By the time that Rain, Shining Armor and Luna had reached the city of Fillydelphia, the entire town was bustling with activity. Most of the town consisted of a huge marketplace, where tradesponies sold goods from all corners of the world. Including materials, curatives, weapons, armor and many other items that really made the young alicorn gasp in shock and awe at some of the items that these traders have. Currently, Rain and Luna were browsing through the markets to pass the time while Shining Armor was taking the chance to talk to the dockmaster about securing a ship to Griffonstone. Both of them were having a fun time, even though they did not have the bits to buy some of the items at the market.

Surprisingly though, as they were coming back from the marketplace, both of them happened to notice a rather strange sight. A small yellow flightless bird that appeared to be lost as it chirped at Luna’s hooves. Which, in turn, had her giggle a little bit because this was something that neither of them expected. That was, until they noticed a young earth pony colt that looked like a farmhand walk over to them.

“There you are, you little rascal,” The colt replied as he picked up the small bird. “Sorry about that. Been trying to find this little one all day after he escaped the coop.”

“That little chicken’s really cute.” Luna told the colt in response. But what he told both of them in turn was something they honestly did not expect to hear.

“Oh this isn’t a chicken. It’s a baby Chocobo.” He told them both, which… had her puzzled.

“Chocobo?”

“I’ve heard of them before… but I have not had the chance to see one in person honestly,” Rain then spoke up as he looked at the colt. “Are you a chocobo farmer? You seem rather young to be taking care of them by yourself.”

“Oh, my whole family raises Chocobo’s. It’s how we make our living,” The colt replied as he began to turn around and head towards the far end of town. “Thanks for helping me find him!!” As he left, both of them followed the colt for a moment before they saw where he was going. At the far end of the town was what looked like a chocobo stable. Where some of the fully grown ones were rather massive and big in size compared to the small chick that bumped into Luna a few moments ago.

“Rain… How do Chocobo’s help ponies?” Luna asked, a little confused as to why a few of the large birds had a few saddles on them.

“Well, some ponies rely on them for traveling from place to place while other ponies use chocobos to help carry and pull things like merchant carts and carriages. Some ponies may even ride into battle on the back of a chocobo if they have a strong bond with it,” The knight told her for a moment. “Again, that’s a few of the things I’ve heard about them. I haven’t actually had the chance to interact with one face to face. Especially a full grown one.”

Luna herself was surprised to hear about that. But then she began to wonder something as they began to pass by the coop for the avians they were talking about. “H-how come they don’t have something like that in other towns? Like Canterlot?”

“Well, mainly it’s because Chocobo’s need open space in order to graze and run around. That colt said that he and his family raise chocobos, so it’s likely that they own a chocobo farm,” Rain guessed. “However, I’m not an expert on the subject. I only know a little bit. When Shining and I were kids and we were being taught how to control our magic, we saw a chocobo rider passing through Canterlot and that’s when we were told about it.”

“Was my sister your teacher?” Luna then asked out of curiosity, wanting to hear more.

“Well, she did teach us from time to time… though primarily, we had two different instructors,” The knight explained to her as they took a moment to sit down at a nearby bench. “When it came to magic, our teacher was a Grand Magus named Stardust Glimmer. She was the one that taught Sunset, Shining and myself how to control our kind of magic since it was different from that of most ponies. When it came to combat training and learning how to become a knight, that was when we were taught by somepony else.”

That had Luna raise an eyebrow for a moment, seeming confused as to who he could possibly be referring to. “Oh? Who was that?”

“Her name is Loren. She’s one of the strongest and most experienced knights on the Guard other than that of Shining’s father, Night Light,” Rain told her in response. “She was famously known as the ‘Twin Blade General’, but after her retirement, she now helps with training the knights who would become her successors… Though, Swallowtail and a few others would say that her tactics make her seem more like a ‘demon teacher’ than anything else given how drastic some of her tests are.”

“Um… s-should I ask… what did she d-do?”

“Well, for a test in order to see if we had the qualities to become members of the royal guard, we had to travel with her through a volcanic ravine.” Rain sighed, before looking back down at his feet. “While we were trying to catch our breath, she remain unfazed by the scorching heat the whole time.” That… caught Luna by surprise. Especially because she didn’t originally think that Rain and Shining had to go through trials that were so severe. Even though he was treating it like it was no big deal. “We got through it though, because we weren’t going to let that kind of heat and anything that blocks our path slow any of us down.”

“Wow… I had no idea you h-had to go through something like that.” She replied in response.

“Well, what Loren taught us from the beginning is that you need to do more than just say what you want to do through your words, but prove yourself through your actions,” The knight explained to her as he looked up from the ground and back at Luna. “Our teacher told us that our actions speak louder than words because our actions truly show to other ponies our character. If you run in the face of danger, they will see you as a scaredy cat and a coward rather than a knight who would do anything to protect others from danger… Does that make sense?”

It took a few moments in order to process that, before she turned back to him and nodded her head firmly. “Yeah… I guess it does… When do you think Shining would come back?”

