"And that's how I came to exist," Nightmare said, ending the story of how she came to be. None of them seemed any the wiser for hearing it though, but there was at least a consensus that Nightmare Moon was a lot less scary when she was shorter, looked more like Luna, and was sat on a cushion happily munching on whatever food was given her.

"So you were made by accident," Moondancer said bluntly.

Nightmare playfully twitched her eyebrows up and down, further reinforcing that she really wasn't all that scary right now. "Or was I?"

"It really sounds like you were, yes."

Nightmare hissed at Moondancer, "Trust a pony with a moon in her name to say that."

"You have an issue with the moon? You?"

"A thousand years, Moondancer. See how you feel about it after being trapped on it for that long."

Luna smiled sideways at Nightmare, "So I'm guessing becoming corporeal has done nothing to fix your selenophobia, or your heliophobia?"

"If anything they're worse because I now have actual eyes to see the real sun and moon with." Nightmare viciously tore at a sandwich and chewed grumpily. "The hardest part is deciding which one I hate most."

"Okay," Twilight said with false cheer, hoping to drag the conversation somewhere more useful, like to their larger predicament. "We have a far bigger problem than Nightmare right now. Soldiers were searching the ruins of Luna's old castle, meaning that our location might be known by Faust, which is obviously a problem. Starsy, are the portals the only way in here?"

"Apart from coming in through the window, yes. Nothing living can really survive outside, so a doorway to it seemed rather pointless. Besides, unless you specifically told Celestia that we're in an old outpost in the frozen north, I doubt Faust would know where Celestia would mean by saying we're in Starswirl's secret retreat."

Twilight laughed nervously, "Hah... funny you should say that, because that's almost exactly what I told Celestia and Luna this place was."

Starsy stared at Twilight, then exhaled slowly as he closed his eyes. "I'm surrounded by idiots. Good news for you then is that even Faust couldn't traverse the frozen north easily, so unless she finds a portal, she's not getting in. Besides, you're assuming much by saying they were searching the castle for the mirror. Maybe they were there simply because of who it used to belong to."

"A fair point," Luna agreed. "With the portal closed we should be safe for now. Of course this still begs the small issue of our most useful exit now being in a castle full of soldiers."

"And that Rainbow Dash and the others are heading right for it," said Trixie.

Twilight's eyes went wide. She'd completely forgotten about that little fact. She knew well enough that they'd see the soldiers well before the soldiers saw them, but Rainbow didn't know the portal was closed, meaning she'd probably try to sneak to it instead, meaning she might get caught.

"Shiiiiit."

Moondancer held up a hoof, "Might I suggest moving the portal somewhere safer?"

"Like where though?"

"How about your castle?" said Luna. "I was under the impression that only you could get in at this moment in time."

Twilight nodded slowly, "Yeessss... but there's the small issue about it being in Ponyville, and Ponyville now being a prisoner of war camp. They're even building more stuff there, so we'll be easily spotted moving around my castle."

"Manehattan with Fleur then," Trixie suggested as well. Again, Twilight disagreed.

"If they get caught, we get caught, and vice versa. We can't risk that. We need somewhere easily accessible, but is rarely visited."

"There's a certain place in northern Equestria by the name of 'Our town,'" Luna said thoughtfully, "where Starlight Glimmer set up her rather bizarre dictatorship. It's abandoned now, so that might be a good place to hide the mirror."

"Now that sounds like an idea," Twilight said thoughtfully. "That's not far from Manehattan either, which could be useful, although I might leave it if the castle is empty when I go back out. I'm the meantime, perhaps you could tell me the plan to stop Faust you apparently have."

"Are you aware of what an arcane oubliette is?" Starsy started by asking Twilight.

"Are we talking about a white void inside an object?"

"Yes, but also no. I'm hoping to create an arcane oubliette that contains a world for Faust to inhabit, like a vid-e-o game, as Miss Shimmer put it."

Sunset held up her hooves as Twilight turned a questioning look upon her. "It's the only analogy I had, alright? Ponies don't exactly have anything like what they have in the human world."

"But why do you want to trap her in a pixelated nightmare?"

"I was still using human terms to describe it, but human games put pony ones to shame. They almost look real. And it was only a analogy!"

Twilight gave Sunset a teasing grin as the amber unicorn fumed. "So there won't be little ghosts chasing her around all the time?"

"Nope, I'm done talking now."

Twilight chuckled at Sunset, and then went back to Starsy as he pointedly cleared his throat. "Sorry. So basically we're trapping Faust in a fancy magical prison where she can have her own world to inhabit."

"Her own world she can control," Starsy corrected. "The idea was to trap her in a world she'll be in control of, and happy with."

Twilight pondered the plan for a bit, and found she was quite happy with it. It gave them a world without Faust, and it gave Faust a world without them. Everypony won. "So what's the catch?"

