“Okay, water, rations, your special gear, your brain, and your baby making bits?”

There were three eye rolls, two scowls, one amused cough from Quiet Mirror, and a partridge in a pear tree. Oh, wait, no, that was the sound of grinding teeth.

Eesh, tough crowd.

“Funny business out of the way, I want everyone to be sure they’ve got some spare water in addition to the rations. The blizzard may have tainted the snow. Does everyone have equipment enchanted against cold?”

“Againappi are naturally resistant to cold and shadow magic,” Shadow Play pointed out, the bat-winged pony nearly ramrod straight in her sitting position, before adding in as an almost afterthought, “Sir.” Surprisingly, it wasn’t sarcastic.

Some part of me cringed at the word, but… better than ‘your majesty’ at least. I’d deal. “I’ll take that as a no for you then?”

“No, sir.”

“We’re going to fix that.” She started to scowl but I kept going, “I believe you, but I’d much rather be safe than sorry when it comes to things like this.” Thankfully, the unpleasant look on her face eased.

I remembered that feeling, that feeling of being in charge, of being responsible for the lives of ponies, to have their fates placed in my hands and having to direct and command them. I channeled that, I tapped into what I imagined people like Sun Tzu, Ceasar, or Alexander must have been like, “This blizzard is apparently supernaturally bad and I’m not going to risk your life over a hunch.”

I turned to the sound of another voice, “They have equipment in her size enchanted against severe cold?” That was… Cumulus Rose. She’d pulled her wonderbolts mask up, though the goggles were hanging around her neck.

“We’re going to be jury-rigging some basics on the ride there,” I clarified for the smaller mare, “Nothing fancy or long lasting, but basic and functional. Twilight and the rest of the Element Bearers are getting the materials we’ll be enchanting as we speak.” I jerked my head at the entrance to the train station.

Right now, the only ponies here were Applejack, Dash, the team, and myself. There were a few curious ponies at the steps up to the platform, but a pair of guards discouraged them from coming up here.

“We can put together an enchantment that quickly?” Quiet Mirror asked incredulously, the silver unicorn tilting his head.

“Between Twilight and myself? Yeah, it’s doable,” I glanced around at the team arrayed around me, trying to get their measure, my thoughts interrupted by the scratchy voice of the pegasus behind me.

“Yeah! Twilight can do pretty much anything when it comes to magic,” Dash bragged for our friend, and I could practically imagine her shining a hoof against her chest.

While most of the team gave the pegasus a neutral look, Quiet Mirror nodded quickly and interestingly, his massive earth pony antagonist gave a solemn nod. But I rolled my eyes, “Anyways, outside of Shadow Play, is everyone’s equipment enchanted against severe cold?”

“My Starcloak is more powerfully enchanted than anything else you’ve seen in your life, fool, I shall be fine regardless of the danger we face,” Grave Danger sneered, earning him a particularly deadpan look from me.

“My armor is similarly enchanted against all environments,” I turned to look up at Punic, who was admittedly a veritable wall of steel, chainmail, and padding. You wouldn’t think you could cover the equine form in that much metal plating and maintain mobility, but you wouldn’t have thought that about medieval knights either. He gave the slightest of bows with his head, a polite smile on his face, “I have faith in the skills of my family and its artisans.”

Still, I moved my gaze down the line to Cumulus Rose, the light pink mare hooked a foreleg in the collar of her outfit in response, giving it a tug, “Already switched to my Wonderbolt Cold Weather Suit. I’m good to go.”

Visually, I couldn’t tell the difference, but whatever. So long as it worked and that sword of hers stayed strapped to her back, we were golden. I really had no idea how a sword staff like that worked for a pony, especially with a bladed semicircle on one side of the long handle…

My gaze landed on Qubanna, who bowed his head slightly, “Could I get some of these enchanted materials of which you speak? My own magics may keep me warm, but I won’t turn these down.” The zebra had added a number of bandoliers to his ensemble, lined with small pouches. It could probably pass as clothing at a goth or punk convention… maybe a hippie goth convention given the thorny vines he had wrapped around his legs?

Hey, they can’t all be winners.

“Noted, Quiet?”

“I’ve got my cold weather gear,” he said softly. A.K.A. - Fuzzy fur lined armor. Not even joking. It was adorable.

“Alright, it’s going to be almost a full day before we reach our stop in the north,” I’d checked with the conductors about our ETA while the girls and I had waited for the rest of the team to arrive. Grave Danger had already been here by the time we’d gotten back from the Quartermaster, “So I want everyone to relax as best you can, at the very least until we can see snow.”

It would take about twenty four hours without stops by train to get there, we had a large amount of coal and water on the eight car train just behind the engine as well as two conductors. We’d be going full tilt overnight as well, no stops on the Save-the-Day-Train it seems.

My left ear flicked off to the side quickly, the two earrings swishing quietly as it angled towards the clop of hooves, but I continued, “Luna didn’t cover this, but ideally we get as much of this train to the Crystal Empire as possible,” I nodded at the decent length of choo choo on the tracks, that was definitely the clatter of hooves, “The other four cars are loaded with supplies for Shining Armor’s troops.”

“Sir,” Cumulus Rose raised a hoof, “Aren’t we heading into an unknown combat situation…?”

“In which it’d be a bad idea to haul around this much stuff? Possibly, yes,” I admitted with a nod even as the multicoloured forms of Twilight and the other girls came up the steps to the platform, “This isn’t an optimal situation, but they haven’t been able to establish a supply line at all, they need anything we can bring them. I know I can haul about one of the cars, but that’s pushing my upper limit right now. Others?”

“I can carry three of the others while maintaining combat readiness,” Grave Danger said dismissively, earning an eyeroll from me as I turned to Quiet Mirror who shuffled his hooves.

“I don’t think I can manage a full car,” his purple tail flicked in embarrassment, “My talents lie elsewhere, not in brute force.”

“Fair enough,” I turned to the lavender unicorn approaching, bolts of various kinds of cloth on her back as well as on the other girls, “Twilight, how much did you catch of that?”

“I heard that we’re bringing supplies to Shining Armor too. I could carry all of the train cars easily,” she pointed out as she stepped into the circle of the team and myself.

“I know,” and I did, I had a pretty solid conception of how absolutely absurdly powerful she was, “But I’d rather you save your power for emergencies. Two cars if at all possible to ease up the burden on Graves and me.”

“Are you sure?” she asked with a small scowl, her ears sweeping back, “I could do it pretty easily.”

“And you could also clear the field if we need you to, but not at the same time,” I countered even as I swept my eyes to each member of the teams and jerked my head at the train, turning towards it myself, “We’ll debate it on the way there though.”

“Fine,” she grumbled, stepping up beside me as I watched the team filed into the train car, “But I really think it’d be better if I carried the supplies.”

With some focus and an exertion of will I flicked the stacks of rations and water onto Applejacks and Dash’s backs, earning me an irritated look from Applejack at my interruption of her own efforts to pull the saddlebags on. I grinned and waggled my eyebrows at her, earning an eyeroll and small smile from her before she headed towards the train car.

“Twilight,” I said softly, my grin fading as I watched the team and our friends head into the car, Rarity and Fluttershy a bit winded from the efforts of carrying the bolts of cloth so far, “I’m trusting you here.”

“Emeris?” she replied just as quietly, likely giving me a funny look as we stood on the platform.

“If things go sour, I’m trusting you to get yourself and the girls out of there,” my lips pressed into a thin line as I glanced at the unicorn on my right, my mismatched ears swept back, “If the shit hits the fan, I’m counting on you to ditch me and the team and get our friends out of there.”

“What?!” she hissed, opening her mouth again, but I cut her off.

“Twilight,” my whisper was harsh, “Protecting you and the girls is our job, that’s why we’re here. But you know the girls, they wouldn’t abandon me or the team no matter how bad it got. You have to. I’m trusting you to listen to me if I tell you guys to run and to make them follow through… or to make the call yourself.”

Despite the glances back at us from several of the girls and the team, my friend practically snarled at me as she whispered, “Don’t you dare try to throw your life away.”

“Twilight-!” I was actually offended by that, half turning towards the smaller unicorn, “Damnit that’s not my point and you know it. I’m going to do my best to keep myself and this team alive but I need to know that you’ll cut your losses if you have to.” I lowered my head, keeping my eyes locked with hers as I whispered, “We are acceptable losses, you girls are not.”

At this point, Shadow Play and Applejack were waiting at the doors to the train car, looking back at Twilight and me curiously as we argued. Twilight biting back a retort as if sucking on a sour lemon, her eyes scrunching up as she restrained what I’d assume was an emotional response. It was only after a long breath that she whispered back hotly, “I don’t like this.”

“And you think I do?” I countered, “I don’t want to die or even risk my life to be honest, but ponies need us–”

“And they need the Elements of Harmony more. I get it,” she finished for me with a grumble, earning a small nod from me, my face softening.

“Yeah,” leaning over I bumped my shoulder against hers gently, “Can you do it?”

Her look was a very eloquent ‘Are you seriously asking me that?’, “Emeris…” she snorted, shaking her head slightly, “Yes, I can. But I do it under protest. And you’re going to have to accept that we’re not going to just abandon you or this team.”

A small smile appeared on my face, “I don’t expect you to,” I said softly as I started to walk, my hooves quiet against the tile of the station, Twilight walking beside me. My smile faded and I turned to look at her as we approached the doors of the car, “But I need to trust that if it comes down to it, you’ll protect yourself and the girls.”

To my surprise, Celestia’s star pupil stumbled for just a moment at the transition between platform and train car, staring at me with wide eyes, making my head cock to the side in confusion. After a moment Twilight shook her head at my questioning look, “Sorry, I just… I haven’t seen that look on your face since… well since you were Gary.”

Not unnoticed by me, Shadow Play’s ears and eyebrows shot up, though I did my best to remain focused on Twilight, “Okay…? I’m sorry…?” I ventured. By the way, Twilight, sweetie, great job, I’d been hoping to keep that quiet if it was feasible. They didn’t seem to know who I used to be and I had hoped to keep it that way. Nice. Sweet. Wonderful. … damnit.

“Don’t apologize, it was just kind of startling. I don’t really associate you like this with that ‘I’m in charge’ face,” she said, a small smile appearing on her face, “It’s not as intense without the red eyes and flaming mane, but the scars help.” She reached out with a forehoof to lightly boop my left cheek.

My look was particularly unamused, “It also probably doesn’t look as stupid now.”

“Touche’,” she said with a small smile, “Though we’re holding up the train, come on.”

The two unicorns walked into the train car, Twilight heading down the rows of open benches towards where Rarity was setting up a quick workstation as Emeris’ hindleg kicked the doors closed.

Applejack started to open her mouth to ask what her friends had been arguing about, having only caught bits and pieces of the whispered conversation, but the againap beside her beat her to it, “You…” the dark blue-gray mare’s mouth worked silently for a moment, sharp teeth flashing in direct contrast to the shock on her face and in her tone, “You were Gary Stu…?”

The dark-green unicorn winced even as the large lieutenant continued, “I– I had no idea– that explains– I’m so sorry your highness–”

The armored againap froze as the even larger pony whirled on her. His eyes flashing a bright green and his lips curling back from his teeth he growled, “Don’t–” It was Shadow Play’s turn for something inside her to quiver as the previously unthreatening unicorn loomed over her, “Ever–…” after a moment, in spite of trembling with anger, Emeris closed his glowing eyes, taking in a slow, shuddering breath. Then, like steam being released from a boiler, he seemed to deflate, “Call me that.”

