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Part I
Part II
Part III

Part I
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March Of Three Prisoners (A Hearth's Warming Tale)

Part I

December 24

"It's freezing out here, I'm freezing out here." Starlight Glimmer yanked her new tan jacket up to her muzzle, her eyes almost shut from the harsh wind outside. Thankfully for her, it had stopped snowing earlier.

"Oh, come on. What d'you expect? Desert weather? It's Hearth's Warming Eve for Pony's sake," Rainbow Dash, hovering above her, complained before her eyes widened in a mischievous revelation.

"Okay, I get it, but below zero is pushing it. If I were a pegasus, I wou-" A rogue snowball rocketed strait to her face before it crumbled and fell inside her jacket. Rainbow Dash laughed as Starlight pranced around in freezing frustration bucking in the air like a filly trying to get rid of the snow.

Rainbow stifled her laugh but her sadism got the better of her. "Ha. You look like one of Pony Claus' Reindeer."

Starlight shook some more before freezing to narrow her eyes staring straight at Rainbow. "Oh yeah, we'll see how you like that." A glowing cyan aura danced around Starlight's horn as another formed a giant circle in the snow to her left. She levitated the snow, packed it into a faint-inducing sized snowball, moved it over Rainbow's head, and dumped all of it on top of her. She couldn't fly and Starlight didn't even see Rainbow buried under all that snow; it was at least a story high.

She dug herself out and growled at the unicorn holding herself from laughing so hard. "Hey. What was that for?" whined Rainbow.

"Hmm, I don't know." Starlight's sarcastic face was wiped clean by another doozy to the face. Thankfully, this one didn't get stuck inside her jacket, allowing her to react quickly. She lobbed a normally sized one at Rainbow Dash but she slipped back behind her own prison before it could deal any damage.

Dash flew up and hurled one at Starlight's forehooves and she responded by chucking a ball at Rainbow's shoulder. Rainbow was still visibly frustrated and the snow in her mane and tail didn't make her look any more cheerful.

"Oh, you're mad." Starlight gave Rainbow the vertical stare as she jumped from side to side, enticing Rainbow to shoot. She shaped a perfect snowball and extended her hoof all the way behind her, teeth gritting. She threw it too high and it went out of the park, almost hitting a formally dressed mare drinking her coffee. Starlight chuckled before shaping a not-so-perfect one of her own. Having hurled it after too long, Rainbow Dash easily dodged the snow but, unaware to her, the snowball slammed none other than Twilight Sparkle in the back of the neck.

"Watch what you're doing up there. We're supposed to be helping Rarity decorate and you are making it very hard to do just that, Rainbow Dash," complained Twilight.

"It wasn't me."

"Sure it wasn't," Twilight sighed sarcastically rolling her eyes. She then turned back to hanging up some garland and a string of new lights around Rarity's Carousel Boutique.

"It looks marvelous, my dear; the pink from the lights really highlight the roof and the blue from the walls." Rarity's excitement was met with a blank, accepting nod from Twilight and a groan from Rainbow Dash as usual. But Starlight Glimmer trotted up confused about Rarity's work.

"Wait, what are those?" She questioned as she ran a string of little candle shaped bulbs through her hooves. When she reached the end of the strand, she noticed the socket and the shape of the two holes were not lost on her. Starlight turned back to look at Rarity's shop and the sparkling pink lights that, by some magic, managed to glow under the oppression of the daylight.

"Those are Hearth's Warming lights," Rarity explained interrupting Starlight's thoughts. "Legend holds that ponies used to hang strings of lamps on their houses to signal Pony Clause to bring them food. The freezing snow and ice didn't just go away all at once, you know." Starlight's hooves, which once tolerated the snow, now objected to the cold.

Food, Starlight remembered as she looked down.

"...Of course now we use electricity," Twilight boomed in a matter-of-fact voice, Starlight's reaction completely lost on her.

"Whatever is the matter, dear?"

"Can electricity make food?" Starlight avoided answering her question but couldn't avoid thinking about it some more.

"Well, no. It can help cook it though." Now Twilight sensed something off about her, understood that she already knew the answer, and knew that she didn't want it to be true. "What's the matter?"

She looked down before glancing sideways at Rainbow Dash. "I threw the snowball."

"What? That's it?" Rainbow barked.

"Rainbow, please." Rarity scolded Rainbow before looking back at Starlight knowing that reconciliation would take more than the few days that transpired between Twilight's time travel trials and today. "It's fine, Starlight; let's just go and pick up our food from Sugarcube Corner for the party tonight," Rarity's stomach growled, "and I wouldn't mind some brunch myself."

"Me too, I'm dying from hunger," exclaimed Rainbow before realizing that Starlight might call her out for yelling at her for being cold. The mention of food sunk Starlight's spirits a tad lower than before and Rainbow was sympathetic enough to know that Starlight thought about her village more than usual. It must've been from the craze of the holidays. The four ponies meandered into the warm bakery chocked full of pastries; the Pie family was ready to take on the crowd and thankfully for them, it was still early enough in the morning to relax.

"Hiya Twilight, d'you want some of this raspberry pecan pie you requested yesterday?" Pinkie Pie dangled the box over her head as she stood on the counter. "Applejack helped bake this pie, right Applejack."

"Eeyup," Applejack said as she closed the door to an oven in the kitchen. She waved back at the four of them and at Big Mac and Scootaloo who sat and ate some special muffins. Twilight turned back to take the expertly baked pie and levitated eleven bits into Pinkie's cash register.

"Say, what are those muffins they're eating?" Rarity asked as Scootaloo lavishly smeared green icing over her face.

"Poison Joke Surprise." Pinkie gave a toothy smile as she rubbed her hooves together.

"Wait, what?" Rainbow yelled.

"Ha, just kidding, it's Peppermint Delight; do you want some?"

"We'll take four." Twilight leaned on Pinkie's counter and levitated some more bits her way. Pinkie bought out the four muffins to Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight Glimmer who took the window seat beside Twilight. Rainbow devoured a good chunk of the muffin in no time at all before noticing Scootaloo at the other table.

"Happy Hearth's Warming Eve, squirt," she said with a mouthful of muffin as she tackled Scootaloo with a big bear hug. She sat down beside her prompting the others to sit at her and Big Mac's table.

"Are things going well at the farm?" Twilight asked to make small talk.

"Mm-hmm... I mean, Eeyup." Pinkie's snickering could be heard from the kitchen but Twilight only noticed that Starlight's face fell at the mention of the farm. Starlight stared out the window looking for something that wasn't there, her eyes barely peering over her tightly zipped jacket. After a moment or two, she turned back and stared at her muffin before nervously pushing the plate away from her.

"Why don't you want the muffin?"

"I'm not hungry," Starlight said flatly.

"Come on Starlight, what's wrong? I have a hard time believing you were upset over a stray misshapen snowball." Rarity shot a stern look at Starlight who now leaned against the window. She easily cut through Rarity's forced expression and caught the doubting glimmer in her eyes.

"I can't say."

"Of course you can, you're with good-"

"-Then you know what's wrong." Starlight retorted eliciting grave stares from Big Mac and Scootaloo, two ponies who have only heard stories of Starlight Glimmer. Her royal blue eyes sharpened with anger as she stared at the white tablecloth.

"You're lucky all them ponies here forgave you. You-"

"-Not now, Big Mac," Rarity warned. "It's okay if you still feel guilty, we understand."

"It's not that." Starlight took another long stare at the muffin.

"We don't know what's going on, you have to tell us, you have to open up." Twilight tried her best to sound consoling.

"I don't have to... not for this, no." Starlight shrunk in her seat avoiding the gaze of Big Mac on the other side of the table. Staring out the window again, she saw a lone colt pawing the snow and leaving a long trail of snow behind him.

"We're your friends, trust us. You can tell us anything." Rainbow added.

"I can't." A long silence followed. Big Mac and Scootaloo quietly got up and trotted out of Sugarcube Corner. Nopony knew what to say and they all knew that there was something else that troubled Starlight, especially when she stared at her uneaten muffin. Her eyes swam in a glossy despair for a while before a realization spread across her face. "My village. Twilight, let's go to my village and celebrate Hearth's Warming Eve there. The ponies probably haven't had a good holiday in years and it's all thanks to me."

"Is that why-"

"-It doesn't even begin to describe it. You and your friends only scratched the surface." She exhaled her pent up anxiety but quickly turned from side to side to make sure that only Twilight heard. "I only want you to come along if you understand. I'll use the money all of you gave me to buy food enough for everypony in town. All the bread, cakes, pies, salad, stuffing, cranberry juice, corn hash, and candy you could ever imagine in one village... they'll see my generosity and-"

"-and what?"

"-and nothing. I'll make friends with all of them. I'm not using this food for a deceitful or manipulative plan, not like last time. Where's Pinkie?" Never one to miss an order from her friends, Pinkie appeared right on call. "I need fifty orders of Ciabatta bread, two dozen chocolate cakes, two-"

"-Woah, hold on for just a moment. Can't Sugar Belle bake all this?" Twilight questioned.

"No."

"Why not? I thought you knew she's a good baker."

"She is, but she can't."

"I don't understand."

"Please let it go, Twilight." Starlight stared at her for the longest time, trying to figure out what she thought and how much she really knew. She turned back to Pinkie, "...two dozen pumpkin pies, three tubs of mixed lettuce, five-"

"-It sounds like a party to me, I'll bring all the food you need." Pinkie's spirit faded when the two didn't smile in return.

"Pinkie, I'm afraid you can't come along. All we need you to do is to cook the food and Starlight will pay you back." Twilight continued delivering the same stern look.

"I wasn't invited?"

"It's not like that," mumbled Starlight. "This is probably a party you don't want to party at." Pinkie couldn't understand what she said, it wasn't physically possible for her. She had to help her friends first and so she returned to the kitchen without another word. The both of them, Twilight and Starlight, rushed out of the Sugarcube Corner before their ears withered from the screeching singing voice of Pinkie Pie. Starlight was more resolved now, but the cold in her hooves didn't go away.

Wind bellowed down the landing of the train station, howling through travelling ponies' manes as they hurried to rejoin with their relatives. Gusts of below zero air snapped at the banners of Ponyville and at the white cloth covering the first cart of goods for Starlight's Hearth's Warming Eve party.

"Come on, the train will be here at any moment; Pinkie should have been here with the second cart already." Twilight gritted her teeth in fear.

Starlight squinted her eyes at the horizon of the normally visible road. It wasn't snowing, but the wind kicked up the snow on the ground dramatically decreasing visibility. A silhouette of a pony with bouncy, curly hair emerged from the tumult of snow, no doubt belonging to Pinkie Pie. The two ran off the platform to help Pinkie hall the cart up the ramp attempting not to spill anything along the way.

Twilight reacted to a few pieces of candy falling out the side. "Wait."

"Leave it, we'll get it later," Starlight assured as the eastbound train arrived prompting all three to pick up the pace. Pinkie, Twilight, and Starlight managed to shove the two carts through the train door and after entering, they wormed the carts passed the other annoyed passengers trying to find their seats. "Thank you, Pinkie. Here, I owe you this." Starlight dumped a giant sack of bits on Pinkie's back which Pinkie didn't bother to count.

"Oki doki loki," Pinkie sang as she bounced out of the train before shivering from another blast of wind, disappearing in the dust.

"Wait, the candy."

"Forget it, I, I mean, we have enough food." Both of them sat down at a table sitting across from each other. Whistles blew outside as the tram doors closed and the train lurched to life, shaking Starlight's stomach as she shifted her weight from side to side. Twilight attempted not to stare at her new friend but she needed to know what Starlight's problem was.

It's not just because she's guilty she took those ponies' cutie marks, there's something else. Twilight tried to prevent her anger from showing, but it just wasn't fair; her and her friends went to her village to stop Starlight and at the very least, she should know what else she's done. She couldn't stay angry, she wanted to help her. She showed me her childhood, what more is there to reveal? Isn't that bad enough? Twilight looked out the window, at the food that gave off steam under the cloth, and finally at a vacant looking Starlight. "Why did you buy so much food?" She expected a snappy answer like before.

"I have my reasons."

"Come on, Starlight; you can tell me, there isn't anypony else around."

"I know."

"...So?"

"No, Twilight. I can't." Starlight bared her teeth, her prodding was wrong; it was something she would used to do.

Twilight sighed quickly saying, "I'm not just speaking for myself when I say I can accept anything you say, I know my friends and what they've all gone through before now. I have the heart to hear you out."

"Not the heart, Twilight, the stomach," she spat. "You won't be able to and I speak from experience... recent experience. You can't hear the details of what I've done, It'll break you, and you weren't even there." Starlight held her position.

A rush of anger flooded through Twilight for a moment before she tried diplomacy. "You're right, I won't know what you've done or how it kills you on the inside..."

"...But..." Starlight mumbled.

"...But whatever it is that's causing you heartache, It's going to kill you from the inside out." No immediate response came. Twilight looked down to see Starlight Glimmer as a little filly before she blinked, instantly transforming Starlight into her full size once again. The rhythm of the wheels changed, warning the both of them that they were gliding over a bridge.

Starlight eventually responded in a dull tone. "I don't need to tell you."

"Then why are you so upset when you're around us now?"

She yelped, "Because I-"

"-By the time we reach your village, you'll have to tell me what happened; that way, you can return as your real self, your true self. Starlight, you need to be honest with yourself."

Starlight tried to hide that she was irritated at Twilight for cutting her off, but Twilight was watching her to closely to fall for the guise. "Honest? I'm honest with myself, Twilight, even you have to admit that. I know full well what I've done and I intend to keep my personal faults to myself, thank you very much. I've already reconciled with you, your friends, and the ponies down at my village. I don't need to go farther than that, Twilight; I don't need to tell them about every misstep I took and I'm sure they'll easily figure out what else I've done. I don't need to say everything."

"You're wrong." Twilight upheld her matter-of-fact voice.

Sighing, though without any anger, she said, "You're too trusting, Twilight. You come from a town where nopony strips another's dignity, even when that pony has told another everything. Not everywhere's like that."

"Starlight-"

"-You don't know what you're talking about. Period." Starlight shot a withering glance at her telling her that the argument was over. It's unnatural, revealing everything. By Celestia, It's impossible.

The two of them rode in silence as the train rolled, veering more and more to the south as it forged onward. Trees thinned giving way to arid grasslands and then to rocky nothingness, all while Starlight remained silent.

"This is the final stop on Equestrian Transit, all ponies must exit now." A new, automated voice rang through the mostly empty cabin cars; empty except for Starlight, Twilight, and their two carts full of Hearth's Warming Eve food. They silently exited knowing full well that Twilight's ultimatum still held true. Further and further they ambled along a barely seen path, feeling the oppressive tension between them. Neither of them noticed the temperature change, the tall grasses of the hills, and the flowers in the jungle that stayed warm all year round. Bakery goods still managed to stay tucked as the carts bumped behind them.

Twilight and Starlight crossed roped bridges, maneuvered around streams and creeks, and heaved their cargo around towering boulders all without letting loose a single peep. The silent note of sadness still resounded as they trudged forward in the middle of the eastern wasteland straight as a pony guard's spear. Starlight looked back at the tracks they had created in the silt and mud and she understood the meaning of its shape.

"Almost noon." Twilight broke the silence, hours long.

It wasn't too long after Twilight had said this than when the two mares were halted by a giant fissure in the ground. A few boulders were strewn about but levitating them over the gap wouldn't do anything, it was way too wide. Not to mention the wind.

"I remember Rainbow Dash talking about something like this, you can't cross it by going down, the wind will just push you up again." Twilight's voice had a bit of a whine to it. She sat and thought about the predicament before looking at Starlight who, to her surprise, stared down the chasm with certainty as if it had always been her mortal enemy. "We could try-"

"-No, I know what to do." Starlight's cyan aura glowed around her horn as the fissure shook from her concentration. All the tiny pebbles strewn across the arid wasteland rustled and came to life as they were all levitated towards the chasm. A dust whirlwind spun around two sides of the chasm, meticulously depositing the silt and the pebbles into two extended overhangs, one on each side. These meet in the center to form an intricately carved bridge over the chasm complete with side rails and a barrier from the wind. It looked like it had always been there.

"How did you know?" Twilight asked still a little bitter that Starlight proved to be a better magician with her time travel. She hoped that wouldn't be a problem after she confronted Trixie the first time.

"I should know, I created the chasm before."

"Why?" snorted Twilight incredulously.

"Why do you think?" She simply stared back as she hauled her cart over the bridge first. Twilight's eyes searched the ground as if it might explain to her why Starlight would randomly create a giant crack in the ground. Randomly.

"So the ponies in your village couldn't escape." Twilight stared back at her holding a smile filled with chagrin as she stepped onto the bridge.

"Yes," she responded somberly, no further explanation needed.

"How were my friends and I able to make it to your village the first time then? We didn't cross this on the way there."

"You and your friends must've traveled down the side of a few steep cliffs," Twilight nodded, "I designed the cracks and the cliffs as a one-way entrance so that anypony could come and nopony could leave. The only way out of there is my magic and the caves in the mountains I escaped through when I first met you. That's how I trapped those villagers." Starlight looked like she wanted to say more but decided to keep her mouth shut. A moment or so of silence followed.

"Is that what you're holding back?" Twilight blurted out.

"No." Starlight stomped her hooves. "Quit trying to find out. I don't need to tell you anything; you're not entitled to know everything that I've done, every action that I've committed, and everything that I caused." The bridge responded to her stamping in a sound of grinding disapproval.

