone in the halls once, they didn't seem very eager to sing right then and there…” Sunset mused to herself. “It's possible that they were saving what little magic they had for something bigger and didn't want to waste it on me. No doubt they have a plan. And something tells me they won’t do anything rash out in public. At least, not yet anyway….”

“If you’re right Sunset, then we can use that info to our advantage...” Princess Twilight stated as they stopped near the stairs. “However we must act quickly, otherwise they could spread their influence throughout the entire school before we have a chance to take them down.”

“So, what do we do?” Human Twilight asked.

“I say we corner them.” Sunset said, smashing her fist into her palm for emphasis. “Confront them and make sure they have no way of using their powers on all of us, and then we capture them.”

The Princess arched a brow at this.“Oh? And are the others in on this plan?”

“Yes, they are.” Sunset nodded. “I let them all know you were coming and that they should all think up a few backup plans, just in case mine didn’t work.”

“Sound reasoning, my apprentice.” Smiled the Princess. “I am proud of you.”

Sunset smiled back with a small blush. “Thanks, Twilight.”

However at this moment her human counterpart stood beside Sunset and grasped her hand firmly. “We should get going if we're going to meet up with the others…” She said, a jealous gleam in her eye.

“You don't need to worry about me stealing her away from you, my dimensional sister." Princess Twilight giggled, earning a small blush from her other self. "Now...” She turned around and made her way through the doors.

“Let’s go save the school.”

Once out of the basement, they made their way through the halls of the school. Sunset opened the door and let her mentor go first, coming up beside her and leading the way towards the room her friends now used to meet up in. “After those girls took over the school, we couldn’t meet at the statue anymore, least the the students they brainwashed overhear us. So I had to find a better place for us to meet up away from prying eyes....” She explained. They had been walking for a while since they arrived, and after a few twists and turns ended up in a closed off hallway in the school. The sign on the rope that separated them from the meeting place read; [Do Not Cross]. “This place hasn’t been used ever since it was destroyed in my... attack. ”

Twilight’s Human counterpart tugged on Sunset’s jacket sleeve upon hearing this. “Attack? What attack? Did you do something?”

“Oh right, Twi… let’s just say I haven’t quite told you everything yet… but I’ll tell you when all this is over, I promise.” Sunset explained, giving her a reassuring kiss her on the cheek before turning her attention to the Princess. “Anyway, let’s go and get this meeting started, shall we?” Sunset said as they made their way over the rope and down the hall towards the room. From an outsider's point of view, it was just a pile of rubble, but Twilight could sense a weak illusionary spell covering. Sunset simply snapped her fingers to temporarily dispel the illusion, revealing the door. “Here we are, everyone else is already inside.”

And with that, she opened the door and they walked in.

The meeting went without a hitch. Everyone was happy to see the Princess again, catching up and talking about what had happened since her last visit, but soon everyone got serious the moment the subject of the three magical girls came up. Idea after Idea was exchanged about how to approach these “Dazzlings”, as they called themselves (which the Princess found to be arrogant and boastful). All the girls had given their piece, their ideas ranging from a meeting in the school courtyard to a straight up confrontation in the gym. Twilight kind of liked Rainbow’s suggestion, the idea of shaming the evildoers in front of others made her feel a sense of pride and justice as she considered it. ‘It would serve them right, let those who were wronged look upon them as they suffered her wrath.’

“But wait, doesn’t that seem a little… I don’t know, harsh?” Came a voice, snapping her out of her thoughts. Everyone turned their attention to Fluttershy, who instinctively hid herself behind her hair upon becoming the center of attention.

“Harsh?” Asked Princess Twilight with restrained anger. “Fluttershy, they’re forcing the entire school to fight amongst themselves. They deserve more than to be publicly humiliated, they should be locked away-.”

“Twilight!” Sunset snapped, getting her attention. “You have to calm down!”

Everyone stared at the Princess as she took a deep breath, they could tell something had changed about their friend. Sunset gave he mentor a disapproving look, reminding her that she was dealing with different versions of her friends, ones that were unaware of the untimely demise of her beloved son.

After a moment of silence Applejack spoke up. “Sugarcube… you feelin’ OK?”

Princess Twilight sighed. “I… I’m sorry girls. I’m just...going through a lot on the other side. Stress of Princesshood and all that...”

“Anything you'd like to talk about darling?” Rarity asked curiously. "I know a thing or two about dealing with stress."

“Yeah.” Added Pinkie as she hung from the ceiling. “And you must be really stressed to snap like that.”

She shook her head. “No. I’ll be fine, please continue.”

Everyone looked less than convinced, but no one said anything. “Anyway, Fluttershy, what do you suggest we do then?” Rainbow asked, starting up the conversation once more.

The timid mare gave her friends a surprisingly confident smile. “That’s simple, Rainbow Dash. The idea of getting caught unprepared is what scares most people, not the certainty of it. If we confront them in a manner where there’s a chance they can't use their powers to their fullest, they’ll be less likely to throw caution to the wind when pressured, and more likely to be paranoid and afraid. After all, they were more subtle when casting their spell for the first few times, so they must not have enough power yet, and therefore they won't be willing to use up too much magic unless they need to.”

Everyone stared at her for a moment until Rarity placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “Well then, I think we have our plan.”

An hour later, the group made their way towards the courtyard, passing several students were arguing amongst themselves. The Princess recognized several familiar faces as she walked down the hallway, Lyra, Bonbon, Cloudchaser, Photo Finish, the Crusaders, even the human version of Flash Sentry, who was currently holding back Derpy from throttling Trixie, although looking like he was ready throw a punch himself. It brought dismay to the group to see so many close friends that they’d brought together now at each other’s throats and pushing aside their friendships in favor of winning a competition…

It was then that they noticed a greenish mist wafting across the floor, through the open door and towards the center of the courtyard where three girls were appeared to be singing together, seemingly relishing in the sound of their own voices. While they didn’t look like much of a threat to the Princess, she could feel ancient magic coming from them. Well, less them, and more the necklaces that adorned their necks. She could feel a massive amount of negative energy coming off of them. ‘I’ve got to be careful if I want answers, but I’m getting them either way. No evil will stand in the way of my dream for Equestria.’ She thought to herself as she observed the trio.

At the center stood a girl with yellow-orange skin, and fluffy orange hair held in a ponytail by a spiked band. She wore a purple outfit with shorts attached and a short-sleeved, violet shawl, purple boots with gold ankle bands; light violet fingerless gloves and matching tights, a studded gold belt buckle shaped like a gem.

To her right was a lavender-skinned girl whose was hair tied into two very long pigtails with large star barrettes. She wore a sleeveless top under an open, green shirt with ripped away sleeves, three dark magenta bracelets on both arms, magenta tights with glitter down both hips, dark magenta boots and a matching double belt with a star buckle.

And to her left was a blue-skinned girl with blue hair in a long ponytail. She wore short-sleeved dark red-pink jacket with a lighter-hued collar and cuffs, a spiked bracelet on both arms, light blue accents on the front, a pink skirt, and light-pink knee-high boots.

The group watched as the green mist swirls up to them and was absorbed into the glowing jewels that hung from their necklaces. “So those are the Dazzlings, huh?” The Princess asked with a scowl. She clenched her fists as she stormed towards them, her friends following suit, the moment they got close enough the quickly surrounded them.

This action got their leader’s attention. “Oh? What do you girls want?” She asked condescendingly, as if she were addressing someone beneath her.

“What we want is for you to tell us what you’re doing here.” She snarled, glaring daggers at her as her eyes were briefly surrounded by the "mask" that adorned her face as a pony.

To her credit, while her comrades either backed away or shivered under her gaze, their leader didn’t show any outward signs of fear. But the Princess could see it in their eyes, they felt her power, and they were afraid. Their apparent leader was about to speak up again, only for the one with purple hair to put on an air of superiority and glare back in Twilight’s direction. “What do you mean "what are we doing here"? This is a school. We’re learning.”

Their leader growled. “Aria… I do the talking-”

“Don’t play dumb with us!” Sunset cut her off. “We know you’ve been hypnotizing these students with your music. Tell us what you’re really up to here.” She then smirked at her their apparent leader. “And Adagio, before you try to give us the “you can’t stop us” speech you probably have prepared, I know some of my friends are more than willing to get rough...”

And with that she stepped back, allowing RD, AJ, and Twilight to step forth, the Princess taking the lead as she flared her magic, the silhouetted image of Midnight Sparkle appearing behind her as she walked up to them, glaring daggers at the trio. The three girls looked upon the Princes with pure fear. Sure, they had planned on hypnotizing the school and bringing everyone under their control... but with power like this opposing them, they weren’t so sure of themselves anymore.

But Adagio refused to back down, they would go down fighting if it meant they could keep what little power they’d amassed. “Fine! Try and stop us, but know this… we won’t go down without a fight!” She snapped, her necklace glowing as two transparent wings appeared behind her back.

Twilight’s frown was replaced by a slightly curious smirk at this act of defiance. “Oh really? The three of you against all of us?”

This time the blue one spoke up. “Uh.. Dagi? You sure about this?” She asked as she nervously took another step back. “You felt her power...”

“Zip it Sonata...” She growled, a bead of sweat trailing down her forehead.

“She’s right though, you have… now then, are you three gonna play nice?” She asked before she flew over to Adagio, getting dangerously close to her face. “...or are things going to get difficult?”

Adagio was about to reply, but a startled yelp got her attention. Turning around she saw that Rainbow Dash and Applejack had taken this opportunity to sneak behind them and subdue her comrades. Applejack had put Aria in a full-nelson, and Rainbow Dash had Sonata in a choke-hold. Adagio began to sweat, she’d been hoping to at least work around these girls immunity to their songs, or at the very least absorb enough negative emotions to overpower them… but now the odds were completely stacked against her.

Biting her lip as she turned back to the Princess, she swallowed her pride and backed down. “Fine, you win… I’ll cooperate.”

“Good, now then...” She said as she took a few steps beck, her aura slowly vanishing. “Let’s start with how you three ended up in this world.”

