Starlight Glimmer's quarters was a decadent suite - even more so than she could have anticipated. Inside her room one could not look in any direction without noticing lavish tapestries or gothic paintings of fabled knights, medieval structures, and skilfully detailed depictions of moonlit beaches or lush, green vistas with rolling landscapes. Much to her surprise, there was even a painting of the divine sisters. It was half a twilight sky, the moon glowing vividly among the stars. The other Half was a cloudy azure sky, the sun burning brightly in the background to illuminate the world. Celestia and Luna were depicted in the foreground, their backs against each other with their wings majestically unfurled. It was titled "Nocturnas En Solaria." Among the finery in her room, It was easily Starlight Glimmer's favorite piece.

The wind howled outside as she sipped the hot, sweet liquid from her cup. Her glance kept finding its way to the glass pane across her room, through which she observed the translucent clouds glowing like tufts of platinum in the moon's light. There were a few breaks in the overcast that would allow its rays to crown the mountains in a silvery glow. It boggled the mind how such a savage, war torn land could possess such haunting beauty.

"Do you like it?" The Queen asked her. She was rested in a heavily cushioned chair opposite her in front of the hearth. The soft, thick rush beneath them seemed to drink in the heat from the flames as It radiated with warmth.

"I do," Starlight said, looking quizzically into the flower resting at the bottom of her cup. The tea was naturally sweet. So much so that sugar nor honey was needed to improve its flavor. "Although, I'm not quite familiar with this blend."

Fluttershy dropped a flower bulb into a cup of hot water. After sinking to the bottom the bulb opened up like a rose in bloom, and the liquid began to change color. "It's honey jasmine," she said. "The flora in this region make for the most exquisite teas I've ever had. The doctor says jasmine is good for the baby, so I have it with every meal."

Starlight, for the thousand-thousandth time since they had sat down together, stole a glance at the swell in Fluttershy's belly. Her friend was with foal. Sombra's foal. It was still difficult for her to take in.

"Just think." The Queen caressed her belly with an affectionately sweet smile on her face. She seemed to radiate with joy every time she did that. "A little prince or princess. I'll bet he or she will get along great with Flurry Heart. Speaking of which, how is the little princess?"

"Flurry Heart?" Starlight Glimmer stirred uneasily in her seat. "She was her usual giggling, smiling, bouncing little self last time I saw her."

"That's good to hear." Fluttershy smiled. "My baby is going to need a playmate when we visit the Crystal Empire. I'm hoping they'll get along."

"When you visit?" Starlight looked thoughtfully into the flower at the bottom of her cup. "Does that mean you'll be coming back home any time soon?"

"Oh, without a doubt," Fluttershy assured her. "I still have my cottage back in Ponyville. I may be The Queen of New Haven, but South Equestria is my home too. I plan to make long and frequent visits."

Starlight Glimmer traced the rim of her cup. "That's good to know... And I'm sure your parents will be looking forward to meeting your, uh, husband," she said, practically choking out the word from her throat. She still had trouble referring to Sombra as Fluttershy's husband. The word just had such a strange flavor to it.

Fluttershy giggled. "My husband is very much looking forward to meeting his new mother and father. Zephyr will no doubt consider himself royalty after meeting his new brother-in-law. I can already see him asking Rainbow Dash to be his queen."

"Zephyr would no doubt use some cheeky pick up line that would get him smacked," Starlight replied, smirking as she poorly imitated the voice of Fluttershy's brother. "Something along the lines of: 'Hey Dashie, are you sure you don't have some royalty in you?' And upon her obvious reply, he'd be like, 'Would you like to?'"

At that, Fluttershy snorted and covered her mouth in a vain attempt to keep herself from spitting out her tea.

Starlight Glimmer joined in on the mirth, but only for a time. As much as she tried to lighten the mood there was still the predicament that loomed over her. Three days, Sombra had told her. Imprisonment, or servitude. Both choices were bitter draughts to swallow. If the choice didn't concern her friends, she'd gladly take imprisonment. The other choice was no better, casting her allegiance to Sombra, who would undoubtedly force her to commit his atrocities for him.

