The short train didn't even stop in Canterlot; Dash ordered them on to their destination. She watched the landscape fly by, then they sped through Ponyville. "Everfree…" It was an amazing sight, the old, dark forest was growing bigger every day; urged and cared for by Rainbow Dash's best friend and fellow Shadowbolt.

Ahead, a fort formed the last station on the southern tracks out of Canterlot. The stone building had the dark forest resting right beside it, but the forest loved ponies—they helped it grow.

"This is as far as we go, Ma'am." The conductor was waiting by the front of the carriage as the train started to slow. "I don't know what you are doing in there, but good luck."

"Thanks, but I won't need it." Dash had her part to play, she might be the sneaky and clever right-hoof of Princess Luna, but to the public she was practically a playmare with the whole of Equestria as her playground. "Like they could hope to catch the Rainbow Dash." She struck a pose and winked to the conductor.

The conductor looked on, aghast. "You might have made it in and out of Hollow Shades in one piece, but these are changelings."

"I know, but somepony has to do this." Dash marched to the door of the train. "And I wouldn't send anypony to do something I wouldn't do myself." Spreading her wings as she dropped down from the train, Rainbow flew into the fort and looked around. There were guardsponies training, some standing guard on the wall that would be standing watch over Ghastly Gorge. "Hey, anypony official around?"

"No civilians are allowed here." A stallion had clearly heard Dash and trotted over. A member of the royal guard, he looked just like every other unicorn in service to Equestria. "You have to leave."

"Just about to." Dash grinned at the stallion and was able to see his face turn from annoyance to confusion. "Any tips for making it back out?" The confusion settled into incredulity.

"You can't go past… that is the Collective in there…"

Dash let the stallion babble a little in shock, waiting for somepony a little more her style to arrive. When Rainbow spotted a Lunar Guard, she trotted around the pontificating pony and walked right up to him. "Hey, it takes two to mango." If the stallion had looked bored a moment ago he didn't show it now.

"What… how did… sorry, what do you need?" The bat pony stared at Dash with equal parts shock and admiration now.

"Information mainly. When I go in, how is the best way to get back out if I have friends following?" Rainbow would leave the grittier details of her escape to the moments when they were happening.

"Keep low and fast. Under twenty feet but above ten." Unable to keep a feral grin off his snout, the bat pony half-spread his wings. "I would tell you to do it at night if you can, makes it harder to judge your height, but they will have more trouble spotting you."

"Anything else I should know?"

"Yeah, if you are going to go in, grab one of the decorative bridles we keep here. The bugs won't realize it isn't one of theirs at a distance, they might just ignore you. If they want to fit you with a new bridle, don't let them. Once they put one on you, you are theirs." The stallion gave a sigh. "You really going to go in there, Ma'am?"

"Yeah, no choice. Somepony has to. You got a bridle I can use?" Rainbow gave the stallion one of her "trademarked" lopsided grins.

The stallion gave a nod and turned for the barracks. "I have, give me a minute."

Rainbow waited for five before he returned. Closing her eyes, she leaned forward; every sense tuned to the threads of silk bonded into her mane. Even as the straps pulled around her head, there was no warning tingle from her anti-enchantment gear. "Hey, this has clips for a bit," Dash gave the stallion a saucy look, "is this for fun and games?"

The comment earned a blush. "Yeah, yeah it is. Bring it back."

"What's your name?" Rainbow looked at her benefactor in his tightly slit eyes.

"Dawn Glider." The stallion reached out one leathery wing. "Fly well."

Dash gave a laugh and launched into the sky, pumping her wings and arcing over the walls of the keep. Turning her height into speed, Dash dove and flew along the old bridge and had to pull up. There was the better part of thirty changelings waiting for her, the creatures having been rocks scattered around.

"Halt, pony!" One of the drones was charging its horn.

"Whoa, calm down. I am coming with a message for the Collective." Dash waited until the last second, when the horn was just starting to lance magic toward her, to bank and avoid the spell. "Calm down I said, I am not going to fight you!"

Watching Rainbow Dash closely as she landed, the changelings moved to circle around her. "Remove the fake bridle, I claim this pony by rights of capture." The drone that had fired on Dash seemed uninterested in hearing what she had to say.

Rainbow felt one of the drones grabbing at her bridle with their magic, felt one of her enchantments first tingle then flare. "Back off, I need to speak with one of your leaders; this is important."

The drone that had tried to remove Dash's bridle turned to look at what was obviously their commander. "The pony seems insistent and… I can't touch them with my magic, it hurts."

More tingles, more rebuffing of magic. Rainbow Dash bucked sharply when one drone got too close behind her. "Just take me to whoever is in charge."

"Ugh, do what it says." The leader of the drones shook their head to clear the slight pain of trying to use magic on Rainbow. "They have some kind of magic protecting them."

Dash struck a pose, as was required by her sense of style. "Right, now to get this message delivered. You guys have some kind of train?" Dash had a moment as all the drones started buzzing their wings to get ready; spreading her own, the pegasus lifted off the ground in the middle of their loose formation.

The day wound on to mid-afternoon before they reached the former town of Appleloosa, where Dash came face to face with what the Collective was about. There were ponies walking around town, every single one of them with a bridle on. Oddly, each pony Rainbow saw was smiling and seemed happy. Her escort turned toward a building and led the way inside. It took Dash's eyes a few moments to adapt to the dim light, but the moment they did she saw that the house was a front for an opening to a tunnel that led down into the dark earth. "Whoa, your leaders are down there?"

