All of them stared at the changeling queen, individually trying to work out how she was trying to trick them, and each of them positive that she was. The fact that she was sat here, totally undisguised, saying to their faces that she needed help was irrelevant.

"How could you, Queen Chrysalis of the changelings, possibly need our help?" Luna asked, her tone of voice making it very clear that she thought Chrysalis was yanking their collective legs. "Speak."

"Is Faust attacking you?" Cadence also enquired. "We know you built defences in case she did."

"No, she isn't attacking us," Chrysalis said with a small shake of her head, "but at this rate I'm sure she wouldn't need to."

"Why?"

"Because we're dying," Chrysalis said calmly. Far more calmly than you'd expect, considering what she just said.

"This is ridiculous," Luna grunted. "If you seriously expect us to believe that, you are sorely mistaken. Be gone from here, and do not return."

"Wait," Cadence said, before Chrysalis could so much as protest or comply. "Why are you dying? If you aren't under attack, is it a disease, or something else?"

"Starvation," Twilight stated, adding herself back into the discussion. She gestured a hoof towards Chrysalis, hoping to point out her figure that was looking considerably more gaunt than usual, and that her chitin had lost its lustre. "There's not enough love for them to survive on any more."

"Not even close," Chrysalis sighed. "I'm going to sound rather cheesy here, but what Equestria has been through has broken the country's heart. You used to be so lovey-dovey it was almost sickening, if not rather nourishing. We got by surviving on what scraps we could get, but now that eternal wellspring of love has dried up it seems. Were I in any other position I wouldn't actually care, but since we feed off that love it's become a bit of an issue."

"So you've come crawling to us," Luna growled.

"Actually I flew here, but I'll let a few bug related insults slide for now."

"Why don't we just kill her and end the problem?" Nightmare suggested. "Don't tell me it hasn't crossed at least some of your minds," she added as the others looked sideways at her.

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at the dark mare, a tiny smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "And here I thought you'd be all about second chances, considering what you are, Nightmare Moon. Funny though, I always thought you and Luna were the same pony."

"Ooh... we so don't have time to go into that now," Nightmare retorted. "Not that I particularly want to tell you anyway. Come on guys, I'll make it quick and relatively painless, and that's the end of the changeling threat forever. We could even find the pink one and have a party about it if you want?"

"Is that really what you ponies have become? Just murder your problems away?" Chrysalis scoffed at the ponies before her, "Oh how the righteous have fallen. I suppose I might as well make it quick here, rather than slowly starve to death, watching my children slowly wither and die."

"Except you don't have to," said Twilight. "We've already solved the problem. Rather than taking and hoarding love, changelings need to share it." Twilight's face went stiff as Chrysalis started to laugh at her, "I'm being serious."

"And it is absolutely adorable, but no, what you're saying is ridiculous."

"You think that now," Twilight replied smugly, like she was about to play her trump card. "Mayfly, could you come here please?" She lost some of her smugness as nothing happened. "Mayfly?"

"I'm not coming out."

"But you have to! We can prove to Chrysalis that there's a better way for changelings to live. One that doesn't involve abducting ponies and stealing love."

"The abducting part's my favourite," Chrysalis whispered aside to Nightmare.

"I'm still really close to just blowing your head off," Nightmare whispered back.

"My, you are a touchy one."

"Mayfly!" Twilight lightly stomped a hoof as she tried to reign in her frustration. "Please? I promise we won't let her do anything to you. If she does, we'll let Nightmare have her way."

Chrysalis swallowed as Nightmare grinned with the permission that gave her.

"Come on, Mayfly, please?"

"No!"

"And I'm done waiting," said Trixie, lighting her horn to drag Mayfly out of the house, squealing and fighting, and dumped her to the ground in front of Chrysalis.

Mayfly gulped as she looked up at her Queen, then practically ground her nose into the dirt as she cowered in a bow. "Greetings... mother."

Chrysalis leaned forwards, sniffing at her wayward daughter and narrowing her eyes. "So it really is you, even though you look ridiculous and stink of pony. What have you done to yourself?"

"Your Majesty, I-"

"I should've killed you when I had the chance, traitor."

"Hey!" Sunset shoved Chrysalis back and placed herself between the two changelings. "You don't get to speak to her like that!"

"Sunset," Twilight said weakly as Chrysalis bared her fangs, "I really don't think that's going to achieve what you want."

