Twilight sat at the table in the command room, skimming through the pile of reports before her. She wasn't sure when somepony had thought it was a good idea to start writing reports because as she was the de facto leader of this outfit it somehow fell to her to read them. That was fine, but between this and the constant noise as the keep was reconstructed around her, the last three weeks off hadn't really been very relaxing.

Not to mention the time she was taking out to train any unicorns that asked it of her, which was a constant uphill struggle considering the sheer lack of magical knowledge they possessed. At the moment she was settling for teaching them how to shoot magic, form rudimentary shields, and how to properly wield weapons with their telekinesis. A skill she was largely having to invent herself based off what she had seen the unicorns in the Canterlot guard do.

Apart from that though, things had been going remarkably well. Recruitment was steady, and their numbers were growing all the time and even after only three weeks they were only just short of roughly six hundred ponies. The walls outside were being repaired in record time meaning that there were plenty of ponies to help with the keep's interior.

Procuring food and other supplies had been a bit more challenging, but Daybreak had been true to his word and was tackling the task with great success. Between him and Fleur, who literally named herself and the filly the heads of under-hoofed acquisitions, they had enough food to keep going and had obtained quite the stockpile of weapons.

Octavia and Summer were assisting with setting up the kitchens and dormitories, which were almost done, while Trixie, not that she knew it, was keeping herself out of trouble. Her offer to teach the other unicorns dark magic had been rejected quite soundly so Twilight had given her the task of creating a name for their movement, a task she had not put any serious effort into.

"Twilight!"

Talk of the devil... "Yes, Trixie?"

"I think I've got a real winner this time!" Trixie slammed a piece of paper down in front of Twilight, and stood there beaming as Twilight read it out loud.

"Mareitania Independent Liberation Front? Why's it independent? Also, isn't that a little too clinical for something you made up? Trixie's Forces of Awesome had a way better ring to it."

"Well, you know, Trixie can't be silly all of the time." Trixie bit her lip like she was desperately trying to keep a straight face. Eyeing her suspiciously for a moment, Twilight read it again and thought about it a moment before sighing irritably.

"Milf? Really?" Trixie burst out laughing and Twilight groaned, "I was really hoping you would take this seriously Trixie, before ponies start calling us the 'army of light,' or 'army of hope,' or even the 'army of the Lady,' or some such semi-mystical nonsense."

"But this job's so boooooring! Can't you give me something more important to do?"

"Why would you expect me to trust you with something more important when you can't even take this seriously?"

"Pleeease?"

Twilight smirked and picked up the paper in her magic, "Although now I think about it, we could use this." She picked up her quill and crossed out the independent, "There, the Mareitania Liberation Front. Perfect."

"But-"

"Nice work Trixie."

"But-"

"Nopony could ever doubt what we are with a name like that."

"It's not-"

"And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of reading to do."

"But that name's stupid!"

"You mean to tell me you aren't putting your best effort into this?"

"Of course I'm not! This job was a pointless gimmick given to me to keep me out of the way!"

"Trixie, there are dozens of other more pointless and less enjoyable jobs I could have given you if that were the case. I actually thought of you as being quite creative, and would have no trouble thinking of a name. This job was meant to take you a day at most, yet somehow you've managed to make it last two weeks, giving me name after stupid name, most of which make rude acronyms! I was thinking of putting you in charge of teaching some of the willing unicorns basic magic afterwards, as long as you kept dark magic out of it!"

"Oh..." An uneasy silence filled the room, and Trixie seemed unwilling to look at Twilight. "So you want me to teach-"

"Some of the unicorns, yes. Only basic things like shooting and shields and stuff. Maybe get them to work on their multitasking with telekinesis so they can work crossbows better, and maybe use your illusions to teach them how to hit moving targets. No. Dark. Magic."

"I can teach the shooting and the telekinesis thing, but I'm not the best at shields, at least, not with my normal magic." It almost sounded painful for her to admit that.

"Then teach them how to shoot, and I'll worry about the shields. Talk to Thorn and she'll run you through the forms and drills I've been using."

"Right, I-uh, I guess I'll go do that..."

"Good." Twilight started reading again before sighing, "I'm sorry for yelling at you."

Trixie rubbed her back left leg with the other and lowered her gaze to the floor, "Trixie is willing to admit she might have deserved that one. Serious Trixie is now on the case."

