https://docs.google.com/document/d/101fgIY3AaQ6lzUk2otkNJaqKpD5LQTDes3vb6BfhB5Y/edit?hl=en_US

A sliver of the moon shone light down on the quiet town, the residents long since retired to bed. Nestled in the heart of the picturesque river valley, Ponyville sat, surrounded on all sides by soaring mountains, rolling fields and luscious forests. It was here in the local library that a small dragon slept.

The bed sheets rose and collapsed in tune with Spike’s breaths, his scaly form clearly defined under the linen. He dreamt of the typical things. Gemstone pies, acts of heroism preformed by him, romantic fulfilment with a certain white unicorn, and letters from Princess Celestia.

Wait, what?

Spike awoke with a start, instantly recognizing the familiar rumbling in his stomach. He didn’t have time to think as he suddenly burped and a letter materialized out of the flames he exhaled.

“A letter from the princess? But it’s…” he glanced at the clock near his bed, “…Two in the morning.”

The dragon let out a sigh and concluded that whatever the letter was must be extremely important. He walked across to the door, scales and tiny claws clacking against the wooden floor, that led to Twilight Sparkle’s room. Raising a reptilian hand, he rapped on the door six times. It wasn’t long until he heard her get up. He also noted that he could hear her groans quite clearly. The doorknob started to turn, and the door swung open.

“Please don’t tell me you had a nightmare, Spike.” The lavender unicorn said, quite spitefully.

Spike held up the letter. Twilight’s eyes widened and she instantly levitated the letter out of his hands. She carried it over to a table and sat down. Unraveling the letter, she started to read.

“My faithful student,

Something has come up in Canterlot. It would be best to tell you in person what it is, and so this letter is more of a formality than anything. A chariot will arrive in Ponyville within an hour. I am sorry to interrupt your sleep, but your presence is urgently needed.

Your mentor,
Princess Celestia.”

It was Spike who broke the silence. “That doesn’t sound good.”

The unicorn sighed as she glanced at the clock. She had just an hour before she would leave.

“No point getting any sleep now.” She said with a dour tone. A thousand questions raced through her mind, but she knew she would not find any answers until she got to Canterlot. For now, all she could do was brush her purple mane, wash her face, and get back to reading that book she had been studying a mere three hours earlier before crawling in bed.

* * *

The chariot ride to Canterlot was uneventful. The cold wind rushing by her face did a superb job at waking her up. She glanced back towards Ponyville, a jumble of lights growing smaller in the distance. Spike had gone back to sleep as soon as he heard the letter. She was a tad jealous, but reminded herself that service to the crown took precedence over a few extra hours of rest.

Twilight looked up at the sky. A brilliant panorama of pale blue orbs littered the sky. Had she not spent the entire night studying, she likely would have taken advantage of the perfect meteorological conditions to brush up on her astronomy. No doubt courtesy of Princess Luna, she thought with a smile. The unicorn made a mental note to personally thank the Princess whenever she next saw her.

They gracefully descended onto the street outside of the Royal Palace. Twilight stepped out and made her way up the steps and into the white castle. She breathed in the scent. The expertly crafted rugs, the stale, marble support pillars, the wooden railings made from Everfree mahogany. A wave of nostalgia swept over her, and she realized it had been quite some time since she had last been in the Equestrian capital. Not since the Gala, she noted with a small chuckle.

She found herself in front of a massive archway adequately filled by and equally massive slab beautifully decorated iron. The metal doors were open, and the throne room was sufficient illuminated by some unseen light source. She stepped inside.

At the end of the room, sitting on a marvelous golden throne, sat a white alicorn. Twilight approached and, upon reaching her, genuflected then rose. She looked around and saw four Earth ponies standing off to the side.

Celestia smiled. “Twilight, I’m so sorry for bringing you here on such short notice and with so little information as to why.”

“It was no trouble at all.” Twilight responded with a warm smile.

Celestia stood up and walked over to the four Earth ponies. “These four ponies are the reason you are here. It would be best for them to explain why.” She gestured to one of them, a black and white colt with two crossed sticks of some sort for a cutie mark.

“Thank you, your majesty.” He said. His accent was strange and unfamiliar. There was a looming grimness to it. Celestia stepped off to the side as the colt started to recount his tale, clearly having had some practice telling it to many people by the way he started.

