A group of four soldiers were gathered in a hall, they were divided into pairs and each pair positioned themselves at opposite ends of the room, with one pair guarding the only way in and out of there, which was two huge doors made of dark wood and metal, everypony was completely static, just waiting for the arrival of the only other pony present in the old fortress.

Although they couldn't show it, they were proud, because among all their imprisoned companions, asleep in eternal slumber, they were the ones chosen to awaken from their prison and take part in what was about to begin.

The sound of hoofsteps was irregular and was accompanied by a clink of metal and a slight crack following the rhythm of the walk. The structure was quiet enough for these normally inaudible sounds to echo off the old corridor walls.

The group’s anxiety grew as the sound approached, counting each step in their heads as a countdown, until the large door to the room finally opened, revealing the pony they knew as "The Speaker".

The pony entered the room slowly, stopping a few steps after the entrance to observe the hall and the soldiers, the hall was relatively large, but compared to the other rooms of the fortress it wasn’t noteworthy, the place wouldn't be so impressive if it weren't for what was in the center of it, a passage-like stone structure with several runes engraved on it, on each block of stone, even those damaged by time, showing that they had been made with extreme precision and care, and The Speaker knew this very well, after all she built it herself a long time ago

After mentally checking that everything was in place, she resumed her slow, limping walk to the center of the room, leaning on an ancient staff with one of her front hooves to walk, internally the soldiers wished they could help her, but they had been ordered by her not to leave their positions, and they knew that the Speaker's words were absolute and not to be disobeyed.

The silence was deafening, with none of them having said a word since they arrived in the room earlier, the Spokeswoman reached the structure and climbed a small set of steps with some difficulty, now positioned in the center of the room, all the guards were attentive, just waiting for her to begin.

///

(A few days before)

A huge magical rainbow hits the trio of villains, throwing Grogar's bell away from them, thus causing the power the bell was providing to be taken away.

Cozy Glow fell to the ground, letting out a slight moan of pain as she recovered from the dizziness caused by the rainbow, Chrysalis showed nothing but disbelief at the situation, and Tirek, being the one most affected by the removal of power, looked down at his hands, realizing that his physique had returned to being thin and frail, with his body’s colors adopting a faded tone, leaving him trembling from a slight breeze in the room.

On the other side of the plain, Twilight together with the mane six, young six, the pillars of Equestria and Spike descend to the ground after casting the magical rainbow that had put an end to the confrontation with the villains.

"Do you really think that friendship will save you? We always return, nothing will ever stop...!"

Chrysalis's speech was abruptly interrupted by a huge cupcake the size of a building falling from the sky directly on top of the trio, everyone looking on in confusion as a strange brown rain began to fall from the sky.

"Chocolate rain?" says Spike with some confusion after licking his paw and tasting the strange rain

Celestia and Luna landed on the spot, followed by Discord and Starlight, who arrived in a teleport shortly afterwards, with everyone looking at Discord as if they were waiting for some kind of explanation.

"Don't look at me!"

Still confused, Twilight turns to see Pinkie Pie holding Grogar's bell.

///

While the rescuers of Equestria were dealing with a Pinkie Pie wielding the chaotic powers of the bell, a group of curious eyes watched them from the top of a distant hill.

The place they were in was discreet, with only a few rocks scattered around, which allowed them to observe from afar without being noticed, and an apple tree surrounded by some bushes, in general it was just an ordinary hill, if it wasn't for the noise of an argument taking place there.

"Get off me, you asshole!"

"Then give me those binoculars, I want to see too!"

"That's not your job!"

While the two of them were arguing, a third member, who was just lying on one of the tree branches while munching on an apple, suddenly came down from the tree.

The trio consisted of two pegasi and a unicorn, all three wearing black uniforms with some yellow trimmings, similar to military uniforms, with one of the pegasi wearing a variant accompanied by a black and yellow military cap which revealed a higher rank than the other two.

"Would you two be quiet, if it wasn't enough that we weren't allowed to interfere, I still have to listen to you fighting over something so silly?"

