The ride back to the base was much more uncomfortable than usual. While the carriage was able to hold a maximum of 5 creatures, (as long as they were pony sized) the amount of creatures totaled to 7, causing 2 of them to have to sit on the floor of the back seat. While Pinkie, Rainbow, Twilight, Shining, and Maud were all seated accordingly, two refugees from Mauds base wanted to come along as well. Tremble hoof, one of the distraught earth ponies, and flare, one of the dragons, insisted that they come along.

The other four refugees stayed behind, killing as many NEM as they could. There was no way they could take the base on their own, but they did want to do as much damage as they could. Pinkie had her face glued to the window, looking at all the passing scenery.

"Wow...... You were right Twilight! This world does look better than my old dirty jail cell! I bet there are all kinds of tasty treats to try out there!"

Shining was hoping she was talking about actual food, and not the flesh of other creatures.

"Twily, what did you tell her?"

Twilight looked at Shining Armor with a nervous look.

"Well... Pinkie was imprisoned in a dark and filthy dungeon in the middle of nowhere, eating nothing but pony flesh. Yet she was somehow happy with her current state.. So to get her to wake up... I....."

Every creature save for Pinkie and Shining looked at her.

"Told her that there were more appetizing creatures to eat in our world..."

Rainbow Dash facehooved.

"Seriously? Now she's going to want to cook every non pony for dinner!"

Pinkies mouth watered upon hearing that, which caused saliva to drip from her mouth onto the window. Shining grew even more concerned. He wanted to glare at Rainbow for that comment, but was too focused on his driving.

The only other worry that he had was about Thorax. The changeling had already gone through so much trauma since he arrived, and now he was going to be in the same building with a pony that would not hesitate to cook him for lunch. He and Pharynx would have to devote extra time to make sure Thorax was safe and alright, even if he was a bit hesitant about receiving it.

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Everycreature arrived at the base ready to get some much needed relaxation, save for Pinkie, who was still full of energy, and desperate for another bite of flesh. Maud however had put a straitjacket on the pink mare to make sure that she didn't harm any creature, or herself. The gray earth pony carried her on her back, and was going to take her to a more secure room.

"Uh question...?" Rainbow dash asked.

"Where were you able to get that straitjacket anyway?"

"The NEM always have some bondage materials laying around." Shining answered. "Whether it's shackles, chains, pillory's, or cages, they will use just about anything to keep their slaves bound and humiliated."

The crew had bought some of these devices back to the base as well should they capture anymore of Neighsays ponies. They had learned from the incident with Zesty that proper tools were necessary to keep prisoners.

Luna was waiting for their return once the crew got inside, and she was happy to see them.

"You've returned! And I see you have additional allies." At the sight of the indigo alicorn, tremble hoof ran up to hug her.

"Luna! Oh sweet Luna it's really you!"

"Indeed. You're safe with us here." Tremble hoof was certainly thankful that Luna was still around, as he hugged the ruler of the night for far longer than she would've liked given how dirty he was.

"Umm... You can let go now." The earth pony jumped back a bit at the request.

"Oh.. Of course your majesty!"

It felt like forever since Luna was referred in that way. She was instantly reminded of her sister, which made her feel a bit down.

"Luna, we managed to rescue Pinkie Pie. However...."

Twilight allowed for Maud to carry her sister over to Luna, which immediately caught the pink ponies interest.

"*Gasp* a wavy maned alicorn...! I bet she tastes like blueberries!"

Pinkie tried to snag a bite out of Lunas mane, which was futile given the straitjacket didn't allow her to move off of Mauds back.

"Pinkie, you are not eating any creature, and that's final. Now I'm going to show you to your room."

Pinkie ears dropped and a large frown formed on her as Maud carried her away.

"Is... She going to be ok? I know that Thorax has still been suffering mentally after his encounter, and if she sees him it will likely scare him even more."

Shining asked. "I was actually going to tell you about him." Luna said.

"He doesn't seem to be having nightmares anymore, plus Pharynx has been spending more time with him, and it seams to be helping him quite a lot."

Twilight smiled. "That's great news! You don't mind if I visit him do you?"

"I'm sure that would make very happy." Luna replied. Twilight and Shining Armor made their way to Thoraxes quarters, while the others stayed with Luna to get themselves settled in.

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As Twilight and Shining opened the door to Thoraxes room, the noticed that it was not just Thorax who was present, but also Pharynx, and three other changelings. They were busy doing what appeared to be some sort of crafts. Thorax was also wearing a pendant with a heart around his neck, probably one he made himself.

"Oh, hi Twilight! Hi Shining! Care to join us for craft time?"

The two were rather confused at the statement.

