Beep… Beep… Beep…

High Rider found herself shaking under her covers as she laid there looking up at the ceiling. While she considered herself a pretty hearty mare, and somepony that had aged far better than most of her peers, even she couldn’t help but feel old and tired after what had… happened; old and tired, and above all terrified.

Looking to her left she could see poor Skull Taker sleeping with tubes and I.V.s and bandages covering his body, dead to the whole world. From what she had been told that stallion was very lucky to be alive and kicking, especially at his age. Though, to be fair, every single one of them were lucky to still be breathing. Every single one of them had frostbite of varying severity, cuts and bruises too, and a nasty case of dark magic poisoning, something that had worried the doctor (and them of course) to no end. But the poor mare couldn’t even pretend to care about that at the moment. Right now all she was able to do was lay there, breathe, and shake as she stared up at the ceiling and did her best not to whimper as waves of pain pounded her body.

For High Rider everything hurt; it hurt to breathe, it hurt to think, her vision, even after the doctor had dumped so much healing magic into her that she expected to up and grow a horn herself, was blurry and her mind was nauseous and sluggish. And the cold! Sweet gods she could still feel that cold she had been subjected to! No matter what she drank or what magic was used on her or however many blankets they put on her, Higher didn’t believe that she’d ever know what it was like to be warm again.

The other clan leaders were no better than her. Draugre and Hearth looked like the living dead, just lying there in their beds and muttering to themselves. Every minute or so one of them would whimper, eyes rolling in their skulls, and they’d squirm before going still a second later.

It was nice to know that she had come out the least broken out of her little group (well… as nice as it could get in this situation), but it meant that, other than the nurses coming in to check up on her or one of her own that managed to slip into the castle to relay something to her, she spent most of her days alone. So there she was, on her third day of recovery at the castle (she was too injured to move, or so she had been told) with only her pain and her thoughts to keep her company. And, being the mare that she was, she mentally went over and over and over again what had happened, why it had happened, and, for the sake of the city and her sanity, how she could stop it from happening ever again.

Though the whole city probably heard that… thing that the Princess had become shouting like it had, Higher had found out from a few of her contacts at the castle that news about what had actually happened had been covered up; covered so thoroughly that if she had not been in the front row, watching as Skull Taker had his rib cage broken in front of her, she might have had a difficult time finding out the truth. Whether it was because so few ponies knew what had happened, or because everypony was too scared to even speak about what had happened was not something that the mare thought about.

No, she was making sure that… this, whatever had happened, whatever her Princess had become, whatever she had helped turn her Princess into, would never, ever see the light of day again.

She had lived under the Tyrant king’s reign. She had watched as that evil, terrible stallion had used his dark powers to kill his parents and twist and warp and enslave the ponies of the empire, and seeing all of this, suffering and fearing for her life like everypony else had, she had thought that things like fear and terror were nothing special to her anymore. This belief, one hard-earned and unwanted, had been shattered when she had witnessed what Cadence had become. Higher had stood before the dark king, she had seen the madness and hate in his eyes and had watched him as he tortured ponies with his magic, but nothing he had ever done or said or shown had made her feel the level of fear that the princess had.

The rage that she had witnessed wasn’t the byproduct of a mightier-than-thou thought process of the tyrant king, and the princess hadn’t used dark magic to harm and scar because she had thought them lesser than herself. No, the rage that she had seen on the princess’s face, the rage that had twisted her into the monster that they had all seen, was a rage that Higher herself had felt once or twice in her life.

It was fear turned into anger. It was the fear of having somepony taken away from you, somepony that you loved with all of your heart, and you wanting to find whoever dared take that loved one away from you and making them feel the fear and hopelessness that you had felt a thousand fold.

Unlike anything that Sombra could produce, this anger was wild, pure, unfiltered. A pony could not look at the one that had done them wrong and just smile and wave and act like nothing had happened. This rage caused ponies to destroy lives and families, tarnish reputations, burn cities. You could not stop it with words or negations; you either had to let the pony enact his or her revenge or you had to… end them.

If she had a mind to, Higher could make herself the mother of all thorns in Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s side. She could tell the ponies of the empire what their leader had become, she could hold that information over her head, and maybe gain influence and power from that. If she was so inclined, if she could get the other clan leaders in agreement, she could even demand that the princess step down from her duties. But she wouldn’t; maybe even couldn’t.

After what she had seen, what she had seen what the princess could become if pushed enough, she knew she didn’t have the courage for it. She didn’t have the strength to fight an angry demigod that was fighting to protect the ones she loved and was willing to turn herself into a monster to do it. She was not strong enough to face that terror, and she wasn’t willing to let anyone of her clan do it either.

