Adrastos pushed hard against the massive iron doors to the council chambers. Little by little, they slowly gave way with a long steady creak that echoed through the halls. Cerise scowled, her pride wounded at having been unable to make it budge.

The Inquisitor and Imperator strolled casually into the large circular chamber. In the center of the room stood The Oculus, a raised platform on which the speaker would stand. It was circular, glossy black, bordered with gold, and embedded with the crimson red symbol of the Inquisition. Around the outside, it supported seven golden pillars, symbolic of the seven chapters. It was one of the largest and most impressive pieces left behind after the fall of the first Inquisition.

Opposite from where Cerise and Adrastos stood were tiered wooden benches that wrapped around two-thirds of the room's perimeter. Ordinarily, they were sparsely occupied by the seven members of the Council, but today they were completely filled, with many additional ponies forced to stand for lack of seating.

Cerise had been here several times in the past, but had never seen it this crowded. She gently nudged Adrastos toward the center of the room, following him closely, almost protectively. The tension in the air was suffocating, and she couldn't help but feel that her subordinate was in more trouble than either of them realized.

Adrastos strode calmly up the ramp onto the Oculus, feeling a slight tingle run up his back as he did so. Cerise began to follow when the Grand Inquisitor's voice rang out through the room, stopping her in her tracks.

"Hold, Cerise. You have brought the Inquisitor as I asked. Your obligation is fulfilled."

Across the room, he sat in his usual elevated position, flanked by two large stallions, both equal in size to Adrastos. They bore the same crests as other high ranking members of the Order, but theirs were adorned with golden wings, marking them as the Praesidio Inquisitore Magnas, his personal guards.

"I believe I should be here to represent him, Grand Inquisitor." she said, trying hard to mask her nervousness. What she was doing was dangerously close to insubordination, and everyone knew it. Hushed whispers filled the room, and all eyes fell on the leader of the Order, awaiting his reaction.

"Adrastos is capable of representing himself. You're welcome to stay and observe, but you are to remain silent, Imperator."

Cerise gritted her teeth, carefully considering her next move. To defy the Grand Inquisitor - especially in front of an audience - would land her in a worse position than Bon-bon. Reluctantly, she bowed, stepping back from Adrastos. Her influence over the Council could still be a factor, but Adrastos had a fatal flaw. He was far too honest.

It had frustrated Cerise for years. She knew how to put the proper inflection into her words to manipulate others, effortlessly turning any sentence into a weapon. It just came naturally to her. Adrastos, on the other hoof, either didn't possess that skill, or chose not to exercise it, and would often cost himself opportunities. In any other situation, it would have been an admirable quality, but today was not the day to be spilling everything he knew. She just had to hope that her subordinate wouldn't to give the Council a reason to throw them both in a cell.

The room fell silent as Adrastos stepped onto the Oculus, his head held high and his eyes forward, awaiting the judgement of his superiors.

"Typical gold chapter idiocy. Just stand there and take it." Cerise thought.

"I'm glad to see at least one of you is cooperating willingly," the Inquisitor smiled. "Now, we'd all like to hear about what happened last night. Whatever you remember."

Adrastos nodded, and began to retell the events of the previous evening - much to Cerise's dismay - exactly as they happened.

The trio stood quietly outside Princess Celestia's private chambers, Twilight Sparkle in the lead. The guards recognized both the unicorns, but cast a suspicious eye on Taylor, who returned a dirty look. After a brief period of waiting, the Princess opened the doors, stepping back for her guests to enter.

The room wasn't quite what Taylor expected of royalty. Everything appeared virtually identical to the rest of the castle, with few distinguishing features other than the large canopy bed in the center of the room. A painted portrait hung on the wall, depicting an alicorn that Taylor didn't recognize. She had a sandy colored coat, accented by a vibrant red and orange mane. The most striking feature was her eyes, which looked suspiciously like-

"Our mother." Celestia's voice brought Taylor back to focus.

"I'm sorry, what?"

The Princess smiled reassuringly. "The pony you see there is our mother. Mine and Luna's. I noticed you staring."

Taylor nodded slowly, wondering just how old that painting really was.

"I'm glad to see the three of you made it safely. I was concerned that the Order might have had the audacity to try something inside my own castle. It wouldn't be the first time they acted foolishly out in the open."

"A good example being last night," Taylor commented.

"Quite so," Celestia's gaze hardened, "which is why I've decided they need to be stopped. Again."

