Fleur straightened her uniform. The uniform that she was very surprised to be wearing. When she approached Luna about the possibility of working with Equis, she hadn't expected anything in particular about the group, and in hindsight suspected she should have. She thought they'd be more like the Shades in Mareitania, which were far less formal. Equis however, at the very least required their liason to the princesses and other branches of the military to wear a dress uniform, with an extremely well starched collar.

"You look decidedly uncomfortable," the filly said conversationally.

"I'm pretty sure that if I bend my neck too far this collar is going to cut me."

The filly rolled her eyes, "That's not what I meant in the slightest. I was referring to you being the bearer of bad news to the princesses. Just what you want in your first week on the job."

Fleur fiddled with her collar one last time, then sighed explosively, "I guess it was foolish to think they'd give me some safe little job somewhere, shuffling papers around. Especially after they found out I worked with Luna and the Wonderbolts in Mareitania."

"Look on the bright side! Now you can talk like Trixie and be all 'Equis reports,' and 'Equis can confirm,' and stuff!"

"A tendency to talk like Trixie is hardly something to aspire to filly."

The filly sat up and smiled at Fleur," Look, I can tell you're nervous. Perhaps you'll feel better about it if you practice what you're going to tell the princesses on me first?"

Fleur flicked the filly on the end of her nose, "Nice try filly. You know I can't tell you any of this. Quite frankly I don't know why they let you come with me this far as it is. I'm also still incredibly unimpressed you got yourself suspended just to come and support me."

"Oh pfft, whatever. The filly lazily waved a hoof in Fleur's direction, "I hardly need practice crossing my i's and dotting my t's, and what's the point of learning about ancient history when you now know half of it's a lie. Seriously, all the time spent learning about Equestria's founding was really not time well spent."

"Education is kinda important, especially considering what you just said."

"And how much education had you had by my age, huh? I'm almost the same age you were when you left Mareitania, and look how you turned out. Quite frankly, you could hardly read by my age according to you, and now you're working for Equestria's intelligence service." The filly sighed and crossed her forelegs, "And frankly, no amount of telling me is going to convince me algebra is necessary for anything."

"I'm sure it's useful for something filly."

"You could just let me go with Twilight. I'm sure I'll learn loads with the Princess of books."

"She's also the Princess of flashbacks, panic attacks, and having loads to do without you pestering her. You aren't going, and that's final."

"Please? You could make it an early heart's warming present."

"It's hearth's warming, and no. Really filly, I don't know why you keep asking, because the answer is no, and will always be no."

"But it's so boring here! I mean it! Even with the random monster attacks, Equestria is just so safe and... saccharine, it sickens me!"

Fleur sighed and rolled her eyes as the filly tried to look serious. "And struggling to survive day after day was so much better? Really? Stop being a dick about this filly, because Equestria might be at war soon, and we'll all have more excitement than any of us ever wanted."

"You say that like you've never been in a war before."

"Yeah," Fleur waved her scarred leg at the filly, "because I certainly don't have something to remind me of that every damned day. Now shut up, stop asking, and stay here because judging by the guard watching us with a weird expression, I have to go work now."

"Fine, fine..." The filly shooed Fleur away with a hoof, "Go do your thing. I'll be right here when you're done."

"Fleur raised a suspicious eyebrow at the filly, "Really?"

"Yes really. Twilight would only send me back at this point, so there's no point in me trying to sneak off after her. I'll be right here when you're done doing that thing you're going to go and do."

"Good." Using her magic, Fleur picked up her bag containing all the papers she needed for her briefing. "Now wish me luck." Fleur smiled at the guard, then followed after him as he led her through Canterlot Castle, making sure to keep her breathing under control so as to not betray how nervous she was.

The guard stopped at a door that had very recently acquired a new shiny brass plate saying 'War room,' which Fleur could only take to mean was a room meant for sitting around talking about war, rather than a special room for getting into fights in. She waited for the guard to open the door, then walked in. The room was mostly empty at this point, apart from a large round table in its middle, around which sat Princess Luna, Captain Spitfire, and Captain Greywhisker.

"Good afternoon Fleur," Luna said as Fleur entered and laid her papers on the table. "I see Equis took my advice and made you into our liason."

"You suggested this?"

"But of course. We know each other Fleur, and I know you won't sugar-coat anything just because I'm a 'princess,'" Luna said, adding air quotes for the final word. "I also figured it suited you better than fieldwork, or anything along those lines. Now come and tell us the good news, should there be any."

"Actually, the news isn't as bad as initially thought. I don't know how much Captain Spitfire has already heard from her Wonderbolts, but if she hasn't told you already, Mareitania is far from ready to attack us with a full scale invasion."

