Celestia's hooves over echoed off the cold stone of the dungeon's floor as she made her way into the deepest part of Canterlot Castle, providing an fitting accompaniment to this rather dreary place.

She'd just received the news from Luna that they'd repelled an assault upon the defences north of Las Pegasus, and while that was good, in the back of her mind she was counting an increasing number of lives lost. And now she was going to visit one of the ponies responsible for inflicting Equestria with its current predicament.

"Good morning Princess," Fleur said to the approaching alicorn as she stood outside one of the cells, a clipboard held in her magic. A small box was beside her on the ground.

"Good morning Director," Celestia said back, noting the hint of distaste Fleur's expression grew upon using her title rather than her name. "I suppose it's unnecessary for me to ask if you've heard the news?"

"About Las Pegasus? No, we've heard, and obviously we're pleased about Luna having held off another assault. I will have to get an update on her future plans though, as I doubt the Mareitanians would attack there again. Hopefully 'master strategist' Snowbright in here will agree. I'm still confused about why you want to be here for his interrogation."

"Because I-" Celestia bit her answer off, finding it silly even to herself. The only reason she was here was because she felt she needed to be, to look Snowbright in the eye and ask why he did all this. "I just need to be."

Fleur shrugged at Celestia, "You're the princess, Princess, so far be it from me to stop you. I will warn you that I very much doubt you'll get whatever answers it is you're seeking. He was a stubborn ass during the rebellion, and I really don't think he'll be any less of one now."

"Maybe, maybe not. There's only one way to find out."

Using her horn, Fleur opened the cell door into the interrogation room. Formerly it had been just another cell, but Fleur had requested a few changes to it since dragging prisoners through the castle each time you wanted to ask them something was beyond stupid. Realistically, all that had changed was the removal of the bed and other items, and a table and chair placed inside, but that was all it took to become a interrogation room.

Fleur nodded to the two Royal Guard ponies on the inside of the door, then met the eyes of the white pony shackled behind the table. Neither of them said anything to the other, but that didn't stop Snowbright from gazing defiantly at Fleur. His expression changed as Celestia entered, but only to convey a hint of anger.

"Hello Snowbright," Fleur said pleasantly, getting a pleasant smile in return.

"Hello Fleur. Nice to see one of the few ponies here worth a damn, even if you had to drag one of the ponies holding your leash in here with you."

"I am holding noponies leash," Celestia snapped. "Besides, how can you talk like that when Faust has such a tight hold on your leash?"

"Ah here we go," Snowbright sighed, rolling his eyes. "Faust is controlling us using magic, and is using us to enact her vengeance on Equestria and the ponies ruling it. Blah, blah, blah... tell me something new."

"How about that she's using you and your belligerence towards Equestria as a template for her mind control?" said Fleur.

"You mean that mind control that doesn't exist?"

"If that mind control doesn't exist, how did she convince your entire country to go to war with us just for her revenge?"

"Because she's the Lady! You wronged her and imprisoned her!"

"I didn't even know she existed until just before you did!" Celestia yelled. "I didn't imprison her! Equestria didn't imprison her! Why are you making us suffer for things we didn't do?"

"You didn't free her," Snowbright said quietly, like he was setting down a trump card. "She told us about your visits with her while you were there. She told us how you mocked her for her suffering when you could have set her free, pretending to care while doing nothing to help her."

"I did no such thing! I would have freed her were it not for her wretched insistence on destroying Equestria, and seeing my sister and I, as well as Twilight, locked up like she was. I don't know if you know, but what she's currently doing to Equestria is something she intends to do to the world!"

"Oh I know," Snowbright said smugly. "It was one of the bigger selling points for me after all."

"Excuse me?" Fleur said, shocked. "You wanted to attack us?"

"Not at the time, but I have no real love for Equestria. I could see it during the rebellion, those little things that would have made Mareitania more and more like Equestria, wearing away our identity bit by bit. So when Faust told us her wish of seeing Equestria and the world led into a new golden age guided by her hoof, how could I resist? Equestria, regarded as one of the greatest countries in the world, conquered by Mareitania, repeatedly described by many as being the worst. It couldn't have been more perfect."

Fleur gawped at Snowbright for several seconds before managing to find her tongue again. "But Equestria helped you! We helped you! If it wasn't for us rescuing you after your stupid attempt at killing the Viscount, you'd be dead, or even worse a guest of Pearl's in her dungeon."

"And the Viscount would have been dead, destroying the line of succession! Mareitania would've been freed from the Duke's grip when he died anyway, but you stopped me and dragged us into a bloody civil war!"

"You know somepony else would've claimed the throne, or even worse a war would've started as different ponies fought for it. Ponies would die anyway, and in the end you'd have a ruler you still didn't want!"

"You don't know that," Snowbright said, leaning back.

