Twilight was surprised to find that the square had been cleaned up in the time she had been gone, with the piles of weapons and armour cleared away along with the scattered remains of the statue. She deposited Summer on the ground and landed before heading over to the concert hall. The unicorn standing guard spat out his cigarette and stood to attention as she approached, "Ma'am."

"At ease soldier. Is Daybreak around?"

The guard relaxed and returned to leaning against the doorway, Twilight taking note of how tired he looked. "No ma'am, he's at city hall with some of your friends. He said you should head over there and get cleaned up as soon as you could."

"Cleaned up? But I'm not that dirty." She looked over herself; her hooves were caked in mud, her clothes were filthy along with her sling, and she had specks of blood on her, the origin of which she didn't want to think too hard on. "Okay, point taken."

"Is Octavia there?" Summer asked.

"I believe so ma'am." Summer looked to Twilight in an obvious hint that she wanted to get going.

Twilight nodded before addressing the soldier again, "Thank you. I'll try and get Daybreak to organise some shifts once the meeting is over, let some of you get some rest."

The guard smiled, "Thank you ma'am." Twilight took off again, dragging Summer along behind her as she flew towards city hall. She landed at the entrance, paying attention to the blood stains at both sides of the door, casting a spell to remove them before entering.

"About time you got here!" a haggard looking Daybreak said as soon as she entered. "Where have you been?"

"It took longer to sort the pegasi out than I thought," Twilight said, not wanting to reveal she'd also had a little nap in the intervening time. "They're at Puddingarde now, being looked after by Nimble Stitch."

"Good, that's one less thing to worry about."

"What's all the other things?"

"Well there's the fact that some ponies decided it'd be fun to start looting once news got out that the city guard were out of action, which Trixie put a stop to."

"You let her sort out something like that?"

"She's good at getting ponies attention, but don't worry, she was gentle." Twilight could only imagine what he meant by that. "Then there's the big speech you're supposed to give in a couple of hours. I also have to work on keeping the city running as normal using ponies who have no idea how to do such a thing while trying to sort out giving some of our ponies a break. Too many problems, not enough solutions."

"Do you want help? Have you considered asking the ponies that normally work here?"

"Funny enough a lot of ponies didn't turn up for work today, so yeah, help would be nice, but you need to get yourself washed up and looking presentable. I've already got Octavia helping me out going through the treasury while Trixie is out on the streets with the soldiers I've had to put on patrol, and Snowbright and Mason are still working at the guards headquarters so they're busy. Once the speech is over we can hopefully release the captured guards and their families, freeing up a lot more ponies."

"Where's the treasury?" asked Summer.

Daybreak pointed down a hallway to the right, "Down there, second on the right around the corner." Summer hurried off, clearly eager to get back to Octavia. "While you're getting cleaned up you might want to check in with Fleur."

"Why?"

"You'll see." He gave her directions upstairs which Twilight followed, finding herself in an overstated bathroom filled with more marble than necessary. Fleur was also there, head hanging over the sink as she scrubbed her horn with a brush.

"Hey Fleur," Twilight said to her. Fleur seemed confused for a moment, pausing before returning the greeting.

"Hi Twilight." She said nothing more and returned to her scrubbing, the bristles scratching along her horn. scritch scritch scritch.

"You know, your horn looks perfectly clean Fleur."

"Mmhmm." Scritch scritch scritch.

"If you do that too much you could leave marks. I'm pretty sure you don't want to do that."

"Mmhmm." Scritch scratch scritch.

"Is something wrong Fleur? You're acting weird."

"I'm fine Twilight." Scritch scritch scritch.

"Are you sure about that?"

"I said I'm fine!" Twilight stepped back, but not far enough to miss the spray of spittle that came from Fleur who was now staring at her, her eyes full of hurt and anger. Fleur snapped her head back to the mirror and continued scrubbing her horn, more forcefully than before.

Twilight took the brush in her magic and gently wrestled it away from Fleur's own magic, Fleur having a snowball's chance in hell of stopping the alicorn from taking it. Twilight dropped the brush next to the sink and sat next to the now slumped over Fleur. "Talk to me Fleur."

"I killed him Twilight, stabbed him in the eye with my own horn. I-I-I just did it, without thinking, but now the fighting's over I can't stop thinking about it. I'm t-trying to be strong, for you, but I look at my horn and all I can think of is his blood on it. I... I close my eyes and all I can hear is his screaming as I killed him. I know he was trying to kill us, so I don't know why I feel this way!"

Twilight hugged the distraught unicorn, albeit awkwardly due to the leg issue, "I know Fleur, believe me I know."

"I'm being stupid..."

"No, you're being a pony. You're not a killer Fleur, so its okay to be upset when you're forced to do so."

"Ponies around here don't seem to have a problem with it, and I'm from here so why does it bother me so much?"

"I'm pretty sure that's not how it works Fleur. I know ponies here seem to accept it, but I'm sure even the worse kind of pony here still gets upset the first time they take a life."

"I'm sorry if I made you feel this way before. I'm such a hypocrite for telling you to just get over it."

"Actually I've come to realise that I am being too hard on myself. I'm not going to say you're being too hard on yourself, because I have no right to, but you were right in that I needed to pull myself together."

"Which you did. Now I'm the one falling to pieces instead."

"Which you're allowed to do, but you can't let it consume you like I almost did. I wish it was otherwise, but these are bad ponies who would kill us and probably take satisfaction from it. I may not like it but I don't intend to let them kill me without a fight, even if it hurts me to do it. After all, we're only ponies."

