Luna ran the sharp edge of her hoof along the desk she was sat at, circling her hoof from one back corner, to the other, then back again. She found it relaxing, and also faintly amusing as Moondancer's ear twitched every time she started a new circuit.

Luna knew that she should really be helping to research a way to stop Faust, but her mind was still in the war, and refused to settle down enough to read. Besides, what was this if not a war? It might have progressed from a war of soldiers to one fought in the shadows, but it was still a war nonetheless. The battle for Equestria might have been lost, but the war was still ongoing, only you needed resources to fight a war.

Luna picked up a piece of parchment and a quill, dipping it into an inkwell to write, headlining the page with the words 'what we have.' The first thing she did was add herself to the list, followed by Twilight and Trixie, although she did add a tentative question mark after them considering their decision to go off and do as they wished. As for the rest of Twilight's friends, only Rainbow, Lightning, and Vapor had any experience at fighting, although Sunset maybe stood a chance. Moondancer wouldn't, and Daring Do seemed reluctant, while Mayfly was... unknowable.

Luna quickly jotted down the three Wonderbolts, along with a tentative Sunset, then added Moondancer, Daring, and Mayfly in a section headed non-combatants, then added Starsy as well. That just left Cadence, who had an even bigger question mark than any of the others. Luna had no idea what was going through the pink alicorn's mind these days, and spent pretty much all her time moping, looking after Flurry, and giving Luna hateful glares. None of those were exactly resources.

Luna studied the list, finding only seven names where ponies capable of fighting was concerned, and most of those were a maybe. All in all, the list wasn't exactly awe-inspiring, but Luna pushed on and made a new section named 'what we don't have.' Straight away she wrote down Celestia's name, followed by 'my weapons.' Luna growled under her breath, wishing she could have her glaives Artemis and Apollo back by her side.

Luna pushed the feeling away and returned to her list, adding that they currently had no way to defeat Faust. It was rather tempting to write that they had no hope either, but thinking that way was counterproductive. Instead she wrote down 'an army,' because that might at least be useful. Or it would be if they had a plan, which they didn't, which is why it was also added to the list.

"What does Faust have?" Luna said under her breath, writing the words into a new section. She considered it for a moment, then wrote 'everything she needs to crush us entirely,' and left it as that, because what more was there to say? The section on what Faust didn't have was equally short, simply saying 'refer to list one.'

Luna grunted and turned the paper over, knowing that she was just being silly. She knew what they had, and she knew what Faust had. What she needed to know was what they needed to beat Faust. First among those things was a way to defeat the alicorn herself, and once they had that, hopefully everything would fall into place. That was still only one piece of the puzzle. If they were really going to get this done, what they needed was allies.

"What allies though?" Luna said to herself. Save Mustangia, Equestria had been left alone to defend itself in the war, so she saw no reason now for other countries to respond to her requests for aid. They would stand apart, and would likely fall one by one to Faust until there was none left to oppose her. Luna had to prevent that from happening, but how?

Luna was distracted from her thoughts by Flurry as the foal started crying, but suppressed her groan. "What is the matter with her now?"

"Oh I'm sorry, do foals now need solid reasons to cry?"

Luna cringed at Cadence's rebuke, and kept her own comeback to herself. "Apologies Cadence. I realise that this place isn't exactly rich in comforts suitable for foals. Is there anything I could do to help?"

"She misses her father." Cadence bowed her head and sighed, "I do too. It's far worse knowing we left him there with Faust than it was when he was off fighting."

"I also worry about Celestia," Luna admitted. "I can't help but wonder what she's being subjected to in an attempt to get her on Faust's side." Luna smiled sadly, "Unfortunately that likely involves getting Celestia to deny me being her sister."

"Oh Luna, I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologise Cadence, not when it isn't your fault. We've all paid a price for my foolish belief that Equestria could stand up to Faust, not counting the price that Equestria shall continue to pay for many years to come."

"And yet you want to keep fighting," Cadence stated, her even tone of voice throwing Luna off. "Don't look at me like that Luna, I have no desire to see more fighting, but if no one does, Faust wins."

"I'd like to remind you that she literally cannot achieve her goals," Starsy said as she floated near them. "Faust can never win on her terms."

"Can you be so sure though?" Luna said back to the illusion. "She's in possession of powerful mind controlling magic, and has been given a vessel to spread it further in the form of the Crystal Heart. How difficult could it be to reduce a pony mind to a bestial state?"