Twilight growled, "I haven't said anything for hours about what you've done." The bridge barked at her as well.

"But you've been thinking it, I can tell. I know enough about your personality at this point to know that you're trying to figure me out, trying to... to..."

"...To what? What am I trying to do to you?" She yelled.

"I don't know, you tell me." Starlight spun forward before turning back again in a huff. "It can't possibly be because you want me to have a good Hearth's Warming party with the villagers, can't it?"

"What do you think I can gain for myself from knowing what you've done?" Twilight's anger still resounded but she lost some of her edge.

"Answer my question first." Starlight now moved back west over the bridge with her cart unstrapped on the village-side.

"Why would I ever want to see you suffer more than I already do? Why Starlight?"

"Answer my question first." Advancing faster, she levitated Twilight's cart and placed it next to it's partner on the other side.

Twilight tried to think of the seemingly impossible answer to why Starlight's royal blue eyes glowed so coldly. Finally, Twilight thought with her heart. "...I... ...I don't know, honestly."

"I might be able to give you an answer and though I know it won't be the answer you want, it'll be the truth." Her calm, angered voice didn't waver at all but Twilight could feel the electric fury of her presence. "There's something, Twilight, some strength, some... dominance in knowing everything about another pony. Just like how Applejack says it's unnatural to become friends with someone you just happen to meet, it's unnatural to know everything I've done. It's wrong." Twilight looked away. "I know it's not your fault, Twilight, but I can feel it, I can feel that you have an urge, an itching desire to know everything about what I've done, to have power over me." Starlight narrowed her eyes. "I made everypony equal in my village so that this wouldn't happen, so that nopony would attach strings to another pony and play them like a puppet... regardless if it's for the greatest intentions or not."

Silence.

"Is that what you wanted to do to your brother, Starlight? Put strings on him, put strings on ponies so they wouldn't get their cutie marks?" Twilight was back to figuring her out.

"Yes, and I was wrong." But her anger flared.

"That isn't what I think," Twilight said in desperation. "I want you to say everything because, if you don't, you won't be able to live with yourself or your friends. I'm trying to help you walk into your village with a clean conscience. Starlight, I'm trying to save you from yourself, your hopelessness is killing you." Starlight turned around, looking east.

Without warning, Starlight turned back around and smashed her two front hooves into the bridge, crumbling it back into dust and rubble. Before Twilight could fall into the chasm, Starlight grabbed onto her hoof as she stood perched atop the intact east end of the bridge. "Hopelessness?" Starlight shouted as Twilight swung back and forth. "Look around you, Twilight."

Twilight looked around. In the name of Celestia, maybe she's still evil after all.

"This isn't Ponyville, this isn't Sweet Apple Acres. Behind me are two carts filled with Pinkie's food because I know Sugar Belle can't bake."

"I know, but why?"

Starlight shook Twilight violently. "I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why I'm upset. But if I tell you, It won't be because I conformed to your little test. 'By the time we reach your village, you'll have to tell me what happened', such arrogance. If I tell you, it'll be because of my... my generosity."

"Just tell me."

"So eager," she chided.

"Tell me."

"This is a barren wasteland. I've done things to make me look like I was all-powerful. I made it look like I used the staff of sameness, you know that, but I did other things. Since everypony became equal and since they all lost their talents, nopony could sustain a village out here. I used my magic. I tapped at the side of cliffs and, 'magically', water poured out of crevices and divots, I stepped on stones and walked through dead bramble and they, 'magically', turned into warm bread and cool shoots of forest grass, and I collected jars of dust and silt that, 'magically', transformed into medicine for cold, sleeplessness, depression... even insanity. When somepony twisted a hoof or broke a shoulder, I used my magic to heal them. When somepony had nightmares, I would use my magic to make sure they wouldn't dream when they fell back asleep. I, Twilight, was all-powerful to them."

"...I-"

"-But I didn't care for them. I didn't create abundance, I kept leaving them wanting more. I kept them in line by only giving them just enough to eat and just enough to drink, I never gave them more that what was needed to keep them alive. Soon after I created this idea, I used food, water, even medicine as a reward for obedience. Giving Double Diamond more to eat for his espionage was no fur off my back, I could eat as much as I wanted. I played them off of each other like that. For the punishment of trying to escape," She narrowed her eyes, remembering something important, "breaking curfew, or purposely stepping out of line, whatever it was, I would give them less to eat and should they have any medical issue, I wouldn't give... it to them."

Starlight's anger wavered as she recounted the details. She continued, "If the mother of a filly with lung disease got caught after curfew, then... the child wouldn't get her medicine for... for weeks. If a stallion who suffered from nightmares argued... back at me or any of my assistants, I would turn up the intensity of his nightmares. I... I..." She breathed, letting more anger leave. "Mares who were desperately in need of food would... sit outside my house for days and get ridiculed by the other ponies so that she could become an assistant and get fed better. Twilight, they learned real quick not to bite the hoof that feeds them." She just stood there holding Twilight, her eyes vacant.

"Starlight, If only I-"

All of her anger returned in an instant. "You just had to know didn't you. I'm sure you'll enjoy that little bit of power over me, but know this: I know how to control ponies' lives, I can control them. It's not a good talent to have... at all." Her anger left for good this time. After a long, extended silence, Starlight pulled Twilight up and hoisted her onto the ground; her hoof was quite sore.

"But how did they survive on their own after my friends and I left? I had no idea food was such an issue."

"They broke through some caves and basements where I kept the food locked up. That's what they used for their liberation party I heard. While I left, I told some ponies I met along the way to keep them alive while I was busy hunting down you, but I doubt they kept their word. Even so, without much food, the villagers can have as much talent as they desire in cooking and not get anything. I'll be willing to wager that they haven't had a good meal since you left, but..." she tipped her head back at the two carts, still miraculously steaming hot.

Twilight gazed on at the carts now impressed by their full purpose. She stood like this for a while until she said, "What will you say to the rest of them? I know you apologized to Sugar Belle, Party favor, Night Glider, and Double Diamond... but what about the rest? What about the food?"

"They know about the food, they lived it, Twilight; don't be so dense." She sighed a hard sigh. "I'll tell them the truth." Starlight nodded before she trotted over to her cart, strapped it on, and rolled towards her village with Twilight following close behind. The oppressive silence lay back on the other side of the chasm.

As the sun hung high above them, they both agreed to skip lunch in order to save the food for the party, a decision that was difficult to make as the steam billowed out from under the cover of the food. The sun didn't help them travel any faster either, it made the wasteland ridiculously hot.

It's Hearth's Warming Eve, it should be cold outside, not a hundred degrees, Twilight thought plodding ahead. Her mind reeled from what Starlight had said and as she attempted to digest it, she recalled that hunger and the heat don't mix well together at all. She could even see the heat waves emanating from the rocky ground before turning to see that Starlight was handling the heat better though not by much. Twilight turned back to find that a sort of darkness disrupted the heat waves and only when they walked a few dozen yards more did she find that they were the silhouettes of town houses... instead of just another boulder. Eventually, the two of them came close enough to see the stony walls and the shanty wood roofs of the houses that haven't changed since Twilight had last visited, save a few faded paint jobs.

Only a few ponies lingered outside and they were too far to call out to.

She sat down on the side of her house and opened up a new can of packaged oats and hey trying not to notice her friend hovering over her shoulder.

"Y'know, there's only a dozen cans left."

"It'll last until next week." The squatting mare glared at her friend before turning back to her canned fodder.

"Are you sure? Are you sure?" She poked her in a seemingly friendly manner but her face said otherwise. After a while, she poked at her harder eventually tipping her friend over.

"Cut it out." The mare with the food spat back.

"Stop eating all of my food."

"your food? This is community food and this is the only can I'm having today, go pester somepony else or grow up."

"I should have more of this food and you know it, I have to my husband to take care of and he's sick-"

"-But he gets his own cans, we've gone over this, Daze."

"I should get more food because I have to spend my time taking care of him. It takes more energy than you, you don't even have a family anymore... you're lucky your husband escaped with those mares." She kicked her over again.

"Oh, shut up."

"No. Give me that can." Daze reached out to take the can but the other mare took the can and bashed it on her forehead causing her to tumble backwards.

"Go away, you bucker. The town is tired of your relentless demanding... you, you're like Starlight." Daze walked away until she heard her say the last bit prompting her to turn around, but instead of retaliating, she froze when she saw the silhouettes of two ponies approaching the town.

"Look, caravaners."

The other mare whipped around to see what she was talking about, still holding the can of oats in fear that Daze might steal it having set up a trick. It wasn't. Sure enough, there were two ponies approaching the village pulling loaded carts. "I thought they didn't come until Wednesday. Ugh, that's too long to wait for food. They're not sending us enough food like they used to... whoever they are."

"Yeah, and they don't usually come from that direction... who knows where the caravans come from anyway, we can't seem to find a way out of this place, it's surrounded by these giant chasms wherever you go."

"...There's only two of them." The mare with the food squinted. "Wait... those ponies aren't caravaners; they look vaguely familiar."

Daze squinted, realizing first that one of the mares was Starlight. "Starlight Glimmer, it's her," She shouted.

"Look who's with her."

"Who?" Dazed snapped back now completely angered.

"Twilight, one of the six ponies who freed us and ran Starlight out of town." She was confused, trying to figure out what both of them walking together could possibly mean.

"No, Starlight tricked Twilight and now she's coming for revenge. Tell everypony to escape." Fear mixed with the anger already shining on Daze's face but before she could run off and tell everypony inside, the other mare held her back, squinting some more.

"No, Daze; Sugar Belle and her friends were right, Starlight has been reformed. I can tell it in the way she walks, I can tell it... I can just tell. Daze, you have to believe me." She turned to her friend for a moment before turning back. "The carts they're carrying, there's steam coming from them. They have a tone of hot food. Daze, we're saved, we're saved." She felt her body shake with excitement and soon the rest of the town came out to look at the unlikely duo arrive.

Starlight slowed down to travel behind Twilight as fear visibly spread across her face. "I can't do it."

"Remember what you told me; if you can tell me what you've done, you can tell them. I'll be behind you the entire time."

"B... behind?" She swallowed hard. She couldn't ignore the gathering crowd, they obviously saw her already. She turned to look at her destroyed house lying in ruins and immediately regretted looking at what they would do to her when she got close enough. "Where's Sugar Belle and the rest of them," she said, voice quavering.

"I'm sure they're somewhere in the crowd, you just have to walk out and ask where they are. Look, Starlight, when you returned, the four immediately accepted your apology when you explained yourself; they'll probably do the exact same. I'll be behind you if anything goes wrong." Starlight knew that small talk with Twilight wouldn't help her nerves anymore.

Starlight walked passed her shattered house and into the middle of the square where everypony stood staring at her with cold eyes, their fake smiles long gone. Local ponies filled in around her, cutting her off from Twilight and the two carts of food. She slowly spun around to see that nopony talked or moved, noticing that they were either completely terrified or furious. The heat from the sun didn't help lighten the mood either.

Stuttering, she managed to say, "Wh... Where's Sugar B... Belle?"

A raspy cough bellowed from somewhere as the ponies still stood completely silent.

"N... No? Okay..."

Silence.

"I... I haven't come back to... to hurt you, not like I did... before. I-"

"-Then leave." A stallion shouted, rushing out before his wife gently touched him stopping him in his tracks.

"I just ask the same in return: don't attack me."

"That doesn't sound fair to me," Daze boomed.

"Yeah," Somepony echoed.

"No, you don't understand." Starlight looked back at Twilight who was obviously panicking at the growing hatred; she couldn't really promise her safety. But then she looked at the two carts and she got an idea. "If I'm really not fair now, then why would I bring those along?" She pointed at the two carts.

The ponies murmured in confusion and some had to move out of the way so that others could see. Sure enough, everyone in the entire village could now see the two carts loaded with baked goods. Everypony approached it cautiously, all making sure it wasn't some sort of elaborate trap; it checked out okay. More silence followed but Starlight could feel the mood lighten ever so slightly. Unfortunately, a slimy sounding mare hissed, "Oh yeah, I'm sure you just walked around here and turned a bunch of stones and twigs into food like you used to do. You're not going to impress us with the same tricks, Starlight; it isn't thanks if you don't put any effort into apologizing." The other ponies around her weren't so sure about her argument, all they wanted was the food she had to offer.

"You used to use food as a reward," another stallion boomed, "now you're just using it to get favors."

"The only favor I want is to reconcile with you ponies and besides," she levitated the white sheets off of the two carts revealing the baked goods and their craftsmanship, "I couldn't do that. I know somepony else who can bake, right Sugar Belle?"

More silence followed but the mare and the stallion backed off after seeing that this wasn't her usual boring bread and grass. After a long moment, the ponies gradually looked harder and harder for the mare in question as well as her friends. Eventually Sugar Belle emerged from behind two houses. "That's right. She's talking about Pinkie Pie, she's Ponyville's best baker."

"Ponyville?"

"Where's that?"

"Who is she?" One of the mares pointed at Twilight.

"Don't you remember? She's the one who helped get your cutie marks back."

"Yeah, but what about you? What made you change? What's she got to do with it?" The hissing mare asked.

"She showed me what would happen if I kept seeking revenge and she made me realize that I was in the wrong. I'm sorry. Before coming here, I had to show her exactly what I did to you; how I turned stones into bread to feed you all, how I refused to give medicine to disloyal ponies, and how you sacrificed your sleep to get petty favors from me. I told her everything. I told her to quit being so naive, to quit asking for things she doesn't want to hear, and to help me regain trust from all of you. I've treated you like shit and I'm sorry, I apologize. That's what the carts are for." Starlight hung her head as the circle around her edged closer to her in a mysterious collective empathy that breathed in and out as one.

Daze was the only mare who didn't accept the apology. "It's not enough," she declared simply.

"It isn't."

"So?"

"You know, we actually came here for another reason."

"And what's... that..." her dominating voice decayed quickly.

"I don't know if you ponies have forgotten completely or not, but today is Hearth's Warming Eve. I brought this food for the party." She searched the blank faces for answers. "Do you not remember Hearth's Warming? Don't you remember Pony Clause, the story of the Windigos, and the founding of Equestria?"

"We do." Night Glider announced.

"What's the matter then?"

"Uh... I forgot all about it. Since you came, the days have blurred together."

"Things haven't gone well since you left," Sugar Belle added. "After you left, we were fed by mysterious caravan ponies who kept passing through the area. They gave us plenty of fresh food and drink everyday but no matter how many times we asked, they wouldn't say who they were or where they came from. We even tried to follow them, but those seemingly nice ponies threatened us with violence if we followed them. As time went on, they gave us less and less. Now they give us cans filled with mushy oatmeal and hay and they don't give us nearly enough. The last few times, they came with soldiers who threatened that the caravan would never return again. Thank Celestia you're back."

Starlight knew exactly what she meant, she knew exactly who those ponies were and, to her surprise, they had kept up their promise to feed the town. I don't understand, I only told them to give them just enough, why would they flood them with food to begin with? She decided to keep this little bit of information away from Twilight...

"Did you know about this, Starlight?" Twilight asked upset.

"No. Luckily I thought to bring some food along." Starlight turned to Daze who now had her back turned and her head down. "Hey, this is Hearth's Warming Eve, nopony can make things completely even, completely equal... especially not me. I have to be generous, I'm offering you to join the party with all of us. Don't worry about the food, it's not a good time to worry about anything. Will you join us?"

"I can't stop worrying, Starlight," She urged. "Look, I get it. You're sorry for what you've done and I believe it, I have to, but it doesn't change anything, we'll still just run out of food when you leave for Ponyville again."

"I'm sorry, but I can't do anything about the food problem. I can't undo what I've done. The best I can do. The best I can do is bring carts of food along. That's it. Nothing more."

"I know you can't do anymore." Daze paused for a long time as she looked at all the ponies already gathering around some benches and the food already getting arranged and dished out by Twilight. She sighed and inhaled, "You did good. Thank you, thank you. I can at least live the rest of my life knowing that one mare did care about us in the end."

"Don't say things like that, hunger's the worst way to die."

She responded softly, "Don't you say things like that," she chuckled low, "it's Hearth's Warming Eve after all." Her chuckle grew into a laugh and soon the two of them pranced over to the long table filled with Pinkie Pie and Applejack's best bakes and treats. Doubt still lingered in the minds of the ponies about food in the future, but for now, they ate in comfort knowing that somehow everything would be okay. After all, the one thing they no longer doubted, the one thing they knew for sure, was that Starlight Glimmer had realized what she had done and had given a generous apology.

The ponies sat down to the best Hearth's Warming Eve meal they had ever had before in a long time.

Double Diamond stood up with his drink in hoof. "Twilight, tell us how you defeated Tirek."

"Oh yeah, and the evil king Sombra," Night Glider added.

"One at a time," said Twilight. "I didn't know it at the time, but apparently there was this sinister centaur named Tirek who escaped from a place called Tartarus a while ago, which, if you can believe it, was a lot worse of a place to live than here." Some chuckled. "Anyway, he was able to march out of prison and return to Equestria where he stole the magic from unicorns and each time he sucked the aura out of a pony, he would grow stronger. Stronger and stronger he grew, gaining the ability to take power from earth ponies and pegasi along the way, until he set his sights on ridding Princess Celestia herself of magic..."

"...No..." A little filly whispered in awe.

