Celestia and Luna were both in Celestia’s office, dealing with the aftereffects of the unexpected invasion when Twilight teleported in.

“Twilight!” Celestia said, dropping the papers and ignoring the guards to pull her into a motherly embrace, covering her former student with her wings. “Are you alright? Are you okay?” She smothered the younger mare in questions.

“I’ve been better,” Twilight said tiredly before looking at her mentor. "Celestia," she said with a catch in her voice. "I need to know what exactly happened."

"How much do you recall Twilight," Luna asked carefully, sharing a concerned look with her sister.

"It might not be best to force the memori-"

"I recall it all," she said stiffly. "I want to know what happened."

The two sisters shared a look and sighed.

When the guards had been dismissed, the three alicorns settled themselves in, and finally Celestia spoke.

"You took upon the full might of your Power, Twilight," she said. "You had complete access to all magic, fitting as the Lady of Magic."

"Why did I turn into that thing?" Twilight asked, breathing hard.

"You turned into it as becoming one with Magic would shift your body more closely to that of Magic's original Creator; Chaos," Luna said with Twilight gasping. "Of all of Harmony's sub-Powers, Magic is the sole one that aligns with Chaos over Order and the same is true for Technology of Disharmony's sub-Powers towards Order. Magic can have its rules, yes, but at its heart, it is forever changing, developing new ways of shaping and altering the world, just as Chaos itself does."

"You have to understand that Magic, Technology, Generosity, Self-Centeredness, Loyalty and Oathbreaking and all the others are just what we call them, Twilight," Celestia said. "They are more concepts and ideas than their literal meanings. Generosity to its truest point is altruism, a selfless love and inspiration directed to the world. Self-Centeredness is that inverted, working to improve and maintain one's self. Neither are truly evil or wrong but both can be twisted by others, as Chrysalis did when she just focused on helping herself out of greed."

"Loyalty is making long-standing bonds with other people and Oathbreaking is sundering the bonds made between those who are in poisonous relationships," Luna said, walking over to the young princess. "Oathbreaking at its very core seems to be anathema to all that we believe in but without it we could not survive. My own relationship with my sister was strengthened by the fact that I was once Loyalty but I was blinded by my own envy that weakened my grip on her. And in a sense, Oathbreaking was at work - though not directly as an individual - when you encouraged Tempest to break ties with the Storm King, who made false promises to help her but really just used her as a tool."

"And Technology, or Science, is just the Opposite of Magic, a differing way of seeing and shaping the world around them through more physical means than arcane, and trying to make sense of it, as Order does," Celestia said. "Both, if taken to extremes, can be misused. But at their heart, neither is truly good or bad. They simply are."

"If you asked Cadance about Love and Hatred, she would try at lengths to describe how they are just emotions of the world with her being more talented at the former than the latter," Luna said. "I have started to gain a grasp of what emotivores experience with my husband but it is still a world I have yet to fully understand."

"Without Disharmony, Order would be unimpeded, with structure taking over and growth stagnating to a halt," Discord said, appearing in the room, though it seemed everyone was used to his sudden appearances. "Chaos encourages change and growth, but needs Order to balance it so that things do not reach a point where it is impossible to live. Even I understand that, and I'm Chaos's representative in most matters."

"And it is why I never chose to completely rid myself of Discord when I had the chance, Twilight," Celestia said with the draconequus muttering under his breath about something. "Of course I would have enjoyed nothing more to rid Equestria and the world of a dangerous threat but I knew that without him, the world and Equestria would be tumbling to perfectly ordered disaster and ruin." She sighed, looking as if she was about to share something painful.

"He is the one who helps remind me what would happen if I let myself be consumed by Order," she admitted as she blinked back tears of shame. "I have visited other dimensions where I had fallen to that lure of ridding myself of the Lord or Lady of Disharmony and I have seen an Equestria and Equuis ruled by a tyrant in my own form, where everything is planned out with no true spark of creativity or life itself present. Just beings marching to the tones of being enthralled with Order."

"That's not you," Twilight said with Celestia shaking her head.