"My brother organized several activities back at the hive, craft time was one of them."

Several boxes full of junk were laid across the room, nothing significant or useful, but there was alot of them.

"Where did you find all this stuff?" Shining asked.

"I've been down in the basement rooms for quite sometime. All the junk in these boxes weren't being used, so I decided to bring them up and do something with them."

The two ponies were a bit concerned that Thorax was spending so much time by himself in such a secluded area, especially since it led to him being attacked. But they were glad that he was able to find something down there to keep himself occupied.

"Thorax!" A voiced called from down the hall, which caught the attention of everycreature. A scared changeling came up and pushed his way between Shining and Twilight.

"Thorax! I was walking down the hall, and this crazy pink pony tried to take a bite out of me! She claimed that I would make an appetizing meal!"

Shining was hoping to keep Pinkies cannibalism away from Thorax a much as he could, but that plan already went out the window.

"There are ponies that want to eat us now?!" exclaimed another changeling.

"Please! Calm down!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Listen. Pinkie Pie has been a bit messed up in the head ever since we found her, but we are making sure she doesn't hurt anyone."

"Umm... Hasn't Pinkie always been messed up in the head?" Shining asked.

"Not like this!" Twilight responded.

All the Changelings in the room exchanged worried looks with each other, wondering if their safety was in jeopardy.

"Listen, Twilight here saved all of us from Neighsays cruelty." Stated Pharynx.

"Pinkie was likely being tortured as well, and this is just some of the side effects."

"Side effects...? Your brother was suffering from PTSD ever since we got here!" Shouted another nymph.

"Please calm down!" Everycreature in the room turned to face Thorax, who clearly got their attention.

"I know you're all scared, but we can't let fear get the better of us. Pinkie pie was one of the ponies who helped Twilight at the school of friendship. She may not look like it now, but she is a friend. We just need to let Twilight and the others find out how to cure her. Until then, lets stick together and try to make the best of what we have."

All the changelings in the room felt a sense of relief after that statement, as they all went back to their crafts. Pharynx requested Shining armor and Twilight to come over as he had some important information to tell them.

"Listen, half of Equestrias main hero's have been freed. Neighsay has certainly taken notice, and it's only a matter of time until everyone starts to question his motives. That being said, several ponies are still going to remain loyal to him, whether out of fear, or out of old grudges. Especially Ironhoof, his second in command."

Twilight hadn't heard that name before.

"Ironhoof? Who's he?"

"He's a cruel and merciless pony. Always wears heavy armor that can crush anycreatures skull with ease, and won't hesitate to do so if ordered. It's said that nopony, not even Neighsays highest ranking officials, has ever seen his face."

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Griffonstone was never a very pleasant place, even before its assimilation into New Equestria. However, it was now more miserable than ever. Griffons were starving left and right, as most of their food was confiscated by the NEM for their war effort. Whatever scraps of food they could get was a miracle for them, and that was the case for one young griffon. Or it would've, if not for a tall menacing figure that approached him.

"And just what do you think you're doing...?" A dark metallic voice boomed, causing the griffon to drop his scone.

"I... I was just hungry... I haven't had anything decent in..."

"You know well that griffons are forbidden from eating out of the NEM's food supply..."

"Gordan! Run!"

Without thinking, Gordan dashed in the opposite direction, but was quickly caught by a large metal hoof between his chest, partiality crushing the young griffon. The large pony put his other hoof on Gordans head, and began applying pressure. The griffon was only able to let out a short scream before his skull began to crack, and eventually, was crushed underneath the large hoof, causing blood and guts to splatter everywhere. No one, not even the other NEM officials, stayed around to watch the killing, as they all knew not to get in Ironhoofs way.

As he was about to continue his patrol, Ironhoof heard his communication device go off. Every high ranking officer held one in order to stay in touch with other officials including high lord Neighsay. Ironhoof answered the incoming call, and surely enough, Neighsay was the one calling him.

"Ironhoof we have a serious problem. Twilight Sparkle and two of her friends have escaped custody, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie more specifically."

"How? How could they have possibly awaken from their sleep state? Let alone have the willpower to escape their respective strongholds?"

"It's very likely that they were helped. Shining Armor and Thorax have yet to be captured, but even if those two were to find each other, it still would have been a stretch for them to break out three of the six elements."

"So what do you suppose we do my lord? Shall I relocate from my current assignment of pursuing Gilda?"

Neighsay thought about it for a moment before shaking his head.

"Not yet, Gilda is stirring up quite alot of trouble in Griffonstone, so it's likely that she's involved in all this."

"What about this.... Shadow Striker..?" Ironhoof caught Neighsays attention.

