"I dunno, girls, this is gettin' kinda old. The Cutie Mark Crusader Search an' Rescue Team was fun fer awhile, but can't we all go back to makin' pies or somethin'?"

Three fillies, each clad in a red cloak, marched through the Everfree Forest. Well, two of them marched; the pegasus and the unicorn had their heads up and their eyes alert, scanning the undergrowth around them with determination. The third, a yellow earth pony filly with a pink bow in her mane, seemed considerably less invested in the activity. She aimlessly kicked a loose branch in frustration.

"Apple Bloom, the Prince needs our help," the orange pegasus told her. "He's lost out here somewhere! For real! What if he's hurt?"

"Why do we even care?" Apple Bloom retorted. "I thought that guy was jus' a big, dumb jerk."

Sweetie Belle rounded on her friend with such surprising fury that the earth pony froze in her tracks. "Don't you call him that!"

Apple Bloom stared at the white unicorn for a moment, then shook her head. "Y'all are crazy."

"My little ponies!" called a familiar voice. The girls stopped and turned to find their teacher trotting up to them. Her magenta coat was looking a bit careworn, and her pink-and-white mane was unruly and filled with twigs and leaves. Behind her came Big Macintosh, looking nearly as exhausted as his marefriend.

"Girls, I thought I told you not to wander too far," Cheerilee scolded gently.

"Aw, we weren't, Miss Cherilee," insisted Scootaloo. "You and Big Mac are just walking really slow."

The teacher sighed. "Girls, just stay in sight. The Everfree Forest is always dangerous, even this close to town."

"Yes, Miss Cheerilee," the girls said with a choreographed eye roll. The teacher shot them a tired glare, but resigned herself to a simple shake of the head as the trio started off again.

"Macintosh... do you think we should give up?"

The big, red stallion considered this. "Nope."

"But we've been searching for weeks. I've never been so exhausted... " She sighed. "Twilight's been nice enough to substitute for me when I needed her, but I can't help feeling like I'm letting my students down. I don't really even know why I'm still out here. I barely know the prince. I just... I want to help him."

Big Mac stared at Cheerilee in compassionate silence, and then placed a hoof on her shoulder. She nuzzled it and leaned into his weight, taking comfort from his big solidity. "I'm just so tired, Macintosh... "

"I'm here for ya, Cheeri," the stallion rumbled. "Uh, girls are gettin' ahead again."

The teacher looked up in time to see her students disappearing into the underbrush. "Girls!"

They didn't reply. With an angry snort, Cheerilee pushed herself away from her coltfriend and stomped towards them. "Girls, please, I appreciate your help, but stop being so... "

The fillies screamed. A moment later, they came charging out of the brush, nearly bowling their teacher over. Cheerilee watched them pass in confusion, then looked back in the direction they came... and right into a pair of flickering blue flames.

The skeletal pony gave an unearthly howl and charged her.

Cheerilee barely had time to register the threat before Big Macintosh was there, slamming into the thing from the side and hurling it into the woods. Their eyes met. "I'm okay," she told him.

An arrow whipped out of the forest, sinking into the dirt inches from Cheerilee's hoof. She screamed and reared back, bumping right into another skeletal monstrosity. The teacher had just enough presence of mind to buck, knocking the thing away before it could grab her, and then Big Mac was lifting her bodily onto his back and galloping away.

"The girls!" Cheerilee cried. The stallion was already on the same page, however, scooping up his sister and her friends and tossing them up to their teacher.

"Miss Cheerilee, what are they?!" cried Sweetie Belle.

"Just close your eyes, girls, we'll be okay!"

Another arrow zipped past, taking Apple Bloom's bow with it. The fillies stared at the missing accessory and then let out a simultaneous shriek.

"This way, friends!" called a voice. "Quickly, come in!"

Macintosh huffed a breath and changed course towards the speaker. They emerged into a small clearing dominated by an odd-looking hut. A zebra stood at the door, motioning them inside. She slammed the door behind them as they passed, barring it and then sprinkling some strange, red dust on the jam.