"We'll just see if it doesn't." Sunset turned her glare up into Chrysalis' eyes, "You cast her out as an exile, which means you don't get to be angry and upset when she does things differently to you. She decided to share her love, and now she's no longer starved for it. If you did the same, you wouldn't be either."

"You're lucky I don't have the energy to do much more than give you angry looks." Chrysalis closed her eyes and breathed out slowly, "Whatever it is that Mayfly has done to herself, I can assure you I won't be doing the same."

"Then how about you stop wasting our time and tell us what you want," Luna said to Chrysalis. "Are you hoping that you can negotiate with us now that Celestia is absent? Is that it?"

"Quite the opposite, actually. Celestia I know, and Celestia I can predict, while all of you are practically unknown's to me. Except maybe you, dear Cadence. You I got to know quite well in the lead up to a certain ill-fated royal wedding."

"Clearly not that well," Twilight smirked, "since I could tell you weren't the Cadence I knew from the very beginning."

"Yes, well- Eep!" Chrysalis ducked as Flurry sneezed, firing a beam of raw energy that hit the side of a house behind her, melting a hole in it. She slowly raised herself back up as it became clear it wasn't going to happen again. "Gesundheit," she muttered, lighting her own horn to point Flurry away from her.

"Don't you touch her!" Cadence snarled, shocking Chrysalis into letting go. "How about you get on and tell us what you want, or get out of here."

Chrysalis waited a moment as she watched Mayfly crawl away to the apparent safety that cowering behind Sunset provided. "Very well. As I said, my changelings are starving, and will start to die from that soon. The only way I can see to fix that is to return Equestria to the way it was."

"And not to conquer it yourself?" Luna asked, her eyebrow raised as she peered at Chrysalis. "Or has what happened been a lesson in what would occur if Equestria fell beneath your perforated hoof?"

"Call it what you want," Chrysalis snapped, irritated at being interrupted. "If you really want to know what this is, it's a last ditch effort by a desperate queen to save her people. I know you're building an alliance with the griffons to stop Faust, and I wish to join it."

Twilight snorted into laughter, "Hah, good one. Now tell us the full extent of what you really want."

"I just did."

"No, no you did not. Do you seriously expect us to believe you'll help us without getting something back? The survival of your changelings is your primary concern, perhaps, but I very much doubt you'll go quietly back to the Badlands afterwards. Tell us what you're really after."

Chrysalis glowered at Twilight, but the lack of a denial confirmed that Chrysalis did have more to ask for. "Fine. I want the right for my people to live in Equestria as equals to ponies."

"Uh-huh. What else?"

"And as their queen, I would be held as equal to the princesses-"

"Absolutely not," said Luna.

Chrysalis snorted and turned her head to Luna, "And why is that?"

"Firstly, because you do not deserve to held as equal to the princesses. In your history, you have abducted ponies, terrorized the country, and attempted more than once to take the leadership of Equestria out, all of which culminated in a failed invasion a mere three, three and a half years ago. Secondly, you don't need to be in a position where you have the potential to be nothing but trouble."

"Then how am I supposed to lead my people if I am not equal to you?"

"Assuming we even agree to this, you can still lead your people, so long as you accept that they live in Equestria under Equestrian laws. You will be invited to consult us and advise us as the Queen of the changelings, and an... ally, but will otherwise defer to us, although we will do our best to accommodate the needs of your changelings as you present them to us."

Chrysalis nodded slowly as she took that in, "Does that mean you're at least considering my proposition?" she asked, a rare note of hope in her voice.

"Oh, not in the slightest."

Cadence cleared her throat noisily, making Luna groan. "This is not for you to decide alone."

"And I suppose you want to give her a chance?" Luna said sarcastically. "Even after what she did to you? And Shining?"

Cadence opened her mouth to speak, then closed it as she looked up at Chrysalis. "Nightmare, could you make sure she stays put, please? I wish to have a private discussion with my fellow princesses."

"And that doesn't include me? I'm wounded." Nightmare smiled at the way Luna looked at her, "Joking, I'm joking. Apparently we don't share a sense of humour."

"Thank goodness." Luna stalked after Twilight and Cadence until they were far enough away to not be overheard, "Let's hear it then, your great plan to undermine me."

"It's not undermining you if it isn't just your decision," Cadence said patiently. "And yes, I am saying we give her a chance because while I have absolutely no love for Chrysalis, I also know what her changelings can become. They don't deserve to die because of our issues with Chrysalis."

"And what of her sudden yet inevitable betrayal? You know there'll be one."

