Twilight's hooves echoed on the wooden floors of the Golden Oaks Library. She wasn't entirely sure why she was here but all the same, it felt good to be home. She breathed deeply, the scent of wood and books filling her nostrils at the same time as filling her with a terrible sense of longing. She shouldn't be in the library, and yet here she was, and for the life of her she couldn't work out why.

She was about to contemplate the mystery when a collection of giggles emanated from the kitchen. "My friends!" Twilight grinned happily and ran into the kitchen where she was met by the steely gaze of her five friends and Spike. There was also a lot of pancakes, piled up on the table and covering every inch of every surface to the point that every part of the kitchen looked as though it was made of pancakes. Even Applejack's stetson had a sort of pancakeish quality to it.

"Hey guys!" Twilight said happily. "You have no idea how good it is to see you! Why are you all here anyway? And what's with all the pancakes?" she asked as the pancake ceiling dripped a large blob of syrup past the end of her nose.

"Y'see, the thing is y'all went to Mareitania without us, and we don't take kindly to that sort of behavior," Applejack told her in a cold tone of voice.

"Nopey Dopey! So we went and threw a 'Twilight doesn't care so let's eat pancakes in her kitchen' party. Not the most excite-ifferous of names but meh, it's your brain." Pinkie shrugged and stuffed a whole stack of pancakes into her mouth, "You do dream a good pancake though."

"I- But- What?"

"I must say though that the 'cold hearted bitch' look is very much in fashion right now." Rarity got up and paced around Twilight a few times before sitting back down, "At least you got your fashion forwardness going for you."

"B-but I'm not a cold hearted bitch! You know me! You know I'm not like that!"

Rainbow Dash flew over and pressed her nose up against Twilight's nose, "Oh yeah? Then how could you leave like that then? How could you go to Mareitania without us? I mean, come on! We're your friends! Friends don't do that to each other!"

"Now now everypony, let's be fair. Twilight was only trying to do what was asked of her." Fluttershy smiled warmly at Twilight who felt relief that at least one of her friends was on her side. "After all, we all know she has a deep seated fear of disappointing the princesses and that she values being a princess more than anything else."

"What? No! That's not true, you guys are more important to me than anything in the world!"

"What do you think Spike?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight looked to the last occupant of the table who was wolfing down a stack of gem-laden pancakes with the help of a fork in each claw.

Spike stopped eating and thought for a moment before shrugging, "Meh, let her be. It's not like we need her anyway. I mean we got each other, and pancakes! Besides, did you see the way she let all those ponies get hurt? How could we be friends with a pony like that? No way!" Spike went back to eating as the others all laughed their agreement.

Twilight couldn't speak as the laughter continued. All she could do was choke up and cry as the mocking laughter echoed all around her. She lay down heavily and clamped her hooves over her ears in a halfhearted attempt to make it stop.

"Enough!" somepony roared, sending the pancake room and its occupants whirling away, though not without burying Twilight in a small mountain of pancakes. Twilight started to feebly dig her way out when a dark blue leg adorned with a silver horseshoe thrust itself towards her and pulled her out. "My apologies Twilight, it took me longer than I expected to reach you."

"Luna!" Twilight thrust herself towards Luna and grabbed her around the neck, as if afraid Luna would disappear if she let go. Then she started bawling, all her hurt and fears coming out in one big weepy mess. Luna returned the hug and nuzzled Twilight gently until the tears stopped. "Feeling better?"

Twilight nodded and wiped her eyes, "I-I'm sorry, I don't k-know what came over me."

"Nonsense Twilight, I would be more worried if all the events of the last few weeks hadn't left their mark on you."

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"My sister and I hadn't heard from you in a few days and we were becoming concerned. When I saw you were trapped in a nightmare I thought I would assist you and kill two birds with one stone, as it were. Again my apologies for taking as long as I did. Reaching the dreams of ponies outside of Equestria is difficult for me and more so for ponies in Mareitania. It was only my familiarity with you that made it possible."

"Why is it so hard for you to dream walk in Mareitania?"

Luna gestured to their surroundings, Twilight truly noticing for the first time that they were no longer in the library, but were in the realm of dreams. "See how different this is to the realm of dreams in Equestria?" Twilight nodded. She had walked the dream realm with Luna on several occasions and had found the mystical, star filled expanse to be serene and beautiful. Here though, the sky was dark and angry, filled with streaks of red and purple. The only stars she could see were around herself and Luna.

"Why is this so different to the dream realm in Equestria?"

"As Mareitania is a land filled with fear and horror, so too does its dream realm reflect this. I must be very careful where I tread, least I be overwhelmed by the nightmares of the ponies here."

