Lily’s consciousness, having been lost in the light and sound which engulfed the trio back in the bar, settled back inside her body, lying comfortably someplace soft when she came to. Please let it be over. Let Daisy walk into this room and tell me it’s time to work. I’ll do whatever she asks, even talk to the customers! I will help take care of Daisy’s pet tentacle plants with a smile on my face if I never have to see the inside of a bar ever again! she thought to herself desperately.

She coughed as the smell of smoke greeted her nose, her eyelids beginning to twitch to life before opening as the rest of her senses began to catch up with her. The first thing she noticed was that she was covered up by a sandy-colored sheet of some sort which fluttered from a heavy wind outside. The distinct sound of a roaring, crackling fire burning something was heard from all around her, the intense glow of flames glaring against the anemic, gray light filtering in around it. Lily realized with a pang that she was now alone, concealed beneath an unfamiliar article of clothing somepony had laid over her. She was unharmed, at least for now.

“Goldie? Chest Candy? Are you out there?” Lily called out quietly, reasoning that whoever was nearby would have a better than 50/50 chance of being friendly given she wasn’t already dead and she certainly didn’t remember covering herself up. How long have I been out?

A hardened but distinctly feminine — as well as oddly familiar — voice spoke directly into Lily’s mind the same way the demon Juniper had previously. “Lily, you’re awake! We are in quite the predicament as you can guess, and it’s imperative we make haste. Walk out towards me while wearing that cloak. It will keep you invisible. We cannot be seen together by the Witch Queen and her lackeys or you’ll doom us all! Come to me; I am at the pile of branches near the trail. You’ll be able to see through the cloak once you’re standing up properly.”

Lily gulped nervously at the prospect of facing danger once more on quite possibly the worst night she’d ever experienced but knew she couldn’t stay where she was forever. “O-okay…” I can’t possibly be more doomed out there than in here, right? Oh, who am I kidding? I was born doomed! As much as Lily hated the idea of listening to yet another voice in her head, this one wasn’t asking her to be a sex offender, making her the second most reasonable mare who’d spoken to her all night. Standing as instructed, the cloak slid over her face and body allowing an unobstructed vision of her surroundings.

She regretted doing so immediately.

Lily was standing in a shallow trench amidst the burning ruins of a grove dotted with strange trees the city pony had never seen before. The few remaining trees not scorched by the fire were covered in scaly, two-toned green bark that jutted irregularly out of the earth, their branches tipped by long, dark-green leaves like huge sabers. Pale, blue seed cones dangled within the foliage, glowing with magic. Smashed tree houses with wooden plank staircases littered the forest floor.

Not only had Lily never seen such a place, but she’d also never known such a place even existed. Her teeth clenched when she looked to the sky and was greeted by an ominous spiraling vortex of gray clouds which blanketed the area, imparting an overwhelming sense of fear that she’d be sucked up into the sky. Beyond the forest, miles off in the distance, was the trunk of a gleaming, vast, palatial silver tree castle that resembled the much smaller ones in the area dotted with windows — much larger than Golden Oaks Library where Twilight lived. The colossal tree-tower’s canopy was unable to be seen by Lily, it’s upper half disappearing into the writhing, cloud-choked sky. Lily gasped at its scope, wondering how old a tree would have to be to grow so tall.

Off to her right, she saw a worn trail leading to the place she was told to go, a brush pile fashioned into a sentry post whose only entrance was visible from where Lily was standing. Figuring at the very least she was less likely to be sucked up into the sky from within, the earth pony slinked up to the entrance, hovering close to the ground like a terrified house cat before she got close enough to dart right through the opening.

“You follow orders well, Lily Valley. Perchance there is at least a drop of your old ancestor in you yet!”

Lily jumped with a start, cracking her head on the roof of the improvised structure; the pain from her sore noggin feeling very much real despite being inside a dream. The speaker, however, was not talking through Lily’s mind, but instead stood nearby and smiled at Lily’s reaction to her greeting. Lily took a moment to regain her bearings while the pain subsided. Upon taking in her unknown guide’s appearance, Lily’s eyes widened as she let out a soft gasp and stumbled back a few steps.

She looked exactly like Lily in every way, save for her flower and stiletto cutie mark stitched onto the flank of her uniform! She’s… she’s me. Dear Celestia, she’s ME! was all she could immediately think.