“We come from a land far to the south. You may know it as Umala. Us four are but lowly farmers from a village deep in the heart of Umala. I am Pan Bare,” he pointed at himself, and then went on to introduce the others.

The dark green stallion he identified as Mane Tis. Twilight looked at his cutie mark. It was the barbed appendage of some frightening insect. Merely looking at it made her shiver. Pan Bare then gestured towards the towering orange and white stallion.

“That is Koi.” The stallion was certainly intimidating. He was almost as large as Celestia herself. His cutie mark was of a fish with similar coloration to his own coat. Pan then focused on the last one, a white mare.

“…and this is Rise.” Her cutie mark was of a stalk of a plant. Twilight recognized the stalk, but could not remember the name. Rise was giving Twilight a once over.

There is a definite… fire in her eyes. Twilight thought as she felt Rise’s gaze pierce right through her. Pan continued with their tale.

* * *

The silence was broken by Pan. The land of the Sun and Moon that lay far to the north. It would no doubt be a dangerous journey, likely filled with strange ponies and places. It sounded strangely appealing to the ever so curious stallion. He stood up and declared, with surprising conviction, “I shall go.”

He felt the gaze of the villagers settle on him for the second time that day. The elder cracked a smile.

“By yourself, boy? Of course not. Some of you other young’ns better go with him.” He said with a notable amusement creeping into his speech.

Another stallion stood up. “I’ll go with him.” Mane Tis stated, very solemnly. He nodded at Pan, and Pan nodded back. Mane walked over to stand next to Pan, who had taken position next to the elder.

Without saying a word, the massive orange and white stallion in back made his way through the crowd and took a place by the other two ponies. His face was unreadable, a mask of stone. Koi was the definition of a living mountain. No one else stood up after that.

“Three of you? Gonna need more than that.” The elder cackled.

Towards the side of the room, another figure stood. Pan’s heart skipped a beat and he tried his best to keep his composure. Rise made her way next to the trio.

The best-looking mare in the village spending several weeks on the road with me? Yes, please.

Pan thought with an internal smile. He glanced at Mane and Koi. With horror he noticed an ever so faint smirk had crept onto both of their faces.

…Dammit.

“Four? Yes. Four will work.”

* * *

A few hours later, the quartet stepped out onto the dirt road on the north side of the village. The early afternoon sun slowly warmed the air that had been cooled by the clouds that morning. Pan glanced at his companions, and for the first time since the meeting in the elder’s home began to consider them. Mane Tis was roughly the same age as Pan, though they had never been close. From the few times he had talked to Mane, it struck Pan that he was a massive pessimist. Bad harvests, mudslides, irrigation failures and general peasant life had a tendency to make a pony frown, but it seemed to affect the green colt moreso than others. Still, he was known as a reliable figure around the village, and Pan was glad to have him with them, if only because he could relate to how Mane felt.

Not much was to be said about Koi. He was big. He was strong. He could drag an entire tree by himself. From what he had seen of him around the village, though, Pan knew him to not be the brightest pony in the herd. Perhaps he was so quiet out of fear of embarrassing himself. Or, more likely, he didn’t have anything to say, Pan thought with a grin.

His gaze settled on Rise. His heart started pounding again. Her perfectly groomed hair fluttered in the breeze. The beautiful orbs that her eyes were gazed up towards the sky, the beautiful blue reflecting off of the whites. Her rice stalk cutie mark was perfect. Simple. Not overly flashy. It wasn’t until Pan was staring at her flanks that he realized he had fallen behind the group. Blushing, he trotted back up towards them and resumed his place between Koi and Mane.

Pan recollected their route in his head. The only map of use that the elder had only went out as far as the borders of their province. This being the case, they planned to follow this road to the provincial capital. There they hoped to acquire some more specific directions to the northern lands.

As the four of them began to settle into a steady traveling pace, he asked himself why he had bothered with doing this. A handful of farmers, from an insignificant village in the middle of nowhere, trying a reach a destination they know nothing about. They had no money, only a few crates of white rice with which to barter.

He didn’t even believe they had any chance at succeeding. From the moment he volunteered to go, he knew it was more likely he would get gored with a sword by a highwayman than reach the borders of Umala. So why was he here?

Fame and glory. he thought morosely. It was, in a sense, true. The life of a farmer was not one that appealed to him. His worst fear was to pass on without having made any significant accomplishments. Pan shook his head, banishing the thought. These were dangerous ideas he was toying with. No sense trying to be a hero. I have a village to save.