"It is me," she stated. "Me who one day decided to take one extra step toward protecting my ponies that resulted in another step and another and another until I was a tyrant over all. One step that is so easy for me to make that is terrifying beyond belief so I must weigh all the gains against the losses and Discord was something I could not deal with myself without it being too costly for everyone else." She sighed, leaning into her sister. "And on the other hoof, I dare not let myself fall to Chaos either, for I have seen that too - again, a horrific tyrant with nothing to hold her back from devastating all around her. Be they known as Nightmare Star, Daybreaker or any other name, they scare me, and the idea of becoming like them is one of my worst nightmares."

"That's why you left him to us," Twilight said with Discord grumbling loudly at being ignored but Twilight brushed him off. "You knew that he would escape at some time around when we gained our Elements or Powers as the case is and you directed us to him because we were the only ones that could handle him."

"That she did, Magic-butt," Discord said, slithering through the air. "Mrs. Moon-butt and Sun-butt have long learned to be my magical equals but both are too worried about how it would affect the rest of the world if I were to use my draconequus magic on them to flip them to Chaos." He placed a claw on her nose. "Which is just me continuing my spat with them, both as who we are and who we are."

"I will admit that some of his animosity towards us is personal," Celestia said. "After all, when he let his crueler aspects take charge, we spoiled his 'fun'. Though I had hoped he would be more understanding after being exposed to the true inheritors of Harmony's sub-Powers." She gave the draconequus a look.

"I am, I am," he said. "But mischief is what I do too, remember. It's all a part of Chaos." He then turned back towards Twilight. "But as they were saying, Magic-butt, being the Lady of Magic or of Chaos doesn't really mean anything; they are just words. What matters is what you do with them."

He snorted. "Speaking of, I do have standards. Since Hatred's little rampage in the other world, I have been checking up on all those who fall under Chaos, like myself. All are keeping up with their Roles and Duties as they should, rather than perverting them as Queen bug-legs and fish-face did, or that little pegasus student of yours would have if she'd become one. Why, for all that she claims to want to be Empress of Friendship during her little therapy sessions, her lies would have created enough suspicion and superiority complexes from people lying to themselves and one another that it would have summoned a feral pack of windigos, even with the new Hatred helping them… Now that, a siren leading windigos and restoring their intelligence, is chaotic to the point of exciting!"

The three princesses exchanged looks. "That is an interesting way of putting it," Celestia admitted.

"I am still wondering how much of an effect it will have on next year’s Hearth's Warming play," Luna said. “Especially with the Lady of Winter active again.”

"Ve shall see," Discord said with a sneaky look on his face. "Ta-ta!" With a snap of his claws, he vanished.

Twilight sighed. "You know, except for the Lord of Summer, I still haven’t met any of the Four Seasons yet. Cadance has told me about Lady Aputsiaq, but I haven’t actually seen her yet."

"You will, eventually," Celestia said, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "And the other two as well, when they're ready to reveal themselves to us."

"You mean, you don't know who they are?" Twilight asked.

"Well, how often do we let nature take its true course?" Luna asked. "Our weather manipulation is one of the sore spots with the Seasons; they rarely show themselves in Equestria because of it. Before the Alpha came with Chrysalis, none of them had set foot, or any other appendage, on our land since before my thousand-year exile. Some of the others are the same way - the Forces of Nature rarely show themselves here for their own reasons, and nobody wants things to get to the point where the Four Apocalypses or the Four Creations have to show themselves. Health is the first of any of them to show themselves to Cadance as it is."

"Creations being their Opposites, with Life being one of the more… interesting Powers there is," Celestia said. "Had Umbrea eliminated me, Life would have had to take over my Duties, until a new Lord or Lady of Day could be chosen. The only reason they did not step in when the unicorns were burning themselves out moving the sun and moon was because Day and Night had already found my sister and I, even if we had yet to awaken our full connection."

"Though if you go out seeking them, I would advise avoiding both Death and Life as they are both very old and do not like being bothered needlessly," Luna said.

"I fully understand," Twilight said. "If they want to come to me, I'll talk, but even I know when to control my curiosity over something."

"And if they come seeking you, then you know it's serious," Celestia said. "Especially if it is Life; I have talked to the Lord of Death a few times in my long years but never to Life. I have been told that the Lady or Lord of Life is even more of an experience than Death is, and I have yet to work up the courage to seek an audience with them." She looked uncomfortable. "Though from what I understand, all have met Life at least once, but do not recall it; among other Duties and Roles, they are the source of all souls entering the world, who remain under their purview until a souls' time comes, and they take their Duty very seriously, even more so than those who anger Death by violating his domain or attempting to evade him when it is their time. Or worse, attempting to make others evade him against their will." She gave Twilight a serious look. "Of all Powers, Life is the only one that can accelerate a being's meeting with Death without any consequences on their part."

