They Walk Among Us

"I'm sorry." said Donut Joe. "But we cannot allow you to make negotiations with Discord."

"I agree." said Bill Gates. "According to our sources, Discord cannot be trusted. It is wise for us to not even speak to him, much less make negotiations."

"Please, listen to me!" said Steven, exasperated. "Discord claims that he knows more than anyone else about what happened here. Who else can make such a claim? And Discord is the master of chaos, and what's happening right now... It's chaos, isn't it? it's only natural for him to know about these things."

"And that is precisely why we cannot allow you to go and meet him!" said Bill Gates. "We can't allow him to get close to the Resistance! He will seek to destroy us all!"

Granny Smith, who had been silent during the whole discussion, suddenly stood up.

"I say we give 'im a chance!" said Granny Smith. "We need as many friends as we can find, dagnabbit!"

"Discord will not be an ally, Granny Smith." said Bill Gates. "If anything, he would be our most dangerous enemy! And an enemy in our midst would only serve to destroy us from within!"

"Please!" said Steven. "Just let me speak to him! We need to know as much as we can about what happens! The little knowledge that we can gain from him can help us stop the war!"

"Discord is a master of chaos!" said Bill Gates. "The war is causing greater chaos than ever before, and only we stand between that and total anarchy! Don't you think that Discord would want to remove us then? Put the pieces together, Reilly!"

"He's right, you know." said Donut Joe. "I think this discussion is over, Steven Reilly. Please show yourself out, Steven Reilly."

Granny Smith immediately fell back to her chair and scowled in disapproval. Steven continued to stare at the Leaders. How could they so easily not want to know about what happened? How could they not be curious as to what happened to their worlds? How could they so easily mistrust Discord based on nothing but rumors and stories?

Steven disgustedly walked out of the Ox-Bow Office, seeing his friends's anxious faces right in front of him.

"So?" asked Rainbow Dash. "What did they say?"

"No." said Steven. "They didn't allow for us to meet Discord."

"They are right, you know." said Twilight. "The last time we met Discord, he tried to take over Equestria! And he tried to destroy our friendships too, remember?"

"Well, he did..." said Fluttershy. "But maybe he's changed..."

"It's possible." said Rarity.

"Have you all forgotten?" asked Twilight. "Rarity! He made you fall in love with a rock! You even gave it a name!"

Rarity blushed and looked away.

"Yes, but..." she said.

"And Fluttershy!" scolded Twilight. "He made you be cruel to everyone! He made everyone turn against you!"

Fluttershy was on the verge of tears, but she still manage to speak.

"I'm... sorry... But-"

"And Rainbow Dash!" said Twilight. "He made you betray all of us! How could you still forgive him after that?"

Rainbow Dash was close to an angry retort, but Steven quickly interrupted. He didn't want his own curiosity to be the cause of a rift between great friends like them. I mean, Rarity actually forced Rainbow Dash to allow her to make a new outfit for her. And it was no less than perfect.

"Wait, wait..." said Steven. "I'm not suggesting that we forgive Discord for what he's done, but just go there to get the information that we need and then come back!"

"And I'm telling you we can't!" said Twilight. "Each of you told me that you have only met with Discord for mere seconds before all of you changed into someone else entirely. We can't meet Discord!"

With those last words, Twilight walked away from the rest of the group, leaving them in front of the Ox-Bow Office, completely speechless. Steven had never seen Twilight as angry as that before; she had been very depressed at times, but never angry. It must be because of the shock of her mentor's 'betrayal' to her. Steven had also felt 'betrayed' before, right when Jaeda had...

It's not the time. He needed to find answers, and the Leaders must have made sure that none of them could escape by then. And even if they could escape the Resistance base, how would they find where Discord was?

Take all the time you need. I am very patient.

