In The Shadow Of The Storm

Chapters

Easy As Pie
Missing Friends
Survivors
Preparations
The Next Day
Over in a Snap
Darkness Falls
Across the Crystal Mountains
Caring
The Letter
The Third Day

Easy As Pie

Easy as pie.

It was a silly saying and Tempest Shadow knew it. It was something that her mother used to say. The phrase was one of very few things that Tempest had left from her fillyhood, and it annoyed the Storm King by being too "cute." Maybe that was why she kept saying it.

Regardless, it was appropriate. Canterlot had fallen in mere minutes. These pathetic little ponies, who were only interested in parties and making friends, had been completely blindsided by the Storm King's invasion force. They had no patrols, no early warning systems, no defenses set up to protect such an irresistible target as the Friendship Festival. They hadn't even known that Tempest's skiff was there until moments before she made her grand entrance. The ponies were practically begging for someone to attack them, then they had the gall to be surprised when someone did.

Perhaps most unbelievable of all, the four princesses had come out to confront her personally. All four of them! Without any protection at all! Putting the kingdom's entire command structure in harm's way was the greatest tactical blunder they could possibly have made. There was a reason the Storm King was three days behind her, traveling with the bulk of the army while Tempest led the advance force. He wouldn't arrive on the scene until he was sure that Tempest had things well in hoof, and that he would be safe in his new stronghold.

Tempest shook her head. Easy as pie, indeed; the alicorns might as well have served themselves up on a plate for her.

It looked like those three days wouldn't even be needed. There were still pockets of resistance, but nothing significant: Here a half-dozen royal guards stood in formation to fend off a group of storm creatures, there two unicorn mages used magic and trickery to confuse and run from their attackers. The stump of Tempest's broken horn itched as she watched them, but she shoved thoughts of the old injury to the back of her mind, as she did almost every day. Soon she wouldn't have to do that anymore.

Tempest Shadow's ice-green eyes swept the battlefield—though it hardly deserved the name—one more time. Satisfied that things were proceeding even better than planned, and that she was no longer needed here, she returned to her ship to report to the Storm King.

Starlight Glimmer blasted another of the creatures out of her path. Their magic-reflecting shields had caught her by surprise the first time, but luckily the shields were small and it was easy enough to steer her spells around them. Small compared to the monsters holding them, anyway—each shield was still larger than a full-grown pony. Thankfully, it didn't seem like their armor carried the same magic-repelling properties.

"Where did these things come from?" Starlight asked as she galloped through the city streets.

"How should I know?" her companion shouted back, so rattled that she forgot to refer to herself in the third person.

"It was rhetorical." Starlight reached out with her magic and telekinetically threw two more of the things aside, getting herself and Trixie a few feet closer to the gates of Canterlot and, hopefully, escape. She gasped as at least five more dropped from the sky and blocked them in. Starlight grabbed her friend in her magic field and teleported the two of them behind the monsters. They kept running, but it seemed like there were always more.

"I could use some backup here, Trix!" Starlight panted.

"Backup?!" Trixie asked incredulously. She was a showmare, she didn't know any combat spells!

Well, actually, there was that one...

Trixie stumbled to a stop as yet another of the huge creatures blocked their path. This one carried a large staff, and despite her love of magical props, she didn't think she wanted to see what it did.

"Very well," Trixie said to the creature. "Just this once, The Great and Powerful Trixie will grace you with a free show. Watch, and be amazed!"

Trixie powered up her horn and a dark, ominous cloud appeared over the thing's head. A bolt of lightning lashed down from the cloud, striking cleanly with as much power as Trixie could muster.

The thing shook its head and gave an annoyed grunt. It lowered the staff to point at Trixie, who squealed and threw herself to the ground.

"Ugh." Starlight tossed the monster aside like an empty cup and the two ponies started galloping again. "Their helmets have openings for their eyes," she advised Trixie. "Use a flare."

"Um. Right." She gave a sheepish grin.

They had a surprisingly clear run for a while. Perhaps the attackers had decided that these two little unicorns were more trouble than they were worth. Or, and Starlight had to admit that this was more likely, they had simply moved farther into the city while she and Trixie had been going the other way.

"We're almost there!" Trixie shouted.

Canterlot's main gate rose up ahead of them, a sight almost as welcome as the colorful knot of ponies clustered in front of it. Starlight heaved a sigh of relief that her friends were apparently unharmed—or she would have sighed if she hadn't been too busy gasping for air, exhausted from her running fight against the invaders.

As the two unicorns drew closer, Starlight saw why her friends hadn't already fled the city. Two of the things guarded the bridge leading out, massive creatures with enormous magic-reflecting shields. There were only two, though. Just two more and they were home free.

"You take the one on the right," Starlight called back to Trixie.

"Got it."

Applejack's ears perked up at the sound of galloping hooves. She risked glancing away from the looming monsters to see where the noise was coming from, and her eyes widened as she saw two unicorns charging straight toward her, horns aglow.

"Hit the deck!" she shouted, and threw herself down to the ground. The others obeyed without question except for Rainbow Dash, who launched into the air instead.

A bolt of teal magic streaked overhead. One of the creatures held up its shield, but the spell made a 90-degree turn in midair and went straight over it, then turned again, taking the thing full in the face. It dropped bonelessly to the ground, unconscious or perhaps worse.

A second later, a series of three blindingly bright orbs shot past. One went wide, but two flew straight into the opening of the other thing's helmet and burst. The creature roared and dropped its shield to claw feebly at the helmet. It staggered backward, blinded and maddened by the pain, and stepped right off the bridge.

"Hi guys!" Starlight gasped as she galloped past them. "Time to go!"

Trixie was a few steps behind her. Once Applejack and the others picked their jaws up off the ground, they followed.

Starlight and Trixie led them across the bridge, Trixie only stopping briefly to glance over the edge where the one had fallen.

"Yeesh." Whatever Trixie saw down there made her grimace and turn faintly green.

"C'mon," Rainbow Dash shouted at the showpony, "before more of those things show up!" She rocketed forward to make sure there were no nasty surprises waiting on the other side of the gate, and Trixie followed behind her.

Thankfully, either the invading force was too small to chase after escapees, or they just didn't care. Though the airships still loomed ominously in the sky, no more of the things came down to pursue them once they had left Canterlot proper. The group got a short distance away from the city and took cover in a stand of trees.

Starlight Glimmer immediately fell to the ground, her sides heaving and her coat lathered in sweat. Trixie wasn't in much better shape. The others were panting for breath, but they hadn't had as long of a run out of the city and they hadn't had to fight along the way, so they weren't in nearly as rough of shape as she and Trixie were.

Despite her exhaustion, Starlight forced her eyes open and took stock of the situation. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had taken up positions around the group, keeping an eye out for any more of the monsters they'd escaped from. Fluttershy was nervously hovering around the two collapsed mares to see if she could help them. Her front hooves were covering her mouth, and she was whispering a barely-audible mantra of ohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodness. Pinkie Pie simply looked lost, like she couldn't quite make sense of what was happening. Spike clung quietly to Rarity's back, unusually glum for being so close to the object of his young affections. And Twilight... where was Twilight?

Oh no.

Starlight could barely muster a whisper, so she directed her question to the only pony close enough to hear. "Where's... Twilight?" she panted.

Fluttershy gasped. Her eyes filled with tears and she looked away, then slowly shook her head.

Starlight's heart plummeted and her stomach sank into the ground. Though she had a horrible, gnawing feeling that she didn't want to hear the answer, she needed to know. She took a deeper breath.

"Where's Twilight?" she asked aloud.

A sudden hush fell over the group, with the friends looking uncomfortably at each other, and at Spike, who was still curled up miserably on Rarity's back.

"Please," Starlight gasped, her voice tinged with desperation, "tell me what happened to her."

Applejack turned toward her with eyes downcast. "They took 'er."

Spike wailed when Applejack said that, but Starlight's heart soared to hear the word took, and not killed. Then her throat tightened up again as she wondered what they were doing to Twilight right now. She placed one forehoof on the ground and began to push herself up.

"What are we... doing out here then?" Starlight asked, still unable to catch her breath. "We gotta..." her exhausted legs collapsed again, unable to even bear her weight now that the adrenaline rush was fading. "We gotta help her."

"Hold yer horses Starlight, it ain't that simple." Applejack sounded sympathetic, and she even put a hoof on Starlight's shoulder, but when Starlight tried again to move she found that the earth pony was holding her gently but firmly in place.

"What do you mean?" Starlight was too tired to even fight back. "They have our friend, and we need to get her back. How complicated is that?"

Rainbow Dash dropped down beside them. "It's not just Twilight," she said grimly. "They got all four of them."

"All four of—" Starlight started to ask, and then her eyes widened as it clicked. "All four of the princesses?"

"What?" Trixie gasped from the ground next to Starlight. "How?!"

"Seriously," Starlight agreed. There had been too many of the creatures to handle on her own, but they were slow, clumsy brutes. She'd been tearing through them easily enough, and she was just one unicorn. "How did four alicorns lose to those things?"

"It wasn't just those monsters," Rainbow Dash said, "there was this crazy-tough unicorn with them. I mean, I think she was a unicorn, but her horn was broken off. What do you call a unicorn with no horn?" she wondered.

"A unicorn!" Rarity snapped.

A broken horn? Starlight flinched involuntarily from the image. That was a horrific injury, one that would cause any unicorn to shudder in sympathy, but it wasn't the important part right now. Even with a working horn, one unicorn beating four alicorns should have been all but impossible. Starlight herself was just about an even match for Twilight one on one—a bit more than a match if she were being honest, but not by all that much—and she was one of the most skilled magicians in Equestria.

"Okay," Starlight said, "in that case, how did four alicorns lose to a single unicorn?"

"She had these smoke bomb things," Rainbow Dash explained. "I don't know what they were, but they punched through the princesses' magic like it was nothing. They were full of this green gas that turned Twilight and the others to stone, and then those monsters carried them away!"

Spike let out another heartbroken cry, prompting Rarity to nuzzle him and murmur reassuringly. On any other day that would have been enough to reduce the young dragon to a puddle of lovesick purple mush, but right now he hardly seemed to notice.

Starlight thought she might cry herself, or maybe be sick right here on the forest floor. Not only Twilight, but Cadance, Luna, and even Celestia, turned to stone by unknown magic and captured by unknown invaders. It was not an exaggeration to say that Equestria itself was in danger. Still, that seemed somehow insignificant next to the fact that her friend and mentor was in trouble, while Starlight was resting in the woods like she was on a camping trip! She had apparently recovered just enough of her breath to choke out a sob.

"Hey." A powder-blue hoof clapped her on the shoulder. It was at an awkward angle since both ponies were lying on the ground, but appreciated nonetheless. "Twilight will be fine."

Starlight turned over to look at Trixie, slightly surprised to hear those words of comfort coming from her. Trixie was one of her first and best friends but, well, she wasn't always the most thoughtful pony in Equestria.

"After all," Trixie continued, "any pony who could defeat The Great and Powerful Trixie—though only on a technicality, mind you, and she did cheat—could never be harmed by those invaders!"

There it was.

"Well," Applejack interrupted, "doesn't look like anyone followed us. We'd best get a move on. We'll have ta hoof it to the nearest town and catch a ride to Ponyville from there. You two okay to keep going?" she asked Starlight and Trixie.

Starlight groaned, but forced her hooves underneath her and stood. Her legs ached terribly and felt about ten times heavier than they should, but at least they supported her now. Trixie made a similar effort, only to swoon dramatically and fall back to the ground, demanding that they let her rest a bit longer.

"Look," Rainbow Dash said to her, "you can suck it up and come with us, or you can wait for those monsters to come find you. Your call."

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy scolded her friend, then flew to Trixie's side and offered a hoof. "Come on," she said gently. "You must be exhausted, but we can take it slowly."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Trixie's fine," she protested. "She travels all over Equestria, on hoof, dragging a wagon around. A little running won't kill her."

While Fluttershy offered the help that Rainbow Dash insisted wasn't needed, Applejack turned to the last member of their party, the uncharacteristically silent Pinkie Pie.

"Hey," she said quietly to the other earth pony, "how ya holdin' up?"

Pinkie slowly turned her head to reveal downcast, watery blue eyes. She stared intently at a leaf a few inches in front of Applejack's front right hoof.

"It was supposed to be a party," Pinkie mumbled with a sniffle. She messily wiped her eyes and nose on a foreleg. "It was supposed to be the biggest, bestest party ever. Twilight and I thought we had it all figured out, but even I didn't think to plan for giant monsters and... and stone friends!"

"We'll get her back, Pinkie," Applejack swore. "You know we ain't giving up on Twilight, or any o' the others fer that matter. I promise."

"Do you..." Pinkie sniffed again and managed a hopeful smile, "do you Pinkie Promise?"

Applejack nodded. "I do. I Pinkie Promise that we're gonna save Twilight and everypony else." Somehow.

"Hooray!" Pinkie perked up immediately, her tears suddenly gone as if they'd never existed. "Then what are we waiting for?"

"Trixie, mostly," Rainbow Dash grumbled, then yelped as the showmare bumped her roughly.

"Whoops, sorry," Trixie said, completely without remorse. "I must be more tired than I thought."

"Come on, Trixie," Fluttershy encouraged her, offering a shoulder to lean on, "we'll get there."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but didn't press the issue any farther.

It was an exhausted and saddened group that trekked away from Canterlot, silent except for the occasional bickering between Rainbow Dash and Trixie. Strangely enough, Starlight was almost grateful for it. Their arguing, plus her own fatigue, was keeping her from thinking too hard. Her thoughts, and the anxiety and sadness that would surely come with them, were a luxury she couldn't afford. There would be time to think later; right now, until they were all safely away from Canterlot, she just needed to do.

"Oh, for—" the Storm King's voice, slightly muffled by the magic that let them communicate over great distances, sounded very annoyed. "Stupid spell phones, I'll never get the hang of—where is she?"

The Storm King's backside was clearly visible through a cloud of blue smoke, and it was a good thing that he was facing the wrong way or he would have caught Tempest Shadow rolling her eyes. The smoke was rising from a bowl, inside of which was the potion that created this magical link. It was pretty new magical tech, but still, how hard could it be to face forward and talk?

"Over here," Tempest said.

"Over where?" The Storm King asked, looking from side to side in all the wrong directions. "Where's 'here?'"

"Here," Tempest repeated. "Behind you."

"Behind... oh, there you are." He was finally looking the right way, and he locked eyes with Tempest. "Okay. What've you got?"

Tempest Shadow chuckled darkly. "I've got Canterlot, and four little pony princesses."

"Really?"

Tempest nodded.

Wow, that was fast!" The Storm King exclaimed. He sounded genuinely surprised, perhaps even a little impressed. "That might be a new record for you." He rubbed his clawed hands together greedily. "So the whole city's mine already."

Tempest silently snorted at the word mine, but inclined her head toward her liege. "We're still sweeping up the last bits of resistance, but yes, the city is yours. And more importantly, so is the princesses' magic. Once you arrive here you'll have all the power you ever dreamed of."

"Yeah, well, I'd better," he growled back. He hefted a staff, a gnarled piece of wood set with a bright blue crystal at the top. "Because right now all I've got is an oversized toothpick!" He'd been harping on about that damned staff ever since she'd told him what it was, what it could do.

"The Staff of Sacanas will drain the alicorns' magic as I promised," Tempest reassured him for the dozenth time. "And then, I trust, you will keep your promise?" A small spark of magic zipped out from the broken remnants of her horn.

"Yeah yeah, I got it," the Storm King waved one of his massive claws dismissively. "Don't worry, you'll get your precious little spell shooter back."

Tempest Shadow supposed that jab about her horn should have annoyed her, perhaps even angered her, but it didn't. She was beyond being hurt by mere words, especially words that came from a callous idiot like the Storm King.

"Anything else?" that same callous idiot demanded.

"No," Tempest replied. "We'll finish cleaning up the defenders and have everything ready for your arrival." The corner of her mouth tightened as she held back a smile. "Easy as pie."

"Blugh! Gag me." The Storm King's long purple tongue lolled out of his mouth in disgust. He pointed sharply toward Tempest. "I'll be there in three days, and I don't want to hear a damned thing about pie when I land." He angrily waved a claw through the smoke to cut off the connection, though a faint, "I hate pie!" still came through.

Once she was sure that the Storm King was gone, Tempest allowed herself a small chuckle. It had been a glorious day, even if she'd had to spend a few minutes of it dealing with that fool. The Storm King would have his magic, and no doubt he'd have the whole world soon enough after that. He was welcome to it, as far as Tempest Shadow was concerned. All that mattered was that she would soon have what she wanted. Everything was coming together.

Easy as pie.

Missing Friends

While the Friendship Express was the preferred way to travel from Ponyville to Canterlot and vice-versa, it was possible to walk it if one kept up a brisk trot. A group of healthy, fed, and well-rested ponies could make the trip within a day. The group fleeing Canterlot was none of those things, and walking back to Ponyville was out of the question. They had decided instead that they would fly down the mountain, which would be significantly faster than having to walk the paths, and then they'd follow the train tracks to the nearest town.

"Are you sure you're up for this, darling?" Rarity asked Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was sprawled out on the ground, gasping for air and painfully twitching her wings to try to loosen them up. Fluttershy and Starlight Glimmer were able to fly by themselves, but Rainbow Dash had needed to carry the others. She'd already made three trips to take down Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Trixie. Athletic though she was, Dash was reaching her limit.

"I'd... better be," Rainbow Dash panted. "Not gonna... leave you here... for those monsters." She got her hooves under her and groaned as she struggled to rise. "C'mon, Dash," she muttered to herself, "you've had training sessions that were harder than this."

"Perhaps I can help," Rarity offered. Her horn lit up, and a bright blue glow engulfed Spike and Rainbow. "I don't know how to make myself fly like Starlight does," she explained, "but I can at least carry you and Spike. It should make the trip quite a bit easier."

Rainbow Dash tried taking a couple of steps. With her body held up by Rarity's telekinesis she was as good as weightless, and even her exhausted muscles could move her easily.

"Hey, yeah, that's way better!" she exclaimed. "Good idea, Rares. Alright." She shook herself like a dog, spraying out sweat and causing Rarity to cringe as a few drops struck nearby. "Come on, let's do this."

Rainbow Dash hooked her forelegs underneath Rarity's and strained to pull her into the air. She was only carrying one pony's weight right now, but even that was a strain for her tired wings. Rarity shuddered as Rainbow Dash's sweat dripped down onto her, but she didn't complain.

Even with Rarity's help, Rainbow had to travel down the side of the mountain by gliding moreso than flying. She used every updraft to her advantage and exerted herself as little as possible. It still took only a fraction of the time that walking the whole way would have needed, but it was almost maddening when what she really wanted to do was fly at top speed back to Canterlot and deck Tempest Shadow in the snout.

There's nothing you can do for Twilight right now, she firmly told herself. It stung, but it was the truth. Your other friends are counting on you.

After what felt like far too long, she gently placed Rarity's hooves on solid ground beside the railroad tracks and touched down next to her. Her legs nearly buckled when Rarity released her magic and Rainbow's own weight came crashing back down on her, but she locked her knees and put on a tough face.

"You holdin' up, Dash?" Applejack asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded. She was tired, angry, scared, sad, and almost painfully thirsty. She felt completely wrung-out, but she could keep going.

"Alright then." Applejack looked down the tracks, squinting into the distance. "I know there's a village near here somewhere," she said, "we pass it on the way ta Canterlot."

"Yup!" Pinkie Pie confirmed. "Riverbend, about five miles thataway." She pointed slightly east of where the tracks disappeared from sight.

"Wait," Trixie interrupted, "you know that little one-horse town? What's even there?" Trixie vaguely knew that there was a village there, if only because the trains occasionally stopped on their way to more important places, but it wasn't even large enough to be worth stopping for a show. That meant, of course, that she had been completely uninterested in it.