"You're right, I don't," said Fleur. "But what we did was put good ponies in charge of Mareitania, and how did you repay us? By letting Faust control you and use you all as a weapon to destroy us."

"She isn't controlling us!"

Fleur picked up the box she had with her and slammed it down on the table. She unlocked the clasps and pulled out a familiar looking item, a wooden depiction of Faust. "Do you know what this is?"

"It's an icon of Faust. Pretty much every household has one."

"At her insistence?"

"One was gifted to every household in celebration of our Lady's return." Snowbright squinted suspiciously at Fleur, "How did you get it?"

"One of our pegasi picked it up a few months ago when we were scouting your country. She became completely obsessed with it, and attacked anypony that tried to take it off her."

"Sounds like my kind of pegasus."

Fleur pulled the icon in two, letting the small enchanted gem spill out onto the table. "This was inside it. A magic gem spreading Faust's magic to everypony who has one of these things."

"You could have made that yourself. Besides, if what you're saying is true, why aren't you affected by it?"

"We've immunised ourselves to it, but I was affected when we went to High Rock keep when this all started. The only ponies totally immune to it are alicorns, and Twilight was able to save us from it."

"Uh-huh. If that's true, why aren't you removing its effects from me?"

"Because we have reason to believe that ending the effects of the spell on a pony that's been exposed to it for months potentially has side effects." What Fleur didn't suggest was that Flicker was actually batshit crazy anyway when her horn was damaged, and there weren't any actual side effects so to speak. She wasn't going to take that risk though. "We're still working on how to safely remove the enchantment from ponies."

Snowbright nodded slowly, "Okay, that's nice and all, but you haven't actually proven there's any mind control magic to speak of. Even if there was, what does convincing me of its existence really do for you?"

"It helps us to show you you're wrong," said Fleur. "But I suppose that wouldn't matter to you anyway since you're kind of an asshole anyway. Instead, let's talk strategy."

Snowbright chuckled at Fleur, "Prepare to be disappointed then, because even if I was willing to tell you, I don't actually know that much. You'll have to ask Faust about the entire story."

"Ah, that'd be why they attacked where we caught you again, because they didn't have you to tell them it was a bad idea. We fought them off by the way."

"What?" Snowbright said with fake surprise. "Without collapsing bridges, buildings, tunnels, or throwing deadly weather at them? I'm almost impressed."

Fleur consulted her notes, "I do believe we threw a couple of five ton boulders at them, but that was to break their makeshift bridges. The rest was done the old fashioned way. We also captured... one thousand three hundred and ninety two of your soldiers, since they at least still have the sense to not get themselves slaughtered."

Snowbright snorted at Fleur, "We'll aren't they lucky you gave them a chance to surrender."

"I imagine you can thank Luna later at some point. The thing is, you can't keep throwing yourself at our strongest points. The attack on the Bulwark must have been costly, and between the train crash and the latest battle, as well as the loss of your griffon mercenaries, Mareitania must be feeling the losses. I wouldn't put it past Faust to keep throwing lives away, but I don't think even you would agree with that. There must be a plan b if you failed to capture Las Pegasus."

"Of course there is," Snowbright laughed. "I just have no idea what it is since you denied us proper access to Ponyville as well. The Lady planned the strategy, I planned the battles."

"Including the attack on the Crystal Empire?" Celestia asked.

"No, that was all our Lady's work. I would've been more direct, but she likes to spare ponies where she can."

"Why? To save ponies to use in her war against the rest of the world?"

"Probably," Snowbright shrugged. "Why do you think she hasn't flown around destroying your war industries? She has the power to do so, and I know you know you couldn't stop her if she decided to do that."

"She hasn't shown herself since Vanhoover," Fleur said, making a show of consulting her clipboard again. "For all we know her little fight with Luna could have left her unable to do so, and you could be bluffing."

Snowbright shrugged again, "You'd only be kidding yourselves in that case."

Celestia slowly and deliberately cleared her throat, "In the times I, and others, spoke with Faust, she often made reference to something she called 'the plan' concerning her intentions for the world. Do you have any idea what that is?"

"Uh, Princess, I was aski-" Fleur shut her mouth as Celestia held up a hoof.

"The plan?" Snowbright repeated back to Celestia. "I've never heard her say anything about any plan like that. She said that she wanted to lead the world into a golden age-"

"Guided by her hoof, yes," Celestia finished. "Then it's clear to me that she really is just using you. Please continue Director."

"Uh..." Fleur glanced at Celestia, seeing the dark expression on her face. She'd also lost track of her thoughts, and silently cursed Celestia for interrupting her like that. "Okay, since you can't go to Ponyville, and you've failed to even reach Las Pegasus twice now, your only options we see are to keep trying to capture Las Pegasus, or go through the north, which since you haven't done, we feel you must agree with our assessment that it's miles of deadly open ground to cross."