"Impossible if she's trying to use the Crystal Heart, as I created it with ample fail-safes. There's a reason Sombra was unable to corrupt and use it, just as there'll be a reason why Faust will fail to use it to her ends as well."

"You haven't denied that she could turn a pony into a dumb beast though," Luna pointed out. "Could it be that you consider that to be quite possible?"

"It's impossible to us, but even I don't know the limits of Faust's powers."

"Discord could certainly do it," said Cadence, "so I see no reason why Faust couldn't achieve the same."

"There's a comforting thought," Luna muttered. "So, we shouldn't discount Faust finding a way to reach her final goal. In that case, finding a way of stopping her is suddenly more important. It's one thing to let her conquer the world, but another to see her plans come to fruition."

"My terms still stand," Starsy said pointedly. "I won't see Faust suffer more than she has already."

"And so you would see our ponies very sense of self destroyed just to satisfy your conditions? Pay witness to the millions of lives ended in Faust's war to make the world that way?"

"Luna," Cadence warned, "back off. There's no reason we can't find a way to solve this that won't involve Faust suffering."

"And I see no way we can do this without making her suffer in some way. Surely the fact that she would know we won, and denied her her goals would make her suffer? We can in all likelihood prevent physical suffering, but the anguish she would feel over having failed, and over having lost Celestia again would be ample suffering for anypony."

"So we find a way to change her mind," said Cadence.

"She has the ability to achieve whatever she wants," Luna retorted. "What possible means could we have to make her radically change her goals? And don't say magic, because that's a lost cause before we even begin."

"Then..." Cadence trailed off with a sigh, knowing there was no real argument to what Luna was saying. There was no reason for Faust to change her mind on anything, and no way to defeat her without some form of suffering, even if only mental. "I'm sorry Starsy, but I think Luna might be right."

"I do too," Starsy said quietly. "However, I still refuse to countenance any methods of stopping Faust that will result in her physically suffering for a prolonged period."

"That we can at least agree on," Cadence said, getting a nod from Luna.

"Then perhaps you're approaching this the wrong way."

All three of them looked over as Sunset spoke up, the amber mare smiling nervously under their scrutiny. "You seem as though you have an idea," Luna said to Sunset. "Please, do tell."

"Alright, we all know what it is Faust wants, right?" Sunset waited until she had an affirmation from the three of them, "Then we need to find a way to make her think she's gotten what she wants, while not actually giving her anything."

"Okay," Luna said slowly, "you might want to explain this so it actually makes sense."

"She's basically suggesting you place Faust in a dream, or fantasy, where she has everything she wants," Moondancer explained quickly from across the room, not even bothering to look up from her book. "She thinks she wins, but she doesn't."

"Could you do that?" Cadence asked Luna. "Trap Faust in a dream where she has what she wants?"

Luna shook her head, "Even if I were sure it was doable, the power required to maintain it would be impossible to keep up with, and would end as soon as she realises it's a dream."

"Could we do it while she's awake?" Sunset enquired. "Cast a spell on her that makes her see the world as she wants to see it?"

Luna quickly rebuffed the suggestion, "Good grief no, she'd probably be more dangerous than she is now, constantly hallucinating her ideal world."

"Right," Sunset sighed, "scrap my idea then."
"I wasn't saying your idea isn't without merit, but it would need to be refined considerably before it becomes practical." Luna turned to Starsy, "Any thoughts?"

"Hmm... perhaps. I'll need to put more thought to it, but I think the thing here is not to put the fantasy into her mind, but to put her mind into the fantasy. Build a false world that she can inhabit, and control to her heart's content."

"Like a sandbox rpg!" Sunset exclaimed.

"A what?"

"A sandbox rpg. It's a... video game thing from the human world that people play." Sunset clamped her jaw shut, feeling that she might've gone a bit too far with this one, and had no idea how to explain it. "They're a form of entertainment, like... a book, but you're watching it happen."

"Like a film?" said Cadence.

"Yes, sort of, but you're the main character, and what happens in the film depends on what you do. I really don't know how to explain this without showing you, but Starsy was onto something when he called it a false world you can control."

Luna screwed her face up as she thought, "So rather like a lucid dream then? Only the world around her would be real? Or at least real to her?"

"Close enough," Sunset muttered, giving up on trying to explain it. "I couldn't tell you if it can be done though."