Again, Pan looked at his new found friends and realized with a grin that they were likely having the same internal conversations he was having. They had spoken few words since they had departed. Pan resolved to break the silence sometime in the near future. It was a tad unnerving.

This left Pan alone with his mind once again. The only thing that he could think of was the overarching question of this entire journey.

Why?

Why were a bunch of farmers leaving their ancestral home to seek help from a place they knew literally nothing about? A place they would likely die before reaching?

Being simple farmers, they knew very little of politics. What they did know, however, was that there was some sort of power struggle occurring for total control of Umala between the Jade Lotus clan and the Red Dragon clan, and the resulting chaos is what allowed Umala to sink to such levels of corruptness. In these fragmented states bands of raiders sprung up all over the nation, taking advantage of the non-existent militias to raid farming communities for all their needs.

Oddly enough, despite Pan’s worries, the foursome made it to the provincial capital of Huang Hoof in a matter of days without any problems. In fact, their first problems came in the capital. And all that caused it was simply asking for a map.

* * *

“What do you mean you don’t sell world maps?” Mane demanded. The storekeeper, Papyrus, was taken aback. “This is a fucking map store. You’re telling me you don’t have a single world map?” Pan was taken aback by Mane Tis’ sudden outbreak. He recollected his senses and put a hoof on Mane’s shoulder.

“Just calm down, Mane. I’m sure there’s a reason.” Over the past few days of travel Mane had proven he was quite hot tempered; a fact of which Pan had not been aware of starting off from the village.

“Jade Lotus clan doctrine.” The merchant said, regaining his composure. “The only maps I’m permitted to sell are maps of Jade Lotus clan territory, which at this point in time is most of the southeastern half of Umala. And before you ask, no. I have no idea why they decreed this. If you want, you could ask one of them yourself.” He gestured out the window towards a large stone structure in the middle of the town. “The provincial governor is paid off by the Jade Lotus to keep things the way they want it around here.”

“Maybe I will! I’ll go there right now!” Mane declared with an indignant huff.

“Go ahead. Just don’t blame me when they cut off your head.” Papyrus said.

Mane stopped in his tracks. He sighed, and walked back over to his friends by the counter.

The merchant continued. “The gov’ doesn’t allow anyone near him he doesn’t already know. Unless you’re a
representative from the Jade Lotus or a local magistrate, his samarei assistant will flay your neck right open with one flick of her hoof-blades.” The merchant made a frisking motion near his neck to add emphasis.

“A samarei? Really?”

Pan looked at Koi. Those were among the few words he had spoken the entire trip thus far.

“Eeyup. And a crazy bitch of a one, at that, if you don’t mind me saying so. She makes a habit of making life for us merchants a living hell. Stealing stuff and stabbing people who call her out on her crimes, things like that. We here learn to just let her do as she please and everyone will end up much happier.”

There was a lull in the conversation that was soon broken by Rise.

“So about those maps…”

“Ah, yes. I can’t legally sell you one.”

Pan’s head drooped.

“But…”

His head popped back up.

“The Jade Lotus clan never made any statute against showing a non-local map to anyone.” Papyrus ushered towards a sliding door leading to a back room. The four of them went in, followed by the merchant.

Many racks surrounded them, in which sat hundreds of rolled up scrolls of paper. The air was very dry. The merchant walked over to a corner, where a wooden chest sat with a heavy lock on it. Pulling a hidden key out of his mane, he unlocked the chest and opened it up. Reaching inside, his hand emerged holding an incredibly massive parchment. He set it down on the bamboo floor and rolled it out; a map of the world. The four of them gasped as the merchant smirked. It was a beautiful mosaic of many colors. It was the first time the four of them had seen anything like it.

“Impressive, isn’t it. You don’t really get a grip on just how small you are until you see this.”

Mane stammered, “and just how small are we?”

Papyrus leaned over the paper and pointed with a hoof. “Well, this purple splotch right here is Umala. This star in the purple splotch is the imperial capital city of our once great nation. This smaller dot is the town in which you are now standing, and, according to what you told me...” the merchant was tracing the map with his hoof. “Here. Your village is right around here.”

The spot he pointed to was close to the southern border of Umala. Pan gulped. It had taken them two days to cover about a fourth of Umala. That means the earliest they could get through the country and into the north lands would be in six days, assuming they kept up the same pace they had before.