"I'll agree that it wasn't plan a or b," said Snowbright, "but it's a plan should we need it. The fact is that the west holds nothing of use to us save as a hoofhold in your country. I suspect you intentionally made it to be that way, placing most of your critical industries in the east."

"And yet you say Faust could destroy them herself, even though she hasn't, meaning she intends to capture them. Or that she's exaggerated her abilities to you." Fleur smiled as Snowbright glared at her. "Thank you for that information at least."

"Yes you've made it difficult for us," Snowbright said evenly. "Luckily for you your very geography makes it easy for you to defend your country from the west, but don't kid yourselves into thinking we're done. As the Crystal Empire taught you, we are capable of surprises, just as you are. Whatever plan our Lady is thinking up, I'm sure I wouldn't even see it coming."

"I see. In that case, should she attack our defences at Las Pegasus again, I'll let you know." Fleur stood and placed the icon securely back in its container, "Good day Snowbright. Guards, return him to his cell." Fleur started to leave, then remembered who else was in the room, and bowed to Celestia. "After you Princess," she said, letting Celestia leave first.

They'd left the dungeons entirely before either of them spoke again. "I'm sorry Fleur. I suspect my presence there was more hindrance than help."

Fleur shrugged easily. She'd not expected much out of the meeting, and ended up with a few bits of information that might be worth something. "I wouldn't worry about it. Snowbright's a highly trained individual, so it's going to take time to get anything useful out of him. I'm not exactly an interrogator either. I'll get our actual interrogators to work on him straight away."

"I know, but... he was always fairly unpleasant to me during my time in Mareitania after the war ended. Having him here, I just wanted to know why he had such an issue with me. I'm still none the wiser really."

Fleur smiled sympathetically, "I really don't think it was you. He was never the nicest of ponies, and even had issues with Twilight towards the end. He almost pitched a fit when he found out who Luna was." Fleur shrugged at Celestia, "As I said, we'll keep working on him, and hopefully get him to let slip some useful information."

"Of course. Thank you, Director."

Fleur bowed to Celestia, "You're welcome, although I'd appreciate it if you called me Fleur."

"As you wish Fleur. Now I imagine we both have plenty to do, so keep me updated on events as best you can."

The journey from the dungeons was conducted in silence, and not just because Celestia lacked anypony to talk to as she meandered around the castle, avoiding going to the throne room for a little bit. The meeting with Snowbright had left her in a thoughtful frame of mind, and her thoughts only seemed to be chasing after one another as they sought the elusive answer to the question, why? She understood Faust's reasons for what she was doing, as deranged as they were, but considering none of the Mareitanians knew they were ensorcelled, how were they coerced into agreeing to attack Equestria? They weren't puppets, so why weren't they aware of how their very thoughts had been twisted into making them do something they wouldn't really want to do.

Everything else felt irrelevant to that. Snowbright wasn't going to share Mareitania's strategy with them, not without the kind of coercion Celestia refused to adopt, so she doubted they would get anything useful out of him. Even then, she would constantly question whether what he told them was true or not.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she almost tripped over Flurry Heart as she played outside the door to Cadence's room as she passed. The foal burbled happily at her, raising her legs to try and get Celestia to pick her up, which she did so, rubbing her nose affectionately against Flurry's.

"And what exactly are you doing out here, hmm? I very much doubt mummy would normally leave you laying around like this." Celestia smiled at the string of nonsense Flurry spouted, gesturing wildly with her legs as she flapped her large wings. "Perhaps we should go and find her." Flurry sighed in a way which perfectly conveyed 'that was what I was trying to tell you.'

Celestia banged her hoof against the door to Cadence's room. "Cadence? Are you in there?"

"Uh, yes, yes I am!"

Celestia paused, suspicious at how much guilt Cadence had managed to squeeze into those five syllables. "Are you alright Cadence? You sound a bit off."

"I'm fine! Really! I'm just a bit tired."

"Ah, I see." Celestia waited a beat, "Care to explain why I found Flurry outside your door?"

"But she's right her-ah!" The door flew open in a haze of blue magic, revealing the panicked and dishevelled pink alicorn that had been hiding behind it. "Flurry Heart! What have I told you about teleporting around?"

"Gleerh!" Flurry squeaked, seemingly pleased with her cunning argument.

"I thought her magic spurts had been stopped?" Celestia asked Cadence, confused at how Flurry had done such a thing.

"Well, yes, but that doesn't stop her doing it on purpose." Cadence took Flurry off Celestia and placed the foal on her back. "Thanks for bringing her back to me Celestia."

"Quite alright, although I am curious as to what you're doing to not notice Flurry was gone. Especially since she'd only made it as far as outside the door."

"Uh..." Cadence glanced back into her room, "Just a small personal project. Nothing much."

