Drizzle fell from the sky in a fine mist, utterly soaking the four armoured ponies that trudged towards Caverndown. "Why the heck is it raining?" the blue unicorn amongst them asked. "Trixie is absolutely soaked."

"Its just the leftovers from the rain the other day," said Soarin. "We never got around to clearing it out and the wind blew it up here."

"Can't you make it stop?"

"Only if you want us to spend the next few hours cloudbusting." Soarin smiled to himself, his combat uniform keeping him wonderfully dry, even while Trixie's failed miserably to do the same.

"Stop moaning Trixie," Octavia chided the soggy unicorn, "We'll be there soon."

"Oh yes, so then I can get to get to freezing my teats off when I'm wet in a cave underground. My, that does sound like a wonderful alternative." Trixie growled in the back of her throat and shot a bolt of black magic at a small stone on the side of their path, reducing it to fragments and causing the others to look at her with concern.

"Do you literally complain about everything?" Spitfire asked carefully.

"I don't complain about fine cuisine and full body massages, y'know, as long as they're done right."

"Okaaay..." Spitfire let herself fall back a little, increasing the distance between her and Trixie.

"You should ask her about her relationship with wheels some time," Octavia said teasingly.

"Don't you even dare mention wheels to me," Trixie growled while Spitfire and Soaring exchanged expressions of confusion followed by shrugs.

"At the risk of sounding like a complete kid, are we there yet?" whined Soarin.

"I think we're close," said Octavia. "I recognised the tree where we turned off the road between Hoovendale and Neigh Orleans, since we did go past it again after leaving the caverns last time..."

"And this looks like the tree I dumped the filly in right before she spat in my face..." Trixie added. The remains of a small campfire was a decent clue that this had been their campsite previously."

"Right, so we should keep going this way." Octavia led the way through the trees and bushes, pushing them aside to clear the way for the others, "It should only be a little furth-blaghf!" Unfortunately that last thing she tried to move, but failed, was the chunk of earth Twilight tore out of the ground on their last visit, walking straight into it instead. "I bet you think that was funny," she asked, directing an icy glare at Trixie as she tried to spit out the mud in her mouth.

"Of course I did," Trixie replied happily, "but as soon as I laugh I'll stop paying attention and fall into the hole that came out of." She carefully skirted around the edge of the hole, "There, no problem. Now I can laugh. Ha-ha, aha-ha." She turned only to find her face full of Fleur's."

"Boo."

"Yah!" Trixie back-pedalled a few steps, her rear hooves slipping into the hole. "No no no no no!" she cried repeatedly as her hooves scrambled for purchase on the slick mud, but to no avail. Slowly but surely she slid down the side and into the pool of mud and water at the bottom. "Trixie is going to destroy you Fleur!"

Fleur stood at the edge of the hole, staring down her nose at Trixie, "Two days I've been waiting here for you. Two. Whole. Fucking. Days! You were supposed to be here in two days, not four!" What took you so damn long!?"

"In our defence you never gave us a time table for getting here!" Trixie shouted back. "Now help me out! There are things in here and they seem very interested in Trixie's hooves!"

"What? Did you walk here?"

"Of course we did! How else were we supposed to get here?" There was a splash as Trixie tried to climb out, but fell back in.

"The Wonderbolts were supposed to fly you here!"

"We were?" asked Soarin.

"They were?" asked Octavia.

"Ew! Something touched me! Get me out!" cried Trixie.

"Amateurs," muttered Spitfire.

Fleur searched around for a stick which she lowered down to Trixie, who grabbed it in her mouth before Fleur and Octavia pulled her out. "If you expect Trixie to be thankful for that-"

"No Trixie, I expect you to be quiet for a moment." Fleur looked around like she was looking for something, "Where's Summer?"

"Spending some time on the naughty step after trying to get biz-ay with Octavia," Trixie answered, like it was nothing serious.

"She... What?"

"She forced herself on me again," Octavia explained in a weary voice. "I was trying to explain why it wouldn't work between us, and she got upset and tried to... well... If Trixie hadn't stopped her I..." Octavia's voice cracked and Fleur glanced at Trixie who returned a small fleeting smile.

"Are you okay?"

Octavia nodded, but it quickly turned into a shake and a tear ran down her cheek, "Not really, but it can wait."

Fleur bit her lip, realising that unfortunately Octavia was right about it having to wait. "We're going to have a talk about this once we're done here. Where's Summer now?"

Octavia sighed heavily, and Trixie answered in her stead, "Crying on Ivory's shoulder last I saw her. I'm hoping Ivory might be able to explain a thing or two about what she did wrong."