"Okay, could you bring me up to speed here? These nutjobs have been running around for how long exactly?"

Twilight was burying her face in her hooves, mortified by how informally Taylor spoke to the Princess, though Celestia seemed amused rather than offended.

"The first Inquisition was here when I arrived in Equestria. I didn't care much for what they were doing to the citizenry, so I stopped them. About six hundred years after that, one of my most promising students formed the Order of Canterlot," Celestia paused momentarily, a hint of sadness in her expression, "which became the new Inquisition that you've... met."

"They've been around for four hundred years?!" Lyra sputtered.

"A little more, actually. In all that time, they kept to themselves and didn't do anything harmful. For a while, I thought perhaps the Order might even turn out to be a good thing. Their research was valuable, they were teaching magic to young unicorns at the Canterlot Academy, and almost nopony knew about their existence. They were the best kept secret in Equestria. Unfortunately, their anti-human agenda seems to have been preserved through the ages."

Taylor feigned surprise. "Really? I hadn't noticed."

"You seem to be taking it all rather well, at least." Celestia observed.

"Well, I figure I'll be out of here in no time. After I'm gone, they won't have any more reason to be all uppity and things can go back to normal for everyone, right?"

Celestia shook her head. "Unfortunately, it's not that simple."

"Yeah, somehow I expected that. There’s always a catch. What is it?"

The Princess strode gracefully over to a small bookshelf. After a quick search, she levitated an ancient-looking tome before her. The red binding had faded and peeled with age, but everything important seemed intact. "This will require some explanation. Fortunately, I kept most of the records safe."

"Cool. Story time." Taylor said, plunking himself down on the floor. The other two remained standing.

"When I was trying to dissolve the first Inquisition, I knew there would be obstacles that I couldn't deal with alone. One in particular was their Grand Inquisitor. Even when the rest of her Inquisitors had given up and her Sanctuary was in ruins, she continued to fight. Her magic was just too strong for me, and every attempt I made to defeat her failed. Since I couldn't fight her, my next best choice was to banish her somewhere far away, where she couldn't hurt anypony again."

"Your really like banishing your problems away, don't you?"

For the first time, Celestia seemed to be affected by his sardonic commentary. Twilight jabbed a hoof sharply into Taylor's side to let him know he crossed the line.

"Sorry. The stress of everything that's happened is finally catching up to me. Seems to be making me into more of a jerk than usual. Please continue." In truth, that was hardly a factor, but at least it sounded good.

Without missing a beat, Celestia continued. "I needed a way to break her defense before I could successfully banish her. For that, I had to find someone resistant to magic. In all of Equestria, there existed no such thing, so I had to look elsewhere. That's when I discovered why the Inquisition has such a negative opinion of your kind. Humans, as it turns out, are some of the most magically resistant beings to ever exist."

Lyra stomped a hoof on the floor, looking accusingly at Taylor. "I knew I was doing the transformation spell correctly! You were just the worst possible subject to be using it on!"

"Guess so, huh? Well, then I guess it's not your fault I was pink and female for a while," Taylor shrugged. "So, magic can't hurt me?"

Celestia smiled. "Not quite. You can still be affected by it, as you're no doubt aware, but it's extremely difficult for even basic spells to connect. Think of it like a door. For magical creatures, the door is always open, and anyone can pass through it. In your case, the door is locked. It takes a lot more effort to get through. Of course, once that lock is broken, you have no more resistance than anypony else. At least until your metaphorical lock has been repaired, that is."

"Alright, so I've got a great defense against magic right up until I don't. How long til it comes back?"

"How long was it between the time you first arrived and when Lyra attempted to transform you?"

"A few hours. Couldn't have been more than three."

"There you go," Celestia nodded, "three hours at the most. Probably less."

Taylor seemed almost proud. "Cool, so how does that fit into the story?"

"I did exactly what Lyra did. I summoned a human to this world to aid me in defeating the Grand Inquisitor. Once she was banished to Tartarus, I was able to send the human home safe and sound, and then set to work restoring peace to Equestria."

"Alright, that explains the old Inquisition's problem with humans, but what about the Order? Why are they all pissed off about me being here?"

"There's no way to be completely certain, but they wouldn't behave this recklessly after four centuries of peaceful coexistence if you weren't a threat. Obviously whatever they're doing is big, and it's been going on for a while, or they wouldn't have tried to take Lyra away months ago."

"I really don't like where this is going." Taylor thought.