"I know that Twilight. I'm just being a bit of a diva, getting in a strop because I got blood on my beautiful horn." Fleur swept her mane to the side and pouted.

"Heh, liar. Besides, your horn is now one hundred percent blood, brain, and eyeball goop free."

Fleur snorted a bitter laugh, "You know, if I had said something like that to you a few hours ago you wouldn't have been very happy."

Twilight shrugged and grinned, "I never said I'm not a hypocrite." Twilight suddenly looked serious and turned Fleur's head so she could look her in the eyes.

"You know, if you're about to kiss me, that's in extremely bad taste."

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Are you on top of this Fleur? I know you lot keep going on about how much you need me for this mission, but has it never occurred to you that maybe I need you guys just as much?"

Fleur sighed and nodded, "Yeah I'm okay. I just need to clean my horn a bit more."

"Fleur..."

"Kidding, kidding." Fleur sighed, "Mostly. But yeah, I'm on it." Fleur hugged Twilight and after a few moments managed to pull herself away from the mirror to get dressed back into her uniform. "I really wish Nimble had taken my measurements better," she grumbled.

"You were measured!? I didn't even know these uniforms existed until I was given one to put on."

"Really? Huh. They were my idea actually. I got it after I mistakenly stole a cart full of cloth."

Twilight pulled her vest off over her head, "What were you trying to steal? Wow I can't believe I said that like it's normal."

"I thought it was full of food. It was my first day on the job, and I might have been a little ambitious."

"'Head of underhoofed acquisitions,'" Twilight said with a chuckle. "I couldn't believe it when that one crossed my desk."

"Yeah, well, I was going to bring it up with you but I thought you were still mad after the whole 'for the Lady' stunt I pulled."

"I was kinda mad, yes, but not to the point I wasn't going to talk to you. I couldn't stay mad at you anyway, you're too damn cute for that."

"Oh? Tell me more." Fleur fluttered her eyelashes at Twilight who groaned as she realised her mistake.

"No-no-no! I meant the other kind of cute, as in like a cat or a dog is cute! I mean, I realise how you might have misinterpreted what I said, due to how easy it would be to do so, but that's not what I meant at all!" Twilight's cheeks burned with how much she was blushing. "I'm going to shut up now."

"You're cute when you babble."

"Not listening."

A mare Twilight didn't recognise poked her head through the door of the sitting room she inhabited with Fleur and the two young fillies Fleur had found the previous day, "Ma'am, it's almost time."

"Thank you. Tell Daybreak we'll be there in a few minutes." The mare left again, returning to Twilight her chance to resume pacing with nerves.

"I refuse to believe that a princess is nervous about speaking in public."

"I'm not afraid of public speaking Fleur, I just haven't had a chance to work this all out. If I could make some cue cards or something I'd be better, but I'm having to make this up as I go."

"And I think you're overthinking this. We're all going to be out there with you, so relax Twilight, you'll be fine. You'll also be late if you don't get out there. I'm going to take the girls and head off since we have to walk there and stuff."

"Okay, I-uh... I'll see you in a bit then." Fleur left and Twilight sat down hard. Wasn't she allowed to be nervous about announcing that she was about to drag the entire country into a civil war? Not even a teensy bit? If she totally honest with herself, making this announcement was more nerve-wracking than the war itself since so much hinged on her not messing this up. She couldn't even do the breathing exercise Cadence taught her to calm down thanks to her leg. Or could she?

She wriggled her leg out of her sling and held what there was of her leg to her chest, before stretching it out as she slowly exhaled. She stopped though as the end of her leg jiggled weirdly, and against her better judgment she looked. The end of her leg was flatter than it used to be, and when she touched it with her magic she could feel lots of hard lumps that moved around slightly.

"What the..? Is this supposed to be my ankle?" A cold shiver moved down her spine and she put her leg back into her leg as fast as she could, "Gross-gross-gross-gross-gross-gross-gross-eww!! Now I feel even worse! Stupid alicorn body!"

Deciding that dwelling on that was probably the last thing she needed to do she dragged herself outside and took to the air. This at least was one definite advantage of recent events; the ability to fly around unhindered, even if a number of the ponies below her hated her simply for having wings.

Twilight put such negativity away, instead focusing on the thousands of ponies gathering in the square. She headed straight for the statue, figuring that a grand sweeping entrance probably wasn't going to be appreciated by the ponies around here.

"About time you got here!" Daybreak snapped as soon as she landed. "Where have you been?"

"Oh, you know, thinking, stressing, pacing, and thinking some more. Freaking out over my slowly regrowing leg and some other stuff. Why? What have you been up to?"

"Much the same, but without the regrowing my leg part. Do you know what you're going to say to these ponies?"

"Sort of, but how well it's going to go down is open to debate." Twilight looked up, seeing that the sun was high in the sky, indicating that it was probably roughly midday, "Right, no time like the present..."

Trixie leaned in and grinned, "Surely, from a purely physical perspective there is no other time but the present?"

Twilight's mouth flapped a few times before she shook her head, "Nope, I'm too busy to get dragged into that right now." She spread her wings, and with a couple of flaps made her way to the top of the statue pedestal. She looked over the crowd, taking in the throng of thousands ponies before her and noticing the overwhelming ratio of unicorns to earth ponies there was here. She cleared her throat and cast a quick spell to amplify her voice before speaking.

"Excuse me, could I have your attention please!" She waited a few moments for the noise to die down and for as many ponies as possible to turn their attention to her. "I'd like to thank you all for coming today. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am the leader of the Mareitania Liberation Front. I'm sure that by now you've heard the rumours that we have taken control of this city away from the Duke. These rumours are completely true."

