The Marshlow

Rarity was an expert on colours, so she liked to think. Her profession demanded it. The cloths and silks and laces she had worked with had come in all shades, so she could create the brightest summer outfits, the most somber mourning garb, and the vivid ballgowns that made up so much of her work. Reds, greens, blues and yellows, everything in between, she had worked with it all and knew just what was the right tone for the right pony on the right day.

She was rethinking the extent of her knowledge now though, for the current leg of her journey was showing her brand new colours, though perhaps not ones she would use often.

Never in her life had she seen so many hues of brown.

The mud was everywhere. It was spattered across their bags, their cloaks, their coats - and Rarity's gleaming white fur suffered the most as the clinging sludge splashed up with every hooffall. Applejack didn't mind the mud, and Twilight refused to comment, but she couldn't help letting out her own occasional groans of distaste. She tried to hold them back, she really did, but the horrible gripping sensation of the filth, inescapable on the sodden flats, was too much for her.

"It's not the mud you should worry about," Bluebell had told her, the day after that which dawned as they left Hockfall, "it's them." A skyward hoof pointed to an airship, alone in the sky, its navy blue balloon supporting a practical cargo gondola.

"Why?" she had asked. "Who's to say they're our enemies?"

"There's nothing between Hockfall and the ocean but the Marshlow, and there's nothing worth seeing there. Even most airships fly past Hockfall rather than cross the lowlands. Why would anypony fly out here if not to look for us?"

Rarity had been unnerved by that, but the airship had wheeled away, heading back west, and they had seen nopony else since. That had been over a week ago - eight days, perhaps, or nine, she wasn't sure.

On the fourth day, Bluebell had passed her a small telescope and pointed out a stilthold - a dwelling raised on long poles, some ten feet above the water or more. It was a large, ramshackle hut, big enough for ten or so ponies, though none of them could be seen.

"How can anypony live this far from anything?" Rarity wondered. "There's no food, no shops, no ponies..."

"Only a tough and hardy folk live out here, and few of them would be happy to see us," the spy replied. "We'd be best to stay well away."

"They build their homes above the marsh so that when the floods come, they'll be safe," Twilight had begun to explain, to try and lighten the tone in her own, informative way, but it hadn't helped at all.

"This place floods?" AJ exclaimed. "We ain't got no stilts of our own, Twi', what do we do when the water rises?"

"It won't," Longhorn said gently, "Only when the wild storms off the coast blow in do the waters rise, and we're so far inland it likely won't matter." But his words satisfied nopony. If they were safe here, why had the house before been raised?

The swamp was wearing down on all of them. Maybe only Rarity was still fazed by the mud, but they all tired quickly - there were no simple paths to walk, instead they were constantly traipsing though tall grasses and reedbeds, around stagnant pools and across filthy, sluggish rivers. Bluebell scowled whenever they were bothered by the many swarms of midges and other horrible little bugs. Twilight constantly was looking back over her shoulder, fearing she would see pursuers on the horizon. And though the rushes rustled in the wind, Applejack would jump at any sound, her axe-hoof rising for a fight, though one never came.

When the farmer's axe came up, so too did Rarity reach for the dagger Celestia had given her. Twilight had handed them their weapons as they left the shadow of the Hockfall cliff, and had told them how to wield them in the days that followed. The axe was strapped, blade facing backwards, to AJ's right foreleg, to hack with, while Rarity's knife rested in a sheath on her side. Held with magic, Twilight warned her that she should grip it carefully and not swing it wildly, for a magical hold could slip just as easily as a physical one.

Now, as they forded a channel, Rarity pawed nervously at the blade's hilt as she waited on the far side with Twilight as the others crossed. Longhorn was wading across now, the water (brown again) up to his sides as he pressed through, determination clear on his face. When Applejack followed, it was with more haste, and Rarity had to step back, gasping, as she was splashed, though at this stage it was more surprise than disgust she complained at. Her cloak was already filthy and damp, and her mane was matted against the sides of her head and neck - she had given up trying to get the mud out quickly enough. But she did not snap at her friend, for their tempers, she knew, were both already frayed by the damp, the cold, and the slow pace they set.

