Rainbow Dash tightened the tent rope around the wooden spike, forming the best knot ever. It would hold this tent upright through raging storms, fierce winds, and painful hail. The sun would lower and rise again a thousand and another thousand times yet her tent would stand, an immutable monument to the tent erector that was Rainbow Dash.

As long as nopony actually prodded it too much that was. A bunch of loops technically might not count as a knot, but it was the best she could do at the moment and it wasn’t like she was the one who would sleep in it if her architecture failed. She was running behind as it was.

She also wasn’t quite sure about the ‘tent erector’ title. Better to keep that one stuffed somewhere private or it would end up poking her in the wrong place and time.

One triumphant round of walking around her achievement, a jolt of surprise that she accidentally had the entrance face the opposite way than the rest of the tents, and some quick work with a knife after shutting the now-obsolete previous entrance with some rope—everypony knows they put some surplus in the tent package, right?—and she was all done!

“All done in ten seconds flat! Who’s the champ?” Rainbow Dash announced with a smug smile, raising her hooves over her head like the champion she was.

Blank Slate, a white coated pegasus, wiped the sweat off his forehead caused by the sun beating down on them in the plains northeast of Ponyville. The stallion shook his steel gray mane, casting drops of sweat aside, and the mare in the Royal guard armor beside him stepped away with a look of disgust.

The pony looked up at the sun for a moment. “That took you over half an hour,” he finally concluded. He ducked down and continued unpacking another tent.

“Yeah, well, the rest of it was spent making adjustments for maximal comfort. Optimum stuff, you know. I was giving my prime game,” Rainbow Dash lied through her teeth.

The mare in the armor fluttered her wings in annoyance, the feathers the same color as her faded red brick coat. “Blank Page,” Snared Wish said, standing in attention as she almost always did, “would you mind not doing that again? Take off that vest if you can’t stand the heat.” She pointed at the woolen article of clothing that hid almost all of Blank Slate’s torso, including his wings.

“It’s Blank Slate, and I’m fine,” he replied, his face as blank as his name and with beads of sweat running down on it. “You still have your armor on, don’t you?”

“Pegasi Royal Guard armor is made to be extremely light, comfortable, and breathable.” Snared Wish took off her helmet as she talked. Her black mane fell in clumps around her head, a byproduct not of the heat but the worst case of helmet mane Rainbow Dash ever witnessed.

“I always wondered about that,” Rainbow Dash said, sitting down and making herself comfortable . “How do they make armor that protects that well if it’s light enough to fly with?”

“They don’t,” Snared Wish answered. She tapped the armor with her hoof to make her point. “It’s good against scratches, slashes, and claws if what claws at you is small enough. Not… not much else really. Magic can only do so much.” She gazed south, her lips whitening despite her biting on them.

Everypony present stopped what they were doing, except for Rainbow Dash who had already gotten a headstart on slacking off, to follow her lead. The Everfree Forest lay some distance away from them, the treeline ominous and dreary in the bright day, as if the sunrays shied away from it. It was dark, as if the shadows beneath its branches were a living smoke that slowly drifted upwards, covering the air above it. Rainbow Dash had never seen it lit, she had never seen bright green leaves swaying in the breeze. Only dark, muted green caught in an everlasting gloom, and naked branches clawing at the air.

A tall pegasus with a red light coat and white mane approached Snared Wish, presenting her with a canteen of water and a clean cloth. “Here, something to wash yourself with, Wish.”

Snared Wish eagerly accepted the offer as long as it meant it took her attention away from the threatening forest. “Thank you, Red Dawn. You’re a real sweetheart.”

“No problem,” Red Dawn responded with an easy, boyish smile. “You know, you shouldn’t wear your helmet when there’s no need to. It’s obvious how much care you give into your mane, this just damages it for no reason.” His hoof, long and filled with enough wiry muscle to be noticeable, stroked one of Snared Wish’s silky clumps of mane.

“... Thank you.” Snared Wish stood even straighter and turned away with a blush to work on the tent she was setting up.

Rainbow Dash’s leg wrapped around Red Dawn’s neck and pulled him back. She hissed quite audibly in his ear, the concept of discretion raising a questioning hand only to be swiftly smacked down and sent back to the corner. “Ok, Casanova, not cool. Knock it down a notch. You do remember she’s married, right?”

“I know,” Red Dawn answered. “Shaded Swirl, I remember. Nice guy.”

“A nice guy who will shove your wings somewhere dark and claustrophobic,” Blank Slate snorted. His weirdly tufted ears twitched in amusement.

“What? Why?” There was genuine puzzlement and worry on Red Dawn’s face. He thrashed around the tent he was working on. “This can’t be his tent, can it? Did I mess it up somehow?”

Rainbow Dash blinked and hastily turned back to Snared Wish. “So, uh, your hubby’s coming along soon. That’s awesome. Excited?”

Snared Wish was absent-mindedly scrutinizing her helmet. “Yeah. Just… wish we all had some good armor. Shaded Swirl doesn’t even have this much.” She tapped dejectedly on her armor once more.

“Aww, the Everfree isn’t that bad,” Rainbow Dash claimed, dismissing Snared Wish’s fear with an absent wave of her hoof.

“Really?” Snared Wish’s mane whipped her face as she turned to Rainbow Dash with hope in her eyes.

“Sure. Besides, why do you worry? You were a guard and your husband is here to cheer you on!”

Snared Wish’s legs moved back and forth as if unsure of what to do with them or where to place them. “I was a guard. That’s what I did. Just… guarding. Posturing for nobles and rich ponies so they could feel important. Ungrateful, pompous, snobbish... anyway. I haven’t been in a fight actually. Ever,” she admitted, lowering her head. “And Shaded Swirl isn’t here to cheer me on. He’s joining the Lunar Guard as well. I asked him to.”

Blank Slate frowned. “But he’s been in quite some fights, hasn’t he? He said as much.”

“Sure. I mean, he’s—was a barpony, even a bouncer sometimes, and when ponies got drunk…”

“Oooh.” Rainbow Dash nodded. Yeah, it made some sense now. Half of the ponies—or nonponies—joining in the Lunar Guard didn’t quite have much experience considering what they were going to be doing. Funny thing how that turned out. She had heard some rumors that quite a few cutthroats had asked to join in. Even saw a couple, and they were the hair-raising type. Two weeks ago she started meeting the Lunar Guard initiates in order to get some much needed pointers and what she found instead… Heck, Red Dawn was a server, and Blank Slate travelled across Equestria from Vanhoover to Baltimare doing any menial job he found.

She never caught sight of those hard ponies she had seen, again. It was as if they vanished, and replaced by much more tame ones.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes were pulled by the forest again. They were supposed to venture in there tonight. It seemed a bit darker than before, didn’t it? Nah, that was because, you know, the sun lowered and stuff. Clouds. She had been there plenty of times. She knew what was in there already and there was no need to worry. Just Timberwolves, regular wolves, manticores, cragadiles, hydras, poisonous and magical plants, Ursa Majors and Minors, wyverns, cockatrices, dark spaces confined by trees that seemed to reach for you, monsters that nopony ever described because they never escaped from them—

She gulped as the list went on and on, only limited by her ignorance. “You two don’t have any kids, do you?” she asked Snared Wish.

The mare looked at her in surprise.

“Because both of you going in would be just cruel to them,” Rainbow Dash finished her loud thoughts, still staring at the distant forest.

Snared Wish’s jaw almost touched the grass.

Rainbow Dash was knocked out of her deep thoughts. Literally.

A wrapped up tent, poles, ropes, light hammer and every other tool included, made solid contact with her skull. She misstepped to the side as she grunted in welcome of her newest head knob, and her hoof scraped the most recently tied up spike she had set for the tent she had worked on. The rope untied and Rainbow, despite her dizziness, instinctively tried to catch it with her teeth. The collapsing tent’s weight pulled her, helped by her loss of balance. She crashed on the roof of the tent that by that point had become one with the floor. The rest of the spikes were unearthed from their shallow holes with enough momentum to fly across the fallen pegasus, strapping her down, and Rainbow Dash found herself covered up quite snuggly in fact.

Three sets of Thestral legs surrounded Rainbow Dash in her moment of humiliation, random gear equally snuggling and poking her. Vertical pupils judged her harshly.

“I thought you said you’ve gone camping before and know how to set up a tent,” Cradle Song deadpanned.

“Looks like somepony lied,” Broken Gust sang, her head tilting left and right in sync.

Rainbow Dash scowled. “I didn’t lie, okay? These tents are super cheap. The spikes don’t even have a hole for the rope to go through and tie them.” Rainbow Dash had done plenty of camping. It was just that she had specifically bought one of the easiest tents to set up with plenty of conveniences. The tents she was forced to work with now were basically long strips of dark blue cloth with unpolished long strips of wood and spikes that were nothing more than a sharp piece of rough wood.