"Well, no horses. I'm not sure where you got that from," Pinkie answered. "There are thirty-two ponies though—oh! Unless Dahlia had her baby, then it's thirty-three!" she said with an excited squeal. "They've also got a cozy little inn, and the best wheat this side of Canterlot. Come on!" She began skipping happily south, singing a song as she went. "Just around the riverbend..."

"Wheat. Of course." Trixie deadpanned. She followed at a more sedate pace.

"She's a baker," Starlight reasoned. She was hovering in the grip of her magic, unable to decide whether her horn or her hooves hurt more right then. "If this town has high quality wheat for flour, it makes sense that she'd be familiar with it."

"No, that's just Pinkie Pie," Rarity said, walking beside the two. "I've no doubt that she knows the names, birthdays, and preferred frosting flavors of every pony in Riverbend, including that newborn foal."

"I sure do," Pinkie announced, somehow appearing beside them even though she'd been a fair distance ahead. "Wanna hear?"

"No," Trixie answered. Pinkie, however, had begun her recitation and didn't hear.

Pinkie's prattling—and the complaints about it—had kept their spirits up for a time, but even she couldn't hold off the gloom forever. It settled on them as heavily as the dirt and dust of travelling, which even Rarity had given up trying to shield herself from. It was a quiet, exhausted, and filthy group that finally trudged into Riverbend.

As Trixie had said, Riverbend was a tiny village, smaller even than Ponyville. It was too small to appear on most maps, and was significant only as the last stop before Canterlot—and, apparently, as a producer of wheat. A dirt road led to what passed for the town square, marked only by a large tree that provided some very welcome shade. Buildings were few and far between. Some appeared to be homes, while others had painted signs advertising services: Horseshoe repair, general store, and the like. None were more than a single story. In fact, the tallest building in sight was a grain silo in the distance, standing among a golden field of wheat.

"Oh my goodness, what happened to you all?" A mare with a burnt-orange coat, a sunflower cutie mark, and a very concerned expression approached them.

The friends all shared a look, nopony quite wanting to be the one to answer. Finally Fluttershy, who was in somewhat better condition than the others, took it upon herself to step forward.

"Um, it's kind of a long story," she said. "We, uh..." she trailed off, not wanting to relive what had happened that day. "We don't really want to talk about it right now. If you don't mind."

"Oh, of course! I am so sorry," the mare replied. "You look just exhausted, you poor things. I'm Bright Petal, by the way. Were you looking for the inn?"

"I'm Fluttershy. And, um?" She glanced back toward the others.

Applejack shook her head and stepped forward. "Pleased ta meet ya, Miss Petal. I'm Applejack, and what we need right now is the train, if it's still runnin'."

"The train's not due back here for hours," Bright Petal answered, to a chorus of groans and muttering. "And what do you mean, 'if it's still running?' Is it something to do with... that?" Her voice dropped to a whisper and she nodded up toward Canterlot. The airships and the smoke pouring out of them were visible from this distance. "Some ponies are saying that those are just visitors for the Friendship Festival, but plenty more of us don't like the look of 'em."

An awkward silence was the only answer she got until Rarity found her voice.

"They're definitely not there for the festival," she said.

"Alright everypony, we gotta figure this out," Applejack said, waving her hoof for the others to huddle up. "Now, Miss Petal here says the train ain't comin' for hours. So do we wait, or do we try ta hoof it?"

The others glanced at each other. Each of them wanted to argue for staying there to wait for the train, but nopony wanted to be the one to suggest a delay when things were so dire.

Well, almost nopony.

"Walk from here to Ponyville?" Trixie exclaimed. "After we just ran all the way from Canterlot? No thank you. You ponies do whatever you want, but Trixie shall wait for the train." She sat down with a finality that suggested a herd of yaks would have trouble convincing her to move.

"I never thought I'd say this, but Trixie's right," Rainbow said. "With the shape we're in, it would probably take us longer to walk home than if we just stay until the train gets here."

"Not to mention that we'd be too tired to do anything once we got there," Rarity added. "Far better for us to rest and recover our strength." The others all voiced their agreement that a bath, a meal, and a few hours to recuperate sounded wonderful.

"Oh, alright then," Applejack conceded. "Hate ta admit it, but y'all're probably right." She turned her attention back to Bright Petal, who was practically vibrating with the effort of holding in her questions. "I guess we'll take ya up on those directions after all. And ya might as well come out with it before ya pop."

"What'sgoingoninCanterlot?" Bright Petal nearly shouted, then clapped her hooves over her mouth. "I'm sorry," she continued more quietly, "but a few ponies from Riverbend were up there for the festival too. If something happened..."

Starlight Glimmer sighed. "It's not good news," she warned the mare. "But I'll explain on the way."

The inn that Bright Petal guided them to was called the Wooden Spoon. The large, disheveled group attracted a fair amount of attention on the way there, but Bright Petal fended off the curious townsfolk and promised to explain everything later.

The Wooden Spoon was by no means equipped to accommodate seven ponies and a baby dragon all at once, but the innkeeper was making a valiant effort regardless. The owner of the inn, a middle-aged stallion who also happened to be named Wooden Spoon, had ordered that stew and bread be prepared for his guests, and that a steady supply of soap and towels be brought to the two guest rooms for baths.

Starlight exhaled and let herself sink deeper into the deliciously hot water. She and Trixie had been allowed to go first, supposedly because they'd had to run the farthest getting away, though Starlight suspected it was really because the others were more interested in food than in bathing.

It suited her fine, anyway. She savored the feeling as her overworked muscles finally loosened up in the soothing heat. Even her horn felt more relaxed, though she was well aware that didn't make sense. So much had gone so horribly wrong today, would it really be so bad to let herself enjoy this for just a moment longer?

"So, what do we do now?" Trixie asked. They'd discovered that the walls between the rooms were thin enough that they could talk through them pretty easily.

Starlight reluctantly brought her mind back to the present and all of its problems. "I don't know, Trix," she said quietly, sadly.

"What?" Trixie called back. "I can't hear you."

"I said I don't know!" Starlight shouted. Couldn't that pony think for herself for once? "I don't know how we're going to take back Canterlot, I don't know how we're going to reverse the stone spell, and I don't know how we're going to save Twilight! I. Don't. Know!" She slammed a hoof down angrily, succeeding only in splashing dirty water into her face.

There was silence, then a subdued, "Wow. Okay," from the other side of the wall.

Starlight took a shuddering breath and forced herself to calm down. Somehow this bath didn't feel as wonderfully relaxing as it had a minute ago, which was just as well. She needed to wash up and let the others have their turns before the train arrived. Starlight quickly rubbed shampoo into her mane and soap into her coat, rinsed it out, and then pulled the plug out of the drain.

She exited the guest room a few minutes later, rubbing her mane with a towel and thinking ruefully that she didn't have a comb with her, and almost walked straight into Trixie who was doing much the same.

"Sorry I snapped at you," Starlight said. "I—agh!" Her apology was cut short as Trixie unexpectedly threw both forelegs around her and pulled her in tight.

"Apology accepted, my great and powerful friend," Trixie said. "You've had a really bad day." Why else would you lose your temper with someone as wonderful as Trixie? She kept that part to herself.

Starlight, not normally one for hugs, allowed it just this once. She had had a really bad day, and Trixie was one of the few ponies whom Starlight would let get away with such displays of affection, and she really needed it. She leaned into the soft, soothing warmth, not so different from the bath she'd just left but somehow more comforting. A few seconds later she had to bend a leg awkwardly to tap her friend on the shoulder.

"Uh, Trixie?" Her voice was muffled by the blue fur it was pressed into. "Can't breathe."

Trixie finally let go, allowing Starlight to gasp in a breath. The two then walked side by side past the only other door in the building which, judging from the delicious smell of fresh bread, led to the kitchen, and into the common area.

It was a cozy room, if Starlight were feeling generous enough to call it that, but well cared for. The room was about the size of one of the houses in Our Town, made entirely of wood, and polished until it shone. There were two windows set in the wall to either side of the front door with their curtains drawn, which was a little unusual at this time of day. There were only two tables in the common area, plus a bar that was about the length of two ponies from nose to tail. This place was clearly not designed for large groups.

The two tables were round, and had been pushed together to make enough space for the whole group to sit around them. Starlight's friends were eating a late lunch—perhaps by this point it was an early dinner. Two mares and a stallion sat at the bar sipping drinks and carefully not staring at the newcomers. No one else was there.

Rarity looked up and brightened upon seeing the two of them.

"Oh, thank heavens," she said as she stood up from the table. "If I don't get this dirt out of my fur in the next two minutes I am going to scream." She trotted off

Fluttershy looked around the table and, since everyone else there seemed more concerned with shoveling stew into their mouths, she excused herself more politely to take advantage of the other bath. Starlight and Trixie slid into the two newly vacant spots, levitated over clean bowls and spoons, and helped themselves to large portions of the lentil stew and flatbread in the center of the table.

Trixie took a large chomp of bread, which was still warm from the oven. "So," she said around the soggy mouthful, "what did we miss?"

"The first two pots of stew, for one thing." Pinkie Pie answered. "Well, two things."

Starlight was pleased to see that even Spike was eating heartily. "I didn't know you liked lentil stew," she said to him as she dipped a piece of bread into hers.

"I don't," he muttered before sticking another spoonful into his mouth.

"Oh. Uh." Starlight wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"He's keeping his strength up so he can help us thrash those things—" Rainbow Dash pounded one forehoof into the other—"and save Twilight!"

"Yeah," Spike growled in a surprisingly deep tone, "what she said."

Starlight had to blink and look at her young friend with fresh eyes. He was sounding less like a foal who'd lost his mother and more like... well, like a dragon. An angry dragon. She coated a piece of flatbread in the stew and crammed it into her mouth to cover the sudden, awkward silence.

"Oh! Wow, that is really good," Starlight said once she'd managed to swallow the too-large bite.

"Yup!" Pinkie chirped. "Riverbend flour, you can't beat it!"

Starlight savored another mouthful. She was starving, and the simple, hot food tasted as good as a Canterlot banquet, but she wasn't able to enjoy it for long. Her powerful mind quickly turned to their current situation. What was their next move?

We'll have to make sure Ponyville—no, all of Equestria—is ready for these invaders. This could be an all-out war, she thought. Her chest tightened as the anxiety took hold. We'll need a base of operations. Where should we go? The Castle of Friendship is by far the strongest building in Ponyville, not to mention the most important, considering all of the artifacts inside. But it's also the most obvious target, and there's no way we could hold off a force like the one that attacked Canterlot. Maybe we could get the dangerous stuff out and take it somewhere more hidden. Maud's cave? No, I can't put her in danger. The Tree of Harmony? Wait, the Elements! What if we—no, they can't use the Elements without Twilight. Oh gosh, Twilight...

"Starlight?"

Trixie's concerned voice snapped Starlight back to the present. She'd been spiraling. She could barely even manage to be embarrassed about getting caught staring into her stew as though trying to use it as a scrying pool.

"Hey, if you're not going to eat that, Trixie will."

A light pink aura covered Starlight's bowl and started moving it slowly, teasingly away from her. Starlight gave a good-natured swat at the magical field and snatched her food back. She quickly crammed a spoonful into her mouth before Trixie tried anything else, but the stew that had tasted so good a minute ago seemed to turn to ash on her tongue.

"Chin up, sugarcube," Applejack said softly. "We're worried about Twilight too, but we'll get through this. We always do."

"Yeah." Starlight swallowed her food and put on a brave face. "Yeah, we do."

"Besides," Rainbow Dash added, "nopony's going anywhere until the train gets here anyway. We might as well enjoy the food." The pegasus suited her actions to her words by taking another heaping bowl of stew.

"Good point," Starlight answered. "Thanks, everyone." She dug back into her meal and tried to enjoy it.

She really did try.

Survivors

Tempest Shadow strode through the streets of Canterlot. Her cold, keen eyes moved constantly, keeping watch for any danger. The city was thoroughly defeated and her soldiers had total control, but she couldn't drop her guard. Not yet. Not ever.

Grubber, the stunted storm creature who liked to tag along with her for some reason, pattered beside her. It was a quick pace for his tiny legs, but he didn't let that stop him from taking large, noisy bites out of a brightly-frosted slice of cake as he went. The wet smacking sounds of Grubber stuffing his face finally got under Tempest's skin, and she glared down at the runt.

"Stop eating," she commanded. "We're here on a mission."

"Aww, c'mon Tempest, we've already got the city!" Grubber protested. "Shouldn't we celebrate? You know the Storm King's just gonna make us throw all this stuff out anyway. He hates sweets." He looked forlornly at the half-slice of cake still clutched in his claw, then brightened as an idea struck him. He held it out toward the imposing figure in front of him. "D'you want some?"

Tempest snorted in disdain. Then, after a quick look around, she slipped one hoof out of its shoe and dabbed it into the frosting, getting a tiny amount on the edge of it. She licked off the frosting and had her shoe back on in under a second. Tempest rolled the frosting around in her mouth as though tasting a fine wine, but gave no reaction whatsoever to the sweet flavor. She simply jerked her head and said, "Let's go."

However, to Grubber's delight, she didn't repeat her order to get rid of the cake. He had the sweet treat halfway to his mouth when he spotted something moving in an alley behind Tempest Shadow's right flank. His eyes and mouth flew open as he pointed with a shaky claw.

"Tempest!" he shouted.

Tempest whirled around just in time to see a brown, muscular earth pony leap out from the shadows. A royal guard, judging by the lance he carried, though he'd apparently ditched his armor in order to keep quiet. He charged at a full gallop, lance lowered to skewer her. Seeing that he'd been spotted, the guard threw caution to the winds and let loose a fierce cry of, "For Equestria!"

Tempest watched him coolly until the point was within inches of her throat, then ducked and slid smoothly underneath it. She took a half-step forward and used the momentum to throw an uppercut. The guard, unable to stop in time, ran straight into her strike and staggered backward. His lance clattered to the ground and his eyes refused to focus. While he was dazed from the impact, Tempest spun around and kicked her hind leg hard into his unarmored chest.

Bones snapped underneath her steel-shod hoof, and the guard flew backward into a building with enough force to crack the wooden wall. He coughed wetly and red fluid bubbled on his lips; his lungs were filling with blood. He was as good as dead already.

A pair of storm creatures descended on the guard to finish the job and Tempest looked away—not out of disgust, but simply because the pony no longer mattered. "Come on," she said again to Grubber.

Grubber stared strangely at the two creatures savaging what was left of the guard. Perhaps the stunted storm beast wished to join them? Whatever his thoughts were, after a long moment he instead shoved what was left of the cake into his mouth and hurried after Tempest Shadow.

"D'you think there are more of them?" Grubber panted. He was already out of breath from the short run he'd taken to catch up, and was looking nervously into every shadow.

"A few, probably," Tempest answered without concern. "In a city this size, a few ponies are bound to slip through the cracks."

Her army's usual method was to strike quickly and with overwhelming force, like lightning from a clear sky. They would kill any who resisted and capture the rest. They were brutally effective, but their hasty attacks did tend to leave openings that a few clever or lucky creatures could escape through. Not enough to matter.

"We're here!" Grubber said proudly.

"Yes. I can see that." The enormous, opulent palace in front of them made the announcement totally unnecessary. "Is the palace secure?"

"Yup. Storm guards crawling over every inch of it."

"And no secret passages to hide in? No magical traps?"

"Uh..." Grubber started to sweat a little. "We didn't find any?"

Tempest snorted. She didn't have much faith in their powers of observation, but it would have to do. There wasn't much that could threaten her with so many of her troops around, short of blowing up the entire palace with her inside. She doubted these fluffy, friendship-spouting ponies would go that far, especially with their own princesses in there too.

"And the preparations for the ritual?"

"One princess at each point of the compass, just like you said." Grubber sounded happy to be able to give some solid information. "We just need you to draw the, uh. The thingy."

"The array."

"Yeah, that thingy."

Tempest rolled her eyes at her dimwitted companion. "Just take me there."

"Wait, I don't know where it is," Grubber protested, "I just told the other guys what to do. Don't you know your way around? I mean, you're a pony."

Tempest looked down at him from the corner of her eye. "I was a commoner. I didn't get to play in the castle. Get me someone who knows the way."

"R—right! Right away!" Grubber scurried off.

Tempest gazed up at the ridiculous building in front of her. The maps all called it Canterlot Castle, but it was nothing of the sort. A castle should be the last line of defense for the ponies of Canterlot. There should have been a keep with a wall, armed with catapults or ballistae and manned by guards. A castle should be a safe place where the citizens could flee in case of an attack, and an imposing structure that would make enemies think twice about attacking. Instead, there was only an opulent pleasure palace, and not even the storm soldiers on patrol could make it look threatening. Tempest Shadow scoffed.

I'm doing these ponies a favor by conquering them, she thought dryly. Even the Storm King's slaves were better protected than Celestia's subjects.

She heard the heavy, stomping footsteps of one of the guards and looked over. The creature was approaching her with a mare held in one giant claw. Grubber scurried along behind it. When the thing got close enough it roughly tossed its captive at Tempest's hooves, grunted, and started stumping back toward its post.

The mare had a yellow coat with a white and pale purple striped mane. She was dressed in fine clothes, and what Tempest could see of her face had a heavy coat of makeup on it. Maybe it had looked nice once, but it was now streaked and running and did little to hide the large bruise on one side of her face. She was lying on the ground with her face buried in her forehooves, shaking and crying. Tempest studied the terrified pony through half-closed eyes.

"Can you take me to the throne room?" she asked.

To her credit, the pony managed to raise her head and glare at Tempest Shadow. "N... no!" If her clothing hadn't given her away as a member of the Canterlot upper class, her posh accent and haughty attitude surely would have. "What more could you awful creatures want? I won't help—aaaaggggghh!"

The mare shrieked in pain as Tempest shocked her with a burst of barely-controlled magic from her broken horn.

"I only asked if you can," Tempest said coldly, "not if you want to. Now get up."

Perhaps afraid of being blasted again, the pony tried to stand. Her legs were shaky, but she managed it after a moment. Her eyes drifted, as everyone's did, up toward the stump of Tempest's horn. A loud spark from the tip of it was enough to send her back to cringing.

"The... the throne room," she panted. "Of course. I'll take you there right away, ma'am."

"Good girl," Tempest hummed.

"My name is Upper Crust," she said tentatively.

Of course it is. Tempest's face remained a mask, just slightly less expressive than the helmet framing it, but internally she was rolling her eyes.

"I don't care. Start walking."

Seven ponies and a baby dragon stood on the platform at the Riverbend train station, watching the Friendship Express slow to a stop in front of them. They were still an exhausted, frightened, heartbroken, and angry group, but after a bath and a hearty meal they felt more ready to face the challenge they'd been given. In fact, they were deep in discussion about how to do just that, and had been for quite some time.

"I still think that the castle is too obvious a target," Starlight Glimmer was saying. "You all saw how quickly they showed up and attacked. If they hit Twilight's castle like that, they could trap us all inside."

"But the castle is a symbol," Rarity argued. "We're Twilight's closest friends, so ponies may come to us for help. With Canterlot Castle taken, they'll need something else to rally around, to know that everything will be okay."

"The Tree is a symbol too," Starlight said. "It's, like, the symbol of Harmony, and we'd be much safer in the cave."

"But there's no cake in the Everfree—"

"Boooaaard!" The train conductor's voice carried across the platform, easily cutting through their hushed conversation. A reddish-brown unicorn stallion in a smart uniform stood by the train car, ready to take their tickets and usher them inside. "All aboard for Canterlot!"

The group winced, and Rainbow Dash quickly flew over to the uniformed stallion standing by the train car.