“Well, normally it takes a bit in order to talk to the pony in charge of the docks given how this is one of Equestria’s most busiest ports… So I honestly thought that he would be back sooner,” He told her, just as soon as he happened to notice the same unicorn he was talking about walking towards them. “Oh look, there he is now.”

Both of them soon got up from the bench that they were on in order to go meet up with their friend. However, Shining didn’t really have any good news for the two of them. “Okay… So I just had a talk with the Dockmaster… and unfortunately, things aren’t looking so good right now at the docks. There’s no possible way for us to travel to Griffonstone from here.”

That… caught Rain off guard. Big time. “What? How is something like that even possible!? Almost any trading ship from Griffonstone comes through here.”

“Even though that is true, the reason why we can’t travel isn’t because of the transportation, but because of the conditions,” Shining pointed out, getting out the map they had and showing them the Celestial Sea that ran along Equestria’s eastern seaboard. “If we were to take a direct route to Griffonstone, the dockmaster told me that we would get caught up in a hurricane that’s raging right now in the middle of the ocean.”

“So… What exactly are we going to do now?” Luna asked, sounding worried.

“Well… There is an alternative route that he did tell me since I told him how much of a hurry we were in,” The unicorn then explained as he pointed to where Fillydelphia was on the map and moved it up towards the city that was to the north of it. Manehattan. “If we go north to Manehattan, then we can take a transport from there to the Griffish Isles in between Equestria and Griffonstone, make our way to the other side of the isles and then cross over to Griffonstone that way. It might take some more time, but it’s our only option at this point in time.”

Shining had a valid point. This was the only other option that they had if they wanted to be able to reach Griffonstone as soon as they can. But it was Luna who was the next to say something. “H-how much longer do you think it might take?”

“It’s possible that it could take a couple more days… but to be fair, traveling by sea would’ve been just as long too. Nothing nowadays is instantaneous,” Shining replied back before putting the map away. “Besides, it’s very likely that we will need a place to stay at and rest before we continue onward.”

“Well, where do you think we should-” As Rain turned around, that’s when he noticed the owner of a nearby inn hang up a sign that said ‘No Vacancy’. Just as he finished his sentence. “-Stay…?”

“The pony at the docks also mentioned that the crews from the ships that recently came in would fill up the inn…” Shining then followed up as his friend looked back at him.

“So what other options do we have for staying someplace?” Rain then asked as he folded his arms for a moment. “Are there any towns or something not far from where Manehattan is? If so, we can stay there and then go to Manehattan and set off in the morning.”

“That seems to be the only option that we have right now… if there is a town that is.” Shining reminded him as he stretched his arms and Rain unfolded his. Luna though, had a different thought on her mind as she looked back at the unicorn of the group.

“M-may I see the map?” She asked Shining, who only nodded as he handed her the map to let her look at it for herself. As she looked at it though, that when something soon caught her attention. “Hey… what about this place?” That… had both Rain and Shining come close to her in order to see what she was talking about while looking at the map. Not far from where Manehattan was, there seemed to be a small village or town that didn’t look to be too far from where they were.

The only thing though… is that neither of them have ever heard of it before. “Cèanna? What the heck? Shining, have you heard of that place before?”

“It’s the first time I’ve heard of it too, Rain.” The Unicorn told him as he looked back at the map and also where Luna was pointing at. “Yet, it’s on the way to Manehattan. If anything, we might be able to reach that town faster than trying to get to Manehattan directly. It does look like that town is located to the west of Manehattan in Coltland County. We can probably get there just before nightfall.”

“Can’t we just… um…” Luna said as Rain noticed her looking back at the chocobo stable for a moment before she finished her statement. “… Go by Chocobo?”

“Even though that would be helpful, you can’t just borrow a chocobo and then return it afterwards,” The knight in red told the alicorn in response. “Having a Chocobo is like having a pet. You need to look out after it, take care of it, feed it and so on. And right now, I don’t think we have the means or the bits to do that… Besides, in all fairness, I think we already have a fluffy companion already.”

“I heard that…” All three of them heard the voice of Carbuncle echo for a moment, almost startling them. Much to the Esper’s own surprise. “What? Just because I’m not with you physically doesn’t mean that I can’t communicate to you in over ways you know…”

That had Rain sigh for a moment, before looking back at Shining Armor and Luna. “Noted… Shining, how are we on supplies?”

“Well, the inventory that we have on curatives and materials currently remains unchanged,” The Unicorn replied back, looking back at Luna for a moment before mentioning something else. “As for food and water, we may need something to tide ourselves over while on the way over to town. Not a full meal, but something to provide us the energy to reach Cèanna-”

“Excuse me…” The three of them heard as they turned around to see what looked like a pink unicorn mare with a curly purple mane that ran down her back as she stood next to a unicorn stallion with a white mane and his fur color looking like that of a navy shade. “But both of us just happened to hear about you wanting to travel to our hometown… if you like, we can have you travel with us in our wagon.”

“Um… That would be very generous of you,” Rain stated, before asking a certain question. “But who would you two happen to be?”

