Trixie's hooves clattered on the stone ground of the castle courtyard, "Security details are all taken care of, your royal clipboardliness."

Twilight lowered her clipboard to see Trixie both saluting crisply, and grinning broadly at her. She also had to squint a little since Trixie had apparently taken the time to polish her armour. A wasted effort since the resistance enchantments would soon return it back to its usual state, but for now it was blinding.

"Very good Trixie. And what exactly are those details?"

"Well, after you sent that nicely worded letter back to the Duke saying we'll need some time to think about it, I thought it best to prepare for some treachery on his part. So during the day the pegasi will be scouting a large area around the city to give us an early warning in case of an attack, and the thestrals will do the same at night. Then I've stationed the entirety of our soldiers still in Prance inside the city except for those guarding our guests carriages, and there'll be plenty of our ponies acting as guards in the city and the castle."

"Sounds good." Twilight grinned at Trixie, "Exactly how many of those ideas were yours?"

Trixie gasped and clasped a hoof to her chest, "You wound me Twilight. I'll have you know that all but two of those ideas were mine."

"And which two were those?"

Trixie grimaced, a gesture which told volumes. "Snowbright might have suggested placing guards in the city and the castle. I got a little too focused on threats coming from outside."

Twilight hid her smile behind her clipboard, "I see. Still, excellent work Trixie. Hopefully this means we'll have no unpleasant surprises from outside the city."

"And inside."

"That we'll have to see about. Now we have free movement into the city again, who knows who might slip in undetected. One well placed assassination amongst our delegates could spell disaster for what we're doing here."

"Not on my watch. Anyway, what about your arrangements?"

Twilight flipped a page on her clipboard, "All taken care of I hope. Accommodations, catering, the meeting room-"

Trixie pointed at the castle, "Explaining why there's an image of the Lady on our flag when we're not actually a religious movement?"

Twilight looked up at the two big flags that had been hung to either side to the entrance to the castle, and felt that same stab of disgust for them that she had when she'd first seen the flag of the rebellion months ago. Actually she kind of hated it even more now she knew the truth about the Lady, and the danger she posed. The six stars felt like they were mocking her now.

"Hopefully that won't need explaining. Even more hopefully they'll choose to go back to using the old flag, or another new one in the future."

Trixie laughed quietly, "I love it when you're optimistic. Gives me goosebumps."

"Yeah yeah. Anyway, apart from the things on my list, we've had the nobles in the area join us or be dismantled, so I think we're all good to go."

Trixie shivered, "Ooh, so many goosebumps."

"So it really is she." Seeker pressed her hoof up against the block of enchanted ice containing the body of Pearl. According to Luna there weren't many inexpensive ways of preserving bodies after death, and for this purpose the simplest was probably the best.

"It is," said Fleur. Even through the distorted view the ice provided there was no mistaking the identity of the pony within. "It almost came at a high cost, but she really is dead."

"And yet I feel no elation, only apprehension." Seeker walked around the block of ice, trying to find some angle from which she could convince herself that the pony within really was dead and gone. "It is as if her ghost is still watching me."

Fleur looked down and ground her hoof on the floor, "I hate to say this Seeker, but what she did to you may well not have been undone by her death."

"I know, but I thought I would at least have some peace of mind from her demise. Say the words."

"Words? What words?"

There was a groan from the filly who was watching from the doorway that led to the rest of the castle basement. "Really Fleur? Seeker, would you kindly flick Fleur on the nose for being such a dimwit."

Fleur backed off as Seeker raised a hoof. She grunted and wrestled it back to the ground, her face showing the strain it took to not obey.

"Would you kindly disregard my last order."

Seeker immediately relaxed and slumped to the floor, "Then it is as I feared. I am forever broken."

"Not yet you're not." Fleur sat down next to Seeker, "I'm not about to go and ask what Pearl did to you, but she must've done something to make you obey any command given like that."

"Pain. Lots of it. She would ask me to do something using that phrase, then torture me until I did it. Eventually it got to the point where I would obey without thinking so long as she didn't hurt me."

"And now it's like an automatic response to do whatever is asked of you as long as that phrase is used. Hmm..."

The filly came and sat in front of them, "What you thinking Fleur?"

"What if we connected disobeying that phrase to something good, like your favourite food or something? Maybe something smaller... like your favourite candy?"

"I am fond of the sweet they call sugar barley."

"Right, so every time somepony says 'would you kindly' to you, you disobey and treat yourself with a sugar barley. Not a perfect solution, but better than obeying mindlessly."

Seeker looked flatly at Fleur, "It sounds as if you wish to train me like a dog using rewards."

"I just thought that'd be the simplest thing to do. I'm pretty sure rewarding you with something complex would only confuse the issue."

Seeker sighed and rubbed between her eyes with a hoof. It sounded ridiculous, but she was willing to try anything at this point. "Very well, although I do not expect much from this."

"Great!" Fleur clapped her hooves together and stood, "That's the positive attitude I'm looking for! Now how about we go and buy some sweets and get started."

Seeker looked up at Fleur with confusion, "Shouldn't you be preparing yourself for the summit?"

"Nah, we're not really involved with it. Anypony that isn't staying in Mareitania after the war is pretty much excluded from what's going on. Obviously there are some exceptions, such as Twilight and Luna, but me, the filly, Octavia, Summer, Trixie, the pegasi, the thestrals... none of us are really involved. Now come on, let's go."