"D-do you mean you could become Nightmare Moon again?"

"Oh no, the nightmares of ponies had nothing to do with me becoming Nightmare Moon. She was born of my anger and resentment. All the nightmares here would do is wound me and force my return to the waking world." Twilight relaxed and looked around the dream realm again, wondering what exactly it took to alter this place so badly. "Do you have any news you wish to tell me?" Luna asked, rousing Twilight from her silent reverie.

"Oh uh, yes, yes I do."

"Pierre..." Luna mused, "Such a name sounds griffish rather than pony."

"That's what I thought but Fleur says it's old prench, and I'm happy to take her word for it. Anyway we talked to the pony that tried to kill the Viscount and in exchange for his freedom he left us a clue, although none of us can make sense of it." Twilight's horn glowed, forming the message the assassin had left for Octavia and herself.

"Hail green son..." Luna mumured. "A most vexing clue indeed. It's almost as if it should make some kind of sense, yet doesn't. I'm also surprised you would trust the word of an attempted murderer."

Twilight sighed deeply and nodded, "Yeah I know. It wasn't until Fleur pointed out that I might have released an unprincipled murderer onto the streets that I really thought about it, but he didn't seem dangerous to me."

"And he wouldn't tell you more about Pierre?"

"No, he was worried we might be agents of the Duke, sent to find Pierre. The clue was the most we got out of him."

Luna nodded in understanding, "I can appreciate his caution. Ah well, I am sure you will find the meaning of the clue in due time. Now about these new companions you have acquired, do you trust them?"

"Yes, of course. I honestly don't think the filly would betray us without good reason and since she is just a filly we are doing our best to make sure no harm comes to her. Summer on the other hoof could potentially be a problem. She could betray us simply because somepony tells her to."

"It's a terrible thing they have done to her. Slave conditioning is not easy to break as we learnt with escapees of Sombra's rule. Even free of his direct control those few ponies were subservient to others around them."

"Which is exactly what's happening with Summer."

"Be patient with her Twilight, and don't pressure her to change her ways. Such conflict in her mind could be harmful to her. Show a little kindness and hopefully she can be made anew."

"We're trying our best but it's Octavia that seems to be trying the most. For the last couple of days she's been spending a lot of time with Summer."

"Perhaps then she has found a kindred spirit in Summer. From what I have learned through her dreams and nightmares she lived under very strict rules in her youth. Go here, go there, do that, don't do that, and most importantly, be quiet. It doesn't surprise me she would empathize with Summer."

"It also explains why she would be friends with a loud and boisterous pony like Vinyl Scratch."

"Indeed, even now she rebels against her parents, if only in small ways. At any rate I hope she can help poor Summer. Last but not least I feel I should ask you what your immediate plans are short of solving this riddle and finding this 'Pierre.'"

"Actually we're taking a bit of a break from things and we're going to explore the Caverns of Mareitania!" Twilight grinned happily and squirmed in her excitement.

"Are you indeed?" Luna said bemusedly, "Then I hope you shall tell me what you find in there. Starswirl never wrote of what he found in the caverns, and he never spoke of it either, leaving me and my sister most curious of what he found. At any rate it shall be a fine balm to your soul."

"It's going to be great! Even if we don't find anything it'll be amazing to walk in Starswirl's hoofsteps!"

"Quite so. One more thing Twilight..."

"Yes?"

"It's time to wake up."

"Huh?"

"Bluh?"

"Hey! Hey Twilight! Hey! It's time to wake up! Hey! Hey! Hey Twilight! Wake up damn it!" The filly was bouncing up and down on Twilight's side which was, in all fairness, an effective method of waking ponies.

"Gruuuuhhh... I'm awake, I'm awake... Gerroff me..." The filly bounced off and went to pester Trixie who used her magic to float the protesting filly into the branches of a nearby tree before rolling over and going back to sleep. Fleur was rubbing her left ear and had the expression of a pony that was awoken by means of having a filly sticking their tongue in said pony's ear. Octavia was still sleeping, and between them was Summer, curled up in a fetal position and shivering.

"What time is it?" Twilight asked.

Fleur glanced at the sky vaguely while still rubbing her ear, "I dunno? Eightish?"

"Uh, is your ear okay?"

"That filly has an unreasonably long tongue," Fleur supplied. "An unreasonably long and wet tongue."

There was a thud caused by the filly jumping the last few meters to the ground out of the tree Trixie placed her in. "All the better to wake you with, my dear," she said before taking a running jumping onto Trixie. "Nopony puts me in a tree!"