“Oh, my apologies… My name is Sugar Belle. This is my friend and neighbor Party Favor,” The mare introduced both herself and the stallion. “We were in town buying some ingredients for my bakery and we just heard you talking amongst yourselves. Since you are heading towards our hometown and we were going back to it, perhaps we can help assist you.”

“That’s mighty generous of you,” Shining spoke up, before asking a question that he had. “But are you sure that your means of transportation can provide travel for us? I might just be assuming, but I’m lead to believe that your wagon can only carry so much.”

“It’s fine actually,” Party Favor then spoke up. “We were only here to acquire just a few things, so we still have room for you and your equipment,” At the last part, it appeared that the Unicorn was referring to both Rain’s Greatsword and Shining’s blade as they looked back to him. “Do you need some time to talk about it amongst yourselves for a moment?”

However, the answer that the unicorn got in response came a lot quicker than he originally anticipated. “Actually, I think we’ll take you up on your offer.”

Some time had originally passed since they had left from Baltimare inside that of the Chocobo drawn wagon that was owned by that of Party Favor and Sugar Belle as the stallion was in control of the reins of their cart. Leaving the mare to talk with that of the travelers that were with them in the present moment. “So… since we had already introduced ourselves to you in town, would you care to tell us your names as well?”

“Well, my name is Shining Armor,” The unicorn replied in response before pointing to that of his companions. “These are my companions, Rain and Fina.”

“And where are the three of you traveling from?” Sugar Belle asked in response. “You look like you happen to have traveled a long ways already before even reaching Baltimare.” That… put both Rain and Shining in a rather odd and slightly uncomfortable position. Mostly because of the fact that unlike with Nightstar, Stella Star and their father in Hollow Shades, Sugar Belle and Party Favor were just regular civilians. If they openly told them about Canterlot being under attack, it could cause an unnecessary panic.

“Well… We were traveling from Canterlot and we were going to go on a ship in Baltimare that was going to take us to Griffonstone,” Rain explained to them. “Unfortunately, since they have a really bad storm at sea, we have to take the route that’s from Manehattan-.”

“Um… wouldn’t that lead you to still run into the storm's path if your going from Manehattan directly there?” Sugar Belle asked, sounding a little concerned.

“We’re trying to avoid the storm entirely by taking the long way around,” Shining Armor replied as he got out the map they had and pointed directly at their planned route. “By going to Manehattan, we can travel to the Griffish Isles and then enter Griffonstone through the north. Avoiding the storm that farther down the coast.”

“Oh I get it now,” The mare replied, sounding a little bit relieved for the time being before asking a different question. “Um… can I ask you something else? I rather not sound like I’m overstepping my boundaries, but I’m just a bit curious about why the two of you have weapons. Are you sellswords by chance?”

“Uh… Sellwhat?” Rain asked, sounding a bit confused. Though, it was then that they hear Party Favor speak up as he slowed down the wagon for a moment.

“Sellswords is another way to say mercenary. Ponies who sell their skills and services to those who can afford their protection,” Party Favor explained to them. “I believe Sugar is asking you about this because she wasn’t sure if you were members of the Royal Guard or not given your appearance and how you have your weapons holstered.”

“Well actually…” Rain replied back. “Shining and I are knights from the Royal Guard in Canterlot.”

That seemed to catch Sugar Belles attention rather quickly as she looked back at both of the two knights. “Really? I would’ve thought that the two of you would more likely wear something a bit more… sturdy than the attire you currently have.”

In was in that moment that Shining Armor decided to take a turn to speak as he cleared his throat for a moment and looked back at Sugar Belle. “If you mean the sets of armor that the guards normally wear, it depends on your rank. If you’re on patrol in Canterlot as a standard guard or just a regular recruit, then the armor is mandatory. However, if you are a knight like Rain and I are or any other higher rank, then you are allowed to wear more casual pieces of attire that have armor enchantment magic weaved into the clothes. So it provides you the ability to move around more freely while also providing just as much protection as a suit of armor that covers from head to hoof. I believe the same goes for Fina as well given that the pony that picked out those clothes for her knows the same kind of magic that’s used on our clothes too.”

“Well, that’s the first time I have ever heard of that before… Then again, we don’t have a lot of visitors around town, so we happen to learn something new every time we go out of town.” The mare replied back in response to Shining. “You see, Cèanna is a rather small community and we don’t normally have travelers visit. Then again, we don’t usually go outside of town unless it’s something important. Like buying food and ingredients I would need for my bakery.”

“Should somepony at least have a farm or something in order to grow crops?” Rain asked.

“Well, the town’s in a remote part of the region and with it being close to the mountains, it’s not really seen as suitable for farmland this time of year,” Sugar replied once again. “Then again, the town is managing. But now that we have a new mayor in charge of the town, she said that she has a plan to turn things around for us.” That, had Rain, Shining and Luna look at one another for a moment, before Luna was the next pony to speak.

“Um… W-who is your town’s mayor?” She stuttered for a moment, before adding on something else. “Just out of c-curiosity.”

