"Gosh, it's so convenient that we have an actual reason to be here and doing this now, instead of doing this to soothe your overblown sense of guilt."

Twilight looked sideways at Trixie, who'd said that with such a straight face that Twilight wasn't quite sure how to take it. As a nice middle ground, she grunted and went back to spying on the Mareitanians' encampment.

"Since you were involved as well," Luna said to Trixie, "I fail to see why you wouldn't also be a little bit guilty."

"Because it wasn't my idea to work with the pony leading an army of... whatever those things were. That was all Twilight."

"But you would've broken into the Vizier's vault anyway, and it's that part that's caused this. The attack would've happened with or without you."

Trixie shrugged, "Eh, details. Besides, we're fixing this now, aren't we? Who cares about how guilty I'm supposed to feel?"

"I can tell by your persistence in not referring to yourself in the third person that you must feel something negative about what you did."

Trixie sighed at Luna, "Don't try and get clever at me. Instead, put some thought into what we're up against."

"Except we're not up against the Mareitanians this time. Not exactly. Twilight?"

"A couple dozen yaks, and mixed infantry," said Twilight. "Not sure how much of a difference the yaks will make since I've never fought one. Can't imagine it's much fun though."

"Indeed not." A faraway look in Luna's eyes told them enough about what she thought of it. "So much smashing, and that was just a sparring session." Luna shuddered and returned to reality, "Just try to avoid their horns. And hooves. Just...just try to avoid them altogether."

"I'm guessing they're not immune to magic?"

"Not in the literal sense," Luna replied slowly. "Just don't expect your weaker spells to do much."

Trixie leant over to Sunset, "Regretting this yet?"

"Some, yes. I'll be fine though. I'll just stick close to you guys, and it'll all be fine."

"And the part where you might have to kill?"

"I'm trying to not think about it."

Trixie nodded vaguely, "Best way."

"Here comes the others," said Luna, spotting the four dots in the sky to the east of them. "Hopefully they have good news." Luna pouted as Trixie sniggered at her, "Well they might." Luna ignored the laughter as Nightmare and the Wonderbolts came in to land. "How did it go?"

"Uh..." Rainbow said awkwardly as Nightmare smirked. "It's not great."

"Not great how?"

"There's at least two thousand of them, if not more," Nightmare purred. "A challenge even for us. How those ignorant little Mareitanians down there hope to defeat them is beyond me. Unless they have reinforcements coming, or maybe even Celestia, they stand no chance."

"So this warlord Jamal has been recruiting well," Luna murmured. "Was there any sign of Daring Do, or the artefacts she's looking for?"

"Not that we could see," Lightning answered quickly as Nightmare shrugged. "But I was wondering... what if this warlord has an artefact that does what Faust did in Mareitania? What if they're controlling these ponies, making them follow him?"

"That would be a reason for Faust to have more of an interest in this place," said Sunset. "If the artefact can force a pony to obey, even when they have an implant..."

"A devastating proposition," Luna agreed. "However, let's work with facts rather than base our plans on something that might not even exist."

"Riiight, that sounds like a good idea. What's the plan?"

"I'm going to talk to this Jamal," said Twilight.

"What?!" the rest all shouted at once.

"You cannot be serious," said Luna. "Why would you even think to do such a thing?"

Twilight stood and dusted herself off, turning her back on the bluff that overlooked the Mareitanians encampment. "The eight of us aren't going to be beating two thousand or more ponies. Even with Cadence that still wouldn't happen. For that little extra bit of fun, those down there also know that they can't beat Jamal's army, meaning they're as stuck as we are."

"And how does that equate to you talking to Jamal?" Luna asked incredulously.

"Because he doesn't know we're here, so he wouldn't know why I'm coming to him. Hopefully I can get him talking enough to let slip as to how he's done all this-"

"If it isn't blatantly obvious anyway," Trixie added.

Twilight nodded towards Trixie, "What she said. At the very least I might be able to grab the artefacts and teleport away."

"And what if the artefacts and Jamal's rise to power aren't actually connected?" Nightmare asked. "We said we'd stop Jamal. We assumed we could do that by taking his power away, but that might not be the case. What then?"

"Then? Then we think of a new plan." Twilight smiled as the others groaned, "Relax, we have Princess Luna and Nightmare with us, and it gets awfully dark in the desert at night. I'm sure that's something we can work with."

"You're an idiot," Nightmare growled. "Perhaps it best you go to Jamal just to spare us your ridiculous plans."

"Consider it done."

"What the hell was I thinking?" Twilight asked herself as she flew over the small plateau nestled between two mountains that acted as Jamal's base. As Nightmare had said, there were at least a couple thousand ponies here, and a large number of them were watching her as she flew in.

At the furthest point of the plateau, away from the entrance, was a tent. It wasn't the biggest tent, but it was the nicest, and was the furthest away from any land based attacks that might occur. The entire place wasn't bad to Twilight's thinking, being relatively easy to defend from the ground. In a country with typically flew airborne individuals, she supposed ground attacks were always going to be your main concern.

Twilight came in low to land, being extremely mindful of the large number of weapons pointed at her as she landed a couple dozen meters away from the tent. She stood still, keeping her wings spread in an attempt to show that she wasn't hiding any weapons or anything. Obviously that wouldn't work in a country more familiar with magic, but Twilight hoped it would work here.

Twilight pressed a hoof into the hot earth, spending a moment to gather herself to speak with the heavily armed ponies around her. Every single one of them seemed like a normal pony, insofar as she could tell with Saddle Arabians. There were no visual signs of mind control, or similar methods of control, but that didn't mean much since such things tended to be subtle anyway. Unsure of what else to do, Twilight took a deep breath and spoke, and hoped to hell that they could understand her.

"Hello everypony, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here because I wish to speak with your leader. I am unarmed and wish no harm upon her." Twilight smiled at the ponies around her, but it slipped off as their expressions hadn't changed from before she started talking. "And none of you understand me. Great."

"I do," a stallion said in a deep, gravelly voice. He stepped towards Twilight, tucking a spear into the holder on his side. He was a dark brown, with a nearly black mane that matched the eye-patch over his left eye. From the amount of scars around it, Twilight could tell it had to have been a nasty wound. "Why do you want to see our leader?"

"To speak with them of course."

"Did that spineless Sultan send you?"