He needed to find Discord, but he still needed time. Once he goes out into the open, then he would have to run away from Black Wesa, Canterlot, and the Resistance too. And even if he did find Discord and got all the answers, how could he be sure that he could come back? He's already been an enemy of Black Wesa's since before the crash, the Queen knew him and was hostile towards him, and if he leaves the Resistance, then he would most possibly be labeled a traitor loyal to Discord.

He needed time. Time to search for Discord from in the Resistance, time to plan for his course of action, and most importantly, time to gain the trust of the Resistance. If he wanted to do something that would usually be considered as betrayal, then he would need to have the trust of the Resistance if he wanted to return.

For now, he could only lie in wait. He had to do what he was told to do first- Meet his team leader at Sand Dune Bars tomorrow at 11 a.m., and then take part in whatever assignments he had to go on. At the meantime, however, he had to sneak around the base, looking for whatever scraps of information he could find about any of Discord's potential hiding places. But as a Master of Chaos and everything, would Discord purposely allow his location to be found in maps and satellites and all?

He looked at the giant clock on the wall next to the doors leading into the Ox-Bow Office. 10:04. He was a heavy sleeper, and he needed to get up and reach Sand Dune Bars (not to mention actually finding it first) before 11 a.m. the next day.

"C'mon, guys." said Steven to the rest of the group- Rarity looking embarrassed, Rainbow Dash looking angry, and Fluttershy looking downright sad. "We should go turn in."

"Yeah..."

"Let's go."

Rarity and Fluttershy then left in the same direction, while Rainbow Dash and Steven left the way they came.

Silent throughout the whole walk back, Rainbow Dash put her hands in her pockets and kicked every little poor pebble or piece of rubbish that happened to be in her way. One specifically accurate soda can actually managed to knock down a flower vase two stories below.

"Rainbow Dash..." said Steven, trying to comfort her. "What's wrong?"

"It's that Twilight." said Rainbow Dash. "There's a limit to how much of a know-it-all she can get before being annoying and frustrating."

"Come on..." said Steven, nudging her gently. "You guys are friends. These things happen. Sometimes the one bad quality of a friend far outweigh their 10 good qualities."

"Yeah..." said Rainbow Dash, looking up at the ceiling. They were deep underground in who-knows-where, but the ceiling looked like a normal ceiling to him. "But she doesn't need to be so angry about it."

"Just remember this." said Steven. "Friends like you guys have a very strong bond. A bond that cannot be broken by being separated by any amount of land and sea. Definitely a bond that cannot be broken from just one single argument, no matter how bad it may be."

Rainbow Dash sighed as they entered the hallway to their separate rooms.

"I guess you're right, Steven." said Rainbow Dash. "You always are."

Rainbow Dash then gave him a short peck on his cheek before unlocking the door to her bedroom. Steven, on the other hand, froze at the spot.

"See ya tomorrow, Steven." said Rainbow Dash, closing her door. Steven could swear that she was trying to hide her face for some reason. "And don't you dare oversleep."

Steven still stood rooted to the spot. That was the second time she had done that since they first met. He felt his face turning delightfully warm, and his heart feeling a little lighter than usual. For a few whole minutes, he stood there, unable to think about anything else.

But Steven then quickly realized what happened and shook his head. He had always known that he liked Rainbow Dash, but now it felt like it was more than that. Much more. Sure, there was the time where they had almost kissed, but that was an accident. That wasn't supposed to happen. Then there was the time where she kissed him on the cheek back in the Royal Gardens, but that was a crazy emotional moment, and he had thought that she had only did that as a friend.

Steven chuckled a fair bit. Not once in his life had he ever imagined himself thinking he was friendzoned when he was actually not. It was usually the other way around- not only with him, but with the millions of men in the world that shared the same problem.

However, he then quickly came to regret ever coming to that conclusion in the first place. Things were now going to get really awkward with Rainbow Dash.

He then entered his room and laid down on his bed. Hopefully, whatever emotional turmoil he was now feeling would be dulled by his sleep in the next morning. He closed his eyes and was quickly swept away into the darkness.

