"Are you alright, Princess?"

"Huh?" Cadence said dumbly, the first words spoken on hers and Daring Do's trip to Baltimare catching her off-guard, as wrapped up in her own thoughts as she'd been.

"I said, are you alright? You seem a bit out of it."

"Sorry, I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Nothing you need to worry yourself about." Cadence tried to say it pleasantly to ally any concerns Daring might have had, but she could tell from the look on the pegasus' face that she'd failed. To be fair, considering all that was going on, she'd be suspicious too if somepony said that to her.

Thankfully Daring didn't prod any further, for which Cadence was grateful, since she'd have to tell Daring to drop the issue otherwise. Less fortunate was that Daring went quiet, leaving Cadence to sink back into her thoughts. Thoughts which were not making her feel any better about things.

One of the reasons Cadence had wound up offering her services as babysitter to a certain Twilight Sparkle was that Celestia had pushed her into it. That wasn't to say she was adverse to the idea, but as a teenager Cadence didn't exactly have watching a foal as her highest priority, even if Twilight was a darling little thing. Celestia had been adamant though, and so it had happened. Like destiny. Like so many things tended to be.

The problem was that it did involve destiny. From the moment Twilight had become Celestia's protégé, Cadence had constantly heard about Twilight Sparkle's destiny, to the point that she was almost sick of it. She would never begrudge Twilight for that, but it had strained things with Celestia at times, especially after Sunset Shimmer's destiny had turned out very differently to what Celestia had said it would. Twilight needed to be different, even if it meant Cadence doing everything she could to steer Twilight in the right direction, while still wondering what her own purpose was in the grand scheme of things.

It had led to her meeting Shining Armour, so it had turned out pretty well for her in the end, but Cadence still found herself running into a problem, and the problem involved destiny, and what Discord had said the previous night. Celestia knew all about Twilight's destiny to become an alicorn, which always struck Cadence as odd as Celestia had been totally unprepared, and even surprised when Cadence became an alicorn. Celestia had also been just as surprised when Flurry was born an alicorn, so just how in the hell did she know from such a young age what Twilight would become?

The answer seemed to lead back to the Tree of Harmony. Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and even an anomaly like Nightmare were all bound to it in some way, as were the Bearers, so it wasn't beyond reason to think that might be how Celestia knew of Twilight's eventual ascension. But that left Cadence feeling wrong. She, and by extension Flurry, weren't bound to the Tree, and for a reason that Cadence knew to be foolish, it made her feel less significant.

Yes her destiny had become clearer once the Crystal Empire returned, and she found herself bound to it and the Crystal Heart, but that was in some regards a recent development. Until then Cadence spent years wondering what her destiny was, while hearing all about Twilight's. Now Discord saying she lacked the same connection to the Tree of Harmony maybe explained some of that. That didn't seem to make her feelings of exclusion that she'd had for years any less, and if anything those feelings had come back with a-vengeance.

No matter how welcoming Celestia had been, the surprise nature of her ascension, compared to Twilight's well planned out in advance ascension, made her feel like an accident, and a little unwanted at times. The rather cold reception she'd received from Sunset had only cemented that feeling. Now she was held separate from the other alicorns again, and it... burned at her, if she was honest with herself.

Cadence sighed and put it out of her mind as best she could. Getting angry over something that couldn't be controlled, and probably didn't even matter, wouldn't help at all. She couldn't blame Celestia, Luna, Twilight, or even the Tree's maker, for something they couldn't control either, so doing so was a waste of effort.

Besides, escaping any negative effects of Discord's plan was a definite upshot. If Flurry had been at risk she'd have refused to accept the plan point blank. As it was, she and Flurry were seemingly safe, so she'd left it to the others to decide. Either way, they could only hope the decision they made was the right one.

"Shouldn't we enter on hoof, Princess? We'd be a lot less likely to be spotted doing that."

Cadence hadn't even registered that they were that close to Baltimare, and cursed herself for getting so distracted. The plan had been to enter the city by hoof, so for Daring to remind her at this point already suggested it was almost getting too late to do so.

"Of course," Cadence replied, hoping to hide how scatterbrained she was feeling. "And please, call me Cadence. In fact, considering where we're going, I must insist on it." To be honest, using Cadence was probably too much of a giveaway, but Cadence didn't currently trust herself to remember to respond to anything that wasn't actually her name. Thankfully much of Equestria's citizens knew her as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, so Cadence would probably be fine.