“Why ask?” Party Favor then spoke up as everypony looked back in the direction of the stallion that was holding the reins. “We’re almost at Cèanna right now, so you’ll probably be seeing her soon.” By the time that their transport had finally stopped moving, Rain and his companions can get a clear look at the town that they were approaching. However, as they got closer, it was then that they began to notice how… strange it looked by appearance.

Unlike someplace like Ponyville, where the town was big and had a lot of homes in a circular formation, Cèanna looked to be a set of homes that were in two straight lines and a building in the back. Almost like that of an equal sign. Which was rather… odd to be precise. There wasn’t even any fencing around the place to indicate it’s borders or any farms to grow food. Every building looked almost or exactly similar to one another, even as the sun was beginning to come down.

The ponies themselves, didn’t really look all too different though. Many of them wore casual clothes as they walked around the village. However, none of them at all appeared threatening in a sense and there weren’t any particular ponies that were serving as a small neighborhood watch in order to look out for each other. However, there were a pair of ponies that did stand out from the crowd and that were right now walking over to where Party Favor and Sugar Belle were standing. One being a snow colored earth pony stallion while the other one was a pegasus who’s fur looked as dark as the night sky.

“Welcome back, Sugar Belle-?” The mare said, before looking to notice Rain, Shining and Luna. “Sugar, who are they?”

“Night Glider, these three are some travelers that we ran into in Baltimare. They were planning to stay the night here as part of their trip to Baltimare,” Sugar assured the pegasus. “They don’t mean any harm at all.”

“Then why are they carrying weapons with them?” The stallion next to the pegasus asked. However, this was followed by both of them see Luna help Sugar Belle unload what was in the wagon and carry it towards the building they were standing in front of. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get in because the same stallion was blocking the entryway.

“Double, if you give us a moment in order to unpack what we got in the cart and bring it inside, then perhaps we can answer both of your questions,” the unicorn told them. “Besides, why would assume that both of them are bad people just because they have a sword?”

The stallion that they saw as ‘Double’ for the moment, tried to come up with a reason for it. But when he watched Rain offering to pitch in and help Party Favor with the cart as Sugar Belle and Luna brought everything inside. It took a few moments in order for everything to settle down, but by the time that Sugar Belle had already told them what Rain and Shining said to her on the trip over, some things began to make sense to them.

And when Double decided to speak up. “Okay… I apologize for assuming a bit about you three before Sugar got the chance to tell us everything. We don’t normally get a lot of outsiders and some of the ponies here are still a little hesitant about them.”

“It’s alright… mister…” Luna replied back, unsure about what his name was.

“Double Diamond,” He then said. “Some ponies during my colthood used to call me ‘Double D’, but I wasn’t really a fan of it.”

“Why, because it’s excessive?”

“More likely because it’s annoying. I’m fine with being called Double, but not that.” Double Diamond explained briefly before outside for a moment. “So, I know that you plan to stay the night… but do you have any living arrangements?”

“I have a guest room that they can stay in,” Sugar Belle replied back. “It’s small, but I think it could do the trick. After all, it’s just one night.”

“True, but what do you think about Starlight? She’s bound to run into them sooner or later.” Night Glider added.

That had Rain look back at the pegasus a bit puzzled. “I’m sorry, but who is this ‘Starlight’ you are talking about?”

“That’s of the name of the town’s mayor,” Party Favor clarified for them. “Starlight Glimmer.” Hearing the last name of the pony that Party Favor just mentioned though caught both Rain and Shining off guard. Especially since the only pony who happened to share that similar last name was none other than their teacher in Canterlot.

“Hold on… Glimmer?” Rain then asked. “I only know of one other pony with that name and she’s in Canterlot right now.”

“You do?” Sugar Belle asked.

“Yeah, she was our teacher on magic,” Shining Armor added onto that. “Archmage Stardust Glimmer… Perhaps a sibling maybe?”

“Not likely, Starlight said she was the only child in her family… and the one who felt abandoned by her parents before somepony else took her into their family.” Night Glider then added onto that. “It’s… a subject she doesn’t really like to talk about. Even though she has told us that what happened back then drives her to do what she plans for Cèanna now.”

That comment from Night Glider kind of confused both of the knights… and lead to Luna asking a follow up question shortly afterwards. “What does she have planned for the town?”

“Well, based on what she has told us, Starlight wants our town to be one where everypony is seen as equal and also treated equally. Nopony will be see as superior or better than somepony else,” Sugar Belle added. “Some of the townsfolks have already gotten on board with the whole premise and are supporting Starlight… However, there are a few ponies like us who aren’t exactly all for it because of some things we’ve heard-.”

It was around then that they all heard a knock on the door, which prompted Sugar Belle to walk over to the door and open it. “Oh! Hello Starlight. I-i didn’t know you were here.”

“Good evening, Sugar Belle.” They heard a new voice from outside as the sun began to set in the distance and Double Diamond was beginning to get out some candles. “I was just coming over to see how your trip to Baltimare went and one of my neighbors told me that you had some guests with you from outside the village…”

“W-well, Party and I overheard that they were coming here to stay for the night, so we thought we could help them out… Do you want to come inside?” She asked. The Unicorn herself nodded her head, but as the two of them were walking back into what was the main room of Sugar Belle’s cafe, both of them witnessed Rain helping out with the candles by lighting them with his fire magic.

