Chapter 26: A Shade In The Night

Twilight, Rarity and Morning Blaze immediately hid behind an about head high wall that seemed to separate the area for the barracks from the scientific districts. The mood seemed to be very tense since most tried to get in touch with their friends and family in the bigger cities. Nopony would even care about it anymore, at least not until their new goal has been achieved. The three of them knew the basic layout of the city, it was secured with a hexagonal, quadruple enchanted, over ten meter high wall, made out of the best Gryphonian Steel. The wall consisted of three, equally thick layers, and in between each layer, magic neutralizer wards had been installed. Lucky for them that shadow travel seemed to be unaffected by this, other than that, nopony comes in, and nopony comes out.

Twilight peaked over the wall, seeing mainly streets and a few open gates where workers from the facilities and laboratories seemed to go through every day. The city was basically split into three parts, plus a relaxation area around the town square. All the different factories where weapons were mass produced was one area, the next was the research centers where the most brilliant minds of this century seemed to develop new, crazy weapons and inventions, and lastly, the barracks and apartments for the citizens. The lavender mare didn’t turn her head, but whispered quietly, “Be careful, we need to… incapacitate the security guards around the research center. Then we can have a look around and start spreading the truth. Shocking news like that won’t take long until everypony has chosen their sides, and we won’t show mercy on those who pick the wrong one, Blaze.”

“Understood,” The yellow mare replied, sneaking along the wall. They were currently near the barracks, so that would mean they had to sneak through the whole city to get to the research facilities unnoticed. More dark magic would alert them too soon, so they needed to rely on more… conventional methods.

“Don’t worry too much about it, you know how charming we can be~” Rarity chimed in, following the two of them quietly.

“We will avoid contact until we have taken out those who can contact Canterlot. I’m not thrilled to fight against Celestia herself until we are ready, and she is weakened properly,” The lavender mare stated, leading the small elite team into a small backstreet. A group of workers passed them, tipped their work heads and went their way. Apparently they were just looking forward to their well deserved afternoon drink, instead of worrying about some shady mares in a shady street. For all they knew Twilight and her crew could be common street whores as well.

After some time to let things settle down, the team consisting of Rost, Fluttershy, Sharpshot and Applejack decided to make their last journey. There was a possibility that they wouldn’t return, or even reach this island. They needed to find this pedestal to even locate it, find someone crazy enough to help them, and probably fight their way through. It was an understatement to say that this whole thing was unsettling, plus their deadline was looming over them. The literal fate of Equestria was at stake, and those four were the only ones daring to rise up against their new rulers so far. It wasn’t lost yet, but ponies were wondering if Celestia was suited as their immortal princess after all. She couldn’t protect them, her allies, or their homelands. This Twilight Sparkle on the other hoof… seemed to be pretty effective, and her truth spread around like a wildfire.

At the moment the four ponies just had a long road ahead of them. They shouldn’t pass any villages on their way, the region was pretty empty, but it was definitely not their intention to confront anyone just yet anyway. The country mare scratched her head, walking behind her yellow friend, all she could focus on were those beads floating around her, not enough to make the earth pony dizzy, but definitely enough to make her curious, “Hey sugarcube, Ah know you said that this one fella in the village gave this thing to you, but… how exactly does it work?”

Fluttershy stopped, cocking her head, “You mean the life beads? I actually don’t know how they work at all. Remember how I told you about this crazy parkour thing? They spoke to me in the last possible minute, somehow they know what is friend and what is enemy. They grow hotter when a foe grows near as well. If you want to know how the fighting aspect works…” The yellow mare grabbed one bead in her mouth, swinging it towards a nearby tree. It grew in length, adding more and more beads until it cleanly sliced through the thick wood. It was lightly scorched on the cut, showing off its fiery enchantment. She just thought about severing the energy connecting between them, and it followed her command, allowing her to let them shoot forth like crimson colored bullets.

Five of them embedded themselves in the fallen tree, after a few seconds a small rune appeared over the log, glowing bright red. The entire thing exploded in a raging inferno, almost launching the smoldering pieces towards the yellow pegasus. Rost was always on her side though, blocking the projectiles with his double edged broadsword, causing Fluttershy to ‘eep’ in an adorable tone. The parts of her rosary returned to hovering around her, like nothing ever happened.