"Zecora!" Apple Bloom wailed. "They got mah bow, Zecora!"

"We would mourn if we could; stallion, give me a hoof!"

Cheerilee and the girls slid off of Macintosh's back, and he and the zebra got to work on fortifying the hut while the teacher comforted her students. Outside, the strange howling of the skeletal ponies continued and intensified. Cheerilee hazarded a glance through a window, and saw dozens of pinpricks of blue flame dancing in the dense shadows of the forest.

"What's going on?" she asked, her voice strained.

"I fear I have made a grave mistake," Zecora answered, stepping in front of Cheerilee to splash some strange paste on the window. "Perhaps the prince shouldn't have found his fate."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I sent Prince Blue on a vision quest; that this be the result is my best guess."

"You knew where he was?"

"Yes, I lied to my friend Twilight. We'll deal with that later, if we survive this night!"

The fillies huddled together, staring around in terror.

"Girls, we'll be okay," Cheerilee told them, though she didn't quite believe it. "Just stay with me. I'll protect you. Nopony will hurt you."

Scootaloo looked up at her, her purple eyes wide. "I'm scared, Miss Cheerilee."

The teacher wrapped a hoof around her student and hugged her tightly. "Me, too."

The undead began pounding on the hut's door.

"Comfortable, Your Highness?"

Blueblood didn't respond. He just stared at the puddle on the floor. Another drop of water slid down the icicle above and splashed into it. Four hundred and ninety-seven.

Azure Throne's fleshless expression never changed, but the prince could sense his grin. "I do hope you're not still upset about your little marefriend. It was an unfortunate but necessary deception; would you have gone along with my plan had I told you the truth? I think not."

Plunk. Four hundred and ninety-eight.

"Now, my armies march across the Everfree, bringing me fresh... recruits. They found a dragon, in fact! A rather large one. I think it will make a suitable mount for the King of the Greatspire Mountains, don't you?"

Drip. Four hundred and ninety-nine.

"Oh, don't be so melodramatic. My offer still stands, boy. Join me. You can be the face of my empire. You will have everything you could ever want. Wealth? Beyond your wildest imagination. Mares? I shall provide you an entire harem."

Blueblood scowled. Another drop fell. Five hundred.

"Very well. Keep sulking. You'll change your mind eventually, boy. You'll see that, however questionable you might find my means, my ends are well justified. In the meantime, make yourself presentable. You'll be having another visitor, I think."

The dead king trotted away, bones creaking as his skeletal hooves struck the ancient flagstones. Blueblood was left alone again, with nothing but the crackle of a small fire and the drip of an icicle to keep him company.

Oh, Cadance. I'm so sorry.

He'd lost track of the days since Azure had performed his ritual. From deep in Arctus Castle's dungeons, it was nearly impossible to mark time anyway. Every once in awhile, a skeletal pony would bring in a bit of food: uncooked herbs and roots, a bit of unidentifiable fruit. Blueblood had refused to eat at first, hoping to just let starvation take him, but had finally given in to his body's demands and wolfed so much down that he became sick after.

He didn't even have the strength to die. "Pathetic" hardly began to cover it.

Lately, he'd taken to counting how many drips an icicle could give off before it ceased to be an icicle. A rather large one had lasted nearly four thousand drops before its base was too thin to support its weight any longer. He'd picked the shard of ice up; it was still sharp. Sharp enough to open a vein and end his torment, easily.

He couldn't do it, of course. And he hated himself even more.

Water splashed. Blueblood shook himself out of his ruminations and realized he'd lost count. With an angry snort, he lay down on his cot and rolled over, facing the thin strip of open air that counted as a window.

His heart stopped. His head jerked up. "Cadance?!"

He could only see her eyes, her achingly familiar eyes. But they met his, and he felt an electric jolt run down his spine. "Cadance, I'm so sorry! I didn't know!"

