"Low and behold the town of Whiplash," Fleur said, gesturing towards the town in the distance behind her. "Try to curb your enthusiasm."

"Excuse me Fleur but we're not even there yet," Trixie said back, eyeing Fleur suspiciously. "Did you make us walk up this hill just so you could gesture dramatically? Because if so I wish you hadn't bothered."

"No, there is actually a point to us being up here." She sat down and motioned for the others to join her. "I wanted to take a moment to tell you what this town is about. Mostly so it isn't a shock when we get there." She waved a hoof, following the line of the vast river on the other side of the town. "That is the Mareissippi river, the biggest river in Mareitania that happens to run from not far below Stalliongrad and goes all the way down to Neigh Orleans and is the most significant method of moving cargo from north to south and vice versa."

The filly looked between the four others and raised a hoof, "Yeah, I have a question. Why are you telling us this?"

"Because the others aren't as well travelled as we are, now shush." She pointed at the expansive port just to the right of the town. "That is the cargo port where cargo is loaded onto and off ships to either go south or be delivered to wherever up north. I'll be honest and say we're not going to have a thing to do with that place."

She now pointed to the town. "In the town is the port for the passenger ships and privately owned ships which are basically playgrounds for the wealthy."

"I'm guessing that's where we're headed for this party we're supposed to be going to?" Octavia asked.

"Party!? We're going to a party?" the filly asked excitedly making Trixie snort.

"We are. You're not."

"Aww c'mon, pleeeease can I come? I'll be super extra good!"

"No."

"I wasn't asking you." The filly took a short breath, shut her eyes and turned to Fleur. Then she opened her eyes again to reveal the biggest puppy eyes imaginable. Fleur could have sworn that her eyes had grown in size to accommodate the extra cute.

Oh Celestia that's a lot of quivering lip. Fleur bit her own lip to stop it quivering in sympathy. "I, by which I mean we, will think about it." The puppy eyes abated and Fleur shook her head rapidly to dispel the feeling that the filly now owned her soul. "Now as I was trying to say, the port on the left is somewhere we will be avoiding like the plague. Its use is solely for that place there." She pointed over to a collection of four large walled compounds similar to the one they had seen in Stalliongrad only much, much bigger and were all connected to a central hub that for some reason possessed an unreasonably large chimney.

"Cel- ahem, somepony told me about this place." Twilight looked at Fleur with watery eyes. "It's the pegasi distribution center isn't it?"

"Yeah, although distribution, replenishment and incineration center would be more accurate."

"Replenishment and incineration?"

Fleur bit her lip as she thought about how to word this in front of the filly. Turns out she didn't have to bother because the filly answered the question for her.

"She means breeding. Lots of pegasi get killed either by tripping their collars accidentally and falling, or they get killed by the guards for some reason like they were bored or something, or they just get sick and die. They breed pegasi here to replace those. Incidentally that's what the chimney is for, incinerating the dead ones..." The filly stared at her hooves the entire time she was speaking and when she looked up again Fleur was surprised to see tears coming from the normally stoic filly. "That's why I didn't really want to come here."

The others all looked at her in varying degrees of horror although Trixie was the only one who could bring herself to speak. "That's sick! Those are ponies in there! Not livestock!" She stared accusingly at Fleur who met her stare with a cool one of her own. "Why didn't you tell us about this before?"

"Because I didn't know if I could get you here if I did."

"I guess the name of this place makes sense now," Octavia said quietly, "although I feel I'd rather have not found out."

"Actually," the filly said, "this place's real name is Brayside. It's just that somepony nicknamed it Whiplash and the name stuck to the point that if you said Brayside to somepony they probably wouldn't know where you meant."

"The more you know," Trixie muttered. "Just when you thought Mareitania couldn't get any worse. How'd you know so much about it anyway?" A shrug was all the answer the filly gave her.

"What should we be expecting in terms of soldiers and the like?" Twilight asked Fleur.

