> Search for the Truth
>  by RangerOfRhudaur
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Moderate - Silver Spoon I
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They were forced to waste an hour because Di refused to get her boots wet.

She was fine with tramping through field and forest in their pursuit of Captain Armor, she even tolerated sleeping in the grass and mud, but apparently risking ruining her magnificent boots by walking through a small stream was too much to ask.

One of their porters had threatened mutiny, another had quietly moaned beneath his load, and even she'd thought her old friend was being too careful, but Di had refused to back down, providing an impressive list of reasons regarding why crossing the river would be a bad idea. Eventually, repetition had won them over, and they'd begun trudging through the Midnightwood again, winding their way around the stream.

At last they passed its headwaters and turned east again, the Sun faintly bleeding orange behind them. They'd burned another day, still out of visual contact with the good captain, still without even the faintest idea of where in the wood he actually was.

Not your brightest idea, was this, Di? she caustically thought.

It should have been clear that it wasn't from the start, really; galloping off into what was soon to be a war zone with only five companions (Twist had turned back earlier, and Vinyl had refused to let her go alone) and trying to get close to said war in order to ape her old idol was a recipe for disaster, one only possible thanks to a generous helping of parental wealth and neglect. It was a miracle they'd gotten as far as they did, and an impossibility that they'd succeed: even if they managed to stumble into Captain Armor, the first thing he'd do would be ship them home, either that or lock them up. And if they stumbled into his enemies...

Do you have a death wish, Di? she mentally asked her eastward-glaring friend. Is that what this? Are you trying to die and you just don't want to go alone?

And if that was the case...

... would Silver Spoon still go with her?

Anxiously, she fished something out of her pocket, a present Di'd given her a long time ago, shortly after they'd met: a small coin, the star-over-sea of Manehattan carved in its golden face. Di's dad had picked it up during a business trip over there, part of a pair, and he'd given them to her as souvenirs. And Di, flush with her new friendship with her, had given her one, and a nickname:

"Daddy says we're two sides of the same coin," she'd beamed. "Now we can be two sides of two coins!"

They'd been the Two Sides ever since, the two coins a symbol of their bond. Whenever one of them (usually Di) needed a favor they'd flash their coin, putting the other under an obligation almost as heavy as a Pinkie Promise. Neither of them had ever betrayed an obligation the other's coin had imposed, not even when she'd been sorely tempted to during Di's disastrous run for class president back in third grade. The memory of what she'd almost done, of the bond she'd almost broken then, made the coin almost heat up in her hand, a token of faith burning the unfaithful.

She shook her head; they were both far beyond the little girls they'd been then, as far as Sunset-as far as Twilight was from the monster she'd turned into at the Friendship Games. Di had matured (somewhat), realizing that leadership wasn't about making others follow you so much as want to follow you, while she...

... she was still the tagalong trailing after her, her whole status derived from her friendship with Di.

She had other friends, of course (though the list was small), and her family's wealth and connections gave her at least some social weight, but there was nothing really defining about her herself. There was none of Di's drive, stubbornness, or charisma, Scootaloo's tenacity, pride, or athleticism, or even Zephyr's free-floating nature; all there was to her was her relationship with others, Di first among them.

The idealist, the pipsqueak with something to prove, the freeloader, she snorted as she returned the coin to her pocket, and nobody makes four. Quite the company you've managed to assemble, Di. The coroners'll have a field day trying to figure out what we were all doing together. A murder of crows screamed overhead. Assuming there's anything left of us to find, of course.





They pitched camp for the night in a small almost-clearing, Scootaloo quickly getting a nice fire going while Zephyr slowly set up the tents. Di, meanwhile, sat on a small rock near the fire and took out her notepad, scribbling furiously about all the nothing they'd done that day.

By the time Scootaloo managed to finish setting up the fire and making sure it wouldn't burn down the forest, Zephyr had only finished with one of the tents. She growled, stormed over, took the tent and its kit away from him, then quickly set it up herself, throwing the tools back at Zephyr with a snort of anger when she was done. His murmur of thanks went unheeded by her as she stormed back over to the fire and sat down beside it with a thud.

It had gone this way the whole trip, Di absorbing herself in her quest to be like her idol, Scootaloo handling most of the actual work setting up and taking down the campsite, Zephyr providing a meager amount of help and a healthy dose of excuses, and she herself simply standing there like an unused prop. The only changes had been Scootaloo losing her main helper and having to use Zephyr instead, a very bad change that threatened to cost them the only semi-competent member of their crew remaining, and Twist was no longer in charge of making the meals, primarily because she wasn't there anymore.

Thankfully, however incompetent Zephyr was at the rest of his work, he was a passable if not halfway-decent chef, easily proving himself able to cope with Di's unrealistic demands. While the rest of them understood that things like soft seltzer and poached eggs didn't grow in the wild and contented themselves with granola and water, Di's upbringing had shielded her from that reality, and Zephyr was proving himself able to continue to protect her from that knowledge.

While she ate her bowl of rocks (actually, the rocks would probably taste better), Silver curiously watched Zephyr work, obeying the instructions Di had given him with a soft smile on his face. He never complained while cooking, never hesitated like he did while putting up the tents; he behaved like a halfway-decent person while cooking, actually, a vast improvement over his usual attitude. Idly, as she ground up the gravel in her mouth finer, she wondered why. Usually, it took bribery or threats to get him to behave like that.

"Here you go, miss," he said as he brought the finished meal over to Di. "Poached eggs, seltzer water, and whole-wheat toast, just as ordered."

"Thank you, Zephyr," she replied, snapping her notebook shut. "That will be all."

He smiled at her as he nodded, then almost skipped over to his seat before taking up his own meal, munching at his bowl of rocks with small, delicate bites.

"So," Di said as she began tearing into her dinner with swift, surgical efficiency. "we should reach Hollow Shades tomorrow, or at least come close. My signal was pretty bad, but I still got a general location, and SnapGab hasn't said anything about Starlight moving. If we keep up the pace, we'll be able to find a safe spot to watch before Captain Armor arrives."

"It'll be safe until he finds us," Scootaloo snorted. "We're going into a war zone against the princess' orders, the least we'll be looking at is community service."

"We'll already be doing community service," Di replied. "The people deserve to know what's happening when it happens, and we'll be telling them that."

"'Rich kid risks friends' necks to play reporter,'" Scootaloo grumbled. "Film at 11."

Her hand was on her friend's hackles before they could rise. "Don't take the bait, Di," she murmured. "She's just trying to get a reaction out of you."

Di took a deep breath and gave a small nod, then said, "If any of you want to turn back, feel free. I'll get the people the truth alone if I need to."

Nobody moved, not even the would-be mutineer. After a few moments, Scootaloo snorted, then turned back to her rocks, unloading her frustration on their unbreakable surfaces.

Silver softly smiled at Di; she might have trouble picking companions, but those she did pick she made never want to leave. Whether she earned their loyalty like with her, managed to align their interests like with Scootaloo, or did whatever she did to convince Zephyr to come, she bound her teammates and coworkers to her with bonds stronger than steel. She was Sunset-

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"We can't risk letting her stay here, we don't know that she's really changed."

"But she fought the Sirens."

"They were threatening her hold over us, of course she fought them."

"What will it take to convince you that she's changed?"

"For her to choose her so-called friends over her social standing, to lose the game and not recover. If she doesn't play, I'll know she's changed."

"But is this the way to test her? She almost broke the school when she did this, Di."

A shrug. "Better a broken school than one under her heel."

-in more ways than one.

Do you realize that too, Di? she mused. Do you realize how similar you and her seem? And if you do, does that encourage or discourage you? Is that why you came out here? She's gaining glory in the capitol, so you have to gain glory in the field? Who drove you out here, Di: your dad, Sunset, Velvet? And did you come for them or to escape them? Are you answering a call or defying one? Are you out here to claim your destiny, or to avoid it?

Di sighed as she finished eating. "Dinner was delicious," she smiled. "Thank you, Zephyr."

"My pleasure," he smiled back, and seemed to be telling the truth.

Silver raised an eyebrow at him. While he was still incompetent, he was nowhere near as whiny now as he was at CHS. As a matter of fact, he seemed almost well-adjusted, complaining only when a normal person would have. Just what had Di said to him? Whatever it was, she hoped Di remembered it; anything that could convince Zephyr Breeze to behave decently was worthy of being recorded in the Royal Archives of Castellot.

Slowly, they finished off their rocks and water for the night, and began settling down to sleep. Scootaloo took first watch, as always, while Di laid down and went out like a light; she'd perfected the ability to fall asleep anytime, anywhere, shortly after they entered high school. Silver shortly followed her, putting her glasses in their case beside her pillow (Scootaloo called it a "luxury," she preferred the term "essential") before closing her eyes and falling asleep...

...before waking up again a few hours later, nature calling her and not leaving without an answer.

Sighing, she put on her glasses, left her sleeping bag, crawled out of the tent, and walked a short distance away from camp to pick up the phone. After answering the call (and informing nature, in no uncertain terms, not to call her again until it was morning), she returned to the campsite and prepared to go back into her tent, but paused; she heard something, a hum.

No, not just a hum; a faint singing.

Turning around in confusion, she quickly found the source; Zephyr, walking around on watch, a faint humming emerging from his throat. Curious, she edged closer, hoping to find out what he was singing.

... and showed he then the silver ring
unto the gold harp-bearing king,
who saw at once its make and mark
and to his promise swore to hark.
He rose up from his crystal throne
which, though winter, still like Sun- oh! Er, hi, Silver Spoon. Did you, er, need something?"

"No," she shook her head. "I was just wondering what you were singing. It was really nice."

"It's one of the few things I've ever managed to memorize," he softly smiled. "The Tale of Nightingale, an epic poem from Cloudsdale-my home region there, actually. It tells the story of Beald, a hero in the Cold Age, and his love for the Wood-Men princess Nightingale, and how they gathered a company of twelve to try to bring an end to the unnatural winter. The part where I cut off was the point where the last member of the company, the elven-king Fylakundu, recognized the ring he gave to Beald several years ago after he saved his life, and agreed to fulfill the promise he made when he gave it, to serve Beald in whatever capacity he needed. To be honest," he chuckled. "I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Fylakundu since I first heard the Tale. He was kind, generous, faithful, obedient, a great king, a magician, and even a good musician. When I was really young, I even told mother I wanted to grow up to be just like him."

"I can understand," she smiled back. "He sounds like a great guy. What happened to him?"

His face fell. "He died protecting Beald from the Wolf of Winter," he murmured. "Or so the story goes. That's all Fylakundu is, after all; just a story. Something told around the fire to entertain the children." He sighed, seeming to deflate in defeat. "All I wanted to be," he whispered, almost out of hearing. "was a story, something not real."

He looked back up at her, almost knocking her over with the sadness in his gaze. "Go back to sleep, Silver Spoon," he murmured. "I'll wake Miss Tiara up for the next watch later."

Hesitantly, though her heart was telling her to talk with him more, Silver obeyed, and climbed back into her sleeping bag, Zephyr's faint, sad song echoing in her ears.
> The Seagull - Scootaloo I
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

She took the letter out again, though it was too dark to read. That made little difference, though; its words were seared into her mind, and reading them again would only anger her more.

It wasn't much, only a paragraph, but that paragraph had shattered her world, and its last sentence turned even the fragments to dust:

"Soon, you can come home."

Thirteen years of life, destroyed forever by five words.

They'd never expected this day to come, any of them: Griffonstone and the surrounding countryside were at war, just like the sky was blue or Rainbow Dash was awesome. There was a reason the security companies that made up the Golden Steel set up base there, it provided them with plenty of work and plenty of employees to do that work. Three out of every five Groverians worked with the Great Companies in one way or another, her mother said in one of her few letters, and those few who didn't probably worked with one of their customers. They provided what little stability was to be had in Griffonstone, along with those few organizations that had stayed in the area after the Fall of the Empire. They kept the peace and gave justice while the official central government stood fragmented, countless claimants to the imperial authority squabbling and warring amongst each other.

And suddenly, all that was supposed to be over.

Not immediately, there was a crime ring that needed to be found and stopped, but after that the anarchy, the chaos, the fighting, was supposed to just... stop. A new government was being formed, gradually tying the Empire back together, and the Great Companies were letting it take up its old posts, getting out of the markets and the courts and taking most of the fighting elsewhere. Griffonstone was being rebuilt, and the war and chaos and fighting that had destroyed it were just... stopping. The Groverians didn't want to fight anymore, or at least wanted to be able to do something other than fight. Peace was coming to a land that had seemed to forget it existed.

And peace meant a safe place to raise children.

She had no memories of Griffonstone, and only vague ones of Ironpeak, the stronghold of the Iron Teeth, one of the Great Companies and the employer of her mother. She remembered a red dining hall, a training yard sprinkled with snow, and a stony tunnel back to Griffonstone, but that was it. She could barely remember her mother's face, and her father was just a voice to her. They'd sent her away when she was a baby, wanting her to grow up away from the poverty and violence of Groveria.

But now they wanted her back, even if it meant tearing up her life in Homestria, in her real home, the place where she hung her heart. Holly and Lofty were her parental figures more than the vague faces and faint voices from her memories, her clubmates in the CMC were her friends, and Homestria was where she dreamt her future lying. There was nothing like that for her in Groveria; no connections, no friendships, no dreams. If it weren't for whatever scrap of daughterly love had survived her parents' absence, or her aunts' disapproval, she would probably run away before they could take her; if her life was going to be torn up, she would at least have it be done on her terms, not those of some people she hadn't seen for over a decade and who'd barely sent her ten letters in that time.

Sadly, she was their daughter, and some of the love she bore them had survived. She wouldn't be able to just run away from them, run from the would-be murderers of her life in Homestria; she owed them more than that, even if it was just an explanation before she fled.

