“Give me one reason I shouldn’t cut your head off your shoulders.” Hurricane’s cruel voice was the first Rainbow heard as she followed Cyclone into what she knew as the Cloudsdale City Council building.

“If you never want to speak to your daughter again, there are easier ways.” The confidence in Morty’s voice seemed at stark odds with the tip of Procellarum pressing into the apple of his throat. “If you actually don’t care about Gale anymore, you could also consider what kind of damage my magic would end up doing if I wound up as a shade. You wouldn’t want another King Sombra, would you?” Then, looking away from the stallion threatening his life, Coil smiled in the direction of the newcomers. “Glad to see you made it in one piece.”

Hurricane’s attention turned away from Coil as he finally acknowledged Rainbow and Cyclone’s presence. In the momentary gap, the pale horse disappeared in a flash of blue light, blinking back into place unsettlingly close to Rainbow. The fastest mare in Equestria didn’t react as quickly as her looming great-uncle.

“What are you doing here, Coil?” Cyclone demanded, as his good wing slung Infernus off of his back and into easier reach of his mouth. “Where are Typhoon and Gale?”

Commander Hurricane walked across the massive room, his naked hooves clicking on the marbly cloudstone. “He’s left them to the thestrals.”

Morty held up a hoof, and an edge slipped into his voice that Rainbow hadn’t heard before. “Screw you, Hurricane. I would never leave Gale in danger. She asked me to come here for your sake. To tell the truth, I’d rather you got what was coming to you, but I couldn’t exactly tell her no.”

Though Hurricane gripped Procellarum all the tighter in his teeth, Cyclone relaxed a bit at the unicorn’s explanation. “Alright, Coil, what is it that Gale needed to tell us so urgently?”

“Your diversion didn’t last long. When the horde figured out Rainbow wasn’t with us, they turned back for Cloudsdale. Even if we get Rainbow out quickly, it won’t be long before they’re pounding at the doors. You and Cyclone need to get out of here. I’ll help Rainbow back to her body.” He accompanied the last comment with a smile in Rainbow’s direction.

“And how do you propose to get Gale, Typhoon, and Cyclone back to the Summer Lands?” Hurricane’s words were bladed with distrust. “My Empatha can get Rainbow back, but I can’t breach Celestia’s barrier.”

“Gale can get Cyclone and Typhoon back if they want,” Morty replied. “But she’s staying with me.”

“What?” Cyclone growled.

“No.” Sparks danced on Hurricane’s wings.

“Why?”

It was Rainbow’s question that Morty answered, at once serious and on the verge of excitement. “Because there’s something else after this existence. Souls were never meant to be trapped the way Celestia and Luna have trapped them. When a loose soul like ours is forgotten by the living, they start to fade away. Eventually, they go… somewhere else. The next great adventure.”

Rainbow Dash cocked her head. “What’s it like?”

“I don’t know,” Coil answered bitterly. “Cathartic, if I had to guess. Celestia and Luna aren’t about to kick the bucket any time soon, and they remember Hurricane and I too well for us to fade away. Almost ironic that even out here, they’re still holding on to me. All I’ve heard are the descriptions of a few nearly-faded souls, but they don’t make a lot of sense, since there isn’t much of a pony left in them. What they all say is that it’s something good, somehow. Don’t you want to know what it is someday, Rainbow?”

“Well, yeah, I guess…”

“He’s selling you a daydream,” Hurricane growled. “Even if he hasn’t just made this up, what about the shades?” The pegasus derisively shook his head. “You haven’t changed in all these years, Coil. Still putting adventure and excitement ahead of the lives of other ponies. The Summer Lands make ponies happy and safe, and protect the living. You’d do away with that?”

Coil turned from Rainbow, matching Hurricane’s glare. “We used to have a very elegant solution to that problem. I think Luna called them the Night Guard. It’s too bad somepony decided to slaughter them.” The necromancer spit on the stone floor. “The Summer Lands were a mistake, and I’d undo that spell in an instant if I could. You’re too consumed with counting the lives you’ve saved to realize that there’s more to life than just existing, Hurricane.”

“Foal.” Hurricane shook his head. “Typhoon and I were right; Nightmare Moon proved that beyond a doubt.”

“But she’s not Nightmare Moon anymore!” Rainbow cut in, taking a long stride toward Commander Hurricane. “She’s Princess Luna!”

“A mare who haunts the dreams of her enemies and keeps an army of the dead to serve her. I don’t see the difference.”

“You’ll never change.” Morty rolled his eyes. “And for the record, I can vouch that keeping a few walking corpses on hoof is pretty useful. You can’t solve every problem with a sword, after all.” The pale stallion smiled disingenuously. “Oh, wait, you probably didn’t know that, did you?”

“We don’t have time for this. Cyclone, go with Coil and find your sisters. Rainbow, join me.”

“Hold on!” Cyclone, who had stowed Infernus between his shoulders, froze mid-stride and turned to face his great-niece. “Thanks, Cyclone. You’re… a lot cooler than I was expecting.”