Twilight smiled, "Glad to hear it." Trixie scuttled back upstairs leaving Twilight to return to her reading, but not without first scowling at what was across the room from her. Twilight didn't remember asking anypony to do it, but somepony had decided to make a flag for their cause. The end result was the same golden tree the Duke used for some reason, but with the upper body of the Lady stitched in silver for the body, and bronze for her mane, placed above the tree with her wings coming down and wrapping around the tree at its middle.

Twilight hated it, but most of the other ponies here had gone on about how lovely it was, and so on and so forth, that Twilight had felt unable to reject it. There was also something about the flag that worried Twilight, a row of six stars stitched under the tree in red, sky blue, dark purple, baby pink, orange, and white. Five of the colours she recognised as the colours the Elements had been, which was strange enough as it was, but the sixth was white. If it was following the Elements of Harmony then the sixth should have been a pinky-purple colour, so why white?

Daybreak was supposed to be coming to see her later so she was definitely going to have to ask him about it all. But first, she supposed, she had better read these reports if they were to have anything else to discuss. "I don't remember ponies being so pious before we found Pierre," she grumbled to herself.

She tossed the report on the armoury she had been reading aside and tried to read the next down, but failed because the writing was totally illegible. Not a huge surprise considering the lack of education ponies received, but not particularly helpful when it came to making reports. For all she knew it could be a paper on the mating habits of field mice, or a warning about an imminent attack.

Choosing to believe it was neither of those things she tossed it aside. "Operational readiness," she read aloud off the next report. "This sounds more like it." She turned to the next page, where there were four words in the middle of the page. "We're not ready yet," she read aloud. "I- I don't even... What? Why would somepony even bother to write that?" She crumpled it up and threw it into the corner of the room.

The next report showed a bit more promise, detailing the activities of the city guard, and reporting that they, and probably the Duke, were becoming suspicious of what the very newly minted 'Mareitania Liberation Front' might be up to. Thankfully though, nopony seems to have found out that they were doing anything in Puddingarde, let alone what. Twilight looked at the name at the bottom of the report and smiled slightly. Fleur had written it, which was nice since it was a decent report, but as Fleur had wrote a report it meant she was still avoiding Twilight after her outburst following the vote.

She placed that report to the side and was about to start on the others when her saddlebags started vibrating. Opening it up she pulled Sunset's book out to find she had another letter, the third in as many days.

Hey Twilight, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to explain how the elements work. It's a good thing too, because your counterpart decided to unleash all the magic she had taken at once and turned into a dark alicorn monster, not unlike I had, but with less bat wings and with a horn.

She started tearing our reality apart, creating rifts in reality to get to Equestria to steal its magic, but with what you told me I was able to harness the magic of the elements using her device and stop her after I turned into an alicorn thing too! It was so cool!

She was really sorry for what she tried to do and has decided to transfer here with us in Canterlot High, so when you next visit don't be surprised to see you're already here! Can't wait for you to meet her, you have so much in common already! Until then, good luck!"

Sunset

Twilight shook her head and grinned. Despite knowing what an Element of Harmony was, even though they hadn't been around before she left Equestria, and knowing what would happen if said Elements were taken to a different dimension, Twilight could only wonder why Sunset had no idea how they worked. It’s not like she hadn't explained it when she had turned the crown against Sunset at the fall formal.

At least it had all worked out in the end, even if her otherworldly counterpart had turned into a power crazed lunatic. Hopefully it wasn't indicative of something inherently wrong with Twilights'.

She placed the book back in her bags when she noticed that the speaker stone was flashing. Guess I’m popular today. She floated it out of the bag and placed it on the table in front of her before gingerly answering it as she was far more used to making calls than receiving them. "H-hello?"

"Greetings Twilight."

"Oh! Hi Luna! Haven't heard from you in a while."

"I only returned from my own mission two days prior, and I have reason to contact you, so here I am."

"Uh, reason to contact me?"

"Indeed, but I'll get to that later. Firstly, your friends are all safe and well, and have already returned to Ponyville, along with a great many other ponies."

"What does that mean?"

"This village we found was under the control of one 'Starlight Glimmer,' who was using her magic to steal ponies cutie marks, and was brain washing them into believing it was equality and true friendship they were experiencing, rather than the delusions of a mad mare. I was able to stop her, but due to her actions, and partially my own, the village was heavily damaged. The ponies there wished to learn about true friendship so I suggested they try living in Ponyville instead. I've spent the last two weeks organising their relocation."

