Iron Rain didn’t need to know where Queen Jade had been staying; all she needed to do was follow the shouting. It took her to the north wing of the castle, where increasing numbers of Union soldiers and Equestrian legionaries gathered. On the way, she took note of every blood stain on the walls and the mangled corpses the soldiers shuttled out of the halls. Many had crushed necks and twisted limbs indicative of powerful telekinesis. Rain shuddered as she passed the remains of a pony so mangled they could be stuffed into a bucket. Her legionaries weren’t prepared to fight attackers with magic this strong.

Wings coiled by her side, Rain tersely stomped around the corner and was greeted by a harrowing sight. The very innards of the castle had been vomited into the halls, and unicorns were feverishly working to clear the debris. Bricks of stone and splinters of wood had been piled in a corner, with more debris being added every second. Pegasi and earth ponies crawled over the rubble like ants, heaving and pulling with strong limbs as they searched for survivors. Occasionally, a legionary would shout, and a group of soldiers would converge on their position. Together, the ponies would dig and struggle and pull the mangled body of another soldier out of the rubble. Stretcher-bearers quickly loaded up those who were still alive and flew down the halls to seek immediate medical attention. The corpses were laid flat opposite of the cleared debris.

Iron singled out a centurion and marched over to her. “Status,” she ordered, her brow furrowed and nostrils flaring. The centurion jumped, tugged at her armor, and gave Rain a hasty salute.

“Legate Rain!” the rose centurion exclaimed. “Centurion Azalea. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I didn’t ask for your name,” Rain said, narrowing her eyes. “Status report. Now.”

Azalea flinched and swallowed the lump in her throat. Rain noted she was still young and pretty-faced; she must’ve had somepony influential in the Senate secure her promotion for her. Rain rolled her eyes. She hated soldiers who didn’t earn their rank with their own blood and tears.

“Y-Yes, ma’am,” Azalea stammered. “We’re trying to dig through the rubble right now. It’s… it’s bad.” She shuddered and cast worried pink eyes at the soldiers digging through the rubble. “We had a bunch of legionaries stationed in the room below Queen Jade so they’d be nearby if anything happened. Whatever happened upstairs…” Azalea inhaled sharply and hugged herself with her wings. “Those rebels brought down three whole floors on them. The queen is probably somewhere in the middle.”

“Mobius have mercy on them,” Rain whispered. Without another word, she left the centurion behind and climbed on top of the pile of rubble. She grunted and put her hooves to the rubble, pushing aside stone after stone and helping her subordinates dig through the rock and mortar. Some of them cast surprised looks in her direction, but those of Nimban blood waved it off. They knew the Legate of Nimbus was at her rightful place: by their sides, not commanding from the rear.

For half an hour, Rain dug through the rubble with her ponies. Dust and grit clung to her sweat stained coat, and more than once she inhaled a lungful of ash that left her hacking and coughing and clutching at her chest. Wiping the sweat from her brow, Rain snaked her hooves into the cracks around a large block of stone and rolled it back to reveal the cracked skin of a jade-green forelimb.

The mare stared at the limb for several seconds of disbelief before finally raising her voice. “Hey! Over here!” she squawked, and with renewed vigor began casting aside brick after brick. Several legionaries hurried up to her sides and began to fling the debris away, until finally they had uncovered the Union’s queen.

Jade’s eyelids fluttered as she drew shuddering breaths, and her coat was cracked and chipped the entire length of her body. Skin had flaked away in jagged sheets, decorating the rubble like smashed glass, leaving behind raw flesh that oozed blood. The tip of Jade’s horn had shattered, and her left wing was so horribly mangled that it resembled more of a pincushion for spurs of bone than a wing.

Rain was just impressed that she had survived several tons of stone falling on her, alicorn or not.

Jade began to stir, and Rain whistled for stretcher-bearers to prepare to take her away. She knelt down by the mare’s side and carefully looked her over. “Queen Jade,” she said, gently resting a hoof on the alicorn’s shoulder. “Look at me. Where do you hurt?”

