Twilight looked through the lens as she watched the blood sample on the slide of her microscope which was now surrounded with test tubes and beakers. As it did numerous times, the poison she created would deteriorate the T-cells in the sample first like water on cotton candy. She would then watch the poison begin to affect the red and white blood cells. While it was much more gradual, Twilight groaned in defeat as the blood cells were suffocated, resulting in their death.

“Another bad batch?” Hanji asked, trying not to sound offending.

“Yes,” huffed Twilight. “Ugh, what time is it? I feel like we’ve been going at this all night.”

“We have been. It should be morning right now.”

“Huh?”

Twilight was far too exhausted to argue what she figured was to be the truth anyways. First sinking to her knees, she leaned to the left and laid on her side. Hanji wasn’t sure whether to try and help her back up or just carry her to bed. Hanji herself was starting to feel tired with the lack of sleep and the tension the tests and experiments were inflicting on her and Twilight.

Just as Hanji was walking to Twilight, a knock was heard on the door.

“Come in!” answered Hanji.

The door opened up to reveal Applejack pushing the door, a basket of apples on her side.

“Howdy, Hanji!” greeted Applejack, suddenly seeing Twilight passed out on the floor. “Looks like you two could use some shut eye!”

“You’re probably right. We’ve been trying to test poisons all night and we haven’t made any success.”

“Sorry ta’ hear that. I just knew y’all both were comfy pulling all-nighters, so I brought all y’all some breakfast,” she answered, turning her body to show the basket on her side.

“That’s very nice of you,” thanked Hanji, “I think I will take one.”

Twilight turned to face Applejack, wanting to at least acknowledge her and not be rude. She watched as Applejack reached into her basket with her head and pull an apple out of it by the stem with her teeth. Whipping her head at Hanji, the apple flew to Hanji’s hand, where she caught it flawlessly. As Hanji rubbed the apple on her shirt, Twilight’s eyes shot open.

“Apples?” Twilight gasped, standing up quickly. “Apples!”

Hanji and Applejack were both shocked to hear such vigor from Twilight.

“Uh, pardon?” Applejack questioned with a cocked head.

“How could I have missed it? There’s small, non-lethal amount of cyanide in the seeds! Applejack, you’re a genius!”

Applejack wasn’t sure if Twilight was being serious or if she was still loopy from her lack of sleep, but she was still happy to accept the compliment.

“Well,” Applejack said with a playful roll of her eyes, “that’s a first.”

“Applejack,” requested Twilight, “could you please leave your apples with me?”

“Uh, sure, no problem. Not that I don’t believe you, but what is this cyanide you speak of?”

“Carbon nitrate!” Twilight said, her energy returning. “It’s a cellular compound that inhibits cytochrome c oxidase, which prevents their ability to transport electrons to oxygen from it, thus preventing the cell from aerobically producing adenosine triphosphate.”

Neither Hanji or Applejack could make heads or tails of what Twilight just said. While she stared at Hanji, trusting that she understood her, she shook her head and grunted, finding a layman’s term to get it across.

“It shuts down the cells and ceases their functions,” Twilight explained, “Cyanide particularly targets the nervous system, where the T-cells are! The dose will be small enough to save the human’s nervous system, but effective enough to kill all of the T-cells in their body.”

“I still can’t say I know what yer’ talkin’ about,” Applejack said as she hoisted the basket off of herself, “but if it’s for saving humanity, all power to ya’.”

“Twilight,” Hanji advised, “now that we have another option at our disposal, we should probably get some rest.”

“You go on ahead, Hanji,” Twilight dismissed. “As for me, I’ve got work to do.”

Twilight levitated the basket of apples next to the table and acquired a knife from a small toolbox next to the basket, with which she began to cut the apples and pry the seeds out, each of them plopping on a table.

“Twilight?” Hanji asked, reaching her hand out.

“I think it might be in our best interest if we were to leave her be,” Applejack responded, pushing the arm back down with her hoof. “Once she has her mind set on somethin’, she won’t stop until it’s done.”

“Uh… I’ll check on you in a couple of hours.”

“That’s fine,” Twilight said, pulling out a small marble mortar and pestle from the toolbox. “Tell the others I won’t be there for breakfast… or lunch… or dinner.”

“Well…” moaned Applejack, awkwardly rubbing the back of her head, “alright then. Good luck, Twi.”