The three stared at her, and, as if reconsidering, lowered their gaze to the ground. However before the princess could repeat herself, Adagio spoke up. “We’re sirens, we need to feed off of negative energy. It’s a part of how we survive. Back in Equestria we went from one village to the next, using our songs to force ponies into fits of anger and rage… but eventually we got too cocky and got sent here by that damn unicorn… Starswirl.” She explained, spitting the name out like poison.

Sunset’s eyes widened at this. ‘Starswirl the Bearded? But… that would make these girls over one-thousand years old!’

“... after him and his friends dropped us into this world we ended up nearly starving because we had no source of food.” Aria added, despite the awkward position she was in. “So we started to make our own chaos. We fed off the misery we caused others, and that’s how we’ve been living to this day.”

“Surely you could’ve just eaten normal food?” Came Fluttershy’s voice.

This time Sonata spoke up. “Well duh, of course we could have! But those bad feelings were our best source of food. We did what we were used to doing in a strange place with no clue how to survive here. So sue us.” She scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“Every world has conflict. You had no need to stir up your own trouble in order to eat.” Sunset retorted angrily taking a set forward. “You three were sent here over one-thousand years ago, in other words, you’re all immortal yes?”

“Wait, these three are HOW OLD?!” Rarity stammered, a glint of jealousy in her eye.

“Later Rarity, later.” Princess Twilight chided, allowing Sunset to continue.

“You simply could’ve approached someone for shelter and food, or...” Sunset suggested.

“That’s what we did at first!” Adagio snapped, cutting her off. “But we couldn’t do that for too long. People are cruel, and most wouldn’t help us, so we went about doing what we usually. Know this Rainbooms, we feel no remorse for our actions. We did what we had to to survive, no matter how extreme it may have been. Plus, we had our pride to uphold-”

“Pride?! You would bring harm to an entire populace for pride?!” The Princess snapped as her horn reappeared and wings erupted from her back once again. The three were engulfed in her aura as two of them were yanked out of RD and AJ’s grasp and rose into the air. “I can’t believe this! I’m going to...to...”

“Princess stop! You’ve gotta calm down!” She heard her human counterpart call out, all the while the rest of her friends watched in fear. Shocked that their once quirky, nerdy (and sometimes adorable) friend had become so ruthless and cold at the drop of a hat. “Please, I may not know what happened to you on the other side of the portal... but since I am you I know this isn’t what you would want to become!”

The Princess glared at her counterpart for a moment, who surprisingly didn't flinch under her gaze. However as she turned her attention back to the Dazzlings, all three of them struggling in her grasp... she felt a sudden idea come up. “No, you’re right… I won’t go that route… I’ve got a better idea....”

Out of nowhere, Rainbow broke the silence. ”Uh, not to question your logic Princess, but what idea could be better than just jailing them for good?”

“I’m getting there, Rainbow. Be patient” She said as she turned back to the Dazzlings, still in her grasp, and gave them a coy smile. “You’re hungry, right? You want to feed on negative emotions? Well then… how about you work for me?”

The three sirens glanced at each other, and then Adagio nervously asked. “Us, work for you?”

The Princess nodded. “Yes, you see… your talents could in fact be used for a little project I’m working on back home.”

“A-and what happens if we say no?” Came Aria’s nervous voice.

A smirk adorned Twilight’s features once more as her hands began to glow. Immediately an aura surrounded each of the Dazzlings necklaces before they were yanked off of their necks. “Hey! Give those ba-” They all yelled as one, only to be cut off by a flare from Twilight’s horn.

“It’s simple, either you three work for me….” She began as the three necklaces floated into her right hand. “...or I leave you completely powerless in this world. Choose wisely.”

Adagio, Sonata, and Aria shared a uneasy look, but after a silent conversation Adagio spoke for all of them. “Fine. We accept. We’ll help you with this... project of yours.... Just please… give us our necklaces back...” She said in an almost pleading tone.

“Oh, you’ll get these back in due time...” The Princess said before pocketing their necklaces. ‘After I cast a spell on these, one that can limit just how much power they’ll get. Can’t have these three turning traitor the second they get strong enough...’ She thought to herself before turning away from the trio and walking past her friends. “Don’t you worry though, I have a plan for you girls that’ll benefit all of us… but first things first...” “Let’s get you three back to Equestria, shall we?”

[Seven Months later…]

Back in Equestria, Starlight Glimmer took a deep breath as she stepped out onto the balcony, in the distance she watched as an armored train made its way from the Pink Tower. That particular tower had been converted into a massive Train Station that contained several separate tracks and elevated turntables for re-routing various trains to other points in Ponyville. Due to the village becoming so big, multiple stations were placed in certain areas and various trains were created for different purposes, such as ones for multiple passengers from different cities, ones for different types of cargo to be shipped out, and ones for prisoners.

Speaking of prisoners, while the Diamond Dogs had been given their own homes within the empire, their abandoned mine had been hollowed out restructured into a special prison at the base of the Purple Tower…

...a prison that Starlight was now in charge of.

As she made her way to her office she slowly went through the files that had been gathered on the new prisoners. “Let's see, we've got a group of Bull called the “Cattle Rustlers” and their leader Longhorn, a Zebra sorcerer by the name of Braze, some jewel thief named Rough Diamond…” She mumbled as she continued to read through the names… however she stopped when one particular name caught her eye; a Pegasus named Fastlane, arrested for his association with the well-known terrorist organization: The Equestrian’s First.

A smirk graced her lips as she looked down at the train as it pulled into the prison station. This was gonna be… interesting.

The prisoners were lead out of the armored train, chains binding their hooves, as they were walked towards the gate they crossed a bridge that lead over what looked like a forest of black vines covered in light blue thorns, a few of the prisoners noticed them move at certain points, weather the vines themselves could move or there was something else living in there they didn't want to find out.

They reached the wall that must have been at least half a mile high, and near the top one could see dark clouds with what appeared to be spikes sticking out of them.

It was like someone took everything that was lethal and menacing about Everfree and dropped it all into this one area.

"What did we do to deserve this?" One prisoner asked with sorrow in his voice.

“Broke the law.” One of the guards scoffed as he pushed him forth. “Now get moving scumbag!”

As they reached the gate, Starlight, along with several guards came out with a tray holding several multi-colored collars.

"Now be calm." Starlight said with a motherly tone with a smile. "These collars won't hurt you... too much. But if you struggle then I can't promise they won't damage your throat."

“And what the hay do those things do?!” Another voice called out, getting her attention.

Starlight smirked as she turned her attention to the prisoner, the Pegasus had a dark blue coat, a short but wild orange and red mane, and his cutie mark was a red lighting bolt that seemed to be splitting a cloud in half.

“Oh, these are just specialized "limiter collars", crafted by Princess Twilight herself in order to prevent criminals like you from getting out of control.” She explained coyly.

"Oh, buck that noise!" The pegasus shouted as he flashed his wings and tried to fly off as fast as he could.

Starlight simply giggled as he struggled against the chains and immediately pulled out a staff and aimed it at him, a beam of magic shot out from the staff and hit the stallion, freezing him in place. While the stallion struggled in its magic grip, suddenly his cutie mark slowly floated off of his body and into a jar which she promptly closed. The aura holding him in place dissipated, allowing him to fall to the ground. Not giving him another chance to react she clamped one of the black collars around his neck.

"....w-what did... what did you do?!" He asked Starlight, fear now in his eyes as he looked at her.

"Oh nothing much," She chuckled as she attached the collars to remaining prisoners. "I just removed that pesky cutie mark to make sure ponies like you stay in line..." She explained as an equal sign appeared on his flank. "As long as you're here, I own you."

"And this is.... and this is what that psychotic monster thinks her kingdom will be like?!" The pegasus shouted with a laugh. "She thinks everyone will just accept that what your abominable magic does is okay?!"

“As long as it keeps lawbreaking criminals like you in check, she couldn't care less. Especially when it comes to those of Equestrian’s First” She stated firmly before glaring down at the Pegasus with a smug grin. “Traitors like you need to be shown that the justice system will always prevail, especially against terrorist cells like yours.”

"We only want what is best for our kind! You and that monster of a 'princess' are just going to let it all fall to ruin!" He shouted at her with a glare. "You think everyone will just support you?! You're wrong! You'll only lead us to ruination!"

“Oh spare me your over-bloated egotistical nonsense!” Starlight retorted, rolling her eyes. “You bastards are nothing more than stubborn, racist murderers who refuse to go along with a world that is adjusting to change!”

"Oh and you're so much better huh? Look what you did to my cutie mark!" He snapped at her as he pointed to the equal mark. "You talk about change and that's the result?! You force me to be average?! You're the hypocrite here you bitch!"

While a few of the prisoners backed away while the guards got ready to attack, Starlight shook her head dismissively. "That's the thing, ponies like you believe that they're above the law... and this is the result." With that statement Starlight simply tapped the ground with her staff, causing a powerful shock of electricity to emit from the collar and through the stallion's body, forcing a scream of agony out of him as he fell to the ground twitching in pain. “Unlike you, we try to help Equestria advance while you simply want to live in the stone ages.” She scoffed as she turned away and led the group across the bridge, on the other side of the thorny vine forest was a misty moat.

“Oh, and in case-” Before she could finish the leader of the bulls head-butted one of the guards and dived over the edge into the water.

“Haha! Go boss!” The rest of them cheered as he attempted to swim towards the shore… only to stop and start swimming into the opposite direction. At the moment everyone could've sworn they heard… singing?

"Ah yes. That should be our “moat security” right about now." Starlight said with a chuckle.

Before anyone could ask what she meant, the mist cleared to reveal a odd violet finned fish/dragon beast, with a standard horses head and forelegs, sitting on a rocky outcropping. As Longhorn swam closer the creature started singing higher, those who saw her from afar started to see something different… a beautiful mermare with a long flowing silver mane, however every few seconds the image would immediately shifted back to the creature.