“Mmmnnff…” Jade winced as she tried to move and just barely managed to bring bleary eyes to Rain’s face. “Wing… chest… head…” she murmured. “What… happened?”

A pair of ponies laid an oversized stretcher down by Jade’s side and a few unicorns rushed up with bandages to take care of the worst of the superficial wounds. Rain backed away to give them space but remained close enough for Jade to focus on. “The castle was attacked by rebels. They managed to get to you before we could rally a response. I’m sorry for the loss of your brave soldiers who defended you in our absence.”

Jade closed her eyes and gathered her strength. Her haggard face resembled that of an old mare’s, aged decades in the span of one agonizing hour. “Smart Cookie,” she whispered. “Is he alright?”

Rain blinked. She hadn’t seen the amber earth pony anywhere in the rubble. But apparently one of her soldiers had. “Ma’am,” came the voice from just behind Jade. Rain turned to see a pair of legionaries digging a limp, orange body out of the rubble. Together, they laid the broken body of Smart Cookie down behind Jade. One of the stallions checked his pulse, while the other lightly slapped Smart Cookie’s cheek. After several seconds, the latter legionary frowned. “He’s alive, but not responsive.”

The gray mare scowled. “Load him onto a stretcher. Maybe the doctors can do something for him.” She began to turn back to Jade, but she froze in place as she saw the alicorn gasp and struggle to stand.

“Cookie!” Jade exclaimed, flailing where she lay. A pair of legionaries rushed forward to hold her down, but the large mare roughly shoved them aside and managed to crawl to her knees. Rain backed away as the Union’s queen scrambled on half-numb limbs across the pile of rubble to where Smart Cookie’s body lay.

Inches away, Jade stopped. She was all but frozen in time with only the haggard rise and fall of her ribcage to betray her. One trembling hoof extended from her sides, and she gently waved it in front of Smart Cookie’s open eyes. But even though the stallion still drew breath, his eyes remained unfocused, unseeing.

“Cookie…” Jade breathed. Her shaking hoof touched Smart Cookie’s cheek and brushed some debris off of the amber hairs. Glistening tears fell from the mare’s face, and her good wing began to violently shake by her side. “Cookie, no…”

The stretcher-bearers on the side caught Rain’s eyes. They looked up at her, expectant, waiting to be issued the order. Closing her eyes, Rain drew a deep breath and nodded.

The two stallions advanced on Jade and gently touched her shoulders. “Your highness, you need to see the doctor,” one of them said, gently shaking her. “We can take care of him.”

To their surprise, Jade sent him flying back with a well-placed hoof to his jaw. “No!” she screamed, and when the other stretcher-bearer tried to restrain her, she shoved him off the pile of rubble as well. “No! No, you can’t take him from me! Cookie!” The Union’s queen wrapped her forelimbs around Smart Cookie’s limp body and hugged him close. “Cookie, don’t leave me!”

This time, several legionaries advanced on Jade at once. Together, they managed to drag the screaming, fighting, biting alicorn away from her lover. Rain kept her eyes closed as the struggle slowly moved away from her. It wasn’t hard for her to imagine herself in Jade’s position and Finder’s broken body lying only a few feet away.

A cry of pain and a crash of armor snapped Rain’s eyes open. A legionary clutched at his nose, which was beginning to pour blood, as he retreated from Jade’s outstretched hoof. “You killed him!” Jade screamed as she struggled against the stallions dragging her down the hallway. “You’ll pay for this! Every one of you! I hope you all burn! I’ll make this damn upstart nation burn! Animals! Barbarians! Monsters!”

Rain took a shuddering breath and turned away as Jade’s screams slowly faded into the distance. How things could get much worse, she didn’t know.

“Ma’am?” Azalea’s voice reached her ears, and she found the rose mare by her side again. “Your orders?”