They landed just outside the city, where Cadence quickly ran through the spells given to her to disguise her form. Her wings faded from sight, along with her real cutie mark, getting replaced with a less regal candy heart. Her coat paled to almost white, leaving it with the slightest hint of pink, while her mane and tail lost their pink hue, leaving them creamy yellow and purple. The only thing unchanged, apart from her height and horn, were her eyes. Purple eyes were common enough to pass without comment.

For her part, Daring ran a hoof through her mane and sighed, missing her pith helmet and shirt. It was irksome to think most ponies wouldn't recognise her without them.

"I'm starting to wish we'd arranged to have Shining meet us here," Cadence lamented as she tried to get her bearings. "At the very least he could tell us where to find the refugees."

"New Hope Medical Center. It's on the southwest of the city if I remember correctly." Daring smiled at Cadence's questioning expression, "It pays to know where the hospitals are in my line of work. Somepony has to fix the wings I seem to constantly break, or sprain, or whatever the hell it is I do to them."

"So the fastest way is through the city centre?"

"That's right, although I imagine it would be safer to avoid going through there."

"No- Well, yes, it would, but I want to see what Equestria has become without us. If things get bad I can teleport us to safety."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's not."

"Oh come on," Cadence started trotting towards the city center, a playful bounce in her step, "where's your sense of adventure?"

"Back in the Retreat, which is incidentally where you left your daughter in the care of Moondancer and an illusion. You should probably put more thought into getting back to her, rather than putting yourself in danger."

"You did say this was the quickest way to where we're going, didn't you? The sooner we get to where we're going, the sooner we can find those crystal smiths, and the sooner we can get back to the Retreat."

Daring grumbled, knowing this wasn't a fight she could win. She comforted herself in the knowledge that if things did go to shit, she could simply fly away. Not that she had designs on abandoning the princess, or their mission, but comfort was still comfort.

Within minutes of entering the city, they could tell things weren't as they seemed. Neither of them could quite put a hoof on why, but compared to the image of Baltimare given to them of a city on the verge of collapse, things seemed relatively normal. The streets were relatively clean, businesses were open, and ponies were going about their days like their city wasn't under occupation. It was a little off-putting.

"Seen enough yet?" Daring asked, her unease at what she was seeing making her want to get a move on more than ever. The return to normality really couldn't bode well, in her opinion. Are these ponies really going to want an army of griffons coming to liberate them?

"Relax, Daring. Are you usually so jumpy?"

"Aren't you?"

"No... why would you even say that?" Cadence asked, only to find she was talking to herself as Daring had stopped dead, falling behind a few meters. "What's wrong?"

"I finally know what's wrong with this place. Take a look at those three soldiers. Or more specifically," Daring pointed at a pale blue mare in uniform, "that one."

Cadence sighed, but decided to humour Daring as the mare had lived her entire life trusting her gut. The soldier pointed out to her didn't seem particularly special though, and Cadence felt like she'd seen enough soldiers lately to tell when something was wrong. Then Cadence looked again.

The mare's uniform, although the same colour and cut as a typical Mareitanian soldier's, was less armoured, but by intentional design rather than an effect of shortages. Were these soldiers of a new branch created to govern the streets of Equestria's cities? They didn't seem all that intimidating if they were, and the casual way the mare held her spear with her wing suggested that-

"Ooohhh..." Cadence said as she got it.

"Now are you seeing it? The Mareitanians don't have pegasi, so that could only be-"

"An Equestrian," Cadence said weakly. "We're oppressing ourselves now. Why though? Are all of them Equestrians?"

"Why don't you go ask?" Daring said, far from meaning it, which only made it so much worse when Cadence went to do exactly that. "I was kidding! Oh crap."

Cadence put on a smile as she trotted over to the the trio of... soldiers? Didn't seem right to call them such, but without anything else to name them as, Cadence stuck with it. They didn't see her coming until she was almost on them, which said a little too much of their effectiveness, and when they did they only returned the smile of what could be an incoming threat. Cadence might not know a massive amount about soldiering, but even she was a little embarrassed for them.

"Can we help you, miss?" a stallion asked, a rather nondescript brown earth pony.

"I-ah... I'm sorry to interrupt, but you don't look like the soldiers I'm used to seeing around here. I mean, one of you is a pegasus, and I didn't think that there were any Mareitanian pegasi."

