Fear. Defeat. Uncertainty.

That’s a combination of feelings most Equestrian’s aren’t used to. We live in a (relatively) safe nation, with powerful protectors making sure that any threats are dealt with. Famine is unheard of. We control the weather, after all. Because everyone has a talent, there’s almost always a job for everyone, so money troubles aren’t widespread. Don’t get me wrong, they’re present, Tranquility’s an example of that, but they’re significantly less of a problem than in other nations, like Griffonstone.

I’d certainly never felt the pressures of stuff like that. I’d grown up in luxury, with food being plentiful and money not being something I had to worry about. When I’d graduated high school, a job opportunity had basically presented itself to me. Sure, I’d had individual moments of sorrow and strife, but nothing that lasted.

I felt all of that change as the Wolves started cheering.

During Ivy’s speech, I’d been subconsciously holding on to some vestige of hope, the last strings of a fraying rope that was the notion that we were going to be fine, that something was going to save the day, that the Wolves were going to spot the flaws in Ivy’s speech, that somehow, maybe, everything would turn out for the best. It was a stupid thought, but still, I’d clung to it, and I knew that the others had been too. It was like alohaidurast. Our minds knew that there was no hope, but our hearts didn’t.

As the speech ended, that hope was crushed, and our minds and hearts became one once more.

There was no going back from what had just happened. All of the Wolves had heard Ivy’s speech, Ivy’s version of things, and even if they hadn’t, word of it would reach their ears soon enough. There wouldn’t be a soul who would object to harsher laws regarding non-Wolves or more measures to make sure they remained secret. And if we were ever found out… there wouldn’t be any opposition to our cold-hearted murders.

We’d failed in a battle we didn’t even know we were a part of. Tranquility, Cam, and I started out this whole mess with the goal of getting out alive. Thoughts of other things weren’t present in our minds. Our lives were on the line, and that was all that mattered at the time. Slowly, things got more complicated, but that was still our primary focus. In the end, we gave our enemy exactly the information she needed to put others through the same thing we went through. We made it out alive, but we didn’t make it out okay.

“It’s over,” Hawkeye said sadly, standing up slowly, and I found that I couldn’t agree more.

“I don’t believe it,” Reed whispered softly, his eyes wide. “Half a century of good, safe prosperity under your rule, and they turn on you just like that?”

“You heard what Ivy said,” Cam mumbled. “It was like we were gonna kill them all! Why wouldn’t they be scared of that?” Tensing up, she turned towards me and Tranquility, fear in her eyes. “You don’t think I’d do that… right?”

“Of course not!” Before I could even think about it, I’d moved forward and swept her into a tight hug. I felt Tranquility move beside me, extending a wing over the both of us. “Nothing she said was true, okay? It was bogus. Completely and utterly bogus.”

“Right,” she muttered. “Then…” Even though she trailed off, I knew what she was about to say.

‘Why?’

“Try not to think too much about it,” Tranquility whispered quitely. “Some people will stop at nothing to get what they want. Even… even if it means trampling over others to do so. You just happened to be in the way. We all were.” She sighed, bowing her head “I’m just so, so sorry that you had to deal with that…”

“I’ll second that notion,” Reed said. “She was ruthless. You could tell she was dead-set on having everyone walk away with a specific takeaway.”

“Too true,” Hawkeye muttered. “Did you hear that? ‘This is only what we know right now. We don’t know how far the damage extends.’ All of that was meticulously crafted to be as fear-inducing as possible, and she even went as far as to change what I said. Cam’s right. Why shouldn’t they be afraid?”

“That doesn’t matter,” Jasmine said. “What’s done is done. We need to focus on what we’re gonna do now.”

“C-can… can we go home?” Cam whispered softly, looking up at me. “She doesn’t know we’re alive. Can we just go back to what it was like before? I don’t wanna deal with this anymore...”

I felt a sinking feeling in my heart before we even answered the question.

“No,” Reed whispered sadly.

“Why not?” Cam said, her ears turning back slightly.

“Ash is going to be there,” Hawkeye said curtly. “If he sees you, or any of us for that matter, any remote chance that you had at living a normal life goes straight out the door. He’s going to be on especially high alert, too. Going back home is going to be impossible.”

Cam didn’t respond, but I felt her press a little more against my chest, a small tremble running through her body.

“What are we gonna do now?” I asked, looking towards Reed.