His right wing burst into flame. “Is that better?” Without the slightest hint of a smile, it took Rainbow a moment to realize his joke. With his broad, bushy muzzle, he reached down and pushed her shoulder toward Hurricane. “Get back to your life, Rainbow. We’ll meet again someday. Don’t make it too soon.”

Rainbow, however, made another turn. Her smile turned toward Mortal Coil, who answered with one of his own. “It was cool to meet you, Morty.”

“This doesn’t have to be goodbye,” he told her. “Just ask your friend Twilight; she knows how to get in touch.” Rainbow was taken aback by the comment, earning a chuckle from Morty. “Oh, she never mentioned me? Well, like I said before, give Celestia and Luna my regards.”

“Stop wasting her time, Coil.” Cyclone gestured toward the dense cloudstone doors of the enormous chamber.

The necromancer shrugged. “He’s right, Rainbow. Good luck.”

“Thanks.” Rainbow made no motion of her own, but she didn’t fight back when Coil wrapped a hoof around her shoulders in a brief hug. In stepping back, he pushed her toward Hurricane.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Hurricane.” With those parting words, his horn flared to an almost frightening brightness, causing Rainbow to squint. When the light disappeared, Commander Hurricane was the only other pony in sight.

“Come here,” he ordered, as he placed a dark wing on the cloudstone at the center of the room. Lightning bounced between his feathers, and a veil of shimmering steam began to orbit him. “Don’t be afraid.”

Rainbow tentatively touched a hoof to the barrier. Little bolts lightning spread from her hoof across the surface of the stone, like one of the electricity balls Twilight kept in her laboratory. In the absence of any pain, she stepped through to stand beside Hurricane. “So… what now?”

“I need a moment to build up the magic I need,“ Hurricane explained. “Listen closely. Here, in the Summer Lands, you didn’t have the pain from your wings or the fatigue on your body to impact your emotions. In the living world, you’ll have to deal with those stresses as well. If an emotion gets too much, use your Empatha. It will make you tired, but that’s far better than losing your soul again. Do you understand?”

Rainbow nodded. “I… I’m not exactly sure what I’m gonna do though. I still have to get out of Suida.”

“Celestia won’t abandon the Bearer of Loyalty. Hold your ground.” Hurricane’s piercing, perfect magenta eyes stared into Rainbow’s matching set. “And stay away from Luna. As long as she lives, you’re one of the only ponies who can protect Equestria.”

“Wh―”

Before she could finish her thought, the world became fire.

“She’s waking up!”

Silence followed the observation from a raspy, effeminate voice. Rainbow’s groan broke it, as she lifted her chin from the harsh stone. Her back stung, her stomach ached, and her ever subtle motion sent shivers of agony up her spine into her head.

“Slowly.” The word, whispered in her ear, came from a very different voice. The feel of a loose, lean coat pressed against her side, and a similarly baggy leg wrapped over her shoulders to help her stand. “I kept you hydrated with ice, but it’s probably been two days since you’ve eaten anything. Here.” Something crispy pressed against Rainbow’s hoof.

“Wh...what?” Rainbow bit into the strange brown-black blur in her hoof, finding it harsh and crisp like burnt bread, but pleasantly more flavorful.

“It’s the better part of a beetle.” A dark blue-gray hoof pressed over Rainbow’s muzzle when she gagged. “Swallow it. You’ll need your strength.”

The meat went down hard, and it left the young mare feeling green-cheeked. She squinted, shuddering at the sensation, as the weight of the hoof on her lips pulled away. She wanted to cough it up. Though she was too cool to be afraid of bugs, the idea that she’d eaten something which had once been alive churned in her stomach.

When she finally opened her eyes fully, the world came into a bit clearer focus. Brown eyes with misshapen, splotchy irises stared back into Rainbows. Around them, a graying mane hung long and loose over a steel blue coat. Loose skin hung from the stallion’s skull, bags filled the spaces below his eyes, and his lips seemed just narrowly unable to close.

“Dad?”

His eyes closed slowly, and his lungs wheezed as they expanded. Even that petty motion of his face seemed to cause the stallion a great pain. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to save you.”

The Commander finished his wheezing exhale. As his eyes opened, his brow fell into a flat, furious glare. “You’re part of the team Luna sent? Are any of your friends with you?”

Rainbow shook her head. “She didn’t actually send me. Deadeye decided he was going to find you, and Soldier On and I came with him.”

“Why?”

Rainbow’s brow rose. “What the heck do you mean ‘why’? I came here to save your life.”

“Why should you care about my life?” the Commander asked.

A voice behind the Commander caught Rainbow’s eyes, startling Rainbow. “I don’t understand. Aren’t you her father?” Only when the sow stepped forward did the young pegasus recognize Enka.

“Yeah,” Rainbow answered, without bothering to hide her spite. “Not a very good one, though. He abandoned my mom and I when I wasn’t even a year old.”

The Commander scowled. “It was the right choice.”

“The right choice?” Rainbow rolled her eyes, and then brought her head forward toward her father’s, glaring more closely at him. “For who? You? So you could run off on Mom and I?”