The pegasus smiled at Cadence, "I guess you haven't been into town much lately?"

"It's been hard with the travel ban, but we couldn't put it off any longer."

"Understandable."

"Equestrian Guard?" Daring read off the badge the pegasus was wearing. "Is that new?"

"Mostly. We're the replacement for the city guard, except that we're part of a guard that protects all the cities."

"And you're okay with working for," Daring dropped her name to a whisper, "Faust?"

"Not all of us care about that," the remaining stallion said gruffly, an earth pony like the other, but in tones of red. "Some of us just want our city to get back to normal, so if that means doing this to make it happen, then so be it. It's not like we're joining up to go attack other countries."

"I'm pretty sure they wouldn't give you much choice if they asked you to."

"And maybe I don't like how many questions you two are asking. Maybe you'd best move along."

Cadence quickly apologised and dragged Daring away from the three guards, deciding there and then that getting to the New Hope Medical Center was probably better than getting into trouble.

"Lousy sellouts," Daring grumbled. "I can't believe they'd work for Faust."

"To try and get everything back to normal? I can. Especially if it pays well, because there are probably a lot of ponies out of work right now. It also allows Faust to regroup her army if she doesn't have to use them to occupy the cities."

"Greeeaaattt... just what we needed. Hopefully the loss of her ships doesn't mean she's about to attempt another invasion of Zebrica right now."

"I'm not sure that's our biggest concern," said Cadence. "If there's new equipment being made to arm our own ponies as guards, I'm wondering if this means Faust finally has Equestria's infrastructure up and running, along with all its factories and other methods of manufacture?"

"Does that really matter?"

"If it allows for the mass production of weapons, armour, and other unpleasant things, yes. I'm not sure what the griffons have entirely, but I get the feeling that they're not prepared for fighting tanks, or an army equipped with those net launchers."

Daring nodded along, her expression turning grim. "And here I thought we were winning after Zebrica. Guess I was getting way ahead of myself."

No further time was wasted getting to the medical center after that. Their desire to explore had been ruined by their findings, which instilled in them a sense of urgency like nothing else could have. If Equestrians could bring themselves to serve as their own oppressors, how long before they could bring themselves to become occupiers as well? Faust needed to be stopped, and soon.

To do that though, the four alicorns fighting Faust needed armour, and specifically armour made from magically inert crystals that they needed crystal pony smiths to forge. Hence why they needed to find the crystal ponies. That all contributed to their surprise when they flung open the doors to the medical center and found it empty. Or at least empty of refugees.

"What?" Cadence stated stupidly, her eyes bugging out at the lack of crystal ponies to be found. Instead there were only regular ponies, some in the kind of clothing associated with working in hospitals, and some with the kind of attitudes that belonged to patients.

"This looks like a hospital," Daring said slowly, like she was waiting for a punch line. "I mean it is a hospital, but I... don't understand. Where are all the refugees?"

Cadence didn't reply, and instead walked over to the reception where a kindly looking unicorn mare was sat watching them, a smile barely just hiding the tiredness in her eyes. Cadence regarded the sunshine yellow pony for a moment, then blurted out "Where are they?"

"I'm afraid you're going to have to be a little more specific, dear. Do you have a name for the pony you're looking for?"

"What? No, I- Ngh..." Cadence lifted a hoof to her face to cover her aggravation at what the mare thought she'd meant. Which was fair, considering that this was a hospital. "I mean I'm looking for the crystal ponies. This is the New Hope Medical Center, isn't it? I thought they were sheltering here?"

"They were removed weeks ago, I'm afraid. The Lady Faust desired for the hospital to reopen for the use of her soldiers, when necessary. We are still struggling for supplies after the refugees pilfered most of them, and parts of the building are still undergoing cleaning, but we are once again open to patients."

"Okay, that's nice, but where did they go?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, dear. They were gone before I came back, but maybe they were able to go home. Perhaps if you ask one of those new guards they could tell you. Now is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, thank you." Cadence turned away from the reception and made for the exit, Daring following along limply behind her until they were outside. Cadence stopped walking and stood, staring blankly into the distance until she could think of what to do.

Daring stomped a hoof and growled, "How could she be so dull to think the crystal ponies have gone home? Newsflash, lady, the Crystal Empire is still a frozen waste."

"Is it though? I think it's well within Faust's power to stop it being so."