The laughter in Fluttershy's expression died when she must have noticed Starlight's distress. "Starlight, are you well? Was it something I said?"

"No, you didn't say anything, it's just..." Starlight turned her head to gaze out the window. "I don't see how you can be so calm. You seem to be happy to rule along side Sombra, and you even seem happy about having his baby, but what about the others? You claim that everything will be alright, but what does that mean? Why are you so sure?"

And what she said was true. She had wasted no time in making Fluttershy aware of her plight, but The Queen was quick to smile and promise that everything would be okay. What that meant, Starlight Glimmer could not be sure, but she had a feeling that she was about to find out.

"Starlight," Fluttershy began, "I told you, everything is going to be fine. Sombra wouldn't dare keep you and the others here for the rest of your lives. I know when my husband is bluffing, and trust me, this is a bluff if I've ever heard one."

"How can you be so sure?" Starlight said, unconvinced. "What if you're wrong?"

"Because, he has everything to lose and nothing to gain if he kept you all here," Fluttershy said knowingly. "I guarantee you, Celestia won't stand for it. If push comes to shove, she'll cut off her trade with us for the remainder of the time Sombra decides to keep Twilight Sparkle as his prisoner. Sombra knows he'd be dooming the nation he's worked so hard to build if this should come to pass. Down south, they can survive without our precious minerals, but up here, our land is barren; it's almost impossible to grow food. We'd last a few months at best. And keep in mind, nothing provokes unrest and revolt like a famine. I know my husband better than anyone else, and trust me, he wouldn't dare risk it."

Starlight hadn't thought about that. She had heard something about a trade route being established between New Haven and Equestria. She gave the blithe queen a suspicious look. "Fluttershy, you almost sound like you've planned this all out."

Fluttershy's smile was almost impish. "My husband would not have agreed to the signing of the DIS unless he believed he was being granted the upper hoof in the dealings. He truly believed at the time when he signed it that he had the advantage in being allowed to keep Twilight Sparkle as his prisoner. Celestia may not be able to take hostile action against us, but that won't keep her from doing whatever she can to get her pupil back, which would include cutting us off from trade. An embargo would hit us hard - Celestia and Sombra both know it. I've thought about this a lot, and I'm certain it will be the first course of action Celestia takes - that is, as soon as she's ready to start applying pressure to the negotiation table."

Starlight Glimmer did not fall short of awe in light of Fluttershy's reasoning. "But what if you're wrong? What if Sombra's intractability proves stronger than his will to reason?"

Fluttershy sighed. "If I'm wrong, then I've greatly underestimated my husband's pride, just as I've overestimated his wisdom. If it should come to that, and our people should go hungry because of his stubbornness, then I shall go hungry too. If that doesn't sway him, nothing will. He'll be angry with me for a time, for the blow I've struck his pride. He may even stop talking to me for a while, but he'll come around. He always does. My hubby is quick to anger, but, believe it or not, he's also quick to forgive. Especially when it comes to me."

Starlight Glimmer could feel hope and doubt battling for domination of her emotions. "Because he loves you?" she heard herself say.

Fluttershy nodded. "And I love him. But I also love my friends. I refuse to sit by and allow Celestia and Sombra to let their argument come to blows. I also refuse to just let my husband hold you captive for the rest of your lives. There's been no saber rattling from either side since the document was signed. That's why I wrote the DIS. All the pieces of my plan seem to be falling into place."

"Are you absolutely sure about that?" Starlight said hopefully.

"Well, yes... But I hadn't expected you to awaken before the others, and I honestly knew nothing of the ultimatum my husband planned on presenting to you. Honestly, he hasn't said a word to me about it."

"Yeah, well, here I am, awake and unbroken, and here we are," Starlight offered sullenly. "He assured me that my fate, and the fate of the rest of our friends depend on my decision."