"Actually, my Wonderbolts are sworn to secrecy," said Spitfire. She blanched at the face Fleur made at her. "What? I'm not about to give away the fact that I've heard all this before that easily."

"Uh-huh."

"I also had to deliver a sensitive piece of intelligence directly to the princesses, so, yeah, I've heard some things."

"Oh? So now we're skipping over Equis entirely?"

Luna cleared her throat just loud enough to stop then haranguing each other. "Actually that had more to do with the special nature of what they found, and how it affects ponies."

"Yeah," said Spitfire. "The fact that we had to wrestle it out of Sun Chaser's hooves told us enough about it being dangerous."

"Really? So are you going to tell me about it? By me I mean Equis, of course."

"Certainly," said Luna. "Once you have delivered your briefing."

"Now?" Fleur looked around at the three other ponies in the room. "Aren't we going to wait for the others to get here?"

"There are no others," Luna told her. "Up until the point that Equestria has an army to deploy, the only ones actively engaged in Equestria's defence are the Wonderbolts and my Night Guard. Everypony else is busily working on building said army, and have hardly even begun recruiting as yet."

"Okay, so I should just get on with this then?"

Luna nodded once, "Please."

"Okay then..." Fleur placed a large scroll on the table, then unrolled it to show a large map of Mareitania. On it she placed several photos at various points. "Y'know, I really am glad somepony thought to give the Wonderbolts cameras for this. Uh, anyway, I want you to bear in mind my complete lack of formal training for this."

"You did fine in Mareitania," said Luna. "I'm sure you'll do fine here too. Now tell us what these pictures are for."

"Uh, let's start with this one." Fleur pushed a photo towards Luna that showed an aerial view of Puddingarde keep. Within its grounds were a few hundred ponies. "As far as we can tell, Puddingarde is still being used as a training ground for their military. As you can see, there are plenty of ponies there, but not as many as predicted."

"But there are hundreds there," Spitfire pointed out.

"Yes, but there could be thousands. Whatever Faust has planned to get all the ponies of Mareitania on her side, she clearly hasn't done it yet, or it's not as effective as she hoped. Either way, it's slowing her down."

Luna studied the photo for a moment, then nodded. "How many soldiers do you think she has?"

Fleur placed a photo in front of Luna showing High Rock keep, and all around it was a mass of tents. "The highest estimate we currently have between what's at High Rock, Puddingarde, and other places around Mareitania, is fifteen thousand, which brings it back up to what it was when the civil war ended. How many of those soldiers are totally on her side though, is an entirely different matter. The point is that they have enough to invade with, but not very quickly."

"Yes..." Luna studied the two photos side by side. "A good defence could hold them off for some time if we put it in the right place. I doubt it would be that simple though."

"It isn't." Fleur slid another photo over to Luna, depicting a factory in Stalliongrad. Outside it were dozens of steam tanks. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you how those are bad news."

"A counter will be found," Luna said dismissively. "Besides, without the explosives I produced for them, those things are less terrifying than they appear to be."

"There's nothing saying they haven't learnt to mass produce their own explosives."

Luna froze for several seconds, then sighed bitterly as she supposed Fleur could be correct. "Even so, a counter will be made for them. Frankly, without magical fire and pegasi to supply them with water, they will suffer the same problems as when the Duke fielded them against us."

"Not...necessarily." Fleur cringed under Luna's gaze. "These tanks do appear to be larger, and although we have no way to confirm this, we suspect that the extra room might be used to store water and coal, allowing the tanks to operate for longer."

"Marvellous," Luna said dryly. "Still, as I said before, a counter will be found. Now perhaps you can tell us of any other weapons they might have developed."

"Apart from the net launchers to use against pegasi, none that we know of. Of course that doesn't mean there aren't any, but the Wonderbolts could only see so much."

Spitfire pointed her hoof at a picture to the north-east of Stalliongrad on the map, showing a blurry image of a few dozen ponies standing around a few tents. "What are they doing there? Another secret project like the steam tanks?"

Fleur raised an eyebrow at Spitfire's question, "You mean you don't already know?"

"Misty said she only spotted it by chance, and she didn't know what it was either."

"Y'know, your Wonderbolts really need to review just what exactly 'sworn to secrecy' really means. They shouldn't all be telling each other what they found like they went on a sightseeing tour of Mareitania."

"Just tell us what you think it is," Spitfire sighed.

