Twilight picked the healing device up from it's cushioned holder and twirled it around in her magic before unfolding it. Besides the fact that it was foldable, it was smaller and used less gems to operate. She activated it, and straight away she could tell it drained far less energy than her prototypes. Seemed like Equestrian gems really did the trick.

She folded it back up and returned it to it's box, placing that box back into the larger crate of a dozen similar devices. Then she picked up the letter that had been packed on top of that, unfolding it to read. Inside it was another letter addressed to Spitfire and Soarin that looked to have been written by Fleetfoot. Twilight wasn't about to read something that wasn't meant for her, so put it to the side to read her own letter.

Twilight

You've really created a stir back here in Equestria. Not many ponies manage to revolutionise medical science in their spare time. Already whole new avenues of research are opening up from this single discovery. I'm really am so very proud of you.

As I imagine you can tell we have made some changes to your original design for the S.h.d's (Sparkle healing device. Not my choice of name, but it's the one the researchers gave it.) You were correct in surmising that gemstones from Equestria would prove far superior, allowing us to cut down on the bulkiness and power requirements of the devices.

As for Fleetfoot, since I know you well enough to not read another pony's mail, she is recovering swiftly. After two weeks of intensive therapy her wings are already starting to return with a full ten centimetres of growth. At that rate she should be fully recovered and back in the air in a few months.

I can't say when we'll have more S.h.d's available to send to you as the enchanting time is quite lengthy with the lesser number of gems. At the very least I hope the ones you've received so far are of use to you.

Best wishes

Celestia

"Are they really as good as the ones you have now?" Octavia asked from her spot on the couch with Thorn, across the room from Twilight.

"Hopefully better if your average unicorn can use it for as long as I can. Honestly though we'll have to wait and see."

"And the only way to do that is in a fight..."

"Exactly. Okay, perhaps not exactly, but more than likely."

Octavia sighed and leant back, "Great."

The room grew silent, so Twilight reviewed the battle plans for High Rock to pass the time. It didn't take long. Blow up the first gate, then march the tanks up the ramp destroying the gates as they go. During that the pegasi would be busy destroying the keep's siege weapons. Then, by the time the tanks made it to the keep's main entrance the enemy soldiers would be so freaked out by the onslaught that they would either retreat into the keep, or even better, surrender. Either option was fine as there was no conceivable way the rebels were going to be kept out of the keep as between Twilight and Trixie they had a way in through the possibly magic warded building.

The irony that they needed dark magic at that moment wasn't lost on Twilight. She hoped Trixie would be too fixated on the Duke to take the time to rub that in her face.

She reviewed the plans again for the umpteenth time, then slumped over onto her desk. "I'm bored."

Octavia smiled wryly. She'd actually been enjoying the quiet herself. "We're searching for five ponies in an entire country Twilight. That's hardly something you do overnight."

"Overnight? It's almost been a week Octavia! If I don't get some news soon I'm going to burst!"

"And what if they've made their way to Stalliongrad? We're hardly going to find them there are we."

"Actually," Thorn piped up, "Stalliongrad would be the worst place for them if they are plotting something, as the Duke is restricting the movement of most ponies. Ironic really."

"Oh good, that leaves them nine hundred and ninety nine places to hide instead of a full thousand."

"Twilight," Octavia said warningly, "you need to calm down."

"I'm calm. Totally calm." Twilight straightened up and organised the papers on her desk, "It's not like I'm having to deal with this when I should be organising the attack on High Rock in just over a week! But, I'm calm. The very picture of serenity- Yaaah!" Twilight cried as the door to the room they were in smacked open, and jammed her hoof in her mouth to stop herself.

Fleur grinned sheepishly, "Sorry. Guess I don't know the strength of my own horn sometimes. I suppose I could've knocked too-"

"But where'd be the fun in that," the filly finished.

"Please tell me you have news!" Twilight begged, her hooves pressed together as she hung over her desk.

"About your missing ponies?" Twilight nodded energetically, "Afraid not." Fleur smiled sympathetically as Twilight went limp. "I do have other news though. We've intercepted some of the messages going between the various representatives, and yeah, I wouldn't trust quite a few of them. They're talking about banding together to give themselves a majority vote, effectively taking control of the parliament."

"The damage they could do when it came to electing new councillors would be immense," said Octavia.

"That's not all. They're talking of getting a lot of the ponies new to politics on their side through various forms of coercion or blackmail, which would only make their group stronger. They also mentioned getting some of the nobles involved. I did take this all to Daybreak and the others, but they said to bring it to you."

"Really?" Twilight planted her face on the desk, "Why are they telling you to ask me? They're the ponies in charge now! And it's not like I'm any better at dealing with this than they are."

