Twilight awoke with a groan, feeling like somepony had taken a hammer to her skull, repeatedly and vigorously. She cracked an eye open, squinting in the harsh light of the campfire burning nearby. "Murgh-appuh," she mumbled. She was attempting to ask what happened but apparently speech wasn't her forte at this moment in time.

"Twilight? Was that you?" Fleur asked in a quiet voice.

"Mmhmm."

"Oh thank goodness! If you'd have been out of it much longer I think we'd have been in serious trouble."

Twilight was about to ask how long she had been out of it but instead she noticed how horrifically parched she was. "Wa'er," she mumbled, running a parched tongue over dry, cracked lips.

"Oh! Of course!" Fleur knelt down next to Twilight and propped her up as much as she could before holding a canteen to Twilight's lips in her magic. Twilight gulped greedily on the water, half of it spilling down her chin and front, but she didn't care, it was wonderful. Truly water was an underappreciated substance.

"Thanks," she said once she'd had her fill. Fleur let her lie back down again and Twilight took a few minutes to recover as some of the fuzziness left her, leaving her instead with a steady throbbing that seemed to originate from the right side of her head. She also realised that her right eye was in darkness.

She gingerly reached a hoof up to her eye and felt it, finding that it, and most of the right side of her head and around her horn, was covered in a thick layer of bandages. "Fleur, what happened? Why's my eye bandaged over?"

"You're eye's fine Twilight. We couldn't get the bandage to stay on without covering your eye."

"Oh, phew." Twilight sighed with relief that her eye was unharmed, but that still raised the question of why she needed to have a bandage at all.

"Are you okay Twilight?"

"My head hurts..."

Fleur gave a mirthless chuckle, "Yeah, I imagine that head-butting a rock at full gallop would do that to a pony. I'm honestly surprised you survived it. I guess alicorns must be pretty tough."

"I hit a rock? When? How bad was it?"

"A real mess. You were falling over before you hit the rock which is probably why you came off as bad as you did. Though if you had hit your horn straight on at that speed it probably would have snapped clean off. Even so, you were still in a bad way and I'm pretty sure you... died... at one point."

"What? That's impossible!"

"You don't need to tell me that. You stopped breathing and I'm sure your heart stopped which are pretty much the two qualifications you need for being dead. We were about to give up when suddenly you started gasping for air and you had a pulse again. I'm willing to admit that you might have had a pulse the entire time and I just lost track of it, but it's still weird."

"Was the filly okay? She was riding on my back if I remember correctly."

"She's fine. She was catapulted off your back and into a bush, but yeah, she was otherwise uninjured."

Twilight sat up, making her head spin, but it was worth it as it felt like she had been lying down for ages. She stretched her wings, glad that they were seemingly undamaged if a little stiff. She took stock of her surroundings, noting the others were all asleep which was sensible seeing as how it was apparently night time. "How long was I out?"

"Three and a half days. You've been in a coma, or whatever it was, for the entire time."

"Three and a half days!?" Twilight was shocked to think she had been unconscious for that long. No wonder she was so thirsty. "What have I missed?"

"Not much. First there was the mad scramble to fix you up and stop you bleeding out, and then you possibly died anyway but got over it. We worked out we were in the clearing by Hoovendale so Octavia and the filly went to town for medical supplies so we could patch you up as best we could. Might have been easier if one of us knew first aid."

Twilight felt the bandage on her head again, "You seem to have done okay for ponies with no medical knowledge."

"Not really, all we did was stop the bleeding and wrap it up. We had no idea if you were okay or even if we were doing the right thing. You could have been brain dead for all we knew."

"Not that you could tell the difference," Trixie murmured in her sleep.

"Doesn't miss a beat does she?" Fleur said with a grin. "Anyway, once we were fairly certain you were in a state of non-imminent death we decided to start heading to Neigh Orleans because it's the biggest place around here and therefore the best place to get help for you if you hadn't woke up by the time we got there. We commandeered a cart-"

"You mean stole."

"No, commandeered, get it right. We commandeered a cart to carry you and the last three days have been spent walking. We're now a few miles outside Neigh Orleans."

Twilight nodded, but quickly stopped as waves of nausea washed over her. "What about those soldiers? Have they been following us?"

"Not so far. I'm willing to bet that the guards have been told to look for us so for now we're staying out in the countryside. Incidentally, while we were looking for your map we found a pegasus collar, some gem tipped rods and some blueprints. Care to explain?"

"Shadow gave them to me. I was going to tell you guys about them but I never got the chance. Soon as everypony is awake I'll tell you how I got them. Unfortunately though I haven't had a chance to study them yet so I can't tell you much."

"Actually Trixie has been going over the plans and says she has some ideas about how they might work."

"Good, that's good." Twilight bowed her head as she tried to piece together her memories of what had happened three days previous when memories of two black clad ponies came to the fore. "Fleur, those ponies in black. Who were they?"

"I don't know," Fleur admitted. "I've never seen or heard of anypony dressed in that kind of armour or having that kind of power. What did it do to you?"

Twilight didn't know. Other than the searing pain and the feeling that the runes were so cold they burned, she had no idea how they worked. Did they absorb magic? Or destroy it? And how could she feel them through her magic? "I don't know, but it hurt and it... scares me. I really hope there aren't a lot of ponies with that armour because I really don't think that's a fight we can win."

