The first light of dawn slowly crept its way towards the peak of Smokey Mountain, revealing a tall, lonely figure standing atop a small outcrop not far from the base, surveying the land around him as he breathed the cool morning air.

Discord frowned and grunted irritably at the sunrise, painfully aware of the lengthy amount of time he had spent preparing his latest decoy. The ever-present threat of one of the group falling asleep without being under his watch perturbed him far more than he cared to admit, even to himself, and with each passing minute the risk of such happening inevitably grew. Had his ruse not required such a great deal of precision he could have hurried his work and returned hours ago, yet he had sacrificed the extra time in order to achieve a level of quality that could potentially buy himself and the others a great deal of time in the future.

Still, even when adding the finishing touches to his masterpiece, the ticking of the proverbial clock irked him to no end.

Shaking his head, Discord turned his attention to the skies, catching sight of Cloudsdale in the distance. Fragments of old memories briefly began intruding into his thoughts as he watched the city float lazily on the horizon, a far cry from the feared fortress city it had once been during the Chaos Wars. He gave the weather factory a quick glance, taking particular interest in the dark, ever-looming thunderhead that shrouded the highest spires.

Though his gaze remained upon it for a few moments at best before turning his attention away from the city and back to the task at hand, he had seen all he had needed to, "It might have lost its reputation, but it's just as dangerous as it ever was... if not more so." He smirked to himself and rubbed his hands together, "I suppose we'll just have to wait and see."

He crouched down, snapping his fingers and conjuring a small piece of paper into his grip. He placed it carefully on the ground beneath him, reaching out and grabbing a nearby rock to act as a makeshift paperweight. He snapped his fingers once more, causing the note to shimmer for a brief moment. Again, he grabbed another rock, a small pebble this time, and attempted to drop it onto the parchment. Before the pebble could connect an unseen force caused it to roll aside, leaving the paper beneath completely untouched, eliciting an approving smile from Discord as he stood once again.

The last of his checks complete, Discord took a moment to admire his handiwork. At the base of the mountain lay no less than ten corpses, all clad in the armour of Luna's own Night Guard and possessing the physical characteristics to match. Each guard's armour was scuffed and dented, and each body damaged and broken so as to indicate a short but fierce battle. Debris was strewn around the site in the form of body parts, broken equipment, and weapons; a few of which Discord had made certain to lightly smear blood upon.

Clues had been left upon a few of the guards themselves, from a small tuft of streaked purple mane caught in the visor of one, to a half-finished, hastily scribbled message to Princess Luna stating that 'the fugitives' had been found gripped tightly in the clutches of another. The earth upon which the supposed battle had taken place was twisted and warped into various obscure shapes in places, and morphed into different materials in others, as evidenced most prominently by the iron stalagmites suspending one body a few inches above the ground, the pony upon them seemingly impaled mid-sprint as they jutted up from beneath her, leaving her to die in agony that could be determined by the grimace still upon her face.

Discord nodded in approval of his own work, "A pretty convincing piece, if I do say so myself. Now all we need is somepony to appreciate it." He teleported down into the midst of the corpses, carefully stepping over one as he looked towards the mountainside upon which he had stood, and the great pile of conjured explosives heaped upon it, gauging the distance required for the final step before retreating to a safe distance. Once had had done so, Discord raised his paw, glanced between the mountain and Cloudsdale a few times and, satisfied with the chances of his spectacle being spotted and heard, snapped his fingers.

A thunderous explosion rocked the mountainside, a towering inferno simultaneously blasting into the air, briefly illuminating the mountainside more effectively than the light of dawn. Colossal slabs of stone dislodged and tumbled, creating an almighty cacophony as they collided with one another and the face of the mountain itself, nearly reaching the same volume as the initial blast.

Discord watched with a slight smile at first, but quickly made his preparations to leave as he was jolted to his senses by a small chunk of stone whistling just past his right ear. Taking one final glance at his objective, Discord saw Cloudsdale quickly becoming awash with artificial light as the inhabitants within were jolted awake, quelling any doubts he had possessed that his spectacle would go unnoticed by the majority.

He breathed the heavy scent of acrid smoke in the air and sighed happily, as if drawing chaos energy through the smell of destruction as opposed to his proximity to it, "I'd say things are moving along just fine..."

With that, and a whimsical whistle, he vanished.

Twilight Sparkle was very, very tired.

That wasn't to say that her companions were any less tired, however, and a bleary cursory glance from the unicorn confirmed such; her friends still doing their utmost to remain awake. Angel continuously clambered over Fluttershy, albeit sluggishly and unsteadily, gently digging in his claws or nibbling at her whenever she seemed to be dozing off, and Fluttershy in turn made sure to move around slightly so as to keep Angel from settling too comfortably. Fluttershy herself had wondered aloud whether Discord's instructions applied to Angel too, but it didn't seem to matter to him either way, and the bunny had constantly tasked himself with keeping Fluttershy awake once she had began to show signs of tiredness hours before.

Pinkamena sat closest to Twilight, glancing between her and Fluttershy regularly. Pinkie and her alter-ego had swapped places once tiredness had started to take its toll upon even the most hyperactive member of the group, leaving Pinkamena temporarily in control of both Pinkie's body and the situation as a whole. Strangely enough, though evidently tired, she seemed to be handling herself far better than the others, keeping her composure and ensuring that she spoke loudly every few minutes or so in order to keep the others from drifting off, though Twilight couldn't honestly say that she appreciated the mare's alternative methods of keeping her awake when such failed.