Applejack cringed, raising a hoof and wondering whether she needed to step in. But after a moment, the larger of the two mares near the door hesitantly ventured, “Sir…?” her head held low, as were her wings.

“That’ll work,” Emeris ground out, his ears swept back as he continued to take slowly steadying breaths, “I’m not that pony. I chose my current state and I will not be associated with Gary if I have anything to say about it.” His eyes opened, gray-green once more, “That pony is in the past and should stay there.”

“I–…” Shadow Play’s pale yellow eyes were wide as she blinked a few times. The trio of ponies at the closed door not noticing the curious looks the other ponies in the car were giving them. But then her wings snapped to her sides and she held her head high, “Of course sir.”

“Good,” he closed his eyes and sighed, the intensity almost melting out of him, returning his large form to its seemingly more natural, unthreatening state.

Applejack relaxed. She still didn’t really know what it was with his eyes changing the way they did when he was angry, but at least now she was sure she wouldn’t have to step in.

Emeris opened his eyes, finding Shadow Play still at attention, earning another sigh, “Dismissed. And seriously, try to relax on the train ride, just… don’t mention the Gary thing please?”

Her ramrod straight posture easing slightly, the againap nodded, “Of course sir.” With that, she walked further into the car, towards one of the empty benches. Pausing as she moved to pass Emeris, she turned her head slightly, “... you make a lot more sense now, sir.” The slightest of smiles appeared on her face, sharp teeth glinting in the midday sun shining through the windows of the car, “Just be sure to get me an autograph, my stallion has wanted one ever since you relocated the Shadowpoint mountain.”

The unicorn pulled a face like he’d sucked on a lemon, his ears sweeping back and his short tail flicking as he muttered, “I hate autographs.”

Shadow Play’s smile became an amused smirk as her leathery wings resettled against her dark armor, her head turning back to the rest of the car, “I know, Pianissimo won’t shut up about how you never gave out paraphernalia, it’s what would make it meaningful.”

An unhappy scowl appeared on Emeris’ muzzle, his eyes locked on the doors to his left as the train started to jerk into motion. But his body tensed when Applejack reached out, gently placing a forehoof against his side, the farm mare didn’t know exactly what was going on in his head, but she didn’t need to know. She did know that now, this time, he didn’t have a good reason to tell her no.

She didn’t have to say a word. Her touch was enough to make him stop and think, to try and figure out what she was trying to tell him. It was with a sigh and now drooping ears that he said, “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you, sir,” Shadow Play said, a small smile on her face as she headed further into the train car, walking along the simple carpet floor.

Applejack shuffled closer, slinging a foreleg over his withers and gently bumping her muzzle against his chin, causing Emeris’ eyes to go wide and a dusting of pink to appear on his cheeks before an embarrassed smile appeared on his face and he leaned into the farmmare’s touch, “Sorry… I wasn’t… I was expecting her to hate me, not…”

“Not worship ya’, and it scared ya’ bad,” Applejack finished for him, giving his withers a brief squeeze.

“Yeah… I didn’t exactly react well to that,” he grumbled even as she pulled away, a bit of a pout on his face, earning a small smile from Applejack.

“It’s okay sugar, ya don’t have to apologize for nothin’,” she slugged him in the shoulder lightly, a smile on her face, “Just don’t tear somepony’s head off if they call you ‘y’er highness’.”

He snorted, pouting some in spite of himself, “I wasn’t going to tear her head off.”

“Sure didn’t seem like it,” Applejack countered with a stern look, making him cringe and shuffle his hooves.

Emeris looked away, his ears drooping and his tail tucking against his legs as he said, “I only yelled a little bit…”

“Mhm… right” Applejack said as she turned, “Now don’t you got some work to do with Twilight?”

“Yeah…” taking a steadying breath, Emeris’ gathered himself, holding his head high once more as he headed towards the group, “Yeah, I do. Thanks.”

Applejack watched her coltfriend go, a troubled look crossing her face as she murmured, “It ain’t nothin’.”

The train car was one of two dedicated to the passengers, mostly open rows of cushioned benches, windows at every seat and a red carpet on the whole floor, a bathroom tucked in the back of the car. The car closer to the engine and coal-car had a small kitchenette and several bunks for the conductors to trade shifts and the passengers to sleep.

While the majority of the group had arrayed themselves together in the seating car closer to the kitchen and bunks, there were outliers. Grave Danger had found a far corner to lay down on the bench, his cloak pooling around him and his eyes closed, his head held high.

Cumulus Rose had picked a spot several seats down from the main group, sitting ramrod straight, her eyes going between one side of the car and the other. Qubanna wasn’t far from her, though he’d decided to just fall asleep, somehow managing to achieve this in the past hour despite the sunlight still streaming through the windows.

Punic, while in the group, took up most of a bench himself simply due to his size and that, aside from Pinkie, none of the others were comfortable enough to sit in the leftover space.

Sitting across from Punic were Fluttershy, Shadow Play, and Pinkie Pie, the party pony trying to draw her section-mates into a conversation with middling success. Not so much because Punic and Shadow Play were unwilling to talk, but because they struggled to get a word in edgewise between their own surprise at the party pony.

Across the aisle were the remaining members of the group. Applejack, Emeris, Rainbow Dash and Quiet Mirror sat on one somewhat crowded bench. cross from them sat Twilight and Rarity as well as a mess of cloth, needles, and thread.

Applejack had laid her head against Emeris’ withers, doing as Qubanna had and trying to fall asleep, snuffling slightly as it eluded her.

Emeris worked quietly with Twilight and Rarity, trying to throw together some basic enchantments. The stallion was the resident expert on runes, Twilight the expert on magic in general, and Rarity the expert on actually putting the cloth and runes together into something (stylish) that could be worn. The conversation consisted mostly of Emeris and Twilight throwing together runic inscriptions before the other vetoed it, sometimes with Rarity vetoing it due to size constraints.

“I must say,” Quiet Mirror said from his place beside Rainbow Dash, “It’s an honor to work with you girls. I mean, you’re national heroes!”

“Why thank you dear,” Rarity preened slightly as the other two unicorns whispered back and forth, debating the meaning of three runes together.

“Sure, most ponies don’t know your names or what you look like, but still!” he gushed, his helmet laying on the seat beside him, “I mean, you’re a successful businessmare who has several lines of clothes that are being worn throughout Canterlot! Applejack Apple, you’ve taken home how many different medals from rodeos? And Twilight Sparkle, you’re the personal student of Princess Celestia!”

While Applejack was too close to sleep and Twilight too engrossed in her debate to notice the gushing, Rarity adjusted her coif self-consciously.

“And Rainbow Dash! You’re in the top five in every measurable flight stat, the only confirmed pony able to break the mana-barrier, they even named the event after you!” The silver unicorn practically squirmed in place, “I really hope your petition to join the Wonderbolts proper goes through! I can’t think of anypony better suited!”

The multicolored pegasus preened under the praise, straightening feathers even as Rarity raised an eyebrow, “I know, I’m awesome~”

“No joke!” Quiet Mirror grinned at the pegasus beside him, “Three mastered martial arts, two expert level ones, wing power of sixteen point five. Heck, experts thought the Sonic Rainboom was impossible before you performed it!”

Rainbow Dash fluffed her wings and pressed them against her sides, her tail flicking beside her as she gestured with her hoof, “True, true, it’s all true~”

Emeris glanced up from his debate over at the exchange before sharing a look with Rarity. The fashionista gave the barest of shrugs before nodding marginally at Emeris. The large former human sending another glance over at his marefriend and the armored unicorn before shifting slightly and returning to his discussion with Twilight.

“It ain’t easy being this awesome mind you,” Rainbow Dash said, polishing her red-wrapped hoof against her chest.

“I totally understand!” Quiet Mirror exclaimed before getting a better handle on his volume, his cropped purple tail pressing over the large saddlebag that covered his cutie mark, a smile on his face, “I’ve tried to pick up pieces of Rolling Earth to add to the standard Solar Guard CQC to compliment my focus and I can barely get any of it down.” He nodded, his eyebrows and ears high as he acknowledged, “Earth Pony focused styles are super hard for pegasi and unicorns.”

“You might be coming at it from the wrong direction then, Em here’s been picking up Rolling Earth really well,” Dash jerked her head at the unicorn beside her even as she spread a wing over his withers, “Any tips for him big guy?”

Looking up from his debate with Twilight, Emeris raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash, his damaged right ear cocking ot the side, “You know that’s not fair Dash, I’m stronger than the average unicorn.”

“Come on,” the pegasus bumped her shoulder against his, both missing the brief pout that crossed Quiet Mirror’s face, but Rarity didn’t, “You’re really saying you can’t help the guy?”

The green unicorn rolled his eyes, “Probably nothing he hasn’t already figured out for himself,” leaning forward a bit he looked past her at the armored pony, “What have you noticed while learning it? I might actually pick up some things from you.”

Even though Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, Quiet Mirror held his head high, “I’ve definitely realized that I don’t have the raw strength for the majority of the style, or the size and leverage that the ground-work requires.”

Emeris gave Dash a meaningful look, raising his eyebrows at her and earning himself an eyeroll, “Yeah yeah, you’re big and strong, I get it.”

He smiled some before turning back to Quiet Mirror, “Anyways, from what I’ve figured out, I’d recommend focusing on the side-rolls and counters of the style, they’re likely to be the most useful moves for you. Don’t bother with the forward rolls, your horn will just get in the way.” He paused, thinking, “Honestly, without earth pony strength and mass, you can’t really use the shoulder checks and body slams that seem to be most of the style’s offense.”

“Ah…” Quiet Mirror shifted slightly, turning towards the pegasus beside him, “Would you agree with that Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah, I don’t have the horn problem, though I had to change the normal side rolls of the style into a sort of cartwheel to avoid hurting my wings,” she flared them briefly as punctuation before folding one back against her side and wrapping the other one back around Emeris, the primaries lying across Applejack’s chest, “I struggled to get the body slams to work at first, but I found out that by going really fast I can make them hurt still!” She suggested eagerly.

“Force is mass times acceleration… I don’t think he’ll be able to manage your kinds of speeds though.” Emeris mused before saying, “You might be better off adding magic to your close quarters combat or just going with something more natural to you.”

That earned him a funny look from Quiet Mirror, “Only experts in Flowing Stream, Still Way, or the Shattered Mirror styles even think about using magic in CQC.” He paused, raising his head a bit in an attempt to look over the back of the bench over in Grave Danger’s direction before pulling back down and glancing between the other ponies in the bench, “Well… that or a Broken Horn.”

Emeris gave his fellow unicorn a funny look of his own, “Um, why?”

Now every pony paying attention to the conversation gave the large unicorn a disbelieving stare, though it was Twilight that spoke up, “Um… Em… when a unicorn’s horn is hit, the pain will disrupt basically any spell, especially if it’s done mid cast.”

But he shook his head, “No no, I get that. I’m wondering why unicorns don’t have spells they can cast at a thought. Something you can cast as fast as you throw a punch or kick.”

“Using telekinesis like that is the entirety of Still Way,” Quiet Mirror said, “It takes intense practice and effort, and since it’s obviously not happened to you, getting hit while casting is excruciating.”

“I know,” Emeris said tersely, “Dash has hit me in the horn several times while we spar,” Quiet Mirror gaped which Emeris ignored with a shrug, “It sucks and it leaves me open but being able to shut down her flight is entirely worth the risk.”

“Emeris.”

