The farther I walked from the hotel room, my one-time cheap stay while I prepared to embark on my sudden journey to the stars, the more I swore I’d forgotten something. Once again, I assured myself that I hadn’t. I’d checked everything in my two suitcases at least five times before leaving, yet that still wasn’t enough to settle the part of me that worried about these things. Considering that I was about to leave Equus for years, I suppose I couldn’t blame it for overreacting.

The Manehattan streets were filled with the same grim faces I saw every day in Baltimare, and nearly in the same patterns. Everypony left their housing at the same time every day to get to work at the same time every day. We were all parts of the machine, and even one slow cog or slipping belt could kill dozens of our soldiers on the front. Every day, the High Queen asked us to perform our best, and then double it. Every day, we gave the Synarchy what it asked for. Every day, we returned home exhausted, ready to do it all over again after six hours of fitful sleep.

So it was strange to me to break the routine. Yesterday was my last day at the Equus lab. Today, my staff and I were boarding a navy corvette that would take us to Auris. There, I’d settle us all in and continue our work, safe from the bombing of Coalition ships or the eyes of their spies. The military wanted energy, and lots of it. I planned on delivering for them and saving Equestria from the Enemy.

Even though that task grew more and more impossible by the day.

The rumbling of heavy machinery brought all of us to stop at the corner of a sidewalk. To my right, a convoy of armored transports rolled down the streets, weapons covered with canvas and tarps. One by one, the transports passed, each one carrying the grim faces of three dozen soldiers simply watching us as we stood by the side of the road. Following them was a detachment of tanks, their powerful turbine engines whining and whistling as they hovered along. More ponies sat on the roofs of the tanks; a couple of them waved to us as they passed. A few transports full of ammunition followed them, escorted along by police vehicles. The whole procession took maybe a minute from start to end, but when you have to stand and salute for that long, it could feel like a lifetime.

I crossed the street immediately after. They were likely on their way to the Griffonstone front, and military command had decided to divert them through Manehattan itself to remind us all of who and what we labored for. The message was clear enough: do your jobs, and the soldiers will do theirs. They will die if you don’t.

I always found the rhetoric of the past year or so to be such an interesting change from when I was a filly. Nopony praised our armies as invincible. We were fighting a struggle for survival, and our soldiers needed to look equine to the populace, not like invincible killing machines. Sometimes, the best way to convince civilians to do their part was to guilt them into it. With mandatory military service, all of us had served a tour before, anyways. We knew what those soldiers rode off to face. And if we could do our part to make their hell a little less painful, then we’d do it thrice over.

Getting glimpses at the inside of the propaganda machine is confusing. On the one hoof, I knew more about how it works than the ignorant masses, so I could parse some of the truth from the lies. On the other, I wasn’t involved in it at all, so I didn’t know how much it influenced how I thought. As a scientist in search of empirical and objective data, I worried about bias like that a lot.

An hour’s walk took me to the naval spaceport. I had to show three different IDs and a ream of paperwork just for clearance, and then the soldiers put me on a shuttle and sent me off to the main launch wing. I recognized several of my coworkers in the shuttle, and I talked with them briefly. Most of it was strictly research related. A few comforting words were said to those who had to leave family behind. And there were those like myself who didn’t have any family to leave behind.

That wasn’t strictly true. My foals were somewhere on Equus, in the government’s care. My husband was probably already on a shuttle to a frontline somewhere. But they wouldn’t ever know that their mother was being sent lightyears away to work on research that could win the war. They just knew I would be gone for a long time. And if my research meant that my children would live, then it was worth it.

My ears perked at the sound of roaring engines. I looked out the window and saw a great ship dip into the lower atmosphere, far above the base. Static electricity discharged from its hull, striking the clouds around it like it was the eye of a steel storm. That was the corvette we’d be taking to Auris, the EOF Stardust. Having served on the much larger Horizon cruiser during my term of service, the Stardust looked small by comparison. Still, from down here on the ground, it looked massive. It wasn’t often that we saw our ships in atmosphere; we needed them in orbit to fight the Coalition ships and keep them from bombing our country.

I fiddled with my suitcases as the shuttle came to a stop. Once that corvette dropped us off on Auris, I didn’t think I’d see another ship for years. There I’d stay, until either the war was over or the Synarchy called me back. It was humbling to think about.

Then the door opened, and I stepped into the High Queen’s sunlight one last time.

An explosion woke me up from my dreams. Or Surge’s dreams. Fuck, even sleeping was getting disorienting. Still, both Ace and I were awake and alert in a matter of seconds, and any exhaustion I might have had from my sleep being so rudely interrupted just vanished into thin air.

I guess sleeping light because you’re always worrying about somepony blowing your head off at any given second has its benefits, sometimes.

“What the fuck?” I asked. I wiped some of the crustiness out of my eyes and peered into the darkness surrounding us. “Are we under attack? What’s happening?”

Surge, her military service more than two centuries behind her, was a lot more shocked and on edge than I was, having been shot at continuously for the last month or so. Still, I guess her torturous years of basic training stuck with her, because she started pointing my eyes in different places. “Are they in the bushes? We should check the door, that might have been a breaching charge!”

