Twilight twitched an ear. "Come again?" It was already strange enough that this mare had walked up to them in the aftermath of a battle, crying like a foal, but turning out to be the General Steel Calibre and wanting to surrender, well... Twilight wasn't sure what to think.

Honeydew's chest shuddered as she tried to suppress more tears, "I w-want to surrender. Please."

"Do ponies usually want to surrender?" one of the rebels asked incredulously.

"Please," Honeydew begged, "if I go back to the Duke after losing like this he'll have me executed. I-I don't want to die..." Honeydew shivered with fear, and Twilight found her heart aching a little in sympathy.

"But it's okay for you to come here and kill us?" another rebel shouted angrily. He thrust his crossbow towards the general threateningly, only to find the bolt in it snatched away in a haze of lavender magic.

"How about we hear her story first." She stepped closer to the general, "I accept your surrender, but there are conditions. You designed these tanks, you're going to tell us how to use them."

Honeydew nodded quickly, "Of course! Whatever you want! Just... please don't kill me or send me back."

"Don't worry, we won't. Luna, Snowbright, get the wounded taken care of, then bring them back to the facility. Oh, and have some ponies guard the tanks."

"Where are you going?" Luna asked while Snowbright started directing ponies.

"I'm going to go and have a long chat with Miss Honeydew."

"So..." Twilight paced around the room she had found in the facility to hold their little discussion, while Honeydew sat with her hooves resting on the top of the table there, her hooves clasped together nervously. Twilight had read about these sorts of things in crime thrillers, and was a little bit excited about trying it out herself. "What are you doing here Honeydew? If that is your real name."

"It is. Steel Calibre is my fake name."

"And why would you have a fake name?"

"Because ponies don't take you seriously in my line of work when you have a name like Honeydew."

"You know, I met general's Sabre and Filigree, and although I admittedly didn't know them well, they certainly acted the part. You don't strike me much as general material."

Honeydew kept her eyes down and twisted her hooves together slightly tighter, "That's because I never wanted to be a general, but I had to be for some reason I couldn't understand. Filigree had far more faith in me being a general than I ever had in myself."

"You do realise we killed him right?" Twilight almost wanted to add that he killed her first so it was fair game, but thought that saying so would only add unnecessary explanations and confusion to the matter.

"I know. Ponies die in war."

"At least you're reasonable about it." Twilight stopped pacing. She wanted to feel intimidating, but her curiosity had her by the nose and she wasn't really feeling very intimidating with a big red stripe around her barrel that really did hurt quite a bit. She sat down opposite Honeydew and crossed her legs on the table. "I think you better tell me why you never wanted to be a general."

"Okay, but it'll only make sense if I tell you the whole story."

"Very well, I'm all ears."

Honeydew wriggled her rear to get comfortable and straightened up, "I'm the pony that invented the steam engine. Or at least I am here. I was surprised to learn that Equestria developed steam power decades ago. Kind of made me feel silly when I found that out."

"You invented the steam engine in Mareitania?"

Honeydew nodded, "Mmhmm, when I was nineteen. I built it using parts I made from cast off scrap at my father's blacksmithery. It was only a simple thing that could power a grinding wheel, but it was still amazing at the time. We showed it off at the village fair where my father had a display. A few days later we had a visit off a captain of the Grand Army, wanting to see it."

"Hold on. How old are you now?"

"Twenty six."

"So this was seven years ago?" Honeydew nodded, her expression sad. "Please, continue."

"The captain said the Duke had learnt about my amazing steam engine, and wanted me to develop it further. At first I was excited, but then the captain said it had to be secret, and I would have to leave my family. I refused, and he gave me a few days to think about it, during which my father's smithy 'mysteriously' burnt to the ground."

Twilight leaned back and rolled her eyes, "Why am I not surprised..."

"I know. Looking back at it I really should've seen that. Anyway, the captain comes back a few days later saying how shocking it was, and how sorry he was that it happened, and that the Duke would be willing to pay for a new one to be built if-"

"If you agreed to do what he asked."

"Exactly." Honeydew sniffled and wiped her nose on her leg, lacking anything else to do it with. "I see you're familiar with his methods."

"I'm surprised he didn't just kill your family and kidnap you if I'm honest, but I guess you have less reason to resist if you agree, even if coerced."

"Yeah, but I won't deny that being able to work on developing steam power in a situation where I had almost unlimited resources was amazing. The problem was though that it was a military operation, and I couldn't be a civilian in charge of it. I was immediately promoted to lieutenant, but the ponies there still treated me like a inconvenience because of my name and age."

"Even thought you were the one that had invented the thing they were there to develop."

"These were ponies that had been working on similar inventions for a while, and I think they resented the fact that me, a mere nineteen year old mare had done it using scrap metal in a run down blacksmith."

"So you adopted Steel Calibre as your moniker?"

"Yeah." Despite herself, Honeydew snorted a laugh, "Sounded better in my head when I first came up with it. I was still so young then."

"How did the work to develop steam power go?"

"Slow. The materials were wrong for larger steam engines, and we were constantly having to improve other technologies just to create the basics for my steam engines. That went on for four years until we got it somewhere near. Then they had me build that stupid boat as the crowning achievement of all my work. A riverboat for that spoilt brat and his spoilt friends to ponce around in! I was glad to hear it had sunk."

"Yeah... that was fun." At least in hindsight it was compared to the far more horrible things that had happened since.

"You sunk it?" Honeydew said in disbelief.

Twilight grinned, "With this very horn on my head."

A small smile crept onto Honeydew's face, "Thanks. After I found out what went on in that boat I hated it even more, so I mean it, thanks."

"What happened then?"

"After I helped build that? Not much. The resources dried up and progress slowed to a crawl. It seems after all that the Duke only wanted to keep what I helped make to himself, up until eight months ago when he gave me a folder of blueprints for steam powered machines from Equestria. Plans had already been laid down for the factory where I built those tanks, and for the steelworks in Stalliongrad to support it. He hadn't even told me. Then he promoted me to General to have full authority over it. I don't know why, I'm not a military pony. I guess he must've forgot the reason how I was there in the first place."

