My Brave Pony: The Heart of the World

Chapters

A Good Heart
The Guide & The Guard
On Their Way
Quoth the Raven
Cirta
The Future Course
Follow That Lizard
The Gates of Utica
Tell Your Story
Letter to Celestia
A Generous Impulse
A Welcome Coincidence
The Words of a Queen
Hamilcar's Story
The Servants of Memory
The Road From Utica
Deserving
Wonderful Stories
Broken Ace
Ace of Canterlot
Waypoint
Mount Hyperion
The Search Begins
With A Little Help From My Friends
A Trail to Follow
The Heart of the World

A Good Heart

Twilight was a little surprised to arrive at the palace and be told that Princess Celestia would be receiving her not in the throne room, as was usual, but rather upon the western balcony of the Great Tower, the tallest edifice in the palace and, indeed, in all of Canterlot. It was not a place to which she was a stranger - she and Princess Celestia had spent a great deal of time there when Twilight was a filly studying at the princess' hooves - but more recently she had met Princess Celestia in the throne room, or else Celestia had come to Ponyville to speak with Twilight upon occasion. They hadn't sat out on the balcony like this in quite some time, not since Twilight was a much younger mare.

Nevertheless she still remembered the way just fine, and the guard at the bottom of the winding, crimson-carpeted staircase up the tower knew to admit her. Twilight climbed the winding staircase that coiled like a serpent around the gleaming white walls of the tower, her hoof-falls echoing up and down the spiralling stairs, climbing upwards, always upwards for some time before finally arriving at the balcony in question. The next guard who stood before the purple curtain separating off the balcony from the stairs – said curtain rippled a little in the morning breeze – stood aside to let her pass without a word.

Twilight's horn flared with a lavender light for one brief moment as she pushed the curtain aside, at least enough to admit her small body. She felt the breeze kiss her coat as she stepped out and onto the balcony, the sunlight falling up on her face brightly enough to make her flinch from it for a moment.

The balcony was as white as the tower, a large rounded area jutting out of the rising edifice, lined by a rail supported by what looked like teardrop-shaped pearls, though they were of stone as much as the rest of the balcony or, indeed, the rest of the tower.

Princess Celestia sat near the edge of the balcony, her wings tucked in at her sides, her mane of many colours streaming out to her right as the wind tended in that direction. She was sat at just such an angle that, as she stepped out from behind the curtain and onto the balcony, Twilight could catch a glimpse of her face, which bore a great sadness the source of which Twilight knew not, as though the princess were oppressed by many memories she could not vest herself of.

"Princess Celestia?" Twilight ventured.

Princess Celestia became aware of Twilight's presence on the balcony, and instantly her look was transformed, as though she had put on a mask to hide her sorrows and become once again Twilight's teacher and mentor, the wise and gentle princess of Equestria whom no ill-thoughts or dread concerns could touch. Since Twilight had grown older, Princess Celestia had upontimes allowed her student to see her in a less than infallible light - most notably when Discord escaped his confinement - but for some reason she was not willing to do so now. Twilight could only assume there was a reason for it, and a good reason at that, into which it was not her place to pry with thought or word.

In any case, Celestia smiled down at Twilight she climbed to her hooves, a smile as warm as any that she had smiled, and her voice was suffused with as much warmth and tenderness as it had ever been as she said, "Twilight, welcome."

"Princess Celestia," Twilight replied, with as much warmth in her own voice as she trotted forwards, her hoof-steps tapping lightly upon the balcony. "Thank you for agreeing to see me so quickly."

"Not at all, it's always a delight to see you again," Celestia said, and as Twilight approached she bent down to drape her long and graceful neck across Twilight's body. Her coat as soft to the touch, and warm; it felt safe, like this, it had done ever since Twilight was a little filly. And ever since she was a little filly she had always felt as though their embraces ended too soon. "I am glad that you have found your own path," Celestia continued. "But I cannot pretend that I don't miss having you here with me in Canterlot." The smile remained upon her face. "Do you remember when we used to sit out here, and you would watch me raise the sun and then we would have breakfast together."

Twilight nodded. "I always thought of that as a special treat from you."

Princess Celestia chuckled. "It was no less a treat for me, I assure you." She turned away, and sat down once again by the edge of the balcony.

Twilight came to stand beside her, before she sat down herself; she was not nearly so tall as the princess was, but she could see sufficiently clearly over the balcony rail to appreciate the stunning nature of the view spread out before them. Not only Canterlot but all the vast spread of Equestria beyond lay before her gaze, growing smaller and smaller like a filly's toy as it receded far away. She could even see Ponvyille, the road and the rail line running away from the city and towards the smaller town and out beyond. It was so small, and yet the little rustic town at the edge of her sight - the sight of which she had never remarked upon when she was young - seemed no less beautiful to her now than all the spires of Canterlot that gleamed effulgent closer to her gaze.

"You see Ponyville?" Princess Celestia asked. "I confess, when you were young my gaze would often turn that way myself, as I..." she trailed off.

Twilight looked up at her old teacher, a frown creasing her features. "Princess Celestia?"

The smile died on Princess Celestia's face. "So," she said, her voice becoming a little more grave than it had been a moment before. "You wish to seek for the Heart of the World."

"You know of it?"

"I am familiar with the tales that are told of it," Princess Celestia replied.

"They're a lot more than just stories," Twilight said. "Aren't they, princess?"

"You are not the first to think so," Princess Celestia said. A sigh escaped her lips. "Twilight Sparkle, I must confess I wish you would not walk this path."

Twilight blinked. "You mean... you don't want me to do this? But why? Or why not? If the legends are true then whatever the Heart of the World really is promises to be an immense discovery and even if it is just a legend then..." Then I will be extremely disappointed. "I don't understand."

"You are not the first of my students to become obsessed with the legend of the Heart of the World," Celestia told her, in a voice full of melancholy. "The first was a young mare named Sunset Shimmer-"

"Sunset Shimmer?" Twilight repeated, cutting the princess off.

Princess Celestia looked down at her. "You know the name?"

"I've heard it," Twilight said. "Lightning Dawn, he told me that he had a sister - an adopted sister - named Sunset Shimmer who was - who claimed to be - from Equestria."

Princess Celestia's eye - the one that was visible as she looked down at Twilight - widened; Twilight thought it was possible to see a spark of hope begin to glimmer there. "Could it be?" she murmured. "Sunset Shimmer was the name, you are certain?"

"Yes," Twilight said. "Although... I don't know how it's possible that they could be the same mare. How could this Sunset Shimmer, or any mare from Equestria, come to New Olympia?"

"I am not certain," Princess Celestia replied. "And part of me thinks that you should not give me hope, but another… another would rejoice to know that she yet lives, and hopes that she has found her path, wherever she is now."

"Who was she?" Twilight asked, her voice soft.

"My student," Princess Celestia said. "She was gifted, ferociously intelligent, driven, determined." She smiled briefly. "She was very much like you, Twilight, in a great many ways but different in one very important respect: she was ambitious, relentlessly so. And in the pursuit of her ambitions she lost her way; I tried to counsel her against allowing her ambitious and her desires to poison and to dominate her, but by the time I realised the extent of her difficulties it was too late. She had become… I had no choice but to send her away."

"Send her where?"

"Not to another world," Princess Celestia replied, a touch of amusement entering her voice for a moment, however brief. "But Sunset became obsessed with the legend of the Heart of the World; you will be aware from your own studies that it would bestow its blessing upon zebra emperors in ancient times. It was in search of such a blessing that Sunset set out to find the Heart, believing that it could grant her the destiny that I, as she saw it, sought to deny her. She never returned, and indeed I have had no word of her in years though I have sent envoys and searchers to the zebra lands in search of answers. One of my search parties disappeared also, led by a mare you are not unfamiliar with: Dawn Starfall."

Twilight sucked in her breath through her teeth. Yes, she remembered Dawn Starfall; she did not remember her fondly, by any means - she remembered the way she tried to bully Twilight, the way that she had turned up at Twilight's door one day claiming to be her sister, the way that she had made school unbearable for a brief period before Princess Celestia noticed and kicked Dawn out. Yes, she remembered Dawn Starfall. "Was she looking for Sunset Shimmer or the Heart?"

"Both, I believe," Princess Celestia said. "Dawn had always idolised Sunset, though Sunset never treated her with anything more than a benign contempt, and she was hurt by Sunset's disappearance, more hurt than she affected to be by far. At the same time I think she hoped the Heart, in all its wisdom, could give her the answers she was looking for. Perhaps. I am not sure even Dawn knew what she hoped to find if she found the Heart of the World. But she sought it out and, just like Sunset, she was never heard from again." Princess Celestia bowed her head, her visible eye closing for a moment. "Now do you see why I am afraid? Why I would rather you did not embark upon this path?"

"I do understand," Twilight replied. "But I'm not Sunset Shimmer or Dawn Starfall. I have five good friends who have never let me down and I know that they're not about to start now. With their help I know that I can make it there and back again, just like I knew that we could stop Discord. Princess Celestia I swear to you: you won't lose me like you lost Sunset or Dawn."

Celestia turned to look at her. Her mane covered one eye, and Twilight thought that Princess Celestia might prefer it that way, because the other seemed more moist than usual. "Can you be certain of that, Twilight Sparkle?"

Twilight hesitated. "No," she admitted. "I would have to be a prophet to be able to say for certain. But I know my friends, I know their quality; I know that we can do this, together. Just like that I know that I have to try."

"For Lightning Dawn?" asked Princess Celestia.

"For him and for Krysta," Twilight replied. "They saved my life, I can't just write them off. I owe it to them both to at least try and find them. I feel... I feel as though if I don't do this, go on this journey, then I'm not sure if I'll ever find another way."

Princess Celestia looked down on her, and it seemed to Twilight almost as though fear and pride were warring in Celestia's eyes. "Even more than your skill at magic," Princess Celestia said. "It is your good heart, so full of kindness and generosity and all other virtues, that makes me proud to call you my student. And is that good heart, even more than the bonds you have forged with your friends in Ponyville, that has led me to put my faith in you when Equestria's needs were at their greatest. How can I refuse to put my faith in you now? As you so rightly point out, you are not Sunset Shimmer or Dawn Starfall; you are Twilight Sparkle, and you have proven yourself greater than I had any right to expect."

Twilight felt a slight flush rise to her cheeks at Princess Celestia's effusive praise. "Then, you mean-"

"If this is the course your heart is set on, I will not stand in your way," Princess Celestia declared. "But I hope you will forgive me for imposing one condition upon you: the journey which you propose to undertake is difficult, and may be dangerous; therefore, I would like to assign one of my guard, whom I will choose, to accompany you and your friends upon this quest."

Twilight nodded. That was not something that she had expected, but she saw no reason to object to it. "Very well, Princess Celestia. When you've chosen-"

"I will send them to Ponyville to meet with you immediately," Princess Celestia said.

"Okay," Twilight said. "Thank you, Princess Celestia. Thank you, for letting me do this." Lightning, Krysta, I'm on my way. Just hold on a little longer.

Celestia smiled at her, as she bent down and kissed Twilight gently upon the tip of her horn. "Go with good fortune, and my blessing, my faithful student. Go, and come back soon."

Celestia lingered on the balcony after Twilight had departed, sitting and staring out across the city and the land. Her city. Her land. But in truth she barely saw it; instead she saw two mares in her mind's eye, two mares who possessed their fair share of faults or more, but two mares whom nonetheless had possessed their share of virtues too. Two mares whom she had come to care for deeply, and who had both come to care for her, perhaps too much. Two mares who had loved not wisely but too well. Two mares she had lost to the allure of the Heart of the World and all it promised.

Was she soon to lose a third? Would Twilight Sparkle join Sunset Shimmer with her mane like fire, and Dawn whose mane had looked like maypole bunting?

No, Twilight is neither Sunset nor Dawn. She will not fail as they did.

She will not be lost as they did.

I hope she will not.

Although a part of me wishes that she would fail, so long as she returned here afterwards.

She felt the tap of hooves landing on the balcony behind her.

"Luna," Celestia murmured. "You're up late."

Luna proved the truth of that by yawning as she came to stand beside her sister. "Why did you let her go?"

"I don't recall asking you to eavesdrop on our conversation, Luna," Celestia said, with a touch of sternness entering her voice.

"Nor would I have, concerned thy conversation aught else but the Heart of the World," Luna replied. "Why did you let her go?"

"What else could I do?"

"You could have stopped her with a word."

"And she would not have understood why," Celestia said. "She would resent me for it."

"Then tell her the truth," said Luna.

"What truth?" Celestia asked. "That we once consulted with the Heart of the World? That we might be the last mares living who did so?"

"The truth that there is a reason it closed off its heart," Luna said. "A reason it was allowed to be forgotten, its exact location lost, its very existence faded into myth. A reason we no longer like visitors from other worlds. Forgive me sister, but I do not understand. The risks you take, the secrets that you keep."

"What should I do instead of keeping secrets?" Celestia asked. "The truth destroyed both Sunset and Dawn; my ambitions for them bloated up their pride, swelled their egos and fed fat their faults until they fell from all I hoped they could become. I ruined them, two good and wonderful mares destroyed by me. If Twilight has not suffered the same fate it is because my plans, my hopes and my intentions for destiny I keep them all a secret! I keep my secrets, so that she can live her life ignorant and unaware of all of them."

Luna was silent for a moment. "And the risks?" she asked. "If Twilight should make contact with Jupiter or Saturn then... who knows what ill may befall us here."

"I do not, nor will I pretend to," Celestia replied. "But Twilight is not us any more than she is Sunset; after but a few days Lightning Dawn had renounced the ways of Olympia and wished to dwell as one of us... with her. It may be she can succeed where we could not."

"Is that what you hope?"

"It is... a possibility I am willing to entertain, if a meeting of our peoples should come to pass."

"And you are willing to risk the future of Equestria by such a possibility to come to pass?" Luna asked.

"Am I willing to risk Equestria upon the light that shines from Twilight's virtues?" Princess Celestia mused, a trace of amusement in her voice. "Why yes, sister, I do believe I am."

“Sister-“

“Can you deny that she is worthy of such trust?” Princess Celestia asked. “Can you deny what she has done?”

Luna looked away. “Thou knowst that I cannot, nor do I wish to do so.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “Luna, I know that you have learned to speak in a more contemporary fashion than that. I know that because Twilight taught you so.”

Luna pouted, looking far younger than her years, reminding Celestia almost of when they had been little fillies. “It is an aid, sometimes, in keeping a distance from you.”

“And why should you want to keep a distance from me?” Celestia asked.

“Because you chide me well,” Luna admitted. “I know Twilight’s quality; I know it as well as you, although for quite different reasons. And yet… the quality of a mare… it is a little thing on which to hang a realm.”

“Twilight and her friends wield the Elements of Harmony, our greatest weapon,” Celestia reminded she who needed little reminder. “What do we do, but hang the realm upon the quality of six mares?”

Luna frowned. “I love you, sister, but there are times I fear I do not understand you.”

Celestia chuckled. “Perhaps you are right, Luna; perhaps Twilight is making a mistake. But even if that is so then it is not my mistake to allow her a mistake. If I did not allow my little ponies to try, to dream, even to fail, then… then I would be a tyrant, and all of our care and caution would be for nought and we would be no better than those we would keep away from paradise. Do you understand now?”

“You are saying that you would rather fail in a good cause?”

“I suppose you could put it thus,” Celestia replied. “Certainly better that, than to use wicked means for a good end.”

“Perhaps,” Luna murmured. “You think the end will be ill, then?”

“I did not say that,” Celestia reproached her gently. “I have faith in Twilight Sparkle, just as I always have. Now, if you will excuse me Luna, I must find Captain Armor, and discuss with him the selection of a suitable guard.”

The Guide & The Guard

The Guide

Zecora’s hut was dark, illuminated mostly by the faintly sickly-looking green light emanating from the cauldron bubbling in the centre of the main room within. Painted masks hung from the walls; the shadows they cast behind them made it seem as though pitch black eyes were staring at Twilight from behind them as they hung in such positions as to look down upon her as she sat on the rough wooden floor. Potions filled the shelves, although without labels Twilight could only imagine how Zecora remembered what they all did; plants both local and exotic sprouted in painted pots in the corners of the space, providing a touch of colour amidst the wooden brown.

Zecora herself was cast in shades of green and yellow as the light of cauldron and of candles fell upon the white stripes of her coat, glinting off the many golden necklaces she wore, the bracelets on her foreleg, her heavy, dangling earrings. She said nothing as she poured green tea into two long wooden cups.

“Here, let me,” Twilight said, her horn flaring with magic as she picked up the two cups in the grip of her telekinesis and levitated them across the room to where she sat at the round little table.

Zecora nodded in thanks, before she joined Twilight there. Her movements seemed a little slow, a little sluggish, as if she was somewhat reluctant to actually sit down and start the conversation. When she did sit, a sigh escaped her lips before she spoke.

“You speak of the Heart of the World?” she said. “That is a story very, very old.”

“But you know it?” Twilight asked. “You know what it is I’m talking about?”

Zecora smiled, at least a little bit. “Even now every zebra in both lands, is taught the story of the Empire that used to stand. How it rose, possessed of so much pride; how it grew, how it lived… and how it died. The Heart of the World is a part of that story; great were its blessings, they say, in the days of our glory.” She fell silent for a moment, looking down at the green tea steaming in her cup. She picked it up deftly in one hoof, and sipped from the round wooden cup. “But it is nothing more than a tale, any search for it is bound to fail.”

“Fail?” Twilight repeated. “You don’t believe that it’s more than just a story?”

“A spirit living under the ground, giving gifts to those who come around?” Zecora said. “Even if the truth got a little stretched, don’t you think it’s a bit far fetched?”

Twilight chuckled. “Far fetched is a relative term in this world, don’t you think?” she asked. “I’ve seen a monster of rage and envy become a sad, regretful pony in the blink of an eye; I’ve seen a god create chocolate milk rain and alter the personalities of my friends upon a whim; I’ve seen people fall from a hole in the sky. Is a being of wisdom and power dwelling under the earth so much more far fetched than any of that?”

Zecora drank some more of her tea, and Twilight did likewise while she waited for a response. It was slightly bitter. At last, after aching moments of silence had passed by, Zecora spoke once more, “It’s true that in the world there are many things difficult to believe; but that does not make everything as true as your Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “Is it difficult to come up with those rhymes?”

Zecora nodded silently, as she sipped the tea.

Twilight swallowed a substantial gulp down from the cup. “I know that just because some things are true not everything is,” she said. “And I will admit some personal interest in this. It isn’t just academic interest that leads me to search for this-“

“You seek to find the pony and his sister that you lost,” Zecora said. “And whom you now miss sorely most.”

Twilight’s eyebrows rose. “Who told you that?”

“Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity,” Zecora said. “Have each upon occasion visited me.” She did not name which of them had conferred with her about Twilight, and her feelings towards Lightning Dawn; Twilight was left to work out for herself whether it had been one or all of them. She supposed it didn’t matter; it wasn’t like it was a secret; and anything they said was probably done out of love and concern for her. I suppose I’d probably do the same in their position.

“I believe the Heart exists,” Twilight said. “And maybe it’s just that I want to believe but whether that is true or not I believe it exists and I’m determined to try and find it. I didn’t come here to ask if you thought it was a good idea… but, do you think it’s a good idea.”

Zecora shrugged. “An old, old story, as I said; long lost, long forgotten, one might say long dead. No one knows if the tale be true, so how can I say if your quest you will rue? Although if it not counsel on your course you seek, then what can I do for you this week?”

Twilight hesitated, and covered her hesitation by draining the last of her cup of tea. “I want,” she began, but then paused; now that they had come to the point she felt a little nervous. “I suppose… this might sound a little bit… insensitive, but you’re the only zebra I know, the only zebra that any of us know-“

“Is it advice upon the way you desire?” Zecora asked, once more anticipating Twilight’s words. “Or do you to my company on the road aspire?”

“Both,” Twilight said. “Either. A guide would be fantastic, but obviously I can’t drag you out of your home and to the zebra lands; but in any case, anything at all that you can tell me would be… I would really appreciate it.”

Zecora closed her eyes. It was a moment or two before she said anything. “I am the only zebra that you know, but did you ever wonder why it should be so? Why I left those lands to my own, to in your pony forest make my home?”

“I… I guess I never really thought about it,” Twilight admitted. “Plenty of ponies leave home, I did… although I didn’t go quite as far as you.” She frowned. “Are you… is there some kind of reason… did you have to leave?”

“If back to that part of the world I go,” Zecora admitted. “I may not get a ‘welcome home’.”

“Wh-“ Twilight stopped herself from asking why. Zecora was her friend, she trusted that she hadn’t do anything too bad to deserve to be thrown out of her own country and forced to travel far away to Ponyville… wait, a second. “Why Ponyville?” she asked. “I mean… there must have been places closer by where you could stop.”

“Places I could stop and rest and such,” Zecora said. “Places I felt welcome… not so much.”

Twilight winced. After all, it wasn’t as though Ponyville had made her feel particularly welcome either. “I’m sorry,” she said. “We ponies ought to be better than that.”

Zecora smiled at her. “You have a keen mind and a generous heart; you will change the world for the better, if you play your part.”

Twilight laughed nervously. “That’s… that’s very kind of you to say so, but I’m not so sure. I’m just a pony, and no one pony can change the world the way you seem to be suggesting. And besides, it wasn’t even me who was the first to welcome you to Ponyville and accept you as a friend.”

“We change, we learn, we grow,” Zecora said. “Stronger and wiser as we go.”

Twilight’s lips twitched upwards in a smile. “Stronger and wiser as we go.” The smile died on her face. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, how bad could it be if you go home?”

“I really, truly, could not say,” Zecora replied. “It depends on how they feel that day.”

“That doesn’t sound like the sort of situation you should be walking back into,” Twilight said.

“But nevertheless go back I will,” Zecora declared. “And help you find the Heart, for good or ill.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “You will? But… I mean, that’s great, but you said-“

“Even now, to many zebra folk,” Zecora said, her voice low in warning. “The Heart of the World is not a joke. If you speak too freely there of your quest, there will be some who are less than impressed.”

“Why?” Twilight asked. “You said that it was just a story, don’t most other zebras feel the same way?”

“Some, but not all, it is a little complicated,” Zecora said. “It would take time to get you acclimated. I do not think there is time to explain, before you set out for the great southern plains. Therefore it’s best if I come with you, and help this maze to find a way through. I can explain upon the way, many more things than I could tell in a day.”

“And the risk to yourself?” Twilight said. “The things they’ll do you if you go back?”

Zecora’s smile contained a hint of mischief. “To Zecora they can do naught, just so long as I do not get caught.”

Twilight couldn’t restrain the snort that split apart her lips. “I think it will probably be for the best if we all stay out of trouble. Thank you, Zecora, this is incredibly generous of you.”

Zecora finished off her tea. “Although we did not start off the best, you have supported me through all the rest. Now the pain that you are in I feel, and with it I will try to help you deal. If this will help your hurt subside, upon no other course could I decide.”

That was not true, as much as Twilight appreciated the sentiment. “As I said, you’re very generous,” she said. “I… I don’t know you as well as you deserve, but I look forward to getting to know you better. Welcome aboard, Zecora.”

Twilight took her leave soon after, leaving Zecora to pack up her things for the journey, shut up her house, and generally get ready to go this quest which she had so generously offered to accompany Twilight and her friends upon.

It was enough to give Twilight a little pause, as she left the Everfree Forest and trotted briskly across the meadow that separated the wild wood from Ponyville beyond. Her friends, Zecora, all of them with no real stake – no stake at all, in the case of Zecora at least, and even her friends had little of the same connection to Lightning or Krysta that she had – in this adventure but all of them, nevertheless, willing to dare the distance and the wilds and whatever else might await them in the zebra lands and all for what? For her sake? It had to be for her sake, because it was certainly not for those for whom she was embarking. It was all for her, and that made her feel very small indeed.

Small, and humble, and rather unworthy. Five great-hearted ponies, Spike, Zecora, all about to set off across the face of the world for her. Because she had asked them to. Because she was determined to go and they would fain leave her behind. Because they cared about her.

And she, for all that she professed to care about them, was using that care and that concern to drag them off on a journey with an uncertain end, for the sake of two people they did not know. Because she cared about them, when perhaps she should have cared about her friends more.

It gave her pause, and if Twilight was being honest it made her feel a little selfish inside. She shivered, and turned away from the route back to Ponyville, heading instead towards Sweet Apple Acres, where she knew that she could find a pony who would return her honesty in kind.

She was fortunate that she didn’t have to scour the apple orchards looking for some sign of Applejack, but caught the other pony on her way back to the barn with a long train of apple carts in tow, all of them joined together while the hardy farmpony tugged them along like it was nothing at all, a feat of strength that Twilight wasn’t sure that she could have managed to duplicate with telekinesis.

Applejack came to a stop when she saw Twilight approach, the apple-carts bumping into one another as they each stopped rolling in turn. “Howdy, Twilight. Beautiful day, ain’t it?”

“Yes, yes it certainly is,” Twilight murmured, looking up at the overwhelmingly clear sky above them. A little sigh escaped her lips. “Can we talk?”

“Mind if I keep working while we do?” Applejack replied. “I got to get all these apples packed away, I’m trying to get as much work done as possible before we leave ‘stead of saving it for Big Macintosh.”

That didn’t make Twilight feel much better; in fact it kind of answered the question that she had come to Sweet Apple Acres to ask in the first place. Nevertheless, she nodded. “Sure, do you need some help?”

“That would be real kind of you,” Applejack replied as she resumed pulling, with the greatest of ease, the long line of apple carts into the barn.

Together, the two ponies set-to unloading them, Applejack using her great strength to tip them into the barrels, while Twilight accomplished much the same thing with telekinesis, her horn glowing as she scooped up apples by the load, packed them in, and sealed the barrels. They had gotten about a third of the way through the work, cooperation making light of it, when Applejack said, “I thought you wanted to talk.”

“Right,” Twilight, her horn still glowing with a lavender light as she levitated more apples into the next barrel, sealed it up, and packed it away. The glow around her horn faded for just a moment. “Zecora agreed to come with us.”

“That’s good,” Applejack replied easily, emptying another apple cart. “We could use someone who knows what’s what down there, save us blundering around trying to find the right zebra to put questions to and knowing whether to trust the answers.” She looked at Twilight from beneath the brim of her hat. “You okay, sugarcube? I mean, you went and asked her for help because you thought it would be a good idea to have her along. And besides, a good long road-trip might be just what we need to get to know her a little better.”

“I know,” Twilight said softly. “I’m just wondering whether this is the right road trip.”

Applejack stopped working, wiping the sweat from her brow with one hoof. “What’s eating you, Twilight? Come on now, spit it out?”

Twilight hesitated, but Applejack’s gaze was firm and resolute, and left her with no choice but to speak. “I’m not sure that Zecora ought to be going home,” Twilight said, after a moment. “She didn’t really give me the details, but I’m not sure how welcome she’ll be there with… certain people.”

Applejack frowned. “That’s… that’s her choice I guess. You didn’t force her to come with us, she decided to come anyway. That’s mighty nice of her, but I don’t see why you need to get all upset about it.”

“Don’t you?” Twilight asked. “Don’t you really?” She levitated some more apples into the next few barrels. “Applejack, am I being terribly selfish about all this?”

“Okay, now we get to the point,” Applejack said. “You’re starting to feel guilty about all this?”

“Shouldn’t I feel a little guilty about it?” Twilight replied. “Here you are, rushing to get as many of the chores done as possible before you leave the farm for however long; Rarity shutting up the boutique, Fluttershy leaving her animal friends; Zecora… you’re all putting your lives on hold and all for somepony that you don’t know or… don’t even like,” she added, thinking of Rainbow Dash.

Applejack shook her head. “You talking about that Lightning Dawn? No. It ain’t for him.” She looked Twilight square in the face, green eyes unblinking. “For you, Twilight.”

One of Twilight’s eyebrows rose. “You know that doesn’t actually make it much better,” she remarked dryly. “Just because you’re my friends doesn’t give me the right to demand that you do all of this for me.”

“You’re right,” Applejack said. “It don’t give you that right, and if you thought it did we wouldn’t be real friends, would we?” She smiled. “But you didn’t demand it, you asked for it and we said yes. We said yes because, well, because we wouldn’t be real friends if we let you go off to zebra country all by yourself chasing some legend, would we?”

Twilight sat down. “This… this isn’t really your quest,” she said unhappily, bowing her head so that she saw more of her own hooves and the ground that she did of her friend.

Applejack approached, sitting down in front of her beside the apple carts. “If it was one of us that was lost, you wouldn’t stop looking, would you?”

Twilight looked up. “Of course not, never.”

Applejack nodded. “Then it ain’t no surprise to any of us that you ain’t willing to get up on them, neither. They may not matter to us, but we all get that they matter to you – even those of us like Rainbow Dash who ain’t too happy about it. Heck, I can’t say I liked the fella myself, but I understand that he meant somethin’ to you and, well, that’s good enough for me.”

“Good enough for all this?”

Applejack shook her head. “Twilight, if I let you go off by yourself because the farm couldn’t spare me even for a while do you know how much work I’d get done?”

Twilight hesitated, sure there was a point but unable to see it. “No.”

“Not much, I reckon,” Applejack replied. “On account of how I’d be worried sick about you – and any of the rest of our friends who went without you – going off to who knows where without some pony with their head screwed on straight to keep an eye on you, if I do say so myself. And I reckon if you were to go from door to door then all the rest of our friends would say the same.” She placed one forehoof around Twilight’s shoulders. “So don’t you fret none about selfishness or taking advantage or any of the rest of it. You just make your plans, and we’ll all be ready and waiting when the time comes, okay?”

Twilight smiled, relief in her voice as she said, “Thanks, Applejack. That makes me feel a whole lot better.”

“Ain’t nothing to it but the truth, sugarcube,” Applejack replied. “Now, you mind helping me finish off all the rest of these?”

Twilight did, indeed, help Applejack finish off the rest of these, and with a few more chores around the farm – fixing the gutter, oiling a squeaky hinge, repairing the fence of the south field – before she left, feeling weary in body but refreshed in soul, to make her steps, much more plodding and heavy-hoofed now than they had been when she had emerged out of the Everfree Forest, towards Ponyville proper.

She made her way through the quiet town, waving and saying hello to the ponies that she saw on her way: the flower mares setting up their stall, Derpy with the mail, Cheerilee on her way to open up the school. And soon enough she had arrived back at the library, where a pony in the armour of the royal guard was waiting for her outside.

“Hey, Twily,” she said, as she caught sight of Twilight approaching. “Long time no see, huh?”

Twilight stopped. “Ace?”

Ace grinned. “And I was worried you wouldn’t remember me. How are you doing, kiddo?”

“I’ve grown up enough that you don’t have to call me ‘kiddo’ any more,” Twilight replied.

Ace laughed as she trotted across the distance between them. “You wish. You’ll always be that tiny little filly to me,” she said, as she rubbed Twilight’s head with one hoof.

“Stop that!” Twilight said, as she squirmed out of Ace’s grip. “What are you even… oh no.”

Ace’s smile became positively gleeful in its wickedness. “Oh yes.”

“You’re the one.”

“I am the one,” Ace confirmed. “The number one, that’s why they call me Ace.”

“You’re the royal guard Celestia assigned.”

“To go with you on this wild goose chase to the zebra lands? That’s right,” Ace said. “After all, we know each other and I am pretty good at what I do-“

“Pretty modest too.”

“I am precisely as modest as a pony with my skillset ought to be,” Ace declared. “Which is to say not at all because I have nothing to be modest about because I am all that and a box of doughnuts. All of which made me the natural choice for this job, don’t you think?”

“Hmm,” Twilight murmured. Ace – or rather Sunshine Ray to give her real name, although for as long as Twilight had known her she had always insisted upon Ace for reasons that as far as Twilight could tell boiled down to sheer vanity – was a butter yellow pegasus with a mane as red as dawn, worn tall and straight to form the crest of her gleaming helmet. Sky blue eyes sparkled with mischief. She was tall – tall for a mare, pretty tall for a stallion too come to that, almost as big as Shining Armour – but lithely built, with very slender limbs like twigs that didn’t seem capable of supporting too much weight – a deceptive impression. She had been in Shining Armour’s training cadre, and had come around to the house often enough when Twilight had been a filly, although Twilight hadn’t seen so much of her more recently. “So, how have you been? How’s Blue Sky?”

“Sky’s fine. And as for me, oh, you know,” Ace said. “Long nights in dark hallways, kitchen patrol, the usual guard stuff. Speaking of which, you have to stop making us look so bad saving the world all the time. It’s giving me a real sense of insecurity.”

Twilight chuckled. “Okay, I’ll let you have first crack next time something goes wrong.”

“Or you could just let me save your life sometime while we’re on this snipe hunt.”

“Don’t call it that,” Twilight said, a touch of irritability entering her voice. “Do you even know what we’re looking for?”

“Do you know what you’re looking for?”

“Not exactly,” Twilight admitted. “But I know that there’s something out there to find, I’m not just going there for exercise.”

“No, you’re going there for some boy,” Ace said. She grinned. “That’s what I hear, anyway.”

Twilight sighed. “Did Shining Armour tell you that?”

“No, the princess told me that,” Ace replied. “Not in that way, but I can read between the lines. Shining Armour… does this have anything to do with that time a few months ago when you sent a letter to the princess and she spent the whole night fretting about it with Princess Luna? And then he had to come to Ponyville to talk to some fella?”

“It has everything to do with that,” Twilight said. “How are you and Shining Armor, anyway?”

“Professional, don’t change the subject,” Ace said. “So, do you want to fill me in on what’s going on, Twily?”

“I will if you promise not call me Twily again.”

“No can do, Twily.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Ugh. I suppose I don’t have much choice, do I?”

“You have a choice,” Ace reminded her. “You just don’t have any good choices except to tell me what’s up.”

She was right about that, as much as the fact did not particularly please Twilight. But the difference between ‘only one good choice’ and ‘no choice at all’ was not particularly great as far as she was concerned. “Okay, where do I begin?”

Ace smirked. “Why don’t you start with the boy, that sounds fun?”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. She pursed her lips together for a moment. “So how are you and Shining Armor these days?” she repeated.

Ace scowled at her. Twilight allowed herself to look ever so slightly smug.

Ace kicked one hoof against the ground. “Better as friends,” she muttered.

“I’m… sorry to hear that,” Twilight murmured, feeling a little guilty at having put Ace on the spot like this out of nothing more than a degree of pettiness and a desire to get back at the older mare. It had been mean… and unworthy of her, if that wasn’t too pretentious a thought.

“It’s fine,” Ace said quickly. “I like your brother, don’t get me wrong, it just turns out that we don’t like each other like that, if that makes sense. And besides, he’s dating someone else.”

Twilight’s eyebrows rose. “Really?”

“You didn’t know?”

“No,” Twilight said firmly. “No, I didn’t.”

“Oh,” Ace said softly. “Well, um, you should probably forget I said anything then.”

“Or you should tell me who she is,” Twilight suggested.

“If Shining Armor wanted you to know he would have told you himself.”

“Come on, Ace-“

“Don’t ‘come on, Ace’ me, Twily,” Ace said. “We’re not her to talk about Shining Armor and we’re certainly not here to talk about my love life, we’re here to talk about you. Come on, stop dodging around already and spill it.”

Twilight looked down at the ground beneath her hooves, her hooves which she kicked back and forth. “I’d rather talk about you,” she murmured. “It’s a little less… well, it’s just…”

Ace sighed. “I’m sorry, Twilight.”

Twilight glanced up at her. “Sorry for what?”

“For making light, for making jokes, for treating this like something I could tease you about,” Ace said. “Little Twilight Sparkle’s first crush. It’s… more serious than that, isn’t it?”

Twilight was silent for a moment. “We never got the chance to find out,” she whispered.

Ace winced. She looked away, turning her face up towards the sun which still sat high in the sky, bathing Ponyville and Equestria in golden light. She flapped her wings for no obvious reason. She bit her lip for a moment. “It wasn’t mutual,” she said.

“Huh?”

“Me and Shining Armor,” Ace explained. “I was having fun… turned out that he wasn’t, or at least not… not in the way that I was. Turns out that I’m not his type. And I’m not saying this to blame him, it’s not his fault, but… that doesn’t mean I’m over it, you know?”

Twilight blinked. “Why are you telling me this?”

“I’m being honest with you,” Ace declared. “So that you’ll feel obliged to be honest with me, you being such a good girl and all. I guess I’m also letting you know that I… I don’t know, it’s a serious subject so here I am: being serious.”

Twilight hesitated. “What are you going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“About Shining Armor.”

“What about Shining Armor, he’s not interested,” Ace repeated. “Do you think I’m going to pine for him? Watch him, and wait for him to realise that I’ve been here the whole time? No. No, absolutely not. That’s not who I am. That’s not who we are. We’re better than that. We deserve better than that. And besides… I’m not going to tell you who she is, but I will tell you that she’s a good girl. Good for him… plain good. So it’s fine… even though I’m not fine, if that makes any sense.”

“I… kind of, I suppose,” Twilight murmured. “All the same, I… I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” Ace muttered. “There, now you know my embarrassing secret, so how about yours? What’s going on? Come on, truth for truth.”

Twilight snorted. “Truth for truth,” she repeated. She paused a moment, and then a moment more. “His name was Lightning Dawn,” she said softly. “And he fell from the sky.”

Ace’s eyes widened. “Fell from the sky?”

“That’s right.”

“From the way you say it I’m guessing you don’t mean he was a useless pegasus who couldn’t his wings properly.”

“No,” Twilight agreed. “He was an alicorn, for a start.”

“An alicorn?”

“And he had a coat… it was like nothing that I’d ever seen before, like… it was like marble, veins of grey and black upon white it was… it was unique, striking-“

“Handsome?”

Twilight shrugged. “What does that even mean? He had a strong jaw and muscles, is that handsome?”

“For a lot of mares, yes,” Ace replied. “And some stallions too, for that matter.”

“As my friend Rarity found out at the Grand Galloping Gala, looks aren’t everything,” Twilight said.

Ace glanced to her right for a moment. “The Grand Galloping- was she the one who hit Prince Blueblood in the face with a pie?”

“I think she sprayed him with cake, actually.”

Ace chuckled. “Tell her that all the ponies in second platoon gave her a stomp of their hooves when they heard about that. Everypony who’s had to guard that guy knows exactly what he is.”

“You could tell her yourself,” Twilight suggested.

“Oh, yeah, I could, couldn’t I?” Ace realised. “But anyway, if looks aren’t everything then what was he like? Actually go back and explain what you mean by fall from the sky?”

“What it sounds like,” Twilight said. “No, wait, not what it sounds like. A hole in the sky opened, torn open with magic, like a portal through which he, and his little sister Krysta, fell to the ground. With a substantial impact.”

“Fallen from where?”

“Another world,” Twilight replied. “Another place, far from here.”

“Another world?” Ace repeated. “Come on, Twily, that sounds like comic book stuff, parallel universe and alternate dimensions.”

“It’s not exactly that, it’s more like… other planets,” Twilight explained. “No, it’s more like that, it is other planets. Other planets that we never knew existed until… until Lightning and Krysta fell from the sky to tell me all about it.”

“What was he like?” Ace asked.

“Stern,” Twilight said. “Stiff. A little proud, a little… haughty.”

“And you liked this guy?”

“But that wasn’t all there was to him,” Twilight went on. “He loved his sister, very much. She meant more to him than his duty, his comrades, he was willing to give up everything for her sake. When he made a mistake he was prepared to work to make it right, and work hard. And there were times when… when he’d almost become a kid again, and take such joy in making cakes or looking at the stars. It’s true that his exterior was a little… unappealing, but underneath was somepony very brave, and very kind. That… that’s why he’s not here any more. He sacrificed himself, to save me.”

“Sacrificed?”

“He’s not dead,” Twilight insisted. “They’re not dead, or at least… at least I don’t think they are. I hope they’re not. That’s why we’re going to the zebra country, to find something – the Heart of the World – an oracle that can tell me if they’re okay, and maybe even how to bring them back.”

“This means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”

“They saved my life,” Twilight said. “Without them I’d be… I’d either be dead or worse.”

“What’s worse than dead?”

“You don’t want to know,” Twilight said, as a shiver ran down her spine at the thought of what she had almost done while in thrall to the Shard of Darkness: attacked her friends, attacked Princess Celestia, killed innocent ponies. If it hadn’t been for Lightning and Krysta’s sacrifice… it didn’t bear thinking about.

“And what if he hadn’t?” Ace demanded. “What if you didn’t owe him?”

“Then this would still be important to me,” Twilight said.

A smile pricked at the corner of Ace’s lips. “Then let’s go get them back.”

Twilight smiled. “Just like that?”

“Just like that,” Ace acknowledged. “I told you, Twily, you and me aren’t mares who pine, we’re mares who do. So let’s do it.”

On Their Way

“Okay,” Twilight murmured to herself as she held up her checklist, levitating the expansive roll of parchment in the grip of her lavender-tinted telekinsesis as she ticked off items that she already completed. “Saddlebags packed?” A quick glance behind her confirmed that they were still there, secured across her back right where she’d left them. “Check. Blanket roll? Check.” She had seen that there too when she had checked on the saddlebags.

“Still doing the checklists, huh?” Ace asked from where she sat just outside the library, scratching her ear with one of her hind legs like a dog.

Twilight lowered the checklist just long enough that she could give Ace a Look. “Yes. After all, without the checklist, how could I be sure that I hadn’t forgotten anything?”

Ace shrugged. “If it was that forgettable you could probably do without it.”

“Or it was something that you forgot about and only realised that you needed when it was far too late to do anything about it,” Twilight countered. “Speaking of which, rope. Rope, rope, rope.” She opened up her saddlebags and levitated a bundle of rope inside the left pannier. “Check.”

Ace shook her head.

Twilight could not restrain a snort. “I notice that you haven’t packed anything at all.”

“Twily, please,” Ace said, with a degree of affront in her voice. “I am a trained royal guard. I can sleep rough under any conditions, live off the land, and survive for six weeks with nothing but a fruit knife.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “A fruit knife?”

“A fruit knife,” Ace repeated.

Twilight stared at her for a moment. “Do you have a fruit knife?”

Ace opened her mouth, but no words emerged. She flapped her wings back and forth twice, literally ruffling her feathers as she glanced away from Twilight. “Could I borrow yours?”

“As a matter of fact you can,” Twilight said. “It’s safe in my saddlebag if you need it. And I know that’s where it is because I ticked it off the checklist earlier.”

“Nopony likes the mare who says I told you so, Twily,” Ace declared genially. “What else is on that list, anyway?”

Twilight scanned down the list. “Well, most of the packing items are completed,” she murmured. “Ooh, I almost forgot. Cover up the golem.” She put the list down for a moment, to grab instead the purple sheet lying on the floor, and use it to cover up the golem sitting silent and unobtrusive in the corner of the library. “Check.”

“What was that thing, anyway?” Ace asked, getting up off the ground and walking a little closer towards the open library entrance. “It looked like a statue.”

“It is a statue,” Twilight replied. “Just a little magical research project that I started awhile ago. I never got around to finishing it, taking the final step, you know?”

“Not really, no,” Ace said.

Twilight sighed. “Theoretically, if I cast the right spells, I could make it come alive,” she explained. “But… I don’t think I really want to.”

“No?”

“No,” Twilight acknowledged. “It would feel a little… I’m not ready to bring life into the world like that is the short version of it.”

“Then why did you make it at all?” Ace asked.

“To see if I could take it that far,” Twilight replied. “Just because I’m curious doesn’t mean I have to see every project through to the end. Only… only the really important ones.” She cleared her throat as she retrieved her checklist. “Anyway, as I was saying, most of the practicalities on this list are done, except for locking up the library, so if you’d just excuse me.”

Ace made way for her, as Twilight walked out of the library and shut the doors behind her. A quick couple of spells locked said doors, to remain locked until she should return at the end of a successful journey.

At the end of a journey, at least.

Twilight took a step away from the library, and then another, her gaze travelling upwards to the broad boughs of the tree that spread out, reaching towards the rest of Ponyville.

This was her home now. She could not imagine going back to Canterlot, leaving Ponyville and her friends and all the merry folk who dwelt here. She could not imagine calling anywhere home other than Ponyville and this library. This was the place where she belonged and yet she was leaving it behind: the library, Ponyville, all of it. She was leaving it behind and… she could not say when she would return.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting homesick right outside your door,” Ace said, a grin playing across her face.

Twilight snorted. “No. I mean, not really. I just… it’s only when the journey is about to start that you realise how long it’s going to be, you know?”

“Not especially,” Ace said.

“Then it doesn’t bother you?” Twilight said. “At all? The fact that you’re likely to be away from Canterlot and everything you know for quite some time?”

Ace was silent for a moment, and a look of seeming melancholy crossed her face. “There are worse things than a change of scenery,” she said, her voice suddenly turned rather gruff. “Especially when there wasn’t much for you back home to begin with.”

Twilight frowned. “Is this… is this about Shining Armor?”

“No,” Ace said quickly, a little too quickly for Twilight’s liking. “What did I tell you, Twilight? I’m not the moping kind of mare.”

“Are you the ‘travel to the other side of the world to get away’ kind of mare?” Twilight asked.

“I’m the ‘follows Princess Celestia’s orders’ kind of mare,” Ace said tersely.

“Princess Celestia would only have asked you to accompany me, she would never have made you go if you didn’t want to.”

Ace scowled. “Yeah, well… so, what about that list, huh? What else is on there?”

“Not ‘lock up the library’ any more,” Twilight replied, allowing Ace to change the subject to spare the other mare any further discomfort. “Check that off. What’s left now is-“

“Hey guys!”

“Rainbow Dash: check,” Twilight murmured as Rainbow Dash dropped out of the sky, a fluffy cloud parting before her as she dispersed it with her swift descent before slowing down with an equally incredible speed to make a perfect landing on the ground. “You’re the first one to arrive.”

“Obviously,” Rainbow said with all the modesty that Twilight had come to expect from a friend most loyal but not always the most humble. It was only after she had said that that she noticed – or appeared to notice – Ace standing next to her. “Well,” Rainbow said. “Looks like I’m not the first first to arrive.”

“Rainbow Dash, this is Sunshine Ray of the Royal Guard, whom Princess Celestia has ordered to come with us on our journey,” Twilight explained. “Ace, this is my friend Rainbow Dash.”

“Ace?” Rainbow said curiously.

“It’s what everypony calls me.”

“Why?”

“Because… because I am,” Ace replied defensively.

Rainbow smirked. “You can’t just give yourself a cooler name than the one you have just so you can sound cooler.”

“Is that so, Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash?” Twilight asked in a deceptively sweet voice.

“Hey!” Rainbow squawked. “Danger is my actual middle name. It’s on my birth certificate, and I can prove it!”

“Really?”

“Well… it’s not like I have it with me right now, my parents are holding on to it for me in Cloudsdale-“

“Sure they are, Danger,” Ace said, with a very smug look on her face.

Rainbow growled wordlessly. “Traitor,” she muttered to Twilight, as she fluttered a couple of feet off the ground, high enough that she could cross her forelegs in order to indicate her mood of displeasure.

Twilight covered her mouth with one forehoof as she chuckled. “Are you all ready?”

“Yep,” Rainbow said, her mood of a moment earlier seeming to dissipate as she patted her saddlebag with one hoof. “Got everything I need right here, and all of the most important stuff in here.” She patted her chest above her heart.

Twilight nodded. “I… I really appreciate this,” she said softly. “I know that this isn’t something you particularly want to do or agree with… so it means a lot to me that you’re here.”

Rainbow grinned. “Just promise me that the next time I want to go running off to the end of the world you’ll have my back the same way.”

Twilight giggled. “I guarantee it.”

“Hey there, everypony!” Pinkie cried as she bounced along the grass towards them, and the weight of her bulging saddlebags – and Twilight assumed that they must weigh something considerable because of the way that they looked filled to overflowing – impeded her not at all as she skipped with that springy sound as though her legs where metal coils propelling her upwards. “I’m not late am I?”

“Not at all, Pinkie, you’re even a little early,” Twilight said, as she ticked ‘Pinkie Pie’ off her checklist. “Pinkie, this is Sunshine Ray-“

“Nice to meet you, Ace,” Pinkie said enthusiastically. So enthusiastically that she started pumping Ace’s forehoof with her own. “My name’s Pinkie Pie and ordinarily I’d throw you a welcome to Ponyville party right now – because I’ve never seen you before which means that you must be new here – except that I can’t because we’re about leave on a mission to help Twilight find her true love-“

“Pinkie, it’s not quite-“

“But maybe when we get back-“

“Pinkie,” Twilight interrupted. “Ace is going to be coming with us.”

“And how did you know I was called Ace?” Ace asked, looking slightly askance at the pink pony.

“You’ve got one of those faces,” Pinkie explained, without explaining anything. “If you’re coming with us then that’s great because I’m sure there’ll be time for a party or two along the way.” She gasped in horror. “But I didn’t pack any snacks for you! I’m so sorry, I’ll try and make it up to you it’s just that-“

“That’s, uh, that’s fine,” Ace murmured. “It’s, um, it’s nice to meet you too.”

“Pinkie,” Twilight said softly. “What do you have in those saddle bags?”

“Snacks,” Pinkie said. “And ingredients and gear to make more snacks once the old snacks run out.”

“Are you sure that was a good idea?” Twilight asked. “You don’t even have a blanket.”

“What do I need a blanket for?” Pinkie replied. “I have a tent in here too!”

Twilight blinked. “You have… a tent?”

“Yep yep yep,” Pinkie said. “With room for all of us.”

Twilight’s mouth hung open for a moment. A soft laugh escaped out of her throat. “Of course you do,” she said. “Never change, Pinkie.”

Pinkie made a squeaking sound as she smiled enthusiastically. “Oh, hey, Fluttershy!”

Twilight turned around to see that Fluttershy had crept up behind her while she wasn’t looking. Well, ‘crept up’ implied some malicious intent of which Fluttershy was wholly incapable, but at the same time she had approached so stealthily that Twilight, Rainbow and Ace, distracted as they were, had been completely ignorant of her coming.

“Hello, Pinkie,” Fluttershy replied. “Twilight, Rainbow Dash. Are we just waiting for Applejack, Rarity and Spike now?”

“And Zecora,” Twilight said. “Who has agreed to come along with us and be our guide in the Zebra territories.”

“That’ll be nice,” Fluttershy said. “And very helpful. I get so nervous talking to strangers, it’ll be good to have a friend along who knows the part of the world we’re going to.”

“I thought so too,” Twilight replied. “The customs and even some of the creatures who live around our destination.” Provided that we don’t end up getting her in trouble. “Although… for Zecora’s sake it would be best if we didn’t cause too much of a fuss in Quaggai or Grevyia once we get there.”

“For Zecora’s sake?” Rainbow repeated. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not entirely sure myself, but I think that she left home under a cloud,” Twilight replied. “So it would be for the best – for her certainly, and maybe for us too – if we didn’t draw the kind of attention that would alert anyone that Zecora’s back.”

“If she’s going to cause trouble then perhaps her services as a guide aren’t worth it?” Ace suggested.

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy murmured. “But I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.”

“Ace, this is my friend Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “Fluttershy, this is Sunshine Ray – call her Ace – of the Royal Guard; Princess Celestia has ordered her to come with us for our protection.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Because the Royal Guard are so great at keeping everypony safe,” Rainbow muttered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ace demanded.

“It means that the only pony here who hasn’t saved the world is the one wearing the armour,” Rainbow said with a smirk on her face.

“You two are going to get along like a house on fire, aren’t you?” Twilight groaned.

“Rainbow Dash, you ain’t causing trouble, I hope,” Applejack called as she made her way up the road towards them. Zecora followed just a step or two behind her, her body swathed in her old burlap cloak but with the hood thrown back to reveal her face.

“I wasn’t causing trouble,” Rainbow declared. “I was just pointing out that we don’t need a royal guard to take care of us, we can look out for one another.”

“I daresay we can,” Applejack agreed, as she came abreast of Twilight and stopped. “And I daresay we could if we had to, but speaking for myself I’m glad for the extra pair of eyelids. Howdy, partner, my name’s Applejack.”

“Ace.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Applejack said, tipping her hat. “Don’t worry about Rainbow Dash, there’s a good heart underneath all that hot air.”

Rainbow sighed, and rolled her eyes a little.

Applejack looked around the other ponies. “Morning, y’all; I see we ain’t the last ones to get here.”

“No, we’re still waiting on Rarity and Spike,” Twilight said. “Nice to see you, too, Zecora.”

“I met Applejack upon the road,” Zecora explained. “Headed the same way down which I strode.”

“Once more thank you, for agreeing to come with us,” Twilight said. “I won’t ever forget it.”

“We all appreciate it,” Fluttershy added.

“I really hope I have treats that everyone likes,” Pinkie said.

“Zecora, Applejack, this is Sunshine ‘Ace’ Ray of the Royal Guard,” Twilight said. “Ace, these are my friends Applejack and Zecora.”

Ace nodded. “A pleasure.”

“I mean no insult, noble steed, to say that of your skills I hope there is no need,” Zecora said.

Ace chuckled very lightly. “Me too,” she agreed. “And I’m sure that Princess Celestia would agree as well.”

“We’re all agreed, I think, in hoping that your presence is not necessary,” Twilight declared. “Even those of us who aren’t here right now, where’s… oh, wait, there they are.”

Spike and Rarity were visible at a considerable distance as they came into view. Or rather the towering pile of Rarity’s luggage that was currently hiding Spike – all but his little legs – from view was visible for a considerable distance as it rose in a high, swaying tower into the air, looking at any moment as though that unsteady pile of multi-coloured boxes might collapse and clatter to the ground. Rarity herself walked beside it, dressed in a well-tailored safari blouse of tan colour, accessorised with a bright pink scarf tied around her neck and a pair of very large sunglasses covering her eyes.

“Oh dear, are we the last to arrive?” Rarity said, as she strode up. “I do apologise, darlings, but there’s so much that I just couldn’t bear to leave behind.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said. “We can see that.”

“Rarity,” Twilight said delicately. “Do you really need all of this stuff?”

“Well of course I do, Twilight,” Rarity declared. “You can’t possibly expect me to appear before an ancient cosmic entity wearing something that I’d worn already without the chance to launder? No, I couldn’t do it, I must be properly dressed for a proper occasion.” She lowed her sunglasses long enough to wink at Twilight. “And I’ve got a few things for you to wear in case we run into Prince Lightning again.”

“Uh, thanks,” Twilight said, in a rather unenthusiastic tone. “Um, Spike? Do you need a little help with that?”

“Nope,” Spike said, albeit with a tremor of great effort in his voice. “I’m good.”

“Okay,” Twilight replied uncertainly. “Just let me know if you change your mind.” She looked around. “Now that we’re all here, and ready,” she said. “Does anypony-“

“Twilight,” Applejack said. “Ain’t nopony backing out now.”

Twilight smiled, and looked down at the ground for a moment. “Bless you,” she said. “Bless you all. Then, I guess… what are we waiting for?”

“Let’s go!” Pinkie cried. “Heart of the World here we come!”

The first part of their journey lay by rail, as far south as El Alamane, as far south as the rails would bear them. That part of the journey, across the length of Equestria, should pass swiftly and in reasonable comfort. It was only what came after that was unknown and the possibility of real hardship. But that lay a little way off just yet, while the train lay before them, and so they headed off in the direction of the train station, sauntering in a cluster down the street with time to spare before their train arrived.

“Rainbow Dash,” Ace murmured. “You’re the sonic rainboom mare, right?”

Rainbow blinked. “You… you heard about that?”

“I may be a royal guard, but I’m still a pegasus,” Ace said, sounding a touch irked at the implication, although Twilight couldn’t help but think that she was being a little too touchy about that. “Of course I’ve heard about that.”

“You say that, but nopony else seems to recognise me,” Rainbow muttered.

“They probably just don’t want you gettin’ a swelled head,” Applejack replied.

“That’s not likely with your girls around, is it?” Rainbow said, in a tone that was both affectionate and a little bit sharp at the same time.

Twilight sighed. “Rainbow, for the last time, we’re sorry. We didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, we just-“

“Wanted to take me down a peg or two,” Rainbow said. “Yeah, I get it.”

“What’s this?” Ace asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Rainbow said quickly. “Nothing at all. We just… it’s nothing.”

Ace’s eyes narrowed. “Is it something that I should be worried about?”

“No!” Twilight and Rainbow Dash said at once.

“We may not always get along, but it doesn’t mean that we’re not friends,” Twilight declared. “Isn’t that right, Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed. She smirked. “Just because you can’t bear the thought of me having a moment to shine-“

“Rainbow Dash, you know that ain’t why we did it!” Applejack said sharply. “We did it because you were getting so darn full of yourself it was gettin’ gosh darned unbearable!”

“So what did you do?” Ace asked.

“We put on a costume and between us we did all the things that everypony was praising Rainbow Dash for,” Pinkie said. “Like saving people, stopping accidents, that kind of thing.”

“So people were helped?” Ace said. “That’s what really counts, in the end.”

“Yeah, I know,” Rainbow grumbled. “It’s just… you know, you really are the first pony to bring up the sonic rainboom. I’m the first pony to do that in so long most ponies had forgotten that it was real, but… I don’t know how the rest of you girls do it, sometimes.”

“Do what?” Fluttershy asked.

“Accept that nopony cares that we’ve saved Equestria twice and done so many amazing things!” Rainbow cried.

“I’m glad that nopony recognises me,” Fluttershy replied. “I’m not sure I could handle the attention.”

“Speaking for myself,” Rarity said. “I am, as you know, somewhat covetous of recognition, but I would rather be recognised within my chosen field, not for… well, saving Equestria may be all very well, but it’s not how I’d choose to spend my time if I had a choice. When I have boutiques in Canterlot and Manehatten and can still walk down the street without being recognised, then I may start to gripe a little. Until then, it continues to motivate me to try harder.”

“And that’s fine, I suppose,” Rainbow said. “You want to succeed at what you want to do with your life. But this is what I want to do with my life, and still nopony knows who I am. I performed a sonic rainboom and nopony cares.”

“I care,” Ace said. “That was impressive stuff.”

“Did you see it?” Rainbow asked.

“Not up close, but you could see it from Canterlot,” Ace replied. “And hear it, too. It was one heck of a thing.”

“Maybe you could write and tell the Wonderbolts that.”

“You want to join the Wonderbolts?”

“Uh, yeah!” Rainbow cried. “Who doesn’t?”

“I thought about it,” Ace said. “But I decided I liked a scrap more than I liked performing for crowds.”

“Really?” Rainbow demanded incredulously. “I thought the Royal Guard just stood around in the palace.”

“That’s… some of it,” Ace admitted. “But there’s other stuff as well.”

“Like what?” Rainbow asked.

“Like the time I had to police an island of guano off Manehatten,” Ace declared.

“Please don’t tell the story,” Twilight groaned.

“An island of guano?” Rainbow repeated, sounding disgusted and intrigued at the same time.

“Uh-huh,” Ace said. “You see, there were all these seabirds, whole flocks of them, and they were all-“

“Please don’t tell this story,” Twilight begged.

“I’d like to hear all about the seabirds,” Fluttershy murmured.

“No, Fluttershy, not in this case, you really don’t,” Twilight said. She paused, thinking about it some more. Fluttershy was surely aware of the less savoury habits of the creatures that she cared for. “Okay, maybe you do, but I would rather not.”

“If this is going where I think it’s going, I’m forced to agree,” said Rarity.

“Don’t be so prissy, the pair of you,” Applejack told them. “You can get some darn good fertiliser out of that stuff.”

“That’s what everypony was fighting about,” Ace explained. “That’s why Princess Celestia sent the guard in. By the time that we arrived there were more than twenty boats-“

Twilight moaned wordlessly.

“Okay, Twily, I get the message,” Ace conceded. “I’ll tell you girls about it later.”

And so they managed to reach the train station without any more discussion of islands of guano, and soon their train arrived, puffing up to the station with smoke billowing from the smokestack, whistle shrieking and the rails screaming as the train slowed to a halt.

The doors opened. They climbed aboard, all of them, and Spike deposited his heavy load as they all found seats.

The doors closed behind them.

“All aboard!” the conductor cried, blowing his shrill whistle upon the platform.

Slowly at first, with huffing and puffing, with heaving effort, the train pulled away. It crawled at first, it dragged the heavy bulk of the carriages along behind, it moved like somepony who had just risen out of bed and was stumbling, bleary-eyed towards the bathroom. Then it began to walk, then to run, and then it began to fly, green acres and trees and fertile fields rushing past in a great blur as they were on their way.

And so they set off, on the start of their journey. Their destination was uncertain, as was what might happen between then and now. But for now, at this moment, they were all together. And they were on their way.

Quoth the Raven

The embers of their fire died in the pit that they had dug for them. With the moon shining down as it did there was scarcely any need for the fire’s light, and with everypony – nearly everypony – sound asleep there was little need for warmth, either.

The camp was quiet. The only pony still awake was Twilight herself, and that was not a result of any desire to stay awake on her part but simply the fact that she couldn’t get to sleep. Although all her friends and companions, saved only Ace, slept around her, nevertheless Twilight could not. She had too much on her mind.

They had not gone very far. Well, no, that was not quite true. They had gone a considerable distance, all the way to the very edge of Equestria as a nation, but they had not gone so far that they couldn’t turn back. All of their journey, though the distance had been considerable, had been travelled via rail; they had gotten the train from Ponyville to Canterlot, and then at Canterlot they had changed for a southbound train to Appleoosa, and from Appleoosa they had gotten another, much smaller – only a single carriage, and that carriage empty apart from Twilight and the others – train the rest of the way to El Alamane, a one-pony town in nearly every sense of the word that marked, or near enough, the southern frontier of Equestria. If everypony were to decide to turn back now, this very night, then they could return to El Alamane in a single day and then it would be merely a matter of waiting for a train to take them back north and they would be in Ponyville again in mere days.

Perhaps that would be a good idea.

Twilight shook her head. No, she didn’t believe that. She couldn’t believe that. She had to press on, she had to reach the Heart of the World; she had to find out what had become of Lightning and Krysta.

But did everypony else have to press on with her?

No. No, they didn’t. They chose to come because they would not be parted from her. Because they cared about her.

And that was what weighed on Twilight’s mind and made it impossible for her to sleep.

From here on in, with every step they too, it would be harder and harder to turn back, more and more difficult to give up and go home. The southlands lay before them, the domains of dragons and zebras, little known to pony folk. To return even to El Alamane would in itself involve arduous and perhaps dangerous journeying if ever they decided that enough was enough, and even if they went all the way then that merely meant that the journey would have to be repeated back again in some fashion once the Heart was found.

Twilight was determined to make that journey, and she did not want to make it alone… but at the same time she was sorely oppressed by the thought of just what she had committed her faithful friends to. This was her quest. This was something that she wanted. Lightning was her… she was the one to whom he mattered, she was the one who wished to discover his fate, the others had no part in this… except the part they chose to have, out of their friendship with her.

But was it right to trespass so much upon that friendship? Applejack told her that she wasn’t being selfish, but… how did she ever come to deserve such good and wonderful friends?

Twilight’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a twig snapping nearby. Twilight looked up, a gasp escaping her lips. Since they were still in Equestria, and close by the last outpost of pony civilisation, they had not set a watch; Ace said it was unnecessary at this point, although that had not stopped her from absenting herself from their camp to make a sweep of the surrounding countryside. Everypony else was slumbering, their guard was absent, and the one other pony who was not asleep was engaged in brown study, not in keeping guard.

It seemed like the thought that this part of the world was yet a safe one might have been a little optimistic. Danger, after all, did not recognise the boundaries of kingdoms.

Twilight climbed slowly and softly to her feet. She didn’t wake the others, she didn’t want to in case it turned out to be nothing worth bothering them about, but she called upon her magic, her horn glowing faintly with power as yet unformed, no specific spell in her mind but ready to be cast as shield or strike as the need went.

Twilight’s eyes attempted to pierce the darkness that surrounded them. The dead trees that grew out of the barren, almost sandy soil on which they were encamped seemed tall and powerful, their hands outstretched with slender, bony fingers, looming out of the darkness as the moonlight fell upon them. The night lay heavily upon the world, and Twilight could see little in it.

“You heard me approach because I allowed you to. Had I wanted to fall upon you unawares I could have done so, with great ease.”

The voice had come from behind her. Twilight turned, slowly, to see a pony – or at least she presumed that it was a pony, because they were covered from head to toe in a dark grey cloak, with the hood raised so that no light could enter in and reveal the face that lay shrouded in the shadow.

Twilight had never seen her before, but nevertheless she had a name to put to this dark, cloaked form. “Raven,” she growled, and the light of her horn burned brighter with the anger that rose within Twilight Sparkle. This was the pony who had attacked Pinkie with that Shard of Darkness, and in order to save Pinkie – and to save Twilight herself – Lightning and Krysta had had to sacrifice themselves to an uncertain end. It was her fault, Twilight was only in this position now because of Raven and what she had done! And now, here she was, back again, with the gall to stand before Twilight as if she had not tried to take a friend from her. As though she had not taken much from Twilight, in the end.

“I didn’t come here to fight,” Raven said, her voice soft and calm.