And what hurt Higher the most was that all of this, everything that had happened and could happen, was her fault. What had gone from maybe a bit too much enthusiasm on her part about getting Mr. Ares out of the castle quietly and without a fuss had turned into an utter disaster that might put her clan and the other main clans in jeopardy. The Equestrian princess could lay what happened to the princess right at her hooves and she was sure she’d be in a cell within the hour, and there was no way in Tartarus that she’d be able to do anything about it.

So even though she was hurting and cold and tired, she was just going to focus on getting better so she could get away. She wanted to be back in her mansion surrounded by her guards. She wanted to be in the bowels of her home, thinking of ways to make this whole bucked up situation alright and not cause any riots or imprisonment or anything like that. But most of all, what she wanted more than anything right now, was to put as much distance between Princess Cadence and her as she physically could without leaving the city. Heck, she might even leave the city to—

Knock Knock!

Higher’s mind went blank as she heard somepony knocking on the door, and for a moment she imagined Princess Cadence on the other side of it. Just the thought of it made her whimper quietly. Gods give me stren—

“Is anypony awake in there?” Somepony called through the door, their voice gruff and demanding.

Higher’s head fell back onto her pillow with a relieved sigh. That wasn’t the princess, that was just some pony; probably a maid or a nurse if she were to guess.

“Yes, I’m awake,” Higher said after clearing her throat. “Please come in.”

The doorknob turned and the door was thrown open, revealing a stern looking Echo decked out in full armor staring at her like she was the scum of the earth.

And just like that the relief that Higher had felt was gone in a flash.

“Mrs. Higher,” Echo said emotionlessly, eyeing the other clan leaders as she walked over to her.

Higher put on her best smile. “Good afternoon, Captain,” she said politely. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

Not breaking eye contact, Echo pulled a bundle of papers that she had hidden underneath her wing. “Actually, there is something you can help me with, ma’am,” she said, placing the papers on Higher’s bed before pulling out a pot of ink and a quill. “It’s concerning the situation that happened a few days ago.”

Higher relaxed slightly. Oh, she’s just coming down here to see what happened? I don’t know why my statement would do anything othe— she flinched when Echo picked the papers back up and tossed them in her lap.

“The other day there was a serious breach of security that resulted in the coltnapping of a certain Ares the human,” Echo said, her tone businesslike but her eyes piercing. “The guards that were supposed to be at their stations were nowhere to be found, or just don’t recall seeing Mr. Ares being dragged out of the castle against his will by two anonymous stallions.”

Higher closed her mouth as Echo, with her fangs slightly bared, leaned toward her. “I’ve come here today, ma’am, because this breach of security had very negative consequences. My lady, Princess Cadence, became,” the mare shivered, nervously looking around the room, “…whatever she became, because a few ponies didn’t do their bucking jobs. This is not something that I can allow to happen again, both for the sake of the Crystal Empire itself and the princess. So here’s what’s going to happen,” Higher tried to open her mouth to say something when Echo tossed the quill on top of the papers and opened the pot of ink. “You’re going to write down every single name of every single pony that works for you in this castle along with anypony else that’s getting some type of payments from the other clan leaders.”

Without missing a beat, Higher snorted. “I have no idea what you are referring to, Captain,” she said as Echo’s frown deepened. “I don’t know what anypony told you about what happened the other day but I, nor anypony else in this room, coltnapped or forced anypony out of this castle.”

Though the lie came easily and Higher was sure that she didn’t even blink telling it, Echo’s frown only deepened. It was obvious that the mare didn’t believe her, but so what? It wasn’t like she was going to actually rat out her informants or anypony else’s. She wasn’t going to get any of her own thrown in jail, and she liked to think she stood by the honor amongst thieves, criminals, and shady ponies code pretty firmly. Though she was beaten and broken, though there was a mountain of evidence against her she wasn’t going say a thing; if not for her sake at least for the sakes of the others.

“I am an upstanding member of this city and the leader of one of the most powerful clan’s that the Empire has ever witnessed,” Higher continued, a small smile coming to her face as Echo growled. “In fact I’m more than a little offended that you’d think I’d ever do something as horrid as that!”

“Mr. Ares himself confirmed that he had been taken against his will.”

Higher, to the best of her ability, waved the comment off. “The poor dear must have hit his head when that night princess destroyed half of my warehouse. I’m sure you know what head injuries can do to a pony.”

