Twilight left Trixie in the command room, carefully engraving runes onto each segment of her armour so she could do the actual enchanting at her leisure when she had five minutes spare every day.

Twilight though, was seeking a tall white unicorn, with whom she wished to have words. She found the pony in question on the plain outside Puddingarde, recently a battlefield, and now an extended morgue as the remains of the Duke's soldiers were gathered up to be taken elsewhere and buried.

Ivory appeared to be exhausted, and Twilight drifted down through the air to land beside her and assist with the body she was struggling with. "Thanks Twilight," she said. Then she blinked. "Aah! Twilight! Somepony said you were back, but I couldn't believe it! I guess they were right."

"Yeah, I'm back. There's a whole thing going on with me being an alicorn. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. I have to admit that I'm curious as to why you're out here though."

"All ponies on deck to assist with the cleanup I'm afraid. I'm no different." She led Twilight over to a row of carts and tossed the body in, raising an eyebrow with incredulity as she found that Twilight had picked up half a dozen other bodies along the way. "Wish I had magic like that."

"Don't underrate yourself like that. Anyway, I was hoping we could have a little talk. I found some reports in the command room, some reports that really should have been brought to my attention. Care to explain why they weren't?"

Ivory leaned against the cart. "Where to begin. First you went off to rescue Fleur. Then these soldiers arrived and made themselves a massive priority. And then... oh yes, you died. But since you're back now I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you that Hayfield has given us his support, and Bitmark is about ready to rebel, although you'll have to ask Seeker what's going on there now." Ivory smiled sweetly at Twilight, "Better?"

"Better. Sorry Ivy."

"I think you can be forgiven."

"Where is Hayfield?"

"Hayfield lives about forty miles... thattaway," Ivory said as she gestured in a northwesterly direction.

"Hayfield lives? You mean Hayfield isn't a town?"

"No. Well... yes, there is a town called Hayfield, and a mansion, but Hayfield's a pony. A very wealthy landowner with quite a lot of influence."

"If he's a landowner, why would he support us?"

"Because after marrying a unicorn, and having three beautiful unicorn daughters, trust me, they're stunning, he finds the oppression dumped on unicorns to be more than a little disgusting. He was a supporter of the Viscount until he found out that the Viscount's just as bad as his parents."

"And now he's willing to support us?" Ivory nodded. "Huh. What's his opinion on pegasi?"

"He uses them to manage the weather, but that's it. They're fed well, and they're not beaten, abused, or forced to live in filth, and could be said to be the best treated pegasi outside of here. As long as the weather gets managed I'm sure he'd be more than happy for them to be free."

"He sounds like a interesting pony."

"He is. He's been treated like a bit of an oddity for years. I'm pretty sure the Duke despises him, but since Hayfield isn't really breaking any laws, nothing happens to him."

"I see. So this town of Hayfield, what is that?"

"It was originally set up as a village for his workers to live in, but it quickly set itself up as a safe place for ponies to live. Especially unicorns. Hayfield's regarded as a bit of a hero to the ponies living there, so if he supports us, they support us."

"Okay. Well, I appreciate his support."

Ivory rolled her eyes and laughed. "And thus pass the political machinations of Twilight Sparkle."

"Excuse me?"

"You don't see the opportunity this is, do you?"

"Uh..."

"Thought not. Twilight, Hayfield is a massive hoof up for us. Not only is he providing us with supplies and some ponies to fight, but he holds a lot of influence, even if he is a bit of a pariah. After the Duke's defeat here, I imagine a lot of his supporters are feeling a bit nervous. With Hayfield on our side to convince them, we could possibly get some of them to join us."

"Are the Duke's supporters really ponies we want on our side?"

"Some, yes. Others wouldn't be all that good, I agree. That's where I educate you about a thing called smear campaigns and hostile business takeovers."

"You could really do that? Blackmail and force them to join us?"

"With Hayfield's help, yes. Maybe"

Twilight nodded. It was potentially bloodless, and bound to get that damned tree to cut her a bit of slack. "Do it. Stop hauling bodies, pack your things, and get ready to head to Hayfield with your proposition. If he's willing to do this, well, that'd be great."

"Do you want me to leave now? Shouldn't I stick around for the service?"

"Service? What service?"

"Hasn't anypony told you?" Twilight shook her head. "Oh, well there's going to be a memorial service for our dead tomorrow."

"Already? We haven't even buried them."

"We're trying our best to get bodies home to families, so don't worry about that too much."

Twilight sighed with relief as an question she had been worrying about was answered. "That's good. Their families deserve that much. Do we even know who we lost entirely?"

"Script has been working on it, so you'll have to talk to her."