"...Oh yes, but the princesses had a trick up their sleeve. They agreed to give me all of their magic so that when Tirek arrived, he would have nothing to steal from. It worked, but he sent them to Tartarus by surprise. He and Discord searched for me until the latter found me and my friends in Ponyville; he imprisoned my friends and gave them to Tirek. That's when Tirek betrayed him and stole Discord's magic, the magic of chaos."

"...In the name of Celestia," somepony said.

"Discord gave me an amulet that Tirek gave him in apology. Eventually, Tirek found me out and destroyed my tree home. He knew I had the princess' magic but I wouldn't let him have it and so I fought him hoof and nail until he decided we were too equally matched. He offered me a trade: my friends for all the alicorn magic in Equestria. I thought for a long time and I thought it was a trick, but after everything I've gone through, I knew that I needed to take the trade. He followed through with the deal and gave me back all my friends even though I had to convince him to release Discord. When he sucked all the alicorn magic out of me, he grew to the most gigantic size possible, destroying everything in his path."

"What did you do?" Asked a confused Sugar Belle.

"I went back to the chest at the foot of the Tree of Harmony and used the amulet as the final key to unlock a power that I can only describe as the pure magic of friendship. Tirek didn't stand a chance; he returned back into his weak and decrepit form and the princesses, the unicorns, the pegasi, and the earth ponies all got their powers back. It was a battle I couldn't win without my friends." Twilight looked at Starlight beside her knowing that she could wield that same power now.

Silence was quickly followed by cheering and more loud talking. "Tell us about Discord."

"No, what about Chrysalis?"

Twilight retold all the epic struggles she's had as the ponies ate their fill. They at at the end of their chairs for some, they looked down disappointed for others, and they cheered whenever Twilight and her friends pulled through. These ponies were amazed at this simple power, having not witnessed anything like it for years.

She noticed there would be quite a bit left over for Hearth's Warming Day. Eventually Twilight said, "How about letting Starlight say the Hearth's Warming Tale?"

An uneasy pause was followed by a mumbling yet supportive yes.

"Uh, where do I start?"

"Come on, you know it," Party Favor urged.

"So... before the founding of Equestria, there were three tribes made up of the three races of ponies: The Unicorns, The Pegasi, and The Earth Ponies. They originally had a contract that worked well, the earth ponies would give food to the pegasi and the unicorns in exchange for good weather and the maintenance of the sun and the moon. As all contracts go, distrust came from somewhere, Celestia knows where, and the distrust caused the winters to grow harsher. The harsher the winter, the less food earth ponies could grow and the less food the other tribes could collect. The unicorns and the pegasi garnished and eventually forcibly seized food while the earth ponies hoarded what was left over, attempting to starve off the others. Things got so bad that they had to hold a summit.

"The leaders of the three tribes, Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, and Chancellor Puddinghead, all traveled to Summit Castle where they tried negotiate a resolution before they all starved to death. Unfortunately, they were too blinded by their hatred to negotiate and the leaders returned back to their tribes deciding to seek out new land. This went perfectly well until they discovered that they had all found the same land... what are the odds? They argued over this as they always did and the snowstorm came rolling in again. They had to retreat to a dull cave where their hate eventually froze them stiff. Luckily for all of us here today, their advisers didn't want anything to do with their leaders' arguments and they agreed to form Equestria out of compromise. That's the true reason we celebrate Hearth's Warming, it's about caring." Starlight had everypony's attention.

"Speech." Somepony called out from the other side of the table.

"Nothing can be more embarrassing for you than what you said earlier." Night Glider nudged Starlight making everypony laugh.

"Well, yes, I agree, but I-" Starlight noticed Twilight talking in a hushed tone with a saffron colored stallion with a redder, cinnamon colored mane and tail she didn't quite recognize. He wasn't a part of her village. He looked up at her as she sat down. "What do you want with Twilight?" Her voice was obviously on edge. "...And who are you?"

"I said 'excuse me'. That's it. That's all I said. Can we talk in private?" He boomed low in an accent that she knew a little too well. It was an accent that Twilight has probably never heard.

"It's not a good time."

"I insist." He hissed. His dark teal eyes stared unwavering back at her.

"Don't worry ponies, I'll be back." They responded to Starlight with a resounding groan but luckily for her, they didn't think anything about her leaving with a stallion they didn't know either. "Where do you want us to go? What do you want from us?"

"I need your help."

"Okay," she said skeptically.

"Can we bring Sugar Belle, Party Favor, Double Diamond, and Night Glider with us to talk, I trust them as much as I do her... and I don't trust you, not yet." Twilight said in an ominously flat tone of voice.

The stallion stood still thinking. "Sure."

"Sugar Belle?"

"Yes?" She said sweetly though she was unnerved by the anxiousness in Twilight's voice.

"Can you get your three friends and meet us and this visiting stallion in private?"

"Yeah, but what do you need? What does he need?"

"I don't know." Sugar Belle turned to get her friends' attentions while the mysterious stallion led Starlight Glimmer and Twilight around the back of a cottage on the south side. He chose a bad spot because the sun shone directly on them, it wasn't under any shadows. Eventually, Sugar Belle and her friends ambled around back while the rest of the ponies continued eating in celebration.

"Tell us your name before we tell you anything," Starlight demanded trying to gain some kind of leverage.

"I'm Raider. Can I ask for help now?" He said impatiently.

"What do you want?" Double Diamond said caustically, sensing the distrust.

"I need help tracking down three criminals in m'home town and I think the combined talents 'f'all of you will help m'find them and bring them to justice. They've been tormenting m'town and I would like you to help stop them. Agreed?" He stared coolly at everypony though Twilight got the impression that he was trying to be nice.

"Yes." The collective answer was almost immediate.

"Are y'willing to follow me after y'finish your... your... what kind of party are y'having anyway? It's the middle of winter for Meadow's sake." None of them understood what he was talking about.

"It's Hearth's Warming Eve, haven't you heard about Hearth's Warming Eve?" Party Favor said surprised.

"Never heard 'f'it, sorry."

"It's a long story," said Starlight sighing after having just got done retelling the old tale.

"Don't bother, you can just g'back to your meal." Raider watched as Twilight, Sugar Belle, and all her friends met back with the rest of the village. Starlight also began to walk back when Raider pulled her aside. "You," he stared down at Starlight hoping that she would listen and trust him, "I want to know what these are." He rustled his hoof around in his pale, over-sized saddle bag until he pulled out three clear jars filled with one cutie mark each. Starlight stared at the marks astounded. It wasn't possible, Double Diamond broke the glass and the cutie marks all flew away to meet with their respective pony. It wasn't possible that these three didn't make it, she couldn't accept it.

"How is this possible?" Starlight yelled at Raider.

"I 'avent the slightest idea." He boomed. "What I want t'know is whose are these."

"Three ponies who escaped a long time ago, are they the criminals?" Starlight didn't have any worry in her voice at all.

"I can only assume yes."

"Why didn't you tell them that?" Starlight narrowed her eyes.

"I want them t'learn for themselves, but the real reason is because these criminals don't have their cutie marks," he dangled the jars above her head, "I can't imagine they're going t'receive your company very well at all. I'm withholding all 'f'this from them for your safety... and for theirs. Did you hear how fast they responded 'yes'?"

"Yes?" She couldn't figure out where he was going with this.

"They're too eager and if they knew that they're going to be looking f'three ponies with equal signs, they would rush in to capture them with you by their side and... well, let's just say they'll do what criminals always do." Raider's voice sounded manipulative, but he honestly tried to fight his own foreign tone of voice.

"What good does it do to bring them along then?"

"They will help us find those criminals, but it will be you who will capture them because you are th'only one they fear with their lives." Raider nodded consolingly as Starlight realized that she had to use her former self to help his town, I just can't do that, I've haven't spent all this time seeking revenge with Twilight and seeking forgiveness from the villagers just to scare these criminals with my former self. Starlight straightened up after figuring out that it just didn't make any sense.

"That doesn't explain the cutie marks not returning to their flanks when Double Diamond broke the glass. We're talking about powerful and innate magic here, cutie marks wouldn't be stopped just by mere distance." Starlight paced now, trying to figure out what Raider knew and didn't know.

"I don't know a'ton'bout magic and your argument makes sense. I don't know how it happened; my superior gave m'these jars, that's all I know. You know what these ponies'll do t'ya, y'know. I'm asking you not t'leave me and the others during the trip. I am relying on you to capture these criminals because you are the center of the plan. I left m'home town just so I can find you and, luckily, I found y'on the exact day they sent me. Will you do this, will you help me?"

"First, tell me what they did exactly." Starlight stared at Raider but she accepted what he had to say for the most part; whatever happened with the cutie marks, it was out of his power.

"I'll tell everypony at once, they shouldn't know this little talk ever happened. For their safety, remember. D'you accept?"

Starlight responded with more hesitancy than her friends. "Yes."

"My boss would like you to sign this paper in that case, it's nothing y'should be worried about." He looked disinterested in Starlight's reaction and instead he stared at a tiny spider scampering up the back of the house they stood behind.

She read through the entire text of page and, after reading everything about the possible hazards and the chance of deaths to occur, she didn't find anything that would make the contract shifty or dishonest. It was just like any other regular form. She stared down at the two lines, one for his signature and another for her. She signed the bottom line.

And the shape of the lines were not lost on her.

Part II
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March Of Three Prisoners (A Hearth's Warming Tale)

Part II

December 24,

Who is this Stallion? Why is he asking this town about criminals we don’t even know about? Twilight looked at the village ponies cleaning up the last crumbs of pie, eating the last slices of hash, and pouring the bottom dregs of cranberry juice. And what about their food? Looking around, Twilight noticed that Sugar Belle and the others were thinking the same thing but felt something off when they turned around.

“Where’s Starlight?” Night Glider’s voice quickly evaporated in the heat.

Twilight stared at the house they met behind but she didn’t see Starlight, she was with Raider behind the blind spot. She just had to question the obvious, “Where’s Raider?”

“We’re done with our feast, we should be leaving.” Double Diamond scraped some more food into empty caravan cans as he squinted over at the house in question. The sun marched into the muggy afternoon creating heat waves that made it impossible for him to see if they were finished.

“Wait, you’re leaving?” Daze said irritably but worried.

Sugar Belle answered, “Yeah, we have to help this stallion Raider find criminals in his town and bring them to-”

“-What about us?” Daze yelled in a dull yet overbearing fear, “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know, we’ll think of something.” She knew that Daze or any other pony in the village couldn’t and wouldn’t hope to wrap themselves up and tuck themselves in with her bristly, itchy response.

“You’ve got to think of something, get a hold of those caravaners or we’ll starve.”

“What did you ponies even do about food before Starlight showed up? This place is a desert,” Twilight groaned.

“Starlight was here first-”

“-She purposely built this village out here knowing we couldn’t manage it without her magic and now that she’s reformed, I think we have no choice but to leave this place,” Sugar Belle interrupted.

An off-yellow colored stallion overheard and pitched in. “You know we can’t do that, remember. We searched the outskirts of the village and saw all those trenches if you recall; we’re basically trapped here.”

Sugar Belle answered quickly, “Yes, but Starlight’s reformed now, she can get us past those rifts if we wanted to and...” but just then, a frightening realization dawned on Sugar Belle as it spread across her face, “…No. Starlight made those traps so that if we managed to escape, we would just get trapped out there in the desert and die, am I right?”

“Right,” said Daze and the other stallion.

“But she also built this village for the opposite reason: If she should leave for any reason, then we would all starve in the village, imprisoning us that way.”

Why didn’t she tell me that, thought Twilight. She must not’ve thought about it.

“But if she was really reformed, she would all tell us get out of town, close her canyons of doom, and point us to the nearest city. What about that?”

“I don’t know,” Sugar Belle said flatly.

“And what about the caravaners? How do they get in?”

“It’s common knowledge, Daze; the border is a one way entrance.” Sugar Belle didn’t think her explanation through.

“Then how do they get out, genius?” Sugar Belle looked confused.

“The caves in the mountains, Starlight told me it’s the only exit,” Twilight added.

“That’s not possible, the caravans always come from the opposite direction.”

“They must’ve circled around to make it look like they were coming from the opposite direction.” Sugar Belle was definitely not wearing her thinking cap.

“Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?” Daze’s anger swelled a bit.

“Even if it is true, then why did the caravans begin to appear when she left us? I’m not gonna stomach that coincidence,” The stallion remarked as his belly lurched.

“Starlight told me that she asked some ponies to take care of you while she was gone, but she didn’t know if they would follow through; turns out they did.”

“You seem to know a lot, who’s they?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said, “all she told me-”

Daze slammed her hoof down on the table and glared at Twilight with fiery eyes. “If she told you so much, then she must’ve told you her plan about fixing this food shortage, right? Or did she come over here just to deliver two carts of Hearth's Warming food without any plan in mind? She didn’t have a plan, did she?”

Twilight looked down.

“Did she?” She growled.

“No, she didn’t… but the food she bought was an apology, one you didn’t honestly accept earlier.” Twilight stared back at Daze but she knew that her argument fell flat.

“I accepted her apology,” her darkened gaze and lower tone didn’t assure Twilight that she was honest, “but Starlight’s smart, too smart. She should be doing something to help us out, to make amends. Now look Twilight, it’s not that I’m ungrateful but Starlight should at the very least undo what she’s done-”

“-agreed-”

“-and not go out and hunt for criminals in a distant city.”

“What choice do we have?” Twilight retorted.

“Well it’s, I,” Daze realized that Twilight and Starlight were stuck; it was either the villagers’ eventual starvation or the murder of the ponies in that city, wherever it was. “I don’t know what to say.” Twilight looked at her sideways, unimpressed. “She wronged us personally, you have to admit that,” her anger left completely.

“I do, so what?”

“So… nothing. When she comes back, she has to fix this; sure she gave us an apology, but now she needs to fix the shortage.” Daze stared dully at Twilight silently urging her to realize that the village needed Starlight and her newfound compassion. She didn’t pick up on her hint.

“Fine, but I’m telling you she isn’t hiding anything.”

How do I convince them I’m not hiding anything? Starlight glanced at Twilight, Sugar Belle, and Daze who shot her an angry gaze with an aftertaste of weariness. She turned back to find that Raider was smart enough to keep his distance. Does he expect a fight or something? She turned around again. Why would he expect a fight?

Thankfully Twilight spoke first. “What took you so long, Starlight?”

The escaped ponies were the criminals, Raider has their cutie marks, I don’t know how he got them, and I have to threaten them with my magic to capture them. I don’t even know how they escaped past the border. Oh Celestia, what do I say?

“You don’t look so good, what…’ Twilight noticed her face, she looked mortified, “what did he say to you?” She snarled.

“It’s okay, he just doesn’t trust me is all. I guess my infamy has spread far and wide,” she lied hanging her head.

“But-”

“-Come on, let’s go,” Raider commanded growling in annoyance. Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, Sugar Belle, and her three friends followed behind Raider like ducks all in a row. He travelled north away from the mountains and towards where those strange caravans came from. Shadows of a few mountains rose in the distance but they looked like they grew past the rift. Eventually the village faded behind them in the heat waves as they trudged onwards in the vast desert at the hottest part of the day.

Sugar Belle looked to make sure the village was out of sight before comforting Starlight. “Don’t worry about what Daze said, this is the best Hearth's Warming Eve I’ve ever had and even as a little filly I can’t remember feeling so… aware, aware about the spirit that goes into it. You know, a bunch of ponies told me how absolutely shocked they were when you brought that food for us. They would’ve told you except that… well-”

“-They were too afraid.”

Sugar Belle said nothing, choosing instead to stare at the much more exciting dull-orange ground.

“Daze is right though.”

“She asked you about the food because she was afraid, Starlight.”

“I know.”

“But, as a friend, what do you plan to do?” Sugar Belle asked.

“I don’t know honestly, but I wouldn’t want to force you people to leave for cities you hardly know.” Sugar Belle bought the explanation.

“Yeah, hopefully this all works out.” Sugar Belle looked as skeptical as Twilight did.

“I knew Starlight didn’t have a plan, the whole Hearth's Warming Eve food thing was a last minute idea,” Twilight announced in a matter-of-fact voice before some thought stopped her in her tracks. She felt a brief chill in the middle of the desert. “Raider,” she yelled.

“What?”

“You know we’re headed straight towards the canyon perimeter, right?”

“Yeah, what’s y’point?”

“How did you get past it, I thought, it-” Twilight short circuited.

“-Nothing special, I just scaled down the side of a cliff.”

“Then how do you plan to get out?” Night Glider insisted.

“Starlight Glimmer’s magic bridge, of cou-” Raider stopped himself realizing that his knowledge of Starlight would expose their agreement.

“How do you know who she is?” Twilight guffawed.

“She told me her name after you left, why is that so incriminating?” He lied curtly.

Two pieces of the puzzle snapped together in Twilight’s mind. She stopped walking to stare Raider in the eyes and he froze feeling the anger emanating from her. Fear flooded through his body, she’s a smart one, but when he remembered what his boss said, his own anger, replacing the fear, made him scowl and wrinkle his muzzle. Twilight shouted, “There’s something you’re not telling us; how did you know about Starlight Glimmer and her ability? What was your first plan if what you say about meeting Starlight just recently is true? I think we deserve to know.”

Deserve. It was a foreign word to him.

“Deserve? Ha. I knew about a powerful and magical leader living out here, but I only knew her through talk of the town. Using the description m’boss gave me, I recognized her immediately. Y’aren’t trusting enough, little purple one.”