________________________________________________________________________________

He felt himself falling, falling into the same dark abyss that he had by now become too familiar with. It seemed that now, every time he slept, he would go into the same place and meet the same person again. But all those experiences were radically different to one another, and Steven could not help but feel relaxed as he fell, wondering what was going to happen next.

But then he heard an awfully loud 'crack!'

He felt white-hot pain searing through the entire left side of his body as he crashed into the ground at the bottom of the abyss. As he rolled around, writhing in pain, many more 'cracks' were heard. He had just broken all of his bones to the left side of his body. He tried to grab his left hoof, but even more pain was spread to his body, and he could really feel the lack of any proper bone in his there. It felt very soft, and no less than disgusting.

"Why hello, Steven Reilly." said the all-too-familiar Voice. "I see you have made yourself familiar with the rules of this place."

Steven remained silent. He felt that the Voice was expecting him to say something, but he was currently putting all of his efforts into trying to hold the pain in his body.

"Expect the unexpected." said the Voice. "You normally would have awaited a sad and gruesome death by falling, which then led to you not getting a scratch on you at all. Your complacency tonight, however, has led to you breaking nearly half the bones in your body. Luckily for you, your spine is still intact. Now let go of your arm. I will do my best to heal you."

Steven let go of his arm and waited for himself to be healed. What he got, however, was the exact opposite. Instead of being healed, he started to feel like the rest of the bones in his body fracturing and shattering as well. The pain was unbearable- even lying on his back made him want to die. There was no way to survive pain like this. No way at all. He was going to die right there, in his sleep, in a strange and dark world.

Just then, the pain disappeared entirely. There was no single remnant of pain left that could even remind him of the pain. He easily stood up and moved around.

"I see that you have gotten a grasp of the rules here easily enough, Steven Reilly." said the Voice. "Now, we have no time to waste, Steven Reilly. You best be waking up quite soon, and I cannot keep you here as you wake up, so heed my words well."

Steven stayed silent. The Voice had never been in a hurry before.

"I appear before you now to bring you news." said the Voice. "When you wake up this morning, you will find a package on the counter next to your bed. This package bears a magical artifact, one that has never been seen or recorded before. It is a compass."

"A compass?" asked Steven, confused as to why the Voice was giving him a compass. Did all the other compasses stop working after the crash? Did the placing of the magnetic poles of the planet change completely, rendering all other compasses inaccurate?

"Yes, a compass." said the Voice. "One that doesn't point North."

Just as Steven was going to ask another question, however, he felt his whole body being sucked out of the darkness into light...

________________________________________________________________________________

Steven woke up with a start.

That yanking feeling of being pulled away from the darkness still stayed in his head. Even though he had already felt it so many times, he still couldn't get used to it.

He quickly looked to his left, where the counter next to the bed was. Sure enough, there was a package there. It was wrapped very crudely in very old, greatly decaying paper that twas crushed with even the lightest touch. It looked like it hadn't seen the light of day itself for thousand of years, yet was properly guarded and undisturbed.

Steven picked up the package from its wrappings, but it tore away while in the air, dropping a small, black box with silver edges. He picked it up and held it in his palm right in front of him. It was a beautiful black velvet box, with a golden lining where it was supposed to be opened. Below the opening of the box was a metal plate, with the words 'TIME' engraved on them. He didn't understand what that meant, but he thought that he would know everything when he opened the box.

He was wrong.

Inside the box lay a compass, with no bearings whatsoever (He didn't know which side was North), a red pointer, and covered by a glass dome. Now a compass would most usually point North, but this one wasn't. This one definitely wasn't. Instead, it was whizzing around the compass rapidly, never even pausing in one direction as it moved around. Steven didn't know what was driving the pointer to go mad like that. but if it wasn't pointing North, then that compass was broken. Broken and worthless.

Yes, a compass. One that doesn't point North.

If it was designed not to point North, then it wouldn't be broken, wouldn't it? But then again, it was still of no use to Steven whatsoever.

He put it into his saddle pack and looked at the alarm clock on the counter. 10:55.