Twilight gulped at that before nodding her head. "Thank you for the warning, princess, and I will absolutely remember this." She then sighed. "Though that thing I turned into…"

"Will take time for you to learn how to use properly and become accustomed to it," Celestia said. "Fear of yourself will only lead to greater pain and suffering. I learned self-control to keep myself from becoming a monster, but also so I would not need to fear what I was capable of. With confidence and control, you will achieve the same thing in time."

Twilight gave a soft nod of her head. “I will strive to do so, but not in Ponyville. I don’t want anything to happen to my home in case I lose control.”

“Understandable,” Luna said. Then she surprised Twilight by pulling her into a hug. “If you ever need either of us to help you, Twilight, you just have to ask.”

Twilight smiled up at her. “Thank you,” she said. “Both of you. So much.” She then blinked. “Where is everyone else?”

“My dear Pharynx is leading the troops to capture the remaining minions of Tirek as well as interrogate them,” Luna said stiffly. “I fear that we were right to be worried about the disappearances; they could not have obtained or made all of these cold iron weapons and armour on their own so quickly.”

Celestia smiled. “It is lucky that they were not completely pure or otherwise you would not have been able to affect them at all.”

“Really?” Twilight asked curiously.

Celestia nodded. “Cold iron is the one thing that can invalidate magic entirely, but even the slightest amount of a dopant - a trace impurity element within a substance, usually added in very low concentrations to alter its electrical or optical properties,” she explained to her sister who was looking confused by the term. “Can render it vulnerable to being affected by magic, but only to those with significant abilities in magic to find those gaps. Though it goes without saying, the greater the impurity, the weaker the cold iron is.”

“I still don’t know how he was able to avoid detection for so long,” Luna muttered. “Cold iron or no.”

Twilight nodded. “When I was transformed, I found… the faintest traces of some external magic on him,” she said. “But even I couldn’t recognize where it came from. The point is, he had help. Somehow.”

“That is disturbing,” Celestia said.

“Quite,” Luna agreed.

In Ponyville, many others were reflecting on the day’s events.

“I tell ya, I will never doubt that pink pony’s intuition again,” Garble said as he and Smolder sat together. “If she hadn’t warned everyone to be off campus for the day, we’d have been toast.”

“No kidding,” Smolder agreed.

“When Miss Pie tells you something, you just listen,” Sandbar said. “I think everyone in town learned that a long time ago - even Princess Twilight.”

Yona nodded. “Yak was very impressed with how she clobbered Tirek!” she said. “Yak not understand why she made herself look so different first… but she smashed good!”

Ocellus looked a little nervous. “I just hope everyone else is all right,” she said.

“We can go check,” Gallus said. “Just heard from the other teachers that they’re cancelling classes for today to let everyone process just what happened.”

“Maybe we don’t and let Miss Twilight be?” Diamond Tiara suggested. “If she didn’t appear here right away, I think she might need some time alone?”

“That and she isn’t even in Ponyville right now,” Silverstream said, causing everyone to turn to stare at her in surprise. “Pinkie Pie just told me.” she said with everyone nodding in understanding.

“I really think you spend way too much time with her,” Gallus teased with her puffing out her cheeks and rolling her eyes.

“I just help her with the baking after school guys,” she said, leaning into him. “Besides, she’s crazy over that one stallion; the one she’s got a picture of on her wall. And speaking of, come on, let’s head over to Sugarcube Corner. We can think of what to do there and have some good snacks.”

“Right.” Then he looked over at Silver Spoon, who’d been very quiet. “You okay?”

“Not really.” Silver Spoon shivered. “I keep thinking what would have happened if he’d gotten to all of us, and… it scares me.”

Diamond placed a hoof on her shoulder. “But he didn’t,” she said. “We’re okay. As long as Princess Twilight and her friends are watching over us, we’ll always be okay.” She nuzzled her friend. “Trust me on that.”

Silver Spoon blushed.

It would take a few days for all to hear it, but as the news spread around the world, people began to react. Even far below Canterlot, news of Tirek’s rampage and Twilight’s transformation had reached its occupants, and two of them in particular had things to say on the matter.

