Weapon clashed against weapon, arrows thudded into targets, magic flashed as spells, both offensive and defensive were cast, and pegasi swooped through the air, seeking out their targets and striking at them with lightning speed.

Twilight walked through the middle of it all, noting with approval how training the recruits was proceeding apace now they had the time to dedicate to such things without the Duke and his army breathing down their necks.

"Again!" shouted Snowbright, and a group of forty earth ponies stepped back and squared up to each other in their pairs as they practiced hoof to hoof combat. "Strike! Strike! Strike! Block! Strike! Strike! Strike! Block! Pick up the pace ponies! Those soldiers aren't going to wait for you raise your defenses Butters!" he chastised a mare.

"Sorry sir!" the yellow pony shouted back.

Twilight moved on to where Trixie was moving a trio of illusions of enemy soldiers about, helping the newer adepts to hone their aim. "Come on! Lead the target! Stop wasting energy flinging shots at where the enemy no longer is! They're not even running!" Trixie glanced up at Twilight and grinned, "The first pony that hits a target in the next ten seconds gets to sleep with a princess tonight!"

A trio of magenta blast struck the three illusions, shattering the magic keeping them whole, and Twilight cockily blew up at her horn before raising an eyebrow at Trixie. "Spoilsport," Trixie snarked with a faint smile. "Guess you'll be enjoying your own company tonight, as usual."

Trixie resumed screaming at the 'inepts' as she had taken to calling them, allowing Twilight to watch as Spitfire put some pegasi through their paces on an obstacle course built of clouds. Some of them hadn't fully regrown their feathers yet, but that didn't stop her from putting them through the wringer.

Twilight stopped by Soarin who was passing out some canteens for the trainee pegasi once they had completed the course. "How are they doing?"

"Pretty good. Once their primaries grow back in they'll be unstoppable. It's a good job they kept the pegasi a bit nicer at Bitmark."

"And what about you?" Twilight asked, referring to Soarin's wing which was still in a cast.

"Another week or so. Good job wings heal fast. Until then I guess I'm stuck with water duty. The Doc's going to have me running through some physio with Drip Dry once her own casts are off in a couple of weeks." Twilight shuddered slightly, remembering having to assist Doctor Amal with carefully re-breaking Drip Dry's wings to straighten them out. Totally worth it, but still unpleasant.

"It'll be nice to see her flying."

"It could happen sooner if you had your healing spell working."

Twilight thought of the jumble of magically infused gemstones she had put together to try and emulate a second soul. It had been about as successful as an earth pony sticking a cone on their head and hoping to cast spells. Even knowing what she did she still seemed to be lacking that one final clue. "I'm sure I'll get it some day."

"I sure hope so ma'am. You going to watch what they do with that catapult they put together? Daybreak really thinks they might have worked out the kinks this time."

"That'd be nice. I don't think launching stones into the ground directly in front of it is really how they're meant to work." Twilight shook her head, "I guess I better go and keep an eye on them." She took wing and flew over to where a group of ponies were working on the contraption, and settled in next to the filly who was watching the proceedings with amusement.

"Come to see how deep they can bury this stone?" she cheerfully asked as Twilight made herself comfortable.

"Oh ye of little faith," Daybreak scoffed as he sauntered over, having seen Twilight arrive. "We've worked out precisely what went wrong, as in we needed something to stop the... thingy... from going all the way. And stronger ropes. And wheels for moving it..." Daybreak pinned his ears back and growled a sigh, "I swear, if it doesn't work this time..."

"Okay, firstly, the thingy is called the arm, the entire thing is called a mangonel, and even with wheels..." Twilight estimated the weight of the rigid catapult in her head, "it's still going to be really hard to move without being able to steer on top of how heavy it is."

"Yes, but- but- shh!"

"I really don't get how a country that developed a steam engine is still using these really primitive methods..." Twilight knew it was probably to keep the populace down, but it still irked her.

"You know what? I'm just going to go and get them ready to test fire it." Daybreak glared at her and turned to leave, grumbling all the way back to the catapult.

The filly leaned over, "Do you think it'll work?" she stage whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

Twilight shrugged, "Probably. It won't matter though."

"Why not?"

"You've seen Prance. Do you really think something like that is going to bring down its walls? Or even dent them?"

"I- Huh... I guess not." The filly giggled, "Daybreak's gonna be pissed when he finds that out! I can't believe you let him keep building this for the last two weeks. You're an unexpectedly evil mare Twilight."

"I didn't mean to do it, but he seemed so excited, and he was having so much fun I didn't have the heart to stop him." She watched as Daybreak helped to haul the stone into the catapult's cup, "It'd be like kicking a puppy."

"Fire!" One of the ponies kicked the lever, firing the catapult. The whole thing jerked as the arm sprung up, launching its payload into the air. There was a whistling sound as the stone flew quite some distance, and a small explosion of earth as it smacked into the ground hard enough to feel. Despite her misgivings Twilight applauded them.

