With a wave of a claw from the Emperor, the executioner pulled a lever, dropping the platform out from under Eustace, bringing an end to his plans to usurp the throne of Griffonia. For the ponies there, their job had been completed, and their first, and possibly strongest ally had been secured. Past that, there wasn't much more that could be done or said, so with a farewell for the Emperor and his daughter, the ponies made for the portal. They had plenty to do elsewhere.

"Thank fuck for that." Trixie briefly considered kissing the floor, but she doubted it had been cleaned much in the last several centuries. Still, she was back in the Retreat, and it was strangely good to be home. "I didn't realise that would take so long."

"News flash, Trixie, but creating an alliance between nations is always going to involve some paperwork." Twilight stumbled as Rainbow and Lightning pushed past her, but she didn't mind. They'd earned their reunion with Vapor.

"Paperwork is putting it mildly I feel," Luna yawned as she and Cadence followed in after Twilight and Trixie. "I feel like we've written an entire novel in the last four days. The faff surrounding Sonny and Derek working to rebuild Griffon Intelligence felt like a novella in its own right."

"We got it done though," Twilight said with a smile, "and from here we can start work on recruiting Zebrica and Saddle Arabia to our cause."

"If they want," Cadence reminded them.

"If they want," Twilight repeated. "Not sure what there is to want more than stopping Faust and securing your nation for years to come, but that I suppose is just our opinion." Twilight stopped and smiled again as she saw the laughing pile of Rainbow, Lightning, and Vapor. "When we can have more scenes like that, you know it'll all have been worth it."

"You might be having some sooner than you think," said Sunset as she walked up to Twilight and gave her a hug. "I'm just going to assume everything went well since you're back and happy about it."

Twilight returned the hug, "You assume correctly. We've taken a big first step in beating Faust, so I'm hoping you have some good news as well."

"Some. We've set most of it up. The spellwork I mean, but we're starting to find that the crystal heart you gave us isn't enough on its own. It can store Faust's energy, but we think we need something separate from it to keep that energy safely and securely contained. Starsy thinks he has something, so it shouldn't be too big a problem to overcome."

"That's good-"

"He also says he might have an idea on how to best fight Faust, but will need some help on working it out."

"Okay-"

"Fleur's also got in touch, and she says she has some big news that she wants to share with you. She didn't make it sound like good news."

"Of course not," Twilight sighed. "And how is she supposed to tell me this news?"

"She wants you to meet her on her boat around the southern point of the Bittish Isles." Sunset smiled and shrugged apologetically, "She didn't seem to want to tell me much more than that."

"Is that all?" Twilight asked cautiously, fully expecting Sunset to talk over her again.

"That's it. I'm going to suggest you take Cadence with you though. I think it'd be nice for her to see Shining again."

"That I can agree with. When does Fleur want us to see her?"

"As soon as possible I'm afraid." Sunset made another apologetic smile as Twilight groaned, "No rest for the wicked."

"No rest for anypony, wicked or not."

"I'm feeling pretty well rested," Ember said with an irritated pout. "I've hardly done anything since you left for Griffonia. I think Mayfly's pretty 'rested' too." Beside Ember, Mayfly nodded vigorously.

"Alright, so you can come too, but don't expect anything too exciting."

Ember stood and flexed her wings, shaking the stiffness out of them. "As long as I'm not cooped up in here, I'm sure I'll find something interesting to do."

"Okay then, guess it's us four going." Twilight rolled her eyes as Trixie pointedly cleared her throat, "Five, Trixie, fine. There's going to be flying though, if you don't feel up to that?"

"Since when has Trixie's fear of flying ever stopped us doing anything?"

The portal to Equestria was thankfully exactly where Twilight had left it in Starlight Glimmer's village, in the tunnel beneath the unicorn's former home. Twilight was immensely grateful for the amount of effort that saved had it been taken elsewhere, or discovered by hostile individuals.

Similarly, all of them were thankful for the lack of problems as they flew to the Bittish Isles, and as they spotted a boat in the distance, just off the coast, it was a relief that even that had gone right. It was still a bit annoying to Twilight that she'd got to the point of being relieved at even simple things going right, but she had nopony to blame but herself for feeling that way.

"Shining!" Cadence cried as she spotted her husband on the deck, and put on a burst of speed that ended abruptly as she barrelled into him and smothered him with kisses. Something which Shining gladly returned. "I'm so glad you're safe!"

"Me too!" Shining laughed. He kissed Cadence properly, holding it for several seconds before letting Flurry into the middle of an embrace between them. "I've missed you both so much."