“Then why are you here?” Twilight yelled, in a voice that she expected to wake up the entire camp even as she threw a shield up around her friends. The spell, at least, worked; a lavender shield engulfed the entire camp and all her friends in a dome of protective energy. The shout, however, did not have quite the impact that she’d expected it to. Nopony stirred. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash continued to snore as loudly as ever.

“They won’t wake,” Raven said. “Not until we’ve had our little talk.”

“Why?” Twilight demanded. “What did you do?”

“You’re a smart mare,” Raven said. “Figure it out.”

Twilight considered for a moment. “Starswirl’s Spell of Slumber.”

“Correct,” Raven said. “Well, I used an artefact charged with said spell; I’m afraid the spell itself is… somewhat beyond my capabilities. Either way, you are correct in every way that really matters, I suppose. And now that you know how I did it, you’ll be able to break the spell… but to do that you’d have to lower the quite unnecessary shield which, for all that it is quite unnecessary, I don’t think you’ll do. Not just yet, at least. You’re too worried about me, after all.”

“Shouldn’t I be worried?” Twilight said. “You tried to kill Pinkie.”

“No,” Raven said. “I didn’t. If I wanted Pinkie Pie dead then she’d be dead. If I wanted any of you dead then you’d be dead.”

“We’re stronger than you think,” Twilight growled.

“You’re not nearly as tough as you think you are,” Raven replied. “You think that you are heroes, you think that you can overcome any obstacle, you think that because you’ve faced Nightmare Moon and Discord that there’s nothing that can stop you, think that the power of friendship will see you through to save the day-“

“It always has,” Twilight pointed out.

“But it won’t!” Raven snarled. “You talk about friendship and togetherness and how you’ve got each others backs but you know nothing! You have been kept safe within this coddled nest, not only you but all of Equestria! You think that you’ve faced danger? I have seen real evil, out beyond the stars, and anything that you’ve overcome so far pales in comparison! You aren’t ready for what’s to come, and the worst part is that it need not come but you will bring it upon yourself through your folly and sheer hubris!”

There was no way Twilight was going to lower the shield after that. “Pinkie didn’t bring you upon herself,” she declared in a voice that was flat and hard as the anvil upon which she’d like to hammer Raven flat for what she’d done.

Raven was silent for a moment. “No,” she admitted quietly. “No, she did not. But I repeat – and ask you to believe – that I did not seek Pinkie’s death.”

“Then why did you attack her with a parasite that would have consumed her body?” Twilight cried.

“Because I thought Lightning would kill her.”

“Oh, because that makes it so much better.”

“I did what I had to do for the good of Equestria,” Raven said. “Just as I did when I unleashed Silver Spear upon you.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “That… that was you?”

“Of course it was me, who else would have done that?” Raven demanded. “I don’t want to hurt anypony. I… I have never wanted to hurt anypony. I only hurt others when circumstances force me to, and I take no joy from it, not one drop, not ever. I didn’t want to kill Pinkie, I rejoice that she survived-“

“Survived you, you mean?” Twilight asked.

“Is it not better that one pony should die than that thousands or more that will suffer and perish otherwise.”

“What are you talking about?” demanded Twilight.

“I am asking you to turn back,” Raven said. “Go home, back to Ponyville. Laugh, live, love. Forget Lightning Dawn, and New Olympia and all the rest. Forget the Heart of the World. Turn back, for Celestia’s sake, while there’s still time.”

Twilight swallowed. She holds a mirror up to my misgivings. “I can’t do that.”

“Yes, you can,” Raven said. “And very easily.”

“No, I can’t.”

“You mean you won’t.”

Twilight hesitated. “Very well,” she admitted. “I won’t.”

Raven sighed. “He is not worthy of the feelings that you harbour for him.”

“What do you know about my feelings?”

“Enough to know that he will betray them.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

Raven paused for a moment. “If you reach the Heart of the World you will be able to open up Equestria to visitors from beyond the stars, just as it was in the old legends.”

“That seems like a good thing.”

“No!” Raven growled. “Nothing could be further from the truth. This… this is why I came here to beg you to turn back, because you don’t understand! You don’t see… how can you not see? You saw what Lightning did to Silver Spear. I know you did, I watched you watch as he burned his enemy alive and I thought… for a moment I thought my work was done.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “You… you wanted me to see Lightning use the Solaforce, the Fire of Heaven.”

“I wanted to open your eyes to what you were really dealing with,” Raven declared. “Not a prince, not a knight, but a monster in a pony skin.”

“No,” Twilight said immediately, shaking her head. “Lightning’s not a monster. He did the wrong thing then, I know, but he apologised-“

“He said what he needed to in order to get back on your good side.”

“And why would a monster care about my good side?” Twilight replied.

“Out beyond the stars there are thousands of Lightning Dawns,” Raven said. “All of them as vicious as he and if you reach the Heart of the World they will descend upon this place like locusts and devour everything! Is that not enough to stay your hoof?”

“No,” Twilight said.

“Why not?”

“Because Lightning was… because Lightning is a good pony in his heart, and I believe the same will be true of others like him,” Twilight said. “Because unlike you, apparently, I’m not ready to write off whole communities and races; because unlike you I’m not prepared to live in fear of what I don’t know.”

“I know,” Raven declared. “I know very well.”

“How?” Twilight demanded.

Raven did not reply. “Will you turn aside? Will you for once take counsel of your fears, listen to your misgivings, taken the more timid and more cautious cause?”

“No,” Twilight said. “I will not, not for you.”

“What about for them?” Raven demanded.

Twilight’s narrowed. “Is that a threat?”

“Not from me,” Raven replied. “But the journey is a long one, uncertain, treacherous and filled with peril. Who can say what misfortune may befall you on the road? Can you really guarantee that they’ll all make it back in one piece? Or even alive?”

“That… that is…” Twilight trailed off. That is my fear exactly. That is the thing, the only thing, that gives me pause. How is that she knows my thoughts so well, can read my secrets, pluck out my heart? How does she know exactly what I’m thinking?

“You know it is no idle threat I make,” Raven purred. “You know the risk as well as I do. A long march through inhospitable terrain and hostile people? What are you thinking?”

“She’s thinking that she isn’t forcing anypony to be here, or any creature neither,” Ace declared. “They have all chosen, freely, of their own volition, and to turn back for fear that… what? That they made the wrong choice? That their too stupid to know any better? That Twilight must choose what is in their best interests though it be in defiance of their choice? Twilight knows better than that, don’t you Twily? Twilight is better than that.”

Ace stood about six feet away from Raven, wings unfurled on either side of her, so that she seemed even bigger than she was. Her armour gleamed under the light of the moon.

Raven didn’t move. “Sunlight Ray,” she murmured. “Known as Ace to her friends, or anyone who’ll listen, really. I missed the fact that you weren’t in camp. Although, when you got close enough, the effects of the sleep spell ought to have started affecting you.”

Ace pawed the ground with one hoof. “I’m guessing you didn’t know that in the guard we are regularly hit with sleeping spells in order to build up an immunity.”

“No,” Raven confessed. “I didn’t know that. It… never came up until now, it appears.”

“Ace is right,” Twilight declared, her misgivings not banished but smothered and quelled at least in part by Ace’s words. “My friends have chosen to come with me. I didn’t force them to come, and I won’t force them to turn back, either. If they are willing to help me then I’m honoured to accept their help, and I know that together we’ll overcome all the obstacles that stand in our way, just like we always do! And if you try and hurt any of my friends I will stop you.”

A chuckle emerged from out of Raven’s cloak. “Bravely spoken”, she murmured. “I’d expect nothing less… and yet at the same time I feel like laughing. I wish… I wish…” now she did laugh. “I wish, I wish, oh how I wish…that you had given me a different answer.”

She retreated, melting away into the darkness, disappearing into the all-concealing cloak of night.

Twilight looked for her, but could not see her any more.

Ace scowled. “How did she do that?” she demanded. “Was that teleportation? I didn’t see a flash or anything.”

“Neither did I,” Twilight said. “She said… she said that she had used an artefact to put the others to sleep. Maybe she used an artefact to get away.”

“Maybe,” Ace murmured. “I don’t know much about that kind of thing.” She paused for a moment. “I should have jumped her while I had the chance, only…”

Twilight waited for her to finish, and prompted her when she did not, “Only what?”

“Only I could see the look on your face,” Ace explained. “She was getting to you, wasn’t she?”

Twilight shivered. “Her words… what she said, it… it was so close to what I was thinking it was uncanny. How did she know?”

Ace shrugged. “They’re not difficult thoughts to guess,” she said. “That mare wouldn’t even have to know you, just what kind of a pony you are.”

“I don’t know,” Twilight murmured. “There are times… she’s spoken to Pinkie in ways that suggest she does know us, although none of us remember her.”

“Then she’s mad, as well as dangerous,” Ace muttered. “I really should have jumped her.”

“I’m glad you spoke up,” Twilight said, a smile playing across her face. “What she was saying… her words were starting to get to me.”

“I meant what I said,” Ace told her. “They’d be insulted if they knew what you were thinking.”

“Maybe,” Twilight conceded. “Probably. Hey, Ace?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you mind if I keep the shield up, even if you’re on the wrong side of it?” Twilight asked. “I’m a little worried-“

“In case she comes back? Sure,” Ace said at once. She sighed. “I wish I could have gotten her.”

“It might be better that you didn’t,” Twilight said. “I mean, what could we have done with her once we had her?”

But she kept the shield up, all the rest of the night, just in case.

Cirta

Twilight spread the map out across the ground. “So, this town, Cirta,” she said, pointing with her hoof to the little picture of the walled town on the map. “That’s our next stop?”

Zecora nodded. “Cirta we will reach tomorrow, where all that we need we may borrow.”

“Borrow?” Rainbow repeated sceptically. “You mean buy, right?”

Zecora shrugged apologetically. “Rainbow Dash, I offer you my apology; finding a rhyme is not always easy.”

Rainbow grinned. “Don’t sweat it, just so long as we all understand what you’re really trying to say.”

They were all gathered around the map. They had travelled some way into zebra territory by this point, or at least some way into the territory of the Imperial Zebras, the land known as Grevyia.

The zebra lands were divided into two parts: the domain of the Imperial Zebras, known as Grevyia, which extended southwards towards the mountains and westwards towards the lands of the dragons; and the dominion of the plains zebras, known as Quaggai, smaller but a little more prosperous and more advanced as well, a land that was closer to Equestrian terms of its level of technology, although of course they had no pegasus command of the weather to make their lives easier.

All the same, it was a little unfortunate that it was Grevyia, and not Quaggai, that directly bordered onto Equestria itself, because Twilight had the distinct impression that they would have rather traversed through Quaggai than through the Grevyian Empire. They had travelled through lands that were dusty and barren, the earth cracked and dying under the heat of the sun, save for where a river cut through the earth and turned the land on either side into a fertile paradise, crops springing from the ground watered by life giving river and all the nutrients it spread out onto the flood plains as it burst its banks on either side. But even that, though at first it had seemed a more welcome sight than the dead lands that lay beyond the reach of the waters, was marred by the sight of vast gangs of zebras with tattooed faces – always the same tattoos, of flames burning upon their left cheeks, and chains coiling around their necks – toiling away under the watchful eyes and swift lashes of overseers. Twilight had suspected that those labouring zebras were slaves even before Zecora had confirmed for her – for all of them – just what those tattoos meant. Sometimes the flames tattooed upon their faces were blue, sometimes red, sometimes yellow, sometimes green, and the exact design of the fire itself varied from place to place, signifying to which Mighty One these slaves belonged; but they were all slaves.

It had been sickening to have to watch. Even more sickening to walk on by and leave them to their wretched fate.

Twilight had not come to the zebra lands to change the world, she had not come to set Imperial Grevyia to rights but all the same… to walk on by, to turn the other cheek against injustice, to… it made her feel dirty, unclean, immoral in her own right, tainted by the evil that she had witnessed and done nothing to stop.

She had thought only of her own problems, of her own desires, and yet now she had come to this place and found so many so much more in need… and yet she could not help them.

She had neither the right nor, indeed, the power to overthrow the structures of the world, to challenge the enigmatic Mighty Ones who ruled over Grevyia with a will of iron for all that they were unseen. Perhaps Princess Celestia had such power, perhaps Princess Celestia could have stopped it if she wished, but to do so even the princess would have had to become a tyrant as great as any Grevyian lord, to impose her will upon others by naked force.

As they impose their will upon their slaves. If they do evil surely they deserve to receive evil in return? Or perhaps not. Those who did evil were yet people for all that they were, well, possibly evil people, or the products of an evil system at least. And being that they were yet people, it would be as wicked to grind their faces into the dirt as it was for them to do the same to others. It was a comforting notion, to declare that your power, your ability to do a thing gave you the right to do it and thus you would use the vast power at your command to order all things as you would, for the greater good and the benefit of all. And perhaps that was how it would start, but over time the temptation to use your power to benefit not all but only you would grow greater and greater. No doubt that was how the Mighty Ones of Grevyia had begun, with good intentions that had led them step by step down a slippery slope to absolute evil. That was why Celestia used her power but sparingly, preferring to use influence instead: to keep that temptation at bay for as long as she could. Twilight had to remember to do the same; not least because her power was little enough. But one day she would have influence, and she would use it as Celestia did: to improve the lot of the less fortunate while doing no harm in the process, however long it might cause that process to take.

But, however she could justify inaction to herself, Twilight could not deny that it had made the journey southwards uncomfortable for all of them. At times it had looked as if Pinkie was going to be made ill by the depravity all around her, and Fluttershy too. Only the presence of the beasts of the river, when they came to a patch of same that was not under cultivation, had calmed her; hippos and crocodiles alike had been as charmed by Twilight’s animal-loving friend as were bears and goats and popinjays back home, and she had been renewed by their companionship during those moments when they could afford to stop and rest.

Twilight was glad that they would soon be leaving – if they had not already left – the heartland of Grevyian power. She had narrowed the location of the Heart of the World to the borderlands between the two zebra nations, and thus a place that was in dispute between the two of them. That brought with it its own attendant risks, but at least it meant they wouldn’t come across any more signs of Grevyian moral depravity; signs that they would have to turn away from and try to forget.

“Will they take our bits?” Fluttershy asked, for they had run into a little trouble with that in some parts of the country; not so much trouble that they had ever been completely unable to buy what they needed, but they had sometimes been able to purchase what they wanted.

“Cirta is a border town, and gold is gold,” Zecora said. “Here all precious metal coin is good, be it foreign or ever so old.”

“Do you know it?” Twilight said. “Personally, I mean.”

Zecora was silent for a moment. “I used to come here as a child,” she replied. “It was the closest market-place, though sometimes it got wild.”

“Wild? Border town?” Ace repeated. “I’ve got to say that I don’t like the sound of this. Is it safe, or are we talking about some kind of violent watering hole full of thugs and bandits?”

Zecora chuckled. “Thugs and bandits, pony guard? No, Cirta is not so untoward. This is still a Grevyian town, wherein a Mighty One does dwell; all know that to avoid his wrath they must be sure to behave well. But, this is no pony town so happy and tolerant; zebras of this land can be touchy, so best not start an argument.”

“We won’t,” Twilight assured her. “If you don’t mind me asking, Zecora, who are these Mighty Ones of Grevyia? We’ve heard a lot about them since we came here, but we’ve never seen one.”

“And never will, or so I pray, for woe betide that encounter they say,” Zecora said. “They are not seen by zebra eye, and no desire to meet them have I; within these bounds they rule all things, and to draw their notice great trouble brings.”

“I don’t know about anypony else but I’m not sure that makes much sense,” Applejack declared. “If they never show themselves then how do you know they’re even real?”

“If they’re not real then who’s giving the orders?” Spike asked.

“Whoever comes out and tells everyone else that the Mighty Ones told him to give the orders,” Applejack replied, as though the answer was obvious.

Twilight’s eyebrows rose. “That’s… unusually devious, for you.”

“Hey, just because I prefer to be honest with folks don’t mean that I can’t tell when somepony is selling me a bill of goods,” Applejack said. “Imagine if Princess Celestia never came out and showed herself, and we were all just expected to believe that she was in there, raising the sun each day.”

Twilight pondered that, and found that her imagination revolted against it. It was too far removed from the Princess Celestia that she knew, and her conception of her old teacher. “I can’t do it,” she confessed.

“Exactly,” Applejack said. “That’s what I’m talking about. Zecora, back me up here, someone must have had this same idea before me.”

Zecora’s expression was a trifle grim. “I would be careful what you say, those who deny the Mighty Ones often go… away.”

Twilight swallowed. “By away… you mean-“

“In Grevyia these things are taken very seriously,” Zecora explained. “Best not to try and spread seditious heresy.”

Applejack licked her lips. “I’m not sure that proves me wrong, but I take your point about it all the same.”

“This is a great part of the world we came to, isn’t it?” Rainbow asked.

“It will get easier,” Twilight promised. I hope so, anyway. “Is there anything else that you can tell us about Cirta before we head in there tomorrow morning?”

Zecora paused, seeming to be lost in thought. “Be calm, be quiet, and say few words,” she advised. “To avoid drawing the attention of the Grevyian lords.”

“I repeat,” Rainbow said. “Great place we’ve come to.”

Twilight cringed. “I’m sorry, everypony – everyone. But we’ll be out of Grevyia soon, and… I’m sorry. I won’t forget this, for as long as I live.”

“I’m not complaining,” Rainbow said. She paused. “Okay, I’m not trying not to complain. But this does kind of prove my point: you wouldn’t have made it this far without us.”

“I would have managed!” Twilight replied hotly, before she recognised what Rainbow Dash was doing and her anger died down, leaving only a fond smile behind her on her face. “Thanks,” she said.

“Any time,” Rainbow replied.

The town of Cirta was surrounded by a wall of yellow stone, worn and cracked in some places, the other layer falling away to expose the brick beneath. There were no gates, just a gap in the wall flanked by a pair of statues of creatures that Twilight didn’t recognise, horned and winged beings with four legs each ending in a clawed paw, similar in some respects to other creatures – the wings of a dragon, the horns of a minotaur – but in the round unlike anything else. The river whose path they had followed at times upon the way passed by the town, broadening out on the west side of the town to become a lagoon, strengthening the wall on that side by its mere presence. Between lake and wall a ramshackle dockyard had sprung up, with wooden wharfs jutting out into the water, and boats with single sails or none at all moored there. Irrigated ditches had been dug out from the river and lagoon, to water the otherwise dust-dry land around, and amidst those ditches crops had sprung, tended to by a small army of poor, pitiable slaves under the watchful eyes of their overseers.

A dirt track led into the town, and only in the town itself did it become a true paved thoroughfare as it expanded out to criss-cross across the houses and the inns of Cirta. Most of the buildings were low and small, invisible behind the outer wall that offered its dubious protection to the town, but one building rose high above the rest: the lordly seat, set high upon a hill, with a great dome rising up towards the sky as if it was trying to obstruct the clouds.

It was also the only building in town that looked as if it had been designed with any eye for aesthetics rather the mere functionality, with the columns that surrounded the high dome, the spire set atop it, the steps built into the hill. Everything else here, and no offence to those who lived in Cirta, seemed so drab by comparison, so square and blocky, so utilitarian. Not that there was anything particularly wrong with utilitarian, Twilight supposed, but she couldn’t help but think that there was nothing wrong with the idea of a pretty or attractive looking home either.

The group walked towards the archway leading into town, as were groups of zebras, carters pulling wagons of their goods, and a masked zebra being born upon a litter upon the backs of four slaves, for whom all other travellers made way. This was a functionary of the empire, a servant of the Mighty Ones; such highly placed and high-born zebras wore ornate painted masks as a sign of their status, the more ornate the better; the mask of this zebra was rather plain, with only a jagged line separating red from teal, but he still wore a mask and still travelled in a litter and still had a little foal running beside said litter fanning him with a palm leaf in case the sun got too hot for him as he sat serene amidst his silk-curtained palanquin adorned with ropes of pearls. All of that marked him out as a figure of import, and the zebra travellers stopped and bowed, and the carters removed their wagons from his path, and as he was borne past them, without paying them any visible mind, the bowing zebras murmured to him, ‘bless us, lord. Look down with kindness on us’.

He did not look, nor bestow any kindness. He simply carried on, literally considering the manner in which he was conveyed, ignoring all the world around him as though he were the only real thing in it.

Twilight and the others bowed, too. Only Zecora did not. She wore a mask, one of those that she had brought from her home; Twilight didn’t know if she had it because she had been one of these zebras once, or if she had taken it from one in some story that she had not told to Twilight, but she wore the mask and she did not bow, as she had not bowed many times along their travels here. She wore the mask to take the ponies – and Spike – under her protection, and make them feel less like outsiders in this place.

Not that they didn’t stand out as outsiders. As the lord – or lord’s servant – in his litter was carried away, Twilight and the others were able to go into town as movement resumed. As she passed between the statues that she could not – and it was really going to bug her that she couldn’t – identify, Twilight felt a chill run down her as though a spell had just been cast over her; but it passed after a moment and she couldn’t feel anything otherwise amiss, so she ignored it and continued on, following in Zecora’s lead. The gazes of the zebras followed them, and their whispers too. They were objects of curiosity as they moved down the paved but dusty streets, and not just curiosity; not all of the gazes that followed them were devoid of hostility.

Nevertheless, they were not challenge as they entered the bazaar that lay close by the entrance into town. Smells sweet and succulent drifted from the open air market stalls, where spices and fruits sat on the wooden surfaces alongside fine glassware, drinks in fine glassware, delectable looking sweets and rather disgusting looking things that Twilight couldn’t believe that anyone would want to eat but which the Grevyian zebras apparently considered a delicacy.

“We should look for…” Twilight paused, feeling a little lightheaded. “We should.” She swayed on her feet as the world trembled around her.

“You okay, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“You certainly don’t look it, darling,” Rarity agreed. “What in Equestria is the matter?”

“I… I feel a little…” Twilight murmured, finding it harder and harder to form her words. “I mean I…” she felt so tired. Why did she feel so tired all of a sudden? Why was it such a struggle to form her words? Why did she feel like she could hardly keep her eyes open? She just wanted to… she just wanted…

In her woozy, weary, exhausted – even though she had no reason to be exhausted – state, Twilight barely noticed the armed zebras – wearing white masks, she noticed, even if she didn’t, or couldn’t, understand what it meant - suddenly surrounding them.

“These are the ponies we have been warned about,” their leader barked. “Take these villains. Take them all!”

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes. It was still pretty dark in here, wherever ‘here’ was. She could barely see a single thing. She blinked, feeling something chink as she tried to get up. A chain. She was chained up, manacled by the legs! And she could feel something around her neck, something that felt kind of like a collar.

“Twilight! Twilight’s awake!” Pinkie cried.

“Is that you, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. “I can barely see a single darn thing down here.”

“Yes,” Twilight said softly. “Yes, it’s me.” She peered into the darkness, seeing very little. “Is everyone here? Girls? Spike?”

“I’m here,” Pinkie said, and Twilight felt someone nuzzling against her side, rubbing themselves against her, and as her eyes became a little more accustomed to the gloom Twilight could make out the silhouette of Pinkie Pie, her voluminous hair cresting the top of her head, close beside her. There was a rattle of chains as she moved.

“We’re glad you’re awake,” Fluttershy’s voice called out of the gloom. “We were so worried when you just collapsed in the market like that.”

“If I hadn’t been so distracted by worrying about you I could totally have taken all those zebras,” Rainbow Dash said, her voice also issuing out of the dark. “As it was, I only took about half of them before they got me.”

“Considering I took down half of them it’s a wonder we got captured at all,” Ace said. She paused. “But seriously, little Miss Applejack is the one who really deserves the praise. I’ve never seen anything quite like the fight that you put up.”

“Didn’t do us too much good in the end, did it now?” Applejack asked.

“Even so,” Ace replied. “We could use a pony like you in the royal guard.”

“Maybe you could, but you ain’t getting this pony,” Applejack said. “I’ll fight when I have to, to keep my friends and family safe, but I ain’t the kind of gal to go around lookin’ for trouble when it ain’t lookin’ for me. I got my farm and my family to be concerned with.”

“Right now I would suggest that we all have other things to be concerned with than our future career plans,” Rarity suggested dryly.

“Rarity,” Twilight said, relief in her voice. “You’re here too?”

“Yes, darling,” Rarity said. “We are all in the same sinking ship at present. Well, almost all of us.”

Twilight felt a chill run down her spine at that ‘almost’. “Spike? Zecora?”

“I have joined you here in jail,” Zecora said. “Trapped without a hope of bail.”

Then that must mean- “Spike? Spike, can you hear me? Spike, where are you?”

“He ain’t here, sugarcube,” Applejack said softly. “They took him some place else.”

“We tried to stop them, darling,” Rarity added. “Really we did, but they… well, they wouldn’t take no for an answer.” There was a sound of rattling chains, and Rarity winced in pain.

“Rarity?” Twilight asked. “Are you okay?”

“I was rather insistent upon them not taking Spikey-wikey away,” Rarity murmured. “And they were equally insistent about taking him. Their insistence included clubs.”

Twilight winced. “Oh, Rarity, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, girls. Do you know where they took him? Do you know where we are? Sorry, I’ve been… out of it.”

“It’s okay,” Rainbow said. “They did something to all of us. When I tried to fly my wings felt as heavy as lead.”

“Otherwise we could have flown away and waited for a chance at a rescue later,” Ace added.

“And while I didn’t pass out, my magic was rather ineffectual in the crisis.” Rarity said. “The only ones who weren’t affected in some way were Applejack, Pinkie and poor Spike.”

“To answer your original question,” Applejack said. “We’re in some kind of dungeon.”

“Quite a deep one, too, it seems,” Fluttershy whispered.

Twilight looked up. The only light source was coming from high above, where some of kind of lamplight was dimly shining through the thick wooden bars that formed the door into their cell. It seemed that there was a long drop between the door and the cell itself. “Where we… thrown down here?”

“Yeah,” Ace said. “It was super fun. I’m amazed you could stay asleep for that to be honest.”

“Kind of impressed, though,” Rainbow said. “You’ll have to teach me how you did that.”

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack snapped.

“What?” Rainbow replied. “Sometimes I’d like to be able to sleep that soundly.”

“But then how would I be able to get you up for Wake-Your-Friends-Up Day?” Pinkie asked.

“Wake your what up day?”

“You’ll find out eventually,” Pinkie said, with a glee that was almost inappropriate in the circumstances.

Twilight grunted, and felt her chains rattle as she shifted in place. “I take it everybody is chained up.”

“Unfortunately, darling, yes,” Rarity said. “Though I think Applejack has it the worst of all of us.”

“They could me hog-tied tighter than a… well, tighter than a wild hog,” Applejack declared, and Twilight heard from out of the dark the clanking of many chains as she imagined Applejack straining against her bonds in the darkness.

“Zecora,” Twilight said. “What’s going on? Why have we been arrested like this when we haven’t done anything? And what do they want with Spike?”

“If I knew the reason we were bound, I never would have brought you to this town,” Zecora said. “Zebras can be an insular folk, and not always with outsiders wish to talk; but I have never known in either nation, for outsiders to be jailed without provocation.”

“Well, perhaps someone might have told the ruling lord of this area that you had come here bent upon robbing him of all his treasure,” the voice of Raven echoed down into the pit as the cloaked and hooded pony herself appeared at the wooden doorway high above, looking down upon them. “That might vex the Mighty One sufficiently to command his forces to be on the lookout for you, and to take you into custody as soon as you were spotted.”

Pinkie gasped. “Raven.”

Raven sighed, or seemed to at least. “Hello again, Pinkie Pie. You probably won’t believe me but I’m very glad to see you well.”

“Don’t talk to her!” Rainbow snarled. “You don’t have the right, you little… if I wasn’t chained up down here-“

“Oh, yes, I’m sure you’d fly up and kick my flank with the greatest of ease,” Raven declared sarcastically. “A part of me would like to see you try. Another part of me is genuinely concerned that you might do it. Overall, though, I think you need a little more training before you’re ready to take me on.”

Rainbow snorted. “Tough talk from the pony who’s only thrown some goo in Pinkie’s face.”

“Tough talk from the pony who has never been in a real fight,” Raven replied. “Not that you’ve won, anyway.”

“You did this?” Twilight demanded. “Why?”

“Because I offered you the chance to turn away and you refused me,” Raven replied. “I won’t allow you to reach the Heart of the World. I’ll do whatever it takes to stop you.”

“Why?”

“The fact that you have to ask me that question is proof that you’re not ready,” Raven said.

“Are you the reason I got knocked unconscious?” Twilight asked. “Did you do something to Rainbow’s wings, and Rarity’s magic?”

Raven chuckled. “I may have found an artefact capable of suppressing the magic of unicorns and pegasi, although earth ponies remain immune to its effects. Nevertheless, despite that rather large oversight, I thought it would be a useful thing to have if I wanted to stop you. Oh, don’t scowl at me like that,” she added, taking note of the expression on Twilight’s face. “You’re not going to die down here. Princess Celestia will cough up a ransom for you and then you’ll be shipped off home to Ponyville where you can forget all about the Heart of the World and Lightning Dawn and all the rest.”

“And Spike?” Twilight demanded. “What about him?”

“I’m sure that Celestia will ransom him as well,” Raven said. “Whether he’ll want to go home or not is another matter altogether.”

“What in Equestria do you mean, you brute?” Rarity demanded. “Why wouldn’t Spike want to come home with us?”

“Because he’s about to come face to face with the Mighty Ones,” Raven said. “Spikey-Wikey is about to learn the secret at the heart of Imperial Grevyia; and once he’s learned it I’m not sure that he’ll want to go back to the cramped little tree he calls ‘home’ ever again.”

Spike opened his eyes to find himself in darkness.

Where was he? What had happened to him? How did he get here? He remembered… "Twilight!" Spike cried, because the last thing that he remembered was that Twilight had gotten all woozy, and then as the zebra guy with the mask had ordered his guards – a lot of whom were also wearing masks, only theirs were white rather than having anything painted on them – to take them, she had just collapsed dead away like she was sick or something. Then the zebras had tried to grab them all, and Spike had fought them. He'd tried to fight them anyway; Applejack and Rainbow Dash and Ace had done the same, although there were so many zebras around that he kind of lost sight of his friends. He had tried to keep them away from Twilight, and although his claws were too little to really do much to the zebras it turned out that he was really good at taking a beating; through his scales he barely felt anything that they did to him as they tried to get him under control.

Until they hit him over the head with what he seemed to remember had been a pretty big club of some kind. He'd felt that, briefly, before he blacked out.

And now he was feeling everything else they'd done to him all over. His head ached, his tail ached, his arms and legs ached. His scales ached, which he hadn't thought was possible up until now. Did he even have nerves in his scales, weren't they all underneath? Wasn't that the point of his having scales to start with? Or perhaps he was feeling the pain underneath the scales? It felt like somebody had played the drums on him, so maybe it was the aftershocks that he was feeling?

Spike winced as he sat up, his eyes trying and failing to penetrate the gloom. "Twilight," he murmured. "Do you know where we are?"

There was no response but the faint echo of Spike's words, rebounding on him from the walls of…wherever he was.

"Twilight?" Spike called, his voice rising. The echo rose too, the word 'Twilight' striking the edges of this unknown space to fly back towards him from a score of different directions. "Rarity? Fluttershy? Anypony?"

'Rarity, Fluttershy, anypony' came the echo, his words flung back into his face as if the world – or this part of it – sought to mock him.

Where was he? And just as importantly where were they, and how could he get back to them?

He was sitting upon something cold. Cold and uncomfortable, a rough uneven surface that jabbed upwards, albeit whatever was jabbing him had round edges, like… were they coins? Spike groped in the dark, fumbling around him; the surface gave way beneath his hands, and he could feel that they were coins, coins and jewels as well by the feel of it. Was he in a vault of some kind? What was he doing in a treasure vault and why was he alone down here?

"Hello?" Spike called. "Can someone tell me what's going oaaaah!" his question turned into a plaintive cry as he tried to stand up, lost his footing on the loose uneven surface of the gold mound and ended up tumbling down what had turned out to be a hillock of gold and jewels, coinage slippering and scattering all around him as he slid down and came to a stop in what seemed, from the rough shapes that he was starting to be able to make out in the dark, to be a valley between two hills or heaps of gold.

Seriously, where am I?

"Your mewling cries disturb my rest."

The voice that issued forth out of the darkness was deep and cold, and Spike couldn't tell where it was coming from. With the way this place echoed it seemed to be coming from everywhere in here.

"Um, hello," Spike said plaintively. "Could… could you please explain to me what I'm doing here, and where here is? The last thing I remember is getting into a fight and-"

"And my guards brought you here to me, at my command," the voice replied. "The friends you called to have been confined to a dungeon cell but you, little one, you I thought might belong somewhere a little more… hospitable."

"Uh, thanks, I guess," Spike murmured. "It still doesn't really answer any of my questions, though."

The chamber was illuminated by the blue flames of the torches that suddenly began to burn all along the walls, the fire springing to life at some invisible command. Spike could not see, and since he could see he could see that he was, just as he had suspected, in a good-sized treasure chamber, a great round pit descending into the ground where heaps and hills of gold and jewels rose up in undulating mounds that rose and fell all around him. Coins of gold and silver – none of them Equestrian bits, but some of them were marked with the heads of zebras, while others bore masked faces staring out at him – made up the greatest part of the hoard, but there were also strings of pearls, statues of lions and eagles and griffons fashioned out of gold and silver and alabaster; rubies, emeralds and sparkling sapphires; gilded helms and bejewelled cuirasses; spears with gemstones adorning point and shaft.

It was a treasure trove indeed. And there was something moving underneath it, something making the gold and the jewels ripple and shuffle like waves as a shark passed between them.

The dragon rose out of the sea of gold like a lost treasure galley being raised by the magic of some powerful unicorn, breaching the trove under which it had lain concealed and rising – emerging – ever higher as gold and jewels tumbled down its crimson scales like rain trickling down a window. It was not, perhaps, the largest dragon that Spike had ever come across, but it was plenty large enough and it looked as though it could reach halfway up the deep well of riches they shared with ease. It looked old, too, with a certain cragginess about its triangular head, a crack on one of the ram-like horns sweeping back from the same, some scars and scratches upon its scales. Its eyes were amber, and gleamed in the blue firelight of the torches that lined the walls.

"Well," Spike murmured. "This, uh, this wasn't what I expected."

The dragon snorted, a little smoke rising out of his nostrils. "Hello, little cousin. I am Mantle, Lord of Cirta and Warden of the Eastmarch of the Most August and Ancient Empire of Grevyia. And you are?"

"Uh, Spike," Spike muttered. "Assistant… librarian of Ponyville?"

Mantle chuckled. "Assistant librarian?"

"Hey, if it sounds weird to you imagine what finding a dragon as the lord of some zebra town sounds like to me," Spike replied.

"A zebra town?" Mantle repeated. "Is that what you think? Are you so astonished to find me here?"

"I mean, this is supposed to be a zebra country, and the dragon lands are over that way," Spike jerked his thumb westwards. "So-"

The dragon laughed. "So you think that it is zebras who had built this land? Who have put their own kind in chains, who drain their land and people of its gold and resource? Did you imagine that the Mighty Ones of Most Ancient Grevyia, unseen and whispered of, were zebras? Truly, the ponies have raised you softly, and in ignorance of our kind."

Spike's eyes widened. "You mean… the Mighty Ones… the rulers of this empire… are dragons?"

"Every one," Mantle declared proudly. "From the Emperor himself to the lord of the meanest village, we lurk in every shadow and draw all the good things of the world into our embrace. Only a handful of servants have ever seen us and yet hundreds of thousands live and die and toil at our command."

"But… how?" Spike asked.

Mantle slowly breathed out a small jet of fire from out of his mouth. "How much do you know of your own race, Spike of Ponyville? How much did the ponies tell you?"

"I know enough," Spike muttered. "I know I didn't like my own kind very much when I spent time with them."

"Ah, so you have been amongst the brutish dragons of the west?"

"I've been amongst dragons who don't hide in pits," Spike replied.

Mantle scowled. "No, instead they merely brawl over scraps and bones amidst the desert dust. What does the dragonlord rule over but a dying land, the domain of unwashed primitives dwelling in their own filth like common lizards? I am descended from a different sort, and so are all the Mighty Ones who rule over the Most Ancient Empire. It was dragons, in ages long ago, who destroyed the First Empire of the zebra-kind. With fire we swept over all the lands of the south, scorching armies and burning cities to the ground; no power could stand in our way, gold and jewels fell into the claws of my sires like rain. Here," he added, as with a swish of his tail he scattered a few coins in Spike's direction. "There is still some treasure left from that time long-ago: coins from the First Empire. When the fighting was done and the spoils were won some dragons, the foolish ones, returned to their own lands to enjoy the hoards that they had won. Our ancestors were wiser, and more cunning. Having destroyed the zebra nation they transformed themselves from conquerors… to rulers. Under their governance they built a new empire, a world in which they no longer had to loot and plunder for gold and gems, because the zebras brought them all the riches they desired and gave them willingly. Thus have we lived, these years and centuries since from that day until this very day and all the days that are yet to come."

"That… that is very wise of you," Spike said, deciding the flattery was probably the best option he had right now. "Uh, if I might ask, my lord, why are you sharing this fascinating story with me?"

"You are a dragon," Mantle said. "Although you have been raised by ponies you are yet young enough to learn our ways, easier, I deem, than a dragon raised by our barbaric cousins could. There could be a place for you amongst the Mighty, if you wish it so."

And abandon my friends, not likely. Spike had been tempted by that path already; he knew better now that the false promise of 'belonging' or 'being with his own kind' could never compare with the love and friendship offered to him by Twilight and her friends. He honestly couldn't say for certain whether this exploitation being practiced by the Mighty Ones was better or worse than the more openly rough and tumble nature of the other dragons he'd met, but they were neither of them better than what he had in Equestria. Still, he didn't think that just openly admitting that would be the best idea. "You… you honour me, my lord. Um, if you don't me asking, uh, sir, what happened to the ponies that I came here with?"

"I have had them cast into the dungeon," Mantle declared. "I was informed that they were dangerous to me, that they came here to rob me. Is it so?"

"No!" Spike cried, anxiety lending volume to his voice. "I mean, uh," he cast his eyes around the chamber; there was a set of stairs – probably for zebra servants – leading up and out of the pit, but how was he supposed to get to it? "I mean… I mean…" he had an idea. It was a risky idea, sure, but it was also the best idea that he could come up with at this moment. Dragons liked gold and gems, sure, but they also liked power; at least they probably did if they went to all this trouble to get and keep it. "I mean, whoever told you that obviously just wants to keep you away from the Heart of the World."

"The Heart of the World?" Mantle repeated. "That is a story told to children."

"The ponies I was with disagree, and one of them is very intelligent," Spike replied. "That was why we were really here, not to steal from you at all but to find the Heart of the World which they believe is somewhere around here."

"Near here?" Mantle said. "Near here on my land?"

"Yes!" Spike cried. "So, in a way, you could say that you're the one who deserves to find it, seeing as-"

"Seeing as I do deserve to find it," Mantle said, with a soft growl. "Why, if I could find the Heart of the World, then I would be… with its blessing I might supplant the Emperor himself." He looked up, and seemed to gaze out into space for a moment, no doubt imagining the glory and power that would be his if he did, indeed, find the Heart.

"Y-yes," Spike said. "Yes, you would; and very well deserved."

"Could you guide me to the Heart?" Mantle demanded.

"I would certainly be willing – and honoured – to try," Spike declared. "But to be sure of finding it the best thing would be to-"

"No!"

The cry came from above. Spike's gaze flew that way, to behold a cloaked figure standing above them, her whole body concealed beneath hood and cloak.

Raven, the pony who attacked Pinkie Pie.

What is she doing here?

"I will not allow this!" Raven cried. "I won't allow any of you to reach the Heart of the World!"

Raven’s cry echoed in the chamber, reverberating off the high stone walls, descending like a stone cast into a well down to the bottom of the treasure chamber where Spike and Mantle stood.

For a moment, the words of Raven were the only sound in Mantle’s lair, but it was a moment that swiftly passed as Mantle turned his head towards her, a baleful gaze in his amber eyes.

“You will not allow,” Mantle growled, smoke coming out of his nostrils. “I was not aware, little pony, that I required your leave to come or to go or to do anything.” His long neck reared upwards, the dragon’s head reaching towards Raven. “You did not tell me that these ponies knew the way to the Heart of the World.”

Raven said nothing at first, and Spike found that he could practically see her mind working. She was realising, unless he missed his guess, that she shouldn’t have blurted out her refusal to allow him to reach the Heart of the World, and that she would have done better denying that Spike was telling truth rather than tacitly admitting that he was right. And now that Mantle was intrigued by what Spike had to say and offer she was stuck.

And it served her right was all that he could say to that.

“I-“ Raven began.

“You lied to me,” Mantle snarled. “You told me that these ponies were a crew of burglars, and that they meant to steal my treasure out from under my nose.”

“I did not lie to you, O most auspicious of fire-breathers,” Raven began.

“It is a little late for flattery when you have entered my presence unannounced and unbidden, and sought to forbid me from taking a course which I desire to take,” Mantle informed her. More of his body emerged from out of his treasure trove, and in the process of his rising he dislodged more gold and jewels that showered downwards like water sloughing off a wet dog, so that Spike had to scramble both to keep his footing and to avoid being buried beneath the cascading treasure trove.

“I did not lie,” Raven repeated. “I may have… omitted certain things, but these ponies are dangerous-“

“That’s another lie,” Spike declared, his voice ringing out. It might not always show because he habitually spent his days in the company of a genius like Twilight – and when he wasn’t with her then he often accompanied ponies like Rarity, who were no slouches for brainpower either – but Spike was not stupid. He was young, a little naïve sometimes, childish often, but he wasn’t stupid. He’d grown up in the same house as Twilight, been tutored sometimes by Princess Celestia, and he was not an idiot by any stretch of the imagination. He had a mind, even if he didn’t always get the chance to use or show it because he was surrounded so often by so many finer minds.

But he wasn’t surrounded by them now. Now he was all alone. All alone and evolving a plan.

Mantle’s great head, large enough to swallow Spike whole or to crush the little dragon beneath his powerful jaws, swung around to look at him. “Is that so?” he asked, his voice a little softer now, a sibilant hiss.

Mantle’s gaze was as hard as stone. His eyes burned like fire, and Spike found that he could count all of the older, much larger dragon’s razor sharp teeth where they stuck out of his mouth. It was not the most comfortable experience in the world, being stared at by this creature, but nevertheless, need overcoming fear, Spike mastered the chill he felt in his stomach to stammer out “Y-yes! Raven just wants to stop anyone from reaching the Heart of the World! She wants the power to be found there for herself!”

“I do not!” Raven replied. “Spike, stop lying!”

“You’re the one who’s lied already,” Spike protested. “I’ve always told the truth.” His gaze flickered to the stairs leading up and out of this chamber. Hopefully it wouldn’t take much more to set one of them off. “I told you about the Heart of the World right away, but Raven never mentioned it, did she?”

Mantle exhaled loudly. “The little one makes an excellent point, don’t you think?” he said, turning his face once more toward Raven.

“That does not make him honest,” Raven growled. “I do not seek the Heart for myself. No one should find it. It must remain buried, forgotten, lost to time itself. No one should have the power waiting for them-“ she stopped abruptly, and it took Spike a moment to realise that she had made another mistake.

“You know what’s there?” he said. “You’ve been there already, haven’t you?”

Raven hissed wordlessly. “There is nothing for you there,” she said, to Mantle rather than to Spike. “There is nothing for anyone but doom for the world.”

“You will forgive me if your word carries a little less weight with me than it did when you first abased yourself before my claws,” Mantle growled. “But the word of a liar cannot be replied upon. Young Spike, you will guide me to the Heart of the World and I will claim whatever may be found there, treasure or power or both. In return, once the Heart is found, I will release you and your companions, to go whither you will, homewards or elsewhere. You may even stay with me, and rule by my side as I use the power of the Heart of the World to take my rightful place upon the Imperial throne of Most August and Ancient Grevyia.”

Yeah, like that’ll ever happen, Spike thought. What he said was, “That… that is a very generous offer, Lord Mantle. I would be honoured to take you up on it once we have found the Heart of the World.”

“No!” Raven yelled. “No! This cannot happen! I will not allow it!”

Mantle rose. His wings were spread from wall to wall, beating lazily as he ascended up the chamber, up and up and up until he was not merely level with Raven in height but now above her, looking down upon her, like an eagle about to pounce upon a field mouse.

“You begin to anger me, little pony,” he snarled. “You sought to use me as a tool in your design, setting me to obstruct your rival without telling me their purpose; and now you seek to deny me what is mine by right, a thing of great magic that resides in my domain, in my territory, this thing of legend that belongs by all law and natural justice to me?”

“The Heart of the World may be buried beneath the earth you rule but you do not possess it,” Raven said. “It does not belong to you.”

“It doesn’t belong to you either,” Spike pointed.

“Quiet, Spike,” Raven snapped. “Lord Mantle, this dragon-“

“Speaks words more pleasing to my ear than any you have uttered,” Mantle declared. “He promises me much, while you like a scold seek only to deny me that why I would have within my claws.”

“You shall not have it,” Raven snapped. “I won’t allow you… any of you…”

“And how will you stop me?” Mantle demanded, and once more smoke burst from his nostrils to engulf Raven.

Raven stood still, and silent. It was as if she had been turned to stone. She was still and silent and invisible, her whole body swathed in her dark cloak and hood.

But as Spike watched, his eyes widened in amazement as he saw a multitude of golden portals, shimmering light like the air had been turned to water and stones had been cast into them, portals that matched… that matched Twilight’s descriptions of Lightning Dawn using his Olympian powers to summon his sword.

But Lightning, by Twilight’s account, could only summon a single sword and only needed one portal to do it. Raven – assuming it was her, and Spike had no reason to believe that it wasn’t her – was summoning a dozen, no a score of portals, and out of those portals emerged sharp swords and stout spears which erupted, point first, out of the ether to fly towards Mantle.

How is she doing that? Is she from New Olympia too?

Then why-

Spears and swords alike struck Mantle, but glanced off his scales as hard as diamond to strike the wall around or, in a couple of cases, fly downwards towards Spike and all the treasure upon which he stood. Spike threw himself across the chamber as a spear with a black shaft and a red ribbon tied beneath the hilt slammed into the gold right where he’d been standing.

Spike looked up. He had to judge his moment perfectly.

The blades and spears had knocked Mantle back, but they did not seem to have severely injured him; his scales were too tough for Raven’s weapons to penetrate. Nevertheless he snarled with anger as he opened his mouth and a great gust of flame burst from his maw to engulf the cloaked and hooded pony.

A shield of shimmering golden light appeared in front of Raven, and the dragon’s fire lapped against it but did no more, it could progress no further; Spike thought that maybe he could hear Raven growling with the effort of maintaining her shield, as Mantle continued to breathe fire down at her and the flames as crimson as his scales pushed against her pulsing golden light, but the crackle of the flames was so intense that he could hardly say.

Then Mantle lunged for her, bodily smashing through the shield as he snapped at Raven with his immense jaws. Spike thought that he saw Raven dodge to one side, but the pony disappeared before he could be sure as all the view was obscured by Mantle, smashing through the archway that led out of his lair, bellowing in anger, his tail thrashing against the stone walls as he, too, disappeared from sight.

Spike could hear the dragon roaring, just as he could hear something – more weapons, he assumed, pounding upon dragonscale.

Now. Now was the time. Now was his chance, he might not get another.

Spike ran for the stairs.

Above him, the sounds of fighting echoed. Mantle bellowed in anger, roaring out wordless defiance – along with, no doubt, a great quantity of flame besides – while from Raven there was no sound at all, but the noise of weapons striking off scales, along with Mantle's continued anger, showed that she was still alive and in the fight.

There were other sounds too: cries of alarm, hooves beating upon the floors above him; Spike guessed – not that it took a genius to make this guess – that the zebra guards who served Mantle were being drawn towards the sounds of fighting, racing to the aid of their master.

Surely Raven wouldn't be able to fight against the whole palace? Surely she would be overwhelmed?

Not that Spike minded that very much – she had tried to kill Pinkie, after all, and caused for Twilight to be attacked and almost die twice now, not to mention that she was the reason that everybody had been locked up by Mantle in the first place – but it did mean that he had to hurry. The confusion of a fight between Raven and Mantle was pretty much the only chance he had to get out of here and find the others, that was why he'd tried to nudge them towards fighting one another in the first place, so he couldn't afford to hang around and wait for the fight to be over.

And so Spike scrambled across the treasure mounds, scattering the gold coins as his clawed feet skittered over them, rushing past piles of gems, leaping over strings of pearls, ignoring ancient weapons that glimmered in the torchlight. He ran for the servants' staircase leading up and out of this sunken chamber. When he tripped and fell he kept moving on all fours like a dog before finally pulling himself back upright.

Mantle howled in pain, the sound of his agonised cry echoing off the walls and down into the treasure vault. Spike reached the stairs and began to climb up them as fast as he could. It wasn't as fast as he would have liked given that they were built for someone a bit bigger than he was, to the extent that he wasn't so much running as he was climbing up them – this would have all been so much easier if he was just a little bit bigger – reaching up with his claws and pulling the rest of him after.

The sounds of battle continued. There was a thunderous impact, followed by the sound of several creatures – zebras maybe – crying out in horror and alarm. The entire palace shook. Dust and fragments of stone crumbled from the ceiling. Spike kept on climbing. He was already starting to feel the effort of it – so many steps – but he kept on going. He had to keep going. Twilight, Rarity, all the others, they were depending on him. He couldn't just give up.

The sound of fighting drove him on. He had to keep going. He had no choice but to keep going, and to keep going as fast as he could what was more. That fight wasn't going to go on forever.

Another thunderous sound, and more debris fell from the ceiling.

And if the fight does go on forever then this palace will come down on our heads. I have to find the others.

As he climbed, thinking to distract himself from the shortness of his breath, Spike wondered if he ought to feel guilty about having encouraged those two to fight it out like this. It didn't seem like the kind of thing that Twilight would have done, and Spike thought that perhaps he should have tried to make a genuine friend out of Mantle. On the other hand, Twilight and her friends had once turned Discord to stone because some people you just couldn't do anything about; and since Spike didn't have the power to turn anyone into stone, this was about the best he could do.

He reached the top, clambering over the lip of the final stair and emerging into the palace proper.

It might have been a sight to appreciate if it hadn't been such a mess.

Mantle's palace had clearly been built to a size that would accommodate a dragon of his size or bigger, with high ceilings and cavernous corridors. Of course that wasn't unusual for palaces – the palace in Canterlot was far, far bigger than even Princess Celestia, the biggest pony in Equestria, required – but this place, in a town of no great note, managed to dwarf it for just how vast it was.

Canterlot palace was also, Spike hoped, not in quite so much of a mess as this. Columns of golden marble, carved into the shapes of zebras and elephants supporting the ceiling on their backs, had been toppled and broken, they lay in split and severed ruins upon the floor. Mantle's claws and Raven's array of weapons had scored the mosaics that adorned the floor, disfiguring the scenes of feasting and revelry which were depicted there. Spears and swords were buried in the floor and walls, and zebra guards lay on the floor. Some of them wore helmets of dull iron upon their heads; others concealed their faces behind white masks; discarded spears, some cracked and broken, lay beside them.

And Mantle and Raven fought on. As Spike watched, unable to tear his eyes away out of a kind of horrified fascination at what was unfolding before them, he watched as Mantle lurched into view. The dragon had a spear lodged in his right shoulder and a sword buried in his left foreleg, his crimson scales were cracked in places, and he was dripping blood on the floor of his palace, but nevertheless he surged forward with a great roar. Raven leapt backwards, her dark cloak billowing around her as more portals of that shimmering golden light appeared in the air, and more weapons flew through the air to hammer upon the scales of Mantle, or else to dart like thunderbolts towards the ever-increasing number of zebra guards who seemed to be flooding in from every corner of the palace. Fire erupted from out of Mantle's mouth, but Raven seemed not even discomfited by it; she continued to leap, and yet for all that she leapt her cloak yet seemed to wrap like shadow all around her, concealing what lay beneath from Spike's eyes.

Spike forcibly tore his gaze away from the battle unfolding before his eyes. He could have watched, as the armoured titan and the nimble fly with her myriad of stings battled their way through the palace, destroying it as they fought, but he couldn't wait. He couldn't just hang around. He had started this fight to give him time, now he had to make the most of what he had bought.

And so, as Mantle's flames collapsed one wall and set an ornately patterned carpet on fire moments before he was pushed through a set of columns by a barrage of spears and lances, Spike turned away from all of it and set himself the task of finding his friends.

Wherever they were.

Where were they? Well, they were in the dungeon, but where was that? How was he supposed to… wait, was that candy?

Spike sniffed the air. It was! He could smell candy all the way from here, and lots of it too. There was only one mare in the whole world he knew who smelled that way: Pinkie Pie!

Hold on, girls. I'm on my way.

The world shook.

Or rather, it was actually just this place in which they were imprisoned shaking, but considering that their world was, for all intents and purposes, this place in which they had been imprisoned that was quite bad enough. At least as far as Twilight was concerned.

"What do you think that is?" Fluttershy asked tremulously, as the world trembled for a second time, and then a third. A little dust shook free from the ceiling to fall like rain upon their heads.

"I don't know," Applejack said. "But it sure don't sound good."

"Zecora?" Twilight asked. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Zebras do not make a custom," Zecora replied, in a tone that mingled amusement and exasperation in equal measure. "Of bringing about our homes' destruction."

"So it isn't normal," Twilight murmured, because if that was true it made it even worse. The world shook again, even more violently now than the last two times. "I'm sorry, girls," she declared. "I'm so sorry for getting you all into this."

"Oh, don't worry Twilight," Pinkie said cheerily. "Even if this was your fault – which it isn't, because if it weren't for that no-good Raven then none of us would be here right now – then it wouldn't matter because everything is about to take a turn for the better."

"Really?" Ace asked. "Much as I try to always appreciate optimism in all circumstances, look on the bright side and all, I've got to ask what you're basing this on considering our circumstances."

"I've just a good feeling," Pinkie said. "Like our luck is about to change for the better any…. second…"

"Pinkie? Is that you?"

"Now!" Pinkie cried. "We're all down here, Spike!"

"Spike?" Rarity repeated. "Spikey-wikey, is that really you?"

A small, figure appeared in silhouette at the door to the cell set high above them. "It's me, Rarity, I'm right here. Is Twilight down there?"

Twilight got up, her chains clanking as she rose to her hooves. "Yes!" she replied, yelling up at him. "We're all down here, Spike."

"Are you okay down there?"

"Oh, sure, we're just chilling out and playing games," Rainbow replied in a voice laced with sarcasm. "Of course we're not okay! We're all chained up down here!"

"Right, sorry."

"More importantly, are you okay?" Twilight demanded anxiously. "Where did they take you, and how did you get here?"

"I…" Spike hesitated. "Well that's a long story, so why don't we wait until I've gotten you all out of here and then I can tell you when we're all free, huh?"

"Sounds great," Ace said. "But are you sure you can manage?"

Spike scoffed. "Can I manage? Please. I may only be a baby dragon, but I'm still a dragon."

"Well, technically, but if you think about the fact that you don't act like any other dragons do, you don't hang out with other dragons, and the one time you did hang out with other dragons you hated it so much that you ran all the way back to Ponyville we could say that you're really more of a pony with scales," Pinkie said. "Who breathes fire. And-"

"Pinkie, you're stepping on my cool line," Spike complained.

"Ooh! Sorry," Pinkie hissed.

Twilight was spared asking Spike what he was going to do by the glow of green dragonfire burning above them, illuminating her little companion as he breathed forth the flames upon the ropes that bound the wooden door so tightly shut. It was slow progress by the looks of things. Spike took deep breath after deep breath before a little jet of fire would burst from his mouth only to fade again a moment later; long, sustained jets of fire were beyond him at his age, and at times he had to pause for a moment, gasping for breath as if he couldn't manage any more.

"You can do it, Spike!" Rarity cried. "I believe in you."

"And so do I," Twilight added, feeling ashamed of herself for not having been the first to cheer him on.

"Goooo Spike!" Pinkie yelled, and soon everypony, even Ace, had taken up the call, cheering Spike's name as he breathed and puffed, breathed and puffed, the cheering form the prisoners down below seeming to give him strength as at last he burned the ropes away and with, a great heave, pulled back the heavy wooden door the obstructed the way into the pit.

"Before you jump down," Twilight said urgently, foreseeing all too readily what might be about to happen next. "Rainbow, Fluttershy and Ace can't fly right now, even without their chains. Is there a way to get everypony back up again?"

Spike paused on the edge of the pity. "Thanks for letting me know, Twilight. Uh, let's see… ah! There's a winch here, and a platform or something." Spike pointed at something, and Twilight looked up to see a shape that might well be a platform looming overhead, suspended from the ceiling. "But, I'll have to come down there to get those chains off you, and if I do that then who's going to work the winch to get everyone back up?"

"If you ride that platform down here," Applejack said. "Then get me out, then I can climb up the rope and winch everyone else back up."

"Are you sure you can do that?" Rainbow asked.

"Unlike y'all I still got my earth pony strength," Applejack reminded her. "And I can climb a rope upwards any day."

"Are you-" Spike began, before the world shook once again. "I'm going to take your word for it," he said, "cause I don't think that we have time to argue about it. Look out below, everypony!" Spike leapt out into the air, landing upon the squat, square, wooden platform, which immediately began to drop downwards. Spike cried out as he fell down towards the surface of the pit where the ponies were imprisoned.

He landed with a thud, and a clatter of the wooden platform.

"Ten out of ten," he groaned.

"Are you okay?" demanded Twilight anxiously.

"I'll be fine," Spike muttered. "Scales, remember?" He picked himself up off the floor. "Applejack?"

"Over here, Spike," Applejack called from out of the dark.

Spike's night vision was a lot better than that of any pony – an advantage of dragons being, amongst other things, nocturnal predators who spent a great deal of time in caves – so he was able to find his way to Applejack a lot better than Twilight could, disappearing into the darkness after the sound of her voice. There was the sound of Spike grunting with effort, the screeching of metal, and Twilight was left to imagine iron chains being rent by draconic claws before she heard said chains rattle to the ground.

"Thank you kindly, Spike," Applejack said, before Twilight heard her leap upwards, and start huffing and puffing as she climbed up the rope to the world up above them.

"Please hurry," Fluttershy murmured.

"I'm being as quick as I can," Applejack grunted, but not unkindly. It was Fluttershy, after all.

"Me next, Spike," Ace urged. "I may not have the use of my wings but I can climb too."

Spike waddled in Ace's direction, and after a moment Twilight heard her chains, too, fall from her body, and heard her begin to scale the rope that led to safety.

"One," Applejack muttered. "Two… three!" Twilight heard her friend cry out wordlessly, heard a scuffling sound, and then heard Applejack said. "I'm up! Give me a holler when y'all are ready and I'll get turning this here winch."

"We will," Twilight called up to her.

"Me next! Me next!" Pinkie cried eagerly.

Spike chuckled, in spite of the situation. "Sure thing, Pinkie."

Twilight heard Pinkie's chains fall, followed a moment later by the sound of Pinkie's voice from high up above them. "Hey there, Applejack!"

"Yah!" Applejack yelled. "Don't do that, Pinkie! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry!"

"And could you have done that this whole darn time?"

"Maybe," Pinkie admitted. "But then Spike wouldn't have gotten his hero moment."

"Wait," Spike said as he freed the others. "Are you saying that you stayed down here out of pity?"

"No," Pinkie called down. "Well, maybe, but it's not as bad as it sounds."

"Pinkie can speak for herself, I'm only down here because I was stuck," Rainbow said. "Thanks a lot, little guy."

Twilight reached out and embraced Spike with one foreleg, pulling him tight and holding him close. "You've done brilliantly, Spike. We're all extremely grateful. And I'm so proud of you."

"Our hero," Rarity, planting a gentle kiss upon his forehead.

"Are you girls ready down there?" Applejack hollered.

They all climbed onto the wooden platform. It was a little bit of a tight squeeze, but they all managed to fit, even if Spike did have to climb onto Twilight's back to manage.

"We're all on," Twilight shouted.

They could hear Applejack and Ace both grunting and panting with effort as they worked the winch, hauling four ponies, a zebra and a baby dragon upwards, up out of the pit, out of darkness, out of captivity and up towards where freedom beckoned until they reached the top and were able, one by one, to leap across the short distance between the platform and the dungeon corridor.

"Now," Applejack said. "I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I'm about ready to get out of this town."

"You said it, Applejack," Twilight agreed. "Let's get out of here, as quickly as we can."

The Future Course

Raven gasped for breath.

It was night now, with the moon shining its light down upon the world, and Raven skulked like a pitiable creature under the shade of some palm trees not far from a small and obscure watering hole. There was no one here, neither pony nor zebra, no one to see how tired and weak she was.

No one to take advantage.

Skulking like a pitiable creature… she was a pitiable creature. A pitiable creature who couldn’t afford to keep getting into fights like that. She didn’t have the power. There was a reason why she had woken up Shining Spear instead of simply engaging Lightning Dawn directly. There was a reason why she had plundered the archives for a dangerous parasite instead of confronting Lightning Dawn directly. There was a reason she had approached Mantle for his assistance. There was a reason beyond mere conscience why she hadn’t simply killed Twilight Sparkle by now.

And that reason was that using her Olympian powers – the only powers available to her now, since she had traded away everything else, was extraordinarily difficult and taxing. Her connection to the Celestial Armoury was incredibly tenuous, even if it was wide ranging; summoning so many weapons was… she had pretty much reached her limit in simply fighting Mantle and his guards to a stand still. She had been lucky to escape with her life. There was no way that she could have actually prevailed.

Even if she had used the fire that burned within her blood to destroy Mantle, she would have been left vulnerable and at the mercy of his vengeful guards, who would not thank her for setting them free.

Raven gasped for breath, falling onto her belly as she crawled like a worm out of the cover of the trees and down to the watering hole, pressing her snout into the cool water and lapping it up greedily. It was clear, and cool, and had a slightly sweet taste to it that Raven had no inclination to stop and savour. She needed quenching sustenance, not a tasty drink to please her tongue. She drank up as though it was her aim to drain the little watering hole that sheltered her, her body crying out for more water, always more. She was so exhausted that she couldn’t stop herself. Her limbs were so weak that she couldn’t get up or even crawl away from the water. Her stomach ached with yearning to be filled. She could not move, and so since she could not move she drank, and in between drinking she raised her head and gasped for breath.

I have become weak. In the… in the old days that were not yet old, in the old days that were yet to come, in the days that were passed for her when she had been in the bloom of her warrior’s strength, there were days passed now – for Raven at least – when she would have slain the dragon and all of the zebras with contemptuous ease, without any need for assistance from Lightning or any of their other comrades. There had been a time when she was strong, when she had lived up to her name of Raven and all it harbingered.

There had been a time when she had failed. A time when all of her strength had failed to protect those that were most dear to her.

She ought not sugarcoat the past, or the future. The reason she was here was because she had failed and fallen. Because she had realised that the power she had been promised was a trick, a deception. It had not made her strong as she had thought it would. It had only made her a powerful weapon.

There had been a time before that, a time before she had given away her destiny in a hopeless quest for power, when she had possessed… had it been strength? Had it been power? It was so hard to remember now. So hard to think clearly. Memory was covered by perception. Sometimes she looked back and thought that she had possessed real strength, real power… other times she saw only a foolish mare, who that that nonsense like friendship would save anyone.

She had been a fool, and she had failed. All the powers in which she had placed her hope had failed her, and they would fail her again if she relied on them here. She had managed to escape from Mantle’s clutches… but so had Twilight and her friends. Raven hoped – a fool’s hope, but her hope nonetheless – that they would see the error of their ways, give up on their search for the Heart of the World, and go home.

If not… she could not rely on strength to prevail against them. The artefact that she had used to disable the magic of unicorns and pegasi had been shattered during the battle, broken beyond repair – beyond her ability to repair, at least. If she confronted Twilight Sparkle now then she would be facing her magic at its full strength, a contest she might not win. A contest she would, speaking without vanity, probably lose.

No, if she wished to turn Twilight and the rest aside, if they would not turn aside of their own will, then she would have to rely once more on guile.

And hope that it was more successful this time around.

Raven gasped for breath. The Servants of Memory would be her next port of call. If Twilight and the others headed into the disputed territory, if they elected to continue their search for the Heart of the World, then she would seek out the Servants sworn to protect the Heart and prevent its discovery and give them warning of the impending danger. She would go to them and they would stop Twilight and the rest, hopefully without the complication of Mantle’s greed. She knew the locations of a few of their camps, though whether there would be any zebras there at present she was not so certain of. She would just have to keep looking until she found someone.

She had to stop Twilight, before it was too late.

“Girls, Spike,” Twilight began. She found that she was unable to continue without hanging her head in shame at what she had led her friends into by this quixotic quest. “I think… I think that maybe we ought to turn back.”

They had managed to escape from Cirta, and now they were sheltering for the night in a dry riverbed, having run as far away from Cirta to the east as they could go. They had all found their strength returning as they left the Grevyian town behind them, as they left the Watchers that had inhibited their magic behind them. Twilight and Rarity could use their magic again, while Rainbow, Fluttershy and Ace could fly unimpaired.