"A reverse dream..." Luna murmured softly. "Instead of putting the dream in the mind, you put the mind in the dream. A perfect solution, if indeed it can be done."

"I'll see what I can think of," Starsy said, reverting into a mote and rushing off into the library.

Luna smiled at Sunset, "Well done Sunset Shimmer, you've given us a point to start from. Perhaps the praise Celestia heaped upon your abilities is well deserved."

"She really did that?"

"Oh yes, although there were some aspects of your previous self that were less pleasantly described."

"Oh. That's... fair, I suppose."

Luna smiled softly at Sunset, regretting saying those last words. "She misses you."

"And I miss her. I probably owe her an apology too."

Luna smiled at Sunset, "I can guarantee that she's already forgiven you. Speaking from personal experience of course. There seems to be no limit to what she can forgive."

It had been a hair raising week to get to where they had. They'd come far too close to Ponyville, and had to skirt around the northern edge of the Canterhorn to avoid detection, always staying wary of being spotted from the air. It seemed things hadn't changed too radically though, as there were no patrols, on the ground or in the sky. You could almost believe that nothing in Equestria had changed, so long as you didn't know better.

"I don't get it," the filly said as she sat observing the world through the doorway of the half ruined building they were using as shelter. One of many in the small village they'd found on the way to Manehattan. "Why is there this random patch of desert here, and why did somepony think it was a good place to build a town? It's maddening."

Fleur shrugged as she looked along where the filly was, along the sun blasted street before them, their view framed by two rows of identical terraced houses. She knew they were in the place that Starlight Glimmer had tried to create her society based on equality, and that Luna had damaged the place in a fight against said pony, but that didn't change the filly's point. Why would any sane pony want to live in such a forsaken place?

"I think it's charming in its way," Nightlight said, the dark blue stallion that was father to both Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armour. "The stars at night really are beautiful here."

"You would think that though," the white unicorn Twilight Velvet said back, giving her husband a conciliatory peck on the cheek. "I'm not saying you're wrong mind you."

Fleur rolled her eyes at the antics of the pair, again wondering why they'd seen fit to join them on their escape from Canterlot. Not that she wasn't grateful for their aid in doing so, although Twilight Velvet's suggested method of going over the Canterlot falls in barrels could have used some work. Fleur was sure her bruises had bruises after that.

"It'll do as a shelter until we know what we're doing," Shining Armour said, making it clear that he was ending that discussion. "What we need to work out is what we're going to do once we reach Manehattan."

"Are you sure we couldn't just stay here?"

Fleur sighed at the words from Honeydew, currently known as Bluebelle per her disguise. While it had been essential that she not fall into the hooves of the Mareitanians, she was far from ideal material for long hikes through occupied countryside. At least her companion, the also disguised changeling called Thorax, kept his complaints to himself. That was the only reason Fleur had kept it to herself that his crystal pony disguise was a dead giveaway, being far too sparkly and easily spotted.

"No offence Bluebelle," the filly said to Honeydew, "but it's hot as balls here, and there's nothing to eat that probably doesn't want to eat us back. Pretty sure water is going to be an issue too. We should just get to Manehattan."

"I second that," Twilight Velvet agreed.

"It's no good just running into Manehattan without a plan," Shining argued. "Fleur and I are wanted ponies, and-"

"That's why we should stay hidden out here!" Honeydew argued. "They aren't looking for us here!"

"This is a good place to regroup and have a rest," Nightlight agreed. "You've just come out of fighting a war, son. Don't you think it's a good idea to have a break before throwing yourself back into it?"

"I'll have a break when I know my wife and child are safe. Faust may have let them get away, but I won't pretend she's not going to go after them at some point."

"Let's not forget the rest of what's going on," Fleur said to all of them. "Faust will probably take her war to other countries now that she has Equestria. Those same countries that might be our only hope of beating her now, so we need to do something to slow the Mareitanians down."

The filly's eyes lit up with a mischievous twinkle, "You mean like some sort of... rebellion?"

Fleur choked on her breath, "Oh hell no! I'm not talking about fighting the Mareitanians head on, because we've learnt that doesn't really work unless you have the numbers. I'm talking more about acts of sabotage, and things along those lines. Twilight, Luna, and Cadence are still out there, along with Trixie and whoever else, and they're probably working on a way to stop Faust, leaving us to take care of the rest of it. If we can cause enough disruption to Faust's war machine to stop her invading other countries, then we need to do it."