“We were on a budget. You do realize we’re not here for actual camping, right?” Cradle Song asked.

Drum Beat was counting the raised tents. “Guys, we only have eight tents up so far. We need twenty eight.”

“What’s the deal? When the others get here they can put up their own tents,” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “I thought the flyers were supposed to arrive first to scout, not this.”

“Scout and start setting up a base camp for when the grounders arrive,” Broken Gust reminded her. “We’re not doing that good of a job so far, are we? Princess Luna is going to be so disappointed in us when she gets here!”

“We’re going as fast as we can,” Blank Slate said, his hooves appeasing for calm. “Each tent takes twenty to thirty minutes to unpack and set up. We started only a little over an hour ago.”

“Can’t you go any faster?”

Blank Slate’s hoof showcased the ponies around him. “There’s just the four of us. It’s a matter of numbers.”

Drum Beat huffed and his hoof struck the ground. “Well, then what?”

Three packaged tents struck each Thestral’s head one by one, knocking them down like bowling pins. Eventide walked forward, another pack caught in her mouth, and she threw it to Rainbow Dash who managed a successful catch with her cheek. “Then we increase the numbers of ponies working. Get up, you three, and get to work. There’s more to a base camp than setting up a couple of tents.”

-----

Rainbow Dash had been making trips to Canterlot and back during the last month. It was how she met up with quite a few of the Lunar Guard initiates. She had taken part in a few training exercises as well. Mostly they consisted of Luna showing them the pokey sides of weapons by way of poking, and then defining the meaning of sarcasm by putting mercy in mercilessly as she beat them down to the ground.

It seemed pointless, it was not painless, and it drove everypony’s hopes that they could do the job they were hoping for so down to the ground that they couldn’t spot them even with Luna squashing them down with her hoof on the back of their skull. Until they overheard Luna speak to Solid Charge and mention that she was quite satisfied with their progress. Apparently, the Alicorn intended to get them used to getting hit and dodging first and foremost. So the thrashing continued, but this time they knew their flanks hurt for a reason. Not that… it didn’t really help.

Luna wasn’t a fan of holding back. Or one hundred percent functioning spines for that matter either.

As nice as being in the gentle embrace of the most enthusiastic, deepest massage was, it wasn’t teaching them how to actually fight back. Luna herself told them that she wasn’t sure she would be the best teacher to get them up to speed from scratch, nor did she have the time. Not everypony needed weapon lessons, but she was going to give them all the same treatment. They were starting with the basics, and she had found the pony for the job.

He was a legend. A pony that everypony knew. If the Royal Guard had an avatar to represent them it would be him. The former Royal Guard Captain of Canterlot. A guard that had served Princess Celestia and Equestria for a century as a Captain, a record of service that no pony could ever hope to match. Captain Stampede had a list of accomplishments that not many ever bothered to read on account of how long it was. He was hailed as the greatest earth pony fighter alive, and Princess Celestia herself had said she would be hard pressed to think of anypony in her memory to match him. He. Was. Awesome.

Rainbow Dash almost dislocated her jaw when she saw him in person. In retrospect, she shouldn’t have been so surprised. He had been a Captain for a century! It made sense. It was natural.

Nope, it wasn’t. No way. It couldn’t be. Old ponies have wrinkles, yeah. But he had enough to match two Granny Smiths. Three, even!

Celestia, how old was that guy? Did he used to tuck filly Celestia in bed or something?

Rainbow Dash never found out, but she did discover two other things. First, the stories were all true, and just because former Captain Stampede was old—super old—it didn’t mean he had slowed down much or hit any less hard.

Translation; They were getting their flanks kicked by two ancient ponies now.

Second thing she discovered? Well… to put it lightly, the geezer was ecstatic to be back on top and have a bunch of ponies to torment again.

Wooooo...

They had finished up with the tents just in time. The rest of the Lunar Guard and initiates had arrived. The only ones missing yet was Luna and Raegdan. Rainbow Dash watched as the rest of the initiates unloaded the wagons of supplies, and were sent off to do their share of work.

A pony walked next to Rainbow Dash. Her eyes flickered to the pony’s cutie mark and she barely held in a groan when she saw a hoofprint with cracks around it. What did it stand for? Was it literal? Did he have a talent for putting exact duplicates of his cutie mark in the exact same position of other ponies?

“Private Rainbow Dash,” the old fossil said mischievously. “Nothing to do?” He should be trembling with the effort of standing up. Applejack’s grandmother had difficulties walking at times and there was no way he was younger than her, but no. His skin hung on him, but the muscles beneath were still going strong.

“Uh, no. And I’m, I’m not a private anything,” Rainbow Dash reminded him for what felt like the hundredth time. Senility. She was sure of it. “I just volunteered to join in so I can help and learn, you know?”

“Volunteeped?” Stampede scratched his hanging cheek. Yep. Senility.

“Yeah. Offer to do something for free? Ring any bells?” You old, slave-driving geezer. Go away, go away, go away.

Comprehension flashed across the face of a billion wrinkles. “Oh, volunteer. I see. My goodness. I am so sorry. I keep failing to remember that. Why, that is commendable. You must be quite the pony to volunteer for such worthy causes.”

Rainbow Dash puffed like a peacock at the praise. “Yeah, I’m cool like that. I like to volunteer and help out with everything I can, you know?”

“My gosh, what a remarkable mare!” Stampede said passionately and with an expression of pride. Rainbow Dash stood straighter. Yeah, she was, wasn’t she? She was super cool, and remarkable, and- “And how fortunate for me.”

Wait, what?

“I was just looking for volunteers to dig up the latrines, and behold my luck! A pony that loves to volunteer, and she obviously has free time on her hooves seeing how she just sits and watches my men work.”

What now?

“Latrines?”

Stampede nodded and pompously presented her with a shovel. “Thank you, volunteer Private Dash. I know you won’t fail this camp and the ponies’ need to—”

-----

“Poop!” Rainbow Dash swore as she slipped on the loose dirt once more.

Red Dawn helped her stand up. “Careful. You don’t want to get hurt like this of all things,” the tall pegasus laughed. His sleek wings set to work dusting the dirt off her. Rainbow Dash shivered in surprise when she felt his feathertips carelessly go over her flank.

The sole griffin initiate—and wasn’t he a surprise—snorted in amusement. “Wouldn’t that make for a humorous reason to return to your home,” he mumbled.

Rainbow Dash huffed. Her only solace was that the feet long, perpendicular holes they had been digging were… unused. Knowing what they were digging them for however made her feel disgusted at the remaining brown stains on her fur.

She also hoped somepony was planning to put some sheets in front of them or something. She didn’t want to spend her days mostly trying to hold it in.

She watched the brown-feathered griffin for a moment. His claws let him get a much better hold of the shovel and he had a far easier time impaling the edge into the earth and depositing the soil to the side than either Rainbow Dash or Red Dawn had with their hooves and mouths. He was scrawny as far as most griffins went, but he looked to be well in shape, working quickly and efficiently.

There was just one little thing that bugged Rainbow Dash.

“How come you didn’t fly here with us, uh…. you?” she asked, suspicious. Maybe Solid Charge had a reason he kept the guy close. He was a griffin, she reminded herself, giving him a sideways glance. Griffins tried to kill Luna. Therefore—

“Gobrend. Due to an unfortunate incident I will be unable to join you in any flying you may do.” Gobrend spread his wings. His right one was unable to open completely, and the muscle there looked atrophied. “One call too close with the Everfree’s denizens. I’m afraid that I didn’t have five other friends with me to make sure a manticore didn’t maul me too much.”

Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head while grimacing in apology. “Oops. Sorry, I didn’t know about that. So, you heard that story, huh?”

Gobrend used his hind lion paw to push the shovel deeper into the earth. “I have. As I heard the tale of Discord, of your Sonic Rainboom, of the dragon, and quite a lot more tales that have been driven into my ears without consent during your time with us, if I may remark.” He rested his elbow on the shovel’s handle and turned to look at Rainbow for a moment.

“And kindly keep in mind that you are a pegasus, not a parrot. There is far more to a vocabulary than ‘awesome’ and ‘cool’.”

“What, you don’t like my stories?” Rainbow Dash said, irritated.

Gobrend took a step forward to extend the hole he was working on. “Stories are a wondrous thing. They teach and warn, they enable us to share and live experiences we may never get to live in our own lives. But one experience I do not enjoy is hearing the same story retold three times in an hour with more blandness than the abridged history of the number two.” He waved at the latrines they were digging. “You may take this as a pun or not.” Red Dawn choked a laugh, and Rainbow Dash glared a severe warning to him.

“Oh yeah? Then why don’t you try telling one if you can do better?” Rainbow Dash challenged, crossing her hooves.

