Trixie rolled over for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour. Apparently a horrific sense of impending doom was ill conducive to getting a good night’s sleep. Trixie couldn't believe she had been stupid enough to not read the contract, although she couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't. Normally she read everything thoroughly but hadn't felt the need to do that with Deal Good.

She concluded it must have been a magic trick or something and rolled over again before looking up at the tip of her horn. Despite what Mama might say that contract had given her something, even if it was only a taster. Seeing as how she had no choice but to wait for whatever fate Deal Good decided to cast for her, she reasoned that she may as well give the magic a try.

She clenched her eyes shut and grit her teeth before focusing her magic, trying to recreate the feeling the contract had given her when she signed it. Apparently it wasn't so easy and after several minutes of trying she hadn't achieved any magic different to her own. Had the contract really given her nothing?

She could feel herself getting angrier at her failure. Was she destined to always be a second rate magician? Was she incapable of doing this thing all unicorns were apparently capable of doing? It was so unfair! And Deal Good! How dare he subject her to the situation she now found herself in! Especially since she couldn't do this stupid fucking magic that he had apparently given her!

Suddenly pain shot through her head and horn and she gasped in surprise. She cracked an eye open and squinted at the roiling miasma of black, purple and green bubbling on her horn, and almost squealed with glee that she had done it, even if it did hurt. It was strange though, even though it hurt it was tolerable and she somehow felt stronger for putting up with it.

She grinned with satisfaction, imagining herself as a powerful dark magician, as beautiful as she was terrifying. All she had to do was get angry and the magic was hers to use, and as a pony Trixie felt she had plenty of things to be angry about, not least of which was the pony lay near her, little miss Twilight 'perfect pretty princess' Sparkle!

Trixie blinked as that thought entered her mind, and stopped her magic. Where did that thought even come from? She might have a few lingering jealousy issues but she certainly didn't hate Twilight. Did she?

"Makes you think funny things don't it?" said Mama from nearby, making Trixie yelp quietly in surprise. "You should be wary of your thoughts when using that magic."

"It's fine, Trixie is fully in control."

"Uh huh, sure. All the same you should be careful. Oh, an' if you use that magic in my house again I will throw you out the window."

"Yeah yeah." Trixie lay down facing away from Mama and thought about the possibilities now open to her with this magic. Maybe she might even be as powerful as Twilight if this magic is all it’s cracked up to be. She fidgeted restlessly. She wanted to do the magic again, Mama be damned.

She kept her eyes open this time, and focused on getting angry. The magic seemed to come easier than before and she was about to revel in her success when she felt herself being lifted off the floor. The force lifting her suddenly swept her forward towards the window, "No! Wait! Don't!" Trixie yelled but Mama didn't listen. Trixie screamed as she flew through the window and sailed in an arc towards the swamp and the waiting jaws of a crocodile that clamped down on her with a snap.

Trixie kept screaming, but slowly came to notice there was no pain. She stopped screaming and opened her eyes to find that she was still in Mama's house where she had been laying, except now everypony was staring at her with varying levels of annoyance and concern. She whipped her head around to glare at Mama who rolled over and said "Consider that a warning."

"So what are we going to do today?" the filly asked cheerfully as they walked along the rope bridges towards Swamptown. They had left early, mostly because Mama was an early riser and she liked to sing as she performed her morning chores with the assistance of Winder.

"You got to dig a little deeper, na na na na na!" Fleur half sang, half hummed to herself.

"Will you please stop humming that horrific drivel!" Octavia moaned.

"But it's soooo catchy! I can't help it! It don't matter who you are, na na na na!"

"Hello? Is Trixie's impending doom not an issue anymore? I think we should head into Neigh Orleans and try to hunt that scumbag down."

Twilight shook her head, "Mama said it’s impossible to find him in the same place twice."

"Then we just keep looking until we find him!"

"But that could take forever to do," Octavia pointed out. "It might well be impossible if he doesn't want us to find him."

"Even then there's no way to guarantee that we could do anything to change what's going to happen," Twilight added.

"How can he have any claim over me if we steal my contract back? Trixie's sure everything will be fine once it's in our possession."

"You don't know that," Twilight said sadly.

"So what!? We're just going to give up? Trixie's not important enough to try and save so we won't bother! Is that what you're trying to say?"

"No! It's not!" Fleur snapped. "But we can't go running around trying to fix this when we have no idea how!"

"Then what do you propose? Carrying on like normal in the hopes that Trixie's soul isn't sucked into Tartarus before we... what? Complete our mission? Because Trixie is expendable and it doesn't matter?"

"We're all expendable in this mission Trixie!" Fleur yelled.

"I'm not!" quipped the filly.

"Most of us are expendable on this mission, so don't even try to claim that we're happy to leave you to your fate as long as the rest of us are okay! And stop trying to pin responsibility for fixing this problem on us when we told you not to sign the damn contract!"

Trixie growled and glowered at Fleur, part of her wanting to lash out and hurt her for being a bitch. While that wasn't a particularly new feeling for her, it wasn't usually so pronounced and she had to hold herself back. "All I want is some help so I can fix this," Trixie said from between gritted teeth.

"And you'll have it," Twilight said, moving to stand between the two ponies, "but we're not just going to run around in the hopes that we can find Deal Good. Once we know more and have a plan we will all help you, right girls?" The others, Fleur included, all spoke their agreement. "See?"

Trixie nodded and sighed, "You're right. I'm sorry for acting this way but I'm... well, I'm scared. You have no idea what it's like walking around with the knowledge that something really horrible might happen to you at any moment. It's scary."

Fleur patted Trixie on the back, "We'll get you out of this. Somehow. When we know how. You know, soonish."

Trixie snirked at Fleur, "Best reassurance I've had so far. So, since Trixie’s impending doom is currently unfixable, what are we going to do instead?"

"Look for your parents?" suggested Twilight.

"Yeah," agreed Fleur, "but first I think we should take a look around the Rising Sun."

"But Mama said we shouldn't go there so soon," Octavia protested.

"I'm not going to try to get in touch with Pierre, I just want to have a look around so it’s not a surprise when we go there in earnest."

"Um..." said Summer quietly.

"Oh right. Okay, some of us can go in there. Summer, you, the filly and Octavia can hang back if you want."

"Thank you," Summer said, though it was unheard as the filly yelled at Fleur.

"Why do I have to hang back?"

"Because it looks weird if we take a filly in there, even if said filly is older than she looks," Fleur finished, holding up a hoof to ward off the filly's next argument.

"So unfair," the filly grumbled instead.