"Then what better way to keep an eye on her is there than this?" Cadence smiled at Luna as her face went slightly slack, "What do you think, Twilight?"

"I agree with you. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

Luna snorted with mirth, "Considering the context of what we're doing, you must realise that's a load of rubbish. Unless of course you're suggesting we go and become chummy with Faust?"

"Oh please, Faust makes Chrysalis look like a joke. You have to admit this benefits us though. Another ally with an army, and a way of keeping an eye on Chrysalis. If we can make her changelings feel at home here in Equestria, we might write her off being a threat ever again."

Luna closed her eyes and sighed, horribly aware that she wasn't getting her way on this. The worst part was that if Celestia had been here, the proper Celestia, she'd probably have agreed with the other two.

"This is a fool's errand, trusting a snake like Chrysalis to come into our home. Do you really believe this is the best course, Twilight?"

"Honestly, no, I'd rather keep Chrysalis as far away from us as we can, but we can't condemn the entire changeling race because of our dislike of Chrysalis. Mayfly and Thorax already prove that there's a better way for them. One which can totally undermine Chrysalis until she's nothing more than the figurehead of a race she no longer rules."

"Ah, and your scheming is revealed."

"My scheming was always there," Twilight said primly. "I just wrapped it up in better words for you."

"I must confess that you do make a interesting case. I still think this is a terrible idea of course, and shall be ready with an 'I told you so' when she betrays us. Otherwise it's you two against me, so Chrysalis is to be given a chance."

The three princesses broke up their huddle and returned to the others to deliver their verdict. Judging by the happy little grin Nightmare wore, she had at least already decided what the conclusion would be.

"What's it going to be? A quick death? A sloowww death? Maybe an amusing death? Or are we being stupid enough to give this thing a chance?"

"The latter," Luna sighed. She plodded over to Chrysalis as Nightmare groaned, and stood in front of her. "Congratulations, you're being given an opportunity to prove you're more than just tyrannical parasite. Pray you do not squander this chance."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Twilight said with a nasty grin, "fuck this up on purpose, and we'll fuck you up on purpose."

Chrysalis didn't snarl back a reply as Twilight had expected. Instead she sat there solemnly, looking like she'd just realised she'd made a Discord's bargain. It could've easily been an act since that would be a very changeling thing to do, but the lack of a reaction was more convincing than anything Chrysalis could've said.

"That said," Twilight continued, throwing Chrysalis a bone, "keep your word and help us get rid of Faust, and perhaps we might see our way to letting bygones be bygones."

"I am in no position to deceive you. Well, not more than I am at this very moment, because there is something I must ask of you that I didn't before."

Luna rolled her eyes up to the sky and sighed, "And it begins. What do you want?"

"Food. As in love. Stopping Faust will solve the long term problem, but right now my children are still starving, and won't be able to do anything to help you without sustenance." Chrysalis shrugged helplessly, "Don't tell me you didn't see this coming."

"Not as such," said Luna. "You're also out of luck, because there is no way Cadence will be setting hoof anywhere near your hive."

"Which is exactly what I expected you to say. Unfortunately for you, you're going to have to put a little trust in me, because the only way I can do this is to have the Princess of Love there infuse me with as much of her energy as possible, which I will then take back to my hive to share to my children."

"Get out," Luna spat, not even bothering to consider it.

Cadence groaned at Luna, "Don't be so quick to dismiss her like that."

"Can't you see what she's trying to do? As soon as she has your power she's going to use it against us!"

"To the point that she can beat all of us? Or Faust?" Cadence smiled patiently at Luna, "I think you're overreacting a bit."

"If it helps," Chrysalis interjected, "if you do this for me I have some information for you that you'll want. I was saving it as a bargaining chip, but it seems that two of you are at least willing to listen to me."

"And now she's doing this!" Luna covered her eyes, feeling like the only pony on a sinking ship that knew what water looked like. "You're starting to see my point, aren't you Twilight?"

"I didn't fail to see it in the first place, but yeah, I am a bit suspicious now. I hate to say it though, any information we can get is helpful, and the changelings aren't going to be much use to us being half starved." Twilight shrugged at Luna, "The choice to do this is also Cadence's at the end of the day. Cadence?"

Cadence stepped towards Chrysalis, taking a deep breath to steady herself as an aura of the purest love she could muster started to form around not only her horn, but her entire being. It grew, increasing in brightness and intensity, to the point that the others had to look away until the light died down. When they looked back, a flaming pink heart hovered in front of Cadence.