"How close are we to the caverns?" Twilight asked while keeping an eye on Trixie and the filly. Trixie had once again picked the filly up in her magic and was dangling the filly by her rear hooves over her head, just far enough away so that the filly's flailing hooves skimmed by the end of her muzzle without touching it, the muzzle itself sporting a faint half smile. The filly slowly and purposefully crossed her forelegs and 'hmm'd' as she thought.

Fleur pointed behind her, "In those mountains. The entrance is literally ten minutes walk from here."

"Eewww-Ooofff!" Twilight's and Fleur's attention snapped back to Trixie and the filly who was now lying on Trixie's stomach, grinning hugely. "Why would you do that?" Trixie demanded to know as she wiped something off her face.

"What? I told you what I was going to do. Have I ever given you any reason to think that I wouldn't do something like that?"

"What did she do?" asked Fleur.

"She dribbled on me! Right in Trixie's face!" Fleur snorted in laughter and Twilight tried to hide her own smile but failed. "Stop laughing! Trixie did not deserve that!"

"You hung her by her rear hooves over your face. Hate to break it to you but yeah, you kind of deserved that. She did exactly what I would have done."

Trixie sighed and wiped her face on the back of the filly's cloak, "To be fair, that's exactly what Trixie would have done too."

Twilight lay back and tried to stave off her craving for pancakes when she noticed Summer peeking at her and the others. "Good morning Summer," she said as kindly as possible. "Did you sleep well?" All of them were trying to get Summer to engage in normal conversation as much as possible, just so the pegasus could at least talk to them without freezing up.

"G-g-g-g..." Summer swallowed and tried again, "Good morning Twilight. No I-I didn't sleep very good. I- I had a nightmare..."

Twilight nodded, remembering what Luna had shown her of the Mareitanian dreamscape and how broken it was. "Do you want to talk about it?" The pegasus shook her head rapidly and Twilight let it go. Over the last day or so Summer had confided almost entirely in Octavia, who then passed the information onto the others. All of them had learnt more about depravity than they had ever thought possible. It did leave Twilight wondering though, why Octavia? Was she simply the quietest of them all which made Summer more comfortable? Or was it that Summer was far more used to dealing with earth ponies and was somehow replacing her mental image of her masters and mistresses with Octavia. If so, that was more than a little worrying.

"Will you at least tell Octavia about it?" Fleur asked hopefully. Summer nodded gently and Fleur gave a satisfied nod of her own. "Good, that's good. I guess we better get up then. That cavern ain't gonna explore itself now is it?"

Twilight ignited a small orb of light on the end of her horn, Trixie and Fleur doing the same, and directed it into the low cave that was the entrance to the caverns. "We're not really going in there are we?" the filly asked, a small tremor in her voice.

"Why? Is da lil babby afwaid of the dark?" Trixie teased.

"No, of course not! I'm just not sure how much Summer is going to like it in there is all." They all looked at Summer who flinched under the attention, but otherwise seemed fine with going into the dark filled caverns.

"They u-used to lock me in a cage in the cargo hold in the d-dark," she offered as an explanation, although judging by the awkward expressions on the others faces nopony had really wanted to hear it.

"So the dark doesn't bother you then?" asked Fleur.

"No mistress, it was... peaceful. And as long as I kept the toys in they wouldn't b-beat me when they let me out." Summer watched as they all reeled slightly from her answer, "I'm sorry if I said something wrong!" she cried.

"It's... fine, honestly," Fleur told her. "It's just that we don't really expect to hear those sort of things so they might come across as a bit of a shock for us."

"You want me to say n-nothing then?" Hurt and confusion etched Summer's features. Fleur ran a hoof down her face and sighed. "I-if that's what you want..."

"No, it's not what I want. At all. Don't ever think that it would be. I just... I-uh..."

"It's alright Fleur," Octavia said from the back of the group. "I'll have a talk with her and see if I can get her to understand what too much information is." Fleur smiled her appreciation and turned her attention back to the cave.

Twilight set a hoof onto the slope and headed down, the others close behind. After a few meters the ground levelled out and became strangely uniform, almost like it wasn't a natural formation but more like an oversized animal burrow.

Twilight inspected the walls up close and found them to be covered in dozens upon dozens of marks, such as those that might be made by metal tools. They didn't appear to be very recent but it was obvious that they were far more recent than when Starswirl had ventured through here.

"This place feels wrong..." Trixie murmured, "There's no cave... stuff in it."

"Cave stuff?" the filly asked. "Is that a technical term?"