"I see you brought friends," Fleur said, nervously eyeing Ember as the dragon landed hard enough to make the boat rock. "I'm not sure how well the changeling is going to go down though."

"What makes you say that?"

"You'll see." Fleur held a leg out and motioned for Twilight to embrace her, which the alicorn gladly did. "I'm glad to see you're unharmed, although I do now realise how silly I sound saying that to you."

"Yeah, I should probably be saying that to you. Hey filly!"

"Hey Twi, I see you managed to shake off Trixie for a little bit."

"Actually," Trixie poked her head out of Twilight's saddle bag, "I'm here too. Nice to see you, filly."

"Yeah, it's a regular family reunion. Too bad two of us are still trapped in Ponyville, or Fillydelphia."

"Fillydelphia?" Twilight asked. "Why would they be there?"

"We have got a lot to tell you," Fleur said, losing her smile. "Some of it is good, some isn't."

"Figures."

"Holy shit, Shadow's missing a leg."

Twilight quickly looked up as Trixie spoke, as she hadn't even been aware that Shadow was there, let alone incomplete.

"Still as tactful as ever, Trixie," Shadow sighed with half a smile. "Hi guys," she added as Twilight walked up to her.

"What happened?" Twilight demanded, keenly aware of how she sounded, but ignoring it in favour of figuring out why her friend was hurt.

"Got messed up by a griffon at Canterlot, and when the wound got infected, and we had nothing to treat that with, it had to come off." Shadow shrugged at Twilight, "Shit happens, y'know?"

"But my healing thingies could've saved your leg!"

"Maybe. Problem is with us thestrals, there isn't a unicorn between us to use said 'healing thingies'. Right now I'm just hoping it's possible to regrow my leg at some point when we're not too busy."

"I'm sure it will- I mean is," Twilight said, sounding far from confident. Now she was thinking about it, she wasn't entirely sure her healing devices even worked on thestrals thanks to their unique heritage, and she never really had enough reasons to try it out on them before then. Thestrals had a tendency towards either being lightly wounded, or straight up dead with little in-between. "If it isn't, I'll think of something else."

"Alright, but don't sweat it too much right now. Priorities and all that."

Twilight nodded slowly, "I know, but when we can."

"First," the filly interrupted, "there are two ponies that would like to speak with you."

"There are?" Twilight turned to see who the filly was talking about, and was very quickly reminded that her parents were on board. Parents she loved, but didn't particularly want to talk to. "Oh."

"Hi sweetie," Twilight Velvet said, her higher pitch betraying her nerves. "We're so glad you're okay."

Twilight squinted suspiciously at her parents, and wondered why they seemed so reluctant. "I'm glad to see you're okay too, but I am kind of curious why you sound like you're about to tell me my pet hamster died while I was at school."

Nightlight cleared his throat, "It's been brought to our attention that we failed you in the worst way after you came back from Mareitania. That's to say we completely failed you as parents. Instead of being proud of all the good things you did to help ponies, we focussed on all the bad things that happened, and how you had changed from the pony you were."

"Uh-huh... and what? You're sorry?"

"Of course we are!" Twilight Velvet blurted. "We're sorry, and we promise to be here for you, properly, if you still want us."

Twilight closed her eyes, the desire to call her parents well meaning idiots sitting at the tip of her tongue. Instead she hugged them. "You'll be surprised at how angry I wasn't at you, because I had the same thing off almost everypony else. I am wondering though, what brought this on?"

"I did," said the filly. "Your mother there was worried you wouldn't be their little girl any more after fighting this war against Faust. I may have hinted she was being stupid."

"Wow." Twilight looked her mother in the eyes, seeing the shame in them. "Just... wow. For your sakes, I'm going to pretend that didn't happen."

"Appreciat-" Nightlight started to say until Twilight Velvet elbowed him on the side.

"We're sorry, sweetie."

"For what?"

"For thinking that- Oh, right, I get it."

"Mmhmm." Twilight left them to stew in their thoughts as she went to squeeze herself into the snuggle still going on between Cadence, Shining, and their child. It was at that time that the filly walked up to Ember with an inquisitive look in her eye.

"So I'm guessing you're a dragon?"

Ember folded her arms and smirked down at the filly, "That's right."

"I thought you'd be like way bigger than that."

"You're thinking of dragons like my dad. He has scales bigger than I am."

"Then why aren't you that size?"

"Because of a lot of reasons that are simple to listen to, but complicated to understand. To put it simply, I like being this size, so here I am."

"Here you are... what?"

"Here I am being this size. Was that not obvious?"

"No, not really."