Excited chatter rippled through the crowd, and Twilight waited for it to quieten down before continuing. "Our eventual goal is to liberate all of Mareitania from the Duke, because, to be frank, his madness, and the madness of all the Dukes needs to end. All ponies should be free and equal, earth ponies, unicorns, and even the pegasi. I know some of you have strong feelings towards the pegasi, so for now they will not be living amongst you. But make no mistake in thinking that they, or any other pony kinds, are beneath you. Any and all tribalism will not be tolerated. We. Are. All. Equal."

Twilight couldn't help but notice that a lot of ponies seemed uncomfortable receiving that little tidbit of news, but she persevered. "As for the meantime, life should continue as normal for a great many of you. With the removal of the old guards we will be implementing a new guard, and anypony that wishes to apply for a position will be able to do so. Once we feel it is safe enough, we will release the old guards and their loved ones from our custody."

"What about the ones you killed!?" a mare screamed from the crowd. Twilight couldn't help but sigh.

"Believe me when I say I wish we could have spared them all, but those guards that were killed chose to side with the unicorn hunters within the city." Many unicorns seemed worried by the mention of those ponies, leaving Twilight confused at just how well known 'They' were within Mareitania. She sure wished somepony had told her about them before their first meeting outside the caverns. "I regret each and every death that happened last night, and I know that they were only fulfilling their duty, but sadly their deaths were unavoidable in the situation."

"What about us though!?" a stallion yelled from the crowd, "There's no food!"

"We are aware of the food situation, and I wish I knew why the Duke would do something like this. Rest assured though that food is on its way, and it'll be here once the barrier to the ocean has been demolished in a few days time."

"You're giving us food?" a mare asked hopefully.

"Some food will be donated to certain charitable institutes within the city, but the majority will be sold through the usual traders as soon as possible. I wish we could give it all away for free, but doing that would irreparably damage the economy." Several 'boo's' drifted into Twilight's ears, and even Twilight had to admit what she said didn't sound great even if it were true.

"Lastly, I implore you, the citizens of not only Neigh Orleans, but of all Mareitania, to join us in our struggle. Surely none of you wish for a return to the horrible, murderous methods of the Duke? If you want to join us in the fight against the tyranny of the Duke please talk to any of the ponies in our uniforms. All we ask is that you believe in freedom and equality for all. For those who don't wish to join us, I ask that you keep your peace in the hopes that one day you will understand what we're trying to do. Thank you." Worst speech ever...

Twilight glided off the pedestal and landed by her friends, where Trixie immediately criticised her. "Trixie really doesn't think these ponies care about the economy. They just want free food."

"I know, but that doesn't make what I said less true. Besides, we need the money we get from selling these supplies to the traders to sell on. Nothing will actually change from how they normally get food."

"You will be keeping an eye on the traders to make sure they're not inflating their prices?" asked Fleur.

"Of course." Twilight looked back to the crowd, and was pleasantly surprised to see a large number heading towards them and the other ponies around her, asking to join. "Nice to see that speech moved some of the ponies here."

"Yeah, well," Fleur shrugged, "some would join just for kicks. Anyway, if we want to keep everypony fed and supplied you better get that barrier torn down asap."

"Yeah..." Twilight stared off into the distance for a moment before coming back to. "Right, I'll need quite a few unicorns, so Fleur, Trixie, you're coming with me."

"Not this time," said Fleur. "The filly and I are taking these fillies back to the orphanage and finding out what exactly is going on there."

Octavia suddenly perked up, "Uh, do you mind if I join you? I have something I wish to discuss with you." Her eyes twitched towards Summer, "Privately. Twilight? I don't suppose you have something Summer can do?"

"Bluh? Uhhh... Um. Ooh! I could take her for a flying lesson! Summer?"

The pegasus's eyes widened and she grinned happily, "Yes please!" Twilight smiled back, but did feel a slight pang of guilt when she saw the filly's face.

"Perfect!" Octavia exclaimed, "Lead on Fleur." Fleur let the two fillies lead the way while Octavia and the filly followed behind, leaving Twilight with Trixie and Summer.

"Right, I guess we're going to need some boats for this."

Trixie gasped mockingly, "You mean to tell Trixie that Twilight Sparkle can't walk on water?"

Twilight thought back to her training she received from Zecora when she was, ironically, trying to stop Trixie. "Actually Trixie, yes I can, but I don't need to," she ruffled her feathers, "when I got these. The boats are for you and the others."

Trixie look like she wanted to say something, and attempted to a few times before begrudgingly admitting defeat. "Touché. I guess you really know how to shut Trixie up."

"You seem to be referring to yourself in the third pony a lot again."

"Am I? Trixie hadn't noticed..." Twilight pulled a face in the hopes Trixie might catch on, "Ahem, I mean, I hadn't noticed. Shut up."

Twilight grinned, but forced herself towards other, more important things, "Daybreak? I'm going to need some boats."

"Why? Can't you walk on water?"

"You heard that, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"So," Fleur said questioningly as she followed behind the three fillies who were chatting between themselves, "what's on your mind?"

Octavia's face screwed up as she tried to think of the best way to put it, "It's about Summer. She keeps acting rather peculiar towards me."

"You're going to have to give me a bit more to work with here."

"Right, sorry. Um... how to say this... She keeps trying to kiss me, and I'm fairly sure she wants to-uh, take it further if you know what I mean."

Fleur snorted with laughter, "Really? Good grief Octavia! I suspect that means she's attracted to you."