"Around the pegasus compound there's a lot of security but we're not going there are we. Around the town should be okay but with the party and after Prance and all that I guess we shouldn't be surprised if security's a bit tighter."

"Great. I guess we better get on and introduce ourselves."

"What's with everypony looking so happy?" Trixie asked as she suspiciously eyed a pony who vigorously waved his hoof at her in greeting. "It's creepy."

"I know," said Twilight in agreement. "It's giving me the willies. Know anything about it Fleur?"

"Unless they've drugged the water supply I honestly have no idea." She watched as two ponies had the most convivial, friendly and incredibly forced conversation you could watch two ponies have. "Certainly wasn't like this last time I was here."

"You've been here before?" Octavia asked her.

"Yep, for all of three hours before I found out what went on in that compound and left again, and let me tell you the ponies here were as miserable as you'd expect ponies to be in a town like this."

The filly walked up to a mare that was sitting on the side of the road wearing a shaky grin. She was also rocking back and forward slightly. "Hiya! Don't s'pose you could tell me why everypony looks so cheerful? Because honestly it's creepy as fuck."

The mare's eyes swivelled side to side as if looking for backup, and her grin grew a little tighter. "My aren't you a cute yet precocious little filly. Why don't you run along back to your friends over there and leave me to my... sitting."

"Not until you tell me what's going on here, or I'm gonna keep on pestering you. Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell m-"

"But there's nothing to tell! We're all just really happy to be here in this wonderful town and we're all so happy that the Dukes' son is coming here with all his rich and influential friends, andnowIreallymustgobye!" The mare sprinted off as fast as she could, flicking mud all over the filly in her rush.

"Oh come on! You did that on purpose!" the filly shouted after her. She did her best to wipe off the mud and returned to the others who were waiting for her. "Yeah...I get the feeling that a ducal visit might have something to do with this."

"I don't see how there's any correlation between the Duke's son coming here and everypony grinning like loonies," said Trixie. "He's not even here yet."

The filly shrugged, "There's also no proof that the Lady kills a kitten every time a pony masturbates but that's what some ponies like to think."

"What!?" Twilight burst out as Fleur and Trixie snorted with suppressed laughter, even Octavia was grinning. "Why would anypony even think that? And aren't you a bit young to know about that sort of thing?"

"Which is another thing that ponies like to think." The filly looked Twilight up and down with an appraising eye, "You seem kinda sheltered for a unicorn, you grow up under a rock or something?"

"No! I just... had a different upbringing to most."

The filly took in a deep breath, "You were born to a poor miners family and was taken in by a wealthy land owner who looked after you and treated you nicely and educated you but it was all a ploy because all he was really doing was setting you up to be his live-in sex bunny but you didn't want that so with the help of some unlikely allies you escaped and you wandered the country looking for your long lost family and found them and had a big happy reunion but they wanted you to work in the mine which was dark and dirty and pretty unhygienic so you escaped again and have been exploring Mareitania looking for adventure ever since." The filly took another deep breath, "Am I right?"

"Not. Even. Close."

"Aww darn it, I thought I was onto something there..."

Fleur rubbed the bridge of her nose with a hoof, "Why is it we can barely go five minutes without flying off on some wild tangent?"

"Because we're craaaazy?" Trixie suggested. "You know, if we want to find out what's going on here we could ask the smile patrol over there."

"Oh ha-ha Trixie, very funny."

"I'm serious." Trixie pointed over to two stallions in barding with 'smile patrol' emblazoned on their flank amour under a big painted smile. "See."

Fleur squinted at the name badge on the breast of the left stallion, "Hello, my name is Rockard and I'm VERY happy to help," she said out loud before blinking in disbelief. "Is it wrong that I'm finding this a lot harder to deal with than everything else we've done so far?"

They watched as the two stallions walked up to a pony that had his head in a barrel, and tapped him on the shoulder. The pony pulled his head out of the barrel and scowled at the two stallions for a split second before his scowl morphed into a smile so fast you could almost hear his facial muscles snapping like elastic. The two stallions nodded their approval and continued on up the street.