On the other hoof it was hard to argue that their escape was anything better than a mitigated disaster. Their saddlebags with all of their supplies, the map, Twilight’s research notes, Pinkie’s treats, Ace’s armour - it was all gone. All taken from them by their zebra captors, and they had been too concerned with escaping the zebras – and their dragon master; a dragon, an actual dragon; the Most Ancient Empire was ruled by dragons – to even think about trying to get any of it back and so jeopardise their escape. They had their liberty, but they had nothing else, and they were in an undeniably precarious position in consequence.

Nor did they know in exactly what state Cirta was in now; when Spike had left Mantle, the dragon lord of Cirta, he and his zebras had been locked in battle with Raven, their dogged opponent who seemed determined to trail them every step of the way. They didn’t know who had proven the victor of that contest, they didn’t know whether Raven would be coming after them again or whether Mantle would send his zebras after them, either for revenge or because he harboured hopes of gaining the Heart of the World. Or whether both would plague them now; it was certainly another possibility, and one they could not discount because they simply didn’t know what was going on.

The road ahead seemed far more uncertain now, and far more dangerous, than it had even when Twilight had asked her friends to join her on this desperate enterprise. She wanted to find the Heart of the World, she wanted to find out what had happened to Lighting Dawn and Krysta, but honestly… she couldn’t put her friends’ lives at risk for that goal. No matter how much she cared for Lightning, no matter how much she owed him, she couldn’t lose her friends in this endeavour for his sake. And she thought that he would understand that.

She didn’t like it, in fact she hated it, but at the same time she didn’t see any way around it. They had to turn back. How could she ask all these wonderful ponies to keep going after what had just happened?

She was prepared for enthusiastic agreement. She was prepared to be scolded for having put them all in this position in the first place. She was prepared for a lot of things but not for the silence that descended over the desert after she had spoken those words. Nopony – nobody – seemed to have anything to say.

Twilight looked up, a frown creasing her lavender features. She looked up at her friends, shivering on the sands without even so much as a fire to warm them – because they had had no time to gather wood – and found that instead of the censure of her folly that she had expected in their expressions she found their faces soft, and filled with understanding.

“Guys?” she murmured, slightly incredulously. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“First of all,” Rainbow said, as she fluttered a couple of feet off the ground, mainly so that she could hover with her forehooves folded. “Let’s be clear, this isn’t some kind of ‘you should go but I’ll press on by myself’ thing, is it? Because that would be the dumbest thing that you have ever-“

“No, it’s not like that,” Twilight said quickly. “I know that I can be… obsessive, sometimes, and I don’t always make the smartest decisions – case in point – but I’m not that stupid.”

“You’re not stupid at all, darling, please don’t undersell yourself,” Rarity said. She smiled. “You simply let your good heart overrule your better sense upon occasion.”

Twilight sighed, a touch of relief in her voice as she said, “That’s very generous of you to say so, Rarity, but it doesn’t change the fact that coming here was a mistake.”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” Applejack replied. “Sure, going into that there town wasn’t the smart call in hindsight, but come on, Sugarcube, how were you supposed to know that the town was run by a mean old dragon, or that Raven would have set a trap for us? Why, I don’t think even Princess Celestia would have seen that coming.”

“You’re all being far nicer to me than I deserve about this,” Twilight insisted. “And anyway it doesn’t change the fact that we-“

“It doesn’t change the fact that we’re stuck here in the middle of nowhere with no supplies, no map and nowhere to go,” Ace said.

“Exactly,” Twilight said. “That’s why-“

“No, Twily, you don’t understand,” Ace interrupted her again. “This is all why it would be disastrous to turn back now. Like… look at this,” she got up off the ground on which she had been sitting and began to draw in the sand with her hoof. “We’re here, and behind us – the way that we came – is Cirta, the town that we just left because they took us prisoner and which place is the reason we don’t have a map or supplies. I think it goes without saying that we can’t go back that way.”

“Of course not,” Twilight said.

“But where else are we supposed to go if we turn back now?” Ace demanded. “We have nothing to eat. Nothing to drink. No way to plan an alternative approach. Maybe hunted like fugitives across the Grevyian Empire, there’s no way that we’ll get back to Equestria like that.”

Twilight bit her lip. She didn’t like to hear it, but Ace’s words sounded uncomfortably like sense. “So, you’re saying…”

“I’m saying that turning back ceased to be an option the moment we left Cirta in such a great hurry and without permission,” Ace said. She looked Twilight in the eyes. “Twily, Princess Celestia ordered me to keep you alive, and while I didn’t expect it to be this hard… keeping you safe is not turning back. This is their country, not ours, and with us not having a map any more… we will be hunted down like dogs, assuming that we don’t die of thirst.”

Fluttershy squeaked in fright.

“Do you have to be so… that about this whole thing?” Rainbow Dash demanded.

Ace looked at her. “You won’t thank me for lying to you when the truth comes out,” she said.

Rainbow was silent for a moment. “No,” she admitted. “No, I guess we wouldn’t.”

“But…” Fluttershy murmured. “If we can’t go back, then what can we do?”

“We have to keep moving forward!” Pinkie declared. “If we can’t turn around then full speed ahead!”

“Pinkie, that’s…” Twilight trailed off. “That may sound as though it makes sense, but no. I can’t put you guys at risk that way.”

“You’re not putting us at risk if we choose it ourselves,” Spike said. “You’ve never led us, Twilight, you’ve only ever inspired us to follow you.”

“That… that’s very sweet, Spike, but I’m not sure it’s true even on its own terms and even if it was this would not be the time to be having this conversation.”

“We need to have a conversation,” Ace admitted. “I know what we can’t do, I’m a little less sure on what we can do.”

Zecora rose to her hooves. She had been sitting unobtrusively away from Twilight, behind Fluttershy, so still and so silent that she almost blended into the shadows cast by the sides of the dry riverbed that rose up on either side of them. But now she rose, and walked into the centre of the group, her hooves kicking up little bursts of sand as she walked.

“I may have a path to take, which would mean decision could wait; whether you wished to continue on, or else turn homeward and from this land be gone.”

“Wait?” Ace said. “You mean put off the decision?”

“I think that Zecora means that there is a place we can go and then decide what we want to do,” Twilight guessed.

Zecora nodded. “There is a place that I could guide you, where the folk might resupply you; there you could strike for the Heart, or ways with your quest could part.”

“That sounds promisin’,” Applejack said. “I mean, practically anythin’ would sound promisin’ at this point with the state we’re in, but this sounds especially promisin’.”

“What is this place?” Twilight said.

“And can we get there as we are now?” Ace asked.

“And if we can then why didn’t we just go there instead of stopping at Cirta?” Rainbow demanded.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight scolded.

“What, it’s a fair question,” Rainbow protested.

“Utica is it’s name,” Zecora replied. “It was my home, until my shame.”

“Your shame,” Twilight whispered. “Wait, Zecora, I thought you said that you couldn’t go home?”

“Although my welcome may not be warm,” Zecora admitted. “I cannot stay silent while you come to harm.”

“No,” Twilight replied. “No, Zecora, we can’t just put you in danger by-“

“Any danger is my choice,” Zecora declared. “I chose to speak with my own voice. You ponies embraced me with your hearts, now is my time to play my part. Your friendship and hospitality, I must repay to best ability. Twilight, speak not of force in this; all that I do, is because I wish.”

Twilight swallowed. “Thank you,” she said softly. “You’re very kind.”

Zecora nodded in gracious acceptance of the compliment, a fond smile playing across her face.

“Can you find the way to Utica from here?” Ace asked.

Zecora nodded.

“Then we should get some rest here tonight and start first thing in the morning,” Ace said. “Everypony – and you, Spike – get some sleep. We march at dawn.”

At Cirta, a company of zebras armed for war mustered outside the city walls. Some of them wore marks of plain undecorated white, others – the more numerous of the company, wore no masks but helms of bronze and cuirasses of hippopotamus hide. They all carried spears with sharp points, and some of them had clubs or axes slung across their backs besides.

And over them all swooped Mantle, his wings outstretched, blocking out the moonlight as he circled over his warriors in the night.

When he found Raven he would turn her to ashes! He would crush her bones beneath his teeth! When he found her she would regret the day that she had ever dared presume to contest with him, to harm his scales, to defy his power and wrath and majesty! But she was not the object of his search. If he came across her on the way then she would die but it was not for Raven that he had gathered his strength and stirred from his palace for the first time in many a year.

No, that was for the ponies who had escaped from his dungeon during the battle that had left him scarred and humiliated. By recovering the prisoners he would assuage his pride, lessen his shame… and he would force them to show him the way to the Heart of the World, and with its power take his place as mightiest of all the Mighty Ones in Grevyia.

His scales were cracked, his palace was in ruins, but none of that mattered now. None of that would matter once he obtained the Heart of the World.

Possession of the Heart would make all of this worthwhile.

Yes, these foolish ponies and their duplicitous dragon would rue the day they had crossed paths with him.

“March!” he bellowed, his voice echoing across the night-sky and making the town of Cirta tremble beneath him. “Find them! Find them all!”

Follow That Lizard

Fluttershy's steps were slow and tired. They dragged upon the earth as she traversed it.

Everyone was slow and tired right now, it came from not having eaten in a while, but Fluttershy felt as though her steps were particularly slow.

And she felt as though other ponies felt just the same way she did. She had caught Twilight's royal guard friend, the one who liked to be called Ace, looking back at her from where she marched along in front with Twilight, and occasionally she whispered something to Twilight that Fluttershy was certain was about her.

About her weakness. About her uselessness. About how she was nothing but dead weight to the rest of her friends, only slowing them down.

Everypony was moving slowly right now. The sun was up, and its rays seemed to fall upon them here with more ferocity and greater heat than they ever had in temperate Equestria. It was as if Celestia did not simply raise the sun each morning, but also held back the worst of its excesses by more unicorn magic – but only in Equestria over which she ruled. That protection was wholly absent here in the zebra lands, whichever of the two zebra lands they were in now. Without a map, not even Twilight knew for sure.

Zecora was in front, leading them towards her home, towards a place where they would receive refuge and hospitality in spite of the vague and vaguely ominous doom hanging over Zecora's own head when they got there. It was very kind of her, to take that much of a risk for their sake, especially when none of the ponies were particularly close with her, and even moreso when you considered how the ponies of Ponyville had treated her for the longest time. It was very kind of her, to have agreed to be their guide at all and to offer to guide them to a place where they would be safe but she would not. It was so very kind of her, but at the same time Fluttershy was beginning to think that they just wouldn't make it that far.

None of them had eaten since breakfast on the morning of their ill-fated attempt to enter Cirta. Since then they had had no food, and no water. Even Spike, though he had been surrounded by jewels, had been too busy coming up with a plan to rescue the rest of them to eat any of them.

And that hunger and thirst was showing as they trudged along across the arid plain, under the burning heat of the sun, with their hoofs scuffing the sandy floor and their heads bowed. Rainbow Dash, who usually delighted in her power of flight, didn't seem able to muster the energy to fly and kept walking with the rest of them. Fluttershy didn't think that her wings would have still worked even if she'd wanted them too. Applejack was muttering to herself under her breath. Pinkie's ordinarily exuberant mane was frazzled and a little deflated, and her stomach grumbled louder than all the rest of them put together.

Spike seemed to be coping the best with the heat, but the worst with the hunger: he moaned softly, clutching his stomach with his little scaled hands as he rode spread out across Twilight's back like a saddlebag.

Poor dear, to be so hungry and so thirsty and after he'd just saved them from the dungeons of Cirta, too. But at the same time, lucky him not having to walk.

Fluttershy felt herself stumble on an uneven patch of ground. It was only with sheer luck that she kept her footing and didn't go sprawling on the sandy floor beneath her.

A panting sigh escaped her. Coming here… coming here, she thought, as much as she could think anything when she was baking and starving and the heat of the day was so intense upon her face, coming here had been a mistake. Twilight shouldn't have asked her to come here. But it wasn't Twilight's fault, Fluttershy added mentally in case anyone – even her own head – thought that she was accusing her friend of anything. It was her fault for being so weak. So pathetic.

She had always been the weakest of them, the most feeble. But in Equestria that hadn't mattered so much. In Equestria, where there was always a meal to come home to, in Equestria where the days were bright but the weather was not too warm, in Equestria where things were, on the whole, always pleasant and rather lovely. In Equestria it didn't matter that she was always holding the others back, because they could afford to carry her anyway.

But here and now, in this harsh world were only the strong survived, they didn't have the luxury of carrying Fluttershy the weak and hopeless. Here, in this harsh world, she was putting their lives in real danger.

Maybe… maybe they'd stand more of a chance if she… wasn't…

Fluttershy stumbled again, and this time she fell to the ground with a hard thump, her face, her entire body striking the earth as her lilac mane fell across the dusty earth.

She made no move to get up. Even if she'd wanted to, she wasn't sure that her limbs would have obeyed her.

Fluttershy groaned as she lay on the ground, and a little sand got in her mouth as he did so.

"Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash said, her voice seeming to come from very far away, as if Rainbow had started flying again and was calling down to her from out of the clouds. She had always risen so high, so much higher than Fluttershy had been able to rise. "Fluttershy, what are you doing falling down on the job? This isn't naptime! Come on, you've gotta move!"

"Leave me," Fluttershy murmured, because it would be the best thing for all concerned without doubt.

"Leave you?" Pinkie cried, bending down and resting her chin on the ground so that she and Fluttershy were at eye level. "Come on, Fluttershy, even I know that this is no time for kidding around."

"I… I'm not kidding, Pinkie," Fluttershy admitted through cracked, dry lips. There was no moisture left in her mouth to dry them.

Pinkie's blue eyes, so clear and so innocent, began to be suffused with alarm. "Come on, Fluttershy, don't say that. I mean seriously, don't say it!" her voice acquired an edge of nervousness to it. "I mean, how many times do you hear me say the word seriously, huh?" She laughed, but it was very nervous laughter, without the usual joy that rang when Pinkie Pie laughed. "Fluttershy, pranks are only funny when everyone's laughing and nopony's laughing right now so stop it and just get up, okay!"

"I can't," Fluttershy moaned.

"Yes, you can," Rainbow insisted. "Just push your legs up against the ground, then put one hoof in front of the other okay? Here, I'll even do it with you."

Fluttershy would have smiled if she had had the energy. "I… I really can't," she whimpered, as her legs trembled feebly from lack of energy.

"Fluttershy?" That was Twilight's voice, soft and mild and anxious. "Fluttershy, is something wrong?"

"Yes, something's wrong," Rainbow snapped. "We've had no food, no water, and this heat is unbearable!"

"Oh, really?" Twilight demanded sarcastically. "Well thank you for that brilliant observation, Rainbow Dash, I would never have noticed without you here to point it out!"

"Girls," Fluttershy murmured. "Please don't fight. Just… just go."

"Go?" Rainbow repeated. Her voice trembled. "Go where? Fluttershy, what are you talking about? We all need to go. We're on our way to Zecora's home, remember? That's why you need to get up so that we can keep moving."

"Go," Fluttershy said. "Leave me."

"Leave you?" Rarity declared. "Don't be ridiculous, Fluttershy. We're not leaving you here or anywhere else. Now come on, stop all this nonsense and let's keep moving. The sooner we reach this safe haven the better."

"But you won't make it with me slowing you down," Fluttershy protested.

"I don't know if you've exactly noticed, Fluttershy, but none of us are exactly zooming along right now," Rainbow said. "And that's not on you at all."

"But-"

"No buts," Rarity said primly, as her shadow fellow over Fluttershy's face. "We're… we're friends, and we're going to help one another through this. It's the only way we're going to get through this: together. We'll help each other through this and we'll help each other find Twilight's heart and then we'll all go back to Ponyville together, all of us." Rarity smiled desperately. "And then we can go to the spa and get pony-pedis and wash all this dreadful sand out of her manes, doesn't that sound lovely? But… but it won't be the same without you, darling, so won't you please get up?"

"Rarity's right," Twilight implored. "We have to stick together."

“Twilight’s right, like she is… well, most o’ the time,” Applejack said. "Now make some room here a minute. Hold on, sugarcube, I got you."

Fluttershy felt something poking at her belly, lifting her up. "Applejack? What are you-"

"If you can't walk," Applejack muttered. "Then I guess I'll just have to carry you on my back until we get to Utica."

Fluttershy felt as though she would have cried, except that she was too dry and dehydrated for tears. "Applejack… you can't-"

"Just you watch," Applejack said. "You don't weigh much more than Apple Bloom anyhow. Don't worry about a thing, Fluttershy, I got you."

"Wait."

"Fluttershy, I ain't takin' no for an answer so-"

"No," Fluttershy squeaked. "No, just wait a second." Because she could see something moving under the sand, coming closer, something that looked as though it was about to rise into view.

A lizard, a little green and scaly lizard, with stripes like a collar around its neck, poked its head out of the desert sand.

"Hello there," Fluttershy murmured.

The lizard stared at her, awkwardly balanced with two feet in the air and two on the ground. It tilted its scaly head to one side and blinked. Then it let out a little croaking sound.

Fluttershy's gift did not translate the speech of beasts and birds. She didn't hear the words of ponies coming out of their mouths, nor for that matter did she 'understand' what they were saying in such a way that she could have produced a translation guide, mapping individual sounds to pony words. She had already had to explain to a disappointed Twilight that it just didn't work that way. Rather what she got was a feeling in the heart, an understanding of what they were trying to communicate to her even if all she heard was an animal cry.

And what she understood was a willingness to help.

"We're so thirsty," Fluttershy said. "Please, do you know of anywhere that we could get a drink of water, and maybe rest out of the heat?"

The little lizard nodded eagerly, before it turned away and began to scamper across the arid ground in a southerly direction. It stopped, turning and wagging its tail eagerly.

"We should follow it," Fluttershy croaked. "He's going to lead us to water."

"How do-" Ace began.

"Fluttershy's never wrong when it comes to animals," Twilight declared. "Okay, girls, let's follow that lizard."

Fluttershy got up. She didn’t know where she got the strength from. One moment she was lying on the ground, her legs trembling, her body feeling more drained than it had ever felt in her life, like a bucket with a hole in the bottom. She lay there, feeling unable to move, deaf to all the pleas of all her friends to please get up.

The next moment she was up on her hooves, and following the path that their new friend, this little one they had been so fortunate to find, was showing them.

She couldn’t have explained it, where she suddenly got the energy from, except by invoking need. She needed to do this. The situation was no longer what it had been just a little while ago, when it had seemed that she was only slowing down her friends and that they’d be better off without her. Now they needed her, and that meant that she needed to do this for them.

She wasn’t fast or fierce like Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t strong like Applejack, she wasn’t smart like Twilight Sparkle; but Fluttershy could do this: she could lead her friends to the safe haven that they so desperately needed, with Utica seeming so far away. This was something she could do. This might even be the only thing that she could do and so she was going to do it for them, just as they had done so much for her and wouldn’t hesitate to do so much more.

And so Fluttershy found the strength; though she was no less thirsty than she had been, no less tired than she had been, no less weary than she had been nevertheless she found the strength to keep going.

She didn’t need Applejack to carry her on her back right now. Right now, Fluttershy was leading the way, her butter yellow hooves kicking up dust as she followed the helpful lizard who skittered on ahead of them, occasionally turning back to look at them. He squeaked at her, urging her to follow him, to keep on going, and Fluttershy did follow and she did keep on going because this… this was their salvation.

Her friends followed on behind her, their hooves pounding upon the arid ground. They followed Fluttershy just as Fluttershy followed the little lizard who led the way. They followed across the sand dunes and across ground that was hard and cracked with the lack of water. They followed beneath the blazing sun that beat down upon them without mercy. They followed, although they too were no less tired or thirsty or hungry than they had been just a moment ago. They followed Fluttershy with the same strength given by need that enabled Fluttershy to follow the lizard.

They followed across the desert, until at last the lizard brought them to the edge of a cliff, where a steep path led down into a little basin valley.

A green valley, with a great lake as blue as sapphires in the centre of it all.

The dusty desert, the cracked earth, the barren land all around them, it was all gone in the valley below. In its place was a land that was rich and fertile and verdant, where grass grew from the border of the lake to the sheer rocks that rose up all around it, where moss and creeping vines climbed up the rocky walls, where palm trees sprouted at the water’s edge. And not just palm trees, either. This was a living valley, not just a mere oasis but an oasis of life, where fruit upon the bushes bloomed and from the tall tress hung. Fluttershy could hear the birds singing to one another in those trees, soft melodies of love and friendship, of affable competition and good-natured rivalry. She could see the bushes rustling down below, and guess that there were animals living there as well. As this was the only water around, they probably lived here all the time.

It was really quite incredible.

The ponies stood upon the cliff edge, with the steep path winding down into the valley below them, and stared, awestruck, at the pure-looking, life-giving water down below them. They stared, as if merely drinking in the sight with their eyes was a substitute for drinking with their tongues.

Pinkie was the first one to break the silence, letting out a loud, wild whoop of glee as she leapt off the cliff, curling into a pink ball as she rolled in the air, flying out over the valley, spreading her legs out wide as she started to fall.

Her fall was arrested before she had dropped more than about a foot or two as Pinkie was covered by the distinctive lavender glow of Twilight’s magic. Twilight’s horn glowed with a matching aura as she pulled Pinkie Pie back towards the cliff on which the rest of the party stood. “Hang on, Pinkie,” Twilight said. “I know that you’re eager – I know that we’re all eager – to get down there. But let’s be careful.” Twilight set Pinkie down on the ground beside her, and turned to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, can you ask your new friend if it’s safe to just go down there?”

“Of course,” Fluttershy said, with a nod of her head. She got down on her knees so that she was at an eye-level with the lizard who had helped them to come so far. “Thank you so much for showing us the way here, little one,” she said softly. “But, can you please tell us, is it safe down there?”

The lizard cocked his head to one side, and squeaked at her, telling her that it was the only water in the immediate vicinity, and that if they didn’t want to drink here then, unfortunately, they would have to try and head for the zebra town – presumably Utica – that was quite a way off, so far that he had never travelled there, although he had heard of it from passing birds.

“I know,” Fluttershy replied. “And we are grateful, all of us, but if we go down there, is there anything or anyone there we should be worried about?”

The lizard appeared to grasp her point now, for he explained to her that there was something that lived in the water, and that although he, the lizard, was too small to be troubled by it, that might not be the case for Fluttershy and her friends.

“I see,” Fluttershy murmured. “Thank you for telling me.” She stood up, and looked back at all her friends, so thirsty and so hungry, so tired and so expectant.

They couldn’t go on, especially not now. She couldn’t go on now. If she told them that this had been an illusion, that it was a bust, that it wasn’t safe, if she told them anything of that sort, if she asked them to keep going at all then… then she feared their hearts would not be able to stand it.

She feared that her heart would not be able to stand it.

But there was something down there, and although he hadn’t been particularly specific about what it was, nevertheless her new lizard friend had implied it might be dangerous.

She couldn’t just ignore that.

Which meant that there was only one thing that she could do. Which was to say that there was only one thing to do in this circumstance.

“I have to go down there,” Fluttershy said. “There might be something down there, and I need to see what it is.”

“Something down there?” Twilight repeated. “What kind of a ‘something’?”

“I’m not sure,” Fluttershy admitted. “But our new friend says that it could be dangerous.”

“And you want to go down there?” Rainbow demanded incredulously.

“I’m sure that if I can just talk to it then everything will be okay,” Fluttershy said. “Whoever they are, I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“Are you?” Rainbow replied. “I’m not so sure.”

“Perhaps if we all went down there-“ Twilight began.

“Oh, no, you should stay up here,” Fluttershy said. “We don’t to scare or upset whoever it is there, and if I’m alone then I’ll be sure to get its attention.”

“But, darling, you just said it might be dangerous,” Rarity said. “Surely you can’t expect us to let you face danger alone?”

“That’s very generous of you, Rarity, but I’m sure I’ll be alright,” Fluttershy said. “I’ve talked to all kinds of animals that some people, and even some other creatures, might think were dangerous, but they’re often very sweet once you get to know them.”

Applejack frowned. “Are you sure that you want to do this, sugarcube?”

Fluttershy hesitated. “I… I am a little nervous,” she admitted. “But we need water, and so I don’t have a lot of choice, do I?”

Twilight looked worried, and uncertain. “I don’t-“

“Twilight, please,” Fluttershy said. “I know that I’m not… I know that I am… just because I’m not very important or useful or good at anything… but I can do this. Please, trust me.”

Twilight looked at her. A soft smile crossed her face. “Nopony thinks that you’re useless or unimportant, Fluttershy,” she replied. “You’re a part of all of us. You’re a part of my heart. And of course we trust, one hundred percent. And if you want to go down there alone then… good luck.”

Ace nodded. “You… you are a much braver mare than I gave you credit for.”

“Oh no, I’m not, not really,” Fluttershy said. “But this… this is something maybe only I can do.” She smiled, or tried to smile just as she tried to ignore the trembling in her legs that had nothing to do with hunger or thirst or weariness. “I… I’ll try and be back soon,” she added.

She turned away, and took a deep breath.

Courage. Courage for my friends.

Whatever is waiting down there is just a friend I haven’t met yet.

I can do this. Because my friends need me to.

Slowly, Fluttershy began to descend the steep and narrow path towards the watering hole.

The path that led down into the valley, with its precious and much-needed water at the bottom, was a narrow incline of dust-covered stone winding its way around the basin walls until it reached the bottom.

Fluttershy walked down the path, her hoof-falls echoing off the sides of the rocky basin which rose higher and higher the more she descended.

They rose slowly, because she descended slowly. She took tiny steps, pausing every few moments.

She was afraid. Fluttershy didn’t mind admitting that. She wasn’t brave like Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t even brave like Twilight, who had a different kind of courage to their brash and heedless pegasus friend. She didn’t really think of herself as brave at all; she didn’t even like to stand up for herself unless she had no other choice at all.

But here she was, walking – albeit slowly – down into the valley of the watering hole to confront… whatever might be waiting for her down there.

She looked down, into the large, inviting pool of water. It looked calm enough, and the water seemed too blue to be concealing anything within, but that could be deceptive precisely because it was so blue. Fluttershy couldn’t see anything within, nor see the bottom nor get a sense of just how deep it was.

And her new friend had said there was something down there, and she didn’t see that she had any reason to lie to her.

And so she, Fluttershy the coward, Fluttershy who was not as brave as any of her friends, had to go down there and check it out.

And so she gradually descended down the path, as the walls of the basin rose up around her.

Every so often she stopped, looking back at her friends who waited, expectant, at the top of the path. She was grateful for the fact that none of them looked impatient. In fact they all looked more worried about her than anything else. Fluttershy was grateful for that, too. She might have been even more grateful if any of them had been able to actually come down here with her, but she didn’t actually want that. She was the only one who could actually talk to animals, so anypony who came with her might just get into trouble.

It was best that she did this by herself.

Even though she didn’t really want to.

Her throat was dry from more than just thirst as she made her way down the path, pausing every few steps, listening as the pebbles that she had accidentally scuffed out of the way dropped with echoing thuds down to the ground.

Her legs trembled a little as she walked.

But, however slowly she walked, she still could not escape the fact that she would reach the bottom at some point, and eventually she did, stepping lightly but hesitantly off the path and into the midst of the verdant valley below. The water remained still and blue and so inviting, but the song of the birds in the trees had changed noticeably the closer she got. They had stopped singing to one another about their everyday lives and concerns, and started singing about her, the newcomer to the valley, the first they appeared to have seen in quite some time.

“Hello there,” Fluttershy called out timorously to them. “It’s nice to meet you all. I’m sorry if I’ve worried any of you. It really wasn’t the intent of me or my friends.”

A bird called to her out of the trees, asking about the friends she had mentioned.

“Oh, they’re just above me, waiting,” Fluttershy replied. “We thought that it would be less disturbing for you if I came first, so as not to worry everyone too much.”

There was silence in the trees and bushes, before a brightly coloured bird of some description, a parrot or a parakeet maybe, stuck its head out of one of the trees and squawked to her, asking what brought her here when so few came this way.

“My friends and I are on a journey,” Fluttershy said. “But unfortunately we lost all of our supplies, and don’t have any food or water. A helpful lizard showed us the way here so that we could get a drink. I’m afraid we’re all so thirsty.”

The bird, the plumage of his head a bright red with a yellow stripe around the neck, began to speak, before another call, from another bird, warned him to stop.

The bird disappeared back into the cover of the trees.

“Oh, please don’t go,” Fluttershy called, to no avail. “I promise I’m not here to-“ she stopped, when it occurred to her that the warning need not have been about her.

Fluttershy felt her stomach turn to ice. Her eyes widened, even as her pupils shrank, and she turned her head to look at the water.

To look at the dark shape that was rising up towards the water’s surface.

“H-hello?” Fluttershy whimpered.

A giant eel, long and black and with a head large enough to swallow a pony whole, breached the water with a great splash and a roar of anger. Fluttershy screamed as the eel, its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, erupted out of the lagoon towards her. The eel leapt, but so did Fluttershy, her wings spreading out around her as her terrified legs with a speed that Rainbow Dash could have been proud of.

Speaking of Rainbow Dash…

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow cried as she leapt off the rocky outcropping on which she stood and raced through the air, leaving a rainbow trail behind her as she rushed down towards the other pegasus.

“Wait!” Fluttershy called out, holding up one forehoof to stay Rainbow’s progress as the eel flopped down onto the ground, moaning softly as it lay on the sand, the sunlight glinting of its wet and dripping scales.

“Wait,” Fluttershy repeated, looking at Rainbow and wordlessly asking her to remain where she was, halfway between Fluttershy and the others.

Rainbow didn’t look particularly happy about it, as she demonstrated by folding her forehooves across her chest, but she obeyed.

Fluttershy descended slowly to the ground. The eel opened one black eye to look at her, but it made no move to attack.

“Is something wrong?” Fluttershy said. “Is there anything that I can help with?”

The eel moaned, and opened its mouth just enough for Fluttershy to see the problem: one of its teeth was rotten, black around the stump, and it was causing an inflammation of the gum that must be incredibly painful for the poor creature.

“You weren’t trying to hurt me, where you?” Fluttershy asked. “You were just desperate for someone to help you out?”

The eel moaned softly as it nodded.

“You don’t get many visitors around here, do you?” Fluttershy said as she settled down on the ground.

The eel shook its head.

“And I suppose the ones who do come were scared of you.”

The eel nodded.

Fluttershy reached out and patted the eel’s face with her hoof, stroking the scaly creature gently. “I’m sorry, but don’t worry; I’m here now and I’ll help you. I’m afraid that tooth is going to have to come out, and that may hurt a little. Do you understand?”

The eel nodded.

“Okay,” Fluttershy said gently. “Now, open wide, please.”

The eel opened its mouth, presenting its rotten tooth and inflamed gum.

Fluttershy approached, feeling a lot more comfortable now that she understood what was going on. She reached into the eel’s mouth, gripped the tooth tightly beneath her hooves, and pulled.

There was a wrenching crunch, followed a great roar of pain as the eel reared up into the air, howling in pain. Then it flopped back down onto the ground again. For a moment it lay still, eyes closed, panting.

Then it looked at Fluttershy, and smiled at her, gratefully.

It made a clicking noise with its tongue.

“Well, as I was just telling some of your bird friends, my friends and I are on a journey, but we were unfortunately robbed of all of our possessions, and we-“ Fluttershy stopped, as the eel turned away and slithered swiftly back into the water. “Oh,” she said. “Okay then.”

She wasn’t entirely sure what to do now. She thought that it would be okay for all of her friends to come back down and join her but at the same time she would have preferred not to have to make that assumption without talking some more to the eel first.

Plus, she enjoyed talking to new creatures.

A dark shape in the water alerted her to the return of the eel, this time carrying something in its mouth: a large bundle, wrapped in an oilskin, which he deposited in front of her with a thump.

“For me?” Fluttershy asked.

The eel nodded eagerly.

“Well, thank you,” Fluttershy said. “But what is it?”

The eel told her that he wasn’t entirely sure what it was, but that some zebras had dumped it in the water not too long ago, not knowing that the eel was there. Hopefully she and her friends might get some use out of it.

“Oh, that’s very thoughtful of you,” Fluttershy told him. “And may my friends and I have a drink out of your lake? I’m afraid we’re so very thirsty.”

Once more the eel nodded eagerly. Drink as much as you like, he told her, and good luck.

Fluttershy smiled. “Good luck to you, too, sir,” she replied, as the eel dived back into the water. She called up. “It’s all quite alright now, you can come down.”

The rest of her friends and companions descended into the basin, with considerably more speed and alacrity than Fluttershy had displayed not long before. Once they had all attacked the water of the lagoon, putting their snouts into the water and drinking their fill, slurping greedily at the sapphire blue and life-giving waters, obeying the instructions of the eel who dwelt there to drink their fill, they all gathered around the oilskin package that had been deposited upon the ground.

Fluttershy, for one, felt much better for having had something to drink. Her throat, her stomach, her whole body felt so much better. Why she almost felt ready to go on again right this instant.

“What do you suppose this is?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “Only one way to find out.” Her horn flared as she telekinetically unwrapped the oilskin, revealing inside – everypony gasped to see it – a cache of supplies contained within: bread and dried grass and a little candied fruit; cloaks, saddle bags, waterskins, enough to start replacing everything that they had lost following their capture in Cirta.

“What a miraculous stroke of good fortune!” Rarity exclaimed.

“And we couldn’t have done it without Fluttershy,” Rainbow declared.

“Oh, no, don’t exaggerate,” Fluttershy murmured. “I only-“

“Did everything,” Applejack said. She swept the hat off her head. “This is your moment, sugarcube, best own it.”

Judging by the expressions on everypony else’s face, it seemed that they all felt the same way.

“Three cheers for Fluttershy!” Pinkie cried. “Hip hip!”

“Hooray!” the others cried, and Fluttershy found herself lifted up off the ground by many eager hooves.

“Oh, girls, you don’t-“

“Hip hip!”

“Hooray!”

“I only-“

“Hip hip!”

“Hooray!”

The Gates of Utica

The pony party – not that kind of party, Pinkie – spent the night at the watering hole, resting under the shade of the trees, lulled to sleep by the gentle sound of the water lapping at the shore. Slightly less gently lulling had been the sound when Fluttershy’s eel friend decided to croon her a lullaby of hoots and hisses, but Fluttershy had managed to gently let him know that that wasn’t really necessary, but thank you for the kind thought, and he had gone away again and let them all rest with no hard feelings on the part of anybody.

It was a peaceful night. It was, perhaps, the most peaceful night since they had left Equestria; almost certainly the most peaceful night since Raven had appeared to Twilight and urged her to turn aside from her course of seeking the Heart of the World. There was nothing to trouble them here, not even the injustices of the Most Ancient Empire which they could not correct.

Why then, did Twilight, alone amongst all her friends and companions, sleep so poorly?

The answer was obvious, to Twilight herself at least: it was because all their troubles were her fault, while the solutions to those troubles had come from her friends. Twilight had led her friends into the trap at Cirta, from which Spike’s quick-thinking and ingenuity had freed them; that escape had then seen them cast out into the desert without food of water, a perilous place from which they had been rescued by Fluttershy and her natural affinity for animals, not by anything that Twilight had done.

Twilight was not proud, or at least she tried not to be proud. She didn’t need to stand supreme amongst her friends, she didn’t think that she was better than them, it didn’t bother her that there were things that they could do better than her. But this was her quest. This was her journey. She had decided to come her, she had dragged her friends on this adventure, and so far all she had done was lead them into problems and then relied upon said friends for solutions.

It was not proud to think that that was wrong of her. At least, Twilight did not think it was. She thought, rather, that it was her conscience revolting against the irresponsibility she was displaying.

She would have turned back, except that Ace was right about them being in more danger if they did that. She still might turn back, once they reached Utica and were, hopefully, given enough supplies to make it back to Equestria.

Perhaps, anyway. She still wanted to find the Heart, she still wanted to find a way to contact Lightning Dawn and Krysta, but at the same time… she could not help but think of Celestia’s warning to her, about the tales of Dawn Starfall and Sunset Shimmer, both of whom had sought the Heart of the World never to return. Knowing what she now knew about the perilous land in which the Heart was thought to reside, Twilight could not help but consider the possibility that they had both died long before they reached their destination. Perhaps the reason Celestia’s searchers had never found any trace of Sunset Shimmer was that she had ended up as bleached bones lying in the sand somewhere, dead of dehydration or heatstroke. Perhaps Dawn Starfall had rotted away in the dungeons of some dragon lord, or worse, perhaps she dwelt there still, chained and bound, wasting away on stale bread and water or whatever the zebras of Grevyia fed their prisoners.

Was that to be their fate, too? Was that the fate to which Twilight had condemned her friends by leading them here?

Or was there yet some way that she could save them?

What ought she to do now?

Thus preoccupied by so many thoughts that whirled about her brain like a buzzing hive of bees, Twilight lingered for a long time awake, lying in the darkness with the moonlight shining down upon her. She didn’t know if she would have been able to confide in any of her friends or companions even if they hadn’t been asleep-

“The hours lengthen onward, Twilight; why do you lie awake tonight?”

Twilight’s eyes opened. Zecora was also still awake, sitting up, looking at Twilight with an experienced eye, her voice gentle and as soft as the breeze that cooled the air tonight.

Twilight rolled onto her front and sat up, too. “What are you doing awake?” she asked, softly, so as not to wake the others.

“In the desert there are many dangers, it is best to keep watch for strangers.”

“That doesn’t mean it has to be you,” Twilight replied. “I… should have thought of that.”

Zecora shook her head. “You take the wrong approach, if you for every issue yourself reproach.”

“Who else should I blame?” Twilight demanded, before clapping one hoof over her mouth as she realised how loud she had just been.

Zecora smiled at her. “These others will not easily waken; they are too weary, and cannot from their rest be taken.”

“You’re saying they’re too tired to be woken up?” Twilight clarified.

Zecora nodded silently.

“That’s… yeah, you’re probably right about that,” Twilight agreed. She frowned, as she looked at the slumbering forms of Rarity and Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Fluttershy, Pinkie and Spike and Ace. She sighed. When she spoke again her voice was softer. “But seriously, who else should I blame? This was my quest, my choice, I encouraged the rest of them. On whom do the failures rest, if not me?”

“Some might take such things in stride,” Zecora said. “And blame their difficulties upon their guide.”

Twilight shook her head. “I know that this isn’t your fault. You didn’t cause any of this.”

“To speak true, neither did you,” Zecora pointed out.

“That’s different,” Twilight said. “You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.” She paused. “Once… once we get to Utica, do you think we should turn back for home?”

Zecora did not reply. She did not even keep looking at Twilight. Rather she turned her head away, and looked out across the waters of the lagoon.

“Zecora?” asked Twilight.

“I… will lead you to my home,” Zecora said. “But once there you may have to continue on your own. It is not for me to tell, which path you should take for all to be well.”

Twilight frowned. “Zecora…what is the problem? Why can’t you go home? What… what’s waiting for you there?”

“The future is not mine to see,” Zecora said. “But I doubt that it will be nice for me.” She smiled, as though she had just made a joke. Twilight found it a pretty bad joke, and in very bad taste.

“You don’t have to…” she began. “Nopony here would ask you to…”

“Did not your strange friend Lightning Dawn, make such a sacrifice for everyone?” Zecora asked.

Twilight couldn’t help but smile. “I’ve always thought of assonance as getting the rhyme wrong.”

Zecora snorted. “Twilight, this is the only way; no other road, in this my choice you cannot sway.”

“Is there no way you can escape?”

“Perhaps I might be shown mercy; but I would not rate the chance likely,” Zecora responded.

“Why not?” Twilight said. “Your people… I accept that I don’t know them but at the same time I can’t imagine that they can be cruel, if they produced you.”

“No, they are not cruel in general,” Zecora said. “But what I did seems to them most terrible.”

“What did you do?” the words slipped out of Twilight’s mouth before she could stop them. I’m sorry, you don’t need to tell me, I had no right to ask-“

“Twilight Sparkle, why have you come?” Zecora asked. “Chasing this legend so far from home?”

Twilight hesitated for a moment. “For love,” she confessed.

Zecora nodded. “And we would do many things for love; as foolish as some of them later prove.” She looked at Twilight. “Twilight Sparkle, get some rest; tomorrow morn we leave this refuge nest.”

Twilight nodded, and lay down once more and tried to get some sleep alongside her friends.

It was difficult. Her conversation with Zecora had not actually assuaged her thoughts nor answered her questions, in fact to some extent they had only given her more questions to ponder.

However, the fact that she had questions to consider didn’t actually alter the fact that she was tired, so tired, just as tired as everypony who lay slumbering about her, and so eventually Twilight drifted off to sleep.

“Twilight.”

Twilight opened her eyes. She stood… she stood in Ponyville once more. Just outside of Sugarcube Corner, in fact.

And standing beside her was-

“Lightning?”

Lightning Dawn turned his head towards her, and smiled. He had rarely smiled, but when he did smile there was something rather wonderful about it.

He looked exactly as she remembered him, so tall and powerfully built, with that mottled effect upon coat like he was made of marble. And his eyes, those eyes of burnished gold looking right at her.

“This… this is a dream,” Twilight murmured.

“But does that have to mean it isn’t real?” Lightning asked.

Twilight stared at him for a moment, before she closed her eyes and stepped forward, nuzzling at his chest, feeling him crane his neck down to embrace her.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered, and perhaps she hadn’t realised just how much she had missed him until she said it, because all of a sudden she had tears in her eyes and they were streaming down her face.

She felt Lightning’s breath upon her neck. “I am sorry, for that. I did what I thought was right, Twilight, I never meant to hurt you.”

“I know,” Twilight said, in between sobs. “I know that you… I know that you saved us, but at the same time… it doesn’t change the fact that you wounded me at the same time.” She screwed up her face into a scowl of misery. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, Lightning.

Lightning did not reply, he just held her close, his skin feeling warm as he pressed his body against hers, and waited for her to say on.

“I don’t know whether I should keep going or go home,” Twilight confessed. “I… I want to see you again, I want it so badly, but… I don’t have the right to put my friends in danger for… not even for you.”

Lightning still didn’t say anything.

“You could give me some advice, you know,” Twilight said sharply.

“If I tell you to go on then that will seem very selfish,” Lightning said. “But if I tell you to turn back… I, also, greatly desire to see you again.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Twilight demanded.

“What does your heart tell you?”

“I don’t know!” Twilight shouted at him.

Lightning did not appear offended by her anger, for all that he stepped back from her. Rather he looked as though he had done it simply so that he could get a better look at her. “Miss Twilight,” he told her. “When I came to your home, I was… lost, in many ways. Krysta would tell you that… the point is that you showed me a way. Your light illuminated a path for me to follow. When the time comes, I have no doubt that your inner light will be your guide, just as it was mine.”

Twilight blinked rapidly. “That… that’s really sweet of you,” she said. She grinned. “But it doesn’t really help.”

The smile did not waver from Lightning’s face. “When the time comes,” he said. “You’ll know what to do.”

The next day they rose, and over the next few days they made their way from the watering hole, across the barren and the arid sands, to Utica.

It was not an easy journey, but it was a lot easier than it could have been. Twilight felt confident in saying that there was no way they could have made it without having found the watering hole first.

As it was, having found the watering hole, they had a chance: for they each had water in their skins, cloaks to shield them from the harsh sun, saddlebags with supplies in them. They had lost the map, but Zecora was confident in finding her way; more confident than she was in her welcome once they got there.

They could not avoid Utica, even now. Their supplies from the cache at the lagoon would not last so long, in fact they had nearly run out by the time that they came within sight of the walls of Utica.

The land became a little less barren and arid by the time that they reached the town itself, surrounded as it was by the same sort of irrigated fields and farmland as Cirta had been, the lands that produced the food that fed the town itself, although these fields were worked by free zebras, not by slaves. On the approach to Utica there was not a tattooed face in evidence, nor a mask, nor a whip or a chain or anything of that ugly nature. There were only zebras, working hard, but working – so it seemed to Twilight – their own land, for the fruits of their own labour.

It was, to say the least, a much more comfortable sight.

The ramparts that defended the town were white stone, gleaming like marble in the light of the sun, and atop the walls the ponies could see, as they got closer, zebras patrolling, and ballistae mounted in the round towers that jutted out beyond the main wall. The gates of Utica were wrought of black steel, and loomed large above the ponies as they walked towards them.

As they neared the gate Zecora hesitated, pausing, silently waiting, staring up at the gate. For a moment Twilight thought her heart would fail her, but then Zecora strode forward with determination in her step, to bang with one hoof upon the black gate. The sound echoed upwards like the sounding of a gong.

“Open in the name of water and sand,” Zecora cried. “Here weary travellers before you stand!”

There was a moment of silence; and another, and another. The silence and the stillness stretched on as vast as the desert sands themselves, or seeming so. Then, with a great grinding of gears and hinges, the gates swung backwards, revealing to Twilight and the others the barest glimpse of a town within.

A group of zebras emerged from out of the chink in the gate, led by a tall and powerful zebra with a trio of scars on the right side of his face wearing brightly coloured feathers woven into his mane.

Zecora bowed her head. “Subedar Muttines-“

“Havildar Muttines,” he corrected.

“It is good to see your face again.”

“Would of your face I could say the same,” Muttines replied. He turned his attention away from Zecora and to the others. “Who are you, what are you here to do?”

“We… we’re travellers,” Twilight said, taking a step forward. “We were ambushed by the zebras of a town called Cirta and I fear that we are sorely in need of help and succour.”

Muttines regarded them all for a moment. Slowly, he nodded his head. “You’ll come with me as honoured guests,” he rounded on Zecora. “And you’ll go to a traitor’s rest. Bind her and then watch her close, a second time she’ll not get loose. Your evil done, you’ve had your day; justice at hand, take her away!”

“What?!” Twilight cried. “No, there must be some mistake, you can’t-“

“Twilight, still your tongue and be at peace,” Zecora said, “Leave my cause, and focus on your ease.”

Twilight stared at her. “You knew, didn’t you? You knew this would happen?”

“Forgive me, friend, for cheating on the rhyme, but I knew that I must answer for my crime.”

“Crime?” Twilight repeated, as the gates of Utica ground open before them, the hinges scraping as the black iron gates swung back. “What crime? What did you do?”

Zecora looked away from her, and said nothing more as a party of guards of Utica emerged with ropes and chains and a muzzle?

“Is that necessary?” Twilight demanded.

“Twilight, I beg you, let it take its course,” Zecora said, “or that I do this will be for no cause.”

Twilight frowned. She understood what Zecora was saying, that she was sacrificing for their sake and that they could honour her sacrifice best by… by allowing her to endure whatever punishment the zebras of Utica had in store for her.

She understood, but that didn’t mean she liked it.

Nevertheless, though she felt filthy, though she felt like a coward, though she was disgusted with herself, nevertheless she stood by and did nothing while they bound Zecora.

And nopony else did anything either.

“Come enter in, and welcome be,” Muttines said, oblivious to their misgivings or pretending to be so, “the lady of the town you’d best come see.”

The houses of Utica were square and boxy, built of stone that was a sandy yellow colour, made all the more so by the dust that lay upon the rough stone walls. Minarets rose above the humbler dwellings, their bulbous tips adorned with gold or silver that reflected the light of the sun upon them so much they seemed almost like stars shining in daylight. Many-coloured awnings hung above the doors and windows, keeping the worst of the sun at bay. The thoroughfare down which the zebra guards led the pony party was wide, and paved with solid slabs of sand-coloured stone, although so much dirt and dust and stone lay over top that the stones themselves were almost buried and at times it was impossible to tell there was a path at all, save that it cut through the houses. The road led straight from the gate towards the palace in the centre of town. It was not so large or grand as the palace of Mantle in Cirta – somewhat ironic, considering that Utica seemed like the larger town – but it was still an imposing sight, rising above the houses around it. The palace was as square as the buildings that surrounded it, but elevated upon an artificial hill, with a long flight of steps climbing up towards the building itself.

In the town bustled mostly zebras, but there were a few horses too, and some camels with bulbous humps upon their backs, southern buffalo with their proud horns polished, and elephants bearing heavy loads while bells jangled from chains about their necks. They walked or trotted or lumbered through the streets, their chatter filled the air as they passed one another in the street, haggled in the bazaar, called upon one another's houses.

It was through this town, and through the wide thoroughfare that passed through the centre of the town, that Twilight and her friends were led, escorted by the guards.

And it was through this town, and down this road that Zecora, too, was brought, chained and muzzled like a beast, with the warriors of Utica keep a special watch upon her.

"I gotta say, Twi, I don't like this," Applejack muttered.

Twilight knew exactly what she meant. This was poor repayment for all of Zecora's helps and service to them, and it would have been even more poor repayment to have allowed her to endure it without speaking up, and so she trotted forwards until she had drawn level with the Havildar, Muttines, who led the group along.

"Um, Excuse me, sir?" Twilight ventured.

He glanced at her. "Would you have something of me, little pony?"

He was not speaking in rhyme. Twilight had a feeling that by not doing so he was patronising her in some way, but she had larger concerns at this moment, and in any case it made him a little easier to comprehend. "Yes," she agreed. "I would have something of you," she looked back towards Zecora. "Is that strictly necessary?"

"She is a criminal," Muttines replied.

"I can't believe that," Twilight declared. "There must be some sort of misunderstanding."

"There is no misunderstanding," Muttines said, his tone becoming a little sharper. "Her guilt has been known in this land for many years."

"Guilty of what?" Twilight demanded.

Muttines snorted. "There are things that we do not speak of to outsiders."

He tried to get away from, lengthening his stride so that he could walk on and leave her behind, but although she had to trot to keep up with him Twilight managed to keep level with the taller, longer-legged zebra. "Please," she said. "Zecora brought us here, knowing that she did so at grave risk to herself. She brought us here because our need outweighed any consideration of her safety. I cannot repay her for that simply by ignoring what you're doing to her. Please, there must be some way that she can be helped."

Muttines was silent for a moment. "You should be careful, little pony," he warned her. "The traditions of this land mandate that water and hospitality be given to the weary and lost… but not to our bitter enemies. You have come here in company with one who is accursed, her name forbidden. Take care, lest you be thought partners in her latest villainy."

"That's not possible because Zecora isn't a villain," Twilight responded. Her voice dropped, becoming quieter. "What are you going to do to her?"

"For what she has done there is only one penalty," Muttines said.

"No!" Twilight cried. She rushed ahead of Muttines, so that she could plant herself foursquare in front of him. "I can't let you do that. I won't."

"Be very careful, pony," Muttines said, in a tone approaching a growl. "You stand upon the edge of a knife."

"Then I will cut my hooves, or fall," Twilight replied. "But I will not abandon my friend to a cruel and undeserved fate."

Unfortunately, by this point they had drawn something of a crowd. This was the main road through the town, after all, and many creatures – zebras, camels, horses – were using it alongside the ponies and the zebra guards.

And unfortunately, it seemed that some of them still recognised Zecora, after all this time.

It started with whispers, with glances furtively stolen before them who stole the glances looked away again almost as suddenly. Then the whispers became louder 'Is it she? Is that Zecora? Yes, it is, here, after all this time!' Then they became so loud that they were not even whispers at all, but words angrily spoken in the Common Tongue and in the language of Quaggai, harsh words falling upon Zecora's head as she was led onwards through the street.

The words struck Zecora like weapons. This was her home, or at least it had been so; these were her people, her friends and neighbours once upon a time, and yet for whatever it was that they thought – they seemed convinced – that she had done they treated her not as an old friend but as a monster, an object of scorn and derision, a pariah. Twilight couldn't imagine how much it must hurt her, to be so berated, so reviled, so hated and despised by all. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to return to Ponyville and find that she was regarded with hostility, an unwelcome interloper. She couldn't imagine what it would be like, but she could see how it was hurting Zecora as her muzzled head drooped low to the ground, and her eyes grew heavy with sorrows.

As Twilight watched, she saw Zecora's dark orbs start to fill with tears.

"Stop it, please," Fluttershy begged. "There's no need to be so cruel."

Then someone threw something. It was a rotten cabbage, and it splintered as it splattered against Zecora's side, striking her hard enough to make the zebra's body tremble.

"Hey!" Rainbow yelled. "What do you think you're doing?" she had herself to dodge a mango thrown her way.

"Please, stop," Fluttershy implored the crowd. "She doesn't deserve this."

"Aren't you going to do something about this?" Twilight demanded of Muttines.

"Let the crowd have their sport," Muttines replied. "She has done worse, and deserves worse."

The crowd continued to yell, to jeer, to pelt Zecora with objects; they formed a huddle around the group, a huddle that the zebra guards showed no interest in dispersing for all that they acquired more of the character of a mob with every passing moment. Their faces seemed crueller now than they had a mere moment ago; their voices seemed harsher, their manner more dangerous. Twilight could not help but fear – but think – that Muttines meant to let the mob do justice for him.

Twilight wouldn't let that happen.

"Stop!" she cried, teleporting in between Zecora and the crowd upon the right-hoof side, and her horn flared with lavender light as she conjured up a shield around Zecora and her other friends. She raised her voice as the detritus the crowd threw struck her shield harmlessly and sloughed off the magical barrier to the ground.

"Please," Twilight begged. "Please stop."

Muttines' eyes were wide with a mixture of awe and anger. "You dare-"

"Yes," Twilight replied. "Yes, I dare. Because I know this zebra," she declared. "And when I first met her I, too, held hostility towards her in my heart. I didn't trust her. I didn't understand her. But when I tried, when I looked past the fact that she was different from me, when I opened up my heart to her I found that she was good and kind and gentle. I don't know what heinous crime you think she has committed, what awful offence you think that she has done you but I promise you, I guarantee, that she is not the villain you believe her to be." Zecora was shaking her head, but Twilight ignored her. She wasn't about to abandon Zecora, whatever Zecora might want. "She is my friend, and I cannot simply allow you to do what you like to her. I can't abandon her to any fate, no matter how cruel. I… I will not."

Muttines glared at her angrily, but before he could say anything in reply another voice, a female voice raised in anger, cut through the crowd. "What is the cause of this alarm? What in Utica has disturbed your calm?"

The crowd parted, and through their press strode two ranks of burly zebras, armoured in glimmering scales, moving the citizens of Utica aside. And in between the ranks of guards their came a tall male zebra, his mane styled in a great crest that added at least another foot onto his height, and a smaller female zebra with soft features, her name worn in ringlets adored with glimmering moonstones, wearing rings of gold around her neck.

She stepped through the crowd, and as her eyes alighted upon the captive Zecora her blue eyes widened, and the breath seemed to catch in her throat, and she took a step backwards as a single word escaped her lips.

"Sister?"

The town was silent, or at least the immediate area in which Twilight and her friends stood had fallen so. All the townsfolk of Utica, the zebras and the horses and even the towering, majestic elephants, had had their voices stilled. They bowed, genuflecting on their knees, and it was clear that they dared not raise so much as a whisper.

As for Twilight and her friends, well… if they were anything like Twilight herself then they were too speechless to say anything.

“Sugarcube,” Applejack whispered into Twilight’s ear, “my ears ain’t going from all the sand getting in ‘em, right? She did just say ‘sister’?”

Twilight nodded, although only faintly because it felt as though a faint gesture was about all that she could manage right now.

Sister? Zecora had a sister? Zecora had a sister who was apparently an important person in the town which Zecora would get in big trouble for coming back to? In the town where someone had been willing and ready to put Zecora to death with a minimum and fuss and bother? Something was… well, let’s just say that that didn’t make it seem as though they had a close relationship like the one that Twilight enjoyed with her own brother.

But on the other hoof… Twilight looked at Zecora’s sister, whom she would have judged to be the younger of the two, and she could not say that she looked angry or appalled to see Zecora. And it wasn’t just the fact that she had called her sister and not ‘you’ or ‘traitor’ or anything harsher than that. It was the way she looked, the way that she sounded, too.

Perhaps Twilight was reading too much into it, perhaps Twilight was looking for hope where there was no hope to be found, but maybe, just maybe, there was something between the two sisters that they could build on.

I mean, Princess Luna went insane and tried to cast the world into everlasting darkness and yet she still managed to reconcile with Princess Celestia in the end. I’d like to think that if that can happen then there’s hope for us all.

Provided we can stop Zecora from being killed, that is.

Zecora, for her part, did not reply. She continued to maintain the silence that she had put on like a cloak ever since they had placed the restraints upon her and borne her through the gates of Utica.

She looked away, and her eyes seemed to droop a little with what Twilight could only interpret as a touch of guilt. But guilt for what? Twilight was sure that whatever it was that Zecora had done it was nothing deserving of death, but as she watched out of the corner of her eye Zecora shying shamefully away from her sister, she began for the first time to wonder if their zebra friend might have done something.

If she had… if she had then it did not change the fact that she had voluntarily come back her for the sake of the ponies, and that was still something to be respected and admired.

“Sister,” the other zebra repeated. “Are you silent still? Will you not humble your proud will? That we should meet again seems fate, where has your road brought you to this date? Will you not tell me what brings you home? Why are you here, why have you come?”

“She came for us,” Twilight declared, bringing the eyes of the zebra and her attendants all upon herself. She flinched from their gazes, some of which seemed rather accusing. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Forgive the interruption, but if Zecora will not speak for herself then I would like to speak for her. My name is Twilight Sparkle, of Ponyville in Equestria.”

“And I am Sophoniba, Lady of Utica,” Sophoniba said, switching from rhyme into plain prose to address a foreigner. “How is it that you are acquainted with my elder sister?”

“She is our friend,” Twilight explained, “we have all come from Ponyville, where Zecora lives… or at least not far away.”

“My lady, these ponies have interfered with rule of law,” Muttines said, “to her fate they have prevented this traitor from being drawn.”

“You were going to execute her!” Twilight exclaimed.

“In accordance with the sentence she was given, to avoid which she has striven,” Muttines replied.

“Peace ho, good captain; upon your arguments place no strain,” Sophoniba said. To Twilight, she added, “What do you know of my sister’s crimes?”

“Nothing,” Twilight said. “Zecora told us that it would be… difficult if she returned here.”

“And yet you came anyway?” Sophoniba asked.

“It wasn’t our intent,” Twilight said. “We were… ambushed in the town of Cirta, and all our supplies were lost. We… we are in need of food and water and perhaps a little shelter and rest. Zecora told us that we could find those things here, and only here.”

“You beg the gifts of shade and water, whilst you in your ranks a traitor harbour?” spat Muttines.

“Peace once again, havildar, peace; Zecora shall suffer no release,” Sophoniba snapped, a touch of impatience entering her voice. To Twilight, she said, “You now defend her from my guards, not knowing what crimes she has committed.”

“I’m sure that whatever she has done it can’t be so wicked as to warrant a death sentence,” Twilight said.

“Do not be so certain,” Sophoniba replied. “This is not Equestria, our laws are harsher than you may comprehend.”

“I understand, but…” Twilight hesitated. “I feel as though I know Zecora well enough to say that she has a good heart, and would never commit any act so vile that it would warrant so stern a punishment. She didn’t have to bring us here. She could have left me and my friends to die in the desert, and she might have stood a chance on her own. But she didn’t. She brought us here at great risk to herself. Greater risk than she allowed any of us to comprehend, or we would never have come here. And for that reason… law or no law… I can’t just stand by and let you kill her.”

Sophoniba was silent for a moment. When she spoke her voice was soft, and exceedingly quiet. “I am… glad,” she said, “that my sister has found friends on whom she can rely. But why did you come to this land, Twilight Sparkle of Equestria? What brought you to our deserts so unprepared?”

Twilight did not dispute the fact that she was not prepared. She, too, spoke with exceeding softness. “The Heart of the World,” she murmured.

Sophoniba’s eyes widened. Her mouth opened, and hung open for a few moments. After some brief time, she spoke again. “We shall respect the sanctity of water and shade, come to the palace to receive mine aid. Guards, attendants, loyal friends surround us all; and bring us safely straight into mine hall. There we shall have yet further talk, upon this path you choose to walk. Come, every creature, follow on; make haste, lest all the hours of morn be gone.”

Tell Your Story

The walls of Lady Sophoniba’s throne room were a reddish brown, or at least that was the colour of the brick that could be seen in patches poking through from underneath the blue-green paint that had been daubed over them. Columns of pure and pristine white supported a ceiling of midnight blue decorated with golden stars. From the columns sprouted small, almost free-standing walls or screens, not solid but of a geometric pattern with gaps that could be seen through. Awnings of many coloured cloth hung from the ceiling, offering shade from the sunlight that streamed in through windows of coloured glass – blue and green, orange and red – set high up on the walls. The floor was strewn with cushions, the geometric mosaics obscured by patterned throw rugs, and alcoves in the walls were set out for sitting in comfort. A shallow pool of water lay in a recess of blue tiles set in the middle of the floor. Ornately patterned lamps of hot, fire-like colours sat in the corners of the room, but were unlit being as the sun was up and any shadows were purposefully generated by the décor.

Twilight found that it was strangely cool in here; the air seemed less warm than it had done outside, less dry and less oppressive. Her throat still felt dry, but she didn’t feel as though all the remaining moisture was being leeched out of her by the very air as she had done. Guards lined the room, spears resting upon their shoulders, while servants stood in rigid postures while other zebras and horses – courtiers, presumably – lounged upon the cushions scattered around the great chamber.

Lady Sophoniba sat upon a throne of silver, fashioned in the shape of a miniature elephant upon whose back she sat. A pair of zebras fanned her with broad palm leaves, beating gently up and down as she sat in state, the coloured sunlight falling upon her, glinting off her gold jewellery.

She regarded them keenly as Twilight and her friends and companions shuffled into the throne room. There was no disguising the fact that they were tired and thirsty and hungry. Pinkie and Fluttershy were both panting visibly, and even in the cooler throne room poor Rarity looked as though she was about to faint from the heat. Twilight felt as though she might join her in a minute or two. Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Ace were all faring a little better, being hardier ponies with jobs that kept them out in the sun – and, in Applejack’s case, working pretty darn hard, too – far more than the other three, but only Zecora and Spike seemed to actually be doing well under these conditions.

At least, Zecora was doing as well as could be expected given that she was still bound as a prisoner.

Sophoniba tapped her forehooves together. “Water for our guests,” she commanded. At once a pair of tall zebras sprang forward, carrying in their teeth the handles of a great black urn of iced water, which they hauled across the throne room to place in front of Twilight and her friends.

Twilight looked at Sophoniba expectantly.

“You may drink,” Sophoniba declared graciously.

Twilight bowed her head. “Thank you,” she said gratefully, before she and her friends and companions fell ravenously upon the water that had been placed before them.

Although the ice was melting, it nevertheless kept the water cold, so that when they stuck their snouts into the urn they were cooled beyond measure. They drank their fill, easing their parched throats, watering and cooling them both at the same time.

Twilight drank to assuage her immediate thirst, and then retreated to let her friends, whose need was so much greater than her own, to consume what they would. Besides, she thought that Sophoniba would want to speak to her, and would not brook too great a delay.

Twilight noticed that Zecora was not drinking, nor making any move to do so.

“She will not touch the water,” Sophoniba explained, before Twilight could ask why she wasn’t drinking. “She knows that the gift of sacred hospitality is not extended to her, but only to you. In Quaggai, to extend hospitality to the needy is the duty of a good host, but a guest who trespasses or presumes upon hospitality that has not been extended offends the spirits of the air and water, and will suffer a most cruel fate at their hands… even if the host does not take offence and decide to punish them personally.”

“Zecora-“ Twilight began.

“I do not wish to speak of my sister with you,” Sophoniba said. “Rather, Twilight Sparkle, I would speak of you and your companions. Who are they who travel with you, and who gulp so greedily?”

“They’re only greedy because they’re parched,” Twilight replied defensively. “But my friends names are Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and the dragon’s name is Spike, my assistant and my… my little brother. There is also Sunshine Ray, of Princess Celestia’s Royal Guard.”

“Strange these names sound to our zebra ears, though I imagine they may be more commonplace for you pony folk,” Sophoniba said. “Tell me then, Twilight Sparkle, why do you and your companions seek the Heart of the World? Why are you so foolish as to hazard all upon this madness?”

"Madness?" Twilight repeated. "Don't you believe that the Heart of the World exists?"

"Whether I believe or no is not the issue," Sophoniba replied. "So many of our tales and legends tell of it that I am inclined to think it must have existed, at some point; but as I say, the existence or not of this wondrous thing is not the issue. The issue is that for centuries creatures have been drawn to this promise of power and rule, and so they have searched for it and yet they have found it not, which I am inclined to say suggests that it no longer exists, or it cannot be found, or it no longer wishes to be found."

"Or it simply hasn't been found yet," Twilight suggested.

"Why not?" Sophoniba asked. "And even if not then what makes you think you can do better than those who have come before you. In recent times you are not the first pony to pass this way seeking the Heart."

Twilight's eyes narrowed. "You're talking about Sunset Shimmer and Dawn Starfall?"

"Those were their names," Sophoniba agreed.