"Well?" Cadence said to Chrysalis. "What are you waiting for?"

Chrysalis licked her lips nervously, eyeing the flaming heart of pure love. "I must confess that I've actually been feeding off the love you and your infant exude since you got here, so I'm not what you would call hungry right now. Perhaps I could have a doggy bag?"

"This is what you wanted, isn't it?"

"I'm not sure I could contain that much energy at once..."

"Really? Because there's plenty more where this came from." Cadence smirked at Chrysalis, "Thinking you fed off the wrong pony back before my wedding? Or are you wondering what might've been if only you'd asked this of me sooner?"

Chrysalis didn't answer. She didn't dare to. Instead she opened her mouth and started inhaling wisps of the love that the heart contained, but she knew that she was merely nibbling around the edges of what was in essence an entire banquet that could feed her hive for months with leftovers.

The effect it had on her physically was also quickly noticeable. Her chitin quickly regained its shine, and she filled back out where she'd gone thin with hunger. A few seconds later her belly started to bulge, and she gave up trying to consume what Cadence had gifted to her.

"It's too much. Too much by far."

"Well?" Cadence asked as the changeling queen licked her lips, "how do you feel?"

"Powerful, like I could take on the world. Not that I have any intention of doing so," Chrysalis amended quickly. "What I have will be more than enough to get my hive ready."

"That's good." Cadence dismissed the heart, letting its accumulated energy dissipate into the air, much to the horror of Chrysalis.

"What are you doing!?"

Cadence gave Chrysalis a sideways smile, "There's plenty more where that came from. Now about that information you said you had for us? Unless this was all a trick to get me to feed your hive for a while?"

"No trick." Chrysalis raised herself up to her full height, appearing more like the queen that she always carried herself as. It'd look better if her belly wasn't bulging the way it was. "You're aware of those steam powered metal beasts the Mareitanians use in their army?"

"The steam tanks?" said Twilight. "Yes, we're aware."

"I thought you might be. There's a place near Appleloosa where they've set up what I can only assume to be a place where they're testing new weapons, and I do mean assume. It's not like I have any need for such things in my army."

"And they're building tanks there?" asked Luna.

"Not quite. My scouts tell me they have only one of those things, but it's different to the ones the Mareitanians fielded previously. Honestly I have no idea myself, but I suspect you might. They also brought it in by train, so it must've been built elsewhere."

Twilight licked her lips nervously as she shared a look with Luna, "Do you have a precise location for this place?"

"Go west from the pass through the Macintosh hills. It should be a few miles into the desert from there."

"And it isn't a trap set up by yourself?" Nightmare asked suspiciously. She was answered by a sharp glare. "I'm just saying, don't do anything we can make you regret."

"I can tell we're going to be the greatest of friends, you and I," Chrysalis said pleasantly. "So long as we don't kill each other in the near future. Now then, if there was nothing else to discuss, I should be returning to my hive-"

"Hold on," Twilight said to Chrysalis before running back to the portal. She returned a few minutes later, during which a lot of awkwardness happened in the form of looks and silence. Twilight held a smooth, round stone in her magic, adorned with a single rune cut into its surface. "We'll be in touch."

"So you're not going to tell me where to send my army?"

"Not until the time is right. However, I might request your aid in destroying that weapons facility you told us about."

Chrysalis gingerly took the speaker stone in her magic, "Very well. I will tell you now though, do not expect me to be at your beck and call at all times. I will decide what I do and do not help you with, so do not attempt to test my patience by asking for banal favours."

"Of course, your Majesty." Twilight gave Chrysalis a half-assed curtsey, "Have a safe trip back to your hive." Chrysalis didn't return the curtsey, or give a farewell at all. She lurched into the air, her wings working hard to carry her extra weight, and flew south. The hum of her wings could be heard for some time.

"Why the fuck are we even considering working with that piece of filth?" Nightmare asked angrily once Chrysalis was gone. "I mean, seriously, why?"

"Because," Twilight noisily cleared her throat, "when the changelings are living in Equestria, we're going to do our best to befriend them, convert them to Mayfly's and Thorax's way of thinking, and basically steal Chrysalis' hive from under her while reminding her that this was her idea in the first place, so she can't even complain. There might be some civil unrest for a while as the schism between the converted and unconverted changelings is being formed, but that shouldn't be anything we can't handle."

"Oh." Nightmare blinked a few times in slow succession. "I'm not even sure what to make of that. It's like good intentions wrapped up in an evil plot."

