From the Ashes

by Benjamin Lawe

Chapter 19: First Last Daybreak

“We’re all ready on this end.” Spellbound said, joining Caliber, Shining Armor, and a collection of other guards all crowded around an impromptu map, “They all know their route. Just say the word.”

“Okay, very good.” Shining Armor replied with a confident nod, “Show it to me on the map.”

        Obliging, Spellbound shuffled one of the guards aside and lent in to study the map. “We’ll use these three here.” she said, indicating a series of red crosses that had been marked on the map, “I’ll take my guards in through the north entrance and round up as many as possible, then swing back from the west end towards the marked location.”

“That’s the opposite of our route.” Caliber observed, indicating himself and his pegasi, “We’ll come in through the south end then bank east towards the area we’ve marked.”

“Great.” Shining Armor nodded again, studying all of the crosses marked on the map, several left over in odd locations, “We’ll have the whole town covered if the rest and I move through diagonally. Going off the map... the best choice looks like southwest to northeast.”

“Ah, I see.” Spellbound watched as Shining Armor traced an invisible line across the map as he described the route, “So what’s the actual plan then?”

“If we all follow the path we’ve each described without any problems...” Shining Armor explained, “Each group should end up approximately in these locations after exiting the town.”

        As he talked, he tapped three points on the map in sequence, forming a rough triangle. His group was at the northmost point, with Caliber and Spellbound’s groups at the east and westmost respectively.

“From there, with each group having rounded up the most of the... ‘earthen’ as possible...” he continued, stalling slightly as he struggled to refer to the townspeople who had been transformed, “You will move around the town in an anti-clockwise cycle, and in sync with the other two groups, in order to ensure that we lure all the earthen along with us.

“Remember, the objective is to get them out of Cinderwood and to the locations crossed on the map.” Shining Armor concluded, emphasising the point, “Do not engage them in battle, and prioritise escape if you find yourself in trouble, or cannot meet the objective.”

        Looking over the faces of those surrounding him, there was a general silence and collection of affirming nods. It seemed as though he was understood.

“Looks like we’re all set then.” Caliber spoke, observing his pegasi and taking their silence in stride, “Any last questions?”

“Just one...” a dignified voice called from behind, “What about us?”

        Shining Armor and Caliber turned to see Rarity with a hoof raised satirically. They also saw Fluttershy and Pastel Pride behind her, the two of them busy re-creating the hastily drawn map of the town like they had been asked to, the intention being that each group would have their own version to use after splitting up.

“It’s not safe to leave you girls sitting here while we’re out of reach, but we can’t exactly spare anyone to babysit you.” Caliber replied, tapping his chin thoughtfully, “Unfortunately, we can’t afford to bring you along either...”

“Actually...” Shining Armor coughed, stepping forward, “I want the three of you with me and my group.”

“Uh... Captain?” Spellbound raised a cautious eyebrow, before casting a glance back to the trio, or more specifically, her old friend Pastel, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“As Caliber pointed out, we don’t have a whole lot to work with considering all the earthen down there.” Shining Armor reasoned, “And as I understand it, we need all the help we can get to make effective use of the little manoeuvre we have planned.”

“You’ll have to forgive me, but I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.” Rarity confessed, ever dignified, “Please be a little more specific. What manoeuvre? What plan? And what the devil do you want from us?”

        Considering how to best respond to her questions, Shining Armor pursed his lips for a moment, and called out over her shoulder. “Excuse me, Fluttershy... are you done with the map?” he asked all of a sudden, “Bring it over here please.”

        Faltering for a moment, Fluttershy checked her work before zipping over with the parchment. Handing it over without a word, Shining Armor had a quick look himself before flattening it out on the ground between him and Rarity. It was quite a basic copy, but to Fluttershy’s credit, it contained the important features and information that was on the original. More or less.

“Thank you.” Shining Armor bowed slightly, “Oh, and if you could, please listen along as well. I’m going to explain what’s going on with your friend here.”

        In the background, Spellbound approached silently. “Hey!” she whispered harshly, causing Pastel Pride’s ears to perk, “That includes you too! Huddle up!”

        Waiting for the earth pony, Shining Armor finally began his explanation. “Okay, I’ll make this quick.” he said as he indicated the map between them, “Aside from what you three helped us flesh out earlier about some of the finer details, the entire town of Cinderwood has been taken over by Terra’s ability.”

“Why don’t you tell us something we don’t know?” Pastel remarked, the mare lasting about as long as expected without a sarcastic quip, “Whatever he’s done to them has got ‘em totally zombified. We kinda noticed that much...”

“Then you probably also noticed that, while we were setting up, Spellbound took some of her people to do some reconnaissance on the Earthen.” Shining Armor continued, taking Pastel’s comment in stride, “And we managed to establish that they’re locked in some kind of hypnotic state. They’re totally reactionary, and hardly self-conscious.”

“So, like zombies?” Pastel returned to her previous comment, “No way. I’m out.”

“I still say it’s strange.” Caliber pitched in, ignoring Pastel as he intruded on the conversation, “The twins were nothing like that. Atlas did claim that their personalities had changed... but that’s a far cry from this.”

“We don’t know enough about what actually happened to the twins or these ponies to say for sure in any case.” Shining Armor replied coolly, “But, what we can be certain about is that their physical characteristics are the same. They don’t feel... and they are impervious to damage.”

“Zombies.” Pastel repeated dryly, “Seriously, what’s not to love?”

“Actually, with the right approach, we can make these things work to our advantage.” Shining Armor replied, surprising the girls with his positive spin, “Despite circumstances, our objective is to rescue this town. As they are, we cannot do the citizens of Cinderwood any harm.”

“Yeah, which is more than you can say about us!” Pastel growled, “I saw those things! They’re mindless killing machines! One whiff of us, and they’ll come running like a bunch of bloodthirsty animals!”

“Yes, well... as I said, it’s to our advantage.” Shining Armor smiled subtly, “To put it another way, we’re counting on them doing exactly that.”

        In response, both Pastel and Fluttershy’s faces ran white. For her part, Rarity maintained her calm and composure, but could hardly stay silent any longer.

“I’m confused...” she took a considered breath before continuing, “I must have misheard. Did you say you intent to provoke these poor souls into chasing you? You, being the same pony who asked us to come with along with, well... you?”

“Yes, that’s correct.” he responded matter-of-factly, causing poor Fluttershy to shrivel in response, “You asked me to explain my plan, and that’s its premise. Now, as for the details, and before you all freak out on me, let us consider the map Fluttershy was kind enough to reproduce.”

        Despite their imaginings of being torn to shreds by the brainwashed townsfolk threatening to overwhelm them, Pastel and Fluttershy obliged, following Shining Armor’s gesture and looking at the map. As it was her who insisted in the first place, Rarity more seriously followed the captain’s indication.

“It’s relatively simple.” Shining Armor begun unconvincingly, “Caliber, Spellbound and I each lead a group into the town from different directions.”

        As he spoke, Shining Armor tapped the three locations that he had worked out previously with Caliber and Spellbound. “If you look at the outline of the town on the map, you’ll notice that it forms a rough circle, which is good for us.” he referred to the map as he continued, tracing out three individual paths through the town with his hoof, “And that’s because, the whole point is to attract the attention of every single earthen in Cinderwood. Since each group comes in and exits the town from unique locations, there’s a total of six points here on the map where we’re either coming or going, which lets us get even the ones spread out on the outskirts chasing us.”

“You seem to be avoiding the ever-important question of why.” Rarity spoke up, “I fail to see why it is so important to inspire a genuine horde of, urgh... ‘zombified’ ponies to chase us.”

“Two reasons.” Shining Armor answered, accepting her hesitation, “One, we need to secure the town square. And two, while our duty is to the people of Cinderwood, there isn’t much we can do for them at this stage, and definitely not while they are in such a state. We need to deal with them, which is why we need to lure them out of the town.”

        Shining Armor paused, knowing they weren’t following. “Let’s look at the map again shall we?” he tried again, “Now, see how once each group exits the town they end up in these three locations, forming a kind of triangle? You may have overheard us as we were just talking about it, but once everypony is in position, each group moves in a circle, counter-clockwise, making sure to keep the same distance between the group in front of them and the one behind them.”

        Squinting and biting her lip, Pastel studied the map as Shining Armor spoke, visualising the movements he described. And that’s when she noticed.

“If you all do that...” she mumbled, reaching a tentative hoof out and tracing a circle through each point of the triangle, “You’ll go through all these crosses you’ve got marked here... and here... and-”

“Exactly.” Shining Armor nodded, “If we can lure the earthen through those marked crosses, then we win.”

        Intrigued by this, Rarity looked at the map as a whole. It was strange. Cinderwood sat right in the middle of a large clearing, with nothing but flat empty ground surrounding the town proper in every direction up to the forest in which they were now concealed. She could easily imagine how this empty flat ground was ideal for running the circuit Shining Armor was describing, but what she couldn’t figure out was what those crosses were that had been marked on the map. From what she could see, the area around Cinderwood was totally featureless, and the marks on the map were distributed randomly.

Finally, she made to ask what they were, but she found herself interrupted as Fluttershy finally decided to break her silence. Truth be told, the pegasus had been so reserved so far that Rarity had almost forgotten she was here...

“Um, sorry to interrupt...” Fluttershy spoke up for the first time, “But, well... if you don’t mind, could I maybe sit out on the whole circuit thing? It sounds dangerous, and I don’t fly all too well under pressure-”

“Me neither!” Pastel lunged at the opportunity, “In fact, I don’t fly at all! No magic either, nope! Better stay behind with my pal Fluttershy-”

“Don’t worry... I have something else in mind for you three.” Shining Armor cut her off, his tone serious, “But keep in mind, it is no less important.”

        He could feel the inquiring eyes of Caliber and Spellbound creeping up on him, the two of them not knowing nor condoning his intention to utilise the trio. Not keen on getting sidetracked again, he decided to continue right away.

“Rounding up and luring the earthen will take up all of our attention.” Shining Armor explained, “Since they’re mindless, they won’t stop chasing us, so we can’t stop running. Caliber, Spellbound, and I, as we’re leading the three groups, we won’t be able to re-enter the town after exiting it, since we’d just bring the earthen back with us.

“But, as I said before, we need to secure the town square.” he continued, “Can you guess why?”

“Unless it’s to deal with Haywire or Truant or any other nasties, I’d rather not know...” Pastel muttered bitterly, “Can’t you just tell us?”

“True, Truant and Haywire are likely to be here, and rest assured, we have no intention of involving you with them, but there should be somepony else here.” Shining Armor replied, “And once the town square is clear and we lure the earthen off, I want you three to stay behind and seek him out.”

“Oh, no-no-no... N to the O... no!” Pastel scoffed, “If there’s anyone here that isn’t brainwashed and stupefied, then that makes them even more dangerous! You can count on me to be going the other way than somepony like that...”

“Rarity, Fluttershy... perhaps you two will have more reason to want to do this.” Shining Armor looked to the two friends, totally ignoring Pastel’s ranting, “I mean, he has to be here, doesn’t he?”

“Why would-” Rarity begun, but then cut herself off, “Wait. Who are you talking about?”