Fleur eyed Spitfire for several seconds before speaking. "Honestly, we don't know either, but judging by where it is in the mountain's north of Stalliongrad, and the mostly civilian presence, we suspect they're simply surveying for further mining opportunities."

"Then why have soldiers there at all?"

Fleur shrugged, not knowing why either. "Protection from wild animals?" she suggested. "Or the army likes to have its hoof in every pie that affects their war effort. I'm afraid I'm just the messenger Captain, not an analyst, so I don't really know."

"So we can conclude it's likely not important," said Luna. "Perhaps we should keep an eye on it at least. Apart from that though, are there any imminent threats we should know about?"

"Imminent, no, but there is something we should definitely do something about before it becomes imminent." Fleur placed another picture in front of Luna, showing dozens of ocean faring ships lined up along the banks of the Mareissippi river, the place of which she also highlighted on the map.

"Good heavens," Luna murmured. "They're assembling an armada. That could easily land a couple thousand soldiers anywhere around the east coast of Equestria within a couple of weeks."

"And they're still building more," said Fleur. She passed over another picture showing a set of very basic dry-docks. "From what we were told by the Wonderbolts, and from some griffon intelligence, these dry-docks are at Whiplash, or Brayside, whichever, and that they're using prison labour to build them."

"Prison labour? They would need a lot of ponies to build that many so quick, so I suppose that makes sense." Luna studied the pictures for a moment, and saw that they looked like many of the merchant ships that Equestria had been sending there before the current crisis arose. "They copied our ships."

"It looks that way," Fleur agreed. "I imagine these are the first ocean faring ships built in Mareitania in over a millenium, so I guess it made sense to copy our ships. At the very least they can't easily get a tank on them, so that's something."

"That's irrelevant," Luna said sharply. "These ships need to be destroyed. That way we force them to attack us over the pass around the north of Luna bay. It seems we have our first target to slow their invasion."

"Actually," Fleur said slowly, "Equis has some recommendations if you're willing to hear them out?"

"Of course," Luna said kindly. "Anything to slow our enemy down."

"Okay, first we suggest tearing up the railway between Equestria and Mareitania. At the moment they could put a train full of soldiers into Vanhoover within the day. They can also use a train to transport their tanks at much higher speeds than the tanks could go themselves."

"A fair observation," Luna agreed. "I shall begin having them dismantled before the day is out. Was there anything else?"

"There is. The wood to build their ships is coming from the forests around Hoovendale. We recommend hitting their lumber operations there as well as the dry-docks around Whiplash. Destroying both of those would bring their ship building efforts to a standstill for weeks."

"Yes, very good. I think we all kn-"

"We also recommend not destroying the ships." Fleur cringed as Luna glared at her.

"I hope you have a good reason for that patently absurd suggestion."

"I do, or at least Equis does. The idea was to wait for them to set sail, then burn their ships at sea..."

"Thus killing thousands of their soldiers in one fell swoop..." Luna sat back and breathed out slowly as she tried to wrap her head around the idea. Considering the disparity in numbers between Mareitania and Equestria, taking out a large number of their soldiers without loss sounded ideal, but such mass killings were hardly the nicest idea. "This is a truly dark suggestion you are giving to me Fleur."

"I know, and I really don't blame you if you ignore it."

"Surely," Spitfire spoke up, trying to keep a tremor out of her voice, "if that was the idea we went with, surely it would be better to let them build more ships to put more soldiers on?"

If Luna was surprised by Spitfire's suggestion, she didn't show it. "You support this idea?" she asked the pegasus quietly.

"I- I'm not sure. It's drastic, but drastic might be the only thing stopping us from being overrun before we're ready for them."

Luna sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "I daresay that if Celestia, Shining Armour, and anypony else were here they'd dismiss this idea as too extreme. I however, cannot deny the attraction of it, as reprehensible as the idea might be. You said that their army is not ready to attack yet Fleur?"

"They could, but we don't think they're willing to do so until they have the numbers to truly overwhelm us."

"Even though they could already," Luna muttered. "The longer they wait, their numerical advantage shrinks, not grows. With the Royal Guard, Night Guard, Wonderbolts, Crystal Legion, and the soldiers from Mustangia when they arrive, Mareitania still outnumbers us two to one. Surely their plan cannot be to wait for us to build an army and grow stronger."

"Perhaps Faust showed her hoof too soon Mistress," said Captain Greywhisker, the first thing he'd said since the meeting began. Fleur had been beginning to think he was mute.

"Possible. She has displayed impatience in using magic to control Mareitania, so perhaps she had thought herself to be more ready than she actually is. It matters not. We cannot risk them building more ships. Captain Spitfire, Captain Greywhisker, prepare your forces for an assault on Hoovendale and Whiplash. I shall have made a decision on whether to destroy their ships by this time tomorrow. I shall be in touch."