The moment Longhorn got to the outcropping the mermare gave him a kind smile and gently caressed his face... only to for her to open her mouth, revealing rows of sharp teeth, and proceeded to let out a predatory roar that ended illusion. Longhorn barely had enough time to scream before the Siren bit into his neck and tackled him into the water...

"Enjoy your meal, Aria! Now, I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted… don't try swimming through the moat to escape, otherwise the Sirens will end up having an early lunch break." Starlight continued nonchalantly as bubbles rose to the surface and the water was tinted red. "Now that that minor annoyance is out of the way, let me tell you a few things about your new home...”

The prisoners all just stared at her with full comprehension of where they stood in this prison. They were dirt… no, they were LESS than dirt. The moment they tried anything at all they would pay... dearly.

Author's Note

And the new chapter is here!

First off, I'd like to point out that this entire chapter wouldn't be possible without the contributions of the following users for helping write parts of this chapter:

wildprince15 (Dazzlings' section)

VampDash (Starlight's section)

Anyway, be sure to comment, and please support the Tropes Page.

Chapter 8: Lockdown

Fastlane was thrown into a cell by the Diamond Dog Guard. "Enjoy your stay, scumbag." He scoffed as he locked the door behind him and stormed off.

The Pegasus growled as he brushed the dirt from his mane and looked around, his cell was pretty standard, a simple sink, toilet, and a bunk bed… with someone already sleeping on the top.

"Just because I'm sharing a cell doesn't mean I have to like you." A female voice grumbled. "So just stay out of my way unless you want your hooves broken."

“Excuse me?" Fastlane said with a snort. "Do you even know who I am you arrogant no name-"

"I said CAN IT!" She snapped, throwing the covers off and glaring at him, revealing herself to be a light blue Pegasus with a lightning yellow mane, like Fastlane she too had an equality mark in the place of her cutie mark.

"Wait.... you're that mare.... uh.... Lightning Dust." Fastlane said as he stared at her. "You nearly killed Twilight and her friends before."

"Pfft, I wish I'd finished the job!" She scoffed, turning over and stretching. "Ever since she forced the us to abide by those damn reforms I couldn't even hold a decent job!"

"Tch. That's just like her. If you slighted her in the past then you're going to suffer until she sees otherwise. Arrogant bitch." Fastlane said with a growl.

“You said it, kid. Now I’m stuck in here for life, just like you.”

Fastlane took a moment to take in her words. “What do you mean, ‘just like me’?”

The mare sighed in exasperation. “Listen up and listen well, kid, ‘cause I'm not gonna repeat myself. You see that black collar around your neck?”

Fastlane’s right hoof immediately shot up to the collar. “Yeeh, why? Is it important or something?” He hesitantly.

It was then that Lightning Dust surprised him by… gripping her sides and laughing.

“Hey! You stop that! What the hell’s so funny hm!?”

Lightning Dust had to compose herself before she answered. “Ahahahaha! You really don’t know a thing, do you, newbie?!”

“Wha… what do you mean?”

“”Is it important” ? I can’t believe this guy! Of course it’s important!” Her demeanor changed back to serious in the span of a mere second. “That collar shows you just how badly you bucked up.”

“I… still don’t get it.”

“Oh my gosh! Were you even paying attention when they dragged your sorry flank in here?! If you didn’t notice, every prisoner has a collar and each one is a different color.” She explained and she hopped off her bed and gestured to her own. “Black collars, like you and me, are the worst of the worst. These are reserved only for those individuals who committed horrible crimes. And once they go in, they never come out.”

Fastlane gulped audibly. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

The mare gave him another serious look. “Well, get used to it, pretty boy. Because as long as these things are on, we’ll be in here for life, if we’re not put on the chopping block by morning.”

“Is… is shat so…?”

“Yep. Now, if all the distractions are out of the way, I’ll finish my explanation. So shut up and listen closely, cuz I hate repeating myself.” she stated firmly. “Y'see, Red collars are for the lesser criminals. Like thieves and the like. They only get around a year, maybe five.”

Fastlane nodded, taking this information in.

“Orange collars are for more serious crimes, like assault, and will usually net you around six to ten years tops.”

Fastlane hummed, needing to think that one over for a moment.

“Yellow collars are for criminals who need to have proof of their guilt before they can be sent to the place they all know they’re going anyway. Right. In. Here.”

“Wow. That’s pessimistic.” Fastlane said, before he could stop himself. He braced for the impact of whatever pain he was about to receive, but surprisingly, he didn’t feel anything hit him.

Instead, when he opened his eyes, he found the mare looking at him, her eyes shining with wetness.

“You don’t know the half of it, kid.”

At that moment, Fastlane decided not to pry into whatever it is this mare had dealt with while here.

The mare wiped her eyes and continued. “Anyway, Greens are for eleven to fifteen years, Blues are for sixteen to twenty years, Violets are for twenty years or longer and Indigos… indigos are for the very few of us who actually get to taste freedom a second time.”

Fastlane could only say one thing to the Lightning maned mare’s explanation.

“Sounds rough.”

“That’s the understatement of the year, kid. Just wait till you hear about the levels.” The mare said before turning back around to face the wall and rest. “What’s your name anyway?”

Faslane gulped again. First these infernal collars, now there were levels! This was ridiculous! But he would have to get used to it if he wanted to survive. He was here for life now after all.“My name’s...Fastlane.”

“Well then, Fastlane, get some rest. You’ll need it to survive the new hell you’ve been left to rot in.” Lightning stated bluntly before crawling back into her top bunk. “Goodnight, greenhorn.”

“Goodnight, Lightning Dust.” Fastlane said. Unfortunately, the snoring he heard told him that she had already fallen asleep. He sighed and got into the bottom bunk, going to sleep in a matter of minutes.

As Fastlane made his way into the exercise yard he glanced around nervously. From what he was able to find out from his cellmate, the prison was broken into five levels, each of them made for specific collars.

Level One was mainly for Reds and Oranges, minor misdemeanors who served shorter sentences.

Level Two was for the more serious misdemeanors, for Oranges and some Greens.

Level Three was for Yellows and Indigos.

Level Four was solely for Violets.

And lastly, Level Five was strictly for Black collars like him.

Trying to escape was practically a death sentence as well, for black collars like him anyway. Those creatures that patrolled the moat were only allowed to eat the black collars if they ever try to escape (they were already on the death penalty anyway). Any other color prisoners were immediately hypnotized by their songs and sent back to the prison with a stupid smile on their faces.

And even if you managed to get past them, it was an entire forest full plundervines that would capture and ensnare you the moment you got too close, draining you of your magic and leaving you easy to capture when the guards made their rounds…. even being a pegasus didn't make things easy for you since the spiked clouds were also enchanted to gravitate towards anyone not wearing royal guard armor, ensnaring you and shocking you into unconsciousness.

Needless to say, escape from the prison seemed almost impossible.

“Well, well, well…” A voice called out from behind him, bringing him out of his thoughts. “It looks like we got ourselves one of The Equestrian’s First!”

Fastlane turned to the source of the voice and saw a dark grey stallion with a white mane styled in a curly fashion. Before he could react, he was shoved to the ground. Upon looking up from his new position, he saw that the stallion wore a black collar.

‘I wonder what he did to get thrown in here?’

“What are you looking at?! Ya damn fossil!” Fastlane was quickly ripped from the ground and forced to stare into the stallion’s face. upon getting the closer look at him, he could see long scar ran from his forehead, all the way down to his left cheek. His left eye was blue, in contrast to his right red one. “Are ya lookin’ at my collar? Is that it? You curious? Wanna know how I got it?”

Before he could respond. Fastlane found himself dangerously close to his face. “I slit a lot of throats, mainly pathetic weaklings like you!” He shouted before throwing Fastlane to the ground. Hard. “Let’s get one thing straight here, newbie. I’m top dog here, alright? That means you don’t cross me, or any o’ my boys. Because if ya do...” The Stallion then bent down to get in Fastlane’s face. “Then I’ll have ta show ya how we deal with fresh meat around here. Ya got that, traitor?”

Not trusting his voice, Fastlane nodded rapidly.

The stallion smirked as he walked away, stopping only to look over his shoulder. “By the way, the name’s Silver Streak. Don’t wear it out.” He smirked as he walked away.

Fastlane dusted himself off, and stood, continuing to walk forward. “How dare he touch me. Scum.”

“Yeah, he is pretty bad. And full of himself.” Fastlane jumped and looked around, only to find Lightning Dust approaching from behind. “Howdy, Greenhorn. How’s your first day in lock-up?”

Fastlane scowled. “It’s horrible! How dare he threaten my life like that. How dare he-”

“-take out his anger on the stallion who’s organization turned Princess Twilight into a dictatorial tyrant?” Lightning finished for him.

The Pegasus shot of glare at his cellmate. “She’s always been-”

“Listen, Fastlane” She stated, cutting him off. “I hate the bitch as much as you do… a good amount of prisoners here do. But you…” She began, pleasing her hoof against his chest. “….you stand out the most for being part of Equestria's First. The ones connected to the ponies who killed her son and made her show her true colors. As far as everyone here is concerned, you’re a literal living, breathing, prime example of the phrase, ‘guilty by association’.”

As she explained this to him as the two of them walked over to one of more secluded areas, where she flew up to one of the lower bars sticking out of the wall and starting doing pull-ups. “And sadly the eyes of this screwed-up law, you are no better than he is. And going around acting like you are is going to get you nothing more than insulted, beat up, and spit at.”

Fastlane growled under his breath, as much as he hated to kowtow to the whims of these criminals, he knew for a fact that he had no choice if he wanted to stay in one piece. “So… what do I do?”

“Simple.” She grunted as she continued her workout. “You lay low. You keep your mouth shut, your head down, and your muzzle out of trouble. It’s the only way to survive in here.” She said she let go of the bar and landed in front of him. “Well, for now anyway.”

Fastlane blinked upon hearing that last part. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I’ve got a plan to escape this place, been working on it for a while now….” Lightning Dust whispered as she draped her right wing over his shoulder and lead him back towards the entrance to the yard. “I’ll tell you when we get back to our cell. For now, just follow my lead. I’ll keep you safe. Us black collars gotta stick together right?”