"Right, well, that's probably the best thing we could hope for right now." Fleur chewed on her lip some more as she desperately wanted to talk to and comfort Octavia, but sadly other things took precedent. "Fuck it all..."

Spitfire cleared her throat noisily, "As important as this is, and it is!" she said quickly at the fierce glare Fleur gave her. "I'm pretty sure we need to get to Twilight."

Fleur nodded, "Yeah alright, follow me." She led them on a meandering track through the woods at the base of the mountains for a few miles until they came upon a clearing filled to the brim with thestrals and a small sloppily erected tent canopy.

"Woo... that's a lot of bat ponies." Trixie said in amazement. "I bet the filly must be loving it here." Fleur led them under the canopy where they found Twilight, the filly, Shadow, and a few others they didn't recognise clustered around a collection of hoof drawn maps of Caverndown.

"Where's Summer?" Twilight asked a moment after acknowledging their arrival. Fleur explained it, and unsurprisingly Twilight didn't like it. "Are you sure you're alright? You can sit this out if you want?"

Octavia shook her head, "I came here to help, so that's what I'll do."

Twilight smiled approvingly, "As long as you're sure."

"So, what's going on here?" Trixie asked as she scanned over the maps. "Your letter wasn't exactly heavy on details."

"Long story short? Or do you want the full version?" Twilight asked.

Trixie levelled a hoof, "Eh... go for the medium sized version I think."

"Right, well, in that case lets start by telling you that news of the collars got around Caverndown. I won't go into the details there but at some point soon after that the Duke stopped trading food with them leading to a food shortage, which meant all capable thestrals were put on gathering duty. As a result of the collar scandal getting out-"

Trixie held up her hooves to stop her, "Okay okay, I've changed my mind. I'll have the short version."

"Okay then, news of collars got out, Duke stopped trading so ponies starving, crystal heart failed, thestrals all on gathering duty, Ebon taken control of city using Fishbait and diamond dogs so we're going to take it back in exchange for resources to trade and possible military aid."

"Succinct, I like it." Trixie smiled and looked at the others around her, "So what does this have to do with us stopping the Duke beyond resources and 'possible' military aid?" There was a collective groan.

"Trixie, the crystal ponies are starving," Fleur said, trying to withhold the urge to smack Trixie around the back of the head, "and will continue to do so unless we help them."

"So why aren't they helping themselves? Why do we have to?"

"Because the crystal heart failed the crystal ponies have fallen into despair, depression, and lethargy," Twilight explained. "They can barely muster the energy to get out of bed, let alone fight for their city."

"Okay then," Trixie said with the air of one slowly working their way through a complex problem, "why did the crystal heart fail?"

"Because the news about the collars got out, followed by the starvation. Without the positive energy of the crystal ponies to power it, the heart won't work."

"So... let me get this straight... The heart doesn't work because the crystal ponies are miserable, and they remain miserable because the crystal heart doesn't work..." Trixie hoped somepony else was seeing the pattern here, "Really? That is literally the stupidest thing I've ever heard! What happens if they saw their pet cat getting hit by a cart? Does the entire nation of crystal ponies collectively lie down and wish to die?"

"Trixie!" Twilight snapped. "This is serious!"

"Yeah! Seriously stupid! Are the crystal ponies in the Crystal Empire like this too?" Twilight looked away awkwardly, "Oh my fucking Celestia... Did Sombra even have to try when he conquered them? Or did they fold like wet tissue after he stole their heart?"

Fleur shoved Trixie on the shoulder, "Trixie. If you don't shut up, you and these thestrals are going to have a real problem."

Trixie paid attention to the multitude of colourful cat-like eyes giving her some very close scrutiny and swallowed nervously. "Very well, Trixie shall deign to not mention how ridiculous this situation is any further."

"Anyway!" Twilight said with faux cheerfulness, hoping to alleviate some of the negativity Trixie had started to incur. "Now we're all here we can finalize the strategy and get this show on the road.

"Ma'am, why are we taking the outlying diamond dogs out first?" Twilight ground her teeth as Spitfire once again questioned her strategy. "Surely it would be better to punch straight down the middle into the council hall? End this quickly?"

"No Spitfire, that would result in those outlying patrols coming to the aid of those guarding the hall. If we're to keep casualties to a minimum then we will have to take out their support first. Now, once we've-"

"But what are we meant to do if those diamond dogs get back into the fight seeing as how we can't permanently disable them?"

"Have you ever seen a thestral fight?" Shadow asked with a confident grin. "Trust me, they'll stay down."

"But they have weapons, and you don't," Spitfire pointed out. Twilight momentarily wondered if she could grow teeth back after grinding them away.

"Don't need 'em."

"But what if they have crossbows? Wouldn't it be better to just take them out properly?"