"You know what I mean. Where's the stalactites and stalagmites? The eerie sound of distant water dripping, and-eep!" They all dropped to the floor as a flock of small, black, leathery winged bodies flew over them, screeching as they went. "At least there are bats here," Trixie commented once the flock had vanished.

The filly gingerly raised her head and shivered, "If one of those things touches me I'm going to freak out sooo much..."

Trixie grinned coyly, "You're afraid of bats aren't you..."

"Yes! Yes I am! It's not the dark I'm afraid of! It's those creepy little monstrosities!"

Twilight cleared her throat, "Perhaps now would be a good time to tell everypony to not touch anything with their hooves and do not put your hooves anywhere near your mouth."

"Why not?" asked the filly.

"Because of possible contamination by guano."

"Guano? What the heck's guano?"

"Poop!" Trixie supplied happily.

"Eeewww! This trip is getting worse all the time! And I don't know what you're so happy about Trixie, you're walking in it too."

"Trixie is well aware of that, thank you very much."

"Let's get a move on shall we?" said Fleur. "I'm not so fond of small places myself."

"What is that?" Octavia pointed at something embedded in the wall of the cave. On closer inspection it was a heavily rusted bar with a hoop on the end. "What is that supposed to be?"

"If I was to hazard a guess I'd say it was supposed to hold a torch. Hold on." Twilight pointed her horn further into the cave and formed a second orb of light which sped away from her, illuminating the cave as it went until it hit a bend and fizzled out. Staggered along the walls were more rusted objects like the one Octavia had pointed out, "Yep, definitely torch holders. It's also pretty clear this cave isn't natural. Or at least, not anymore."

"Seems a bit odd," said Octavia. "I'm no scientist but I'm fairly sure that diamond dogs wouldn't do something like this."

"They might," Twilight disagreed, "but not without a good reason. Diamond dogs aren't totally uncivilized. At least not the ones in Equestria. I am though, actually thinking this is the work of ponies. This cave was carved out with tools, but diamond dogs use their paws for digging."

"Why would anypony want to come in here though?" asked Trixie.

"I would say for mining, but I'm really not sure what there would be to mine in a cavern."

"There must be something, otherwise why are there diamond dogs supposedly living here?" said Octavia.

"Can we just assume that there's only one way to find out and get a move on!" Fleur snapped, "This tunnel isn't getting any bigger!" The six ponies lapsed into silence and headed further into the darkness, the only sounds being the echoes of their hooves on the bare rock. At least that was until the filly tripped over something that bounced off out of sight, making a disconcerting rattle as it did.

"Son of a bitch," the filly groaned as she held her chin in her hooves. "Stupid dark and its stupid… non-lightness."

"What did you trip over?" Fleur asked as she looked around, seeking the offending item.

"I don't know, it bounced off somewhere." The filly gestured up the passage and Fleur headed in the same direction, stepping gingerly in case she tripped over as well. "I don't see anything. Are you sure you didn't just trip over your own... Oh no. Oh Celestia no..." Fleur stopped, staring at what her light spell had illuminated. It was the mouldering skeleton of a pony, slumped against the wall of the cave and draped with the rusting remains of armoured barding.

"There's another over there," Octavia pointed out. The skeleton was in much worse a condition than the other, with many of its bones cracked and broken, and the side of its skull, just to the left of its horn, had been caved in giving the impression the remains had been heavily trampled at some point. By its side were the rusted remnants of what looked to be a sword.

Trixie poked the head of the skeleton leaning against the wall, making the skull give up its fight against gravity and fall to the floor, echoing loudly as it did. "Oops," Trixie said with a apologetic grin as most of the others glared at her.

"Show a little respect Trixie," Octavia hissed.

"Sorry. Why d' you think there's pony remains here anyway?"

Twilight peered closer the skeleton by the wall, her magic tracing around a narrow slit in one of the plates of the barding. "I think these ponies were killed here and just left. This one has a stab mark in its armour."

"Do you think they killed each other?" the filly asked, kicking at the rusted sword.

Twilight glanced at the other body that had been trampled over. "I don't think so. They look like they tried to stop something getting in but failed," she said, but she quietly hoped she was wrong. "Let's keep going, there might be a clue further in."

It didn't take long for them to find more skeletal remains scattered around further down the passage, each of them showing signs of having been killed and left to rot. The ponies also couldn't help but notice that the further they went, the more numerous the skeletal remains became until the passage suddenly opened up into a large open area, one which was littered with bones.

Twilight uttered a curse under her breath, almost as if she was afraid to disturb the silence surrounding them. Certain other ponies though, didn't possess her reticence. "What the fucking hell happened here?" Trixie asked loud enough to cause an echo.

