"Attention!" Applejack began her daily routine with her soldiers. They immediately stomped their feet together and saluted for their commander, making a straight line for Applejack to walk down and inspect each and every one of them.

Applejack had gotten Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Gilda up very early in the morning for them to finally begin their next attack on the Black Mage settlement. Most had gotten up just fine; Twilight because she had to get the library back at Ponyville organized and ready for customers, as well as feed Spike his breakfast, Fluttershy because of her daily animal routines, and Gilda because it was basically her job to get up early and rob places. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was too lazy to even get out of bed. Twilight had to carry her all the way to the courtyard, where Applejack was, with her magic. She also had to put Rainbow's helmet on, which actually looked good on her with the tuff of red, orange a yellow hair sticking out over her face.

At the courtyard, Applejack had rallied all the troops she could so she could tell them her strategy with the four odd-ones-out alongside them. She cleared her throat and began again.

"Now, as y'all know and probably suspect, today is NOT the day we'll be takin' down the Black Mages" she stated, receiving a few disappointed sighs and even a 'boo' from a knight at the back "However, today IS the day we'll be takin' some of their plans and findin' out why they want ta kill us in the first place!"

"How do you hope to do that?" Gilda rudely asked.

"Hold yer horses, ah was gettin' ta that" Applejack assured before turning her direction to the soldiers again "Today's plan is simple, but effective! All y'all gotta do is distract the Black Mages. Now, dun be so disappointed, 'cause ah'm lettin' ya do whatever ya want with them. Taunt them, throw rocks at them, even kill 'em if ya really want ta, but make sure they stay distracted!"

"And I'm guessing we'll be the ones to go in with you after the plans, huh?" Rainbow spoke up.

"Exactly" Applejack nodded, now just paying attention to the four others "Ah'll need some support when we go in there. Each of ya can supply magic support, raw power, and espionageee."

"Actually, it's pronounced-" Twilight began before getting interrupted by Gilda.

"Dweeb, no one damn-well cares."

"Hey, you better watch your mouth, er, beak, Gilda!" Rainbow scolded "These two aren't just your own personal distractions; they're our teammates and my friends, so enough!"

"Whatever..." Gilda rolled her eyes.

"Applejack, if I may?" Twilight began a question "What if the Black Mages are too powerful for us to handle? I understand we have raw power and healing magic on our side, but any one of them could know Fire II or even Fire III magic! If that were to be true, your soldiers, let alone us, could be injured beyond what we're capable of handling."

"No Black Mages have ever used thems big ol' magic attacks yet, but your concern is noted" Applejack nodded before turning back to her army "Briefing is finished! Report ta yer stations and wait for me and mah team ta git ready! Dismissed!"

(Music Stop)

The soldiers all saluted before marching towards their posts, which happened to be right outside the castle walls.

"Gilda, come with me. Ah need ta talk with ya" Applejack pulled the Thief over for a moment "Everyone else, y'all go and buy some stuff from the shops 'round here. Trust me, yer gonna need the extra stuff."

"Thanks, Applejack" Twilight politely nodded before the knight walked away with Gilda, leaving the remaining three to chat with each other "Something strikes me as... off, about Gilda."

"You think, Twilight?" Rainbow scoffed "She's a dirty, back-stabbing whore of a fri- um... never mind."

"W-What was that, Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy wondered "Do you mean you were friends with her once?"

"I said never mind!" Rainbow raised her voice "It's nothing. It's all in the past now."

"But it's hurting you" Fluttershy pointed out, a kind smile then appearing on her face "It's best to talk about your problems with someone than to keep it all inside and continue to let it hurt you. We've known each other for a while now, right? You can tell us; we promise not to tell anyone else."

"Well..." Rainbow took a deep breath "...alright, you talked me into it. You won't like it all that much, though."

15 years ago...

