I feel myself poked as the stagecoach bumps over a rock in the dirt road, “Clubs… wake up, we’re here I think. I see lights,”

I wave my hoof slightly, still half asleep, “bug off…” I try to readjust myself but it's impossible against this hard wood. Another bump in the road makes me bite my tongue and I swear under my breath as I wake up fully, sighing as I rise, “fine… Hearts, what do you want,” I glance over at my younger sister who looks nervous sitting close to Diamonds.

Hearts fidgets with her hooves, lowering her head slightly, “I… just wanted someone to be awake besides me when we get there…”

I roll my eyes seeing Diamonds’ ears flick slightly, “whatever, pansy…” I scoff and look out the side of the stagecoach, squinting my eyes as I look down the road, seeing a large wooden wall in the distance. This has to be it. “... besides, Dia seems to be awake, why don’t you bother her.”

Diamonds raises her head slightly, “Stop being such a blowhard for once… she's your sister, we're family… stop acting like we're strangers to you.”

My face scrunches up slightly, “you’re all pathetic… maybe except Spades, he actually has some steel in him, but you both have mother’s genes,” I pause for a moment, “you’ll probably die just like her, by disappointing your husband,” glances at Diamonds and smirks, “speaking of which, how is it that you haven’t found a stallion yet?” I don’t even wait for a response seeing Diamonds roll her eyes, “I know why… because you’re brash and-”

I’m cut off by Spades, “Shut up, all of you,” Spades is sat looking out the side of the stage coach facing away from us, “Dia is right… we’re family… even if-”

I cut him off, “even if dad sold us to some damn freaks?”

He turns to face me, “no… even if you want to keep being like this, we are still related, we’re supposed to be there for each other, just act cordial…”

Diamonds scoffs, “that’s an impossible task for him, he can't go three seconds without hurling an insult just because he gets some sick pleasure out of watching our faces grow sour,” she stares dead into my eyes.

I open my mouth to speak but Spades starts before I can in an attempt to save me the scolding, “I’m sure he’s just upset… it’s not fair he’s taking it out on you, but I’m plenty angry too, even if I may not be showing it right now. I’m still trying to wrap my head around why dad would even think of selling us off, let alone actually just going through with it without hesitation.”

“Because he doesn’t love us, he never has…” Diamonds lowers her head again, “mom was always the one to actually feed and clothe us, dad just saw us as a burden… and apparently he saw mom as such too,” Diamonds expression softens as she seems to space out in thought.

I let out a soft barely audible sigh as I slump back into a sitting position again, damn… spades got it right on the money. Can’t believe it, and the more I do the more angry I feel… the more I want to just break down where I sit and cry into my forearms calling for my mom. I shake my head slightly as my face scrunches up again about to say something to rile up Diamonds more but I stop myself, pinching myself gently with magic… Spades is right, in the end we’re still family and going through this all the same, just different ways of coping. I can’t help but feel like a hypocrite, calling them pansies when I feel this way… I just… miss my mom. I rest my head against the back of the stage coach looking up at the ceiling of it before rolling my head to the right to look out of the wagon as we pass the gates of this village, spotting armored guards whose eyes glow faintly.

I feel the coach come to a stop and shift in what looks to be the center of the town as my father drops the reins used to pull the coach along and moves to the side glaring at all of us, “out,” he speaks firmly.

I see Spades horn glow a violent orange and I pinch him with my own magic, his attention shifts to me and I shake my head softly. If he tries to kill him here we won't be leaving this town alive. He sighs as he realizes this too and his horn stops glowing and he's the first out. Diamonds smiles softly at Hearts and the two stumble out together and I follow behind them, not even looking in the direction of my father. The village residents look at us in awe, children hiding behind their mothers, a single male thestral in the center of the crowd of ponies, wearing a sort of cloak and a wooden head band.

He calls out to my father, “are these the unicorns you promised?”

My father grabs hearts and throws her to the ground in front of the stallion, “Yes. Hand over the bits,” his voice is rough and deep and he speaks with as few words as possible. I feel my horn beginning to glow in rage but Spades puts a hoof on my shoulder. He shakes his head and I have to agree, taking a deep breath and remembering how he felt the same way not even 5 minutes ago. I nod softly and he moves his hoof off of me.

The thestral looks a bit worried for Hearts as she sits up and sniffles, “two hundred per unicorn, as promised,” two thestrals walk up with a small chest and place it in his cart.