Ace used the wing I’d claimed as a blanket to cuff us in the back of the head. “Calm down, you babbling Equestrian fool. We ain’t the ones under attack. That came from the city.”

“The city?” I asked, scanning the lights in the valley below. The Brass Bank stood out first and foremost, just as imposing and impressive as ever, but it looked perfectly fine. Which was odd, because the first place I’d imagine an explosion to come from in a city like Three Rivers would be from the huge building that probably had millions of pounds of ordinance locked away deep down inside. So when the obvious target disappointed me, I had to search for the next one.

“There,” Ace said, pointing to the east end of the city. “You can see that bit of smoke, right? Ain’t all that much light to go by, but it’s there.”

I squinted into the darkness and saw a little reflection off of the angry cloud drifting out from between some of the buildings. “Yeah, I see it,” I said. “Any idea what it is?”

“Beats me,” Ace said. She stood up and collected her things, stretching each of her joints in the meanwhile. “But we should find out. Ten bullets says it’s that fucker you know.”

“Wouldn’t Three Rivers kill him?” I asked as I stood up next to her.

“That threat ain’t enough to make Reclaimer and his lackeys think twice. The Ivory City don’t give a shit about their neutrality,” she said. “They’d gobble this place up and steal all the Bank’s bullets if they could. Reclaimer would love to have that arsenal and get Thatch sandwiched between here and there. And besides, how hard you think it’s gonna be to point hooves when you dump a bomb and run?”

“What would they even blow up?” Surge asked. “Why would they risk getting caught and killed by the mercenaries to plant a bomb?”

My face paled. I knew exactly what Yeoman would try to obliterate in the middle of the night. Or rather, who.

“We need to go find Gauge and Nova,” I said, already galloping down the stairs to the door. “That bomb was meant for us!”

I heard Ace barreling down the stairs after me. “Shit,” she cursed under her breath. “Fuck! If those bastards hurt Lines, I swear to Celestia, there ain’t gonna be much left of them when I’m through.”

We burst out of the old windmill and galloped down the slope towards town, careful not to step on any of those poisonous frogs along the way. By the time we made it back to the raised streets, some pegasi in mercenary armor had dragged a few clouds down to put out some fires, and a thickening crowd of bystanders started to assemble around ground zero. I shoved through them all before the crowd got much worse, and we came to a stop just at the edge of a semicircle cordoned off by the city’s mercenary guards. It took me a few seconds to recognize what we were looking at, but Ace didn’t need any such time.

“Fuck!” she screamed, trying to shove her way past a guard. “Fuck off, you cunt, my friend was in there!” She threw her shoulder against the guard, knocking her to the ground, and galloped over to the edge of the smoldering building. I slipped through the hole as well, even though it probably wasn’t the smartest idea now that Ace had pissed off the guards.

I got a clean look at the building from out here. Most of the first floor and parts of the second were scattered in smoking heaps around the clearing, and a few pegasi were flying up into the shattered levels of the building to pull ponies out of their rooms. A few fires still danced in corners, but the rainclouds the mercs had brought down had taken care of most of the blaze. The injured had been laid out for medical attention, while it seemed like most of the inn’s inhabitants were watching from a distance as the guards thoroughly vetted each one. Given Three River’s armed neutrality, I could only assume they were trying to find any aggressors or targets of the bombing.

Ace’s wings carried herself over to a group of ponies I recognized with a fluttering hop. Lines, Nova, and Gauge stood in a small circle, chatting in low voices and watching the guards fight the last of the fires. Lines had several cuts across his dull red coat; I could only tell he was bleeding because random patches of his coat would reflect the light of the fires. Ace surprised him when she wrapped her wings around his shoulders from behind and nuzzled his cheek, though that turned into a happier smile when he saw just who was attacking him like that. Nova and Gauge turned to them, and then to me as I came up behind them. Both let out sighs of relief and gave me hugs.

“What happened?” I asked as soon as we all broke away.

“There was a bomb,” Lines said. He glanced at the ruins of his inn behind him. “I think that much should be obvious.”

“Ain’t take much brainpower to figure that out,” Ace said. “Why though? You see it?”

“He told us that some stallions dropped a package off shortly after Gauge and I got back from dinner,” Nova said.

“They were asking for you,” he said, pointing a hoof at me. “When I said you weren’t in, they wanted to take it to your room because it was full of valuable supplies you’d ordered for the next leg of wherever you’re going. I told them I’d take care of it and give it to you as soon as you got back, but they wanted to just take it to your room. Had to threaten to call the guards before they left.” He sighed and hung his head. “Thank Celestia I was making rounds on the third floor when it went off. It was behind my desk waiting for you; I would’ve been incinerated had I been down there.”

I made a face, pulling back my lips in a sneer. “Yeoman did that,” I said. “The bastard doesn’t even have the balls to fight me face to face.”

“The box was probably rigged to blow up as soon as it was opened as well as sitting on a timer circuit,” Gauge said. “That would explain why they’d want to leave it in your room while you were gone.”

“They just dumped the bomb and ran,” Ace said. She spat at the ground. “Pussies.”

“We should be safe now,” Surge said for me, trying to match my way of speaking in front of Lines. “Lines can give the authorities a description, and we already know what Yeoman looks like. They likely fled town as soon as they dropped the bomb.”

