Mac looked around, spinning and taking the environment in. This was not Zecora's hut. Mac was in the middle of a dirty, deserted street. It was eerily empty, and he couldn't see anypony around. He wanted to yell out and ask for help, or wherever this was, but he knew it was the vambrace doing this. Scratch that. He didn't know this was all in his head. Zebra magic was powerful stuff, and he wasn't completely sure what it was capable of. Even if this was in his head, that didn't mean he couldn't get hurt or communicate with his mind's apparitions. Zecora was on thin ice with him for the decisions she'd made tonight, but she wouldn't chance something like this if it put him in danger. He knew that much. Or at least, he was pretty sure. Maybe she wasn't in her right mind anymore, and it wasn't Zecora he was worrying about.

So what did it want? He was in a street, great. Super fun. Was it buying itself time? Other ponies hadn't done this when they touched it, to his knowledge. So was it something Zecora had done or something that was a result of this sensing thing? He couldn't say. Everything pressing in his life was far too new for him to know much at all. Except heat, but even the behavior of that was new.

"Aah!" Somepony screamed, and Mac bolted down the street. He turned into a dim alleyway just in time to see a zebra adult wrest a loaf of bread from the hooves of a filly as an older one tried to fight him off, breaking into a sprint towards Mac. He was looking at the fillies and hadn't seen him yet, so Mac planted his hooves, drawing back as the zebra started to turn his head back around. Mac threw his punch hard, bracing for impact only to watch his hoof fly straight through the zebra's face, sending himself sprawling to the ground. He rolled, watching the zebra make his getaway. Damn. So they were some sort of vision then.

The little one was crying in the elder's arms now, the older filly staring off into the distance with a look of absolute hatred. Something told Mac that this was where the vambrace began, that all of this had to be related to that. She wanted revenge, and ended up creating this thing to keep her sister safe or whatever. Seemed justified enough. Mac followed them home when they started moving again, walking through the door before it closed on him. He didn't know if he could touch buildings, but he didn't want to find out by getting crushed.

They were greeted by the drunk sounds of a wasted Zebra emanating from a beaten up armchair. A glass raised towards them, followed by laughter. At least he was a happy drunk. The fillies made their way into another room, plopping down onto a bed that had seen better days.

"I think Lenar's family could spare some food..." The older filly offered amongst the sounds of grumbling stomachs.

"No, I don't want food." The younger replied. Mac was surprised. Maybe it was this one that would do it..? "I want to get rid of that stupid zebra that keeps taking it."

"How, Tena? It's not like we can just kill him. We'll be the next to go, but in the square, in front of everyone. You know we're not liked."

"They'll never know it was us. We've got mom's old books, they have stuff in them that's perfect, like hex bags, and-"

"That's not real! It's all just fake magic that'll get you put on trial for witchcraft. No one ever wins a trial for witchcraft." She sighed. "Look, I'm going to go over to Lenar's, and I'll bring back something to eat. Stay here, and don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

"I mean it."

"I know." She agreed, signing.

"Dash!" Thunderlane yelled, the words that followed lost in the wind.

"What?" She yelled back, heaving and pulling a chunk of cloud free. It spun away into the haze.

"I said, we're not slowing this thing at all!" He screamed, mere feet away not but still being drowned out. "This is just dangerous!"

As if to illustrate the point lighting lanced across the sky a hundred feet away. It would have made their fur stand on end, had they not been completely drenched by the storm.

"Then I'll do it myself!" Dash responded. "The Weather Board is all over my ass, and I'm not risking something getting out of hand. "We can't afford to wait and hope that this thing plays itself out."

Thunderlane groaned. "Fine, but you owe me for this." He hooked his hooves into the cloud above them, waiting for her to do the same a ways away. "Ready?" He asked. She nodded. "Pull!"

The chunk didn't go without a fight, electricity lighting the area where it split for a fraction of a second, sending tingles through Dash's hooves that reminded her why she liked this job. Flying was crazy and she loved pushing herself to the edge, but she liked the rush of weather sometimes, knowing that she was one of the best at fighting storms. They were trying to split the cloud bank and pull it apart, a tactic that had worked well in the past for shortening storms. However the major tradeoff to that method came in the fact that it made the storm more intense. They were absolutely drenching the Everfree right now, but she was sure that by the time it reached Ponyville it wouldn't have much left.