Along the busy and crowded streets of Cloudsdale, a young cyan Pegasus girl with rainbow-colored hair roamed the streets in search of her father. She wore a simple white sundress as most girls her age did, but she also wore a little silver ribbon on the back of her short hair, which was something young girls around the city very rarely had. Only the daughter to a high-regarded knight would be able to give her something like that and get away with it.

"Daddy?" she called out "Daddy, where are you?"

"Hey there, kid" a man with brown skin, white hair and raggedy clothes from inside a alley-way creepily smiled "I think I know where your daddy went. Wanna come with me and find him together? C'mon, it'll be fun!"

"Oh, um, okay" the girl nodded.

Before she continued on, the man went blank-faced before falling down face-first on the ground. In the back of his head a was a small dagger that went right into his brain, causing blood to be spilled forth and onto the ground. This, of course, caused the girl to gasp, but before she began to cry another person appeared before her, around the same age as her. She had feathers instead of skin, white on her head and brown on her body, as well as a yellow beak, brown pants and a large purple scarf acting as her shirt. She too had wing on her back like the young girl.

"What were you thinking, dweeb?" the other girl asked her "There are terrible people in this world, so you gotta be careful, okay? You're lucky I had your back!"

"Um... Thanks" the young girl nodded.

"Anyway, the name's Gilda" the other girl introduced herself "And what's yours?"

"My name?" the young girl wondered "My name is Rainbow Dash, or just Rainbow for short."

"Rainbow Dash, eh?" Gilda smiled "That sounds like a totally awesome name!"

"Awesome?" Rainbow wondered "Hmm..."

"Hey, you know women in Cloudsdale are treated like shit, right?" Gilda questioned Rainbow, causing the latter to gasp.

"L-Language!" Rainbow called her out on her words.

"Oh, whatever!" Gilda rolled her eyes "In this world, if others don't care what they say to people like me, then I don't care what comes out of my mouth. Now, I wanted to know if you wanna find your dad with me?"

"But, didn't you warn me about terrible people?" Rainbow wondered "How would I know if you're not one of those people?"

"Considering I just saved your life, I think you can trust me" Gilda laughed before stretching out her talon in a sign of friendship "Now, let's shake on it. From now on, we're friends, and we gotta back each other up, okay? Heck, maybe I can even teach you a few things about being totally awesome like me!"

"O-Okay, I accept!" Rainbow Dash reached out her own hand and shook her new friends' "Friends forever, then!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't do all that sappy stuff..." Gilda blushed a bit before both of them started to laugh.

4 years ago...

"C'mon, Dash, we don't have time for this!" Gilda, now dressed in her attire from present day, called down to her partner in crime from a building ledge, the latter who was wearing almost the exact same clothing, only with no scarf and a silver bow behind her long hair instead of a bandanna "We got twenty minutes to pull this off!"

"Okay, I'm here, I'm here!" Rainbow leaped next to Gilda and grinned "So, what's our goal today?"

"That" Gilda pointed down into the building's roof window to a purple tray that looked like it had very little importance "Don't be fooled. My employer's got some big bucks he's willing to part with if we can get that tray for him."

"So what's the plan?" Rainbow wondered "Same as always?"

"Same as always" Gilda grinned before going over to the glass roof and standing on it before jumping and smashing the window, spreading her wings out to stop herself from hitting the ground abruptly. Soon after, Rainbow followed her and took a look at the purple tray, chuckling a bit.

"Man, I can't believe that guy wanted to give us all that money for this piece of junk" Rainbow picked it up and twirled it around a bit before safely storing it in her thieves' pouch around her shoulder.

"Actually, he's only paying me" Gilda said.

"What do you mean by tha-"

(Music Stop)

A sharp pain went surging through Rainbow's left arm. She looked over only to see that a dagger had pierced it, causing it to bleed out on her jacket and on the floor. Before she had a chance to react to it any further than a shocked expression on her face, she felt a kick to her side, which made her fall on her injured arm, nearly making her scream in pain.