Twilight stomped her hoof on the ground, "There are no crossbows in Caverndown, and if the thestrals want to stay there peaceably afterwards then they can't kill half the population of diamond dogs living there!"

"Then I'm going to ask again; why don't we punch straight through into the hall and take their leaders out quickly?"

"Because they'll all rush in with their weapons, see us attacking their leaders and fellow diamond dogs, and turn the attack into a bloody massacre!"

"But-"

"Captain Spitfire! A word if you would." Twilight stomped angrily out of the clearing, not even looking to see if Spitfire was following. She sat down, facing out into the woods, and waited for the Captain to speak first.

"Ma'am, I don't understand-"

"Hypothetical question," Twilight interrupted, turning to face the Wonderbolt, "what is the best way to attack a dragon with three pegasi?"

"Ma'am?"

"And don't lie to me as I've seen you do it before. I'll give you a clue. The answer isn't 'full frontal assault.'" Twilight sighed and sagged slightly. "What's wrong? You've been questioning my orders since you got here, and I want to know why."

Spitfire spluttered for a for a moment before slowly closing her mouth with a click of her teeth, "Permission to be frank."

"So long as you realise I'm going to be frank right back at you."

Spitfire was silent for a moment before finally deciding to get her issues off her chest. "I don't know why you're leading this. Just because you're a princess doesn't mean you're qualified to lead us into battle!"

"Is that the problem? You think I'm stepping on your hooves? Celestia has complete faith in me to complete this mission, so why don't you have any?"

"Because you're untested! I've been in the E.U.P. since I was old enough to legally join, yet I have to follow the orders of a pony who became a princess through sheer happenstance!"

Twilight snorted, a hint of distaste creeping onto her face for the uppity pegasus. "Captain Spitfire, I have been Celestia's apprentice since I was very young, and she has done her best to teach me everything she could. I have studied the history of Equestria in great detail including every major recorded battle, and even though I may not have realised it at the time, some of the theoretical exercises Celestia gave me in the past were easily translatable into hypothetical military conflicts. I'll admit I'm not a tactical genius, and I am new to this, which is why I am being very cautious with my plans."

"Your plans are going to get ponies killed!" Spitfire immediately looked like she regretted it, "Ma'am, I-"

"So pony lives are worth more than diamond dog lives? Is that what you're saying? We can slaughter them in the hundreds because they aren't ponies?"

"No ma'am, that wasn't what I was saying."

"Spitfire, these ponies have lived with the crystal ponies and diamond dogs for centuries. They don't want to kill the dogs that were once their friends and neighbours, even if they don't have the same qualms about killing us."

"But these ponies don't have weapons or armour! The diamond dogs do!"

Twilight couldn't help but smirk slightly as she asked her next question, "Do you even know what thestrals are? I won't be surprised if you don't because I didn't find out myself until recently."

Spitfire frowned at the slightly tangential query, "They're part pony, part bat ma'am."

"Wrong. Well not wrong, but not totally right either. They are also part dragon." Spitfire's eyes widened slightly. "While they aren't as tough as an actual dragon, they are a good deal tougher and stronger than the average pony. They were bred to be natural warriors." Spitfire's mouth formed an 'o' comprehension set in, "They also have more years of experience than you will ever have." Twilight pointed to the blue haired Misty who was sharing a laugh with another thestral, "How old do you think she is?"

Spitfire studies the thestral for a few moments, suspecting a trick question." She doesn't look much older than myself if I'm honest ma'am."

"Is that so? In actual fact she's over three hundred years old." Spitfire gawped at the thestral in surprise, "Go pick a fight with her. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised at how fast she puts you down."

"No thank you ma'am." Spitfire tried to look Twilight in the eyes but couldn't hold it, her gaze dropping to the floor instead. "Objections withdrawn ma'am."

"Not so fast." Twilight fought down her own distaste over what she was going to say next, "When Celestia sent you to me I had to admit I was surprised, but not pleasantly. In recent years you and two others were beaten unconscious by a falling unicorn, turned a blind eye to the reckless behaviour of one of your cadets up until it proved to be a danger to others, abandoned your teammate Soarin at Rainbow Falls suggesting a lack of team cohesion, and if Celestia is right, accused Rainbow Dash of a crime she didn't commit based on no evidence whatsoever. Not to mention the failure attacking the dragon. In short, your reputation lately hasn't been great."

Spitfire ground her slightly bared teeth, but Twilight paid no attention as she continued. "Make no mistake, I'm glad to have ponies with your impressive skill sets on board with this, and I will listen to your expertise as pegasus combatants, but you are trained in high speed, hit and run, shock and awe tactics, not long term military strategies. If we were taking Ebon out, or capturing him then leaving, then yes, your strategy would be most suitable, but we're trying to retake the city with the minimum of casualties which demands a more careful approach."