Just because this worked well didn't mean she used it often, though. Whoever was still out in force right now was getting hazard pay. At least it wouldn't be too much of a hit to her budget, seeing as so few had come along. They were all on call anyway, because if this thing came to Ponyville with the same intensity it would become their responsibility as well. And there'd be no hazard pay for it then.

Dash was shivering, unable to keep herself remotely warm anymore. Thunderlane looked like he was faring better, and Dash wondered for a moment if she would have ever gotten involved with him. She'd thought about it in passing a few times, but she admired the fact that he treated this job as seriously as she did.

Also, she didn't really need a shower today anymore. She'd probably take one to warm up and not have hypothermia, but she was tempted to let herself smell like rain and fresh air. Mac liked that smell anyway, though she was surprised he still noticed when he was in heat. Dash grinned to herself, thinking of the things they'd do tonight. How nice the things had been from last night. As much as she had liked being in control, there was something so reassuring and lovely about the feel of his chest against her back. She had always been a sucker for the traditional way, even though it seemed the least intimate. She didn't want to always do it that way by any means, but there was just something about it...

Lightning struck again, much closer this time. It sent tingled through her body again, though these were uncomfortable, far too high of energy. Maybe Thunderlane was right...

But if this storm continued to grow and terrorized Ponyville, she could basically kiss her job goodbye. The Weather Board would seize on any opportunity they could, so there was no way she was going to hand them an opportunity if she could possibly avoid it. The only way to win this was by playing the long game. She hated the long game, but it would have to do.

"We're going to have to break it another way!" Dash yelled, ripping off chunks of cloud and flinging them downwards, no longer trying to pick her targets.

"What are you doing?!" Thunderlane yelled, flying over. Dash could barely see anymore, her waterlogged feathers and fur making her feel ten times heavier.

"Well we tried going at it from the top, and now the more dangerous but more effective way of using the bottom, so I say it's time to try seeing what happens when we make our own cloud and hurl it into this."

Thunderlane shrugged. "I'll warn the others!"

Dash nodded, watching him fly away before dropping some altitude to find her cloud chunks. She shoved them together, compressing the cloud as much as it felt like doing. Then she pulled it away from the storm, taking some deep breaths as she finally left the rain. The remaining weather ponies began to filter out of the storm, some of them helping to make the cloud denser.

Dash put her shoulder to the back of the cloud, other ponies grouping up around her as they started to push. The cloud accelerated quickly, moving faster and faster under the thrust of many sets of wings. Dash hollered the signal to stop and the ponies pulled back, watching the very dark grey blob sail into the cloud bank. Lightning erupted along its path, rending the cloud and keeping it from forming around the gap that had been made. The thunderhead's base was alight with activity, dropping an absolute deluge of rain as the cloud became unstable, showing signs of weakness, she hoped.

Lightning exploded out of the bottom with a ferocity she hadn't seen in years, striking a tree far below and blowing it to smithereens. Any fire that the blast started went out as soon as it began, the cloud itself reeling from the massive output of energy it had experienced. It broke apart, losing much of its intensity and allowing Dash the rare opportunity to take a breath.

"One down!" Thunderlane exclaimed, smacking her on the back. "Nice job!"

"Yeah, now there's only like fifty left." She muttered, shivering.

"And none, as far as the Weather Board will be concerned, am I right?!" He yelled at the rest of the assembled ponies, getting quite the response. Dash was taken aback. She'd hardly expected them to care.

"I don't deserve you guys." Dash replied, grinning widely. Maybe she wasn't so alone in this after all.

A rock bounced off a second story window, and after a short delay the lights switched on. The window opened soundlessly, and a young colt stuck his head out the window.

"Hey Lenar."

"I can't just keep giving you food, Zecora." He whispered down at her. "My dad's gonna find out, and you know how he is. You know what it means to be interacting with you." Mac took a slight step back, surprised that this vision was following Zecora. He knew she had to do with the vambrace somehow, but he'd not expected her to come into the story this early. In fact, he'd expected this vision to center around the vambrace itself.

"Oh come on." She responded, putting on a pout. "You wouldn't let a cute filly like me starve, right?"

"It may not always be up to me." He stated, tossing down a couple loaves of bread. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow." He finished, closing the window after he saw her nod.