Despite the expression on his face, the Commander’s voice was calm and controlled. “Look at where being my daughter has gotten you, Rainbow.” He gestured briefly to the stumps on her back, and then to his own sides. Rainbow’s stomach seized when she saw where the small, bright-blue feathered wings had been stitched into the shoulders of the long, steel-blue stallion. Her eyes locked on her own wings. Her heart burst into a full sprint.

Her father wrapped his forelegs over her shoulder, and pulled her muzzle into the loose, dirty fur of his chest. “Ice, Rainbow. You can do it. Let it out. Let the feelings go.”

Rainbow focused on the pain. Her mind locked down on her loss. Memories came to mind, and disappeared through the stumps on her back. Her first Rainboom. Her cutie mark. The Wonderbolt academy. Learning to fly from Papa. One after another, they came and went, passing through her mind like leaves on a wind.

“What are you doing?” Enka asked, obviously distraught.

Rainbow felt her father’s head turn, and heard his gravely voice through his chest. “Pegasus magic comes from emotion. The ice is her sorrow. She needs to release it..” Then he turned back to her, holding his forelegs even tighter for a moment. “Are you alright?”

“...yeah,” Rainbow answered, pulling back. It was a lie, and she could guess from his expression that the Commander knew all too well. He remained silent on the subject, however. His eyes drifted momentarily to the little circle of ice, perhaps half a wingspan around her on the floor. “Yeah…”

“I’m sorry, Rainbow, but you would have seen them sooner or later. It isn’t permanent.” The father nuzzled his daughter, and she found herself too drained to pull away. “You’ll get back to Canterlot, and then Celestia can heal you.”

“…I’d rather have Luna.”

Tired, loose skin slid over the Commander’s ribs as he sighed. To Rainbow’s slight surprise, though, he held his tongue. “The first step is getting to Canterlot. Are you any good at art, Rainbow?”

“What are you talking about?” Enka cut in. “Art? Pony, have you had enough to drink? The heat is getting to your head.”

He coughed once in a sort of sad imitation of a laugh. “Probably. But regardless, we need information. Help me, Rainbow.” His forelegs shuddered, and he winced in utter agony at the strength it took to stand. Slowly, his weight began to rise from the floor.

Rainbow got her first good look at her father’s rear leg as it shook, and then collapsed beneath him. Where his coat should have borne a cutie mark, he instead wore an enormous scar. Pink skin, waxy and yet rough, dominated his right side, dragged down nearly to his knee. Even compared to his atrophied, patchy coat, it was thin.

After his brief gasp of pain, the stallion stubbornly began to rise again. Rainbow stepped forward to help him, lowering her shoulder under his side and bearing a bit of his weight. She held him for just a moment, until the first feather brushed against her side.

“Papa, my wing itches.”

The old, gray stallion chuckled. “Well, you haven’t had a good preening in a few days. I imagine that’s where it’s from.”

The filly pouted. “But I wanna go flying! Preening takes soooooo long.”

“You’ve gotta take care of your wings, Rainbow. Otherwise―”

“Rainbow!”

The mare jumped aside at the sound of the shout. The Commander’s shoulder, and her own wings stitched to his side, were both covered in a thin layer of frost. “Are you okay?”

Her father nodded, shakily holding himself upright. “I’ve spent time in Stalliongrad, Rainbow. But you need to control your emotions.”

“Well, sorry. I didn’t realize I was doing something wrong for getting bothered that I had my wings torn off!”

The Commander simply looked at Rainbow. It wasn’t a stare; it was soft, though not particularly compassionate in her mind. It seemed as if his mind were somewhere else. Whatever he had thought of, it did not last long. His right forehoof extended, and at no inconsiderable pain, he took a single step. Then came another, and another, until he reached the stone wall of their little shared cell. The same hoof that had taken his first step burst into flame, though unlike his steps, he suffered no pain.

“W-what?” Enka asked. “Your hoof―”

“Pegasus magic,” the Commander answered. “Rainbow can probably do it too, if she gets angry. What you are about to see is much older magic.” Almost callously, he added, “Please, do not scream.”

With that rather cryptic comment, the stallion began to draw in the stone, scraping away burnt stone with his hoof. First a long, thin squiggle, and then another found their way into the wall. At the upper end, a strange flat wedge, providing a base for an upward curve and a jagged forking line. At the other, a bushy wave that reminded Rainbow of a tail.

As he added arms and legs, realization came onto Rainbow. Not a moment later, the burn marks began to move.

“Ah…” moaned Discord, as he stretched his stubby stick-arms. “Commander, did you really have to use stone as your medium? I’d kill to be carved in some wood. Or maybe oil on canvas? Then I could really stretch.”

“Discord?”

“Rainbow Dash?” Discord spoke with the mare’s voice. “Were you expecting the Spirit of Interior Decorating?” Discord chuckled to himself as he glanced around the room. “Unfortunately, the Elements of Tackiness imprisoned Doily in a stained-glass lamp, so she won’t be available to help. Here’s a better question: what are you doing here? Both of you?”

