"I think we might have made a mistake with this," Twilight said as they neared the end of their journey back to Ammare. "The Mareitanians know we've taken the artefacts, and soon they'll know that we're negotiating an alliance with the Sultan, right?"

Luna nodded, following Twilight's words easily, but not quite getting where she was going. "I fail to see the problem."

"Our alliance with the griffons is more or less a secret. Our alliance with Saddle Arabia won't be. What's to stop Faust invading as soon as she finds out they didn't side with her? Especially since she had to have been planning an invasion anyway if negotiations failed. It also means Faust might find out what we're up to."

"Ah." Luna thought about that for a few seconds, and announced, "I think we've made a mistake. As proven by that little skirmish, Saddle Arabia would stand no chance against Faust's army. If anything, she presents better odds on getting back those ponies the Storm King stole than we currently do, so why side with us when not doing so could be so much better? At least in the short term."

"I was more concerned about Faust finding out what we're up to," said Twilight, "but yeah, that too."

"Are you two saying we might've cocked this up despite getting those artefacts back?" Trixie asked, holding her mane down against the wind as she stuck her head out of Twilight's saddle bag. "Did we do all this for almost nothing? Did I dark magic for nothing?"

"Not for nothing," Luna told her. "The most dangerous of those artefacts are now away from hooves that might misuse them-"

"Ah," Trixie nodded in understanding, "so it's not misusing when we're the ones using them."

Luna gave Trixie a sharp glare, then continued. "More importantly, Faust won't be able to use them against us. That alone makes this whole thing worth it."

Sunset poked her head out of Twilight's other saddle bag, "But we've still made a mess of the political part of this. Mostly by forgetting that Faust is a massive cunt who solves problems by invading countries."

"Succinctly put, but no less true for it." Luna sighed and let her hooves hang for a moment, "Why did it have to be politics? Celestia was the diplomat, not I. Too bad she'd be negotiating for the wrong ponies now."

Twilight, and most of the others, gave Luna a sideways look at her flippant attitude about her sister. "Okay, but we still have Cadence, and while she might not be Celestia, she's still better than us. Hopefully she's made some headway while we've been gone."

"Or something bad has happened to her," said Trixie.

Twilight's faced darkened. "It better not have. If something's happened to my niece, I'm not above doing what it takes to get her back."

Thankfully Cadence was one of the first to greet them on their return, along with Flurry. Amira was visible in the distance, but Twilight couldn't read her expression in the slightest, and the mare walked away after a few seconds in any case.

"Did you do it then?" Cadence enquired as soon as they'd landed on the steps of the palace. "Did you stop Jamal?"

"We did," Luna confirmed. At Cadence's enquiring look, she gave a small nod, hoping Cadence would pick up on that she mean Jamal had been taken care of permanently. "We may have a problem though, and it might result in Faust invading Saddle Arabia."

"Ah, yes, the thing where Faust would invade anyway if Saddle Arabia failed to join her cause." Cadence smiled at her fellow princesses, "We might've worked that one out already."

"We?" Twilight asked. "Do you mean you and the Sultan?"

"I mean we," Cadence replied primly, not so much dodging the question, but putting up a brick wall between it and herself. "I've been asked to bring you to the Sultan as soon as you returned- Hang on, where's Nightmare?"

"Returning to the Retreat with Daring Do and the more dangerous artefacts," Luna said quietly. "I felt they'd be safest in our hooves."

"I also destroyed a couple of them," Twilight said cheerily. "I don't recommend standing too close when that sort of thing happens."

"Right, um... okay. Do you at least have something to present to the Sultan?"

Luna waved Rainbow, Lightning, and Vapor forward, each of them carrying a small bag containing a few of the artefacts. A precaution in case something had happened on the journey back, like an attack by two angry alicorns, or something else with wings.

"We have enough to make him think we've brought them all back. Nothing too dangerous as far as we've been able to work out, and we doubt most would work for a being without magic anyway."

Cadence sighed, a little displeased at the deception, but fully accepting of their reasons. "I suppose they are better off where they can't be misused." Cadence made a face as Trixie started to snigger, "What?"

"Ignore her," said Twilight. "Should we go see the Sultan now?"