"I know! I also know we're going to have to be really careful how we do it."

"There is one concern I have," Luna said to Twilight, interrupting the younger alicorn's gloating. "What's going to happen to her place in things if you go ahead with your plans to replace us with democracy? You'd be opening a door to Chrysalis having more power than us. She could even run to be leader if she wished."

"And there's nothing stopping you from running either. Besides, what ponies in their right minds would vote for Chrysalis? She'd had to have done a lot to earn their trust to do that. By that point she might even deserve to lead for a while." Twilight smiled as Luna spluttered incoherently, "That was a joke by the way."

"I should hope so." Luna sighed and rubbed a hoof back through her mane, "I feel a little overloaded after all this. What happened in Saddle Arabia was enough to occupy my attention without whatever it is that just really happened."

"Which might turn out to be a massive mistake," said Trixie. "You all know it, I'm just saying it."

"It will," said Mayfly. "Maybe not now, but it will. Queen isn't going to let go of her hive easily, so your plan might create more trouble than it's worth."

"Eh, we'll see. The worst I can see happening is that Chrysalis has to be forcibly removed from Equestria, which may or may not involve some of her changelings choosing to go with her. Then we're back to square one with her being a bad guy again." Twilight shrugged, "In which case she helped us get Equestria back, which is as much as you can ask for really. Maybe her fear of Cadence will keep her in line."

"I really doubt she's scared of me," said Cadence. "Even if she is, there's no need for her to be."

Twilight patted Cadence on the back, "Sure, sure. Anyway, I think we've earned ourselves some rest. I'm going to tell Fleur what going on, and I'm going to leave it to her to sort out the new tank thing. Then we'll see if Chrysalis means what she said by getting her to help them destroy it."

It was quite some time after Fleur had gone below deck to converse with Twilight that Shining decided to go and see where she was, mostly because the longer she was gone, the worse he expected the news to be, and his paranoia didn't like that one bit.

He found Fleur face down on her bed, closely contemplating her pillow, the speaker stone still beside her. If she had even realised he was there, she made no move to acknowledge it, even when he sat down on the side of the bed next to her.

"That bad huh?"

Fleur turned her head to the side, freeing her mouth to speak. "It's that bad. We might have an allegiance with Saddle Arabia, or they might've allied with Faust. Twilight genuinely isn't sure at this point."

"Oookay... that still doesn't explain why you're here like this."

"Those boats we saw were carrying an invasion vanguard to Zebrica, while some went to Saddle Arabia with the ambassador Amira to try to convince the Sultan to side with Faust, hence the uncertainty. Fuck knows what they're doing in Zebrica as well."

"Oh, that's not good."

"The kirin have allied with Faust as well, whatever the fuck a kirin is."

"Ah, that is also bad."

"While we possibly have a new ally as well."

"That's good!"

"It's Chrysalis and the changelings."

"That's... I want to say bad, but I'm not sure at this point. I mean it's good for the short term, but probably very much less so in the long term, because it's Chrysalis. What was Twilight thinking allying with her?"

"Twilight knew you'd say that, which is why she wanted me to emphasise that it was also Cadence's idea, because she knew you wouldn't argue with that as much."

"...Damn it."

Fleur laughed and rolled over to face Shining, "Nice to see she knows you so well. Anyway, Chrysalis gave us some information about a weapons testing facility in the Appleloosan desert where they seem to be testing a new tank. Twilight wants us to investigate, and if possible, destroy it, and she wants Chrysalis to help us."

"And what's stopping the princesses flying down and taking care of it themselves?"

"Twilight wants this to be a test for Chrysalis. If Chrysalis is surrounded by alicorns she'll behave, but with us she might not. If she does as we ask, perhaps she might be serious about her desire to ally with Equestria."

"Twilight does remember what that thing did to me, right?" Shining shuddered as memories of his wedding flittered through his mind, "I don't exactly have fond memories of Chrysalis. In fact, I wish she were dead to be frank. I certainly don't want her around me."

"I'm afraid it's tough on that one, and I know you'll refuse to stay behind if she's with us, so you're just going to have to put up with it."

"This is the worst idea Twilight's had yet."

"And that particular bar is already pretty high." Fleur hauled herself up off her bed and stretched her stiffness away. "I'm really starting to wonder how this will go. The war I mean. Both Faust and us have accumulated a serious military force now, and I don't see how that's any better than what it was before. Griffons, changelings, kirin, Saddle Arabians, zebra... all of them to fight this war. It's turning into madness."

