Spike frowned as he watched Rainbow Dash pace back and forth across the lavishly furnished guest room on the second floor of Town Hall. The crippled pegasus had been wearing an indignant scowl ever since she, Fluttershy, Big Mac, and Spike himself were confined to this admittedly luxurious space several hours ago—and confined was certainly the term Spike would've used.

Two Solar Guards stood vigil just beyond the door to make sure Spike and the others remained right where they were. The Captain had said it was for security purposes, but it was clear to everyone they were being detained so they could be interrogated like some kind of spies or prisoners of war. Spike knew it, Big Mac and Fluttershy knew it, and Rainbow Dash certainly knew it, and wasn't taking it well.

"This is complete and utter horseapples," the pacing pegasus groused, "we've been stuck here for hours, and for what?" She stopped and suddenly rounded on the others, "We didn't do anything wrong!"

Big Mac and Fluttershy, who were both sitting on opposite ends of a rather lengthy sofa, shared a look of weary exasperation. This hadn't been the first outburst from Rainbow Dash—far from it—and, frankly, even Fluttershy was reaching the limits of her patience. Sure, the situation wasn't ideal, but the meeker of the two pegasi in the room had just been happy to be able to return to Ponyville alive and unharmed, though she was worried about where her little ferret companion, Bella, had gone.

The ferret had followed Fluttershy into the forest, but had disappeared sometime during all the chaos. Fluttershy hadn't noticed because of what was going on and hadn't seen her since they left the Everfree Forest. Now she could only hope the little troublemaker made it back to the cottage safely. Trying not to think about it any more than necessary, Fluttershy had initially tried to focus on calming Rainbow Dash down, but gave up after the first few attempts.

Neither Spike nor Big Mac could blame her, as Rainbow could be downright insufferable when she got worked up. Fluttershy had learned a long time ago that when her friend got riled up like this, all she could do was wait until the fuming pegasus burned herself out. To that end, they'd tried to either ignore her while they waited for the Captain of the Solar Guard to return, or when they couldn't, just agree with her furious proclamations instead.

"We got the okay to investigate from the Mayor," Rainbow continued, gesturing a hoof to the door, "we found that creepy alicorn thing, we used the scroll, the Captain captured it. That's it! We did what we were supposed to do, so why are we being treated like dirt?"

Spike let out a long-suffering sigh before finally replying, "Well, for one thing, these Solar Guards are jerks, but beyond that, it's probably my fault—at least partially."

Rainbow's gaze snapped to the baby dragon, her eyes narrowing in suspicion as she replied, "What are you talking about?" Then her eyes widened slightly in realization, "Wait, that's right! You were in cahoots with that thing from before!"

Spike grimaced.

"Hardly," he said with some reluctance, "we did arrive here in this Equestria together, but I didn't exactly know that Twilight before all of this. We met under some really weird and really scary circumstances just before all this madness went down."

Still...

He hadn't said anything about it until now, as he'd been lost in his own thoughts about the situation. But now that he'd had some time to mull it over...

"All that said, after what we all heard, I'm pretty sure things aren't as black and white as you or the Captain made them out to be with her," the baby dragon slowly shook his head, "and that wasn't what I was talking about anyway."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Fluttershy asked, her eyes on Spike but her mind obviously on the twisted alicorn from before.

Rather than Spike, it was Big Mac that answered, his gaze somewhat pitying as he, too, looked at Spike. "He means the fact that he's a dragon in pony territory," he elaborated, "Ah don't much care who or what he is so long he don't do nothing to harm me an' mine, but that ain't the same for the Queen an' her Solar Guard."

"Exactly," Spike nodded, looking slightly guilty, "this isn't my Equestria so I don't know all the details, but just from the little I picked up from what the Captain said when talking about me, I get the feeling dragons aren't exactly welcome in this Equestria, and since you were all seen with me when the Captain found us..."

"That makes us suspicious, even if we had nothing to do with that whole mess back in the forest," Rainbow Dash finished, the fire in her gaze and tone finally subsiding somewhat as the pieces fell into place in her mind. She looked from Spike to Big Mac, conflicting emotions reflected clear in her twisting features for a time before she finally replied in an oddly defensive tone, "l-look, all I'm saying is that this whole thing sucks, alright? I don't really care if he's a dragon or whatever, but he came here with the alicorn thing, right? He said it himself!"

She punctuated her accusation with a hoof jabbed in Spike's direction. Fluttershy, evidently picking up the cause of Rainbow Dash's brief moment of hesitation, frowned at the mare disapprovingly, but didn't say anything about it. Instead, she turned her own pitying gaze toward Spike.