"When we came in here I wasn't expecting to find a tomb," Octavia said quietly. "I think we should leave."

Twilight shook her head, "No, at the very least I want to find out what happened here." She raised her horn towards the ceiling and created a large orb of light which she cast into the air, moving it and increasing its brightness until the entire cavern was illuminated under what could only be described as a miniature sun.

"I thought this place would be bigger," the filly said almost as if she were disappointed, although Twilight couldn't help but agree. The cavern she had lit up was maybe three or four times the size of a hoofball pitch. Far smaller than the mountain range above it would suggest.

"We should split up," said Twilight. "Look for any clue that could tell us what happened here. Fleur and the filly, you go left. Octavia and Summer, you go right, and Trixie, you're with me. If you need help, just shout and we'll be there in a jiffy."

The ponies all headed off in their given directions, each of them being careful to not disturb the remains of the fallen warriors. And warriors they were; all the bodies seemed to be wearing some kind of armour and more often than not had a weapon of some description by them.

"This feels wrong," Trixie said, although far quieter than her earlier outburst. "What could happen to kill all these soldiers?"

"I don't know," Twilight admitted, "but I have a feeling the answer is 'other soldiers.'"

"But they're all wearing the same armour."

"Maybe they turned on each other then, I don't know. Maybe their enemy reclaimed the bodies of their own fallen while leaving these here to rot."

"Maybe." The two ponies continued through the cavern, eagerly seeking out any clues they could find. Eventually they found themselves in an armoury, if the rusted and rotted remains of the weapons and armour there was any indication. There were also the rusted remnants of an anvil by the crumbled remains of a forge. "Surely all these fires and stuff in a cave would have been, like, really bad for the health of these ponies?"

"I don't think it really mattered in the end," Twilight replied in an offhand way. "There are less bodies up here," she observed, "so they were definitely defending against an attack from the entrance."

"Hey, what you think this is?" Trixie was standing next to something a little taller than herself that was shrouded in a sheet of mouldering canvas. Before Twilight could tell her to be careful Trixie pulled at the canvas, which fell apart in her magic, to reveal a set of silver barding, covered in intricate scrollwork and shining slightly despite the layer of grime coating it. "Woah..."

Twilight stared silently at the armour before her, studying the scrollwork and noticing the golden tree symbol of Mareitania on the large armoured peytral. There was a hole in the forehead of the helm that was clearly designed for a unicorn’s horn, the scrollwork weaving around it. The barding consisted of several plates of silver amour, complete with more scrollwork, and were worked so that they were placed around a hole in the side which would allow a wing of a pegasus to poke through. Or the wing of an alicorn...

"The last rebellion!" Twilight exclaimed. "This must have been the alicorn’s armour!"

"Really?" Trixie said sceptically. "Trixie was expecting a mythical figure like the Lady, or whatever she's called, to be a bit bigger than this, like Celestia kinda big. This armour's made for a pony that's only a few inches taller than us."

"I suppose so... Does it really matter though? I mean I'm an alicorn and I'm nowhere near as tall as Celestia is. Who says alicorn's have to be tall?"

"My imagination, that's who." Trixie snorted and looked away, tracing her eyes over the rest of the cavern. "I guess it didn't end well for the rebellion even after the Lady surrendered. I suppose that shouldn't be a surprise."

There was a crunch and a clatter from behind them as Fleur and the filly approached, Fleur staring at the armour with apprehension. "I guess that confirms my suspicions," she said.

"The last rebellion?"

"Yep." Fleur studied the armour, her eyes glazing slightly until Twilight spoke again.

"Did you find anything?"

"Huh? Oh, right. No, not really. Just the living areas and the stores I think. Everything was pretty thoroughly smashed up and rotted away."

"There was less bodies over there though," the filly pointed out.

"Yeah we noticed that too," Twilight told them. "If this truly is the last rebellion then what happened here was their last stand where they fought to the end."

"Or they didn't but the soldiers killed them anyway," Fleur said bitterly. "Are the other two still looking?"

"Actually m-mistress, we've f-found something." They all yelped and span around to glare at the pegasus who blended in with the gloom far too well in Twilight's cloak. "S-sorry," Summer squeaked with her eyes squeezed shut and her ears folded back.

"It's okay," Fleur told her. "You just scared us a bit. You're surprisingly sneaky."

"Sorry," Summer said again before opening her eyes. "Octavia s-sent me to get you."

"Is she okay?"