Zecora was careful on her way back, dipping through alleyways and sticking to the sides of streets as the buildings transitioned from nice to run down. It was quite the dynamic, though with all the movement Mac found himself distracted by the fact that his breaths felt empty, and he wasn't fatigued in the slightest. He stopped breathing to see if he could, and after another minute of following cute little Zecora he realized that it was unnecessary. It was a strange feeling for sure.

Zecora eventually made it through her door safely, breaking off a quarter of a loaf to place with her passed out father. It'd probably be stale by the time he woke up but whatever. He probably had enough reasons to drown his sorrows the way he did.

"Zecora, is that you?"

"Yeah, Tena." She replied, walking into their bedroom. "I got-" Her eyes widened, looking around rapidly at the books spread around. She looked right through Mac, which was something he was still getting used to. She peeked out into the main room again, her head coming back into the room looking quite cross. "How did you find those?"

"The floorboards were loose, and I wanted to see if I could fix them."

"How long ago?"

"I don't know, Zecora, a few years? Does it matter?"

Zecora looked like she was about to explode with anger. "Do you know why I hid those?"

"Yeah, because they're banned, and-"

"Stop beating around the bush!" Zecora cut her off angrily, pushing the book Tena was looking at closed. "Those books are the ones mom used, and you remember why she's not around anymore?!"

Tena grew slightly more somber. "But we can just use it to make a hex to stop-"

"No!"

"But we get our food stolen out there so often, and this could stop it forever!"

"And what, get you killed?" Zecora spat back. "I don't know how many people you think I have left on this earth, but it's far fewer than you seem to expect. I'm not willing to risk that over something stupid."

"You said yourself that you weren't sure if Lenar could keep up giving us food forever. We don't have any other options, since they turned on mom. The only reason dad still has a job is because they want to say they walk all over him, and flaws in his personality aside, he at least sticks to that and puts some food on the table." Tena took a breath. "All I want is a little more security."

"Maybe when we're out of options. Anything's better than that." Zecora bit her lip. Though she knew that it was a big possibility it would come to that eventually. "No hexes."

"Fine." They lapsed into silence. "You know some, don't you?" Tena eventually asked.

Zecora sighed. "Mom showed me how they work, yeah. They're not like spells, you know. You need ingredients and stuff in a little bag."

"So they are real." Tena noted. Zecora sighed and nodded. "So-"

"I won't do it, Tena." Zecora laid down on her side of the bed, pulling the covers over herself. "Eat some bread and go to sleep."

"What about you?"

"I'm not hungry anymore."

"You know, if they see you with me, you'll be in the same situation as I am." Mac spun around, the environment changing in a flash. He was atop a grassy hill, the city he had been in off in the distance, he assumed. Zecora looked older, in her teenage years now for sure.

"They won't." The stallion next to her reassured, looking out over the city.

"Lenar-" Zecora tried to protest, before he placed his hoof over her mouth.

"I gave the guards the slip, and my father isn't expecting me for anything anyway." He watched her for a moment, trying to see if she was any more at ease. It didn't appear as if his dialogue had worked. "The chief justice is also investigating something in the styx district, so there's nothing to worry about there either."

"Well what if they find out about my sister?" Zecora asked. "It's only a matter of time, and she gets more bitter every day... I worry that there's not much she feels she has to loose."

"She's smart, Zecora, she'll avoid them. Besides, in ten years none of that will matter. That will all be ours, and you'll be by my side at the top of the castle." He said, pointing off into the distance. "Witchcraft is only illegal because they make it so. I see the things its done in history, the good it can do. Banning something like that and driving it underground like they have only serves to create ponies like what you worry your sister may become. Begrudging and extremely dangerous."

Zecora leaned her head against his, getting sleepy in the gentle sunlight. "Maybe I can take up my mother's studies after all." She muttered.

"As if there was ever any shadow of a doubt." Lenar replied with a chuckle, nuzzling against her cheek gently. He pulled her against him, fighting off his own fatigue. "I just wish that it was like it had been, back when we were kids. You know, when no one would have batted an eye at this. I know it'll make no difference in the end," he continued, squeezing her, "but it still bothers me that it's a hoop to go through, you know?" He looked down at her, realizing she was already asleep.

Lenar kissed her on the forehead, settling in beside her and quickly passing out himself.

