February, 1882.
Tarhen, Legion Base.

Dash grimaces as she looks down at the plans for the umpteenth time. It’s the day after the mortaring, after Princess Twilight had forever etched herself into the Legion’s collective memory, and Dash wants nothing more than to go down the hallway and up the stairs to the royal chambers, where Twilight is staying. She wants to speak to Twilight, to check on the other woman and make sure she’s okay, but every time she’s about to start moving down the hallway, something comes up, or she loses her bottle and heads back to the rec-room to lose herself in another hour of PT or darts. Either she goes there, or else she comes here, into the Ninth Compagnie’s private planning room.

Due to the nature of the Ninth Compagnie, how they and they alone are responsible for knowing and planning Twilight’s route to and from the palace, and certain other classified functions, the decision was made early on that the Ninth Compagnie needed an ops room and planning cell that was not part of the main battlegroup ops room. Now Dash is sat in the dimly illuminated room with a map of Ashad-Mar base spread out before her.

The map had been reasonably easy to procure. Diplomatic Incident had handed it to Dash an hour or so after the mortaring. Dash isn’t sure precisely where he got it from but she’s pretty sure Prophet, or else that Ad-Drelana woman had had a hand in it. Identifying the State Arsenal had likewise been fairly straightforward. Getting the map is one thing… getting ourselves in, that’s going to be a trick. Dash thinks as she scrubs her face wearily.

The problem is that it is a functional military base, and whilst that might not ordinarily pose much of a challenge, with things being what they are, everyone will naturally be on high alert. Procedures that would normally be neglected are being enforced, duty NCOs are being jumped on to keep their men alert and base security details are being kept on alert. Already, the reconnaissance shifts that have been posted around the base are noting an increase in patrols, randomization of routes and extra men on watch.

In short, it’s going to be very difficult to get into, or out of. The consequences for failure are immense. Dash narrows her eyes as she looks down at the map, tapping one finger… over the wall maybe… Her gaze shifts to the blank sketchpad and she groans with exasperation, drawing a hand down her face.

A sudden prickling of the hairs on the back of her neck, and she looks up from the map, her head snapping around, but there is no one there. Dash turns back to her map, reaching for her waterbottle… no waterbottle. Dash turns her head to see a still-steaming cup of coffee sitting next to her on a little white lace doily.

Dash frowns, picking up the cup as though it might explode in her hands. Lifting it to her nostrils she sniffs speculatively and then she blinks in sudden surprise. This isn’t the normal legion crap, nor is it the local brew, which Dash had become intimately familiar with during her previous stint here. No, this is Crownes’ of Canterlot, and only one person in the entire compound knows she likes Crowne’s of Canterlot, or at least, only one person with the capability to mysteriously teleport drinks into her room.
So we’re still barely talking… But you’re making me drinks. Talk about mixed messages. Dash reflects for a moment. She eyes the coffee for just a moment, and then she takes a sip and closes her eyes as the sharp taste hits her.

Twi always did something with this… is it cinnamon or… who cares? She takes another sip, grinning faintly as she turns back to the planning board, a strange lightness suffusing her chest. Her smile widens slightly as she leans forward, and an idea slowly starts to take shape… Dash reaches for her pencil to start drawing up a plan on her sketchpad-

“It’s going to be great fun.” Dash thinks to herself as she looks across the map, tapping her finger at the fence. “So we get over the fence under cover of night… somehow make our way through the armoury, evading the patrols, and the late night wanderers, break into an armoury and then break out, evading the same patrols, and if we fuck it up… the mother of all parties will descend on us, and we’ll be invited to sample the delights of that prison again, RSVPs not required.” Dash blinks as a notion strikes her with all the force of a thunderbolt. She rocks backward on her chair, her mouth opening.

It’s unbelievably simple. It’s also unbelievably stupid. It’s the sort of notion that, if she presented it to her directing staff during Stage Reconnaisance, she’d be busted straight back to the beginning of the course. Still… it might just work.

Dash starts to sketch out details, a plan slowly taking shape in her mind...