"So you have no idea what to do at all?"

"Of course I do! But that's not the point." Twilight concentrated and teleported a large book into the room, "Do you know what this is?" The others all shook their heads, "It's the book containing all the rules, regulations, and laws of the country, as well as the Mareitanian constitution. Have a look."

Fleur opened the book, then frowned as she flipped over page after page. "It's empty."

"Exactly. It's empty. Blank. Completely and utterly unwritten. Sure there's plenty of other stuff written elsewhere, but most of it is currently what we choose it to be, which is real dangerous territory ethically speaking, as currently the law is what we say it is. Obviously I'm not setting us up to fail at the first moral hurdle, but there is literally nothing stopping us from throwing these conspirators into the deepest darkest hole we can find now we have proof."

Fleur looked sideways at Twilight, a little unsure of her after hearing that rant. "I take it you're not talking about the deeps under the caverns."

"We could if we wanted to, but no." Twilight took a moment to compose herself, aware that she was maybe going a little too far. "What I'm trying to say is that we have proof of their misdeeds now, so there is nothing stopping us from throwing the full extent of our unwritten laws at these treasonous ponies, and seeing as how the law is what we make it to be, they should be a lot more afraid of getting caught."

"Speaking of," said Octavia, "how did you get this information so soon?"

"We followed the messengers from a couple of places to where they were meeting up to exchange letters, then caught them all in one fell swoop. It might cause some issues with us spying on ponies, but now we have evidence of wrongdoing it's nothing we can't wriggle our way out of."

"What is the current penalty for treason?" Thorn asked out of curiosity.

Twilight breathed out slowly and leant her head on a hoof, "Thanks to Snowbright, death. I don't think that'll be necessary though. I think making an example of them and stripping their positions from them will be enough. Sadly I don't have a whole bunch of replacements ready so we'll have to find those first, then we'll send copies of the letters to the other representatives along with a warning of what will happen should they try something similar. Hopefully we'll seem like reasonable enough ponies by not being too heavy hoofed."

Fleur frowned at Twilight, "And that's it? No punishments?"

"To be fair, they were playing the system, not breaking it or ignoring it, so I'm not sure what the penalty would be for that. Quite frankly the humiliation of being stripped of their positions, as well as being caught so easily should be enough this time."

"No second chances huh?" the filly quipped.

Twilight smiled joylessly, "Not in this situation," she said before looking to Fleur. "I know you might be busy, but could you talk to the council and tell them to stop sitting on their hooves and pick the replacements for these ponies? I have an attack to plan, ponies to find, and a war to win."

"Okay," Fleur replied slowly, "do you want me to paraphrase that a little?"

"Only if you want to."

"We got a hit!" Spitfire announced loudly, giving Twilight her second heart attack of the day as the yellow pegasus burst into her office.

Twilight blinked for a few moments as she tried to slow the beating of her heart. "Do ponies have a problem with knocking these days?"

"Sorry ma'am," Spitfire said, her cheeks turning rosy with a blush. "I guess I got a bit excited."

"It's alright." She gestured for Spitfire to join her at the desk, "Who is it?"

"Mint Julep. He was spotted in Neigh Orleans last night."

"Mint Julep huh..." Twilight flipped through the papers on her desk until she found the information on this pony. He was a mint coloured earth pony stallion with a noticeably pink mane and tail, and had barely made it through basic training to become a soldier due to his timid nature. He had made it though, just. It seemed he couldn't keep his nerve though if he deserted.

"What's kind of name is Mint Tulip anyway?" Thorn asked with a laugh. "Is his talent to make flowers taste like mint?"

"It's Julep," Twilight corrected her, "spelt j-u-l-e-p, and I do believe it's some kind of cocktail. Seeing as his cutie mark is a cocktail shaker it seems apt."

"Do you want us to bring him in?"

"No," Twilight said back in a thoughtful tone of voice, "I think we'll go to him. I assume the city guard there are keeping track of him?" Spitfire nodded, "Good. Return to preparing your ponies Spitfire, we'll take it from here." Spitfire saluted sharply and left, pulling the door shut behind her. "Octavia, go find Trixie; we're going for a little trip to Neigh Orleans."

Trixie stopped screaming after the first hour. Whether that was because she became accustomed to being shrunk and carried in a saddlebag several hundred feet above the ground, or because her voice had simply burned out after screaming for so long was known only to the pony herself. Either way the trip was mostly quiet.

Twilight landed gently on the steps of the city hall, taking care not to jostle her load too much, because while Trixie had screamed until she went quiet, Thorn took a different route by becoming violently ill instead. Twilight was glad she borrowed the bags rather than use her own.

