The Terraduct

The colt was struggling, that much she knew. He was going to have to stop, and soon, but the clopping of hooves against stone behind them was growing insistently loud and they both knew that there was no easy way out this time.

A crossbow bolt bounced off the cobblestones beside her hooves. Looking back in desperation, she saw two things - their pursuers drawing ever closer, one reloading his weapon, and the headlights of a train on the rails beside them.

With a desperate grunt, she barrelled into her companion, pushing them both out over the train tracks. She nearly froze in terror of the danger she had just put them in, but she kept going, running sideways, until they toppled down onto the lower 'Duct.

The sickening thud as they hit the stone below was drowned out by the roar of the freight train as it raced along the upper bridge to their left, where they had been standing but moments ago. But the pair were earth ponies, and they were friendlier with the ground than most. The blue mare grabbed her tan partner roughly by the scruff of the neck and hauled him over to the balustrade. Below them, the River Hock plunged down into the great valley, hundreds of metres below. They paused there, gasping, holding each other's gaze.

Bluebell's eyes wandered over her friend's face. If he had been in a bad way before, her reckless attempted 'save' had pushed him even further out of it. Blood trickled from his nostrils from his collision with the stone. He was panting, tongue lolling out of his mouth, and his eyes were dim and despondent.

"'Bell," he whispered, "I can't go on much longer..."

"No," she gasped back. "You... Just a little more, Thistle, please, we're so close! We're so close..."

"I'd only slow you down..." he managed, breathily. She made to protest, but he cut across. "They only need one of us, alright? If they find me here they'll leave you alone."

"Please, Thistle, don't give up!" she cried, her voice rising in panic.

"I'm not a quitter, I'm a fighter." He grinned at her. "But a good fighter knows when to quit, right?" He pulled her close, hugging her roughly, briefly. "I won't let 'em get to me, sweetheart, but it's more important that they don't get to you."

"I-I know," she said, quietly. "But it's so hard-"

"Don't cry for me, Bluebell, please," he begged her, "just remember me."

"I won't leave you!"

"Bluebell, listen!" he hissed with quiet intensity. "When that train is gone, they'll cut across the tracks first to see if we were hoping they'd leave, or in case we jumped." As he spoke of jumping, he glanced back at the chasm behind them. "If I come with you, you won't have time to make it back into town. There's a bit of fight left in me, but not a flight. Now go," he insisted.

"OK," she whispered, turning, finally accepting. "Don't tell them anything." She walked a little further, following the train towards the far side of the Terraduct, but stopping before she had gone ten paces. "I love y-"

"I know," he cut in again, "but this is only making it harder. Please, be strong for me," he pleaded. "Don't let them hurt you."

His fiance merely nodded, her white mane sweeping out behind her as the train gusted along just above them. Then she turned and moved on, this time running, and never looked back, fading into the darkness.

The breathless, bruised, bleeding colt leaned against the stone railing, watching as the train rolled past. It was a long one, and was slowing down as its engine started to enter the depot on the far side of the great bridge. The pursuers would not let the trucks stand in their way, though, and would easily be able to cross between the wagons and descend. He had until then to make his choice. Face his cruel enemies... Or the crueller Hock.

Over the falls...

He gulped and looked backwards. Behind him, there was nothing. The world simply fell away to the river, far below, concealed in an inky blackness his eyes could not divine. With a screeching of brakes, the train slowed to a halt, and instead of the rumbling tons of wood and metal, the whooshing of the water filled his ears.

It would be so easy, a quiet part of his mind told him, to slip away now. To fall. Into the night, never to be seen again. Never to be caught. And anyway, he reminded himself, a good spy wouldn't let himself be caught.

Not yet, his rational side urged. You can still make yourself useful. For Bell. You can still-

"There!" came a cry from further up the Terraduct, off to the side Bluebell had run. The struggling pony turned his head to see his pursuers galloping towards him, weapons drawn. But he didn't care. If they were coming for him, they would leave Bluebell alone and that was all that mattered.

That and that he didn't tell them anything.

He closed his eyes and braced himself, gulping.

"Got ya, ya wee scumbag," the brawniest of the three shouted, pinning him to the barrier with a rough hoof. The crossbow in his magical grip swivelled to point at the earth pony's throat. The rough-hewn marble dug into the captive's back, grazing against it as the bulky unicorn forced him upwards. "Where's yer wee lassie, now?"

"Careful now, Boulder," cautioned a scrawnier unicorn. "No sense in damaging him now, for the world to see."

Boulder grunted and released the earth pony, who fell to the paving, gasping.

"Get up," the second speaker ordered, "and tell me where your dear associate went."

"So you can hunt her down and kill her?" the spent brown pony groaned. "Not likely."