“Scryer, or as you two know him better as, Torrin’s father.” he answered, “I’m sure Pastel Pride would agree. If this is their hideout, we can expect him to be here just as much as Haywire or Truant...”

        Rarity and Fluttershy swapped a look as they thought back to their time in Appleoosa. Back then, they had been so frantic and focused on trying to get Torrin to safety that it was easy to forget why they went there in the first place, and painful to remember that they failed to rescue the pony for whom they had come for originally.

        As Rarity and Fluttershy maintained their thoughtful stares, it was clear that they shared some feeling of responsibility towards, not only Scryer, but to his son, Torrin. Noticing this, and dreading its meaning, Pastel’s hooves began to tremble underneath her.

“Oh, come on...” she gasped, shivering as she sensed the atmosphere, “You’re not seriously considering- you are aren’t you? Please don’t do this to me!”

“Is the captain correct?” Rarity responded, turning to face the pleading earth pony, “How likely is it that Scryer is here too?”

        Mouth already opened, Pastel gawked in silence before setting into a pained grimace, her teeth grinding as if to hold back an honest answer. Regaining her composure, she simply closed her eyes and sighed, having finally realised the futility of it all.

“Yeah, of course he’s right.” she shook her head woefully, “If this is their hideout... and it is... then the prophet or whatever is being held here somewhere.”

        Once again, Rarity and Fluttershy exchanged glances. “What do you think?” Rarity asked evenly, “It could be quite dangerous. Especially with that Truant person involved.”

        Fluttershy, though giving off a rare aura of determination, faltered slightly at her friend’s question. Both of them had their own experience with that evil unicorn, and while it was Rarity who had suffered heavily to his mercilessness, Fluttershy could not forget the terror she had felt when he first confronted her.

        Seeing that the pegasus was visibly shaken, Pastel leaned in. “You don’t have to force yourself.” she reached forward, expressing some measure of genuine concern for her wellbeing despite being mostly consumed by self-interest, “Let the guards handle it. We don’t need to throw ourselves into harms way just for-”

“No, I already decided I wanted to do my best.” Fluttershy cut her off resolutely, “And I can’t help but feel like it’s kind of my fault. Poor Torrin pleaded so desperately to the princess to help save his father... and we’re the ones who couldn’t bring him back in the first place.”

“I concur.” Rarity nodded proudly and firmly, “We did promise to save Scryer... and, well... it’s better late than never!”

“You two are crazy.” Pastel objected, “He’s their prisoner. What can you two do, huh?”

“We’ll work something out.” Rarity replied confidently, “And we definitely can’t force you to come.”

“Damn straight you can’t!” Pastel crossed her front hooves and sat down definitely, “Why should I care anyway? I didn’t make any promises or anything...”

        The line clearly drawn, Caliber saw fit to once again intrude. “Look, I hate to interrupt, but we’re wasting time.” he looked Pastel over before addressing Rarity and Fluttershy, “We’re about to head out. Are you with us?”

        With Rarity staring at her silently, Pastel closed her eyes and turned up her nose. With a light sigh, the unicorn simply turned around and moved in beside Caliber, ready to leave.

        Fluttershy however, still had something to say. “You know, before all this, when the rest of my friends were still with me in Canterlot, we met up to talk with Luna in the palace.” she begun, her quiet voice attracting Pastel’s attention, “Torrin wanted to do whatever he could to help find his father, and even insisted against the princess...

“Even though he’s so small and young, he’s brave.” Fluttershy continued, “Braver than us. But that same colt told me that he looks up to you. After working with you, Marco, and Twilight in the library and all that, he said that to me. I guess, as one earth pony another, you inspired him.”

“Hey, come on Fluttershy, this isn’t funny...” Pastel groaned, “Stop trying to work me, ‘cause I ain’t buying.”

        Turning on the spot, Fluttershy followed after her friend. “I wasn’t lying.” she said as she walked away, “But it would be wrong to try and force you. Sorry.”

“Tsk... Torrin, huh?” she muttered to herself, watching Rarity and Fluttershy follow Caliber over to the other guards, “Come to think of it, he did have a lot of questions about my job. He was pretty starry-eyed about an earth pony managing the royal archive, and I’d go jump if he wasn’t interested in some day working as a-

“Oh... you brat.” she cursed his name, “Guilt-tripping me from the other side of Equestria are you? And Fluttershy... that was pretty sneaky. Screwing with my feelings huh? And right before you said you didn’t wanna force me...”

        Teeth grinding and the veins showing above her eye, Pastel exhaled in a hot, angry breath before uncrossing her hooves and standing herself up.

“Fine... you win, damn you.” she growled before breaking into a gallop and yelling out after them, “Hey, wait up! You guys win, I’m coming too. But you gotta promise to take care of me, okay?

“Don’t pretend you can’t friggin’ hear me!”

“Did you hear that?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, scanning the otherwise spooky Everfree surroundings with unaffected eyes, “Owls and critters and bugs and snakes making a commotion even when it’s so dark in here. Seriously... it feels like we’re constantly being watched!”

        Receiving no reply, Pinkie’s expression deflated slightly, but only momentarily. Never one to dwell, she continued moving forward, skipping for several steps, then, as if sapping her own energy, collapsed head over heals in pretend exhaustion.

“Can we stop for a minute?” she moaned dramatically, “I was already exhausted when you found me... and we’ve been walking non-stop since Canterlot!”

        Her complaints falling on seemingly deaf ears, the hooded figure leading her continued the march forward. As always, the sun above Everfree Forest was obscured by a mess of vines and gnarled branches, but today, an oddly thick and darkening fog hung low in the woods, meaning that the small and battered lamp the cloaked figure carried was their only way to see through the murky darkness in front of them.

“Seriously though, Everfree forest is super dangerous, even at this time of day...” Pinkie switched tune as she tried once more, “I can understand why we aren’t allowed to stop in Ponyville, but don’t you think it would be better to find a place to hole up?

“I mean, we can barely see where we’re going!” she continued, looking about herself with some small modicum of concern, “Believe me, it’s easy to get lost even when you’re only a little bit into the forest...”

        As she continued to scan the darkened surroundings, Pinkie failed to notice the pony in front of her stop, and she continued on to bump into his rear and stagger backwards.

        Barely registering the impact, the figure reached up and pulled the hood down from his head before speaking. “Very well.” Atlas Black spoke, “This should be far enough. I had originally planned to camp here anyway.”

“Well why didn’t you just say so?” Pinkie Pie huffed, “And here you had me thinking you wanted to navigate Everfree Forest with this annoying fog everywhere!”

“My apologies.” Atlas didn’t even look her way, “But if I may say, if we waited for it to lift, it would most likely be night then, which would only compound our issues.

“In any case, we should rest for now.” he continued with a stern shaking of the head, realizing the futility of arguing, “Please wait a moment while I find us a suitable location.”

        Searching around briefly, it only took the old stallion a few seconds to find a light-trodden path stemming from the one they were on, going under a mess of overgrown thorny vines and towards what looked like a towering formation of mossy rocks.

“Here.” Atlas faced the path, “This seems to lead to a sheltered clearing. Follow me, and mind the thorns.”

        Obliging, Pinkie Pie mimicked Atlas’ movements as he negotiated through the underbrush, as she could barely see a thing without the lamp. Her hair often caught a wayward thorn or two, and her steps were unsteady through a maze of protruding roots and slippery rocks, but for the most part, she managed to keep behind Atlas.

        Suddenly however, one of her leading hoofsteps landed on a particularly mossy stone, causing her to slip and harshly trip over. With what little breathing room she had, her body touched the thorny vines, and her front hoof became ensnared by the tangled mess.

        A pained whimper escaping her lips as the thorns dug slightly into her, Atlas was quick to respond, planting the lamp close by to observe her trapped hoof, and proceeding to carefully handle the vine so as to work her free from its thorny grasp.

“Whew...” Pinkie sighed as Atlas freed her, rubbing a sore but otherwise unharmed hoof, “Thanks. And, ah... sorry.”

        Without a word, Atlas picked the lamp back up and turned away. Pinkie made to press him on his lack of response, but just as the aged stallion made to resume his way through to the clearing, he found himself pause, and finally, face her again.

“After I came to you at the palace...” he begun, his response taking her by surprise, “Why did you ask to come with me?”

“Um, that?” Pinkie Pie stood back up properly, not expecting that kind of question to come now, “Sorry, but I don’t really get it... I asked because I wanted to.”

“I’m not talking about that.” Atlas replied unamused, starting to move forwards again, intent on taking this conversation on the road, “Surely you must have heard about me being wanted... or that I am an enemy of the princesses. Why then, did you wish to come?”

“Well, I don’t really know about any of that stuff.” Pinkie Pie replied unreservedly, “All I know is that when you said my friends were in trouble, and that you wanted to help, you were telling the truth.”

“I am always true to my word.” Atlas responded, still not satisfied with the answer, “But even so, you must be quite confident in your own judgement to come this far on what would otherwise be a simple whim.”

“I don’t really know how, but you don’t seem like a bad guy.” Pinkie elaborated slightly, “But I gotta say, this Terra guy you’ve been going on about... I don’t like him. He’s a bad guy.”

        She was met with silence, and in the next instant, Atlas stopped in his tracks. Worried she may have hit a nerve, Pinkie tilted her head so as to see the face of the stallion in front of her. His expression was totally still, but his eyes were intense. She quickly felt a little more worried to think that he really was upset, but then she saw his blue eyes shift quickly from left to right, then back again, as if looking for something.

“We’re not alone.” Atlas growled, fully alert, “There’s something, or someone else out here... up ahead.”

        Focusing her eyes against the darkness, Pinkie tried her best to force them to adjust. Try as she might though, she couldn’t see anything, even with the aid of the lamp next to her. But a quick look at Atlas confirmed that he could see something. Perhaps though, ‘see’ wasn’t the right word. It was more like he could just somehow tell.

“Stay behind me.” Atlas ordered, whispering to her without breaking from his gaze, “Whoever they might be, their presence is massive. Follow close... and try to keep quiet.”

        Not understanding, but still doing as she was told, Pinkie crept silently behind Atlas as he took the lead, being extra careful not to slip on anything again. As they got clear of the thorny maze of vines and more out into the clearing that Atlas had mentioned earlier, Pinkie saw it.

“Look...” she whispered, being careful to keep her voice as low as possible, “There’s a light...”

        Atlas quickly noticed it too. There was a soft wavering glow of yellow light coming from up ahead. He and Pinkie realised at the same time. It was a light from a fire, or more specifically, a campfire.

        Atlas’ mind was alive with activity. A campfire meant that there was someone else out here, which was strange in and of itself. And even then, the odds of running into them were slim in the extreme. And considering that they were on the run, he couldn’t accept that someone just happened to be out here, and that they had just so happened to bump into them. To his mind, it didn’t take any kind of special sense to know that, whoever it was, this was no coincidence.

        These troubled thoughts running away with him, Atlas was caught trying to decide what to do. Could this be happenstance? If this wasn’t random, then would it be better to confront them, or to escape? As these questions preoccupied him, he failed to notice that Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen.

        Seeing that she had nonchalantly sauntered on up to the source of the light, the option of what to do next was taken away from Atlas. Running up to her with quick steps, he ended up beside her, covering her on one side, and peering around the corner on the other.