"Sorry, Dash, but I need a distraction" Gilda shrugged as she collected the tray from her partner's pouch "It was nice knowing you anyway. So many precious memories... Don't worry, I hear Cloudsdale prisons have actual food they can give you."

"W-Why?" Rainbow questioned.

"For money, Dash" Gilda smiled "But... Also for other reasons. Like I said, it's been a pleasure, but I gotta run. See you around, dweeb..." and like that, she extended her wings and flew away, never to be seen again.

"G-Gilda..." Rainbow sighed struggling to get up after that last attack "W-Why?"

"I eventually did get out of there without being caught, but I never saw her again" Rainbow finished up her story "After that, I never saw her again. Well, until yesterday, that is."

"And you never found out why Gilda betrayed you after all those years?" Twilight questioned.

"No, never" Rainbow shrugged "Though, I suppose it doesn't really matter anyway. She hates me and I hate her, it's as simple as that. I promise our differences won't get in the way of the mission. Well, at least from my side anyway..."

"Rainbow Dash, what if you were to make up with Gilda?" Fluttershy wondered.

"Yeah, okay" Rainbow rolled her eyes "I'll make it up to her once she apologies for stabbing my arm and kicking me in the ribs, and GOD knows when that'll happen! The closest you'll ever see me be nice to her is not speaking to her, and that's it. Ugh... Why her? Of all the mercenaries in the world, why'd it have to be her? Why not Discord? At least I can TOLERATE him!"

"Okay, okay, no need to get angry..." Fluttershy tried to calm her friend down.

"Fluttershy's right, Rainbow" Twilight agreed "You need to control yourself when we go out on the mission. Any number of things could happen if you don't."

"Alright, fine..." Rainbow sighed "I'll... I'll try..."

"To quote a wise master of magical arts," Twilight smiled, knowing she ticked her friend off when she said something nerdy like this "do or do not. There is no try."

"I'm glad you're on this adventure, Twi" Rainbow chuckled "Otherwise, you'd be cooped up in your home reading every book in the world on how to properly nag someone to death."

"You'd be surprised..." Twilight nervously smiled.

"You mean there's actually a book CALLED that?!" Rainbow's mood had done a complete 180 as she rolled on her back and began laughing hysterically "Ahahahahahaha!! Y-You... Nerd!! Hahahahahaha!!!"

"H-Hey! I never actually read it!" Twilight blushed.

"Alrighty then, girls" Applejack returned with Gilda "Are y'all set?"

"Pretty much" Twilight nodded "Just lead the way!"

"Great! But, uh..." Applejack nodded before commenting on Rainbow's laughing fit "...is she gonna be okay?"

"Her? Yeah, she'll be fine" Twilight assured, watching the mare continue to laugh "Give it a minute..." she just continued her laughing "Any second now..."

"Be decent for once, dweeb!" Gilda shouted at her former partner.

"And just like that, I'm done" Rainbow deadpanned, ceasing her laughing immediately after she heard Gilda's voice "Wow, Gilda, you sure know your way with people!"

"Before this becomes somethin' ah'll regret, could y'all just git yerselves over ta the front of the castle?" Applejack asked "Ah want ta git this dun before the Black Mages even saw it comin'! Then, we can end this pointless war."

"O-Of course..." Fluttershy shyly nodded, walking slowly with her friends towards the front of the castle.

The trek into Black Mage territory hadn't been that difficult. It was located on some plains north of the Apple Kingdom and was generally unprotected by any means. There was the common monster ever now and then, but no sign of any Black Mages. It frightened Twilight to no end.

Nonetheless, they eventually found their way to the Black Mage settlement, located right at the base of a small mountain. It was fairly small, with a few tents, a fire pit and only a few Black Mages, complete with their concealed faces, yellow eyes, black pointed hats, black robes and their magic rods, standing guard. The army had hidden away out of sight from the sentries, but it was only a matter of time until the decently small army was discovered. Applejack had to execute her plan quickly to make this work.