Dash pushes back the chair, kicking it backward and rising to her feet, rolling the plans and the maps up into a tight roll. She’s going to need to speak to Princess Twilight, or Diplomatic Incident to get their approval for the whole thing. Grabbing her klepi blanc, she tugs it onto her head and pulls her tunic on, buttoning it up before she steps out into the corridor, clattering up the stairs leading to the third floor, which has been taken over by Princess Twilight and her entourage of one.

She hesitates for just a moment, before knocking gently on the door leading into Princess Twilight’s study. She hasn’t actually spoken to Princess Twilight in a while and whilst she’s sure that Twilight herself will be okay about it, she’s not at all sure that just barging in like this is the done thing, but she needs to talk to someone and Diplomatic Incident is apparently… busy, with the Valorossiyan ambassador.

Dash knocks again, but there’s no response. She blinks, and then she knocks harder.
“Hello? Princess?” She calls, but silence is her only answer. Dash narrows her eye, and then her hand closes around the doorknob. I’m responsible for her safety after all...
She pushes the door open with her shoulder, aware as she does so that her hands are currently occupied with plan and coffee mug, however as she looks up, into the lavishly appointed study, she relaxes somewhat. Princess Twilight is slumped back in the room’s single thickly-padded armchair, an open book sitting in her lap and her floating quill idly circling as it waits for Princess Twilight to continue the memorandum she’d been writing. Dash hesitates, but as she draws closer, she sees Twilight’s chest slowly rising and falling in the steady rhythms of sleep.

Her navy blue hair is spread out on the armchair’s head-rest behind her like a deep blue curtain, and her face is relaxed and content. Dash can’t quite remember the last time she’d seen Twilight like that in recent memory. Twilight falling asleep in the middle of the day is nothing new to Dash. When Twilight had been spending time with her in Ponyville, she’d been forever napping at strange times of day. Dash sighs softly, looking around the room and then taking a seat on the room’s couch, deciding to wait for the Princess to wake up.

“Hey Princess… it’s been a while huh?” She says softly, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. “We haven’t really had a chance to talk lately… mind you, this’ll do for me right now… Just bein’ here is enough.”

Dash looks up at the Princess as a vague frown crosses the sleeping woman’s face.
“Well… maybe it’s not.” She says after a second “Maybe it’d be nice to hear you some… just so we can work this out… whatever this is.” Dash pauses, her mouth curling into a grimace. “Because whatever’s going on between us… it’s not going away anytime soon and I’d really like to get it resolved. We can avoid each other and play silly buggers, but that won’t fix things, and I think you know that…”

“... Yes… I do.” The voice is so soft that Dash almost doesn’t hear it, but then her eyes snap up to see Princess Twilight’s eyelashes fluttering open. She blinks, and then turns her head to look at Rainbow Dash, and suddenly Dash is cursing her loose toungue as Twilight runs a hand through her hair.

“What’re you doing in here, Rainbow?”
First name only, no surname or rank… that’s a good sign, I think. Rainbow thinks, aware that she’s grasping at straws.

“Well I came in here to talk to you about some stuff, some plans that I had that… sort of relied on royal cooperation.” She says “Then I came in and you were asleep, or I thought you were and so I thought… well yeah, I ran my mouth a little and-”

“I wasn’t asleep.” Twilight interrupts suddenly, and she rises to her feet in one quick movement. As she does so, she unfurls her wings, snapping them out to their full span, Dash is about to ask more questions, when Twilight answers the unasked question.
“Sorry, that’s not very precise. I was asleep and I wasn’t… it’s a situation conference of sorts, takes the form of a dream in which I’m talking to the other princesses. The good news is that I can remember these dreams, which is something at least…” Princess Twilight runs a hand through her hair, her eyes thoughtful. She then turns to face Rainbow Dash, and her mouth curls downward into a frown.