"And yet, if we don't fight, it's war anyway. Faust is going to keep doing what she's doing, and it's up to everyone that can to stop her."

"It's going to be chaos." Fleur smiled sadly, "I guess we better get the others organised, and maybe figure out a way to get to Appleloosa."

The flap of massive wings was the only sound for the miles and miles they flew to Appleloosa. To creatures that fly, there was really no other way to travel, but to the half dozen ponies clinging onto the back of the roc that Thorax had turned into, the ground was always going to be the safer option. Maybe if he'd managed to turn into a full sized roc it'd be a bit more comfortable, but apparently that was beyond him.

There was a sharp whistle from above, and Fleur managed to find the courage to lift her face up from Thorax's feathery back to see Shadow looping in towards them, back from scouting ahead.

"There's definitely something there," Shadow said, hovering just above them as between Fleur, Shining Armour, Bon Bon, Crème, and most surprisingly Honeydew, there wasn't any room to land. "It looks like they've been having fun too, considering the amount of blast craters there are around the place."

"Remind me again why we're the ones taking care of this?"

Fleur ignored Shining, who had been whining about their trip for a while. "What's security like there?"

"Nothing too intense. They've put a fence up around where they set up camp, but that's about it. Otherwise it's just a bunch of tents. I'd say there's about thirty ponies there in all. Nothing else. No yaks, kirin, or anything that isn't a pony. You might want to consider landing soon though, because you're not too far away and I don't think they're going to miss the giant bird."

"Alright. Thorax, take us down."

Thorax started his descent, slowly spiralling around until he reached the ground. The sun was starting to set, casting everything into shadows, even in the still boiling desert. Fleur gasped as she slid off Thorax's back, touching her hooves onto the hot ground and jogging on the spot for a moment until she got used to it.

"I've been here seconds and I already hate this place." Fleur stood aside and looked around as the others disembarked from Thorax, allowing the changeling to return to normal. There honestly wasn't much to see. Just rocks, and sand, and anything that dared to live in the arid landscape. "Where now, Shadow?"

"We're not too far away," the thestral said. She started flying in a direction, waving the others after her. "We should try and get a better look at what we're dealing with first, before we head in."

"And could we do that in a way that doesn't lead us through a bunch of potentially unexploded ordinance?" Bon Bon asked, giving Shadow a look.

"Huh? Oh, right, yeah, I forgot about that." Shadow turned around on the spot a few times before settling on a direction. "This should take us to the rear of their compound where they hopefully haven't left a bunch of stuff that could go boom buried in the ground. The view won't be as good though."

"I'm sure we'll live with it," Bon Bon snickered as she and the others started walking after the thestral.

"Something about this smells wrong," Crème said after a minute of walking. They'd come close to a crater, and as soon as they did Crème had started to smell something off. The crater didn't smell like normal explosives, but had an odour similar to the residue from destructive spells. "I need to check this out."

Bon Bon grabbed Crème, stopping her as she headed right for the crater. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Checking this crater out. I have a hunch about these explosives they're testing, and I don't like it." Crème shrugged off Bon Bon's hoof and continued into the crater. "I'll be fine, honestly."

"I am not dragging your heavy ass around if you lose your legs."

Crème stopped on the edge of the crater and sniffed. "Look on the bright side, I'll be a lot lighter without legs." She took a tentative step into the blackened crater, then another, then went quicker until she reached the bottom.

Her hooves tingled as they touched the ground, even through her suit, and the crater was still warm it was that saturated with magic. Crème sniffed at the ground, wrinkling her nose at the indescribable smell.

"Well?" Bon Bon asked. "Find anything?"

"This crater's full of magic residue. I think they're lacing their explosives with magic, or something along those lines. I can't be sure until I see what made this."

Fleur walked up to the edge of the crater. She'd been able to smell something was off, but had dismissed it as unimportant since she had no idea what it was. Now she was glad one of them had picked up on it. "Are you absolutely sure about this?"

"I'm sure." Crème picked up a hooffull of dirt and tossed it into the air. The dust shimmered and glittered as it drifted back to the ground. "Positive even."

"Great, just what we need." Fleur rubbed the spot under her eyes and sighed, "Honeydew, do you think the tanks you designed could fire magic laced munitions?"

"That depends on the method of delivery. If they were using bombs, I'd say yes, but I'm not seeing a lot of shrapnel out here. It is dark though, so I could be missing it."