And so the vision moved again, a very slightly older Zecora pacing back and forth in her living room. She looked moments away from a breakdown, though he obviously couldn't be sure what had happened. There was a knock at the door, and she stopped suddenly, staring at the old wood. She walked over silently and carefully, looking through a slit in the door before sighing and pulling it open.

"Lenar, what are you doing here?" She hissed, closing the door behind him. He took off a beggar's shawl, tossing it to the floor. Apparently Zecora had been quite serious about how much of taboo it was to have him anywhere near her. "Did you figure out where-"

"They have her."

A tear slid down her cheek, her face turning inwards with emotions Mac had never seen in all the time he'd known her. "Fuck!" She screamed, throwing a table over. "She promised she wouldn't do this! Looked me right in the eye!"

Lenar tried to hug her and calm her down, but Zecora didn't let him. "It's gonna be alright." He tried again, with enough uneasiness in his voice for it to be clear that it wouldn't be.

"You could pull every single string you have available to you, and then what? You know what they'd do, just group you with her, throw you down like nothing, heir or not."

"I'll pull any of those, if that's what it takes."

"You better not."

He was calming down now, cooler thoughts prevailing in his mind. "I'd go down in flames for you, Zecora, you know that." He blocked a punch going for his head.

"You stupid moron. Like that'll fix anything." She jerked her hoof in his grasp, trying to get free. Lenar was having no trouble holding her, attesting to his strength.

"Oh, it won't. That's far too obvious. But if we pull just one or two..." He alluded, grinning, "we might just have a shot of an okay ending here."

Zecora sighed, letting her hoof fall limp. Tears still occasionally fell, but she appeared far more composed. Lenar embraced her, and she lost her progress, sobbing mutedly into his shoulder. Zecora looked angry at her emotions and the hold they had over her, though she seemed helpless to control them. Eventually the hug came to an end and Lenar let go, planting a quick peck on her forehead before turning around to grab something he'd brought.

He pulled a rolled up piece of paper out of a tube, spreading it out on another table. "How far are we going with this?"

"Anything t-that gives us a reasonable chance of survival and gives her a shot at it."

"That's what I was afraid you'd say." He replied, looking in her direction. "You're calm right now, and I need it to stay that way. You're a strategic thinker from now on, and these are the options we can pursue without emotional input."

Zecora nodded.

"This is a map of the square they'll bring her to. I don't know what they've charged her with. It could be something petty, though realistically anything could be turned into a death sentence as far as they're concerned. You think it may be that she was found with witchery stuff, which could be true. In the event that she appears on that platform tomorrow to be hung, these are our options. Guards are posted in these places, and everything I've scribbled on here is stuff they can see.

"It's all scribbled on." Her breath caught, and he put a hoof around the back of her neck.

"You're not looking closely." Lenar pointed so several places on the map. "This is disregarding windows. We can't run in there with your specifications and expect to come out on top, let alone save ourselves. We have old arrows from the archives that are great at cutting rope and a nice bow and one shot."

"So we cut her down and then what? Leave her to the dogs?"

"No, then chaos does the rest, ideally. Look, I went through everything and this is the best plan. This is not an easy shot, nor is it the best way of saving your sister. But we've got to look at what you want to have happen here, and that involves keeping us alive. I've had to sacrifice some of the strategic-"

"Yeah, you really have!"

"Well what am I supposed to do? I know it's your sister but my hooves are tied here. Do you want me to give up everything for this? Make a decision and stand with it, Zecora!"

"What other strings do you have?"

Lenar looked at her quizzically for a moment, sighing. "This is it. Short of going in there and chopping her down manually, probably needing to kill someone and make an unlikely escape, and then restarting our lives in a different city days away with no supplies, no. We need to sell this one, really overshadow your sister with something more important. Did I ever tell you why my father hates witchcraft? Why he really does?"

Zecora opened her mouth to answer, before closing it and shaking her head. Some remaining tears slid down her face. "No, you didn't."

"Well I thought I knew, but he had a little too much to drink several weeks ago. He used to be known as a great noble, and in many ways he still is. He makes good decisions when they don't involve witchcraft. It goes way back, all the way to your mother. Ya see,"

"My mother?" Zecora asked. "How come you didn't tell me earlier?"