"Sorry Rainy," said the two in unison.

These arguments were frequent, and little by little Rainy felt closer and closer to cursing out the pair, they acted like this constantly, and it was getting tiresome, he could swear that they both had some degree of ADHD.

'Breathe Rainy, we're finishing up here, there's no need to stress,' thought Rainy, trying as hard as she could to calm down.

They had a simple objective, just to observe from a safe distance without interfering in any way and to record how Equestria's "saviors" would deal with the trio of villains. The unicorn would be responsible for observing and reporting anything relevant to the pegasus, who would record everything that was transmitted to him.

A considerably simple mission, they don't need to get into trouble and only need to write down the outcome of a fight that isn't theirs, or at least it would be easy if it weren't for the duo not being able to focus on their assigned duties.

Fortunately, he had been sent to supervise the pair and make them focus on the mission. His name was Rainy Cloud, a pegasus with dark blue fur, his mane was white and curly, making it look like a cloud, his cutie mark was shaped like a black storm cloud and although he was in a higher position than the other two, he appeared to be as young as they were.

"Now get back to work!" Rainy ordered the pair with an obvious degree of weariness in his voice. 'Man, if having children is anything like this I'll never intend to have my own.

With the order given, Rainy just layed back down on the ground, taking advantage of the shade of the leaves.

The pair stared at each other and then went back to their main objective in silence. The unicorn, called Powder Dust, picked up his binoculars again and lay down on the hillside, his fur was a faded shade of gray, his brown mane was short with a small fringe that almost reached his eyes and his cutie mark was a simple pile of dust.

"Ta, that pink pony is back to normal size and... okay, that... bug, Discord I think, has regained its powers."

"I remember the day he appeared and started messing up Equestria, I was lying on one of the clouds he used to make it rain chocolate, I don't think I've ever taken so long to clean myself up in my life."His name was Blaze Sign, he was the tallest of the three, but nothing that was really alarming, his fur was red and his yellow mane was totally unkempt, which made him look like a madman on some days, his cutie mark was a big fire.

"Alright, go on"

"Now he's giving back the princesses' power... what a waste, imagine having that much power and just handing it over to someone"

Blaze nodded as he continued to write everything down, until Dust stopped talking altogether, Blaze looked at him in confusion but before he could ask anything the unicorn turned around.

"Hey, Rainy!"

"What?"

"Take a look at this"

Rainy, who had almost fallen asleep, got up with a yawn and walked slowly over to see what his colleague wanted him to see so badly.

"What is it Powder Dust?"

The unicorn didn't say anything, just passed the binoculars over so that Rainy could see for himself.

Rainy looked through the binoculars with mild curiosity, observing the giant cupcake, which was impressive in itself, but what really caught his attention was seeing Discord saying something in the two princesses' ears.

"What are they going to do?" thought Rainy, only to be answered a second later when he saw the three of them destroy the giant cupcake and petrify the villains into a statue, all with just one combined spell.

"Wow, they're making it easy for us, aren't they? hahaha" said Powder Dust as he gave a slightly annoyed laugh.

"Calm down, Dust, we're not done here yet," replied Blaze.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever"

Rainy listened to the pair's discussion and went back to observing the statue, and although he didn't like agreeing with Powder Dust, this time he had no way out, because the fact remained that the trio of villains being turned into stone was something that could really facilitate their mission.

"You two, listen here, we're going back to camp, I need to contact the Speaker, I want to know her opinion on this"

"Roger that!" replied the pair.

Without saying another word, Rainy took off and was soon followed by Blaze Sign, leaving Dust behind.

'Man, it must be really nice to have wings,' thought the unicorn as he let out a sigh of frustration, then he looked around and saw that Blaze had left almost all of his equipment on the ground, so he would have to carry both of them alone, at least Rainy had taken the binoculars with him, so that was one less thing for him to carry.

"Every time this guy leaves things behind, it's unbelievable" Dust was annoyed by the situation, but he couldn't just leave things lying around.

After picking up everything that was scattered on the ground, he concentrated and made the first of several teleports he would have to make to get back to the camp they had set up a few days ago.