"Understood ma'am."

"Please Spitfire, I need you to work with me here. I can't have you questioning everything because it isn't what you would do. On the other hoof, if you feel you can't work with me then feel free to return to Equestria at your next available convenience." Twilight got up and started back towards the others when Spitfire stopped her.

"Wait, ma'am." Twilight studied her, and while the Wonderbolt hadn't lost all her annoyance at Twilight's words, there was also a small measure of respect. Spitfire hesitated, but managed to ask, "What is the best way to attack a dragon with three pegasi?"

Twilight smiled at her, "You don't. You leave and come back with a lot more reinforcements, or if you absolutely must you split up and try to wear it out because frankly, your attacks aren't going to be much more than irritations to a creature that size."

Spitfire smiled back, the smile being more natural than most of her previous attempts, and saluted, "Thank you ma'am." Having cleared the air a little they returned to the others, only to find them waiting quietly with an air of nervousness.

"All sorted?" Fleur asked, her voice sounding brittle.

Twilight smiled at Spitfire who nodded in return, "I do believe so."

"Oh thank goodness," Fleur sighed in relief, the others with her. "Right, well, Octavia and myself were wondering what you wanted us to do during all this? Trixie too I suppose."

Twilight had thought of a plan for them, but it mostly involved keeping them safely out of the way. While Trixie was more than capable of fighting with her magic, as unsavoury as that magic might be, Fleur and Octavia could quickly find themselves at the diamond dogs' mercy as the only two ground combatants without serious magic backing them up. "I was hoping you three could make your way to the archives and secure Archivist Script. If things don't go to plan then we may have to use her as leverage to get Ebon to surrender."

"Are you sure she'll be there," Octavia asked while Trixie groaned in disappointment.

"She's there pretty much all the time since Ebon's takeover," said Shadow. "There's a good chance she'll be there now."

"Wouldn't they be guarding her?"

"Nah. There's not really any reason to."

"Ooh! Ooh!" the filly squeaked, bouncing with her hoof in the air, "What am I going to be doing?"

Fleur patted the filly on the head," I don't think in there is really the place for you. You'll have to stay out here with the thestrals that aren't fighting."

"Aww! But they're all really old or really young! I wanna go with you guys! Pleeeease?" Fleur looked to Twilight for her opinion, but she just shrugged.

"Alright, fine. But you stay out of danger and run if we get into trouble, okay?"

The filly gave Fleur a sharp salute, "Yes ma'am sir ma'am!"

Twilight breathed deeply, her chest getting tense as the time of the attack grew close. "Okay, any questions?" Trixie held up her hoof, making Twilight roll her eyes. "You don't have to hold up your hoof Trixie."

"Oh-uh, right." She lowered her hoof.

"Um, you had a question?" Twilight prompted after Trixie said nothing for a few seconds.

"Oh! Sorry, Trixie was just wondering; if crystal ponies are see-through, how come you can't see what's inside them?" Everypony around her groaned, "What? I can't help it if I'm curious!"

"I think we're done here," Fleur said to Twilight.

It didn't take long for them to get into position seeing as how they were all going in through the thestrals entrance above the city, even including the few ground-bound ponies who were going to be flown to the ground by Twilight once the main attack had commenced. Sadly though, they could only get into position one at a time because the entrance was barely wide enough to get one pony through. This gave the diamond dogs a few precious minutes to mount a defence, although Shadow had theorized that the diamond dogs were more than likely going to stare dumbly up at the circling thestrals, wondering what they were doing.

Twilight stepped to the side of the ledge and started waving ponies through, each of them banking to the left before circling around the outside of the caverns in a clockwise direction. As more and more joined the circle Twilight had to admit the sight was an impressive one, and probably a wetting yourself scary one if those below knew what was coming.

Once they were all airborne they flew a few more laps before diving down in waves in formations of three, each of them picking their targets, eliminating them, and flying back up before diving back down towards their next target. Twilight could also hear a lot of highly pitched screeches that almost hurt to listen to, the nature of which she wasn't entirely sure of.

As the attack continued the circle grew tighter and tighter, centering on the council chamber in the center. Once the outer reaches of the city had been cleared of anything conscious Twilight swept the remaining four off the ledge and carried them to the ground with Shadow following behind. She had intended to carry them directly to the archives but Trixie had nearly pitched a fit at the suggestion.