        What he saw surprised him. It was a campfire after all, and a pretty rudimentary one at that, located in the centre of a comfortable-looking clearing, covered from high above by the overhanging rock formation. And there was somepony standing over it.

        Whoever it was, they were huge. Their entire body covered in a massive haggard rag, Pinkie and Atlas’ eyes widened to realise the figure wasn’t standing after all, but sitting. With no visible feature to tell them of their identity, the pony did not move, nor seem to notice he was being watched.

        Despite the shock, Atlas was no longer certain that this was something sinister. Just from their size, it couldn’t possibly be anyone that knew him, unless it was Terra himself. With that ludicrous possibility dismissed, Atlas begun to think that this really was just a coincidence.

“A vagrant perhaps?” Atlas whispered to his left, where Pinkie was, “It probably doesn’t matter. We should-”

        Atlas cut himself off to realise that she wasn’t even there. Looking left and back towards where they had come from, and discovering nothing, he realised it too late. He peered around the corner once more to see that, of course, Pinkie had exposed herself entirely, walking out into the open and up to the mysterious figure without a single thought of fear or caution.

“Wowzers, you’re huge!” Pinkie marvelled innocently, stating the obvious as she looked the rugged-up pony up and down, “Who are you supposed to be?”

        Still fearing the worst, Atlas exploded out from hiding and rushed to Pinkie’s side. Slowly, the figure’s head turned from underneath the rags concealing it, so as to face the intruders.

        The tension in the air was palpable as the figure just stared invisibly out from the shadow concealing its face. Atlas had since assumed a defensive stance, and Pinkie just looked between the two in ignorance.

“Hohohoho!” the figure bellowed, his heavy laughter shaking the very air, “What a funny combination you two make! I wasn’t expecting that!”

        His boisterous jolly laughing resuming, Atlas’ cautious scowl wavered, if not only from confusion. Pinkie Pie however, saw no reason to not join in the fun, and fell into a giggle-fit of her own.

        Though he was surrounded by confusion, Atlas wasn’t one to fall into anyone else’s pace. “You should answer her.” Atlas spoke evenly, his bold insistence cutting through the confused mood, “Who are you?”

“Hoho...” the gigantic pony grunted ambiguously in response, his laughter trailing off as he turned his shadowed-out face to Atlas, “Hrmm... seems we’ve got a rude one here.”

        Despite what he was saying, his thundering voice carried with it the same gusto as it did before. “Since you two are the ones coming up to me...” he continued, shifting how he sat slightly as he spoke, “It’s good manners to introduce yourselves before you ask me to do the same, don’t you think? Hoho...”

        Pinkie obviously saw no flaw in this reasoning. “Well, my name is Pinkie Pie!” she answered with extra energy, her lively nature easily compatible with this stranger’s attitude, “I’m from Ponyville, and I love making new friends!”

“Hohoho!” the giant pony bellowed again, obviously amused by this, “What an excellent outlook you have. A pleasure to meet you!

“And?” his tone altered slightly as he rounded on Atlas, a small measure of cunning slipping through his jolly nature, “Who might you be? Hrm?”

        Atlas took his time before responding. He was far from making sense of this situation, but as he looked at it objectively, while he would do well to stay cautious, there was no reason to be aggressive. He would play along.

“The name is Atlas.” he finally answered, “Atlas Black. Sorry for the third-degree.”

“Hoho... water under the bridge, as I like to say!” came the reply, “Good to meet you as well.”

        A fleeting moment of quiet followed as their introduction concluded. Noticing this, the giant pony snorted, and threw his head back underneath the rags obscuring it.

“Hohoho... now who’s being the rude one!” he continued, chuckling at himself, “Come, come, have a seat Pinkie and Atlas! There’s space around the fire!”

        Atlas, of course, noticed the stranger hadn’t followed by giving his own name, or even revealing his face. It was in his nature to be blunt and bring up the suspicious nature of this odd encounter, but he lost the opportunity as Pinkie once again took the lead.

“Thanks!” she exclaimed, instantly accepting the offer to join by the fire as she zipped into place on the opposite side of the campfire to the towering pony in rags, “You have no idea how much I wanted to kick my hooves up!”

“Hoho... by all means!” the giant figure responded, “Sorry if the fire’s a tad crude, I can’t even remember how long it’s been since I tried to make one of these!”

        While Atlas was still significantly reserved, he didn’t want there to be much of a distance between him and Pinkie, just in case. Observing the campfire as he too found a place by it, he quickly noticed that giant pony wasn’t fooling around, at least no more than he seemed to normally. The campfire was especially poorly made. If he was a drifter or a vagrant like Atlas thought, he ought to know how to assemble one of these properly.

“Yes, yes... the more the merrier!” the figure’s boisterous voice shattered Atlas’s train of thought easily, “Don’t be shy now! Come on in, warm yourself up! Hohohoho...”

        The next moment passed in a curious silence. Already unsettled, Atlas looked to Pinkie, who, once she was done busying herself with her own thoughts, adopted a look of intrigue as the figure that had invited them to sit was motionless, apparently staring into the fire.

“Hello?” Pinkie cocked her head as she attempted to regain the figure’s attention, “Anyone in there? What are you staring at?”

“Hohoho... my apologies, but before you came, this is what I was doing.” he replied curiously, “Would you believe that this is one of the few times I have had the opportunity to watch a fire?”

“What are you talking about?” Pinkie somehow managed to cock her head even further without breaking her neck, “Never had a campfire before?”

“Try staring like I do.” he said mystically, “Watch what happens.”

        Pinkie didn’t understand, but with her unique temperament, that wasn’t a prerequisite for following along. Never one to deny a chance at amusement, she stared at the campfire, watching absently as the flames danced about.

        With Pinkie doing the same, Atlas found it hard to resist. He was hardly playing along, but eventually he looked at the fire as well. He was hardly focused like the other two... he was too curious about this stranger.

        The seconds ticking by silently, it became painfully obvious that there would be no end to this. Naturally, it was Pinkie Pie who looked away first, frowning as the fun that she had somehow expected never came.

“I don’t get it.” she confessed sourly, looking at the giant pony in confusion, “What’s the deal?”

“Hohoho...” he chuckled modestly in reply, “I guess we see things a bit differently! That’s okay though! It just means I’m a little more patient, I suppose.”

“Now I’m even more confused...” Pinkie Pie scrunched up her muzzle as she tried to find meaning in his words, “What were you looking at?”

“The story, of course!” he bellowed again, attracting Atlas’ attention, “It’s normally so hard to see something unpredictable happen... but for something ponies like you see so often, it must be a little harder to appreciate the randomness of fire dancing around. It’s violent, but elegant. Chaotic... and responsible for a lot of good, as well as a lot of destruction.

“Oh well, doesn’t matter!” he continued with a laugh, “You guys are much more interesting after all! How about you tell me what brings you out here, hrm? I’m sure that’s quite a tale!”

“Hold on.” Atlas seized his chance, cutting Pinkie off just as she took a breath to answer, “Thank you for letting us by your fire, but after introducing ourselves, we still don’t know who you are, or what you’re doing out here...

“So, before we go any further, and tell you our business...” he continued boldly, “How about you start us off? We still don’t know your story...”

“Hohoho...” he laughed again, slower and deeper this time, “A curious choice of words! But are you sure about that? I would have thought that, if you were the ones I’ve been waiting for, then at least one of you would know my story...”

        Without a word, the figure reached up from underneath the rags covering him, pulling it up by the section covering his face, and letting the whole thing drop off to the side. What was revealed as it fell, caused both Pinkie and Atlas’ jaws to drop.

        Even by the dim light of the campfire, and against the unnatural darkness of the fog around them, the rich colour of his coat was easily seen. From hoof to head, his coat was of the richest and boldest blue, and his mane and tail flowed out from his body in ethereal waves, swaying, bobbing, and sparkling as if comprised of incomprehensibly pristine water.

“I am King Neptune of the Undersea.” he stood up on all fours as he spoke, no wings upon his back, no horn atop his head, and nothing but a giant earth pony by all appearances, “Please forgive my manners, I’ve been away from the world for a long... long time.

“Hohoho... you’re quite surprised!” Neptune laughed heartily, his rags no longer able to mask his jolly expression, “Ah, excuse me! My story was it? Hrmm... let’s see now...”

        Shocked beyond the ability to respond, Pinkie and Atlas swapped identical glances, with the same exact thought screaming out inside their heads. Just what the heck had they walked into?

“Well, I’ve been quite busy by myself for the longest time, doing some meditating.” Neptune didn’t seem to mind the lack of reply he was receiving, or perhaps he didn’t even notice it, “Hohoho... and I quite lost track of time! No point in worrying about that though. Not now anyway.

“The point is, I’ve been wanting to meet you two.” Neptune continued, his tone shifting instantly, “That’s why I was waiting here... watching the fire.”

        Still not saying anything, Pinkie Pie and Atlas swapped another glance. They couldn’t even guess at what was really going on, or comprehend much of the hidden meaning that was obvious behind the king’s words.

“Hohoho...” Neptune chuckled lightly, smiling to himself, “Shall we sit back down? Hrm? There’s a few things I’d like to talk about...”

“The others are good to move on our signal.” Caliber spoke up from the front, he and his pegasi in position and prepared to charge the town, “You ready to get this party started?!”

        Inspiring a cheer from the guards behind him, Caliber faced forwards and raised his hoof upwards, ready to lead the assault. “Let’s go!” he roared, throwing his hoof down and kicking into a gallop, “Advance!”

        As he and his pegasi ran, he could see Spellbound and Shining Armor’s groups doing the same, approaching Cinderwood via their respective routes. “Watch out for the mud pits!” Caliber called out as he lead them, seeing several of the gurgling pools dotting the otherwise clear flats around the town, “There’ll be no getting you out if you step in one!”

        As he looked over his shoulder to ensure his guards were avoiding them appropriately, the bandages that were securing his wing caught his eye. Without a second thought, he reached at them, and pulled the wrappings off with his teeth and let them fly.

        Now liberated, he tested the movement in his injured wing. He grimaced in pain as he attempted a full range of motion, the wing itself still significantly stiff. Having hoped for better, Caliber bit his lip as he continued on. Flying would be out of the question, but he could probably manage to glide if need be. And if he got into any kind of trouble, he would have to be sure not to lead with his injured wing, and only use it for support.

“Sir!” one of the guards closer to Caliber called from behind, bringing him back to reality, “Earthen, up ahead!”

        He saw it. Their attention drawn by the large body of ponies fast approaching them, the blank faces of transformed townsfolk turned on Caliber and his guards. Slowly, they begun to shamble towards all the activity, until, as if they were waking up, their steps became better placed and significantly faster.

“Here we go!” Caliber addressed his guards as they moved to enter the town, “Don’t stop moving, and keep them following you!”

        As he was first to enter the town, Caliber had to roll sideways to avoid the lunge of a nearby earthen. “Don’t let them corner you!” he continued as he ignored its attempts to grab at him as he passed, “Take wing and rejoin the group if you get into a tough spot!”

        The plan was simple enough. Have three groups enter the town from different directions, and pass through it so as to attract the attention of all the earthen in Cinderwood. And, if each group could follow the routes they agreed upon, they would intersect at the centre of the town, and on their way out, each lead what would end up being about a third of the townspeople out into the open flats surrounding Cinderwood.