Fastlane nodded. “Right.”

Three Weeks Later...

Fastlane was surprised at how simple it was to just go about his day… barring the occasional scuffle with other prisoners. There was more than one incident where he bumped into a rather muscular prisoner and almost got his muzzle rearranged, but with some help from Lightning Dust, who’d become a sort of mentor to him in this hellish place, he was able to avoid a beating altogether… or at the very least come out of the more unavoidable fights with only a few bruises.

At the moment, the two were currently discussing Lightning Dust’s plan in a secluded part of the exercise yard, making sure to remain as quiet as possible to not attract any unwanted attention.

When Fastlane inquired as to why this had to be the case, Lightning Dust answered: “If others knew about our plan, then there would be problems, starting with annoying flankholes asking us to bust them out. Combine that with the uproar it would cause in the prison, and our hides are as good as tanned. Now listen here, Greenhorn, here’s what we’ll do...”

And so she went into detail… after detail… after detail. She was so thorough that Fastlane had to wonder if she was just waiting for the right time to put it all out there. He stopped her after a certain point.

“So, you want us to start a riot, without telling any of the other inmates?”

“Oh, we’ll tell one of them. Only one. Just...not yet.”

Fastlane nodded. “I understand. And...the armor is for?”

“There are magically enchanted vines and spiked clouds that will attack anypony not wearing it.” She explained.

Fastlane nodded again. “I see. And you’re sure those sea monsters in the mote will be asleep?”

“Apparently, at least one of them will be in the area we have to traverse.” She said, stretching her wings. “If there's more of them we'll have to improvise... now are you ready to do this or not?”

Fastlane closed his mouth and nodded, not wanting to get on her bad side so soon after they started to get along.

“Good. Now follow me, I know just who to ask...”

“Really?!” Fastlane whisper-yelled back at the mare. “This guy?!”

“He’s our only shot, so you’ll just have to deal with it!” She hissed back. “If you keep your mouth shut, and let me do the talking, we’ll be out of there before he can even look at you wrong! Now, just go, ya coward!”

Lightning pushed him by his flank, causing him to drag his hooves as he tried vainly to stop her whispering “Wait, no! Stop!” along the way.

“Look, we don't have time for second guesses! Now get. In. There!” She pushed him toward the door to Silver Streak’s cell, coming up next to him and gesturing for him to knock on the door. When he finally did so, he waited, stepping back to let Lightning do the talking, like she said.

Lightning Dust walked in and stood in the center of the cell, looking up at Silver Streak, who lay in the top bunk of his bed, sleeping comfortably on two mattresses instead of just one. Strangely enough he was the only one on this level without a roommate…. however upon noticing the dried-up blood on the wall Fastlane decided it was best that he didn't ask why.

“Yo, bonehead!” She yelled, causing him to turn over and sit up, rubbing his eyes.

“What’d’ya want!? Can’t ya see I’m-!” He cut himself off and glared when he saw who it was. “What are you doin’ here?”

“I’m your wake up call, now get outta bed, flankhole, and listen up.”

He flew down from his bunk and landed right in front of Lightning, standing at his full height and glaring down at her. Fastlane was surprised that she wasn’t the least bit scared.

“And just who are you to give me order-GAAK!” He was cut off when Lightning grabbed him by his fur and yanked him toward her, making sure they were eye to eye.

“I’m your worst nightmare. Now shut the buck up and listen before I put out your eye.” She let go and he seemed to back off at this. That is, until he saw Flastlane.

“What’s he doin’ here?”

“None o’ your damn business!” Lightning snapped back. “Or do you want a repeat of what happened last time you harassed him?”

He glared at her, but backed off. “Fine. What do ya want?”

“I came to make a deal.” She said, a smile forming on her face as she explained her plan….

“So you want me to start a prison riot…. what’s in it for me?” Silver Streak asked with an untrusting scowl on his face.

“Simple, freedom.” Lightning stated bluntly, much to Fastlane's surprise. “You help us, we all escape the hellhole and go our separate ways.”

“And how do I know I can trust you?” Silver Streak asked.

“You want out of here, right?” Lightning asked in a coy tone. “I'm giving you a way out on a silver platter, a chance like this doesn't come out very often. Do you really want to pass it up?

Silver Streak seemed to laugh at this. “Fine, I’ll help.” He said with a smile. “Anything to get me out of this place.”

Fastlane let out a sigh of relief that he didn't know he'd been holding while Lightning Dust smirked at him. “Good. Now let’s get started.”

Having to run a prison full of some of the worst criminals in the country took a toll on one even such as Starlight. It was much harder than having to run one single town. At least there, she had a way to brainwash her citizens into following her command (not that she was completely proud of that chapter of her life…). When all that was said and done, all Starlight wanted to do was just get a few more winks of shuteye before having to continue her job.

Of course, she couldn’t even get that when her door was busted open with a Griffin Guard screaming his head off. Growling, she threw her pillow at him and yelled. “Ugh, what is it?”

“It’s a riot, sir. The Black Collar prisoners started fighting and then all of a sudden the entire level became a war zone!” frantically explained. “It’s even started to spread to the other levels. The guards are doing what they can without lethal force, but-”

“Tell them they can use it, but not too much,” Starlight replied, covering her head with her pillow. “In fact, find out who caused this and threaten to throw them into the moat for the Sirens to feast on if they do it again. Now get out of my room before I throw you out!”

“Y-yes, Ma’am!” The Guard stuttered before running out of the office.

“Gah! Watch it you klutz! That’s my wing you’re holding!” Lightning Dust shouted as the two Guards accompanied her to the hospital wing. The riot had worked well, almost too well. Besides the cuts and bruises all over her body, she also had a dislocated wing.

Of course, Fastlane didn’t end up untouched himself. He had a black eye, cut lip, and a nasty bruise under his left wing. Whatever it was that Silver Streak had done to piss off that gang of earth ponies it seemed to have worked. Punches were flying, kicks were thrown, shivs were unleashed, and bodies dropping like flies into blissful unconsciousness or agonizing pain.

That’s when the guards came in and started putting things back to order. They used weapons, magic, and even threw cans of tear gas into the crowd. Fastlane was sure that at least a few were dead from the injuries or the lethal force that was applied in some cases. Those who were injured were sent to the various medical stations and hospital wings to get treatment. It took over an hour for Fastlane and Lightning Dust to get theirs since they were black collars and all. Three guards were accompanying them, while also keeping their swords to their backs, in order to make sure they didn’t try anything funny. After walking for twenty minutes, the group managed to finally make it to one of the hospital wings were a blue coated doctor was handing a cup of medicine to a moaning guard, holding his stomach on a bed.

“Now drink this so you can deal with that stomach bug. Honestly, I know your dedicated Mr. Fields, but that’s no reason to come to work sick.” The doctor said as he helped the sick stallion drink his medicine. “More injured prisoners?” He asked, noticing the others.

The Guard nodded. “Yeah, you got room?”

“Put them in the other two beds. I’ll be with them shortly.” He replied before taking the cup away from the Guard.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Black Collars.” one of the guards warned as he pushed to the two. Fastlane growled, but didn’t say anything as he sat down waiting to be treated.

“Now, could you please remove their collars? I need to check every part of their body and this includes the neck.” The Doctor said as he levitated some wrappings and needles. The guards grumbled as they proceed to do so, but gave them a look that warned them not to try anything.

Once this was done, the Doctor proceed to look at Lightning Dust’s wing while using his magic to wrap some medical tape around her bruises. “Hmm, looks to be just dislocated. I can pop it back in, but it'll be anything but pleasant.

“Please, just do it...” replied Lightning Dust, taking a deep breath to brace herself.

Spreading his magic more, the Unicorn doctor snapped it back in place with one powerful push.

Fastlane have to give her credit, despite the sound of bones being reconnected, Lightning didn’t flinch once.

“Feel better?” Asked the Doctor.

“Yup... good enough to do this!” she shouted as she swiftly struck his throat and then slammed his face into the wall, knocking him out.

“HEY-!”

Fastlane took this chance to punch the Guard next to him well he was distracted, rendering him unconscious and sending him to the ground as well. The other two had already drawn their swords and charged at them with roars of anger. Lightning easily dodged one blow before headbutting the guard, kicking his hoof out, and then wrapping her forelegs around his neck. Jumping, she then slammed his head down on the ground, the force of the blow banged his head against his helmet and knocked him out.

The last one tried to get Fastlane, but he grabbed a nearby chair and threw it the guard who swiped it away with his sword. This proved to be a big mistake as he flew forward and tackled the guard into the wall, knocking him out.

The sick Guard tried to scream for help, but Lightning quickly grabbed a nearby pillow and pressing it against his face, the Guard struggled to breath and escape his soft yet deadly embrace. His limbs shook and kicked in desperation before slowly losing energy and finally going silent. After making sure he was dead, Lightning put his head back on the pillow to make it look like he was sleeping peacefully.

“Next time warn me when we’re going to do that!” Fastlane growled as he started stripping one of the guards of their armor just as planned.

Snorting, Lightning proceed to do the same, although the armor was a bit bigger than her frame since the ones they'd subdued were male. “Well, it worked didn’t it? We got our collars off, and we got their uniforms.” The two proceeded to drag the unconscious bodies to a nearby closet and left them there before locking it. “Now all we need is to get our cutie marks and get out of here.”

“What about Silver Streak?” Fastlane asked, but the mare just smirked.

“The idiot managed to seriously wound a guard so they resorted to ganging up on him. Without his cutie mark he's not gonna to last long.” Lightning shrugged. “Easier for us anyway, the meathead served his purpose, and now we get to leave him in the dust.”

Fastlane smirked in return. “You were always planning on double-crossing him, weren't you?.”

Lightning simply looked over her shoulder and give him and knowing grin.

“Right, so where do we go? The vault still has our cutie marks.” Fastlane pointed out. “We don’t have the means to open it, and we can’t just go to the Warden to ask for it….”

