Rarity looked around the building nervously. She had never seen such a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Griffons and ponies were intermingled through out the tables, drinking and playing 'games'. A few were even splayed out on the ground, unconscious, surrounded by broken chunks of wood. Two griffons near the back were in the midst of a tumble and stabbing at each other with knives, but fortunately Rarity and her aunt were led away from the din into a back room.

There the creature was sitting in a dimly lit room with only a table and a single candle. It didn't look much different than any other griffon Rarity had seen so far, but as the creature's eyes scanned over her she could feel an unwanted shiver go down her spine. Her gaze lowered and caught sight of a large knife strapped to the griffon's arm. On a pony it would have been a decently sized sword, but on this creature it seemed almost comically small.

"So you're the Water Nation ponies looking for my services?" the griffon snapped as she glared at them in contempt.

"Y-yes... Wait, how did you know? We only just-" Rarity asked, thrown off balance by the sudden hostility.

"News travels fast here. Not every day one of the Water Nation ships dock here. Must be pretty interesting business if you're looking from help from a mercenary." The griffon unsheathed her blade, gently picking at her claws. "I hope you have the payment to back it up. Ship like yours likely has all kinds of interesting things..."

"I assure you, you will find the payment more than satisfactory," the princess said haughtily as she glared back at the griffon.

"Rarity! Now miss...?" Celestia said as she put a hoof on her nieces shoulder.

"Gilda's my name. Best in all of Los Pegasus. So you better not be wasting my time. Otherwise we're going to see just how well the Water Nation unicorns fly," she hissed as she stabbed her knife into the table. To Rarity's credit the unicorn managed to avoid flinching.

"We want you to capture the Avatar. Alive. We've heard of your asking price... and we'll be willing to pay double. Assuming you can succeed," Celestia informed the creature.

"... The Avatar you say... That's a very interesting job. Only one in all the world. Dangerous too. Make it four times and you have yourself a deal," Gilda said off handedly as she yanked the knife out of the table, leaving a large gouge in it.

"Deal, but there are some other conditions," Rarity interrupted before her aunt could say anything.

"Niece!" Celestia hissed.

"Aunt, please. This is important." She then glanced to the griffon. "It's simple. We want the Avatar alive. We know where she'll be heading towards and leaving from, what she looks like and who will be with her. There will be a little dragon with her, completely harmless. You are to not harm it however. That's part of the price."

"A dragon? Why do you care about one of those? Last I heard your kind were slaughtering every single one you could find," Gilda asked as a light snicker escaped her beak.

"Those are the terms. My reasons are my own."

Rarity glared defiantly at the griffon, who glared right back. For a few moments it seemed as if Gilda would decline her offer, but slowly she sheathed her blade. "Fine. Deal. Tell me about this Avatar."

"Good. She'll be heading to, or at, the city of Cadence and..." Rarity soon described all the details to the griffon before she quickly turned and left, her aunt following behind her.

"I told you to allow me to speak with them, Rarity," Celestia scolded.

"I know. But it turned out fine, didn't it? Besides, I need to learn about this stuff as well, don't I? I am a princess after all." She smiled back at her caretaker, grinning almost from ear to ear. She knew her aunt was angry, but she also knew the elder unicorn could never resist her smile. After a few moments a similar smile broke out on the white unicorn's lips.

"Fine. We'd best get a move on. Why is this little dragon so important to you? Hmm?" she chuckled as they walked out from the building, their guards waiting outside to regroup.

"N-no reason. I just don't see a need for hurting a defenseless creature," Rarity said quickly, a hint of red in her cheeks.

"I see, niece." Celestia couldn't resist grinning at the princess's hollow defense. A moment later a shadow passed over them as the griffon flew out of the buildings roof and off into the distance.

------

"Quit it," Rainbow muttered.

"No," Twilight said as she poked the annoyed pegasus's wing again. The two were outside in a small cleared out tract of land Octavia had allowed them to use and were currently waiting for all the water benders to assemble. Vinyl had said they would be there shortly.

"Quit it!"

"No."

"I said knock it off!"

"Never!"

"Fine! Fine! I'll do it! Do you promise to stop if I do it?!"

"Yes!"

