//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 – Border Affairs 
// Story: Evenfall: Waves in a Haven 
// by Yinglung 
//------------------------------//

The mares were having their weekly tea meeting in the Golden Oak Library. 

After a moment of harmless banter, Applejack suddenly leaned on her chair and said. “To be honest, Ah had expected bad things to closely follow the Canterlot Invasion, now that Twi’s pinin’ for the fjords.”

The other three mares looked at Applejack with stunned faces, but they nodded.

“I’m somewhat surprised that Equestria hasn’t been turned upside down by Twilight’s abrupt… departure.” Rarity shook her head.

Pinkie Pie said with a raised brow. “Girls, I’ve already exhausted my emergency stash of euphemisms. The only ones that hadn’t been used more than ten times are ‘pining for the fjords’, ‘bit the big one’ and ‘assumed room temperature’.”

Applejack and Rarity both did a mini-spit-take. Applejack tried to glare at Pinkie Pie disapprovingly, but at the end it turned into a defeated smile. 

“You cheeky varmint… But yeah, it’s too oddly peaceful. If Twilight’s… experiences had taught us anythin’, is that now things come to this, it will likely have some dire circumstances. But so far, we can still manage to have tea parties in peace.”

Pinkie Pie shot back with a grin. “Applejack, tempting fate is not healthy!”

Rarity said worriedly. “Although if King Sombra did come back at this very moment, then I’m not sure if Cadance and Shining Armor can still hold it together this time, or if we can grab the Crystal Heart in time. If not, then we all have to gear up for fighting.” 

“Well, then we’d have officially gotten ourselves into a bad-bad timeline. Ah’ve even got the work cut out for me.” 

Applejack jokingly wagged her hoof. “Ah’m half way into turnin’ Ponyville into an industrial wasteland anyway, together with Rarity. At least this is what we’re doin’ accordin’ to someone on the Mirror.”

Fluttershy sighed. “Applejack, we have to allow-”

“Ah get it, Ah get it. Free speech and all that. It’s just gettin’ a bit repetitive to explain the basic concept of social responsibility.”

Then, Trixie and Spike came out of the kitchen with trays of freshly-brewed tea.

“Oh?” Applejack smelled from afar and said, “This time it’s black tea… no, it’s dark tea.”

“Where do you get this fine Pu’er?” Rarity smiled. “I don’t think they even sell it in the big cities.”

“Heh, you know your tea!” Trixie chuckled. “I bought it from a shop dealing with exotic items in Canterlot.”

The mares looked at each other and chuckled, causing Trixie to give them a suspicious glance.

Pinkie Pie had a big gulp and grimaced. “Uck, it’s bitter!”

“You should drink it more slowly, Pinkie.” 

Fluttershy said. “It might be bitter at first, but it has a sweet after-taste.”

Just then, Spike burped. A new letter appeared in midst of the green flame.

He put down his cup of tea and read with narrowed eyes. “Um… Something happened it seems, and the Princesses want us in the capital.”

Spike awkwardly shuffled. This was the first time the princesses called them forth for a mission without Twilight. What could have happened that requires their help, now that her star student was not among them?

The mares except Trixie sharply inhaled. Pinkie whispered to Rarity. “… Has it finally showed up?”

“It’s been late on schedule.” 

Rarity leaned in and whispered back, and then woefully said. “I really shouldn’t have tempted fate…”

“What are you mares talking in secret?” Spike frowned.

Pinkie forcefully grinned. “Nothing! Just talking about, um, our schedules.”

“Did the princess specify what do she need us for?” Fluttershy asked.

Spike shook his head. “Nah.”

Trixie put a hoof to her mouth. “The princess did not call for me, did she?”

“Um, yeah.” Spike scratched his chin.

Trixie made a face and shrugged. “It's not that I'd expected I would be called upon. I’m not tied to Twilight as directly as you girls do anyway. I guess I shall keep an eye out of your things in Ponyville when you all go on another adventure.”

She then turned fretful and scratched her mane. “Stay safe, can you all promise Trixie?”

The mares and dragon nodded quickly.

“But.” Spike said. “Princess Celestia specifically require Discord to join us.”

The mares gasped lightly. 

“Must be somethin’ big, then.” Applejack muttered meaningfully.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So, princesses, what do you want from ol’ Discord and his bunch of splendid friends?”

Applejack shot Discord a glare, and calmly greeted. “Your Highnesses, Ah s’ppose that there must be a pinch of sorts fer you to summon us this quickly.”

“Indeed, Applejack.” Celestia said. “We want all of you to be our elite scouting force for an unknown threat.”

“Yes, Princess Celestia! We will go to the Cr—” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, then realized something was not right. ‘Unknown threat?’

Princess Luna raised an eyebrow at the incomplete outburst from the pink pony. “… Yes. Something happened in Las Pegasus, it seems.”

“Las Pegasus?!” The mares exclaimed, almost a bit too loudly.