“I―”

“She got the brilliant idea to come here herself trying to rescue me,” the Commander interrupted. “I turned back to try and save her from Khagan. Now I need to get her home.”

“I can talk for myself, Dad.” Rainbow folded her forelegs across her chest as she glared. “I didn’t expect you to be so ungrateful.”

The stallion rubbed a hoof across his brow, dragging his baggy skin and scruffy mane in a wide circle. “Discord, how much magic do you have now?”

The caricature of the draconequus grinned. “Quite a bit now that things are heating up; there’s a fair bit of fun going on in Krenn’s home these days, and I have to admit, Stalliongrad isn’t that far behind either. That being said, I’m not about to start dropping lightning from the sky for you.”

“I need a message delivered,” the Commander noted.

Discord snapped, and a little courier’s hat appeared atop his head, likewise burnt and carved into the stone. “Celestia, I take it?”

The Commander shook his head. “Morning Star, if you can. I’d rather keep Celestia out of this.”

Discord shrugged. “Well, Morning Star is a little dead to be helping you.”

“Masquerade…” The Commander’s frown deepened. “Rainbow, is it true Stoikaja was exiled?” At Rainbow’s nod, the stallion hung his head slowly. “White Flag, then.”

“Hay no!” Rainbow bellowed. At her father’s raised brow, she explained her outburst, “She tried to take Scootaloo away.” Aggressively, she pressed a hoof against her father’s chest. “I bet you think that was a good idea too?”

The Commander glared down at the hoof on his chest, and then with a gentle motion of his own forehoof, he brushed it away. “The Honor Guard has very few rules, Rainbow. One of the most important is that we never interfere with the friendships and personal lives of you and your friends. I agree that Flag should have stopped you. Using Scootaloo…” He let the words trail off.

Discord chuckled to himself. “Let me save you both the trouble; the good Captain isn’t going to be able to bear your message. She’s quite occupied―”

“Wait.” Rainbow’s father raised a hoof. “Captain? I thought Celestia gave Roscherk my position.”

The carving of Discord smiled and nodded. “She did. White Flag finally got what she wanted, going on twenty years ago. She’s the captain of the Royal Guard.”

Rainbow reared back, and her back flared in pain as her body tried to flare wings it no longer had. “What about Shining Armor?”

“Hmm.” Discord placed a talon on his chin. “Now that is an interesting question, isn’t it?”

“Just tell us!” Rainbow shouted at the wall.

The draconequus chuckled. “He had a little run in with Masquerade, right about the time she escaped. Now, can you imagine that? Half the captains of the guard out of commission, Masquerade freshly escaped, and now it looks like somepony just made an attempt on Spike’s life. Probably just coincidence, though.”

“Spike?!” Rainbow leaned forward, slamming her forehooves onto the stone wall.

“Not Twilight’s hatchling,” the Commander noted, pulling his daughter back with a single hoof. “A very long time ago, Krenn went by that name. I’m certain Celestia named ‘Spike’ after her old friend.” Then, turning his steely gaze toward the wall, the brutalized stallion spoke with a tone that matched his name. “Explain, Discord. I need to know.”

“Oh, I don’t know if I should do that,” the Draconequus noted, scratching at his chin and staring idly away toward the window. “I’ve already given you plenty of information for free. Certainly more than enough to help you plan your next move. If you’re hoping for more, I expect a reward.”

“I don’t have time for this, Discord. I promised to free you. What more do you want?

“A story, as usual.” The carving smiled. “But I’d rather you tell your daughter and your new boar friend here than me. Honesty, after all, is an Element of Harmony.”

“Not my favorite,” the Commander grumbled.

Discord chuckled. “Alright, I’ll be frank. Tell them the story of the first Gilded Lotus.”

The Commander’s eyes widened behind the curtains of his mane, and he staggered backward. “No, Discord, you know I―”

“Fine, it’s your choice. You already know what you need, Commander.” Discord crossed his mismatched, hoof-drawn arms. “If that’s all, then, I’ll be going. I’m most of the way through a pretty good plan to make pigeons go extinct.”

“Wait,” Rainbow called, holding up a hoof pleadingly. At Discord’s raised brow, she turned her attention to her father. “What’s he mean? Why don’t you just tell the story, Dad?”

The Commander was silent for what seemed to be a very long time. His brown, misshapen irises traced along the floor, toward Enka, onto the wall, and then finally found their way back to Rainbow’s face. “I need your word, Rainbow, that what you are about to hear will never be repeated.”

Rainbow took a step back. “Uh… okay? What about Enka?”

A shrug answered her promise. “Equestria’s survival isn’t dependent on her life.” His gaze briefly flicked toward the sow, but he added nothing to the comment.

Discord snapped his fingers, and the black scorched lines of his body expanded over the wall, forming a sort of charcoal portrait on the rough reddish gray stone. “Whenever you’re ready, Commander.”

“Fine. It was December, fourteen-forty-seven…”

Discord’s portrait began to move.

Stoikaja shifted the crate from her shoulders, planting it in the dirt and reeds at the side of the river. Though her jaw was just as strong, and her body just as dense, there was a gentleness to her expression that would be long gone six years later. Her bladed hooves made quick work of the rough wood. “Commander, are you sure we want to do this?” Her accent was thick, overpowering when mixed with her already heavy voice.