///

Rainy and Blaze arrived at the campsite together, with Blaze panting.

The site was exactly as they had left it, three white huts surrounding a fireplace in the center. The place was well hidden among the trees, they had made a point of choosing a part of the forest that had really big trees so they wouldn't have to worry about being spotted by anyone flying past.

Normally it would have been quite difficult to find the location considering where it was set up, but Rainy had a method to ensure this didn't happen.

"You didn't have to fly so fast, really" Blaze was struggling to catch his breath, he already knew that keeping up with Rainy on a flight was a difficult task, but it seemed that today he was particularly motivated.

"Stop being so soft, I wasn't even that fast"

Blaze, who was now lying on his back, looked at Rainy in disbelief but chose not to reply as he was too tired to sustain this discussion.

"Listen Blaze, I'm going to my tent and I'm going to contact the Speaker, and until we have new orders you and Dust can rest, just let him know when he arrives"

Blaze agreed, lifting his hoof.

Rainy walks towards the entrance to his tent and takes out a small yellow crystal from the pocket of his uniform. When he presents the crystal near the passage, it opens, allowing him to enter, he enters without making any ceremony, and as soon as he does, the passage of fabric closes behind him.

The tent was much bigger on the inside, because it was a magic tent, made to look like an ordinary travel tent, although on the outside it was already relatively large. Inside it was really cozy, the floor was lined with an extremely soft black carpet, the walls inside were brown, with small magical lanterns scattered symmetrically, there was also a large sofa in the center, a shelf with books of all kinds that was leaning against a double bed that hadn't been made up in the morning, a wardrobe; a large supply closet filled with travel supplies, medical items and tools for the most diverse situations; and last but not least, a stone pulpit at one end of the room.

The pulpit resembled a bookend in shape, and could even be used as one, but its real utility was different.

Approaching with the yellow crystal in hooves, he perfectly places it right in the center of the pulpit.

After a few responseless moments, all the lights in the tent suddenly went out and a bright yellow light began to be projected from the pedestal. Rainy reacted to the situation in a calm manner, just remembering how terrified it had made him the first time, but having done it a few times before, he became used to it.

While he was recalling his old experiences with the artifact, a black sphere surrounded by yellow lines formed above the pulpit.

"Rainy, I think it's too early for you to get in touch, so tell me, what happened? I hope you have good reasons." A female voice began to speak directly through the sphere, which distorted slightly with each word.

Rainy, who was a little distracted, began to pay more attention to what was being said, but fortunately the strange energy in the room no longer affected him.

"Yes, I'm sorry" Rainy clears his throat; "I hope you're well today, great Speaker"

"Please get to the point Rainy" the voice replied with a slight tone of irritation

"All right then, if you insist," Rainy pauses, thinking of the best way to pass on the information.

"Master, I believe the time has come"

///

Outside the hut, a few minutes passed and Blaze was still lying on the ground, he had already recovered from the fatigue of the journey, but the soft grass and the sound of his surroundings were preventing him from getting up.

*Blink*

Blaze heard an unmistakable sound, it was the sound of a teleportation spell, which meant that Dust had finally arrived. He turned his head in the direction of the sound and saw Dust with an obviously annoyed look on his face.

He was about to ask his colleague the reason for his frustration, but Dust was quicker, throwing a bag full of equipment in his direction, a bag that Blaze immediately recognized as his own.

"Oops, sorry Dust, I swear next time I won't forget, by the way, Rainy said we can rest until we get new orders," said Blaze in a relaxed manner.

Dust didn't answer and just went to his hut to rest, because although he didn't show it, the teleportation spell was really exhausting, especially when used many times in a row.

"Okay then" Blaze took advantage of the fact that his bag was now within reach and pulled it close to him, using it as a pillow, deciding that he would sleep right there on the floor, since he personally always preferred sleeping outdoors; and with the current calmness of the environment, it didn't take him long to fall asleep.

Inside his tent, Dust removed his uniform and used a cleansing spell to clean it, he still remembered the day his mother had taught him this spell, he was still a young colt at the time and it was just when he had started studying magic.