"What could they be using if they aren't using bombs?" Fleur had been expecting it, but she still huffed when Honeydew said she didn't know. "I guess we'll put that on the list of things to be discovered. Let's get moving, and hopefully have this all figured out in time for breakfast."

The compound, if the patch of desert with a few tents set up could really be called that, was quiet. There were a few lights set up, but most of it was in darkness. Outside of that area they had no idea what was going on, and only had Shadow's word on it that there were a few patrols wandering around, near invisible in the dark to those without night vision.

The patrols were irrelevant though, as the main prize was currently hidden under a sheet that did nothing to hide the shape of the tank beneath, although that shape was different to what they all remembered a tank to be. It was shorter in height, yet wider, providing a more stable platform.

"How could they fit the boiler into something that low?" Honeydew asked out loud. "I investigated trying to lower the profile of the tanks back when I was designing them for... Faust, but it simply wasn't possible."

"Apparently it is," said Fleur.

"No, it wasn't. I tried dozens of designs, and none of them worked. It literally wasn't possible. That tank is either destined to fail, or it's-"

"Driven by something other than steam?" Crème asked, thinking she knew where Honeydew was going with that. "Your designs were limited by it being steam powered, but here in Equestria..." Crème left the sentence open. She knew how Honeydew felt about arcane engines.

"I might not know much about arcane engines, but even I know that to move a thing like that would take some serious power. The engine on the boat is already half the size of that thing down there, and that's just turning a propeller! Using one to power that thing shouldn't be possible."

"You're saying that a lot today," said Shadow.

"Well it shouldn't be!"

"Lower the volume," Bon Bon scolded, making it clear that she would make Honeydew lower it if she had to.

"Sorry, I'm sorry. It's just... I already hated tanks, but if my designs have gone into the creation of something even more dangerous... I hate to even think about it."

"Then don't," Shadow cheerfully told her, grinning at the glare the yellow pony gave her.

"When are we going in for a closer look?" Bon Bon asked Fleur. By we she meant Crème and herself, and hoped Fleur would pick up on that.

"I'm not sure. I think we might have unwittingly stumbled upon a golden opportunity here, and I'd rather not fuck it up and waste it."

"You sound like you have a plan."

"I might indeed."

Bon Bon kept her hooves as light as possible, trying to make little to no noise on ground that enjoyed crunching at every step. Even though there appeared to be nothing or nopony around, she still didn't want to risk getting caught. If Fleur's plan was to go off without a hitch, this had to be done perfectly. No more screw ups.

The tents were barely meters in front of her now, and the sound of snoring was more than enough to tell her which ones to avoid. She might've felt sorry for the ponies working the night patrol, trying to sleep in the oppressive heat during the day while a bunch of ponies tested explosives right next to them, but right now their probable tiredness worked well in her favour.

Bon Bon skipped past the tents with ponies sleeping in them, and moved onto what seemed to be the smallest tent on site. The flaps on the tent weren't even secured, not that it would've made much difference if they were, so Bon Bon slipped in to find that she was exactly where she needed to be.

Boards had been set up in the tent, covered in detailed plans of the weapon they'd been testing here. Everything she could want to know about it was within her reach, but there was only one part she needed, according to Crème, and that was the engine schematics.

Bon Bon plucked a small torch from her gear, and held it in her teeth, hoping nopony would notice the small amount of light as she searched for what she needed. What she needed was actually right in front of her, spread out on the angled desk, but that going missing would be noticed straight away. What she needed was a relatively up to date copy of it, and that would likely found in the rolled up papers stored around the tent.

It took several minutes of searching, and she almost passed it, but she did find a copy of the engine schematics in a tube. She took it out and unrolled it, checking it against the more recent version for anything majorly different. Some changes had been made, so Bon Bon found a scrap of paper and pencil, and sketched out the different bits including what was written, hoping the unicorns could make sense of it, because it meant relatively little to her.

When she was done, Bon Bon put everything back into its place, except the bit she was stealing, and ducked out of the tent, finding the way was still clear for her. Quiet talking could be heard nearby, but so long as they were talking to each other, they wouldn't be listening out for her, so she slipped away back towards where the others were waiting.

"Mission success," Bon Bon reported happily, passing the scroll over to Crème, who quickly started going over it using the light from her horn. "Nopony saw me, and hopefully they won't notice that's missing until it's well past too late."

"Nice work," said Fleur. "What do you think Crème?"