“Already ahead of you.” Lightning Dust walked over to the nearby desk of the unconscious doctor and went looking through some paper files until she pulled out two sheets. “You got family on the other side? Close friends?”

“My mom and my sister... they...” He stated as he closed his eyes. “They… they all but disowned me after my arrest.”

“Well, good enough. Here you go. Fill that in,” Lightning Dust replied as she handed him a piece of paper before working on her own.

“A... death certificate?” Fastlane asked in confusion.

“I heard that deceased prisoners get their cutie marks added back to their flanks before their bodies are shipped to their families. We’re going to just make the vault Guards think we’re dead before taking ours back.” Lightning relied, smirking. “By the time they realize something ain't right we’ll be long gone.”

After filling out their sheets, the two calmly walked through the halls side by side, doing their best to keep their faces hidden from others, while these particular helmets had armored masks the difference in size was a little hard to deal with. Thankfully, nopony gave them a second glance but everytime one higher rank came along they were forced to salute. Fastlane was sure they were going to get caught but it seemed Fausticorn was watching over them.

Soon enough, they arrived at the vault. Fastlane had to admit it looked quite impenetrable from the outside. It would take a massive amount of magic to open it, or even break it open. One of the six guards outside of it saw the two approaching and halted them. “Can I help you two?”

“We need two cutie marks from the vault,” Lighting replied, professionally as she handed the two death sheets. “Prisoners Lightning Dust and Fastlane. Got shanked during the riots. Poor bastards. Families wanted them with their cutie marks before returned to them for burial service.”

“I’ve been getting a few of these all day,” the guard sighed as he nodded to the others. Five of them lit their horns, taking out a set of glowing keys before levitating them to five different locks. In unison, they turned them, unlocking the large vault that slowly inched enough for one of them to enter.

A few minutes later, he arrived with two cutie marks that made Fastlane’s heart nearly sore. He didn’t realize it until now, but he really missed his cutie mark. He got a look at Lightning Dust’s and wasn’t surprised to find that it was a bolt of lighting striking three golden stars. The guard handed it over to the two ponies. “Here you go. Give them a good spit in the face for me after you give them over.”

“Sure thing, sir.” Fastlane answered as the two saluted and walked away.

Once they were as far as they could go, the two noticed a set of bathrooms nearby and nodded before entering one. Finding an empty stall, Fastlane took of his chest and flank armor before opening the jar holding his cutie mark. In an instant, it returned to his flank and he felt a warmth he had felt since he broke his school’s field record. It was nostalgic in its way as he sighed in relief. He felt... whole.

Putting his armor back on, he exited the bathroom where Lighting Dust was waiting for him. She looked more alive herself and there was a fire in her eyes that was waiting to burn. Before she could say anything, a voice cried out. “HEY!”

The two snapped to attention as a Lieutenant ranked guard walked over, glaring at the two. “What are you two doing here. Aren’t you supposed to be on patrol?!”

“Y-yes, sir! We just need a bathroom break, sir!” Fastlane quickly answered, gulping.

“You can piss in your armor for all I care. We are to work as one in this prison or else we’ll have chaos just like that riot not to long ago. Now follow me!” He shouted as the two of them glanced at each other. Lightning nodded to follow seeing as they had no choice now and proceeded to walk behind the Lieutenant.

As Lightning and Fastlane walked behind the Lieutenant, they shared a knowing look as they slowly me their way to his side, with Lightning on the right and Fastlane on the left. The moment the two were close enough, Fastlane quickly slammed his hoof into the Lieutenant's side, temporarily stunning him, Lightning then quickly tackled him to the ground and and one quick motion put him in a sleeper hold.

"Stop fighting it. Stop fighting it you flank kisser." Lightning sneered as she kept the hold on. The Lieutenant kept trying to struggle but she already had the advantage of knocking him over and having the breath knocked out.

Fastlane quickly turned his attention to the sounds echoing from down the hall, he knew for a fact that that riot wasn't going to keep the rest of the guards distracted for long, and with their Lieutenant now missing, that would raise even more alarms. He was brought out of thoughts when he heard the Lieutenant's body slump to the floor. Looking back to his comrade he saw her struggling to hoist him over her back. "We need to hide the body, and quickly!"

"Oh that's a brilliant idea genius." Lightning sneered as the body's weight was difficult to maneuver. "You gonna to help me move the body or are you just going to stand there and spout the obvious?!" She snapped back.

Flinching at her tone, Fastlane quickly ran over to help her, draping his right hoof over his shoulders and carrying him towards the bathroom.

The two shoved the Lieutenant into one of the stalls, locking it from the inside as to not arise too much suspicion before quickly making a break for the lower levels, carefully making their way towards one of the balconies overlooking the moat.

"Alright then. I say we-"

"Hang on chief.... look at the rock over there." Lightning said as she pointed to the nearby rock. There laying perfectly still was a purple scaly looking beast that had some pony traits but felt... wrong. "It's their guard shark... or merpony... whatever it's called..." She whispered as gestured for him to follow her. The two slowly hovered over the edge before descending down towards the surface, which was blanketed in a thick mist. "Now we need to sneak by quietly and-"

"Aria~! Time to wake uuuup~!" A new voice called out, startling the two. The Pegasi duo quickly turned their attention to another one of the creatures, her scales cyan in color, swimming towards the rock.

“Mmf, goway...” The purple one, Aria, groaned but refused to budge from her spot. Her back to the blue one that was swimming up to her. “Leemee lone….”

"Come on Ari! It's my turn to be the super cool guard! Please?!"

Fastlane internally panicked at this, they were switching guard duty, which meant the purple one would be stationed close to their escape route!

Lightning, noticing his discomfort, quickly whisper into his ear. "We've got to keep those two distracted long enough for us to get the cross, got any ideas?"

".....we could summon up a small scale storm and use hail to distract them." Fastlane said with a smirk on his face.... however Lightning looked annoyed.

"We can't use weather like that...." Lightning whispered. “Not in this scenario anyway…” She then looked nearby and saw a average sized rock. "And since this is mist, as thick as it is we'd need an abundance of it to even make one functioning cloud... which would take away our cover and just draw more attention to us." She added she picked up the rock got into a throwing position. "On my signal, get ready to fly...."

"Got it...." Fastlane mumbled. Lightning then prepped the rock and give it a good chuck at Aria's head.

*CONK*

“OW!”

"Go now." She whispered and quickly took off with Fastlane following close behind.

Aria growled as she nursed the bump on her head and turned towards her innocent looking sister, who had the biggest smile on her face.

“....wasn't me this time!” Sonata shouted before frantically swimming away.

"....I'M GONNA KILL YOU SONATA!" Aria snarled as she kneeling dived into the water and started chasing after her.

The two quickly rushed through the forest of plundervines, the armor they had stolen glowed as some of the vines immediately retreated into the ground or vacated the area around them, actively avoiding them as they landed.

Fastlane breathed a sigh of relief as he glanced back at the two bickering sisters. “Almost free…” He whispered.

"Not yet." Lightning said as she pointed to the guards nearby. "If those two spot us, we get sent back to deal with that riot..."

“....the last stretch is always the longest...." He mumbled, though Lightning didn't seem to notice. "So what is the plan?”

"Wait for it...." Lightning smirked, as she watched the guards talking amongst themselves... only for them both to be interrupted as a Unicorn guard rushed towards them.

"Both of you! We need assistance in the black collar sector, there's a riot in progress!"

"I swear they don't have enough guards down there. ON OUR WAY!" One of the guards said as he and his partner began following the others.

Lightning then motioned for Fastlane to follow her, not wasting a second the two flew over the wall, taking care to avoid the spiked clouds.

'Freedom at long last!’ He thought to himself as they quickly flew away from the prison.

"Alright Greenhorn, you're up." Lightning smirked as they quickly took to the air. Not having to worry about the guards now that they were out of range, they soared above the clouds. "I got us out of there, now it's your turn to get us someplace we can lay low."

Flastlane breathed a sigh of relief as he hovered in place for a few seconds. "...I know a place where we can stay under the radar before we make our way to the closest hideout." He stated. "We'll have to head to the Smoky Mountains first, we'll traverse the caves and then make our way North from there." He explained as they continued to fly. "It'll take us some of the week, possibly three days if we travel through the night."

"Well.... ten bits says I get there before you." Lightning said with a coy smile. "Think you're up for a little race then Fastlane? Or are ya too slow to keep up?"

And with that, the two pegasi immediately flew off towards the mountains, leaving the prison and eventually Twilight's Empire far behind...

Back at the Prison, Starlight stared at the Cutie Mark Vault.... or more specifically the two empty slots that once held the marks of two specific prisoners. Behind her was the Lieutenant, accompanied by three Royal Guards.

After a few more minutes of silence, she inhaled deeply, exhaled, and turned her attention to them. "Have all the prisoners been detained?"

"Yes ma'am.... well all but two." One of the guards said with a nervous tone. "If you want we can send out a search party and track them down-”

"No." She stated firmly as she turned around, a neutral expression on her face. "I want you to three start inspecting the prison for any possible escape routes. I wish to speak with Lieutenant alone."

"Understood ma'am." The other two guards head off while the Lieutenant stands at attention.

"So then. What is it you wish to talk about ma'am? Is it the little experiment you and Twilight are planning?"

"From what we've been able to find out, Equestria's First have been getting more... verbose and bold with their actions as of lately..." Starlight explained as her turned her attention back to the empty slots. "We need to find out what they're up to..."

"And that's why you had that little spy planted. correct?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "You know... did you ever consider that maybe she might consider Equestria's First more of a fit for them instead of us? Maybe turn on us in some way?"

“That's the problem my dear friend, you fail to see the bigger picture.” Starlight explained has she trotted past him and out of the room with him following behind. “What you see as uncertainty, I see as opportunity…. she pretty much has her reputation in shambles and is desperately trying to rebuild it, if she does this for us, she gets a clean slate, her record wiped clean. Something that a group of terrorists could never truly offer her."

"And you would know that why?" He asked her, his concern was barely hidden but Starlight didn't seem to notice. "I mean just out of general curiosity of course."