Bluebell sat down in amongst the reeds after she crossed, and nopony objected to the halt. Twilight had a pocket telescope of her own, and she raised it to one eye as they stopped, gazing east, but Rarity saw that she only frowned at what lay ahead.

"No sign of the edge," she muttered, unsuprised. No-one replied. They all knew they'd be lucky to make it out before another week went by. And though no harm had yet befallen them since Hockfall, none of them dared to say as much, for fear they would curse their good luck. Much of the muddy slog was still ahead of them and it still seemed to early for optimism.

They camped that night in amongst the grass, not that it was much distinguishable from the rest of the marsh. Without Twilight's magic, they would have never been able to set the tents up in the soggy ground, but a couple of spells from the mage's repertoire held the ropes firm. Two to a tent they lay, or three, with one outside to keep watch against pursuers in the cold. Rarity dreaded her watch, for not only were it cold and damp, but it was still the dead of winter, and though no weatherponies or wild winds bothered the marshes, the cold still bit deep, and she had to clutch tight to her filthy cloak for warmth. Despite the damp, the fabric remained warm, and she couldn't help but wonder if the princesses' gift was more than an ordinary garment.

But that night she slept undisturbed. It was not her turn to watch that night, and she rested almost fitfully. But she dreamed a dream of endless browns and dull greens, and wondered if sleeping had been all that different from waking.

Hockfall

Plunge Pool watch the chariot descend with no small amount of trepidation. The golden carriage and armour of its stewards shone in the pale sunlight of the winter's day, but despite the cold, the crowds still turned out in droves. Most of them cheered, fraying his nerves further - he had been elected to remove the Pine family from office, but the Sun Princess was no small-household noble. If war did come in his lifetime, he would need help to hold the bridge-city, and the northern lairds knew it.

Celestia took her time making her way through the city. Pool gazed down on her when she could - when she entered the central plaza and made her way up Great Falls Road, he could see the ancient queen from the Round Room, her and the cheering, waving crowds clamouring around.

When the Princess finally reached the mansion, his nerves were so set on jittering that Cowlmane had to remind him to meet her in the courtyard, and he had had to scramble downstairs, trying desperately to pull himself together. His best mindset was, however, he feared, still not strong enough to dice words with the Mother of Canterlot, who had faced down greater beings than himself with words alone.

If she can do it, so can I, he reasoned with himself. But all the same, as the great doors opened and he stepped forward to see Celestia before him, smiling warmly with nothing but joy in her eyes, he knew he was going to be played for a fool, whether he liked it or not. Because in her mind, that's probably what she thinks I am.

The serving staff were lined up inside, flanking the central staircase, and Celestia insisted on greeting them all, asking their names. Pool realised that many of the names spoken he had never known himself. Is she doing this deliberately, to unnerve me? He nearly panicked. Perhaps I should simply tell her I did a good enough job of that myself, and she need not worry.

As they climbed back to the Round Room, the Princess smiled his way and apologised for the short notice of her visit. He told her it was quite alright, though of course it wasn't. His predecessors had done their best to keep the Princesses from meddling in their affairs. Though he didn't quite share their desire to do so, the governor knew that Laird Highpine did. When he heard of the meeting, he'd be furious. He likely already had - he likely already was.

Pool held the Round Room's door open for the Princess, and closed it behind them after she swept in, leaving them alone in the chamber. It was more Braytish in style than Fettish, brown carpet covering the floor, velvet and fabric furniture to sit on and dark glossy wood to not. From the wide window, one could stare out across the bridge-city - though not far, for they were only two stories off the ground. This was no mountaintop palace.

Celestia did not sit. Instead she stood, gazing out of the window, over the city which both she and Pool ruled. Though she was in his home, the governor did not believe he was quite in charge. When Celestia turned her kindly smile on him, he was struck by abject terror. In the stories her smile lightened the heaviest hearts, and brought light those in their darkest hours. Pool judged those stories to be misleading.

"I'm so glad that we could meet in person again, Governor," she said, warmly. "It was a shame I had too little time with you when we last spoke."

"L-likewise, Princess," Pool managed to stammer out. His tail flicked nervously from side to side, and he couldn't quite seem to stop it.

"I apologise for the short notice of my visit. I was en route to Londock and my schedule had opened up, and your charming city does just so happen to lie in between."

