“Thank you for the invite, Luna,” Twilight said as she ascended the stairs to Luna’s private observatory. Admittedly, while it had once been the castle’s general observatory, the moon alicorn had commandeered both it and the wing of the castle it adjoined to for her residence upon her return from her exile. Since that day Luna had gone out of her way to ensure her telescopes were the most advanced possible, rivaling – and possibly even exceeding – that of the Royal Astronomy Service. Though the Service at the time complained about the loss of such vital and valuable equipment to private use – even if that of the Princess of the Night – Celestia could hardly deny her little sister, and with the additional building of observatories around the realm the argument was quickly made moot.

“The Lyrid meteor shower is tonight and it’s expected to storm,” Luna said with a slight smile. “Since the last meteor storm was before you were born, and I have not seen once since my return, I thought it would be something that we would all enjoy.”

A second voice spoke out. “I hope you brought snacks – I haven’t had anything sweet all day, and it’s driving me mad.”

Twilight laughed, and her horn flickered. Out of her saddlebags came a slice of chocolate ganache, which immediately floated over to the waiting – drooling was probably more accurate – sun alicorn. “If the average pony saw the things I’ve seen from you in my lifetime,” Twilight giggled, “they wouldn’t see you so much as distant and unattainable perfection.”

“We all have our private sides, Miss Obsessive Smarty Pants Doll Collector,” Celestia said, teasing her protégé and sister royal. “Truthfully, though, while I do wish I could be more informal, you know the populace needs to see me as they do, even if I’d rather otherwise. Besides, as somepony once told me, a private life is for being with one’s family – and here, with my family, I’d be hard-pressed to disagree.”

“I do hope you brought enough,” Luna said, sitting down next to her sister – the biological one, anyway. “Tia’s likely to inhale the whole cake.”

“I kept that in mind.” Twilight’s horn flickered and suddenly iced coffee and donuts appeared on a platter before them, along with the remainder of the cake. “Got them from Pony Joe’s, just the way you like them,” the unicorn said as she sat down with the two princesses, at ease with two of the ponies she cherished most in the world.

The trio looked into the sky, and for a few seconds, nothing occurred. Then a shooting star split the sky. Then two. Three. And soon the sky was filled with hundreds of shooting stars, far more than the normal meteor showers that happened once a season. This was the rare meteor storm, an inexplicable event that not even the alicorns could explain.

“I wonder where they come from,” Twilight mused. “Obviously meteor showers are the remains of comets that break up due to the gravitational pull of the earth, the sun and the moon, but if that was the case, meteor storms would be a lot more common.”

Celestia and Luna looked at each other, as if sharing an unspoken conversation. Finally, the elder looked at Twilight and said in a somber tone, “We believe it’s a message, meant for us.”

“From our mother,” Luna added in equally melancholy tones.

“You never discuss her,” Twilight commented, sympathizing for the two alicorn sisters. In all her years of knowing Celestia, Faust’s name only came up a handful of times, and it was always bittersweet.

“Mother abandoned us without warning one day,” Celestia said, “or rather, that’s what I thought at the time. All I knew is that I had a baby sister that I had to raise almost from the moment she was weaned, and without a mother’s help. It wasn’t until I came across Quick Canal, the first of our seneschals, that I learned the truth: that Mother had somehow forcibly been removed from us and that Quick Canal and her successors, even into the present day, are there to help and aid us on Mother’s behalf – though it’s been millennia since anypony’s heard from her. In any case, it was our third seneschal, Night Traveler, who told us the storms were a message from our mother, left there in case of an emergency.”

“I never knew her,” Luna said. “I’d always hoped that we could read the message, but they’re few and far between – too far between, an—”

Twilight leapt to her feet. “We have to get the girls,” she said, her voice sounding anxious.

“For this?” Celestia shook her head. “This is a private moment for us, dear Twilight. Luna and I invited you tonight because, truthfully, you were family to us before the Bonding or Shining’s marriage to Cadance. You have always been family to me, my dear faithful student.”

“No, no, you don’t understand,” Twilight told her. “Rarity activated her Element.”

“Perhaps she’s showing it to her beau,” Luna thought. “Rarity—”

“Not summoned,” Twilight insisted. “Activated.”

“Ignited?” The alicorn sisters looked at one another, knowing what that meant.

“If that’s the term you want to use, fine – but she’s in trouble.”

“I’ll fly to Ponyville and fetch Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie,” Celestia said, getting to her hooves and stretching her wings. A second later, there was a flash of energy nearly as bright as the sun as the princess regnal teleported to their location.

Luna closed her eyes. “Fortunately, Rainbow’s here in town…with a friend at the moment.” She didn’t clarify what she meant, but it was clearly intimate. “I’ll awake the others in their dreams and get them ready. We’ll meet back here in five minutes. Twilight, summon some guardsponies and have a chariot ready.”

Silversteel came to a stop against a tree, having been knocked head over tail for a couple of seconds. As he got to his feet, he heard the distinct deep, booming laughter of somepony clearly enjoying the situation. “And he shook it off as though it were nothing! Truly this will be fun!”

The guardspony looked in the direction of the voice, finding a towering polar bear there, flanked by a nearly sizable minotaur and a bulked-out earth pony who looked as though he’d used too many muscle enhancing spells. The polar bear, who was clearly the lead heavy, said in his thick Polaran-tinged accent, “Now remember, we’re only to keep him busy, not to rough him up too badly.”

“You’re after Rarity?” he asked briefly, his eyes going wide with concern. A second later they narrowed in anger as he snarled, “That’s not going to happen.”

“Unfortunately for you, you’ll have to go through me,” the bear replied, “and then if by some chance you defeat me, you will still need to take on my friends there.”

Silver grinned wickedly. “I thought you said this was going to be difficult.”