"Here's hoping." Fleur lay on her side and snuggled down into her sleeping bag, "I know you've been out of it for a few days but you should really try and get some sleep. We'll be going into Neigh Orleans tomorrow and we ought to be at our best."

"I'll try."

"Okay. Good night Twilight."

"Night," Twilight said half-heartedly. She had far too much to think about right now, and barely half a mind to think with thanks to her injury. She snuggled down into her own sleeping bag and shivered, but not from the cold. Maybe tomorrow she ought to quiz Celestia on what she knew about those runes.

Twilight awoke again, this time much more pleasantly to the smell of food cooking nearby. She raised her head and opened her available eye just in time to see a yellow blur jump on her and hug her around the neck, nuzzling her desperately.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" the filly cried, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I assure you that was never my intention," Twilight said as she returned the nuzzle. "In fact I could happily go my entire life without anything like that happening ever again."

"Which part?" Trixie asked with a hint of sarcasm. "The part where we get attacked by ponies in freakish anti-magic armour, or the part where you do a long distance teleport carrying five passengers and subsequently smash your brains out on a rock?"

"All of the above, and then some."

"Good answer. How's the head?"

"Feeling like it's a couple of sizes too small for what's inside it."

"I thought that'd be a normal feeling for you."

Twilight smirked at Trixie, "If you're jealous, just say so." Trixie smirked back but remained silent giving Twilight a chance to drag herself to her hooves, which was a difficult process made worse by the fact that her balance wasn't too good.

"You know, most ponies would take more than three days being unconscious before getting active with a head wound like that," Octavia commented, giving Twilight a disapproving look.

"Most ponies aren't doing what we're doing." Twilight stood still, her legs wobbling and her head spinning. At the very least she could confirm one of her symptoms was a concussion. "There's a very good chance I'm going to need that cart for a bit longer." Fleur walked over carrying a bowl of something hot and steaming in her magic, the smell of which made Twilight's stomach growl. She tried to laugh it off but the gesture just made her head spin more and she rapidly sat down to save herself from falling over. Fleur held the bowl in front of Twilight, clearly hinting that Twilight should take it.

Twilight tried to take the bowl in her magic but for some reason her magic refused to work. Her head injury might have had something to do with it but that didn't feel right. It was more like her magic was scared. Her horn managed a few sputters of magic but in the end she took the bowl in her hooves rather than keep Fleur waiting.

"I'm pretty sure medical advice says to refrain from magic after any head injuries," Fleur said, suspecting that might be the problem. "That or you're suffering from a burnout."

"Yes, but that same medical advice doesn't say magic should be impossible." Twilight sighed and lifted the bowl to her mouth, drinking the porridge straight out of it. Cutlery was widely regarded as an unnecessary unicorn invention by most other ponies and creatures with hooves.

"All the same you should give it time." Fleur returned to the pot of porridge she had lazily bubbling over the campfire and filled some more bowls, one for herself, Trixie, Octavia, the filly and Summer.

Summer! "You killed that diamond dog!" Twilight blurted out. Summer dropped her gaze to the floor and the others made various motions indicating that Twilight shouldn't go there. Not that Twilight noticed. "How could you do that!?"

"I d-don't know. I was just angry... I guess..."

"Angry? Angry!? Being angry is no excuse to hurt somepo- somebody, let alone kill them!"

"B-but he was hurting Octavia!" Summer hunched in on herself and started to cry. "I'm sorry mistress!"

"That's still no reason to kill someone! I would have gotten her away from him if you had given me a chance!" Summer sobbed, repeatedly mumbling "I'm sorry mistress," and Twilight felt some of her anger recede. Summer wasn't a pony she needed to be yelling at. Not least because Summer probably thought that Twilight was going to punish her.

"She doesn't really remember doing it," Octavia told Twilight, placing a comforting hoof across Summer's withers.

Twilight said nothing, instead sampling the stinging sensation that ran round the inside of her skull. She rubbed her head and tried to think of a solution but her friendship lessons were letting her down on the 'a pony I know just brutally killed someone' side of things. "Fine, but I'm not letting this go. We can't have this happen again."

"I really don't think she would..." Octavia tried to say in Summer's defence.

"No? Are you not curious how a pony too terrified to defend herself managed to kill a diamond dog three times her size in a frenzied attack all because you were being hurt? Not that I want it to happen but there's a fairly significant chance of something similar happening and I don't want to see that sweet little pegasus splattered with blood again."

"I'm pretty sure there was some chunks of brain too," Trixie muttered quietly, but not quietly enough when she noticed Twilight shooting her a dirty look.

"I'm glad you can joke about this Trixie," Twilight said, "because this-"

"Actually Twilight," Fleur interrupted, "I rather think you're being naïve about this. Yes it's unfortunate that what happened, happened, but I think you're overreacting."

"If you're about to lecture me on how it's okay to kill, I suggest you save your breath,” Twilight said in a low voice.

"I'm not about to suggest that it is, but this comes back to you thinking our mission can be done without violence. Did all those bodies littering Prance not suggest to you that violence, and killing, is going to be a factor? At least Summer did it in defence of someone."

Twilight folded her ears back. Give it to Fleur to know how to bring her back down to earth. As much as it horrified her, Twilight was beginning to realise that violence would be a factor. Even in the peaceful land of Equestria her battle with Tirek had taught her that violence can be a solution.

"Fine," Twilight admitted, her desire for this conversation to go on having severely diminished. "All the same we should keep an eye on her in case it happens again."