Gently she lifted the three ponies out of the bags and placed them on the ground. A burst of magic later and she was surrounded by three full sized ponies.

"Trixie does not appreciate this kind of treatment," Trixie said coldly. She glared at Twilight, but the alicorn just smiled back.

"Feels good to be back," Thorn said happily. She was even happier after Twilight cleaned her coat of her flight induced illness. She sniffed the air, "Ah, it still has the right smell."

Octavia sniffed the air and scrunched her muzzle up in disgust, "Unwashed ponies and poor sanitation?"

"Yep. The wind's wrong today so you can't smell the bayou. Has a nice swampy odour to it."

"Assuming the salt water hasn't killed it yet," Trixie grumbled. "Can we get this over with? Trixie doesn't like being this far from her quarry."

"Alright. First we need to find the guardhouse so they can direct us to Julep." Twilight peered about, trying to get her bearings.

Octavia looked at Twilight strangely, "Why didn't we just fly straight to it?"

"I thought it'd be nice to take a short walk through the city, to see how it's changed since we've not spent much time here lately."

Trixie snorted nastily, "You mean if it's changed."

Twilight rolled her eyes, "What's with the attitude Trixie? Normally you're all for this sort of thing."

"If they don't involve hours of flying while being made to look like some toy for little fillies! And I mean it about being this far from High Rock! It feels like a huge step backwards..."

Twilight bumped her hip against Trixie's, "We'll be back in Prance by tomorrow at the latest hopefully, and I left a beacon so we can teleport straight there once we're done. It'll be fine."

Trixie sighed and nodded, "You're right. Trixie's just being silly." She made a halfhearted attempt at smiling, "Let's just get this over with, yeah?"

"Right. Uh..."

Octavia smiled smugly at Twilight, "So you did forget where the guard station is."

"Maybe a little bit, yes."

"Mmhmm, thought so. Lead on Thorn."

"So you don't remember either?" Twilight asked Octavia as Thorn started to lead them down into the city.

"Not in the slightest, but at least I'm not pretending I haven't forgot."

Twilight held Octavia's gaze for a few seconds, then turned her attention to the city instead. Although she had dismissed it at first, it seemed Trixie was right; the city hadn't really changed. At least not the buildings. The ponies seemed a little less beaten down, and there was even a few friendly greetings for the heroes of the rebellion as they made their way through the city, amongst a few other less friendly ones.

A mare walked up to Twilight, and with absolutely no warning slapped her across the face, "You killed my son!"

Twilight staggered back, more from the shock of the action than from the actual impact. "Y-your son? He was with the Grand Army?"

"No, he was with you, and you killed him with your war." The mare spat on Twilight's hooves, "I hope it was worth it."

"I-I-" Twilight started to try to defend her actions, but the mare walked away, flicking Twilight in the face with her tail as she passed.

"Maybe this place isn't so bad after all," Trixie said cheerfully. "Barely five minutes here and Twilight's already been assaulted."

"Shut up Trixie," Octavia hissed, more concerned with the grief-stricken Twilight than with Trixie's inappropriateness. She gently lifted Twilight's chin so the mare would look her in the eye, "It's not really your fault Twilight, you know that."

"I know, but having that thrown in your face-"

"Along with a hoof," Trixie added helpfully.

"It- Well, it's a surprise to say the least."

"We're all volunteers Twilight," Thorn said from behind Twilight. "The only ponies responsible for that pony's death is himself, and the soldier that killed him."

"Bullshit." Twilight pushed Octavia's hooves away, "I know the score, and I know ponies die in war, so don't patronise me. A lot of our ponies that died in the battle at Puddingarde must have come from here, so she can hardly be the only pony with a less than favourable view of me."

"So you're just going to ignore it?" Octavia asked nervously.

"Mostly, yes. Can I change what happened?"

"...no?" Octavia answered hesitantly. Truthfully she wasn't a hundred percent sure that Twilight couldn't change it.

"And is there anything I could say to change her opinion of me?"

"Probably not."

"Then I'm just going to accept her mostly justified anger and move on, okay?"

"Okay." Octavia hung back a bit as Twilight followed Thorn to their destination. "She's certainly changed," she said to nopony in particular.

"Haven't we all?" Trixie replied, having heard Octavia's comment.

"I suppose so, although I find the eye flash... thing you did then to be completely unnecessary."

"Eye flash? Are you saying my eyes just flashed?" Trixie stared ahead rigidly, "Huh..." The feeling that she wasn't as in control of herself as she liked crept over Trixie. Outwardly she shrugged, "Mere twinkles of the eye are for common ponies. Trixie, her entire eyes twinkle."