"I know that!" Octavia blurted a bit loudly, blushing when some bystanders turned to look at her. "I just don't understand why when I've never given her any indication that I like her in such a manner. And I wouldn't anyway since I'm not into mares."

The filly cocked her head back over her shoulder and gave Octavia her most malicious grin, "What? Not even if she offered to play with your hooves?"

"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Octavia spluttered, but it was very obvious from her blush that she knew full well what the filly meant.

"No? That's funny... You sure seemed to enjoy that pony whipping your hooves when we were taken prisoner, and don't deny it, I saw the snail trails down your back legs after."

"Shut up filly!"

"And I'm still wondering when you're going to use those stockings you picked up in Prance as bandages..."

"I swear to Celestia filly! If you don't shut up I'm going to tie you to a brick and throw you in the river!" Octavia was almost glowing she was blushing that hard.

"Promises, promises." The filly cantered forward a few steps to narrowly avoid the kick Octavia directed at her rear.

Fleur fought to hide her amusement, "Calm yourself down Octavia, everypony has their own little quirks and fetishes. I for one enjoy spanking."

"But doesn't that hurt if its done too hard?"

"Maybe? I don't know. None of the stallions seem to complain."

"Excuse me?"

"Anyway, this is getting totally off topic. How about you tell me exactly what's going on to make you think she has the hots for you so bad." Octavia did so, starting with the kiss in the operating room, and ending with Summer almost forcing herself on Octavia the previous night, along with some other observations she had made of Summer's behaviour towards her. Fleur let out a long, slow whistle, "Yeah, she got it bad for you."

"And I could live with that if I was able to let her down gently, but she's so sensitive! I could also live with it if I knew why she was being so forceful towards me. I really don't want to hurt her Fleur, but I can't have her forcing herself on me. Who know where she draws the line for what's too much?"

Fleur sighed and rolled her eyes. As much as she liked Octavia, Twilight, and Trixie, sometimes their naivety got on her nerves. Even the filly was more savvy on some subjects than they were. "What did Summer used to be Octavia?"

"Well, a slave I suppose."

"More specifically..."

"A sex slave?"

"Yep. How did you think her... lets call them... clients, treat her? Do you think they bought her flowers and a drink first?"

"Of course not! They just forced themselves... upon... her... Oh." Octavia groaned and hung her head, "I am such an idiot."

"You sort of are. That poor filly hasn't been shown an ounce of genuine affection in her entire life, beyond what little her mother might have given her. You're the pony she's closest to so I'm not surprised she's trying to reciprocate those affections, but she's doing it in the only way she really knows how. She's never been shown love before so she sure as hell doesn't know how to show it to somepony else."

"But what am I going to do?"

"Tell her straight that it's not going to happen. Obviously you have to be a little tactful about it, but you can't let things keep going like this." Octavia nodded sadly. That was one conversation she wasn't looking forward to.

Twilight stood in her little rowing boat with Trixie and Summer and stared at the barrier, all two miles of it, arching out into the ocean. It must have been one hell of a project when it was being constructed, and very impressive seeing as how the barrier was easily over a thousand years old. Even when the barrier joined with the bank of the Mareissippi it continued up out of the water and joined with a wall that merged into the mountains on either side.

"Still think we can tear this thing down so easily?" Trixie asked. Trixie wasn't about to admit it but part of her wanted to see Twilight to give up without even trying.

"I never said it was going to be easy. I just hadn't expected it to be so big if I'm honest. We don't need to pull the whole thing down though, just a gap big enough for ships to get through." She kept propelling the boat towards the barrier until it bumped up against the massive rocks it was composed of, the smallest of which was easily as big as ten ponies.

"So then," Trixie gestured at the barrier and smiled at Twilight, "get to work." Twilight swallowed and focused her magic on a rock at the top of the barrier, lifting it clear. Problem was that now she didn't know what to do with it.

"Any ideas?"

"Launch it out to sea?"

"I suppose that's an option..." She steadied herself and prepared to throw it. That was her first mistake. Or second if you consider thinking of throwing it as her first. As she threw the boulder the opposite force pushed the rowing boat back a dozen meters in the space of a second, tipping Twilight out while the boulder only clipped off the top of the barrier, dislodging more boulders which tumbled down the other side.

Twilight surfaced to the unsurprising sight of Trixie laughing her ass off while Summer quivered in the rear of the boat. "Please don't do that again," she whimpered.

"Trust me, I have no intentions of trying that again. Can't believe I thought that was a good idea." She teleported back into the boat and shook herself mostly dry, enjoying Trixie's outrage as she flicked water all over the unicorn. "So, any other suggestions?"

"Can't you harness the power of the sun to vaporise the barrier or something?"

"Harness the power of the sun?" Twilight stared incredulously at Trixie, "Is this that stupid 'Sol Invictus' rubbish? Because I can tell you now that it's really not true."

"Which is exactly what Celestia wants you to think," Trixie stated. "It's no secret that she's the most powerful of all the alicorns."

"She's no more powerful than the rest of us! The only real difference is her thousand years of experience. If Luna hadn't been on the moon then she would be just as good. Now can I have a serious suggestion on what to do with these boulders."

"Can't we do what they're doing?" said Summer, who was pointing across the river. Twilight turned to see what Summer was looking at, which turned out to be the other unicorns who were passing a boulder from boat to boat before dropping it on the banks of the river.

"Oh," Twilight muttered, "I guess we could do that." She picked up a boulder and moved it towards the riverbank, depositing it in the shallows. She was about to pick up another when the telltale sound of dark magic made her wince.

"Don't give me that face," Trixie growled, "its the only way I can lift these damn boulders." Trixie hefted a boulder the size of a small cottage into the air and moved it to where Twilight had left hers. She grinned darkly before picking up another and repeating the process.