        The intelligence that had been gathered beforehand made this a relatively safe bet, in that, considering what Spellbound and her unicorns had observed from the earthen, their behaviour would be easily predictable, and thus, controllable.

        However, while Spellbound had been busy studying the earthen, Caliber and his pegasi had been tasked with gathering a different kind of intelligence. And because of that, he was very conscious of where their whole scheme was most at risk of falling apart. For, assuming that Pastel’s knowledge and assessment of the situation was accurate, and he and his guards had correctly identified the spot in the centre of the town as the enemy’s headquarters, then what happened next would define how their entire plan would proceed.

        Only a few metres from the point at which his and the other groups were expected to intersect, Caliber could see the signs of Spellbound and Shining Armor’s groups approaching. Small blinks telling of magical teleportation advertised the difficulties the unicorns were having evading the earthen. It was only natural that Caliber’s group had reached the centre faster, as the more agile pegasi had had an easier time than the others dodging the heavy and predictable movements of the transformed townsfolk.

        Even though they were ahead, Caliber knew he couldn’t risk stopping. Still at the leading edge of his group’s advance, he rounded in on what seemed to be Cinderwood’s town square. As he did however, time seemed to slow. His pegasi not far behind him, Caliber’s pace slowed slightly, and his senses sharpened, preparing himself to duck, roll, stop, or sprint on a moment’s notice. And that was because he knew what was going to happen next...

        With a flicker of dark magic, Truant materialised right in front of the pegasus. In the instant following his sudden appearance, the unicorn’s long horn was thrust violently forward, coated in black energy and intending to kill.

        Caliber, however, still nimble enough even with an injured wing, ducked left, tucking his wings and front hooves in so as to slide through Truant’s stance and between his widely placed legs. The unicorn’s jab went wide, and Caliber dug his hooves into the ground, cutting his slide short and taking an angled stance on his foe’s exposed side.

        Truant, never one to be shocked into inaction, didn’t miss a step. His dark energies already flaring, and, now that Caliber was behind him, his horn was now pointed at the mass of pegasi that were following right behind him. Already in position, and sensing an evil opportunity to fell their numbers, he begun to conjure a dark spell at the tip of his horn, directed right at the surprised crowd of guards before him.

        With his guards only a second away from annihilation, Caliber’s eyes flashed with fury. Not only had he been basically ignored by the unicorn, and not only was it his own pegasi now under threat, but payback was long overdue for his experience at Canterlot. With that being strikes one, two, and three, Caliber’s leading hoof cracked the ground below as his body spun into motion.

        Throwing his own weight over his shoulder, Caliber paid no heed to his injured wing as he thrust both of them outwards, using them to rush forwards and instantly accelerate into an aggressive aerial spin. Even from a standing start, his speed was so intense that his figure blurred completely, his outstretched wings becoming like a buzzing sawblade as he came at Truant with a vengeance.

        The unicorn noticed his mistake a moment too late. Caliber’s manoeuvre circled Truant with intent, his leading wing striking each of the unicorn’s joints in turn, causing him to buckle, and, following a final blow to his exposed side from the incredibly fast pegasus, Truant fell.

        Caliber emerged from the encounter back on the opposite side of the collapsed Truant, standing back between his guards and the sinister unicorn. But as he took stance again, he cursed himself to see his injured wing droop. He had been too reckless, and now it wouldn’t move despite his wishes. That attack was all he had in him, and it was far from enough.

        His guards now close behind, Caliber grimaced. He was a sitting duck like this, and while he and his guards hadn’t needed to be overly wary of the earthen so far, with Truant stopping them here, they were between a rock and a hard place. With the bounty head on one side and the horde of earthen on the other, escape wouldn’t go smoothly. But they had a plan, and he had to make a decision. Press forward and try to evade Truant, or turn back and face the earthen right behind them.

        But as the unicorn stood up, wearing a scowl of utter contempt, it appeared the option of choice was taken away from him. With his manoeuvrability gone, and staring down the business end of Truant’s horn as it kicked back to life with a sinister crackle of dark magic, Caliber saw the future, and realised there was no stopping him this time.

The pegasus’ eyes widened to see Truant’s spell launch toward him. Fearing the end, his eyes boggled even further as his magic seemed to strike not him, but the air in front of Truant’s face, and explode behind an invisible barrier.

        As Caliber came to terms with his situation however, he realised it wasn’t invisible at all. Holding back the blast, he saw a light blue shimmer, like glass or ice, capturing Truant like a snowglobe. As the pegasus saw Truant’s empty stare shift from his vulnerable form to something more to his right, Caliber realised what had happened.

“Whew... I made it in time.” Shining Armor breathed a sigh of relief, his trademark magical barrier having successfully encapsulated both him and his target, “Sorry we’re late.”

        Standing boldly before Truant, Shining Armor simply stared back as his shield begun to crack and crumble from the attack. As one unicorn to another, they both seemed to take a moment to assess one another. Truant’s empty eyes narrowed slightly as he considered the stallion before him... as if appraising some hidden quality.

“So you’re Truant?” Shining Armor questioned, his tone shifting as his switched focus, “I’ve heard quite a lot about you...”

        Observing the exchange in stunned silence, as could be expected following his near death experience, Caliber jumped slightly as Spellbound teleported in beside him.

“Caliber!” she called as she reached for him, helping him to stand properly, “Are you okay? Your wing...”

“It’s fine...” he lied as he struggled to rise, still unable to get a response from his drooped wing, “Don’t worry about me. Help Shining Armor. That unicorn is something else...”

“No.” Spellbound refused, lifting the pegasus up more forcefully, “His orders are for us to lead the groups and the earthen back out of the town. The captain’s got a plan!”

        Shaking off his nerves and Spellbound’s grip, Caliber rose properly to his hooves and considered the situation more calmly. One look at Shining Armor confirmed that he wasn’t going to budge an inch, and another look back to his pegasi reminded him that the earthen they had rounded up weren’t waiting for him to make up his mind.

“Okay, I get it.” Caliber nodded once, “I’ll take my pegasi out through the east as we planned.”

“Good.” Spellbound smiled despite herself, “I’ll make sure my group follows our route, so even without Shining Armor, his group should have no problem getting the remainder of the earthen out of the town.”

“Wait...” Caliber’s head perked up to realize, “The girls! Where are Rarity and the others?”

“They’re doing their part of the plan!” Spellbound physically pushed the pegasus into action as she led him away from Truant and Shining Armor, “Now come on! We’ve got to hold up our end!”

        His hollow eyes moving between his escaped prey and the unicorn who had intervened, Truant seemed to recognise that some kind of scheme was underway. He couldn’t tell what, or even figure out how they had even known to come here, but he wasn’t about to let them proceed unabated.

“What are you plotting?” he questioned, dismissing the scene around him and focusing on Shining Armor, “You had the opportunity to take us by surprise, yet you arrive at our doorstep like a roaring tide. If this is some kind of strategy, I fail to understand its workings...”

        He didn’t receive a reply. Again, Truant ventured a look to the guards he had attempted to strike. They had already regrouped, and were retreating with some significant measure of organisation. Even if he didn’t know what they were up to, he knew full well that nipping their schemes in the bud took priority.

Seeing Truant’s focus shift, Shining Armor realised he wasn’t being taken seriously. With a flash of bright blue magic, he took the initiative, summoning up another bright spherical shield, again encapsulating both himself and Truant behind its deceptively sturdy defences.

        Essentially cut off from the enemies he had his sickly white horn pointed at, Truant sighed and faced shining Armor once more, the pale unicorn wearing a look of tired annoyance.

“Sorry.” Shining Armor remarked with an uncharacteristic level of facetiousness, “But I am Captain of the Royal Guard, and by order of Celestia, princess of Equestria, you are wanted for the crimes of conspiracy to commit treason, the use of black magic, and most grave of all, harm brought to one Twilight Sparkle and her friends and allies.

“My name is Shining Armor.” he continued, his tone morphing to one deep with tempered fury, “And you’re not going anywhere.”

        Meanwhile, out of sight and out of range of the duelling Truant and Shining Armor, the shadow of a pony skulked about on the ground, stealthily navigating the now abandoned streets of Cinderwood.

        Slowly, it crept upon the entrance to one of the many dark wooden houses, and with a tentative hoof, pushed the door open just enough to stick a head inside, the rusty hinges groaning all the while.

“U-um...” Fluttershy mumbled, her quiet voice struggling to fill the dark, empty cabin, “Sorry to intrude... but is there anypony in here-”

        Her head barely poking through the doorframe, she didn’t notice Pastel Pride come in from behind. “Anyone in here better come out right frikken now!” she roared, the nearby Fluttershy utterly shrivelling in response, “Speak now or forever be dead!”

        The glass windows remarkably unshattered in her wake, the room was silent once the echo of her roar faded away. “Not this one either.” she put her hoof to her muzzle in mock thoughtfulness, “That’s it... we tried. We gotta get out of here Fluttershy!”

“This is only the second one we’ve tried...” the pegasus replied meekly, foolishly putting up some resistance, “Don’t give up... this is for Torrin’s sake-”

“But- I mean- You-” Pastel was already a mess, “We’re gonna be turned into Hay-Do at this rate! What’s worse? Us not finding the shrimp’s pops, or all four of us still being here when-”

“Please calm down...” Fluttershy closed the door to the cabin, oddly grounded now that there was someone else to do all the panicking for her, “We still have time. Let’s try the bigger building over there.”

        Totally unconsoled, Pastel was a moment from continuing to vent, until she spied Rarity approaching from just outside her field of vision, the unicorn having been searching elsewhere. Instantly, Pastel bounded over, filled to bursting with the hope that she had found Scryer.

 “Rarity?” Pastel spoke through gritted teeth, “Please tell me you’ve found this guy...”

        Exhaling, she simply shook her head. “I take it you two haven’t had any luck either.” she assumed, “This isn’t good. We’re running out of time...”

“You’re telling me!” Pastel leaned in close, “But Fluttershy won’t listen to reason! C’mon, agreeing to find this dude is one thing, but we can’t afford to search all these buildings...”

“What we can’t afford to do is waste time!” Fluttershy argued, unusually outspoken given the situation, “If... if we can’t-”

        Though she fumbled her words, for once she was not cut off of her own accord. The ground had suddenly shook, a tremendous force booming out from just across the block. Looking over as one, the three of them gasped in unison to see Truant atop one of the buildings in the town square, his horn launching streams of dark energy as he battled against Shining Armor.

        All together, Rarity, Pastel and Fluttershy slid back, putting their backs to the outside wall of the nearby cabin as they hid themselves from the pale unicorn’s view. Though Truant hadn’t seem to have noticed them, not one of them was keen on distracting him from his duel.

“He’s still over there?!” Rarity questioned, whispering harshly, “That was close... too close.”

“That’s the captain for ya...” Pastel whispered back, most of her sarcasm lost between heavy panicked gasps for air, “He said he’d keep the guy tied up while the guards got rid of the earthen.

“Speaking of which...” she continued, regaining control of herself, “Did either of you see Spellie and the others? Did they get away okay?”