"Did you see that? Did. You. See. That!?" Daybreak bounced over to them like a school filly, a ridiculous grin on his face. "It was like thung! then woosh! And you did you see the way the ground exploded when it landed? Awesome!"

"Yes Daybreak, we saw it," Twilight said bemusedly. "Very impressive."

"To bad it's pointless," the filly remarked to Twilight's sudden horror.

Daybreak's grin faltered slightly, "What do you mean pointless?"

"Don't you dare filly!" Twilight hissed, but the filly wasn't to be deterred.

"Twilight was just telling me how that wouldn't make a dent to the walls of Prance. Or High Rock for that matter."

Daybreak seemed to shrink as he thought it over, but still managed to glare at Twilight. "Is that true?"

Twilight grinned nervously and rubbed her hooves together as Daybreak's accusing eyes scrutinised her. "There might be a small chance, that is to say a decent chance, that-" Daybreak pressed his muzzle against hers. Swallowing nervously, Twilight stammered, "Y-yes it's... it's true. You'd run out of stuff to fire at the walls long before you brought them down."

Daybreak blinked, then blinked again. Then a third time. "Two weeks. You let me work on this thing for two weeks, then tell me it's useless! Actually, you weren't even going to tell me, were you!?"

Twilight tapped the tips of her hooves together, unable to look Daybreak in the eye, "I was hoping we could find a use for it before Prance ever came up as an issue."

"Oh you were, were you?" Daybreak picked a pebble up in his magic and threw it towards where the catapult had thrown its load, then sat down with a huff. "What were you thinking of then, oh mighty leader?"

"Well, you know how quarry's work? Drill a hole into a stone cliff then cram some explosives in to bring the whole lot down?"

"I'm not sure what that has to do with my catapult, but yes..."

"I was thinking we could do that to the wall at Prance. We'd have to work out a lot more details, but it could really do some damage."

Daybreak's eyes went wide, "Damn Twilight, you don't mess about, do you?" he muttered while the filly bounced with glee.

"Woo! More explosions!"

"That you'll be seeing from a vast distance," Twilight reminded her.

"Yeah, I figured. But still, woo!"

"How are you planning on getting explosives into the walls?"

"I can drill the holes with my magic as long as I have some adepts shielding me, then we place the explosives into the wall, light them, and run."

"Uh-huh, and are you accounting for how wide the wall is?"

"We will need to put the explosives into rods. As I said, we'll work the details out later. I need you-"

"To find some quality blasting power. Yeah, yeah, I know. I've already got a few ideas on how to do that."

"Thank you Daybreak."

"But you have to promise me something. Promise me you'll find a use for my catapult somewhere. We worked really hard on that."

"Actually," the filly piped up, "I might have an idea."

Fleur raised her eyebrow, filling it with as much scorn as an eyebrow could reasonably contain. "Didn't you read any of the reports we sent you?"

"I've been busy... and I haven't found a replacement for Ivory yet."

"Didn't you consider asking Script?" Fleur narrowed her eyes slightly as Twilight groaned and hid her face behind her hoof. "You didn't, did you?"

"Sorry Fleur. I did read some of the reports, but then I got distracted by my research."

Fleur's face lightened, "Oh. Uh... Any breakthroughs?"

"Not yet Fleur. Sorry."

"Eh, some day then." Fleur searched through some of the papers on Ivory's old desk in the command room until she found one she recognised. "Here we are, one report on what's happening at Woodberry hall."

Twilight scanned through it quickly as Fleur waited. It detailed how after some of the nobles that had refused to join the rebellion after being asked a second time were arrested and their properties seized, the remaining four decided to pool their resources and hide together at Woodberry hall.

"They have about a hundred guardponies or so with them. Nothing that couldn't be handled by fifty of our own probably, if you and Trixie came with us, but while they're in Woodberry hall they're, well... I don't know, but we can't just leave them there."

"The ponies hiding there, what have you done with their holdings?"

"Seized them, but most of the monetary wealth was taken with them to Woodberry. I know that's only like a fraction of their actual wealth, but still. While they're hiding there they have the potential to be dangerous."

"Agreed. What's Woodberry hall like?"

"Big. It's more like a cross between a mansion and a castle."

"I'm thinking a catapult might be useful," the filly said smugly.

"And where is it?"

"North of here in the forests a few miles this side of Hoovendale. A few hours trot should get us there."

"I don't think we can get that ridiculous catapult there that fast, but okay. I'll go round up some of our ponies and tell Daybreak to get that thing ready to move. Hopefully just having it might be enough to make them consider surrendering.

Trixie trotted besides Twilight as they made their last rounds to check that everything was ready to make the trip to Woodberry hall. "What am I supposed to be doing again?"

"Nothing much hopefully. If things go right we can convince them to surrender."

"Right... and I guess I'm going in case they don't, is that it? Getting me to kill when it's convenient for you?"

