I stood frozen. My mind was racing, trying to figure a way out of this situation. If I tried to run, there was no doubt those crossbow ponies would easily hit me. Again, I had no magic to defend myself with. However, I was just a few steps away from the tree line. If I could make it back there, I could use the tree trunks as cover while I escaped.

I gave Rainbow Dash a sidelong glance, and an inkling of an idea started to form. Could I quickly grab her and use her body as a shield from the crossbow bolts? It would be extremely risky, considering how powerful Rainbow was, not to mention the other two ponies behind me would also be an obstacle. But right now Rainbow seemed to trust me, so I had the advantage of a surprise attack. It might be possible if I moved fast enough.

"Hey, it’s us!" Rainbow Dash shouted toward the ponies on the wall. "Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash!"

Were those crossbow ponies Rainbow’s allies after all? I decided to wait and see how they would respond to Rainbow’s call. If they continued to show hostility, I would take my chances with my plan.

A moment later, a new pony joined the crossbow group up on the wall. I could make out the horn of a unicorn on its head, which promptly lit up and projected a cone of light aimed at my group.

I squeezed my eyes shut and covered them with a forehoof at the pain of having a bright light suddenly shone right into my face in the middle of the darkness of the night. I grit my teeth as I tried to squint through the pain, but the discomfort was too intense for me to be able to open my eyes and see anything.

This wasn’t good. It must’ve been a tactic to blind their opponents before they attacked. I braced myself to take action, although what action that would be without my vision, I had no idea.

Suddenly, the intensity of the light lowered significantly.

"Princess Twilight!" the group of crossbow ponies cheered almost simultaneously.

I managed to open my eyes enough to see the blurry image of the group quickly lowering their crossbows and raising their hooves in delight. At the same time, I felt a droplet of warm liquid slip out from the corners of my eyes and run down the fur on my cheeks, but I ignored the sensation.

I was thoroughly confused. Why would seeing Twilight make them so happy? Or was this some kind of deception? I decided to remain on guard for now and see where this led.

"Sorry for the unfriendly reception, Princess Twilight," a pony on the wall yelled down. "We’ve been attacked a few times by the creatures of the forest since you left, so we’ve been jumpy. But we’re glad you’re safe. Quickly, come inside."

He motioned to a simple wooden gate that sat at the other end of a small rope bridge that connected my side of the canyon with theirs. Several of the ponies disappeared from view from atop the wall, and then a moment later the gate began to slowly open outward.

I could see the pony who spoke to me give instructions to some of the others, but I was too far to hear what was said, since he wasn’t yelling. One of the ponies nodded and left. This pony was obviously the leader here.

I was hesitant to enter through the gate like he wanted me to, since I would be completely trapped once inside with no escape routes. However, Rainbow walked right on past me and gave me another smile.

"What’s the hold up, Twi?" she asked as she walked toward the gate. "Let’s go hit the hay already!"

Well, if Twilight was expected to have no issues with going into this place, then I couldn’t act doubtful. And if Rainbow trusted these ponies, then they’d probably trust me too. They did look happy to see Twilight, after all. I’ve made it this far with the charade, so might as well keep going. I just had to hope my assumptions were correct and I wouldn’t be trapped and harmed in there.

I steeled myself and slowly began following Rainbow toward the gate. The two shiny ponies in my group followed after me.

Rainbow had already disappeared inside the gate and behind the wall by the time I cautiously made my way across the bridge. I watched the ponies atop the walls as I did so, searching for any sign of hostility or a trap, but they seemed to be focused on keeping watch on the forest behind me instead of paying attention to me. Their willingness to let their guard down that much increased my confidence that this wasn’t a trick.

Finally, I made my way through the gate and around the bend. What I saw caused me to suddenly stop and jerk my head back in surprise.

There were a lot of ponies here. More ponies than I ever thought were even possible to bring together in one place. A few of them, especially those keeping watch around the walls, were wearing that shiny stuff, but the majority of them had nothing on. Instead, they all seemed to be groggily getting out of a large cluster of prisms spread out around the field. The prisms were made out of a white fabric and had openings covered by flaps.

I vaguely remembered seeing cloth prisms similar to these in the past. It was difficult to recall since I barely paid them any mind at the time, but I believed there were a few of them set up down in the canyon near the Tree, which I passed obliviously by on the way to my destruction.

The ponies were looking around when I came in through the gate, but a few of them were quickly starting to notice me. As soon they saw me their faces broke out into wide smiles and they pointed me out to the ponies beside them. Pretty soon the whole crowd was erupting with joyful cheers.

I was absolutely bewildered, and all I could do was stand there and stare. What was going on?

I noticed Rainbow Dash off in the middle of the group, being swarmed by a large gathering of ponies. She seemed to be talking excitedly and making wild gestures, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying due to the noise of the cheers. Whatever it was had the ponies totally enthralled.

"Company, attention!"

The sudden intense shout shut everything down immediately. I could only feel surprise at how fast all the ponies stopped making noise and lined up. They all stood up straight, unmoving, with one forehoof raised up to their foreheads. One exception was Rainbow Dash, who stood off to the side away from the rest of the ponies. She had the same rigid posture but without her forehoof raised, and she seemed a bit more relaxed.

The shiny ponies who had been traveling with me also took up the posture with their forehooves raised, but they remained at my sides.

I spotted two ponies who started moving toward me, walking between the rows of lined up ponies. The one in the lead wore a different kind of shiny outfit, mostly colored purple with gold accents. She was a mulberry unicorn with a broken horn, a hard expression, and piercing blue eyes that were locked onto me. The pony following her was another white pony with the standard gold shiny outfit.

I couldn’t help but shrink back from that gaze as the pony approached me. My mind flashed back to that wretched Chrysalis. The mulberry pony seemed similarly cruel and like somepony not to be messed with. This was the first time I felt so intimidated by a creature since Chrysalis.