“There we go… One for the table, two for the windows and one for the hallway-” Just as he placed the last candlestick in the holster and set it down was when he looked towards where Sugar Belle came in at… along with the pony next to her. “Oh hello. Am I interrupting anything?”

“Um… I don’t… think so,” Sugar Belle said. “We were interrupting something, Starlight?”

“Not really… but I must say, that is some interesting magic that you happen to have.” Starlight replied back. “Am I to assume you’re one of the ‘travelers’ that’s going to stay the evening?”

“Why yes,” The Knight replied back. “I’m Rain. These are my friends, Shining Armor and Fina.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet all of you.” Starlight replied back, “I know that you must be busy for wanting to leave our little town so quickly… but perhaps after you’re done, maybe you can come back and stay a bit longer? I really do want to know more about the magic you just used.”

“W-well… It’s kind of rare… and by rare, I mean only few ponies can use it,” Rain scratched the back of his head for a moment as he looked back at her. “Heck, there was only one teacher in Canterlot that was able to teach Shining and I how to use ours properly.”

“Oh really now?” She replied, sounding rather surprised to hear that. “And who would that pony be?”

“Well, the Archmage of Canterlot,” Rain said to her. “Stardust Glimmer.”

However… that made the pony he was talking to tense up and twitch on the inside, before she prompted to excuse herself and leave the room in a rather awful hurry. However, the way that all of this happened not only surprised Rain, but also everypony else in the room. And all Rain did was just answer her question. “Uhh… was it something I said?”

“That is… honestly the first time I had seen her do that,” Night Glider replied back, “And normally, she’s rather calm and collective around town.”

“Yeah, she wouldn’t normally run off like that just moments after coming through the door.” Double Diamond added. “Do you think this whole plan she has for the town is getting to her head? Especially with what’s been said about her…”

When the stallion said that, it was the moment that Shining Armor decided to follow up on that with a question of his own. “Um… I don’t mean to sound rude, but could you please explain what you mean by that?”

Sugar Belle looked towards the other ponies that she saw as her neighbors and friends for a moment, before looking back at them and said one thing. “Perhaps this is a conversation best discussed over dinner. If you can help us set up, we’ll tell you what we mean.”

By the time that dinner was over, there was a lot of information that was shared about the rumor circulating around Starlight Glimmer. It involved her ‘plan’ on trying to have everypony in the town be treated equally and that the way she would do that was by doing something that neither Rain nor Shining Armor thought was possible.

That being giving up their cutie marks. Something that would be seen as rather personal to most of Ponykind because it defines what your talents were and also could define your destiny. It’s not something that you can just give up because too many ponies, it was part of who they were. Even though Rain didn’t have one himself since he wasn’t a pony, he knew just as much how a Cutie Mark was important to some ponies like Shining Armor and Twilight when she was able to get hers.

So the thought of what Starlight could potentially do to the townsfolk here was one that happened to keep him up at night. He was barely able to get any sleep while Shining Armor and Luna were able to sleep perfectly fine. Laying awake and restless, there was no one he could talk to right now that could probably answer the question in his head.

Well… almost no one. “Carbuncle? Are you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here…” The Esper spoke mentally to him. “Is something the matter? You seem to have something on your mind.”

“Well… There has been something on my mind that’s keeping me from being able to sleep.” It took a little while for Rain to catch up Carbuncle on everything that he heard about Starlight Glimmer and also the rumors circulating around her. To him, something that was like that seemed… almost impossible. But if the rumors were true, then this was something that he just can’t let go. Because if nopony was able to stop Starlight Glimmer now, then somepony else will.

Carbuncle, after hearing all of what he had to say, soon surprised Rain with something that he happened to notice just now. “Hey Rain… I feel somepony walking outside of town.”

“Wait, you do? How?”

“Espers can feel the presence of beings within a rather large radius… One of them just left the town, so if this is that Starlight mare you were talking about, we should follow her.” The esper made a valid point. Besides, Rain felt that if he didn’t do anything here, he would miss his chance to find out if what was said about Starlight was true. Getting out of the bed he was lying on, he quickly got his clothes on and also made sure to equip his sword as he went out the door. Quietly though so that he wouldn’t wake up anyone in the house.

Once outside, Carbuncle continued to guide Rain given how everything around them was shrouded in darkness. The knight wanted to use some of his magic and a couple of wooden boards lying around to create a makeshift torch, but after thinking about it some more, he realized that it might draw unnecessary attention to himself if the light from the fire woke some ponies up from their sleep. So, he had to solely rely on Carbuncle for guidance through the shadows.

Soon though, it became a bit easier for them to see once the moon came out from behind some clouds in the night sky as the reflection of the moon’s surface brought some light back to the path that Rain was walking on. It also allowed for him to be able to clearly see the entrance to what looked like a cave. “Carbuncle, is that the cave you were talking about?”

“That’s the one. I can still that pony who walked outside of town in that cave… and I think there are a few others too, but…… oh boy.”