“Gladly.” Gobrend stuck his shovel in the pile of dirt he had amassed, and leant on it for support. “Watch closely as I fail to erratically move my claws in circles and make whooshing noises,” he said with a tiny smirk on his beak.

“Gobrend?” Red Dawn interrupted. His eyebrows were slanted downwards. “You could make your point splendidly, but nopony will heed it if they don’t care to listen to you anymore, will they? Thank you for understanding.”

The griffin raised an eyebrow and nodded somewhat reluctantly. “This is a tale of caution. I’ve been a vagabond for the best part of a decade, travelling across Equestria in my search for the odd job and the coin it would afford me. Even a griffin living off the land has expenses. As much as I’d love to, not even this place—” A single talon pointed towards the dreaded forest. “—has monsters made of ink and paper I could hunt for my needs. In between these trips of flexible business and aimless fortune, I found myself always returning to the edge and shallows of the Everfree Forest.”

“Why? I keep hearing how that place is dangerous. Why live there?” Red Dawn asked.

“In part it was because of my desire to find the strength or will to continue a research and finish a book I fear shall forever elude me. In some other form it was because it was the closest thing I had left to a residence or home. But mostly is was pure spite. The Everfree Forest robbed me of my life’s work, my possessions, hope, and days I should have better spent with loved ones. I was daring it to try to take more of me, and I found some small measure of mirth each time I left it behind unscathed and whole.”

“What happened then?” Rainbow Dash asked softly, lost in the Griffin’s words. Damn, that guy was actually good at telling a story! She couldn’t wait for the action part!

Gobrend showcased his lame wing again. “Then came the time I left the forest in search of work with another loss to this forest. The end.”

Rainbow Dash was earnestly disappointed. “That’s it? Where’s the fight with the manticore? Where’s the- the caution thing in your story?”

The yellow beak smiled condescendingly. “Who ever said there was a fight? I fled for my life after it swept me down, nothing more, and the reason I called this a tale of caution is this; You may dare danger ten, twenty, a hundred times, and remain unharmed. Until you don’t.” He returned his eyes to the forest, and Rainbow felt relief to escape the intense stare he had kept on her. “How many times have you braved that forest, Rainbow Dash? How much longer will your luck continue, and how lucky will we be ourselves?”

Rainbow shook her head, as if to shake a spell. “Okay, if you’re trying to scare me… you failed.”

Gobrend sighed. “Caution, not fear, remember? Which reminds me.” He picked up his shovel. “That I should be cautious not to be caught slacking off.”

She couldn’t help but chuckle. Gobrend was quite interesting at the very least, and he seemed to know what he was talking about. She turned to her other comrade-in-’duty’.

“Hey, Red. You got any good stories to share? Anything to make me forget what my hooves are working at?”

“Working,” Gobrend scoffed almost silently as he kept digging, unlike Rainbow.

Red Dawn’s head was bowed, and he was lost in thought. Rainbow Dash had to repeat herself two more times until he snapped out of it, apologizing.

“I’m afraid not,” he said, blushing. “I was born in a small village, left as soon as I could, and I…” he shuffled his hooves on the ground, hesitating. “I became a waiter in a restaurant in Canterlot. Nothing exciting, I’m afraid.”

Rainbow examined Red Dawn’s cutie mark again. A crossed fork and knife. Something told her it didn’t stand for serving, but she decided to skip on asking.

Gobrend didn’t. “What does your mark stand for? The symbology of them makes erratic sense at best in my experience.”

“I’m good with… manners, I guess. Etiquette. I know how to talk to ponies, ease things up.”

“Hmm. A fork and a knife meant to portray bids for peace and calm. A… sharp contrast to the imagery itself.” Gobrend scratched his beak, the claws making a sound like a hoof running down a blackboard. “You’d think a talent like that would be better used in something more substantial than a waiter’s menial position.”

“Maybe. Thing is I find myself getting into trouble anyway without meaning to, and… sometimes my patience runs thin.”

“Are you on the run from some crime done in one of those moments then?” Gobrend bluntly asked.

“What? No!” Red Dawn said vehemently. “I’ve lashed out a few times, said a few things I shouldn’t or broke a thing or two. I haven’t actually hurt anypony!”

“Yet,” Gobrend pointed out, smiling smugly. “Perhaps there is not as much contrast as I thought.”

“Hey. Cut that out,” Rainbow Dash warned him.

Red Dawn let out a sad sigh. “Yeah. Yet. But hey, we’re heroic monster hunters now, right? I can lash out freely on them.” He forced a smile.

“Oh yes,” Gobrend mumbled sarcastically, unheard by Red Dawn. “Outcasts, glory hounds, and daydreamers. All armed and away from civilization, what better place to feel free to lash out?”

They kept working in silence, the only sounds between them the scrape of metal as they bit into the ground, and the rankling of pebbles and dirt as they slowly built up a mound of spare earth. Gobrend’s eyes communicated his exasperation to Rainbow Dash as Red Dawn opened his mouth to speak and chose to halt instead for the fourth time in a row.

Rainbow blew a puff of air to brush away some of her mane that had fallen in front of her eyes. “I’d love to tell a story, braggart as I am,” she mocked her mocker, “but I’ve no idea which...” She let the bait jingle for a few seconds.

Red Dawn’s rested his shovel, and spoke hesitantly. “I’ve been wondering about… about this guy, Raegdan?”

Rainbow Dash pursed her lips unsure, regretting her plot. She didn’t want to get into a position where she might blow something foul out of it and get into somepony’s nose. Raegdan’s especially. She was sure he wouldn’t appreciate it.

“We haven’t even seen him so far. I wondered, is he really as savage as I heard?”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Rainbow Dash breathed easier. “He’s mostly threats. You’ve got to do something really bad to get him actually mad to really get him going. But, uh, try not to annoy him either way. He’s got no issue with giving bruises. Or broken bones.”

The white maned pegasus dug out a rock, his hoof tapping nervously against it. “Is that what happened with the previous Solar Guard Commander?”

“Ah. Heard about that, huh?”

Gobrend leant on his shovel again, resting his chin on his arms. “At this point? Who hasn’t?”

Both griffin and pegasus were now entirely focused on Rainbow Dash, and the realization that attention wasn’t always a good thing struck her again, like it had done plenty of times before, like in the Young Flyers competition.

“Look, guys, it was basically just a repeat of what had happened at the arena, okay? Steadfast wanted to have a match against Raegdan when he suddenly upped the ante and turned it into a fight to the death. He almost killed Raegdan. Then, if that wasn’t enough, he hit Twilight. He’s lucky that Princess Celestia arrived in time, but he should have known what he was getting into.”

“Did he really pluck out his eye?” Red Dawn asked, mesmerized. “I heard that he broke all his limbs one by one, then took his eye out and ate it! And at the arena, he tore out a pegasus’ wings!”

“What? No! But Leaf Stream’s the peg—”

“—He beat a pony that tried to assassinate Princess Luna to near death, and then threw him out a window—”

“The window was me—”

“—And he caught the leader of those griffins and bit off his genitals—”

Gobrend’s looks of disgust turned into outright retching, and a severe case of clenching and grimacing.

A baritone voice interrupted Red Dawn’s gushing, the owner dropping the spears he was carrying. Cast Iron was half impressed and half repulsed. “Whoa. I thought the rumors about him eating ponies were bad!”

“Oh, hey, Cast. How’s it going?” Rainbow Dash couldn’t manage anything better than a queasy smile.

“Not bad.” Cast Iron bend down to gather up the spears under his arms with a sigh of resignation. “Though I would be much happier to stay back and keep forging,” he said with longing.

The few times she saw him he had done little more than talk about tensile strength, flexibility, hardness, and other words that Rainbow Dash remembered by grace of hearing them so often. He was a minotaur in love with whatever new steel he had been working with.

“I’ve actually been busy with preliminary work for our armors and weapons, but I was forced to come along with all of you.”

“Cool!” Rainbow crowed loudly, already imagining herself covered up in black metal, looking all wicked, mysterious, and pointy. She jumped in place, giddy with excitement. “That’s awesome! When are we getting them?”

Cast Iron killed her enthusiasm, pronto. “You’re not. Princess Luna has been very clear on the subject that you are here to learn just in case only, but she’ll have your flank if you ever try anything on your own without going through her or the rest of us first.” His thumb pointed at the other two. “And everyone else is getting suited for one when they prove they can handle the job. I can’t afford the time to waste. Do they really say that all that about Raegdan?” he asked Red Dawn.

The pony in question mumbled his answer, embarrassed to have been caught with wrong beliefs. “That’s what I’ve heard. It’s not true then?”

“Not really,” Rainbow Dash said, feeling awkward. In Red Dawn’s defense and Raegdan’s detriment there was quite the huge nugget of truth in there. The mistakes were in the details which made everything more… gruesome than it really was. Not much though. She felt vexed enough to drag her hoof down her face, and give herself a smack for good measure. Because, let’s face it, in essence this was all true.