"You mean they let you lead this attack when you're not familiar with military tactics in the slightest?" Twilight wasn't sure whether to believe ponies could so stupid as to let that happen. She was about to call Honeydew a liar when Honeydew spoke.

"I'm not the one that made the tactics. I was only there to give suggestions as to how the tanks could be applied in the battle, and how things should be run to keep them operational during the battle. Not that they paid any attention to me on how those things should be run. They should've staggered the reloading process, having one or two tanks retreat at a time, rather than have ponies run to them without adequate cover." Honeydew crossed her legs and huffed with annoyance. Then she seemed to remember where she was and slowly uncrossed her legs an let them fall to the table top. "Sorry. I just... I don't know. I just wish none of this had happened. I suppose I should tell you where the factory is. It's-"

Twilight held up a hoof to stop her, "It's to the east of Stalliongrad hidden in the forests, we know. It's already been destroyed."

"And the blueprints?"

"I have them."

"Thank goodness." Twilight raised an eyebrow making Honeydew blush. "Some of those machines were amazing, and could do so much to help ponies. Too bad all he wanted me to do was make weapons."

"Yeah, about those tanks. They're different from the original design."

"The biggest problem was not cooking the crew alive, which is why there's a double layered wall between them and the firebox, and access to that is through the rear. As I'm sure you worked out it's a very flawed design as it involves groups of ponies topping it up in the heat of battle. I tried to convince the Duke that it was a bad idea to field these, but he was insistent as he needed a counter for your rebellion. Specifically you and your adepts."

"And the catapults?"

Honeydew cringed, "Yeah...those. Designs had been made to fire the iron balls out of a steel tube using variable steam pressure to alter distance. Better accuracy for no extra cost as long as it didn't start taking power away from moving. The designs weren't made in time for this batch though, and I guess they never will be now."

"So you really have no interest in continuing to work for the Duke?"

Honeydew shook her head fervently, "I never wanted to in the first place! My mother's a unicorn, and I grew up seeing the bias she got from ponies in Trotton. Having to work for the ponies that enforced that bias was horrible. I was almost glad when you won the battle as it finally gave me a chance to escape them. All I ever wanted to do was invent things to help ponies; I have no interest in politics, or fighting, or wars. In fact I'm terrified of getting killed."

"So you have no issue with seeing the Duke fall?"

"I'll be celebrating with the rest of you when it happens."

"I see." Twilight leaned back as she thought. As much as she wanted to think of her enemy as dumb, she couldn't allow herself to fall into that trap. This situation though, allowing this pony anywhere near a military operation? It took all of the biscuits, some milk to wash them down with, and sat in the corner growling at ponies that came too close. Also, leaning against this table was really not helping how much her chest hurt. "I think I've heard enough for now. Let me go discuss this with my friends and I'll get back to you." Twilight stood and left the room, slumping against the wall as soon as the door was shut, her ribs throbbing. "Stupid alicorn healing. Work faster!" There was a rustle behind her, and the gentle clop on a hoof on concrete. Twilight's ears went flat with annoyance, "You know Trixie, eavesdropping isn't big or clever."

"It's effective though."

Twilight rolled her eyes and stood up straight to face Trixie. "Feeling better now?"

Trixie nodded guiltily, "Yeah, a bit." Close up Twilight could see the whites of Trixie's eyes were tinged a little green. "What do you think of her in there?"

"Huh? Oh, right. To be honest, as sob stories go it feels almost tailor made to pull at my heartstrings. A researcher at a military operation, forced to design these weapons when all she wanted to do was help ponies..."

"Good job you're a cynical old mare now."

"At least I didn't start out as one, Trixie Lulamoon." Twilight shook her head, "I don't know what to make of it. The tanks we could make use of, but we can't really make more, so her talents are wasted unless we need to make repairs. I guess she'd be more use after the war is over to help modernise the country, but until then I'm not sure she's much use to us. How about you? What do you think?"

Trixie shrugged, "Me? I don't know."

"Oh come on! Since when do you not have an opinion?"

"Okay, fine. The tanks could be of use to us if we could beat their problems. Having to run up and throw coal in them being the worst idea I've heard of in a long time."

"Magical fire."

"Huh?"

"Magical fire. If I can make a matchstick burn for two days I can probably get a load of coal to burn for a week. As for water, if we change how the water is put in we could probably get pegasi to drop it in much quicker."

Trixie stammered for a second, "W-when did you even get time to think of that!?"

"I went to the bathroom before talking to Miss Honeydew." A total lie, but worth it to see the expression on Trixie's face.

"Fine," Trixie growled. "Anything else?"

"Not really. They're still big lumbering metal things after those improvements."

Trixie grinned, "Even if you got them to throw bombs?" That caught Twilight's attention. "See? Trixie can have ideas too. All we need to do is work out how to time the fuses on the bombs."

"Or develop a bomb that explodes on impact."

"Or that, that's good too."

Twilight looked from Trixie to the door to the room holding Honeydew, back to Trixie, to the floor, then back to Trixie again. "I need to talk to Luna." Twilight the door open, gaining a small gasp of surprise from Honeydew. "Miss Honeydew, could you come with us please."

They were directed to a tank where they would supposedly find Luna doing...something. "Selene?"

A blue horn poked out of the hatch, followed quickly by the rest of Luna's head. "Ah! Twilight! There you are. I was hoping you would turn up. And with the general too."

"And I was hoping to see you helping with the wounded. What are you doing in there?"

"I'm not a doctor Twilight, nor have I received any medical training of any kind. Ever. Frankly, I've never needed to."

"But surely you must've picked up something over time?"

"Being where I was for most of that time? Not so much."

"Oh... yeah."

Trixie's eyes flicked between the two ponies, "Why the hell are you two being so damned cryptic?" Twilight twitched her head back towards their guest until Trixie caught on. "Right... gotcha. Anyway, resident tank dweller, we need you to develop bombs that explode on impact."

"Explode on impact? Why do you require me to do that?"

"So these tanks can throw them."

"Ah, well, it can't be done then."

"Excuse me?"

"The impact of being thrown from these catapults would also be enough to cause the bomb to explode. In fact, if you didn't make the bombs robust enough, you could accidentally drop one and make it explode. Not ideal as you can imagine."

"So you're saying you can't make them then?"