No it doesn't, Pool objected silently, Londock is more than a hundred miles south of here. She hadn't commented on his fear, though he was certain it was noticeable - which probably meant he was right, and she was playing him. She must know everything.

"My old student wrote to me a few days ago," Celestia continued. "She told me of your charming hospitality." The governor's knees were shaking now, but with the Princess still standing he dared not move to a chair. And all the while, she smiled down at him, as warm as the summer sun.

"I," he began, but had no idea of what he could possibly say. "I-"

"My sister didn't think I should come," the Princess added, cutting across, "but I thought it better that we should thank you personally for your hospitality. I have grown quite fond of Twilight Sparkle."

"A-as have we all, your majesty."

"Good. I hate to think that anything should happen to her before she could see her niece again." Celestia turned away to make for the door. "Oh, and Governor?"

Pool swallowed hard. "Yes, your majesty?"

"If the Order decides to attack, just remember you're in their vanguard. I'd reexamine my diplomatic position if I were you - you are comparatively close to Canterlot, after all."

The pleasant pretences dropped almost as quickly as the governor, who hit the ground before Celestia even reached the door.

Plunge Pool came around to see that mercifully only Cowlmane in attendance. The robed pony stood expectantly with a bottle of Fettish whiskey stood on the table beside him, a glass poured. Good man. Pool rose shakily and staggered to the table, grabbing the tumbler and downing it before turning to his aide.

"How many men did Laird Highpine send after Dr. Sparkle?" he demanded.

"Six unicorns, four pegasi, and four earth ponies," Cowlmane replied, "aboard a commandeered airship. That doesn't include Captain Cone, who leads them. More than enough to take care of three ground-bound ponies in the Marshlow."

"Call them back."

"Sir?"

"Call them back, damnit!" Pool shouted. "Celestia will murder me if I kill Twilight Sparkle."

"I can't," Cowlmane replied. "I couldn't drop a letter precisely enough from this distance."

The governor frowned at him. Had his brightest assistant lost his mind? "Why can't you just call the ship's radio?"

"Because Laird Highpine smashed it before they left," Cowlmane explained, almost unconcernedly, "and said he'd do the same to Cone's head if he didn't bring him the Elements."

The Marshlow

It was the twelfth day of their trek through the swamp, and the clouds were gathering thick overhead. They had blown in off the open sea, Longhorn told them, concerned, but they would not break for another day or two. So they hoped - none of them were pegasi, and even Twilight's knowledge was limited to guesswork here.

When they had started gathering in the clear skies the morning before yesterday, they had stepped up their pace. To be caught in the open her during rain could have many meanings. If the showers were short and light their progress would simply slow as the mud around them worsened. But if a storm was brewing, and the rains fell as hard as they were known to, they were in great trouble. The sodden ground could not hold much more water. Not just the Hock, but a hundred Fetloch streams and more poured themselves into the great valley. Longhorn had supposed that any storm in the valley would hit closer to the coast, but if the rains fell here, as hard as it seemed they might, they would almost certainly drown.

At first the sky above was only marred with light, almost white blotches, but as time wore on, they thickened and darkened. Now the dome of the heavens was covered from horizon to distant horizon in a thick, deep grey, ever darkening, but nopony could say what that meant for them should the clouds break.

"We should make for a stilthold if we see one," Bluebell urged. "Nopony would begrudge us shelter in a time like this."

"Of course," Twilight agreed, but the bard was more sceptical.

"If you come to their homes the Marshfolk will ask questions and payment of you," he warned. "Don't expect them to feed us either. There's precious little food out here and they'll keep it for themselves."

They had all seen the truth in that, but, Rarity pointed out, the marsh grasses were plentiful, though salty and tedious to the taste. "What else do they eat?" she asked. "A pony couldn't survive on stalks alone."

Longhorn gave a knowing, bitter laugh at that. "Maybe it's better that we stay well away," he said. "You mightn't like the wildfolk's habits. They eat fish, miss," he said, simply, spying Rarity's confused look, "that's what else there is out here besides the long grass. And when the water rises, there's none of that left either." Rarity gulped, and wondered how much longer their own rations would hold out.