Pausing at his name, the unicorn turned to Twilight, “Yeah?”

She cocked an eyebrow at him, “Your perception of pain is skewed, remember?”

“... oh, right,” he paused, looking away in thought before turning back to her, “It’s really that bad?”

“Yeah, it’ll usually knock a unicorn out of the fight entirely,” Rainbow Dash filled in, “There are exceptions though.”

“Huh… didn’t think of it like that…” he mused, not really paying attention to the questioning glances Quiet Mirror was shooting him and the girls, “By the way, before I forget. What is a Broken Horn anyways?”

Every pony in the seats shifted uncomfortably at that before Quiet MIrror softly said, “One of those exceptions.”

“Huh…” Emeris cocked his head to the side in thought before nodding thoughtfully, “I’ll go with that being good news. Anything more specific about them though?”

“They’re elite special forces, I… actually don’t know much,” Twilight admitted a bit sheepishly, her ears drooping.

“They’re the leaders of the Starcloaks,” Punic supplied gently from across the aisle, “They are tasked with mastering dangerous magics and they are, to a pony, capable of casting their spells even if their horns were to be broken entirely off in the middle of a fight. It’s where their name comes from.” He paused, before giving an apologetic nod to Twilight, “There is more, of course, but it becomes highly classified beyond that.”

“They’re basically the Boogeypony of spellcasters…” Quiet Mirror said softly with a shiver, “And for good reason, I’ve had reason to work with them on two occasions I…” he paused, shifting in place, “They’re terrifying when at work.”

“Huh…” Emeris pursed his lips comically in thought before nodding, “That’s cool. Anyways, Twilight, I still think that the Kenning, Ankh, and Vulcanis runes in this orientation will refer to the body heat of the wearer.”

“Wait,” Rainbow Dash said before voicing the thought on the mind of the other ponies there, “What?” The other ponies awake stared at the large unicorn in disbelief.

He glanced amongst them, raising an eyebrow, “... what?”

“Just like that, you’re going to find out something like that and go back to what you were doing?” Quiet Mirror asked, staring at what was technically now his commanding officer.

Rarity delicately coughed into her hoof before venturing, “It is a rather abrupt topic change dear…”

“So?” he rebutted, raising an eyebrow at them, “Last I checked we’ve got something we need to be doing.”

“Fair enough dear…” Rarity trailed off, the ponies exchanging glances.

The green unicorn huffed, rolling his eyes, “Oh awkward awkward awkward,” he punctuated each word with an exaggerated waggle of his hips, “Eesh, I’m weird, I get it, now we get it. Can we move on please and thank you?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, swatting Emeris’ muzzle with her forehoof, making his eyes cross as he stared at the spot, “Hush ya dork, that doesn’t fix the problem.”

He blew a quick raspberry at her in response, earning him a snort and several eyerolls. But the moment was truly broken when Applejack grabbed a hold of Dash’s wing and pulled it over her like a blanket, snuggling against Emeris as she did, using his withers as a pillow and somehow falling asleep despite the conversation going on around her.

Dash and Emeris both blushed at the pony-handling as the farmmare started to softly snore.

“Anyways!” Dash said quickly, turning to the silver, armored unicorn beside her, “About those styles.”

Twilight smirked slightly at the embarrassment on Emeris’ face even as the two of them returned to debating the best usage of runes. Unnoticed though was the slightly concerned look on Rarity’s face, her crystal blue eyes locked on Applejack’s now completely peaceful face.

Several hours had passed since the train ride had started, at some point Pinkie had dragged Cumulus Rose closer to the group, sandwiching her between Fluttershy and Shadow Play even as she sat in the limited space beside the veritable wall of steel and padding that was Punic.

Though any of the mares in booth would agree he was an admittedly well shaped wall of metal and pony, but still a wall.

“–so was thinking that when we get to the Crystal Empire we hold a festival! Just games and streamers and events and fun and food everywhere!”

“That… might not be a good idea Miss Pie,” Cumulus Rose cautiously suggested, her Wonderbolts hood having been pulled down some time ago.

“Pinkie!” corrected the party pony.

“I actually disagree Sergeant,” Punic said, bowing his head slightly, “The morale of Shining Armor’s troops is likely flagging against such persistent foes, and a true festival would likely be welcomed.”

“See!” Pinkie bounced, “Properly applied parties can be the answer to any problem!”

Fluttershy cringed slightly, remembering a time not too long ago that a party had almost made things much worse instead. It was Cumulus Rose that spoke up again, “Still, it’s going to be in the middle of a combat situation.”

“In which Captain Shining Armor, of the same House as Twilight Sparkle, the Noble House of Light, is the commanding officer,” Punic pointed out, his polite smile not wavering an inch, “His mastery of abjuration magic is unmatched, he has maintained eighth circle shield magic for days prior to his own marriage. It is without doubt that I say that the Crystal Empire is secured against any threat, no matter the siege it may be enduring now.”

“I do have to agree with Sergeant Cumulus Rose, it seems a bit out of place given the situation,” Shadow Play said from between the two pegasi, acutely aware that she was the largest mare on the train.

“But, Punny said it’d be a good idea,” Pinkie pouted dramatically. Despite what others might think, she didn’t actually think parties were always the answer, they were just a really efficient way of providing maximum smiles to the largest number of ponies in the smallest amount of time.

“Pinkie Pie, I would appreciate it if you did not give me a nickname,” Punic said with the same polite smile, although careful observation could find the slightest tightening around the corners of his eyes, “My name is important to me and I do not wish to have it twisted.”

“Oh…” the baker paused, blinking a few times before beaming up at the massive stallion, “Okey dokey lokey!”

“Thank you,” his smile widened fractionally as he placed a forehoof against his helm beside him, turning back to Shadow Play, “And morale is a crucial thing in larger scale engagements. A commander who does not consider it and its effects is a failure at his task. It may not be necessary given Captain Shining Armor’ and Princess Cadenza’s leadership, but one must not simply discard the idea out of hand.”

“Still, a festival in the middle of a combat zone…” Shadow Play unconsciously gave a slight shake of her head at the thought.

“A celebration of reinforcements during a war,” Punic countered with his polite smile, there was the slightest crinkling at the corners of his orange eyes, “One must remember that we are speaking of a force of approximately two hundred ponies entrenched in a large city, not merely a dozen or so well behind enemy lines or on the move.”

Shadow Play scowled, “Fair enough.”

“Ooh! Ooh! So the festival is on! Woohoo!” Pinkie cheered, earning herself strange looks from everypony awake and unaccustomed to her exuberance, “Ooh! I’ll make it super awesome and it’ll have so many awesome events! What do you think? I know Fluttershy can sing and Dashie and Applejack can perform stunts and Twilight’s really good at magic and Rarity can make really awesome decorations and Emmy can–! Um…” she paused for half a second in thought before shrugging with a grin, “I actually don’t know what Emmy can do that’s party related, but knowing him he can probably do something! So what can you guys do?”

How Pinkie could manage all of that in one breath would probably go unanswered for a long, long time.

The rambling question threw off the ponies sharing a section with her, though Punic was the first to recover. Raising a hoof to his mouth to cough into the armored limb, doing so with surprising delicacy and quiet in spite of his armor and baritone voice, “Ah, my Family requires that I compose myself appropriately for it’s future head and I am unable to… perform in such a manner. And I know that Captain Quiet Mirror, in spite of his nobility is ill-suited to such endeavors, his specialties lie in abjuration rather than any of the more spectacular magics.”

“Awwwww…”

“Um… well, I’m talented at using umbram– um, shadows to envelop my form, it’s my namesake after all…” the againap said, “My herd says they’re pretty, but I’m not sure how well those would work for a festival though…” she paused in thought, her leathery wings shifting against her armored sides before she offered, “Um… I can joust?”

“Ooh! That could work!” Pinkie vibrated before turning to the soft pink Wonderbolt with a beaming grin.

The smaller mare squeaked, almost trying to hide behind the large blade propped against the red cushion, “Ah! Um… well… I cloud carve…?” The other ponies turned to her, curious looks upon their faces, though Punic managed to retain his polite smile. Shifting uncomfortably under the scrutiny, Cumulus Rose adjusted her swept back mane, “Well, it’s my specialty, weather manipulation that is… and, um… I find it relaxing to carve cloud sculptures…”

“That… um… sounds pretty amazing, I could never do that…” Fluttershy said softly, hiding behind both her long mane and the larger form of Shadow Play.

“Thank you,” the Wonderbolt said with a nod, no longer attempting to hide behind her sword, the beginnings of a smile appearing on her face.

“That may be acceptable,” Punic said, the stark white stallion nodding his head slowly, “Could you sculpt a scene of the princesses conquering their foes…?”

“Um… maybe…? I usually do flowers…”

I scanned over the current inscriptions we had. Runic magic was sort of like computer code, just in three dimensions rather than one linear one. A major trick was to keep the runes linear rather than allowing it to become two dimensional. It was also a bit like accounting in that the various ‘accounts’ of the equation had to balance, energy in had to match energy out sort of thing. It was also an entirely new language, considering it had its own grammar and syntax and word structure, not to mention vocabulary.

Now, I’d dabbled in computer coding in college, and I was going for a degree in accounting so I didn’t hesitate to say that I actually had some talent at runes. I’d only had high school spanish though so I didn’t have the triforce of backgrounds to make runic magic my bitch, but eh.

I’d dabbled in runic magic over the past two years, mostly as a way to defend my home from the insanities that had plagued me. Waking up with somepony being compelled to try to rape themselves using you is something I wish I’d never had happen; it’s a barrel-full of nope. Once was more than enough for me.

So yeah, runic barriers.

There were other forms of magic that could last after you were unconscious, mid to high level abjuration for example, but runes had been the easiest for me personally to pick up and use. My own talents just leaned more towards it is all.

“Emeris?”

“Hm?” I looked up at the sound of Twilight’s voice.

“You were just quiet for a several minutes,” she said, her purple tail flicking once.

“Ah, sorry,” I said, looking back at the inscriptions, “My mind was wandering.”

Rarity had taken the actual materials off into another set of seats to give herself some more room to work on the first runic inscription we’d hashed together to test. Once she’d sewn it into the scarf, Twilight would use her greater magical reserves to initially empower the runes. I could have done it, but Twilight had insisted on it, successfully arguing that the loss of magic for her was proportionally less enough to warrant it.

My contribution so far had mostly been experiential, my greater prior knowledge and practical experience with runes was complemented by Twilight’s general magical theory.

“Can I ask to what?” came Twilight’s gentle voice.

I blinked in surprise, glancing back at the lavender unicorn before turning back to the window. It was a pastel of colors with the sun starting to set, the sky awash in orange and blue, “... why I learned runes in the first place.” My smile was only a bit bitter as I gave a half shrug, careful not to wake Applejack, “Not the most pleasant thought to be honest, no matter how useful it is now.”

While Applejack was still asleep against me, Dash had taken Quiet Mirror into the hallway between the rows of seats to walk through some basics of Zephyr Blade. I didn’t know much about the style, but Dash had come to the conclusion from talking with Quiet Mirror that it might be better suited for him than Rolling Earth.

A soft touch of a hoof against my foreleg dangling off the front of the seat brought my attention back to Celestia’s personal student, a look of concern on her face. I smiled as a bit of warmth bloomed in my chest, appreciating the offered comfort, “S’okay, don’t worry about me.”

