-The Saw to Cut Away the Plaster-

There is no fury like a mare scorned. A truer statement in this case Filibuster was not sure existed, but it seemed to be a concept that escaped Coalback who stood to meet Invisible Barrier around the back of the couch.

The enraged Unicorn mare stomped up directly in front of the Pegasus, his large stature made all the more clear by the comparison. The other two mares, Filibuster's other wives, were right behind her though seemed to reconsider once they realized just how big the pony they were after was. The size difference, bulging muscle, and ever so slightly highlighted scarring on the stallion did little to sway Invisible Barrier however.

A hoof swung and struck true against Coalback's face with a clearly audible thump of frog to cheekbone. Coalback’s head whipped to the side and a hoof had to be moved to keep him from stumbling, but he stood his ground and looked Invisible Barrier in the eye when she spoke.

"First off!" she screamed, her fury echoed off the walls. "If you knew anything you'd know that maiming is strictly forbidden on the training field! You should be flogged for that!" Another slap, this time with the heavy back of her hoof and the louder crack of broken cheekbone. "Because of you Filibuster'll never be able to rejoin the Guard! And now they won't even let us in the hospital to see him!"

She made to hit him again, but Coalback caught her hoof in a strong grip and twisted it to force her to her knees. She struggled angrily and didn't even notice the bone shift back into place on his face. He said only one thing:

"I remember you, you tried to poison me," he growled slowly, and somehow his voice filled the room with more hate and rage than any of Invisible Barrier's screams.

"I wish I had!" she yelled spitefully. Her horn sparked dangerously, sputtered, and went dark again. "Hey- What are you doing to my magic?! Why can't I blast you!?"

Her struggling shifted his arm just enough to let Coalback's cloak slip, and the rings on his upper arm glinted in the firelight. "Magic, poison," he spat contemptuously. "Coward's weapons."

He turned his head to look over the other two unicorns with Invisible Barrier: A plump, young, daisy yellow mare who smelled of flour and sugar; the other, much thinner unicorn smelled of ink and old parchment with a coat to match. He sniffed again, their scents he set aside in his mind.

"Let her go," Filibuster croaked from the couch. "Sir," he added after a pause to catch his breath and push himself to a more seated position.

"Filibuster!" the baker screeched. The two mares sped around Coalback, his threatening appearance forgotten. Coalback dropped Invisible Barrier's hoof, and though she paused to glare at him she too ran to Filibuster's side.

The mares clutched in a rushed embrace around the seated pony, and kissed and coddled in equal measure. He embraced them all warmly to try and reassure them. The mares exclaimed at his horribly thin appearance; the shivering, the sunken eyes and hollow cheeks, bone thin legs and showing ribs. But it was Invisible Barrier who realized the most surprising change in the herd's stallion: his mended horn with only a thin crack to marr it; a permanent mark ringing the bottom of his horn the only sign that it had ever been missing in the first place.

"You," she said in breathless realization to Coalback. "You did something," she said, more to hear the words than to hear an answer from the 'Pegasus', "Didn't you?"

"Speak with respect to your highers," Filibuster coughed, a reassuring hoof kept her from flying after the other stallion again. "And he didn't do anything I didn't ask for," he admitted with a heavy shame.

"Like cut off your horn?!" Invisible Barrier snapped, her frustration turned on him.

"He fixed-"

"Nothing can fix what he already did!"

"Which is why I'm here instead of the hospital!" Filibuster barked, loud enough to shock Invisible Barrier into silence. "I attacked him after I left the field- I used magic against someone who couldn't in a fair fight and he nearly killed me for it! Don't you get that?" he admitted, a shock even to himself. "'Strike on equal footing, standing without Honesty is standing without Honor,' Solis Harmonia, scroll three of the Guard’s creed. I should be discharged for what I did."

Coalback's hooves clopped on the wood floor behind the mares, his silhouette cast over them by the firelight. "From what I know, there is still honor to be had in the Lunar Guard. I will see over him as a knight of the Lunar Court," Coalback rumbled gently, his eyes glinted in echoed green light.

“No!” the little librarian mare wailed. “The Lunar Guard is for criminals and murderers! And he’ll have to take the Black Mantle and be turned into a Thestral!”

“They have taken my mantle,” Coalback growled. “I will raise them up again, this is my reparation for taking away his horn.”

“You!?” Invisible Barrier screeched. “You’re going to change him into a beast like you!?” she screamed. “That’s a thousand times worse than a Thestral! How could you think that was better!? How could you agree to this!?” she yelled and turned back to Filibuster in a livid rage. “Why would you ever agree to let a monster like him change you!?”