Twilight stopped what she was doing to growl inwardly, "Not at all Trixie. I asked you to come on the assumption that you might have wanted to come anyway. Excuse me for keeping you in the loop. You can stay here if you want."

"Nah, I'll come. I just wanted to be sure you weren't practicing double standards."

They stopped by their trusty cart that they were going to use to transport Fleur since her hooves still weren't totally better. "Trixie, I really think that we should be past this now. Yes you are good at fighting, but that's not what I care about. Maybe I just want my friends to be there."

"Where you can keep an eye on me you mean."

"I just said you could stay here! Totally unmonitored if you so wish to be! Stop being difficult just for the sake of it!"

"But I'm so good at it!"

The filly bounced out of the cart and over to Octavia and Summer who were sat in the little tent they had set up a mile from the hall. They, and Ivory, watched incredulously as eight burly stallions pulled the catapult up alongside the tent.

"You have a funny idea of finding some help," Ivory quipped as a cart of stones was pulled alongside the catapult, followed by a hundred ponies in armour.

"Overwhelming force has its uses," Fleur said back as she gently climbed out of the cart. "Twilight wants to force a surrender, and we thought a catapult might help that."

"I suppose it might as well be useful for something."

"Not you too," Daybreak groaned. "Everypony's a critic."

Twilight unhitched herself from the cart and trotted into the tent, quickly nuzzling Octavia and Summer in greeting. "What's the situation here then?"

"Not very complicated," said Ivory. "They're inside, we're outside. We could starve them out but I'm not sure any of us have the patience to sit around out here for weeks when we have better things we could be doing. Hopefully between you and that catapult we'll scare them enough into giving up."

"Here's hoping."

"I was also hoping you might talk to them as they don't seem to want to listen to me any more."

"Alright. Shall we?" Twilight let Ivory lead the way as they trotted through the pleasantly wooded grove towards the hall. It could've passed for a nice day out if it wasn't for the hundred ponies behind them, as well as a catapult. It was still fairly nice though.

"So, how are your other projects going?" Twilight asked to make a bit of conversation as they made their way to their destination.

"Uh, okay I suppose. The free hospital in Neigh Orleans is going well as far as I've heard. Doctor Amal and the other ponies from Equestria are doing a great job of training ponies."

"That's good."

"And Fleur's work with helping the orphanage to expand is going well too."

"And you wanted to send me back to Equestria," Fleur teased. "Seriously though, we're having to find bigger premises since we're picking up stray kids from other places, which also means we're having to employ some ponies to cover that as well. It's getting bigger than I ever thought it could. It's also a good place to start the education system once we get around to that."

"And the ponies paying for it are keeping in line?"

"There's a few grumbles, mostly from the ones that joined after what happened," said Ivory, "but Hayfield's keeping them in line. They're investing in some businesses that the Duchy used to run, and along with the shipping export possibilities that might be available in the future... Let's just say the promise of a return on their investments is keeping them quiet."

"Now we just have to conquer the other half of this country, and we'll be golden," Trixie joked.

"Liberate, Trixie," Twilight reminded her, "but yes. As soon as all the ponies that turned up in the last couple of weeks are ready we'll have to think about pushing on Whiplash." Twilight's head drooped slightly with guilt, "I'm sorry I haven't been much help with any of this lately. It's unfair of me to expect this much of you."

Fleur smiled kindly at her, "It's alright, really. I think you deserve a break after you went flying off to Bitmark two days after coming back from the dead. I'm not speaking for the others here, but I'm happy to have something to do that doesn't involve violence for a while. Until now, that is."

They stopped at the edge of the tree line, giving Twilight a chance to study Woodberry hall. Fleur hadn't been kidding when she said it was a cross between a castle and a mansion. No mansion should have battlements.

Two smaller towers flanked a larger central tower that also served as the entrance. The hall itself went back quite a bit, and ended with two more towers at both corners. Judging from it's appearance, Twilight guessed it had to have been built after the last rebellion to serve as a garrison or outpost to keep an eye on the area.

A blue armoured pegasus dropped out of a tree nearby and glided into a landing next to Twilight before saluting with her wing. "Nice to see you Fleetfoot," Twilight said as she returned the salute.

"Thank you ma'am. Have you come to put an end to this?"

"I hope so."

"Good. In that case I'm happy to report that me and the others have kept them contained in the hall, so you shouldn't miss anypony."

"Excellent work Fleetfoot. You and your pegasi can stand down if you want."

Fleetfoot shook her head emphatically, "We're seeing this through to the end. I think we can wait a little bit longer," she added with a smile.

"If you're sure. Ivory, are there any other entrances into this place?"

"There's a door off one of the towers at the rear, but they'd have to run across the clearing to get away, making them easy targets."

Twilight picked out twenty ponies, a mix of adepts and archers. "Fleetfoot, can you take these and show them where the back entrance is? Just keep them and your pegasi to the tree line unless ponies start trying to escape." Fleetfoot saluted and led them towards their position. "The rest of you, spread out. I'll launch a magic flare if I want you to attack. Otherwise, stay hidden."