"As you wish Mistress." Greywhisker bowed his head while Spitfire saluted, then both stood up to exit the room.

"Wait," Fleur said before they went too far. "Didn't you say you had some information for me? Something about Sun Chaser?"

"Ah yes." Luna nodded at Greywhisker to continue, and gestured for Spitfire to return to her seat. She then lifted a padlocked metal box onto the table, unlocked it, and pulled out a small wooden figurine. It was one Fleur was familiar with from her time spent in Mareitania, and depicted an alicorn, rearing up with her wings spread and her head bowed; the symbol of the Lady. Straight away Fleur's horn started itching, and she rubbed it idly. "You can feel it, can't you?"

Fleur nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on the idol, "That's the same magic Faust uses to control ponies, isn't it?"

"Not control, but influence. Otherwise yes, that magic is what you can feel."

"And where did Sun Chaser find this?"

"She saw it while doing recon in Bitmark," Spitfire explained. "It was sitting in an open window, and she said she felt drawn to it for some reason, so she stole it. She refused to give it up too, and fought three of us off to try and keep it."

"Did she start to hate Equestria too?"

"Uh, not yet, and Luna counter-spelled her, and the rest of us, so she's fine now."

"That's a pity," Fleur sighed. "It would have been nice to work out how this magic affects a pony. The ponies in Equis have tried asking the ponies Twilight took prisoner in Ponyville questions, but they seem particularly tight-lipped about everything, and we definitely aren't going to resort to torture. Still, when I was there I was affected by the magic within hours, and started feeling negatively about Equestria soon after. The magic in the statuette must be weaker."

"Without Twilight to make a full comparison we couldn't tell," said Luna. "Still, judging by yours and Sun Chaser's experiences, I dare say you might be correct."

"Can I have a look at it?"

"Certainly." Luna levitated the figure over to Fleur who took it in her hooves to have a closer look. It was much tidier than the ones she remembered ponies having back in Mareitania before the civil war, when worshipping the Lady was very much illegal. If she were to guess she'd say it was also carved by magic, rather than by hoof.

"What's this?" Fleur rubbed her hoof over a near invisible seam going around the chest of the figurine, like it had been cut in two then put back together almost perfectly enough to not be noticeable. It didn't make sense to Fleur to make the figure in two pieces, so her only conclusion was that there was something inside.

"What are you doing?" Luna asked when Fleur started trying to pull the two pieces apart with her magic, huffing and puffing as she strained.

"This... thing, comes apart, and I want to-ack -know why! Nngh! Come on you fucker! Break! Apart!" Fleur strained some more, then slammed it down on the table in defeat. "Luna, do you mind?" Wordlessly, Luna picked it up and pulled it apart with little effort. "There was a reason I didn't become an Adept in Mareitania," Fleur grunted. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Fleur picked up the two pieces and inspected them. The top half was flat along where the seam was, so she discarded it, but the bottom half had a small hollow carved into it, and was lit up by a sickly green glow. Fleur tipped it up, and a small gem fell out that was the source of the glow, and she slammed a hoof down on it as it bounced across the table.

"What was that?" Luna asked, her interest piqued. Fleur lifted her hoof off the gem, and picked it up so the could all see it. "I'm guessing that must be the source of the enchantment. I wonder what kind of magic that is?"

"It looks like changeling magic from the colour," said Spitfire. "Wait, is Faust really Chrysalis? Is this all her doing?"

Luna shook her head, "Changelings merely use a kind of mind magic. They certainly aren't the source of it at any rate. Still though, it does look remarkably similar to changeling magic, so one has to wonder which came first, the magic or the changelings? Faust could easily be old enough to predate the changelings, and might have had a hoof in their creation if what Twilight told me about her first meeting with Faust was true."

Fleur looked between Luna and Spitfire as they both stared intently at the gem. "Does it matter?" she asked after a moment.

Luna considered it and shook her head, "Not really. If Faust were really Chrysalis in disguise, we'd know simply because her power would be recognisable. Although, I while suspect that the love and adoration of an entire nation could empower Chrysalis greatly, I doubt it would amplify it to the point of matching Faust's power."

"Again, how does this help?"

"Merely idle speculation," said Luna. "You've seen Faust, and did she seem like a changeling to you?"

"Well, no, but surely the point of a changeling disguise is to very much not appear like a changeling?"