Not a single changeling replied, urging Dash to stop where she stood. "Move, pony."

"Are your leaders down there?" Rainbow Dash looked at the drone and stared him down, or she hoped she did.

"They are." It was clear it cost the changeling face to actually reply to Rainbow.

"That's all you needed to say. Lead the way." Rainbow started walking down the cave, using what little green light there was to guide her hooves. "What, are you coming?"

"Crazy pony…" The changeling guards moved to take the lead and pace Dash once more.

"Cute changeling." Rainbow saw the slight blush of green on the drones face and knew she had scored. It would have been easy to get lost in the caves, Dash was trying to keep track of side tunnels and measuring body-lengths between them, but even that was stretching her efforts. At last the cave opened out into a cavern and Rainbow could see a larger than normal changeling reading through papers. "Hi." Rainbow started pushing to get past her escort but was blocked physically.

The bigger than usual drone lifted their head from the pages they were reading. "Why do you bring me food? I thought I told you, I only want honey."

Dash's escort looked up at the larger changeling. "Chancellor, this is-"

"Rainbow Dash, Emissary of Princess Luna's." Rainbow finally managed to shove at the changeling ahead of her enough to jump past them. "And I have an offer for you."

"Why is it talking to me?" The chancellor looked to the drone who had brought Dash as if they were getting smaller by the second. "Wait, did it mention 'Luna'?"

Rainbow Dash had a calm, peaceful expression for maybe two heartbeats. "Look," Spreading her wings she flew from the startled drones up to the Chancellor. "Look, I am a pony, get over it. What I am bringing you is an offer. Things are about to change in Equestria and my Princess has an offer for you."

The bigger changeling looked right at Rainbow Dash for the first time. "State it."

"Princess Luna offers you a peace, a real peace. No more skirmishes, no more encouraging the Everfree to grow into your lands." Rainbow had baited the hook. "But it won't all be one way."

"We will not give up our ponies."

"It would be great if you did, but my Princess thinks that is a ways off. I didn't see you mistreating anypony upstairs," Dash gestured back the way they had come, "so there is no huge rush. What we ask is that you relax on the 'grabbing everypony you can' thing, and consider a new food source."

"New food?" The question was accompanied by real interest, the big changeling rising to its hooves. "What food would you offer?" The drone's wings chittered a little.

"Dragons." Dash flashed a smile. "What if we worked with you and helped you catch dragons."

The changeling rushed forward and was suddenly right before Rainbow, its head inches from the pegasus' forehead. "You would want to swap trained ponies for unbroken dragons?"

"Not directly. They invaded Equestria a long time ago now, but word is they are stirring to hit us further. We have things anchored from Canterlot, and are poised to… encroach on them." Rainbow looked around. "You got a map in here?"

"Fetch one." The Chancellor gestured to the other drones. "Equestria will invade? With what?"

"Nothing that will weaken our defenses. The Everfree is even now being urged to calm down." Dash looked up at the hungry-looking changeling. "All we want is a promise. Stop pushing us, stop taking new ponies and, in the future, consider talks with us."

"We need more ponies, we need more food." Despite the hungry look, the Chancellor looked intrigued. Just then the drones returned with a big map. "Show on the map where you are attacking."

"No. I won't show where we are attacking, but I will show you where you should attack." Rainbow Dash brought her hoof over, showing the short strip of land that bordered the dragon lands and the Collective's. "You have spies with them, probably more than we do. Wait for our strike against them and hit hard. Grab every dragon you can and we will meet in the middle. Honor your agreements and you can keep the land you take; with one exception. Baltimare and the train line to it will be ours."

"Expansion. You offer us expansion?" The Chancellor turned their hungry look onto the map. "It has been too long since we gained new lands. I think I can honor this deal."

"Great, I'll just be go-" Dash halted as the Chancellor's horn lit. She felt a grip around her face, grabbing the bridle and unfastening it.

Removing the mundane bridle, the Chancellor held Dash steady in its grip. "But I need a special kind of promise, one that only kin can make."

"K-K-Kin?" Rainbow tried to fight. Her threads of enchanted silk were flaring in her mane and tail, fighting the powerful magic. "Just let me go, you have my word, and my Princess' too!"

"Not enough. Only a changeling's word matters." The grip didn't lessen one bit; but to Dash's horror a dark black bridle floated up from where the Chancellor had been resting. "And this ensures we get a changeling's word."

Rainbow expected the thing to be hard and rough, but the soft grip of the bridle pulling around her face surprised her. "Let me go!" She tried to squirm and slip away, but the big drone pulled the bridle into place despite her struggles.

"There you go, little sister." Fastening the bridle on with magic, the Chancellor ensured there were no clasps or buckles to be undone. "Now, make the promise again that you will ensure this is all true and will be as you say."

The magic in the bridle pushed past all the defenses of Dash's mane and tail. Every strand of her mane struggled just as much as she did; but in the end none of it helped her. She stared up at the big changeling. "It is true, get this thing off me!"

"Good. You can go now, our sister." The Chancellor wore a wide, fanged smile as Rainbow Dash spread her wings and sped for the exit.

"Should we stop them?" The changeling Dash had called cute watched the retreating tail of the mare.

"Follow her, you are her escorts now. When she is fully changed, you and she will be our ambassadors to Equestria."

Author's Note

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and ~~I~~ they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, ~~I~~ They will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! ~~I~~ They will pick one question per chapter.

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