My father checks the bags and nods softly, not saying a word as he puts the reins back on and begins to walk out of the town, the cart squeaking as he gets further and further away. The wooden gates of the town dragged closed behind him, pushed by a good deal of thestral guards. I scoff and spit at the ground that he had just walked on. I turn to face the stallion in the middle of the crowd and approach hearts, kneeling down next to her speaking softly, “you okay?”

She gives a weak nod, not making eye contact with anypony, staring at the ground. I glance back at Spades as he moves next to me, followed by Diamonds.

The cloaked stallion thestral gives us a sympathetic smile, “Greetings… I am Prince Mid-Day… My mother will meet with you shortly. For now I will guide you to your quarters and where you can find food, please follow me,” he gives a short bow and turns beginning to walk away, a path in the crowd clearing.

I glance at Spades, suspicious of this “Prince”, he hardly looks the part, a worn cloak and a wooden crown… he glances at me as well, a neutral unreadable expression as he looks back and starts following the prince. I pick up Hearts to her feet and dust her off gently glancing over her once more to make sure father hadn’t caused her any scrapes, Diamonds doing the same before we follow Spades. The prince is silent as we walk through the town, I glance around noticing glowing eyes peeping at us from the balconies of their homes tall… perhaps these ponies have never seen anything like us, unicorns. I thought over this for a moment… we must look incredibly strange to them, a fancy bone spike sticking out of our head. The thought is amusing to me but I’m too tired and angry and hungry to even crack a smile.

I sigh as we all pull to a halt in front of a rather well put together log cabin… how quaint. Mid-Day opens the door for us and bows slightly, “please make yourselves at home, do you have anything to ask of me?”

I glance at my siblings before speaking first, “yeah, when’s dinner… me and my siblings haven’t eaten in two days,” I can hear hearts mumbling something to Dia behind me as Spades enters the cabin.

Mid-Day nods softly, “well, it would be breakfast for us. Us thestrals are usually awake through the night and sleep in the day,”

I let out a short agitated huff, “right… when’s breakfast.”

He glances up at the moon, “uhm…” it seems he's counting to himself, “5 minutes… and now that you are all here my mother will be holding a speech in the town square. We would be rather grateful if you all could attend with my mother.”

I glance back at Spades who is further into the house but he gives a short nod to the question. I followed suit, “yeah, we can attend.”

Mid-Day smiles brightly, his fangs making themselves more known, “great! I’ll let her know you will be joining us… I will have a guard escort you to the gathering. Breakfast will be held immediately following the speech.”

Diamonds speaks up, “uhm, would you happen to have carrots that you could spare right now? My little sister here, Hearts…” Dia smiles softly “She would like some.”

“I can have a guard bring a basket of them to your quarters,” Mid-Day turns and hesitates before speaking softly, “... we are truly thankful you have arrived. We have been waiting for this night for a long… long time. Your role is that of akin to angels,” Mid-Day smiles, “I hope Nightmare Moon was correct about you four,” he begins walking away.

Huh? I mumble to myself, “Nightmare Moon… that name is familiar…” I turn to Spades, “who was he talking about?”

Spades is levitating books, looking at the titles of each before glancing at me, “Old pony-tale… mother used to read us the story of the Two Sisters, remember?”

I nod softly, walking further into the cabin, “yes, I remember, but he just said he hoped she was right about us..”

Spades continues looking through the books as Hearts and Dia make their way further into the cabin, “I am not deaf, I heard, that is why I am looking through their literature, although I’ve never seen these books before, none of the authors are familiar.” He looks at one book in particular and begins flipping through it. He stops and steps outside to look up at the moon. “I believe I know what he was talking about, supposedly tonight is going to be the night Nightmare Moon returns,” He closes the book looking up at the moon before going back inside and putting it back where it was, along with the other books. He glances over them all to make sure they’re all in the right place before continuing further into the cabin, entering the first room on the left with no hesitation, “I’m taking this room,” I hear him unclasp and take off his side bags. I walk further down the hallway… four rooms, I can’t tell if this place is specifically made for guests or was made for us. I enter the first room on the right and take off my own side bags, levitating a framed picture of our mom, father, and all three of us as foals. The picture itself is worn and stained, I’ve had to save it multiple times from being used as a coaster by my father… I believe this is the only time I’ve seen him smile, and I wasn’t even conscious enough to remember the photo being taken. I gently levitated the frame onto the nightstand and sigh, that was the only thing I packed of importance besides official documents proving who I am.