Twilight hesitated for a moment. "They were both well-known and well beloved to Princess Celestia, my teacher," she explained. "I would bring back news of them, if I may. If there is anything you know about their fates then, please, tell me, I beg. There has been no word from either since they sought the Heart of the World, and Princess Celestia is sick at heart from grieving them." Although Twilight had a strong hunch that Sunset had made her way – somehow – to New Olympia, there to become adopted by Jupiter, even as Lightning had, there was no way to be sure that it was, in fact, the same Sunset Shimmer. Yes, it didn’t seem likely that there could be a lot of Sunset Shimmer’s who had gone around looking for things that might take them to other worlds but, on the other hoof, if there were eyewitness accounts…

If there were eyewitness accounts of her death…

Well… that… that would be that, wouldn’t it?

Sophoniba leaned forward upon her silver elephant. "A tale I could tell you, Twilight Sparkle, and word I could give you. But if I did would you leave my hall and town and land and return to Equestria to bring these tidings to your princess?"

"Straight away?" Twilight asked.

"Or after you have ate and drank your fill, and recovered your strength, perhaps."

"No," Twilight said softly. "No, I can't just turn away-"

"No," Sophoniba repeated. "Instead you will press on, as they pressed on, and rather than bring back news of Sunset Shimmer or Dawn Starfall you will give your teacher cause to wonder at the fate of Twilight Sparkle in her turn as you, too, disappear into the southern sands. Madness, I name it, for madness it can only be which drives so many noble creatures to ignoble ends. You wish for news? You wish for tidings? Very well, I will give you news. I was little more than a foal when Sunset Shimmer arrived at my gate. She was alone, a ragged figure much like yourself; she admitted, through gritted teeth, that she had been robbed while she slept. Yet she was proud, as proud as I can only imagine the Emperor of our Grevyian neighbour is, and her pride was the only thing of which she had not been robbed upon the journey here. She spoke well, and made lavish promises of the favours that she would do for us once she came into her power if only we would help her."

"And did you?" Twilight asked. "Help her?"

"No more than hospitality required of us," Sophoniba replied. "My councillors felt no need of her promises, to say nothing of their doubts that she would ever have the power to make good upon them. We gave her food and water, allowed her to stay for a few nights and recover her strength, and sent her on her way."

"I see," Twilight murmured. "And that is the last you heard of her?"

"Not quite," Sophoniba admitted. "Sunset Shimmer's promises fell on deaf ears here in our palace, but before she took her leave of Utica she plied her tongue amidst the lower quarters of the town. She must have spoken well, for she left accompanied by a crew of mercenaries and ne'er do wells, zebras and horses willing to take a desperate chance upon a better life. Not all of them returned, and those that did return did so without Sunset Shimmer."

"Do you know what happened?" Twilight demanded. "Or at least, can I speak to them?"

"You may, if they yet dwell in the city," Sophoniba said. "I confess, we did not question them ourselves. It was assumed that they had found the hardships of the journey too great and abandoned their leader."

"That might be what happened, but I'd still like to find out for myself," Twilight replied.

"Of course," Sophoniba agreed. "In your place I might wish the same."

"Did Dawn Starfall speak to them, when she came?" Twilight asked.

"Dawn Starfall arrived in company, just as you do, but in a better state of provision," Sophoniba explained. "She did not require hospitality, but asked an audience that she might seek news of Sunset Shimmer. I told her what I told you, and very likely she did speak to Sunset's retinue, although I know not what passed between them. Shortly thereafter she set out, with her own companions, and then… lost to the wastes. Is that not sufficient? Have you not heard enough now? Your princess grieves, you say; she is sick at heart, you say, for the unknown fate of her two pupils. Will, then, you not turn back? Will you not go home, and tell Princess Celestia whose fame has spread so far that the ponies she mourns for lost their lives in pursuit of a dream? Will you not turn away, before a similar fate awaits you?"

"I…" Twilight glanced back towards her friends. I might ask my friends to do so, but- "I cannot."

"Why not?" Sophoniba demanded. "What drives you on? What power compels you? I have the power to bar your course, to have you all bound and led northwards under guard until you reach the frontier of your own land, and I have half a mind at least to exercise that power if you will not give me answer. Why? Why risk so much, knowing the folly of it?"

"For… for love," Twilight admitted, hanging her head a little. "There… there was a stallion, he… he came into my life so suddenly, like a…" she chuckled. "Like a lightning bolt from a clear sky. He… he wasn't perfect, far from it, but he was gallant and… and he had a kind heart underneath his armour, or at least I thought he did. He saved my life. And then… and then he was gone, just as suddenly as he'd arrived. I don't know if he's alive or dead but… I have to find him; I have to try, at least, I won't be able to rest until I do. And that… that's why I can't turn back."

Sophoniba was silent for a moment. "For love," she murmured. "Yes, that I can understand. Love will make us do things strange and terrible. Which is why I give my sister chance to speak in her defence. Have you aught to say, Zecora? Have you words for year dear sister? Will you not cry for my pardon, with explanation for your action? Will you not explain your crime, before you run out of time?"

Zecora's gaze flickered towards her sister, but then she looked away again, and yet said nothing.

Sophoniba scowled. "To your own silence then fall foul, your trespass I will not allow. You pony guests are welcome here, and may rest and enjoy good cheer; but take this traitor a dungeon cell, and there let her endure a spell."

Pinkie bounced up and down on one of the beds that lined the walls of their spacious and interconnected guest rooms. The rooms to which Sophoniba's servants had conveyed them were large, if largely bare. Aside from the beds there were only a few geometrically patterned tapestries obscuring certain parts of the yellow stone walls, and one or two potted palm plants adding a touch of green. Other than that there wasn't much to the room, not that anypony minded the fact: they had rooms, with four walls and a ceiling over their heads and soft beds with blue silk sheets, and that was more than enough for any of them after the privations they had endured since fleeing Cirta.

This was a place where they could rest, where they could shelter from the heat of the sun, where they could take their ease and not worry about danger – well, where only Zecora needed to worry about danger. But Twilight, though the fate of their friend was at the forefront of her mind, was not going to rebuke anypony for breathing a sigh of relief. They had all been through so much lately; they had earned a period of untroubled peace.

There were two rooms, each with four beds, with an interconnecting doorway separated only by a lime green curtain between them, but not everyone had gathered in the one room. Pinkie was bouncing up and down on the bed; Applejack was dozing upon her bed, with her hat covering her eyes as she lay on her back with her legs crossed; Spike was chewing on some gems that the zebras of Utica had kindly provided for him; Rainbow Dash was having a push-up competition with Ace.

Twilight stood on the balcony, looking out across the city of Utica, all the streets and houses, the bazaars and the taverns spread out below her, the gleaming golden spires of the minarets and the painted roofs of the pagodas and all the creatures milling about below.

"It's quite a sight, isn't it?" Fluttershy asked, as she approached to stand by Twilight's side upon the balcony. "So many different creatures here."

"I suppose," Twilight murmured. "I can't say I've been paying too much attention."

"Because your mind is on Zecora?" Fluttershy asked delicately.

Twilight hung her head in dismay. "This is my fault, Fluttershy. Zecora's in trouble because of me."

"You didn't know that this would happen," Fluttershy told her.

"I knew that something bad would happen if she came back here," Twilight said. "I knew that even coming back to this part of the world was risky, but I asked her to do it anyway." She rested her head upon the warm stone of the balcony rail. "Oh, Fluttershy, what am I going to do?"

"Well you're not going to accomplish anything moping about, darling," Rarity said, her hooves tapping lightly upon the floor as she, too, walked out onto the balcony. The breeze the kissed the cheeks of Twilight Sparkle wafted through Rarity's mane, making her blue curls dance nimbly.

"Um, Rarity," Fluttershy said softly. "That wasn't very nice."

"Come now, Fluttershy, you know I'm right," Rarity declared. "Twilight Sparkle, did you best Discord with this kind of attitude?"

"I beat Discord because you were all with me," Twilight reminded her.

"We're all here for you now," Fluttershy reminded Twilight in her turn.

"Yes, but this isn't a problem we can solve with the Elements of Harmony," Twilight replied.

"Even before we got around to using the Elements, you'd already saved each of us," Rarity insisted. "Because you're Twilight Sparkle and you never give up."

Twilight sighed. "Maybe that's the problem?" she suggested. "I wouldn't… I can't give upon Lightning and Krysta, and because of that… because of that I've led you here, through hardship that might not be finished yet, and I've led Zecora into peril and-"

"And you'll get her out of peril again," Rarity said. Her tone softened, as she put one hoof gently atop Twilight's own. "I know why you feel this way, darling, I do understand. Things haven't gone as well as we might have hoped-"

"You think?" Twilight demanded.

"But we're still here!" Rarity cried. "We're still here and we're still with you ever step of the way until the end. Not in spite of your determination but because of it." She paused, a soft smile playing upon her face. "You really do love him, don't you?"

Twilight hesitated. "Yes," she said. "But-"

"Shh shh shh, I'm not finished yet, darling," Rarity said, and although her tone held some mild reproach, the smile remained upon her face. "There is nothing to be ashamed of, not at all, in being in love; especially not to a strong, handsome stallion who loves you in his turn. When he came to me for proper attire for the Grand Galloping Gala I thought that there was something there, at least on his side. Do you think he fell in love with you for your looks alone?" Rarity shook her head. "No, it was that drive without which you would not be Twilight Sparkle that drew him to you, at least in part, I'm sure. In the same way that it draws all of us, and has done ever since you ventured into the Everfree Forest in search of the Elements." Rarity paused. "There are times when I wonder if I haven't set myself an impossible task in conquering the world of fashion; there are times when I fear that my ambitions outstrip my ability, and I should lower my sights to something more manageable: to being a moderately successful provincial dressmaker. But then I think of you and I tell myself 'there's a mare who'll never give up' and so I can't give up either. You inspire me, darling, and I'm sure I'm not the only one."

"You're not," Fluttershy said, from the other side of Twilight. "You're so brave, Twilight, and you manage to make dealing with people seem so easy, even when I'm sure it isn't for you. But you don't let that stop you, and although I can't really say that you make me brave, you make me want to be a little braver than I am."

"Girls, I," Twilight hesitated, because what could she do, really, after that, but endeavour to live up to the high praise that had been showered upon her? "Thank you," she said. "Thank you both."

"For what, darling?" Rarity asked innocently.

Twilight smiled at her, and at Fluttershy, before she went to the door leading out of the guest rooms. Her horn flared lavender as she opened the door to see a servant standing upon it.

"I'd like to see Lady Sophoniba," Twilight said. "About her sister."

Lady Sophoniba’s private quarters were decorated in a soft orange, with blue rugs lying upon the floor and soft silks descending all about the bed, while lamps of coloured glass in spiralling, twisting and exotic shapes littered the available floor space, most serving no function but to look decorative.

Sophoniba herself sat on the bed, being fanned by a servant with a palm. She had a book open in front of her, and was looking down at it rather than at Twilight.

“Twilight Sparkle, my guest,” she said quietly. “What do you wish?”

Twilight couldn’t help but ask, “You’re patronising me when you talk in prose, aren’t you?”

“Do you feel patronised or do you feel accommodated?”

“A… little of both.”

“Well, then,” Sophoniba said, as if to suggest that Twilight should stop complaining. “Do you read Daring Do?”

“Uh, yes,” Twilight replied. “Although I’m surprised to find out that you do.”

Sophoniba smiled. “I find them excellent stories. The traders know to bring me a copy of any fresh release, if they wish to continue enjoying the privilege of trading here in Utica. It is a small thing, to win my favour, and they are happy to oblige.” She sighed. “There was a time when I dreamed of travelling, exploring, seeing the world. I fear it is something I will only do in books.”

“Because of your responsibilities?”

“Indeed. I am not so fortunate as to be able to leave my home and travel so far chasing a dream. I envy you the freedom.”

“I wish I didn’t have to do this,” Twilight said softly.

Sophoniba looked up at her. “I can understand that, too.” She closed her book. “What can I do for you?”

“I’d like… I’d like to talk about Zecora,” Twilight said softly.

Sophoniba’s whole body stiffened. “Leave us,” she commanded her attendant, who ceased fanning her at once, bowed so low that his snout touched the ground, and scampered out. The curtain covering the doorway fell down over it.

Sophoniba glared at Twilight. Her gaze was cold, and hard. “Zecora,” she said sharply. “You risk much by disturbing me with that name.”

“Zecora risked much to bring us to safety here in Utica,” Twilight replied. “Making a fuss on her behalf… is the least I can do.”

Sophoniba was silent for a moment. “She is fortunate to have found such friends as you.”

“Friends she was fortunate in wouldn’t have put her in this position,” Twilight said softly.

“So long as you get her out of it, the fact that it was you who got her into it in the first place will not matter,” Sophoniba said.

“Can I get her out of it?” Twilight said. “Will you… can you tell me what it is that she’s supposed to have done in the first place?”

Sophoniba climbed off the bed, and turned her back on Twilight as she wandered towards a window with geometrically patterned veins separated the glass into small panes of many colours.

"I am the younger sister, that you knew," Sophoniba said.

Twilight nodded, for all that Sophoniba couldn't see it. "You called her your elder sister."

"Indeed," Sophoniba replied. "I was the second born, and she the first. She is a few years older than I am. Zecora was the elder, the firstborn daughter of the lord and lady of Utica… and of course she was expected to inherit the rule of this city, and in time take up our father's seat on the Council of the Hundred that rules over Quaggai."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Zecora… is so nobly born?"

Sophoniba looked back at Twilight. "She never told you this?"

Twilight shook her head. "That she was a lady, almost a princess? No," she said. "Zecora… doesn't speak about her past." Or we are not such good friends to her as we should have been.

"Perhaps she is ashamed," Sophoniba suggested, a touch of bitterness entering her tone. "She should be ashamed."

"Do you hate her?" Twilight asked. "For what she did to you?"

"Hate her?" Sophoniba cried. "Hate my sister? Hate Zecora? No! No, I do not hate her. I… I could not hate her, I… I…"

"You love her," Twilight murmured. "That's why it stings so much."

"Sting is too mild a word by far," Sophoniba muttered. "It pricks me like a dagger, it stabs at me."

"But what?" Twilight asked again. "What has she done?"

Sophoniba fell silent, and did not speak again for a little while. "Zecora… Zecora was not only my elder sister, but growing up she was my dearest friend."

Twilight found herself smiling, in spite of the circumstances. "The one person you knew would be there for you."

Sophoniba chuckled, sadly. "Yes, or so I thought. My parents were often preoccupied, either with the lordship of the city or my father's share in the governance of the state or else with preparing Zecora to assume the same. I do not begrudge them that, now that I have inherited city and seat it is all I can do to find a few hours in a week to myself to devour the latest Daring Do. But it meant that I was often lonely… and Zecora, for all that she was training to assume the rule of Utica, found time alone of all in the palace to alleviate my loneliness."

"I can believe that," Twilight murmured. "She is very good with children." It was Twilight's turn to pause. "I should be honest with you, at first… a lot of ponies weren't sure what to make of Zecora. They, we, found her a little… weird. It was a young filly, Apple Bloom, my friend Applejack's little sister, who was the first to accept Zecora, and who showed us the way to accept her too."

"I can believe it," Sophoniba said softly. "What does she do?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You were unaware of Zecora's heritage," Sophoniba said. "What does she do, in your pony town?"

"She, um, she makes potions, mainly," Twilight replied.

Sophoniba snorted. "I am not surprised; that was always one of her hobbies, the one at which she was most skilled. I am glad to know that she has been able to keep it up."

"You're glad?" Twilight asked. "You clearly don't want to lock her up."

"Of course not, she is my sister!"

"Then why is she in your dungeon?"

"I have no choice but to keep her there," Sophoniba snapped. "What she has done is… as I say, Zecora was always there for me. She comforted me, she attended me… in many ways she raised me far more than my parents did. They were, as I have said, very busy, and when they were present… Zecora was clearly the favourite of us. My parents, the servants, the guards… none had a great deal of time for me, nor any great regard. They were not cruel, you understand, they were never anything less than utterly correct in their attitudes and bearings and yet… there was a coldness to them. I think… I believe they tried to discourage Zecora from my presence, yet she would not be dissuaded."

"She seems like an excellent big sister," Twilight murmured. And your parents sound as though I could find a lot of unkind things to say about them.

"She was," Sophoniba agreed. "Or at least… I thought she was. There are times when I wonder if I ever really knew Zecora at all, or if the big sister whom I loved was never anything more than an illusion, a mask such as the Grevyians wear. You see, although Zecora was set to inherit, although she need only have had patience to take the throne of my father, nevertheless ambition like a weed grew within her heart. She could not wait. She sharked up a list of lawless resolutes determined to seize Utica for herself, by force. She betrayed us all, betrayed her own parents, and for what? For what would have been hers in any case before too long."

Twilight blinked. "I… I can't believe it," she said. "Like you said, it makes no sense! Why would Zecora do such a thing, it's so unlike her. It doesn't sound like the Zecora I know, or the Zecora that you knew for that matter. What… what happened?"

"She was betrayed," Sophoniba explained. "One of those she had recruited turned her in to our parents. My father and mother sat in judgement on her and she did not deny it. Out of love for her, our parents spared her life, but sentenced her to exile, banishing her from Utica on pain of death, never to return. And now she has returned and I… I cannot avoid the punishment that is due for her transgression."

"Can't you?" Twilight asked. "There must be more to this than you have told me."

"I have told you all I know."

"Then there must be more going on that you don't know," Twilight said. "Something Zecora knows, but will not say."

"If she will not say then it is of little use her knowing anything," Sophoniba replied.

"She might tell me," Twilight said. "Please, may I speak with her, alone? I'm not asking you to release her – yet – but at least let me try and get to the bottom of all this before you need to put the sister you still love to death."

Sophoniba hesitated, and in her eyes Twilight could see the indecision. "You truly believe there is anything Zecora could say that would excuse her actions?"

"I think there must be," Twilight said. "Or I never really knew Zecora at all."

Sophoniba hesitated, and Twilight held her breath waiting to see what she would say. At last she nodded. "Go, then, I give you leave," she said. "And good luck go with you also."

The cell in which they bad bound Zecora was very reminiscent of the one in which Twilight and all her friends had been cast by the Grevyian zebras in Cirta. It was a barren space, enclosed by stone walls on three sides, with a door of wooden bars lashed together to fence in the prisoner. However, unlike the cell into which Twilight and the others had been thrown at the command of the dragon Mantle, Zecora’s cell was not a deep pit dug into the earth. Rather, Zecora remained at the same level as the corridor in which Twilight stood, looking at her.

If Zecora had stood up she would have been able to look down on Twilight through the wooden bars. But she was not standing up. She was sitting on the rushes that lined the floor of her cell, her head turned away from the doors, from Twilight, from any visitors.

They had taken her gold away from her, Twilight saw; the bands were gone from around her neck, and from her legs. They had even taken her thick, gold earrings away.

Apparently prisoners were not allowed adornment. At least not prisoners accused of treason.

Treason. As Twilight looked down upon Zecora, sat upon the bed of rushes, her head bowed and turned away, she found that she could no more believe it than when Sophoniba had told the truth to her.

Treason? Zecora? Zecora a traitor to her people? A traitor to her parents, to her little sister? Twilight could envisage the Zecora of earlier in Sophoniba’s story, the devoted big sister. She could even envisage Zecora as a ruler or a ruler in waiting.

But a traitor? Zecora a traitor? No. No, it could not be so. There had to be another explanation.

There was always another explanation where Zecora was concerned. Twilight remembered when she had first encountered the kind-hearted but reclusive zebra: the object of an entire town’s fearfulness, an evil enchantress who did evil dances, a sorcereress who would cast spells on you and feed you into her cooking pot.

But that was not the truth. That was not who Zecora was. There was no evil, there was no cooking pot – at least not one that held anything more than delicious vegetable stew in it – and there were no enchantments either. There was just a zebra, a zebra with a good heart who was as fearful of the world as the world was of her, who needed a kind-hearted filly to give her a chance and make her a part of their home.

Twilight felt certain – absolutely certain; her convictions upon this point were iron clad – that something similar was going on her. She just… she couldn’t see the whole picture yet. She needed Zecora to open up to her enough to fill in the missing pieces.

“Zecora,” she said softly. “It’s me, Twilight.”

Zecora shifted upon the bed of rushes, but did not look at her. “It is kind of you to see me so, but from my presence you should go.”

Twilight frowned. “I know – I think I know – that you’re showing me respect by speaking in rhyme, but there are times I wish you’d patronise me like your sister does.”

That didn’t get much of a reaction out of Zecora, certainly not as much of a reaction as Twilight had been hoping for. Her zebra friend said only, “Sophoniba is a great lady in this town, she has the right to judge you lower down.”

“Whereas you don’t, for all that you could have been a great lady yourself if I understand it right?” Twilight asked. “I’ve spoken to Sophoniba.”

Zecora sighed. “If she has told you the whole story, why then do you for me feel sorry?”

“Because she didn’t tell me the whole story,” Twilight said. “At least I don’t believe she did. I don’t accuse her of lying to me, but…” she trailed off.

Zecora seemed to be waiting for her to finish, although it was hard to say because – infuriatingly – she wouldn’t turn around and look at Twilight! “But what, Twilight, did you mean to conclude? Don’t let your word hang in solitude.”

Twilight did, despite the zebra’s admonition, let her word hang in solitude for just a little longer. “You’ve always been an outcast, haven’t you? You were an outcast in Ponyville, and before that you were an outcast in your own home. I think… I think that’s what you do, isn’t it? You take on the burden of being despised, feared… even hated.”

Zecora chuckled. “Twilight, you have misread my character; if you think I am a martyr.”

“Then why?” Twilight demanded. “Why do you sit in this cell and say nothing, why don’t you protest, why do you allow yourself to be thought a traitor when you and I both know that’s not who you are, look at me!”

Zecora slowly turned her head to look at Twilight through the sturdy wooden bars of her cell door. Her eyes were a little wide with surprise.

“Look at me, please,” Twilight repeated, her tone softer and more pleading. “Why? Why are you taking on the guilt for something that you didn’t do?”

“What makes you assume I am innocent of the crime, for which I have been thought guilty all this time?” Zecora asked.

Twilight blinked. “Because… because you’re Zecora! Because Sophoniba told me that you loved her, that you were best friends growing up, and I can believe that a sight more easily than I can believe that you would betray your own sister.”

“I am not accused of betraying my sister,” Zecora reminded her. “It was Mother and Father that I sought to conquer.”

It was an admission of guilt, and yet at the same time it was also something else. It was a confession that would have shocked Twilight if she had been capable of seeing what Zecora had really said. Yes, she had confessed – sort of – that she had not been falsely accused of the crime of treason, but at the same time she had offered the first hint of an explanation for why the Zecora that Twilight knew might do this thing that seemed so out of character for her.

“What were you protecting your sister from?” she asked.

Zecora drew a sharp intake of breath. “Twilight, what makes you ask me such a thing? Of such actions I’ve given no inkling.”

“No inkling?” Twilight repeated. “What about the fact that you just denied betraying your sister while confessing to betraying your parents?”

Zecora’s jaw clenched, and she looked away, her eyes downcast.

“What happened, Zecora?” Twilight repeated. “I know that you are not a bad person, I know that you had reasons for doing what you did, I know that you don’t deserve to be put for death for your actions and I’m not leaving here until you explain yourself! I got you into this predicament and I’m going to get you out of it but I need you to help me out in order to do it. Please, Zecora, explain it to me. I know there’s more going on that I’m not seeing. That nobody is seeing… except you.”

Zecora was silent for a moment, and then a moment longer. She closed her eyes, and bowed her head, and for a moment Twilight thought – Twilight feared – that she would turn away and hold her peace once more.

Instead, words escaped her lips. “Did my sister tell you in her tale, how my parents their daughters failed?”

Twilight nodded. “She told me that they were… not there for her. That you were, but they… that everyone else was… distant.”

Zecora nodded. “I did not understand why it should be so; it pained me to see my beloved sister low. I could not see why she was treated, as though unworthy to be even greeted. I tried my best Sophoniba to care for and to love, but I could not help but disapprove, of those who should have nurtured my sister, who instead only dismissed her. One day I confronted my father and mother, and they attempted my objections to smother. They told me a most terrible truth, based upon the saying of the sooth.”

“The saying of the sooth?” Twilight repeated. “You mean… like divination?”

Zecora nodded. “A prophecy there was, concerning Sophoniba and I; it caused my parents to cast my sister from their eyes. When two sisters in Utica were born, strife between them would make the land forlorn; the rightful ruler would by her sister be displaced, and by usurper be disgraced. My parents thought that Sophoniba would seek my throne, so they ensured that she would be alone. They thought without support from any quarter, Sophoniba would be unable to raise disorder. But that was not enough for mother and father, I found out that they meant to go much further.”

“You mean…” Twilight trailed off, scarcely able to contemplate the horror of what she thought Zecora meant to say. “They were going to…”

“I could not allow them to go do such wrong, for my sister I had to be strong; I decided to make the prophecy come true, but not in a way that I would rue. Utica meant little to me, so I made my sister subject of the prophecy.”

“You rebelled against your parents so that you would seem the unrightful ruler, and be banished, allowing Sophoniba to take the throne,” Twilight murmured. “That’s… that’s very brave, and yet at the same time nothing less than I’d expect from you.” A thought struck her that made her chuckled. “You know… in a way your parents weren’t wrong. The younger sister did drive out the elder and the rightful ruler. Their mistake was in assuming that it was hate that would lead to this, instead of love.”

Zecora did not look particularly amused, at least, not at first. But after she had had a little more time to think upon it, a slight smile did spread a little way across her face.

“Thank you, Zecora,” Twilight said. “For telling me this.”

“It matters little to me now, and the truth I’d have you know,” Zecora replied. “I do value your good opinion, I would not have you think me a villain.”

Twilight placed one hoof upon her heart. “I’m very touched you feel that way, Zecora. And yet… I can’t help but feel that I owe you an apology because, you see… I’m not the only person who’s been listening to this.”

Sophoniba walked in front of the wooden doors, to where Zecora could see her. Her mouth was open wide, and tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. When she spoke, her voice trembled with emotion. “Oh, my sister, half of my heart,” she declared. “What wrong I have done you on my part. You loved me so well you could forsake, all that ought to have been yours to take; of this city and all its lands the rule, instead you made yourself the tool, of my succession to spare me from a fate, which otherwise I could not escape. I shall not forget, nor suffer you to languish here a moment further now I know the truth; your love and devotion both are given proof. Come; guards and set the prisoner free, let her walk forth and be at liberty!”

Letter to Celestia

“Thank you so much for letting us use your library, Lady Sophoniba,” Twilight said, as she and her friends – Spike, Fluttershy, and Ace – walked between the towering stacks of manuscripts and scrolls that the zebras of Utica had acquired.

“It feels like the least that I can do, after you helped me to reconcile with my sister,” Sophoniba replied. Said sister stood behind her, just behind Twilight and the others, watching from the library. “And yet I fear that it may be the very most that I can do. I cannot provide you with an escort to the Heart of the World, I cannot even tell you where, precisely, the Heart may be found. All I can do is offer you my library to research in… and to advise you not to go.” She smiled. “But I already know what your answer will be.”

Twilight looked back at her, and smiled in turn. “I’m sure you do. I… I have to do this. I have to press on, one way or another.”

“You are fortunate that you have such good friends, willing to walk beside you on this perilous journey,” Sophoniba said. “Nevertheless, I must make another request of you, Twilight Sparkle…” she seemed to hesitate, unable to actually make the request.

“You would like Zecora to stay behind, with you?”

Sophoniba sighed with relief. “Thank you for sparing me the need to say so, and shame on me, the ruler of a town, for lacking the courage to give voice to such a request. You are a brave mare, Twilight Sparkle, to undertake this quest so perilous… but perilous it remains, and only recently has my sister returned to me. I would not have her depart so soon a journey with so uncertain an end.”

“I understand,” Twilight said. “I’m only here because of the ties that bind me to Lightning and Krysta, I can hardly complain when the bonds that bind you two together prompt you to try and keep Zecora safe.”

“Twilight, I promised that with you I would go,” Zecora said, “yet now I stand before you saying ‘no’.”

“You owe me nothing,” Twilight assured her. “You brought us here, at great risk to yourself. You brought us out of the desert and led us to salvation. You don’t know where the Heart of the World is, but you have led us to a place where we might find someone who does, or at least someone who can get us close to it. You’ve done enough. You deserve to stay here and get to know your sister, catch up on all the things that you’ve missed.”

Zecora bowed her head. “Twilight, you are generous and kind; it compliments your clever mind.”

“Will you ever go back to Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked. “Or will you stay here in Utica?”

Zecora glanced at Sophoniba. “A decision on that I’ve not yet reached, there are advantages to each; when you return I will make my choice, and give it to you with my voice.”

“When,” Ace said. “When we return? Not if?”

Zecora’s smile was tight, and taut, and it seemed a little tense to Twilight. “When, not if, just as you say; I fully expect there’ll come a day, when I will see you all again, and you’ll tell me of your adventures then. No less than that will accept, I will not in suspense be kept; waiting forever for sight of you, there is too much for you to do; in Ponyville where you make your home, for you to vanish into the unknown.”

“Two of the students of your Princess Celestia have vanished into the sands upon this quest,” Sophoniba said. “Do not be a third.”

“I don’t intend to be,” Twilight assured them both. “I mean to succeed where Sunset and Dawn failed, both in finding the Heart… and in returning again.”

“I rejoice to hear it,” Sophoniba said. “This library… it is satisfactory to you?”

It was odd to hear such a question asked of a library so immense in size; it dwarfed the library in Ponyville by some distance, and while the library in Canterlot was bigger that did not diminish the scale of the collection of manuscripts that Sophoniba possessed here in Utica. Although some of the texts looked to be mouldering from years, that only added to the sense of mystique as far as Twilight was concerned. Row after row of pages and scrolls, climbing up towards the ceiling, stretching out in rows as far as the eye could see. How much knowledge did the zebras possess that ponies knew not of, how much history, how much ancient lore from a past that ponies had forgotten? Twilight could hardly wait to get started.

“Yes,” she murmured. “yes, this is very satisfactory to me, thank you.”

Sophoniba gave a soft chuckle in reply. “We will leave you to your searchings, then. Come, sister.”

Zecora inclined her head, as the two zebra sisters took their leave. The door closed behind them with a soft thump.

“Where do you want to get started first, Twilight?” Spike asked.

“The first thing that we need to do,” Twilight said, “is write to Princess Celestia.”

“Right,” Spike agreed. “Good think the zebras gave me quill and paper.” He produced both, quill poised above the page. “Ready when you are, Twilight.”

“I’m sure the princess will be delighted to hear from you,” Fluttershy murmured.

“Without a doubt,” Ace said.

“You’re probably right,” Twilight said. “Although… I hope you all understand that I don’t mean to tell her absolutely everything. There are some things… I don’t want to worry her too much about what’s befallen us.”

“I don’t blame you,” Ace muttered. “There are some things I don’t much want Shining Armor to know about.”

“I understand,” Fluttershy conceded. “Although I think that you should probably be honest with her.”

Twilight thought that Fluttershy was probably right, but at the same time… she really didn’t want to worry Princess Celestia by telling them that they had been captured by a dragon lord, or almost died in the desert without food or water. It wasn’t honest, some lies were love, were they not? Or at least… no, they weren’t, but they could at least come from a place of good intentions.

There was no point in troubling Princess Celestia, especially when they were about to trouble her enough with the sad fates of Sunset and Dawn.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Dear Princess Celestia,” she said, and Spike began to scribble away on his parchment as Twilight spoke. “I am writing to you from the zebra city of Utica, where we have been received with hospitality by the ruler, Sophoniba. Sophoniba, as it turns out, is the sister of our good friend Zecora, and I am glad to report that we have been able to effect a reconciliation between the two, just as you were reconciled with your own sister, Luna. I don’t know whether Zecora will choose to stay here in Utica or return to Ponyville, but if she does decide to stay here then I know that she’ll be in good hooves with her little sister.

“Our road to reach Utica was not always pleasant, and we arrived at the gates of this town a little wearied by our journey, but as I say Sophoniba received us with great kindness; we have been fed, watered, and rested, and our ready to resume the next stage of our journey as soon as we have determined our best course.

“I wish that I had such pleasant news to report of the two unicorns who came before me. Unfortunately, in Utica we have discovered information about the fates of Sunset Shimmer and Dawn Starfall, and I cannot in good conscience not pass this information onto you. They both passed this way; Sunset arrived on her own, having encountered some misfortune upon the road; Dawn arrived with at least some of her companions still by her side. Sunset was able to convince some zebras and horses in the town to follow her, although those companions she recruited… forsook her and abandoned her upon the road. Dawn followed in Sunset’s path. And, as you are aware, neither was ever seen again. Although I still think there is a good chance that Sunset Shimmer is the same Sunset whom Lightning spoke of, I can no more prove that at this stage than I can for sure that she did not make it all the way to New Olympia. I hope to find someone who was a part of Sunset’s expedition and speak with them, with luck they may be able to provide some insights into where Sunset went, and… in what state she was in when they left her.

“Rest assured that I, and Spike, and all of our friends are quite well; I am… I am touched, and very blessed, in the willingness of all my friends to continue this journey with me, in spite of all the hardships that we have encountered, and which await us on the way.

“I remain committed, and determined to see this through to the very end.

“Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

Spike rolled up the parchment, and blew upon it. Green fire leapt from his mouth, consuming the rolled up document and turning it not into ashes but rather into a puff of greenish smoke which flew up into the air, and turned northwards towards Equestria before disappearing into the ethereal nothingness. Twilight could imagine it racing towards Canterlot and to the princess.

Nevertheless, she could not stay to simply imagine for too long.

“Come on, everyone,” she said. “We’ve got work to do.”

They found a desk in the centre of the library, which would do admirably for the purposes of their research once they actually had something to research; however, before Twilight could start to organise a look through all the copious materials in the Utica library, Spike belched out another burst of green fire and, with it, a roll of parchment bearing with it the seal of Princess Celestia herself.

“That was a quick reply,” Fluttershy observed.

“I know,” Twilight murmured, and her horn flared with a lavender light as she picked up the parchment in the grip of her telekinesis and unfolded it. “Dear Twilight,” she read. “I hope you will forgive the swiftness of my response, but – as my sister Luna, and your own brother Shining Armour, will attest – I have been rather frantic waiting for news of you, and when you wrote I was, I am not ashamed to confess it, overjoyed.

“My feelings towards learning that you are well, and that you have reached a safe haven for the time being, are of a similar key. I am relieved, and glad, and all other such positive emotions that you may conceive of, and have the vocabulary to express, to learn that you – and Spike, and all your friends – are yet well.

“You are indeed fortunate that your friends remain faithful to you, and to the path that you have chosen. Treasure them, for they are indeed the greatest treasure which any pony may possess. I know that you know this well enough already, but you must forgive a teacher for sometimes repeating the same lesson to her student more than once.

“Thank you, for this news of Sunset and Dawn. While it does not bring me any closure, nor would closure bring me peace, at least it does provide another piece of the puzzle. I can now say that they made it at least this far, that they were alive when they reached Utica. As you say, you may find out more, and yet for greater knowledge of their fates I would not risk you, or your friends, or so much as a hair from your manes or tails.

“I would beg you to come home, Twilight; I would urge you with every fibre of my being to turn aside from this quest of yours. But at the same time, I know that if you were the sort of pony to give up you would not be the Twilight Sparkle whom I love so dearly.

“And I do love you, Twilight. You are dearer to me than I know how to express to you. I can only hope that, though my words fail me in this, you feel the intentions of my heart within your own. Please be careful, Twilight. I do not want to lose you. I cannot lose. If I did, I am not sure that I could bear it.

“Go, and walk with good fortune in your quest, but please be careful.

“Your loving mentor,

“Princess Celestia.”

Twilight blinked. She felt her eyes watering a little. Yes. Yes, Princess Celestia, I know exactly how you feel. She blinked more rapidly, and wiped at her eyes with one hoof.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “Are you okay?”

I feel as though I’m betraying her with this. “I’m fine,” Twilight lied, because some lies came from a place of good intentions. “We… we have a lot of work to do.”

A Generous Impulse

Pinkie hopped along on all fours, bouncing down the Utican street at the front of the group. “So how do you think we ought to start looking for bad guys, huh? Huh?”

“Ah ain’t entirely sure yet, Pinkie,” Applejack admitted. “Ah gotta think about this for just a minute first.”

“Speaking for myself, I sincerely hope that we will not be running into any genuine ‘bad guys’, as you so aptly put it, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity drawled. “I, for one, have had quite enough villainy visited upon me for one trip.”

Pinkie stopped bouncing long enough to look back at the three ponies following on after her. “But we’re supposed to be looking for-“

“Ruffians and hirelings and overall rather low sorts,” Rarity said. “However, while I am prepared to deal with rough, coarse and unrefined people for the sake of finding out what we can about the unicorns who came before us, I hope that I’m not alone in being very undesirous of meeting any genuine villains.”

“Oh, I get it!” Pinkie cried. “You’re okay with looking for bad guys, you just don’t want to meet any bad guys!”

Rarity glanced upwards as she considered that. “Yes, I suppose you could put it like that, darling.” There was, after all, a difference between someone who lacked refinement, and who might be such need of money that they would listen to any number of promises, no matter how outlandish, and someone who had left all of their morals at the door.

Shadow Spade, after all, frequently found herself down on her luck and in need of funds from whatever quarter, but at the same time she was bound by an iron and inflexible code of honour, surrounded by lines that she would not cross at any price.

They were probably not going to be fortunate enough to meet anyone so noble here in Utica’s poorer quarters, but she had some hope – a fool’s hope, perhaps, but that only made it all the more appropriate for this quest – that they might meet someone close.

There were certain kinds of people, on the other hoof, with whom she had no desire at all to deal.

“You don’t honestly think that anyone with anything useful to tell us is going to be a nice zebra, do you?” Rainbow asked dismissively, from where she hovered above the earth-bound ponies in the street below. “Or even a nice horse, for that matter. When have we been that lucky on this trip?”

“Sophoniba turned out to be pretty nice, even before she and Zecora cleared up all their misunderstandings,” Pinke pointed out.

“I guess,” Rainbow replied. “But we’re not talking about the lady of the town here, we’re talking about zebras who agreed to go and help this Sunset Shimmer find the Heart of the World, and then they just ditched her! Left her in the desert to die!”

“Twilight thinks that she didn’t die,” Pinkie pointed out. “Twilight thinks that she made it all the way into space!”

“Twilight… Twilight thinks a lot of things,” Rainbow said. “My point is-“

“And what is that supposed to mean, Rainbow Dash?” Rarity demanded.

Rainbow sighed. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Actually, darling, I rather think it does,” Rarity replied. “Twilight is counting on our help-“

“And she’ll get it,” Rainbow insisted, descending towards the ground. “I’m not going to leave like everyone who followed Sunset Shimmer! I’m with Twilight all the way, always. I just…”

“Don’t wanna be here?” Applejack guessed.

“This is something that nopony – that no one – has ever found,” Rainbow reminded them. “And the last two really smart unicorns who went looking for it never came back. Am I the only one who is worried about that? And all of this for what? For a guy? For a guy who isn’t worth it, and I defy any of you to say different.”

“Lightning saved Twilight,” Pinkie pointed out.

“After he was willing to kill you,” Rainbow replied. “And would you even have needed saving, would we even have had this kind of trouble from Raven in the first place, if Lightning hadn’t shown up?”

“I really couldn’t say,” Rarity admitted. “But I’m not sure that it really matters. Whatever may have prompted Raven to do what she did, she bears responsibility for her actions, she and her alone. It wasn’t Lightning Dawn who tried to do such a terrible thing to Pinkie, after all. And as for Lightning Dawn, I don’t think that it really matters what kind of a stallion he is or was, either.”

“You don’t?” Rainbow asked incredulously.

“No,” Rarity said. “Because Twilight needs to do this, and that being the case we need to help her do it.” She smiled. “What else is there to say?”

“That Twilight could get hurt,” Rainbow said softly. “In all kinds of ways.”

Rarity chuckled. “Then that’s her choice to take the risk; she’s old enough to make that decision for herself.”

“Ah agree,” Applejack added. “Ah get where you’re comin’ from Sugarcube, but Twilight ain’t our little sister and it ain’t our job to coddle her so that nothin’ bad ever happens to her. And besides, we all agreed way back in Ponyville that we’d come along on this trip and help her out best we could. Seems a little late to be backing out now.”

“I’m not backing out!” Rainbow cried. “I’m… ah, forget it. Where were we?”

“You were talking about the zebras who promised to help Sunset and then ditched her!” Pinkie declared. “Although I think it’s a little judgemental to write them off so easily; they might have had good reasons for coming home.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t change the fact that they left her out there, any more than the fact that Sunset maybe didn’t die doesn’t change the fact that they left her out there,” Rainbow insisted. “Does that sound like the kind of thing that good people would do?”

“It sounds like the kind of thing that folks workin’ for hire would do,” Applejack pronounced. “I remember one time when Ah was a little filly Ah asked ma Pa, why he didn’t hire nopony else to help him work the orchards, and he said to me ‘Applejack, you can pay folks all the bits in Equestria, but it won’t bind ‘em to the land the way we’re bound, it won’t make ‘em love the apple trees the way Ah do, and it won’t hold ‘em to the work once their legs start achin’ and the blisters on their hooves start forming’.’ It sounds like it was the same thing here, that there Sunset Shimmer promised ‘em the moon and back, but that wasn’t enough to hold ‘em to somethin’ they didn’t believe in once the goin’ got tough. That’s why we have to stick with Twilight: because we’re the only ponies who will stick with Twilight.”

“You make a very good, if slightly cynical, point, darling,” Rarity murmured. When I become a great success I shall have to be on the lookout, and ensure that I hire for passion rather than somepony simply looking for a job.

“We’re looking for the worst kind of scum,” Rainbow averred confidently. She grinned. “At least I kinda hope so.”

Rarity’s eyebrows rose. “You hope so, darling?”

“Well, yeah,” Rainbow replied. “This trip has been kind of rough so far-“

“Yes, so naturally dealing with scum will make it so much smoother,” Rarity observed dryly.

“At least it’ll be fun!” Rainbow insisted. “It’s something we could do with a little bit of.”

“You and I have very different definitions of the word ‘fun’,” Rarity replied.

“Hold on, y’all,” Applejack said. “We still gotta decide how we’re gonna find these here fellas, first.”

“You mean you don’t have an idea yet?” Pinkie asked.

“No, Pinkie, not yet,” Applejack conceded. “And don’t suppose any of the rest of y’all have anythin’ in mind?”

“Why don’t we just start asking if anyone knows anything?” Pinkie suggested.

“It might just come to that,” Applejack muttered, pushing her hat back on her head a little. “But Ah’m hopin’ that we can come up with somethin’ a little better.”

The four ponies wandered out of the modest street in which they had held their discussion and into one of Utica’s market squares; their hooves tapped lightly on the stones beneath as they walked through a square surrounded on all sides by wooden market stalls, shielded from the sun by awnings in various colourful shades and patterns, selling sweet treats and table wear and all manner of everything, really. All manner of everything except clothes. Although some of these zebras were dressed, in brilliantly coloured capes or loose gowns adorned with the feathers of many beautiful birds, no one that Rarity could see – at least no one here – was selling any of them. Was there a gap in the market? Were all of these finely adorned zebras making their own outfits?

What does it matter if they are? Rarity thought to herself. You’re not here to scout for locations for the next boutique.

Nevertheless, she found herself curious.

Everything in the square was proceeding in an orderly fashion. Guards with spears patrolled up and down the square, or stood at carefully chosen vantage points keeping watch over the crowds that thronged the market stalls.

Rarity found her attention drawn to one particular stall that looked to be selling some rather refreshing looking fruit drinks, chilled by the look of it; behind the stall stood an abraxas, a sort of unicorn for zebras, cousin to both races, taller than either of them and quite slender in build, with two horns, curving gently backwards, atop their head. This particular abraxas was producing ice from somewhere and, with telekinesis, depositing it into the large wooden cups in which he served the drinks.

“You know, darlings,” Rarity said, “it’s often said that those serving refreshments hear a great deal, and consequently have a great deal of knowledge to pass on.”

“Is that right?” Applejack replied. “Or are you just thirsty?”

Rarity gasped theatrically. “I’m shocked and appalled that you would malign me with the attribution of such selfishness, Applejack, shocked and appalled! Although, a little refreshment while we think couldn’t hurt, could it?”

Lady Sophoniba had proved rather generous, if Rarity said so herself; being reunited with her beloved sister had put her in the mood to give back, and so the four ponies had all washed the dust off their limbs and out of their manes. Rarity’s mane now sparkled in the bright sunlight of Quaggai, and if nopony else had taken such pains their manes and coats all looked a good deal healthier than when they had arrived in Utica. Applejack now wore a sturdy new saddlebag across her back, and they had money to spend to aid them in their quest for information. Not unlimited money, of course, but it was, again, far better than they had arrived with.

As they approached the drinks stand, Rarity found herself wishing that she had asked to borrow a hat or something to keep the sun off her face.

Something like that handsome young abraxas was wearing over there.

He who had caught Rarity’s eye was a tall, willowy abraxas with a pair of horns that looked a little longer than any others that Rarity could see in the square, but he had arranged his canary yellow hat – adorned with a peacock feather – in such a way that his horns did not get in the way. Across his back he wore a cape which, like his hat, was canary yellow, and looked rather dashing on him, although the effect was rather lessened by the fact that it was becoming a bit moth-eaten at the hem, fraying and starting to come apart. In fact, now that Rarity looked twice, that peacock feather was looked a little worse for wear as well. Across his chest, the young abraxas wore a sash of plain leather, although to Rarity’s mind something fancier would have served him better; red perhaps, no, cloth of gold! Yes, that would have been perfect!

Her attention was diverted away from the – mostly – well dressed abraxas as the four ponies reached the stall selling drinks.

“The sun shines very bright this morning,” the abraxas behind the stall declared. “Please take shelter beneath the awning. Welcome, no fuss and no to-do; what may I get for you?”

“One lemon juice, please,” Rarity said.

“Make that two,” Rainbow added quickly.

“Ah’ll have an apple juice,” Applejack said.

“I’ll take tootie-frootie!” Pinkie chirruped cheerfully.

“Excellent choices, one and all; you’ll not regret coming to my stall,” the abraxas said, and his horn glowed just as a unicorn’s would have, the larger of the horn flaring with a white light as ingredients flew out of their places to mix together in the wooden cups. Lemons were squeezed, apples were pulped, a truly dazzling array of berries and things that Rarity hadn’t even know where fruits were mixed together for Pinkie, and water was frozen into cubes of ice that dropped down into the cups to chill the liquid there within.

Finally, there host levitated the four cups and set them down in front of the four ponies.

“Take a rest, enjoy the best,” he declared.

“Does it ever get difficult coming up with those rhymes?” Rainbow asked.

“You have no idea,” the abraxas muttered.

Rainbow’s ears pricked up. “What was that?”

The abraxas behind the stall cleared his throat. “To devise rhymes it is no trouble, my mind sees sentences in double.”

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “Uh huh,” she muttered. “Good for you, I guess.”

Rarity took a sip of her lemon juice. It was sharp, and tangy, and rather refreshing. “Almost as good as this juice, it’s very good I must say.”

“It’s not bad,” Applejack said. “It ain’t the only thing that we’re hopin’ to find, though.”

“We’re looking for mercenaries!” Pinkie cried brightly.

The abraxas behind the stall raised his eyebrows. “Forgive me, I do not think you weak, but you seem not the kinds to mercenaries seek.”

“Nevertheless, if you seek a warrior, you shall fine one!” declared the other abraxas, the young one in the canary yellow hat that Rarity had so admired earlier. “Your search ends here with Hannibal, Hamilcar’s son!”

The drinks vendor rolled his eyes. “Ponies, heed me and not this rascal tongue; take his advice and you’ll go wrong. If it is warriors you seek-“

“Then I, amongst their number, am the peak!” Hannibal proclaimed, striking a pose with his head held high and his chin pointed upwards. “I’ve fought and I’ve conquered again and again-“

“Only in your delusions so vain!” cried a voice from out of the crowd, to a general round of chuckling from the zebras thronging the market.

Hannibal shuffled uncomfortably, but tried to forge ahead nonetheless. “My enemies tremble when I shake my spear-“

“Not even a mouse would this popinjay fear!” shouted a different voice, and this time the laughter was louder.

Hannibal’s face – at least the white stripes – were starting to redden with embarrassment. “I bear many scars of war on my flank-“

“From when your father gave you a good spank!” some zebra shouted, and by now the whole market was dissolved in fits of laughter, falling like waves down upon poor Hannibal, who’s head darted this way and that as though he were desperately looking for a friend of some sort in the crowd but finding none. He turned away, fleeing out of the square down one of the alleyways leading away from it, his tattered cape fluttering behind him, pursued by the sounds of mocking laughter that harried him like stray dogs snapping at his heels.

“What was that about?” Rainbow asked, drinking some more of her juice.

“Hannibal oft haunts the market square, running after fortune like a hare,” the drinks seller said. “He wants and claims to be a soldier, to hear him talk you’d think none were bolder; but he has no experience and no skill, and between you and me he also lacks the will; he could never succeed in bearing arms, he’d only manage to do himself harm.”

“Then why does he want to be one so badly?” Pinkie asked

“And why is everyone here so cruel to him?” Rarity added. “Surely there was no need to laugh at him like that?”

“You heard him brag, you heard him boast,” the seller said, “for that he deserved a little roast. He was trying to lead you astray, but now you know to stay away.”

Rarity frowned a little. That young abraxas… he hadn’t seemed like a con artist to her. Yes, it seemed that he had lied to them, attempted to exaggerate his status and experience, but Rarity knew from her own experience that it was possible to lie and to exaggerate with only the best of intentions, even if you did find yourself stumbling deeper and deeper into a web of lies as a result.

Perhaps… it was something away that he had fled. That didn’t seem like the action of a hardened liar and practiced deceiver – nor, for that matter, had been telling his lies where so many people were so eager to call him out.

It seemed more like… to be perfectly honest, Rarity didn’t quite know what it seemed like it, except that it seemed something more worthy of pity than condemnation.

“What are you thinkin’ Rarity?” Applejack asked.

“I’m thinking…” Rarity hesitated. “I’m thinking that I should go after him.”

“What?” Rainbow exclaimed. “You did hear the part where he’s not a real mercenary, right? Besides, he’s too young to know anything, even if he was a real mercenary-“

“I’m not suggesting that I go after him for information, still less because we actually want to engage his services,” Rarity explained. “I’m suggesting that I should go after him because he needs help, and it seems clear that nobody here is going to help him.”

“I guess,” Rainbow allowed. “But we’re supposed to be helping Twilight, remember?”

“Ah don’t see that just because we’re here for Twilight doesn’t mean we can’t do right by others,” Applejack said. “If folks only ever took care of their own business we’d be… well, we’d be dyin’ outside the walls of Utica by now.” She paused. “Ah’ll go with Rarity and find this boy, you and Pinkie keep on lookin’ for information.”

“You want us to split up?” Pinkie asked. “Are you sure?”

“Ah think that Rarity and Ah can handle this,” Applejack said. “And Ah think that the two of you can get on well enough without us.”

“Sure we can!” Rainbow said. “Me and Pinkie can handle it, right Pinkie?”

“Absolutely!” Pinkie chirruped.

Rarity smiled. “I’m delighted to hear it, darlings.” She finished off her lemon juice. “Applejack, when you’re ready.”

“Ah’m ready when you are, Rarity,” Applejack said, in a soft and easy tone of voice.

“Well then, best of luck darlings,” Rarity said to Rainbow and Pinkie. “Wish us luck in return.” She turned away from them, setting off in the direction that Hannibal had fled, with Applejack following patiently behind her.

“Thank you, Applejack,” Rarity added, as they entered the alleyway. “For letting me do this.”

“Ah meant what Ah said to Rainbow Dash,” Applejack replied. “Although if we looked hard enough, we could probably find a whole bunch of folks needin’ help. Ah mean we kind of did see a whole bunch of folks in need of our help on the way down to Cirta.”

“You’re talking about the slaves,” Rarity murmured.

“Eeyup,” Applejack agreed. “No doubt they could have used somepony to help them out, too.”

“No doubt,” Rarity admitted. “But what were we supposed to do about that? Overthrow a whole social system by ourselves?”

“Ah’m not sayin’ there was anythin’ that we could have done,” Applejack said. “If Ah thought that there was an easy fix Ah’d have made sure we did it on the way down. Ah’m just sayin’, it might make us a mite hypocritical to jump at the chance to help someone now.”

“I don’t see it that way,” Rarity said. “I see it as helping who we can, when we can. It’s not something to boast about, that we couldn’t help all those poor slaves in Grevyia, but it isn’t something to be ashamed of either; I don’t think anypony in their right mind could expect the six of us to change the world just by willing it so. The question, as I see it, is not ‘do you help everyone’, but ‘do you help everyone that it is in your power to help?’ So, to my way of thinking, not helping this poor young abraxas would be much worse, because we have the power to do something.”

“You mean you hope we do,” Applejack said. “We ain’t found out what his problem is yet.”

“No, I suppose not,” Rarity allowed. “But it has to be more manageable than social injustice, doesn’t it?” She thought of all the zebras laughing at him. “You’re right, I do hope so, at least.”

Applejack chuckled. “Maybe think about it like this, sugarcube: compared to findin’ a long lost somethin’ that nopony quite knows what it was let along where it is, anythin’ else is sure to be a breeze, right?”

Rarity’s laughter was like the peeling of bells. “You may be right about that, Applejack. You deserve to be right about that.”

They found Hannibal skulking around the corner, the fraying ends of his canary yellow cloak gathering dust as he sat on his haunches, the jaunty angle of his own hat seeming to mock him in his despond.

He looked up at the two ponies as they approached, and Rarity thought that he had been crying.

“They’ve told you now that I’m no mercenary,” he said, “but did you need to come and laugh at me?”

“Laugh at you?” Rarity said. “Why ever would you think we’d come here to laugh at you?”

Hannibal looked at her.

“Well… because everyone else does, I suppose,” Rarity admitted, shuffling uncomfortably on her hooves. “But no, darling, I haven’t come here to laugh at you, and neither has Applejack. We’re here to help you, if we can.”

Hannibal blinked. “Help me? Help me, you wish to help, you say? Why would you give me time of day?”

“Because… because you look like you need help,” Rarity said. “And because helping those in need is what a generous pony does.”

“Do you mind tellin’ us why you wanted us to hire you as a mercenary?” Applejack asked. “Most folks don’t seem to think you’re the kind who’s suited for it, so why do you want it so bad?”

“Want it? You think that to be a warrior is my desire?” Hannibal asked, looking up at the pair of them incredulously. “Think you the song of spears ignites my fire?”

“It don’t?” Applejack asked, sounding just as incredulous at the response as Hannibal had been at the question.

“If not, then why are you so seemingly desperate to break into the profession, darling?” inquired Rarity.

Hannibal was silent for a moment. He glanced away, and gently lifted the canary yellow hat from off his head, looking down at it as he gripped it in his hooves, turning it around and around in his grasp. “My father is in body ailing, each day his strength seems greater failing. I am his son, his only child; a fact of which he is not wild. For my father I must care, it is a burden mine to bear; I must have income to maintain, him in a life that’s free from pain.”

“Ah can understand that,” Applejack declared. “My Pa… well, my folks, they ain’t around no more, but Ah got my old Granny Smith to take care of, and seein’ that she’s done right by… well, it’s one of the things that gets me up in the mornin’. But Ah still don’t see how needin’ to care for your Pa means you have to go and do somethin’ you ain’t wild about. Ain’t there anythin’ else that you could do? Anythin’ that you might actually enjoy, maybe?”

Hannibal bowed his head. “There is a thing that I would love; if I could in the field of fashion prove; my talents, then I’d be more than content; sadly I fear it is not meant; to be, my father he will not permit it; his noble profession, I must inherit it.”

“Fashion?” Rarity repeated. “You mean to say that you are an aspiring fashionista?”

Hannibal’s head sunk yet lower. “I know I do not look like much, but in my head there are such-“

“Ideas?” Rarity interrupted him. “Yes, I do believe that I can see it for myself. Was that feather in your cap your idea?”

“It was, I thought that it would go quite well,” Hannibal agreed enthusiastically. “Though, in its present state it’s not so swell. My cape, as well, has need of some repair; I look at it and sometimes I despair. I cannot afford to indulge my style, nor is that likely to change for a while.”

“What would you do with it?” Rarity asked. “If money were no object?”

“Feathers upon the hem and collar,” Hannibal said, “from parrots of miraculous colour; and this sash too should be of gold, not of leather rather old.”

Rarity found herself smiling. “You know that’s just what I said when I saw you in the market square earlier.”

“You noticed me in the market square? Even before I tried to bend your ear?” Hannibal asked.

The smile remained on Rarity’s face. “You cut quite a figure, darling,” she assured him. “Now, that might work for a certain kind of romantic adventurer, I suppose, but since that isn’t really what you want I feel very confident in saying that it would be far more becoming of a fashionista. Yes, indeed, you must stop all of this ridiculous nonsense about your becoming some sort of spear-wielding brute and embrace your calling. You have talent! You have an eye, you know what a thing needs, and what is most important you have your own style, and that is something that every true artiste of the fashion world possesses. I can’t let your talent go to waste, I won’t hear of it.”

Hannibal frowned. “But my father-“

“Should learn to be proud of the son that he has, not the one that he hoped for,” Rarity said.

“It ain’t always that simple,” Applejack murmured.

“Hmm, I’m well aware of that,” Rarity replied softly. “I must admit, that when I first told my parents that I wanted to make it in the world fashion, they were… they weren’t hostile to the idea, but it was clear to me that they didn’t understand it. They didn’t understand what I wanted to do or why.”

“How was it that you made them see?” Hannibal asked. “That this is what you were meant to be?”

“I’m still not sure what it is that I do,” Rarity replied dryly. “But they understand that it makes me happy and that I’m… somewhat successful at it.”

“Somewhat?” Applejack said. “You own your own store, Rarity, ain’t that good enough for ‘em?”

“It’s not a question of being good enough for them, darling, but of being good enough for me,” Rarity declared. “One boutique in a charming provincial town is all very well, in fact I will even go so far as to call it a good start, but it is hardly the end of my ambitions, no. I shall not be satisfied until I have boutiques in Canterlot and Manehattan, and when that is done I shall spread out from those pillars of the fashion world to embrace Fillydelphia and Baltimare and anywhere else haute couture is worn.”

Applejack snorted. “You make it sound like conquerin’ an empire,” she observed, with a touch of humour in her voice.”

Rarity chuckled. “Perhaps I do, Applejack, but what empire in history has brought so much joy into the world as my fashion empire shall?”

“Do I understand what you are saying, that you have a shop and customers paying,” Hannibal said, “to wear the garb of your creation, the product of your inspiration? You have a place to call your own, and plans for more your mind has sewn?”

“I have a business, yes,” Rarity said. “Carousel Boutique, in my hometown of Ponyville.”

“Do you seek a place in Utica too?” Hannibal asked. “Do you intend that I should work for you?”

“I intend that you should work for yourself, darling,” Rarity corrected him. “For your own dreams, your own pleasure, your own… your own whatever you please, that’s rather the point. No, I’m not here on any business related to my… business, I’m here to assist a friend in a matter which I’m afraid must remain private. It’s my friend’s business mainly, and not ours to divulge, but in any case we’re not here to talk about us right now, but about you. I can’t let you languish in this absurd situation.” She looked at Applejack. “I simply can’t,” she added, with a touch of defensiveness in her voice.

Applejack smiled. “No need to look at me like that, Ah get it. Like you said, the things that we can do to help.”

Rarity nodded. She turned her attention back to Hannibal. “Would you mind taking us to see your father?” she asked. “I’d like to try and set him straight about a few things.”

A Welcome Coincidence

Contrary to what her manners and her trappings of refinement and gentility might lead you to expect, Rarity did not consider herself a snob. In fact, if there was one thing that had made her disillusioned by the high society of Canterlot it was the sheer, grinding, relentless snobbery of the place and of the ponies who lived there – who could have believed that Princess Celestia could preside over a society so… if not inimical to Celestia’s own values, then certainly very nearly so. She was still determined to open up her boutique there, because one had to have a boutique in Canterlot if one wished to be anypony in the world of fashion, in the same way that one couldn’t say one had made it until one had a boutique in Manehattan, but she no longer aspired to join the high-class unicorns who thronged about the court, living for gossip and for the Princess’ favour, hanging upon the hoof of the latest trendsetter, doing whatever they said without a thought for themselves, supported entirely by the income of their estates, doing no work and looking down upon those who did work. No, such a life was not for her. The city, yes, Canterlot still held a piece of her heart, but its society? No, that was not her dream, not any longer. All that she would, she would have, but she would have it through her own effort, not through courting the favour of princes and notables, and she would have more than a life spent talking about who was in and who was out.

Hmm. That thought had rather gotten away from her, hadn’t it? Where was she? Ah, yes, she was a snob, no matter what some ponies might thing; she was a lady, yes, beyond all doubt – another area where it didn’t matter what other ponies had to say, any more than it mattered where she had been born or in what town she lived – but she did not judge those who did not share her values any more than she did not share her taste. She and Applejack were opposites in almost every conceivable respect, but she still counted her amongst her dearest friends, and valued as dearly all her virtues: not just her honesty but her reliability also, the air of calm confidence that she possessed in all but the most dire of circumstances, her great store of common sense. Not to mention, in a more frivolous vein, the marvellously lugubrious manner in which she spoke.

All of which was to say that Rarity did not judge. She did not judge Applejack for being a farmpony, she didn’t judge Pinkie Pie for her eccentricities, she didn’t judge Twilight for the fact that she did not exactly uphold the manners of a lady despite having far more claim to be one than Rarity.

However, as she looked at the house to which Hannibal had brought them, Rarity had to confess that she felt just a touch of despair.

This was where Hannibal and his father lived? It was barely a house. It was almost a hovel, although if you were scientific about this it probably escaped the term by just a fraction.

It stood at the far end of a cul de sac, closing off the road, planting itself across the stone pathway like a guard defending a gate. It was large enough, at least large enough for two, but goodness it was in need of some loving care. It was kept clean, which was about the only good thing that could really be said about it, but the shutters were falling off the windows, the door was splintering, and the roof was sagging alarmingly in the middle. Cleanliness, and an attempt to paint the stone walls in bright blue, although the paint was peeling off in places, had clearly not translated into maintenance.

Rarity glanced at Applejack, whose mouth was hanging open. It was clear that Rarity was not the only one who was feeling mildly appalled by the sight that confronted them.

Hannibal cringed. “I’m sorry it doesn’t look so good; it’s hard enough just getting food.”

“Things are that bad?” Rarity asked.

Hannibal shrugged. “People are not kind to my dreams, but they understand my lack of means; they sometimes give, or do me favours; but not enough for all the labours; that are required by our home, those I must try and take care of alone.”

“Ah take it you don’t have much more skill at carpentry than you do at being a mercenary or the like,” Applejack said.

“Is it so terribly obvious?” Hannibal asked. “No wonder my father thinks me a lost cause.”

“No more of that, Hannibal, please,” Rarity said, raising one hoof. “I don’t want to hear you putting yourself down any more. Now, it’s true that this place could use… a little fixing up, but trust me, once you become a success you’ll be able to afford people to do all of that sort of thing for you.” She felt a touch of urgency added to her and Applejack’s… she hesitated to use the word ‘mission’ but that was almost what it felt like: it was clear now that things could not simply continue on as they were; Hannibal had to break out of his shell and be free to pursue his own dreams not only for his own good and personal satisfaction but for the sake of the living situation that he shared with his father, also.

Perhaps the prospect of escaping from squalor might make Hannibal’s father a little amenable to giving up on his dreams for his son, and letting Hannibal pursue his own.

Hannibal did not reply to that directly. Rather, he said, “I think you both very much for coming, so very far from your home being; you have no need to give me aid, as I know I’ve already said. Still, my gratitude bears repeating, I feared that my efforts had been self-defeating; yet they have brought me more success, than I have ever before possessed. Thank you both so very much, in our meeting I feel fortune’s touch.”

“Aw, no need to be like that, Sugarcube, it ain’t nothin’ at all,” Applejack said. “Besides, why don’t you save the thanks for after we’ve helped you out some, huh?”

“Whether or not you convince my father, I am grateful that you would bother,” Hannibal said. “I regret I know not how I may, your generosity repay.”

“Generosity, darling, asks for no reward,” Rarity said. “Now, why don’t we go inside and see what your father has to say?”

Hannibal winced, and looked as though he would much rather stand around outside chit-chatting with Rarity and Applejack than actually go into the house and let them speak to his father, but nevertheless, despite his discomfort, he nodded his head, turned away from the two ponies, and approached the door.

It creaked alarmingly as he placed his hoof against the wood, pushing it open to admit some light into what was, otherwise, a rather dark and honestly rather dingy abode. It was not dusty, there were no cobwebs or any other evidence of uncleanliness – and a good thing, too, no true fashionista could abide such things, and Rarity was glad that it seemed that Hannibal knew his way around a feather duster. Nevertheless, the house was dark; half the shutters were closed, and although they were in such need of repair that they admitted light anyway, they were patches of pale sunlight surrounded by lakes of shadow. There were no candles lit, and no other kind of light but what the broken shutters admitted.