"The catch is finding something capable of containing the sheer amount of power Faust represents, on top of the magic required to create and sustain the prison. We're talking of an object capable of containing an obscene amount of magic here. So far we've thought of nothing capable."

"The crystal heart."

"No!" Starsy and Cadence both shouted together, before babbling the reasons why it shouldn't used to do such a thing. It took several seconds of Twilight staring flatly at them to get them to stop.

"Okay, if it meant stopping Faust, I don't think it'd be too unreasonable a price to use it. Besides, I was talking about the one from Caverndown."

Cadence's mouth formed an 'o' of understanding, while Starsy just looked confused. "There's two crystal hearts now?"

"Yes, there is, although the one from Caverndown is a lot less powerful than the one you made. However, due to what was done to make it, or something native to the crystal itself, it can hold an incredible amount of magic. Sounds perfect to me."

"That does seem promising," Starsy said thoughtfully. "If I could see it for myself I'd know for sure, although it's only small part of the problem we have."

"What's the rest?"

"Even if this crystal heart is suitable, I haven't even begun to tackle the spell-work to make this idea a reality, and then there's the other problem."

Twilight laughed sadly, "You're going to say it's about getting Faust into it, aren't you?"

"Indeed. It can't be done quickly, and the casters would have to be protected, while at the same time Faust prevented from escaping. I'm loathe to say it, but there's only one way to do all that."

Twilight held back her groan, along with some other things. She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised, but even unspoken, the idea of fighting Faust didn't exactly appeal to her. Still, they had another alicorn in the mix now, so if they could convince Cadence to join that particular fight, perhaps there was a chance.

"That leads us onto other problems," said Luna. "Faust is protected by an army. Obviously we can't fight her and them at the same time, so we will be required to launch a massive attack on wherever she is to keep the army distracted. Obviously we need an army of our own to do that."

Twilight caught Cadence looking sad, and for a moment thought she was going to speak up, but didn't. "Faust's likely to bolster her forces with Equestrians. We'd be attacking our own people."

"That's taking a rather large assumption towards any of our people joining her, because thankfully she cannot force them to fight for her through mind control. Hopefully she won't enforce conscription, or other means, so our ponies would be far from the fighting."

"We can only hope. That still leaves us with a problem though. We don't have an army."

"I am aware," Luna said with a faint smile. She looked up as Cadence stood and left, sighing quietly once the pink alicorn was gone. "I suppose that's better than her fighting us over this."

"Hold that thought for a moment." Twilight stood and trotted after Cadence, while using her magic to activate the speaker stone. Fleur answered after a moment, although it wasn't her Twilight wanted to speak to, and it wasn't Twilight that needed to do the speaking.

Twilight followed Cadence to a quiet corner of the library, where she held Flurry in her legs, looking absolutely miserable as tears silently slipped down her cheeks. She looked up as Twilight joined her, and huffed at her fellow princess.

"If you've come to convince me Luna's plan is the right one, don't. I know what we need to do, and I know I have no grounds to refuse."

"Actually I don't know what Luna's full plan is yet, so I'm not saying anything. I'm actually here to do something for you." Twilight placed the stone down in front of Cadence, who watched her quizzically. "Say hello Shining."

"Hello? Cadence? Are you there?"

"Shining!" Cadence shouted, suddenly a lot more keen as she grabbed the stone between her hooves. "Oh my goodness, Shining! Are you alright? How is this possible? I thought you'd been captured!"

"I'm fine Cadence, really. Fleur and her filly got us out, somehow... and I'm in Manehattan now, with them, my parents, and some others, all perfectly safe. We even got the Crystal Heart too."

"Oh thank goodness. I was so worried, Shining!"

Twilight smiled, genuinely pleased at having been able to do something so simple for Cadence. Unfortunately her motives weren't entirely pure though, because they needed Cadence to get through this, and Shining was perhaps the only pony capable of convincing her to take a more proactive role in saving the world. She needed to put her feelings aside, and do what was needed to be done.

Twilight left them to catch up, not feeling the need to intrude on what was going to be a private moment for Cadence, Shining, and their child. Instead she returned to the others, hoping to hear what the rest of the plan was.

"I'm just saying that I'm going to have to live with worse stigma than you, Luna, because I actually look like Nightmare Moon. I don't eat foals! They're too fatty!"

"I pray for your sake that was actually a joke."

"I've actually forgotten what normal is," Sunset said to herself quite loudly. "I didn't think that was possible."

"Okay," Twilight said cheerfully as she walked into the discussion. "That should cheer Cadence up for now, so let's get back to the proper discussion. What's the plan Luna?"

"We beg the griffons for help."

