"Esta viva, Esta viva, Esta viva,” Xvital muttered to herself, rocking back and forth in complete darkness, struggling to get to her feet. There were hurried voices around her but Xvital couldn’t open her eyes or see what was happening. She felt hands on her shoulders, holding her down and she wouldn’t be captured like that!

“Xvital, calmate,” a familiar voice barked at her, a voice she knew. “Soy yo, Rex.”

“Rex!” she shouted, snapping her eyes open at last and saw the diamond dog off to the side, looking down at her. She lunged up and pulled him close to her chest. “Oh gracias a los dioses Rex,” she cried into his shoulder, her heart racing. “Rex, ella está viva!”

“Si, lo se,” he told her soothingly, rubbing her back. “Y tu al fin despertaste.”

She cried into his shoulder for a bit longer before she managed to collect herself, looked up at him and said, “Gracias, Rex.” She then tilted her head, blinking in confusion. “Despierta? De que hablas?”

“Has dormido por dos semanas, Xvital,” Rex said, causing her to bolt upwards.

“Dos semanas‽” she shouted, causing more voices to suddenly make themselves known.

“Xvital‽” two female voices cried with Page poking her changeling head into her room and Vix-Lei pushing the mare aside to pull her into a hug.

“Thank the gods you’re okay!” the minotaur shouted as she did her best to squeeze her in half.

“Aire! Necesito aire!” Xvital squeaked with Vix-Lei blinking in confusion at her.

“Vix-Lei, please don’t make Xvital unconscious again,” Rex said as he tried his best to push them apart.

“Oh shit, sorry,” Vix-Lei said as she let her go and Xvital started gasping for air.

“Esta bien, esta bien,” Xvital said, rubbing her side. “Yo-”

“Hey, you’re up,” Wind Breaker said, poking his head into the room with Night shoving to get inside too.

“How are you-”

“Necesito aire! Muy apretado!” Xvital cried again, feeling claustrophobic all of a sudden as she shoved her way towards the door. Thankfully, they got out of her way, with Night and Wind Breaker pulling their heads out. With heavy panting, Xvital found herself almost stumbling immediately as she left the room only to be caught by Night Blade, using himself as a brace.

“Careful, Xvital,” he cautioned as she gripped his side to push herself upright. “The first step is a bit of a doozy if you are not looking out for it.”

“G-Gracias, Night,” she stammered as she patted his side and looked behind her to see a medium size wagon with everyone else exiting it. Turning her head to the side, she saw some familiar beech trees and everything smelt like home… “Que-”

“Xvital,” Rex said as he walked up to her. “You are speaking Burroñeso and the others cannot understand you.”

“Perd-” Xvital shook her head. “Sorry; it’s just that…” Xvital let out a shudder, leaning against a tree before letting gravity drop her to her butt. “What happened?”

“You tell us,” Page said as she moved to her side and nuzzled her. “You put on your Element, you cried out in pain and we couldn’t wake you up at all. Dazzling Prism took us near the border, and gave Night his choice of a new sword from the armory before leaving us to bring the relics from the Order to a safe place. We’ve been taking care of you since, moving away from Equestria and…” Page trailed off before gazing at her with a steady look. “What happened? Rex told us he felt some odd magic when you put your element on but that’s all we know.” Xvital blinked as she saw the rest of them sit down in a circle, and Vix-Lei dragging the wagon over to the side before joining them.

“I-” Xvital tried to begin but what she saw caused her to wince. She waved them back and forced herself to tell them what happened. “When I put it on…” she blinked, looking at Rex for where her Element was but he apparently knew what she was thinking and told her it was safe in the wagon. Muttering thanks to him, Xvital began again. “When I put it on, I was in this library place… only it was wrong. The books, they didn’t match you see and when I opened one up, I saw this white winged unicorn - it must have been Celestia - glaring down at me and I felt a wave of terror, shame and guilt and other crap,” Xvital said as she rocked a bit. “Then this door opened up to the basement and whatever was down there would have killed me. And then some sort of monster chased me up the stairs and I turned into a kid and then I saw her in this mad room. It was like a mixture of a kid’s bedroom with something out of a horror novel.” Xvital paused to gather some air before continuing. “Guys; the Magi of Stars? Something’s very wrong with her; she’s not the unicorn we all know but some donkey girl called Smarty Pants and she seems to be really messed up in the head. And that monster I told you about smashed into the room and began to smack around the girl around before it spotted me,” Xvital froze as she recalled what it said. “It knew who I was and I’m sure that it is our foe. Balance saved my tail there but guys? She’s still alive!”