"I can probably make them Trixie, but I wouldn't recommend using a catapult to fire them at the enemy because of the reasons I mentioned before. You could safely use pegasi to drop them though, so long as they did it from some height."

"Are you sure you can't think of a way to do it?" Twilight asked as Trixie mulled her next question over.

"Like that, no. But there are perhaps other options that we could pursue."

"Such as?"

Luna braced her forelegs on the edge of the hatch and pulled herself out before jumping down to the ground. "You're concerned that throwing normal bombs would cause them to bounce past their targets before they explode, yes?" Twilight nodded, "So make them sticky. There are a number of enchantments I can think of to make them adhere to the first thing they strike. You could even make them so they only adhere to stone or metal." As emphasis, Luna picked up a pebble in her hoof, cast a spell on it, then threw it at the side of the tank where it stuck in place.

Trixie grinned nastily, "So it wouldn't matter if the bomb didn't explode immediately! I like this idea. How do you stop them sticking to the catapults though?"

"By using more magic of course," Luna said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Trixie nodded sagely, "Of course."

Honeydew smiled faintly, "This is the kind of innovation the Grand Army lacks. No wonder you guys are winning." She flinched as they all turned to stare at her. "I didn't say I wanted them to win!"

Twilight shook her head, "Lu- Selene, I'm leaving Honeydew with you for now to help you get these tanks operational. Put a tracking spell on her and make sure you keep an eye on her at all times. The sticky bombs can wait. Trixie, you and Snowbright need to get these defences back into shape, and make provisions for the fallen. I-" Twilight almost bit her tongue. She hated having to talk about the dead like they were an inconvenience. "I think the rest of our forces should be here in a couple of days, so you'll have to be ready for them."

Trixie cocked her head slightly, "And where are you going to be?"

"I'm going back to Puddingarde. There's something going on there that I really need to fix before it gets out of hoof."

"More cryptic rubbish, got it. At least say goodbye to Octavia and Summer before you go."

"I will. I shouldn't be gone too long anyway. Oh! And Trixie?"

"Yeah?"

"Since Snowbright seems to be introducing ranks into our forces, seeing as how he's putting ponies in charge of different things, consider yourself a captain." Trixie started to open her mouth, "And I don't mean the pirate kind!"

"Just go ahead and ruin my fun Sparkle."

"If anypony wants to dispute it, tell them to take it up with me once I get back." Twilight spread her wings and took off, flying low as she headed towards where Octavia and Summer was to say her farewells.

"Captain huh?" Trixie nodded to herself as she considered it. "Neat."

"You do realise that still means you take your orders off Twilight, right?" Luna said with a roll of her eyes. "Nothing's changed."

"I know, but it still sounds nice. Captain Trixie. Heh." Trixie turned away to leave but stopped as she remembered something. "Oh! Yeah, I had a question for you or Twilight. How come I can pick up a massive boulder with ease, but it took three ponies of alicorn-like power to turn over that tank?"

"Because rocks are natural, but these tanks are not. Our magic is much better at manipulating natural materials than it is pony made, which is why you can pick up a massive boulder, but struggled with the tank."

"Oh. But... wait, hold on, metal comes from rocks. It's still a naturally occurring material."

"I don't know Trixie, but if I were to guess, I would say that the process of being made into metal takes that natural element out of it. Now I suggest you get to work moving the wounded while the General and I have a long talk about these tanks."

"Technically you're not the boss of me." Luna narrowed her eyes slightly and raised an eyebrow. "But, in the interest of all I shall go and do that thing as a favour to Twilight. Please stop looking at me like that."

Twilight strengthened the bubble of silence she had made around herself so she could talk to Celestia while she flew back to Puddingarde. It was not a happy conversation.

"Are you absolutely sure that you won't be seeing any more of these tanks?"

"As sure as I can be. With the pony that designed them having surrendered to us, along with having possession of their blueprints, and destroying their factory I'd say it's a safe bet. That doesn't mean they don't have other weapons programs though."

"I don't doubt it. I find it hard to believe they were capable of developing such things. They've always seemed so backwards."

Twilight took a deep breath, "They had help. I found a folder in the factory that had a large number of copies of designs from Equestria, including some from the forbidden archives. I doubt you sanctioned such a thing, so either somepony broke into the patent office and archives to make these copies, or they had somepony on the inside do it." Twilight bit her lip as she waited for a response from Celestia. "Celestia?"

"Do you have any suspects?" Celestia asked after a few seconds.

"Me? No. But Fleur thinks it might be Prince Blueblood as she saw him and the Viscount getting along at the Equestria games. The fact that they got their hooves on these designs just after the games ended would confirm that."

"That seems a little too obvious. Not even Blueblood would be so foolish as to give himself away like that. I'm not even sure he knows where the forbidden archive is." There was a short, thoughtful silence before Celestia spoke again, "I shall have to investigate this leak in our country's secrets."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Simple." Twilight could hear the smile in Celestia's voice, "I'm going to follow the money. I shall let you know what I find once I have apprehended our culprit. Until then, take care of yourself Twilight."

"You too Celestia." Twilight tucked the speaker stone into her bags and picked up her speed as she cancelled the bubble of silence around her. Celestia wasn't the only one with mysteries to solve.

Fleur almost jumped out of her skin as Twilight crashed through the door into the command room. "Twilight! What the hell!" Fleur suddenly realised who she was talking to, "Twilight, you're back! Did we win? Is everypony okay?"

"Mostly. We lost quite a few ponies before I managed to get our reinforcements that we dispatched earlier there, but yes, we won. Captured most of their tanks too."

The filly cocked her head slightly, "Most of them?"

"Actually, all of them, but one's broken, and I destroyed the other, so we only have six out of the eight."

Fleur shrugged Twilight's concern away, "As long as the enemy doesn't have them I couldn't care less. Are our friends alright?"

"They're fine. Spitfire has a broken leg though, but as soon as I get back there I can fix that up in no time."

Fleur pressed a hoof to her chest as she sighed with relief, "Thank goodness. I've been almost freaking out with worry all the time you were gone."

"It's true," said the filly. "I've never seen such prolific pacing. Not bad for a pony with a bum leg."

"Shut it."