Lines and my friends nodded, and I took over and turned to my friends. “Are you two okay?” I asked Gauge and Nova. I took a sniff of the air, and even beneath the ashy smell, I could smell something musky coming from the two of them. I practically grinned from ear to ear and winked at Nova. “Have a good time?”

“Before we were rudely interrupted…” she said. She looked away and her tail flicked a bit. Stars I hoped that poor mare had at least managed to finish once before that bomb went off. I’d have to add ‘cockblocking my best friend by trying to kill her’ to the list of reasons why Yeoman needed to die.

Gauge shot Nova a sympathetic look; I bet he was feeling the same way she was. “We’re both fine,” he said, redirecting his attention back to me. “A little shaken up, but fine. If Lines hadn’t left the bomb downstairs, I don’t think we’d be around right now.” Our eyes darted along the destruction on the first and second floors. “That thing destroyed half of the building, and we were only right next door. It must’ve been antimatter or a fusion core or something. You’d need a lot of conventional explosive to do this much damage.”

“I bet that fucker has antimatter on him,” Ace said. “The Ivory City has a refinery. They ain’t in no short supply.”

If I was drinking something, I’m sure Surge would’ve made me choke on it. As it was, her shock nearly made me drop the cigarette I was trying to put to my lips. “There’s still a working antimatter refinery on Auris?” she asked. “You could cause this much damage with hardly more than a pinhead of it!”

“Rumor has it that most of the machines are broken from disuse, but Reclaimer cobbled together the parts to get one working.” Ace shook her head. “I ain’t got a clue how the whole shit works, only that it does. How much can you make with one of those machines, anyway?”

Surge thought for a moment. “Assuming the rest of the facility is at least in passable condition, you can probably put together a gram a year.”

“That’s not so bad, right?” I asked. I didn’t like the look I got from Nova’s face. “…Right?”

“This was a pinhead’s worth of antimatter, Em,” Nova said, pointing her metal wing at Lines’ destroyed inn. “A gram of that stuff could vaporize a good portion of the city.”

I swallowed hard. That did not bode well. “…How much is a ‘good portion’?”

“Easily three-quarters of it,” Surge said. “A gram of antimatter reacting with a gram of matter releases a tremendous amount of energy. A single gram will produce as much energy as a low-yield nuclear weapon. It will vaporize everything in the immediate vicinity, no questions asked.”

I blinked and thought about that for a moment. The Sentinels must have had miniscule amounts of antimatter in their antimatter rockets; it would explain why they could be so destructive despite being so tiny. And Reclaimer was possibly making a gram of this stuff a year. A couple grams of it could probably flatten a mountain, or at least shear a big chunk off of it. He could destroy Ace’s hometown with an explosive the size of a grenade.

I think even Surge was starting to realize how dangerous this stallion and his city could be.

Nova looked over my shoulder, and I knew something was wrong when her face paled (an impressive feat for somepony with a white coat). I didn’t waste any time spinning about, ready to protect my friends even without my guns and gear.

I was not ready to find myself face to face with at least a dozen incredibly armed mercenaries training their weapons at us.

Ace’s wings instinctively twitched toward her guns, but when a few shotguns were raised up to her chin, she flared her wings out and sat down. The rest of us followed her example, and that left me looking up at a pair of mercenaries walking out of the crowd toward us. One of the two I recognized as the mare Ace had bowled over to get to Lines and my friends. The other looked like a captain of sorts; I guess he was the one in charge here. They both stopped when the mare pointed at the five of us.

“That’s them,” she said. “They were involved in an altercation at the Brass Bank earlier today.”

I blinked, realized what was happening, and indignantly stood up. “Hold on a second!” I protested, managing to close the gap by one step before I had more guns aimed at my head. “Are you going to arrest us? Over this? We’re the victims here!”

“Ember, you’re not helping!” Ace hissed at me.

The leader of the two frowned and stepped closer to me. We were close enough that the two of us could’ve crossed horns if we wanted to. “The only victim from all of this is the city,” he said. “You and that other stallion should’ve handled your business outside of Three Rivers. The Bank works very hard to stay neutral, and they don’t tolerate wandering shitbags like you bringing your petty wars into the valley. So yes, you are under arrest until the Council decides what to do with you.”

He stepped back and gestured with his hoof, and several of the mercs emerged from the crowd and started drawing manacles and nightsticks. I took a few steps back, already trying to think of a way out, but then my vision exploded in bright lights and swirling colors as it felt like somepony kicked me in the brain. The next thing I knew, I was already shackled up and being forced down the street by several guards, my legs moving on a will of their own.

I nearly stumbled as I slipped back into control of my body. I could see my friends behind me and Ace at my side at the head of the column. Ace simply stared dead ahead, refusing to acknowledge me, while the other three walked in sullen silence right over my shoulders.

Did you do that? I asked Surge.

Yes, came her reply.

Why? That hurt!

Because if you kept struggling and making a fuss, then you’d just be making this worse for all of us. I heard her mentally sigh. Especially for me, since I’m unfortunate enough to have to share your body for survival.

Woe is you, I thought back. Don’t ever do that again.