Celestia looked at the utterly bemused expressions of the mares and slightly frowned. Even Spike and Discord turned to them with strange gazes.

“Um, sorry.” Applejack coughed and said.

“We, uh, was just think what could possibly befall the great city of Las Pegasus.” Rarity awkwardly smiled.

“… Very well.” 

Celestia raised an eyebrow, but continued regardless. “Confusing reports have been coming out of the city. All we know is that a horde of foreign ponies have descended upon the city, led by someone who seems to be called… Arcoris. Some say they came from the sea, others say they marched across the San Palomino Desert. We don’t know what their purposes are, but some claimed that the city had fallen to these strange ponies.”

The mares and Spike gasped. They all muttered aloud. “… Arcoris?” 

Discord merely stoke his goatee and grinned. “Ha, interesting…”

Princess Luna sighed. “Again, we don’t know who Arcoris is. We would go with you, but a lot of ponies were very concerned with one of the major cities in our kingdom suddenly falling to an unknown force. They’re afraid that it’ll be like the changeling invasion over again. We have to stay in the capital to ameliorate their fear. We can’t afford to have the administrative center of the kingdom fall into chaos.”

She deliberately stressed the last word with barely hidden spite, but Discord just shrugged back in equal obviousness, determined to grind the gears of the night princess.

“Fortunately though.” 

Celestia quickly said to stop Luna from bursting into a tirade. “So far there is no sign of explicit hostility. Although, the platoon of guards we sent into the city had not reported to us yet, so we want all of you to evade attention and enter the city to see what happened to the city and who these strange ponies are.”

The group gulped aloud. 

“Will do, Your Highnesses.” 

They slowly said in tandem, wondering what was in hold for them in the southern port town.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group decided to ditch riding train this time, since they were dealing with an army that might come with spies and scouts, and it would be too conspicuous. Instead, they boarded one of the many downstream boats along the Saddle River that transport gems to Las Pegasus.

Pinkie Pie was feeling quite unwell. To the surprise of others, she’s prone to travel sickness on boats. The mares tugged her to a blanket and stayed in the cabin. 

“Don’t you girls feel that Celly and Lulu are callously sending us on an extremely dangerous mission?” 

Discord leaned back on a chair and grumbled. “I mean, my power is limited now, and we have to face an entire horde of strange ponies emerging out of nowhere. Not even I know who this Arcoris fella is. Are we now their disposable pawns, huh? Cruel.”

Spike frowned and said. “Don’t say that about the princesses! They trust us to be competent enough to carry out this mission! Am I right?”

Spike smugly elbowed Applejack. But the orange mare was not paying attention at all, as she knitted her brows heavily. With Spike’s poke, she shot up and spluttered, “Um…. yes! Ah mean, absolutely!”

“What’s up with the scrunched-up faces?” Spike grimaced.

Rarity looked up to Spike uncertainly, and she simply sighed. This was the first ever threat to the Kingdom that they honestly don’t know what it was. Moreover, they were now two mares less, one draconequus more. That draconequus may or may not be reliable, though.

Fluttershy squeezed out a smile. “Um, those ponies do seem that they can be reasoned with, don’t they? After all, um… they haven’t come out and attacked another city in Equestria.”

“Yeah…” Discord said, “How do you explain that the disappearing platoon then? If they weren’t captured and imprisoned, then I don’t know what the heck happened. I simply don’t think they know how to wield my brand of chaos magic and hide them all behind a giant nacho. They might be another band of changelings for all I know.”

“If they’re changelings, then these’re some strange changelings.” Rarity said. “They don’t show themselves for one. And if they do feed on the love from the city ponies secretly…”

She put a hoof to her forehead with a frown. “Actually, this does seem somewhat likely. Changelings are naturally good at espionage and stealth. If changelings so desire love, they could have done it in secret, or even just asked politely when they’re in disguise.”

“Um, why would they take over the city though? Won’t alerting the princesses be bad for them?” Spike asked.

Rarity shrugged. “I don’t know, Spikey-wikey. Maybe it’s a misunderstanding after all? They could just be ponies that live south of the border.”

Spike shook his head. “Rares, I don’t think there are that many ponies that would prefer the wilds instead of the amenities they can enjoy in Equestria.”

“Well, no matter who our foe will be.” Applejack turned to the chaos spirit. “Discord is going to lead our attack. Although he’s wearin’ that power limiter thing, he’s still probably the most powerful among us.”

“That’s for sure, darling. My spells can only do so much.” Rarity nodded.

“We put our lives in your claws, Discord.” Fluttershy said with a sincere smile.

“… You girls really trust him enough to do this?” Spike asked in serious doubt.

Discord himself was in a bit of disbelief. “Yeah, I betrayed you all big time once, you know.”

“Oh not again.” Applejack massaged her temples. “How many times do we have to say that we’re over this? We saw you bein’ all mopey, we believed in your sincerity, and we got over it a long time ago.”

“I know a lot of ponies out there gave you evil eyes.” Fluttershy added. “But as long as you return to the right path, we’ll walk with you.”