The magical lights in the car flickered on as the light outside started to dim, drawing my eyes. As far as I understood it, most train cars had gas or oil lanterns for night travel, but more expensive or higher quality ones like this one had the magic lanterns. I focused on the little flame at the back of my mind that was the activation of their magic, studying it out of curiosity.

It seemed… like it was just mana being run through something and the waste energy was light instead of heat.

… fucking hell magic could be weird sometimes. Though… hrm, it was likely classically enchanted so that it absorbed some reidual mana from the ambient light during the day and when it stopped being able to absorb that it would release it in the same form–

There was a soft thump of a hoof against mine, and I turned back to Twilight, her light purple eyes narrowing, “You’re zoning out again, what’s wrong?”

“Twilight, I–”

“Don’t,” she interrupted me, eyes hard but voice soft, “Don’t gloss it over. We’re friends,” her eyes softened, ears drooping slightly, “Don’t be afraid to tell me the truth.”

Silence reigned for a moment in my shock before I worked up the courage to sigh, murmuring, “It’s less to do with me not wanting to tell you as not wanting to tell myself…” I squeezed the edge of the cushion absently with my fetlocks, frowning at the line of tension I could feel in myself, “I’m worried about my ability to do this mostly… and I don’t really have a task at the moment to distract me.”

“You’re not the only one,” Twilight said equally softly. After a moment of uncomfortable silence she raised her head and I could practically see the idea in her eyes, “We could figure out more runic inscriptions?”

I snorted, causing the unconscious earth pony snuggled against my side to snuffle unhappily. A small blush appeared on my face even as she squeezed my barrel and attempted to shift closer. Smiling affectionately down at her I lit up my horn even as I softly countered Twilight’s idea, “We’ve already given Rarity four variations to work with, any more would be silly.”

The lavender unicorn blushed, her ears drooping before sweeping back as she scowled, “There’s got to be something we can do…” As she trailed off, I lifted Applejack’s hat off her head with my emerald magic and set it down on the seat beside us.

“Well, I’d intended to go talk to my team and figure out their strengths and weaknesses, but… well…” I pointedly looked at the orange forelimbs wrapped around me, before saying with an amused smile, “Not that I’m complaining, but the timing could be better.” Definitely not complaining. Dash was beautiful, no doubt, but Applejack could make my unpoetic ass write a sonnet in the right light.

Without being bound, her mane and tail were flowing curtains of gold in the light of the dawn, it had rendered me speechless more than once.

“True…” Twilight said with a smile, before she offered with a tilted head, “Would you like me to do it for you?”

I shook my head, “N’ah, thanks though. It’s my responsibility, and I need to be able to intuit things, and asking myself will help with that.”

“That makes sense,” Twilight mused before looking at me, “But I want to know as well, I need to know what we’ve got to work with.”

“Fair enough,” I admitted.

A comfortable silence hung in the air for a long moment as I gently groomed Applejack’s long, blond hair which had gotten just a bit tangled in her sleep. It had been weird at first to use my mouth and teeth to do this sort of thing, but I found that I actually liked doing it. I had a feeling that shampoo manufacturers here went out of their way to ensure their stuff tasted good, Applejack’s smelled and tasted slightly of strawberries, complimenting her natural scent of apple and grass.

“Well, while you’ve got a convenient marefriend to cuddle with,” Twilight grumbled adorably, a blush appearing on my face, “But that leaves me with nothing to do.”

My cheeks still red, I searched around in my mind for something… Lifting my head, I said softly, “Well, I wouldn’t say no to helping figure out how to enchant the bits of armor I picked up and my outfit to protect me better.”

Twilight blinked before a small smile appeared on her face, “That could work. What did you pick up so I know how much space we have to work with?”

With a bit of will, I lifted the plating out of the saddlebags I’d left on the seat behind me. It resembled nothing so much as a silver, unadorned version of the solar guard armor. Segmented plates covering the hindquarters, rigid chestpiece that covered the chest and left my underside terrifyingly exposed, something I’d definitely fix if I ever got something made for myself.

Timberwolf teeth on your stomach once is more than a enough please and thank you.

I’d picked up a helmet, devoid of a crest like Shadow Plays, as well as war-shoes. All unadorned and simple steel and leather padding. If this was going to be even a semi-regular thing though, I’d have to get myself used to more armor than this.

Again, Timberwolf teeth. Not even once (more, damnit).

“There aren’t enchantments on it already?” Twilight asked, her magic mixing with mine as she took the armor from me, a sensation that always felt extremely intimate to me despite having been told otherwise repeatedly.

“None that I’m aware of.”

She slowly turned the steel over in her magic, a contemplative look on her face, “What were you thinking?”

“Throat and stomach. I need those protected. Wolves are going to go for there after grabbing the legs to trip me up,” I scowled slightly, “Though I can’t think of how to protect my legs.”

Humming softly, Twilight’s purple eyes searched me for a moment before her ears perked, “Fire wraps!”

I blinked once in confusion before I picked up on her brainwave, “Ah! Yes, offense in place of defense…” I looked down at the wrappings around my legs, it was actually a lot of room to work with, “We inscribe on these about channeling mana into fire and light–”

“–and use your war shoes as a generalized focus point so it amplifies the hits and channels the aura into your strikes.” Twilight finished for me.

“That way the wraps can be swapped out easily–” I said eagerly, ears perked.

“–while the harder to forge shoes only need to be worked on once– “ her head bobbed in excitement.

“–so if the situation is different from what we expect–” I grinned.

“–we can throw something together on the spot,” she finished, earning an unmanly giggle of exuberance from me.

Applejack snorted against my skin, giving my barrel another squeeze as she buried her face against me with an unhappy grumble at the volume Twilight and I had reached. We both blushed a bit, though I couldn’t keep the grin from my face, “So I’m thinking something along the lines of what I put around my house, an exception based exclusion field using the edges of the armor as a boundary and using the stuff we used to all the wearer to envelop the barrel.”

“That should work, though I’ll need to see the actual runes, I can probably enchant your vest directly to make it as strong as chainmail, it’s a pretty standard enchantment for the clothing of nobility.”

Qubanna sat at the window, his eyes searching the darkness. Much of the team and Element Bearers they were sworn to the protection of had gone into the car ahead of them to sleep in the stacked bunks. The zebra briefly mused on how long the two unicorn Element Bearers and the large unicorn that lead the team had stayed up working, staying several hours after sunset.

The only other ponies in the transport car were Grave Danger and Punic, the smallest and largest of the collected group.

While the nearly alicorn-sized earth pony had chosen to remain in his armor, simply using his saddlebags as a pillow and sleeping on one of the benches. Qubanna was no expert on armor, favoring the plant based armaments of his Kundi, but he was pretty sure that armor anywhere near as heavy as his shouldn’t be comfortable to sleep in.

The zebra could see how a pony in the traditional style armor could sleep comfortably provided they slept on their stomach, but all that chainmail and the plating that covered every non-flexible inch of Punic should give him sores if he slept in it…

“I’m pretty sure it’s enchanted.”

Qubanna didn’t jump, though he did blink in surprise as he turned to the large unicorn who was in charge. It seemed that the green unicorn was capable of surprising silence, “Hm?”

“You were staring at his armor,” he offered, nodding at the sleeping Punic before giving Qubanna an amused smirk, “And I’d like to think your thoughts were more on that than on something as silly as ‘What is with that much metal’.”

“And what do you mean by ‘that’?” he questioned Emeris.

To Qubanna’s surprise, the unicorn shrugged, “How he can stay in it all the time? How he can sleep in it? How he moves so quietly in it? I took a shot in the dark as a conversation starter.”

Qubanna snorted, “And why, pray tell, do you need to start a conversation?”

The relaxation bled out of the large unicorn, leaving an intense pair of gray-green eyes locked with Qubanna’s own brown ones, “I need to know what you can do. Luna didn’t give me a road map or profiles on you guys and gals and I don’t want to go into this blind, not when your lives are at stake.”

“What of our companions?” Qubanna asked, nodding at Punic.

“Mr. Big and Metal here has an even split between his sheer size, two mastered earth pony martial arts, and strategic level command skills,” the large unicorn let out a small snort, his smile amused, “And he’s proud of that armor to the point of almost being silly.”

Emeris turned back to Qubanna, giving him an expectant look, but the zebra meaningfully glanced at the door to the sleeping quarters and kitchen. Rolling his eyes, Emeris hopped up onto the seat across from Qubanna, “Quiet Mirror is a master of countermagic, both in combat and out, with some close combat skills thrown in for good measure.”

Saying nothing as his commanding officer settled in, Qubanna waited for him to continue, “Cumulus Rose’ focus is on weather shaping magics, primarily through her dawnblade,” for some reason, an amused smirk played across Emeris’ face at the weapon, but he continued, “The two of them are along to deal with this blizzard we’re facing.”

“Shadow Play is a stealth specialist that also happens to be a certified master of close combat, she’s the inventor of a new style of againap-focused close quarters combat,” he glanced out at the shadows of trees passing by through the windows, noticeably different from when they’d started out, “She specializes in quick takedowns, but don’t worry about protecting her if things get hairy.”

“And what of Grave Danger?” Qubanna asked.

Emeris shrugged, “He’s out of it right now, has been for a while.”

Qubanna raised a dark gray eyebrow at the knight before pointedly looking over the back of his seat at the pale yellow unicorn, hidden in his cloak, his head still high and facing out the window, “What of that seems asleep to you?”

“Not a damn thing,” his soft tone somewhere between irritated and amused, Emeris shook his head, “But he’s out of it, trust me. Meditating or in a trance or something. He’s been using some low power magic and doesn’t respond to his name right now. I could interrupt him, but without knowing what he’s doing, I’m not going to unless I have to.”

“Mm,” Qubanna grunted noncommittally, his face neutral as his tail tucked against his side.

“Okay,” turning back to his companion, Emeris smirked, “Your turn.”

The slightest of frowns crossed the zebras face as he crossed his vine covered forelimbs in front of him, his ears sweeping back, “What of my abilities do you specifically seek?”

The dark green unicorn scowled, “Everything relevant to combat and the situation we’re getting ourselves into.”

“What of my skill in my Kundi’s hoof to hoof style?” the zebra asked, being deliberately obtuse, “Or what of our use of plants in battle?”

The green unicorn’s head tilted to the side in confusion, though it lacked some of the frustration that Qubanna had grown accustomed to seeing on the faces of those from Equestria he interacted with. With a small shrug, the unicorn continued his interrogation, “What are you capable of with plants? I need some measure and general idea, I’m unfamiliar with your Kundi and its customs.”

“What importance do my people, the Msitu, hold to you?”

“A small practical demonstration would be nice, Qubanna,” he countered with an amused smile, “I’m not particularly familiar with the Zitu.”

Qubanna ignored the mispronunciation, at least he’d tried, “Why would you be, when we value the strength knowledge grants us?” he asked as he reached into one of his bandoliers with a hoof.

“And thus, secrecy and the constant questions,” Emeris mused as he watched the zebra cradle a seed on the soft frog at the center of his hoof, briefly marveling at Qubanna’s demonstrated ability to stick things to the bottom of his hoof.

“Watch.” With the first imperative he’d used since they’d seen one another, Qubanna let his magic flow through the seed, the natural magic of a zebra channeled and focused.

There was a pulse of chaos as the seed split and bloomed there on Qubanna’s hoof, sprouting into a small, bright pink flower with a beautiful, soothing aroma.

While some Kundis used potions to give their variations beyond its natural limits, others using war drums to extend its reach, and some used it to master beasts of battle… the Msitu had focused on twisting and mastering the plants of their verdant homeland.