"I'd hardly call both your eyes flashing green a twinkle."

"And I say your face is stupid, so there- Oof!" Trixie bounced off the purple butt she had just walked into, and landed on her own rear. "Hey! What gives?" Trixie stood and silently raged at Twilight, but the alicorn kept staring straight ahead. "Hey! Are you broken or something?"

"Shush Trixie!" Octavia whispered harshly. She gestured with her head for Trixie to look ahead. They'd wandered into the city centre, where previously there had been a statue of the first duke of Mareitania, Ironhoof. It'd also been the point where the rebellion had truly begun with said statue's destruction. Now it was something else again.

Four rows of tall wooden boards extended in a cross from the plinth of the statue, each one covered in writing. The plinth itself was covered in candles, unlit at the time of day, while the ground at each side of the wooden walls was littered with flowers, interrupted occasionally by small idols of an alicorn, which Twilight could only hope was the Lady and not herself.

"What is this?"

"The ponies of Neigh Orleans set up their own little memorial," Thorn explained. "Everypony from Neigh Orleans that died for this country's freedom."

In a stupor, almost like she was drunk, Twilight walked around the memorial, her eyes skimming over the names. There were too many as far as she was concerned, too many by far.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" she asked suddenly, turning on Thorn. The unicorn flinched and stepped back involuntarily.

"There's nopony on here that isn't on the one in Puddingarde."

"Yeah, but-" But what? It was a reasonable argument on Thorn's part as there really was nopony here that wasn't engraved onto the memorial at Puddingarde. The only difference was that this was far more personal to the ponies of Neigh Orleans, as they were the ones who had lost loved ones. "I- I would've liked to have seen it before now. Sorry Thorn, I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's okay. Would you like to keep looking? Or should we go..?"

Twilight could easily have spent an hour or two here, but they had a job to do, and she was already drawing attention from the other ponies here. If word got around too fast it might make Mint Julep go into hiding. She stared at the memorial for another couple of minutes then sighed, "Let's go. We have a job to do."

"And why have we stopped here?" Trixie asked as they stood just yards from the entrance to their destination.

"This is where we killed our first ponies Trixie," Twilight said, barely louder than a whisper.

"Is that so? Wow. Memory lane's a shitty place." Trixie wasn't so bothered herself, but she could tell Twilight and Octavia were as they stood in the place where they had directly killed their first ponies. What Trixie was mostly thinking about apart from that, was that they had fixed the section of wall she had torn down.

"Is this going to happen a lot today? This whole staring blankly at things while we drag up things we'd rather not remember... thing? And why is this bothering you all so much?"

"Why isn't it bothering you at all?" Twilight asked back.

Trixie shrugged, "Do you want to hear the answer? Really? Because you're probably not going to like it very much."

"Yeah, I want to hear it."

"Truthfully then, I don't care." Trixie shrugged again as Twilight looked away and shook her head. "What's the point in getting caught up on the first ponies we killed at the start of this fight when the number at the end of it is a lot higher. And you can hardly call this the point where we lost our innocence or something sappy like that, because I think the riots in Prance get that title at least. We all knew when we agreed to this that ponies would be killed, and we knew some of them would die because of us."

"Maybe you should just be quiet Trixie," Octavia said in a tight little voice.

Trixie stood quiet for a moment then sighed angrily, "Fine. Believe it or not Trixie doesn't want to piss you guys off, but I still think you're letting this get to you too much. If you need me I'll be doing that thing we're here to do."

"Maybe she's right," Twilight said once Trixie was gone. "Maybe we are letting this get to us too much."

"Maybe," Thorn agreed. "I mean, this isn't actually anything to do with me. I was still with Dad in the city centre at the time. I should probably go with Trixie, make sure she doesn't make a mess of things." Thorn hurried off, feeling slightly awkward.

"Is it better to be a killer?"

Twilight blinked and frowned at Octavia, "Excuse me?"

"Is it better to be a killer? These are the only ponies I had a hoof in ending the life of," Octavia went onto explain, "as normally I'm trying to save ponies, or at least trying to ease their passing. Yet even though you and Trixie kill ponies, I'm the one falling to pieces over what we've done, while you two only seem to get stronger. So I'm asking you, is it better to be a killer?"

"No," Twilight replied without thinking, but she meant it. Twilight hadn't put a lot of thought into why she could kill so easily these days, when the first time she had killed had been so hard for her. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer, even though part of her was sure she already knew it.

"Then why doesn't it bother you as much these days?"

"..."