That caused everyone to gasp with Page going stock still.

“Come on,” Vix-Lei scoffed, shaking her head. “That’s impossi-”

“Are you sure,” Page shouted at her, causing Xvital to jump. “Are you fucking sure about this‽” She began to pant angrily, walking back and forth in tight circles.

“I-” Xvital stammered, shocked by the ferocity that Page was suddenly forcing onto her.

“Yes or no, Xvital!” she yelled into her face. “Do you know what it means if she is actually still alive‽ It means that this motherfucker captured her on the day of Cadanza’s wedding and that it used my hive as scapegoats! That every fucking thing that has happened to my goddessesdamn hive was because of it and we were innocent the entire TIME!” Page let out a shout of anger before turning her head at a tree and blasting it with her magic.

There was only the sound of Page’s heavy panting as her chest rose and fell, glaring angrily at the ground. No one seemed to be willing to speak, with Vix-Lei shooting nervous looks around the circle.

“If this is true,” Rex said quietly. “It means that whatever creature we are up against is far older and more dangerous than we previously suspected.” He sat back. “It is also clear what our next goal is. I believe I could make a modified charm to locate the both the Magi of Stars and our foe with the proper ingredients. We must then return to Equestria and find where the Magi of Stars is being held… and rescue her. ”

“On our own?” Vix-Lei shook her head. “I hate to disagree here guys, but… if we’re going up against something like that, I think we’re going to need some backup. What’s left of the Order might be working to distract the Guards with their rebellion in the Crystal Dominance, but there are still plenty of Guards in Canterlot beyond you know, that thing that has not only the Captain General under its control and the Magi of Stars. We’re going to need practically another whole army to handle them while we search for our little donkey-corn.” She turned thoughtful for a moment. “Wish we’d brought Sunset back with us - she probably would have been a big help.”

“She’s where she needs to be,” Wind Breaker replied. “Though if there were a way to keep in touch with her from this side, I think it would have come in very useful now.” He sighed. “And speaking of where, I think we need to tell Xvital just where we’ve ended up besides away from Equestria.”

“You’re right,” Night said, bowing his head but refusing to look at her directly.

Xvital looked suspiciously at him, then glanced around at the others, all of whom had somewhat guilty looks on their faces. “Okay, what’s going on?”

“The truth is, none of us know much about ahuizotl biology,” Wind Breaker said, with Rex looking guiltier at this. “And when you suddenly went comatose like you did… well, we decided we should go find somepony who would know. And the best place we could think of to find that kind of help is down here.”

Xvital had a sneaking suspicion she knew what he meant, but chose to ask it anyway. “Guys. Where. Are. We?”

“We’re… in the Cuanmiztl Kingdom, Paraíso Valley,” Wind Breaker admitted. “Heading for the capital city to find a doctor.”

Her heart began to hammer inside her chest and she began to shake. “No no no, mierda, yo no puedo estar aquí,” she stammered.

“Xvital, your criminal past aside, it was a risk we had to take,” Rex said. “And you are speaking Burroñeso again.”

“Me importa una puta mierda,” she snapped as she got to her feet. “No puedo estar aqui y-” she froze as she thought she heard something. “Escucharon eso?” she asked them and while only Rex could understand her, they all seemed to be listening for something now.

“Yes…” Page said, tilting her head as she flicked back to her unicorn form. “But it seems to be very happy.”

It was at that point something exploded from the bush and tackled her over, with its head over her face and Xvital was unable to stop its attack.