“Orders,” Rain sighed. She took her helmet off and ran her hoof through her frazzled mane. “Get Smart Cookie out of here. Bring him to the infirmary. Hopefully if he’s there, Queen Jade will calm down.”

Azalea nodded and motioned with her wing to the soldiers standing behind her. They immediately executed Rain’s orders, and soon enough the stretcher-bearers left with Smart Cookie between them. Rain and Azalea watched them go, both mares absorbed in their own pensive thoughts.

“Legate?”

“Hmm?”

Azalea shuddered. “Do you think she means it?”

Rain’s nostrils flared. “Every last word.”

Aurora glided through the halls of Everfree Castle on silent hooves. Her wickedly sharp and curved horn glowed with fiery energy as she swept it back and forth, checking every corner and hiding place she found for any hidden rebels. So far she’d yet to come across any, except for a few dead bodies here and there. The longer she prowled, the more and more it seemed like they’d simply retreated, vanishing into thin air.

Again, her thoughts wandered back to the infirmary she’d recently vacated. The Mistress had returned from delving into Typhoon’s mind with a pained gasp and hyperventilating breath. Second Sister had immediately rushed to her side, searching for any sort of injuries, before Luna had waved her away. Even still, as the midnight alicorn conversed with her sister, Aurora had spied her favoring her right forelimb, which she held close to her body and rubbed occasionally.

Apparently, her staring had gotten her in trouble. Luna quickly noticed the idle thestral mare and sent her off to patrol the castle. The magic took hold of Aurora’s limbs before she even had the chance to protest, and now she was stuck walking her usual route through the castle’s many stone halls and corridors, powerless to stop herself.

The magic cascading off her horn was to blow off steam more than anything, really.

A tremendous thunderclap that nearly perforated her sensitive eardrums left Aurora wincing in pain, yet her legs still carried the unwilling mare along. She flicked her ears in irritation and waited for the ringing to die down. When it did, she sighed and glared straight ahead. “Must you always make an entrance?”

A chuckle. “The reactions from the guards are usually worth it.” Hoofsteps echoed after her, but they didn’t make their way to her side. “Where are you going?”

“I’m patrolling,” Aurora hissed through gritted fangs. The inflection in her voice left no doubt as to why.

This earned another chuckle from the stallion, and soon Aurora caught sight of Seventh Brother out of the corner of her eye. “You made the Mistress mad?”

“Something like that,” Aurora grumbled. “Since apparently I was wasting space by hanging around the infirmary, she told me to ‘Patrol the castle and don’t stop until you’ve made sure the rebels are all gone.’” She sighed and pinched her brow with a hoof while she hobbled along on the other three. “Several thousand years of this and she still hasn’t figured out how to word her commands so they aren’t imbecilic?”

“If only she could hear you now…”

“Shut up.” The two ponies rounded a corner, and Aurora went back to sweeping her head from side to side. Silence filled the void between the two walking corpses, although Aurora noted Seventh still kept his smile plastered to his muzzle. “Where were you during all this?”

Seventh shrugged. “Out and about. I was patrolling the grounds.”

“And you missed them sneaking in,” Aurora muttered. “Next time, you can handle the west wing.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because that’s where guards’ latrines are. You’d be where you belong.”

Seventh Brother paused and momentarily feigned hurt. “My, what’s gotten into you, Third? A little testy aren’t we?”

Aurora scowled down the length of her muzzle. “It’s been a really, really long night.”

The corners of Seventh’s muzzle turned upwards. “And why’s that?”

They rounded a corner, and Aurora gestured with her head. “That.”

‘That’ was an enormous patch of ice, with large, dripping icicles protruding several feet into the air. Brown gore covered their points, and a puddle was beginning to form around the base. Smaller puddles and splashes of water lined the hallway, carnage from an earlier fight.

Seventh whistled as he eyed the mass of icicles. “You had a run in with Ty?”

“Yeah. She killed me.” A brief pause as Aurora pointedly skirted around another pool of brown blood. “Three times. The third one hurt.”