Ember raised a brow at the filly, fairly confident she was being played with. "I breathe fire. I'm pretty sure you shouldn't mess with things that breathe fire."

"You don't scare me. I'll mess with whoever I want to-eep!" The filly hit the deck as a burst of flame filled the air above her. "I'msorryI'llbegoodpleasedon'thurtme!"

Ember had already lost interest though, because she was too busy looking at what had just walked up on deck. "The fuck is that?"

The filly craned her neck around to see, "That is a Thorax. He's a changeling."

"That is not a changeling. Mayfly is a changeling. That's a... I don't even know what that is." Ember became aware of an alarmed buzzing, and found Mayfly standing alert, with her wings vibrating fast enough to blur. "Uh, are you okay, Mayfly?"

Others began to take notice of Mayfly as she and Thorax engaged in a staring match, the intensity of which might have threatened to start small fires if they weren't surrounded by water. Then Mayfly did something unexpected. She leaned forwards, her gaze still burning with intensity, and she opened her mouth, and licked the air before asking, "How?"

"I'm... not entirely sure," Thorax admitted hesitantly.

"Your energy tastes like sunshine and rainbows."

"Like what?"

"It tastes like love. In fact, you appear to be radiating it. It tastes most pleasant."

Thorax took a step back from Mayfly. "Please stop tasting my love," he asked meekly. "And who are you? Why are you here?"

"This is Mayfly," Twilight answered, stepping in as Mayfly started producing a humming noise without appearing to do anything to make it. "She's with us, and she's an exile from Chrysalis' hive, like you, so you don't need to worry about that."

"Exiled because of you," Mayfly quickly reminded Twilight, still coherent enough to not let that one slide. "You still haven't answered me on how this has happened."

"Uh... it kind of happened when I almost died. Actually, I would've died if this hadn't happened. Anyway, I was dying, and Honeydew was there, and I told her I loved her. Then, as I was slipping away, all I could think about was how I hadn't really given back the love she gave me, and as soon as I tried to, this happened."

"So you fell in love?"

"Yes?"

"And turned into that?"

"Apparently?"

Mayfly blinked slowly and frowned, "That doesn't make any sense. Twilight's friend Fleur," Mayfly said, turning to Fleur, "do you have ink and paper? I wish to study this in depth."

"Uh, sure. Filly, go find her what she wants while we catch the others up."

Twilight had taken off as soon as her friends being at Fillydelphia had been brought up. Ember and Shadow had followed her, meaning that they'd only wind up getting involved in whatever she was about to do, and they refused to go, no matter how much she insisted. It was touching in a way, but also really fucking annoying.

"Will you take a moment and think, Twilight?" Shadow said to the speeding alicorn, barely able to keep up. "What are you even going to do once you get there?"

"I don't know, something!"

"Something," Ember said slowly. "Greaaattt... then what's next in this master plan of yours?"

"Then I do something else!"

"Something else? Oh my goodness! Marechiavelli herself couldn't have outdone the subtle intricacies of this excellent plan."

Shadow grinned sideways at Ember, "Twilight, I really like this dragon."

"And you're not questioning how she knows about Marechiavelli?" Twilight asked, only to be ignored.

"And you're not bad either I suppose," Ember said back to Shadow, "for a freakily produced, forced hybrid kind of thing."

"And suddenly I get the feeling dragons dislike thestrals."

"It's nothing personal, but you are a giant bastardization of three different species, and a part of that is dragons."

"Wait, you know where thestrals come from?"

"My great uncle Snarfax was the dragon whose remains Luna used to create you and your people. Congratulations, we're cousins."

Shadow didn't know what to say to that, beyond apologising, which she wasn't going to do. "Huh."

"Yep. Anyway, Twilight's getting away now, so think about flying instead."

Both of them swooped in to land just behind Twilight as they came close to the steelworks. Ponies were swarming all over the construction site, rebuilding it as rapidly as possible. Twilight swallowed, having just come to appreciate what Fleur had meant when she said it was well guarded. Even if she could find her friends in all that, getting them out would be difficult to say the least.

"So is there an actual plan?" Shadow asked as she walked up to stand next to Twilight. "Or are we just going to wing it?"

"We really can't wing this. We might as well just throw ourselves on their spears if we're going to improvise an entire plan." Twilight sat and sighed, sorely aware of how stupidly impulsive it was of her to come here.

Shadow looked up at Ember, getting a shrug from the dragoness. "Okay, since no one else has anything, how about we just see if they're alright first?"

"And how do we do that?"

"A dragon attack ought to get their attention," Shadow said, grinning at Ember.

"Are you kidding me? I'm not attacking that many soldiers at once!" Ember turned away from Shadow and folded her arms, "You can just forget that plan right now."