They had three weeks to get to Equestria, three weeks there to gather whatever help they could muster, and another three weeks to get back. From then, hopefully, the warriors would have a month to prepare for the impending attack following the barley harvest. If everything went to plan.

“Now, I believe I should have the right to know why you need to see this map so badly.”

Pan looked at the others. Their expressions were unreadable. I suppose there’s no harm in telling him… he thought.

“Equestria. Were heading to Equestria. To the city of pearly streets.” Pan said.

If the merchant had anything in his mouth at that time, he would have spit it out. Instead, he started dry heaving.

“Are you insane?! EQUESTRIA?” He shouted.

Pan shrank back. “Um... yes?”

The merchant let his panting cease before he continued. “You’re lucky I’m no friend of the Jade Lotus, because I could turn you in right now and pocket myself quite a bit of silver. You’re farmers, you don’t know much, I get that. But let me make this clear:

“Neither the Jade Lotus clan nor the Red Dragon clan make a habit of being friendly with Equestrians or anything related to them. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know. That’s just how it is. If that is where you are trying to get, then I regretfully must inform you that there is no way.”

The farmers looked at each other, then back at the map. Pan glanced over the region labeled ‘Umala’ again. He looked at the dot that represented the town they were currently in. A thin black line snaked it’s way through the dot, into northern Umala and out of the borders of the country itself. Though Pan couldn’t read, next to it were some letters that read ‘Yangtze’.

He still understood what it was. A river. Slowly, a smile crept up on Pan’s face.

“Tell me, Papyrus, sir. What do you know about the local smuggling business?”

The storeowner looked at Pan, and then at where he was staring. A second grin joined Pan’s, followed by a laugh.

* * *

Crouched on the roof of a store, her ears flattened against a hole carved in the tiling, a dark grey mare provided a third smile.

“Oh, he is going to love this.” She said to no one in particular. With that, she leaped off the roof without a sound and briskly trotted in the direction of the looming stone building in the middle of town.

* * *

It was a short while later that Pan Bare, Koi, Rise and Mane Tis found themselves lying under a large sheet, in the dark, in an ages old riverboat.

There was no love for the Jade Lotus in this region of Umala; that much was clear. Papyrus the map seller had said that assisting them was a reward in itself if it meant defying the clan, and the smugglers themselves were surprisingly sympathetic towards their cause, as well as sharing the same anti-clan sentiments.

Still, that didn’t change the fact that they were sitting in a dark, cramped, stuffy, noisy cargo hold. Smuggling was smuggling after all.

Besides, I can feel Rise’s breath on my neck.

* * *

The journey in the riverboat had been uneventful, if uncomfortable. Over the course of two days, they had been let up for fresh air and food only a handful of times, and only when it had been dark. Thus, it came as a welcome surprise when a smuggler ripped the cloth off of the farmers. They covered their eyes as the morning sun shined on them through the cargo hold door.

“End of the line.”

They got to their feet with a notable amount of groaning and started to make their way to the doorway.

“Unfortunately, we can’t take you out of Umala proper. A flotilla of boats is sitting up river that will fire bomb any vessel that comes near without clearance. Vessels like ours.”

“Where are we?” Mane asked.

“A small fishing village just south of the border. Walk north through the woods about an hour and you’ll be in no-pony’s land.”

“No-pony’s land?” Pan asked.

“I guess you’d call it a buffer area,” the smuggler said, his mouth tripping over the words. “Technically belongs to Equestria, but them princesses up north don’t make any attempt to manage what goes on in there.”

“Any idea how long it will take to get from this no-pony’s land to Equestria?”

The smuggler looked at them quizzically. “Sheeeyyut, I don’t know. When’s the last time anypony ever seen a map that go past this here border? Just head up north, and with any luck you’ll slip by the border patrol unnoticed.”

The four farmers took the opportunity to thank the riverponies. They declined any attempts to repay them. As they departed, the skipper offered a few last words.

“Best of luck to ya. You’ll need it.”

* * *

It wasn’t until later that night that Pan Bare realized just how lucky they had been so far. They had gotten through Umala in just over five days, mostly in part thanks to a friendly shop keeper. Papyrus. Pan repeated the name in his head. To maintain their schedule of three weeks, they had 16 days to get through the no-pony’s lands and to the pearly city. Pan tried to visualize the map in his head. His best guess was a week and a half to get to Equestria.