I will promise no such thing, Surge spat back. Sometimes you have to know when to keep your head down. You didn’t last long in the Synarchy if you didn’t learn how to do that. And something tells me you’re the kind of mare who’d bash her head against a wall in protest simply because somepony told you not to.

I grumbled inwardly. Somehow I knew she was right.

Honestly, that night wasn’t the first time I’d spent the night in a cell. Technically. I was a stupid teenager once just like everypony else, and I’d gotten in trouble for doing dumb shit back in Blackwash. I used to steal ponies’ doors and bolt them onto other buildings for shits and giggles simply because I could (yes, really). I’d also ended up spending a few nights in a tiny room in the old barracks at the listening outpost with nothing but four walls, a ceiling, and a floor made of rusting steel. Even though I wasn’t really in any big trouble then, that was torturous enough that the cells in Three River’s jail were nearly heavenly because they had beds and furnishings. Ace didn’t seem to mind them all that much, either. I had a feeling that this was one of the more cushy lockups she’d spent her time in. Lines also looked pretty relaxed, though he didn’t seem as comfortable about it all as Ace did.

Nova and Gauge, on the other hoof, looked like they expected to die here. Gauge did a better job at hiding it than Nova did, but he started pacing and kept pacing for a couple hours. Nova cycled between clinging to the bars, trying to lie down on the ‘bed’ that was really just a blanket on a wooden floor, and sitting in the corner, counting bricks. It wasn’t hard to guess that she thought we were doomed, especially because she said as much every few minutes.

“What if it’s the firing squad?” she asked me. “It shouldn’t hurt to get shot in the head, right? Pony reaction times are about a fifth of a second, a bullet would scramble your brain before it could register the pain—”

“Will you shut up?” Ace hissed at her, covering her ears with her hooves. Nova flinched and drew back, especially when Ace flopped down on the floor. “Celestia fuck! You been at it for hours now, girl! If they ain’t gonna shoot us, I might do it myself for a bit of peace and quiet!”

“Watch it,” I warned her, interceding on behalf of my best friend. I tried to hug Nova and get her to calm down a bit. “They’re not gonna do anything, Nov. They already would’ve if they were.”

“Or they like to pretend that they still have a legal system and due process,” Surge muttered. “At least they can put on a show before they kill us.”

I clamped my muzzle shut to get her to shut up. You are the fucking worst help I could’ve possibly asked for, I thought at her.

Gauge hugged Nova from the other side. “We can only hope that we get a chance to explain ourselves,” he said. “Maybe if they listen to our story, they’ll let us walk.”

“Certainly better than nothing,” Lines grumbled. He groaned and glared at Ace. “Figures, after so many years of being gone, the first night you come back, some thugs blow up half my inn and I get arrested for it.”

Ace flicked a smile at him. “I ain’t never said life weren’t boring when I’m around.”

“For better or for worse. This time, I’m thinking worse.”

“Aww, c’mon, Lines, where’s the stallion I used to know? That inn eat your balls and your sense of humor?”

Lines frowned at her. “If this is what passes as ‘humor’ for you, I’m glad I got out of wandering the wilderness with you two.” His shoulders deflated. “What happened to her, Ace? What happened to Z?”

Any last tidbits of mirth that might have clung onto Ace’s muzzle melted in a second. She hung her head, using her curtain-like mane to hide her eyes. “I’ll… tell you about it later,” she said, and I thought I caught a glimpse of a sad eye pointed in my direction through her mane. “In private. Just… I’m so sorry, Lines. It was all my fault.”

Lines’ features softened, and he slid over to give Ace a supportive hug. “Whatever you think, I know that last part isn’t true,” he said, stroking her neck. “Z would never blame you for it either.”

“You don’t know that…”

A heavy iron door banged open somewhere out of sight, and we all froze. Horseshoes clacked against wooden steps as a pony—several ponies—descended them. The five of us stood up and moved toward the bars, almost on some instinct, and tried to peer through the metal to get a good look at the ponies coming down. We all wanted to know the same question: where they our saviors, or our executioners?

We couldn’t figure that bit out immediately, because it was just a group of armed mercs. One of them, the commander from last night, stuck a key in the latch and pulled the door open wide. “You’re going to the Bank to stand trial,” he said. “The Council wants to know why Reclaimer’s agents are trying to kill you, and why they’d blow up an inn to do so.”

I felt a little bit more relieved by that choice of words. At least the hour we’d spent being interrogated last night was good for something. If this Council knew that we weren’t the aggressors here, then hopefully they’d let us go.

I really hoped for that last bit. I didn’t have enough pyromancies to fight my way out of what was probably the most secure place on Auris. Not like I could remove the ring around my horn preventing me from doing magic anyway.

We fell into a line behind the first group of guards, the chains around our legs clinking and clattering as we climbed the steps. When we climbed back into the light, it felt like everypony in the city had dropped what they were doing to get a glimpse of us. The streets were crowded with curious onlookers, and a few mercs had to shoo them away from us before they could get too close. I felt my skin crawl as these ponies regarded us like simple show animals brought out for their entertainment. At least there wasn’t any jeering or fruit-throwing. They were just curious ponies who wanted to see what all the fuss was about since they had nothing better to do.