“That was… new. I guess I’m far away from actually mastering them as a weapon,” The yellow mare said, smiling awkwardly,

Meanwhile AJ and Sharpshot were too busy picking up their chins from the ground to reply, “Land Sakes, Fluttershy! Ya… I… when did you jest so happen to grow a horn?! This was unicorn level of crazy!” She grumbled a little afterwards. “Why did Ah not get something like that…”

The yellow pegasus blushed a little, “Let’s continue. We can talk about the rest later. I’m sure these beads are with me for some reason we don’t know yet, but they don’t seem to have bad intentions. If… a weapon can have something like that. They saved my life multiple times now, so I’m just grateful and t-thanks, Rost, for helping me.”

“D-don’t mention it,” The stallion said, stowing away his own weapon. They had a long journey, and protecting her from every possible harm was the least he could do. At least for now, his time would come to show her how much she really meant to him.

Princess Celestia almost winced as a stinging pain raced through her chest. The immovable, immortal pillar of light and hope just felt… pain? Her throne room was completely empty, devoid of even guards to keep her at least some company. Her magic was experiencing a significant loss in power and depth as of late. Still more powerful than any mortal pony could ever hope to achieve, but it was like a dull throb in her heart every time, because she knew exactly what caused this. Her eternal connection to harmony was wavering and getting weaker with every soul that turned against her.

This last surge of pain was different though… a great source of power was eliminated, she could feel it. The monarch closed her eyes, feeling the magical power gathering and racing through her veins. It was a simple spell, yet infinitely intricate for others. Ponies tried to explain Celestia’s mind many times over the course of the last thousand years, philosophers, scientist or great wizards, the intricacies and levels of complexity her spells showed should’ve been impossible. Her mind seemed to have another layer of consciousness, just to keep track of the thousands of magical nodes and interconnected links that formed her spells. Moving a celestial body wasn’t just that, it wasn’t just a glorified levitation spell, she twisted the layers of reality to make such feat possible, even the greatest of wizards would be unable to understand it… the mind of an alicorn.

Her mental voice was clear and powerful, sending it across the entire landscape to three very specific ponies, “Mistral, Dawn Comet, and Law, report.”

The red suited pony sighed deeply, sitting on top of a smoldering pile that seemed to consist of bodies. Flames flickering all around the destroyed town, it was cleansed, in the most literal way possible. This was Law’s absolute justice. Villagers were heard screaming, but were alive and well, at least physically, “I have reclaimed a stronghold in the west of Canterlot, they planned to fortify it soon, so I took some countermeasures. No more rebel activity around here at least.”

‘Justice’ the word imprinted on the yellow suited pony waved softly in the strong breeze that washed over the fields below Canterlot. He just sat there, looking into the far distance where their cursed arch enemy's citadel was located. It seemed to be peaceful, but sometimes… things weren’t as smooth as they might seem, “I sweep searched the entire area around Canterlot in a fifty kilometers radius. There is no trace of the dragon and the three fillies. Either they travel underground, or used some kind of magic to disappear for unknown reason. I’m getting too old for this…”

The last one of the bunch only coughed weakly as an answer, blood slowly oozing out of the sealed wound in her stomach. Her almost lifeless body hanging down the ice crystal. It seemed like the ice was coloured red by now, the tip that protruded out of her back sure was. She felt pathetic, almost too weak to open her eyes, so this… was how she would die, “I’m… sorry… pri—” Another violent cough interrupted her, bringing forth a considerable amount of crimson. “Balti...mare… is lost… it was… an honor to… serve you.”

Celestia’s eyes widened, “Mistral? Hey, Mistral?! MISTRAL!” The spell ended, all three of them had nothing to say anymore. Her hoof came crashing down onto the table with all the tactical cards, leaving nothing but splinters and destroyed remains of her oh-so-precious harmony. She couldn’t… she wouldn’t lose hope, not anymore, their sacrifices had been too great to back up, but… their options were running out. They always seemed to be ahead of her, but why?! The Nightmare didn’t show itself for over a millennia, and it wouldn’t help… Twilight directly, right? If so then this would be a lot more bloody than she hoped it would be, if her… student was really tainted by this vile creature, then getting her back would be nearly impossible.