Twilight lay down in the cart as they resumed their journey towards Neigh Orleans, playing with her hooves as an awkward silence pervaded the area. Twilight had to admit she felt bad about confronting Summer like she did. It's not her fault she has more issues than...than... Twilight had to admit that Summer was a new benchmark for issues and she wished Applejack was there to make a countryism about it.

Perhaps now would be a good time to have a chat with Celestia. Twilight pulled her bags over and rifled through them until she found the speaker stone and pulled it out using her mouth. She set it down in front of her and tried to coax her magic into co-operating, but she achieved little more success than earlier.

Rather than risk straining herself she admitted defeat and asked for help, "Trixie? Or Fleur for that matter, could I have some assistance for a moment please."

"Sure," said Fleur, "what's up?"

"Do either of you know how to infuse energy into a rune based magic system?"

"Uh... I think you best have Trixie help you with that. My talents lie with telekinesis and this," Fleur's horn glowed and suddenly the air around her seemed to shimmer and sparkle in a way that somehow enhanced the beauty of whatever was within the effect. Fleur pouted and fluttered her eyelashes before cancelling the effect. "Very few uses for that spell I assure you."

Twilight coughed in an attempt to hide her amusement, concentrating for a moment on the back of Octavia's head, watching as she pulled the cart. "Yes, well... Trixie, do you know what I mean?"

"Not really, but it can't be that hard. Can it?" Trixie bit her lip.

"Not at all. All you have to do is touch your horn to the stone and transfer some of your magic into it. Pretty simple right?"

"Right." Trixie picked the stone up in her magic and floated it over to her before pressing it to her horn. There was a brief spark and a moment later the rune changed colour, "There! Trixie knew she could do it!"

"Great job Trixie! Now pass the stone back and-"

"Hello?" said the voice of Celestia coming from the stone, "Are you there Twilight?"

"Oh! Uh... good morning your highness!" Trixie squeaked in surprise.

"Who is this?"

"It is I, Trixie!"

"Trixie? Where's Twilight?" Celestia sounded worried.

"I'm here!" Twilight shouted. Trixie grinned like she was planning something but returned the stone to Twilight's eager hooves.

"Twilight, why was Trixie talking to me?"

"I'm having some issues with my magic at the moment and Trixie had to activate the stone for me."

"Oh, I see," Celestia said sounding remarkably unsurprised. "Are you otherwise uninjured though?"

"Not entirely, but it’s nothing I won't recover from. I have some news for you, but first, I have to ask if Luna's there. She wanted to know what was in the caverns."

"She just left for bed but give me a minute and I'll send a guard to summon her." The stone fell silent, the only clue of its continued operation being the colour of the rune adorning it.

A few minutes later the stone spoke again, this time with the voice of Luna. "Good morning Twilight, you are finished with your adventures within the caverns?"

"Yes, and I have a lot to tell you. In fact," Twilight motioned the others nearer, "there are some things that everypony needs to hear."

Twilight described all of the events of the last few days, beginning with their discovery of the last rebellion, their capture by Onyx and his diamond dogs and their arrival at the crystal city of Caverndown. Celestia had expressed disbelief that such a place existed without her knowledge, and Luna was surprised that a large number of thestrals had ended up there, a moment that quickly grew awkward when the filly mentioned something about vamponies and asked why Luna would create such a thing. Celestia had promised Luna a long talk about playing god before the day was over.

Twilight had then moved onto their trip to the archives where they had learned a whole lot of nothing helpful before moving onto the darker discoveries made in Caverndown, like how Shadow had discovered the truth about them trading with the Duke for food.

"Is that why they wanted us out so fast?" the filly asked. "Because we had found out about their dirty little secret?"

"I wouldn't think so," said Luna. "Chances are that they informed the Duke of your presence as soon as that meeting was over, and the Duke demanded you be turned over to him immediately when he learned that Twilight was there. It would seem your secrecy has been compromised. You must be extra careful from here on."

"That's not the only thing we have to be careful of," Twilight said. "When we were being taken from the caverns there were two ponies in black, anti-magic armour. Their amour was covered in weird blue runes that seemed to negate magic, and I was hoping you knew something about it. Is this a new thing? Is this why we never heard about it?"

"Actually," Celestia said, "it's quite the opposite. It's old, older even than Luna or I. I had thought it all but forgotten about if I'm honest."

"What is it? What are you talking about?"

"Runic warding. An ancient method of negating magic from millennia ago, back when the three tribes would actively war against each other. It was developed by the earth ponies as a weapon against the unicorns, offering a way to remove the severe advantage unicorns had over them of range. It was incredibly difficult to produce though, and as I've come to understand, never saw wide ranging use, apart from a few elite units."

"Then they must have found a way to reproduce it if those ponies had some," Fleur argued.

"Unlikely. As part of the ancient treaty drawn up between the three tribes, all of the rune warded armour and all knowledge of it was given to the unicorns. They would have been stored in Unicornia which is currently where the Duke resides. I imagine it was found long ago and returned to its original purpose."

"But why keep it so secret?" askedTwilight. "Surely somepony must know of it after all this time?"

"Dead ponies tell no tales..." Luna said cryptically, making Twilight shudder with the thought. "Besides, considering the lack of magic education amongst the unicorns in Mareitania I imagine such armour would be wholly unnecessary until your arrival."