"Aww, where's your sense of adventure? It could even be fun, terrorising those little ponies down there. Dragons are arrow proof, right?"

"Mostly long as they don't hit my eyes, mouth, nose, or other... orifices."

"There's an image I didn't need." Shadow rapidly shook her head to get it out. "All you have to do is scare them a bit. Shouldn't be too hard for you."

"Don't," said Twilight. "All you'll be doing is creating more confusion than we need, and giving Faust a reason to target the dragons."

"I fail to see that as a bad thing," Shadow mumbled.

"I'll just get in close and see what I can do," Twilight continued. "Wait here."

"Alright," Shadow shrugged, "but we'll be keeping my plan ready in case you get into trouble."

"You do that." Twilight stood and started trotting towards the construction site, muttering to herself. Couldn't they have just let her come on her own? Nopony, or dragon, had to get involved and risk getting hurt because of this. At least she could be thankful they were staying put for now.

The grounds around the steelworks were only lightly patrolled, Twilight found as she got closer, with single soldiers keeping watch over various points as a few pairs walked around. It was one of those single soldiers that gave Twilight an idea. If she could get a uniform, and disguise herself, she could hopefully get in and find her friends with little problem. All she had to do was get the uniform, which was embarrassingly easily really, when she thought about it.

Twilight watched the patrols for a few minutes, trying to work out their routes and timing for her to best do this without getting noticed. There was a small gap in the patrols that left one of the watch ponies on their own for a two minute period, and it was that pony that Twilight decided was going to be her unfortunate victim of uniform theft, which was also handy because it was both a mare and a unicorn.

Twilight waited a few minutes, then as soon as the mare was out of sight of the patrols, teleported the mare to herself, and clamped her magic over her mouth and nose while making sure the mare didn't cast anything that would draw attention. After a minute, the mare sank to the ground unconscious, and Twilight stripped her uniform off to wear herself.

It was a bit tight, and needed some adjustments, but once her wings were hidden, and her colours adjusted, Twilight looked like any other respectable member of the Mareitanian Adepts. All that left then was to secure the mare, and get onto the site unnoticed. Twilight summoned Swordy and held the tip over the mare's chest, but found she couldn't do it, as killing her while unconscious and defenceless really was murder.

"She could hurt somepony in the future," Twilight tried to reason, but she still didn't do it. She could've, and she knew she could've, but not if she didn't have to. Instead she transmuted some rocks into a rope to bind the mare's legs, and a gag to silence her, then, with careful deliberation, cast a spell to keep her unconscious, and cut her horn off before staunching the bleeding. She was at least mostly harmless now.

That job done, Twilight went back to watching the patrols, and as soon as her window of opportunity was open again, teleported herself to the spot the Adept had been before her abduction.

Not wanting to give the patrols a chance to point her out as not being the pony there before, Twilight turned and left the platform she was on to slip into the construction site. As she had hoped, none of the other soldiers paid her the slightest bit of attention as she made her way around the stockpile of building materials.

What did hurt her was that none of the prisoners paid her much attention beyond the occasional glance, and even then the mix of fear, hatred, and even downtrodden apathy she was getting from even those limited interactions was enough to make her heart sink. Fleur had said the prisoners were brought here as a form of insurance against future attacks, and Twilight could believe it, because they were the only thing stopping her from doing some damage herself.

Twilight put it out of her mind as best she could, and instead thought about what was going on at the site. They were just about done clearing up from the previous attack, and construction on two towers had begun, while the area between them was still largely empty, save for a marked out area. The foundations were still intact from the previous steelworks, which saved some time, so it wouldn't be long until the central building began reconstruction.

Twilight twitched an ear at a sound coming from her left. A chain gang of unicorns was being led towards her, and she stepped back to let them pass, and was shocked at what she saw. They were dirty, and tired, and wore expressions she'd only seen on ponies once before; the pegasi of Mareitania. These unicorns wore that same, hopeless looks that the former slaves had worn, and seeing as how these ponies had been captives for a fraction of the time the pegasi had, it gave Twilight a good idea of how hard the ponies here were being worked.

Twilight did a double take as the second to last unicorn passed by. She didn't even recognise her at first, with her coat so dirty, and her hair a mess, but her eyes were unmistakable. It was, and could only be, Rarity, even if her cutie mark was a equals sign like all the others'.

Twilight fought to keep her mouth under control, and fell into step just behind the line of unicorns. The one on the end was Lyra, which was convenient in its way, although she didn't recognise Twilight in her uniform with her looks changed a bit.