“I’m Twilight Sparkle and I’m not done here.”

Raider rolled his eyes. “What?” he snapped.

“How do you know Starlight was going to be at the village today? She was gone for, like, forever,” Twilight whined.

“M’boss told me that, I have n’idea.” He lost the tone of annoyance in his voice.

“Your boss sure knows a lot,” Twilight shot a sideways glance at him and the other four echoed yeah behind her.

But Twilight knew she had made a mistake because Raider froze, turned around, reached into his saddlebag, and pulled out a black bandana. Limping over to Twilight, he snapped the bandana a few times to shake out the dust as something made of glass clanked inside his saddlebag. He held the cloth in his hoof over Twilight before quickly tying around his own face to cover his muzzle and mouth. Twilight sighed in relief before she looked up at his eyes; they were the same color as Fluttershy’s but they were not nearly as kind as hers.

“What are you doing, Raider?” Starlight yelled.

His muffled voice resounded, “M’boss knows nothing. H’listens to word on the street and makes his plans accordingly, I’m not that stupid to see that. H’told me that a pony from this stretch of this desert came into m’town looking for a pony named…” His eyes widened as he backed up from her, “Twilight Sparkle. You! Sh’been looking for you.” He turned around to face Starlight who had turned away from the flying sparks. “Last I heard’f’it, you wanted to… to…”

“Destroy her. Yeah. That’s right. So what?”

“Well?” He boomed behind the bandana in anticipation.

“I’m not. I decided not even a week ago that I wouldn’t do anything to her. We’re good friends now, all of us.” Something about what she said irritated Raider.

“Answer her first question, what does this have to do with anything?” Twilight demanded.

“And why did they send you on the exact day that Starlight was here? That’s no coincidence,” Double Diamond chimed in.

“What? No, you ponies are clueless. And it’s not because of this Heat Wasting Evil celebration-”

“-Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

“Whatever, It’s, y’see, m’boss, well… I don’t know. M’boss has t’work undercover or else bad things’ll happen. I’m sure he’s… deployed other ponies just like me… wandering around the desert b’themselves. I’m sure they’ve visited y’town like I have.” Raider pranced around the obvious truth as much as possible; luckily for him, they haven’t figured it out yet.

“Nopony like you has ever come to our village before,” Night Glider questioned with harsh eyes of her own.

“Only those Celestia-dammed caravans visit us.” Double Diamond concurred with a sprinkle of resentment.

“That doesn’t make any sense.” It made complete sense.

“They must’ve died when they tried to leave,” urged Party Favor.

“…No… that means all of them, they’re all dead,” Raider paced in front of Twilight shaking his head, “How could have this happened? I didn’t realize you had this much power, Starlight; you’ve killed our sp… scavengers.” Raider leaned in close to Starlight and stared her down with a mix of fury and agony.

“I’ve done much worse, Raider, let’s get going.”

“No, I can’t let you. I can’t let you into my town when you’ve proven responsible for all the disappearances of my fellow spies. I mean my fellow scavengers. They’re all gone… all of them.” Raider turned away from the other six.

Starlight trotted up to him carefully as if he might explode. She whispered harshly, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Raider responded soft enough so that the others couldn’t hear, “keep y’little unicorn horn out of this, I’ll take care of it.” Starlight looked back at Sugar Belle’s friends and a glaring Twilight Sparkle. Raider didn’t seem to notice any of them. He resumed like before, “Y’destroyed them with your magic. It’s bad enough that y’wanted to get rid of Twilight but y’had to create a trap in th’middle of the Desert of Tears. I can’t believe it.” His accent got worse as he angered.

“Stop Raider, let’s just go and get this over with.” Starlight looked at Raider, at the other five, and then back at Raider trying to figure out what was going on.

“You… you… fine. I’ll just, fine. Yeah, okay. I’m sorry Starlight, it’s my fault, I remember you said you were sorry about Twilight. I just got worked up there, that’s all. You’re right, let’s go.” And so Raider’s stage performance fooled the six of them including Starlight. Raider wiped the masks of emotion off his face and trudged on with a blank stare into the distance while his black bandana soaked up the absent tears for his fellow spies that never died in the first place. This is all just hanging by a thread, if that purple alicorn keeps questioning me, I’m horse meat.

Sugar Belle, Party Favor, Night Glider, Double Diamond, and even the ever-questioning Twilight Sparkle trudged ahead trembling as they envisioned the slow death of Raider’s friends. Starlight lingered behind all of them. No. They’re going to find out. Twilight’s never going to talk to me again. She straightened up. If I were still my old self, this wouldn’t be a problem.

The party reached the giant fissure in the ground.

“Starlight, time to work your magic.” The stallions chuckled but everything fell flat when no response came. Twilight turned around to see Starlight way behind. “What are you doing back there?”

“Sorry girls, I fell behind. What is it?” But Starlight only had to look down.

“Do you have enough magical energy left?” Sugar Belle asked.

“Of course, don’t be ridiculous.”

“Can you close the rift for good this time?” Party Favor asked.

“No.” Raider’s jolting response sounded monstrous from behind the bandana. “I mean, she can patch it up later. Come on, we’re losing time.” Starlight initiated the spell as Raider looked on from behind. The dust and silt, like before, built itself up into a beautifully carved stone bridge that spanned the length of the rift. Raider stepped in front of all of them but this time he had to jockey with Double Diamond and Party Favor who now found him suspicious as well.

Twilight tested the stallion’s patience. “Can you close the rift for good after we finish up with our little quest, Starlight?”

“It would take a lot of energy but if I opened it, I can definitely close it again.” Twilight looked at Raider to find the tiniest response but that stubborn stallion just strode staring starkly at the rocks strewn about the desert. Twilight forgot to respond and silence followed.

“I don’t remember those mountains being that close,” Night Glider mentioned. The mountains they saw in the distance earlier were right in front of them. Unlike the cavernous mountains to the south, these had no snow and the peaks of the mountains wore green dresses.

“Water.” Party Favor bounced up and down as he stared with thirsty eyes at the waterfalls pouring from immense cliffs and overhangs; some cast shadows as long as the mountains themselves. Raider lead the ponies counterclockwise around the closest cliff as the land rose beneath their hooves. The red rocks coughed as they scaled the hills at the hooves of the mountains; they were not yet under the comfortable shade of the cliff’s shadow.

“Wait here.” Raider held out his hoof which created a traffic jam behind him. The other ponies looked around, attempting to figure out why he stopped. Starlight noticed a red object in the distance that looked a little too uniform to be a boulder. On closer inspection, the object looked like a solitary red tower… whatever it was, it emanated the nastiest vibes.

Raider didn’t care and as he approached that tower and as he separated himself from the other ponies, he saw a vaguely familiar face trotting out to meet him.

It called from the distance with an accent even more ridiculous than Raider’s. “Back from your mission Raidah? Where’s y’caravan?” None of the other ponies heard him.

Raider thought he remembered that voice but he trotted closer to get a good view of his face. His long tan mane was tied in a ponytail and he wore intricate red face paint on his light blue fur. His darker blue eyes made the whole look terrifying. Sure enough, he saw the most hated stallion in the Summits. “Go buck yourself, Nohchil Ta,” Raider wasn’t one for pleasantries.

“Don’t say that, Raidah; heh, Lord Ayikal’s been keeping information from you, information that even I know.”

“So what?”

“…So, the Muds won’t be trampled on. I know about the criminals and what ponies say about them, and about the lies y’and the others spread about them. We aren’t idiots y’realize Raidah.”

“You’ve spread lies among the Muds, Nohchil Ta, you’re trying t’save those dammed criminals.”

"What are they talking about, can you hear them?" Sugar Belle asked.

"No, I can't even see that far away." Night Glider answered.

“Lies? Ha. Hypocrite.” But this Nohchil Ta character continued smiling and laughing until he spotted the six ponies in the distance behind Raider. “Who are they? Wait, they’re ponies from her village. Ha. You’re playing right into m’hooves, Raidah. When they hear th’truth about the Summits, they’ll free those ‘criminals’ and leave you in the pits.” Raider looked like a caged animal. I knew I needed to bring them along but I didn’t think I would have to deal with this one. Raider growled almost inaudibly until he thought of an idea.

“Well, Nohchil Ta.”

“What?” His smile faded a little.

“I have something that you need desperately, you know what.” Nohchil’s smile faded even more as he glanced from Raider to those six ponies in the distance behind him. He eventually figured out that Raider had the criminals’ cutie marks in his possession.

His smile exploded in fury. “Give me those. I’ll kill you!”

With that, Nohchil Ta sprinted at Raider at full speed ahead. Raider looked for an opening but at that point, he was too late to make a move and he opted to run back to the others. Nohchil caught up with him and kicked him in the side spinning him around and giving him the chance to strike back. Raider lunged in to strangle his neck but he managed to worm himself free and all of a sudden, he twisted Raiders' hooves around and pinned him to the ground.

"I have t'kill you. I don't want t'kill you, Raider Ayikal, but you're too dangerous." He was not laughing.

"You filthy Mud, have y'convinced y'followers to excuse criminals? What's next?"

"Shut up, they aren't criminals. Stop, Raider, please. Remember back when everything was right? Remember back when we didn't have t'fight like this... that mare ruined everything when she built that village, we lost our way of life. Don't buy into what he says."

"The only thing you've done since y'were thrown off the cliff for extortion is lie. Don't y'act out your sob story, I'm sick of it," Raider tried to get up but Nohchil had him expertly pinned. "Help me Starlight, this stallion's going to kill me."

Twilight fired a beam at Nohchil, freezing him and levitating him in mid air allowing Raider to have a quick breather. "You want to let these criminals run free in the streets of your town? You sicken me."

"No, Mrs. Alicorn, y'don't understand. Don't listen to him." Twilight's magic managed to shut him up for a time. Just then, Nohchil Ta witnessed and recognized the face of Starlight Glimmer, the mare from all the rumors. "You. If the Summits would've known better, y'would be dead. You'll die for what you've done and those supposed 'criminals' will go free."

Twilight was furious. "She's changed you... you Mud." She didn't know what it meant but whatever it was, it was insulting.

But Nohchil didn't respond and instead, he thought for a long moment still suspended and frozen in midair. "Is this true?" he asked staring at Starlight.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I'll have you know I brought food for the village. Two whole carts worth of food." Nohchil still remained largely silent.

After a few long seconds of silence, Nohchil muttered, "In the name of the Meadows..." more silence followed.

"Nohchil?" Starlight questioned.

"No... No. You have to find the criminals and get them out of Tanner Cliffs."

"You wanted to kill Raider, I can't let that happen." Starlight glared at Nohchil.

"He's lying, they have t'be brought into court, they just can't b'left alone on the streets. Listen Nohchil, you may not know about what these ponies have done since you live in the pits, but mares don't want t'go outside alone anymore. Security is doubled everywhere. They are a threat and Lord Ayikal doesn't negotiate with criminals."

"Strange, that accusation's different from what I've heard from every other pony ever."

"Accusation? They are known criminals. Starlight, please." Nohchil couldn't help but to let out a little chuckle after he said this. Nohchil finally broke free from Twilight's spell after she gave out from fatigue and he went straight for Raider's throat once more.

"Starlight, help me get this weird stallion of Raider." Twilight tried to force him off Raider but he held on like a leach. Both Raider and Nohchil called out to Starlight. She just stood there watching the three of them struggle. I have no idea. These criminals are the escaped ponies and Raider has their cutie marks. I can't tell Twilight about it, I just can't. Those ponies are going to kill me. She looked at Raider struggling under Nohchil's hold. Have they turned into criminals? They don't have their cutie marks. They're gonna kill me. She turned to see that all the sad laughter in Nohchil had been squeezed out of him. They're insane, it's not their fault... is it?

"Starlight, remember what we agreed to?"

"Nothing he says is true, Starlight."

They really should go on trial, it'll be fairer than I've ever treated them before. The tension between the two stallions only grew as she looked on. Help me, Celestia; I have no idea. Don't let the criminals kill me... if what Raider says is true. She momentarily remembered the other stallion saying something about the 'Meadows'... she heard Raider say it too. Wait, I know what I need to do, I can't take the easy way out, I have to face these criminals. Starlight's horn lit up as a second aura of energy surrounded Nohchil and with the combined power of Twilight and Starlight, they managed to throw off Nohchil.

"Both of you get away from each other." Sugar Belle tried to be the reasonable one and, much to her surprise, they listened to her.

Nohchil Ta stared Raider down before declaring, "Well, it looks like w'both have something of equal value." Nohchil then turned around quickly and galloped east away from the mountains and towards where the moon would rise for Pony Clause.

Equal. The meaning of the word was not lost on her.

"What were you doing?" Twilight shouted.

"I'm sorry, Twilight, I just froze up." I can't tell her.

"That's fine," Party Favor assured her.

"No. That's not it. What if what Nohchil says is right and that they're not criminals?" Starlight looked nervously at the five of them and she didn't dare to turn around to see Raider who was already trotting closer to the lonely tower.

Twilight wasn't happy but Sugar Belle spoke up first, "We have to at least give him the benefit of the doubt. That's what we did to you when you arrived earlier today, remember? We don't know anything about these criminals anyway."

"Okay, fine," Starlight yelled.

"Woah, calm down," Double Diamond said coolly.

"No, I can't, I don't want to deal with these criminals anymore, they're going to kill me." Starlight grew more and more hysterical prompting Raider to stop and turn around. He tied up his bandana around his muzzle again.

"Starlight, it's okay, we can use our magic and they can't hurt us. If we managed to throw off that stallion with the face paint, we can stop these three without much effort."

"No Twilight, I can't."

"Why not?"

Raider shot daggers into Starlight's eyes. Don't tell them, you foal.

"I... I... I just can't," Starlight sobbed prompting Twilight to back off and the others to move in to comfort her.

"What are you hiding?-"

"-Stop Twilight, is this how you treat y'friends? Do you always poke and prod for answers with that horn 'f'yours? Just give her a break." Raider narrowed his eyes at Twilight. "It's not right t'know everything about another pony, y'know." Twilight could hear Starlight's voice behind his own.

Twilight looked down.

"Disgusting," Raider spat.

The seven of them passed the lonely tower noticing that it was completely black inside.

"Ugh, what is that smell?" Night Glider scrunched her muzzle to get rid of the stench.

"Never go in there," Raider announced. "That's the prison. Only the lowest of Muds clean out that tower."

Oh, Celestia. Night Glider thought.

"What do you mean by Muds?" Double Diamond said.

"The Muds are slimy creatures who deserve t'work at the bottom of the cliffs in giant mud pits. They build houses and towers, clean streets, and grow tons of food out of seemingly nothing at all; all 'f'it without any pay, as it should be. They serve the ponies living up on the cliffs, including the Ayikal ponies: the Summit ponies who live, naturally, at the top of the cliffs." Raider walked into the shadow followed by the others who hardly noticed a change in the heat. "That Nohchil Ta character that attacked me is a dangerous infidel, he claims t'lead the Muds and, if he had his way, he'd destroy life as we or, should I say, my life as I knew it in Tanner Cliffs."

"Tanner Cliffs?"

"That's the city I come from, it's built on giant cliffs, just look." Raider pointed west.

Sure enough, a sprawling city grew like regal moss on the side of the mountains and cliffs. The red buildings and towers with blue and green roofs were all lit up in the shadows by millions of lights like fireflies in the night. Fire pits hung from overhangs, glowing teal waterfalls churned giant wooden cogs, innumerable stairs scaled the cliffs, rays of sunlight poked through natural holes in the cliffs to light up some humble homes on the ground, and, above all, was a towering red castle that sat on the top of the highest peak untouched by any shadow. For Sugar Belle and her friends, it looked just as regal as Canterlot.

"The center of Equestria," boomed Raider.

"Wait. This place is just right around the corner." Night Glider turned around to see Starlight's chasm in plain daylight and noticed that the city was tucked behind a few mountains. "It's right outside the chasm, how did we not know about this?" She then looked at the lonely red tower estranged from its friends on the cliffs and saw the shadow of the mountains creep slowly up on it as the sun slogged into evening. Did Starlight know about this? It's kind of hard to miss this place. And yet none of them had ever heard about this giant city; it wasn't in any story or legend or anything.

The seven of them forged up more hills that grew steeper and steeper as they went. They weaved their way through gravel streets and in between tiny clay houses where hearth fires roared like it was night already. Scraggly looking ponies milled around the streets; some traded food for money, some washed clothes on wringers outside their houses, and some fillies and colts played soccer off the walls of their parents' homes.

Raider led the gang onto a main street where ponies with carts ran without ever taking their eyes off of the street in front of them. It was just as busy as Manehattan except that they noticed there weren't just ponies, there were all kinds of creatures from all over Equestria.

Double Diamond tried to step out on the road but a stallion came flying by.

"Move it."

"Get out of the way," A bat pony yelled at Party Favor.

"Just wait for Meadow's sake," A griffin had to swerve out of the way.

All of them, except for Raider, looked around confused. There weren't any crosswalks like the ones in Manehattan, it was a free-for-all. Sugar Belle turned back to look at the tiny huts and noticed a small mare strapped to what looked like a dolly. There wasn't anypony around her, she was just by herself tied up in the middle of the road. These ponies look just like the ones back at my village.

"Raider?"

"What?" He had a hard time taking his eyes off the road as well, he was probably looking for an opening.

"Look at that mare in the street over there?" Sugar Belle had to point but luckily the mare didn't notice.