She snorted, shoving the letter back in her jacket, as she remembered her aunts' reaction to her plans. Holiday had tried to stop her, convince her that she and her parents could talk things out; Lofty had said that running without at least explaining things to her parents would be rude, and lead them to try to chase her down more vigorously besides. In the end, they'd extracted a promise from her that she would at least try to talk to her parents before trying to run away, though that hadn't stopped them from keeping an eye on her; Holiday watched her like a hawk, Lofty like a teacher.

Idly, she wondered whether she was glad or disappointed that Lofty had been the one to discover her plans with Diamond Tiara; Holiday would have stopped her, and while she wasn't a chicken, Diamond's plan seemed to be crossing the line between brave and stupid. She couldn't abandon the others, though, not when they were so close to danger; she could only hope that Captain Armor would be merciful, and that Diamond would keep her mouth shut for once so that he wouldn't stop being that way.

Something moved in the corner of her eye. A quick turn revealed it to only be Zephyr, reassuring and infuriating her in equal measure. She was glad it wasn't an animal or attacker, but she would've preferred to see any other one of Diamond's minions. It wasn't just that he was incompetent, annoying, and lame, he also tried to make her endure more of his un-awesomeness, saying that they should bond as fellow fans of Rainbow Dash.

(A few days ago, she'd told him that she would as soon as he started acting worthy of her. His stunned reaction made his continual attempts to wheedle her into spending time with him almost worth it. Almost.)

"What is it, Zephyr?" she snorted as he shuffled closer.

"Just couldn't sleep, that's all," he replied, his voice the annoying, quieter, fake-humble one he'd adopted on their fool's errand. "I thought maybe walking a bit would help me relax."

"Don't strain yourself," she replied, rolling her eyes. "We have a lot of walking to do tomorrow, and I'm not carrying your pack because you're too tired."

"Don't worry," he said. "I know my limits." He shuffled a few steps forward, into a patch of starlight, and then paused, looking up at the sky. Scootaloo, meanwhile, continued her patrol, quick-stepping in an attempt to get as far away from the loser as fast as she could.

Sadly, she wasn't fast enough, Zephyr's voice catching her before she could slip away. Groaning, she turned back to him and snapped, "What is it, Breeze?"

"Have you heard the story of the Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo?" he asked.

"Of course," she replied, careful not to let her joy at talking about her idol distract her from who she was talking with. "Aunt Lofty told it to me, it was awesome. Rainbow's parents made a good choice naming her after her."

"Yes," he cleared his throat. "she does fit the legend well, doesn't she? Brave, loyal, determined, she's almost Rainbow Dash come again. But, I wonder, were the others?"

Scootaloo raised a brow. "What others?"

"Multicolored hair like her's isn't that rare," he replied. "and they don't need all six colors; according to some, the original Rainbow Dash only had the Cloudsdale three, red, gold, and blue. The odds of a girl with three or more hair colors aren't that bad, and the story's popular, so it would make sense for there to be more Rainbow Dashes than just her. But did those other Rainbow Dashes live up to their name? She soars; did they stall?"

"Does it matter?" she frowned. "She's awesome either way."

"What use is the story of Rainbow Dash if the others aren't awesome?" he asked. "What if they learn the story behind their name, try to live up to it, and fail? What good is a story if it's a lie?"

"It can pass the time," Scootaloo hesitantly answered, though she didn't think that was what Zephyr was looking for. "Give you something fun to do."

"But what if you want something more than that?" Zephyr pressed. "What if you want something more than just entertainment? What if you want instruction, inspiration? What if you want something to tell you how you should live outside of the story? What if you want a story with a hero who teaches you how to be a hero? If the story of Rainbow Dash doesn't teach you how to be Rainbow Dash, why bother telling it at all? All it'll do is lead you over a cliff, flapping your arms and trying to fly."

"Unless you know that it's just a story," Scootaloo retorted. "You can't believe everything you hear in stories, Zephyr, even you should know that."

"Do you think I don't?" he asked, voice quavering. "Do you think I don't know that stories are a lie? I stopped believing in them a long time ago, when I chased one off a cliff. I tried to be Fylakundu, a hero, until my mother showed me that I was chasing a myth, trying to be a lie. All I wanted to be was a lie. My hopes and dreams were all based on lies. I listened to the story of Fylakundu, and it almost destroyed me. What good is a story that does that to a child?"

He snorted. "You know the old saying, 'Stories don't tell children that dragons exist; stories tell them that dragons can be slain?' It's wrong. Stories don't tell children that dragons exist; they tell them that heroes and heroism exist. They tell them that anyone, if they're brave, true, and pure of heart, can be a hero. And they lie. Stories don't show you the path to becoming a hero; they show you what to do to get out of the real heroes' way."

Scootaloo took a step back, stunned by how bitter Zephyr sounded.

She was even more stunned when he continued, saying, "You know, I don't actually have a crush on Rainbow."

"What?" she gasped. "But you've been chasing after her for years! You bug her about going out with you whenever you run into her!"

"I don't have a crush on her," he replied. "I have a crush on the idea of her. She's a hero, Scootaloo, and I need a hero, someone to tell me what to..." He bit his tongue before he could finish the thought. "I don't chase her because I have a crush on her, Scootaloo; personally, she's more of a sister to me. But, more than that, she's someone who knows what she's doing, a hero, and I... I want that more than you could ever know. I bug her, as you so brilliantly put it, to try to provoke a reaction from her, whether that's telling me to go away, to darken her doorstep no more, or accepting my requests. I would be glad to receive either, at this point; if she were to tell me, in no uncertain terms, to leave her alone, I would cast myself away, however far she wished, and if she were to work with me..."

He shivered, before sighing, "Sadly, it looks like sister trained her well, and she neither breaks nor takes my heart. I can't trust that her rejections are total, and I dare not risk annoying her by sending myself away when she might still, in some capacity, want me around. I need her to make her choice and tell me what to do. And, of course," he darkly chuckled. "I'm too stupid and cowardly to tell her as much. Ironic, isn't it? I need to tell the hero what I need them to do, but I need them to ask before I can tell them, and they don't know that there's a question to ask at all."

"Wait a minute," Scootaloo frowned. "If you really think that, then why do you act like you're as awesome as her?"

He sighed, then flashed her a wide, fake smile. "If you repeat something enough times," he said. "it becomes true, doesn't it? If I act like I'm worthy of Rainbow, maybe one day it'll stop being an act. Doing so doesn't hurt anyone aside from me, so why not? Vain, desperate hopes like this always work in the stories, after all. Maybe this time, they'll actually prove true. And if not," he shrugged. "so what if others hate me? I won't be worthy of their love, anyway. Why should I be angry at receiving my due?"

Scootaloo could only gape at his words, turning her world upside-down just like her parents' letter had. The person she'd thought was full of himself actually thought of himself as empty, the overbearing ego he showed the world only a mask over the abyss within. Her heart sank into her stomach; she, her clubmates, the rest of CHS, had all treated Zephyr like his ego was an overinflated balloon they needed to pop, their words of disappointment, anger, and scorn the pins they used to do so. But if what he said was true, and she very much believed it was, that ego was really paper-thin, and the heart behind it already red and raw. And they'd pierced it, with words sharper than any sword, and made it bleed.

"Thank you for listening, Scootaloo," Zephyr smiled, a soft, wan, true one this time. "It feels good to get that off my chest. One good turn deserves another, I'd say: do you think you could help me help you with your letter?"

She tensed, hand going to the pocket where the letter lay. "How did you know about that?" she hissed.

"I'm stupid, not blind," he chuckled. "I don't know what it says, don't worry, I only know that it exists and that it's troubling you. As for how I know that, I'm Fluttershy's sibling, I learned the art of observation from the master. "It's amazing," she told me once, "the things you learn just being quiet, watching, and listening," and she's right; I've managed to pick up a thing or two about our little party, and if I can do something it has to be good. So, do you think I can help you with it, or would I be able to do more good simply staying away?"

She was tempted to ask him if he knew anywhere she could lie low, somewhere she could hide and simply wait for her parents to stop trying to take her away.

Just like Zephyr was waiting for Rainbow Dash to tell him to go away.

She shook her head; Aunt Lofty was right, trying to run away from her problems wouldn't solve them. If she wanted them to stop, she needed to face them, stare them down.

"Fair enough," Zephyr shrugged. "Good luck with whatever it is. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone: I know how to keep a secret, believe it or not. Good night, Scootaloo, and have a safe rest of your watch."

"Wait," she blurted out as he turned to leave. "Do you-do you want to tell the others what-what you told me?"

"No," he shook his head. "And I'd prefer you not to, either. If they learn, they might try to help me, fix something broken beyond repair. We can't waste so much time. If they ask, clearly and definitively, I'll tell them, but until then I want it kept quiet. I don't want to distract them from what's important."

Wordlessly, stunned by the self-contempt in his words, Scootaloo nodded, and watched Zephyr return to his tent.

A crow cawed behind her, snapping her back to attention. Biting her lip, she returned to her watch, mind roiling as it thought over what Zephyr had said. He'd sounded so bitter, so scornful of himself, that she had no doubt that he'd spoken the truth, but that truth, the sheer self-hatred Zephyr had shown her-

She jumped as a hand grabbed her shoulder, whipping around to see a concerned-looking Silver Spoon. "Are you okay, Scootaloo?" she asked. "You were kinda staring into the middle distance for a bit there."

"I'm fine," she quickly replied, wiping her forehead. "Just-was just doing a bit of thinking."

"You sure?" Silver Spoon frowned. "You look like you saw a ghost."

"I won't be worthy of their love, anyway."

She looked thoughtfully at Zephyr's tent. "Maybe I did."





What passed for morning in the Midnightwood came and they pressed on again.

Their path sloped down, gradually revealing itself to be a gulley, one that led into a closed valley. Two other crevices ran out of it, one sloping up south-east, the other climbing almost directly due north. The valley itself was small, dominated by a small stand of stones in the center, fog haunting the corners.

"What is this?" Diamond murmured, walking cautiously over to the monument.

"A waystone, Miss Tiara," Zephyr replied. "The Nocturnes use them as markers along paths, letting travelers know how far it is until they reach their destination as well as whose lands they're passing through."

"Really?" Silver raised a brow. "How do you know that?"

"I'm a quarter Nocturne," he smiled back. "Our grandmother was one, from the Umber Caves. She used to visit me and my sister, when she was alive. She taught us a lot about our heritage, including about waystones."

"Can you read it?" Diamond jerked her head at the pillar. "A guide would be really helpful right about now, the signal's too unstable for me to use my phone's map."

"I don't know," Zephyr hesitated. "I-I don't remember all the runes, but I think I can try." He shuffled over to the waystone, brushed his hand against it-

-and jumped back as a harsh voice hissed from above, "Don't move."
> The Wayfarer - Zephyr Breeze I
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

One speaker became two people, spidering down from the clifftops. One climbed so skillfully she almost swam over the stone, the dagger in her hands never turning away from Zephyr; her companion, one hand wrapped tightly with cloth, slid down with less grace but more speed, and what Zephyr thought (though he was almost certainly wrong) was a squeal.

They reached the valley floor and walked over to the waystone, there pausing to look Miss Tiara's company over. Carefully, Zephyr took a step forward, blocking their view of his leader as much as he could, and gave them a look-over in reply. As he did so, his eyes widened; they were leaner, thinner, more haggard than when he'd seen them last, and their voices had evidently changed, but up close those diversions faded away, revealing the familiar faces underneath.

Aria Blaze curled her lip as he stared. "Take a picture," she rasped in her now-huskier voice. "It'll last longer."

"The Dazzlings?" Miss Tiara said, peeking out from behind Zephyr's insufficiently protective shield. "What are you doing here?"

"We could ask you the same question," Aria curtly replied.

"Then why don't we?" the other one, Sonata if Zephyr remembered correctly, asked, her voice higher-pitched and squeakier than he remembered. "I thought you wanted to know-"

"Figure of speech, Sonata," Aria cut her off. "It's a figure of speech. We are asking them, and they'd better answer." The dagger in her hand twitched, making what would happen to them if they refused clear.

Miss Tiara stepped completely out from behind Zephyr, head held high, face like stone, and declared, "We're on a quest to bring Homestria the truth, unfiltered and undelayed. We're here because Starlight Glimmer and the Unmarked are nearby, and Homestria needs to know what they're up to, especially once Captain Armor arrives. Hard-hitting, fact-based news, straight from the front lines; that's what we're here for."

"Ooh!" Sonata smiled. "Pretty speech! Are you really a Siren, too?"

"We've discussed this, Sonata," Aria groaned, indicating that they hadn't simply done so once. "There are no other Sirens here, it's just us thr-two. Making a good speech isn't just a Circenican talent."

"But she was trying to convince me!" Sonata argued. "She was trying to sway me, Ari, you heard her!"

"Again, not just a Circenican talent," Aria replied, voice clipped. "We don't have a monopoly on rhetoric."

"But Dagi said that nobody speaks like a Siren!" Sonata protested.

"Adagio said a lot of things," Aria snapped. "A lot of them weren't true, like that."

"Or that you'd be able to beat Rainbow Dash at the Battle of the Bands," Scootaloo smirked.

"Oh, yeah!" Sonata nodded. "She and the other bearers were really strong!"

"Wait," Scootaloo blinked. "You're not mad about that?"

"Why would I be?" Sonata tilted her head in confusion. "We fought them, they were stronger than us, we lost. That's natural, the way things are supposed to be. Why would I get mad at things going the way they were supposed to? Dagi-"

"Adagio never blamed you for what you did to us," Aria interrupted, her voice dark and seething. "Adagio never hated you for destroying our heartstones like that, or driving us out. Adagio never wanted revenge on you for turning us into bandits and scavengers. Adagio never even thought of going 'against nature' like that, of trying to bring our conquerors to justice. Adagio was willing to accept 'nature's course,' Adagio was willing to turn the other cheek, Adagio was willing to let you go."