Cadence nodded and the way, keeping her head high as she walked. Twilight was left wondering what she was doing when it became clear she was putting on a show of confidence. A show that said 'look how easily we got these artefacts back, and ended a threat to your country, when the Mareitanians couldn't do it with an army.' The fact that the Mareitanians could've done it if they'd not been there was irrelevant.

"What are the odds of this going wrong?" Rainbow whispered into Twilight's ear as they walked. "I mean, y'know, violence wise."

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Because I'm carrying a bag full of things I don't understand, and I don't want them to explode if I'm hit by something while holding them!"

"Do you realise how ridiculous that is?"

"I'm being serious, Twilight!"

"So am I. Nopony is going to hit you, and nothing is going to explode."

"And now something is definitely going to explode," said Trixie.

"What am I, some kind of situational weathervane? Except the opposite of what I say will happen happens?" Twilight pouted as Trixie shrugged, "Why I do I even bother questioning you sometimes? Fucking hell. Everything is going to be fine."

"And that right there is what we in the business call famous last w-"

"Trixie, I swear, if you finish that sentence, I will hurt you in ways you've never even considered before."

"Oh yeah?" Trixie smiled, "Care to give me an example."

"Alright then." Twilight theatrically cleared her throat before fixing a cool gaze on Trixie. "...Yeah I got nothing. I would say you're fat, but you already know that."

"What? I'm not fat! Rainbow, am I fat?"

"Uh... I don't know. What's fat for a unicorn? I mean it wouldn't make much difference, but if you were a pegasus you'd probably be flying a little slower than the rest of us."

"What! That's preposterous! The Great and Powerful Trixie would be at the head of the pack! Or is it flock? Do pegasi flock? Or do they herd? You'd think this'd be something you would know."

Twilight grinned at Trixie, "And thus my torture is complete. I made you think too much about something you don't know the answer to."

"Yeah... Trixie isn't a mirror, so stop thinking what applies for you applies for me."

Sunset burst out laughing, but quickly smothered it as Twilight glared at her. "Sorry Twilight, but that was pretty quick. For Trixie."

"And now I'm actually insulted," Trixie grumped. "I suppose one of you had to succeed eventually."

"If you're all done bickering?" Luna said sternly. "We want to make this look good for the crowd in here, so I want you all looking, and acting serious."

"Only acting huh? Trixie can do that."

"I mean it, Trixie."

"And I accept that you do."

Luna grumbled to herself, knowing they'd be there all day if she kept pushing, and still wouldn't achieve what she wanted.
Cadence opened the doors to the throne room, and strode in, stopping just before the throne to bow to the Sultan. "Your Majesty, I am delighted to inform you that Jamal has been taken of, uh, permanently, and your champions have returned with the artefacts he stole."

"Uh, she, actually," Twilight corrected. "Jamal was a mare."

"She was? Oh." Cadence went blank for a second, then carried on. "The artefacts she stole... then."

Batal clapped his hooves vigorously, "Wonderful news! I knew that you wouldn't disappoint me." He stood and left his throne to walk down to the princesses, and bowed deeply before them. "You have my gratitude. Now tell me, how was Jamal controlling the ponies that followed her?"

"She... wasn't," Twilight said awkwardly. "Instead she convinced them that she was something worth following." Twilight retrieved the circlet Jamal had worn from the bag Vapor was carrying, "She was using this to change her appearance, and to give herself the illusion of having wings. Observe."

Twilight placed the circlet on the nearest pony without wings, which just so happened to be Trixie. Instantly her appearance became more refined, her coat shone, and her mane near glowed with vibrancy. Most importantly though, it gave her a pair of blue wings that rivalled Luna's for size.

Trixie fluttered her eyelashes at the Sultan, "I'm the prettiest, prettiest princess, oh yes I am!"

Twilight snatched the circlet back, not that it diminished Trixie's smirk in the slightest. "Apparently the few pegasi born here hold a special place in your society, which Jamal was able to exploit into convincing others to follow her."

Batal nodded thoughtfully, "I see. Perhaps it is for the best that she no longer be a problem. More importantly though, you have upheld your agreement to retrieve the artefacts and stop Jamal, so I am now willing to listen to your proposal. Perhaps we should speak somewhere more private though. Please, follow me."