"Mama said the owner's called Greenson," Fleur continued, ignoring the filly, "and I do believe that 'green son' was part of the clue that assassin gave us and it might be a good idea to get a handle on who this pony is. At the very least he might give us directions to wherever we need to go to find Trixie's parents. You do have an address for us to follow right?"

"Yep, thirty four Shoebend Street."

The filly snorted with suppressed laughter, "Shoebend Street? Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously." Trixie smirked at Fleur, "It's funny how your plans seem to involve prostitutes in some way."

"I know right. Perhaps it's possible to win this thing with prostitutes. What if I got the Duke a whore for the night and in the hope that he lightens up a bit?"

"You're assuming that old bastard could even get it up?"

"Hmm, fair point. Maybe not then."

They found transport to Neigh Orleans, though not with Swampy. Instead they ended up with a yellow earth pony mare called Toothy Pegs, possibly called such because of her serious under-bite which would have exposed her lower teeth if she had any left. The mare was also holding a conversation with at least three other ponies, none of which were on the boat and probably didn't exist at all outside her head.

So far her topics of conversation had ranged from the trouble with cleaning snakes big enough to eat you, the best way to cook a mushroom curry, how lucky she was to have such good friends, and how hard it was to find a decent sarsaparilla in the bayou, all made funnier to listen to thanks to her amazing lisp. So far none of them had dared to intrude on her conversations and were waiting eagerly to find out what her next subject would be.

"You know what the problem ish with folksh these daysh? No. Improper hoof maintenance! What you talking about shtupid? What have I told you about calling me shtupid? Yeah! There'sh no need for pershonal commentsh like that! I'm shorry but I just don't shee how improper hoof maintenance ish what'sh wrong with folk! I jusht think folk would be happier if they had better hoovesh to trot around on, that'sh all!"

Soon though they arrived at Neigh Orleans and they disembarked, allowing Toothy Pegs to return to the bayou, the sound of her three pony monologue being heard long after she had gone out of sight. The filly patted Trixie on the leg, "Despite your current problems Trixie, at least you're not her."

"Gosh filly, you say the nicest things sometimes." She rolled her eyes and snorted before moving to keep up with the others who had started heading further into town towards the rising sun. As she walked she kept an eye out for any suspicious looking emporiums, but she couldn't remember exactly where they found it last time and couldn't see it anyway. Maybe the others were right about it being a waste of time trying to hunt Deal Good down.

"Okay," Fleur said once they were a reasonable distance away from the Rising Sun. "Octavia, you, Summer, and the filly wait here while the rest of us go and have a nosey around."

"Are you sure I can't come?" the filly whined as Octavia nodded her assent.

"Very sure, now be good."

"Yes mom," the filly drawled sarcastically.

"While I am technically old enough to be your mother I think we can leave that kind of thinking be." Fleur gestured, pointing a hoof at her eyes, then at the filly before trotting to catch up to where Trixie and Twilight were waiting.

"I'd think you'd make a wonderful mother Fleur," said Trixie, but it was clear from her grin that she wasn't being serious.

"Maybe, maybe not, but the fact is I'd rather eat my own hooves than have foals. Not to mention what having foals does to your figure." They kept going until they were outside the Rising Sun where they stopped for a moment to study it. It didn't seem as lively as when they had seen it the day before, but that was probably because it was early in the morning and its clientele hadn't woke up enough to start drinking off their hangovers.

The only pony they could see was a stallion leaning against the wall by the entrance. "Can I help you?" he asked smarmily.

"That depends entirely on what kind of help you're offering," Fleur snarked back.

The stallion grinned, "I could help you take those bags off if you want to go somewhere private.

Fleur gagged and shook her head in disgust, "Last I checked you aren't the last stallion on Earth so I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you."

"A simple no would've sufficed," the stallion grumbled. "Fucking bitch."

"Asshole," Fleur muttered before pushing past him inside. The first thing they noticed upon entering was the smell, which lingered with a strangely potent mix of cheap booze and musk. The second thing was the somewhat lesser but still noticeable fact that their hooves stuck to the floor in a rather disconcerting way, and the third thing was the mural behind the bar.

It featured an image of a sun rising from behind two hills, and was poorly painted and unremarkable in every way except that the sun looked like "Celestia's cutie mark!"

"Shut up Twilight!" Fleur hissed, although she was sure she saw the barpony's ear twitch at Twilight's thoughtlessly loud comment. She rolled her eyes and approached the barpony who was eyeing her up, which only served to make her unusually nervous and unable to think of what to say except for the possibly stupid thing of "Hail, Greenson."

The green earth pony quirked an eyebrow and regarded them silently for a moment before answering, "Hail travellers, what brings you here."

"Oh, you know, various reasons, not least of which being that somepony recommended this place to us."

"Is that so? Well what can I do for you? You looking for a drink? A room? Or are you after something else?" he said, emphasising the something.

"We could be looking for something else but for now I think we could use some directions to Shoebend Street."

"Shoebend Street?" It was clear Fleur's request had him by surprise by being so mundane. "Well, okay I suppose, but you've come completely the opposite direction if you've come from town."

"Actually we've come from the bayou," Twilight told him.

"I see. Well, you go right out of here then left when you reach the city centre. You know it's the centre 'cause there's a big ole statue there." He kept giving directions which seemed to keep going and going with an abundance of turns. Trixie was the first to gain a glazed expression as she lost track of things, followed by Fleur who wished she had wrote this down. Twilight was the only one still listening and nodding as he finally declared "then you take another left and you're on Shoebend Street. You get that?"

"No." "Nope." "Yes."

"As long as one of you gets it. Take care folks." Trixie led the way out followed by Twilight, with Fleur bringing up the rear which allowed her glance back and catch Greenson giving them a very thoughtful look, though that might have been because they were heading in the totally opposite direction he told them.

"Well?" Octavia said questioningly, "Did you learn anything? You weren't really gone that long."

"Not exactly," Fleur admitted grudgingly.

"We did learn the way to Shoebend Street though," Trixie said cheerfully. "Or at least I think we did... Twilight?"

"Yes Trixie, I haven't forgotten it yet."

"Great! Come on then ponies, let's get moving!" She started trotting off with her head held high but she slowed down as a few facts of reality asserted themselves. "Hold on, if we didn't learn anything apart from the directions then what was the point of going in there?"

They looked expectantly at Fleur who hung her head slightly and pouted, "Alright, you got me, I messed up. I did have an idea of what I was going to do in there and it worked flawlessly in my head-"

"But..." the others chimed simultaneously.

"But for some reason I completely forgot what I was going to do and say and came out with 'hail Greenson' like some cheesy play written in old equestrian and then I was too embarrassed to want to hang around."