"I guess that means we're going to have our little talk with them?" Ivory enquired as they waited for their ponies to spread out into their positions.

"We are. Daybreak, get ready to fire. Aim for the central tower."

"As you wish."

"Trixie, you're coming with me." They made their way up to the hall, Trixie strutting proudly on the right, hers and Twilight's armour shining in the sun while Ivory on Twilight's left couldn't hide how nervous she was, stepping timidly in case she should offend the ponies on the battlements that were aiming weapons at them. Twilight didn't mind though, as she had formulated a little plan that should at least impress the defenders, if not deter them from firing again.

Contrary to her expectations, they hadn't opened fire as soon as they were in range. Instead a haughty voice called down to them, "Don't think we can't see your ponies hiding in the trees! It won't make any difference! We can outlast you in here!"

"We both know that isn't true Woodberry!" Ivory shouted back. "We're giving you one final chance to surrender, or we will attack."

"We will never surrender! Fire! Fire on them you fools!" A hail of arrows flew through the air towards them, and Ivory screamed, although she was embarrassed about it later. Twilight set her plan into motion and formed a telekinetic field around the three of them, catching the arrows instead of deflecting them. Once she was sure no more were coming she let them fall to the ground in a semicircle around them. She knew it was purely showing off, but it did sell the idea that they were untouchable.

Trixie leaned over to whisper to Twilight out of the corner of her mouth, "You seriously need to teach me that one."

"Alright," Twilight whispered back. Returning her attention to the hall she cleared her throat and cast a spell to amplify her voice, "Lord Woodberry, you're surrounded and outmatched. Surrender now or we will be forced to come in after you. As for your guards, if you surrender they will be allowed to return to their families totally unharmed."

"We will not surrender to traitors!"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "I'd have to had been part of all this to begin with to betray it," she said quietly enough that only Trixie and Ivory could hear it. Louder she said, "I'm sorry to hear that. Daybreak, open fire!" There was a thunk from behind her, and a stone soared over their heads to smash into the central tower with an almighty crunch, hitting the stone wall above the door.

It wasn't as effective as they'd hoped. The stone split in half and crashed down onto the ground, leaving behind nothing more than a dent in the stone of the wall. The three ponies stood together outside the hall eyed each other, sharing their awkwardness over how that had gone.

"Oh come on!" Daybreak shouted, ending the pervading silence that had fallen in the wake of the catapults failure to cause any meaningful damage. "Fire again!" The second attempt didn't prove to be much better, and sniggering spread out along the tree line as Daybreak's face turned red.

"Stop poking holes in my house!" roared the voice of Woodberry.

"Fuck it! I quit! Just do what you're going to do Twilight!" Twilight teleported Ivory away, then summoned Swordy as she and Trixie calmly walked up to the main entrance. She poked Swordy through the narrow gap between the two massive oak doors and dragged the sword down, the impossibly sharp blade cutting through the locks.

Twilight pulled the doors open to find a trio of ponies watching them with shock. Trixie grinned at them and they fled, "This is going to be easy."

"We don't want a massacre Trixie. We don't even want this." She stepped back outside and fired a flare from her horn, the projectile bursting after a few seconds. Mere seconds after that her soldiers left the tree line, a wall of steel and magic surrounding the building. "Last chance to surrender!" she called up to the ponies on the tower above her.

"Never! Guards, prepare to repel the invad-ack!" Twilight cocked an ear with confusion as what sounded like a scuffle took place above her. She waved a hoof to pause her soldiers advance as she waited to see what was going to happen.

"We surrender," a different voice shouted down to her a minute later.

"Good choice. Spread the word to your ponies and lay down your arms; we're coming in." Twilight waved for her soldiers to advance again, and she and Trixie stood to the side to let them move into the castle before taking the stairs to the side that presumably led to the top of the tower above them.

Their assumption was correct, and Twilight was faintly amused to see the pony she assumed to be Woodberry being held down by three ponies in livery. She told Trixie to gather up their weapons while she talked to the pony that had given the surrender.

The orange and grey maned stallion pulled his hat off and dropped it on the floor, "We ain't dying for these ponces." Woodberry doubled his struggle for a second, but couldn't hope to overpower the stallions pinning him. "There are children here too. They don't deserve what would happen if we fought."

"You're a wise pony," said Twilight. "Is there a place in here where we could hold you all? I meant it when I said you could all go home to your families after this, but there are some things that need to be done first."

"Yeah, I gotcha. The dining hall should hold us all easy enough." Twilight passed the word to Trixie who nodded and herded the other guards down the stairs with their weapons following behind her in her magical grip. "What are you going to do with Lord Woodberry and the others?"

"Woodberry and the others will be escorted to a house in Neigh Orleans where they'll re-join the rest of the nobles that refused to join us. From there we haven't quite decided yet, but it's safe to say they'll be lords and ladies no longer."

