Twilight was having a nightmare, but for once it was at least semi intentional, and she had even put herself to sleep so she could have it. A nice dream would have been preferable, but beggars can't be choosers.

There was one creature in the world that might give her a clue as to what might be going on, but that creature only lived in dreams, and had been frustratingly illusive of late. Enough so that Twilight was tempted to think she might have had a hoof in what was going on if she wasn't wholly incapable of doing so.

"Where are you?" Twilight muttered as she dragged herself through the bloodied landscape of her dream, winding through the deceased bodies of her friends and loved ones. A sight that had become distressingly familiar of late, and would've effected her more if she wasn't making efforts to make this a lucid dream. "Nightmare!"

"I'm here! Stop yelling." The corpse of Luna sat up and emitted a series of grisly cracks as the bones popped back into place and rapidly mended themselves. Black spread across the blue of her coat, like ink spreading through water, and the figure slowly opened their eyes, revealing two turquoise orbs with slitted pupils. Then she hunched over and hugged herself as she nervously glanced about.

"What's up with you?" Twilight asked after a moment. "I haven't seen you in months."

"I've...been hiding," Nightmare admitted in a quiet voice.

"Hiding? Hiding from what? Luna?"

"No, there's something else here in the dreamscape, and it's searching for something, or someone."

"You?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's looking for Luna, but every time she shows up it vanishes. Maybe it thinks I'm Luna, and Luna's something else. I don't know." Nightmare shook her head, "It doesn't matter either. It's here now, so I can't stay long Twilight. You better get on and tell me what you need."

"Alright. Do you know what's happening in Mareitania?"

"I don't know. As I said, I've been hiding, so I haven't had any time to go exploring much."

"So you have no idea why they've sent all the pegasi back to Equestria, bar one? Or why they won't let the merchant ships into the country any further than the docks of Neigh Orleans? Or if they really are building up their military strength?"

"Is that why you seem to be heading back to Mareitania?"

"Sadly, yes."

"Wow. Sucks to be you."

"Sucks to be all of us. I don't suppose- Nightmare?" Twilight cocked her head as Nightmare's body locked up, her eyes wide in shock and agony. "Nightmare! What's wrong?"

"It's here! It's here! It's here!" Nightmare hissed again and again in a pained voice, right before a blinding blast of agony tore through Twilight's consciousness, ejecting her into the waking world.

Twilight gasped and kicked violently, knocking herself off the seat she'd been sleeping on. She grabbed her head and touched a hoof to her horn, finding it to be strangely hot. "Nightmare!"

"Is that how you reassure ponies that you're only having a nightmare, and not some kind of seizure? You just wake up and shout 'nightmare!'"

Twilight cracked an eye open and winced at the bright light. Above her, sat on the seat opposite was Trixie, watching her with barely concealed amusement, but also with some concern. "No, it's... I don't know." Twilight stood and shakily pulled herself back onto the seat, finding it damp with her sweat. "Just forget about it."

"Done and done. It's about time you woke up anyway; we're almost at the border."

Twilight looked out of the window, trying to find her bearings, "Already? But I was only asleep for five minutes."

"Try three hours. Then you woke up and screamed that thing I'm supposed to forget about."

Twilight rubbed her head as her thoughts and memories settled back into place. Something had just happened to Nightmare, but what that was would have to remain a mystery for the time being. Hopefully she was okay. Or at least as okay as an incorporeal amalgamation of Luna and Nightmare Moon that lived in the dreamscape could be.

"How close are we?"

"Literally minutes away," Fleur answered from further up in the carriage. "So get your shit together Twilight, because the noble leader has to do the talking."

"Right. Noble leader. That's me. Totally me." Twilight sat and tried to get the rest of her marbles to bounce back into place, watching the others as she did. Summer and the filly were staring glumly out of the window, watching the scenery pass, while Octavia tried to hide the trembling of her hooves. A trembling that was only getting worse the closer they got to their destination. Fleur was pacing back and forth, grumbling to herself, and Trixie... Trixie was playing with her horn.

"It'll fall off if you keep touching it," Twilight said, repeating a line that her father used to say to Shining Armour. Never to her though for some reason. And it's not like horns could just fall off anyway. She never understood it.

"Trixie should've thought to change her mane style so it hides the inhibitor."

"I'm sure they would work it out anyway. Especially when they see you eat. I didn't think it was possible for an adult to cover themselves with that much ketchup."

"Hey! It was mostly on my hooves, and I didn't have a fork, okay. Leave Trixie alone about her misfortune when it comes to basic things that I've done with magic since as long as I can remember!"

"Okay, sheesh. I was joking Trixie."

"You know, Trixie had almost forgotten what massive jerks we all were to each other. I liked forgetting that."

"Even though you were the biggest jerk of us all," the filly said loud enough to just be heard.

"And don't you forget it!" The train lurched suddenly, throwing Trixie to the ground where the filly laughed at her. "Trixie hates trains!"

"At least we're not in a box this time," said Twilight.