Emeris was rightly impressed by the efforts, gray-green eyes locked on the rapidly growing flower, its roots wrapping around Qubanna’s hoof before it slowly began to wither. As a bulb appeared in the center of the fading flower, the unicorns eyes swept back over Qubanna’s body, reassessing his equipment with a new eye.

Qubanna struggled to put it into words, even to himself as the bulb of new seeds settled onto his frog, but something about this unicorn seemed… off. His body language was off, but only subtly so and that could be chocked up to a different culture like Qubanna’s own. No… if Qubanna hadn’t been in touch with the flows of natural magics around them he would have simply felt uncomfortable and anxious around this unicorn, he might not even have been able to pinpoint him as the source so quickly.

“I see…“ he looked back up at Qubanna, his gaze intense, “I’m guessing that the pouches all contain seeds or equivalents and that the vines are actually hybrids of several kinds?”

“Why would you ask something you already know?” the zebra rebutted. Yes, something was definitely off about this unicorn. He favored his left eye, turning his scarred right cheek ever slightly away from Qubanna when he talked to him. Qubanna filed that information away should he need to fight him.

“Confirmation,” he said with a small smile before becoming serious once more, “Any stand outs in those pouches I should know about?”

“Do you ask of the maiti ua, a flower which may act as a shield, or the kifo harufu, which may spread poison? Or maybe of the damu mnywaji, whose thorny grasp will consume any it finds?”

“Do you have anything that can deal fire or light?” he asked.

A brief scowl crossed Qubanna’s face, “Do you speak of the nyota maua, which shines with light?” the unicorn nodded, “I have some, but only a few, will I have time to cultivate more?”

“That depends, how much time?”

“What of midday tomorrow?”

“Good enough,” the unicorn said with a small nod.

Qubanna didn’t smile, but neither did he scowl, “Why do you ask?”

“We’re dealing with wolves of shadow and cold that seem resistant to damage. First guess would be to use flames and light for massive damage.” He scowled, “We’re uncomfortably heavy on close combat. Out of everyone here, only Twilight, myself, and possibly Graves are really ranged focused, and even then I’ve only got the bare bones of elemental spells.”

His tail flicking in irritation, Emeris met Qubanna’s gaze, “Don’t push yourself, we expect to arrive tomorrow evening, but any way to allow our more melee focused members to engage more effectively is a priority right now. Am I clear?”

“Why would you not be?” Qubanna asked neutrally.

“Good,” the large unicorn hopped off of the cushioned bench to the rattling floor of the train, “I’ll leave you to it.”

“What of you?” Qubanna asked, making his commanding officer pause. He’d noticed that the unicorn had offered little of himself.

The unicorn blinked in confusion, looking over his shoulder at the zebra, once again favoring his left eye. An attack from the right would be ideal he decided.

A melancholy smile made itself known on Emeris’ face, “My specialty is Reality Calcification, but the uses for that are… limited to say the least,” his smile became darkly amused, “For all practical purposes, I beat things up with my mind,” the ghostly image of a blade as broad as Qubanna was tall flickered between them briefly,”I can handle myself in close combat, but I prefer staying out of the way and stabbing things with my brain.”

“What…” Qubanna blinked a few times, tilting his head, “The buck is Reality Calcification?”

“The counter to reality warping magics,” he offered freely, turning fully to face the zebra on the bench, “It operates by reinforcing natural laws and is primarily used as an active field. It has a non-meaningful effect on most forms of spellcasting aside from a marginal increase in mana cost. But… the things it was meant to deal with?” A small smile played across his lips, “That which toys with the laws of physics, such as gravity manipulation, temporal manipulation, casualty twisting, almost all forms of teleportation, things like that? Those simply don’t function.”

“And you believe this will be useful on our mission?” Qubanna asked curiously, but Emeris shook his head.

“No, I was serious when I said the uses are limited. It’s hard to find actual reality warping magics, they’re extremely energy intensive. The only practical use of Reality Calcification is to nullify all teleportation within an area without having to counterspell the specific instance of magic.”

“... and what of the impractical purposes…?” Qubanna asked, concerned why someone would treat that as their focus.

A flash of emotions went across Emeris’ face, amusement, then melancholy, then ache, then a vicious grin. He turned, stepping out into the aisle and cast his answer over his shoulder, “Stopping the power of gods.”

Gray eyes watched Emeris retreat towards the sleeping quarters as Qubanna tried to make sense of the larger unicorn. He used no weapons or armor, mastered an unknown form of magic, and spoke of the power of gods as if from personal experience… Qubanna’s eyes were drawn to the retreating cutie mark in hopes of some insight into this creature. A closed book with a black lotus design on its cover… Qubanna did not pretend to be an expert on the heraldry of Cutie Marks, but such a mark spoke of knowledge and dark perfection… with his admitted specialty being dealing with gods…

The princesses had placed their trust in this unicorn, but as mighty as they may be, that did not mean they were always right, nor that Qubanna would do the same. He didn’t know what the Crystal Empire’s power truly was, but if the princesses desired it, Qubanna would ensure that none but Equestria would take its power.

Applejack lay beside Rainbow Dash in the small bunk against the side of the train. The pegasus was snoozing against her, using Applejack’s withers as a pillow, though Applejack was wide awake in the dim light, listening to the soft clacking of the train as it rolled along.

She’d woken up not long after the sun had gone down, though now basically everypony else was asleep. She was pretty certain that the zebra in the other car was still awake, same with the little unicorn stallion, but even Emeris had gone to sleep several bunks down.

She glanced back at the bunk, unable to see more than an outline of the large stallion as he breathed slowly, but knowing that he’d removed his vest at Rarity’s insistence. He lay on his side, stomach exposed, and Applejack could remember all too clearly the web of faint scarring that his regrown coat failed to completely cover… scars he’d gotten while protecting Applebloom.

No matter how many times he said she’d paid him back by saving his life immediately after, it didn’t change the fact that Applejack felt like she owed him.

With a sigh, she looked over her other friends. Rarity and Twilight had gone to bed earlier, Rarity and Fluttershy sharing a bunk. Applejack gave a quiet snort, she loved Fluttershy, but that mare had to get herself a pair of teats and ask Cheerilee or Big Mac out already.

Rarity had been frustrating ever since Applejack and Emeris had had their date. He’d taken her to a spring in the Everfree and done something fancy to keep the monsters away. They’d had a picnic, it’d been nice, they’d just softly talked, joked around, enjoyed the scenery. They’d made a bit of fools of themselves in the water, neither a particularly strong swimmer.

A small smile crossed Applejack’s face, in spite of being perfectly willing to stare down a pack of Timberwolves while he was at death’s door, he hesitated mighty fierce when it’d come time for the kiss. He’d obviously wanted to, but he’d been fighting himself over it.

Applejack hadn’t been privy to what had been running through his head, but she’d taken the decision out of his hooves and kissed him herself. No, it wasn’t traditional, but pretty much nothing about their courtship had been.

In spite of that, she still wasn’t–…

The pegasus draped across her snorted in her sleep and snuggled closer, interrupting Applejack’s thoughts. The farmpony smiled as she turned to place a small kiss on Dash’s cheek, a pleasant warmth filling her chest as her tail wrapped around Dash’s side.

Apparently her little fighter had taken that Quiet Mirror stallion under her wing, metaphorically that is, and started teaching him. She’d plum tuckered herself out … or at least Applejack assumed so, but then again Dash could sleep damn near anywhere if she put her mind to it.

It’d still be a few hours before Applejack would be able to fall asleep, but she had no doubt that she’d be up around the crack of dawn regardless, farmpony instincts and all. Though that’d mean that she’d have to wait for a fair bit of the day until the train arrived at the Crystal Empire. The conductor they’d had during the day was sleeping in one of the bunks around here, the night shift one doing his best to get the train there as soon as possible.

Applejack wasn’t worried about their mission. Yeah, it was sorta weird that they’d sent somepony with them on Element Bearer business, but that only made her feel safer. Sure, she had no doubt the Element Bearers could handle it together, they’d handled everything thrown at them so far and this would be no different.

So… why was she worried? Why wasn’t she happy? Her tail tightened around the pegasus cuddling with her, the cute, warm ball of feathers and rainbows letting out a happy little sound as she buried her face against Applejack’s withers.

A bit of red appeared beneath Applejack’s freckles as she smiled briefly. This made her happy, she liked this, so why wasn’t she…

Dash was happy! Applejack had done good getting this little herd together! Emeris was happy too in his awkward and slowly healing way…

So… why was she worried?

Fluttershy sat quietly at the table as Pinkie whipped up some pancakes for the ponies on the train. She sat near Cumulus Rose, preferring the quiet pink mare to the other ponies on the team. Not that there was anything wrong with them! But…

Grave Danger was scary, even though he was small he managed to look down on the ponies around him. His robes hid so much of his body, and his black cloak hid all that was left… He was just so mysterious and ominous that it gave Fluttershy shivers. She even thought that she could occasionally see a fossilized hoof underneath his robes and the occasional twinkle of a star in his cloak!

A loud yawn right behind her nearly made Fluttershy jump out of her seat with a squeak before Applejack stepped up to the table and dragged herself into the seat a bit further down from her.

Fluttershy wrung her forehooves a bit as she glanced amongst the ponies around her. Her friends weren’t all awake yet, only Pinkie, herself, and now Applejack were up. Rainbow Dash had started to wake, before realizing that she didn’t have to do any work on the weather today and gone straight back to sleep.

But all the military ponies were wide awake despite the sun only starting to peak over the horizon, leaving Fluttershy feeling overwhelmed by the new and scary ponies.

Punic was just so big, and he wore so much armor… she was sure that the armor would be very pretty and elegant if she wasn’t such a scaredy-cat. He was very pretty though, he had a strong jaw and nice orange eyes, and his brown mane and tail were straight and lustrous and he was very polite… but he was even bigger than Big Mac and he was so intimidating…

Shadow Play was really nice though! But she was big for a mare, and she had such sharp teeth and scary yellow eyes and those ominous membranous-wings…

“Round one! Ready? Pancake!”

Fluttershy shook her head at the craziness of her friend, smiling as plates of pancakes slid across the table in rapid succession, stopping perfectly in front of each pony currently awake.

“Thanks Pinkie,” she said softly, not wanting to wake any of the currently sleeping ponies. Sure, she’d appreciate her friends being around her, but their sleep was more important. The pegasus demurely began to eat her pancakes as Applejack dug in with her own thanks to the pink party pony, the other ponies at the table doing so more hesitantly.

Fluttershy was pleased to see happy surprise appear on the faces of all of the other ponies as they ate, various thanks being given to Pinkie Pie as they nibbled.

“Mmph,” Fluttershy looked over her shoulder to find Emeris waking. Some part of her was treacherously happy, knowing that if anything bad happened, Emeris could handle it. She didn’t like putting that burden back on him, even in her mind, but some part of her still was comforted by his presence–

*thump*

Fluttershy blinked even as somepony behind her snorted in amusement. The large unicorn had rolled out of the bed without the slightest hint of grace or poise, flopping onto the floor of the moving train with a subdued “Murgle.”

The butter yellow pegasus covered her mouth with a hoof, suppressing her own laughter as Emeris’ legs flopped around as he lay on his back, “Bleargle.”

“Oh wake up you lazy bastard,” Fluttershy flinched in spite of the amusement in Shadow Play’s voice, squeaking as the againap chucked a salt shaker at the semi-conscious unicorn.