Thankfully, the walk to the Brass Bank wasn’t a very long one. The jailhouse was only a block or two away, but we got a good, long look at that dominating building as we walked up to it. It was funny; yesterday, that building seemed so magical and mighty, an inspiring pinnacle of what we could achieve if we just stopped fighting with each other for a few years. Today, however, it frightened me. It was like we were walking into a tomb, and I felt like once we stepped inside, we’d never step out again. I didn’t know what to expect inside… but I doubted it’d be pleasant.

Several more mercenaries opened the doors to the Bank and escorted us inside. An audience had already formed around the perimeter of the room, several ponies deep, but the main floorspace was open and empty. The mercenaries walked the five of us into the center of the room, between all the teller desks, and then took several steps back. All was quiet except for the quiet murmurs of a few hundred ponies—at least, until the far doors opened and several more ponies emerged, one after the other, until seven of them made their way to the far end of the room, where the tellers’ desks had been converted into judge benches or whatever they’re called. I nearly did a double-take when I saw Denarius among their number. He was a member of the Council? I didn’t know that I’d been talking to one of Three Rivers’ leaders this entire time!

Denarius and the other merchants took their seats and shuffled a few papers around. I got a wink from the silver unicorn, and I immediately started breathing a little easier. I could at least count on him to have my back. As for the others, I had no idea where they stood; I just hoped Denarius had pleaded my case with them a little bit beforehand. One of those merchants, an aged unicorn sitting in the center of the group, hammered a gavel three times, and then all was silent.

Honestly, I was just impressed that the Bank was wealthy enough to afford to waste money on symbolic shit like little wooden hammers and teller desks that could be converted into judiciary benches at a moment’s notice.

I was worried that this whole thing was going to be long and boring; if I was going to die, I’d have very much appreciated it if they’d just get on with it and tell me. But when the old unicorn in the middle rolled his eyes and began to speak, I knew that at least some of my fears were unfounded. “I won’t waste your time any more than I expect you to waste mine,” he said, staring right down at me. “My name is Aureus, and I’m the supreme merchant of the Council. Would a representative of the accused step forward so I have somepony specific to talk to?”

Lines looked at Ace, expecting her to step forward, but Ace and my friends all turned to me. I swallowed a groan and reluctantly stepped forward. On the one hoof, I was pretty much the unofficial leader of the group, even if I hardly knew what I was doing half the time. On the other hoof, I couldn’t believe they were trusting their fates with the mare whose favorite word is ‘fuck’.

The old stallion squinted at me through shining spectacles (they even had glassworkers skilled enough to make lenses? Holy shit!). “Can I get a name so I don’t have to talk to you like I’m talking to a wall?”

“Ember,” I said, trying to keep my shaking voice under control. “My name’s Ember.”

Aureus nodded with mild approval, his glossy yellow coat catching the light like gold foil. “Pretty name. I can see why you have it.” He shuffled a few papers but ultimately shoved them to the side of his desk. “I’d like to get to the bottom of this as soon as I can, and I’m sure you’d like to walk away with your head. So, answer our questions, and we’ll let you know if you can keep it or not.”

His blue-gray eyes slid over to Denarius, who respectfully bowed his head and slid his chair back some. “I understand it that you and merchant Denarius are already acquainted?”

I proudly nodded my head. “Yes, sir. We met before me and the Sentinels drove the Crimson out of the northern valley—”

“A simple ‘yes’ would have sufficed,” he said, frowning at me. “Word of advice, filly; only answer what I’m asking you. The more reason you give me to distrust what you have to say, the more likely your blood will be painting the firing wall red in an hour. Let’s keep it simple and only elaborate if asked, okay?”

I was a little taken aback, but I swallowed my emotions and stiffly nodded. “Okay.”

“Sir,” Surge quickly added. Be respectful, you dumb cunt, or we’re all dead.

“Good.” Aureus waved a hoof. “Merchant Denarius spent quite some time pleading your case for us before we took our seats. While I get the feeling that you’re generally a likeable sort, I also get the idea that you’re a dangerous one.” He narrowed his eyes at me, and I swallowed hard and tried to meet his gaze. After a second or two, he nodded to Denarius. “Given your past history, however, Merchant Denarius has recused himself from judgment. You will be answering to us and only us. Am I understood?”

Denarius recusing himself from the trial was almost like a blow to the chest. I’d lost an ally I was hoping I could count on, but I doubted the matter was entirely his choice. At any rate, he’d apparently been trying to convince them of my innocence, which I appreciated enough. Now I just had to hold my own here.

I bowed my head. “Understood, sir.”

“Good. Now, for the actual meat of the matter.” He leaned forward a bit, squinting through bleary eyes at me. “You said you were a Sentinel?”

I nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Concerned murmuring broke out around me, and a few of the Merchants exchanged looks. Aureus seemed surprised, if only slightly so; his eyebrow hardly moved, but it did move. “We heard your organization drove Carrion and the Crimson from Celestia Dam and reopened the trade network between Three Rivers and the northern valley. Until recently, only Merchant Denarius and Merchant Floren were brave enough to make the journey.” He glanced briefly at Denarius and a pink mare sitting beside him, and they both flickered smiles back. “What is your rank? How long have you been with the Sentinels? I’d like to know if I’m talking to an officer or a grunt.”