"Kill her?" The apparent leader grinned. "Oh no, I'm not going to kill her. Mere torture should be enough to loosen her tongue - or yours, of course, you'll have a front row seat." The third thug - who could only be assumed to be another unicorn, given the bulge atop his face-obscuring hood - gave a disturbingly pleased chuckle at the threat. The earth pony swallowed with involuntary audibility.

"Ya've bin a thorn in the Master's side fer too long, Thin Thistle," Boulder spat, dragging him to his feet with his magic before turning away. "He's gonna enjoy watchin' you squirm."

"You won't find my Bluebell, Boulder," Thistle whispered as he tensed, "and they'll certainly never find you."

"What?" The giant, dark brown unicorn wheeled around, rearing, but the rage in his eyes quickly became confusion, became fear as Thin Thistle grabbed one of his raised forelegs and literally swung his oppressor, slamming his forehead against the balustrade with a loud crack. As the hooded pony leapt forward to aid his ally, Thin reared, lashing out with his forehooves, connecting several times and forcing him back.

The lead unicorn shouted something, but Thistle was beyond listening. In a single motion his forehooves dropped to the ground as his back legs kicked out. Boulder, draped over the railing, felt the full force of an earth pony buck, which, even from an injured colt, was more than enough. The giant sailed over the edge of the Terraduct and into the night below.

And then Thin Thistle was gone, rolling up and over the edge himself. Terra could have only carried him a few more feet, but a few feet was all he needed. The tug of raw unicorn power grasped at his limp hooves, but it was fading quickly. Hockfall dropped out of sight as the battered stallion fell. Ten seconds, twenty, thirty, a minute, all the time the roar of the Hock drowning out any hope of coherent thought.

Goodbye, Bluebell, he managed, the unspoken farewell bubbling to the surface of the panic in his mind, fighting to break free, but he denied it. He was not going to give the Knights that satisfaction, even if they would never know. He went willingly so that they could go no further. Be safe.

Then there was a great crash, and the darkness took him.

The Heartland Express

"I don't wanna say it," mumbled one of the two ponies as the wind whipped at her hat, trying to snatch it away.

"Of course you do, darling," her companion replied. "I can see it in your eyes."

"But, but, uh," the first stammered as she pushed her wide-brimmed stetson down with an orange hoof. "Don't you think it's, uh, a little... Uh... Contrived? Or, uh, overdone? Yeah, that's it, it's overdone. Ah say it all the time. For little things. This ain't a little thing, don'tcha think? It needs something more."

"Of course it's not a little thing," the white unicorn reasoned, "but then again, I think it would be fitting. Characteristic, if you will. Say it, dear. Shout it out for the world to hear!"

"Alright then." The earth pony stopped, panting, working herself up. "Alright." Then she reared, planting one hoof against the guardrail and snatching her hat up with the other, waving it high over her head as she bellowed, "Yeeee-ha!"

Rarity couldn't help but laugh at Applejack's exuberance. It was appropriate, admirable, and, above all, infectious. She joined her friend, planting both hooves up on the rail and giving a wordless shout of joy as the Penneighns rushed past them, the train coursing downhill through an ancient valley. To their right a great mountain peak stretched skywards, reaching hopefully out to Celestia's sun, whilst on the other side a dizzying drop cut away to the valley floor below, where woodland stretched from side to side. At the far end of the valley, and growing further away with every clickety-clack of the train's wheels, they could make out the receding town of Maresden, and while they could not see ahead, they knew they would soon be emerging into the great Homeplain, where lay New Pitsburgh, the risen pheonix-city, and its coalfields that powered the Heartland's railways.

"Look!" Rarity gasped, pointing down into the valley. Below them, the dense forest, leafless oaks interspersed between proudly needled pines, gave way briefly to a clearing, where a little log cabin sat on the side of a frozen pond. A foal and its mother sat on the porch, where who they assumed to be the father helped a younger pony to their hooves as they skated on the ice. "Hello! Down there!" she shouted, waving.

AJ nudged her with an elbow, smiling. "They won't see ya, Rarity, we're too far away," she gently chided. But Rarity's efforts were rewarded when the pony on the porch pointed up at the rapidly receding train, waving back. "Well, maybe they can't hear you, at least."

Rarity smiled, watching the family scene until the trees dominated the view once more. She lowered her forehooves back down to the floor of the carriage, turning away from the mountain view. "Come along, Applejack," she called, "I think Twilight may well be ready for us now."

AJ's face fell slightly as she continued to look out across the valley. With great difficulty, she too managed to tear her gaze away, and, hooves clanging against the metal deck, she followed Rarity inside, sliding the door shut with that satisfying swish and click that train doors tend to have.