“I didn’t exactly have a lot of options!” Filibuster barked back. “I would have been dishonorably discharged, and unemployed without even any basic use of my magic! What other options were left?!”

“We could have taken care of you! You didn’t have to go back into service!”

“You know that wasn’t an option,” Filibuster growled.

“Enough!” Coalback barked, the mares jumped in fear and turned back to the Pegasus. “Filibuster and Iron Bar need rest, and your bickering is only adding to their stress.” He turned his flickering eyes to Invisible Barrier. “I assure you that your mate is safe with me, his honor will be restored and when all of this is over he will be stronger and more beautiful than ever before: He will live longer, run faster, and think more clearly than ever,” he growled but the words sounded more sinister than reassuring to the mares. “Their names will echo in history, and their enemies will tremble at the sound.”

“You make it sound like there’s a war coming,” Filibuster said, his voice sounded haunted.

“There will always be wars,” Coalback said with a smile that did little to reassure.

The librarian shook her head again. “Equestria has been at peace for centuries, and we have been promoters of peace for even longer,” she said. But in front of this strange stallion, it sounded more like a weak plea or a lie.

Coalback shook his head with a chuckle, like he had to explain a simple fact to a small child. “There will always be wars. It is the nature of all things to desire more, and no one can have everything: Conflict is inevitable.”

Spike huddled in the darkened library, his claws clutched in front of his muzzle. He coughed desperately but only managed the smallest of sparks to spray out of his throat. “What a time for this baloney!” he muttered. He coughed again and watched the sparks dance over his claws and quickly die in the chilled air of the empty library.

Glass smashed outside, muffled, but Spike could easily hear ponies jeering and others screaming. He clenched his fists in anger.

Ever since that weird group of travelers had rolled into town, everything had been going downhill for Ponyville. They only ever came into town to cause trouble, and once they’d had their fun they just retreated back into the Everfree where nopony would follow them. He’d heard them asking questions around town, and threatening ponies when they refused to answer them. It seemed like now the candy shop just up the road was their object of entertainment, and apparently so was the plate glass window in the front.

Ponyville was full of tough ponies, but it seemed that when faced with a group of battlemages and gryphons they would much prefer to cower in their homes than expel the problem. Even the Mayor had simply told Ponyville not to get aggressive with them: some hogwash about hate bringing more hate.

If only he could get his fire going, then he could contact Celestia directly; she would never stand for this kind of stuff. But he hadn’t been able to get much more than a spark even before Twilight had left with the others to visit Rainbow after her accident. Twilight called it Salamanderitis: essentially the equivalent of a cold for dragons. Symptoms included inability to breath fire, stuffy nose and sinus headaches, and a drive to seek out hot coals to curl up in. So far he’d only had the stuffy nose and the fire problem, but Twilight had left him an enchanted blanket that could - in theory - become as hot as a furnace when it was wrapped around somepony, or in this case; somedrake. It was the next best thing to the inside of an industrial furnace, which according to the book Twilight had gotten would be the only thing that would get hot enough for Spike once he needed it.

Spike sneezed despite himself, more ineffectual sparks flew in a cloud from his nose. He was really starting to consider wrapping himself in that blanket and just sleeping it off, let the ponies deal with those jerks like they usually could with the random stuff that goes on around here.

Twilight would wash his mouth out with enough soap to make the floors shine if she could hear the amount of dirty words he wanted to shout at the frustration of it all. He hadn’t bothered to even address Ponyville’s newest terror, he had just activated Twilight’s wards and huddled inside. From their persistence he could tell that these ponies were after something and it was most likely not something he wanted to give them the chance of taking.

This library might not often look like it was all that much of a treasure, it was just a small town library after all. Unfortunately, with such a powerful spellcaster living in it, not to mention an Element of Harmony, this building had gained a few artifacts that could very easily be misused in the wrong hooves. There were books that very directly taught black magic in here - for the purpose of defense of course but again easily misused.

Spike didn’t want to have to fight off a lich while Twilight was away. So for now he had locked himself inside and everypony else out. Obviously there must have been a bug in Twilight’s spells, since they should have informed Twilight the moment they had been activated by him, but that had been a day ago. Twilight would have been here by now.

Spike had never felt more isolated, frustrated, or sickly as he did now. He wondered if he let himself get greedy- if he got big he could get rid of these guys on his own. But then he would cough and sneeze and the idea would die and be replaced with a decision to curl up and go to sleep.

Magic flared and the sleepy trance Spike had lulled himself into broke. He sat up quickly, heart aflutter as dust rained down from the ceiling. The wards rumbled and flared in strain as somepony pounded on the outside with their own magic to try to break them. Spike told himself that Twilight was the greatest spellcaster there was, and that nopony but the Princesses could break those wards.