Pinkamena turned her attention to Fluttershy and her pet once again, "Good job Angel, keep at it. Fluttershy?"

The pegasus raised her head painfully slowly, "Yeah?"

Pinkamena kept her expression relatively neutral despite the somewhat humorous disoriented look Fluttershy currently bore, trotting over to her and nudging her awake with a hoof, "Stay with us, Fluttershy. Discord isn't back yet."

Fluttershy nodded after processing her words for several seconds, forcing herself to her hooves and trotting back and forth in an attempt to wake herself up somewhat.

Whilst Pinkamena had briefly turned her attention to Fluttershy, however, Twilight had allowed her head to hang, and her eyes to close, welcoming the comforting embrace of the sleep she so desperately needed. She vaguely made out her name being called by somepony in the distance, but didn't make any effort to respond as she felt sleep finally closing in on her.

Pinkamena sighed irritably as Twilight slumped forwards, "Twilight!"

The unicorn murmured incoherently under her breath before falling silent.

"Twilight! Wake up!" For the fourth time since Discord's departure, Pinkamena prepared herself for another verbal onslaught, raised a hoof, and delivered a swift slap to Twilight's face.

Twilight jolted violently, sprawling herself out across the floor, spinning on the spot, and turning to face Pinkamena in under a second, rubbing her now rather tender cheek as she came around, "Gah! I- Who- H- You- Wh-" Realisation sparked in the unicorn's eyes as she regained her composure, all traces of tiredness temporarily dispelled as she stepped forwards to stand face-to-face with Pinkamena.

The earth pony didn't need to be as close as she currently was to determine exactly how Twilight was feeling at that moment in time. The baleful glare, bared teeth, and an ever-so-brief tinge of glowing red behind her bloodshot eyes made such abundantly clear.

Twilight Sparkle was very, very pissed off.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?"

"Calm dow-"

"That's five times! You've hit me five times!" She grasped Pinkamena by the shoulders and shook her violently, "Just stop it!" Twilight pushed the mare back, trotting in a circle around the fire a few times as she seethed.

Pinkamena's expression remained passive, as it had throughout Twilight's display of aggression, "You were falling asleep again, Twilight. You know Luna could find us if I let you."

Twilight glared up at Pinkamena once again, but maintained a few hoof's distance and lowered her voice somewhat, "So why slap me awake instead of just, I don't know, shaking me a little like a normal, reasonable pony would!?"

Pinkamena shrugged, "This is much more effective. You won't sleep while you're angry."

Twilight continued on as if she hadn't heard, "Oh, that's right, I almost forgot, I'm not dealing with a normal, reasonable pony, am I? I bet you're just doing it for the fun of it, aren't you!?" Twilight advanced, a look of disgust upon her face.

Pinkamena remained still as Twilight stepped almost muzzle-to-muzzle with her once again, "I wasn't at first, but the prospect is becoming more appealing somehow, now that you mention it." She watched Twilight raise a shaking forehoof slightly off the floor and grunted disapprovingly, "I wouldn't, if I were you. If not for your own good, then for your friend's. You hit me, you hit Pinkie too."

The two stared at one another in prolonged, tense silence until Twilight span away, shaking her head and grunting loudly, "I hate this!" She whimpered, her anger quickly dissolving into what sounded to the others like forlorn longing as she dropped onto her haunches, "I just need to sleep..."

Pinkamena glanced over at Fluttershy, and was glad to see that the pegasus had remained too fixated on the events unfolding between the two of them to fall asleep. Turning her attention back to Twilight, Pinkamena spoke evenly, "We all do. Discord can't be much longer now."

Twilight didn't look up from the floor as she spoke dejectedly, "I'm going to kill him for this..."

Pinkamena smirked and shook her head, "He's put us through worse."

"I'll kill him for that, too."

Surprisingly, Pinkamena actually found herself giggling along with Fluttershy at Twilight's ramblings, even despite their combined tiredness.

Twilight fell silent for several seconds. Had she not been sat upright, the others might have mistaken her for actually falling asleep. When she did speak, her voice was quiet in comparison to what it had been, "Pinkamena..."

"Yeah?"

Twilight turned to face her, "I didn't mean what I said about you just now. You know that, right?"

Pinkamena flicked a stray strand of her mane from her face and cocked her head slightly, "Sure you didn't." She shrugged and turned her attention to the fire, "Not that it matters either way. You're Pinkie's friend, not mine."

Twilight scowled at the floor beneath her, but spoke before an awkward silence could ensue, "Then why look out for us the way you have been? This isn't the first time you've saved us when you could've left us be."

Pinkamena rolled her eyes at the unicorn, "Because if one of you gets caught, so do I, thanks to Pinkie's ridiculous promise, and I don't fancy being locked in another cell for the remainder of my life. That, and the fact that Pinkie seems to only let me out when the going gets tough, or when I ask, which I haven't done for a while since we've effectively spent the last few weeks in a well-furnished cage. Besides, even if I was here more often, what good would it do? I've seen the way the two of you react while I'm around; I can see it now. You're unnerved, on edge. Even after I've put myself on the line for the two of you, you still don't trust me because you think I'm some kind of monster."