"Ugh," Rarity quietly moaned. "That wind has completely ruined my mane. I shall have to re-do it this afternoon."

"I thought you were all over all that fancy stuff," Applejack said.

"Just because I don't care for certain members of Equestrian society quite the way I used to doesn't mean I no longer take pride in my appearance," Rarity informed her, smoothing down her mane with a hoof as they strode back down the corridor. "I shall have to ensure I look at least passable again by dinner tonight."

Applejack grinned at her. "It was worth it though, weren't it?" Rarity was quick to return the smile.

"It was absolutely worth it, darling. I've always wanted to see the world by train. Airship travel may be so much more efficient but you never really get the chance to admire what you pass."

"Well, we got a five-hour stop in New Pitsburgh this evenin'," the earth pony reminded her. "You'll get plenty a chance to do some admirin' then."

"I do hope so," Rarity agreed as they passed through the dining-car. Four-seater dining booths lined the right-hoof side of the carriage, which was the same side as faced the valley below. Part of the reason for the long stopovers at some stations was so that the train crew could swap the dining car with a mirrored alternative, to ensure that diners sat on the side with the best scenic view. For now, the carriage was empty, but come five o'clock it and its sister car near the front of the train would be heaving. Rarity, however, had insisted the three of them dine in New Pitsburgh that evening, since Twilight had refused to disembark at any of their prior stops.

"An' we're both gonna make sure Twi' comes this time, right?"

"Right." Rarity nodded with a mock grim expression playing about her lips. "Honestly, we take her out on holiday and all she does is work!"

"Hardly a holiday, Rares," AJ chuckled.

"Of course," the unicorn replied, "but you have to admit it feels a little like it. The accommodation, the cuisine, the decor here all far surpass that of any other train I have had the pleasure of travelling on." Passing through the little hallway between carriages, they stood respectfully to one side to allow a porter to pass. It was only a few moments more before they walked through into their own carriage - provided by the Princesses themselves - and paused outside the door.

Rarity raised a hoof and rapped daintily against the panelled wood. "Twilight, darling, it's us," she called. "Are you quite ready yet?" There was no reply.

"It's soundproofed, Rarity," Applejack reminded her.

"Of course," Rarity said, flatly. "I knew that." With her magic, she lifted a set of keys that she had been wearing on a chain around her neck. As she gently pushed one into the lock, Applejack snickered. "Hush, you," Rarity chided her with a gentle smile.

Sliding the door half-open, Rarity stuck her head into the cabin. There was Twilight, sat at a table, working by lamplight. Although she sat just next to a window, the blinds were down, no doubt to satisfy Twilight's paranoia. As she entered, the mage's gaze snapped to her, staring her down with wary eyes.

"Twilight, are you ready now?" Rarity asked again, quite unsettled by the younger unicorn's behaviour. "You said to give you an hour." Twilight seemed to take a moment to think about that.

"Hm? Oh, yes, I suppose I am ready," she agreed. "Come on in." Twilight watched the other two enter, but didn't turn her gaze from the door until it was fully shut and her friend had turned the key in the lock once more. As Rarity took the blind-pull in her magic, the scholar flinched away, nervously, like a timberwolf from fire. "Don't!" she gasped, causing Rarity to raise a sceptical eyebrow before lifting the shutters to allow daylight into the cabin. Outside, the craggy mountain face blurred past.

Twilight sat, twitching, staring out of the window as the others sat opposite from her. The official carriage was certainly luxuriant, but Twilight had very much made it her own. The lacquered table had been completely covered with papers, some in Twilight's hornwriting, others in Princess Celestia's, but most were blank and seemed to simply serve to fill the space. A liquor cabinet stood against one wall, but the scholar had forgone alcohol in favour of hard caffeine, as evidenced by the coffee stains on various parchments and the steaming mug set to one side.

The double bed was neatly made, although Twilight had no influence there - she seemingly seldom slept, allowing Applejack and Rarity to share the bed whilst she fought on with hot drinks and power-naps. As a result of a week's such existence, the scholarly mare was thoroughly dishevelled.

She looks rather like I did during those all-night dressmaking sessions I used to have to pull off, Rarity mused. My, those weren't much fun, but they were worth it in the end to see the smiles on my clients faces. And their money, of course, but that's by the by.

Although, her mind nagged her, I highly doubt she's about to say anything you'll like. Far from it, in fact. Rarity grimaced as she politely waited for Twilight to begin, but the mage didn't. She just sat in her place, shuffling sheets around and constantly glancing from her companions, to the window, to the door.

"Come on, Twi'," AJ cajoled her. "You've kept us hangin' for a week now. Don't go puttin' this off any more. It's like you don't trust us or somethin'."