"Seems about typical for us," Trixie said, shrugging.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Fleur asked threateningly.

"Let's face it, we suck at this! Celestia could really have found some better qualified ponies than us! I mean, our first plan was to get to Stalliongrad, which we did briefly before running away after I was arrested and thankfully rescued. Then we went to Prance which was in riots two days later. The party was our biggest success so far and even then the most useful piece of information we got was gained purely by the circumstance of that assassin trying to take out the Viscount while we were there! Add Caverndown and my recent cock-up to that mix and we couldn't look more like a joke if we tried!"

"I rather think you're being a tad negative there," Octavia tutted. "I mean we found the filly and saved Summer, we found the remains of the last rebellion, and learned about the collars in the Caverns. Prance was bad timing for us, and in the end we did get the information at the party even if it was by chance-"

"I could've been raped there!"

"Yes, and that would have been terrible if it had happened. All the same I don't think we're doing as badly as you think."

"Oh whatever, it's not like it's a competition. Let’s just go and do the thing, at that place that Twilight's going to lead us to."

The six ponies eventually made it to the city centre, not that they were in any rush, and took a moment to have a break as they observed the giant bronze statue sat in the middle of the square.

"When I die, I want to be commemorated with a statue that big," Trixie said half-jokingly.

"The ego demands it!" Fleur said, directing a bemused glance at Trixie before looking up at the statue that was easily as tall as ten ponies. The statue depicted a sour-faced and aging stallion, dressed up in military finery.

"Who is that meant to be?" asked Octavia. "I'm assuming they're meant to be quite famous if they warrant a statue this large."

"Duke Ironhoof, founding father of our great nation," the filly read from the plaque attached to the pedestal.

"Who was that?" Twilight asked, looking to Fleur in the hopes of an answer.

"The first Duke," Fleur told her. "The pony that rallied the earth ponies to take Mareitania once the windigoes were gone. Neigh Orleans is supposed to be his home town as well as where his efforts to take over this country started from."

"Why here?"

"What is this? Story time?" Fleur rolled her eyes but answered anyway. "The effects of the windigoes winter weren't as severe down here which meant that a lot of ponies stayed rather than join the exodus. Duke Ironhoof was the one who rallied the earth ponies, since this was apparently an earth pony city at the time, and led them to take the country once the winter was over."

"What kind of pony names their foal Ironhoof?" Trixie asked with a smirk. "It's like his mother knew he was destined to be a complete asshole."

"I doubt that was his original name Trixie," said Twilight.

"Oh really? I could totally see him being a Buttercup or a... a... I dunno, but something lame anyway."

"So if this was an earth pony city," the filly said as she looked around the other ponies in the square, "why are there so many unicorns here now?"

"Because they're too poor to live in places where they need to buy clothes, which is probably why this was an earth pony city in the first place. I imagine a lot of earth ponies at the time considered that to be ironic justice."

"But wouldn't they want to maintain the integrity of this city's origin's as an earth pony city and the birthplace of modern day Mareitania?" Twilight asked incredulously.

Fleur shrugged, "Heck if I know, but I imagine this statue is mostly to remind all the unicorns living here just who holds the biggest stick in Mareitania. Here's a hint, it's not the unicorns, definitely not the pegasi, and isn't even the majority of the earth ponies."

"This statue needs something..." the filly said thoughtfully as she rubbed her chin. "Like a great big bushy beard and eyebrows, or something."

"How about some filly blood," said a voice behind them, "if you even think about defacing that statue." They turned around to see who was talking to them, finding that a couple of guards were behind them. "And you, unicorn," he said to Trixie, "call our great founding father an asshole one. More. Time."

"Um... no thanks, I think I got all the name calling out of my system for now. Sir," she added respectfully. "In fact, if there were a duty to clean the statue Trixie would volunteer right now."

The guard narrowed his eyes and sneered, "Don't push your luck unicorn." He then shoved Trixie and stalked off, followed closely by his companion.

"Jerk," Trixie muttered once he was out of hearing range.

"Look on the bright side," Fleur told her. "In Stalliongrad that'd be a dehornable offence."

"Oh? Oh really? Wow. I'm sure not being sarcastic when I say I love how liberal Neigh Orleans is! No wonder it's such a great place to live. Being full of filthy liberals and all must be really galling to those ponies up north knowing such a place exists..."

"Nopony likes sarcasm Trixie," Twilight primly reminded her.

"Sometimes I question how well you know Trixie."

"Ooh hey!" the filly suddenly said excitedly. "You know how we're," the filly held a hoof up to her mouth to whisper, "rebels and stuff? Do you think we could blow up the statue?" Twilight swore she could see fire gleaming in the filly's eyes.

"Uh... I'm not sure we could really class ourselves as, y'know, rebels, and I'm not sure what you would hope to achieve with blowing this up, so I'm going to say-"

"Maybe?"

"-no."

"Aww. I thought you were cool Twilight."

"And I didn't think you were a pyromaniac in the making."

"What? I just like the way it makes things all toasty!"

"You're incorrigible," Twilight stated before heading off with the others following.

"Hey! You're only allowed to use words I know the meaning of! No fair Twilight!" The filly chased after them, and like the others, failed to notice the eyes watching them from the shadows.

"Well, here we are, Shoebend Street," Octavia said as she squinted up at the mossy and barely legible street sign. "Now what?"

"Now we find thirty four," the filly said with obvious sarcasm. "Duh."

"I know that, but this place appears to be a maze. I mean look," she pointed at one of the rough wooden houses, "there's number one," she pointed at the house across from it, "and there's number sixty seven! How does that even make sense?"

"I don't know,” said Fleur, “I'm still trying to figure out why it's called a street when it appears to be a mass of houses built wherever anypony felt like building one." It was clear that whoever had designed this place had planned it to have a nice regular checkerboard layout, but had at some point early in its construction forgot what shape a checkerboard was and had instead ended up with the amorphous blob of misaligned houses that was Shoebend Street.

The filly snirked, "So the guy hammering the numbers on the houses might have been a little drunk, big deal. We'll have to keep looking around until we find it, that's all."

Fleur sighed, "Is this the part where we split up?"

"No!" Twilight said quickly. "No. Something tells me that splitting up in this place would be a really bad idea. We'll just have to follow a pattern until we find the right number."

"That's gonna take ages..." the filly whined."

"I know, but as I said, splitting up sounds like a bad idea. Besides, with everypony keeping an eye out I'm sure it won't take long."

"Are you saying that on the assumption that Summer can count?"

"Hey!" Octavia shouted as Summer hung her head. "There's no need for that!"

"What? I'm just saying."

"Can you even count!?"