Instead she took them directly to the ground. The archives weren't too far away so it probably wouldn't be a problem for them to sneak around even with Trixie's tendency to draw attention to herself. She placed the joyous filly, damn near paralysed with fear Trixie, the not much better Fleur, and the surprisingly nonplussed Octavia on the ground. "Right, once you secure Script stay where you are. If I need you I'll come get you or send Shadow or somepony to fetch you. Oh, and Trixie. No killing anypony unless you really have to, am I clear?"

"Does not killing any 'pony' include not killing diamond dogs?"

Twilight sighed irritably, "You know what I meant." With a few flaps of her wings Twilight was off, along with Shadow, to lend their own efforts to the attack.

The four ponies looked around, trying to get their bearings. Nearby was a trio of bloodied, unconscious, but still living diamond dogs, while from surrounding houses they could see the occasional crystal pony peeping from between their curtains at them. "I think we best be moving," Fleur said at last, "in case those dogs come around."

"Right, follow Trixie." Head low and stepping as lightly as possible, Trixie started sneaking.

"Trixie..."

"What?"

Fleur pointed in the opposite direction, "Quit being a cliché and come on." Leading the way, Fleur almost galloped, feeling that haste was probably the better option. She led the way as they charged though the crystaline streets, their hooves echoing as they ran, and only slowing as they neared the archives, spotting a duo of diamond dogs, a male and female, hiding beneath an alcove from the thestrals. "Um... Trixie? I've got no armour so I'd rather not, y'know?"

Trixie smirked and trotted towards the dogs, "Hello dearies." The male yipped in surprise as the other readied her spear and charged at the grinning Trixie. Trixie tore the spear out of the dog's paws and grabbed her head in a swath of dark magic. The dog pawed at it, trying to free herself, but her claws passed right through it and scratched down her face instead.

"You no hurts her!" the other dog shouted, charging from its hiding place, but he quickly found himself in a similar situation. Fleur covered the unprotesting filly's eyes, wishing she could cover her own as the two dogs struggled against their predicament before collapsing onto the floor, convulsing slightly.

"What the hell was that!?" Fleur practically screamed at Trixie as she released the diamond dogs from her hold.

"I stopped them breathing until they passed out. They're fine, don't worry." Indeed the two dogs did appear to still be breathing much to Fleur's relief, but she couldn't help but feel a cold shiver running down her spine.

"Couldn't you have done something a little bit faster? And less horrible to watch?"

Trixie looked sideways at Fleur, "So beating diamond dogs into a bloody unconscious pulp is acceptable, but denying them air until they quietly and harmlessly pass out isn't? Its things like that that make me think you have something against Trixie."

"Watching those dogs almost claw their own faces off as they struggle for air isn't quiet or harmless!" The air between the two unicorns almost tingled with tension until Octavia pushed them apart.

"Not now ladies, we have a job to do. And frankly neither of you are right or wrong in this situation." She led the way on the final stretch to the archives, bounding up the steps and pushing on the door, only to find it locked. She knocked, "Archivist Script, are you in there?"

There was the sound of a chair moving followed by a muffled thump, "Yes, I'm here, but I'm afraid I cannot let you in."

"You better let us in," challenged Trixie.

"No, you misunderstand. I'm locked in here and my brother has the key."

"Why would your own brother lock you in here?" Fleur asked, her brow creased in confusion.

"Because I know too much," was Script's enigmatic reply.

Fleur studied the lock, but as she didn't have anything to pick it with there wasn't too much point in doing so. Instead she took a step back and gestured to Trixie, "Tear it down if you have to Trixie."

Trixie spat on her hooves, for no reason at all, and braced herself, her horn flaring and bubbling with dark energy. She took a few deep breaths and grinned, her magic suddenly turning pink as she unlocked the door with her lock picking spell. "Bet you all forgot I could do that, huh?"

"Honestly, yes," said Fleur. "Of course this begs the question of why I was the one having to pick the lock into city hall." She pushed the door, the door swinging ponderously open to reveal an unwashed and unkempt Script.

Script started to panic as the identity of her rescuers became known to her, "You! W-what are you doing here! What are they doing!?" she asked upon noticing the circling thestrals.

"We're taking the city back with the thestrals!" the filly said excitedly. That excitement slipped away though, when confronted by the expression of sheer terror on Script's face.

"No! No you can't do that! You have to leave! All of you! Now!"

"Um... why?" The filly looked to Fleur hoping she might have an explanation, but all she got was Fleur pulling a face as she shook her head and shrugged.

"Because Ebon might destroy the city if you don't leave!" They all blinked a few times and stared dumbfounded at her.

"Come again?" said Trixie.

"Caverndown's rigged with a device to collapse it into the deeps, and Ebon might activate it if you don't all leave!" She started to hyperventilate as none of them even so much as twitched at muscle, "Now!"

Octavia shook her head, "I'm afraid you're going to have to explain that one to us."