“Em–!” the salt shaker seemed to catch with emerald flames as it froze in the air, the unicorn’s left eye having snapped open, “-eris-!”

Her friend yawned, the salt shaker floating back onto the table in a normal emerald field to the surprise of Fluttershy and Applejack, though only Quiet Mirror of the gathered military ponies seemed surprised. Shadow Play raised an eyebrow as Emeris rolled onto his stomach, smacking his lips, “Good reflexes.”

“Had to have them,” he grumbled, rubbing his eyes with a hoof. With that both Applejack and Fluttershy immediately realized what he was talking about. Before he’d made the runic barrier around his house, he’d had to sleep under the danger of ponies trying to do various things to him while he slept. Sure, then he’d been a lot more powerful, but the reflexes needed to be there.

Noticing the curious looks he was getting from the rest of the team, he shrugged, “I live in the Everfree forest, there’s quite a few monsters there and I had to worry about them attacking me while I slept until I properly defended my home.”

Applejack knew that was technically the truth but… it hadn’t been the monsters that ‘Gary Stu’ had been worried about. She’d learned long ago that he’d been far more worried about somepony finding him.

“That makes sense, though why would you live there?” Qubanna asked, and Fluttershy had to struggle not to cringe. She didn’t have anything against zebra’s, but they tended to be creepy at first, and he had thorns in his ears!

Wobbling up onto his feet, Emeris yawned as he stumbled over towards the table, “I’m not good with people most of the time.”

“Emmy! Round two! Ready? Pancake!” The large unicorn blinked in confusion before snorting in laughter, clambering up onto a seat at the crowded table, ending up between Fluttershy and Applejack, much to the pegasus’ comfort.

With the comfort of an additional friend at the table, Fluttershy relaxed, if just a bit.

She really shouldn’t have been, she knew that, all of them had been very polite and pleasant! Well… Grave Danger hadn’t been and Qubanna had been sort of cold… but Fluttershy was sure they had their reasons!

Oh… she just wished that this would all be over, this was far too much excitement for her. But… she’d be here for her friends.

I yawned just a bit as I turned the scarf over in my magic a few times, mentally running down the inscriptions and their relations to one another.

This basically read as:

if(worn = yes){

while(Power>1 && worn == yes){

if(AmbientTemp >= Wearer_Natural_Temp * .80 && Power<15000){

AmbientTemp = AmbientTemp * .98 ∴ Power += AmbientTemp * .01

}

else{

Power--

AmbientTemp++

}

}

}
else{

if(Power<=15000){

AmbientHeat = AmbientHeat * 0.95 ∴ Power += AmbientHeat * 0.05

}

else{

wait 1 second

}
}

It was honestly more complex than that since we’d had to define what a ‘wearer’ was and how the runes would figure out what their natural body temp was and so on. That and normal language could only encapsulate so much about runes, but it got the gist across and it helped order my thoughts about it, “Yeah, this should work. Twilight?”

“Stand back, this should work but I don’t want to take any chances.”

The ponies stepped back, leaving just Twilight and myself near the scarf as Twilight lifted it in her magic. She gave me a glance but I looked back at her, “I’m here in case it does explode.”

She shrugged, a small smile appearing briefly on her face, “Fair enough.”

Her horn lit as her eyes scrunched up in concentration, lavender power pouring into each rune in sequence, causing it to glow and a trail of light to trickle its way down the scarf- “Ease up,” I said softly to not break her concentration, “The magic twists and jumps in the runes, you have to let it settle a bit.”

She grunted in acknowledgement, the leading edge of the glow slowing some as she trusted my personal experience with runes. That and the eyebrows I’d lost.

I kept the mental image of a shield in the back of my mind, ready to bring it into existence if there was the slightest problem. But the lavender power poured down the runes without issue, finding the end of the scarf and slowly glowing brighter. Twilight spoke, her voice tense with concentration as she funneled more power into the scarf, “How much do you think I should put in…?”

“Wait till it pulses and then cut the power,” I said, keeping an eye for that very thing, “That’s the visual representation of the effect crystallizing–” I paused as the runes pulsed once and Twilight’s power eased, the scarf being lowered by the lavender aura to the floor, “-so that means its at its most stable.” I started to walk closer to the scarf, cautiously mind you, just in case.

“So any more power would make it unstable?” she asked, getting a nod from me, though she cringed away when I lightly tapped the cloth with a hoof, “Why did you vouch for such a high upper limit then?”

“Any more power in the form of raw mana would be slightly destabilizing,” when the cloth didn’t do anything, I lightly turned it over with my hoof, giving it a moment to catch fire or turn into liquid heat or something else, “The runes can handle a significant amount of power, but it has to be in the form the runes are built for, thermal energy in this case.”

“So what we just did was the initialization energy?” she asked, stepping closer as I picked up the scarf with my magic now.

“Basically,” I confirmed as I turned the scarf over a few time–

“Oh just bucking put it on already!”

“I will!” I shouted with a bit of a smile, “But I’m blaming you if I catch fire Dash!”

She blew a raspberry at me even as I wrapped the brown scarf around my neck a few times, the cloth was cool to the touch, and at first I was afraid that was all, but then I could feel a slight tingle against my coat and the temperature around me changed. The previously warm train car suddenly cooled slightly to a more comfortable temperature.

I waggled my limbs a few times just to make sure that the effect followed, first one then the other, tail included, before I nodded in satisfaction, “It’s working.”

There were more than a few sighs of relief, not that I could blame them. I was happy to still be, y’know, not on fire. Applejack wiped her brow, “Ah’m glad that worked out.”

“Yeah, see? No problem!” Dash slugged Quiet Mirror in the shoulder, earning a shy smile from the stallion as she hovered in place, “And you were worried.”

I rolled my eyes, a small smile on my face. Translation: ‘I was worried and I don’t want to admit it’. I lifted the scarf off with my magic, turning to the white unicorn in the group, “Rarity?”

“I’ll have eight of them ready soon dear,” her teal magic took the scarf from me for reference. The scarf was the same dark brown as my mane and tail and would be mine since it’d worked, but the girls, Shadow Play and Qubanna still needed one for themselves. First step was Rarity using her greater magical dexterity to actually put the scarves together, and the next was for Twilight to charge them up as they came. My part was (regretfully) over.

“Thanks,” I murmured softly to my friend as she picked up bolts of cloth and spools of thread, heading to an empty booth to work, giving me a small nod as she passed.

The rest of the group began to disperse now that the mild excitement was out of the way, Grave Danger watching the scarf that Rarity had taken, “How long shall the enchantment last?”

While Twilight took a moment think about it, I was more surprised by the question than anything else, “Um… until the thread gets worn out? There’s nothing preventing the scarf itself from being damaged since it’s a jury-rig job, so if it gets damaged or just worn out due to use it’ll lose power…”

I suddenly found myself to be the center of attention once more, a strange combination of Quiet Mirror, Grave Danger, and Punic all giving me a surprised and disbelieving look.

“... what?”

“Um…” it was the more palatable Quiet Mirror that spoke up, “To be frank, I’m not sure I believe you…”

I smiled just a bit as a funny popped into my head, my mouth working before could stop it, “Hi Frank, my name’s ‘I’m not sure why’, pleased to meet you.” Twilight groaned beside me and Quiet Mirror pulled a face as Punic and Grave Danger both scowled slightly at me. Still, I continued, “More seriously, I actually don’t know why, it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to me…”

“Tch, fool, only masters of enchantment can create perpetual enchantments such as that,” Grave Danger snorted, “Only an idiot would assume otherwise.”

“Emeris is, at minimum, a sixth degree master of runic magic,” Twilight said from beside me in the aisle, stepping forward a bit with a small smile on her face, “And he’s right, the power in the runes will regulate itself for the foreseeable future. Had we more time, I’d classically enchant the scarves to be extremely resilient, but we’re pressed for time and energy.”

Grave Danger scowled, “I find myself not believing the words of a fool reaching beyond their means.”

Both Twilight and I bristled a bit at that, but to my surprise, it was Punic that spoke with his confident baritone, “I do. I have every confidence that Doctor Twilight Sparkle knows what she is talking about. No matter how outlandish it seems to the rest of us.” The smile he gave Grave Danger was excruciatingly polite, though it got a bit better as he turned to me, “I may not know you, Sir Emeris Fillson, but I know more than enough of Twilight to accept her expertise.”

And finally he turned to Twilight with actual warmth in his smile, giving her a slight nod of acknowledgement, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Twilight’s cheeks turn a slight shade of pink.

I… didn’t know how I felt about that actually.

“It- I’m nothing special,” waving it off with a hoof, her tail swishing slightly, “Emeris is the one who did most of the actual work, I just sped it along some.”

Several emotions flashed across Quiet Mirror’s face, too fast for me to identify, settling on mild amusement.

Grave Danger scowled, his lank black hair hanging loosely as his ears swept back, “Runic magic is extraordinarily complex, there are few masters of it, and I have only read of masters of the seventh degree.”

“I can certainly vouch for Emeris’ skills,” came a call from Rarity who peeked out from around the edge of the seat, “He threw runes together to fix a boiler within a few minutes that worked for almost two weeks even after the boiler was properly fixed.” She smirked and I suddenly knew she was teasing me damnit, “He’s also been churning out increasingly complex runes for my designs over the past few weeks.”

“There are already several runic enchantments for clothing,” Punic said almost hesitantly, though I didn’t understand why.

“Oh yes, I’m aware,” Rarity said, waving a hoof dismissively, “I’m not worried that he’s swindling me if that’s what you’re concerned about, it’s not in him.”

… oh. That’s what he was implying. … well that bites. I wanted to feel insulted but I’d have thought the same in his position.

The alabaster unicorn continued, definitely smirking, “He got those to me rather quickly, though most of those are for long trains and dresses and cloaks. He’s been adding to them and getting me commissioned effects ever since.”

Okay, seriously, enough about me. I snorted, “It’s not that impressive, quite a few professional enchanters do the same thing with even fewer research materials than I’ve got access to.” I’d found that out while looking for reference materials to work with, I kept running into ones for normal enchanting rather than runic enchanting.

“You are rather creative with how you use runes,” Twilight pointed out, a small smile on her face. Wait, no, that was a smirk. Damnit mare, were you getting in on the teasing too?! “You have a half dozen tricks that keep the complexity inherent to runes low.”

“Also known as: I cheat,” I interjected, now scowling. This felt too familiar in the worst way, “I don’t have the actual skill of a sixth degree master, but I know some shortcuts and tricks so I can operate near that level by essentially cheating.” I looked around at the four ponies in the aisle, “Now are we done with this? Rarity has work to do and everybody should rest up, we arrive today.”

I turned fully to walk between Grave Danger and Quiet Mirror, making a beeline for the booth Dash and Applejack were sitting at near the door. Conversation fucking over.

I didn’t like being talked up like that, it had happened far too much… I loved being legitimately good at things, especially when I worked hard at them, but–

But I couldn’t take praise like that, I just couldn’t–

Not anymore. No more.

Rarity carefully moved the needle through the fabric, the slightest error on her part could ruin the whole enterprise as she’d learned while working with Emeris on other designs. She’d also learned that the runes could be almost invisible, being the same color as the cloth provided there was some distinction between them and the background.

However, with her dreadfully limited selection of colors and thread she had to limit her muse and its directions. But there was only so much that she could do so. It was with a fair bit of enthusiasm that she chose the same shade of brown for Applejack’s scarf as she had Emeris, the runes for both the same orange as her coat.