Echo narrowed her eyes, obviously knowing that she was being led on for the sake of it and nothing else. “And why was Mr. Ares in your warehouse with the other clan members?”

“He was going to do something sweet for the princess and he asked all of us to help him—“

Growling, Echo stomped a hoof against the ground, her fangs bared. “I am in no mood to listen to any more of your horseapples, lady,” she snarled. “I know that you have ponies in this castle, the citizens of the empire know that you have ponies in this castle, sweet Celestia’s teats, Princess Cadence knows that you have ponies in this castle!”’

Higher frowned as the captain hopped up into the bed and pressed her nose against hers, the bat mare’s eyes burning with rage. “These ponies are dangerous because their loyalties do not belong with the empire; they belong with you and the bits in your bucking bank. If I can’t trust the mares and stallions of this guard to serve and protect the ponies that they’ve sworn to serve and protect then they may as well not be a bucking guard.”

Higher grunted as Echo poked her in the stomach just a little too hard. “So you’re going to write the names down of the ponies that work for you so I can kick out the cronies and put in ponies that actually will do their jobs when they need to!”

Higher looked up at her and simply shook her head. She had already found herself growing bored with this… foreigner. She could tell that the mare wasn’t going to let up in her insistent questioning, so Higher decided to stop all of the niceties and smiles and just get right to the point. Hopefully she could get some sleep before the nurses came in and fed her after the captain found her way to the door.

“Do what you will to me,” she said. “I will not say anything other than what I’ve said to you already.”

The two stared at each other, Echo with a harsh glare and Higher with a steadfast one, before the bat mare snorted and hopped off the bed.

“I hope that you know that there’s a good chance that you’ll be getting acquainted with a jail cell after you recover, right?”

Higher shrugged. “I am ever the empire’s humble servant,” she said. “If the princess wishes to throw me in irons for what I did, be it truth or fabrication, then I will go without a fuss.”

Echo grinned in a way that the clan leader didn’t like. “Oh, so now you’re the empire’s servant?” she asked, amused.

Higher ignored the tone, nodding again. “Everything that I have done has been for the empire’s benefit.”

Echo nodded again before turning away from her. “Alright then, if you’re a “servant of the empire” like you say then you’ll have no problem telling that to the princess's face.”

Higher’s emotionless mask cracked ever so slightly. “…And what do you mean by that, Captain?” she asked quietly, her hooves gripping the hem of her blanket just a little bit tighter.

“Princess Cadence is the leader of this empire,” Echo said, not bothering to look at her as she very slowly made her way toward the door. “She’s the mare that looks after and runs this empire that you just so happen to be a servant of. So if you’re not willing to talk to me about anything then I’m sure you can explain to her why bribing ponies to work for you is good for the empire as a whole.”

Humming a carefree tune, Echo walked over and threw open the door. “Just give me a few minutes and I’ll have her here in a jiffy.” The mare bat flashed Higher with a mocking smile. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Though she was still trying her best to remain emotionless, Higher found herself breathing heavily at the mere thought of once again being face-to-face with the princess. One wrong word, one misunderstood gesture, or just seeing her might set the princess off again, and then she’d have to face that cold and the rage that had been in the princess's eyes and…

Bringing a shaky hoof to her mouth, Higher awkwardly coughed. “N-Now there’s no need to bring the princess in here, Captain,” she said as Echo was halfway through the door. “I’m sure that we can be adults about this and make some kind of—“

The only warning that Higher got was a flap of the wings and a screech before the batmare was right back in her face hovering right above the bed, her teeth once again bared and her golden eyes smoldering.

“There will be no making of deals here, filly; there is no way you can beg or plead your bucking way out of this.” For a moment Echo appeared just a little bit bigger and her teeth looked just a little bit sharper to Higher. “Write. The. Bucking. Names. Down. NOW.”

It had been many, many years since somepony had spoken to her like this and Higher found that she didn’t particularly care for it. And like most things that she didn’t care for all it’d take to make the captain “go away” was a few letters and a few bags of bits. Nopony would even find the mare’s body if Higher talked to the right ponies…

So why was she shaking? Why was she finding it hard to keep eye contact with the mare?

Why was she reaching for the paper and quill?!

She tried to stop herself from grabbing that damned quill but every time she put her hoof down images of a demon-like princess snarling in her face filled her vision. Higher may have been willing to do anything for her family, even die if need be, but that… that…

Higher knew for a fact that there were many, many things worse than death. She had seen some of those things in Cadence’s eyes promising lifetimes of pain and suffering, and it was not a sight she ever wanted to see again in what little time she had on this earth.

