Discord watched as the dust cleared. Now, there was no one around him. He looked around in confusion.

Twilight was gone.

“Uhm… what just happened?”

He looked at the spot on the floor where she used to be, and realization struck him.

“Did she… leave!?”

A flicker of sadness appeared on his face before he quickly shook it off, remembering what this meant for him.

“Oh, shoot! Oh no, Boss’s going to kill me! Well, more like kick me out of the council, but I’m definitely going to get heat from her! Alright, she doesn’t have to find out! Twilight could disappear and no one will be the wiser. Alright I’m ok. I’ll just have to find her to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid!”

He flaps his wings and begins to hover a few feet above the ground.

“Alright let me try to sense her… Oh? She’s using a cloaking spell? No matter, I can easily bypass this one. Another cloaking spell? Ok I’ll just bypass this one as well… HOW MANY CLOAKING SPELLS DOES SHE HAVE!?”

A nearby griffin stared at him as if he was crazy, which wasn’t an uncommon occurrence.

“Ok, I’ll just bypass all of her spells!” as he said that every single cloaking spell Twilight casted, as well as the one with the false signal disappeared.

“ …Ok, I did it. Wait a minute… She’s with the rebels? Why would she be spending time with those morons? Ok, she clearly underestimates me if she earnestly believes that I can’t track her down… I suppose since there really is no chance of her eluding me, I can risk spying on their little plans. And, if anyone from the council finds out, I can just say that I was attempting to stop an uprising. Win win!”

Discord laughed, and teleported away.

“Alright! So does everyone understand the plan?” Twilight asked the group.

“I guess…” mumbled Firestreak, a former wonderbolt, “But how are we going to get to Canterlot undetected?”

“That’s where Gilda comes in!” beamed Rainbow, who turned to face Twilight, “She’s another member of the rebels, but she isn’t really here yet.”

“Oh I think I’ve met her before,” Twilight realized.

“Oh really? She’s a friend of mine who helped me start this rebelion,” Rainbow reminisced, “We used to have so much fun at camp before all of this. Anyway, she is coming over with a wagon full of hay!”

“So we’re being smuggled?” asked Giselle, a griffin with a dark head and a gray body.

“Uhhh, yeah,” admitted Rainbow dash.

There were a few uneasy glances in the small crowd, but no one opposed the plan.

Just then, Gilda showed up. She came in carrying a wooden wagon with a roof and a white cover that made the whole thing look like a tent. Inside, it was filled with hay.

“Alright, get in,” she said.

“Uhm, don’t you want to know the plan first?” asked Twilight.

“Oh right. Sure.”

“Ok, so… Once we get to Canterlot, me and Rainbow Dash will sneak into Cozy Glow’s room. Inside, we’ll plant ‘evidence’ that she was attempting to overthrow the members of the council. We’ve prepared banners, blueprints, you name it. She’ll try to deny everything, of course, so we’ll have Firestreak and Giselle sow the seeds of doubt in Nightmare Moon's mind. They’ll subtly convince her that Cozy Glow cannot be trusted. The icing on the cake is that Cozy actually replaced a former member of the council that she used to work for. You probably remember the big headlines that made. Her name was Starlight Glimmer.”

“Oh, right, I remember her,” cut in Gilda, “She was the one who took away cutie marks, right? She really didn’t last very long. Wasn’t she replaced because she was borderline insane?”

“That’s what the council said, but I think we can twist it against Cozy Glow.”

“Well, are we going to make this plan work, or what!” shouted Rainbow Dash, prompting a cheer from the small crowd.

“Alright everyone, here’s the hiding space,” Gilda said as she gestured towards the wagon.
The four members going on the mission entered the wagon and buried themselves in hay. They prepared themselves for a long ride ahead of them.

Twilight woke up with a sharp turn ramming her into the wagon's wall. She groggily opened her eyes and attempted to assess the situation.

“Huh? Gilda what's happening?” she asked with concern in her voice, waking up Rainbow Dash.

A scream from Gilda made them both jump in alarm.

Rainbow Dash shot out of the cart and Twilight heard her yell out, “Who’s there-” before getting cut off with the sound of a blast of magic hitting her.

Twilight peeked outside and saw Rainbow lying unconscious on the ground.

