The landing was rough, but then, it always seemed to be when using planar magic in Equestria. Ren was the first to recover, simply because he had been more prepared for the possibility of his last-ditch effort working. That didn't stop him from being as shocked as his opponent when they were portaled out to an entirely different location.

The spell he had used was designed to take them to an area of Dereth known as the Singularity Caul. Needless to say it hadn't done that, rather the two were transported to a snowy, bitterly cold area. Neither one of them knew where they were, but that wasn't going to stop his opponent, apparently. The cloaked figure screamed in rage and, showing rather poor judgement and anger control, lashed out physically against Ren. Ren, who wasn't paying attention, took a fist to the face. Then another, and another. After the third blow it seemed that he had developed the presence of mind to start dodging, and did so rather ungracefully, diving and rolling when he had to. After a while it seemed that his adversary was forced to calm down a bit, as his assault had left him completely drained.

"You done?" Ren asked tentatively.

The figure screamed again, enraged further by Ren's taunting. "Do you still not know who I am?!"

"No...?"

The figure grunted as it pulled off its hood, revealing a familiar face. "Remember me now?"

Ren's eyes widened, old wounds reopened. "No... it can't be... Murr?"

"The one and only."

"But you died! I buried you!"

"I faked my death so I could run off and join the Hopeslayer. I figured it'd be easier for everyone if no one knew my true fate."

"But... why?"

"When I was caught in that cave-in, I realized something. Bael'Zharon may be crazy, but he went crazy because of grief. Grief for his son, who, when the Yalaini invaders took over their village, was starved to death."

"Wow. I... I didn't know."

"Neither did I until I was caught in that cave-in. I was stuck in the Ancient History section of the archives, and I had nothing better to do. So I read."

"The loss of the Ancient History section would explain why I never figured it out. But still, he's a murderous psychopath!"

"And Asheron isn't?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Think about it. The Olthoi are mostly docile now, content to stay in their little wasteland or their hives. They aren't spreading since their old queen died, in fact, they're dying out. They don't want to fight anymore, and yet Asheron's ranks are bringing the fight to them."

"But the Olthoi enslaved nearly all of the first wave of Isparians before a couple escaped and managed to kill the old queen!"

"Yeah, but what about the Mukkirs? The Shadows? There are whole communities of Shadows out there, who are just trying to live their life in peace. But no, Asheron is having them all exterminated like vermin! That's why they joined the fight! They fight in an effort to save their people! Bael'Zharon is really just a figurehead, a powerful one, but I'm sure if we ever succeed in taking out the old fart we'll just kill him too. What you're not getting is that the majority of the grunts are just people who want peace, and who are willing to take orders from a batshit bat-demon-thing for the time being to accomplish that."

"I... I never realized..."

"But wait, there's more! You know what those Virindi are going to do if you win the war? They're going to turn on you while you are none the wiser and slit your throats -- for being unique! The only thing keeping them from doing it right now is the fact that they need you if they're going to have this world to themselves."

"Wouldn't put it past them, those things always gave me the willies..."

"And you! You are the bastard's right hand! Most of what gets done for him, is done by you! I'd have thought you'd have wised up by now. Apparently not, and now I'm faced with the order to kill a man who I genuinely called a friend for years! I can't disobey a direct order from the Hopeslayer, not if I want to live to see the Dereth that should be!"

"Stop!"

"No! I have to tell you this, because I really do not want to kill you! I have to, man! You fucked up royally, and now it's my job to take you out!" The tears were rolling fast and freely, dripping off of his chin to the snow beneath their feet.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that. So Asheron's a genocidal dick too. Yeah, okay. I can see that now. But Bael'Zharon is even worse."

"Wrong again! All he wants is to destroy the last of the Yalaini, the scourge who he feels murdered his son. He's willing to go to the darkest of extremes to accomplish that, okay, but he's only after one man. That's it."

"Who's to say that he won't let the power go to his head if he wins?"

"He already has power, but that's beside the point. He will let it go to his head, which is precisely why we're going to take him out immediately after."

"And if you fail?"

"I'd rather he destroy the world than Asheron."

"I can't just let you do this."

"I can't just not do this."

"So there it is, then. We have to fight."

"So it seems." They both resumed their stances. Murr chuckled. "I am so screwed."

"Cruath Quafeth!" Ren shouted, again casting the lightning vulnerability spell on Murr.