Twilight shrugged at Luna, who seemed a bit confused about the pace of things herself, but both of them followed Cadence as she confidently trotted after the Sultan. They made their way to the same private audience chamber, where Amira was sat waiting.

"What is she doing here?" Luna demanded to know, lowering her head slightly like she were preparing to attack.

"You'll see," Cadence said, offering no explanation.

Batal took his seat at the head of the table, and gestured with a hoof at the seats. "Please, sit, we have much to discuss."

Twilight hesitantly took the seat next to Cadence, wishing she knew what was going on. She knew that Cadence must've been in discussions with Batal, but the presence of Amira was throwing an unexpected kink into things that she didn't like.

"So was the real reason those ponies followed Jamal because they perceive me as having a strangle hold on my country?" Batal asked, seeming to have no illusions as to why ponies would betray him like they did.

"You're aware?" Luna said, surprised at the blunt nature with which the Sultan spoke.

"Of course I am. Day by day I get more complaints about the very method through which Saddle Arabia is protected, and day by day I am inclined to doubt more and more. It has been months since the Storm King's attack, with no sign of them since, so am I being overbearing by having my country so well protected? Or am I inviting them to attack again the moment I let down my guard? It is a question that has been plaguing me for some time."

"There's nothing wrong with being prepared," said Luna. "Not when your concerns are legitimate. Frankly I wish we'd been a lot more prepared when Faust invaded."

"Although, I think your soldiers aren't fulfilling their function as intended," Twilight interjected. "The impression I got from Jamal was that your soldiers are taking the opportunity to interfere in your subjects lives more than they should. That is going to create friction. I think you'd be better off pulling your army out of patrolling every inch of the country, and maybe just secure your southern border. That is where the attack came from."

"Yes, but they have airships, so they can attack anywhere, while I have no means with which to stop those airships."

"You're also spreading your army too thin, so if they do attack, your military won't be as effective as you need it to be."

"I know," Batal admitted, halting the rising tensions. "That is why I listened when Amira came with a promise from Faust to stop the Storm King and get our ponies back."

Twilight jumped on the opening given to her. "But you didn't take up her offer? Why?"

"The same Faust that launched an unprovoked attack on Equestria? The same Faust that you said seeks to take over the world?" Batal laughed once at Twilight, "No, I can't imagine a reason to refuse that."

"And do you believe us as well now?" Luna asked Amira, who had been silent the entire time she was there.

"While I'm still doubtful of what Princess Twilight claims Faust's goal is, I have been reminded enough of what Faust has done so far, and informed that she is currently utilising slave labour herself. That is reason enough to think she wouldn't care about rescuing those the Storm King took. She would only seek to use our country to further her goals, and while I question what you say those goals are, I do believe that they are in noponies best interest, save Faust's."

Twilight bit back on her sarcastic reply, which might have cost her the tip of her tongue if she'd bit any harder. Amira was on their side, or so it seemed, which was good enough for now.

"I'm glad you're on board then," Twilight said in an over the top pleasant tone. "Since you're here, I'm guessing you're involved in what happens next?"

"She is," said Batal. "In the act of showing her interest in allying with us, Faust has put us in a most unpleasant position where we can either choose to join her, or be forced to. Since she asked in the first place, which is a miracle in itself, I was tempted to take her up on her offer, as it seemed the path that would result in the least deaths of my subjects. Then you turned up and offered an alternative with your alliance."

"I can't promise that joining would mean the return of your ponies," Twilight said quickly, her guilt over that spilling forth. "It would go far to prevent the loss of more though, and if the Storm King did attack... that would be entirely his loss when the might of at least three nations come to say hello."

"You promised to get my ponies back," Batal said accusingly, having not forgotten Twilight's promise.

"And I will, but I can't guarantee that the alliance will be involved. If I have to do it myself, I will."

"That is still far beyond us," Luna interrupted, hoping to stop Twilight before she promised something more she couldn't keep. "For now our primary focus is stopping Faust. Are you saying you're willing to join our alliance to do so?"

"Here, in private, yes." Batal gave Luna an apologetic smile, "Unfortunately I cannot say such in public as yet. As soon as Faust finds out we're against her, we become next in line for an invasion. That is why we have a different plan."

"We're hoping to basically bog down the entire process in politics and negotiation," said Cadence. "The Sultan here will express interest in joining Faust, even though that's obviously not true, but won't fully support Faust's war until his demands are met. Namely the return of his ponies from the Storm King."