Rarity’s horn glowed with a brilliant blue light, dispelling some of the darkness to reveal that, in addition to being dark, the house was also rather austere as well, without much in the way of décor, or indeed anything to make living in it a pleasant experience: few books, no plants, no pictures on the walls, no soft furnishings or little touches to add character to the space. Glancing at the spear hung on the wall, Rarity suspected that this barrenness was the doing of Hannibal’s father, and that left to his own devices Hannibal might have, money permitting, at least attempted to do something with it.

“What is that light? Why shines so bright?” a slight hoarse voice demanded loudly. “Who are these ponies, get you gone! I did not ask you to my home!”

Their attention was drawn to an older zebra – a true zebra, not an abraxas – sitting on the floor, with a scroll written in some language Rarity could decipher unrolled in front of him. He was tall, as tall as his son but broader in the shoulders, but thin; not in a lithe or wiry way, but genuinely skinny verging upon underfed. His limbs were slender, and fragile looking. His mane was tall, and combed straight up like the crest of a helmet, but it was also turning to white and starting to droop in places. There were scars visible upon his face and body, and his eyes were a watery blue like a pool under the summer sunlight.

“Peace, father, peace I pray,” Hannibal urged. “Until you hear what they have to say. These are my friends, Applejack and Rarity, I grant them our hospitality; I met them in the market square, such luck to dream of I did not dare.” To Rarity and Applejack, he added, “This is my father Hamilcar; who bids me, like him, go to war.”

Rarity bowed her head. “Good day, sir. It’s a pleasure to meet you. You have a very fine son.”

“’I have a very fine son’ does this mare take me for a fool? I know you are a useless tool!” Hamilcar exclaimed. “Whence come these ponies to this place, rarely do we see there race? You met them in the market square, where you just idly loitering there? I sent you there-“

“We are perfectly aware of why you have Hannibal wasting his time in the market square, thank you,” Rarity declared primly, cutting Hamilcar off before the older zebra could finish. Her tone was sharp, her ire roused by Hamilcar’s cutting, dismissive words, words wholly undeserved by Hannibal, whose only fault was being unable to fit into the mould that his father wished. “And a greater waste of time and talent I can scarcely imagine.”

Hamilcar spluttered with outrage. “Who are you to come in here and with your words into me tear?”

“It doesn’t matter who I am,” Rarity replied. “What matters is who your son is, what he is not, and what he wishes to become.”

Hamilcar’s eyes narrowed. “I see that Hannibal has been talking, about his ‘dreams’, his so-called ‘longings’.”

“I don’t see that there’s any so-called about it,” Applejack said. “Nor any call to talk about ‘em like that, either. Hannibal knows what he wants, just so happens that it ain’t what you want.”

Hamilcar’s lip curled into a sneer. “Hannibal knows what he wants, you say? I’ve heard of what he wants for days! Fashion, colour, clothes and vanity, you don’t have to explain it all to me. This is not work for a respectable living, no wonder we’re reliant upon giving!”

Rarity’s nostrils flared with annoyance. “And what would you call a respectable living? Being the town laughingstock? Hanging around hoping in vain to gull unsuspecting people with the idea that Hannibal is some sort of adventurer or warrior? I would call bringing beauty into the world and rendering that beauty in the form of clothes and capes to be far more respectable than that to which you have condemned your son.”

“I would have my son bear arms, though it put his body in the way of harm,” Hamilcar declared. “I was once a valiant soldier; until, curse it, my body grew older. I was renowned both brave and true, crossing me my foes would rue. Enemies would fear my fury, and in the field I won much glory. Glory and gold I wish for my son, his dreams will get him neither one! Begone, I have no more to say; except to add: now go away!”

Rarity clenched her jaw, but ultimately there was nothing to be done but leave as had been demanded of her. She couldn’t say and continue to argue with someone who had made it perfectly clear they didn’t want to hear it; she couldn’t force her presence on someone in their own home. She couldn’t… she couldn’t say anything more.

She felt a weight in her stomach as she, Applejack and Hannibal all trooped outside, and closed the creaking and ill-fitting door behind them.

“I’m sorry, darling,” she said. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper with your father, if I had… it’s just that when he started insulting you, I found that I… and denigrating our profession, too! Nevertheless, I should have kept a better rein upon my temper. I’m sorry.”

“Rarity, please, don’t blame yourself,” Hannibal urged. “Though your speech were kindness itself; I fear it would not move my father; he does not change his mind easily, rather; he only becomes more stubborn and fixed, and to his chosen ground he sticks. This was always going to be a waste of your time; you should focus upon your own problems, not mine.”

“Oh, no,” Rarity declared. “No, we’re not done yet. Not so long as you still need our help. Applejack and I said that we’d help you and we mean to do just that, don’t we, Applejack?”

Applejack nodded. “Ah’m sure that Rainbow and Pinkie Pie are doin’ just fine without us, ain’t no cause for us to rush off any place, not when we still got work to do here.” She grinned. “And if Ah know that glint in your eye, Rarity, you’re already cookin’ up an idea.”

“Well, now that you mention it,” Rarity murmured. “Hannibal, your father said that your ambitions were not a respectable living.”

Hannibal nodded. “That’s right, my father has long thought; that clothing could offer no support.”

“Utter nonsense, of course,” Rarity said. “Which is precisely what you and I are going to show him. We will go and buy fabrics, needle, thread, and everything else you need to realise your designs, which we will then sell for more money than I think your father will have seen in quite some time. We will prove to him, beyond all doubt, that there is a respectable living to be made from fashion and clothing, and one that is both far more respectable and a better living than there is to be made from fruitlessly posing as something you’re not.”

Hannibal’s eyes widened. “You would spend of your own wealth, to advance my fortunes’ health?”

Rarity laughed nervously. “Well, it isn’t exactly our own wealth, but I’m sure that she won’t mind. Ahem.” She decided not to mention Lady Sophoniba by name, in case it worried Hannibal. “But what do you say? Does that sound like a plan?”

“That sounds like a most excellent plan,” Hannibal said. “Rarity, you make me quite a fan!”

Rarity covered her mouth with one hoof as she laughed. “Oh, it’s nothing, darling, nothing at all. All in a day’s work.”

And so they went, not to the market from which Hannibal had been laughed out earlier, but to Utica’s bazaar. It was an enclosed building, an indoor market with a high vaulted ceiling and walls, where they could be seen at all, adorned with paintings of zebras and abraxans carrying out their day to day lives around the commerce of the bazaar itself: sewing and reaping the grain that would be sold here, moulding the clay into pots and firing them in the great ovens, baking the bread, collecting the honey, weaving the cloth, picking the fruit, and all of it being brought either individually or upon great carts into this bazaar, where more paintings upon the walls depicted the buying and selling of the goods, the equitable exchanges, the merchants drinking together contentedly after a hard day’s work.

These paintings on the wall, stylistically impressive as they were, could scarcely be seen because they were concealed behind the stalls that lined the walls of the bazaar, selling all the things that were painted upon the walls and more. Grown zebras hawked their wares, their cries echoing off the painted walls; fillies and foals ran back and forth on small errands. The lanes of the labyrinthine structure were crowded with zebras looking to purchase all that was on display here.

All that was on display included, fortunately, all that Rarity and Hannibal required. In the bazaar, where the sunlight shone in through windows set high in the ceiling, descending in columns of light down from the heavens, they found and purchased needle and thread, fabrics in many radiant colours, feathers of many beautiful birds, all that Hannibal needed and required. And there, in the corner of the bazaar, fortified by cups of coffee, which the zebras brewed strong and rich, with even the mere smell of it enough to banish drowsiness, they got to work.

Rarity found it hard to control her creativity. With these colours, with these fabrics, with these accessories and accoutrements she would have done this, and that, and maybe that as well. But it was not her career that they were building here, this wasn’t about her, but about Hannibal, his future, his dreams, his success. Hannibal was the one who had to be able to keep this enterprise going once Rarity was gone. Rarity was just… helping him take that first step.

And so, while she was always happy to contribute some advice to a novice, although she was willing to point out something where she thought that Hannibal could improve things, Rarity mainly restricted her assistance to the actual production side, working to Hannibal’s ideas and helping him get them turned around quickly. Hannibal had vision, that was clear, he had a sense of what he wanted to create, he could look at fabrics and feathers and the like and perceive an outfit out of them just as a sculptor could look at a block of stone and perceive the statue within. He had the artistic ingredients of a fashionista, of that Rarity had no doubt. What he did not have was the experience necessary to produce his vision quickly. That would come with time and practice, but not for now he had Rarity’s help in place of either, and her horn flared brilliant blue, as blue as any diamond, her finely-hone telekinesis threading the needle through the fabric just so, stitching it up like so, sewing on the feathers just as requested, and more importantly doing it quickly. They had little time to waste, after all.

Only a few hours had passed, and they had several capes to sell that were not only functional, but rather beautiful too, if Rarity said so herself. They were bright, and seemed brighter for the way in which they were adorned with feathers, some on the hem and some at the collar and some at both. Some capes were completely covered with feathers, so that it might appear that they were made completely of the feathers of a parakeet, rather than mere fine cloth with the feathers sewn on. Rarity would have used gems, but Hannibal didn’t care for them and Rarity respected his artistic vision enough not to interfere. Besides feathers, Hannibal preferred cloth of gold or silver for adornment, lining the hems that were not feathered with them, or using them to form swirling patterns which might mean something to a quaggai zebra stitched onto the back of this cape or that. Some of them had high collars, some had collars turned down but cut from a different cloth, there was a great variety on display, especially for a beginner. It was clear that Hannibal had been holding these ideas in his head for quite some time, and they had just been waiting to burst forth in a great flood of creativity when the opportunity presented itself.

And now it had.

Applejack had been very patient while Rarity and Hannibal had been hard at work, trying very hard to hide the boredom that she must have been feeling, confining it to a little pacing about, and never for very long. Now, with their work done, she patiently followed the two of them as they sought out the master of the market, a rotund zebra who clearly did well out of deciding who was allowed to set out their stall in the bazaar, and – with almost the last of the money that Sophoniba had given them – rented out the last available space in the bazaar, a smallish stall sandwiched between a zebra selling oranges and an abraxas selling fine glassware brought all the way from Equestria.

Rarity’s gaze lingered upon the exquisitely crafted glass bowls and jars, the little reminders of home sparkling in the light of the sun that was falling almost directly down upon them. A smile, slightly sad, cross her fair alabaster features, before she turned away and back to her task of helping Hannibal set out his radiant raiment on display.

There was not enough room to arrange everything the way she would have liked at Carousel Boutique, but at least they were able to place things so at least some of the garments were visible.

And with that, they had done all that they could do.

“It’s all up to you now, darling,” Rarity said. “Get out there and sell your genius!”

Hannibal swallowed. “Why should I not be greeted with laughter? Trying to sell myself leads to disaster. Surely once more I’ll be mocked and derided, about me their minds are already decided.”

“You were mocked for pretending to be something you’re not,” Rarity reminded him. “This is something that you are.” She smiled encouragingly, and reached out to take his forehoof in hers. “You have so many wonderful ideas to show the world, Hannibal, but you need to show the world. Hiding it behind a market stall isn’t enough. If you want to be a fashionista, then you must be a salescreature as well as a designer… at least until you do well enough to hire someone to take care of this for you. I’m afraid you’re not quite there yet.” The smile remained upon her face. “But it doesn’t matter because you can do this. I believe in you. Now get out there and show Utica who you really are!”

Hannibal looked into Rarity’s eyes. He took a deep breath, and then another. “Rarity, I wish to say, no matter if I succeed this day; these hours with you have been the best, better than all my life the rest; thanks to you I’ve had such fun, done things I never would have done; you’ve granted me a pair of wings, and freed me from my father’s strings; I’ll not forget it till I did, now I must spread my wings – and fly!”

And with that, his head held high, Hannibal leapt up onto the market stall and raised his voice to echo off the painted walls of the bazaar.

His voice trembled a little, but overall he did a good job of keeping it loud as he cried out, “Good folk, and gentle creatures all; if you seek garments, find them at my stall! To Utica I bring these fine raiments, the best coin you’ll ever have spent! I made these garments with my own horn, they’re fair to look on and comfortable to be worn!”

A few zebras and abraxas had stopped, pausing in their progress through the bazaar to harken to Hannibal’s words, but from out of the crowd a voice cried out, “Pay no attention to this liar, I would not trust him if he shouted ‘fire’! That is Hannibal, Hamilcar’s son, no greater deceiver than this one.”

“Liar, you say, liar you call; have you no eyes to see at all?” Hannibal demanded, grabbing one of his cloaks and sweeping it up onto his back. “Deny you what your eyes can see, just because you can see me?”

“I hear you too, and have heard you before,” the voice from out of the crowd retorted. “When you claimed to be master of war!”

“That was a folly on my part,” Hannibal acknowledged. “Though one that went against my heart. I never meant to do any harm, merely my father’s hearth to warm. But I am done with such pretending, here I am before you standing; I am myself you see before thee: Hannibal, telling his own story. I am no mercenary nor warrior; so calm yourself, considerate worrier. I practice nought but fashion now; fear you I deceive still then answer ‘how’? I offer nothing but you can see, these garments made laboriously. All that I sell presently exists, so let your mockery desist; see with your eyes, feel with your hoof; my quality I’ll gladly prove. I have a gift I’ll gladly share, to help you impress stallion or mare. Come come, and see it for yourself; there is much on the proverbial shelf.”

His critic did not respond, and Hannibal’s impassioned performance had already drawn a larger crowd, murmuring and muttering to itself as they pressed closer to the rented stall, the eyes of all these zebras fixed upon Hannibal himself.

Hannibal swallowed, and though Rarity saw his legs tremble she also saw that he was able to keep going, to keep speaking even through the wobble of his voice. “Fine fabrics, fine feathers; capes suitable for all the weathers. Buy now, and you will not regret; my prices will not lead to debt. Every cost is reasonable, so take a look it is no trouble.”

The crowd was not silent, but it was still. Zebras and abraxas muttered but did not buy, they spoke to one another but not to Hannibal. Rarity felt as though she were watching a coin teeter, and could only watch to see whether it would land upon one side or the other.

And then, a voice from the crowd declared. “I will take the canary yellow, it’s very bright and nothing mellow.”

And just like that the floodgates were opened. Hooves were raised, gold coins were produced, and desires were cried out loudly, drowning out one another so that Hannibal had to call for calm and quiet in order to hear what people wanted.

And his capes flew from behind the stall, the golden coins piled up in return, and when there were no more capes there was still a sizeable pile of gold coins – and a few unhappy zebras, who were only mollified when Hannibal promised to be back tomorrow with more stock.

As those would-be but left-behind customers departed, Hannibal stared at the pile of gold in front of him. “Such riches I have never seen, and to think this morning I had not a bean,” he murmured. He looked at Rarity, and Applejack. “I could not have done this without your help; please, take your share of my newfound wealth.”

“Oh no,” Rarity declared, holding up one hoof to forestall any more of that. “All of this you earned, through your own efforts, you own ideas. All I did was just give you a little bit of a push. And besides, you need that money to take care of your father – and to buy materials to make new clothes for all those zebras you’ve promised to cater too tomorrow.”

Hannibal laughed nervously. “Tomorrow and my father, yes; I hope that it will come to pass. What if my father still does not see? What if he is angry with me? Will come again to my father’s house? I fear he will think me a louse?”

“Sure we will,” Applejack said.

“We said that we’d help you, and help you we shall,” Rarity agreed.

They bagged up the money, but not before paying the master of the market to rent the same space at the bazaar again tomorrow. And, because if Hannibal had earned anything he had surely earned this, a little more was spent upon a new peacock feather for his hat, and a sash of cloth of gold to adorn his chest, as it had always been meant to do.

He looked a fine figure as he led them down the street, with his cape mended – but not adorned with feathers, they had been needed for the commercial products – and looking as good as new; he looked, indeed, rather more dashing as a successful fashionista than he ever had as a would-be mercenary.

A prosperous zebra about the town, Rarity thought. Yes, I think he’ll be just fine.

“You got a smile on your face,” Applejack pointed out.

Rarity let out a soft little chuckle. “It’s completely unearned, darling, but… I confess I feel rather proud of him.”

Applejack snorted. “The way Ah see it there ain’t nothin’ ‘unearned’ about it; you heard him, he never would have done none of this without your help.”

“I just gave him a little push and an investment,” Rarity replied.

“Sometimes a little push is all it takes,” Applejack reminded her. “And an investment ain’t nothin’ neither. Sometimes, we all need a friend willin’ to help out when needed. That’s why we’re all lucky we got you.”

“Oh, Applejack!” Rarity cried. “You’re going to make me blush!”

Now it was Applejack’s turn to have the smile on her face, and it remained there until they arrived back at Hannibal’s house. Suddenly, the young zebra seemed a rather ill-fitting presence there, his mended garments and fresh feather, the completion of his look marking him out as a visitation to this house that was slowly becoming derelict, as if he no longer belonged in his own home.

Fortunately, if he kept up his success of today he would soon be able to afford to fix up all these issues.

Once more, Hannibal opened the creaking door and led the way inside.

Once more, Hamilcar was sitting on the floor, and glared at them as they entered. “What are those two doing here? I do not wish to have them near! Go, begone, get you hence, to the place you came from whence.”

Hannibal did not reply, but deposited the bag of gold coins in front of his father.

Hamilcar regarded the gold curiously, his watery eyes widening as he opened the bag enough to reveal its contents. “How is it you acquired this gold, in such great store and very cold?”

“Father, I earned it with my dreams, which are within my reach and means,” Hannibal declared. “I sold garments in the bazaar, and the profits before you are.” He swallowed. “Father, this is what I want; and no more will you say I can’t. To make and sell clothes is my passion, my calling is not war but fashion. And with my skills I’ll make such gold that nevermore will you be cold. The fires will burn, our house I’ll mend; the profits of my work on you I’ll spend. Upon your comfort and security, I’ll lavish the wages of my vanity.”

Hamilcar was silent for a moment. “You… you made this much, all this is yours? You made all this in these scant hours? I never…” He scowled, and pushed the gold away. “I will not have it, no indeed; for all these ponies your follies feed. You will not taint me with such shame, but redeem the honour of my name-“

“The honour of your name?” Rarity repeated. “Is that what this is all about?”

“I do not know what you suggest,” Hamilcar declared. “Nor do I wish you as my guest.”

Rarity ignored the invitation to be gone. “I thought that if Hannibal proved that he could make a living in fashion then you might relent, but it was never really that, was it? If you had been primarily concerned with a good living then you would have allowed your son to follow his dreams, or at least turned him away from a path he was obviously not suited for, but that’s not why, is it? This is about you! You won’t let Hannibal pursue his dreams because he has to pursue yours? You want him to be the warrior that you couldn’t be!”

Hamilcar scowled. “I was a warrior proud and fierce, many fell to my swift spears; great are the glories that I won-“

“And yet I can’t see a single one,” Rarity replied archly, completing the rhyme even as she interrupted him. “You boast and brag as much as your son did when he was lying about his martial prowess; you claim to have been a great and glorious warrior but it evidently didn’t bring you any security, and for that matter I can’t see much sign of any glory, either.”

“You are behaving like a louse! I command you, leave my house!”

“Why should Hannibal throw away his own wants and desires just to spend his life in a futile effort to fulfil yours?” Rarity demanded.

“Because I disgraced myself, and soiled my name,” Hamilcar cried. “And could not clean it up again! All my glories ceased to glimmer… when I abandoned Sunset Shimmer.”

“Sunset Shimmer?” Rarity gasped. “Did you say Sunset Shimmer?”

Hamilcar looked at her. “You know the name, of she who is source of my shame?”

“We do indeed,” Rarity said. “She was Princess Celestia’s student once, and came seeking the Heart of the World. You are one of those who went with her when she departed this place?”

“I was indeed, till I was not,” Hamilcar muttered. “A fact that I have never forgot.”

“Did another unicorn named Dawn Starfall talk to you?” Applejack asked. “We know that she came lookin’ for news of Sunset Shimmer.”

Hamilcar shook his head. “I know no pony by that name, you are the first to hear my shame. I’ve never before spoke it allowed, though it has followed me like a cloud.”

“But it need not follow your son,” Rarity declared. “Whatever happened between you and Sunset Shimmer, Hannibal has no part in it. He can no more redeem your name than he can be made guilty by it.”

“Assumin’ you really have anythin’ to be sorry about,” Applejack added.

“Sunset Shimmer pursued her dream, no matter the cost,” Rarity said. “You did not go with her all the way on that journey, but you can still go with your son on his journey, to pursue his dream… even if it is not the dream you wished for him.”

Hamilcar hesitated for a moment. “You shine a light through my dark cloud, the truth it echoes clear and loud. My son, I am truly sorry; please forgive a father’s folly. Go forth, and pursue your own dream; let your talents by all be seen.”

Hannibal looked at Rarity gratefully. “Father, I know not what to say; this is truly a wondrous day!”

“For us too,” Applejack observed. “Fancy that us decidin’ to help you out would lead us to someone we were lookin’ for.”

“We are friends of Twilight Sparkle,” Rarity explained. “Like Sunset Shimmer, a student of Princess Celestia. We seek what news of Sunset we can find – and of the other pony, Dawn Starfall – and, just as importantly, Twilight also seeks the Heart of the World, anything you can tell us about your journey in search of it will be invaluable. So, please, will you come with us to Lady Sophoniba’s palace, and tell us all that you recall of Sunset Shimmer?”

The Words of a Queen

“Hmm,” Twilight murmured.

“Hmm?” repeated Fluttershy, looking up.

Twilight chuckled. “Exactly, Fluttershy.”

“Have you found something, Twilight?” Spike asked, putting aside the scroll that he’d been reading and waddling quickly across the library towards Twilight.

“Maybe,” Twilight said. “Or maybe not. It’s… difficult to say for sure.”

Fluttershy joined Twilight and Spike. “Well, what have you found?”

Twilight laid out the scroll, one of a set of scrolls, out upon the floor as Ace descended from the high shelves to hover in the air just above them, positioning herself in such a way that she didn’t cast a shadow over Twilight as she read, nor get in the way of the light coming in from the windows.

“This is part of the account of Queen Dido,” Twilight explained. “One of the rulers of the old Zebra Empire in the old days, before the first empire fell and when rulers still consulted the Heart of the World. This is her own account, an autobiography almost, and I think she might have even written the first copy herself rather than dictating it to a scribe.”

“Had you heard of her before now?” asked Ace.

“I had,” Twilight said. “Although I don’t know a great many details about her. She reigned before Celestia and Luna came to power in Equestria, and although she did deal with Equestria and its rulers of that time, so many of the records before Celestia’s ascension are either lost or muddled or have become so suffused with legend and myth that it’s hard to say what’s true and what isn’t any more. In the confusion of Discord’s… well, being Discord, so much knowledge was lost and so much had to reconstructed from a mixture of memories and folklore. Why, did you know that for over a hundred years everypony assumed that the story of Princess Silverlode burning the cakes really happened because it was included in her biography by her assistant Buttercup? It was only about sixty years ago that scholars realised that that entire incident was actually an interpolation added to the life by later transcribers who-“ Twilight stopped as she realised that everyone was staring at her with bemusement of varying degrees of fondness upon their faces.

She laughed nervously. “Uh huh. Sorry, I, um, I get, uh… so, where was I? Oh, right, Queen Dido of the zebras, right. As I was saying I know that there were dealings between the Zebra Empire and Equestria while she sat on the throne, and that she was considered to be a wise ruler, for whom her pony counterparts had a great deal of respect. At that time, Zebrica was considered to be more culturally advanced and more prosperous than Equestria; the Equestrian ambassador to her court left an account of his time there, but unfortunately only fragments of it survive now. But, those fragments that do survive indicate that he was very impressed by what he experienced: the wealth, the culture, the harmony. At that time, it seems as though zebras were even more united than ponies!”

“Okay, she sounds pretty great,” Spike conceded. “But what does that have to do with the Heart of the World?”

“I’m getting there,” Twilight said, a touch of sharpness entering her voice. “This is Queen Dido’s own account of her life; I don’t think there can be that many copies of this in the whole world.”

“But there’s one here,” said Ace, a touch of scepticism seeping into her tone.

“This is a regional capital,” Twilight reminded her. “It’s not so surprising that, if an account of Dido’s life were to survive, it would survive in a place like this. But honestly, we’re so lucky to have this; just as the records of Equestria before Celestia were lost, so was so much knowledge about the old empire after it fell. I wonder if Sophoniba even know this is here.”

“You can be sure to mention it before we take our leave,” Ace said. “What have you found?”

“Is there really any need to be so impatient?” Twilight asked.

“Yes!” Ace and Spike said loudly at the same time.

“It’s okay, Twilight,” Fluttershy calmly. “We know how much you enjoy all of this, but we’re just eager to find out what it is in particular that caught your interest.”

“Thank you, Fluttershy, for phrasing it so diplomatically,” Twilight said. “What caught my eye in particular was this passage from near the beginning of the work; Dido doesn’t spend a lot of time on her early life – not least because she came to the throne quite young – but here is what she says about the time just preceding her coronation: ‘As is customary, I sought the blessing of the Heart of the World upon my rule, not only because I could not become Queen without its blessing, but also because I felt very deeply my youth and inexperience, and wished the council of one much older and wiser than myself in how I ought to rule this land in the best interests of its people.’”

“Shouldn’t she be rhyming?” Spike asked.

“A lot can change in the span of history that we’re talking about, remember?” Twilight said. “Just because zebras – some zebras, anyway, speak in rhyme now, doesn’t mean that they necessarily did back then; even if the First Empire was a more culturally sophisticated time, that still doesn’t mean that customs and manners can’t change in between time. Or perhaps the queen did speak in rhyme, but wrote in prose so that her meaning would be clearer to those coming after? At this distance it’s impossible to say.” She wished that she could just study this. She felt as though she could spend half a lifetime analysing all of these scrolls, extracting all the information from it; when her search was done she might come back here, not for half a lifetime but for a little while, just to study out of pure academic interest, if Lady Sophoniba would allow it. Perhaps she would learn enough to write a small book about what she’d found. Wouldn’t that be exciting?

Such pleasant imaginings would have to wait for the moment, however; right now, she was here to find concrete information about the Heart of the World, information that would lead her to it, that would enable her to approach it as Dido had once approached it long ago, and like Dido to seek answers from one so much older and wiser than herself.

She cleared her throat, and continued to read. “’As is custom, I took the pilgrim road eastward into Qartaggia’ – that’s the area where we are now, this region was known in ancient times as Qartaggia; this mean that I was right, the Heart of the World is in this region somewhere – ‘accompanied by my lord, my bodyguards, my officers of state and my dearest friends and closest companions of my youth. As is customary, my lords and officers remained behind at the obsidian marker, for it is said that those who approach the Heart of the World, be they ever so high or ever so low, must one and all approach as pilgrims, humble in heart and stripped of pride, not as great lords demanding as of right, but beseeching a favour from one greater than themselves. And so, at the black stone, those who would serve me in my court made camp, to await for my return with sign of the Heart’s blessing.

“’Qartaggia is a barren land; at least it is so past the obsidian marker. I cannot help but wonder if the Heart makes it so, although I cannot imagine how such a thing would be accomplished. Nevertheless it seems very convenient to me, the land is too arid to be settled, not good for farming or for grazing; nothing grows here, there is no food but what we brought with us, it all serves very well to keep our folk from intruding too close to the Heart in ordinary circumstances.

“’Although my lords remained behind, my guards went with me to protect me from harm, for although there was nothing there and it was a hard place to live, it was said that some desperate zebras lurked about those parts, preying upon the pilgrims making their way along the road with offerings. Of even greater concern was the talk of dragons, drawn by the same rich offerings that might have attracted bandits. I resolved that when I reached the Heart I would be leave to have my warriors patrol the pilgrim road and offer protection to those travelling it, even to establish fortresses and waystations for their benefit. Nevertheless, our journey was troubled by nothing more than the hardships of the land itself, until we reached the porphyr marker, and it was necessary to leave my guards behind; for we were come close to the Heart now, and it was said that the Heart itself had many powers that would keep safe those whom it wished to protect, and to punish those it wished to punish. It was said that nothing could survive past that point without the Heart’s knowledge and its leave.’”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Fluttershy murmured.

“None of this sounds brilliant so far,” Ace agreed.

“I’m not done yet,” Twilight said. “’And so I approached the mountain with only my close friends for company. Bostar sang for us, to keep our spirits high, while Hanno told fantastical stories of far off lands and distant places; hearing him speak of the land of Equestria I wished so much to visit it someday. It is to my last regret that my duties never allowed me the opportunity, but at least I got to call ambassador Meadowsweet my friend. These ponies are rough-hewn barbarians, but they have a great charm about them; I think they will do great things once they are civilised.’”

“Rough hewn barbarians?” Ace repeated.

“This was written a long time ago,” Twilight said defensively. “And I did tell you they were more advanced than we are. Is it so surprising that snobbery took hold amongst some of them?”

“I suppose not,” Ace allowed. “Doesn’t mean I have to like hearing it, though.”

“You’re a royal guard in Canterlot, aren’t you used to it yet?” Twilight asked.

“No,” Ace replied flatly. “If I ever found that I got used to it I’d have to quit.” She paused. “You never knew Sunset Shimmer, did you?”

“No,” Twilight said. “Did you?”

“I don’t think anypony but Princess Celestia really knew Sunset Shimmer – she kept herself to herself, you know – but I saw her around sometimes, and something that I heard her say once kind of stuck with me: your pride is the one thing that nopony can take away from you; only you can give it up. Well, I’m not going to give up mine just because some fancy unicorn tells me that I should.” Ace fell silent, descending to the floor with a slow beating of her wings. She looked down at the wooden boards beneath her hooves, and scratched at her ear with one foreleg. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” she cleared her throat. “Anyway, Twilight, you were saying?”

“Yes,” Twilight said. “I’m almost done. Unfortunately this manuscript isn’t quite complete; there are holes in Dido’s account.”

“Something that she didn’t want to write down?” Spike guessed.

“No, there are literal holes in the manuscript,” Twilight clarified, levitating the scroll up into the air so that they could all see for themselves. “It must be very old, and nobody has ever thought to make a more recent copy. Anyway, here’s what else Dido has to say: ‘At the foot of the mountain, I left even my friends behind, for it is a custom that one must always approach the Heart of the World absolutely and utterly alone – for the final stage of the journey, at least. I began to climb-‘ And that’s where it ends.”

“It seems as though the way was pretty clearly marked out once upon a time,” Fluttershy pointed out. “There was a road that everybody knew to follow, and rules that everybody knew about, and even markers. Although I don’t like that last part about going alone at the end. I don’t want you to have to make the final journey by yourself.”

“I don’t relish the idea either,” Twilight murmured. “But if that is the way it has to be then-“

“Twilight Sparkle!” Fluttershy said firmly. “Please don’t tell me you’re thinking of leaving us behind.”

“I don’t want to,” Twilight insisted. “But if the Heart won’t allow me to go to it with company then what choice do I have? What if you’re trying to go with me puts you in danger?”

“What if you’re trying to go alone puts you in danger?” Fluttershy responded. “This isn’t the old days when Dido was writing, a lot has changed since then just like you said. It can’t have been that difficult to reach the Heart of the World alone back then because so many did, but if that was the case now then… then things wouldn’t have turned out like this so far, would they?”

“Well, no,” Twilight admitted, “but-“

“It’s all a bit of an academic question, if that’s all there is,” Ace said. “I mean, it’s very interesting, but-“

“But it didn’t tell you anything except confirm what you’d already worked out, Twilight,” Spike said. “That the Heart of the World is somewhere in this region, but you knew that already. It doesn’t tell you anything more than that.”

“Unless the pilgrim road with the markings is still there,” murmured Fluttershy.

“Unfortunately not,” Twilight said. “But remember that Dido’s account ends with her climbing a mountain.” Twilight’s horn flared lavender as she levitated a map down from its shelf and spread it out over the floor next to Queen Dido’s account. “As you can see, there aren’t that many mountains in Qartaggia. In fact-“

“There’s only one,” Ace gasped, her eyes widening.

“Well, technically, the Atlas Mountains do begin at the southern edge of the region, with these peaks here,” Twilight replied, gesturing with her hoof in that direction, but, yes, I think it is far more likely that the mountain being referred to is Mount Hyperion, the Lonely Mountain, here near the centre of the area; it fits better with what Dido said about travelling through a barren landscape; the area around the Atlas Mountains is actually quite well populated, you’d like it there, Fluttershy.” Twilight paused for a moment. “You know, I think I’d like to come back here another time, when we aren’t… when I’m looking for the Heart, to see if Lady Sophoniba will let me study her library, so that Fluttershy can appreciate some of the local fauna, so that we can all… enjoy ourselves, you know, like a vacation.”

Fluttershy smiled. “That sounds like a wonderful idea, Twilight, I’m sure there are so many amazing creatures to see, although I’m not sure what Rarity or Pinkie Pie would do here.”

“Oh, I’m sure they could both find something,” Twilight replied. “But all of that… that’s for later. Because right now,” she looked down at the map, and at Queen Dido’s account which sat beside it. Her gaze landed for a moment upon Mount Hyperion, the mountain rising in the middle of the desert. On top of the mountain, or within the mountain, or accessible somehow from the mountain was the Heart of the World. And with it, she hoped, the answers she was seeking.

Lightning, Krysta, wait for me just a little longer.

“Girls,” she said. “I think I know where to go next.”

Hamilcar's Story

Hamilcar’s Story

“Twilight!” Rarity cried, as she pushed open the doors into the library – her horn glowing with an aura of brilliant blue as she grasped them both and pushed upon them – with Applejack, Hannibal and his father Hamilcar running alongside her. “We have good news!”

Rarity found that she and Applejack were the last to arrive: Rainbow Dash and Pinkie had beaten them to it, and stood – well, Pinkie stood, Rainbow hovered in the air – alongside Twilight, Fluttershy, Spike and Ace Ray all around a map of the region in which they found themselves.

They all looked up as Rarity, Applejack and their zebra companions entered.

“Rarity,” Twilight said, a smile upon her face, “You’re back! Rainbow told us that you and Applejack had gone to help some poor zebra.”

Hannibal bowed his head. “Help me indeed and very much they did, and if my distraction their true purpose hid, for that I am truly sorry, and even moreso if I made you worry, for where your friends might be, I can only say they were a blessing to me; without their help I would yet lie immured in my despair, thanks to them I’ve tasted success’ air.”

“Even had we done nothing more than help Hannibal here pursue his dreams and come to a better understanding with his father, I would yet maintain that we had done the right thing,” Rarity declared. “After all, just because we happen to be on a quest of our own, surely that doesn’t mean that we have to be completely self-interested, does it?”

Twilight chuckled. “Of course not, Rarity, we should always be willing to help others just as we would always hope that others were willing to help us.”

“And it wasn’t as if you would have gotten anything more done if you’d ignored him,” Rainbow muttered. “Looking for leads was a bust, me and Pinkie didn’t find anything.”

Applejack let out a sort of snort of laughter. “But we did.”

“Darling, I was just coming to that,” Rarity.

“Sorry, Rarity,” Applejack said, not sounding too sorry about it in Rarity’s opinion. “Ah didn’t mean to step on your... dramatic moment.”

“I know, darling, and never mind,” Rarity said airily. “It’s not your fault that you don’t have a sense for these things.” She primped her mane with one hoof, and cleared her throat. “Now then, where was I?”

“Um… one of you was about to say that you found something?” Twilight suggested.

“Yes, yes indeed,” Rarity agreed. “As I say, it would have been worth it either way, but as luck would have it, helping out Hannibal here – who is really very talented, I think we might be hearing his name in Equestria in a few years time-“

“Rarity,” Rainbow said.

“Hannibal’s father went with Sunset Shimmer and her expedition,” Applejack said bluntly.

“Applejack!” Rarity exclaimed.

“We might as well get to the point, don’t ya think?” Applejack said. “Ah don’t know if Hamilcar here appreciates standing there while we talk about him.”

Rarity felt her face flush a little. “Forgive me, sir, I didn’t-“

“I was a warrior who fancied himself bold, but I appreciate a story well told,” Hamilcar said, in a lighter tone than he had been wont to use previously. He shuffled forwards, his hooves scuffing the wooden boards of the library floor. “Hamilcar is my name, though it has very little fame; I’m told you seek to learn the fate, of Sunset Shimmer – traveller most desperate; of her companions I was one, and I’m prepared to speak of what I’ve done.”

For a moment, none of the ponies – or Spike – said a word. Twilight took a step forward, treading upon the map that lay before her. Her voice was soft, and gentle. “Thank you, Hamilcar,” she said. “Sunset Shimmer… I didn’t know her at all, but she was very dear to Princess Celestia, who is dear to me, and so if we can bring her any closure then… I would like that very much. First of all, can you tell me… actually, first of all can I ask that you speak to us in plain prose? I know that you use rhyme out of respect, for which I thank you, but for a story such as this… I would like it as plain as possible, if you don’t mind, so that we can understand it best.”

Hamilcar bowed his head. “As you wish,” he said. “Sunset also sometimes demanded that we speak plainly, although for the most part I think that she preferred us to, as you say, show respect to her. You had a question that you wished answered first… was it, perhaps, whether I saw her die?”

“Or knew for certain that she had died, yes,” Twilight murmured. “And if so, where her bones might be said to lie. I… I don’t really want to bring back that kind of bad news to Princess Celestia, but if Sunset is dead she deserves a better resting place than in the middle of the desert wilderness.”

Hamilcar frowned. “I fear I cannot help you. Although I think that Sunset must be dead, and although the fact that I played some part in her passing haunts me still, I cannot answer your questions for a certainty. If Sunset died, as seems most likely, then she died alone, with no one to inter her, still less to mark her resting place. Her bones will lie bleached in the sun.”

Rarity could not suppress a shudder at the thought. What a hazardous land this was, and what cruel fates awaited unwary ponies who strayed into it. She did not like to think of herself, or of any of them, as unwary… but then Sunset Shimmer, the proud student of Celestia, had probably not thought of herself as unwary either.

What is this region where we find ourselves, and how many fates of death surround us?

What might this journey cost us, in the end?

Rarity frowned. That thought was quite unworthy of her, unworthy of anypony here. It would cost them nothing, nothing at all. No matter what had befallen Sunset Shimmer, no matter how certain her – as yet uncomfirmed – death might seem, no matter how great the odds against them were… they were not Sunset Shimmer. They were not Sunset Shimmer and they were not Dawn Starfall and her friends either. They… well, Rarity didn’t like to stand upon such things but they had defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord after all; surely they could find a way through this new challenge.

They would find a way through this new challenge, together. And then they would all go home to Ponyville together, their quest completed successfully, and they would laugh about this… one day, when it was all behind them.

Twilight sucked in the air through her teeth. “Well… thank you for your honesty, but we might not tell Princess Celestia, or at least not in that way. Spike, will you write down everything that Hamilcar says, both for Princess Celestia’s sake and for our own analysis. Hamilcar, I’m afraid I might interrupt you with questions but, for now, please just start at the beginning and keep going.”

Hamilcar sat down upon his haunches, and his son and Spike and all the ponies did likewise, recognising that this was likely to be a long story.

Hamilcar paused for a moment, looking down and scuffing the floorboards with his hooves, seemingly unsure of where exactly to begin with his account. At length, he cleared his throat, and spoke.

"It was not so very long ago, and yet… it was a lifetime ago. You would have all been fillies then, I think. You are not so different in years from my own son, and he remembers none of this."

Hannibal nodded in confirmation of that last point, but said nothing to interrupt his father.

Hamilcar went on, "I was a widow by then; my wife had died the winter before, and I was considering giving up the adventurer's life for something more… stable, for Hannibal." He glanced at his son. "I probably should have; if I had I would have been less bitter about it than I became after I felt retirement had been forced upon me. But, I confess, that I didn't want to quit. I was an indifferent adventurer, not without skill but that skill never translated into any great wealth or fame, much to my chagrin. I am sorry, Hannibal, for trying to force you to do what I could not, in defiance of your own will and desire." He sighed. "Perhaps it is simply that the age of adventurers is passed, there are no great treasures left to uncover, no mysteries left to solve, no immense glory to be won. Except there is, of course, the Heart of the World: the greatest treasure, the greatest myth, the greatest prize yet to be won. It is our heritage, but it has been lost to us. If any could find it… and yet none have dared for many years. I would not have dared to set out in search of it alone, and not only because I had no idea where to look.

"But Sunset Shimmer… Sunset Shimmer dared all that, and more. I do not know how she came to Utica, or why. She never spoke of her past, or of her motivations. She kept… well, I will get into that later. As I say, I do not know how she came to Utica, but once she arrived in Utica she moved through the town, or at least the parts of the town that I moved through, like a sandstorm, a force of nature. It was whispered in some quarters that she had approached the Lady Sophoniba's regents for aid and been dismissed out of hand, but no creature dared to say as much to Sunset's face and I… I did not believe it. I didn't believe that anyone who had heard Sunset speak could have denied her, because when she spoke… when she spoke her horn never changed colour, there was no sign that she was using magic and yet it was as though she had cast a spell upon any who heard her. When she spoke, she spoke with such passion, such confidence, such ironclad certainty in her voice that you thought the world must surely bend itself to her will. She said that she knew where to go to find the Heart. She promised fame beyond measure for any who would go with her, that our names would be forever remembered alongside the greatest explorers and adventurers not only in Quaggai, but anywhere. She promised a share in the spoils that would inevitably be waiting for us. Is it any wonder that we were entranced; I was a lowly adventurer, no great success, being offered everything I had ever wanted in my life and wealth to support my son afterwards. Is it any wonder that I, and many others like me, flocked to her side, eager to be a part of her great expedition, for the chance to share in what seemed to be inevitable success. Many I knew, even sensible zebras, were already planning what they would do and buy with their fortunes once they returned from finding the Heart of the World.

"Sunset took us all. Perhaps we should have made more note of that: she seemed to have no instinct for who was worth having on an expedition and who was not, although at the time we were all too glad to have been accepted to wonder if we ought to have been left at home. There were over sixty of us in the end, and we had carts laded with supplies. We set off from Utica with high hearts; Sunset told no one where we were headed, I think she feared to be betrayed, that someone would set out and try to beat her to the Heart, but she needed not fear: at that time we were all dazzled with her. We would have followed her anywhere. She could have convinced us to do anything she liked – she did convince us. What fools we were.

"But all of that was to come. We set out from Utica and it seemed the sun would never stop shining on us. Sunset carried herself like a queen; while the rest of us walked or pulled the supply wagons, she rode in a wagon and even had a young zebra attend to her needs in camp as a servant. Nevertheless, we tolerated it; with all that she was going to do for us it seemed a small enough thing to put up with."

"Ah'm guessin' that didn't last," Applejack said.

"No, indeed," Hamilcar replied. "Four days out from Utica we were attacked by bandits; or at least, they must have been bandits although I had never seen bandits so well organised before. They fell upon our camp, and though we drove them off it was not without loss. Nor could we even have been said to truly have drive them off, for they were back the next night. Again, we repelled them, but they began to stalk us, harrying our march, picking off anyone who strayed too far from the group. They no longer assaulted our camp, or our column, but we felt their presence as they bled us on the march.

"Sunset promised that they would not, could not, harass us for too long, for there was no way that they could be supporting themselves in this country. For she had led us into the most barren part of the Quaggai imaginable-"

"Pardon me," Twilight said, "but isn't Qartaggia disputed between Quaggai and Grevyia."

"It is Quaggai land as I am a Quaggai zebra!" Hamilcar declared loudly. "But, ask yourself this… forgive me, I know only the names of Rarity and Applejack."

"Of course, we haven't introduced ourselves," Twilight said. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Spike, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Ace Ray of the Royal Guard of Equestria."

Hamilcar nodded. "Tell me then, Twilight Sparkle, why you think this land remains disputed? Why has water not been spilled on the sand to settle the issue once and for all."

Twilight thought for a moment before she answered. "Because there isn't anything there worth fighting about. Nothing grows, and nothing lives."

"Nothing but endless sands and bare rock," Hamilcar agreed. "Not even a watering hole large enough to fit on a map."

"Did y'all find watering holes small enough to 'scape notice?" Applejack asked.

Hamilcar nodded. "Some, yes, and we were very glad of them. Without them… I and many others would not have escaped back to Utica alive."

"Ah don't know about the rest of y'all girls but Ah'd be grateful if you'd mark them for us," Applejack said. "Might come in useful to know where they are."

"It will be done," Hamilcar promised. "But might I first continue with my account?"

"Of course," Twilight said. "Please, go on."

"Sunset assured us that the bandits would have to leave us be, that they could not survive in the arid desert for very long, they would have to return to somewhere it was easier to live," Hamilcar reminded them. "But the attacks went on longer than she seemed to think possible, and combined with the heat, the lack of shelter, the scarcity of water… it all combined to dent our earlier confidence, and create some ill-feeling towards Sunset. Sunset Shimmer took note of this, and tried to do something about it: she ceased to ride in a cart but walked with the rest of us, she gave up her servant, she even worked when setting up the camp. And she revealed our destination, to placate those who wondered why we had come to such a place."

"Was it Mount Hyperion?" Twilight asked.

Hamilcar laughed. "You do not need to hear what I have to say."

"No, we do," Twilight assured him. "Please, I'm sorry to interrupt, but that was what my research suggested, and I was curious to see if Sunset had come to the same conclusion."

"Sunset had been guarded about where we were going, and to have it confirmed that we were heading deeper and deeper into such inhospitable country was too much. Zebras began to slip away, heading back home again for Utica. Sunset spoke, but a silver tongue is less persuasive when your belly is empty and your throat is parched. The bandits let the deserters go, or seemed to; we didn't know why, but it only encouraged more desertions."

"The bandits were still going after you?" Rainbow asked.

"Constantly," Hamilcar confirmed. "They only stopped when a sandstorm struck, and that was far worse than any bandits. We had to abandon our wagons and all the stores on them and seek shelter in some ancient ruins; it was sheer providence that we found even those, if we had not… caught in the open by the sandstorm like that we would have surely perished. Nevertheless, though we were alive we were also trapped, huddling in the ruins with our supplies lost and little more than what comradely feelings remained among us to sustain our bodies and souls alike. It was more than dawning on us all by now that we had grievously underestimated the difficulties involved in reaching Mount Hyperion. None moreso, perhaps, than Sunset Shimmer. During that time in the storm, huddling in the ruins, she kept herself apart from the rest of us. Brooding. She looked… honestly, she looked shocked that it had turned out this way. As if she'd expected it to be every bit as easy as she'd made it seem."

"And when the storm cleared?" Twilight asked.

"Then most left. Only a few of us remained. We found our wagons out in the sand; they were too heavy for the few of us to move but we salvaged what we could. Sunset was determined to press on, said that she'd rather be buried out here in the sands then go home a failure. The fewer of us there were, she said, the greater the glory, the greater the share of the reward waiting for us at the end of the road. At least, we told ourselves, the bandits were gone."

"Where they?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"They were," Hamilcar confirmed. "But only because we had entered a stretch of land with no watering holes that we could find, and we found that our own water soon ran out. That… that was the last straw. Even then, Sunset wouldn't turn back, wouldn't even here of it. She told us to go, if we were having doubts. There was no room for faint hearts upon the glory road. When her name resounded in every corner of the world, we would regret that we had turned our backs on her."

"And that's when you left," Twilight murmured.

"That's when we left," Hamilcar agreed. "We… I couldn't see any way forward. I'd tried, I'd tried to keep faith, but… I was afraid. I didn't want to die. I wanted to live, and-"

"Nopony is blaming you," Twilight assured him. "The situation seemed hopeless, and you had a son to look after."

"I didn't do such a good job of that, did I?" Hamilcar responded. "But you're kind to say so, anyway." He sighed. "The last I saw of Sunset Shimmer, she could barely walk but she was pressing onwards anyway. She was stumbling, staggering almost, but she kept on going. That's why I think she must be dead, I can't imagine how she survived out there."

He said nothing more, and it was clear that he had reached the end of his account of events. Nopony said anything, once more silence ruled within the library.

What was there to be said, really? What was done was done, and while Rarity couldn't speak for anypony else she found her thoughts dwelling on the implications of what he had said: Sunset had been foolish, and foolishly unprepared for the challenges that awaited her on the road.

Are we any less foolish? Are we any better prepared? The evidence, unfortunately, suggested otherwise.

"Thank you, for telling us all this," Twilight said softly. "I know it can't have been easy for you. But now, if you wouldn't mind, could you please mark on the map those watering places you mentioned, if you can recall the locations, as well as the ruins where you sheltered from the sandstorm? Anything that you can recall, anything at all, will be of great help to us."

She spoke as if there was no question that they would not press on, even after what they had just heard. Well, they had all told her when they arrived in Utica that they did not want to turn back. For Lightning's sake, Twilight could not turn away; for Twilight's sake, none of the rest of them would turn away either. They were… fools for love, you might say.

They would have to hope that love, and friendship, would be enough to see them through this trial, as it had been before.

For it seemed there would be little enough else to rely on.

The Servants of Memory

It was a little difficult to walk proudly when you had to go about with your face hooded to hide your monstrous visage from the world, but nevertheless as she approached the camp Raven endeavoured to walk proudly. She kept her head high even though no-one could see it; even though no-one would wish to see it; even though she only pulled down her hood to intimidate people as though she were wearing a Nightmare Night mask to scare the fillies and foals.

She would not approach as a supplicant, even if she was asking for a favour. She would not beg. She would not plead. She would simply ask that they do as they were sworn to do, and protect the Heart of the World and all the terrible secrets that it might reveal.

It had taken her a little while to find the camp. It had not been where Raven remembered it. She had been forced to cast her net wider, to scour the edges of her memory, to stalk about the land searching for them.

Another thing it was hard to do while going about hooded and cloaked like a villain was persuade people to give you food and water. Raven had given up much of what it mean to be a pony, she had sacrificed a great deal for power or for the worthless promises of the same but she was not an automaton. She still needed nutrients to sustain her body, still needed water to drink, still appreciated tastes upon her tongue. When she had arrived back in Ponyville, a part of her had wanted to rush at once to Sugarcube Corner and gorge herself on those wonderful sensations that she had not tasted for so long.

It had taken a great deal of self-control on her part to refrain; self-control and the knowledge that she did not deserve them. She didn't deserve the sweet taste of sweet cakes made with love, she didn't deserve laughter or friendship or any of the things that had delighted her in the past; she didn't deserve to feel the warmth of an embrace, nor the comfort of companionship. She had cast aside her right to all of that when she had… when she had failed them all.

She would not fail again, but in order to ensure that she would not fail she needed help. Or at least, she needed help to avoid the kind of success that would leave a trail of broken bodies in her wake. It would be simple to kill Twilight and her friends, but although it might yet come to that Raven was loath to do it. What she had done to Pinkie Pie… it had been a mistake. It haunted her as gravely as anything else that she had ever done, and she had done plenty of things to haunt her. In the name of Olympia and the King of Kings she had done such things as… there was a reason she slept but little, and rejoiced to wake again. For all the problems that she endured while awake, all the pains, the aches, the emptiness inside of her, there was nothing worse than the regrets that gathered around her like ghosts.

What she had done to Pinkie, what she had been prepared to do, had been a grave mistake. She had acted like the soldier that she had come here to escape, like the brutish warriors that she sought to prevent from desecrating Equestria with their steps. She had jumped to violence, jumped to sacrificing Pinkie, one of those she had come here to save! She had come to prevent death and destruction, but she had brought both with her here.

Perhaps Silver Spear should also haunt her; he was not so near her conscience, for all that he was dead, but Raven was wise enough to know in her head that she just because she felt less guilt in her heart it did not make her blameless. Far from it. She had woken him and thrown him into the path of harm, and then when that hadn't worked she had thrown Pinkie in her turn.

And the only reason Pinkie hadn't perished was because Lightning had been better than she had thought he had be.

Pinkie, the sweetest of her friends, the only one who had never blamed her for the parade of disasters that she had brought upon Equestria, Pinkie had only survived thanks to Lightning. Lightning!

It was almost enough to make her wonder if she had misjudged him. But she could not take the risk; even if she had misjudged him she had not misjudged his father or his people.

No, she had to continue down this road; Twilight could not reach the Heart of the World.

And yet she would be more careful now than she had been before. She would take greater care with the lives of their friends. She had sought to take care with Mantle; the dragon was flawed to be sure but he was not a savage, he would not have devoured the ponies for no reason, not have crushed their bones out of mere hunger. He would have ransomed them back to Princess Celestia, and soon they would have found themselves back home in Ponyville once more, where they could put all thought of the Heart of the World out of their minds.

Obviously that hadn't worked. So she would need to find another approach that would work instead.

Fortunately, there were the Servants of Memory.

Their camp lay before her. Given the way they haunted the wastelands they were often mistaken for bandits, but no bandit camp would have been so well organised, so disciplined. Despite the seeming lack of wood in these sandy waste, they had erected barricades of sharpened wooden stakes – the trick, as Raven had learned, was very simply to carry the wood with them where they went, and to make it last out in these arid conditions – and dug a ditch in the sands around. No banner flew above their tents of black, but as Raven approached she could see that those dark tents were laid out in neat rows, in a more organised fashion than any brigand troops could have achieved.

The Servants of Memory were an ancient order, much like the Circle of the Dark Between Stars but, unlike the latter, they had not succumbed to the decadence of their society and forgotten their purpose over the years. A hard land had kept them strong, and vigilant, and determined. They had been founded in the aftermath of Olympia's disappearance, for the purpose of preventing Olympia's return – or anyone from reaching the Heart of the World, and unlike their pony counterparts they had stayed true to that oath, for the most part.

Raven would hold them to that ancient oath now, as they had held to it against Sunset Shimmer, and as they had held to it against Sunset Shimmer she had little doubt that they would hold to it now.

They would keep their oaths and honour their obligations; the hard part would be getting them to spare the lives of Twilight and her friends.

Raven took a deep breath. Finding the Servants had been more difficult than she had anticipated, and movement in this hot land was not as easy as she might have liked; her body was drenched with sweat, her cloak was sticking to her legs in places. Nevertheless, she walked forwards, and tried not to let her weariness or her discomfort show.

Two guards, tall zebra warriors with spears, their bodies and faces concealed beneath robes of dark grey, stood upon one of the gaps in the palisade to permit entrance. As Raven approached, one of them cried out, “Halt!”

Raven halted, her gaze flickering between the two as they both advanced upon her.

“Who are you?” they demanded. “And what is your business here?”

Raven appreciated the fact that they were speaking in prose. It might have been intended as an insult to her, but in this heat she was in no mood to try and follow rhymes. “I come in peace, and…” she could not bring herself to say she came in friendship. “I come in peace. I ask for the gifts of water and shade, and to speak with Ardeth Bey.”

Even bundled up as they were, the two zebras’ eyes were visible as they exchanged glances. “How do you know that name?”

“I know more than that,” Raven said. “I know that this is a camp of the Servants of Memory, perhaps the only camp; you have done well to last this long with such numbers, but your numbers are decreasing, are they not? A pity, I am sorry for it. In any case, I know who you are, and I know your task.”

“Who are you?” one of the Servants demanded.

“One who seeks the same as you: to keep the Heart of the World from being disturbed,” Raven said. “Now, may I speak with Ardeth Bey.”

“Show us your face before you enter our encampment.”

Raven raised one eyebrow, for all that they couldn’t see it. Pity, they were missing on a delightfully arch expression. “Far be it from me to criticise your dress, but it does render your demand ever so slightly hypocritical, don’t you think?”

“Nevertheless,” the zebra said, “you cannot enter our camp wrapped in those robes.”

“Then I shall wait until it pleases Ardeth Bey to come to me,” Raven declared, sitting down upon the ground to prove her point. A chuckle escaped her lips. “Here I and sorrows sit; here is my throne, let kings come bow to it. Or the leader of the Servants of Memory in this case.” She laughed again. “Why don’t one of you go and tell Ardeth Bey that unless he comes out and speaks to me somepony is going to reach the Heart of the World; and then we can see if my choice to hide my face proves too great an impediment to him.”

Again, the two zebras glanced at one another warily.

“I will go,” one said, after a while. “You stay here, and keep an eye on her.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Raven assured them.

The guard who had volunteered to go offered merely a harrumph at this, and turned away, kicking up sand as he trotted back into the camp.

The other guard continued to watch Raven warily.

Raven did not bother to watch him. She looked down, and began to draw pictures in the sand: pictures of her friends, having a picnic; the picnic when they had learned that Shining Armor was getting married, the picnic that hadn’t actually happened yet.

And it never would happen, not the way that she remembered it. Because Lightning had been there at the time; she remembered his presence as clear as day. She had… to think that she had actually been… how could she have been so foolish as to…

What a naïve filly I was.

She scuffed out Lightning in the sandy drawing with one hoof, removing him from the picture as she wished that she could remove him from her memories.

It was just the girls now, and Spike; the girls, and Spike, and a blur of scuffed out sand, a haze, a shadow of a thought, banished from a place where he did not belong.

Just the girls and Spike, enjoying a delightful picnic. She could close her eyes and see it now: the red and white chequered blanket, Rarity’s hat, the way the sun shone so brightly.

“He was my big brother best friend… forever,” Raven whispered, the desert air snatching at her words and carrying them far, far away.

Just like the event itself was far away, and yet at the same time so much more real to her than so much else that had befallen.

But gone, just the same.

Raven angrily scuffed out the whole picture, erasing Spike and Pinkie and Rainbow and Fluttershy and even Rarity with her hat, erasing all of them, even – especially – herself. It was all, all gone now. All lost to her. All the dream of a stupid mare who thought that picnics and parties and singing with friends would do any of them any good when the storm clouds rolled in.

A stupid mare who thought that the changelings at her brother’s wedding were the worst thing that could happen, little dreaming what horrors lay in store.

Raven felt tears well up in her eyes, and instantly felt ashamed of herself and of her weakness. To cry. Over that, of all things. What would the zebra think?

She turned her head away so that he could not see her wipe her eye. She coughed, and cleared her throat. “So,” she said. “Read any good books lately?”

He did not respond. It was hard to tell if he even understood the question.

Ardeth Bey emerged to speak with her soon enough, just as she had expected that he would. They might be wary of Raven from her looks – as well they might, she looked like a black-hearted villain, as even she would concede – but they understood the importance of her warning. They understood that a threat to the Heart of the World was too great to be ignored. They understood that they could not put their purpose to one side merely because they did not like the messenger.

If only Twilight could have been so understanding.

Ardeth Bey was a tall zebra, with a lordly bearing a wild, tangled mane that framed his face on either side. He did not cover himself with so many robes as his followers did, he allowed Raven to see his face, and it was a noble face, for all that it belonged to a zebra of her father's generation. He was strongly built, with fine square features that spoke of muscle, and the scars on his face showed that he was not unseasoned in battle. He was the last of a dying breed of zebra, a warrior of the desert sands. When Raven had met him first she had thought him a walking anachronism, but now… his was a nobler heart than that of Lightning Dawn; here was a zebra who understood the world he lived in, who understood that he could only protect the soft and civilised world by cutting himself off from it, forsaking its pleasures that others might enjoy them. It was only now, looking back with a more mature eye, that Raven could appreciate what a sacrifice that was.

Here was a zebra who loved the world. And yet even he had those whom he loved most of all.

"I am-" he began.

"Ardeth Bey," Raven said. "I beg of you, speak to me in prose, it is much easier for my eyes to follow than poetry; I will accept the disrespect inherent in the same. In fact I will go further and say that I deserve all your disrespect and so much more." She chuckled. "It's good to see you again."

Ardeth snorted. "I would say that I know you not, but with your face hidden you could be anyone."

"And with my face revealed under the light of the sun I would be many things else, and few of them good," Raven responded. "How are… no, how is your son?" At this point he would only have one child, if Raven's calculations were correct – and they usually were.

Ardeth Bey's eyes narrowed. "What do you know of my son?"

"Only that you have one," Raven said. She knew else besides, but there was no need for him to know that. "And that you wish to protect him – and your wife – as much, more, than you wish to protect the world. Please, sit."

Ardeth Bey made no move to do so.

Raven sighed. "I am not your enemy."

"You do not have the manner of a friend."

"No," Raven confessed. "No I do not. You… you must forgive me for that. Manners and friendship have, I fear, been driven out of me. Burned out by…" By the flames of war, if that doesn't sound too melodramatic. "Burned out. But I promise you, I mean you no ill. My name is Raven."

"A bird of ill-omen," Ardeth murmured.

"A harbinger of death, indeed," Raven replied softly. "I do not wish for it to become appropriate. There is an attempt to be made upon the Heart of the World. You may not like me, but you cannot ignore that."

"First you speak of my son, then of the Heart of the World, how do you-"

"I know a great many things, Ardeth Bey, commander of the Servants of Memory," Raven declared. "I know things that you and your order have striven to keep secret, I know things about you that even you do not yet know; I know that for all your efforts the watch of the Servants has become lax of late-"

"We strive as we always-"

"Sunset Shimmer and Dawn Starfall," Raven snapped. "Both sought the Heart of the World. Both escaped you. Yes, you wreaked havoc and slaughter amongst Sunset's coterie of helpers, yes, the bones of Dawny's friends lie out in the sand but Sunset escaped you, and Dawn too. That was careless of you, so careless that it could have led to disaster. Fortunately for you it did not, and it will not… unless Twilight Sparkle, following in their steps, reaches the Heart in turn."

"Twilight Sparkle?" Ardeth Bey repeated. "More unicorns?"

"I know, they get everywhere, don't they?" asked Raven, with a weary sigh in her voice. "Yes, Twilight Sparkle, her five friends, her baby dragon and her single royal bodyguard. If I judge right they will either have shortly set out from Utica or will shortly do so, headed for Mount Hyperion."

"How do they know that is the location?" Ardeth demanded.

"Twilight Sparkle is a very clever unicorn," Raven said. "As Sunset was before her." She did not extend the same compliment to Dawn Starfall. "She knows exactly where she's going. I had… I need your help to stop her. As you are sworn to stop her by ancient oaths."

Ardeth Bey was silent a moment. "How do I know that this is not a deception?"

"What reason have I to deceive you?" Raven responded. "What would I gain by it?" She paused. "I will come with you, and if there is nothing to be found you may do with me as you will. But when you find Twilight and her friends I do not wish them killed."

"Death is the punishment for seeking the Heart," Ardeth said.

"That does not mean it need be so," Raven replied.

"You would set us upon them, but you would also have their lives?" Ardeth asked. "Why?"

"Because they are the ones I seek to save," Raven declared. "You know as well as any creature living that the Heart of the World is a trap. There are neither riches nor glory to be found there, it's gifts… it's gifts are poisoned. I would stop these ponies from being infected with that poison, and all of Equestria besides."

Ardeth regarded her closely. "You claim to have much knowledge of many things, but it seems to me that one way you could know that, at least, was if you had been to the Heart yourself."

Raven chuckled. "Guilty," she murmured. "You didn't stop me, either."

"Why?" Ardeth Bey demanded. "What prompted you, what prompts them? Was it wealth you sought? Glory?"

"I went, as Twilight goes, for love," Raven said. "Just as for love I seek to stop them now."

Ardeth Bey was silent for a moment, a pensive look upon his face. "Very well," he said. "If love be their motive, it is perhaps the only motive that is forgivable for such folly as this. For love, they shall have their lives. But they shall also be stopped."

"That is all I ask," Raven said. "For it is all that I desire."

The Road From Utica

The Road from Utica

Once more, the ponies and Spike stood in Sophoniba’s throne room. Once more Sophoniba herself, the Lady of Utica, sat on her elephant-shaped throne and looked down upon them.

So much was the same and yet how much was different! Last time they had stood here, Zecora had been bound in chains for her supposed crimes, refusing to speak in her own defence. Now she stood by her sister’s side, a soft smile playing upon her face as she regarded Twilight and the others.

Last time they had stood like this the ponies had been famished, their throats dry and parched, most of them gulping greedily out of the iced water that had been provided for them. Now they had been fed and watered generously out of Sophoniba’s hospitality, and they stood before the lady of the town in a neat line, heads up, necks straight and proud.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Sophoniba said, “is it so that thou hath found,

A way forwards, in which thou wilt be bound?

And that you mean henceforward to depart this place,

And to your destination set your face?”

Twilight bowed her head. “It is so, Lady Sophoniba. Thanks to your allowing us the free use of your library, I believe that I know where the Heart of the World may be found, and I know from speaking with one of your subjects, a former adventurer named Hamilcar, that Sunset Shimmer believed the same.”

“Believing a thing does not make it so,

And Sunset Shimmer met much woe,” Zecora said. “So it is said by Hamilcar’s account,

True, that she set forth to the Mount-“

“I beg you sister, peace, say not its name,” Sophoniba implored her. “Twilight, I do not for your own search blame,

And yet I bid you say not whence,

You’ll make your way when you go hence,

Too many have been lost seeking the Heart,

I do not wish my folk here to take part,

In searches more, causing more heartache than a war.”

“I understand,” Twilight said. “I understand you both. I will not speak the name of where we are bound, not here nor anywhere else in Utica now. And I understand you, too, Zecora; it’s true that just because Sunset believed something does not make it true, but I have reason to think it so myself, from my own research. I’m not just following in another pony’s footsteps.”