He thought back to earlier. A raised dirt road sat in the middle of the forest, carving it’s way through the foliage. The border. They sat in the bushes for an hour gathering their wits as they watched the patrols of Red Dragon soldiers trot along every few minutes. They had to time this perfectly, or the quite intimidating pole arms mounted on the soldier’s backs would probably skewer them.

A patrol passed out of sight, and they darted out onto the road, sprinting to the other side as fast as they could.

“STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM.”

It wasn’t fast enough. Pan managed to spur his legs to go faster. The three others evidently felt similar urges. Though they were on the other side, they weren’t safe. The soldiers pounded their way through the flora, hot on their heels.

Pan still didn’t know how they escaped unscathed. They certainly hadn’t outrun them. They just turned around. Went back to the border. At the time, Pan didn’t stop to consider it. Even later, he still didn’t get it. Perhaps the four farmers weren’t worth chasing after.

They didn’t stop running until they found themselves standing on a grassy knoll. It was on this hill that they first saw it. The world. Their first steps out of Umala were greeted by a spectacular sunset over golden grasslands. In the distance they could see the faint outline of mountains. Exhausted from the days excursions, Mane and Koi set up camp while Pan gathered firewood.

Now, completely dark save for the fire, Pan again considered their situation. Dirt poor farmers, now branded fugitives, in a foreign land, still with only a vague sense of where they were headed. About the same as when they had departed, he noted.

“It is what it is,” he said out loud in a very sarcastic fashion.

The others glanced at him, their expressions indicating that they were having the same thoughts.

* * *

“The next few days consisted of travelling through your southernmost lands until we eventually reached the real Equestria. I won’t bore you with praise for a land you are so familiar with, but to put it simply we were impressed. We practically galloped all the way to the white city we saw in the distance, where we now stand. It was nearly midnight when we arrived, and we have spent the last couple of hours trying to gain in audience with Princess Celestia. I must admit we had to pose as foreign dignitaries to be taken seriously, especially at such a late hour, and even that was a stretch based on our appearances. Fortunately, she was most compassionate, and has agreed to give us audience. And that is why and how we are here, and at this hour.”

Pan Bare emphasized the last words with a long exhale. His tale had taken nearly an hour, and Twilight Sparkle could tell that he had omitted quite a few details.

The six of them, Twilight, Celestia, Pan Bare, Mane Tis, Rise and Koi had moved into a spacious meeting room with comfortable sofas to sit on while Pan went on with their story. Twilight stood from her seat and walked over to a window. The stars hung above, a reminder of just how diminutive they were in the grand scheme of things. It was just past five. She was fully alert right now, and right now gears were turning in her head.

“Teacher, may I speak to you in private?”

* * *

Princess Celestia shut the door to her personal office behind her.

“Why am I here?”

“Twilight, you know we have to help these ponies.”

“Yes, and I want to. But why am I here? These ponies need military assistance, not some filly unicorn that sits in a library studying all day.”

Celestia closed her eyes for a moment and turned away from Twilight.

“Military assistance is not something I can provide.” She said softly.

Twilight was silent. Celestia turned back to her and opened her eyes.

“Equestria’s diplomatic relationship with Umala has been… rough, as of late.” She walked over to her desk and sat in the velvet chair behind it. “I won’t go into details, but let’s just say that following some failed political moves Umala cut off all contact with us.”

Twilight was familiar enough with her teacher to read her face, and right now she knew Celestia wanted to tell her more. Twilight pulled a chair up to the desk and sat.

“Tell me.”

The alicorn sighed.

“You know your history, Twilight. You should know that 253 years ago, Umala was engulfed in a horrific civil war.”

Twilight nodded.

“It was a massive peasant rebellion; tens of millions of villagers and common townsponies rising against the then emperor and his government.”

This Twilight knew as well.

“The war went on for many years before the emperor was finally abdicated. Even if you have the power, you have nothing if you don’t have the people. His forces were starved out of both food and resources. The emperor fled the country and came to me. He requested I honor our alliance and assist him in forcefully retaking his throne.”

Twilight raised her eyebrows. “He wanted attack his own subjects?”

Celestia sighed, “Yes. Yes he did. Twilight, I know you know basic politics. And I know you understand why I agreed to help him.”

The unicorn, for the second time that day, went wide-eyed. “What!?”

The alicorn continued, unphased. “To dishonor an alliance is to show every other nation on Earth that we are unreliable. That we cannot be trusted. Surely you know this?”