Without another word, Applejack and Hanji left Twilight in the room to create what they all hoped would be the perfect antidote for the titans.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight finished crushing another small amount of seeds inside the mortar. Quickly and efficiently picking up the skins of the seeds with tweezers and leaving the seeds’ oil intact, Twilight gently poured the oil into a test tube, filling it halfway, which she promptly placed into a ring stand over the flame of a homemade Bunsen burner, the gas from one of the canisters of her 3D Maneuver Gear providing the fuel. Once Twilight begun to see bubbles rise from the bottom, Twilight clicked the button on a stopwatch, beginning it’s timer.

As the oil began to boil and concentrate, Twilight went to another Bunsen burner and ring stand on the other side of the table and took the test tube that was inside of it out. Twilight then took a second stopwatch on the table and pressed the button once more, ending the timer and quickly recording the time into a sheet of paper that was etched with previous trials, each new time being longer than the last.

Twilight carefully tilted the heated oil to the side, getting it close to the edge. Twilight then acquired a small eye droplet and placed the end of the tube into the oil near the edge of the glass container.

Squeezing the base once and acquiring a decent amount, she dumped the leftover oil into a large beaker, which was already half full with other leftover oil.

Twilight then took two glass slides from a small tub of warm, sudsy water and wiped them dry with a cloth. Twilight placed both slides upon the table, using her magic to bring a smaller beaker filled with blood towards her. With a careful turn, Twilight dripped a single drop of blood onto one of the slides. She then balanced the bloodied slide, the clean slide, and the eyedropper of oil towards her microscope.

Twilight placed the bloodied slide on the edge of the stage away from the clips. Twilight dripped a drop of the heated oil onto the blood and quickly placed the clean slide on top of the other slide and slid it under the clips. Twilight found a third stopwatch and clicked it once more, beginning yet another trial.

Twilight placed her eye into the lens and watched her sample go to work. As expected, the oil didn’t kill the T-cells immediately, but Twilight could see that they were the first to react. Twilight watched eagerly as she watched many of them break down as planned, the red and white blood cells not seeming to be affected.

After several minutes had passed, there were still looked to be hundreds of cells that weren’t deteriorating at all. Twilight moaned and stopped the watch. On another paper, she scribbled in the test number, the number of minutes the oil boiled under the flame, the number of minutes between the administration and the last cell’s deterioration, and the estimated percentage of cells left after the oil was added.

Twilight slumped onto the table watched her next preparing batch go, taking a tired, unhappy sigh. It would be a long time before Twilight could prepare her next trial, and it would be even longer before Twilight could experiment on the one she looked at.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Hanji gently knocked on the door to their lab earlier that night. In both hands, she was carrying a gas canister. Applejack had come with a two baskets almost overflowing with apples.

“Twilight?” Hanji queried. “We brought you more gas and apples.”

There was no response, which Hanji half expected, but there didn’t seem to be any activity going on at all inside.

“Twilight?” Hanji asked again, this time pushing the door open. “Are you al…”

Hanji was glad to see that Twilight was sleeping on the table, having fully tuckered herself out. Both Bunsen burners were turned off and there was a mess of broken apple seeds and drops of the T-cell blood sample on the table.

“Applejack,” Hanji requested as she put her air canisters down and walked over to Twilight, “could you carry Twilight to her room?”

“Not a problem,” answered Applejack.

Hanji wrapped her arms around Twilight’s waist and hoisted her up without waking her, although Hanji found it was safe to assume that Twilight was out cold. As Applejack took her baskets off, Hanji put Twilight on her back, making sure she was balanced enough for Applejack to walk with her on her.

“You think you got it from here?” Hanji asked.

“Yep, I got it,” she whispered. “What about you?”

Hanji looked back at the table behind her.

“I think I’m going to take a stab at this.”

“Doin’ an all-nighter yourself?” Applejack wondered.

“I suppose I am. Well, I’ll see you in the morning, Applejack.”

“You too. G’night, Hanji.”

As Applejack carefully walked out of the room with Twilight in tow, Hanji shut the door behind her as gently as she humanly could. With new life from her various naps throughout the day, Hanji took Twilight’s seat and turned on the gas valves for the Bunsen burners. Pulling a match from a tinderbox on the floor, she struck it against the right breast of her jacket and set both burners alight with the match before waving it out.