"That's not fair, Rainbow Dash," she said, "if what he and the... the alicorn said is true, then poor Spike was just a victim of circumstance. You can't blame him for a situation outside of his control."

"Yeah, if what they said was true," Rainbow pressed, "but we don't know that for sure yet."

Spike sighed again for what felt like the twentieth time since they'd been "escorted" to the fancy guest room. As the two pegasi argued back and forth, with Fluttershy growing less meek and more irritable, Spike once more looked to the door barring their way out. Rainbow Dash had tried to force it open, but quickly found herself rebuffed by a magical barrier that glowed with a radiant magenta sheen. To be sure, Spike himself had tested the windows and, sure enough, those too were blocked by a barrier.

That, more than anything, was proof that this was a prison, they were all prisoners, and the two Solar Guards outside were their jailers. With nothing to stop his mind from wandering, Spike wondered—not for the first time since he'd recovered from his temporary amnesia—what had happened to his Twilight and Starlight Glimmer. He was certain they'd wound up here in the same timeline, but with the wretched state this Equestria was in, he couldn't help but worry.

Where are you, Twilight?

As if to answer his unspoken question, a distant sound like thunder erupted from somewhere above the room, the tell-tale hum of magic barely audible beneath the rumble. Fluttershy, who'd had just about enough of her friend's attitude was working herself up to say something uncharacteristically scathing when both pegasi snapped their eyes up to the ceiling. Spike and Big Mac did the same, but that was all any of them had to time to do before the entire room shook.

At that same moment, the magenta barrier keeping the entire room sealed shut lit up like a beacon, practically blinding the inhabitants as the whole thing shattered all at once. Blinking the spots out of his eyes, Spike watched in stunned silence as the glass-like pieces of the barrier dispersed, the remnant magic disintegrating into nothingness before the baby dragon's wide eyes.

What... just happened?!

Verdant Vanguard blinked her eyes rapidly as the last of the residual light from the translocation spell faded away. It took a moment for her vision to return, and Vanguard couldn't help but frown at that. Translocation spell scrolls were quite the convenient little enchantment, but, like all early-stage innovations, there was certainly room for improvement.

Still, it got the job done. The Royal Guard Captain found herself and her two subordinates transported from Canterlot directly to the humid and swampy city of New Horseleans—a trip that would've taken days, managed in nearly an instant. With results like that, Vanguard had no problem biting back her complaints. Instead, the forest green unicorn tossed her snow-white mane aside and swept her ochre gaze across the town before her.

New Horseleans was a strange town in Vanguard's opinion. A rural settlement just large enough to be called a city, the entire place was built within a swampland, isolated by both a thick forest and the Appleloosan Mountains to the north. Most of the structures were built on mossy hills or large wooden platforms atop thick stilts. Beyond that, there was a clear liberal usage of treated wood and metal in the design of many of the buildings.

It was an interesting town to say the least, but that was only in that the location chosen to build such a city was rather unique—novel, Vanguard would say. Other than that, though, not much about the city itself really stood out to Verdant Vanguard—not that she was here to do any sightseeing anyway. No, the royal soldier and her underlings, each clad in gleaming golden armor, had come here on business. Looking around, the city wasn't entirely devoid of ponies, but the roads weren't exactly bustling either.

Not that New Horseleans had a large population to begin with compared to larger cities like Manehattan or Canterlot. But even at a glance, Vanguard could see the unease in each of the ponies that did choose to wander the streets. She could practically feel the uncertainty. Taste it even. The Captain found it all entirely too bitter, but that's exactly why she was here. Thanks to the Queen's vastly expanded communications network, the Royal Guard had received a tip from the local mayor of New Horseleans about some strange goings-on close to the city.

Normally, this would have warranted sending out a soldier of a much lower rank and even then, the response wouldn't have been quite so immediate. This time, however, the Queen herself had ordered Captain Vanguard to take two of her best soldiers and head out posthaste. Evidently, something in the report from the sheriff had given her pause, and she wanted to proceed with caution.

So, here she was, standing in the middle of the road, looking completely out of place with her radiant armor, cool gaze, and tall, imposing figure. She and the other two Royal Guards had appeared just outside City Hall, which had, needless to say, caused a stir among the public who hadn't been expecting her sudden arrival. Belatedly, Vanguard realized that some of the unease she was feeling from the citizens might've come from her and not just whatever situation was taking place before her appearance.

Oh come now, I'm not that intimidating, am I?