"I swear, you are worse than Pinkie sometimes," Rainbow grumbled and jumped up, her wings spreading out as she took to the air. She spun in three tight circles before landing in front of the unicorn, who clapped her hooves with glee. "See? I'm fine. That's the last time."

"Again, again!"

"NO! ARGH!" Rainbow shook her head as once again Twilight began poking her wing. Finally she had enough and flew up and out of reach, grabbing a stray cloud and dragging it down so she could lay on it. Normally she adored being admired. But this wasn't admiration, this was the avatar wanting to be sure she was perfectly fine. Over and over and over!

"Awwww..." Twilight sighed as she glanced to Fluttershy, who was doing her best to look inconspicuous, feeding a bunny a carrot. "So how did you do it, Fluttershy?"

"Uhhh, w-well, it was nothing, really..." The shy pegasus mumbled as her grip on the carrot tightened just a little bit.

"What was it like? What did she teach you?"

"Well... it was... ummm... n-nothing special... miss Spitfire just said I wasn't any good at air bending, but... I might be able to ummm... be good at healing. She showed me just a few things and told me how to... h-help with R-rainbow's wing. I-It's nothing special, really. She did most of the work I just did the upkeep..." with every word Fluttershy tried to make herself smaller and smaller.

"I'd love to hear more about-"

"Alright every pony! The awesome has arrived! Woo!" Vinyl yelled as she galloped up and reared. "I gathered every single water bender in the city, so lets do this!" Behind her were at least two dozen unicorns of assorted ages, all of who were staring at Twilight expectantly.

"Oh. We'll talk later, Fluttershy. Okay every pony! I've asked you all here for one very important reason." She stomped a hoof down. "We are going to raise the moon." She posed with her head held high. She expected cheers, but all she got was one pony near the back, coughing. "Err... Why isn't any pony excited?"

"Well... The firey thing is kinda still up there. We've all seen the moon before. Heck until that came up the moon was all we saw, unmoving."

"Oh. Right. W-well it's different this time! You see when I was a child, the sun and moon revolved in cycles. The sun would start at one end of the sky and move to the other. When it arrived on the other side, the moon would rise and go from one end to the other. This cycle repeated over and over. Fire benders raised the sun and set it on its path and water benders raised the moon to do the same. It's my goal to set this cycle back in order, but I need your help."

"Why don't you do it? Didn't you raise that?" a pony in the crowd yelled out and motioned to the sun.

"I... would if I could. Sadly I have nowhere near that power. The only time I was able to... I wasn't truly in control of myself. I have not been able to do it since. All I can do is teach you the spell."

"Even if we learn it, what good will it do if that's still up there? It's drying everything out!"

"... There... is nothing I can do about that now," Twilight said as she hung her head. "I don't have any clues where any fire benders could be, but that isn't important now. What I can do is this. This step is just as important as teaching the sun spell! Now Vinyl, please come forward. I will teach you the spell and you will need to direct the others on how to perform it." As the leader of the water benders stepped forward, the purple unicorn leaned forward and put her horn against the white unicorn's and waited.

And waited. Waited. Still waited. Kept on waiting.

"... How is groping my horn with your horn supposed to teach me a spell?" Vinyl asked with a minor smirk. “This just an excuse to get off on your fetish?”

"W-what? N-no! This is just... I... I don't know. Let me try this." She put a hoof to the unicorn's forehead. "Anything?"

"... No. Are you okay?" The other ponies had begun to snicker and giggle behind them.

"I... I don't understand. This is how I learned it. It must be because... oh... I guess I'll have to teach you all manually. This... is going to take a while. Okay. First I'll need to teach you how to find and grab the moon. It's actually kind of easy once you know what to look for. Lifting it up however... well... that will take a team effort. Okay, first close your eyes and focus your magic outwards..."

------

The Great and Powerful Trixie chuckled as she glanced over her map. Cloudsdale's current position was held in the center of Air Nomad's territory. Between the Trench and where they needed to be lay a small number of villages and outposts. Not to mention if they did try to push forward there would be a few earth cities that could move in behind them and cut them off completely from the Water Nation. A normal general would have retreated back home and gone along the territory they had already conquered. It would be easy, though it would add weeks to their travel time.