"That's it! Trixie intends to get to the bottom of this! Octavia, go ask them what's going on."

"Huh? What? No! You ask them if you're so curious!"

"I would, but alas Trixie is but a lowly unicorn in a country of insane, earth pony supremacists. To do so would surely be a death sentence for me." She put the back of a hoof to her forehead and sighed as though her heart were breaking.

"I don't see how that would be a problem, after all it does say they're 'very happy to help.'"

"Ugh, fine. Here I go then. If I should die doing this put it in my epitaph that I blame Octavia for not doing her job." They all watched as Trixie approached the two stallions and had a very animated conversation with them. It lasted for less than a minute when a hugely grinning Trixie turned around and returned to the group.

"I suggest you start smiling or we're all going to be flogged."

"This is insane," Twilight muttered as she massaged her cheeks. "They actually expect everypony to be happy and smiley all the time? Even ponies in Equestria have the right to be miserable."

"Ix-nay on the Equestri-ay in front of the filly-at," Trixie hissed in Twilight's ear, the filly eyeing them suspiciously.

"Hopefully the smile patrol's... patrol doesn't include grubby back streets," Fleur said as she massaged her own cheeks. "I don't know how long this has been going on but I feel sorry for the town’s ponies; my cheeks are killing and it's only been an hour. Didn't they say why we all have to smile?"

"Trixie thought it was pretty obvious. Big smiles for the son of the Duke to show how much we love him and his rich friends. Honestly Fleur, show some imagination."

"I get that, I was just hoping for something a little more specific like, why?"

"Who cares why? Let’s do what we came here to do and get the hell out of here before my cheek muscles rupture from the strain!"

Twilight nodded in agreement. "I do think it's about time you explained the plan to us."

"Okay then, we're going to... uh..." She stopped talking when she noticed that the filly was listening intently. "This is awkward. I don't suppose you mind waiting somewhere else while we discuss this."

The filly frowned but got up and started walking away. "I'm going to figure out what you lot are doing eventually," she said over her shoulder.

"You know we ought to discuss what we're going to do with her," said Octavia before looking to where the filly was sat staring up into the air. "She's a risk to our mission while she's with us."

"I know, but what are we going to do with her? We can't dump her here and abandon her," said Fleur. "She doesn't have anywhere else to go since her home is... well... yeah..."

"I don't see how that's our problem," Trixie said haughtily. "Either she goes or we end up revealing what it is we're doing. I don't think it's a good idea to trust a filly like her to not blab."

"But it is our problem," Twilight implored. "We're involved in Prance being thrown into civil war and we took her with us when we didn't have to. That makes her our responsibility."

Trixie snorted derisively, "You mean you still feel guilty for Prance and you think helping her absolves you of some of that guilt." Twilight hung her head and stared at the floor between her hooves.

"Trixie!" Fleur growled. "That was uncalled for."

"Right, right. Sorry."

"Since we seem unable to decide what to do with her in a friendly manner let's just leave it for now. Anyway, the plan is to sneak onto the river boat the party is on and see if we can find something we can use against the Duke." The others blinked incredulously at her.

"That's it?" Trixie narrowed her eyes dangerously at Fleur and leaned forward until their noses almost touched. "That's the brilliant and masterful plan you dragged us here for? Un-be-lievable..."

"Excuse me if I didn't immediately discuss every single nuance of the plan straight away. First we are going to need some disguises."

Twilight sighed as she browsed through the dresses on display in the clothes shop they were currently in. The first shop had been better quality but the owner had taken one look at hers, Trixie's and Fleur's horns and told them with a big cheerful grin to get lost. As a compromise they had left Octavia with a decent sum of money to buy a dress for herself and a dress for Twilight since Twilight had picked up a number of spells from Rarity that could be used to adjust the fit of clothes. Not as good as a properly fit and made dress, but good enough in a pinch.

"Why couldn't Trixie have got a dress from that last shop? This place isn't exactly what I imagined when we said we were going shopping for dresses." The shop keeper deflated slightly but Twilight had to give her credit for not letting her smile move even the tiniest bit.