Twilight held up her hooves to stop them before they could start bickering, "That's not why I'm here right now; Luna and Trixie can take care of things perfectly well without me. I'm here to sort out the mess we have here. Is Seeker in Neigh Orleans watching Ivory?"

"She is," Fleur confirmed. "She left right after you did."

"Good. That gives us a chance to question her captive in the infirmary without her interfering somehow."

"Hold on. Are you sure sending Seeker was the best idea? If she is the spy we're looking for, then isn't that the last pony-"

"Zebra!"

"Thank you filly. Zebra, you should trust with anything?"

Twilight looked up at the ceiling and sighed, "I kind of had bigger concerns at the time. Besides, refusing to let her do anything would only make her think that we suspect her."

"But what if she accuses Ivory of being the spy? What if she's already killed Ivory or something? She could just accuse Ivory of attacking her, so she had to kill her in self-defense!"

"I don't think she'd do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't think Seeker's the spy! She has no motives to be!" Twilight slid her saddlebags off and explained her reasoning. "She's not from Mareitania, so has no loyalty to the country. If what she says is true then her companions were captured and killed by the Duke, so she has no reason to want to help him either. And zebra night maidens are notoriously incorruptible, so it's unlikely they're buying her off."

"So who then?"

Twilight closed her eyes and sighed, "I don't know," she said, shaking her head wearily, "but we can start by questioning that pony in the infirmary."

Twilight led the way up the stairs and into the infirmary. She exchanged news with Sawbones about Whiplash, but didn't go into too much detail as seeing the prisoner was her primary concern.

"Good luck," said Sawbones as he led them to rear of the infirmary where the prisoner was being kept out of sight, "she's refusing to speak with anypony."

"Maybe she'll talk to me though."

"Perhaps." Sawbones pushed aside the curtain he had set up around the young unicorn mare to give her some privacy. Her two front legs and her back left leg were in casts, while her remaining leg was firmly shackled to the cot she was lay on. "Her name's Flicker," he added, giving a name to the charcoal grey mare.

"That's an unusual name," said Fleur. She looked at the mare's cutie mark of a cloud obscuring a moon and stars. "Very unusual."

"It's all you'd see of me before I robbed you blind," the mare said, surprising them all.

"So I guess Seeker didn't rip your tongue out after all," Sawbones said sarcastically. "Oh good."

Flicker turned her head towards them, her straggly, dingy purple mane falling aside to reveal the grey band of an inhibitor on her horn. Her blue eyes went wide and her pupils shrunk as she saw who was there with her, and she whimpered as she kicked her good leg to try and get away. "Please don't hurt me! Please don't hurt me! I didn't mean to do anything wrong!"

Twilight stared blankly for a moment, her eyebrows raised at Flicker's reaction to seeing her. "Uh... I'm not going to hurt you Flicker. I only want to ask you a few questions."

Flicker stopped kicking, but her fear didn't diminish even as she tried to stammered a response, "Y-y-you promise?"

Twilight sat down next to the cot, "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"Huh?"

Twilight blushed as she remembered that most ponies wouldn't know about that. "It's a thing we do back home in... Nevermind. The point is that I promise not to hurt you. Now, can you tell me what you were doing when Seeker caught you."

"I was going to watch some meeting you were meant to have out by that pile of rocks, but it never happened. I was about to leave when Seeker attacked me. I don't know how she found me so easily."

"Maybe you're not as good at sneaking as you think you are," the filly said nastily.

Flicker shook her head, "It's my talent. I'm good at hiding things, including myself. Not from that psycho zebra though."

The filly sat and crossed her legs, "Psycho huh? You have something against zebras?"

Flicker bared her teeth slightly, adding a small snarl to her voice, "Only when they jump me and break three of my legs! Slapping an inhibitor on my horn and chaining me to a bed might as well be called foreplay compared to that!"

The filly unfolded her legs and coughed to cover her embarrassment, "Of course. I-uh... I'll just be quiet now."

Twilight glared at the filly, "Good idea. Now, Flicker, why were you trying to spy on that meeting?"

"Because I was told to."

"Told to? By whom?"

Flicker looked away, "I-I don't know. I'm new here, and I don't really know any names yet. I do know it was one of the Shades though. I mean, he said he was."

"Shades? What are those?"

"Shades are what the ponies in your spy network call themselves," Sawbones explained. "I thought you would've known that?"

Twilight sighed and dragged a hoof down her face, "I really have been out of touch, haven't I?" The urge to be angry at herself gripped her, but she pushed it aside to continue her questions. "So one of the Shades told you to do that. Why?"

"He said that if I could spy on the meeting without being caught I'd become a Shade for sure. I don't know how Seeker found me so easy though. Nopony's ever caught me before."

"Zebras have a bit of a prey complex compared to us ponies. They're good at spotting things that are hiding because something that's hiding in their native country probably aims to attack them." Twilight grinned uneasily as Flicker stared blankly at her. Apparently now was not the time for a lesson. "Anyway, you said you're new here. How new?"

"I got here a couple of weeks ago, from Bitmark. I was going to join up to fight, but I was told I was too small, and my magic too weak to become an adept, so I was going to be put on non-combat staff when Seeker offered me a chance to join her Shades as my size and talent would be perfect for the job. That's why I really don't know why she attacked me."

"There's no way she could be the spy if she's only been here a couple of weeks," said Fleur. "And there's no way Seeker would actually think she's the spy. Especially since she offered Flicker the job herself."

"I know Fleur. Flicker, why didn't you tell anypony this?"

"Because I was told never to talk if captured. That, and nopony ever believes a pony like me anyway."

"But you told me?"

"That's because you're- You're Twilight Sparkle! The pony that can kill others with a look! That can destroy legions without breaking a sweat! They said that you're the right hoof of the Lady, and that not even death can kill you!"

"Uh... I'm not sure that-"

"These ponies talk about you like you're a god or something."

"Well I'm not!" Twilight shouted. The way that Flicker cowered back was enough to tell Twilight that she was scaring the mare, and she forced herself to calm down. "I'm not a god. Not even close. I'm just a pony, doing pony things, and making very pony mistakes. A couple of years ago I was just a unicorn, like you."

"Like me?"