"Wow... I never thought that your mission would end up so exciting. What happened to... Starlight? Was it?"

"She was apprehended, and now resides in the Canterlot dungeons until a suitable punishment is decided for her. Quite frankly though, we're not sure how to punish cutie mark theft, and her other crimes alone guarantee she'll be spending a long time in prison."

"How could she steal a pony’s cutie mark?"

"We don't know, and she seems singularly determined to not tell us. It doesn't matter, her magic's restricted so she can't cast the spell anyway."

"That's probably for the best. Has Celestia told you what we've been up to?"

"Indeed she has Twilight, and I'm very impressed by your progress. I will ask though, how is your leg?"

"Growing."

"It is restoring itself?"

“Maybe, it’s only grown an inch or two so I won't say for definite if it'll grow back completely. I can tell you though that it itches pretty much all the time."

"Still though, this is surely a good sign."

"Sure..."

"You don't sound like you agree."

"I'll be honest Luna, I don't like the idea of it growing back, which sounds silly I know, but I can't help but feel like it's wrong. I feel wrong, and I've felt like this since it came off."

"Ah, I understand what you mean."

"You do?"

"I do indeed. As you know, my fall towards becoming Nightmare Moon was not an overnight occurrence. I had slipped into severe depression as my darker thoughts slowly overwhelmed me. Not even Celestia knows this, but on more than one occasion I took a blade to myself and mutilated my body, though to what end I no longer know. Perhaps I was trying to kill myself, or cut the darkness out of me. The point is though that no matter what I did it would always heal itself almost overnight, leaving not a mark-"

"And you felt it was wrong too?"

"I did. In fact it made things worse as I began to think I truly was a monster, because no pony should be able to do that. And because I thought I was a monster, I went out of my way to become one. It seems so foolish now I think about it. I know it might seem odd to you now Twilight, but it’s a feeling you will grow accustomed to."

"Would you still be saying that if it was you growing a leg back?"

"Uh... perhaps not. Hopefully you will feel differently about it once the leg is fully restored."

"I hope so. You said something about needing to contact me?"

"Ah yes, we have wandered rather off topic haven't we? Your brother and Cadence are here, and they have some news to share with you."

"Really!? They're here!?"

"Yes Twilight, and I will allow you to converse with them shortly. There is one thing we need to discuss first though, about how neither Shining or Cadence is aware of what you're really doing in Mareitania."

"So this is just to remind me that I should only say I'm on 'important diplomatic duties.'"

"Actually, no. Well, you can maintain that deception if you wish, but Celestia and I talked about it and we decided that if you wish to reveal the truth to them about everything, you may as is your right as a princess of Equestria. The choice is entirely yours."

"Even though they would probably freak out and demand my immediate return to Equestria? Not to mention the other stuff that would happen along the lines of them hating both you and Celestia for getting me into the situation where I'm a three legged freedom fighter?"

"It is your decision alone whether you return to Equestria, but the other stuff would almost definitely happen, yes."

"So you're basically giving me the opportunity to punish both of you by telling all to Shining and Cadence."

"When you put it like that..."

"Would you like me to tell my parents too? That'd be far scarier I can assure you."

"I'm sure Shining would tell them anyway-"

"Did you and Celestia really think this one through? It's a nice thought, but the only real benefit I would have out of it is the short lived satisfaction of a petty vengeance."

"So you won't tell them?"

"No, not until I'm done with all this and can be there to make sure they don't over react and decide to secede the Crystal Empire from Equestria or something."

Luna sighed with relief, "You are a wise and merciful mare Twilight Sparkle. I was not looking forward to what would happen if you did tell them all. If you would please hold on I shall bring them shortly."

"Okay," she said brightly, though she was really thinking that she had no choice but to hold on. It took a few minutes but eventually she heard the quiet voice of Shining come from the stone.

"So I just speak to the stone? Really? Okay then..." He cleared his throat, "Uh, hey Twily! You there?"

"I'm here Shining! You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice!"

"And yours! I didn't realise this diplomatic thing you're doing could take so long."

"Ah, well," Twilight said awkwardly, "this diplomacy thing takes time. I'll be back before you know it. Is Cadence there too?"