The Princess looked visibly distressed for the first time since they arrived. She looked out a nearby window, down at the sprawling city of Canterlot. "When I put it together, there's only one thing that makes sense. They're trying to bring back the first Grand Inquisitor."

"Bring back? Like, from the dead?" Lyra asked with a shaky voice.

Celestia shook her head. "No. She's still alive in Tartarus."

Now even Twilight was looking deeply concerned. "How can she still be alive? It's been a thousand years. The only things in Equestria that can live that long are dragons, phoenixes, and-"

"Alicorns," Celestia finished, turning from the window. "It's a part of our past that Luna and I try to keep buried, but with things being what they are, I guess it was inevitable. The first Grand Inquisitor, the one who founded the Inquisition over a thousand years ago, the one who ruled Equestria by fear and violence is our mother, the former Queen Chelsea."

All three ponies were speechless. Even Twilight, who had spent years learning everything she could about Celestia, had no knowledge of this.

Taylor was the first to recover from the shock. "Alright, that's really messed up, but it doesn't explain why I'm not able to go back to my own world."

Celestia took a deep breath, bracing herself for the bad news she had to give. "Please try to understand. If I send you back now, and they succeed in breaking her out of her prison, all of Equestria will suffer. Our entire world depends on you staying to help it. Until the Order has been stopped, I'm afraid I cannot allow you to leave."

Twilight gazed up at Celestia in disbelief. "With all due respect, Princess, that seems a little extreme-"

"You're damn right it's extreme!" Taylor shouted, interrupting. "I'm being held hostage!"

"I understand that you're upset. You have every right to be, but I wouldn't do this if it wasn't necessary. Without your assistance, the past thousand years of peace in Equestria could disappear overnight."

"So this is the solution?! Put me in a no-win situation for the sake of a world that I barely know?"

"Unpleasant as it may be, I have no choice. In dire times, a few must sacrifice so that many may know peace. It's your safety weighed against the safety of everypony in Equestria."

Taylor stormed out of the room, calling back to them, "Not my world, not my problem. Find another way."

Lyra turned to Twilight and Celestia. Both remained still, making no effort to follow. Without a word, she bolted out the doors after Taylor, easily catching up to him.

"It's a lot to ask of one person," she said softly, trying to calm him down.

"As I recall, she wasn't asking anything," he spat, still fuming. "I know why she's doing this, but that doesn't make it any less shitty. If she's right about everything, then I either have to risk my ass to save someone else's world, or wait for that world to be taken over by an immortal alicorn who has a particular hatred towards me. The only silver lining to be found in the whole thing is that she'd go after Celestia first, then me."

"I don't want you to think I'm against you in this, but this is my home. What would you do if the only way to save your world was for me to risk myself?"

"Fortunately, that's never going to be a problem."

Lyra's slowed to a halt, her eyes downcast. "All I ask is that you don't give up on us so easily. I don't want to lose my home or my friends any more than you want to be trapped here, away from your home and your friends."

Taylor's jaw tightened, but he wouldn't turn back. He continued out to the castle courtyard, leaving Lyra behind. His eyes scanned the area around the castle, looking for a relatively secluded spot. Near the southeast corner of the walled plaza, he spotted a hedge garden with several benches placed neatly around a small pond.

Perfect.

The Grand Inquisitor stood slowly, using his magic to gather up the pile of papers in front of him. "I'd say we have what we need. Thank you for your cooperation, Adrastos."

"It is my duty, Inquisitor."

"Indeed, you're a fine example of what the gold chapter teaches. You seem to hold duty above all else. Because of this, I don't believe any punishment is necessary for what took place last night."

Cerise's jaw nearly hit the floor. Everypony in the room - herself included - had been expecting the worst. In an instant. the council chamber had exploded with voices. Some cheered, others called for punishment, but they all wondered the same thing. Why had the Grand Inquisitor, a pony not known for being lenient, chosen to let Adrastos off without any sort of disciplinary action?

Adrastos exited the room as silently as he had entered, with Cerise following closely behind. Once the door had shut solidly behind them with a resonating boom, Cerise jumped in front of her subordinate, looking up at him suspiciously.

"How in the hay did you do that?!" she demanded.

"I told the truth."

"I noticed. I meant how did you get him to pardon you? I have never seen him do that before. Nopony has, because he never does!"

Adrastos shrugged, walking around Cerise. "I'm sure even he has days when he's feeling generous."