"Okay. Thanks Ivory."

"You're welcome. And Twilight?"

"Yes?"

"It's good to have you back." Twilight smiled and nodded respectfully at Ivory, and made her way over to the triage area where she thought she had spotted Script earlier.

She hadn't been wrong about spotting Script, and gently trotted over to find the elderly thestral scribbling into a ledger. "Hello Script."

"Hmm?" Script looked up from her writing and blinked a few times before addressing Twilight. "Hello Twilight, nice to see you again."

"What are you doing?"

"Making a list of all the ponies we lost so we can get them home and suchlike. I really think we need a better system of identification though, as at the moment we don't have one at all. Currently I'm identifying ponies by how they look, and what their cutie marks are. As you might guess, that's not a fool proof method."

"Right. Any suggestions?"

"The Duke's soldiers wear tags that bear their name and cutie mark. Makes identifying them rather easy."

"Uh... are we identifying them?"

"Yes, we're writing their names down so that once this is finished we can tell their families that they died, and where they're buried, even if it is a mass grave a few miles from here."

"A mass grave? Isn't that a bit-"

"Better than what they'd do for us? Trust me Twilight, they'd have left our dead for the crows to feast on."

"Right, well, okay." Twilight wasn't going to say anything as she couldn't actually think of a better alternative. At least they were making the effort to write down the names of the fallen soldiers. "What are you planning to do with the list?"

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't we going to make a memorial of some kind for them?"

"Some day perhaps, but I rather think we have bigger concerns at this moment in time."

Twilight rubbed her head with the back of her hoof. "Right, of course. I guess I shouldn't get ahead of myself so much."

"I don't think that's something you should judge yourself so harshly on." Script flipped the ledger back to its first page and placed the tip of a hoof under the first name, Twilight Sparkle. "I'd say you're permanently ahead of yourself since you were dead twenty four hours ago."

"Uh..." A chill crept down Twilight's spine at reading her own name on the list of deceased. With careful deliberation she picked up Script's quill and crossed out her name. "Why hadn't you crossed that out yet?"

"Beg pardon Twilight, but you did die. Just because you came back to life after doesn't mean you never died."

"Semantics, Script. I'm alive now, so I have no right to be placed on a list of our honoured dead. And since I can't die, you won't need to ever put me on one."

"Very well, consider your death forever expunged from records."

"You don't seem very surprised by this. By me."

"Twilight, our beloved Luna survived on the moon for a thousand years. If alicorns weren't durable, then she would've returned a corpse. I was going to give you at least a week before writing you off completely."

"I see," said Twilight, who didn't. "I won't keep you from your work any longer." With a flap of her wings Twilight took to the air and gained some altitude before picking the direction of Neigh Orleans and flying towards it. The wind cut at her far more than it ever had before her so called 'death,' or so it felt, and she found herself wondering just what had happened to those cloaks they all obsessively wore when the first arrived in Mareitania.

With the lightest tap of her four hooves, Twilight landed gently on the top of the steps to city hall. On the trip over her mind had been churning through the various things she could do to reveal her continued existence to the ponies here, and had settled on the simplest method.

She knocked on the door and waited until somepony answered. The somepony in this case being Octavia, who gawped at Twilight almost exactly like she had come back from the dead.

"Boo."

Octavia fell back onto her rear, her breaths becoming fast and heavy as the earth pony started to hyperventilate.

Twilight rushed forward to grab the mare, but Octavia scrambled back as fast as she could. "Octavia! Slow down! You're going to faint like that!" Twilight's words fell on deaf ears though, and a few seconds later Octavia's eyes rolled back and she collapsed onto the floor.

"Octavia!" Twilight picked the mare's head up in her hooves. "Grrr! Smooth Twilight! Real smooth!" Twilight chastised herself as she levitated Octavia up onto her back. "Just freak everypony out with your impossible return why don't you!"

Twilight hurried up to the lounge and burst through the door to find the room occupied by Summer, Daybreak, Snowbright, and Thorn, who all turned to give her an expression not dissimilar to the one Octavia had given.

"Please don't freak out!"

"B-b-buh...y-y-y..!" Daybreak spluttered.

"You're alive!" Summer exclaimed, apparently much more in control of her mouth than Daybreak was.

Thorn shook her head slowly with disbelief. "How?"

Twilight placed Octavia on the sofa next to Summer, leaving the earth pony's head resting on the pegasus's rear. "I wish I could give you a full, in depth, and detailed explanation as to why I'm back, but I'd have to know myself first. Put simply, it's because I'm an alicorn. Please don't ask me a bunch of questions because I've had that all morning."