"She's waiting b'the side of the main road for a doctor t'pass by."

"You mean she has to wait for a doctor to come to her." This place was completely backwards.

"Yeah, I bet her family can't afford transportation up the mountain and so the doctor has t'come down to help her. That's what usually happens down here." Sugar Belle reasoned that nopony could really lift her up all those steps. Seriously, that is a lot of bucking steps.

"So, how are we-"

"Taxi!" Raider waved his front two hooves having finally spotted a bright blue carriage riding towards the west. The 'taxi' was pulled by a powerful griffin and the carriage, unlike the ones in the Big Apple, had multiple seats.

"Forty Three sickles," the griffin coughed as he held out his claw, stopping traffic momentarily.

"Ridiculous," Raider shouted before climbing up into the carriage.

Starlight tried to follow but the griffin grabbed her and boomed, "Forty Three sickles each."

"Can I pay you in bits?"

The griffin absolutely lost it. "I will not tolerate that heathenous form 'f'currency, go away and walk up the mountain yourselves."

Raider stepped in, "It's okay, I have t'meet with m'boss first. I'll meet you again in Traza Square, ask anypony, they'll know." Raider then disappeared into the carriage. After the six ponies trotted away from the carriage, a skinny pony near the front whispered something to the griffin.

"Don't you think I know?" He responded acidly. The long carriage lurched forward and Raider was already on his way.

"Now how are we going to get there? My hooves are killing me," whined Night Glider.

"You have wings," Double Diamond looked sheepishly up at her.

"Oh, yeah."

"Don't worry, I can teleport all of you over to the base of that cliff." Twilight looked to see if a taxi that accepts bits might come.

"Why didn't you do that before?" Starlight asked.

"Because of you know who."

"You really don't trust him, do you."

"I trust him as much as I trust Spike to take care of my... place when I'm gone. I don't want to talk about it anymore... the more and more he talks, the more and more I get this bad feeling about this quest, I'm almost at the point where I don't want to do this anymore." Twilight stared at the ground.

"Come on, Twilight, you said it yourself, I have to give those criminals a chance, or was that him that said that?"

Twilight sighed, "I just don't know."

"Let's get a move on, we'll find those criminals out eventually," declared Party Favor whose eager tone helped to lighten the mood. Twilight's horn glowed in its usual magenta aura as a magical dome expanded enveloping the six of them and eventually bursting with a bright white light. Since Twilight didn't fully visualize where they were going, they ended up appearing squeezed between two houses next to a large set of stairs that turned towards the north as it went up. Here, the stairs were just as busy as the road at the bottom of the cliff but at least ponies weren't flying by with carts.

"We have to ask ponies about Traza Square," said Double Diamond.

Party Favor asked a passing bat pony. "Where's Traza Square?"

"Why don't you ask your Summit friends?" She spat.

He asked another normal pony. "Where's Traza Square?"

"Up," he snapped.

"It's not going to do any good, Party..." she couldn't believe her eyes, it was Ahuizotl himself walking casually up the steps with a newspaper in his tail hand, "look."

"What am I looking at?" Starlight asked.

"Ahuizotl, you know, from the Daring Do books?" Twilight couldn't contain her excitement.

"You've only told me like fifteen times in the past three days or so." She remembered something. "Twilight, don't-"

But Twilight was already on her way to meet the character that Daring Do fought in real life. How did he return? "Hey you."

He looked around confused until he saw Twilight charging at him, "What the-" he managed to say before tumbling on the stairs, his head propped up against the stone banister. The lamp mounted on the banister revealed that his face was... off, it wasn't threatening like before.

"You, Ahuizotl, tried to create hundreds of years of endless sweltering heat by gathering the Rings of Scorchero together under the fortress of Talacon. I don't know what you plan to do next but you'll be hearing from Daring Do and myself."

"The only thing you'll be daring to do is to get off of me this instant! I have no idea what you're talking about and besides, rings are forbidden by Lord Ayikal."

Twilight looked confused for a second before yelling, "don't play tricks with me Ahuizotl."

"Ahuizotl? I'm an ahuizotl. M'name's Mayakimil, who are you talking about?"

"Wait? You're not-"

"-Keep your horn out of other ponies' business, you purple... alicorn?" Ugh, why does everypony keep saying that?

"That's right, I'm an alicorn. I'm sorry for tackling you but do you know the way to Traza Square?" Mayacimil rolled his eyes in frustration as he tried to collect his newspapers.

"All stairs lead to it, practically. Will you let me leave now?"

"Fine."

Mayacimil picked up the last sheet of paper and mumbled, "Dammed foreigners..." wait, that pink pony with the purple and teal mane... she matches the description.

"Twilight, there are all kinds of ahuizotl creatures here," Starlight scolded.

"How should I know, he looked just like him," Twilight retorted.

The six of them weaved their way up the wide stairs travelling north and, more importantly, up. They passed under waterfalls and canals, over bridges that spanned nauseating heights, and through tunnels lit up by homes carved out of the cliff itself. Sugar Belle looked down over the banister and swallowed.

"I forgot how much I hated heights."

"Well, we made it this far already," Starlight didn't know what to say, she had trouble with heights the first time she visited this place as well.

"I think I know a way to get there faster." Twilight pointed to a skinnier set of stairs that went up the opposite direction, was noticeably steeper, and had almost nopony walking its path.

"I wouldn't go there if I were you." Starlight pointed up to the smog rising from the neighborhood at the top of that cliff.

"We should give it a try and besides, you've been extremely nervous ever since Raider fought that one Nohchil Ta character." Double Diamond looked at Twilight for assistance.

"It can't be that bad. These are the Summit ponies they keep talking about anyway." Twilight headed up the steep stairs now traveling south before reaching a flat area where the houses were built. It didn't look bad, children ran in the streets and a few ponies said hello as they passed by. Clothes lines were strung from house to house, potted plants grew surprisingly well in the desert, and smog rose from giant furnaces carved in the cliffs.

"Hey, I recognize you." A berry colored mare walked up to Starlight with a quizzical look. "I think some ponies are looking for you, I don't know, I just thought you'd like to know."

"We're kind of in a hurry." Double Diamond successfully separated the two of them. The six of them made their way north again to another set of stairs before Starlight heard a voice from somewhere.

"Hey, you." Oh, come on. Not another pony who recognizes me. The voice came from the left down a darker alley and she felt compelled to take a look for some reason.

"Do you recognize me?" Starlight called out to the stallion leaning up against a wall in the shadows. She noticed her friends weren't paying attention in the background.

"You." He leaned in close to Starlight and ran a hoof through her mane. "You have a beautiful mane, it's so soft." She noticed his other hoof slithering around her body and trapping her from escaping. Her breath quickened. Her eyes widened.

"Y... you know I can-"

"-what? Use magic on me?" He leaned in even closer, his mouth now touching her ear. "They're here, honey. They're gonna kill you. Those friends of yours over there, do they know everything? Do they know who they really are? Do they know about that special label on their flanks? No? That's a shame. If ponies in this town really knew who y'were, they'd kill you without thinking twice, but me? I won't ever do that t'you." He cleared her bangs out of the way and turned her face examining it with those fiery eyes of his. "What a shame," he tightened his other hoof around her body, "y'have such a beautiful face."

"Hey, you get away from her." Night Glider flew straight at the stallion but he had already disappeared in the shadows. Starlight just stood there frozen with here eyes fixed straight ahead. "It's okay." Night Glider wrapped a comforting hoof around her. "Let's get out of this neighborhood and get this over with."

The rest of them agreed and soon they were on their way to Traza Square.

The carriage stunk of Muds and just when the griffin was almost running at top speed, he quickly screeched to a halt for another Mud.

"Eight sickles." What? Raider steamed.

The mare outside the carriage whined, "I only have seven."

"Fair enough." The griffin let her on board and the skinny stallion who whispered to the griffin earlier let her have a seat beside him. Raider knew fighting it wasn't a good idea because the griffin would probably force him off the bus. He leaned back in his chair now wondering if it was a bad idea to sent Starlight and the others into the city on their own; after all, Starlight was in danger of telling the others that he had the criminals' cutie marks.

A familiar force pushing back on him told him that the carriage was now riding uphill on the side of the mountain. Soon enough, the carriage leveled out and slowed to a stop.

"The Summit Castle," called the griffin. Is it my stop already? Raider nevertheless climbed out of the carriage and looked around at his stop.

"Wait, this isn't the Summit Castle, you foal."

"Not my problem, I'm not gonna haul y'up the mountain y'damned Summit, you can do that yourself." The griffin sped up as the others in the carriage cheered loudly.

"Hey, this is grounds for arrest." But the griffin didn't hear him, he was long gone.

"Sir, I told y'not to use public transportation. I have your personal carriage waiting." Raider's own personal driver pointed to a much nicer looking carriage that sat only one pony at a time. Luckily, he was right where he needed to be... as usual.

"I had no choice, I'm already late as it is," he said as he hopped inside.

"That must be Traza Square," Twilight said as she looked out at the vast conglomeration of ponies, bat ponies, griffins, ahuizotls, and other creatures she thought were only legends. All kinds of shops lined the squares, waterfalls fell into a center pool in the middle of the square that ran off towards the edge where it was dumped off the side of the cliff, yellow banners with an emblem of a red mountain flew in the wind scattered throughout the square, and a giant door-thing was carved into the side of a cliff on the other side of the plaza.

Before any of them could focus on anything in particular, a deep ringing sound shook the mountain side without catching the attention of any of the ponies. The bells struck four times. Four o'clock, not nearly as late as it felt.

"This place is huge, even larger than Grand Galloping Station in Manehattan, how will we ever find Raider here?" whined Twilight.

"The pool in the center, ponies meet there all the time and the water from the waterfall's the cleanest there is." Starlight immediately knew she said too much.

"Yeah, water." Sugar Belle and her friends cried out before sprinting to the center of the plaza.

"Just wait a second," snapped Twilight before turning to Starlight, "You sure do know a lot about this place. Raider isn't here to stop me from asking you. What are you hiding?" She narrowed her eyes before realizing another important possibility. "He didn't tell you to keep a secret, did he?"

No response.

"Did he?" Twilight insisted.

"Yeah, I'd like to know. Come on, if you'd just tell us what the matter is, we could get this over with and you wouldn't have to worry anymore." Sugar Belle saw right through her but she didn't see the truth.

"I-"

"-Starlight," a distant voice called from behind them.

"Who's that?" Twilight didn't sever her stare.

"Starlight Glimmer, is that you?" Starlight knew who it was. She turned around to face a nice mare that she met before leaving to hunt down Twilight. Standing behind the counter of a bar and restaurant, she waived for all of them to come over and sit down; it was a nice, familiar relief from the strange characters in the city.

"Let's go talk to her." Twilight's mood changed for the better.

"I don't know, she could be dangerous."

They all looked over at the yellow flower tucked behind her ear, her bright grass-green coat and sky blue mane, and her genuinely cheery smile. "Yeah, I think you'll be okay. If you were just harassed by that stallion not five minutes ago, I think you can handle her," Sugar Belle tried not to sound too sarcastic. The six of them hurried over to the restaurant and took a seat at the bar.

"I remember you, the whole town's been talking about you. I didn't know that a request t'send food would cause this place t'erupt into raging class warfare." She looked over at Twilight confused. "Starlight said something about you as well but I can't remember. Look, I'd watch yourself in this town, ponies aren't happy with you, Starlight."

"How do you know my name?"

"You told me y'name, why does it matter?"

She froze before spitting, "It doesn't matter. I know about these ponies, one Mud tried to-"

"-No Starlight, the Muds are only angry because they're forced to work more and more by the Summits. The ponies y'should really watch out for are the Summits, they're the ones who know about y'plan, they're the cold blooded ones." She shook her head in disappointment.

"Look, we're just trying to meet up with Raider and capture some criminals," Twilight said dismissively.

"Raider. Girls, is it okay if I go by the pool and wait for Raider there? You can stay here if you want," Starlight suggested.

Twilight was about to object but the other four said 'sure' and Starlight was already enveloped by the crowd.

"So y'finally decided to arrive, Raider. What took y'so long?" Lord Ayikal heaved himself out of his throne. He wore a dusty grey coat, donned a sleek black mane and tail and, above all, he was demonstrably fat. The light from the long, thin windows lit the dim palace, the dust floating in air, and the toothy grin of his ugly face. It's like what they say, not all ugly ponies are evil.

"Oh, nothing important, other that the fact that I found the mare from Nohchil Ta's description."

"Good, now we'll be able t'end this class warfare and bring these criminals t'justice. Other spies have seen the criminals on the light side of the cliffs. I'm surprised my guess was correct: she would arrive at the village on Hearth's Warming Eve. If I knew any better, I would've thought that the rest of Equestria would've given up on th'whole Hearth's Warming holiday; what a hoax it is. It's a terrible trick ponies play on each other, believing that a pony 'clause' runs around giving presents and food for free. It's this kind of ridiculousness that's undoing the very structure of Tanner Cliffs." He lugged himself around Raider as he lectured.

"I told them that I didn't know what Hearth's Warming was."

"Good. It's for the better I assure you. I understand the spirit behind Hearth's Warming but it does more harm that good: it preaches generosity but it delivers sadness and pain for ponies who live in a world that doesn't care. With our belief in the Meadows, we can avoid that crippling despair." Lord Ayikal looked down in sadness for a while before a thought perked his ears up. "What do you mean by them?"

"Four ponies from th'village were travelling along with Starlight Glimmer and I as well as a character called Twilight Sparkle."

"Twilight Sparkle?" He roared.

"Y... yes, what about her?"

"You know who told me that it was Twilight Sparkle who was responsible for running her out of town. She destroyed her regime of equality."

"Regime of equality? What? This isn't making any sense."

"You see, Raider; Starlight Glimmer is very powerful. She grew all the food and water those ponies needed by herself and when she left, she asked us to feed them while she was away trying to kill Twilight Sparkle. She didn't want abundance, she only wanted them to... survive. She was a ruthless dictator, Raider, and Twilight Sparkle bucked her out of power. She is the real reason we're having so much upheaval. Convenient that you brought her here."

"What should I do then?"

"Capture those criminals and bring Twilight to me. Her service t'ponykind must be rewarded. Now leave." Lord Ayikal turned around without saying anything else. Raider bowed and left the palace room.

Once Starlight was out of sight, Twilight turned to the mare, "I don't understand, what is going on?" She paused awkwardly. "Oh, and what is your name? Sorry for not asking before."

"It's okay, I'm Vinka and this is my servant Chak Ta," a tall red stallion on the skinnier side waived sheepishly at Twilight and the others, "and I'm surprised that Starlight hasn't told y'about her plan. Last time I saw her, she passed by here on th'way to find somepony and I have t'assume that that somepony is you, Ms., uh..."

"...Twilight Sparkle."

"I see."

"Wait, did you say Chak Ta?"

"Yes, he's the best servant a Summit could ever ask for," he blushed, "why do y'ask?"

"Is he related to Nohchil Ta?" Silence followed warning Twilight that she struck a funny bone.

Vinka turned to Chak Ta. "It's okay," she whispered, "y'can talk to these ponies, they aren't Summits, they're from out of town." She turned back to face Twilight with an apologetic look.

Chak Ta quivered nervously. "No."

"Nohchil Ta tried to kill Raider."

"Raider Ayikal?"

"Yeah."

"That doesn't surprise me. I'm sure that Nohchil Ta pinned him easily." Vinka had a strange look in her eyes.

Twilight remembered the details. "He did until Starlight and I threw him off using our magic-"

"-Y'don't know what you're doing," she announced sternly.

"He would have killed Raider, we couldn't let that happen," Sugar Belle retorted.

"Fair enough, but this whole thing has just gone too far."

"What do you mean?" Twilight leaned back. "Okay, what is going on here, explain everything you know," she demanded.

"Everything was normal in Tanner Cliffs before your friend Starlight arrived. We knew a powerful mare built an outlying village that she managed by herself; the ponies in Tanner Cliffs didn't want anything to do with it. I'm not sure what's come 'f'that village nowadays." Sugar Belle and the others looked like they wanted to interrupt but Vinka forged on with her explanation. "Then Starlight came along and warned me that she was leaving her village and that the villagers would suffer from a famine as a result. I don't know why she came to me first, maybe it's because I run this restaurant but I don't know. After that, I warned Nohchil Ta, who, at that time, was the governor of the Muds, t'petition all of Tanner Cliffs to send food to the village. An overwhelming majority consented and the petition was taken t'Lord Ayikal, the mayor of Tanner Cliffs.

"But that's when things went downhill. Nohchil Ta brought the petition to Lord Ayikal who didn't want t'give food to the village. Lord Ayikal couldn't say no t'a majority and the two negotiated on a plan. They would send caravans filled with food but they wouldn't release their identity or their location so that the ponies in the village would come seeking refuge here. The plan worked for a time but eventually more and more Summits grew tired 'f'sending aid and so less and less food was sent. Nohchil Ta must've noticed this and asked Lord Ayikal t'increase production but Lord Ayikal told him t'go buck himself.

"Now, of course, Nohchil Ta never takes no for an answer and he tried t'kill Ayikal much like he tried t'kill Raider. He was arrested and exile, labeled as a renegade. After that, relations between the Muds and the Summits grew worse and Lord Ayikal sent out spies t'the village to see if Starlight would return t'end all this. Lately, I've heard they haven't sent any food." Vinka took a breather.

"What does this have to do with the three criminals?"