Twilight burst out laughing. She just couldn't help herself, because that was clearly a joke, although nopony else seemed to be laughing at it. Her laughter died slowly, and Twilight cleared her throat awkwardly. "You're being serious? The griffons would never agree to help us."

"That depends heavily upon the griffons, but if they don't, there's nopony, or no one rather, who can stand against Faust."

Sunset held up her hoof, then felt silly for a moment before asking, "What about the zebras?"

"They don't have a standing army, Sunset, whereas the griffon empire has the largest army in the world." Luna shrugged helplessly, "I wish it could be otherwise, but the griffons have what we need to fight Faust."

"Except they don't," said Twilight. "Historically, griffons lost several wars against Equestria, despite having a numerical advantage. Why was that?"

"Magic," Luna said in a low voice. "You're right, of course. Griffons alone still stand a chance of losing, even if they're only supposed to be a distraction. If they're ineffective, they may not even manage to be that."

"So we'll need more than the griffons, or at least some way to make the griffons more effective."

Luna shook her head rapidly, "No chance. I'm sure we've learnt a lesson somewhere recently about making our enemies too effective against us. We'd be fools to make the griffons a greater threat to us as well."

"Then we make them into a firm ally instead. Besides, we don't have the means to strengthen the griffons against magic."

"Zebra alchemy might," Starsy said, putting his own thoughts into the conversation. "They can create substances to coat their bodies and armours that lessens the effects of magic upon them, and can also treat their weapons to be able to pierce through magical shields easier. If you were to treat griffon weapons and armours with such substances, they could become quite effective against Faust's forces."

"Except the zebras get along with the griffons about as well as we do," said Luna. "Convincing the griffons to help us is one thing, but to convince the zebras to help the griffons is quite another."

Twilight lay down as she tried to think, steepling her hooves under her chin. It wasn't enough to just ask for help in this situation. The griffons currently had to believe Faust wouldn't attack them, just as the zebras similarly would. That would be a false belief though. Griffonia would be a challenge to conquer, but Faust would do it, and one by one the countries of the world would fall. "Together we stand, divided we fall..."

"Excuse me?" Luna said to Twilight.

"We need to give the griffons and zebras something in return for their aid. We can't just ask them to fight our war for us and get nothing in return, even if helping us benefits them in the long run. I'm thinking we need to create a pact between our countries, with an eye towards the future. Improved trading perhaps, and a military requirement where if any country is threatened, the others come to its aid. We stand together, and become stronger for it."

"Like the United Nations!" Sunset said excitedly, only to have that excitement tempered by embarrassment as the others all stared at her. "It's a thing from earth that sorta does pretty much what you're saying," she explained. "Please stop looking at me like I'm crazy."

"It could also temper the griffons if they get greedy," Luna mused. "The threat of us and Zebrica ganging up on them if they don't behave would be advantageous. More so if we add other countries as well, like Mustangia, Saddle Arabia-"

"And Mareitania, once Faust is gone."

Luna winced at Twilight's suggestion, "Is that truly wise?"

"They have no reason to be a threat to us once Faust is no longer controlling them, and will need help to survive considering the state their country is in."

Luna conceded to Twilight on that point. "Very well, Mareitania may have the option to join if they wish. A mutually beneficial alliance between our countries, offering aid in times of need, and greater prosperity through trade. I can't promise the griffons will buy it, but it is something we can offer them. I fully suspect them to ask for more though."

Twilight shrugged, "That will have to depend on what they ask for. Frankly, stopping Faust might be worth any price in that regard."

"I wish you were more wrong about that," Luna sighed. "But we do seem to have a plan for now, so the sooner we get to Griffonia, the sooner we can put it into motion."

"Not quite." Twilight stood and stretched her legs. "First I need to move the mirror if your old castle is still being searched. Then I need to find Rainbow Dash and the others before they get into trouble, and then I need to get the crystal heart from my castle for Starsy. During that, you can put some of what we just talked about into writing."

"But- but-" Luna spluttered. "Why me? Celestia was the legislator, not I!"

Twilight turned to Moondancer, "You're extremely well read, Moondancer, could you help Luna with that?"

"I suppose I could."

"Excellent! In that ca-"

"Could I be of assistance?" Cadence asked meekly, re-joining them in the observation area. "I'm not Celestia, but if we're talking legislation I could definitely help." She passed the speaker stone back to Twilight, "Thanks for that Twilight, I... I needed that."

"Does that mean you're on-board with us creating an alliance to defeat Faust."

"I don't relish the thought of it, but Faust needs to be stopped, so yes, I'm on-board with whatever your plan is."

"Great! Luna will catch you up on everything, while I go do some things. I'll see you all later."

"You're going alone?" Trixie whined plaintively. "Alone without me?"

"I'm going to be doing a lot of flying around, so you can come if you want, but it won't be much fun for you."