I swallowed as she came to stand before me. I couldn’t afford to show weakness to a pony like this. I straightened my back and did all I could to stare her down with confidence.

A moment later, the unicorn snapped her hoof up to her forehead. "Princess Twilight, ma’am!"

She proceeded to stare at me, unmoving, her eyes boring into mine. The two of us remained that way for a little while, both of us motionless and glaring. I started to get the feeling that she expected me to do something, but I had no idea what she wanted. From the intensity of her gaze, I also got the feeling that if I didn’t respond correctly I would be in big trouble.

With no idea what to do, I decided I would simply acknowledge her greeting and hope that would be somewhat satisfactory. I gave her a firm nod.

As soon as I nodded, she brought her hoof back to ground and relaxed her posture a little. Her expression softened.

"I’m glad you’re back, Your Highness," she said. "We got really worried when we didn’t see you send any flares up at the scheduled times. I was about to send a few platoons out to search for you at first light, but I’m glad that’s not necessary now."

Whoa, wait. This pony just called me ‘your highness.’ Chrysalis always insisted that we call her ‘your majesty,’ and the two phrases sounded very similar. I always thought Chrysalis wanted us to call her that because of her enormous ego, but did the title actually mean something?

On another note, I’ve heard ponies call me ‘princess’ on several occasions. On every one of those occasions I was too preoccupied with other things to think about or question the behavior, and I was starting to assume it was just a part of Twilight’s name I didn’t know about, but now I was starting to wonder. Did ‘princess’ have some sort of meaning too?

Of course, I couldn’t ask anypony here since Twilight should know her own name. I would have to find answers some other way.

The unicorn turned her gaze to the two shiny ponies standing at my sides.

"Sergeant, corporal," she started. "You’re dismissed from guarding the princess. Meet me at my tent for debriefing."

"Yes, ma’am!" the two shouted, but they stayed where they stood.

She flicked her gaze to me again. "Your Highness and Rainbow Dash should get any rest you can. We’re just a few hours from morning, and I’d like to discuss with you what our next moves are bright and early. Meanwhile I’ll find out what happened out there from your two guards."

Unable to come up with any better response, I simply nodded again.

The unicorn turned away from me and toward the ponies that were still standing stock-still in their lines. I was impressed at how long they were able to remain like that.

"Everypony back to sleep!" she bellowed. "I don’t want my company dead on their hooves and useless during the day! Dismissed!"

Immediately, all the ponies in the rows turned around in unison before heading back to their cloth prisms. I had to wonder how it was possible for them to be so coordinated. Were they using some sort of magic to unify their movements?

While I was watching the show, Rainbow Dash came up beside me and the mulberry unicorn turned back to me.

"Goodnight, Your Highness," the unicorn said, and she dipped her head low to me for several moments before she too headed off together with the one shiny pony who followed her out here but hadn’t said a word. She was tailed by the two other ponies who had been in my group.

Rainbow stepped in front of me. "C’mon, let’s go too."

She turned and started walking toward the trashed castle. I couldn’t think of anything better I could be doing, so I decided to follow her. Some quiet rest would be nice. I could use the time to think about everything that had happened so far, since I was feeling a little overwhelmed with everything happening so fast. Then I could figure out the best path forward.

As we approached the large, dilapidated doorway that led the way into the derelict castle, I realized that I had never actually been inside before. The first time I was here I went down into the canyon to find that Tree, and the second time I made sure to stay away. With the castle being up in this clearing and with that Tree being down in a cave in the canyon, I figured I wouldn’t be in any danger from the Tree while I was inside the castle. The interior might even be interesting to look at, since I’d never been inside of a castle before at all.

Rainbow Dash pushed the large wooden doors open, and all my thoughts immediately ceased.

Right in the middle of the ruins stood a giant crystalline tree. The evil Tree of Harmony was here! How?!

I didn’t hesitate. I bolted, galloping as fast as my hooves would take me back into the field full of fabric prisms. I was quickly forced to stop as I reached the wooden wall, and I pressed myself against it to get as far away as possible from the Tree. The air was coming in and out of my mouth rapidly, and the beating thing in my chest was thundering in my ears.

I kept my gaze fixated on the castle doors, waiting for the moment those agonizing tendrils of light would burst forth and rush after me. There was no way I’d allow myself to be destroyed like that again. I kept my shoulders lowered and my legs primed, ready to outrun the Tree in any direction. I would do whatever it took to escape.

Instead of the Tree’s malevolent tendrils, however, I saw Rainbow Dash emerge from the castle doorway and look around as if confused. She spotted me, and she started flapping her wings to quickly fly over to me. I split my attention between watching her and continuing to keep an eye on the doorway.

"Twilight!" she exclaimed as she landed in front of me. "What happened? Are you okay?"

I was still taking air in heavily, so it took me a moment before I could respond.

"Nothing. I’m fine," I said.

"Bull!" Rainbow shouted. "You tore out of there like a bat out of Tartarus, and you’re still freaking out. What’s going on?"

By now, I was beginning to notice many of the ponies in the fabric prisms poking their heads out of their openings and looking at me and Rainbow. Luckily they still didn’t seem to be hostile and were simply watching.

"Nothing," I said again.

Surprisingly, speaking with Rainbow like this was actually doing a pretty good job of bringing me back from my state of absolute panic. She was definitely asking me stupid questions I had no intentions of answering, but this interaction was nonetheless very beneficial. It helped that the Tree had made no movements so far. Last time it grabbed me quite quickly, yet now nothing was happening. I continued to keep an eye on the castle doorway just in case, but my rational mind slowly began to reassert itself.

"Twilight, I haven’t seen you fly off the handle this badly in years," Rainbow said with a lowered voice, no longer shouting. "Something is wrong, and I want to help. Please tell me."