Hanji then looked at the notes that Twilight had written and the progress that she made. Looking at the papers more intently, she finally began to understand what to do.

“Now,” Hanji wondered to herself, searching around. “Where’s that knife?”

Hanji found the knife lying next to a pile of already picked apple seeds. Knowing she would need it for later, she placed it near the right Bunsen burner. Wasting no more time, Hanji scooped some apple seeds into her hand and poured them into the mortar.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight peacefully stirred in her bed as the morning sun broke through the crack in the wooden shutters of her window. As she opened her eyes, she felt the sheets under her body and her covers over them. Realizing she was in her bed and not in the lab, Twilight shot up, frantically looking for the door. Once she saw it, she darted towards it, opened it, and galloped down the halls.

As she zipped past, several soldiers opened their doors, unsure of the commotion that was being had outside. Twilight didn’t mind them, instead going straight to her destination. As she ran down the stairs, she nearly crashed into Auruo and Erd, who were also heading downstairs for their early morning breakfast.

“Watch where you’re going, you stupid animal!” Auruo yelled.

“Quiet,” Erd hissed, “the others are still sleeping. However, I wonder what she’s in a hurry for.”

Twilight continued zipping through the labyrinthine halls of the castle until she rounded the last turn that took her straight to the lab. Not even bothering to knock, Twilight burst into the room to see Hanji hunched over the table. What struck Twilight as odd was that Hanji didn’t seem to be shocked by her sudden entrance.

“Hanji?” Twilight asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Twilight,” Hanji muttered with a shudder, which Twilight knew was a sign of excitement, “I think I’ve done it.”

“You did what? You mean figured out the formula? How?”

“Easy. I just read your notes and understood what you did, and then I just replicated it.”

“But you said you figured it out?” Twilight asked again, walking to Hanji.

Looking over her shoulder, Twilight saw one of her sheets of paper with her trial table on it. Three-quarters from the bottom, a single row was circled and underlined, making it the first thing that Twilight’s attention was brought to.

“What is this?” Twilight asked, wanting clarification.

“This is the last trial I did that didn’t affect any of the human cells,” Hanji explained. “Of course, I tried another trial after that, but it begun to affect the other cells in the blood, so I tried to get more precise timings after that trial; no dice. I think this is the best solution we’ll ever hope to have.

Twilight brought Hanji’s table towards her with her magic and read the highlighted row carefully, focusing on each variable and their measurement and time. Twilight looked to the cell labeled “Estimated Percentage of T-cells Left After the Oil was Added.” Her eyes couldn’t believe the number recorded.

100%±

Twilight knew Hanji to be a woman of precision and dedication to her experiments. However, the fact of the solution killing 100% of the T-cells just sounded too good to be true.

“Hanji,” Twilight nervously asked, “are you absolutely sure about these numbers?”

“Positive,” Hanji said, her voice lacking any kind of jest or playing. “When I looked at the slide, the sample was looked completely cleaned of T-cells while the human blood cells still looked healthy and functioning.”

“Could we… do it again? Just to be sure?”
________________________________________________________________________________________

Hanji stood over Twilight as Twilight placed the newest batch of the sample upon the blood on the slide. As Twilight placed the second slide on top and put the slide on the stand, she looked into the eyepiece. The cells were deteriorating much faster this time, as Twilight had hoped to expect from a later trial. However, to Twilight’s shock, the T-cells continued to die off while the red blood cells were still intact and healthy.

“No way…” sighed Twilight.

Hanji grinned widely, happy to have impressed even Twilight so. By the fourth minute, Twilight could not see a single T-cell in the entire sample. Even if there were some that were still strong enough to withstand the poison, Twilight couldn’t find any. For all extents and purposes, Hanji was right. Her solution had killed more or less all of the T-cells.

“Hanji!” Twilight cried, flying from her chair and hugging Hanji’s breast. “You’re incredible!”

“Why, thank you!” Hanji responded, heartened by Twilight’s enthusiasm. “Now we just need two more things to worry about: Making enough of the stuff, and trying to determine the proper dosage for a human that we can use it on.”