Seventh raised his eyebrows. “Jeez. At least she—”

“A lot,” Aurora interrupted. Huffing, she redoubled her pace. “You ever had half a dozen icicles skewer every single major organ in your body?”

“You ever had the skin flayed from your horn?” Seventh countered.

“No, I can’t say I have,” Aurora said. She paused only long enough to peel the charred remains of what once was an earth pony off of the ground and set it aside to be collected later. “Mine’s still worse, though.”

“If you say so.”

“I do,” Aurora countered, her brow hardening like stone. She carried the expression for several more steps until she reached an intersection of hallways. A glance to her right wiped it away. “Eldest?”

Without stopping, Aurora turned down that hallway, with Seventh shortly behind her. Approaching from the opposite direction was Eldest, his body covered in blood and lacerations, ash and dirt. His green magic dragged something gnarled and blackened behind him, which left a trail of ash and dust across the stone floor.

Eldest raised his head and simply flung the black thing in front of him. “I found their leader,” was all he said. He waited for the other two thestrals to approach with their eyes wide.

“Their… leader?” Aurora asked, lingering as long as she could near the charred body before Luna’s command forced her to walk past it. The body was unrecognizable—burnt to a crisp. Its muzzle still hung open in an agonized scream, but other than its vague profile, Aurora couldn’t pick out any details.

Eldest watched her walk past him with a raised eyebrow. “What’s wrong with her?” he asked Seventh.

“Mistress’ command,” Seventh said. “She told her to patrol the castle, and most importantly, to not stop.” He shook his head as Aurora unwillingly marched further and further away from them. “I think she just gave her an endless task where she’ll be easy to find when she’s needed.”

“I see,” came Eldest’s cool reply. He hefted the corpse in his magic again and nodded towards it. “I think the Mistress will want to see this. Where is she?”

“Somewhere near the infirmary, if what Third told me was true.” Seventh’s slitted eyes bored into the corpse, and his brow furrowed. “That’s really the rebel leader?”

“Yes.” Eldest already began to walk past him, forcing Seventh to follow him. “I found him trying to escape with a bunch of his companions.”

“Huh,” Seventh said, stopping to scratch his brow. “I didn’t know fire was in your repertoire.”

Eldest raised an eyebrow. “Pardon?”

Seventh shrugged. “You usually use your command over shadows that Mistress gave you when fighting. Didn’t think you used fire.”

“Ah,” Eldest said. “Well, it wasn’t an easy fight. Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“I guess.” Seventh watched Eldest walk a little further away before looking back down the hallway. “I should probably keep Third company. She’s understandably pissed right now.”

“Do that,” Eldest said without turning around. Without another word, he disappeared back up the hallway that Aurora and Seventh had just come from, leaving Seventh to furrow his brow in confusion.

“Mmmm…” Seventh thoughtfully teased his lower lip with his fangs for several seconds. Eventually, he shook his head and trotted off in the opposite direction until he disappeared into the shadows of the castle halls.

On the outskirts of the castle, a thick throng of ponies gathered. Lit by lamp posts and unicorn horns, the street held nearly two hundred ponies, from the storefronts of one side to the apartment walls on the other. Ponies huddled in groups, talking in hushed voices about what was happening inside the castle, while guards patrolled the streets and lined the rooftops. On the rooftops, vigilant eyes peeled in every direction questioned the movement of every pony they caught.

Among the crowd of ponies, a mare huddled under a blanket. Twister sighed and wrapped the blanket tighter around her shivering shoulders, despite the warmth of the summer night. Already the aftereffects of nearly drowning were beginning to take their toll on her body, and she could hardly stop her teeth from chattering as moisture dripped off of her mane.

The fluttering of several wings caught her attention, and she hardly had time to look up before two warm bodies all but tackled her. Twister cried out in surprise and managed to regain her balance as her two daughters wrapped her in a tight hug.