"Hey," she said uncomfortably, "I hate to be the one to tell you this, but, you really can't take this train to Canterlot."

The conductor frowned at this unexpected break in schedule. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, have you looked at Canterlot lately?" Rainbow pointed up the nearby mountain, where the hovering airships were still visible and smoke poured out of more than one place in the city. "Anypony who goes up there is gonna be in serious trouble. We're talking monsters and evil unicorns with broken horns, that kind of trouble."

The stallion blanched and involuntarily raised a hoof to his own horn, as if to make sure it was still there. "Well, miss," he said uncertainly, "I'm afraid I haven't heard anything about that. I'll check with the stationmaster, but unless she says otherwise we still need to go on to Canterlot."

Rainbow facehoofed. "Ugh. I'm telling you, you can't! Look, we just came from Canterlot, and we barely got out. If you go up there you'll never come back, and neither will your passengers!"

The stallion shook his head. "Like I said, ma'am—"

"Hold this train!" Another stallion's voice, an already-high tenor strained near to breaking, shouted across the platform. "In the name of the princesses, hold this train!" A white pegasus in royal guard armor swooped in and landed heavily on the platform, running for the train almost before his hooves touched down.

"Oh, for pony's sake, what now?" the conductor muttered. The newcomer ran up to him, standing slightly in front of Rainbow Dash. Though the newcomer was young, he had a large frame and well-toned muscles, and would have cut an imposing figure if he hadn't been gasping for breath as he spoke.

"I am Ivory Wind... of the Royal... Guard." Despite being winded, he spoke sharply and with authority beyond his years; the authority granted by the uniform of Celestia's guards. "I am commandeering this train to take myself, my comrades, and our charges to safety."

"Commandeering?!" the conductor spluttered.

"I am sorry for the inconvenience, sir," Ivory answered calmly. "All employees on the Friendship Express will be given suitable compensation once this crisis has passed."

"Crisis? What crisis?" the conductor demanded. "What in Equestria are you all talking about?"

"What I was just telling you?" Rainbow Dash was now annoyed with both of these stallions; Ivory Wind for interrupting her conversation, and the conductor for apparently not listening to a word she'd said. "You know, monsters, evil unicorns, all of that? Ring a bell?"

"I will explain once we're underway," Ivory promised. "For now, we need to leave as quickly as possible. All you need to know right now is that your train will be carrying approximately a dozen displaced ponies, and will be under the command and protection of the Royal Guard. Equestria thanks you for your cooperation." He nodded his head once and turned away before the conductor could manage to formulate a protest. As he turned, he made eye contact with Rainbow.

"You are Rainbow Dash, right?" It was more of a formality than an actual question. Rainbow Dash had a pretty distinctive look.

"Yeah. What about it?" Rainbow also turned away from the flustered conductor and flew easily beside the other pegasus as he walked away.

"Is the rest of the Council of Friendship here, too?" Ivory asked hopefully.

"The... Council of Friendship?"

Ivory looked askance at her.

"The five ponies who advise and co-rule with the Princess of Friendship," he clarified. "My apologies, ma'am, that's what everypony in Canterlot calls you. Is there a different term I should use when addressing you?"

"I don't think we really call ourselves anything," Rainbow Dash answered. "But 'Council of Friendship' sounds totally lame, so we'll have to work on that."

Ivory Wind whickered; or was he covering up a laugh? He cleared his throat and composed himself so quickly that even Rainbow Dash wasn't sure what had happened.

"Regardless, are the rest of you here too?"

"Yeah, right over there." Rainbow Dash pointed the short distance across the platform to where her friends were still clustered together, discussing who-knew-what.

"Oh, thank Faust," Ivory sighed, finally dropping his air of authority and seeming more his age. For a moment he couldn't have looked more relieved if Rainbow Dash had said that, no, he wasn't breaking out in acne right before his big date. Then he immediately snapped to attention and the moment of vulnerability was gone. "Would it be alright if I spoke with them, ma'am?"

Rainbow Dash blinked uncertainly. Why was he acting like she was his superior? The only unit she had any rank in was the Wonderbolts, and the guards didn't answer to them.

"Uh. Sure? I'll introduce you." Rainbow flew out a little bit ahead to get her friends' attention.

"Thank you, ma'am," Ivory called after her.

"Hey, guys?" Rainbow Dash called out to the group. "This is... Ivory Wind, right?"

Ivory nodded sharply. "Yes, ma'am."

"He says he wants to talk to us."

The ponies and dragon glanced around at each other, wondering what business a royal guard could possibly have with them. Spike stepped away from the group with his arms folded.

"Okay. What about?" he asked. His head only came up to Ivory's shoulder, but he was still doing his best to intimidate the newcomer.

"As the ranking—well, only—member of the Royal Guard present, it is my duty to inform you all that I and two other guardsponies escaped from Canterlot with a small group of refugees. I flew ahead to intercept the train, and the others should get here shortly."

The group shared another confused look.

"Well," Fluttershy answered hesitantly, "we're glad that you got away, but what does that have to do with us?"

The guard lifted a foreleg uncertainly. That clearly wasn't the response he had been expecting.

"Well, ma'am," he said to Fluttershy, "Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight Sparkle have all been captured. Since Princess Twilight ruled as part of a council, that leaves the remainder of that council—which is to say, you all—as the highest authority in Equestria. We'll be looking to you for orders."

His announcement was met with a lot of dropped jaws, and one very smug expression.

"Well well well, the Great and Powerful Trixie likes that sound of that," she said.

"Trixie, y'ain't part of Twilight's council," Applejack said exasperatedly. "Well," she said to the others, "sounds like a lotta ponies are countin' on us to step up. What do y'all say?"

"I'm not on the council either," Starlight pointed out. "I'm just Twilight's student, I don't have any authority."

Pinkie shot a hoof into the air. "Motion to put Starlight on the Council of Friendship!"

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Pinkie, we cain't just—"

"Sure we can! Didn't you hear what Ivory said?" Pinkie appeared beside Ivory's head and moved his mouth up and down with her hooves. "The highest authority in Equestria. We could declare every day National Chocolate Milk Day if we wanted to!" She rested on top of Ivory Wind's head with a hoof to her chin. "Which, now that I think about it..."

The pegasus shook her off, then put a hoof to his jaw with a very confused expression.

"Actually, Pinkie Pie is right," Rarity declared, "and I say six heads are better than five. I second the motion."

"Yippee! All in favor?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Wow." Rainbow Dash looked around. "I guess this is actually happening, huh? Alright, aye." She raised her own hoof. "But only if we come up with a better name than Council of Friendship!"

"Yea," Fluttershy added.

"Uh." Applejack still wasn't sure if they could even do this, but nopony seemed to be stopping them. "Alright then, aye."

"Wait, what just happened?" Things were moving so quickly that Starlight had barely even registered the fact that they were voting on her status.

"Congratulations, Starlight!" Pinkie exclaimed. "By a unaniminiminiminous decision, you are now a member of the Council of Friendship."

"I. Um. Thanks?" Starlight imagined that this should feel momentous, that she should feel happy and proud, but in truth she just felt lost. Pinkie had done what Pinkie did; she'd come tearing through like a whirlwind and left everything different and everyone confused, but maybe better off? It was hard to say.

Even so, this also felt a bit wrong, as if they were going over Twilight's head. They really should talk to her before promoting her student to the Council. If only Twilight could be there...

"Motion to add Trrrrrixie to the Council!"

There was utter silence except for the burst of the magical firework she'd shot off to emphasize her suggestion.

"Oh, come on!"

While Trixie stomped her hooves in frustration, Rarity turned back to Ivory Wind. "Terribly sorry, Mr. Wind," she said, "it seems we got ourselves a bit off-topic. You were saying that there are others coming, and that," she hesitated, "we are expected to be in charge?"

"That's right, ma'am. Two more guards and a group of ten refugees should be arriving any minute now. And, until such time as the princesses can resume their duties, your group is the final word on matters of state and defense."

"Oh my," she said faintly.

"Um," Fluttershy squeaked. "I don't suppose that we get a say in this?" The anxious pegasus was practically trembling at the thought of so much responsibility.

"You're Princess Twilight's co-rulers," Ivory said, almost apologetically. "That puts you in a specific—and very high—place in the chain of command." He scuffed a hoof uncertainly. "I guess you could appoint regents or something to handle things for you. I'm not really sure what your duties actually are," he admitted, "my only duty is to know where you fall in the hierarchy."

"Just out of curiosity," Starlight asked, "who's next after us?"

"Rule would pass down the royal line," Ivory Wind explained. "It should go to Shining Armor, since he's a princess's brother, but he's out of the kingdom. Princess Cadence would be next, but with her also captured, next in line is..." he paused to think for a moment, "Prince Blueblood."

"We'll do it!" the group shouted as one.

Preparations

About twenty minutes later the group, twenty-one ponies and a dragon, were sitting somewhat comfortably in a private train car. Even with their own car it was a tight fit for such a large group. The friends volunteered to sit together, leaving as much room as possible for the traumatized group from Canterlot: Pinkie Pie sat next to Fluttershy, Applejack next to Rarity, Starlight next to Trixie, and Rainbow Dash next to Spike. Ivory Wind sat beside one of the other guards, while the third was next to one of the Canterlot ponies, trying awkwardly to comfort and reassure him.

The conductor had tried to protest when he saw the size of the group they were bringing aboard, but there wasn't much that he could say to three determined royal guards. They'd hustled the refugees into the relative safety of the train, demanded privacy and whatever food and water was available, and promised that the railroad would be reimbursed generously from the royal coffers when possible. He had finally led them, with a fair amount of grumbling, to a car near the middle of the train and taken the passengers from there into other cars. He also warned them that there would be a significant delay as they had to bring up an engine to the other side of the train so that they could head back the other way.

Eventually the commotion died down and everyone picked their seats. A heavy silence settled over the car; the day's events, and the fear of another attack, weighed down their spirits and smothered any desire to talk. Even Trixie, with her normally indomitable spirit and unshakable confidence, just stared out the window and said nothing. The only sounds were an occasional sniffle or muffled sob, and the irritable drumming of Spike's claws on the wooden bench.

After several agonizingly long minutes, Rarity delicately cleared her throat.

"It seems to me that this will be an awfully long ride if we spend it not speaking to one another," she said. Even though she spoke gently, a few ponies winced at the sudden noise. "I am Rarity." When nobody else spoke up, she elbowed Applejack.

"Oh! Uh, right. I'm Applejack." She smiled awkwardly as a dozen sets of eyes turned to look at her. "Pleased ta meet y'all."

Rainbow Dash, who was sitting in front of Applejack, gave a small wave.

"Hey there. I'm Rainbow Dash."

"Spike," Spike grunted.

"Um. My name's Fluttershy. It's nice to meet you."

"Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie kicked the back of Starlight Glimmer's bench, and she sat up with a start.

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" She laughed uncomfortably. "I was thinking about—well, never mind. I'm Starlight Glimmer." She gave a too-wide, too-tense smile at the rest of the car.

Trixie smiled at her reflection in the window and gave a small chuckle. These ponies needed a distraction and some entertainment, did they? They couldn't have picked a better car for that.

She stood up in the small space between her bench and the one in front of her, and doffed her hat in a dramatic bow.

"And no doubt you already know The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

One of the other guards, a dusky-blue unicorn, stood up and inclined her head. "My name is Aurora. It is an honor to meet all of you."

Ivory Wind took Aurora's lead and introduced himself, followed by the remaining guard, a light brown earth pony stallion whose name was Pear Crisp and whose voice carried a faint hint of a twang. Applejack's ears perked up immediately.

"You're a Pear?" she asked with interest. "I'm half Pear myself."

"You are?" Pear Crisp sounded surprised. "I thought you were an Apple."

"Oh my dad's side, yeah, but my ma was Pear Butter. Afraid I never had much to do with that side o' the family, though." More like they never had much to do with us, she thought, but there was no sense in opening wounds. Today had more than enough pain to go around already.

Pear Crisp shrugged. "Sorry, ma'am, I don't think I've ever heard of her. Maybe she was from a different branch of the family."

"Well... maybe so," Applejack forced out, as close to a lie as she could manage. Pear Crisp looked younger than her, so there was no way he was around when her parents were courting, and he'd undoubtedly been away in Canterlot when the two families finally made up. They had a lot to talk about, but definitely not here and not now.

"Ah, excuse me, Miss Rarity?" One of the refugees, a unicorn mare with a yellowish coat and a light blue mane, finally spoke up in a lilting Canterlot accent. "You wouldn't happen to be the same Rarity who owns the Canterlot Carousel?"

"I would indeed!" Rarity, who did not get out to her Canterlot branch nearly as often as she meant to, was both surprised and pleased to be recognized. She stood up and walked to the other end of the car, closer to the other unicorn. "You must be something of a fashionista yourself, I imagine."

As they continued their conversation, the royal guards went the other way and stood near the rest of the group, awaiting permission to speak.

"You guys really don't have to do that," Rainbow Dash said to them.

"Yeah," Pinkie Pie agreed, "get comfy and stop acting like we're your drill sergeants. That's an order!" She giggled at her own contradiction.

"Speaking of," Rainbow cut back in, "what are your ranks? Have any of you led a unit before?"

The three guards looked sideways at each other.

"Well... no," Aurora muttered with a faint flush creeping up. "Actually, none of us are officers. We're just guards."

"Hah. More like grunts," Pear Crisp added.

"Oh." So they were the lowest of the low in the royal guards, probably barely out of training. Rainbow Dash tried to hide her disappointment. Their low ranks weren't surprising given how young they all were, but she'd been hoping for somepony with some experience.

"What Rainbow Dash means," Fluttershy cut in over her less-tactful friend, "is that you three did wonderfully getting all these ponies out of Canterlot all by yourselves. You saved lives today, and you should be very proud."

"Thank you, ma'am." Ivory inclined his head toward Fluttershy. Though his tone was formal, inside he was glowing at the kind words.

"Hey!" Pinkie Pie pointed sharply at the three guards. "I gave you three an order."

Aurora laughed. "So you did. Sorry, ma—uh, Pinkie Pie."

"That's better!" Pinkie grinned at the three of them.

"So." Aurora shifted nervously. "What do we do now?"

The group of friends went quiet again as grim reality came crashing back onto them. It really was up to them to figure out what to do next; and they had to do it without Twilight.

Applejack was the first to speak.

"All of us—well, 'cept for Trixie—live in Ponyville. We were figuring on goin' back there and makin' plans to fight back. 'Course, that was before we had all these folks to worry about."

"Yes, where are these poor ponies going to go?" Fluttershy asked. "Do any of them have friends or family outside of Canterlot they could go to?"

"I'll ask around," Pear Crisp said. "Seems like we'll have plenty of time to figure it out."

Spike lifted his head. "The castle's plenty big enough for anypony who doesn't have somewhere else to go."

The others glanced around at each other.

"Are you sure?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I know the castle's big, but that would be a lot of ponies to take care of."

"Yeah," Spike answered firmly, "I'm sure." He looked over to the only other pony he currently shared the castle with. "Starlight? What do you think?"

"Huh?" Starlight's head snapped up. "Oh, uh, yeah! Yeah, that sounds good."

Trixie leaned over to her friend.

"You have no idea what you just agreed to, do you?" she whispered into Starlight's ear.

"I... no," Starlight admitted in a murmur. Trixie frowned.

"I'm getting worried about you," the showmare said in an uncharacteristic display of compassion. "This isn't like you."

Starlight sighed. "It's been a long day. I'm tired. Sue me."

Trixie's frown didn't let up, but she didn't press the matter either. However, a moment later Starlight felt a warm hoof resting gently on top of her own.

"We'll need to spread the word about the attack," Rainbow Dash was saying to the others.

"Are you sure?" Ivory Wind asked. "If news about the princesses got out it could cause a panic."

"But if we don't tell them, they'll be helpless if those creatures attack," Fluttershy said.

"Word is going to spread one way or another," Rarity reasoned, having come back from her conversation with the other passenger. There was now a steady stream of talking coming from that end of the train car, so clearly she'd been able to get at least some of the refugees out of their shells. "Best we make sure that it spreads on our terms."

Starlight Glimmer stifled a yawn with her hoof. She knew that what they were talking about was extremely important, but she couldn't seem to bring herself to care. She just felt tired, and empty, and cold except for one small point where Trixie's hoof still rested. What was with that, anyway? Had she not noticed that her hoof was on Starlight's?

"We gotta get a message to the Crystal Empire too, pronto," Applejack said. "Shining Armor needs ta know what happened here."

Aurora nodded in agreement. "You're right, they've kidnapped the princess of the Crystal Empire. He could be an ally for us."

Applejack turned her head to glare at the guard. "I wasn't talkin' politics, or military or whatever. Those things have his wife and his sister, and Shining Armor's got a right ta know that."

Aurora flushed. "I... of course. That's more important."

"But how?" Rarity asked. "The trains are out of the question; all of the main lines pass by Canterlot."

"I'll take the message out there," Rainbow Dash offered. "I can swing by Cloudsdale on the way and talk to the Wonderbolts too."

"You?" Ivory Wind gasped. "Ma'am, you're much too important to risk on a mission like that."

Rainbow Dash arched an eyebrow. "If you think you're fast enough to stop me, be my guest," she challenged the other pegasus.

Ivory looked like he wanted to take her up on that challenge, but eventually he looked away and stomped a hoof nervously. "Point taken. Just, please promise me that you'll give Canterlot a wide berth on your way north."

Rainbow Dash relented and gave a reassuring nod. "Don't worry. I will."

"You're not going today, are you?" Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and exhaled.

"No," she said. As much as she wanted to go right away, her wings were tired enough from carrying her friends down the mountain. Flying to the Crystal Empire today would just be asking for an injury. "On the other hoof, it doesn't make much sense for me to go down to Ponyville with you guys just to come back up here tomorrow." She shrugged. "I guess I'm staying in Riverbend tonight."

That decision set off a whole round of worried discussion about potential attacks and whether Rainbow Dash would be safe on her own. Starlight yawned again. It was perfectly logical for one of the fastest pegasi in Equestria to carry the messages to the Wonderbolts and the Crystal Empire. It also made sense for her to stay here, rather than riding south to Ponyville just to fly north again tomorrow. Starlight didn't see the problem, and didn't have the energy to fight about it.

She didn't have the energy for much of anything, actually. Between their desperate fight and flight from Canterlot, and the emotional stress of it all, she was simply burned out. Her eyelids were heavy and drifting closed. There was a twisting, crawling ache in her stomach and chest that she wished would stop, but it wasn't enough to keep her awake. In fact, it just seemed like another reason to go to sleep; if she were asleep, she wouldn't be thinking about Twilight.

Starlight Glimmer laid her head down and drifted away.

Upper Crust had taken one look at the throne room, at the four black stone statues within, and had turned away with a cry. Tempest Shadow drank in the sight her of conquest with satisfaction. Canterlot had been the greatest, and easiest, victory of her life.

"Yeesh," Grubber muttered. "Creepy." He tapped the nearest princess with a claw, then yelped and jumped back as if he expected it to bite him.

Tempest rolled her eyes and walked into the middle of the throne room to inspect the setup. She checked the position of the sun coming in through the enormous windows; as she'd ordered, the storm creatures had placed one of the princess statues at each of the four cardinal directions, facing inward toward each other. The directions weren't actually important, but she'd worried that the dull creatures would somehow mess up "arrange them in a square."

Tempest reached over and pulled a knife from her belt with her teeth. She twisted her head to dig the point down into the marble floor, then pounded the haft a few times with her hoof. It was awkward, but when she lifted her head there was a small chip missing from the floor. That would serve as the center point of the array and the place where the Staff of Sacanas would sit to activate it.

"What are you doing?!" Upper Crust demanded, then cried out as a storm guard knocked her roughly to the floor.