"But what if she starts taking retribution out on our ponies for what we do?" Shining argued. "I'm not sure we can risk that."

"Equestria has more to lose if we don't," Fleur argued back. "We only need to keep Faust and her army bogged down until Twilight and the others are ready to take on Faust."

"And how will we know when that happens? We don't have any contact with them, and have no way of knowing what their plans are, or if they're even okay!" Shining sighed heavily, "Maybe we should head to the Everfree and find the portal to wherever they are instead."

"And risk leading Faust right to them?" Fleur firmly shook her head, "No chance. Come on Shining, we may have lost the war, but we still have a job to do. If we can distract Faust from hunting the princesses at the same time, then all the better."

"It still won't matter unless we can contact Cadence and the others."

"Hopefully I've already taken care of that." Fleur half smiled at Shining, "Knowing Twilight, she's bound to go after her friends in High Rock, so I've left a messenger there for when she arrives. She'll inform Twilight of what we're up to, where we are, and get her in touch with us."

"Wow," Shining said with a hint of admiration. "You really do think of everything, don't you? What if she doesn't go to High Rock though?"

"One thing at a time Shining, but after getting forced to postpone saving her friends in favour of saving Equestria, she no longer has a reason to put it off. Twilight might be a bit... different, to the pony she was, but one thing the same is that there's nopony she cares more about than her friends. I really do think that's going to be the first thing she'll do, if she hasn't done it already."

"Alright," Shining nodded, "I believe you." Shining spent a moment in quiet contemplation as he stared at Fleur, who quickly became uncomfortable with the attention. "I hate to say it, but I'm really out of my depth here. I understand armies and fighting, but subterfuge is beyond me. I'm making this your show, Fleur."

"Ooh, a vote of confidence, my word."

"It's been known to happen, now don't disappoint me." Shining waved a hoof at Fleur, "Come on then, what's the plan?"

"We're going to have to start slow. We don't even know what the situation is in Manehattan, so for now we should just think about getting there and laying low. Thankfully I know any number of ponies that can find us somewhere out of sight, so that shouldn't be an issue. Once we've got the lay of the land, we can start to branch out into other plans."

Shining nodded at Fleur, "So the first step is to get to Manehattan?"

"That was always going to have to be the first step of the plan."

"Alright, let's rest up for tonight, then we'll get moving."

"Actually, there's something we need to sort out first." Fleur looked Thorax straight in the eyes, "You really need to find a less conspicuous disguise, Thorax. There isn't exactly an abundance of crystal ponies wondering about the place, so you'll draw attention in Manehattan."

"What are you talking about?" Thorax said with a staged cheer that didn't hide his fear of being found out. "My name isn't Thorax, it's Crystal Hoof, ha ha..."

"Everypony, this is Thorax. He's a changeling that decided to leave his hive to come live in Equestria, and isn't a threat to any of us."

"We already know," said Twilight Velvet. "Shining already told us about him, and nopony in the Crystal Empire was really trying to keep his existence a secret." She smiled at Thorax, "Shining told us you were friendly, and a natural with Flurry."

There was a flash of green as Thorax changed into his true form, his dark chitin shining in the light coming in through the door. "Then why didn't you say anything?"

"We weren't sure who else here knew, so we kept it quiet."

"Honeydew knew," Fleur said, smiling as Honeydew's eyes bugged out at the casual use of her real name. "This is Honeydew by the way," she added, pointing at the pony in question. "She's a political refugee from Mareitania, hence the fake name and disguise."

"What are you doing Fleur?" Honeydew shrieked.

Nightlight hummed at Honeydew, "I was wondering what the yellow specs in your coat were about. I guess you must've upset Faust quite a bit to come on the run here."

Directing a hateful glare at Fleur for a moment, Honeydew shrank back from the others. "It's not what I did do, but what I can do is the reason she wants me." Honeydew sighed and closed her eyes, "I was Mareitania's chief engineer after the civil war. I helped construct their rail network, on top of other things."

"What other things?" Twilight Velvet asked, only getting a small shake of the head in answer. "Come on sweetheart, it can't be that bad, surely?"

Honeydew sighed again, and admitted the truth. "I'm the one that designed and built the steam tanks the Mareitanians use. I'm the reason hundreds of Equestrians are dead, if not more. Faust wants me back because of those."