He needed to have a quick shower first, and then he should go get some breakfast or something to drink, and then maybe he could have a quick look around the Resistance Base before he had to go and meet the team leader at 11.

Wait...

10.55?

Steven quickly grabbed onto his saddle pack and they key card and rushed out of the door. He had only 5 minutes to find his way into Sand Dune Bars, and he didn't want to give a bad impression to the team leader. But in a labyrinth like this one, how was he going to find Sand Dune Bars in 5 minutes?

He ran around the Base, looking left and right trying to find a place that said anything resembling 'SAND DUNE BARS' on it.

Sand Dune Bars, Sand Dune Bars, SAND DUNE BARS!

All of a sudden, he heard a strange mechanical voice at the back of his head.

"SAND DUNE BARS." said the voice. "PLEASE FOLLOW THE GIVEN DIRECTIONS TO YOUR DESTINATION."

All of a sudden, a projection of the entire map of the Resistance Base was shown in front of him, with a red dot and an arrow pointing to it saying 'You Are Here' and a large blue dot which said 'Your Destination.' Not only that, but there were directions being said to him at the same time.

"TURN LEFT."

He turned left.

"TURN RIGHT."

He turned right.

"WALK DOWN THE STAIRS TO FLOOR B4"

He walked down the stairs, bumping into Octavia on the way.

"Good morning, Steven." said Octavia. "Where are you on a hurry to?"

Steven didn't answer. He could barely hear her voice over the sound of the directions being given to him.

"GO STRAIGHT."

He kept running.

"TURN RIGHT."

He turned right.

"STOP."

He tried to stop running, but he couldn't stop. He was going way too fast.

"STOP."

He tried to stop running, but he couldn't control himself anymore. He began to lose balance.

"STOP."

He tried to stop running, but only then did he realize that his magic was inadvertently speeding up his run. And any disturbance to it would only cause him to slip and fall. He needed to slow himself down slowly and gradually.

"STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP-"

He tried to stop running, but despite knowing what was happening, he only ended up going faster. He did his best to dodge anyone he was passing through, and all of them were giving him evil looks as he did so. However, right in front of him were his friends, spread out into a line, completely oblivious to the fact that he was going to barrel them into oblivion. All of them were even holding bottled drinks, Twilight holding her's and Fluttershy's with magic while Rainbow Dash and Rarity were holding them with their hands.

"FOR SKYNET'S SAKE, STOP!"

Steven completely crashed into them, sending liquid everywhere around them and piling them up on top of each other.

"Sorry 'bout that." said Steven.

Twilight sighed and her horn started to glow. In one flash, all of them were dry and the floor around them was clean.

"Where were you?" asked Rarity. "And where are you going?"

"I slept in" said Steven, nervously grinning as everyone stared at him with suspicious glares. "And I was just going to the Sand Dune Bars, but I think I went too fast..."

"That's the spirit!" said Rainbow Dash. "Fast is always better!"

"Come on..." said Twilight, picking herself and Fluttershy up ("Oh... Thank you, Twilight"). "We're already there."

Steven looked to the left, where he saw a very bright bar bearing the sign 'SAND DUNE BARS! SALT 'n LIME MAKES A REALLY GOOD TIME!' on the top. How did the voice inside his head know that he was supposed to start stopping by then?

Just then, the barkeeper approached them. Unlike what bartenders usually looked like, this one was a really old, but still very lively human man. He was polishing a large glass with a gray cloth and scanning their faces at the same time.

Twilight started twitching.

"Team Leader?" she asked.

"No no no, young woman!" said the barkeeper, cheerfully smiling at them. "Your team leader's way back, and he's been waiting for you for quite a long time!"

"Oh thank you, mister!" said Fluttershy. "We were worried that our Team Leader was not here yet, so thank you for telling us where he is."

"Well aren't you the sweetest little thing?" said the barkeeper as he lightly stroked Fluttershy's head. "Now go on, he's waiting!"