“Besides, my dear chaos ex-monarch.” Rarity sardonically chuckled. “We can’t help if you really do suffer from some sort of chronic backstabbing disorder. If you do want to side with Chrysalis, Arcoris, or whatever ‘is’ of the week, go ahead. But we’d appreciate it if you can drop us a note though, so we can flee in advance.”

Applejack laughed heartily. Even Fluttershy broke into a gentle chuckle.

Spike, though, frowned incredulously. “Seriously?”

Applejack sighed. “What else can we do? We’re just a bunch of rural ponies who happened to befriend Twi and became Element-bearers once, so now we get royal assignments to do. Now that we’re without the Elements or Twilight…”

Spike winced, but Applejack simply continued. “… We’re now pretty much just normal ponies… Well, maybe Rarity can hold her own somewhat.”

Rarity shook her head quickly. “That’s a stretch, Applejack dear. Even with Twilight’s training, I can’t hold a candle to her or Discord’s level of power. For threats like this, the main reason the princess called upon us is simply to make use of our relationship with Discord to make him well-behaved enough and get things done. I believe that’s what they call ‘morality pets’.” 

“… Whoa, you girls do throw a straight ball.” Discord was stunned by their unreserved frankness.

“Isn’t it true though?” Applejack smirked. “Beside, we’ve invested so much to make you mellow enough.”

Spike raised an eyebrow and sighed. “You know what they say, when they see you girls hanging out with him…”

Fluttershy’s smile immediately vanished, and she lowered her gaze with sorrow.

“You think we didn’t notice?” Applejack huffed. “While some just said we must have the hearts of a saint to forgive him, others called us heartless and even crazy right to our faces.”

A brief moment of sadness and dismay flashed through Discord’s face.

Spike went wide-eyed. “Woah, I, uh…”

“You don’t have to feel sorry, Spike. That’s just the way it is.” Applejack said.

“Indeed, Spikey-wikey.” Rarity twirled her mane. “And it’s wrong to say we do it just because we don’t feel like quitting. Friendship is not something that can be reasoned with or calculated with an account book. It’s a matter of trust.”

Fluttershy nodded. “… What Discord did was seriously wrong. But he never wanted to see Twilight seriously harmed, nor did he directly harm her. You know what old ponies say, ‘Kindness is thrown away upon evil’, but he did not throw Twilight’s sacrifice away. Instead, he anguished, he mourned and he ached.”

“You may call us incredibly naïve.” Applejack closed her eyes. “Ah won’t deny it. But we think that once you decide to put trust into your friend, you should put it in your all, not just half-heartedly or secretly doubting all the time.”

Spike looked at the mares. He was at first slightly astounded, but he eventually nodded.

Discord’s face was inscrutable, but he quietly muttered. “… Thank you.” 

“Ha.” Rarity smirked. “This is so unlike you, O Lord of Chaos. We expect you to jab us with remarks on our gullibility and how it would cause us to be betrayed or swindled in the future.”

“Well.” Discord shrugged. “It’s kind of hard to do that, when you all just unreservedly throw your kindness to me like a cake to the face.”

“Wow, Discord knows how to be candid for once.” Applejack said.

Suddenly, someone jumped out from behind. However, the figure jumped too high and hit the ceiling of the cabin with a loud bang, and dropped to the ground like a rock.

“Pinkie!” Fluttershy gasped. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you taking a rest back there?”

Pinkie Pie winced in pain and touched her head. Tears were rolling in her eyes while she fired off wistfully. “I was sleeping and having a nice dream of big fun party but I think I just hear the word ‘cake’ and I was totally like ‘wow’ but then I was like ‘Oh gosh is there a party I had missed?!’ so I immediately wake up and come out to see if you all are having a party…!”

All the others on the boat rolled their eyes. 

“Oh isn’t that adorable.” Discord shook his head and smirked.

“We won’t dare to leave you out of a party.” Applejack looked to the ceiling. 

Rarity smiled. “Indeed, I fear I will be haunted by an overly clingy pink specter at night if we do that.”

“Hmph! You meanie!” Pinkie Pie glared at the white mare and huffed.

“Oh?” Applejack smirked. “Are we seeing two mares of Spike finally duke it out tonight?”

Discord grinned widely and made a ‘meow’ sound.

“Wh—What?!” Rarity and Pinkie Pie both yelped.

Applejack laughed at the embarrassed mares, while Spike just looked on awkwardly with bright red face. Fluttershy simple shook her head at the ridiculous cycle of teasing in front of her. The group chit-chatted and laughed well into the night, and then went to sleep with much of the tension gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group waked up next morning in full spirit. They looked out of the cabin window, the boat had surpassed the last trees of the White Tail Woods. They looked to their left, and the rugged sight of the Applewood Hills were replaced by high clouds, and the unlit but yet colorful lights of the Silver City—Las Pegasus.