But the Great and Powerful Trixie had more than a few tricks under her hat. Her horn glowed as a small golden chest floated gently to the top of her desk. She lowered her horn into the small hole in the front amd the chest popped open in response. Inside were a number of small scrolls and an old journal. The journal was a very special, if dangerous, possession of hers.

After all, it was the journal of the current Nightmare Moon's late husband. Before unfortunate circumstances led to his disappearance from the Water Nation. Most ponies would give their left hooves to have access to such a treasure and she knew if her ruler knew that it still existed the mare would have Trixie thrown in chains and the book destroyed. Many of the dark unicorn's secrets were hidden in that small journal, as well as a number of spells that the general had spent years painstakingly translating. A small scroll hovered out from the box as she sealed it tightly. She then deposited the chest back into her foot locker, scroll floating besides her as she exited her office.

"Snips! Snails!" She yelled out. Within moments the two unicorns galloped to her side. "Have all the shadowbolt's been taken care of?"

"N-not yet, Great and Powerful Trixie. They should be within a few hours. Some are resisting and we-" Snips was quickly interrupted.

"If they resist, deal with them. Permanently. If they won't show their loyalty now they will have no place on my ship. I want everything packed and ready to go." She began walking through the halls, "We're leaving as soon as they are finished."

"Ahh.... Ummm... Errr..." Snips gulped.

"... What is it?" She turned her gaze on him.

"In the Avatar's escape, the Tsunami was damaged by the winds... It'll take a few days to repair it." He cowered a little bit as he awaited her rage.

"... Very well. Have the largest storage room cleared of everything, but our alchemic supplies. I have research to perform."

"As you wish, Great and Powerful Trixie!" The two unicorns quickly ran off to spread her orders.

"Sniveling fools..." She glanced to the scroll. "I guess I'll have more time to test this than I thought. Shame I'll have to wait to try it on a living creature."

------

Twilight groaned as she dropped onto the bed she had been granted, her friends watching her with worry. She didn't have any idea how to really do this. Any of this. She knew the spell, but she knew nothing about water bending. It was like trying to explain how to transform an apple into an orange before you understood how to do telekinesis. Even if she knew how the spell worked she couldn't perform the basics to get it done.

"So uhhhh... How are you holding up, Twilight?" Rainbow asked as she moved up behind the purple unicorn.

"How am I holding up? How am I holding up?! Just fine! It's not like I'm trying to explain a spell I don't even understand to a bunch of ponies who've never even seen its effects! Gahhh! If I had known it was going to be like this I would have asked Starswirl how to explain it all! I thought it would just be a tap on the horn, but no. He cheated," she grumbled as she punched her pillow a few times.

"Well... If you want, we could go practice some air bending? Maybe trying something else will take your mind off it? Also, Soarin taught me some wicked awesome tricks I've been dying to try."

"Sure. After spending hours trying to get this one spell right, I'm going to just up and... actually... you know that sounds kind of nice. Learning instead of teaching could be nice." She jumped out of bed. "It wouldn't be so bad if I could really gauge how they were doing though. I think they have a grasp and are just working on the strength. Unfortunately, with the sun in the way it's hard to really tell if they can't raise it or if the sun being there is stopping it and making it harder." Twilight followed Rainbow, but as the door opened another pony was standing outside and blocking the way.

"Avatar, I need to speak with you. Can you come with me, please? Alone." Octavia stood with an earth pony on each side of her.

"But what about-"

"Please. This is for your ears only. If you wish to tell your friends after that, it will be your decision." Octavia began to walk down the halls. Twilight gave Rainbow a questioning look, but the pegasus merely nodded and gestured the mare to follow. With a sigh the unicorn took off after the earth pony.

"Where are we going?"

"To the map room. I'll tell you more then." Soon they came to a small room. Octavia headed inside, but her guards remained outside. As Twilight entered she could see Vinyl was there and the room was covered with maps of the world, the individual kingdoms and the war lines. The door slammed shut behind her as she moved to stand by a table.

"What is it you needed to show me?"

"This." Octavia pointed to a large wooded area that covered a few inches of the map, though that meant it likely went for miles. It seemed to end near Lightning Valley. "It's called the Everfree Forest."

"Ummmm..."