So Fluttershy was not only good with animals and kids, but with old people too?

As they proceeded deeper into the bar, they discovered just how loud and messy a relatively small bar can become. Steven looked around and he saw drunk middle-aged men with their drunk stallion friends sitting shoulder-to-shoulder and singing rather loudly. He also saw a group of people singing 'Happy Birthday' to a man in his late twenties behind the group of drunkards. Rarity quickly took out a necklace she was wearing and gave it to the startled birthday man.

"Well?" said Rarity. "This is your birthday gift! I insist you take it!"

The rest of the group chuckled as they continued on. Suddenly, a deep voice to their side said:

"You the new team?"

Everyone turned to look at him. However, all of his friends were positively staring at him as they did so. The Team Leader was a pony as well- a red-furred, blonde-maned, very well built stallion was turning his back to them as he drank from a fairly large mug. Sure this was a good looking stallion, but the stares the rest of them were giving him was beyond comprehensible.

"Big..." said Twilight. "Big Macintosh?"

The stallion then turned around to reveal his fairly large, unsmiling, freckled face and large green eyes..

"Eeyup."

The group, except for Steven (who still had no idea about what was going on- Was this guy like a star or something?) and Rarity, smiled and greeted him cheerfully.

"It's um... great to see you again." said Fluttershy, blushing.

"Yeah!" said Rainbow Dash.

"It's nice to see another friendly face here as well." said Twilight.

Big Macintosh then turned to look at Steven, a pony he which he didn't know. Steven was preparing to hear some kind of long greeting and words of advice from the aged and experienced stallion as well as a short anecdote.

"Nice scar." said Big Macintosh.

Steven's face dropped.

"Well, um..." said Steven. "Thanks, I guess."

Twilight must have noticed his reaction, because she quickly whispered:

"Big Macintosh is not really a stallion of many words. He believes in actions being louder than words."

Big Macintosh bowed his head, and Steven awkwardly bowed back.

Just then, a sudden voice came from across the room.

"Well howdy there, Big Macintosh!"

"Braeburn." said Big Macintosh, somewhat spitefully to himself.

This new character was very strange looking- he looked like a cowboy equivalent of ponies. With his brown-yellow fur, brown mane, leather vest and brown stetson hat, the only one who can't associate him to a cowboy would have to not know what a cowboy is. Hell, even his accent was all country-ish!

"Ah heard ya finally got yerself a new team!" said Breburn. "Ah'll be rootin' for ya!"

He and his team then went, leaving Big Macintosh cursing as they went. Steven honestly didn't know why Big Macintosh seemed to hate Braeburn. He seemed like a pretty nice guy.

"C'mon, team." said Big Macintosh. "Trainin'."

He then left towards the exit of the bar, followed by his confused-looking team. They must all be wondering the same thing Steven was.

Big Macintosh led them as they headed towards an unknown destination. For all the team knew, they were headed towards 'Trainin''. Steven, who was confused by whatever was happening at the moment, turned to ask Rainbow Dash.

"Erm..." he said.

"He's Big Macintosh." said Rainbow Dash. "The brother of our best friend Applejack. As you may know by now, He doesn't really talk much."

"And what about that other guy?"

"Braeburn?" said Rainbow Dash. "He's Big Macintosh's cousin from Appleloosa, a city in Canterlot. We only met him once, though, so we aren't really close."

At that second, Big Macintosh stopped moving. They were now facing what could be safely called a 'very tall' wall.

"PLEASE CONFIRM IDENTIFICATION." said a voice from the wall.

"Big Macintosh" said the stallion. "Leader of Team F, Sector T."

"VOICE CONFIRMATION COMPLETE."

A small machine arm then suddenly came out of the wall, and it grabbed ahold of Big Macintosh'd head and started scanning his eyes.

"RETINA I.D. CONFIRMED." said the voice. "WELCOME, BIG MACINTOSH."