"I really don't think I should be seen in the city," Seeker protested weakly.

"Don't be silly Seeker, you're coming."

"Yeah," said the filly, "it's not like anypony will recognise you as the broker without your robes."

"No, but I still remain a zebra."

"Pfft..." The filly laughed and flapped a hoof at Seeker, "Oh puh-lease, most ponies here don't even know what a zebra is, you should know that. To them you're just a pony with funny markings."

Seeker rolled her eyes, "Can I at least have something to cover my scars?"

"Alright." The filly shrugged at the funny look Seeker gave her, "What? We're seriously like the last ponies to judge you for wanting to hide your scars."

Twilight watched from the side-lines, sat as she was away from the entrance to the castle, idly marking arrivals off on her checklist. Or at least the ones she recognised anyway. There were a lot of ponies here she didn't know, and probably never really would, but nonetheless they were here to decide the future of the country. Just the job for a bunch of strangers.

The familiar figure of Luna walked up beside her and looked at the list, "It seems like most of them are here."

Twilight flicked up a page, showing the mostly unmarked page below. "Not even half yet, and I doubt we'll get ponies from all the places we asked for. Still, I'll settle for having most of them."

"I wish I could shoulder more of this burden for you," Luna sighed and looked away, "but alas I am merely Selene, unicorn un-extraordinaire."

"Be she ever so humble," Twilight joked. "I do feel a lot better knowing you're here though. Takes some of the pressure off."

"I suspect you're being rather too optimistic of my assistance Twilight. Before my banishment most of my diplomacy was preformed with my blades at their necks."

"Stop exaggerating Luna, that can't be true."

"You're right, sometimes I threatened them with magic instead." Twilight looked sideways at Luna, searching for a sign she was joking. If there was a sign she couldn't find it.

"I still think you're making this up. Things couldn't have been that bad."

"Things were that bad at times, but I don't think you're thinking this through. Celestia was the talker and diplomat, whereas I preferred more direct resolutions for when diplomacy failed. Together we struck a balance, a balance that no longer exists as diplomacy is far more prevalent these days." Luna smiled wistfully as she looked a point a over a thousand years in the past, then shook her head, "Enough of this. We must think of the future, not the past."

"I don't know, the future isn't that great. I still have no solid idea of what we're trying to create here. If I knew what the ponies here wanted it'd be easier, but I honestly have no idea what that might be."

Luna smirked at Twilight, "You'd make a poor tyrant Twilight Sparkle, worrying about what others want. You know if you said 'this is what we're going to do,' a lot of the ponies here would likely hurt themselves to be the first to do it."

"And that'd be wrong! They should do it because it was a good idea! Not because I told them to! We're ponies, not sheep. Or cows either I suppose." Twilight bit her lip, "Am I being specist?"

"More than likely, but worry not, I shan't tell."

They both stopped as a trio of ponies were escorted into the castle grounds under guard. Twilight looked her checklist, then looked at the ponies before dropping the clipboard to her side, "I have absolutely no idea who that is."

"Then perhaps you should consider a better use for your time, or at least get up and ask them who they are. Failing that, give me the list and I'll go ask while you prepare yourself for the buffet dinner later."

"See? That wasn't so bad," the filly said as Fleur, Seeker, and herself made their way back into castle, a bag of sweets held triumphantly in Fleur's magic.

Seeker snorted, her face a vision of irritation, "Oh no, I was particularly fond of the way that young colt said 'that weird pony's covered in stripes!' I'm even more fond of the way everyone stared at me after."

"Alright, so it wasn't the most fun you've had, but it wasn't a disaster either. You went out in public and nothing bad really happened apart from a run in with a curious kid and his posse of dumb adults."

"I think what the filly is trying to say," said Fleur, "is that you don't have to be afraid to go out in public. Even less so if what we're trying to do works." Seeker grumbled, but offered no argument in return.

They were about to enter the castle when a silvery barrier manifested in front of them, blocking their path, the creator of the barrier giving them the most unusual of looks.

"I did not expect you to be out and about Seeker," said Luna. "Are you sure you're safe to do so?"

"It was at Fleur's and the young ones insistence Nightwalker. They seem to think they have a plan to break my conditioning using sweets."

Luna raised an eyebrow, "Really? And it's Selene in public, please." Luna looked at the bag of sweets hovering in Fleur's magic, "Perhaps you ought to explain this plan to me."

"Um..." Faced with the prospect of explaining her plan to a princess, considered to be wiser than most ponies, Fleur suddenly felt very small and stupid, "Perhaps it's not that great a plan."

"I'll be the judge of that," Luna said imperiously, "Explain."

"Okay... well, the thing is Seeker's obedience comes from a fear of pain if she disobeys, to the point where she does whatever is asked using that phrase as a trigger. I thought that if we rewarded her for disobeying the use of that phrase, we could get her to ignore it."

"Thus breaking her conditioning," Luna said thoughtfully. "Not a bad idea actually. I take it the sweets are her reward?"

"Yeah."

"Like a treat for dogs," Seeker muttered bitterly.

"Actually, their idea has merit."

"It does?" they all said together, with varying degrees of shock and relief.

"Your compulsion to obey whatever is asked using that phrase is, I think, called a Pavlovian response, although I forget where the name comes from. If you can give yourself a compelling reason to not obey the phrase, eventually it should lose its hold on you. Simple, yet hopefully effective."