"It's not that," Twilight muttered, "it's just-"

"It's not like anypony's going to burst in on us, darling," Rarity added. "Please, speak your piece. Applejack has a right to hear what you have to say, as do I."

Twilight had watched them both as they spoke, but as Rarity finished, she glanced back out of the window again. She swallowed, quite obviously, before turning back to face her friends.

"Alright," she said, finally. "I should start from the top. Applejack, please, let me finish before you ask any questions, I don't want to get bogged down or sidetracked, and we've got some heavy stuff to get through. OK?"

"Alright, I guess," AJ agreed, nodding.

"OK, good, thank you," Twilight replied, smiling slightly, before her face strained itself again with nervousness. "So then, first things first - we're going to meet up with Rainbow Dash. She left Ponyville four years ago - or thereabouts - at the Princesses' request to search for the origin of the Elements of Harmony, the necklaces that contain their power or represent them or whatever. This is because their magic was starting to break down."

"Break down?" Applejack gasped. "But-"

"Please, AJ," Twilight begged, "I've been in here all week sorting out how I was going to tell you all this. I need you to trust me and listen, just for a little bit."

"...OK, Twilight, I'll listen," Applejack agreed, but she was clearly less certain than before.

"Thank you," Twilight said, gratefully. "As I was saying, the Elements were beginning to break down. I'd been studying them for a short while when I noticed this, but we had very little to go on. Nopony knows where the Elements come from. Princess Celestia literally found them during the Fifty-Years War, buried in a box near Canter Keep - that is, old Canterlot. I should probably add that when I say they were - are - breaking down, I mean their power is diminishing. Unless they're restored, we wont be able to cast magic through them of the scope we have achieved in the past.

"Now, we - me and the Princesses - discovered that we could not re-energise the pendants ourselves. They draw on a well of natural magic - much like the sun or the moon - which means they were probably created by an alicorn. Now-"

"Hold up a sec," Applejack interrupted. "Ah know I said Ah would keep mah mouth shut, but yer gonna have to fill me in a little there, Twi'. An ahleecorn?"

"Uh... Like the Princesses, I guess," Twilight admitted. "Uh... You haven't heard of them?"

"Yeah, I've heard of the Princesses, Twi', jeez. What d'ya take me for?"

"No," Twilight replied, patiently. "You didn't know there were other alicorns?"

"There are other ahleecorns?" Applejack seemed incredibly surprised by this news - but it wasn't news.

"Yes, I said that the Princesses didn't create the Elements, but they were created by an alicorn. Ergo-"

"Ah, right, Ah'm with ya now. Sorry, Twi'."

"That's alright, AJ, it's all pretty new to you... I - I guess ponies don't talk as much about the Princesses in the smaller Heartland towns, like Ponyville," Twilight relented. "There's a lot of gossip in Canterlot about... About how old they are, if they'll ever abdicate..."

"About their sex lives," Rarity chipped in with a sly grin.

"Rarity!" her companions gasped, shocked.

"I'll have you know that there is absolutely no truth in those rumours," Twilight fumed. "Princess Celestia has been perfectly chaste ever since - since - well, we'll get to that, but she's not been in a relationship for thousands of years."

"Twilight!" Applejack turned her aghast gaze on the other unicorn now. "I can't believe the two of you are talkin' about her highness that way!"

"Like I said," Twilight said with a grimace, "there's not much talk about them in small towns."

"What-"

"Applejack, what do you think the Princesses are?"

AJ frowned. "I'm not sure Ah understand."

"Just say whatever pops into your head," Twilight pressed. "So long as it's relevant, anyway."

"Well, uh," AJ blustered, "they're like... They bring day an' night, right? The Sun an' the Moon. And they got so much experience, so they make great rulers, Ah guess, they got plenty to judge by."

"So..." Twilight shuffled around the papers in front of her, pulling one up ahead of her and taking a quill in her magic to make notes. "You think they're, like, goddesses, then, right?"

"Well they are, aren't they?"

"Not as such," Twilight cautioned, scribbling. "This is the important thing, AJ, the Princesses haven't always been responsible for the Sun and the Moon. There are... Big wells, we call them, of natural magic, that sustain life in this world. If they start to break down, a creature can reach out to them, and take control over them, and these pools of magic sustain their guardians for however long they control them. If they were to give it up... They would quickly die, and somepony would have to take their place, or the mechanisms would cease to operate. The Sun and the Moon would hang still in the sky, for instance, should the royal sisters cease to guide them."

There was a pause while Applejack took this all in. "They may be god-like, but their power is not entirely their own, and they aren't infallible," Twilight summarised.

"I getcha, just... Hoo, boy." Applejack sighed. "I kinda thought... That they'd bin around for ever, ya know?" She frowned. "How long have they been around, then?"