"Yes miss, t' four miss, 'cause that's how many hooves I got."

"Quit being a smart ass, filly," Fleur chided, "and apologise to Summer."

"Okay, okay, sheesh. Summer, I'm sorry for what I said."

"'s okay," Summer squeaked, although judging by her expression it really wasn't.

"See? She's totally cool with it. It's like we're besties or something."

"Big up the pegasus massive?" suggested Trixie as she pumped her forehooves into the air. Judging by the enraged expression that crossed the filly's face it wasn't the right thing to say and Trixie quickly retracted it. "Right, nevermind. Sooo... Should we get looking?"

"I think that's for the best," Twilight said. Picking a direction around the outskirts of the street she started walking, only looking back briefly to see if the others were following her, which they were thankfully.

Looking around she had to admit that this place wasn't the worst by Mareitanian standards. Sure the houses were all pretty rickety and wooden and ancient looking, but they also had their own little bits of space that could have been transformed into gardens if the ground wasn't so dry, and they seemed like they would make decent enough homes.

All around her she could see ponies living their lives as best they could and making the best of what they had. She could also hear the sounds of foals laughing as they played which struck her, as the last time she could remember that sound was in Ponyville. All in all this was one of the better places they had come upon in her opinion.

She looked back, hoping to see what Trixie was making of it all, and was faintly surprised to see Trixie looking very apprehensive. "Everything okay?" she asked after slowing down to let Trixie catch up.

"No," Trixie said with a unusual amount of honesty. Realising that she had given a straight answer for once Trixie went on to explain. "I'm... scared Twilight. What if that pony in Prance was talking about my parents? What if they've been dead for years? Part of me would rather not know. And don't bother trying to convince me that they're fine."

"I wasn't going to." Twilight fell silent as she tried to think of how to put what she thinking into words, "Trixie, I don't know if they're alive or not but I want you to know that we're here for you either way. I can't even imagine what I'd do in your situation right now."

"Good to know, but I'm still terrified of finding out the answer." Trixie pointed between two houses, "What do you see there?" Twilight squinted, hoping to catch what it was Trixie was pointing at but couldn't see anything and said so. "Exactly, there should be a house there, and there isn't."

"Do... Do you want me to go have a look for you?" Trixie nodded. "Okay then. Guys, wait here with Trixie, I'll be back in a minute." She trotted between the two houses Trixie had pointed between and as soon as she passed the fences of the two houses realised that what Trixie had feared was there was true.

There were barely any remains of the house that had once stood here. All that was left was a square of concrete with the rotting and still lightly charred uprights jutting out of it. Other than that, all that was remained of the house was some other pieces of rotting wood and the half burnt remains of some stairs.

Twilight shook her head, forcing herself to not assume the worst. This place was ridiculously dry considering how close they were to the river and the bayou, and most of these houses would probably burn like paper given half a chance. What she needed was proof that this wasn't the house they were looking for.

Twilight moved into the wreckage, taking care to not step on any nails that might remain, and searched, hoping to find some clue that would show whom this house belonged to. Sadly though, between the ravages of time and the fire there was very little she could find to prove anything.

She started sifting through the remains with her magic, hoping her magic's finer touch would turn something up but still there was nothing. Ready to give up she tossed a small chunk of wood away when a tinkling of metal caught her attention. Twitching her ears she followed the noise to its source and was rewarded with finding two small bits of metal, corroded and warped from the fire but still very clear in their meaning.

"Oh no..." Twilight muttered, suddenly feeling numb. She held the pieces in front of her and was about to return to the others when the crunch of a hoof made it clear she didn't have to go far. Trixie stood there, peering at Twilight with watery eyes while the others waited pensively behind her.

Twilight didn't know what to say as she walked towards Trixie. Feeling herself choking up she placed the two pieces of metal, a three and a four, in front of Trixie. "I-I'm sorry Trixie, I'm so sorry," Twilight choked tearfully as Trixie's breathing became harsh, tears running down her own cheeks.

"It's... It's..." Trixie collapsed into tears as grief claimed her, and Twilight held her as twenty years of hope abandoned the blue unicorn in a chorus of wailing and tears.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Twilight kept repeating quietly, while Octavia held Trixie from the other side and Fleur ran a comforting hoof down her back. Summer stood nearby, biting her lip, unsure of what to do in the situation while the filly sat facing away, an expression of anger marring her features.

After a few minutes Trixie pushed them off and sat up, wiping her eyes and nose. "It's fine, I was stupid to think they might have been alive."

"Trixie?" said Twilight, unsure.

"I said it's fine!" Trixie snapped, "Nothing nice ever happens to Trixie, I get it." Trixie growled and threw the numbers into the ruined house.

"Um, excuse me?" They all looked round to see where the voice came from, finding that it had come from a chocolaty brown earth pony mare wearing a rough dress, the wisps of white in her mane betraying her advancing years. "Are you- Are you Trixie Lulamoon?"

"I am, what of it?"

A shaky smile spread across the mares face and a tear gathered in the corner of her eye, "I can't believe it's really you! Your parents would be so happy to know you're alive."

Trixie stared at the mare for a moment before shaking her head and snorting. "Yeah? Well they're dead so I don't think it matters what they think. Who are you?"

"Oh! Uh, I'm sorry, I'm Sugar Cookie, I live across the road there. I knew your parents when they... when they were alive. I'm sorry you didn't know about them being gone but after what happened nopony knew if you were dead or alive or what. It's such a relief to know you're alright."

"Y-you knew my parents?" Trixie asked shakily.

"I did. They were wonderful ponies and they loved you very much, which is part of why they wanted out of Mareitania, to give you all the life they felt you deserved."

"Well that backfired," the filly said snidely.

"Filly!" Fleur yelled, clamping her magic over the filly's mouth.

"She's not wrong Fleur," Trixie said quietly. "Their idea of giving me a better life really did backfire." Trixie took a couple of deep breaths before asking "Were you there when it... happened?"

Sugar Cookie averted her gaze and nodded. "I was. It was horrible and I'll never forget that night, not least because I have a reminder of it every time I look outside," she said, nodding towards the burnt ruins.

"Could you tell me about it? Please?"

"I don't know, that's not really something you need to hear."

"Please!" Trixie begged, "I need to know!"

Sugar Cookie glanced between Trixie and the ruins of the house before closing her eyes and sighing. "Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you, it's not a nice story. It was evening and just starting to turn dark, and I was curled up with my husband Daybreak when we heard the soldiers arrive..."

"What on earth is going on out there?" Cookie mumbled sleepily as she rested her head against Daybreak's side. The sound of marching hooves was barely audible but was slowly coming closer, joined by the steady crash of armour.