"Did anypony else come back?" Thorn asked, a slight quiver in her voice.

"I'm sorry Thorn, I'm the only one."

Thorn sighed and hung her head. "It's okay. At least we got you back, right?"

"Right," Twilight confirmed before turning back to Octavia, seeing the patch on Summer's shoulder as she went. "Oh. Trixie said you got hurt. Is it bad?"

"It's okay," Summer told her, "I just can't walk very far."

"I wouldn't think so." Twilight ran a hoof over Octavia's chest, feeling the gentle rise and fall of it as the mare breathed in her unconscious state. "I guess we'll have to find you a cart or something to get you back to Puddingarde for tomorrow.

"Tomorrow?" Snowbright cocked his head slightly, "What's happening tomorrow?"

"Don't you know? There's going to be a memorial service for our fallen. I'm also going to need you back there to start training our new recruits."

"New recruits?" Snowbright said in disbelief. "Who's going to join us after the kicking we just took?"

"Kicking?" Daybreak argued before Twilight could say anything. "Consider their losses compared to ours Snow. Yes we lost a lot, but considering what it could have been, I wouldn't call it a kicking."

"Fine. Whatever. I still wouldn't expect any new recruits any time soon is what I'm saying."

"Actually, we have some incoming from Hayfield if what Ivy says is true."

Daybreak's eyes widened. "Hayfield? He's supporting us? I always thought he backed the Viscount."

"Not any more. I'm sending Ivory to liaise with him once the service is over tomorrow, and now I think about it, I might send Octavia and Summer too. If that's okay with you Summer, of course."

Summer shrugged, then winced as her injury reminded her not to do that. "Sure, as long as you don't expect me to walk all the way."

"Don't worry, we'll make arrangements. I would send Fleur with you as well, but her injuries are too severe for her to be travelling around."

"It could be a trap," Snowbright pointed out.

"I know, but I don't think we can risk ignoring this opportunity either. I know you have some ponies you've trained personally Snowbright, so if you could send a few with them, I'd appreciate it."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Great! Thank you."

"What about you?" Thorn asked.

"Me? I'm going to Bitmark with Trixie since the city is apparently on the verge of rebelling as well. If things go right it could be very fruitful for us." Twilight sighed, "Or... a huge bloody disaster. Hopefully we can steer things to where we want them to go." Memories of the riots in Prance flashed through her mind. Thankfully the only other pony that had been there was currently in a faint.

"I'm going with you!" Thorn shouted.

"No you're not!" Daybreak said before Twilight could speak.

Thorn stomped a hoof, "Yes, I am. They'll need a pony that knows the city, and knows the pony running our cell there. That, and I'm tired of sitting around being useless. I took the training to be an adept, now let me use it!"

"Let her go Daybreak," said Snowbright. "She has a pony that can't die protecting her, as well as Trixie."

"Actually I can die," Twilight pointed out, "I just don't stay dead." Twilight grinned weakly as she realised that wasn't the most stunning endorsement of her ability to protect Thorn. Then she felt sick for the way she was treating her own mortality, or lack thereof, and how death to her had become trivial. Freaking out over her leg growing back seemed petty compared to this.

Oblivious to the crisis going on in Twilight's head, Thorn prodded her father in the chest. "I'm in this rebellion to fight for our country's freedom dad, not to cower while other ponies do the hard part. If you don't let me go, I'll just sneak out instead."

"Fine," Daybreak looked to Twilight, "but I swear to the Lady, Twilight, if anything happens to her, I'm holding you responsible." Twilight wasn't paying attention, and in his irritation Daybreak stomped a hoof hard enough to crack the floorboard beneath it. "Twilight!"

"Yah!" Twilight yelped as she almost jumped out of her skin. "What?"

"Good to know my daughter's safety is so important to you."

"Sorry, I'm just a little distracted at the moment, what with having returned from the dead and having no idea how to deal with it, while everypony around me treats it like it's nothing!"

"How do you want us to treat it?" asked Snowbright.

"I don't know!" Twilight massaged her temples. "Sorry, I'm just confused about some things right now. Yes, I accept full responsibility for Thorn, even if she's a fully grown mare who can make her own choices." Twilight sighed grumpily, "And I'm sorry if I'm being a bit short with you right now."

"Understandable really," Snowbright muttered.

"Yeah, alright," said Daybreak. "Sorry. I'm not speaking for the others, but seeing you standing here, alive, well... it makes me question whether you ever died at all." The others gave their agreement to that statement.