"It is part of the border between Fire Country and Earth Country. It's one of the most dangerous places in existence, filled with all manners of creatures. Manticores, hydras, even parasprites."

"I don't see what this has to do with me?" Twilight asked, still confused.

"That's where I come in," Vinyl interjected. "When me and my soldiers left the Water Nation territory we escaped into the Lightning Valleys. We were forced to head into the Everfree Forest. In the confusion we were separated and I ended up on my own. Was a bit worrying at first, but I got nerves of steel. Didn't panic in the slightest. Some manticore wanted to mess with me I could take 'em. Not even a pack of-"

"Vinyl, get to the point," Octavia hissed.

"Right. Anyway, I met an interesting mare there. She saved my flank from... well I had those timber wolves under control. Her name was Minuette and she was a fire bender."

"A FI-" A hoof was put over Twilight's mouth by Octavia. "Oh... Sowfy." She pulled back. "A fire bender?" she whispered.

"Yes. She knew those forests like the back of her hoof ad told me how to get back to my ponies and get out of there. She made me promise never to tell any pony, but in this situation I think I can be forgiven. Also, she gave me a totally awesome gift!" Vinyl's horn glowed as a small brown pouch flew over to them and spilled its content out on the table.

"... A tooth brush? She gave you a lousy toothbrush?" The purple unicorn cocked an eye.

"Oh great, now you've done it," Octavia mumbled.

"A LOUSY TOOTHBRUSH?! This is the most awesome toothbrush ever! Look at it, it's electric blue. ELECTRIC! BLUE! How many toothbrushes do YOU know that are like that? That's right. None. Because there aren't any. Except this one. That's mine and awesome. You know how hard it is to get a toothbrush when you're in the forest? Extremely. Cause there aren't any. So nyeh." She stuck her tongue out.

"... I'm... sorry?" Twilight said as she backed away a little bit. That unicorn was a mad mare. Had to be.

"Anyway. Toothbrushes aside. Vinyl can show you the path she took to get here, but it'll be a dangerous trip." Octavia motioned to the map again. "There are some things you need to know about the Everfree Forest. One, don't try to fly over it. It's suicide. Two, definitely don't try to go under it. That's even more suicide. And three, no matter what happens, don't get off the path. Ever. There are dangerous things in those woods. Things that would make you wake up screaming just thinking about."

Twilight nodded slowly, trying to take those words in. "But what about the moon raising spell? Without me here to guide you how will you be able to perform it?"

"... To be honest, avatar. You're about as good at teaching as Octy is at using slang. You showed us the basics, but now we just need to try and get it working. If you can get the sun down it'll probably be a lot easier. Not to mention cooler around here," Vinyl said as she patted Twilight on the back, ignoring the glare Octavia was sending her way.

"I... I guess we'll go get ready then. I'll tell my friends and we'll go."

"About that... please refrain from telling them until after you leave," Octavia warned. "We do not wish for the information about the fire bender to spread. If the Water Nation suspected there were fire benders living in those woods they'd sweep through them in the thousands. They'd likely suffer heavy casualties, but the magic they'd be tampering with could cause untold damage. Currently the three of us are the only ones who know. I would prefer to keep the number as small as possible."

"Oh... I understand. I'll tell them after we arrive, but I will have to tell them this will be dangerous." Twilight smiled though. After dealing with a dragon, the Water Nation soldiers and two crashed balloons, how dangerous could a little forest be? She galloped off as fast as she could through the halls to tell her friends. Everything was coming together!

------

High above Earth Country Gilda glided through the air. A part of her missed the eternal night they once had. Her body was more adjusted to the temperature then. She didn't sweat as much and it was far easier to sneak up on a pony in the dark. This was also only her second job since the sun had risen, and her first one had almost been a disaster because of that accursed firey ball. Used to be you could fly over someone and they'd never see you, now you cast a shadow.

But one thing she did love about the new heat was she didn't have to carry as much when she flew and didn't have to take constant breaks to increase her temperature and keep from freezing to death. Before the sun came out she couldn't even nap on top of a cloud, they were to wet and impossible to start a fire on, so she had to ground herself for breaks. For the first time in a long time she was enjoying the fact she had a long trip to make.