"True, but a changeling cannot disguise their magic so easily, nor can they maintain that disguise without their horn. If Faust truly were a changeling, then her disguise would have broken the moment Twilight removed her horn." Luna smiled awkwardly at Fleur, "Sadly that means Faust is who she claims to be."

"Oh."

"Still, we've learnt that Faust is utilising a form of mind magic, likely similar in nature to changeling magic, which is at least something. If only we knew more about changeling magic we might better learn how to counter Faust's."

"I think we have a bigger problem than that," Spitfire said slowly. "I'm guessing the point of these figurines is to have one in each household in Mareitania, right?"

"I expect so, yes," Luna agreed.

"Those gems could be put into anything though," Spitfire continued. "If Faust somehow got loads of those into Equestria, our entire country would turn on itself."

Fleur snorted dismissively, "If that's what Faust planned, then she should have done it before we stopped trading with Mareitania."

"But we still trade with other countries," Spitfire pointed out. "We've already seen that Mareitania's Shades are more than capable of operating outside of their country, so they could plant those gems in their trade goods. Then, when they're found, ponies would be drawn to the gems, or what they're hidden in, and would want to take them home where their friends and families would be affected. They'd start supporting Faust, and would turn against us. In fact, given enough time, Faust could turn the entire world against us."

"Would it work like that though?" Fleur asked. "I mean, apart from us, and the ponies of Mareitania, nopo- no-one really knows who Faust is. Can they be forced to love somepony they don't even know exists?"

"You raise an interesting point," said Luna. She thought about it, but soon realised that even if ponies, or whoever, didn't fall in love with Faust, or the Lady, then the spell could still turn them against Equestria. At the very least it was still worth being worried about. "I shall inform my sister of this news, and let her warn our neighbours if she so wishes. Apart from that, we shall have to station guards at all our ports and similar places, to scan for these gems. Thankfully they really aren't very hard to detect. Now was there anything else Fleur?"

"I think we've covered it all Luna."

"Then I shall wish you good day. I imagine the filly is probably whining about being bored by now."

"If she's not wandered off somewhere." Fleur nodded to Spitfire as the Wonderbolt passed by, then gathered up the map and photos. "So, how did I do Luna?"

"Back in the day we used to point at a place and say 'we attack there!'" Luna smiled at the unsure expression on Fleur's face. "Alright, perhaps there was a little more to it than that, but we certainly didn't have cameras, or even a fully worked out concept of intelligence gathering. Because of that, I'll say you did fine. You told us what we needed to know, and we hopefully have a plan to move forwards with, although I still need to decide on the boats."

"Thanks Luna. I look forward to working with you more."

"Likewise. Now, if you'll please excuse me." Luna placed the two halves of the figure, as well as the gem, back into the metal box, then picked it up in her magic. "I imagine it best that this not be left lying around."

Fleur half bowed to Luna as she left, then released a breath that she felt like she'd been holding since entering the room. "I guess that could have gone worse." She picked up the map and photos, and shoved the whole lot into a saddlebag that she slung over her back. "I still felt like an idiot though," she muttered as she exited the room and closed the door behind her.

"Ahem."

Fleur froze at the polite, yet annoyed sounding attempt to grab her attention, then turned on the spot to see Spitfire lounging against the wall. Thankfully the pegasus appeared to less annoyed than she sounded, but Fleur knew for a fact that Spitfire was fully capable of hiding her emotions.

"Can I help you Captain?" Fleur asked as politely as she could.

Spitfire pushed off the wall and walked up to Fleur so they were almost face to face. "I do believe you can. Do you really think having the Wonderbolts sworn to secrecy from each other is either necessary, or practical? Sworn to secrecy to others outside of our unit, sure, that I can agree with to stop things getting out, but to each other? You risk damaging our own effectiveness on future missions when we don't all know the facts."

"Look, I'm not the one that ordered you keep everything secret from each other. I'm also not the one that'll be telling anypony that you not only failed at that, but also didn't even try, and did in fact break that order on purpose. I agree that it's a stupid order, but I'm the new mare in Equis, and have absolutely no influence whatsoever, so I can hardly ask them to rescind that order. I will however recommend you keep breaking that order so long as you do only keep it in the Wonderbolts."

Spitfire stared at Fleur for several uncomfortable seconds, then cracked a grin. "So long as we understand each other. Seriously though, you ran the Shades for a while in Mareitania. Why the hell are you just some glorified spokespony to the princesses?"

"Because Luna requested it, and Equis already knows more about how the Shades work than I do, so what I know is already irrelevant. I think the only reason they gave me a position was because I had Luna's blessing. Otherwise they might have laughed at me and told me to fuck off, like I sort of wished they had done. I was an idiot to think of asking to join them."