Fluttershy poured herself another cup of hot water from the kettle. She sat back in her seat with a thoughtful look, took a sip, and suggested, "Well... If you'd like to help speed up my plan to save our friends, why don't you take him up on his offer?"

Starlight almost dropped her cup in her astonishment. "Excuse me?"

"Why not?" Fluttershy said. "There's a lot of good you could do up here. And it would be really nice to have a friend to talk to who's not bowing and apologizing to me every five seconds."

"Fluttershy, come on. You know I can't do that."

"Why not?" Fluttershy persisted.

"Fluttershy, I'm not a killer, and I won't be subservient to one. I can only think of the horrors that monster would subject me to."

"That's my husband you're talking about," Fluttershy said, it a tone that one could almost interpret as cautioning. "Look back at your own past before you cast your stones. You've no right to judge him."

"Why do you defend him so fervently? Have you even read The Darkness Rising? I'll lend you my copy if you haven't-

"Don't you dare quote a single passage from that book in my presence!"

Starlight Glimmer fell silent under The Queen's fury. Fierce and sudden like a maelstrom, it was.

"Do you really believe a single thing that book says? C'mon, you're smarter than that. Do you honestly believe Sombra is the bastard child of some incubus, that he sustains himself on virgin blood and the flesh of equine fetuses ripped fresh from the wombs of his own subjects? The very pages of that slanderous piece of filth wouldn't be suitable for toilet paper."

"Look, I only know the facts," Starlight Glimmer said carefully. "That he's capable of horrible things. I've seen the atrocities he's committed with my own eyes, Fluttershy. Atrocities that you've obviously closed your eyes to."

Fluttershy regarded her with curious suspicion. "What are you talking about?"

"A keep, approximately five Kilometers South, South-east of here. Twilight, the others and I, we stumbled upon it. Dead bodies everywhere, strewn and eviscerated, the walls practically painted with blood. Couldn't walk anywhere without stepping in red snow. Inside and out was like a forest of pikes with heads mounted on them. I couldn't look in any direction without seeing bodies swaying from the ends of hempen ropes. There was no denying that it was Sombra's doing. The place was saturated with his arcane essence."

"A Keep?" Fluttershy said thoughtfully. "South, South-east of this location... You're not talking about that bandit keep, are you?"

Starlight Glimmer blinked. "Bandit keep?"

"That keep belonged to a group of bandits. They attempted to pillage the palace for slaves and plunder, but Sombra fought them off. After that he managed to track down their hold to prevent the possibility of a second raid."

"They were bandits?" Starlight Glimmer said. "You're saying Sombra just besieged their stronghold? What if there had been innocents among them?"

"There were," Fluttershy insisted. "There were dozens of slaves. Sombra brought them back to the palace to feed them and give them new lives. Most of those whom he had rescued that day are now part of the palace staff. You must have come across some of them."

Starlight Glimmer thought back to everyone she had passed by in the halls when she was in Sombra's company, those who had greeted The King with bows and smiles and salutes. She scratched her chin pensively as she remembered the words of the guard who had escorted her to the spa, who had informed her that the majority of the town's citizenry were former slaves and refugees. "The maids, the stewards, the guards... Sombra really rescued them all?"

"Yes, and the ones that were not rescued came flocking to him with their families for protection when word of his campaign fanned out across the land," Fluttershy replied. "They now have consistent work for the first time in their lives, or own thriving businesses, or have signed on to fight in his name."

"But, how many have had to die in this conquest of his? What I saw back at that keep was--

"I just told you, they were--

"Bandits. Yes. I get it, you were attacked first, but, still..."

"Still what?" said Fluttershy, tapping the arm of her chair as she impatiently awaited a reply.

"Still, I..." Starlight Glimmer attempted, but could not think of what it was she wanted to say. "I don't know. This is all so unreal. Fighting to defend yourself and the ones you love is one thing, but Sombra has taken this to a whole nother level, don't you think?"

"Do you know how many slaves my husband and I have freed?" Fluttershy said. "Do you have any idea how many lives we've changed together?"