And as my rational thinking restarted, I realized how huge a blunder I just made. Rainbow obviously wasn’t afraid of the Tree, and by her reaction, Twilight would never act this way because she encountered the Tree either. The Tree must not be their enemy.

I could consider the implications of that later. Right now I had to get myself out of this hole I dug myself into. My thoughts whirled as I scrambled to come up with an intelligent plan, but I was still shaking on my hooves and I continued to feel like I was ready to gallop for my life at a moment’s notice. It felt like I was trying to think through a fog in this state.

All I could come up with was to insist I was fine until Rainbow left me alone.

I shook my head at Rainbow. "Nothing’s wrong."

Just then, I heard hoofsteps approaching me from the left. I turned my head to see the mulberry unicorn approaching me, but this time she was without her purple headpiece. Another grey unicorn was on her tail.

"Twilight?" she asked lightly, not at all like the intense tone of voice she was using just a few minutes ago. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

I tried my best to lessen my shaking and regulate the air I was drawing in back to normal levels. My efforts were only mildly successful.

"I was just telling Rainbow Dash," I said. "It’s nothing. I’m fine."

"Like hay it’s nothing," Rainbow muttered.

The unicorn eyed me for a moment before her gaze flicked to Rainbow.

"Could you tell me what happened, Rainbow? I didn’t see."

Rainbow groaned before lifting off the ground and into a hover.

"I have no idea!" she groused as she crossed her hooves. "One moment we were both walking to the Treehouse to get some sleep, and the next moment I look back to say something to Twilight just in time to see her running back the way we came at full gallop. I followed her out of the castle and spotted her pressed up against the wall in this exact spot shaking and cowering like a foal who came snout-to-snout with a timberwolf."

The unicorn’s attention turned back to me. "Did you see something dangerous, Twilight? Did it harm you?"

Maybe I could use that as my story? I decided to latch on to it.

"I thought I did at first," I said. "But I was mistaken. I overreacted. Everything is fine."

The unicorn narrowed her eyes a smidge. "If there’s something dangerous in this camp, Twilight, I need to know."

"There isn’t." I shook my head. "Like I said, I was mistaken."

The unicorn held my gaze for a moment before she nodded. "Alright then."

Rainbow blinked. "Wha—? Alright? What do you mean ‘alright,’ Tempest? Twilight is obviously hiding something from us!"

So the mulberry unicorn’s name was Tempest? I couldn’t recall Chrysalis ever mentioning that name. I had no idea who she was.

I could see the fur on Tempest’s cheeks start to take on a dark reddish hue. It was difficult to spot through the fur’s natural color, but it quickly grew in intensity. I also had no idea what this meant. Why would a pony’s cheeks become red?

"Lieutenant Rainbow Dash," Tempest hissed through clenched teeth. "Please stop making a scene in front of the entire company."

Rainbow Dash cringed as if struck. She craned her neck to look behind her as she hovered, and I followed her gaze. All the ponies in the white prisms were still poking their heads out of the flaps and silently watching us. I quickly averted my eyes. I couldn’t explain it, but now that I was no longer panicking, being stared at by so many ponies at once made me feel… strange.

Rainbow stopped her hover and landed abruptly before she proceeded to stare at the dirt. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Tempest gave a huff of air. She turned toward the grey unicorn who had been standing wordlessly off to her side this whole time.

"Sergeant Major," she said.

The grey unicorn took a step forward.

"Make sure everypony gets back to bed. I’m going to have words with these two."

The unicorn briefly brought a hoof up to its forehead before stepping away. Tempest turned back to me and Rainbow.

"Come on," Tempest said as she nodded toward the castle. "Let’s go talk."

She began to walk toward the castle, with Rainbow starting to trail behind her a moment later. My thoughts began to race as I fully took in the situation I was in. I knew I couldn’t follow them. I knew I had to refuse, and I knew how stupid and risky that would be. I was undoubtedly already suspected, and refusing to comply with Tempest’s demand would raise her suspicion into a conviction. But none of that mattered if I went near the Tree and it destroyed me again. I would throw away anything and everything to avoid that fate.

I felt trapped. This whole thing with pretending to be Twilight had grown entirely out of control, and I was completely overwhelmed and in over my head. If I had the chance to meet Rainbow back in that clearing again and had to decide to go with her or leave, there was no doubt I would be out of there as fast as my legs could take me.

Still, refusing Tempest’s demand was the best logical choice. With the Tree lay certain destruction. Out here, there was still a chance I could survive, however tiny that chance was. I had no confidence in my ability to talk or bluff my way out of their suspicion. I didn’t even understand most of what was going on, never mind the detailed knowledge I would have required of Twilight’s personality and behaviors in order to convincingly play off my foolish panic.

My only hope rested in my ability to escape this place, but that was a very minuscule hope. I was trapped and surrounded within these wooden walls, with no flight and no magic. I spotted the occasional staircase leading up to the wooden parapet, but even if I sprinted as fast as I could up one of them, I would still be way too slow. The ponies would have more than enough time to attack me with their crossbows or the unicorns’ magic. Also, one of the ponies that was stationed atop the parapet would likely block my way on the stairs and stab me with its spear.

If I somehow made it past all that and to the top of the wall, I would have to jump down to the ground. The wall was quite tall, so the risk of injury would be high. After that I would have to run across the bridge spanning the chasm while likely limping from my injuries. The bridge was a narrow choke point, so they could send winged ponies ahead of me to block my way across. All the while I would also be under attack from crossbows and magic.

In other words, there really was no hope for me. But that was fine. I would rather die to crossbows and spears than suffer the Tree again.

I swallowed the liquid in my mouth and pushed some air out of my nose as I worked up the courage to speak and deny Tempest. As I fixed my posture to stand up straight and squared my shoulders, I felt a strange and uncomfortable hollow sensation inside my belly. Yet another thing I would never understand.

If nothing else, I would not show them any fear or weakness.