"No, I'm here of my own volition." Twilight made a face at the blank expression the stallion adopted. "My own free will," she clarified. "Please, I just wish to talk to them, then go on my way."

"Very well, but you will be watched."

"Thank you." Twilight relaxed as the stallion said something to the others to make them lower their weapons. He led her into the tent, holding the flap open for her, then standing just inside as Twilight walked up to the pile of cushions in the middle, wondering why nopony in Saddle Arabia seemed to have a proper chair.

The rest of the tent was filled with assorted pieces of treasure, ranging from gold and jewels to luxurious silks that Rarity would've had a fit over. None of them seemed particularly noteworthy though, and none of them seemed to be held separately like you'd expect magical artefacts to be.

"Admiring my treasures are we?"

Twilight forced her attention back to the cushions, and the white pony sat atop them. The voice had been obviously, and perhaps even abundantly female, which caught Twilight off-guard since she'd been expecting a stallion.

"Sorry, but you do have quite a lot of treasure in here. It's a little eye-catching. Uh... I'm looking for Jamal?"

The white mare raised herself a little to fix an eye on Twilight. The other was obscured by her also white mane. "You're speaking to her."

"Right, guess you aren't a stallion..." Twilight trailed off, her mouth hanging open as Jamal sat up and spread the broadest pair of wings Twilight had ever seen, other than Celestia's, and these possibly beat those. "You have wings."

"And you sound surprised," Jamal said back bemusedly. "I suppose it's only fair that you are. It isn't exactly common for a Saddle Arabian to have wings."

"You can say that again." Twilight cocked her head slightly as she noticed a small, golden circlet adorned with pale blue stones on Jamal's head. Since she wasn't wearing anything else, which was odd in Saddle Arabia, it made the circlet all the more obvious. Maybe that was the point. "You seem to have come a long way from being a bandit lord."

"Enough to warrant the attention of an Equestrian princess, apparently, although I suppose that's no longer technically true since Faust took Equestria over. Now you're just a pony with power and a false title."

"And is that better or worse than assuming a title for yourself, Warlord? Since you aren't currently at war, calling yourself a Warlord seems a bit redundant."

"You will show respect!" the stallion shouted, making Twilight jump as she'd forgotten he was there.

"Enough, Ramah. I insulted her, she insulted me, which I think is only fair." Jamal smiled at Twilight, "So what does bring you here? I would've thought you were far to busy to be bothering with the likes of me."

"And typically you'd be right, but I'm hoping to recruit Saddle Arabia into an alliance made to stop Faust from conquering the world. The Sultan has refused, and is even being tempted towards joining Faust, but isn't doing either because he is trying to secure his country from the Storm King, and from you. The Storm King I can understand, but you are a mystery. What do you want, and why?"

"So the Sultan did send you," Ramah growled, brandishing his spear like he was ready to attack. It was while he was doing that that Twilight saw how ornate his spear was, and how it didn't follow typical Saddle Arabian design philosophies. That wasn't proof that it was one of the artefacts, but it was enough to make her suspicious.

"Not exactly," Twilight said after a second. "He's asked me to reclaim the artefacts that you stole from his Vizier's estate. He thinks you're using them to amass this army, but I know magic well enough to know that's unlikely."

Jamal smirked and gestured for Ramah to lower his spear again. "You would be correct in that assumption. Most of what we stole is worthless to us anyway, since we are not unicorns, and the kind of magic you describe sounds like a unicorn would be required. If you want to know how I am amassing this army, look no further than the Sultan himself."

"I think that's going to require a little more explaining."

Jamal nodded and returned to her seat, making herself comfortable before speaking again. "Ever since the Storm King attacked, he has kept this country under military law. His army is everywhere, watching and interfering. It's almost as bad as being under hostile occupation! Ponies are flocking to anything that gets them out from under the hoof of the Sultan and his army."

Twilight nodded slowly with understanding, "I imagine the bandit life got difficult once the army was everywhere."

"It's bigger than that! It's about being free! Something I'm sure you can sympathise with."

"And if I were to ask the ponies here, they'd tell me the same thing? Or are they just following you because ponies are suckers for following the unusual?" Twilight spread her own wings, "Getting these qualified me to be a princess, so I can only imagine something similar happening with you."

"Except my wings didn't suddenly appear."

"So you say." Twilight breathed in deep, and summarised what she'd learnt in her head. Basically, Jamal was building an army, to counter what she considered to be the Sultan's aggressive use of military law. At the same time, she wasn't using magic to do that, but was doing it through the surprising fact that she was a Saddle Arabian pegasus.

It sounded like total rubbish, but Twilight wasn't about to say that out loud.

"You doubt me?" Jamal asked, sitting up and flapping her wings once in a show of dominance. Sadly for her, it only added to Twilight's suspicions because her wings produced no wind that Twilight could feel.

"How about a race?" Twilight asked jokingly. "You might have the bigger wings, but I bet I'm faster."

"I have no such time for trivialities. If you have what you wanted to know, you may leave."

"And you're fine with me leaving?"

Jamal snorted a single laugh, "I am no fool. Trying to capture and contain an alicorn is far beyond us, so I will let you go in the hopes that you tell the Sultan that I am not forcing anypony here to serve me. They are here because of him!"

"And I'll do just that." Twilight bowed respectfully to Jamal, although it wasn't returned. "Ooh, almost forgot. Have you seen an Equestrian pegasus around here? Sort of a mustard yellow colour, with a grey striped mane and tail? Goes by the name Daring Do?"

"The thief," Ramah spat. A split second later Jamal sighed and gave Twilight the impression that she was displeased with his outburst.

"She has been here, yes," she admitted. "She was told, in no uncertain terms, that she would be killed if she came back. We haven't seen her since."

Twilight knew Jamal was lying. She didn't know why she knew, but something just felt wrong about what Jamal said. It was probably the part where Daring Do never gave up, despite the odds stacked against her. She couldn't actually say that though.

"Okay. I'm only asking because we're looking for her as well. You're not the only ones she's tried to steal off." Twilight bowed again, "Good day."

"A pegasus?" Luna hummed thoughtfully, "It's not unheard of, but is usually the result of an Equestrian pegasus breeding with a Saddle Arabian. Even then, they usually couldn't fly. At least not for long."