“I don’t really remember what they were trying to do, but I saw one group run past me.” Rarity replied, thinking back to when she was searching for Scryer by herself earlier, “They’re probably still escaping, but it didn’t look like they had any problems...”

“Is... h-he still out there?” Fluttershy spoke up suddenly, her voice trembling, “Is it safe to... to-”

        As the pegasus trailed off, Pastel grit her teeth. She remembered hearing about it earlier, and hadn’t given it much thought, but in looking over at her now, Pastel realized just how positively terrified Fluttershy was of Truant. And yet she was still committed to the search...

        Though the bookish earth pony also had every reason to fear the bounty head herself, she couldn’t help but feel guilty. It was her looking for every excuse to abandon the search, yet Fluttershy was the one torn between her fear and her recently assumed duty...

“Fine!” Pastel announced her private resolve to the bewilderment of the others, swallowing hard as she made to inch her way along the outside wall of the cabin, “I- I’ll go check...”

        Holding her breath, Pastel slowly made her way to the corner of the cabin. Her heart beating loudly in her ears, she finally summoned up the courage to peek around the corner...

...Only to find Truant still standing in full view atop the same black wooden structure, parading around its rooftop as he defended his footing from Shining Armor’s attacks. With the flow of their combat threatening to force Truant to face her way, Pastel wasted no time in ejecting herself from view, putting her back against the wall again as she released the breath she had been holding.

        The look on her face said it all. “Yup.” Pastel confirmed with a nervous gulp, feeling the eyes of Rarity and Fluttershy upon her, “He’s still there.”

T-then what d-do we do?” Fluttershy asked the obvious question, “If we don’t h-hurry-”

        Putting a hoof to her friend’s shoulder, Rarity looked at the pegasus seriously. “Take a deep breath darling.” she instructed, recognising her fear all too well, “I understand what you’re thinking, but Pastel had a point. There isn’t enough time to search all the buildings here...

“As desperate as it is, if we rush, we’ll get into trouble as well.” she continued earnestly, levelling with Fluttershy, “Then who will be able rescue Torrin’s father?”

“E-even so... we can’t just sit here!” she retorted, “Even... even if the chances are slim, the only way we can’t find him is if w-we don’t even try!”

“Please, try to calm down...” Rarity tried again, doing her best not to add to the pressures her friend was under, “Recklessness will get us nowhere. We need to do this carefully...”

This back and forth continued for quite some time, the two of them clearly holding different priorities. All the while, Pastel stood still, tapping her trembling hooves together as her mind slowly and silently ticked.

Then, as Rarity and Fluttershy reached an impasse in their arguing and fell briefly silent, it dawned on the earth pony. There was a way. She didn’t like it... but as much as she tried to convince herself otherwise, it was definitely their best, if only chance.

“I’ve got it.” she spoke up, surprising the squabbling friends, “You’re gonna hate me, but I’ve got it.”

        Her world running in slow motion, Spellbound ventured a worried look over her shoulder as she breached the edge of town. Beyond the wall of hungering earthen shambling after her, she could see continuous flashes of magical light coming from the town square, telling her of the fierce duel underway between the captain and Truant.

“Focus!” Caliber roared, darting to her side as he lunged with a two legged kick, knocking down a rogue earthen that had remained by the outside of town, “Face forward, and worry about your own damn self!”

        Shaking off her surprise, Spellbound decided to stall her thanks. Caliber, unable to fly due to overexerting his injured wing, panted hard as he ran, obviously fatigued. Unfortunately, they weren’t very close to being finished with running away. Now that they had made it out of the town and onto the flats that surrounded Cinderwood, they had to focus on staying ahead of the earthen behind them, which meant there wouldn’t be a whole lot of time to stop and catch one’s breath.

“The captain’s group is clear!” Spellbound spoke up, seeing the body of guards running out of the opposite side of town to them, kicking clouds of dust high into the air, “As for mine...”

        Caliber’s eyes were locked onto to the southern edge of Cinderwood as he ran, waiting to see some sign of their escape. Biting her lip, Spellbound anxiously awaited her group to emerge safely...

        With a sigh of relief, Spellbound watched the first of her guards come running out from the southern exit, the earthen hot on their tail. “Thank goodness...” she breathed, re-focusing on what was in front of her, “Maybe this crazy plan might work after all.”

“Looks like we’ve succeeded in rounding up all the earthen.” Caliber masked his own relief well, “Okay, hard part’s over. Now, the area we marked on the map should be right ahead...”

        After a few more moments of running, Caliber signalled for the group to stop. They had gained a bit of ground on the earthen now that they had made it into the open, but not much. They couldn’t afford to dawdle.

        Caliber looked out over the advancing earthen and the town behind them and towards the group opposite them, the one previously led by Shining Armor, as if he was looking for something. “Spellbound.” he called, “Are you ready?”

“Just waiting for the signal.” she replied, staring intensely at Shining Armor’s group as well, “It should be any second now...”

        As she said the words, a tiny bright light flashed from the bulk of the guards on the northeast side as a magically conjured yellow flare shoot up into the sky with purpose.

“There!” Caliber roared, “Spellbound, you’re up!”

        He didn’t need to tell her twice. Her horn igniting with a magical glow, she shot her own coloured flare high into the sky, signalling for her group.

“Okay, everyone, you know what to do!” Caliber ordered, thrusting his hoof out commandingly, “Counter-clockwise! Keep up, and whatever you do, don’t fall in!”

        At his command, the guards begun their charge left, the earthen following close behind. Arching wide, they ran as part of a circuit, winding around to where the guards to the south were gathering.

        Just as they kicked off, a familiar magical flare shot up into the sky, this time originating from Spellbound’s previous group located at the southern side of Cinderwood. As it’s light faded, the group began its advance, also going counter-clockwise, so as to maintain the same distance between their group and the one Caliber and Spellbound now led.

“So far so good...” Spellbound remarked, her fatigue coming out in her somewhat strained voice, “Now, we just need to keep it up...”

“Don’t talk.” Caliber snapped, more wary than frustrated, “Keep your eyes ahead... no matter what.”

        Even as he said that, a lone earthen, whom, by some happenstance, had caught up with Caliber’s group by heading diagonally instead of following the guard’s non-direct route, and was now hot on their heels. It came in right beside the pegasus, and despite it’s empty stone eyes, seemed fixated on him.

        But even as the transformed stallion neared him, Caliber kept his eyes forward, as if he was actively ignoring the threat. Now firmly on his heels, the earthen kept a vacant expression as it reached forward, trying to bite at the pegasus’ tail as it flapped up and down in front of its stony muzzle.

        After a few failed attempts, it looked like Caliber was in trouble, given his limited manoeuvrability. Even still, Caliber didn’t budge, his attention locked on the road ahead, or rather, the ground below his hooves...

        As the earthen made for a final grasp at the vulnerable Caliber, he appeared to be caught for a moment, before the earthen suddenly tripped, seemingly dropping through the ground itself.

        Knowing what had happened without even needing to turn around, Caliber resisted the cocky smirk bordering on his lips. “One down.” he said to himself, “However many more to go...”

        Eternally stupefied, the lone earthen snapped it’s stony maw at the flurry of guards that navigated their way around it’s fallen figure. It couldn’t budge any of its legs, and even as it struggled feebly, it seemed to sink further into its viscous prison.

        Moments later, another unfortunate earthen fell into the same hot mud pit with a gurgling splash. Instantly trapped, it joined its fellow victim in its fruitless struggling, biting the air dumbly in the direction of anyone else who happened to dodge the concealed mud pit.

        Mud pits, which, of course, were all carefully marked by bold crosses on the maps Fluttershy and Rarity had reproduced for each of the groups.

        And just like that, the plan was obvious. If each group kept up the pace and continued to lead the earthen behind them around the circuit they had planned out, then eventually they would all fall into one of the many hot mud pits along the way. This not only neutralised them as a threat, but also did so without harming any of them. It wasn’t exactly a long-term solution, but the true nature of the phenomenon was well over their heads. They had little choice but to leave something like that to the princess.

        And so, one by one, after several loops around the town of Cinderwood, and just as the three groups of guards were beginning to tire, the very last of the earthen eventually fell into the mud pits, firmly entrapped in the hot and sticky embrace of their veritable prisons.

        With an air of victory about her, Spellbound marvelled at the scene around her, watching with exhausted eyes as the horde of earthen around her snapped and struggled harmlessly from within the various mud pits around her.

“Well, that’s the last of ‘em...” she panted, more than a few of the guards around her doing the same, “Now... there’s only one thing left to do.”

        Caliber, despite being the most fatigued by far, stood firm, looking over the seemingly empty Cinderwood with precise eyes. “Don’t ease up just yet.” he responded, unable to conceal the strain in his voice, “We need to confirm that there’s no earthen left in the town. It would be horrible if any of them were still there when-”

“I’m telling you, we’ve got them all.” Spellbound insisted, “There’s been no signal from either of the other groups. They’re all accounted for.”

        Considering this, Caliber stalled for a moment before sighing. “I guess you’re right.” he turned to face her, “Fine. Tell the others it’s mission accomplished.”

        With a firm nod, Spellbound realigned her stance and pointed her horn upwards. Signalling to the other groups, she sent up two individual flares in succession, lighting up the sky with the colour of her magic.

        In reply, she received the same signal from the other two groups. Around her, she heard a murmur develop among the guards. And that’s because they knew what it meant. Their plan had succeed, and the earthen had been taken care of.

“Now then...” Caliber stared at Cinderwood, or rather, the town square and the action unfolding there, “It’s all up to Shining Armor now.”

        The entirety of the guard now spectating from well out of harm’s way, back in the heart of Cinderwood, the battle raged on. It was near impossible to tell what was really going on from this distance, but even if they could, they were in no position to help. Even though the earthen had been dealt with, there was an entirely different reason why they could not re-enter the town. From here on out, they had no choice but to have faith in Shining Armor, as well as Rarity and the others.

The remnants of one of his shattered barriers dropping, Shining Armor wiped a stray drop of sweat from his brow. Defence was his specialty, and considering his job was to keep Truant occupied, he was staying off the offensive, saving his energy as best he could while keeping his foe at a stalemate.

        Truant however, though overwhelmingly powerful in his own right, was curiously mismatched. He was most proficient in offensive spells, but for whatever reason, he was acting oddly reserved, almost defensive.

        Though it was to his advantage, Shining Armor struggled to make sense of his foe’s behaviour. Whenever he tried to lure him in, Truant refused to pursue, yet whenever Shining Armor made to widen the distance, Truant continually cut him off. This had the odd effect of making Truant fight defensively with offensive spells, and Shining Armor fight offensively with defensive spells.

        It was, in every sense of the word, a stalemate. Truant refused to leave his rooftop, and since he refused to commit himself to a proper offensive, Shining Armor was able to defend himself with relative ease.

“I don’t get it.” Shining Armor attempted to taunt his foe, the two of them taking a moment, planning silently since their current strategies weren’t working, “I mean, what’s the temptation? If this is all there is to black magic, then why bother?”

        His taunt successful, Shining Armor raised an invisible barrier as a sickly fork of dark lightning surged its way from Truant’s horn and towards his throat. Like with a cracked pane of glass, Truant's vision of his opponent was distorted behind the damaged barrier. As it begun to disintegrate and fade away, Shining Armor teleported.