"But there's no time!"

"Unless you think everypony in here starving to death is a better alternative, I think we got plenty of time," said Fleur.

Script hesitated for a second before sighing in irritation, "Very well. Do you know about the collars?"

"Oh yes."

"At least I don't have to explain that then. Ebon was the one that struck the bargain when the Duke, Duke Cold Strap the second I believe, found out about our city here roughly six hundred years ago. He offered to let us remain secret in exchange for something as long as it was worth it to him. Ebon conceived the collars in exchange for that secrecy, but we had to keep it secret from everyone else here apart from the few required to make the collars, as crystal ponies have a lot to say against slavery."

"But that's not all is it?" said Fleur.

"No. As the collars were kept a secret many of the people here feared the Duke would return and enslave us. Even though there were no ponies still alive from Sombra's reign, the memory of what he had done was still very much alive, and the crystal ponies would rather die than become slaves again. So the city was rigged to collapse should the Duke try to do just that."

"That's a really dumb idea," the filly deadpanned.

"I still can't believe they helped enslave the pegasi," said Octavia.

"You misunderstand," Script said urgently. "The pegasi were already slaves, and the methods of keeping them in line back then were truly barbaric. They used to hold half the pegasi hostage to ensure the ones doing the work didn't try to escape. You might think us awful people for helping the Duke oppress the pegasi, but the collars made things easier for the pegasi; no more ropes, winches, hostages or torture to keep them in line."

"We're heading off the point here," Fleur said in annoyance, although part of her wished to fill Script in on how it really wasn't much better for the pegasi.

"Right, sorry. As I was saying, the city was rigged to collapse should the Duke return. My people could fly away, and most of the diamond dogs live in the warrens around the city so most of them would survive. It was only the crystal ponies that would really be in trouble, but that's what they wanted. That, and the chance to take as many of the Duke's soldiers with them. But the Duke accepted the offering and the device was never needed and has been forgotten by almost all save some of the older thestrals."

"But why do you think Ebon would use it?" asked Octavia. In her mind the idea that the crystal ponies would rather wipe themselves out than be enslaved was more than a little insane, even if she could sympathize with the idea.

"Because as far as he's concerned, this is his city," Script explained. "He's watched this place become what it is over his entire lifetime, and I fear he would rather see it destroyed than have it taken away from him."

The filly smirked, "So you could say he's gone 'bat' shit crazy? Eh? Eh?" Script glowered at her, "Too soon?"

"Not now filly," Fleur said dismissively, but she did catch Trixie hiding a smile behind a hoof. Fleur took a deep breath as she thought and released it with a growl, "We need to get this information to Twilight."

"Obviously," Trixie muttered sarcastically.

"But how?" asked Octavia, "She's flying so we can't get to her. She never said what to do if we needed her."

Fleur watched the circling thestrals for a moment as they tightened their circle around the council chambers. They would just have to hope they caught Twilight there, and as much as Fleur hated the reasoning behind it there was only one of them that stood a chance fighting their way there. "Trixie, you're going to have to make your way to the council chambers to tell her."

"Me? Why me?"

"Because with your magic and armour you stand a better chance of getting there than the rest of us. We'll stay here and keep Script secure."

"You mean you'll stay here and play chicken."

Fleur stomped a hoof, "Trixie!"

"Alright, Trixie's going already. Sheesh..." She cantered down the stairs and galloped towards the council chambers, casually tossing aside the one diamond dog aware enough to try and tell her to stop.

"Down there!" Shadow shouted. Twilight followed down Shadow's leg to where Shadow was pointing, spotting a group of diamond dogs ganging up on a trio of thestrals. They dived down to help, with Shadow landing in front of the thestrals and doing something Twilight wasn't quite able to follow. Shadow screeched in an incredibly high pitched tone, which Twilight thought was strange enough, but it was visible, and possessed force seeing as how it knocked the dogs onto their rears. It also had them covering their ears and howling in pain. Twilight was fairly sure she could feel her own ears bleeding. In fact, she was so distracted by it all she flew into the ground.

By the time she slid to a stop and got herself up and sorted, the thestrals had taken care of the diamond dogs and were on their way again. "What was that?" Twilight asked in amazement.

"That what? The screechy thing?" Twilight nodded and Shadow grinned, bearing her fangs slightly. "That is the main reason diamond dogs aren't as fond of us as they are the crystal ponies. Well, apart from not being all crystally and shiny."

"But how does it work?"

"Well, y'know how bats squeak and dragons breath fire?"

"Yeaahhhh..?"