Rarity gave Twilight a fearful look as Twilight walked beside her, "I don't know what you think I've done, but I assure you I haven't done anything."

"What? No! I- Nngh." Twilight kept her mouth shut as she tried to think about how to talk to Rarity without giving the game away. After a moment she ran up to the stallion in the front leading them. "Hey, wait a moment."

"For what?" the earth pony asked, not slowing down in the slightest.

"The white unicorn near the end, I need to speak to her."

"Sure you do. Look, I know she's attractive when you clean her up, but she's extremely off limits, as in by order of the Lady off limits. Besides, you know that sort of thing gets you in trouble with any of the prisoners."

"What? I don't want her to... do whatever you're thinking of. I just want to talk to her."

"Is it important?"

"Yes it's important."

"Then you can talk to her while she works."

Twilight sighed and gave up pushing. She supposed she was lucky she was able to talk to Rarity at all, although it was still annoying that she'd have to do it like this.

Eventually they were led to one of the towers, where the unicorns were lined up to start lifting materials up to the top. Twilight bit her lip, unsure of how she was supposed to talk to Rarity like this. She tried nonetheless.

"Hey, Rarity," Twilight whispered while standing next to the unicorn.

"Oh, it's you again. Can I help you?" Rarity asked politely, although it was clearly an act for her captors benefit.

"I'm going to tell you something, and I need you keep your voice down when I do."

"I see. Is it important to do it now? Because I am rather busy, lifting and... things."

Twilight sighed and subtly took over lifting a metal beam up the tower, "Yes, it's very important. It's me, Twilight."

"Oh har-har, very funny. There's no possible way you could be-" Rarity stopped talking as she turned to face Twilight, and saw that even though her coat was a darker purple, and the mane near black, it was still cut the same way, and those eyes, they were definitely Twilight's. "Good heavens, it is you. What are you doing here? You could get caught!"

Twilight pulled her lips back in a nervous grimace as Rarity's voice rose in volume. A gantry was being used to lift bricks nearby, and while nopony was beneath it, she cut the rope, dropping the lot with an almighty crash.

"Holy shit, did you see that?" the stallion guarding the unicorns said.

"I can watch these unicorns for a minute while you go sort that out?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, just keep them here."

"Got it." Twilight tossed the stallion a quick salute, and as soon as he was gone, grabbed Rarity in a hug. "I'm so happy to see you!"

"Likewise, Twilight, but that doesn't change that you shouldn't be here! In fact, what are you doing here?"

"As soon as I heard you and the others were here, I had to come and see you. It's been so long. I was also thinking that I could get you out of here."

"Really? But what about all the other prisoners here?"

Twilight looked to Lyra, whose hopeful expression hurt Twilight when she thought of leaving all these ponies behind when getting her friends out. Lyra was her friend too, once. "I don't know. I really don't think I can get all these ponies out, but I might be able to get you guys out."

Rarity shook her head at Twilight, "I don't think you quite understand, Twilight. If you can't get all of these ponies out, then I'm not going anywhere either, and if we go missing, I can promise you they'll take it out on Fluttershy."

"What do you mean?"

"She's still at Ponyville, with the vast majority of pegasi."

Twilight turned to look at all the other prisoners, and saw that there wasn't a pegasus anywhere in sight. She cursed under her breath, knowing that Rarity was right.

Rarity smiled sympathetically at Twilight, "While I would love nothing more than to get out of here, I'm afraid we simply can't. I do very much appreciate the thought though, and knowing that you're still out there trying to stop this helps immeasurably."

"I'm sorry Rarity."

"And I'm sorry too. I know it must hurt to leave us here, but right now it's for the best." Rarity looked down for a moment, then back up, her eyes carrying more regret than before. "I'm also sorry for the way we acted with you after you returned from Mareitania. We weren't very good friends."

"You're bringing that up now? Y'know what? I forgive you, totally and utterly." Twilight bit her lip as the stallion started to come back. "I'm going to find Applejack and Pinkie, just so I know they're okay. I'll see you soon, I promise, and next time I'll get you out of here. All of you."

"I hope so, Twilight. I'm not sure how much more of this I can take. While you're here, how's Rainbow Dash? Is she with you? Pinkie said she was probably with you."

"She is, and she's fine." Twilight smiled at Rarity, then turned to the stallion, "Is everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah, although it's pretty weird. It looks like the rope had been cut."

"Really? That is weird. I guess we should be thankful nopony was standing under it."

"Yeah, that would've made a hell of a mess."

Twilight just nodded, since that wasn't really what she was going for. "Anyway, I'll leave you to get these, uh... slackers, back to work."