May the gods forgive me…

~_~_~_~_~_~

There are few things as terrible and will-breaking than having to wake up after you’ve drank far too much. Your head hurts, your stomach does flips whenever you see food, the sun is the bane of your entire existence, as is sound, moving around, getting up early, getting up at all, work, not being able to call off of work, and bosses. Especially bosses.

For many suffering from the dreaded hangover the best cure was sleeping till about noon, stuffing your face with horrible and greasy food the second you open your eyes, and going right back to sleep until your headache stops and the sun’s no longer trying to burn holes through your eyes. For some though, like Ares, Shining, and Flash, they had to rise bright and early with their best foot/hoof forward and go to work.

Ares had to get to the flower shop and the two privates needed to get to patrolling. Even though the three were pale and green behind the gills with bags under their eyes, and even though every single sound that came out of their mouths was a variation of a groan, and even though they moved more like the living dead than the living, the three had gotten up and were dressed for work. Even though that was the last thing any of them wanted to do at the moment.

The three, having gotten as ready as they could, stood silently in the middle of a hallway in the castle, each wanting to die and to blow up the sun and everything that made noise, moved, or was bright and happy and cheerful, and then burn the remains to ashes. Tired and bloodshot eyes looked down the halls with a hopeless acceptance that came with knowing that you were fated to pain and torture in the near future, and you had no way of stopping it.

Today was going to be a long day. It was going to be an awful day no matter what they did. But they had to go out since they were men; manly men that had to go to their manly places of business or risk losing their jobs. Though, as before mentioned, not one of them felt like doing anything other than lying around and breathing.

Ares, ever the most cheerful of any group, was the first to speak. “Man, fuck this.” This was greeted by to grumbled of agreement and head nods before the three went back to quietly staring at nothing.

“And buck booze,” Flashed added, his head very nearly touching the floor. “If I ever see another bottle of… whatever the hay we drank last night, I swear I’m going to jump out of a window.”

This was also followed by grumbles of agreement and head nods. This muttering about how horrible everything was and nodding and grumbling would have continued forever if Shining hadn’t decided to stallion up.

“Alright,” he grumbled, looking up at Ares, who had somehow gotten a hold of a pair of sunglasses. “Flash and I need to be back at the barracks in the next ten minutes for the start of our shifts.”

Flash groaned and his stomach growled in defiance at the thought of his moving. “Sweet Faust, please, kill me,” he whimpered, trying to shield his eyes from the sun with his helmet.

Ares nodded, looking down the hallway. “Yeah, I gotta get to work soon too. Luna wanted my ass out of the castle for... some reason.” He snorted, instantly regretting it a second later when pain raced up and through his noggin. “She said that I needed to stop coddling her so much!”

If Ares didn’t look happy before, now he actually looked upset. “Me! Coddling! All I wanted to know was if my girlfriend was okay since I saw her fucking crying in my lap this morning and Luna thinks I’m coddling. ” With a sneer he crossed his arms. “I didn’t get two words in before I got tossed out!”

Shining’s mouth twitched. “Well, you barely leave the mare alone,” he said.

Ares frowned. “Every time I leave her alone some shit happens,” he retorted.

“Shit that usually centers around you,” Shining countered. Ares opened his mouth but immediately closed it, making Shining’s smile widen.

“…Maybe I do need to give Candy a couple of days to herself,” Ares muttered, almost to himself. “I’ll go to work, mess around with some flowers, and try not to die, then I’ll do… something… else.”

The only sound that could be heard in the hall was the sound of Flash whimpering as Shining and Ares stood next to each other, neither looking anywhere other than ahead.

“Well… there’s this fishing hole north of the castle,” Shining finally said. “After my shift is over maybe the three of us could go up and see if anything’s biting?”

Ares turned his head to regard the unicorn before smiling for the first time that day. Something fishy might have been going on with Moona and Candy Cane, but at least he and Shining had made up to the best of their ability. Even though he was more than a little worried about his marefriend (as any half decent boyfriend would in a situation like this), his head was hurting too much for him to think properly about it.

If push came to shove he could just demand to see Cadence and see what the hell was going on, but for now he’d just let Luna do… whatever she was doing with Cadence, and he’d go out and do something with the guys. Lord knows he needed some time just messing around with some guy friends.

. “You know what? Sure.” He said, reaching over and patting Shining on the head. “I’d be happy to go finishing with you… Snuggle Armor.”