"I don't think her wings are real though. She flapped them, but there was no wind. I'm pretty sure she can't fly either, but judging by what you just said, that doesn't really prove anything."

Luna sat back, holding her mane aside as as sharp wind threatened to blow it into her face. "No, but historically, Saddle Arabian pegasi have become rich and successful simply by being what they are. With the help of magic, she could create quite a following."

"Except there is no magic," said Twilight. "Jamal admitted to having the artefacts, but said that they couldn't use them without their own magic. Her guard had a spear that I thought might've been one of the artefacts, and she was wearing a circlet that might be another, but that was all I saw right there."

"That's no reason to believe there aren't others, or that they aren't being used." Luna grunted as another gust of wind threatened to blow her mane into her face. Nightmare was having a similar problem. "Where has this accursed wind come from?"

Rainbow held up a hoof, "Uh, quick question. Is there such a thing as an artefact that can control the winds? I'm only asking, because there's a sand storm blowing in, and it looks like a really big pegasus."

"What?" All of them looked in the direction Rainbow was facing, towards where Jamal's encampment was. As she said, a massive sand storm was blowing in, and riding it, like a surfer at the crest of a wave, was a giant pegasus made of sand, with its wings stretched out. Twilight didn't need to guess to tell it looked almost exactly like Jamal.

"It's coming right for us!" Sunset shouted as the wind picked up.

Luna disagreed. "No, it's heading for the Mareitanians. Jamal must know that they're here, and why."

Trixie threw her front legs up, "Who fucking cares? We need to find shelter!"

Down in the valley below, shields sprang up over the Mareitanians camp. Whether that would be enough to protect them was unknown, but their own safety came before that of the Mareitanians. All of them looked around, desperately finding something that would protect them.

"There!" Vapor shouted, pointing back towards the direction the storm was coming from. A dark crevice in a rock outcrop was there, and depending on how large it was, could provide at least some protection against the storm.

All of them ran for the crevice, entirely beneath the storm's notice as it loomed large over them. They hadn't made it halfway when the storm swept over them, blinding them and obscuring their destination. Sand scoured their hides for a few seconds until a silver shield covered them, protecting them from the sand, but not sparing them from the howl of the wind as it fought to reach them.

"I get the feeling she lied to you about the unicorn thing!" Trixie shouted at Twilight over the wailing.

"Or maybe she has a unicorn!" Twilight shouted back. "I don't know! Luna, can you still find where we're going?"

"So long as I don't lose the ability to walk in a straight line, yes. Follow me." Luna started walking in the direction of the crevice, the shield moving with her, forcing the others to keep up.

"Why don't we just stay under here?" Rainbow asked.

"Because we don't know how long this storm will take to pass, if Jamal even wants it to," Twilight answered. "I can't believe I was stupid enough to believe her when she said she couldn't use what she'd stolen."

"You're going the wrong way," Nightmare said to Luna as Twilight kicked herself.

"No I am not."

"Yes you are." Nightmare pointed a hoof slightly to the left, "That way."

"And what makes your sense of direction any better than mine?"

"I'm used to navigating places where everything looks the same."

"That should have absolutely no bearing on this situation!"

"Maybe it shouldn't, but it doesn't change the fact that you're still going the wrong way."

"Fine!" Luna changed her direction to that which Nightmare had pointed in. "Now we're all going in the wrong direction!"

Wordlessly, Twilight aimed them at a point between the two directions they'd picked, where the crevice was barely visible through the blowing sands.

"Well I could've been right," Nightmare said defensively, while Luna locked her lips tightly shut.

Now that they were closer, they could see the crevice was much larger than they had at first thought, but then narrowed into a cave that led down into the ground. They all hurried in, escaping the ravages of the storm.

"Ugh, really? Do you have to?" Nightmare whined as those that could lit their horns in the darkness. The cave went on underground, and given the lack of choice in direction, they followed the path.

"So," Trixie said with a brittle cheer that made it clear she was one piece of bad news away from a cursing fit, "what are we supposed to do now? Apart from wait out the storm I mean. Just what are you expecting us to do against a pony that can conjure sand storms?"

Twilight shrugged at Trixie, "Who's to say she conjured it? She might only be controlling a pre-existing one. They aren't uncommon out here."

"Even so, who knows what else she can do? And why does all the weirdest stuff have to happen in Saddle Arabia? I'm almost afraid of what we might find in Zebrica at this rate." Trixie twitched her ears and laid them flat as the sound of crying echoed through the cave. "Please just let that be the wind."

"You know for a fact that wasn't the wind," said Sunset.

"Fine, just let it be something that doesn't want to eat, possess, or... do something worse to me." Trixie started counting down from five in her head, and only made it to two before Rainbow suggested going to investigate. "Y'know, I had a long debate about going to Ponyville all those years ago. 'There are more lucrative places to go' I told myself, but noooo, I had to go to Ponyville and have my life irrevocably changed forever. Idiot."

"Quit whining and come on," Twilight told Trixie as they continued following the cave towards the source of the sound.

Trixie growled at Twilight, "Don't you even remember the last time we entered a cave in Saddle Arabia? It sucked!"

"This time will be different," Twilight replied primly.

"We're heading towards the sound of crying! How are you figuring that as being better?"

"I hear water too," Nightmare interrupted. She walked a few more steps, then cursed as something crunched beneath her hoof. "And there's bones too. Quite a lot of them."

"See? Trixie is totally right!"

"H-hello? Is s-s-somepony there?" a raspy voice called out. "Hello? Please..."

"That sounds like Daring Do," Rainbow gasped, rushing ahead, only to stop a second later when she remembered she couldn't see without the others. "Come on, hurry up!"

"Daring Do, trapped in a cave," Trixie deadpanned as they hurried on. "How original."

After a few more turns, the cave opened up, and was lit from a fissure in the ceiling through which some sand was drifting as the storm outside raged on. Water was also dripping in through crack in the ceiling, and splashing through a cage suspended in its path towards a small pool. A cage containing Daring Do.

"Daring!" Rainbow shouted, darting up to the cage. "Are you alright, Daring?"

Daring sighed with relief, and rested her head against the side of the cage. "Thank goodness. Please, get me out of here."

"Okay, hold on." Rainbow drew one of her blades, and brought it down hard on the padlock securing the cage, again and again until she successfully broke the lock.