“Yes,” Twilight agreed, pulling herself away from Hanji, “that will be quite the challenge. Here’s what we can do. I can convert the measurements that we can make up to ten liters of the stuff at a time. All I’ll need to do is convert the heat and time in relation to the volume of the seed oil, but we’re going to need apples… and a LOT of them. I’ll have Applejack harvest what she can and grow some more, then I’ll have Princess Celestia send more apples and other supplies.”

“Then we should get straight to work. You cut and core those apples and I’ll write the letter to Celestia and get it approved by Levi.”

“Good thinking.”

As Twilight acquired the knife and a couple of apples from one of the two baskets, Hanji took out a blank sheet of paper and quill and began to write. Twilight and Hanji knew the next couple of days would be long and laborious, but at least they knew that they had no other direction this time but up.
________________________________________________________________________________________

On the night prior to the escort through to Stohess, Erwin sat in his office. While he sat, his body was hunched over the table with his head resting on his thumbs, his fingers covering his mouth. With a knock on the door, he sat up in his chair and kept his folded hands on his desk.

“Come in,” he beckoned.

The door opened, and Twilight and Hanji both came in. Both knew full well of the plan to kidnap Annie, so they could only wonder why Erwin would call them the night before their journey.

“The reason I called you here is simple,” Erwin explained. “I don’t need to recount the failure of our mission two days ago. We lost many lives and weren’t able to gain any new information about our enemy other than the suspected identity of the Female Titan. However, I have allowed you to experiment on Eren for the purpose of finding an antidote towards exterminating the titans.

“You have reported to me that you were supposedly successful in finding such an antidote. Of course, you haven’t been able to your antidote on a human subject as of yet. Here’s my plan…”
________________________________________________________________________________________

“And your plan was to use the antidote upon me if you couldn’t capture me in any other way, shape, or form?” asked Annie.

“That’s correct,” Twilight confirmed. “And it’s all after you revealed the ability to seal yourself in that crystal. Even when Spike got you out of your crystal, you were unconscious, and we certainly couldn’t get information from you like that. However, upon waking, you’d either immediately transform or encase yourself in the crystal once more.

“That was why we used the antidote when we did. If the antidote worked, which it did, we would have captured you with nowhere to run. If it failed and it ended up killing you, we would have been stuck either way. Much like how you were risking to crush Eren under the rubble of that building to get him, we gambled that the antidote would indeed work on you.”

“And all this time,” Annie said, “you went through all that trouble just so you wouldn’t let Eren die. You knew you could kill titans much more efficiently with a strong poison, but you decided to make a weaker one for the sake of your friend.”

“Of course we did!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “It’s called having someone to fight for, something you clearly don’t care about at all.”

Annie’s anger shot into her stomach like a terrible flu. With a vicious lunge, she tried to sit up and attack Twilight, only to feel the chains keeping her still. Fluttershy squeaked in fear and hugged Jean tight. Applejack and Rainbow Dash scooted as close away from Annie as possible. Even with the bonds, Annie continued to pull on her restraints. Spike also scooted close to Twilight, scared of what she might do.

“Annie!” yelled Twilight. “Calm down!”

“You don’t think that I don’t have someone to fight for in all of this?” she furiously asked, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “You think that I killed all those people just for the enjoyment?”

“So you’re implying that enjoyment was one of your motives?”

“That’s right. Each one of those humans I’ve killed was just one step closer to creating the perfect world for us to live in! My father and I can finally live in peace, and I–”

Annie even realized she had said too much, and as she tried to cup her hand over her mouth, only to be held back by her chains, she begun to sob fully. Annie’s breakdown came as a complete surprise to everyone in both carts, especially Eren. Finally, the tears he saw on Annie’s face after he tore her out of the Female Titan made sense. Twilight, however, kept a straight, but sympathetic face.

“So this whole time,” Twilight answered, “you’ve been fighting… for your father?”

Annie turned away with an animalistic grunt, refusing to speak anymore. Twilight knew that the tightrope that was Annie’s cooperation was becoming looser and unbalanced. Twilight would have to make yet another desperate gamble to prevent her from falling.

“Annie,” Twilight cooed, “I can understand wanting to save or protect your father, but there has to be a better way than killing innocent people.”

Nothing. Twilight was getting close to the point of no return, but she had to press on.

“Annie,” Twilight pleaded, “think about this. None of the humans are going to accept you after what you did. They’d want you executed immediately. And what of whomever you’re working for? Do you think they’d let you back after you failed to get Eren a second time as well as lose your powers? Annie, you have nowhere to go but to the gallows.”