The polar bear rushed in, attacking. “Oh, it is, I assure you!” The polar bear swiped at Silver, letting his claws do the speaking for him. Silver dodged, moving into his strike zone, and with a quick, acrobatic twist, turned and bucked. The blows connected and lifted Sneg Nozhom off his feet with an audible crack as his ribs went. The polar bear was boosted into the air by the strike, gravity’s rainbow carrying him on a ballistic parabola towards the apiary area, on the other side of the commune, a good hundred yards away.

Rage building within him, Silver didn’t even bother to look as to where he’d bucked his first opponent. Turning his attention towards the next two, he said, “I thought he said this was going to be difficult.” He waved a hoof towards them, beckoning. “I need the warm-up before I destroy the rest of you plotholes!”

Suddenly in the distance behind them a geyser of sky-blue power reached into the sky, lancing towards the heavens with a brilliant intensity. The three males saw the blast and Silver smiled. “Looks like my girl doesn’t need quite as much help as I thought she did.” Turning to them, he said, “Okay, I’m more worried about her than I care to beat you two senseless. I’ll make you a deal. Get out of here now and you get away.” When they didn’t move, he added, “Oh, and if I catch you? You’re going to have to explain what you did…to Princess Celestia.”

As the duo headed for the hills, Silver raced over to the apiary, where the bees had crawled all over the polar bear, who was very afraid to move. “Terrified of bees?” Silver asked.

“Yes. Allergic to be venom,” the brute admitted.

“Good. I’ll be back later to come get you. In the meanwhile, I think our little friends’ll keep you busy.” With that, he raced back towards the destroyed bungalow, hoping he could make to Rarity’s side in case she needed help.

Gutslasher knew this was going to be problematic, so much so that he figured bringing the rest of his team in to deal with one simple unicorn shouldn’t have been a problem. Even if she was an elite combatant, it wasn’t as though they hadn’t dealt with that type before. In fact, a year ago they’d successfully assassinated the head of the Mikadogumi, the Inari Emperor’s elite guardsfoxes. That six-tailed kitsune was a born-and-bred warrior, a swordsvixen without parallel, and did not go down easy, but in the end, she fell.

Right now, Gutslasher wished he had a repeat of that job right now. That, at least, had been easier.

Of course, in his current situation, embedded in what appeared to be a prison made of pure sapphire, there was the question as to if he was going to be able to do anything ever again. With the limited movement he had, he noticed that the others in his group hadn’t been casualties: they, too, had been encased in similar gems. That was the good thing.

The bad thing was the white unicorn in the center of it all, glowing like a star and with a very angry look on her face. “Now, you all have made me very cross.” As she approached, Gutslasher noted her eyes blazed on the level of magic that he’d only seen a few individuals and that was never a good sign at all. “I’ll give you a chance, however, to tell me who put you up to this.”

Gutslasher knew he could play his claw here. “Yeah, and if I don’t tell you?”

“YOU’LL BE TELLING ME,” a voice rumbled from the sky as midnight became high noon in less than a second.

Gutslasher’s confidence fell at that point while Rarity merely smiled.

“Rarity!” She turned and saw Silversteel racing towards her at full speed, worry in his eyes. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the look on his face, the anger in his eyes that told her he was willing to take on any- and everything to keep her safe. And as he arrived, the first thing he did was to take her in his forelegs, the look in his eyes terrified. “They didn’t hurt you or anything?”

“No, Silver, I’m fine,” she promised, kissing him.

“Good.” He let go of her, then wheeled to face “Brother Galahad”. “You start talking now,” he seethed, “or I’m going to play hoofball with your cage the hard way.” He took a menacing step towards the crystal, only to be blocked by a large white wing.

Celestia looked down at him, warmth in her eyes. “See to your fillyfriend, ensign,” she told him. She then looked at the gryphon and all the warmth in those lilac eyes disappeared. “I believe I have somegryphon to discuss issues with.”

“Yes, your majesty,” he said, “but I’m a cornet, not a….” He paused as the thought entered his brain. Without acknowledging his words, the sun alicorn moved towards her quarry.

“You mean you were,” a new voice at his side spoke, and he found himself looking nearly eye-to-eye with the Princess of the Night. “Your bravery should not go unrewarded, and we shall insist upon that.”

“I see, your highness,” he told her. “But isn’t that nepotism? I am dating one of your sisters royal,” he pointed out.

Luna smiled softly, the mirth in her eyes. “Only if it’s unearned, ensign,” she replied. Behind them, there was an explosion of amethyst power, and Luna added, “That should remove the spell from the residents here. I have it on very good expertise that the spellcaster knows what she’s doing.”

“I think I’d best check on Rarity, if you don’t mind, your highness,” he told her.

“You do that. We’ll deal with the prisoners,” she promised.

“I’m soooo sorry!” Wheat told Rarity as soon as she was informed about the truth of their visitors. “I didn’t know, Rarity, I promise!”

Rarity gave her friend a smile. “I know you didn’t, Wheat. You couldn’t have.”

“Like, I can’t believe that Brother Galahad was like that, pony,” Flax said, sounding disappointed. “I thought he was really all about being down with authorities and up with peace and free love.”

Wheat suddenly noticed that their ruling princesses were in earshot, and she blanched. “Maybe I should’ve dated that one stallion in high school when I had the chance,” she groaned. “Come on, Flax, let’s go back to bed. Again, my apologies for everything that’s happened.”

“It’s not your fault, Wheat,” Rarity assured her. “You’re not the kind of mare that would ever allow this.” At that, Wheat smiled and, dragging her clueless husband off, went back to their bungalow.

Twilight took that moment to approach Rarity. “I’ve sent a flamefax to our ambassador in Minos. He’ll petition the king to see if they can give us any information on that commune, though I suspect it doesn’t exist.”

“I can be there by tomorrow if I take off now,” Rainbow said.

“But isn’t Minos on the other side of the Ethopic Ocean?” Fluttershy asked, her voice radiating worry. “You’ll wear yourself out.”