"You know we could've done that in a fraction of the time," Trixie whispered to Twilight.

"Shh, let Rainbow have her moment," Twilight whispered back as Rainbow pulled the cage open and carried Daring down to the ground. Unusually for her, she was naked, and covered in cuts and bruises that were plainly visible in the patches where her coat was missing. Her wings were also a mess, although getting dry would fix some of that.

"Thanks," Daring rasped as Rainbow set her down. She tried to stand, but only lasted seconds before collapsing onto the ground in a heap. "I just- I just need to rest."

"What happened to you?" Rainbow asked. "Why'd you come here without telling us?"

"You all have plenty to do. I thought I could fix this without you. I was wrong." Daring pushed herself up so she could lean on her elbow, "I'm guessing since you're here that you're involved as well?"

"You could say that," said Twilight. "We need to stop Jamal to possibly get the Sultan on our side. The Mareitanians are trying to do the same."

"Great, so I did all this for nothing."

Luna crouched down next to Daring, "Not unless you have something useful to tell us. Like how she's controlling this storm, for example."

"I don't know. She has so many things now, like that circlet that gives her appearance of having wings-"

"I knew it!"

"-and some kind of sceptre, and a spear. I wasn't there long enough to see all that they had before I got captured."

"When were you captured?" Rainbow asked quietly.

"A week ago, I think? The days all blurred into one after a while. I don't suppose you have something to eat, do you?"

Twilight gestured for Sunset to give her something, then pulled Luna aside for a quiet word. Nightmare joined her before she could say anything, obviously feeling like she should be involved, and was soon followed by Trixie. Twilight rolled her eyes at both of them, but didn't tell them to go.

"We're not exactly learning much of use," Twilight said after a moment. "It is pretty clear though, from what those bandits did to Daring, that they are not as nice as they make out to be."

"Is mind control back on the table?" Nightmare asked.

"I don't think so, otherwise they would probably have tried to control Daring." Twilight glanced at the bedraggled pegasus as Sunset dried her off while she attempted to eat something. "I think Jamal was honest in saying that her followers are normal ponies escaping the Sultan's overbearing military."

Luna nodded in agreement, "I think that we're also missing something else. If Jamal is such a threat, why didn't the Sultan act sooner? It couldn't possibly be because Jamal has those artefacts. I get the feeling that he tried to stop her, and failed miserably."

"Understandable, really," Trixie sniffed. "I wonder how the Mareitanians are doing? Putting shields up like that, it seemed like it wasn't the first storm they'd been through."

"But they haven't acted themselves," Nightmare said, continuing Trixie's thought. "Either they're aware they can't win against Jamal's army, and don't know what to do, or they're waiting for something."

Luna hummed thoughtfully, "It seems odd to me now, learning what we have, that the Sultan asked us specifically to return the artefacts. Not to stop Jamal, but to return these objects of power. I rather suspect that he wishes them for himself."

Trixie sighed explosively, "Of course he fucking does. Just what we needed, another maniacal bastard to deal with."

"Not necessarily," Twilight said. "He wants the strength to defend his people from threats, and what Jamal has gives him that strength, or so he thinks. We all know that could go one of two ways, and I'd rather not see the option where he goes mad with the power granted to him."

"So what do we do?" Trixie asked. "Personally I think we shouldn't give him jack, but that's possibly just my opinion."

"Or we give him the useless artefacts," Nightmare suggested. "I think we have more use for the good ones than he does."

"Only if we need them," Luna said sternly. "Let's not mess about with things that don't need to be messed about with."

Twilight shrugged, not disagreeing with any of them. There was one point that she felt definitely had to be made though. "I think the most important thing is to not let them end up in Faust's hooves. The last thing she needs is more power, even if she only gives them to her servants."

"Most certainly," Luna said while the others voiced their agreement. "I'd rather they be destroyed than let that happen. Unfortunately our ability to act is hampered until the storm passes. Once it does though, we should be ready to move. We should all get what rest we can until then."

Twilight looked back over her shoulder, seeing that Daring had already fallen asleep while Rainbow removed her shirt and pith helmet from the skeleton they'd apparently been used to dress. Lightning and Vapor were talking quietly, and Sunset was keeping Daring warm.

"I don't think being well rested is going to help anything. We're massively outnumbered, and don't know exactly what we're up against. What we need is a plan."

The storm raged on for hours, and all through the night until the early hours of the morning. When it finally died down a went quiet, Twilight dared to head outside and look, finding that the sky was clear, the air still, and the sand piled up everywhere. All in all, it was a good sign that they should get a move on.

"Are you sure I can't do anything?" Daring asked as the rest of them got ready to put their plan into action.

"You're not well enough," Twilight said firmly. "When we have all the artefacts we'll come back for you."

"This sucks."

Rainbow grinned at Daring, "Don't worry, we'll get those artefacts back."

Daring shrugged at Rainbow, "I'm not worried, I just feel like a failure. I get the feeling I should just stay away from Saddle Arabia. This place is nothing but bad luck for me."

Twilight sipped from her canteen, her mind running over the plans they'd formulated the previous even. It was a simple plan, that relied heavily on magic and flying, but it should hold up well enough for them to steal the artefacts. Luna, Nightmare, Trixie, Rainbow, Lightning, and Vapor were to create a distraction at the front of the camp, basically by attacking them, leaving herself and Sunset to sneak in through the back and steal the artefacts, and maybe eliminate Jamal. There was both a lot, yet little that should go wrong.

"We should get a move on," Twilight said once those ponies that owned armour had got it on. "The earlier we attack, the less prepared they'll be."

"Thank goodness for their lack of strict military regimen," Luna joked. "Not that we're much better I suppose." Luna jumped sideways as a large, dark metal, twin headed battle-axe appeared in the air beside her. The large grin Nightmare wore was evidence enough as to who it belonged to. "Whenever did you get that thing?"

"I found it in the Retreat, although I have no idea why it was there. I decided to enchant it and make it mine." Nightmare slowly swung the axe a couple of times, "I called it Ebony, because all magical weapons need a name."

"Told you!" Trixie said loudly to Twilight.

Luna sighed softly, "And now I miss my glaives more than ever. Why a battle-axe though? Is it not rather unwieldy?"