Annie clenched her teeth and closed her eyes shut as far as they could go, releasing even more tears. While it wasn’t the pushing point Twilight wanted, it could at least serve as the perfect bait for her ultimate gamble.

“What if I could offer you a way out?” Twilight asked with complete sincerity.

Annie’s eyes and mouth opened for a gasp, but nothing could escape. Jean, Eren, Mikasa, Nick, and Levi looked at Twilight with complete suspicion, unsure of what Twilight was getting at. Twilight gave them all a glare that told them not to say a single word, while Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Fluttershy looked at her like she was crazy.

“Everyone,” Erwin called from the back, “let Twilight talk. I believe she has a point to be made.”

Annie still couldn’t understand Twilight’s words.

“What?” Annie wondered.

“You heard me,” Twilight said. “I’m willing to see to it that you can escape your death sentence and offer you a bargain in return.”

“What are you talking about? Why would you make a bargain with a monster like me?”

“Annie,” Twilight said, “no one is ever truly a monster, and you’re no exception. Armin was telling me the night he suspected you were the Female Titan, he could hardly come to the conclusion; he said so himself right before you transformed in Stohess.”

Annie didn’t know how to respond. She knew what Twilight was talking about, but she couldn’t believe it.

“Armin,” Annie asked, “do you still think I’m a good person?”

Armin, having been silent most of the time, gasped as he was being referred to.

“Well,” Armin began to speak.

“Armin!” Mikasa dissuaded. “Don’t–”

Mikasa was silenced by a tight pinch in her arm. She looked down to see the arm belonged to Eren.

“Shut it,” Eren said, putting his trust in Twilight and Armin.

“Like I said before,” Armin continued, “I don’t like using that term, because while Twilight is correct that no one is truly a monster, no one is truly a good person either. However, I feel that deep down… you’re alright.”

Annie gasped, unable to comprehend such an answer. She then turned to the other ponies in the cart with her. Instead of the hateful glares she received before, they looked at her rather indifferently, almost as if they wanted to trust her, but felt like they couldn’t.

Annie begun to feel the seeds of trust grow inside of her heart. She knew that helping the ponies was her only way to survive and see her father again.

“What do you want me to do?” Annie asked solemnly.

Twilight smiled slightly, glad to see Annie finally willing to work together.

“Right now,” Twilight said, “Wall Rose is breached, and we stand with our backs to the walls. We need all the help we can get, and if your fighting prowess inside the Female Titan is any indicator, we can use a soldier like you in our ranks.

“Huh?” Annie said. “What are you saying? That I join the Scouting Legion.”

“I never thought of it that way, but in that case, yes, you shall now join the Scouting Legion.”

Mikasa and Levi looked outraged at this prospect.

“Twilight,” Levi grunted, directing his gaze at her, “you have no authority to make such demands.”

“Levi,” Erwin called back, “let her speak. I’ll stop her once she crosses the line.”

Levi lightly grit his teeth, dumbfounded by Erwin’s overwhelming trust in her.

“Yes, sir,” he sighed.

“Erwin, sir,” Auruo spoke, riding closer to her, “do you really think this is a good idea?”

“Twilight’s an intelligent woman,” Erwin responded. “I trust that she knows what she’s doing.”

“Yes, sir,” he responded, going back to his line.

“Why?” Annie asked Twilight. “It’s clear that no one here trusts me. If the humans or my fellow warriors won’t kill me, surely one of them will stab me in the back.”

“None of the sort will happen,” Erwin called from the front. “These are my orders: Anyone who kills Annie or conspires in her murder without my command will be discharged and executed on the spot.”

Mikasa grunted, her one chance of revenge shot. Annie ignored her, taking solace that Mikasa couldn’t harm her.

“Alright,” Annie said, “now what are you willing to offer me?”

“First off,” Twilight said, “I’ll take you to your father. Secondly, once we get back to headquarters, I shall write a letter to Celestia detailing your situation and try and set up an exile sentence on Equestria rather than death here on Earth.”

“Exile? On your world? Who would accept me?”

“The princesses for one. And once you gain their trust, everypony will trust you. I’m certain she’ll have conditions for you too, but I don’t know what they are or what they could be. Just know that if she accepts your exile sentence, she will see to your safety and protection, just like you’ve always wanted.”