“Naaah….” Rainbow said, pointing to her Element. “If I use my Element to keep my going at supersonic, I can fly all the way to Aegus City in about four hours, tops.”

“Be careful, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “If they’re after Rarity, they could be after the rest of us, too.”

“Hah! Nopony’s as fast as me normally,” Rainbow boasted, “and with my Element boosting me? I’m not even sure the princesses can keep up.”

“Let’s test that then,” Luna said. “I’m going with you, Rainbow. King Powers might take a while to get to our ambassador, but nothing greases the wheels like a state visit.” With that, there was a sudden rainbow blur as the pegasus rocketed off, followed a second later by a sonic rainboom illuminated by the moonlight. “Showoff,” Luna laughed, then rocketed off herself, the indigo blur of her movement turning into a non-visual ordinary sonic boom as she rushed to catch up.

“Well, Ah’m guessin’ that Celestia could use some help with th’ prisoners,” Applejack nudged Pinkie.

“Oh! That’s right! C’mon, girls! Let’s go tie up them up! Then we can torture them with cake! Or is it pie you torture prisoners with? Pastries?” The party pony looked at Applejack. “Do you remember?”

“Ah have no idear what yer talkin’ ‘bout, Pinkie,” Applejack sighed, “but we’ll figure it out.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Celestia has them well in hoof,” Twilight said, completely oblivious to Applejack’s hint. “There’s no way they’re….” She paused as Fluttershy silently mouthed Let’s go, Twilight! and craned her neck in the direction of the door. Flush with embarrassment, the unicorn mage added, “Well, you never know….” With that, the last two Elements departed the bungalow that Wheat and Flax moved Rarity and Silver into, where they could spend the remainder of their nice, quiet relaxing weekend…along with the seventy guardsponies that were now walking around the commune’s perimeter.

“So, alone at last again,” he said to her as Twilight closed the door.

“I’m sorry,” was the soft, almost inaudible sound that came from Rarity. She then looked at him, and the emotion in her eyes was one of sorrow. “I’ve ruined things between us, Silver. It’s bad enough that I’m not the mare who can please you, but now…I’ve put you in danger because of who and what I am. I….”

“Ssssh,” he said, silencing her with a kiss. “What you are is a beautiful mare. Who you are is the mare I love. Anything else is for other ponies to deal with,” he said with a comforting smile. “I told you before: I don’t care about any of that. What I care about is you, and I’d feel that way whether or not you were a fashion designer, nobility, a Knight or sister to royalty.” They kissed once more and he said, “Have I ever told you that your kisses just light me up?”

“Really?” He nodded. She blushed, saying, “I guess I learned from the best – kissing you, that is.”

“Well, we have the whole weekend to learn other things, if you’re interested,” he said, kissing her once more.

She put herself into that kiss, responding with a sudden hunger she’d felt an inkling of earlier; now it was an inferno. Taking her hoof, he led her towards the bedroom as she admitted, “I…had to destroy the lingerie I’d made. I hope you’re not disappointed.” His response was to kiss her more passionately and close the door to the bedroom.

In their home in Canterlot, Cadance woke up and sighed.

“What now?” Shining groaned, trying to go back to sleep. He knew that particular sigh.

“I’m sorry, hon. Goes with the territory of being the Avatar of Love,” she said. “But this one’s really special: it’s Rarity.”

He turned and looked at her with bleary eyes. “Cady, hon, I don’t know if that’s good or really, really creepy.”

“Well,” she blushed, “It does have the side effect of putting me in the mood….”

“No it doesn’t, otherwise I’d never get any sleep.”

“Humor me,” she said as she leaned down and kissed her husband passionately.

He thought about it for a second then gave in. “I think I can deal with that,” he said as he returned the kiss.

“You haven’t much time – they’ll know of your crime,” Kamali, the zebra mare that had been part of Gutslasher’s group, told Tiger the next morning. “You must flee while you can and while you are able, but don’t wait too long, for things grow unstable!”

“What are you talking about?” Tiger screeched, though inwardly, she had a pit sink in her stomach.

“The attack on that mare was doomed to fail. Gutslasher will talk to save his tail,” Kamali warned. “I’ve already planned for my retreat, and you must also or you’ll be beat!”

“No….” Tiger whispered, now horrified. All of her plans were going to hell, and she was going to end up in jail for what she’d done. Worse, she’d lose her chance to have her one true love by her side. “No! It’s not going to end this way!” she cried. “He’s mine!”

“Not anymore to be your mate,” Kamali replied. “Now you must flee before it’s too late. I have something that may be of use,” the zebra said as she handed Tiger a scroll. “The info is sound; it’s not a ruse. I’m taking a risk to pass this around – I hope you’re worth it if you go to ground.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Tiger threw the zebra a coinpurse filled with bits. “Was going to give this to Gutslasher. You can have it now. I’ve got business to attend to and make sure that my pretty little flank is covered.”

“I’m leaving now, so best of luck,” Kamali said, departing. She was well out of earshot when she finished her rhyme: “You have no idea how badly you’re bucked.”

“Thank you for your time, your majesty.” Luna, having magicked up a formal dress that Rarity had made for her, curtsied. Behind her in her formal Wonderbolts dress uniform, Rainbow saluted, a bit stiffly since she wasn’t used to military mannerisms. King Power nodded his head, the traditional end of the session. Rising to her feet, Luna sent a telepathic message to the pegasus: Rise slowly, then follow three paces behind me. Do not take your eyes off me until we leave the throne room.

Rainbow wanted to protest, but Luna knew more about court than she did, so she complied. As the two slipped out of the room, the tomboyish pegasus groaned. “Lun…er, Princess, what was that all about? And ugh, I hate wearing clothes – they weigh me down!”

“Duchess Jennet, we would have words with thee in private once we return to the embassy,” Luna said in formal tones and Rainbow sighed, wondering what she’d screwed up without trying.

