Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fMHNDhtDHftXIc5ViLitnPSiIWghnpLEb9XtWE5DO4k/edit

Once again, Twilight Sparkle shot up from a nightmare. Breathing heavily, she stared into the room with wide open eyes, soon calming down again. As the adrenalin settled, she realized how sleepy she still was and rubbed her eyes. This was starting to get far too frequent for her taste. The sun was up already, which meant that she didn’t have to try to return to sleep anymore and could get up.

“I’m starting to understand what Rainbow Dash must have gone through with her nightly visions…” she mumbled to herself.

Lately, Twilight had a lot more work to do than usual. It were not escort missions or attempts to liberate Equestria. Neither were it endeavours to get more allies. In fact, she hadn’t been able to leave the Crystal Empire for months. The reason for that was always the same. Something she could already hear from the outside. Yet again, there was loud arguing on the streets.

After swiftly going through her morning routine and taking her medication, Twilight walked out of the crystal palace. She immediately spotted the source of the noises. Several crystal guards were standing around a small brown diamond dog with a large gray sack on his shoulder, while Fluttershy, Applejack, Derpy Hooves and Rarity were standing in front of him.

“But we diamond dogs! We hunt! Is in our genes. Ponies not can expect us not to hunt!” the diamond dog tried to reason.

“Still, you cannot just... “ Rarity started, but then had to cough. “You cannot just take something that doesn’t belong to you! Even diamond dogs should know that!”

“Rarity, you really shouldn’t be out of bed right now,” Applejack spoke in worry.

“Please, Rufus. Be reasonable,” Fluttershy pleaded.

“No! Rufus will hunt! Not can stop diamond dog from being diamond dog!” Rufus refused with his front legs crossed in protest.

Twilight could only sigh. Ever since they rescued a whole city full of diamond dogs, conflicts like these had become a daily thing. No matter how much you would argue with these treasure hunters, it was not possible to prevent them from stealing gems. The purple mare gathered her nerves and started approaching.

“Oh! Hey Rufus! Look who’s coming there! That’s the pony you helped us to rescue a few years back,” Derpy stated as she spotted Twilight, waving at her.

Now the whole small crowd turned their focus over to the head of the rebellion. Twilight never met Rufus, but she knew it was a diamond dog that helped her friends in finding her when she was put under an illusion spell several years ago.

“Nice to meet you, Rufus. So you are the diamond dog responsible for me still being alive today,” she greeted.

“Rufus had deal. Rufus sniff out red-eye monsters, cursed ponies give gems! Rufus diamond dog and diamond dogs hunt gems!” the brown dog tried to explain.

“Would you even take the gems if they were your house? Would you rather sleep on a pile of gems like a dragon than have a roof over your head and a place to keep you dry and warm?” Twilight wanted to know.

“Yes! Put us in empire made of crystals is like putting puppy into empire made of dog treats. Not can help it! Is in genes!” Rufus stated, nearly shouting in anger because nopony seemed to understand him.

“You know, this can’t go on like this. We gladly helped you and your people. But if you keep stealing and destroying property, we will have to end our alliance,” Twilight tried to reason.

“We homeless! You kick us out, we be strays! Easy prey for red-eye monsters! Why ponies not understand diamond dogs? Not care to understand? We hunt! We must! Not can help it! Have to hoard all gems!” Rufus pleaded.

It was obvious that this wouldn’t go anywhere. For months, they had been trying their best to deal with these creatures, but never could find a solution. Twilight looked around and could see that the other diamond dogs did their best to fight against their instincts. They were trembling, constantly looking around, shaking their heads wildly and some even broke sweat in stress. The purple mare lowered her glance and began rubbing her chin. There must be something they could do. In the meantime, Derpy seemed to get worked up over the situation.

“Oh come on, Rufus!” she shouted. “We try our best to be open-minded. But what do you expect of us to do when you guys break down entire houses and steal from donkeys and cattle? They are our allies, your allies! We even had a few instances of diamond dogs kidnapping crystal ponies and keeping them hostage like some sort of object!”

“Crystal ponies so shiny. Body made of gems. So hard not to hunt! So hard not to see as treasure! Moving here was bad idea. All driving us crazy! But have no choice but to stay!” Rufus spoke in a nearly desperate tone.