Verdant Vanguard let a small smile of amusement slip for a brief moment, but quickly schooled her features as she noticed the mayor himself emerge from the rather modest governmental building to greet her. She fully turned to face the approaching stallion, looking the slightly pudgy earth pony over even as he did the same to the Captain. The mayor wasn't much to look at in Vanguard's opinion—a pale amber coat, short-cropped dark brown mane beneath a small black derby, a prominent handlebar mustache and glasses, and a formal white shirt and bowtie beneath a black buttoned up blazer.

While she did find his clear emerald eyes rather striking, Verdant Vanguard was mostly unimpressed, but she didn't let it show as she gave the stallion a businesslike nod and said, "Mayor Evergreen, I presume?"

"The one and only," he replied with a light chuckle and a friendly drawl, "you'll be the one they sent from the capital, then?"

"Just so, Mayor. The communication scroll you sent us spun a rather interesting tale—interesting enough to catch the Queen's attention, it seems."

Mayor Evergreen's lips twitched downward slightly, but he quickly cleared his throat and gave Vanguard a genial, if slightly strained, smile. "Yes, well, it's nice to know our Radiant Sun is looking out for us humble little folk, eh?" At the Captain's raised eyebrow, Evergreen quickly stuttered on ahead, "Wh-What I mean to say is that the Queen has my sincerest thanks for deigning to look into this rather disconcerting matter."

"Right," Vanguard drawled, giving an internal roll of her eyes, "and while we're on the subject of that 'disconcerting matter'..."

"Y- Yes, of course! Please follow me," the flustered mayor nodded rapidly before motioning for the Captain and her subordinates to follow him into City Hall, "it wouldn't do to prattle on out in the open like this. We can speak more in my office."

"After you," Vanguard replied, before turning to her two stoically silent companions and jerking her chin toward the building's entrance.

The trio followed the mayor inside and as they made their way past the receptionist desk and toward the double doors in the back, Vanguard took note of the nearly empty lobby. Looking around, she got a sense that the place had been fairly busy until recently. The receptionist was still present, but the pasty yellow unicorn mare had an expression that made it clear she wanted to be anywhere else than where she was.

She didn't even glance in Evergreen's or Vanguard's direction, instead making a show of filing a set of documents into a nearby drawer. Interestingly enough, the mayor made no attempt to acknowledge the mare either. Rather, he decided to strike up another conversation with the Captain as they passed the front desk.

"So, the Royal Guard, eh?" he began in a carefully casual tone, "I must confess, I expected the Queen to send for the Solar Guard."

The comment could have easily been taken as a slight toward the Royal Guard and the mayor clearly realized this because as soon as the words slipped from his mouth, he flinched and cast a nervous sidelong glance back at the Captain. Vanguard, for her part, was entirely unfazed by the comment and simply tilted her head slightly, a small amused grin crossing her face.

"Disappointed, are we?"

"N-No! Not at all! Quite the opposite, in fact!" the mayor replied, then stopped just before the double doors leading to his private office. He took a step back toward Vanguard and leaned in like he was about to reveal some big secret before stage whispering, "We've ah... heard rumors of the Solar Guard's... exploits, even all the way out here in the sticks, and I have to say, I'd much prefer to work with the 'Old Guard' as it were. Just a personal preference, really."

"I see," Vanguard replied with a knowing nod, "I'll have to be sure and let the Queen know of your... personal preference, then. I'm sure she'll be happy to send more of us in the future."

Mayor Evergreen blanched at the response, but covered his flash of terror with a jovial laugh, like the Captain's words were some kind of jest. "Ah, now there's no need for all that," the mayor replied, trying to backtrack, "let's just... move on to the matter at hoof, shall we?"

"Certainly," Vanguard replied, deciding to let the stallion off the hook for now.

A few moments later, Mayor Evergreen was comfortably seated in the plush chair behind his desk, while Captain Vanguard and her vigilant underlings had chosen to remain standing. Clearing his throat once again, the mayor adopted a serious frown, all nervousness and surface-level geniality gone from his expression as he spoke.

"As I mentioned in the communications scroll, we—that is, myself and the rest of the fine ponies in this city—have reason to believe there's been some kind of disturbance out near Knight's Peak."

Vanguard grimaced, but didn't say anything in response. She'd already known about the disturbance, as she'd read as much in the report. This didn't surprise her, but she could sense the mayor had more to say, and what he said next actually did surprise her.

"Now I know you know all of this, but there's been another development since we contacted you—one I was in the midst of writing to you about when you arrived," the mayor leaned forward over his desk to look Vanguard in the eye, his tone turning grave, "We don't know what caused that disturbance or even what the disturbance was, but we do have it on fairly good authority that whatever caused that disturbance might be on its way here to New Horseleans."

Author's Note

I know New Horseleans sounds stupid, but apparently it's an actual city in Equestria—at least where the IDW comics are concerned.