“Every time… every, single time! She is one step ahead of me, for months now! Why?!” Celestia began pacing angrily, talking to herself quietly. That was another reason nopony was allowed to disturb her during tactical planning, her thoughts become more and more disorganized as harmony became weaker. “They mock me with every move they make. I should be way smarter than them, I am a millennia old alicorn after all!” Her hooves’ powerful impact shattered the polished marble floor beneath her pristine body once more, feeling the desperate wrath of a demi-goddess.

“Why does everypony I am close to keep falling into the vortex of the Nightmare?! My ways are righteous, I preserved harmony for over a thousand years after all! Now this silver-tongued puff of smoke just so happens to corrupt my… my… faithful student,” She knew exactly how hypocritical that was, but the history of the last thousand years proved it! Certain ponies needed to act the role of a hero, and Celestia was the master strategist to find those ponies. She had failed to pick up the details though… those few years ago, she should’ve seen that something was wrong with Twilight. That was one crucial mistake, all those heroes before her lived and died for the cause sooner or later, to preserve harmony… yet this filly had refused to accept it, and that was all that it took.

Before she could continue her train of thought, three knocks echoed through the halls of her throne room, disturbing her irritation that had been building up for a while now. The Princess of the Sun sighed deeply, “You may enter.”

A thin, almost puny messenger entered, wearing the gold and orange coloured cloth armor of the Royal Herold Division, “P-Princess Celestia, t-the two scouts you have s-sent with messages f-for the Saddle Arabian kingdom, and the Griffon K-Kingdom didn’t return. Instead, two scrolls c-came with a letter owl, and rune magic.” He quickly ran over to her before the scrolls were engulfed with a radiant golden shine.

“You may leave now. I need to concentrate and read the contents in peace,” She said, levitating them over to her. It wasn’t common for her to be so cold, but as of late the desire to keep this ‘flawless mask’ up shrunk more and more. One of the scrolls was sealed with a crimson coloured wax seal, depicting two griffons crossing their swords in a triumphant pose, the other, forest green seal showed a cherry tree with a stylized sunset in the background. “What did you two plan…”

Twilight, Rarity and Blaze finally made it across the entire town. To say that it had been a pain in the plot would be an understatement. Turns out that the workers were celebrating the town’s four hundred year anniversary, and of course that party had to be held at the townsquare! It had been relatively simple to vanish in between those ponies, stealth was a manageable task for them, even if the fashionista had slight objections against ‘hiding their fabulousness’, but after a quick reminder that this was indeed enemy territory, they made it without any major problems.

Surprisingly few murals, banners and symbols of Celestia were in the town. From what Rarity had picked up during the short history their major told, even though nopony had wanted to hear it, this town was more of a freelance stronghold. They only worked for her because she had the most influence and money to ensure harmony, they weren’t so different to Capone and his mercenaries, their morals were slightly higher, perhaps. All three of them heard a lot of talk about the rebellion though, and more importantly, critique about Celestia.

Most of them were already convinced that the rusty demi-goddess’ best years of reign already laid way past her. Maybe it was time for a change? So far news were spreading like wildfire, it wasn’t a common thing that more than one ruling force conquered that many cities without any casualties, without any known ones at least. Of course a lot of those ‘facts’ were lies and half-true statements, but those who willingly joined them really believed in the cause, and that, would be Celestia’s downfall. Control the population with happiness, and you automatically control the land and opposing forces as well.

The building before them was surprisingly small for the center of communication and security. It was a plain, yet pretty sturdy, one story block. The entire frame of it seemed to be reinforced with steel and enchanted to be more durable towards weather, magic and blunt, physical force. It was located in the far back of the town as well, surround by another separated and pretty thick concrete wall, only accessible through a guarded gate at the front.

“How are we even supposed to get into the building complex? I can’t imagine the doors standing right open for our arrival!” Blaze whispered, her Canterlot accent was audible even while she whispered, making her sound more ‘sophisticated’ for the ears of most. Twilight never really liked any accents, making sure to stay with the common Equestrian.

She shook her head shortly, focusing on the task at hoof, it happened far too often that her mind drifted into these seemingly random, but quite intriguing topics. Probably a relic from… old times, “We don’t, at least not alone. Sorry Rarity, but since you’re probably the most… believable of us you’ll have to play as the bait.”