"Well, maybe not exactly like you, but I was definitely a unicorn." Mentioning that she was the protégé of the one and only Princess Celestia probably wouldn't help sell the image of being normal. "Look, I'm just trying to get to the bottom of all this. Can you at least give me a description of the pony that told you to spy on the meeting?"

"He was white. Or sort of white. I think he was trying to hide how white he was by dying his coat grey, so he can blend into shadows better. He had a dark orange mane with a yellow stripe running through it, and his voice was really raspy, like he'd been chain smoking for ten years straight."

"That sounds like Rusty," said Sawbones. "But he's one of Iron Prize's blacksmiths. He has nothing to do with the Shades."

"His coat would be pretty grey because of his job," the filly added.

"Then it won't be hard to get information out of him if he's not a Shade." Twilight stood and flexed her wings as she stretched, "Flicker, don't tell anypony anything about what we said here, okay?"

"M-m-my lips are sealed." Twilight quickly folded her wings back in and muttered an apology before making her way to the forge downstairs. They found Rusty working on some horseshoes, hammering them on his anvil, his expression troubled. Iron Prize came over to talk to them, but stopped as Twilight waved him off without taking her eyes off Rusty. She walked up to him and cleared her throat.

"Iron, I told you I'll get on that armour as soon as I finish my new shoes." He glanced up and froze as he saw it was Twilight standing there, smiling sweetly at him. "Shit! I didn't mean to do it! I thought she'd just laugh it off!"

"Laugh what off?" Twilight enquired, her smile not leaving her face.

"I-um... nothing."

Twilight quickly dropped her smile, "Rusty, would you kindly tell me why you told Flicker to spy on that meeting."

Rusty's resolve melted in seconds, his face drooping like it was melting. "I didn't mean to! I met her in the mess hall at lunch, and we started chatting when she asked me if I was a Shade because I dye my coat. I mean, I don't, it's just soot. I didn't even know what a Shade was when she asked!"

"But you said yes anyway?"

"Yeeaaahhh... I couldn't help it! She was cute, and blacksmiths don't impress mares like her, so I said yes..." Rusty sat down heavily and covered his face with his hooves, "And now she's got three broken legs and she's accused of being a spy. And it's all my fault..."

"Yes, it is," Twilight said unsympathetically. "What in the world possessed you to tell her to do that?"

"She was asking me for ways to prove herself to the other Shades, and I'd heard about this meeting you were going to have and told her to go spy on it as a test. I never expected her to do it! Honest! I thought she'd refuse, or see right through me."

"Typical stallion, thinking with his libido," Fleur said disdainfully. "He clearly doesn't know anything Twilight. This is a dead end."

"I guess." Twilight narrowed her eyes and jabbed a hoof at Rusty, "You. You're going to go to the infirmary and apologise to that mare, you understand me?"

"B-but she'll hate me if I do that!" Twilight held her stare and he quickly wilted. "Understood."

"Good. And don't think I won't check to see if you did it." Twilight held her head high and marched out of the forge and down to the command room, keeping her head high until she was able to smack it down on the table, using it to muffle a string of curses.

"So what do we do now?" the filly asked in a quiet voice while Twilight did her best to turn the table blue.

"I don't know," said Fleur. "It's not like we have any more leads to follow here. Maybe we should go to Neigh Orleans and question Ivory?"

"No." Twilight sat up quickly, "You're staying here away from trouble. I can't die, so I'm not worried if this goes south, but you guys..."

"Here we go again..." the filly groaned.

"I'm serious. If Seeker isn't what we think she is, she's a very dangerous mare. It's already bad enough that I've got her watching Ivory."

"Assuming she's still alive..."

Twilight cut Fleur off, "Seeker's been in a position to kill most of us," she said. "I'm sure she would've done it by now if that was her intention. Now, you guys keep an eye on things here while I go have a little chat with Ivory about Ironhoof, and try to find Seeker."

Ivory barely acknowledged Twilight as the alicorn trotted into the office she had been given in the Neigh Orleans city hall. All she did was mumble "I'll be with you in a minute," before continuing to write things down in a ledger.

"Actually Ivory, I rather hoped you'd be with me now."

Ivory carefully and deliberately placed her quill into its inkwell and clasped her hooves together. "Look, I don't know who you think you are," she started before looking up at her visitor, "but you are very welcome indeed."

"Good save there."

Ivory sank back into her seat and flicked the corner of her ledger with a hoof, "Sorry Twilight, but it's been a trying couple of days, and I can't have any more interruptions when I'm trying to budget a school. Especially when I'm having to employ the expensive private tutors the wealthy normally employ. I'm not sure when the liberation of a country involved so much math. I'm also going to point out that I've never been to school, and have no idea how they're supposed to be run."

"It's been a trying couple of days for all of us," said the one mare that would find maths and bookkeeping to be an amazing vacation right now. "Taking Whiplash, finding problems with our intelligence services, massive ten ton steam tanks based off designs stolen from Equestria attacking Whiplash, and a young mare with three broken legs thanks to Seeker."

"...Wow... Steam tanks? What're those." Twilight conjured a model of one on Ivory's desk, forming a pony next to it for comparison. "So... what? These things are powered by steam? How did that happen?"

"So you're saying that you know nothing about the project or pony behind developing these?"

"The only project I knew about involving steam power was Ironhoof, but that was disbanded after they built that riverboat. They said that such power would be too dangerous in the hooves of the wrong ponies."

"Oh it was in the hooves of the wrong ponies alright, and it certainly wasn't disbanded."

"I don't know what you want from me Twilight, I'm not exactly privy to state secrets. There were things the Duke even kept secret from his son since the idiot has serious problems with keeping his mouth shut sometimes."

"So you certainly wouldn't know anything about how the Duke got a hold of the plans for steam power from Equestria, including designs that ponies in Equestria aren't aware even exist?"

"Equestria? How would that even be possible?"

"I don't know. Fleur did say she saw the Viscount and Prince Blueblood acting pretty chummy at the Equestrian games, but that not only implicates Blueblood in a treasonous act, but you as well since you were there too."