“I… I don’t know,” he said softly, breaking his gaze away from mine. “I’m not sure what we can do. Wolves are everywhere in the multiverse, and even if we jump into a dimension that they haven’t found yet, they’re going to eventually.” He sighed quietly, closing his eyes. “I just don’t think we can hide out for long.”

“You’re right about that,” Tranquility grumbled. “We’re screwed six ways to sunday.”

Cam let out a small snort of laughter. “Where did that come from?” she asked, a small spark of amusement returning to her voice.

“Immature teenagers, most likely,” she replied.

“I’m gonna use that now,” she said before pressing against me again. “I just hope I get the chance to…”

A rush of sadness shot through me. That last bit didn’t sound like it was meant for anyone else to hear, but it said a lot.

It was easy to forget she was only seven…

I gave her a gentle squeeze and sighed softly, not saying anything.

“It’s over,” Hawkeye said quietly. “There’s too much going against me.” He turned back towards the open courtyard, watching the Wolves filter out of the exit. “You heard them. You saw them. I certainly did. The ones who support me… who like me, are a minority, and even they’re uncertain of that.” He sighed, looking back towards us. “I couldn’t see a single calm face in the crowd by the end of that. My supporters were effectively cowed by end of that, cowed into going along with that anger. That means that they’ll be afraid to express their views in public, too… making it borderline impossible for my reputation to recover.

“We’re going to have to hide. I’ll find a dimension that Wanderers almost never go into and the Mages have no reason to visit. Once we stake out a spot to stay, I’ll throw up wards, powerful ones that’ll leave us virtually undetectable… and we’ll build a new life.

“Our old lives are effectively gone. We can’t go back. The only thing we can do is move forward and make a new start. I’ll make sure we’re safe. It’s the least I can do after effectively putting you through this mess.”

I felt Cam’s body start to shake a little.

“It’s not the best sounding solution out there,” he continued, despite our defeated silence, “but it’s the best one we have-”

“Bull.”

Hawkeye froze up, a surprised look etched into his face. “I’m sorry?” he whispered softly.

“That’s bull, plain and simple.” Jasmine slowly stood up and walked towards him. “I’d think you’d know why, but that’s apparently not the case, giving your interpretation of what just happened. I’m surprised that you think so little of your subjects!”

“Jasmine, I know that you’re optimistic- and I’m glad to see that hasn’t changed, even with your ordeal- but you need to think more in reality,” Hawkeye chastised. “This is one of the only favorable options we have!”

“That’s bunk!” Jasmine retorted. “Your view of how those Wolves reacted is so far off from the truth, and you’re basing that answer on it! Do you want to know what I saw?”

“Enlighten me,” Hawkeye said, one eyebrow raised.

“I didn’t see a set of individuals down there,” she said. “I saw a mob. Ivy stirred up the atmosphere and polluted it with so much fear and hatred that it was almost impossible to not react the way they did. I felt the pull of anger during that. I started to doubt my preconceptions of what happened, and I had to actually remind myself that Reed wouldn’t have sided with Cam for no reason! I know that he was feeling the effects as well, and he’s the one who shouldn’t have at all!”

Hawkeye rolled his eyes. “You can’t tell me that that wasn’t a clear message that I’m not-”

“That was mob mentality, not rational thought!” Jasmine yelled, cutting him off once more. “They were going with the flow and weren’t really thinking about it! They got caught in the moment! I’m shocked that you can’t recognize that!

“Do you know what’s going to happen now? They’re going to go home. For days, this speech is going to be the talk of the nation, and no Wolf will be able to go a day without hearing something about it. That means that it will be on the forefront of everyone’s minds.

“Now, that’s important because your Wolves are a lot smarter than you give them credit for. At some point, they’re going to start realizing things about that address. Why was there so much focus on things that could happen, for instance, instead of things that did happen? Why was there a lack of information about the rogue, with the only thing being said about her being ‘She’s dangerous, and she will kill your children!’? Why would Hawkeye do such a thing?

“Slowly, as they begin to think about it, things will start to unravel. It doesn’t even have to be by much. All there needs to be is a little seed of doubt, and that will stay there for as long as it needs to. This isn’t the perfect scenario that Ivy wants it to be. It could all come undone with just a little trigger.”

“How d-do you know?” Cam whispered softly.