They trekked on, the marshes around them forever unchanging and unnoteworthy. There was nothing to be seen that they hadn't been gazing at for the last week and more. Only marshgrass, as far as the eye could see, and no stiltholds - unsurprisingly, perhaps, as they had only spotted maybe five at most since their descent. Rarity wasn't sure if she wanted to know how families out here had lasted through the generations.

Somewhere to their left, a toad croaked loudly. The rushes waved as another gust of wild wind blew through, and somewhere in the distance she heard the buzzing of a swarm of bugs of some sort. With only the winds and rains that blew in off the seas driving the weather, and no pegasi to bring the usual chill, winter here was mild enough for the insects to persist. The damp and the mud bothered the travellers more than the season.

"Everything is so bland this side of the Penneighns," Rarity noted. "The Homeplain was empty as well."

"More of the world sits on this side of the mountains," Longhorn told her as they turned to curve around yet another pool. Their zig-zag course had become familiar, and though it slowed their pace they were past aggravation. There was no alternative. "The Itailian lands are quite varied; they boast both mountains and plains, and their weather teams have a penchant for sun. Braytain, on the other hoof, lies just ahead of us. Much woodland, many hills and lakes, and all manner of settlements. And are you forgetting Hockfall itself? The wonders of the Equine world; the glories of its vastness, they are not confined to your own lands."

"I've been outside the Heartland before-"

"Only to the cities, Rares'," Applejack pointed out. "You oughta spend more time in the country."

"I lived in the country most of my life." Rarity pouted. "I think I - ugh, wretched bugs!" she cursed, wheeling as the buzzing they heard earlier grew close. She swatted angrily at her head, to no avail. "Where even are they?"

"I don't see any insects." Twilight frowned. "Hold on..."

The humming grew into a low rumble, and Rarity gasped in horror. As one, the entire party looked back and up, to see, descending out of the thick banks of cloud, a monstrous navy blue airship, its rotors roaring. The usually white fashionista stifled a scream.

"They aren't flying any colours," Bluebell hissed, barely audible over the growing bellow of the ship's engines as it dropped at an alarming rate.

"Like you said, there's nothing for a ship out here," Twilight replied. In a flash of purple light, her mage's staff appeared at her side. "Nothing except us." The tip of her horn and the crystal on her staff began to glow with the same arcane aura...

Aboard the TRHs Mistrider, about two minutes earlier

"Ready to descend, captain!"

Captain Cone glanced at the airship's real captain as he called back. "Are the men ready for combat?"

"Three spellcasters on each side, on the cargo deck," his subordinate confirmed. "Four pegasus aerial combatants ready to take flight, six earth stallions-at-arms, ready to drop in when we get close enough. All ready to fight on the Order's behalf, sir. We expect the unicorns to make short work of them before any of our men have to risk their lives in hoof-to-hoof combat."

"Fine." Cone watched the stallion at the wheel, taking a moment to think before he gave the order. This was his ship, not theirs. The Hockfell Guard had airships, yes, but their comings and goings were monitored. Laird Highpine had commandeered this, a merchant vessel, and promised the captain compensation for his cooperation. Just as well, as none of the strike team could fly the blimp. Cone had worried that having two captains on board would lead to confusion between himself and the steely-eyed stallion at the wheel, but the other had said nothing since Highpine had issued his commands. Sapwood Cone wasn't sure what to make of that. "Take us down," he ordered, turning away as the sergeant left for the hold where his men were assembled.

He looked on as the glass of the front screens was obscured by thick black-and-purple cloud. His eyes narrowed as he squinted, trying to spot the ponies whose lives he might have to take if he wanted to keep his own. And then he screwed them tightly shut as a bolt of blinding purple energy came rocketing into the bridge.

Below

Twilight grunted as she loosed her spell, but she didn't think anypony heard her over the airship's rotors. Good. The balloon reeled, listing northwards, and a flock of pegasi spilled out of the cargo bay underneath. One looked to be plummeting straight for the bog, Twilight realised with a shock, but there was nothing she could do, with another four still in the air and headed their way.

If he lands wrong he could break something vital, Twilight fretted. If he lands unconscious in a pool he could drown. "Did I just kill a pony?" she said, staring where the colt had fallen. She looked to Bluebell beside her, though as to why she could not say.