"Twilight?" Octavia said cautiously, aware that she might have pushed her companion a little too far. "I'm sorry, you don't have to ans-"

"Because I'm used to it. As horrible as it is to say, I'm used to it. Killing a pony doesn't bother me like it used to. I certainly don't get pleasure out of it, but... I wanted to kill Pearl. I wanted to kill Filigree until I messed that up. The Duke? I agreed to help Trixie kill him if the parliament voted for peace, and not just to help her, but because I genuinely believe he needed to die in that situation."

"I hardly think I'm going to dispute that."

"Well you should. We used to be better than that. Better than him."

"I guess." Octavia scraped her hoof slowly over the ground, her thoughts moving at the speed of molasses. "Can I really claim therapy costs when we get back?"

"I'll pay for them myself... which would actually be more or less the same thing since I'm, y'know, a princess." Twilight rubbed the side of her head hard enough to hurt; for a moment she'd forgotten she was actually a princess. "Come on, let's get on with this."

"Is that him?" Trixie asked as she pointed at a mint earth pony stallion with a rosy pink mane and tail.

"That's him," said Polly, the rather petite unicorn mare that had been one of those tasked with shadowing their deserter since he was located. "Are you going to bring him in?"

"Not yet," said Twilight. "I want to see what he gets up to."

"His routine is pretty consistent. Leave the house, go to the market, go to another house for an hour or so, then go home via the market again."

"I still want to see." Taking care to not reveal themselves, they carefully shadowed the oblivious Mint Julep as he went about his business. As Polly had said, he went to the market, although it was hard to say if he bought anything as he breezed between stalls, hardly stopping for longer than a minute at most at each one. Then, with his saddlebags full, he left the market and made his way out into the city again.

"He seems worried," Octavia observed as they followed behind him at a distance. His head was low, and each step he took made it appear as though he was ready to bolt. "His stance is all wrong for a stallion just going about his day."

"Actually he almost flunked training with us because of his timidity," said Twilight. "This could be perfectly normal for him."

"Where is he going?" Trixie asked Polly.

"He usually goes to a house in the nicer part of town," she replied. "Stays there for a hour like I said, then leaves again."

"The nicer part of town..." Thorn repeated thoughtfully. "What does this house look like exactly?"

The guardspony shrugged,"Like all the others? The only thing I can really say that's different about it is the windows are all barred."

Thorn nodded, "Thought so. Twilight, he's going to see the deposed nobles."

"Great, like we needed that. Why would the guards let him in though?"

"Because they think he's just the pony that does the shopping?" Thorn hazarded. "I don't know, but it's pretty clear that there's something bigger going on here for him to be going there of all places."

"What's the plan then Twilight?" Trixie asked happily. "Please let it involve some action!"

"Let's let him do what he does there. We'll catch him on the way out."

"Aww... but he's going to be in there for ages!"

"I know Trixie, but I want to see if he brings anything out with him." They stopped as Julep walked up the steps of the house that Thorn said the nobles were held in, and glanced about nervously before knocking. He waited, shifting his weight from side to side until the door was opened by a mare in the uniform of the liberation front. Anypony could wear a uniform though, and Twilight made a mental note to check up on the identity of the ponies guarding that place just in case.

Julep entered the building, and the door was shut behind him. "And now we wait."

Twilight hummed a tune to herself as she waited on her own. They'd split up to cover the different routes from the house, with Trixie and Thorn covering their own avenues, while Octavia waited with Polly as she was the least adept at fighting amongst them. That way all his escapes were blocked. Not that it would've mattered too much for Twilight if he did, but she didn't fancy chasing him through the city.

All they had to do now was wait, which seemed to be taking an agonisingly long time. Twilight was starting to think that maybe they'd been spotted when the door to the safe house creaked open and Mint Julep crept out. He walked to the bottom of the stairs and was about to step onto the street when Twilight made her presence known by clearing her throat.

"Wha- W-w-who's there?" Julep stammered. He lowered his body into a crouch, making it clear that he was ready to run.

Twilight stepped out from the shadows and into middle of the road, making sure to keep a friendly smile on her face as she did. "Hello Mint Julep. I have a few questions I'd like to-"

He ran. His hooves skidded on the dirt as he forced himself into a gallop, and he turned down an alleyway to try and escape. It wasn't to be though as a flash of blue came from where he had gone, followed by Julep who tumbled back into the road to land in a heap. Thorn followed him, blowing on the end of her horn and grinning cockily. "Wrong way a-hole."

"Wasn't every way the wrong way?" Octavia said as she ran over to help Julep, mostly out of instinct, but stopped as he tried to stand. She needn't have worried though as he staggered sideways and fell over again a few seconds later.

While the stallion was struggling, Trixie whipped his saddlebags off his back and rummaged through them, pulling out a bundle of a dozen letters. She read through the addresses, finding many of them were to be delivered to various ponies that had shown their displeasure at the new government of Mareitania.