Dear Celestia, it was so easy to forget this stuff after you sat down with the guy and he told you how he used to drive Cadance to the brink of madness with a carefully worded innuendo about himself and Princess Celestia.

“Right,” she said, working her wing shoulders loose as she charged headfirst into the impossible. “It’s quite simple. Twilight has been telling us this a lot, but it takes some time until you actually get it. He’s not a pony or a minotaur or anything, and he’s lived a hard life. He’s not putting up with anything that might hurt those he cares for. He’s not what I’d call a good guy either. When Steadfast hit Twilight he got mad. More mad than I’ve ever seen him. The girls and I didn’t believe our eyes when we saw him get up and march right behind—”

Cluttering sounds of metal and wood interrupted her as Cast Iron dropped his spears again. “Hey, are you ok?” she asked, worried.

Cast Iron wiped his palms against his own fur, leaving sweaty stains behind. “Yeah. Sure, I’m… I’m fine. Fine. You said, ‘you and the girls’?”

“Oh, yeah. You weren’t there,” Rainbow Dash remembered. Cast Iron had arrived much later on with Rarity and—no, wait, Rarity was there with them. Dang, the whole thing was almost like a nightmare. She wasn’t sure what she saw or not at times. Even the rest of the girls had the same problem. Twilight insisted that she saw Honest Serenade there, watching and laughing, but none of the other girls, Rainbow Dash included, remembered spotting her.

“No. No I wasn’t,” Cast Iron said emphatically. He bent down, but pulled his arm back from gathering up the fallen spears and stood up again. “But, uh, you were?”

“Yes…” Rainbow Dash said, drawing out the word and feeling concern for her minotaur friend. She turned back to Red Dawn who was waiting with the expression of a thirsty pony. “Raegdan did break Steadfast’s legs, and… ugh, that was disgusting, he took out his eye, but the guy did the same to him!”

Red Dawn’s mouth formed a circle so perfect that would make Twilight weep.

Gobrend spoke up with a contemplating tone, his talons clicking against the shovel’s handle in a beat.“I don’t see the need or reason to defend him. Both of them played a game defined by the oldest of rules, and the victor took his spoils. This is how it works. I confess, I’m surprised that he was allowed to. Letting him hold down a defeated opponent and perform such acts of torture, not just him but either of the two—Lunar or Solar—is uncharacteristic for you ponies.”

Rainbow Dash blushed, feeling unreasonably peeved. The griffin did have a point. Steadfast had been an utter jerk, and he did deserve getting his flank seriously kicked, but Rainbow Dash acknowledged that Raegdan went overboard. He stopped Steadfast from hurting Twilight or anypony else, including himself, and then went on to methodically tear him apart while he was down. Yes, Steadfast almost did the same thing the way he walked up to him and pushed a dagger up…

The memory made her cringe. It sure felt like Steadfast deserved it, no question about it. He tried to kill him, but Raegdan went on to try to torture him and kill him slowly. Most importantly, it… It wasn’t a fantasy. It wasn’t a ‘what if’ or ‘wouldn’t it be cool to’ or anything of the kind. He did that. Actually did that. He held him down, and was cold and efficient in what little time he had before the Princess arrived.. Was there even a difference between them then, at least one large enough? Was it even worth it to try and split them on different sides of right and wrong?

She had realized that Raegdan truly wasn’t a good person, but she simply thought of it as just that. She only thought of him as angry and half-crazy when he got mad. She didn’t check him out as bad or evil, but maybe, just maybe, he was. At least part of the time.

“It’s… Look, it’s different when you actually see it happen in front of you, okay?” she attempted to explain. “It’s easy to say you would stop that from happening, that you’d jump in and do something, but it’s… it’s a shock. You freeze. It’s like you don’t want to believe this is really happening, that you don’t see it. And it’s scary as Tartarus to see, you have no idea. It was worse than… I swear, it’s worse than standing in front of an angry dragon or even Nightmare Moon or Discord. They threatened and all, but Raegdan… it was like he was giving a show, you could almost see yourself there in his hands instead of... I don’t know. I really don’t. We couldn’t even imagine getting in his way. We were more worried for Twilight anyway, and then we waited for her to bring Princess Celestia.”

Gobrend carefully listened to her and considered her words. “Self-preservation. You were wary of attracting the predator’s attention.”

“Okay, listen, buddy, I know what it sounds like, but he does have lines he doesn’t cross. I didn’t think he would take a bite out of me if I tried to stop him or anything.”

The griffin waved her admonishment off. “I meant it as a defense mechanism. The little animal voice is still alive in us, and it tells us not to get involved. It’s why you don’t see animals rush to the rescue of a member of their herd when it is attacked by a predator.”

It made some kind of sense. It wouldn’t surprise her if that was true. Neither would it if a certain alien knew it or banked on it.

“Hey, Cast, when will Raegdan and Luna be—… Cast?” The minotaur was nowhere in sight. “Where did he go?”

Red Dawn pointed towards the main area of the camp. “He muttered something about needing to talk to the Lunar Commander and ran off a few seconds ago.”

Gobrend shook his head. “It is quite possible that he was running late on his errands.” His gaze ran down their own half-finished work. “As do we. May I receive some assistance or am I expected to finish this on my own?”

They kept working, digging and gathering the soil they dug up on a single pile using the single bucket they had been given for the job. They were almost done when one more distraction came their way to interrupt them.

Two very brown colored earth pony mares with chocolate manes, who looked too much alike not to be related, were chatting up a storm with—or at—a wolf-like Diamond Dog, the tall canine trying, and failing, to get a word in. The Diamond Dog was carrying two buckets of water, the contents sloshing and dripping from the sides due to his tilting, unsteady bipedal gait. The mares were carrying one half-filled bucket between them. Every time one of them finished talking, the other one would pass her the bucket in a quick throw so she could have a turn. Small wonder most of the bucket these two were carrying had been emptied.

“—So the whole net breaks, and there are barrels rolling everywhere—” One mare with a white muzzle and a blue circle for a cutie mark started.

“—and we were smack in the middle of the whole bunch coming for us,” her twin with white ‘socks’ and a red ‘X’ for a cutie mark continued,

“And we’re like, ‘Finally, some proper, speedy unloading!’ We get in position and—”

“ ‘Position’.” The socked mare chuckled derisively. “You were ready to collide with them in an effort to stop them, Tick.”

“Hey, I hadn’t noticed those hay stacks we could use, Tack,” the white-muzzle mare defended herself. “Anyway, we wait for them to come and start kicking them over—”

“—We didn’t manage the steadiest rows, but it was good enough. Then—”

Gobrend laughed at the sight of the sieged Diamond Dog. A malicious grin spread on his beak and his eyes shone with malice. “Doing physical work and tormented by your own acute senses, dog? Perhaps there is a shred of justice in the world.”

The Diamond Dog was black, with silver streaks starting to run down his back before they were hidden underneath his rugged and dirty shirt that must have been white in a past life, and a single silver splotch on his forehead. His blue eyes connected with the griffin in a silent duel, and his paws let the buckets fall, drenching his dark blue trousers. His black, craggy lips separated, revealing two rows of sharp teeth.

“You looking for trouble, furry chicken?” He growled.

Gobrend took a good hold of the shovel as if readying himself for a fight, and glanced at it with disgust. “Someone holding a shovel and a mutt growling and snarling. It makes for a familiar image, doesn’t it?” Gobrend threw the shovel in front of him with the air of a challenge. “Too bad we’re not in one of your tunnels now.”

“What did you call me?” The long muzzle ridged and the eyes balked as if their owner could not believe his own ears. The Diamond Dog’s hair rose and saliva ran between gritting teeth, glistening and forming foam as the Diamond Dog was overtaken by rage. Gobrend’s throat swelled with an unfettered keen cry, low in volume but sharp on the ears.

Rainbow Dash left her shovel fall from her grip and was about to jump right in the middle and stop this with her hooves if she had to, but another pony got to it first.

“I’m sorry,” Tack said sarcastically. She was suddenly standing between the Diamond Dog and the griffin, her back turned to the furious canine, and glowering at the bristling half-lion. “What’s your name?”

“Gobrend Grasstalon.” The griffin managed to swallow his sudden anger enough to introduce himself, even making himself capable of a slight bow of his head and upper body, swivelling his working wing around him. His sharp eyes remained glued to his opponent.

“Alright, Goobread Asstalon? You’re rude. Very, very rude. Veryfically rude. Much rude. We were talking to Raven and having a good time. Stop butting in, you butt. Now, where was I?” Tack asked her sister.