Dust wasn't exactly one of the most dedicated students in his magic studies, but he did make a point of maximizing a few spells, and among them was the cleaning spell, as Dust had always been a pony who prized the cleanliness and organization of his belongings.

He finishes taking care of his uniform and puts it away in the closet of his tent, now looking at his supply closet, he realizes that there was quite a bit of food left, after all, they believed that the mission would last much longer than it actually did, and it probably would had the villains not been defeated so quickly, the initial forecast was that it would take weeks for Equestria to get back on its feet and face the villains, but everything was resolved in a matter of days.

Because he has a certain aptitude for cooking, he became responsible for feeding the trio, being in charge of storing most of the food-related supplies and cooking the meals.

'Well, we've got plenty of food stored up, I think it's okay if we eat a bit more today.

...

A few hours pass and Blaze wakes up to a faint metallic knocking sound. Realizing that it's already night and that he's probably slept more than he should, he sits down on the floor, stretching in the process.

'Man, I slept like a rock' while thinking about how good his sleep had been, he begins to smell an extremely pleasant aroma of food.

He looks at the campfire and realizes that his two companions are sitting on the small tree stumps that they have been using as benches since they set up camp.

Suspended under the fire was a metal pot, the probable source of the metallic noise that woke him up and the origin of the delicious smell, Blaze felt his stomach rumble and immediately got up to join his colleagues.

It was at these moments that Blaze appreciated the fact that the camp had magical markings around it, made specifically to keep the local fauna away from the camp, so they didn't have to worry about dealing with any animals that wanted to steal their supplies while they were away or any animals that sensed that their territory had been invaded; and thanks to this they could enjoy their meals without being interrupted by any hungry forest creatures that might be attracted by the smell of food.

"I'm starving, what’s on the menu today Dust?" Blaze sits down on his stump.

"Ah, it's about time you woke up, luckily for you the food is almost ready, I'm just waiting for it to finish boiling," Dust replied in a relatively cheerful manner, as he was always in a good mood when he cooked.

"Seizing the moment," Dust continued, now looking towards Rainy, who had been quiet until then. "What are our new orders?"

"I'd prefer to talk about it after dinner, but whatever, I got in touch with the Speaker, and she gave us one last goal, two in fact"

"What are they?" Blaze asked

"It's quite simple, we just have to find out the date of Princess Twilight's coronation and the whereabouts of the statue of the trio we saw earlier"

"And then, what do we do after that?" Dust was confused, because compared to the objectives given to them earlier, this was strangely simple, not that watching from a safe distance was difficult, but at least it required a certain degree of care

"She said not to worry, she'd take care of the rest... whatever that means." The trio fell silent, all three were thinking about the Speaker's words, in fact only Rainy and Dust, because Blaze was more concerned about the food at the moment.

Realizing how much his colleague was looking forward to the meal, Dust gets up and tastes the soup. He had used several different ingredients that they were storing, such as: nettle leaves, fern shoots, wild mushrooms and sweet potato. Herbs such as wild basil and mountain thyme brought a fresh touch, while crushed chestnuts added a velvety texture. A touch of wild red fruit and saffron flowers gave the soup a slight sweetness and an amber color at the edges.

At first he was feeling insecure about his soup, but observing the success of his latest creation made him very proud, naming the soup: "Mother Earth’s Dew".

But it's not as if he's going to share that with the others

"The soup is ready, you can help yourselves." Upon hearing this, Blaze immediately cracked a smile, which made Dust laugh internally, and using his magic he conjured up three bowls and some cutlery, and divided them among the group.

Blaze was obviously the first to serve himself, followed by Rainy and then Dust.

After dinner, they put out the fire and cleaned up the dirty dishes, Blaze and Dust retired to their respective cabins, leaving Rainy alone.

With only the light of the moon to illuminate the camp, Rainy sits back down on his stump and begins to watch the stars.

"I guess that's it then..."

Author's Note

English is not my main language, so sorry for anything. -_-