Lenar did a half shrug. "I didn't want you or your sister to know, especially since Tena was already on the verge of what she did. Besides, I had a lot of other things to think about." He put a hoof over her mouth as she tried to protest. "Shh. Listen."

He sat down, leaning against the couch. "Your mother was a great witch. She was a master of the craft, picked everything up almost immediately. My father saw this and made sure she was well taken care of. Such a move wasn't made with the intent of controlling your mother and keeping her on his side, but for the many great things that can come from a well supplied, content witch. Medicine, clairvoyance in decision making, you name it. Your mother was brilliant. So when I try to dissect the motivations behind killing her, understand that I'm speculating on vague and often incomplete information."

Zecora nodded.

"Someone, I'm not sure who yet, was quite put off by your mother and the ease with which she convinced the duke of things. She had real power, and while she used it responsibly, there's no surprise her position was the cause of a lot of envy. Eventually someone moved on that position, and with a rather brilliant plan as well. My father was supposed to inspect something, but I got sick. He sent my older brother instead, and well, the trap went off on him. He died spectacularly, and with the telltale signs of your mother's witchcraft. Naturally, my father was absolutely outraged, thinking the trap was meant for him, rather than as just a stunt. And, well, you know the rest."

"And you know it wasn't her?" Zecora asked, hopeful.

"Well, I don't know, but someone must've been close to my father if they knew about his change in schedule. I have a hard time thinking your mother didn't, but like I said before, she didn't really seem to have a reason to take power. And if she was trying to, why be so obvious? It would have been incredibly sloppy to commit the murder outright like that with her skills and resources. She could've made him die of a hex that resembled a disease or whatever, but not that."

Zecora swallowed, pushing the information to the back of her mind. "So what's the big deal with it now? I mean, pardon my brashness but why should I care when my sister's getting hanged in a few hours?"

"Well, because we're going to use it to our advantage. We'll get your sister down, and then we'll make it look like witchcraft was involved. I'll give you an alibi and ideally my father will become more distracted with that new threat than your sister or you, at least for a while. He doesn't think straight when it comes to that sort of thing, so smaller mistakes will probably be overlooked. That's the idea anyway. Eventually the next plan of action will be figuring out who it was that framed your mother and getting them out of the picture. Maybe then I can get my dad back to normal. Maybe then he'll act like himself again."

"We can hope."

Lenar tried to give her a smile, but it came out as more of a pained grimace. The face of a colt who had never really known his father on that much of a personal level, who had presumably been shut out emotionally after his brother had died, Mac could only assume. At least Zecora had a father figure that was sober occasionally and still cared about her, in his own way. Lenar was just the backup heir.

"Yes, he needs you to vacate for a few hours." He handed the zebra some coins. "I've been ordered to stay here for a couple hours to ensure additional safety, you understand." The zebra nodded quickly, having apparently received quite a bit of money.

She dipped inside for a moment, leaving a minute or so later with a cute little zebra in tow, a nod towards Lenar. So that was a string, he supposed. He seemed to be well liked anyway, being met with a smile when the door had opened. That made sense, with his nice, charitable personality. He nodded to her, watching her retreat down the block. Zecora came out from behind a trash can, following him inside.

They found the window they were looking for, and Lenar soundlessly pushed it open. He set his stuff down, his armor reflecting the sun from the window as he moved. It was generically colored but engraved with various shapes and patterns, making it look quite ornate. He pulled a bow from around his body, pulling the strange arrow from his quiver. He looked it over, and Mac realized it was clearly something made more to look nice than be functional. Maybe a relic or recreation of something from times of old. It looked a little too clean and fancy to be anything else. But he'd said it'd been from the archives, so maybe its purpose had been for circumstances such as these. Not specifically these circumstances, but for rope cutting maybe. That could be useful for fighting siege equipment or maybe for use against ships?

"So that's it, huh?"

"Yeah." He replied, barely above a whisper. "And now we wait."

"Hey." Zecora started, after at least a few minutes of silence. "Whatever happens, whether it's bad or good..." She faltered, shaking her head. "Hopefully good... I love you, Lenar."

"It's all going to be fine, Zecora." He replied, watching. "And don't think I forgot my promise to have you up in that castle with me."

"You've been saying that since we were foals. Since before mom died. Do you really believe that?"

"Well." He shrugged. "I don't know what else I've been working towards my whole life."