“Nevertheless I would you would not go,” Sophoniba declared. “I fear that you will meet a fate just so as Sunset Shimmer

To disappear into the sands and to be seen no more,

To be searched for and not found, to become a part of the old lore,

Surrounding the Heart of the World, until at last,

Your fate is no more than a sorrowful tale long past,

And your princess cries bitter tears anon,

As she weeps for her three daughters gone?

You have spoke wisdom to me, I recall,

Let me in turn now counsel you all,

Turn back from this, I do beseech,

Rest here a longer while, till each,

Of your thoughts homewards flies,

And all joy in Utica in your heart dies,

Then homeward bound and no more thoughts of this temptress that shall never found.”

“I thank my lady for her wise counsel,” Twilight said. “I understand it comes from a place of friendship and sincere consideration. And yet… I cannot take it. So long as my friends are resolved to stay and assist me then so too am I resolved to take the road laid out before me, and seek whatever lies at that roads end. I… I cannot do otherwise. My lady speaks from the heart, and I thank you that your heart has in this brief time grown to encompass us, but my own heart calls me on, and will drag with me chains unbreakable if I should try to resist. I cannot do other than I have set out to do. My heart forbids it. Though it break the heart of Princess Celestia I must attempt it, but I dearly hope it will not come to that, and with the help of my friends I’m… my hope is strengthened.” She would have liked to have said that she had no fears at all with her friends by her side, and perhaps that is what she ought to have said; but it would have been a lie, and this did not seem like the time for lies – if, indeed, there was any such thing as a time for lies.

It was a hard road they were bound for, and an uncertain one with an equally uncertain ending. Hamilcar’s story had given them a taste of what they could expect: bandits, a hard land which would give them nothing they had not already brought with them, sandstorms that would sweep them away if they could not find shelter.

Perhaps it was selfish of her to drag everypony – everyone, including Spike – away like this. No, Twilight was increasingly coming to think that there was no perhaps about it, it was selfish.

And yet they had agreed to it anyway. Even now, after hearing what Hamilcar had had to say, none of them had questioned her decision to go on, none of them had asked her to turn back or told her that they wished to do so.

Maybe they didn’t ask because they knew she would not, and perhaps too they didn’t say that they wanted to turn back because they would not abandon her. But nevertheless, they had agreed one and all to come with her, and she would not patronise them any more than she already had by acting as though their agreement was conditional or liable to change at any moment.

They were her friends. They were her most dear and beloved friends and they had agreed to come with her and share these perils with her. They deserved better than to have her doubt their fidelity, or their courage.

They had agreed to come, and she was resolved to go, and if their hearts changed then they could tell Twilight so themselves, she would not presume it upon their behalf.

It selfish of her, very selfish, not only to drag her friends into Qartaggia but, as Sophoniba said, to risk the heart of Princess Celestia who had already suffered so much.

It was selfish, and yet she was resolved.

Because… because she loved him, and she could not abandon him, or Krysta. Had it been Rainbow or Rarity or any of the others in that position she would have done just the same.

She was resolved.

And yet she could not deny a touch of nervousness about her at what lay ahead.

She could not say for sure that they would make it there, still less return.

“I hope good fortune you will not need,” Zecora said, “you are courageous indeed.

I’m sorry that I cannot go along, but from my family I have been gone-“

“Too long,” Twilight confirmed. “It’s fine, Zecora. We’ll miss you, and everypony in Ponyville will miss you too when they find that you’re not coming back, but this is your home, this is your family. Nopony can deny that this is where you’re meant to be, and after everything that you’ve already risked for us… I’m just glad you’re happy.”

“In that, Twilight Sparkle, we are alike indeed,” Sophoniba said, “now let me help you in your need,

Since I cannot discourage you from this, I’ll have to help you, it would bring me bliss,

To see you safe returned to Utica, your journey done, to rest awhile before you start for home.

You brought my sister back, so great a gift that any offered recompense would seem like thrift.

Nevertheless, be it observed by all who are here gathered in this hall,

That Twilight Sparkle and her friends are friends of Utica our town,

And friends of mine, your lady, little in renown.

You shall have all that you desire by way of supplies,

And to you Twilight, I offer up a prize,

Small, but which I hope you may appreciate,

Being as I hear you are, a scholar celebrate,

Therefore I say that once you stand before me,

Your journey done, and quest complete,

And all things accomplished when next we meet,

You may select from my library,

Any book you wish to savour,

Little enough to do you favour.”

Twilight felt a smile blossom upon her face. “Thank you, Lady Sophoniba, I… I think I have an idea already.”

Sophoniba chuckled. “We’ll look for your return, with tales to tell; ‘till then, good fortune all, and fare thee well!”

Sophoniba was as good as her word, outfitting the ponies with everything they could have wished for for this new stage of their expedition: water, casks of lemon juice to stave off scurvy, bread, dried fruits and nuts, fresh fruits and vegetables for the first stage of their journey, hard biscuits that would survive a long time spent on the road – or over the dunes in this case. There was more than the ponies could carry in their saddlebags, although they had each been given new saddlebags courtesy of the zebras of Utica, and as a result they had a large wagon bestowed on them, piled high with all the goods that they could not bear themselves.

Twilight was a little ambiguous about having the wagon, remembering what Hamilcar had said about Sunset’s large and cumbersome carts, but it could not denied that they could not carry all the supplies, and it was also pretty undeniable that they would need to carry a lot with them given how barren Qartaggia was said to be. It wasn’t as though they could rely on foraging, or buying fresh produce from farms they passed upon the way; at least not for long.

All of that being the case, they needed the wagon, at least at first. Twilight just hoped it didn’t slow them down too much.

Food and water and new saddlebags were not the only things that they had received from Sophoniba’s largesse: Ace was clad in a new suit of zebra armour. It was of plain metal, not gilded like the armour of the guard of Canterlot, and it had fewer segmented sections and more larger plates of metal covering her neck and back, and it didn’t fit around the wings naturally but Ace had to leave some of the flank armour off to expose them, and unfortunately there was no crest to the helmet. Nevertheless, Ace pronounced herself well satisfied with it, and it suited her to be back in armour after some time without ever since they fled Cirta.

Once more, they were leaving a town behind and plunging into a wasteland. However, the circumstances could not be more different this time, and nor could what they were taking with them.

Sophoniba and Zecora had already said their goodbyes, and so felt no need to turn up at the gates of Utica to see the ponies depart. Rarity’s new friend Hannibal was another matter, however, he arrived dressed in a cloak of canary yellow, with a bright sash of stretched across his chest and his fancy hat with the feather in it set jauntily upon his head.

As he approached the group, he bowed his head. “Rarity,” he said, “you have no cause to give me aid, a stranger after all the things I said; I taunted you with idle boasts, and you could have dismissed me as a braggart most disgusting. But you did not, to me you opened up your heart, and with your generosity you gave my dreams back to me. I will be forever in your debt, and grateful that to Utica you were sent. I have nothing to give to aid you in your journey, so to you I simply say… come back,” he said, breaking rhyme as he leaned forward to plant a kiss on Rarity’s cheek. “Come back, I beg of you.”

Rarity’s mouth hung open for a moment, a slight blush colouring her fair white cheeks. “Thank you, Hannibal. I shall come back; not only now, but later, to see how you have grown into your business.” She smiled. “In fact I shall make a bargain with you: by the time I open my boutique in Canterlot, I expect you to have at least two shops of your own, what do you say?”

“I say… I say I shall not disappoint,” Hannibal vowed, “not she who did the seeds of my success anoint.”

“Then we have an agreement,” Rarity said. “And now I simply must come back, if only to see how high you soar. Until then, I want you to go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.”

Hannibal bowed. “Good luck attend you, and bring you safe back here,” he said, “when you come this way again, your stories my father would love to hear.”

“We’ll try and bring some back with us,” Applejack promised. She was already in harness on the wagon, and as she spoke she began to heave upon the laden cart, pulling with all of her incredible strength, moving the vehicle designed for taller zebras down the road and out of the gates of Utica, with the rest of the ponies following all around it. Spike road in the wagon, but all the ponies walked, clustering around Applejack with the cart as they set off, away from Utica and on to the next stage of their journey.

The gates of Utica were closed behind them, and Twilight heard a horn blow from the walls, the harsh and brazen sound echoing off the clouds that hovered lazily above them, and though she knew not what the trumpet sound meant she could almost imagine it was the city bearing farewell to them.

She looked back, at the walls of the city that had been salvation and succour to them all.

Goodbye, Zecora; until we meet again.

"Rarity," Applejack said, as she pulled the wagon down the road – for they yet had a road to follow for this part of their journey, "Ah do declare, that boy is sweet on you."

"Applejack, darling," Rarity said, in a tone of harmless condescension, "you simply don't understand how we of the fashion world interact, it was nothing, nothing at all." She paused. "Wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Spike agreed enthusiastically. "It's just how… you fashion types act friendly to one another."

Applejack snorted. "Nothing my right forehoof. He's sweet on you. Sweeter than a pot of peach tea."

"Really?" Rarity asked. "That's… well, that is a little unfortunate."

"You don't like him?" Twilight asked.

"He's a very sweet young zebra, don't get me wrong," Rarity said quickly. "I will never say a word against his character, and I won't have a word said against him by anypony else, either."

"Nopony was going to say anything against him, Rarity, I don't think," Fluttershy pointed out. "He seemed a very nice zebra."

"Oh, he is, Fluttershy, very darling," Rarity agreed. "But it could never work between us, I mean… he's only just established himself in his home in Utica, is he going to leave all that behind and move to Ponyville to be with me? Does he expect me to abandon my career, my friends and all my aspirations just to be with him? No, no it could never work, there is too much distance between us."

"Does that really matter, if you're in love?" Twilight asked.

Rarity was silent for a moment. She smiled slightly. "If I could love a stallion, who would love me enough to throw away their whole life on my behalf I should be very well pleased," she declared. "But such a stallion could hardly be sensible and you know that I could never love anypony who was out of their wits."

Applejack chuckled at that. Rarity went on, "As I say, Hannibal is a very sweet young zebra, but not worldly or experienced enough for my tastes." She sighed wistfully. "My ideal stallion would be-"

"A jerk," Rainbow said.

"I didn't know that at the time," Rarity replied defensively. "At the time I went to the gala hoping – expecting, mind you – to find a delightfully charming stallion. Charm, yes, that is the thing. My ideal stallion, as I say, would be… a little older than myself, and with the added experience that comes with age; worldly, as I say; well-spoke; righteous, but charming. A gentlecolt."

"You don't want much, do you?" Rainbow asked.

"I'm worth it, darling," Rarity replied. "I want no less than I deserve."

"I think that sounds very nice, Rarity," Fluttershy said.

Spike didn't seem to think so, judging by the pout on his face, but the other ponies either didn't notice or pretended not to. Twilight was one of those who pretended not to. She was not blind to Spike's feelings towards Rarity – or the feelings that he thought he had towards Rarity – but did nothing about it, both because it was not her place and because she hoped that Spike's feelings would disappear on their own without the need for an argument between them. Perhaps that was cowardly of her, but she could understand why he held a boyish infatuation towards Rarity: she was not only beautiful but generous, intelligent, admirable in many respects, she had a lovely voice and she doted upon Spike what was more. But she doted on him like a little brother, and even before Rarity had spoken just now it was clear that Rarity did not see Spike as a possible romantic partner. He was too young for her, and he… well, it was a boyish infatuation, at least Twilight believed it was, something that would go away by itself as Spike grew older and wiser and more mature.

At least she hoped it would. If not… she didn't want to hurt Spike, but she might have to if it ever seemed that he believed his fancies and feelings could move into the realm of something more real.

Rarity did not love him; Twilight hoped it didn't hurt him when he worked that out.

"Thank you, Fluttershy," Rarity said. "I consider my expectations to be not unreasonable."

"I'd quite like to meet somepony gallant," Fluttershy said tremulously. "Somepony… somepony to sweep me off my hooves, if you know what I mean." She sounded almost ashamed to admit it, even amongst friends.

"Really?" Ace asked. "I never would have guessed."

"What would you have expected?" Fluttershy asked mildly.

Ace was silent for a moment. "That's a good point, I don't know really. I suppose I'm surprised because I… well, I'm kind of the same way. Not sweep me off my hooves, maybe, but… I don't know, I could for the knight in shining armour type." A wistful look crossed her face, and a sigh escaped her.

"Me next! Me next!" Pinkie cried.

"Are we just doing this now?" Rainbow asked.

Nopony answered Rainbow, but Twilight smiled as she said, "Go ahead, Pinkie."

"My picture perfect special somepony would have to know how to laugh," Pinkie declared as she bounced up and down alongside the wagon. "In fact knowing how to have fun is an absolute must! And it's not just having fun, either, they need to know how to give fun, too. I mean, you can have fun by laughing at other people but you're not giving fun, you know. My special somepony would have a heart full of joy, and want to share it with the whole of Equestria!"

Applejack chuckled. "Yup, Ah can imagine that. Speakin' for myself, my special somepony would be somepony hard workin', determined, with a strong back and the will to use it; someone reliable, always ready to lend a hoof or throw themselves into a crisis. Somepony that Ah could depend upon-"

"So basically, you want to marry yourself?" Rainbow said.

Applejack glared up at her. "Okay, how about you, Miss Smarty-flank? What kind of mare or stallion are you lookin' for?"

Rainbow hesitated. Her cheeks flushed. "I, uh, well… I don't know. Somepony awesome, I guess."

"You haven't thought this through, have you?" Rarity asked.

"No," Rainbow said firmly. "Because I'm normal."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "And of course, we already know who Twilight's special somepony is," she said, with a slightly sly smile playing upon her face.

Now it was Twilight's turn to blush. "I… that is that we, I mean…" she sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I… I… Lightning and I, we-"

"It starts with an L, darling," Rarity encouraged.

"I know," Twilight replied. "I just… it feels strange to say it when he isn't here, when he can't… say it back, you know? And besides, that's not why I… I mean I'd do the same if any of you were lost like Lightning is, you girls know that, right? This isn't just about how I feel about Lightning, it's about what I owe to him and to Krysta. You understand that, don't you?"

"Does it matter, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"Probably not," Twilight admitted. "It's just that… I don't know, it feels like it might, or maybe that it should, or maybe… maybe I'm just overthinking this."

"It has been known to happen," Applejack murmured.

Ace snorted. "You've come across that too, have you?"

"You have no idea," Rainbow said.

"Come on girls, is this really necessary?" Twilight asked, but her protest was feeble and half-hearted, and to be honest when the girls and Spike started telling Ace the story about how she had almost completely lost it one time because she didn't have a friendship problem to report on for Princess Celestia, Twilight was glad when the attention of all her friends turned to the account. It… well, it got them away from talking about Lightning, which was a good thing because Rainbow didn't like Lightning very much and Twilight wasn't eager to debate that with her again right now. Yes, he had his flaws, and yes some of those flaws were substantial, but… but he had his virtues too, and in Twilight's mind the virtues outweighed the flaws, not least because so many of the flaws were situational and could have been improved with time in a place like Equestria.

He was, to paraphrase Rarity, worth the effort, in spite of his flaws, just as Rarity herself would have been worth the effort, or Rainbow Dash. Twilight owed him this, just as she would have owed her friends in a similar situation.

Just as all her friends felt that they owed her, because Twilight was under no illusion that they were here for Lightning's sake.

Still, none of that mattered now. They were all here, and they were all resolved, if only because Twilight was resolved. She would not ask them if they still wished to go on, she had not; they had agreed to come with her, though the road ahead was hard and uncertain, and if she continually stopped to ask them if they were sure that they still wanted to come, were they absolutely sure, then she would begin to patronise them.

And besides, she was glad of their company upon a path from which she could not turn away. She was resolved to this, to see it through to whatever end, to do whatever it took.

Whatever it took. Well, within limits. It seemed as though everypony else had focussed upon the dangers foretold for them in Hamilcar's account: bandits, an arid waste were shelter was scarce and food was nonexistant, violent sandstorms that threatened to sweep them away. Twilight had not been deaf to any of that, but she was as concerned with what Queen Dido's account had spoken of: the way that her impressive entourage had diminished the closer she got to the Heart of the World, not even through death and desertion as Sunset's party had but out of choice. She thought of the way that, in the end, even her closest companions had had to stay behind, and let her make the final ascent alone.

Nopony had talked about that. Twilight didn't believe that anypony wanted to talk about that, least of all herself, and yet… and yet it stalked her in her thoughts like a lion upon these desert plains.

She didn't want to lose any friends in this quest; nopony was more conscious of the risks that she had asked them to take than she was, but at the same time… she was glad they were here, so much more glad than she could probably ever express. They were not just her friends, they were the best part of her, she wouldn't have done anything without them. And yet it seemed she might have to leave them behind.

When that moment came, Twilight wasn't sure if it would be harder for her to do or for them to accept.

They moved through the fertile and farmable lands that lay around Utica, buying fresh food – saving their longer-lasting supplies for when they needed them, and fresh food had become impossible to come by – from the farmers round about. Sometimes Applejack pulled the wagon, other times Twilight simply levitated it, other times Rainbow or Ace took their turn, although it must have rankled with them both that neither of them moved the cart quite so easily as Applejack.

Eventually the time came when they had to turn off the road, and make their way into Qartaggia proper, the wasteland in the midst of which the Heart of the World was said to lie. It was as Hamilcar and Dido had described: nothing grew, nothing lived, the lone and level sands stretched far away on either side.

And yet, as they crossed the plains and traversed the dunes, there was signs that someone had lived here at one point; Hamilcar had described ruins in which Sunset's group had taken shelter from the sandstorm, and Twilight's friends saw sign of similar ruins here and there, freestanding walls or the last remains of an ancient road, a column rising up out of the sand. Who had built them nopony could say, after all Queen Dido had described this area as being barren and lifeless even in her day, when the First Empire was at its sight. What had predated that, then? Twilight didn't know, and although as a scholar she felt the mystery tugging at her curiosity, she could not honestly say that she would have come this way without a pressing need to drive her on, nor could she pretend that she would come this way again without that need.

Despite the barrenness of their surrounds, despite the heat of the sun beating down upon them, despite everything the spirits of the ponies remained high. They were well supplied, and more importantly they had one another to keep themselves supplied in the most precious commodity of all: good company. Pinkie sang – well, everypony sang at some point, but Pinkie sang more than most – while Applejack told stories about the Great Seedling and other such farm tales; Ace told the story about the island of guano she had been ordered to police off the coast of Manehatten, and it was every bit as disgusting a story as it sounded; Rainbow talked about the Wonderbolts, and Rarity about fashion week in Manehatten, both talked about their own ambitions, all the things they meant to do and how they meant to do them, their dreams and how step by step they would make them come true; Fluttershy told stories about her animal friends, who were revealed to be a complex community with a rich life going on right under the noses of everypony else, and none of them knew but Fluttershy.

And in such good humour they traversed the desert of Qartaggia.

And Raven watched them.

“We should fall upon them now,” Ardeth Bey growled from where he stood beside her, observing the progress of Twilight and her cheerful friends. “They are unwary, and would be taken by surprise.”

“Do not mistake the appearance of careless for the reality of it,” Raven replied. “They have but one guard with them but she is very talented.” A part of her thought that Ace had deserved the captaincy more than Shining Armor, but of course there was more to being Captain of the Guard than mere skill in a fight; Ace had no taste for politics, and she was not the sort pony to win the easy favour of Princess Celestia. Besides, she probably wouldn’t have been happy elevated to high rank.

“If they are aware of us, why do they do nothing?” Ardeth Bey demanded.

“Because we are not yet threatening,” Raven said. “Two figures, watching; we may be threatening, or we may not; as we are we do not merit a response.” Or perhaps they really had not been noticed; Ace was good, but she wasn’t omniscient, after all.

Ardeth Bey snorted. “In either case,” he growled. “They do not have the numbers to stand against us.”

“No,” Raven agreed. “And yet I ask for a chance to resolve this without the need for violence.”

Ardeth Bey looked at her.

“Have I not proven my word?” Raven demanded. “Have I not spoken true? Do you doubt me yet?”

“How can I trust one whom I do not know?” asked Ardeth Bey. “What do you wish to do?”

“I hope to persuade them to leave, before you have to make them,” Raven replied. She hoped to persuade them to go before they were caught in a battle which, for all her good intentions, there was inevitably the risk that somepony would get hurt.

“This Twilight Sparkle will listen to you?”

Raven snorted. “Twilight Sparkle? No. But there is one amongst her company who can be persuaded to betray her. A weak link. Somepony who is already reluctant to participate in this quest, and dubious of the reasoning behind it. Somepony who will deliver them into our hooves.”

And in so doing, save them all.

Deserving

Twilight’s hoof-prints lay in the sand, running away from the camp, marking a trail to follow all the way to where she stood, alone, bathed in moonlight, looking up at the stars.

Rainbow Dash had followed that hoof-print trail after her, not scuffing over it but rather walking beside it – walking, not flying, a rarity for her, but it felt less… she couldn’t put it into words, but it kind of felt less like she was trying to sneak up on Twilight even though she kind of was. Anyway, she’d followed Twilight on foot, not scuffing out the prints she followed but walking beside them.

She wasn’t far away from Twilight now, but Twilight didn’t know that she was there. She was just looking up at the stars, as though she hadn’t got a care in the world, as though the zebra warrior’s story hadn’t told them that there were bandits about in this part of the world, as though this was as safe as Equestria – as safe as Ponyville!

It was night now, and the moon was up, and the uncomfortable heat of the day had turned into a cool of night that was almost pleasant, if a little too chilly for Rainbow’s liking.

Perhaps she was just never satisfied, she thought, as she watched Twilight. Of course, if she wanted to warm herself up she could head back to the camp where Spike had lit a fire and everypony else – and Spike, who had felt the heat a little less than any of them but was feeling the chill a little more – was warming themselves around it. Pinkie had even found some marshmallows in her mane – Rainbow had long since given up trying to work out how she did that – and everypony was toasting them, except Ace who was prowling around on guard.

Rainbow could have joined them, if she’d wanted to. Except that if she’d done that then Ace would have come out here to drag Twilight back to camp and the nice warm fire, because she was getting pretty antsy about Twi being out here all be herself.

Rainbow understood that, Celestia knew that she understood that, she was kind of worried about Twilight being out here herself, but she thought that Twilight might take it better if a friend came to bring her back. Rainbow liked Ace, even if she did tell the same stories over and over again, but she wasn’t one of Twilight’s friends, at least not in the way that Rainbow was, or any of the others.

Princess Celestia might have sent Ace, but Twilight was their responsibility first and foremost.

Except that right now Rainbow wasn’t bringing Twilight back. She was standing behind her, watching as the moonlight fell on Twilight Sparkle as if it was a spotlight just for her. It washed over her, and in the moonlight which made her coat look more a shade of blue than lavender, Rainbow couldn’t help but be struck by how beautiful she-

No, no, she couldn’t think like that. She couldn’t let herself think like that. She…

She found it hard not to think like that when it was right in front of her.

Stop looking so cute, Twilight!

Cute, beautiful, lovely… but sad at the same time. As Rainbow approached – actually talking to Twilight would get her mind off of how she felt just looking at Twilight, she hoped – she could see better the forlorn look on Twilight’s face as she stared up at the stars, the way her eyes seemed not far from tears.

“None of us should wander alone,” Rainbow said, her voice soft, so as not to startle Twilight even while getting her attention. “You least of all.”

Twilight looked at her. “I’m sorry, I… I didn’t mean to worry you, it’s just-“

“This is rough country, Twilight,” Rainbow reminded her. “You heard what Hamilcar said, right? When Sunset went out here they got hit by bandits every which way.”

“I remember,” Twilight said mildly. “But we’ve not seen any sign of them.”

“There were those two creepy guys watching us,” Rainbow pointed.

“We don’t know they were bandits.”

“I can’t imagine who else would be out here,” Rainbow replied.

“Us?” Twilight said.

Rainbow was silent for a moment. “Well, yeah, okay, but…” she sat down. “So, what are you doing out here anyway.”

Twilight smiled for a moment, although the smile quickly faded from her face. “I didn’t want to distract anypony by my…”

“Stargazing?” Rainbow guessed.

“Not really,” Twilight guessed. “I was… I was hoping to see a shooting star.”

Rainbow grinned. “You could really use a wish right now, huh?”

Twilight chuckled. “Something like that, I guess.” She paused. “If I had a wish,” she said. “I would be at the Heart of the World right now, and we could get the answers that I came here for, and then go straight home.”

Rainbow nodded. “I think we’d all wish for the same thing,” she said.

“Would you?” Twilight asked. “Would you?”

“Of course I would,” Rainbow said. “What else would I wish for?”

“That we were all back home Ponyville,” Twilight suggested.

“If I wished for that we’d just have to come out here again,” Rainbow pointed. “We’ve already been through that once, I don’t want a repeat.” She waited a moment. “Admit it, you’d keep trying until you made it, wouldn’t you?”

Twilight sat down beside her, shuffling a little closer to Rainbow Dash across the sand. “I need answers,” she said. “I can’t just give up. I… I owe him not to give up.”

“You owe him,” Rainbow murmured. “But that’s not why you’re here, is it?”

Twilight looked down at the sands beneath their hooves, but said nothing.

Rainbow gnawed on her lip for a moment. “You never said that you loved him before,” she murmured.

“I didn’t… it wouldn’t have been my first choice of conversation topic, but…” Twilight trailed off. “Once we got onto the subject…”

Rainbow felt an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach, like something that she’d eaten had gone down the wrong way. “Do you love him?”

In the moonlight, it was easier to see the blush on Twilight’s cheeks. “We were about to kiss,” she whispered.

“Before he killed someone,” Rainbow pointed out.

Twilight winced. “Yeah,” she admitted. “Before that. But that was… he didn’t… he was sorry.”

“That didn’t do much for the poor guy he burned to ashes, did it?”

“That ‘poor guy’ attacked me,” Twilight reminded Rainbow. “Lightning saved my life.”

“You weren’t exactly grateful at first,” Rainbow pointed out.

“I know,” Twilight admitted. “And I don’t… I’m not glorifying what he did, to see the Fire of Heaven in action was… pretty horrifying. But that’s not who Lightning is?”

“Isn’t it?” Rainbow demanded. “He’s a warrior, Twilight!”

“So is Ace, and my brother for that matter,” Twilight declared.

“It’s not the same thing,” Rainbow insisted.

“Why not?”

“Because we don’t fight wars!”

“Maybe that just makes us lucky,” Twilight said. “Not morally superior.”

Rainbow locked eyes with Twilight, her magenta orbs staring into Twilight’s eyes of lavender. “He doesn’t deserve you,” she said, her voice hoarse and gruff and quiet.

Twilight took a moment to reply. Her voice, too, was soft and quiet. “I think that’s for me to decide, don’t you?”

Rainbow held Twilight’s gaze for a moment before she looked away. “Sure,” she admitted. “Sure it is, I don’t… I’m not… I’m just saying… okay, I think he’s no good for you. I think he doesn’t deserve you. I think that you’re too good for him, you’re… you’re Twilight Sparkle!” There was a lot else that she could have said, about what it meant that she was Twilight Sparkle: brave Twilight, sweet Twilight, ready to try anything Twilight, smart Twilight, too smart for her own good Twilight, Twilight who could panic at the smallest stupidest thing, Twilight who always had a plan when things got serious; wise Twilight, giver of good advice Twilight, terrible at taking good advice Twilight; Twilight who needed Rainbow’s help when the going got tough; cute Twilight, pretty Twilight, lovely Twilight, beautiful Twilight, Twilight with those gorgeous eyes, Twilight with that amazing laugh, Twilight with that voice that Rainbow could listen to all day and always made her smile.

She didn’t – couldn’t – say any of that because, well… because Twilight wouldn’t listen to anything else that she had to say, and Rainbow needed her to listen because that wasn’t why she was saying all of this. Rainbow was saying all of this because…

“I’m worried, Twi,” Rainbow said, her voice softening after she had almost barked out her distaste for Lightning Dawn. “I… I’m glad nopony else was around to hear me say that.” She grinned.

Twilight chuckled. “You’re secret’s safe with me.”

Rainbow laughed. “I know. I could tell you anything.” She paused. “I’m not afraid of what might happen to me,” she added. “I’m Rainbow Danger Dash, after all.” She flapped her wings a couple of times. “But I… I’m scared of-“

“Of what might happen to the others?” Twilight guessed.

“And to you,” Rainbow added. “What was in that old story that you found-“

“It wasn’t a story,” Twilight corrected her. “It was an account written by Queen-“

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever,” Rainbow interrupted. “The point is… she went that last part of the way alone.”

Twilight drew in a breath. “I’ve been thinking about that too.”

“Twilight,” Rainbow hissed. “You can’t!”

“What if I have to?” Twilight asked. “What if Dido was right, what if there’s no other choice?”

“There’s always a choice!” Rainbow cried. “You could… you could turn around, and walk away.”

“You know that I can’t do that,” Twilight said.

“You can,” Rainbow insisted. “And I think you would. If Pinkie was hurt, or Rarity, or anypony, you’d turn back, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,” Twilight said, and didn’t hesitate. Rainbow was glad of that. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if Twilight had hesitated, even for a moment. Well, she would have been very disappointed in Twilight Sparkle, but apart from that she didn’t know what she would have done. “Of course, if we had to turn back because somepony needed help, or because somepony might… I don’t want anything to happen to any of you. It… when I think that I asked you to come with me on this… I try not to worry, I try to tell myself that you all agreed to come and that I should respect your choices, but…”

Rainbow got up, and took a step closer to her. Then another step, embracing Twilight with one hoof, feeling the tremble in her body as Twilight rested her face on Rainbow’s shoulder.

“If we hadn’t come,” Rainbow whispered. “You’d have tried this trip alone, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,” Twilight replied, and once more there was no hesitation.

“And that’s why we agreed to come,” Rainbow told her. “And that’s why I don’t want you to leave us behind, in fact it’s more than that,” she withdrew, pulling away from Twilight. “I want you to promise me, Twi, that you won’t leave us behind.”

Twilight’s eyes were wide. “I don’t-“

“Promise me, Twilight,” Rainbow insisted. “I’m serious.”

“So am I,” Twilight replied. “What if I have to? Dido thought-“

“That might be superstition for all you know,” Rainbow said.

“But what if it isn’t?”

“What if I don’t want to be stuck waiting at the bottom of some mountain, watching you climb up and wondering if that’s the last I’ll ever see of you?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight was silent for a moment. “What if I can’t promise?” she asked.

Rainbow didn’t reply. She hadn’t thought… or rather she had thought, she had thought that Twilight would… she should have seen this coming. Twilight had something pushing her on, she had to keep going, this was… this mattered to her as much as anything had ever mattered to her in her life.

She couldn’t promise to turn away, any more than Rainbow could promise to give up on becoming a Wonderbolt.

She hated it, but she couldn’t say she didn’t understand. And so she forced herself to smile thinly. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not your fault-“

“I shouldn’t have asked you to do something like that, it was wrong of me,” Rainbow said. “I… I’ve said what I had to say and I… I get it. I might not like it, but I get it. He meant a lot to you, and I don’t have the right to tell you that you have to give up on him like that, him or Krysta. I don’t… I’m sorry.”

Twilight bowed her head, her eyes closing for a moment before she looked back up at Rainbow with a smile. “Thank you,” she whispered. She started to reach for Rainbow, but seemed to think better of it, and drew back her hoof. She scuffed at the sand beneath her hooves. “I… I should probably go back now.”

“You go on ahead,” Rainbow told her. “I’ll catch up.”

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked. “I’m not sure if-“

“I’ll be right behind you,” Rainbow promised.

Twilight hesitated, but then nodded. “Okay. But right behind me.”

Rainbow smiled, and hoped it actually looked like a smile and not a grimace. “Right behind you.”

Twilight accepted that, and said nothing else to her, she just turned away and started to follow her hoof-prints back towards the safety of the camp and the others.

Rainbow watched her go, her retreating form still bathed in moonlight as if the moon itself was following her.

Only when Twilight had gotten a little way off did Rainbow feel free to start stamping her hooves in frustration.

Lightning Dawn! Rainbow… Rainbow had never liked the guy, not since he dropped out of the sky and practically the first thing he did was to insult Applejack, just because she was a farmpony. And no, his excuse didn’t help, just because a farmer beat him up once didn’t give him cause to go around insulting Applejack like that. Applejack would have been in her rights to give him a kick on the nose too, and the only reason she hadn’t was that she was a nice, decent pony.

She did not like Lightning Dawn, and nothing that he had done had changed Rainbow’s mind about that. He was a soldier, he was a killer, he killed people with his spear, or with his magic that even Twilight had found horrifying – and it had been bad enough hearing her describe what it did to that other pony – and he put other ponies in danger as well. Twilight seemed to have forgotten this, or maybe it just suited her to forget about this, but it had been pretty clear to Rainbow Dash at least that Twilight had only been attacked – and badly too, her face had been all kinds of messed up when they got into the hospital – because Lightning Dawn had been there. Somepony had gone after him, for some reason, and Twilight had gotten in the way.

Lightning Dawn was dangerous. He was all different kinds of dangerous. He was dangerous in himself, because danger was what he did – and not the fun kind of danger, not thrills, not daring, just danger; the kind of danger that got people hurt, because hurting people was his thing. He was dangerous because he had enemies, and those enemies were willing to hurt other ponies who got in their way to get to Lightning Dawn.

And he was dangerous because of what Twilight was willing to do for him. For the sake of Lightning Dawn – okay, and Krysta – she was willing to come to a place like this, a place where nothing grew and they had no food but what they could scavenge for themselves, a place that wanted them dead, a place where the thing that they were looking for might actually want them dead if they didn’t follow a set of rules that included ‘you need to ditch all of your friends for the last bit of the way up here’. There were bandits and sandstorms and you might not find water and they’d already been imprisoned by a dragon for crying out loud! And Twilight… Twilight still wanted to press on. For Lightning Dawn.

Rainbow Dash was not a coward. Danger was her middle name, and she would have gladly laid down her life for Twilight if she had to, but for Lightning Dawn? For Lightning Dawn?!

Their lives were all at risk for Lightning Dawn? There was a chance that Pinkie Pie or Rarity might get hurt, that Applejack might not come home to Apple Bloom and Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy was at risk for Lightning Dawn?

For Lightning Dawn. Why? Why did he deserve so much, why did he deserve Twilight, why did he deserve all the lengths that she was willing to go for them and how far she was willing to drag them with her?

Rainbow closed her eyes. That… that was unfair. Twilight wasn’t their boss, she wasn’t their commanding officer, she wasn’t leading them anyplace except because she inspired them to follow her.

“Twilight does not command you to stay,” the voice that came from behind her was soft, and sinuous. “You stay because you would not be parted from her. Because you love her.”

A shiver ran down Rainbow’s spine. She turned around. Behind her stood a pony who might have been an earth pony, a unicorn or a pegasus; you couldn’t tell which just like you couldn’t see her face, you couldn’t tell what colour her eyes were, you could barely tell if she was a mare or a stallion.

Everything was hidden behind a dark cloak.

Rainbow had never met this pony before, but she had heard enough to guess who she was.

“Raven,” she growled, baring her teeth.

“Guilty,” Raven murmured. “Although not necessarily as charged.”

Rainbow bent her legs, ready to pounce. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t-“

“I need your help,” Raven said.

Rainbow stopped. “You… my help? My help?! You tried to kill Pinkie, you-“

“That was… a mistake,” Raven conceded. “Although it all worked out in the end-“

Rainbow growled wordlessly.

“But a mistake, all the same,” Raven added quickly. “I… I was desperate. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I only knew that I had to act if I was to…”

Rainbow waited for her to continue. “What?”

“I don’t think it matters, do you?” Raven asked. “I could give you my reasons and you wouldn’t forgive me for what I did to Pinkie.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” Rainbow grunted. “But you came to me, so you must have something to say.”

“A fair point,” Raven allowed. “As I said, I need your help.”

“How about you give me a reason why I shouldn’t kick your flank, first?”

“I am not your enemy,” Raven declared. “I am not Twilight’s enemy, I am not Pinkie’s enemy, I am… I am your best friend here.”

“I doubt that.”

“Alright, do you want to know?” Raven demanded. “Do you want to know why I infected Pinkie with the Shard of Darkness, do you want to know why I’m here: to stop Lightning Dawn. He is not what you think he is. He is not what Twilight thinks he is and this… this isn’t going to go the way she wants it to.”

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Lightning Dawn is trouble,” Raven said. “But you knew that already, didn’t you?”

“You haven’t exactly been nice to have around yourself,” Rainbow muttered.

“I do what I must,” Raven said. “Lightning… Twilight needed to know that Lightning wasn’t… you cannot go to the Heart of the World.”

“Why not? Because she’ll find Lightning if she does?”

“She’ll find so much more than Lightning Dawn, do you think he’s the only one out there?” Raven demanded. “He is the vanguard of an invasion! He is… if Twilight opens up Equestria to the wider galaxy, if she opens that door then there will be no closing it. None.”

“Then tell her that instead of attacking Pinkie and having a dragon lock us up and-“

“Twilight wouldn’t believe me!”

“What makes you think I will?” Rainbow asked.

“Because you know,” Raven said softly. “You know how dangerous he is. You know how he’s put Twilight at risk, put Pinkie at risk-“

“You did that,” Rainbow pointed out.

“I wouldn’t have, if Lightning Dawn hadn’t been there,” Raven insisted. “I need your help, Rainbow Dash. I need you. Twilight needs you.”

Rainbow hesitated. She didn’t trust Raven, not one bit, but… what she was saying… it made some sense. Lightning was dangerous, Twilight was in danger because of her connection to him, and if she didn’t give it up… when Raven said that this wasn’t going to end well it… it made sense, you know?

She was the only one who saw it. Rarity and Fluttershy thought it was romantic, Pinkie was grateful for Lightning saving Twilight, Applejack… Applejack was too nice for her own good, too go-along-to-get-along, to inclined to see the good in other folks to get what bad news Lightning was. Spike was too closed to Krysta. None of them got it. None of them understood. None of them saw.

Rainbow saw. Rainbow understood. And it seemed that Raven understood too and so, so maybe… maybe Rainbow ought to hear her out, in spite of what she’d done.

“What do you want me to do?” Rainbow asked. “I’ve already tried to talk Twilight out of this-“

“But she is beyond the point of talking, I know,” Raven murmured. “No, what I want is… something else.”

“What?” Rainbow demanded.

“I have friends, waiting nearby,” Raven whispered. “All you have to do is lead Twilight and the others to a certain place, where my friends are waiting-“

“You want me to lead Twilight and the others into an ambush?”

“They will be detained, not harmed,” Raven said. “I swear to you, I mean you no harm. They will be detained, and then sent home back to Equestria. Don’t you want to go home, Rainbow Dash? Don’t you want to be back in Ponyville, don’t you want to go camping with Scootaloo, don’t you want to be able to spend time with the others without worrying about them?”

“Yeah, because they’re so going to want to hang out with me after I sell them out,” Rainbow muttered.

“Why should they know?” Raven asked. “I have no intention of telling them. I can have you taken prisoner along with the rest. It’s not like I’m asking you to stand by my side and cacklingly explain how you betrayed your friends.”

“But you’re still asking me to betray my friends,” Rainbow pointed out.

“I’m asking you to do what is best for them,” Raven said. “I’m asking you to do what you know in your heart to be right.” She paused. “Have we had the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well yet?”

“Yet?”

“Have you had the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well?” Raven repeated, her tone sharpening.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said cautiously. “How did you?”

“Then you know that there is more to friendship than giving your friends what they want,” Raven insisted. “Twilight and the others didn’t give you what they wanted, they connived together at your humiliation because they decided that it was what you needed, even if it wasn’t what you wanted. I’m asking you to do the same, to give Twilight what she needs, even if it isn’t what she wanted.”

Rainbow hesitated. It was… it was… tempting. Raven was right, sometimes part of being a friend was to do the right thing even if it wasn’t what they wanted. Like with what Twilight and the others had done to her over the Mare-Do-Well business: at the time she’d felt humiliated, betrayed even, but it was what she’d needed to stop the swelling of her head, to pop her out of control ego.

This wasn’t what Twilight wanted. Twilight wanted to keep going, Twilight wanted to find the Heart of the World, Twilight wanted to put herself in danger for the sake of Lightning Dawn. So maybe it was Rainbow’s job, as her friend, as her loyal friend, to… to…

To betray her? To crush her dreams? To decide what was best for her?

To do what… to do what Rainbow had hated when Twilight and the others did for her.

And this… this would be so much worse.

This would be something… maybe Twilight wouldn’t find out, but that didn’t mean that Rainbow would be able to forgive herself.

“You’re asking me to trust you over Twilight?” Rainbow demanded. “Get lost!”

“Twilight is making a mistake-“

“Then maybe she is!” Rainbow yelled. “And if she is then we’ll face the consequences, together! Just like we faced Discord, and Nightmare Moon-“

“This isn’t going to be like those other times-“

“I don’t care,” Rainbow snarled. “We’ll face it together just the same. Because we’re friends. Because Twilight is my friend. Because I trust her. And because she trusts me and that… Celestia help me I’m going to live up to that trust in me even if I have to follow her into Tartarus to do it!”

Raven was silent for a moment. “I… I see,” she murmured. “It appears that I have underestimated you, Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow growled. “You did.”

A sigh escaped from under Raven’s hood and cloak. “Of course… you realise that I can’t let you go.”

Rainbow hesitated. “Your friends… they’re nearby, aren’t they?”

Raven’s voice was almost sad. “Very much so, yes.”

Rainbow nodded slowly. Then a smirk appeared on her face. “Thanks for telling me that, Raven.”

“Wh-“ Raven began, her voice turning into a grunt of pain as Rainbow socked her. Rainbow’s forehoove shot out, striking into the darkness beneath her hood, sending her staggering back and sideways.

And as she staggered, Rainbow took off. Her cyan wings spread out as she leapt up, into the night sky, a rainbow streak trailing behind her as she flew, her wings flapping desperately, carrying her faster and faster back to camp.

“TWILIGHT!” she yelled. “Everypony, we gotta go!”

Wonderful Stories

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight cried, as Rainbow flew into camp, yelling with alarm. “What’s-“

“Raven!” Rainbow snapped. “Raven’s here, and she’s not alone!”

“Sweet Celestia!” Ace growled. “How many? How close? Who?”

“I don’t-“ Rainbow began, but then stopped, or rather her voice was overrode and interrupted by the sound of a horn blaring out in the darkness. Then another horn sounded, its noise issuing forth from out of the night to reach them round their fire. Then another still: horns, horns, horns wildly blowing, horns to strike the stars. Horns to strike fear into Twilight’s heart.

“Too many and too close,” Ace snapped.

“Everypony, get up,” Twilight said. “We’re leaving. Rarity, help me load the wagon.”

“We don’t have-“ Ace began.

“We can’t leave everything here, not in a place like this,” Twilight said. “We won’t find another friendly lizard to lead Fluttershy to a watering hole.” This is a land where nothing grows. “Rarity-“

“I’m ahead of you, darling,” Rarity said, and her voice sounded admirably calm as the diamond-blue light of her magic burned around her horn, picking up blankets as they fell from the backs of Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, picking up groundsheets as fast as the ponies could get off them, picking up everything that they hadn’t already used, everything that was strewn around the camp and tossing them higgledy-piggledy onto their wagon.

It was a vulnerability, Twilight understood that perfectly well; she understood how their presence had hobbled Sunset’s party and now it would hobble them, slowing them down as they came under attack. But they couldn’t do without it, not in a place like this. If they lost their supplies they would have to go back, and even that would be a dicey proposition at this stage.

Twilight’s own horn flared with lavender as she joined in Rarity’s efforts, picking up whatever was left and tossing it onto the back of the cart.

“I’ll pull,” Applejack volunteered.

“I’ve got a better idea,” Twilight said, and she wrapped the entire cart and all its goods and stores up in the lavender embrace of her telekinesis, lifting the entire object and everything on it up off the ground and into the air. “We’ll be faster this way. Rarity-“

“Still ahead of you,” Rarity said, still sounding calm – it was amazing how Rarity could fret and wail and faint and throw such marvellous tantrums in the face of what were, in the scheme of things, rather trivial disasters, and then turn around and be so calm in the face of real peril; but then, Twilight thought that perhaps the same could be said of her – as she picked up Spike in the embrace of her own telekinesis and set him down upon her back. “Hold on tight, Spikey-Wikey; tangle your fingers up in my mane.”

“Your mane!” Spike exclaimed, “But-“

“It doesn’t matter now, Spike,” Rarity said, gently but firmly. “Just do as I ask.”

The horns continued to sound from out of the darkness, the horns of the hunters blaring to direct the hunt and scare the prey in equal measure. Twilight couldn’t see anything yet, but she fancied that she could hear the sound of hooves thundering upon the ground as Raven’s friends, whoever they were, approached them.

“Ace,” Twilight said, “which way?”

Ace’s head darted this way and that like a meerkat, looking south, then north. “East,” she said, “they haven’t surrounded us yet. Rainbow Dash, can you fight?”

“A little,” Rainbow said.

“If they’re smart they’ll been trying to close the ring,” Ace said. “I need you to get out in front, put yourself between the jaws, keep them open until everypony else gets out. Applejack, I need you to keep track of the flanks, stay with Twilight and the others.”

“Like shepherdin’ the herd, I got ya,” Applejack said. “Kinda wish Winona was here for this.”

“I’ll bring up the rear,” Ace said. “Just in case. Everypony move, now!”

They ran. Rainbow streaked ahead, her rainbow trail illuminating the darkness for a moment. Everypony else followed after her, Twilight dragging the cart along through the air with her telekinesis; Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity with Spike upon her back all ran beside her, while Applejack circled them protectively, first running on their right, then dropping back for a moment to run upon their left, then back to the right again. Ace was in the air, her wings spread out, soaring slowly behind them, constantly looking back, sometimes turning back, sometimes pausing in mid-air to let the others gain some ground on her, always keeping herself to the rear of the group.

They ran, their hooves pounding upon the sand, kicking it up into one another’s faces. Twilight could feel the weight of the wagon pushing down upon her telekinesis, she could feel it dragging at her, she could feel the toll that exerting her magic was taking upon her but she would not relent. She would not let it go. She had power and strength enough to do this and so she would do it. Without this wagon, without everything that was contained within it, they would be truly lost. Especially now, plunging blindly into the night with no idea of where they were going except away from pursuit.

Raven. Why, why was it always her, why did she pursue and torment them so?

Why couldn’t she just leave them alone, hadn’t she done enough already?

Twilight pushed the questions to the back of her mind; clearly Raven was not going to leave them alone, and could not be counted on to do so; that being the case, clearly the only thing to do was to accept it and deal with it.

They had faced stronger enemies than Raven, they could face her too.

But had they faced an enemy as determined and persistent as Raven?

Twilight scowled. It didn’t matter. They could overcome, together.

She looked ahead; Rainbow’s trail was like a star, guiding them on. She looked beside her, to where Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie ran. She looked to her other side, her right, to where Applejack kept pace easily with the rest, looking as though she was having to slow herself to keep from outpacing them.

Together.

She could definitely hear hooves thundering behind them now. Behind and on either side of them. She turned her head, peering into the darkness. She though she could see something, it was hard to make out but they looked like shapes, vague shapes in the night, moving around on either side of them; it was just like Ace said, they were trying to cut them off.

“Rarity, can you hold the cart for a moment?” Twilight asked.

“A little bigger than I’m used to but I can try,” Rarity said, her horn flaring as the blue light of Rarity’s magic replaced Twilight’s lavender aura, the wagon swaying and wobbling a little in Rarity’s grip.

Thus free, Twilight bowed her head, presenting her horn to the vague shapes running beside them. “Applejack,” she called out, “clear the way.”

Applejack dropped back a few steps, as Twilight cast two bolts of magic to her right and another to her left, firing half-blind into the darkness, firing at the shapes that she could see. There was at least one cry of alarm, so she guessed that she’d either hit something or at least made them jump. She cast another bolt in each direction, something for them to think about.

“Twilight,” Rarity grunted. “I’m afraid that I’m not used to having to apply so much force.”

“Right,” Twilight said, taking the cart again. Rarity’s telekinesis was deft, in the art of fine manipulation she was superior to Twilight herself, but she didn’t have Twilight’s raw magical power, and it was raw power, not deftness, that was needed when trying to magically carry something as large and heavy as this wagon and its encumbrance. “Thank you.”

“What are we going to do?” Fluttershy asked tremulously.

“Hope to lose them in the darkness,” Twilight said, panting a little from the effort of running.

“Do you think we can?” Spike asked. Nopony answered him. Nopony had the answer to that, except for the fact that they had to try, and wouldn’t know if they could or until they tried.

The horns of their pursuers had ceased to blow, and for a moment the ponies were granted a respite from all noise, save for the pounding of their own hooves and the counterpoint thunderous drumming of the hooves of their pursuers as they began to overtake the ponies.

Then, one of those shadowy figures out in the darkness let out a wild, shrill, keening cry, and that high-pitched whoop was taken up by one and all amongst those who chased them, filling the night, striking the stars with the sound of wailing and hooting, crying out as though they were enjoying the chase – perhaps they were enjoying the chase, even if those they chased were not.

Fluttershy whimpered as the cries of their pursuers filled the night air.

“Brave heart, Fluttershy,” Rarity murmured, drawing a little closer to her.

Twilight lost sight of Rainbow’s trail up ahead, but only for a moment, then she saw it again, but not moving in front of them but rather from side to side, darting first this way and then the other.

They’ve caught up, she thought. It’s like Ace said, they’re trying to close the ring.

“Come on!” Rainbow yelled. “We gotta go!”

They tried. They ran as fast as they could, their legs pumped furiously to drive them across the sand; but the vague shapes on either side of them began to close in, resolving themselves as they got closer into zebras, tall zebras in dark robes, their spearpoints gleaming.

The ring closed in around them.

A shadow blotted out the moon above them, its wings spread out across the entire diameter of the orb, or at least so it seemed from their perspective.

The shadow of a dragon.

A great roar split the sky, falling like lightning from above them, drowning out the keening cries of the robed zebras as Mantle swept down upon them from the moon above, and as he swooped like a hawk upon a hapless field mouse he opened his mouth to belch out fire upon the sand, scattering the zebras in their robes as their shrill cries of battle turned to wails of alarm.

Mantle landed upon the ground, shaking it with the force of his impact as he landed squarely athwart the ponies’ path, physically blocking their way with his four massive, trunk-like legs and his long, spike-tipped tail.

“Come not between the dragon and his wrath,” he yelled, fire spitting from his nostrils as he spoke. “I claim these ponies as my prize! Get you gone, you worthless insects!”

“Bring down the dragon!” one of the zebras cried. “Find his-“

Mantle roared, and as he roared a gust of fire erupted from his maw so hot that it turned a patch of sand to glass where it struck; a zebra threw off his robes as they began to burn, the others scattered into the darkness to avoid the flames themselves.

A spear flew out of the night to rattle harmlessly off Mantle’s scales.

Mantle growled. “To me, my warriors! To me!”

Once more, the air was filled with high-pitched keening cries, but they did not come from the zebras in their dark robes, whose attack had stalled amidst the shock of Mantle’s arrival; no, they did not come from those who had lain in wait for Twilight and her friends; they came from those who had fallen upon them in turn, the zebras in their plain white masks, lithe and limber, who emerged from out of the night to fall upon the robed warriors with spear and club and hooves that struck like lightning. They were few in number – or fewer at least than those whom they opposed – yet they seemed to come out of nowhere, to fight like dancers, weaving through the combat, disordering the opposition, being everywhere and nowhere at the same time, injuring or disabling their opponents – Twilight saw no one struck dead, or at least she hoped that she did not – without appearing to receive so much as a single injury in turn.

Mantle watched them fight, a smile appearing on his scaly, reptilian features, and he made no move to assist his zebras in the combat, he breathed no more fire, he did not even roar. He simply watched, as though he were spectator in this battle not participant.

Nor were the masked zebras alone: the thunder of hooves heralded the arrival of their reinforcements, a phalanx of Grevyian zebras who wore no masks but who were clad in armour of iron which dully reflected the silver of the moon above. They charged in a tight, square formation four ranks deep, shattering the loose, clustered grouping of the robed zebras – already disordered by Mantle’s masked warriors – and pushing them back like a broom sweeps away dust. They split into two groups, flowing around Mantle and the ponies to press hard upon the robed zebras.

A horn sounded in the night, then another, then another; but these horns sounded more dolorous notes, muted and mournful, and Twilight guessed that they were sounding the retreat, because the robed zebras began to fall back, melting away into the darkness, taking to their heels, kicking up sand as they fled into the cover of night like thieves discovered.

“Mighty One,” an officer of the armoured zebras, his face concealed behind a mask decorated with blood-red stripes and colourful feathers of yellow, blue and green around the edges, bowed to Mantle. “The enemy are repeating.”

“I have eyes, Captain,” Mantle growled.

“Of course, Mighty One,” the Captain added. “Shall we pursue them?”

“No,” Mantle replied. “They are irrelevant. If they try our strength again then we shall punish them again, but perhaps they have learned their lesson. If they have or they have not it is all one to me.” Mantle turned his baleful gaze on Twilight and her friends as his tail swished from side to side, making a rut in the sand. “Our business is with these ponies, so long as those robed fools do not try to take them from me, then we have no quarrel.”

Mantle craned his neck as he lowered his head, approaching Rarity – and Spike, who still rode upon her back. “Hello again, little one,” he said, and the breathing out of his nostrils disturbed the placement of Rarity’s mane, or what remained of it after a run with Spike clinging to it for dear life. It looked like a dishevelled mess, but Mantle’s breathing certainly didn’t help. “It was rude of you to leave without saying goodbye.”

“It was rather rude of you to take us all prisoner, I must say,” Rarity said dryly.

Mantle chuckled. “You are bold, to speak so plainly to one who holds your life in his claws,” he declared. “Are you not afraid, little pony?”

Rarity swallowed. “If I were,” she said. “I certainly shouldn’t admit it, I think.”

“Hmm,” Mantle murmured, which gave little sign as to what he thought of Rarity’s response. He said nothing else before two of his white-masked warriors dragged Rainbow Dash between them out of the dark and dumped her at Twilight’s hooves.

Rainbow grunted. “Sorry, Twilight,” he muttered. “Those zebras… they’re really hard to hit.”

“It’s okay,” Twilight murmured. “I’m not sure fighting our way out was ever really an option.”

“Wise pony,” Mantle said, as Ace, too, was dumped on the ground by some of the masked warriors.

Twilight swallowed. There had to be a way out of this somehow, there had to; if they couldn’t fight there way out then maybe they could talk their way out instead? “Princess Celestia… Princess Celestia will pay handsomely for our release.”

“Will Princess Celestia pay me with the Heart of the World?” Mantle asked, in a voice laced with sarcasm. “What you seek is my desire.” He turned his baleful gaze upon her. “Upon your answer to my question hangs the lives of all our companions: do you know where the Heart of the World is to be found?”

“If you harm us, Princess Celestia-“

“Is not here,” Mantle growled, blasting hot air into Twilight’s face and making her flinch. “Do you know?”

“Yes!” Twilight cried. “Yes, we know where it is. But I won’t tell you – nopony will tell you – unless you guarantee the safety of my friends.”

“You are in no position to bargain,” Mantle informed her.

“I have something you want,” Twilight replied. “I think that puts me in the perfect position to bargain.”

Mantle was silent for a moment. “You are the leader of this group, I take it.”

Twilight nodded. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twilight Sparkle,” Mantle repeated. “You are bold, Twilight Sparkle. If I were to kill one of your friends, would you really spite me with a silent tongue, though it meant that your other companions would suffer for it.”

“Spare them,” Twilight growled. “Or you’ll never find out where the Heart of the World is.”

Again, Mantle took pause a while. He pulled away from Twilight, rising up to his full and very imposing height. “Bind these ponies,” he commanded. “Set sentries and make camp here. We rest for the night. Tomorrow, Twilight Sparkle will lead us to the Heart of the World.”

“I’m sorry, girls,” Twilight murmured, as she was unceremoniously dumped upon the ground so that the zebras could tie up her legs.

“Don’t let it get you down, Twilight,” Pinkie replied, her tone as cheerful as if they were back in Ponyville. “Everything’s going to be just fine.”

“Uh, Pinkie,” Rainbow said, as her wings were restrained. “We’ve been captured and tied up and a dragon is going to kill us if we don’t show him where this Heart thing is.”

“Oh, he’s not so bad,” Pinkie declared, based on no evidence that Twilight could see. “He’ll come around.”

“Come around?” Applejack repeated. “Pinkie, what are you?”

“Hey there, Mister Mantle?” Pinkie cried, in a sing-song voice.

Mantle had lain down on his stomach on the sand, his wings folded up by his side, seemed like a sort of unusually coloured rock formation as his zebra warriors and servants busied themselves establishing a camp around him. At Pinkie’s words, one red eye opened. “What?” he demanded.

“Would you like to hear a story before bed?” Pinkie asked.

Mantle stared at her. “A story?” he repeated.

Pinkie’s legs were tied up, but that wasn’t a problem for a pony who bounced as often as she walked. Just as she bounced a couple of steps closer to the dragon now. “Yep.”

“Do I look like a child?” Mantle asked.

“Aw, come on, everyone likes a good story!” Pinkie said.

“Pinkie,” Rainbow hissed. “What are you doing?”

Mantle rolled his eyes. “If I do not enjoy this story,” he growled. “I will gobble you up.”

“Okey dokey,” Pinkie agreed.

“Pinkie!” Twilight cried.

“Darling, what are you-“

“It’s okay, girls,” Pinkie said. “I know he’ll like this one.” She cleared her throat, and when she spoke her voice was louder than it had been a moment before, loud enough to carry across the whole camp. “Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria...”

Twilight hadn’t know exactly what to expect – Pinkie’s stories could be a little bit out there sometimes, and not really what you would think to be to a greedy dragon lord’s taste – but she hadn’t expected Pinkie to start telling the story of how they defeated Nightmare Moon. And yet that was just what Pinkie did, beginning with a quick recap of the story of Nightmare Moon and how she was sealed away by Princess Celestia a thousand years ago – Twilight noted that she was telling the story as Twilight and the others had known it at the time, without any of the details that Lightning Dawn had supplied later.

Perhaps that was because those details hadn’t been confirmed yet; Princess Celestia was very close-mouthed about the whole thing, and Twilight hadn’t had the nerve to approach Princess Luna about it.

“And that was the story that was read in a book by Twilight Sparkle,” Pinkie declared, “a super duper smart unicorn was kind of grumpy because she didn’t have any friends.” Pinkie looked at Twilight, and pulled a sad face.

Twilight rolled her eyes. I got better!

“Why, Twilight didn’t even want to go to a party when she was invited!” Pinkie cried, as though it was the most unimaginable thing… imaginable. “Twilight rushed home to her tower in Canterlot, bumping into Spike on the way hard enough to knock him over. Twilight had been carrying a present for Moondancer, but when he fell over the spike on his tail impaled the box and the bear inside-“

“How does she know that?” Spike asked, but the only answer he got was Rarity shushing him.

Pinkie went on, ignoring the interruptions as she told the story of how Princess Celestia had despatched Twilight and Spike to Ponyville to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, and to make some friends. It was, obviously, a familiar tale to Twilight – one would hope so, considering that she had lived it – but Pinkie told it very well nonetheless, with voices that were not exactly great impressions of her friends – except for Fluttershy, that was spot on for some reason – but conveyed the essence of each one as well as being rather funny. Twilight spotted one zebra guard chuckling to himself when Pinkie got to the part about Twilight drinking the hot sauce by mistake, even if he did stop when another guard glared at him.

For his part, Mantle seemed to be listening carefully, with no sign of boredom or irritation or, thankfully, any sign that he was going to eat Pinkie when she was done.

Which was a good thing, because she had already reached the point of Nightmare Moon’s return.

“The night,” Pinkie yelled, in the most evil voice that she could muster, “will last forever! Muhahahahaha! Muhahahaha!” Thunder rolled in the distance, as if on cue.

Pinkie stopped. Silence ruled in the camp as firmly as Mantle.

It dragged on for a few moments before Mantle spoke. “And?”

Pinkie cocked her head to one side. “And what?”

“And what happened?” Mantle demanded, raising his head. “Where was Princess Celestia? Who stopped Nightmare Moon and how? What happened?”

“Ooooh, that’s tomorrow night’s story,” Pinkie declared. “Don’t worry, we’ll get there.”

Mantle’s eyes narrowed. “Tomorrow night?”

“You can’t have all the stories at once, you know,” Pinkie pointed out. “But you liked it, huh?”

“Yes,” said one of the zebras.

Mantle growled at him, and he shrank back and hid behind one of the tents they had erected.

Mantle snorted. “It was… tolerable,” he muttered, sounding as though the word was being dragged out of him with pincers. More like the admission that he had, in fact, enjoyed himself was one that had not really wanted to make. “Very well. Tomorrow you will finish the story. And it had better be good,” he added, as he closed his eyes.

Twilight’s own eyes were wide as Pinkie bounced back to the others and lay down. “How did you-“

“It’s like I said,” Pinkie replied. “Everyone enjoys a good story.”

Tomorrow came, and under the heat of the sun everypony’s legs were untied, although the wings of the pegasi remained bound. The zebras pressed close about them, alert for any sign of attempted escape as Twilight led the way towards Mount Hyperion – or rather to one of the watering holes that Hamilcar had marked out on the route to Mount Hyperion, which would take a little longer but which would, at least, ensure that they got to the mountain alive.

How long they would stay that way once they got there was rather less certain, as was the vexed question of how long so large a group would be permitted to travel together. Dido’s account suggested that pilgrims to the Heart of the World were supposed to shed companions as they went until only one went up the mountain, but Mantle hardly seemed the type to obey such restrictions… mind you, he hadn’t seemed the type to enjoy a story about Twilight and the others either, but he had.

And yet, all the same, would he proceed without his guards? Would he go up the mountain alone? And if he did, would he deny Twilight the chance to do so after? Was she doomed to have come so far, only to yield place to this dragon and his ambitions?

It would be a bitter blow, but considering the alternative… so long as her friends made it through this in one piece then she would bear it. She wouldn’t like it, in fact she would hate it, but she would bear it.

Lightning, she was sure, would understand.

The day passed in near silence, as the zebra guards said nothing to them, and neither did Mantle; sometimes the dragon walked beside them, other times he flew overhead, swooping forward and then returning to the column afterwards.

It was not until the night returned, and they made camp again, and after the meal had been served to the captives, that Mantle, once more lying on his belly in the sand, said, “You were going to finish the story, Pinkie Pie.”

“You know my name!” Pinkie said happily.

“You gave it to Twilight Sparkle,” Mantle reminded her. “And, thus, to me.”

“And you remembered,” Pinkie pointed out. “So, where was I?”

“The night will last forever!” a zebra called out, then once more hid when Mantle glared at him.

“Oh, right,” Pinkie said. “Okay, so the next thing that happened was that Nightmare Moon…”

She proceeded to tell the rest of the story, of how the six friends came together to reclaim the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare Moon, complete with a full rendition of the song she had sung to break the fright spell that Nightmare Moon had cast upon the trees of the forest.

“And then Princess Celestia said, ‘Why so glum, my faithful student, are you not happy that your quest is complete and you can return to your studies in Canterlot?’ And then Twilight replied, ‘That’s just it, just when I learned how wonderful it is to have friends, I have to leave them.’ Princess Celestia thought hard about it – or maybe she just pretended to think about it because she’d already seen this coming and made up her mind. It’s kind of hard to tell with her,” Pinkie said. “Anyway, Princess Celestia acted like she was thinking about it, but then she smiled and I think that it was one of those ‘I already saw this coming and planned ahead’ smiles, but anyway, she smiled and said, ‘Spike, take a note please: I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that Twilight Sparkle shall take on a new mission for Equestria. She must continue to study the magic of friendship. She must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville.’”

A zebra cheered. Notably, it was not the same one who had remembered the end of the last night’s story.

And Mantle didn’t even glare at them.

“And Twilight promised to study harder than ever before!” Pinkie declared.

“And… did she?” Mantle asked.

Pinkie smiled. “Well that’s a completely different story, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so,” Mantle admitted. “Can you tell it tomorrow?”

That pretty much set the tone for the stage of their journey through Qartaggia: each day, they would march closer to Mount Hyperion under guard from Mantle’s zebra warriors, and each night Pinkie would tell a different story: about the fight that they had had over the Grand Galloping Gala tickets, about how Applejack had tried to take on the entire harvest by herself, about the time when Rainbow’s old friend Gilda had come to Ponyville.

And as Pinkie told the stories, as she sang the songs, a change came over the zebras and the dragon who led them. Mantle began to laugh at Pinkie’s accounts, and so did the guards in increasing numbers. When the stories were done, they could be heard humming the songs softly in the camp, and in the mornings as they packed up the camp. What had previously been silent marches became more animated, as the zebra warriors seemed to feel increasingly free to talk to their captives, and to one another as well. On the night after Pinkie had told Gilda’s story, the zebras pressed her to tell the next story – Trixie’s arrival in Ponyville – in the daytime as they walked, and Mantle landed on the ground to hear it too.