Eyes burning with anger glared at them. "I'm not Adagio."

"None of us were with Sunset on stage," Zephyr weakly replied, trying to protect his companions. "We're innocent."

"Maybe you are," Aria snorted. "But I know that the smart-mouth behind you is special to Sunset's rainbow friend in some way, and if she calls herself loyal she can't just let her little friend get hurt by the monster Siren, can she?"

"How about the shy one's brother?" Zephyr asked, stepping protectively in front of Scootaloo. "Don't you think he would be more satisfying to threaten? Rainbow Dash would get angry if you threatened Scootaloo, her friend; what do you think Fluttershy would do if you threatened me, her brother?" (Probably get even angrier; his sister hid it well, but she got angry, in her own way, just as much as Platinum did.)

"That's why you're here!" Miss Tiara blurted out, snapping her fingers.

"We're here because we threatened Fluttershy's brother?" Sonata blinked in confusion.

"No," Miss Tiara shook her head. "You're out here because Starlight killed your sister. She set it up so that it looked like the government killed her, but you know it was really her or one of the Unmarked who did it, and now you're waiting to see them brought to justice. Isn't that right?"

"No," Sonata shook her head, cheeks puffed in annoyance. "We shouldn't be out here at all. Ari said there would be too much security for us to stay in Castellot, and she made us go after the Unmarked before Dagi's funeral. If we'd stayed we could've given her a proper one, but Ari said it was too big of a risk, and now you've buried her and icky worms are gonna eat her. It's not enough that Ari had to do it from far away, you also had to stop her from-"

Aria's hand closed over Sonata's mouth. "Sonata," she hissed, voice made of ice. "one of these days you are going to learn the meaning of the phrase 'think before you speak.' When that day comes, Adagio will be the first to congratulate you. She'll be able to do so because apparently you learning not to blurt out everything you know is a sign that the world's ending."

"What weren't you able to do?" Miss Tiara asked. "And what did you have to do from far away?"

"None of your business," she snapped back.

"You were in Castellot?" Silver Spoon frowned. "Were you trying to rescue-"

A flick of the wrist, a hum, and Silver Spoon's braid fluttered to the ground, cleanly shorn off. The girl herself mutely touched the severed plait, mouth moving up and down in fear and shock.

"Our business is our own," Aria warned as another dagger slid into her waiting fingers. "If you value your lives, don't meddle in ours'."

"Don't you dare threaten Silver Spoon," Miss Tiara stepped forward angrily.

"I'm not threatening her," Aria retorted. "I'm threatening all of you. If any of you meddle with us-"

"Heard, received, understood," Zephyr nodded hastily. "So sorry for bothering you, best of luck with-er, whatever you're doing, we'll just be-"

"Coming with us," Aria cut him off, pointing the dagger at him. "I'm not stupid, the instant you're out of sight you'll tell Shimmer that you saw us, and we'll have to deal with even more people crawling around. We already have the Nocturnes and the Unmarked to deal with, we don't need her and her friends hounding us, too."

"And what do you think they'll do when they hear we're missing?" Scootaloo shot back.

Aria's smile looked like it belonged on a shark. "They'll come looking for you," she replied. "And they'll find you. Just not the way they expect."





Aria drove them from the hollow at the tip of her blade, making it abundantly clear exactly what she would do if they tried to run or fight. The fury in Scootaloo's eyes had made Zephyr fear that she would try anyway, but she thankfully proved him wrong, contenting herself with dragging her feet and complaining as much as she could.

Sonata led them through the forest, Zephyr and Silver Spoon right behind her, Scootaloo and Miss Tiara following them, Aria bringing up the rear and driving them whenever they threatened to stop.

As they marched, Zephyr gradually became conscious of a sound, one almost beyond his hearing, a faint murmuring rumble. It seemed to be coming from their guide, whispered words that begged him to understand.

Before he could ask her what she was saying, though, a pair of lantern eyes blazed out of the darkness, looking away from them for the moment. A Nocturne, mirror-eyed to see better in the forest's darkness. Zephyr bit his lip; if he called out, they might bring word to Captain Armor and rescue the others, even if he had to sacrifice himself. On the other hand, they could try to fight, and he'd die a fool's death alongside them. How much was the unknown Nocturne's life worth to him? Did he dare risk killing them for a chance at escape?

The choice was made for him when Aria roughly dragged him into a hollow behind a tree where the others already lay hid, Sonata still maintaining her mysterious chanting. Aria thrust him among his leaders, then stood flush against the tree in front of them, bracing for combat. Sadly, her shift in focus didn't provide any opportunity for escape; they were surrounded by tree on all sides but two, and those were blocked by the Sirens.

The Nocturne's footsteps crept closer, deftly and nigh-silently crossing the forest floor. The air was tense; even Zephyr, hoping that the Nocturne would catch sight of them, found himself holding his breath.

Step. Step. Step.

They were just on the other side of the tree now. A warning cry climbed up Zephyr's throat, and desperately he forced it back down; he couldn't risk the Nocturne's life, not like this. If they heard a stranger tell them to run, they wouldn't obey immediately; they would try to find what they were running from, and Aria would quickly show them that it was the grave. If he wanted to alert them at all, he needed to wait until they saw him.

Step. Step. Step.

That time was drawing near, the Nocturne's footsteps creeping around the tree. Zephyr's heart pounded; their path would deliver them right to Aria. He wouldn't have much time to warn them.

Step. Step. Step.

The lantern eyes reappeared, their bearer sidling along a small ravine a few steps away from the tree. They poured over it like fog, the searing eyes rising up and up until they locked with Zephyr's, a cry rose up in his throat-

-and fell back down as they turned away, hesitantly heading back the way they'd come.

He watched, eyes bulging, as they disappeared, and listened, ears unbelieving, as their faint footsteps passed away without changing pace.

After a few moments of silence, Aria sighed and relaxed, then turned to her sister with a grateful nod. "Good work, Sonata," she whispered.

"Thanks," she quietly replied, smiling wearily. "Would it be alright if we stopped for a rest here, though? Keeping them from noticing us was t-t-tiring," she ended with a yawn.

"Wait a minute," Scootaloo hissed. "I thought you all lost your magic after Dash and the others broke those pendant things?"

"Those pendant things," Aria snapped. "were our heartstones, the last real link to our home that we had. The sorcerer took everything else away when he threw us over here. Shimmer and her minions basically broke our legs at the Battle of the Bands, stole the last reminder of who we were away from us. There's no more Siren to us physically anymore; you took it all away, forced us to become you."

"You were trying to mind-control us!" Scootaloo protested.

"We were using our words, magic or otherwise, to get what we wanted," Aria said. "and you decided that the only thing to do was kick our teeth out. Shimmer used her brain to try to mind-control you; why not take that away from her?"

"As far as I know," Zephyr cut in, hopefully before tempers could flare. "Fluttershy and the others never intended to destroy your heartstones. I'm sure if they knew what they'd done, they'd do everything they could to make up for it."

"Saying 'sorry'," Aria snarled. "isn't enough to make up for breaking someone's legs, even by accident."

Though Zephyr flinched, he pressed on, asking, "Then what is?"

Aria hesitated.

Meanwhile, her sister spoke up, saying, "It's a bit harder to do magic without our heartstones, yeah, but not impossible. We just had to get back to basics, WCS."

"WCS?" Miss Tiara rose a brow. "I know initials when I hear them. What's WCS stand for?"

"What all magic's born from," Sonata smiled. "W's for words, sounds and meanings ordering the flow of magic. C's for components, the materials that generate that flow. And S stands for sacrifice, what you give up in exchange for the spell."

"Or who," Silver Spoon murmured warily.

"That's a bit more advanced," Sonata replied. "Blood, life... they multiply a spell's effects, both in a good way and a bad way. If you win with blood-magic, you win bigger; if you lose, you lose bigger, too. And the more blood you put in, the more it multiplies; one drop makes a light spell brighter, a body turns it into an explosion. Most serious mages believe that the multiplier is too unpredictable to justify killing or even hurting others, though almost all the greats try to put at least a little bit of their own blood into their spells, increase power as well as control. I think the multiplier started reaching uncontrollable levels at twelve drops, though eleven was a bit tricky, too, and ten was too expensive to provide consistently." She puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "The others all said that six was the ideal amount, but I proved that seven provided more than it cost. We could've revolutionized spellweaving, but no, they said my data was inconclusive. Well, they said my data were inconclusive, but then I told them that the singular collection of my data was conclusive and that saying 'my data were' sounded stupid, then one of them said that I sounded stupid, and before you know it tables and chairs are flying, blows are getting tossed around, spells mixed with insults, and by the time the guard broke it up-"

"Sonata," Aria sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I don't think they're interested in hearing about your adventures in the Academy."

"Actually," Zephyr said. "I find it rather interesting. It... well, it's helping me understand you better, see you as something other than-than the monsters we thought you were."

"We are monsters," Aria snorted. "Just like Shimmer was, just like Starlight is, just like all of you are. All of us are monsters, just like all of us are heroes. I've conquered innocents and tyrants, fought good and evil, picked my teeth with heroes and monsters. You've all done the same; show me someone who's only done good, and I'll show you a liar. I am a monster, and a hero, and a citizen. I'm good, bad, and someone who can choose between the two."

"Aw, don't worry, Ari," Sonata smiled. "Remember what Dagi said; 'Don't be afraid of being called a monster; the weak call those who know their strength and wield it monsters. Don't be afraid of being called a monster, be afraid of being weak and calling others monsters.'"

Aria glared at her. "Adagio lied."





Aria pressed Scootaloo into helping set up camp, sending a dagger slashing through Zephyr's (abomination of a) bun when she refused. She took the warning; she didn't like him (understandably so), but she wasn't willing to risk his death.

Shortly, they'd managed to set up camp in the hollow of the tree, a low fire burning to keep them warm. Miss Tiara was talking, almost enraptured, with one of their captors, eagerly listening as she babbled about magic. Though Aria clearly wasn't pleased with it, she didn't tell her to stop, something which Zephyr was thankful for; leaving aside what he was learning, Sonata's excited words mercifully eased the tension in the air, heavy as the air before a storm.

"So," Miss Tiara asked as she scribbled in her notebook. "fire disrupts magic, you said?"

"It disrupts a spell's manifestation, yes," Sonata explained. "Basically, spells either move or transform energy, and a fire's basically all energy, so it doesn't just get in the spell's way, it keeps pushing itself into the spell's space. Things like walls block most magic, but fire blocks it and messes it up with its constant changing."

"It doesn't stop a spell being woven, though," Aria growled in warning. "so don't even think of trying to use it to escape."

"Plus," Sonata continued. "the higher-level the spell, the greater the chance that disruption will result in dispersal instead of dissipation. And as Dagi put it, 'dissipation means 'poof,' dispersal means 'boom!'' Of course, some spells you want to go 'boom' instead of 'poof,' but that's another story."

"Where'd you learn all this?" Silver Spoon asked. "From Adagio?"

"No, silly," Sonata giggled. "Dagi didn't know half the things I learned about magic, she told me so herself! Yeah, she had to clarify some things for me early on, but that's what elders do; they teach the young so that they can learn what to teach their own young. Dagi built the first few bricks, but the rest of the column was mine."

"What was your relationship to her?" Miss Tiara frowned. "Back at the Battle-back when we first encountered you, it seemed like you were friends, maybe sisters, but what you just said made it sound more like she was your mother."

Zephyr's eyes widened; if Miss Tiara was right, Aria's anger and reservation would make all too much sense. To have lost not a friend or a sister but a mother... He shivered, then looked nervously at the tense, dagger-wielding Siren. If Miss Tiara was right, perhaps it would be best to drop it; poking such a recent, gaping wound might not be the best idea.

"Oh, I'm not related to Dagi or Ari at all," Sonata waved dismissively.

"Really?" Miss Tiara blinked. "But you three seemed so close. Was it more like Scootaloo's club, you were just really close friends?"

"Pfft," Sonata snorted. "No, we're sisters! Really, would friends stick together like me and Ari have?"

Miss Tiara looked back at her in confusion. "I thought you said you weren't related to them."

"She's not," Aria spoke up. "She's the daughter of..." A flicker of discomfort crossed her face. "... one of Adagio's maids, Whimsica. Adagio... met her when she was carrying Sonata, took her in, and when Sonata was born she treated her like a sister, maybe a niece at the most... parental. I'm Adagio's sister by blood, though." She glowered. "I was, anyway."

"Dagi treated me like a princess," Sonata sighed wistfully. "Giving Mom what she needed to provide for me, giving me gifts of her own, paying my way at the Academy-she gave me way more than I deserved, me and Mom."

Aria's shoulders hiked in discomfort. Strangely, Zephyr noticed, she didn't look angry; instead, she looked simply uncomfortable, nervous...

... afraid?

"Maids and gifts," Silver Spoon mused, dragging Zephyr's attention away. "I'm guessing she was rich?"

"The richest Siren in Charybdis," Sonata smiled back. "She could've bought everyone else in the empire and still have some left over." She pouted angrily. "At least, until those meanies on the court took almost all of it away. All they left us was the old family house, and they acted like we should be thankful that they did. Is it a surprise that we left? We had nothing to hold us back; they'd stolen it all. Well, almost all of it, but Dagi gave that to Mom before we left." A pensive look came over her face. "I wonder what happened to her, after we left."

"Either the hegemon had her killed," Aria growled. "or she died of old age. She's gone, Sonata, has been for centuries."

"Centuries?" Silver Spoon whispered, eyes wide. "You've been alive for centuries?"

"One good thing that came out of the sorcerer's scheme," Aria darkly smirked. "Over here, our heartstones preserved us from old age, as well as some sicknesses. Without them, we'd've been dust long before you were even born. Of course, since they're gone now," she scowled. "we don't even have that. And since all our old friends didn't have them, they won't be around to see us off."