"I don't know," the unicorn said, "but I don't like it." Rather than tempt fate by investigating, the two ponies opted to wait and see if the noise passed, but when it was at its loudest by their home it stopped. "Huh?"

"Barricade the doors and windows!" Somepony shouted, "Make sure they can't escape!" Minutes later there was all manner of hammering as whatever was out there complied with the voice's orders.

"I don't like this," Daybreak said. "I'm going to have a look."

"No baby, don't. You don't want to get into trouble."

"I'm only going to look out the window, that's all." The yellow stallion gently slid from under Cookie and went to the window nearest the noise outside before twitching the curtain aside with his magic. "What the..."

"What? What is it?"

"It's soldiers. They're boarding up the windows on the Lulamoon place. Why the hell would they be doing that?"

"I don't know," Cookie rolled onto her stomach and looked at her husband, "but I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. The Lulamoon's are gone, remember?"

"Yeah, sure..." Daybreak said slowly, sounding not at all convinced. He backed away from the window and let the curtain fall back into place before returning to his wife. He was about to sit back down again when the sound of a mare shouting in fear rang around the room. "What the fuck?" he cursed, running back to the window and looking through it in time to catch the soldiers ponyhandling a blue coated and golden maned unicorn mare out of a wagon and into the house. "They've got Radiance!"

Sugar Cookie joined him a moment later, "What? Where?"

"They took her in the house!" Daybreak ran to leave the house, Sugar close behind him, just as they dragged a white and silver maned unicorn male out of the wagon, his fur covered in stains, his left eye swollen shut and his horn little more than a jagged stump. "Hat-trick!"

The other unicorn's good eye focused and searched for the pony shouting his name, "Daybreak? Daybreak! They're going to bu-" he started to shout but was silenced by a soldier smashing his snout with an armoured hoof, adding to the many stains on Hat-trick's coat.

Daybreak ran up to the line of soldiers where a sandy coloured stallion with newly made lieutenant’s stripes was giving orders to the soldiers, "What's going on here?" Daybreak demanded to know.

"Lower your tone unicorn, unless you're so desperate to join your former neighbours." The lieutenant waved down the road and a cart was pulled up, filled with bundles of kindling. "If you must know these ponies are being made an example of. A warning against all who would defy the Dukes' laws."

Working by torchlight, four of the soldiers started pulling the bundles out of the cart and began placing them around the house. Realising what was about to happen Daybreak looked around desperately for help from the crowd that had gathered whilst noticing that many of the soldiers were now giving each other uneasy glances. As the soldiers worked a mustard coloured pony fell out of line and approached the lieutenant. "Lieutenant Sabre, sir, is this... Is this really necessary? I mean, we caught them, it's over."

"Get back in line and don't you dare question the Dukes' orders again or you shall be court-martialled!" Sabre sneered. The stallion hesitated for a moment before slumping in defeat and returning to his position. While the exchange between the lieutenant and the soldier was going on the last of the bundles was set in position on the porch of the house and the soldiers were now pouring oil over the firewood, filling the air with a foul stench.

Grabbing a torch in one of his hooves, the lieutenant walked up onto the porch and addressed the ponies before him. "Citizens of Mareitania, the ponies within this abode dared to think they could defy the laws of this great country. In recompense for this reckless lack of judgement our noble Duke has decreed that they pay the ultimate price and be made an example of for all traitors that would dare to defy his will!"

On finishing his short speech the lieutenant pressed his torch into one of the bundles, the oil catching fire instantly and spewing flames up the side of the porch. Simultaneously, the four soldiers that had stacked the firewood against the house now drew torches along the bundles along the sides of the house, creating a burning curtain that licked up the bone dry wooden walls, quickly spreading the roaring flames all around the house.

"No!" Daybreak, Sugar Cookie and many of their neighbours rushed the soldiers in an attempt to free the ponies trapped inside the growing inferno, and there was more than a few shouts as ponies were injured on the soldiers weapons. Scoring a deep cut on his chest, Daybreak stepped past the weapon while doing his best to ignore the pain and found himself looking into the sad and fearful eyes of the soldier that had tried to confront the lieutenant.

There was a scream from inside the house, followed by shouting as the fire started to find its way inside, drawing Daybreak's attention away from the soldier. There was a desperate banging at the front door, but the makeshift barricade held despite the flames devouring its structure. Daybreak glared at the soldier, who desperately looked like he wished he could just disappear, shaking his head and mouthing a single word, "Don't."

Daybreak looked away in defeat as the screams intensified. Even if he were to get past the soldiers now there was no way inside; even at the distance he was from the fire he could still feel the heat singeing his coat. Judging by the way the other ponies around him were backing off they had drawn the same conclusion, and many of the soldiers were inclined to step away from the flames.

Folding his ears back, he turned away and found Sugar Cookie sat with her hooves clamped over her mouth and her eyes brimming with tears. Holding her he rocked back and forth as she bawled and kept rocking back and forth as the screams ended and the soldiers left, and still remained rocking her as hours later, the rains came and doused the flames.

Sugar Cookie wiped her eyes and drew a deep, shuddering breath. "I pray to the Lady that in all my days I never have to witness something as horrible as that day ever again."

"What h-" Octavia tried to speak but her voice broke. "What happened then?"

"Not all the soldiers left, but the ones that remained seemed as shaken by what happened as we all were. Once the rain had put out most of the fire they didn't even try to stop us as we put out what was left. Then we found what remains of the Lulamoon's we could, not that there was much, and buried them in the cemetery a couple mile up the road."

"Take me there!" Trixie said urgently. "I need to see them."

Sugar Cookie for her part seemed to become nervous at the request, looking around several times before turning back with a forced smile. "Okay, it's not far. Follow me." She led them away and out of Shoebend Street, leading them up away from the city and up a dusty track.

"Um," Fleur cleared her throat, "If you don't mind me asking, what became of your husband after that night?"

"That night... changed him. He became distant and angry, and would often spend days away from home, and before long he never came back at all. I still see him though, sometimes, but I'm not going to pretend I fully understand his choices."

"Do you know what he's doing?"

"Not well enough to tell you," the mare said pointedly.

"Sorry." Unwilling to intrude where they weren't wanted, nothing more was said until the group crested a small hill that seemed to be the cemetery if the rows of headstones were any indication. Sugar led them to the side, to the poorer part of the cemetery where the unicorns were kept separate from the earth ponies.

"There," she said, pointing to a single headstone. Trixie walked over to it and tried to read it but her eyes were blurring with tears.

"Twilight, c-could you read it, for me?"