Chrysalis, for instance, was looking almost faint. "I tried to challenge THAT‽" she kept saying to herself as the changeling-turned-donkey paced in her cell, ignoring the concerned looks of the guards who were on duty.

In the cell across the hall, Cozy Glow just sniffed dismissively. “We could have taken her,” the filly-sized mare grumbled, though those who heard her weren’t sure whether she was lying to Chrysalis or just herself. Either way, Chrysalis had long since learned she couldn’t be trusted and generally preferred to ignore her.

This time though, she stopped long enough to point a hoof in the other’s direction. “You,” she said, “are out of your mind if you actually believe that.”

Then she went back to pacing.

“As I said for the last time,” the Alpha growled at his wolves. “We do not have anything to fear from that thing’s appearance.” He had instantly recognized what Twilight had become, but the others hadn’t, and they were naturally panicked.

One of them nodded in agreement with him though. “Our Observers have just reported in,” he said. “They say that the creature’s wrath was aimed solely at the Tartarus escapee who sought to harm innocents; no others were harmed by it, either deliberately or unintentionally, and as such we believe that it appeared only because he was such a great threat.”

“Thank you, Packleader Steady-View,” the Alpha said. The Thorough-Search Packleader was one of the more rational leaders of his people, and a trusted advisor. “You make my point exactly.”

Steady-View calmly nodded to him.

When the majority of the Packleaders had finally left, the Alpha regarded the three who’d stayed. “You have something to say?” he inquired.

“How is Twilight doing?” Wise-Mind asked before either of the others could respond. “This was her hometown that was attacked, after all.”

“She is… frightened, to some extent,” the Alpha replied carefully. Not all of the Packleaders were aware of what his title as Lord of Summer meant, but a pawful had been told the truth about Powers in recent months, including all three of the Packleaders who’d remained. “Though it was more by the loss of control and what it means for her.”

Storm-Fast nodded. “While I have not spent nearly as much time around her Grace as either of you have, I did question Swift-Pad and Maxilla on what they knew of her as a person,” she said. “They were reluctant to share such personal information, but I learned enough to know that losing control and the consequences thereof is one of her greatest fears.”

“A wise fear, though one she must learn to work through,” Steady-View remarked.

“So Swift-Pad has advised her,” Storm-Fast told him. “I also know that she is a kind and loving individual at heart, and as you yourself said, it would take extremes - such as threatening her loved ones - to prompt such a reaction as happened in Ponyville. Our people, then, would have nothing to fear, as we have no rational reason to provoke her in such a manner.”

“Well-spoken,” the Alpha said.

“Have the Queens spoken to you on this matter?” Wise-Mind asked.

“They have, and Queen Tegmina has concurred with me that this was an extreme and entirely justified reaction, one not likely to ever be repeated unless such an enemy as Tirek or the Storm King should ever surface,” the Alpha said. “And seeing as how we are keeping a close eye on any and all threats of that level that we know of - including Grogar’s prison, as we always have - to ensure they aren’t capable of escaping, such a thing is very unlikely to happen.” He let out a smirk. “Princess Twilight’s own additions to the wards down there were quite imaginative and effective, I must say.”

“With due respect Alpha, we had believed that to be the case with Tirek and we saw how that turned out,” Storm-Fast said, steadying her eyes at him. “In addition, while we know that her Grace isn’t a threat towards us, surely we cannot believe all of your kind has the same noble intentions.”

The Alpha nodded. “I understand your worries,” he said. “And Tirek’s escape does concern me. But I have spoken with Discord, and he has sworn that all of our fellows whom he has spoken with recently have been behaving themselves.”

“And we are to trust someone whose core elements include lying itself to be honest?” Storm-Fast asked.

“Lies may be one of his sub-Powers, but as he once said, ‘a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.’” The Alpha frowned. “At least, I think that’s the phrasing he used. At any rate, he doesn’t have to lie all the time. When it matters most, he tells the truth, and in this matter, I believe him. He is Champion of Chaos, and what better way to sow it than to tell truths which may be doubted just by virtue of where they come from?”

“There is a disturbing logic in that,” Storm-Fast admitted.