"Almost all of the recent attacks are connected to this strange mare."

"I've checked the Canterlot archives for information, and from what I uncovered, she was an assassin that would work in Lunas name. But after the banishment of Nightmare Moon, the shadow striker was a name feared by many ponies as it was rumored that she would hunt or even ponynap those loyal to Celestia. It was a large part of Nightmare night way before our time."

"Keep me informed my Lord. I await the day where the head of the Shadow Striker is mounted on a pike in front of Canterlot!"

"Of course. Dismissed Ironhoof."

Neighsay hung up and Ironhoof resumed his patrol.

"You'll meet your end soon Shadow Striker, no amount of strength or sorcery from nightmare moon will be able to match our superior technology...."

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"I'm an NEM dumb head! All hail Neighsay! I'm too much of a dumb bigot to know what friendship is! All non ponies are on the same level as a maulwarf!"

A crowd laughed at the changeling, who was currently in the form of a NEM officer. Her also wore what was supposed to be an NEM officers uniform, however it was torn up quite a bit to make it look more unappealing, not that anything associated with the NEM was appealing to any creature.

"How dare you laugh! When Neighsay finds out about this he will...."

The actor was cut off when a tomato was thrown at him.

"Who threw that!? Which one of you dirty...."

More tomatoes were thrown at the actor until he flew off the stage in a raging fit. He then tore off the uniform, washed off the tomato sauce with a bucket of water, and changed back into his normal form. The crowd then all clapped the changelings the performance.

"Wow, didn't think that a changeling would be willing to play such a role." Twilight claimed.

"Oh trust me." Thorax chimed in. "This is a great way for all of us to get a laugh. An exaggerated look of the enemy is always funny."

While Twilight did agree with that statement, she began to wonder if killing all those ponies was necessary. Twilight had never taken the life of anycreature before Equestria became what it is now. Sure all those ponies were committing terrible acts against everycreature, ponies included, but was it moral to take their lives? No doubt they would kill Twilight, as well as all the others by her side should they be discovered. If anything, it was more of a case of self defense.

Twilight's thoughts were cut off however, when Thorax interrupted them. "Hey Twilight? I think you're seat is glowing." Alerted by the changelings notification, Twilight jumped out of her seat and checked her cutie mark. Just as she suspected, it was glowing, and that could only mean one thing....

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"But.. Why?" Twilight asked. "Why would the cutie map be calling me now?"

No one in the room seamed to have an answer. Upon hearing of Twilight's summoning, all the other ponies checked their cutie marks to make sure they were being summoned by the map as well, none of them were.

"Surely this cannot be a simple friendship problem. Given what is going on. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a million friendship problems!" Exclaimed the purple alicorn.

"Maybe... The map knows how to beat Neighsay?" Suggested Shinning armor.

"Come on! You really think a map is intelligent enough to know how to overthrow a heartless dictator?" Pharynx exclaimed.

"The map has been right about alot of things before." Stated the white unicorn. "It did help Twilight and her friends defeat villains in the past."

Pharynx only scoffed. "I'll never understand pony magic..."

Luna then spoke up. "If the map is calling you now, then it must be very important."

"But, how am I going to be able to get to it?" Twilight asked.

"It's in ponyville! The NEM probably have access to it, meaning they probably already know that I'm coming! And even if I manage to get a look at it, they can just send a squad or two to where the map will send me!"

"I'm just glad the map still exists." Shining armor interrupted. "I would've thought that it would've been destroyed after the invasion of ponyville."

The room went silent for a moment, with everycreature thinking about what to do next.

"Well it's ponyville, so I know the layout in the back of my head, as well as every nook and cranny. The main entrance to my castle will likely be heavily guarded, but thankfully, it's right next to the school of friendship, which there are a few secret ways in." Twilight then looked at Shining armor.

"Do you think you can take me to the swamplands outside ponyville?" The Unicorn looked doubtful.

"I don't know Twily... That kind of terrain is not something that the auto carriage can handle."

"You don't have to drive through it. Just drop me off by the edge, and I'll go from there." Shining thought about it for a moment before answering.

"Well, we have done several risky moves before, it's nothing we can't handle. However, I'm going to go around to the front afterwards. Want to see if I can distract whatever guards they have posted while you are inside."

"So it's a plan then?" Asked Twilight.

Everypony nodded in agreement. Pharynx didn't even bother questioning the decision, as he wasn't going to get a satisfactory explanation as to how the cutie map worked, but he would at least be able to rough up some NEM racists.

Author's Notes:

I've been doing alot of real life things as of late, as well as brainstorming how to write the story further. Might be a while until the next chapter.