Fleur almost bowed, "Thank you Princess."

"Less of the princess talk please, and I'm afraid you may have to relinquish your idea to Octavia to implement as you might find yourself distracted soon Fleur."

"I will?"

"The pony called Sour Mash arrived not too long ago, and he seemed most displeased with you for, in his words, dumping this shit all over him."

"Ah. Wait, why is he blaming me for him being here? I didn't even know he was invited. Why is he invited?"

"To act as Prance's representative. I suspect he thinks you had a hoof in that."

Fleur pulled a face and bit her lip, "Shit. I should probably go find him then."

"Yes," said Luna, "perhaps you should. I very much doubt he considers himself a politician and might require some assistance."

"That, and I don't think it'd be very clever of him to turn up to the summit drunk." Fleur passed the bag to the filly, the smaller pony taking it in her mouth, "Go find Octavia and Summer and get started on helping Seeker; I may be gone some time."

Fleur found Mash and Flip in the mess hall, which for reasons she hadn't discovered herself was also the conference room for the summit. Chances are the reason was pretty simple, like it was the biggest room in the castle, but there were bigger places out in the city, although they were less secure.

Fleur pinched her eyes shut to distract herself from her own thoughts. She was here to see Mash, and that was it. She nervously walked up behind them and cleared her throat.

"Ack!" Flip squeaked in surprise, while Mash's response was to slowly turn around and glare at her.

"There you are. Perhaps now you could tell me why you put me up to represent Prance in this thing you got going on here?"

"This wasn't my idea, I didn't put you up to anything. Although I can't say I can think of anypony better qualified. You might not think so, but you're clever, and unbiased, which is a commodity in Mareitania, let me tell you."

"And? Couldn't you have at least asked me first?"

"You wanted to make a difference in Prance's future. This is your chance to do just that."

"But I'm just a retired soldier Fleur, I'm not prepared for- for-" He spun in a circle, gesturing at the room, "all this!" Mash sat and sighed as he squeezed his eyes shut, "This is still moving too fast." He opened his eyes as Flip hugged his leg.

The side of Fleur's mouth pulled back in a small grimace, unsure as she was about which tactic to take. "I know this is big Mash, but it's important. The Duke wants to discuss peace with the leader of Mareitania, but Mareitania doesn't have a leader as such."

"I-I thought that Twilight pony was the leader," Flip said, her voice quavering slightly.

"She's the leader of the rebellion, yes, but once the war is over she, along with myself and my friends, will be returning to Equestria, but we can't do that until what we leave behind is stable enough to survive without her. So Mareitania needs to pick a leader, and form an effective government."

Mash laughed bitterly, "And you're relying on ponies like me to do that?"

"You and a lot of other ponies from everywhere the rebellion holds, yeah."

"You're all insane."

"And you keep putting yourself down." Fleur smiled kindly at him, "I know you're doubting yourself, but you're smart, fair, unbiased, and act for the betterment of others before yourself. To me that already makes you ten times better than most politicians and nobles I can think of, and I can think of a lot."

"But I'm not a politician at all. What if I get it wrong?"

"Then I'll help you. I'm from Prance so I can technically get away with assisting its representative. I'll stick with you the entire time if you want me to."

Mash gave her a long, cool stare before sighing and nodding, "Alright."

Fleur almost cheered, "Excellent! Lesson one: listen to the purple unicorn with wings. She's your friend and is trying to do what's best for Mareitania for absolutely no benefit to herself. I'm not saying to blindly go with whatever she says, but don't disagree with her without a solid reason to."

"Alright, what's lesson two?"

"Don't turn up drunk. Or at least bring enough to share if you do."

Octavia rubbed her cheek, sadly sure that it was probably going to bruise soon. "Okay, lets give her suggestions that don't include bodily harm."

"Sorry Octavia," Summer said meekly. "I thought it'd be best to start on things she doesn't really want to do."

"I see the pegasus too learnt through pain," Seeker said quietly. "I am sorry for striking you Octavia, but the need to obey is strong."

"It's fine." Octavia glared at the filly, who wasn't even trying to hide how much she was sniggering from seeing Seeker slap Octavia. "Perhaps we should start small." She placed a coin on the table in the middle of the room, "Would you kindly turn the coin over."

Seeker caught herself as a hoof was already snaking it's way across the table. She sat, glaring at the coin, her breathing becoming quicker and heavier as her body started to tremble. A few moments later Octavia deposited a small piece of candy on the table.

"Very good Seeker; eat it." Seeker looked at the candy and slowly picked it up and placed it in her mouth. Then she reached over and turned the coin over before slumping onto the table.

"Why'd you reward her like that?" the filly complained. "She just went and turned it over."

"I know, but she resisted it for a while, so she deserves a reward for trying. That way it'll affirm in her mind that resisting is the right thing to do."

"Will you please stop talking about me like I'm an animal!" Seeker swallowed what she'd been chewing on, "It's enough to put a mare off her treats."

The filly's face split into a grin, "Was that a joke I detected, out of our straight-faced and stoic zebra? My my, what is this world coming to?"

"Laugh if you must filly, but I'll be laughing when I can clip you around the ear without you being able to stop me."

"And now she's making idle threats of violence. I think she's cured guys, mission accomplished."

Octavia thoughtfully rubbed her chin with the back of her hoof, "I don't know, I think we need to test it. Seeker, would you kindly flick the filly around the ear."