Her doppelganger was covered front to back by a green camo battle-dress uniform covered with small pouches strapped to her body with velcro — a modern innovation Tulip incorporated into her wardrobe. There was a small pile of weapons and other assorted tools next to it that she’d been meticulously organizing: a foreleg-mounted crossbow and bolts, a small pile of what looked to be ordinary gems, a recently used entrenching tool, bobby pins likely used for any lock she didn’t agree with, a multi-purpose cutting tool with a grip small enough to fit within a pony’s hoof and a deadly-looking green folded steel dagger with an emerald encrusted hilt. She was in the process of stripping down, her dress uniform and an odd red-leathered full-body armor underneath were neatly folded up and placed on the ground with the rest of her belongings.

The mare regarded Lily for a moment before nodding in greeting. “Greetings, greatest granddaughter. The name’s Tulip Vale. And the two of us are going to be quite well acquainted soon enough.”

“T-Tulip Vale?” Lily Valley’s mind flashed back to memories of her mother telling her about her great ancestor who’d served in the largest war Equestria had ever fought, though that information was used only as a pretext for shaming the shy mare for not living up to the ancient warrior’s legacy. “Y-you fought in the Pony/Gryphon war! B-but that was over seven hundred years ago? W-why are you in my nightmare?”

Tulip picked up the cutting tool and a spare chunk of wood and then plopped down onto her haunches as she began whittling away at the small tree branch. “Because it’s my nightmare, too, Lily Valley. And I’m not the sort of mare that will sit idly by in some paradise of an afterlife eating bonbons, rutting sixteen hours a day, and reveling in the faded glory of battle from a war long forgotten. That and the thought of that old witch, Juniper, harassing my youngest descendant when the crone should be enjoying her stay in Tartarus is more than enough to make me forget about bingo night in the Summerlands. I have been sent by Lady Death herself to ensure her speedy expedition and humbly request that you, as an unwilling participant with an interest in defending the name of your, fair lady that you assist me.”

Lily gaped at the warrior’s determined, fighting spirit, thinking that she could handle anything. “I’m really sorry, my great-great-great —”

“Tulip works fine for me,” Tulip interrupted dismissively, waving the knife in her grasp carelessly through the air before continuing to carve away at the wood.

“Right… Well, Tulip, I’m not sure I’ll be of much use to you. I’m not much of a fighter,” Lily said as her ears dropped pitifully.

Tulip’s eyeridges lowered sharply as she looked upon her cowardly scion with utter contempt, tossing her knife and wood to the ground and closing the short distance between them before pinning the horrified mare to the wall of the structure with a powerful, steel-capped hoof. “Are you saying that you will not fight for even your beloved? Unthinkable!” Her piercing glare was as cold as gleaming steel now. “I knew your generation was weak, but I never would have thought a pony of my line would hesitate to protect their own!”

Lily cringed. “I want to save Roseluck, I do! But I’m worthless! I really can’t do anything to help!” she pleaded, but Tulip's anger only increased.

“You lie! If you truly thought yourself worthless you would end your own life. And if you were anypony else I would consider such an act justified, but you don’t consider such an act because you are comfortable.” Tulip gave Lily a jab to the torso hard enough to make her wince. “You are comfortable with the other ponies in your life coddling you and carrying you because you fear failure above all. You talk as if you’re worthless but really you’re just a self-centered mare with absolutely no honor!”

“But I can’t do anything! I don’t know how to… fight others! I don’t want to know how!” Lily began to sob as she averted her gaze from the wrathful mare.

Not about to let Lily off easy, Tulip forced a trembling Lily to face her, eyes less than an inch apart. “Then I will teach you! I will show you strength and purpose your weak society has failed to pass on to you. I have seen ponies by the thousands stare into the abyss without flinching, past the bodies of their fallen comrades laid rotting on the field of battle into certain defeat to defend ponies they’d never even met. And you may be one of the most cowardly, insignificant, altogether pathetic sack of road apples I’ve ever laid eyes on, Lily Valley, but that doesn’t mean I think you hopeless.

“I’ve seen ponies like you make something of your life. Hey, I’ve seen ponies like you become heroes and stack griffins like cordwood.” Tulip’s war face softened fractionally, having faced no further excuses for inaction from Lily. “Now perchance you and I have gotten off to a very bad start, but I’m going to do you a favor, Lily Valley. I’m not going to kill you for dereliction of duty while Roseluck is held captive of an evil greater than Nightmare Moon herself,” she informed the living mare, who trembled, having no doubt it was within her power to do so. “Instead, I’m going to give you this one chance to redeem your honor, save your princess from that harmony-forsaken castle over there, and teach you a lesson about bucking friendship you won’t ever forget!” The old soldier released Lily, backing off while the latter sank back against the wall of the woodpile, trembling as she sobbed into her hooves.