"Already? I was hoping I might get a chance to talk to you as well?"

"Sorry, I got some other ponies here I need to see. Maybe later though?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. Catch me later and I'll buy you a beer."

"Sounds good." Twilight rolled her eyes as she walked away quietly mimicking her exchange with the guard in a squeaky voice before shuddering. The fact that he could think about such things while overseeing the hard labour and suffering of hundreds of ponies... he'd be lucky if he only got the beer bottle smashed over his head.

Twilight set about searching for Applejack and Pinkie, and hoped they were together since they were earth ponies. It would also make Applejack easier to find since Pinkie, being pink, was far more noticeable than Applejack's earthy colours.
She found them several minutes later, using shovels to load rubble into some carts. Applejack's brother was there too, waiting to pull the cart they were loading, as well as Pinkie's sisters, and a pony Twilight sort of recognised as being part of their team, and most weirdly of all Pinkie's marefriend. Twilight was still a long way from getting used to that one.

Walking up behind them, Twilight cleared her throat, and made sure to keep her magic over Pinkie's mouth as she sucked in a deep breath. Trust Pinkie to know exactly who she was at only the barest sound of her voice.

"Please don't shout my name out loud." She could feel Pinkie grinning sheepishly through her magic.

"Who the heck are ya for Pinkie ta know yer name anyway?" Applejack asked, turning around to face Twilight. With a smile, Twilight released Pinkie to answer for her.

"It's Twilight, Applejack!" Pinkie said at a thankfully lower volume than her initial greeting would've been at. "Couldn't you tell?"

"Pinkie, that looks nothing like... huh, now you mention it though. Is that really you, Twilight?"

Twilight quickly checked where the guards were, finding them standing to the side, talking to each other, and paying no attention to her, or their prisoners. She supposed they didn't need to pay too much attention to their charges though, since they were all chained together on their back left ankle, which was further attached to a solid looking post.

"Yeah, it's me. I heard you'd been brought here, so I came to find you since it's easier than getting into Ponyville. I was hoping to get you out, but Rarity already made it clear that's not an option."

"No, it ain't," Applejack agreed with a sad shake of her head. "Look, Twilight, it's great to see you again, don't get me wrong, but you're going to get us all in trouble if you're caught."

"Pfft, like those guards ever pay attention to us," Limestone sneered. "So long as the carts keep getting filled, hint, hint."

"Hint, hint nothing, you." Applejack took the hint all the same and tossed a few more shovelful into the cart until Twilight took over for all of them. "Thanks Twi."

"I know I can't get you out now, and I accept that, but I can tell you that we have a plan, and we're working hard to make it happen. When the time comes, I'll be making sure all of these ponies get free."

"Now that I can look forward to, but I hope you're planning on freeing us from Ponyville rather than here. There'll be less guards, and less chance of all us folk getting done over than if you attack here, if ya get ma drift?"

"I know. I'll have to pay a visit to the pony that has all your cutie marks while I'm there, so it does make more sense. I just wish I could do it now."

"You're really not the only one," said Pinkie. "But don't worry, we'll be fine and dandy until you do, right girls? I mean, I guess we will?"

The range of looks the others gave Pinkie didn't fill Twilight with enthusiasm. "If you say so."

"I'm at least fifty percent sure that I know so, not that my opinion is any more or less valid than anypony elses-oh please get me my cutie mark back! I can't stand all this- this... blahness! How's Rainbow by the way?"

"Uh, s-she fine, I guess," Twilight stammered, put off by the two sudden changes in conversation.

"Great! Oh! Octavia and Summer are here too, so you should totally go give them a visit! You know, if you want? They're in the medical tent."

It took Twilight a while, but she did eventually notice that Pinkie's equals mark flashed darker every time she got too exuberant. She had no idea why it did that, but it was an observation nonetheless.

"Stay strong, girls. When I next see you, hopefully it'll be to bust all of you out of Ponyville."

"I hope so," Applejack drawled, her voice sounding more tired than it ever had before. "By the way, why didn't you tell us about Nightmare?"

It took Twilight a moment to work out what Applejack was talking about, forgetting that they knew about her. "Sorry, but it wasn't my secret to share."

"Oh, I see. Well, she did help us, so I think it's only fair I tell you that they're keeping her in High Rock, and I think..." Applejack trailed off as Twilight held up a hoof.

"We've already got her, and she's fine. Now she is at least. I did go there looking for you guys, but you'd already been moved by the time I did."

"Hey! What are you doing talking to those prisoners?"