The boat stopped at a river pier next to the railway, and the group surreptitiously got off the boat and avoided the main road. Even so, they still noticed a number of southward trains stopped short of the city, and some fearful and anxious ponies waiting to enter the city but did not dare to do so.

The group then walked on the meandering trails on the south side of the Applewood Hills. When they got close to the boundary of the city, they hid themselves in the few taller sage scrubs to shield themselves from the searing heat, and also to observe the situation in the city.

Las Pegasus, naturally, was a city founded by pegasi. Notably, it was the only other majority pegasi settlement in Equestria besides Cloudsdale. However, legends had it that the city was founded by ponies not from the east where the Equestrians came from, but from a seafaring pony nation from the south, as reflected by the non-Equestrian toponymy around the area. 

But all those mattered little to their mission, because with thousands of years of acculturation, Las Pegasus had long become a solidly Equestrian city.

Las Pegasus of today was divided into the Upper and the Lower Quarter. The Upper Quarter was formed from a giant agglomeration of cloud bases. There were a number of residential areas, but it was mainly an entertainment paradise fueled by lax city regulations. It was filled with mega-resorts, hotels and even casinos, something frowned upon by some puritanical Equestrians.

The Lower Quarter referred to the structures and buildings located on the ground directly below the clouds. There were also a wealth of entertainment venues to cater for non-pegasi visitors, but it was mostly dotted with holiday homes and villas. The port area was relatively small compared to other big cities of Equestria, but it was also where the bustling downtown and the market located in the Lower Quarter.

However, as the group discovered with shock, the port was brimming with strange ships. The ships were quite large in size. They were all square-rigged with four masts, resembling big galleons. However, multicolored lines and complex exotic motifs were also painted on the hull. The most obvious feature on the ships was the huge flags flying on their masts. Most of them were white with a dark blue circle in the middle. Inside the circle there was a white tree, which branched into multiple stars. None of them recognize where this flag was from.

They looked into the city. There were a lot of ponies in dark blue military uniform. Also, some sort of parade seemed to be going on. The locals, instead of fleeing into their houses, seemed to be crowding around the parading troops. Farther to the port, they could not see very clearly, but smoke emerged from a giant bonfire as ponies shuffled around it.

“There doesn’t seem to be any sign of conflicts and destruction in the city.” Applejack said matter-of-factly.

“Indeed, if this is an occupying force, it has to be the most disciplined and polite one ever.” Rarity said.

“But look at the ponies there.” Pinkie Pie pointed towards the main road leading to the north. “They don’t seem to let ponies in or out of the city. They’re definitely a bunch of meanies!”

“Hmm, we should take a look then.” Applejack said. “Pinkie, we’re goin’ to just wait her fer you.”

“Wait, what?” Spike said. “When was it decided to let Pinkie be our scout?”

“Pinkie is the best at stealth among us.” Rarity said.

“Is she?” Spike asked.

Rarity just pointed to Spike’s back with amusement. He turned and looked, and he immediately gasped, almost choking himself.

Two Fluttershys were standing behind him. They were both looking at each other wide-eyed.

Applejack snickered while Discord popped a popcorn into his mouth.

“Now, Spikey-wikey. You know Pinkie and Fluttershy, tell me which one is the real Fluttershy.” Rarity smiled.

Spike tentatively asked. “Uh, which one of you is Fluttershy?”

“Um… I am?” “Um… I am?”

“I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.” Spike slapped the nearby tree trunk and narrowed his eyes. “Okay, the real Fluttershy would know what I brought to her cottage the day before we left Ponyville.”

“Breezies: a Brief Beckoning.” The two muttered at the same time, and then looked at each other quizzically.

Spike sighed, and he fired off a few more questions about Fluttershy. However, the two Fluttershys gave identical answers each time. He slightly gulped. He’s less worried about not recognizing the real Fluttershy, and more worried about not recognizing Pinkie by picking the wrong one. He would get his backside grilled if that ever happened.

“Grr, how is this a proof for Pinkie’s stealth ability anyway?” Spike groaned aloud. “This is just showing that Pinkie’s a stalker.”

“Same difference.” Rarity smirked.

One of the Fluttershys shuffled imperceptibly, but Spike caught onto it immediately. He smiled smugly and put his claws to her face. He blew a light breeze onto her cheek. “You…”

The yellow cheek of the mare started to furiously redden. Spike could almost see steam emerging from her ears. Spike observed and proceeded to plant a kiss onto her cheek. 

The other Fluttershy looked with a slight blush of her own. “Oh my…”

The kissed mare could take it no more, and discard her disguise. With a split in the suit, a blushing Pinkie emerged. “Wh—What are you doing in front of all ponies, Spike?!”

“Why, Pinks, I simply do my best.” Spike bowed with a flourish.

“You put on a nice show, dragon boy.” Discord chuckled.

“Well, well, you see now Spike.” Applejack said. “Unless you’re a lover of Pinkie, you can’t see through her disguise.”