Daring raised an eyebrow at Cadence, "I can hear you saying the words, but I can't hear you believing them. Faust might have the power to restore the Empire, but I very much doubt she has the interest."

Cadence didn't agree. There seemed to be a drastic shift in the attitude of the ponies here, and while that could be attributed to ponies making do with the situation, it could also be an effect of what the Crystal Empire was literally built to do.

"You're seriously considering this, aren't you? Equestrians are immune to mind control now, so it can't be what you're thinking it is."

"The Empire doesn't use mind control to do what it does," Cadence said aggressively. "It spreads love and good will! It certainly doesn't make what we're seeing happen!"

Daring took a step back from the outburst, "Okay, so it's not the Empire. Of course that means ponies are all going along with this willingly, or at least because it's better than living in squalor, so there's... nothing good here for us at all really. So how do we find the crystal ponies?"

"I don't know! I didn't think fifty thousand ponies could just disappear, but here we are! I'm proven wrong, and we have no crystal ponies!"

"Cadence-"

"Don't talk to me like I'm overreacting! These are my people, Daring, the ponies I am supposed to protect! The ponies I have failed for far too long." Cadence's voice cracked with emotion, and she had to take a moment to compose herself. "I need to find them."

"I know, and we will, I prom-" Daring started as as the door behind them opened, and she had to stop herself from falling in a combat stance as the receptionist came out, a folded up piece of paper held in her magic.

"You dropped this on the way out, dear, and you might want to keep your voice down. You don't want to disturb our 'patients,' do you?"

"I didn't bring anything in with me," Cadence said. She frowned as Daring rolled her eyes and took the proffered paper between two feathers.

"Thanks," she said, waiting until the receptionist was gone again before rolling her eyes at Cadence again.

"What? I'm not kidding. I didn't take anything in with me."

Daring wordlessly unfolded the note and cleared her throat. "I can't talk about it around the soldiers because I'm not supposed to know," she read out loud enough for only Cadence to hear. "The crystal ponies have been taken back to the refugee camps by Appleloosa. Official word is that they've been taken north to a new home, but this is a lie. I hope this helps."

"Oh, well," Cadence cleared her throat in embarrassment, "how was I supposed to know that's what she was doing?" Cadence started trotting away from the hospital, at least recognising what the unicorn meant by not disturbing the 'patients.' "Why take the crystal ponies back to the refugee camps though? I thought that place was terrible?"

"The only answer we'll get is by going there. Come on." Daring set off on a determined trot for an alleyway, and unless anypony was looking for it closely, they wouldn't have paid much attention to the fact that while a unicorn and a pegasus walked in, it was two pegasi that flew out.

"I despise this place," Cadence said of the refugee camp as they circled it from above. "This is the kind of place where hope goes to die. How dare Faust force my ponies to come back here for no reason. It was bad enough that they ever had to come here in the first place."

"At least it's quiet here," Daring commented. "They'll be far from danger when the attack on, well, everywhere, starts."

Cadence sighed through her nose and nodded, unable to dispute that. "A small consolation, but a good one. It's also a small consolation that I see no soldiers down there, although I would be more worried about changelings if it weren't for the fact that we're now supposedly allied."

"At the other end of that though," Daring said slowly and thoughtfully, "the changelings probably knew about the crystal ponies being relocated here from the moment it happened. Funny how they made no attempt to tell us."

Cadence laughed unhappily, "You're expecting much of Chrysalis if you expect her to tell us anything of her own volition. I expect she already has her excuse lined up as to why she said nothing, if we were to ask her about it."

"I'm guessing you don't trust her either."

"I trust her to work in her own self interest, and it might actually be true that does fall in line with what we want. Beyond that though? No, I don't trust her, and I don't think we would ever be foolish enough to do so fully. Now come on, lets see if we can't find what we're looking for."

Spiralling down in a slow descent, they landed on the edge of the refugee camp, at what might generously be called an entrance if that was what you wanted to call the widest way in. Cadence stopped in shock at what she saw, her people living in squalor, filthy and defeated, more so than ever before. Cadence didn't think it was possible for her heart to break more over what had happened to her ponies, but it did, and silent tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Aww heck," Daring muttered at the display. "What the hell could these ponies have done to make Faust force them into this?"

"I don't know, but she will pay for it."