"Mmhmm, we found something so if you could... uh, follow me... uh... please?" Fleur nodded, prompting Summer to turn around and head back to where she had left Octavia, the others following close behind.

"What did you find?" Twilight asked her.

"It's a book, but Octavia said we shouldn't touch it ourselves."

"Why not?"

"Because it's dirty and we have to use our hooves and mouths mistre- Twilight."

"Oh, right. Fair enough I suppose." Summer led them through the cavern to where Octavia was waiting on a raised area next to the skeletal remains of a unicorn. She was also surrounded by black marks on the ground, evidence that whatever had been here had been burnt. "Summer said you found something?"

"Actually she can take all the credit for it; she has remarkably sharp eyes." Octavia gave a beaming smile to Summer who returned a small, shy smile of her own.

"That's pegasi for you," said Twilight.

"Yep. Anyway, we found this place here, which seems to have been burnt at some point, making me think it was records that the soldiers burnt, and we were about to move on when Summer spotted that." Octavia pointed at the unicorn's remains, or rather, the book underneath it. "I didn't think it was a good idea to touch it ourselves and thought it might be best to bring you here.”

"Good idea." Twilight gently lifted the skeleton up and slid the book out from beneath it and reverently returned the bones to their former resting place before paying attention to the book, taking note of the amount of dark red upon it.

"Are those blood stains?" asked the filly, although that was a bit of a understatement. The blood had fused quite a bit of the book into a solid lump. With careful manipulation of her magic Twilight managed to separate some of the pages in the middle of the book. She lit her horn and read some of the writing before remembering there were others that would probably like to hear what it said. She cleared her throat and began to read.

"The pegasi refuse to fight. Even after our efforts to free them, they believe that all they will become is slaves under a new regime. Do they not understand what we are trying to do for them? What we are trying to do for all ponies? That they will not consider fighting for our Lady in her quest for freedom for all is an insult! Perhaps they preferred their lives as slaves! If so I'm sure we can accommodate their wishes perfectly well! Hopefully the pegasi in other camps will be more pliant, especially once we figure out how to remove their collars fully, rather than merely cease their operation."

"I'm going to hazard a guess here and say this is probably the unicorn's diary," said Fleur. "I wonder why the pegasi would refuse to fight though."

"After centuries of slavery I imagine that they weren't keen on being forced into something they didn't start," Twilight told her. "Honestly, I can't blame them, especially with the symbol of their slavery still attached to them."

"Is there any more?"

Twilight skimmed down the page, a range of expressions passing across her face. "Uh, not on this page. It's mostly just rants about the pegasi, flavoured with insults that only a creature with wings could... appreciate." She tried to turn the page but they refused to separate so she kept trying until she found a page she could turn.

"Let's see... Date's obscured by blood again... Okay, right, we found a colt wandering around outside and were forced to apprehend him. How are we to trust a child to not reveal our location to somepony? Even sat as far from him as I am I can still hear him wailing for his mother. The Lady tried to console the child but even her splendor was not enough to distract him from his incessant hollering. Maybe it would be kinder for all to cut the boy's throat. We can't release him and his cries are already driving ponies to distraction."

"This unicorn wasn't a very pleasant fellow was he," said Octavia, the disdain clear in her voice.

"He's just one pony," Twilight said. "I'm sure that his opinion wasn't the same as everypony else’s." Twilight tried to turn the page but again it was all stuck together. She passed quite a few pages before she found one that would open.

"The attack on Bitmark has failed. Spectacularly. Without the pegasi and their numbers to harass the armies of the Duke we were left far too open to counterattack. Cursed featherbrains! Do they not see what we are trying to do? Why do they still refuse to aid us when we have done so much to aid them? I fear that without them the revolution shall soon falter and- and the rest is too stained for me to read," Twilight finished.

"Did they really base their entire plan on the idea that the pegasi would help them?" Trixie asked while Twilight attempted to find a new page. "Seems a bit short-sighted."

"Don't see why not," said Fleur. "The pegasi would have the numbers they need and the Duke's army at the time would have been mostly helpless against them. Seems like a sound plan."

Trixie snorted, "Not really, the pegasi are taught to control the weather, not fight. Between that and their clipped wings I imagine that the pegasi would have been pretty crap on the battlefield. Especially if they're afraid to strike back against their masters like Summer is."

"Huh, when you put it like that, yeah, I can understand why the pegasi didn't fight. Actually, like that it kinda sounds like the rebellion didn't expect them to be much more than airborne cannon fodder."