"At the moment her reputation is that of a Wonderbolt who got so careless and reckless that she almost got six civilians killed..." Starlight explained as the made their way down the hallway. "...said civilians being the Elements of Harmony themselves. She really can't afford to sink and lower. I should know... I interviewed her myself."

"....very well madame." The Lieutenant said with a salute, he then marched on out as Starlight glanced back at the vault.

Starlight then sighed as she teleported to her office, one of the few rooms located at the top of the purple tower. She glanced at the the balcony, there was always something about the view that allowed her to calm her nerves...

"Any reason you felt the need to barge into my office?" As asked without turning around.

"Oh just so I could see if I was the one that finally managed to scare you a bit." A voice said with a deep chuckle. "You always think you see everything coming, don't ya hm?"

"I simply try to stay five steps ahead..." The unicorn said as she stepped out onto the balcony. "Surely someone like you can appreciate that method of thinking, hmm?"

"Oh sure. I mean that's how SHE acted after all but of course it's fair to use a similar tactic." Silver Streak said as he stepped out of the shadows.

Starlight narrowed her eyes at that statement as she glanced over her shoulder. "Well, it all depends on the method and intent now, doesn't it?"

"So they all claim." The stallion said as he licked his lips. "Now then. Is there anything else? Anyone I can have some fun with or anything?"

"Now that you mention it...." Starlight began as she trotted towards her desk, levitating what appeared to be an envelope with a crescent moon symbol on it out of her drawer. "Princess Luna seems to need you for a certain assignment…. is that satisfactory?”

Silver Streak arched a brow as he took the envelope and opened it... only for his smile to get even wider as he read the letter. His entire body was then bathed in emerald flames, revealing his insectoid appearance.

“Oh yes… this will do nicely….” Stag smirked.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait... don't worry, we'll be seeing our two escapees later down the line...

As usual, please contribute to the Tropes Page.

Next Chapter: Stag takes the stage... with an unexpected ally...

Chapter 9: The Order (Part 1)

As Celestia's sun began to set, a train came to a halt at Baltimare station, steam exhaust quickly engulfed the area as various Ponies, Griffins, Zebras, and Diamond Dogs either rushed out of the coaches or struggles through the crowds to get in.

In the midst of the hustle and bustle, a Pegasus mare quickly flew over the crowd and towards the exit. This Pegasus, in particular, had a more slender, thin build, a peach pink coat, a bowl-cut white mane with sky blue highlights, sky-blue eyes, and her cutie mark was that of an open clam with a glowing pearl inside.

Weaving through the skies amongst other fliers the pegasi soon flew across the city to a local cafe, landing as softly as she could. As she entered she couldn't help but stop and take a deep breath, inhaling the rich scents of coffee and other assorted sweets that engulfed the whole place.

She smiled as she sat down at a table and looked at a menu, which displayed various delicious choices.

"May I take your order?"

The Pegasus looked up from the menu as the waiter approached her. He was a short male Griffon with amber feathers and deep brown eyes. "Well... I do have quite the sweet-tooth today. What would you recommend, handsome?" She casually asked, giving the Griffon a playful wink.

"Well um.... we have some delicious Lattes on sale today." The Griffon stammered as he looked at the nearby special boards, caught off guard by her sudden attempt at flirting. "And the doughnuts are at half price today. I-I prefer jelly ones."

"Hm..... then I will have a Caramel Latte with some jelly-filled doughnuts." The Pegasus replied with a smile. The Griffon nodded as he quickly wrote the order down on his notepad before making his way back inside. "Oh, and one more thing?" The Pegasus called out, getting the waiter's attention. "Could you be a dear and put some of that delicious caramel syrup on the donuts as well?" She asked while batting her eyes flirtatiously, causing the Griffon's feathers to ruffle as he blushed for a moment.

Regaining his composure he cleared his throat. "Sure thing ma'am!" He smiled before rushing back inside and heading towards the kitchen.

As she waited for her order she pulled a book out of her saddlebag and opened it up to the bookmarked page. Occasionally she glanced at the passing civilians and couldn't help but notice certain ponies, specifically ones with children, were shooting wary glances at random individuals while keeping their offspring close. She arched a brow at this, while it was common for parents to be protective of their young, these ponies seemed to be on edge to the point where it looked like they expected the sidewalk itself to open up and swallow their foals.

The Pegasus shrugged at this and turned the page... however, her casual reading was interrupted as she heard a few mares gossiping at the table behind her. "...and just recently Amethyst told me she's thinking of moving, and honestly I can't blame her. What with all the foals and colts going missing lately." One of them said with a shiver. "It's just... horrible to think of."

"What kind of freak would think of doing something like that to children?"

"Probably someone horrid I'm sure. Oh dear, what if it's a cult of some kind? I mean I read about-"

The Pegasus Mare slowly tuned them out when it became clear all their gossip was eventually just going to end in theories or just mass guessing. She was brought out of her own thoughts as a waitress, a female Zebra with her mane styled like a ponytail, approached her table carrying her order. "Here you are ma'am, one caramel latte and three jelly-filled donuts with extra caramel syrup!" She started in a perky tone as she placed the plates and mug on the table before handing her the receipt as well.

"Thank you kindly." The Pegasus smiled back before taking a moment to inspect said receipt. She then fished through her saddlebags for a moment before handing the waitress 45 bits.

As the waitress left the Pegasus glanced around before turning over her receipt... and smiling at the address written down. After quickly memorizing it she tore the receipt in the tiny little shreds before tossing them into the trash and enjoying her snack...

Today was going to be a busy day...

Luna's Moon was illuminating the night sky by the time the Pegasus finally arrived at her apartment. Right after fishing out her keys and unlocking the door, she sighed in relief as she stepped inside. "FINALLY...." She said as the door slammed shut behind her... with her voice becoming much deeper than it originally was. Her body immediately erupted into a green flame as her disguise faded away… revealing a black chitin skinned bug-like pony. A changeling.

"So let's see what's on today's agenda..." Stag smirked as he locked the door and made his way to the only room that had any lights on.

Inside was a single desk and chair, a pinboard on each wall, and many, many, many newspapers and photographs. The headline of each newspaper was focused solely on the disappearances of certain foals in various cities, while the pictures themselves were of certain ponies that had been seen in the area right before the disappearances occurred.

Stag sat down at the table and brushed aside a few of the photos before picking up a folder, his eyes narrowing upon seeing two words:

The Order.

Out of all the Anti-Progress groups Stag despised, they were at the top of his list (Equestria's First were a close second). While this particular organization was somewhat like a more "internalized" version of the others, they were more covert in their actions, yet at the same time more bold in their stubborn racism and bigotry.

The Order was very notorious for their firm beliefs in the "ways of the old", ideals that had been abandoned long after the founders of Equestria came together. The belief that "races shouldn't mix" and "foals should only be raised by same tribe-parents"... as such they had began abducting children from parents that they deemed "unfit" (mixed-race couples) or "impure" (same-gender couples).

"You ponies… you disgust me." Stag whispered with a snarl, glaring at the board. "It's one thing to go after those old enough to defend themselves and can make their own choices. But you go after fillies and colts, children unable to truly understand what's going on, as if this makes you strong? Well... let's see what happens when you deal with someone who doesn't care what your status is or how 'noble' your pathetic stance is." He snarled as he shifted back into his "Seabreeze" disguise before packing a suitcase full of the necessities to make his target more… "cooperative" when he questioned her.

He spared a brief glance at the photo at the center of the pinboard, the Earth pony in said picture had a dark red coat, blue eyes, a curly vermillion mane with pink highlights that covered her right eye, and her cutie mark was a pink lotus flower surrounded by several musical notes.

She was his target, a mare by the name of Silk Serenade. According to his intel, out of all of the members they had identified, she was spotted in most of the areas when certain foals went missing. He was willing to bet his entire salary that she had been the one tasked with tricking innocent children into trusting her with a few sweet sounding words.

"You I'm going to have fun seeing how you break," Seabreeze said with a smile as "she" took her leave to "visit" her target. "It's always the pretty ones that squeal the loudest..."

It had been a half an hour trip since her target resided in the eastmost section of the city, but thankfully this made her job slightly easier since working in the more quiet parts of the neighborhood meant to less possible interruptions.

Eventually, she arrived at her target's residence. The lights were out... yet the window to the living room was wide open, odd.

'Either she knows I'm coming and she's baiting me... or she's too arrogant to be worried about her own safety.' She thought as she climbed in through the window, however, she was met with an unexpected sight. Several chairs had been flipped over, the table on its side with food and liquids littering the floor, the obvious signs of a struggle.

'...or, somepony abducted my target... great.'

She sighed before quickly slipping in and closing the window behind her, no need for an extra draft after all. She quickly scanned the room thoroughly to make sure that any possible investigators hadn't already arrived ahead and contaminated the scene. Any strand of evidence could help her figure out what happened and who took the target. She began inspecting the area, given the positioning of the overturned chair and table, it was fairly easy to deduce that her target had just sat down for dinner before she was ambushed and abducted. Glancing in the direction the chair had fallen, whoever had ambushed her had dragged her into the foyer. 'The shattered vase is the only damaged object here, so this is where the struggle must've ended... and yet there's no sign of any blood, so the kidnapper didn't use lethal force… maybe the used ether?'

Looking over a few more spots she also noticed that the perpetrator didn't seem to have any other way in other than the window. But from the way this all happened there was no magical residue so it ruled out a Unicorn as the culprit and no possible feathers of any ruled, so not a Pegasus. An Earth Pony did this... but to climb THIS far up? It seemed rather impossible for it to happen. 'And yet despite that, there seems to be no other evidence.... so an Earth Pony walks into a room to kidnap someone..... maybe she's being taken away to be silenced… or grew a conscience.... doubt it but anything could happen.'

However, as she made her way back to the living room, something caught her eye, something hidden by the shadows. One of the fragments of glass that lay scattered across the floor had something caught on it.

A tuft of hair.

She quickly shifted her species to that of a Unicorn and carefully levitated it off the glass, plucking the hair out and inspecting it...