"But what about the lives you've ended?"

"I don't think you understand, Starlight. We're at war with these brutes. Do you know what war is?"

Starlight was about to speak, but Fluttershy spoke over her. "War is ugly. There is no painter or poet on this planet that can portray war as a beautiful thing. However, it is necessary when you are fighting for the right cause. If you could hear the things I've heard, or see the things I've seen, you would understand."

Starlight balked at her. "Are you honestly trying to convince me that this war is justifiable? That any war is justifiable?"

Fluttershy relaxed back in her seat and steepled her hooves at the edge of her muzzle in a way that eerily reminded Starlight Glimmer of King Sombra. "Try to imagine families being forcibly separated, hapless young mares paraded out in front of a throng of stallions for their innocents to be sold to the highest bidder. Imagine squalling, terrified children being wrenched from their wailing mother's arms to be sold at an auction. Imagine a business owner having everything he has ever worked for taken from him at the point of a brigand's blade. Imagine young kids, no older than Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom, being forced to fight each other to the death in an arena for nothing more than the amusement of a bloodthirsty mob." The Queen then ended with, "Now, ask me again if I can justify this war."

"Fluttershy," Starlight said pleadingly.

"Starlight, the suffering and cruelty that has gripped this land will not end on its own. Evil has thrived in this area for far too long, and so far the only one who has stood to oppose this madness is my husband."

"But at what price? That madman you call your husband has probably racked up a body count numbering in the thousands, if not tens of thousands. His methods make about as much sense as using leprosy to treat the plague."

"Do you think the insanity in his land should just be allowed to continue?"

"No, I'm not saying that."

"Are you saying we shouldn't stop it?"

"I'm saying war isn't the answer!" Starlight Glimmer finally bristled.

"And you have a better solution?" Fluttershy challenged her. "You can virtue signal from the fenceline all you want, but you're ultimately not doing anything to help anyone."

"Well, I'm sorry, but like a rational equine being I don't consider genocide to be a form of helping. Have you stopped for even a second to consider that these 'brutes' as you call them may have a reason for the things they do? I'm not trying to justify their deeds, I'm just saying that it wouldn't hurt to try and see the world through their eyes. The better you understand them, the easier it will be to help them. Would you put a starving beggar to death for stealing a loaf of bread? I mean, maybe they have families. Maybe pillaging and plundering is the only way for them to survive up here. You know better than I how barren and destitute this place is.

"What about rape, murder and slavery, are those necessities?"

"No, but neither is genocide!"

Fluttershy let her face fall into her hooves with an exasperated sigh. "You sound just like that obnoxious mare I dealt with in the feasting hall that day... Utterly, Obstinately pacifistic to a fault. You're more than happy to complain, but you fall silent when asked for a solution."

"I'm the obstinate one?" Starlight fumed. "Alright, you want a solution? I have one for you: If you want to stop the insanity racking this land with blood and violence, you need to find a way to put down that monster you call your husband." She then jabbed a hoof out toward the swell in Fluttershy's belly. "But no, instead of stopping a monster you'd rather squeeze out another one. With Sombra as the father I'm sure the little bastard will turn out to be even more of a beast than he is."

Fluttershy looked at her as if her words had physically cut her. It was a look that made Starlight Glimmer regret speaking her mind so freely, but she stood by her principals. Bandits and brigands were living beings, too. Criminals, no matter how foul, felt pain and pleasure and joy and sorrow like anyone else. Simply passing them off as 'evil' that must be exterminated was the easy solution, but understanding them and working to rehabilitate them would've been the correct path to take. The old Fluttershy... The sweet, compassionate, altruistic Fluttershy would have known that, but that clearly wasn't who she was dealing with.

Fluttershy looked flustered. She looked as if she was about to say something, but she restrained herself. Instead, she placed her hooves over her belly, closed her eyes, breathed, and said, "If you will excuse me, I think it's about time I take my leave." She climbed down from her seat and made for the door. "And please, don't bother tidying up. I'll have someone collect the cups and tray in the morning."