As Pinkie shared her stories – their stories – the zebras began to share more about themselves in turn. The ponies learned that the captain’s name was Bostar, and that he was an amateur cartographer who hoped to map this area – once he found out that Twilight was a scholar, he asked for her help. They told the ponies their names, they unburdened themselves of their hopes, their dreams, their ambitions, their frustrations and their problems. They shared the songs that Pinkie had taught them – it would have been surreal to have been marched along by a company of warriors and a dragon belting out Pinkie’s smile song, except that by that point the ponies no longer really felt like prisoners; their bonds were gone, even the wings of Rainbow, Ace and Fluttershy had been freed. They hadn’t been explicitly told that they could go, but they no longer really felt like prisoners.

It felt almost like travelling with friends.

And all thanks to the magic of Pinkie’s stories.

“I… I have never known anything quite like this,” Mantle confessed, as Pinkie finished telling the story of how they had all told the story of how they got their cutie marks to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “I have never heard stories quite like these before.”

“Well of course not, silly,” Pinkie replied, with laughter in her voice. “We hadn’t lived them yet.”

Mantle chuckled. “You are a very unusual pony, Pinkie Pie.” He looked at each of her friends in turn. “You are all very unusual ponies.”

“No, we’re not,” Pinkie replied. “We just do the best we can, that’s all.”

“I feel as though I know you so well,” Mantle declared. “And as though you have taught me so much.” He paused for a moment, and when he spoke again. “Let it be known that when we return to Cirta there will be changes to how my lands are ruled. I shall be fairer with my subjects, and more than that I shall be present in your lives, even as Princess Celestia of the ponies is. I shall be kind, and generous. I shall laugh, and give you cause to laugh and sing in turn. I shall be, if I may presume, the kind of dragon that you would be proud to call ‘friend’.”

“I thought we were friends already,” Pinkie replied. “But we can always be better ones if that’s what you want.”

“It is,” Mantle replied. He paused. “Now, if I may ask, if it does not skip ahead too much in the order, will you tell me how you found yourselves so far from Ponyville, seeking the Heart of the World?”

“Sure, I can tell you that,” Pinkie said quickly. “But not tonight. That’s a story-“

“For another time,” Mantle finished for her. “Very well. Goodnight, Pinkie Pie.”

“Goodnight, Mantle,” Pinkie replied cheerfully, as she bounced back to where the others were waiting for me.

“Pinkie,” Twilight asked, as her friend settled down, “did you know this would happen when you started to tell those stories?”

Pinkie smiled. “It’s like I said, Twilight,” she said. “Everyone loves a good story.”

That answer, Twilight reflected, could have meant anything. It could have meant everything. It could have meant nothing at all.

So, about par for the course with Pinkie, then.

“Pinkie Pie?”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“Don’t ever change.”

Pinkie giggled. “Don’t worry, Twilight, I won’t. Trust me, I’m not going to change a thing.”

Broken Ace

So far, it was fair to say that this trip had not exactly gone the way that Ace had been expecting it to.

That was a good and a bad thing.

It was not something that Ace was going to share with Twily or her friends – it seemed, from the stories that they’d told, and not just the ones that Pinkie Pie had shared with all of their… captors? Allies? It was getting a bit complicated around here – but Princess Celestia talked about Twilight and her friends a lot. And not just about the stuff that everypony already knew about; Ace had known, the same way that everypony had known, that Twily and her friends had redeemed Nightmare Moon – or rather, returned Princess Luna and gotten rid of Nightmare Moon if that was how you wanted to look at it – and saved Equestria again from Discord more recently. That was what everypony knew. But that wasn’t really what Princess Celestia talked about; Princess Celestia talked about… everything. She didn’t always, or even often, talk to guards like Ace about it, although that had happened once or twice, whether that was because Princess Celestia remembered that Ace had been a sort of friend of Twilight’s or whether she just couldn’t find anyone else to talk about it Ace wasn’t sure and wasn’t about to ask. Other times she talked to Princess Luna, or she talked to Shining Armor, or she simply talked to herself where the guards could hear her, as she had on the memorable occasion when she’d been trying to decide whether to send Twily to Ponyville or not.

It was always easy to tell when Princess Celestia had just gotten a letter from Twilight, because there was a little extra twinkle in her eye, a little touch of a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, a little more amusement in her voice when she spoke.

‘Twilight has just informed me that the dragon nesting above Ponyville has been dealt with, thanks to her friend Fluttershy… Something wonderful happened in Cloudsdale today, where Twilight’s friend Rainbow Dash… Twilight’s friend Rarity just had a very lucky escape… Twilight has just written to me about her new friend Pinkie Pie…’

Yes, Princess Celestia talked a great deal about Twilight, and about Twilight’s friends. She loved hearing all about what Twily was getting up to there, and she assumed that other ponies would love hearing about it too – for what it was worth, Ace did enjoy hearing about it, it sounded as though Twilight was having a lot of fun out there. And from what Princess Celestia had said, it had sounded as thought Twilight’s friends were a nice bunch, and of course they had saved Equestria twice.

But somehow… for some reason… maybe because she just hadn’t thought it through properly or maybe the fact that Princess Celestia to come along as Twilight’s guard on this journey had created the implication in her head that Twilight would need protecting but for whatever reason… Ace hadn’t made the connection in her head the way that she really ought to have.

She hadn’t connected these six mares – these five mares, if you excluded Twilight – one of whom was a bit weird and one of whom was a bit lah-di-dah and one of whom looked as though she wouldn’t say boo to a goose – with the reason why Princess Luna was back, or the reason why Discord was back in his rightful place in the garden, or even the reason why Ponyville wasn’t choking on dragon smoke by now.

It hadn’t… it hadn’t clicked with her, shame to say. Maybe she was just an idiot – Ace could believe that – or maybe it was the fact that they didn’t really act like heroes or seem to think that they should be talked about like heroes – Rarity seemed more concerned with her dressmaking than with the fact that she had defeated Discord – but Ace hadn’t thought of them that way.

Twilight’s friends had seemed nice enough, but nothing… nothing special.

To say the least, Ace was re-evaluating her notions of what constituted specialness.

Having Pinkie Pie turn the greedy, power-hungry dragon that had taken them prisoner – twice – and all his guards into their… Ace wasn’t quite sure what they were, but nopony was bound in any way shape or form so she was going to go out on a limb and say that they weren’t prisoners, having Pinkie work such a transformation, a transformation beyond the powers of unicorn magic, would cause a pony to re-evaluate their perspective on things.

And it wasn’t just Pinkie, either, although Ace had to say that of all of Twilight’s friends she had impressed Ace the most so far, if only by the scale of what she had managed to achieve. But perhaps that was being unfair to Fluttershy, without whom they would have all literally died in the desert after they escaped from Cirta; the only reason, the only reason, why they were still alive was because Fluttershy had been able to communicate with that lizard, to persuade or charm it into leading them to water.

And that was without getting into the fact that they only reason they’d escaped from Cirta in the first place was because of Spike. Because of Spike!

The others had not been quite so impressive, but it was fair to say that most of them had pulled a good quantity of weight over the course of this trip: Twilight had won them the support and friendship of the zebras of Utica; Rarity had found a zebra who could warn them of what they could expect in Qartaggia; and if Mantle hadn’t intervened then Ace was of the opinion that they might just have escaped the trap thanks to Rainbow’s warning and the fight she had given the bandits to hold them off from closing the ring.

Only Applejack had so far failed to distinguish herself upon this journey, and Ace couldn’t blame her for that because… because Ace hadn’t distinguished herself either.

So far, she might as well not have come.

Yes, indeed, she was re-evaluating her notions of what constituted specialness.

And whether she had any of it herself.

Nopony joined the Royal Guard in order to be a hero. When Ace and Shining Armor had been new recruits, wet behind the ears, that had been the first lesson drilled into them by old Ash Lance: they were not heroes, they were not on any kind of glory road, nopony was going to remember their names. They were public servants, there to help out where help was required, no more no less. Ace had been paying attention, and she hadn’t put on the armour because she wanted glory, but…

But all the same…

What was the point of being a servant to a public who didn’t really need your help? It wasn’t like she was asking to save the day or nothing but when Princess Celestia had asked her to volunteer for this assignment she had thought that maybe…

Ace didn’t know why she was here, to be honest. Perhaps she had put Princess Celestia’s mind at ease, but at the same time Ace couldn’t help but think that she might as well not have been here so far for all the good that she’d done and all that she’d contributed.

She hadn’t kept Twilight and the others safe in Cirta, or from being captured by Mantle. She had been… dead weight.

And when you thought about it, the wonder was not that this had happened but that anypony had expected anything else. After all, Twilight and her friends had saved Equestria, it was no wonder that they were handling themselves well out here. And what had Ace done by comparison? Policed an island of guano off the coast of Manehatten? That hadn’t exactly impacted the fate of Equestria, had it?

Ace didn’t mean to sulk, but some of her thoughts must have shown up on her face, or in her body language, because one night, as Pinkie was telling the story of how Twilight had met this pony Lightning Dawn who was the reason that she had come out here in the first place, Twilight – who had, after all, already heard the story – sought Ace out.

“Can we talk?” she asked softly, her voice barely rising above a whisper so as not to disturb the storytelling. “Somewhere a little more private?”

Ace looked around. It ought to have seemed absurd to be talking about going somewhere private considering that they had been captured by these people, but their status had changed by unspoken agreement thanks to Pinkie’s magic, and when Ace got up and silently began to lead the way towards the edge of the camp, no zebra objected.

Twilight followed. Neither of them left the camp – there had been no sign of their grey-robed attackers since Mantle and his cohorts had arrived, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t out there, waiting – but they did go almost to the edge of it, away from all the zebras who were not on picket duty, and only there did Ace turn back to Twilight Sparkle.

“Something on your mind, Twily?” she asked. A smile crossed her features. “Or did you just not want to hear that story again?”

Twilight chuckled. “That… that might be part of it,” she admitted. “It’s not that I… I mean, I’ve heard all these stories before; I lived most of them. And I understand why Pinkie’s telling it; she isn’t doing it cynically but to take a more cynical view it might even persuade Mantle that I deserve the chance to reach the Heart of the World before he does.” She paused. “Not something that I ever thought I’d say.”

“He’s turned out to be a little bit of a softy, hasn’t he?” Ace asked. “Or did Pinkie make him that way?”

“With Pinkie, it’s a little hard to tell,” Twilight murmured. “Anyway, the point is… unlike most of her stories, that one is-“

“Sad?” Ace asked.

Twilight nodded. “I mean… if the story had happy ending, we wouldn’t be here, would we?”

Ace frowned. “It… it could be worse, Twily?”

Twilight raised one eyebrow. “It could be worse? It could be worse? Ace, he fell into a deathly void, they both did. How could it possibly be worse than that?”

At least you know he loved you, Ace thought bitterly. To Twilight, though, she endeavoured to find something more helpful to say. “If there is one thing that I’ve learned over the course of this journey, Twilight, it’s not to bet against you or your friends. If anypony can get him back, it’s you.”

A faint smile, touched with melancholy, crossed Twilight’s face. “Thank you,” she said softly. “I… I want him back,” she admitted. “I could say that so long as I knew he and Krysta were alive I’d be content with that but the truth is… the truth is that it would only be a start. I want him back. I want them both back. I want… I want him by my side.”

“Of course you do,” Ace said. “You love him, don’t you?”

A blush rose to Twilight’s cheeks. “I guess I do, don’t I?”

“Perhaps I ought to listen to the story to understand why,” Ace said.

“You might struggle,” Twilight replied. “I know that Rainbow still does. To be honest… I’m not all that sure I could explain it myself, it… he was-“

“Handsome?” Ace guessed.

“Ace!” Twilight squawked indignantly. “I mean, yes, he was, but do you really think I’m that shallow?”

“No, of course not,” Ace said quickly, holding up one apologetic hoof. “What was it about him?”

Twilight hesitated for a moment. “It was… the moments when he let his guard down,” she said. “The moments when he stopped being the prince and just became Lightning Dawn. It was… it was like a transformation. He went from proud and stern and stiff too… adorable, silly, endearing… and real. It was in those moments that I felt like I was seeing the real him, the one that he only let a few people see… those closest to him. If I said I felt privileged by that, would it sound ridiculous.”

“Not at all,” Ace replied, her voice growing slightly hoarse. “You’ll do it, Twilight, I know you will.”

“Thank you,” Twilight said softly. “But, what about you? Are you… doing okay?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because… you seem a little… off,” Twilight said. “If there’s anything wrong… I can’t promise that I can help but I can promise that I’ll try.”

Ace snorted. “I believe you,” she murmured. She smiled. “I remember when I used to pick you up from school sometimes because your brother was on shift.”

Twilight chuckled. “You used to take me for ice cream, but only if I promised not to tell anypony.”

“Princess Celestia knew,” Ace said.

“Really?”

“She’s the reason I started cutting down how much I let you have,” Ace replied.

Twilight covered her mouth with one hoof as she laughed.

“And now look at you,” Ace went on. “Asking me how I’m doing.”

“Right now, I’m starting to wonder if you’re trying to change the subject,” Twilight said. “How are you doing, Ace?”

I’m feeling unworthy of that name, you should just call me Sunshine, Ace thought. I’m feeling inadequate compared to you and your friends. I’m feeling useless. I’m feeling… like there’s no need for me to be here.

No need at all.

But all she said was, “I’m fine, Twilight. But thanks for asking.”

Perhaps she would have done better to have politely declined the princess’ request and stayed in Canterlot. Perhaps she would have done better to have persuaded Princess Celestia that Twilight didn’t need a guard because she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

But then, Ace reflected that if she’d stayed in Canterlot she likely would have done very little except brood on Shining Armor and the way that he had, completely unknowingly and with no intent, hurt her.

At least here she could still hope for the chance, however unlikely it might seem, to prove herself useful.

She got that chance a few days later.

During those few days they were escorted still by Mantle and by his zebra warriors. Pinkie had told the story of Lightning Dawn, his arrival in Equestria and his meeting with Twilight, but the dragon – for all that he had become much friendlier towards the ponies he had once menaced – had said very little about it, not for a day or two.

It was on the second day, as they were breaking camp, that he approached Twilight, his claws digging into the sand as he looked down on her.

“Twilight Sparkle,” he said, “I have thought on the story that Pinkie Pie told to us all concerning the need that brought you here in search of the Heart of the World.” He paused. “You may be unique.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Unique? No, I don’t think that I-“

“Many have sought the Heart of the World since it vanished,” Mantle said. “Or perhaps, if you are right that it is where it has always been, I should say rather that many have sought it since it was forgotten where to find it. But always those who sought it did so for power, or wealth, or glory. Many an Emperor of the Most Ancient Empire has sought to legitimise or expand their rule by seeking out the Heart, and many a dragon lord has sought to make themselves emperor with the help of the Heart… I count myself amongst that number, when Spike told me of the object of your quest all I could think was how I could use it to expand my wealth and power. Even you ponies are not immune to the allure of such, if I understand your tales of Sunset Shimmer and Dawn Starfall aright. Dragon, zebras and ponies alike have sought the Heart of the World for their own gain and all have failed, often at their cost. You are the first creature I have ever heard of to seek the Heart for the sake of another.”

Twilight’s cheeks turned red. “I don’t know if you could call my motives selfless,” she murmured.

“To do something for love is not the same as to do so for wealth or dominion,” Mantle replied. “In fact it is a far cry.” He settled down upon the sands. “And you do love him, do you not?”

Twilight nodded. “Does that not sound very strange to a dragon?”

“Think you that just because I am a dragon I know nothing of love?” Mantle asked.

“No,” Twilight said quickly. “Well… maybe a little.”

Mantle chuckled. “It has been some time,” he confessed. “But I felt love once. I loved a female so much that I fought another male in combat for her.”

“That is… um… well, different cultures have different notions of romance, I suppose,” Rarity murmured.

“Would that it were so,” Mantle muttered. “When the fight was done she informed us both that she was not a prize to be won and flew off. I believe she rejoined our barbaric kin.”

“So who won the fight?” Rainbow asked.

Mantle sighed. “That hardly matters now, does it?”

“You mean you lost.”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight scolded her.

Mantle shook his head, flicking the spikes that ran down his back side to side. “This quest,” he said, “is yours. I have no right to take it from you.”

Twilight gasped. Her mouth hung open for a moment. “You mean-“

“My followers and I will go with you, as close as we are permitted to Mount Hyperion,” Mantle declared. “I would very much like to look upon the Heart of the World, but I will not stand in your way. When the final part of the journey approaches, I and my followers will stand aside. Twilight Sparkle will gain all that she seeks, with our aid!”

A cheer went up from the zebras of his company, while Twilight continued to stare at the great dragon, her eyes even wider than they had been before.

Wider, and beginning to fill with tears.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you, I… how can I repay you-“

“You already have,” Mantle said. “You have shown me, through your tales, how to be better than I have been. Let me then be better, without delay. If more valued love and friendship over gold and power it would be a merrier world, I do not doubt; therefore, let me make it merrier with a word.” He bowed his head. “The strength of Cirta is at your service.”

And with the strength of Cirta at her service, Ace couldn’t help but think, what need have you for me?

Two days later, a thick fog descended upon them. Ace couldn’t work out where the fog had come from – she hadn’t known that you could get fog in a land as warm as this, and judging by Twilight’s reaction of incomprehension she was taken aback by it, too.

The fog had stolen on them more like a thief than an invading army: it had evaded the notice of the sentries in the camp, of Rainbow Dash though she now soared high above the column, of Mantle and his sentries. It had escaped all of their notice. It had simply stolen upon them, creeping up in the night so that when they awoke they were blanketed in a thick, impenetrable mist.

They called out to one another because they could barely see in front of their faces; they huddled close together because the only way to know who was there was if they were almost touching you; Mantle’s fire was about the only thing that could be seen in the mist, a beacon of crimson and gold dancing amidst the cloying milky shroud that blinded their eyes. But even the fire of a dragon – and little Spike tried it too, his green fire flaring – could not burn away this fog. It could act as a signal, it could provide a light to rally around – Twilight and her friends gathered around Spike because they could find him more easily than anypony else – but it could not clear the air.

Nor, for that matter, could Rainbow Dash, flying through the mist at such speeds she would have been in danger of hitting someone – or the ground – if she had flown just a little lower.

“This weather is not natural,” Rainbow complained. “I ought to be able to clear it away.”

“Maybe it’s like the Everfree Forest,” Fluttershy murmured, “where the weather and nature acts on its own, without the need for anypony to help it – because nopony can.”

“That might be possible,” Twilight conceded. “But even if that were the case it shouldn’t be possible for a weather event like this to occur organically in a place like this; there isn’t enough moisture in the air. Rainbow Dash, did you see how high up it went?”

“To do that I’d have to get to the top of it,” Rainbow grumbled. “Do you want me to try and find the edges of it?”

“No,” Twilight said quickly. “What if you couldn’t find your way back; going straight up then straight down again is one thing but… I’d rather keep you here, if that’s okay.”

“Twilight Sparkle!” Mantle called, accompanying his cry with a burst of fire that briefly illuminated the mist.

“Yes?” Twilight called back. “Yes, I’m here. We’re all here!”

“I do not think that we should attempt to march,” Mantle declared. “We would hardly know in which direction we were marching. We must remain camped here until this mist recedes.”

“That doesn’t look like happening anytime soon,” Rarity murmured.

“But Mantle’s right,” Twilight said, despite the obvious reluctance in her voice. “How would we know that we were heading towards Mount Hyperion when we can’t see a few feet in front of us?”

Ace looked around, for all the good that it did her; the zebra warriors in the camp were like ghosts, mere shapes in the fog, striped figures almost impossible to pin down. Their voices she could make out, some of them at least, they seemed as concerned as Twilight and her friends were.

As concerned as Ace was.

The zebras, too, seemed to think that this fog was decidedly not normal.

“What weather is this for the desert, at this time of year?”

“Perhaps it is an omen.”

“An omen? More like it is a warning from the Heart of the World that we were not meant to possess it.”

“But we will not, Twilight Sparkle will.”

“Then perhaps she was not meant to possess it.”

Ace shuddered. She thought – she hoped – that it would take more than a little mist to erase all of the good will that Pinkie Pie had won them, but at the same time it wasn’t good that doubt in their mission could be so easily sewn.

They’ll forget all about it once the mist clears up.

If the mist clears up.

Ace frowned, even though nopony could see it. “Twilight,” she said, “is it possible to create a mist that was nevertheless… that Rainbow Dash or pegasi couldn’t affect?”

There was no reply.

“Twilight?” Ace repeated, fearing that she might have gone and she had missed it.

“Of course!” Twilight groaned. “I should have realised, I’m so stupid!”

“Realised what, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“Artefacts!” Twilight cried. “Magical artefacts, Ra-“

A spear flew through the mist and buried itself at Twilight’s hooves.

Ace of Canterlot

Weapons descended out of the mist like thunderbolts, cutting through the fog that ensnared ponies and zebras and dragons alike to strike home into the sand. Swords and spears, daggers and polearms all flew straighter and more true than arrows as they fell like rain upon they who could not even see from where they were assailed.

From somewhere in the mist Ace heard what sounded like a scream of pain.

It was not alone. The air was thick with them, cries of alarm, cries of panic, cries of agony as the spears and swords descended. They couldn’t be seen until they were practically right on-

A spear, with a red tassel wrapped around the long ashen shaft close to the tip – why? – came flying towards her. Ace dodged aside, her muscles straining to get her out of the way in time, her body contorting, her back bending, her legs spreading out. Time seemed to slow as the spear shot towards her. Ace strained to get out of its way. She could see it coming but slowly now, achingly slowly, as slow as her limbs and body moved, as slow as her wings beat, everything going so slowly as the spear… as the spear passed within a hair’s breadth of her, and then buried its metal tip entirely in the sand as the world speeded up once more.

The air was filled with screaming, and some of it sounded like Twilight’s friends.

No. No, no, no! Ace couldn’t let this happen. She wouldn’t let this happen. She had been assigned to protect Twilight and the others, Princess Celestia and Shining Armor had trusted her with Twily, and even if they hadn’t needed her help so far they surely did now.

They needed somepony’s help, at least, by the sound of it.

“Twilight!” Ace yelled, trying to raise her voice to cut above the clamour of the zebras all around. “Twily!”

“Ace?” Twilight shouted back. “Ace, where are you?”

“How should I know?” Ace demanded. “Show me where you are?”

Through the mist, she saw it: a lavender light, glowing brightly, bright enough to cut through the fog that surrounded them. “Here,” Twilight said. “Here I-“ her voice was cut off by a startled cry, and the light she had cast died with it.

“Twilight!” Ace shouted, spreading her wings and taking flight, rising a little off the ground – she thought it was a little anyway, it was hard to say when you couldn’t actually see the ground – and flying as fast as she could in the direction Twilight’s light had come from. Her borrowed zebra armour was a little heavier than she was used to, zebras obviously didn’t need to fly while they were wearing it, so they could afford to load the extra weight on, but she was able to get a reasonable speed up nonetheless.

Besides, it wasn’t the best thing to fly too fast in a situation like this, with spears and swords and knives flying everywhere: a wounded zebra staggered into her path, bleeding profusely from a wound in his shoulder; Ace would have run into him if she’d been going any faster. As it was, she couldn’t help him right now, she had no skill at healing, and anyway, she had to get to Twilight.

So she flew, her wings beating through the mist, water droplets colliding with her face like rain, flying straight – she hoped – towards where Twilight was.

“Twilight!” Ace shouted.

“I’m here, Ace,” Twilight replied, and the sound of her voice drew Ace the rest of the way, drawing her to where Twilight was, with a sword and a pair of daggers buried before her. “Sorry my light cut off,” she added, as Ace got close enough to see her, which mean in practice close enough to touch. “Those things came at me and I-“

Another sword, a long, straight blade with a gilded hilt and a ruby set in the pommel, emerged from out of the fog straight for her. Ace pushed Twilight out of the way, and lunging into the path of the blade with her wings spread out, her body twisting in midair like a salmon leaping from the river as she kicked the blade aside.

“Trust me,” Ace replied. “I get it.”

Twilight’s eyes were wide, and when she spoke again her voice trembled with anxiety. “Have you seen the others?”

“In this fog?” Ace demanded. Her tone softened. “No, no I haven’t seen them. Weren’t they with you?”

Twilight shook her head. “We got separated, when the attack started we had to scatter to avoid being hit. I don’t know where they went. Spike? Girls? Can anypony hear me?”

“Twilight,” Ace said. “If this fog is being created by magic, then can you dispel it? Do you know a counterspell or something?”

“Magic that is being cast by an artefact is harder to dispel than a simple spell,” Twilight began.

“What makes you think it’s an artefact?”

“Because it’s Raven, and Raven uses artefacts,” Twilight replied. “Or she seems to. She did. I don’t know, maybe it is Raven or maybe it isn’t, do you really think the mist is our biggest problem right now?”

“It would help if we could see what we were up against,” Ace said, loud enough to be heard over the panic and the pain. “Do you know what’s causing all of this?”

“I might,” Twilight said. “It… it reminds me of Lightning Dawn’s power, he could summon a sword from out of nowhere, it was bound to him, but the way he described it I don’t know how anypony could summon so many weapons like this.” Twilight took a deep breath. “What are we going to do?”

“Can you conjure a shield around yourself?” Ace asked. “Like your brother can?”

“I know the spell, but even if I could see the entire camp I couldn’t-“

“Never mind the camp for now, just put a shield around yourself, I’ll find the others and bring them to you,” Ace declared. “Can you make the shield big enough for them?”

“What about Mantle and the zebras?” Twilight demanded. “We can’t just shelter while they-“

The words she might have said were stolen from her as other sounds joined the high-pitched clamour of the assault: the sound of hooves thudding upon the sand, soon followed, joined and drowned out by the shrieking of the grey-robed zebras who had sought to fall upon the ponies in their camp, before Mantle and his own zebras had taken them by surprise.

Now, it seemed, the grey-robed zebras were repaying the favour. Their shrieking war-cry threatened to drown out all else, save that it cause the cries of pain and panic from Mantle’s followers to seem to redouble in volume and intensity.

Mantle roared, in anger or pain or both, and his fire flared in the mist off to the right for a moment.

Two grey robed zebras charged out of the mist, high keening cries rising from their throats. One was running on three hooves, the final one wrapped around a spear; the other had no visible weapons, but would rely on their own hooves and their teeth.

Ace didn’t give them the chance. As they emerged into view, as they changed from grey approaching shadows to flesh and blood zebras, Ace was moving, her wings unfurled like banners as she shot forward like the weapons that were currently falling upon them. She lowered her head as she collided bodily with the unarmed zebra, knocking them down in a tangle of thrashing hooves. Ace headbutted them, hammering their face with her metal helm, leaving blood on their jaw and their body still. The zebra with the spear shrieked in anger as he tried to turn, but too slowly, and his spear was too long for this situation in any case. Ace leapt at him, staying low, getting past the spearpoint before it was in a position to skewer her, closing the distance only to rise up and deliver a strong uppercut with her right forehoof that knocked the zebra onto his back and laid him out cold on the sand.

A third zebra emerged from out of the fog, closing on Ace from the flank, but a bolt of lavender magic struck him square in the breast and flung him backwards into the fog.

Ace looked at Twilight. “Thanks,” she said.

“Any time,” replied Twilight mildly. “What now?”

“You’re asking me?”

“You’re the one who’s trained for this!”

Well, not exactly, but thanks for the vote of confidence, Ace thought. She could hardly complain out loud. She didn’t have a lot of business complaining mentally either, for that matter.

This is what you wanted, now deal with it.

“Stand firm!” Mantle bellowed into the fog. “Rally to me, my zebras! Rally to me and drive them back!”

Ace couldn’t imagine that his cry was going to do much good; yes, his followers had seemed loyal to him even before he started to improve himself – in the eyes of the ponies, and it seemed in the eyes of his own followers as well – and if they had been able to see what they were doing then they could still have overcome the ambush, formed up, maybe even counterattacked. But they could not see what they were doing. They couldn’t see their lord, they couldn’t see each other, they had been scattered and wounded by the initial attack and now they were being assailed by an enemy who had the advantage of surprise and quite possibly coordination too.

If things kept on like this then Mantle’s zebras were going to lose this battle, if they hadn’t lost it already.

So what did she do? What was she, Ace Ray, going to do about it?

How was she going to turn this situation around?

Another spear flew through the mist to land not far away from them. Whoever was doing this was going to end up hitting their own allies at this point, now that the battle had been joined.

Unless they could see through the mist because they had conjured it, and wasn’t that a wonderful thought.

Conjuring… conjuring… that’s it!

“Twilight,” Ace cried. “Can you track back where one of those weapons has come from?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean like the maths,” Ace explained. “The angle that it came down at, so it came from a certain point.”

“I… yes,” Twilight said. “You want to track one of them back and then-“

“And then hope to find whoever is throwing them at us in the first place,” Ace agreed. “If I can take them down-“

“That’s a big if,” Twilight warned.

“Maybe,” Ace agreed, because they were past the point at which bluster and vanity were going to help the situation, “but I think it’s our best chance, Twily; it might be our only chance.”

Twilight hesitated for a moment. Still the air all around them was thick with screams and cries. “Okay,” she said, as her whole body shuddered. “Just… be careful, okay?”

Ace grinned. “Don’t worry, I’m going to make all of this okay. Now, I just you to shine me a light on the way to go, a light that I can follow.”

“Got it,” Twilight said, and her horn flared with a bright lavender light. “I just need to wait for-“

A sword cut through the thick fog to land in the sand a few feet away.

Twilight stared at it for a moment, and in her eyes Ace could practically see the calculations that she was making in her head, working out the angle and direction it had come from.

She swung her head around, and from her horn erupted a bright beam of magic, bright enough to pierce the fog, bright enough to illuminate the way for Ace to follow.

“There!” she cried.

Ace took flight, her wings bearing her upwards as she darted around Twilight’s beam of magic until she was above it, flying over it as though it were a rope, a guide rope in the sky. This was her lizard, this was her map, this was her trail to follow, and follow it she did. Though the fog confounded her eyes, though she could barely see a thing in front of her, so long as she could see Twilight’s magic, so long as the light of Twilight Sparkle illuminated the world, she knew exactly where to go.

A spear flew past her, barely missing her by inches. A knife cut across her path and she had to roll beneath Twilight’s magic to avoid it. Nothing, thankfully, came straight for her – Ace was less thankful for herself on that front and more for Twilight, who would have been right in its path if anything had come that way – but they flew around her, which gave her confidence that she and Twilight were on the right track even if it was rough on everypony – and every creature else – still down on the ground under attack.

But that was why she was flying. She wasn’t headed this way for idle speculation, she was doing this for them, for all of them. She was doing this to end things.

So Ace flew straight and true, following the marker that Twilight had laid out for her, rising higher and higher through this mist that seemed to be without end, until, at last, she reached the end.

She reached nothing quite like anything she’d ever seen before.

In front of her, gleaming in the mist, were golden circles. Golden portals, Ace supposed, although magic like this wasn’t her specialty. Nevertheless, there they were, rippling in the air as though the mist had become a pool to them, rippling around the centre of the portal, from out of which the weapons emerged: all the swords, all the spears, all the knives and all the halberds and the glaives and all the rest. Every weapon which assailed them was emerging from out of these portals.

And Ace had no idea how to stop them.

Her plan had rested upon finding the pony who was casting these portals, but there was no sign of them here.

But she, Ace, didn’t think she had risen that high up off the ground; the angle that Twilight had pointed her in hadn’t been too steep. So it was possible, wasn’t it, that the pony she was looking for was below her somewhere, and not too far away, on the ground, casting their spell from above them?

It was the best option that she had at this point.

Ace took a deep breath, tucked in her wings, and dropped.

She fell like a stone, she descended more swiftly than any of the weapons but this way she could be sure to fall in a straight line. The air rushed past her face, beating upon it, and upon her whole body, faster and faster.

Let’s see, she had gone up for… but that was at angle so… maybe count to five? One, two, three… four… five!

Ace unfurled her wings, feeling the force upon them as her descent abruptly slowed, although not slow enough that when she landed on top of a grey robed zebra she didn’t flatten beneath her impact.

Ace smirked. “Thanks for the soft landing,” she quipped.

The three other robed zebras nearby turned to face her.

The three zebras in grey, and the figure in the black cloak whom Twilight called Raven.

The three zebras, deployed protectively around Raven, charged towards her as one. Ace let them come, her eyes darting from one to the other. They had come at her once, but they were not all moving at quite the same speed.

One reached her before the other two, a club gripped in his mouth which he swung wildly at her; Ace ducked beneath the blow, letting the knotted club pass harmlessly over her head, before she reared up to headbutt the zebra on the jaw with her helmet, staggering him and leaving him vulnerable to a follow up with both her thrashing forehooves to put him down. The other two came on together, trying to come at her from front and behind, but Ace simply let her wings bear her aloft for a moment as she struck out with forelegs and rear legs all at once, kicking both zebras simultaneously to lay them out.

"Impressive," Raven murmured. "Clearly there is more to you than bird droppings."

Ace's eyes narrowed. "You know more than you ought to."

"Yes," Raven whispered, her voice suffused with melancholy. "Yes I do, to my sorrow." She sighed. "That light above… that was Twilight working out the trajectory of my projectiles so that you could trace my bombardment back to me. Clever. Which of you came up with that?"

"Does it matter?"

"Not really," Raven conceded. "But I'd rather not praise Twilight." She paused. "You can't stop me."

Ace snorted, pawing the sand beneath her with one hoof. "I won't know until I try."

"Let me clarify," Raven said, taking what seemed like a pause for breath. "I won't let you stop me."

"Big talk from somepony who sounds exhausted already," Ace muttered. And I'm not surprised; this amount of magic would tire anypony short of Celestia; I think Twily would have had to pack it in by now.

Raven was silent for a moment, and still as a statue in the garden in Canterlot; then a golden portal shimmered into existence behind her and a sword, with a pommel fashion like a pair of wings, shot out of it aimed point first at Ace.

Ace jumped, her whole body turning in the air as she kicked the blade back at Raven with her hind legs. Then she rushed towards her prey, wings beating furiously. Raven sidestepped the blade as it flew back towards her – it flew back into the portal it had come from and disappeared – and in that moment she was distracted. Ace fell upon her, descending like a thunderbolt, forehooves ready-

Raven moved with a dizzying speed, one moment still, open, vulnerable, the next moment inside Ace's guard, driving one forehoof – which moved faster than Ace's eyes could follow, a grey blur which left little clue as to Raven's appearance beneath the cloak – into Ace's underbelly where her armour did not protect her.

It was like getting trampled by a stampeding her. Ace had taken blows before – in training, from angry citizens – but never anything like this. Raven hit with the force of a train, her blow knocking the wind out of Ace as her gut crumpled beneath the impact. Ace tasted the salt of blood in her mouth as she was hurled backwards, her belly on fire with the pain, landing on the ground with a rattle of her armour and the screeching of her wing in protest as she landed on it.

Ace lay on the sand for a moment, it was gritty and coarse against her coat but it was nothing compared to the throbbing pain in her gut where Raven had struck her.

She could definitely taste blood in her mouth. Ace took a deep breath, and fought to ignore the pain in her belly just as she sought to ignore the blood in her mouth and the colours flashing before her eyes as she rose to her feet.

Clearly exposing her unarmoured body had been a mistake. One that she wouldn't make again.

She charged once more, but this time she kept low to the ground, wings tucked in at her flanks, head bowed, presenting her armour to her opponent.

This time Raven flung a spear at her, a spear with what looked like a silver apple affixed to the butt of it for some reason. It flew like an arrow straight towards her. This time, Ace did not kick it aside, this time as the spear headed towards her Ace twisted out of the way, but as it passed she reached out with her neck to pluck the spear out of the air by gripping it between her teeth.

The force of it's casting bore her backwards, and dumped her unceremoniously back upon the ground as the spearpoint buried itself in the sand, but at least she had a weapon now.

She used her wings to stead herself, gripping the spear between her forehooves, staying low and covering her aching and vulnerable belly as she faced Raven with the silver spear in hand.

Raven's face was covered by her hood; it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

More portals appeared above her, golden lights shimmering in the mist as weapons flew out of them as fast as thought: daggers with crooked blades, curved swords and straight swords, spears solidly and elegantly fashioned. Ace spun the spear in her own grip, her tail flying behind and all around her like a banner as she spun on her hind legs, knocking sword and knife and spear aside, batting away all the weapons which Raven silently flung at her.

Almost all of them. A knife broke through her guard, slicing through Ace's unarmoured hind leg just above the hoof. Ace could suppress the cry of pain as her leg gave way beneath her; she collapsed, using the spear to prop herself up as the fire of incessant pain spread up and down her limb.

"Stay down!" Raven snapped. Her breathing was coming heavily now, Ace could hear her panting. "Stay… stay down. I don't want to hurt you."

Ace's only answer was a glare. A glare, and to spread her wings and take flight towards-

The spear was ripped out of Ace's grasp, moving as if by its own accord, moving without any tell-tale glow of telekinesis surrounding it as it turned on her like a snake, driving forward beneath Ace's wing into the gap in her armour that had been fashioned for it, passing beneath the feathers and into the coat and flesh beneath.

Ace howled in agony as she dropped to the ground, the spear still sticking out of her like some sort of grotesque skewer, like she was an hors d'oeuvre at some fancy Canterlot part at the palace, her wing jerking reflexively from the pain. The pain… nothing had prepared her for this, none of her training, none of old Ash's stories, none of it. Nothing had prepared her for how this felt, for how bad it felt.

"Why?" Raven demanded. "Why are you making me hurt you?"

Seriously? "You…" Ace groaned. "You could stop any time you want."

"I'll stop, when you stop forcing me!" Raven cried. "I have to stop Twilight, I can't let you, or Pinkie, or anypony else stand in my way! Why won't you listen to my, why won't anypony listen to me?"

"Why don't you try listening to yourself?" Ace muttered, as she struggled to get up.

"What are you doing?" Raven demanded. "Stay down, how can you possibly think of fighting on?"

Ace took a deep breath, and then another. Her body screamed in pain as she bent her neck back, her mouth reaching for the shaft of the spear. She couldn't quite reach it. So be it. She'd have to fight on like this. She took another deep breath, fighting back the tears of pain that were pricking at her eyes.

Tears. Tears in her eyes. Tears in the eyes of Princess Celestia, tears that she thought that Ace couldn't see.

"You are a friend of Twilight's, are you not, Sunshine Ray?" Princess Celestia had asked. She called her Sunshine, not Ace; you didn't ask the princess to call you by a stupid nickname.

"I… I am a friend of the family, your highness; we got on well enough, but I was older than she was, and that matters when you're a filly like Twily was. I don't know if she'd call me a friend."

"Nevertheless, you know what a special little pony she is," Princess Celestia murmured. She looked away. "She is very dear to me." She smiled. "I suspect that is the worst kept secret in the palace."

"I wasn't aware you were trying to keep it a secret, your highness," Ace murmured.

Princess Celestia chuckled. "I… sometimes I think the only pony who does not realise how much I care for Twilight Sparkle is Twilight herself."

Ace kept silent. There was nothing she could say that it was her place to say.

"And she is set upon a dangerous road. I… I confess I fear for her."
"Then forbid it, your highness," Ace suggested.

"No," Princess Celestia replied. "No I could not do that. Her heart… her heart is set on this. I fear… I fear not even my command could sway her from this course, and even if it did… it would break to do so." She looked at Ace, with the tears in those eyes that she thought she had hidden. "Will you go with her, Sunshine Ray? Will you protect her, on this dangerous road?"

And Ace had bowed her head. "With my life, your highness."

Ace's whole body trembled as she rose, her injured leg protested but still she rose to her hooves once more, beating her wings as she best she could with the spear lodged where it was. "Because… because I made a promise. I swore to Princess Celestia that I would protect Twilight, even with my life."

"Your life?" Raven repeated. "You're willing to die for Twilight Sparkle?"

"Being a royal guard isn't an exciting job, most of the time," Ash said, as his two recruits listened carefully. "Most of the time nothing happens, and when it does happen usually it's beyond our power to deal with. Something for Princess Celestia to take care of."

"But we can help, right?" asked Ace.

"No," Ash said firmly. "When that happens, stay out of the way and make sure that everypony else does the same. The last thing we want is the princess to be distracted because she had to rescue some foolish guard with delusions of grandeur. Remember what I said: no-"

"No heroes in the guard," Shining Armor and Ace Ray chorused.

"So you were paying attention," Ash said. "This isn't a job for excitement, this is a job for helping people. It's thankless, and sometimes boring, but it's useful, and it's worthwhile. But sometimes…" he trailed off.

Shining Armor leaned forwards. "Sometimes what?"

"Sometimes," Lancer continued, "something happens, and you have to be willing to give everything. Sometimes, you have to be willing to show the world what you're really made of."

"I," Ace grunted, as her whole body trembled with weakness, "am a royal guard. I will give everything if that's what it takes. Not for glory, not for fame, but because I'm here. Because I'm here, and because you won't stop unless I stop you."

Raven growled wordlessly, and more weapons leapt from the shimmering portals to assail her, but to Ace it seemed as if those weapons moved more slowly now, sluggishly, as if Raven were struggling to move them the way that she once had. Perhaps her weariness was taking its toll; if so it was a stroke of luck Ace wasn't inclined to squint at as she surged forwards, ignoring the protests of her wing and leg. She kept her head down. Swords and spears battered against her armour but did not penetrate it, nor did she allow them to knock her off balance. She could see little with her head bowed, but she kept going, kept moving forward, kept letting her armour shield her from the blows as her armoured carapace rattled like an umbrella battered by a heavy rain.

Ace leapt, barreling into Raven, striking her on the chest with her helmet like a battering ram. There was the sound of something breaking as Ace bore Raven to the ground beneath her. Raven struck at her, hooves like hammers denting her armour beneath the impact, but the pain to Ace's shoulders and flanks hardly registered compared to the pain that she was already in. Her own hooves descended. She couldn't see Raven's face but she could see where it ought to be, and as her forehooves plunged into the darkness of Raven's hood she felt them striking something. Raven spat blood upwards, it spattered on Ace's face and helm.

Ace kept on pounding, she would keep on pounding until Raven stopped stru-

Raven threw her off, casting her aside like an unwanted toy. Ace screamed as she rolled upon the ground, snapping the shaft of the spear lodged in her side as her weight crushed it.

She lay upon the ground, unable to get up this time, unable to move.

But even her eyes, dimmed with pain, could see the mist clearing around her.

"No," Raven growled, as she got unsteadily to her hooves. She was swaying visibly, and when she coughed blood struck the sands. "No! What have you… you will regret this. Someday, I promise, you will regret this." She turned away, fleeing into the fast-unravelling mist, with unfortunately was not unravelling fast enough that it did not conceal Raven from view, covering her like yet another cloak as she made her escape.

Ace lay on the ground, taking deep breaths of air as the world darkened before her. She blinked rapidly. Her eyes felt… her eyelids were heavy. The mist was dissipating but… everything was going dark.

From somewhere away behind her a cheer rose up.

Regret it? No. No, this… this was totally worth it.

Waypoint

Ace blearily opened her eyes.

Twilight Sparkle stood over her, looking down at her with anxiety written upon her face. That anxiety seemed to relax a little – not completely, but a little – as she saw Ace’s eyes open. She even managed to smile a little. “Ace! You’re awake! Oh, thank goodness.”

Ace tried to smile herself, although she could only manage it a little way. “Twily. Hey, you’re okay.”

“I’m okay?” Twilight repeated. “I’m okay? You’re the one with the injuries.”

Ace groaned. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess, I am, aren’t I?” She glanced to her right. A zebra in a mask as red as blood was tending to the spear wound on her flank. “How… how bad is it? Actually, no, don’t answer that,” she added, as Twilight bit her lip and glanced away.

“You’ll be okay,” Twilight said quickly. “It’s just… it’s going to take you some time, that’s all.”

Ace grunted. “Still, from the fact that we’re here able to talk about this, I take it that we won?”

Twilight sighed. “Yes,” she murmured. “The mist cleared, and Mantle was able to rally his zebras and drive off the attackers.” Someone groaned from off to the left; Ace glanced that way to see that she was not the only one under the care of what Ace guessed to be healers or apothecaries of some kind; she was in a tent, a large black tent with the flap shut to keep out the sand, and within the tent where numerous zebras. Some had their injuries bandaged already, with cloth covering their eyes or necks or flanks; others were waiting their turn, trying to be quiet but sometimes failing as the attendants worked their way through those in need of aid.

“Although it wasn’t without cost,” Twilight added, a melancholy note in her voice. She paused for a moment, before glancing at Ace. “The mist clearing… without that… was that your doing?”

“As much by accident as by design,” Ace admitted. “I… it was Raven, just like you thought it was.”

“She did this to you,” Twilight said, her voice freezing like ice, sharpening like a knife, becoming as venomous as a serpent’s bite. “She hurt you.”

“It was a fight,” Ace pointed out.

“She hurt you!” Twilight snapped. “She hurt you and she hurt Pinkie and she hurt all of these zebras here!” she gestured to the other wounded in the tent. She took a deep breath, and then another, but neither of them actually seemed to serve to make her any calmer than she had been before. “She… she is the reason for all of this. She is the reason why Lightning and Krysta aren’t here right now because she… next time I see her I am going to-“

“Twilight,” Ace said firmly, cutting her off. Ace tried to sit up, but her entire flank protested at the mere effort, drawing a groan of pain from her and prompting the zebra in the red mask to push her back down again.

“Still,” the zebra urged.

Ace winced. “Right. I’ll try and remember that.”

Twilight looked down at her. “Raven’s work,” she declared.

Ace looked into Twilight’s purple eyes. “So what are you going to do about it?”

Twilight was silent for a moment. “I… I want her to stop.”

“How?” Ace demanded.

“I… I don’t know, maybe I should go looking for her for a change!”

“You don’t mean that,” Ace replied. “I hope you don’t mean that.”

“Why not? Why shouldn’t I?” Twilight cried.

One of the zebras tending to the wounded shushed her.

“Sorry,” Twilight murmured, lowering her voice immediately. “Why shouldn’t I?” she asked again, more softly this time. “She keeps coming and everytime that she does we suffer more misfortunes. People are getting hurt. What if next time somepony dies? What if Lightning is… what if he or Krysta are already dead because of what she did?”

“What if you die because you decide to… to what?” Ace demanded. “To end this? To kill her? That’s not who you are, Twily; I may have missed you growing up but you haven’t changed that much.” She paused. “I get it. You’re angry, and you have a right to be angry. I don’t like her very much either. But… I fought her, Twilight, and I… yes, she ran, and I’m alive so I suppose that counts as a win, but… if she wanted me dead, Twilight, I’d be dead. She could have killed me before she left. I don’t know why she didn’t. When I got there she was tired from throwing all of those weapons at us, I think that using those powers exhausts her… I hope it does, it would exhaust anyone else that I can think of, but the point is that even despite that she did all of this to me and she could have killed me if she wanted to. Yes, you’ve got magic that I don’t, and maybe that would serve you better than my training or my speed but… you’re not a warrior, Twilight; Princess Celestia didn’t teach you to be a great fighter and she… Raven’s dangerous.”

“So I should be afraid of her?” Twilight asked. “I should stand back and-“

“I’m not saying that,” Ace said. “I’m saying… I’m saying that before you charge off, maybe you should think about everypony who would miss you if you didn’t come back. And maybe think as well about how much you actually know about being in a fight.”

Twilight was silent for a moment. “You… you make a very good point,” she conceded, with an air of ill grace. She tossed her head grumpily. “I just… when I think about what she might do next, who she might hurt next… the idea of having other ponies like you, or these zebras, or… it feels like innocent people get in the way and I… I don’t like it.”

Ace nodded. “No, I wouldn’t expect you to,” she murmured.

“But you’re right, I’m not… I’m not a great battle mage, that isn’t where Princess Celestia’s instruction focussed… I didn’t even join the school duelling club,” Twilight admitted. She sat down on her haunches. “I suppose… I suppose that it’s a lot like this whole trip. I don’t want to put my friends in danger, I don’t want them to come to harm on my account… but against that I have to accept the fact that I’ve only ever accomplished anything because of them-“

“You’ve only ever accomplished anything with our help,” Rainbow Dash’s voice floated in from outside the tent. “You’ve done loads of cool stuff with us, don’t sell yourself short.”

Twilight looked around towards the tent flap. “Rainbow Dash? Have you been listening the entire time?”

“Well when you say it like that it sounds weird,” Rainbow muttered, slipping in through the tent flap. “But not the entire time. I came to tell you that we were ready and I… well, I started to hear stuff. And you have done some stuff yourself; like, when Discord… Discord-ed us, you were the one who worked out how to free us all, and you freed Applejack all by yourself, even if you didn’t have help with everypony else.” She hesitated. “That’s not me saying you should go after Raven on your own, by the way, if you do that I will kick your ass.”

Twilight winced. “You heard that, huh?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said flatly. “I heard. Come on, Twilight, what were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t,” Twilight admitted. “My anger got the better of me.”

“I get that,” Rainbow said softly. She glanced at Ace. “Thanks for talking her out of it.”

“I think Twily mostly talked herself out of it,” Ace said.

Twilight snorted. “But then… what’s the answer? If I can’t confront her myself then-“

“Then we’ll do it together,” Rainbow said. “Just like we made it this far together. Assuming that she ever stands still long enough.”

“That’s a good point,” Ace muttered. “Look at what Raven does: she uses tricks, she recruits others to do her dirty work, and even when she actually joins in the attack she has to hide behind a mist that keeps her out of sight and when that doesn’t work she gets out quick. I think she knows, or at least she’s worried about facing you. I don’t know why exactly-“

“She’s smart, and she knows we’ll win,” Rainbow said, as a grin appeared on her face.

Ace started to chuckle, but it hurt and she ended up moaning instead. “Something like that.” She blinked. A frown appeared on her features. “Ready for what?”

“Huh?” Twilight asked.

“Rainbow came in to say that you were ready,” Ace pointed out. “Ready for what?”

“Ah,” Twilight said. She took pause for a few moments. “Mantle isn’t continuing on any further. We don’t think that the bandits, or whoever they were, will attack again – a lot of them were hurt or… or worse – but a lot of his zebras are wounded, and so they’re going to head back to Cirta… and you’ll be going with them, while the rest of us press on to Mount Hyperion.”

“You… you’re leaving me behind?” Ace asked plaintively. She understood it; with her head she understood it perfectly. Was she supposed to insist that she could come along, that it only hurt when she breathed, that she wouldn’t slow anypony down? That wasn’t true, Ace knew that it wasn’t true and Twilight would know that it wasn’t true as well. With her head, Ace knew that Twilight was making the right choice.

But that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt a little in her heart.

“You’ve done enough,” Twilight replied gently. “You’ve done more than enough.”

“I hope Princess Celestia and your brother agree with you,” Ace muttered.

“Ace-“ Twilight began.

“I’m fine, really,” Ace replied, forestalling her. “I don’t blame you. Well, I do blame you a little, but I also get it. It’s not like I can go on, and you can’t expected to come back to Cirta and wait for me to heal up.” She paused, grinning mischievously. “Actually, why can’t you come back to Cirta and wait for me to heal up?”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she gave Ace an ‘are you kidding me’ kind of look.

Ace didn’t try to laugh for the sake of her limbs. “Yeah, I know, I know. I’d ask if you were going to be okay without me, but on the basis of the trip so far you’ll all be just fine.”

“Don’t put yourself down,” Rainbow said. “We wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for you.”

“Nice you to say, are you sure that you’re not the kind one?”

“I only say what I mean,” Rainbow replied. “Most of the time.”

Ace nodded. “Take care of her.”

“Always,” Rainbow vowed.

“Excuse me, I’m standing right here!” Twilight squawked.

Ace smiled. “Take care of yourself, Twily. And I’ll see you in Cirta when you get back.”

Twilight smiled. “I’ll see you in Cirta, when we get back.”

Raven’s whole body ached.

It wasn’t just the use – the overuse – of her magical abilities. It was… it was more than that. Her joints ached, and she was bleeding from more place than Ace had hit her.

Her wounds were starting to reopen. She was probably beginning to suffer from scurvy.

It wasn’t too surprising. She hadn’t eaten any fresh fruit in… some time. It didn’t exactly grow on trees around here; even outside the desert, not many zebras wanted to sell to the dark figure keeping her face hidden beneath a cloak.

If they’d seen what was under the cloak they would have been even less likely to want to deal with her.

Raven’s breath came in deep, gasping gulps. She needed water. She needed rest. She needed vitamins. She needed sleep.

She needed sleep so badly. She wanted it so badly. She wanted to sleep like she had when she was a little filly, when the world was bright and full of hope, when friendship would carry on through the ages, when… when it was not so obvious that she had brought doom upon the world.

She wanted to sleep, but if she slept then she would dream, and if she dreamt… her dreams would not be present.

And besides, it would provide opportunities for Princess Luna to confront her, and she did not want that.

So she slept as little as she could; fortunately her implants and enhancements enabled her to do without sleep, as they enabled her to do with little food.

Just as they had robbed food of its taste.

Raven took another deep breath. This was not the time to dwell on such things.

There were more immediate problems to dwell on. Such as the fact that she had failed, and what with the strain she had put on herself – and the fact that she had scurvy that would kill her if she let it – meant that she would not get the chance to try again.

The Servants of Memory were scattered. There would be no more help from that quarter. And if she confronted Twilight and her friends again she feared that she would lose.

The six of them together were stronger than Twilight knew. If Twilight went after Raven herself then… no, the others would not let her be so foolish.

Which meant… which meant that there was nothing she could do. She was… she was out of options.

All she could do was hope that Twilight did not get what she was looking for when she reached the mountain.

Because if she did… if she did, then it would doom them all.

Mount Hyperion

Mount Hyperion loomed above them. The lonely mountain sat in the midst of the empty desert, rising above it like a unicorn’s horn rising out of their forehead – and like a unicorn’s horn it held power within it, even if it kept that power hidden.

This was the place. It had not been obvious at first, as they had made their way step by step, metre by metre towards the rising peak of jagged, reddish-yellow stone like the colour of the setting sun. It was not clear why this of all places should be the place to find the Heart of the World, except that Queen Dido’s account stated that it was, and Sunset had believed it was as well. Since parting company with Mantle and his zebras – and with Ace – the journey of Twilight and her friends to reach the mountain had been, not always easy, but at least untroubled. The weather which had bedevilled Sunset’s group had spared them, there had been no sandstorms to worry about, nothing to force them to turn aside and seek shelter in ancient ruins – and a good thing too, because they hadn’t come across any ruins. They had, however, found water, often where Hamilcar had said that they would find it, at least at first, and later on they had always found a fresh water source before their supplies began to run low.

At times, Twilight had almost dared to hope that their luck had changed, that the misfortunes which had seemed to conspire against them in earlier stages of the journey had abated, and that the same forces of fate and destiny which had been set against them now smiled upon her and her quest.

Foolish and naïve, perhaps, but it made her feel better. It made the sun feel less burningly hot, it made the journey feel less long, it made… it made her feel better to imagine that from this point on it was all certain to work out in the end.

She couldn’t help but think that they deserved a break.

This was the right place. It might not look it from a distance, but when they had actually reached the mountain Twilight and the others had walked a full circumference around it and discovered, on the southern slope, a staircase cut into the rock, climbing its winding way up the mountain towards… towards the Heart of the World, and the aim of this entire expedition.

She was so close now. Twilight could just imagine… well, no, she still couldn’t imagine what the Heart of the World actually was, but she could imagine it, whatever it might be, giving her what she wanted, telling her that Lightning and Krysta were alive, telling her how to find them, perhaps even bringing them to her as it had done in days of old, according to the legends.

Or perhaps… or perhaps it would not. Perhaps it would refuse her. Perhaps it would turn her away. After all, the same legends that spoke of the Heart, the legends that had brought her here, said that the Heart of the World had closed its heart, and cut itself off from the world around it.

Twilight frowned. No. No, she wouldn’t let that happen. She wouldn’t take no for an answer. She had… she had come too far for that. After everything that her friends had done to help her, everything that they had risked, after Ace had been so badly injured… she wouldn’t just go away because she was told to. She would get, at the very least, confirmation that they were alive and safe or she would sit outside the Heart’s doorway until the end of time!

A thought crept across the back of her mind. A thought that she had been trying very hard not to think about but… there were times when it was hard to ignore: the possibility that Lightning and Krysta were not safe.

There was no guarantee, after all. Twilight had tried to act as though she knew for a fact that they were out there somewhere, from the moment that they had disappeared, from the moment that she had vowed to find them, but the truth was… well, the truth was that if she knew for a fact that they were safe then she wouldn’t have needed to come looking for the Heart of the World, would she?

Where they had gone… it was not a habitable place. It had almost killed them once, by their own account, and this time… perhaps they were dead. Perhaps the void had claimed them. Perhaps the Heart of the World would tell her no more than that Lightning and Krysta were gone beyond recall.

Perhaps this had all been for nothing.

No. No, not for nothing. Even if that were so, even if they were gone then… then at least she would know. At least she would be able to mourn them. At least she would know, one way or the other.

“Sugarcube,” Applejack’s voice intruded into her thoughts. “You okay?”

Twilight blinked rapidly, recalled to herself, or rather recalled out of herself and back into the world to find that everypony – and Spike – was looking at her.

They were camped at the foot of the stairs, the mountain looming over them as they sat around a fire made with wood that they had brought with them all the way from Utica. The firelight reflected upon the sunset-coloured rock that rose above them all, flickering like the dying light of the sun at dusk upon the stone.

“Sorry,” Twilight murmured. “I was just… I was just thinking.”

Applejack nodded. “Thinkin’ about what lies ahead?”

“Thinking about what I might find,” Twilight replied. “I mean… I’ve been kind of convincing myself that once I get up there I’ll find good news but… but I have to accept the possibility that I might not.”

Nopony said anything for a moment. Then Applejack said, “It can be hard, Ah know that, it can be… it can be real hard. But even if they are gone… they won’t ever leave you, not really. Not so long as you keep ‘em close, right here.” She reached out, and tapped Twilight on the heart gently with one hoof.

Twilight smiled sadly. “I know,” she whispered. “But I’m still hoping it won’t come to that. I’m still hoping-“

“For the best, Ah know,” Applejack said gently. “We all are. That’s why we’re here, ‘cause we’re all rootin’ for you, sugarcube.”

Rarity nodded. Pinkie beamed. Fluttershy’s smile was of a gentler sort, but no less encouraging.

Rainbow Dash’s expression did not changed, but as Twilight’s eyes darted across her friends, she winked at her, and that was enough.

“Girls, and Spike,” Twilight added hastily. “I… no matter what happens tomorrow morning, I want you to know how… how grateful I am to all of you. You didn’t have to come with me, you didn’t have to do all that you’ve done… but you did, and I’ll never forget it. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you, I wouldn’t be here without you, I… I love Lightning, that’s true, but I also… I love you girls, I love all of you, so much, and I don’t want you to ever forget that.”

Rarity chuckled. “Never, darling. Not in a thousand years.”

“Group hug!” Pinkie cried.

“Pinkie, wai-“ Twilight’s words were cut off as Pinkie’s forelegs extended outwards to an absurd degree – how in Equestria or anywhere else was she doing that – and enveloped all of the rest of the group, ensnaring them within her embrace and pulling them towards her until they were all bundled up together, their coats and cheeks pressing against one another, their bodies warm against one another.

Warm with affection, warm with friendship, warm with love.

Twilight closed her eyes, and stopped struggling. Pinkie may have taken them all by surprised but, honestly, this was nice. This wasn’t something she was anxious to see end.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you all.”

Nopony replied. Nopony felt the need. They all just lingered like that, resting in their mutual embrace, legs intertwined, all wrapped around Twilight like a great organic blanket, marinating in the affection that existed between them.

Then Rainbow said, “What we find.”

Twilight opened her eyes. “What?”

“You said ‘what I find’,” Rainbow pointed out. “But you meant ‘what we find’, didn’t you, Twilight?”

Pinkie released them, and all the rest released each other, all of them separating once more to return to their places around the fire.

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said. “We’ve talked about this.”

“Maybe I want to talk about it again,” Rainbow replied. “Where everypony can hear it.”

“What are we talking about?” Pinkie asked.

“Whether Twilight needs to go up that mountain alone, Ah’d guess,” Applejack said. “That’s about right, ain’t it?”

“Darling, you can’t be serious!” Rarity cried.

“You all know what I found in Queen Dido’s account,” Twilight reminded them. “She journeyed to the foot of the mountain accompanied only by her closest companions, and then… she made her way up the mountain alone.”

“She also left all her guards and the like behind when she came to some marker, if I recall,” Applejack said. “We only left Ace behind on account of she got herself hurt protectin’ us.”

“But we did leave her behind,” Twilight pointed out.

“That’s coincidence,” Rainbow said sharply.

“Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have power,” Twilight replied.

“We didn’t leave Ace behind until we left Mantle and the rest behind,” Fluttershy said. “If we were following the same steps, don’t you think that Mantle and the other zebras would have had to drop back sooner.”

“Not to mention what Hamilcar said about Sunset Shimmer, she didn’t leave no one behind,” Applejack said.

“Everyone left her,” Twilight pointed out.

“Because they felt like it,” Applejack replied. “Ah’m just sayin’, there ain’t no proof that you have to leave folks behind you at this point and that point or else somethin’ bad will happen.”

“Bad things have happened,” Twilight said. “To us and to Sunset, but they stopped happening when we set forth on our own, with only me and my close friends.”

“Not so close that you’ll listen to us,” Rainbow muttered.

“Settle down, Rainbow,” Applejack urged. She pushed her hat a little back on her head with one hoof. “Twilight, Ah hear what you’re sayin’, but… just because the old zebras believed that you had to do things in just such a way don’t mean that its gotta be that way. Just because somethin’ is tradition don’t make it law, certainly not law of nature.”

“I’m not sure that we should be so quick to dismiss the wisdom of those who actually interacted with the Heart of the World,” Twilight said. “I just… I don’t want to… what if we all go up and there because I didn’t go up there alone I get turned away?”

Nopony replied to that.

At least, nopony replied to that until Applejack said, “Well, Ah guess you might have a point there.” She paused. “But you understand why we don’t like the idea, right?”

“Are we just supposed to wait for you to come back?” Rainbow added. “What if you don’t come back?”

“We’ve come this far together,” Fluttershy murmured.

“You just said that we’d all helped,” Pinkie said.

“Hold on, y’all, ain’t no need to pile onto Twilight,” Applejack said. “Ah’m sure she ain’t contemplatin’ this lightly, are you sugarcube?”

“No,” Twilight said quickly. “No, of course not, but… I just don’t want to miss my chance. I mean, you can all understand that, right?”

“I think, darling, that the question is not so much our understanding as it is our belief,” Rarity said mildly. “To put it plainly, do we think this is really necessary?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “All that I know is… I’m not sure that I can afford to risk that it isn’t.”

“And Ah think,” Applejack said. “That you need to have a little more faith.”

Twilight frowned. “Faith?”

“Maybe it was a rule,” Applejack conceded. “Maybe it was somethin’ that had to be done in the old days. Maybe it’s even what this Heart of the World prefers, but if you really think that he’ll turn you away, tell you to get lost, because you didn’t make the last part of the climb all by yourself, well then… Ah think if it’s really that stubborn then the likelihood is that it wouldn’t have helped you anyway. You think that the Heart of the World won’t understand that you needed help to get this far? You think that it can’t change its mind about some rule that it set up in the first place? I mean, hay, when we first met Mantle he wanted us to show him where the Heart was so he could have it all to himself, but he changed! So why can’t the Heart of the World change too? Why can’t it change it’s mind? Why can’t it see that things don’t have to be the way they were back in the old days, that things ain’t the way they were back in the old days?” She smiled. “If a greedy dragon lord can change, why not some wise oracle change a little bit too?”

Twilight hesitated. Applejack… Applejack made a very good point. “I… I hadn’t thought about it that way,” she admitted. “But now that I have… I can’t really argue against it.”

Applejack smiled. “Ah should hope not.”

Applejack didn’t say as much as some ponies, but when she did speak, she often made a great deal of sense. Like now.

“Okay,” she said. “We’ll go up the mountain together, and if the Heart objects to that then… then we’ll change its mind together, too.”

“Together!” Pinkie cheered, thrusting one hoof into the air.

Twilight chuckled, and then mimicked the gesture. “Together!”

The other ponies thrust their hooves skywards too. “Together!”

And so, the next morning, they began their ascent, climbing up the steep staircase that wound about the mountain. It was not always easy, especially not with the heat of the desert sun bearing down on them like this; perhaps there had been a time when the staircase had been regularly maintained to make it safe for those climbing up it to consult the Heart, but if that had been the case – and Twilight was inclined to think it had been, or things would surely be even worse – then that time had passed a long time ago: some of the stairs had been worn away by the wind until they were almost smooth and slippery, others had collapsed so that the gap between one stair and the other was too high for Twilight to jump; at times the staircase had crumbled so that only a very narrow ledge crossed a sheer drop beneath; sometimes there wasn’t even a ledge, just a gap in the stairs opening onto empty air.