"Yeah, well..." Spitfire shrugged, "After all we did to help the Mareitanians, I think all of us that went there are idiots. Look at what our hard work and sacrifice has brought us to; war between Equestria and Mareitania. Really makes it all seem totally worth while, doesn't it?"

"You can say that again," Fleur sighed. "Look, I'll ask to try and get Equis to review some of their policies on what you said, but that's all I can really do as it's totally out of my hooves."

Spitfire nodded in appreciation, "That's all I'm asking. Now come on, I thought you had to find your trouble-maker?"

"You mean Swift?"

"Swift?"

"Swift Wings. It's the filly's real name."

Spitfire winced, "Ouch..."

"Yeah, it's not surprising she decided to not use it. But we kind of have to now because ponies aren't allowed to not have names here."

"She's having the same treatment that Fleetfoot had isn't she? Shouldn't she have her wings back soon?"

"Yeah, but it's still going to be months until she can even attempt a flying lesson. Thankfully she's not too bothered about how long it takes. I just hope she can still get the treatment while Equestria gets dragged through the shitter. Anyway Captain, how are things with you?"

"Still training all the new Wonderbolts up to scratch. Now the rest are back it's going a lot quicker, giving me a lot of time to worry about pointless bullshit like the reserves I dismissed because they didn't join us. Judging by the way Prince Shining Armour yelled at me, it wasn't the right thing to do, so I've given some of them a chance to join again if they want. Only two of the six I dismissed joined, while the others want to sue for unfair dismissal, even though it wasn't a paid job, and the reserves have been disbanded for the duration of the war, so they have no grounds, and no reserves for them to sit around in. It's like they just wanted to be stunt fliers without all the responsibilities of being in a military unit, or something."

"Oh..." Fleur looked sideways at Spitfire, "That does sound like a heaping pile of bullshit."

"It does when you consider that I've always had the authority to dismiss anypony I wish from the Wonderbolts and the reserves as long as I have adequate reason." Spitfire shrugged, "I guess that isn't the case any more."

It wasn't a long walk back to where Fleur had left the filly, and as Spitfire and herself made it there, she wasn't sure whether to be ashamed of being surprised that the filly was exactly where she'd left her, albeit rolling around on the seats whining about being bored.

"Swift?"

"Huh?" The filly snapped upright at the sound of Fleur's voice, then relaxed as she saw who it was. "Oh, you're done. About time too. And as you can see I am exactly where you left me, having resisted the overwhelming urge I had to disappear somewhere purely to piss you off." The filly looked up at the pony next to Fleur, "Hey Spitfire."

"Hey filly. You seem to have the beginnings of wings again."

"I know right! I can't wait until I have the ends of them too! Then I'll be a real pegasus!"

Spitfire almost choked on her next words and looked sideways at Fleur, "I can't tell if that was sarcasm or not."

Fleur swivelled a hoof back at Spitfire, "Eh, who knows with her? Anyway, get your shit together filly, because we're done here, and I'm pretty sure that means I can't just sit around the castle looking pretty any more."

The filly looked around with exaggerated slowness, "Yeah... I didn't bring anything with me. And don't you have to drop all that stuff off with Equis? I'm pretty sure you're not meant to carry it around with you all the time."

"I'll drop it off on the way out-"

"Aren't you supposed to inform Equis about the gems and the statue things?" Spitfire interrupted.

"...fuck, I guess so." Fleur groaned towards the ceiling, "Why did I want to do my part in all this again?"

"My guess is it's because you're an idiot," said the filly. "I also guess I'll continue to acquaint myself with this rather plush seat I've been sat on for the last hour." The filly grabbed a cushion, and nuzzled it with a sigh. "Oh cushion, you are my only friend."

"Drama queen."

"I guess I better get going," Spitfire said as Fleur and the filly glared at each other. "It was good seeing you again Fleur, and I guess I'll be seeing more of you in the future."

"Assuming I don't get fired first."

"Assuming that, yes. See ya."

"Farewell Captain." Fleur watched Spitfire leave, then collapsed onto the seat next to the filly. "Y'know, if you'd just gone to school you wouldn't have to sit around here."

"And what? Learn more lies about Equestria's history, then find out what new method those assholes at school have come up with to torment me? Sure, sure, sounds like good times. I'll be sure to recommend it to all my friends, if I can make some."

Fleur smiled sympathetically and ruffled the filly's mane, "Come on, it'll get better."

"Yeah, maybe they'll all get killed when Mareitania invades."

Fleur was stunned for a second at the sheer vitriol on those words, and fervently hoped the filly didn't really mean them. "Don't even joke about that."