“Don’t worry, darling. My acting skills are quite decent… years of dealing with annoying clients do help with that, now that I am thinking about it. Anyways, what should I do?”

“Just run towards the gate and play like you are out of breath and in panic. You need to tell them something believable that makes them open the gate, and bring reinforcements from inside. I can imagine that they have plenty of guards in there, to protect the inner, and most important ponies keeping it running. As soon as you succeeded just run away, I can teleport you to us again,” Twilight said quietly, glancing from the corner of the building they hid behind. Everything seemed to be in order, but the guards were still pretty nervous, probably trying to get a hold of the situations in Manehattan, Fillydelphia and Baltimare.

The yellow mare cocked her head, seemingly confused by her plan, “Why the trouble? We could just teleport in there normally, I know you can teleport better than I do.”

“Yes, but these walls are clearly enchanted, and certain enchantments don’t mix with spatial manipulation very well, and I don’t want to take any chances. It wouldn’t be a problem with a shadow travel, but ponies, especially unicorns would immediately notice such a ripple in the Aether that chaos magic usually causes. You… taught me all of that, if I remember correctly.”

Blaze sighed in frustration, being reminded of those good times was really saddening for her, “Yeah, but… I focused on elemental magic for my whole life, teleporting was always more of a side thing, especially since it uses up so much energy. It all seems so long ago now…”

Twilight nodded thoughtfully, her expression went into a more… melancholic state, a small frown forming on her edges of her lips, “We don’t have time to reminisce about our stormy past now. This is an important step for our operation, and one of the last as well. Once this is over we can… talk a lot more. For now just let Rarity do her thing, and we use the opportunity, that should be the hardest part.”

“How is it going in the east parts of the town, Pinkie?” Silent asked through their shared connection that Twilight had provided a few weeks ago. Purple really didn’t go well with his coat, but who was he to complain about her choice of colour?

“Hihi! You’re like a tiny Silent in my head! Can you make it sound like an echo in th—”

“Pinkie! Focus on this, we can screw with the spell later if you want it so badly. How is the situation over there? I encountered quite a large amount of guards around here, but the locals were surprisingly willing to help out once they realized that I didn’t start it.” Flare cut her off. That mare could be incredibly annoying sometimes… most of the times, but she was part of their leadership for a reason.

“Oh, why don’t you say so, silly. Pretty calm, I gathered most of the workers and gave them ‘the talk’. They were pretty shocked and confused, but once I started giving them free cupcakes and talking about how bad Celestia is they went along with it. I also met this group of singers that were total fans of me! They wanted an autograph and talked about baking and partying and—”

“Pinkie,” The beige unicorn simply said, interrupting yet another stray thought in that random mind of the pink pony. Outsiders would say it looks like borderline insanity, but she always focused in the right moment, and her thoughts were deeper than most ponies would believe.

She had a pretty good, if a bit basic, grasp on how magic worked. She just knew how to listen whenever Twilight and the other unicorns talked about it. Things like Star Swirl the Bearded’s Laws of Magic Preservation, or Astrallius’ Theories on the ‘Aether’ and how it affected this plane of existence, Twilight talked about them very… very frequently in her breaks. It turned out that Luna was actually quite a big fan of magical theory and the two bonded even quicker thanks to that. Friendship was still a big factor, even if they were an enemy of the classical ‘harmony’ now. It all served a bigger purpose, and the pink mare was willing to play her part in all of this, “Oopsie! Hihi, it looks good though, everyone was super friendly around here! I don’t know why Luna and Twilight worry about it so much, most ponies really weren’t a big fan of Celestia in the first place. Most of them said that they have a problem with how she handles Equestria’s borders, and something about barbaric griffons. I guess they just needed a push into the right direction.”

“Good, nice work. I will take care of the last revolts in the west with…” He sighed deeply, a look of annoyance on his face. “As few casualties as possible. I’ll say it again, ponies need a strong leader, and what does a strong leader do? Exactly, letting heads roll, more importantly, heads that would rebel if they were still attached to their owners.”

“Twilight and Luna don’t want a tyranny though. They want to establish a diarchy or something. Without all those conspiracies and unfairness, I don’t really get all of their plans, but I trust them enough to go along with it.”