"You've mentioned heartstones a few times," Zephyr spoke up. "Might I ask what exactly they were? I mean, I know they were important to you, very much so, but what specifically were they? Were they biological, like a unicorn's horn?"

"No," Aria snorted. "More like Shimmer and her minions' gems."

"How do you know about that?" Scootaloo accused. "Have you been spying on them?"

"Of course," Aria rolled her eyes. "How else would I figure out how to take revenge? And it wasn't that hard, I had to do more work to keep what I was doing hidden from Adagio than from Shimmer and her minions."

"Once Captain Armor hears about that," Scootaloo growled. "you're gonna-"

"-already have used you to extort a pardon," Aria interrupted, voice cool. "If they want you back safe, they'll need to pay our price."

"How much is that?" Miss Tiara asked, clearly (foolishly) preparing to offer to have her father pay it, inviting their captor to press for more.

Instead of naming a number, though, Aria said, "A pardon, guarantee of safety, and passage to Griffonstone. The Golden Steel always need more spears."

"Ha!" Scootaloo crowed. "Joke's on you! Mom and dad told me that Griffonstone's actually calming down, and so's the rest of Groveria! 'Always' doesn't last forever, seems like."

Aria's face contorted in anger. "Then your safety," she spat. "doesn't last forever, seems-"

"Ari," Sonata protested. "they're hostages, you're not supposed to hurt them."

And just like that, the fuse burned down.

"Just like we're supposed to be rulers of all we survey!?" Aria exploded at her adopted sister. "Just like Sirens are supposed to be better than the feeble mainlanders!? Just like we were supposed to crush Sunset Shimmer at the Battle of the Bands!? Just like Adagio was supposed to know what to do!? Just like she was supposed to rule!? Just like she wasn't supposed to die!? Supposed is a lie, Sonata! It's bait meant to lure people into doing what their superiors want by promising them a reward that never materializes! Supposed does nothing! It's nothing but a lie! It's a charm that will kill you by making you do things that are supposed to pay off, and supposed never pays up! Supposed is a story, but we live in the real world!"

"The stories aren't real," Zephyr whispered, eyes wide in recognition. "You understand it, too."

Aria's searing glare turned on him, driving him back a step. "What do you know?" she snapped.

Shaking in fear, he forced himself to reply, saying, "I know that the stories say that there can be more to me if I act like the hero, that I can do good if I do what they say, that I can be proud of myself if I follow their instructions. And I know that they lie; there's no heroism in me, no good, nothing to be proud of. I tried to fill myself up with stories, and they left me even emptier than before. My life proves the truth of your words, Aria. The stories said that I could make something of myself: look at me, and know they lied."

The hollow was stricken dumb. Even the sounds of the forest around them died. Silver Spoon, Miss Tiara, and Sonata gaped at him in horror, Scootaloo stared at him in shock, and even Aria's rage was stunned by his words, leaving the woman staring at him in dismay.

Silence fell around the fire.

And then was broken by a feeble voice crying out, "Help, help."
> The Improviser - Diamond Tiara I
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aria's hand clamped down over her mouth just as she was preparing to get up, forcing her down into the hollow. Her second did the same to Scootaloo, while a glare and hissed order drove Silver Spoon, Sonata, and Zephyr to the ground.

She could hear footsteps, now, footsteps that almost covered up the weak cries for help that were quickly drawing closer.

Then they stopped, the silence quickly being followed by a gasp of shock, a heavy thud, and a sob of pain. Whoever was calling out had fallen, she guessed, a guess supported by the scrabbling on the forest floor.

"Help," the newcomer began sobbing towards the hollow. "Help. Help."

Sonata's eyes widened. "Ari," she whispered. "I recognize that voice."

"I do, too," Aria grunted. Releasing her and Scootaloo, she hissed, "Don't even think of trying anything funny," before stomping out of the hollow.

Quickly, she followed her out, treading carefully in the Siren's footsteps as she marched over to the crier. Aria snaked around the hollow, she followed her, and now she could see the-

She bit back a gag. The thing crawling on the forest floor was a person only in the most generous sense of the word. Arms like twigs were bound with rope thicker than they were, while their legs looked like they'd snap in a strong wind. A grey flannel robe hung off their skeletal frame, while a black, mesh hood hung over their head, tied on with more cords. Underneath it, she wouldn't be surprised to see sunken eyes and cheeks, if not just a skull.

While she was containing her revulsion, Aria made her way over, murmuring soft sounds to them as she began taking her dagger to their bonds. By the time Diamond arrived, she'd made it through almost all of them, finishing the last cords tying the hood to their head as she knelt beside her. Once the ropes were cut, Aria tore the hood off.

The sight underneath was almost enough to make Diamond retch. Grey, scruffy hair spilled over their weeping eyes, while a ragged beard crept up to the edges of their sunken cheeks. Tears and snot trailed down their nose, standing out sharply against their pale Groverian-flecked skin. A skull would've been less ugly, she sadly thought as Aria slung the man's arm over her shoulder and began carrying him over to the hollow.

"Who is this?" Scootaloo asked, eyes wide with horror, as Aria gently laid him on the ground.

"One of Starlight's torture dolls," she grunted in reply. "like Adagio."

"'One of?'" Zephyr grimaced. "How many does she have?"

"We don't know," Aria shook her head as she began looking the victim over for injuries. "At least half a dozen when we saw her last. Circenican, Groverian, Homestrian; anywhere with a tradition of magic, she's probably either got or killed a captive from."

"Bilmek istiyor," their rescue whimpered.

"Oh no," Scootaloo winced. "Sir, do you speak Common?"

"I do not know Common," he cried. "I do not know Common. Aranizda benim dilimi konusan var mi?"

"Um," Scootaloo bit her lip. "Sadece biraz?"

"Beni anlayabiliyor musun?" he pleaded, forcing himself upright with a grimace. "Söylediğim kelimeleri anlıyor musun?"

"Gibi?" Scootaloo replied nervously. "Birascik?"

"Gitmen gerek," he frantically waved. "Kara Yildiz'in ne yaptıği konusunda dünyayı uyarmalısın. Bilmek istediği için bizi aldı. Onlara söylemelisin, o bilmek istiyor!"

"Calm down," Aria told him, grabbing his flailing arm. "You're going to hurt yourself even more if you keep this up."

"Kara Yıldız, onları uyarmadığın sürece hepimize zarar verecek!" he cried, trying futilely to shake her grip.

"Hurting yourself doesn't do any good," Diamond spoke up, trying to convey her point in tone if not in words. "Calm down, let us help you, and then we can try and talk."

He faltered at her words, before sighing and listening to them, slumping over as if in defeat. As soon as he did, his stomach rumbled, and he blushed at the others' stares.

"Yemek istiyorsun?" Scootaloo asked, softly smiling.

Clearly embarrassed, he nodded, then shivered.

Aria picked her examination back up while Scootaloo scrounged some food and water, passing them both to the eager rescue. He moaned softly in satisfaction as he ate and drank, quickly wolfing the given rations down. "Teşekkürler," he murmured to Scootaloo after he finished.

"Rica ede..." Scootaloo began to reply, before faltering. "Um, ede, ede, ede... rist?"

He began to chuckle, saying, "Ederim, ederim," before squeaking as Aria lifted up his robe to look at his back.

"Could you tell him not to worry, shorty?" Aria told Scootaloo while her patient feebly tried to force his garb back down. "I'm just looking for injuries, and I've gotten pretty good at blocking out the sight of bare male skin over the years. He doesn't have to worry about me judging him or seeing anything I'm not supposed to."

"Oh?" Diamond smirked as Scootaloo, grumbling "I'm not short," conveyed her message to Aria's patient. "Sounds like someone's had a bit of experience with l'amor."

The look Aria gave her was flat and flattening. "The only experience with romance I've had was back when I was twelve," she replied. "I didn't know how to deal with it, so I ended up giving him a black eye. The people who trained me not to be affected by skin were driven by greed, not love. They wanted Tyre and access to Adagio, not me. Some of them even tried to get it through Sonata, though we managed to scare most of them off."

"He said it was true love, Ari!" Sonata protested. "He sang me songs in the starlight and said that he'd go deeper than Ryleh for me!"

"He told me the same things," Aria snapped. "When I rejected him, he tried them on you instead. Wouldn't surprise me if he'd tried them on Adagio before me, too."

"Did she ever accept?" Zephyr asked. "I'd guess that she would've been under a lot of pressure to, as the main heiress."

"Pfft," Aria snorted. "Nobody could compete with her three greatest loves; fighting, the Empire, and telling others what to do. She pretty much married her work, and she was so good at it that nobody dared tell her otherwise. No, the joys of having to carry on the family line," she scowled. "were passed on to me. Some of the lower classes even made jokes about it; 'Adagio's the fighter, Sonata's the spellweaver, and Aria's the spare,' was a popular one."

"Don't worry about what they said," Sonata smiled at her. "Remember, Dagi said that the lower classes were for commanding, not listening to."

The hair on Diamond's spine prickled as Aria let her patient's robe fall back down and turned to glare at Sonata. Suddenly, she was in fifth grade again, the storm between Mother and Daddy waiting to burst, only Aria wouldn't hold back like Daddy had.

"Then why should I listen to you?" Aria asked, her voice cold enough to chill the soul. "Your mother was lower class, and that means you're lower class. Yeah, Adagio adopted you, but why should that change my mind? Dressing a pet up doesn't make it a person, neither does adopting it. If you really think that the lower classes are for commanding, not listening to, then listen to my commands and shut. Up."

Sonata's eyes watered. "But," she whimpered. "but Dagi said we were sisters, said-"

"Adagio," Aria cut her off. "lied. What she lied about is up to you. Which would you rather be true, Sonata, you being my sister or those weaker than you not being people?"

"I want a sister," Sonata whimpered.

Aria nodded, and Diamond noticed her face soften, almost imperceptibly, like Daddy's had when she'd admitted that bullying the CMC was wrong.

"Sonata's mother was a slave, wasn't she?" Zephyr quietly asked.

Aria's fist clenched. "In Charybdis, we called them minions."

"Dagi treated mom really nicely, though," Sonata chimed in, wiping away the last of her tears. "She never whipped her or-or locked her up or anything. She treated all the minions nicely. 'The strong don't need to mock the weak's weakness to feel strong.' If Shimmer had found us before Starlight did, she probably would've offered-"

Once again, Aria's hand came over her sister's mouth, once again too late.

"Star-light?" the Groverian rescue murmured, drawing their attention away. "Star-light Glim-mer?"

"Yes, Starlight Glimmer," Aria nodded, releasing her sister and walking back over to him. "The woman who kidnapped you."

"Starlight Glimmer," he continued. "Kara Yildiz."

"Kara Yildiz," Aria muttered. Turning to Scootaloo, she asked, "Shorty, is that Griffish for Starlight?"

"I'm not short," Scootaloo protested. "And no, it's not. I don't think so, at least."

"Of all the times for us to not have a signal," Silver sighed, putting away her useless phone.

The rescue grunted as he leaned forward, tracing a finger in the forest floor. He drew three things; an equals sign, a stick figure, and then a large tree. Pointing at the equals sign, he said, "Starlight Glimmer." His finger moved to point at the tree. "Kara Yildiz." Then to the stick figure. "Starlight Glimmer, Kara Yildiz."

"Ooh," Sonata trilled. "I love guessing games! Hm... Is Kara Yildiz what Starlight called the tree-thing?"

He shook his head, then drew two arrows, one pointing from the stick figure to the tree, the other from the figure to the equals sign.

Sonata put a finger to her lip. "There are two Starlights, one going by Kara Yildiz?"

Again, the head shook.

"Did Starlight call herself Kara Yildiz to you?" Diamond asked.

"Hayir," he murmured, shaking his head. "Kara Yildiz kendi adini verdi Starlight Glimmer."

"Hayir means 'no,'" Scootaloo frowned. "I don't know about the rest, though."

"Kara Yildiz için bir maske değil Starlight Glimmer," the rescue said, stressing each syllable. "Starlight Glimmer için bir maske Kara Yildiz."

"This is getting us nowhere," Silver sighed. "Let's wait to tackle this until we manage to get a signal so we're not just relying on-"

The rescue shivered again, stronger this time and muttering darkly under his breath. "In-sul-in?" he hissed. "In-sul-in?"

"Insulin?" Sonata furrowed her brow. "Why do you need that? Are you an alchemist?"

"Hayir," he shook his head, then, haltingly, fumblingly, said, "Di-a-bet-ic, di-a-bet-ic, med-i-cine."

"You're diabetic?" Diamond gasped. After he nodded, she turned to the others and ordered, "We need to get him to a hospital."

"This is Nocturne territory," Zephyr sadly shook his head. "They lack the population density to attract hospitals, the nearest one would be days away on foot."

Biting her lip, she turned to Sonata. "Can you use your magic to help him? Please, if he doesn't get insulin soon he could die."

Sonata flared her nostrils. "You want me to do a field alchemical operation," she growled. "and then use the results to perform biomancy? Any other miracles you feel like asking for? Alchemy isn't as easy as the books make it look, and performing it in the field is even harder. I don't see lab equipment anywhere, the fire's nowhere near hot enough, and I don't have my coat on me. It'd be easier for me to-"

"Okay, that's a negative," Diamond cut her off, wringing her hands. "Anyone have any other ideas?"

"How long does he have?" Aria asked.

"Not long," she shook her head. "A couple days at the most, and that's assuming today's his first day without insulin."

Aria's hand twitched. "How painful would it be?"

Diamond raised a brow. "Would what be?"

"Diabetes killing him," Aria replied curtly. "How painful?"

"We don't exactly know," Silver said. "Probably not pleasant, though."