The stallion smirked, "One of us huh?"

"Something like that. Can you lead me to where the others are hiding?"

"Sure, follow me." He led her deeper into the castle, past pieces of art and ancient suits of armour, and most sickeningly a pair of preserved pegasus wings mounted on the wall. Twilight tore them down in disgust and incinerated them as they walked, a trail of ash floating through the air in her wake.

He stopped outside a room where ten of her own ponies were guarding the remaining nobles and their families, having reached them first. Each of the ponies there glared at her with hollow defiance, as if expecting her start executing them on the spot. Instead she turned to the nearest of her soldiers, "Escort them to the dining room, this fine pony will show you where to go." She glanced at the captives out of the corner of her eye, "They won't be getting any special treatment like being kept separate."

A stallion stood and looked down his nose at Twilight, "We aren't going anywhere with you."

Twilight smiled sweetly, and was about to give him a differing opinion when one of the other stallions spoke, "Give it up Wheeler, we lost. Seems that Hayfield was right all along." He gestured at his wife for her to rise, and led the way out, followed by his children, and soon after by the rest of them, although Wheeler took his time to stare daggers at Twilight as he passed.

Twilight followed them from a distance, keeping an eye on them, and an eye out for any more grisly trophies. Thankfully she didn't find any, as she might have had a few words for Woodberry if there had been.

She kept watch as groups of guards were brought into the dining room to be kept under a watchful eye. There was an immense satisfaction in having pulled this off without having to hurt a single pony. It must've showed too because Fleur felt compelled to comment on it as she followed another group of guards in.

"You seem happy."

Twilight nodded and smiled at Fleur, "I am happy. If every conflict could be resolved like this, I'd be a very happy mare indeed. The kind of happy you could spontaneously burst into song about."

Fleur smirked at her and stepped around Twilight while still facing her. She ran a hoof down Twilight's cheek and flicked it off her chin, then she slowly, and bizarrely, began to sing,

"If you could be so happy,
I'd kindly like to know,
whatever could have happened,
to make that happiness so?"

Sudden a ruckus struck up in the dining room as all their soldiers simultaneously beat their hooves on the floor and began to dance, much to their own confusion at times.

"We took the lords down!
We took the lords down!
We outdid them, and brought them all down low!
We took the lords down!
We took the lords down!
And without them our happiness can groooooow!"

Despite herself, Twilight couldn't help but be caught up in the moment,

"These lords we have been hunting,
for no other reason why,
than they grew up believing in the Duke's foul twisted lie!
But now their time is over,
and they may cry at least,
while I am simply happy that no one is deceased!"

"We took the lords down!
We took the lords down!
We're sorry but they really had to go!
We took the lords down!
We took the lords down!
The greediest bunch of crooks we knooooow!."

Fleur bounced up onto one of the long tables and started strutting along the length of it, tail flicking side to side as she went,

"It really was so simple for us to go and say,
that the use of deadly violence would really wreck your day!
A simple honest warning, that some refused to heed,
but thankfully these ponies here didn't want to bleed!
And so the battle was over, before it had begun,
with the lovely little twist that we had gone and won!"

"We took the lords down!
We took the lords down!
So there's really not much more to say!
We took the lords down!
We took the lords down!
They should've just seen things our way!"

Twilight lifted into the air and performed a little twirl before spreading her forelegs wide as she sang,

"If this war was so easy, life would be so grand,
if before every battle we could deal the winning hand!
We should be so lucky, for if this starts a trend,
we'll be tasting a sweet victory before this war does end!
And if it were so simple, this'd be a breeze,
and we would have that Duke beaten with complete and total ease!"

"We took the lords down!
We took the lords down!
It's time for us to shout hooray!
We took the lords down!
We took the lords down!
And together we have won this daaayyyy!"

...

...

Awkward coughing spread around the room as what had happened sunk in. "What the fuck was that!?" the filly squeaked from across the room. "I don't- I don't even... Summer! You're with me right? About how fucking weird that was?"

Summer shrugged happily, having been bobbing her head and tapping a hoof along with the tune. "I don't know, I kinda liked it."

A side door smashed open hard enough to make everypony jump, and through it a panting Octavia stumbled. "I- I- hah..." She looked about the room, seeing all the curious eyes that were watching her, "I missed it, didn't I? Damn it! The first song we have, and I missed it!" She turned and stomped back out of the room, slamming the door hard enough to break the latch.

Fleur grinned at Twilight with something approaching smug satisfaction, and bobbed her eyebrows up and down a couple of times. Twilight playfully pushed her head to the side, "Don't even say it Fleur."

Twilight made her way down one of the many hallways Woodberry hall was honeycombed with, her eye taking note of all the antiquated and useless guff the walls were lined with. Most would be sold back to the other nobles that had joined them, them having the same instinct with this useless tat that a magpie had with shiny things.