Shining growled, his eyes widening. “Shut your bucking mouth,” he demanded, though there was a bit of a blush on his cheeks. “The three of us were drunk. Drunk!”

Ares’s smile only grew. “Well, drunk or not, you snuggled your way into my heart, you big white teddy bear you!”

Shining groaned quietly. “If I wasn’t so hungover right now I’d beat your flank up and down this hallway.”

Ares snorted in amusement before walking down the hall. “More like cuddle me down this hall, you horse hug hero; you pony power plushie, you stallion snuggle soldier, you—“

BANG!

The smile was wiped off of Ares’s face as Shining let off a firecracker spell right next to him. Gritting his teeth and slamming his hands to his ears, the human fell to his knees.

“Motherfucker! Don’t do that shit! My head already hurts like a moth—“

BANG!

“Oh lawd Gawd motherfucking shit!”

Shining couldn’t help but smirk as Ares fell to the ground with a pained squeak, grabbing Flash by his armor and dragging him down another hall. Ares rolled around on the ground, still throwing a barrage of colorful curses his way.

“And now that bucking Snuggle Armor stuff is no more,” he muttered. “And I swear to the gods if you tell anypony what happened last night, Flash, I’m going to chuck you out a window.” Taking a deep breath, Shining adjusted his helmet. “I’m not going to deal with that horseapples in the barracks. I might not have the best one but I do have a reputation to uphold.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_

Though Twilight had to admit that she didn’t know that much about trains, she was always fascinated about them. The way that their engines used the coal to push the locomotive along the track, the way that the train was shaped to have as little wind resistance as possible, the way that is utilized springs and shocks to keep everypony riding it from feeling every bump and rock in the road; is all tickled the young mare to no end.

She had always meant to read a book on the subject, but she never really found the time. She was a pretty busy mare after all, and she had more than enough to do or read on a day-to-day basis to keep her busy for a long. It, in her mind, was a shame really, but what could you do? Such was her life. Or so she thought, until today.

“Everypon--umph! Please stay calm and hold on!”

Today, because of reasons that she had not yet been told, Twilight and her friends had been almost dragged from their homes, flown up to Canterlot, and put onto a train with Princess Celestia, the elements, and about two hundred guards. A train that moving far faster than it was supposed to be made for.

“Sweet horse apples am I gonna be sick!”

Since she had never properly studied things like trains or engines, Twilight had no idea what effect magic had on an engine, but now that she was witnessing them first hoof, she had to say that it was rather impressive. The train had to be going at least a hundred and twenty miles an hour if not more!

Sure, it was pretty bucking terrifing, and everypony had to hold onto the back of their seats like their lives depended on it, but it was interesting!

“Whoo! Faster, faster!”

How was the princess moving the train this quickly while keeping it mostly on the rails? How much magic did it take to move this fast? Did some of the guard need to use their magic to shield the front of the train to keep it from being too damaged?

Twilight yelped as she was tossed into the air by a rather violent bump. She would have hit the ceiling if not for one of the many guards sitting near her grabbing her with his magic.

“Watch yourself, ma’am! The ride’s a bit bumpy!”

Doing her best to ignore the horrible attempt at humor, though she couldn’t help but roll her eyes, the mare said, “Why the hay is the princess acting like this? Is something wrong?” While she was sure that something was wrong (you didn’t need to be a genius to figure that out), Twilight figured she’d ask, since she wanted to keep her mind off the fact that one bad turn could flip this train and send them all careening .

The guard, who had tied himself down with magic, shrugged. “We didn’t get that much info, ma’am,” he yelled over the the pained sounds of the train. “All I know is we’re going to the Crystal Empire, and we’ll be briefed about what the buck is going on when we get there.”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile, looking toward all of her friends, who were taking their little train with emotions ranging from laughing and cheering like it was a roller coaster to screaming in fear and incoherent babbling.

“Did you hear that guard?” the young unicorn said. “We’re going to the Crystal Empire!”

Another bump rocketed the back end of the train upward, sending half of the guard and all of her friends out of their chairs and into the air. Before a single one of them could scream or shout, Twilight grabbed them and tied them to their seats with her magic.

Pinkie and Rainbow were laughing, Applejack looked like she was going to throw up again, Fluttershy almost looked like she was in a comatose state, and Rarity looked like she was ready to hop out of the train and take her chances with the wilderness. And not a single one of these mares heard, or cared about what she had just said, (though, to be fair, most of them expected to be dead in the next few minutes), though that didn’t stop Twilight from smiling.

“I can finally introduce you to Flash! Isn’t that great!”