Tick grinned. “I’m not sure. Let’s start over.” They both turned to their prey, filled with an excitement he didn’t share. “We were on the third pier from the east side in Baltimare’s port, working as dockhooves—”

The griffin mouthed ‘goobread?’ with a look of utter bewilderment. Rainbow Dash poked Red Dawn with her elbow and mouthed ‘asstalon’, making both of them fall into silent giggles.

The Diamond Dog, Raven as the certain twins called him, covered his ears with his paws in distress. He snarled aggressively and his jaws suddenly snapped a mere inch from Tick’s face. The mare patted him on the cheek and kept chattering on, ignoring the attack that failed to touch her or be followed by any other violence or strike.

Meanwhile, Red Dawn and Rainbow Dash got on opposite sides of Gobrend and pulled him back. He half-heartedly tried to fight back and move against Raven again, so Rainbow Dash knocked these thoughts out of his mind with a hoof.

“What did you think you were doing?” Red Dawn whispered fiercely.

The griffin shrugged their hooves and wings off him and retrieved his shovel. He threw a glance over his shoulder at Raven, cowering behind the twins’ onslaught of meaningless, repetitive stories that were told in such a breaking manner that almost none could follow.

“Why is he even here? Dogs keep mine slaves, you fool. Don’t you know anything?”

“Yes, I know that,” Red Dawn admitted with a nod. “Same way I know that Griffin clans keep buying the ore and gems they dig up, maintaining the demand.”

“Not every clan,” Gobrend weakly protested, his head lowering between his shoulders.

“I also know, as you would as well if you cared to ask or meet the guy before,” Red Dawn continued, speaking without reproach but with the merest hint of disappointment, “that he doesn’t like his kind either, nor does his kind like him back. He’s a wolf breed. Do you know what they do to them?”

“... Not sure.”

“They don’t accept them in their inner packs to say the least. But most of them have nowhere to go so they stick around. Can you guess what kind of work they’re given, if any? If you need some help, just know that he probably knows exactly what it’s like to hold a shovel and hear growling over you.”

“So do I,” Gobrend said, his expression hard and unyielding. “What you are telling me is that he didn’t get to hold the whip.”

Red Dawn sighed, defeated. “If you insist on clinging to your hate I doubt I can change your mind. One question though. Do you know how Diamond Dogs feel about Nightmare Moon?”

Gobrend sniggered. “Well, that’s easy. They’re absolutely terrified of her—” his eyebrows lowered in puzzlement as he thought over what he said.

“What’s the point of that?” Rainbow Dash tried to whisper from Red Dawn’s side but Gobrend apparently had sharper hearing that she gave him credit for.

“It means that the dog preferred to come work for its kind’s terror figure rather than stay where he was.” The griffin attempted to return to digging but he was sidelined by the sight of mud in front of him, caused by the fallen pails.

Gobrend walked over with a tired gait, and bent down to pick up the metal buckets. He looked at the remains inside and sniffed the water. “Where exactly did you get this from?” he asked at large.

Raven gave him a sour look, but seeing no more antagonism coming from the griffin might have led him to not pursue the matter between them either. He pointed behind him with a look of resignation, and the twins rushed in to give more detail. “There’s a deep water hole just a few paces over there. You can’t see it here because the ground hills up in between and there are these bushes in the way,” Tack said, pointing.

Red Dawn stood next to Gobrend, his eyes shifting from the water buckets to the point Tack pinpointed, and back to the latrines they had been painstakingly digging up. “Is digging these holes so close to the water we’re supposed to be drinking hygienic?”

Rainbow Dash groaned, kicking the shovel away. She knew the answer to that.

“Why did Stampede tell you to dig them here then?” Gobrend demanded.

The tall pegasus blinked. “He didn’t tell me anything of sorts! He just sent me to you. I saw you guys standing here, and I thought this was where we were supposed to dig them.”

Gobrend turned to Rainbow Dash with a glare of accusation. “I was just standing here when he gave me the shovel,” Rainbow Dash defended herself. “When you two came along I thought you knew better.”

The griffin’s claw smacked himself over his eyes.

“Wow. Sucks to be you,” Tick observed dryly. There was a certain amount of satisfaction.

“I need a drink,” Gobrend murmured, and Raven’s throat unheedingly let out a whine of agreement.

The twins perked up. “We can help with that. Here.” Tick offered the bucket she had been holding to the griffin and the Diamond Dog.

“That’s not a drink,” Raven muttered, sounding at the end of his rope.

“If you just—”

Raven kicked the bucket just as his patience did, wetting the two mares. “I had enough of the two of you! I’m going to do the job and carry the water on my own. All you do is drive me crazy. Don’t come near me again or I’ll have you for morsels before dinner!” He bared his teeth at the mares’ faces, spitting saliva over them as he barked out in anger, hungry for the slightest excuse.

Tack wiped her face with her white coated hoof. “Why is everypony so rude today? I’ve met sailors who spent six months at sea and were nicer to me! Of course, they had just spent six months at sea so it made sense they were being extra nice to me...” she said to her sister rhetorically, ignoring Raven’s threats. Tick just shrugged as she wiped her white muzzle with a nauseated expression.

“... Does your cutie mark being an ‘X’ have anything to do with that?” Rainbow dared to ask.

The Diamond Dog picked up the two remaining buckets and almost ran off, muttering threats, insults, and prayers to finally go into the Everfree and die, under his breath.

Tick picked up the fallen bucket and shook it, watching a last few sips of water still slosh inside it. She offered it to Gobrend, Red Dawn, and Rainbow Dash who shook their head as one.

“Whatever,” Tick said, pulling out a small, silvery flask. “I was trying to be nice, but if you insist, alright then. This is too stiff to drink without getting some water in you, so sucks to be you, Goobread… again.” She pushed her head back and chugged.

“Not to rain on your parade, but what do you think will happen if you’re spotted drinking alcohol?” Red Dawn asked in disbelief of the sight.

Tick flipped the flask upside down, showcasing its emptiness. “Well, m’nah zrinking anymore. M’on, Tack. Lez go heep grumy Ravine some company.” She turned towards the direction the Diamond Dog ran off and drunkenly stumbled after him.

Tack paused for a moment before following her sister. “You might want to refill these holes first or somepony might trip and get hurt, you know? I don’t think Stampede will be happy with you if that happens. Work, work, Gobrend. Sucks to be you.”

She pointed at Rainbow Dash and Red Dawn. “And you. And you.” Then she was off.

-----

The green coated unicorn in Royal Guard armor put down a large pot with enough force to make the metal clang even though the ground was covered with short grass. “It’s about time you got here, private. Get to work.”

Rainbow Dash was tired, but mostly she was sick of the taste of dirt, sweat, and shovel on her tongue. She also didn’t like how today left her with the understanding that this was not a kind of life filled with adventure, but one of tedium, routine, and backbreaking exercise and chores.

“Excuse me?” She couldn’t handle more than a lifeless monotone.

She took the opportunity to examine the old pony in front of her. He was old, yeah, but nowhere near the relic Stampede, the Geezer of Labor and Personal Persecution, was. His seafoam blue mane and tail were both cut short, as if attacked -or tended- by a barber with a ruler fetish, but it made the gray hairs easier to see. He was muscled for a unicorn, especially for an old guard like he was, but the most striking characteristic on him was the eyepatch over his right eye. The coat around the socket was marred and the scar was extremely easy to see, long lines that carved and gouged deeper as they approached his eye from both directions. Rainbow Dash had seen Luna’s side where the still unexplained and unknown thing in the Leviathan had bit a good sized chunk off her, and this resembled it way too much.

“You look like you have woken up from a nap, private. Well, shake the sleep off your pretty eyes and get to work. You have been volunteered,” he barked, pointing towards some sacks where three other ponies were already busy peeling potatoes, trimming vegetables, or washing various foodstuff.

Oh Celestia, somepony did one of those wacky time spells she had read in comics and she now had to deal with a younger Stampede. And what exactly did he mean by pretty eyes? Was he coming on to her?

Gosh darn it, one pony and he was as old as her dad. How’s that for luck?

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t volunteer for anything. I’m pretty sure I never will again,” Rainbow Dash said, taking a step back.

“Well, too bad, private. You have been volunteered—”

“Exactly whose privates are we?” she asked, huffing, but her question was ignored.

“—By Training Instructor Stampede.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in dull surprise; she didn’t feel. “Get to work. You’ve got a lot of skins in front of you.”

“Skins? Wait, who are you? What are we doing?” Rainbow Dash was finally getting some feeling back into her voice, and it was outrage, impatience, and a sudden case of wanting to get out of here.

A threatening step brought the scarred unicorn face to face with Rainbow Dash who gulped at the sparks flying off the remaining unicorn’s eye. “My name is Short Order, I volunteered as the company’s cook, and we—” Short Order brought his hoof down, almost stomping on Rainbow Dash. “—are making dinner. Get. To. Work.”

“Can I wash my hooves and mouth first?”

“Permission granted. Make sure to use soap.”