“Yes, your highness,” Rainbow said, looking as though she was never going to hear the end of it.

The ten-minute carriage ride was silent, so much so that Rainbow strained to continue looking serious. And she was trying! She just wasn’t used to the extra stuff in her life: the military lifestyle of the Wonderbolts, the extra duties of her ducal crown, and her duties as a Knight. She wondered how the other girls were doing it and she had to admit she was kinda jealous now that Pinkie had opted to remain in private life, taking over the Cakes’ old bakery when they moved away.

As they arrived in the Equestriani embassy, Luna spoke briefly to the ambassador, occasionally giving Rainbow the briefest of looks and making sure Rainbow knew how much trouble she was in. Finally, the princess turned to Rainbow and said, “We will discuss issues in the map room.”

“Princess, I’m so—”

“Go, Rainbow Dash,” Luna said sharply. “We will not repeat ourselves!”

Wondering what she’d done wrong, Rainbow entered the map room, followed shortly by Luna. Luna looked outside the door at the guardsmare there and ordered, “And no one is to disturb us until we depart, is that understood?” She then closed the door and looked at Rainbow.

“Look, Princess, whatever I did, I’m sorry!” Rainbow yelped.

But the dusky alicorn merely shook her head and favored her sister royal with a smile. “No, Rainbow, I owe you an apology for making you worry, but I couldn’t say it until we were in a magically-sealed room.”

“Huh?”

“The Court of Minos is filled with formality and intrigue and would have eaten you alive – you’re not one for courtly life, which is why I came along,” Luna explained. “But another thing Minos is known for is keeping their cards to their chest, so to speak. They were focusing on me, which didn’t allow me to use my magic to find out what I needed to know. But by ‘letting them know I was displeased with my military attaché,’ quote unquote, it put the focus on you, which then let me cast my spells unhindered.”

“Oh, so you were faking them out!” Rainbow said, relieved. “But why didn’t you tell me?”

“Rainbow, you’re loyal…but you’re not deceptive,” Luna said. “I could count on you to not fail me, ever, but their spells could have easily seen through any deception between us.” She sighed. “Sorry about worrying you needlessly. I hope you can forgive me.”

“Eh, already forgotten. Just glad you let me wear my uniform instead of having to put on another frou-frou dress,” she laughed. “So what’d you find out?”

“The Kingdom of Minos has an informal agreement with that group that attacked Rarity last night,” Luna replied. “I gleaned that from their field marshal’s mind. But when Gutslasher’s group isn’t working for the king, they’re free to freelance, so long as it doesn’t come back to haunt the Minosan court. And in this case – that’s what they were doing. Neither King Powers nor any of his court are aware of what transpired. Likely, it’s not an attack on Equestria, or even the Knights.”

“But that means….”

Luna nodded. “It was an attack on Rarity.”

“Then we gotta get back!” Rainbow insisted.

“We leave tomorrow morning via airship – the fleet dispatched one to come pick us up,” the princess explained. “We’ll be back in Canterlot by tomorrow night.”

“Oh, good. I’ll be glad to see Soarin’ again,” she said with a smile.

“Then who was it that you were with last night?” Luna said, looking evenly at Rainbow.

The rainbow-maned mare had a guilty look on her face. “Is this the part where I’m in trouble now?”

“No, but I think you might want to talk to me why you’re seeing two stallions at once.”

She sighed. It was going to be a long talk. “Well, I hadn’t planned to start up with Roughwind, but I met him at the ball, and we just clicked.”

“My understanding was that you went to the ball with Soarin’.”

Rainbow pawed the floor nervously with a hoof. “Look, Soarin’ and I have an open relationship. We love each other, but we’re not sure that we’re right for each other. And it’s not as though I’m cheating on him – he dated Twi a couple of times, he told me. But I like Soarin’ and I like Roughwind. And I know that’s a really bad place for Loyalty to be, especially for me.”

“Do they know about each other?” The look on Rainbow’s face said it all. “You’re a grown mare, Rainbow, and though we are sisters, I’m not going to get into your personal business. But I will say two things: first, sooner or later – and I don’t know when, but I know it will happen – this whole love triangle of yours is going to come back and haunt you. But the second thing I will say is though I love you dearly, I can’t say I’m not disappointed in you over this.”

“I know. It’s something I need to work out for myself.”

“You should.” Rising from her seat, she said, “The ambassador has set aside guest rooms for us. I’m going to turn in and get some sleep, since I’m running on extra hours right now. I’ll see you after I get some sleep, okay?” Seeing the morose look on the pegasus’ face, Luna turned and gave the smaller pony a hug with her wings. “I trust you, Rainbow. I trust that in the end you’ll do the right thing.” And with that, Luna left.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said to the empty room. “I just wish I knew what that was.”

“You’re lying!” Shining Armor said as he interrogated the prisoner in the dungeon.

“What, did I hit a nerve, Captain?” Gutslasher sneered. “Some ex-fillyfriend of yours?”

“No, but you have the gall to accuse one of my best sergeants of hiring you to murder one of the Knights?” he snarled. “Okay, who really put you up to it? The changelings? Was this an operation for another country? Tell me, damn you!”

“Get it through your thick skull, Captain. It was Tiger Lily. She paid us to take out this Rarity gal – and she paid Dragonkick to hospitalize some mare named Derpy. Don’t blame me if you’re too prissy-hooved to believe any of it.”

Shining stepped away from the table. “Guards, open up.” The cell door opened and as it did, Shining Armor turned to face the gryphon. “I don’t know what your game is, but we’re going to get to the bottom of it and you’re going to wish you weren’t playing around.” As he stepped out of the dungeon cell, he looked at one of the guardsponies present and shook his head. “I’m sorry you had to see this, Goldie, but I know Sergeant Lily is a friend of yours.”