Twilight nodded. Even though she wanted to move on, a selfish part couldn't help but want ponies to pay more attention at the fact she was no longer dead. At the same time, she couldn't exactly blame them for not knowing how to treat this when she didn't know herself. "Okay, I get it." Twilight sighed again and rubbed her eyes. "So, what's been going on in Neigh Orleans?"

"We've scoured the city of the Duke's forces," said Snowbright.

"And I've reinstated the guard," said Daybreak, "so between that and the ships coming in again, I'd say we're back to business as usual here."

"Good." Twilight hoped it would stay that way this time. "In that case, pull all our ponies back to Puddingarde. I think they're entitled to a little rest after all that's happened the last few days. It also gives our wounded a chance to recover."

Snowbright seemed incredulous. "All of them?"

"Yes, all of them. Keep them ready to move out though, as I might need help in Bitmark."

"And how are we supposed to know if you need help?"

"I'll send a pegasus."

"And where are you finding this pegasus?"

"In the city of course..." Twilight trailed off as something pertaining to the lives of most pegasi in the country gained her attention. "Right, so I best take a pegasi with me as well. My point still stands. Have our troops ready if we need them." Snowbright rolled his eyes but nodded.

To distract herself from her embarrassment over forgetting about the pegasus issue, she moved over to Octavia and shook the grey pony. It took a while, but she was eventually able to get a reaction out of her. It involved more hyperventilating, but Twilight was ready this time.

"Calm down Octavia," she said as she clamped a small bubble over Octavia's muzzle that would work much like a paper bag would. Octavia kept breathing into the bubble, the bubble expanding and shrinking as she did, and was eventually able to slow her breathing enough to pass for normal.

"You're dead!" Octavia exclaimed as soon as Twilight removed the bubble.

"No I'm not," the blatantly living pony told her. "I was dead. There's a difference."

"B-b-but how?"

"Alicorn thing. Believe me, it's news to me too. Don't ask me to explain it though, because I can't."

"Oh." Octavia slowly reached out to touch Twilight on the chest, as if she was nervous that Twilight wasn't really there. "You're really here..."

For the third time in twenty four hours, Twilight found her neck being crushed in a grip strong enough to make breathing difficult for her. She returned it though, and gave a separate hug to Summer, albeit gentler due to her injury.

"When did this happen?"

"Last night. Almost gave Trixie a heart attack when I spoke to her."

"Are you okay?" Octavia asked, totally serious. Twilight smiled at her, but it quickly grew shaky, and she lowered her head to hide it.

"Physically I'm perfect. Mentally, I'll have to get back to you on." Twilight breathed in a deep cleansing breath and shoved all her doubts and worries to the back of her mind where they could be future Twilight's problem. "Daybreak, I need a way to get Summer back to Puddingarde, and to get her to Hayfield."

"Hayfield?" Octavia questioned. "What's that? Why is she going there?"

"You both are, along with Ivory. I'll have plenty of time to explain it to you on the way to Puddingarde."

"Oh very well, temporarily keep your secrets."

"Trust me Octavia, you'll like this one." Twilight turned back to Daybreak, "Any ideas?"

"One, but it's the one you need. Follow me." Twilight picked Summer up and placed the pegasus on her back, then followed Daybreak down through to a part of the city hall she had never seen before. It mostly seemed to be full of old boxes and crates, but Daybreak led them on between them to their destination.

"Behold, the former mayor's private coach," he said with dramatic flair as he gestured to the slightly ornate, wooden carriage he'd led them to. He opened the door to let them see inside, showing off the plush, red velvet seats, and a well stocked minibar. "Cushy huh?"

"I'll say," Twilight said in a low voice, unsure how to feel about this particular piece of ostentatiousness that was going to help them.

"Wish we'd had something like this for Fleur, or for when I got sick in Stalliongrad," Octavia said as she looked inside. Twilight was reminded suddenly of the spell she used to turn an apple into a carriage for the Grand Galloping Gala, and very wisely decided to stay quiet while feeling very stupid indeed.

She placed Summer inside and climbed in, pulling Octavia in after her with a hoof before making herself comfortable. "So, who's pulling?" she asked, pointedly directing her gaze towards Daybreak and Snowbright.

"You're the super-strong alicorn pony," Daybreak pointed out.

"I was also dead for a significant amount of yesterday, so I think I deserve a break." Again that sense of weirdness traversed its way through Twilight's stomach, on top of feeling guilty for playing that card. "Sorry. I'll pull if you want me to."

The corner of Daybreak's mouth turned up in a small smile. "No, you're right. I think dying for the cause gets you at least one free ride. Milady," he said to his daughter as he gave her a helping hoof into the carriage while Snowbright opened the gates out onto the street. "Don't expect this to be quick though as I'm not that fit, and I expect that earth ponies were more in mind when the pony that made this thought about who would be pulling this.