“Hold on a minute…” Twilight suddenly stated.

“Pony have idea?” the brown diamond dog wondered.

“Perhaps. What if you just changed your perspective on the empire?” the purple mare suggested.

“Change perspective? How mean?” Rufus wanted to know.

“Ok, look at this this way: The Crystal Empire is your new home, yes? In a way, it is a lot like a diamond dog city. There are houses, there is food, there are other diamond dogs. You can even see the sky as the ceiling above you! Well, if you live in a city full of gems, what sense does it make to gather them? Every gem that is here is already hoarded by you! So if you take gems and hoard them at your place, that’s just like moving them from one part of your treasure chamber to another. Makes very little sense, right?” Twilight wondered.

“Y… Yes… Not make sense to move gems… Empire is treasure chamber… All already here…” Rufus mumbled, then suddenly his eyes shot wide open in enlightenment and he let his sack drop to the ground. “Empire is hoarded treasure!”

“Yes, exactly! The empire is your treasure! You shouldn’t waste your energy on moving things around, but rather protect your treasure!” the purple mare suggested in excitement as she realized her plan was working.

“Empire is diamond dog treasure! Must guard! No Red-eye or bad pony take a single piece! Must tell other diamond dogs! Let go! Let Rufus go! Must tell!” Rufus requested.

“Sure! Go right ahead!” Twilight agreed with a smile, then made a small gesture to tell the guards to let him go.

As soon as the first guard moved out of the way, Rufus began to run, not even thinking about the sack he left behind. Not only did he voluntarily give up his stolen goods, but he also seemed to be extremely happy right now, as he was running with a huge smile on his face and his tongue hanging out of the side. The guards just picked up the sack and walked away, aiming to give the goods back to their respective owners. But the others stared at Twilight with open mouths.

“Well Ah’ll be damned, Twilight! That was down-right ingenious of you!” Applejack congratulated.

“We have been struggling with them for months… So many months without any progress… And now, all the sudden, the problems are gone! Just like that!” Rarity spoke in disbelief, then blew her nose with a silky tissue.

“Looks like I still got my brilliant moments sometimes,” Twilight spoke proudly and posed with her left front leg lifted.

“If only Crystal could have seen this…” Fluttershy stated suddenly.

Right after saying this, the mood changed. Twilight stopped posing and all lowered their heads to mourn. After a couple of seconds of silence, the purple mare sighed again.

“Well… we have to carry on. It is a real problem that her protective blizzard is gone, too. But we need to manage without her somehow,” she spoke.

“Oh!” Derpy suddenly started, “Sorry for changing the topic like that, but I just remembered something! We got a message from Saddle Arabia!”

“Wow, really? What do they say?” Twilight wondered.

“We haven’t opened the scroll yet. I think we should all meet up for that. Could be important and we don’t want any potential spies around here to know,” the gray mare suggested.

“Alright. How about in an hour?” the purple mare suggested.

“Sounds good to me,” Applejack agreed, followed by the others nodding.

“Tell the princesses and my brother about it. I gotta make sure the diamond dog problem really resolves itself,” Twilight stated and began to walk away.

---

As always, the circle gathered up in the meeting hall of the crystal palace. Within just this hour, the idea Twilight sparked in the heads of the diamond dogs spread around like wildfire. They instantly started patrolling around the empire, fiercely guarding it against any possible enemy. Also, since they are extremely sensitive towards any shockwaves in the ground, they began to dig holes around the empire, hiding in them and using them like inverted watch towers as an early warning system. This might not be as effective as a blizzard shield, but definitely would make it much harder for cultists and demons to approach. Needless to say, Twilight received a lot of recognition, causing her to blush. But there were more pressing matters at hand, so she quickly changed the topic.

“Anyway, let’s get to the scroll. As you probably know by now, we received a message from Saddle Arabia. I am very curious as to what they want,” she stated.

After exchanging a swift glance, Derpy nodded and pulled the scroll out of her cloak. She broke the seal, unrolled it and began to read out loud.

“Out of safety precautions, we will not call out any names in this message. We heard of both your endeavours and great accomplishments. We, too, are being threatened by a common enemy. We would like to invite you in our kingdom… That’s all there is,” she stated.