"I didn't spend all our time together! Yes the Viscount spent a lot of time bragging about the Hierophant to Blueblood, and mocking the 'peasants,' and discussing their conquests at length, but certainly nothing about what you're suggesting. Do you really think Blueblood would do such a thing?"

Twilight hesitated. As much as she wanted to outright refuse the notion that Blueblood wouldn't do such a thing, it wasn't so simple. "Yes," she said after a few seconds, "If the money was right, and if he thought there was no harm in it. If it was him then he probably twisted it in his head that he was being helpful by advancing Mareitanian technology."

"Twilight, I swear I don't know anything about this. As far as I knew Ironhoof died years ago, and I certainly don't know anything about those plans from Equestria. Please Twilight, I'm just trying to help you."

Twilight closed her eyes and breathed out, nodding slowly. "I know Ivy, but this is a serious problem. I have Celestia investigating in Equestria, but if she can't turn up anything then we have an even bigger problem. Besides the one we have here that is."

"What problem is that?"

"Somepony, or zebra, as the evidence seems to be suggesting, is hiding information from us while giving information about us to the enemy. How else would they have had these tanks on the way to Whiplash before we had even taken the place. And that's not to mention the weather anomaly around Prance. Goodness knows what's that's about, but it's clearly related to what we're trying to do."

Ivory stepped out from behind her desk to lay a comforting leg across Twilight's back. "Are you okay Twilight? Do you want some help? This stupid budget can wait."

"I'm not good with secrets and lies. Maybe I should've had Luna investigate this as it's far more up her alley than mine." Twilight leaned into the hug to get as much out of it as possible before pulling away, "As much as I appreciate the offer I'm going to have to say no. This could be far too dangerous for you."

"If you say so. Although I have to say, having Seeker watch me was in very bad taste considering what you just told me."

"You knew she was watching you?"

"She's never spent time in Neigh Orleans before, and she certainly seemed to take more of an interest in me than anypony else. With what you said I now have a reason why she might do that."

"Oh." Twilight blushed at having been caught out like that. "Sorry."

"It's fine, but I do wish you'd stop running to me with accusations every time something out of the blue comes up. Yes I was close, but certainly not that close. I honestly believe in what you're doing here Twilight, and I do want to help."

"I know, and you haven't even tried to get in touch with the enemy as far as we know, so... yeah, you're probably on our side."

"You were spying on me? Really?"

"More keeping an eye on you, and mostly only when you first joined us, as a precaution."

Ivory growled a sigh, "Fine. I suppose that's not unreasonable."

Twilight grinned sheepishly, "Thanks. I don't suppose you know where Seeker is now?"

"Probably trying to teach Daybreak how to brew coffee like the zebras do."

"Black as tar at midnight?" Ivory nodded vigorously, having clearly been made familiar with the substance at some point. "Yeesh. I better stop him before he loses the ability to sleep."

She found Daybreak in the mayors residence, sitting on a sofa with his eyes wide, his pupils like pinpricks, and his jittery magic twitching a cup of coffee before him that was so thick it'd probably take a second or two to spill out of the cup if you tipped it over. Seeker was sat in a chair beside him, a saucer in one hoof, and a cup in the other, with an expression of badly hidden amusement on her face.

"Twilight! Did you know that zebras make the most amazing coffee? It's rich, thick, dark, and has a hell of a kick to it, but it's amazing! I don't think I've got so much done in days!" The cup jiggled down onto a saucer, half its contents dripping down its sides. "I'm being rude! Do you want some? I'm sure Seeker wouldn't mind showing you how to make it if you want her to? She's really good at it! This coffee's amazing! Did I say that already?"

"Three times now."

"That's because it's amazing!"

"So I've gathered." Twilight swiftly decided to hide all the coffee beans until he was no longer riding the caffeine train. "You'll have to excuse us Daybreak, I'm only here to have a quick word with Seeker."

"Are you sure you can't stay a little longer? There's still some coffee in the pot!"

"No thank you. Seeker, would you come with me please?" Without saying a word Seeker placed her cup on her saucer and placed both items on the aptly named coffee table since it was covered in coffee stains now, and followed Twilight out into the hallway. "Why did you give him all that coffee?"

"He sought a way to make the day last longer, but I fear the joke's on him at this point."

"And do you enjoy sabotaging him like that? I also see that you didn't tell him about Ironhoof and the tanks."

"He has enough woes without piling more upon him. The fact that you have returned so soon means you are victorious I assume?"

"We were, but now I find myself trying to find out just why we never knew about it in the first place, and how they knew to counterattack at Whiplash with those tanks before we had taken the town."

"Logically you would had to have taken it before anywhere else before pushing north."

"Yes, but if they wanted to keep their new weapons a secret until the last moment they would've had to have known when we were going to take it since those things aren't exactly fast."

"Are you saying there's still a spy in Puddingarde?"

"I am."

"But I apprehended the spy."

"No, you apprehended a pony that was misled into spying on the meeting. Besides, she's only been there two weeks, having come from Bitmark, and having been invited into the Shades by yourself. You know she's not a spy."

Seeker's lowered her head, "So you're saying there's another spy?"

"I am, and I'm sorry to say the evidence is pointing at it being you." Twilight waited for a reaction from Seeker as the zebra froze. She expected her to deny it, or stammer something, or to simply laugh it off. She certainly wasn't expecting to be punched in the muzzle with a hoof that felt like it could smash through rocks.

A lesser pony might have been felled by such a blow, but Twilight, alicorn that she was, merely fell to the floor screaming, blood spraying from her nose as Seeker turned and ran straight for the window at the end of the hall. A window that happened to be on the third floor.

Twilight reached out with her magic as Seeker bunched up to leap out through the window, grabbing Seeker in a telekinetic grip strong enough to pull ships into port. She pushed Seeker down onto the floor as she pulled herself to her hooves and stumbled to where the prone zebra was fighting to escape.

"No! I won't go back to her! I won't!"

"Go back to who?"

"Her! I won't go back to her! I'd rather die!"

Twilight walked up to Seeker, not sure how things had progressed from having a conversation, to her having to hold a hysterical zebra down while blood poured from her nose. Seeker kept struggling to get away, surprising Twilight when she pushed back, taking out Twilight's front legs with a sweeping kick of her rear hooves, knocking out the magic holding her.