When the object tackled over Xvital, everyone leapt to their feet to help her out.

Night had drawn his Masamane blade with Wind Breaker drawing his crossbow and loading a bolt. Vix-Lei was snorting in anger as she flicked out Señor Hardhead and held it shorthand with Page’s horn glowing as she prepared some spell. Rex cursed himself for not having a potion he could use that would deal with whatever was on top of the ahuizotless without harming Xvital who seemed to be laughing.

“Wut?” Vix-Lei blinked as they all took a second to see that it was a timber wolf that was on top of Xvital and was slobbering her with its tongue.

“Xolo, bajate de mí, tu gran leño,” she laughed, struggling to push the timber wolf, constructed of beech wood, off her but it simply continue to bathe her face. “Vamos, dejame levantarme chica,” Xvital said as she tapped the side of the false canine which seemed to be the trick to free herself from the overly affectionate beast. Xvital then sat up and held the timber wolf’s head in her hands, shaking its head as she would do for any normal dog. “Asi que por que estas aqui, chica?” Xvital said with just the same amount of love as before only to trail off with eyes going wide. “Oh mierda, si tu estas aqui, entonces el esta-”

“Xolo, donde fuiste?” a voice with the same accent as Xvital called out, with their ahuizotless freezing on the spot as a male ahuizotl walked out of the bush with a couple more right behind him. The newcomer froze as he saw Xvital, with his mouth hanging low. He didn’t even seem to notice that his pet had bounded over to him. “Xvital… Eres tu?” he asked softly as he walked over to Xvital who seemed to shrink from him.

With a weak and nervous chuckle, Xvital looked at the ground, saying, “Hola Tizoc.”

“Wait a moment,” Night Blade said with his eyes going wide in fright. “You’re Tizoc? The Prince-King of the Cuanmiztl Kingdom‽” he squeaked with reasonable fear.

“Si, lo soy, joven Blade,” he said courtly, causing Night Blade to tremble a bit before the nox pony settled himself. “Xvital,” he said turning back to her. “No puedo creer que seas tu...” he sighed, shaking his head. “Antes de continuar, debo saber; principalmente por que!” His sudden shouting caused Xvital to flinch.

“Puedo explicarlo, lo prometo,” Xvital said quickly and brushing her hair out of her face. “Bien, escucha, mientras nos encontrabamos en Equestria, habia esta cosa espiritosa que-”

“No me refiero a tu recompenza internazional, Xvital,” Tizoc said sharply as he stood in front of her. “Tu ya sabes de que hablo,” he said with a bit of sternness in his voice as he held her hands.

“Hey Rexy,” Vix-Lei whispered loudly in his ear, causing him to jump. “Care to tell us what they’re saying.” Rex blinked as he saw that they were all looking at him for translations.

“Tizoc is inquiring something about his and Xvital’s past,” Rex hissed back as he tried to pay attention to their conversation, Xvital being really shy all of a sudden.

“Tizy,” Xvital said with a blush on her face, eyes on the ground. “Eso es muy complicado; quiero decir, hay mucho de mi que no conoces.”

“She is telling him that there is a lot of her past he does not know.”

“Xy, nunca me importó tu pasado,” Tizoc said in a soothing tone. “Nunca me importó que fueras ladrona, solo quiero saber porq-”

“Espera, que dijiste?” Xvital said, snapping her eyes at him. “Tu sabías‽”

“He said her past never bothered him, that he knew she was a thief and Xvital is quite surprised by the fact.”

“Pues si, yo sabía sobre tu pasado, Xy,” Tizoc said as he began to back up as Xvital began to stalk towards him. Notably his guards did not seem all too concern about this; standing still with their spears pointed straight up with their faces composed. “Nunca fuiste tan buena escondiendo secretos y-”

He was cut off as Xvital began to hit him. “Lo supiste todo el tiempo y nunca dijiste nada, maldito imbecil‽” she growled as she began to shove him backwards. “Sabes lo estresante que era pretender ser así, siempre preocupándome que tu descubrieras mi pasado y tu siempre supiste‽” She pushed him to the ground, continuing to smack him with her hands with the prince-king holding his arms up to defend himself. “POR QUE nunca dijiste nada‽”

“Creía que era como la biblioteca, Xy, pero creí que habías aprendido esta vez,” Tizoc said with a sly smile on his face. Xvital groaned heavily, smacked him across the head and leaned against him.