"Perhaps," Twilight conceded. "They're only immune to direct magic so it’s not as if we're totally helpless against them. I just wish I had realised that before pushing myself to near burnout trying to resist them."

"Are you feeling okay Twilight?"

"Not really. As we were fleeing I teleported all six of us quite far, which combined with my efforts against those ponies was enough to make me blackout. Apparently I almost killed myself when I hit my head on a rock at the other end of the teleportation."

"Twilight! You know better than to do things like that!”

"I know, but it was an emergency and I couldn't clearly picture anywhere closer!"

"Enough!" said Luna. "What's done is done. Perhaps we ought to end this conversation, especially since it's well past my bed time. What are your plans for the meantime?"

"You know that clue I told you about? Turns out it was an anagram of Neigh Orleans, which we were going to anyway. We're going there now in the hopes of finding this 'Pierre,' and possibly Trixie's parents too."

"An excellent plan. I would hope to hear from you once you have discovered who Pierre is."

"Don't worry, you will. Bye Luna, bye Celestia." The princesses said their farewells and the stone fell silent, but not before Twilight caught a snippet of conversation that sounded like Celestia saying "I can't believe you made the thestrals and never told me!" Twilight was curious what Luna's response would be but suspected she would never find out.

"So..." Trixie drew the word out like she had something on her mind. "That's what a conversation with the princesses is like..."

"Yeah. Why? Is something wrong?"

"Seemed a bit disappointingly normal to me." Trixie shrugged nonchalantly and carried on in silence.

"I guess we should talk about this collar business and how they work," said Fleur. "Trixie?"

"Hmm? Oh, right. As far as I can tell the collars work using the crystals to provide an electric shock if the pony gets out of range of the antenna they use-"

"Oh bravo Trixie!" the filly said sarcastically. "Did you also know that two plus two equals four!" The filly held a hoof to her mouth mockingly, like she had given away a guilty secret.

"Excuse me for warming up with the basics."

"Do you have any idea how they work then?" asked Octavia, surprising the others that she had actually spoken.

"Yes I do. It's all in the resonance frequency of the crystals they're using in the collars. When the crystals in the collar resonate at a certain frequency they hold onto their charge, but if they lose that frequency they release it, shocking the pony wearing the collar. The antenna contains a crystal which resonates at the non-electrocution-y frequency but it only has a certain effective range of a mile or so, so if the pegasus gets out of range of the antenna-"

"Zap!" said the filly.

"Exactly. The shock is delivered through copper contacts, which is why you can't see the crystals, and the lock contains a breaker thing so even if you're in range of the antenna you still get a shock if you try and take the collar off by force. That's what the crystal tipped rods are for."

"I hate to admit it," said Fleur, "but that's really fucking clever. Perverse, but clever."

"Nice job Trixie," Twilight said, genuinely impressed with Trixie's work. Trixie buffed a hoof on her chest as she preened.

"The blueprints had notes on the frequency used so they can tune all the collars and antennas to use the same frequency range. Trixie has been trying to replicate that frequency with her magic but I have no idea how to check if it works or not."

"I do!" The filly grinned maliciously, "Put the collar on."

"That hardly sounds like a good idea," said Octavia, giving her opinion, but Trixie and Fleur looked thoughtful.

"Maybe we should try it," said Fleur. "You never know when having a spell that can do that might be useful."

"Quite, but who's going to be the pony that puts the collar on?" Trixie said as she looked around, hoping for a volunteer.

"It's your spell," said the filly, "you should put it on."

"What? No! There's no way Trixie is putting that thing on!"

The filly gave a heartfelt sigh, "Then I guess we'll never know if the Great and Powerful Trixie has truly created a spell that can fool the collars... Oh well..." They continued their journey for another minute but it was clear from the range of expressions crossing Trixie's face that she was fighting a battle between her sense and her pride. Sense never stood a chance.

"Alright! I'll do it!"

"I'm with Octavia when I say this is a bad idea," said Twilight, but her objections went ignored as Fleur lifted the collar and the rods out of her bags.

"Okay Trixie, take your cloak off and then start your spell thingy. I'll put it on once you're ready." Fleur stood with an expression of rapt anticipation as Trixie removed her cloak. Octavia unhitched herself from the cart and sat down, a carefully flat expression on her face.

"Okay, Trixie needs total silence for this bit." Trixie sat down herself and bowed her head as she lit her horn and preformed the spell she had been working on. Once it was ready to her satisfaction she stood and raised her head, allowing Fleur to place the collar around her neck. Fleur held the collar shut and everypony held their breath as she inserted a rod into its appropriate slot, turning it with a click.

"See, Trixie told you she could- Heurk-k-k-k!" Fleur had removed the rod and whatever Trixie was trying to say was lost as a significant number of volts hammered its way through her body. Trixie fell over and seized up while simultaneously spasming violently, a high pitched squeal coming from between her clenched teeth.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Fleur repeated over and over as she tried to get the rod into its lock with limited success as Trixie kept spasming and unintentionally knocking Fleur away. She finally got the rod into place and turned it, deactivating the collar, although there was little difference in Trixie who was still suffering from spasms.

"That went about as well as I thought it would," Octavia said without a hint of sarcasm.

"Are you kidding!?" the filly said gleefully; "That went better than I hoped!"

"Will you please stop kicking me Trixie?" Twilight moaned. After her unfortunate incident with the collar Trixie had found her ability to walk severely impaired, at least until the spasms stopped, and had been thrown into the cart with Twilight.