"Hi Twilight, it’s so nice to hear from you. I was starting to get worried about you being gone so long."

"Pfft, there's nothing my little sis can't handle, let alone some diplomatic meetings."

"Yeah, what Shining said!" Twilight guiltily shifted her left leg around inside its sling. "I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

"You could get hurt if things go wrong," Cadence said with unknowing accuracy. Now Twilight's leg was really itching. "I mean, ponies aren't always the most reasonable of individuals."

"Oh please Cadence, I'm the Princess of Friendship; if I can't get along with these ponies, nopony can." It's a good job they can't see my face. "Soooo... What's the occasion for getting in touch? Not that I don't appreciate it, because I really do."

"We have something we want to tell you," said Cadence.

"And we didn't want to wait until you got back from Mareitania-" said Shining.

Cadence cut over him, "And Celestia said they had a way of getting in touch with you-"

"So we thought that was probably a good idea-"

"Because we have something big to tell you-" Cadence said, cutting over Shining again.

"We're-"

"As in Shining and I-"

"We're- Cadence, you tell her."

"No, you tell her!"

"Together then."

Twilight's face went flat, not that either of them could tell. "Guys..."

"We're having a baby!" they cheered together.

"Each? But Shining's a stalli-omigosh!Omigosh!Omigosh!" Twilight squealed as her brain caught up. "You're having a baby! Eeee!! That's so amazing! How long has it been?"

"It's still really early days," Cadence told her, "so I wouldn't get too excited just yet, but we couldn't wait to tell you."

"This, is so amazing! I'm gonna be an aunt! I'm gonna be an aunt! Have you told Mum and Dad yet?"

"Yep," said Shining. "Picture in your mind how you think they reacted, then times it by at least three. We're doing the public announcement next week and we wanted to make sure you knew before then. Especially after the wedding invitation... scenario."

"Thanks. Ooh! I'm so excited for you guys! Congratulations! Have you thought of any names yet?"

Shining chuckled, "Not yet Twilight. This bun's got ten or so more months of cooking left to do. We've got plenty of time to think of names."

"Right, of course. Sorry."

"Don't apologise Twilight," Cadence told her. "It's good that you're excited. We can't wait for you to meet her-"

"Or him."

"-Either."

"I just hope I'm back in time for the birth. I'd hate to miss it."

"Uh, how long you planning on staying there Twily? You've already been gone like three months..."

"Hopefully I'll be done long before the birth. There's no way I'm missing that!"

"Uh..." Cadence said slowly, sounding more than a little worried.

"You know what I mean."

"Right. Yes. Good. Whew."

"Seriously though guys, congratulations! And thanks for taking the time to tell me. I miss you guys so much."

"And we miss you too Twily, which means you should get back here as soon as you can, after all, you probably owe us a lot of hugs by now."

"I really do." Hopefully I'll have a full complement of legs to give them with.

"Too right you do. I'm afraid we're going to have to end this now though. We have to get back to the Crystal Empire to get ready for the big announcement and our train's waiting for us. See you soon Twily, love you."

"Bye Shining! Love you too b.b.b.f.f!"

"Take care Twilight, see you soon."

"Bye Cadence! Congratulations again!" The stone went quiet, and for a moment Twilight's sadness at them going battled with her joy at them having a baby. Ultimately, the joy won, and Twilight flew laps around the room, shouting excitedly. "I'm going to be an aunt! I'm going to be an aunt!"

"So I've heard," Daybreak said from his spot lounging against the doorway as he watched her with obvious amusement.

"Gah!" Twilight almost flew into the wall, but saved it and wobbled down into a shaky landing in front of him. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry, but I didn't think it appropriate to interrupt you in the middle of all that. Congratulations, by the way."

"Thanks!" Twilight couldn't help grinning again.

"If you want me to come back later..?"

"No no, I'm fine. Life doesn't stop just because I'm going to be an aunt! Eeeeee!!" She retook her place at the table while Daybreak stood across from her, "Ahem, so, first things first." She pointed at the flag, "What the heck is that about!?"

"Nimble Stitch made it. I thought it was pretty good myself."

"But we don't want the Lady on the flag!"

"No, you don't want the Lady on the flag. A lot of the other ponies here like it, and frankly I don't see the problem with it."

Twilight could tell she wasn't going to win that fight, "Fine, but could you at least tell me why it still has the golden tree on it."