"So if she does get them back, it's a win-win for us," Twilight mused. "Faust's forces are divided further, slowing her down, and the Storm King is weakened as well. If the Storm King could be provoked into a full attack on Equestria, they could do serious damage to each other. Damage we could easily capitalise on."

"Or," said Luna, "Faust doesn't do that, grows impatient with the negotiations, and invades Saddle Arabia anyway. I doubt you have plans to resist if that happens."

Batal released a long, slow breath, confirming for Luna what she suspected before he even said so. "I could not seriously hope to resist an invasion. Fighting back would only result in a minor pyrrhic victory for you by destroying most of the soldiers she could take for herself. That is a loss of life I cannot condone. That's why we're going to try and fool Faust by sending her a small contingent of soldiers while negotiations go on. Enough to make Faust think that I support her, but not enough to make any real difference."

"But they could end up getting killed," said Twilight, pointing out the major flaw in that plan.

"Potentially, but these soldiers won't be the most effective fighting force for Faust. They will be picked for their loyalty to Saddle Arabia, and will in fact sabotage what they safely can while failing to fight effectively. Then, with Faust thinking I'm on her side, her focus will move to Zebrica, where she has already sent a vanguard-"

"What!?" Twilight yelled. If she'd been drinking then, it would've painted the walls with water. "When did that happen?"

"At the same time as Faust's forces arrived here," said Amira. "Six ships of soldiers sailed out of Baltimare a couple of weeks ago. Two stopped here with myself, while four more continued to Zebrica."

"So that's where they went," Twilight sighed, lowering her head until her chin rested on the table. "I guess I'll have to tell Fleur about where those ships went once we get back to the Retreat. For fuck sake." Twilight stopped as she saw the others were looking at her, "Sorry. Continue."

Batal watched Twilight for a few seconds more before cautiously speaking again. "As I was saying, Faust's attention will be on Zebrica, which is good for us because we maintain a good relation with the zebras. I will send them a message explaining the situation here, and informing them that my soldiers are largely for show, and won't make any real efforts to harm them. Hopefully the zebras will return the favour and spare my soldiers where they can."

"Okay, good." Twilight went quiet for a couple of seconds as she tried to poke holes in that plan. Besides the ones where it relies on the good will of Faust to not say 'fuck it' and invade. "There's still the problem that a lot of Faust's soldiers saw us here. She's going to suspect something."

"We know," said Cadence. "That's why we're going to have to put on a bit of a show."

"What kind of show?"

"That we'll leave as a surprise," Batal told her. "We want your reactions to be genuine. All I ask is that you not kill or seriously injure any of my guards."

"I get the feeling we're not going to like this," said Trixie.

"This is stupid," Lightning groaned. "We've made it through battles, and all kinds of stuff, but here I am, almost sick with worry over what's going to happen next! Couldn't they just tell us what they're planning?"

"You mean you can't work it out?" Vapor asked.

"I have some suspicions, and the fact that we're flying around out here waiting for the Mareitanians to turn up confirms most of them, but I still want to know."

"Do you at least know why we're doing all this?"

Lightning playfully hit Vapor on the shoulder, "I'm not an idiot. It's a big trick to make the Mareitanians think the Sultan is siding with them, even though we're the ones that got those artefacts back. It's not hard."

"Thank you, Squadron Leader Exposition," Rainbow said sarcastically.

"Shouldn't that be Captain Exposition?" Vapor asked with a smirk.

"Not yet it isn't."

"Thanks guys," Lightning said, totally deadpan. "Also way to remind me of my failures as a leader."

Rainbow coughed awkwardly, "Sorry. See anything yet?"

"Not yet," Vapor replied. "Hopefully our first sign of them isn't an arrow in the chest from one of those kirin. I mean, we're not exactly big targets, and they were pretty close a lot of the time. Those guys are really good archers."

"Just what we needed," Lightning sighed. "Guys, do you ever wonder how the Captain and the rest of them are doing? Are they even still alive? Or were they executed for being too dangerous?"

Rainbow looked sideways at Lightning, "Why would you even think of stuff like that? They're fine."

"But we don't actually know."

"Assuming the worst isn't going to help."