"This is it," said Dolly after stopping outside the door of a large and semi dilapidated building. It was a good job too because outwardly there was no indication of this building being any different to the others around here.

"Yeesh, talk about your fixer-upper," the filly muttered before following after the two younger fillies as they headed inside. The interior was little better, and possible seemed colder than outside. It also smelled terribly of damp.

"Do you know where Miss Tenderlove might be?" Fleur asked the two fillies.

"She might be in her office," Pickle told her. "We can take you there but we're not going in. There's no way I want to see her ever again." She led them to a room at the back of the building, "In there."

"Thanks guys. I promise I'll get to the bottom of why she would do this."

"Hah!" the filly laughed, "Good pun!" She wilted under the combined weight of all their glares. "Bottom? Of why she's making them... y'know..." She hung her head with shame, "I'm an awful pony."

"Zip it filly." Fleur waited a few seconds for Dolly and Pickle to run off before knocking. Silence. Fleur knocked again, but there was still no answer. She placed her ear to the door and raised an eyebrow at the sound of snoring coming from within. "There's definitely somepony in there..."

"Should we just go in then?" asked Octavia.

"I guess so." Fleur turned the handle in her magic and pushed the door open to the sight of a pale pink unicorn with delicate yellow curls slumped over a desk while cuddling an empty bottle. "Oh for goodness sake." She was about to shake the pony awake when she noticed the dried remains of tears on her cheeks.

Suddenly feeling unsure about the situation she changed tact and pulled the bottle out of the unicorn's grip before shaking her gently. "Miss Tenderlove? Wake up please." The unicorn groaned and blinked a few times before looking up at her new visitors.

"Oh! Oh I'm sorry. Just give me a second." She took a moment to rub the remains of her tears away before trying to put on a brave face. Then she focused on the filly, "Ah... I'm afraid that if you were hoping to leave her here I'm not sure we really have the room."

"Nah, that's alright, she can just sleep in a cupboard or something," Fleur joked, though none of the others appreciated it, least of all the filly.

"Hey!"

"Joking, joking. Actually we're here to bring Dolly and Pickle back. Care to explain why they were in city hall being stuffed full of the mayors... Well, stuffed full of the mayor?"

"Fleur!" Octavia protested while Tenderlove folded her ears and shrank back, the beginnings of fresh tears building in her eyes.

"Are- Are they alright?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"As fine as they could be given the situation," Fleur answered. Tenderlove looked away and Fleur felt herself soften at the sorrowful expression the pink unicorn wore. "What's going on? Why were they there?"

"I'm sorry!" Tenderlove cried, "It's all my fault! I never wanted them to get hurt!" Fleur looked to both Octavia and the filly, both of whom shrugged with confusion, not knowing what to make of the situation.

"Then why were they there?" she reiterated as calmly as possible.

"T-to make money for the orphanage..."

"You whore these kids out!?"

"No! Never!"

"Then why were they there!?" Fleur glared at Tenderlove, determined that she wasn't going to leave until she got an answer. Tenderlove must've picked up on that because she wiped the tears out of her eyes and tried to pull herself together.

"Please, let me explain. I was fifteen when I started this place, but I needed money to make it work so I asked the mayor. He wasn't interested in the slightest so I begged him, saying I'd do anything." She sighed, "He took me at my word. He... used me, and gave me some money to get this place started, but the money didn't last long, and every time I had to ask for more he- he-" She rubbed a fresh tear away. "It was worth it to me because I had given the orphans of Neigh Orleans a place where they were safe, even if I had to give myself to the mayor to get it."

"But then you got older," the filly sighed.

"Filly!" Octavia scolded, "Don't be rude."

"Actually, she's right. That bastard mayor started demanding that I let him use some of my charges if I wanted more money, and I-I-I didn't know what else to do..." She hung her head and sobbed, "Dolly and Pickle were just the latest... I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I swear I never wanted any of this to happen! I just want to look after my kids."

Tenderlove burst into another round of tears, sobbing openly as they looked at her. Fleur's anger completely died on her. She had come here ready to hate this pony and drag her out into the light, exposing her crimes to all. Instead all she had was a hollow feeling. "It's alright Miss Tenderlove, we understand."

"Y-you do?"

"I do, and I can tell you now that things are going to change. I'll get you your funding and then you can do this properly."

"But the mayor! He'll never agree to this!"

Fleur held up a hoof, "The mayor is no longer a problem."

"He isn't? How?"

The filly sniggered, "Boy you really missed a lot while you were drunk off your ass."

"What are you thinking Fleur?" Octavia asked.

"I'm thinking that I am sick of the young having to suffer for the mistakes of others. There are far too many orphans in Mareitania with nopony to look after them, so I'm going to do what I can to fix that."

Twilight stood in the center of the boat, directing Summer as the pegasus wobbled through the air around them. "That's it Summer, that's it! You're doing great! Remember not to angle your wings too much or you'll lose altitude."

"Who'd have thought she'd have it in her," Trixie said from her spot lounging in the back of the boat, watching Summer fly past again with a lazy eye.

"All pegasi know how to fly at some level, and Summer said that she did use to try flying before her captors stopped her. It's more like she's remembering how to fly rather than learn it." Twilight smiled as she watched Summer bank around and head for the boat, but the smile quickly faded. "You're coming in too fast Summer, slow down!"

"I can't!" Summer missed a beat of her wings and dropped towards the river with a shout. Thankfully Twilight had managed to catch her in her magic before she got drenched. Twilight deposited her in the boat, Summer's wings sagging by her sides. "Sorry Twilight, my wings hurt and I'm tired."