“And…” Annie said, the tears returning. “And my father?”

“I’ll see what I can do to bring him with you, but I cannot guarantee that he can come. Just know this. I promise you with my life that I will bring you to your father alive.”

Annie bowed her head down, unsure of her choice. As everyone leaned in, Annie brought her face up, her eyes streaming with genuinely gracious tears.

“I accept!” she relented. “If I can see my father just once more, I’ll do whatever you say!”

“That’s good,” Twilight cooed. “Hanji, the keys?”

Hanji, without hesitation, reached into her inner coat pocket and pulled out a ring of keys which she promptly tossed to Twilight. Twilight caught the rings in her magic and begun to unlock each of the cuffs holding Annie in. As the humans watched with slight reluctance, the ponies, now seeing Annie’s true colors, smiled in appreciation for the acceptance of their new comrade.

With the final lock taken away, Annie looked at her hands and flexed them, almost amazed that she was freed. Her head then shot up to look at Twilight, who was tossing the keys back to Hanji. Without warning, Annie leaned to her right and fell upon Twilight, draping her arms over Twilight’s shoulders and crying into her neck. Twilight, understanding her gratitude, patted Annie on the back.

“There, there,” Twilight whispered, almost like a mother would her child. “You’re safe now, Annie. You don’t have to worry anymore.”

Jean and Fluttershy looked at the sight with awe as Twilight consoled the gladdened Annie. Eren, Armin, Hanji, and Nick also couldn’t believe their eyes. Levi just made a small ticking sound with his mouth and kept his attention back on Nick.

“There!” called Auruo as he pointed forwards. “Hermiha is near!”

“Ready to see what damage this war has done?” asked Levi to Nick.

Nick didn’t respond. He only looked forwards to Hermiha as the carts continued on their way towards the city.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Upon making it to the city gates, the humans and ponies dismounted their horses and carts to begin their walk through the district before they could pass beyond Wall Rose and go back to HQ. Erwin did not dismount his horse, instead moving towards the back to explain the situation about Annie to the others.

Spike was the first one out of his cart while Twilight and Rainbow Dash exited next. Annie was the next to get out, but her focus was directed entirely on Spike.

“I’m sorry,” Annie said to him, “I don’t believe I got your name.”

“Me?” Spike wondered, still feeling a bit anxious around her. “I’m uh… I’m Spike.”

“Spike, huh? So you were the one whose hand I cut when I killed Gunther, right.”

“Uh… yeah… but it healed, so… um…”

Annie could see the Spike was still very uncomfortable around her. She closed her eyes, expecting as much.

“Spike,” she whispered frankly, “I’m sorry for what I’ve done. All I want to do now is see my father, and I promise that I won’t hurt you or your friends ever again.”

Spike looked up to Annie, and while her stone face was nothing to go off of, she did seem sorry for her actions. Spike turned his whole body to face her and stood straight and mature.

“Yeah,” he said, “I forgive you. Here, why don’t we shake on it?”

Annie looked as Spike reached his hand towards her to make amends. To ease Spike’s fears, she took his hand and gave it a firm, solid shake. Just as they let go, Auruo and Petra walked up to Annie.

“So it looks like we’re ordered to protect your ass,” Auruo sneered. “Don’t get any wise ideas though, or I will cut you down, with or without Erwin’s orders.”

Annie looked into the angry faces of the two, and then at the half-missing arm of Petra.

“Sure,” Petra said, “Spike might be able to grow his hand back, but I’m stuck with this for the rest of my life, no thanks to you.”

“And as I’ve told Spike,” Annie responded, “I am sorry about what I’ve done. I know my words and actions won’t give you your arm back or bring back the soldiers I’ve killed, but I can only hope we’ll still be able to work together in the future.”

Auruo and Petra gave an unsure huff and walked away from Annie. Mikasa stood near the cart with her eyes set on Annie, knowing that each inch closer to her would whittle away the control to not kill her then and there.

From behind, Erwin and the rest of his men marched towards the gate with the reins of their horses in hand. As Erwin walked past each of the other humans and ponies, they all joined him and grabbed their horses reins. Nick looked upon the sight of the soldiers, becoming hesitant to continue.

“Move,” Levi ordered, roughly shoving Nick in the back.