A soft sigh floated up from Jasmine’s lips. “Because I’ve seen this sort of mob mentality before. I was sent to monitor a dimension that’s creatures had public killings. I’d watch as friends and family cheered on a close relative’s decapitation, and later, they’d regret their decision. It was harrowing to watch, but it gave me a perspective on an aspect of psychology I’d never seen before. I’d never expected it to manifest in Paradise, though…”

“You… may be right,” Hawkeye said grudgingly. “Even so, what are we going to do? Just because something is more favorable doesn’t mean that it’s automatically a good situation.”

“Become the trigger,” Reed said softly, his eyes widening slightly.

“Exactly,” Jasmine confirmed with a curt nod.

“What?” I asked, tilting my head in confusion.

“If Wolves start to realize what actually happened instead of being convinced of Ivy’s version of the events, we’ll be able to start organizing something against her that has support behind it,” Reed said slowly, his voice growing more and more enthusiastic as he went on. “Furthermore, if Hawkeye retakes the throne, there won’t be as much hatred towards him, if any at all. And the best part is, the seeds for this are already there!”

“Yep,” Jasmine said smugly. “Ivy planted them herself.”

“All we need to do is set this… chain reaction of sorts off and help guide it?” I asked.

“Bingo,” Reed and Jasmine said simultaneously.

“We’ve got two trained Mages, an untrained one, and an Alpha,” she stated confidently. “Even if I need to catch up on some things, and even if Cam needs to be trained more, there’s still not a better group than us to do this. The Wolves look up to us naturally, so convincing them will be a bit easier.

“We need to do this, too. We already know that Ivy was willing to trample anyone, regardless of their well being, to get to this spot. That was obvious even before I vanished. Now that she’s likely going to end up in a position of power, she’ll waste no time in making things how she thinks they ought to be, once again paying no heed to how others are affected. This is going to affect the multiverse on a large scale, and not in a good way. That’s why, in addition to your theory being complete and utter bunk, sitting around and hiding away isn’t an option.”

Hawkeye was silent for a some time. “Say you’re right,” he said, his speech slow and hesitant, “and this is the right thing to do. What’s the first step?”

“Wait.”

“Excuse me?” he said, seeming a little appalled.

“The things Jasmine mentioned aren’t instantaneous,” Tranquility said softly. “They’ll require time to take effect.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t be doing useful things in the meantime, though,” Jasmine quickly added. “We can use it to formulate a course of action, for starters. We can also start to train Cam, just in case things come to the point where we need to fight.”

“I… see,” Hawkeye grumbled unhappily. “I assume that we’ll still be hiding for a time, then.”

“Yep, and it’d be great if you set up those wards you were talking about earlier,” Jasmine said.

“Of course,” he said curtly.

“Does… does that m-mean I might be able to go home?” Cam whispered quietly, lifting her head off my chest and glancing at Tranquility.

She smiled. “I can’t say yes, but there’s a definite possibility,” she answered.

Cam didn’t respond, but I felt the small tremors that had been wracking her body start to cease.

“If training’s the thing we have in mind, the Infinite Forest would be a great place,” Reed said. “It’s got all sorts of things.”

“I agree,” Jasmine said quickly.

“So we’re doing this?” Tranquility asked.

Hawkeye paused for a second. “At the moment, I don’t see a better option,” he said, “so yes. Infinite Forest it is, then.” And with that, a thin black line whipped out from his paw, enveloping the five of us before we could blink.

I can confirm that dimensional travel isn’t something that one wants to experience while startled and stressed. Even with that added discomfort, though, a small glimmer of hope started to bloom in my chest.

Author's Note

Guess who's still alive?

Yep, that's right. New chapter! Things are developing and starting to wrap the first arc to a close. We'll soon be moving into calmer waters, folks. Hold onto your seats for just a little longer.

I hope this chapter elaborated on some characters well, though. I've got big plans for development and things, and I'm trying to set that up.

I'm just mostly satisfied that I got to use the word "bunk" in one of my stories.

Once again, I'd like to apologize for this chapter taking so long to get out. I wish I could say that it was my work again, but it wasn't this time. To be honest, it was more that I had a sudden lack of motivation to write this chapter. It took a little bit of a push to get me to write, and I'm not entirely happy with how this turned out, but it's better than nothing at all.

I just hope it's better than Chapter 25 was. Reading that makes me cringe.

But anyway, I hope that you guys had a good time reading this. As always, if I messed up grammatically or with punctuation, comment and I'll fix it. Comments in general are appreciated, too, and I love any and all feedback that you guys give me.

Thanks for coming back!

~Pyrepinna