Aria nodded, then turned to look at the rescue thoughtfully. After a few moments' silence, she said, "Sonata, take the shy one's brother, the glasses girl, and her friend away for a few minutes. Me and shorty need to have a little heart-to-heart with... with our friend here."

"Why can't we stay?" Diamond asked. "We can be quiet if you need us too."

"What we're going to be talking about is private," Aria sharply replied. "The only reason I'm keeping shorty around is because I'll need an interpreter."

"My name's Scootaloo," the girl in question grumbled.

"Come on, Miss Tiara," Zephyr pleaded. "Let them have their privacy."

Sighing, she nodded and followed Sonata out of the hollow, her footsteps overshadowed by the screaming of a crow in the branches of the tree above.

They didn't go far, Sonata stopping about thirty paces away from the hollow. As soon as she did, Diamond whirled on Zephyr and ordered, "While we're waiting, explain what you said before Starlight's victim arrived."

Zephyr shrugged. "There's little to explain, Miss Tiara. Like I told Aria, I'm living proof that the stories lied. They said I could make something of myself if I listened to them, if I tried to be like the heroes I read about, if I just believed and took a leap of faith. I believed I could fly, leapt, and fell. I listened to the stories and learned that they were lies. Listening to them wouldn't teach me how to be the hero; I was doomed to be a walking failure until the day I die. I know what you all think of me; weak, annoying, useless. You call me liar, boaster, failure. You believe that I'm no good." He shrugged again. "You're right."

"Then why are you here?" Silver asked. "Do you not like Di? Do you want her to fail?"

"There's no good in me," Zephyr replied, smiling softly at the stunned Diamond. "except for whatever good others put in. Miss Tiara tells me what to do, and how to do it, so I don't need to fear failure; a puppet doesn't need to worry about failing the puppet-master after all."

"How do you know you're just a failure?" Diamond shouted, or was it pleaded? "How do you know you just haven't gotten unlucky a couple times?"

Zephyr raised a brow at her. "In my life, I have managed to poison a cockroach, break my arm iceskating, become a consistent C- student at best, and frustrate one of the most gentle people I know. I can barely even decide on a hairstyle. Reading and doing what others tell me are the only two things I've been able to do with anything approaching a success rate. The odds of all that being due to luck are more than a million to one."

"Aww, don't worry!" Sonata reassured him, squeezing his cheeks. "If you stay with us, I can tell you what to do forever and ever!"

As the cloth-bound hand brushed him, though, she hissed in pain, quickly drawing it away and rubbing the wrist. "Stupid wound," she grumbled. "You should've healed up already."

"You're hurt?" Diamond winced. "Maybe you should have one of us check it over when we get back to camp, it could be-"

A bloodcurdling shriek came from the hollow as a murder of crows took flight.

"That was Scootaloo," Silver whispered, eyes wide. "Do you think-do you think that maybe Aria just wanted to isolate her, not talk to the guy at all?"

"If she did, we would've heard him scream, instead," Diamond frowned. "Even if that didn't happen, though, we need to go back."

Ignoring Sonata's cry to stop, she raced back to the camp, freezing as she saw a snarling Aria holding a struggling Scootaloo with one arm while the other hand held a bloody knife.

Adrenaline flooded her. "Let her go!" she ordered, charging into the hollow.

"I will," Aria barked in reply. "as soon as she agrees not to try to bite me anymore!"

"You killed him!" Scootaloo shrieked. "I saw you, you killed him!"

Diamond froze again, then, hesitantly, held back and driven onward in equal measure by horror, she turned to look at their rescue.

And saw a large, growing red stain on his robes, right above his heart.

"And if I wanted to kill you, I already would've!" Aria bellowed. "It was a mercy-kill, shorty! You heard your friends, he would've died before he could get any help! I was just trying to make it as painless for him as possible!"

The others had arrived back at the hollow by now, Silver and Zephyr looking on in horror, Sonata in simple shock.

"Now, are you gonna try something stupid and die," Aria asked. "or are you gonna listen to me?"

"Why should I trust you?" Scootaloo retorted, trying to weave out of Aria's grip.

Aria's dagger moved in front of Scootaloo. "Does it seem like you have a choice?" she hissed.

"Scootaloo," Diamond shakily ordered. "would Rainbow Dash attack someone because of what she thought she saw, or would she make sure that she knew both sides of the story?"

Glowering, Scootaloo nevertheless nodded, and Aria released her. Zephyr quickly came over and wrapped his arms around her, arms that she escaped much easier than Aria's as she turned around to glare at the Siren and spat, "Talk."

"He," Aria said, a drop of blood spinning off her dagger as it pointed at the corpse. "was gonna die long before we could take him to a hospital. There was no way for us to save him. From the sounds of it, diabetes would've killed him slowly and painfully. A stab to the heart would do it quick and with a lot less pain. There was no winning here; he was going to die. The only question was how. And he chose how, shorty; I offered it to him, and he accepted."

"No," Scootaloo shook her head. "No, he-he didn't, he couldn't understand you."

The dagger plunged into the ground, the hand it was freed from pointing down at it while the other hand and a questioning brow were aimed at Scootaloo. Then, to make her point clear, Aria picked the dagger back up and pantomimed dragging it across her throat, before tapping it against her other hand while clearly and carefully enunciating, "Di-a-be-tes." Then, she stretched out her hands to her audience, one offering the spoken word, the other her blade.

"I made myself understood," she said.

"Did you hear his last words?" Sonata asked.

The dagger pointed at Scootaloo. "I had her translate some and write down the rest."

"How do you know he was going to die?" Silver whispered, clearly shaken. "Miraculous recoveries or survivals happen, why not this time?"

Aria's face darkened. "I believe in miracles as much as I believe in 'supposed.'"

"Was he able to hear you this time?" Sonata tilted her head.

Aria nodded.

Wait a minute. This time?

"You've done this before?" Diamond found herself asking before she realized it.

The fire seemed to dim. "Quite a few times," Aria growled.

Diamond swallowed; she knew she was walking into the lion's den, but her reporter's instinct told her that the truth lay within. "How recent," she asked. "was the last one you did before this?"

The dagger glinted in the dull flames. "A few days."

A few days.

Unable to hear... something.

"It's not enough that Ari had to do it from far away, you also had to stop her from-"

"It was Adagio, wasn't it?" she whispered.

A sharp hum, a chink, a small spray of soil.

And a stone disc buried in the ground at Diamond's feet.

"You killed her?" Silver gaped.

"It was a mercy," Aria replied coldly. "one greater than any Starlight ever gave her. Didn't you hear what she looked like? Adagio would rather die than live like that. As for the ones who made her like that..."

A drop of blood fell from her dagger and stained the ground.

"You're a monster," Scootaloo whispered.

Aria's smile turned almost shark-like in the low light. "You won't find any argument from me."
> The Reeling - Silver Spoon II
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spacey and the psycho made them six again, though if the pipsqueak kept pushing the psycho's buttons she wouldn't be surprised if they went back down to five.

At a mumbled word from the psycho, the body of their short-lived seventh went up in blood-red flames, the drops on her knife jumping into the blaze like oil. The fire licked them up greedily, and then turned to its main course, quickly devouring the corpse. Within minutes, all that was left was ash and rapidly-dissipating smoke.

"Consumed by fire," the psycho muttered. "A fate fit for a warrior."

"How do you know he was one?" the pipsqueak groused. "I could barely understand anything he said before you murdered him."

"His body said that he was," the psycho replied, not taking the bait. "Starved, wasted away, tormented, and still he lived. Anyone other than a warrior would have broken under Starlight's 'care.'"

"How can the Unmarked follow her?" Di shook her head in shock. "How can they justify following a tyrant, a-a monster?"

The psycho's face darkened. "The same way you justified following Shimmer," she retorted. "Admit it, none of you supported her because you liked her, you followed her because you were afraid, either of the other monsters knocking at your door, the other tyrants jockeying for her place, or of what she would do if you didn't follow her. Reward your friends, punish your enemies, and make your enemies your friends' enemies, and you'd be surprised what they're willing to ignore. People are scared of monsters, but there's something stronger than fear; greed. Everyone knows about an anglerfish's light, but they're still willing to chase a deep-sea spark."

"We can't trust her, Silver. As soon as we stop looking over her shoulder, she's gonna stab us in the back."

"But do we need to do this? If we just keep an eye on her-"

"We'll take our eyes off the threat to the north. The Games are coming, and we can't risk facing Crystal Prep divided."

"Then why do something that risks dividing the school? You remember what it was like when she did it, what's to stop that from happening again?"

A pause. "Better to break it now than wait for her to do it later."

"Or a Siren's song," spacey giggled.

The psycho grinned like a shark again as she nodded.

"The Unmarked have heard that song, I'm guessing?" the loser whispered.

The grin vanished. "Monsters have," came the curt reply.

"That's why you're out here, isn't it?" the loser pressed. "Monster hunting. You... you've been following Starlight since she kidnapped your sister, haven't you?"

The dagger glinted. "Our business is our own," the psycho growled. "All that you need to care about is staying alive until we can find someone to negotiate with."

The loser flinched and nodded, then, shockingly, laughed. As the psycho's knife hand jerked, the loser raised one of his and chuckled, "No, wait, I promise I'm not laughing at you. It's just, I never expected to be used as a hostage, at least not while the rest of my family's still alive."

"Why?" the psycho snorted. "Because you thought they'd protect you?"

"Because I'm as worthless as a hostage as I am at everything else," he chuckled. "I'm the second heir, the spare mother and father keep around in case the first child turns out poorly."

"Heir?" Silver frowned. "Heir to what?"

"Posey Pond, in Rainbow Vale," he replied. "One of the most beautiful places in Cloudsdale, in my opinion. Of course," he blushed. "I spent most of my time there inside, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I was sickly when I was younger, and when I wasn't sick... well," he gestured at himself. "I'm not the most athletic person now, and it was even worse back then. Fluttershy, she used to call me Taettacnicht, her doll, because of how bad of a shape I was in: I was as strong as a ragdoll and as sturdy as porcelain."

"If you're trying to whine or pity your way out of this, it's not gonna work," the psycho rolled her eyes. "None of you are going anywhere until we get a good deal."

Di snapped her fingers, beaming. "I think I can help you with that," she smiled at the psycho, who looked back at her unimpressed. "Right now, Captain Armor's too busy to negotiate with you; he's gotta take care of the Unmarked, first. Once he's done with that, then he might see about negotiating with the people holding four high-schoolers hostage. But what if, instead, he finds himself running into unexpected reinforcements who help him defeat the Unmarked and who prevented four innocents from blundering into them along the way? He wouldn't be speaking with hostage-takers, then, he'd be speaking with allies, sisters in arms, heroes of the kingdom. And all you'd have to do," she smirked, face falling into shadow. "is fight the people who made you murder your sister."

While she gaped at Di, spacey turned to the psycho. "You sure she isn't a Siren, Ari? That was a really, really Siren-y speech."

"For the last time," the psycho rolled her eyes. "making good speeches isn't limited to Circenicans."

"And apparently neither," the pipsqueak spat. "is being a monster."

"Would you still call me a monster if they'd treated Rainbow Dash like they treated Adagio?" Di countered. "Would you still call me one if the guy we found was one of your aunts?"

The pipsqueak pointed accusingly at the Sirens. "I would if you were still working with those two! They tried to take over CHS, Tiara, did you forget about that? 'Oh, but that's in the past!' Well, in the present, Aria killed Guilden! 'That guy we found' had a name, one you would've probably learned if Aria hadn't murdered him! How can you work with monsters like them?!"

"Sometimes, you need monsters," Di replied. "to stop monsters. I'm not saying everything they did was okay, I'm just saying that fighting our common enemy would be a better idea than tearing ourselves apart because not all of us are perfect. Daddy said-"

"Everything comes back to your daddy, doesn't it, Tiara?" the pipsqueak snapped. "The world, the kingdom, and especially this mission all come back to your daddy, to how you hate being in his shadow. That's all this is, you playing reporter to try to get out of your dad's shadow, to make yourself be seen as something other than 'the Rich brat.'"

She was too stunned to stop Di from turning on the pipsqueak in anger. "Shut up," she growled.

"Or what?" the pipsqueak mocked. "You'll go crying to daddy? Pay someone else to fight your battles for you? Ask your fellow monsters," she jerked a thumb at the Sirens. "to make me stop?"

"Scootaloo, please," the loser pleaded. "Would Rainbow Dash be proud of what you're doing?"

"Standing up to a bully?" she shot back. "Yeah, I think she would be."

"By becoming a bully yourself?" Di retorted. "Yeah, she'd be real proud of you, Scootaloo."

The pipsqueak's face darkened. "As proud as all your 'friends' are of you," she spat. "Proud of their friend, Filthy Rich's spoiled brat."

The pipsqueak had crossed the line.

And pushed Di over her's.

"At least I," she calmly, too calmly, replied. "know the parents I'm the brat of."

Then the pipsqueak sprang up, and Di was down in the dirt, trying to roll with the pipsqueak's punches, but there were too many to roll with. One hit her nose and blood spattered the clearing. Another smacked the loser's hand away, stopping him from interfering. The psycho's dagger flashed, preparing to pick up where he'd failed.

Before she could, Di slipped out from under the pipsqueak and sent her sprawling with a shoulder check. The pipsqueak stumbled out of the hollow, then kept stumbling, a stumble that quickly turned into a run.

She's abandoning us, Silver realized as her jaw dropped. She flinched as she heard the consequences of the pipsqueak's choice hiss near her ear, then spiral away into the night. They heard a grunt of pain, but then nothing but footsteps and brushed-aside foliage, both growing fainter and fainter.

"Nobody else," the psycho snarled, drawing another dagger. "be an idiot." Before any of them could reply, she darted away in pursuit.