Lily couldn’t speak so Tulip Vale took the initiative, “Now, in truth, I’m supposed to ask all nicely before I can possess a living spirit such as yourself, but I hardly consider it a choice for you. Nevertheless, I will not possess the unwilling, so ask I must. But know that if you walk away from this fight, you are worth nothing to anyone, Lily Valley — least of all yourself. However, should you agree to become my vessel, then I can guide your hooves and make you into a living tool of vengeance; forge you into an instrument of righteous judgment. But I need you to show me you understand what’s at stake. And tears aren’t going to cut it!” She finished her explanation with a firm stomp, waiting for Lily’s reply.

Wiping tears from her eyes, Lily looked fearfully up at her more war-like self. Could I really be like that too? Lily wondered as she gave took a shuddering breath. “J-Juniper said she was going to use Roseluck for something. But sh-she didn’t say what. I don’t want to think about what she’s doing to her. I will help you. We need to get Roseluck back!”

“That’s what I wanted to hear,” Tulip replied more calmly as she betrayed her comrade a look of pity. “You’re not alone, Lily Valley. I am here, and so are your comrades. I can sense them both within this matrix. Their help will be invaluable to us.”

Lily nodded, her eyes glancing over to the pile of armor and weapons before returning to Tulip. “Did you say something about… p-possessing me?”

“Yes. I need you to put on my gear. Once you’ve equipped my armor we’ll be able to communicate back and forth through your mind like Juniper was able to do and keep her out of your head as well. She won’t be able to sense your life force either, so you’ll be like just another phantom in the dream.” Tulip gestured towards the cloak. “That will be quite valuable too. It will make you invisible so long as you’re under it.”

Lily’s mind snapped back to the comic books on her nightstand. She wants to make me into a superhero! “It can do all that? Wow! That’s… really cool!” Lily looked at Tulip without fear, but respect, for the first time.

“You bet your flank it is, Lily!” Tulip Vale smiled as she gave a hoarse and weathered laugh. “So are you ready for this? I’ll guide your hooves so long as I’m with you and Juniper doesn’t find some kind of way to expel me from your mind, but you’ll be aware of everything I’m doing while I’m guiding you. Your actions will have consequences for all concerned, and you will have to end the miserable lives of a number of cretins who richly deserve it. It won’t be as hard as killing one of your own or even killing a griffin, but it will still feel wrong at first. Find solace in the fact that you are not only helping your friends but ending a terrible existence for the demons themselves.” Tulip’s face grew somber as she looked into Lily’s eyes as the fear and trepidation returned once more from their all too brief moment of excitement and adventure. “And if we fail, pray they slay your living soul so that you’re sleeping body may die a natural death. There are worse things in this world than dying, and I’ve seen them.”

Lily tried to stand as tall as she could, and gave a weak nod. “I’m ready to do this… for Roseluck and Golden Harvest... for my friends,” Lily said miserably, forcing herself not to cry again as she looked over at the tools of warfare across the room, finding herself once again in far over her head.

“Then we won’t waste another second. Let’s move out,” Tulip replied, shaking her head in at least some semblance of sympathy as she helped Lily into her gear.

*****

The pair walked out of the branch fort without incident, the smell of wood smoke stinging at Lily’s nose. She was now dressed in Tulip’s gear, who’d literally stepped inside of Lily’s body, her icy presence chilling the frightened earth mare to her core. Though not used to carrying such a heavy load — Rose or Daisy generally handled cart-pulling duty — being an earth pony, Lily found she was able to bear the extra weight in armor quite easily.

[“The Deep is like the Dream, except the safeguards and protections afforded to one’s well-being are removed here, for better and for worse,]” Tulip’s voice reverberated around inside Lily’s mind in a manner quite unlike hearing. It felt more like her own internal monologue but much harsher sounding. [“The demons cannot know death through the passage of time, which moves much faster here, but can still be killed by more… direct means. Look at your crossbow. Once armed, the bolt becomes enchanted with an eternal fire from The Abyss. Slay a demon and it will be transported directly to Tartarus to face judgment.”] Tulip’s voice lowered to a growl. [“Nopony can escape the will of Lady Death. Not even the undying!”]

Lily’s felt her imagination wander momentarily, seeing herself standing atop a dead, scaly green monster with huge teeth and bulging muscles as Roseluck and Golden Harvest looked on in awe and wonder. It was quickly squelched beneath an avalanche of terrible ways to die.

Tulip either saw no need in teasing Lily’s fantasies or simply didn’t care, her mind set on the task at hand. [“Your thestral friend is nearest, on the other side of the road concealed somewhere within a ravine. His weapons are no doubt similarly enchanted as a member of the Dream Guard and will be able to harm the demons. As for the enemy, I haven’t the slightest idea where they are or how many. This worries me”.]