"No rush," Twilight told him. "I wouldn't mind just enjoying the journey."

Twilight's lower lip jutted out in annoyance as she pulled the cart up to Puddingarde. Daybreak had copped out after a couple of hours of pulling, leaving either Twilight or Octavia to pull it the rest of the way.

Twilight volunteered, a decision she rather regretted for the simple reason that she had been hitched to the carriage in front of Snowbright, and her rear almost felt hot in her mind, from the amount that Snowbright had been staring at it. At the same time, she didn't want to subject Octavia to that either, so it was at least a minor victory to spare Octavia from that.

They stopped at the base of the ramp up to the keep, and Twilight quickly unhitched herself, giving Snowbright a scornful look which he failed to meet, before opening the door and levitating Summer out onto her back. "Octavia, could you go and find the Wonderbolts please? I need to talk to them. Meet us in the barracks with Fleur."

"Uh, okay. They might be up there though," Octavia said, pointing a hoof up, "so you might be better off doing that since you can fly?"

Twilight blinked a few times before looking up at the cloud town that was floating in the skies about Puddingarde. "Right, yeah... probably." Twilight passed Summer off to Octavia and pushed off into the air. "One of you will have to find Ivory and Trixie instead. Trixie's probably still in the command room, but don't ask me where Ivory is."

Twilight heard a answer in the positive, which was good enough for her before she took off up to the collection of cloud houses above her. She felt ashamed that she hadn't been up here at all since its construction, and was amazed at how fast this place had grown. Many of the houses were still empty, built in preparation for the arrival of more pegasi, and it didn't take a genius to spot the columns and arches that graced many of the buildings. Twilight reasoned that it was probably the Wonderbolts' influence that was to be thanked for the Cloudsdale touch.

Twilight remembered how many of these pegasi had appeared in Whiplash; listless and defeated. Yet now they flew around, played with the young they wouldn't have been able to keep usually, and seemed to be happy. Twilight knew that the pegasi had taken losses in the battle, and was confused by the lack of mourning, until a crueller part of her psyche reminded her that pegasi are probably accustomed to loss.

All the same, seeing the difference the rebellion had made in the lives of these ponies warmed her considerably, as she made her way towards the larger central building that seemed to function like a town hall.

The clouds gave slightly as she landed on them, before taking her weight as the mysterious pegasus magic that lurked within her did its job, and she headed inside the building. To her surprise the building was filled out with a couple hundred well armed pegasi, relaxing as best they could as she made her way through them to where the Wonderbolts were lounging on some cloud beds, along with Rush.

"Uh, what is this place?" she asked once she reached them.

"Warriors retreat," Soarin answered without looking. "Used to be a big thing in the pre-exodus days when pegasi were all warrior-ish and stuff. Figured it was appropriate."

"I see..." Twilight saw Rush was sporting a collection of bandages around her breast, and couldn't help but worry despite how comfortable Rush seemed as she lounged. "Are you okay Rush? What happened?"

Rush shrugged lazily. "I'm fine. One of the soldiers didn't like me killing his buddy, so he gave me a little something to remember him by. It's just a scratch, nothing to worry about."

"If you say so." Twilight cleared her throat, preparing herself to sound authoritative, "Captain, I need you and your Wonderbolts in Puddingarde to discuss what we're going to do next, if you'd be so kind."

Spitfire slowly cracked an eye open to see who was addressing them, and squawked in surprise at finding it was Twilight. She quickly raised herself and saluted, but failed to keep the confusion off her face. "Already? I mean, I know you're alive and all, but shouldn't you be resting after..."

"After what? Un-dying?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, yes ma'am."

"There'll be time for that later. Meet me in the barracks in ten minutes."

"Barracks?" Fleetfoot said questioningly, but it went unheeded as Twilight was already flying out of the building. "I guess you were right Soarin, alicorns can't die."

"Heh, I knew it." He kicked his back right hoof out, destroying a bit of his bed, "Man I wish we'd made a bet on that."

"You're really leaving me here?" Fleur asked sadly. Her eyes became downcast, and Twilight really felt bad for it.

"I'm sorry Fleur. If you could walk it'd be a different matter, but between you leg and your hooves... well..."

"But I'd be perfect to go with Ivory! Who knows more about manipulation and blackmail than a pony that's lived in Canterlot for the last ten years?" Twilight wasn't sure whether to point out that she'd lived in Canterlot most of her life, and still knew very little about such things. Ultimately she decided not to. "Please Twilight, don't do this to me."

"Celestia said she'd send a properly trained doctor or nurse over to help you get better. They're not going to be much use if you're not here," Twilight argued.