Clad in void-crystals and ancient gold, the well-groomed soldier turned his attention to his subordinate. “You didn’t hesitate to throw Frostbite to the dragons. This will be much less painful.”

“Frostbite deserved it!” Stoikaja countered, with a surprising show of youthful emotion.

The third member of the little squad chuckled to herself, shaking her aged head from side to side. “Filly.” Unlike the Stalliongradian giant, White Flag seemed just as old and weathered that day as she would for the next half-dozen years. “He deserved it? How idealistic.”

“Mind yourself, Lieutenant Flag,” the Commander ordered. “As for you, listen closely. We’re not here to decide who’s right and who’s wrong. Leave that to the Princess. Our job is to protect her, and by proxy, Equestria.”

“How is this protection? We’re invading the boars! This is assassination!” Stoikaja loomed over the Commander, though he seemed unphased by her advantage in height.

“If we don’t stop him, Warchief Khagan will lead an invasion against Equestria soon. We can pit the entire Royal Guard against a boar horde a million strong, or the three of us can kill Khagan and end the threat without the death of a single pony.” He dipped a hoof into the river and wiped his hooves with it. “If you can’t do this, Stookajah―”

“Stoikaja,” she corrected, emphasizing the ‘y’.

His nostrils flared as he released a snort. “If you can’t bring yourself to do this, On, the Lieutenant and I will move forward without you.”

“Wait, what? In Stol’nograd, you said you needed me for this mission.”

He nodded. “Without your danger sense, we’re likely to be caught. If we are, Equestria goes to war with the boars and thousands of ponies die. This is your last chance to turn around, Soldier On. The war begins June twenty-first.”

White Flag cocked her head. “That’s an incredibly specific date, Commander.”

“It’s the Summer Sun Celebration,” the stallion replied.

“And what does that mean to the boars?”

The black-clad stallion ripped off one of the sides of Stoikaja’s crate. “That’s between myself, the Princess, and a very old book, Flag. For now, we need to move.” His hoof reached into the box, withdrawing three gilded flowers. “Now, remember: we’re aiming for absolutely no detection. Khagan dies of a previously unknown poisonous plant, and we were never here. If any boars see you, kill them and disintegrate the bodies. Flag, you and On are going in on hoof. Trust On’s instincts; she’s got strong Endura for that. I’ll take up a cloud overhead and spot for you.” His wings spread to give him balance as he reared up on his hind legs, sharing equal weight between them. With his freed second hoof, he ground the three flowers together, working them together until only a mustard-colored paste remained. With care, he scraped the ooze off into a plastic bottle that also lay hidden inside the crate.

“This is what Reckoning’s mad elk came up with?” Flag asked, staring at the bottle.

The Commander frowned. “Fallaner called the plants ‘deicide’, but I’m fond of ‘gilded lotus.’ Like the black lotus they’re bred from, they have parasitic seeds. Instead of just burrowing into muscle and dissolving it for nutrients, though, these seeds are hungry for magic. They burrow into the bone marrow of whatever part of the body produces mana, and then they dissolve it, drinking in the magic to become fertile. At the same time, the acid they produce eats out through the bone and the flesh, until the affected part of the body starts bleeding. The seeds fall out, into the ground, and grow into new flowers.”

“That’s horrible!” Stoikaja yelled.

“It’s the only way to kill something as strong as Khagan,” the Commander noted. “His Endura is incredible; not just faster healing, but honest-to-goodness regeneration. In a normal creature, these will take weeks to kill. But with magic as strong as the Princess’, it shouldn’t take more than a few days to end Khagan―the magic giving him immortality will fade, and he will age to death. Even if we could take him directly, doing so would reveal us, and then the boars would have a unified enemy to fight against, instead of turning on themselves.”

“How are you proposing we poison him without the boars seeing us, inside their capital?” Flag asked.

“That’s why we’re here at the river,” the Commander explained. “You and Stoikaja are going to walk in along the bottom. Ulaanboartar is two miles down river. I’ll get on top of a cloud and spot for you. That means we’ll I’ll need you to keep up telepathic communication. Can you do that, Flag?”

She nodded once. “Yes, sir.”

“Good.” The Commander turned his head to the south. “You have to get it inside the body somehow to get it started. Injury or ingestion. We’ll be putting it in Khagan’s food at the banquet for his chieftains tonight. If some of them are killed as well, it will only spur their infighting. Any other questions?”

In the ensuing silence, the dark blue stallion extended his wings, sending a rippling click down the bladed steel scales that covered their crests. His hoof pulled off his helmet. “Go ahead and cast, Flag.”

“Khagan… was right?” Enka whispered, staring wide-eyed at the Commander. Gears seemed to churn in her mind, even as she spoke. “ And for all that yelling about honor and ancestors, he knew...”

“What happened next?” Rainbow asked. “Why tell us about the plan, but then not tell us about what happened in the city?”