"Guys, shut up!" Fleur shouted as she opened the window nearest to her. "We shouldn't be slowing down yet."

Twilight threw her own window up, and looked outside. Towering above her on both sides of the train were the stone walls of the pass that led into Mareitania. One of the first things that had been done to expedite the movement of pegasi into, and out of the country, was to expand the railway all the way up to Stalliongrad, and eventually beyond. Fleur was right that they shouldn't be stopping yet, and the reason why was the buffer blocking the rails just inside the end of the pass.

The train ground to a halt, and Twilight teleported herself outside the carriage to have a closer look. There wasn't much to see, but the fact that the buffer was there was enough to tell them they mightn't be very welcome.

"What do you think Twilight?" Fleur asked as she cautiously jumped out of the carriage, stumbling as she landed on her bad leg.

"I think somepony is making a half-assed attempt at keeping us out of the country. Well, not us, per se, but everypony. I guess we walk from here, and see what we find."

"Is that really the best idea?"

Twilight shrugged, "It's the best we have."

"And if they tell us to leave?"

"Then we say fuck 'em, and fly to High Rock. If it goes really wrong, I left a teleport beacon in Canterlot, and I can get us all out of here in the blink of an eye if need be. I'll get the others up and ready to go if you tell the train to head back to Equestria once we're away." Fleur nodded, and Twilight teleported back into the carriage.

"What's going on?" Octavia asked as soon as the flash from Twilight's spell dissipated.

"We're walking."

"All the way to High Rock? That'll take days Twilight!"

"Actually..." Twilight grabbed some empty saddlebags and tossed a few bits of food and water in from the royal carriage's small supply, as well as a healing device, just in case. "I only want to find somepony in the border patrol or whatever, just to gauge how friendly they are. Then, depending on that, we'll fly the rest of the way, which will only take a few hours at most."

"Sweet!" the filly chirped happily, while Trixie groaned.

"Now come on, we need to get going." Twilight pushed the door of the carriage open and jumped out, Summer following her with a fluttering of wings. Octavia jumped out without hesitation, while Twilight had to lower Trixie and the filly to the ground.

"The guards don't seem happy about it, but they'll go as soon as we're out of sight," Fleur said as she met them beside the train.

"Let's get going then." Twilight set the pace, starting into a steady trot that the others easily kept pace with. She wasn't about to show it, but Twilight was worried. Blocking the train from entering the country seemed unnecessarily hostile, and she was almost tempted to draw her weapon and prepare her spells in case they were attacked. She also felt silly for thinking like that, but if she'd learnt anything from her previous time in Mareitania, it's be prepared for anything.

It only took a few minutes to reach the end of the pass, and what Twilight had mistook for another buffer at a distance was actually a barricade set across the rails. She could see glimpses of ponies behind it, alerted by the train stopping, and slowed her pace so as to not spook them.

"Uh... Hello?"

"Turn around, get back on your train, and go."

The voice sounded familiar. "Is that you Wick?" Twilight asked. There was some muttering from behind the barricade, then the head of Wick, one of the higher ranking soldiers of the former Mareitania Liberation Front, popped up over the barricade.

"Holy shit... Lady Twilight? Trixie? All of you, what are you doing here?"

"Wondering why you sent all our pegasi back, and are threatening our merchants in Neigh Orleans." Twilight scanned her eyes across the barricade, "I'm now wondering about all this too. What's going on Wick?"

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't!" Wick shouted angrily.

"Then can you let us in to ask somepony who can?"

"Ungh..."

"Please," added Fleur.

"Euurgh...fine! But only because we owe you." He dropped out of sight, and a few moments later a gap opened up in the barricade, letting Twilight and her friends through. Twilight smiled appreciatively, then immediately gasped at what she saw on the other side. There were easily three hundred soldiers, as well as two steam tanks.

"What is all this?! Are you expecting an invasion or something?"

"It's complicated," Wick said wearily, and Twilight was perfectly willing to believe him. "If you follow me I'll find you a carriage to get you to High Rock."

"Actually, I was thinking we could just fly there. It'd be a lot quicker."

"No," Wick said sharply. "I must insist you take a carriage."

"Why does it sound like they were expecting somepony to turn up here?" Fleur whispered into Twilight's ear. "Somepony who wasn't us."

Twilight half nodded at Fleur's words, agreeing with them. Unable to verbally respond to them, Twilight kept speaking to Wick. "What'll happen if I don't want to go by carriage?"

"Consider it part of the agreement of you being here."

Twilight sighed and nodded, "Alright then. Lead on Wick." They followed after Wick, noting his relief and giving Twilight a chance to whisper back to Fleur. "What do you think?"

"I think that either this is a trap to make us hostages, or they're trying to hide something."

"That sounds more likely," Octavia agreed in a whisper of her own. "What do you want to do Twilight?"

"Let's just play along for now."

Deciding to stay quiet before they were overheard, they faithfully followed after Wick as he led them up to a carriage that happened to be waiting conveniently, totally out of place in a military setting. "Let me just find you a couple of ponies to do the pulling, and you can be on your way," he said, leaving them alone for a moment.