Twilight found a new page and smoothed it down before reading. "It's over. Without our Lady to guide us we fell to petty infighting, which led many to leave, declaring our cause to be hopeless. There are barely more than a couple hundred of us now, all hiding within our last bastion. It's only a matter of time before the Duke comes for us and ends us once and for all. Perhaps I too should leave before it's too late."

"I guess he left it a little too late," said Octavia.

"It does look like it's the last entry," Twilight agreed as she tried to separate more of the pages, but she was doing more damage than good and instead placed it in the legs of the pony who wrote it. "I wish we could learn more from it. I imagine some of it could be useful to us."

"Yeah, as a guide on what not to do," Trixie said sarcastically.

"Actually I was hoping for a hint on how to remove the collars if nothing else." Twilight turned and gazed out across the cavern, a sense of sadness enveloping her. These ponies may not have succeeded in their goal, but they deserved better than to be left here, forgotten. "When all this is over I want to give these ponies a proper burial. They deserve at least that much."

"Assuming we succeed," said Fleur. Twilight couldn't help but concede her point but was happy no one had dismissed her idea.

"So now what?" asked the filly. "We came all this way and learnt nothing. We haven't even seen a hint of a diamond dog."

"I agree," Octavia said. "There should definitely be more to this place than what we can see. I doubt Starswirl the Bearded spent as long as he did exploring the caverns if this is all he found."

"Yeah," Trixie agreed. "I was under the impression this distraction away from important things in Neigh Orleans wouldn't be a total waste of time."

"Actually," Fleur reminded Trixie, "we came here in the full knowledge that this might be a total waste of time, so don't try that silly argument. Besides, this hasn't been a total waste of time."

"Oh? How so?"

"At the very least we found out a decent reason as to why the last rebellion failed, even before the Duke issued his ultimatum to the Lady. We also found out there was an alicorn present, if not the actual Lady if the armour made for an alicorn is any indication. Both important pieces of information."

"Fine," Trixie admitted with a pout. She noticed that Octavia seemed a bit confused, "The armour's over there," she said, pointing over her shoulder. "Come on, I'll show you." Trixie led Octavia away, followed closely by Summer who almost chased after them when she noticed Octavia was going somewhere. Twilight, Fleur and the filly followed behind because they had nothing better to do.

"You don't think Summer's getting a bit attached to Octavia do you?" asked the filly. "Can't be healthy."

"Not really a lot about it we can do," said Fleur. "She knows what she wants."

"We could all try and do things with her, so she gets used to dealing with ponies other than Octavia," Twilight suggested, "but we don't want to force her outside of her comfort zone either." They stopped at the armour, Octavia seeming suitably impressed with it. "Right now I just want to take a break from running all over the country, blundering from one mistake to the next."

"But there's no more cave to explore," the filly pointed out, "and unless you intend to camp out here for the fun of it we should probably head off."

"Not yet, there's something I want to try first." While Trixie and Octavia admired the armour, Twilight, much to the consternation of Fleur and the filly, raised her head and started to release a fine purple mist from her horn.

"Twilight, what are you doing?" asked Fleur, "You look ridiculous."

"I'm seeing where the air in here goes. If there are any hidden doorways with an air current going through it the mist will be drawn towards it."

"Then surely the mist would be drawn towards the entrance then, seeing as that's the biggest hole around here?"

"Not necessarily, if the air is going somewhere else then the mist will be drawn away from the entrance because that's where the new air would come from."

"And if the air is going to more than one place?"

"Then we'll have to investigate every place it goes." They waited, and much to Fleur's and the filly's surprise, the mist started drifting towards the back of the cavern, carried on a breeze so gentle that they couldn't feel it. Twilight couldn't help but look a bit smug.

"Alright, pat yourself a bit harder on the back, show-off," the filly said with a grin. They followed the trail of the mist, albeit slowly because the breeze was very gentle and not moving the mist any faster than a meter every ten seconds or so. After a short eternity they were led to the back left of the cavern, behind where Fleur and the filly found the remains of the rebellions stores. There was a pile of collapsed stones there, through which the mist was being drawn.

"Stand back everypony, this could get messy." Twilight started moving the rubble, a steady stream of rocks and pebbles floating through the air and forming a new pile several meters away. It didn't take long for the outline of a tunnel to become visible, but Twilight became concerned at what was in it. Rather than the tunnel collapsing, it had been purposefully filled in with larger rocks using a pattern like a bricklayer would use. "Well that's weird."

"I wonder why they blocked this tunnel up?" Fleur pondered out loud.

"I don't think the ponies did this. I imagine they would have sealed it up properly, with cement and bricks and stuff."

"You think the diamond dogs did it?" the filly asked excitedly.