Seeker's hoof lashed out faster than the filly could react, smacking her ear hard enough to fold it over backwards. "Gladly."

"Ow..." The filly reached a hoof up unfolding her ear and flicking it a couple of times. "Not cool Octavia, and not helping Seeker either."

Seeker smiled lopsided at the filly, "I don't know, I found that to be quite relaxing."

The filly rubbed her ear and glared at the three other equines in the room, "Y'know, if we spent as much time doing stuff as we do being jerks to each other we'd get so much done. Now Seeker, would you kindly boop Octavia on the nose."

Seeker sat and folded her legs while an uneasy smile grew on Octavia's face, getting ever wider the longer she went without being booped. Seeker wordlessly held a hoof out, which Octavia dropped a sweet into, and Seeker sat there chewing on it as her eyes bore into the filly's. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because I do not want to, and I do not have to. You are also forgetting one important thing."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

Seeker smiled slyly, "I have literally no idea what a 'boop' is."

Twilight was becoming irritated, and for reasons she thought wouldn't have been an issue right now. She had misplaced Trixie, or rather Trixie had purposely misplaced herself, and Twilight needed Trixie to be in the place where Trixie was meant to be, namely this evenings buffet lunch before the summit tomorrow. Twilight wasn't expecting trouble, but the head of security's presence would be appreciated.

"Watcha doing?"

"Aah!" Twilight jumped around to find an unarmoured Trixie standing behind her, strangely devoid of the typical grin she would wear after scaring Twilight. "One day I'm going to put a bell on you. Where have you been? And why aren't you in your armour?"

"I was preparing myself for the soiree this evening, and taking a moment to relax. Is that so wrong?" Trixie did seem to look and smell cleaner than before, so perhaps that was totally fair. Twilight had planned to give herself a once-over with magic, but not many ponies had that option.

Twilight held a hoof to her chest and extended it as she exhaled slowly, "Sorry, I'm just getting a bit frazzled. This whole thing needs to go off perfectly, and that includes tonight as the better ponies get along, the more likely they are to agree on something."

"I know, which was why Trixie was cleaning herself up to make a good impression. Something that's hard to do with a pony going around shouting Trixie's name."

"A good impression?"

"Yes indeed. Follow me." Trixie led the way back to her room, opening the door with a flourish as she walked into the heavily perfumed room. She picked a light purple, floor-length gown up off the bed and wriggled into it before sliding a pair of long white gloves onto her forehooves, finishing the outfit off with a silver necklace.

"Is that one of Pearl's too?"

Trixie shrugged, "Maybe. This was her room, so that wouldn't be unreasonable, but I just found it in a drawer. Anyway, never mind that, how do I look?"

"You look nice. Where did you get the dress?"

"I found it. I had to make a lot of adjustments and remove a lot of the fussy lace and frills and whatever it is ponies call fashion here before it was wearable. But now Trixie looks gorgeous." Trixie twirled and struck a pose.

"I didn't know you could sew."

Trixie smirked back at Twilight, "You really didn't think Trixie could buy something so fabulous as her hat and cape in a shop did you? Of Trixie can sew."

"Then why have you never mentioned it?" Twilight asked.

"When I have needed to?" Trixie asked back. Trixie sat in front of a dresser and started applying a modest amount of makeup, before looking up at her horn and sighing, "Too bad my horn sticks out like a sore hoof. Red does not match my coat or dress."

"You know it'd slowly grow back normal if you gave up using dark magic," Twilight said evenly, trying to keep any bias out of her voice. A pointless effort since Trixie already knew her opinion on dark magic well enough.

"I know what you're doing Twilight."

"You know it's bad for you Trixie-"

"And? Without it I'd be useless here. This magic is giving me the power to fight, or are you forgetting that?"

Twilight bit her lip and slowly scraped a hoof back, "No, of course I haven't-"

"Then stop talking about it."

"But it could kill you."

"And I have no plans of letting that happen. I'm going to kill the Duke, and I'm going to live to tell the tale. Pearl came pretty close to killing me, true, but Trixie's made of sterner stuff than that."

And here it was, the moment where Twilight had to decide between putting Trixie more in favour of dark magic, or continue lying to her friend about what really happened. Neither choice was particularly ideal, and at least coming clean removed the possibility of getting caught out.

Twilight took a deep breath, "You died fighting Pearl."

Trixie slowly turned to look at Twilight, "Excuse me?"

"You died fighting Pearl. She shattered your ribs, punctured your lungs, and damaged some of your organs. You should've been dead within seconds of her doing that, but you weren't. Luna thinks your dark magic kept you alive, or refused to let you die, long enough for us to heal you back to health."

"B-b-but..." Trixie stammered, unable to comprehend what she'd just been told, "What? Are you shitting me Twilight?"

Twilight sat, unwilling to look Trixie in the eye, "I wish I was Trixie."

Trixie's pressed a hoof to her chest, as if she were searching for signs that she was still injured, but all it found was the intact body of a reasonably healthy pony. "W- Why would it save me?"

"We don't know. Luna thinks it's saving you for something. Some purpose known only to itself, or themselves."

"Themselves? What is that supposed to mean?"

"While you were unconscious, I was in the same room as you, and I woke up to find something in the room, in the shadows. Or they were the shadows, I don't know. But when I blinked they vanished, leaving a message cut in the wood of the table, She is ours."