“Mmmf… hi, Gust… hey, Squall,” she managed to wheeze as warm bodies squeezed her ribcage from opposite sides. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“We were so worried!” Squall exclaimed. She buried her periwinkle muzzle in Twister’s mane and wheezed with relief.

“When we heard what happened at the castle…” Gust began, then sighed and rested her head on Twister’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re alright, Mom.”

Strong forelimbs wrapped around all three pegasi as Echo joined the hug. “We all are,” he said, pressing his forehead against Twister’s. “We got down here as fast as we could but, well, finding you was another story.”

“Yeah… yeah…” was all Twister could say as she surrendered herself to the loving embrace of her family. “It’s been a hell of a night.”

The four ponies were simply content to share their warmth with each other for several long minutes while the crowd shuffled and communed around them. Eventually, however, Echo gently nudged his daughters’ shoulders with his wingtips, and they stepped away from Twister to give her space. Echo folded his limbs and sat down across from his wife, while their daughters sat on either of Twister’s sides. Echo’s eyes wandered to the castle, and he rubbed a damp spot on his coat he’d inherited from Twister. “You were there when it happened?”

Twister nodded. “Yeah. I was doing paperwork and foalsitting Tempest. I decided to go for a walk when I ran into a bunch of rebels.” Squall gasped, and Gust rested her hoof on her mother’s as Twister shuddered. “It was a good thing, though. It gave me enough time to grab Tempest and get out of there. If I hadn’t have left for my walk, I’d have been taken by surprise.”

Echo’s eyes found the shattered window of Twister’s still-lit office, which was just barely visible from the street. “So you went swimming?” he asked with a short breath of a laugh, trying to force some lightheartedness into the conversation. Even if it didn’t really work, Twister still smiled.

“Yeah, and I think I broke the record for holding my breath while I was at it.” As if to accentuate her point, Twister coughed a few times. Gust slapped her on the back to help, and Squall wrapped her forelegs around her mother’s shoulders and nuzzled her neck. Grimacing, Twister roughly shook her head. “I’m fine now, though.”

“And that’s all we wanted to hear,” Echo said, smiling. He leaned in and kissed Twister, and the mare reciprocated as best she could without disturbing Squall. “You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”

“And Tempest is safe, too,” Twister said. “A bunch of Lūn’s weird bat ponies took him away a little while ago. They didn’t say why, though.”

Echo nodded. “He should be in good hooves then.”

The family sat in silence for almost a minute longer before Echo spoke again. “So what’s all this out here?”

“The legionaries evacuated all the civilians from the castle while they sweep it,” Twister said. She touched the corner of the blanket draped over her shoulders, and Gust leaned in to adjust it. “That includes servants and wait staff, and any unfortunate politicians like myself who happened to be pulling overtime.”

“Eesh. Anypony we know?”

Twister shrugged. “Doubt it. Most of the big senators were cozy in their cloud beds tonight. Unless you’re seeing a maid that I don’t know about.”

“Well I need somepony to help out around the house,” Echo said, a teasing glint in his eyes. He leaned in and kissed Twister again, and she wrapped her forelegs around his shoulders and squeezed for all she could. When she began to shudder, Echo gently transferred her to his forelegs. He sat back against the building and cradled the smaller mare like a filly, all but suffocating her with kisses and nuzzles.

When they finished, Twister let out a happy trill and rubbed her cheek against Echo’s chest. “I think I’m going to take a long holiday when this is all over.”

Echo smiled. “You and me both. Besides, the kids need some time with their phantom mom.”

Squall giggled while Gust rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Mom,” Squall said, poking Twister in the ribs. “You’re always so busy you don’t have any time for us.”

Twister pouted and sat up to wrap her daughters in her forelimbs. “I know. I’m so sorry for it, too. I haven’t seen you in two days.”

“Try three,” Gust said.

Twister blinked. “Three? Then that means…” she gasped and placed her hooves on her eldest daughter’s shoulders. “Did you pass?”