"So we just don't think about it at all? Is that what we do?" Lightning let her legs hang as she flew, then shook her head a moment later. "Nope, that ain't working for me."

"Why are you even bringing this up now?" Vapor asked.

"Because Princess Twilight got to find out that her friends are okay, so why can't we?"

Rainbow held up a hoof, ready to make the point that Twilight's friends were also her friends, but decided to let it slide this time. "Honestly, Lightning, I don't think anything bad would've happened to them. They were probably taken prisoner with the rest of the soldiers, and are probably in Ponyville. And before you ask, no, I don't think they would've been killed for being too dangerous. They are still heroes of the rebellion in Mareitania after all. That should protect them a bit."

"I guess. I just started thinking about it after Twilight found out about her friends, and I hate not knowing what happened to ours. Do you think we could maybe take a trip to Ponyville to find out if they're there?"

"This already sounds like a dangerous idea," Vapor muttered. "I think you should just leave it."

"Oh come on Vapor, don't you want to know?"

"Sure I do, but not enough to take that kind of risk. I've already lost Sky, and I'd rather keep the rest of my friends breathing if I can, thank you very much. I didn't let myself get tortured for the fun of it, y'know?"

"Right," said Lightning, knowing that by Vapor bringing that up, she'd already lost the argument. There are some things you just didn't argue against. Not without looking like a massive jerk, and Vapor didn't need that.

"We haven't really talked about that much," Rainbow said quietly to Vapor. "I mean, we don't have to if you don't want to, and we're so happy you survived, but it never seems to be brought up. Don't you want to talk about what happened?"

"What's to talk about? I got stupid, and got caught. End of."

Lightning shared a look with Rainbow, "But he tortured you. Doesn't that bother you?"

"Bother me? Why should it bother me that I wake feeling that bastard's claws all over me? Does it bother me that my eye randomly hurts sometimes? An eye I shouldn't even have right now?"

"Does it bother you that you were denied your chance to be with Sky?" Lightning asked.

Rainbow's jaw dropped, stunned that Lightning would ask such a thing. Apparently, Vapor was equally stunned by the question, although it wore off fast enough for her to smack Lightning across the face hard enough to hurt even though she was wearing her muzzleguard.

"You fucking bitch! You think I did that just so I could be with Sky again? Seriously!"

Lightning pulled her muzzleguard off and rubbed her nose, scrunching it up to get the feeling back into it. "Ever since Sky died, you've been way more reckless, and I'm sorry Vapor, but I can only interpret that as not wanting to live any more."

"So what if I didn't? I refused to talk because I was protecting you and Rainbow! If I had to see you two die in an ambush caused by me telling that fucking griffon you were there, I-" Vapor cut herself off, unsure of what she would do, but sure enough that she doubted she would've lived long enough afterwards to worry about it much.

Shame coloured Lightning's face, "I'm sorry Vapor, I just- I'm worried about you. You went through being tortured, and you've not even spoken about it. I kinda thought it was because you were hiding the fact that you-"

"Thought I was finally going to be with Sky? Sky's dead, Lightning, and yeah, I think about him every day, and miss him so much it hurts to even breathe some times. I also know this is going to sound crazy, but I know how disappointed he'd be if I took the easy way out and left you guys, so I'm not going to."

Rainbow cleared her throat noisily to get their attention, "I'm going to suggest that getting tortured to death is hardly the easy way out. If anything, Sky should be proud of you for not giving in."

"I know, and if I died then, I was okay with that. I didn't though, and I'm okay with that too. And yes I have the occasional nightmare about it, but they never last very long. Do you want to know why?"

"I'm going to say because Luna stops them," said Rainbow.

Vapor closed her mouth with a click, and breathed out through her nose. "That probably makes more sense than what I was going to say. Anyway, my point is that I'm okay, and I'm not looking to leave you guys if I can help it. I don't even remember that much about what happened if I'm honest. Now can we please stop questioning my mental health? I had enough of that after Sky died."

"You got it," Lightning said quickly. "On the other hoof though, please talk to us about things occasionally. We're your friends, and we worry about you."

"I'll try."

"Thank you." Lightning returned her full attention to scanning the countryside, then sighed with frustration a few seconds later. "Where the hell are those Mareitanians?"