That last part, in Rain’s mind, definitely didn’t sound good. Which, actually lead to him speaking out loud instead of speaking internally. “Carbuncle, what’s wrong?”

“Those ponies I’m feeling… This is bad,” The Esper stated at first, before explaining what he meant. “Espers can feel the presence of other beings, but can also feel if that presence is being affected in any particular way because we see their magic as being distorted… and from the looks of it, the others ponies that I’m feeling are under some kind of hypnosis…” That definitely was not a good sign… and it was all the more reason for Rain in order to hurry, going as far as to sprint over to the entrance of the cave. Not even caring about approaching this with caution. Those ponies needed help… and he needed to make sure he could be able to reach them in time.

When he infiltrated the entryway of the cavern and proceeded through the narrow corridor, the knight had to take cover behind a series of rocks as he soon heard something. A voice… no, not just any voice… Starlight’s voice. “Perfect… who would’ve thought that it would be so easy in order to be able to… convince them of my vision for Our Town. Now… once we get the rest of the entire town to give up their cutie marks, my town of Equality will become real!”

“I knew it…” Rain thought internally. “There was definitely more to her than I thought…” He soon had a look at the wall… and noticed four Cutie Marks that were up there. Realizing that those were the same four cutie marks of the ponies that he met earlier with Shining and Luna. “Carbuncle, any idea how she’s controlling them?”

“Well, from the looks of it, the most likely thing is that she’s used some kind of spell that allows her to control them while they’re asleep… I know what kind of ability this is… Lullaby,” Carbuncle replied to him. “After that, I believe she uses that staff she’s carrying to take away their Cutie Marks. Once they’re gone, she can be able to have more influence over them.”

That was when Rain decided to peak out from where he was hiding and try to approach the main platform in the cave to get a better look at the weapon she had. The knight had thought that since the only place inside the caves that was lit with the light of the moon was where Starlight was standing, he could stick to the shadows to avoid being detected. Unfortunately, as he proceeded up a stairwell in the caves, one of the rocks his foot was on emitted a loud crack… and quickly got some unwanted attention as Starlight heard the noise and spun around. “Who goes there?!!”

Rain grit his teeth as he stayed in the shadows. His position had been compromised and he couldn’t be able to hide himself anymore. So, instead, he stepped out of the shadows and where the mare can see him. Starlight himself was caught off guard by this. Out of all the ponies she thought would try to spy on her, the unicorn honestly didn’t think it would be someone who she had only seen a couple of hours ago. “Y-you!! Just who do you think you are coming into my town and trying to ruin what I have planned for it?”

Rain honestly did not know how to respond at first. Mostly because he thought that this mare honestly did not know who exactly she was talking too. But, he still kept himself composed. “Starlight, what you had planned was stealing the traits and talents of ponies who put their trust in you? Do you honestly think that anybody would be willing to give up what makes them special?”

“It’s the only way that our town can be truly equal!!!” Starlight snapped back, which… left Rain being rather unconvinced by what she was telling her.

“Really now… Would you then take your own cutie mark and put it up on the wall then? It’s only equal if you do it yourself?”

The mare honestly blinked a little bit, before looking back at him. “Well, no. All of this is because of my magic. If I take away my cutie mark, then-”

“So you honestly think that just because you make everyone else equal so they can be happy, but you have yourself be above them?” The Knight questioned. “Didn’t you realize that people in your town are already happy the way they are right now without you doing this to them-”

“SHUT UP!!” The unicorn snapped, before glaring at Rain as she conjured some magic. Before he could make a move, he felt Starlight’s magic restrain him, grabbing hold of his wrists and ankles as he couldn’t move a muscle. Taking hold of her staff, the unicorn soon came closer to him and gave him a menacing stare. “I don’t have to take this from an outsider. If I’m not able to tell you how our town’s going to change the lives of everypony, I’m going to MAKE you be part of our town.”

With her staff in hand, she took the dual pointed end of it and placed it right by Rain’s waist along the back of the hip. The same way that she had done it before in order to obtain the cutie marks of Sugar Belle, Double Diamond, Party Favor and Night Glider. However, unlike those ponies… she did not get any form of reaction the same way she did with them. Even though she didn’t realize it at first.

The unicorn only realized that what she was doing with her staff wasn’t working when she heard one particular comment from Rain that completely caught her off guard. “Um… I’m sorry for sounding so abrupt, but why are you poking me in the ass with that wooden stick of yours?”

Immediately, Starlight backed off, eyes wide in shock. “H-how!? Nopony has ever resisted Idem Uero before! How is this possible!?”

When she said that, Rain heard Carbuncle chuckle inside his head internally. “Wow… She named her own staff ‘Sameness’.”

“Really? You named your own staff ‘Sameness’? That’s just as stupid as naming a Flaming sword a word that means fire.” Rain deadpanned as he looked back at Starlight. “Plus, I am honestly surprised that you haven’t realized why that wouldn’t work on me. I don’t have a cutie mark for Celestia’s sake!!”