"Suck it up Trixie," Fleur said from within the changing room. "We couldn't all go as Octavia's hoof maids so we got to go as something else."

"Okay, fine, but why couldn't I have been the hoof maid?"

"Because you have to be demure, quiet, polite and... well, pleasant, to be a hoof maid. Basically the four things you aren't."

"If you could see me you'd know I'm sticking my tongue out at you."

"Duly noted."

Trixie huffed and folded her forelegs and watched the filly who was lounging on a padded bench by the changing room. "I guess I better ask what we're going as then."

There was a swish of the curtain as Fleur stepped out wearing the most scandalous outfit Twilight, and probably Trixie, had ever seen. It appeared to be mostly red velvet trimmed with black lace, it rode high on the flank and had a train that would have brushed the floor on a shorter pony. The best way Twilight could describe it was if a dress and some lingerie had a perverted love child, this dress would be how it would look.

Fleur had paired it with some long black gloves, black fishnet stockings, mane accessories involving feathers, a small black lace fan, and makeup that bordered on being too much. Twilight bit her lip as her normally heterosexual mind sent her some very confused messages.

Fleur flashed Trixie a saucy grin, "We my dear Trixie, are going as entertainment." A shocked silence enveloped the room, a silence that was broken only when the filly laughed so hard she fell off her bench.

"What's up with Trixie?" Octavia asked Twilight when she met her and the filly out the front of the shop. It had taken one look through the window to where Trixie was arguing with Fleur for her to reach the conclusion it was probably Trixie's fault.

"Trixie doesn't like her outfit," the filly answered her.

"Why? What are they going as?"

"Take a look through the window at Fleur and you'll find out."

Octavia turned and looked at Fleur, "Oh." Her eyes bulged as she took in what exactly Fleur was wearing. "Oooohhhh. Oh my, I suddenly appreciate Trixie's issue with this. I don't suppose Fleur said what they're meant to be?"

"Entertainment."

"I see." The three ponies sat outside the shop doing little more than shuffling hooves while the argument raged on behind them. The only variation in the time they spent there was when a smile patrol passed by which they smiled and waved at, getting some cheerful waves in return. "I must confess that I'm not entire comfortable with my own... outfit, for this party. I'm a cellist, not a socialite. I go to a party, I play, I get paid, then I leave. That's it. I don't typically socialise with the guests."

"We could try and get you in with the band somehow but Fleur never said if there was a band at this party," said Twilight. "And honestly, I don't see how she would know until we got there, though I would say it's a reasonable assumption that there would be one."

They jumped when Fleur suddenly slammed the door open and came out wearing a triumphant smile, a considerably less jubilant Trixie just behind her. "Good news everypony! Trixie has come to respect the fact that I don't expect her to have sex with anypony, unless she really wants to, so I can officially declare the shopping over and done with!"

"Awesome!" the filly shouted excitedly. "What's next?"

"You argued about that in front of the shopkeeper?" Octavia asked.

Of course, all she could do was grin and bear it." Fleur grinned disarmingly as the others reeled from her horrible attempt at humour. "Oh whatever, next thing is finding the boat and finding out when it's leaving."

"To the harbour!" The filly pointed dramatically towards the river and started trotting but stopped when she noticed she was trotting on her own. "You guys coming?" She looked back to where the others were frantically trying to shove clothing into their saddlebags, "Oh."

"You know what? I am getting so fucking fed up of this smiling shit! I'll be miserable if I fucking well want to be and I'll be happy when this little tit of a Viscount gets here and fucks off again."

Twilight and the others were casually admiring the scenery at the harbour in an attempt to surreptitiously ascertain the whereabouts of the boat they needed to get on. While they were there they had found two dock workers who seemed less than pleased about the harbours' future visitors.

"Viscount?" Trixie whispered questioningly.

"Hereditary title," Twilight whispered back. "The duke's son doesn't get the title of Duke until the last duke dies or gives it up. Until then the heir apparent uses one of the Dukes' lesser titles which in this case is viscount."