"I thought they were doing more than just helping me?"

"Yes, but you're the main reason I asked for medically trained ponies in the first place." Twilight placed her forehooves on the edge of Fleur's bed like she was begging, "Please Fleur, wait until you're a bit better before getting involved again."

Fleur's forehead creased around the stump of her horn, and she seemed like she was about to say something when Trixie spoke up, saying something that Twilight wanted to kick her for. Hard.

"What if there's a pony in this Hayfield place that could help her? Trixie's also wondering why we haven't asked Mama either."

"Because I think there's a limit to what even Moonshine can fix," Twilight hissed between her teeth.

"Perhaps. Still though, we don't need Fleur's body for this, only her mind." Twilight wondered if Trixie was saying this solely to annoy her, but Trixie seemed genuine enough. Either way, it was enough to completely undermine her reasons to keep Fleur safe at Puddingarde. "Surely it's worth her going just for that?"

"Trixie's on our side!" the filly declared. "This argument is officially won!"

Twilight growled inwardly, the only sign of it being a slight shudder of her shoulders. "Fine, but I swear to Celestia, if you come back worse than you are now, I'm never letting you leave this place again until it's time to return to Equestria."

"Uh... okay?" Fleur said slowly.

"In the meantime, you need to ask either Sawbones or Suture on how to look after yourself while you're gone."

"Yes Twilight."

"Good." A flutter of wings heralded the arrival of the three Wonderbolts. "Ah, we're all here. Soarin, you're going with Octavia, Fleur, and the others to meet Hayfield. Ivory will brief you on what you'll be doing there."

"Yes ma'am." Soarin saluted crisply, but it was clear he didn't know what Twilight was talking about in the slightest.

"Trixie, Thorn, Fleetfoot, and Spitfire, come with me." Twilight headed over to an empty part of the barracks with the others in tow, leaving Ivory to brief the remaining ponies.

"Fleetfoot. Sorry to do this to you, but I want you out on reconnaissance again. While they're dealing with Hayfield, and we're in Bitmark, we still need to know what's going on. I know we should wait for Seeker to find out more, but I imagine her hooves are full with preparing her ponies."

Fleetfoot saluted, "You can count on me ma'am. Just tell me where to go."

"I want a report on the activities in Whiplash, Hoovendale, and Prance. Once we're done with our missions we'll have to start pushing north, and I want you to discover whatever you can about what the enemy is up to in these places."

"Understood. I'll get started at once."

"Thank you." Twilight waited for the blue Wonderbolt to depart before speaking again. "I wish I could tell you more about what we'll be doing in Bitmark, but until I speak with Seeker to see if she has more info, we're walking into a complete unknown. Sorry."

"I don't know," Trixie said with a smirk, "I kinda like it this way."

"We're flying there," Twilight said with a barely detectable hint of glee.

"And now I hate this idea."

"Is it really the best idea to take me with you?" Spitfire asked. "I'm betting a pegasus isn't going to go unnoticed."

"I know. Either I'll have to reverse engineer the spell I use to hide my wings for you, or you're going to have to suffer wearing a cloak. We'll hide you somehow anyway."

"We really don't have anything more to go on? Thorn spoke up. "Is that really a good idea?"

"Sure!" Trixie said happily, wrapping a companionable leg around Thorn's withers, "It'll be just like the good old days, but with an outcome that doesn't involve running away." Thorn looked sideways at Trixie. "Oh right, you weren't there for all that. Well let Trixie assure you that it's all good fun."

"Can't wait," Thorn said flatly.

Twilight cleared her throat. "Aaaanyway... We'll be leaving after the service tomorrow, so get some rest and prepare yourselves."

A sleepless night is all Twilight managed, her stomach and mind churning with unanswered questions, and unaddressed worries. Celestia and Luna had made it clear that being an alicorn included some serious pros and cons, but neither of them ever said anything about the sheer guilt of not being able to die when others around her so very easily could.

Here she was at a service for the dead, a service that would've been as much for her as anypony else if it wasn't for the fact that she could magically spring back to life after being brutally impaled. In her mind, mastering the ideals of friendship did not warrant the ability to do that, especially not after some of the mistakes she had made concerning her friends.

All of that was kept locked away in the depths of her mind though, behind the solemn expression she was carefully maintaining through the service. Unknown to her, and regrettably so, there was a Priestess of the Lady in their ranks, who had volunteered to conduct the ceremony, and Twilight was dreading the moment that she would inevitably be asked to say something.