“They must be very scared if they are so careful about how much and what they say…” Fluttershy figured.

“Still, these are excellent news!” Luna spoke, getting up and placing her front hooves on the table. “This very much sounds like they wish to discuss the terms for an alliance! We should respond to their invitation immediately!”

“It is nice to see you so eager, my sister,” Celestia commented with a smile.

“Eager maybe, but she is right. Isn’t this exactly what we had been waiting for?” Cadence wondered.

“It sure is, but Saddle Arabia is pretty far away from here. Even if we find a quick way to travel, we will be gone for almost a month. We can’t all be gone for such a long time in case decisions need to be made for the rebellion. Some of us need to stay behind and make sure things keep running smoothly,” Shining Armor explained.

“Well, ya can count me in for that. Spring Sapling’s crystal berry farm would break down without me,” Applejack stated with a mild snicker. “And Ah bet ya’ll stay here, too. Right, Rarity?”

“You know what? I am done with laying in bed all the time! I don’t care if I am sneezing and coughing. I will join in!” Rarity spoke in protest.

“This really isn’t a good idea. You have been sick for ages now and it is not getting better. The only place you should go is to the hospital,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Pish-posh! If I have to spend one more day solely laying in a bed and doing nothing at all, I might as well fall under Maledictum Insania! And although I do believe the doctors here in the empire are quite well trained, nothing they give me really works. I think all I need is getting away from the cold for a while. What better place would there be to go for that than a desert land?” Rarity asked.

“Are you sure you can handle yourself?” Celestia wondered.

“I certainly won’t be able to do everything, but at least for the journey, I am sure I will be able to keep up with you all!” the white mare spoke confidently. “Please, Twilight! I need to help!”

“Alright… But we better bring a cart this time. I am pretty sure you will need a break every now and then. And don’t forget your medicine,” Twilight agreed.

“Well if she is joining in, who will stay behind and help Applejack with the rebellion?” Cadence wondered.

“Ugh…” Derpy spoke and lowered her head a bit in frustration. “Okay, okay. I will stay.”

“Maybe I should stay, too…” Fluttershy suggested.

“No. We definitely should have at least one reaper on this journey. And…” Twilight began, then gained a worried expression. “In all honesty… Sorry if this comes across as a bit harsh, but… You really could use some more distraction…”

“Nothing is going to make me forget Obsidian, you know…” Fluttershy replied, then lowered her focus to the heart pin on her cloak.

“Nopony ever said you should forget him, Fluttershy,” Celestia spoke while getting up and placing a front hoof on the yellow mare’s shoulder. “Honor his memory, but don’t let his tragedy consume you.”

Fluttershy kept staring at the pin and gently caressed it. For a moment, she was considering to respond to this statement, saying that Celestia doesn’t know what she is going through. But if there is anypony in the entire world who truly is familiar with losing friends, it is the former demi-goddess of the sun. She had lived through so many generations, watched so many ponies grow old and die. A thought that made Fluttershy think of herself as bad and selfish.

“I’m sorry…” she finally spoke.

“Don’t be, darling. We all feel for you. First you lose your beloved one, then your mentor… But we need to make their deaths, and by that also the deaths of everypony else who died so far, mean something,” Rarity stated.

Finally, Fluttershy lifted her head again and nodded in agreement.

“I guess we are done then. Pack your things, everypony. Make sure you bring a lot of food and water supplies and some tools to gather and clean more food and water on the way. We will be leaving in two days,” Twilight concluded.

---

To avoid as many conflicts as possible, the group decided to wander during the night. In order to get to Saddle Arabia, they would have to get to the entirely opposite end of Equestria, which meant they had two major options: Either taking the shortest route, which meant going straight through the land, or taking a massive detour and wander along the borders.

Their decision ended up with being the latter option. This might reduce the chances of them encountering cultists or demons a lot, but also would take a good bit more than the predicted month of traveling. But luckily, Fluttershy still had a very good connection with the wildlife in Equestria. With the help of the nocturnal animals, they would often get warned if danger was ahead and the animals would even provide distractions, allowing them to slip by unseen. Like this, they had been sneaking from forest to forest, from crop field to crop field for days, constantly remaining hidden. It was difficult for most of them to try and adapt a nocturnal lifestyle for the journey and sleep during the bright daytime. But Luna could provide some good advice to the others to make it all easier.