I look over the rest of the room, opening another door, a personal restroom… and running water… this place doesn’t seem the type to have such. I gently close the door and look over the bed, laying on the bed… very soft, this isn't hay. I slide off and pull up the sheet… a bag? My horn glows a soft orange as I make a small hole in the bag, pulling out what's in it. Feathers… interesting. I repair the hole and go back to laying on the bag, it's strangely firm for being a bunch of feathers… I close my eyes. Just before I drift off there's a loud knock at the front door. I groan and get up.

I walk into the hallway behind Hearts and Dia and gently push past them, standing next to Spades speaking bluntly without looking back to see me, only his ear flicking being the sign he knows I’m there, “... we will follow you.”

The guard turns and begins walking to where I would assume the gathering is, Spades following close behind him. I glance up to the balconies where glowing eyes had peeked at us from before to see them empty. No whispers or mumblings, no sounds of hoof-steps, just ours… I feel something off, I can’t quite put my finger on it but… something is about to happen, it’s a gut feeling.

As the moon hung high and highlighted the trees just outside of the village walls we drew closer, the occasional flap of wings overhead going towards a now growing sound of hundreds of voices talking over each other. A sudden wall of bodies turned to face us as we approached the outskirts of the crows, the familiar glowing eyes close enough to put a face to them, the crowd parted without a word from the guard. A path formed where there had not been one, the voices of conversation snuffed out, only scattered soft whispers occasionally making themselves known as we got closer to the stage.

Sat in the center of the stage was what I had assumed to be the queen, a tired neutral expression on her face, and next to her the prince who smiled softly at us. The guard stepped to the side, allowing us onto the stage without his assistance. We each stepped up one after another and stood next to the prince, the queen glancing over each of us as we passed her, our hooves against the wood of the stage the only audible noise to us.
As we each stood on the stage there were easily a thousand eyes on us, hardly blinking, they all looked on in awe as the tall torches barely illuminated the stage. I glanced over at Spades who simply was scanning over the crowd.

Her eyes scanned over us more before speaking, “Lovely, we are all very glad you could join us,” the queen said loudly with the same neutral face, her eyes returned to the crowd as she continued “I present to you, my ponies, our key to victory!”

The ponies in the crowd erupted in cheer, some jumping and flying into the air in excitement. The queen raised a hoof and the crowd fell silent and calm in a near instant, their quickness to quiet showing just how strong the queens grip over these ponies hearts are, “These… as many of you have never seen before, are unicorns. They can use magic from the horns on their head. This magic can lift objects off the ground without touching it, throw fire, freeze water, and spit lightning much like that of which comes from the clouds. These are very powerful beings, and we are grateful for them being bestowed upon us.”

The ponies in the crowd are now mumbling amongst each other as one calls out, “Prove it! Let them levitate something,” more excited mumbling came from the crowd at the prospect.

The queen glances at us speaking softly, “Would you mind levitating something for the crowd…?”

I open my mouth to speak smiling, ready to show off but Spades speaks first, his voice cold and blunt, “We are not your show ponies, we are here because we were sold into your care. We will abide by your wishes and fight at your order, but we are not some form of entertainment…”

I roll my eyes and my smile fades as the queen nods, “Fair enough,” she faces the crowd again clearing her throat, “these unicorns are not a form of entertainment, we bought them for a reason, they are dangerous and powerful and should be treated as such, as a weapon.” I scoff at this under my breath, feeling a bit annoyed, we aren’t just weapons… we’re ponies too.

I turn to spades and whisper to him as the queen continues talking to the crowd, “C’mon, lighten up, I was more than willing to show off by levitating a chair or something… nothing huge.”

Spades glanced at me, his head still facing the crowd, “Our power is beyond mere show tricks. Dad made that very clear when we were younger. We were born to be strong and sold. We cannot give these ponies the wrong idea, our goal is to protect and fight for them now provided they take care of us… and so far their care has been much better than anything I or you have ever received, you know that very well.”

I open my mouth to protest but I just go back to looking over the crowd, sighing softly again, “Fine… I guess you’re right.”

Spades doesn’t respond, just looking forward as the queen keeps speaking, “... thank you all for attending, and now, something incredibly important is about to occur. Something we have been waiting for our whole lives.”

She continues proudly, “If you all would, look up to the sky. Tonight is the night our empress, our goddess, Nightmare Moon, comes back from the moon and to our side to give what our people have been lacking for a millennia, and what might that be, my ponies!?”

The crowd yells in unison, “justice!”

She speaks louder, “and with justice?!”

The crowd yells louder, “FREEDOM!”