[“Surprises you?”] Lily thought back to the voice. [“Do you know anything about this place? I’ve never seen anything like it before.”] Scanning the skies, where the plumes of smoke thinned nearest the trail, Lily detected no threats before darting quickly over the dirt path and up a ridge covered in tall grass interspersed with more of the burning crystal trees. Visible to the world inside as she was no longer under her cloak, she was nonetheless well camouflaged for forested combat. Strapped to her right leg was a lethal scoped crossbow. Beneath her uniform, the strange red armor chafed uncomfortably. She wondered how Tulip could put up with it.

[“She’s not playing a tactically sound defense,”] Tulip explained as if she were speaking to a classroom of cadets. [“The fact they haven’t launched any sort of counterattack suggests disruption or indecision among their command. As for this location? We’re in the woods of Selenite near Star City. Pretty scenic, huh? Methinks Juniper was feeling nostalgic for her old home. Judging by the nice little fire that’s been set out here, we’re sometime near the end of the Lunar Rebellion when Equestrian Forces got tired of being cut to pieces by thestral counterattacks and starting burning everything down with Celestia’s fire magic to break the thestrals’ will and deprive them of cover. The griffins liked the trick so much they employed it against them as well during the Imperial War. Clever folk, griffins.”] Tulip’s voice grew wistful at the mention of her old foe.

[“That’s terrible! What about all the animals and helpless civilians? What about the all the ruined crops? The thestrals must have been devastated!”] Lily’s eyes grew wet with emotion at the thought of the brutality.

[There is nothing nice about war, Lily Valley, particularly about fighting in the woods. And thestrals fight harder and faster than anypony you will ever face under the shade of their trees. You’re never safe. They appear out of nowhere in small teams with spears and crossbows, launching hit-and-run attacks that kill the careless outright and whittle down larger forces. But the worst comes at night. They can see perfectly in darkness and can outmaneuver a pegasus with ease, even if their lack of stamina means they won’t win many Equestrian 500s.”] Tulip’s voice took a sarcastic tone at the mention of the annual pegasus racing competition.

[“They’re small too, very hard to see in the bush. They also manufacture their own darkness such that their forests are like dusk at all hours of the day. Their people were the first to navigate the entirety of the Everfree and exploit its secrets.”] Tulip went silent for a moment, considering her words. [“As for the unfortunate people and animals who fell, ‘tis a tragedy, but sometimes fire is the only answer.”]

Lily sighed audibly, [“You do make a lot of sense there.”] Cresting the ridge, a tingle in the back of her neck brought her to a halt and she dropped to her belly. Lily had hoped the high ground would offer her perspective on the area, but the smoke from the ground was even worse here. She’d reached a ravine bordered on three sides by a steep slope covered with prickly grass. A small river flowed from a gap in the hilly terrain directly facing her, disappearing off to her right into thick, unmolested woodland. The remnants of several circular, moss-covered, stone-roofed shrines dotted the ruins near the river; a stone bench was visible beneath the wall-less structure. The earth pony supposed they held some sort of religious significance, but she was in no mood to be taking detours. The shoreline was completely scorched, suggesting something had been growing there at one time.

Lily thought of the hungry survivors looking upon the blackened remnants of their crops, a tear running down her cheek.

Tulip gave no indication of such sentimentality as her voice cut back into Lily’s thoughts. [“You were wise to claim the high ground, my scion. Now you must look carefully before you proceed. Your eye is yet unpracticed. When you look out at the open field, your eye is focusing on details in your immediate field of vision. This is how prey views the world, but you are now a huntress and must have the eyes of one!”]

[What do you want me to do?] Lily frowned, wondering how she could possibly ‘see’ an object differently.

[“You see everything in your immediate area in a narrowing cone. You must reverse that funnel. Block out that which is around you and see the forest for each tree. Prey does not immediately make itself known to you like a billboard along the highway; it instead creates a movement that disturbs the natural order of the woods, often only the barest flicker of contradiction: a twitching ear, an involuntary tail flicker that clashes with the surroundings.”] Tulip directed Lily’s eyes in a sweep of the brush, slowly taking in the motion of grass, the direction of the wind through the plumes of smoke, and the brush line beyond the river. [“The cracks between bushes and brush; that is where our enemy dwells. Your job is to see her before she sees you. Do that, and you will live.”]