"Seems some of our representatives are in cahoots with our deposed nobles," she said.

Twilight snirked, but quickly covered it with a hoof. "Say cahoots again without sounding so country."

"Cahoots. Cahoots. Ca-hoots. Shut up Twilight; I'm amazing. Let's hear you do better."

"Cahoots," Twilight said perfectly.

"Cahoots," Octavia said, also perfectly.

Trixie scrunched her nose up and pouted, "This is why nopony likes you ponies."

Twilight grinned lopsidedly at Trixie, "So, what makes ya think them there former nobles are in ca-hewts, Trixie?"

Trixie stared at Twilight for a long few seconds, then threw the letters at her, "That's why."

Twilight caught the letters and flipped through a few of them. Most of them were to be sent to addresses she recognised as ponies that had been the Duke's former chosen mayors. It seemed Trixie was right, no matter how badly she said the word.

"Wow... some of these are going to be interesting readin-"

"Hey!" A trio of guards burst out of the safe house, weapons at the ready. "What do you think you're doing!"

Twilight calmly stood in their path and tried to look as imperious as possible as she spread her wings. It had the desired effect as the guards skidded to a halt, but they still seemed rather uneasy. They also all appeared to be earth ponies, which struck Twilight as odd.

"Is there a problem?" Twilight asked sweetly.

"Uh... uh..." The middlemost of the three ponies swallowed nervously. "Sorry to bother you, uh, miss, but that pony was carrying private mail, and-"

"What kind of private mail?"

"I-uh... I don't know. It's private. Ma'am. If you could give the mail back to the delivery pony, we'd appreciate it very much."

"Oh, of course," Twilight said as apologetically as possible. "I only wanted to ask the time when he ran. I never meant for him to get hurt. Don't you worry, I'll see him safely to his destination." Her smile could've given the guard diabetes with how sweet it was.

"No problem miss," the guard said back, but it sounded rather worried. "We should get back to our- to our post."

"I think that'd be best." Twilight kept smiling as the three guards shuffled back to the safe house. All three of them kept glancing back at Twilight.

"I think that sets the bar a little higher for guilty consciences," Octavia commented. "Do you think they're imposters?"

"That, or they've been bought off," Twilight said back. "I'm also pretty sure there should be more than three guards in there. Something is definitely wrong here." She silently observed the building for a few moments while she decided what to do.

"Guard Polly, how many other city guards can you get here as soon as possible?"

"I don't know... twenty, maybe more?"

"That'll do. Get them here and surround the building, letting nopony in or out. Please."

"Yes ma'am." Polly ran off to fulfil her orders.

"Thorn, I want you to go to Puddingarde and bring thirty of the more experienced trainees here as fast as you can. If those guards are crooked, I want them to be so outnumbered they won't be a problem while you secure the safe house. While you're in Puddingarde, try to learn the identities of who was supposed to be guarding this place."

"Alrighty."

"Trixie?"

Trixie rolled her eyes, "Yes?"

"Seal the doors and windows with your magic, then when Polly gets back with reinforcements I want you to search the building for any escape routes and anything else of interest. If they try to stop you, get rough, but not deadly rough. Then I want you to have the guards and trainees prepare the traitors, or imposters, or whatever they are, for transport to Whiplash once Thorn is back with more ponies."

Trixie smiled, "Finally, a little action. What will you be doing?"

Twilight smiled humourlessly, "I'll be in the city hall with Mr Julep, reading letters and asking questions. Hopefully I'll be getting answers too. Come find me once you're done."

The letters were interesting reading. Very interesting. What they revealed though, wasn't very subtle. As Twilight had come to understand it, the plan was to eliminate the leader they didn't like, and replace them with a pony they did like, most of which was to be done through an operative that Twilight guessed had been their failed assassin. Mainly it was an elaborate way to return the deposed nobles to power and probably restore the Duchy. To bad for them it was leaders, not leader, and their assassin had ended up being incompetent at his one job.

"And you agreed to help them do this?" Twilight asked Julep as Octavia read the letters herself.

Mint Julep barely held himself above the table that came between Twilight and himself, "I-I-I..."

"Mint Julep. While I can appreciate that you're of a nervous disposition, I really would like some answers that don't involve you stammering into silence."

"B-b-b..."

"Julep!"

"I didn't want to! I just wanted to stop the fighting! Make everything safe and quiet again! Quick Blade told me he knew how to do that, and that if I agreed to help him he'd help me get away from the fighting! He said he'd protect me!"

Octavia lifted her gaze from the letters for a moment, "If you don't like fighting, why join the rebellion?"