Her eyes closed. When they opened, they were looking at the cell door. Blueblood followed her gaze and frowned. "What? What's with the door?"

When he looked back, she was gone.

Blueblood sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Wonderful, I'm going mad." With a sigh, he pushed himself off the cot and poked gingerly at the door.

It swung open with a low creak.

"Wonderful. I'm going mad and I'm an idiot."

He looked up and down the hall. He'd lost his ability to see through the castle's darkness after Azure's ritual, but the burning brazier in Blueblood's cell gave off enough light to see by. The stairs up would be just down the hall. From there, he could... well, what, exactly? Elude an army of undead ponies, journey back through the Everfree without the benefit of Zecora's mind-altering drugs, and arrive just in time to warn Celestia about the army that was no doubt already ransacking her kingdom? No wonder the door hadn't been locked. Blueblood was trapped regardless.

He glanced at the cell behind him. At least there, he had a cot and a warm fire. If Azure caught him trying to escape, he might take even those luxuries away. With a sigh, he returned to the cell and closed the door behind him.

"You really are a coward, aren't you?"

Blueblood jumped. He spun about to find another skeletal pony standing outside his door. This one's eyes burned a brilliant pink, and matching light drifted from its mane like a sparkling cloud. He noted with dismay that the abomination had a horn... and wings.

"Oh, Cadance," he moaned.

"Look at you," she monstrous vision hissed. "So weak. So pathetic. And you wonder why I could never love you?"

He shook his head. "I never wondered."

Cadance barked a laugh. "Celestia, you're a sad excuse for a pony. Don't you have any pride, Blueblood? Don't you have even a hint of it?"

"Not really. Not anymore."

She snorted and turned away. "You're already broken. I was told I'd get to torture you, to play with your emotions, to make you pay for what you did to me. But there's nothing left of you, is there? You're not even worth tormenting."

Blueblood sank into his cot with a sigh. "How?"

"How did I become this?" She gestured to herself. "I'm an alicorn, Blueblood. I hadn't come into my full power yet, not in life, but death unlocked my true potential. I was supposed to be the Princess of Love, can you believe that? The first in a new generation of divine royalty. But I think I've found a better calling, thanks to you. Now, I'm the Princess of Wrath."

"Well, you're not doing a very good job of it."

"What?"

Blueblood shrugged. "I'm not angry at you. I don't blame you. This was my fault, not yours. I'm sorry for what I did. I'm sorry for what happened to you."

Cadance just stared at him for a long moment before rolling her eyes. "We'll see. Come, Blueblood. I have something to show you."

She turned and left, the door swinging open behind her. Blueblood watched her go, then sighed and followed. They walked upstairs in mutual silence, Cadance's skeletal grin never faltering and Blueblood's weary resignation never showing any hint of nervousness.

Finally, they reached the ancient oaken doors that led into the castle's throne room. Cadance pushed them open and gestured for Blueblood to enter. He looked into her burning eyes, trying to read her intent, but finally shrugged and stepped forward.

The doors slammed behind him. Braziers around the room lit up with blue flame. The chalk scribblings from the ritual had been wiped clean, and a fresh carpet had been rolled all the way up to the throne's dais. On it sat Azure Throne, his silver amulet once more shining brightly, staring at him with amusement.

"Ah, grandson. I see my queen has managed to draw you from your cell."

"Your queen?" Despite everything, the words still hurt.

"Of course. A king needs a consort, after all."

Cadance brushed past Blueblood, trotting up the dais and taking a seat next to the dead king. He idly ran a hoof through her ethereal mane. "She could have been yours, of course, had you joined me sooner."

"I'm not joining you at all."

"Oh?" He looked at Cadance. "Then how did you lure him here?"

"I hoped to show him your surprise," she purred.

"Ahh... yes, of course."

Azure clapped his hooves together twice. A side door to the throne room opened, and a group of skeletal unicorns dragged in a prisoner. He was a large, red stallion with an orange mane and the mark of a half-open green apple on his flank.