"It's fine Summer. Your wings haven't been used much so they will wear out quick until you build some strength in them. Have a drink and a rest and then maybe you can have another go." Summer nodded and drank greedily from the canteen Twilight offered to her before curling up in the bottom of the boat and falling asleep a few minutes later.

"Wish I could fall asleep that easily," Trixie grumbled.

"As horrible as it is to say, she's used to sleeping in boats."

"I think there's quite a bit of difference between this and the big ass thing she was on before."

"Okay, yes, granted, but there's also the fact that she hasn't slept in some time. You've been up just as long, surely you must be tired?"

"A bit, but not as much as you'd think, which is strange because the Great and Powerful Trixie does like her beauty sleep."

"Trixie, can I ask you something?"

"As long as it doesn't involve maths."

"Doesn't any of this bother you?"

"Moving rocks? Um...no?"

"Uh, okay, I might not have been very clear then. I mean the fighting, and hurting ponies. Killing them..."

"Well... no, not really. We're not all as pathetic as you are when it comes to this."

"Not wanting to kill ponies isn't pathetic!" Twilight bared her teeth, but Trixie didn't even move.

"Not what I meant. The only ponies I actually want to kill are the Duke and his missus. Maybe the Viscount too. Anypony else dying is just an unfortunate byproduct of them getting in Trixie's way."

"And that's it? Death to anypony standing between you and the Duke? What's wrong with you Trixie? You weren't like this before."

"Before what? Before I found that my entire family had been burnt alive as an 'example?' The problem is that you don't have the right motivation Twilight. You want to help ponies, which is noble and all, but killing ponies is kinda counterintuitive to that. Look at Fleur, she wants to tear the Duke down, and killing doesn't bother her. Don't really know about Octavia though."

"Actually it does bother Fleur." Twilight shared what had happened in the bathroom in city hall earlier in the day. "Leaving you as the only pony with no issues about killing."

"Apart from Octavia."

"I can hardly expect her to be okay with it Trixie. You're the only pony who doesn't have a problem with it, and I think I know why."

Trixie sighed and rolled her eyes, "Here we go..."

"This dark magic is changing you Trixie, and not for the better."

"Blah blah blah... What proof do you have that its changing me?"

"How about that?" Twilight pointed to the tip of Trixie's horn, which had discoloured even further since Deal Good's defeat, having picked up a slight orangey tinge.

"Huh... I hadn't noticed that. But that is hardly proof of the radical psychological changes you think I've gone through."

"I also think your horn's slightly bent."

"Things happening to my horn is the hardly the issue! They are just minor side effects! If you don't have anything else to say then I suggest you shut up. I need this magic to fight the Duke, and surely that's more important than anything else? Or is it that you're jealous? You're no longer the special snowflake with amazing magic? You hate having to share the limelight with another pony who's just as good at magic as you!"

Twilight sighed sadly. Clearly there was no reasoning with Trixie over this. "Sombra was driven mad by the use of dark magic. He enslaved the entire Crystal Empire and sought to spread his darkness throughout the land."

"So naturally that's exactly what I'm going to do? Get real Twilight."

"No, but after the alicorn amulet I thought you'd be more wary of the corrupting influence of dark magic."

"Totally. Different. Thing. I'm done discussing this Twilight. Let's get back to work."

Fleur stormed up the steps of city hall, part of her happily noticing that the blood stains were gone, and asked a pony where Daybreak was. She was directed to the mayors office, and stomped the entire way there, her resolve making her be altogether too brusque with ponies that were technically on her side. She threw open the doors to the office, stepped in, and bellowed, "Daybreak!"

The was a swoosh of paper as the unicorn bolted upright, "I swear I was just resting my eyes!"

Fleur watched the cloud of paper he created floated back onto the desk. "What?" she asked, having been completely thrown off track.

"Nothing!"

Fleur shook her head and tried to regain her focus, "Whatever. I need something from you."

"Yeah? You and everypony else within a mile of this place!" He groaned and rubbed his eyes, "What is it you want Fleur?"

"I need funding for the orphanage in town."

Daybreak stared at her like he was waiting for the punch line, "Uh... no? Or rather yes, but not right now."

"Why not now?"

"I've had ponies going through the treasury records, and not once is there any mention of the treasury funding any orphanages. I'm trying to do a hundred and one things here Fleur, so I'm afraid your request is going to have to wait its turn."

Fleur narrowed her eyes at Daybreak before smiling sweetly, "Of course, what was I thinking?" She walked toward the desk and rested her elbows on it before cupping her chin with her hooves. "Tell me Daybreak, how big are you down there?"

"I really don't think that's appropriate Fleur."

"Big enough to satisfy your wife though?"

"Well, yeah, but that's hardly the point. What is this Fleur?"

"What do you think, handsome?"

"That you're offering to scratch my back if I scratch yours."

"Oh? And how should I do that?"

"I don't know, but it sure seems like you're offering to have sex with me..."

Fleur giggled, "Ooh you are a cheeky one aren't you. She then slammed her hooves down on the desk, "You're also completely wrong! What I'm offering you is the chance to continue satisfying your wife because I won't have to geld you because you gave me what I asked for."

Daybreak held Fleur's glare, "I'm pretty sure there's laws against this kind of extortion. And if there isn't I'm sure as hell going to make some."

"Daybreak..." Fleur said dangerously.

"Alright! I don't know what we have spare right now, but I'll get it some funding as soon as I can. In the mean time I can probably donate some of the incoming food if it makes you feel better!"