"Oh, well... um..."

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Come on then Trixie."

"Yes!" Trixie cheered, only to blush at herself. "I mean... oh screw it, let's just go."

"See anypony?"

Twilight shook her head, then remembered that Trixie probably couldn't see her. "No, nothing. Not yet at least."

"Seems odd that the soldiers would just go. You don't suppose that they caught those ponies that we brought from High Rock, whatever their names were?"

"I don't think so. Well, maybe, but we can only hope not. I guess the soldiers would only assume they were seeking shelter from the war here."

"I guess. Shit!" Trixie took cover behind a corner as a pair of soldiers came into view. She waved frantically at Twilight, who took the hint and teleported Trixie to her position where they slipped into an unoccupied room and hid until the soldiers had passed. "That was close."

"There's something wrong about this whole thing," said Twilight. "Those soldiers didn't look like they were looking for anything, but like they were doing a scheduled patrol. Why patrol this place?"

"I get the feeling we should stop caring, grab the mirror, and get out of here before we're caught."

"Agreed, but it mightn't be bloodlessly if they're patrolling the castle."

"Can't you just teleport us out?"

"Can you teleport a portal?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know. Why're you asking me?"

"Because I don't really know either, and don't want to find out if it doesn't work." Twilight checked the coast was clear and left the room, picking the mirror up off the wall and giving it to Trixie. "I'll clear the way while you keep that safe."

"Got it."

Twilight nodded at Trixie, then led the way through the castle, keeping her steps gentle so they didn't echo too loudly on the stone floor, or off the stone walls. It was almost like being underground at times. Thankfully the castle didn't seem too busy, so progress was quick as they made their way through the winding corridors. The problem was that their route took them towards the large hall that provided the only way out of the castle if you couldn't fly, unless you felt like jumping out of a window, or one of the many holes in the walls.

As she'd suspected, the hall, and the exit, was occupied, but not just by soldiers. Others were there as well, with surveying equipment. Twilight watched them for a while, before it came to her that they had to be planning to rebuild the castle. Or at least that's the only thing she could think of considering their equipment, but why do it so soon after conquering Equestria? It made her think that Faust had been planning it for a while, but again why? There was no tactical reason to it, so it probably had to be connected to Celestia or the Tree of Harmony. Neither was good news.

Twilight yelped as something bumped into her rear, and she turned to find it was Trixie, who had been backing towards her. She was about to ask why when the soldiers came out of the gloom of the hall past Trixie, holding their weapons towards the two intruders.

"Oh."

"Yeah, nice going Twilight. So, are we pretending to be taken captive? Or are we just going to end up doing what we normally do?"

"We don't really have time for either of those, so you just hold on."

"What?"

Twilight teleported into the air and took flight, swooping down towards Trixie to drag her and the mirror along in her wake as she flew over the heads of everypony there, a screaming unicorn following after her, flopping around like a ragdoll.

They went for the stairs at the end, heading up to the throne room, which was equally occupied, but provided greater means of escape through the many holes in its ceiling, of which Twilight quickly made use, soaring high above the castle.

"If you drop me, I'm taking you with me!"

"I'm not going to drop you, you drama queen. You'd think you'd be getting used to flying by now. Do you still have the mirror?"

"Yes I still have the mirror! And I managed to not smash it against any walls either! Despite being tossed around like a used up whore at an orgy."

"Good, and ew." Twilight looked down towards the ground, back at the castle. A road had been cleared through the Everfree forest back towards Ponyville, and along that road a trail of ponies were walking. If the castle was to be rebuilt, it was being taken seriously if the amount of effort being put into it was any indication.

"Twilight, why are they rebuilding the spooky castle? And could they stop? They're ruining the Nightmare Night party I had planned!"

"I hope that was a rhetorical question, because I don't really know. I don't suppose you can see Rainbow Dash, or any of them, can you?"

"No, but I imagine that we'll be seeing some griffons once news about us being here gets back to Faust."

"Ah. Yes." Twilight groaned loudly, "Tomorrow better be an easy day, because today has been both disappointing and interesting in excessive amounts."

"Hey, at least there is a plan now."

"Yeah, but that plan is relying on the generosity of the Griffon Emperor, who isn't exactly known for his altruism towards non-griffons." Twilight sighed and started to fly towards her castle, "Seems like a big flaw to have in the plan."

"Could be worse."

"How?"

"I dunno," Trixie shrugged, "I'm just saying it could be. I mean, at least we do actually have a plan."

"You know what? You're right. I should try to think more positively. The Emperor will see the advantages of our plan, and will agree to help us. Or take Equestria for himself, but that's still better than Faust having it."

"Well, you're halfway to positive thinking at least."