"-and so, like all must do, these brave mares and stallions have made their final journey to the loving embrace of our Lady, to forever bask in her warmth." The priestess bowed her head in silence for a moment, with everypony else doing the same, even Trixie, while Twilight screamed with guilt inside her own head.

"Not all make the journey though," the priestess continued after a minute. "Some, through the grace of our Lady, are returned to us, to walk amongst the living as avatars of her will." Twilight's eyes shot open at those words. Was this priestess really about to do what Twilight thought she was going to do? Twilight's desire to scream increased tenfold.

"Indeed, the pony you know as Twilight Sparkle, our noble leader, is one of those so blessed. Truly we should be thankful that the Lady has chosen to show her favour for our cause by sending one of her chosen children to lead us into this new dawn, to vanquish those that would deny the freedoms that the Lady promises to all." The priestess waved to Twilight, indicating that she wished the alicorn to say a few words.

Twilight stood and made her way to where the priestess had been standing in the entrance to the keep overlooking the courtyard where the survivors had gathered. She took in the sight of hundreds and hundreds of ponies looking up to her, many with grief etched on their faces, many with fresh scars marring their features, and worst of all to Twilight, many were looking up to her with hope. She didn't want that, and certainly didn't think she deserved it.

"I- Um... Th-" Twilight's voice froze in her throat, and tears pricked her eyes as hundreds of expectant ponies looked up to her for something that Twilight didn't feel she could deliver. "T-these brave ponies-" Twilight's legs trembled as every instinct she had screamed at her to run. Instincts she couldn't ignore.

"I-I'm sorry, I can't," she said weakly before turning and galloping into the keep. She ran down the stairs to the command room, the sound of hooves starting to echo down after as somepony chased after her. She ignored it and burst into the room to collapse into tears on the edge of the table.

Trixie charged into the room behind her, skidding to a stop as she beheld the sight of Twilight crying her eyes out. She had ran after Twilight with every intention of chewing her out, but managed to curb some of that desire.

"You're lucky Daybreak stepped up to cover for you," she said snidely before sitting down behind the sobbing alicorn. "What's going on Twilight?"

"I don't deserve to be up there, saying words for the ponies we lost," Twilight said through her tears.

"So instead you insult them by running away? Much better. Bravo."

A knot twisted in Twilight's chest, and more tears spilled down her cheeks. "It'd be more of an insult if I did say something!"

"Oh? How so?" More hooves echoed in the stairway as Octavia and the filly made their way down and poked their heads into the room, only for Trixie to wave them back.

"How so? How so!?" Twilight turned on the spot to face Trixie, her face taut with anger. "These ponies sacrificed everything for this rebellion! Everything! Even their lives! How can I dare to talk of their brave sacrifices when any brave sacrifice I make is nothing compared to them due to the fact that I can't die! I have no right to even try to compare myself to them! Nothing I could do would ever come close to their bravery because I can't die! I could march out and take on the entire Grand Army on my own, and I would still be undeserving to speak of their sacrifice because I have nothing to lose! Don't you get it? I could be killed a thousand times, but it wouldn't be anything compared to their bravery because I. Can't. Die!"

Twilight collapsed to the floor, all her pain laid bare as she cried her heart out in front of her friends. There was no way she was going to go up and speak for the heroes that lost their lives when she didn't deserve to be in their presence.

Trixie raised a hoof slightly as she leaned back and squinted at Twilight. "Sooo... Trixie's confused. Are you saying you want to die? Or that you feel worthless compared to dead ponies because they're better than you for being able to die?"

Twilight raised her head sharply. "What?"

"If I remember correctly, you didn't know you couldn't die, so when you went out there to fight you were being just as brave as them. You died the same as they did, only the outcome of that was unexpectedly different for you due to alicorns being immortal. Therefore the level of sacrifice between you and them is exactly the same." Trixie grinned to herself, "Hah! Points to Trixie for her superior logic!"

"What?"

Octavia stepped into the room, "I think what Trixie's trying to say is that just because you know you can't permanently die now, it doesn't diminish your bravery going out there thinking that you could have died. It's not your fault you came back, and it certainly doesn't make you any less brave."

"Also, I told you to not go through the survivors guilt thi-ah!" Trixie rubbed her ribs where Octavia elbowed her.

The filly cantered over and wrapped her legs around Twilight's neck in a hug. "Seriously Twilight, you're beating yourself up for something that's not your fault. You think those ponies that died care how you feel about it? You think those ponies up there care about what's going on in your head when you should be honouring the friends and loved ones they lost?"

"Is this supposed to be making her feel better?" Trixie asked suspiciously. "And when did you get all wisdomy?"

The filly ignored Trixie in favour of the pony her legs were wrapped around. "Even if you were right about this Twilight, you should've stayed up there."