Nightmare swung the axe again, "Light as a feather. At least it is in my magic. The fact is, Luna, it isn't a weapon you would use."

"And that I suppose was the point." Luna shied away as the blades of the axe caught fire, "Just try not to hit any of us with that thing."

"Keep your distance from me and it won't be an issue."

"Okay!" Twilight half-shouted, taking the building tension and killing it before it killed something else. "If we're all ready, I think we should get this show on the road. Rainbow, take Lightning and Vapor, and see that there are no surprises we need to worry about. The rest of us will approach from the ground until we need to split up."

Rainbow saluted, and flew off with the other two Wonderbolts, leaving the rest of them to start trotting towards Jamal's encampment. A minute later, the three pegasi came back.

"What is it?" Twilight asked with a groan. They hadn't even started yet, so it was definitely too soon for things to be going wrong.

"It's the Mareitanians," Rainbow said, sounding unsure like she couldn't believe what she'd seen. "There's like, way more of them, and they kinda look like ponies, but aren't... y'know?"

"Uh, no, I don't." Twilight looked back and forth between the directions the two camps lay in, and breathed out hard in aggravation. There was only really one thing to do, and that was check out what the Mareitanians were up to. "Let's go."

It was only a short trot back to the bluff overlooking the Mareitanians camp, which was in a dreadful state after the storm. Not that it mattered much compared to the portal through which the pony-like creatures were coming, wearing silvery armour over their heads and bodies. Each of them was carrying a bow, a quiver full of arrows, and a short, curved sword that complemented the blade on their helms that ran up the front of their unusual single horn that curved backwards.

"What are those?" Lightning asked. "I've never seen anything like them."

"I have," said Luna. "It seems Faust has made another ally in the kirin."

Twilight was surprised, and yet she was also hurt that her first encounter with kirin would be on the opposite sides of a war. It really wasn't fair. Some of the others didn't share her feelings on it though, not by a long way.

"Kirin?" Trixie snickered, "What the fuck's a kirin?"

"They're sort of a cross between dragons and deer," Twilight explained. "You can't see it under their armour, but they have scales covering their back and parts of their head. Then they have lion manes, and only grow hair on the bottom of their tails, and have cloven hooves. Then... there's the horn, antler, thing."

"I remember reading that they can do magic," Sunset said as she peered at the kirin. "I'm really not sure about what kind of level they could do it to though."

"It is uncertain," said Luna. "It is theorised that they are just as capable as unicorns at magic, but their society favours attunement with nature, so the teachings of high magic really aren't their priority. Unfortunately for us, their warriors have spent centuries defending their homes against all threats, and are very skilled with both bows and blades."

Trixie huffed and flicked the sand with her hoof, "And now Faust has an army of them. Great."

"Hardly," Luna responded. "Kirin aren't the most prolific of peoples, and have only ever maintained small numbers, so as to not strain their environment for resources. I'd say Faust has a couple of thousand of them fighting for her at most."

"Oh, well that's good."

Luna squinted suspiciously at Trixie, "I did mention the part where they're superlative warriors, did I not?"

"Alright, so it's bad then. Isn't it? You're just confusing me now."

The portal snapped shut as Trixie spoke, and everything was quiet for a moment as the lines of kirin stood rigidly to attention. At most there could only have been four hundred of them, meaning someone had to be confident that this number, plus those Mareitanians already here, could succeed against Jamal's forces. After a minute, they started marching towards Jamal's encampment.

"Okay," Twilight said with false cheer, "the plan's fucked. New plan is do whatever it takes to get those artefacts."

The battle began as soon as the Mareitanian forces reached the encampment. There was a short ramp to ascend which provided the best defence for the bandit army, but that was far from adequate to even slow the Mareitanians down, let alone stop them.

"We're going to have to do this quick," Twilight said as shields protecting the Mareitanians started moving up the ramp, covered by arrow fire from some of the kirin, who were proving every bit as skilled as Luna had said. After a few minutes none of the bandits dared to show themselves.

"Head straight for the tent at the rear," Luna instructed. "We'll keep you clear while you and Sunset search for the artefacts."

"Got it!" Twilight dove down for the tent where she'd encountered Jamal the previous day. There were plenty of Saddle Arabians there, nervously watching the battle in the distance. They were totally unprepared for three alicorns, three pegasi, and two unicorns to attack from above. They were quickly taken care of.

Twilight stuck her head in through the tent, and cursed as she found it was empty, completely and utterly. Not even a single coin or gem was left behind. "There's nothing here!"

"Nothing? What do you mean noth-" Luna stopped as she looked into the tent. "Oh, that's what you mean. I guess this means she was ready for us."

"So what do we do now?"

"The only thing you can do. Search for them. You and Sunset find Jamal and the artefacts, and the rest of us will do whatever we can to buy you time, even if it means fighting alongside these bandits. I'm sure they wouldn't mind the help."

Twilight nodded quickly as the battle truly began. The Mareitanians had reached the top of the ramp, and the Saddle Arabians were nowhere near enough to slow them down, not without help. "Alright, do whatever you have to. Oh, and Nightmare, disguise yourself as me so the Mareitanians don't learn about you if they don't have to."

"Short-arse mode activated!" Nightmare cheered as she altered her appearance to that of Twilight's. "Don't worry, I'll try to make you look good."

"Uh, appreciated," Twilight said a little hesitantly, as she really didn't care. It was weird enough talking to herself in such a way without worrying about her image being tarnished worse than it already was.

"Do not tarry," Luna reminded them. "This battle is already lost, so time is already short. Search quickly, and good luck."

"You too."

Luna watched for a moment as Twilight and Sunset dashed away, then turned to the rest of them. "Let me start by saying this is going to be a bloody mess, in case that were a surprise to you."

Trixie held a hoof in the air, "Yeah, I have an allergy to sharp metal, and have a sick note from my doctor that exempts me from stressful activities. I should probably just stay back."

"And Trixie will be sticking with Nightmare and myself."

"I'm not Nightmare, I'm Twilight Sparkle! I love books, and friends, and books about friends, which is why I'm so tragically single, because I instantly friend zone everypony I meet! I'm also dependant on high stakes drama like this to stop myself from remembering that I'm an emotional wreck of a pony!" Nightmare grinned as the others glowered at her, "What? Too realistic? I could try making it a bit sassier."