"You're a darling Daybreak." Fleur flounced out of the office leaving a muttering Daybreak behind.

"Crazy fucking mares with their crazy... craziness!"

Fleur continued around the corner and stopped when she found the others there, including Tenderlove, with Octavia giving Fleur her most disapproving glare, "I hope that's not how you intend to treat all our allies?"

"Of course not. Just the ones holding the purse strings."

"You did it then?" Tenderlove asked hopefully, "You got the orphanage funding?"

"Not at the moment, but you will be getting some food donations in the meantime."

"That's wonderful! As long as the children are fed I can wait for anything else!" The mare gave Fleur a hug, which Fleur returned rather awkwardly since she wasn't expecting it. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Fleur gingerly patted the unicorn on the back, "That's quite alright. Now hadn't you better be heading back to look after your kids, and maybe have a talk with Dolly and Pickle?"

Tenderlove's face fell slightly, "Yes, of course. Thank you so much for this. You've made a real difference in the lives of so many young ponies."

"Oh, I haven't even started yet."

"Isn't this going to let a whole load of salt water into the river?" Trixie asked, a little randomly.

"Well... yes, of course it is."

"Isn't that going to like, kill the bayou?"

"It might do..." Twilight admitted. "Hopefully the bayou is far enough away to survive it. Besides, the benefit outweighs the cost." Twilight looked at Trixie out the corner of her eye, "Since when are you so concerned about the environmental impact of doing this?"

"Oh I'm sorry! Is Trixie not being monstrous and evil enough for you?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it. What I meant was that even I hadn't really thought about it until you said, and I overthink everything."

"Really? I thought Twilight Sparkle would've been all over the environmental impact of doing this."

"And she would've- Ugh, I mean, I would've been if not doing this was really an option. Anyway, if you really think about it, all we're doing is returning the river to its natural state before the barrier was made. Frankly I'm surprised that the river isn't actually full of mud seeing how it has nowhere to go."

"You know water can pass right through the barrier, yes?"

"Yes, I know that, but mud and silt would sink to the bottom and build up. I guess the current is just strong enough to push it through. Although the barrier might have something to do with why the river's so wide here..."

They continued working, moving boulder after boulder, the gap they were making becoming large enough to fit at least three reasonable sized ships through side by side. "I wonder what's on the other side?" Trixie mused quietly.

"What? You mean like heaven, or the Summer lands, or whatever you prefer to think of as the afterlife?"

Trixie rolled her eyes, "No Twilight, the other side of the barrier..."

"Oh. Right. We could have a look if you want?" Trixie nodded and Twilight started moving the boat with her magic, propelling it out through the hole they had made. To their pleasant surprise, golden sandy beaches stretched up the coastline on both sides.

Trixie let out a low whistle, "We could have been lounging on a nice sunny beach all this time? I feel like I've been cheated."

"There'll be no lounging for anypony yet, not until we get this barrier down."

"Oh come on! Its wide enough already!" Trixie pouted, "I'm sure sunning myself on a beach will make Trixie less evil..."

"That's possibly the worst argument I've heard towards needing to sunbathe, but y'know what? Fine." Twilight pushed the boat towards the beach, forcing it up onto the sand before jumping out. "Do what you're going to do Trixie. I'm going to keep working on the barrier."

Trixie lay down and stretched out on the golden sand, "Can do boss lady." Twilight took to the air and studied the barrier from above. Trixie wasn't wrong in that the gap in the barrier was wide enough for their purposes, although Twilight fully intended to make it wider in the future. The problem was depth.

"Maybe I need to see this from a different perspective." She formed a shield around herself, trapping her in a bubble of air, and dive-bombed into the water. Unsurprisingly, it was dark. Even her light spell was barely able to pierce the gloom a few meters ahead of her, but it was enough to see that the barrier wasn't dismantled enough vertically to let ships pass safely.

She started moving boulders again, but soon gave up as her bubble of air would soon run out. Instead she came up with a far more radical solution. Shockwave spells were powerful, if indiscriminate, and that was above water. Nopony had really studied the effects of them being used underwater, but Twilight suspected the spell would be either less effective, or more. She was about to find out.

This time she prepared ahead by anchoring herself into position with her telekinesis, before shrinking her shield so her horn was outside it. She readied the spell and cast it, an unstoppable wave of magic and pressurized water smashing into the barrier, almost breaking apart the boulders facing her. Unfortunately though some of the force bounced back, breaking her anchor and busting her shield which wasn't prepared to deal with the force.

Twilight tumbled through the water, losing all perception of up and down as the water swept her along. She hit something, the shock forcing the last of her air out of her lungs. Black started creeping in around her vision, and in desperation she teleported towards the light in the hopes of breaching the water.

She made it, and Twilight desperately gasped for air as she tried to stay afloat. "Note to self, don't cast shockwaves underwater." She slowly became aware of somepony yelling her name, somepony that sounded a lot like Trixie.

"Twilight! Twilight! Are you alright!" Twilight levitated herself out of the water before setting herself down on the surface, her legs shaking. Rather than attempt to walk on the turbulent river, she attempted one last teleport and found herself nose to nose with Trixie. "Gah! Celestia freaking damn it Twilight! Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry," Twilight wheezed as she sagged down onto the ground. The ground was sandy... "I'm on the beach? How'd I get here?"

"I don't know! You did whatever stupid thing you did, made a huge wave that's now sweeping out to sea somewhere, then appeared at the surface like, twenty seconds later! What the hell did you do Twilight!?"

"I cast a shockwave spell, hoping to knock the bottom of the barrier out."

