Several days later, Solestra stood at the window of her private chambers.  She’d just raised the sun a half-hour prior, and was waiting for her executive assistant to complete the litany of the day’s events.  She really didn’t care what was on the schedule anyway; most of it was political favors for her trusted ministers and supporters.  She’d done things like this the previous month, and year for her current ministers; a generation ago for her prior ones and generations back for those predecessors.  That was the problem of being the sole immortal in charge for centuries: everything eventually came around again, an entervid on perpetual repeat.

“…and at 9 pm are the opening remarks for the initial meeting of this year’s Hightown Great Ball preparatory committee.  That should only be about ten minutes, after which your schedule is clear for the next two days, as you desired,” the assistant said, setting down the clipboard.  She stood there, waiting for the next command from her queen, eager to prove her usefulness.

“Are there any final issues before I meet with my daughter?” Solestra asked.  When the earth pony shook her head, she said, “Dismissed, and thank you for all your work.”  The pony bowed, departing as silently as she could.  There was a knock at the door, followed by a guardsmare poking her head in.  “Princess Sunmane is here to see you, my queen.”

“Please, let her in,” Solestra said as she walked towards the door.   Sunmane walked in; at the moment she wore her accoutrements of station: silver tiara and gorget, upon which were embedded beautiful jewels of citrine.  Also, due to her lack of armor, her cutie mark could be seen: a golden apple superimposed over a brilliant sun.  Both ponies embraced, then Solestra held her daughter at foreleg’s length to admire her beauty.  “You grow more beautiful each day, Sunny.  You make this old mare envious.”

Sunmane blushed at the compliment.  “Mother, I couldn’t hope to be as beautiful as you.”  The two sat down to breakfast, and as they ate, the princess began talking.  “As suggested you suggested the other day, I went down to Shantytown to inquire about the magic burst, and as expected, the rabble played dumb about it.  I ended up having to demonstrate a show of authority – nothing much, just executing a few known criminals – and I made it clear that I would be repeating it unless somepony got much smarter.  I followed it up with a couple more demonstrations yesterday and the day before, and I suspect I’ll only have to do this for a day or two more before my point is made.”

“Good work, my daughter,” Solestra said with a proud smile.  “The unicorns must be shown who their betters are.”

Sunmane began to slice an apple.  “I understand there was an additional breach last night?  These separatists are beginning to become a true annoyance.”

“Actually, it happened earlier in the week, likely around the time you went to make your first display in Shantytown,” Solestra commented.  “I was informed about it this a few minutes ago during my morning briefing; you’ll likely receive the report when you arrive at your office.  It seems that somepony on my personal science staff stole a copy of the plans for Project Clarion.”

“Project Clarion?  Mother, that could be disastrous!”   Sunmane stabbed her knife through a second apple hard enough to penetrate the wood of the table.  “These fools grow too bold.”

However, Solestra merely waved it off.  “The Project is too far in an advanced state to be stopped now; you of all ponies know that.  Besides, what could the rabble do with those plans?  They couldn’t assemble a Clarion project of their own; the price is just too costly for them.”

“They could get assistance from one of the other nations.  The dragons, in particular, would love to see us squirm.”

“Lord Pyroxene doesn’t have the support amongst the Council of Drakes to go against us, not officially.  Besides, we own nearly all the mines the dragons require, and it would be utterly easy to cut them off at the knees by slowing the gem supply.  I wouldn’t worry about the gryphons, either; King Sharpfeather owes me quite a bit for our aid in quelling the manticore incursion he had years ago.  As for the zebras, well…they’re of no consequence and they never will be.”

“But we want to send a message that theft from the Crown will not be tolerated, am I correct?”

Solestra nodded.  “Yes – the very least thing we need for them to do is to grow bolder.   Do what you must to ensure that this message is understood above all; kill whomever you must and make a spectacle of it.”

“So I have your permission, to ‘run wild,’ as the saying goes?”  Green eyes became brief twin suns of hatred.

“I expect nothing less from Equestra’s princess, my daughter.”   She smiled, and there was a perverse sense of motherly pride in that rictus.  “Soon, Clarion will commence, and this world will change for the better, Sunny.  I assure you, things will be much different then.”

═╬═

Morning came, and with it some unusual smells.  Tequila yawned, turning over in her bed, only to find herself staring at a bouncing bubbly younger sister, holding up a sign and almost dropping it in her enthusiasm: [Sis!  You have GOT to try this!]

“Try what, Ru…wait, what’s that smell?”  The white unicorn sat up, the scents hitting her in full.

Scribble, scribble, scribble.  [Ooooh, these are SOOOO good!  You’d better get up there before everyone eats them!]  As if to physically underscore her statement, Rummie rushed out of the room and clambered up the stairs as fast as she could.

“Ugh, what is going on?” Tequila muttered as she ran her hooves through her mane in hopes of straightening it out.  The smell hit her again and this time it went straight through to her stomach, making it growl.  Tequila paused as she contemplated the noise; while she knew the concept of borborgymus (even knew the word!) and seeing her parents suffer through it on times when there was just enough money to buy fabrica for only the foals, it was something she’d never experienced herself.

Wonder if they bought a metal fabrica? briefly went through her mind, until she remembered their guest, and the recent introduction of that near-mythical luxury called food.  Wondering what it was this morning, she ventured up the stairs and into the main portion of the house.  What she saw there pretty much made her eyes bulge: Pinkie was at the fabrica preparer, pouring some sort of tan liquid onto the heating catalyst.  With a spatula, she flipped it to and fro.  Strangely enough, the liquid congealed into a brownish sort of platter; there were three of them on the catalyst.

“Oh, mornin’, Tequila!” Pinkie chirped before looking over her shoulder at the others still seated at the table.  “Got three more, ready to roll.  Who wants?”

“Oh, as much as I would love to, Pinkie, Tequila hasn’t had any yet so let’s give her a chance.”  Her father seemed very different today, but she couldn’t figure out why.

“That would be a great idea, dear!” Bourbon laughed, and Tequila began to really wonder what was going on.  They were acting, well, strange, like they were half their age; actually like they were her age.

“Okay, Tequila, here ya go!” Pinkie said, slipping a plate in front of her, as well as some bottles filled with colored liquid.  “Brown one’s maple, red’s strawberry, blue’s blueberry, yellow’s butter pecan.  If you want, I also have boysenberry, too – that’s my favorite!  Didn’t have butter, though, so sorry about that.”

Tequila picked up a fork and poked at the three platters, which had been stacked on one another and were steaming.  Poking it with the fork made it indent slightly; they were soft and squishy.  The smell was very palatable as well.

[You pour the liquid on them!] Rummie “said”, helpfully.   [I really like the red one!]  Her pad had splotches of all four colors on it as if she had been one very experimental mess with the liquids.

Grabbing one of the bottles, Tequila poured some of the red liquid onto the platters.  Cutting it with the fork, she could smell a plethora of scents coming from the small bite.  As she put it in her mouth, it exploded with flavor.  Yet another new experience coming from the mystery pony and her cornucopia of real food.  Mouth still full, she asked, “Whaf if thif callf?”

“They’re called pancakes.  It’s an everyday breakfast thing where I come from.  Tomorrow, we’ll try something different for breakfast: how does huevos con chorizo sound?  Most use the regular soy chorizo, but I go straight for the habanero variety!”  Pinkie bounced around the kitchen, making more pancakes as hearty eaters needed them for the next few minutes.

“Oh, I don’t think I could eat another bite, or I’ll explode!” Brandy said, several more minutes and pancakes later.  “It’s a good thing I don’t have to go to work until later today; I don’t think I could move another inch.”

“Pinkie, you work absolute wonders with anything!  I’m in awe of your cooking!” Bourbon commented, appreciative of both not having to cook the past couple of days and of being exposed to things she’d never thought possible.

As for Rummie, she didn’t communicate her feelings other than to grip Pinkie in a tight hug, expressing everything she could in that embrace.  Pinkie returned the hug, saying, “Thanks, Rummie.  I’m glad you like the food.”

As for Tequila, any enjoyment she had with the food suddenly just went out the window.  “I…I gotta go out for a walk.”  At Bourbon’s critical look, Tequila waved her hooves and said, “Just a walk, Mom.  Not even leaving the neighborhood, okay?”  Before there was any further discussion, she stomped out of the house, completely angry.