"Interesting..."

"Wakey-wakey~!"

*SPLASH*

"AGHAA!!" Silk Serenade gasped as she was startled awake by a splash of ice-cold water. The mare shook her head as she tried to move... only to realize she was tied to a chair. "Wh-what the..... what in Tartarus?!" Silk yelped as she struggled to get free but to no avail. "H-hey what's going on?! Is this some kind of sick prank or something?! Because it's not funny! Let me go!"

"Oh, this is no prank, ma'am..." A deep voice stated.

Silk looked up to see a pony wearing a hooded cloak and a ski mask holding an empty bucket. "I pull pranks when I want to make ponies laugh. And right now?" The masked Pony leaned in close. "...I want to make you scream."

"...pl-please, I don't even know what you want." Silk begged as they seemingly started sniffing her. "Just... just let me go and.... and I can pay you! Y-yeah you look like a pony who wants payment. Just tell me how much and I'll double it-no TRIPLE it! Just please don't hurt me."

"Hurt you? I haven't even started yet you cow." The Masked Pony snarled at her. "I'm gonna ask you something... and if it's a lie or I just plain don't like a thing about it? I'm gonna make sure you HURT."

Silk gulped, her eyes darting around, desperately hoping there was some way to escape this lunatic. Sadly for her all she knew was that she was in someone's basement, it was very likely that no one would be able to find her in time if this pony got impatient. "W-what do you want to know?" She asked nervously, deciding that her best option at the moment was to stall if only to avoid incurring her wrath.

"OH! Well see that wasn't too hard wasn't it?" The pony said as they brought out a chalkboard and pulled out a stick of chalk from… somewhere. "Now then. You're going to tell me exactly WHERE your little buddies are and where they're keeping the good little fillies and colts… or else, this is about to become murder on your ears." They grabbed the chalk... and with a long drawn out drag let loose an almost UNHOLY sound from the chalkboard.

Silk gritted her teeth in agony as her ears were assaulted by the screeching noises. "STOP! FOR THE LOVE OF FAUST, STOP!!" She screamed in aggravation as she struggled against her binds. The pony abruptly stopped, earning a sigh of relief from their captive. "Pl-please... you don't realize the mistake you're making..."

".... MY mistake?" They said with a snarl as they got up in her face. "MY mistake?! You kidnap CHILDREN. You take them from their loving families in the middle of the night and act like this is some noble duty! YOU'RE the one who's too stupid to realize her mistake." They took a deep breath and backed off, picking up the chalk again. "Now. WHERE. Are. The Children?"

A feeling of dread spread throughout Silk's mind as she realized that this pony knew about that particular line of work, despite this she quickly attempted to regain her composure. "N-now l-listen, I've only served under the Order, I-I'm not as high on the totem pole as you think!" She hastily explained, hoping that downplaying her involvement with the group would at the very least trick her captor into thinking she wasn't worth interrogating. "I m-mean, we've been ordered to liberate so many children, we couldn't possibly be expected to remember them all-OW!"

The pony gave her leg a quick stab with what looked like a REALLY heavily sharpened candy cane on their left foreleg. "See, you REALLY should stop lying or downplaying how involved you are... I've been watching you... studying you... I know you're much higher then you're trying to imply. In fact, I think you're one of the worst ones... lowering those poor children's guard... trying to make them think that they're living in something so horrific that they should want to leave because YOU say so. Oh, I've studied you for a while you pompous NAG."

'This weirdo was STALKING me!?' The Earth Pony thought to herself, mentally panicking upon realizing that she was in hot water. "L-l-let's not be getting ahead of ourselves! I-I wasn't lying when I said we've liberated many children! We have many safe houses for the foals, but I'm not in charge of keeping track of them all!" She verbally back peddled, hoping to buy herself more time, or at the very least manipulate her captor to an extent.

"...alright. Since you don't seem to get the picture." The masked pony said with a snarl before unfurling a small leather fold. Within the fold was a number of sharp objects, one of which was a curved sharp knife. "I'm gonna start cutting the moment you tell me a lie now. So skip the bullshit. You're going to tell me where those safehouses are and how many children are in it. If you resist then it's on YOU how much the cut's gonna hurt."

Silk bit her lower lip in terror, she was running out of options here. 'Start small, give her a minor location.' She thought to herself. Sure they'd lose a few foals, but it wasn't amongst the more valued ones scheduled for the big move. "W-well, w-we have at least thirteen foals being kept in our safehouse half a mile away from Hollow Shades…"

"See? Now we're getting there. Wasn't that easy?" The pony said with a calm attitude. Silk relaxed herself a little bit. Maybe this won't get too bad, they looked easy enough to mislead at least. "Now then... tell me everything you know about that safe house in Hollow Shades. Where the foals are being kept and what kind of guards are watching over them. After all, you seem to know quite a bit about it."

"It's hidden under a false hill close to a valley, there are at least two entrances, one hidden in a cave behind some trees and the other that leads to the bottom of the valley." She began, keeping her composure. "The foals are all kept in a special room three floors down. We only stationed eight Pegasi there because of how far off the main path it is..."

"Hm... alright then… now tell me about the one I know for a fact you've gone to. The one hidden in Ghastly Gorge?" The pony asked, holding the knife over their right eye, the blade reflecting her now once more ruined composure.

"...wh-what safehouse? I-I don't know about a safe house th-AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" She screamed as the pony her gave a quick slash on her right hoof.

"DON'T LIE TO ME! I hate, hate, hate, HATE liars!" The pony snapped with a previously unseen rage. "SO! Let's try this AGAIN! What about the one in Ghastly Gorge?!"

Silk started shivering again, this was bad. That particular safe house was one The Order was very proud of, mainly because it had been set up sometime before Twilight established her Empire, and had gone unnoticed afterward. "Okay, okay! We set that one up near the center so that the Quarry Eels would drive any intruders out of their territory, and have specific tunnels structured with metals they can't burrow through for safe travel!"

"Mind telling a concerned citizen what kind of security is in there?" The hooded pony asked with a false calming voice. "I mean it would help do a good and noble thing after all." They said, lowering a curved knife around her leg. "So then... tell me. What kind of guards am I looking at, besides the Eels."

"F-fifteen Pegasi, ten Earth Ponies, and twenty Unicorns." She explained, her eyes following the knife the entire time."I-I don't know for sure, but I think they've been planning to cast a spell that agitates the Eels, driving them closer to Princess Twilight's Empire…"

"Hm... I thought this would be more fun." They said in an agitated tone. "I mean the stories all make it seem like it'd take longer for someone to crack. But then that just speaks more of how cowardly you are. In that case..... what's so special about Manehattan then? After all, you and a few others seem to really like hanging out up there."

Silk could've sworn she felt her heart stop. 'Why Manehattan of all places?!' She thought to herself. 'No one is supposed to even suspect that place!'

"I... I don't know what you mean-AAAHHH!" She shrieked as her captor slashed her right cheek.

"FINALLY a lie. You know I'd be fine getting all the info but I was wondering when I'd get a chance to play with my toys." They said with a dark chuckle. "Now then. Let's try-"

"I SWEAR! I swear on my li-AAAAH!" Another slash this time across her left hoof with the knife then digging in a bit.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Her captor scoffed as they pressed the blade against her neck. "Your life is already on the line, but don't think I won't make your trip to the grave as painful as possible..."

"Pl-please, I'm not lying this time!" Silk protested as the pony made their way to a table covered by a cloth.

"Oh don't give me that bullshit. I know you're lying." They said as they looked through their tools. "I know you after all. You wouldn't buckle down this way when you're telling the truth. You do it when you're lying... and see now? Now, this gets FUN." They turned around and Silk could only stare in abject horror at what she saw in the masked pony's grip. "Now here's where things get entertaining... for me at least." The pony said as they casually raised a rusty icepick over their head. "Now this will only hurt... a lot but only for a few seconds!" They said as they slammed the ice pick into her leg, earning another agonized scream from Silk.

"OH FAUST! FAUST PLEASE WAKE ME UP! THIS HAS TO BE A BAD DREAM! PLEASE LET THIS BE A HORRIBLE DREAM!" Silk screamed with utter agony and fear. The pony only snarled as they twisted it.

"Y'know, two loving parents thought the same thing when their foals went missing..." The pony growled as they yanked the icepick out of her leg, Silk could only groan in pain with tears streaming from her eyes. "...all because your lot couldn't be bothered to leave their family alone."

"I was SAVING them! Their parents were unfit! How could a unicorn understand what an Earth Pony needs or a Pegasus know how to handle a Unicorn foal?! I... I-I..."

Whatever else Silk was gonna say died in her throat as she saw the glaring eyes of her captor through their mask. "You really want to be digging that grave deeper? Because trust me. I can help with that."

Silk shivered at their tone as the pony grabbed the back of her chair and dragged her over to the opposite end of the room. "Y'know, I can't help but wonder how important that particular safe house must be if you're this dedicated to keeping it a secret..." They mumbled as Silk was dragged in front of a tub full of water, the hooded pony tipping the chair over just enough to push her close to the waters surface. "...and just how much it'll take for you to finally spill the beans..."

"....wh-wh-what are-" Silk started before the pony forced her head under, humming a little song as they held her head down.

"So giggle at the ghosties, chuckle at the spookies..." Were some of the lyrics they hummed before letting her back up air a few seconds later. "So then, ready to talk? Or do you need to take another long drink?"

"I don't... know... anything..." Silk gasped between coughs.

"Aaaand back into the drink we go!" They sighed before shoving her head back into the water, their captive struggling and thrashing in fear despite being bound.

They kept her under for a while longer before pulling her back up again. "You ready to talk yet you baby snatcher?" They asked with a sneer.

"Please! Please I don't know anythiiiiing!" Silk whimpered after coughing up the water that was in her lungs.

"I wonder if you just get off on being dunked you-"

"You know that's not a helpful way to handle these things." A voice said from behind the masked pony. The pony immediately pulled a knife out from under their cloak and hurled it at the intruder... only for said intruder to catch it with her magic seconds before it hit her face. "Tsk tsk tsk, such a rash reaction..." Seabreeze sighed as she stepped out of the shadows.