Di stared after her, lost, while the loser stood up and began treating her injuries. Spacey, meanwhile, stared eagerly after her sister, ears pricked for sounds of the hunt.

"Monster-hunting."

On the one hand, Di was right, sometimes you needed a monster to fight a bigger monster. On the other hand, were they sure that the Unmarked were really the bigger monsters? Murdering at least two people and enslaving who-knew how many more was pretty high on the Monster Meter, after all. The Unmarked were, for all their impressive words, just another gang trying to get what they wanted by intimidation, no different than Sunset. (The old Sunset, she hastily corrected herself.) Was any gang, even one that treated people as atrociously as Guilden, really worse than murdering slavers?

One of those slavers returned, alone; looked like the pipsqueak escaped, something Silver wasn't sure if she should be happy about or afraid of.

The psycho stormed back into the hollow, looming over Di. To her friend's credit, after an initial flinch, Di managed to meet her gaze, expression at least somewhat even.

"Thanks to that stunt you pulled," the psycho spat. "your little idiot friend managed to escape. And, judging by the fact that I didn't find the knife I threw, now she's armed. I'm down one hostage and up an armed enemy, and one with more courage than sense by the looks of it. All thanks to you deciding that now was a good time to prove that you can't resist a kid's goading."

Di didn't flinch. Neither did she, thankfully, talk back; she seemed to be recomposing herself, rebuilding her rationality after the pipsqueak tore it down. That was good; everything about the psycho said she was looking for a place to vent, not a response.

"You know," the psycho inhaled. "I'm starting to wonder if Adagio was right, if the capable should rule over the incompetent, unbelievably stupid commons. Not out of entitlement, but because you imbeciles would probably burn yourselves to death without us guiding you."

She exhaled heavily. "We can't risk falling asleep here, shorty knows where it is. We make for Captain Armor, or where he's going to arrive at least. And," she added, reaching into her pack and pulling out a length of rough rope. "since I can apparently only trust you to chase deep-sea sparks and kill each other, I'm going to have to take measures to make sure you follow."

Di flinched at the sight of the rope, and the loser stepped forward. "Sister doesn't like me," he told the psycho. "Hurt me, and it'll only help your-"

Squeaking in surprise, he watched as the psycho lashed a tight knot around his hands, binding them together. Feebly, he tried to free himself, but to no avail; the knot was tight, and the psycho had barely left him enough rough to move his fingers.

Dragging him behind her, the psycho stomped over to Di, roughly grabbed her hands, then tied a similar knot around them. Finally, with one of the rope's ends, she turned on Silver, gripped her with a hand like iron, then lashed a vice-like knot around her hands.

Silently ordering her sister to help, she fixed their packs on their backs and dragged them to their feet, leading them like a line of chained dogs. "The knots only come off when I'm sure you can't do anything extremely stupid," she said. "If they make any of you fall, let that be a reminder not to be stupid in future. Come on," she yanked on their leash. "We've got ground to cover."





They were down to five, though not the way she'd expected. Now, with the pace the psycho was setting, she was wondering when they'd get knocked down to four.

Spacey forged their path, a path that the pitch-black and overgrown Midnightwood made rather hard to follow, especially at the almost-flying pace the psycho set. Silver'd lost track of the number of times she, Di, or the loser had fallen before being dragged upright by the psycho or her sister. Any pleas to slow down or rest for the night went unheeded, primarily because they went unvoiced; though she seemed calmer now, nobody wanted to risk angering the psycho.

And yet, Silver actually found that she didn't hate the change of pace; being forced to focus on the terrain, trying to see through the impenetrable night, meant that she wasn't thinking about Guilden's death, the loser's revelations, the psycho's crimes, Di's willingness to work with a monster, the pipsqueak's betrayal, Di's willingness to help a monster, the Unmarked, Di trying to help the psycho kill the Unmarked, Di, Di, Di...

A crow screamed in her face, flying straight at her as their tramping startled it. She ducked, tripped, and then found her wrists burning as she was dragged back to her feet. Shaking her head, she turned from the darkness inside her head to the darkness outside of it, trying to find her way through the dark wood.

Eventually, they tripped one too many times, and the psycho called a halt for the night. There was no fire and no special meal for Di ("If you want that, maybe next time think before doing something stupid") and the psycho didn't let them setup the tents, but at least the knots came off, and after the pace she'd set Silver could've fallen asleep on a rock.

As she was gnawing on the rocks they called food, the psycho stood up, hand white-knuckled around her blade. "I'm going off to think," she said, her voice flat. "Don't follow me, and definitely don't try to mimic me. You'll probably get yourselves hurt. Rest up; we've still got a ways to go." Before any reply could be made, she melted away into the forest's shadows.

"You should listen to her," spacey whispered after she disappeared. "She knows what to do in situations like this; Ari's been telling me what to do ever since the Unmarked took Dagi and we're both fine."

"Are you?" the loser whispered back, throwing a meaningful glance at her bandaged hand.

Spacey winced. "That was my fault," she replied. "I thought that they were all asleep. I should've listened to Ari; 'Don't bite off more than you can chew, Sonata. A song can only affect so many people.' I thought I could sing to all four of them, but I guess the last one was too far away to hear me. Ow!" She clutched her hand to her chest with a grimace. "Yeah, you all should listen to Ari; it hurts a lot less."

"All four of them," the loser murmured. "Four of the Unmarked?"

Spacey nodded with a ghoulish smile. "One of them was one of the ones who took Dagi, too," she purred. "He won't be stealing anymore sisters for a long, long time." Eyes widening, she covered her mouth with a squeak, then mumbled, "Mmmhmmhmmhmmhmm."

"What?" Di raised a brow.

"Mm?" spacey blinked, before looking down at her hand, humming in realization, and uncovering her mouth. "Sorry," she sheepishly smiled. "Forgot that was there. Anyway, please don't tell Ari that I told you about the Unmarked. I don't think she wants you to know."

"Why?" Di asked. "You heard me earlier, I'm all for fighting the Unmarked. What Starlight did to that guy we found, to your sister..." She clenched her fist, before glaring at spacey. "We can't allow her to get away with that. We have to bring her and her minions to justice."

"I know," spacey replied, nervously shifting. "and Ari knows, too. But you heard the orange one, she thinks that fighting the Unmarked like we've been makes us monsters, and, and..." She bit her lip, looked around cautiously, then leaned in closer and whispered, "... I don't think Ari wants to be a monster."

Could've fooled me, Silver bit back a snort.

Di failed to do the same. "You do remember how she threatened us, right?"

"That's trying to be in control," spacey shook her head. "Ari threatened you so that you'd come with us, not because she likes threatening people." (Again, Silver swallowed a snort.)

"Then why not try to talk to us?" the loser asked. "Try to make us understand why we should come with you?"

"She hates you," spacey simply replied. "Dagi and I, we didn't really mind losing at the Battle of the Bands; sure, we lost our heartstones, but that was because you were stronger than us. We should have lost. Ari, though... she wanted to try to get revenge, try to get our heartstones back or at least make you understand how painful losing them was." She sadly twined a lock of hair around her finger. "That's actually how Starlight was able to find us; Dagi didn't want to risk Ari trying to get revenge on you, so she took us out east. It wasn't easy, especially without our magic, but it felt right, in a way. It felt like one of Ari's old hunting trips back in Charybdis, us three against the wild." She clenched her fist. "And then Starlight attacked."

"And Aria decided that she hated Starlight," the loser murmured. "more than she hated us."

"Wait," Di furrowed her brow. "If you don't hate us because of the Battle, why do you hate Starlight for kidnapping Adagio?"

Spacey looked taken back by that question, and fumbled for an answer for several moments. Eventually, she snapped her fingers and replied, "Because at least you didn't take my sister away from me."

Silver prepared to press on the obviously-fake reason, but the loser took her initiative, asking, "Why do you think Aria doesn't want to be a monster? Before she burned Guilden's body, she said that Scootaloo was right about her being one."

"Because she knows that people are scared of monsters," spacey replied. "and because she knows that she is one."

The loser's eyes widened. "And she doesn't want to be," he gasped. "She knows she's a monster, and she doesn't want to be one, and-and..." He fell silent, eyes bulging. Turning them back on spacey, he asked, "Did she ever have any minions?"

"No," spacey shook her head. "She had some criminals work under her sometimes, but she always freed them when they were done. Come to think of it," she put a finger to her lip. "she never really seemed comfortable with Dagi's minions, either. If she wanted something done, she would try to do it herself. Why?"

"Was holding minions common?" the loser asked, animated by... something. "Were you outliers in Charybdis or part of a pattern?"

"Not everyone was rich enough to have a minion," spacey replied hesitantly, looking vaguely unsettled. "but most of the people we swam in the schools of did. I mean, it makes sense; we were the strong in society, why shouldn't the strong command the weak? That's the way it is in nature, it's only natural for us."

"Just like being a monster is," the loser mumbled, a worrying fire in his eyes. "Just like forgiving us for the Battle is. It's natural, but... I need to talk with her."

"Bad idea," spacey shook her head. "Scootaloo and the pink one made her really, really mad. If you don't want to die, you'd better let her cool down before trying to talk to her."

The loser slumped, but nodded. Looked like they wouldn't be knocked down to four tonight, thankfully.

Then Di yawned, and the weariness of the day came crashing back down on them. The loser asked spacey to wake him up when the psycho came back, if she seemed calm, and after she agreed promptly passed out. Di quickly followed him, and Silver slipped away after her, too weary for her worries to keep her up.





She was back in Di's office, ushering the CMC in.

Something's wrong.

Di makes her offer; the pipsqueak accepts, the squeaker hesitates, and the hillbilly shakes Di's hand eagerly.

CHS goes up in angry flames.

Something's wrong.

Di whistles. Six, all armed, step forward.

Something's very wrong.

The first knife falls, and then one becomes twelve, the demon bleeding out in the snow.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

She turns to look at Di, but her cry dies in her throat; it's her oldest friend's face, but Adagio's eyes and wicked smile. They hold up Di's coin, one side scratched out, one side a grinning skull, and purr, "Two sides..."

Then she feels the fangs in the corner of her mouth and whispers in horror, "... same coin."
> The Aimless - Scootaloo II
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A hum, a gurgle, and then the blood began pouring out.

She'd killed him, killed him in cold blood, finished Starlight's job for her.

She was probably gonna kill the others now, too, like the monster she was.

She was welcome to them.

Tears and blood trickled off of her as she ran heedlessly back into the forest, uncaring of direction so long as it was away from the monsters back at camp.

She'd known Diamond Tiara was cruel back in their elementary school days, and cold when she threatened their sisters, but she hadn't known she was as monstrous as the Sirens until she'd been willing to negotiate with Aria over Guilden's corpse.

A hum, a gurgle, and then the blood...

She shook her head; she needed to focus. She'd bandaged the wound the dagger had given her, but she knew she'd still lost blood, and it was still near the end of a long day; as soon as she stopped, the adrenaline would stop, and she wouldn't be able to start again until the next morning. She had to keep going, had to get away from the monsters, had to go... go...

Where could she go?

The home that would only serve as a rest stop before she was dragged off to Griffonstone?

After Starlight to help the monster who'd murdered Guilden?

To Shining Armor, to get the worst of both worlds?

Back to the camp to go monster-hunting?

She looked, mesmerized, at the dagger in her good hand, the other shredded from catching it. A long, bronze blade on black, polished wood, it seemed to whisper to her, begging for more blood to join her's in dripping off its edge.

It would be so easy; find the camp again, make a disturbance to lure someone out of camp, hide, then when they came by jump out and-

A hum, a gurgle, and then the blood began pouring out.

First would probably be Aria, dying like the poor boy she'd murdered. Then Diamond Tiara, her lack of fear of getting her hands dirty staining them with her blood. Then... then...

She tried to strengthen her weakening resolve. Silver was, if not a monster, then at least a willing friend of one, an enabler, almost as bad as a monster. And Zephyr, Zephyr had tried to stop her from standing up to Diamond Tiara, standing up to the monster throwing off her disguise. Neither of them might've been as monstrous as Diamond Tiara and Guilden's murderer, but neither of them had tried to stop them, either, and if you didn't try to stop a monster, then you were as good as one. Resolve returned, she smiled at the dagger-

-and bit back a scream as she saw a leering Siren face sneering back at her. Whipping around, she pointed the dagger threateningly at...

... nothing.

She was still alone.

Confused, she turned back to the dagger, and felt her heart fall into her stomach; it hadn't been a Siren's face that she'd seen in it, it had been her own, twisted into a mask of sneering hatred by the blade.

Her hand fell under its sudden weight. She hated Diamond Tiara for thinking that fighting a monster justified being one, and now here she was preparing to do the same. Could she really win justice for Guilden by sending Silver and Zephyr to join him? Could she really avenge his murder by becoming his murderer? What possessed her to think that?

A hum, a gurgle, then the blood-

Frantically, she tossed the dagger away, clutching the hand it had tried to infect with its evil. She backed away from where it had fallen; however useful it might be to have, it was clearly cursed, infested with the evil of its previous wielder.

Sighing in relief, she winced in pain as her earlier prediction came true; out of adrenaline, the pain in her wounded hand returned with a vengeance, and her exhaustion came back with it. It was all she could do not to fall over at the first rush, and even then she still swayed, ready to collapse at even a breath of wind.

Grumbling, she leaned on a tree, trying to catch her breath. Even if she couldn't hunt the monsters back at camp anymore, at least not without risking the lives of those she was willing to concede weren't monsters, she still needed to put as much distance between those she knew were monsters and her as quickly as she could; just because she wasn't willing to kill Silver and Zephyr didn't mean that Guilden's murderer wouldn't be willing to kill her on sight, or wasn't hunting her in return.

But that still left the question, where could she go? She couldn't go back, going forward would mean abandoning her life in Crystal City, there were no good roads sideways...