"What do we do Twilight?" the filly asked in a harsh whisper.

"We do exactly as he asked," Twilight replied calmly before grinning. "We travel by carriage."

Octavia raised an eyebrow at Twilight, "Meaning what exactly?"

"Meaning you get in and hold on." Twilight stood quietly, trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible while the others clambered in, then made her way around to the front of the carriage. She frowned as she found it was already designed to be pulled by a single pony, which suggested that Wick intended for them to have guards.

Deciding to worry about that later, Twilight hitched herself up to the carriage, and stretched her legs and wings out. Then she spotted Wick coming back, and immediately set into action.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

"Travelling by carriage! Just like you said!" Twilight shouted back, her legs straining against the weight, and her wings pumping as she tried to drag the carriage into the air to escape the soldiers chasing after them. A generous application of magic to lighten the carriage, and then they were airborne.

Wick stared up in horror at the carriage as it sped away into the sky. "Snowbright's going to kill me."

"Hah! That was awesome!" the filly cheered as they gained more and more altitude.

"I can't help but feel like we're doing the wrong thing though," said Octavia. "We were told to go to High Rock and ask the council what was going on. Not do this!"

"They're hiding something Octavia," Twilight shouted back, loud enough to be heard over the wind. "Frankly, I'd rather find out what."

"Maybe that's a good place to start," Fleur said uneasily. She pointed towards the city of Stalliongrad, and towards the thick plumes of smoke coming from the various industries there. Under the leadership of the Duchy of Mareitania, Stalliongrad had been the heart of the Duke's war machine, and to see it in full swing was unsettling at the least.

Trixie looked down as the sun glinting off something caught her eye. Railway tracks, leading from the border to Stalliongrad, and out the other side towards Prance, were in the middle of being constructed. "Look at all those rails. Why are they still building them if they've blocked the border off?"

Twilight shook her head at that question, "They're still going to create a rail network within their own borders Trixie."

"Yeah, but they don't have any trains."

"What's that then," said Fleur. She pointed at a long, sleek steam engine nestled in what looked like a newly constructed train yard outside Stalliongrad. It was twice the length of any train Equestria had yet built.

"Yeesh," Trixie groaned. "Overcompensating much?"

"The sooner we get to High Rock, the better," Twilight muttered.

Twilight set down a couple of miles from High Rock, almost getting dragged along the road as the carriage's momentum knocked her off her hooves she was that tired. It was decided after that, that Octavia would pull the carriage the rest of the way while Twilight sat inside and rested.

She knew they'd arrived when her horn tingled as it came into contact with the anti-teleportation field around High Rock. She dragged herself up to look out of the window, and was rather surprised to see it looked almost exactly as it did when they left the country six months earlier.

There were still plenty of soldiers around though, as evidenced by the well armed greeting they received at the massive gate at the bottom of High Rock. It quickly became more friendly when Twilight and her friends jumped out of the carriage, and there was even a few cheers from the assembled soldiers.

"At least these are pleased to see us," Trixie commented in a quiet grumble.

Twilight didn't even have to ask as the gates were opened for them, and they trotted through, returning as many of the friendly greetings as they could before making their way up the ramps to the keep.

"Something about this still doesn't feel right," said Fleur, keeping her voice low.

"Shh," Twilight whispered back. She didn't disagree though. The tingling on her horn was only getting worse the closer they came to the keep, and it bothered her that Trixie and Fleur weren't affected by it. Trixie was maybe protected by her inhibitor, but why Fleur wasn't bothered seemed strange. It almost made Twilight want to tear at her mane to scratch an itch inside her head.

The doors to the keep were already open by the time they made it to the top of the ramps. The council leading the new minted Republic of Mareitania, consisting of Daybreak, Ivory, Lord Hayfield, and Sour Mash, were stood waiting, and Twilight soon forgot about the sensation in her horn as she run over to Daybreak and tackled him, then Ivory, in a hug. Then she spotted Daybreak's daughter Thorn behind him, and dragged her into a hug as well, while her friends greeted other ponies besides. "It's so great to see you guys!"

"We were hardly expecting to see you here Twilight," Ivory said warmly. "In fact, we didn't have any warning at all..."

"Oh, really?" Twilight laughed nervously, "That's odd."

"Isn't it just," Snowbright said coldly as he trotted out of the keep.

Twilight resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "Nice to see you too Snowbright."

"Really though Twilight," Daybreak said in a more serious tone of voice, "why are you here? Not that we aren't pleased to see you, but your visit was hardly expected."

"Hardly expected? You sent all our pegasi back! How are you supposed to get your weather without pegasi?"

"That's what you came to ask?" Snowbright asked incredulously.

"Well, that, and we have reports of you restricting our merchants access to Neigh Orleans using armed soldiers to keep them under control. Then there's the small issue where you've blockaded your own border against us, and have been accused of building up your military."

"Oh?" Snowbright half smiled at them, "And who accused us of that?"

"The-uh... The griffons did actually."