Scribble, scribble.  [What’s wrong with sis?] Rummie asked.

Bourbon put a foreleg around her younger daughter.  “Don’t worry about it, sweetie.  Your sister’s just going through some issues right now.”  She looked out toward the open door, knowing exactly what it was.  “Just a natural part of life.”  She looked at her husband, and both of them made a mental note to talk to her together when they had the chance.

The room was quiet for a few minutes before Brandy said, “Well, I haven’t felt this good in a long, long time.  You know what?  I think I’m going to go fix that hole in the roof I’ve been meaning to do.”  Whistling to himself, he went towards the back door and the tool shed behind the house.  The door, shed and backyard the shed sat in were another sign of the family’s relative fortune; houses with backdoors and backyards were considered for management-types and only those who lived in the biggest houses in the residential district, on the edge of Shantytown’s perimeter walls, had them.

“Actually, now that you mention it, I’ve felt better recently than I have as well,” Bourbon said, as if surprised at the revelation.  “Must be your incredible cooking, Pinkie!”

The pink pony’s cheeks went higher up on the red scale.  “Thanks, Bourbon.”

“You’re quite welcome.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll get caught up on the laundry; I’ve been meaning to do so for the longest time, but just didn’t have the strength.  I don’t think that’s an issue now!”  Practically dancing, Bourbon pranced down the stairs towards the second basement, where the laundry was.

[Well, it’s just us.  Since the Educatorium isn’t teaching today, should we continue your search?] Rummie inquired.

Pinkie was slightly torn; on one hoof, she noticed Tequila’s sudden burst of jealousy at how her family was treating their visitor; I’d probably be a little jealous myself if the situation was reversed.  On the other hoof, she ultimately was here for a specific reason, and she’d probably spent too much time on things closer to her special talent and not enough on her duties as Celestia’s knight.  Taking Rummie, who apparently thought the world of Pinkie, much to Tequila’s chagrin, might make things worse.  But, when you put two and two and two together, two ponies were better than one at looking for something.

“Sure, that’d be nice,” Pinkie replied.  “Let’s go get our cloaks and get going.”

═╬═

“Hey, we got a positive ID.”  A pony looked up from his workstation.  “Better call in a supervisor.”

“You don’t have to bother; I’m already here.”  Thundermane walked into the room, calm and collected.  “What’s this information?  You got a positive ID?”

The sensor tech nodded.  “Yeah, lucky for us, Sergeant.”

“How so?”

A second pony sitting right next to the first spoke up.  “Well, Sarge, all of Royal Official Business is carried out on ensorcelled paper, especially the classified documents, right?  Well, the documents stolen last night have them a magic signature as well, and I’m guessing whomever stole them didn’t know.”

Thundermane kept a cool look on his face; however, inside, he was roiling.  How could I have forgotten something that basic?  I’m going to get nailed because of that!

“Well, fortunately for him or her, whichever pony took them out of Hightown was wearing a magiscrambler, so it couldn’t be detected at all, otherwise we would have had something much earlier than this.”

Thundermane coughed; magiscramblers were built into their armor as protection in case any unicorn had enough raw power to harm them; the magic would be nulled the moment it came into the scrambler’s own spell range.  He just found out, quite serendipitously, that they had other effects as well.  “Yes, lucky for that pony…and unlucky for us.  But you mentioned we have a new trace?”

“I’d be more worried about the magiscrambler, Sarge.  That would indicate we have a s—”

“I’ll report that to the scrambler techs discretely and have them remotely reconfigure all of our local scramblers,” Thundermane interrupted.  “If we do it that way, we should catch the pony in question that much faster; there’d be no way a spy would know.  In any case, these documents, I’ve been told, are of the highest priority – it has the attention of the Queen herself, so let’s focus on those, shall we?”

At that last bit, any thought about the scramblers went south.  “Understood.  To continue, about twenty minutes ago the remainder of the null field wore off the documents, and they started radiating their signature again.  We were able to cross-reference the signature against the documents database and confirmed it.  We’re trying to get a better fix on the location, but so far we know they’re in Sector 317.”

“317.  Shantytown.  Wonderful.”  Inwardly he cringed; if they could track it there, they could track it to the other pony in a heartbeat – even faster than he would be able to with his EFRA agents.  “Well, keep at it and inform me – and only me – of the results, once you have them.  It is imperative that we recover those documents before they get into the hooves of the separatists, got it?”

“Shouldn’t we inform any other supervisors?” the first tech asked.

“This is a ‘need to know’ sort of situation,” Thundermane warned.  “I’ll contact the others directly and alert them to the situation as required.  If you’re correct, and there’s a spy here, he or she could be anywhere and we don’t want this information getting out.”  Especially since they’ll execute me in a heartbeat if they know it’s me.  “As it is, only a few guardsponies know about this and it best stay that way.”

“I quite agree with Sergeant Thundermane’s assessment,” a new voice spoke behind them.  Thundermane caught the barest flicker of shining metal in the room; there was only one pony whose armor was kept at that level of brilliance.  As one, the three in the room turned around...and then bowed.

“Princess Sunmane!  This is an unexpected visit, your highness,” Thundermane said as he bowed.

“How so?  One of my duties is command of the entire guard, and I take those duties seriously, not just my own unit.”  She shrugged.  “I admit, while I do spend most of my time with my unit, I would be remiss if I solely paid attention to the Queen’s Own at the expense of the rest of the service.”

“So, how may I be of assistance?”

“Actually, you have been.  More so than you realize.”  She whipped out her sword, a stern look crossing her features.

Great, nothing like an execution in the morning, he thought.  Well, he promised his sister if he was going to go, he was going to go with honor.  He looked at the princess, his face becoming as sober as her own.  But of all the ponies in the universe to be killed by….

With the sword, she tapped him on either shoulder.  “For your dutiful service to the Crown, on behalf of the Queen and as my duty as Commandant of the Guard, you are hereby advanced.  Congratulations on your promotion, Lieutenant.”  With a flourish, she sheathed her sword, smiling.  “This has been a long time in coming, Thundermane, and truth be told, there’s hardly a pony more deserving.”

The two techs behind him clapped, and at the moment, Thundermane was at a loss for words; he thought the loss would be his head.  “I’m…appreciative, your majesty.”

“And at a loss for words, I see,” she said with a smirk.  “In any case, if you have a moment to spare, I would like to see you in private.”

“Of course,” he said, trying to keep up his image.  “Keep at it and see what else you can find, then report back to me,” he ordered his techs as he and Sunmane walked out into the main hall of the citadel.  Things were quiet as the two moved on, passing several sets of other ponies, until Thundermane asked, “Your highness, may I ask….”

She sighed.  “Thunder, you don’t have to call me that when we’re by ourselves.  Not me.”

He smiled.  “Force of habit, Sunny.  Besides, I wouldn’t want anyone to think the princess is favoring an old Educatorium friend unfairly.  That wouldn’t look good for you.”

“I know, but it also affects you – you should have made Lieutenant months ago, but my mother thought it would be best to leave things as is so that there would be no charges of favoritism.”  She looked at him and said, “I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry it took so long.”

“The great Princess Sunmane, apologizing to a common pony?”  She looked at him disconcertingly and he laughed.  “Just kidding, Sunny.  Besides, how do you know I earned it?  I could be the evil spy everyone’s looking for.  I even have my EFRA membership card in my other set of armor.”

“Don’t even joke about that.”  The look in her eyes was pleading.  “The justiciars found the spy last night.  It was Dr. Burret Clamp, one of my mother’s most trusted lab assistants.”

“Was?”  I’m not going to like this.

“He apparently committed suicide shortly after his act; was probably ashamed that he sold the realm out to those separatists.”  The look in her eyes was dark.  “The authorities were warned when he didn’t come into work the second day in a row; the justiciars forced their way into his home and that’s when they found the body.”

“That’s horrible.”  Thundermane tried not to let it show on his face; Burret Clamp had been a part of the EFRA ever since his wife, a unicorn, had been murdered by the justiciars, or so he said.  Why would he kill himself?  A second later, the tragic answer came back to him: so he could be in the Great Pasture with her.  In death, he would finally be reunited with his wife, but as any death proved, there were still some issues to be dealt with by those who were left behind.