"Alright, men" she began "Y'all know what ta do. Just be sure ta give us enough time."

They all saluted before several of them went down to the settlement's entrance. They were taken note of immediately by the Black Mages. They all stepped forward to see what the soldiers of the Apple Kingdom had to say.

"What's this?" wondered one of the male Black Mages "You lot come here just by yourselves? What gives?"

"Yeah, this better not be some kinda trick!" shouted one of the female Black Mages.

"Oh, we assure you, we're merely here to ask a few questions and converse for a bit" one of the Knights nodded "You know spirit of the season and the sort?"

"Hearth's Warming was six months ago" the first Black Mage deadpanned.

"Think of this as LATE Hearth's Warming!" another Knight mentioned.

"Okay, they're distracted" Rainbow Dash confirmed "Let's get a move on!"

The espionage team of five nodded before following Applejack's lead and going around the settlement and trying to find something of use. To their surprise, a cave opening was located at the back of the settlement, leading deeper inside the mountain. Applejack never remembered seeing any cave last time she did reconnaissance. Perhaps the Black Mage guards forgot to close it?

"Ah think we'll find what we're lookin' fer in there" Applejack stated, causing Fluttershy to shiver a bit.

"A-Are you sure?" she asked "M-Maybe what we're looking f-for is in those t-tents?"

"Fluttershy, ah've seen this place a dozen times and not once did ah find somethin' in thems tents" Applejack stated "They were literally empty! Ah always knew there was somethin' else, but ah dun think it went deeper into the mountain."

"It's alright, Fluttershy" Twilight assured her friend, patting her on her back "Here, why don't you take Spike for a little while? I think you'll need him more than I will."

"Kaw!" Spike let out a cry of happiness, causing Gilda to place a talon on one of her sheathed daggers. Rainbow Dash noticed this immediately and called her out on it.

"I don't know what's got your panties in a twist, Gilda," she began "but you have to calm down before you accidentally, or even intentionally, slit someone's throat."

"That lizard is gonna give our position away!" Gilda argued. Rainbow Dash looked down at the Knights and Black Mages and saw the former were now dancing around the unimpressed latter.

"I don't think they'll be looking over here anytime soon" Rainbow shrugged "Just try not to kill anyone, okay? You can hate anyone here as much as you like, but if you ever threaten them or hurt them, you'll regret it."

"Oooooh, I'm so scared!" Gilda mocked "Work on your threats some more, dweeb!"

"Enough!" Twilight stopped the two by placing a hand on both Rainbow's mouth and Gilda's beak, lowering them once she believed they were ready to talk again "Rainbow Dash, you promised you wouldn't do something like this back at the castle! While I thank you for defending me and Fluttershy, please try to control your emotions, okay?"

"I..." Rainbow began before realizing there was no winning this argument "...fine."

"Good" Twilight nodded before looking back over to Applejack "We're ready when you are."

"Finally..." Applejack sighed before heading into the cave, the others soon following after her.

(Music Stop)

The cave progressively got darker and darker as they continued onward, but it was very little problem for Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash since they had gone inside the depths of Cloudsdale not yesterday. No one spoke a word as they continued onward, feeling the wall to find their way through.

Finally, light emerged! The team slowly walked towards it, hoping to find something on the other end. At last, they escaped the tunnel to see their new area.

It took everyone about two seconds to realize they were just turned around. They even looked over the edge just to check and make sure; the Knights were still distracting the Black Mages.

"Really?" Applejack deadpanned "The cave is a fake?"

"More likely just enchanted by Black Mages" Twilight brought up "My guess is that only a Black Mage could pass through or break the spell, so it isn't very likely that we'll be going through that way anytime soon."