"No, he doesn't, which means you have some sort of leverage and you're not telling me!"

The large stallion stopped in his tracks. "I don't hide things, I don't use deception to get what I want. I don't believe in succeeding through dishonorable means. I did nothing to change the opinion of the Council or the Grand Inquisitor. Perhaps I was pardoned specifically because I didn't try to manipulate the outcome. I have ambitions just like you, but I refuse to chase them using your methods."

Adrastos continued down the hallway, leaving a stunned Cerise behind him. For the first time ever, he had stood up to her.

It felt good.

Taylor sat alone in the shadow of the castle, his mind constantly coming back to what Celestia had said despite his best efforts to think about anything else. He knew what was at stake, but to actually risk himself to save the whole world was too much. He was terrified of what could happen to him, especially if he failed.

"I'm a fucking coward." he muttered.

He heard the sound of hooves on stone and looked around for the source, turning to find a tall unicorn with a silvery coat, a royal blue mane, and eyes the color of the sky standing over him. She smiled, taking a seat at his side.

"You look a little upset. Something wrong?" her voice was musical, almost unnaturally so.

Taylor sighed heavily, not in the mood for a pleasant chat. "I’m not really interested in discussing it, but thanks for the concern."

"Sometimes it's good to rely on strangers. You never know whether or not they can help if you don't give them a chance." she said, staring into Taylor's eyes.

Something about her gaze was comforting. Taylor felt truly safe for the first time since he arrived. "Fine, I guess it's worth a shot. I'm trying to get home, and the only way I can do that is if I help the Princess first, but what she's asking me to do is dangerous and crazy, and I just don't know if I'm able."

The unicorn smiled. "I see. What did she ask of you that's so dangerous?"

"It's something that only I can do, but I don't want to put myself into a dangerous situation when I have no stake in any of it. That's all I can say."

"But you do have a stake in it, don't you? Perhaps a friend that you want to see safe? Perhaps one Lyra Heartstrings?" she asked, though she obviously knew.

Taylor leapt from the bench, turning to face the mare, who remained seated. "You know just a little too much about what's going on. Who are you?"

The pleasant smile never left the unicorn's face. "I'm Sophie, and I'm from the Order of Canterlot, though it looks like you've already figured that out. Don't worry, I'm not here for what you think."

"Forgive me if I don't trust you; my last encounter with the Order wasn't exactly a pleasant one. What do you want?"

"To help you, just like I said. If you sit down, I'll explain everything."

"Do I look stupid to you?"

"Of course not. I can't really blame you for not trusting me, I guess. What if I told you that the Order doesn't want to hurt you? Actually, we need your help."

Taylor scoffed. "You have a funny way of showing it. Have you seen my face? It didn't look like this until one of your guys beat the hell out of me."

"Alright, I'll tell you something else. Maybe then you'll be a little more receptive. I'm guessing the Princess already told you about Queen Chelsea, or 'Red Chelsea' to us, but there's more to it than that. We want to capture you because, just like Celestia, we need the help of a human."

Taylor still didn't trust her, but on the off chance Sophie was telling the truth, he should hear her out. "What do they need me for?"

"Your unique ability to guard against magic makes you the key to stopping Chelsea from being freed, but it also makes you the key to her freedom. A human is the only living creature that can withstand the dangerous magic needed to release her. You have the power to stop her return, or to hasten it."

"If that's true, why didn't Celestia say anything to me about it?"

Sophie chuckled, amused by the question. "Celestia doesn't know everything. Especially not about us."

Taylor's curiosity got the better of him. "Alright, let's just work on the assumption that I believe this story of yours. Why should I help you bring back your Inquisitor?"

"Think about it. If you bring her back, you're still the only thing that can stop her. It would be foolish of us to let you stay here, where you could present a problem later on. Obviously we would want to send you back to your own world as soon as possible."

"Or you could just kill me once I stopped being useful." Taylor glared.

"We're not in the business of killing. Too messy, and too many ponies asking questions. You don't have to make a decision right now. Just give it some thought, won't you? We're offering you the same ticket back home as Celestia, but you won't have to risk your life fighting for a world you don't even belong in."

The unicorn stood up, satisfied that her job was done, and began to walk away. Just as she was nearing the garden's exit, she heard Taylor's voice.

"Wait."

Sophie turned. "Yes?"

"I'll do it. I'll help you."

Author's Notes:

May 2nd, 2013 - Minor edits.