Trixie nodded sagely, "Ah, so we are making her feel guilty now."

Twilight rubbed her eyes and nodded, "She's right though, I shouldn't have ran away like that. I'm an awful pony."

"You're not an awful pony Twilight," Octavia tried to reassure her. "You're just scared and confused by some major changes that have come into your life. You can't be blamed for that messing you up a bit."

"If you hadn't died," the filly added, "would you be thinking any of this? Or would you still be up there?"

"I still don't see how that's helping," Trixie grumbled to herself.

"Shut up Trixie!"

Twilight pushed herself up into a sitting position, but her head hung low as tears continued to drip from her eyes. "You're right, all of you. I should've stayed up there. I've made a horrible mistake..."

They looked up as a fifth pony trotted into the room. "Nothing you can't be forgiven for Twilight," Daybreak said kindly. "Nopony expects this to be easy for you."

"But I should've stayed up there, for the ponies that died, and for the ponies that lost them... For Mason."

Daybreak hugged the mare, resting her head on his shoulder. "It's fine Twilight. So you might not have honoured them today, and frankly, nopony blames you for finding it hard coming back from the dead. The best you can do is get out there and honour them by finishing this. I also have some plans for another way to honour them, and I hope you like it when you see it."

Twilight relished the comfort Daybreak offered for a moment before pushing him away and wiping her eyes with a sniff. "You're right," she croaked. "Is the carriage ready to go?"

"It is, and Snowbright's picked some ponies to pull and guard it. Spitfire and Thorn are also waiting to go."

"Right. We better go before I start crying again." Twilight wiped her eyes clear again, "I'm going to need so much therapy when this is over," she joked weakly before heading upstairs and out towards where the carriage was waiting at the bottom of the ramp. Of course that involved walking right through the middle of all the ponies still milling around after the service's abrupt conclusion.

Twilight swore she could feel the eyes of every pony there on her, while at the same time she was totally unable to meet the eyes of a single one of them. Instead she resolutely stared at a patch just ahead of her hooves and pressed on.

When they did make it to the bottom of the ramp where the others were waiting, with Fleur and Summer already in the carriage, only then did she raise her head. "I'm so sorry, all of you. I'm acting like a child."

"No you're not Twilight," Fleur said from her position from the rear seat of the carriage, "You're acting like an upset and confused adult. We forgive you," she said to the agreement of the others around her.

"Thanks." Twilight breathed in deeply and pulled herself up to her proper height as she pushed past her misery for now. "Okay, is everypony ready to go?"

"We're all set," said Ivory.

"And so are we," finished Thorn. Twilight saw that somepony had gone to reclaim the cart they had used to transport Fleur from High Rock. Funny how it seemed to be sticking around.

"Good. Snowbright, I'm leaving you in charge here." Snowbright nodded his confirmation of her order. "Okay. I guess none of us know when we'll be back, so I can only say good luck, and see you when we see you."

The carriage started its journey, and Twilight watched it go for a minute before turning back to the ponies joining her. She yelped with surprise as she found Seeker there too, the zebra having quietly appeared from thin air.

"Where did you even come from? I didn't hear any hoofsteps."

Seeker shrugged, "I thought that stealth in my line of work was to be expected."

"Well... yeah, I guess?. Okay, never mind. You have some information for us?"

"Some, but not enough. It seems that the ponies of Bitmark did not take kindly to the military presence in their city, citing echoes of their previous visit as cause to question the soldiers purposes. A single spark could ignite the entire powder keg the city has become."

"Or a single Sparkle," Trixie joked.

"Thank you, Trixie." Twilight rolled her eyes and looked back to Seeker. "Does this mean they might be willing to join the rebellion?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. While doing so would benefit both us and them, I do not think those of the city seek more than to be left alone. Perhaps with the right encouragement they could become a powerful ally, and would bring other benefits besides."

"Right." Twilight hitched herself to the cart and lifted Trixie and Thorn up into it. "I guess there's only one way to find out."

Author's Notes:

Not a huge amount to say on this chapter, so I'll talk about todays episode instead. Wonderbolts are kinda jerks, and I am choosing to believe Spitfire's nickname is Plot-diver, because reasons. Full marks for the correct latin motto Altius Volantis, which does mean Flying Higher, (because I checked.) It also means that Dash being in the Wonderbolts in this story is now properly canon, even if the reasons are different. Points for me.

Next chapter will be weird. Not because of the plot, but because I'm bored of writing Twi angst, and wanted to do something a little more fun.

Edit: Just watched the ep again and realised the motto is soaring higher, which would be utentes Superiores. Fail.