She didn’t expect this one to last, but it gave her a wonderful idea to… suggest to Emeris to get her as a gift comparable to the tie that he’d… ‘given’ Rainbow Dash on their date. While Rainbow Dash had taken to wearing the tie as a wrapping around one of her forelegs, this scarf at least would be used for its original purpose!

The alabaster unicorn looked up from the finished symbol, checking up on her friends and companions, finding the situation unchanged. Applejack sat with Emeris and Twilight, the three of them talking softly about something, likely dealing with the dreadfully unfashionable pieces of metal on the floor of the booth.

Definitely purple for Twilight, though that left the question of whether to do the runes as the same pink as her mane-streak or to go with gold… hmmm…

Grave Danger had once again gone off alone, though now Qubanna sat with Shadow Play and Pinkie Pie. The zebra seemed slightly out of sorts talking with the party pony, though Shadow Play seemed to be enjoying herself.

For Pinkie she’d have to go with a light pink and gold, she simply didn’t have the cloth or thread to do anything else. Shadow Play's unusual coloration made things difficult, that dark blue-gray would be hard to match or compliment even at her Boutique, but she had some cloth to match the color of her dark armor at least. The best she could do for a rune color though was gold. How dreadfully boring! And she was repeating herself as well!

And Qubanna! Designing for a zebra could be incredibly frustrating. One could always be dreadfully plain and go with white and black and gold, but even in such a case she had to choose between black on white or white on black! How was she supposed to make such a decision without the proper time to coordinate the various ensembles?!

Rainbow Dash had taken Quiet Mirror into the aisle once more, walking through the steps and motions of some form of fighting or another. Rarity didn’t know, what she found interesting was the completely obvious crush that the silver unicorn had on her pegasus friend. While Applejack had surprisingly missed it in her nap and her current conversation, neither Rarity or Emeris had.

Rarity wasn’t sure whether or not she should have been surprised by Emeris reaction, or more accurately, lack thereof. She also wasn’t sure it was the appropriate one. She tried to get into the mind of a monogamous species, but to her consternation, she wasn’t entirely sure she succeeded.

Another male should have been competition, but she knew him well enough to believe that her friend likely thought he was doing the right thing. But a stallion seeking to join a herd had to gain the approval of the stallion already present, or head stallion in the rare case there were multiples.

And to be frank, Rarity wasn’t sure Quiet Mirror wasn’t competition.

Rarity let out a somewhat unlady-like huff as she worked with the sarf before her, the same shade of red as Rainbow Dash’s eyes and the tie around her foreleg. It obviously had to match, though Rarity was going to indulge her muse just the tiniest bit and make each rune a different color in the sequence of the rainbow.

Fluttershy sat with Cumulus Rose, the two of them talking quietly. There was an interesting contrast between the body language of the Wonderbolt while she had first gotten on the train and now. She was more reserved, less ramrod straight, her dark blue tail pressed against her side much like Fluttershy’s longer tail was.

Rarity certainly didn’t envy the Wonderbolt, with a dark blue mane and a light pink body, there had to be so little that actually matched or complimented her colors, especially with the obvious muscle she had. There was obviously no real bounce to that mare’s flank, and the muscles around her neck and wings were thick and powerful, but certainly not something a stallion would look for.

Given the chance, Rarity would have loved to indulge her muse with the materials for Fluttershy to accentuate her pegasus friends wonderful figure and plumage but alas! The fashionista’s selection was dreadfully limited and unable to properly do Fluttershy justice. She was limited to the same pink and gold style she was using for Pinkie Pie, making Rarity’s muse throw a fit, but one must work with what they’ve been given.

The work of a genius is never done and must thrive during adversity!

…

… black on white, definitely black on white.

I could see snow stretching out as far as the eye could see, all forty feet. Clouds darkened the sky in spite of it still being nearly noon, and generally it looked like I’d imagine Hel to. Single L there, not double.

“Alright everyone, gear up, scarves on, helmets on, and make sure to put on your little booties. We’ve got maybe an hour left before we reach the station and I want us ready to hit that snow running.” To my pleasant surprise, none of the team argued in the least, many hopping off the bench they were on to pick up their things.

Twilight on the other hand, “Wait, what? We’ve barely got the barrel section and helmet of your armor inscribed and enchanted, and we could make more scarves for–”

“Twilight,” I interrupted, ignoring how everyone else was now looking at us, “It’ll have to be good enough.”

“But we still have an hour, you said it yourself,” she rebutted with only a hint of petulance.

“Which you know won’t be enough to do anything meaningful, and only exhaust us more,” I countered logically even as I enveloped the barding in my magic, pulling it towards me, “Stop, relax, and be ready.”

“Those last two seem mutually exclusive,” the lavender unicorn grumbled.

Shadow Play snorted in amusement, “Welcome to guard duty.”

I looked over the barding, considering how best to put it on…

“Really? Trying to relax and be ready at the same time? That’s guard duty?” Dash asked, quirking an eyebrow up before turning to Cumulus Rose, “Please tell me that’s not something the Wonderbolts have to do.”

Then I remembered I had a bunch of ponies more accustomed to armor than me. “Quiet Mirror, could you help me with this?” I asked softly, trying not to interrupt the other conversation going on.

Cumulus Rose shook her head, “Not very often, we go on patrols which is sort of similar in the state of readiness, but Wonderbolts aren’t really a ‘guard duty’ branch of military.”

I chose the Solar Guard over the others because he wasn’t involved in a conversation right now, and I wasn’t super comfortable with physical contact still. He gave me a curious look, likely not understanding what I was asking for help with, so I elaborated, “ I’m not used to armor and not sure of exactly how to put it on.”

Then a different voice broke in from behind me, “Tch, you can’t figure it out?” it was Grave Danger, the smaller unicorn sneering, “Fool.”

I gave him a small scowl, “I could, but considering I have someone here who actually knows how, why not ask them?” I turned back to Quiet Mirror, who had a decidedly awkward look on his face, his ears at odd angles as he cringed, very obviously not wanting to get involved. Thankfully, he seemed to be the only one to notice the exchange, the others still in their own conversations.

But Grave Dumbass wasn’t done, “It makes you look like a fool, inexperienced at best and incapable of leading a team of elites such as this.” Thankfully he was sneering less now that he’d gotten a decent answer, at least I was assuming that was the reason.

Still, I snorted, “Better to be open about my weaknesses and failings so that y’all know where to cover me as well as help me fix them. Especially compared to just fumbling around with the armor and making myself look like an overly proud fool.” Hah! Snark snark subtle insult, bite my fat, brightly colored ass.

No, I didn’t really like this guy, how could you tell? Something about him just ground my gears. I think it was the default expression of a sneer…

Quiet Mirror’s magic almost hesitantly enveloped the armor and I focused on him, studying as he opened it up slightly around the collar.

“So you would rather confirm yourself to be a fool under controlled circumstances rather than take the chance of appearing like a worse fool in spite of the possibility of appearing competent?” I glanced over at Grave Danger, finding that his sneer was less obnoxious for some reason… his face hadn’t really changed much aside from a raised eyebrow… and his ears weren’t swept back anymore! That’s what it was. Huh…

Still… I shrugged as I returned my focus to Quiet Mirror, “Not how I would put it, but that sounds about right.” The already armored unicorn guard nodded his head downwards, gesturing for me to do the same, and I did, allowing him to slip the barding over my horn and head with a little juking motion.

Grave Danger snorted again, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, if just barely. I did roll my shoulders and hips, getting the barding to settle better against me as Quiet Mirror strapped me in. There weren’t many for the pony equivalent of a chest-piece, aside from the one strap that I mentally dubbed the saddle-strap, that was a thick band of some leather-like material that went around the lower end of my ribcage.

The spine of the armor was actually surprisingly stiff, even throughout the segmented plates that covered my flanks, likely because of the comparatively limited motion the pony trunk was capable of… aaaand I was nervous and mentally rambling, fuck a duck.

Quiet Mirror pulled out the war-shoes, “Have you ever used these before?”

I shook my head, “Never needed them before.”

“They just slip on, though it’ll be somewhat uncomfortable since it’s your first pair, hold out your hoof?” I obliged as Quiet Mirror wrapped the silver war shoe in his magic and pushed it on. There were layers of cloth at the bottom of the shoe, and the metal flexed just a bit as it squeezed into place. It covered my leg from the fetlock down in metal, the tightness reminding me of a well fitted set of ice skates.

Huh, that was cool, “Thanks, I can get it from here,” I smiled warmly at the smaller unicorn.

He returned the smile before turning to go get his helmet and do final checks on his oversized saddlebags. … still didn’t know the fuck was in those things. Forgot to ask.

“So…” Qubanna spoke up from beside me, making my ears snap to attention, “What are those weaknesses?”

Confused, I looked over to him as I pulled the second foreleg shoe over towards me. Admittedly, I blinked like an idiot for a moment before my brain caught up with what he’d said and I let out a small snort of amusement. Grasping it with my already covered leg, I pulled it on over the martial arts wrap I had around the leg, using the effort to buy the time I needed to think.

There was something off about him asking about that that I didn’t like, so what did I want to tell him…?

I couldn’t see any reason not to go with the truth, not right now at least, not without being paranoid, “I‘ve only got the most basics of elemental magic going for me, even less in terms of illusions, alteration, and general evocation,” I grunted a bit as I squeezed the war shoe on finally, twisting the shoe around some to make sure it was settled properly.

It was Quiet Mirror that spoke up, “That… seems like a bad mix for this situation…”

Tactful, I’d give him that, “Fair enough. But I can handle myself, don’t worry about that.” I slipped my rear hoof into one of the remaining shoes, forcing it on.

“By the way,” I continued, pausing to finish slipping the war shoe on with a grunt, “Graves–”

“Grave Danger.” He immediately corrected, continuing tersely, “You will use my name or I will use one of your less desirable ones.”

I blinked once, the implication not lost on me, “Fair enough.” At least he didn’t hate me for it, he just hated everybody, “Sorry now if I use Graves in a combat situation though. Not gonna do otherwise.”

The smaller unicorn grunted as the other members of our group talked and got ready, scarves getting tightened, helmets put on, straps tightened, the train car filled with the quiet murmur of conversation.

“Anyways, what are your specialties anyways?” with a thump, I settled the last war shoe onto my leg. Man that’d take a bit to get used to, “I never got a chance to ask earlier.”

“Necromantic and Vice magics.”

… so that’s what people mean when they say ‘So quiet you could hear a pin drop’. Mind you, I could still hear the muted howling the wind outside and the clacking of the tracks but damn.

“Huh,” I scowled a bit, turning to him, “Are you the only Arch-Warlock? I don’t know the structure–”

“No,” I twitched at the interruption, “I was simply the most generally capable Broken Horn available.”

I let out a slow breath through my nostrils even as I lifted my steel helmet with my magic, both of us ignoring the stares and slight shuffling away with a practiced ease, “Fair enough. I would rather have a specialist to deal with demons or the fey. These shadow wolves sound more like those to me.”

To be honest, it was a pleasant change that the bubble of ‘I don’t want none of dat shiz!’ was focused on someone other than me. The small, black-cloaked unicorn sniffed, “At least you aren’t a complete fool. From the information given those do seem like the most likely candidates for the nature of these beings. Were they only white I would believe they were elementals…”

“But they’re black, and the blizzard unnatural…” I trailed off as the helmet settled down around my ears before turning to the pale-yellow unicorn, “Could elementals be corrupted?”

Grave Danger’s lips pressed into a thin line, “Unlikely.”