"Well that's what thestrals get. All of us can do the screeching thing if we try, but it takes a lot of practice to get it to do what I just did. Anyway, yeah, screeching thing." Shadow jumped into the air and hovered just above the ground, "Come on! We got a battle to win!"

Twilight followed her up into the mass of circling thestrals, but her curiosity was still bothering her. "Is there a name for that?"

"A name?" Shadow shrugged, "The older thestrals used to call it a 'fume' or something, but we just call it the screech." Shadow searched about the ground before nodding in satisfaction, "I think its time we moved in on the city centre and the council chambers."

Twilight nodded in agreement. The city centre was going to be the toughest nut to crack. Now the shock of the attack had worn off the diamond dogs were starting to get a little more organised. Little being the operative word. There were no prepared defences that she could see, and all the still conscious diamond dogs were standing around waiting for the assault.

Of course that still meant they had a great many angry dogs with pointy weapons arrayed against them, but that was hardly the point.

Twilight shot a flare of magic that flew into the middle of the thestrals circle before detonating, signalling that the next, and hopefully final part of the attack should begin. The circle tightened up, and Twilight prepared herself for the attack.

As one, the thestrals all dove and tore into the diamond dogs with a vigour that frightened her slightly. She knew Shadow had said they were born warriors, literally, but Twilight hadn't really fully considered what that meant. Even without their own weapons and armour they dived bombed the diamond dogs defensive line, biting and kicking the dogs into bloody pulps even as they bloodied themselves on the dogs weapons. Most amazingly though, was that they weren't being as hurt as much as they should be. A strike from a spear that would have seriously injured or killed a normal pony was little more than a deep cut on a thestral.

Twilight was suddenly very glad the thestrals hadn't sided with Nightmare moon.

Realising she was gawking at the attack, and prompted by Shadow smacking her on the rump, Twilight joined the attack and dove down before gently landing on the crystal paved ground with a click of her hooves. Straight away some of the dogs set upon her so she created a shockwave, violently knocking them all back. Her biggest problem was that she didn't have any quick use spells that could put the diamond dogs down without killing them, so she was reduced to deflecting their attacks and doing her best to keep the thestrals around her unharmed as they took the dogs down.

With her aid though, the thestrals were a formidable force, quickly subduing any and all diamond dogs around them. A dog would charge a thestral, just to run into a shield, or have his weapon snatched off him before finding himself at the mercy of the very same thestral he hoped to attack. Or Twilight would catch a group of dogs charging, only to trip them up and send them sprawling before the thestrals stomped them into oblivion. It wasn't a very efficient method of fighting, and Twilight wasn't sure how long she could keep it up, but their opponents were quickly running out.

Even without her aiding them the thestrals stood good odds of winning, as entire groups of dogs would be sent scurrying by the screeches of those thestrals capable of doing them. Even the less forceful screeches of untrained thestrals were enough to make a group of dogs drop their weapons as they covered their ears, as Shadow demonstrated when she landed beside Twilight, screeching at one of the last defenders and knocking him down before bucking him in the chest while he desperately covered his ears.

They weren't without their own casualties though. A group of thestrals gathered around a wailing mare, the webbing on her right wing slashed to ribbons, and further away a stallion lay unmoving, a short blade buried in his side. Even those still up and walking had any number of cuts and scratches on them. Thestral hide might have been thick, but certainly wasn't impenetrable, and even when unarmed the diamond dogs still possessed claws capable of digging through solid rock.

Somehow though, against all reasonable odds, the tables had turned slightly as more of the dogs approached the council chambers, having recovered from the opening stages of the battle. The thestrals all gathered around the chambers in their own defensive lines, warily watching the diamond dogs as they helped their fellows while keeping their distance. It seemed that the thestrals had taught them a lesson that they didn't wish repeating.

Spitfire approached, saluting sharply despite the slight limp in her gait. Blood dripped from the bottom of the armour on her back left leg, the hole in her armour further up hinting that a spear had made it through. "We'll hold the line here ma'am, you go take care of Ebon."

"Alright, but you need to get that leg patched up as soon as possible. The last thing we need is you passing out from blood loss."

Spitfire looked back at her injury, "Its just a scratch ma'am." She must have detected the disappointment in the way Twilight frowned at her and she saluted again, "Yes ma'am, I'll get Soarin to help me once the worst injured thestrals are taken care of.

Twilight nodded at her and, after checking Shadow was still with her, headed up the steps to the council chambers, only to find the rather pathetic sight of a bland grey Onyx waiting there. He sagged in his armour, seeming as though it was weighing him down, and the tip of his spear quivered barely an inch above the ground. "Stop right there traitors," he said a little breathlessly, like his heart really wasn't in it.