Tempest turned her head just enough to see the outspoken pony from the corner of her eye. Between her and the storm creatures, who were noisy, heavy-breathing, grunting beasts even when they tried to be quiet, this would get very annoying very quickly.

"Leave," Tempest ordered. "All of you, out."

The storm creatures looked dully at each other and stumped out of the massive double doors. One paused briefly to scoop up Upper Crust, then they were all gone except for Grubber. He stood near the doors, nervously wringing his hands, uncertain whether the order applied to him too.

"You," Tempest added for Grubber's benefit, "stay out of the way and stay quiet."

"R—right."

Tempest opened a pouch on her belt. She took out a piece of paper, which she spread on the ground, and a small piece of chalk. The paper had a pattern of lines and symbols drawn on it: the array that would activate the Staff of Sacanas's magic-draining powers. Lines and curves spun out from the middle of the page, a central point echoed in the throne room by the small hole that Tempest had dug into the floor.

The array wasn't terribly complicated, and Tempest had time to think as she worked. It was an unusual feeling for her. She was a pony of action; drawing and introspection weren't things she usually devoted much time to. Still, she found herself remembering what brought her here to Canterlot in the first place, the bold plan that she had proposed to the Storm King.

"You sure about this?" the Storm King asked. "You're one of them."

"No, I'm not."

"Right, 'cuz you were... what's your deal, anyway?" It had just occurred to the Storm King that he'd never asked about his commander's past. "Did you get kicked out, or what?"

"No. I left on my own."

"Ah well, whatever." He turned his attention back to the plans that Tempest had drawn up. A surprise attack using his fastest ships, led by Tempest herself. Storm soldiers equipped with magic-reflecting shields, and Tempest armed with those weird new stone bombs they'd gotten from the goblins out west. They were designed to stop monsters in their tracks, but should work just as well against alicorns. They'd hit Canterlot like lightning out of a blue sky. He loved it; it was classic Storm King.

"Alright then. You pull this off for me and you're set for life." He gave her a sharp-toothed grin. "If you'll turn on your own people like this, then I know you'll do anything for me."

"They turned on me," Tempest replied coldly, "but it makes no difference now. I'll get you the power you want."

"Good. And then I'll give you what you want."

"Tch." Tempest grunted in annoyance as the line she was drawing went crooked. It was stupid of her to let her mind wander like that, anyway. What if she'd been ambushed? There could be secret passages all over this damned palace that the slow-witted storm creatures hadn't found. She rubbed out the line and redrew it more carefully.

That wasn't the only reason she didn't like taking too much time to think, though. The problem was that, sooner or later, she'd start thinking about herself. She'd spent years looking for a way to get her horn back, her magic back, her life back. Now she was on the verge of actually doing it, and all it had cost was her homeland. Shouldn't she feel something about that? Happiness, sadness, remorse, something? She didn't, though. She was just doing what she must, like the lethally efficient machine she had become.

She considered the guard she'd killed on her way to the palace. It was hardly her first kill; Tempest had been a soldier before she became a commander, and she'd fought in half a dozen campaigns for the Storm King across as many different lands. But that stallion had been the first pony she'd ever killed. Was she supposed to feel something about that? She turned her attention inward and found that she didn't. All she felt about any of this was a cool determination to complete her mission.

Tempest drew the final line, closing the circle and completing the array. She spat out the chalk and stepped back to check her work, comparing it to the guide she'd brought. It was flawless. All it needed now was a catalyst.

Tempest lowered the broken stump of her horn to the outer edge of the array. Her magic flared and sparked wildly as it always had since she was injured, but she was able to direct the power into the lines of chalk. Her power filled the array, and the lines began to glow the same blindly bright, electric blue as her magic. The glow remained for a few seconds after Tempest stopped channeling into it. When it faded, so did the chalk lines.

Her mission here was as good as finished. The array was ready—invisible, but the lines of magic were there. She could feel them like a tingling itch in what remained of her horn. All she had to do now was hold Canterlot until the Storm King arrived. With the alicorns and what passed for Equestria's defensive forces swept aside, that wouldn't be much of a problem.

"Let's go," she said to Grubber. "We're done here."

"Yeah," Grubber nodded eagerly, "you got it." He watched her as she slowly crossed the large throne room, heading for the doors. "So..."

Tempest arched an eyebrow at him. "So?"

"This is it, huh? You're finally getting your horn back?"

"Yes." The thought brought her satisfaction, but not the excitement she expected it to. She had been without her horn for most of her life, and the fact that she would soon have it back didn't quite seem real.

"Then what?"

Tempest tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Well..." Grubber rubbed his hands together nervously. "Once you've got that, you won't need us anymore, right? I mean, you won't need the Storm King anymore."

Tempest shook her head. "Need? No. But the Storm King will soon be the most powerful being in the world. At his right claw is the best place I could be."

Grubber's mouth fell open into a wide grin. "So you're not leaving once this is over?"

Tempest snorted softly. "Where would I go? The Storm King controls half the world." Thanks to me. "With alicorn magic, he'll have the rest of it soon enough."

"Yeah," Grubber nodded eagerly. "Yeah! And once he has it all, we'll have it all! Right?"

"Right." Somehow she doubted it. The Storm King wasn't quite that generous, even to his favorite subjects. "I'm sure we'll have everything we could ever dream of."

The two walked side-by-side out of the throne room, Grubber cackling loudly as the doors swung shut behind them.

The Next Day

An exhausted Starlight Glimmer unlocked and opened the front door of Twilight's castle. It was early the following morning and they were only just getting there. Of course, the only way she knew it was early morning was by checking the clock tower. The sun hadn't moved since the attack on Canterlot.

Getting an engine around to the other side of the train had been even more of a problem than they'd let on, requiring the engine to go many miles around Canterlot and reconnect with the tracks on the other side so it could be backed up into position. Starlight, in a half-asleep daze, had wondered more than once whether it would have been worth it to just walk home to Ponyville after all.

At least it had been a somewhat productive train ride. The "Council of Friendship," which she was apparently now a part of, had spent hours hashing out plans and details with the three royal guards. Unfortunately, those guards didn't have much more military experience than any of the others, but they had at least caught a couple of obvious problems. For instance, Starlight's brilliant plan to hide out at the Tree of Harmony hadn't taken into account that ponies needed food.

They'd agreed that it was a good fallback position, however, and that they should stock it with supplies in case the worst happened.

Starlight lit up the front hall and waved for the others to come in. The chorus of "ooh"s and "aah"s as they saw the inside of the magical castle sounded like talons on a chalkboard to her, but she kept a smile plastered to her muzzle. These ponies were from Canterlot, surely they'd seen more impressive buildings? Then again, a building that looked like a crystal tree, grown from the very embodiment of Harmony, did impart a certain awe that even the Canterlot Castle couldn't quite capture.

Starlight looked around at the refugees. They didn't come close to filling the huge hall, but when she thought about actually having to care for so many ponies she started to feel a little bit ill. Trixie was there too; she'd had to leave her wagon behind when they fled Canterlot, meaning she was now effectively homeless. Starlight wasn't sure whether she was grateful for a friendly face or annoyed that she had yet another pony to take care of. Plus, there was the fact that Trixie could become... a lot, if you spent too long with her.

"There are so many of them," she muttered under her breath.

"They've got nowhere else to go, Starlight," Spike answered just as quietly. "Besides, there are plenty of bedrooms for everypony. I can do the cooking," he added, trying to placate her, "and they'll clean up after themselves. They'd better, anyway."

"I know. I guess I can handle the shopping," Starlight offered reluctantly. "We're going to need a lot of food." Not just to feed them all now, but to stock up supplies in case the town came under siege, plus extras to ship out to the Everfree Forest.

"Not just food," Aurora butted in. "These ponies will need toiletries, bedding, cold weather gear⁠—"

"It's summer!" Starlight protested.

"Better safe than sorry. Especially if we're up against someone called 'The Storm King.'"

Starlight sighed. "Point taken."

This was shaping up to be a massive headache and they hadn't even started yet. Hopefully it would all be a moot point. Hopefully the others would kick Tempest Shadow's flank out of Canterlot in a day or two, and everything would be back to normal. They had a pretty good track record with that kind of thing, especially when their friends were in trouble. Like Twilight...

"Thanks again for letting them all stay here," Spike said.

"Yeah," Starlight grunted.

"It just feels good to be doing something, y'know?" Spike continued when he saw that Starlight was clearly still not thrilled with the idea. "I think it's what Twilight would have done."

Starlight bit her tongue on a furious retort. How would he know what Twilight would have done?!

Are you serious? she berated herself a moment later, when the flare of anger died down. Spike was basically Twilight's son. Or maybe more like a younger brother; their relationship was hard to pin down sometimes. Regardless, if there was anyone missing Twilight more than her, it was Spike. And yet the baby dragon is acting more mature than you are. Also, he's completely right, and you know it.

Starlight took a deep breath, using the breathing technique that Twilight had taught her to center herself.

"Okay." She stomped a hoof emphatically. "Speaking of what Twilight would do, we need to make a checklist of supplies that we'll need in case this drags on longer than a couple of days. We also need to look over the artifacts we've got here and make sure that anything dangerous is safely hidden."

She wasn't sure whether she was more worried about Tempest Shadow's monsters or a hapless refugee finding those artifacts, so hiding them away from both seemed prudent.

"Luckily, Twilight kept very careful records of what's in the castle, so that second part shouldn't be too hard. Then we'll nee—" she interrupted herself with a jaw-cracking yawn. "We'll need to meet back up with the others and finalize plans for defending Equestria."

Defending Equestria, she thought dryly. I say it like it's so simple. Still, she did have leadership experience of a sort, and she knew that confidence counted for a lot.

"With your permission, I can get started on the supply list," Ivory Wind offered.

Starlight nodded. "Yeah, please."

Ivory saluted sharply and went to find a space to work. He moved stiffly, as if marching in a parade.

"Someone needs to take the poker out of his plot," Starlight muttered to herself.

"Huh?" Spike asked, looking up with naive eyes.

Starlight's face flushed until it was nearly the color of Pinkie Pie's. "Uh, nothing! Nothing." She smiled too widely and fanned her face nervously with a hoof. "Say, Spike, could you go get Ivory some parchment and a quill?"

"Sure thing." He hurried off to fetch them. "I'll put on coffee for everypony too."

"That's the best idea I have ever heard."

She watched as Spike hustled away on his errands. A hollow pit of dread was opening in her stomach at the enormity of all of this, but freaking out wouldn't help anypony. There was nothing to do except take things step by step.

"Item one: make a checklist." Starlight imitated Twilight's voice, then sighed and shook her head sadly. "Only about a million more items to go."

Rainbow Dash was jolted awake by a sharp pounding noise. Adrenaline flooded her almost instantly. Were they being attacked?

Where was she, anyway? This definitely wasn't her cloud house, and the bed underneath her was made of something solid. She held perfectly still, but her eyes darted around frantically. She saw wooden floors, white walls, and plain blue-checkered curtains that she wouldn't have picked up if she'd had a knife to her throat. Definitely not her room in Twilight's castle, either. Had she been captured in her sleep?

It took a few seconds for her mind to catch up to her fight-or-flight instincts and remember that she'd spent the night at the inn in Riverbend.

"Ms. Dash," a too-cheerful stallion called from the other side of the door, "this is the wake up call you requested!"

Rainbow Dash groaned and reluctantly pulled her aching body into a sitting position. She was feeling every one of those trips up and down the mountain. Her wings felt like they were coated in lead, and burned fiercely when she tried to move them. She winced and focused on extending them slowly, hoping to coax the muscles into loosening up.

She winced as the innkeeper pummeled the door again.

"Up and at 'em, Ms. Dash!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm up," Rainbow groused. She yawned and rubbed her bleary eyes. "Thank you." As much as she wanted to sleep until noon and recover from yesterday, she had a long flight ahead of her. What she wouldn't have given for an hour at the Ponyville Spa, though; the twins worked wonders on knotted muscles.

Suck it up, Dash. There were a lot of ponies counting on her to make this trip, sore wings or not. Hoping that a good dose of sunlight would help her wake up, she rolled out of bed and pulled the curtains aside, then had to throw a foreleg up to shield her eyes as she was nearly blinded by the light streaming in.

Why is the sun so high? She had a moment of panic, thinking that somehow she had overslept in spite of her wake up call, but a quick glance at the clock said otherwise. What is Celestia—oh.

Now that was something she hadn't considered. The sun was going to stay right where it was until they either saved the princesses or found another pony powerful enough to move it.

That's... not good.

Which made it all the more important that she get a move on. She straightened out her wings again, wincing and then sighing in relief as several joints popped. She gave an experimental flap and nodded in satisfaction. She shouldn't be trying any sonic rainbooms today, but she'd make it to the Crystal Empire if she paced herself.

She opened the bedroom door and was immediately greeted with the delicious scents of fresh bread, hay bacon, and coffee. Her stomach growled in anticipation of what she'd find in the common area.

Okay, breakfast first, then I get a move on.

Tempest Shadow stalked through the courtyard of Canterlot Palace⁠—she refused to call that gaudy building a castle. The worst part of being in the vanguard was waiting for the rest of the army to catch up.

She cast a critical eye at the decorations around her, ruthlessly calculating their value to the military or the infrastructure.

Statues. We could break them into rubble, use that to repair walls or pave roads. Cut down the hedge maze and use the space as a practice field. Is it even worth reinforcing the palace, or would it be cheaper in the long run to raze it and build a proper castle? Those were issues for the bean counters, not the military leaders, but she had little else to occupy her mind just then.

"Tempest, look!" Grubber pointed to the west.

Tempest turned her head, but didn't see anything except a distant rainbow. Then she squinted and looked more closely. Whatever it was, it was heading north at high speed.

Rainbows don't move.

"Guard!" she barked at the nearest storm creature. "What is that?" She pointed toward the unnatural rainbow.

The guard grunted and scratched his head. He dug into a pouch and pulled out a small spyglass⁠—small for him, anyway, it was still as large as one of Tempest's legs. The creature held the glass up to one eye and trained it northwest, then turned back to his commander.

"Pony," he grunted. "Flying pony."

That's a pegasus?! No pegasus she'd ever seen could fly at such speeds.

Plus, why would it pass so close to an occupied city? Bait for an ambush? No, there was nowhere an attacking force could be hiding. Was the pegasus just taking the shortest route? If so, the shortest route to what destination?

"I want eyes on that pony!" Tempest roared. "Find out where it's going and why. Launch an airship immediately!"

The storm creature grunted and galumphed away, using that odd knuckle-walk that the storm creatures relied on when they were in a hurry.

Tempest turned back to glare at the fading rainbow. She considered maps that she'd studied and tried to figure out the pony's destination.

North by northwest. What was out that way? Cloudsdale was the obvious answer. Beyond that, there wasn't much of anything until you got to Yakyakistan, if that little speck of a kingdom even counted as "something."

However, a slight adjustment would put the pegasus right on track for the Crystal Empire. It was only a matter of time until the Crystal Prince found out that his wife had been taken, but it would be disastrous if he mobilized before the rest of the Storm King's army arrived.

"Grubber!" Tempest barked. "Send a message that all airships near the Crystal Mountains are to be on high alert. An extremely fast pegasus may be attempting to get a message through to the Crystal Empire."

"Yes, ma'am!" He scampered off to carry out the order.

The pegasus's rainbow contrail was nearly out of sight already. Hopefully the pony was just going to Cloudsdale, where the greatest threat was what passed for Equestria's air force: the so-called Wonderbolts. While technically a military unit, they were primarily stunt flyers and showponies, so they shouldn't pose much of a threat. The Crystal Empire, on the other hoof...

Tempest ran some hasty calculations. If that pegasus got a message to the Crystal Prince today, he could lead his standing army on a forced march to Canterlot. The unmoving sun would actually be a boon for them, since they wouldn't need to wait for daylight to start traveling each day. Could they reach Canterlot within two days, before the Storm King arrived with the rest of his forces? How long could Tempest's advance force hold the city if they did?

However, she reminded herself, these ponies didn't know that there was a much larger army on the way. They'd have no reason to rush things. Even if they did get to Canterlot before the Storm King, Tempest was holding four of the most valuable prisoners in the world. In the worst-case scenario, she could stall the prince with "negotiations" until her reinforcements arrived.

Tempest nodded to herself and headed back toward the palace, toward her makeshift war room. She had plans to make and orders to give. It was unlikely, bordering on impossible, that the Crystal Army would get here before the Storm King did. But, if that pegasus was delivering a message, and if it slipped past the Storm King's patrols, and if the prince mobilized and rushed to Canterlot, she would be prepared. She had too much riding on this campaign to leave anything to chance.

One of the airships turned slowly away from Canterlot, its nose swinging around to point northwest. Straight toward Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, please," she scoffed. She might not be at the top of her game right now, but she'd still fly circles around that clunky thing. Any of the Wonderbolts would, and if the airship tried to follow her to Cloudsdale then it was going to fly straight into all of them. The ship was hardly a threat.

She poured on a little more speed anyway. Her wings burned in protest, but she gritted her teeth and kept flying. She looked back and saw with some alarm that, far from being left behind, the airship was slowly closing the gap between them. Dark clouds poured out of its aft like some gross parody of the Wonderbolts.

Looking ahead, she could just barely make out the colors of the rainbows around Cloudsdale. She was nearly there, but wasn't sure that she'd reach safety before the airship caught her.

She briefly considered veering off course and outmaneuvering the slow-turning ship, but her wings already felt like they had lead weights on them. Adding more distance to her flight would be dangerous, and if the ship didn't take the bait then it could easily fly ahead and cut off her route to Cloudsdale. She was better off just taking the remaining distance at a sprint.

Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth and increased her speed again. Now the distance between her and the airship was holding steady, but there was no way she could keep up this pace for long. She groaned in frustration.

If I were at 100% I could hit that thing with a sonic rainboom and be gone before they knew what happened!

But she wasn't, and she couldn't. All she could do was ignore the searing pain in her wings, keep flying, and hope that she didn't tear a muscle.

Now she was close enough to see the larger buildings of Cloudsdale. The weather factory came into view, and so did her destination: the Wonderbolts' headquarters. She nearly called out for help, but she was still too far away to be heard, and she needed all her breath for flying. Her lungs were burning in her chest, but she didn't dare slow down yet.

She risked a glance behind and saw with dismay that the airship was catching up again. Her stamina was flagging, and she must have slowed down without realizing it.

Come on, Dash. Almost there!

She tried to fly faster, but she was at her limit. She looked back again, and her keen eyes spotted harpoon guns being pointed her way. Adrenaline gave her a momentary burst of speed, but in only a few seconds the ship was catching up again. She wasn't sure what the range was on those guns, but she had a sinking feeling that she was about to find out. She braced herself to take evasive action.

Three blue streaks shot by overhead, trailed by black clouds. Two more came roaring in and took up flanking positions on Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were stinging from the wind, but after a few blinks, the blue blurs resolved into her teammates Thunderlane and High Winds.

Rainbow Dash heaved a sigh of relief that she felt all the way down to her hooves.

"Man, am I glad to see you guys!"

"What did you get yourself into this time, Crash?" Thunderlane asked teasingly.

"Long story," Rainbow Dash panted. "Gotta talk to Spitfire."

"Don't worry," High Winds said. "We'll get you there."

Rainbow Dash looked back once more to see three more Wonderbolts harassing the airship. They would fly past, hitting anyone or anything they could reach, and be gone before the slow-moving monsters onboard could react. The three of them buzzed and circled around it like angry hornets around a scared foal, and it wasn't long before the airship broke off the chase and swung back toward Canterlot.

"Whoa!" Rainbow yelped as she suddenly lost a few feet of altitude. Thunderlane and High Winds were there in a heartbeat, supporting her with their bodies and guiding her back toward Cloudsdale.