Not seeing her friend’s inner conflict, Sunmane continued.  “The lead justiciar investigating thinks that he may have had an accomplice, as there’s no record of Dr. Clamp ever leaving Hightown; he also said that it’s entirely possible that his accomplice may have killed him to prevent any accidental leakage.  In any case, the justiciars will continue to investigate the matter, and as it continues, they’ll forward any pertinent information on to you.”

“Me?”

“You were right in what you told those techs; this is critical business and we can’t let it get out into the open.  Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, there are only a hoofful of ponies I trust wholeheartedly in the service to do their job, and one of them is you.”

“I appreciate the confidence, Sunny.”  Part of him inwardly felt downtrodden at that.  He remembered the girl he’d gone to Educatorium with and was surprised on the Day of Educatorial Completion that she turned out to be the princess; just as big as a surprise when he joined the guard and found she was the Commandant.  Still, despite all that they remained friends, even as he became horrified at the monster she’d become.  Part of him wondered how she’d react if she ever found out that he was one of the rebellion’s top spies and the younger brother of the rebel leader.  Part of him wondered how different they’d be if life had been much different for either.

“I….”  She suddenly flushed, slightly at a loss for words.  She looked down to catch her breath, then looked up.  “Have you ever thought of how different life would be if things had taken a different turn?  Like if Mother hadn’t adopted me and I’d lived my life with my birth family?”

“How so?”

“Um…nevermind.”  She looked around, then back at him.  “Uh, I’ve got…to get back to my daily rounds.  Justiciar Fairsword is the one leading the investigation and should be the one contacting you.”

“Right. I’ll let you get back to what you were rounds, then.  Talk to you later.”  He went back to his office; her scent still filled his nostrils and he really need to calm down before he did something stupid.  Rule Number One: never start falling for those you’ll betray.  He remembered the line from the guidebook on espionage.  Well, blew that one years ago, I think.  Why can’t my life be easier?

As she walked in the opposite direction, she ran into one of her own guards, a jet black pony with dark gray mane, leaning against the wall.  “So, boss, you going to confess to him or not?”

She stared at the pony bleakly.  “We’re different ponies, Shadowstar Haze.  A princess does not ‘confess’ to a mere commoner,” she said, haughtiness in her voice.

“You’re forgetting who you’re talking to, Sunny.  A princess might not just confess to any mere commoner, but a mare that’s been mooning over a stallion who didn’t know she was a princess for years might just do that, especially when said princess isn’t really of royal blood.  After all, hasn’t said princess known a commoner – and a pretty common one, too – as her best friend for her entire life?”

Sunmane laughed.  “Okay, you got me there.  So what’s up, Shades?”

“For your mother’s plan to stir the pot – we might have an idea on how to do that.  Station 12, down in Shantytown, has an unusually high number of secondary and tertiary involvements in a number of crimes in the area.  The justiciars probably don’t see it because that’s not their job, but our threat analysts saw the pattern outright: the station is a nexus point for EFRA activity.”

At that, Sunmane’s bright disposition went brutally dark.  “We give them so much, and yet those blasted unicorns continue to take advantage.  What’s your plan?”

“Easy: we go in, arrest everyone.  We sort out the bad from the good – relatively speaking, of course.  The ones valuable to our intelligence, we bring here to the Incarcatoria.  The ones who are useless?  We execute all but a few the following day in the public square.  The ones we let live, we release back to their families.  That way, we’ve picked up some vital information, we’ve sent a message to the public, and the ones who survived will be so grateful, they’ll do anything to find that unicorn that has the above-average magic.”

“Brilliant.  Inform the rest of the unit, we’ll go in tonight.  They won’t know what hit them.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to let Thunder know what’s going on.”

“Why?”

“Because it might tie into his investigation and I’d like to have one of his techs there for further analysis.”

“Right, sure.  Just save me an invite to the wedding, okay?” Shadowstar teased.  Sunmane giggled as she walked off and for a short second anypony watching could have confused the armored pony with a giggling schoolfilly than the deadly Butcher Princess – but only for a second.

═╬═

It was several hours later when Tequila returned back to her house.  Yes, she hadn’t left the neighborhood, but in a place where the very definition of what a neighborhood was, it was pretty easy to choose one’s own selection of that.  Besides, she needed to clear a lot off her mind, and it didn’t help that the pink idiot was staying with them.  It also didn’t help that this was, in a sense, a self-punishment of Tequila’s own design.

If I hadn’t tried to steal Pinkie’s bags, she wouldn’t have entered our life…and I wouldn’t be on the outs with my family.  It was clear to her now; all her life her parents had wanted an older daughter they could be proud of and had found a sort of surrogate in the newcomer.  Tequila had been fighting off and on with her parents for what seemed like years; more than once they threatened to throw her out of the house since she was an adult now; and just as often she threatened to move out for once and for all for the same reason.  It had only been mutual financial co-dependency that had kept things stable; well, that and her younger sister.

But that isn’t the case anymore.  Since the new pony had moved in, she’d been of great help to both her parents and sister; in just a hoofful of days Pinkie had managed to supplant Tequila’s place in her own family and that meant the unicorn was now on the outside of the ponies she’d loved for so long.  But I’m just a failed guitarist and semi-successful thief; who can compare that to a pony who seems to be the daughter they always wanted?  After all, I can’t come up with mythical food on a credit and all the other things she can do….

Waitaminit?  How does she do it?  She’s not a unicorn, and even for a unicorn, what she’s doing takes too much power.  Her mind went back to the first time she ran into Pinkie; nobody had ever been able to keep up with the agile unicorn before, yet the pink pony did without a hitch.  It was almost like…teleportation?  Like in the old entervids?  But that’s another unicorn skill and I don’t even know of any that have it to begin with.

Then, with a sudden realization that almost hit her like a buck to the face, she remembered the Butcher Princess’ words from that day: “Around noontime yesterday, there was a huge outburst of magic.”  Tequila had run into Pinkie shortly after noon on that fateful day.  But if that was true, that would mean that Pinkie was somehow the source of the magic, despite everything that pointed otherwise.  Somehow, that made blinding sense, except for one thing: the pink pony didn’t have a horn.

Those aren’t easy to hide, and the way her manestyle is, there’d be no way to hide one.  Then again, someone that powerful could make it appear as though she were just a regular earth pony.  Either way, it has to be true: the magic is tied to Pinkie, somehow.  She might not even be a pony; the things she can do I don’t think anyone can do save for Solestra herself and some of the other magical creatures.

Tequila stopped in her tracks.  If she turned Pinkie in to the justiciars, it would solve two birds with one stone: she could have her family back, and the pink pain in the flank would be gone.  They might even give her a sizable reward for solving their issue.  Granted, her family would have to do without the exceptional meals they were having lately, but as Pinkie had said the morning before, “to make an omelet, one must break a few eggs.”  Tequila didn’t know what that meant other than to make that delicious object that looked sorta like a Yellow, but somehow the phrase now made sense.  There was also the fact that she’d be doing something for the Butcher Princess, and more than the loss of the real food that made her sick to her stomach.

But I haven’t seen Rummie this happy in a long time, she thought.  And I don’t know if it’s because Pinkie brought some joy into her life…or because she would rather have her as a sister.

Glumly, she walked into the house, calling out to nopony in particular, “I’m home!”  What she saw a second later made her panic more than she’d ever had in her life: her new bags were sitting on the table.  At the table, were her mother and father, and both of them had serious looks on their faces.  As she walked in, both looked at her at once.  “Tequila, sit down,” her father said in a tone that would not be disobeyed.

“Look, I can explain all this,” she started, knowing that it was the talk.  She somehow knew that sooner or later this was going to happen, and it had finally come to a head.  “But I suggest we talk somewhere else.  I really don’t want Rummie or Pinkie to hear this.”

“You don’t have to worry; they’ve been out for the past few hours,” Bourbon said.  Holding the bag in one hoof, she said, “Now, would you care to explain this?”

“I, uh, well….”  She was lost for words.  Here she was, probably the most critical event of her life, and she didn’t have a single thing come to mind.

“Do you understand what you’ve done?  This bag, these documents?”  Her father rapped a hoof against the documents on the table.  He stood up from the table, almost knocking the table’s bench back.  Her mother did the same, lightly bucking her bench as she rose.  The bench fell to the floor with a soft thump.