Twilight sighed under her breath and put on her best frowny face for the guards. "I was wondering why the ponies guarding them are busy talking to each other, instead of doing their jobs? In the few minutes I've been talking to them, I'm still none the wiser."

"I will not be spoken to like that by a unicorn." The speaking guard narrowed his eyes while his companion backed away slowly.

"Dude, I really think you should drop it."

"No, not until she tells me why she thinks she can talk to me like that."

"Now, now, surely there's no need fer that? She di'nt slow us down none, and the cart's nea-"

Crack!

Applejack fell over as the guard back hoofed her across the face. "Shut your Lady damned, faithless, hick mouth!"

Twilight stood still and took a calm breath as Pinkie rushed to help Applejack. A thin trail of blood dribbled from the side of her mouth. Tears joined them, which surprised Twilight, as she'd seen Applejack take hits harder than that, and walk them right off. She wondered if it was connected to the cutie mark thing. What she was mostly thinking of though, was the several dozen ways she'd already torn the soldier apart. Thankfully her outward actions were considerably muted compared to those in her head.

"Do you even realise who that is?" Twilight asked.

"Why should I care?"

"Because that is Applejack, one of F- the Lady's special prisoners. One of those prisoners that you probably shouldn't be hitting."

Twilight was totally bluffing, having no idea whether that was true or not, but considering what the other soldier had told her about Rarity, she hoped it was. Either way, the stallion appeared to be calling her bluff, and seemed a bit nervous.

"Alright, if you forget this happened, I'll forget what you said to me."

"Let me take her to the medical tent, to check there's no permanent damage, and you have a deal. I'll just tell them it was an accident."

"But she hasn't finished loading her cart yet."

Twilight released a drawn out sigh, then finished filling the cart for them, and for good measure filled the next two carts in the space of a few seconds, then felt guilty at the exasperated whine Big Mac made. "Does that buy her enough time to get checked out?" Twilight asked, smiling at the slight nervousness he displayed after watching her do that without breaking a sweat.

"Ugh, fine." The soldier took a key off his belt and released Applejack from the chain. "Try anything funny, and a smack to the face will be the least of your worries."

"Ah'll be good, I swear."

Twilight offered a hoof to help Applejack up, then nudged her to start walking. "Lead the way, Applejack, and keep where I can see you."

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as they got away from that soldier, although she almost wanted to do something when she heard him muttering about her being a soft touch. "Are you alright?" she asked once she thought they were far enough away.

"No, but that don't matter none. Guess I shoulda jus' kept ma mouth shut."

"You know you couldn't have. It's not in your nature to do nothing when somepony needs help."

"Maybe. I dare say I've learnt a lot about what is and isn't in a pony's nature these las' few months. It gets hard Twilight, trying to stand tall when everything's tryin' ta wear ya down. O' course, I s'pect you know that better than all of us."

"It's easy to keep fighting when you can fight. Trying to fight when doing so gets you punished, that's probably a lot harder. That doesn't mean it's not worth doing though."

"I guess." Applejack shrugged, "I don't know no more." Applejack stepped to the side as a cart came through, followed by more prisoners. "Twilight, why am I leading the way?"

"Because I have no idea where I'm going, and it's probably more convincing to have you in front when you're unsecured."

"Oh I'm still partially secured." Applejack rapped a hoof on the dark metal collar she wore, like all the prisoners here did. "They told us it was magic, and I figure it probably is. Rarity says she can feel something about them, but that's about all she can say."

Twilight made a face, her suspicions telling her that Faust, or somepony, was smart enough to counter the easiest method of freeing the prisoners. The collars prevented teleportation. A quick attempt to teleport Applejack confirmed her theory. "Guess that means freeing you just got that little bit harder."

"Sounds about right. So, I'm curious, what is yer big plan to stop Faust?"

"You know I can't tell you that."

"Why not?"

"Because if they find out I was here, they'll probably interrogate you, and no offense Applejack, I don't want our plans ruined by an oversight like that."

"Oh, yeah, okay, that makes sense. Sorry, I shouldn't have asked." Applejack pointed to a patch of tents erected on the grounds just off to the side of the steelworks. "The med tents are over there."

"Okay, just keep walking and do what I say."

"I don't think I could refuse at this point, but okay."

Twilight hid her thoughts on what Applejack had said, but it did worry her. Outwardly she kept quiet and maintained a stern, authoritarian image as she followed Applejack into the collection of open sided tents. To her surprise it wasn't too busy, but that wasn't to say it was empty either. She could at least be pleased that efforts were being made to keep the prisoners alive.

Twilight grinned as she saw Octavia and Summer sat quietly together, although she tucked it away as she pointed a hoof at them. "You two, over here, now."