"About eight thousand years," Twilight replied. "After King Steelmane died, his daughter, Princess Pureheart, forwent the crown and decreed that her daughters should rule together. They ascended during Steelmane's reign - that is to say, they became alicorns then."

Silence fell, disturbed only by the continued clacking of the train on its rails. Applejack stared at something between Twilight's head and the carriage wall behind. Rarity stood quietly, moving to the cabinet from which she withdrew a large glass bottle of spring water.

"Here, Applejack," she offered, pouring the farmer a glass, which she took and drank. "I would offer you something stronger, but then Twilight would probably ask for some too, and she is in quite enough of a state as it is."

Twilight looked away, guiltily. "I'm sorry, Rarity," she said quietly. "It was just hard... Going over all this again, and again and again until I'd got it right. It got easier every time, but... It still isn't easy."

"What's so bad about it?" Applejack asked, setting down the now-empty tumbler.

Twilight fidgeted in her place. "We'll get to that," she told her. Throughout the days of travel, she had locked herself in the room on the pretence of planning her speech, while she actually already know exactly what she wanted to say. The thought of having to admit to Applejack that one of them wouldn't be coming home, and that she had lied to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie was eating away at her. While the fault was not entirely her own, the guilt certainly was, and she had staved off her discussion as long as she could, but there was only so much time in which to tell Rarity and Applejack everything, and she wasn't going to leave it to the last minute.

She also might not tell them quite everything.

"So, to continue, neither Princess Celestia or Princess Luna could repair the Elements of Harmony because they were created by a different alicorn. Rainbow Dash left, escorted by Spitfire and Soarin of the Royal Equestrian Air Force to travel east to find where the Elements were created, as well as hopefully the alicorn who created them, or their successor. Obviously, it's incredibly important that the Elements be restored, seeing as they've been integral to Equestria's security in the past."

"Alright," Applejack said, nodding. "So where do we come in to this?"

"A perfectly good question," Twilight answered. "There are several reasons for our involvement, not least of which being Rarity's presence at the castle in Canterlot on Midwinter's-"

"Twilight, dear, you're stalling," Rarity reproached her. "If you are going to keep dear Applejack in suspense then I shall take it upon myself to relieve her."

"Oh, um, right. I - uh - thanks, Rarity," Twilight blustered. "It's just - AJ, you probably won't like this."

"Go on." The earth mare motioned her on with a hoof.

Twilight was becoming noticeably uncomfortable as she continued to speak. "So, um... Well, Rainbow never got to her destination. Wherever it is that was. It took her three and a half years to get to... Where she is now. She had to walk as much of the way as she could, because it's really easy to track alicorn magic when it goes airborne, and she had the Element of Loyalty with her. Well, the necklace, that is.

"She found... She found another well, another thing that could have an alicorn watching it - like the Sun, like the Moon, like the Seasons. I - I'll tell you about that later, it's not important, really," she added, urgently, seeing the confused faces that her friends pulled. "Really. Um..."

"What did she find, Twi'?" AJ asked. "Something important?"

"Very," Twilight confirmed, nervously. "She found the Dread Gate. It's... It's..." But she trailed off. "The Princesses believe it's the entrance to the world of the dead. It's a well of magic, it's broken down, and somepony needs to step in and open it up again. They'd have to become an alicorn to deal with the massive amounts of magic involved. And... That's were we're going, I guess," she finished, lamely.

Applejack sat in silence for a moment. She masked her expression well, and Twilight could not tell if she was angry, or sad, or confused, and it was killing her. Every second that AJ remained quiet was another second for Twilight to worry about her reaction. Applejack was about to realise she had lied-

"And what's the big deal about that?"

-Or maybe she just hadn't told her enough for her to notice the falsifications. "Um," Twilight mumbled. She had hoped that Applejack would glean the rest of her meaning from the little she had already said, wanting to speak as little as possible on the awkward subjects of immortality and isolation as she could, but the farmer wasn't quite following her as well as she'd hoped.

"Well, whoever opens the Gate would have to stay there. Forever," the scholar mumbled. "We agreed with Celestia it'd either be me or Rarity." Hate me already.

"Oh," Applejack said, numbly. She stared down at the papers on the table, her expression still unreadable. Rarity and Twilight shared worried glances.

She won't be angry herself, Twilight bemoaned, she'll be angry for Pinkie and Fluttershy. They never even got to say a proper goodbye to me.

"You sure about that?" Applejack asked. Twilight suppressed a scream of frustration with incredible difficulty.

"Yes, AJ, I've been studying alicorn magic for six years now. I'm pretty sure-"

"How much d'ya know about this Gate?"

Twilight had to stop. She fumed for several moments before admitting, "not much."