"Hang in there," Thunderlane urged. "Not much farther."

"I'm... not going... anywhere," Rainbow Dash promised between her gasps for breath.

With the threat of the airship gone for now, they were able to slow their pace. The other three 'Bolts, who turned out to be Fleetfoot, Soarin, and Surprise, quickly caught up and took up positions around them. With the exhausted Rainbow Dash supported and protected at the center of their formation, they limped the rest of the way back to the base.

As they drew near, Rainbow Dash could see a stormy-faced Spitfire standing outside waiting for them, and she mentally rehearsed what she would say.

"Report!" Spitfire snapped as the six of them touched down.

"Ma'am." Soarin saluted sharply. "Rainbow Dash is safe, and the unidentified airship has retreated. There were no casualties."

"Good. Now I need to know who and what we're up against out there. I expect a full report on my desk by noon," Spitfire ordered.

"Yes, ma'am." Soarin's wings drooped at the thought of paperwork.

Spitfire dropped her hardass demeanor long enough to give a nod of approval.

"That was some fine flying, 'Bolts."

As the others beamed, Rainbow Dash took a half step forward.

"Ma'am, permission to speak?" she croaked weakly.

Spitfire gave her an appraising look, and she was suddenly all too aware that she was caked in dried sweat, her mane had been blown into a rat's nest, and her eyes were dry and bloodshot from the wind. Her exhausted wings trembled involuntarily at her sides, her throat was parched, and her lungs were on fire.

"Crash, you look like you used a hurricane for a hair dryer!" Spitfire barked. "Get yourself cleaned up and report to my office. You've got fifteen minutes. Dismissed!"

Over in a Snap

"So that's the situation."

Rainbow Dash, who had hastily showered, brushed her mane, and guzzled about a half-gallon of water, finished her report to a grim-faced Spitfire.

"No idea what these things are, or where they came from?" Spitfire asked.

"Afraid not, ma'am. All we know is that they work for some guy called the Storm King."

"But that unicorn, Tempest Shadow, she's calling the shots?"

Rainbow Dash nodded. Spitfire opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a file. She opened it to a blank page and readied a quill.

"Describe her."

Rainbow Dash looked to the side for a second as she called an image of the broken-horned unicorn to mind.

"Uh, let's see... dark purple coat, red mane. I didn't get a good look at her eyes. She's big, like maybe Princess Luna's height, but more muscular."

"Identifying marks? Cutie mark?"

"The broken horn, obviously, and a scar on her right eye. I couldn't see her cutie mark, her armor was covering it."

Spitfire turned the page over.

"And you say she beat all three of our princesses and Cadance with those smoke bomb things?"

Rainbow Dash swallowed the lump in her throat, but her voice was steady as she responded, "That's right, ma'am. She turned them to stone."

"Dammit," Spitfire muttered darkly as she made another note. "We heard that the Friendship Festival had been hit, but by the time we got there it was all over."

She hoofed the file across the desk to Rainbow Dash. "I've had the 'Bolts keeping an eye on Canterlot, but we can't risk getting too close. See if you can fill in any more blanks for me."

Rainbow flipped through the thin folder filled with observations and reports on Canterlot. She landed on a page detailing the monstrous creatures that Tempest Shadow was leading.

"Some of them carry shields that can block unicorn magic," Rainbow said, pointing to the section labeled weapons and armor. "I don't know if they work against other kinds of magic."

"Good to know. What else?"

From there, Rainbow spent an exhausting twenty minutes going through Spitfire's file page-by-page. Spitfire grilled her on every detail that she could remember about Tempest Shadow, the monsters, and the situation in Canterlot.

Rainbow Dash would have rather taken ten Wonderbolts entrance exams than have to sit through this relentless questioning, but she endured it nonetheless. Finally, when Spitfire was satisfied that her brain had been picked clean, she put the folder back into its drawer.

"It's a shame you didn't do a bit more recon while you were there," Spitfire said. Rainbow's ears drooped slightly.

"But," Spitfire continued, causing her to perk up again, "you did good staying safe and getting your friends out of there. Glad to have you with the 'Bolts, Crash."

"Thank you, ma'am." Rainbow Dash saluted.

"Now go get settled in," Spitfire ordered. "Starting tomorrow, you're officially on duty." She looked up to see that Rainbow Dash hadn't moved, and lifted her eyebrows in surprise. "Something the matter, Crash?"

Rainbow swallowed hard at the knowledge that she was about to contradict her captain. "Actually, ma'am, with all due respect, I have a mission from the Council of Friendship that I need to finish."

"The Council, huh?" Spitfire leaned forward on her desk. "Speaking of that, the two of us have a bit of a predicament. Know what it is?"

"Yes, ma'am." She'd spent half the flight over thinking about it, without coming up with a solution. "You're captain of the Wonderbolts, so you outrank me. But I'm part of the Council of Friendship, which means I, uh, outrank you." She involuntarily cringed away from Spitfire's stony stare. "Sort of. Maybe?"

Spitfire took a deep breath and sighed it out. She rubbed the bridge of her nose with a hoof. "Alright, Crash, long story short: I'm lead pony on military matters, the Council has command on everything else. Clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Rainbow Dash saluted sharply, relieved to at least know where she stood.

"So." Spitfire pierced Rainbow Dash with her eyes. "This mission you're on. Military or not?"

"Uh..." Was it considered a military matter? "I'm... taking a message to Shining Armor?"

Spitfire shook her head. "Political, then. Damn. Alright, the Council's authority supersedes mine on this one, you'd best get going. While you're gone I'll have to send someone to Ponyville to hash out which of us gets to keep you. The 'Bolts need all hooves on deck."

Rainbow Dash was struck with sudden inspiration. "What if the Wonderbolts came to Ponyville and set up a base there?" she suggested. "Then you could work together with the Council." And I wouldn't have to keep flying between Ponyville and Cloudsdale all the time. "It can't be safe to stay this close to Canterlot, anyway."

"Huh." Spitfire rubbed her chin. "That actually might not be a bad idea. I'll think about it."

She thoughtfully drummed a hoof on her desk for a second, then her eyes snapped up to look at Rainbow Dash again.

"Well? What are you waiting for, a kiss goodbye? You're on a mission from the Council of Friendship, so get moving!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

A bleary-eyed Starlight Glimmer entered the map room and shut the door behind her. She'd been making lists and seeing to ponies' needs for hours, and there was no sign that it would stop anytime soon. Spike was still out there, but Starlight was grateful to finally have some peace and quiet.

"There she is!" Pinkie Pie squealed unnecessarily.

Well, relative peace and quiet, anyway.

"Hi, girls." Starlight's voice was dry and hoarse, even after several cups of coffee. "Sorry I'm late."

"No apology needed," Fluttershy assured her. "You and Spike are doing a wonderful thing, looking after all those poor Canterlot ponies."

The others were all sitting in the seats marked with their cutie marks, and Starlight moved forward to take her own spot, such as it was. She sat on the floor and looked over the currently-blank map table.

"Hey, shouldn't Starlight have a chair too now?" Pinkie Pie asked the others. She knocked on the crystal floor, which produced a strange ringing sound. "Hellooooo? There's a new councilpony here!"

"I don't think it works that way," Starlight answered wearily. I don't have a throne because I'm not supposed to be part of this council.

"Y'all could take Rainbow's seat," the ever-practical Applejack offered. "She won't be back 'til tonight at the earliest."

"That... doesn't feel right. I'm fine here, really."

Although there was, in fact, another open seat at the table. Starlight's eyes were drawn to Twilight's empty throne, and so were the others' once they noticed where she was looking. Their captured friend's cutie mark watched over the proceedings like a faint echo of Twilight herself; or like a constant silent rebuke for leaving her in the hooves of their enemy.

Starlight shook her head to clear it.

"I've sent word to my contacts in Manehattan," Rarity picked up where she had left off, "though I'm sure I won't hear back for several days. I've asked them to, ehm, delicately spread the word about the situation in Canterlot."

"I've talked to all the ponies in Ponyville, and lots of them are ready to help out," Pinkie announced. "Making food, carrying stuff around. Even the Riches have offered to donate a few bits if we need!"

"A few bits?" Starlight rolled her eyes. "Gee, can they spare it?"

"And I've been gettin' word around to the family," Applejack said. "We'll have lots of supplies once the harvests start comin' in. Although, speakin' of that—" she twisted her hat nervously in her hooves, "—if we don't figure out a way to move the sun, crops all over Equestria are gonna be in serious trouble. Without the nighttime to cool things off, it's just gonna get hotter and hotter until nothin' can grow!"

"It's been upsetting my poor animal friends, too," Fluttershy added. "The nocturnal critters don't think they can come out, and the rest of them have no idea when to go to bed!"

"Oh my," Rarity said. "Well, it does seem as though getting the sun to set should be a priority, but what can we do? Starlight, dear, you don't know of any spells or magical artifacts that could help, do you?"

Starlight shook her head. "Before the princesses came along, it took a group of the most powerful unicorns in the world to move the sun and moon. Nopony alive today could do it."

"Um, I had an idea about that, actually," Fluttershy said hesitantly.

"The way you said that makes me think that I ain't gonna like this," Applejack groaned.

"Well, it's just, no pony can move the sun and moon. But we know that Discord can do it easily!"

"Well well," a gravelly voice droned, seeming to come from nowhere in particular, "it's about time somepony remembered me." With a flash of white light and a burst of confetti, the draconequus appeared. He was sprawled across the map table as if he were a lounge singer. He rolled over to face Fluttershy.

"Thank you ever so much for inviting me today," he said.

"You're very welcome," Fluttershy answered. "So, do you think you could help us?"

The others sat around the table with forced smiles on their muzzles, but Starlight didn't have to fake the sudden surge of elation she felt.

"Discord!" she practically shouted. The others flinched at the unexpected outburst. Starlight stood excitedly and put her hooves up on the map table like a filly who was trying to see on top of the counter.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I am so glad to see you."

"Oh?" He skeptically raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, this is perfect! You can get rid of Tempest Shadow and save the princesses—"

"Oh, no no no." Discord waggled one finger of his lion's paw under Starlight's nose. "Deus I may be, but I am not your ex machina, Starlight Glimmer."

Starlight took a moment to mentally translate the Old Ponish words.

"That... doesn't even make sense."

"It means that you don't get to ignore me for months, then suddenly demand that I swoop in and fix everything." Discord folded his arms petulantly.

"Are you kidding me?" Starlight demanded. She slammed her hooves down on the table. "Ponies' lives are in danger! You could end all of this with a snap of your fingers, and you won't do it because... because you don't like me?"

"Pfft." Discord stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry. The raspberry hit Starlight just under her horn, leaving a drop of sticky red juice on her face. Starlight's eye twitched, and her horn started to glow fiercely.

"Stop!" Fluttershy flew in between the two former villains and held her hooves out to separate them. "Could we have a moment, please?" she politely asked Starlight.

Starlight ground her teeth, but nodded and let the spell go.

"Thank you." The pegasus turned to face Discord. "I have to say, Starlight Glimmer does have a point, and some very dear friends of mine are in trouble. Now," she held up a hoof to forestall his protest, "I know you feel like the others don't appreciate you, but you might be the only one powerful enough to fix this. Do you think you could go and rescue the princesses?" Her enormous, watery blue eyes stared deep into Discord's beady yellow ones. "For me?"

Discord pulled back from Fluttershy's pleading eyes and stammered a bit, trying to come up with an excuse, or simply the will to refuse her.

Fluttershy didn't relent. She didn't so much as blink.

Discord rubbed his chin uncomfortably, turned away from her, looked back over his shoulder, then threw his arms up into the air in surrender.

"Oh, fine! Just this once." He leaned down and rubbed Fluttershy's head affectionately. "That's cheating, you know."

"I'll find us something extra-special for our next tea party to say thank you," Fluttershy promised.

"Very well, I accept your terms."

Discord snapped his fingers and vanished.

Tempest Shadow sat at her desk. She was drawing up plans for how to hold Canterlot in the unlikely event that the Crystal Army attacked before the Storm King's army was in place to defend it. She had little to fear from the air; between her airships and the storm creatures' weapons, the lightly-armored pegasi would be torn to pieces. On the ground, there were only two ways into or out of Canterlot: the train tracks, and the main road. Disabling the train tracks would be simple, and easy enough to fix once the threat was passed, so that only left one reliable way for an attacking army to reach her.

The real problem was simply a lack of manpower. She could protect the skies, or she could protect the road, but her small force would be hard-pressed to do both. Then, if the ponies of Canterlot saw their chance and rebelled while Tempest was fighting the Crystal Army, it would spell the end for her.

Tempest suddenly dropped her quill and glared around the room suspiciously. Something wasn't right—she could feel a presence. An ambush? A trap? There was a deep, unsettling itch in her horn that she usually associated with magic, but it felt different, somehow wrong.

The map she was marking with defense strategies grew mismatched eyes and winked at her.

Tempest let out a rare cry of surprise and threw herself backward, landing in a combat stance with her horn charging up to blast... whatever this was.

"You must be Tempest Shadow," a deep, vaguely threatening voice with no apparent source said.

"Who are you? How did you get past my guards?" She felt slightly foalish talking to her desk, but she didn't allow her uncertainty to show.

"Ugh. Seriously, what do they teach you ponies these days? I'm a very important part of Equestrian history!" There was the sound of snapping fingers, and then the strangest creature Tempest Shadow had ever seen was sitting on top of her desk. It was like a grotesque, patchwork golem made from the ugliest parts of the exotic animal market in Klugetown.

"Recognize me now?"

As a matter of fact, she did.

"Discord."

"Correct!" The strange creature was suddenly wearing a gaudy suit, and Tempest found herself standing on a brightly colored platform with flashing lights and ringing bells all around her. "Tell the mare what she's won!"

Tempest didn't allow herself to be distracted. With no warning at all, she pulled a petrification bomb from her belt and hurled it toward the intruder.

Discord snapped his fingers. He vanished, and suddenly Tempest was the one standing next to her desk with something flying toward her. She gasped and threw a foreleg up in a futile attempt to block, but she was too late.

An egg hit her squarely on the forehead, splattering her from horn to chin. Tempest slowly lowered her foreleg, while Discord doubled over in wheezing, guffawing laughter.

"Oh, that's... no, I won't say it, it's simply too cliché." He snorted and kept laughing. "But you should see the look on your face!"

Tempest had a fair idea of what look was on her face: sheer murder. She unleashed her fury in a single bolt of lightning that raced toward Discord—and instantly cooked the egg into her fur—only for it to disappear in a shower of glitter as the draconequus snapped his fingers.

"Now go on, my dear," Discord said with an oddly sly tone, "it's so rare these days to meet somepony who's studied the classics. What exactly do you know about me?"

Tempest snorted angrily.

"Discord," she repeated. She'd done her research on this being, and any others who might be a threat to the Storm King's plans. "Only known draconequus in the world. Self-styled master of chaos. Extremely powerful; not to be confronted directly under any circumstances." As she spoke, she eased open a pouch on her belt.

"Good, good." Discord nodded in agreement with each statement.

"Likes to play mind games," Tempest Shadow continued as she tipped out the contents of the pouch: a single chunk of worked stone that would fit easily in a hoof. The tingling itch in her horn instantly vanished. "Not as clever as he thinks he is."

"Yes, yes—wait, what?"

"Easily outmaneuvered," Tempest continued as she picked up the rock. "Overconfident. Doesn't recognize danger until it's too late." She transferred the rock into her teeth to hold it more easily, then leaped forward and threw a wide hook with her front right hoof.

Discord scoffed and snapped his fingers, but nothing happened. He took Tempest's punch squarely, and his long, sinuous body thudded hard to the ground.

"Owww!" Discord rubbed his throbbing jaw. He snapped his fingers again, then looked at his paw as though expecting to see something wrong with it. "What in Tartarus?"

Tempest chuckled darkly. She spat the stone into a hoof, then gazed down at the now-powerless lord of chaos.

"This stone negates all magic in a small area," she explained. "All magic; even yours. I'm told that it was once a piece of the Changeling Queen's throne."

Tempest lowered her head until her nose nearly touched Discord's.

"I got it just for you," she purred. "The good news for you is that my magic won't work, either. The bad news—" She struck Discord again, sending him sprawling to the floor, then gave him a wicked smile. "Well, I'm sure you've figured it out. Guards!"

Discord looked around frantically, and his eyes fell upon a window. It was on the other side of the room, high up the wall and so narrow that no pony could crawl through it; but, as Fluttershy had noted, he was no pony.

Quick as a snake, Discord scuttled away from Tempest Shadow and toward the window. He stretched himself up and just barely managed to grab hold of the windowsill. Tempest lunged for him, but he pulled his tail up out of her reach and hurled himself into the glass, which didn't break.

Tempest snarled with fury. She could reach him with her magic, but she didn't dare put the stone back into its magic-dampening pouch.

Discord frantically scrabbled at the window, looking for the mechanism to unlock it. He finally found the latch along the side, flipped it open, then threw his snakelike body through the narrow gap.

Tempest heard the sounds of fingers snapping frantically. She wasn't sure exactly how far the stone's anti-magic reached—she hoped it was far enough that this infuriating being would hit the ground outside.

Finally she heard, with some disappointment, one last snap and a magical pop. There was no wet sound of a body hitting stone. A moment too late, the door burst open and two storm creatures came charging in with weapons at the ready. One sniffed the air hungrily.

Tempest snorted angrily and scrubbed some of the fried egg off of her muzzle.

"Never mind. Get out."

She hadn't planned to show her trump card so early; but then, she hadn't expected such a bold opening move from the Equestrians. She'd have to adjust her plans to include this new threat.

A bright white light appeared near the high ceiling of the map room, and Discord came crashing down on top of the table, eliciting surprised gasps from the ponies gathered there.

The draconequus groaned and snapped his fingers, summoning two comically large bags of ice, which he held to either side of his rapidly-swelling face.

"Discord!" Fluttershy gasped. She flew over to look at his injuries. "What happened?!"

"This might be tougher than we thought," the defeated god admitted.

Darkness Falls

"Yer kiddin' me," a flabbergasted Applejack said. "This Tempest Shadow varmint whupped Discord?"

"She did not 'whup' me," Discord replied petulantly, "she cheated!"

"Oh, yes," Rarity said sardonically, "because everypony knows that you're all about playing fair."

"I am!" Discord protested. "My games have rules, and there's always a way to win." He hoisted himself upright and sat on the edge of the table, holding one of the ice packs to his jaw. "Think about it; if I just played to win, then I would never lose. How boring would that be?"

"Except you lost to Tempest Shadow," Starlight pointed out. "Or were you playing games with her, too?"

"I, er, may have been having a bit of fun with her," Discord admitted, "but you should have seen that pony! So grim, so serious." He swiped a hand over his face, and his usual mismatched visage was replaced with a dark purple, fiercely scowling version of itself, with a reddish scar across one eye. He swiped his hand again and was back to normal except for the scar. Discord poked at it confusedly and found that it was made of licorice. He peeled it off and ate it, much to the disgust of the others in the room.

"Honestly, she should have thanked me for lightening the mood. This was completely uncalled for." He gestured at his bruised and swollen cheeks.

The assembled ponies, most of whom had imagined bucking Discord in the face more than once, weren't so sure about that.

"How did she beat you?" Fluttershy asked. "I know she's strong, but I can't imagine any pony being a match for you."

"Well, you're certainly right about that," Discord preened. "No, she has a stone that stops all nearby magic, even mine. She claimed it was a piece of good old Queen Chrysalis's throne." He cast a meaningful look at Starlight Glimmer, who groaned as she remembered the frustrating, magicless adventure they'd had together. "Without my chaos magic I'm no more than a dashingly handsome, dazzlingly brilliant draconequus."