"Yeah, but then I saw that." Twilight pointed to the massive fence that had been erected around Ponyville, while on the far side of the town, opposite her castle, foundations were being laid for a building of some description, just outside the fence. "Suddenly my pessimism just rocketed right back up."

"The fuck is that shit? They're turning the entire village into a prison?"

"Seems that way. Suddenly, what we're going to do to Faust seems far too nice."

"Looking at the positives though, at least your friends got to go home."

"As if Faust would send them... back... huh. Maybe you're right."

"Of course I am, I'm Trixie."

Twilight smiled at Trixie in a way that made sure she knew how much Twilight doubted that. There was perhaps a slither of truth to the idea though. With the Tree of Harmony being closely watched, keeping the bearers under such close scrutiny wouldn't be as necessary. Perhaps they were in the camp somewhere. Somewhere they could be found.

"Okay, new plan. I'm going to leave you at the castle, then while you find the crystal heart I'm going to scout around the fence and see if I can find somepony to ask about my friends. Oh, and once you find the heart, stay on the balcony and keep watch for Rainbow."

"And if I see them?"

"Signal them or something. The direct route takes them over Ponyville, so they're bound to see it."

"Uh-huh... and the heart is where?"

"In the room off the library with the other miscellaneous stuff I seem to have collected over the last couple of years. It's big and shiny, so you can't miss it."

"I sense an insult in there somewhere."

Twilight tried to look as innocent as she could as she lowered Trixie and the mirror onto the balcony of her castle, then opened the way inside for her. She was glad to see nopony had entered since she'd sealed it upon their departure to locate Starswirl's retreat, although she could feel that somepony had tried at some point.

"I'll be back as soon as I can."

"And I'll be here, hoping I don't get spotted while I stand out in the open."

Twilight smirked at Trixie, "I get the feeling you probably know what to do if something happens."

"Panic and scream for you to help me?"

Twilight was taken aback for a moment by the honest tone of that. "That's not quite what I was going for, but sure, do that. I'll see you in a little bit."

Trixie pouted up at Twilight as the alicorn flew away, "Why does it feel like you're trying to encourage me to kill? Like we've somehow forgotten what that means for me." Trixie huffed at the now empty sky, "Trying to not get possessed here, remember?"

"Something is definitely up with Trixie. It's not like I want her to go on a murder spree or anything. I just her to defend herself if she has to. Weird."

Twilight put her thoughts of Trixie aside for the moment. Ponyville was a big place when you're trying to find a few ponies in it, but at this point she was only hoping to find somepony that might know who her friends were if she asked. Failing that, just finding somepony would be something, because the place seemed deserted, at least from the outside. The town centre could be packed, but she'd never see that from the edge of town, and flying over was too big a risk.

To make matters worse, although not for herself, there was nothing stopping Twilight from flying in. That did mean that steps had to have been taken to stop pegasi from flying out. Twilight had visions of wing binders and mistreatment, Mareitania style, and hoped that really wasn't the case. All the same, a sense of caution told her to not fly over the fence, because there had to be more to it than what she could see.

It took a while of skirting around the outside of the fence, avoiding patrols, and not looking where she was going as she flew into a tree to find somepony, but eventually Twilight located a pony that might be able to help. She was slumped against the back of a house, eyes closed, and appearing as though she was trying to not cry.

"Psst! Hey!" Twilight shouted in a whisper, frantically waving to get the pony's attention. It took several attempts, but eventually the pale grey unicorn noticed her, and made the short journey to Twilight, her head swinging back and forth as she looked out for guards.

"Princess Twilight? What are you doing here?"

"Eh?" Twilight cocked her head at the flat delivery the unicorn had in her speech, and it took her a moment to work out who the pony in front of her was, her normally vivid mane and tail looking almost as grey as the rest of her. "Vinyl Scratch? What happened to you? Why do you look so... bland?"

"It happened when this happened." Vinyl turned so Twilight could see her flank, and more specifically the big equals sign in the place of her usual music note cutie mark. "Some crazy unicorn called Star... Star-something, took all our cutie marks, and now I can barely whistle a tune, and when I tried to listen to some of my music it all seemed really... loud. She ruined music. I didn't even think that was possible."

"Are you talking about Starlight Glimmer?"

"That could be her, yes. She didn't seem very happy about doing it though. I think she's getting forced to do it."

Twilight groaned and swore, annoyed at the extra complication this could present in the future. Starlight Glimmer was well known enough even to Twilight that her mark stealing, and brainwashing ways could have ponies helping Faust. Hopefully that wasn't their plan, and that Starlight genuinely wasn't pleased to be doing what she already was.

"Are you looking for Octavia?"

"You can give her and Summer my best, certainly, but you should be able to help me just fine. I was wondering if you've seen my friends in here. Y'know, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike?"