"Taking their sweet time," Rainbow said in full agreement. "Do you think they're still searching for the artefacts?"

Vapor pointed a hoof below them, "Or the main bulk of them are taking a bit longer while some runners go on ahead. Look."

Both Rainbow and Lightning looked down, spotting a group of seven, three ponies and four kirin, trotting swiftly towards Ammare.

Rainbow cursed under her breath, "I guess that's on us for getting distracted while on duty. I'm going to say they definitely spotted us as well. Come on!"

"I'm still in charge!" Lightning whined, chasing after Rainbow as she raced to the palace. "Rainbow!"

All of them jumped as Rainbow slammed open the doors to the throne room, and ran in. "They sent runners ahead! Three ponies and four kirin. They're almost here!"

"I guess your time is running out to present me with an agreeable proposition," Batal said to Cadence, the pink alicorn frowning with worry, and passing a glance back at her fellow princesses behind her, as well as Trixie and Sunset. Across from Cadence, Amira smiled confidently.

"Your Majesty," Cadence said breathlessly, "I know that you want us to promise the same or better than what Faust has, but we are simply not in a position to promise that right now."

"While Faust is," Amira interrupted. "My Sultan, I realise the princesses stopped Jamal, and recovered what she'd stolen, but what they are offering is a feeble promise compared to the return of our ponies, and security from the possibility of further attacks from the Storm King. Joining Faust is obviously the better option."

Cadence took a step forward, her stance growing more pleading. "Equestria and Saddle Arabia have been friends for a long time, and while Equestria may no longer be under our control, you know we wouldn't make a promise we couldn't keep. Help us against Faust, and you will-"

Boom! The doors to the throne room slammed open once again, permitting entrance to those seven beings that Rainbow had said was coming. They trotted into the room, then stopped as they saw the princesses, quickly preparing their weapons and horns to attack. The Equestrian party quickly followed suit.

"Stop!" The shout easily cut over the hum of magic and creak of bows, and was most surprisingly the voice of Amira. "Lower your weapons, now!"

The lead unicorn, which a few of them recognised as Wick, a unicorn from the rebellion, stared at Amira in shock. "Are you serious? Those are the princesses!"

"And you are in the Sultan's palace in what is currently a neutral country. You will not attack them, and they will not attack you."

"Except that they already have attacked us," Wick retorted. "We were going to stop Jamal, and reclaim those artefacts as requested, when they attacked us. Actually, worse than that! They joined forces with Jamal's servants to hold us off while they robbed the artefacts for themselves!"

"I beg your pardon?" Cadence said at the accusation. She gestured at the bags containing the artefacts next to her, "I think you'll find the artefacts are right here, safely delivered as promised."

Wick's head whipped around to Amira, who sighed at him. "The princesses also wish to make an alliance with Saddle Arabia, and were given the same task as you were. What I didn't realise was that they would sink so low as to attack you on neutral ground, while distracted!"

"They didn't seem to have any issues with attacking us back," Twilight protested.

"So you admit that you attacked them?"

Twilight let her mouth hang open, fully aware that she'd totally walked into that one. Hopefully this made the act more convincing, if it was still an act any more. There was a lot of trust being tested here. Unestablished trust.

"We did what we felt was necessary," Luna said calmly as Twilight backed away a step. "As Princess Twilight said, you showed little hesitation in attacking us, and gave us little choice but to join forces with those bandits on the battlefield while we hunted for Jamal and the artefacts."

"That's bullshit!" Wick shouted. "They-"

"Captain Wick!" Amira stared down the unicorn for a moment, "You will stand down and lower your weapons in the presence of the Sultan, as the princesses already have."

There was a tense moment as Wick eyed the three alicorns in the room, but eventually he dismissed his magic and signalled for the others to do the same, and for the kirin to lower their bows. "Apologies, Ambassador."

"So," Trixie said once there were no weapons pointed at her, "Captain huh? When did that happen?"

"I was promoted after distinguishing myself in the battle to take Canterlot. The battle which Equestria lost resoundingly, by the way, and ended the war."

"Yeah... I didn't want to talk to you anyway."