“He doesn’t need to.” A shudder ran down Enka’s body. “Oh ancestors, it’s true. He caused the Tusk Rot. Our people are dying everywhere. Ulaanboartar is a graveyard. You… you… do you know how many boars you’ve killed? Do you know what you’ve done to our people?”

The Commander gave a solemn nod. “Eighty-thousand is our best estimate, from the plants themselves. I don’t know how many died from the power vacuum after those first few chieftains died.” The words were calm and factual.

Rainbow’s forelegs shuddered, and her eyes closed. She found herself struggling to swallow. The Commander took notice, and he turned toward her just in time to receive an uppercut to the jaw. Rainbow’s body burned as her father was thrown to the ground, skidding along the stone with a gasp of pain. “Eighty-thousand boars? And you just say it like it’s no big deal! How dare you!” Rainbow lunged forward at her father’s prone form, but a mighty brown mass stopped her.

“Calm yourself, Rainbow Dash,” Enka ordered, holding the raging mare tight despite the flames spreading from her back. “Attacking him will not bring them back.”

Rainbow struggled in the sow’s grip. “But he killed all those boars, and he doesn’t even care.”

“Answering violence with violence is what brought my people to where we are now. Though it makes me sick to say this, I must stay true to my belief: even with what he’s done, he deserves to live. Death only begets death.” Enka held Rainbow tight until her thrashing ceased. “Though I want to know why Khagan still lives, but the Tusk Rot rages everywhere.”

“Bad luck,” the Commander answered flatly. “Khagan had requested a ram, and we managed to get the seeds inside, but when it was served, he opted for some different meal. I don’t know what happened after that, but some other boars ate the meat, and then the gilded lotus began to spread.”

“Bad luck?” Rainbow growled in fury anew, though she refrained from leaping on her father. “You killed eighty-thousand people and you call it bad luck?”

“Better than hundreds-of-thousands,” the Commander answered. “How many do you think would have died if I allowed an open war? We would have lost San Palomino, and Appleloosa, and probably even Ponyville.” Staggering to his hooves, the guardspony’s tone took on a harsher edge. “How do you think you and your friends would have fared on your quest for the Elements if a boar army were occupying Ponyville? Do you think all six of you would be alive to stop Nightmare Moon?”

“What are you talking about?” Enka asked, revealing no small spite as she turned toward the guardspony.

The stallion offered an even expression in return. “The day Khagan had planned to invade was the day that Princess Luna returned from her millenium of banishment. He knew Celestia would be occupied with her sister, so she wouldn’t be able to stop him. Rainbow was one of the mares who…” After a moment of consideration, the stallion chose “...pacified her.”

“You say that like we killed her. We freed her. But now that I see what you’re really like, I’m not surprised you can’t tell the difference!” Rainbow shouted.

He took a deep breath, and then turned to Rainbow. “I made the right choice for Equestria. Not a single pony died, and in the end, I saved more boars as well. Hate me for that if you like. Discord, I held up my end of the bargain.”

“Oh, always so business-like? I’d rather hoped you and Rainbow could get into a good tussle over your morality.” The etching on the wall clapped his claw against his paw. “Still, it was more amusing than I expected. Well, to tell you things the fun way, Masquerade escaped from Celestia’s imprisonment. I don’t know how, because she had too many void crystals around for me to see. Once she did, she disguised herself as Red Ink and made her way off for Stalliongrad. Along the way, she ran into Shining Armor, and he took a bit of a tumble off a rather large bridge.”

“Is he dead?”

“Oh, that’s what you’re asking?” Discord held his paw to his belly as he chuckled. “He’s as alive as either of you… well, as alive as one of you, at least. Although, I can hardly say he’s well. You and your daughter of all ponies should know what I mean when I say there are fates far, far worse than death. He’s run in with a very old friend of yours. But I wouldn’t concern yourself with him; Twilight and Roscherk are both on his trail.”

“Wait! What do you mean about Shining?” Rainbow ran over to the wall. “Do you mean like Celestia’s spell, or―”

“I’m certain I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Discord replied. “Suffice it to say he’s outside of your reach anyway. I’d be more concerned with Princess Luna. You see, she and her guards decided to go all the way to Krennotets to figure out what good old Spike―that’s Krenn again, Rainbow, not your fun-size version―was so upset about. Well, it turns out those void crystals showed up again. Somepony clever got one inside a log Krenn was using in his fireplace, and when he tried to pick it up, it popped. I can’t tell you if either of them survived the explosion, but regardless, it isn’t hard to guess what the dragons will think. Especially after Luna and Krenn had a little tussle only a few days earlier.”

“They fought?” the Commander pressed.

“Hardly,” Discord replied. “I mean, Krenn did hit her across the face once, and he threatened Equestria with war… oh, and Mirror Image killed one of Krenn’s advisors. But there wasn’t any continental drift or tidal calamity involved, so it’s hard to call it a real ‘fight’. Why do you ask?”

The Commander lowered his head. “I don’t need a message anymore, Discord.”

“Really? Why is that, now, I wonder?”