"Uh-huh... Cadence, I don't need over a thousand years of experience to tell when somepony is lying to me."

"Please Auntie, it's really nothing important." Cadence gave Celestia her most convincing smile, although it ran up against Celestia's most sceptical eyebrow, which met it movement for movement, raising higher as the smile grew wider. "Why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be in the throne room?"

"I was taking a walk to clear my mind," Celestia replied, her eyebrow returning to its usual position. "I had an interesting meeting with General Snowbright, and I still don't feel any closer to understanding any of this."

"Then all we can hope for is a quick resolution to this entire thing," Cadence said, rather pointedly in Celestia's opinion, although she would certainly like an end to all this as much as anypony.

"Indeed. Would you perhaps join me in the throne room?"

Cadence hesitated, her eyes drifting back to her room. "I'm not exactly presentable at the moment-"

"Please Cadence, I'd appreciate the company. I also think Flurry would like to get out and about," Celestia added, getting a burble of agreement from the young alicorn.

"Uuuuurgh... okay. Give me a minute to clean myself up."

Celestia smiled and nodded, then waited patiently as Cadence got herself ready, which seemed to involve the sound of papers being hidden beneath a mattress for some reason. Obviously that wasn't suspicious in the slightest, so Celestia could only consider her impulse to tear Cadence's room apart until she knew what was going on as a bit of an overreaction.

A minute later Cadence re-emerged, less bedraggled, and adorned by her regalia. With Flurry firmly in tow, the two alicorns made their way to the throne room, the beginnings of an awkward conversation forming between them. "So, Auntie, why exactly did you want me to accompany you?"

"Besides the fact that you've been sequestered away for the last fortnight? I've barely seen you in a week. I'm just concerned that these events are weighing you down."

"And shouldn't they?" Cadence said, a trace of harshness unmistakable in her words.

"Yes, but our duty is to our ponies first, no matter how heavy our heart is."

"Oh? You mean my ponies fighting for Equestria? Or the ones living in a refugee camp?"

"Both," Celestia replied simply. "Cadence, I realise you no longer support this war after losing the Empire, but your subjects still need their leader during this time, if not more so."

"And what makes you think I'm not doing that?"

"The fact that you're staying cooped up in your room to the point that even Flurry wants to get out of there?"

Cadence nodded slowly, but not in a friendly or agreeable manner. "I see no reason to go around pretending everything is fine, Celestia. My ponies are homeless, or are fighting a war they cannot win. That seems a long way from fine to me!"

"And I understand that, but-"

"No, Celestia. No, I'm not discussing this any further. I am trying to help my subjects, I am, but with the focus on the war I have limited options."

This time Celestia nodded, not disagreeing with Cadence's words, but also letting her suspicions out to be voiced. "You're the mysterious benefactor behind the peace rally happening in Appleloosa, aren't you?" Celestia smiled as Cadence blustered at her, "I suspected you were."

Cadence nervously chewed her lip, occasionally glancing sideways at Celestia, expecting her wrath at any moment. "I'm not stopping."

"I wasn't going to ask you to."

"You weren't?"

Celestia smiled serenely at the younger alicorn, "Cadence, I've always tried to be an advocate for peace. I've not always succeeded, but I try. While I'm sure Luna has her own opinions on what you're doing, for me to stop you would be highly hypocritical. Those wishing for the fighting to stop need their own voice, although even I can tell you that for that to happen we'd have to completely surrender, which isn't ideal. I will ask one thing of you though."

"What's that?"

"Be pleasant about it. While some want peace, others want to fight, and you should respect that just as you want your point of view to be respected. Nothing saps a soldier's morale faster than thinking their own people are against them."

"I can only see that as further incentive to stop fighting," said Cadence, "but I'll try." Cadence smiled sadly at Celestia, "I am sorry for undermining you like this, but I don't want Flurry to grow up in a war. I also want her to grow up with a father that's around... and alive."

"I understand completely," Celestia stopped them outside the throne room, holding up a hoof to stop the guards from opening the doors. "If I could see a better way out of this situation, I would gladly take it, but I don't see surrender as that better option."

"Surely surrender is better than throwing away so many lives, only to lose anyway?"

"We haven't lost yet Cadence. I have faith Twilight will find what we need to end this." Celestia gestured for the doors to be opened and entered the throne room, slowing her pace a little as she saw the group of people clustered near the twin thrones, surrounding the tall form of Amira, the Saddle Arabian ambassador. "Excuse me? Is something the matter?"

The group broke up at the sound of Celestia's voice, and Amira was allowed to the front. Celestia could tell something was wrong as her usual immaculate appearance was absent, and her eyes were puffy and red as though she'd been crying.