Her tone didn't change from the same flat, calculating once she had been using since she had started speaking, "I don't blame you, honestly. I'm only here because a thousand years ago one of the most dangerous beings on the planet decided to give an entire kingdom of ponies a sadistic half for the express purpose of war." Again, Pinkamena turned to the fire. Although her expression remained passive, Twilight was sure she saw... something in her eyes. Not quite sadness, but more along the lines of deep reflection, "That's who I am. What I am. Sadistic. Dangerous. A weap-"

"That's not true." Twilight said with a shake of her head, momentarily rubbing her eyes as they itched from tiredness and the heat from the fire, "You're right, that's what Discord made you for, and I won't pretend to know exactly how you feel knowing that." She stood unsteadily and made her way to Pinkamena's side, "But that doesn't mean that's all you'll ever be. You can think, and feel, you're not just some..." Twilight grimaced in disgust, "weapon, or tool to be used and discarded and forgotten when you're no longer needed, like Discord intended. You have a consciousness of your own. A life of your own. You have the right to decide what you do for yourself, to choose who and what you fight for, and to have friends who can be there for you when you need them."

Pinkamena blinked, reaching up and removing the hoof that Twilight placed upon her, but the unicorn continued before she could voice her reply, "I'll admit it, Pinkamena, I do get scared around you, but that's only because I don't know you as a pony. It's true, all I've seen from you so far is the violence and callousness that you were made for, but every single time you've shown those traits, you've used them to help and protect us. You might believe that all you are is a monster, but you're only convincing yourself. I just wish you'd actually let us get to know you instead of staying inside Pinkie's head all day. After looking out for us all this time, I think we owe you that much."

Pinkamena's expression still remained stoic as she made her way over to Fluttershy and prodded her awake once again, "That was quite the speech, Twilight. Certainly the opposite to 'What the fuck is wrong with you!?' and telling me how I'm not a 'normal, reasonable pony' like you were just five minutes ago. Riddled with issues too, namely considering how hard it is to make your own decisions when you're sharing a body with somepony that locked you away for the majority of your life."

Twilight frowned but averted her gaze, embarrassment and irritation simultaneously washing over her.

"But at least, if nothing else, you're sorry, and seem to care to some extent, which is more than can be said for Pinkie here." She tapped her head multiple times, "So I suppose that counts for something. That being said, the day I consider her to be my friend again is the day hell freezes over."

Twilight nodded absent-mindedly, once again feeling the clutches of impending rest sink themselves into her, "Okay..."

Pinkamena quickly made her way over to the unicorn, "Twilight?"

She jolted awake slightly but slumped forwards again almost instantaneously.

Pinkamena hesitated for a moment before placing her forehooves on Twilight's shoulders and shaking her until she looked back up at her, "There, shaken and stirred. Happy?"

Twilight seemed on the verge of tears as she tilted her head back so as to stare at the roof, "Bloody hell no... Discord, where the hell are you!? I swear if he d-"

A burst of light heralded said draconequus' arrival, "Right behind you." He was met only with four blank stares, and promptly raised his pocket watch to eye level, "My timing was off, wasn't it?"

Twilight fought the urge to hurl a spell in his general direction, "Yeah, you could have done with being here about four hours ago."

He held up his hands defensively, "Hey now, it takes a great deal of time to-"

"We don't care!" Twilight barked.

Fluttershy nodded from behind her, "Discord, please, we're so tired. Can't you tell us later?"

Discord folded his arms, but gave a defeated sigh after seeing the state Fluttershy was in, "Fine. Ladies and rabbit, you may now sleep!" He waved his paw across the room, materialising the beds that each slept upon. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Angel made their way to their beds immediately, not so much settling onto them as collapsing. Pinkamena remained where she was, watching as the others fell into a deep sleep within the space of two minutes.

Satisfied that the others were soundly asleep, Discord turned to the only pony that remained awake, "Well, we haven't seen much of you recently, Pinkamena. I thought you and Pinkie were on better terms now?"

Pinkamena frowned and spat into the fire, "Implying being on 'better terms' amounts to much when I'd have slit her throat at a moment's notice had I been given the chance."

"Touché."

Pinkamena turned to Discord, shaking her head and speaking in a hushed tone, "You cut it dangerously close there, you know. I had to take charge and handle everything half way through, and it's a good thing too, or the entire mountain would be surrounded by soldiers by now. Just what the fuck were you actually doing!?"

Discord grunted in begrudging agreement, "I was gone for far too long, I know. If we're lucky, the time invested into my diversion should pay off nicely when we need it." He noticed the curiosity on her face and shrugged, "I'm sure you can wait until later to find out. Aren't you even tired?"

Pinkamena nodded, but kept her stance and composure the same as it had been beforehoof, "Possibly the most tired I've ever been. Honestly, since you're back there's little point of me being out here any more." She sighed to herself and glanced around the room, "Freed, after nearly two decades in a cell, and this is about as exciting as things get unless things go terribly wrong, and when they do everyone cries for a week."

Discord smiled, "Not to worry, my Marvellous Assistant. Another few days and we'll be done with this teleporting business. We're moving things along soon, very soon, just have a little more patience." He reached his paw into the fire, withdrawing a small, bright pink, burn-free flower from within. He reached down past her scowling face, sliding the flower through her mane just above her left ear, "A reward for your efforts, to tide you over until then. It contrasts beautifully with the rest of you, I must say."

Pinkamena gave him a blank look, plucking the flower out of her hair and tossing it back into the fire without breaking eye contact, "So, which was it? Were you out drinking, or did you hit your head on the way back?"

Discord fell to his knees and watched helplessly as the flower burst into flames and squealed in a quiet, comically high-pitched voice. After witnessing the entirety of his beloved flower's demise, Discord stood once again, brushing himself off and scowling at her complete lack of amusement, "Just trying to get you to lighten up. Have you always been in a perpetually bad mood, or is Twilight rubbing off on you?"