"Who's joking?"

"The amount of crap you put up with as a kid, and a bunch of schoolponies are getting you down? Really? I thought you just normally kicked your way out of trouble." The filly turned her head away from Fleur and snuggled into the cushion. "Okay, this is clearly something more serious. I'm going to report back to Equis, then you and I are going to have a talk about this."

"Whatever."

"I mean it. Something's just triggered this off, and I intend to find out what."

The filly turned her head back enough to peek at Fleur out of the corner of her eye, "Can we have ice-cream too?"

"Are you paying or me?"

"Har-har Fleur."

Fleur smiled at the filly then patted her once on the back, "Chin up filly. I'll be back in a bit, so keep on keeping out of trouble."

The head of Equis was a unicorn stallion affectionately known as Muckraker, although Fleur had no idea if that was his real name, or if it was actually affectionate in the slightest. He'd formally been a reasonably high ranking member of the Royal Guard, and had been entirely involved in their intelligence department before being made head of Equis when the two units merged. His second in command was Eclipse, the thestral mare that had been head of the Night Guard's intelligence. Again, Fleur had no idea if that was her real name, and was frankly too scared to ask as the mare had the most piercing gaze she'd ever encountered. It left Fleur with the feeling that Eclipse knew more about her than she knew about herself.

It was that gaze Fleur found herself failing to meet as she stood before Muckraker's desk, reporting on how the briefing with Luna went. Eclipse stood off to the side, frowning as she passively tore the secrets from Fleur's head, while Muckraker had the temerity to smile at her like she hadn't delivered the worst briefing possible.

"So the Princess is at least considering our proposal," Muckraker said to nopony in particular. "That's good. A shame that she decided to keep the statuette instead of letting us have a look at it, but hopefully she gives it to the right ponies to study. Learning how to counter that magic sooner rather than later could change the course of this war before it even begins."

"We shouldn't even begin to rely on that," Eclipse said to him, drawing her unforgiving eyes away from Fleur long enough to do so. "Even if we could counter that magic in any meaningful way, we have no idea whether it'll change how the ponies of Mareitania think."

"Of course." Muckraker gave Fleur a friendly nod, "Good work Fleur; you're dismissed for now."

"Actually I have one more thing to ask on behalf of Captain Spitfire concerning the level of secrecy required within the Wonderbolts. She wants to lessen the restriction on discussing matters with other Winderbolts."

"Absolutely not," Eclipse replied almost before Fleur had finished speaking. "She might be foolish enough to trust every pony within the Wonderbolts, but there are ponies in there that could easily betray knowledge to the wrong ponies, even unknowingly. The less they all know, the better for the rest of us."

"Isn't that a little paranoid?" Fleur asked slowly, earning herself the full intensity of Eclipse's gaze. "She accepts keeping the information within the Wonderbolts, but thinks keeping what they know from each other to be a hindrance to what they might be doing when they're in Mareitania."

"Some of the Wonderbolts were civilians a mere fortnight ago," said Muckraker. "I realise our restrictions seem a bit harsh, but with Mareitania's Shades being fully capable of operating within Equestria we have to be careful about who knows what, because the newer recruits might not be very careful with what they say. If the Shades found out that Princess Luna intends to strike the shipyard at Whiplash, and the lumber mills around Hoovendale, they could turn it into a trap for the Wonderbolts and Night Guard, and cause serious harm to our ability to strike them in their own country."

Fleur nodded. She could see their point perfectly well, and had no intention of trying to make them change their mind. She very much doubted whether Spitfire would have any intention of accepting that though. "Understood."

"Good. We'll be in touch."

"And Fleur," Eclipse said coldly, "don't bring your daughter to work again, or you may find yourself out of a job."

"She's not my dau- Ahem. I mean, yes ma'am."

"Huh... that was quick." The filly quickly jumped up to make room for Fleur as she flopped onto the sofa beside her.

"I hate my boss. Bosses. One is overly nice to the point I can't tell whether I did a crap job or not, and the other just scares me. What the hell possessed me to think this was a good idea in the fucking slightest?"

"Maybe we should have gone with Twilight."

Fleur rolled her eyes at the extremely casual way in which the filly said that. "Nice try, but the answer is still no. Now get up; ice-cream was mentioned, and I think I need it more than you do at this point."

"You don't have to tell me twice." The filly bounced once on the seat, then down onto the floor to stand impatiently in front of Fleur as the older mare dragged herself up. "Come on! Move those sweet butt cheeks."

"You're fifteen; don't say stuff like that to me, it's creepy."