“Nunca lo vas a olvidar, verdad?” Xvital grumbled with a pout on her face.

“Jamas, Xy,” Tizoc said while rubbing the side of her face.

“He said-”

“We can guess Rexy,” Vix-Lei hushed him.

“Entonces me dirás por que te fuiste?” Tizoc asked as he propped himself on his elbows.

“He is asking why she left again.”

“Mira Tizoc, esto es muy complicado y te juro que si sigues traduciendo lo que decimos Rex te JURO que te opero las bolas con una cuchara.”

“She is saying it is very complicated and… oh,” Rex blinked and blushed, stammering off as he realized the threat leveled against him. He saw that the rest of the pack was looking at him in confusion but he simply mouthed later as he did not wish to take the risk of calling her bluff.

“Por favor, Xy, Necesito saber la raz-” Tizoc pleaded with her once again.

“Fue Chantico, vale?” Xvital said with a snap, looking guilty.

“Ah,” Tizoc tapping the ground. “Siempre sospeché que ella había tenido que ver con eso pero ambos sabemos que ella nunca admitiría nada.”

“Si, ella siempre pue una gran perrr-” Xvital began to trail off as she began to blush heavily.

“Xy, puedes llamar perra a mi mama. Confia en mi, la conozco mas que tu,” Tizoc said with Rex getting a wider idea of their exact relationship. “Entonces me dejarás y me vas a presentar a tus compañeros?”

“Oh si, lo siento,” Xvital giggled before rolling to the side and began to lift herself up upright with a bit of a stagger. Both Tizoc and Xolo helped her up, with the prince-king holding her arm and the timber wolf bounding to her side to act as brace.“Gracias,” she smiled at the two before turning her head to the pack. “Tizoc, ellos son Wind Breaker, Rex, Night Blade, Page Turner and Vix-Lei,” she said as gestured to each of them before moving her hand to Tizoc. “Chicos, el es-” she stopped herself, taking a deep breath of air. “Guys, this is…” she hesitated again, chewing her lip. “This is Tizoc, the Prince-King of the Cuanmiztl Kingdom and…” she trailed off again, her face reddening up.

“I was her groom to be before she left on our wedding day,” Tizoc said as he placed her hands on her shoulders, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “Apparently my mother the dowager queen had convinced Xy here to run away just a few hours before we would say our vows.”

“Wait, is all that true, kitty cat‽” Vix-Lei shouted as she stepped close to the ahuizotless with the guards that came with Tizoc stepping forwards now.

“Yes - my mother has a certain view of who is allowed to marry me,” Tizoc said as he waved his guards back with his tail hand. “And yes, Xy here,” he pinched her cheeks causing Xvital to grumble and swat away his hand with a blush on her face. “Was to give me the greatest joy and honour of allowing me to be her husband.”

“Tonto alagador,” Xvital grumbled under her breath, blushing harder.

“Y me amas por eso, Xy,” Tizoc said in teasing tone before looking at them again. “So can someone please tell me the whole truth of the matter and what I can do to help?”

“Espera, que?” Xvital turning her head towards Tizoc. “A que te refieres?”

“Well Xy, whatever you are mixed up in, I want to help you and your new companions in anyway I can,” Tizoc said with complete confidence.

“But… you know about the bounty on us, right?” Xvital said with confusion in her voice.

“Of course I do,” Tizoc said as he held her hands, caressing her face with his tail hand before kneeling down with his tail hand reaching into a pouch he had around his waist. “I also have complete and utter faith in you and I am still willing to stand by you, Xvital, no matter what happens. Sickness and health, bad times and good times, I will never leave your side and I will always be willing to lay down my life for yours, my beautiful flower,” he pulled something from his pouch that caused everyone to gasp with Xvital pressing her hands to face. “I have always kept this on me just in case I met you again, so I can ask the most important question in my life again.” Holding out the engagement ring with simply salivating flawless diamond, Tizoc said, “Xvital, will you marry me?”