"Tempest," I said, and my voice rang. I didn’t shout, but I spoke loudly and firmly, and it sounded like the air carried it effortlessly. There was no shakiness or hint of distress to my voice. It was confident. In charge. Strong.

Tempest stopped mid-stride and turned her head back to look at me.

"I’m not going near the castle," I stated.

Tempest paused for a moment, then turned around to consider me fully. I made sure to look her right in the eyes.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because I say so," I said simply. There was no need to explain myself at this point.

Tempest furrowed her brow and stood there, holding my gaze for a few long moments. Eventually, she spoke. "What about my tent, then?"

Tent? Tempest used that word once before. What was that?

I tilted my head in confusion.

"Did you forget where my tent is?" she asked. Then she turned and pointed her hoof. "Over there. Is that far enough from the castle for you?"

I followed her hoof with my eyes, and I spotted one of the white fabric prisms. However, this one was unique in that it was quite a bit larger than all the others, and it stood a little bit away from the rest of them at the head of the rows. It was also pretty close to the castle. It didn’t sit right up against the castle’s crumbling walls, but it was still close enough where I felt that the Tree’s tentacles could easily stretch out and grab me.

Also, it seemed that those fabric prisms were called tents. Learning this piece of information made me feel strangely happy. Probably because it was one more thing I managed to learn before my imminent destruction.

Tempest had turned back to face me after she pointed, and I felt the corners of my mouth naturally tilt upward as I looked into her eyes again. I had no idea why this was suddenly happening, but it felt good, so I did nothing to resist the sensation.

"Your tent," I started, testing the new word out. "Is still too close to the castle. I want to remain near the wall."

Tempest raised her eyebrow.

"Talk about mood whiplash," Rainbow Dash muttered from beside her.

Did I do something strange?

"Alright Twilight," Tempest said as she released some air from her nose. "We’ll stay near the wall."

She then looked in both directions along the wall before focusing on me again.

"But I’d like to talk in private, away from the troops. Could we move away from the tents? Maybe over there?" she pointed to a section of the wall that had nothing nearby save for a grassy field.

I saw no issue with moving over there. My dismal chances of escape would not really be affected either way. I nodded.

"Great," Tempest said, and she began to move along the wall toward the indicated spot. I walked with purpose as I followed her, and Rainbow Dash brought up the rear.

It took less than a minute to reach the area. When we did, Tempest spun around to face the two of us.

"Alright. First," Tempest started. "Rainbow Dash."

She locked her intense gaze onto Rainbow, and Rainbow averted her eyes in the face of it.

"I can’t believe I have to lecture you about this, Rainbow," Tempest said. "You should know better than to publicly contradict a commanding officer in front of the troops. You should know how bad that makes me look and how embarrassing it is."

Rainbow’s ears pinned back as she nodded. There was that strange ear behavior again. So it happened to other ponies too?

Also, I found it quite difficult to follow what Tempest was upset at Rainbow Dash for. Why would contradicting her make her look bad? I figured I should stop trying to overthink it and just listen.

"I know you’re a Wonderbolt and not under my chain of command," Tempest continued. "But that’s no excuse to be contradicting me. I value your friendship, but I will be telling Captain Spitfire about your behavior if it happens again. Am I understood?"

"Yes ma’am." Rainbow gave a single nod. "I’m sorry. I was caught up trying to find out what was wrong with Twilight and forgot everypony was watching."

"Pay more attention to your surroundings then!" Tempest snapped.

Rainbow Dash was silent. After a moment, Tempest closed her eyes and remained motionless.

Another moment later, her eyes opened and focused on me.

"Now you," Tempest said. Her voice was hard.

This was it. I readied myself to run, however futile it was.

"Twilight, you appointed me as Captain of the Guard because you thought I’d be the most capable in protecting you," began Tempest. "So that’s what I’m here to do. That’s what all one hundred and fifty royal guardsponies in this camp right now are here to do."

Hold on. I suddenly thought I was imagining things. Did she really say that all these ponies were specifically here just to protect Twilight? A hundred and fifty of them?

"But I can’t do my job if you keep secrets from me," Tempest continued. "You’re obviously terrified to go near the castle, and I don’t understand why you won’t tell me the reason. I know how powerful you are. Anything that can scare you this badly has to be a big deal, but you’re insisting that everything is fine. Let me do my job. What is going on?"

Tempest maintained steady eye contact with me. I had a feeling she wasn’t going to back down until she got an answer, but I had no clue what to say to her.

To my surprise, Tempest and Rainbow still didn’t suspect that I had replaced Twilight. I thought Tempest was about to expose me, but instead she was concerned about being unable to protect me properly. I didn’t understand why their belief in Twilight was so unshakable, but this was something I could exploit. Therefore, I needed to prolong this belief as long as possible, and so I couldn’t tell Tempest that I was avoiding the Tree. If my earlier guess was correct and these ponies really were allied with it, doing so would immediately reveal that something wasn’t right.

If Tempest was telling the truth and all of these ponies were here for the express purpose of protecting Twilight Sparkle, then that changed things. Up until now I had been playing it safe and taking a passive approach because I didn’t know what Twilight’s status was within this group of ponies. If everypony was here for Twilight’s sake though, then I could reasonably conclude that Twilight was at the very top of the hierarchy.

I tried to recall all my interactions with the ponies so far and tried to view them from this perspective to see if my assumption made sense.

From the very beginning when I met Rainbow and the two others in the clearing, it seemed that the ponies were always concerned for Twilight’s safety. The first thing Rainbow asked me was if I was injured, and then Tempest asked me if I was hurt after I bolted from the castle.

Also, they always seemed to listen to me in the end, even if they voiced their disagreement. Rainbow followed me in the forest, and Tempest accommodated me by staying near the wall even though she wanted to go speak in the castle at first. I tried to imagine what would have happened if somepony else were in charge, like Chrysalis. Chrysalis would have dragged me kicking and screaming into the castle no matter what I did.