"Get to killing a couple more," the spy replied, grimly. She bent down to strap her dirk to her foreleg. "I can't do anything useful while they're off the ground." Twilight gulped.

Behind them, Applejack had placed herself before the other two, axe raised. Rarity stood with her own knife shaking in her magical grasp. Twilight noticed she had forgotten the hornblade that Celestia had given to her - she looked absolutely terrified. Almost as if to offset that though, the antelope behind them was utterly unconcerned. Twilight was so surprised by his calmness that it took her a moment to realise he was pointing.

Her head snapped around to see a stream of technicolour bolts streaming from the airship. With no time to do better, she summoned a hasty shield, not caring for the specifics of the spell, and the Knights' blasts slammed into it. Two passed through, one burning a hot red that went wide and ignited a clump of reeds some six feet behind them. Rarity jumped, nearly catching AJ with her blade, but the farmer didn't notice, too intent on receiving the incoming pegasi.

But the other didn't miss. Twilight gave a shocked scream as a bolt of bright blue light arced to the tip of her horn from the other unicorn's. The shout of horror became one of pain as the energy entered her mana-circuit. The feedback to her brain was horrendous. This was no spell that any city guard should know - this was powerful magic, dark and malicifent.

Dazed, and as good as blinded, Twilight hunkered down, vision blurring. She knew she had to keep low if she wanted to survive a second attack. She racked her memory for a spell to purge the excess energy, but it the pain made it nigh impossible to concentrate. She'd have to, though, if she wanted to make it out of this alive. She'd seen what could happen to an overloaded unicorn - Celestia had shown her skulls, or at least what was left of them.

The world blurred around her. Somepony shoved her down to the ground and she struggled, but she felt the rush of air as a pegasus, maybe more than one, swooped by. One of her friends grunted, another screamed, and red gore flecked in her eyes. She wiped it away roughly as she grasped for words and incantations in her mind, but they fled from her, driven out of reach by pain and confusion.

It felt like her horn was going to explode, and she certainly wasn't ruling out the possibility. Giving up on rationality, she gave a primal scream, blinding white light erupting from her horn and into the clouds above in a great column. Gasping, she gulped in great breaths of fresh air as her head cleared.

"Twilight!" Rarity screamed in utter terror, as the purple mare swayed where she stood. She had vented more than just the extra energy, and had little left of her own. Her vision swam as struggled to recover, and Applejack stood herself in front of Twilight to protect her. Magician or not, she could barely stand, let alone defend herself. The farmer snorted, raising her axe in defiance. It was bloodied, and when Twilight looked for the reason why, she wished she hadn't. One of the pegasi lay sprawled in the mud nearby, bereft of half his skull.

"Here they come," AJ muttered. The earth ponies, armed with assorted weapons both sharp and blunt were coming at them at a steady jog. They'd faltered as Twilight's violent purge had lit up the heavy sky, but now they saw her stagger and came forward with renewed confidence. The two groups stared each other down as the Knights advanced, neither with any sense of leadership. Though the burden on Twilight's mind was lifted, her mind remained blank. There were too many of the attackers for them to withstand. She stared blankly at them, but her fearful reverie was broken when a flash of light lit up the black sky above. The rumble of thunder and the splash of thick droplets of water into her mud-ruined mane gave her more to fear than ponykind alone. The storm had broken.

She wasn't the only one to notice. The first of the Knights stopped mere feet from Bluebell to look up. It was his undoing. His helm was only a half-face guard, and though it kept the rain off his head, it couldn't keep Bluebell's knife from his throat. She grappled with him, shoving him to the ground. A second stallion behind him went to shove the spy aside, but Applejack through her weight against his, giving Bluebell's dirk time to make its cut. A third Knight leaped forward to join his ally, and the spy and the farmer fought beside each other over the corpse of the pony they'd already slain.

Longhorn leapt forward into the melee as the remainder of the advancing earth ponies arrived. As a huge brown stallion armed with a mallet swung it over Bluebell's head, the bard's twin prongs jabbed at his neck, forcing him back. The dressmaker took a nervous step towards the melee, raising her own knife - but then took another three back, unable to face the swinging blades and bludgeons.