Vinyl shook her head slowly, "I've not seen any of them in here."

"Damn it!"

"Pinkie's in here though."

"She is? Wouldn't she be with all the prisoners from Canterlot?"

"A load of them were brought here a couple of days ago, including her, the Wonderbolts, and a whole bunch of others."

Twilight nodded thoughtfully. There was no way that Faust wouldn't have separated Pinkie if she thought it was necessary. So if Pinkie had made it here, then maybe the rest of her friends would too, even if it meant getting their marks stolen. Twilight could work with that.

"Alright, Thanks Vinyl. I don't suppose you have any other news you could share?"

"Just rumours. Apparently some yaks arrived in Canterlot some time recently. I couldn't tell you what that means, but it can't be coincidence if they turn up right after Faust takes over Equestria."

"No it can't," Twilight agreed, knowing better than Vinyl what it meant. The yaks revered Faust as their creator, or something similar, even though Twilight now knew that was unlikely. It wouldn't be a huge stretch of the imagination to think the yaks would seek out Faust, and it wasn't much more of a stretch to think they might come to serve her cause. "Yaks on the battlefield..." Twilight shuddered at the thought.

"Are you alright?"

"Hah, good one. You worry about yourself Vinyl, not me."

"Oh, okay. I don't suppose you're planning on getting us out of here at any point?"

Twilight looked up and down the fence, not seeing any reason why she couldn't get them out now, and she was about to start cutting when Vinyl stopped her.

"You'll set off an alarm doing that. These fences are electrified, or magical, or I don't know what, but they set an alarm off if you tamper with them, and frankly I'd rather not get a beating off a load of guards today."

"Okay, but what's stopping the pegasi flying away?"

"This." Vinyl grabbed a stone and threw it up. It reached its zenith when it struck what appeared to be a web of red magic that zapped the stone. It was smoking when it landed, making Twilight very glad she hadn't tried to fly in. "It covers the entire village, and it tends to draw attention from the guards as well, so they'll probably come and investigate soon."

"Great. Okay, well, I can't promise an imminent rescue, but we will get you all out of here at some point." A bright flash and a pop came from Twilight's castle, setting Twilight to cursing even more this time, all of it directed at Trixie. "That's my cue. Stay strong Vinyl."

"You too, Princess."

Twilight smiled at the words, but found that she was having to fight to do it, so quickly flew away. She had reached the point where she genuinely hated being called that. In her opinion the princesses had failed Equestria, but even so they were still called princess by ponies, with or without a country to rule. It was more than a little annoying, and a strong indicator that she had an uphill battle to convince ponies that the princesses weren't the best way to rule. That she wasn't the best way to rule.

The fireworks Trixie had set off was already drawing the wrong kind of attention as Twilight made it back to the castle, and even though it was starting to grow dark, it wasn't enough to hide her flying to the balcony. Trixie was there, and it was some relief to see Rainbow, Lightning, Vapor, Mayfly, and Ember were there too.

"Couldn't you have found a subtler way to get their attention?"

"Maybe?"

Twilight rolled her eyes at Trixie, then spotted the crystal heart next to the mirror. That at least wasn't a problem, and did mean they could get out of there sooner rather than later.

"What's going on Twilight?" Rainbow asked. "Why are we here? Why's the portal here?"

"There are soldiers all over the old castle, so we're moving the mirror. Do you know a place called Our Town?"

"Sure I do. That's where Starlight Glimmer had her... thing. It's kinda trashed though, after her and Luna had a fight there."

"Exactly. Nopony goes there, and it's not far from Manehattan, so we figured it was a good place to hide our portal."

Rainbow sighed and let her wings sag to the ground, "Great, more flying."

"Sorry Rainbow, but until Luna repowers the mirror you're stuck coming with me."

Rainbow glared at Twilight for a moment, then sighed. "I'm really starting to wonder why we even came with you."

"Hey, you got to see some neat things, so it's not all bad. Anyway, grab the crystal heart and let's get out of here."

"So do the dragons get an invitation to this alliance things you're doing?" Ember asked as Twilight filled them in on what they'd missed.

"That depends on your dragons, doesn't it. You said yourself that most dragons don't take an interest in anything beyond their hoards, so why would they be interested in a security pact where they have to help others? Especially when it's unlikely you'll ever need help. Only an idiot would attack the Dragon Lands."

"Because some of us want to take an interest! I'm tired of being seen as some big, treasure hoarding brute, just because I'm a dragon!. Do I look like a brute to you? Huh? Do I?"

Twilight jerked away as Ember's jaw snapped shut uncomfortably close to her, as in within a hundred yards of her personage. "No ma'am!"

"Exactly! If I don't get a hoard, leading to some crazy growth spurts, I'm pretty much as big as I'm ever going to get, which suits me fine. I don't want to sit on some big pile of gold in a cave somewhere, I want to be part of the world."