There was also the whole business with calling me ‘Your Highness,’ and Tempest lowering her head to me when she said good night. I didn’t know what to make of it at the time, but that action seemed quite subservient.

Everything lined up, and I suddenly had an idea for what to tell Tempest. It was my riskiest idea yet, and it would test just how far I could push things. There was still a chance all of my observations were circumstantial and Twilight was not actually the leader, and if that were the case then I would just be digging a bigger hole for myself. But if Twilight was the leader — which is what it seemed like to me — then Tempest would have no choice but to accept my answer.

"I can’t tell you," I said.

Tempest paused, then raised her eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because I can’t."

"Seriously Twilight?" Rainbow Dash groaned.

"Yes," I said.

"Do you realize you’re acting like a filly right now?" Rainbow asked. "This is a military expedition, not a game. How are we supposed to feel if our expedition leader acts like this?"

I cheered internally. I was right! I could impose my own will, and as long as the ponies continued to believe I was Twilight they had no grounds to question me.

I gave Rainbow a shrug. "I don’t know what to tell you. I’m tired of discussing this. Drop it."

Rainbow recoiled, and her ears dropped. She glanced at Tempest.

"Permission to go to bed, captain?"

Tempest was scowling at me. It took her a moment before she looked to Rainbow.

"Yes, let’s," she said, her tone frosty.

Rainbow wasted no timing in flapping her wings and spinning around to fly toward the castle.

Did I push it too far? I didn’t care at all what they thought of me, but if what I said was outside of the range of typical behaviors for Twilight then that was a problem. Perhaps I got a little overexcited there and it was still too soon to be so firm. I groaned inwardly as I decided to continue with a softer approach until I got more data on how Twilight would act.

"Will you be staying in this spot?" Tempest asked me.

I nodded.

"Alright. I’ll have some ponies bring you your tent and have them guard you," she said, before she pulled a small golden circular object from out of her armor. "We wake up in three hours. Get some sleep."

I had no idea what sleep was, but I nodded anyway. Tempest put the object away and then walked off.

As I stood there, I looked around and observed that I was essentially alone. The camp was silent, with no ponies around save for the occasional one wearing the shiny outfit standing on the parapet. They seemed to be entirely focused on watching the outside of the wall, and didn’t seem to be paying any attention to me or to the interior of the camp.

If I was going to be left alone and unbothered for some time, I figured this would be a good opportunity to finally think through everything that had happened since I replaced Twilight and figure out my best course of action.

Before I could delve into my thoughts, however, a group of four shiny ponies approached me. When they reached me, all of them bowed their heads low. One of them was carrying a bundle of fabric on their back.

"Your Highness," said the one in the middle of the group. "We’ll set your tent up over here and then we’ll guard you until sunrise."

I felt a bubble of pleasure in my barrel at their subservient behavior. I nodded, and they lifted their heads in unison before beginning to work with the bundle of fabric.

In just a few minutes, the ponies finished putting together a tent that was bigger than the one that Tempest pointed out to me as hers. The four ponies took positions around the tent’s opening and one of them used a foreleg to hold the flaps open for me.

"All ready for you, Your Highness," the pony holding the flaps said with a bow.

I stepped inside, and the flaps closed behind me. The space was roomy, but there wasn’t anything in the interior except for several square and fluffy objects along with other large sheets of fabric that were a lot fluffier than the stuff that the tent was made out of.

I decided that the fluffy sheets would be a good place to lay down to do my thinking, so I walked over to them and lowered myself onto my belly. The sheets were softer than I was expecting and felt very nice against my fur. It made me want to relax into them and not worry about anything. I laid my head down against my forelegs and released a long stream of air from my nose that carried the tension away from my body.

But I brought myself to my senses before I could slip away into the comfort. This was no time to be distracted. I had to figure out my plan before Tempest came to talk to me again. I replayed all of my memories of tonight’s events and tried to view them as objectively as I could.

Despite my earlier feeling of being overwhelmed and wishing that I had never gone along with this, the confirmation of my position as the leader here changed my perspective on everything.

First of all, this was undoubtedly a very lucky situation that I found myself in, and I stumbled into it via nothing but chance despite my numerous mistakes. There was no way I could have engineered things to turn out this way no matter how hard I tried, which meant that my current position was a valuable one and I should not discard it without a great reason.

I was the leader of the one hundred and fifty ponies in this camp, and all of the ponies I’ve seen so far appeared to take themselves and their obedience to me very seriously. They were not at all like those copies created alongside me, who only wanted to goof off and didn’t care at all about the things that mattered. This was good, since I wouldn’t have to try and wrangle my subordinates to get things done, and it meant I could prepare quickly and efficiently to fight Twilight and Chrysalis.

My main focus would need to be finding some way to restore my magic and my flight. Since the ponies trusted me, I could subtly try to question them for information or have them go search for any material that might be useful to me. Perhaps I could even have them find the Elements of Harmony for me. And since I was almost certain that they were hostile to Chrysalis, I could also have them keep a lookout for her so she doesn’t get me in a surprise attack.

The only two ponies I’d need to keep an eye on were Tempest and Rainbow Dash. Both of them had expressed their disagreements with me, but I figured this made sense if they knew Twilight well and were her — ugh — friends. In the end they always capitulated, so they were loyal, but I would need to try my hardest to behave like Twilight when they were around. They would also be the most likely to start suspecting me if I constantly made mistakes. This made them dangerous.

Thinking of Rainbow Dash specifically, she was one of the extraordinarily powerful ponies capable of defeating Chrysalis’ armies on her own. She was an incredibly valuable asset to keep close, and despite her complaints, she listened to me. If I could use her to vouch for me with the other five super-powered ponies, I would be safe from everything save for the real Twilight. Safety was the most important, since it would allow me to focus on getting my magic back without constantly worrying about being attacked.