        Having lost his visual, Truant’s head quickly jerked left and right, scanning the surroundings from his elevated position, absorbing everything with his blank black eyes.

        Not even turning around, the pale unicorn’s long horn crackled to life, summoning up a twisting black tendril in mid air, which instantly arched over his back and covered his blind spot, coming in just in time to block three consecutive blue bolts of magic.

        His strike having failed, Shining Armor came to rest on the rooftop of a nearby building, trading glances with Truant as the tall unicorn unsummoned his now disfigured tendril and turned on the spot to face the captain.

“It is more than I can say for your flimsy barriers.” Truant returned Shining Armor’s taunt, “If I may say, having to remain inside your own shields to maintain them is something of a design flaw.”

“Is that right?” he responded with a quick, thin smirk, obviously unaffected by the psychological jab, “It does come with its advantages...”

        Unfortunately, Truant smirked back this time. Trying to understand why, the colour drained from Shining Armor’s face as he realised. He’d fallen into a trap. And he’d figured out too late.

        Suddenly, the rooftop on which Shining Armor stood erupted with clutching black tendrils, instantly pinning his legs, and wrapping tight around his midsection. He instinctively made to struggle, but the hold was too firm. This had been set up well in advance.

        He should have expected this. If Truant wasn’t committing to his offensive strengths, then traps were his best option, and Shining Armor had fallen right into a powerful one. And Truant had set him up perfectly. He had manipulated how he positioned himself on top of the building, so that if someone wanted to attack him in his blind spot, their only option was to stand on the rooftop directly behind him. A rooftop that was now crawling with his trademark black tendrils.

        Truant seized the moment. Lunging from his well-guarded position on the rooftop, his long horn pointed forwards as he made for the vulnerable Shining Armor. Squirming helplessly as the end neared, Shining Armor’s eyes grew wide as Truant landed on the other rooftop and made to finish his enemy personally.

        With a bold blue flash however, that possibility was eliminated. Simultaneously freeing himself from the tendrils and teleporting behind Truant’s position, the pale unicorn’s vicious strike missed by a mile.

“Just kidding.” Shining Armor teased uncharacteristically, “Good try though.”

“How?” Truant seethed, not understanding, “With those tendrils touching you... it should be impossible to use magic...”

“If they were touching me, maybe...” he replied mysteriously, “Let’s just say, they don’t call me ‘Shining Armor’ for nothing.”

        Instantly, Shining Armor’s horn burned bright, the captain capitalising on Truant’s confusion to summon a powerful spell. Reacting too late, Truant grimaced as the two of them were encapsulated by one of the captain’s trademark spherical shields.

“Before, you said that me having to be inside my own shields was a weakness.” Shining Armor’s tone was deeper now, more serious, “And while that does make blocking attacks troublesome, it works wonders for trapping enemies in with me.”

        Truant looked about his new prison, then scoffed. “Surely you don’t think that confining us in this tiny arena serves you more than it does me?” he questioned, the reasoning beyond him, “If you think you are assuring anything but your own demise by restricting me here, then you-”

        For perhaps the first time in his life, Truant was cut off, the words caught in his throat as he saw it. Just outside the barrier he was trapped in, and thus, well beyond his reach, he just barely caught the tails of three individual ponies disappearing inside of the building he had been so covertly defending.

        And just like that, Truant’s expression morphed from one of arrogance to one rife with total fury. It was not Shining Armor who had fallen for his trap, but rather, he, who had fallen for the captain’s.

“I thought so.” Shining Armor spoke, the shift in Truant’s expression a dead giveaway, “You were acting odd... so Scryer’s really in there, huh?”

        Not saying a word, Truant’s horn caught alight, overflowing with harsh black energies. To match, Shining Armor prepared himself, the tip of his horn pulsing with precise blue magic.

“Now to buy them the time they need.” his eyes narrowed, steeling himself for a much more intense battle, “Easier said than done...”

        Meanwhile, as they were uncertain of whether or not they had been seen, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pastel Pride wasted no time. As Patel held the door behind her shut, pushing hard against it with her back, the three of them released the breath they had been holding as one.

“That. Was. Close.” Pastel huffed, the fear strongly present in her voice, “I hope to hell he didn’t see us...”

“That hardly matters at this stage.” Rarity was quick to reply, her regular composure compromised by stress, “It doesn’t change the fact we need to hurry.”

        Even as she said this, Fluttershy was already in action, scanning fervently about the room they were in. Accepting that it was empty after a quick analysis, she rounded on the others, eager to join the conversation.

“He must be in here somewhere.” she spoke up, sounding particularly certain as compared to her earlier desperation, “S-Should we split up?”

        As if to confirm the urgency of the situation, the floor beneath them trembled, reminding the three of them that an obviously fierce struggle was underway outside, and that Truant had no intention of being imprisoned by Shining Armor for long.

        Recoiling, Rarity and Pastel nodded silently to one another. Instantly, the three split up, each making for the nearest door at an understandably brisk pace. Conveniently, there were three adjacent rooms connecting to the one they were gathered in, and without another word between them, they each disappeared through the one of their choosing.

        It was Pastel who had figured it out. In her moment of bravery, she, unlike the feuding Fluttershy and Rarity, had applied her head to the problem of finding Scryer. And, like Shining Armor outside, she had found Truant’s behaviour strange. And while she didn’t know that Shining Armor had confirmed his own suspicions by trapping the pale unicorn within his barrier, Pastel reasoned that if this building was worth guarding, there could only be one reason for it...

“Wait.” a tired voice droned, rising from the quiet and the darkness, “Are you the one?”

        Frozen mid-stride, Pastel gawked as a hunched over figure in the corner of the room she had run into beckoned slowly and lifelessly for her attention.

“G-guys...” Pastel struggled to speak up, so taken by surprise, “I think I found him...”

“Your mark.” Scryer stood, his green eyes oddly vacant, “Show it to me...”

        Put on edge by his empty gaze, Pastel was worried for a moment that he was an earthen, and thus, ‘zombified’ like the ones that had been lured into the mud pits. But even at a glance, he was clearly made of flesh and blood, and obviously captivated by something entirely different.

        The dark green-coated stallion still bearing down on her, Pastel’s eyes unconsciously drifted to her cutie mark as she tried to decipher his vague request. She was saved however as Fluttershy and Rarity charged into the room, having heard her calling out moments ago.

“You...” Scryer spoke up again, surprising Pastel as his empty eyes came in barely inches from her own, “You know the prophecy... and are a child of the earth. Are you the one? Show me your mark...”

“W-w-w-what’s with this guy!?” Pastel stammered as she reeled, taking a liberal step back from the creepy pony, “Oi... are you really- is this dude really the little squirt’s dad?”

        Not answering, Scryer’s eyes rounded on Rarity and Fluttershy. “Three... a union of the races.” his cryptic jabbering continued, apparently triggered by seeing the three different types of ponies before him, “Children of the sky, earth, and magic. But you are not the ones...”

“Could he be talking about the three heroes?” Rarity questions, distressed somewhat by the unexpected encounter, “Never mind that... what’s gotten into him?!”

“He started getting weird, saying stuff about the prophecy...” Pastel replied, subtly sidestepping so as to put Rarity between him and her disturbed self, “He keeps asking to see my mark...”

        As she said this, something clicked inside Rarity’s head. Remembering back to Canterlot and her discussions with her friends about the prophecy when it was all still an unravelling mystery, she recalled Marco’s hang-ups about his cutie mark and its connection to the prophecy.

“Could it be?” she put her hoof to her muzzle, her thoughts running away as a possible conclusion loomed, “Does he think you’re one of the heroes? The third one?”

        As this question hung in the air, Scryer, for the first time, blinked. Brought back to the world, his apparent trace broke as his seemingly transfixed eyes reawakened and took in their surroundings.

“Don’t be silly.” he remarked, somehow conscious of what had been said, “This one has no such fate.”

“Right, the prophecy said the third one was a dude, and also-” Pastel made to say, but the shrieked as she rounded on Scryer, fully aware of his reputation as a prophet, “Fate?! What do you mean fate?! Do you know my future?! Are you saying-”

        His eye twitching as Pastel exploded, Scryer silenced her by raising a single calm hoof. “Again, don’t be silly.” he repeated, reacquiring his composure, “People may call me and my son prophets, but our premonitions only have to do with the prophecy. I do not know your future.”

        Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pastel were silent, obviously recoiling from Scryer’s sudden change in attitude. Exhaling tiredly, as if above the whole thing, the stallion decided to start from the beginning.

“I suspect you know this already, but I am Scryer.” he bowed ever so slightly, mock-introducing himself, “Sorry for the circumstances of our meeting. If you know my son, as I assume you do, you’ll know ponies like us sometimes get thrown into trance-like states.”

        As he explained, he gestured at Pastel Pride, still hiding herself behind Rarity’s figure. “It seems that your friend triggered such a state for some reason.” Scryer seemed to look her up and down again as he said this, “Forgive me if it was somewhat intense. I wasn’t exactly lucid.”

“Y-y-you were saying some pretty dodgy stuff there pops...” Pastel thrust an accusing hoof his way despite her shaking voice, “Why’d you wanna see my mark so bad, huh?”

“Um, excuse me...” Fluttershy spoke up, “But can this wait? We finally found Torrin’s father... but we still need to get out of here.”

        As logical as it sounded, and as eager to get out of Cinderwood as anyone else, Pastel bit her lip as she seemed to pause, something not sitting right in her gut. She felt the anxious eyes of the others on her for a moment, until she figured out what it was that was bothering her.

“You’re suspicious!” Pastel thrust her hoof out again, “Torrin said he wrote that prophecy, so what would you know?! You shouldn’t be able to sense stuff like he can... so why were you mumbling all that crap, huh? If you don’t know my fate, why’d you have so many questions?!”

“Please calm down.” Scryer held up his hooves disarmingly, “There’s an easy explanation for why I know you’re not the third hero... and it doesn’t have anything to do with me knowing your fate...”

        Rarity keeping the paranoid Pastel at bay, she too rose an eyebrow at Scryer’s response. She recognised as much as Fluttershy that this was hardly the time for explanations, and while she definitely didn’t share Pastel’s ‘suspicion’, him answering this question would go a long way for their understanding.

“Didn’t you think it was odd?” Scryer asked, sensing the tense atmosphere, “Back in Appleoosa... they were set up there for a long time. Ready and waiting. I don’t know what trials you endured to retrieve my son, but there’s only one reason why you escaped in one piece.

“They didn’t need him.” he continued darkly, “Think about it. Between the siege at Canterlot and the overrunning of Appleoosa, you people had nowhere to go they couldn’t corner you.”

“Well... even if that is true, I don’t understand your point.” Rarity replied, “Torrin knew the prophecy and helped us get this far. They had you and used you for the same reason, correct? That sounds like a stalemate if you ask me. If it wasn’t because of our efforts, why would they have given up on foalnapping little Torrin?”

“You’re friend said it before.” Scryer indicated Pastel Pride behind her, “He’s the one who can sense such things, not me. So, as you put it, it wasn’t a stalemate...”

“Then that makes even less sense.” the conclusion was obvious to Rarity, “If you were unable to help them find the heroes, then why on earth would they give up on capturing your son?”