“No, Shines, I’m glad you told me,” Golden Sun said. “It’s just that…well, Tiger’s been acting a bit weird lately and….”

The look on Shining’s face was one of shock. “He’s telling the truth?”

“Are you kidding? Buck no, he’s not!” Goldie insisted. “I’ve known Tiger forever and she’s not that kind of mare. What I am saying is that she’s been acting kinda strange lately – she’s going through some rough times as of late – and that’s probably why he blamed her, because she looks guilty. But Tiger – she’s loyal to the Crown and wouldn’t be caught dead doing something like this!”

The unicorn nodded. “Hey, if you’re vouching for her, that’s good enough for me – I believe you, Goldie.”

“Thanks, Shines. I’ll have a talk with her and tell her to straighten up a bit – it’s probably a good warning that anypony can be compromised if they’re not careful. I just hope they really find who’s behind all of this.”

“So do I, Goldie. So do I.”

Rarity opened her eyes, and the scent of chocolate hit her the moment she’d reached consciousness. She knew for a fact that there was no chocolate in the bungalow whatsoever. She looked at the sleeping form next to her, dozing softly – the strange, yet soothing aftersound of two ponies sharing love in the most intimate way possible.

She lay back in the bed. Her mane was a mess, and she felt worn out, but in ways she’d never felt before. A small, winsome smile crept onto her face.

Everything…was perfect.

“Now that’s the smile of a mare who loves me,” she said. She turned her head to see him looking at her, love in his eyes. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore,” she admitted. Her mother had explained to her that it was always sore for the mare the first time. At the time, Rarity had thought her mother to either be teasing, or just needlessly crass. But it turned out to be truth – the advice a mother gave her daughter for her sake. “Does it get easier?”

“Eventually, I guess,” he said. “Two bodies have a way of…well, molding to each other, if that makes sense. I can’t quite explain it without being ungentlemanly, but….” He shrugged as best as he could.

A thought came to mind. “Oh, dear. In all this, I never thought to….” She sat up. “I just realized: did I remember to cast a contraceptive spell?”

“Probably not,” he admitted, “because you weren’t thinking about those sorts of things – as you said yourself, you don’t have much experience to go by.”

“Well, you certainly can’t, and….”

He held forward a hoof; on it was a small silver band that she’d never quite noticed before. “I love you, Rarity, but I don’t think we’re ready for that just yet,” he said. “Besides, Goldie drilled into me that it’s the responsibility of the stallion to pay attention, because it’s not fair to the mare.”

“‘Not fair to the mare’?” she repeated. “Oh, please don’t tell me you’re quoting from those public service announcements from high school.”

“Would you have rather that we both forgot?”

“You do have a point there, love,” she admitted. “So now what?”

“Well, we slept through breakfast,” he said, “and I don’t recall seeing anything about room service, so we’ll just have to power though until lunch.”

“No, I mean, what about us? Where do we go from here? Sex is a huge change in our relationship, Silver, and I didn’t give my maidenhood to some stallion just to lose you.” She then realized she’d misspoken and said, “I’m sorry, that was bad wording on my part. What I meant to say i—”

“Let me guess: this is the part of the book where the stallion kisses his mare lovingly and says that he must go, but he will always remember her fondly as he disappears into the night?” She looked at him and with a flush of embarrassment, nodded. Silver chuckled. “Do you really think that after everything we’ve been through together that I’d give you up now? I mean, we just beat up our first group of attackers as a couple – that has to count for something, right?”

She found herself laughing, releasing the remaining stress from the prior evening. She laughed until tears of mirth came to her eyes, and as they fell, she felt something warm against her face. She suddenly realized as her tears fell, he was literally kissing them away, as if he refused to see the mare of his heart cry if he could prevent it. She knew at that point, wherever his future led, she wanted to be a part of it. Would they marry? She still didn’t know; they hadn’t been together for even half a year yet. But she knew that what happened next to him couldn’t happen – wouldn’t happen – without her. They were tied together.

“Silver?”

“Yes?”

She smiled shyly at him. “Could we…practice molding some more?”

He kissed her softly. “As my lady wishes,” he said with love in his heart.

“I know you’re in there, Tiger!” Goldie yelled as she knocked on the cloud door of Tiger’s barracks room at the facility in Cloudsdale. “Tiger, open the door! I need to talk to you!”

The door opened slowly and a sleepy-eyed pegasus poked her head out. “Goldie, wassup….” she said in a half-awake mumble. “Lon’nite las’ nite.”

“Where were you last night?”

Tiger rubbed her eyes with her wings, trying to make herself wake up. “Um, I was playing poker with Highspeed, Featherdance and Dandelion Days last night. Why?”

Goldie was upfront with her friend. “We got a report that you got involved with a soldier-of-fortune who claimed that you ordered a hit on the mare Silver’s dating. Worse, he also claims that you’re the one who had Silver’s ex hospitalized as well!”

“Really?” A sarcastic grin came onto her face. “Damn, I must be good, then. Having all that power – I must be the Dogfather! You can just call me Don Fido Collarleone!”

“Plus I already talked to Featherdance, and she said you were really acting weird last night, talking about wedding gowns and honeymoon locations…it really weirded her and Highspeed out – and they just got married!” Goldie sighed. “Tiger…. What in blazes is going on?”

The pegasus opened the door to her home. “C’mon in and let’s talk.” Goldie entered the cloudhome and found that, like everything else in Tiger’s life, it either focused on the spartan aspects of military life, or Silver. In fact, the number of pictures she had around the home of her and Silver throughout the years kinda creeped the golden pegasus out, now that she thought about it.

Why hadn’t I noticed this before?

“Tiger, what’s going on?” Goldie asked. “Something’s been up for the past few weeks, and I can’t believe it’s all just coincidence.”