Twilight quickly rolled to the side as a black and white hoof sped towards her, cracking the floorboard under the spot where her head had been a second earlier. Another hoof flew towards her and she grabbed hold of it in her magic and yanked, pulling Seeker off balance. Seeker didn't slow down though, twisting herself around her stuck hoof to plant a kick in Twilight's stomach, winding her.

Seeker scrambled onto her hooves and dove for the window again, only to find herself unable as a haze of purple magic gripped her back hooves. "Let me go!"

"No!" Twilight jumped onto Seeker's back and grabbed Seeker around the neck with her right leg, locking it into place with her left before rolling onto her back so Seeker couldn't get her hooves under herself. Twilight wrapped her back legs around Seeker's stomach, stopping her from kicking as she stopped the air from reaching Seeker's lungs. Blow after blow came from Seeker's elbows, landing on Twilight's ribs, and her eyes watered with pain as she felt her ribs crack under the assault. She desperately pulled Seeker's legs out straight with her magic and held her in place with her superior alicorn strength until the zebra's struggles slowed and eventually stopped.

Twilight released her grip, letting Seeker flop off the top of her. She pulled herself up and pressed a hoof to Seeker's neck, finding a steady pulse followed shortly after by a shallow breath. She sighed with relief and sat down beside the unconscious zebra, wiping the blood off her muzzle with the back of a hoof.

"Twilight?" Twilight jerked at the sound of her own name being said, and she looked up to see Ivory trotting up to her. "Are you alright Twilight? Is she dead? What happened?"

"I'm fine, she's alive, and I don't know. I said the evidence on the spy thing was pointing to her, and she flipped out! Broke my muzzle then tried to throw herself out of the window, screaming something about not going back there, and back to her, whoever 'her' is." Twilight slumped against the wall, her head spinning and her body hurting. "Okay, maybe not so fine. Could you go to the guard compound and fetch some guards here, and make sure they bring hoofcuffs or shackles." Twilight caught a sticky strand of blood in her hoof as it fell from her nose. "And perhaps a towel, please."

Twilight winced as a rib popped back into place. Apparently her own healing wasn't quite as gentle as she had imagined, at least where her ribs were concerned. She definitely had full respect for zebra fighting methods now though if a lone mare could give an alicorn a beating like Seeker had. At least her muzzle was recovering at a decent pace after staining an entire towel red.

A few hours had passed since Seeker had attacked her. A few hours that had been spent finding a suitable method to transport Seeker to Puddingarde for questioning since Twilight felt the mare might respond better to familiar surroundings. Even though those surroundings actually consisted of a backroom they had commandeered and quickly converted to hold her, so probably weren't that familiar at all.

Then there was the five different daggers they'd found hidden beneath Seeker's wrappings. Not that Twilight was complaining about not being stabbed, it still seemed odd that Seeker would have those weapons and not use them. It was almost as if she was purposely trying to not seriously hurt Twilight during their short fight, more concerned with escaping than winning.

There was a knock at the door to the command room where Twilight was taking a minute to recover after her ordeal. "Come in."

"Hi Twilight, only me," said Ivory as the pale unicorn made her way into the room. "Seeker's awake now."

"About time. What's she doing?"

"Nothing. She just turned her back to us and hasn't said a word. Drank some water when I offered it to her, but that's it."

"I see. Hopefully I can get something out of her." Together they made their way up the stairs towards the room at the back of the barracks where Seeker was being held under guard. As they walked Ivory kept opening her mouth to say something, then stopping. It happened a few times until Twilight caught Ivory in the middle of trying again. "Something you want to say?"

"Oh!" Ivory said in surprise. "Sorry. I was just wondering how you stopped Seeker like that? How did you know how to do that?"

Twilight smiled, "I learnt that from my brother Shining Armour. He's the captain of the Canterlot royal guard. Or at least he was anyway, before he and Cadence went on to rule the Crystal Empire. He used to teach me some things he learnt during his training, but I never would've had the strength to use them properly before I became an alicorn. I've also been paying attention to the training that goes on here, even if I don't take part."

Ivory cocked her head sideways at Twilight, her mouth slightly agape, "Captain of the royal guard? Does greatness run in your family or something? What about your parents? A master wizard and Princess Celestia's personal assistant no doubt."

"No, nothing like that. They're both pretty ordinary actually."

"And yet they birthed a prince and a princess no less, and have another princess as a daughter-in-law. Very ordinary. What next? Alicorns for grandkids?"

Twilight chuckled, "Now you're just being ridiculous. I'm sure Shining and Cadence's foal will be perfectly normal."

"I'm not sure any kid born into royalty could be considered normal Twilight." Twilight snorted with mirth, but fell quiet as they neared Seeker's cell. Fleur and the filly were already waiting there.

"Anything new?" Twilight asked them.

"Still silent I'm afraid," said Fleur. "If she doesn't talk to you I'm not sure what we can do."

"Then all we can do is try." She dismissed the two guards keeping watch by the door and pushed it open to the pitiful sight of Seeker curled up on the floor with her back to the entrance. A length of chained snaked from the cuffs on her rear hooves to the wall, while her forehooves were also securely cuffed together. Twilight stepped into the room, the others staying just outside, "Hello Seeker."

"You should leave me here to rot." Not a reaction Twilight was expecting, but Seeker seemed full of those today.

"I'm not really in the habit of doing things like that to my friends."

"Pfeh, friend." Seeker said the word like it left a bad taste in her mouth. "If that is what you call me then you really ought to rethink your idea of what friends are. I don't deserve to be called a friend."

"You helped us to rescue Fleur from High Rock when you didn't have to. That alone makes you more than worthy of being my friend." Twilight stepped around to try and see Seeker's face, but the mare twisted away from her. "What's going on Seeker? Why did you attack me?"

"To stop you from stopping me."

"From killing yourself? Of course I'm going to stop you doing that! But I need to know why."

"Because I betrayed you! You were right! I am the one keeping information from you! About your war, about your enemy, and about myself."

"About yourself?"

Seeker pulled herself up and finally faced Twilight, the chains on her legs limiting her movements. "I told you about my companions yes? About how they were captured and taken to High Rock?" Twilight nodded. "They didn't go alone. How else would I have known about that if I wasn't there too!"