“Because we don’t have time to wait for rescue.” The Commander limped slowly to the wall. “Discord, if Krenn makes a move against Equestria, I want you to end the curse on the dragons.”

“Uh…” the Draconequus turned toward Rainbow awkwardly, before his eyes flicked back toward the Commander. “But, uh, you know what that’ll cost, right? Fluttershy won’t be happy…”

“Goodbye, Discord.” The Commander’s flaming hoof scraped out the image of the draconequus, and all at once, the room was silent. “Rainbow, I’ll need your help.”

Rainbow glared. “With what?”

“The door,” the Commander answered, gesturing to the massive slab of flat, solid steel. It had no grate or window, no handle or knob, and even its hinges must have been on the outside. “You’re angry. Call up your fire. We’re leaving.”

As Rainbow stomped forward, Enka rushed up to his side. “What are you talking about? You can’t melt that door.”

“I can’t open it alone,” the Commander replied. “There aren’t many ponies capable of melting a solid steel door. But I don’t intend to melt it.”

“And what about when you get out?” She asked. “Khagan is still here.”

“I know.” He offered her a cursory glance, before placing both his forehooves rather painfully on the face of the door. “When I came here, I had a sword and a suit of black armor with me. Do you know where they are?”

Enka swallowed, taking a step back as she hesitated.

“This isn’t the time for philosophy. Either we escape, or ponies and dragons go to war.”

Ashamed, Enka’s eyes looked to the stone at his hooves. “There’s a trophy room. But there will be guards…” Her voice trailed off as she realized who she was talking to. On the order of eighty-thousand, it seemed he didn’t care about one or two more.

Rainbow, who had reached their exit, placed her hooves on the door and focused on her anger the way she had practiced on the train. He had killed thousands of boars. Though she found herself hating him, the fire was slow to come.

“Say it out loud, Rainbow,” her father suggested. “Tell me what makes you angry.”

“You killed all those boars,” Rainbow answered. “Eighty-thousand of them!”

The Commander shrugged in response. “To save ponies. Why does that matter to you? You didn’t know them.”

Rainbow growled. “How can you say that? They’re living beings!” An orange glow began to build around her hooves.

“It isn’t my job to protect them.”

“So you just don’t care about them?” Rainbow shouted. “If they aren’t ponies, you don’t think their lives are worthwhile? Is that it?”

The Commander’s hooves came off the door as the orange glow began to spread across the metal. Pulling back his right foreleg, he closed his eyes. A single exhale and a wordless shout accompanied his thrust, and a deafening, echoing crack of thunder marked its collision. The door shook under Rainbow’s hooves. Though he did put a crack in the heated metal, it was small, barely worthy of notice.

Her father was not through, however. Placing both hooves on opposite sides of the tiny crack, he sucked in a breath. Where the metal had been burning orange, it quickly turned a frosted white. With a groan and a creak, the little crack grew longer and wider. Satisfied, the stallion let go of his icy Empatha and turned toward Rainbow. “Again.”

“Screw you, Dad. I can’t just get mad on command, even if you are an asshole.”

The Commander looked Rainbow in the eyes, and though his gaunt face was expressionless, his eyes seemed to approach her statement as a challenge. “Tell me about your mother.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes, speaking out of the base of her throat. “Why?”

He shrugged, “I never got to know her.”

“Of course not!” Rainbow pounded a hoof of her own onto the crack in the metal. “You abandoned her! You told her you were coming back, and then you never did!”

“I didn’t realize a whore was expecting me to come back to her.”

“You bastard!” Rainbow’s raging lunge ended quickly when her father’s longer reached shoved her away. She landed in pain on the stumps of her wings, only to see the door glowing not just orange, but a brutal red. Her flames flickered against the stone floor, leaving behind whisps of smoke and dust that tickled her nostrils.

With another heavy wheezing breath, the Commander began to beat on the crack with his bare hooves. Again and again, thunder rang out in the little room, and again and again, the crack widened. Soon, it was nearly as tall as Rainbow, though still not deep enough to reach through the door.

When her father’s hooves turned white, that fact changed. The fractured, battered, baking metal shuddered, and with an audible crunching and groaning, the crack widened until the door was sheared cleanly in half. The two slabs remained upright, too heavy and too thick to fall without some impetus.

“Whoa…” Rainbow muttered, momentarily distracted from her anger. “Are you going to―”

The Commander leaned his shoulder into the unhinged half of the door, and thrust his entire body weight against it. It fell outward, though it stopped before it hit the ground on the face of a rather large armored boar, wearing thorn-like wires around the ends of both his tusks. The creature groaned in agony, though the sound was short lived. The Commander hurled himself forward onto the door, jarring the boar further. Before it could so much as begin to recover, his right forehoof swung around the metal to reach under its throat. With his body and the remnants of the door in the way, Rainbow couldn’t see what happened next, though in truth, she didn’t need to. The gagging gurgle from the boar guard’s throat, and the blood on her father’s hoof when it came back into view told her more than enough.