Lily’s eyes popped as she saw it, three tufts of impossibly white fur off of a thestral’s pointy ear traveling down into the ravine from her left through the prickly grass. Lily looked in closer and saw a thin, leathery wing folded against her side, moving carefully through the long, sharp grass. A long pointy something Lily took to be a spear was attached to her back. The thestral, making no attempt to cross the stream, apparently hadn’t seen the earth pony and kept towards the shoreline, walking directly across her field of view — no doubt hoping the ravine’s walls and tall grass would mask its movements. Lily felt her bow arm raise shakily, but was stopped by Tulip’s voice.

[“Not yet, Lily. If we shoot her now, we will alert our quarry. We follow her from the ridgetop until we reach your friend. Let them commit once we can count on his support… if he’s able to afford it.”]

Lily gulped at the implications of him being unable to help.

[“Let’s go. I can’t get an exact lock on your friend’s position from here. So we must let our enemy do the work for us for now. Once we find him, the land will dictate our strategy for us. You must trust me, Lily,”] Tulip spoke reassuringly.

[“I trust you, Tulip,”] Lily thought back, hoping the warrior wasn’t digging too deeply into her mind to spot the lie.

[“Stay in her blind spot and don’t make noise! Even if she doesn’t see you, she can… sixth sense you. It’s hard to explain, but a pony can just know you’re there, kind of the way you can feel a pony’s eyes on you. The better a warrior you are, the easier it is to do. The Highborne have been hiding here for centuries, and their skill has eroded, but that’s no reason to give the universe an excuse to teach you a brutal lesson!”] Lily mirrored the thestral’s crouching gait, allowing it to stay just ahead and to her left as she made her way across the steep edge of the ravine. [You’re doing okay, but remember to scan your surroundings and breathe! If you don’t breathe you will tunnel your perception, and if you tunnel you will die. That’s it… Perfect. Well done, Lily Valley; methinks there is a warrior’s soul to be discovered in you yet!”]

As Lily progressed, the ravine wall grew steeper, leaving Lily worried that if they reached Chest Candy too soon, Lily wouldn’t be able to intervene. Tulip assured her that even if they couldn’t reach him, he could reach her by flying and be much less likely to shoot her between the eyes with his own crossbow as they stumbled across the ravine below. Lily facehoofed at her lapse in common sense and asked no further questions.

The pale thestral suddenly came to a halt, a mare’s head topped with dark green curly locks of mane that contrasted sharply with her sleek white-coated body peeking out of the grass from behind a large boulder that has dislodged itself from the cliff wall and fallen into the ravine. Reaching for the spear on her back, she gave it a twirl in the air. It had a scarlet ribbon attached to the end of it that rippled in the light breeze.

Lily nearly screamed as the forest came alive before her; she wasn’t sure whether she had restrained it or Tulip had.

Four more figures popped their heads out from the bottom of the ravine, spears gleaming lethally in the pale light. They took up positions behind rocks and fallen logs, facing the opposite end of the ravine. Each was a pale thestral mare with a colorful head of mane. Lily followed their gaze to a clearly pony-made crystal log barricade in the center of a clearing. Chest Candy’s hiding place.

[“Get under cover, quick! They’re traveling in a six-mare search pattern. The aerial scout will be very close,”] Tulip warned.

Lily didn’t need to be told twice. Yanking the sturdy cloth cloak from her back with a tug, she threw it over her head and held completely still. A split second later, a furry white meteor streaked malevolently across the sky with a deadly javelin in both hooves and a crossbow attached to her front-left leg, searching the area for ponies like Lily who might try to mount a defense.

“Dusky!” A terrible mare’s voice singsonged loudly across the clearing. “Now, why do you have to play hard-to-get with us, Dusky?! We just want to get to know you better. And what better way than to get deep inside that warm, dank tailhole of yours and feel you from the inside?!”

[“Okay, listen up, Lily. You see how they’re lined up irregularly across the ravine? They can’t all be in the same place because the ground clutter is dictating where they take cover. You’re going to want to shoot the mare at the rear of their line first so the others don’t see her fall. That will cause all manner of alarm because the attack can be coming from anywhere. Wait for the air guard to reach the far end and we’ll have about seven seconds to get a shot before she circles back around. I’ll guide your hoof when you aim and shoot, but the decision to fire must come from your own heart. Don’t forget to exhale before you fire if you try this yourself one day.”]

Lily cringed slightly as she unfolded a bipod from the bottom of the crossbow and loaded a bolt, which began to glow a fiery red. The rocky crest of the ravine afforded her an opportunity to deliver a steady shot but she would need to come out from stealth to deliver the shot. Heart pounding in her metaphorical chest, given she was only present in spirit, Lily crept forward and braced the bipod against the rocky ledge looking down the pop-out scope which outlined her target with a crossed X.