“We’ll see Pinkamena, we’ll see.”

To say that the teenage dragon was worried would be an understatement. He and Twilight just got back together, and she was already running off to who-knows what kind of dangerous mission. Spike was sure, no… he was absolutely convinced that she would return though, as much of a bookworm as she was… well, in the past at least, she knew how to act in a dangerous situation. Maybe the lavender mare had been through a lot more than he could… or even wanted to realize. Twilight Sparkle wasn’t the same pony she used to be, her greatest worry wasn’t whether or not Princess Celestia was proud of her anymore, no, behind all of her antics and quirks slumbered a much, much more nefarious plan now. One that could potentially change the future of this land, a ground-breaking revolution that would lead the world into peace, or universal destruction with death at its tail?

The nervous chatter of three little fillies interrupted his train of thought. Spike shook his head to get it out of his system for now, and instead focused on these ponies that he had brought with him, “Are you three alright? I can imagine all of this is… well, quite confusing. I also couldn’t wrap my head around it just yet.”

Sweetie looked at him from their secluded circle of blank flanks, “Well, I… that pony… was Twilight Sparkle, right?” A short nod from the dragon came before she continued with a faint sigh. “It’s just that… ponies have been talking about her a lot, and there were not really nice things. They never mentioned exactly what is going on here, but… something about her. Is she a bad pony, and if you know her so well, are you a bad pony too?”

Spike pondered on the question for a bit… was she? Twilight had done a lot, and he really meant a lot of crimes over the past weeks. Even the lives of ponies weren’t sacred for her, all of them were guards and attacked her first, but still… “First of all… I’m a dragon, not a pony, and secondly… what do you think? Did she or I look like bad creatures?”

“N-no… I mean I don’t think so. It’s just that… she wasn’t quite… normal either, was she?” The filly replied, a hint of fear in her tone and eyes. All three of them had this distinct look of… intimidation written into their expressions.

“Honestly? I don’t know, I haven’t seen her like this before. You know… she is kind of my bigger sister, even if that sounds a little bit unbelievable. We grew up together, and she took care of me after I hatched from an egg… which she also took care of. There is one thing I know for certain though, she would never hurt her friends. You three are related, and almost related to her friends… so there is no reason to worry. I can’t explain the whole story to you, because I don’t know it myself, but all of her actions seem to be pointed straight at Celestia, for reasons I also don’t fully understand, not yet at least,” Spike said, sitting down onto the ground, his hoodie still covering most of his chest, it was a comfortable warmth that always reminded him of her, together with the little badge that he still had. It would transport him to her whenever the dragon wished, and that was pretty reassuring for him.

The three ponies looked at each other, not sure what to do or say. They were scared of the whole situation, but his words seemed to be somewhat soothing. Scootaloo finally stepped forth, having an idea how to lift the mood, “Hey, uh… Spike, right? Could you show us… some more of that cool magic you did earlier?”

He smiled widely, “Of course! I just managed to get it to work consistently, but it’s really useful! Come on, let’s get to the town square, there should be enough place so that I don’t break anything!” Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle nodded eagerly, forgetting about this for now, and followed the dragon into their old, and new home.

Despite all their precautions and smart decisions, the small group consisting of Fluttershy, Applejack, Rost and Sharpshot, ran out of food eventually. It wasn’t exactly easy to gather enough for an entire squad either, they needed to restock. After long debates and arguments they finally settled on a small village in the east of the Neighara Falls. It was on their way as well, so it was pretty convenient… it seemed like that at least.

Nothing seemed out of order as the four approached the small settlement, only consisting of around a dozen houses with a small place in the middle, acting as some sort of townsquare. Small trails of smoke were rising from there, but it didn’t seem like a dangerous fire, or anything, they could even hear cheering in the distance. It seemed rather odd, but who were they to judge another pony’s way to celebrate? They were probably just preparing for the New Year parties! It was around that time as well, the year would end in just a few days, not as happy as everypony hoped it would… but both sides were equally excited for it. One of them cheering for their new, and honest leader, the others relishing another year in the safe embrace of their sun goddess.