The queen stands, yelling, “and what must we do for both?!”

The crowd yells again, “SKEWER THE SUN!”

The queen flies off stage, above the crowd, “again! My ponies! What must we do for our justice and freedom?!”

The crowd screams as they flap their wings, “SKEWER THE SUN!”

My siblings and I watch as they fly around in the air, yelling excitedly, chanting over and over again, some racing in the air, low to the ground… I think I know what they mean. I glance towards Spades, my voice low, “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

Spades watches them fly about as the chanting gets jumbled and less in unison, some thestrals dancing together in the air. Mares and stallions and their foals spinning and grinning in the air together as he speaks, “... I believe they want us to kill Celestia.”

Dia and Hearts’ eyes widen at this prospect, surprised and dumbfounded. These thestrals hold so much hope in us that they believe we can kill Celestia? As flattered as I am that they think that… I don't even think all of us combined could so much as scratch the princess. I watch as the moon begins to glow slightly brighter.

All the thestrals fall silent and lower themselves to the ground, all their eyes on the moon, the queen back to her seat as the shape that once made up the mare in the moon and the stars surrounding it flashes bright, illuminating the forest for a few moments. I have to shield my eyes, but just as I uncover them… its gone, the shape is gone. All the thestrals cheer loudly and I feel my head begin to spin slightly… I feel stronger, more agile, and less groggy.

I glance at Spades whose eyes are wide, its the first time I’ve seen him like this in a long time, “did you just feel that too..?”

He speaks abruptly, “shut up,” he stares off into space, his eyes wide.

I raise an eyebrow, “what?”

He speaks again, quicker, “I said shut up, Nightmare Moon is talking to me,” he is trembling slightly.

I take a moment to let that sentence sink in… what… Spades isn't the type to joke or just make stuff up… but I cant believe him, “... did those thestrals slip something into your water or something?”

He glares at me, angrily and worried, “no… she’s talking to me, we're negotiating… please be quiet,” he fixes his gaze forward again.

I lower my head slightly and sigh, “fine…” I look up as the thestrals dance happily, some of them with mugs in their hooves, singing songs in some sort of old language.

Just then I hear a crash behind me. My eyes widen as I get up and turn, Spades’ horn glowing a bright red with the queen motionless in the wood stage, unconscious, a faint red glow around her dissipating. Oh… oh my, Dia and I speak up at the same time, “SPADES?!” Dia’s mouth hangs open as I continue, “What was that for! Now all these ponies are gonna be up in hooves!”

The prince watches in horror, not able to move a muscle. Spades speaks up, “Nightmare Moon wants us to overthrow the queen and assume control, in exchange she's giving us rooms and duties in the Canterlot palace,” he smiles softly as he approaches the queen, “she said we were allowed to kill her if she resisted, so I made sure she couldn’t,” he leans down to listen to her breathing and his smile never fading

“the only thing we are not allowed to do is touch the prince… he will be the de jure leader while we are the de facto,” he glances up to see the prince gone, his eyebrows raising slightly, “ah… well… she didn’t say anything about him running, guess she didn’t expect him to be frightened from his mother being slammed into some wood planks. It isn’t a big deal.”

He sighs as the ponies don't even realize their queen is unconscious below them, still celebrating, “guess that just means we’re the de jure rulers for now, by order of Nightmare Moon,” he levitates the queen out of sight behind the stage, “guard!”

One of the guards flaps down to the stand and bows slightly, “take your pitiful excuse of a queen elsewhere… somewhere she cannot be seen, by order of Nightmare Moon we are now your leaders,”

The guard's face scrunches up slightly before his eyes widen as if something clicked in his head and he nods, dragging the queen away elsewhere, Spades glances up at the ponies and shouts, “ORDER!” they immediately fall silent, the only sound the gentle flapping of their wings, Spades smiles at this, “as of now we are your new leaders, the queen has given up power willingly to us, she believes we will be able to lead you all to victory much more effectively than she can by herself,” Spades sits on the velvet cushion the queen sat on before, “you may go back to your celebrating for now,”

The ponies all mumble, one shouting, “Where is the queen?” another, “When did she say this?” “Is she okay?!” “Why did she give you leadership?”

Spades’ horn glows red as he sighs, ready to quell any resistance, “Nightmare Moon has spoken to both of us personally. Nightmare Moon has decided it best that we rule for now until the sun is ‘skewered’, I assure you all she is safe. She will be taking a vacation for a couple weeks, you will see her again. For now, go back to your celebration, please.”