"I don't know, but it sounds like they're used as a scapegoat for th'hatred against the Summits for kicking out Nohchil Ta. The last thing I heard earlier at lunch today was that th'criminals killed a few Muds and are now hiding in the Tsoy district."

"Tsoy?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, it's a weird neighborhood down and south of here. You have t'watch out for the stallions there, they... well they aren't too nice t'say the least." Chak Ta in the kitchen backed up in fear.

"I think I know where that is," Twilight mused.

"So this place has been sending the caravans?" Sugar Belle's mouth hung open in revelation.

"Yes. I, for one, am proud that we send food. After all, it's all in the spirit of Hearth's Warming Day."

"You know about Hearth's Warming Day?"

"Of course, everypony does here, well except for some Summits. I bet some don't even know what it is." Vinka turned to Chak Ta and said, "Can you go take care of that party, I'm behind on the dishes as it is."

He looked up longingly.

"I'm sorry, I said I was going to handle those jerks but these ponies are more important. I'll make it up to you." She turned back. "So you were saying?"

"Nothing." But Twilight thought of something. "What do you ponies mean when you say the Meadows?"

Vinka giggled. "It's the place where just ponies go when they die. Legend here has it that Pony Clause is a stallion who chose to come down from the Meadows t'give gifts to the little fillies and colts on Hearth's Warming Eve... especially after the Windigo Winter. Look, you ponies, I have to get back to work. If you're here t'find the criminals, I'd be very careful; something is going on behind close doors and I don't like it."

"Well thank you, Vi-"

"-It's time to leave. I know where the criminals are," Raider put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder.

"I know, they're in the Tsoy district."

"No, m'boos said that they've moved to the other side of the cliffs entirely." He sensed something out of place. "Where is Starlight?"

Twilight looked down at the counter. She's been nervous this entire time and it might be because of what this stallion said to her... she's hiding something, I know it; but I'll let it go for now. "Don't worry, Raider, we can capture these criminals without her."

"No, well, if we, but..." Raider knew that they would be destroyed without Starlight but he couldn't say it without exposing the truth.

"Come on, you're acting just as nervous as she was." The six of them waved at Vinka before running to the large door-thing. Chak Ta sat down on a crate of ice cream and put his hoof to his head.

"It's okay, Chak Ta, they'll make this right, you'll see." She looked around to make nopony was watching before giving him a little kiss on the temple.

She looked back at the restaurant where her friends were but she couldn't see any of them. Raider's gone. I won't have anypony breathing over my shoulder. It's the best time to confront them. She looked around at Traza Square noticing that it was getting busier as time marched on. Please Celestia, I don't want to do this. She trotted over to the steps where they came from and looked down at the smoggy neighborhood.

Those three are down there for sure.

She gulped before trotting down the stairs. In no time, she faced the dark alley where the stallion had been. Now it was completely vacant. She walked into the shadows. A cold rush of wind bit at her fur. The dingy homes here were stacked on top of each other and some had rope ladders leading to their doors. A few dozen sinister-looking ponies milled around a singular barrel fire.

She recognized him immediately.

"I didn't think you'd have the guts to come back." She couldn't tell if that same stallion was genuinely surprised or not.

"Where are these criminals?" A greenish-yellow coated unicorn stallion with a short tan mane and tail emerged from the crowd along with two other mares, one brown and one blue. All of them were discolored and had equal signs in place of cutie marks. The two mares backed up in fear but the stallion glared at her with a lethal hatred.

"Look at what you've done."

"Wha-

"-We're criminals because of you. You made us insane and we lashed out! You're responsible for killing three Muds because of what you did to us."

"How-"

'-Shut up." A yellowish aura danced around his horn as a beam of magical energy flew straight at Starlight's face. She didn't have enough time to block and she was thrown back against the wall of a house. "I'll kill you." He turned around to buck her but she slipped to the side and slithered down the alley from where she came. The stallion was wicked fast and she had to teleport herself to the base of the stairs to get away from him.

He teleported as well. "You sure know a lot about magic," yelled Starlight as she backed up the stairs headed towards Traza Square once again.

"How do you think we escaped?" He fired another beam but this time she blocked it with a defensive spell. The two stood like this for a while as their energy depleted. Soon enough, they had no more energy to spend on spells and Starlight ran up the stairs knowing that he was much stronger than she was. He sprinted after her following her up the stairs, through the plaza, and onto a long and narrow balcony where some water from the center pool flowed. She ran until she saw the edge of the balcony. She screeched to a halt almost falling to her death. What, there aren't any banisters. That's insane.

She didn't have much time to complain because the stallion wound up for a buck. She ducked as his two hind hooves barely missed her head. She kicked him in the stomach with her front right hoof sending him backwards momentarily. A hoof swung wildly from the left allowing her to have ample time to block the strike. What she didn't see was his right hoof which quickly wrapped around her neck. Ugh, how could I have been so stupid. His left hoof was a diversion. Both hooves strangled her neck as he lowered her head to the edge of the overhang.

Starlight kicked and screamed like a little filly. "Oh, will you shut up. Just shut up." His eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of their sockets. She noticed the other two mares now flanking his sides.

"Please, I've changed."

"Liar!"

"Everything you've said was a lie, why should we believe you?" The blue-grey mare said softly.

Starlight couldn't respond. She stared up at the stallion before a hoof knocked her vision out for good. The stallion stomped on her face and body drawing more and more blood as the mares eventually joined in. Audible cracking sounds reverberated throughout the cliffs but nopony noticed it came from the cracking bones of a mare who had lied to her friends the entire time. The three walked away leaving Starlight's bloodied body on the edge of the overhang, her hooves dangling above the ground hundreds of meters down.

Worst of all, the cutie marks she needed were in the possession of a stallion who had no intention of giving them back.

Part III
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March Of Three Prisoners (A Hearth's Warming Tale)

Part III

December 24

"Get out of the way."

"Move it or lose it."

Now it was Raider that acted like Sugar Belle and her friends when he tried to cross the busy street that wound its way down the light side of the cliffs. He was too focused on asking questions about the criminals to care. Night Glider turned around noticing a giant poster hung on the side of what looked like a post office. The poster featured three silhouettes, two of them were mares and the center one was a unicorn stallion; it wasn't much to go off of. The reward read Sixty Thousand Sickles.

"Hey Raider?"

"What?"

"I would've sworn these posters said Forty Thousand earlier, right?"

"They must've, they probably jacked the price up while I was away, they really want these criminals gone." Night Glider remembered what Vinka said about the Summits. They're insane. Raider went back to interrogating ponies some more. "Do y'know about the location of these three criminals?"

"Do I look like I care?" A mare snapped as she galloped down the cliff road.

"Do y'know where the three criminals are by chance?"

He managed to catch the attention of a larger dark grey pegasus who thankfully stopped in his tracks and walked over to the six of them. When they got a closer look at him, they could tell that he was not happy and everypony except for Raider, backed up. He boomed, "If I knew where they were, I would already be lugging a sack full 'f'sickles up t'the local bank. Who do y'think y'are running around here and asking ponies where they think these criminals are? You mind your business and we'll mind ours." He started back up the street.

"Don't y'know who I am?"

"Yes, I do as a matter of fact. You're a bucking Summit who's only worried about those criminals for the money. I can see it in your eyes." Raider was about to object but the stallion sprinted up the mountain road before he had the chance to retort.

"What is your problem?" Twilight scolded him like he was Spike.

"I'm trying to find out if anypony knows about the criminals, that's what my problem is," Raider growled.

"Think about it for a second, if any of these ponies knew about the criminals, they would've alerted the guards already. Is this how you usually get information? What did your boss tell you when you were gone?" Twilight knew full well that they both distrusted each other to the point where they couldn't work together.

Raider shifted his weight nervously making the glass jars in his saddlebag clink together.

"Wait," Sugar Belle looked at the ground.

"What is it?" Raider tried to sound compassionate but he couldn't wipe the frustration off his face.

"We have to go back to get Starlight, she said she would stay by the center pool in Traza Square to wait for you."

"Wait, you mean she's gone? Ugh, how did I not see we were missing a pony? Why didn't any of you tell me that she was gone... are you ponies willing t'work with me t'hunt down these criminals or not?" Raider couldn't contain his anger and he resorted to beating his front two hooves on the ground.

Sugar Belle and her friends backed down again but Twilight got up close to his face. "You and Starlight have been acting strange this entire trip and even though I don't know what's going on, I would like to know, Mr. Raider Ayikal." He flinched at the mention of his full name.

Raider's face twitched, his muzzle scrunched up, his teeth barred, a deep flame danced in his cruel teal eyes, and Twilight Sparkle could tell that Raider was holding back an even hotter anger. I never should've trusted him.He breathed heavily a few times as his ears flattened. Finally he growled low, "This entire trip, Twilight Sparkle. This entire trip y'have been questioning Starlight Glimmer and I about what more we know. I can't speak for Starlight and I can only assume that she's still broken up about what she did, but I, I'm doing the responsible thing around here, I'm trying to capture these criminals and I'd like you t'do the same."

'You didn't answer the question," she snorted.

"What?"

"I said, you didn't an-"

"-I know what you said. Look Twilight, look at the sun setting over there," he pointed to the west, "when that sun sets, half the ponies here are going t'vanish into their homes and the ponies that stay are going t'stay out at night aren't going t'travel alone. These ponies are scared, Twilight, they're scared for their lives. Please Twilight, can you overcome your anxiety and fear about Starlight and I for the sake of these ponies' freedom from fear? At night when I'm on guard duty, I overhear ponies loosing sleep because they're afraid of another nightmare, I hear stories about ponies leaving this city in fear, and I can't help but t'look at all of their faces." His anger subsided. "Twilight, I don't think you can fully understand what's going on here... much like you can't fully understand what your friend Starlight went through. All I'm asking you t'do is t'trust me."

Raider placed a consoling hoof on Twilight, immediately calming her body. Twilight sighed, how could I have been so selfish; I didn't know things were this bad. "I'm sorry, let's just get this over with."

"I'm sure Starlight's still where she said she would be; she probably didn't even know we left." Double Diamond's eyes darkened. "She's incredibly patient."

"What are we waiting for, let's get a move on," Night Glider shouted as she flew up the street. The six of them all rushed up the winding street until they reached a giant tunnel that bore straight through the mountain leading to Traza Square on the other side. Ponies and all kinds of other creatures packed themselves into the tunnel trying to get home before the sun set. Offshooting tunnels lead to homes dug out inside the mountain itself.

It's like running through a giant ant colony, thought Party Favor as they shoved their way through the sea of terrified faces.

Despite what Raider said, these faces look a little extreme, she thought as she passed a mare running in the opposite direction, crying hysterically. The five of them could only imagine what the criminals did during the night that would set such a cold-blooded society on edge.

"Come on, hurry up," screached a griffin mother who tried to gather her little kids up on her back.

"But mommy, it's not my bedtime yet," the oldest kid pouted.

"It doesn't matter, we're all going home, we're all going to sleep." The griffin and her children scampered out of sight, probably headed to the light side of the cliffs. Dozens of other ponies passed by mumbling to each other before they heard more hysterical panicking. This time it came from a mare wrapped tightly in the arms of her stallion.

"Please, I don't want to be out here anymore, no, I don't want t'live here anymore, I want t'go home." She was visibly sobbing and the five of them blushed when he brushed her mane in a vain attempt to calm her scorching nerves. "I don't want to ever go back there; never, never." She clenched her eyes shut and shook as her stallion dragged her along.

"Go back where?" Sugar Belle looked up at Raider who tried to avoid her glance.

"Everypony, get away from the plaza." A bat pony flew just over the heads of everpony else.

"Turn back." A tawny unicorn scrambled past slower ponies.

"I hope Starlight's not caught up in this insanity. They said something about the plaza, is that usual at night nowadays?" Twilight almost regretted asking Raider about her.

"No, this isn't normal. I don't know what's going on but whatever it is, it isn't good." Raider retied his black bandana over his face as if he was walking straight into the middle of a sandstorm. The six exited through the giant ornate doors at the north end of the plaza only to run into a wall of ponies pushing over each other trying to see what was going on. Party Favor and Double Diamond pushed ahead of Raider and squeezed their way through a much annoyed crowd before they were stopped by a line of guards.

"Back away, nopony's allowed past this line."

"What's going on?" Double Diamond asked.

"We are not receiving questions at this time." The guard's eyes were hard to read.

"Let us through," Raider spat. After all, he was a guard himself; a scavenger, scout, and spy, but a guard nonetheless.

"Nopony's allowed past this line."

"I am a part of the guard and I demand to see what's going on."

The guard looked to one of his fellow comrades and whispered just loud enough, "we have some rogues on our hooves." He turned back to face Raider and the group and boomed, "if you do not yield, we will advance."

"I'm standing by what I said."

"Very well then, forward march." The guard ponies snapped into formation, they marched forward into the crowd, and, instead of drawing spears like the royal guards, they drew shimmering black scimitars. All blades were pointed at either Raider or somepony else.

"Stop," a familiar voice screamed. The guards didn't care to look at where the voice came from, they didn't even flinch. They're going to kill us.

A rush of bright green blinded Twilight, Raider, and the others before they heard the voice again. "Don't kill these ponies." It was Vinka from the restaurant. "This is pointless, let them through for Meadow's sake."

"No," mumbled the captain of the guard. "Ready the mounted crossbows," he shouted. Up on the upper part of the plaza, multiple guards rushed behind pillars topped with intricate looking crossbows. The guards all pointed their steel arrows towards Vinka. This is just ridiculous. "Now move out of the way or we will fire," the captain of the guard threatened.

Vinka didn't say or do anything. The captain raised his right front hoof to signal the arrows.

"Load."

Raider blabbered on, "Look it's all just a misunderstanding, I'm willing to be reasonable, I-"

"-Ready."

"Lord Ayikal would be appalled that y'barred one of y'own members from wit-"

"-Aim."

Raider shouted, "I know it's Starlight Glimmer!"

Complete silence permeated the plaza as everypony peered ponderously at every party participating. The guards on the upper level left their weapons while the ones on the main level sheathed their scimitars clearly noticing that something was out of place. Despite the fact that the guards no longer stood their ground, not a single pony dared to move past where they had been standing.

"Out of m'way," Raider spat as he shoved some guards. He followed where the water flowed from the central pool and came across Starlight's mutilated body at the end of the overhang with the ground hundreds of meters below her. There was no doubt in his mind or anypony else's: this had been the work of the the three criminals. That's why everypony had been scrambling through the main tunnel.

But he knew that they attacked her for much more personal reasons. By the Meadow, she was supposed to scare these ponies into submission, not get destroyed by them. This wasn't supposed to happen. Raider was genuinely confused until the answer hit him.

She had no intention of capturing these ponies... these were the ponies that escaped her village over a year ago and now that she's reformed, she didn't want these ponies t'suffer any more because of her. She betrayed me. His anger was in danger of resurfacing again but it didn't matter, he had their cutie marks, he had the upper hoof.

"Raider, is everything alright?" Twilight said softly.

And if it wasn't for Twilight, Starlight would still be her old self and she would've captured those criminals already. Twilight is the real mare behind all of this. "You."

"What?"

"Did you know that Starlight never planned t'capture the criminals?"

"No. Why are you asking this now? We have to get her to a hospital. Help me lift up her body, Raider."

"Not until you promise t'keep your word from earlier today," he snarled.

"Okay." But when Twilight tried to lift her body up over her shoulders, Raider stomped on the body pinning her down.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"What do you-"

"-This mare, I'm sure of it, went out t'find the three criminals and instead of attempting t'capture them, she decided to let them go. It sure looks like that, doesn't it," he spat.

Twilight looked down at her body and pondered. "It does look like it," she sighed, "Starlight's holding back something, she's in pain. But why? Why would she just let them go? She has the power to capture them."

Raider stared at her body for the longest time before whispering, "I don't know."

"I'll carry her to the hospital," declared Vinka who promptly heaved Starlight onto her back; she was much stronger than she looked. Raider, Twilight, and Sugar Belle's friends followed her back through the main tunnel.

"Everypony clear the square, curfew is in effect," the captain of the guard roared. Everypony listened and scattered immediately in all directions except for the stairs leading down into the Tsoy district where the criminals hid among the Muds. Raider knew full well that the criminals staked out there every night.

"Who is it at this hour?" Tzentah Nal, the head of food production in Tanner Cliffs, yelled at the massive doors angled downwards to the storehouse. He saw a shadow of a pony knocking at the doors acting as if somepony actually lived in there. Tzentah approached the shadow cautiously though he guessed who it was. "Who are you?"

The sky blue fur and tan mane of Nohchil Ta came into view. "I'd like t'know the usual."

"It isn't good... as usual. But this time around, she is in town," Tzentah growled.

"I know, I saw her when she was arriving. Lord Ayikal's personal spy tried t'kill me earlier and even though I clearly pinned him, that mare and another purple alicorn who I didn't recognize both used their magic t'defend that slimy creature."

"They didn't know any better."

"I could've killed him and ended this Summit and Mud conflict once and for all. I-"

"-I think it's for the best." Tzentah stroked his beard in thought.

Nohchil was momentarily angered by the comment but said, "How so?"

"The Ayikal ponies will be found out in the end. Come, I want t'show you something." Tzentah lead Nohchil t'the giant double doors at the base of the mountain.

"I thought you said you never wanted me t'go in there."