“As I said... it wasn’t necessary.” Scryer repeated, “They didn’t need him. They didn’t need to find the heroes. Understand?”

        His three bewildered listeners clearly did not understand. It was only natural. Since the very beginning, this quest was essentially a race to locate the ponies mentioned in the prophecy before Terra could get ahold of them. And now they were being told that Terra and his minions weren’t even trying to beat them to it. It didn’t make any sense...

“Your side needed to gather all three to succeed, whereas they only needed to eliminate one to assure victory.” Scryer continued, staring seriously at the trio, “That’s why they didn’t need to worry. From the very beginning, ever since Appleoosa, they already had what they needed.

“Because it’s me.” he concluded, totally deadpan, “I am the third hero.”

        In the confines of the dark wooden cabin, it was totally silent. For Rarity, Pastel Pride, and Fluttershy, a million questions ran through their minds as they tried to make sense of what they were being told. If it was true, the meaning of finding him here was huge. It was no longer just a matter of rescuing Torrin’s father. If Twilight and the others succeeded in finding the second hero in Mistmantle, then getting Scryer to safety would be the final piece of the puzzle. They would have everything they needed to take down Terra and save Celestia.

        Even as all these questions and realizations stirred about in their minds, Pastel was still somewhat uneasy. One thing in particular stuck in her head, and she stepped forward to question Scryer one more time, but as she opened her mouth to speak, she found herself interrupted by an unexpected blue flash, bursting suddenly out from the space between her and him.

“We’re out of time.” Shining Armor spoke, his image appearing from out of the magical flash of light, having teleported before them from outside, “I hope you’ve got what you came here to get...”

        Visibly strained, the unicorn trailed off as he made eye contact with Scryer. It only lasted a moment, but that was all it took for him to realize. Following that, he allowed for another second to confirm that everyone was in the room.

“Okay girls, you know what happens now.” he nodded briskly, waiting for a look of recognition from each of them before continuing, “Stay calm and get behind me. Scryer too.”

        Hearing his name mentioned, a quick look of confusion spread across Scryer’s face. However, it was made absolutely clear there was no time for questions as Pastel launched forward with an uncharacteristically intense burst of speed, clutching the stallion and yanking him along with her, forcing him into position behind Shining Armor alongside Rarity and Fluttershy.

        Just as she did so, Shining Armor’s horn lit up, summoning a small version of his trademark spherical shield. Taken totally by surprise by the whole thing, Scryer didn’t understand the sense of any of it. Inside the already tight room, they had just been put behind an even tighter barrier.

        What happened next answered all his questions. Assailed from outside by a mighty force, the cabin around them lurched horrifically, until, in the next instant, every plank, tile, and fixture exploded into splinters, the entire cabin being blown to smithereens. As the ponies behind him watched with mouths agape at the destruction, Shining Armor held fast, maintaining his shield as a shower of black wooden debris rained down around them.

        The source was obvious. Striding menacingly through the mayhem, Truant’s empty eyes seethed fury as he stood before his enemy. His form crackling with black magic, he held his tongue and wore his anger on the outside, staring daggers at Shining Armor.

“Looks like this is it...” Shining Armor said, more to himself than anyone else, “Just one last thing left to do now.”

        Behind him, Pastel and Fluttershy clutched one another, terrified beyond words, and closer to such an overwhelming source of fear than either of them could handle. For their part, Rarity and Scryer stood petrified, eyes wide with shock and horror before the enraged unicorn.

“Finally cornered...” Truant growled, too used to being on the other side of Shining Armor’s shields by now, “You overplayed your hand, whelp. You stalled me this long, and for what? Together, you make for easy quarry...”

“Scryer.” Shining Armor spoke facing forward, not wanting to risk turning away from Truant, “There’s isn’t any time to explain, so just follow the girls, okay?”

        Though Scryer struggled to understand, as Shining Armor spoke, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pastel Pride, despite their fear, slunk back slowly, stepping well back, stopping just short of the far end of the shield’s wall.

        What happened next happened fast. Without a word, Shining Armor lunged forward, disabling his shield so as to open the way to Truant. With his horn alight with blue magic and pointed forward aggressively, Truant, despite his rage, was taken by surprise as the captain seemingly made to strike him with his horn. Dodging wide, Truant, owing to his surprise at the unexpected attack, stalled for a moment, and lost his opportunity to retaliate.

        His surprise didn’t end there. Turning, now on the other side of Truant, Shining Armor revealed that the spell building at the tip of his horn was not offensive at all. Angling his horn skyward, his energies burst out, launching a bold blue flare high into the sky, similar to the signal his guards had been using to coordinate their manoeuvres.

        Infuriatingly, Truant found himself caught in Shining Armor’s pace. He’d already missed one opportunity, and now, having wasted even more time considering the meaning of his opponent’s suspicious choice of spells, reacted too late as Shining Armor once again surrounded the two of them with one of his larger and stronger spherical barriers.

        Noticing that the three ponies, plus Scryer, were now on the other side of the shield wall, Truant grit his teeth in anger. “Curse you and your petty distractions.” he spat at Shining Armor, his earlier composure all but dissipated, “You will not hinder me any longer!”

        Despite himself, Shining Armor smiled ever so subtly. “Distractions?” he questioned, picking up on the pale unicorn’s phrasing, “Take a gander, Truant.”

        He was in no mind to play along with his foe’s taunting any longer, but even as kept his focus directly on the unicorn in front of him, Truant saw in his peripherals something that was truly odd. The ponies outside the shield were not fleeing. In fact, they hadn’t budged from where they were when they were being protected earlier. But most curious of all, they all stared skyward, tracking Shining Armor’s flare as it reached ever upward.

        Unconsciously, Truant followed it as well. It was odd. Unlike the signals used by the other unicorns, which burst at about mid-height, this one flew higher. Too high in fact. As it traced a thin blue line as it continued upward, it disappeared into the thick volcanic clouds overhead, vanishing instantly within the impenetrable smog covering the Meetlemarsh sky.

“Enough of this...” Truant stepped forward, closing in on the captain, “I don’t know what you are plotting, but it will do you no good-”

        He cut himself off as he realized. Staring upwards once again, he felt it coming before he saw it. The purple trinket in his possession pulsating, the one stolen from the party he encountered at Hordimare, he didn’t need to look before he realized.

        Alerted by Shining Armor’s signal, Princess Luna burst through from the other side of the thick black clouds, her bold wings spread wide, and long horn ablaze with magic.

        Truant could contain himself no longer. “This is your plan?” he scoffed, laughing a deep, evil, and amused laugh, “Oh, how I’ve come to hate you, ‘Shining Armor’... but this? For this I must thank you.

“I was wondering where you’d run to!” Truant roared at the sky, grinning all the while, “But I never did hope you would save me the trouble of hunting you down! You-”

        Already shouting, Truant audibly choked on his next words. If there were ever any colour to the pale unicorn’s face, it would have ran utterly white to fathom what he saw next. Even Rarity, Pastel and Fluttershy, who had been told to expect it in advance, were rendered totally breathless.

        Her expression steeled, Luna flew straight down, like an arrow from the blackened heavens. But as fierce as she seemed, she only led the way, the light of her horn beckoning something else along with her. It was this something that inspired Truant’s fear, with its utterly gargantuan form splitting the dark clouds above, and rendering the princess but a spec against the now-broken sky.

“I-I don’t believe it...” Scryer stammered, the scene above like an event from nightmares, “I see it... but I cannot believe it.”

        His attitude was understandable. For, following behind the princess was something not quite of this world. With its size blasting a hole wide in the thick volcanic smog above, Cinderwood would have seen it’s first ever sunlight, if only the sun itself were not eclipsed by what Luna brought with her...

...And what she brought with her, was nothing short of a meteorite. Being pulled along by her magic, it matched the princess’ speed as she rocketed down towards the earth, but, since the giant mass of alien rock was so enormous, it seemed to move slow, looming overhead like the moon itself.

        Truant, of course, was the first to realize that this was not the case. And along with this realization, everything else suddenly fell into place. This was why the guards had expended such effort luring the earthen out of Cinderwood. They had intended to target the town itself from the beginning, and taken advantage of the situation to incapacitate the town’s population outside of harms way. Luna had been above the clouds the whole time, waiting for Scryer to be found and secured before-

        As he wondered in disbelief, Truant froze as he suddenly realized his plight. Surrounded by Shining Armor’s shield, he remembered what he had said before, the last time he’d summoned one of his shields to lock them inside together. That one of the better uses of his magic wasn’t keeping enemies out... but locking them in.

“You fiend...” Truant seethed, having realized their plot, “You intend to hold me here... all the while-”

        For possibly the first time, a look of fear flashed on the pale unicorn’s face as he chanced another look upwards at the impending destruction. There was no denying it this time. He, and Cinderwood along with him, would be history in the wake of that meteorite.

“You’ll die too.” he said, looking back at Shining Armor, “And these others won’t make it far-”

        Again, he was cut off as, Luna, of all ponies, appeared before him, only inches away on the other side of Shining Armor’s barrier. She had given up flying down to earth and abandoned her meteorite, and had instead teleported, leaving the rest up to the loyal force of gravity.

“Truant.” she spoke plainly, ushering Pastel, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Scryer in close, “We meet again. Though the circumstances don’t allow for much, at the very least, this time we can manage a proper farewell.”

        Scowling futilely from behind the glowing blue barrier, Truant didn’t have it in him to respond. With Luna lighting her horn back up, and enveloping the four ponies around her in her spell, the princess’ gaze was as condescending as her tone.

“This is it then.” she spoke once more, her voice remaining as her figure faded away with the light of her teleportation spell, “Goodbye, Truant.”

        And like that, she was gone, along with the others. Now, Truant and Shining Armor were the only two left in the entire town, and, with the massive meteorite bearing down from above, one way or another, there would soon be no one remaining, nor a town to remain in.

        Still encapsulated by his shield, Shining Armor and Truant stared at one another in silence. Despite the princess’ words, the pale unicorn had far from given up. He knew what they were planning. Shining Armor would stall here, keeping the shield up until the last possible moment, and disabling it just in time to be teleported to safety.

        The window of opportunity was small, but it was there. Truant didn’t even look above as the meteorite closed in. And that was because he understood magic far better than most unicorns. These shields provided an absolute defence, meaning that, if Luna hoped to save her captain, the shield would have to be disabled first before she could teleport him out. In that moment, Truant would be able to do the same.

        The problem was, he didn’t have the range to get completely out of harm’s way. In order to avoid the meteorite entirely, he would have to teleport in quick succession, which carried its own risks. But he didn’t have a choice. He knew full well that if he was here when the meteorite hit, it would be the end of him.

        And so, he and Shining Armor stood motionless, waiting with bated breath for the inevitable. Like a pair of duellists, they stared unflinching at one another, motionless on the outside, but inside, they were coiled like springs, and ready to explode into action at a moment’s notice.

        With only a matter of seconds left until Cinderwood would be no more, Truant realized something was wrong. Something strange that he hadn’t truly picked up on until now. Why did Luna leave? Since she would have to wait for Shining Armor to drop his shield before she could do anything, surely it would have been less risky to remain here and coordinate it with him.