“Honestly… I’ve been trying not to think about… about us until this is all over.” Twilight says after a moment. “I want to talk about us but not right now… I need to be concentrating on what’s going on, does that make sense?” Twilight asks, and there’s something about her expression, something that Dash hasn’t seen in a very long time. Just for a second, the princess mask falls away, and Dash is seeing a twenty-three year old woman who is in over her head and sinking deeper by the day. She turns to face the window, gazing out over the city.

Dash takes a deep breath and then she nods. “So we’re done?” She asks, and Twilight’s breath hisses softly.

“We… I don’t know, alright?” Twilight says after a second and Dash blinks in surprise, her eye widening slightly. “Certainly it would not be in our interests to… Pick things up where we left off right now, but later…” She trails off and Dash nods in understanding.

“Right… So, later then.” Dash says, trying to keep her voice level, but a subtle lightness suffuses her chest.

Twilight nods, and then she exhales sharply.
“Later, now… You came into my office for something, and I’m assuming it wasn’t… What we just got done talking about.”

“Oh crap, no it wasn’t.” Dash hurriedly pulls the plans out from under her arm. “I wanted to run a proposal past you for gaining entry to that base…”

Twilight tilts her head. “Why are you asking me, I would have thought Belial or Adrelana-”

“I’m not sure I trust Belial, Twilight.” Dash says, unrolling the map and spreading it across the table. “Anyway, this is more of a political thing and Diplomatic Incident is busy so I thought I’d run it past you. You’d need to make the decision anyway, so I thought I’d just cut out the middle man and brief you directly… besides, the fewer people that know about this, the better.” Dash says, and Twilight nods.

“Okay,” Twilight snaps her fingers and a notepad appears in front of her, along with a purple quill, “I’m listening, so throw it at me.”

Dash takes a deep breath and then she reaches out and taps the map.
“Getting into Ashad-Mar is going to be incredibly tough. They’ve upped their patrol schedule, doubled the guard force and tightened their checks on that guard force, and that’s just what we can see. We’re not sure what’s going on inside and whilst I could find out, I don’t want to start probing the base’s defences in case we get compromised.”

Twilight nods slowly, tapping her thumbs together.
“I take your point, so what are you suggesting instead?” She asks, and Dash clicks her tongue before speaking, her finger tapping on the board.

“I’m wondering about you paying a royal visit to the place. It’s the sort of place you’d visit on a trip like this, right? It’s their officer training school and there’s all sorts of historic stuff…” She trails off as Twilight purses her lips.

“That’s an interesting thought,” Twilight says softly “I mean, I’d imagine, with tension being what it is, they’d probably refuse. There’s a definite odour of hostility coming from the army after all but…” Twilight pauses for a moment “This might be a way to work around that, or at least work against it. I’d like to take the temperature of the army, or at least I’d like to gauge the attitudes of the staff officers and field officers to a war.”

Dash nods slowly. “And you think a state visit is the best way to do that? They’ll just tell you what they’ve been told to tell you, you know.” She says, smirking wryly at the memory of an Equestrian Admiral visiting the Pit during a visit to the Khanate, and Zaranov’s pre visit briefing.

“That’s true, but I’d like to at least make the attempt.” Twilight replies, her voice calm and confident. “I’d also like to see if I can get a read on General Aznan. He’s the commanding general of the Khanate’s army, that makes him reasonably powerful… I haven’t managed to get an idea of where he stands. I mean… I know Zafwan is hostile, but he’s only in command of the police units… Tariq Aznan’s been diffident but not hostile, and if I can bring him around…” Twilight speculates and Dash nods.

“You don’t think he’s behind the ones who are trying to kill us? I mean, Springbok said he worked for the army…”

“Yeah, but that assumes you’re prepared to take a confirmed terrorist at his word. Aznan… he’s got too much to lose by supplying Springbok, and he’s at the top of his respective career path. I can’t see him employing a man like Springbok somehow.” Twilight says softly, and Dash nods dubiously. She’s less prepared to extend Aznan the benefit of the doubt, but then she’s also aware that this is Twilight’s area of expertise.

“So who do you think is responsible?” Dash asks and Twilight sighs.