"What are you saying Seeker? What did they do to you?"

"They gave me to her."

"You said about this 'her' before. Who is she?"

Seeker nodded towards Fleur. "She knows who I mean." Suddenly Seeker started tearing off her robes, revealing a body covered in swirling patterns much like Fleur's leg, but leaving the black stripes untouched. "She is not the only one to be made 'beautiful.'"

Fleur gasped and clamped a hoof over her mouth, her eyes watering with a shared pain that only the two of them could appreciate. "Pearl did this to you?"

"She did. She tortured me for weeks. She broke me, again and again, over and over until I was nothing more than the empty shell of the mare I once was. I begged for death, but it never came, and to my shame I became little more than her plaything. But that wasn't the end either. She needed my skills, and built me back up into her slave, unable to do little more than carry out her will."

"But you're not doing what she wants now, are you."

Seeker shook her head, "She was not so thorough in scouring my free will from my soul, and over time I was able to repair some of the damage she had wrought on me, even while I continued the duties she gave to me to spy on ponies in Prance. In the end though, I don't think she even cared about what I was doing, so long as she knew I did it for her. When you came to me, I finally saw in you a way to escape her for good."

"You did help us in Prance," said the filly. "And helped us bust Fleur out."

"I had hoped that by coming with you and defying Pearl so completely I could break her hold on me, but it seems I was mistaken in that belief. The more I try to fight her with what I do, the more I see her there, mocking me and my attempts to escape her. I try to help you here, and all I can think of is what she would think of me doing so, and a little voice tells me to lie to you, give you false information, deceive you, as I have the entire time I've been here. I fight it as much as I can, but it's not enough. Even I don't know how far I've misled you at this point."

"And you've been giving them information on us as well?"

"No! That I have not done! But I haven't been able to tell you who is."

"You know who the spy is? Tell us!"

"I can't!" Seeker clutched her head in her hooves, "I can't..."

"Well this is a whole bag of weird," the filly said quietly.

Twilight ushered them back, leaving Seeker alone for a minute, "I don't know what to think about all this. How could she have hidden this so well?"

"Did she though?" said Fleur. "We just saw a helpful zebra night maiden who offered to assist us. We didn't question her at all, and probably explained any weirdness away as her being a zebra. Since none of us know anything about spying, we had no way of gauging how well she was doing her job. I do believe she was genuine in wanting to help us though."

"Or this is all an act," said the filly. She looked at Seeker, who was holding herself as she silently stared at the wall. "A damned convincing act at that."

"She's been here for almost a couple of months. If she really meant us harm she could've killed us all by now." Fleur looked to Twilight, her eyes sorrowful and her voice heavy with pleading, "We have to help her Twilight. We can't just leave her like this."

"I know. But how?"

Fleur stepped past Twilight and crouched next to Seeker, "You want to be free of her right? To escape the hold she has on you?"

Seeker looked up in Fleur's eyes and nodded, "More than anything."

"How?"

Seeker turned away, directing her gaze to the floor. "I fear the only way I will truly be free of her is if I die, or she dies."

"Then I know which one I choose. That bitch has more than a few debts she needs to pay. Twilight?"

"I agree." Twilight entered the room and lifted Seeker's head until they were eye to eye. "Where do you think she is now."

"Since Whiplash was a test for the Duke's new weapons I imagine she was forbidden from joining the fight in case she tried to change how the fight went just to get to you. If I were to guess, I'd say she's waiting at where the fight is heading next."

"Prance," said Fleur. "It would make sense for her to be there."

"Yeah," Twilight sighed. "That's easier said than done though." Fleur started to open her mouth, but Twilight cut her off, "I'm not saying we give up, but it's not something we can just get up and do. We'll follow through with our plans for Prance, and add her downfall into the mix. Since she seems suicidally bent on taking down Trixie and myself it shouldn't be too hard to find her."

"What about Seeker?" the filly asked.

"I'm afraid that we can't trust her with our intelligence any more. For all we know all our Shades could be compromised. She'll have to stay here for now until we can think of something better. You guys'll take care of her while she's here, won't you?"

"Actually, with Seeker's help we could probably salvage our intelligence network. She can't be in charge, but she can tell us how to run it."

"I don't know Fleur..."

"Trust me. The orphanage is mostly taken care of until Ivory sets up the school-"

"Which I'm working on," Ivory said loudly, reminding them that they weren't entirely alone.

"-so I have time to invest in this with the help of Seeker and the other Shades."

"Alright then. In that case I'll leave you to it if you think you're up to it. I'm going to get Flicker fixed up then head back to Whiplash." Twilight tapped her hoof a couple of times, "I really need to start calling that place Brayside... I'll probably be sending Selene back down very soon, and her experience running the night guard would be very useful to you as they deal with a lot of intelligence work."

"Gotcha. We'll get it done, don't you worry. The biggest problem is who's leaking our intel to the enemy, since it's not Seeker doing that."

"Hmm... Seeker, can you at least tell us what job our spy has?"

"She's... She's domestic, not a fighter."

The filly smirked, "And a mare apparently."

"It's you isn't it?" Fleur said jokingly.

"What? Fuck off Fleur."

"Thank you Seeker," said Twilight. "You have a lead now Fleur, but don't make a move on it until I send Selene back. Don't write anything down either for now, and destroy all our intel."

The filly frowned at Twilight, "You clearly know what you're doing, so why don't you do this?"

"Because I have a certain Honeydew as my prisoner up in Brayside, a-k-a General Steel Calibre. Six tanks to figure out a use for, and a massive weather anomaly around Prance to investigate after I mend Spitfire's broken leg, along with plenty of other wounds that could probably use my help. And don't think my work ends there either."

"Sheesh, alright, point taken."

Author's Notes:

As I edit this now I get the feeling I could've done something a little more clever. I'll leave you to judge that since I am my own worst critic.

I also might have to rescind my promise of weekly updates until Legion launches as I have written bugger all of the next chapter. Normally I like to leave myself a bit of a buffer, but I was legitimately busy at work last week, so no. How dare they make me be busy at work. Bastards.

Also, over half a million words. Guess I meant it when I set out to write something long.