"Trixie can't help it, Trixie's legs aren’t working too good."

"We said it was a bad idea! Why couldn't you have listened?"

"But, in Trixie's defence, it could have been a very good idea!"

"No Trixie, it couldn't."

"You're just jealous because I'm burnt toast."

"Is that a literal description?" Fleur wheezed. After Trixie had put the collar on despite her warnings, Octavia had refused to pull the cart with both Twilight and Trixie in, leaving Fleur as the only pony capable of pulling it since nopony wanted to burden Summer with the task.

"No, it's from the song I'm making. I don't mean to brag, don't mean to boast, but you're a six course meal and I'm burnt toast."

"I'm pretty sure you got that backwards," Twilight said as she nursed the suspicion that she had heard something similar before, although she couldn't think when.

"I have not. Trixie likes burnt toast, and you being a six course meal implies you're fat."

"You like burnt toast?" asked the filly. "I mean I've eaten out of the garbage before now but even I draw the line at liking burnt toast."

"It’s an acquired taste." Trixie started humming the song and suddenly everything clicked into place for Twilight.

"Trixie, does this song involve you having tricks up your sleeve?"

"It may do. Why?"

"Let's just say that you're not the first... individual, to have thought of this song."

"Somepony stole my song? Who? Do I know them?"

"Uh, no, not exactly, but you do share quite a lot of similarities."

"Well if I ever meet them, Trixie and they are going to exchange some very strong words!" Trixie went to fold her hooves but spasm'd instead, clocking Twilight on the jaw with her hoof. "Heh... Sorry."

"Agh, why can't things leave my head alone? I have an entire body that could take some instead!"

"Oh the things I could imply," Fleur smirked, but it soon faltered. "But won't because I don't have much breath to waste."

"Actually, I do believe you could have a break," Octavia told her. "We should probably change Twilight's bandages for something a bit more subtle before we head into town."

"Oh thank Cadence," Fleur groaned before slipping out of the harness and collapsing.

"Thank Cadence?" Twilight asked. "Why thank her?"

"You mean I'm limited to thanking only one of our four nigh immortal alicorn pseudo-goddesses? There I was thinking that 'thank Twilight' had a nice ring to it."

"Oh no, don't even think about it! I'm already having enough issues with this whole alicorn thing without ponies throwing that into the mix!" Twilight glowered at Fleur who grinned back disarmingly. "And I am most definitely not a goddess."

"Maybe in a thousand years’ time then?"

"Never, if I can help it." Twilight clambered out of the cart, her legs feeling a lot more stable than earlier, and lay down while Octavia slowly unwound the bandages from around her head. Slowly, light returned to her right eye and she swivelled her eyes around in sheer joy of being able to use both again.

"Now let's just take this off-" Octavia gasped, "Oh my!"

"What? What is it?" Twilight asked, a hint of panic entering her voice.

The filly dashed around to have a look, "Woah, freaky!" she said as Fleur also had a look, muttering similar sentiments.

"What is it? What's wrong with my face!?" Twilight shouted.

"That's just it," said Octavia, "there's nothing wrong with your face at all! It's completely healed!"

"What? But that's impossible." Twilight felt the side of her head with her hoof and was surprised when she failed to feel anything that wasn't there before except for a slight twinge as she touched something tender. "I need a mirror."

Fleur searched her bags for a mirror as Twilight kept touching the side of her head while her personal space was slightly invaded by Summer and the filly who were peering closely at her lack of a wound.

"Here." Fleur held a compact mirror in her magic, allowing Twilight to angle herself until she could see the side of her head. As Octavia had said there was no injury, just a faint pink scar running down in front of her ear and a bold patch in her mane where she had somehow lost some hair.

"Even though this is a good thing," Twilight said carefully, "I want to freak out so very much."

"So I guess alicorns get to have freaky healing abilities too," the filly commented. "Lucky bastards."

"I wonder if she can grow limbs back if they're cut off?" Trixie asked, rubbing her chin with a thoughtful expression.

"We are not cutting any of my limbs off!"

"Actually Trixie was thinking of something less severe, like cutting off your tail."

"No! I need that for flying, and for... not looking like a tailless freak!"

"I was only suggesting..."

"Everypony calm down." Octavia waited until she had their attention before speaking, "Yes, while Twilight's recovery is quite astonishing, we can probably avoid making a big fuss over it and freaking her out with suggestions of cutting bits off to see if they grow back." She turned her attention solely to Twilight, "Is your magic any better?"

"I don't know." Twilight cast her sight around until she spotted a small pebble. Focusing all of her not inconsiderable will upon it, she, after a few false starts, managed to get it wobbling a few inches above the ground. "Hah!"

"Low and behold the mighty alicorn that fought Tirek to a standstill... triumphantly levitating a pebble..." Trixie slowly clapped her hooves together. "Mag-nificent."

Twilight gritted her teeth, "You know, for a pony who unwittingly got herself electrocuted earlier you're being pretty. Damn. Mouthy!" On the last word there was a pop from the pebble as her magic crushed it. She dropped it in shock and it fell to the ground in a shower of dust and fragments.

"Okaaay..." Trixie backed up a step and grinned nervously. "Seems like Twilight's magic is totally fine. Also, I got electrocuted for science which is totally a legit thing to do."