Twilight led Applejack to a fairly secluded bed that had a curtain around it, and drew it shut and popped up a bubble of silence before dropping her disguise. "Hi guys."

"Twilight!" Octavia and Summer both shrieked, pouncing on her in a hug. "Oh my goodness," Octavia gasped, "it's so good to see you! But what are you doing here?"

"I heard my friends were here, so I came to see if I could get you out. It's not possible right now," Twilight concluded with a sigh, "but I will get you all back eventually." Twilight moved her head sideways as her hoof ran over some straps on Summer's back. To her lack of surprise, she was wearing wing binders. "Oh for goodness sake."

"It's not so bad," said Summer. "At least I get to be here, helping ponies, instead of trapped in Ponyville like the other pegasi."

Twilight nodded slowly, thinking Summer might have had a point. "I suppose. Doesn't look like you're too busy though."

"Not at the moment," said Octavia. "Considering the lack of supplies here, that can only be a good thing. We did have another attack on a soldier last night though."

"By a prisoner?" Twilight asked as Summer got up and started checking Applejack's injury out.

"By other soldiers. I don't know what's going on, but ever since the latest bunch of recruits came from Mareitania, there have been more attacks on them by the other soldiers. They keep saying that the new ones aren't true believers, and I'd say that's rubbish, but they do seem to question things a bit more. Unfortunately that makes them targets."

"Do they brand them on the neck with a N B?"

"That's right."

Twilight nodded, "Yeah, I've heard about this. I guess me tampering with Faust's mind control back in Mareitania has had an effect, but I never expected this sort of thing to happen." Twilight shrugged, not actually caring all that much. "Oh well."

Octavia smirked at Twilight, "Seems you've been busy."

"I have to be to keep ahead of this," Twilight replied, gesturing towards the construction site. "I find it hard to believe Faust would condone this use of prisoners as labour."

"From what we've heard, this is all Snowbright's doing."

"Of course it is," Twilight growled. "He's really not going to enjoy when I catch up to him."

"Are you going to kill him?" Summer asked.

"Perhaps," Twilight replied stiffly. "It depends on if the situation calls for it." She really hoped the situation called for it. "Even so, if this is Snowbright's doing, Faust would still be aware that it's going on. I'm guessing she's reached a point where she really needs to get things done."

"Or she's occupied elsewhere," said Octavia. "We've heard that she's been spending a lot of time in the Everfree forest lately, although I couldn't tell you why. Not even the soldiers seem to know."

"It could be something to do with Celestia, or the Tree of Harmony, or both. That's what we've guessed at least," Twilight added with a shrug. "I'm not sure which one of those is worse, to be honest."

"Do ya think she could kill the Tree?" Applejack asked, sounding worried. Or it was the cotton wool in her mouth making her sound that way as Summer treated her as best she could.

"I don't think she can kill it, but she might be able to contain its power somehow. She created it, so she'd know best how." Twilight tiredly rubbed the side of her head, "Is it bad to say that neither the Tree or Celestia are things we can worry about right now? It sounds bad."

"If they aren't high on the list of priorities," Octavia said with a sympathetic smile, "I hate to think what is. We believe in you and Luna though. We know you can fix this."

"You do? Because there are moments where I think that we really, really can't." Twilight groaned and stood up, "Ignore me. We have a plan, but it's taking time to get ready, and is filled with too many questionable elements, like hoping others will see our point of view." Twilight altered her appearance back into her disguise, "Come on Applejack, I better get you back to where you're supposed to be, then I better get out of here."

Twilight stopped by her own captive on the way back to the others, and cut her bonds before letting her wake up in her own time. Twilight had been tempted to wipe her memory of it, but since the mare hadn't really seen her, Twilight decided that waking up without a horn was messed up enough without having no idea how it happened.

That small job done, she teleported back to Ember and Shadow, lay down between them, and planted her face on the ground to groan loudly.

"That bad huh?" Shadow asked as she consolingly patted Twilight on the back. "Couldn't get them out?"

"They weren't all there, so if I took the ones that were, the other would... I don't know, but it would probably be bad. When we do get them back, it'll have to be from Ponyville all at once."

"That sounds hard," said Ember.

"There's an understatement." Twilight lifted her face up off the ground to stare owlishly at the steelworks. "We should get back to the boat. Hopefully something wonderful has happened since we left to make me feel better."

Author's Notes:

I thought it was about time they had a little get together after all this time. Too bad it kind of sucked. Also tré tired, so direct all fuck ups and spelling mistakes to future me. Current me is hitting the hay. Viciously, with sticks, until I pass out.