All that did though was have just have Starlight blink a bit before looking back at him. “Hold on… You don’t… have a cutie mark?”

“Yes, because I’m not a pony… but I can tell you what I am though,” Rain responded, moving his right hand to his blade as he pulled it off of his back and held it with both of his hands. “I am a knight of the Canterlot Royal Guard, and I will not let you get away with this!!”

Even though she looked composed on the outside, Starlight was internally freaking out at this point. Not only had this… being found out the truth to her plans and was resistant against her magic, but he was part of the Royal Guard!? This was not part of her plan at all. But, she could not just let an outsider stop her from reaching her goals. Especially when she was this close to making that dream a reality. “Do you really think that you can be able to stop me? You must be insane to think that I would lose to somepony like you.”

“Not insane… determined,” The Knight grinned, his magic coursing through the blade as a red glow could be seen around the blade. “Determined to help those who can’t be able to help themselves, no matter the obstacle… if the choice is to save one person or a hundred, then save both! For that is the creed of a Canterlot Knight!”

When Rain dashed forward, Starlight was caught off guard at first by his speed as she was forced to defend herself. When somepony would think about a knight, they would think of the heavy suits of armor that would trade off one's speed for protection. However, the knight she was facing wasn’t anything like that at all, so she was forced to hold her hand in front of her as she chanted a single word. “Protect!” With the magic forming around her, it created a small barrier that was able to briefly block Rain’s first attack.

Of course, this also told Rain something else. That the magic that she knew… was exactly like the magic that he, Shining and Sunset had known and practiced many times before. The magic of old. But it also made him curious. Curious about how much did she actually know… and how skilled was she with it. Because even though it blocked his first attack, his next two strikes caused the barrier to weaken. Telling him that it was a low level spell.

“Now, why would she go out of her way to use a standard spell like that right now? With how much she was boasting earlier, I would think that she would try to use some much stronger magic to prove how strong she is.” He thought to himself, analyzing her for a moment as she looked to be preparing something with the mana that was forming in her hands.

However, that was when the Esper that was with him at the time decided to speak up. “Um… I think she’s trying to save her mana for later. Like conserve it so she can use much stronger spells once she finds a way to tire you out. She might think you have no magical capabilities whatsoever…”

That caused Rain to shake his head as he had to quickly dodge a blast of magic from Starlight and regain his footing. “Oh, she knows that I can do magic Carbuncle. When I was originally at Sugar Belle’s and was helping out with lighting some candles, she walked in just as I was using my magic to light them.”

“Okay, scratch that then…” The Esper retorted, grumbling a bit.

“However… Fire magic is just one thing I can do that she knows about,” The knight then told the Esper, looking down at the stone floor for a moment before realizing something. Holding onto the Evocation gem that Carbuncle gave him, he then said a few more words to the Esper. “I got an idea.”

In that moment, Rain had to do two things. One, explain to Carbuncle what he was going to do… and two, try to outmaneuver Starlight Glimmer’s spells as much as possible. Even going as far as to channel some earth magic at his feet to launch himself into the air and dive towards the unicorn to close the gap between both of them. Weapons clashing with one another and spells going all over the place.

The longer that this went on though… the longer that Starlight’s patience was beginning to wear down. She didn’t think that Rain here would put up this much of a fight… or be such an pain in her flank with everything that had happened so far. And she was getting sick of it.

Pushing her opponent back both physically and with magic, Starlight grit her teeth as she snapped at Rain. “Why are you such a pain in my flank!? Why are you trying to undo everything!?” As she screamed, Rain could see a large amount of her magic forming in a sphere in front of her as the gem he was holding was beginning to glow brightly in his hand. “ANSWER ME!!!”

“Rain, that amount of magic she’s channeling could lay waste to this whole cave!! If you got some kind of plan, then I’m all open to hearing it!!” Carbuncle mentally shouted, even though Rain was more particularly focused on something else.

“Carbuncle… You said before that you can send magic back at somepony right?”

“Yeah, why-?” That had the esper pause for a moment… before realizing what exactly Rain was thinking. “Rain, are you crazy!? You think I can be able to launch something like that back at her?!”

“Carbuncle, I have faith in you… and right now, I am counting on you to be able to do this. You’ve said that Espers have great power… Now’s the time for you to show me.” Before Rain could do anything though… Starlight had just finished her spell and was about to cast it. Barely leaving him any time to react.

“ULTIMA!!”

Watching the magic she was channeling begin to explode outward and charge at him, Rain held the evocation orb in front of him as it’s magic began to blaze around him. “Carbuncle, NOW!!”

Starlight had no idea what the knight was trying to do. But, when she saw what looked like a small fox like creature with a ruby gem on it’s forehead land by him, she couldn’t help but mock him. “Are you serious!? Do you honestly think that a dumb housepet is going to save you now?! Is that really your best hopes in stopping me!?”

All that did… was make the creature’s gem glow bright red as it glared right at her. “How DARE you refer to me as a PET!!!! Time for you to TASTE YOUR OWN MEDICINE, WITCH!!” As soon as Carbuncle shouted that, he used his power to cover Rain in a mystical ruby veil while the knight readied himself. With the spell fast approaching, he had his Crimson Saber be lit ablaze with his magic as he held it above his head, swinging forward as Starlight’s spell was closing in.