"See? How can ya be certain? It's not like Princess Celestia has to live on the Sun to control it."

"The two things are different," Twilight yelled.

"I told her as much myself, darling," Rarity said, calmly ignoring Twilight's outburst. "But she seems set on creating a worst-case scenario. Doctor Sparkle is very good at that, I think we can both agree."

"Rarity-"

"Twi'," Applejack interrupted, forcefully staring down the unicorn, insisting Twilight meet her gaze. "Yer tellin' me yer certain about somethin' ya know nothin' about?"

"Not quite nothing-"

"That ain't the point." Applejack turned to Rarity. "Do you believe her Rares?"

"I... I don't know," Rarity admitted. "But Applejack, whether she is right or not, there are very important reasons for our going. Twilight still has more to explain."

"So do you, Ah think," Applejack said, the first hints of anger entering her voice. "But I ain't no high-strung know-it-all. I'll wait until I understand before I get mad at you both."

Twilight flinched, the stinging accusation without the rage she expected far worse than her expectations. She was at once ashamed and insulted, ashamed that her friend her put her down so harshly and offended by her rejection of her knowledge. But even to her that certainty was slipping away, now. As much as she hated to admit it, Applejack had a point.

"Um." The scholar struggled to get going again. "Well... It's important that one of us take control of the Gate for several reasons. Firstly, in it's broken state, it's closed. And... It's supposedly the portal to the world of the dead. The afterlife, if you believe in it. So while it's shut, souls can't... Pass on."

Applejack nodded. "That sounds pretty serious to me."

"That's not the half of it, though," Twilight cautioned. "Stewardship of the Gate would also bestow the custodian with the powers of an alicorn. They'd be a force to rival the Princesses, so we have to make sure that whoever takes control of the gate isn't one of our enemies."

"You can see why we feel an obligation to go now, dear," Rarity told the orange mare. "Our home lives simply could not come before such a possibility."

"I understand," Applejack accepted. "But why you two? Surely there are older or stronger knights - uh, from the Royal Guard, that is - or magicians who could go instead."

Twilight shook her head softly. "The Princess doesn't trust anypony as much as me, except maybe Luna. I know that sounds obnoxious, but believe me when I say it's true. Also, I know more about alicorn magic than almost any other creature alive who isn't one. Again, I'm being self-indulgent, but you have to believe me."

"I myself am going because I am convinced that, despite all her qualifications and vast capabilities, Twilight's display in the Palace two weeks ago was more than enough to convince me she is not suited to this task," Rarity added, earning herself an ireful glare from the scholar, which she pointedly ignored. "I think it is fair to explain that she was... Rather unhappy at the Princesses' insistence that she undertake this particular journey. I offered to go in her place and - well, that was what did it. She refused to allow me to go alone, so, here we both are." She smiled, wanly. "You may be incredibly smart, Twilight, and, if I might add, of enviable magical capability, but," she cautioned, "I do not know if your mind, or your heart could stand the fate you face."

"And yours could?" Twilight asked, bluntly.

"I would rather face it myself than know of your suffering, dear," Rarity replied with calm honesty. "It was quite clear to me on Solstice Night that you dearly wish to escape this."

"I know..." the scholar replied, quietly. "But I don't know if I could... Push it all onto you and not regret it."

"Then prove to me you can do it, Twilight. You have the time, at any rate." She sighed. "To put it bluntly, Applejack, neither of us is truly ready to go, but we both know that we have to. I... We understand if you're angry at us, truly we do."

"Ah... Ah'm not," AJ quietly replied, "I think I get it. This is... It's a big deal, isn't it?" The farmer paused and frowned, though. "Ya'd better make sure that you do come back, whichever one of ya ends up... Uh, stayin', or Pinkie an' Fluttershy are gonna be mighty upset."

"I know," Twilight replied, shamefaced. "But there are other problems as well. You see, no pony knows the truth about alicorns. If a new one suddenly shows up in Equestria and somepony recognises them-"

"Then ya come up with some kinda story," AJ interrupted.

"Or you assume a disguise," Rarity suggested. "I hear their highnesses in Canterlot use them all the time when they've had enough of being treated like royalty for the day. Well, being treated like normal, I suppose, seeing as they are-"

"I don't know, you guys, but I'll try. I promise," Twilight cut her off. She sifted through her papers again, looking for some unseen document, but cut herself off with a yawn. "I - ugh, I'm so tired," she complained.

"I'm not surprised," Rarity replied, unsympathetically. "Subsisting on caffeine and disrespecting one's beauty sleep is a surefire path to ill health. You must finish up here as fast as you can, and then get some sleep. I don't care how tired you are, you will be coming with us to dinner in Pitsburgh tonight."