Fudge

Twilight wasn’t the type to charge into conflict, but she had to act fast. Whatever was out there wasn’t going to be so kind. She jumped out of the cart and quickly formed a force field around herself. When a blast of magic shot towards her, this precaution came in handy. She ran towards Rainbow who was right next to Gilda. Twilight saw both of them open their eyes and struggle to get up.

Twilight reached them and increased the size of her force field. Finally sure that Rainbow and Gilda were safe, she was able to analyze her opponent.

“Who are you?” she called out. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she saw a pink unicorn with a purple mane who stared back at her.

“Starlight Glimmer?”

Starlight rolled her eyes at being addressed, “Yeah, it’s me. Very observational.”

Twilight exchanged glances with Rainbow, before continuing.

“I thought you were in prison?”

“I was, but that’s not important right now,” Starlight said before firing another beam of magic, “and now, if you want your companions to survive, you’ll come with me!”

Firestreak and Giselle floated out of the wagon, clearly being levitated by Starlight’s magic.

Twilight felt nervous, like she was being backed into a corner. She began to think of a way out of this. If only she could disable Starlights magic, but the only one she’s seen be able to do that was King Sombra. Suddenly a thought struck her. She could try to cast a spell to make Starlight forget how to use magic.

But that’s considered dark magic, she thought, before looking back up at Starlight.

“Why are you doing this!?” she called out, taking a few steps closer to Starlight, “Is this some sort of attempt to get back into power?”

A look of surprise appeared on Starlights face, causing Twilight to assume she was right.

“Look, I don’t hate you or anything,” Starlight responded, “But if I’m going to ever have a future in this horrid place, I’m going to need to sacrifice you!”

Twilight seized this opportunity to ram into Starlight, catching her by surprise.

Here goes nothing! she thought as she began the spell. Her eyes turned dark, and she shot a blast of magic directed at Starlight's head.

Before she could react, Starlight’s eyes rolled backwards and she went limp.

“OH MY GOSH!” Twilight yelled in alarm, “Are you ok!? I didn’t mean to knock you out!”

Rainbow Dash, and the rest of the group ran over.

“Everything ok?” she asked.

“I think I killed her!” Twilight began panicking.

Luckily, Starlight opened her eyes. She got up and let out a groan, “I have a massive headache right now…” her eyes widened as the events of what just happened came flooding back, “YOU! What have you done!!”

She tried to lunge at them, but Twilight floated her in the air, “Sorry, but I can’t let you cast anymore spells like that.”

Starlight’s jaw dropped as she stared dumbfounded at her.

“Did you seriously make me lose the ability to do magic!?”

“Well… not exactly. I just took away your memory on how to do magic.”

Starlight glared at her, and Rainbow Dash burst out laughing, “Hahaha! Wow, you totally got a taste of your own medicine there, didn’t you? That’s hilarious! Imagine not being able to use your special skills.”

“That’s great and all, but how are we gonna keep her from talking?” Firestreak asked.

“Tape?” Rainbow suggested with a shrug.

“Starlight’s not going to talk because she’s going to help us,” Twilight stated.

“Excuse me?” Starlight objected.

“You were kicked out of the council, right?” Twilight started, “That means it could happen again.”

“No it won’t, this time I know who to trust.”

“And do you really think you can trust the other members?” Twilight gave her a look of genuine concern, “Starlight, they aren’t even very friendly with each other. A group of leaders who all want as much power as they can have are going to be competing with each other from the start, and they’ll be competing with you too.”

Starlight gave this some thought.

“It doesn’t matter because we stand no chance against all of them anyway.”

“Come on, if we work together to take the rest of the council down, we might be able to do it. We actually have a plan already made. We’ll turn members against each other, and then watch as their council destroys itself. you can-”

“Have you even thought about what the new boss will do about this?” she replied, “Who knows how powerful she’ll be”

“... New boss?”

“You know, the one who replaced me.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped, “You used to be the boss? Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“Well yeah, you didn’t think I’d tell everypony that I was the brains, did you? That would make me a massive target for assassins and stuff. It’s just safer to remain anonymous.”

“Well who's the current boss?” Twilight asked.

“I never saw her, but I do know Cozy Glow has.”

“In that case we should try and make Cozy tell us.” Rainbow suggested, and Giselle and Firestreak nodded in agreement.

“Well,” Twilight started, “How about it Starlight, are you in?”

Starlight thought it over for a few moments.

“...Fine.”

Author's Note

New team member!