“Should we check it out? There might be some markets as well,” Rost suggested as they walked down the rather empty streets. They got some strange stares from a few villagers, but they were quite the odd group after all. Two ponies with glowing weapons on their backs, a hooded pony with a serpent curved sword visible hanging on his coat, and a strangely confident earth pony.

“Ah reckon’ yer right. Can’t keep all the food from us ferev’r!” She was in an unusually good mood. The reason was a pretty simple one, one of her old friends was back! She just needed them around, otherwise the mare was just not herself, but if even Fluttershy was okay, then the others might be too! Although, the yellow pegasus changed quite a bit during her journey, nothing AJ couldn’t look past though. Too much was already lost for her, this time none would lose their way… not on her watch.

They reached the small townsquare, and what they saw genuinely shocked them. The fires comes from the very middle of it all, a huge fire… using murals and banners of the Equestrian government as fuel. Several, once beautifully crafted depictions of their beloved princess were horribly distorted inside the flames. Around it were several what looked like guards… but definitely not solar guards. They wore night-blue plate armor, a strange symbol adorning their chest pieces, a crescent moon on the front, with a huge, six pointed star in the background, the entire emblem held in a smooth lavender hue. The ponies wearing them didn’t look quite normal either… slitted eyes, pointier ears, and more importantly, either a set of leathered bat wings on their sides, or a sharper horn on their forehead. Held firmly in one front hoof was a pole with the same strange banner on top of it.

The small group couldn’t know it at the moment, but they were gazing upon Luna’s newest creations. Her elite thestrals from Manehattan, and reinforcements from Baltimare would soon follow… one drop of her divine blood was enough to change them in body and soul. Before they were just loyal, now they couldn’t even form the idea to rebel against her, and were even blessed with better abilities than any normal ponies ever could achieve.

Citizens from the town were cheering for them as the flames flickered brightly, burning the ‘corruption’ away. More and more smaller towns got similar visits Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle planned out, spreading their truth using simple rebels, Capone’s mercenaries (who was totally okay with it, considering the mountains of cash he would be making very soon), and the alicorn’s new thestrals that had, luckily, increased their dwindling population by quite a bit.

“What ‘n the name of… Hey!” Applejack shouted, being held back by Sharpshot. He would never be a match for her strength though, especially considering her mood, and right now, she was furious! These ponies were burning images of the princess for… for that?! Was this the rebellion? Did it already come this far?!

“Applejack! Please don’t—” Fluttershy tried to reason, but the country mare was already running towards the few thestrals that were watching over the large fire in the middle. Two with horns, and another three with those leathery wings on their sides. Due to the heavily enchanted plate armor, almost nothing of their actual body was visible, they didn’t wear helmets though, so the group could see that they all shared some shade of blue or grey… the colours of the night.

The country mare was jumping, turning around mid-air to deliver a powerful kick to the nearest guard with her frightening strength. There wasn’t much to argue about, they were the enemy, the plaque that was killing harmony. Yet… the unicorn guard she targeted wasn’t even flinching as her kick connected… or did it? Her eyes went wide, Applejack had hit his chin full force, but he was just standing there, not moving a single inch. Instead, the thestral’s left fore hoof swung at her, hitting the mare’s leg and sending her flying back to her friends with an impossible speed while spinning rapidly.

His light punch had hit like a truck, and she tumbled to a halt several meters behind them in a cloud of dust and debris from a destroyed stall that was, luckily, devoid of anypony that could’ve been hurt. Sharpshot was the first that ran into the dust, looking for his… travelling companion, “Applejack! Applejack, are you alright?!”

He could only hear a weak, and pained groan from somewhere on his left. The mare was half buried under the broken wood, her hind leg was painfully twisted into a direction that it should definitely not be able to reach. The grey stallion rushed over to her, carefully pulling her out, her sides and even face were full of cuts and bruises… and all of that with a single hit.

As the cloud settled her other companions rushed over to them, while the orange earth pony was busy wiping the blood off the edge of her mouth, “Horseapples… what exactly are those folks?” As expected she didn’t even mention her crippling wound, but the hoof was definitely broken, and couldn’t be used for a while. She regretted her rushed actions, but it couldn’t be changed now, they still needed food… but apparently not without a good old fight.