Daring raised an eyebrow at Cadence, seeing an edge there that she hadn't seen before. She supposed that seeing any ponies forced to live like this would galvanise all but the coldest hearts, but Cadence? Her heart was amongst the warmest, but at the same time, these were her ponies.

"Come on Daring, let's see if we can't do something to help."

"I don't think we can-" Daring let her argument die, finding it to be unworthy of being voiced. Cold practicality had its place, but right now that place wasn't here. With a nod she followed after Cadence up through the main thoroughfare of the camp, ignoring the dull gazes of the ponies watching them go.

"I hate to say it, but whoever tied the happiness of the crystal ponies to the Crystal Heart and the Empire was a total asshat."

"You mean Starswirl the Bearded? I'm sure Starsy would love to hear you say that."

Daring said nothing as she watched a dirt stained filly ask her mother for something to eat, only to get a hopeless sigh in return. "I'd love for him to tell me I'm wrong, and I'd love to hear his argument why."

Cadence already knew the argument why, but she couldn't deny that it had seemed unfair, even to her. It didn't matter now though, and until the Empire was restored there was relatively little that could be done to improve the happiness of the crystal ponies, save from drastically improving their living conditions.

It didn't take long for them to reach what seemed to be a common area in the middle of the camp. Both of them stood and looked around, hoping for some sign of what to do, and received it in the furious stomping of a brown and white stallion who really did not seemed pleased to see them.

"So what's this? Another day trip to see the poor refugees? To see how much better off than them you are? Get the fuck outta here!"

"Excuse me?" Cadence said, taken aback.

"I said get out of here! You aren't refugees, so you have no place here. Get lost, before I make you get lost."

"I think you'll find we are refugees," Cadence said calmly, saving herself from returning some of the stallions fury. "I lost my home the same way the rest of these ponies did."

"Pfft, you're no refugee. You're too clean, and you're no crystal pony either. If you're looking for a bed to sleep in, and some decent food, you're better off going somewhere where grass grows, solving both those problems."

"And why don't you do that?" asked Daring.

"Because we have to stay here by royal order of her big, fat, bitchiness, Queen Faust, all because we had the audacity to shelter a hooffull of fugitives for a single fucking night. It's a fucking punishment, and nothing else."

"You're Doctor Gloves, aren't you? My husband told me about you."

Gloves paused for a moment, having to quickly reassess what he was looking at. "And who might that husband be?"

"Shining Armour."

"Is that so? I do believe you're mistaken then, because Shining Armour is married to that fricking Princess Mi Amore Cade... oh hello." Gloves walked around Cadence, "You're a lot harder to recognise being a different colour and a pegasus."

"That was rather the idea."

"So Shining Armour told you about me, huh?"

Cadence laughed once, albeit not entirely happily. "That's right, and I must say you do raise some interesting points regarding the equality and welfare of non equines living in Equestria. I will definitely take a look into it, should I get the chance to."

"And what's stopping you? Wait, don't answer that." Gloves looked sideways at Daring, who gave him an easy grin, then went back to Cadence. "Not that I'm not saying I'm glad to see you, but why are you here?"

"You mean besides being the ruler of ninety nine percent of the ponies here?" Daring snickered.

"Travellers and refugees are subject to the laws and rule of the country they're in," Gloves said back. "Currently that means Faust. Cadence here is little more than the figurehead of a lost nation right now, no offence, so she doesn't technically rule anyone. So I'll ask again, besides checking up on how well these poor crystal ponies are suffering, what do you want?"

Cadence narrowed her eyes at Gloves, stinging at the blatant insult she was given. "Shining never mentioned that you were also a complete bastard."

"He's a busy stallion, so you can't expect him to remember everything. Now seriously, I have a lot to do, so tell me what you want, or be on your merry way."

"We need a crystalsmith. More than one, preferably."

"I... have no idea what that is."

Daring mimicked using a hammer with her hooves, "Think blacksmith, but with crystals, and less fire, and... not like a blacksmith at all really. I have no idea how they do it, but they do make the same sort of things. Or at least I hope they do? We need them to make armour."

"You really need to work on that analogy." Gloves tapped his hoof for a moment, then raised his head. "Paradise?"

"Yes?"

"Gyah!" Gloves leapt sideways as Paradise seemed to materialise next to him, even though she'd been there the entire time, if you'd looked hard enough. "What have I told you about doing that?"