"This time, it's different," his eyes darkened. "I want you t'know exactly what's going on but I want you t'act wisely like you used to in the past. Nohchil, you are th'leader of the Muds, there's no doubt about that, but you won't stand for anything in the end unless you become th'leader of everypony, even the Summits."

"You can't be-"

"-Shut up and look." Tzentah yanked hard on a stone lever beside the double doors. The angled doors creaked for a few seconds, deafening them and replacing the deafening silence of night before swinging inwards and downwards. Blinding light flooded the night forcing Nohchil to rub his eyes before staring at what lay inside. After blinking a few times, the contents of the storehouse came into focus.

Literally millions of cans of food lined the walls, grain covered the floor in an ocean of golden wealth, tomatoes and grapes hung from the rafters, crates of carrots stacked on top of each other until they reached the ceiling, sacks of potatoes, garlic, onions, turnips, cabbages, cauliflower, radishes, sugar, dough, and apples littered built in racks, and leafy greens lined the top of the storehouse. Nohchil couldn't see a single square centimeter of wall, ceiling, or floor there was so much food.

"I... I... it-"

"-You get it now, don't you. Production hasn't gone down, just our exports. Tanner Cliffs sends less and less t'the village because-"

"-The Summits refuse t'send anymore than the bare minimum." Nohchil was to aghast to grow angry.

"You failed, Nohchil. Remember when Vinka told you about that mare?"

"I remember it like it was yesterday." Nohchil spoke as if he was about to lose it completely.

"You wanted to petition Lord Ayikal t'send food t'the poor villagers in that mare's town and instead of dropping everything t'send this surplus t'those ponies, they held a committee, right?" He didn't look for an answer. "Of course, almost everypony in Tanner Cliffs decided in favor of sending food. But as time went on, the generous spirit in the Summits faded, but they just couldn't dishonor their contract, now could they?"

"Of course not," he said affirmatively at first before loosing conviction, "right?"

"The Summits wanted t'pull some strings without it looking like they would dishonor the contract."

"Why?"

Tzentah looked down before staring Nohchil in the eyes. "Because you foolishly bought into the promise that when the glass was full, it would overflow t'benefit the villagers. But what really happened was when the glass was filled, it magically grew bigger. The thirst of the Summits will never be satisfied, Nohchil, not unless all of us, the Muds and the Summits, hold ourselves accountable for th'contract. Understand?"

He hung his head yet again. "I understand."

"No you don't."

"Okay, I don't... but how did the Summits get away with pulling strings?"

"Ladies and gentlecolts, I am honored to tell you that your patient Starlight can indeed move around and function on her own. I suggest that she rest for another day in the infirmary just to make sure that no hiccups occur with the recovery process. Her magical levels are at a safe and operable level." The doctor nodded before leaving the waiting room. Starlight was helped out of another hall by an annoyed looking nurse. She walked on a crutch but she didn't put too much weight on it at all.

"Starlight, thank Celestia you're okay." Twilight hugged Starlight before noticing Raider's glare. "Why did you leave us, what happened?"

"I stumbled upon the three criminals in the Tsoy district where that one creepy stallion was. He told me that the criminals lived back behind the street in the back alleys."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Twilight asked as Raider grew nervous.

"I didn't want you to suffer fighting these criminals as well." Her lie was masterfully crafted. "That stallion, he's powerful."

"If we can get rid of that evil Nohchil Ta character, then we can get rid of that stallion just as easily. All seven of us are together, we need to end this together, now."

"Okay," huffed Starlight. Raider sighed a sigh of relief.

The seven of them trotted out of Tanner Cliffs Hospital and climbed down the stares southbound to the Tsoy District.

"We have t'avoid the plaza at all costs," announced Raider as they turned to rush down a set of side stairs bypassing the plaza altogether. They went down some stairs, up others, through tunnels, between houses, above viaducts, and over bridges until they entered the Tsoy District from where they came in the first time. Unlike earlier, the place was pitch black and even though the houses on the main road were dark, the seven could feel wide eyes peering out at them. An empty food can rolled around on the street and a dusty yellow banner snapped as wind howled through its holes.

"There's the back alley," whispered Starlight. The seven ponies made a single file line down the alley with Starlight in front and Raider in back. The barrel fire was now but a few glowing coals shivering in the wind. Starlight looked around to see if anypony still lurked around but she couldn't find any signs of life. The lights to the cramped stacked houses were off, the rope ladders swung as the wind picked up speed, empty cider bottles lay smashed on the ground, old food cans stuck crumpled around, and a rusty horseshoe sat where the stallion had been. Are they asleep?

"Knock on one of the doors," whispered Twilight. Starlight gulped and galloped softly to the window finding the stallion that tried to kill her fast asleep. It was surreal watching a stallion who fought so angrily to now sleep so peacefully. She shut her eyes.

"Do it," Raider didn't whisper.

She shook her head.

"Do it now," he yelled.

Her hoof extended to the rickety metal door but she froze stiff as some tears squeezed their way through her clenched eyes. Finally, she punched the door only once... but it was enough. She sprinted away from the door and behind her friends. Sugar Belle rubbed her, getting rid of the fear.

"Who's there?" Boomed the greenish-yellow stallion inside his house. He wasn't expecting an answer because he swung the door open in a flash of fury. His eyes immediately made contact with Starlight Glimmer even though she had tried to hide herself behind Double Diamond and Raider.

Silence followed as the wind grew ever stronger.

"You're supposed to be dead," he shouted.

Twilight spoke first, "Stop, you're outnumbered. We're arresting you for the..." she turned to Raider for assistance, "what did they, I mean, he do? You never told me."

Raider didn't look at Twilight but he heard her question because he shouted, "you are under arrest for the murder of three Muds and, as a rightful punishment, may your souls never tread upon the glory of the Meadow for all eternity."

"Ha. I don't believe in that bucking nonsense." The stallion lit up his horn and fired a beam of magical energy at Raider before Twilight intercepted it with one of her own. He fired again, this time aiming straight for Twilight; their streams of magic collided as they tried to keep up with the other. Twilight's face warped in discomfort while the stallion held a sickly stoic expression, his eyes still fixed solely on Starlight.

All of a sudden, his face tore up in anger as he channeled more energy into his magical stream. Eventually, the stallion was able to outdo Twilight and, with a quick reaction, knocked her back into the same wall Starlight had earlier.

Raider knew that only Starlight could stop this stallion, he was more powerful than Nohchil Ta in the end. "Starlight, you're the only who can capture him."

"I don't want to do this-"

"-Liar!"

"I have to. I remember you."

"Huh?" Twilight sat up.

"Don't act so dense, don't you know who this mare is?" He spat.

"She's Starlight Glimmer, what's your point?" Twilight asked before realizing.

"She enslaved us, all of us; you shouldn't listen to her, everything she has said was a lie, a bucking lie." He tried to stymie the tears.

"Yes, but she's changed, she's changed," urged Twilight.

The stallion grew eerily silent as he narrowed his eyes at Twilight. "If that's true, then you may want to take a look at my flanks." He pointed to that all too familiar symbol: the equal sign. "I escaped that terrible village over a year ago and thank Celestia somepony found me wandering in the desert or else I and my two friends would've died. I remember you four as well," he motioned to Sugar Belle, Party Favor, Night Glider, and Double Diamond, "you can't honestly believe Starlight can you?"

"As a matter of fact, we can," Sugar Belle declared.

"Then why do you all act so surprised when you saw my flank?"

"Well it's because, y'see, when... I-"

"-Surely Starlight told you that us 'criminals' were the three ponies that escaped over a year ago, didn't she?"

Twilight and Sugar Belle and her friends looked over at Starlight as the collective thought resounded in their heads. No.

No, she didn't.

Sugar Belle squeaked first, "Why didn't you tell us the criminals were the ponies who escaped? We could've ended this a long time ago if we would've known that."

The stallion wasn't finished chiding the group. "You see, Starlight's still a liar." The two mares stumbled out of their houses overhearing the fiery conversation.

"I'm sorry-"

"-No your not."

"What else are you hiding?" shouted Twilight.

"I... I... I can't tell you." Starlight shook her head violently.

"Tell me now." Twilight's shouting slipped into madness.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Starlight sobbed, stooping on the ground.

"It doesn't matter," the soft voice of a mare interrupted the pressure. What she said next didn't help. "We just want our cutie marks back." Starlight choked up even more at the mention of this and her words seemed to poke a hole in the stallion's inflated anger. Twilight thought about that one for a while. Why didn't they get their cutie marks when we destroyed the vault?

"We don't have them. We have to arrest you for the murder of those three Muds."

"It wasn't our fault," he screamed as he prepared for another magical onslaught. This time, Twilight was already on top of him. The stallion and the accompanying mares were frozen stiff in mid-charge. Double Diamond tied all three of them up.

"Come on, let's get these ponies to this Lord Ayikal and end this quest." Twilight tried to sigh away her anger.

Starlight asked timidly, "What about their cutie marks?"

"You're not coming along. I thought you changed, Starlight, you're no different than before, keeping a secret that important from us, you should be ashamed of yourself," Twilight spat, disgusted.

"You're not welcome back into our village anymore, Starlight, Hearth's Warming Eve or not," Sugar Belle scoffed in disappointment.

"Come on, let's go Raider." Twilight looked to her right and found Raider missing. "He's gone!" The others gasped in disbelief. "Come on, we don't need him, we have our three prisoners." Sugar Belle and her friends followed Twilight carrying the three prisoners out of the Tsoy District. Thankfully, the three of them didn't resist.

Meanwhile, Starlight wailed in a mix of fury, frustration, and agony as the empty cider bottles rolled around and as the last warm embers glowed before the wind snuffed their spirit.

"Did the ponies you brought along capture the three criminals?" The lumbering Lord Ayikal wheezed.

"Yes, m'lord."

"Do you have their cutie marks?" He said as he stared out a thin window on the non-existent night life below.

"I do."

"Seize them and stuff them in the storehouse beneath the city," spat Lord Ayikal to the guards who were still on edge about Raider pushing through their defense on the plaza. Three guards took the three cutie marks out of Raider's bag, one for each of them. "Wait." The other guards looked confused. "Nevermind. Raider, you should keep these."

"Wait, I can't keep these, I-"

"-I know what you're thinking. If this shifty Twilight Sparkle character manages t'break Starlight Glimmer, that will lead her and the rest of her gang t'you. They'll kill you."

"What should I do?"

"Give them back their cutie marks just before they are... executed. Guards, wake up this forsaken city, tell the populace that the criminals are captured and announce that we will be holding a public execution. After they are destroyed, this city'll finally be free. Oh, and your sixty thousand sickles will be arriving on Tuesday by mail."

"What about him?" One of the guards asked.

"If he dares to show his face, I want his head on a stake." Lord Ayikal heaved himself up on his thrown and boomed, "this meeting is dismissed."

"I'm sorry Tzentah, I-"

"-It's okay. You have t'say the truth about what's going on, Nohchil. They're going t'host a public execution."

"What does it matter, these three criminals?"

"Oh come on, you know. The Summits have been using them as a distraction, an excuse."

"What if Raider's right? What if they are responsible for what they've done?"

"Neither he nor you can possibly know whether they are truly guilty for killing those three Muds. Anypony who claims t'know doesn't know what they're talking about. For those three ponies it's a complete mystery... we can only hope. Face it Nohchil Ta, you failed."

"I-"

"-You're a failure!" Nohchil recoiled in shock before shaking his head and bucking in the air. Nohchil Ta, the victor of the Muds, cried in anger when all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. It's not fair, it's not fair.

"There is one last thing you can do. I'm not sure where she is, but if you can find the leader of th'village, you might be able to set things straight. Don't kill yourself over it."

The Tsoy District, he thought.

"Guards, guards," shouted Double Diamond.

"What is it?"

"We've found the criminals," Twilight declared as she shoved the stallion and the two mares over to a division of scimitar-wielding guards. They nodded before strapping them in even more restraints and hoofcuffs.

"These prisoners are to be executed at eleven o'clock at night tonight." The words fell like an axe. To Twilight, Sugar Belle, and her friends, it didn't feel like a victory at all. They helped Raider bring the criminals to justice at the expense of everything else.

"Let's just go home."

"We can't go back home, remember the rift m-"

"-It's a one-way entrance."

Sugar Belle stood silent as the violent wind blew some of her mane into her face. She looked down at the ground and up at the night sky before saying, "we can't leave without Starlight. We were too harsh to her."

"She lied, Sugar Belle."

"But we don't know why."

Why. The word stuck out like a sore griffin's talon. It held the reason why the villagers were running out of food, why Raider acted so strange, why the criminals were labelled as such, why the Summits and the Muds hated each other, and why this mystical 'Meadow' place is so important. We don't know anything unless we know why.

"You're right. Come on, we've go to hurry; we left her in that bucked up neighborhood with that one creepy stallion.

How could I have been so stupid, I shouldn't have trusted him. Silver tears streamed down Starlight's magenta fur and into the dark red stones below. I can never go home, oh Celestia, what have I done? I'm sorry Twilight. Twilight. Twilight. She cried audibly now. "Twilight." Her face contorted in a dull sort of pain. "Twilight! I'm sorry."

Another pair of hooves echoed nearby. "Why are you crying?" A soft but low voice resounded.

"I..."

"You don't happen t'be the leader of the village down south of here?"

"Not anymore," she sobbed.

"I need your help."

"I'm done giving stallions my help," she screeched like a teenage griffin. "All he's done was threaten me with exposing the fact that he had the criminals' cutie marks. At least until I had already captured them. He didn't care about me or them, he just used me to capture those criminals, that bucker."

"I trust you're referring t'Raidah, right?"

"Yeah. Wait, who are you?" Her voice quieted but her anger didn't.

"Look."

With her sore hooves still recovering from earlier, starlight managed to heave herself up off of the ground and peer into the eyes of none other than Nohchil Ta, the stallion who attacked Raider when they passed by that one red tower. "I'm sorry about earlier, if only I knew the truth about Raider, I would've-"

"-We all would've done something different in our lives if we knew what would happen. I was retarded enough t'think that forging a contract between the Summits and the Muds was a good idea, I was wrong. You might not know it, but after you talked to Vinka about th'upcoming famine in your village, she went strait t'me about th'issue and I told basically all of Tanner Cliffs t'pitch in some surplus food for all of you. I was the pony behind those mysterious caravans. But the Summits, they wanted to remain anonymous s'that nopony from your village would ever find this place. Seems reasonable, right?"

"Sure. But what happened, why did they stop sending food?"

"I'm not entirely sure. They found some excuse, they found some way t'make sending food unfavorable with the public. Now I don't know what Raider's issue is, but he-"

"-Wait."

"What is it?" Nohchil Ta anticipated her answer.

"Why does it matter to Raider that three Muds are killed? He's a Summit."

"I could've guessed that much... but aren't the criminals Muds as well? I don't get it."

"No, the criminals were escaped ponies from my village... which means that the Summits used the escapee's murder of three Muds to convince the Muds to stop sending food to..."

"...To a village that kills locals from Tanner Cliffs. But it backfired."

"How? We didn't get any food."

"True, but the Muds didn't stop producing either. Come on, I have to show you this." Nohchil Ta lead Starlight out of the city entirely and to a far removed section at the hooves of the mountain. Soon enough, the two of them approached the giant metal doors that loomed over the huts of the Muds. Tzentah hobbled up to them as quickly as he could as he took a good long look at Starlight.

"You found her, Nohchil."

"I know, now we can-"

"-But don't be stupid about it," Tzentah said before keeling over in laughter. Nohchil rolled his eyes before refocusing on the doors. He walked up to the lever and pulled down hard causing the doors to groan in protest as the shuddered before swinging open.

"Now Starlight, you'll see the real truth." Starlight's eyes widened in fear, it could be anything.

The doors swung open revealing the gluttony of surplus food. She trotted slowly inside carefully stepping over the threshold, walked down the three flights of stairs that lead from the surface to the bottom of the warehouse, and waded through the sea of grain piled up to her chest. Soaking in the crates, the sacks, the millions of cans, and everything, she couldn't help but to smell all of it at once. The distracting, sweet, and angering smell was so much that she had to cover her muzzle as she walked towards the center of the storehouse, a room just as long as the main tunnel in the city above. Suddenly, she stopped and turned around to look at Nohchil.

Nohchil was about to say something but he shut his trap when he saw the crazed look on her face.

Her muscles tensed up, her teeth clenched together, and tears streamed down her eyes again yet in a much different emotion than before. "I get it now, I bucking get it. Raider and the Summits used those ponies from my village and made them out to be criminals so that the Summits would have an excuse not to send food to my village. They used the story that they killed three Muds to try and convince the Muds not to send any food themselves while still forcing to produce the same amount of food; those bastards just store all of it in here." Another revelation hit her. "That's why they sent guards with the caravans lately, they wanted to make sure that no Muds sent along extra food with the normal amount." Yet another revelation came swinging by. "And they know perfectly well that the Muds can grow food out of seemingly nothing." She sat down on a crate of celery and sobbed some more. "But why?"

"I think I might know why."

She didn't look up at him. "Why?"

"I'm afraid t'say it... but the three ponies who escaped from your village did, in fact, kill three Muds. Surely they told you, did they not?" Nohchil couldn't bring himself to look at her reaction.

"They said it." A long pause followed.

"But?"

"But I didn't listen," she shouted making Nohchil flinch. She wiped at her eyes but her tears kept flowing. "We were supposed to have a happy Hearth's Warming celebration; I don't want to watch three ponies get killed because of what I did to them. Nohchil, I want to save these ponies... but... I can't undo what I've done." It's like what Daze said, I can apologize, but I can't fix this.