Just then, the walls moved aside to reveal a white hallway with glass room to both left and right of it. Steven could see training dummies, simulators, even machines that can transport your consciousness into another machine. Or, at least, that's what they looked like.

"End of the hall." said Big Macintosh, who began to walk again.

"Where are we?" asked Twilight.

"Sector T trainin' center." said Big Macintosh, his eyes still focused to the front. "Nice place."

They then reached the end of the hallway, which was essentially a much larger training ground. Steven could see humans and ponies running around in the tracks, and there was a shooting range for both bullets and arrows, training dummies for punching, kicking, and the occasional mace, and stacks of hay that were being sliced up using swords and axes.

"Ev'ryone here who can already fight take a pardner who can't fight properly yet." said Big Macintosh. "Halp them find a good weapon and train them with it. Which means all magic users and Rarity taking one of the rest."

"But we only have five people here, Big Macintosh." said Twilight. "How will-"

Just then, our favorite friend from down under entered the room, huffing and panting at the same time. Steven could see beads of sweat all over him.

"Bush Ranger here, boss!" said Bush. "Reporting for duty."

Big Macintosh then tilted his head at Twilight, eyebrow raised, who blushed and walked back.

"No more questions?" asked Big Macintosh. "After you find a nice weapon, go down to the armory at the far left."

He then proceeded to start running around the tracks, leaving the rest of the team wondering what to do. Rarity, however, had already chosen a partner.

"Why, you look astonishing!" said Rarity. "Truly a wonderful outfit to wear! The way it contrasts to you... It fits you well! You must come with me and talk about how you pick your clothes!

Rarity then dragged a surprised Bush to the shooting range, who mouthed a small 'Help!' as he left.

"I'll take Fluttershy" said Twilight. "If it's about fighting, I don't know how she'd react though."

Twilight then took Fluttershy to the training dummies, although both of them looked reluctant.

"So that leaves you with me!" said Rainbow Dash. "And if anyone can tell me what looks cool on me, it's be you!"

"So come on!" said Steven. "What do you want to try first?"

"Hmm..." said Rainbow Dash. "Since you're already the best fighter we have, and you fight with punches and kicks, then let's go try the shooting range first.

They both then went to the shooting range, which was quite crowded. They barely managed to catch a booth.

Right in front of Rainbow Dash was a choice between an assortment of guns or a simple bow and arrow. She looked confused as to which to choose, since she had never actually seen them in her whole life.

"Try the guns first." said Steven, pointing at them. "Not as easy to manipulate than arrows, but much easier to handle."

Rainbow Dash then took a simple handgun and looked at it. Not knowing how to work it, she pointed the barrel at her own face, her finger very close to pressing the trigger...

"NO!" shouted Steven as he pushed the gun out of Rainbow Dash's hand exactly as she fired it, resulting in the bullet going through the glass walls of the training area into all of the rooms on the left side, resulting in the ponies and people of those rooms quickly dodging it, followed by evilly glaring at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash made a nervous laugh and picked up the gun.

"You mind telling me how to use it?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Steven smiled and adjusted the handgun so that it fit perfectly into Rainbow Dash's hand.

"This here's a gun." said Steven. "It shoots out bullets, which are hard objects that can pierce through flesh and bone. They are very deadly weapons. Now this here's the barrel; The bullets shoot out from here. This is the trigger; you press this for the gun to shoot. This is the safety; if you press this, then you won't be able to shoot. And finally, this is the slide, which you use to load the bullets into the barrel."

Seeming to have gotten the idea, Rainbow Dash took the pistol and aimed it towards the target. Forgetting to put on earmuffs first, Rainbow Dash pulled the slide back and pressed the trigger. As the bullet shot out of the pistol, the recoil of the shot caught Rainbow Dash by surprise and she changed the direction of the shot so that it was directed to the ceiling.

Rainbow Dash ducked as the bullet came back down again.

"Er..." said Rainbow Dash. "Let's try the other one."