With no more argument, Nick and Levi followed Erwin to the gates of Hermiha.
________________________________________________________________________________________

As the soldiers walked through the city, Nick and Levi finally entered to see the city. Nick couldn’t contain his shock. Nearly every inch of the streets were filled with refugees young and old. Not a single face had anything more than a mild frown on them, and several people were crying. Nick was paralyzed by the sight.

“Keep moving,” Levi demanded, kicking Nick forwards. “I don’t need you getting lost in this crowd. That just means more work for us.”

“Wha…” Nick stammered. “What is this?”

“What else did you expect to see? Smiles and joy? Wall Rose has fallen, and with it, much of humanity.”

Nick looked among the crowd, and soon his eyes fell upon a child, walking alone and unattended as he bawled his eyes out.

“Mom…” he moaned. “Dad…”

Nick, compelled to help, walked forwards towards the child. He felt a hand grip his shoulder and pull him back.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” asked Levi.

“But that child…” Nick muttered.

“Just one of the many future casualties of your cult’s actions. Reality bites, I know, but I don’t think you quite get the idea. Thousands of homeless looking for shelter and safety in these troubled times… but that’s exactly what you wanted, wasn’t it?”

“What? I…”

“And when the rest of our territories are swarming with titans, these people will experience hell on Earth before they are eventually eaten and killed. Men, women, children, chicken-shit preachers like yourself, all wiped out. No exceptions.”

Nick couldn’t bear to look any longer, but with Levi still right behind him, he didn’t dare look away from the horrific scene.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Annie stood with Twilight and Armin as they watched the miserable people shuffle to the back of the city. Annie stared at them all as they went, her eyes streaming more tears. Twilight’s eyes were dry, but angry.

“Tell me, Annie,” Twilight said, “how many bad people can you see among this crowd? Who can you point out of all these people who you know have done such wrong to deserve a fate as this?”

Annie couldn’t answer; Twilight was exactly right, and she knew now that her and her organization’s actions were wrong. As Annie looked among the people, she spotted a young, malnourished girl walking through the city and rubbing her arms together with her hands to keep warm, sobbing due to the misery of her predicament. Her equally skinny mother kept her arm around her daughter’s back, but it didn’t seem to aid the girl in any way.

Annie stepped forwards towards the woman, taking her Military Police jacket off and revealing her white hoodie underneath. As she came forwards to the woman and her shivering, weeping child, the two turned to see her, but couldn’t stop walking.

“Please,” Annie said, handing the jacket to the girl, “take this and keep warm.”

The girl all but eagerly took the jacket from Annie’s hand and put it on herself, hugging herself for added heat. The mother looked overjoyed with Annie’s generosity.

“God bless you, ma’am,” she proclaimed. “God bless you!”

As the woman and child began to pass, Annie performed a strong and meaningful salute to them, showing her own gratitude to help. Once the woman and child were lost among the crowd, Annie walked back to Twilight, who smiled at her actions.

“That was very nice of you,” Twilight said.

“No big deal,” Annie responded. “I won't feel comfortable wearing it anymore anyways.”

“Twilight,” Armin spoke, “Annie, we need to find Hanji and the others and meet up.”

“Okay,” Twilight answered. “Come on, Annie.”

Annie took one last look of the citizens before she went off to follow Armin and Twilight to where they were headed.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside the Hermiha stables, Hanji and a blonde-haired male soldier were questioning Eren about his state of being. Rainbow Dash walked alongside as always.

“We need to be careful from this point onwards,” Hanji said. “We’ll be heading into titan territory.”

“Eren,” the blonde-haired soldier, “are you able to ride a horse now?”

“Yeah,” Eren said, “I feel like my old-self again.”

“Preparations to use the west-side rift have been made. We need to hurry.”

Hanji heard footsteps behind her. Upon turning around, she saw as Armin, Annie, and Twilight came in. As they all walked towards Eren, Mikasa quickly walked around him and approached Annie, getting his attention. Applejack came galloping after her.

“Mikasa!” called Applejack. “Wait!”

“You get away from Eren!” barked Mikasa.

“Quit acting a fool, Mikasa! You’re going to get in serious trouble.”

“She’s right,” said Jean’s voice as he came up from the side entrance the stables with Fluttershy by him. “Mikasa, as your friend and your brother-in-arms, you need to cut this out. As much as you may hate Annie for what she’s done, it’s going to become a lot worse for Eren if you spend your time obsessing over her.”