The creature obeyed timidly, curling into a little ball. The stallion walked slowly forward, and then turned his head to some sort of stick poking out from under his folded wings. His teeth wrapped around its end, and with a flick of his neck, he pulled free a long, rounded steel blade. The hiss of metal leaving sheathe did nothing to stop the creature's trembling fear. Instead, it remained still, and nearly silent, as the pony lined up his blade with its neck, and then drew up onto his hind legs.

Something in Rainbow forced her to close her eyes. All she heard was the noise. It began with a hum, and then became more of a whistling, before it ended with the sound of a small splash and a gentle trickle.

Rainbow stared at the bloody hoof, and shook her head. That minor motion was all it took to clear her mind.

“Move, Enka. We won’t have long before more guards start showing up.” When the sow hesitated, the Commander brushed aside his mane with his bloody hoof, exposing his full eyes. “Move.”

Enka shuddered when the force of the Commander’s stare disappeared, and she immediately ran past him into the dense hallway of heavy clay and vibrant red stone. Rainbow followed, watching the torches and the tiny windows that looked out on an early morning as she took up a position at her father’s side. “How much of that was true?”

“Hm?”

“When we were getting through the door. Did you mean what you said about the boars? And about Mom?”

The Commander scowled, keeping his eyes on the hallway ahead instead of meeting Rainbow’s curious gaze. “Your mother was a good mare who wanted a foal, but she knew she couldn’t keep one if foal services found out. We agreed to an exchange. I would support her, so that she could give up her career.” He briefly flicked his eyes toward Rainbow. “I truly didn’t know she expected me to come back. I thought the money was enough.”

Rainbow’s hooves stomped with her next few steps. “You didn’t know? What, you didn’t think you had an obligation to come back for me? For your daughter?”

“Was your foalhood terrible, Rainbow? Were you beaten? Unloved? Did you go hungry?” The Commander looked fully at his daughter. “Or are you just mad that the pony who raised you wasn’t the one who rutted your mother? Family isn’t about who slept with who, Rainbow.”

“But you abandoned Mom!”

The steel blue stallion looked away for a moment, and his ears perked. “I gave your mother exactly what I promised: a father for her foal. One who could look after you, and love you, and provide for you. One who wouldn’t put you in danger when Nightmare Moon returned, or we went to war with the dragons.” After a wheezing breath, his right foreleg burst into flames, and his left began to emanate a frosty mist “Silver Lining is your father, Rainbow Dash.” His words picked up, his tone once more reflecting the title he used as a name. “Enka, get behind me.”

“What?” she called back. “What are you―”

A larger boar slammed the sow aside, hefting an axe in the amber glow of his tusks.

“Rainbow, get back!” The Commander thrust his flaming hoof forward, staggering both with the pain of the motion and the energy it took as he sent a long tongue of flame in the direction of the boar.

Rather than diving backward, Rainbow took one look at her father’s pained expression, and lunged at the boar. Her shoulders screamed in pain as her body tried to flap her wings by reflex, and she felt her wounds reopen, spilling blood down her back. Nevertheless, she continued her assault, slamming both hooves on the the warrior’s wide, flat brow. It winced back, more in surprise than pain. She would have kept fighting the creature, had a heavy club not knocked her to the ground.

Clutching her bruised ribs, the pegasus looked up to the sight of a second boar grinning with yellowed, spade-like teeth. It’s green magic hefted the club that had struck her, though it was the points of the hulking creature’s tusks that frightened her the worst.

A hiss of steam and a thick cloud stole the attention of both boars, and they turned toward the place where the Commander had once been standing. Before Rainbow’s eyes, it took on the shape of a gigantic boar’s face, its eyes burning with flame and its fanged maw likewise roaring. The shout it released shuddered the stone walls of the corridor.

The axe-wielding boar dropped his weapon in terror and turned tail, fleeing they way he had come. His counterpart was not so easily frightened, swinging his club through the mist and laughing as he walked forward.

The face in the mist glared, and then blurred into an indistinct cloud, which lunged toward the boar. The change earned a step of retreat and a gasp of surprise from the porcine warrior. That moment was all it took. The steam shot forward, diving into the boar’s nostrils and his open mouth. There were perhaps two seconds of coughing before the warrior fell on his side, icicles piercing his sides from within.

The mist cleared, and the Commander fell onto his scarred side, panting heavily with his eyes unfocused.

“What…” Enka couldn’t bring herself to finish the question.

“Fire and water make steam…” The Commander, in turn, had to interrupt himself with a raspy breath. “Water freezes. I was… hoping they would both run.”

“So you wouldn’t have to kill him?” The sow pressed.

The Commander hesitated, and then nodded. “That is one reason.” His daughter knew instantly that he was lying. “Rainbow, help me… help me stand. Enka, how far are we?”

“It’s just that door up ahead.” Enka indicated their destination, not more than a dozen strides away.

Glancing briefly down at the frozen boar corpse in his path, the Commander leaned heavily on Rainbow and forced himself to his feet with a gasp. “We still don’t have long. Rainbow, once we’re in there, we need to find my armor and Procellarum.”

Enka turned toward the stallion. “Armor? Are you planning on fighting Khagan?”

The Commander nodded. “I am. But the armor isn’t for me.”