"Oh, uh, okay." Twilight walked over and scraped some of the moss off the headstone with a hoof before reading what was written, "Here lies Hat-trick Lulamoon, Radiance Lulamoon, and their two beloved... children? What?"

"B-but I thought I was their only child?" Trixie's voice cracked, "Wasn't I?"

Sugar Cookie looked away for a moment before answering, "That's what we thought too, but when we went to collect the remains we found four skeletons; the two belonging to your parents and two belonging to two young foals."

"How did you know one of them wasn't Trixie?" Fleur asked.

"Because she was bigger than they were when she left."

"They burnt foals..." Octavia said in disbelief. "Those monsters actually burnt foals? How could they do that!?" Summer moved beside her and rested her head against Octavia's neck.

"This is seriously messed up," the filly muttered.

"How long was it between them leaving and the fire?" Twilight asked as she eyed Trixie nervously, who was lying on the grave with one hoof pressed against the headstone.

"Five or six months," Sugar answered. "Not long enough for a full pregnancy but if she were already pregnant when they left then, yeah..." The mare sighed heavily, "I'm not sure I can talk about this anymore. If you need me I'll be over there." She walked away for twenty or so meters before sitting down and staring out across the city.

"This is so wrong," Fleur said to Twilight. "I was fully prepared for the possibility that her parents weren't around anymore, but this is something else entirely."

"I know. I wish I could do something or say something to help but I don't even know where to begin."

"Maybe you should start with saying anything at all," Octavia said waspishly, "rather than let her lie there and stew."

"And what's stopping you, your ladyship?" the filly snapped back at Octavia.

"The same thing that's stopping you probably." Octavia looked Twilight squarely in the eyes, "You've known her longer than any of us, and while that might not have been the best of relationships you still know her better."

"Doesn't mean I know what to say to her! You guys probably know mo-" Twilight stopped herself as pointing out that the others were more familiar with losing others was a sure fire way to fall out with them, though the expressions on their faces made it clear they suspected what she was about to say. "Okay, I'll... try."

She moved over to Trixie and sat next to her before hesitantly moving to place a comforting hoof on her back before deciding not to. She racked her brain trying to think of something, anything, to say which might help, but couldn't. In the end it was Trixie that spoke first.

"It's funny," Trixie said as she tried to wipe some of her tears away.

"Uh, what is?"

"I don't remember my parents beyond a few flashes of memory, and if I try to think of somepony as my mother I usually think of my aunt instead, and my brothers and sisters have always in reality been my cousins. I didn't even know my actual brothers or sisters existed until just now and I don't have the slightest attachment to them. Nothing at all."

"Okay," Twilight said carefully, horribly unsure of where this was going.

"So if I know barely anything about them and have no attachment to them, I want to know something..."

"Know what?"

Trixie turned her head towards Twilight, her fur streaked with shed tears and her eyes red and puffy with the promise of more tears to come. "Why does it hurt so much?" Trixie sobbed. "I don't even know these ponies! How is it that losing something I never even had hurts so much!? I- I don't even know their names, or if they were my brothers or sisters, or both! Or if they were unicorns, earth ponies, or pegasi? And yet I miss them and I hate that I'll never get to know them. I'll never get to see what amazing ponies they could've become..."

"Trixie, I-"

"No! Don't you dare say you 'know how I feel,' or 'you understand what I'm going through!' You've never lost anypony! You know nothing, Twilight Sparkle, and you never will!"

All of a sudden a chill overtook Twilight and she shivered. It took her a moment but she noticed a darkening aura begin to build around Trixie's horn and a few small wisps of purple leak out the corner of her eyes. "Trixie! Your magic!"

"What? What about it?" Trixie growled.

"It's dark magic. You're doing dark magic!"

"So fucking what!"

"You shouldn't be doing it! You'll hurt yourself!"

The hoof struck quickly, smacking Twilight around the side of her face and sending her sprawling before she could react. "After all that's happened you're criticising me? Who the fuck do you think you are Twilight? You think I care if I'm doing dark magic?"

Twilight held a hoof to the side of her face, "But Trixie!"

"No! I'm glad I'm doing this! I'm going to tear the Duke a new one and if this magic helps me do that then I'm happy to use it! If you don't like it then you can fuck off!"

"Trixie, please! This isn't the-" Twilight barely erected a shield in time as a blast of dark magic descended upon her. Twilight was shocked, and not just because Trixie had attacked her. While the attack hadn't been anywhere near breaking through her shield it was still a lot stronger than what the average unicorn could muster, and stronger than Trixie's usual ability.

Once the attack was over Twilight dropped the shield and scrambled to her hooves before backing away. Trixie didn't make a move as Twilight backed away, but instead turned back to the grave and lay down again. Choosing to believe that Trixie wasn't going to attack her she returned to the others, nursing her cheek with a hoof while a very small part of her wondered why it was always the face.

"What did you do?" Fleur asked as soon as Twilight was close enough.

"I... I don't know. I could barely get two words in, and then she started manifesting dark magic and got angry when I suggested she should stop."

"Why would you do that?" Octavia asked.

"Dark magic feeds off strong negative emotions, and Trixie is feeling some very strong negative emotions right now." Almost as if to prove her point there was a howl of rage from Trixie. "It becomes a cycle where her emotions feed the magic and in turn the magic feeds her emotions, and when I tried asking her to stop she attacked me."

"Good job your magic didn't spaz out then," the filly said almost absently. "Who wants crispy fried Twilight?" That hadn't even occurred to Twilight. Suddenly her surviving Trixie's attack seemed a lot more miraculous.

Twilight tested her shield spell out a few times, each attempt being successful, but she couldn't regulate how much power she put into the spell. The first one would've struggled to stop a spit wad, whereas her third attempt was twice as powerful as the spell her brother used to shield Canterlot. Too bad it was the size of a rabbit. "I don't think I'm out of the woods just yet."

"Well that's just too bad for you isn't it sweetie." Caught up as she was in casting her spells, neither she nor the others were paying attention as three ponies, two in black armour, had trotted up to them like it was a social visit. "I guess you'll have to surrender instead."

"You!" Trixie raged at the third pony to approach them.

Seemingly nonplussed, Deal Good chuckled at Trixie, "Hello Trixie, good to see you're embracing your new gift."

Sugar Cookie galloped over, "What are they doing here?" she gasped breathlessly, appearing to be genuinely afraid.

"You know who they are?" Twilight shook her head, "Doesn't matter, we need to get out of here!"

Sugar Cookie looked thoughtful for a moment and nodded, "I can do that, come on!"

"No! Deal Good is right there! We have to stop him!" Trixie glared at Twilight, "Or is that not important enough to you?"

"There's no way we can beat all of them Trixie! We have to run!"