“Yes, he does seem to have a strange tendency towards averting expectations,” Steady-View said. “Such as the effort he put towards aiding in the defeat of the Storm King, and in ensuring the purple Smooze did not escape its prison, even though both would sow chaos in their activities had they not been dealt with.”

"All kind words but as much as I approve of Princess Twilight as a person, we have seen what happens when their Graces lose control twice now," Wise-Mind said sternly. "Both times were self-contained in Equestria and over relatively quickly. What are we to do if any of their Graces are subverted in the future and attack us?"

“If that should pass, then we will defend ourselves from their thralls and I will take care of them,” the Alpha said coldly. “They have little idea to what I am truly capable of, rune and Summer magic alike. But so long as they are true to themselves, and protect themselves from being taken over by outside influences as Luna once was, I have faith in them not to fall.”

The three of them stared at him and the Alpha sighed, knowing what was on their mind. “And if you are concerned about myself, my fellow Seasons and I, and the Forces of Nature, have all long since sworn pacts to stand against one another if one or more of us should be subverted in some manner.” He tilted his head towards them. “And I trust you to rally the packs against me if the worst should occur. Do not allow me to remain in control if I go against my true nature.”

The trio nodded, and the Alpha smiled, clearly relieved.

Prince Rutherford shook his head and stamped his hooves as he read the news. “Purple pony princess smash good,” he rumbled.

“Yak want to know if yaks should be concerned,” one of his advisors said. “Pony princesses have gone wild twice now.”

“Yak not worried,” the prince replied. “Purple pony princess was not rebelling against fellow princesses. Purple pony princess smashed mad centaur for trying to smash her people! Purple pony princess mad for good reason!”

His advisors shared looks with each other before one of them spoke. “Yaks think yaks are in danger of pony princess smashing them. Yaks thinks Prince should close doors to ponies again.”

“Yaks not close doors again!” Ruthorford bellowed. “Yaks miss too much from closing doors before. Including good war! And yaks not do anything to make pony princess mad this time, so yaks should not be worried. Besides, Yona Yak still outside, yaks not going to shut one of their own out.”

“Yaks will think Prince is scared of purple pony princess, yaks will think Prince is too weak to lead yaks,” his advisor shot back. “Prince must speak to yaks about purple pony princess or yaks will look for another Prince.”

“Yak Prince not scared of purple pony princess,” Ruthorford replied with a glare. “Yak Prince has nothing to fear, for Yak Prince not give her reason to be mad at yaks. And if yaks not like Prince’s reason, yaks will learn why Yak Prince is Yak Prince!” He glared even more fiercely. “Yak Prince will still reassure yaks though. Yaks will be reminded why Yak Prince is strongest yak. Strong of mind, strong of body, strong of character. Yak Prince is leader in all these and Yak Prince will turn not coward because of purple pony princess.”

The advisors nodded approvingly, though some were still clearly concerned.

“Yak have letter!” another yak suddenly called, bringing it to the Prince, who read it and snorted in amusement.

“Yona Yak write home,” he said. “Say, ‘Princess Twilight smash Tirek good! Smash like true yak! Show a little much emotion for yak when thinking we all dead and then relieved to find we all unharmed, but still shows that she cares a lot.’” He looked up. “Young yak speaks wisely!”

There was a murmuring reply before he stomped off to go set up a gathering. Yaks would hear his words. Yaks would know he not afraid.

And Yak mean every word, he thought as he went. Yaks value honesty. Yaks know Prince speak truth.

Deep under the ocean, Queen Novo chuckled as she heard the latest news from the surface, courtesy of a missive from a very concerned King Seaspray, whose first instinct had been to inform her that Equestria had fallen under attack and was wanting to know if he should send aid from Mount Aris. His reaction pleased her.

“So, the Lady of Magic is really coming into her own,” she said after she’d finished explaining all of this to her visiting companions. “Very impressive.”

King Leo nodded, the easy-going merlion king smiling. “She’s come a long way,” he agreed. “I pity whatever bad guys get in her way.”

The third member of their little triumvirate, Queen Schuberta of the Sirens, nodded. “Quite. I almost wish I’d been there; her anger would have made quite a feast.” Then she considered. “Do you think we should offer her lessons in water magic as to further endear her to us?” she asked. “I know she likes the two of you already, and she treated me with respect when we met, but it wouldn’t hurt.”

Leo chuckled. “No, it wouldn’t.”