“Eren,” Mikasa pleaded, trying to get him onto her side, “you can’t seriously trust Annie, can you? After what she did to you and your friends?”

“Annie,” Eren asked, “what happened to your jacket?”

“She gave it to a freezing child,” Twilight answered, her voice aimed right into Mikasa’s ears.

“She did what?”

As Eren looked to Annie, she gave him a nod, confirming the truth. Eren now looked agitated, but not at Annie.

“Mikasa,” grunted Eren, “I know exactly what Annie’s done, and so has she, but if you’re going to continue trying to put Annie down for what she might do to me, then you’re no better than the people who tried to persecute me!”

Mikasa gasped, horrified that Eren of all people could compare her to those wretched men and women.

“Listen,” Applejack reasoned, “we’re not asking y’all to be the best of chums with her, we just want you to put your differences aside so we can win this gosh-darn war!”

Mikasa looked back to Annie, who already had her hand up for a friendly shake. Mikasa looked at the hand and realized how easy it would be to grab it, pull her in, and punch her square in the face. Mikasa knew that now and here wasn’t the right time nor place to have such a fight. With a defeated sigh, Mikasa gently slapped Annie’s palm, which she set back down at her side.

“That’s more like it,” Applejack said with a smile.

Soon after, Levi and Nick came into the stable. Hanji could clearly see that Nick was traumatized by what he had witnessed. Feeling like this might have changed him, Hanji approached the pastor.

“Hanji,” the soldier called, “we need to move!”

“Just give me a second, Moblit,” Hanji requested.

Nick looked guilty as Hanji stepped up even closer.

“Did you change your mind?” she asked.

Nick stood still, unable to provide an answer. Hanji was starting to become irate.

“We don’t have time for this!” she shouted. “Just tell us more about those titans. Please!”

“I…” Nick spoke, his eyes sunken, “I cannot say. I doubt the other members will tell you anything either.”

Hanji was infuriated now.

“THANK YOU!” she yelled. “All that trouble just for you to continue your silence. Some help you turned out to be!”

“It’s not like my telling you will change anything!” Nick admitted. “Even if I were to tell you, there would be no way of stopping it.”

“What are you talking about? Annie, perhaps you can shed a light on this?”

All eyes were on Annie now, but she didn’t seem to react.

“I cannot say anything either, but it is because I truly don’t know. The Wallist sect is responsible with those titans inside of the walls, which I haven’t even known about since today. My superiors only gave select people select information so one person wouldn’t tell someone everything.”

“However,” Nick added, “there is one person who does know more secrets than even I or Annie combined.”

“So you’re going to put all of that responsibility on this one person just to save your sect?” Hanji asked.

“Yes… This person’s existence caused a quarrel between her relatives, causing her to go under hiding under an alternate identity. We don’t know how much this girl knows yet, but she can freely speak about the walls and its secrets to you. I even heard she joined the Scouting Legion this year. Her name is… Krista Renz.”

Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Fluttershy, Jean, and Hanji were stunned, unable to answer.

“W– Who?” Hanji asked.

“Krista!” Fluttershy said. “She’s very short, has blonde-hair, blue eyes…”

“That’s right! I know who that is now. But that means… oh no…”

Hanji ran to the stables to grab her horse.

“Hanji?” Eren wondered.

“If she’s in the 104th Cadet Squad, that means that she’s on the front-lines right now! We need to go help them!”

Eren and the other humans ran to their own stables to grab a horse of their own, knowing they’d be out of Hermiha in mere minutes. As Levi pulled out his horse, Nick stood around, wondering what was to be done with him.

“Old man,” Levi said, “you can stick around here. Go and tend to your people.”

It didn’t take long for the soldiers to be back on their horses and for Twilight and the other ponies to be geared up and ready to go. Erwin emerged from his stable on his own horse and rode to the front.

“Let’s get back to HQ as soon as possible!” Erwin ordered. “Once we’ve stocked back up on supplies, we need to help the others on the frontlines.”

“Yes, sir!” they all called out.

“Let’s move!”

The horses and ponies followed Erwin out of the stables as Nick watched them leave him alone. As the others galloped onward, Annie looked around at the people still moving to the back of the district. If there was any time to prove her worth, it was now.