"I-I thought it was the- the right thing to do."

"You could've found a way to help us that didn't involve fighting."

"That's what I wanted, but I was told you needed fighters, so that's what I had to be."

"What about the others that deserted?" Twilight asked him. "Where are they? And what's their job?"

"And why did they desert?" Octavia added.

Julep rubbed his forehooves together nervously, "Not everypony wants what you want," he said cryptically. "They wanted the Duke gone, but didn't like everything else you were doing."

"Are you talking about freeing the pegasi?"

"Not freeing them, but making them equal. The unicorns too. They thought that earth ponies should still be the prominent tribe."

"What about you?" Octavia asked.

"I was fine with it, really. All I wanted was to get away from the fighting, that's it, I swear." Julep looked nervously between Twilight and Octavia, "You believe me don't you? I'm just not brave enough to fight."

"Where are the other deserters Julep?" Twilight repeated.

"I d-don't know, I've never really met them. Quick Blade knew though. He said that he'd protect us if we helped him."

"Fat chance of that when he couldn't even protect himself," Twilight said dismissively.

"What does that mean?"

"It means he's dead, Julep."

"O-oh..." Julep lapsed into silence, his hooves rubbing against each other being his only motion for a minute or two while the others let him think it through.

"Julep, do you know the penalty for desertion?" Twilight asked after a while. He shook his head. "Neither do I. We've never established anything for it. However, under the Duchy's laws the punishment is death. I honestly don't want to see that happen to you, but unless you help us there's not a lot I can do to help you." Twilight caught Octavia looking at her out of the corner of her eye, and gestured for the grey mare to play along.

"She's-ah, not wrong Julep. Unless you give us a reason to help you, we're not going to stick our necks out."

"They're in the city! Please! I don't care about their plan! I just want to live!"

"Then tell me where they are!" Twilight shouted. "You all deserted together! You all worked for Quick Blade! I refuse to believe you don't know where they are!"

Julep huddled up in fear, crying silently. Normally Twilight tried to see the best in ponies, but even she found Julep to be a bit pathetic. She was about to give up and accept that he didn't know anything else when he spoke up in a voice that kept cracking in fear.

"They're the guards in the safe house. They kept their uniforms and relieved the actual guards with some forged documents. Then some other ponies came to act as guards as well."

Twilight shot up, suddenly worried about the ponies investigating the safe house, then stopped. Between the city guard, the trainees, and a whole lot of Trixie, they were probably fine. More than likely Thorn had learnt about the deception before they did, and had prepared accordingly.

"Very well Julep, I believe you, but don't think that means you're getting away free. You still assisted with a treasonous plot that could've done considerable harm to the country, and for that you're to be sent to the prison at Whiplash with the rest of the traitors until we have the means to investigate this fully."

"Is that really the best idea Twilight?"

"Yes it is, because he'll have lots of ponies there that he already knows since I intend to imprison his fellow deserters there, along with the imposter guards, and a large number of the nobles currently sweating it out in the safe house. Then the council will replace the representatives mentioned in these letters, and we'll have succeeded in sticking a huge band aid over the entire thing since now we've now uncovered enough evidence to hang most of the ponies involved if that's what we wanted. Which it isn't, before you ask."

"If you say so Twilight," Octavia said hesitantly. She was fairly sure a few corners were being cut here.

"I do say so. Somepony else can investigate after if they want, but right now our biggest priority isn't this by a long way."

"Now that I can agree with," said a fourth pony. All of them looked up to find Trixie lounging in the doorway to the room, a stack of letters in her magic. Some of them seemed a little charred.

"Oh hey Trixie. How'd it go?"

"Found them trying to burn letters, which would be suspicious in itself even if they weren't loaded with evidence. Three of the guards were the other deserters, while none of the rest were ours at all, and they tried to get a bit violent when I searched the safe house." Trixie grinned nastily, "They'll recover eventually."

"Did you find anything else?"

"Not really," Trixie said with a shake of her head. "It's all in the letters. Apparently they planned this before we took Woodberry hall, in case we took the place. Quick Blade was the lynch pin in it, and was responsible for pretty much everything except thinking of the plan itself. If he hadn't been killed we'd still have no idea any of this was happening. Feel free to thank Trixie gratuitously for that by the way."

"But why join us and desert a couple of weeks later?" Octavia asked. She glanced at Julep, the stallion flinching as she did.

"Probably gathering information," Twilight answered her. "Doesn't matter. They've all been caught in the act, so I think that means we win."

"This feels too easy," Octavia said quietly, "like we've missed something."

"And are the representatives involved in this escaping prison?" Trixie added, making Twilight groan.

"I don't know, okay? Will you feel better if we shove them all in prison?"