Luna closed her eyes and forced herself to ignore that. "Rainbow, you and the other Wonderbolts need to stay high to avoid the kirins' arrows. Use your lightning strikes, drop things on them, even spit on them, but do not get close."

"Right, so stay out of the way and do nothing." Rainbow gave Luna a mock salute, "Shouldn't be too hard."

"I mean it. Nightmare, are you ready?"

Nightmare summoned her axe and made a few experimental swings with it. "I am so ready."

"Trixie."

Trixie stamped her hoof into the dry, sandy ground as she breathed in deeply a couple of times. After a moment she nodded. "I'm ready."

"Good, to battle then." Luna started running towards the battle as the Wonderbolts flew up, Trixie keeping close while Nightmare flew ahead. Some of the bandits saw their coming as a crack of thunder echoed around the mountains. Luna just knocked them aside with her magic, hoping that they would take the hint she was on their side for the moment when they saw her attacking the Mareitanians.

Arrows thudded into the ground as the kirin fired blindly over the line of yaks that acted as the front line of the Mareitanians assault. Luna knew that if they really wanted to make a difference, that line needed to be broken. She picked out a yak that was slightly further forwards than the others, and was about to attack when Nightmare sped towards it, landed at speed, and skidded in a circle that brought her axe around in an upward stroke that cleanly severed the head of the yak.

Luna frowned as the yak's head rolled to a stop against her hooves, and looked up in time to catch Nightmare winking at her. Clearly somepony wanted to make a competition out of this, and while Luna was tempted, she had to maintain an appearance of being most level-headed out of the two of them.

A blast of pink magic from Luna's left brought her back to the moment as Trixie tried to fire around the bulk of the fallen yak at the ponies and kirin behind. It seems they had the Mareitanians attention at least, because in seconds they'd made themselves the focus of the battle as the Mareitanians tried to take them down.

Luna jumped back as a yak reared up to try and crush her, and blasted it with her magic, knocking it over backwards onto the pony behind. Arrows started to fly towards her, and she was forced shield herself. Unfortunately that gave the yaks a chance to surge towards her, which they gladly took. One of them fell as Nightmare shimmered into existence next to it, slammed her axe down on its neck, then vanished again. Another went flying and caught fire as lightning struck it.

Luna set her hooves and grunted as magic surged through her horn into a beam that pierced through a yak lengthways. Their charge towards her faltered, and she started to push them back, only to meet some kirin that pranced through the gap in the yak line, nimbly dodging around the bodies of the fallen, and the blades of the bandits.

A small shield formed in front of Luna, which she used to block the arrows coming towards her as the kirin released their bows. She ran towards them, but stopped as a cry from Trixie reached her ears. A kirin had pinned her down, and was trying to force a blade down on her neck that Trixie was holding back with her armoured hooves. Luna went to help, but needn't have worried as Trixie blasted the kirin point blank in the face.

"If these bastards were watching my back, that wouldn't have happened," Trixie spat, as Luna expanded her shield to cover both of them. Trixie gave the Saddle Arabian bandits a filthy glare as she got back to her hooves.

"I know." Luna picked up the kirin's sword and twirled the thin, curvy blade around a couple of times. It was nice, but it wasn't her glaives. "Trixie-"

"Yeah, yeah, we gotta win the fight, I know. I'll use dark magic if I have to."

"I was going to say that we need to fall back slowly, let the bandits take the brunt of the attack until they start to fall apart."

"Ah, so we're not caring if they die." Trixie nodded, then raised her head, drawing dark tendrils out of the ground that wrapped around a kirin, quickly crushing the life from her as she struggled. "Where the fuck is Nightmare?"

"Right here," Nightmare purred from behind them, still in her guise of Twilight. Blood dripped from her axe that she had slung over her shoulder. "That's five yaks dead by the way."

"There's more than yaks here," Trixie pointed out.

"I know, but the yaks are the biggest. Come on, we've got this."

Luna rolled her eyes, then readied her shield and blade as the Mareitanians pushed forwards some more. Magic poured forth from Trixie, while Nightmare threw herself back into the fray where nopony dared to get too close to her and her battle-axe. Luna slammed her shield into the face of an earth pony, stunning him enough to run him through. Yes they might have the Mareitanians stuck here, but everywhere else was rapidly falling apart as the bandits crumbled under the assault.

Luna hoped Twilight didn't take too long.

"This has to be it," Sunset said excitedly as she raced along a narrow path into the mountains. She'd spotted it hidden behind some boulders while she and Twilight frantically searched for Jamal and the artefacts, and quickly decided that it had to lead somewhere good.

Twilight wasn't inclined to disagree with Sunset's assertions that this had to be it, if only because it stood as good a chance of being what they were looking for as not. She did change her tune a little more when the path turned into a cave, then changed it completely when they ran into a big stone door that was shut tight.

"Told you," Sunset said smugly.

"Great! Now how do we get in?"

"Ooh-ooh-ooh! I know this one! Uh, open sesame!" The door remain still. "Okay, open ses-a-me! Open ses-a-me! Open ses-a-me! Open ses-"

"I think we've established that 'open sesame' isn't going to work." As Twilight spoke, the doors cracked open a couple of inches. "That doesn't prove anything," Twilight insisted as Sunset grinned smugly. She went to peek through the gap, and maybe force it open a bit wider, when sand started pouring through the gap, starting at the bottom of the door, then going higher until it suddenly stopped, leaving a pile of sand outside the door.

"Uh-huh," Twilight said slowly.

"I'll probably never have reason to say this again, but does that sand look a little malevolent to you?"

"Sunset, that's ridic- Oh crap." Twilight backed away as the sand started moving, forming a fist that was raised into the air and slammed down where Twilight had been standing. "Great! Malevolent sand, of course. How could I not see that coming?"

Both of them kept backing away as the sand pulled itself into a bipedal form that walked on short legs with a hunch so that its knuckles were dragging on the ground. A single, baleful red eye glared at them from where its neck would've been if it had one.

"What is that thing?" Sunset asked as the thing started stomping towards them.

"Isn't it obvious? It's a sand monster! A monster made of sand. A sand monster..." Twilight nodded slowly to herself, "Yep."

"And how do we stop it?"

"Have you tried insulting its hair?"

"Twilight!"