"In that case I think you succeeded." Twilight quickly turned to look at the barrier, the hole they had made now being twice the size it had been previously. She also guiltily noticed the other unicorns having to help each other back into their boats. "Bravo."

Twilight groaned and rested her head on the sand. Once again she had acted without thinking and others were paying the price. She thanked Celestia that nopony had been really hurt this time. "I guess we should be getting back to the others. I imagine that Daybreak probably wants a break by now."

"Great idea, as soon as you find our boat."

"Why? What happened to it?"

"Some maniac made a tidal wave and swept it out to sea."

"Trixie! Why didn't you say so? Summer's in there!" Twilight dried herself off and flew away from the beach. Thankfully it didn't take long for her to find the rowing boat on the now relatively calm sea, and she flew down to it, only to find Summer still sleeping in the bottom. At least until Twilight landed in it.

"Mmmm? Oh, hey Twilight, is it time for more flying?"

"Not exactly." Summer blinked a few times and got up, stretching and flexing her wings before something very important occurred to her.

"Twilight, w-where are we?"

"Heh, kind of a funny story that. Also, congratulations on leaving Mareitania."

Twilight staggered into city hall, her misadventures at the barrier having taken their toll. Trixie didn't seem exhausted in the slightest to Twilight's annoyance, while Summer was practically bouncing with happiness. They were directed towards the mayors residence where Fleur and the others were already waiting for them.

"Gosh Twilight," said Octavia, "You look absolutely exhausted."

"Don't cast shockwave spells underwater," Twilight mumbled before collapsing onto an empty sofa.

"Um... okay? Shouldn't be too difficult for me to not do that."

Summer bounded over to Octavia and bounced on the tips of her hooves while fluttering her wings slightly, "I flew Octavia! I flew!"

"Really? Bravo Summer! I'm so happy for you!"

"Speak for yourself," the filly grumbled.

"How was she?" Octavia asked Twilight, carefully choosing to ignore the filly.

"Pretty good actually. She just needs to keep practicing and building the strength in her wings." Twilight sat up to look at the others, observing how displeased the filly appeared to be. It was actually quite cute seeing her sitting there, pouting with her forelegs crossed, but the annoyance was probably well founded. Maybe it was time she started looking into how alicorn regeneration worked.

"How about you guys?" Trixie asked, ignorant of the thoughts starting to percolate in Twilight's head, "Get up to much?"

"A bit," said Fleur. "We were formulating plans to take care of the orphans around Mareitania, but then we got tired and gave up. Other than that I returned those fillies to the orphanage and extorted Daybreak into giving them some food and money. Then we went and got all our stuff from the underground."

"Crap!" Twilight swore suddenly, "I should probably go help Daybreak."

"I wouldn't worry about it. They released the guards and their families earlier, so Thorn is up there covering for him while he gets some sleep."

"What about our ponies? Did he set up a rota so they can get some sleep too?"

"I think so. He said something about getting the new guard recruits working as soon as possible to give our ponies a break. I'm sure that could backfire spectacularly, but we don't have a lot of choice at the moment."

"Oh, okay." Twilight slumped back down, resting her chin on the armrest. "Did you say you got our stuff from the underground?"

"Yep, although I'm sure Celestia can wait until you've had some sleep," Fleur said, having guessed what Twilight might be after.

"It's not Celestia I need to speak to."

"Hello Twilight."

"Celestia! Is Luna there? I really need to talk to her!"

"I'm afraid Luna isn't seeing anypony at the moment, not after whatever it was that happened."

"Is she okay?"

"She's a little shaken, but she assures me that she's fine." There was a pause, followed by a sigh, "What happened Twilight? I've asked Luna but she won't tell me."

"I don't know what happened. I was having a nightmare about... something," Twilight didn't feel ready to share with Celestia the fact that she had killed somepony yet, "and Luna stopped it. We were talking about it when she said something weird, something about liking what my mind was becoming." Twilight also felt that what Luna had really said could stay between the two of them. "Then she went all twitchy and panicked, said she had to go, and vanished.

"I see..." Celestia said quietly, leaving Twilight guessing at just how much she knew, or at least suspected. "Are you sure there's nothing more you can tell me?"

"Celestia, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not going to break Luna's trust by talking about this when she doesn't want to."

"Very well, I won't ask you to. Perhaps instead we can talk about business? I assume your plan went well?"

"More or less. There might have been a few hiccups along the way, but we've taken the city, freed the pegasi, and made a hole in the barrier, so all we need now are those supplies."

"They should be there shortly. I'm not nautically inclined, but even I know it only takes little more than a week to sail from Las Pegasus to the southern point of Mareitania. I've already ordered for more ships to be dispatched, so hopefully you will be well supplied with food. I've also organised a little something for you, to help you with your mission"

"A little something? Like a surprise? What is it?"

Celestia giggled lightly, "Oh Twilight, I would've thought your time with Pinkie Pie would've made you a little more appreciative of how surprises work. You'll find out in good time."

"Fine..." Twilight growled, "Now if you'll excuse me Celestia, I need sleep. Badly."

"Of course Twilight. I'll suggest to Luna that perhaps she ought to talk to you about what happened since neither of you wish to discuss it with me." Twilight was no expert at reading ponies, but even she could tell that Celestia sounded a little hurt.

"Okay then. Bye."

"Goodbye." The stone fell silent and Twilight slumped over onto her side, not even bothering to climb into the bed next to her before falling asleep.

Author's Notes:

Happy belated holiday y'all! Hope your day wasn't as boring as mine was. (I will never understand how my sister in law managed to undercook those roasties so badly.)