Pinkamena gave the sleeping unicorn a sideways glance, shrugging at the draconequus beside her, "Doubt it. I'd start spouting crap about friendship every five minutes if that were the case."

Discord chuckled and patted her on the back, "You'd be surprised how much of that 'crap' is actually worth listening to."

She carried on as though she hadn't heard, though made a point of stepping out of his reach before turning to face him, "You can't honestly say you're getting a great deal of enjoyment out of being stuck in this room most of the time, can you?"

"No, but as I've alr-"

"There's your answer then. It's boring here. No fights, no action, no fun."

Discord folded his arms, but a wicked smirk crossed his features as he did so, "That's about to change, I assure you."

Pinkamena returned a smirk of her own, "They'd best do. Hell knows I won't survive another week of being... sat here... doing... nothing." She gave a slight yawn, and for a moment her tiredness could be seen before she reined in her composure.

"Somepony is more tired than she's letting on." He held up his paw as she scowled up at him, "Get some rest, you both need it, whether you'll admit it or not."

Pinkamena held her position for a few seconds before turning and trotting to her bed without a word. After climbing atop it, she made herself comfortable and closed her eyes. A moment later, her hair seemed to inflate, and the expression she bore provided clear evidence of extreme fatigue.

"Pinkie?" Discord asked, slightly concerned by the sheer lethargy that emanated from the mare.

"Nighty night, Discy..." Without giving him a second glance, Pinkie fell face-first onto her bed, asleep before she'd even hit it.

Discord sighed, hopping into the air and conjuring his favourite cloud to sit on as he waited. He listened to the sound of quiet breathing in the darkness for a moment, looking over each member of the group as he did so, taking note of their strengths and flaws, becoming inwardly fascinated by the cohesion that had formed between them despite their obvious and not-so-obvious differences. He stroked his beard and smiled, murmuring under his breath so as not to wake those around him, "We haven't done bad for a group of social misfits and a rabbit." He conjured one of Twilight's maps into his clutches, following the route they had taken with a finger before regarding Equestria as a whole, eventually stopping upon Canterlot, "Not bad at all."

Between the daily hassles of managing the nation, co-ordinating increasingly difficult efforts to track down Discord and company, and arranging for the training of Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, Luna and Celestia had found little time for the luxury of sleep over the past few days. Whilst this didn't present an immediate problem in itself, given their longevity, it did mean that any setbacks on their schedules would only add to their seemingly ever-growing workload.

As a result, when one of Luna’s Night Guard flung the doors to the study wide open, both princesses felt their hearts sink, and their levels of irritation rise.

“Princess Luna!” The guard hurriedly closed the doors and bowed before her.

Luna released the spell she had been holding a hefty set of confidential documents within, allowing them to smack down upon the table with the same severity and authority of a judge’s gavel, ushering in deafening silence as she forced a frown from her face and regarded the pony neutrally, “Speak, Sergeant.”

The guard dipped his head reverently, “Urgent news from Cloudsdale, Your Majesty. Reportedly, two of our patrols have been found dead at the foot of Smokey Mountain. We have reason to believe Discord and the other fugitives are responsible.”

Luna stood and promptly made her way around the table so as to stand directly before the guard, “Rise.” He did so, standing upright and staring straight ahead. “What details do we have?”

“Multiple sources have confirmed that a huge explosion went off near the site just after dawn, Your Majesty. Cloudsdale police cordoned off the area, and reported that a small, violent skirmish also took place nearby.”

“I trust the situation has been taken out of their hooves?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Taskforce Umbra was alerted to the situation and took control of the investigation upon arrival.”

“Were the bodies of any enemy combatants recovered?”

“No, Your Majesty. All the corpses we've found are clad in Night Guard armour.

“I see. Have the patrols been identified yet?”

“Not as far as I'm aware, Your Majesty.”

Luna nodded with a grim expression on her face, “Most likely burned beyond recognition, then…” She ran a hoof through her mane, parting the flowing stream of stars momentarily as she pondered the best course of action and quelled her anger at the lack of solid information, “Sergeant Leaf, have this order relayed. All patrols that have crossed the area within a mile radius are to report to their nearest barracks immediately. We need to determine which patrols were caught up in this and be ready to mobilise those closest as quickly as possible, should we obtain any leads.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Luna glanced from the guard to the paperwork on the desk behind her, making her decision with little deliberation, “And ensure Umbra knows that I’ll be there within the hour. You are dismissed.”

“As you order, Princess.” The guard bowed and vanished in a cloud of black, wispy fog.

Celestia sighed and sank back into her chair, garnering Luna’s attention as she placed her hooves back down onto the table with slightly more force than necessary, denting the polished surface, “Thanks for leaving me alone with the paperwork, Luna.”

Luna shook her head, an amused smile on her face, “It will be far easier for me to coordinate the taskforce and keep the affair under wraps until we know what happened. You and I both know your presence tends to garner far more attention than my own, even now.”

Celestia nodded slowly, detecting no trace of spite behind Luna’s words, “Fine, but seriously, be careful, Luna. I don’t like the sound of this as it is. Up until this point they've done their utmost to remain hidden. If Discord and the others have resorted to attacking our forces so openly, they were either very desperate, or very angry.”

“Indeed. Even so…” She made her way to Celestia’s side, tapping the surface of the table for a moment as she recalled the last time she had seen the group, “The last time our forces confronted them, they seemed to show genuine aversion to killing our soldiers outright, especially Fluttershy.” She frowned and moved away from the desk, turning her back to Celestia, “At least, at first she did.”