"That a coronary would be inconvenient since you're the only functional doctor in the camp. You never actually told me to stop though."

"Because you already look like a puppy that's been kicked, damn it. Anyway, do you know where you can find a crystalsmith or two?"

Paradise focussed her two extremely pale blue eyes on Cadence, "Would you like me to bring you the Imperial Armourers, Princess?"

"The Imperial Armourers? They're here?" Cadence put a hoof to her face as she heard herself, "What am I saying? Of course they are. Where else would they be?"

"Prisoners in Ponyville," Paradise supplied helpfully, "like the surviving members of the Legion. They aren't though. They're here. Do you want me to bring them to you?"

"Yes! Please. That would be- That would be great, thank you, Paradise." Cadence smiled as Paradise hurried off at a sedate pace, then let it drop as she returned her attention to Gloves. "Are you even the slightest bit aware of the feelings she has for you?"

"I have my suspicions, but it's so hard for us mere mortals to tell when the pony in question looks so damn sad all the time. Besides," Gloves sniffed, "don't go thinking those feelings aren't being reciprocated in some form. Paradise is... well, she's pretty great."

Cadence was at least satisfied with the answer. In this state the crystal ponies were vulnerable, and easily manipulated. Not because they became more gullible, but simply because they didn't have it in them to fight back. King Sombra kept their spirits broken for a reason after all. She hated the idea of Gloves abusing what little trust Paradise had given him, and was pleased that didn't seem to be the case.

"So... Paradise might be gone for a while since this is a big camp, and nopony around here moves in a particular hurry, so would you like a drink? The water is clean, although the glass mightn't be, and you'll probably have to share."

Cadence gestured for Gloves to lead on, although it was barely a dozen meters to his tent, which so happened to be the medical tent as well. She sat on the edge of a cot and accepted the glass of water. As Gloves had said, the water was clean, but the glass left much to be desired.

"Is there enough water here?"

"We're getting shipments, which is enough to cover us if we forego certain luxuries like, say, washing, for example. Food too, although it's pretty basic fare. We aren't getting any other supplies though, so it's a good job I took what I could from the hospital. We're surviving."

Cadence bowed her head, feeling guilty for the state she'd been forced to leave her ponies in. "I can't wait for the day when all these can do so much more than just survive."

"I'm afraid that's all a lot of these ponies will be able to do until the Empire is restored. I really don't understand it. I've performed test after test, and besides some magical bull-shittery, there's really no physical cause for them all to be this way. To tie their mental wellbeing to the Empire, to things that can break and be destroyed, that's just pure cruelty in my book."

"That's something we have to deal with, I'm afraid. We can't take back something that was done over a thousand years ago."

"Did Sombra do something to make them this way?"

Cadence shook her head, a sigh of laughter escaping her. "Actually it was Starswirl the Bearded. He created the Empire, as in the structure itself, and attuned the crystal ponies to it. Firstly to save them from the encroaching frozen north, but also to make ponies in Equestria happier, to keep them getting along. I don't think he ever considered what would happen to the crystal ponies if you took that mechanism away from them."

"Something tells me that I wouldn't have liked to have been around a thousand years ago. Sombra, Discord, Nightmare Moon... sounds like a right hot mess." Gloves shivered at the thought, "Makes what's happening now seem bearable in comparison."

Cadence smiled lopsided at Gloves, "Have you not been paying attention for the last four, five years? The return of Nightmare Moon, the return of Discord, the return of Sombra, then Tirek, and some other, lesser things. Do none of those sound familiar?"

"Alright, you make a point."

"Then how about this? Faust is worse than all of them, because the things we used to stop all those other threats don't work against her. Not to mention her death toll is a lot higher than the others combined, and that none of the others really achieved their goals. Don't underestimate her."

"Alright, you've convinced me." Gloves nudged Daring, "Princesses, eh?" Daring decided not to rise to it. Not least because her own efforts to protect the world were quite lengthy, even if most of Equestria considered her feats to be fictional.

"So when are you planning on starting the cow and sheep revolution?" she asked instead.

"Only some time this side of never. Is that the impression Shining gave you? That I want to start a revolution? I'm pretty sure having a pony lead that would be the height of hypocrisy. I only want cows, sheep, and other sapient beings to have equal rights and representation in a country that was theirs before ponies stole it. Is that really too much to ask for?"

"No," Cadence said, "and now that I'm aware of the situation, I agree entirely."