They mumble more, another speaking up, “Nightmare Moon told you this…?”

Spades nods slowly, “She did, she communicated to me in my head,”

I glance at him like he's crazy but the other thestrals gasp, “he is holy!” “like our priests!” “He has been chosen?!”

I look up at them like they're crazy before glancing back towards spades, “how’d that convince them?”

Spades shrugs, “She told me to tell them that, they would believe it, and they did,” he glances over at me to meet my gaze, “apparently things aren't going well.”

I look at him even more confused, “With what? Nightmare Moon?”

He nods, “Yeah, she’s about to be defeated any moment,” he gazes off into space, “there are six ponies using something called the elements of harmony right now, they are going to seal her away,” he squints his eyes, “... Lumineer Sundowner…”

I raise an eyebrow, “Who?”

He glances at me and scoffs, “A traitor apparently, he wouldn’t help Nightmare Moon, he's hiding behind a pillar right now, she wants us to hunt him down and kill him. He’s the most dangerous to our plot currently… she’s gone… she lost.”

I look more confused, “Nightmare Moon lost?”

He nods, “yeah, I can’t hear her anymore, the view from her perspective is fading, I can still hear bits and pieces of the conversation that's happening,” he glances over at me, “guess we’ve got us a sun to skewer,” he smiles, seemingly very sure we could win this.

I speak a bit softer, “you think we can really win against Celestia?”

He nods again, returning his gaze to the buzzing crowd of thestrals that are singing and dancing in the air still, “oh yes. Nightmare Moon has gifted us with a decent portion of her power, she didn’t say exactly how much but she apparently split a decent amount among all of us,” he smiles wider, “I already have a plan brewing in my head for how we can win,”

he laughs softly as he gets up and faces a guard, “make sure all these ponies get home safe, we’re turning in for the night,” the guard nods as we all walk past him. I glance over Hearts and Dia, their expressions matching my state of mind, confused and disoriented. Spades’ stature was much different; he looked proud, excited, happy for once. The crowds excited cheers and dancing faded as we walked back to our cabin, Dia and Hearts talking to each other as I kept to myself, following behind Spades.

Spades opens the door to the cabin allowing us to file in before he closes it behind us, “now, we have something very important to discuss before we rest. I’m sure you all can stay awake for a few more minutes while we talk,” he walks past all of us and takes a seat on the couch in the main room, gesturing for all of us to sit down.

I take my seat across from him, shooting him a slightly agitated look, “alright… What's your plan? Just how do you think we can take down Celestia and the entire royal guard on our own along with this ‘Lumineer Sundowner’.”

Spades leans back in his seat, the same smile he wore when tearing the queen out of the sky never leaving his face, “we don’t need to fight them head on, we are few, so we play dirty. We aren’t just fighting against Celestia and her guard and that Lumineer, we’re also fighting against the general population, maybe less as actual combatants and more as an angry mob that can be convinced,” he sighs as he leans up in his seat, “first of all, we need intel, where this Lumineer is, where princess Luna and Celestia is-”

I cut him off, “Princess Luna?”

He nods, “When Nightmare Moon was defeated, I could still hear bits and pieces of her left behind in what was defeated, it left behind Luna, an Alicorn, Celestia’s sister… she will also be a hurdle we will jump when we get to. There's a catch though, we have to leave her alive, so we will have to capture her somehow,” he glances over all of us as he continues, “anyway, we need to fight dirty, yes? Convince the population we are a bigger force than we are, get them to plead to their princess’ to back down to this boogie man, we must scare them into submission,”

Dia speaks up, “What exactly are you suggesting?”

Spades looks into her eyes, “I am suggesting exactly what I mean, we must win by any means necessary. We are going to make a scene, crack a few eggs to make an omelet…”

Dia looks horrified at this prospect, “You’re suggesting killing ponies? Innocent ponies?”

Spades continues, “What other option do we have at victory?”

Dia opens her mouth to speak, she tries to think of something… silent for a few moments before speaking, “There must be another way… some way to avoid that outcome. We don’t need to kill ponies.”

I think about this for a moment, I don’t entirely mind trying to fight a guerilla war mostly by myself, sounds fun honestly, but at the same time, “Why do we even need to go out and fight? We got everything we need here. We’re warm, fed, comfortable, and ponies love us. We went from a situation that ponies would dread and have nightmares of to what ponies would dream of,” I glance at Hearts and Dia and back to Spades before continuing, “we’re safe… no one will come after us and hurt us if we just keep our heads low.”