“Spike…” Pinkie Pie recovered from her embarrassment and narrowed one of her eyes, “How could you kiss me so casually when I looked just like Fluttershy? Hmm—?”

“Eep!” Fluttershy blushed at the thought of Spike accidentally kissing herself. Rarity just shook her head and chuckled.

‘Aw crap, she’s jealous again.’ Spike thought. “Um, well yeah, I knew it’s definitely you.” 

He grinned. “Call it a lover’s instinct.”

“Okay, we should really tie things up.” Rarity stopped the skit before it could go further on. She then wiped her forehead with a handkerchief. “This place is incredibly hot and uncomfortable.”

“Hey wait,” Spike spread his arms, “So how’s Pinkie going to sneak in anyway?”

Pinkie re-donned her Fluttershy disguise and put up a Las Pegasus accent, “Don’t worry about the sneaking-in part. Las Pegasus is so vast and has no wall, there couldn’t have patrolled all borders. I bet they didn’t expect anypony to sneak in from the steep hillside. Once I’m in, I’m going to pretend I’m one of the locals. Hence I need a pegasus outlook. I even have the papers ready!” She cheerfully held up an ID card with Fluttershy’s face on it.

“How did…” Fluttershy stuttered. “… Never mind.”

“Good luck, Pinkie.” Applejack said, and the pink pony in disguise immediately dashed away.

Rarity looked on for a moment, then suddenly turned to Discord as she remembered something. “Wait a second. I think you could also have made a convincing disguise. You’re a spirit of trickery after all… Or you’re not powerful enough now that your power is limited?”

“Hmph. Who said so?” Discord snapped his finger, and then he turned into… the likeness of Fluttershy. 

“Um… why me again?” Fluttershy spluttered.

“Cut it out, you’re freaking Spike out.” Rarity chided, pointing at the back-stepping dragon.

“Alright, alright. Funless gits. Why was it okay when Pinkie did it?” Discord groaned gruffly in the yellow mare’s voice, causing a lot of awkward glances. But he then flashed and changed appearance, this time into a grey pegasus with a tornado as his cutie mark.

“Hey, not bad!” Applejack said. “Why didn’t you step up just now?”

Discord rolled his eyes, “Be—cause you didn’t ask, miss Applejack.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hah—” Rarity let out an unladylike groan, as she fanned herself using a piece of palm leaf. “This place is like a frying pan!”

Suddenly, a giant tumbleweed rolled and stopped next to them. Then a cheerful yellow pony popped out. “Hi everyone!”

“Oh, Pinkie, thank goodness!” Rarity said.

“You got what’s going on inside the city?” Applejack asked.

“Well…” Pinkie Pie said and scratched her cheek, “It’s bizarre. The strange ponies speak a variety of Cruzesian.”

“Cruzesian?” Spike asked quizzically.

Pinkie explained. “It was one of the tongues spoken by a tribe of ponies on the old continent thousands of years ago, long before the main migration of the three tribes.” 

Applejack frowned. “Darn, Ah’d reckon that if any pony tribe from some ancient vanished past was to come back, Cruzesians won’t really make the top ten spots. Crystal ponies yeah, but not people of the Crux?”

Spike was simply bemused to see the mares begin to talk about obscure ancient tribes like which type of sandwich they were going to have for tea.

Rarity looked at the dragon and took his bemusement as non-understanding, so she added. “Cruzesians were in fact one of the first groups of ponies to cross the seas to the West to trade and explore. Their symbols were the constellation of Southern Cross, hence their name. Most of them thought Equestria was too cold and drifted south across the sea to the distant Amarezons. Few Equestrians have ever stepped hooves that down south, and none of the nations there, if there’s any, ever sent a delegation to Equestria, so we really don’t know much about the place except that there’s a really big forest, much larger than Everfree.”

“Um…” Spike’s mouth opened wide at the flux of information.

“By the time the pony migration to Equestria was completed, there were only a smattering of Cruzesians left in the Old Lands. Sadly, their colony in the Amarezons stopped sending goods to them, and their capital had been hit by yet another terrible earthquake and crumbled entirely. Most important of all, the fleet that carried the fleeing Cruzesian royals to the Amarezons to evade the quake disappeared entirely. The remaining Cruzesians were leaderless and homeless, and under the encroaching threat from the griffons, they had no choice but to seek refuge from Equestrians to the West.”

Spike finally managed to speak out and interrupted. “Wait a second, how do you girls know so much about some ancient and distant unknown ponies?”

“As I said, Spikey-wikey, the Cruzesians came to Equestria left records of their own.”

Spike rolled up his eyes briefly and emphasized. “No, I mean, how do you girls know so much about them?”

Rarity only then realized that Spike was questioning the source of their knowledge. The mares looked to each other with fluster, while Discord observed with a narrowed eye. The white mare coughed and said. “Y- Yes, dear, you know, uh… while practically nopony gives a hoot to history this ancient, Twilight, yes, Twilight read them all, and she taught us just like how she taught you about those foreign languages.”