It galled her that these ponies were so desperate to cling to the old ways, fearing even positive change if it could possibly mean losing their ability to line their overblown abodes with trinkets and trophies. She knew it wasn't a far cry from what the nobles back in Equestria were like, some of whom barely shared a charitable bone between them. It was tempting to shake them up a bit when she finally went home.

She shook the thought off. There wasn't any reason for her to be thinking this way, other than a desire to somehow get back at the idea of nobility. Not all nobles were bad. Some were surprisingly noble at times, although if she were to make a list of the less altruistic ones it'd be quite lengthy, and likely headed by a certain white coated and blonde maned git.

She turned the corner, the echo of her hooves carrying her further away from those unworthy thoughts. She didn't need to be taking imaginary potshots at ponies because of her dislike of certain ponies here.

She returned her thoughts to the matter at hoof, about what she was going to do next. Pushing onto Whiplash was only a stepping stone towards Prance and High Rock, but seeing as how they were based firmly in the south it was quite a big step to get as far as even Whiplash. Transport itself would be easy enough once they had Whiplash as they could use the river, but until then they were firmly on hoof. Good job they had very recently captured somewhere that could act as a good waypoint.

She turned another corner, her mind starting to mull over the things she would have to do to turn Woodberry hall into a viable outpost for the rebellion, when the sound of an argument pricked her ears. She followed it to its source, and quickly worked out it was between Octavia and Daybreak.

She entered the room they were in, finding Daybreak confronting Octavia, who had her forelegs wrapped protectively around the neck of a cello case like a mother protectively holding a foal. "Do I even want to know what's going on here?"

"She won't give me that cello!" complained Daybreak. "I could sell an antique cello like that for at least five hundred marcs!"

"Uh-huh... Octavia, what's your view on this?"

"Mine!"

"Well said. Daybreak, let her have it."

"But-"

Twilight stepped close enough to Daybreak that their noses almost touched, "No buts. It's not like we're strapped for cash these days, so let her have it."

"Fine..." Daybreak stalked out grumbling to himself. Octavia slowly relaxed once he was gone and leant the case against the wall to give Twilight a hug.

"Thanks."

"It's fine, really. I'm not sure why he was being such an ass about that anyway."

Octavia nuzzled in closer, "I'm serious Twilight, thank you. I'm not sure whether I wouldn't have gotten violent if you hadn't turned up. I'm not entirely sure what came over me."

Twilight pushed Octavia away, and the grey mare scooped the cello back up into her protective embrace. "Have you heard of t.s.a?" Twilight asked.

"T.s.a? Isn't that talent separation... something?"

"Talent separation anxiety, yes. It's a bit of a catch-all phrase, but I get the feeling you suffer from it. The longer you go without playing, the more anxious and unsure of yourself you become. It's more common in ponies that require tools, or instruments, to fulfill their talent, like yourself. I carry my talent wherever I go, so it isn't really a problem for me."

"So if I play regularly it won't be a problem?"

"It shouldn't be, no." Octavia clutched the cello a little tighter, "Sorry, I shouldn't have dumped that on you, make it seem like there's something wrong with you. You're fine Octavia, honestly."

"Actually this makes sense. Hopefully now I won't be such a burden to you all."

Twilight snapped a wing out and pulled Octavia into another hug, "You are not a burden Octavia, and never think that you are."

"It's kind of hard to not think that when you've been falling to pieces for the last few months."

"And how much of that could be to do with what's going on? We're all trying to cope with it Octavia, and I honestly can't say you're doing any worse than the rest of us."

Twilight left Octavia and went back outside, finding Daybreak sulking over his catapult. She observed him from a distance before heading over to him, unable to decide on whether she wanted to yell at him or not.

"You could've just let her have the cello."

"And why should she get any special favours?" Daybreak retorted sullenly.

"Why not? You do."

"Huh?"

"You have one of the cosiest places to live in probably most of Mareitania. Nopony's asking you to strip it out to show solidarity or anything."

"Hey, I do a very important job!"

"And?"

"And... and she deserves a chance to have a cello as much as I deserve to live in comfort."

"Exactly. Also, it's called being nice." Twilight sat down and pressed her back against the catapult, enjoying the quiet for moment until something struck her. "Daybreak, why doesn't your wife live there with you in the city hall?"

Daybreak breathed in and out slowly before answering, "I asked her to, but she refused saying that living with me there would be the same as getting involved. I can't say I blame her, but I do wish I could understand why she's so determined to keep out of it."

"I don't know. If the pony I loved was in this rebellion I'd probably want to distance myself too. The thought of seeing them die or something..." Twilight thought of her friends and shuddered, "I'm not sure how a pony gets over seeing that."

"I suppose..." Daybreak shook his head, "Enough about that. What are you thinking in terms of strategy?"

"This would make a decent base for moving onto Whiplash," said Twilight. Of course they both knew it was really the only base for that, and it really wouldn't have hurt to have been closer, but beggars can't be choosers. "Once we've taken Whiplash it probably won't be necessary, but y'know..."