“Oh, that’s not important. Hey, look, got a question for you,” Tiger said, a smile coming onto her face. “Ready to make my move now. I was thinking of taking a couple of weeks’ leave and inviting Silver to head off with me to Neighagra Falls. It’d be perfect for us, Goldie!” The look in the mare’s eyes was a strange mixture of fillyish glee and…something else. “I just know that when we go, we’ll finally have the chance to be together, like we always should have been.”

“Um…yeah,” Goldie said. As she looked around the home, she noticed other things that were slightly off. She wasn’t sure what it was but it was setting off alarm bells in her mind. “Listen, Tiger….”

“I’m thinking about leaving the Guard,” Tiger said, matter-of-factly. “I mean, I don’t want to leave the Guard, but the fact is that once Silver and I get together, we need to think about raising a family and I’ve always thought about being a stay-at-home mom. I mean, he’s an officer now, so we should be able to afford it, right?”

“Tiger….”

“Oh, and I’ve been thinking about foal names, too! I mean, yeah, maybe it’s a little too early to think about that, but…have to make sure that I have colts and fillies names for each of the tribes, right? Doesn’t make sense to have a pegasus colt’s name if we have an earth pony filly, right?”

“Tiger….”

“Of course, it means that I’ll have to move out of this apartment. But he still has that place in Canterlot and it’s good for the short-term, but as soon as we have a family of our own, we’re going to have to move. Think the Captain will agree to reassign Silver somewhere with lots of room? Maybe we’ll have a whole herd of foals!” she cooed.

“Tiger!” Goldie screamed.

“Oh, this calls for a celebration!” the russet mare said, walking towards the kitchen. “Coffee okay? I’d offer you a drink, but I decided to stop drinking last night. Have to keep a healthy body for my hubby and future foals!”

“Hubby and future foals?” Whatever alarm bells were going off in Goldie’s mind at the moment intensified at that point. She’s really not acting like herself. Did something happen? Sitting down on the couch, Goldie saw a stack of magazines on the coffee table. Rifling through it, they were orders for lingerie, catalogs for homes in earth pony towns like Colton and Pumpkin Flats, and the Airkea baby furniture catalog.

A chill went down Goldie’s spine as she realized the truth: somewhere along the line, Tiger had snapped. Not “snapped” in that way when ponies lost their patience or even the occasional rare and tragic cutie mark failure insanity syndrome that some ponies had when they had a mental breakdown. No, this was “snapped” as in something in her mind went and wasn’t going to be coming back anytime soon.

“Here,” Tiger said, coming back with a couple of coffee mugs. “Thought about putting whiskey in yours, but then I thought that as an aunt, you’d probably want to set an example for your future nieces and nephews, so….”

Goldie knew she had to do something and fast. Taking the tray, Goldie looked right into rose-colored eyes and saw madness. “Tiger, are we best friends?”

“Of course! And sisters-in-law!” Tiger chirped.

“No, Tiger.” Goldie felt guilty for what she was about to do. She wanted Tiger to be happy, and she would have done immelmans of joy in the sky for hours if she and Silver married. But it was hurting Tiger, one of the ponies she cared about most, and she couldn’t let that happen. Not to her best friend. Goldie reached forward and embraced Tiger. “This is all my fault, Tiger. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry, for what? We’re family, Goldie. We’ve always been family, and even more now that Silver and I are married.”

MARRIED? Goldie immediately pulled back from the hug and looked her best friend in the eyes. “Tiger, what’s happened to you? This…this isn’t you.”

“Of course it is, silly! It’s always been me. I’ve always been your best friend,” she said softly, “and I’ve always been Silver’s one true love and wife.”

“Tiger, stop, please!” Goldie said, the guilt hitting her. “You’re not married to Silver! You’re not!”

“Uh-huh! I have the wedding bracelet and everything, see!” She held up a foreleg, upon which sat an engagement bracelet. “See! See! Happy wifey!”

Goldie froze in her tracks. Th-that’s…. Goldie knew what it was in a heartbeat: the police report said it so. The engagement bracelet that Silver had given Derpy was one of the few things that had been missing from her home, and it was believed that her attacker, Dragonkick, had pawned it somewhere. But now, seeing it on Tiger’s foreleg…a pit of despair sank into her heart.

I did this to her, Goldie realized. She’s always been like this, and I never noticed. Worse – like an illegal salt dealer giving a hit to a junkie, I dangled his breakup in front of her. I did this to her…and now I have to make it right.

“Tiger,” she said, her eyes welling with tears as she embraced her clearly-insane best friend. “You’re…you’re not married to Silver. You’re not even engaged to him. And he loves you…but just as a friend, like a sister, just like me.” Goldie took a breath, then took a metaphorical step forward. “And Silver’s been dating a mare named Rarity for the past four months. They’re in love. I haven’t met her yet, but Shining Armor – as in the prince and captain of the guard – knows her and says she’s great for him. But they’re the ones together, not you.”

“What?” Tiger said, looking at Goldie as if suddenly shocked.

“But that’s not all. That’s not your wedding bracelet – that’s the engagement bracelet Silver gave Derpy. You stole it. Either you or that thug Dragonkick….” And her mind made the connection. “It was you! You hired the attack on Derpy – and you’re the one who ordered the attack on Rarity!” Goldie’s mind spun as she realized she’d just unintentionally lied to Shining, her friend and superior officer. “What have you done, Tiger? What have I done?”

“No….” The word came out of Tiger’s mouth as if she’d been told her husband had been killed. “You’re lying!”

“No, Tiger, I’m not. You’re my best friend – I would never lie to you.”

“NO!” the russet mare said, and Goldie suddenly realized that Tiger was on the verge of becoming a metaphorical version of her name. “YOU’RE LYING TO ME! YOU’RE TRYING TO KEEP ME FROM HIM, LIKE THAT HARRIDELLE!”

Goldie backed away as the look in Tiger’s eyes became ones of hatred, a look she never thought she’d see on her best friend’s face. “Tiger, please calm do—”

She never finished her sentence.