But still …

“You gotta come out of there at some point!” a stallion yelled from outside as the wards gave one last final flare. That was the end of it though, the stallions and their gryphon pals left for the day.

“Where the heck are you, Twilight?” Spike muttered to himself. “Ponyville could sure use the Elements right about now.”

“What do you mean ‘we can’t leave’?” Twilight demanded of the Solar Guard at the gate of the Palace. All six of them stood before the lightly frosted, gilded gates to the Palace, which were uncharacteristically closed. A pair of guards stood before the pony sized door in the gate and more looked on from the gatehouse above.

“Orders directly from Princess Luna,” the Guard explained, his companion silent. “You are not allowed to leave the palace without your guards.” His armor glinted in the afternoon light and his spear glistened with oil and a perfect razor edge.

“Guards? So there is more than just Coalback?” Rainbow asked from the air, her hooves crossed in front of her.

“I have been informed that a large pegasus wearing black armor going by that name and his two squires are to be attending you at all times, especially if you want to leave the palace,” the Guard said again.

“We saw him leave earlier today with the Princess, but the Princess returned without him. Until he returns we suggest you retire to your rooms,” the other Guard said. Their spears clacked together for emphasis, crossed as they were in front of the gate.

“This is so lame,” Rainbow grumbled as she and the rest of the girls turned back to the palace.

“You can say that again,” Applejack agreed as she wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck. “Seems like the Princess thinks we’re in a awful heap’a trouble if she wants yer friend with us all the time.”

“He’s not my friend!”

“Oh, would you stop teasing her already,” Rarity said. But just before Rainbow could thank Rarity for acting like an adult Rarity continued. “Yes, Rainbow’s choices in stallions are her own.”

“Shut up!” Rainbow protested yet again, but her red face only managed to make the others laugh alongside Applejack. “You guys just wanna make me blush! You know I’m not that into him!”

“As funny as it is, I’m more worried about getting home,” Twilight said. “It seems at this point that we’re stuck waiting on this Coalback guy until further notice, and I really was not planning on this kind of a delay. Spike is home alone, and he can’t really contact me if something goes wrong.”

“M-maybe he just needs to get ready?” Fluttershy offered meekly.

Rarity scoffed, “I doubt a ruffian like him has any consideration to how rude he is, doubtful he cares about his appearance at all. Keeping ladies waiting, honestly,” Rarity said. She’d heard of stallions taking their time to get ready, but there was no way that that barbarian was at all making himself presentable. “More likely he’s gone off and gotten drunk again.”

“Can we talk about something else, please?” Rainbow pleaded as she flew to the door of the palace. The others followed her in as they began to make their way back to the Lunar wing where their room was.

“But he’s right there!” Pinkie exclaimed, she was off like a rocket before anypony could react. She reached the approaching Pegasus in half a second and bounced in front of him happily. The clanging from under his dark blue cloak halted with Pinkie’s presence, and from the sound of his steps whatever was under there was extremely heavy. For some reason he looked different but none of the girls could quite place it at the distance they were at.

Pinkie immediately began asking questions about where has he been and what has he been doing all this time that they’d been waiting on him; because the Guards at the gate said to do that, and then they were sad and they couldn’t get any answers out of the Princesses which was weird: did he think it was-

Coalback used a single hoof to clamp the pink pony’s lips shut and halt her bouncing, a worried express flashed across his face but it seemed he was more worried she would vibrate straight through the floor than anything. He waited for the other mares to approach silently.

It was only once they had gotten closer that they realized why Coalback looked different: His mane was cropped neatly as well as his fetlocks, his coat was brushed and clean, and he stood straight instead of the slouch or angry hunch he usually had. And none of them would have denied it at that point, but Coalback cleaned up well and looked the part of a military pony. Rainbow caught Rarity give a surprised, lady-like cough.

“There you are!” Twilight said with a relieved sigh and a forced but polite smile. “We were just looking for you, actually. We were hoping we could discuss when we could depart. You see, some of us have businesses to run and ponies waiting at home so …” Twilight rolled to a stop in her words, stuck fast under Coalback’s heavy gaze.

“Tomorrow, early morning or late afternoon?” was all he asked. At her confused expression he reached into his cloak and pulled out a train schedule with his mouth. “The first train leaves at six o'clock in the morning and the last at six o'clock in the afternoon. You may leave on one or the other but at no point in between, I want us there as either the first train or the last train,” he explained.

“But nopony is ever on the first train, or that last one! Who the heck would wanna get ready that early or get there that late?” Rainbow protested.