"I have received a letter for you from my country, but with it I have also received dire news. An army of creatures under the command of one calling himself the Storm King has ransacked my country, pilfering riches and taking ponies as slaves. He attacked the capital Ammare little more than a week ago, and attacked many places besides as he left with his prizes." Amira swallowed hard, like she had to choke the next words out, "They took my sister."

Celestia was stunned, and it took her a moment to realise that she was just staring at the ambassador. "I'm so sorry to hear that. Is the Sultan unharmed?"

"They attacked the palace and captured Grand Vizier Hakim, but the Sultan eluded capture."

Celestia nodded sadly, "That is something at least. I very sorry this has happened to your people, and to you for losing your sister. I... truly wish I could do something, anything, to help you, but at this time I'm afraid I cannot."

"I know," said the ambassador, absent-mindedly playing with her long blue mane for a moment. "The Sultan sends his regrets at not having lent you his aid when you needed it most, as now when we could desperately use your aid, neither of us can help the other as our army is now being used to secure our borders from further incursion."

"Our help?" Celestia asked, confused at the request. "Not that I would refuse to give aid if I were able, but why would you need our help specifically?"

"The army that attacked us was in possession of vast air ships, against which we have no real hope. Without ponies that can fly, we have no way to follow them to where they have taken our ponies."

"Air ships?"

"A half dozen attacked the capital, containing hundreds of large, bipedal creatures with a strength in battle we could not match with what few city guards we had. They were few in number though, less than a thousand. We fear they may be a vanguard to a greater invasion."

"Possible I suppose. I'd say that using your army to secure your lands is the best thing you could do at this time. Perhaps, once this war is over, we could see to the safe return of your people, and your sister."

Amira choked back a tear and nodded, "Princess Twilight has already promised the Sultan her personal help with saving our people, but any further help you could offer would be appreciated."

"Twilight was there?" Cadence said excitedly, forgetting herself and the situation upon hearing those words. "Is she alright?"

Amira frowned a little, unable to hide her irritation at Cadence's outburst. "She was, along with four other ponies. She saved us from an evil sorceress and her army of giant spiders, but even she could not stand against these creatures." Amira pulled a scroll from her garments, "This letter is from her."

"Giant spiders?" Cadence asked quietly as Celestia gently took the scroll in her magic, forcing herself to not snatch it from the ambassadors hoof.

"Thank you ambassador," Celestia said earnestly, taking the scroll in her hoof and holding it to her chest. "As I said, I'm sorry we cannot do much to help you at this time, but once we can I shall certainly do my best to."

Amira bowed to Celestia, then to Cadence, "We understand. Hopefully fate works in both our favours to bring this war to a swift conclusion." Amira raised from her bow and left, her rigid posture fighting against her feelings as she stiffly walked away. After a few seconds the other ponies dispersed as well, leaving Celestia and Cadence alone with the letter from Twilight.

"It seems the world is unravelling," Celestia said sadly. "First us, then the griffons' troubles, and now an attack on Saddle Arabia by an unknown enemy."

"You do realise that to help the Saddle Arabians we would only have to attack this 'Storm King,'" Cadence said to Celestia. "Meaning yet more war."

"I realise that Cadence, but I had to say something. I have no wish to throw Equestria into another war so soon. It seems Twilight has other plans though."

"What about the letter?" Cadence said, gesturing her head towards the paper still in Celestia's hoof. "And what did the Ambassador mean when there were four other ponies with Twilight? She only left with three."

"It seems Twilight hasn't lost her touch at making friends," Celestia said with a smile. She broke wax seal on the letter, unfurling it and catching a second letter than was inside the first. "Hmm? Two letters, both from Twilight?"

"Maybe she wrote a second one after the attack?" Cadence suggested.

"Perhaps." Checking the date on the letters, Celestia chose the earliest one and began to read.

Dear Princess Celestia

Sorry you haven't heard from me in so long, but we had a bit of a run in with Queen Chrysalis in the Badlands, and she destroyed the speaker stone after capturing us. She did let us go though, after a intervention with Chrysalis from Primus, the original queen of the changelings, who lives in a pool of primordial goo. I'm not exaggerating, and she's just as worried about Faust as we are. I learnt a lot about Chrysalis and changelings during this time, and have received an interesting insight into them in the form of Mayfly, who was cast into exile by Chrysalis, and is now travelling with us.

Anyway, we are making progress. We've deemed it unlikely that we'll locate an operational mirror as part of Starswirl's portal network, and are instead searching for existing fragments from which to create a whole mirror. We found some in the Badlands, and more in the Tenochtitlan basin, although we may have killed the creature Auhizotl, a villain from the Daring Do series, after getting captured. Again. He wanted to eat my heart, and Trixie took offence to that.

Now, after an amusing adventure involving wonderfully musical pirates, we have sailed to Saddle Arabia, and arrived in the Capital Ammare this morning. After meeting with the Sultan we have no reason to think there might be an entire mirror here, but it might be here anyway, so we're doing more research just to be sure, while Sunset and Mayfly assist the authorities with something involving some disappearances.