“I somehow doubt that the topic of some ancient pony tribe will just come up in daily conversation frequently enough that it warrants a lesson.”

Rarity sweat-dropped. She surreptiously elbowed Applejack with her back hoof. The orange mare winced, but she gave in and quickly asked the pink mare as a distraction. “Hey Pinkie, so what are they doin’ here? Amarezon is quite a way away!”

“Uh… I’m sorry.” Pinkie Pie blushed. “I was mobbed when they saw a local can speak some form of their tongue. They didn’t even bother to check my papers. I only managed to glean that they do call their leader Arcoris and they claim they meant us no harm.”

Pinkie Pie then brightly grinned. “Besides, they are super-duper fun party ponies! They are constantly dancing, singing and parading! I never ever got dragged to a party instead of bringing others to my own party, they are a hundred out of ten!”

“Huh… So if we speak Cruzesian, we don’t even need to disguise ourselves. We can probably just walk around in the city with a free pass.” Applejack said.

The mares then all looked to Discord. 

“What?” Discord said.

“Do you speak Cruzesian?” Applejack asked, “This time we explicitly ask you.”

Discord shrugged and clapped. A dark murky gap in space-time suddenly opened above his head. A thick book titled ‘O novo guia da conversação em crusez e equestriano’ fell out of the gap and directly into a slot that promptly opened on the draconequus head, much like a vending machine. Discord then did make some strange noises in his head, like gears clanking against each other and coins rolling through a slit.

With a sound of ‘ding’, he opened his eyes wide and said. “Pronto para ir!” 

“What the hay!” Spike said aloud.

Applejack’s eyes were twitching already. “Okay, Ah’m not questionin’ that as long as it works…”

Rarity said while flapping her fan quickly. “Yes dear, let’s go, we’ve waited here under the sun long enough!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group waded into the city from the hillside, passing through the bungalows dotting the city circumference and onto the main street. Discord had transformed into his disguise of a grey stallion, although he did not look exactly comfortable at maintaining it for so long.

As they walked near the crowd, they confirmed that just as Pinkie Pie reported, parading and partying ponies filled the street, with cheers and songs rising high into the air.

They observed the uniformed foreign ponies. The Cruzesians were not the bulkiest bunch, but fit without exception. All of them wore dark blue uniforms. Despite the apparent solemnness of their outfits, most of them sported casual expressions and big grins, as they invited the locals to dance a lively, rhythmical dance that was unfamiliar to their eyes. 

Suddenly, the noises surrounding them quieted down. The dancing ponies scrambled to two sides of the street as a formation of some sort marched onto the main street. They were a regiment of military band which wore short, blue cylindrical hat on their head and carried trumpets and drums.

The Cruzesians in the crowd hurriedly saluted to the band when they saw them coming in. Some locals also saluted out of respect or curiosity, but the Cruzesians didn’t seem to force them to do so.

Closely following the military band was another regiment of army choir, who began to sing aloud after the initial beats of the drums.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are your children
Patriots whose hearts
Never fear a fight;
We live, and march,
For we are dedicated to Cruzes!

Our resolve was never overcome,
For it’s valuable and boundless,
In the heat of the battle,
Let us show,
That we have in our motherland,
Immense value,
In the intense fight.

You are the noblest infantry,
Weapons of the homeland,
For you give life to me,
And the glory promised,
On the battlefield,
It is with you,
Before the enemy,
Amidst the sorcerous fire!

You are our eternal majesty,
Amid the row of fighters,
You are an entity,
Of the bravest.
When the touch of victory
Mark our joy,
I will sing,
I will cry:
You are the noblest infantry!

Cruzes, I will give you my love,
All the sap and vigor,
That in my chest enclosed,
Frigates!
Brigades!
My faithful friends in the battles!

O! My beloved pennant,
Sacred flag,
The glory leads,
With sublime light,
Love is expressed,
We shall march to war,
And all evil will perish! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Although Pinkie wanted to enjoy the parade and music, she decided it would be better to translate the lyrics to Spike so that he might also know what’s going on. After she’s done, she turned to the other mares and commented. “Whoa, that’s one very beefcake song!”

Fluttershy frowned. “Hopefully their stance is not as warlike as their songs.”

Applejack stroke her cheek and said. “So far we’ve also been seeing mostly pegasi, and only a few unicorns.” Applejack said.

“Perhaps we can…” Fluttershy said.

“Yu vaive wich de dragon.” A heavily accented voice rang from behind the group, briefly startling them.

They turned and saw a mint green unicorn with light yellow mane. She was wearing a military uniform somewhat distinct with other Cruzesians, with bands of white and green on her shoulder. However, she was looking at the group suspiciously.

“Yu ar not from arounde heree. Uohwea ar yor peipas?”

Spike’s mouth opened and closed as he could not understand an ounce of her accented Equestrian. The mares looked to each other, and Pinkie Pie surreptitiously elbowed Fluttershy.