Celestia hummed in agreement, “You think their change in approach is too sudden?”

“Yes. Given what we saw of Fluttershy’s reaction afterwards, I would have thought they would have gone out of their way to avoid any further direct conflict, not walk right into it.”

Celestia scrunched her brow in thought, “A third party, perhaps? Somepony trying to get a message across?”

Luna shrugged and made her way back over to Celestia, “Honestly, I don’t know. I suppose its best not to speculate too much before seeing exactly what happened there. Still, I don’t honestly suspect anyone else.”

Celestia gave her a curious look, “Why not?”

Luna gestured to a nearby map, her horn glowing as two deep blue dots appeared above it, denoting the location of Cloudsdale and Smokey Mountain, “That explosion was seen all the way from Cloudsdale. I know of only a select few who could create such destruction in the midst of combat, and you and I are on that list.” Her expression fell from extremely contemplative to moderately concerned, “Our nephew hasn't been in the vicinity recently, has he?”

Celestia seemed slightly taken aback by the question, giving Luna a curious look as she spoke, “Blueblood hasn't been to Cloudsdale in months, no. What makes you ask?” She caught Luna’s pointedly passive stare, “Luna?”

Luna shrugged, speaking with overly exaggerated nonchalance, her horn glowing all the while, “Oh, no reason, Celestia. No reason at all.”

A moving image appeared between the two, depicting Canterlot Castle in all its glory, flags waving from the spires, and ponies milling around both outside and within as they did from day to day. The serenity of the scene was promptly broken by a hefty amount of debris and masonry erupting from one of the upper spires, some of it shooting completely clear of Canterlot due to the sheer force behind it, leaving it to tumble over the edge of the mountain.

The ponies in the streets below seemed more perplexed than scared, given the suddenness of it all, simply standing and staring as a large section of stone wall sailed through the air before vanishing over the horizon. Their confusion didn't last long, however, given that the remaining debris had flown as high as it possibly could, and now had only one direction in which to fall; straight down. Pandemonium followed as said ponies ran for their lives for fear of being struck down by the veritable shower of brickwork tumbling towards them. Had a brilliant, golden yellow shield – courtesy of Celestia herself – not materialised between the debris and Canterlot’s inhabitants, such fears might have become a reality.

Celestia cringed at the memory, giving her sister a disapproving look as the image faded, “He wasn’t exactly sober when that happened, Luna, and that Gala was particularly bad for him. You know how he gets.” She caught Luna’s deadpan expression and sighed in defeat, “Besides, he hasn't had the time to leave anyway. Between managing the castle’s repairs and preparing to train Rarity he’s had his work cut out for him.”

Luna opened her mouth and raised a hoof slightly, but whatever words she intended to speak were lost as she processed Celestia’s own. She lowered her hoof slowly, giving Celestia a disapproving glance of her own as she found her voice, “You’re serious? You’re having Blueblood train Rarity?”

Celestia nodded, trying to keep her expression as neutral as possible at Luna’s now somewhat mocking tone, “Yes. He thinks she might have the capacity to learn from him.”

Luna snorted, gathering the pile of confidential documents she had been reading and teleporting them to a secure location as she prepared to leave, “And you think he has the capacity to teach ‘the likes of her’?” she turned up her muzzle for emphasis.

Celestia couldn't help but smirk at Luna’s poor impression of their nephew, “I've persuaded him to try, Luna. Give him a chance.”

Luna hung her head before nuzzling her sister briefly, “Fine, for your sake. Anyway, I’d best be heading off.” She stepped back, but stopped casting her teleportation spell before she had finished, giving her sister a concerned look, “Celestia?”

“Yes?”

“You have told Rarity who will be teaching her, haven’t you?”

Celestia bit her lip, pausing briefly before responding with a guilty look upon her face, “I thought it would be best if she were to find out once she was already here, for fear of her refusing otherwise.”

Luna stared at her sister as if she had just set fire to an orphanage. After nearly half a minute she shook her head and spoke in a soullessly sarcastic monotone, “Brilliant.”

Before Celestia could respond, Luna’s horn shone blue, and a veil of black mist enveloped her. When it dissipated, she was gone.

Celestia sat alone with only her paperwork to keep her company, giving a slight cough as she breathed in one of the remaining black vapours, “Thanks a lot, Luna…”

“Twilight?” Fluttershy and the others watched as the unicorn writhed around in her sleep, murmuring and whimpering almost constantly. From her position beside Twilight, Fluttershy could see tears streaking across her face, prompting her to turn to Discord worriedly, “She’s crying… Should we wake her up?”

Discord nodded, stepping closer to Fluttershy as she attempted to rouse the mare from her restless slumber, “Twilight? Twilight, wake up!” She reached out, taking one of Twilight’s hooves and shaking it until it was wrenched away, nearly pulling Fluttershy over Twilight as she rolled over.

“Spike, no…”

Fluttershy looked to Discord for help, but promptly returned to trying to wake the mare herself as she saw the large pair of cymbals he held in his hands, “Twilight!”

“Somepony help… us…”

Discord cocked an eyebrow at Fluttershy, holding his cymbals at the ready, apparently giving her one last chance to spare Twilight from a miniature heart attack, “Twilight…” She placed her hooves on her friend so as to hold her still, “Twilight!”

Still, she didn't respond, another sob escaping her as she continued her ramblings, “Why, Celes…”

Fluttershy couldn't stand it any more, “Twilight, wake up!” She shook the mare vigorously for emphasis.