Unfortunately, I had made Rainbow upset. I didn’t fully understand why, nor did I have any clue how I would rectify the situation, but I would need to do so as fast as possible and get in her good graces again.

Once Rainbow was no longer upset at me and I secured the protection of those ponies, though, it would be best if I had as few interactions with them as possible. They knew Twilight, and every moment I spent with them was another opportunity for me to mess up and for them to pick up that something was wrong. No, I would make up some excuse and distance myself from them, but I’d keep them close enough at hoof to use as my defence when necessary. I could also try to find out the group’s weaknesses or any cracks in their friendships with each other that I could exploit when Twilight returns and has them fight against me. The real Twilight would easily be able to prove that I’m the copy once she returned, but by then I’d ideally be strong and ready to defend myself.

Thinking of drawbacks to this position, there were several. The most major was obviously that I had no idea how to act like Twilight, and the longer I stuck around the more actions I would take that were contrary to Twilight’s personality. This would cause the ponies’ suspicion to grow over time. I had no idea if it was even possible to improve this shortcoming, but I would have to figure out a way to try. For now, I would have to carefully restrain myself and always worry about doing the ‘right’ thing.

The next was that it would be difficult to keep the fact that I had no magic and no ability to fly hidden. Tempest already mentioned that I was supposed to be powerful. Ponies would be expecting me to use magic and fly, and excuses would only work for so long.

Another was my general lack of knowledge. I didn’t even know how my own body worked. Ponies would expect me to know these things, and if they caught on that I didn’t that would be a massive giveaway. I would need to find a way to learn quickly and secretly.

So overall, the main dangers of this position came from letting my identity slip, and the main benefits came in the form of safety, freedom of mobility, resources, and information. If I left right now and went out on my own, it would be great that I wouldn’t have to worry about being discovered, but instead I would always have to worry about being attacked. I would have no knowledge, no resources to acquire knowledge with, and no idea where to even look for knowledge. My mobility would be restricted because it would be safest to always avoid ponies, while right now I can walk among them with ease.

Thus, the only conclusion I could come to was that remaining in this position was the best and most logical choice. The opportunities it provided far outweighed the risks.

I felt glad to finally set out on a definitive path instead of floundering in uncertainty. I still felt somewhat overwhelmed, and I was sure that more overwhelming things would happen in the future, but now that I knew what direction I wanted to take I could focus on playing the part of Twilight as best I could instead of second-guessing my choices.

As I continued to idly ruminate through my thoughts to see if I missed anything I should’ve considered, I lifted my head from my forelegs before moving them slightly astride. I then lowered my head to the fluffy fabric and rested my cheek against it. I closed my eyes almost involuntarily at the sensation. It felt absolutely wonderful. I’d never felt anything this pleasing before.

My mind began to swirl with pointless thoughts as I basked in the sensation, and I began to feel a strange and indescribable lightness of being.

"Your Highness."

The sudden voice mercilessly crashed through my contented rest.

I jerked my head up and looked toward the tent’s entrance. One of the shiny ponies was standing there, one foreleg holding the flaps open. The lower half of the sky behind it was lit up with the faintest tint of dark blue.

For some reason I couldn’t comprehend, an abrupt feeling of mild pain and pressure occurred in my head. I brought one of my forehooves up against my temple, but that had no effect. I moaned as I closed my eyes.

"Your Highness?"

I opened my eyes again to look at the shiny pony.

"Captain Tempest told us to wake you since it’s morning, and to tell you that she’ll be by in a couple of minutes." The pony paused. "Are you alright?"

My mouth felt dry. There was none of that liquid that was usually there. Why?

"I-I’m fine," I said with a hitch in my voice.

I shook my head very slowly so as to not aggravate the pain in my head before I pulled my legs underneath my barrel and lifted myself up to stand on my hooves.

"I’m ready," I managed to say with more clarity. Turned out that moving my tongue around a little helped bring the liquid back.

The shiny pony nodded and stepped back, allowing the flaps to fall closed. I was suddenly alone again.

I looked around. What was the point of disturbing me if they were going to keep me waiting?

I moved toward the tent flaps and reached my forehoof to throw them open, but just before I could somepony else beat me to it from the other side.

Tempest strode through the entrance with such momentum that she nearly crashed right into me. Luckily she seemed to notice at the last second and stopped nose-to-nose with me.

"Your Highness," she said with a dip of her head.

Wasn’t Tempest upset a little while ago? Why would she be acting deferential now?

"I’m glad you got up on time," she said. "Let’s get this meeting sorted out quickly. Daylight’s burning."

I stepped backward a few paces to allow her to fully enter the tent. She moved off to the side, and another pony entered after her. It was that grey unicorn who was following Tempest before, and he was carrying a square wooden table in his magic. After he entered he planted the table down in the middle of the tent’s interior.

Behind the grey unicorn was Rainbow Dash. I looked at her, but she didn’t return my gaze. Instead she wordlessly positioned herself near the table.

One more pony entered my tent. It was a white winged pony wearing the typical shiny outfit, but I had never seen this one before.

I felt like the previously spacious tent was now starting to feel crowded. I didn’t like being packed in like this.

"Alright, everypony’s here," Tempest started. "Princess Twilight Sparkle and Lieutenant Rainbow Dash, I got the story of what happened last night from your escorts’ debrief. Correct me if I’m missing anything, but to summarize: you went out to investigate the anomalous magical readings as planned, using Princess Twilight’s new invention — the holo-map — as a navigational aid. You successfully reached the target area and collected data, but when you tried to retrace your steps to return to camp, you couldn’t find us. You never saw our flares either, even though we sent them up every hour as agreed.

"You spent all evening walking around in circles until nightfall, at which point you decided to sleep in the field. During your rest, one of your guards spotted all of our flares going off at once, which should have been impossible. Princess Twilight decided to pursue the flares before you lost sight of them again, and as you did so you got attacked by a tatzlwurm.