"Those same griffons that wanted to use the civil war as an opportunity to plunder our country? Those same griffons that fly over on spying missions at least once a week? Those same griffons that would benefit from us having a weak military?"

Twilight swallowed nervously, "Yeah, those griffons."

"That's enough Snowbright," Daybreak said harshly, interrupting before Snowbright could speak again. "Our guests have travelled a long way, and they must be tired." He smiled at Twilight, "Why don't we get you settled in, and then we can all have a good catch up."

"Sounds good to me," Twilight said back as she warily eyed Snowbright, who merely nodded.

Daybreak clapped his hooves together, "Great! You guys come with me, and lets see if Ivory can't spend some time removing the stick from Snowbright's ass."

Twilight looked about with interest as he led them into the castle. Nothing much seemed to have changed about the place at all, but it was still interesting to see the place without the cloud that hung over her head like the last time she was here. The biggest difference seemed to be how lively it was compared to six months ago. A nice, everyday kind of lively, rather than the somber 'making plans to kill ponies' kind of lively.

Twilight stopped and smiled as a young colt and filly, one sandy yellow, and the other light brown, scampered across the hallway in front of them. She was about to carry on and pay it no mind when she saw Fleur freeze up and whine in the back of her throat. "What? What is it?"

"Those were Tracker and Opal! Pearl's kids!" Fleur hissed. "Why are they here Daybreak? Why?"

Daybreak winced guiltily, "Ah... Yes. They didn't do so well mixing with unicorns at the orphanage..."

"What does that mean?"

"Some unicorn filly said something nasty about Opal, and...uh..."

"Just spit it out Daybreak!"

"Let's just say it's lucky they were caught before Tracker did too much damage. At least nothing one of Twilight's healing thingies couldn't fix. There was no way they could stay in the orphanage after that, so now they're back here where we can keep an eye on them."

Fleur closed her own eyes and whimpered, "This is all completely the opposite of what my therapist told me to do."

"We could confine them to their room if you want?"

Fleur hesitated, looking for all the world like she wanted to say yes. She didn't though, and shook her head slowly. "This is their home, whereas I'm just a guest."

"If you say so," Daybreak said with a shrug. "We'll do our best to keep them where you aren't."

"Appreciated."

Twilight leant back and patted her hooves on her belly, satisfied with the meal that just filled it. So far things had been very cordial, and their hosts had been very gracious in giving them nice rooms and an exquisite meal. What they hadn't done though, was answer any questions in the slightest. Her horn still felt like it was infested with termites too, but nopony seemed to feel it except her, so she stayed quiet about it.
Feeling brave, Twilight leant back forward and crossed her forelegs on the table before her. "So, while I appreciate the hospitality you're all showing us, I hope you realise this isn't just a social visit."

Fleur burped politely and nodded, "Quite. Frankly some of the things going on here have been rather suspect."

"And what business is it of yours?" said Snowbright while the council exchanged nervous glances. "You're not in Equestria now, your highness."

Twilight's expression turned cold, "Firstly, if you're going to call me your highness, could you at least not sound like you're constipated as you say it, and secondly, Equestrian citizens are involved, so it is entirely our business."

"And don't think we haven't noticed the way you four keep looking at each other," the filly added, pointing towards the council.

Ivory cleared her throat, "Things have been rather tricky here of late. With the increased presence from the griffons, we've been forced to take steps to...ensure the safety of our borders."

Twilight squinted incredulously at the council, "And that involves threatening our merchants, blocking your borders, and returning all the pegasi...why?"

"Because, if we do come to blows with the griffons, we don't want any of your ponies getting hurt," answered Daybreak.

Twilight was a little annoyed that they hadn't thought to ask Equestria for help, but felt pushing that issue wouldn't help. "But what about your weather?" she asked instead. "Nothing will grow, and your country will die if you don't have pegasi to produce your weather. Your ponies will starve."

"We'll manage," said Daybreak. "We still get a lot of snowmelt from the mountains, and if we build reservoirs to capture the water we can irrigate most of the land during the summer."

"But it'll take months to set that sort of thing up! Years even!"

Daybreak shrugged, "As I said, we'll manage."

"But-" Twilight stopped as Fleur nudged her and shook her head. "Fine, okay, you'll manage. At the very least you could tell us why you missed sending one of our pegasi back."

Ivory raised her eyebrows in something that looked like surprise, but fell just short of being genuine. "Oh? Oh dear. I'm terribly sorry Twilight, but without our own fliers it was hard to make sure we didn't miss any pegasi in New Pegasopolis. Unfortunately we destroyed the city, so if she was still there, I'm afraid she... might've been killed."

Twilight's surprise caught in her chest, robbing her of her ability to speak for several moments until she could force it out. "You what?!"

"If the griffons attacked, New Pegasopolis would've been all too easy for them to capture and use against us," Snowbright explained. "We had no choice but to destroy it."