Celestia, forgive me. Lily thought to herself as she felt Tulip’s spirit begin to control her racing heart, her hoof ceasing to tremble as an unnatural calm washed over her. Bringing the iron sight over the mare’s head, Lily released the firing mechanism.

She never even screamed as the wood and steel bolt tore through the thestral’s head like a poleaxe, her body crumpling to the forest floor before bursting into flames.

Lily felt a twinge of satisfaction that was not her own.

Neither of the thestrals noticed, but Chest Candy surely did. Lily saw his heavily camouflaged form stir inside his makeshift pillbox from her elevated perch, his eyes scanning for where the shot had come before ducking behind her cloak as the lookout made a pass overhead. She felt her mouth fill with bile.

[“Well executed, sister. She didn’t even call out to her comrades. Now we can do the same to the one nearest us. Brace yourself, Lily. We may yet mourn our own deaths should we fail!”]

Lily whimpered slightly as she loaded a second bolt and took up the position she held previously.

“Still feeling shy, big guy? You don’t fear emasculation, do you?” The lead mare, who Lily noted out of the corner of her eyes was positioned in the middle of the line, continued to taunt the entrapped thestral. “Your comrades will never hear you scream. I promise! Hay, after seven-hundred years of service to our goddess you may even come to enjoy it! I might even let you let you rut me with your continued good behavior if you’re found worthy. Our Lady, Morning Star, is ever merciful to her faithful servants. You of all ponies should know, Dusky!”

The leader’s three cohorts laughed as the circling scout dive-bombed the helpless Chesty, sending him ducking for cover, the mares galling laugher intensifying as they saw him dive away.

Slipping back into the zen state brought on by Tulip’s influence, Lily looked down the sight and fired a second bolt. To her shock and horror, the bolt missed as the laughing mare’s head dipped back down at the last heartbreaking moment, the shot splintering against the soft ground with a loud crack. Lily felt her sphincter clench tightly as time slow to a crawl. The thestral she’d been aiming at whirled her head around at the sound of her near-death experience and pointed her crossbow vaguely in that direction. She cried out in alarm as heads started turning from the other three mares in the ravine.

Lily reloaded and loosed a third shot into the thestral whose back was now turned, scoring a shot through the neck. She staggered back, gurgling out of the remains of her throat before collapsing to the ground and exploded into flames. The three survivors panicked, turning to flee as they realized their predicament.

Chest Candy flew out from behind his barricade, shrieking like a bat out of Tartarus with a spear in his hooves, giving the aerial scout his very best war face before thrusting the shaft through a gap in her armor, impaling her clean through. The wounded thestral shrieked like a banshee before plunging into the ravine to her death in a plume of smoke and fire, smote by his enchanted weapon.

[“Don’t stop, Lily. Finish them off! For Equestria!”] Tulip all but shouted, her voice echoing loudly enough inside her head to bring tears to Lily’s eyes.

Grimacing, Lily reloaded and launched a fourth shot that clipped the leader’s wings, sending her veering into a tree with a sickening crunch of shattered vertebrae, engulfed in fire before she could even hit the ground. The others took flight and circled in the air, having recovered from their panic and ready to deal lethal retribution. Spears in hooves, they gave chase to their winged foe.

[“This just got a bit more difficult,”] Tulip chimed in. [“The best you can do is fire where you think they will be and aim for the center of their mass. Pray you should never encounter this situation alone!”] For the first time since Lily had met her, Tulip sounded worried. [“Take heart that at least they haven’t come for us yet. Duck out of sight and reload. The thestral is buying us time!”]

Sure enough, Lily looked up as she reloaded to see Chest Candy was running his foes out, clearly uncertain of his odds in winning a stabbing contest against two other thestrals with a fair amount of training and discipline in them. The earth pony silently thanked the Sisters for her good luck thus far and her friend’s good sense to know that the cavalry had arrived. Loading shot number five, she raised up her weapon and loosed the bolt into the fray, missing completely. Lily’s mind filled with Tulip’s unspeakable curses for the swiftness of her demonic enemy, clearly peeved.

Unable to catch the swift, dark thestral, one of the pale thestrals gave up the chase and drew her crossbow and aimed it at him from a hover.

Even as inexperienced as she was, Lily sensed her opponent had just made a grave mistake. [“Death speed our hooves, Lily! Let’s make this shot count, for his sake!”] Without further prompting, Lily loaded the sixth bolt and took aim. A moment passed before another red streak from her bow penetrated the crossbow-wielding thestral’s belly armor, striking her directly through the heart. Lily noticed a silvery stream she assumed to be the creature’s blood spray out from the wound before she plummeted to the earth with a ghastly shriek. A burst of flame from the earth told Lily she’d put her down for good.