"It's definitely an arcane engine, but what they've done to make it small enough to fit in that tank, yet still powerful enough to power it, shouldn't be possible. It should tear itself apart like this, but it doesn't." Crème scratched at the side of her head, bewildered by what she was looking at. "Give me a minute to try and work this out."

Fleur nodded and waited quietly, watching the camp as she listened to some whispering going on behind her between Honeydew and Thorax. It was hardly a surprise when both came up to her a minute later.

"Do you have a minute?" Honeydew asked, sitting next to Fleur. "We have some concerns."

"About Chrysalis? About what she might do to Thorax when she sees him?"

"I'm not really sure she should see me at all," Thorax murmured nervously. "If she sees me looking like her... replacement, she'll kill me."

"No she won't. If she wants this alliance to work, she won't do anything to risk harming that, including anything she might do to you. Besides, do you really want to spend the rest of your life running from her?"

"...No," Thorax admitted slowly. "Honestly, I just want us to, well, not necessarily get along, but at least not be at each others' throats. I don't think I could fight her if it comes to it."

"Why not? You're a lot stronger now. Sure Chrysalis has centuries of experience, but you have... moxie, and moxie counts for a lot in these situations." Fleur laughed at herself, "Sorry guys, I wish I had more I could say on this, but honestly, this is something you and chrysalis are going to have to sort out between yourselves. Equestria is plenty big enough for the both of you."

"And what if she tries to hurt Honeydew?"

Fleur shrugged helplessly, "That's still up to you. If you two want to go hide until our business with Chrysalis is over, that's fine. This is never going to end until you face her though. She met Mayfly and didn't kill her, so maybe you'll be fine too."

"Maybe you should challenge her instead," Bon Bon suggested. "If you make it look like you're not willing to take her shit, maybe she'll back off."

"I'm going to say that I probably know my mother better than you," Thorax sighed.

"Oh shit."

All of them looked over as Crème cursed, staring at the blueprints like they'd just insulted her mother. "Is there a problem?" Fleur asked.

"Apart from the insanity that this engine is?" Crème turned the plans towards them so they could see. "Basically, this engine is stupidly inefficient, but they use that to their advantage. All the randomly thrown off magic is caught and fed through a bunch of spells that force the engine to hold together, and the harder that engine works, the more magic is thrown out, the more magic is fed through those spells, the stronger those spells become. It's basically forcing itself to stay together, and it works."

"But surely it would run out of..." Honeydew rolled a hoof, having no idea what to call what the engine ran on, "magic juice?"

"You'd think that, but it generates an at extra two thirds of what it uses at any one time, and that extra is fed back into the engine to keep it going for longer, while some is sent off somewhere else. Yeah it runs out, but if it starts out on a full charge, you can probably get a few hours use without difficulty."

Fleur was shocked, and maybe even a little appalled. She was certainly rather disquieted by the whole thing. "How the hell did the Mareitanians come up with this?"

"They didn't," said Crème. "It was being researched in Manehatten university, but it was little more than a theory when the war started. Since this blueprint has Equestrian marks on it, I guess they kept going, and now Faust's gotten her hooves on it."

"Greeaaat. Couldn't they have burnt their research instead of letting the maniac get it?"

"You said some of the excess magic gets funnelled off somewhere else," said Shining, having been quietly listening to Crème's explanation. "Could it be used as a weapon? Or rather as ammo for a weapon?"

"I don't think so. It's just raw magic, so you'd have to put it through a process that could turn it into a spell to use it. Why? Are you-" Crème stopped, remembering the crater from before, and the magic residue that filled it. "No fucking way. That's- That's... impossible! Magic based weaponry! That's never been done before!"

"Who said it had to be just weapons?" said Shining. "They could create shield emitters and all kinds of things."

Crème whined in the back of her throat, "Something like that could be unstoppable."

"So we need to stop it here," said Fleur. "Can you sabotage that engine?"

"Easily," Crème nodded, "but to sabotage it in way that makes it look like sabotage rather than an explosion caused by catastrophic failure, that's a bit harder. If you want to get the Shades here to investigate, it has to look convincing. I might have to talk to someone that knows a lot more about magic than me."

"Maybe I could be of assistance?"

All if them froze at the sibilant voice behind them. Shining even whimpered. All of them turned around slowly to find a patch of dark that was towering over them and grinning as it peered at them with slitted green eyes.

"Princess Twilight sends her regards."

Author's Notes:

Does anyone else here miss sleep? I miss sleep.