"I'm already going to die horribly to you, why make it worse?"

"Because I don't want to hurt you any more than I have to."

"I'm not going to make it easy."

"I know. It's already going to be difficult."

"..." Murr disappeared, Ren following after.

They clashed again and again, Ren's lightning versus Murr's acid. Murr managed to score a lucky hit on Ren, to his shock, joy, and dismay. Ren didn't even try to heal himself, opting instead to throw another lightning arc at his foe. He hissed in pain, the acid burning through the skin of his left forearm and quickly eating a hole through the bone, muscle, and tendons. Murr was concerned at his old friend's disregard for his body.

"You're getting sloppy." Murr commented as he fired another acid arc, another that missed its target.

"So what if I am?" Ren retorted.

"What happened to not letting me win?"

"The reveal happened."

"If it will make it easier for you, I can pull up my hood again."

"No. It won't do anything."

"Can't say I didn't try."

"Whatever." Ren fired off another lightning arc, his aim true. It lacked the momentum necessary to carry it all the way to its target. Ren cursed under his breath. He stopped abruptly, throwing his staff to the ground and falling to his knees. "I can't do this anymore. Do what you will with me."

"You... what? No. I can't just take you without a fight, it wouldn't feel right."

"You're going to have to."

"I refuse." Murr threw his staff down as well.

"You would disobey a direct order from your master?"

"Screw him." the old conviction burned in his eyes.

"I'd rather not, thanks." Ren chuckled weakly.

"You know damn well what I meant by that."

"What would happen if we were to go against both parties? Form our own?"

Murr grimaced. "We'd be squashed."

"I don't understand why we have to go with one or the other, they're both terrible."

"Yeah. I know." The wheels started turning. "If we were to get squashed, I want to get squashed fighting for the right side. The side that screams for peace. Perhaps I can... perhaps I can convince the Shadows to our view."

"I imagine you could, if you were telling the truth about them earlier."

"The Olthoi would be free to do what they wish under us, so we can probably count on them siding with us."

"So long as they don't try that whole 'enslave everything' thing again, I'm okay with that. They seem rather intelligent, even if they can't speak."

"They can, but it's in a different language. We'd have to observe them teaching their young before we could communicate with them. The Tuskers are a wild card. Some are friendly, others aren't. Most side with Asheron, though, and see him as some kind of infallible hero. We'd have to shake that belief."

"Indeed."

Murr sat down next to Ren, deep in thought. "The Virindi are a definite nope. Even if they side with us, they'd sooner kill us all than help us. They'll need to be either forced back to their home world, or an extinction is in order."

"As much as that idea disgusts me, it's probably necessary."

"The Mukkirs are deadly adversaries, but it seems they're like the Olthoi: content to stay in one place as far away from people as possible."

"Sounds about right."

"The Drudges will be difficult to sway away from their own side, so they're probably a lost cause. They leave us alone, we leave them alone."

"And the Sclavuses?"

"Unintelligent bipedal snakes. Want only to murder everything. They go home or die."

"Okay."

"One last thing, do you have any idea where we are?"

"Nope."

"Perfect. I guess we'll be picking a direction and walking."

"Oh, and Murr?"

"Yeah?"

"I missed you, brother." Ren smiled wide. Murr always had been a brilliant tactician.

"You have no idea."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Twilight scanned the area around them. "Where'd they go?"

Fluttershy said quietly, "I don't see them."

Twilight sighed. "I guess we'll worry about Ren later. We should get these ponies to town."

"Definitely." Rarity concurred.

"So, you want us to have a look-see around up past the trees?" Rainbow Dash asked, flaring out her wings in preparation.

"I don't think that will be necessary, Dash. We just have to pick a direction and walk, and we'll get somewhere friendly eventually."

"Aww..." Dash groaned, folding up her wings.

"Which way do we go, then?" Applejack asked.

"Well, the train's on it's left side, so if we keep the train to the right of us we should make it to Tall Tale. To the left, and we backtrack back to Cloudsdale." Twilight explained.

"I say we go to Tall Tale. It'll be difficult to get around in Cloudsdale with the overwhelming amount of earth ponies and unicorns." Rarity said.

"It's probably closer, too," Fluttershy added softly.

"Why don't we ask the rest of the ponies, and take a vote?" Pinkie asked.