Twilight pulled his spear away from him with little effort before snapping it into halves, then quarters, and tossing the pieces away. She then picked him up bodily and held him sideways to the floor. "I. Don't. Have. Time. For. You," she said slowly, smacking him on the ground with each word before throwing him down the steps to land at the waiting hooves of Shadow.

Shadow grinned her toothiest grin, "Hiya buh-dy!"

"Oh fuck me..."

Twilight carried on, leaving Shadow to apply none too gentle kisses to Onyx's face with her hooves. She pushed open the doors to the chambers, fully expecting there to be some defenders, but the room was empty of all but one thing; the inert crystal heart resting on a small trestle directly under the tower it had occupied on her last visit.

She approached it cautiously and ran her hoof down it. It felt like nothing more than cold hard rock to her hooves, about as much like a crystal heart as the one she had carved herself once. Instead she felt it with her magic, her eyes going wide in amazement. Even at a portion of the power of the real crystal heart, this thing contained a dizzying array of enchantments. She could find spell matrices for shields, altering appearances, concussive waves, all sorts of stuff. Sadly though the controls for these spells seemed to be triggered by the same thing that powered them; emotions, and even then some seem sloppily made and defective. If she were able to adjust some of them, and change the heart's source of power from emotional energy to arcane energy, this heart could do so much, as well as contain a nigh infinite amount of energy.

She stood there probing the crystal heart, the scientific part of her mind practically drooling with the possibilities, to the point that she was totally unaware she was under attack until a wave of high pitched squealing washed over her, sending her flying into the crystal heart and rolling along the floor. She struggled to her hooves, her head and ears feeling like they had been stuffed full of cotton wool, but was too slow to avoid the buck to her side that sent her sliding along the floor again.

"Why couldn't you have just followed the plan?" Twilight shook off the fuzziness plaguing her mind and focused on her attackers. To her surprise it was Ebon, who was surprisingly spry for something nearly eight centuries old. He screeched at her again, but she leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding it and shooting a blast of purple magic at the ancient pony in retaliation. He sidestepped it and launched himself towards Twilight at a speed that she didn't think he should capable of.

She teleported away, Ebon looping up and around for another attack. Rather than go straight for her as Twilight had predicted, he jinked to the side and screeched at her as he passed. She kept her footing against the concussive wave but her head was once again left swimming.

"Why couldn't you have done this quietly?" Twilight didn't know what he meant. Either there was something more going on here than she currently knew about, or Ebon had truly lost the plot. "How did you turn them against me?" Twilight suspected that at least was a reference to the thestrals.

Twilight took to the air, dodging past Ebon as he rushed past, the tips of his wings whistling as he narrowly avoided her desperate blast of magic. "You did that yourself!" she shouted after him, while inside her head she was wondering how she was having so much trouble holding off an almost eight hundred year old pony, let alone beating him. Princess Luna really didn't mess about when she'd created the thestrals.

He flew low, dodging between the podiums, Twilight shooting blast after blast at him, peppering the three crystal structures with holes. She flew up as he did and they circled each other as they gained altitude before he drew a sharp breath to screech at her again. She teleported up and above the wave of sound, only for him to dive back down to the floor, making it impossible for her to aim a spell at him.

She dived down after him, hoping to catch him as had to pull up, but she misjudged his speed and as he flew across the middle of the room he twisted and kicked the trestle up at her. She hit it with her magic, shattering it to splinters, but it was enough of a distraction to give him time to swing around and tackle her. She rolled to the side to avoid him, her wingtips brushing the floor, before slowing and pushing off with her legs to go straight up.

He swung round for another pass but Twilight was onto him. She spiralled in mid-air, catching him in her magic and threw him to the floor. Ebon screeched in pain as he landed, his pain only being added to as she held him down to stop him escaping. She landed and stood over him, preparing herself to finish what she set out to do. But seeing him here, pinned down on the floor, he seemed more like the harmless old pony she thought he should be. As much as she had to, she couldn't do it.

Sensing her hesitation Ebon bared his teeth and snarled at her, "Do it! Do it you coward!"

"Why? Why do you want me to kill you? Why did you do any of this?"

He deflated, losing all his fight as he sagged in her grip. "Because its better than seeing what this place will become..."

"What do you mean?" she asked in the hopes that this might make sense, but he just turned his head away and remained silent. She released him and stepped back, allowing him to get back on his hooves, but he stayed where he was, unmoving.

The chamber doors slammed open, a wide eyed and panicked Shadow galloping towards her, "Twilight! We got a problem!"

"Is it Fishbait? Is he doing something?"

"What? No! He's out there with us. Soldiers are entering the caverns!" Behind Twilight Ebon sighed heavily.

"Soldiers? What soldiers?"

"The Grand Army Twilight, they're here!"