"You defeated the creature, and then Princess Twilight figured out that the anomalous magic of the forest had created ‘magical pathways’ and areas with time dilation. The time dilation would explain the issues with the flares. Princess Twilight then used this new information to lead the group back to the camp, and you arrived safely.

"Am I correct in this summary?" Tempest gazed at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow gave a nod. "Yeah, that’s pretty much what happened."

Tempest switched her gaze to me.

I nodded as well, even though I had no knowledge of any of the events until after the supposed attack.

As a side note, I got the feeling that ‘princess’ was some sort of term of respect or rank, similar to ‘lieutenant’ or ‘captain.’ And since Rainbow Dash stated that I was the leader, then ‘princess’ must have been the highest rank here. Now how did ‘princess’ relate to ‘your highness?’ They seemed somewhat interchangeable, or at least connected, but I couldn’t put my hoof on it.

"Aside from the pathways and time dilation, did you learn anything else about the forest from the data you gathered at your objective yesterday?" Tempest asked.

Data on the forest? I had no such thing. I navigated the forest by simply feeling it.

I shook my head. "The knowledge of how to navigate the forest was the main discovery."

"Alright," Tempest said. "Could you draw these pathways on the map?"

Tempest motioned to the table, and I examined it closely for the first time. ‘Map’ was a word Rainbow Dash had used while we were walking to the castle, but I didn’t know what it meant.

There was a large piece of paper laid on top of the table, and the paper was marked up with what I assumed was black ink. It took me a moment to recognize what the ink was depicting. There was a small drawing of the castle where we were, and the chasm that surrounded us. Then trees filled most of the space around us, with the occasional clearing breaking up the monotony. There was also a singular triangle-type shape in the middle of an expanse of trees somewhat far from the castle. I had no idea what that was supposed to be.

Three of the sides of the map had trees all the way to the edge, but at one edge the line of trees stopped short. There was a winding line that began at this map edge, cut through the expanse of trees, and then ended all the way at the castle. I was unsure what this was representing as well.

I found this concept quite interesting and impressive. With a resource like this — this map — a pony could plot their route between two points using landmarks and direction and greatly reduce their chances of getting lost. It would have worked wonderfully within the old state of the forest.

Unfortunately, the map was currently completely inaccurate and useless. What it was depicting was not the reality of the forest as I felt it around me at all.

I turned my eyes to Tempest.

"I can’t draw the pathways," I told her. "As I explained to Rainbow Dash and the other ponies earlier, the locations of everything in the forest are always changing. That includes the pathways themselves. This map is entirely inaccurate."

Tempest furrowed her brow.

"I see," she said. "That will pose a problem."

I took a moment to think. If I was understanding things correctly, these ponies wanted to be able to navigate the forest, but they currently had no way to do so. I didn’t know what they wanted to do in this place, but since Twilight was their leader, they would expect her to solve their problem. Normally I wouldn’t care at all what somepony expected of me, but unfortunately it was important to acquiesce as Twilight or else they might start to question my leadership capability.

It helped that the solution was extremely simple.

"Tempest," I said, and she focused on me again. "The ponies should have told you that I can feel the pathways by focusing on the forest’s magic around me. A unicorn should be able to do the same thing."

Instead of Tempest replying, it was the grey unicorn who took a step forward.

"Your Highness, I’ve already tried that when I first heard about it from Sergeant Shield Wall," he said with a bow of his head. "And so have a few of the other unicorn guards. None of us can feel the magic of the forest."

I blinked. I didn’t see that coming.

"Are you sure you’re doing it the right way?" I asked. "Close your eyes, don’t move, and focus on the sensitivity of your horn."

He nodded. "Yes, Your Highness. Of course we know how to sense the magic in the environment, same as every other unicorn. We’re simply not getting anything from the forest, nor are we getting anything that could be described as ‘pathways’ within the forest."

I stared at the unicorn for the moment, my mind drawing a blank. How would I even begin to solve this problem then?

"So it seems that you are the only pony currently capable of navigating this forest, Your Highness," Tempest said, and I turned back to her. "If we were to become separated from you, we would be stranded here helplessly. And from what I’ve heard in your own description of the forest’s nature, it’s likely that we would never make it out without a guide. We would wander around pointlessly until we ran out of food."

Tempest lowered her head. "I hate to make this suggestion, Your Highness, especially knowing how excited you were to come out here and research the Everfree Anomaly. But for the sake of everypony’s safety, I have to recommend that we retreat back to Canterlot and declare the Everfree a restricted zone until a safe way for ponies other than yourself to navigate the forest is developed."

Canterlot? Where was that within the forest? I looked back to the map to try to find it, but there were no landmarks other than the castle with the chasm, the triangle, and the squiggly line. Could it be the triangle?

I was hesitant to assume. It was too dangerous. Tempest spoke as if Twilight was familiar with Canterlot, so if I got it wrong, that would be an immediate giveaway. I didn’t need to know where it was on the map per se, because the map was useless, but I at least needed to know what Canterlot was so that I could feel for it in the forest. It would be impossible to navigate the group to Canterlot if I didn’t have a clue on what it was.

Also, apparently researching this ‘Everfree Anomaly’ was supposed to be important to Twilight, so it would probably be good to act sad that I couldn’t do that anymore. Except I had no idea how to act sad. I understood the concept of the emotion enough to give a definition, but I’d never felt sad before.

I figured instead I’d stick with what I knew how to do: argue back. I didn’t care about this at all, but it seemed Twilight cared a lot. I’d bluster about it for a bit before capitulating to Tempest’s reasoning. Maybe I could also subtly make her tell me what Canterlot was?

I stomped a hoof aggressively. "Seriously, Tempest? We came all the way out here and now you want to leave just like that?!"