The buzzing in Twilight's horn intensified a little, and she was about to say something when Octavia spoke up. "That's a good idea actually." Even Summer nodded in agreement, even though she looked queasy doing so. In fact, most of her friends except for Trixie were in agreement with Snowbright, while Trixie was watching the ponies around her, looking just as confused as Twilight felt.

"You can't be serious!" Twilight shouted. "New Pegasopolis was more than just a place where the pegasi lived! It was a symbol!"

"It was an easily exploitable weakness," said Mash.

"The griffons aren't going to attack you! They might not like it, but they respect the old treaty Mareitania had with Equestria."

Snowbright smirked cruelly at her, "And can you guarantee they won't?"

"B-but- I-" Twilight exhaled heavily. She knew she couldn't guarantee that, and she knew that they knew she couldn't. "Even if they do, how does closing your border and threatening the merchants of your closet ally help you in the slightest?"

"Are we not mentioning the dead pegasus?" Trixie asked quietly.

"She isn't dead," said Twilight. "The kind of power required to destroy New Pegasopolis fast enough to catch a pegasus in it as well, is rather beyond the unicorns here." Twilight saw Ivory's eyes tense. "More than likely she's in hiding, or flying back to Equestria," she added, noting the relief in Ivory.

"Then we shall make efforts to find her if she's still in the country," Lord Hayfield said diplomatically.

Fleur smiled and nodded, "We'd appreciate that, thank you. I think it best we talk more tomorrow once we've all had some rest. I'd rather not ruin a fine meal by having an argument. Goodnight all."

Fleur stood and departed, the filly, Octavia, and Summer following after her. Twilight was about to keep talking when she felt the pull of telekinesis on her leg, and found Fleur giving her a meaningful look, her horn glowing as she pulled on Twilight's leg again. Taking the hint, Twilight smiled at the council, "Goodnight." Following Fleur, Twilight looked back at the council, just catching their expressions of relief before they were hidden again.

"That was weird, right?" Trixie asked once they were out of the room and alone.

"Which part?" Twilight sullenly asked back.

"All of it! Besides the fact that they possibly killed one of our pegasi while they casually destroyed New Pegasopolis, they're hoping to set up a country spanning irrigation network in time to not starve because they got rid of all the pegasi. I'm no engineer, but I know impossible when I hear it."

"They said they'd manage," Fleur reaffirmed. "What reason have we to doubt them?"

"What reason?" Trixie looked at Fleur like she'd just sprouted a second horn. "Have you lost your mind Fleur? There's no way they could do that! And you know it!"

Fleur glared angrily at Trixie and Twilight," You two are unbelievable, you know that. They said they can set up an irrigation...thingy, then they can do it. Stop insulting them by saying they can't."

"And what about New Pegasopolis?" Trixie retorted. "You know there was no real need for them to tear it down! What kind of message is that going to send to pegasi outside the country? Especially considering this country's rather rocky past where ponies with wings are concerned!"

"If the griffons took the city it'd become a flying fortress," Octavia half shouted, adding her own voice to the argument. "They were right to do that!"

"Not if they hadn't kicked all of our pegasi out of it," Twilight said evenly, not wanting to raise her voice at her friends, even if they weren't so bothered by doing so. "Even if the griffons were going to invade, which they very likely aren't, not even they would attack a city full of Equestrian citizens and risk war with both Mareitania and Equestria at the same time."

"Equestria doesn't even have an army Twilight!" Fleur said back. "If the griffons really wanted to, what would stop them invading us, huh? I'm sure they'd find some way to coerce the princesses into raising the sun and moon, so that wouldn't be the problem. Maybe they could find some way to do it without the princesses at all."

Twilight took a step back, "What are you getting at Fleur?"

"I- I don't know..." Fleur delicately rubbed a hoof up and down her forehead, "I have a headache. Talk to me again tomorrow when you've hopefully become more reasonable. Come on filly, we need to do your therapy before we go to bed."

"Uh, sure, be right there." The filly spared Twilight and Trixie a pity filled glance before running after Fleur. Octavia followed as well, not saying a word, while Summer smiled weakly and wished them a good night.

"What is up with them?" Twilight asked rhetorically. She then reached a hoof up and scratched her horn, "And why does my horn feel like it's full of ants? It's enough to drive a pony crazy."

Trixie cocked her head slightly, "What are you talking about?"

"My horn's felt funny ever since getting here. You and Fleur didn't seem to be affected, so I didn't bother mention it."

"Twilight, I haven't felt my horn do anything much in months. Much longer and I might start thinking I'm an earth pony."

"Right, I guess it's just me then." Twilight rubbed her horn again, then dropped her hoof to the floor. "I wish I knew what was going on here."

"Maybe we should have a look around? See what dirty little secrets they're hiding?"

"They shouldn't have any dirty little secrets." Twilight paced backwards and forwards, grumbling under her breath. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're right. There's something going on here, and I want to know what."

"Okay!" Trixie said happily. "I go upstairs, you go downstairs?"

"No. I'm sorry Trixie, but I can hide using my magic. You can't, and I really think getting caught would be very, very bad."

Trixie's ears flopped back as she sighed, "Oh..."