“I’m a sergeant, sir,” I said, even earning a little inward surprise from Surge; I don’t think we’d talked much about my time in the Sentinels since she jumped into my head. “I was promoted after the battle at the dam. Truth be told, I was only with the Sentinels for a couple of weeks beforehand, but they needed replacements following the battle.”

“I see.” His horn flared blue as he scratched some notes down on a piece of paper I couldn’t see. “And are you still a member of their organization?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then I would like to know what an active-duty sergeant from the Sentinels is doing this far south. You’re well outside of your territory, that’s for sure.”

I debated what to say next. Did I tell him about the code and my mission? I had to tell him something, because I hadn’t left much wiggle room for me to lie. If I claimed I wasn’t here on some mission, then he’d claim that I was lying to him about my position in the Sentinels. And I had a feeling that if the Council smelled the slightest bit of deceit on my part, they wouldn’t feel so bad about blowing my brains out later. Not to mention the brains of all my friends.

But a lie of omission couldn’t hurt, right? “Commander Fusillade sent me on a mission that would take me outside of the valley,” I said. “I’m afraid I can’t say any more than that. It’s classified.”

Aureus didn’t seem to like that very much. “Everypony has their secrets,” he admitted, “but the secrets of ponies like the Sentinels are always concerning to the common folk like us. You never know what a group of ponies with access to much more technology than they should own will decide to do with it at any given moment.” He shook his head and glanced at his notes. “What about the rest of your friends? Are they Sentinels too?”

I shook my head. “No, sir.”

“Then where are they from and why are they traveling with you?” He nodded to Lines. “I understand that this stallion here owns the inn that was bombed, but I don’t know very much about the other three.”

“These two are simply my friends,” I said, pointing to Nova and Gauge. “They’re traveling with me to simply help me out. We’ve been best friends since we were foals.”

“And the other?”

Ace glanced at me, though I couldn’t really read what she was trying to say. Neither could Surge, because she didn’t offer me any helpful hints. “She’s… from Thatch,” I said, deciding to leave out the ‘outlaw’ part. That was just common sense not to include that. “Mercenary and former Ruin Runner. We ran into each other up near Hole and we’ve stuck together since.”

Aureus wrote some more things down and the other Merchants murmured to one another. You’re talking too much, Surge hissed at me. Everything you say gives them another angle to try and kill us!

I wanted to retort, but she was right. I could see it in the way Aureus looked at me, and I knew exactly what he was going to ask next. “What were you doing in Hole?”

“We had to stop there for supplies,” I said. “It took us two weeks to navigate the mountain pass that separates the valley from the interior of the continent.”

“Is that so?” Aureus said, steepling his hooves. “I can’t fathom why two mares with property branding on their flanks would stop at the center of Auris’ slave trade for supplies. If I were you, I would’ve passed by, consequences be damned.”

“We were desperate,” I said. It was truth enough; we were nearly out of supplies and we needed information. And, amazingly enough, it’d all worked out for the best. We all escaped in one piece, met Ace, and got a hint as to where the next installation was. “We didn’t have much of a choice.”

One of the Merchants whispered something into Aureus’ ear, and the old stallion simply nodded. “We’ve heard reports from merchants heading that way that there were many disturbances at Hole some time ago. There was a slave revolt at the RPR headquarters and a good number of the city’s guards were killed in cold blood. Would you happen to know anything about that?”

Lie, Surge insisted. If you tell him the truth, we’re dead.

I shook my head. “That happened before we arrived.”

“Is that so?” Aureus narrowed his eyes at me, but when I unwaveringly met his gaze, he shrugged and began idly spinning the gavel in his magic. “If you insist. We have other matters I’d like to discuss anyway. Like the incident that happened in this very building yesterday.” He glanced down the line at a purple mare with silver-streaked green hair. “Merchant Drachma has the records from yesterday as the Bank’s Merchant of the floor.”

I swallowed hard. This was going to be fun.

Drachma cleared her throat and fixed me with a deadly stare through sharp eyes; I realized that she was the youngest and seemingly most energetic of the Merchants, maybe only a few winters older than I was. It certainly carried through her voice when she spoke. “Yesterday, just past lunch, you interrupted the closing deals of a business transaction with a stallion by the name of Yeoman, independent representative of the Ivory City. Your confrontation nearly came to blows, and were it not for our guards, it likely would have.” She raised an eyebrow. “Is this accurate? Or am I mistaken?”

Fuck that bitch; she knew it was accurate, she was simply daring me to try and correct her. I bit back my pride and simply nodded. “It is.”

I could at least deny her the ‘ma’am’.

“I see.” She pulled out another piece of paper. “You claimed during your interrogations last night that Yeoman was responsible for planting the bomb in the inn in the hopes of killing you and your friends. Is this accurate?”

There was an opening there, and I knew I had to take it. “Yes, that’s right. Yeoman had his lackeys leave a package at the inn that was intended for us. Thankfully, since we weren’t there, Lines left it at the front desk, where it blew up some time later. Otherwise, he’d have killed us, and a lot more ponies might have died if it’d been taken to the higher floors where we were staying.” I took a step forward, at least as far as I could without the guards frowning at me too much. “I’d like to reiterate that never did I draw a weapon on Yeoman, and I didn’t blow up the inn. I confronted him with words, and he confronted us with a bomb.”