"She? As in me?" Twilight nodded weakly. "Well fuck that, I'm not their puppet. The contract was broken so they have nothing on me."

"But you do have their interest. Please Trixie," Twilight begged, "you need to give up the dark magic!"

"The same magic that just saved my life? Are you nuts? Who cares what some spooky shadows want? I'm in charge of me! Me! And nothing else!" Trixie stood and roughly pressed a hoof to Twilight's chest, "Was this why you were hiding this? Because you thought I'd turn to the darkness even more?"

"No!" Twilight could tell that Trixie didn't believe her, so decided to be honest.. "Alright, maybe a little, but I didn't tell you before now because I didn't think you were ready to hear it. And truthfully, I didn't think I was ready to tell you. Even then, how do you tell somepony something like this. I'm sorry Trixie."

"Yeah well..." Trixie pulled her hoof away, "You better be." Trixie sat on the edge of the bed. Her stance seemed angry, but from what Twilight could see of Trixie's face she could tell Trixie was worried. "I'm not theirs," she said quietly, "I'm mine."

"And you can still be totally yours, but you need to stop using dark magic."

"Forget that. I'm not giving anything up until the Duke is dead. I don't care if we choose to pursue peace, he's dead, with or without your help."

"I know," said Twilight, "and if it helps I really don't expect whoever we leave in charge to choose peace, so I don't think you have much to worry about there." Trixie breathed out through her nose and bowed her head, "But what happens after you kill him?"

"I don't know. We already have proof I can die, so there's no way I'm giving it up while we're still fighting." Trixie rocked back and forth a little, her expression becoming more and more annoyed. "Arrgh! Fine, I'll make you a deal. You help me kill the Duke no matter what the outcome here, and the moment he's dead I'll give myself up to whatever treatment there is to get rid of dark magic. Deal?"

"I-" Trixie's deal did leave a few favourable outcomes now Twilight thought about it, even if the request was awful in all respects. Sure it'd be straight up murder to kill the Duke during peacetime, but Twilight honestly didn't expect him to stick to any peace agreements anyway. Even then the Duchy would fall to the Viscount, who was an idiot by all accounts, and would either choose to restart the war, which he wouldn't possibly be prepared for, or he'd keep the peace and ruin his country anyway. Ponies there would practically beg the former rebellion to invade. Either way the war would finally meet a decisive end, and importantly, Trixie would get help. All Twilight had to do was accept being an accessory to murder. Oddly, she wasn't as against it as she might've thought, which was more unsettling than the idea of killing him in the first place. That doesn't mean she was in favour of doing it either. Far from it, but she couldn't deny there was an attraction to seeing the Duke gone after all that had happened.

"Deal," she said with some reluctance. She could only hope the war was continued, which was an insane thought even without the implications involved with this.

Trixie smiled grimly, "Alright then. Now let's go mingle and make some 'friends.'"

An uncomfortable amount of eyes turned to watch Trixie as she entered the dining room. Uncomfortable for Twilight anyway, as it left her feeling horribly underdressed next to Trixie as the unicorn drank in the attention.

"My adoring public needs me," Trixie announced, before flouncing off into the crowds, leaving a bewildered Twilight on her own. She kept an eye on Trixie for a little bit, seeing that Trixie was actually keeping an eye on things herself. It seemed she still took her role as head of security seriously.

Twilight saw Luna approaching her from the right, and the alicorn in disguise smiled wanly at Twilight. "You're not going to achieve much being a wallflower Twilight. Typically that's my role."

"Sorry Selene, I'm just trying to get a handle on things. It's not like I know the vast majority of ponies here."

"No, but you know ponies that know other ponies, so get out there and mingle."

"Ugh, you sound just like Celestia." Twilight tried to put on her best approximation of how Celestia sounded, "Twilight, put down that book and go talk to somepony. I'm sure you'll like them if you gave them a chance. No, it doesn't matter if they know nothing about Starswirl the Bearded, or haven't read the classics. And I'm sure Prince Blueblood won't 'accidentally' spill his drink on you this time. Please, try to have fun."

Luna laughed pleasantly, "My goodness, the resentment is strong in this one. I also know how you feel as I often had the same off Celestia. Except they were more interested in talking to her, and etcetera etcetera. You know where that leads."

"Yeah. How does eternal twilight sound to you?"

"Can I still raise the moon in the darker half?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Then I'm sure we could come to a compromise." Luna suddenly shoved Twilight forwards, "And part of that compromise is you going and mingling."

"Alright, sheesh." Twilight started making her way through the masses, keeping a look out for ponies she knew. It was odd that after all this, the future of Mareitania was going to be decided by a collection of ponies she knew nothing about. Seemed totally illogical really, but if she was to bow out like she planned, the ponies here needed to make the decisions themselves.

"Twilight!" Twilight's ears twitched at the sound of her name, and she searched about until she found its source. Ivory was waving at her from across the room, surrounded as she was by ponies that seemed better dressed than the others in the room. It seemed Twilight had found the nobles.

Twilight swallowed back her distaste and put on a smile as she weaved her way through the crowd towards them. Of all the ponies she had to deal with it had to be the nobles. The one group which she never had any real intention to invite.

"Hello Ivory, and hello to the rest of you as well. Thank you all so much for coming to such a momentous occasion as this."