"I really am sorry. Could you go keep an eye on our friends and tell me if they behave any weirder than they are already?"

Trixie snorted, her ears still back. "Sure, I guess even a magic-less pony like me could do that."

"Trixie..."

Trixie waved Twilight off, "Oh...don't. I got nopony to blame except myself. And all the other ponies involved. Can't forget them!" Trixie sighed again and started to slowly trot to where the others went. "Stay safe Twilight."

Twilight smiled after Trixie, and held it until the blue unicorn was well out of sight. Then she slumped, and rubbed her horn again. "Here goes six months of almost being a normal pony, straight down the drain." She started walking, her hoofsteps slow and heavy, "This country is seriously bad for my health."

Twilight hid out of sight around a corner, staying quiet as she listened to the sound of hoof beats growing quieter as they moved further away. Then she slipped around the corner and followed after them, making sure to keep her own hooves stayed as quiet as possible.
This sort of thing was what the last hour of her life had consisted of, and Twilight was seriously beginning to think she was an idiot. She didn't know where she going, or what she was looking for, and certainly didn't know to what end she was hoping to use whatever she found. Most of the rooms she found were also locked, and while she could solve that problem with force, it would only create another problem later on.

Twilight stopped at the next corner to peek around it. It led to a stairs with two guards posted at the bottom, and she quickly ducked back before she was spotted. Clearly there was no more progress to be made that way, so she started heading back the way she came, creeping past doors that gave her an infuriating lack of information as to what was in them.

"We'll have to go over the plans again tomorrow, okay? Okay. Goodnight." Twilight froze at the voice ahead, and panicked as the unmistakable sound of hooves started to draw nearer, all while she was stood like an idiot in the middle of the corridor, guards one way, and whoever was approaching the other. Twilight jumped to the closest door and pulled at the latch, only to find it locked, as were the next two. She fought to keep a squeal of fear from escaping her mouth, and desperately cast a spell that would render her invisible, cursing herself for not doing it sooner.

She closed her eyes, the two things the spell didn't seem to make invisible, and tried not to move as movement would cancel the spell. She needn't have bothered putting so much effort into it though as the pony she was hiding from walked straight into her, knocking her over, and revealing her. Twilight scrambled to her hooves and prepared an attack, expecting one back.

"Twilight?"

Twilight stopped casting and slowly turned towards the owner of the voice, first afraid, then confused because of the lack of shouting. In fact, the owner of the voice seemed to recognise her well enough to be on a first name basis. Standing further up the corridor was a earth pony mare, light yellow mane and tail, with a darker yellow coat, and much to Twilight's relief she recognised who it was. It was Honeydew, an expert on steam power that defected to the rebels during the civil war.

"Honeyd-!" Twilight started to say with airy relief, only to wind up almost choking on the hoof that was rather inelegantly shoved halfway into her mouth.

"Shh!" Honeydew whispered harshly. "What are you doing here Twilight?!" Twilight's eyes flicked down at the hoof that currently occupied her mouth. "Right, follow me."

Honeydew withdrew her hoof, giving Twilight a chance to try and scrape her tongue on the back of her own hoof as Honeydew sorted through a small ring of keys that she pulled out of her bags which seemed to be mostly full of rolled up papers. She stuck a key in the nearest door and unlocked it, waving Twilight in after her into a dark room.

"What are you doing here?!" the mare hissed once they were inside.

"Nice to see you too Honeydew," Twilight replied sarcastically, lighting her horn up to give them a light to see by. The walls were covered in designs, leading her to suspect that this was Honeydew's own office that she'd been dragged into. "Wait, what is this?" she asked, spotting some familiar designs in the chaos.

"No! Don't look at those!" Honeydew squeaked. She dove for the designs, but Twilight plucked them off the wall with her magic before Honeydew was even a third of the way to them.

"Are... Are these steam tanks?" Twilight glared accusingly at Honeydew, "I thought these went back to Equestria! How do you have them?"

"Those are new," Honey admitted weakly. "I remembered the designs easy enough, even without the originals."

"But I thought you hated steam tanks?"

"I do!" Honeydew shouted back, quickly dipping her head in embarrassment at how loud she'd shouted. "I do," she repeated once they were sure nopony was coming.

"Then why make new ones?"

"Because the council ordered me to." Honeydew looked around surreptitiously, "Twilight, you need to get out of here."

"Out of this room?"

"No, out of the keep! Something really wrong is going on here, and you need to get out of here before you get into serious trouble!"

"Not until I get an explanation." Twilight sat and folded her forelegs, making it very clear she wasn't going anywhere until she'd heard everything. "The faster you tell me, the faster I'm out of your mane."

Honeydew appeared to wrestle with herself for a moment, then stamped a hoof. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"I think the entire thing would be a good place to start, but how about you tell me why they sent all the pegasi back to Equestria."

"That I don't know. The council asked to see me a couple of weeks back, asking me to start work on a large scale irrigation network, and told me to have a series of reservoirs built by the winter."

"But the land would dry up within at least three months. Nothing would grow, and ponies would starve long before the winter."