"What are we looking at Trixie?" Fleur asked as they sat on a low ridge that overlooked the city of Neigh Orleans. Not that anypony was going to admit it but the place looked huge. Apparently rather than building taller buildings the ponies that made this place had built sideways, and had difficulty deciding when to stop.

For the most part it was built on land and the waterfront stretched down one side of the city while the far side of the city stopped where the bayou began, the bayou itself almost as large as the city and was filled with trees so all it looked like from a distance was a big green blob. Adjacent to that was the Mareissippi delta which led out into Mareitania's only access to the ocean.

"It appears to be a city of some kind," Trixie snarked. "How should I know? For all I know this might not even be Neigh Orleans at all!"

"Surely you must know something?" Octavia implored. Trixie sighed and sat down before pointing at the city.

"I'm sure I don't need to tell you it’s next to the Mareissippi, but in all honesty it's almost built in it. The part where rich, fancy ponies live is the bit by the river where most of the interesting stuff is. Then there's the poor part that's back from the river and is actually bigger than the rich part. That's where my parents are supposed to have lived. Then there's the bayou that's basically a swamp with slums built in it, but only the totally destitute live there, although there are some that take a weird sort of pride in it."

"That was an awful lot for a pony that apparently knows nothing about this place." Fleur nudged Trixie with her elbow, "You holding out on us?"

"It's only what my aunt told me mixed with some guess work."

"What now then?" Twilight asked. "I doubt it would be a good idea to walk in through the city gates in case the guards are looking for us."

"Then we head to the bayou," said Trixie. "The guards probably don't patrol there, not least because there's no solid ground to walk on and the natives probably wouldn't be welcoming."

"Then how do the natives get around?" Fleur enquired.

"How would Trixie know? Maybe they use their freaky voodoo magic to walk on water."

"Voodoo?" Twilight said questioningly, "Really?"

"So my aunt says."

"But voodoo's make-believe, like curses and-"

"My aunt said it’s a lot like zebra magic in that it uses potions and stuff, but with some unicorn magic thrown in."

"But that's shamanism!"

"So? You think a zebra's ever set a hoof in Mareitania to tell these ponies that what these ponies practice is actually a more magically inclined form of shamanism? Is it still shamanism when a unicorn does it? Besides, all those stories you hear about evil zebras and stuff, those can totally be applied to voodoo witchdoctors."

Twilight rubbed her temples, "I can tell that this place is going to get on my nerves so very much."

"Where are we most likely to find Pierre?" Octavia asked, trying to return the conversation to useful topics.

"Heck if I know. Maybe we could ask around in the bayou or the poor part, see if anypony knows anything."

"Anything else before we head in?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, you won't need your cloaks down here. My aunt said that even in the height of winter it was always warm enough here to go without dressing up."

"Nuh-uh, no way," the filly said. "I am not taking my cloak off."

"Do you still have your old one then?" Fleur asked. "It'd probably fit in better around here."

"No, I threw it away because I didn't think I'd need it anymore. Besides, forget about me, what about Summer? She's panting already!" They looked at Summer who gave a pitiful appearance as she sat there with her mouth open, panting.

"Are you okay Summer?" Octavia laid a companiable hoof on Summer's shoulder, noticing the pegasus sag slightly.

"'m hot," she whimpered.

"Twilight, is there no way you can hide her wings with magic?"

"Not that I can think of. If I knew how to cast the spell I use to hide my wings on her I would have long ago."

"Will they even care in the bayou?" Fleur asked. "They don't sound like the kind of ponies who would rat her out."

Twilight shook her head, "Too risky. Until we can find another way to hide her wings she'll have to keep the cloak. We'll have to make sure she drinks plenty of water just in case."

Twilight waited while the others readied themselves, thinking of ways to solve Summer's problem while she waited. She could use a spell to cool Summer easy enough if her magic was working properly, but at the moment it could either do nothing, freeze her solid, or set her on fire in a fit of irony.

"Summer? You will remember to speak up if you start to feel unwell right?" Summer gave a small nod which Twilight could only assume was the entirety of her response. "Okay then, are we ready?" The others gave their affirmations, and they headed of towards the bayou, leaving the cart to whomever found it.

"Oh, there's one more thing about this place Trixie forgot to say. Watch out for the snakes."

"Snakes?" Twilight asked with a slight quiver.

"Mmhmm. Aunty said this place is lousy with them. Poisonous ones too."

"Good! Great! Fantastic! I have a new plan! I'll wait here until you're done in town and you can pick me up on the way out!"

"Got something against snakes?" Fleur asked.

"And they possibly have something against me, so as I said, I'll wait here."

"Don't be such a wimp Twilight." The others kept walking, leaving Twilight to fret and stress on her own. After trotting on the spot a few times and almost chewing a hole in her bottom lip she hung her head and admitted defeat.

"Snakes... Why did it have to be snakes?"

The six ponies found themselves leaving the beaten path and instead heading down a less beaten, but still well used dirt track that led them to a small jetty where they found a swamp green unicorn.

"You folks heading into the bayou?" he asked.

"Sure are!" was the filly's rustic reply.

"Then I'm yer pony. Name's Swamp Runner, though you can call me Swampy if ya want."

"How exactly does one run on a swamp?" Octavia enquired. From what they had seen of the swamp it seems to consist of mostly water with trees growing up through.