"Oh, okay. I only wanted to know if they were talking about the pony I thought they were talking about. I guess now I know how to address him."

"Keep it down would ya," the other dock worker implored his companion. "If one of those creepy smile patrols catch you talking like that it'll be worse than twenty lashes. Maybe they'll put you on corpse duty at the factory."

This time it was Twilight's to whisper a question. "Factory?"

"The pegasus compound," was Fleur's whispered reply making Twilight feel sick that such a duty existed and even needed to exist.

"Can't be no worse than smiling all the bloody time," the first worker said.

"Tell you what, we're almost done here. How about we sneak off early and go for a pint down the Bloody Siren? Ain't no smile patrol going to go in there if they know what's good for 'em." The two stallions dropped what they were doing and sauntered off leaving Twilight and the others to breathe a sigh of relief that they had gone.

"'The Bloody Siren' sounds like a charming place," commented Octavia.

"We're not actually near the ocean are we? Because Trixie was under the impression that sirens were supposed to live in the ocean."

"And you'd be forgiven for thinking that," Twilight muttered, frowning as she thought of something she should ask Sunset in her next letter.

"I gotta ask," the filly said, nudging Trixie in the side, "what's with all the referring to yourself in the third pony? It's a bit weird."

"It's a left over from my show pony days, the Great and Powerful Trixie! I used to talk in the third pony a lot during all that but now I'm trying to give it up. Turns out that old habits really do die hard though."

"You actually have to think about referring to yourself in the first pony? I think I'll just be adding another entry on my list of weird things Trixie does."

"And what about you hmm, you talk awfully fancy and know a lot of big words for a filly with no name, no education and no cutie mark."

"I dunno, I just seem to have a knack for stuff like that. You're looking at the only homeless filly in Prance that can read, which is more than a lot of non-homeless ponies around here can say. Not bad for somepony who's self-taught. Anyway, that's enough chitchat, how about we find that boat." The filly suddenly scrambled her way up a stack of crates before back flipping off and landing on another stack on only her rear legs. "What?" she asked defensively when she noticed the stares she was getting.

"You don't really see a lot of ponies do that," Trixie explained.

"Pinkie can," said Twilight, "but Pinkie tends to be the exception rather than the rule."

"Pinkie... Pinkie... I know I've heard that name before..." Trixie muttered, rubbing her chin.

"You stole her muzzle, remember?" Twilight whispered in her ear.

"Oh, uh... right. Enough said about that I think."

"I think I see the boat," the filly said, having got bored and chosen to ignore their insane ramblings and do the job she set out to do. "It's the big one over there."

They headed in the direction she pointed and soon came across a paddle boat that dwarfed the other boats. "I suppose we should have suspected that it would be the biggest one," Trixie commented with a smirk.

"How can we be sure though?" asked Octavia.

There was a pony with a clipboard standing next to a ramp that led into the rear of the boat. Fleur walked up to her and brazenly asked "Is this the boat the Viscount's party is on?"

The mare jumped as if startled but quickly recovered. "Yeah, are you the ponies I asked for two hours ago to get these crates loaded?" She pointed at four large cube shaped crates, each twice as tall as Fleur.

"Nope," Fleur said simply.

The mare shook her head and growled, "You know what, I don't even care. I need these on board soon as and I will pay you twenty marcs to get them in there. I don't even care how you do it." The mare pulled a small bag from her jacket pocket and counted out twenty coins. "Whaddya say?"

Fleur turned to the others and collected a unanimous vote of impartial shrugs. "Sure, we'll do it. Come on Trixie, help me with this crate." Trixie and Fleur stood on either side of the first crate and used their telekinesis to move the crate. Or at least they tried to.

"What... the hell... is in these... things?" Trixie hissed from between gritted teeth as sweat poured down her face.

"Booze I believe," the pony with the clipboard told her.

"Who in the hay needs this much booze?" Trixie leaned against the crate for a moment to catch her breath.