-----

The peeler was one of those annoying knives that were meant to be used by unicorns with their schmancy, fancy, almighty gripping magic, not earth pony or pegasi hooves. The stupid, short, tiny handle kept slipping off her hoof as she dragged it over the rough potato skin and she had to keep stopping to pick it up and wash the dirt off it.

“Just how many of these are we supposed to peel off?” Rainbow Dash asked aloud, aiming her question at nopony in particular.

Stalwart Shield, one of those schmancy, fancy, magical unicorns, took off the helmet of his Royal guard armor. The stallion was pretty much… colorless with a silver-like mane and a gray coat, and he seemed to favor the kind of cropping on his mane that Short Order did, though not to that great a degree.

Next to him sat what Rainbow Dash occasionally called ‘the mystery mare’ out loud, and ‘the weirdo in the cloak’ in her head almost always. Rainbow didn’t know much about her other than she was a unicorn, had a soft blue coat, and a speech impediment.

“I imagine we have to peel every single one of them,” Stalwart Shield said, carelessly nodding at the ripped sacks spilling their humble bounty in their midst.

Shaded Swirl, Snared Wish’s husband was sitting next to Rainbow Dash. The earth pony should have had the same issue with the peel knives that Rainbow Dash had, but he somehow made it work for him. He worked efficiently and with a playful smile on his lips.

“This is going to take us hours!” Rainbow Dash groaned and let her forehead crash and burn on the milky white coat of the stallion next to her.

Shaded Swirl pushed her as to stand straight. “Twenty more minutes at worst.” He flashed her a smile of encouragement, and cracked his neck, working off any kinks. “Take it easy, and relax. Enjoy the quiet and the work. You know what’s coming next.”

“But I’m so bored!” Rainbow Dash swore loudly as she dropped her ‘freaking’ knife again. She swirled it in a pitcher filled with water to clean it up. “Why do we need so many potatoes?”

Short Order heard her as he went back and forth on the space he had designated as his kitchen, setting up large pots in rows over fires and heating up water. “Twenty eight mouths to feed, private. Unless of course you want to want to skip on dinner and lessen my workload.”

Stalwart Shield stopped humming. “I wonder what’s for lunch and dinner tomorrow,” he asked, not expecting an answer.

Short Order however was pleasant and nice enough to provide an answer. He tapped Stalwart Shield’s shoulder, and when he had the stallion’s complete and utter attention he diverted it to the large piles of potato sacks at the other end of the ‘kitchen’ area, the rest of them looking back as well.

“We’re going to have potatoes coming out of our—”

“Shaded Swirl, there are ladies present.” Stalwart Shield glared at the stallion.

“... Nostrils.”

The weirdo in the cloak spoke up, her cerulean magic handling the peel knife without seemingly any input from her. “Tr- I don’t mind it at all. Everything’s better than dining on—” She shuddered. “—rock soup.”

Why was that voice so familiar?

“I’ve had some of that,” Short Order noted. “It rolled easy enough when it got in the stomach, but it was a pretty rocky ride until then. Consider yourselves lucky. You normally have much worse while in the Royal Guard. Lucky for you soft bastards, that won’t be an issue with me here.” The old stallion turned away and left, carrying a basket of cleaned out potatoes with him and back to a flat boulder that he used as a table to chop and dice.

Rainbow Dash was falling far behind from the others, her small stack of peels barely growing while everypony else’s was turning into a respectable mound. She tried to go faster and all she managed to achieve was managing to wash her knife so many times that the paint on the handle was starting to fade.

She was losing a speed contest, and she couldn’t find it in her to care. At least when she flew over to Canterlot so she could do some martial training with the rest of the ponies joining in, it was a little interesting. Repetitive, but you felt that you were getting ready for action. This here was… potato peeling!

When she was told they were going to go to the Everfree Forest she had been exultant. Finally, some action. And then there was… this. Tents, latrines, potatoes, and ponies pushing her around and volunteering her.

“Has Luna and Raegdan arrived yet?” She felt like she was going to fall asleep as she sat.

“Tr- I heard Drum Beat say he spotted them on their way. Tr- I think they’ll be here soon,” the cloaked mare said. “Perhaps Tr- I will finally glean some secrets of import.”

“Ok, you know what?” Rainbow Dash stood up, feeling utterly fed up. “Take this stupid cloak off.” The mare barely had any time to process what Rainbow Dash said before the cloak was pulled off her. “Finally! There we g- Trixie?”

The travelling magician tore off her cloak from Rainbow Dash’s mouth. She flapped it angrily, turning it inside out and pulled it over her back, revealing that the other side was purple with studded, colored stars.

“What are you doing here?” Rainbow Dash demanded.

Trixie returned Rainbow’s glare. “The great and powerful Trixie saw the chance to increase her prestigious and powerful knowledge by learning at the hoof of a princess, and she took it.”

“Is this some kinda attempt to get back at—”

“Twilight Sparkle will rue the day she dared—”

“Yeah, it is. And... you’re ignoring me.” Rainbow Dash let her drone on. “I’m not quite sure what I expected to be honest. Did you guys know about this?”

“We knew she didn’t want you to recognize her, but we didn’t know why. I take it you’re not friends?” Shaded Swirl asked.

“Yeah, you could say that.”

Stalwart Shield looked on as Trixie kept proclaiming Twilight’s fate, his face slowly crumbling as if he was watching a sack filled with kitties slowly vanish underwater. “You mean by Twilight Sparkle she actually means Twilight Sparkle?”

“Take a guess.”

“—shoved deeper than she ever imagined!” Trixie finished, breathing hard. She noticed how Stalwart Shield was looking at her with fear and grief. “What?”

“Nothing, just… You might want to rethink all that.” Stalwart Shield sniffed and turned away from her as if he couldn’t bear to look at her any more.

“Huh?”

Stalwart Shield turned his gaze heavenwards, his hoof against his heart. “I was a guard in the castle you know. I’ve heard things. I’ve seen things. I’ve watched ponies rushed to the infirmary. I’ve encountered their imprints on the walls, and the puddles of blood and urine they left behind. I saw what he did last month. He once came after me, and I didn’t even do anything -except a new puddle afterwards.” He wiped his eyes. “You’re a dead mare.”

“Trixie does not understand—”

A voice interrupted Stalwart Shield’s attempt to rescue poor, doomed Trixie. “Oh boy. Is my meal coming out of your sweat and tears? Best dinner ever!”

“Hello, Leaf Stream,” Rainbow Dash said, not even bothering to glance at the sarcastic mare standing somewhere behind her.

Stalwart Shield stood up and saluted. “Captain Leaf Stream.”

“Yeah, yeah, ease up. So, how are you colts and fillies doing today? Everypony playing nice? Anypony been bad? Do you fillies need any juice?” Leaf Stream asked, making baby noises.

“Oh, haha,” Rainbow Dash said. “You’re such a barrel of laughs.”

“Yeah, I’m hilarious. Seriously though, just checking up on you all. I’ve been going through everypony, taking their last rites.” Leaf Stream walked around and into view of Rainbow Dash.

“Well, you’re just in time then,” Rainbow Dash said, and pointed to Trixie. “Trixie here wants to learn as much as she can from Luna so she can one up Twilight. Publicly. Make her cry if she can.”

Leaf Stream blinked. “What?”

“You heard me.”

Leaf Stream turned to look at Trixie, who was now fidgeting uncomfortably under the intense stare of Royal and Lunar guards. Then Leaf Stream broke into hysterical laughter, actual tears running down her cheeks and she pummeled the ground with her hoof in abandon.

“Is Trixie missing a joke?” Trixie shouted.

Leaf Stream sounded like an asthmatic stallion who tried to suck in a fart. “You wanna—Oh Celestia, I’m going to die, I’m going to bucking die! Oh, I want to be there. Please promise me you’ll let me watch when you ‘show up’ that gal.”

Trixie pulled her cape tight around her and her hoof tried to lower the hat she wasn’t wearing. “Trixie will welcome any spectators to Twilight Sparkle’s humiliation.”

“Oh Celestia, thank you. Thank you for letting me know there are even stupider ponies than me,” Leaf Stream gasped as she wrestled back on her legs. “In that case, oh great and powerful Trixie…” She held a pair of scissors on her hooves and snapped them threateningly.

“What are you doing with these?” Rainbow Dash asked, willing to play along with Leaf Stream’s game.

“I’m running around with them, what does it look like? Hey, can I ask you a favor?” Leaf Stream rummaged inside a small burlap pouch around her waist.

“Sure. What do you need?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Leaf Stream pointed towards the Everfree. “There. Can you look that way?”

“Okay, yeah. What am I looking at?”