"I know!" Honeydew said with exasperation. "I have no idea why they're asking me either! I'm not an architect, or a builder, or whatever the hell they need me to be for this! And it's not like I don't have enough on my plate with getting the railway up and running, as well as building more of these fucking steam tanks!"

"Keep it down!"

Honeydew sucked in a breath and released it slowly. "Sorry."

"It's alright, really. So you're saying this all started about two weeks ago."

Honeydew shook her head, "Things started going weird about four months ago, not long after Princess Celestia left, and not long after the Viscount's trial."

"The Viscount's trial? What happened there?"

"The Viscount was to be put on trial as the last surviving member of his family. Every crime imaginable was put on his shoulders, even ones that there was no possible way he could have committed, but ponies didn't care. They just wanted him to pay for what the Dukes' had done to this country."

"I'm guessing they hung him." For a second Twilight was a little annoyed that she wasn't more bothered by that. She was certainly bothered by what Honeydew said next.

"No, he was never hung. He did something. Made some kind of bargain for his life in exchange for something, but I don't know what. The point is that the council agreed to it, and hat's when things started to change. The council started holding meetings in secret, and putting motions through the parliament that should never have passed, but each one passed almost unanimously."

"What kind of motions?"

"I wasn't there to see them, but I know a lot of them involved the military, and national security."

"Because of the griffons?"

"No," Honeydew said quietly. "Almost none of them were about the griffons, while at the same time a lot of anti-Equestrian sentiment popped up almost overnight and started spreading amongst ponies."

Twilight was surprised, "What did we do? We helped this country!"

Honeydew nodded, "I know, but when I try to remind ponies of that, I usually end up getting some trite along the lines of, 'We could've done it without them.' I know we couldn't, and not long ago they knew they couldn't."

Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing about any of this, and her suspicions were throwing a few things her way that seemed unlikely. The Mareitanian's had been keen to work with Equestria at one point, even if it was all mostly by trade. Now they barely seemed able to tolerate having Equestrians in their country if the sudden removal of all the pegasi was any indication. None of this made sense to her. Why would the council let this happen? Were they the source? Twilight needed to find out.

"So you have no idea what happened to suddenly make everything like this?"

"No, not really. The Viscount made a bargain, ended up getting spared, then things started changing. I try to keep out of it now. I'm having enough headaches lately without adding a few figurative ones to them."

"Headaches?"

"Yeah. They started not long after the Viscount's trial, and I have no idea what's causing them. I try to spend as much time as I can in Stalliongrad now. They don't come as often there."

That didn't seem like much of a coincidence to Twilight. "Has anypony else had these headaches? Or any other feelings like unicorns having itchy horns or something?"

"A few of us here have had the same headaches, but I haven't heard any unicorns say anything about itchy horns."

"Great, so that's still just me." Twilight frowned and tapped her hoof irritably. This whole thing was just giving her more questions, and not a lot of ponies willing to give answers. As helpful as Honeydew had been so far, she didn't seem to know the reasons for what was going on any more than Twilight did herself. She also doubted the council would be any more forthcoming if they were involved. Perhaps she'd have to consult an unexpected source.

"Where's the Viscount now?"

"In the dungeons I think. While his bargain kept him alive, the council were wise enough to keep him locked up."

"Was his trial supposed to be public?"

"It was."

"Then how did they explain away their decision to let him live."

"Something about letting him live out his days in misery. Apparently death was too quick and easy an escape for him."

Twilight barked a bitter laugh, "Likely story." Honeydew shrugged in response. "Thanks for telling me all this Honeydew."

"If anypony can fix this, it's you," Honeydew said, giving Twilight a hopeful smile. "Seriously though, you need to get out of here now, before we're both caught."

"Right, of course." Twilight stood and cracked the door open to look along both ways along the corridor outside. Thankfully the coast was clear. "Try to stay out of trouble, okay?"

Honeydew smiled weakly, although it was as much a grimace as it was a smile. "Don't you worry about that. I'm far too useful for them to let something happen to me."

"Still, take care of yourself."

"You too Twilight."

Twilight gave a final nod to Honeydew, then slipped out the door to hurry to her next destination. Hopefully, when she went to see him, the Viscount would be feeling talkative.

At the very least Twilight felt she could be thankful that the entrance to the dungeons were exactly where she remembered them being. She suspected she might have swore loud enough to give herself away if they had actually gone through with the immense amount of effort it would take to move it, cut out of stone as it was. It did seem they'd put a door in the entrance though. A rather solid one, unlike the revolving door the former occupants of the keep would likely have needed if they had bothered to put one in at all.

There were also guards, but they didn't seem particularly alert. Maybe even they thought only an idiot would attempt to break into the dungeons. Unfortunately for them, Twilight was just the idiot they weren't expecting. The question was how to do it without being spotted, or raising suspicion.

Last time she'd been required to break into the dungeons at High Rock, she'd transformed herself and her friends into breezies, and snuck in through a drainage pipe under the dungeons. She had no reason to think that would happen so easily a second time though. Not that it'd really been that easy the first time either.