Now out of range of Lily’s crossbow, the final two thestrals dueled each other on equal terms, each circling the other through the trees and smoke in an attempt to lose their foe and gain the element of surprise. Lily called out to him from the ground, trying to lure the last of the six Highborne back into range of her crossbow, but neither could hear her. Dropping back behind the cover of one of the crystal trees the pale thestral changed tactics, unleashing her crossbow on Chest Candy, missing narrowly by mere inches, before speeding off to reload behind cover once more.

She wasn’t fast enough for Chest Candy, however, who closed the gap between them and rushed her hard with his spear drawn in the sight of the largest tree in the area, it’s trunk too wide for the pale thestral to maneuver around without showing her flank. Giving up on her ranged weapon she reached for her spear in a last-ditch effort to run her attacker clean through using his own momentum, but she telegraphed the move by reaching for her spear too soon.

Evading at the last second before colliding, Chest Candy veered hard to the right, pulling up hard out of her line of sight and hurled the spear like a javelin with a loud “hoo-yah!” down through the exposed part of her back. The spear exited through her breastplate, killing her instantly. The final threat bursting into flame below him, they were finally out of danger for now. He turned to see who had been helping him and saw Lily waving at him from the top of the ravine. “Lily Valley? Impossible!” His spear magically re-materialized on his back he flew up to Lily, landing nearby her on the ridge. “Okay Missy, where and how did a civilian learn to shoot like that? You nearly took down an entire squad of Juniper’s thestrals by yourself! Consider yourself up for one of Chesty’s medals either way! You saved me from an eternity as a pincushion for a herd of hermaphroditic harpies! You’re officially awesome in my book!” The stallion gave Lily a one-legged hug tight enough to make her eyes bulge.

After managing to free herself from the thestral’s strong embrace, she stepped away and shook her head. “N-no, you’re wrong. I’m not awesome, and I never will be...” Lily replied sadly, hanging her head in shame. “I’m traveling with Tulip Vale. She is the pony who saved you.”

Chest Candy blanched, looking at Lily as if she’d carried a terrible disease. “You speak for Lady Death’s most lethal assassin? You carry a terrible burden with you, Lily Valley...”

“But one I must accept. She’s a great ancestor of mine who fought in the Great War, and she saved my life… and yours,” Lily reminded him before silently listening to Tulip’s thoughts. “She tells me that Juniper is the one she’s here to collect to answer for her crimes. There’s no reason for you to fear.”

“There is always a reason to fear death, but I don’t suppose we have any choice,” the thestral sighed as he considered his debt of gratitude. “What matters is there’s one less pony to search for before I get the two of you out of here somehow and muster the rest of the Dream Guard to bring Juniper down!”

“I’m not leaving,” Lily stated flatly.

Chest Candy whinnied loudly. “You’re what? Lily this is serious! We got lucky here against just the six of them. If we try to take on all of them we don’t have a chance!”

“Luna knows we’re here.” Lily stopped and listened to Tulip’s voice before continuing. “She’s bringing most of the Night Guard and Celestia with her. It will take them some time to break their way in here, but it’s only a matter of time until help arrives. It turns out Discord’s attack a few days ago weakened the barriers between The Dream and the physical realm. That’s how Tulip Vale was able to infiltrate this place. Once she realized what was happening she tipped off Luna and rushed in here to save me.”

“That’s great!” Chesty thrust a triumphant hoof in the air. “Let’s go find Golden Harvest while we wait for backup. I can’t wait to see the look on Juniper’s face when we break into her throne room with an entire army of Night Guardians!

Now it was Lily’s turn to blanch. “No, we can’t wait here!”

Chest Candy shook his head sympathetically. “Lily, I know you’re worried about Roseluck, but I can’t order an attack against such an overwhelming force, even with Death’s own agent as my ally.”

“We don’t know what Juniper is doing to Roseluck in there! What if she’s being hurt right now? Are you willing to leave her to suffer at the hooves of some perverted old demon lady?” Lily pleaded.

Chest Candy’s ears drooped as he pawed guiltily at the ground. “I feel terrible about this, Lily, believe me. But unless you know something I don’t, the risks are simply too great to launch a frontal assault with two ponies.”

“Four ponies: You, me, Tulip and Golden,” Lily retorted.

“Enough,” Chest Candy stated calmly, tapping the ground with his hoof for emphasis. “Tulip Vale is welcome to join me and the Night Guard when the time arrives, but I’d be neglecting my duty as a deputy by putting the ponies I’ve sworn to protect in harm’s way. We can’t even be sure that if we attack now that Juniper wouldn’t simply kill Roseluck, even if we managed to overcome her followers. It’s a lose/lose situation for all of us.”