There was an awkward silence as the news was allowed to sink in. Fleur knew already the entire truth, but she wasn't sure Shining knew the nature of what Honeydew had made for Faust. The only others that weren't surprised by anything was Thorax and the filly.

"I can't believe it," Shining whispered. "You're the one that built those?"

"I didn't want to!" Honeydew shouted, jumping to her hooves like she expected to be attacked. "Part of the agreement I had with the Council of Mareitania was that I never had to build those things that I was originally forced to build for the Duke! But Faust turned up, and I was forced to build them anyway! I hate those things, and I wish I could destroy every single one of them!"

"Then why build them?"

"Because I keep getting forced to, again and again! When Bon Bon and her team found me in Mareitania, they were going to kill me because of it, but Fleur persuaded them to spare my life and hide me. I was then given the chance to come to Equestria, and I took it, just to see it be conquered by Faust and those machines I helped create." Honeydew turned her back on them and sat hard, "Hate me if you want. I deserve it."

"That's not true," Thorax said, stroking a hoof down her back.

"It wasn't your people my designs got killed."

Conflicting emotions swept across Shining's face as he took in the news, ending with a snarl on his lips. He stood, and he was about to yell when the clear voice of his mother stopped him.

"Don't you dare, Shining Armour."

"What? But she's-"

"A victim in this. Look at her Shining! Does that look like a pony that wished to do what she did? To hurt ponies? She was forced to do it, so you know you can't really blame her."

"I spared her life for a reason." Fleur narrowed her eyes at Shining, daring him to cross her. "You should listen to your mother when she says Honeydew isn't to blame."

"Fine," Shining huffed, sitting back down. "Why bring it up if you knew I was going to act this way?"

"Because we need to trust each other, and part of that is there being no secrets. If you found these things out by accident, you'd feel a lot more betrayed by it."

"Huh," Shining grunted, "you're not wrong there. Alright, if you trust her, I will."

"That's all I ask," Fleur said sweetly. "Now we should all get some rest. We have a lot to do tomorrow."

Fleur couldn't put a hoof on it, but Manehattan felt wrong, but not for the obvious reason of being under a hostile occupation. The entire place seemed to have a nervous energy about it that made you want to hurry to your destination just to get off the streets. Perhaps the greatest indication of the city's feelings came from its many graffiti artists, who had taken to creating images of Faust looking stern, with the word obey written in bold letters beneath.

"Intriguing," Nightlight said of such an image. "Do you think they're trying to be ironic, or does Faust actually have a bit of a following here?"

"For the sake of Equestria I hope it's the former," Fleur replied. "The last thing we need is Faust getting genuine support from ponies." Fleur dismissed the image and turned her attention elsewhere, stopping on a lengthy queue of ponies outside a shop. "I wonder what that's all about?"

"I guess food shortages," the filly told her. "Used to see that sort of thing back in Prance a lot during the winter."

"Yeah, but this is Eques..." Fleur let the word die on her lips. For all intents and purposes, Equestria looked a lot like Mareitania now, and the war couldn't have been good for food production, amongst other things. Fleur could only hope that this queuing was a symptom of the recent occupation of the city disrupting things, and not a result of Equestria's food stores running low before winter had even begun.

"Shit, soldiers!"

"Language, Shining!"

"Sorry, sorry."

All of them moved back into the shadow of the bridge they were by, and waited for the pair of soldiers to pass. That fact that they were bold enough to go around in pairs irked Fleur, but she knew better than to assume the ponies of the city were putting up any resistance.

"Perhaps we should get a move on to where you're taking us," Twilight Velvet said to Fleur, keeping her voice low as the soldiers moved on.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Come on."

There were only a few blocks between them and their destination, and the entire journey displayed more of the same. The city seemed lifeless without the usual hustle and bustle, but what was there to hustle and bustle about in times such as these? Perhaps calling whatever was gripping the city a nervous energy was wrong, because the more you looked at it, the more it seemed like fear, justified as it may be.

The news had to have gotten around about the fall of Canterlot, and the disappearance of Celestia, not to mention the other princesses going on the run. Equestria, as ponies had known it for centuries, had effectively ended. It was only fair that they be concerned over what happened next. Hopefully the actions of a few ponies was enough to make that future brighter than the one Faust promised.

"This is the place," Fleur said, stopping at the corner of a large tower block, the well to do kind that would typically have a pony minding the door in more usual circumstances. Not that it mattered to Fleur much as she had no intentions of using the front door anyway.