“YOU WON’T KEEP HIM FROM ME – NOPONY WILL!” Moving on instinct, Tiger backflipped in the air, getting just enough distance between her and Goldie to do a point-blank sonic boom, one of Tiger’s specialties. Thankfully, Goldie realized, Tiger had also taught her the countermove, so she could dissipate it. But she knew she’d have to take her friend down, and as she moved to block, tears fell from Goldie’s eyes.

Screaming incoherently, Tiger whipped her wings forward, and as she did, stormclouds formed in the movement, something that should not have been possible – regular clouds shouldn’t have been possible, let alone thunderheads. As the wings came together, the thunderclouds lit up, unleashing a torrent of lightning at their target.

Normally, pegasi were naturally resistant to lightning – Goldie had flown through a thunderstorm during training and had taken a direct hit that would have killed or seriously injured an earth pony or unicorn, but merely singed her and scorched a few feathers. Normally, it wasn’t an issue in the least, because thunderbolts were generally undirected and hit by happenstance, so nearly all of the energy was dissipated in the air when they connected.

But this one was directed – at her. And at this range, all of the power in that lightning bolt would still be within when it hit.

And hit it did.

Goldie screamed in pain as the energy blast hit her, burning straight through her and turning her into a bluish-white ball of electricity for a second. She tried to muscle through it, but the pain was nothing she’d ever felt before – that earlier storm hit had been a beesting in comparison. Her neurons frying and overloading, she collapsed into unconsciousness, a charred, smoking husk hitting the cloudfloor and lay still.

Tiger suddenly saw Goldie lying still on the floor, and she gasped. “G-G-Goldie?” she said in a soft, terrified voice. “Goldie!” Tiger moved immediately, checking for a pulse, trying in vain to give her friend CPR. “Goldie! I’m sorry! I’m….” But the senior pegasus never moved and continued to stay still.

Crying madly, Tiger took her best friend in her forelegs, sobbing incoherently about how she didn’t mean it, how it was a mistake and she loved her best friend so much, she never meant to hurt her. None of it mattered though, as the silence of one pegasus grew and the sobbing of the other grew, which soon began to drown out Tiger’s frantic pleas to Goldie.

But as Goldie lay as still as death, one thought formed in Tiger’s mind: this was all her fault. None of this would have happened if it was for her. Tiger would still have her best friend with her, and would have the stallion she loved more than anything by her side. But she ripped it all away from Tiger, just because she could.

Tiger set her best friend’s body down on the cloud floor, kissing her on the cheek and tearily promising she’d always remember her – and that she and Silver would name their daughter after her, regardless of tribe.

Then, with rage building in her eyes, Tiger Lily screamed against the howling winds, “RARITY, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!”

The resulting tornado that had inexplicably built in the middle of Cloudsdale tore apart six cloudhomes that day – and nopony knew why it happened…or where it came from.

“I gave her the scroll, as I promised, and she did not think it was amiss,” Kamali spoke to a figure in shadow. She was in the badlands at the moment, in a tiny town southwest of Dodge Junction known as Tacksworn. The town, still festooned with the signs of a festival that had been planned – a barn dance, Kamali had noticed – was now instead somber and sad, as she’d been told a funeral had recently occurred: the town’s lone elementary schoolteacher had been murdered and nopony knew who did it or why.

Deciding she’d stay here in town for a while until her new mission was complete, she vowed afterwards that she’d move back to her native Zebrababwe and stay there. She had enough money from her freelancing after all these years that she could go home and buy enough land to have the king himself recognize her and make her a chieftainess, the equivalent of nobility in her homeland. And that would buy her safety.

“I see. And did she agree to this?” a gruff voice, likely from a male, said from the dark.

“That’s not my call, to change her fate. That’s up to you, to mark her slate. Should you want her within your group, you must bring her into your loop.”

“If that map you gave her did its job, my scouts will keep an eye out for her,” the voice said gruffly. “I guess you’ve done as much as you could.”

“I thank you sir, but thanks are mere nits. I think you owe me a lot of bits.”

“Yeah, you buckin’ mercs are all the same,” he said, as a heather-green hoof pushed a sizable saddlebag towards here. “As we agreed. It’s a shame, Kamali. Our group could use a shamaness like you – we almost trust you, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think you weren’t attractive.”

“As much as I would, good sir, I feel I’ve caused much of a stir, and in your side I would end up as a burr.” She gave him a smile. “Still your offer is…compelling. If I take it? Well,” she flashed a smile. “I’m not telling.”

“Well, perhaps I could convince you,” the voice said as the source, a well-built pegasus, leaned forward and kissed Kamali passionately. She looked as though she was shocked at first, but soon gave in, the two making out in a corner of the near-empty saloon.

Breaking away, she smiled and said, “Room 17 – come and be quick,” she said, picking up the bag and flashing bedroom eyes at him. “I’ll show you this mare knows a few tricks.” As she departed, he patted her on the flank and she cooed softly, as she headed towards her hotel room.

The pegasus drank the rest of his cider and stroked his neatly-trimmed beard, wiping off the foam as he finished. “And now, to have a little fun.” But as he did, two more pegasi, one of each gender, showed up, both wearing red berets – the same color as he wore.

“Report,” he told them in a firm tone.

“Sir!” the mare said, coming to attention. “We just received word from our spies: you were right. It’s begun.”

“Sir, I don’t trust that zebra,” the stallion said. “She’s a merc and mercs don’t believe in the cause.”

“Spinnaker,” he said to the mare, “get a flight going and keep an eye on the target. She’s going to bolt soon and we want her to know she has friends. And as for you, Candlewick,” he said gently, “yes, Kamali has much to learn. But I’ll tend to that. I promise by the time I’m finished with her, she’ll be a part of the cause.”

“And your gal, I take it,” Candlewick muttered.

“Sometimes, being Commandante is a lonely job,” the bearded pegasus laughed. He looked at them both. “Now, you two have your assignments. Go and do well for the cause.”