“And it would help her improve her control, which she’s probably going to be wanting a lot of help with,” Novo said. “I know I freaked the first time I went all-out during practice and nearly froze half the depths.”

“I remember that,” Schuberta said, giving her a look. “You nearly froze my tailfins off!”

“I said I was sorry,” Novo told her.

“Ladies, ladies,” Leo said as he rose up a bit.

Novo looked around. “Who came in?” she asked mischievously, prompting a groan from Schuberta.

“Your sense of humor is as wild as your daughters’ sometimes,” she said.

“True,” Novo said. “But getting back to Twilight, I hope she’s okay. A surge like that is always a doozy.”

“She has Celestia there to help her,” Leo said lightly. “And Celestia cares for her. She’ll work past this, Novo.”

“For all our sakes, I hope you’re right,” Schuberta told him. “She’s one of the kindest ponies I’ve ever met; when we were working to arrange things for Coloratura’s next charity concert, did you know her biggest concern was how little Rara would react if her other friend realized she’d been hiding the truth about herself and took it badly?”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Novo said. “That girl’s got a big heart.”

“That she does,” Leo agreed.

In the Dragonlands, there were parties all over.

“Pony princesses are strong when they want to be!” one of the teenage dragons yelled with a laugh before tossing a gem into his mouth.

“Agreed!” Dragon Lord Torch bellowed. “Just as well, if Tirek had hurt Smolder and Garble, we’d have been going after him ourselves!”

“Oh yeah,” another dragon said.

Ember rolled her eyes. “I’m not disagreeing, but do you really think it would have been a good idea to risk letting him get his hands on dragon magic too?” That caused a few of the dragons to pause and share looks to show they were actually thinking about that. “Also, we all know how skittish ponies are; you think they’d take our sudden appearance after Tirek so well?”

“You have a point,” Torch admitted.

“Yeah, at the end of her tail!” one of the other dragons cracked, only to cringe when he glared at them.

“But if Tirek had left them all powerless, then there isn’t much they could have done if we did pay a visit,” the Dragon Lord continued. “And if we had been able to defeat him and return all their magic, the dragons would have the ponies’ eternal gratitude! Imagine all the gems they’d give us!”

“And the endless suspicions that we set it up by the ponies and the rest of the world,” Ember pointed out.

Torch shook his head. “Tirek escaped from Tartarus, dragons have no control over that place,” he told her. “And Tirek hated us just as much as he hated the ponies.” He gave it a long thought before nodding. “But you are right…”

“Come on, you’re really afraid what the ponies, buffalos, griffons and all the others would say?” one of the crowd said with a laugh. “We’re dragons; we’re not afraid of anything.”

“Says the guy who ran screaming the last time his mom glared at him,” another one snarked, prompting a lot of laughter from the rest of the crowd before Torch silenced them by raising his hand.

“The dragons do not fear other races,” he growled. “But we could not withstand an attack by the other races if we provoked them needlessly. You have seen what happened to the Storm King and his armies when the other races worked together. And just now, we all saw what happened when their most passive and peaceful leader was pushed past her limit, one with the least training and experience in combat.” He let out a bellow of smoke from his mouth. “She was as fierce as any dragon, because she thought her friends and her students - including two of our own, even if one is an exile - were killed. I can only imagine what her wrath would be if she thought another race she counted as her friend were revealed to be an enemy, preparing to stab her in the back.” He gave a look to his daughter and nodded his head. “Send a detachment to Equestria, offering our support for whatever they need to deal with to finding the remnant of Tirek’s followers or whatever trouble he left behind.”

Ember nodded her head in approval, no doubt thinking of gathering the most leveled headed dragons with herself part of the team. “Anything else Father?” she asked, showing clear leadership qualities and the growing approval of the other dragons. He was growing more and more confident each day that he had found the right successor in his daughter for all his duties.

“Once you are done in Equestria, prepare for the Gauntlet of Fire,” Torch said to the surprised muttering of everydragon gathered. “It is almost that time.”

Ember bowed. “Thank you, Father.”

“And make sure you observe Garble personally while you are there; Princess Twilight’s reports are encouraging, but eyewitness accounts are always good too, and I want to hear it from you personally.”

Ember nodded again. “I will, Father.” With that, she took off with a trail of dragons following behind her, not even waiting to be dismissed by him.