The scissors snipped, the silken sound a cut too close to Rainbow’s ear. “Nothing, got what I wanted, thanks!” Leaf Stream danced away, uncaring of the eye daggers Rainbow Dash was returning with interest as she stored a rainbow array of mane hair in her pouch, and then snipped more hairs from everypony around, ignored their protests in her usual way, and made sure she got a long strand from Trixie’s head.

“You know, Trixie, I’m really looking forward to what you’ve got planned. I think it will be really fun. Almost as fun as when Steadfast Ray broke both of Raegdan’s legs last month,” Leaf Stream said, looking at Rainbow Dash with the edge of her eyes. “Remember that, little Dashie?”

Both legs? Rainbow frowned. Didn’t one of the spike thingamajigs crash on his knee and—ah right, yes. She had forgotten, though Celestia only knew how she could forget the sound of Raegdan’s legs snapping like twigs. She remembered how she gasped in horror, and how the bone creaked while grinding against the interior of his armor.

“Yeah. Yeesh. Fun? That was horrible!”

Leaf Stream’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah. It is, isn’t it?” she growled through grinding teeth.

“Excuse me, Captain, are we really supposed to go in the Everfree Forest? Tonight? In the dark? Or are you all having a lark with us?” Stalwart Shield asked.

Leaf Stream patted the stallion’s head, her sudden bad mood forgotten, and dropping the helmet low enough to cover his eyes. “Stalwart Shield, wasn’t it? Well, buddy, I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but yeah, we’re totally screwed. Just like Trixie over there.”

“What are you not telling Trixie?”

“Oh,” Stalwart Shield said, looking towards the distant forest with foggy eyes. “Permission to bring my own gravestone?”

Leaf Stream shook the small pouch in front of him, smiling maniacally. “No need. I got ya covered, all of you! This job’s idea of a health plan. Now come along, I need somepony to help me trim a puppy. I think it bites, and you’re my stalwart, meat shield. Hey, Short Order! I’m taking one of your guys!”

Short Order came back, gauging the work they had already done. “Go ahead,” he said after a moment. “I won’t need him any more.”

Rainbow Dash sprang up like a wound up coil. “Great! If we’re done then we can all go—” She paused as soon as she noticed Short Order’s smirk. “I volunteered for more, didn’t I?”

Short Order nodded, the satisfied twist of his lips refusing to leave.

-----

“And here’s your bread. May you all choke on it.”

“Not the best service I’ve ever had, but we’ll take it,” Sunrise Storm said. She took off her helmet, letting her short, brown mane out of its confines to sway on the gentle, evening breeze. She was quite big, even for an earth pony, but the way she kept herself standing on the sides and watching, she was pretty easy to dismiss. Rainbow Dash almost forgot to serve her and the stallion sitting across from her.

“Can I have a seat?” Rainbow Dash asked, pointing at the short log Sunrise Storm was sitting on.

“Actually, we were—”

“Thanks.” She sat with relief, hoping she could use the bulk of the large, armored earth pony to hide behind in case anypony else came around looking for volunteers.

The camp had actually grown into something more than just a collection of tents. While Rainbow Dash had been busy digging and peeling, the rest had been busy as well. Bushes, dry foliage, and large rocks had been cleared out, logs had been dragged in to serve as seats while others were cut in half to be used as long tables. A palisade had started forming around the base camp, and she spotted small structures had been raised for ponies to stand watch from a higher vantage point while giving them some cover from any aerial predators that occasionally came out of the Everfree.

It seemed even some of the tents had been moved in order to increase efficiency, which angered Rainbow Dash a little. That was her work being remodelled, and she felt peeved that it wasn’t up to par simply because nopony bothered to tell them how exactly they wanted it done.

“—rruption like this means that he’ll almost certainly be guilty of other crimes as well. Nailing him on these, if possible, might be enough to give an opportunity to—”

Sunrise Storm was stopped from saying any more by the severity of Wave’s stare. Tidal Wave wore armor, much like all those other initiates who had a background as a Royal guard. Unlike all of them however, his was a motley mishmash of bits and pieces of different armors, some pieces old and dented, some obviously not pony made.

Word on why that was had spread. The green coated unicorn had been dishonorably discharged by the Royal guard, his armor taken, and he had even spent a long time in the dungeons. For a while they thought that Tidal Wave often let his blue mane cover his face -much like Fluttershy did- in shame. It ended up being something worse. Solid Charge had decided to share his problem with Rainbow Dash so she wouldn’t go digging on her own.

All in all, she thought it was a good call, though she’d rather not know about it at all.

“I don’t want him to go to jail for- for tax evasion or anything like this,” Tidal Wave hissed.

Sunrise Storm nodded, the barely younger mare seeming to fully understand him. “I get it. You want justice served for what he did to your sister,as well as you should. He’s escaped for far too long. That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t pay for whatever else he has done as well, does it?” she asked with an unpleasant smile.

Tidal Wave picked his spoon in his magic and got busy playing with his potato stew, disinterested in actually eating. Rainbow Dash didn’t care to follow his example; she was starving. She took a tentative lick from the tip of the spoon, still wary of the horror stories Short Order shared about Royal Guard rations and general meal quality on the field.

She cleaned out her plate in seconds. This was delicious! Maybe the military life wasn’t as bad as it was made out to be.

Barely any food made it past the unicorn’s lips. He was shiftily looking around. “Perhaps… Perhaps if there is no other way, if I convince Princess Luna that I am trustworthy, and she accepts my side of events… The rules could be bent a little.”

Uh oh.

“Just how much do you want them bent?” Sunrise Storm asked, putting both elbows on the halved log they used as a table. “Slightly? A lot? Twisted? Broken? Can you tell the difference when you are so emotionally close?”

“I’m not a halfwit, and he doesn’t deserve any fairness. You have no idea how it is, so don’t act all high and mighty when—”

“I lost family as well,” Sunrise Storm said quietly. “I didn’t like most of them, and they didn’t like me back even worse, but they were family, you know? I really miss my little brother mostly. There are days I wake up and wonder if he sent me another letter yet. You know how it is I expect.” The spoon moved the stew from side to side, making circles as she stared deep into it.

Tidal Wave slumped on the table, looking ashamed. His hoof brushed a small satchel he kept with him at all times. “I’m… sorry. I didn’t know. How long ago…”

“Five years,” Sunrise Storm answered. “Three of them I spent in the Guard. Then I struck out on my own.” She glanced at her cutie mark: a detective’s hat hung on the hilt of a downward facing sword. “Still haven’t found anything at all. I’m not giving up though.”

She looked at him, piercing eyes the color of ice crystals meeting deep sea blue. “I wonder what’s worst. Knowing nothing at all, and every day meaning they could be closer to getting away with it, or knowing exactly who performed such a vile crime and still trying to find a way to get him?” She sighed, closing her eyes, and checked her canteen, casting her face away. “I need to get some water.”

Tidal Wave’s horn glew and a tiny water stream popped into existence and started flowing over Sunrise Storm’s metal canteen, quickly filling it up. The stallion’s lips quirked upwards in a humorless, but not compassionless expression. “Perhaps we can compare notes and find out.”

Sunrise Storm drank a deep gulp of water and returned the exact same kind of smile. “Yeah. Perhaps we can.”

Rainbow Dash leaned forward, just enough to place one hoof on each pony’s shoulder. She held for a moment, getting their full attention, becoming one of them in the little space they had made as they understood each other. Then, and only then, she spoke up.

“Are you two going to eat that?” Her eyebrows pointed at the half-filled plates.

Both ponies laughed and sat down to finish their meal in relative silence. Rainbow Dash leaned back, letting her back rest on the ground and watched the sky slowly get darker as night approached fast. A shadow passed over her, and for a second she thought it was a cloud. She was wrong.

It was an evil, dark shadow of an evil, dark pony.

“Private Rainbow Dash, how are you doing this lovely evening?” Training Instructor Stampede, the Destroyer of Souls, asked with a pleasant smile, revealing the holes where teeth used to be.

Rainbow Dash thought fast. “I’m… tired. You know, all these chores, running around all day. I’m beat.”

Stampede nodded, his grey mane shaking up and down. “Understandable, Private. It is getting late as well.” The ferocious smile was replaced by a far softer one as he sat next to her. “It’s going to be a nice night.”

“Uhh… Yeah. No clouds,” Rainbow Dash agreed.

His elbow hit her playfully. “You know what I always loved on nights like this? A nice, big bonfire. Nothing ever beat a roaring fire out in the open.”

“Oh yeah. I do that all the time when I go camping,” Rainbow Dash said, finding some common ground with the Geezer of Ruin. “That’s always awesome.”

“I’m glad you agree.” Stampede rose up on his legs, and his old, grandfather-like smile was replaced by one you would see on a timber wolf. “Go build me one so I can warm my old bones.”

-----

Sea Breeze watched impassionately as Rainbow Dash broke the firewood into fragile, thin twigs. “I am certain that we already had enough kindling. Is this all the wood you gathered or are you just kidding?”