"Alright, fine." Twilight fired a blast of magic at the monster, hitting it on the left shoulder, and blowing its left arm into nothing. Twilight knew better than to celebrate that easy a victory, and felt rather vindicated as the arm started to reform. "Right, sooo... any ideas?"

"Run?"

"Apart from that one."

"Then... no. Wait!" Sunset blasted the glowing red eye of the monster, and the entire thing collapsed to the ground. Sunset was about to start celebrating when it started to pull itself back together. "Yeah, that did seem a bit easy."

Twilight closed her eyes and felt for traces of magic in the air. What she found was that the monster was held together entirely by magic, and that magic originated from within the cave.

"This thing's being made by something in the cave. Keep this thing distracted while I go take care of it."

"What? How? There was too many... things in that sentence!"

"I don't know, just keep blowing it up. Maybe try turning it into glass if you're feeling adventurous."

"Fine." Sunset caught the fist of the monster as it tried to pound her into the ground, and pushed an intense amount of heat into it, melting the sand into a solid mass that glowed incandescently. She then cooled it off rapidly, and shattered the rough glass. The monster didn't make so much as a squeak as that happened, and quickly repaired the damage by absorbing more sand into itself.

Sunset really hoped that Twilight didn't take too long, while Twilight herself hoped that she didn't mess up a blind teleport like she was about to attempt.

Twilight closed her eyes and teleported forwards, and gasped with relief as all she did was drop a few inches to the floor. She opened her eyes and squeaked she saw the tip of a spear mere centimetres from the end of her nose.

"You have ruined everything!" Ramah growled at Twilight as she backed off a step.

"Actually, the army out there attacking yours is nothing to do with me. I'm just attempting to capitalise on the moment." Behind Ramah was Jamal, sat with her eyes closed and her hooves held out in front of her. Between her hooves floated the whirling components of one of the artefacts, held together with glowing strings of what looked like glowing sand. Clearly that was what the sand monster outside was being controlled with.

Ramah edged his spear towards Twilight, clearly sensing her intent. "You will not reach her."

"Oh give up already," Twilight sighed. She blasted her magic point blank at Ramah, and was highly surprised when he appeared to her left half a second later, the only proof of his moving being a series of rapidly fading afterimages.

Twilight teleported away as the spear was thrust at where her chest would've been a split second earlier, and barely got a chance to orientate herself before Ramah was on her again, swinging his spear level with her neck. Twilight dropped, feeling a sting from her right ear as its tip was removed, and placed a shield over herself. It was of considerable relief to her that the shield actually blocked the spear.

Twilight rapidly expanded her shield, turning it into a shockwave that should've send Ramah flying, but he jumped up a pile of treasure, and ran up the side of the cave, apparently going fast enough to forget that gravity applied to him as well. He back flipped off the wall straight towards Twilight, who had been so mesmerized watching the afterimages of his movements that she almost forgot to teleport away.

Swordy appeared as she rematerialized on the opposite side of the room, and she swung him towards Ramah, who deftly jumped over the stroke. Twilight followed it up with a series of quick jabs that Ramah easily dodged around using the power of his spear, his afterimages wearing the most infuriatingly cocky grin she'd ever seen.

She did learn something though. When he went to attack her, he because solid again. Whatever power that allowed him to easily dodge everything Twilight threw at him, also stopped him from attacking her. It was going to be risky, but she could work with that.

A burst of magical fire forced Ramah away, and he dashed around the attack. Twilight followed him as best she could, and when she felt he was about to attack her, brought Swordy up to block the spear before the spear was even really there.
Metal clashed against metal as the spear met Swordy, and the look of shock on Ramah's face was absolutely priceless. Clearly he'd not been defeated since acquiring the spear, and Twilight was more than happy to fix that. The fact that so much depended on her beating him was also very relevant.

It was also rather gratifying to see that Swordy had cut a gouge into the spear. Whoever had enchanted it had neglected to make it strong enough to survive against an obviously superior weapon.

Ramah yanked back on the spear, freeing it from the lock, and ran back around the room in an attempt to have Twilight lose track of him. She didn't, not even slightly, and when he leapt off a pile of treasure right at her he fucked up good, because you can't run on thin air, no matter how fast you are. Ramah must've figured that out too, and as he was impaled on the outstretched blade of Swordy, his afterimages were a horrifying display of agony.

Twilight gently lowered the gasping Ramah, and returned Swordy to the ether rather than painfully pull it out. In Twilight's mind, which drifted far too much into fantasy at times, she felt that there should be a touching moment of respect between the two warriors as one defeated the other, but Ramah was just a bandit who tried to kill her, and she hated seeing the fear in his eye, so turned away until he expired.

"Ramah's dead, Jamal," Twilight said to the other pony in the cave. "If you give up now, I promise the same won't happen to you." Twilight waited for a response, but as Jamal remained unmoving, she figured that she wasn't really entirely in the room. Sunset was also out there still fighting that sand monster, so Twilight should probably get on with stopping her.

The spear was plucked from Ramah's stiffening hold, and Twilight hummed appreciatively at the rush of power it gave her. She felt stronger, faster, and like nopony could beat her. As proven, that wasn't necessarily true, so she ignored the feeling as best she could as she did something that really shouldn't be done. She thrust the spear into the nexus of magic held between Jamal's hooves.

Jamal screamed as she was pulled back to herself, and she sat in a panic, unsure of what to do as the spear glowed red, then white with heat. Twilight was smart enough to get away, and dived for cover as the spear exploded, destroying whatever it was that Jamal had been using.

Twilight waited until it stopped raining bits of metal before daring to move, and gagged at the smell of burning hair, some of which was her own. She returned to where Jamal had been, finding the mare slumped over backwards as her chest rattled with each hard fought for breath. The only problem Twilight could see with that was that Jamal had no visible injuries.

"Why do ponies like you keep trying?" Twilight asked, not really expecting an answer. Using her magic, she removed the circlet from Jamal's head, breaking the illusion. The wings vanished, and the white of her coat faded to a washed out grey that was covered in scars. There were also quite a few wounds from the exploding spear that were oozing blood over Jamal's chest. It seemed as though Jamal had lived an interesting life for the middle aged mare she was.

"Are you satisfied now?" Jamal gurgled through a mouth filled with rotting and missing teeth as her breathing became more laboured. Twilight surmised that one of her lungs had been punctured.