“A bomb that would not have been planted in the first place had you two kept your squabbling outside of our city,” Aureus said, taking over once more. “We are fiercely defensive of our neutrality, Ember. You must understand. The only ones who profit from war are those who don’t participate in the fighting themselves, and as you can see, Three Rivers is very wealthy. There has been a war raging far to the east between Thatch and Ivory City, and whoever wins it will become the most powerful faction on the planet. It has been exceedingly profitable for the Bank, but I do worry about how it will resolve.”

“So you should throw your support in behind Thatch,” I said, quickly glancing at Ace. “You probably know a lot more about Reclaimer and the Ivory City than I do, since I’ve lived in an isolated corner of the north valley all my life. I didn’t even know the rest of this planet existed until the Crimson burned down my village in the middle of the night. But do you really want to let the Ivory City win? They’ll conquer the rest of the world if they do!”

“As will Thatch,” Aureus said, frowning. “They may champion democracy and liberty, but their leader is just as much of a despot as Reclaimer is. She will take the Ivory City’s arsenal and demand that the rest of the settlements of Auris fall under Thatch’s rule. Either way, Auris ends up under the hoof of a king or a queen. The only difference is in how they carry themselves.” He dismissively waved his hoof. “Let them fight, and let them destroy each other. It’s what’s best for the planet.”

“What about the Sentinels?” I asked him.

He raised his eyebrow. “What about them?”

“If you lent aid and support to the Sentinels, helped them consolidate the valley, they could use their tech to help end the war and make sure that nopony gets too greedy in the aftermath.” I was really grasping at straws here; I needed to prove to him that I was worth keeping alive, not executing and getting rid of.

“I don’t think your trial is the proper time and place to discuss trade deals,” Aureus scoffed. “There will come a time when we are in more proper contact, not discussing deals with an estranged sergeant far from her home and her authority. At any rate, your presence threatens the neutrality we have worked hard to build. Not just between Thatch and the Ivory City, but with Hole as well. The way that I see it, executing you or enslaving you would please the Ivory City and Hole, while Thatch has never heard of you and the Sentinels are too far away to respond in any capacity.”

My breath caught in my throat. “Killing us isn’t going to make the problem go away. There will come a time when Three Rivers is going to have to choose who to support. If you kill me, you’re going to piss off the Sentinels, and you might need them later.”

Aureus thought for a moment. “Yes, it’s true that there may come a time when our neutrality can no longer shield us,” he said. “And we have discussed it many times. Right now, there is a storm gathering. I can sense it, as can anypony connected to the happenings between the settlements. Pieces are being moved by hooves we can’t see, and I have a feeling that you’re one of them.”

I blinked, utterly lost. Where did this come from? Suddenly, I had a feeling that Aureus knew a lot more about what was going on than he let on. Just how much can you learn when you have merchants going to every corner of civilization left on the planet?

He leaned forward, becoming a bit more imposing from his new position. “I don’t feel like I like you very much, truth be told. I’m not sure whether executing you and your friends would be nipping a problem in the bud or letting it spiral out of control. All I do know is that for some reason you’ve tangled with Reclaimer’s right hoof and he saw it necessary to violate this city’s laws of neutrality to kill you. That is an injustice that I find more problematic and dangerous than the tenuous position you hold between all the different factions of this planet.

“But it is not my position alone to judge whether or not to pull the trigger,” he continued. “This is why we have a council. We’ve all formed our opinions over the course of this discussion, and I think it’s time we decided.” He glanced around the room, and the other Merchants save Denarius nodded at him. “Good. Those in favor of sparing the Sentinel, Ember, and her companions, stand up.”

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as I looked over that line of ponies. My life and the lives of my friends all hung in the balance. I was trying very hard not to move or even breathe in case one of the Merchants used that as an excuse to condemn us to death.

The first pony to stand was the brown stallion sitting to Denarius’ right. “Apart from the incident on the bank floor yesterday, this mare has done nothing wrong,” he said. “While her presence is a danger to our city’s neutrality, the greater offender is Yeoman. I will note that he and his guards could not be found in the city today for testimony, and witnesses claim that they left yesterday within the timeframe that the innkeep claims the bomb was delivered and it detonated. These five ponies are innocent victims with targets on their backs that Yeoman was willing to violate our neutrality to destroy.”

Denarius remained seated, recused from the trial as he was, and the mare to his left crossed her legs and simply watched me with disapproval. I saw Aureus swing his gaze from his right to his left, waiting to see what the other three Merchants decided. I had a feeling he wanted to wait to see what everypony else decided before he picked up the burden of being the final vote.

The stallion to his left remained stoic and impassive, and Drachma openly sneered at me. I swallowed hard and tried to keep my knees from shaking too much. If either Aureus or the last mare voted no, all of us were dead.

After a moment’s thought, the mare stood up. “The Sentinels are a growing force in the north, and Thatch separates us from the Ivory City. Slavery is outlawed in Three Rivers, and the only thing Hole exports are slaves and guards to extort our merchants as they pass to the northern settlements. I feel it’s in our best interests to let them walk for now. Cultivate closer business ties with those who can pay, rather than trying to appease a minority share of our revenue.”