"Seeing how much we're putting into supporting the country," a stallion said, "I think it's only natural we should get to choose who leads it."

Twilight's smile turned brittle, "Yes. Of course. Although, all the ponies here have a say in who gets to lead the country." The stallion mumbled something that Twilight didn't quite catch, but she suspected that it wasn't something she really wanted to hear anyway. "Anyway, as pleasant as it is to meet you all, there's something I need to talk with Ivory about."

"One moment Twilight." Ivory hooked a foreleg around Twilight's, "There's somepony I want you to meet first." Ivory dragged Twilight a short distance to a short orange stallion that had his back to them while he talked to a mare, "Twilight, I want you to meet Lord Hayfield and his wife Lady Lockett."

Hayfield turned on the spot and studied Twilight for a moment, "You're shorter than I expected you to be," he said.

"So are you," Twilight blurted back. She blushed as Hayfield gently smiled at her. "Sorry."

"Appearances aren't everything my dear. I was only expecting what's been described to me as one of the most powerful ponies alive to be a little more imposing. Frankly, I'm glad to be disappointed."

"Oh, well, happy to do so then."

"I would also like to press you to ignore what many of my fellows here might say. They seem to think they're entitled to be here. They'd take over the whole thing if you let them."

Twilight glanced back at the mass of nobles for a moment, imagining what that'd be like. It wasn't a nice image. "I'll certainly do my best to not let that happen. I also feel I should thank you for agreeing to join us like you did. There's no way we could've done what we have so far without the support of you and your fellow nobles."

"And I'm glad I haven't had cause to regret it," Hayfield laughed. "Well, I won't keep you. I'm sure we'll have plenty to talk about soon enough. It was a pleasure meeting you Lady Sparkle."

"And you Lord Hayfield." Twilight turned back to Ivory, "Could I talk to you now? Please?"

"Of course. There's something I want to talk to you about actually, but, since you're the leader you can go first."

"Uh, okay." Twilight led the way to a quieter part of the room, not because she wanted to keep anything private, but because it was simply easier to hear ponies. "I was hoping I could ask you to do something. I mean, I know you have a lot to do already, but you're the best pony I could think of-"

"Twilight," Ivory interrupted, "you're rambling."

"Right, sorry. I was going to ask you to be the future representative for the pegasi here. As I said, you're busy, so you can say no if you think it's too much."

"Hold on, I'm confused," Ivory said slowly. "Are the pegasi not capable of representing themselves?"

Twilight narrowed her eyes slightly with her own confusion, at least until she realised what Ivory was missing. "I guess you don't know. I was forced to make a bargain with the pegasi to keep them in the war. I've agreed to give them Equestrian citizenship once the war is over, and allow them to all move to Equestria. They don't have a representative because they don't need one."

"But- But-" Ivory waved a hoof towards the ceiling, "But who's going to create the weather if the pegasi are gone? Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"I know full well what I've done, but honestly Ivory, if the pegasi want to leave there's nopony that could stop them. I'm told Celestia has come up with a solution, some kind of work program to have Equestrian pegasi come and work here instead, even if we have to pay over the odds for it."

"I guess I can't really blame the pegasi for wanting to leave," Ivory murmured. "Not after everything that's been done to them. Very well Twilight, I can only hope you find a solution. Of course, that leaves why I'm being expected to represent an absent group of ponies?"

"Okay, perhaps represent is the wrong word. The pegasi that come here from Equestria might want to stay, although I doubt that, but more certain is the chance that pegasi will be born here in the future, and without a doubt they'll need protection since they'll be born in a country heavily prejudiced against them. I'm hoping you'll be the pony to do that."

"Hmm..." Ivory went quiet as she thought, but Twilight didn't dare to interrupt her since it meant she was taking it seriously. "I'm guessing that since I'm setting up the education system, you thought teaching young ponies would be a good place to start."

"Yes, but its the older ponies that will prove more challenging. So far we've been lucky because ponies within the rebellion have accepted the pegasi since they're all on the same side. Outside the rebellion though, I don't know so much as the pegasi tend to keep to themselves so I don't really know how ponies react to them."

"Yeah." Ivory thought about it a little longer, then nodded, "Alright, I'll do it, but there better be a pay rise in this for me somewhere."

"Can't argue with that," Twilight laughed. "Thank you Ivory, and not just for this. You've been so much help in the time you've been here." Twilight looked away, slightly ashamed, "I'm sorry we doubted you at times."

Ivory playfully waved a hoof at Twilight, "Oh stop, you'll make me blush. And honestly, considering where I came from, I'd be more concerned if you weren't at least a little bit suspicious of me at times."

"Thanks," said Twilight, appreciating the understanding. "I guess we better get back to things here. Although if you could do me one teensy favour I'd appreciate it."

Ivory rolled her eyes, but kept smiling, "What is it?"

"Could you try and get the nobles to mix with the others a bit? I don't like the way they're keeping themselves separate." Twilight looked back at where the nobles clustered together, "It really doesn't help my gut feeling that they're here to argue purely for their own interests."

"I'll see what I can do." Ivory stood and watched the nobles for a moment, "No promises though." She hugged Twilight, using it as a cover to whisper in her ear, "I'd expect some kind of trouble off them before this is over. Stay firm with them." Ivory released Twilight and walked back to the nobles, leaving Twilight to wonder what that was about.