"Good idea, Pinkie." Twilight said. She yelled to get the attention of the somewhat large crowd of ponies. "Everypony, we have two choices. Either way we're hoofing it, but we can go this way--" she paused to point in the general direction of Tall Tale, "-- and go to Tall Tale like we were going to. It's most likely closer, and it'll be easier to get around in. Or, we could go the other way to Cloudsdale. Raise your hooves for Tall Tale." An overwhelming majority raised their hooves. "Well, it doesn't look like we need to take the vote for Cloudsdale. Let's get moving then." She started walking in the direction of Tall Tale, the crowd following her and her friends.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Ren perked up as he realized something. "Murr, wait up." His arm was healed now, thanks in part to a particularly powerful casting of Adja's Intervention.

Murr stopped in his tracks, turning to face Ren. "What is it?"

"I got here by way of a broken portal pedestal. Broken though it was, I can probably use a generic recall spell on it to bring us back to familiar territory."

"Familiar to you, you mean."

"Yeah. Wanna risk it?"

"Seems a damn sight easier than roaming this place for who knows how long."

"Indeed. But do you want to?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, hold on to my robe." Murr gripped the cloth. Ren cast the spell, the two again disassembling into purple blobs and disappearing.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

They landed roughly yet again, but this time they were back at Twilight's library. They picked themselves up, being prepared for the landing helping with their lingering consciousness.

"I was supposed to find that cube when I got back here -- shit!" Ren said. "Get in the treehouse, now! Before anyone sees you!"

Murr didn't have to be told twice, opening the locked door easily after casting a weakening spell on the lock, which became brittle and broke when pressure was applied to it. Murr's forte always was enchanting inanimate objects, after all. He was no war mage as Ren was. Ren shifted into his unicorn form, and began to look around. He didn't have to look long before he found it, the cube glinting in the moonlight. He heard a crash from inside the treehouse. He used his magic, which for some reason came to him naturally, to pick up the cube before rushing inside.

A small, purple and green scaly thing was throwing plates at Murr, who tried in vain to calm the thing down.

"Dude, quit it! All you're doing is breaking dishes!" Murr whispered harshly.

"Who are you and why are you in here?" the young dragon asked quickly, throwing another dish.

"Calm down. You're Spike, I presume?" Ren said sternly to the wyrm.

"Yeah, how do you know my name? Are you friends of Twilight's?"

"I am, of a sort. This guy here is actually a friend of mine, not Twilight, at least not yet, but we didn't want to cause a panic so we decided to wait in here for her. She should be getting home sometime within the next day or so." Ren carefully set the cube down on a shelf, using his magic to scribble down a note saying not to touch it under any circumstances and placing the note on the cube.

"Oh. Okay then. Can I get you anything?" Spike was nothing if not hospitable.

"A pillow or two would be fantastic. I for one haven't slept properly in weeks, and I know my friend here has to be tired as well." A glance at Murr confirmed his suspicions, the mage sitting with his back up against the wall, slumped over and snoring.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Twilight and her motley crew made it into Tall Tale a couple hours after sunrise with little incident, a sprained leg on one of the foals being the only notable injury. Said foal was enveloped in Twilight's trademark pink aura and hovered behind her, sleeping. The foal's parents walked alongside their child.

They went into the train station there and alerted the people in charge to their plight. After some investigation revealed they were speaking the truth, they had some questions.

"How did you get them out of the cars through the roof? That's got to be at least a half inch thick, how did each car have such a large hole in the roof?"

"I found a way." Twilight said mysteriously.

"Like what?"

"A sonic rainboom can punch a hole through just about anything, you know." Dash tried to back her up.

"... And you did this seventeen times? And stopped fast enough to not go through the floor as well?"

"... Yes." Rainbow Dash was a terrible liar.

"I call bullshit."

Twilight sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway. Can we please just get our complimentary ride through to Ponyville, considering we've all already paid for the tickets?"

The stallion on the other side of the counter looked at her long and hard. Twilight stared back with the intensity that only a mare who was running on no sleep could muster. The stallion caved, sighing and pressing the button to print the tickets. He handed them to her. "Thank you, and have a nice day."

"You too."

They left the building and boarded the next train out to Ponyville. They were on their way home, deciding to sleep the whole way there. Next Chapter: "What are you doing in my house?!" Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 10 Minutes