That left only Twilight and Rarity behind. One was too weak to fight, the other too scared. Leaning on her staff, the mage desperately tried to will her friend into action. "You have to help them, Rarity," she pleaded. "There's three of us and four of them." More, if you count the pegasi and unicorns. The spellcasters were advancing cautiously, afraid to sling any spells that could hit their companions, but overhead, the airborne equines were wheeling around for another dive. A glint of light warned her that their extra limbs were adorned with razor-sharp wingblades. They didn't need a sword or spear - just to get in close and quick...

The pegasi dived, but even with AJ otherwise engaged, the fate of their comrade cowed them. "Sometimes when they're in the air, they think they're invincible," Shining Armor had told Twilight once. A farmer had beaten that out of them where a drill sergeant had not. The flying Ordermen sailed way over their heads, but the two unicorns still ducked as they passed.

"Rarity, do something!" Twilight yelled. Before them, Bluebell recoiled as a blade swung at her head and Twilight gasped in shock, but Longhorn shoved her attacker back and Bluebell shook her head, blood oozing from a shallow cut on her forehead, but she stayed standing. The dressmaker stepped forward, horn alight. Taking one of the Knight's tails in her grip, she yanked the colt backwards, pulling him into the mud.

Rarity gave a grim, but satisfied smile as Applejack moved forward with her axe towards the fallen stallion - but if anypony had been watching, they'd have seen it turn to a look of horror when another of the earth ponies blocked her path with his blade and AJ stepped back, snorting angrily. The pony Rarity had dragged down hauled himself to his hooves, but he did not return to the brawl before them. Instead, he turned to Rarity.

"No," she whimpered. "No, please, no." It was the stallion with the hammer. Armourless, his huge, coal-grey, muscular frame looked like it was tough enough without protection, and the maul's head was almost as large as Rarity's. Holding it in his jaws, he couldn't respond, and only advanced, glaring menacingly. Turning his head, he prepared to swing his weapon-

Thok. The hammer's shaft tumbled from his mouth as the colt's head snapped away. Twilight had slammed the butt of her staff into his forehead, and he reeled. Twilight's mind and heart were racing - she couldn't let him get back up again, but if she knocked him out he would drown when the waters rose. I've killed him, she realised, darkly. Whatever I do now, he has to die. I just - "Argh!" she screamed, as, with a spurt of gore, Rarity's knife slammed into his forehead, and the stallion dropped to the sodden ground, glassy eyed. Rarity just stood there, stunned by her own action, the blade hovering still where it had slid from the pony's skull as he collapsed. Twilight called to her, carefully, but she just sat down in the mud.

The others had beat back the rest of the Knights, the unicorns turning to run as their earth pony brethren bled out in the reedbed. Blood and rain ran off the three who had met the Knights head on - they were battered and bruised, and Applejack had a nasty gash on her left foreleg to go with Bluebell's cut to the head, but they were all still standing. Overhead, the pegasi battled through the storm, and for a moment it looked like they were going to make another pass, but they curved away to flee after the departing airship.

"Are you alright, Twi'?" Applejack asked as they huddled together. She had not stopped breathing heavily, and the cut on her forehead bled profusely, but her first thought had been for her friend.

Typical AJ, Twilight thought. "I'm alright," she said, but decided straight after there was no point in telling half-truths. "I mean, I'm not hurt. I'm - I'm exhausted, though, I think I might be close to burning out. Badly," she added. It wasn't hard to see. She trembled even standing, and her knees were bent with the effort of standing. A red trickle leaked from one of her nostrils - a warning sign for any spellcaster to be wary of.

"Not that it'll matter for much." Bluebell spat into the rising waters before nodding upwards. "It's coming up to my ankles. We're in a region-sized puddle, and it's getting deeper."

"We should run," Longhorn said, "we have to find a stilthold, and fast."

Twilight shook her head. "We'll never make it," she said, "not in time." It was hopeless. Their quest derailed on its first leg. A wild storm, it was - was this Tempest's work, truly? Did the alicorn not wish for the Gate to be opened? Or had she no idea just what was happening in the lowlands right now? She hasn't been seen for millennia, Twilight reminded herself, though that fact gave no answers.

"Look at them," Bluebell growled, "leaving their own." While the airship receded, the unicorns below were flagging, and could have never kept up with it in the first place. They would drown like their foes.