Maybe I should just stay here, she snorted, wiping angry tears from her eyes as she did so. The Nocturnes can live out in the forest, so can I. I wouldn't be able to see Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle again, but at least this way it would be on my terms, not those of someone I haven't seen for three-quarters of my life.

But she'd promised her aunts that she wouldn't run away without at least talking to her parents...

She growled in anger as she dragged her hands down her face. "C'mon, Scootaloo," she snarled. "Think. There's gotta be a way out of this, there always is, you just have to find it. Think. What would Rainbow Dash do?"

And then she saw the answer.

She'd been looking at Silver and Zephyr the wrong way; they weren't accomplices to monsters, they were innocents that the monsters had captured, that they were trying to corrupt, like Sun-like Sunset had tried to at the Fall Formal. And what did Rainbow Dash do with innocents who monsters had captured? She rescued them, got them to safety, then-

A hum, a gurgle, then the blood began pouring out.

Putting a finger to her lip, she turned thoughtfully back to where the knife had fallen, where it still lay, glinting in the dirt. She could still hear its bloody whispers in her mind, even from a few good steps away. Those cursed whispers had caused her to view Silver and Zephyr as monsters once already; who was to say they couldn't do so again? Using it, letting it tempt her again, was a huge risk.

"Like Rainbow Dash says," she murmured as she cut another strip of cloth off her jacket, wrapping it around her good hand as a makeshift glove. "no risk, no reward."
> The Storyteller - Zephyr Breeze II
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

He's on the edge of the cliff again, a void yawning before him.

Behind him, he hears the chattering of teeth and bones and the hissing of serpentine voices. He turns back, and sees a horde of monsters and failures racing towards him, the Winter Wolf who slew his dreams leading the charge.

He knows he can't outrun the horde, and unarmed as he is he can't fight them, either. He's too slow, too weak, too much of a failure; he has nothing to draw on, no gifts to help him survive. There's only one hope.

Desperately, he turns back to the abyss, bends his knees, and leaps-

-right into the face of Sonata, shaking him awake.

She yelped as she jumped back, rubbing her nose gingerly. "Wow," she giggled after a moment. "Guess you really were eager to get up."

"Sorry," he apologized. "I was dreaming, and I guess my brain didn't manage to tell my body it wasn't dreaming anymore in time to stop the jump."

"Well, wake up," Aria snapped, drawing his attention. "Sonata said you wanted to talk to me, and I don't feel like trying to talk with someone half-dreaming."

The last grogginess of sleep leaving him, melting away beneath her acid voice. He nodded and stood up, nervously brushing himself off as Sonata lay down and closed her eyes. He opened his mouth, preparing to speak, but felt the words die in his throat as he met Aria's gaze. Her eyes burned stern and cold and angry, but above all they burned weary, tired in body and soul.

His grand speech dying unspoken, he found himself croaking, "What does it mean to be a Circenican?"

Aria's eyebrow rose. "Is that it? The way Sonata was acting, I thought you were going to ask me something important."

"It is important," he replied. "As important as you knowing where you want to take us." If I'm right, however unlikely that may be, they might be one and the same.

Aria rolled her eyes, but answered, "Adagio was basically the ideal Circenican. If you want to know what being a Circenican means, just ask yourself 'What would Adagio do?', and try not to throw up at the answer."

"Just like you had to try not to?" he whispered.

Her gaze hardened and bored into him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He licked his lips. "'Adagio lied.' You told Sonata that, earlier. That's not what you meant, though, is it? It's not Adagio that lied, it's Charybdis, the society that told you what being a Circenican means. And you know that; you know that the stories it told you are lies. But more than that, you know that they're wrong, that holding minions isn't just incorrect, it's bad. You-"

Her hand flew over his mouth. "Not here," she hissed. "Not where Sonata can hear."

Flicking a glance at her sister on the ground, he nodded, then bit back a squeak as she dragged him out of camp. Once they were out of immediate earshot, she released him and snarked, "Yeah, I think that holding minions is a bad thing, have thought so for a while. Why do you care?"

"Because it tells me that Sonata's right," he replied. "You don't want to be a monster."

She snorted. "Did you hear any argument from me when shorty called me one?"

"That was because you think you are one," he argued. "You think you are, you don't want to be, and you don't know how not to be one. I know that the stories I was told are wrong, that they don't teach me how to be a hero, but you, you know that the stories Charybdis told you, that Adagio lived, are worse; it's not just that they don't teach you how to be a hero, they teach you how to be a monster instead. Some of them do, at least, which is even worse; if it were all of them, you'd have at least an idea of how not to be a monster, namely doing the opposite of what the stories said. You know that holding minions is wrong, but was trying to conquer here? Was not seeking vengeance after sister and the others defeated you?" He swallowed. "Was killing Adagio?"

"Don't you dare," Aria seethed. "She would rather have died than live like that, I know it."

"But the doubts don't," he whispered. "The doubts and fears-"

"A Siren knows no fear," Aria snapped.

"Adagio said that, I'm guessing," he replied. "Like you said, Adagio lied."

Her blade sang into her hand. "What do you want?" she snarled. "Why did you want to talk with me?"

"To tell you that I understand," he answered. "I understand why you're so angry, I understand why you're frustrated, I understand why you're so confused, I understand you. You're lost because you know that Charybdis' stories are wrong, but you don't have any other stories to follow, and you want there to be a story."

"Why are you so obsessed with stories?" she scoffed. "They're just-"

"-stories, I know," his momentum carried him over her words. "Words strung together in a certain order. But there's more to them than that, more to them than simple entertainment. There are silent words that surround every story, ones that tell us more than just a tale. Stories tell us about the people who tell them, about the societies that make them up; stories from Cloudsdale tell people to be brave and strong, stories from Castellot tell people to be wise, stories from Charybdis tell people what it means to be a Siren. Adagio learned what Charybdis thought was heroic, good, from its stories and made herself like that; the stories told her what the Siren thing to do was, and she did it. A story isn't just words on paper or lips, a story is a statement about good and evil, however indirectly it might make that statement. A hero tells you what's right, a villain tells you what's wrong, 'happily ever after' tells you what's worth fighting for. Without story, we don't know that; if you haven't heard what's heroic or villainous, how can you know good and evil, what to do and what not to do? Without story, without the values it teaches you," his hands fell to his side. "how can you tell what's worth it? Without story, you get me," he pointed accusingly at himself. "Someone too afraid to say something's right or wrong, good or bad, should be or shouldn't be done. Without story, you get... Nothing, emptiness, void. Without story..." His hands fell again. "... you get me."

Silence. Then, almost too quiet to hear, "How can you tell which stories are true? How can you decide which ones to listen to?"

He smiled sadly at her. "Let me know if you figure that out. I've been wondering about it myself."

"Then how do you know that there are any true ones?" her voice rose.

"There's always a best way," he replied. "Even if there's no meaning to the world, there will still be a path that gets you the most rewards for the lowest cost, even if that path is only 'do whatever works.' So long as actions lead to outcomes, there will be plans of action for the future, and there will be stories told about those actions and their consequences. If I can jump," he hopped up before falling back to the ground. "and that jump lifts me up, I'll either plan to jump or not jump in the future, and, more importantly, I'll tell stories about what happens after I jump, whether I fly or fall into the abyss."

"And you can't tell," she grumbled. "whether it's true or not."

"Sometimes, like for my stories about jumping," he replied with a shrug. "the world tells me whether it's true or not, other times instinct or thought or emotion does. But most of the time, yes, I can't tell whether a story's true or not. All I can do is guess and hope, and my life has taught me that I'm a very bad guesser. I don't know which stories are true, and finding out which ones are wrong is too hard for me. I proved that one was wrong in the past and it almost destroyed me; I can't make a leap of faith like that again, not when I can't trust stories not to drop me again. You, though," he looked up at her with a smile. "you're different, you're strong enough to make those leaps. Aria, you're right, Adagio lied, Charybdis lied, the stories you were told lied, and you don't have to listen to them anymore. You can listen to other stories, try to find other, better ideals, you..." He swallowed. "... you can find a way to not be a monster."

Silence fell. Her fist clenched and unclenched, her fingers gnarling and slacking around the dagger. Shapeless sounds came from her mouth, while a hundred emotions glittered in her eyes. Eventually, she sighed, then said, "Go get some sleep, Zephyr: we've got ground to cover tomorrow, and you can't half-sleep like we can."

Oh, he thought with a glance back to camp, That would explain why she wanted to get away from Sonata. "Good night, Aria," he gave a gentle bow. "Please, think about-"

"I am," she grit her teeth. "I am giving it very, very much thought, trust me. What you said..." She sighed, then looked wearily at him. "... A Siren knows no fear, no anxiety, and no doubt. Adagio taught me that when I was... back when we lived in Charybdis. She told me that every chance she got."

He nodded. "And she lied."

"She lied," she nodded. "She lied, and now I have to pick up the pieces."

He nodded; like he'd told her earlier, he understood.

Aria looked down at the ground, clearly deep in thought. Dipping his head in farewell, he prepared to head back to camp, but stopped at a murmured order from Aria. "One last question," she asked. "What story did you learn was wrong?"

"The Tale of Nightingale," he replied. "One of the characters in it, Fylakundu, was my idol growing up. I wanted to be just like him. Then I told mother that, and she sat me down, taught me that he was just a character in a story, and shattered me forever. If not even the great hero Fylakundu could teach me how to be good, who could? If my idol was false, then everything I wanted to be was false. I don't aspire to anything because Fylakundu taught me that my aspirations led me into the abyss; the best I can ever hope to be is someone like Miss Tiara's pack mule, helping them do good by using me like a puppet."

She nodded, then waved him away, and he returned to the campsite, crawling back into his sleeping bag and...

... he's on the edge of the cliff again, but this time he's not alone.

Aria's standing there with him, looking wistfully down into the abyss before them, the abyss he'd just helped her climb out of. "There's nothing for you down there," he'd said as he'd stretched out his hand to help her out. "and no reason you need to stay there."

Now, two stand on the edge of the void, while the chattering and howling of the horde of death draws ever nearer, the Winter Wolf baying in the lead.

Aria glares at the wolf, and then at him. "There's nothing for you here," she says. "and no reason you need to stay."

"I can't go," he shakes his head sadly. "I know I can't fly."

"That's the story you tell yourself," she snaps back. "How do you know it's true?"

"My life," he replies, showing her his history. "It's all the proof it could ever need."

Then she shows him her sister's history and curtly says, "Adagio's life was all the proof Charybdis' stories could ever need."

He bites his lip, then looks down into the abyss. "But what if I fall?"

She stretches her hand out to him. "What if you fly?"

The Winter Wolf is barely a breath away, a breath swallowed up by the endless void beneath the cliff.

He takes her hand, bends his knees, and leaps.
> The Ally - Diamond Tiara II
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daddy took her up to the manor's roof, to the spot where he told her he used to sit and watch the stars.

They weren't there to watch the stars, it was too early for that; instead, he lifted his hand to the horizon, gesturing at the sun-soaked land around them. She squinted into the sunset, burning almost too bright to look at, and looked over the landscape it painted red, orange, and gold. Trees, grass, and bushes glowed beneath its light, while the Canter to the south turned into a river of fire. The brown and black brick of the manor itself shimmered like it was fresh out of the ovens that baked it.

"No matter how old I get, Rich Gardens at sunset never stops amazing me," Daddy sighed happily.

"It's beautiful," she murmured in awe. "And the view's incredible."

"That's what I told gran when she showed it to me," he chuckled. "I can't count the number of times I came up here after that, just watching the land and sky. I still do, sometimes."

He clapped her on the shoulder, then whispered in her ear, "And I know you'll do the same when you follow me."





She sighed awake from the stupid memories Scootaloo had reawakened. She got that she was only trying to hurt her, to make her feel as upset as she did, but that didn't make poking that wound hurt any less, or any less inconvenient; they were almost on the front lines, she couldn't afford to get lost in her head now. Taking a deep breath, she shoved the memories and worries Scootaloo'd unearthed back into the overstuffed drawer they'd come from and left her mental office for the real world.

Most of the others were already awake, though Sonata lay conked out on the ground. Silver, looking somewhat sleep-deprived, stood munching her morning trail mix numbly, clearly still processing yesterday. Zephyr looked more thoughtful than haunted, but he was clearly processing what happened yesterday, too, and maybe whatever he'd wanted to talk with Aria about.

Speaking of, the waking Siren looked different this morning, and not in a way simply explainable by the change in light. She couldn't put her finger on what was different, but if she had to guess she'd say her scowl seemed smaller, less dragged down on her face.

Looks like she liked whatever Zephyr had to say, she smiled as she climbed out of her sleeping bag. Looked like her people-picking skills weren't as rusty as she'd feared.

Aria noticed her getting up and gave her a curt nod. "Eat," she said. "We'll start heading out in a few minutes."

Not enough time for a proper breakfast, she sighed as Zephyr handed her another bag of trail mix. She reminded herself that Velvet hadn't had time for proper breakfasts while reporting on the Gull Raids, which dulled the disappointment somewhat, but it didn't go away; fruit, granola, and nuts couldn't fill an egg-shaped hole.

"Now, let me be perfectly clear," Aria warned. "We'll be moving into striking distance of the Unmarked today, and as close to where we think Captain Armor's going to arrive as possible. What happened with shorty cannot happen again. If you make any mistakes here, you are almost certainly going to die, and most likely take several of us with you. From here on out, you talk as quietly and as little as possible, you watch your step and make as little noise walking as you can, you stay in shadow and out of sight as much as possible, and you do not try to grab anyone's attention. Until I give the word, we do not let anyone know that we exist. We stay silent, we stay hidden, we stay safe, understand?"

Diamond nodded, as did Zephyr, along with Silver, though she was clearly troubled.