Rainbow Dash glared at the unicorn mare that interrupted her. “Look, I’ve got some issues I need to work through.” She did her best not to stare at the stub that was all that remained of Sea Breeze’s rotten horn, looking down at her hooves instead.

Sea Breeze was one of the bluest ponies she had ever seen. Blue coat and bright blue eyes. Even her mane was teal, but it was way too easy to mistake it for blue as well in the dark. The only real change in coloration on her was her cutie mark, a bubbling black cauldron with a few white lines representing a breeze behind it.

“Are you looking at my horn again? Did you forget or are you deaf?” Sea Breeze said, suddenly hostile and dropping the basket of wood.

“Hey, cool down. I was looking at your mane. Geez!” Rainbow Dash said, lest she get into another fight about the unicorn’s sore lack-of-point again. Sea Breeze seemed as if she wanted to push it further before she finally got ahold of the basket in her teeth once more and continued towards the center of the camp. Rainbow Dash gathered up the rest and followed behind her.

The unicorn relaxed. “My apologies. I feel like everypony is staring, and it’s becoming grating. Okay, it’s a rotten stub, stop making me a spectacle or pitying me, you know? Last thing I need is getting the evil eye.”

Rainbow smiled mischievously. “You’d rather have ponies stare at the other end instead?”

The older mare wiggled her flank, playfully flicking her tail. “Hey, at least I know I still got that intact and full.”

Rainbow laughed and followed beside her, slowly sinking into her own thoughts. It must be horrible not to be able to use magic again. Pretty much like Leaf Stream felt about not flying, she guessed. Horrible. Rainbow Dash tried to imagine how she would fare in their place before her imagination closed stores for the day and hung a sign reading ‘no’.

Trailblazer was readying the wood for the fire, giving pointers to Limit Breaker as he worked.

“Now look, we need to have air circulate so that’s why we’re going for the cone shape with an opening, or door, instead of throwing everything into a pile. The tinder will catch fire easy as pie, then the kindling, and that will be enough to really get the fire going and make the larger wood catch on fire. That’s easy, right, kid?”

“Are you really going to let him call you kid, kid?” Rainbow Dash poked Limit Breaker. The earth pony was usually set on nopony calling him that.

Not that they didn’t have reason to. Limit Breaker had the body structure of a small pegasus rather than an earth pony. He even had a few short feathers on his withers, though unlike most ponies born like that he genuinely liked them. Like Sea Breeze was almost entirely blue, he was mostly red, if you ignored the few darker spots on his coat. These, along with his maroon hair, made him look as if he was burning. Even his cutie mark was a weird flame. It was quite the intimidating combination.

Then he turned to you with that coltish, bright smile, and his honey colored eyes on his foal-like face, and you couldn’t possibly help but call him a kid. Leaf Stream had even pinched his cheeks the first time she saw him. He looked like he belonged in school, not out here.

“Nah. It’s not like it’s stopping any of you, is it?” Limit Breaker laughed.

Sea Breeze playfully thumped her flank against him, making Limit Breaker fumble. “Acceptance is one thing. Letting them walk over you is another, sweetie,” she warned jokingly as she dropped her package.

“I don’t really care now anyway, I’m too excited. We’re going into the Everfree Forest. We’re finally going to become real heroes!” Limit Breaker said, jumping up and down in enthusiasm.

Rainbow Dash exchanged a hoof bump with Limit Breaker as she went by, feeling her own giddiness return. “Atta kid! Now that’s the kind of spirit we need to bomb Everfree with!”

Trailblazer wasn’t even looking at their direction as he kept stacking wood and talking. “Correction. We’re going to be guards, not heroes.”

“But if we do a good job and save ponies then—”

“—Then we will be good guards,” Trailblazer finished Limit Breaker’s sentence as he backed away from the unlit stack of wood, examining it with a critical eye. “Take a good look around, Limit. We’re not the type to be heroes.”

“What do you mean?”

The unicorn took off his helmet and ran a hoof over his windswept dark orange mane, the yellow highlights on tops creating an illusion of a flickering flame as it moved, before he covered it up again. “I mean that nopony here is hero material. You’ve got guards that couldn’t make the cut elsewhere, ponies that never saw a monster in their life, ponies with permanent injuries or defects… You shouldn’t be surprised if you find out some of us were former criminals as well.”

“We are defined by actions and words, not the past or loss,” Sea Breeze said -sang almost-, visibly sore at Trailblazer’s comment of defects.

“Very inspiring,” Trailblazer said, drily. “Who told you that? Your mom when you got an F on your home economics exam?”

Limit Breaker and Rainbow Dash got between them as soon as Sea Breeze made a snapping movement as if to charge the stallion. “Guys, calm down. Look, heroes or guards, we’re not supposed to fight with each other,” they both said together. Rainbow Dash exchanged a surprised look with Limit Breaker before bursting into wide grins together.

Hoofbump!

Rainbow Dash and Limit Breaker nodded from one unicorn to another, urging each of them to take the first step, grinning like madponies all the while. Peer pressure got to them eventually, and Trailblazer was the first to break.

“I’m sorry. That might have been a little too far.”

“It was,” Sea Breeze agreed.

Trailblazer grinned. “You started it. You threw salt right into my eyes.”

Sea Breeze flustered. “Wh-what? There was no such attack!”

“While you were eating,” Trailblazer reminded her.

“Salt was spilt by my hoof, the spirits I needed to soothe! I just threw a pinch behind me!”

“Then why didn’t you say anything?” Trailblazer demanded, distrustful of Sea Breeze’s excuse.

Sea Breeze bent her head and paid attention to how she dug the earth with her hoof, and mumbled under her breath.

“I didn’t hear that.” Trailblazer put his hoof behind his ear.

“I said I’m sorry. I thought the rite was a resounding success and your screams were the evil spirits cries of egress.”

Limit Breaker and Rainbow Dash faced a dilemma. Did they stop laughing now before either of these two tried to kill them or should they keep on and see if asphyxiation by laughter did them in first?

“Why isn’t that fire lit yet?” Stampede’s voice roared through the evening air.

“Oops,” Trailblazer said. “Better get to it fast.” The unicorn picked up a long piece of thin wood in his magic. His horn’s glow intensified and the end of it flared, leaving it alight. He turned aside, took aim, and the makeshift torch nailed itself on the bonfire’s kindling with a sharp twanging sound.

“Cool!” Rainbow Dash and Limit Breaker said together.

“That oughta do it,” he said as he watched the fire grow. “I guess we have a little time before the Princess takes us into the forest.”

Rainbow Dash sprang up in the air, finally remembering to ask. “Where have those two been, anyway? Any of you have any idea?”

“Two?” Sea Breeze asked.

“Luna and Raegdan. Why are they not here yet?”

Limit Breaker raised his hoof. He looked like a schoolcolt. “I know! I heard the Princess’ bodyguard was still pretty injured so he had to take it slow. The Princess is walking along with him.”

“Why didn’t he ride on one of the wagons?” Trailblazer asked. Limit Breaker shrugged, not knowing the answer.

Well, he didn’t know the guy like Rainbow did. Raegdan probably didn’t want to look too hurt. If Rainbow Dash was any judge of character he probably spent his trip swearing with every single step at his own idiocy.

“I think they’re here or soon will be,” Sea Breeze said. “I saw the Lunar Commander rush in a hurry, along with the members of the Lunar Guard.”

Rainbow Dash unfurled her wings. “Great. I’m gonna go find them. I’ve got a letter for Raegdan.” She crouched, ready to jump in the air, and paused.

“If Stampede asks for me, tell him I volunteered to be a messenger. And that I spat in his food.”

Author's Notes:

There was need of quite a few new characters to fill the ranks of the Lunar Guard. Luckily, a lot of wonderful people were happy to provide me with some great characters, but I only have so much space if I don't want them to simply be a passing remark. The characters appearing in this chapter and their creators are:

Blank Slate was provided by Mobile SAM
Gobrend Grasstalon was provided by SirReal
Limit Breaker was provided by Hywther
Raven Moon was provided by Wolf Blood
Red Dawn was provided by TheHiddenBrony
Sea Breeze was provided by Spooky Moon
Shaded Swirl was provided by Vwyx
Short Order was provided by LordGrayGem
Snared Wish was provided by Vwyx
Stalwart Shield was provided by Ancient Chronicler
Stampede was provided by Shinji
Sunrise Storm was provided by That Hooded Fella
Tack Toe was provided by Mr-Dr-Prof Sweetness
Tick Toe was provided by Mr-Dr-Prof Sweetness
Tidal Wave was provided by Lord Demolitions
Trailblazer was provided by Oak_Splitter

A massive amount of thanks to these delightful people.

These characters will make a mark in this story in one way or another, and there will be more appearing. I hope you will all come to enjoy them as I try to do my best with them.