"With my giant boat shaped hoof, that's how. What kinda damn fool question is that? Ain't nopony that can actually run on a swamp. Now you getting on in here or what?" Five of the six ponies clambered into the boat, leaving Twilight who was staring in semi catatonic fear at the giant snake that was entwined around a tree branch above the jetty. "Twilight?" Trixie said, hoping to get her attention.

"Snaaa-sna-sna-snaaa-snaaa-snake!" she squeaked.

"Oh don't mind him none, he ain't gonna hurt ya; he ain’t got no teeth." The snake opened its mouth to show his lack of fangs.

Twilight wasn't going to mention that the snake was easily big enough to crush a pony to death but instead focused on the toothless aspect to distract herself. "What do you call him seeing as he's got no teeth?"

"Peter," Swamp Runner said, totally ruining Twilight's train of thought. "Though he has been known to tolerate being called Pete."

"Oh, that's good to know." Twilight shuffled along the jetty towards the boat, making sure to always face the snake at all times. The snake himself seemed completely nonplussed, keeping his eyes on the weird pony below him, even when she fell into the boat because she was too busy staring at him.

"You okay miss?"

"Ow..." Twilight groaned. "Gravity sucks." She righted herself and settled down next to Fleur and the Filly. Swampy pushed the boat out and started moving them in the direction of what they could only assume was bayous inhabited parts.

"So where you folks going then?" They looked between each other but none of them knew what to suggest.

"We don't really know," Fleur admitted.

"So you're lost then?"

"I wouldn't say we're lost, we just don't know where we're going."

"I'm failing to differentiate between t' one and t' other there. How can you not know where you're going?"

"Well, we know where we are, but not where we're going. There's an important difference there."

"Yes, but you could have decided to not travel anywhere and reached the same conclusion, yet you decided to come be woefully without direction in this place specifically so you must have some idea of what you're looking for, meaning you ain't as lost as you claim to be."

"You're the one saying we're lost!"

"Actually," Twilight piped up, "we're looking for somepony, goes by the name of... Pierre?"

"Pierre huh? I've 'eard of 'im, heck, everypony round 'ere has. Don't mean I have a sodding clue where to find him."

"Oh, great." Twilight rubbed her head, "In that case can you suggest someplace to go?"

"I reckon I can. Ain't nopony pass through these parts without going to see Mama."

"Mama? Who's Mama?"

"Mama Brew. She's like the wise old pony of the bayou. She might have some idea of how to get you where you don't know you're meant t' be."

Twilight looked to the others, none of whom had any objection beyond a shrug. "Does Mareitania run a monopoly on wise old mares or something?" Trixie asked in a whisper. "Specifically ones with matriarchal monikers."

"I really don't think anything in Mareitania trumps Equestria's wise old mares," Fleur whispered back. "You know who I mean? The millenia old ponies who rule the country?"

"Gee, thanks Fleur, that doesn't make me sound old at all, especially since you're older than me." Twilight groused to the sound of sniggers. They didn't say much more after, instead opting to watch the trees pass by as Swampy hummed a ditty. The only moment for concern came when a snake as long as three ponies swam past, causing Twilight to have a total freak out while the filly hung over the front of the boat to get a better look.

Soon though, they started to see signs of civilization on the swamp in the form of rickety huts poking out of the water on stilts, although the wizened old stallion playing a banjo on the one porch didn't suggest a particularly high level of sophistication. They also started to see an increased number of craft like Swampy's being propelled across the water.

After a few more minutes they were able to see where Swampy was taking them as an actual town came into sight, although calling it a town might be a touch generous. There were more huts standing out of the water on stilts, propped up against the base of trees, while above was a vast collection of tree houses. The entire town was connected by a crisscrossing of wooden walkways and rope bridges, and looked one strong breeze away from falling over.

"I do believe this place would stretch Fancy Pants' definition of 'charmingly rustic' to its limits," Fleur commented as Swampy took them through the town.

"Don't even mention when he said that to me," Twilight said with a huff. "Didn't he realise that I was from Canterlot and that I'm not exactly poorly well known as Celestia's student? Not to mention how horribly condescending it is."

Fleur coughed awkwardly, "Yes... well... If I had been there at the time I might have steered his choice of words somewhere else. I swear he's obsessed with charmingly rustic things while totally eschewing the application of such notions to himself."

"Mmhmm..." Twilight snorted in annoyance at the memory. To think that he was one of the better nobles in Canterlot was enough to make her want to spit.

"Swampy, where are you taking us?" Octavia asked as it seemed that they were heading straight through town and out the other side.

"To Mama's house. She don't live right in Swamptown, she lives just outside it."

"Swamptown," Trixie mused. "I guess that makes it easier to remember." She followed a line of rope bridges that went from tree to tree leading to a very old tree house a small way out of town. The tree house itself didn't look very impressive, although most of it could have been obscured by the hundreds of colourful glass bottles that hung from the branches of the tree.

"I guess you never want for a spare bottle in Mama's house," the filly said as she stared in wonderment at the riot of colours dancing above her.

"Trixie is wondering whether she emptied all those bottles herself."

"Stories do say that she did drink herself blind." Swampy shrugged, "O' course, stories say just about anything and everything 'bout Mama." He steered his boat to bump up against a jetty at the base of the tree and they climbed out, "I'll be heading back to town so if ya want t' get out o' here you'll have to use the bridges. Take care folks!"

"This places feels strangely welcoming," Octavia said as they waved him off. "Almost like it wants us to go in and have a hot meal that's been prepared ahead of our arrival."