"I thought you reconciled what you've done with your friends."

"What does it matter?" She shouted.

"They can do the same." Nohchil Ta looked around as he suddenly knew exactly what to say. "How was it your fault?"

"You know what I did, right?"

"They told me," he snapped shortly. She hung her head again. "But if your friends and your village can forgive you for all th'pain you've caused, than Tanner Cliffs can forgive these three poor ponies for what they've done. Th'merciless will be found out and their voices will shrivel up in comparison to the music that'll be playing in celebration for those three. I don't know what Raidah said t'you, but I say that you should fight for their lives and bring all of this back to your village in victory. Am I wrong, Starlight Glimmer?"

"Yeah right, you don't know if they'll accept," but even before she said this, her tears stopped streaming because she knew there was hope.

"Just like how ponies search for others who are just as generous as Pony Clause, I think they've been looking for an opportunity to redeem themselves this entire time. And yes, I know who the Pony Clause is." He couldn't help but to chuckle though it was soon replaced with embarrassment when he saw that she didn't respond.

"But Raider still has their cutie marks."

Nohchil looked around before declaring, "I'll take care of that. Those prisoners will probably be at the Peak Castle in a matter of minutes, come on let's go."

"How can I trust you?" She growled.

"I don't know," he responded flatly before leaving the room altogether followed by Starlight. She knew exactly what she needed to do now and she knew all of this would make up for how she lied.

Twilight, Sugar Belle, Double Diamond, Party Favor, and Night Glider all booked it down the stairs to the Tsoy District and searched for the one particular alley where the stallion had been. They all look the same, thought Twilight.

"Are you looking for her?" The sultry voice wasn't familiar but the five guessed it was the same stallion that paralyzed Starlight in fear. "She's gone."

"Did you see who took her?" Sugar Belle asked as she tried not to look into his eyes.

He chewed on the question before whispering, "No."

Double Diamond wasn't happy. "If you don't tell us, we'll-"

"Ladies and gentlecolts, the trial of the three criminals will be held at the Peak Castle in ten minutes, it is safe t'come out of your homes. The execution will be open to the public," The guard yelled interrupting the stallion in question as the towns ponies emerged from their humble homes.

The stallion seemed to know what they were thinking. "If I had to take a guess-" he stopped realizing that the five had already left. They sprinted upstairs, through the plaza, up more stairs, underneath tunnels, over viaducts and bridges, between houses and towers, and up even more stairs. The stairs to the very top of the mountain seemed like they would never end.

"Who could live with all of these stairs?" Sugar Belle huffed as she pulled herself up one step at a time.

"Maybe Sombra," but the others didn't get Twilight's joke. "Never mind."

"How do we know Starlight's up here?" Party Favor asked.

"She's either up here or back at the village," remarked Twilight.

"Either that or dead in a ditch." Night Glider's comment would've sounded sarcastic to them at any other time but the fear in her eyes suggested otherwise.

"Look, there's a ton of ponies here," Double Diamond groaned. It's been traffic jam after traffic jam since they arrived. They were able to worm their way through the crowd this time since there were no guards around. Eventually, the five of them made it to the top of the mountain where they couldn't help but to look at the desert around them stretching for kilometers on end. They turned to the south and saw a semicircular rift in the ground that disappeared into the horizon; the village in the middle was barely visible. Another gust of wind reminded them to stay focused.

"We need to find Raider. I'm sure he only left because he knew we would turn those criminals in, he'll know where Starlight went."

"I don't trust him," Sugar Belle said flatly.

"I used to not trust him at all, like you; but Raider said that the fear of the ponies is more important than our distrust of others. We were tasked back at the village to find these criminals and capture them and we did just that, we didn't have to Raider for anything, we were doing him a favor and we succeeded." Twilight's response was met with some cold stares at first, but as the other four thought about it, they, one after another, nodded in agreement.

"Still though, I wish we didn't." Night Glider's spitfire personality was long gone.

"We did the right thing." Double Diamond placed a consoling hoof around her as she closed her eyes.

"There are the prisoners, where is Raider?" Twilight said more to herself as she approached the group of guards leading the prisoners into the main chamber of the castle. The ponies in attendance cheered, the mares danced, and bottle caps of cider flew across the castle courtyard as the prisoners were shoved inside. The five of them couldn't understand, wouldn't understand why there was so much celebration and, in fear, they pushed their way inside only to see that the court proceedings were already taking place.

Raider sat on the west side of the castle along with what must've been his fellow companions and a ton of other ponies, nopony sat on the east side. In the middle of the castle was the fat Lord Ayikal who tried to stifle his laugh when he looked at the prisoners. The ponies on the inside of the castle were much calmer but it wasn't natural, they had to control themselves.

"Today ladies and gentlecolts, we present t'you the three prisoners charged with the cold-blooded murder of three ponies. The witnesses representing the ponies of this fair town will sit on the west side and the witnesses representing these nasty, despicable criminals will sit on the east side." Twilight and the other four climbed up into the west side seats.

Raider spotted them immediately but only whispered when they got close enough. "I'm sorry I had t'leave, I knew Starlight had it under control when I left. I had t'make sure other dissenters wouldn't disrupt this whole process; hopefully you understand."

"Completely."

"First witness please," Lord Ayikal boomed before some stomach issues made him go cross-eyed.

"I can't go in there, there's too many guards in there, I'll get killed."

"They're gonna do the same to me," Starlight pranced around in fear just outside the castle.

"No, they won't dare lay a hoof or claw on you. Lord Ayikal still has t'maintain an image of justice just like how he has t'make it look like he's still sending food t'y'village. When you're in there, make sure you sit on th'east side of the aisle and announce t'th'crowd that you will defend these prisoners." Nohchil paused before whispering, "you look scared."

"I am," she shook.

"I promise I'll take care of Raidah, you take care of the prisoners." Starlight didn't have enough time to respond before Nohchil Ta disappeared into the cheering crowds.

"I don't think anypony in this audience rejects the fact that these prisoners have murdered three Muds almost two weeks ago," a pony who resembled Raider except for his more frail frame tried to put a lid on the case before it even began. Another griffin beside him said basically the same thing, adding only a few technicalities. They went down the line, taking an eternity.

This isn't at all like the courts in the rest of Equestria.

"We don't have t'live in fear anymore, our children can actually play in parks and our wives can go out and shop at night; our lives can be normal again with these ponies dead." A mare's voice resounded in the tentatively silent hall before becoming overpowered by the slam of the main door. All eyes rested on Starlight Glimmer, the mare from the rumors that have floated around for ages, as she walked over to the east side of the aisle. Not a single pony moved.

"What do you have t'say for yourself?" Lord Ayikal boomed as if he was chastising Starlight.

"How? How can you honestly believe that these prisoners didn't kill anypony?" The mare shouted in fear.

Starlight took a deep breath as she noticed the glare of her five former friends across the room, a glare that she felt hid a more powerful sadness. She had to look up before beginning. "These three prisoners killed three ponies, I won't deny it and they won't either." She paused to look around the court trying to fight back the tears again. She sighed as something somewhere in her heart told her what to say. "But please, for the sake of that Meadow I keep hearing about, don't kill these ponies. If we gave them the chance to redeem themselves, they'd do so faster than their next heartbeat. Don't be so cold. Don't be like me, please." A cough echoed from somewhere. "I broke these ponies' minds like I did to four of the ponies sitting on the other side of this room and to many others milling around without food. If anypony should be responsible for the death of three Muds, it should be me.

"Where I come from, we celebrate Hearth's Warming Day. It's a day where ponies give gifts to other ponies expecting nothing in return. These gifts, these presents, they aren't deserved, they aren't earned, they are simply given without any thought. You ponies are enslaved by senseless contracts and rules; if somepony does you wrong, you just throw your hooves up and walk away. But during Hearth's Warming Day, the spirit of generosity causes a pony to keep on giving when everypony else walks away, sometimes for forever. It may not be fair, but it is right.

"When I came back to my village, I was welcomed back as a friend even though I could never fix what I had broken. I hope my former friends over there will do the same thing to me after I lied to them. Hopefully you will send food in abundance despite what those villagers did to you. Hopefully you Summits and the Muds toiling out there will reconcile with each other even though either of you may not deserve it. And most importantly, you must free these prisoners despite the ponies they've killed so that they can live a good life and turn the lives of others around for the better. Celebrate Hearth's Warming Day this year and give, even though you were viciously stolen from. Please."

Dead silence followed.

"Seize her and drag the prisoners outside," shouted the captain of the guard. A guard pushed Starlight out of the side aisle and out of the building before getting knocked to the side by an unseen force. Starlight whipped around to see the face of Nohchil Ta who nodded before following the other guards down the infinitely long stairs. He ran up to Raider who was straggling in the back of the crowd. He must have seen him because Raider delivered a powerful buck to Nohchil's face before he could do anything.

"You," Raider shouted but before he could fight back, one of his comrades pulled him back into the crowd.

Doubling back up the stairs, he managed to pull himself up to Starlight and whisper, "I'll ambush Raider at the prison tower."

"You mean that red tower all the way out there?"

"Yes."

"But what should I do, can't I help you?"

"You go comfort those criminals, the other ponies will march those prisoners from here all the way t'that tower before getting killed. I can get a comfortable head start." Nohchil didn't wait for another response before leaving. Starlight waited for a moment or two before shoving through the crowd to get t'the prisoners.

She ran into the same bull headed guards like before.

"Get back, mare."

"I won't do anything, I just want to talk to the prisoners," she whined.

Another guard turned to the first saying, "just let her go, she went through all the trouble t'talk in their defense." The first guard looked like he wasn't going to listen to him but after a while, he let Starlight go.

Starlight opened her mouth but one of the mares shoved her more important words down her throat. "Thank you for standing up to us, Starlight. You were right, you have changed."

"You didn't fix any of this," the stallion shouted and growled low until he got kicked by one of the guards.

"Hopefully, I can get your cutie marks back."

"You stole them from us, you would know where they are," he shouted quieter in an attempt to get past the guard.

"I don't have them, one of the Summits has them. Do you know who Nohchil Ta is?"

"Of course I know Nohchil Ta, he rescued us from your village. He was the one that tried to stage the revolution over a year ago; don't you remember?" The other mare spoke for the first time.

"I do. I promise, I'll make this all straight."

"Please, Starlight, I want to feel the world with my own colors again. Please, Starlight, help... help..." Starlight couldn't say anything anymore, all she could do was walk right along next to them. The stairs, once annoying, were now painful to walk down especially during her recovery. She looked over at Twilight, Sugar Belle, and the rest of them and she could tell by their eyes that everything had been forgiven; they were the best givers she has ever had the privilege to be friends with. Sugar Belle, Party Favor, Night Glider, and Double Diamond even smiled back... with genuine smiles.

Once the guards and the ponies who had the nerve... and the guts to watch the execution reached the bottom of the cliffs, the march of three prisoners dragged on for what seemed like forever. Starlight just kept walking with one hoof wrapped comfortably around the shoulders of the softest-spoken mare. Hopefully Nohchil Ta can stop this whole thing. Somepony's got to have a change of hearts.

The bleak red tower came into view lit up by wilting golden flames forcing Starlight to remember a question she wanted to ask them for a while. "Do you believe in this Meadow like the others do?"

"Starlight, don't ask questions like that, we're going to live."

Starlight laughed a silently crying laugh before whispering, "whenever you die, today or when you grow old. Do you believe?"

"Do you?"

"Answer my question first."

"I think you know the answer. Ponies just wouldn't work without a constant source of hope."

"You're right." Starlight thought about that answer before getting interrupted by the guards who seized the three of them by the necks and dragged them over two three red pillars made of stone sticking out of the ground. The guards chained their hooves to loops screwed into the pillars and tightened them so that they couldn't move their chests or any part of their body for that matter.

"It's not time yet for the execution," the captain of the guard boomed.

Where are you Nochil Ta, Raider's right over there.

The eyes of the three prisoners looked warmly up at Starlight before freezing up as they looked at the harsher ground. It was then that Starlight thought of the underlying question to her first question... she needed to figure this out for herself. "I've been meaning to ask you another... q... question."

"Yeah?" She squeaked trying to get air past the stone.

"It's an odd question but-"

"-It's fine."

"What would you do if there was only room for one pony left in the Meadow? Who is it that gets to go?" Starlight didn't fully understand what the question had to do with anything but it felt important.

The louder of the two mares said, "A pony who hasn't killed anypony else like we have will probably fill the last spot."

The stallion lashed out, "That's a ridiculous question," but he calmed down quickly, "It could be anypony. I'm sorry for what I've done, if I had the chance to live for a few more hours, I would try... I would see if I could... well... I might..." his voice drifted off into silence. "If I could do something to undo the death, believe me, I would do it. But Starlight, I can't. You can't fix what you've broken."

"Don't say that, I'll get your cutie marks back before you die," she started crying again knowing that this was the end.

"Even if you do, you still hurt a lot of ponies deeper than you could ever imagine."

"But I... I..."

"And that's okay, it's okay," the stallion said. They're comforting me and they're the ones getting killed.

"What about you?" She turned to the quietest mare.

"...If... I was... given the chance to go to the Meadows, I would give it to somepony else. After that, when I'll die, I'll die knowing I gave up my happiness for another pony. And because of it, I'll die happy." She looked at the other two whose mouths hung open, astonished at what she said.

Nohchil please, don't be like Raider.

"It's eleven o'clock, axes ready." Three guards moved into position at the captain's call. The prisoners looked defeated.

...

"Let them go, Raidah." Nohchil Ta charged at the entire company of soldiers followed by a mismatch of different Muds charging behind. He bolted straight at Raider whose block was not powerful enough to deflect his rage. Raider struggled but Nohchil Ta's blunt force pushed him back a few steps before he fell on the gravelly desert ground, the glass jars clinking in worry. He wrestled Raider as the Muds fought some of the guards before he tore off his black bandana and his saddlebag. Nohchil lifted up the three jars filled with a brightly shimmering cutie mark in each. One was a moon surrounded by powerful yet mere pinpoints of stars, another was a peaceful waterfall which contrasted against the dryness of the desert, and the stallion's cutie mark was a singular snowflake, a gift in the desert.

The Muds looked at Nohchil Ta as he smashed the jars on the ground, releasing the cutie marks which flew up in the air before landing on the flanks of the prisoners. The beautiful shape of their manes and the vibrant colors of their coats returned in full glory. Since the Muds were too busy watching the cutie marks, they were easily pushed back and destroyed by the guards. Raider, however, didn't dare get up and fight Nohchil Ta and neither did he to him.

"Aim."

"Thank you, Starlight. Thank you, Thank you."

"Thank you..."

"Thank you, for everything..."

"Thank y-"

Starlight flinched when her voice was cut. Three severed bodies remained tied to their pillars, three brightly colored, uniquely marked, and virtuously lived bodies, home to three beautiful ponies enslaved all their lives to the bitterness of Starlight Glimmer, the very same mare who saved them.

Twilight approached Starlight carefully and noticed that she still stared down at the three ponies long gone. Her mouth smiled and her eyes cried and both were genuine before she turned away and yelled at the now deserted desert in anger.

"Why did they have to die? It's all my fault. I'm all alone." Starlight grit her teeth and inhaled the cruel wind. "Why?" That singular question.

Twilight whispered, "Starlight."

Starlight looked down at her with bloodshot eyes and said nothing.

She whispered, "It's okay." Twilght's note resounded in the desert as she hugged Starlight who, after almost a minute, returned the favor. Sugar Belle, Night Glider, Party Favor, and Double Diamond all looked on with a sad look in their eyes but they weren't quite crying. They didn't want to look back at Raider. Starlight stumbled over to Raider who looked ready to lash out in anger and yet didn't after seeing the look in Starlight's eyes.

"You got what you wanted," she spat through clenched teeth. "Why did you do all this?"

"I... I'm never... telling you," he huffed holding his ribs from Nohchil Ta's attack.

"He's not worth it, Starlight, let's go." Twilight, Starlight, and the other four walked calmly away from Raider and passed the lonely red tower where the guards will no doubt throw the bodies of the three prisoners into. They traveled back over the desert in silence. Starlight closed a part of the rift in silence. The ponies all slept in Starlight's village for the night in silence. No dreams came.

December 25

"Twilight," Starlight mumbled.

"Yes?"

"I feel like a giant weight has been lifted... I feel like I did when I was young, before the hate and before all the death and misery. I'm sorry for everything, I'm thankful for everything, I don't know what to say." Starlight reminisced as the steam from her cup of coffee rose in the mid-morning wind.

Twilight didn't say anything.

The two looked out on the largest caravan the village ponies had ever seen. They saw the Muds now free to do whatever they want generously toiling away in a field in a desert once thought to be unable to grow anything. Growing something from nothing, that's what Nohchil Ta had said to Starlight. Speaking of whom, Nohchil sat next to Daze poking at the ground with a stick not knowing what to do with himself. Closer to Starlight and Twilight was Vinka and her newly freed Mud Chak Ta who arrived early in the morning. Vinka gave her special somepony a full kiss this time knowing that they were now equals.

Everything was set strait again... but if only they survived. If only Nohchil or I could've saved them from death. Starlight quickly squashed the thought. She couldn't hurt herself over things she couldn't control. Sometimes good things just come from sadness and death. Unwarranted things like gifts on Hearth's Warming Day.

The day the three prisoners would live on forever.

Completed 25 December 2015