After waiting several minutes, and weighing up her options, only to conclude she had few, Twilight shrugged, squeezed her eyes shut, and teleported to the other side of the door. The lack of guards shouting in surprise gave her enough confidence to open an eye far enough to see that she'd successfully teleported to exactly where she'd meant to go. "Phew."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Twilight started trotting down the cold stone stairs into the dungeons, her horn providing the only source of light, and being the only thing between her and not falling painfully down the stairs.

The dungeons themselves were only slightly more lit up than the stairs. A few lanterns dotted around illuminated the path between the rows of cells on both sides of her, while the last one lit up the cell in which a rather haggard Viscount lay on his bunk and peered up at her through the gloom.

"Hello Francis."

"You aren't a pony I expected to see," the Viscount replied, his voice rougher than Twilight remembered it being. It was also considerably less full of itself.

"Neither are you, but here we are."

"And to what do I owe this visit from royalty?"

"I want to know what you gave them in exchange for your life," said Twilight, trying and failing to keep the edge out of her voice. "Everything's going wrong since you did, and I want to know what it was."

The Viscount chuckled darkly, "My my, is Equestria finding themselves less in control of Mareitania as you thought you did? What if I told you I merely gave them an idea?"

"A simple idea from a pony like you would hardly cause this much trouble."

The Viscount smirked at Twilight, his eyes glinting in the light of her horn. "Never underestimate the power of a idea Princess, or it might just tear your world from under you."

"And you'd like that, wouldn't you."

"Oh very much yes," the Viscount grinned. "And sometimes, wishes do come true."

Twilight glowered at the smug stance the Viscount adopted, then decided to even the playing field a little. "So," she began, drawing the word out, "I'm guessing you were hoping for more than just being allowed to live in exchange for what you gave them. Or is being stuck in here exactly what you wanted?"

"Consider this proof that your council can't be trusted. Yes I pleaded for better accommodations in the keep, but once they had what I gave them they threw me back in here."

"No more than you deserve."

"You stole my country away from me! If anypony deserves to be in here, it's all of you!"

Twilight didn't even try to contain her disgust, "That's more like the Viscount I remember."

"Duke!"

"Whatever. The fact is you're still in here, so clearly your plan wasn't as great as you hoped."

"I don't know," the Viscount said, suddenly calm again. "I got one of the things I asked for, and I'll have the other soon enough, and under the circumstances, two out of three ain't bad."

"I'm guessing one of those things was your life."

"Correct."

"I have no idea what the other thing could be though."

"Oh, it's not something I asked for. It's just something I want, and will have soon enough."

Twilight rolled her eyes, "And what might that be?"

"Revenge. Payback for what you and your country did to mine!"

"Uh-huh. So, what idea could you possibly give them that would spell the undoing of Equestria?"

The Viscount stretched out on his bunk as he grinned up at Twilight, "Why Princess, all I did was reward their faith."

"Reward their faith." Twilight felt the last reserves of her patience start to crumble, and what was mean to be a calm question, came out a lot louder. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"You're supposedly a clever mare; you'll work it out."

"You're right, and when I do, your little scheme will be over."

"Not that easily I think. Goodnight to you Princess."

"Francis," Twilight returned with a rigidly polite nod. Keeping a pretty tight lid on her frustrations, she left the Viscount to his dark hole, not feeling the slightest bit of pity for him. As far as she was concerned, the fact that the council kept him in the dungeons was a sign that not everything was broken around here.

Once she was out of sight though, Twilight felt no compunctions about showing her annoyance. "Why Princess," she mimicked in a squeaky voice, "all I did was reward their faith. You're supposedly a clever mare; you'll work it out." She shuddered with suppressed anger, "Asshole."
She stopped at the bottom step of the stairs back up to the keep, and tried to think for a moment before climbing. What did he mean by idea? Rewarding their faith isn't an idea, it was an action, but they had no faith in him to reward. If anything, Twilight was surprised that they bothered to listen to him.

"Besides, the only faith ponies have around here is-" Twilight froze, then turned and jumped into a glide that swiftly carried her back to the bottom of the stairs, from where she set into a hard gallop that carried her past the Viscount's cell fast enough to not let her hear too much of his mocking laughter.

Twilight slowed as she neared her destination, and slowed to a complete stop when she found that the entrance to the lower cells was exposed, and had a pile of rubble around it. There were even some tools left here, discarded after whatever had happened. Twilight felt her stomach tie into a knot. If all this was here, there was no way they didn't find what was down in the dark below.

Taking care to not trip on any of the chunks of stone scattered down the stairs, Twilight quickly descended into the darkness, her horn the only source of light in the inky black of where she was going. It was the same once she reached the bottom, and whereas there had once been a glow from the furthest dungeon to provide some illumination, that was now gone, confirming for Twilight that the worst had happened. The cell door being slightly ajar only confirmed it further. The worst had come to pass. Faust was free.

Author's Notes:

I bet none of you expected that to happen. Right?