"As if I wasn't nervous enough about this." Twilight didn't move immediately. Instead she spent a while trying to work out what her next port of call should be. Then she spotted Trixie chatting with Hard Pick, the mayor of Bitmark, along with Patches and Sharp. If there was ever a conversation that shouldn't be taking place, that was probably a prime candidate.

Twilight almost ran over to them, a string of apologies left behind her as she bumped into and off ponies in her rush. She slowed as she got closer since actually running right up to them would look a bit weird.

"Hi!" Twilight said with an overwhelming amount of fake cheer. "Nice to see you again Hard Pick. What are you talking about?"

"Nice to see you again too," Hard Pick said back. "We were discussing the possibility that Vines may have been captured by the soldiers before they retreated. Trixie here disagrees, but I'm not so sure. It's the only reason I can think of for her to go missing like she did."

Twilight suppressed her desire to scream a mostly incoherent reply at him along the lines of 'She's not dead! Trixie didn't do it! Ahahahaha!' Instead she took a second to compose herself before answering "I really think Vines is too smart to get captured like that," she said, lying through her teeth while her stomach tied itself into knots.

"That's what we thought," said Sharp, "but at the same time, we can't think of any other reason why she hasn't turned up. Perhaps they took her to High Rock for questioning?"

"The way they ask questions," said Trixie, "she might not have survived the process."

"She's tough," Patches rumbled in disagreement, "she'd survive."

"Unless they purposely killed her," Trixie added. "It wouldn't surprise me if they executed her after. When we get to High Rock and find she isn't there, I really think you should accept that she's not coming back. Trixie is sorry, but the odds are she's no longer alive." Twilight didn't want to be, but she was impressed by Trixie's poker face.

"I know you want to believe she's still out there, but I agree with Trixie. The odds are she's no longer with us if she's been captured."

"We'll see," said Patches.

Twilight tried not to grin awkwardly, "We certainly will. Sooo... Hard Pick. How are things in Bitmark?"

"Quiet I guess," the stallion said with a shrug. "It's funny how a few thousand absent ponies really makes the place feel empty. Still, we're having better fortunes with you than under the Duke, so I guess I can't complain."

"I'm glad you think so." Twilight cleared her throat and blushed a little, "Does that mean I can count on your support for whatever is decided here tomorrow?"

"Certainly. You've done right by Bitmark, so Bitmark will continue to stand by you." Patches and Sharp nodded along with him.

Twilight sighed with relief, "I'm so glad to hear it. I'm not going to deny that this whole thing has me nervous, so any support you can give is appreciated. Now, if you'll excuse me I need to talk to my head of security here." Hard Pick smiled and raised his glass to her before continuing to talk with Patches and Sharp, allowing Twilight to forcibly drag Trixie away to a quiet corner somewhere.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Twilight hissed, jabbing a hoof into Trixie's chest.

"Ah!" Trixie instinctively raised a hoof to protect the spot Twilight had struck, "Earth pony strength Twilight! Ow! And for your information, they came to me. Trixie is not so crass as to engage them in a conversation about the pony I killed!"

"About the pony you murdered you mean."

"I know what I did Twilight, and I still think I was right to do it, so fuck off with your pedantic little corrections."

Twilight held up her hoof, not wanting this to go further. "We don't need to have this conversation again. Just do me a favour and try to avoid them in future."

"Gladly." Trixie turned and scanned around the room, "I suppose I should ask if your little party here is having the desired effect."

"I have no idea," Twilight confessed. "I have no idea who most of these ponies are, or where they're from. All I can hope for is that they have an interest in supporting anything that isn't the Duke."

"I think this is stupid."

Twilight was shocked, "Excuse me? You think trying to get ponies to create and use a fair and unbiased government to run a country is stupid?"

"No, but I think the way you're doing it is. As the leader of the Mareitania liberation front, you're the one that's conquered this country, so to speak. Why aren't you saying 'this is what we'll do, accept it.' Why all this?"

"Because that way only works if I'm here to enforce it. If I force a method of governance on them, only to find it doesn't work when we're gone, then the country could descend into anarchy." Twilight looked at Trixie, who raised her eyebrows back, "Anarchy being bad."

"I know that, but you've got all these ponies here, none of which might want to agree on anything, that also being pretty much anarchy."

"It's still better than forcing something that doesn't work on them."

"Uh-huh, whatever. I'm just going to go with this being an unmitigated disaster no matter what you do."

Twilight ground her teeth, "Thanks for the vote of confidence there Trixie."

"It's nothing to do with you Twilight. Do you really think a lot of ponies in this country are suddenly going to be okay with a unicorn ruling them? Or after having the Duke so long are the unicorns really going to accept an earth pony ruler whom they likely think is just going to protect earth pony interests again? And yet, if you have one of each, it doesn't exactly suggest a unified country, does it. If you forced a leader on them at least ponies might think that if their former alicorn leader is okay with it, then maybe it's for the best."

Twilight was speechless, and surprised, but that was muted by the horrible feeling that Trixie was actually on to something, and not in a good way. Would unicorns really trust an earth pony leader, and vice-versa? And what would happen once the number of pegasi started to rise? Would there be a leadership role made available for them even though they're a minority? Would the others accept it?

Trixie looked sideways at Twilight while the alicorn stared into the middle distance, "Your silence suggests that Trixie has a point."

"Nightmare was right. This really could tear us apart."

"Nightmare? Who or what is Nightmare?"

"Good question."