"Apologies for the interruption, your Majesty," Amira said to the Sultan, offering him a small curtsey. "As I was hoping to say, if you join Faust you will not only ge-"

"That's enough," the Sultan interrupted, "thank you Ambassador. While I am not fully convinced by what Faust is offering, I am convinced enough of one thing." The Sultan stood and walked down to Cadence, "Saddle Arabia will not be allying itself with you."

"What?" Cadence blurted, her eyes going wide. "Why not?"

"Because you came here, to my neutral country, and attacked the Mareitanians on neutral ground to further your own goals. I'm sorry, princesses, but I will not be associated with those who would carry out such a cowardly and despicable act. Furthermore, you aligned yourself with an enemy of mine just to fight an enemy of yours. Clearly your loyalties are flexible if you can so easily do such a thing."

"But, your Majesty-" Cadence started to say, and either she was a superb actor, or not acting at all, because to the ears of the others she sounded quite genuinely worried at this point.

"Enough! While I am far from solidifying an alliance with the Lady Faust, I will never, ever, consider allying myself with you. In fact, since you are wanted ponies in Equestria, what better way to prove my desire to work with Faust than to deliver you to her as a show of good will? Guards, seize the princesses!"

The Sultan's guards jumped into action, surrounding the Equestrians on all sides. Cadence continued to plead with the Sultan to give them a chance, but to no avail as the circle around them grew tighter. It was around that point that it became clear that it was time to leave.

Twilight charged her horn with a teleportation spell that would take them outside the palace and give them a convincing chance at appearing to run away. Instead, all that happened as she raised her horn to discharge the spell, was that she got a sharp pain in her head as the spell fizzled out.

"Uh... okay?" Twilight looked over at the Mareitanians as a the kirin joined the guards, and saw that Wick was casting a spell that appeared to be casting off waves of magic that she was willing to bet was the reason her spell had failed. Apparently the Mareitanians had learnt a new trick.

"Is it time for that old favourite of ours?" Trixie asked. "Running away with our tails between our legs?"

"You could say that," Twilight muttered. She reared up and shoved away one of the guards with her magic, sending him flying and making a gap in their line. "Run!"

"Don't kill them!" Cadence shouted as the others started shoving the guards away to flee, except the Wonderbolts, who had zipped away as soon as Twilight said to run.

"Does that include Wick?" Twilight asked with a grunt. She might've followed up on it had the other two unicorns with him not seen fit to protect him behind a shield. It certainly didn't include the kirin as they released the arrows in their bows. Twilight caught them with a shield and fired her magic back one of the kirin in return, killing them. As soon as that happened, the guards suddenly seemed a lot more aware of what they were up against, and that the ponies half their size were probably at least twice as deadly as themselves.

Luna took advantage of that hesitation and smacked the legs out from under the guards standing between them and the way out, and dragged open the doors as hard and fast as she could before running out through them, the rest of them close behind her. She put a shield over the doorway to cover their retreat as the remaining kirin readied their bows to fire again, then put her full effort into running.

There were still plenty of guards outside of the throne room as well, having been drawn to the shouts of their Sultan. That was more unfortunate for them than the other way around, because now Twilight was moving, she wasn't going to stop just for ponies waving pointy bits of metal in her face. Ponies were sent flying in all directions as she ploughed straight through them, tossing them aside when she could, or just knocking them down and going straight over them when she couldn't.

They skidded to a halt just in front of their way to freedom as a guard, twice the size of the others, blocked the palace entrance, brandishing a scimitar roughly the same size as the average dinner table, and started twirling it around himself in a display of intimidation that might've worked against literally anyone else.

Twilight ensured his short journey down the palace steps at least had a soft landing in one of the shallow pools of the water gardens, even if the journey, and its source of propulsion, must've broken at least one or two bones.

"Come on!" Rainbow shouted from above, waving for the rest of them to join her in the air. "There's more guards coming, and I can see the Mareitanian army in the distance!"

"I really hope this was all part of your plan," Luna said to Cadence as they took off, with Twilight dragging Trixie and Sunset behind her.

"I really hope so too," Cadence said back. "Otherwise I've just made a huge mistake."

"You can say that again," Twilight growled at the pink mare. "The Sultan I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt, but telling Amira what we're doing with the griffons? That has the potential to really bite us in the ass."

"I've known Amira for years," Cadence said in her defence. "I don't think that she would lie to me about her intentions. She's always been an honest mare."