Twilight grinned weakly. "Looks like I don't have much choice. Alright then. Our main opposition is a group, led mainly by Mid-Equestrian nobles, called the Knights of the Bloodied Cross. They chased Rainbow and her companions all the way to Mareakesh before we took steps to throw them off the scent. They were after her because she was carrying the Element of Loyalty, which they want for it's alicorn magic."

"And what exactly do these 'Knights' stand for, then?" Rarity pressed in the desperate hope that she was finally about to receive some answers.

"They follow in the hoofsteps of an old alicorn, who's now long gone. Dead. The Twin Princesses destroyed him with the Elements of Harmony at the Battle of the Steel Citadel, at the culmination of the Fifty-Years War."

"Which war?" AJ asked, confused.

"An old one, long ago, there aren't many records of it-"

"What was his name?" Rarity insisted. "What did he control?"

"His name was War," Twilight said, simply. "And he was an anomaly. Nopony knows what well he drew his alicorn powers from, even the Princesses. They had to use both their own powers and the Elements of Harmony to kill him, and nopony succeeded him, which means if he did hold a well, it now lies broken."

"Surely that's for the better, if he was some kind of warmonger," Applejack said, to general agreement.

"Now, here's the thing. The individual methodologies of the Knight Commanders vary. Some wish to try and resurrect their old leader using alicorn magic, like the Elements of Harmony," Twilight explained. "Some would rather succeed him using a well of their own - the Dread Gate would suffice. A smaller, third faction would overthrow the Princesses in Canterlot, take their wells, the Sun and the Moon, and ascend. But they all want one thing - the end of the current regime. Celestia and Luna toppled from power, and the only way to remove an alicorn from their well would be to kill them."

"Why would anypony want that?" Applejack gasped, horrified. "The Princesses are great leaders! They're kind an' understanding an' don't want no war with nopony!"

Twilight shuffled, awkwardly. "You say that, but we're all from the Heartlands here. Equestria is a giant country. We get the best treatment near Canterlot, but the further away you get, the less influence the Princesses have. If you go to Stalliongrad or Roan or Vallequus, they'll only think of them as immortal tyrants, or as unsympathetic to their own plights. In some parts of the world they're worshipped as goddesses, but these are normally the places that know the least about them, and that they can't help."  

She sighed, despondent. "It's a sad state of affairs, and they're constantly trying to reach out, but the Knight Commanders have a lot of political power. They put out all sorts of propaganda to make things harder for the Princesses. It's only worsened by the fact that the Canterlot Parliament itself continues to reject a united national legislature, saying it'd be too hard to conduct elections and a load of other political rubbish. At least each of the Equestrian legislatures have equal power. Sometimes it's all that stops independence movements turning violent."

"Oh," Applejack said, quietly. "I-I never knew."

"Not many in the Heartlands do."

Applejack's face adopted an expression it rarely experienced (although it did grace her features more than most ponies first thought) - one of deep concentration. When she spoke again, she faltered slightly, uncertain of her own thoughts. "Now, hold on a minute, both of ya," she began. "If - Twilight if yer really convinced that ya'd have to stick by this Gate, whatever it really is... Then, uh, what's the problem if somepony else gits themselves stuck there? Surely they couldn't be much of a threat if they've got their work cut out for them like... Well, like you think."

"I'm not willing to take that risk," Twilight put back, bluntly. "We're acting on the Princesses wishes here, not our own. They think I'm - if I am wrong, and you're right, and the ties between the Gate and its custodian aren't too strong and they can come and live back in Ponyville then that's fantastic, OK? Even if I don't believe it's going to be that easy, I don't think it'd be a bad thing. But," she cautioned, "if that's the case, then there's also the risk of creating a threat to Canterlot. And anyway, a skilled magic user could be able to test us even from that distance - using spells or by manipulating their own well. You said it yourself, we don't understand the Gate, so why should we risk putting it into our enemies' hooves?

"We have to remember that this is about death. About ponies dying, about souls, about... The afterlife, and even maybe judgement, paradise or damnation, and I say all of this because we don't know anything for certain. Nopony comes back from death. And... Well, while I can be certain about some aspects of alicornhood, there's never, never in all of history been an alicorn of death. We don't know what they'd be capable of, beyond basic alicorn immortality, nigh invulnerability, godly magical prowess and the like. I can't just say everything'll be fine and leave them to it for the sake of my pride. Which," she noted with a little grin, "has taken enough of a beating recently as it is." Rarity gave her a tiny smile in return.

Outside, the mountain face finally dropped away. While the Penneighns continued to stretch on to the north, they were now on flat grasslands, expansive, unblemished, seemingly endless. They had reached the Homeplain of Pitsburgh. The three of them gazed out of the window, each deep in thought.