"Wait... Who's that?" Fluttershy wondered, pointing down at a new person in the camp. The rest of the team looked down only to see that another Black Mage had joined the guards. She wore the standard black clothing, only skin-tight now and revealing her legs and thighs like she was some sort of magician, and her face wasn't pure black with yellow eyes. Her pointed hat was lavender with yellow and blue stars all over it, and she had a lavender cape as well, also donned with yellow and blue stars. She wore simple blue sand shoes on her feet. Her hair was pale cerulean and her skin and horn was azure, and her arms rested on her hips in a displeased fashion.

"Hahaha! You idiots!" the woman laughed, the team listening in closely to what she had to say "No one in particular, since everyone here is a bunch of idiots, but Trixie is more or less looking at her Black Mages."

"M-Miss Trixie!" the male Black Mage gasped in shock "W-What brings you here?"

"Trixie lives here, fool!" the woman, apparently named Trixie, laughed "But if you must know, Trixie came here because she wanted to know what a bunch of bumbling idiots were doing just standing around while their enemy was right in front of them."

"T-They didn't seem to be of any harm to us" the female Black Mage brought up, stuttering a bit "They wanted to talk to us, so we kinda just let them do their own thing."

"Fools! Imbeciles!" Trixie stomped her foot "Trixie put you here to keep Apple people out, not talk with them! Though, Trixie supposes now is as good a time as ever to test her new Fire III spell..."

"And like that, we're out!" one of the Knights dashed off, the others soon following him.

"Hahaha! Trixie thought so" Trixie laughed, still talking in the third person "You two are being punished once your shift ends. How you will be, Trixie will have to think about."

"Y-Yes, Miss Trixie" both Black Mages bowed and returned to their posts.

(Music Stop)

"Trixie, darling, if I may interject?" spoke another voice from behind Trixie. She and the team looked over to where the voice was only to see another woman walking towards her.

She was a Unicorn, obviously since she was a Black Mage, but she was quite different from the others. She too had her face revealed like Trixie's, showing her white skin, very curly purple hair and blue eyes. A very dark fuchsia pointed hat loosely donned her head, and she wore dark fuchsia robe that went down to her waist, as well as a black cape tied around her neck and long black pants. On her feet were long leather boots, more than likely for fashion purposes. She wore black gloves, a silver belt around her waist and held a standard Black Mage rod. Her face was one of curiosity.

"What is it, Rarity?" Trixie asked rudely "Can't you see Trixie is in the middle of something?"

"Sorry, darling, but I need to ask you a question that has been plaguing my mind for a while now" the woman, apparently named Rarity, spoke "I've been fighting this war since I was but a child, but never once did anyone ever tell me what the point of it all was."

"Do Trixie's ears deceive her," Trixie began "or does she hear the sorrow sound of Rarity wanting to give up and betray her own people, hmm?"

"N-No, of course not!" Rarity assured "The Black Mage settlement has been my home for as long as I could remember, and I would never dream of betraying it! But, perhaps there is another way to accomplish our goals, whatever they may be?"

"Rarity, if you MUST know the reason, Trixie supposes she could tell you" Trixie rolled her eyes "But we must whisper as to keep it a secret, fair?"

"Fair" Rarity nodded before getting up close to Trixie and listening to what she had to say.

"Damn..." Applejack sighed "We need ta know why this war is bein' fought. If ah can know that, ah dun have ta send anyone else ta their deaths no more... C'mon, everyone! Let's go and pay that Rarity woman a lil' visit..."

The team nodded and, as soon as Trixie had walked away and Rarity returned to one of the tents, began walking down the cliff side into the settlement to have a talk with Rarity.

Author's Notes:

This was a good one, I think! Your fair balance of humor, sadness, boring backstories and sexy Black Mages! What? So what if I have a thing for mages? You all can't deny Trixie would look friggin' hot in a Black Mage outfit!

Speaking of, I know for a fact that none of you, even the ones supplying me some ideas, saw Trixie coming. How could I not put her in, she's a joyride to write! She's one of my favorite characters in the show, and I think that'll reflect how I treat her in my story.

Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, dream on everyone!