"You don't know the legend of the golden tree?"

"Should I?"

"If you want to know why it's on the flag, then yes." Twilight waved a hoof for him to continue, "Long ago, a huge golden tree grew in these lands, and beneath this tree the first ponies awoke, unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi. The tree grew the most amazing fruit, and the three tribes worked together to take care of the tree. The earth ponies tended the roots of the tree, ensuring it kept growing strong, while the pegasi created rainclouds to water the tree, and made sure the worst weather kept away from it. The unicorns, with their delicate magic, picked the fruit and shared it out equally between the three tribes.”

“However, as time went on the tree began to sicken and die, and the three tribes blamed each other, saying that the earth ponies didn't tend the tree right, or the pegasi didn't water it enough, or the unicorns were too greedy, picking extra fruit to keep to themselves, weakening the tree. Finally the tree died and the three tribes were forever at each other’s throats after that. On a side note, it's said that the tree made one last fruit before it died, containing a magical seed. The Lady apparently came and took it away, though what for nopony knows."

"Okay, but why is it on the flag?"

Daybreak rolled his eyes, "It's a symbol of unity Twilight. All three tribes living and working together for the greater good."

"Then why does the Duke have it?"

"Because it can also be construed as the thing that tore us apart and divided us. Something that the Dukes' were rather into. Hopefully we can restore its true meaning."

Once again Twilight found herself with no practical reason to reject that, although she couldn't help but puzzle as to why the Duchy would adopt a symbol of unity as their flag, no matter however else it might be construed. "Fine, you win, the flag stays. Could you at least tell me what the row of stars is about?"

"They represent the six tenets of the Lady."

"Of course they do..." Twilight sighed bitterly, "What are they then?"

"Loyalty, laughter, generosity, kindness, honesty, and faith."

Twilight went blank for a moment, as her suspicions had, for the most part, been correct. Apart from one thing at least. "Faith?"

"Yep, faith. Faith in a new dawn, a better tomorrow, or even faith in getting a warm bed and a good breakfast." Twilight nodded, as it was at least an acceptable form of faith, rather than the 'thou must believeth in me' rubbish she had been expecting. They could’ve just called it hope to keep it simple. Still though, she couldn't help but wonder how five of the tenets and five of the Elements were the same. There was something bigger going on here, bigger than she could currently make sense of, and it bugged her.

"Couldn't we have just made the flag include the tenets without having the big silver alicorn there as well?"

"Twilight, this is happening, deal with it." So that, apparently, was that. "Besides I didn't come all this way to talk about you not liking the flag. We have much bigger problems."

"Such as?"

"Either the Duke has caught wind of what we're up to, or he's just a suspicious bastard, but he's buying up food from the farms. Surprisingly charitable considering his usual methods, but this does mean that food that was meant to be sold in Neigh Orleans is being diverted elsewhere."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that without the food and supplies that Celestia promised us, Neigh Orleans will be starving in three to four weeks, at best."

"But how can we get the ships in without taking the city first?"

"Hence why I'm here. We need to take Neigh Orleans in the next two to three weeks if we're to have any chance of pulling this off. On a brighter note though, if we can spread the news of what the Duke has done around the city it should mean a lot more ponies would side with us."

"Or make ponies resent us because we gave the Duke a reason to do this."

"Possibly..." Daybreak conceded.

Twilight could feel her heart beating through her chest, "We're not ready! Nopony has had enough training to do this, and I haven't taught anywhere near enough unicorns magic to give us a real advantage."

"I realise that Twilight, but as you said yourself, we need to be flexible to deal with the unexpected. There are no soldiers in Neigh Orleans at the moment, which gives us a decent advantage, but we will still have to contend with the city guard. We outnumber them, just, but they can still pose a threat if we're not careful. We have two weeks Twilight, so make the best of them."

Twilight took a few calming breaths, "Right, two more weeks of training and preparation. Okay, we can do this. I'm guessing you know where Fleur is right now?"

"More or less."

"Right, tell her and the filly to come back here as soon as they can. Between you, me, my friends, and yours, I'm sure we can come up with a decent plan."

"Because we're screwed if we don't?"

"Pretty much."

Author's Notes:

Just a shortish chapter with some guff in, mostly to help me establish a timeline for things in my head. Yes Celestia and Luna are being idiots. It's intentional.