“I want to say Zafwan. He’s got access to military armouries, or at least he had it and he’s been extremely obstructive… but on the other hand, he’s a little bit too open in his hostility, ultimately my concern is to find out who is behind this.” Twilight looks up at Rainbow Dash, one hand coming up to massage her temple.
“So that we can go pay them a visit right?” Dash asks and Twilight shakes her head.

“No.” Twilight says firmly “We’re going to hand their names over to the Justicars and let the Justicars deal with it.”

Dash’s face colours and her eye widens. This is definitely not what she’d expected to hear, and she draws her breath to object.
“But Twi-”

“Listen to me.” Twilight says, lifting a hand to silence Rainbow Dash, and Dash’s mouth clamps shut, her eye still blazing with anger. “Firstly, we’re not legally authorized to go out and do that. Princess Celestia-”

“-Isn’t here. You can make the judgement call.”

“You’re right, I can, and I’ve judged it wouldn’t be a good idea.” Twilight says bluntly “My first duty is to come home with a peace treaty. My second duty is to protect the men under my command.”

“But you’re already icing Springbok. Surely you can round up the people-”

Twilight looks up at Rainbow Dash.
“So what, you want me to send you all out in the middle of the night, with blackened faces and daggers between your teeth to go slit some throats?” She asks, and Rainbow Dash nods.

“Yeah, just do something! They’ve killed our people, we owe them that.” Dash says, and Twilight sighs heavily.

Dash’s notion is incredibly attractive. A primitive part of Twilight’s brain roars in agreement at the idea of killing everyone, of sending a message about the consequences of messing with her, of killing her people. She considers it for just a second… how easy it would be to wave her hand and point her finger. With a stroke of a pen and the wave of her hand, she could easily send Dash and her killing team out to make some very ugly and plainly worded statements.

Twilight looks up at Dash.
“I think… Rainbow… that that’s a very tempting offer.”

“So we can-”

“No.” Twilight shakes her head sharply. Dash stares up her, flabbergasted. “I can get behind killing Springbok, he’s proven himself to be a threat to Equestrian interests and if I have to, I can defend that killing before public opinion. He’s a convicted terrorist with links to what’s been going on. I cannot get behind the killing of Khans who may or may not be involved in whatever’s going on. The margins for error are too tight for that.” Twilight looks up at Rainbow, and her eyes seem to gleam with an inner fire. “If we drop the ball, and kill the wrong people-”

“But we won’t, we-”

“Do not interrupt me.” Twilight does not raise her voice in the slightest, but there’s an edge to it, and Rainbow Dash suddenly remembers the difference in their relative stations, that she’s not talking to Twilight, cute librarian with a nice butt and a penchant for singing in the shower. She’s talking to Princess Twilight Sparkle, the First and Only, direct representative of the Crown. “I cannot justify sending soldiers out in the name of vengeance. I am not in the business of using violence to send a message. A threat is acceptable, if communicated in such language as to be completely unambiguous… violence and murder however… Can you absolutely guarantee that those people will not be propped up as martyrs? Or that there isn’t a second layer of backers behind them? If we are going to use assassinations as a tool of state policy, then we need to make sure we get all of them. We need to know who they are and their level of involvement. If we miss even one, then this whole thing explodes in our faces.” Twilight says, and Rainbow Dash nods slowly, her anger abating as she looks at Twilight.

There’s something different about her, Dash can see that. Something that wasn’t there at the start of the trip. A hard edge reflected in her eyes, a tension like the keen edge of a blade.
“Understood,” Dash says quickly “So my first proposal, about the base…”

“Leave it with me, I’ll give you a verdict in an hour or so. I’d like to talk it over with Diplomatic Incident first.” Twilight says, but there’s something in her eyes, a faint smile dancing around the corners of her mouth that gives Dash a flicker of hope that Twilight will go for it.

“Yes Ma’am.” She snaps to attention and chops up a quick salute, before spinning on her heel and walking out of the door, a broad smile upon her face. As she heads down the corridoor to start sorting thing out, she doesn't notice the signaller come running down the hallway behind her, clutching a dispatch.

Surprise.