The others sagged with relief, "So it's not just me thinking that weirdly specific thought about how welcoming this place is," said Fleur. "I was beginning to worry."

"There is a strong positive energy here," Twilight observed, "so hopefully that means the planting of ideas like that isn't a prelude to a trap."

"You say that like you do this a lot."

"More than you Trixie, that's for sure. I once came across a dark magic door that trapped you in your deepest fears, and I don't mean an irrational distrust of wheels. I mean your deepest, darkest, innermost fears," Twilight shuddered.

"If you had to put up with wheels breaking on your beloved and otherwise trustworthy caravan, you wouldn't trust them so readily either." Trixie raised her nose in the air and huffed as she led the way up the wooden steps that spiraled around the trunk of the tree, Twilight thinking this oddly familiar after mentioning the door.

"Are we meant to knock or something?" the filly asked once they were stood outside the front door.

"Nah, you can jus' come in if you want," a female voice called from inside. Twilight pushed the door open and entered, the others following in after her. Apparently the voice belonged to a chubby white pony with a cloth wrapped around her head, through which the point of a horn was barely visible. She was standing over an old tin bath, stirring something with a wooden spoon held in her magic. "Hello?" Twilight ventured.

The spoon flicked up and sped across the room into Fleur's mouth, her eyes going wide in surprise. "You think my gumbo needs anything?"

Fleur swallowed, mostly out of shock, and gagged as the spoon was removed. She smacked her lips a couple of times, "It could use... a little, uh... cowbell?"

"Cowbell? Huh, guess I can't be right 'bout everything. Well come on in children, lemme get a good look at you."

"You're blind," Trixie pointed out tactlessly, earning her a sharp jab in the ribs from Octavia. Although now it had been said it was hard to avoid looking at Mama's milky white eyes.

"Ain't slowed me down yet," Mama said cheerfully. She peered closely at Trixie, moving her head up and down as if inspecting her. "You got a darkness in you child. You tasted power and then that power was taken from you. Be wary child, power rarely comes without a price."

She moved onto Octavia who merely got a smile and an approving nod before moving onto Summer and the filly. "Two pegasi, both flightless but for very different reasons. I just want you to know you're welcome here and you don't have to hide under a cloak if you don't want."

"The cloak stays on," growled the filly, as Summer scrambled to remove hers.

"Suit yerself." Mama moved on to Fleur, saying nothing for a while as she studied her. "Being pretty ain't a talent, but I guess you already know that. I suggest you look into finding out what your talent really is. And don't steal nothing off 'f the folk round here, they ain't got much to begin with."

Finally Mama moved onto Twilight, "Dang girl, what happened to you? Your magic ain't moving right, like an animal that's been injured. Maybe there's a lil something I can give that'll help." Mama didn't move and Twilight was about to say something to relieve her awkwardness when a snake wound down from the ceiling, depositing a bottle into Mama's magic.

"Don't worry none about Winder," Mama said as Twilight froze up with a whimper, "he's just my seeing eye snake." Mama swirled the bottle in her magical grip and held it out to Twilight, "Take a swig of this."

Twilight removed the cork from the bottle using her teeth and sniffed it before taking a cautious mouthful. Her eyes bulged as the liquid burned down her throat and she almost spat it back out, "What is this stuff?" she choked as fire pooled in her belly.

"Mama Special Brews' moonshine," Mama said proudly. "Good fer what ails ya!"

"It's like drinking lava!"

"Trixie'll take a hit of that." Trixie took the bottle up in her magic with no resistance from Twilight and drank a mouthful. The effect wasn't immediately noticeable, although her mouth did appear to open in a silent scream.

"I don't know about you," Octavia said, "but I think I'll decline."

"Yeah, me too," said Fleur. They watched as Summer picked up the bottle and looked into it before taking a small mouthful. She quickly spat it out and dropped the bottle, which Fleur deftly caught in her magic. Summer's eyes watered as she coughed, putting a cautious amount of distance between her and the bottle.

"Can I have some?" the filly asked, full of hope.

"No."

"Aww..." Fleur passed the bottle back to Mama who drank a large mouthful of the moonshine before replacing the cork. "It ain't everyponies cup of tea."

"What's in that stuff?" Trixie asked, her voice a little strained.

"Heck if I know, I'm blind."

Twilight stared off into space, "I think- I think I can see the future... The future's colourful... Groovy."

"Don't ponies from Equestria drink much?"

"Not really," Fleur told her before twigging onto what exactly Mama had said. "Have we got a giant sign following us around saying we're from Equestria? Are we really that obvious?"

"It's the way you carry yerselves. Most of you don't look downtrodden enough to be true Mareitanians' even if most of you are from here."

"Hey Mama?" Trixie trotted around looking at the various bottles on the shelves arrayed around the room. "Have you ever met a pony called Grammaw?"

"Fat ole grey biddy, lives in Hoof-ridge?"

"Yeah! That's her!"

"Never heard of her."

"Huh? But, you just... What?"

"Now how about you nice ladies grab yerself some grub and let Mama tell you what it is you came here to ask Mama for."

Author's Notes:

I apologise for the lack of updates but I've been struggling to get any writing done lately, not least because my brain has been totally full of Legion hype instead of ponies like it usually is. I am trying to get some done but I imagine the update rate is going to drop until the ponies retake their rightful place.