Upon seeing the Unicorn, Silk immediately felt a glimmer of hope. "Please! You have to help me! This Pony is completely insane-" The feeling of the knife pressing against her skin quickly silenced her.

"Considering not many know this place's location and you're doing nothing to clarify who you are right now? I say it's a very obvious choice." The pony said with a glare before pulling another knife and putting it to Silk's throat. "If you're here for her then I'm sorry but get in line.... and if you're here to rescue her then trust me, you won't get far."

"Oh relax, honestly I'm impressed. You've done about half of my job for me..." Seabreeze smirked as she casually inspected the knife held in her aura. "...but, while I understand your need for information, your torture methods are somewhat lacking..."

"Is that right? I mean how is this not scaring her?" The pony asked, her voice filled with a hint of anger but also some real confusion.

"It's simple. You're going to make her say ANYTHING to get her to make you stop doing this.... so how about I help you out." The Unicorn chuckled as she approached her.

Any hope Silk had of being rescued was immediately shattered the moment she said that. 'I'm going to die here...' She thought to herself, tears streaming down her cheeks as she was forced back into her chair.

Seabreeze cast a spell on Silk's injuries, healing her up before she turned back towards the captor. "Just to make sure doesn't bleed out… now then, let's try MY little idea... I call it: Cooked pony."

Silk's widened as she heard those words and she quickly attempted to flee, pitifully throwing herself off the chair and flopping onto the ground, attempting to crawl away like a caterpillar. The hooded Pony tilted their head at this as they casually stepped on one of the loose ropes attached to her binds, preventing her from getting too far. "...I'm not familiar with that..."

"Oh, it's a fun little thing." The Unicorn said before leaning in, their voices barely above a whisper and much too quiet for Silk to hear. The cloaked pony then started giggling at hearing this little plan and nodded.

"Ooooh. Oh, that sounds REALLY fun. I'm in."

Silk was immediately lifted up by Seabreeze's magic and promptly placed on top of a table on her stomach. Her legs were then stretched out and the ropes were tied to the legs of the table. "Originally I had plans to hang her from the ceiling, but make do with what you can I suppose..." She heard the Unicorn chuckle.

"And you're sure this method is guaranteed to make her talk? The hooded Pony asked.

"Oh trust me. By the end she'll sing like a canary." Seabreeze replied before leaning in and getting a good long whiff of Silk's hair. "Aaaah. Apple Cinnamon... I love that smell."

Silk shuddered as the hooded pony rolled their eyes. "Way to make it creepy..." The hooded pony scoffed before the Unicorn casually levitated a rather large suitcase into the room. As she opened it, the captive Earth pony heard the hooded pony gasp. "Is... is that a blow torch?"

"I did tell you it was called "cooked pony" right? You didn't miss that part?" The Unicorn asked in a sarcastic tone. "I assumed you knew I had fire with me or something to start one."

"I assumed you'd be using magic...." The nodded pony stated as Silk started struggling again. Smirking under their mask, they turned their attention to the thrashing Earth Pony. "So... care to give our guest a heads up on what's coming next?"

"Oh, it's rather simple." Seabreeze said with a chuckle. "You see.... this torch? It's burning at a temperature of 1,430 degrees celsius. It's enough to turn flesh into butter. And they say you can even smell it.... oh it's a delectable smell." She explained with a glint in her eyes... an almost green one. "And all you have to do to earn this amazing smell is to tell a lie or a half-truth and trust me... I'll know."

Silk was sweating buckets as the Unicorn trotted behind her. "Please... please have merc-"

"Ah-ah-ah, we're way past the begging point..." The hooded pony interrupted.

The moment the Unicorn was out of Silk's line of sight again, she reached into the suitcase and levitated out two plates, one had a slab of raw meat in it, and the other had a single popsicle.

"Last chance Silk," The hooded pony whispered. "You gonna spill the beans or not?"

"P-please I... I don't KNOW anything else!" Silk lied, hoping that her panic and fear could convince them to back off and not go through with the torture. "L-let me go and I swear I won't tell an-"

"Mmm. Sounds like a lie. I think she deserves to feel a burn." Sea breeze smirked.

"Don't worry though, it won't hurt... not at first anyway." The Unicorn continued as she ignited the blowtorch while holding it over the meat. "Y'see, the flames are so hot that they'll sear the nerve endings shut, killing them. You'll immediately go into shock... and then all you'll feel is... cold."

"Well, I sure am learning a lot tonight..." The hooded pony chuckled as Seabreeze levitated the popsicle over Silk's back before lowering it at the same time as the blowtorch. "Isn't science fun, Silky?"

"Wait! I don't-AAAAGGGHHH!!" She screamed as she felt a cold sensation hit her back while the sound and smell of burning flesh assaulted her ears and nose.

"Oooooh! Just hear that meat SIZZLE! Just sounds downright juicy, doesn't it? And delicious too!" Seabreeze cackled in delight. "I mean after all it IS you that's cookin'! So then. Care to try your little lie one more time?"

"Please say yes." The hooded pony smirked as the Unicorn dragged the popsicle down her back in a zigzag formation, coming dangerously close to her rear. "I wanna see some of your fat get burned off!"

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!!" Silk screamed as tears erupted from her eyes. "I'LL TELL YOU ANYTHING, ANYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW!!! JUST PLEASE STOOOP!!"

"Awwww. What a spoilsport." Seabreeze sighed as she put the popsicle away. "Alright, then you bitch, start talking. What's going on in Manehattan and what security do you have guarding your base? Talk now. Or we'll burn you enough to disfigure your own face."

"Th-th-thirty ponies.... ten from each r-race... we w-w-were using... a certain hotel... as a cover..." She explained between gasps. "...th-he higher-ups are p-p-planning to move... all of the children once they've been t-t-transferred from the other safe houses... then relocate them to p-proper families outside of Equestria..."

"And now... WHY. You piece of utter GARBAGE." The hooded one asked with a primal growl. "Why are you cowards doing this?! Why do you steal the kids from their families?! From happy and well off families?! What sick kick do you pathetic cowards get from doing this?!"

"B-Because it's how things should be! It's how things were meant to be before the tribes united!" She cried out. "Ponies of different races were never meant to mix! They were never meant to raise those that weren't of their own race! We're doing these foals a service by giving them better parents that would raise them properly!"

"So your motive is fueled by hatred, fear, and cruelty, the very things that HARMONY stands against to be what you teach them all? You'd rather the world just spiral into chaos?!" The hooded pony says with a snarl. "What did mommy and daddy not love you enough?! Did you see a mixed tribe couple and kids and saw how happy they were instead of you?! What tipped your stupid brain over to make you think THIS was a good idea you pathetic waste of Equestrian air! And you know what the best part is?! Everyone's gonna remember the kids when they're found! AND NO ONE! WILL EVER! CARE ABOUT! OR REMEMBER! YOU!"

"Well, you're right about that... especially since she'll be very hard to recognize once I'm done with her..." Seabreeze smirked as she activated the blowtorch once more. "Say goodbye to that pretty face of yours!"

"NO WAIT! PLEASE-AAAGGGHHH!!" She screamed as she felt the cold sensation slowly moved up her back until it finally reached her shoulders, her neck, her cheek, and then she felt... the taste of strawberries in her mouth?

"Thanks for the info." The Unicorn chuckled as she turned the table around, revealing the burnt slab of meat. "Don't worry, I alerted the Royal Guard ahead of time, it should be here to pick you up in about... an hour tops."

Silk could only stare in utter shock at what just happened. She saw the popsicle in her mouth but she couldn't believe it... no no no this.... she couldn't have been played. No, it just wasn't.... she was smarter than that! SHE WAS SMARTER! "MMMMMPHH!" Silk shouted from her popsicle gag, which she spat out moments later and then gave a better yell. "YOU PSYCHOPATHS! YOU'RE BOTH PSYCHOS! I'LL SEE YOU BOTH TORTURED A-A-AND HUMILIATED LIKE YOU HUMILIATED ME! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Yeah sure," The scoffed as they left the room, paying little attention to her empty threats. "Lemme know how that works out for ya in prison."

With that final statement, she slammed the door shut, leaving Silk to rant to herself until the guards picked her up.

"I've got to say, I didn't expect that kind of kind of torture to be as effective as it was." The hooded pony said as they trotted up the stairs.

"You were thinking with your emotions. A fine tool but it makes you easier to either manipulate or push into killing your suspect. You need to not think like a wild beast. But an oiled machine." Seabreeze replied with a smile. "To break them mentally. To let YOURSELF be the one in charge of your little cat and mouse game."

The hooded Pony put a hoof to their chin, thinking over her advice. "Huh... that's actually a good point... it's just... I have a very personal stake in all Mr. Changeling." The Unicorn immediately turned to her with a puzzled expression. "Just because you fool most ponies doesn't mean you can fool me."They replied with a smirk."

".... heh. That's fair enough." Seabreeze said before dropping her disguise and revealing his true form. "The name's Stag by the way. As you can tell I'm here to help you find the missing foals. Scum like them don't deserve those young ones."

"I appreciate the help..." The pony replied, their voice taking a more feminine tone as she removed her hood and cloak, revealing the skintight bodysuit underneath with green-lensed yellow goggles covering her eyes.

"My oh my. Someone came prepared." Stag said with a chuckle. "I supposed I'll let you help me this time. After all. You seem like you'll be fun to work with."

"Oh trust me, that's an understatement..." The Earth Pony giggled a quickly, feeling a small bit of pride upon being told this, but she quickly stopped herself. She had to be serious if she wanted to stop The Order. "Anyway, we need to get to Manehattan quickly. The "movement" Silk mentioned must be big if they're willing to pull it off in the city..."

Stag smirked. "Well then. I suppose we best get moving then shall we?" He said before shifting his form to that of the Pegasus. "Let's go have us a blast."

"Oh, it'll be a party to remember." The pony said with another giggle as they head off to the train. "Heheheheh. Party."

Author's Note

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