"Was it creepy before I became your quote, daughter, unquote?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was."

"Oh. Well I'm not going to apologise."

"Didn't think you would. Come on, let's get out of here before I forget where the exit is."

The walk to the exit was conducted in silence, because it was really only two minutes away, and that was literally the longest the filly could go without talking when it wasn't a life or death situation. Instead Fleur smiled politely at the guards, who, rather than adhering to the protocol of staring stoically ahead, followed the former supermodel with their eyes, simultaneously wondering why she was there, and why did she have to leave? Also, who was that kid following her?

Outside was a much different story. Normally Canterlot was an incredibly vibrant city, bustling with activity. Since the announcement of a possible war with Mareitania though, it had changed drastically. Tension filled the air, and ponies didn't go about their lives with the same happy, carefree attitude that they normally did.

Fortunately that didn't prevent ponies from remembering that they still needed to make bits to live, regardless of the doom and gloom that had settled over the city, meaning that every store, café, and restaurant was open for business as usual, including the ice-cream parlour that sat almost exactly halfway between Canterlot Castle and home. Its position also afforded them a pretty good view of a lot of the city.

"So, what's up with you?" Fleur asked once the waitress had delivered their desserts.

"Am I a real pegasus Fleur?"

Fleur paused with the spoon held halfway to her mouth, "Excuse me?"

"Am I a real pegasus?"

"Yeah, that still doesn't make sense to me. Do you not feel like a pegasus?"

"I guess so." The filly poked her spoon at her icecream, "It's just that the kids at school have started telling me that I'll never be a proper pegasus, even if I get my wings back. For some reason it actually bothers me when they say it."

"You do realise that what they're saying is totally absurd right? You're a pony, and you have wings. And since you aren't an alicorn, or a thestral, that leaves you with the singular option of being a pegasus, no matter what a bunch of idiots tell you. Now, what are you filly?"

"'m a pegasus," the filly murmured quietly.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I'm a pegasus," the filly repeated a little louder.

"One more time."

"I'm a pegasus!"

"Damn right you are!" Fleur grinned at the small bulges that formed under the filly's bandages as she tried to flare her wings. If she acted like a pegasus, thought like a pegasus, and had the wings of a pegasus, chances were she was a pegasus. Or a thestral, but the lack of cat-like eyes argued against that one. "Now stop being silly, and eat your icecream before it melts."

"Only on the condition that you tell me what's bothering you."

"Fair turnabout I suppose." Fleur ate another mouthful while she composed her thoughts. "I feel like an idiot."

The filly nodded thoughtfully, "Nothing new there then. Good talk Fleur."

"Hah, funny. What I mean is that I feel horribly out of my depth in Equis, and I have no idea why. I practically ran the Sh-" Fleur stopped as she remembered they were in public, and probably shouldn't say such things out loud. "I practically ran that group in that place we were in, and even though I didn't really know what I was doing, I still felt like I knew better then, than I do in my current role as a glorified... whatever I am. I just feel really stupid for even asking to join them."

"Uh-huh." The filly swallowed her mouthful and wiped her mouth on her leg. "Do you think the problem might be because you're not in control? Back when you ran 'that group,' you were in the thick of everything, and knew what was going on. You were also part of Twilight's inner circle. I mean, fucking hell Fleur, even I was part of the inner circle, just by sheer dint of knowing you guys. Now though, you're a glorified 'whatever,' and it bugs you to not know what's going on, and to be at the bottom of the pile, when you were once on top of it."

"...damn, filly."

"Was I right? My other suggestion was that you have gas."

"Sort of right. I think it's because this whole thing feels bigger than what we did in Marei- that place. Back then we were pretty much answerable only to ourselves, whereas now we have princesses, and superiors, and all that jazz. I think I miss the rather informal nature of what it was back then, and don't like the pressure of now knowing exactly what happens if I fuck up."

"But that's not your job," the filly pointed out. "You just give briefings to Luna. Getting the information is other ponies jobs."

"And? What if me being sloppy completely negates the work they do simply because I miss something out?"

The filly shrugged, "Then quit if you think you aren't up to it."

"I-" Fleur wanted to say she couldn't do that. She knew she couldn't really, because she had to do something to help Equestria, but she also couldn't deny that quitting sounded really good. "I don't know. I think I'll just have to get used to it. Maybe something will come up that I can do instead, but until then, I'm the glorified messenger pony to the princesses."

"Tough life, ain't it."

Author's Notes:

It's sunday motherfuckers! That means...

It's also 30^oc, and I'm dying. Oh Celestia, why do you hate me so?