“What is up with you ruffians?!” Fluttershy shouted at them, the beads hovering around her neck spinning a little bit faster due to the mare’s unexpected anger. “You burn murals of our princess, and attack innocent ponies?!”

The attacker stepped forth, the banner-pole impacting on the ground with a loud ‘thud’, “Innocent?” His voice was smooth, and sounded oddly pleasant for an enemy of them. “That mare attacked me without any reason whatsoever. We are here on official duty for our new mistress!” Some of the normal citizens began to cheer for him, showing the small group exactly who their loyalty belonged to.

“Loyalists of that traitor!”

“Piss off, you traitors!”

“Princess Celestia is a dirty liar!”

“We don’t want you here!”

“What has she ever done for us?!”

Those shouts came flying at them as the citizens began to form an angry mob in front of the raging fire of their ex princess’ murals. They were clearly not wanted here, and were exceptionally luckily that the thestrals didn’t attack them yet. Everyone loyal to Celestia was automatically their sworn nemesis… and you really don’t want a bat pony as your enemy. The orange earth pony suddenly stepped forth, holding her right front hoof out to hold her friends back. Her sides were bleeding, and one eye was black, but she didn’t back off. Applejack’s voice was clear and strong, despite her panting, “Don’t ya see what’s goin’ on?! Harmony dies because all of ya! We… we’ll go, but at least give us some food! We can’t accept… whatever this is, but we… don’t want a fight.”

“If you worship Celestia you can be glad to even be alive!”

“Leave our village! Loyalists aren’t welcome here!”

“None of you deserved any food until you see how stupid you are!” The angry villagers shouted, starting to throw rocks and random debris at them. It was pathetic to observe, but in their eyes they earned it.

Finally one voice from behind the mob calmly stated, “That’s enough, darlings. Give them some food, and let them leave. We are the new force on this land, and we won’t repeat the same mistakes Celestia once made.”

It was a female voice, not particularly loud, but it seemingly cut through the angered mood of the crowd. For a few seconds everything was calm, the masses even parted to reveal the mare. She too, was a thestral, a sharpened horn on her forehead, and her coat coloured in a nice, elegant navy blue. The only thing that stood out was her dark red, almost crimson coloured hair that was bound in a loose ponytail, otherwise it would surely fall past her shoulders.

Applejack’s eyes widened for a second… the certain accent, the way she emphasized certain letters, the use of the word darling. She shook her head, that was, most definitely, just a coincidence, a strange one, but still. Rarity was somewhere in the whole wide world with Twilight Sparkle, and she mentioned that her parents always were around somewhere. So there was really no way… The country mare still wanted to say something, but didn’t find the right words for her, she was definitely different than the others… somehow.

Ten minutes later the mare came back with several cotton bags full of vegetables and fruits, all safely held in the grasp of her light pink colored magic. Another horned thestral came back with four large canteens, containing pure water from the nearby river. The mare spoke up as the small group had stowed the food away, “Mhm… quite an interesting group you are indeed. Mistress Luna was right yet again, she mentioned that an orange earth pony with a stetson and an apple related cutie mark would be drawn towards the bigger cities at some point, and this village is on the way of most safe routes.” She giggled a little, it was a really pleasant sound, almost magical. “Now be on your way. These ponies aren’t exactly happy to help followers of Celestia.”

“Why are ya helpin’ us?” Applejack asked in a carefully quiet, but still curious tone.

The mare just turned around and ordered her fellow thestrals to continue what they had been doing before. The orange earth pony wanted to run after her for some reason, there really was… something special about her, “Can ya at least tell me ya name?”

She stopped, without turning around even once, “Nightshade… Scarlet Nightshade. We will see each other again, Applejack. Sooner than you might expect.” Then she continued on her way, the crimson ponytail slightly wavering in the soft breeze that washed over them.

Applejack turned around as well and signalled the others to follow her. They needed to get out of there quick, before the citizens decided to take matters into their own hooves. The mare was limping slightly due to her injured hind leg, Fluttershy would definitely take care of that later, for now they just needed some distance to this village. The rebellion really seemed to get out of hoof, especially since all these innocent ponies actually believed Twilight and this ‘Luna’. It didn’t matter if she really was Princess Celestia’s sister, she was a threat for harmony nonetheless, and even worse, she was hurting her friends.

That will definitely make things harder for them though...