"Might I suggest that you and Fleur simply lift up the box and let Octavia and the filly push it," Twilight suggested. "It'll save you a bit of effort."

"I don't need your advice on how to lift things thank you... very... much..." Trixie's mouth hung open as she watched Twilight effortlessly lift the remaining three crates in her magic and guide them up the ramp into the hold. "That is so not fair! Stupid cheating alicorns and their stupid cheating... powers..." she mumbled to herself.

"What's an alicorn?" the filly asked her.

"A byword for a pony that cheats."

"Oh. Weird word." Between Fleur's and Trixie's efforts at lifting and Octavia's and the filly's efforts at pushing they eventually managed to get the crate on board. The fact that Twilight had offered to do it for them was irrelevant in the face of four ponies' stubborn pride.

"What time is the Viscount supposed to be getting here tomorrow?" Twilight asked the mare as she waited for the others to make their way back out of the boat.

"Sometime tomorrow, not sure when. Could be anytime between dawn and dusk depending on when he gets up. I’m sure somepony on board knows. Hope it's sooner rather than later though, I'm so sick of this 'be happy and smile for the Viscount's visit' crap."

"Yeah, about that. Why not do that on the day? We only just got into town so we don't know how long that's been going on but I suspect that it's been longer than just today."

The mare suddenly looked worried, "You're not here to monitor things for the Viscounts visit are you?" Twilight shook her head and the mare relaxed again. "That's good. It started the day before yesterday and it'll end the moment we wave him off on this tub. Not soon enough if you ask me and my aching face but whatever. No idea why they make us do it for days beforehoof though. Tends to creep a lot of visitors out." She picked up the twenty marcs in her hoof and held them out to Twilight who took them in her magic. "Here's your pay and boy do you deserve it. I've never seen lifting magic like yours before. If I didn't suspect you were leaving soon I'd offer you a job."

"Sometimes a unicorn gets lucky," Twilight lied. She watched as the others returned, Fleur and Trixie both looking exhausted enough to collapse. "I guess we'll be going then, we still need to find somewhere to stay. Thanks for the talk miss..?"

"Ship Shape, I know, it's not a flattering name. Thanks for the heavy lifting and all that. See ya." The mare trotted off leaving the five ponies on the harbour with no one around to see them.

"You know," the filly said, "if you're going to stow away on the river boat like I have a serious suspicion you are, now would be an excellent time to do it."

"We'll get right on that... as soon... as Trixie can walk again... without feeling like... she's going to fall... over..." She collapsed onto her knees and started panting. "I'm not even sure... that Fleur... was trying..."

Fleur tried a few times to say something in her defense but every time she opened her mouth it would close again without making a sound. She leaned against a post and gently slid down it until she lay on the floor. "Fuck... you..." she managed to say eventually.

Octavia grinned at Twilight and rolled her eyes, "Here I was thinking that the Great and Powerful Trixie could lift anything. Guess I was mistaken."

"I'm great and powerful, not overpowered and godlike." Trixie hauled herself back to her hooves and steadied herself for a moment before taking a few tentative steps. "I think Trixie is okay!"

"Fleur's not," Fleur said from her position on the floor.

Trixie studied the boat for a minute before addressing the others. "The filly who seriously needs a name is not wrong. We totally should sneak onboard now, while there's nopony around to see us. Too bad she can't come with us, as she does have the occasional decent idea."

"But- But... I-I... Why not? Why don't I get to come? I-I thought we were friends?" The filly looked between the four ponies. "Aren't we?"

Fleur tried to smile kindly at the filly but the sensation of her heart gently breaking made it come out more like a grimace. "Of course we are sweetie, but we have important things to do and we can't risk you coming with us in case you get hurt."

"But... but... Twilight?" she asked hopefully.

Twilight hung her head guiltily, marking another failure as the Princess of Friendship. "I'm sorry."

"Octavia?"

Octavia's reaction was similar to Twilights' but with extra tears. "I'm sorry too," she said quietly before heading up the ramp into the boat, Twilight and Trixie close behind her.