“Alright, we should be close to the western ocean,” Twilight whispered while checking her map.

At that moment, Rarity had a flashback that caused her to giggle a bit, catching the attention of the others.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked, as she felt that this was aimed towards her statement.

“Do you remember that time when a dragon was hibernating up in a mountain not far from Ponyville?” the white mare wondered.

“Oh, how could I ever forget that one,” Twilight responded.

“What you just said reminded me of our adventure back then. You checking the map, Rainbow Dash commenting that she is not sure if bringing Fluttershy along would be a good idea because she was so easily scared back then. Well, now look at her! If I hadn’t started giggling, I am sure one of you would have made a comment like: ‘Are we glad we brought Fluttershy along with us. Her skills with animals are so useful!’. Thinking that our opinion of you, darling, flipped around entirely is what made this so funny to me,” Rarity explained.

Fluttershy did not respond, but she lightly turned her head away. If she could still feel, Rarity was pretty sure she would be blushing. Now that Twilight thought about it, she began to giggle as well.

“You know, this really is kind of funny!” she commented.

The others remained silent and just smiled a bit. Especially Celestia was happy to see that, even though they had been through so many bad things, they were still a very cheerful little group of friends. But soon after, the smile vanished from her face and she lowered her head again, sinking back into thoughts. Now silent again, the group kept walking until Fluttershy heard an owl scream not far from them.

“Stop,” she requested and reached out her right front leg to halt the entire group.

The others couldn’t understand the language of animals, but they didn’t need to. They already knew this would mean trouble. Had they been spotted? Were they too loud? Staying as quiet as possible, they all got into battle stance and Fluttershy summoned her scythe.

Another nocturnal animal squealed nearby. The sound of moving grass could be heard from the left and right. Then suddenly, a cultist rushed out and aimed straight for Celestia.

The white fallen alicorn could disarm her enemy with a quick spell, but he swiftly drew a sword out from underneath his cultist robe and let it float in the air by magic. Not even a second later, twenty more heavily armed and armored cultists came jumping out of their covers and attacked the group.

Seeing as they already lost a dear friend a while ago, Twilight did not want to take any chances. She enveloped the whole group in an arcane shield and prepared one of her by now trademark explosions. But it quickly turned out to not be required, as other creatures charged down from the sky and attacked the aggressors moments later.

The battle lasted only for about a minute. Although trained in the arts of close combat, the cultists did not stand a chance. They were facing an enemy of military-grade skills, wielding sharp, aerodynamic spears and light but strong armor. Those who realized this quick enough fled and got away with their lives.

“There you are! I have to say, you guys are pretty hard to find,” one of their saviors spoke, then stepped into the moonlight.

At the sight of the griffon, Twilight let the force field disappear again and stepped closer to offer him her hoof.

“Unexpected support, but very welcome. You have my thanks,” she spoke.

“The pleasure is mine,” the griffon spoke, shaking Twilight’s hoof. “My name is Gabriel. I am commander-in-chief of the second military division of the Griffon Empire. We are currently in war with King Blueblood and as we heard that there is a resistance fighting against him as well, we decided that the enemy of our enemy is our friend. We arrived in the Crystal Empire about a week after you left and with the help of your friends, we established an alliance. We then chose to look for you and assist you in your journey to Saddle Arabia.”

“Excellent! It is really good to hear that the word is starting to reach other kingdoms and I am very honored you chose to join our cause. Thank you for your generous offer! I hope you do not mind traveling during the night, but this is the safest way to get around,” Twilight stated.

“The griffons have a very large and well-trained military. We will be fine. So by all means, please lead the way!” Gabriel spoke.

This certainly took an unexpected turn. Twilight had been hoping for any form of contact from other kingdoms for months and now, it seemed like they were all starting to come to them. This was exactly what she wanted, so she could not have been happier at that moment. With the help of their reinforcements, they all could risk to wander a bit faster, cutting off several days from their journey.