“I… yes. I don’t like it, but I do.” she conceded.

Celestia stood once again and stared out her window.

“Please understand that I have no pride in my actions. The game of saving face requires sacrifices that no pony should have to make. But, as the leader of the most important country on this planet, I must let go of my morals if the situation demands it, for my country and my populace. In that case, the situation involved the assassination of several rebel leaders. I complied, much to the emperors satisfaction.”

Twilight gaped at her teacher. She stammered out a few words. Though she wanted to voice her utter disgust at the turn of events, her rationality took the better of her.

“B-b-but HOW? We don’t have any sort of active military!”

Another silent pause.

“A good leader knows that knowledge is power. Without knowledge they are weak. Worthless. Nothing.” She emphasized the last words. “I am not lacking in knowledge, Twilight. Not with the help of certain… government ministries I have created over the past few years.”

Twilight wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the rest of this.

“Research and development, espionage, homeland security, surveillance…”

Now she really knew she didn’t.

“…sabotage, extraction, and, if need be, assassination.” She practically spat the last words out. “Twilight, without the Ministry of Intelligence I. am. Nothing. Even with the power of the sun in my hooves, I am nothing without intelligence.”

Twilight was visibly shaking. Celestia either didn’t notice or didn’t care, because she continued.

“The emperor requested I act upon our alliance. I had the resources and systems in place to do so. And thus I did. And that, Twilight, is how I was able to satisfy the emperor without a standing military.”

Twilight was glued to her seat, trying to resist the urge to cower in fear. The Princess was not as perfect as anyone thought. Barely whispering, she forced out another question.

“How could you?”

The Princess whipped around and faced Twilight with sudden ferocity.

“Do you think I took pleasure in it? Do you think I am at peace with what I have done? What I have caused? I gave the order. I may not have lit the fuse, but I loaded the muzzle. Six shots. That’s all it took for those two madponies Jade Lotus and Red Dragon the opportunity seize control. They rallied hundreds of thousands of innocent ponies under their banners in a futile power struggle. A struggle still going on. TO. THIS. DAY. A struggle that is the reason why those four ponies are sitting in our castle, so much farther from home than they should be! THEY ARE HERE BECAUSE OF ME.

“So, Twilight. You ask WHY you’re here? It is because YOU are the most powerful spell caster in Equestria. It is because YOU pose no liability to the integrity of my Ministry. I ask you, Twilight Sparkle, for my own sake, please help these ponies, because you’re the only one that can!”

With that, Celestia collapsed back into her chair, breathing heavily. Twilight could barely think as she tried to wrap her distressed mind around the new vision of the world she was provided.

“Okay.”

Celestia looked at her.

“I will protect these ponies.” Twilight said, nearly choking as she did.

“Twilight. Do you know what you are getting into?”

She nodded her head.

“I ask again, Twilight. Do you know what I am asking of you.”

Twilight stared at Celestia, then sighed.

“No, Princess. I don’t. I really don’t.” she admitted.

Celestia stood, her horn flaring with white light as she straightened out some stray hairs.

“Know this, Twilight Sparkle: You will be heading off into battle. There will be no negotiating with those bandits. They will be nothing like Equestrian ponies. They are crude. Hateful.” She paused. “Violent.”

“My faithful student, you are heading down a path I fear you will not return from. When the blood, the mood, the horror of true violence rushes at you, that. That is the moment of no return. I have no doubts for your safety. Umala is a land of Earth ponies, and your magic will protect you. What I fear it won’t protect, however, is your soul.” Celestia looked down at her student. “You don’t have to do this. I’m not expecting you to. In fact, I hope you don’t. The pain this could cause you would be too terrible for me to live with.”

The sun was climbing up the sky. It was seven in the morning.

“My teacher, Princess Celestia,” The lavender unicorn said with a soft tone, “I will do this, no matter what the price, be that my body, my soul or my life. I will this for Equestria. For Umala. For those four farmers sitting in this palace. But most of all, I will do this for you, Princess.”

The pure white, regal pony smiled down at her student, tears reforming in her eyes.

“But, I can’t do this alone.” Twilight finished.

With a half-hearted grin, Celestia opened a drawer in her desk. She pulled out a thick folder and hoofed it to Twilight. Stamped on the front, in bold, black letters, read:

“I wouldn’t expect you to.”