"Not sure I do," said Daring. "I've met quite a few creatures in my travels, and I have to say that cows and sheep really aren't the most intelligent ones I've met, and have a terrible tendency to panic, as well as a habit of agreeing with everyone else around them because of their serious herd mentality. Equal rights, fine, but putting them into politics sounds like a disaster to me."

Gloves narrowed his eyes at Daring, "And I've already decided I don't like you. I'm not saying we put them in charge of the country. I'm saying we that we should at least give them a little representation in it."

Daring shrugged and shifted away, "I still don't think that's a good idea."

"Then it's a good job I'm not asking you!"

"Then maybe you should go ask Faust, and see how that pans out for you?"

"Daring, enough," Cadence scolded. "I hate to say it, but it doesn't matter either way until Equestria is freed from Faust. After that I will be more than happy to put a proposition forward regarding the equality and rights of all Equestria's inhabitants."

Gloves smiled and nodded, "That's all I ask. Well actually I'm asking for them to get those rights, not just for you to ask about getting them, but I'll settle for baby steps."

With Gloves' political agenda satisfied for now, the conversation died, save for a few observations on how hot it was. Cadence felt like she should be going out and seeing her ponies, and she knew that her being there wouldn't be unnoticed, but time wasn't on their side for her to go meet the entire camp. She couldn't see them in disguise either. It felt wrong, like she was too scared to show her real self. She didn't want her ponies thinking she was scared. Not now.

Thankfully they didn't have to wait much longer before Paradise returned with the Imperial Armourers, the ponies responsible for forging the armour that the Imperial Legion wore. Truthfully, Cadence couldn't think of anypony more qualified to create the armour they'd need to fight Faust, and she was glad they hadn't been captured with the Legion and imprisoned in Ponyville.

Cadence stood as the four ponies entered the tent, although Paradise slinked straight past her to sit next to Gloves. The remaining three stood, heads lowered, right in front of Cadence.

"You need us, Your Highness?" the lead pony said, a mare of silvery coat and copper mane. Scars crisscrossed her back, reminders of the brutal reign of King Sombra. A lot crystal ponies had some, but only a few had them to this degree, and only because they had a tendency to make themselves a target by trying to help and protect others. Cadence always felt like they should be proud of that much at least.

"Stout Heart, isn't it? I remember Shining mentioning you when it came time to refit the armour of the Crystal Guard."

Stout Heart bowed, along with the two others. "I'm honoured that you would know of me, since we haven't met in person."

"Please, don't bow. Not here." Cadence didn't say that she didn't deserve that kind of respect, and never really felt like she had, but right in the heart of the suffering the crystal ponies were enduring, she wanted to bow to them and beg for forgiveness. She would settle for acting as equals instead. "I need your skills. Equestria needs them."

Stout stood to attention, "What do you need?"

The crystals were where Mayfly and Daring had left them in the tunnel beneath Starlight Glimmer's village, which seemed to have become a bit of a dumping ground for things that couldn't go through the portal. Stout Heart was inspecting the crystals and discussing things with her cohorts. Cadence didn't follow it, and didn't really try to as she fussed over Flurry.

"How many suits of armour are we supposed to make with these, Princess?"

"Hmm?" Cadence blinked, caught unaware by the question, "What was that, sorry?"

"How many suits of armour are we supposed to make from this?"

"Four, if you can." Cadence suddenly felt concerned, "Is there not enough for that?"

"More than enough, Your Highness. We could probably make a dozen suits from what we have here. I'm just looking to clarify how many, because between yourself, Princess Luna, and Princess Twilight, that's only three suits. Who is the fourth for?"

"That's a... bit of a secret, but she'll use the exact same measurements as Luna, if that's what's worrying you."

"As you wish. I'm sure having spare will help since I've never even seen this type of crystal before, let alone worked with them." Stout held one up to the light to see through it, but the milky crystal stopped her doing so. "Where did you get these?"

"Zebrica, from an exposed ley line. Unfortunately there was an accident, and there's no way to get more. We also lost somepony gathering them. I'm afraid you'll need to do what you can with the crystals you have."

"That won't be a problem. We'll get started as soon as we have some tools."

"Tools?" Cadence asked, a sinking feeling settling on her. "Don't you have tools with you?"

Stout held her breath for a second, then sank as she let it out. "All our tools were left in the Crystal Empire during the evacuation. There wasn't time to get them, and there's no way of doing it now."