Xvital was left speechless, shaking her head in disbelief before saying in a very soft voice, “Of course, you damn incorrigible bastard,” before pulling his head upwards into a powerful kiss. Rex and the rest of the pack could not hold back their own signs of joy at this wonderful news; Rex himself was beaming alongside Night Blade and Wind Breaker with Vix-Lei d’awwing loudly and Page letting out a hiccup as she transformed back into her natural changeling form.

Everyone turned to face the now blushing changeling hybrid who was pawing the ground. “Sorry,” she said with a hint of a squeak in her voice. “But that was really filled with love and it kinda overcame me…”

Tizoc simply chuckled as he put the ring on Xvital’s finger and pulled her closer with his arms. “Xy, you never cease to make everything more interesting, do you?”

“Oh shut up,” Xvital said, swatting him playfully.

It had been a few hours since they had retired to his cottage, with Xvital and the girls making a beeline for the showers and leaving the three guys to explain everything to him. While he was a bit hesitant to trust them, Xvital seemed to trust them and that was good enough for him. And the story they were telling him…

“That is quite worrisome, mister Blade,” he responded to what the nox pony told him, finishing their tale. “But it does explain the current behaviour of the Equestrian government.”

“I still say you are crazy for just believing us,” Xvital muttered from his side, rubbing a towel along her hair with Xolo sprawled out on her lap.

“Oh hush,” he told her with a smile on his face, causing her to blush. “Do I need to do another romantic gesture Xy?”

“No,” she grumbled, pulling Xolo closer to herself with his faithful guard dog happily licking her hands.

“Come on, kitty cat,” Vix-Lei said as she sat down on the chairs he had his servants bring out just for her kind. “Don’t be a downer. With Tizy’s help here, we actually stand a chance at beating our foe.”

“No we do not,” Tizoc said, shaking his head. “Not directly at least. And I cannot bring my army to bear without any concrete evidence in any case.”

“So what are we going to do?” the valley griffon asked as he ate some of the food his chefs prepared for them.

“Well, we should wait for Rex to see if those tracers work,” Page Turner said as she walked into the room, who really was a changeling, eyeing his guards cautiously. He couldn’t blame the dear for her fears; while his people had no true bias against her kind, he still represented authority and that must make it hard for her to accept that she was safe here.

“If anyone could do it, it is Rex,” the young Blade said with confidence, polishing his sword. His bodyguards were a bit uncomfortable with having the Butcher of the Everfree Forest tend to his weapon like that near him but Tizoc trusted Xvital when she said the young Blade was safe.

“Speaking of,” Rex said as the Diamond Dog walked into from the laboratory with a number of different compasses. “I was correct in my theory that they were auras belonging to individuals and I was able to perform the necessary alchemical transformation with Page’s assistance.” He separated the compasses into two piles. Gesutiring the compasses with purple arrows pointing in the direction of Equestria. “These are connected to a normal, albeit powerful, individual.” He then coughed and tapped the other pile with pitch black arrows pointing in same direction. Tizoc let out a hiss at the sight of it, his fur bristling for some reason he could not place his finger on and that worried him. “This belongs to our foe and to be completely honest, the aura is like nothing I have ever seen before and it truly scares me.”

“Hey, I’ve got no magic and that thing makes me want to smash it with my hammer,” Vix-Lei said with a snort.

“Be as that may,” Tizoc said as he sought to bring some order back into this discussion. “We have the means to locate the Magi of Stars and this foe. What we need to do is make a plan that is more than just make it up as you go.” He got swatted by Xvital for that little barb but he could tell she moving into her more serious mode, pushing Xolo off her lap and leaning across the table. She was already taking charge, detailing out a plan that actually involved him which made him smile; his Xy wasn’t putting him on some high platform and was treating him like an equal partner.

He could not wait until they were finally married.