"Did you at least see the princesses?" Rarity asked nervously. "Is Twilight... well, I suppose 'okay' wouldn't be the word for it, but is she still, erm, in one piece?"

"Oh, no, I didn't get that far," Discord waved a hand dismissively. "After running afoul of Tempest Shadow's underhoofed tactics, I had to, ahem, make a tactical retreat."

"Wait," Starlight said. Her suddenly frigid voice silenced all the others. "You went after Tempest first?"

Discord raised one eyebrow curiously, not yet seeing the problem. "Yes?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Starlight slammed her front hooves down on the table, causing even Discord to jump. "You could have saved Twilight! You could have saved all of the princesses in an instant, and instead you went looking for a fight? What were you thinking?" she screamed.

"Well, I certainly wasn't thinking that some broken-horned unicorn was going to hand my tail to me!" Discord said defensively. "I was going to have my fun, then rescue your little friends and be back in time for Ogres and Oubliettes." He glanced around at five angry faces and, worst of all, one disappointed one. His heart sank as he realized the depth of his mistake.

"I suppose O&O is cancelled this week?" he finished with a lame attempt at a joke.

"Oh, Discord." Fluttershy shook her head sadly.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence.

"Well," the ever-practical Applejack snapped them back to reality, "we cain't risk sendin' him back. They'll be ready for 'im now, so ah guess we're back to Plan A."

Starlight simply seethed, her hooves still up on the table and her eyes boring holes through Discord. She tried to find words to say to him, but nothing seemed to encompass what his reckless, arrogant stupidity had just cost them. She ground her teeth together and breathed heavily through her nose until a pink hoof fell softly on her shoulder.

"Hey," Pinkie said, unusually quietly for her, "getting grouchy with each other won't change what happened. Twilight's gonna need all of us working together on this." She used her forehooves to force Starlight's mouth into an exaggerated smile. "There, that's the face we need!"

Starlight spun away and stomped toward the door of the Map Room.

"I've got a lot of work to do," she said coldly. "Come find me if you need me."

She opened the doors with her magic, then slammed them hard enough that the other ponies all winced. An uncomfortable silence filled the room, and even Discord seemed subdued.

"What has gotten into her?" Rarity asked a few seconds later. "I know we're all worried about Twilight, but she seems to be taking this especially hard."

"Well," Fluttershy said, "I suppose her relationship with Twilight isn't quite like ours. Twilight's our friend, but she's Starlight's teacher. It must be scary to see somepony you look up to so much..." she broke off and shook her head slowly, unwilling to voice what had happened to Twilight.

"Or maybe she's just not as good at hiding it," Pinkie said softly.

"She always has been rather emotional, hasn't she?" Discord added.

"Believe me, you really don't want to get involved in this right now," Rarity snapped at him.

"Humph. Rude," Discord replied. "You do still need my help, don't you?"

"I think you've helped quite enough," Rarity shot back.

"No, he hasn't," Fluttershy cut in firmly. "If Discord doesn't take care of moving the sun and moon, Equestria could be doomed before we ever save Twilight and the princesses. I know we're all disappointed that things didn't go as well as we hoped, but that's all the more reason why we need everyone doing what they can."

Rarity sighed and massaged her aching temples with a forehoof. She wanted nothing more than to walk away from all of this and pamper herself at the spa for a few hours. No, she internally corrected herself, she wanted nothing more than to have Twilight home safely and all of this horridness over with; but the spa was a close second.

"You're right, of course," she said. She swallowed her pride and turned to look at Discord. "I apologize for my, erm, uncouth words. If you could find it in your heart to help us, we would be most grateful."

"Well," Discord stroked his beard mock-thoughtfully. Every pass of his talons created a sound like a duck quacking. "Since you asked so nicely." He raised his paw and snapped.

The castle was suddenly plunged into darkness as the sun plummeted out of the sky. Ponies screamed at the sudden change, and the makeshift living area was filled with a mix of panicked yelling and hopeful chatter.

Some ponies exclaimed that, if the sun had set, then the princesses must be back! Others argued that there was no way Celestia had lowered the sun. First of all, she never lowered it that quickly. Secondly, it was the middle of the morning. And finally, if the princesses were free, why hadn't the moon risen?

That last point was rendered moot as the moon shot into the sky, lighting the world with its softer glow. Still, something was very wrong. The princesses always raised and lowered their charges slowly, gently. This was more like someone forcing them into place.

All the commotion was like claws on a chalkboard to Starlight Glimmer, who only just managed to stop herself from screaming at the nearest refugee. What in Tartarus had that draconequus done now? It was true that they needed some night, a chance for the world to cool off, but it was nowhere near dusk. Was it just going to be day and night whenever Discord felt like it now? That would be just as bad as endless daytime. Why were they all so incompetent?

"Hey, Starlight?" Spike tapped her gently on the shoulder, and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"What?" she snapped. The young dragon didn't flinch from her temper.

"You seem, uh... you seem like you could use a break," Spike said as tactfully as he could manage. "The royal guards and I can handle things here for a while. Why don't you go take a nap or something?"

Starlight nearly laughed at the absurdity of it. The baby dragon is sending me to bed?

But then, Starlight asked herself, was he wrong? Was she in any shape to help these ponies right now, or was she just going to vent her anger at whoever asked her for something next? Besides, a nap did sound really nice right then.

It's night, after all, Starlight thought bitterly. You're supposed to sleep at night. She snorted angrily and turned away from the crowd of refugees to seek the peace and quiet of her own bedroom. She'd barely rounded the corner when galloping hoofbeats announced Trixie's arrival beside her.

So much for peace and quiet. There tended to be very little of either when the showpony was around.

"What do you want, Trixie?" Starlight asked tiredly.

"Trixie merely wants to make sure that her friend is okay," the magician answered.

"I'm just tired," Starlight reassured her. "I'm going to take a nap, and I don't need an escort."

"A nap? You slept almost the whole way back from Riverbend," Trixie said.

Starlight rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, on a train. It wasn't the most restful sleep ever, and we've been working for hours to get all these ponies settled in."

Trixie frowned and stared at her friend, as if looking for something in the sunken lines of her face.

"What?" Starlight snapped.

"Trixie is⁠—I'm worried about you. You're usually so energetic, so passionate! You sometimes forget to sleep at all when you really get into something. You just aren't acting like yourself."

Starlight's temper finally erupted. She slammed her front hooves into the ground like a filly throwing a tantrum.

"I wonder why that could be?!" she nearly shouted in Trixie's face. "I mean, sure, there's an invading army occupying Canterlot. The princesses and, oh yeah, my teacher were all turned to stone, and now the sun and moon are being handled by a draconequus whom I wouldn't trust to bring me the mail! I wonder why I might be a bit upset?!"

Trixie's ears flattened and she instinctively took a half-step back, but her overbearing confidence won out. After all, she was quite used to being screamed at.

"Well," Trixie scoffed, "I can see why you don't need an escort. You're clearly handling things sooooo well on your own."

"Yes, I am!" Starlight insisted. "Yesterday was one of the worst days of my life, but I handled it just fine."

Trixie sighed dramatically.

"Are you, or are you not the student of the Princess of Friendship?" Trixie asked.

"Uh. Yes?"

"It was rhetorical. And," she held up a hoof dramatically, "is Trixie not your best friend?" She held that pose for several seconds. "Trixie actually did want an answer to that one."

"Oh. Well, yeah, of course you are." Starlight wasn't sure where all of this was going.

"Aha!" Trixie lowered her hoof to point straight at Starlight, nearly hitting her muzzle. "So why would a student of Friendship try to push away her best friend during her time of greatest need? Trixie thinks you need to review your lessons, Starlight Glimmer," she finished triumphantly.

Review my lessons? Starlight thought about what Trixie was saying. Was she really pushing her friends away at a time when she should have been leaning going to them for support? Getting help when you needed it was a basic lesson of friendship; had she completely forgotten her lessons just because Twilight wasn't there to enforce them?

Starlight ears wilted as she realized that was exactly what had happened. It was for the best that Twilight wasn't here right now, because she'd be ashamed of her pupil.

Starlight's eyes stung and she sniffled wetly.

"Huh? W⁠—wait, no, Trixie didn't mean⁠—" Trixie backpedaled as her friend broke down in front of her.

"No, you're right," Starlight choked out. She rubbed a foreleg across her watery eyes. "I'm the worst Friendship student in Equestria."

"Well, you're the only Friendship student in Equestria, so... no, that's not the point!" Trixie walked uncertainly over to Starlight and pressed against her, offering warmth and support. "Look. Trixie⁠—I mean, I can see that you're not okay. I know I'm not the best with this touchy-feely friendship stuff, but I'm not blind. I... I want to help. I just need you to tell me how." Trixie stepped back and nudged Starlight playfully. "Ms. Friendship Student."

It wasn't the most graceful speech, but Trixie really did seem to be trying, and that had to count for something. Plus, for all that they tended to fight like an old married couple, Trixie understood her in a way that nopony else seemed to. Starlight sniffled again and took a deep, shuddering breath, forcing herself back under control.

"All right," she finally said, her voice raspy with grief, "but I'm not having a meltdown out here. Come on." She continued down the hallway, making for her room.

"A... meltdown?" Trixie muttered nervously, but followed anyway.

Across the Crystal Mountains

Author's Note

It's my birthday, and 2 years to the day since I last updated this fic, so this seems appropriate.

I don't have as much of a backlog as I'd like, but if I don't get this thing going again, I never will.

Welcome back!

Across the Crystal Mountains

"There it is." Fleetfoot pointed toward the only known path through the Crystal Mountains. Rainbow Dash and Surprise peeked around the edge of the cloud they were hiding behind to study the situation. All three were in their Wonderbolts outfits; partly because it was the closest thing they had to military uniforms, but mostly to hide their very-noticeable contrails.

As expected, there was an airship hovering directly in front of the pass to make sure no one could sneak a message north. Whether traveling by train, hoof, or wing, anypony trying to reach the Crystal Empire would have to go directly past that ship and whatever weapons it was equipped with.

Rainbow Dash sank heavily into the soft cloud and stretched her aching wings, trying to shake the fatigue out of them. They'd been flying since morning, and it was now nearly evening—by the clock, anyway. It had been dark for hours already.

"You okay?" Surprise whispered into her ear.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Rainbow lied. She'd pushed herself to her limit yesterday to reach the Wonderbolts, and the day before flying everypony down the mountain. Her wings were screaming at her, and she was worried that if she didn't get to rest soon she'd seriously injure herself.

None of that mattered right now, though. Her friends—no, her whole kingdom—were counting on her to get this message through to Cadance and Shining Armor. She just had to make this one last flight.

"Dash," Fleetfoot said quietly, "you've had a closer encounter with these airships than most of us. What do you think?"

Rainbow pulled herself up to take another look. The airship was hovering in the center of the pass, too high to fly over, with a clear view of the ground below.

"Crud," Rainbow Dash groaned. "There's no way we're getting past without them seeing us, and those things are faster than they look. Racing it would be way too risky."

"What we really need," Fleetfoot mused, "is something to draw their attention. A distraction, or—"

"Or a surprise!" Surprise squealed. "Fleetfoot, you and I can get it away from the pass, then Dash sneaks in behind it."

"No, no, way too risky," Fleetfoot answered. "What if they see Dash and chase her instead? What if they catch us?"

"I could outrun it with a sonic rainboom," Rainbow Dash said. For the first time since the Young Flyers' Competition years ago, she was reluctant to try the stunt, but it would certainly give her enough speed to get away from that airship.

Surprise frowned. The expression looked strange on her, like she hadn't had a lot of practice with it.

"Can you do that right now?" she asked, with a glance toward Rainbow's trembling wings.

Rainbow Dash swallowed hard, but nodded.

"Yeah. No problem."

Fleetfoot looked at her suspiciously, but finally nodded in agreement.

"Okay then, here's the plan!" Surprise chirped. "Fleetfoot and I make like we're trying to get through the mountains. We get the airship to chase us, then Dash rainbooms her way straight through!"

"Once Dash gets past, you and I split up and meet back at Cloudsdale," Fleetfoot added.

"Split up?" Surprise tilted her head in confusion. "Why would we do that?"

"Because," the other pegasus said with a heavy sigh, "the ship can't chase us both. This way at least one of us is sure to get back."

"O...oh," Surprise answered, suddenly subdued. "I don't think I like this plan anymore."

"It's the only one we've got," Fleetfoot answered grimly. "Dash, you ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready." Rainbow swallowed hard and gave her burning wings one last stretch before the last push.

"Okay. Surprise, one dive bomb and then we book it away from the canyon. Follow my lead."

The other two Wonderbolts took off, trailing stormy gray clouds behind them. They soon shrank to small, dark shapes against the backdrop of the airship.

Rainbow watched anxiously as the two pegasi dove at the ship, passing close over the deck to buzz whatever monsters were crewing it. They cleared the deck safely and shot off away from the canyon.

Come on, come on! Rainbow mentally willed the dull creatures to take the bait. Her prayers were answered a moment later as the ship clumsily turned to point toward the retreating pegasi. Unfortunately, she knew from experience that what those ships lacked in handling, they more than made up for in airspeed. She'd have to race for the pass as soon as she dared.

Rainbow Dash licked her lips and resettled her flight goggles over her eyes. The ship was moving. She'd have an opening soon.

Three... two... one... now!

Rainbow Dash leaped from the cloud and spread her wings, catching an updraft from the rocks below and gliding easily toward the canyon. She had to save all of her strength in case she needed to use the rainboom, but she was hoping desperately that it wouldn't come to that.

For one sweet minute, she actually thought their ploy had worked. The airship continued to chase Fleetfoot and Surprise, leaving the pass wide open for Dash. She soared toward it as quickly as the wind could carry her. When the ship started gaining on her fellow Wonderbolts they broke formation, shooting upward and then splitting off in opposite directions. The ship starting turning toward Fleetfoot, evidently pegging her as the leader.

Then it kept turning.

Oh, crud.

It was facing directly toward the pass and Rainbow Dash.

Dash put on a burst of speed, which she quickly regretted as her wings screamed from the added effort. The ship was closing fast. Rainbow squinted in confusion as she saw that it wasn't crewed by those huge gray monsters after all, but by smaller, more colorful creatures that she couldn't quite make out from this distance. It was a mystery for another time.

Rainbow looked toward the ground and grimaced. On a good day, this would be more than enough height to build speed for a sonic rainboom. Today... well, it would have to do.

She angled her nose toward the ground and flapped hard. A contrail immediately sprang out behind her, the flight suit turning it into the Wonderbolts' signature dark clouds. She pushed harder, bending all of her willpower and all of her awesomeness toward this one thing. Just this one last thing, then she could rest.

A cone of pressure started forming around her muzzle. The pain in her wings faded to insignificance as she flapped even harder. The quickly-approaching ground didn't matter. Nothing mattered except breaking through the sound barrier and reaching the Crystal Empire.

The ground was only a few hundred feet away. If she hit it at this speed she'd be splattered like an insect under a careless hoof. She gritted her teeth and went even faster. Two hundred feet. One hundred.

Finally, it happened. With a sound like an explosion and a quickly-expanding circle of clouds, Rainbow Dash pulled off the hardest sonic rainboom of her life. She made a sharp turn in midair and rocketed straight through the valley, dangerously close to the ground and the walls. Not even the Storm King's airships could hope to keep up with her now.

The rock walls zipped past too quickly to see as Dash left her pursuers in the dust. Soon the large airship was a tiny speck at the far end of the of the canyon, and a moment later she emerged into the fields around the Empire. She could just make out the Crystal Castle in the distance. At this speed, she'd be there in no time.

Suddenly, she felt a sickening pop in her right wing, and an all-too-familiar pain shot out from it. She screamed in agony and involuntarily clutched the wing to her side, sending her into a high-speed spin. She fought desperately to regain control, but slammed hard into the ground. She bounced across the grass like a stone skipping across a pond, tearing her flight suit to shreds in the process. Finally she skidded to a stop in a cloud of dust.

Was she hurt? She had to be; nopony came through a crash like that without some broken bones at least. But she couldn't feel anything.

Spitfire was going to kill her, once she got done shouting about Rainbow ending up in a full wing and body cast, drinking through a straw. Wait, where was Spitfire? She was usually at these... practices? Was that where Rainbow was?

How had the crash happened? What was she doing here? She had to tell... somepony... something...

The world spun around her before fading mercifully to black.

"This had better be good news," the Storm King's magically-transmitted image threatened. "You could not imagine the day I've had. Would you believe that this stupid airship didn't stock enough peanuts for the trip?"

Tempest Shadow didn't even bother responding to that.

"The situation is under control," she reported. "But I think the ponies may try to get a message through to the Crystal Empire."

"You got airships on the border?" the Storm King asked.

"Yes, sir. Guarding the only pass through the mountains."

"Then whattaya worried about?"

Tempest shook her head slowly. "There's more. Discord is helping the ponies."

"Discord?" The Storm King scratched his chin with one claw. "Discord... Nope, I got nothin'."

Tempest Shadow closed her eyes so the Storm King wouldn't see them rolling.

"The lord of chaos?" she reminded her slow-witted boss.

"Right, right, him." The Storm King's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah, that could be a problem. Is that why the moon's up all of a sudden?"

"The anti-magic stone works against him," Tempest reported. "Without his magic, he's no threat. Unfortunately we've only got the one stone; I've put it in the throne room so he can't take the princesses out."

"Good. Yeah, that's good."

Except that means that I'll be defenseless if he comes after me again, she thought ruefully. The Storm King either hadn't thought of that little problem or didn't care about it.

"Anything else?" the Storm King demanded.

"No, sir. Discord's interference aside, things are proceeding as planned."

"Good."

As the Storm King was reaching out to brush away the cloud of magic, there was a tentative knock at the door of Tempest's office. Tempest glanced over her shoulder, but didn't move toward the door.

"Well?" her boss prompted. "Go on, answer it."

Tempest sighed. "I'm sure it's nothing interesting, sir. I get reports from underlings all the time." You would too, if you actually cared about ruling your empire.

"Well, hey, this underling's in luck, then. He can give his report straight to the big guy!" the Storm King answered.

Tempest took a slow breath to calm her temper, then turned toward the door.

"Enter!"

The door opened and Grubber shuffled in nervously. He was wringing his hands and looking anywhere but at Tempest. That couldn't be a good sign.

"Report, Grubber," Tempest ordered. "And mind your manners." She jerked her head toward the image of the Storm King.

Grubber looked up and yelped as he finally noticed that they weren't alone in the room. He immediately dropped to his knees and babbled some nonsense about the Storm King's awesome mighty awesomeness.

"Report!" Tempest snapped.

"Right. Uh. Report. Yeah. So, uh, Celeano just messaged us that a, uh—" he cleared his throat nervously, "—a pegasus... uh, got through the Crystal Mountains?"

"WHAT?!" the Storm King and Tempest Shadow roared in stereo. Grubber screamed and threw himself prostrate onto the floor.

"A pegasus got through the Crystal Mountains!" he sobbed. "I'm sorry, Tempest! I'm sorry, Your Royal Majestic Kingliness!"

Tempest ground her teeth together.

"Get up, Grubber," she said coldly, before turning back to the Storm King. "We planned for this, remember," she told her boss. "The odds of the Crystal Army reaching Canterlot before you do are almost zero."

"Almost zero," the Storm King growled. "Not zero. If I get there and find a bunch of sparkly, lovey-dovey crystal ponies running around, you can forget about your horn!"

A sharp spike of rage stabbed Tempest's heart, but her face remained stony. "Not a problem, sir," she answered through gritted teeth. "I promise you, there won't be a single Crystal Empire soldier in the city."

"There had better not be. So get back to work!" He angrily swiped a claw through the magical smoke, severing the transmission.