"Maybe," Trixie conceded.

"Then that's what we'll do. Honestly though you two, we've ruined their plans, and sometimes that's just it. The only thing left for them after this is somepony who isn't me, or any of us, deciding their fate. Except for you of course Julep," Twilight added quickly as the stallion whimpered. "You're just getting jail time."

The cries of protest from the wives and children of the nobles that had gotten themselves involved, which was all of them by proxy, fell on deaf ears. The only reason they weren't all going was because the children really didn't deserve that, and already had to suffer losing at least one of their parents. Twilight couldn't bring herself to order anything worse.

The last pony was loaded and the entire convoy set off with all their prisoners. And there were a lot of them. Even now Twilight didn't know the names of a lot of the imposter guards, but their mere presence was enough to incriminate them at this point, and Twilight really wasn't leaving anything to chance by leaving any behind.

Unfortunately that also included escorting the entire convoy to Whiplash. While she was mostly comfortable with the lacklustre nature of their investigation, she really did want to make sure everything went right. Ponies are a lot less inclined towards bribes and other similar things when two of the most powerful and deadly magic users in the country are keeping a close eye on you.

"I'm curious," said Thorn as most of them focused on putting one hoof in front of the other, a short distance back from the wagons. "What's the penalty for treason in Equestria?"

"Life imprisonment," said Twilight. "Although the last time anypony tried to commit treason was before the death penalty got banned."

"So that's what would happen to all these if we didn't have the death penalty?"

"That should be the penalty for these because there should be no death penalty," Twilight said weakly. She wasn't in the mood to argue over that again.

"Okay... so what if there was a crime worse than treason? What then?"

Octavia snorted a semi amused laugh, "What crime could be worse than treason?"

"I don't know." Thorn shrugged, "How about killing a princess?"

"Regicide?" said Twilight. "There's no punishment for it because it's not illegal."

"What!?" the others all exclaimed together.

"I know, that's what I thought when I first heard about it. I thought Celestia was crazy to not make that illegal. Now I think about it though, I can see it's another of her little jokes."

"How is that a joke?" spluttered Octavia.

Twilight smiled to herself, "Because how do you accuse a pony of regicide without proof?"

Trixie scoffed, "I'm sure the dead alicorn would be proof eno-" She stopped and blinked as she worked it out, "Huh... Alicorns don't stay dead, so it isn't really regicide."

"Exactly. Believe it or not, the phrase 'that pony killed me' isn't admissible in court either. Again I thought it was insane when I read it. I mean, why add that of all things?"

"Uh, yeah, why?" Thorn said, unsure.

"It stops an alicorn from falsely accusing ponies of attempting to murder them without solid proof."

"Oh." Thorn scratched her head, "Equestria's fucking weird."

Octavia was equally confused by this revelation, "So alicorns have to live with the fact that any pony that kills them is going to get away with it?"

Twilight nodded happily, "Yep. Honestly though, I imagine knowing that they can never succeed is punishment enough for the would be killer. And if you want to know, the worst crime where princesses are concerned it's kidnap and false imprisonment of an alicorn slash princess."

"How is that worse?" Trixie asked dismissively.

Twilight thought of Luna on the moon, Faust beneath High Rock, and Cadence, who would still likely be trapped in the caverns beneath Canterlot if the truth about Chrysalis hadn't been uncovered, and Twilight hadn't found her. "It's worse because of that same reason; alicorns can't die. Most ponies have a way out. We don't."

Fleur smiled up at Twilight as the alicorn approached her, "How'd it go?"

"Treasonous plot formulated by the deposed nobles to kill the unwanted leaders of Mareitania and undermine the parliament."

Fleur nodded sagely, "Ah, that ole chestnut. What do you intend to do about it?"

"I've stuck them all in prison for now, along with their imposter guards and our deserters. All that's left is to replace the representatives in on the plot, and imprison them too."

"Wow. So that's it then? Job done? No further investigation?"

"Of course there is." Twilight dumped the collection of letters she'd been hiding behind her in front of Fleur, "But not for me at least."

Fleur stared at the letters and sighed, "Motherfucker."

"Sorry Fleur, but I have a war to win. You know how it is."

Fleur smirked at Twilight, "Oldest excuse in the book Twilight."

"I doubt that." Twilight stifled a yawn and stretched, "Anyway, I'm going to bed. I have an eldritch abomination to yell at for not doing her job properly. G'night."

"Huh?"

Author's Notes:

And here we have the hasty conclusion to this short story arc that where I totally forgot what I was really doing. I could've omitted the entire thing, but then I'd have nothing to post which wouldn't do at all, so yeah... Back to the important stuff next chapter.