"I thought as much. I'm guessing you want me to start moving supplies up here?"

"I imagine this place is already well stocked, so we'll have to go through what we need first. We can probably leave the ponies we brought with us here if there's plenty of food." Twilight ran through some things in her head, "Of course we have to get the nobles to their 'prison' as well."

"They found the carriages the lords used to get here parked in a shed on the other side of the clearing out of sight. I've got some ponies modifying one now to transport them safely to Neigh Orleans. Or we could just force march them, y'know, for fun."

Twilight snorted a laugh. It had been of some concern to ponies that the nobles were being kept in relative comfort in Neigh Orleans, even if they were prisoners. Twilight had argued in favour of the current method of incarceration for the sole reason that many of the nobles had families, and it would be unfair to make all of them suffer for the mistakes of a few of them. It was the only reason though, and if others complained enough she wasn't going to fight it.

"Maybe you can force them to wear pretty dresses some time if you feel like abusing prisoners, but only if I'm there to watch."

"Pretty dresses and force marching. Think about it Twilight, think about it."

"I'm thinking about it, but as fun as that sounds the answer is no."

"Spoilsport. I was hoping to get you to the point where we could at least use the catapult to launch them into the river." He smacked the catapult with a hoof, "About the only thing it's good for."

"Actually I can think of some ponies that'd probably let you do that if you asked. They'd probably ask you now I think about it."

"I can't believe you let me build this thing for two weeks," Daybreak groaned. "Two whole weeks for nothing!"

"I'm sorry, I know I should have told you as soon as I realised. If we could work out how to build trebuchets that'd be better as they have more power, but even then we couldn't use them at Prance."

"Why not?"

"Two many civilians. I'm already dreading how that battle's going to go without adding a huge civilian death toll from using siege weaponry."

"I guess." Daybreak nudged Twilight, "No point worrying about it now."

"Twilight! Daybreak!" Both ponies looked up to see Ivory trotting towards them.

"Is something wrong?" asked Twilight.

"Not at all. It's just some of the guard ponies here want to join us, and I'd told them I'd ask you first."

Twilight looked to Daybreak for his opinion. He shrugged. "I guess it's okay as long as they aren't complete tribalists or something. Give them the usual questions and if they pass they're more than welcome to join."

"And are we still releasing the rest of them?" Ivory asked.

"Of course," said Twilight. "Unless you have a reason why we shouldn't?"

"No, nothing like that. I just wanted to be sure."

Twilight pulled herself to her hooves and offered a hoof to Daybreak to pull him up to. "Come on, we can't sit around here when there's work to do."

Hours had passed by the time they made their way back to Puddingarde, and the moon was high in the sky. Twilight was happy though, watching the stars twinkle as she pulled the cart containing Fleur and Octavia's new cello at the head of a column of ponies.

Not for the first time she thought about how different the moon appeared without the image of the Mare in the moon upon it. It seemed cleaner, purer, like it was supposed to look. For a moment she forgot herself and started to flap her wings, lifting of to fly closer to the moon.

"Hey!"

Twilight quickly dropped back to the ground, "Sorry Fleur. I might've forgotten you were there for a moment."

"Oh really? Yeesh Twilight, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry," Twilight muttered again. She returned her thoughts to the night sky, "I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"The moon. Have you really thought about how different it looks since Luna returned? Like it's... brighter."

"That's because it probably is without a big black blob covering half of it," Trixie said from behind the cart.

"That's not what I mean. I mean it's brighter, like it's happier now that Luna's here again, and everything is how it's supposed to be."

The quiet crunch of hooves on the dirt road was the only sound for a few seconds. "What you been smoking Twilight?"

"Nothing. Maybe it's just me then."

"You are an alicorn," Octavia reminded her, as if she could forget, "and one of the bearers of the elements. Maybe you're more sensitive to these things than we are."

"Maybe." Twilight didn't push the issue and stayed quiet until they reached Puddingarde, and all she did then was wish the others goodnight as they headed off to the barracks to sleep. Twilight was still too thoughtful and restless to sleep yet, so headed down to the control room to work on her projects for a while.

She pushed the door open and paused as she saw a cloaked figure reading through the reports on the table in the corner. There was no need to ask who it was as the sparkling, blue ethereal tail poking out of the bottom of the cloak told her enough.

"Luna?"

Luna pushed the hood of her cloak back to give Twilight a smile. "I see you are returned from your errands. A glorious battle no doubt."

"Actually they surrendered."

"Ah, clearly they were cowed by your majesty. A wise decision on their part."

"What are you doing here Luna?"

"I am here as part of a compromise. Your brother and your friends are at war with themselves, both wanting to come here and help, but also wanting to not break their promise in your friends' case, and not wanting to leave Cadence in your brother's. It was decided that I come here to assist in their stead."

"And nopony thought to ask me?"