Instead she led them around the back of the building, down an alley that was starting to fill with rubbish as the ponies responsible for such hadn't been performing their duties recently. She paid it no mind as she quickly trotted to the rear entrance of the building, and opened a small box by the door, pressing her hoof to an intercom hidden inside and holding it until somepony answered.

"I'm not deaf you know, you need only press the button once. Now who is it?"

"It's Fleur."

"Fle- Good heavens Fleur! What are you doing here? Never mind, get up here at once."

There was a buzz, and Fleur pushed the door open, entering quickly. As soon as she was inside she could feel herself relaxing, the risk of being spotted now being considerably less than it was outside.

"What is this place?" Shining asked, inspecting the cold concrete surroundings as they clattered up a steel staircase. "And why are we coming in through the back entrance?"

"An old friend lives here," Fleur told him. "She provides a discreet service for ponies that wish to escape the limelight for a while, for whatever reasons they might have. She'll keep us hidden for a little bit."

"She lives on the top floor, doesn't she?" Honeydew huffed.

"How did you know that?"

"Just a feeling."

Fleur smirked and kept diligently leading the way up all the way to the penthouse. As predicted, not a soul was to be seen in the maintenance sections of the building, which suited Fleur perfectly. The door at the end was unlocked, and they slipped through, heading quickly to the one accommodation that existed on the top floor. Fleur was about to knock when the door whipped open, and they were quickly urged inside.

"Honestly Fleur, I never expected to see you slinking in through my back door ever again."

Fleur smiled at the dark grey mare before her, observing that the earth pony had kept her short pink mane in exactly the same manner since the last time they'd spoken. Not what you'd expect for a fashion designer. "It's been far too long, Prim."

The other mare broke out of her stern composure to return Fleur's smile before the two ponies embraced and theatrically kissed the air on both sides of each others heads with loud smacking noises. "Indeed it has Fleur. A shame that we had to reunite in such a manner, and that you couldn't come alone."

Twilight Velvet took a hesitant step forward, "I'm sorry, but when you say Prim, do you mean Prim Hemline, the fashion designer?"

"I prefer the term couturier extraordinaire, but yes, that is I. You must be Twilight Velvet, mother of both Princess Twilight, and Prince Shining Armour, who is also here, along with your husband Nightlight."

Twilight Velvet's eyes bulged, "You know who we are?"

"But of course! It pays to know everypony who is somepony."

Nightlight raised his chin slightly, a look of pride on his face. "I've never felt so famous as I do now."

"Still," Prim continued, "I don't know everypony here." She gestured at the other three ponies with Fleur. "Who might these be?"

"This is Swift Wings, my... uh, "Fleur rotated a hoof as she tried to conjure an appropriate word and failed, "I'll say adopted daughter, and general hanger-oner. The other mare is Honeydew, and Blaze-" Fleur pointed at the red coated pegasus stallion with a mohawk of black streaked, flame coloured hair, who looked like some abomination straight out of a preadolescents imagination, "-is an idiot."

"Hey..."

Prim appraised all of them with a look, "I see, and since when did you have a daughter, adopted or otherwise? Why are you even here with all these ponies? Especially the crown prince of the Crystal Empire?"

"We're trying to hide from somepony."

Prim rolled her eyes, "This should be good. Come on then, who are you hiding from?"

"Faust."

Prim launched into a choking fit, and it took several seconds of Fleur patting her on the back to get her to stop. "Good grief Fleur, I was expecting you to tell me the prince had got you in the family way! Not that you're on the run from Faust! And while I could understand her wanting the prince, why would she want any of the rest of you?"

"I'm the director of Equis," Fleur answered, "and Honeydew is on the run from Mareitania for her own reasons. The rest of them just came along to escape Canterlot."

"You're the head of Equestrian intelligence? That's why I haven't seen you on a catwalk for the last two years?"

"Not quite, but partly."

Prim pointed a hoof at Fleur's scars, "I'll happily tell you that is no reason to shy away from the public eye, Fleur, however you might've acquired it."

Fleur lost some of her good cheer towards Prim, "It's not all related to my scars, and honestly, I have plenty of other reasons besides that. I didn't come here for a lecture over missing the last two years worth of prancing about in other ponies clothes, I came to get your help to hide."