Twilight’s eyes snapped open, confusion evident on her face for a moment as she took in her surroundings. For some reason, Fluttershy had expected her to scream, or continue crying, but once she had gathered her wits and gained her bearings, all Twilight did was groan and sit up, “What?”

Discord sighed, turning the cymbals in his hands into cones of cotton candy. He began munching on one, handing the other over to Pinkie without turning his attention away from Twilight, “The nightmares are back again, I presume?”

Twilight nodded without looking up from the bed she sat on, “Yeah… Did I wake anypony?”

Pinkie spoke through a mouthful of cotton candy, giving her voice a temporarily muffled effect, “Nope! You woke up everypony! Angel too!”

“Damn it.” Twilight raised her head wearily, wiping away the tears she had shed whilst sleeping, “Sorry, everyone…”

“I wouldn't worry about it, I was planning on waking you soon anyway.” He snapped his fingers, appearing beside Twilight in doctor’s attire, “If you would lend me your horn for a moment, Miss Sparkle.”

Twilight complied, leaning her head towards him without complaint, save for rolling her eyes.

Discord extended a single talon to her horn, chuckling devilishly as he did so, “Now then, Miss Sparkle, do brace yourself. I'm told this tends to sting a little.”

She did so, gritting her teeth and scrunching her eyes shut in preparation. A sharp jolt of pain shot through her horn, causing her to hiss through her teeth and flinch away. The instant she did so, the pain subsided. She sat back up and rubbed her horn idly, “Did it work?”

Discord extended his paw for Twilight to take, “Although it’s difficult to determine such until the patient actually sleeps, I've performed this operation before and have reason to believe the procedure should be a complete success.”

Twilight turned away, leaving him to lower his arm with a scowl and a murmur about ungrateful patients receiving free healthcare on the DHS.

Fluttershy looked between Twilight and her horn in quick succession, a somewhat worried expression on her face, “Twilight, w-what was that all about?”

Twilight placed a reassuring hoof on her friend’s shoulder, “Nothing to worry about, Fluttershy. Ever since we set out, I’ve been having nightmares every night. As you've just seen, they can be quite a pain when others are trying to sleep.” She hung her head apologetically, but Fluttershy simply gave a small, encouraging smile, “Discord’s been helping me out, using his magic to block out the nightmares. Unfortunately, it’s not permanent, so he has to re-cast the spell every so often. Thanks, by the way, Discord.”

Discord – now free of his outfit – waved back half-heartedly, and Fluttershy nodded in response, “And that was what happened just now?”

“Yeah.” Twilight gestured to her horn, allowing it to glow for a moment for emphasis, “It’s not entirely painless, though. Not that I mind, it only lasts a second. It’s just a pain that it has to go through my horn. After treating my magic burn, I'm sure you remember how sensitive horns can be.” She fell silent, a contemplative look on her face as she turned to Discord, “It does have to go through my horn, right?”

Discord held out his claw, waving it around for a second before wiggling each individual talon and fixing Twilight with a perfectly flat stare, “Well, I'm certainly not sticking these anywhere else if that’s what you’re after.” After seeing a deep blush rise to Fluttershy’s cheeks, and earning threatening glares from Twilight and Angel, Discord marked his mission as accomplished, cracking a smile and giving Pinkie’s waiting hoof a high five before the two of them burst out in hysterical laughter, hanging on to one another for stability as they did so, “The looks on their faces!”

It took the remainder of two minutes for the two to calm down, giving Twilight ample time to take a seat, gesturing for Fluttershy to do the same as the pair transitioned from laughing to rating Discord’s execution out of ten.

When they had finished, Discord forced himself into an upright position, trying to maintain his seriousness despite the wide grin still plastered on his face, “In all seriousness, yes, it does have to go through your horn. Fastest means of access with least chance of complications.”

She slumped her head against her forehoof, “And you couldn't have said that earlier because?”

Discord gave Pinkie a sideways glance and chuckled, “Not as fun.”

“Whatever.” Twilight groaned, holding a hoof out at him expectantly, “If anypony else had to put up with you after depriving them of sleep you’d probably be all out of friends by now.”

Discord’s smile grew wider, “Friends? Really, Twilight, I’m touched!” He snapped his fingers, a pen and notebook appearing in-hand. Without hesitation, he ticked a box next to a poorly drawn Twilight Sparkle that – for reasons Discord couldn't fathom – seemed to have stink lines radiating from it.

“Friends, allies, confederates, take your pick; I just meant that we have to put up with you. Either way, you still have some explaining to do.”

His expression turned sour as he tossed the notebook over his shoulder, surprising none when it slipped through the wall behind him, “I suppose, though your assault on my oh-so sensitive emotions might have damaged my recollection to the point where it’s no longer accurate.”

Twilight’s dispassionate expression didn't shift in the slightest, “Pity. I suppose we’ll just have to make do with what you have then. Go on.”

With a defeated sigh, Discord held out his paw, prompting his notebook to jump back through the wall and into his grasp. The instant he had hold of it, he tightened his grasp, causing it to disappear with a sound not too dissimilar from a balloon deflating. He waited for it to finishing before flicking his gaze between those around him, "Alright. Seen as though Twilight is out of sympathy and gratitude for the day, I'll try and keep this short. As you all know, the Royal Guard have been searching for us since the moment we left Canterlot, and ever since our last run-in with them they've stepped up patrols and area searches considerably, at least from what I've seen. The Solar Guard search by day, the Night Guard by... well, night." He glanced at Pinkie, taking note of her raised hoof, "No, Pinkie, no Discord Points are awarded for coming to that conclusion."