"They knew you would refuse." One of the few occasions it irked Twilight that they knew her so well. "Believe me Twilight, this was neither mine or Celestia's idea, as both of us know you're capable of doing this without us, but we worried that the consequences of me not doing this would be worse."

"Worse?"

"Your brother was ready to send an entire legion of crystal ponies to aid your efforts, conflicting with our desire to show our aid as a solely equitarian effort, whereas your friends may have aided the popular movement for Equestria to send military aid here. With the Bearers of Harmony on their side we would've been hard pressed to continue our refusal to send soldiers we do not actually have." Luna's expression went flat, "I still find it hard to believe that the Crystal Empire has a bigger military than the entirety of Equestria."

"So... what? You're here to fight? Or to replace me?"

"I am here to do what you tell me to do. If you tell me to stay in this room until the war is over, then so be it."

"And what if I tell you to return to Equestria?"

"Then I have a small crisis of purpose, and maybe explode from the pressure of thinking about it. Or implode. Maybe both."

"Luna..."

"What do you want me to say Twilight? I have no more desire to be here than you do to have me here. Already I can feel the broken dreamscape pressing about me, although it is not so bad here. It would seem that what you are doing already works to repair it." Luna pulled her cloak off and stretched her wings, "If you wish I will only help behind the scenes. I can already tell you what is wrong with your healing spell."

"You can?" Twilight suddenly realised what that implied, "You read my research!?"

"My apologies Twilight, but I was here for some time with little to do. Now tell me, you wish to emulate a second soul, correct?"

"Yes. While I can't tell you what a second soul is exactly I do know it's like the essence of a pony that's fused with an alicorns' healing magic to become like a separate entity. The magical essence knows what the body is supposed to be, and uses that healing magic to repair the body to that state."

"Simply put, but correct as far as I can tell. So how are you recreating it?"

Twilight picked up her device she was using to copy the second soul, "With this. I feed magic into this network of enchanted gemstones, and use it copy my essence, then the healing spell is directed by the copied essence. At least in theory. It still doesn't work."

"Does it work on yourself?"

"The healing magic isn't as effective as my own. Basically I heal faster myself, so I can't tell."

"I see." Luna took the healing device off Twilight and turned it over in her magic, studying it closely. "Twilight, you do realise you aren't other ponies? Your essence isn't going to work for them."

"Uh... B-but they don't have second souls!"

"Which was the entire point of this if I remember correctly."

Twilight's head slid down into her hooves, "I can't believe I didn't even think of that..."

"Sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes to see things."

"But surely trying to copy a non-alicorns essence would be harmful!"

"It doesn't harm you."

"But I'm an alicorn! I can take it! How can you be sure it won't hurt them?"

Luna reverently placed the device back on its stand, "Twilight, speaking as the pony that used the darkest magic and alchemy to create an unholy fusion of pony, bat, and dragon, I feel almost uniquely qualified to assure you that a pony's essence is not so delicate."

"Um, if you're sure..."

"I am. The worst you could possibly do is accidentally find a way to create alicorns, which seems highly unlikely."

"I didn't know you were an alchemist Luna."

Luna smiled broadly, "Oh indeed! At least I was back in the day, although 'mad scientist' would be more apt if I used modern parlance. Did you know the west wing of the old castle I shared with my sister was destroyed months before the rest of the castle? No? I thought not. I had discovered a new substance that was highly explosive, and unsurprisingly didn't discover that until the very moment it destroyed the west wing.

"But you survived, so it can't have been that bad."

"No I didn't."

Twilight's eyes crossed for a second, then she sighed, "Of course..."

"In fact, a large quantity of the foul inventions hidden in the forbidden depths of the Canterlot archives were my doing. Of course I didn't sign my name to them, using fake names instead."

Twilight's eyes went wide, "You invented some of those things? Why would you do that!?"

Luna narrowed her eyes threateningly, and Twilight suddenly suspected she knew how it felt to be the prey before the predator. "I took overthrowing my sister very seriously. If I couldn't defeat her myself I would've dragged her into a war the likes of which Equestria hadn't seen before or since." Twilight shuddered.

Luna suddenly lightened up and smiled beatifically at Twilight, "But such foolishness is well in the past now, and some of those inventions could be turned towards a more noble cause rather than my own selfish desires."

Twilight wasn't about to say it, but she felt like the pony sat before her, smiling angelically, was possibly the most dangerous weapon in her arsenal yet.

Author's Notes:

*Drops the mic and leaves the building. Then comes back in because it's raining.* I bet none of you expected a musical number. I certainly didn't. You'll have to make up you own rhythm though.

I know I've said this before but updates may slow a bit simply because my brain is far too full of shit to let me write, the bastard. Hopefully I'll get past this bit of mental foolishness soon, (mostly Legion hype). I'm also a bit iffy about some of the time gaps I'm putting into the story, skipping weeks at a time, but quite frankly nothing of note really happens in them. Oh well.