“Look, it was an accident!  I…I didn’t…!”  Visions of her parents grabbing her by the forehooves and shouting that she wasn’t their daughter anymore and that Pinkie was a better daughter filled her heads.  She tried to say something – anything – to forestall her doom, but she just couldn’t.  She just couldn’t say anything anymore, couldn’t argue one more word with her parents.  Despite everything, she loved them too much.  So it stunned her that she suddenly felt the embrace of both her parents holding her tight.

“Tequila, you should have told me earlier that…your hobby…was trying to support our, er, hobby!  How long have you know about us?”

She blinked.  Wait, they’re not throwing me out?  Moreso, they were revealing their big secret to her.  “Um, how’d you know about the bag?”

“I went to change the sheets on your bed and found it hidden underneath the mattress.  I’m guessing you wanted to keep this a secret from Rummie so she wouldn’t be involved?”

“Um…yeah!  Rummie’s been through…enough!  She, uh, doesn’t need to get involved with all of this.”

“I see,” Bourbon said.  “I wish you would have said something earlier; there’s a magic tracer on these documents that could have led the justiciars – or worse – to our doorstep.  I’ve spent the past hour removing the spell.”  She patted her daughter on the head.  “But this…did you know what that guard was carrying?”

That’s a guardspony bag?  Small wonder it didn’t look entirely like a normal justiciar bag; it wasn’t one.  “No, not really.”

“It’s big, bigger than anything I’ve ever seen, and if it’s real, it’s time to be very afraid.”  Bourbon looked at Brandy.  “We’ll have to get this out of town, soonest.”

“How so?” Tequila asked.  “The transitways to Ruston and Ironburg are closed due to maintenance, and we can’t exactly go to Hightown carrying this.”

Brandy grinned.  “We’re going outside.”

“I was just outsi…wait, you mean ‘Everfree outside’?”  When her parents nodded as one, she said, “But that’s impossible!  The walls around civilized Equestra are like, fifty feet thick!  And there’s nothing out there but the wild Everfree, with manticores and basilisks and hydras!”  She’d seen all of those when her Educatorium class took a field trip to the Hightown zoo when she was a schoolfilly; those things were ugly, dangerous beasts and from what her lector told her, the wild was crawling with them.

“That’s just propaganda.  They are out there, but the other nations keep them under control and the EFRA protects the free villages.” Brandy looked back at his wife.  “In any case, we’d better come up with an excuse as to why we’re leaving town, one that will buy us a few days before they realize they’re gone for good.”

“I have an elderly uncle that lives all the way in Ore Mountain.  If we tell them that he’s deathly ill and we’re his only family, it should work,” Bourbon commented.  “Ore Mountain is far enough and so sparsely populated that it’ll take days before they even know.”  With that, she quickly stuffed the paperwork back in the guard bag and gave them to Tequila.  “Don’t let these out of your sight and don’t let anypony see them unless it’s somepony significantly high enough in the EFRA or unless we tell you to, okay?  You can probably let Pinkie see them; these documents are likely the reason she’s here.”

“We’ve got to go to work now, or things will look suspicious.  When Pinkie and your sister get back, have them get ready to leave soonest.  Pack only what you need; leave the rest behind.”  Brandy kissed his daughter on the forehead.  “We’ll be back after the end of the day, and then we’ll go.”  The pair paused for a second to regain their bearings, and as soon as they were confident in their composure, they grabbed their everyday packs and cloaks and headed out the door to work.  But before they closed the door, her mother looked at her and said with a smile, “We’ll be in Ponyville sooner than you think.”

As they left, Tequila felt unable to stand for a few minutes.  She was leaving the house forever, but not for the reason she thought.  She looked at her new bag; somehow it had acquired a lethal quality that she couldn’t abide any longer; as her father had said, when he first knew of her “hobby”, it would be a monumental change in her family the day she brought something home that was too big to cover up; although he’d meant something quite different at the time, the results were still the same.  This was no longer a durable bag; it was now her ball and chain.

═╬═

[Pinkie, I don’t think I can walk anymore,] Rummie “said” as she sat down on a crate near the entry to the residential district.  [We’ve been at it all day and we still don’t see what you’re looking for.  I wish you’d tell me, so I could help.]

“I wish I could, but it’s really hard to explain,” the gypsy pony replied.  “It’s instinctive, intuitive.  I wish I could explain more, but….”  She paused, feeling something.  She closed her eyes, and using Celestia’s spell, felt out for the hidden Element.  In her mind, it flickered and grew slightly brighter, not enough to give a location, but just enough to announce its existence on this plane.

“It’s here, it’s here somewhere,” Pinkie said, an idea formulating in her head.  “Close your eyes, Rummie, I have an idea.”  Rummie closed her eyes, and Pinkie leaned forward, touching her forehead to the unicorn’s horn.  Twilight, Rarity and other unicorns she knew always used this method when applying a precision spell, and she didn’t see why it wouldn’t work in reverse.  As both ponies had their eyes closed when the connection occurred, they didn’t see the slight flash of light blue that occurred.

Rummie’s eyes opened with a flicker of surprise.  [Is that what you were looking for?] she “asked.”

Pinkie nodded.  “Like I said, it’s really hard to explain, but yup, that’s it.”

[But it seems so far away, like it doesn’t want to be found yet.]

“Probably not.  The last time I came across…one of them, there was a challenge that needed to be overcome.  If it’s the same as last time, it won’t reveal itself until then.”

[Well, I guess we can look tomorrow, then.  We should be getting home soon anyway.]  Rummie looked around, just in case the object would somehow magically reappear.  [Sorry I couldn’t be much help.]

“You’re always a big help, Rummie!  Speaking of which, when we get back, would you like to help me make dinner?”  The response was an enthusiastic hug, as always.  Nodding, the two ponies left the area, headed on their way back home.

═╬═

“And that’s the thing, Appletini,” Bourbon said as she looked at the station manager.  “I would have given advanced notice, but we just got the electropost this morning.  I’m the only family he has left, and it could be problematic if he passed on without any loved ones at his side.”  Brandy sat next to his wife, giving her the emotional comfort she needed through this dark time; she looked very distraught, the manager noticed, and it was only through her dedication to the job that she was able to hang on today, she admitted.

“Well, you know the rules about authorized leave; you need at least two weeks advance notice for any reason,” the light green unicorn said.  “But since you two are my top workers, I think I can bend the rules just a tad.  How long do you think you’ll be gone?”

“I don’t think we’ll be gone longer than a week, at most,” Brandy commented.  “The medtech said he was pretty close to the end, a couple of days ago.  Plus, we’re traveling to Ore Mountain, and you know that even under the best of circumstances, travel between Metalville and Ore Mountain can be messy.”

“Well, if there’s anything we can do to make things as easy as I can within the regulations and statutes, you know I—”  A loud noise sounded at the far end of the station.  “What in the name of Solestra…?”

The main doors at the end of the cargo bay exploded in a brilliant flash of energy, and in charged several dozen armored ponies, armed to the teeth with swords, bolt-flingers and various other weapons.  In the center of them strode the Butcher Princess herself, flanked by several more ponies.  “This is a royal raid and you are all under arrest!” she shouted.  “Anyone who attempts to escape will find out my troops have orders to kill.  We have reason to believe that there are several members of the EFRA who have been basing themselves out of this facility, and I intend to find out.  Station manager, before me, now.”

As bidden, Appletini galloped down and bowed before Sunmane.  “Your highness!  There must be some mistake!  There are hardworking, honest ponies here, no rebels!”

“I’ll decide who’s hardworking and who’s not,” she said, barely hiding her contempt.  “Now, I expect to see all your personnel files right here within five minutes.  Your diligence in this will determine whether or not you’re hiding something.”  Facing the other unicorns again, she cried out, “If you cooperate, you may see your homes by this time tomorrow.  But if you don’t, I can guarantee you’ll never see your homes again!”

═╬═

Rummie and Pinkie had just arrived when Tequila told them immediately what was going on and what they were doing.  She was wearing her pack and cloak, as if she were just about to head out the door, an indicator that this wasn’t just a joke.  [I don’t understand, sis,] the younger unicorn inquired, her note holding the confusion she had at the moment.  [What do you mean we’re leaving?]