Torch smiled to himself in spite of the lack of respect, knowing that the dragons would be in good claws once the time came.

“Chief Counselor Gruff?” a young griffon asked hesitantly.

Looking up from his desk, the elder griffon huffed. “What now, young griff?” he asked.

“Er… well… there’s a lot of us wondering if you’re going to make a public statement about the latest from Equestria,” the griffon said.

“Bah! Dingfangled ponies got things taken care of, who cares how they did it?”

“But… but all that power she showed-”

“Who cares how she did it! No skin off my beak. And if you’re worried about them turnin’ that kind of power on us, don’t be! If they wanted us ruined, they would have left things in Byzantion as they were. No, I’m not afraid of any amount of magic that pony princess can throw our way, not compared to the economic ruin we’ve been livin’ under for so long, an’ you tell everygriff that.”

“Er… yes, sir.” The other griffon left, leaving Gruff to his thoughts.

“Crazy kids,” he muttered. “Scared of their own shadows.”

He had to admit, Princess Twilight’s power had been impressive. But she had no reason to turn it on he and his people. Now, a hostile Arimaspi invading their territory, that would be another story. But not the griffons. With that thought settled, he went back to his paperwork, then frowned as he noticed something wasn’t quite right.

“Grambabbit,” he muttered. “Where did I put that pen this time?”

“Really Teomitl, you guys don’t have anything like that?” Daring asked as she moved through the latest temple he had taken her to, watching her partner slither about.

The ahuizotl shook his head. “No,” he said. “It was impressive though. If I’d known she could tap that kind of power, I’d have been a little more respectful that first time we met!”

“Like you were to me, big guy?” she chuckled with Teomitl rolling his eyes.

“High words coming from a thief,” he teased, causing her to give a playful groan.

“Har har,” she said as she slipped a kiss on his cheeks, “You’re lucky I like you, you big oaf. Now help me with this.”

Teomitl chuckled. “Sure thing, love,” he said. “You know, now that we know one another better, I wish I had taken time to try and talk to you back then.”

Daring nodded. “And I wish I’d tried to talk to you,” she said. “Now come on, we’ve got work to do.” Landing on the jaguar statue, she stared down at him, pulling out her notebook. “So run it by me again what’s special about this temple.”

Landing in front of her, Teomitl smiled warmly at her and began to tell her again. “The Jaguar’s Eye is a gem of incredible power,” he explained. “It protects the area around here from harmful magic. It also curses anyone who dares to take it, which is why we always have a guardian or two assigned to watch over the temple.”

Daring nodded. “Gotcha. No touching the artifact this time, just photographing and note-taking.”

Teomitl smiled again. “Come, let’s go meet Ichtaca, they can tell you more and I would like to show you off,” he grinned, holding his arm out to her.

“Charmer,” Daring said back with a chuckle.

“Come on, this way!” Neighsay called, waving his hoof to the others behind him. “We’re nearly there.” He was still covered in blood, both his and the slave drivers’, exhausted from the fight for their freedom once Tirek and the majority of his henchmen had left, but with the warmth of the sun on his face and the sudden return of his magic and Cutie Mark, along with those of all his companions, he felt freer and more alive than he had in his entire life. He craned his neck up, seeing the mountain city once more. A smile grew on his face as he saw his home once more before turning back to help Yellow Buster walk. She was still injured and he’d be damned if he let her strain her injuries by walking alone.

He was sorely tempted to just trigger his amulet’s abilities (one thing Tirek had never caught on to was that even if all his magic had still been drained, the amulet still had enough to work on its own, and didn’t actually need a functioning magic-user to activate it; even a Diamond Dog could do so if they got their paws on it) and get them to safety, but didn’t for a few reasons. First, he was fairly certain he could see the guards approaching from where they were now, and knew they’d be able to get he and his group to safety all on their own. Second, he was exhausted, and didn’t want to end up in the wrong place because he wasn’t focused properly.

And thirdly, he thought to himself, he wasn’t sure he could take all of them with him and the thought of leaving anyone behind was simply incomprehensible.

“Hello!” he called as they approached with guards turning to face him in surprise as they saw the rest of the freed slave behind him.. “We have injured people that need medical assistance as quickly as possible!”

The guards started to move faster and Neighsay found himself smiling more.

Finally, the nightmare was over.