Gust smiled and nodded. “You’re looking at an official Legion paramedic. The graduation ceremony’s next week.”

The tawny mare gasped and enveloped Gust in a tight hug. “Oh, my little filly’s all grown up!” she cried. “I can’t believe it! I’m so happy for you!”

“Thanks, Mom. I won’t let you down.”

“Oh, Mobius, you don’t have to worry about that!” Twister exclaimed. She looked Gust in the eye and pressed her forehead against hers. “You could never disappoint me, no matter what you do. Just… just stay safe, okay?”

Gust nodded. “I will, I will. I’m not even a combat medic, just a paramedic. I just triage the wounded and evacuate them from battlefields if necessary.”

Twister sighed. “I always knew one of you was going to end up going down that path. Your grandpa, your uncle, your cousins, it seems like you’re all drawn to the Legion one way or another.”

Gust nuzzled her mother. “We’re Stormblades, remember?”

“Yes,” Twister said, pride welling up and nearly bringing her to tears. “Yes, we are.”

Then she turned towards Squall and ruffled the filly’s mane. “And what about you? Your lessons going well?”

Squall nodded. “They’ve been going great, Mom. Miss Mezzo says I’ve got real talent. We just finished a duet piece.”

“That sounds lovely,” Twister said, planting a kiss on Squall’s forehead. “I’d love to hear it.”

Squall giggled and nodded, then shuffled to the side as Echo wrapped his foreleg around Twister’s shoulder. “So you think you can spare a few days, just let the nation run itself for a while?”

“Oh, I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Twister said, leaning against Echo’s neck. “It’s not like things could get any worse.”

Hoofsteps. “Twister?”

Twister sighed and flattened her ears against her head. “You know, just once, I’d like to say that and get away with it.” Growling, she fixed her glare at the newcomer. “What do you want, Mayor?”

Greenleaf fixed Twister with an amethyst stare. “We need to talk.”

“And I need to spend some quality time with my family, okay?” She bared her teeth and drew her husband in a little closer. “How about you go bother somepony else with your bullshit?”

“This is urgent,” Greenleaf insisted. “It’s about the rebels.”

Twister rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’ve had enough of that for one night. Unlike you, who was sound asleep in your cozy little stone mansion, I’ve spent the night running from bloodthirsty ponies while I was simply trying to do my job.” She turned to Echo and ran a hoof down his jawline. “Honey, if he doesn’t stick his tail between his legs and skedaddle, could you break his ribs for me?”

Echo sat up a little straighter. “It’d be my pleasure.”

Greenleaf tried to meet the blacksmith’s iron glare, but he nevertheless took a nervous step backwards. “I’m not dropping this.”

“It can wait until tomorrow,” Twister growled. “Leave a note in my office if it’s so important. Name the time and place, and I’ll be there. Tomorrow.”

Greenleaf bore his teeth in frustration. “But—!”

“Honey…”

All it took was Echo to crack his neck for Greenleaf to jump back. Glaring, he melted back into the crowd, putting as much distance between himself and the blacksmith as he could. Echo watched him go until he’d completely disappeared, then sat back down by Twister’s side. “Coward.”

“Not many ponies want to go hoof to hoof with a blacksmith,” she said. She sighed and leaned against Echo’s chest once more. “I love you guys.”

“I love you, too.”

“Yeah!” Squall exclaimed, throwing herself into the pile. “Me three!”

Gust smiled and wrapped her arms around her mother and sister. “We all do.”

Together, the pile of warmth and love huddled together in the street, until finally, as the moon lowered more and more towards the horizon, they disappeared into the night.

Author's Notes:

Happy Hearth's Warming, everybody! I was originally going to release both SL16 and SL17 on New Year's Eve to round out the first major act of this story, but I decided you guys deserved a Christmas present for being good little boys and girls. So have this short little chapter tonight, and expect the conclusion to this act next week either on New Year's Eve or on the following day.