Tempest’s lips curled down into a displeased expression.

"I understand how frustrating this is, Twilight," Tempest said. "But I will not risk losing a single member of my guard to this forest needlessly because you want to be unreasonably stubborn. We will return when we are prepared to do so, and not a moment earlier."

"There’s no risk to anypony!" I insisted, though I couldn’t care less about any of their lives other than what they could provide me with. "All of you can just stay here while I go research the Everfree Anomaly."

Tempest shook her head slowly. "Despite your power, you still need an escort, Twilight. The tatzlwurm attack proved that."

I snorted, and I felt some measure of pride at how great my acting was. "Fine. If you just need me to be escorted, then whenever somepony leaves the camp they’ll always be with me. I’ll always be able to navigate for them, so they’ll never get lost."

"That is still risky," Tempest said. "If you get attacked by a creature again, some of your escort might become separated from you. If you’re unable to find them, they’ll be permanently lost on their own, and they’ll eventually succumb to a predator or hunger."

"That won’t happen. I don’t want to leave," I said stubbornly, throwing reason out entirely.

Tempest closed her eyes and took a few moments to slowly blow air through her nose.

"Look, Twilight," she said as she opened her eyes again. "You’re the princess. You’re in charge, and you can do whatever you want. But if you insist on risking ponies’ lives for no reason, I will have no part in it. I’ve already done my time serving an uncaring tyrant, and I have no interest in doing it again. So if you say we’re staying, I’m resigning as Captain of the Guard."

Her eyes locked onto mine, and I resisted the urge to shrink back at the fire burning behind them. I had only seen such a fierce gaze once before, when Chrysalis cowed me and the others into obedience.

"So choose," Tempest said. "Either we leave the forest today, or I’m done."

Leave the forest? Was that what Canterlot was? The outside of the forest?

I felt trepidation at the concept. While the forest certainly had many dangers in it, I was at least familiar with it. I more or less knew what to expect here, and I took comfort in that fact. Plus, with my ability to feel the forest’s magic, I could go anywhere I desired with ease. I also had the ability to sense nearby creatures due to the effects their presence caused on the ambient magic, which would protect me from ambushes and had allowed me to find that slimy creature I used to turn Twilight to stone.

On the contrary, I had zero clue on what to expect outside of the forest. I didn’t even know for sure that the forest had an end to it until a few minutes ago when it was confirmed to me via the map. I didn’t know what was out there at all. Would any of my magical senses even work? I was afraid to find out the answer would be ‘no.’

Still, Tempest had finally given me a hint, so it was time to wrap this silly act up. I didn’t intend for things to escalate this far, but it seemed that Tempest felt very strongly about this issue for reasons I couldn’t fathom.

What would be the best strategic move here, though? Tempest had just given me an easy way to get rid of her. Should I seize this chance to get rid of a dangerous element in a believable way before she can do me any harm?

I felt like I wanted to do it, but the logical side of me was hesitant. Obviously, Tempest’s rank was Captain of the Guard, and she mentioned before that Twilight appointed her. I had no idea what the function of this position was, other than that she seemed to be the one in charge of all of these ponies second only to me. If I got rid of her, I would probably need to appoint a new Captain of the Guard, and I had no idea where to even begin looking for a candidate that would be trustworthy and loyal to me.

Plus, since Twilight appointed Tempest, getting rid of her would be going contrary to Twilight’s personality. Doing so could create all kinds of problems in the future that I had no way to predict right now, and it might make some ponies that were loyal to Tempest decide to oppose me. I didn’t know anything about her social connections. Worst case, all of these ponies would stop obeying me instantly.

So I decided it would be best to err on the side of caution and keep her around. Tempest was competent enough from what little I’ve seen, and if she started to be too much of an obstacle then maybe I could find another reason to get rid of her later.

Consequently, it seemed I had no choice but to leave this forest, no matter how afraid I was of doing so.

I looked at Tempest. "Alright. Let’s leave."

"Great," Tempest said as she nodded. "I’m glad you saw reason."

She turned to the white winged pony who was silent up to now.

"Lieutenant Wind Chaser," Tempest said. "Dismantle the camp and get everypony ready to go. I want to be moving within the hour."

The pony brought his forehoof up to his head. "Yes, ma’am!"

After his shout, he turned around and swiftly exited the tent. I watched him go.

"I’ll go help," Rainbow Dash said. I turned to her, but she was already rushing out of the tent. Usually she was so noisy, but this time she was so quiet I almost forgot she was here.

"Twilight."

Tempest’s voice called my attention back to her.

"Will you be able to navigate us out of the forest?" she asked.

I actually hadn’t thought about that. The outside of the forest was, by definition, not inside the forest. I doubted I would be able to feel for its location within the forest’s magic, nor feel for any pathways heading out of the forest.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the sensitivity of my horn, trying to feel for any hint of where the end of the forest might be.

I could sense the forest’s magic in quite a large area around me, extending far beyond the wooden walls of the camp. I could feel each individual tree and plant if I really narrowed down my focus, but because they were so numerous they felt more like a continuous blob that covered everything if I concentrated on the big picture. I could also feel the occasional creature here or there, which felt like irregularities in the sea of plant magic.

Then, of course, there was the foul magic of the Tree nearby. It shone like a beacon, pouring out of the castle and spreading its nasty essence in a wide area. It made me feel nauseous to concentrate on it for more than a couple of seconds, so I did my best to ignore it despite how close it was.

As I suspected, there was nothing obvious pointing me out of the forest. I felt pathways to every other location within my range, but none that led away from everything else.

I swallowed. How was I going to do this? I’m sure Twilight would be able to accomplish the task easily with her powerful magic. If I couldn’t, Tempest would likely become even more suspicious of me what with all the blunders I’d made. I needed to avoid that at all costs.

Author's Note

Many thanks to G33kySt3v3 for beta reading this chapter.