“Look, Mom and Pop will be back after work to explain, but suffice to say…we’re going away for a while.  Um, Ore Mountain.  Mom has an uncle there that’s really sick and we need to take care of him.”  The lie did not sit well on Tequila’s tongue; she hated lying to her family or anyone for that matter, but when push came to shove, she could do it as well as anyone else.  “Best train to catch is the overnighter, which is why we’re going to be leaving right after they get home.”

“Should I make something portable to eat?” Pinkie asked.  “I can throw together some sandwiches, if you’d like.”

“Sure, whatever that is,” Tequila snarled; now was not the time to have to deal with the pink pony’s weirdness. “As for you, Rummie, pack only what you’ll need for the trip. We’ll, uh, be back later, so you don’t need everything.  I promise.”

From the kitchen, Pinkie offered her unrequested advice: “Breaking a promise is the best way to lose a friendship forever, so don’t forget that.”

Tequila was about to snarl something at Pinkie the unicorn was going to regret later, when a frantic knock started at the door.  “I’ll get it.  Everyone…keep doing what you’re doing.”  The knocking didn’t stop even as Tequila shouted, “Hold on, hold on, I’m coming, okay?  Relax….”  She opened the door, and a large stallion rushed past her, moving to all the windows, then to the back door.  When he came rushing back, he said, “Grab everything, we’re leaving now.”

“Uncle Julep?  What are you doing here?”  Their father’s younger brother, Mint Julep worked at Station 12 like the others, but he had the overnight shift; as a result, Julep didn’t have much of a schedule that matched Brandy’s and so didn’t come over often.  However, when he did, he was overly generous and playful with his nieces, and needless to say out of all their aunts and uncles they loved him the best.  But those memories didn’t fit the panicked, overly cautious tan and green unicorn that stood before her now.

“The guards did a raid on Station 12.  Everyone from the mid-day shift was taken into custody, including your parents.  As soon as I heard, I headed over here to get you out immediately. They’re going after everyone from the station now, including families, so they’ll be here soon.  We need to leave immediately!”

“But what about Mom and Pop?”  Tequila was frantic.  At the sound of the visitor, Rummie came upstairs and was glad to see her uncle, but that quickly disappeared once Tequila explained what was going on.  Meanwhile, Pinkie, long familiar with urgencies, finished making the sandwiches and tossed them into the picnic basket she conjured.

Meanwhile, Julep peeked outside the door.  In the distance, a few blocks away, a number of justiciars were at a door, pulling several unicorns of all ages out of the house.  “Hurry!  They’ll be here within minutes!”  As he turned his head, he finally noticed the stranger in the house.  “Who’s she?”

“Hi!  I’m Pinkie Pie!” she waved.  “Nice to meet you!”

“She’s, uh, from Ponyville,” Tequila stammered.  “She’s safe; Mom and Pop trust her.”  Turning to Pinkie, she said, “Get your stuff; we gotta get going now!  Rummie, you too!”

“Already ready to go!” she chirped, and both Tequila and Julep blinked.  Less than a second ago she wasn’t wearing her cloak or packs, and now?

“How’d she—”

“She’s special like that.”  As Rummie worriedly came up the stairs with her cloak and packs, she was about to ask something when she said, “Rummie, this is important: we don’t have time to stop and talk.  Something’s gone wrong, and Uncle Julep’s going to take us to safety, okay?”  When the younger unicorn pled with her eyes for some kind of response, Tequila cut it off with a “You’ll just have to trust me right now, sis.”

“Okay, if everyone’s ready, let’s go.  The justiciars are only a block away now, so we’ll have to go out the back door.”  Locking and shutting the door, Julep raced to the back door. Peeking outside and making sure that all was clear, he said, “Okay, everyone run to the perimeter wall and wait right there.”  Turning to Pinkie, he said, “Look, I don’t know you from Cosmica’s housecat, but if Brandy trusts you, then so can I.  I’m going to lead the way, can you follow?”

Pinkie grinned.  “Got it.”  The look on her face indicated either a complete lack of understanding of the situation, or something wasn’t quite all there – who could smile at a time like this?

Julep sighed.  “I don’t have time for this – either you got it or not, okay?”  Opening the door, he shouted, “Run to the wall and don’t look back!  Tequila, if we don’t make it, follow every third orange arrow on the pipes!  Go!”  

The two unicorns raced as fast they could, beyond the boundaries of their own backyard and to the thick perimeter wall that indicated the city enclosure.  Tequila raced ahead, with her sister close behind.  Hiding behind two overgrown bushes by the perimeter, Tequila waved quickly to signal that they were safe and waiting.

Meanwhile back at the house, there was a thump at the front door.  “Open up in the name of the Queen!  Justiciar business!” the muffled voice at the other end said.

Julep sighed and looked at Pinkie.  “Somepony has to keep them busy so it gives the fillies enough time to escape…and that someone has to be me.  Listen: I need you to take care of my nieces.  If my brother and his wife trust you, then I’ll trust you, too.  Please protect them.”

At a word, Pinkie’s emotions changed.  “Don’t worry.  No one’s getting hurt while I’m around, okay?  Leave it to me.  Pinkie Promise.”  

“Good,” he said, as the front door exploded into a hundred shards, blown to pieces by the disintegration spell.  Promising to buy time, he charged at the bigger and burlier justiciars; even if it was just a second of time he bought for them, it would be worth it if they escaped.  Yelling over his shoulder, he said, “Remember what I said!  Protect them!”

Pinkie needed no further arguments.  With that, she took off towards the distance, leaping the small fence that bordered the house and into the perimeter track by the wall.  As she cleared the fence, an idea came to mind, and she stopped.  Out of nowhere she started to walk slowly towards the wall, trailing a huge series of small silver discs behind her as she did.  “Quick!  Somepony’s escaping through the back!  Get them!” a voice shouted, and that was enough for the pink pony to stop what she was doing and head over to the bush.

“Where’s my uncle?” Tequila said, frantically.  Behind her, Rummie sat, terror beginning to sit in.  No one was really explaining what was going on, and with no quick way to respond, it ensured she’d stay in the dark.

Pinkie shook her head.  “He’s staying behind to protect us.”  Back at the home, several justiciars began to boil out the back door, racing for their position as quickly as possible.  The group raced towards the back fence, as one shouted “Stop right there in the Name of the Queen!  You’re all under arrest!”  The justiciars leapt over the fence, ready to run to catch them the moment they alighted on the ground, and considering these were highly trained, professional ponies whose job it was to apprehend criminals, it was quite feasible they could catch them – while Tequila, and possibly Pinkie, could escape, there was no way that Rummie, already half-out of it with fright, was going to be able to get away.

Unfortunately, the officers hadn’t quite counted on dealing with Pinkie Pie.  As they landed, they alighted upon the silver discs, and as they did, the small mechaisms performed what they were designed to do.  Small bursts of electricity, not enough to injure, but certainly enough to shock, jolted through the justiciars’ bodies, the current amplified by their armor.  As they fell to the ground, more of their bodies were exposed to the discs, and more electricity coursed through ponyforms, stunning them or at least giving them a nauseous feeling.  As others came to help, those that avoided stepping on the discs made the mistake of trying to help their fellow ponies up, creating circuits as they did.  Within a span of seconds, fifteen of Shantytown’s justiciars were defeated – by simple joy buzzers.

“Wow, maybe those Qinlingese buzzers aren’t as safe as the box said,” Pinkie mused to the absolute shock of Tequila.  “Remind me when I get back, I need to let Luna know so she can pass that info on to the customs inspectors.”

“Wha…how’d did you…what did you….what is this, I don’t even,” Tequila stammered, not believing what she just saw.  Justiciars were easy to get away from if you were fast, but if you weren’t, you didn’t have a chance of outmuscling them; she’d seen enough unlucky thieves who had attempted to, as well as the rather brutal results.  But now, fifteen of them – fifteen! – had been laid low by something Pinkie had called “buzzers”.  Was it a weapon?  Some sort of protective device?

“The batteries aren’t meant to last forever, so we’d better get going,” Pinkie said in the meanwhile.  “Where’s the pipes your uncle mentioned?”  By this point, Rummie had recovered enough be merely frightened and pointed at a line of sickly trees, with a hole in the distance.  The hole was covered by a grate, and just beyond it, barely lit by the light streaming into the entry, was the beginning of pipes.  The trio ran to the grate, and found to their horror, the grate was secured by a lock.