"And you shall have it my dear, but you must realise this is all a surprise to me. I never expected to see anypony related to the war coming to ask for my help. I don't suppose I should expect any of the princesses at some point?"

"I shouldn't think so."

"Good, because hiding them might be a challenge."

"Less than you think," Fleur said dismissively, knowing how capable the princesses were at disguising themselves. "Thanks for helping us Prim."

"I pray I don't come to regret it. Unfortunately I'm not exactly equipped to deal with so many guests at once, so you'll have to share a room for now. Make yourselves comfortable while I attempt to find suitable bedding for all of you."

The filly threw herself onto one of the many sofas occupying the middle of the large living room in the penthouse as Prim went off in search of bedding. "This place is sweet! I'm so glad we decided to not stay in the desert."

"I still think we would've been safer there," Honeydew said as she sat in her own seat. "I know it's not like we're in Canterlot, but it still feels like we're in the vipers' nest."

"And I still don't understand what's wrong with my disguise," Thorax hissed.

Fleur sighed a quiet laugh, "Oh so many things that I won't go into. What I am going to say is that we shouldn't get too comfortable. If us being here brings trouble to Prim, we'll be leaving." Fleur walked over to the window and looked down into the streets below. All was quiet now, but it was far to easy to imagine hundreds of soldiers getting ready to invade and apprehend them. Then she spotted something across the street. "Oh, that won't do."

"What won't?" Shining asked, moving over to where Fleur was to see what was wrong.

"That." Fleur pointed at one of the images of Faust they'd seen throughout their time in Manehattan, plastered on the corner of a building opposite them. "Ironic or not, if we're staying here, that's getting changed. Prim? I don't suppose you have any spray paint do you?"

"Spray paint?" came the reply from elsewhere in the apartment. "Do I look like the kind of pony that uses spray paint?"

"Alright, do you have anything else colourful I can use? Maybe some ordinary paint?"

"The only thing I have remotely close to what you want are my dyes."

"That'll do." Fleur turned to Prim's workspace in a well lit corner of the room, where several cupboards and a sewing machine was situated. "Thanks Prim."

Shining squinted suspiciously at Fleur as she searched through the cupboards. "You're not going out there just to deface some graffiti are you."

"I can't promise I'm not going out there to do such a thing." Fleur finally located the bottles of dye, and picked through them before settling on a deep red colour. There was also a handy brush on the shelf below, which she was sure Prim would complain about her ruining. "Be right ba-ack!" she sang.

Fleur ignored Shining voicing his displeasure, and exited the penthouse, swiftly trotting back the way they had come up and leaving the door slightly ajar. After checking the coast was clear she hurried across the street to where the offending piece of artwork was located.

Fleur hummed to herself as she thought about how to best deface the image, and settled for drawing a big red cross over it. It didn't seem to be enough though, and needed a little something to really complete it. "Ah, I know." Dabbing her brush back in the dye, and sticking her tongue out the corner of her mouth, she daubed the word resist underneath in big capital letters. "Perfect."

Her job done, Fleur stepped back to admire her work, paying particular attention to how the running red dye looked convincingly like blood as it dribbled down the wall. Fitting really, as the cost of resisting Faust was likely to be blood, along with maybe some sweat and tears. Still, it was a long way until that, and Fleur hoped that a catchy slogan was at least a decent starting point.

Sunset shifted in her seat, her mind distracted from her work by the presence of Cadence nearby, playing with Flurry in the hopes of keeping the foal distracted while others tried to work. It was Cadence herself that was distracting her though, as the pink alicorn had said barely a word to her through the last two weeks, and it was starting to bother Sunset that Cadence was being so quiet about their unhappy history.

Sunset tried to ignore it a little longer, but finally decided that she couldn't, and stood to walk over to the princess. "Cadence, can we talk?"

"I was wondering when this would happen," Cadence said, without malice, or any emotion really. "Of course we can talk."

Sunset sat in front of Cadence, waiting for the pink princess to give Sunset her full attention. Sunset breathed in slowly, then released it in one. "I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted."

"I- Wait, what?"

Cadence smiled tiredly at Sunset, "I said, apology accepted. You didn't think I'd been holding a grudge against you for all this time, did you?"

"You'd have every right to. I treated you like garbage back before I left."

"You weren't displaying your best qualities back then, I admit, but considering you'd been Celestia's apprentice for some time when I came along, a freshly minted alicorn princess, I can't deny that I didn't anticipate some hostility from you."