“But possible,” I finished for him in a grumble. Damn. There were just too many variables, we didn’t know what we were getting into at all. With a mental flick, I buckled the helm into place.

Silence reigned for a long moment before a soft voice broke it, “You’re a master of Necromancy?” Twilight Sparkle asked, pushing through the group of ponies to look at Grave Danger in a mix of fear, incredulity, and surprise.

I idly noted that most of the other ponies had gathered into a huddle near the doorway to the bunks and kitchen, it seems that Punic, Shadow Play, and Quiet MIrror weren’t surprised by this, though only the againap and unicorn weren’t in the press of bodies that Twilight had pushed her way free of. Though everyone looked to be uncomfortable at a minimum, even Punic stood at the edge of the group, his tail pressing against the back of his legs the only betrayal of his otherwise stoic appearance.

The accused unicorn snorted, before he sneered, “Yes child, I am a master of death,” he lifted a forehoof, his cloak parting and the voluminous sleev– fucking fuck!

I blinked as my eyebrows went up and there were a few shrieks and whimpers from the group of ponies.

It was a skeletal hoof. Fucking hell. His right foreleg was skeletal, entirely if I guessed correctly, it was just covered by the massive flowing sleeves of his black robes. Celestia damn.

“W-W-What the buck is that?!” Dash exclaimed, her normally scratchy voice cracking a bit. I glanced back, finding that Punic had put an armored foreleg in front of Twilight even as the mass of ponies had cringed backwards. Even Shadow Play and Quiet Mirror seemed a bit stunned this time. I was shocked, certainly, because seriously who the fuck does that?

But I’d seen worse, by miles.

“A prosthetic you fools,” Grave Danger said smugly, gesturing with the skeletal hoof, “An expression of my power and skill in my replacement of my lost limb.”

“Graves,” I said warningly. He scowled at me, but I narrowed my eyes, my ears sweeping back, “Stop scaring them.” It was an order. I didn’t appreciate him scaring my friends, the insult didn’t help either.

His fadedgreen eyes locked with mine as he gave me a sneer but I didn’t flinch. I’d stared down things a lot scarier than your shitty ass, Graves.

After a moment, he snorted, putting his skeletal hoof back down and looking away, “They are fools if they think that darkness does not exist.”

“That don’t mean you’ve gotta go and wave that around in our faces!” Applejack exclaimed from the throng of ponies.

Snorting, the small unicorn tilted his head up to look down on the ponies gathered by the door, “And denying that it exists is at best a convenient lie. There are times when one must take the darkness and use it as a sword against that which resides within it.”

I opened my mouth to say that didn’t excuse his action, but Twilght’s soft voice beat me to it, “But there are also times when one has to cast a light into that darkness.”

My head jerked around to look at her in slight surprise as she stepped out from around the makeshift barrier Punic’s large, armored leg made. “Yes, there are times when the only way is to use a questionable method,” her lavender eyes were intense, locking gazes with Graves, “But we also have to be careful and not have it as our first resource. The darkness should be the last sword we draw, it’s the light that should be our shield.”

Grave Danger was quiet, studying Twilight for a moment before a small smirk played across his face, ”This is a pleasant surprise, you’re less of a fool than I anticipated.”

Twilight scowled at Grave Danger’s smug look, and despite wanting to support her, there was nothing coming to mind. I stood between the two, a pale paragon of darkness shrouded in black cloth and a darker genius who championed friendship, the latter practically growling out, “You… are a horseapple. An arrogant, mean, and spiteful monster.”

Grave Danger snorted even as my chest tightened, this was escalating too far, “And you are a sheltered child, still weak and naive, but we are here to save these fools from their own mistakes and foolishness and shall have to work together to accomplish that.”

None of the gathered ponies looked super happy about that, though most of the military ponies outside of Qubanna and Cumulus Rose looked like they could stand it at least.

“I don’t know why Celestia chose you,” Twilight growled. Okay, time to step in–

“And I don’t understand why she would chose one such as you as her personal protege,” Grave Danger sneered.

Twilight opened her mouth but I cut her off, “And we’re done here.” Both unicorns glared at me, though Twilight’s was significantly milder, “No, we’re done. We’ve got a job to do. We don’t get along obviously but sniping at each other like this accomplishes nothing and I’m putting my hoof down. That’s enough.” I glanced between the two, my look pleading towards Twilight but challenging Grave Danger.

My lavender friend sighed like a boiler letting off its pressure, air rushing out between her lips as she looked away, glaring at the seat beside her, “Fine.” Punic reached out with a forehoof, almost delicately placing it against her side, making her blush just a bit at the concern.

I pointedly ignored that, turning to lock gazes with Grave Danger. He held my gaze in another contest of wills, but I had a distinct feeling this one was more for show than anything else when the smaller unicorn looked away, “For the sake of the mission I shall do as you say.”

A small sigh escaped me, an equal mix of frustration and relief as the tension in my chest eased just a bit, “Good. With any luck we’ll get this mission over and none of us have to see each other ever–” a slow howl cut me off, causing our heads to collectively jerk towards the windows on the side it’d come from, “... again.”

I scowled out at the swirling snowflakes, they seemed gray rather than the white they should have been, almost appearing as night-time in spite of still being day. I couldn’t see anything out there but the swirling snow, and now I could hear nothing but the terrible wind. It had gotten darker and the storm worse in the time we’d been talking.

Damn, this could– movement.

My eyes refocused even as Fluttershy squeaked and several of the girls gasped as a dark form appeared briefly in the swirling snow, running full tilt alongside the train. I glanced out the other side quickly, seeing two more before they faded back into the darkness. There were more howls, eerie, low howls that made my heart clench.

Damn.

“Graves,” I said, not looking away from the window, “How are your barriers?”

“I can easily maintain a sixth circle ungrounded sphere.” No nonsense from him, good. That meant a… a mobile bubble shield. Perfect.

“I want you up with the conductors then,” the ponies in this car weren’t the only ones on the train after all, I had to stay aware of everyone, “We can’t leave them if we get attacked.”

“Tch, the fools would likely try to save the engine if we were,” he sneered, his horn lighting up with crimson light, and at this distance I could see glowing hairline fractures along its length as his hood was lifted up over his head, throwing his face into shadow. But the warlock moved with purpose, the team and the girls parting as he went through the door towards the engine of the train.

Good, that was one thing off my mind, though now I could see more and more forms of wolves fading in and out of the darkness. I couldn’t keep count. The wind was picking up too, buffeting the train car. Damn.

I looked back at the ponies still huddled by the doorway, the team was at attention and the girls were still gathering their courage. Pinkie was trying to start up a giggle even as the team started to look to me. What did I have to work with here?

“Cumulus, Shadow, which of you can see better in these conditions?” quick and to the point. Be calm.

“I can sir,” it was the pink pegasus that spoke up, her hood and goggles on, “My goggles are enchanted specifically for this.”

“Good, you’re on overwatch,” I nodded at her as I stepped forward, grabbing the last runicly inscribed scarf for myself, wrapping it around my neck, “I want you to be our eyes in the sky, keep us appraised of attacks and movements.”

She nodded, “Sir.”

“Mirror,” I turned to look at him, “How’s your evocation?”

“Sir,” the silver unicorn snapped to attention, “Fifth degree, sir.”

Not ideal, but more than functional, “I want you on our left then, you, me, and Graves are going to act as the outermost perimeter of our defenses. Blast at will. I will be taking the rear, Graves the right.” I’d put Quiet Mirror on the same side as my dominant eye, if Graves was a fraction of what his reputation and arrogance implied he could handle himself.

A particularly strong gust of wind made the entire car rock and I planted my hooves wider to maintain balance, some of my friends letting out small sounds of surprise, “Punic,” I kept my voice tight and controlled, loud enough to be heard but not to risk cracking, “I want you on point. Depending on the depth of the snow we may need you to act as a literal plow.”

“As you wish,” the massive stallion nodded and settled his concealing helm into place.

“Qubanna,” the zebra turned to me, his tied down mane moving slightly, “Pass out the plants and instruct ponies on their use as best you can,” he nodded pulling small wreaths from one of his pouches, “Your main method of combat is to use the vines on your limbs as thorny weapons correct?” I took an educated guess.

“What would give you an idea otherwise?” Basically yes, good enough.

Another gust made the car rock on the tracks, my head snapping to the window. Damn, if this kept up we’d get derailed, “These things may not notice that. Be prepared for it. I want you to screen anything that might get past Punic, I’ll be covering him from the rear, but my attention is going to be split. Are we clear?”

“What else would I be doing?” he asked with the smallest of smiles as he began to whisper instructions on the wreaths use to each pony in turn.

Fine, “Shadow, you’re screening the air with Cumulus and on targets of opportunity. If something looks like it’s going to get past us it’s your job to turn it back or take it out.”

“Sir,” she nodded, her wings rustling as her pale yellow eyes focused into thin slits at the growing number of wolves visible out of the windows.

“Hey! What about me?” Dash asked, interrupting my train of thought. I turned to her, some distant part of my brain finding her to look wonderful with the rose-colored silk tie wrapped around a foreleg as it was and the equally colored scarf around her neck, “I can outfly anyone here and I can handle myself in combat just fine! Why aren’t I on screening?”

“Because I need you and Applejack as our final line of defense,” I said with finality, locking gazes with her. Now wasn’t the time for affection or the little buried squee at how amazing she looked, “If something get past the team, Twilight and Rarity, I want you two to keep your wits about you and defend yourselves and the others, but AJ, Dash?” I nodded at them even as another powerful gust buffeted the car, “You two are the final line of defense, keep the rest of the girls safe but stay at the center of the group. It’s our job to make sure y’all make it to the Crystal Empire safely, so I want all our Element Bearers at the center of this circle.”

Dash scowled, “I don’t like it…”

I bit back the ‘too bad’ part of me wanted to say, “Dash, I’m trusting you to protect our friends. I’ve got to cover the whole group, I want you to focus on just the other girls, okay?”

She blinked a few times before nodding, a slight blush on her cheeks, “Yeah, I get it.”

“Good,” was that everybody? That was everybody- conductors, right, remembered them earlier, “The conductors are going to be in the middle with the girls.” Okay, that was everybody, my eyes swept through the team, “Alright, our job is to protect these girls–”

The howls intensified, and my lips pressed into a thin line before I continued, “So let’s make sure that–”

“Sir!”

My head jerked to Cumulus- her gaze was out of the window–

My head kept turning– Fuck.

A gust of gray snow and wind almost as big as the car– it was practically a giant fist–!

–dodecahedronal system of elastic material–

It was a solid mass headed for us–! Was that laughter-?!

–parameters for all available space within five meters– gotta trust Graves to see it–!

My horn blazed with emerald light as I screamed, “Brace for impa–”

With a boom and the scream of tortured metal the world went grey and white.

Author's Notes:

Ta daaaaaaa~

I feel so deliciously evil.

Anyways, I'm mostly happy with this chapter! There are some parts that I'm super happy with, others that I'm not happy with at all, merely content that they serve their purpose. There are some subtleties in the conversations that I'm supremely happy about.

This chapter is a bit under-edited though since two of my usual three editors are caught up in school starting up, and my own updates are going to slow a bit as I get back into it myself. So please point out any errors that you see!

So I have a question for ya: Who's your favorite of the new characters? Your least? Any that you hate? I'm curious!

Regardless, as always, comments and critique's are always appreciated, TIS WHY WE LIVE!!!

Anyways, Decepticons, Rise Up!