He smirked, but otherwise ignored the somewhat disgusted look that she gave him, "This heightened security is the reason we're still in hiding, but we can't hide forever. We've been playing the role of the hunted for far too long, and whilst we’re nowhere near being in any position to become the hunters, it’s about time we got them off our backs for good; and we’re nearly there, provided I’ve done my job well enough."

He gained unanimous nods of agreement from the group. Twilight scrunched her brow in thought for a moment before speaking on behalf of her friends, “So that’s where you were… What did you do, exactly?”

Discord stroked his beard for a moment, “I created a… diversion, of sorts. A big one. Big enough to grab the attention of Celestia and Luna themselves, if we're lucky.”

Fluttershy found herself slightly unnerved by the mischief she saw in his eyes, “B-Big? Wh-What do you mean, Discord?”

He glanced at her and made certain to reset his expression to neutral before continuing, “An explosion, to be specific.” He caught the worried looks exchanged between the three, “A controlled explosion in a non-populated but highly visible area. I’m not daft, ladies, I know I’d never hear the end of it if I blew up even the tiniest little village.”

Twilight gave a quiet sigh of relief, “At least we’re safe in the knowledge that you have at least some form of a conscience. Where’d you set it off?”

“Smokey Mountain. In full view of Cloudsdale and the nearby towns.”

Twilight mulled it over in her head for a few moments, staring down at the floor in deep thought as she spoke, “Are you sure that’ll be enough? For them to identify us by, I mean. An explosion in the middle of nowhere doesn't definitively point to us being there, does it?”

Discord nodded in agreement, “That’s right. Fortunately, I took the liberty of scattering a few items around the site that point to each of us personally. Nothing irreplaceable, I assure you.” He rolled his eyes exasperatedly at Twilight’s continued contemplation, “And yes, I made sure to set up a believable reason for the blast. I threw a few weapons around, burned a little land, splashed around some fake blood. To the outside observer, it should seem as if a battle between us and a group of guards took place.” He decidedly removed the use of corpses from his recall, for fear of having to explain the far more grim nature of having to manually disfigure and maim the corpses whilst in Fluttershy’s presence.

Twilight gave him a sceptical glance, “And that took you nearly eight hours?”

“The devil is in the details, Twilight. The last thing we want is for Celestia or Luna to figure out that we’re trying to throw them off. I had to make every possible effort to make everything seem genuine.” He snapped his fingers, causing all unoccupied beds and chairs to disappear.

“Seems like a tedious way to spend eight hours, especially for someone like you.” Twilight paused as he snapped his fingers again, causing each pony’s saddlebags to appear beside them, “What are you doing?”

He turned and shrugged at her, “Getting us ready to go. We've already missed dawn, and if I weren't so soft I would've teleported us there the moment I returned. And if you must know, it wasn't too bad; I take pride in all my work, Twilight.”

Ignoring him, Twilight blew her mane out of her face, “Where’s ‘there’?”

“Foal Mountain. We’re certainly not visiting Fillydelphia any time soon.”

Twilight gave him a quizzical glance, “What’s the fascination with hiding in mountains all of a sudden?”

“Other than the fact that we’re extremely unlikely to be found whilst within them?” He waved his arms out in front of him as he stated the obvious, “Not much. The only reason we’re really heading there is because it’s on our route and puts us closer to our next objective than anywhere else that could be considered 'safe'.”

Twilight held her head in her hoof, not in the mood to be dealing with Discord’s intentional ambiguity regarding their plan of action, “And what’s our next objective?”

Discord glanced around, snapping his fingers so as to tip Fluttershy and Twilight from their seats before they disappeared. Another snap preceded each pony’s saddlebags landing upon their owner’s backs, “That, my Dear Student, would be telling. I’ll let you think it over on the journey!”

With a final snap, and a bright flash, the entire group were gone.

“How many?” Luna surveyed the area, and the corpses strewn about it, with a hardened, calculating gaze.

The masked guard beside her gestured towards the nearest corpse as they approached it, “These are all of them, Your Majesty. We've not been able to move the bodies yet.”

She counted ten corpses in total, albeit with a small amount of difficulty due to the number of guards now milling around. She took particular notice of the small groups of two to three guards that had formed around each body, seemingly debating a plan of action, “Are the corpses booby trapped?”

“No, Your Majesty, but between us we've found a number of anomalies that may require more magical expertise than we have with us.”

Luna found herself mildly surprised by the statement. Though the guard she was conversing with was clearly an earth pony, all members of Taskforce Umbra were highly skilled in their field, and it struck her as odd that none of the unicorns present had the knowledge to deal with magical interference, “Explain.”

“Well, the first issue we've had is that we can’t remove their armour. It just won’t budge an inch, even the helmets. We've tried forcing them off, teleporting them elsewhere, even teleporting the whole body out, but the armour just sticks. We can’t identify any of the bodies as a direct result.”

They stopped by the corpse they had been approaching, prompting the guards congregated around it to salute as Luna knelt down beside the corpse, grasping the helmet in her own magic and attempting to remove it. True to the guard’s testimony, it wouldn't move without pulling the head of the guard within along with it, “I see...” She rose, turning to the guard she had conversed with, “Bring me the evidence you've collected on the assailants.”

“At once, Your Majesty.” He saluted before making his way towards the largest group of guards.