Tempest stood frozen in place. She was distantly surprised to realize that she was shaking—was it with fury or fear?

"Uh... Tempest?" Grubber hesitantly reached a claw toward her shoulder. "You okay?"

Tempest snorted and knocked his hand away with a swing of her head.

"I'm fine," she snarled. "Let them come! Discord, the Crystal Army, all of them. They won't take this away from me."

She stormed out of the room, with Grubber scurrying behind her.

Caring

A scream that had been building since the Friendship Festival tore its way out of Starlight Glimmer's throat.

"That irresponsible—" she kicked over a small wooden chair, "shortsighted—" she telekinetically hurled a pillow across her bedroom, narrowly missing Trixie's head, "stupid. Bucking. Draconequus!" she shrieked.

"Uh, Starlight?" Trixie began, but her friend didn't seem to hear.

"All he had to do was snap his fingers and bring the princesses here, but no. Instead, he picks a fight with somepony who beat four alicorns at once!"

The rest of her pillows and blankets flew off of her bed in a tornado of furious magical energy.

"And he can't go back and try again, because now they're ready for him."

She threw herself onto the now completely unmade bed, and slammed her front hooves into the bare mattress.

"Well, I say send him back anyway. Let him fight Tempest Shadow, since that's apparently what he wants to do! It'd serve him right if he got killed!"

Starlight gasped and clapped a hoof over her muzzle. "I didn't mean that," she added in a hoarse whisper.

Trixie cleared her throat. "May Trixie speak now?" she asked.

"Uh." Starlight awkwardly cleared her own throat. "Yeah. Go ahead."

Trixie picked her way across the wreckage of Starlight's room to sit next to her on the bed. She sat there silently for several uncomfortable seconds. Once she reached out a hoof to stroke Starlight's mane, but stopped before she touched it. Finally, Trixie sighed.

"Trixie doesn't know what to say," she admitted. "She could use some help from a friendship student."

"Fine then," Starlight mumbled into her hooves, "first lesson: Figure out what your friend needs."

"Got it! So, what does my great and powerful friend need?"

"Somepony who's upset will usually want either solutions or distractions," Starlight answered mechanically, reciting something she'd heard from Twilight.

Trixie rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She couldn't see any solutions to Starlight's problems, but distractions were her specialty. But what to distract her with? Trixie's stage experience told her that fireworks and magic tricks wouldn't quite fit the moment.

No, this was a situation she'd never been in before; that meant she'd need to do something she'd never tried before. She only had one idea, and it was a risky one. Then again, what was life without a little risk? Besides, that orange one—Pumpkin Bumpkin or something—was always going on about honesty.

Trixie decided that she'd go for it: She'd speak from her heart.

"Starlight Glimmer, you are an amazing unicorn."

"I... huh?" Whatever Starlight had been expecting her friend to say, it certainly hadn't been that.

"Trixie means it. You're brilliant, and passionate, and the best magician Trixie knows."

"Trixie, what—?" Starlight sniffled.

"And you're kind, and caring, and so, so loyal," she continued, riding right over whatever Starlight had been about to say. "In fact, you love your friends so much that you go totally nuts when something gets between you and them."

Starlight choked out a sound that was somewhere in the middle of a laugh and a sob.

"Is that what's happening here?" Starlight asked with a half-smile. "Am I going totally nuts?"

"Well..." Trixie looked around at the bedding and furniture that her friend had thrown all over the room, "maybe not totally nuts," she said with a wink.

Starlight snorted quietly, and buried her head back into her forelegs.

"How do they do it, Trix?" she mumbled. "Even Spike's handling all of this better than me. And they're all acting like Discord didn't do anything wrong, but I don't see how I can ever forgive him. If I'm so amazing, why is this so hard?"

"Well, I'm still friends with you, Ms. Former Cult Leader." She playfully nudged Starlight.

Starlight rolled over to look at Trixie and arched an eyebrow.

"Back at you, Ruler of Ponyville."

"Mind controller!" Trixie fired back.

"Ursa-slayer fraud!"

"Timeline destroyer!"

"Arrogant...! Okay, you win," Starlight chuckled. "I get the point, anyway. We've both made terrible mistakes, but we're still friends. So Discord deserves another chance, too."

"Oh. I thought we were just bickering," Trixie replied.

Starlight laughed again and scrubbed her face with a foreleg. The fur under her eyes was matted and crusty from crying—but now, for the first time in days, she had a genuine smile on her muzzle. Struck by sudden inspiration, she levitated over a scrap of paper and a quill.

"That was an excellent application of both Honesty and Laughter. Well done." Starlight said in her best impression of Twilight Sparkle. She scribbled something on the paper, then floated it over to Trixie. It simply read, A+.

Trixie stared at the paper, and Starlight stared at Trixie. They locked eyes, and both broke down laughing.

"Oh, gosh, I needed this," Starlight said through her laughter. "Thanks for talking me down."

"Of course." Trixie bowed dramatically. "After all, is Trixie not the greatest talker-downer in all of Equestria?"

"Don't push it," Starlight muttered, still smiling. She rolled back onto her stomach and hopped down off the bed. "Anyway, I should really get back to work. We've still got a lot of preparations to make."

"Oh, alright then," Trixie sighed. "Ponies' lives, future of Equestria, et cetera." She slid down off the bed as well.

"Something like that, yeah," Starlight answered.

Trixie reached out one foreleg.

"Hug first?"

Starlight eyed her friend's hoof uncertainly for a moment. She'd never been terribly comfortable with displays of affection, but... well, there was nopony else around. And this was Trixie.

"Okay. Hug first."

Starlight stepped in and pulled Trixie close. She leaned her head into the powder-blue fur of her friend's shoulder, taking a moment to simply enjoy the warmth and the softness of it. With one ear pressed against Trixie, she faintly heard the other unicorn's happy sigh.

Starlight glanced up and froze. Trixie was looking back at her through half-closed eyes, a serene smile on her muzzle.

"Trixie?" Starlight asked uncertainly.

"Hmm?" Trixie's dreamy expression didn't change.

Starlight felt a faint heat rising in her own face, and hastily pulled away.

"Nothing! Nothing." She cleared her throat. "Just, I should... I should—" she disappeared in a flash of teal magic.

Trixie stood rooted to the spot, staring at where her best friend had been a moment ago. She slowly scratched one side of her head.

"The door was right behind you, y'know," she said to the empty air.

Rainbow Dash awoke to pain. Her wings hurt, her body hurt, her head hurt, even her feathers hurt. She tried to move and found herself tightly restrained.

"What the—aaagh!" A blinding flash of pain shot through one of her hind legs as she struggled. With the pain came panic; had she been captured?

Suddenly a firm but gentle hoof was pressing her back down.

"Easy, Miss," a deep male voice said softly. "You're safe here."

The ground gave slightly underneath her, and Rainbow realized that she was lying in a bed. Her wings and body were tightly bound with bandages, and her back right leg was elevated in a sling. The pony holding her down—a pony, not one of Tempest's monsters—was wearing a nurse's outfit, and had a stethoscope around his neck.

She was in a hospital.

"Where—" She cleared her throat and tried again. "Where am I?"

The pony, an off-white pegasus stallion, smiled down at her.

"You're in Lucent Hospital, in the Crystal Empire. I'm Nurse Cloudtail."

"Rainbow Dash," she croaked through a painfully dry throat.

"Oh, I know who you are, Ms. Dash," Cloudtail answered. "Half the Empire saw your Sonic Rainboom over the mountains. We saw you go down, too. After a crash at that speed, you're lucky to be alive."

Rainbow groaned. She certainly didn't feel lucky, but she was alive and in the Crystal Empire. Mission accomplished, more or less.

"Well," she said, making a futile attempt to sound nonchalant, "thanks for patching me up, but I've gotta talk to Shining Armor."

She tried again to sit up, and immediately realized that she had two problems. First of all, she was tightly strapped to the bed, probably so that she wouldn't hurt herself any further by moving around. Second, the restraints were hardly necessary; she was so exhausted and sore that she could barely have moved anyway.

Cloudtail, no doubt aware of both of those problems, lifted his eyebrows.

"Miss Dash, you'd need a miracle to even get out of that bed right now, let alone to the Crystal Castle. If you've got a message for the prince, I can see that it gets to him."

Rainbow shook her head, then immediately regretted it as the room spun around her. On top of everything else, she probably had a concussion.

"The message is top secret. I can't trust it to anypony else," she croaked.

"Then I'm afraid I don't know what to tell you," Cloudtail replied. "You've got a broken leg, three broken ribs, and too many other injuries to count. You're not leaving this hospital anytime soon."

Rainbow tried to think, to force her hazy thoughts into a plan of action. She closed her eyes to concentrate, but immediately opened them again as vertigo overwhelmed her. She settled for chewing on her lower lip instead.

"Okay, how about this?" she said after a minute. "I'll write a letter for Shining Armor and seal it myself. I'll say in the letter that if the seal's broken, he should arrest whoever gave it to him." It was both a plan for herself and a warning for Cloudtail.

The nurse's face turned even whiter, if that were possible, but he nodded slowly. "Yeah. That'll work. There's some paper and a quill in the nightstand next to you."

The nightstand was on Rainbow's left side, and thankfully her left foreleg was relatively unhurt—achy and bruised, but nothing seemed broken. After some fumbling, she managed to drag out a piece of paper and a quill to write with. She had to awkwardly balance the paper against her hoof so she could write using her mouth, and her writing came out even messier than usual, but at least it was legible.

Rainbow recognized that this letter wasn't a perfect solution, since whoever she gave it to could just neglect to give it to the prince, but it was as good as she was going to get. Besides, she reasoned, if all of this was somehow a setup by Tempest Shadow, it wasn't like her letter would say anything that Tempest didn't already know.

She finished the brief letter, signed it with her name and a crude sketch of her cutie mark, and folded it up as best she could.

"Wax?" she asked Cloudtail.

"I'll bring you some," he promised. The stallion glanced around nervously, then asked, "So, what exactly have I gotten myself into, here?"

"You? Hopefully nothing," Rainbow answered. "Just make sure this letter gets to Shining Armor, and we'll take it from there." She felt a twinge of guilt as she said that—it was the truth, but if those monsters decided to come through the mountains after her, then Cloudtail and every other pony in the Empire might find themselves involved.

It won't come to that, she tried to reassure herself. They wouldn't dare to fight a two-front war against Equestria and the Crystal Empire. She hoped.

Rainbow placed the folded letter on the nightstand to wait for its wax seal, then turned back to look at Cloudtail. She swallowed hard; now it was her turn to ask a question that she really wasn't sure she wanted the answer to.

"So," she started hesitantly, "when I was flying, right before I crashed, I felt... I felt something in my wing break. That was why I crashed, actually."

Cloudtail nodded grimly. "You've torn the tricep in your right wing, and broken bones in both of them. I wasn't going to bring it up until you'd recovered a bit."

The blood drained from Rainbow's face. That was a really serious injury.

"So, will it heal? I mean, will I... will I fly again?" Her voice was practically a whisper.

Cloudtail took a deep breath.

"Look, Ms. Dash, I'm not qualified to give a prognosis on that. Once you're up and about, we'll have you meet with our physical therapist."

"No, wait," Rainbow replied, her voice edging upward toward panic, "flying is my life. I mean, I'm a Wonderbolt, for pony's sake! I can't be grounded!" her voice cracked desperately.

"I'm not saying that you're grounded," Cloudtail answered firmly. Then he looked away. "But, between the muscle damage, the broken bones, and everything else, you might want to prepare yourself for that possibility."

Prepare myself... to never fly again?

She felt an impossibly deep chasm opening up beneath her—a chasm that she couldn't fly out of with her ruined wing. Her chest was squeezing in on itself; her breath came short and sharp as she struggled to fill her crushed lungs. Her heart was hammering like she'd just flown a hundred miles, and yet the blood didn't seem to be reaching her extremities—her hooves and wingtips were strangely numb and tingly. Some part of her distantly recognized the symptoms of a panic attack.

"Ms. Dash?"

Cloudtail's voice was a faint, distant echo through the rushing in her ears. He leaned over to look at her more closely, but she couldn't seem to make out any details of his face. He was just a formless, meaningless white blob standing over her.

"Rainbow Dash."

This time his voice was louder, firmer. The sound of her full name cut through some of her panicked haze.

"Rainbow Dash, look at me," Cloudtail instructed. "Listen to the sound of my voice. Focus on me, and nothing else."

The other pegasus's features slowly clarified in Rainbow's vision.

"Good. Now breathe as slowly and as deeply as you can."

She obeyed as best she could. It was still a struggle to get air into her cramping chest, but eventually her heart began slowing down. Her breath came a little more easily.

"Are you okay?" Cloudtail asked after a few minutes of deep breathing.

No.

"Yeah. I'm good."

The nurse nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry to have brought that up. I just think you should be ready for the worst. Just in case."

"Yeah."

There was a long moment of silence, finally broken when Cloudtail scuffed a hoof on the floor.

"I'll, uh. I'll get you your wax. Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

Rainbow knew that she should have been starving after so much exertion, but all she felt in her stomach was a cold ball of dread. She was desperately thirsty, though.

"Yeah, some water would be great."

"Of course. I'll be right back."

Nurse Cloudtail left and shut the door behind him, leaving Rainbow Dash alone with her thoughts and pains.

Starlight teleported herself into the Map Room; one of the few places that she and Spike had declared off-limits to the refugees. She'd been hoping for a moment alone, but Spike and the dusky-blue unicorn guard—Aurora, she remembered—were in there as well.

Spike, who'd spent his entire life around a powerful magician, didn't even look up from whatever he was working on when Starlight suddenly teleported in. Aurora, on the other hoof, leaped to place herself between Spike and the "intruder" before she realized who it was.

"Are you okay, ma'am—er, Starlight?" Aurora asked. "Is there trouble?"

"Wha—uh, yeah. Yes, I'm fine," Starlight stammered. "No trouble."

No trouble, she repeated mentally. Of course there was no trouble. Trixie hadn't been looking at her like... like that. And Starlight certainly hadn't felt a rising blush and a warm flutter in her stomach.

It was an emotionally charged moment—and not that kind of emotion! I was feeling vulnerable, not to mention exhausted. So I was imagining things. That's all that was. No trouble at all. She'd apologize to Trixie for overreacting, and that'd be the end of it.

Starlight gave herself a mental shake. She had a lot to do, and she'd wasted too much time inside her own head already.

"So," Starlight said to Spike and Aurora, "how are the preparations coming?"

"Not great," Spike grumbled.

"The refugees from Canterlot are settled in, more or less," Aurora elaborated, "and Pear Crisp arranged for a shipment of food and supplies from the town, but that's all we've got so far. Nothing extra to start stocking our fallback position in the Everfree Forest, and we've made no progress on categorizing and storing the magical artifacts in this castle."

"Leave the artifacts to me," Starlight said. "Spike, if you and the guards have things under control, I can get started on that right now."

"Good idea," Spike said, "just remember that we're meeting the others here in a few hours."

The Council of Friendship—as they were apparently calling themselves now—had planned to meet up each evening to discuss their progress and make plans.

"I know, Spike," Starlight answered with a hint of annoyance.

"Sorry," Spike replied, looking down at the ground. "I'm used to keeping track of these things for..."

For Twilight. Starlight took a deep breath and shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I guess I'm a bit on edge."

"Don't worry about it. We're all on edge." He gave her an encouraging smile, then turned his attention back to the paper in his claw. "Get started on those artifacts, and I'll see you in a few hours."

Starlight raised an eyebrow, but Spike didn't even seem to notice that he'd just given an order to somepony many times his age; somepony who also happened to be on the ruling council of Equestria.

Just look at him, Starlight thought. Spike was saying something to Aurora about supplies—saying it confidently and competently. Some time apart from Twilight is giving him a chance to shine in his own right. He's thriving, while I'm— She shook her head as despair and self-pity threatened to creep back in —while I'm going to catalogue some artifacts, and not waste more time moping about it.

Starlight left the Map Room at a brisk trot.

The Letter

Starlight approached the door to Twilight's study, trying not to think about what she had to do next. Twilight kept the list of artifacts in a magically-locked drawer in her desk. That meant that Starlight would have to invade Twilight's private study, break into a drawer that she didn't want anypony looking in, and use that information to more-or-less rob her castle. Starlight could practically feel her teacher glaring at her.

Spike had locked the door to the study so that no refugees would wander in there, but it was a mundane lock, and Starlight bypassed it with a simple teleport. However, breaking into Twilight's desk would not be so easy; only Twilight herself knew the right spell to open it, and one wrong move would set off whatever defenses she'd put on it.

Not that Twilight would use anything too nasty, Starlight figured. Her teacher was much too kind to vaporize a would-be thief.

Starlight held a small amount of magic in her horn and used it like a dowsing rod, searching for an answering vibration from the desk. Only one drawer gave the response she was looking for.

Okay then. Here goes.

Starlight channeled a wire-thin stream of magic into the lock and wiggled it around like a burglar would a lockpick. She had to figure out exactly what kind of spells her teacher had put on this—how to break them, and what they'd do to her if she failed. However, she'd barely begun her work when the drawer simply sprang open.

Starlight yelped and threw up a magical shield against whatever magic she'd triggered, but nothing happened. Slowly, moving her barrier with her, Starlight crept over and peeked into the drawer. She found that it was packed with files—carefully organized and labeled, of course—but sitting on top of them all was a sealed envelope. An envelope with Starlight's name on it.

What the hay?

If this was a trap, it was more devious than anything Twilight could come up with. Still, she couldn't help a shiver of trepidation as she dropped her shield and picked up the envelope with her magic. What if the letter was enchanted so that she could never stop reading it? What if it had been written with exploding runes? What if the paper itself were poisoned?!

Okay, stop it. Those are things that you would do, not Twilight.

She carefully unsealed the envelope and opened it. There was nothing inside but a single piece of folded paper; ordinary, non-poisoned paper covered in non-exploding writing.

Dear Starlight,

I don't know why you're looking in here, but I know you must have a good reason. I also know it's you, because if anypony except you or me tried to break my spell, everything inside the drawer would have been sent to the vault in Canterlot Castle.

Yikes, Starlight thought, we dodged a laser there. All of Twilight's most private information would have gone straight to Tempest Shadow.

Honestly, I hope you never even read this letter. If you do, I hope it's for a silly reason, like I asked you to get me a file and forgot to tell you about this.

Starlight also desperately wished that were the case.

Otherwise, I can only assume that you're trying to do something that's both important and dangerous, and for some reason I can't help.

Yeah. She sighed heavily. Nail on the head with that one.

Whatever's happening, I want you to know that I have the utmost confidence in you. If I'm gone, you have my permission and my trust to do whatever you need to do, and to act with my authority in my absence.

Starlight reeled upon reading that line. Act with Twilight's authority? This letter basically made her a princess in all but name! Twilight must have had absolute confidence in her student to even write such a thing. Confidence that, in Starlight's opinion, she'd done very little to deserve.

One last thing: Take care of Spike. If the worst has happened, he's going to need you.

A strange noise emerged from Starlight's muzzle—she couldn't tell if it was a snort or a sniffle. Take care of Spike? Fat chance; he'd been the one taking care of her.

Be well. Never forget how far you've come, and how proud I am. I love you, Starlight.

-Twilight Sparkle

This time the noise was most definitely a sniffle. A teardrop spattered onto the letter, and Starlight hastily tucked it back into its envelope to protect it from the coming flood.

Rainbow Dash lay miserably in her hospital bed. It had been several hours since Nurse Cloudtail had taken her sealed letter, and since then she hadn't seen anypony except the orderly who brought her lunch. Rainbow hadn't expected to have much of an appetite, but she'd tried a bite of the bland hospital food, and the next thing she'd known the tray had been empty.