The yellow mare sharply inhaled. She understood Pinkie Pie as the pink mare had used her identity in the city before. So she tentatively said,

“Greetings, my friend. I’m Fluttershy.”

The mint green mare widened her eyes and then grinned. 

“Ha, you must be the one the soldiers are talking about. You talked and joked with them in Cruzesian, huh?”

“… Yes.” 

Fluttershy gulped. She didn’t really know what Pinkie had said using her guise.

The mint green mare smirked.

“Very good. My lady is very keen to meet you after we described you to Her Grace. She's curious about who could have spoken our language in this foreign land.”

‘Sua Graça…’ The mares gazed at the mint green unicorn meaningfully.

“Um, just me?”

Fluttershy spluttered.

“Of course, you are the one who speaks Cruzesian, right?”

“In fact, my friends can speak it too.”

“Name’s Applejack, nice to meet you.”

“Rarity, fashion designer and businessmare.”

“Hi! I'm Pinkie! I plan parties and make ponies happy!”

“Uh ... I'm Spike?” Spike recited the only Cruzesian phrase he knew, freshly taught by Pinkie.

“'Grey Wind', professional troublemaker.”

The mint green unicorn narrowed her eyes on Discord. Fluttershy bit her lips and elbowed the mischievous chaos spirit. 

“He's just kidding.”

“Well, it's not funny. Come then, all of you! Our duchess is in the clouds.”

“Hey, I do not know your name yet.” Pinkie asked.

“…Brigadier Mistral Trail, Law and Order Brigade.” 

The mint green unicorn continued. “Anyway, some of you are non-pegasus. You need me to cast you a cloud-walking spell?”

Rarity shook her head. 

“We can manage it ourselves, thank you.”

The white mare poked Discord. He sighed and lit his horn at the same time as Rarity. After a few enveloping flashes, the cloud walking spells were casted on the mares and the dragon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group ascended to the Upper Quarter along with Mistral Trail in a hired hot-air balloon. It was a lot larger than Twilight’s Twinkling Balloon, resembling a medium-sized coach more than a small basket. It seemed to be the method of choice for non-pegasi in Las Pegasus to get onto the Upper Quarter. 

Mistral Trail sat at the other side of the balloon. She was flipping over some reports to read, but it was plainly obvious to the group that she was observing each of their moves. It was also less obvious, but still apparent that the mare was not fond of great height herself, as she showed some unease looking out of the basket.

“So… I thought this would be more difficult.” Spike said.

“What more difficult?” Applejack asked.

“Getting to see their leader, I mean. Isn’t it what we come here for?” Spike scratched his head.

“Mind you,” Rarity lowered her voice. “We’re still not clear about the detailed status of the city, nor did we manage to ask any more locals or lower-rank soldiers. They seemed friendly and non-hostile, but there is no reason for us to trust them before we understand their motive.”

“Rarity is right.” Fluttershy said. “Why would they cordon off the city if they come fully in peace? The parades and festivities may as well be a façade to calm down or even scare the populace into submission.”

“Not the mention once we’re in their camp, we’ll be at their mercy.” Applejack said and looked at Discord, who looked back and said nothing.

The group then waited in a heavy silence, and occasionally glanced at Mistral Trail, who smirked and pretended to keep on reading.

The balloon passed through a vertical shaft in the cloud column, and reached the upper surface of the giant white cloud. As Mistral Trail took flight to anchor the balloon, the group looked out and took a first look of the scenery of the Upper Quarter.

“Whoa.” Spike’s mouth was agape.

“No wonder they say that Las Pegasus is a miracle in the desert.” Rarity tapped her chin.

While the Lower Quarter was a respectable city dotted with red-tiled houses with stuccoed walls and green promenades irrigated by hillside aqueducts, the Upper Quarter was another world entirely. 

Fleets of chariots dashed across the piling cloud tops. The cloud they were parking upon was roughly rectangular, and hosted the largest conglomeration of buildings. They were sprawling hotels, malls and casinos lined on the two sides of the wide boulevard and shaped like an eclectic mix of miniature replicas of landmarks all across Equestria, and other curious objects. There were the Canterlot Castle, the Harmony Bell from Fillydelphia, Rainbow Falls, the Wild South, and even a few that were shaped like giant horseshoes and saddles.

“Look.” Despite the group’s amazement at the stunning scenery, Fluttershy quietly pointed towards the parameters of the Upper Quarter. Numerous squadrons of pegasi rode on small cloud-based outpost to guard against possible intrusions from the sky. The streets were also full of patrolling Cruzesian soldiers.

However, as they had noticed, the pegasi moved very slowly and cautiously... As if they were afeared of something. 

“Discord, do you think you can take on the force here?” Applejack hesitantly asked.

“Are you serious?” Discord grimaced. “Keeping this disguise already drains a large part of my energy. Taking on all these trained soldiers is the same as putting our heads on their chopper.”

Rarity sighed. “But can you at least get us out when there is any danger?”