Aria nodded back, then continued, "Unless any of you have any secret survival chops, until we're safe with Captain Armor, I'm taking command. If I tell you to run, you run; if I tell you to stop, you stop; if I tell you to leave someone behind, you leave them behind. I'm going to try to keep you all alive, but that means you have to listen to me. I can't keep you alive if you're trying to get yourselves killed. Am I clear?"

Again, they nodded. (And again, Silver seemed hesitant as she did so.)

"One last thing," Aria nodded. "Unless I tell you to, you are under no circumstances to try to fight. You're all untrained, and out here that'll get you killed. Unless I say otherwise, leave all the fighting to me and Sonata; if we're not enough, run. Do not try to be tricksy, do not try to stage an ambush, do not try to be the hero, just run. Again, I'm trying to keep you alive, but to do that I need you to not try and get yourselves killed."

"We won't," Diamond promised her.

Aria turned to Zephyr, who nodded in agreement, before training her gaze on Silver, who (this time) didn't hesitate to nod. Aria nodded once more, then turned to look at her sister.

"Finish eating and make ready," she ordered. "We move out in fifteen."





Sonata was ready surprisingly quickly (going from snoring softly on the ground to bright-eyed and bushy-tailed within minutes) and in less than the quarter-hour Aria'd given them they were ready to set out on the march again. Thankfully, whatever Zephyr'd said to Aria last night had gotten her to put the rope away, though she kept up the same blistering pace.

They stayed as quiet as they could on the march, partially due to Aria's orders, partially due to the pace keeping them out of breath. The reasons for Aria's softness, Zephyr's thoughtfulness, and Silver's reservation went unvoiced, though she had an idea of the reason for the last one. She just needed to wait for a break, then she could-

Sonata's arm flew in front of them. A clearing lay ahead, two Nocturnes passing through it. Aria dragged Diamond and the others back behind cover then leaned forward to listen to the two passerby.

"Who do you think will break through first?" one of them asked. "Vozhd Armor, Glavny Dappled, or Glavny Coal?"

"I'm with Glavny Dappled, so we should break through first," the other replied. "On the other side, you're with Glavny Dappled, so we should still be trying to find our claws by the time the others have won the day."

A laugh escaped the first speaker. "I've learned from my mistakes, Blunt, don't worry," she said. "The clan will be telling the tale of Vigilance, Bearer of Slipper-Claws, after we return, heed my words."

"Maybe," her companion, Blunt presumably, chuckled. "Whatever deeds you do here, you'll always be Lostclaws to me."

"One time," the first speaker, apparently Lostclaws, snarled. "It was one time!"

"One time that I'll remember forever," Blunt replied. "But view it in another season; at least your name's not Starlight."

"Oh, yes," Lostclaws growled. "A fine name, poisoned by a foul bearer. Liar, murderer, kidnapper, traitor, desecrator; what crimes hasn't she committed?"

"She's committed foolishness, if Gloaming is to be believed," Blunt shook his head. "She has watchers set up, all around Polunochdolina, but no defenses. She'll see us coming and be able to do nothing about it. And armor made of deepstone? Useful as a shield against magic, perhaps, magic which isn't real and which we won't need; it's light enough for her to walk in, so it's light enough to break. And the Unmarked, they're threatening to break, too; four days of waiting has been more than most of them can stand, judging by the fights Gloaming said she heard. Those still loyal to Starlight are keeping discipline, but their numbers rot with every report."

"Ha!" Lostclaws barked. "If only Vozhd Armor was willing to wait, our enemies would win this fight for us."

Blunt's reply went unheard as they finished crossing the clearing, passing back into the forest without a trace.

A few moments after they disappeared, Aria snorted. "Adagio definitely lied, then," she mumbled, almost beneath Diamond's hearing. "There's no way someone that unskilled could be stronger than us. Come on," she ordered the group. "We should be near Hollow Shades' southern edge, we're almost in position."

"I can double-check," Diamond offered, taking her phone out.

Aria's gaze burned her, before briefly cutting off. "Fine," she growled, glaring again, though not as angrily. "But if I hear you talk or see you typing..."

"Don't worry," she replied with a smile as she turned her device on. "You won't. Let me just check to see if I get service..."

Sadly, she didn't, leaving her without her map. This time, though, instead of the all-too-familiar 'No Signal' symbol flashing across her screen, she saw what looked like a... shield?

"What is that?" she mumbled.

"Doesn't matter," Aria shook her head. "The important thing is those two were heading east, not north. They're trying to stay close enough to not get lost but far enough away to not get noticed. Hollow Shades is to the north-east, so since they went straight east, we have to be just south of Starlight's scouts along the hollow's border."

"Oh," Diamond nodded in realization. "I see. They're tracing the wall."

Aria nodded, then ushered them back out and began carefully leading them north, testing her hypothesis. A few moments' walk, a dart of her head through visibly-thin tree cover, and she returned with a nod; she was right. Now she put Sonata in the lead, forging them a path west, flicking occasional glances up north at their enemy.

The silence that fell over them was thicker this time; they knew, and, more importantly, could feel, how close to their goal they were. Aria's knife hand clenched and unclenched eagerly, Zephyr fell visibly deeper into thought, and Silver was almost drawing blood from how hard she was biting her lip.

A twinge of pain jerked Diamond's nose. She needed to nip this in the bud, as soon as possible. She'd already lost one friend to a lack of understanding: she couldn't lose any more.





As soon as Aria said that they were where she wanted them to be, she dragged Silver to the side and quietly asked her, "What are you seeing that I'm not?"

Silver blinked in confusion.

"You saw the defeat I was heading for in the class election," she explained. "You saw what my plan to stop Sunset was going to do to CHS. You see things I don't, Silver, and you look like you are now. So what is it? What am I not seeing here?"

Silver flinched, then looked back at the Sirens nervously. Swallowing, she turned back to her and whispered- or was it whimpered? "Di, I'm really concerned about your choice of allies here. You heard Aria, she's killed, multiple times. Di, please, she killed her own sister!"

She put a hand over her mouth and shushed Silver, not wanting to draw undue attention, and quietly replied, "I know, Silver, I know. I don't think we have to worry about them killing us, though; we-"

"It's not us I'm worried about them killing," Silver interrupted her.

She frowned in thought. "You're afraid that they're going to kill Scootaloo?"

Silver scowled at her, the same scowl she wore when she hadn't seen how poorly she was running her class presidential campaign. "I'm worried about them killing the Unmarked, Di," she replied. "I'm worried that we're helping two dangerous criminals attack civilians. I'm worried that we're going to be accomplices to murder and then help the murderers get pardons. I'm worried that you don't seem to see that murderers and would-be warlords are a greater evil than a group of political whiners. I'm worried that you-" Abruptly, she covered her mouth, horror in her eyes.

Diamond read between the lines. "You're worried that I'm really a monster, aren't you?" she asked quietly.

Hesitantly, nervously, fearfully, Silver nodded.

Diamond took a deep breath. She needed to be careful; treat the subject too breezily like she did with Scootaloo and she might lose Silver, too. She wasn't talking with an underling who only needed to be told what to do, she was talking with a friend who needed to be told why they were doing it.

"Silver," she began. "I know what you're thinking; 'Diamond's ignored the consequences of her actions in the past, who's to say she isn't doing so again? Who's to say she's not letting herself get lost in winning justice against Starlight and ignoring the Sirens committing injustice against the Unmarked?' I get that, Silver, I understand that, and I agree; I can't let myself get tunnel vision again, I can't blind myself if Aria or Sonata commit injustices against the Unmarked. But the thing is, fighting them, even killing them in the course of that, won't be committing injustice; it'll be a natural consequence of the choices they've made. They refused to explain themselves after the Riot, they ran from Captain Armor and the princess, they attacked the capitol and fled the law. Rebellion's the only word for what they did, Silver; not protest, not riot, rebellion. They broke Homestria's laws, rebelled against it, and made themselves the enemies of the kingdom. This isn't just political protesting anymore, this is war, and in war, however much we try to prevent it, people get killed; sometimes by accident, sometimes out of anger or evil, and sometimes because doing so will save more lives in the long run. People died at the Riot, Silver, and you saw what Starlight did to Guilden; how many more need to die before the Unmarked are stopped? I don't want anyone to die, get hurt, but that's not realistic here. Either I try to fight Aria, indirectly helping Starlight hurt, maybe even kill, more people, or I help Aria fight Starlight and prevent her from hurting anyone else. Neither of them is a good choice, but sometimes life doesn't give you any good choices and you're forced to choose the least-worst one. It's us or them, Silver."

Silver's voice dropped almost to nothing, along with the temperature. "Just like it was us or Sunset Shimmer?"

She doubled over, Silver's words a punch to the gut. This is different, she tried to justify herself, but all the air was knocked out of her. Eventually, she managed to recover enough to croak, "Do you have any better ideas?"

"Try to find Captain Armor," Silver whispered, faintly smiling at her success. "If we can talk to him before he fights Starlight, he-"

"-you won't," Aria growled, looming over them. "You're not as stealthy as you think, and I'm harder to escape from than you think. I hunted Starlight across half a continent, I can find you in a few acres of woods."

"Like you found Scootaloo?" Silver snarked.

"I didn't find her because I was trying to keep you alive and on track," Aria retorted. "If I didn't care about you, I'd have tracked her down by now."

"You don't care about us," Silver snapped. "You care about the pardon you can use us to get. We're not people to you, we're bargaining chips."

"And you expect me to believe you care about the Unmarked?" Aria snorted. "You're not worried about them, you're worried about your reputation, about waking up every day with ghosts behind your eyes, ghosts that you can't tell the world about without hurting your precious honor. You don't care that the Unmarked live, only whether you play a part in killing them or not."

"Liar," Silver argued. "I want them to live, just like I want us to; whatever they've done, they're still people, people with the same right to live that we have."

"Where was that right for Adagio?" Aria shot back. "Where was it for Guilden? Why should we treat them like they refused to treat us?"

"Because, unlike them and you, we're not monsters!" Silver spat. "We care about justice, not just how much we can hurt someone to feel better."

"They tortured my sister," Aria snarled. "What can they deserve aside from death?"

"Something more than being meat for a monster like you," Silver sneered.

"Like friendship?" Aria glared. "Redemption? An opportunity to make up for what they did? Where was that for us? Why do my sister's torturers deserve friendship but she didn't?"

"Because they're not hopeless monsters like you!" Silver shouted.

Aria's blade sang into her hand as Sonata and Zephyr rushed over, wide-eyed. "Maybe I am nothing but a monster," she whispered, her voice razor-sharp. "Maybe that's all I ever was, am, and will be. So, tell me," the dagger quivered pointing at Silver. "why should I ever try not to be one? Why should I not be what I really am?"

"Because it's good not to be one," Diamond spoke up, regaining her voice at last.

Aria barked something that might've been a laugh. "Why should a monster like your friend says I am care about being good?"

"Because I was a monster," Diamond whispered. "until I cared about being good. Not being good never got me anywhere; even if I seemed to be making progress, in the end it all just melted away. Being a bully helped me up until third grade, where it started holding me back and the bullying I'd done in the past made that even worse. Being a bad friend to Silver," she looked tenderly at her best friend. "helped me, right until it almost made me lose her forever. Trying to get rid of someone who I thought was a monster..."

Sunset weeping bitter tears as CHS tore itself apart around her...

"... only made me realize that I was turning into one," she clenched her fist. "Being a monster, being bad... in the end, the worst person you hurt is yourself. Look at you," she gestured at Aria. "You and Adagio have both tried being monsters. How's that turned out for you?"

"I've tried not being a monster," Aria hissed. "Your friend made it clear that she'll never see me as anything but one."

"I'll never stop seeing Sunset Shimmer as a monster."

"Never," she blinked back the memories. "doesn't last as long as it sounds. And even if it does... you'll still see the difference. And, speaking from personal experience?" Her shoulders sagged as she remembered. "Life's a lot easier when you're not constantly calling yourself a monster."

Paper and wood turning into a flame, sending her and Sunset's quarrels up in smoke...

"It would be even easier," Aria snorted, glaring at Silver. "if other people also stopped calling me that."

"Aria," Zephyr pleaded. "please, put the dagger away. You can't get other people to stop calling you a monster if you keep giving them reason to."

"I'd be less inclined to," she retorted. "if they stopped making me think it was the only thing I could do."

"People call you a monster because you keep acting like one," Diamond said. "You keep acting like one because people keep calling you one. There's no way out of that, Aria; you'll just keep fighting each other, day in and day out, forever and ever. The only way out is to stop the cycle, to stop listening to it. It's hard, but you need to stop acting like a monster, even if everyone else keeps calling you one; that's the only way..."

"Ask yourself: would the Sunset Shimmer you know--the real Sunset Shimmer, the person I am now--would she do this?"

"... you can get them to stop."

"You call that justice?" Aria spat. "You call that fair?"

"No," Diamond shook her head. "I call it what works."

Aria growled, baring her teeth, but eventually, mercifully, put her dagger away. Turning a glare as sharp as it on Silver, she snapped, "We're still not going to Captain Armor. We can't risk distracting him from Starlight."

"Then what do we do?" Diamond asked before Silver could protest. "Silver's right, we need to stop the monster cycle, not continue it. What else can we do?"

Aria snorted, but furrowed her brow in thought nonetheless. Turning north, she asked, "Sonata, do you remember the story Adagio told us about Hymnos?"

"Hm?" her sister quirked a brow. "The guy who stole Dagi's armor and pretended to be her while she was sick? Only he ended up getting captured, and then Dagi had to rescue him alone without armor, and then when she got him and her armor to safety she ripped out his-"

"Yes, him," Aria cut her off.

"Yeah," Sonata nodded. "Why?"

Her sister began brushing her hair back into a rough approximation of their lost sibling's style. "Time to see whether Adagio told the truth about something for once."