"Satisfied with what? That I beat you?" Twilight shrugged, neither satisfied or unsatisfied.

"That you've seen the real me."

"Ah," Twilight nodded with understanding, "Jamal means beauty in your language, doesn't it? I can see why you'd want to recapture that." Twilight smiled sadly as Jamal choked on her own blood, struggling to hold on to life. Twilight stabbed a spike of magic through her heart to spare her a prolonged and unpleasant death. "Too bad you were obsessed with only your exterior."

"Twilight?"

Twilight jolted as Sunset said her name, having forgot she was still outside. Twilight wrenched the doors open, letting Sunset into the cave while also letting her see the lump of half molten glass that was the remains of the construct Sunset had been keeping busy.

"Mission accomplished?" Sunset asked, the uncertain note of her voice not quite masking the discomfort she had at seeing the two bodies.

"Not yet. Start looking for every magical thing in this room you can find. I doubt we have much time until the Mareitanians break through, so we best do this quickly."

Trixie ducked behind a tent, using it to obscure the kirin's vision of her. Those scaly bastards were proving just as deadly with their bows as Luna had said, and Trixie was losing count of the number of times her armour had saved her life. That luck wouldn't hold forever though, and Trixie doubted that whatever interest her dark magic held in her, it wouldn't save her life a second time.

Trixie kept running, dodging from cover to cover, but more and more it seemed like the Mareitanians were everywhere, like now as she ran into an Adept that immediately fired her magic at Trixie. Trixie yelped and shut her eyes, and gasped when there was no pain. She cracked her eyes open, finding a pink shield between herself and the Adept. Even though she'd made a dozen similar shields over the last ten minutes, it still amazed her every time. She just wished she could be more sure it would actually happen.

The ground rumbled, and Trixie leapt aside as a yak ran straight through the tent, trampling the Adept, and giving Trixie only a few seconds to think of what to do as it untangled the tent from its horns. Trixie did the only thing it felt like she knew how to do. She'd gotten herself separated from Luna and Nightmare, so there was no help coming there, and her dark magic was screaming at her to use it to defend herself. Sometimes it sounded like it might have a point, as was definitely the case when being faced down by a rampaging yak.

Dark spears of crystal burst up out of the ground under the yak, killing it quickly as Trixie gave in to the suggestion. As usual it felt both terrible and wonderful to use dark magic, and as she watched the yak gently sliding down the spears under its own weight, she knew that as much as she fought it at times, she would always give in when she had to, because part of her would always want to, even though a lot of her didn't. Twilight had said to not fear it after all, even if she was being a jerk at the time.

"I feel like I have this conversation with myself far too often."

"This way!"

"Aw crap." Trixie quickly hid behind the yak as the voices reached her. She quietly hoped that it was some kirin coming for her, just to give her a chance to get back at them, but it was ponies heading her way. They stopped at the sight of the yak, and some of them started backing away like they knew what had happened to it. A wry smile creeping onto her face, Trixie walked out into their view.

"Well come on then, if you think you're hard enough."

Two of the ponies turned tail and ran, leaving the others milling in confusion. A trio of kirin ran up, their bows ready to protect their new allies, which only really gave the ponies a chance to run as the first kirin was caught up in dark tendril that tossed it away like a foal with an unwanted toy. The second ran into a spear of crystal that burst out of the ground in line with her neck, and the third, the third was struck by lightning from above. Trixie might have screamed, but the volume of the thunder left her unsure.

"Trixie! What the hell are you..." Lightning trailed off as she saw the yak, and swallowed nervously. "Twilight and Sunset have what we're here for and we're all looking for you! You need to get out of here before you're overrun!"

"I'm already a little overrun if you haven't noticed! Where are they?"

"This way!"

Trixie started running as Lightning flew towards the rear of the plateau, feeling like every Mareitanian, yak, and kirin was on her heels. Errant blasts of magic, and the occasional arrow flew towards her, and more than once she felt an impact on her armour as she ran.

Trixie saw the others up ahead, and also saw the magic building up on the horns of the three alicorns. She dived with a scream, and buried her head under her legs as a barrage of magic zoomed over her, making the hair on her back tingle.
The barrage quickly, and Trixie risked looking back to find a dozen dead ponies, yaks, and kirin behind her. Apparently that feeling of being pursued was closer to reality than she thought. Trixie looked forwards again at the sound of hooves, and accepted the hoof offered to her by Twilight to help her up.

"Are you alright, Trixie?"

"Oh, tip top," Trixie said absently as she brushed herself off. She stopped as she saw the way Twilight was looking at her, and could tell Twilight knew she'd used dark magic. Rather than berate her, or be all annoyingly sympathetic, Twilight just gave her a small nod.

"It's time for us to leave," Luna said as she supported a wounded Nightmare, who was grinning massively for some reason Trixie was sure she didn't want to know about. The Mareitanians were preparing to attack them, so there was no time to ask questions as the horns of Twilight and Luna lit up, taking them back to the safety of the cave Daring was left in.

"You're back!" Daring shouted, jumping up as they appeared. "Did you get them?"

"We did," said Twilight, dropping a sack of stuff onto the floor. "Unfortunately, some of this is quite dangerous stuff in the wrong hooves, which I really don't think the Sultan needs to get hold of. We're going to pick out the benign things, give them to the Sultan, while you and Nightmare head back to the Retreat with the rest."

"We can't let the Mareitanians get back to Ammare before us," Luna said as Twilight starting sorting through the sack. "They will likely try to bend the ear of the Sultan with their victory over the bandits. And by bend the ear, I mean scare him witless with their domination of a force twice their size, and with similar capabilities to his own army. Hopefully Cadence has pulled something off in our absence that will help considerably."

"Do you really think that would convince the Sultan to join Faust?" Rainbow asked.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Frankly, I'd rather not take the risk. The appearance of those kirin has changed the game even further, and I do not wish it to be changed more by having the Sultan side with Faust as well. It is imperative that he at the very least remain neutral."

Twilight grinned up at Rainbow, although it wasn't a particularly nice grin. "As you can see, we're aiming high with this one."

"Oh. Well we better at least get a thank you."

Author's Notes:

I've decided that kirin are pretty much elves, because why not. I'm also really pressed for posting time, and I know there are things I could improve, but paying for quality you are not.