Tequila looked back.  “They’re starting to get up!”

“No problem!” Pinkie chirped and a second later, she was on the other side of the grate.  How she did it, didn’t seem to make sense: there was no flash of teleportation, no walking through the gate as though it was water, it was just her on one side and then suddenly on the other.  She opened the door from the other side as the others raced through.  Pointing to the first turn, she said, “Stay right there!”  She reached in her bag and pulled out a plastic bottle attached to a long tube underneath; below that was a handle and a trigger – the whole thing looked like a moisture applicator for baked fabricae, but what was coming out of it sure didn’t look like water.  As Pinkie stood on her hind legs and began to walk backwards toward them, she pulled the trigger, spraying streams of light yellow string everywhere.  As she did so and coated the whole of the entryway, it began to look like a prettified version of a venomcrawler’s nest, only less organized and with way too much room for one of those tiny critters to move around on.

“You left the door open!  They’ll come in!” Tequila yelped.  Behind her, Rummie was shaking, unsure of what to do.

“You don’t understand, I want them to come in!” she said, spraying the last of it and putting the item back in her pouch; it was then that Tequila noticed for the first time that Pinkie’s bags were too small to contain everything she’d brought forth from them in the past few days, and even then, the object she’d put back in was still too large for it; yet in it went with no indicator that anything was amiss.  The moment Pinkie noticed Tequila set her eyes on the bags, she said, “See?  Told you they were special.”

“You only said there were food and books in them!  Not the fraggin’ equivalent of the whole market!” Tequila accused.  

“Sorry, forgot to mention there were a few other things in there besides that,” she said, not wanting to admit that she was creating everything out of whole air – if the bottomless bags were hard enough to explain, there’d be no way to make them comprehend her gypsy powers.  “Ah, here they come.  Hide behind the pipes here, until I tell you to go.”

“Are you crazy?  They’ll break through those strings in a heartbeat!”

“Nope, trust me on this one.”

Enraged by being attacked, the justiciars roared in, ready to do some serious damage against the pursued; their reputation was at stake and no one escaped the justiciars when the dogged force of the law was against them.  After a brief check to see that there weren’t any of those electrical traps on the ground, they rushed in, ignoring the yellow strings before them…but not for much longer.  As they collided against the strings, the began to slow down and even though pushed by the crush of other bodies, the huge number of strings began to adhere and solidify, and soon the group found that they were stuck in a huge version of a venomcrawler’s nest, only in a soft shade of yellow and giving off an unidentifiable sweet scent.  No matter how hard the bulky ponies tried, they couldn’t move, and within minutes, were completely encased in the web, only able to scream helpless profanities as they were unable to break free.

“How…?”

“Sticky string – great for parties and one of the classics.   It’ll keep them there for several hours, plenty of time to let us get out of here.”  With that, they left the justiciars in place, and the trio delved into the forest of pipes, heedless of the calls for them to turn themselves in, that they would be lost in the forest of pipes and die, that there would be no one to rescue and mourn them.  Even still, the three ponies continued into the labyrinth of steel and iron, rust and steam, the uneven heat and eerie cold, and the eventual increase of dark.  

Finally, a few hours later, as the dark became too much and the orange arrows were almost impossible to discern, Pinkie asked, “Do you think you could come up with a light?”

Tequila stared as if the earth pony just qualified for the moron of the moment award.  “You’re kidding, right?  Unicorns haven’t been able to do that since our power was sealed away after the war, ages ago.  At most, we can do TK, but even that eventually wears out.”

“Okay.  Well, let me see what I got.  Ah, here we go.”  She pulled three odd hats out of her bag, placing each on a pony’s head, including her own.  Tapping a button on the front of the hat caused a brilliant shaft of white light to appear from it, and the light seemed warm and inviting.  “We’ve been walking a bit now, so let’s eat something before we continue.”  Reaching into the bags, she passed out the sandwiches from earlier, as well as a bottle of water she’d had just in case.  While the looks on the unicorns’ faces indicated that once again, real food had won the day, the sorrow of both had been too much and they looked like ten miles of bad road.  

“C’mon,” Pinkie said, as the food was finished.  “We’ve still got some ways to go, and we’ll get there in a hop, skip and a jump!”  Neither unicorn spoke, but instead morosely followed Pinkie as they continued along the path of arrows, heralds for a destination that they knew not where.

The path continued for several more hours, until they reached a huge, gaping hole in the wall.  The gash looked as if it had been created by a huge beast, and it was large enough for the three to walk through abreast with no issues.  As they stepped free of the wall’s innards, their feet fell upon soft loam, the scent of grass and flowers thick in the air.  Though it was night, the evening’s stars rained down such raiment of light that the trio immediately turned off their helmets.  

Pinkie smiled briefly; the sight was beautiful, but it reminded her of the Everfree Forest of her home…and the friends so very, very far away.  “Isn’t it beautiful?” she said, putting her forelegs around the two sisters in a chummy embrace.

“Everfree….” Tequila said, as if she was in a waking dream.  Even at night, with little to see, it was beautiful.  Beautiful in a way she’d never seen in her life and never thought she would.  All her life, she’d been told the Everfree was nothing more than a hazard, a nightmare, a blight upon the world; but now seeing it for the first time made her realize the painful truth: her life had been spent in the blight, not here.  She chanced a glance at her sister’s face, and Rummie’s was awestruck in the way of a young filly, mere steps away from marehood but still able to appreciate those last wisps of her foalhood.

“I’m glad you like it,” a new voice spoke out, and all three ponies tensed.  Instinctively, Pinkie moved in front of the unicorns to protect them, assuming an aggressive posture.  Though Pinkie couldn’t see the speaker, she heard a soft chuckle.  “I’m not here to harm you; if that was the case, you would have never made it here, I assure you.”  The voice sounded soft and gentle, though with a tone of iron in them.

“If you’re not here to hurt us, then please, show us who you are!” Pinkie shouted to the darkness.  There was something to the voice that was instinctually trustworthy, but at the end of the day, she was still a Knight Elemental and that meant protecting the innocent.  

“I assure you, Lady Pinkamena, I mean you no harm, but it would be rude of me not to comply.”  A very familiar yellow pony stepped into the moonlight, a gentle smile on her face and a caring light in her eyes.  “On behalf of the Everfree Revolutionary Alliance, I welcome you to New Ponyville.  I am the EFRA military commander, Posey.”

═╬═

An hour later, they were in the semi-permanent military camp known as New Ponyville.  Seeing the traumatized horror that Rummie went through, Posey immediately made room for the young unicorn in the commander’s personal yurt.  She also had refreshments brought for the two new arrivals, knowing their long ordeal.  “I didn’t think anyone would make it out of the attack,” she admitted.  “It came so out of nowhere that our agents inside Shantytown and the government didn’t have any time to warn us.  I understand that comes as scant comfort to you and your sister, but consider yourselves very lucky, and with one of the best protectors on this planet, am I right, milady Duchess Vanner?”

Pinkie stared at the mare sitting across from her, who looked almost exactly like Fluttershy; there were, of course, differences.  Posey, was first and foremost an earth pony, that being the most obvious difference.  The second was her cutie mark: while it was the same color as Fluttershy’s, it was that of flowers instead of butterflies.  But last, and possibly the biggest, was Posey’s outgoing personality.  While the pegasus Pinkie knew lived up to her name, Posey seemed to be both gentle and tough, able to care for Rummie with a maternal instinct even as she commanded the military aspect of the rebellion against Solestra.

Posey laughed.  “I know what you’re thinking, and I suppose wings would be of use to me, but alas, we can’t all be like your friend Fluttershy, Lady Pinkamena – may I call you Pinkie, by the way?  Perhaps, there will come a day when this world would accept a pony as gentle as your friend, but not now.”

“You seem to know a lot about me, but I don’t ever recall meeting you,” Pinkie said.  She wasn’t worried, though the situation did put her a bit off.

“I understand your trepidation.  One of our allies read your mind as soon as we were alerted you were approaching.  Just enough of your mind was gleaned to ensure that you were friendly, so I very much apologize for any transgression in privacy.  As to how we did it, that will have to wait until tomorrow, when Jadarite returns from his personal task.”