"You really don't get big without treasure?" Rainbow asked, surprised that Ember was already calling herself fully grown. Dragons were supposed to be huge as far as she was concerned.

"Nope. Getting a hoard is like a dragons' passage to adulthood, and if others want to do that, fine, but not me."

Twilight tried to get her head around what Ember was trying to say. "So you're saying greed growth isn't natural?"

"It is, and it isn't. You can do it, sure, but you don't have to. Have you never wondered why dragons come from such tiny eggs when dragons are so big? Spike told me you hatched him when you were a kid, and his egg was smaller than you when you were even smaller than you are now."

It took Twilight a moment to work out the verbiage. "Huh... now you mention it, yeah, that does seem odd. How are you going to convince the other dragons though?"

"The older ones," Ember shook her head, "not a chance, but the younger ones might come around to the idea." Ember shrugged, knowing that she was clinging to a fairly hopeless dream, "I guess we'll have to see how it goes. Anyway, is that where we're going?"

Twilight peered down towards where Ember was pointing, the moon barely lighting up the patch of desert where Our Town was located. There were buildings visible though, half destroyed as they were.

All of them flew down, and Twilight lowered Trixie to the ground, the unicorn whimpering and hugging a rock, before setting her own hooves on the dry ground. She turned on the spot, inspecting the damage to the buildings, some of which were barely standing any more. "Luna really did a number on this place."

"Both of them did," said Rainbow. "I don't know who this Starlight Glimmer thought she was kidding, but she really should've thought better than to try and fight an alicorn. Not that she didn't deserve a good whupping for stealing our cutie marks."

"Ponies have been through here recently," Mayfly announced, her head low as she sniffed at the ground. "Seven of them. Four unicorns, an earth pony, a pegasus, and a... wait, that can't be right."

"What can't be right?" Twilight asked, suddenly worried that today could somehow manage to get worse.

"A changeling. Specifically the changeling Thorax."

Twilight relaxed, relieved that's all the problem was, and that all Mayfly could smell was Fleur and the others as they had passed through. Rainbow seemed a little less convinced though.

"That's some weird skills you got there, Mayfly."

"Heightened olfactory senses to detect danger and track prey. Very useful."

"Yeeaaahhh... okay. What you thinking Twilight?"

"I'm thinking more ponies might come through here, so leaving the mirror here might not be as safe as I thought."

"I might have an idea then. Follow me."

Rainbow led them up the short distance to the lone house that sat at the end of the two rows of houses. A campfire had been made outside the front door, appearing to be little more than a couple of days old, and the broken door to the house was ajar. She shoved it open and entered, then picked the only piece of carpet up to reveal a trapdoor beneath.

"It leads to some kind of escape tunnel. It should be safe enough to leave in here, I think. It comes out through some cave further on."

"Okay, good, and it's within reach for Fleur if she needs to come to us."

"Plus there's probably a bedroom upstairs if Cadence and Shining want to, y'know, spend a little 'quality' time together."

"Welcome back Trixie," Twilight said flatly. "Enjoy the flight?"

"I definitely prefer the shrinking and bags method, I'm not going to lie." Trixie looked sideways at Lightning and Vapor, both of which seemed exhausted. "Perhaps we should be getting back now. Our poor pegasi look sleepy."

"I don't know," Lightning said sarcastically, "perhaps there's a few hundred miles more you want us to fly today? Maybe we should get a headstart on flying to Griffonia? I'm sure we'll really be needed there."

"Nopony likes sarcasm," Trixie replied lightly, only to get a snort of laughter from Twilight.

"Nah, we don't like it, we love it." Twilight glanced at the mirror as it flashed and shimmered, then settled into a reflection of the portal chamber. "Perfect timing. Let's get to the retreat so you can have some rest."

Twilight smiled at them as they filed past and through the mirror, and took the crystal heart off Rainbow so it was easier for her to walk. She then pulled the trapdoor shut and fervently hoped nopony discovered the mirror before passing through into the cool interior of the retreat.

"Is the mirror secure?" Luna asked as soon as Twilight was through.

"Hopefully. We should probably stick our heads through at some point to make sure. I also have the crystal heart, and some bad news."

It didn't take Twilight long to catch Luna and the others up. Rainbow and the other Wonderbolts, along with Mayfly and Ember, had chosen to go to bed, having heard it before, and even though she was having to hear it again, Trixie listened attentively. Nearby, Moondancer was helping Starsy analyse the crystal heart, with occasional input from Cadence.