"Right, of course. What tools would you need?"

"A common set of glassblowing tools would work. I'll doubt they'll have the specialist tools we had to work with crystals, but we don't strictly need those. All we need then is a furnace, a glory hole, and an annealer."

Cadence swallowed, "A- a glory hole?"

"To reheat the crystals during production, to keep them malleable."

"Ooohhhh! Right, okay, that's a relief."

"Wait-wait-wait," Daring said as she held her hooves out in front of her while seeking clarification, "So basically you make your stuff like a glass blower would?"

"We use molds, but yes, that's how we do it, along with a little crystal pony magic."

Daring grimaced, "This could be a problem."

"You mean it is a problem," Cadence corrected. "Do you know of anywhere that might be willing to lend us their setup?" Daring shook her head and shrugged. "Damn. Perhaps we should return to the Retreat to think this over, and see if the others might have any ideas."

None of the others had returned in the short period that they'd spent in Starlight's village, meaning that the only ones they had to ask were Moondancer and Starsy, which was surprisingly fruitful as it turned out that Starswirl had kept and maintained both a forge and glassblowers equipment.

"Getting custom made alembics and other equipment used to be a nightmare over a thousand years ago, so I took to making my own" Starsy explained. "I mean Starswirl did, not myself, per se."

"Is it portable?" Daring asked.

"Only if you dismantle it and take it outside. I can't promise what kind of condition it's in as it hasn't been touched since Starswirl was last here. It's also not quite like other furnaces either."

"We'll risk it."

They were directed to a far corner of the library, where a narrow spiral staircase was hidden out of sight. Traversing it took them up above the library, where the temperature rapidly dropped to the point that ice started to coat the walls, and the roar of wind outside could be heard.

Cadence lit her horn to guide their way, and after a few more turns they found themselves in a large room that was full of benches and other tools, all coated in a layer of ice. On the left side of the room was a hulking forge, while the right was occupied by a sizeable furnace, with a smaller one beside it that Stout explained was an annealer. In the middle of the room was a chimney, providing direct access to the outside, and access for the elements to come in.

Cadence shivered, her teeth chattering. "Are the tools still okay?"

Stout tried to pick one up off a bench, but had to hit it first to free it from the ice, then hit it again to break the ice from it completely, revealing a large pliers. "They're a little rusty, but should be functional with some cleaning. I'm not sure about the furnace though."

"What's wrong with it?"

Stout waved a hoof at the furnace, unsure of what to make of the thing. "I have literally no idea where the fire even goes in there."

"Starsy did say it was different," Daring said. She broke some of the ice off the front of the furnace, uncovering a large gem with some engravings around it. "I'm guessing by that he meant it was powered by magic. If you'd do the honours, Princess."

Cadence directed her magic into the gem, which started to glow brightly. Within seconds the furnace started to steam, rapidly melting the ice covering it, and filling the room with a warmth that soon started to melt the ice covering everything else. That created another problem, but as the water started to collect in channels that took it away from the stairs to the library, it was clear that it was a problem Starswirl had accounted for.

There were three flashes in the room as Stout and her two companions brightened up, the furnace doing more than melting the ice. It also gave them a little hope, as well as Stout a broad grin. "That'll do nicely. Now all we need to do is get those crystals up here."

"I'm afraid that's not possible. They're magically inert, so we can't bring them through the portal," Cadence explained. "That's why we need to get this out to the crystals."

"Oh." Stout studied the furnace for a moment, then sighed. "That would've been easier before it was heated up to many hundreds of degrees. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to take it apart either. I'm no unicorn, so magic things are beyond me. I'm also fairly sure that this thing is probably rusted into a single piece by now. I'm amazed it still works, to be honest."

It was pretty clear to Cadence that getting it down those stairs was impossible too, which also left her wondering why Starswirl made the access to this room so awkward. The only other option was teleportation, but Cadence didn't trust herself to be able to do that. Not without help.

"I think that we'll have to wait for Luna or Twilight to come back before we can move this. For now we should clean these tools up and get as prepared as possible so that no time is wasted once we have the furnace where we need it to be."

Author's Notes:

I think the thing I was going to say last week was that some of the next few chapters were going to be shorter as I was trying to write them over the holiday. Seems less important to say this now at the end of this fairly average sized chapter, and seems unimportant at all really. Oh well.