Both pegasi saluted, raising their wings. “Hail to the Underground!” they said in unison.

He returned the salute. “Hail to the Underground.”

Silver looked at his parents. His mother, Sandalwood, had cried herself into a stupor. His father, Silver Hammer, had the look of a stallion who, if sheer will mattered, would turn himself into an alicorn and hunt down the monster that hurt his baby girl. But in that, there was pain as well, because of who the attacker was.

As for Silver, he said nothing, wondering how much of his life was spent in hospitals after death and injury took its toll…and if it would ever stop. The first time it had been him near death. The next time it had been Derpy. And now, it was Goldie – but most horrific of all was the revelation of the pony that had put both Goldie and Derpy in the hospital.

It had been a small miracle Goldie had survived, the doctor told his family. She’d been hit by directed-blast lightning bolt, a weapons-grade spell only available to unicorns and pegasi with that particular special talent. But…that makes no sense, he thought. Tiger wasn’t a ranged attacker; her cutie mark revealed her as a specialist in melee and point-blank fighting, a rarity amongst pegasi. She was good enough that she could even hold her own in a fight against earth ponies.

But somehow, the paramedics and guards on the scene managed to revive Goldie and she told them everything before she slipped back into a coma. And if that wasn’t enough…there was the partially slagged engagement bracelet that he’d given Derpy. It had been in Goldie’s hoof – partially fused to it, actually – and held trace hairs which definitively proved the last one wearing it had been Tiger.

His mind numbed. His older sister, in the hospital, put there by her best friend, a pony that was just like a sister to Silver. And worse, she’d been the one that had attacked his ex-fiancée, the mother of his daughters.

“Silver?” At his side, Rarity spoke. They rushed back to Canterlot the moment Goldie had been brought in, and she hadn’t left his side since.

“I’m okay, Rarity,” he said, his voice too numb to say anything further.

“No, love, you’re not,” she told him.

“What am I supposed to say?” he told her as he looked at her. “That my sister is on the verge of death? That the mare that I love just like a sister – her best friend – put her there? And that the same mare in question nearly killed Derpy as well?”

“Don’t you dare say that, son.” Silver looked up at Hammer, the senior earth pony’s eyes tight with hatred. “Tiger Lily is dead to this family now. And your sister will not die and if by chance she does, I will hunt down that murderess myself.”

“No!” Sandalwood sobbed, Hammer’s words having caught her attention. “Hammer, please don’t hurt her. She’s…Tiger has to be sick. It’s the only reason why she would ever turn on Goldie. We’ve known that mare since she was a foal. She’s part of this family. There has to be a reason.”

“None good enough for m—” Hammer began, but found himself cut off by Rarity.

“You will do no such thing,” the unicorn said, drawing authority into her voice. “Your family has been hurt, Baron Salerno. Don’t compound the mistake.”

“You don’t have that right to dictate anything to me, your grace.”

“Please, Silver Hammer, let’s not play the ‘who’s more noble than thou’ game. Tend to your family – they need you. Let the authorities handle this. Your daughter needs you, sir. Don’t remove yourself from her because of that.”

“Dad!” a voice shouted and Sparkler, followed closely by Dinky, raced into the waiting room. A short time later, Derpy walked in, tears in her eyes. “Is Aunt Goldie going to be okay?” the unicorn teen asked.

Silver looked at his older daughter and just embraced her, the tears starting anew. Dinky, already crying, gripped his hindleg in a virtual bear hug.

Meanwhile, Derpy looked at the ponies that would have been her in-laws and embraced them both. “I’m so sorry this had to happen, Sandalwood, Hammer.”

“It’s not your fault, Derpy,” Sandalwood told her. “How are you faring?”

“Wing’s still a bit stiff, but I’ve got friends in town helping me with physical therapy,” Derpy replied. “Thank you for caring.”

“You’re still family,” Hammer said, blinking away tears. “You may not have married my son, but you’ll always be family as far as I’m concerned, Derpy.”

As Rarity watched the others, she couldn’t help but wonder what had gone through the missing pegasus’ mind. What had caused her to snap like this, to turn against the ponies that were a surrogate family to her? It made no sense at all. “I just don’t understand any of it,” she said to herself.

A few minutes later, Shining and Cadance showed up, followed by the rest of the Knights, sans Rainbow, who would arrive once the airship she was on returned to Equestria. More crying, hugs and sorrow ensued, enough so that Rarity felt her heart would shatter in a million pieces. But finally, as the condolences stopped and Cadance and Twilight went to offer their magical abilities to the doctors, Shining looked at them all.

“I’ve put every squadron on alert, with orders to arrest Sergeant Tiger Lily,” he said, fighting to keep his voice stable. “I’ve ordered the Wonderbolts to take the lead on this and for Spitfire to act as group commander for this operation. I’ve also ordered every pegasus not attached to a squadron to report to the nearest airbase so we can put together ad-hoc units – I want nearly every flier we have on this. Lastly, because of the conflict of interest, I’ve grounded Star Song squadron until further notice.”

“I want her caught, Shining,” Hammer said, his voice not bothering to disguise the grief and anger he felt.

“Hammer, there’s another thing you should know: I’ve ordered Wonderbolts, Daring Dazzle and Skylark squadrons to have their ranged fighters take vanguard. In particular, Corporal Lightning Dust from Goshawk squadron has been temporarily transferred back to the Wonderbolts due to her specialty with lightning range magic.”

“Lightning range magic?” he asked, the retired captain of the guard looking at his successor. A second later, his mind kicked in and he voiced, “No….”

“Witnesses confirmed it: the tornado that hit that part of Cloudsdale originated in the exact spot that was Sergeant Lily’s home. We’ll never have to wonder if the old kingdom created a Redsprite,” Shining said in a tight, haunted voice.

“Nature did it for us.”