"I - I have a plan," Twilight said, hoping she sounded more certain than she felt. " Well, more of an idea... I - wait, wait here," she insisted.

"Twilight, you-" AJ began, but it was too late. Somehow, the lavender mare had found the strength to teleport, and disappeared in a flash of light.

She reappeared only to stumble and fall to her stomach, her desperate blind jump only just landing. On the cargo deck of the Mistrider, she quaked as she tried to stand. The first time she couldn't make it to her hooves, and slumped again. When she finally stood, her stomach pitched with the dirigible, her hooves staggered as it swayed. The bay doors were open, and too close for her liking - beyond them, water fell in sheet-like curtains from the untamed clouds above.

As she had hoped, there was an emergency locker against the forward wall. She moved to it as quickly as she could, although that wasn't very quick at all. She nearly fell twice as the ship was buffeted by the wind. While the world around was soaking, her mouth was dry with fear - for herself, for her friends, for her enemies, or at least the guilt she felt for their fates. When she reached the crate she fell heavily against it, wiping strands of her mane out of her face as magical exhaustion began to set in. When her hoof came away, it was redder than she had expected. I may have popped another vessel, she realised with a grimace. Celestia, I'm going to have such a headache from this.

"Get up," a voice tried to threaten her. Looking up, there stood an earth pony, wearing the dull chainmail of the Hockfall Guard. He leveled an ankle-mounted bolt gun at her, his other forehoof on the trigger, but Twilight didn't move. "Get up or I'll shoot you!" Captain Cone shouted, but his voice shook. His forehead was bleeding from where shards of glass had cut him after Twilight's first spell had wrecked the bridge - but it was that very spell that had left him unnerved. The mage was dead on her hooves, but she could still tell that the pony facing her didn't have the courage to carry out his threat.

"If you don't get the Elements off me, Laird Highpine will have your head, I expect," Twilight told him, feigning indifference. "I'm not going to tell you where they are, and you certainly won't find them if I'm dead." She could only hope her voice did not convey her fatigue.

Cone blinked. "...W-who said I was with the Order?" he stammered.

"I didn't," Twilight said, acidly. "Must've been you."

The stallion's forehooves were trembling so badly he nearly lost his balance, and he had to set back on all fours. "I only wanted to be a soldier," he muttered in self-pity. "I never signed up for this."

"You know what? Good!" Twilight rebuked him, standing. "It means you're not a psychopath like your boss!" I never thought I'd actually hear somepony say that in real life. I thought it was just in bad novels. "Go back and get your buddies off the ground," she ordered. "Or I swear to Celestia I'll shoot you down once I'm back on the ground and you can die with them." Cone had nothing to say to that, though she hardly minded. She doubted she'd have the strength to take down one of the midges that had bothered them so, let alone an airship.

With a disgusted snort, Twilight turned back to the locker. Flipping it open, she found what she was looking for - a large orange package wrapped in clear plastic. At the sound of shuffling hooves behind her she snapped her head around to glare at the Knight who had once again leveled his bolt gun at her. This time he got the message and shuffled off to what remained of the bridge, looking sheepish.

Coward, Twilight thought to herself. My brother made a better captain than twenty of him would. Seizing the bundle, she took one last look at the torrential rain and gave a small huff of fillyish protest. But she gathered herself and, once more, lit her horn. There was a brilliant burst of light, and then all that remained of her on the deck was a tiny smear of blood.

Below

The others stood ahead, watching the departing blimp in desperation. They had to shout over the roaring of the storm, yet still Rarity couldn't hear them. It didn't matter; she wasn't really listening. She was sat, despondent, in the rising waters, her cloak clinging to her ruined coat. A strand of soaked mane fell into one eye. She made no move to brush it aside.

The dead stallion's blood pooled with the rising waters.

"What did I do to you?" she whispered, but she only heard it in her mind. The sound didn't carry to her ears, and the pony she had killed didn't even care to look. "What?" she screamed, but an ill-timed crack of thunder in the distance drowned her anguish out. Nopony heard her, least of all the dead colt.

Twilight returned then, in a blur of light and motion. Rarity almost called her by name, but it seemed to her a waste of words. The mage's staff appeared beside her, and she leant heavily on it.