And yet they climbed on upwards nevertheless, overcoming every obstacle as they came to it. When they came to a place where the stairs had crumbled away leaving a long jump between one and the other, Applejack cleared it in a single bound, her strong apple-bucking legs carrying her up into the air and onto the high stair above.

“Hold on, now,” Applejack said. “Let me just get mah rope.”

Rainbow flew up until she was level with Applejack. “Or I could just-“

“Aw, let me be useful,” Applejack said, in a tone that was half-jocular, half-begging. “It’d be the first time on this trip.”

“That’s not true,” Rainbow declared.

Applejack looked at her.

“Okay, it’s kind of true, but you said some smart things last night,” Rainbow reminded her.

“Well, thank you for that,” Applejack said, “but I’d like to do just a little more to earn my keep, if you don’t mind.”

Rainbow shrugged her shoulders. “Be my guest.”

Applejack lowered down a rope, which Twilight tied with her magic around Rarity. “Okay,” Twilight called up. “We’re ready.”

Applejack began to haul on the rope, pulling Rarity up the rock-face. Twilight’s horn glowed faintly as she used her telekinesis to stop Rarity from swaying too much from side to side, but otherwise she let Applejack work as she pulled Rarity up to join her.

“Thank you, Applejack,” Rarity said. “That was a very comfortable experience.”

“Ah aim to please,” Applejack said.

“It’s a pity that you can’t carry us all the way up the mountain like that.”

“A pity for you, maybe,” Applejack said.

In the same way, and with the same lack of help from Twilight, Applejack got Pinkie and Spike up, and then finally Twilight herself.

“Thanks,” Twilight said.

Applejack smiled. “Any time, sugarcube.” Her green eyes gleamed mischievously. “Now what would you have done-“

“Yeah, yeah, okay, I get it.”

It was the same story all along the journey, whether it was Applejack getting more use of her rope by using it to create a makeshift barrier along the length of the ledge to help everypony make the crossing okay, or Rainbow Dash flying them across the unbridged crevices, or Twilight herself getting to contribute something by using her reverse gravity spell to get them up the slippery slopes where the steps had been worn away, they were all able to help one another make it up the difficult parts of the staircase.

And yes, Twilight wouldn’t have made it without the others. She didn’t say so, not because she was too proud to admit it but because she was confident that the others all knew perfectly well already.

She wouldn’t have made it up the slope without them, just like she wouldn’t have made it to the mountain without them.

She’d have to find some way to thank them for everything that they had done; she just needed to figure out what, or how.

Something to think about, once they were all back in Ponyville.

For now, they kept on climbing. Every so often, every hour or two as best as Twilight could judge, or whenever they came to a place that was suitable for it, they stopped for a rest, and shared a little or the water or lemon juice that they had brought with them in skins in their saddle bags; when the sun appeared to be at its zenith they stopped upon an unusually wide – for the staircase – flat ledge, and had a light lunch of biscuit and tinned fruit.

As they were eating, Twilight noticed that the mountain wall here was unusually flat, not in the sense of having been worn flat by the elements but in the sense of having been flattened artificially. It was genuinely a wall, rather than a cliff face, and it was a wall moreover which had been covered in writing: marks carved or scrawled upon the stone, the remnants of white marks still visible in ancient runes that Twilight would have had to study intensely to decipher. Most of them were old messages, unreadable to Twilight without more time than she had to give to them, but one stood out to her as being much more recent: it had been burned into the rock by magic, by a unicorn using their horn to sear the markings into the stone, as Twilight could have done if she had been inclined.

And for another thing, it was written in Equestrian.

Applejack saw what she was staring at. “Ah can read that,” she said, in a tone of some surprise, as she wandered over to stand by Twilight’s side. “Sunset Shimmer passed this way, seeking her destiny.” She paused. “Well, Ah’ll be. She made it after all.”

“She made it this far,” Twilight said. “I wonder how she managed to get up the stairs all by herself.” She hesitated. “Maybe she was more talented in magic than I was.”

“Maybe,” Applejack allowed. “But bein’ good at magic ain’t everythin’, especially if you ain’t usin’ it right. Ah’ll bet she wasn’t as nice to know, nor as ready to help out neither.”

Twilight felt a faint blush rise to her cheeks. “Well… I try my best. And I know one thing Sunset didn’t have: all of you.” She thought for a moment, and the more she thought about it the more resolved she was to do it. Her horn flared with a bright lavender light as she lowered her head and, next to Sunset’s message, burned one of her own into the flat rock wall.

Twilight Sparkle reached this point with the help of her friends Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike. She wouldn’t have made it without the assistance of Zecora of Utica, and Ace Ray of the Canterlot Royal Guard. She came here seeking information.

“How does that look?” Twilight asked.

“Well, it’s a little late to ask us now,” Rainbow pointed out, as everypony – and Spike – gathered around. “But I guess it works.”

“I think it works very well,” Fluttershy said softly.

They continued on, climbing the stairs, helping each other, until they came to a point where the stair finished, the path led into a dark cave, the mouth hiding whatever lay within beneath a layer of shadows.

It gaped to receive them like a mouth.

“Well,” Twilight observed, “there doesn’t seem anywhere else to go.”

“Let me check that first,” Rainbow said, and she took off into the air, leaving a rainbow trail behind her as she darted around the mountain. It took her very little time to return. “Yeah, there’s nothing else: cave it is.”

“I wonder what’s inside?” Fluttersh wondered tremulously.

“The reason we came all this way, hopefully,” Applejack said.

“Oh, right, yes, of course.”

“Rarity,” Twilight said. “You’ve probably explored more caves than most of us here, would you mind taking the lead?”

“Not at all, darling,” Rarity said, and a bright light, only gently tinged with blue, shone from her horn as she strode forward. “Although I do wish that we had thought to bring some helmets.”

They had climbed up the side of the mountain; now they descended into it, as they swiftly discovered that the way into the cave led downwards. Down and down they walked, their footfalls echoing off the walls of rugged stone, down and down into the bowels of the earth until the last traces of the sunlight disappeared and they had only the light from Rarity’s horn – and a second light from Twilight’s – was left to guide them on.

Down and down, descending from the sunlight into a netherworld where the passage of time was impossible to gauge, where the air felt stale, where nopony felt like talking.

Down and down, down and down through a narrow corridor hewn into the rock until they came to a large circular chamber, where crystals fixed at regular intervals around the walls reflected the light of the unicorns’ horns, enough to illuminate at least a little of the space. It was empty, at least as far as the darkness was dispelled to tell.

As it was empty, as far as they could see, the ponies began to cross the chamber, only to be arrested by a voice emerging from out of the darkness.

“That is far enough,” the voice was female, mature but not old, or at least it did not sound old. There was a slight lilt to it, an accent that Twilight couldn’t quite place.

“Hello?” Twilight called. “Who… who’s there?” She wondered if this might be the Heart of the World, or at least their voice speaking to them from… somewhere else.

Something descended from the ceiling. It was… Twilight wasn’t exactly sure what it was, it looked… like nothing that she had ever seen before. In form it vaguely resembled Krysta, although much larger, like a minotaur perhaps, although without the distinct horns: it was bipedal, at least, with two legs and two arms. But it was made of metal, a shimmering smooth metallic body that seemed to flow like quicksilver, with no joints visible. Twilight considered whether they might be a golem, made of metal instead of clay, or perhaps they were just a very rare type of being that Twilight had never come across before in any of her reading.

Whatever it was, they – she? They? – lowered themselves down from the ceiling upon a wire, which then retracted back into the darkness and away from view. The light from the crystals in the walls reflected upon their metal body as they regarded the ponies. They had no hair, their metal head was completely bald. They had no eyes either, at least not distinguishable from the metal all around their face, and yet Twilight felt seen nonetheless.

“Visitors to the Heart of the World are supposed to come alone,” they declared. A sigh escaped them. “But standards are slipping everywhere I suppose.” They clapped their hands together, and the passageway through which the ponies had entered the chamber sealed itself behind them, a metallic door descending to cut them off from the surface.

“You may call me… Door,” they said. “It describes my duties as well as anything. From time immemorial, since the moment of my creation, it has been my task to judge those who come seeking audience with the Heart of the World, to judge their request and the purity of their intent. In days gone by, those whom I judged unworthy were simply asked to leave; now… things are different. You have found the Heart of the World, for which you are to be commended and, if need be, condemned. Now, if you do not convince me that you should be permitted to continue on, then you will be disposed of.”

“We’re tougher than you think,” Rainbow growled.

“Rainbow, wait,” Twilight urged. She took a step forward, closer to Door. “Is that what happened to Sunset Shimmer? Did you dispose of her? Is that why she never came back?”

“You are not the first to come asking about Sunset Shimmer,” Door observed.

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Dawn? Dawn Starfall, she made it this far?”

“I believe that was her name,” Door replied. “Like you, she did not come alone. She, and all her companions, were disposed of. As was Sunset Shimmer.”

Twilight frowned. “But I… I have heard of Sunset Shimmer, far from here, alive-“

“I did not say they were killed, I said that they had been disposed of,” Door corrected her. “They were sent away, far from here, to where they could never reveal the location of the Heart of the World to anyone. If you have heard of the in another place, then… that would mean that the walls of the fortress are not as secure as is believed.” Door paused. “Do you speak for these?”

“They speak for themselves,” Twilight said, “but… I’m the reason they came. They came to help me get here.”

“Then you must speak, and upon your answers hang the fate of your companions,” Door declared. “Prove yourselves, or be disposed of.”

The fact that being disposed of did not mean killed, only exiled from Equestria out beyond the stars, was rather cold comfort in Twilight’s opinion. She licked her lips, and glanced behind her.

It was to her great relief that she saw no signs on any of their faces that they blamed her for this; indeed, in their expressions she saw only confidence; confidence that gave her confidence in turn.

She opened her mouth.

Door held up one finger. “Confine yourself to one word answers only,” they instructed.

Twilight hesitated. “Why?”

“Truth is singular,” Door pronounced. “Lies are… words. Sunset Shimmer and Dawn Starfall both spoke very well, but they spoke at such length. So many words. So much bluster to conceal the truth of two entitled children throwing tantrums because they didn’t get their way with mummy. Now: you have come to ask the Heart of the World for a favour?”

“Yes,” Twilight said, it was a simple enough question to answer simply.

“Why?”

Twilight thought about it. One word to explain why she had come. One single word to encapsulate it all. One single word to say why she come all this way, through so much trouble and at such risk. “Need.”

“Need,” Door repeated. “What is that you need? What need has brought you here?”

Again, Twilight considered. She hoped that she was at least allowed to take her time if she was being forced to play this game. What did she want, what one word summed up why she had come? “Knowledge.”

“The Heart of the World has not seen anyone in a thousand years,” Door said. “Why should they see you now?”

Twilight closed her eyes. What could she say? How could she choose one word that would change the mind of a being who seemed determined to cut themselves off from the world. “Kindness.”

“Do you mean that it would be kind for the Heart to see you or that you have come to the Heart to do a kindness?”

“Yes,” Twilight said.

For a moment, she thought that she saw a smile cross Door’s smooth, metallic face. “Why,” she asked, “is the Heart of the World whose kindness you require?”

“Stars,” Twilight said.

Door stared at her. “What do you know about the nature of this world?”

“Shield,” Twilight said.

Door continued to stare down at her. “Who are these ponies who stand behind you?”

“Friends.”

“And what are they doing here.”

“Friends,” Twilight repeated, with a little added emphasis.

“Your predecessors sought for crowns and power, that means nothing to you.”

“Nothing,” Twilight confirmed.

“Then, if you do meet with the Heart of the World, where will you go after.”

Twilight smiled. “Library.”

Door took a moment to reply. “You may see the Heart of the World, alone,” she said. “Once they have spoke with you, they met yet order you disposed of, but you may see him.” She turned away. “Come with me, uh…” she looked back. “You may use more than one word, if necessary.”

“Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight said. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

Door smiled. “Come with me, Twilight Sparkle.”

The Search Begins

"Twilight?" Lightning said sharply, his voice rising. "Twilight, can you hear me?"

"We've lost them, your highness," murmured Lily. "The signal went dead at their end."

Lightning Dawn closed his eyes, as he rested his hooves upon the table. "I see," he sighed, bowing his head. So close. So close.

To her hear voice again… after he and Krysta had fallen, even after they had survived the ordeal of the void for a second time he had never dreamed that he would… Krysta still believed, or at least she made out as though she did. Krysta kept faith, kept talking about when they found Equestria again, when they could go back… Lightning had done everything to tell her that, in all likelihood, they would never go back, short of actually telling her that they would never go back. And yet, through it all, through Lightning rejoining the Solar Legion and heading off into the field again, Krysta never stopped believing.

And she had been right. Because Twilight, it seemed, had not stopped believing either.

They shamed him with their constancy and their faith.

To hear her voice again. To be given that gift, to hear that sweet, angelic sound, to be so blessed once more… if only he could have seen her also.

But just to hear her was… it was so much more than he deserved.

And yet not nearly as much as he wanted.

Lightning opened his eyes, turning his head to fix them upon Lily Martagon, a knight of the Solar Legion, part of his personal lance. She was a mare, an alicorn as all knights were, with a red coat and a bright golden mane that glistened in the sunlight, and even managed to do so to an extent within the field tent in which they huddled now. Her eyes, too, were golden yellow like the pollen of the flower that bore her name, and were presently wide with sympathy. "I'm sorry, your highness," she murmured. She hesitated, then shifted one hoof across the table to touch his.

Lightning allowed the gesture. Not too long ago he would not have, perhaps more recently still he would have pulled back, but hearing Twilight's voice… he could now only think about how ridiculous – at best – she would think him for recoiling from a simple gesture of comfort and compassion.

"Did we… did we managed to get a fix on the location of the signal?" he asked. If they had, if Lily had managed that, then they would be able to find Equestria again, not just for his own sake but for the sake of all of New Olympia.

Since he had returned with news of his discovery, news that he had been to Equestria – news confirmed by Twilight herself in the message that had enabled Krysta and himself to be found – all of New Olympia had been electrified by the news; Sunset Shimmer herself had taken command of the search, spreading the battlecruisers of her Phoenix Fleet out across the stars in search of the promised planet. Lightning had dearly wished to partake in the search himself, for all that it seemed to him a hopeless one, but Sunset had claimed the right, and when the Phoenix of Tantive IV claimed the right then the wishes of Lightning Dawn counted for nothing.

Unless he could trace the signal that Twilight had sent.

Lily allowed herself a smile. "We've got a partial trace, your highness, an area only but-"

"But so much better than we had before!" Lightning cried, a laugh escaping from his lips. "Well done, Lily, well done!" He laughed again. This time… this time he would not be denied. "Get me a line to the palace, to His Ma- no, not yet."

"Not yet?" Lily repeated. "But-"

"A private channel, first, to my own quarters," Lightning declared. "Krysta is going to want to hear all about this."

"Please tell me that you got a trace on that," Dawn Starfall growled. "Please, tell me that you know where that signal came from!"

The soldier monitoring the comms today was an Eshothi lizardman from Eshoth VII by the name of Ru; he looked around at her, one yellow reptilian eye fixed upon her face. "A partial trace, we have an area of space."

"An area!" Dawn snapped. "An area?! I don't want an area, you useless reptile, I want a location! I want to know where she is, I want to know where-"

"Calm yourself, Dawn," the voice of Harkin, master of the Myrmidon Fleet, was as soft as his hoof upon Dawn's shoulder was firm. "I understand your impatience, but Ru deserves your praise, not your anger. Well done, Ru, had you been slower off the mark we would have been left with nothing."

Ru bowed his head. "Thank you, sir. As soon as I realised it was a communication for a prince of New Olympia-"

"Yes, that detail was very interesting," Harkin murmured, his grip on Dawn's shoulder tightening to become almost painful. "So, the rumours are true, Prince Lightning Dawn found his way to Equestria." The sibilant softness of his tone gave way to something approaching anger. No, not anger, Dawn realised: hatred. She recognised it is in his voice because it was exactly how she felt whenever she thought of Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight Sparkle. To hear her voice on that transmission… Dawn had dreamed of this, and yet she had never really expected it. She had thought that when the Heart of the World had banished her from her world that she would be gone for good. Even after Harkin had promised her that they would find her home, even after he had tempted her through the enhancement procedures, nevertheless Dawn had scarcely truly believed that this chance would come. The chance to go home, the chance to see Princess Celestia, the chance to be revenged on Twilight Sparkle for everything that lying thief had ever taken from her.

Dawn squirmed out of Harkin's grip, stepping away even as she turned to face him. "Patience, you say? Patience, while we search vast empty voids of space? Patience, while for all we know New Olympia already knows exactly where Equestria is?"

"We must do the best we can with what fortune has bestowed on us," Harkin said calmly.

"If this were your home, you would not be so quick to-"

"Do not presume to tell me what I would or would not do to avenge my home!" Harkin snarled. The commander of the Myrmidons was a tall alicorn, although his race could be easily mistaken as he covered his body and his wings in a long black cloak, just as he concealed his face and eyes behind a mask of pale, bone-coloured white, so that he seemed at times a kind of deathly figure, more incarnation of mortality than mortal himself. What little of his coat was visible was iron grey, and his mane was black as night, although in one concession to appearance he ornamented it as the night ornamented itself in stars, weaving sparkling zircons through his hair to glimmer and glisten amidst the darkness.

Dawn had often suspected that Harkin was not his real name – a suspicion shared with many other pony warriors amongst the Myrmidons, who had never heard of a such a name before – but none who had such doubts ever dared ask what his true name might be.

That momentary anger, the slipping of the other mask he wore as surely as he wore a mask upon his face, was one of the reasons why.

"Forgive me my anger," Harkin begged. "I know that I shouldn't be too hard on you. After all, you have affairs to settle, and a world to protect from the ravages of the Olympian Empire. I understand. I'm sorry that you feel my sympathy has limits."

"It's-" Dawn broke off, or rather was cut off by a sudden coughing fit that wracked her body, making her back contort up and down, straining the muscles in her gut so that it seemed as though her ribs were stabbing her. There was no blood this time. Dawn was grateful for that. "It's just that, as you can see, I don't have all the time in the universe."

"Of course," Harkin murmured. "But fear not, Dawn, there is yet time enough. I will tell Governor Sylphesh that unfortunately we must terminate our contract," he chuckled, "and yet, just think Dawn, if we had not taken the governor's gold to defend Xanadu from the Olympians, if we had been here on the same world as Lightning Dawn… we might never have known, and this golden opportunity would have passed us by. Ironic, don't you think. And something of a pity, I was looking forward to winning a victory here, but needs must, we cannot delay our departure for the sake of Xanadu or one venal governor. But first, Ru, I need you to put me through to our friends in the Saturnine Dominion. I have a proposition that I think they'll find most appealing."

A smile spread across Dawn’s face. “You mean… we’re going?”

“I’m sufficiently confident in the Dominion’s answer to say that we will set off as soon as we can withdraw from this battle,” Harkin declared. “No doubt Lightning Dawn and his allies will have come as close or closer to tracing the signal than we have. Equestria has reminded the wider galaxy of its existence, that signal from Twilight Sparkle will soon drawn visitors like a corpse draws carrion birds.

“We must make haste to bring you home, Dawn, if Equestria is to be saved.”

With A Little Help From My Friends

The inanimate golem sat in the corner, a silent watchpony over the library as Twilight sat on the wooden floor, reading a book.

That was far from an unusual occurrence where Twilight Sparkle was concerned, far from it, in fact. Her discovery of the magic of friendship had not swept away her first love of books like a great deluge, putting them out of her mind forever. She was still Princess Celestia’s faithful student, after all. She had to keep up her studies in magic as well as in friendship. But this particular book that she was reading now had nothing to do with her studies. The project that she was working on right now was a little more personal.

Three months ago two individuals had dropped out of a hole in the sky to land just outside of Ponyville: Lightning Dawn, Prince of New Olympia and Knight of the Star Legion, and his adopted sister Krysta, self-styled Princess of Awesomeness. They had come from beyond the stars, bearing the information that there existed a myriad of worlds beyond Equestria teeming with life both hostile and benign. They had come with knowledge that had, if not shaken the foundations of Twilight’s world, certainly expanded her horizons considerably. They had come looking for a magical object that they could take back home – back to New Olympia, Twilight corrected herself, since it appeared that Krysta had never considered the place to be her home – but though they had received the Prism Stone from the hooves of Princess Celestia herself, they had also found so much more than that here in Equestria. And Twilight liked to think that it was the other things that they had found here that had touched them more deeply than a magical gift, even one from Princess Celestia herself.

The lonely Krysta had found a place – seemingly the first place – to accept her for who and what she was without concern for her unusual race and appearance; and Lightning… well, Twilight liked to think that the stiff warrior prince had learned to relax just a little during his few days here in Ponyville. Certainly he appeared to have learnt the value of having a little fun from time to time. He had learnt it so well that he and Krysta had been planning to stay here, in Equestria, and send the Prism Stone back to their people without themselves.

Fate had had other plans. Fate and a wicked pony named Raven whose enigmatic machinations had forced Lightning and Krysta to sacrifice themselves to save Twilight, and spare Equestria a great evil.

Twilight didn’t know if they were still alive. They had dropped into a void, and to hear Krysta describe it she had certainly seemed to think that they were going to their deaths, but she had also mentioned to Twilight that they had escaped from such a void before. That was the slender thread of hope that Twilight clung to: that they had escaped once, and having done so could escape again.

She had to hope that they were still alive, and out there somewhere, because as much as Ponyville and the Equestrian life had made a great impression upon Lightning Dawn, the truth was that he had made an impression upon her as well. He wasn’t perfect, Celestia knew, but he had come so far in just a few days time that Twilight couldn’t help but wonder how much farther he could have gone if they’d had more time.

She couldn’t help but wonder how much farther they could have gone together; the memory of the almost-kiss that they almost shared flashed through her mind and brought a soft blush to Twilight’s cheeks.

But this was not just a case of a crush lingering in her mind; this was more than that; Lightning and Krysta had risked their lives to save hers, and she couldn’t just forget all about that or them.

Twilight had enjoyed – for a given value of enjoyed, given some of the things that she’d been through – a rather hectic few months since the Grand Galloping Gala: she and her friends had defeated Discord and saved Equestria again, she’d helped Princess Luna preside over a successful Nightmare Night, she’d almost gone crazy; pretended to be a superhero, put on a Hearth’s Warming pageant, and travelled through time. But always, once whatever heady occurrence had passed, her thoughts returned to Lightning and Krysta, and whenever she had time she would hit the books with the aim of finding a way to contact them, or at least to find out if they were okay, and where they were wherever they were okay and maybe… maybe even helping them find a way back to her on Equestria, if they could.

She didn’t have that, but as she looked at the book of ancient myths and legends in front of her Twilight felt as though she’d certainly got hold of something.

I think this might be it, Lightning.

In fact I’m sure it is.

She put the book down on the table in the centre of the library, marking her place before she shut it.

“Spike!” she called. “I’m just going out for a little while. I won’t be too long.”

Spike stuck his head out of the door from the pantry. “Okay, but where are you going?”

“I’m going to find the girls and ask them to come over,” Twilight said. “I’ve got something I need something to talk to them about.”

“Something about…” Spike hesitated, “those two?”

Twilight smiled faintly. “Yes, Spike, something about that.”

“You’ve got something?”

“I’m not certain,” Twilight admitted. “But I think I’m on the right track.”

She set out across Ponyville, gathering her friends as she went from Carousel Boutique to Sugarcube Corner, from Fluttershy’s cottage to Sweet Apple Acres; Rainbow Dash was the hardest to get hold of, and involved Twilight yelling at clouds like a crazy pony for several minutes before she found the right cloud on which her cyan pegasus friend was sleeping, but eventually she had spread the word across all of her faithful friends that there was something she wanted to discuss with them, and would they all come over to the library for a meeting so that they could talk it over.

It had been late afternoon by the time that Twilight had finished her research, and so by the time that the whole gang assembled in the library Celestia had already lowered the sun and Luna had raised the moon to cast the world in a deep purple which gathered at the windows of the living tree-library. Twilight lit candles, which cast long shadows across the interior of the Golden Oaks as the six ponies and one baby dragon gathered in the main circular space, her friends waiting to see what she had to say to them.

Twilight looked at each of them in turn: her friends, the pieces of her heart. They didn’t all see eye to eye on this – opinion on Lightning Dawn was somewhat divided amongst the group – but of their love for herself she was absolutely assured, and she hoped that that affection, the bond between them that had enabled them to redeem Luna and defeat Discord, the ties that bound them unbreakably to one another, would be stronger than any misgivings they might have about Lightning or the way that Twilight felt about him.

“Thank you all for coming,” Twilight said, smiling at them briefly. “I’ve asked you all here because I… because I’d like your help with something.”

The lips of Rainbow Dash twitched upwards a little. “Come on, Twilight, you don’t have to get us all together like this and make a speech to ask us to help you out. Just tell us what you need and we’ll do it.”

“You know us, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “Always happy to do you a favour, the same way you wouldn’t hesitate to do the same for us if we needed it.”

Twilight’s smile widened, even as she couldn’t help but feel a little nervous about it. “That’s… it’s really wonderful to hear you say that, but please don’t jump in too quickly. You might not feel the same way by time I’m finished.”

Rainbow frowned. “Why not? What’s this about, Twilight?”

“It’s about Lightning Dawn, isn’t it?” Fluttershy asked, her voice barely rising above a whisper.

Twilight took a deep breath. “Yes,” she admitted. “It’s about him, and Krysta.” She looked at Rainbow Dash expectantly.

Rainbow did not disappoint. Or rather she did disappoint a little, but only by acting much the way that Twilight had expected her to act: her jaw clenched, her body tensed, and she looked a lot less eager to help than she had done just a moment ago. “Oh,” she said, in a voice that was almost a growl. “Right.”

Twilight didn’t respond to that directly. This wasn’t the time, or at least she didn’t want to get into it with Rainbow Dash right now. Instead it was to Pinkie Pie that she looked, since Pinkie had the most legitimate reason to want nothing to do with Lightning, after what he had been prepared to do.

The pony who went by Raven – whether that was her real name or not Twilight couldn’t say, no records of any Raven existed anywhere – had infected Pinkie with something, some kind of darkness, a force of hatred and malice that had tried to take her over. And Lightning… Lightning had been prepared to kill her for that because that was what his world and his people did to those who suffered such a fate. Obviously it hadn’t come to that – Twilight had taken the darkness out of Pinkie and taken the burden upon herself instead, and Lightning had found himself unable to kill Twilight – but she wouldn’t blame Pinkie Pie for not wanting anything to do with him after that.

“Pinkie,” she said gently. “I’d like you to stay, but if you don’t want to… then obviously I won’t make you.”

Pinkie stared at her, her blue eyes guileless. “Why would I want to leave?”

“Because of what he tried to do to you?” Rainbow suggested.

“He was only trying to protect everypony else,” Pinkie said. She looked at Twilight, and seemed to hesitate for a moment. “The truth is… the truth is that I’m more upset about what you did, Twilight.”

Twilight’s eyebrows rose up, disappearing behind her bangs. “What I did?”

“I asked you to stop,” Pinkie reminded her.

Twilight was silent for a moment. She and Pinkie had never really talked about what had happened that day. “I… I had to try,” she said softly. “I had to save you.”

“Even if I didn’t want to be saved that way?” Pinkie demanded. “I… how do you think that would make me feel, knowing that it was my fault you were gone and never coming back?”

“Nobody would say it was your fault,” Twilight replied.

“I would!” Pinkie cried. “I would say and it would be true!”

Twilight did not reply for a moment. She licked her lips. “I… I’m sorry, Pinkie Pie. Only… I’m not really sorry because… because if I had done nothing then… then I’d feel exactly the same way if you were gone, and I hadn’t tried my hardest to help you.”

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, before Pinkie’s eyes closed as a bright grin spread across her face. “It’s okay, Twilight. After all, we’re both here now, right?”

Twilight chuckled. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess we are, aren’t we?”

“And as for Lightning,” Pinkie said. “He saved you. So if you need my help to find him or talk to him or whatever this is, then I owe him one. I think we all do.”

Rainbow snorted.

“Why don’t you explain a li’l more, sugarcube?” Applejack suggested. “We can talk a little more once we have the details.”

“I quite agree, darling,” Rarity added. “Not to mention we’re all on tenterhooks to know just what you’ve found.”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. If you’re all willing to stay and listen-“ she hesitated a moment, waiting to see if Rainbow would go, but for now she stayed, for which Twilight was thankful. “Then I’ll begin,” Twilight continued, levitating the book that she had been reading earlier, a collection of myths and legends that went back to the very earliest days of ponykind and other creatures too: yaks, dragons, zebras. She opened the book, and set it down upon the floor where everyone, including Spike, could see it.

“As you know,” Twilight said. “I’ve been looking at ways that I could find Lightning and Krysta; either to find out that they’re okay, or possibly to bring them back here if that’s at all possible. I still don’t know how possible the second one is, but in my research I’ve come across something that I think will help with the first: the Heart of the World.”

“Heart of the World?” Applejack repeated. “I don’t reckon I’ve ever heard of nothing like that before.”

“I’m not surprised,” Twilight replied. “It’s a very old story. Even I hadn’t heard of it until very recently; but as I researched I kept coming across references to it: in more modern texts its noted as a story that bears into the topics I was researching, but in older sources it’s talked about as a real thing that the writers appeared to assume that anyone reading – contemporary with the sources themselves – would be familiar with. Unfortunately, the assumption of familiarity comes with the downside that none of those texts actually engage with what the Heart of the World is and what it does, and I wasn’t able to find any original source that describes it.”

“But you were able to find something,” Rarity said. “You must have, or else we wouldn’t be here.”

“Right,” Twilight agreed. “I was able to find this description of the myth,” she gestured with her muzzle to the book on the floor in front of her, and to the illustration of a hollow world with a tunnel leading down into the chambers beneath the surface. “According to this text, the Heart of the World is a story that is found far more frequently in dragon and zebra lore than pony tales, but even amongst those creatures mentions of it dramatically decline as we move into the period of recorded history, as though… as though it were forgotten about, or someone wished it to become forgotten.”

“Or it was never actually real,” Rainbow suggested. “You said it yourself, Twilight, these are myths.”

“So was Nightmare Moon,” Twilight reminded her. “So was the Lost City of Olympia.”

“We’ve still only got one pony’s word that was real,” Rainbow said.

“Princess Celestia seemed to believe Lightning,” Twilight.

“Why don’t you tell us what this here myth is?” Applejack suggested before Rainbow could say anything else. “What does it have to do with Lightning and Krysta?”

“According to a reading of the various myths and legends surrounding it,” Twilight said. “Obviously there’s a degree of syncreticism at play here, but by analysing the commonalities – and I haven’t just consulted this summary, but also as many of the sources as still exist – the Heart of the World was a living being of some kind; not a living creature, I don’t think, but certainly a consciousness, perhaps one bound to an object of some description. Unfortunately the sources are not very clear on that; they make it as explicit as they make anything that the Heart could not move physically, but some of them represent it as a kind of gemstone or core that could think and interact, others suggest that it was more of a spirit bound within a certain locale. Either way, it possessed great power and an awareness of all that passed on the surface of the world. According to the stories it possessed great wisdom, and it was customary in the First Empire of the zebras for the Emperor or Empress to enter the tunnels to seek its blessing on their rule, and lords and common creatures alike sought out its counsel. Offerings were left to it; it was revered as a kind of god.”

“Maybe it was one,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Perhaps,” Twilight replied. “Especially since another aspect of the legends is that the Heart could communicate across the stars, to other beings like it on other worlds. According to the stories there was even commerce and travel between said worlds – or at least beings from other worlds would come here, where they were received with honour by the zebras. Until…”

“Until?” Rainbow urged.

“Until… the First Empire was destroyed a thousand years ago in a great cataclysm, no one is entirely sure of what kind,” Twilight admitted. “Many historians blame invasion by dragons and griffons, others suggest a natural disaster, but in light of what I’ve read I can’t help wondering if it had some connection to the loss of the city of Olympia.”

“Are they connected in any of those stories about the Heart you’ve been readin’?” Applejack asked.

“Some,” Twilight admitted. “Olympia was located far to the south of Equestria, and the lords of the city – who go unnamed, slightly unfortunately, but then these are zebra stories – are amongst those who are said to have consulted the Heart of the World upon occasion.”

“This thing sounds pretty neat,” Pinkie said. “How come everypony just forgot about it?”

“Because,” Twilight continued. “Something happened when the zebra empire fell, and possibly when Olympia was lost as well; when that happened, the legends state that the Heart of the World became sad, and closed off its heart to the world; more than that, it did… something, to ensure that there would be no more contact with or visitors from beyond the stars. That fits with what Lightning told me, that our world was closed off, cut off, unable to be found or entered except by extraordinary means. That was why nopony could follow him here however much they might have desired to.

“But what was done can perhaps be undone. The reason that I asked you all here is that I propose to seek out the Heart of the World and see if there is a way to at least reach out beyond this world as was done before, and see if I can reach Lightning and Krysta, just to find out that they’re safe.”

“What if there’s a good reason why this Heart thing cut itself off in the first place?” Rainbow said. “What if there’s a reason we shouldn’t be messing with this stuff?”

Twilight declared. “If there is a good reason then the Heart of the World can tell me so itself when I arrive. I’m not going to speculate upon its motives or let those speculations stop me from doing something to stop me from finding two friends.”

“You mean you want to go to the zebra lands?” Fluttershy asked.

“I do,” Twilight said. “The Heart of the World resides underground – so the tales say, at least – in a series of tunnels descending deep beneath the surface. I think that I know where to start searching: an area of land on the border between Grevyia and Quaggai. I want to go there and I want to look and I want to see what’s there. And I… I would like for you all to come with me. There’s nopony I’d rather undertake this search with.” She smiled bashfully. “And to be perfectly honest I’m not sure that I can do this without you.”

“And if we say no?” Applejack asked, her voice soft.

Twilight looked at her, eyes widening just a little. “Are you saying no?”

Applejack scuffed her hoof upon the wooden floor, then pushed her hat back on her head just a little. “I ain’t saying no, but I ain’t saying yes just yet either, sugarcube. The truth is… I know you liked Lightning Dawn-“

“This isn’t about my feelings-“

“Ain’t it?” Applejack replied. “I’m not saying it would be a bad thing if it were, I’m just sayin’… it’s an awful long way to go chasin’ a legend. Are you sure it’s out there?”

Twilight chuckled. “I think I might be starting to get to the point that I’d be surprised if we came across a legend that wasn’t true.”

Applejack snorted. “I guess I can understand that,” she admitted. “And if Rainbow’s right, and there’s a good reason why we might not want to open up this particular door?”

“I would never do anything to put Equestria or any of you at risk,” Twilight said. “You know that, right?”

Applejack stared into Twilight’s eyes for a moment. She grinned. “Well, it ain’t like I can just let you go run off without me now, is it?”

Twilight sighed with relief; she hadn’t realised just how nervous she was until she felt that nervousness ebbing away from her a little. “Thank you, Applejack,” she said. “That means a lot.”

Applejack tipped her hat. “Anytime, sugarcube.”

“Me too! Me too!” Pinkie cried, bouncing up and down with a springy sound in her hooves. “Like I said, Lightning and Krysta saved you, so I think we owe it to them to try and save them too if we can.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Rarity declared. “We do have an obligation to them both, and in any case, how could we refuse you a favour of this sort when you ask for it?”

Twilight bowed her head. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you feel that way, but I really don’t want you to feel pressured-“

“Who said anything about pressured?” Rarity asked. “If I felt pressured to do a favour for a friend, well, we wouldn’t really be such good friends, would we?” She beamed. “Besides, I’ve heard that the zebra fashions are quite remarkable, perhaps after we’re done we could find time for a little sight-seeing, hmm?”

Twilight laughed. “I’m sure we can manage to fit some in on our way home.”

“And the wildlife in that part of the world is supposed to be exquisite,” Fluttershy cried. “I mean, um, I’ll come too, although I don’t know if I’ll be any help.”

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“I have to say, however,” Rarity added. “I think that perhaps Spike you ought to stay at home for this.”

“What?” Spike cried. “Why?”

“This will be a long journey,” Rarity said, glancing at Twilight for confirmation. “And perhaps a hard one, too.”

“But I want to see if Krysta’s okay, too,” Spike insisted. “I owe them both for saving Twilight just as much as any of you girls! And Krysta was my friend as much – almost as much – as Lightning was Twilight’s. So why should I have to stay behind and wait, and what am I supposed to do for however long you’re gone anyway?”

“I’m sure you could go stay with my parents, or Princess Celestia,” Twilight said. “The point is that we don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Come on, Twilight, I’ll be with you guys,” Spike said. “What could possibly happen?”

Twilight hesitated, thinking. None of the legends explicitly mentioned danger, and even if it did Spike was tougher than his age might suggest; he wasn’t a pony child, he was a young dragon with all that implied. But, on the other hoof, it was a very long way to go.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked. “This will be a very long journey, and it won’t be possible for you to change your mind about this halfway through and go home again.”

“I might be a baby dragon, but I’m not that much of a baby,” Spike insisted. “I’m not going to get bored and whine that it’s getting too hard. Besides, you might need an assistant.”

“Maybe,” Twilight conceded.

Spike’s eyes seemed to double in size, consuming the rest of his face as he stared imploringly up at her.

“Okay, okay, just stop doing that,” Twilight said, with amusement in her voice. She rubbed the top of his scaly head with one hoof. That was everypony – everyone – accounted for save only one.

Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, come on, you know that I’m not going to say no and let you all go off on an adventure without me!” Rainbow snapped. “I didn’t like the guy and I don’t think he’s worth it but I’m not going to ditch you, Twi. I said I’d do whatever I could to help you out and I’m going to do it, even if I do think it’s crazy.”

“I’m glad that you can-“

“I’m not quite done yet,” Rainbow said, as she fluttered up into the air a little, mainly so that she could fold her forelegs. “I got a condition first.”

Twilight’s brow furrowed. “A condition?”

“You have to talk to Princess Celestia about this first, and make sure that it’s a good idea with her,” Rainbow said. She scowled. “I don’t like this, Twilight. I don’t like it and I don’t like Lightning Dawn either. I’ll go with you all, because it’s you guys, but… I just want to know that it’s okay before we do.”

Twilight thought about it for a moment. As conditions went it was far from unreasonable. “I suppose that’s fair enough,” she said. “Spike, take a letter to the princess.”

The ever-ready Spike produced parchment, quill and ink as mysteriously as he ever did. “Ready,” he said, a slight smile playing upon his scaly features.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Dear Princess Celestia,” she said. “As you know, ever since Lightning Dawn and Krysta disappeared from Equestria, saving me – saving all of us – from the Shard of Darkness that the pony Raven had unleashed upon Ponyville, I have been researching ways that I might, if not be able to find them again, at least be able to prove to my own satisfaction that they had survived the sacrifice they made for all of us. And now, I believe that I’ve found something.

“In my research, I have come across something called the Heart of the World, a mysterious legend, I must admit, but one which, if the tales are true, possesses knowledge and abilities stretching beyond the boundaries of this world; knowledge of other places and other peoples, knowledge of the fate of Lightning and Krysta and, perhaps, the ability to bring them back here. I don’t hold out great hope of that, but even to know that they were alive and well, albeit separated from me, would give me great comfort.

“From what I’ve read, I believe that the Heart lies somewhere in the lands of the zebras, between Grevyia and Quaggai, and I propose to seek it there. My friends have all agreed to come with me, but they have suggested that I should talk to you first about my intentions. For that reason, I would be very grateful if we could meet and discuss the idea.

“Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

Spike rolled up the completed letter, and breathed his green fiery breath upon it, consuming the scroll in a puff of ethereal smoke which floated gently upwards towards the ceiling of the library before disappearing completely from view, transporting instantly across the distance between Ponyville and Canterlot, where Celestia held court.

“Thank you, Spike,” Twilight said. “Princess Celestia might not reply for a while, it took her some time to think about-“

Spike belched out a letter in another burst of green smoke, his whole body leaping off the floor for a moment as he spat out the missive. Twilight grabbed letter and dragon both in the grip of her telekinesis before they hit the floor.

“Or she could reply right away, I suppose,” Twilight finished, with a touch of nervous laughter in her voice as she set Spike down, and open the letter.

“What’s it say?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight glanced up from the letter to look at her. “Princess Celestia wants me to come to the palace tomorrow morning to discuss it.”

A Trail to Follow

The reconciliation of Zecora and her sister was not a part of the ponies’ story. Twilight had helped to bring it about, had – depending on how you chose to interpret things – manipulated events to carry it along, but it wasn’t about her. It was a moment that belonged to the sisters themselves, as much – moreso, given the lack of comparable connection between Twilight, or any of the other ponies really, and the zebras – as the reconciliation of Celestia and Luna had belonged to them.

Which meant that, instead of intruding directly upon the scene, the ponies watched from a discreet distance as the two sisters embraced one another, and began to nuzzle one another with years of suppressed affection.

It wasn’t like they were going to completely ignore it.

Pinkie sniffed, as tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. “They’re… they’re so happy.” She sniffed again. “Does anypony have a tissue?”

“Here you go, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said softly, as she held a handkerchief out on the edge of her wing.

Applejack pushed her hat a little further back on her head. “It sure is about time somethin’ good happened on this trip – no offence, Twilight.”

Twilight smiled shyly. “None taken, I completely understand. After what happened at Cirta I’m glad we were able to do some good instead of leaving chaos and disaster in our wake.”

“Who’s this we?” Rainbow asked, as she fluttered above the heads of the others. “This one’s all on you, Twi.”

Twilight chuckled. “That’s kind of you to say, but I barely did anything. I just-“

“Believed in Zecora and never gave up?” Applejack suggested. “Came up with a plan? That don’t sound like nothing to me?”

“Only you could have done this, darling,” Rarity assured her. “Take the credit for it while you can.”

“The credit belongs to Zecora,” Twilight insisted. “For finally having the courage to trust somebody with her secret. When you trust somepony, and open up your heart to a friend then problems that seemed insurmountable can-“

“Am I supposed to be writing this down for Princess Celestia?” Spike asked.

Twilight couldn’t help but laugh, although she tried to hide it by covering her mouth up with one hoof. “No, Spike, that’s not necessary.”

“But it might not be a bad idea to let the princess know where we are,” Ace suggested. “Especially with what you’ve found out about Sunset Shimmer and Dawn Starfall.”

Twilight frowned. “What have we found out, except that they both passed this way and were never seen again?”

Ace shrugged. “It’s more than her highness knows at present.”

“And I’m sure that Princess Celestia will be glad to know you’re alright, Sugarcube,” Applejack added.

“I suppose you’re right,” Twilight murmured. “Although I don’t relish having to explain what’s happened to us so far.”

“Well nobody said that you had to tell the princess everything,” Rainbow said, landing down on the palace floor with a soft thump. “Just say that we reached this town and that we’re all okay.”

“You could also tell her what we’re going to do next,” Spike said. “Except that would require you to, you know, know what we’re going to do next.”

“Aww, don’t be like that, Spike,” Pinkie cried. “I’m sure that Twilight has it figured out.”

Twilight looked at Pinkie, a wry smile playing across her face. “Everything that’s happened and you still have faith in me?”

“Sure we do,” Pinkie declared. “You’re Twilight Sparkle, and you always come through in a pinch.”

Twilight smiled, but only for a moment. “I want to continue on,” she said. “In spite of Sophoniba’s warnings, in spite of what happened to Dawn and Sunset… I know that they disappeared, but then I knew that from Princess Celestia herself before we even set out on this journey, and while I didn’t know Sunset Shimmer, and I didn’t really want to know Dawn Starfall… the point is that while I’m not going to say that I’m any more talented or intelligent or resourceful than they were, I have something that they didn’t, and that’s you girls. You amazing, loyal, hard-working, generous, kind, fun-loving girls. With you by my side I’m convinced that we can succeed where others failed, if only… but only if you still want to try.”

Rainbow grinned. “Come on, Twilight, are we going to do this every step of the way? We’ve come this far, I want to see what’s waiting at the end of the road. I want a cool story that I can tell Scootaloo when we get back, not ‘and then things were getting kinda tough so we all decided to come back home.’”

Applejack snorted. “I’m not so sure about telling this story to Apple Bloom, but I don’t much care for tucking my tail between my legs and saying I got beaten.”

“I think we’re all rather curious as to what lies at the end of the road,” Rarity added.

“We all understand why you want to go through with this,” Fluttershy said.

“And we’re with you every step of the way!” Pinkie cried.

“Personally I’d rather you did decide to turn back,” Ace said. “But I’m not here to tell you what to do, just try and be there when the trouble starts. I know I haven’t been much help so far, but… you lead the way and I’ll follow best I can.”

“Thank you, all of you,” Twilight said, relief and gratitude mingling in her voice. “Because I… I have an idea as to where we go from here.”

“Of course you do,” Applejack said. “So let’s hear it?”

“Think back to what Sophoniba said, about Sunset Shimmer,” Twilight began.

“Some of us were a little thirsty at the time, Twilight, so why don’t you explain it to us,” Rainbow suggested.

“Well, Sophoniba told us that Sunset arrived ragged and unkempt, after having lost all of her possessions, just like us,” Twilight said. “However, she was able to convince a group of zebras and horses to join her anyway… only they later came back without her. Since Sophoniba said that some of them may still be in the city, I think that we should see them out and find out what they know about where Sunset led them, what happened on the way, and why they left her behind.”

“I think I can answer that last one: on account of they were a bunch of lowlifes looking to get rich quick and easy,” Applejack said.

“I think Applejack might have a point, Twilight,” Ace added, “are we sure we can trust people like this?”

“We don’t have to believe everything they say, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth asking them,” Twilight replied. “Our alternative is to plunge on blindly ahead with no real idea where we’re supposed to be looking… that or see if Sophoniba will let us take a look in her library. Ooh, now that sounds like an idea.”

“Well if you put it like that, looking for lowlifes sounds a lot more fun,” Rainbow muttered.

“Why not both?” Rarity suggested. “Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy and Ace can research in the library, while Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie and I see if we can find anyone who remembers Sunset Shimmer, or that other pony, what was her name?”

“Dawn,” Twilight said. “Dawn Starfall.”

“We can hear their stories and compare notes with your research when we get back,” Rarity said brightly. “Doesn’t that sound the best use of everyone’s time, darling?”

“Why do I have to spend time in the library?” Ace muttered.

“To keep Twilight safe, obviously,” Rarity informed her.

“Who’s keeping you safe out on the streets?” Ace asked.

“I am,” Applejack and Rainbow Dash said simultaneously.

The two of them looked at one another.

“Okay, we both are, I suppose,” Applejack admitted.

“That sounds like a great idea, Rarity,” Twilight said. “Okay, let’s split up! Good luck, girls… but be careful out there.”

The Heart of the World

At first, Twilight didn’t believe it. At first she didn’t think that she had heard right but, as she heard Pinkie whoop with glee behind her, as she watched Door begin to stride away to the other end of the circular chamber – part of the wall slid open to present another corridor to their view – it finally began to sink in.

It was happening. It was really happening. The thing that she had come searching for was finally in sight. Everything that she had wanted, everything that Zecora and Ace had risked everything for, everything that they had worked it was… it was all here. It was all really here, no more doubts, no more questions, no more obstacles, just… here, waiting for her.

She turned to her friends. Door had told her to follow alone. “Are you-“

“Go!” Spike yelled, as the girls – even Rainbow Dash – beamed at her, urging her on with their hooves, doing everything to push her forward short of actually pushing her forward. “Go, find out where they are! Go on, before they change their mind!”

Twilight let out a laugh, a laugh of joy, a laugh of giddy excitement, a laugh of relief from the stress held in for so long and finally released. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you so much.” She turned away, looking at Door once more. “Thank you!” she cried. “I-“

“Do not thank me,” Door cut her off before she could finish. Their voice was stern, and carried with it an undercurrent of regret. “There is little to thank me for.”

“I think there is everything to thank you for,” Twilight murmured.

Door met her gaze. “You may not get all that you wish,” they informed Twilight. “And you may not get what you wanted from this. Actions have consequences, not all who visit the Heart of the World remember that.”

“I… I would say that I understand,” Twilight murmured. “But I don’t. All I know is that… I have to do this. I can’t… I need to do this.”

“Need,” Door repeated. “As you said. Well, as I say, I have decided that you are worthier than most. So come along, and come quickly before I change my mind.”

She turned away once again. Twilight followed, trotting quickly after her. Her hooves tapped against the stone of the circular chamber, and then changed to a different sort of tapping as she passed through the open doorway and into the other corridor. This one was made of metal, with a reflective floor and reflective walls and cold, sterile lights of an unknown – to Twilight – type hanging from the ceiling.

“Say Hi to Krysta for me!” Spike called, as the door closed behind Twilight.

“They’re going to be okay in there, aren’t they?” Twilight asked.

“Of course,” Door said. “If I meant to dispose of you I would have disposed of you all.”

“Right,” Twilight murmured. “I don’t suppose there’s any chance they could get some refreshments?”

Door looked at Twilight with bemusement visible even their metal face.

“Right,” Twilight muttered. “Stupid question.”

Door pursed their lips, then began to stride down the corridor, leaving Twilight to trot after her, her hoof-falls tapping lightly against the metal floor.

Door led her down that corridor, then turned to the right where, after just a few steps, a pair of metal doors slid open for her, revealing an elevator car such as they had in some of the newest skyscrapers in Manehatten.

“Is this new to you?” Door asked, as she walked in. “The Heart does not always tell me everything, I sometimes struggle to keep track of the level of technological advancement in the outside world these days.”

“I know what an elevator is,” Twilight said, as she climbed in beside Door. “Although I’ve never actually ridden in one.”

“No?” Door asked.

“No,” Twilight repeated. “They have them in Manehatten, but Princess Celestia decided not to install them in the palace – she said she liked the exercise of climbing the stairs - and there aren’t any other places in Canterlot big enough to need them. Although maybe if we installed a couple of big elevators in the city it might help ponies to get around the levels. At least the ones that can’t fly.”

Door said nothing in response to that, as the elevator doors slid shut. There was a sound like the tinkling of a bell as the elevator began its descent.

“I don’t know why it does that,” Door muttered, as the elevator ground down.

They said nothing else, and Twilight said nothing else to them. They rode down the elevator in silence, with the grinding, rumbling noise of the elevator the only sound.

Twilight studied the cab. It could do with a bit of a clean, she was forced to conclude; Rarity would have a fit if she were here – well, she might pretend to have a fit, she probably wouldn’t actually have a fit due to the earnest circumstances in which they found themselves, in the same way that she had born the dark of the rocky corridor and the sand of the desert without complaint – anyway, she wouldn’t have found this somewhat grimy elevator car to her taste. It was a wonder that Door was able to keep herself looking so pristine when she spent time in a place like this. The elevator was metal, and unadorned; it looked as though there might have been something on the wall once, but it was gone now. There were no buttons to control where the elevator went, Twilight noticed abruptly. It had just started moving once the doors closed.

“How…” Twilight began. “How does it know where to go?”

“There’s only one place anyone wants to go,” Door replied.

“Of course,” Twilight murmured. She swallowed, her throat feeling suddenly dry for some reason. Well, no, not for some reason, for a very good reason, she was about to meet the Heart of the World, an ancient… something of vast power, someone who had spoken to kings and emperors, who had counselled so many people of such great power of the years and… and she was about to ask it for a favour.

Put like that, it all seemed rather absurd. Stupid. Childish. Naïve. But she had come this far, right? I mean she’d gotten through the door – or even the Door – so things were going okay, right? It wasn’t as though this was all an elaborate prank, was it?

“Calm yourself,” Door urged.

Twilight looked up at her. “Was it that obvious?”

“Somewhat,” Door said dryly. They paused. “The Heart of the World has seen many, over the years, but they never valued the high more than the low, the ritual visits by the monarchs about the lonely pilgrims. In fact, I often thought that they preferred the latter.”

The door opened, revealing a messier and untidier space than Twilight had been expecting, lit up by those same cold lights that hung above the metal corridors. It looked as if there had once been a carpet on the floor, but it had become moth-eaten and ragged, with holes in it where the metal floor shone through. Some decaying furniture lined the walls of the circular chamber.

At the far end, lining one full semicircle of the walls, were bank after bank of screens, like the newfangled arcade games that were spread across Equestria, except without any actual games attached, just the monitors stacked one on top of the other, all black and dormant all silent.

A few stray wires emerged into view between the screens, and Twilight could only imagine how many more there were behind and hidden out of sight.

She stepped forward out of the elevator, with Door beside her, and she did so Twilight looked around.

She could see no one, and while the other chamber had been dim enough for Door to hide on the ceiling if she wished this place was not.

There was no one here.

She was about to say so when all the screens upon the wall roared to life in an instant, the sudden hiss of static making Twilight jump a little as she was presented with so many images of static, black and white jumping all over one another, lines running up and down.

“There is a pony down in my lair!” squawked the voice, a male voice – or male-sounding, at least – of the same indeterminate age as that of Door, running their words together very quickly. “There is an actual, living pony, down in my lair! Door, I thought that you were supposed to keep living creatures out! I am fairly certain that that is in fact, your job!”

“Usually, it is,” Door replied, unfazedly. “However, I thought that you should speak to Twilight Sparkle yourself.”

“Twilight, Twilight Sparkle, it has a name now, oh, that’s wonderful, that’s absolutely wonderful, that’s terrific. Twilight Sparkle, how did you even find this place?”

“I, uh, I found an account left by Queen Dido of her journey here,” Twilight offered.

“Queen Dido,” the voice sighed. “Yes, she would write it down, wouldn’t she; so clever, always writing things down.”

“As I recall, you appreciated her intelligence at the time,” Door said.

“At the time it wasn’t causing me trouble, what is she doing here?”

“Are you… do I have the honour of addressing the Heart of the World?”

“No. Well, yes, but I didn’t choose that name, it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Call me… call me Bob-“

“Do not call them Bob,” Door said.

“What if I don’t want to be called Heart of the World?” they demanded.

“How about… sir?” Twilight suggested.

“No!” they cried. “No, absolutely not, I am… I am… I am tired. I am tired and I… and I’m old. I’m so very very old. Oh, call me sir, call me Heart, call me whatever you like, and you are Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yes,” Twilight said softly. “Yes, that’s right. My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“And where are you from, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Ponyville,” Twilight said. “It’s a village in Equestria, not far from Canterlot.”

“Ah, Canterlot, Equestria,” the Heart declared. “Yes, of course, you’re a pony, you’re a unicorn, of course you’re from Equestria, where else would you come from? Ponyville. Never heard of Ponyville, must take a look for it, Door! Remind me to check up on Ponyville, it sounds rather charming.”

“It has its moments,” Twilight murmured.

“You are a long way from home, Twilight Sparkle from Ponyville just outside Canterlot,” the Heart said. “So why have you come all this way? What do you want? What would you have of the Heart of the World? What kind of crown would you like me to place upon your head?”

“She comes seeking knowledge,” Door said.

“No one comes here seeking knowledge, Door,” the Heart said. “They want power, they want glory-“

“I don’t,” Twilight declared. “I don’t want either of those things.”

“Easily said,” the Heart replied dismissively.

“I defeated Discord!” Twilight declared, taking a step forward. “My friends and I, we stopped him. He broke free, but we sealed him up in stone again. We saved Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon, my friends and I. And do you know what I did after that? I went back to the library. Just like Pinkie went back to the bakery, just like Rarity went back to her boutique and Applejack went back to her farm. Because it’s not about the glory, it never has been. That’s not why I did my part to protect Equestrian and it’s not why I’m here now. I don’t know why you’re hiding, I don’t know why you stopped accepting visitors but I am here. I found you, I got this far with the help of my friends and the least you could do is hear me out!

“The least you could do is listen to what I have to say before you judge my intent.”

Twilight took a deep breath. Silence reigned in the chamber, there was sound other than her own breathing and the muted static of the monitors on the wall.

“Three months ago,” she said, “a pony fell from the sky. He fell… he was my knight who fell from space.” A smile played across her face. “His name was Lightning Dawn, and he told me that he came from a place called New Olympia. He was accompanied by his sister, Krysta, a fairy, and they were on a quest for a magical talisman but… I don’t know if that’s important right now. What’s important is that I… I love him. I fell in love with him, while he was here. He… he could be proud, and stiff, and a little stubborn and he had been taught to resort to violence too easily but… but at the same time he could be childlike and adorable, curious, eager, courteous, even compassionate. He was a little rough around the edges but… but one you got to what was inside… it was worth it. I saw that while he was here and I… and I loved it. I loved him. He was going to stay here, in Equestria; even after their mission was finished, they weren’t going to go back. Princess Celestia gave her permission, they were both so excited… they had so many plans. They ought to be here right now. Only… they’re not.

“Somepony, an enemy, unleashed something called a Shard of Darkness on one of my friends. Lightning… to defeat it, to get it away from Ponyville, Krysta opened up a portal into the void, into a betweenspace, not teleporting to anywhere but specifically to nowhere if that makes-“

“I understand,” the Heart said, their own voice soft and solemn. “That’s… a death sentence.”

“Does it have to be?” Twilight demanded.

“The Heart of the World cannot bring back the dead,” Door murmured.

“That’s not why I’m here,” Twilight explained quickly. “I know that this isn’t… Lightning told me that he and Krysta had ended up there before, and got out, which means that they could get out again, right? I mean they don’t have to be… I was hoping that you could tell me that they were alright, where they were. I was even hoping that perhaps you could bring them here, I know that you brought-“

“Twilight Sparkle,” the Heart interrupted her. “If your friend came from beyond then I’m guessing he told you what this world really is.”

Twilight nodded. “A shield world,” she said.

“Indeed,” the Heart said. “Door, three months ago, didn’t we log two large scale spatial disruptions from the Canterlot region?”

“We did,” Door confirmed.

“That was Lightning,” Twilight said. “The first was when a hole was torn in the sky and he fell through it, and the second was when the portal opened for him and Krysta to come back… only he wasn’t there, so I sent a message through explaining what had happened.”

“It might have been better if you hadn’t done that,” the Heart said. “You know what this world is, but do you know what I am?”

“No,” Twilight admitted. “None of the sources I consulted seemed to be very clear.”

“That’s because none of them understood,” the Heart said. “Not their fault, not really, it’s a lot to get your head around. I am… I am the system that controls this world. I… no, that’s not true, not any more, that’s what I was created to be, at first, but you ponies and the like do so much of that yourselves. That was part of my programming, you know, to let you flourish, to be unobtrusive, to let you walk and run if that was what you wanted to do, so I let you take over the sun and the moon and the weather and in the end I, well, I didn’t have a great deal to do really, I just sort of… sit around, do the crossword, talk to Door-“

“But you used to help people,” Twilight said. “And you brought visitors, from… from other worlds, isn’t that right?”

“I did, once,” the Heart agreed. “But I stopped. Do you know why I stopped, Twilight Sparkle? Do you know why I have been alone with Door for a thousand years?”

Twilight was silent for a moment. “Did… did it have something to do with the disappearance of Olympia?”

“It had everything to do with the disappearance of Olympia,” the Heart said. “I… I found out that… that some very, very bad people were planning to do some very bad things, to bring some terrible things here to this world. And so… I sealed it off. I sealed it all off, nobody in, nobody out, deleted my location from all external records, I made it so that nobody could find this place, how did Lightning Dawn find this place?”

“By chance,” Twilight said. “He wasn’t looking for it, he was only looking for his magical talisman, one of the Prism Stones.”

“The Prism Stones,” the Heart repeated with a sigh. “And now you want… I can’t just tell you if they’re alive or not, that’s not how it works. I don’t know everything-“

“Nice to hear you admit it,” Door muttered.

The Heart ignored her. “Even if they are alive I can’t just whisk them back here, there have to be… they would need the proper equipment, set-up equipment, coordinates, I… I could look for them.”

“You could?”

“Yes,” the Heart said. “But once a door is opened, people can walk in, as well as out, do you understand? There is a reason why I sealed this world.”

“I know about Saturn,” Twilight said, “but please, Lightning sacrificed… he was willing to sacrifice everything for us. I… I need to know if he’s okay. Please, I… even if I have to find another way to see him again then I’ll find one on my own but I just… if you can help me find out that he’s okay… I just want to know that they’re safe.”

“Because you love him?”

“Because he deserves not to be forgotten the moment he’s not around any more,” Twilight replied.

“And after you know that you’ll go back to the library,” the Heart said.

“Yes,” Twilight said. “To the library, to picnics, to Ponyville, to… living. To living my life… and looking for a way to bring them back. I don’t want glory. I don’t want power. I don’t want a crown placed upon my head, I don’t want you to tell me that I have a great and glorious destiny that all should bow before, I don’t want to tell anypony that I found you or where. I just want to know that two people who became dear to me, are alive. I want them to know that I haven’t forgotten them.”

Once more, both Door and the Heart were silent. Then the Heart said, “Twilight Sparkle, you really are the first pony – the first creature – to come here in a long time who was not… well, alright, you are being a little bit selfish but you aren’t… I misjudged you. You aren’t what I expected you would be.” A moment’s pause. “Very well.”

“Very… very well?” Twilight asked. “You mean-“

“I can transmit a wide-band signal out across the stars,” the Heart said. “If Lightning Dawn and Krysta are out there, if they’re listening… they’ll hear you. And so will anyone else, you understand that? You understand what you’re doing?”

Twilight was silent, considering. She wasn’t sure what Princess Celestia would have to say about this, she hadn’t talked about doing this, but… but Princess Celestia hadn’t told her not to, nor given her any actual reason not to do so. And really, who was likely to be listening and even if they did listen, what would they do about it? It was just a message. Just a message. What harm could it possibly do. “I do,” she said. “I understand. And this is what I want.”

“If that is what you wish,” the Heart said. “I was created to serve the inhabitants of this world. To let you crawl, and walk… and if you want to run then who am I to stand in your way? Transmitting now… you should probably say something.”

“Where?”

“Where you are now, I’m picking you up,” the Heart said. “You are, as they say, live.”

“Already?” Twilight squawked. “I, uh… this is…” she cleared her throat. “This is Twilight Sparkle. I’m trying to contact Prince Lightning Dawn of New Olympia and his adopted sister Krysta. I say again, this is Twilight Sparkle, trying to contact Prince Lightning Dawn of New Olympia. Lightning Dawn, Krysta can you hear me? Are you out there?” There was no response. Twilight wasn’t sure how she’d know if there was a response but she thought – she hoped – that the Heart would tell if there was one. “Lightning Dawn, can you hear me? I… if you’re there, if you can hear me, if… if you’re still alive… I hope that you’re still alive. And I want you to know that I haven’t forgotten you, or what you both did, and I’m doing everything that I-“

“Twilight?”

Twilight gasped. Her eyes widened. She knew that voice, she heard that voice in her dreams. “Lightning?”

“Twilight!” Lightning cried. “How are you doing this?”

“It’s a long story,” Twilight said. “Is Krysta there?”

“No,” Lightning said. “No, but she’s okay! We made it out of the void just in time. I’m back in the field now with the Solar Legion, you’ve reached me in camp. Krysta is back at the palace in New Olympia. It’s good to hear your voice.”

Twilight smiled, even though he couldn’t see it. She blinked rapidly. She felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes. “Yours too,” she whispered. “I’m so… when you fell… I’m so glad you’re okay.” She sniffed. “Listen, tell Krysta that Spike says hi. And I do, too.”

“Of course,” Lightning said. “I’ll pass that on. She’ll be delighted. She’s always asking me how we can find our way back.”

Twilight chuckled. “I’d like that. You… you have no idea how much I’d like that.” She paused, suddenly unsure of what to say. She had come all this way for this and now that it was finally here she… she couldn’t think what to say. I should have written a script. This would have been so much easier if you were actually in front of me. “Listen, Lightning, you tell Krysta that I’m going to keep try and I’m not-“

“Twilight?” Lightning demanded. “Twilight, I’m losing you! Lily, can you stabilise the signal?”

“Lightning?” Twilight cried. “Lightning, can you still hear me?”

“No,” the Heart said. “No, he can’t. Someone was trying to trace the signal I had to cut it off.”

“Trace the signal?” Twilight repeated. “Did they… did they-“

“I don’t think so,” the Heart said. “But I can’t risk another transmission. It’s one thing to want to run, and another thing to be allowed to run into quicksand. I’m sorry.”

Twilight shook her head. “It… it’s fine.”

“No,” the Heart murmured. “It isn’t. And it’s okay to admit that.”

Twilight cuffed at her eyes with one hoof, wiping away the tears. “He’s alive,” she whispered. “He’s alive! They’re both alive, they made it!” She gasped with relief. He was alive! They were both alive! “I don’t know how I can bring them back, but… well, since I’m here, I don’t suppose you have any ideas?”

“Absent getting them to a teleporting pad on a known location that I can sync up with, and good luck with that since I can’t risk further outbound communications… no,” the Heart said.

“But it was worth a try asking,” Door said.

“I’ll find out by myself,” Twilight declared. “I’ll find… I’ll find a way, somehow. Now that I know they’re alive I’ll find a way to bring them back. Now that I know they’re alive. Thank you. You’ve given me… thank you.”

He’s alive. They’re both alive.

Wait for me, both of you. I’m on my way. I don’t know how, or when, but I’m coming.

Wait for me.