Luna scanned the corpse once more. The pony beneath her was a unicorn, though his horn was broken nearest the tip. His armour was scraped and charred, with a large smear of blackened blood running along one side, a large puncture in the armour – and the flesh beneath – being the obvious source. She crouched, scrutinising the armour more carefully, and frowned, “What details do we have on the explosion?” She looked up at the guard nearest her.

“The origin of the blast appears to have been that outcrop, Your Majesty.” She gestured towards it with a hoof, “We’re still trying to figure out the cause. Our saboteur took a look earlier and he suspects a physical charge was used. That confused us somewhat, Your Majesty. We’d have thought the blast would've been caused by a spell in mid-fight, given its location. It’s definitely not where we’d set a charge if we were conducting an ambush on a larger force. Too risky if you've got guys of your own nearby.”

Luna nodded and stood once again, “It’s certainly odd. Out of place, even.” She turned towards the largest congregation of guards, “And I have a sneaking suspicion as to why…”

As she approached, the guard from before – accompanied by a unicorn – emerged from the group. Within the unicorn’s grasp floated a small number of miscellaneous items that had been collected from the site. Both guards stopped and saluted before her, “The evidence we've gathered thus far, Your Majesty.”

Luna took each item in turn, examining it carefully. From a lock of what was undoubtedly Twilight’s mane, to a message addressed specifically to her, and even what appeared to be the remnants of a half-eaten cupcake. She took a deep breath of the cool morning air as she cycled through the evidence, “There seems to be little doubt as to the culprits, then.” She squinted and separated one item from the rest – a small note – extending it towards the unicorn who had handed it to her, “Where was this found?”

“Pinned beneath a rock just over there, Your Majesty.” He pointed towards a rather plain-looking piece of land, save for the earthen debris scattered around it.

Luna made her way towards it, gesturing for the guards to follow as she examined the patch of land carefully. As she suspected, she found a small, rectangular patch of land that was completely free of the pebbles and dirt that had been scattered elsewhere. She brought the note before her, glancing over both sides of it before giving it back to the unicorn, “Does anything seem off about that note to you?”

The guard glanced over it but promptly shook his head, “Other than the message, Your Majesty?”

Luna nodded.

He checked again, mimicking Luna’s previous actions and glancing over both sides of the parchment before shaking his head once again, “Nothing, Your Majesty. Is there something I should be specifically looking for?”

Luna turned to the earth pony beside him, “What about you?”

He scanned over the note for several seconds, looking between it and the patch of earth Luna had examined before replying, “It’s not what we can see, it’s what we can’t…”

Luna hummed approvingly, “Correct. Not a speck of dirt on it. Somepony wanted us to find that message intact, but obviously put it there before the explosion.” Once again, she gestured for them to follow her as she made her way towards another corpse, “If they had time to protect it from the blast, it either has far more meaning than I believe it does, or they had far more time than we assume they did if they were in the middle of a fight.”

They approached the corpse of a pegasus who had almost been cleaved in half, the contents of her stomach – and a large portion of the digestive system attached to it – protruding obscenely from the wound that spanned the entirety of her midsection. The earth pony spoke as Luna enveloped the corpse with her magic, “If I may ask, what do you suspect, Your Majesty?”

Luna levitated the corpse from the ground, trotting around it in a circular motion as she confirmed her suspicions, “Only the upside has debris upon it, and it appears to have been undisturbed until now.” She turned to the guards, carefully lowering the corpse back into its original position as she did so, “If my suspicions are correct, something is terribly amiss here; beyond what we've already seen.” She began trotting towards the nearest corpse, an earth pony suspended above the ground by large iron spikes.

“What makes you say that, Your Majesty?” The unicorn asked, wondering what the Princess was looking for.

Luna repeated the same procedure as before, save for levitating the corpse due to its already elevated position. She circled slowly, meticulously looking over every inch of the body before gesturing towards the origin point of the blast, “Because, for whatever reason, that explosion was detonated after our guards were already dead.” She turned her head towards Cloudsdale, then back towards the blast zone, "They were trying to grab our attention..." She promptly raised the note the guard had given her back to head height, reading it once again before speaking quietly to herself, "To send a message..."

The guards' eyes widened visibly, and the unicorn spoke up at the revelation, "So that means the explosion, all of this was just-"

Luna held up her hoof sharply, silencing him immediately as she attempted to clear her thoughts, the many ghastly implications of her discovery rattling around in her mind. It took her some time before she finally brought it down. When she had, she closed her eyes, and a look of terrible sadness crossed her features as she spoke in a tone so hollow that it sent shivers down the spines of the guards behind her, "The opening move of an entirely different game."

Author's Notes:

Well guys, I finally stuck to my schedule on this one (hurrah!). If you'd like to thank anyone in particular, thank Dextroscity, to whom I promised this chapter would be up for their birthday by - and wish him/her a happy birthday whilst you're at it! To that end, happy birthday, Dextroscity! :)

On another note, I think I'm getting back into the writing of this fic quite nicely. That being said, I did quite poorly on my exams this year, so I'll probably go missing for a sizeable period again some time next year (sorry), since I'll need to study even harder in order to pull up my grades to the minimum I need for a decent university. But that's several months in the future, and I'll be sure to give you all a heads up beforehand, don't worry.

The next update should be out some time next month, as per standard schedule. I might be a little late due to several events (e.g. A2 enrolment and my cousin's wedding) but I'll keep you guys posted in my blog, as always.

Until then, thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter!

- Mike, adopting the Gendo Pose whilst thinking of the events in coming chapters.

P.S. Here's the link to the updated ATF map, if you're interested in seeing where the group is right now: LINK