"Where are you going?" Starlight said to her, suddenly concerned. Watching her friend's awkward steps placated her somewhat. She wasn't sure what she felt for the pregnant mare now. Was it sympathy, remorse, disquiet? Was she going to report her rebuke to Sombra? She wouldn't do that, would she? She was still her friend, wasn't she?

"To bed," Fluttershy replied coldly. "That 'monster' I call my husband should be back from the night's first patrol pretty soon. I would like to be there to greet him when he arrives. I miss him terribly."

"And what am I to do?"

Fluttershy placed her hoof upon the door, and without looking back at her she said in a voice devoid of emotion, "Get some rest. I'll send for you when breakfast is ready."

"I'm talking about in three days. What am I going to do, what's going to happen?"

Fluttershy turned to meet her gaze. She smiled, but it wasn't the warm smile Starlight was accustomed to. It was icy with contempt, yet it burned with outrage. "I promise, by the time this is all over, all four of you will be returned home safe and sound."

"All four of us?" Starlight Glimmer said. "So, I take it to mean you've really no intention of coming back home?"

Fluttershy turned away from her. "This is my home, Starlight." And then she was gone, letting the door close softly behind her before Starlight could beckon her return.

The hours went by as Starlight's forlorn gaze would transition from her window to the fire in her hearth. She tried to sleep on the ostentatious bed in her room that Fluttershy had assigned her to. It was comfortable, warm, and larger than any bed had a right to be. Soft as the clouds themselves, it was complete with a pink mesh shroud which hung from a decorative canopy. It was the type of bed she had always dreamed of owning when she was a filly, but it offered her no comfort. Her thoughts would allow her no respite this night.

Fluttershy was the same, yet she was different. Her warm, sweet demeanor was still there, but she had seemed to have inherited her husband's bloodthirst. It was clear to her that Sombra's influence had taken hold of her.

She had read about Sombra, not only from the book that Fluttershy so despised, but from historical writs that detailed The Dark King's ability to manipulate and beguile. Starlight Glimmer was never more sure of his manipulative tendencies than when she had had dinner with him. He could be polite as well as charming, almost seductively so. When that didn't work, he seemed to be just as articulate with coercion and intimidation.

Manipulation. Fluttershy had been subject to it for half a year now. That was what changed her so drastically, of that Starlight Glimmer was certain. The thing that unsettled her the most was the manipulative tactics of Fluttershy herself. Her plan was so sly, so well thought out, she didn't know whether to be horrified or impressed. Fluttershy's plan was nothing short of manipulative, but she claimed that she was doing it to avoid a possible war with Celestia.

Why was it that a war over control of the peninsula was completely justifiable to her, but a war with Celestia wasn't...?

Because, Sombra would lose, she surmised. The combined powers of Celestia and her sister Luna would overwhelm him. They've already overthrown him once. Why don't they just do it again and get it done with?

The stipulation she and Sombra signed kept her honor-bound from doing so, she reminded herself. And furthermore, Sombra was honor-bound to allow no harm to come to any foreign prisoner, royalty or otherwise. Doing so would violate the DIS, and give Celestia the legal right and justification to attack him. That scenario would not go well in Sombra's favor.

Celestia was smarter than Sombra, as well as wiser, stronger, and she by far held more influence and political experience. The only department Sombra trumped her in was ruthlessness, yet it seemed that the only thing keeping Sombra and Celestia both in check was The Queen's plan.

"Fluttershy," Starlight whispered to herself in astonishment, "when did you become so deviously cunning?" And cunning she was, there was no denying that. But there was another attribute to her friend that made her uneasy. She closed her eyes and imagined Fluttershy standing beside her husband as he roared fiery rhetoric from a podium to a throng of impassioned citizens. Citizens that were not just ready to kill and die in their name, but were eager to do so.

Cunning, Starlight Glimmer thought again, rolling over and pulling the thick quilt up to her neck. And cruel.