Zecora couldn't hold back a slight smile. "God, you're such a sweetie." He blushed at that, laughing to himself. "I'm so lucky to have you."

"You probably are." He agreed, as Zecora punched him in the shoulder. "But look, I'd probably be a perfect heir to this regime if I had never known you, and I'm glad I'm not. This place is going to be different. No witch hunts, none of the scare tactics. I'll be just and caring yet firm, with my beautiful mare by my side through it all. So maybe it's me that doesn't deserve you."

"You're sure optimistic. How do you even plan to take the throne? Waiting?"

"I've got a plan, but now's not the time." Mac watched a few zebras get led up onto the platform and get ropes placed around their necks. Somewhat petty-ish crimes were read off. Not worth a hanging but not exactly child's play either, assuming the crimes were correct.

"Where's Rena, Lenar?" Zecora asked, growing distracted by the events outside and the growing noise in the square.

"Oh, she'll be by herself I'm sure. If they didn't make her a big deal it'd be a waste. Whether she did anything witchcraft related or not, it'll be great for the higher ups when there's such a supposed danger about. And if they found anything, which I assume they did, that'll seal the deal."

There was a long silence between the pair.

"What's going to happen to Rena?" Zecora asked, shakily. "Say we save her life here, then what? She can't just be a fugitive here forever."

"We'll have to send her to another city. I have the connections to make it work, and these guys can't do much over there."

Zecora looked like she might protest, but decided instead to remain quiet. Any silence they achieved was immediately overshadowed by a collective drop in crowd noise outside. Mac knew without looking that the zebras had dropped. The ruckus steadily built back up, and Lenar readied his bow.

"Attention!" A zebra bellowed. "We bring before you proof that the old barbaric customs of witchcraft still thrive, even within our city walls. This zebra, doing the unnatural! Working against the flow of the world itself, twisting it any way she pleases. We found old books with her, with incantations and diagrams for just about every way to kill or maim any one of you. Who knows what her target could have been?! Maybe you over there, or you!" The crowd was getting worked up, though not as much as Mac had expected.

"But we are nothing if not fair, in this civilized society we occupy. Gone are barbaric practices of burning at the stake or drowning. All who commit crimes punishable by death are allowed a quick, painless death and a proper burial. But she, as one to commit these crimes, must face this punishment." A noose slipped onto Rena's neck, tears streaming down her cheeks, but her face otherwise composed. She knew what she had been doing, the risks that had come with it.

Lenar drew back his bow, watching the hangman's arm on the lever intently. "God, Zecora." He sighed. "I hope this works."

The arrow flew as the lever moved and Rena dropped, slicing through the rope and sticking into one of the poles of the galley behind it. Rena hit the ground hard, a shocked silence sweeping over all present. Lenar and Zecora ducked to the floor, staying out of sight. Lenar took out a knife, handing it to her.

"You know the drill."

Zecora tried to think of a way around it, but she couldn't. There wasn't any time, and this kept him free from blame. Zecora wrapped her arms around his neck, mashing her lips against his without a hint of subtlety or delay. They didn't really have time for that either. "I love you, Lenar. You shouldn't have to do this for me or my sister."

"Stop acting like I have a choice." He pointed to his shoulder. "Go."

Zecora hesitated for a second before placing the point of the knife on his shoulder where he'd said to and drawn a helpful line and shoving it in. Lenar cringed and jerked, and tears fell from her face. This was an excellent plan, playing on tactics of witchcraft from many years ago, back when it had focused more on blood and sacrifice. These were classic wounds that they would impart toward their enemies, meaning something about the flow of energy. Lenar looked like he got attacked and lost a lot of blood in a non life threatening way, and her sister had a good shot at getting away in the chaos.

Zecora sank the knife into his other shoulder, almost feeling the pain herself. She pulled it back out, lowering Lenar gently back to the floor. He wiped a tear from her face, rolling onto his side with a groan. "Get to work, Zecora." He mumbled, cringing as she pushed a hoof into one of his wounds, collecting some of the blood in a bowl. She slid over to the wall quickly, dipping her hoof and smearing it on the wall, writing.

Lenar admired her work for a moment, before nodding. "Get out of here." He mumbled. "I'll meet you near the willow tomorrow afternoon."