The worst part of it all—even worse than the thought that she might never fly again—was the fact that her friends in Ponyville and the other Wonderbolts wouldn't know what had happened to her. There was no way they could risk sending a message to Equestria with those airships guarding the border, so they wouldn't know that Rainbow was alive and that she'd gotten the message through until the Crystal Army mobilized—if it ever did. If Shining Armor got the message, believed it, and decided to take action.

And what if he doesn't? Rainbow wondered for the thousandth time. What if Cloudtail isn't on the level, or Shining Armor decides that it's more important to keep the army here to protect his own kingdom? If that happened, then Equestria would have to save itself from the invaders; and it would have to do so without Celestia, Luna, Twilight, or Rainbow Dash.

Actually, maybe that was the worst part: the fact that she couldn't be there to help anymore.

With those grim thoughts whirling around her head, it took a moment for her to realize that someone had knocked on the door to her room.

"Huh?" Rainbow snapped out of her funk and squinted at the door. The privacy glass distorted the pony's silhouette, but whoever it was looked much bigger than Nurse Cloudtail, or the orderly whose name she hadn't gotten.

The pony knocked again.

"Come in?" Rainbow Dash called uncertainly. The door swung open; her eyes widened and her heart swelled with hope as she saw Shining Armor himself standing on the other side of it.

Before the prince could enter the room, two ponies in guard uniforms pushed their way in and looked around suspiciously. Rainbow couldn't imagine what they were looking for, but apparently they were satisfied that there was no one waiting to ambush the prince, because they nodded for him to come in.

"Thanks, guys," Shining Armor said to the guards. "You can wait outside."

"But, Your Highness..." one of them started to protest.

The prince looked at Rainbow Dash, bound head to hoof in bandages and casts, then over to the guards. "I think I can handle it if she tries anything," he said wryly.

"Even so, as your bodyguard, I have to—"

"Out!" Shining snapped. His eyes blazed with the fury he'd been concealing a moment ago. The two guards scrambled out of the room and shut the door behind them. Shining Armor took a breath, then turned his attention to Rainbow Dash.

"Hey, Rainbow, long time no see. How're you holding up?" he asked.

"A whole lot better now," Rainbow Dash answered with a smile. "I wasn't sure you'd get my letter."

"Oh, I got it, all right," Shining answered darkly, "and I've got a few questions."

Great. More interrogations. "Okay, shoot."

Shining Armor levitated a cushion over and sat on it—apparently this wouldn't be a short meeting. "First of all," he asked, "who or what is the Storm King?"

"I wish I could tell you," Rainbow Dash answered honestly. "He know that he's the leader of these creatures that attacked Canterlot, but that's about it."

"You haven't seen him, then?"

"No. The creatures we saw were under the command of a unicorn named Tempest Shadow."

"Hm." The prince rubbed his chin. "I don't suppose this Tempest Shadow is the Storm King?"

Rainbow chuckled at that. "No, I don't think she is."

Shining had to laugh as well. "Point taken." Then his expression turned dark again. "But, what that says to me is that the group holding Canterlot was just clearing the way for the real invasion."

"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash didn't like the sound of that one bit.

"What I mean is... look." Shining Armor's horn glowed, and a cluster of blue dots appeared in midair. "If you're leading an invading army, you don't commit all of your forces to the very first attack. If something goes wrong, then you're done." To illustrate his point, the whole collection of dots clustered together and then vanished.

"What you do, especially if you've got a VIP like this Storm King to protect, is send a small part of your army ahead to scout." The dots reappeared, this time split into two groups, one much larger than the other. A dot in the middle of the larger group now had a crown floating above it. "Best case scenario: That advance force secures a base of operations, then the rest of the army moves in." The smaller group of dots moved ahead and spread out into a wide circle, which the larger group of dots then filled in. The whole time, the dot with the crown stayed in the center of the largest cluster of dots. "It seems like that's what happened in Canterlot."

The blood drained from Rainbow Dash's face. "You mean there are more of these things coming?"

Shining Armor nodded grimly. "A lot more, is my guess."

Rainbow squashed the panic rising up inside her. "Okay," she said steadily, "then we need your help even more than I thought. Plus, if the Storm King really has that big an army, you don't want him sitting that close to the Crystal Empire. I mean—"

"Rainbow Dash." Shining held up a hoof to stop her. His normally bright eyes looked dark and hooded. "First of all, Equestria's my home, too. Second, Equestria and the Crystal Empire are allies; we'd help you no matter what. But most importantly, those monsters have Cadance and Twily." He lowered his hoof. "You don't need to convince me to fight," he concluded in a low growl.

Rainbow Dash heaved a huge sigh of relief, then winced as pain shot through her broken ribs. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that," she said. "But if you were so sure, then why did you come here? Not that I don't appreciate the company," she hastened to add.

"Well, partly to see if there was anything more you could tell me about what we're up against; but mostly because you're Twily's friend, and mine," Shining Armor answered in a much gentler voice. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I don't know about okay," she answered with a forced laugh, "but yeah, I'll live."

"I'm glad to hear that. Now, if you're up for it, I've got some more questions about the invading force."

Here we go again. Still, if this was the only way she could help, then Rainbow could handle another debriefing. At least Shining Armor would probably be less intense than Spitfire.

The lighting abruptly changed as the sun plummeted out of sight and the moon shot into the sky to take its place.

Oh, buck me. Starlight thought. She'd dived into gathering and cataloguing artifacts to distract herself, and now she was late for the Council meeting. Again.

Well, she was already late, so she might as well finish up with this one first.

She checked the object in her telekinetic field against Twilight's notes. It was a stone about the size of her hoof, made mostly of common gray limestone, but shot through with veins of an unidentified off-white rock in a roughly spiral shape.

Here it is: the Sleep Stone. Starlight checked off the artifact on her list. Abilities: Whoever touches the Sleep Stone directly will immediately fall asleep. Go figure. Handling: Any sort of barrier between you and the Sleep Stone, such as a handkerchief, will protect you from its effects and allow you to handle it safely.

Instant sleep on contact, huh? Probably not all that useful in a battle, but it could be handy if they needed to knock somepony out—Starlight indulged in a brief daydream of levitating the stone over to Tempest Shadow and touching her with it. Besides, it was small enough, and would be safe to transport as long as she wrapped it in something.

She levitated the Sleep Stone over to the small pile of artifacts that she'd decided they would take if they had to abandon the castle. That pile consisted of artifacts that were either convenient to carry with them, or too dangerous to risk leaving behind. The other, much larger pile contained artifacts that Starlight had decided would be more trouble than they were worth.

She set her list down and rubbed her stinging eyes. She'd been at this for hours, and her day wasn't over yet.

Starlight charged her horn to teleport, then glanced back at the roomful of potentially dangerous magical artifacts behind her and thought better of it. Instead, she walked out of the room, carefully closed, locked, and magically sealed the door behind her, and then teleported to the Map Room.

"But Trixie is sooooooooooooo boooooooooooooooooored!"

Starlight appeared outside the Map Room just in time to hear her closest, dearest friend complaining to the rest of the Council.

Really, Trix? Starlight thought privately. With everything going on, you're complaining about being bored?

"Well, nopony's makin' ya stay!" Applejack's distinctive twang replied.

I'd better stop this before it turns ugly. Starlight raised a hoof to open the door.

"Well," Trixie's voice came again, oddly hesitant now, "Trixie feels that... uh, she should... be here for her friend."

Starlight froze with one hoof touching the door. Trixie was thinking of somepony else? Trixie was thinking of Starlight? There was that rising heat in her face, and the fluttering in her stomach again.

The silence from inside the Map Room suggested that the others were equally shocked.

"Trixie would just like something to do while she's here," the showpony continued.

"Well, that's very nice of you." Starlight had to strain to hear Fluttershy's soft voice through the door. "She's working on cataloging the artifacts in the castle, and deciding which ones to take with us if we have to leave. Maybe you could help her with that?"

"Fluttershy, dear," Rarity immediately replied, "I don't know that Trixie is, shall we say, qualified to work with potentially dangerous magical items."

"I know!" Pinkie piped up. "You can be our Head Mare of Morale! The HMM!"

"Hmm?"

"Right! Your job is to keep everypony happy and smiling. Normally I do it myself, but between Council stuff and baking rations, I've got my hooves full. Do you know how hard it is to make cupcakes that don't go stale?"

Trixie thought it over. "So, you want Trixie to... put on shows."

"Put on shows, throw parties, and just talk to ponies," Pinkie clarified. "Whatever it takes to keep Ponyville beaming!"

"Hmm, yes, Trixie could do that."

"HMM, yes, Pinkie knows Trixie could do that!"

Starlight finally pushed open the door, and hoped that her blush had faded enough that the others wouldn't notice.

"Hi, everypony!" she called out with painfully forced cheer. "Sorry I'm late. Again. Oh, Trixie! What are you doing here?"

The Third Day

Tempest Shadow, standing on the balcony of what had once been Princess Luna's bedroom, winced and shaded her eyes as the sun shot into the sky. She assumed that the Storm King had been right—for once—and that Discord was moving the sun and moon in the princesses' absence. He certainly didn't have their fine control, though.

She narrowed her eyes and held out a hoof, which a storm creature promptly placed a spyglass into. She raised the glass to her eye and looked north, toward the mountains. Toward the Crystal Empire.

She hadn't slept since Grubber had delivered Celeano's report. There was too much to prepare, too many ways that this could still fall apart around her. If the Crystal Army somehow reached Canterlot before the Storm King did, she'd have a hell of a fight on her hooves, and she'd have to win it if she wanted her horn back. If Discord returned, it could be even worse. The princesses were protected by the anti-magic stone, but the rest of Canterlot was defenseless against his chaos.

Thankfully, it seemed that Tempest's initial shows of strength had been enough to cow the ponies of Equestria, at least for a while. There had been no reports of Discord, nor of any chaotic phenomena aside from the sun and moon. No organized resistance had risen up to retake Canterlot, and the pass through the Crystal Mountains was still empty.

Too late for them now. It's over. Even if the Crystal Army emerged from the mountains right this second, they'd never reach Canterlot before the Storm King landed and claimed the princesses' magic. One sleepless night was a small price to pay for that certainty.

Tempest nodded to herself in satisfaction. She turned to reenter the palace, then stopped in surprise. Grubber lay huddled up against the wall, snoring faintly. She'd dismissed him hours ago. Had the stunted little storm beast been following her around all night just in case she needed something? Had she been so distracted with her preparations that she hadn't even noticed?

That kind of inattention will get you killed, Tempest angrily scolded herself. What if it had been an assassin following her, rather than her assistant?

She raised a hoof to shake the little creature awake, then slowly set it back down.

Let him sleep, she thought. She didn't need him for anything now. There was nothing left to do but wait. Besides, Grubber would need his wits about him—such as they were—when the Storm King arrived in a few hours.

A few hours... In just a few hours the Storm King would take the alicorn magic that she'd secured for him, and then grant her deepest desire. By midday today she'd be a complete unicorn again, for the first time since fillyhood.

Shouldn't she feel something about that?

"—you, she's not fit to travel!"

Rainbow Dash's ear twitched as Cloudtail's angry shouting reached her. She couldn't hear whatever the other pony said in reply. She could, however, hear at least two sets of hoofsteps steadily approaching her room.

The door opened, revealing a red-faced Cloudtail shouting at a very put-upon Crystal Guard: An orange pegasus with blue hair whom Rainbow Dash had met before.

"Hey Flash," she called out with as nonchalant a nod as she could manage while bound head-to-hoof in casts and bandages.

"Hello, Ms. Dash," he replied with a formal bow. "It's good to see you. Though I wish it didn't have to be here." He gestured at the hospital room.

"Same here, trust me," Rainbow answered. "And I don't care how many broken bones I have, if you call me 'Ms. Dash' again, I'll find a way to smack you."

"Yes, well," Cloudtail butted in both verbally and physically as he pushed his way into the room, "the fact is that you do have broken bones; a lot of them. Now Mr. Sentry here is trying to tell me that you're to be taken back to Equestria?!"

"Yep," she answered casually. "Prince's orders."

Cloudtail snorted angrily. "Well, doctor's orders are that you stay here for at least another two weeks. Minimum! You need bed rest—in a proper bed, not some camp cot—and professional treatment."

"Nurse, please," Flash said in a tone that suggested he was talking to a foal throwing a tantrum, "our field medics—"

"Can't provide the kind of care she needs! Not to mention that the travel itself could cause further injury. And if there were an accident..."

"Cloudtail," Dash cut in sharply, "Equestria needs me. My friends need me. I know the risks, and I'm going."

"Rainbow Dash!" Cloudtail snapped, then stopped himself. "Rainbow Dash," he tried again, more calmly, "before you make this decision, I just want you to remember how scared you were at the thought of never flying again. I want you to understand that, if you make this trip, you're making that outcome a lot more likely."

"Yeah, I kinda figured," she answered quietly, "but what's going on in Equestria right now is way bigger than me. If there's any way I can still help, then I gotta be there. Going with the army could be my only chance to get back."

"Haven't you done enough?" Cloudtail pleaded. His face fell as Rainbow shook her head.

"If Tempest Shadow and her monsters are still there, then no, I haven't."

"...Fine," Cloudtail finally relented with a heavy sigh. "If you want to ground yourself for life, I can't stop you. Just promise me that you'll get back to your treatment as soon as possible."

She nodded. "I promise."

"Well then, I guess that's as good as we're going to get. I'll be expecting a letter from whatever hospital you end up at," he finished sternly.

"Nurse, chillax. I'm a Wonderbolt, and I'm on the Council of Friendship. I'll have the best physical therapist in Equestria." Her nonchalant attitude faltered before Cloudtail's glare. "Aaaand I'll have them get in touch with you."

"Good." Cloudtail gave one last huff and turned to stomp out of the room. Just before passing by Flash Sentry again, he turned to look over his shoulder. "Please be more careful," he said, surprisingly gently. "You can't help anypony else if you don't take care of yourself first."

"R—right," Dash answered. "I'll remember that, thanks. For everything."

"Just doing my job. Or I would be, if anypony would let me..." he grumbled as he pushed past Flash and into the hall. An awkward silence filled the space he left behind.

Finally, Flash cleared his throat. "So," he said, with a forced attempt at cheerfulness, "we've got a portable bed set up, and a medic assigned specifically to you. You'll have the best care the Crystal Army can offer."

Rainbow looked away from his reassuring smile.

"Thanks."

"No problem!"

Once again, an uncomfortable quiet fell over them. After a few too-long seconds, Flash slowly approached her bed.

"Rainbow Dash," he said softly, "are you sure about this?"

"I already said I was," she answered bitterly.

"You don't have to put yourself in any more danger, nopony would blame you if—"

"It's not about me!" Rainbow exploded. "I get it, okay?! I know that this is gonna make things worse for me. I know that I might never fly again. I know that you'll have to fight through whatever patrols Tempest Shadow has at the border, and I'll be helpless. I still have to do this!"

"But why?!" Flash shouted back. "The rest of the Council's still there, right? Why can't they handle things while you get back on your hooves? Why does it have to be you?"

Rainbow's mouth worked silently for a second as she tried to work out the answer to his questions. It was so obvious to her—she had to be there, and that was that—but how to explain so that Flash would understand?

The color drained from Flash's face.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Dash—I mean Rainbow Dash! That was way out of line. It's not my place to question your decisions, or the prince's orders."

"We're stronger together," Rainbow finally said.

"Huh?"

"Me and my friends. We're stronger when we're all together, and that's got nothing to do with whether I can fly or not. It's about friendship, and magic, and... giant, awesome rainbow lasers, and stuff. If I go back to Equestria, and we save Twilight, we'll all be together again. Maybe then we can end all this."

"I see." Flash nodded solemnly. "You really are the most loyal pony in Equestria. You know, if you hadn't become a Wonderbolt, you'd have made a heck of a royal guard."

Rainbow snorted, and the solemn mood shattered. "Pfft. Nah. Could you imagine me just standing next to some door all day? I'd lose it!"

Flash Sentry forced a laughed as well. "You know, there's a little more to it than standing next to a door."

"Well, you'll have to tell me on the way to Equestria. C'mon, time's wasting!"

"Right," Flash sighed. He leaned out into the hallway and waved for two other Crystal Guards to join him. They entered Rainbow's room. They were wearing harnesses, which held a stretcher in between them. "Ready?"

"Yes, sir," a unicorn replied.

"Rainbow Dash? You ready?"

"Ready when you are," Rainbow answered, much more confidently than she felt.

"Okay. Make the transfer," Flash ordered.

Rainbow Dash was suddenly enveloped in a pale blue aura as the unicorn's horn lit up. The slings and straps holding her in place unlatched themselves, until she was supported only by the bed and the guard's magic. She winced in anticipation of pain that never came as the unicorn gently lifted her off the bed and moved her to the stretcher. More straps wrapped themselves around her to hold her in place once more.

"Transfer complete, Sarge," the unicorn announced.

Flash gave a single, sharp nod. "How do you feel, Rainbow Dash?"

"No worse than a minute ago," she replied. It was the most honest answer she could give.

"Good." Flash's stern face softened into a relieved smile. "Then let's meet up with the others. We'll have you back to Equestria in no time."

"Applejack, darling, would you please sit down?"

The anxiously pacing farmpony took no heed of Rarity's words. "She shoulda been back hours ago! I'm tellin' ya, somethin's wrong. She's trapped, or hurt, or..." She couldn't finish the thought.

"Rainbow Dash is the best flyer in Equestria," Fluttershy answered with unusual heat in her voice. "There's no way those monsters caught her!"

"Then where is she?" Applejack demanded.

"Probably just taking a day to rest," Starlight reasoned. "Let's at least give it until tomorrow before we start panicking, okay?"

"Well... oh, I suppose yer right." Applejack finally stopped pacing around the Map Room, but still didn't take her seat. "So what's on the agenda tonight?"

"Not much," Spike answered. He only had a single sheet of paper in his claws, and even that still had blank space on it. "Things are going pretty well, actually. Everything's on schedule, we finally got some extra supplies in so we can start stocking the fallback position, and Trixie's actually doing great at keeping Ponyville's spirits up. So far, anyway." Pinkie had only named her Head Mare of Morale last night, after all. "Unless something new popped up, we're all set."

"Great, another meeting that could have been a t-mail," Starlight joked.

Rarity chuckled. The non-unicorns didn't.

"Telepathy mail," Starlight explained. Still no response. "It's... oh, never mind."

"Well then," Applejack broke the awkward silence, "all we gotta figure out tonight is what to do if Rainbow doesn't show up tomorrow. Who can we send after her?"

"It would take a Wonderbolt to make it past those airships," Fluttershy answered. "If Rainbow Dash isn't back by sundown tomorrow, I'll go to Cloudsdale and ask Captain Spitfire to send a search party." The others all nodded agreement.

Suddenly, as if to spite Fluttershy's mention of sundown, the room flooded with light as the sun rocketed back into the sky.

"What in Eques—?" Rarity began, but hadn't even finished the question before the sun dropped behind the horizon and the moon took its place. Then they switched positions again, and again.

"Discord!" Applejack shouted at the top of her lungs. "What the hay do ya think you're doin'?"

There was a flash of light, and Discord appeared in the room with them.

"Nothing!" he answered. "I'm not doing this! There was a huge transfer of magic somewhere—I felt it all through my bones—and then the sun and moon just went cuckoo."

"Well, can you make it stop?" Fluttershy asked as the rapidly-changing light threw dizzying refractions all around them.

Discord snapped his fingers. The moon hung still in the sky, and the crazily shifting lights stopped. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

Then the moon fell, and the sun took its place.

"I... I can't," Discord answered in disbelief. "Whatever magic is doing this, it's—" he gulped, "—more powerful than mine."

The assembled creatures exchanged looks of utter horror.