"Macintosh?" Blueblood gaped.

The big pony looked up at the prince, worry in his eyes. "They've got Cheerilee."

"Cheerilee?" Cadance mused. "The school marm? Perhaps we should bring her out, first. "

Azure placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Patience, my dear. There is an art to this sort of thing. Just watch."

"Let them go, Azure." Blueblood stared at his undead grandfather, tears starting to creep into his eyes. "Please. I'll join you. Don't hurt them."

Cadance rolled her eyes. Azure covered his and shook his head, laughing. "I haven't even started threatening them yet!"

"I told you. No spine whatsoever."

Macintosh met Blueblood's eyes. It was hard to read the stallion's expression. There was relief there, and gratitude, and... disappointment?

"You know, I had rather looked forward to torturing a few prisoners," Azure mused idly. "You really are cramping my style, grandson."

"Just let them go. I'll do what you want. These are good ponies; they shouldn't suffer for me."

"Hm," Azure said, rubbing his chin. Cadance glanced at him, then at Blueblood, and then rolled her eyes and blasted Macintosh with a thick, scorching beam of pink energy. The big stallion howled in agony as he was thrown to the floor; smoke rose from the burnt patch on his flank that used to bear his cutie mark.

"No!" Blueblood shouted.

Cadance grinned at him, and zapped Big Mac again. The earth pony tucked himself into as tight a ball as he could, gasping in pain.

Blueblood leapt in front over the fallen stallion, turning broadside to cover as much of him as he could. Azure looked between him and his queen, then sighed. "Dear, this isn't helping us recruit him."

"We don't need him," she hissed. "He's worthless. Pathetic. What use could he possibly be?!"

Cadance's eyes went wide as she was suddenly hurled from her seat, smashing into the far wall with an audible crunch of bone. She hit the ground hard, her wings twisted into an unrecognizable shape and one foreleg rattling across the floor.

"You dare question me?!" Azure bellowed, now on his hooves. The air darkened and thickened around him as the cold points of blue flame in his skull blazed furiously. "Do not forget who gave you new life, my queen! Do not forget who can take it away!"

Cadance whimpered and tried to crawl away. A gout of blue flame stopped her. "I'm sorry!" she cried, cringing back. "I forgot my place!"

Blueblood ignored the dispute, kneeling next to the moaning Macintosh. "Are you okay?"

"Nope," the stallion grunted through clenched teeth.

"I'll get you out of this. Where's Cheerilee?"

"Tower. Up top. Girls, too. An' Zecora."

The prince blinked. "What?"

"We were in the forest... buncha them attacked. Tried to hold out at Zecora's. Didn't last."

"Dammit." Two hostages would have been a lot easier to free than a whole group of them.

"Pull yourself together, my wife," came Azure's hollow voice. "I will continue this audience alone."

"Yes, my king," Cadance gasped, limping away as she clutched her severed leg to herself.

"Now, then. I do apologize for my queen's outburst, grandson." He sat back down in his throne, his voice returning to its usual, mocking calm. "You said you were willing to cooperate in exchange for these prisoners' lives?"

Blueblood nodded. "All of them. Let them go. Give them enough food to have a fair chance at getting home. I'll do whatever you want."

Azure regarded his descendant in silence. "Where does this courage come from, boy? You were an empty shell only minutes ago. Now you're jumping in front of helpless ponies to protect them from a crazed goddess."

"Somepony once told me that a king lives for his people, not himself."

The dead pony stared at him for a moment longer, and then a grin seemed to split his skeletal face. "You are my grandson, boy. Whatever you may think of me, know that I am proud of you. The prisoners will be released, as you request. And you and I shall begin making plans. Guards?"

Blueblood helped Macintosh to his hooves. The big pony tried to hide his limp as the undead soldiers led him away. The prince watched them go, his eyes lingering even after they disappeared. He hardly noticed when Azure put a bony hoof around his shoulder.

"Come, boy. Tomorrow, we invade Equestria."