Zecora was all too happy to oblige, quickly vacating before any help arrived and happy that Lenar had organized patrols to give her a window. She ran like hell through the deserted streets, arriving back at her house in record time. She didn't feel fatigued, too much adrenaline running through her system. She closed the door behind herself, turning and coming face to face with a guard.

Zecora screamed, pure ice running through her veins. He grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her around as she tried to fight back. "Calm down!" He yelled. Zecora stopped in her tracks, her mind slowly remembering how the plan was supposed to go from here.

"Oh, you're Lenar's friend."

"Yeah. Under official order from the duke to make sure that you don't leave here. How am I doing?"

"Impeccable." Zecora replied, out of breath. "You scared the absolute shit out of me."

"Lenar says I'm good at that." He took position near the door, watching her. "I guess now it's time to see if he forgot anything. If the plan's gonna blow up, it'll probably be around now."

And so they waited, and waited. Zecora's dad chatted with the guard as if nothing was amiss. Mac took inventory. He still hadn't a clue why he was seeing any of this. He assumed it had something to do with the vambrace, but now he wasn't so sure. He hadn't even seen the thing, though if anypony were to create it, it'd probably come down to Zecora's sister. But she could be dead by now, and if she wasn't, why wasn't he following her? He seemed to be stuck to Zecora, drawn to follow her around. But he could also walk off if he wanted to, there was nothing preventing him besides his curiosity. This had to be her story that was being told, but when would any of the pertinent things happen? He was getting worried that he'd simply been trapped in here, yet at the same time, why even bother telling a story to him?

Knocks broke him from his reverie and the guard opened the door, letting in a few more guards. They looked at Zecora, then him, and nodded, taking their leave. Dark fell and Zecora passed out, exhausted. The time didn't change immediately, and he allowed himself to drift back into thought, sitting in one of their chairs. It was hard and unforgiving, like concrete. He supposed that was because he couldn't alter the vision. He sighed, spreading out on the floor instead and stretching. It felt nice, and he half wondered if he was doing it in the real world concurrently.

He didn't know what to do with Zecora after this. He felt his emotions were muted in here, as if they were part of a memory in his own head. Reminders of how he had felt, but powerless to instill the same motivations in him now. That wasn't to say he felt nothing, because that was the opposite of the truth. Some part of him wanted to see if this would show her reasoning in a better light, but another part knew that it wouldn't change his attitude. She'd betrayed his trust, in a way, kept dangerous secrets and did this to him. At the same time, however, he couldn't help but think he was mad because she was being childish about this whole thing. She knew something about it nopony else did, and it apparently embarrassed her enough to lie to some of the most powerful beings on the planet to keep it that way. While he could understand that to a degree, she'd kept it secret even from him, the one that knew her the best and had her back. He wouldn't have been angry about something in her past, had she just explained it to him.

Real anger brewed within him, something far separate from the emotions he'd been feeling about the memories played in front of him. Anger to a degree he hadn't felt in a long time. How could she possibly feel that doing this was her best option? Getting him stuck in here and lying to him like she had?! He was so pissed he could hardly think. Then some clarity washed over him.

Maybe that was why he was in here, then? She didn't, maybe couldn't, explain it well enough herself? But she still said it was her battle to finish so he really couldn't be sure how her motivations were playing out quite yet. Even that line of reasoning didn't really ease his rage.

Other ideas had flowed through his head from time to time, with the most common being the possibility of a lust for power. Zecora knew what that thing could do. Maybe she had a few enemies left over to take care of, and this was the easiest way to achieve that end. He liked to think he knew Zecora better than that, but at this point, who knew?

Some fresh, unmuted fear settled in his stomach. This vision had better end quickly, because he needed some answers.

Author's Notes:

And so part two rolls out. It's funny to me how I can't really write like I used to. I guess I just pushed chapters like whatever, and didn't care that much what was in them or how they worked for later. Nowadays I'm pretty nervous about their reception and I check them like a thousand times. That was what initially led to one chapter becoming this one, the last one, and the next one. It didn't give enough background into the characters involved, and even if I went a little overboard, I figured I'd rather have that for later than not. Like a foundation on a building that doesn't have all the top floors planned, I'm trying to future proof. Hopefully it's worth it, because this is probably the last story arc before things get crazy.

Also weather stuff is pretty interesting. It's weird to write when there's so little of that kind of thing in the real world. I give it ten years though.