"Ah well, here's hoping she lies to the ponies we want her to lie to then. Otherwise we're screwed, and the Sultan is screwed as well."

"You really don't trust anypony, do you?" Cadence half shouted. "You don't even trust me with this plan!"

"I trust plenty of ponies," Twilight replied, a lot more calmly than she wanted to. "I trust you too, but I don't know Amira anywhere near enough to trust her with our plans to stop Faust."

"We have no choice but to wait and see now," Luna said to both of them, calmly taking the middle ground of the argument. "If Amira betrays our trust, we shall deal with it. If not, then we may have an ally in Saddle Arabia when the time comes."

"Besides," Trixie interjected, "if she does betray us, it'll still mean that the Sultan will want Faust to hold up her end of the deal to get his ponies back. That still works for us."

"Fine," Twilight said begrudgingly, although she hadn't changed her opinion in the slightest. "What's done is done. All we can do now is head for Zebrica, and hope that they're at least happy to see us. And if we aren't ready after that, I don't think we ever will be."

The retreat was quiet when they returned, and while that wasn't exactly unusual, there should've been at least a few more people around. There was no sign of Nightmare, Daring Do, Mayfly, or Ember, and Moondancer was conspicuous in her absence, as she would normally be in the observation area.

"Starsy?" Twilight asked out loud. She waited a moment for his illusionary body to form, then asked "Where is everyone? Has something happened?"

"Something has indeed happened, although I can't say with any certainty as to how good or bad that something is."

"How delightfully cryptic," Trixie snarked. "Care to elaborate?"

"Ooh, no, I don't think I will now. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise after all. Head through the portal back to Equestria, and you will find out what this is all about."

"Oh come on! You can't just-" Trixie pouted as the illusion of Starsy faded away, "Apparently you can. Asshole."

"I can still hear you."

"Ass-hole," Trixie repeated slowly and loudly.

"Charming."

"Let's just go and find out what this is about," Twilight said to Trixie, turning and walking back to the portal chamber. "Hopefully this really is good news, because bad news might get blasted in the face."

"That surely depends upon the messenger," said Luna.

"Perhaps."

Night was starting to fall in Equestria as they stepped through the portal into Starlight's village, although it was still plenty light enough to see without difficulty. Nothing seemed particularly amiss either as they walked up out of the tunnel where the mirror was hidden, so long as you ignored Mayfly, who was sat just inside the house, next to the doorway with her back to the wall, her face written in abject terror and misery.

Sunset pushed forwards, trotting quickly up to Mayfly. "Are you alright? What's wrong? Has something happened?"

"I- I- She- I-" Mayfly stammered, stopping herself to try and get the words together.

"Come on Mayfly," Sunset said patiently, "deep breaths, and try to speak slower."

Mayfly nodded and drew in a few breaths before finally managing to squeak out a couple of frightened syllables. "She's here!"

"Who is?" Twilight asked, as the list for who 'she' might be had more than a few candidates.

"The Queen!"

Twilight's first instinct was to assume Mayfly meant Faust, but only held onto that thought for half a second because if it was Faust, Mayfly would probably be too dead to tell them anything. She also wouldn't call Faust 'the Queen.' There was only one being that Mayfly would give that name to.

Twilight dashed out of the house, quickly followed by the others, then skidded to a halt after barely a dozen paces as she found the source of Mayfly's fears sitting calmly on the dry, packed earth of the village, surrounded by Nightmare, Ember, and Daring Do, while Moondancer was sat a few meters away, looking as terrified as Mayfly was. It really was none other than Queen Chrysalis, who looked and smiled nastily at them as they stared at her.

"And the guests of honour have finally arrived. I was wondering how much longer these four could stomach standing here, eyeballing me before you would turn up."

"What are you doing here?" Cadence asked with a growl.

"Other than looking for your little group of oddities?" Chrysalis replied, giving both Nightmare and Ember a sideways glance. "The dark one is a particular mystery."

Luna stomped a hoof at the changeling queen, her expression alone saying that she wasn't in the mood for games. "Answer the question."

"I do believe I already have. I am actually looking for you."

"Why?"

"To offer you my help."

"Your help?" Luna laughed. "Why would you offer to help us, even if we wanted it?"

"Because... I need your help."