        With only moments left to spare, the answer to that question caused a chill to rack Truant’s spine. There was only one possible way that her actions made sense. And if that were the case... Shining Armor wouldn’t need to drop his barrier...

“No!” Truant roared in distress, looking away to the edge of town, “It couldn’t be...”

        Having teleported to the main guard’s position outside of Cinderwood, Luna stood before Spellbound and Caliber, watching with unblinking eyes as her meteorite made to meet the earth.

        As the rest of the guard stood captivated by the unbelievable scene, it was Caliber and Spellbound’s job to make sure the princess wasn’t distracted. If she broke focus, she risked losing her captain. In fact, of the ponies that she had teleported back with her, only Rarity stood beside her. And that was because she had a very essential role in what was to happen next.

“The moment is upon us.” Luna’s eyes flashed with purpose, “Are you prepared, Rarity?”

“Here you are princess.” Rarity replied, gently passing an easily recognisable icon to Luna, “It’s been a while, but I spent more than enough time on this one. Rest assured, there are no mistakes.”

        Luna looked at the totem in her grasp. True to her word, Rarity had crafted it perfectly. And as the princess had told her, and as Twilight had taught her, the more a totem resembles the original, the more powerful it is. And what Luna now held might as well have been a miniature Shining Armor. It would do nicely.

        As Luna lit up her horn with magic, Rarity recalled the warning the princess had given her prior to setting out for Appleoosa, intending to use totem magic to help her friends. And that warning was, while totems are designed to spare someone damage by transferring it to the totem, they work both ways, in that, spells used on a totem will instead affect the pony it is linked to.

So, as Luna prepared yet another teleportation spell, it appeared this weakness of totem magic was not without its advantages. With a flash of deep, blue, magical light, she targeted the totem, reflecting her spell onto the faraway Shining Armor, causing him to materialize beside her.

This, of course, left Truant all alone in the now-desolated town of Cinderwood. The barrier around him beginning to crumble now that it was unsupported, was no longer much of a prison for the powerful unicorn inside.

But it didn’t have to be. In one, definitive moment, Shining Armor’s shield, as well as the surrounding structures, were all shattered as one. In the next instant, the colossal meteorite touched its own shadow, not slowing in its descent even as it pushed away the hard earth below.

        And so, with the die cast, Luna, Shining Armor, Caliber, Spellbound, and, in one way or another, Truant, braced themselves for impact. Its full overwhelming force brought to bear on the once hidden-away, humble, and hardly little town, the crushing meteorite posed one simple truth...

        
        Cinderwood had seen its first, and final daybreak.

“Whoa...” Pinkie Pie wobbled back and forth, swaying with exaggerated movements, “Did you two feel that?! We don’t get many earthquakes in this part of Equestria! That one was a doozy!”

“I’m not entirely sure that was an earthquake...” Atlas mumbled, obviously having felt the significant tremor himself, “That... that may have originated from where we were headed...”

        Neptune, still staring into the campfire, sighed uncharacteristically, as if in response to the reactions of his guests. It seemed that this was enough to draw Pinkie and Atlas’ attention however, as the two shelved their concerns about the earthquake and looked his way.

“She’s far too hasty.” he shook his head slowly, as if disapprovingly, “Destruction, the more casually inflicted it is, is made all the more difficult to be undone.”

        With only this one ambiguous comment to be said, and as he continued to stare into the flames in front of him, Pinkie and Atlas shared a brief look of worry.

“Um, hey, Neptune... err... king-person?” Pinkie faltered as she attempted to speak up, “Are you okay there?”

“Hoho... fear not little one.” Neptune chortled briefly, easing the two of them with an earnest grin, “It seems as if I’ve been around long enough now to just be another hopeless, rambling old windbag. If I were you I wouldn’t entertain a word of it.”

        As the large blue pony’s eyes seemed to flicker, Atlas saw through to some hidden emotion. Putting aside his own reservations, considering his prior affiliation to the king’s brother, he decided to speak up.

“Windbag or not, I’ve heard your ‘ramblings’ are well worth entertaining.” he responded, toying cleverly with Neptune’s phrasing, “You are supposed to be incredibly wise. You legend was hard to come by, but I am familiar with it...”

“Yes, I know you are.” Neptune replied, “I would certainly have a difficult time enlisting the aid of anyone who hadn’t heard those old stories...”

“I believe you know more than that.” Atlas wasn’t putting up with any pretence, “If you know who I am, then you also know where my loyalties lie.

“If you happen to be lying about this place called Cinderwood...” he continued, his tone level, even in the face of a king, “Then that will be where our ways part.”

        For a moment, Neptune simply matched Atlas’ stare. In some way, the large pony seemed to take some kind of pleasure in the old stallion’s defiance. More than that however, he seemed to see past the reflective bifocals and through to the stern earth pony behind them.

“You really do remind me of him you know.” Neptune smiled sneakily, before letting loose with yet another carefree chuckle, “Hohoho... Fine. Fine. Look’s like we’re all understood!”

“Hehe... I’m just glad we’re all getting along!” Pinkie couldn’t help but join in the laughter, “But boy... I just can’t get over us finding you out here like this! I can’t wait to see Twilight and the others again... they’re all gonna be so blown away!”

“Hohoho... I look forward to meeting your friends as well!” Neptune replied with his own measure of enthusiasm, “Oh, and speaking of which, what say we get on our way? I’d love to continue our campfire and properly appreciate this alien forest, but, well, time waits for no one.”

“Just one thing.” Atlas almost stalled before speaking up, “There’s one last thing I need you to answer before I agree to go with you...”

        Despite having already stood up, Neptune turned around on the spot and sat back down, now directly facing the earth pony. “Hrm, very well.” he replied, grunting as he took a seat, “As I very much do want your help, I suppose I’ll have to answer.”

“Yeah, what is it?” Pinkie Pie bounced on the spot impatiently, having followed along when Neptune made to leave, “C’mon, you were the one who said we had to hurry, remember?”

“Why?” Atlas asked, ignoring the pink earth pony, “Of all times, why now? How come you suddenly decided to take action, after everything that’s happened already? What’s your endgame?”

“Hohoho... that’s hardly only one question there.” he made to make light of Atlas’ questioning, but quickly corrected himself, “Hrm... looks like you’re serious about this...

“Okay then.” he grunted again, shifting his weight so as to get more comfortable in his seated position, “If it’s your desire to entertain more of this old windbag’s rambling, then who am I to complain?”

        Despite his joking tone, something about Neptune seemed to shift. As he glanced at the now-dying flames of his crude campfire, watching for a moment as the small licks of fire struggled to stay alive, the atmosphere seemed to change along with his attitude.

“Life and destruction are but two faces of the same proverbial coin.” he begun, his voice neutral and deep, “Chaos. A curious force. For all my wisdom, it is a system I cannot fully understand. I dare say this is why it fascinates me. Mortals tend to resent it though, and I suspect it is for the very mystery of it.

“Again, I refer you to this humble campfire.” Neptune indicated his creation with the tip of his long blue hoof, “Flame can devastate, but life could not exist without it. Chaos is the same. It is what birthed the universe, and yet, simultaneously, it is the force most likely to some day bring about its end.

“Entropy... it is the compulsion of order to move towards disorder.” his eyes drifted from what was in front of him, having been entranced by some memory, “My brother was the very picture of stoic. Unwavering and stern in his conviction like the earth he ruled over. But time passes, oh does it pass. And nothing lasts forever. His pure heart was slowly overtaken, and no matter how long or far I searched, there was no power that could possibly turn it back.

“For you see, his only sin was innocence.” Neptune remembered back, a hint of sorrow to his words, “I watched with pride as he carved out a world of his own creation. It may have been arrogant... but it took a lot of courage, and a great deal of vision, for him to look the world as it was, and try to shape it into something better. There was no obstacle to his ideals that he wasn’t confident to overcome, nor a bitter voice of objection that could penetrate his resolve.

“I was something I never believed I, nor anyone else could do.” he continued, “Through and through, he was committed to fixing what he saw as broken. And therein lies the error of pursuing perfection. Mortals may believe such a thing can exist, because they can spend their whole lives chasing it. But when you live as long as we do... when you possess the kind of power we do... the prospect of perfection is enough to drive one to true foolishness.

“For, as my brother desired more and more for things to be better for his people, he became the one most unsatisfied with the progress he had made.” Neptune’s somber tone hung, “Chasing after his perfect world, he wouldn’t stray from the path he saw as necessary, and thus, it wouldn’t matter what or who stood in the way. Even his own people. Even his own brother. His ultimate fault was seeing a better future not as a progression, but as end to be pursued. His own stubbornness made him alone in the cause many had once rallied for, and in failing to accept that it was he who had strayed, grew cold and indifferent to the world he had helped create.

“Denying change, and the will of those he once regarded his children, my brother sought the only thing left to him...” he continued, shaking his head ever so subtly, “His own perfect world. And no council I offered, nor threat of intervention would sway his hardened heart. The urgency of that time forced me to action... to make a decision no brother should have to. Back then, I had no choice... and suffered heavily to the pain of regret. But now...

“Much like how dear Celestia can forgive her younger sister for the jealousy that once twisted her, I love my younger brother and I cannot bring myself to rise against him.” Neptune brought himself back to the world, once again looking at Atlas, “However, because I love him so, and because I cannot forget who he truly is, I am disgusted by what he has become. For, if some part of who he was still exists in the shell he has become, I know that it would weep to know of the steps he now takes.

“Thus, I find myself placed in a dilemma.” he shook his head as he continued, “Long ago, in my sorrow and my destitution, I manipulated the circumstances of my brother’s sealing so that I could not undo it, and I made it so time would forget the both of us. I committed myself to meditation, and for the next one thousand years, I resolved to remain dormant.

“That may have been a mistake.” he admitted, peering away once more, “And it was selfish. My reclusion left my people without their king, and while I tried to find peace, and the answers within, my kingdom became divided, and in need of Celestia’s help.

“I forgot something important.” Neptune concluded, raising his head, “I was preoccupied with worrying if it were right or wrong to stop my brother, and in fearing the consequences of misstepping, I stayed silent. But only now do I realise, doing nothing has consequences too. Only now, do I accept that wisdom alone is useless. That, understanding, by itself, solves nothing.

“I dare not confront my brother...” he spoke his own resolve, “But for the first time, I know what I have to do...”

        Captivated by what he had been saying, Pinkie and Atlas were speechless. Though the both of them, in one way or another, were not unfamiliar with interacting with ponies of significant standing, being the sole audience to a king bearing his heart out was something else. Despite the impression he had initially given, and beyond his humble and boisterous demeanour, Neptune was a genuine king, and as such, knew how to wield it.

“I trust that answers that.” Neptune stood up once more, repeating his earlier intentions as he turned away from the two earth ponies, “So then, shall we?”

        As he took the first steps though the now lifting Everfree fog, he knew he needn’t turn around nor wait for their reply before continuing on. Behind him, still silent, Atlas and Pinkie swapped yet another meaningful glance before following.

“Yes, yes... come along now.” Neptune’s usual tone returned as he savoured the experience of trekking through the otherworldly forest, “Enough of these treacherous woods! Let us head for Meetlemarsh.

“Destiny awaits!”