Steven then took the bow in his mouth and gave it to Rainbow Dash. He taught her the proper way to hold a bow and then gave her an arrow. He then positioned the arrow for her.

"Now just get the feel of this." said Steven. "And then I want you to pull the hand that's holding the arrow as far back as you can, and then just let it go."

"The arrow is the one pointing at the target, right?"

"Yes it is."

Rainbow Dash pulled back the arrow and then let it go. It definitely wasn't straight, but it was a hit. Not too badly for a first try, either.

"How is that?"

"Not woo bad, I guess." said Steven. "For a first time."

But Rainbow Dash didn't listen. She spotted Rarity, who was with Braeburn about a few meters away, and called her here.

"Come on." said Rainbow Dash. "I want to see how you do."

Rarity raised an eyebrow, but she accepted and took out three arrows from her quiver.

"Watch and learn, Dash."

In a flash, Rarity shot the arrows at the target. In a blinding speed, all three arrows reached the red circle in the middle of the target. Rainbow Dash stood there in awe of Rarity's skill.

"Wow..." she said.

Skeptical, Steven walked to Rarity and pulled off the black gloves she was wearing.

"Ow!" said Rarity. "You don't just walk up to a lady and pull off her gloves!"

Sure enough, underneath her gloves were a pair of bruised and callused hands, greatly contrasting to the very soft complexion of the rest of her skin.

"Archery is very hard to learn." said Steven. "And even harder to master. I think ranged weaponry is not for you, Rainbow Dash. Let's try something else."

"Okay..." she said, somewhat dejectedly.

"I'm really sorry, Rainbow Dash." said Rarity as they left.

Steven and Rainbow Dash then went to the melee weapons area, where an assortment of swords, daggers, maces, and axes were laid out on a table for them to practice with. Rainbow Dash took a flail and began to spin it around.

"Wow." said Rainbow Dash. "This is awesome!"

"Be careful not to swing it too hard, Dash." said Steven. "Or else you'll-"

Too late. Rainbow Dash continued to spin it around very hard, and the she immediately tried to throw it to the bundle of hay in front of them. The problem was, Rainbow Dash didn't actually let go. So she was dragged by the flail as it flew for a while before she fell down, face-first, on the floor.

Laughing, Steven walked forward to pick her up.

"Ouch." said Rainbow Dash, voice muffled.

"Get up." said Steven. "Looks like a medieval flail is not for you as well. But I think I know what is..."

Steven took a longsword from the table and gave it to Rainbow Dash.

"This is a longsword." said Steven. "Try to hold it."

"It's so light..." said Rainbow Dash, holding its hilt, tip pointing towards the ceiling.

"It looks good on you." said Steven. "Try attacking that straw dummy over there."

Rainbow Dash hesitantly walked towards the dummy and stared at it awkwardly. As Steven was just about to say something, though, Rainbow Dash unleashed all her fury onto the poor little straw man, perfectly dicing it into almost-equal pieces. She swung hard, and swung fast. That was excellent for a first time.

"Wow!" said Steven, stamping his hooves on the ground like Princess Luna did to imitate clapping. "That was awesome!"

"Really?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I mean... Of course it is! I mean, I got practice from when I used to slice clouds into pieces back from when I was a pegasus, so all I needed to do is apply the same practice to my hands."

"That's awesome." said Steven. "Get a sword."

Just then, however, Big Macintosh came galloping up to them, then easily braking into a full stop right in front of them.

"Distress call from nearby." said Big Macintosh. "Ya guys ready?"

"Ready!" said Rainbow Dash, mocking a salute.

"Yeah, we're ready." said Steven.

"Very good." said Big Macintosh. "Now go to the Armory and take yer weapon and gear up. We're going into Black Wesa territory. Oh, and somepony else is comin' with us."

"Somepony else?" asked Steven.

"Eeyup." said Big Macintosh. "Octavia, the music pony."

"Octavia?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Why is she coming?"

"Simple." said Big Macintosh.

"The distress call was from her marefriend, Vinyl Scratch."