We've also heard that the war has truly begun in Equestria, and we are doing everything we can to find Starswirl's retreat. Hopefully our research here turns something up, and if we can really find an entire mirror here we might fix this sooner rather than later.

Twilight.

"It was written before the attack," Celestia said slowly, giving the letter to Cadence to read. "I know she's okay because she promised her help to the Sultan, but I'm actually a little scared to read the next one."

"Let me read this, and we'll read the next one together," Cadence offered. "Is that alright?"

"Yes, thank you." Celestia waited quietly as Cadence read the letter, watching the various expressions she wore that had been similar to her own as she read about Twilight getting captured twice. Once again she got the feeling that she'd given Twilight a task she shouldn't have.

"Oh dear," Cadence said quietly, lowering the letter. "I'm glad they're okay, but what they're doing sounds a lot more dangerous than I'd anticipated. Especially after the attack on Ammare."

"I know. Did the second to last paragraph seem odd to you?" Celestia waited as Cadence read that part again. "Doesn't seem like Twilight's usual form of writing, does it? I'm guessing they have found a mirror, but it's somewhere they shouldn't know about."

"I have the worst feeling that Twilight's got herself into trouble," said Cadence. "I'm suddenly a lot more worried about reading the next one."

"Indeed."

Celestia

By now I'm sure you've heard about the attack on Ammare. Rest assured that we're all fine, and that we were far away from the fighting for most of it. Apart from when I was thrown through a window. That did hurt a bit.

Anyway, nothing much of note here, but I will remind you to practice the spells Mercury's Magical Messenger, Vulpin's Visual Vocabulator, and the counterpart to Starswirl's Enigmatic Encryptor, and to try mixing them a little, preferably somewhere private. You may be surprised by the results.

Twilight

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Cadence asked, having expected something different. "What's with those spells?"

"She's hidden another message in this letter," said Celestia. "A message that only a skilled magic user could read. Clearly she wants us to combine those spells and use them on the letter."

"Seems a bit ridiculous to me, but carry on."

Celestia did so, combining the three spells Twilight had mentioned, except swapping out the Enigmatic Encryptor for its counterpart, which was the decryption spell. A swirling orb of golden magic formed on the tip of her horn, which she lowered to the letter. Nothing happened for a moment, but then the words stretched out into one line which started wrapping around itself until it formed a cartoonish facsimile of Twilight's head and face, which was heavy with sorry.

"Hi Celestia," the image began to say in Twilight's own voice. "Sorry about the way in which this letter was sent, but I had to do it like this in case the Saddle Arabians tried to read it. As I said, I'm sure you've heard about the attack by the Storm King's forces on Saddle Arabia. What you might not know is that I'm unwittingly complicit in it. Please hear me out before you think I've gone mad though."

"We found an entire mirror. It was broken, but nothing I couldn't fix. It was however, in the possession of the Sultan's vizier, who acted like it didn't exist, making it clear he had no wish to part with it. Anyway, after some... thing that happened with Daring Do, a mask, a unicorn called Arachiss, and a forgotten army of giant spiders, which we took care of so you don't need to worry about it, we decided to steal the mirror."

"I started by scouting out the Vizier's estate, during which I found a unicorn with a broken horn by the name of Tempest Shadow, although I fully suspect that isn't her real name. She also sought something in the Vizier's collection, so I offered her our help if she offered us hers. That was a mistake."

"It turns out that this pony was a commander in the army of the Storm King, whoever that is, and her distraction while we stole the mirror was to attack the city with her forces and ransack it. I wasn't very happy about that, but I felt I had no choice as we needed that mirror. She promised nopony would be killed if possible, and to her credit, almost nopony was. Instead... they were taken as slaves. I didn't learn that until after though."

"To make a short story even shorter, we got the mirror, but it was destroyed while getting it somewhere safe. A pony was thrown at me through the mirror while it was next to me, destroying it, and filling me with so much glass I was almost jingling. We found as much of it as we could, but in the chaos most of it was lost." The image of Twilight sighed and ran a hoof back through its mane, "We had an entire mirror Celestia, and... and it's gone. But I'm not here to lament about that."

"I fucked up Celestia, I fucked up bad, and now a lot of innocent ponies are going to suffer for it. I'm not saying I want you to jump up and go save them, but after this is done I'm getting them back one way or another. What I do want you to do is find out about the Storm King and his army, as I get the feeling they might be a threat worth knowing about. Especially the unicorn. She took down a dozen armed soldiers with her bare hooves, and she can cast magic with her broken horn, which I thought was impossible. It's crude mind you, but powerful enough to concern me."