Coalback’s shining green eyes fell on her next. “Exactly: there will be no one there. Easier for me to keep an eye on you all and easier for me to spot potential threats,” he said in a deadpan. Rainbow blinked, she hadn’t actually expected a reply and not one that made that much sense.

“Why tomorrow?” Twilight asked. “Why not leave tonight? We already have our bags packed.”

Coalback shook his head. “I have only a few more things I need from the smith, and my squires cannot be moved at the moment,” he said. Pinkie struggled in his grip, hoping she could pull away to put a word in. Reluctantly, Coalback let go.

“You mean that Guard at the gate wasn’t kidding?!” she nearly bellowed. “You’re a knight, Coalback!? Congrats!” she yelled and attempted a tackle hug. She clanged against something in his bags and fell back on her flanks.

“Wait, what?” was the general reaction among the mares, who turned to Pinkie for explanation.

“Guards get squires too, but Twilight said Coalback wouldn’t be made into a Guard: Doesn’t that mean he has to be a Knight?” she asked, she only became more confused as everypony looked at her like she’d grown a fifth leg - which she hadn’t, she checked.

Coalback smiled in a silent laugh but nodded. "It is written and sealed that I am a knight of the Lunar Court. Now, again: When do you wish to leave?"

"M-morning, I think would be best," Twilight said shakily, she was met with a few nods in agreement by the others. In a moment of weakness to her own curiosity she asked "But Lunar Guards are all rehabilitating criminals, so then how did you get any ... squires?"

"They are older than the colts that served under them before," was his simple reply.

"Guards?! Solar Guards? How-?"

"How does the saying go? Bad seeds ... something, something bunches," he said flippantly with a roll of his shoulder that made one of his heavy bags fall with a dull thump to the floor. "I should go, I need to drop off some food for them before I go back to the smith." He motioned with his head to the fallen bag. "We will meet at the gate thirty minutes after five o'clock and arrive at the station five minutes before departure," he said as he turned to pick up the bag.

The bag twitched and started to roll away but Coalback hit it with a heavy hoof and with a whine it stopped moving and he tossed it back over his shoulder. He walked past them without another word and trotted away.

"Five thirty! I'll have no time to do my mane!" Rarity protested with obvious futility, her hoof touched her forehead in a dramatic swoon. "This is the worst possible thing!"

"Did nopony else notice his bag ... movin'?" Applejack piped up once she'd let Rarity get her drama out of the way.

Rainbow paled as she realized that Coalback had actually called it "food". She had to explicitly remind herself that Coalback had not really been raised by wolves and that he would never ... eat an animal. The denial made her feel more comfortable.

"Are you sure you can replicate it?" Coalback rumbled. The smithy was closed up tightly, and they spoke in near complete darkness. The subject was one that Coalback wished to keep desperately secret.

"You're talkin' to the greatest smith in all of Equestria, kid," Steady immediately replied, her magic flicked through the papers the Pegasus had given her. "Looks easy to produce, but the container and such won't be."

"I only need the powder and the iron, follow these diagrams and they should do fine for my purposes," Coalback replied.

"I can scrape together one of each for you, and a good amount of that stuff too. But I have your permission to keep making them?" she asked. She could see a huge market for these springing up once the word got out, she wanted to keep the monopoly as long as she could.

"Keep them off the market ... for now," Coalback growled, he glanced over his shoulder in paranoia of the wind outside. "But it might be good to have some stocked up if a need arises."

"And I can take the credit for the idea?"

"Of course, consider this a sort of repayment for your kindness," Coalback said. "Just get me these before tomorrow morning," he said; his one condition.

"They'll be done by the time the sun rises," she assured him.

"I'll be at the station, departing for Ponyville with eight others."

"I'll be waitin' fer ya," she said, even as her magic began working at a breakneck speed around the shop. The forge roared and metal screamed as it was turned on a lathe. Before Coalback could leave again she called him by name. "What exactly do you think yeh need these fer!?" she yelled over the noise.

He didn't say anything, he only gave her a sharp toothed smile from the gloom by the door. He reached up with an uncovered hoof and dragged it down the wooden header above the door, wood chips sprayed away and when he left four distinct claw marks marred the stained wood.

Steady shivered despite the heat of the forge, her heart felt cold with a shameful fear. "What have ye got yerself into now, Steady, old girl?"

Author's Notes:

Short chapter early since I've been off schedule and not sure when I'll get to write again.

Frog is a part of the hoof by the way:

Tell me if anything felt stupid, or whatever. It's 0030 here at the moment, just capping off a study binge for first semeter HS finals. *sleepy, half-hearted cheer*