Her standing removed some of the crushing weight from my shoulders. Now it came down to Aureus, and if he stood, it’d be three against three. I didn’t know what they’d do in a tie, but hopefully it wouldn’t end with us dead or locked up in prison.

Aureus looked over his notes, frowned, glanced at us, frowned some more, and went back to his notes. Eventually, though, I saw his shoulders tense, and to all of our collective relief, he began to stand. When he’d stretched his aging limbs to their limits, he slowly dipped his head toward us. “It would be easy to remain quiet and condemn you to death,” he said. “But the easiest solution usually is not the right solution, in business or in life.” His eyes wandered to Denarius, who looked relieved to see me not getting sentenced to death. “Were Denarius allowed, I know he would stand. I may not know you like he does, but he is a good stallion, and I trust his judgment. That is why I stand for him.”

I felt the need to say something, so I bowed my head. “Thank you, sir.”

“You’re not out of the woods yet,” he reminded me in a tone of voice that could be described as snappy. “The Council is split, three and three. We will need to deliberate further and come to a consensus as to what to do with you.”

Surge preemptively clenched my jaw shut before I could say anything stupid. I hated her for it, but she probably had the right idea. We didn’t have the time to wait for the Council to decide what to do with us, and there wasn’t any guarantee that we’d be walking free. Drachma and the others could just as easily convince Aureus and those in favor of sparing us over to their side. But we needed to leave the city today; the more of a head start Yeoman got on us, the worse off we’d be, even if Surge supposedly knew where the next installation was located.

“In the interest of time, however,” Aureus began, interrupting my thoughts, “we should consult with those who have gathered here. The people of Three Rivers are the final jury, and in a decision such as this, it is only fair that they play a part.” He sat back down, and the other two ponies standing followed suit. “If there is anypony in the crowd who knows those on trial and wishes to speak on their behalf, please do so, now.”

I stepped back toward my friends and nervously chewed on my lips. Who did we even know here? The waiters from the restaurants we ate at yesterday? Ace probably knew a few more influential voices, and Lines lived here. Surely somepony would have something positive to say.

To my surprise, not a single pony stepped forward. But that didn’t mean nobody stepped forward. I saw movement to my left, and I saw two familiar striped faces walk out of the crowd and onto the open floor. “We shall testify for them,” Mawari said. “They saved my life and the life of my brother as well.”

Aureus raised an eyebrow. “You’re with the Runners, aren’t you? Very well, explain.”

“We were at the abandoned foundry north of Bluewater Gorge not too long ago,” Mawari said, stepping forward into the spotlight. “A tolan attacked and the noise angered a wailer nest inside the compound. They happened to arrive at the foundry at the same time, and together we managed to fight off the wailers and kill the tolan.” She looked at me and nodded. “I would trust her with my life. She can only be a good thing for Auris if left alive. And profitable to the Runners and the rest of us with her invaluable assistance.”

Denawa simply bowed his head, though I caught a quick dirty look from the corner of his eye. Doubtless he was pissed about what Ace had done to the foundry, but thankfully didn’t say anything about it. “I agree.”

“Interesting,” Aureus said. Then he looked at me. “I don’t believe I have to really ask you if this shining testimony is true or not.”

I smiled a little bit. “It is.”

“So it would seem.” He looked out over the crowd. “Are there any other voices that wish to make themselves heard?” When nopony moved or stepped forward, he smiled softly to the other ponies at the front of the room. “I do believe that settles it, then. When the Council is hung, our noble jury decides, and its voice has spoken.”

He picked up the gavel with his magic and twirled it once in the air. “At the conclusion of these proceedings, the Council finds you innocent on charges to disrupt and damage the neutrality of our city. You will be allowed to walk free and take your belongings with you. However, given your part in the events that led up to the bombing last night, you shall receive no reparations from the Bank for your time spent in custody, nor will you be welcome in this city for longer than twenty-four hours. Your presence is still a threat to our neutrality, and I don’t want to see another inn bombed.” He struck the hammer with resounding finality. “This case is adjourned.”

I’m pretty sure you could’ve heard my sigh of relief all the way from Blackwash. Nova and Gauge hugged each other, Nova practically squeaking and cheering with joy. Lines wiped some sweat off his brow, and Ace smiled at me. It was a little thing, but I loved the quick flash I got of it. I could tell that some of the crowd around us were disappointed that they weren’t gonna see heads roll, but I didn’t care. I got to keep my head and that was all that mattered.

Fuck, as soon as I got my shit back, I was gonna dip into my cigarette box. I needed a celebratory smoke after all this bullshit.

My eyes found Mawari and I offered her a grateful nod. I would’ve gone over to her and thanked her personally, but the guards were already moving in on us to undo our bindings and probably escort us back to the jailhouse where all our shit was. I did know that I needed to say hello to her before we left here. I at least owed her that much—and possibly an explanation for what Ace did to the foundry.

Still, when I stepped outside into the fresh air, I couldn’t help but smile and relax. We were alive for another day. Even if we died tomorrow, we still had a day I wasn’t sure we’d have when I woke up this morning.

It was up to us to make the most of it.