Tulip Vale cut into Lily’s thoughts. [“I will speak with him.”]

“Tulip Vale wishes to speak with you through me. Please, hear her out, Chest Candy!”

Chest Candy groaned, rubbing his temples as he hovered in place. “I don’t see how that changes things, but very well.”

Lily’s expression instantly went hard and her voice ice cold as Tulip took over. “If you will not listen to her, you will listen to me,” she warned the Dream Guard thestral, the snap of her words and assassin's gleam in her eyes instantly gaining his undivided attention.

Tulip Vale then proceeded to outline the theory she’d given to Lily earlier about Juniper’s command behaving completely illogically, allowing the three to exist within the dream for many hours while having sent only a token force to deal with them. “I’ve been contemplating what might be disrupting their command and why Juniper might need Roseluck for. If she’s a hostage there are no demands regarding her release. She even called you ‘a distraction’ earlier. I’m sorry, but this isn’t a simple barricade scenario, Chest Candy! Juniper put a lot of effort into capturing Roseluck. So clearly, she needs her for something!”

Chest Candy put a hoof to his chin, considering Tulip’s words before nodding. “It seems we need to think on this a bit more. Do you have a theory as to what exactly Juniper needs her for?”

An idea formed in Tulip’s mind, but Lily could tell it wasn’t quite there yet. Buying herself time, her ancestor decided to keep the Night Guardian talking. “You remember the horror stories that came out of Thestralslovakia after it fell to Equestrian forces?”

Chest Candy shivered. “Yeah. Every thestral does. It wasn’t bad enough all the ponies and thestrals she had killed in her war but she even tortured and killed prisoners for their magical properties. The crazy old bat was obsessed with gaining power through blood magic. She even killed some of her own followers she considered worthy of feeding off of. This is to say nothing of all the ponies she preyed on sexually. Blood and her so-called ‘sex magic’ were all she ever thought about. Celestia help poor Roseluck…”

Lily Valley nodded, continuing to speak with the voice of Tulip Vale. “Blood and Sex; the two obsessions that dominated her life. She wasn’t content with being a talented thestral but also wanted to live forever through magic. In the end, she partially achieved that goal, but at a high price. She’s banished herself from among the living. It’s rumored by some of the surviving Highborne taken into captivity that her goal was to recreate her physical body with the magic of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies following Nightmare Moon’s banishment.”

“And she failed,” Chest Candy replied, matter-of-factly. “She escaped by her own hooves before she could be properly killed, taking her secrets to The Dream with her. Considering how dishonest her followers are, who knows how true it all is?”

“And yet she’s back, and she’s claimed exactly one earth pony…” Tulip replied thoughtfully. “Here is why I think she did it. Because in The Dream she can be whatever she wants, so long as she has the magic to back it up. I’m willing to bet there’s something to those old legends, and history made one crucial mistake.”

“And that was?” Chest Candy asked, his eyebrows raised.

“We assumed she killed herself and her followers to escape judgment for her crimes… What if she escaped to fulfill her wishes? Those mares we killed down in the ravine… they were hermaphrodites. We know such a thing is impossible even with magic in the physical realm. Could this be an expression of her ‘sex magic’? Think about it. Everything she needs to be an alicorn is an expression of magic without the constraints of physical reality, and what is the one thing she lacks? A physical form. What does she need to truly call herself alive?”

Chest Candy swallowed hard as the impact of Tulip’s words set in. “The magic… of life. You think she’s sought out Roseluck to exsanguinate her earth pony magic?”

“It’s a possibility we need to seriously consider, Guardian,” Tulip replied grimly, causing Lily to recoil in horror inside her. “If this is the case, waiting is the very last thing we want to do. With Roseluck’s life magic coursing through her she will be able to rend the veil between dreams and reality and gain the full range of powers afforded to our Princesses. I need not tell you the consequences of that. If she gains this ability, we will lose everything.”

Chest Candy nodded, fixing Lily with a determined stare. “This being the case, you are correct. We dare not wait. I hereby declare the both of you honorary deputies in the service of her Majesty, Luna. We will track down Golden Harvest and take the fight to Juniper. It’s time to end this madness once and for all!”

“For Princess and Province. For Roseluck’s immortal soul!” Tulip proclaimed, the pair turning their eyes to the other end of the ravine where Golden Harvest’s life signature echoed across the Deep.

Author's Note

Thanks go as always to Firesight, SWF, and Denim_Blue. The plot only thickens next chapter as in addition to the sex we get some much-needed backstory regarding Juniper. I've already started work on it.

Enjoy!

5/24/2018 Grammarly edit pass complete.