Luna sat back and folded her legs in front of her. "The news of Ponyville and Starlight Glimmer, while disheartening, isn't a total surprise, nor a total disaster. She was stopped once, and can be again. Although that may not be necessary if she is as unwilling as you were told she was. The news about the yaks however, that is far from ideal. If they agree to fight for Faust their inclusion would devastate any battlefield."

"Are they really that good in a fight?"

"If you want to charge an enemy position, there are none better than yaks to do it. Let us pray that there are no others willing to join her cause, because our odds will become ever bleaker if there is."

"Are there any other cultures that revere her as their creator?" Sunset asked. "Or some kind of deity if not their creator?"

"Many cultures make a reference to a figure like Faust in their legends, including our own forgotten legends from the time before the exodus. Discord too." Luna shrugged at Sunset, "Few cultures revere their legends quite like the yaks do, so I would not worry unduly. Even if they were to link those legends to Faust, I doubt they would seek to join her."

"Mareitania says hi," Trixie muttered under her breath, being heard only by Twilight, who hid her mirthful snort.

"What about the Castle of the Two Sisters?" Cadence enquired, failing to notice the small shudder that name brought out in Nightmare. "Should we be concerned about what Faust is planning there?"

"Probably." Luna shrugged at Cadence, "Until we know what we're doing there though, there's not a lot we can do or say about it. For now we should focus on our own plans. Starsy?"

"This crystal is astounding!" Starsy said excitedly. "The spells to replicate the effects of the true Crystal Heart are sloppy, mostly due to being done by anypony other than myself, but the crystal itself is perfect. You could store half the world's magic in this thing!"

"So it's more than enough to hold Faust?"

"Most certainly. There's still going to be a lot of work to do to get it to do what we want, but with this as a base, we should start making some rapid progress."

"Excellent," Luna said happily, pleased to finally be getting some good news today. Hopefully that trend could continue. "I shall leave that to you, Moondancer, and Sunset then. Twilight, Cadence, and myself shall make our way to Griffonia tomorrow, and start putting our own plans into motion."

Cadence held a hoof to her chest in surprise, "You want me to come?"

"But of course! Celestia may be missing, but showing a unified front between the remaining princesses should convince them of our resolve. You are also a fine diplomat, Cadence. A skill Twilight and myself aren't so... practiced with."

Twilight cleared her throat, "That said, would now be a bad time to point out that I'm bringing Trixie, Rainbow, and the Wonderbolts with me? You know, those four very diplomatic ponies."

Trixie faked a gag, "If they eat meat in front of me, Trixie is going to hurl."

"Very diplomatic," Twilight reaffirmed.

"It seems as though it is impossible to separate you two, so very well. At the very least the Wonderbolts should hopefully be welcomed into the griffons warrior culture."

Moondancer raised her hoof to make a suggestion, "Why doesn't Nightmare disguise herself as Celestia if you're trying to put on a united front?"

Nightmare immediately burst out laughing. "That is a terrible idea," she said, then scowled as she slowly looked over at Luna, who said the exact same thing, at the exact same time. "You can stop that as soon as you like."

"At least we agree that it's a terrible idea."

"I don't know so much any more. I could probably do a decent job of imitating Celestia." Nightmare cleared her throat, then fluttered her eyelashes. "Oh I do so hope the griffons have cake! I can feel my fat plot wasting away without my precious ponies to coddle me in my dotage." Nightmare grinned at the flat expression on Luna's face, "What? Too soon?"

"Why do you feel the need to do that?"

Nightmare lost her grin, her eyes going half lidded. "Really Luna? How about you tell me why?"

"Right." Luna suddenly said brightly, clapping her hooves together as she quickly changed the subject. "Everypony try and get some sleep, and we'll set off tomorrow when we're ready to go. Goodnight."

Nightmare chuckled as Luna swiftly trotted off. "Oh she is far too easy to rile up. I almost wish I could come now. It'd be glorious. That said," Nightmare turned to Moondancer, "why did you suggest that blatantly stupid idea?"

"Because the alternative is you staying here." Moondancer rose to her hooves, "Excuse me if I don't find that prospect thrilling."

"I appreciate your honesty." Nightmare smiled at Moondancer, who scoffed and left rather than argue further. "By the way, I am so taking over this place while you're gone," Nightmare jokingly said to Twilight once Moondancer had gone.

"Don't you even dare. We don't have the time to waste kicking your ass on top of everything else."

"But it could be fun!"

"No."

"Aww." Nightmare fixed her gaze on Twilight, her cat's-eyes piercing into Twilight's. "Guess that's what I get for no longer being the scariest mare in the room."

Twilight didn't dare ask what she meant by that.

Author's Notes:

And here we are back to an hour of my Sundays being occupied with posting chapters. Kinda weird how much I missed it, like I'd forgotten to do my homework. Anyway, nice to see the old familiar faces back here for book three. Love you guys, as only anonymous strangers on the internet can.