"I'm. Not. RUNNING!" Trixie unleashed a blast towards Deal Good that was considerably more powerful than the one she used against Twilight. Deal Good though just grinned and raised a shield of his own, the blast barely even fazing him even as the runes on the other two's armour flared red from the deflected energy.

"Hmm, impressive, yet still lacking. You're going to have to try a little harder Miss Lulamoon."

"Trixie!" Twilight tried to get Trixie's attention, but Trixie either willfully ignored her or was too caught up in attacking Deal Good. "Damn it! Sugar Cookie, get the others out of here!"

There was a 'whump' as Trixie unloaded another attack against Deal Good, Twilight raising an invisible wing to ward off the shockwave as it hit. "What about you Twilight?" Fleur asked as she shielded her eyes with a hoof.

"I'm going to help her however I can, but you guys can't do anything here. I'll be fine."

Fleur looked like she was about to argue when the shockwave from another attack hit her. Shaking off the dust she scooped the filly onto her back, "Be careful," she warned before running after Sugar Cookie and the others. Thankfully neither Deal Good nor the two armoured ponies went after them.

Once they were gone Twilight gulped and fought off the desire to wet herself. "Come on horn, don't fail me now."

She joined Trixie, who was almost wreathed in dark energy, the sensation making Twilight's skin crawl. "Not running?" Trixie asked nastily.

"Not while you're here." If Trixie appreciated the gesture she didn't show it and instead directed another attack at their assailants. Twilight couldn't help but wonder what was sustaining Trixie as the unicorn was expending energy like it was going out of fashion and yet hadn't even broke a sweat. Twilight wasn't sure who there scared her the most at that moment.

A beam of swirling black energy swept towards them and Twilight erected a shield to cover the both of them. It barely held as the attack stopped and Twilight could feel her horn aching as it tried to cope with her own fluctuating magic. She dropped the shield and shot a small blob of pinkish magic at Deal Good who deftly sidestepped it without really trying.

It distracted him enough for Trixie's next attack to graze him though, and he grunted in pain as he quickly raised a spur of black crystal to block the attack. The damage was negligible at best and hadn't even left a mark on the stallion's dark coat. "Better Trixie, better. But not good," he taunted, Trixie wildly shooting another attack at him in retaliation.

Twilight stepped back and tried to take stock of the situation. As much as she hated to admit it, with her magic in its current state she was woefully outmatched. There was no way she could hope to stick with Trixie and match Deal Good attack for attack, and even less so if the two armoured ponies involved themselves. Almost as if to prove her point Deal Good span and bucked at the spur of crystal he had created and a head sized chunk cracked out of it, flying towards Trixie who growled and batted it aside, straight towards Twilight.

Rather than try to shield herself from it she did what her newest instincts told her to do and leapt into the air, gaining altitude as quick as she could. While Trixie seemed content to take the fight head on, Twilight's only advantage right now was mobility. Rainbow Dash would be so proud, Twilight thought.

"How is she flying!?" yelled Deal Good, quickly glancing at Pearl and Breaker.

"How the bloody hell should we know!?" Breaker yelled back, "You're the pony with the fancy magical, and totally illegal, do-hickeys, you tell us!"

The dark stallion grunted and sent out a pulse of dark magic that seemed to harmlessly pass through everything, at least until it reached Twilight's wings. Twilight screamed and struggled to stay airborne, her wings feeling like they were burning as the dark magic seemed to almost devour the spell hiding her wings. The sensation passed quickly though and Twilight fought to regain altitude.

"She has wings? Why didn't you say she had wings? This deal is getting worse by the second! And you could help you know!" Deal Good reared up and shot three smaller blasts of magic towards Twilight before returning his attention to Trixie.

Twilight waited as the spells sped towards her and deftly flew to the side, the three dark blobs speeding past her before noticing the spells begin to arc around back towards her. "Great," she muttered bitterly before flying straight up as fast as she could. It wasn't until the leading spell was right on her tail, and almost eating it with an actual mouth full of dark fangs, that she worked out they were quite a bit faster than her. She back flipped and pointed herself towards the ground and pushed herself downwards, the spells just missing her, though they were already turning to follow her.

An idea came to her mind and she couldn't help but grin as she pumped her wings, increasing her downward velocity as the spells caught up to her once more. Angling herself towards the sides of their attackers she aimed for a point just short of them before pulling up as hard as she could, skimming over their backs. The spells chasing her couldn't pull up fast enough though and the leading one slammed into the ground while the others were dissipated by the armour of the two earth ponies.

"Deal Good!" Pearl shouted at the increasingly weary looking unicorn. "Watch it with those attacks!"

"Help me then! I can't beat them on my own!"

"If we could we would've before now, but we can't get the flying one and you made the other one into a monster, so this is your fight entirely. Or do we need to remind you why you're doing this?" Breaker kicked off his hoofguard and pulled out the bag containing Trixie's contract. Pulling the bag down slightly he pressed the exposed contract against his armour for a moment before letting it reform.

During this Twilight returned to Trixie, and was shocked to find the ground around her scorched and smoking while the unicorn herself sported dozens of small burns and lacerations. Rather than dodge or block Deal Good's attacks, the daft mare had been taking the hits, and the fact that she wasn't injured worse and was still standing said a lot about her current state of mind and magic. Like Deal Good though she was starting to show signs of exhaustion.

"Trixie?"

"They've got my contract. That's how they're making him fight for them."

"How can you tell?"

"I can feel it Twilight. When the big one pressed it against his armour it... hurt? Maybe. It definitely felt like something though."

Twilight was about to argue, or say that it wasn't important right now but stopped herself. Instead she said, "What do you want me to do?"

"Take it from them, I don't care how. Then bring it here or destroy it if you can, but get it away from them at least." Trixie narrowed her eyes, "I'll make a distraction."

Twilight nodded, slightly wary of Trixie's sudden focus and took to the air again as Trixie gathered her magic and formed a orb of black energy that burned with green and purple flames, and launched it towards the others with a scream. Deal Good set up a shield to protect himself but the spell wasn't aimed directly at him, instead striking the ground in the midst of them and creating a shockwave that even knocked Pearl and Breaker off their hooves.

Sensing her opportunity Twilight swooped down and snatched the contract out of Breaker's hooves with her magic. "No!" Deal Good shouted after her, "You fools! How could you let her take it!?" He wildly shot attack after attack after Twilight who dodged desperately until Trixie was able to stop him by blasting him side on with her magic.