"What?"

"Doesn't matter." Twilight looked Trixie in the eyes, "I need you to not tell ponies what you've said here. Ponies need to believe this can work if we're going to get anywhere, and you telling them that you don't think it will is only going to cause trouble. Please keep this to yourself?"

Trixie slowly extended a hoof and gently booped Twilight on the nose, causing her to scrunch it up. "Fine, I wont say a word, but only because you're asking."

Twilight pushed Trixie's hoof away, "Thanks. And try to stay out of trouble too. I'm going to go find Fleur and the others to see how they're doing."

"They're by the buffet," Trixie said as she peered over the crowd.

Twilight smiled lopsidedly at Trixie, "You really are taking this seriously aren't you?"

"Should Trixie not?"

"No, Trixie should. I'll see you later okay?"

"Okay."

Trixie remained where she was as Twilight made her way through the crowd to the buffet. Twilight hoped it was to keep making use of the vantage point it gave her. More truthfully though, she couldn't ignore the feeling that she'd upset Trixie in some way. She was going to have to ignore that feeling until they had a bit more quiet. For now she had bigger concerns.

"Hello," Twilight said in greeting, a lot more calmly than she had with Hard Pick. She waited as the eight ponies there turned to acknowledge her, "I hope I'm not disturbing you."

Fleur smiled crookedly at Twilight's politeness, "It's fine Twilight, you're not. I guess you're looking to meet Prance's representatives?" Twilight nodded, and Fleur went on to introduce the other ponies that were with herself, Octavia, Summer, and the filly. "This is Sour Mash, Flip Side, Nightlight, and Sweetheart."

"Charmed," said Sweetheart, while Nightlight scowled at her. Flip smiled shyly and waved, while Mash studied her intensely for a second.

"We've met before, haven't we?"

"Uh, yes actually. I stayed at your inn with Octavia and another pony just before the riots."

"I'm pretty sure you didn't have wings then."

Twilight glanced back at her wings and ruffled them, "I did, but I was hiding them. Ponies with wings didn't exactly get a warm reception anywhere back then." She smiled nervously at Mash, "Me having wings isn't a problem is it?"

"No, not at all. I'm just having a hard time connecting the pony that wasn't noticeably different from any other unicorn I saw back then to the alicorn leading the most successful insurrection this country's ever seen that's also now standing in front me."

"Good on you Twilight," the filly said happily. "Your disguise actually worked despite only hiding a couple of appendages."

Twilight frowned at the filly and looked back to Mash, "In my defence I had no idea I'd be leading a rebellion back then. I'd probably have called you mad if you'd suggested it."

Mash finally cracked a smile, "Fate does play a funny game. Nonetheless it's good to properly meet the pony that led a bunch of misfits to overthrow a thousand year dynasty. Here's hoping you get to finish the job as well as you started it."

"That depends on what happens here," Twilight sighed. "As much as I want the war to end, I do want to finish it properly. What happens here tomorrow is a big part of that."

Mash grinned at Twilight, "In that case you can count on us to not argue with you," he said, making her laugh.

"Glad to hear it. With what you four have been through, you strike me as stubborn ponies. Good job you're on our side. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go talk to my seneschal Selene about a couple of things."

"No problem." Mash flipped a lazy salute at Twilight and stepped aside to let her grab a few things off the buffet before she made her way to where Selene was still observing the goings on from by where they had parted ways earlier.

"Talking to ponies you already know isn't what I had in mind," Luna commented as Twilight busily chewed on her food. "You're meant to be meeting the unknown factors, and hopefully convincing them to not gang up on us."

"I know," Twilight mumbled through a mouth still full of food. She blushed and swallowed before trying again, "Sorry. I was going to mingle, but then Trixie said something to me, and... well, the thing is, I don't think we can have a single leader because of ponies stupid prejudices."

Luna nodded sagely "Ah yes, the whole 'we won't be ruled by a unicorn slash earth pony slash pegasus' problem. I do seem to remember encountering that issue once before."

"You have? What was the solution?"

Luna looked at Twilight, and saw only genuine curiosity there. She sighed and laughed once, "Why Twilight Sparkle, I do believe my sister and I were the solution."

Twilight was confused for a moment, then facehoofed as she worked out what Luna was alluding to. "Duh. Of course. Sadly though we have a lack of alicorns to throw at the problem. Or at least a lack of alicorns willing to do the job."

"I don't know," Luna said thoughtfully as Twilight placed another morsel of food into her mouth. "I imagine Faust would be more than willing to take on the task of running this country."

Twilight almost spit her food back out, but managed to quickly swallow and duck her head to hiss at Luna, "Don't even joke about that!"

"My head is one of those she's after Twilight, I think I'm allowed to joke about it if I wish."

"I think my head's pretty high on the list too." Twilight smiled politely at a pony that looked their way as they passed. There was no way they were going to get anything practical done here, not with all the ponies around them.

"Look, I'm going to go and try to meet some more ponies and try to figure out who at least some of those I don't recognise are. Then we're going to go and have a long think about how to fix all this. Here's hoping we can."

Author's Notes:

Right, so here's an entire chapter of me procrastinating from what I'm really meant to be doing. The thing is the next part is hard and I don't really like what I've done so far. In lieu of that I probably won't have anything up next week because I dislike it too much to just go with it. Hopefully I'll have some quiet in the next couple of days to really figure it out.