"Mmm... maybe... I don't know. From what I know of diamond dogs they would've just piled dirt in the tunnel and been done with it. I guess we'll find out soon enough." Twilight started levitating the rocks out, the process taking several minutes because she had to do it layer by layer, and the entire thing reached back quite a few meters.

Once the last rock was cleared Twilight sat down heavily in an attempt to catch her breath, "I really- shouldn't have- done that- in one..." she panted.

"Good job though," said Trixie, giving Twilight a sarcastic pat on the back, "if the whole princ-mmmph!" Trixie was rapidly silenced by a thin band of purple wrapping around her muzzle. A band made by Twilight who was giving Trixie the raised eyebrow treatment.

"You remember the list of things we don't talk about?"

"Mmhmm."

"That's still on the list."

"Mmhmm." Twilight released her hold on Trixie's muzzle before giving a cherubically innocent smile to the others, "Are we ready to go?" They all gave various indicators to their readiness and followed Twilight down the diamond dog hole, leaving the orb of light to fizzle out and return the remains of the last rebellion to their rest.

"Now this is more like a diamond dog tunnel," Octavia said as they cautiously trotted into the depths of the caverns' winding tunnel system. The tunnels were all rough-hewn from the rock and were clearly no more natural than the entryway into the first cavern had been. Unlike that tunnel though, the diamond dog one changed shapes and sizes in the space of a few meters and regularly crossed over with over tunnels.

"How do the diamond dogs navigate through these labyrinthine tunnels," the filly said, earning herself another collection of strange looks.

"By scent I imagine," Twilight told her, although she didn't know if that were true or not. The ponies kept walking, following the tunnel that was always in front of them, but it was becoming clear that wasn't the best method of navigation.

"You think we should have left a trail for us to follow back?" Trixie asked, sounding a little nervous.

"I can't help the feeling that we're being watched," added Octavia.

"And is it just me, or is it a lot warmer down here than in the cavern?" said Fleur.

"Yes to the first two, double yes to the last," the filly muttered although she did nothing about it, leaving her cloak where it was. Octavia helped Summer remove her cloak though, since it was obviously becoming uncomfortably warm for her.

"Maybe we should turn back," Fleur suggested.

"No," Twilight said, sounding full of determination. "If we really need to get out I can teleport us back outside. Let's keep going for as long as we can, and if we find nothing I'll port us outside, okay?"

They all agreed to those terms although with varying degrees of reluctance. They kept heading in the direction they had picked, but progress was slow as the nerves the others displayed started to rub off on Twilight. "It's fine, It'll all be fine," she whispered to herself. "There's nothing down here to be afraid of." She kept going but stopped when the floor beneath her began to echo weirdly, "What is that?"

"What's what?" Fleur asked her.

Twilight stomped lightly, the sound echoing slightly. "The ground, it's hollow."

"Maybe it's a tunnel crossing beneath us," Octavia suggested, although she couldn't help but stomp on the ground herself to find out what Twilight meant.

"Pfft, you're all overreacting," said Trixie. She reared up and prepared to stomp the ground a good deal harder than the others to prove her point. "There's nothing here-aah!" As she brought her forehooves to slam against the ground they went straight through the ground so that her chest and chin hit the floor with a solid smack.

That was a lesser concern though as the ground cracked around her, opening up into a hole which swallowed Trixie and swiftly spread to swallow the rest before they had a chance to move. Thankfully though they didn't have far to fall as the ground collapsed into a pit about twice as deep as Fleur was tall.

"Everypony okay?" Twilight asked as soon as she had recovered enough to do so.

"I think I landed on my face," Trixie groaned. "Twice."

"And yet half as many times as you deserve you fucking idiot," Fleur snapped. She took in her surroundings, seeing that the only way back out was to climb out. "Why would the diamond dogs dig a pit like this?"

"To trap silly ponies of course!" a voice from above them growled. The ponies looked up to see several diamond dogs in simple, yet robust looking metal armour pointing spears down at them. What caught their attention more though was what was stood beside one of the dogs. Wearing different amour that gleamed in the darkness and glaring daggers down at the six ponies, was a male crystal pony, sparkling in the gloom.

"What the what?" the filly said loudly, summing up their collective confusion quite nicely.

Author's Notes:

Fleur, I are disappoint.

Also, the two orange skinned and purple haired people above her are now Scootaloo's long lost brother and sister. Y'know, after her parents put her up for adoption and stuff. (Don't think too hard about the expression of the blue girl next to him and about where his hand might be.)

Pie-cake eating needs to be a thing.