Spades’ smile fades, “For the first time in my life I have a purpose, I can change something meaningful, we can make a name for ourselves… and why not give these ponies a cause to fight for, let out their pent up anger and pride, let them fight for their ‘freedom’ and ‘acceptance’ when they’re already plenty free and happy in their little ethnostate,” he gets up and starts pacing around.

I speak up again, somehow sounding like the reasonable one for once, “I’m thinking what Dia is saying, ponies don’t have to die… we can be happy and stay here and make life better for them, and if anybody were to come here for them we could protect them, we have that strength that Nightmare Moon gave us.”

Spades shakes his head as he walks, “Fine… I’ll be going alone to Canterlot tomorrow with a few guards to gather information. Diamonds and Hearts can stay here until further notice, and you can stay here too if you want to be a pansy and never make a name for yourself…”

I raise an eyebrow, “Why do you want this so bad? Why do you insist on killing ponies?”

He continues pacing, raising his voice, “I already said why! For once we… all of us, have the opportunity to not be at the bottom of the barrel anymore! We could be in history books… songs could be sung about us… we would be remembered.”

I shake my head, speaking softer, “Is that all you care about? To make a name for ourselves?”

He sighs, “It isn’t just that, if we win this we get rooms in the Canterlot palace, we live like kings and queens, it’s-”

I cut him off, “It’s a gamble, and we’re gambling our lives and other ponies like chips in a game of poker…”

He stops pacing and turns to me, as if having an ‘ah ha’ moment, “Exactly… that’s exactly right, we either stay mundane and safe and wait for something to happen to us, giving them plenty of time to gather up a force to track us down and kill every single one of us for sympathizing with an enemy of the state.”

I think about what he said for a moment… damn… Well, now he’s got an actual point. If that Lumineer really is a threat and manages to work with Luna and if Luna manages to work with Celestia… that’s the entire royal guard, two alicorns, and a pony we know nothing about that houses a decent amount of Nightmare Moon’s power. I sigh and shake my head, the real safest option to secure our future is to strike first, convince the population we are nothing to mess with… and get them to convince the princess to step down… it’s starting to sink in, that plan actually does seem like it would work… but it’s a gamble like I said. We either fortify and wait for them to come or cut them off and leave them dazed and confused before they can even organize.

I shake my head softly, “Fine… I guess… your plan is sound, smart… you’re right, we should strike first, what should I do?”

He smiles victoriously, “Perfect, good, I’m going to look around and see if there's a thestral that understands healing magic to send with you to a small town called Ponyville. You and that partner are going to learn about how Nightmare Moon got beat and if we can unseal her, and I’ll be doing the same. You personally are going to gather as much info about the elements of harmony as you can and find its weaknesses… write down everything you can, I’ll gather everything you need for the trip. We leave in a few days,” he turns to Hearts and Dia, “as for you two, you will train those ponies to fight and defend themselves, if worst comes to worst this is our last front line. We need every able pony to be a trained soldier… please…”

Dia and Hearts collectively sigh and nod, Dia speaking up, “We’re not going to train them to be cold blooded killers… I mean look at them, they’re innocent. They’re just as innocent as any other citizen of Equestria.”

Spades’ brow furrows, “I never said anything about making them ‘cold blooded killers’. You want the least amount of casualties, right? Ponies are going to get hurt or die anyway, make sure it’s not ours… that’s all.”

Dia opens her mouth to speak but hesitates for a few moments, “Fine,” she decided not to protest, “how do we contact you when you’re millions of paces away?”

Spades smiles softly, “Well just write to me like how we all learned when we were kids… it has been a few years since you’ve all used it, I’d suggest practicing,” he walks past us slowly to his quarters, “If you can’t figure it out, which I absolutely doubt, you can simply send a thestral to my location. I at least know how to use the spell so you will be getting real time updates of where I am. In the meantime, rest up, get food and feast like kings, whatever… we have a couple more days to plan this out before me and Clubs depart,” he gently closes his door, his handle glowing a faint red that fades as the door clicks shut.

I glance at Dia, trying to offer a soft smile, “Guess life’s turning out to be a lot more exciting, right? At least we’ll be busy…” Dia tries to offer the same smile as I rise slowly from where I was sitting and saunter down the hall and into my room, closing the door behind me and flopping onto the bed, getting under the blankets, and shutting off the light, trying to drift off to sleep.

Author's Note

Do you guys think I could play Dia as a valid card in poker, like if I had one ace in my hand and she was like sitting next to me I could have pocket aces then?