“Excuse me,” Tequila asked, “but why do you keep referring to Pinkie as ‘Lady Pinkamena’?  You also called her a duchess?”

“Correct, young one,” Posey commented, briefly looking at Pinkie to see if revealing her secret was okay.  “Whether intentional or no, for the last few days you’ve been in the presence of Lady Pinkamena Diane Pie, Duchess Vanner and sworn Knight Elemental to her royal highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, am I correct?”

Tequila, tired, worn out and still unable to deal with the events of the day, took it entirely incorrectly.  “Pinkie…you work for Solestra?  You…fraggin’ nag! Get away from me!” the unicorn snarled, stepping away from the pony she her family had taken in.  Something about Pinkie working for the enemy hurt Tequila, hurt her in a way she couldn’t quite pin down.

“Tequila, sit down,” Posey said in a tone that sounded more commanding than her father’s.  “You misunderstand: Pinkie swore her oath to Celestia, the ruler of a land very far away from here.  I don’t know anything of Celestia other than what was gleaned from Pinkie’s mind, but if I’m correct, she would fight tooth and nail to protect everyone from Solestra’s depredations.”

“She would.  Both her and her sister Luna,” Pinkie clarified.  Then, turning to Tequila, she took the unicorn’s forehooves in her own, and looked the other pony straight in the eyes.  “This might come as a shock to you, Tequila, but it’s true: I’m from another world.”

Tequila’s eyes grew as large as dinner plates for a second.  “Excuse me, that’s some kind of joke, right?  I mean, yeah, for an earth pony – if you really are an earth pony – you’re pretty special, but an alien?  Really?  That only happens in entervids.”  She chuckled, and to her surprise, found no one else was chuckling.  “You are kidding, right?”

Pinkie shook her head.  “Nope.  I really am from another world, but I’m an earth pony; a special one, but still an earth pony and not an alien.”

“I beg to differ,” a deep voice thrummed from just outside the yurt.  The curtains opened, and a huge dragon wandered in, barely able to fit into the structure.  He looked fearsome and muscular, with scales of deep plum and olive.  His eyes, however, held a soft smile.  “Being from another world technically does make you an alien, though not anything from the minds of entervid creators,” he laughed in a booming chuckle.

Posey motioned towards the dragon.  “This is Lord Jadarite, son of Lady Anthracite and grandson of Lord Pyroxene, Chancellor of the Council of Drakes.  Jadarite, I thought you were out hunting for dinner.”

The dragon shrugged.  “Nothing out there large enough to satisfy my protein cravings, so I ate a rock outrcropping instead.  I’ll worry about it in the morning.”  Turning to Pinkie, he added, “Lady Pinkamena, I’m the one who read your mind.  I am a magic dragon, much like your friend back at home; in truth, I am probably this world’s counterpart.”

“But you seem so much…dragonlike,” Pinkie commented.  “Spike’s not that way at all.”

Jadarite smiled a toothy grin.  “What you see me as will be his full adult size, as he apparently imprinted on pony magic once he hatched and thus inwardly thinks himself a pony, whether he realizes it or no.  I, on the other claw, imprinted on the dragon magic of my family and am actually many, many times larger than this.  To make things easier for my fellow EFRA colleagues, I use a shrinking spell on myself whenever necessary – what Posey flippantly refers to as my ‘sleep size mode.’  But I’m glad I was able to show up before you turned in for the night, because it allows me to apologize for violating your privacy like that.  I’m sure you can understand why, but nonetheless I find it rude and distasteful.”

“Naah, that’s okay, my mind’s probably filled with useless stuff anyway,” Pinkie said, brushing it off.

“Not quite: an unshielded mind can be turned against you in a hard way,” Jadarite warned, “and not all mind-readers are as scrupulous as I.  If you’d like, I can teach you a simple shielding spell to guard against such forced intrusions.”

“I’d appreciate that, but I think I’ll need some sleep first.”

“I’ve had some blankets laid out for you two, next to your younger sister,” Posey said to Tequila.  “However, Jadarite read your mind as well and noted that you’re carrying some documents that we need to see.”  The unicorn handed them over reluctantly, and Posey sensed that.  “I understand your trepidation, but we’ll do what we can to rescue your parents as soon as we can.  You have my word.”  With that solemn agreement, the two settled down to a well-earned sleep.  When Tequila noticed her sister had cried herself to sleep, she immediately crawled into the sheets with her, holding the younger unicorn close to her and weeping silently herself, letting blessed sleep carry herself into dreamland.

The following morning, the two woke up, famished.  Tequila smelled the rich symphony of Pinkie’s cooking.  Both got up and went towards the scent, only to run into Posey and Pinkie, already at the table, eating from some dishes.  Pinkie looked at Posey and said, “This is good!  Can I get the recipe from you?”

“I’d be delighted to,” the yellow earth pony replied.  “It’s rare when I get a chance to be asked about my cooking.”

“Well, I’m a baker and party planner by profession,” Pinkie admitted, “and my duties to Celestia didn’t take precedence until fairly recently.”  Catching the two out of the corner of her eye, she said, “Oh, good morning!  How’d ya sleep?”

[Not well,] Rummie answered via her sketchpad.  She didn’t have to say why, and no explanation was needed.

“Well, please, have something to eat.”  Warm, steaming bowls were placed in front of them, filled with a soft brown mixture.  Tan and red bits filled it and the scent was cloying.  Both ponies partook, and pronounced it to be as great as Pinkie’s cooking.  “I’m glad,” Posey said with a warm smile.  “Not many ponies care find oatmeal with nuts and berries to be that much of a simple pleasure, but I like making it often.”

“You made this?” Tequila asked.  “I thought that Pinkie did.”

Posey shook her head.  “The very fact that you needed to ask that is just one of Solestra’s many crimes that she’ll need to answer to, albeit this one a small one.  You’re probably used to eating fabricae on a regular basis, am I right?  Well, fabricae is a nutrient, as described, but what the fabricants don’t mention is that it’s just barely enough to meet a pony’s regular needs.  That’s why everyone’s so exhausted at the end of the day, and the real reason why unicorns can barely use anything other than the weakest of TK – not because your magic was sealed, as the propaganda says, but because magic requires a strong body and mind, and fabrica does nothing to help either.  Pinkie has told me that she’s been cooking for your family for the past few days, and you’ve all had a marked change as of late, if I’m correct.”

As Tequila thought about it, it had to be true: her parents had more energy than they’d had in a while; Tequila felt herself getting faster and stronger, and while she hadn’t asked Rummie about that, the answer would have been the same.  The nutrients that she’d worked hard to steal, that her parents scrimped and saved to afford, was barely keeping them alive.  More and more, her life – the life of everyone she’d ever known – was nothing more than a complex lie thrust upon them by their Queen.

“But that’s not the only crime, I’m afraid,” Jadarite said as he came into the yurt.  “Ah, nothing like fresh protein to keep you going through the day.”  Looking at Posey’s curious face, he added, “No, I didn’t think I had enough time to hunt this morning, as I need to return to my homeland to give my grandfather the latest information and to see what more aid the Council can give us.  So I asked the barracks cook to make me some eggs.  I’m afraid I’ve wiped out your week’s supply,” he said with a laugh.

“We can always get more,” Posey assured him.  “But I presume you’re referring to the documents that Tequila brought, am I correct?”

Jadarite nodded, then turned to Tequila.  “Young miss, you cannot understand what critical information you’ve brought to the rebellion.  If this information is even remotely correct, this is by far and away the biggest crime against life that Solestra has committed, and we wouldn’t have known that if it wasn’t for you.  We owe you a huge debt of gratitude.”  Both Posey and Jadarite bowed to Tequila, making her feel self-conscious.  

Posey was about to explain when a dark stallion rushed into the yurt.  “Sis!  Are the reports true?”

“Good morning, Thundermane, what brings you here?”  To the rest, she said, “This is Thundermane, one of my trusted spies in Solestra’s government.  He’s also, as you heard, my younger brother.”  Turning back to him, she asked, “And how did you come by this information?”

“I sent it to him via telepathy,” Jadarite responded.  “I felt he needed to know…and, for that matter, he needs to tell you something as well, don’t you, Thunder.”

“I’m on my day off, so as far as the guard’s concerned, I went on a daily excursion to the resort on Clearlake,” he replied.  “I’ll be back tomorrow.  But what Jadarite told me…is it true?”