Fleur stood up and walked over to the filly who was now in floods of tears. "I'm sorry but this is way it has to be. I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt coming with us." She took a small coin bag out of her bags and placed it in front of the filly, "This should be enough to take care of you for a while-"

"I don't want your money! I want to come with you! Please? You really think I'm any safer living on the streets? Please, I'm begging you! Don't leave me on my own!"

"I'm sorry but I can't, we can't. Take care of yourself out there." She quickly turned and half ran up the ramp where the others were waiting. She wiped away her tears and nodded to them, waiting a moment as they headed further in.

"I thought you cared Fleur! I thought you cared!" The filly collapsed and sobbed, curling up on herself. "I thought you cared..."

"I do..." Fleur said quietly to herself. She stood, wrestling with herself before lighting her horn and gently picking the filly up when suddenly a pink flash across the end of her horn disrupted her magic and made her drop the filly.

"She's playing you Fleur," said Trixie from behind her. "Just ignore it."

"I can't." Fleur turned, allowing Trixie to see her own tears. "I had nothing when I was her age, and I know what it's like. I would have loved nothing more than for a pony to come along and offer something, anything, more than what I had." She turned to the filly who was looking at her confused. "We've given that to her and I'll be damned if I just take it away."
She lit her horn again and once more picked the filly up before Trixie's own magic disrupted hers. "So help me Trixie, I will throw you in the fucking river if you do that again!"

"She can't come with us Fleur. She can't find out about us and what we're doing. That and it's dangerous."

"She won't tell, I trust her. Do you honestly think she likes this place and its rulers and its shit? She could be useful to us." She tried to pick the filly up and kept a firm hold on her that Trixie couldn't break so easy. Instead Trixie also tried to grab the filly in her magic and put her back down. The two ponies became engaged in a battle of wills, the filly yelping as the turbulent magic started to hurt. Suddenly a purple aura overtook the two pink ones already on the filly and carried her up the ramp.

"If Fleur trusts her it's good enough for me," said Twilight.

"And me," said Octavia from beside her.

Fleur grabbed the filly from Twilight's magic and hugged her. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry." She nuzzled the filly before standing up and placing her on her back where the tearful yet smiling filly hugged Fleur around her neck.

"This is a mistake," said Trixie. "I would say I can't wait to see how it's going to bite you in the flank, but it's also my flank on the line." Trixie jabbed a hoof at the filly who recoiled slightly, "You better know how to keep a secret."

Twilight smoothed out the page in the book she used to keep in contact with Sunset Shimmer. After the emotional occurrences of earlier and the time it had taken to find a secure hiding place on the boat and explain everything to the filly, well, almost everything, they were all pretty exhausted. They had decided to not tell her that it was Trixie being rescued in Stalliongrad or that Twilight was an alicorn and a princess in Equestria, since Trixie had begged them not to tell and it was decided that telling her about alicorn princesses could wait.

The entire time Fleur had hugged the filly between her forelegs, and for her part the filly seemed genuinely happy to be there. Maybe she does have a place with us, despite what Trixie might say.

She smoothed the page again and began to write.

Dear Sunset
I know you weren't expecting me to write back so soon but I was in a place called Brayside today and it had a bar called The Bloody Siren, not a nice name I know but that's not the point.

The point is that I was reminded of the sirens and I began to wonder; what happened to them after we stopped them? Are they okay after we stripped their power from them?

I'm not asking you to do a lengthy search for them, but if you do happen to see them could you let me know if they're okay? I feel a bit guilty for letting them just run off after the battle.

Your friend

Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight yawned and put the book away, figuring it was another thing the filly didn't need to know about. She crawled inside her sleeping bag, which was hers again since the filly was snuggled in with Fleur tonight, and very gently let sleep embrace her.

Author's Notes:

Contrary to what I just put in the footer of the last chapter I just posted a chapter. Mostly because I was bored and posting this one is probably harmless enough.