So it was with a small bit of disappointment that she landed on a cloud hovering a fair distance above Cadence and peered down at the city. The roads were bare so she began making preparations for her stake out. She grabbed a small cloud and dragged it around the sky slowly, gathering more up and forming a large pile. The griffon then began hollowing out a hole in the center of the cloud, making simple walls and a roof for herself, from any direction the cloud would just look like a small cloud hovering above the city. Inside her cloud it was hot and dark, so she poked a few smaller holes to allow air and light in, before she made one final adjustment.

A small cloud crafted spyglass. She slowly pushed it into the cloud, it's enchantments keeping it separate from the cloud while also keeping it lodged. Looking through it she could see for miles down the road, if any pony came, or left. Aside from an earth pony and a pegasus with a cart full of muffins, the roads were empty.

But that was fine. She could wait. She was patient. The avatar was her prey after all. As a hand slid down to stroke one of the many knives on her person a grin formed on her beak. She'd never let her prey escape before. This time would be no different.

------

Twilight grinned from ear to ear as she pushed open the door with all her might. Not the best move as the resulting sound of the door slamming against the wall sent Fluttershy cowering under a bed and made Spike choke on his gemstone snack. "Errr... Sorry. But I have really important news." She trotted inside as the door closed behind her. "I'm going to the Everfree Forest. I'd like the four of you to come with me."

Spike was to busy trying to clear his throat to respond and Fluttershy was still hiding under the bed, but Rainbow jumped at the chance. "Sure! Can't let you go alone and all. You aren't getting rid of us that easy."

"Ohhhh! A forest? We can go camping! We can have smores and tell stories and play hide and seek!" Pinkie said excitedly as she hopped around.

"Errr... Actually the forest is really dangerous. We'll be going through as fast as we can. We won't have any time for parties..." That nervous worry began to gnaw at her. What if they didn't want too? Was it okay for her to ask them to do this?

"Eh. Danger smanger. It'll be raining bunnies and lollipops the day Rainbow Dash is to scared to go somewhere an egghead like you'll go," Rainbow said dismissively as she did a little spin in the air and raised her hoof high.

"Ohhhh! There are going to be lollipops? Count me in! I've never had raining lollipops, well except that time I tried making a lollipop cannon but that didn't really work because the lollipops just kinda hit the roof and then fell on my head and it wasn't much of a rain, but they were still really tasty even if they were a bit burnt." Pinkie hopped around in excitement as she grabbed and pulled Fluttershy out of her hiding spot. "This is going to be so much fun!"

"Um.... Y-yay?" the little pegasus flutter yayed pathetically.

"Ummmm... How dangerous are we talking here?" Spike asked as he poked his claws together, having managed to clear his throat. "Not that I'm scared or anything."

"I'm not actually sure. I've heard a little bit about the Everfree Forest from when I was performing my studies, but that was a long time ago. Who knows how the long night affected them? Vinyl says so long as we stay on the path we'll be fine. So I was thinking once we all get some rest and gather some supplies we'll leave. What do you say?"

The four gave their agreements, though only about half of them really seemed excited to go. Twilight was too excited to care though, as she pranced to her bed. She was going to be wayyy to excited to sleep. Then Rainbow asked the question she really didn't want to answer. "So why we going there anyway?"

"Err... I can't say."

"What? Why not? If we're risking our lives and going somewhere dangerous, " there was a frightened eep in the background, "then you should at least tell us why."

"I can't say until we get to the forest. I promised Vinyl and Octavia I wouldn't. Please understand..." Twilight mumbled as she tried to hide under her blanket. They were going to be so mad at her, she knew it.

"Eh, I guess a promise is a promise, but you better tell us when we get there. The very second, got it?" Satisfied with the Avatar's nod Rainbow dropped onto her bed with a spinning somersault. The others followed her example, albeit less flamboyantly. Twilight even let Spike sleep next to her, though she regretted it hours later when her sides began to itch and she was unable to scratch them with the dragon curled up to her. She did feel a little regret that she would have to leave the city so quickly, but they could always return after the fire benders had been found. She could still talk to Vinyl and Octavia on the way to the forest too. She was so excited even those doubts quickly left her mind. Tomorrow was going to be amazing, she just knew it.

Unfortunately she was unaware just how 'amazing' the next day would be or of the coming surprise she would receive come morning.