"So then," Rarity said, breaking the silence with slight trepidation. "I think I understand it all now. Save Equestria from bloodthirsty, power-hungry nobles?" She smiled. "Given all we've been through together I can hardly say I don't like our chances. Granted, there may be more obstacles on our way than usual, but..."

"We'll make it," Applejack asserted. "Again. Don't you worry about that, Twi'. We're gonna save Equestria again, right?"

"Right," Twilight agreed, smiling softly. "Thank you both for understanding."

"Promise me you'll stop always fearing the worst, Twilight," Rarity gently asked her. "You are quite intelligent, dear, but you need to make sure you don't apply that brilliant brain of yours to worrying, because Celestia knows you have an amazing capacity for that."

"Alright, I'll try," Twilight agreed. "Promise!" she rectified, catching Rarity's pointed stare.

"Excellent. Now, get some sleep," the white unicorn instructed. "We'll wake you in New Pitsburgh. I shall rectify what nature and physics have, in malevolent partnership, wrought on my mane," she went on, indicating her hair, wind-tossed from her time on the back of the train, "and Applejack shall..."

"I think Ah'm just gonna sit here fer a bit," AJ said, quietly, gazing down at the papers covering the table. "Ya both have given me a lot to think about."

"Alright," Twilight accepted, yawning. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to... To..." The actress and the farmer both gave little smiles as Twilight tottered to her hooves. It was perhaps only five steps to the bed, and yet she didn't quite make it, toppling forwards to come to rest with her check on the duvet but her hind still on the ground.

"Bless her," Rarity whispered, lifting Twilight gently with her magic so that she was fully on the bed. "She only wants to do what's right, but she doesn't seem to think about what's right for her."

"That's why you're here, right?" AJ asked, equally quietly.

"I suppose so." Rarity's gaze turned to the window, where she watched the endless plains roll by. In the far distance, she could see but a single farm, incredibly isolated, surrounded by fields that lay dead for the Winter. It was a mild day, and there was no frost, but the Midwinter aura of desolation still pervaded the world under the bleak grey clouds.

Her philosophical musings were interrupted by a clinking of glass behind her. She turned to see Applejack rummaging in the glossy liquor cabinet, pulling out individual bottles and examining them with a keen eye.

"Mark my words, Rares, one day there'll be Sweet Apple Acres cider in this here cupboard and every such one in all of Equestria."

"What are you doing?"

Applejack frowned, as if the question was the stupidest she had ever heard. "Getting a drink. Why?"

"Miss Apple, absolutely not!" Rarity hissed. "We will be sharing dinner in but a few hours and I will not have you roll into one of New Pitsburgh's smartest venues smelling of whiskey!"

"Smartest... Uh, Rarity, have ya already picked a restaurant?" the earth mare asked, nervously.

"Haven't I ever!" Rarity grinned, deviously. "And you, my dear countrymare, are going to fit right in by the time I am finished with you."

"Uh."

"It shan't take long darling, I promise! We don't quite have the time or resources for perfection, but you must wash your mane, and I picked out the perfect dresses for you and Twilight to wear during our stop in Canterlot."

"You're joking."

"Don't you wish."

The Palace of Night and Day

Silver Service frowned. Something was very wrong here. Something terribly, terribly wrong. A flaw in the system, a disaster for his career record a fallacy by the standards of any royal butler worth his salt.

There was a letter in Princess Celestia's 'in' tray, and she had already gone to bed.

"Missus Landing?" he asked the secretary at the desk beside him. "Why did the Princess not receive this letter?" This would not have happened, he reasoned, if it were not the middle of winter. Shorter days meant shorter hours of obligation for the Princess, and while she did take time to enjoy her sister's night most nights, today she had retired quite early, citing exhaustion. She had gone straight to bed after sharing a quiet meal with Princess Luna in her chambers.

"What letter?" Lore Landing grumbled good-naturedly. The elderly former scholar prided herself, much like Silver Service himself, on efficient service with a sense of humour. So too did the Princesses, which was perhaps why they had made the appointments.

"This one, here," the palomino butler replied, levitating the envelope to her eyes.

"It must have come in late," the secretary suggesting, shrugging the matter away. "Leave it until the morning."

"It says 'confidential' on it. It may be important."

"The most important letters go straight to her majesty through the mana-mail system. If it's here, it can wait."

Silver Service was not convinced. "What if the pony who sent it didn't have access to the mana-mail?"

"Then it would have come in with the rest of the post this morning."

"I guess that makes sense... Alright, you're right, I'll leave it until the morning. If her highness asks, it arrived tomorrow morning." He was joking about saving face, but they both knew they could never lie to Princess Celestia's face.

Bluebell's letter fell back into the tray with the slightest of thuds.