"Twilight!" Rarity gasped as the lavender mare collapsed, face down in the mud. Her staff fell to one side, a thick orange bundle to the other. At Rarity's shout, the others turned. The mares' faces fell into looks of concern, but Longhorn grinned.

"Clever girl," he muttered, darting past her to the package she had brought back.

"Help her!" Rarity nearly shrieked. "Why - stop smiling, can't you see she's hurt?"

"She's just passed out," Bluebell said, hoisting the unconscious mare over her shoulders. "Magical exhaustion, probably. She just needs rest. She'll have a killer headache when she wakes up, mind."

"No time for that. We need to move," AJ growled. "I agree with Longhorn, we gotta git to a stillhold fast. The waters' are gonna keep on rising, and Ah doubt they're gonna give us a helpin' hoof." She pointed back at the airship, which had finally turned to drop a rope ladder for the unicorns in the bog. The Knights were desperately trying to scramble up, but it was not an ascent kind to the equine form. The designer hoped none of them slipped like she had.

"Wait a minute," the bard interrupted them. "Let's just have a look at what Twilight brought us... If it is what it looks like, then..." Longhorn ripped open the film on the package only for the orange plastic inside to begin swelling as soon as it had space to grow into. The gazelle was forced to jump back, splashing in the shallows as it flipped further open. Over the storm, Rarity swore she heard him laugh.

"It's a life raft!" he roared happily. "She must have grabbed it off the zeppelin! Your Dr. Sparkle really is quite remarkable."

"The jump must've taken it out of her," Bluebell added as the little boat grew. It wasn't big, but it floated in the rising damp and had an awning to keep the rain off. They would have to take it - the water was nearly up to Rarity's knees.

"Now I understand the stiltholds," she tried to say, but it came out to quietly for anypony to hear. Just as well, perhaps, as she choked on the understand and was left feeling a little like she assumed Fluttershy must sometimes. Fluttershy isn't a murderer.

"Wrap your blades tight if you've got nothing to keep them in," Bluebell told the group. "A puncture could be the death of us."

"Keep it together, Rares," AJ muttered to her, nudging her leg, and she realised that she was shaking all over.

We could have died out here, she realised, we still could. I - oh, Celestia, no further! I want to go home. She sniffled, and dragged a sopping foreleg over her eyes. With so much rain pouring down, she hadn't noticed that she was crying.

When Longhorn judged the craft to be ready for them, he gestured for her to get in first, and she did so gladly. She crawled as far into the tiny shelter as she could, and curled up, screwing her eyes shut to try and stave off the guilt and exhaustion.

Bluebell lay Twilight down nearby as the others climbed in. When Longhorn pulled the tarp over the door, there was only about space for another pony left - it wasn't going to be a comfortable trip. Rarity hoped that she would accustom to the rain's drumming on the roof, and to the water pooling in the base of the boat that dripped from their saturated coats.

"Ah don't like this contraption," Applejack complained. "Thin an' flimsy. Put something where it shouldn't be and we'll all drown."

"It's better than drowning anyway."

"If you know anything about the Marshlow, you know about its storms," Bluebell muttered. "We used to watch them from the Terraduct. I never thought I'd be caught in one."

"We're just lucky we had Twi'," Applejack said, tired yet proud. "Every day she's with us we're lucky. She's got to be one of the best ponies I ever met."

"Would you still say that now she's killed?" Bluebell asked. Rarity shrank into herself a little.

"We both joined that club today," Applejack muttered, looking away, "but I'll thank you not to be so blunt about it."

"They won't send anyone after us in this weather," Longhorn said, trying to move the conversation on. "Marshlow storms can last a while."

"How could there be a storm like this without any warning?"

The bard shrugged. "Tempest has fickle ways and a mischievous heart. The weather out here is as wild as her, and just as kind."

"You believe in Tempest?" Bluebell asked.

"After all our friends told us," Longhorn replied, "now would be a good time to start."

The little boat drifted in the new-risen sea. It's occupants shuddered as it swayed, but it held firm. There were no great waves on these waters, the marsh rising into an endless green-blue expanse, with the sky black as night and unforgiving as time. But the lifeboat remained afloat - a splash of orange on a new palette, where before there had only been brown.