Originally, the Unicorn thought that the creature next to the knight casted something that would allow for him to cut through her spell… Instead, it did something quite different.

It sent her spell flying back straight at her. Leaving her no time to be able to put up a spell in order to block what was coming at her. “NO-!” The spell hit it’s mark, colliding with Starlight and causing the Mare’s staff to fling out of her hands. Landing like a spear that was thrown in the middle of the wall that had the cutie marks of her friends entrapped inside. All it did was just cause it to crack… but it wasn’t enough to break it. As for everything else, the spell caused a rather huge hole to be torn through the side of the mountain. Big enough to where Rain could still see the village and everything beyond that along with the night sky.

As for Starlight herself… she was rather shaken. Parts of her body were covered in burns and scrapes because of her own spell that hit her head on. She watched as the Knight that had bested her, took out a small crystal and had what looked like a pegasus mare from the stories of the royal legion destroy the wall that kept her friends cutie marks locked away and have everything crumble away.

She still had a question for the knight though… just as Rain dismissed the vision of Nimbus that he had summoned a few moments ago and turned to face her… only to notice that Starlight… was on the brink of tears “W-why…? W-why did you do this…?”

The knight himself, just sighed as he looked back at her. “I’m not the one who should be answering that… Why were you doing this? Wanting to treat everyone equally is one thing… but stealing what makes somepony special or forcing them to give it up? That’s just wrong.”

“How would you know?! You don’t have one!” Starlight snapped. “You’ve never been abandoned by your best friend because they got their cutie mark and ran off to Canterlot!! You’ve never had a mother who would just leave you with somepony else for no reason whatsoever! You don’t know how it feels-!!”

“Shut up,” Those two words stopped Starlight immediately. Because when she looked back at Rain, she wasn’t met with the same facial expression that he had before. Instead, he was met with a cold stare as he looked at her. “You’re lucky that you even have a mother… Mine is gone. Died when I was a child… I always told myself that she would be coming someday… but then she never came… and you don’t know what being abandoned truly feels like… You were given to somepony else that could take care of you. Me? I was left on my own… helpless… in the Everfree Forest to die by my bastard of a father… So don’t come running to me and saying that you know how it feels… because you don’t. All you are is just afraid of losing the friends that you have and hiding behind a twisted fantasy that you call ‘the truth’.”

Starlight was left speechless… she had no idea that these were the things that Rain had to overcome when he was young. Matter of fact, She didn’t think that Rain would read her like an open book. With all that she had done… and everything that she once had falling apart… she only had one more question as the tears began to dry up and the sun began to rise in the distance. “W-what am I suppose to do now?”

That, had Rain close his eyes and sigh deeply. Before opening them up once more as he looked back at the mare. “I’m sorry… but that is something you need to figure out on your own…” Starlight though, looked back at him for a moment as she noticed him pull out what looked like some kind of seal on it as he tossed it to her. “But… it does not mean that I can’t help you take the first step.”

Starlight looked at the seal, one that was a silver coin with what looked like Rain’s own Crimson Saber being engraved on the coin. “W-what is this?”

“My royal seal,” The Knight told her in response, looking to make sure that Sugar Belle and the others were okay, even though they were unconscious. “All of the Knights in canterlot carry a royal insignia and a royal seal. If you present that to a pony with a fire colored mane named Sunset Shimmer, she’ll direct you to my teacher… Stardust Glimmer.”

The name made Starlight freeze. Why… of all possible things, why would he have her go see her? The mare that she believed to have abandoned her as a filly. Then, she heard the knight say his answer as he began to make his way out of the cave and back towards the village of Cèanna. Where his friends were waiting for him. “If you wish to seek the truth… then I believe the best place for you to find it would be directly from the source itself.”

Author's Notes:

A Christmas present that's a day late, but I hope it's something that you guys enjoyed. I have been working on this for a while aside from the last chapter for 'Of Magic and Machines', but in this time period, I had also got the chance to attend the Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Fan Festa in Los Angeles. Which was INSANELY fun and I was even able to get the art book on FFBE.

For this chapter, I wanted to make it to where it's not so simple for Rain and his companions in order to get to his destination. I also happened to hide a small reference to 'The Inheritance Cycle' in this chapter, so I hope you guys can be able to find it.

Real talk though, I'm glad that you guys had a very merry christmas this year. For me, it was also good... but a bit troubling because earlier in the week, I found out that my grandad in Ireland passed away. It was... a bit tough in order to take the news and I really do miss him. But he was a bit of an inspiration for me because he told me to never give up, no matter how bad things look. So, I wanted to make sure that I do the same thing here.

In fact, the name for Starlight's town in this story are based off of the Irish terms for 'Equal'. As for her staff, that's based on the Latin term for Sameness (Given how most names in MLP Like Sombra and Discord were all named off of something in Latin).

With that though, I hoped you guys enjoyed it and I'll see you in the new year!
-Frost