"Some? I'm pretty sure I gave you more than some."

"True, but you never acted on a lot of it. Whether that was from fear of disappointing Celestia if you did, I couldn't tell you, but I never held any of it against you. If I was in your position, seeing me come along and suddenly stealing so much of Celestia's attention away, I'd be upset too. You know she'd never replace you though."

Sunset chuckled bitterly, "If I was the pony I was back then, I'd tell you she replaced me with Twilight easy enough. I know that isn't true now," Sunset added before Cadence could correct her, "but that's how it felt when I first found out. Now I'm glad to see she could find an apprentice as humble as Twilight. She turned out better than the arrogant pain in the ass like I was."

"You weren't all bad," Cadence said softly.

"No, I'm pretty sure I was."

"And I disagree. I could've turned Twilight against you easy enough before we sent her to reclaim her crown, telling her about your snide, arrogant ways, and all of that, but I didn't. Do you want to know why?"

Sunset gave Cadence a lopsided smile, "I suspect you're going to tell me anyway."

Cadence laughed softly, "Yes I am. Do you remember the busker? The one we found on that trip out together, when Celestia was still trying to get us to be friends. It wasn't long before Hearths-warming, and it was absolutely freezing. That poor busker was just trying to make a few bits for the train fare home, but in typical Canterlot style, he was being ignored. He wasn't very good, which didn't help."

"He was trying, and it was freezing."

"I know. You made us sit there for over five minutes, listening to him badly play the guitar, then gave him twenty bits, telling him to go home and get warm, because he couldn't play for shit with cold hooves."

Sunset cringed, "Those were my actual words, weren't they? Ugh, nice going Sunset."

"Umm... yes, that bit wasn't charitable, but you paid for his train fare, and for something warm to eat, and had a big smile on your face for the rest of the day. That's how I knew there was a good pony deep down inside you, and that's why I kept everything you did to me to myself. I'm glad to see it paid off."

Sunset looked down as she twisted a hoof on the floor, her breath catching with her relief at how much better this went that she thought it would. "Thanks, Cadence, I mean it. If it's not too late, perhaps we could have another go at being friends?"

Cadence placed a hoof on Sunset's, getting the mare to look her in the eyes. "I'd be delighted to Sunset. You've come a long way from the pony you were, and it'd be silly of me to not give you another chance. Come here." Cadence pulled Sunset into a hug, and smiled properly for what felt like the first time in ages.

"I guess they don't call you the princess of love for nothing." Sunset released the hug and sighed happily, "You have no idea how much better I feel now."

"And I'm glad I have one less thing to worry about. Unfortunately, we still have a job to do."

"Actually," Moondancer said, inserting herself into the conversation, "I might've found something useful. Do any of you know what an arcane oubliette is?"

"Are you talking about a magical prison?" Luna asked. "Trapping a pony in a void?"

"Actually it's more like a pocket dimension inside an object, but yes. I thought something like that would be perfect for containing Faust."

Starsy zipped into view, hovering in front of Moondancer in a manner that suggested he was angry. "Absolutely not. I am not trapping Faust in an endless void."

Moondancer smirked back at him, "Who said it had to be an endless void? What if we could combine Sunset's idea with an arcane oubliette? Create one that Faust could be happy in? Would that be good enough?"

"Hmm..." Starsy morphed into his pony form, a hoof rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he formed. "That would satisfy both our ends I suppose, but the spell work to create such a thing would be astronomical."

"But not impossible?" Luna enquired.

"No, but it will take time to do. Weeks... maybe even months, but it would work, and leave Faust in a state where she's contained, yet comfortable." Starsy nodded thoughtfully, "Yes, that sounds like just the ticket. I'll get started right away."

Luna smiled as Starsy zoomed away, "It seems we might pull this off after all. We do still have one problem though. We'll need to fight Faust to get her in, and to do that we need to get through her army. I hate to say it, especially to you Cadence, but there may be only one way to do that."

"But we don't have an army," Cadence pointed out.

"No, we don't. If we are to pull this off, we shall need allies willing to fight to save our world. Unfortunately for us, the only one I can think of with an army even capable of such, is the Griffon Empire." Luna smiled helplessly, "As you can imagine, it might take a little work to convince them to join our cause."

"So when do we leave?" asked Sunset.

"Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. I would prefer to have Twilight come with us, so we'll have to wait until she returns. I pray she doesn't take too long."