While he was distracted Twilight pulled the contract out of the bag and unfurled it, taking note of Trixie's name, and a small smudge of blood of all things. Fully confident that this was definitely the right contract she tried tearing at it with her magic but to no avail. She tried burning it, shredding it, vaporizing it, and disintegrating it, but the contract remained annoyingly undamaged. Mama had said the thing was supposed to be damn near invincible and the only thing Twilight had seen to affect it was the anti-magic armour.

Of course! Twilight thought gleefully, The armour! If she could get close enough to hold it against their armour long enough it might destroy the contract. Deal Good still seemed distracted so Twilight flew down and pressed the contract against the mare's armour, but as soon as she did the armour seemed to negate her levitation and the contract fluttered to the ground before it was even damaged.

Quickly grabbing the contract again before anypony else could, she flew back up and circled around a few times as she thought. Deal Good was being heavily assaulted by Trixie so he hopefully wasn't going to be any interference for a while, though Trixie did appear to be nearing collapse.

Turning her attention back to the matter at hoof, she watched as the mare turned to keep an eye on her while the stallion seemed content to watch the fight between Trixie and Deal Good. However that also made him Twilight's best target, and since she couldn't use her magic to hold the contract to him she was going to have to use her hooves, and to stop him from trying to stop her she was going to have to tackle him.

Twilight swallowed and steeled herself, "This is going to suck" being her battle cry before she dove down towards the armoured stallion, the contract held in her outstretched hooves. Even with the wind whistling in her ears Twilight could hear the mare shout a warning to the stallion but it was fruitless as Twilight was already almost upon him. With a sickening crunch she slammed into the side of him and they both went flying, Twilight trying to end up in a position on top of him. She got lucky, but how long she could keep on top was a different matter as the stallion was already trying to rise. She pressed the contract against him with her left hoof, while the right beat him about the head a few times, and she screamed as it felt like she was dipping her hoof into boiling acid as the contract tried to stay in one piece.

She persevered though, even with her hoof blackening, and the contract dissolved before dripping off the armour like it was made of black slime. "Nooo!" Deal Good screamed as both Twilight and Breaker backed away from the black puddle the contract left. Quickly though it became apparent that the puddle was growing and something was piling up inside it. Twilight tried to take to the air again but a wrench of agony in her right wing made it clear that flying wasn't an option right now.

Instead she limped away and watched as the black slime piled up into a tall, vaguely bipedal construct with stubby legs and obscenely long arms that nearly dragged on the ground. A head formed and it split as a maw that went most of the way around its head opened, strings of slime going from top lip to bottom. Two eye sockets formed but remained empty, though you could tell it could see perfectly well as its empty gaze swept across them before stopping on Deal Good.

It pointed a dripping finger at Deal Good, "You," it said in a voice that hissed and reverberated in an assault on your hearing, "You have failed us for the last time Deal Good."

"No! I had the contract! She's right there, see?" Deal Good pleaded as she pointed as Trixie.

"She's no good to us now," the thing said, "and you are out of time. Your contract has ended, Deal Good, and it’s time to pay your dues."

"No! Wait!" Deal Good turned and tried to flee but the thing slammed a hand into the ground, shooting inky tendrils from its fingers. A moment later three skeletons burst halfway out of the ground and wrapped their bony legs around Deal Goods', stopping him in his tracks. Deal Good kept begging and pleading as the thing lurched towards him, before it leaning over him and collapsed into a pool of black with Deal Good at its centre. Even the two armoured ponies flinched as an agonising scream erupted from Deal Good's mouth, his skin and flesh visibly melting off his bones while he remained horribly aware of every sensation.

After far too long he sank below the surface and the pool shrank away into nothingness, leaving nothing more than a dark stain on the ground. "This is why I don't like unicorns and their bullshit," Breaker commented while Twilight voided her stomach.

Twilight wiped her mouth and turned toward Trixie, finding her slumped on the ground, unconscious. "Trixie!" Twilight tried to run over but her hoof was far too painful to use and she had limped only halfway when Pearl beat her there. "Surrender and your fr-" was all Pearl managed to say before Twilight used her magic to rip a headstone out of the ground and smash it around the mare's head, the stone breaking into hundreds of fragments as the clang echoed around the surrounding woods. Pearl rolled a few times before stopping, a sizable dent in her helmet.

"Pearl!" Breaker sprinted towards his wife but stopped as Twilight ripped another headstone out of the ground and held it back threateningly. "Fine," he growled after a moment, "take the unicorn and go." Twilight nodded and lowered the stone, using her magic instead to haul Trixie onto her back which was a whole new exercise in agony with her injured hoof and wing.

Twilight started to limp slowly and carefully towards where Sugar Cookie had led the others when a thought struck her. Looking back over her shoulder she asked, "Why didn't you help him?"

Breaker paused in trying to wrench the helmet off Pearl's head, "Because even though he lost we still won. He was too dangerous to let live. That, and you've taught us we're not as safe as we thought. Not get the fuck outta here!"

Twilight turned, satisfied with that answer, and begun her long and painful trip after the others.

Twilight ached everywhere, besides outright hurting in several places, most notably her horn, her injured hoof, and her right wing which was dragging along on the ground. Trying to carry a pony on only three legs wasn't helping either and Twilight wanted nothing more than to drop her load and sleep.

She kept going though, slow as her progress was, and was concentrating on putting one hoof in front of the other, although she wasn't sure how that phrase worked with an odd number of hooves. Trixie started to slide off and Twilight paused to secure her before sighing heavily. She didn't even know where the others were and hadn't thought of a way to find them since she had other more pressing matters to attend to at the time.

With that in mind she was surprised when she hobbled into a small clearing and found Fleur, Octavia, Summer, and the filly hogtied with bags over their heads. Twilight didn't even know what to make of it and stood there with her mouth open before sliding Trixie off and limping as fast as she could over to Fleur.

Twilight pulled the bag off Fleur's head and straightaway Fleur started to shout something through the gag in her mouth. Twilight couldn't make out what it was though and started to untie the gag as Fleur kept trying to shout at her, tears of running down her cheeks.

Twilight finally managed to untie the gag and threw it aside and was about to ask what was happening when Fleur shouted "Run!" at her. It was too late though as something dropped out of the tree beside her and struck her above her horn with something heavy. She staggered sideways and her vision faded but she remained conscious enough to stand and hear her attackers.

"That was pathetic!" said a voice that sounded a lot like Sugar Cookie's. "You didn't even knock her over, let alone out!"

"It's not my fault!" said a voice that definitely belonged to a stallion. "Her skull must be made of iron or something!"

"Don't be such a whiney little baby. Give me that and let me show you how it's do-"

Author's Notes:

I'm sure some of you might be disappointed that Trixie's dilemma was resolved as soon as this, but her problems with Deal Good was never the point.