“What about your report?”

“You first, sis,” he replied.  “My information will clarify it.”

“Very well,” she answered.  “Yes, it’s true.  Solestra’s pet project, Clarion, is near completion.  The project will use hundreds of years of stored-up magic gleaned from unicorns to create a new alicorn to rule beside Solestra.  Moreso, Solestra’s daughter, Sunmane, was especially prepared for the project, raised specifically for that purpose.  It’s why we believe her family was assassinated by Solestra’s assassins in secret – so she could be removed from her family and raised as a candidate.  An enticed candidate is a willing candidate, and there can be no other than a pony whose family was murdered and then ‘avenged’ and adopted by the queen herself.  Sunmane’s devotion to her adopted mother must be absolute, I’ll warrant.”

“So she will be an alicorn then?” Thundermane asked.  There was an odd catch in his voice.

“No.  She’s a sacrificial lamb.  The project will create a new alicorn, but it won’t be Sunmane; only her body.  Only the spirit of an alicorn can truly control that level of power, and so Solestra plans to bring her sister or her mother back from the dead.  As for Sunmane’s spirit, she will spend an eternity trapped in a body she no longer owns, or worse.”

“Then we gotta rescue her!” Thundermane cried.

“Rescue the Butcher Princess?” Tequila roared from her spot; her place to speak or not, that was the most insane idea she’d ever heard.  “You’re crazy!”  She leapt from her seat and would have attacked the Thundermane, had not Pinkie held her back.

“If this ‘Project Clarion’ is true, she’s been brainwashed since birth to hate unicorns!  She’s a victim, just like all those she’s slain!” Thundermane snarled back.  “You’re not being fair to her.”

“Aside from the fact that we need to stop this Project Clarion, I wonder how rescuing the lynchpin to the whole thing will make a difference.  Simply slaying her would be just as effective, and put the memory of a good number of truly innocent to rest,” Posey answered back.  “I think your feelings for her are getting in the way.”  Posey looked to the rest and explained.  “My brother has been deep undercover since his secondary Educatorial years.  He attended school with Sunmane before she was revealed as Solestra’s daughter and later joined the guard only to find she was the guard commandant.  From what reports I get, you’ve been in love with her for quite some time, and it’s not unrequited.”

“H-how did you know that?” Thundermane said, stunned.   “I never told you about…wait, did you just say Sunny feels the same way?”

Posey smiled.  “Surely you didn’t think you were the only spy I had in the government, did you?  Yes, I’m sad to hear about Burret Clamp taking his life, but he was not the only one.  And under any other circumstance, I’d be happy for you, little brother.  But your true love is a murderer and even if she could be convinced that her life has been a lie, she will likely spend the rest of her days behind bars.  You wouldn’t have much of a life together.  Is that really want you want?”

Thundermane lowered his head.  “You’ll hate me all for this, but…yes.  I would rather see her behind bars, so I could see her again, then to see her die unrepentant.  And even if she never does, even if she hates me and curses my name for sparing her, it won’t stop how I feel.”

“You do realize this puts me in an awkward position, correct?  As the military commander, my duty is to ensure she’s captured and brought before a tribunal.  The tribunal is under the auspice of the political wing, and that’s not my balliwick.”

Jadarite rubbed his snout, pondering.  “Perhaps there is a way to solve both issues.  You haven’t informed Posey of your part of the information, have you?   Now is a good time to do so.”

Thundermane sighed.  “Last night, several hundred unicorns were rounded up and captured by the guard.  They’re separating the ones vital to intelligence from the ones who are not.  Those who were not separated will be used to power the final sequence of a special project being developed in the Queen’s Scientium, in the restricted district of Shantytown.  They will be executed by being drained of their magic, and ultimately their life force.”

That caught attention.  “What about my father?  My mother?  My uncle?”

“I’m sorry, Tequila.  Your parents were simple couriers, as was your uncle.  They wouldn’t be considered vital enough to Solestra’s needs to be spared.”

“Then rescue them!  They always believed in the EFRA!  Forget the Butcher Princess,” Tequila cried, putting a foreleg around her sister, “it’s our parents that deserve to be rescued.”

“I don’t know if we can,” Posey admitted.  “The bulk of our troops are committed elsewhere, and most of my saboteurs aren’t trained for a full out raid on Equestran military facilities.” She turned to Jadarite.  “Would the Council be willing to lend us a hoof?”

Jadarite shook his head.  “Material aid is the most you can expect out of the Council for now.  Actual troops would take a unanimous vote on the Council, and Solestra’s allies Lord Nitre and Lady Feldspar are too much in her pocket.  My grandfather is having difficulties as is keeping them from reporting further information to their mistress.”

“So we are lost, then,” Thunder raged, his anger impotent against facts.  “We can’t raise troops in time to save them or stop Project Clarion.”    

“Please…sa…ve Mom.  Sa…ve…P…op,” a raspy, hoarse voice uttered.  All eyes turned in the direction of the voice.  Rummie was looking straight at her older sister, and the tears in her eyes reflected a clear pain as she forced herself to use her voice for the first time in years.  “Te…qui…la, pl…ease!”

“Rummie,” the older unicorn said, tears welling in her eyes.  “You spoke!”  She reached over and held her sister tight, prouder of her than ever.  “You spoke, sis!”

“That settles it.”  Quiet for several minutes, Pinkie now spoke, and her eyes were filled with determination.  “I’ll save them.”

“We don’t have the troops, Pinkie, and to be honest, this isn’t your fight,” Jadarite said softly.  “You’re here for a different reason, on a different mission for your own conflict.”

“No,” the pink pony countered.  “Celestia would never let Solestra do this to innocent ponies, and as her knight, I can’t stand for it.  As a pony, I won’t stand for it.  They need to be rescued, and that’s my responsibility – heck, that’s my middle name, Pinkamena Responsibility Pie.”  A second passed before she added, “Okay, so my middle name’s really Diane, but you get the idea.”

“Are you sure about this?”

Pinkie sighed.  “Please don’t make me recite my oath.  It’s really, really, really overblown, and I’m going to have Rarity rewrite it when I make it back.  But yes, I’ll rescue them.”

“Okay.  I’ll send the town guards and reserves with you.  They’ll carry whatever weapons they can, and you’ll have to move quickly, because I don’t think we have much time.  Thundermane will provide you with a map of the facility.”

“I’m going with you,” Tequila said.  “I don’t know if I can be of help, but they’re my parents.  I can’t let them down.”  Her words earned a happy kiss on the cheek from her younger sister.

“Good, because I’ve got an idea.”  Pinkie then explained her idea, in full.  Those assembled listened raptly, then had reservations, then just outright dropped their jaws at the whole thing.

“Um…that’s certainly interesting,” Posey said after the details were complete.  “I will say that in all my years as a soldier, I’ve never heard of anything quite like that.”

“Quite so,” Jadarite said, floored.  “If it works, it will be one for the history books.  Pinkie, I’d recommend you rethink this.   It’s just not feasible.”

But it was Tequila who spoke up.  “Pinkie says it will work, and as little time as I’ve known her, she hasn’t been wrong.  It’s the most insane thing I’ve heard of, but if she says it’ll work…well, I believe her.”  She looked at Rummie, then at Pinkie.  “I believe in you.”

“Yay!  Then I’ll get started,” Pinkie said, hopping up from the table.  “I’ll start getting things ready on my end, and you get the ponies I need.  I’ll need them here in an hour so we can get ready, and we move tonight.”

“We’re going with that plan?” Thundermane said, still not believing what he heard.  “It’s the most bizarre thing I’ve ever heard in my life and you all agree to it?”  The stallion shook his head.  “It just can’t be done.”

“I’ll get it done, don’t worry,” came Pinkie’s reply.  “We’ll be back quick as a wink.”

“But it’s not going to work!  Nothing works that way – life just doesn’t work that way!”

Pinkie looked at Jadarite, then at Tequila and Rummie, who were putting all their confidence in her; she couldn’t let them down – she wouldn’t let them down.  “Trust me.  It will work,” she replied to the doubting stallion.

“No, it won’t!  It’s physically impossible!”

Her face lit up in a bright, knowing smile, one that folks at home knew all too well.  “Screw physics – I’m Pinkie Pie.”