"I also believe she's from Equestria, which means you can trace her. She's a dark purple unicorn with a bright magenta mane and tail, but her most striking feature is her broken horn, which she claims won't heal. Without her real name I know this'll be hard, but a search through Equestria's medical records for her injury could turn something up."

"Then there's what she took from the Vizier's collection, the Staff of Sacanas. I've never heard of it, and while Tempest claims it could fix her horn, I doubt that. The staff appears to absorb power, and even drained some of the magic from the mirror while it was still whole. What she and her Storm King wants it for worries me."

"I'm saying it again, I did not want any of this to happen, and with the mirror shattered I failed to even make the best of a bad situation." The image of Twilight looked back over her shoulder, "I'm not sure how much longer I can keep talking like this, so I'm just going to say that I intend to fix this. Not now, but soon. For now I'm staying focussed on our mission, and we're heading to the Circen desert to try and find some more mirror fragments, because we almost have enough to forge a new mirror now. If there isn't a mirror there... I don't know, but that's always been the risk. Hopefully I can find a way to get in touch soon, preferably with good news. Bye."

The letter returned to normal, and both Celestia and Cadence sat in a stunned silence for several seconds before either of them worked out what to say. Celestia was the first to break the silence.

"Why does she always blame herself?"

"Did she at any point indicate that she thought it was her fault?" Cadence said, wondering why Celestia would say that.

"She doesn't need to say it. You can tell by the way she talks that she blames herself for what happened, even if there's no way that it could actually be her fault. Clearly this 'Tempest Shadow' had her forces nearby, with the intent to attack the city. Twilight just unwittingly asked for help from the wrong pony."

"Yes, well, seeing as how Twilight intends to put this right, I think Tempest offered her 'help' to the wrong pony as well."

"Indeed," Celestia agreed. "Thankfully she's staying committed to stopping Faust, but after that, who knows what she'll do. I'll get this information to Equis at any rate, and see what they can find on Tempest Shadow and the Storm King."

"This is the kind of stuff that leads ponies to drink," Fleur said to Celia, her appointed second since coming to lead Equis. "They want us to investigate some pony involved in the attack on Saddle Arabia, as well as some mysterious Storm King. It's not as if we don't have enough on our plates already, what with the hostile nation invading us, our capabilities being crippled by the bomb, and our assets in Mareitania being temporarily unable to operate after getting found out and losing one of the team."

"Actually, tracing the unicorn wasn't too difficult," said Celia. "I had some of our agents search historical records over the last twenty years for ponies with rare and unusual conditions, like unicorns with broken horns that weren't healing, and we found something which led to the pony's actual medical record. Interestingly she's also on the missing ponies list, having gone missing years ago."

Fleur's eyes were wide, "You're pulling my leg right? You really tracked down that about her already? It's only been a couple of hours since Celestia brought it to us."

"Just doing my best ma'am, although it's our agents that did the work."

"Right, of course. Still though, nice work."

Celia smiled at the praise, "Thank you ma'am. Do you want to hear who she is?"

"Certainly."

"Alright, her name is fake as Princess Twilight suspected, and her real name is Fizzlepop Berrytwist."

"Fizzlepop... Berrytwist," Fleur said slowly. "Fizzlepop Berrytwist. Really? That name is pretty usual even for pony standards. I mean, Fizzlepop, okay, but the Berrytwist seems a bit out of place after that."

"Perhaps she has a mark in producing fizzy drinks?"

"Fizzy drinks and leading armies. Yes, those things go hoof in hoof quite well. At the very least I can understand why she may have changed her name, even if 'Tempest Shadow' suggests she's going through a phase. I bet she wears a lot of black."

"Were you to ask her, I'm sure she'd tell you it's not just a phase," Celia said with a smile. "Anyway, she appears to be a native of Ponyville, and lost her horn to an ursa minor after wandering into its cave in the Everfree forest when she was just a filly."

"Just a filly? Yeesh. How old is she then?"

"Twenty-seven."

"A twenty-seven year old unicorn from Ponyville, who lost her horn as a filly to an ursa minor, ran away from home, and ended up becoming a commander in the army of the Storm King after changing her name to Tempest Shadow to appear all edgy." Fleur leant back and sighed, "Ponyville really does produce the strangest ponies. Seriously though, Fizzlepop Berrytwist. I'm going to be laughing about that one for a while. Find anything on the Storm King."

"Not a thing," Celia shrugged. "He's a king, he likes storms, he takes slaves, he ravages countries then leaves, and is probably a bit of a dick."

"That's a given. Oh well, I'm sure more will turn up on him eventually as he isn't exactly a priority. What about the Staff of-" Fleur quickly consulted her notes, "-Sacanas? The Staff of Sacanas. Yes, that."

"I've put a request into the school for gifted unicorns to research the staff, but I've not heard back from them yet. They mightn't find anything if I'm honest. It's not like we have an extensive knowledge of everything after all."

Fleur nodded vaguely, "So, in conclusion, we could tell you all about Tempest Shadow, but the pony, or whatever, leading a rampaging army through the south, and the staff he acquired, is a complete mystery."

"That sums it up quite nicely, yes," Celia agreed with a taut smile. "Should I add this to the pile marked 'shit I don't need to worry about right now?'"

"Please."

Celia shrugged and held onto her notes as there wasn't actually a pile to put them on. As far as they were concerned, it was their job to worry about everything all the time. "So, what happened with Snowbright this morning?"

"Eh, not much. We don't torture, so we have absolutely nothing to scare him with enough to talk. I'd said we'd get our interrogators onto him."

"Uh..." Celia cleared her throat politely, "Who might they be?"

"I don't know!" Fleur shouted, throwing her hooves up. "The job belonged to a fella named-"

"Speakeasy, yes, but he died in the explosion. We haven't been able to replace him yet, but you already know that." Celia nervously chewed on her bottom lip, "I have a few ideas if you're willing?"

"I'm all ears, because I have nothing else."

"There are ways of torturing a pony with actually torturing them," Celia said slowly. "Sleep deprivation, white noise, sensory deprivation, things like that. A few days of no sleep and a barrage of mind-fuckery would have most ponies singing like a bird."

Fleur raised an eyebrow at Celia, "How the hell do you know about that sort of thing?"

"It's how we used to get changelings to talk back when I was an agent in Smile." Celia smiled nervously, "There's a number of reasons Celestia wanted total deniability, and that's one of them. We were not nice ponies."

Fleur stared at Celia with a look rich in scepticism, "If you were an agent in Smile, why are you here shuffling paper in a desk job?"

"I was attacked by a rampaging maulwurf. Shattered pretty much every bone in my lower body. I recovered, but I couldn't be cleared for active duty due to health issues, so I was given a desk job. Six months after that the bugbear incident happened and Smile was disbanded. By the way, you are hearing none of this from me."

Fleur held up her hooves, "My lips are sealed. I'm curious though, did you know all along about Bon Bon and her team? Do they know about you?"

"Smile was heavily compartmentalised, so I doubt they know about me. We all know about them though."

"Why? Were they like legends in Smile?"

"They were some of the best, yes, but the reason we all know them is because they're the ones responsible for the bugbear incident that led to six civilian deaths, and Smile getting exposed. I doubt any of us blame them because it was just sheer bad luck that it happened." Celia shrugged, "It could have happened to any of us. Sometimes a plan just goes wrong."

"I see." Fleur shrugged internally. While what she'd just heard was fascinating, it didn't actually help her. She was about to give Celia the go ahead to start working with Snowbright when there was a knock at the door, and Derreck, the griffon photographer, stuck his head in.

"Sorry to barge in, but Sonny just got back from Mareitania with Honeydew. What do you want me to do with them?"

"Have them both come here," Fleur said to him. "I'll probably have to debrief them and question Honeydew before I can allow Sonny to have even five minutes of a break."

"Yes ma'am."

"Celia, I'm somewhat nervous to order it, but I'm giving you the go ahead to start working on Snowbright. Take whatever ponies you need, and if this causes issues with Celestia and the Royal Guard, have them come to me."

"Yes ma'am."

Fleur sat back as Celia left, hoping to enjoy the few minutes of peace she could get before Sonny got here with Honeydew. She was now sanctioning the mental torture of a pony, and wasn't sure if she didn't feel too strongly about it because it was Snowbright, or if it was because of other reasons.

Fleur unbuttoned the sleeve of her uniform, sliding it up to expose the scars on her leg. She couldn't help but wonder if she'd been marked for this kind of life the moment she'd received those burns. It was certainly a reminder of the twists her life had taken over the last couple of years.

She was still inspecting it when Sonny walked in, escorting Honeydew, and she quickly forgot about it, neglecting to pull the sleeve back down. "Thank you Sonny. I'll get you debriefed as soon as possible so you can have a break, but first, welcome to Equestria Honeydew."

"Uh, thanks, and thanks again for sparing my life back in Stalliongrad."

Fleur waved it off, "It's nothing really. Seemed silly to throw away the life of a pony like you. But now you're here, so... let's talk."

"What about?"

Fleur shrugged playfully, "About Faust of course. Her release, her coming to power, and her plans. What else?"

Author's Notes:

I am now the proud owner of a 2009 car, so that's one resolution out of the way.

If you remember, I decided to ignore the updated map of Equestria that came with the release of the mlp movie. I've changed my mind, since I can't really ignore it if I'm including the Storm King in events, if only a little. So yes, there was an adventure with musical pirates, and you'll never get to know about it. Sorry about that. (I'm also pissed that the movie isn't out on dvd until the twelfth of Feb in the uk. Total bs.)