“With your help, maybe.” Discord grumbled. “But it depends on where she’s taking us to. If there are a lot of bystanders, my claws will be quite tied.”

“Good for you to think about not harming innocent ponies, Discord.” Fluttershy smiled.

Discord rolled his eyes, that’s when the balloon finally landed on a parking lot. Mistral Trail swiftly flown back and gestured the group to move out, passing through a few security patrol. However, when they got out of the balloon, Applejack noticed a strange glimpse in Mistral Trail’ eyes, making the orange pony somewhat uneasy.

Mistral Trail kept her mouth closed along the way despite her initial friendly demeanor. She merely gestured to the group to indicate which way to go, as they trotted through the sun-bleached boulevard.

After a short walk, they reached a palace-themed hotel. It was unique among all the buildings on the Upper Quarter, because it was surrounded with a circular wall. While it was decorative and obviously could not stop flying pegasi, it still served as a physical line of security.

They cleared another layer of guards, and passed through the beautifully maintained garden with fountains and white columns. However, the luxurious atmosphere was marred by the obviously hastily-built army camp in its midst. It seemed that quite a lot of Cruzesian soldiers were camped there.

“… How many soldiers are there?” Rarity whispered to Discord.

“Er, why would you ask me?”

“Well, you were king for a while, so I figure you would know a bit of military.”

“Hm, you aren’t exactly wrong, but I much preferred having fun than fighting.” 

Discord gave a cursory glance to the encampment. “I would say four or five battalions here alone. The patrol around the Upper Quarter probably form another one battalion. We didn’t get a good look below, but judging from what I saw from the balloon, the Lower Quarter probably has three to six battalions, including those non-combat ponies like those in the band and choir. Of course we don’t know if there are more in the ships, but if you want a conservative quote from me, I would say their force is about two-and-a-half to three thousands strong.”

“I agree. The area coverage was about right.” 

“Now.” Discord raised an eyebrow. “How would you know about anything military, seamstress?”

Rarity smiled and kept her mouth closed. Instead, she just looked at the chaos spirit with a glowing gaze, causing him to fluster a bit. “What?”

“You’re quite good at this, aren’t you?” The white mare smirked. “You’re paying quite a lot of attention along the way too. We really appreciate it.”

Discord huffed. “… It’s my life that I’m also betting on this crazy scheme.”

Rarity merely smilingly shook her head. Applejack overheard their conversation and added. “Three-thousand ponies! Mah stars!”

“We’re going to try diplomacy first.” Fluttershy said.

“And nice talks! And perhaps over some sweet tea as well!” Pinkie Pie smiled.

“If they’re willin’, of course.” Applejack sighed and whispered. “But these ponies gave me the willies. There must be somethin’ they’re still hidin’ from us. And for that matter…” 

She blinked her eyes and surreptitiously gestured to Mistral Trail, who walked behind them at a distance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They finally walked into the main building, which was converted into a temporary command center. Officers busily shuffled around, occasionally throwing a glance at them as they were non-uniformed. Some of them attempted to salute Mistral Trail as she passed through, but she merely waved them down.

Finally, they reached what was apparently the largest reception hall in the hotel. Mistral Trail led the group straight into the room. Two lines of ceremonial guards dotted the sides of the room. 

A few seemingly high-ranking officer types were also present. The mares glanced at Mistral Trail, and were surprised that there was the first signs of unease on her face. They could not help but think if there was something wrong there.

At the end of the hall was a silk curtain, and an equine figure sat behind. The voice was curiously familiar, and the mare had been talking with those officers before they came in. 

The shadowy figure shifted, and seemed to notice the arrival of the mares. It was difficult to gauge the body language through the veil, but there seemed to be a sense of surprise.

The announcer at the door blew its trumpet, and the ponies at the side of the room began to sing in Cruzesian again.

“Our duchess denies her virtues,
And shrouds her talents.
She denies how sublime she is,
Like a beautiful aurora that breaks.

The call of the Motherland
Behold, shall it unleash,
From the Amarezons,
To the Palominos!"

“Holy Mackerels, ‘to the Palominos’!” Applejack whispered.

“… Do they sing this whenever someone come in?” Pinkie Pie instead grinned.

Mistral Trail suddenly sneaked near, gave her a glare for her improper remarks, but then lightly whispered. 

“Just to important guests.”

Pinkie Pie gulped at Mistral Trail’s good hearing, as she wondered if she heard their previous strategic discussions after all. That was when the silk curtain was drawn aside.

“What?!” Spike forgot all decorum and yelled aloud.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me.” Applejack shook her head. The other mares simply gazed in shock. 

Discord, however, struck a big grin, “Hey, this is the best prank she’s ever pulled yet.”

Sitting on the elaborately-sculpted chair was a stern-looking cyan mare. She was wearing a dress uniform with insignias and medals. She was wearing a coronet weaved with colorful exotic feathers and pieces of gold, but her rainbow mane still strutted out prominently. She raised her eyebrows at their sight, but her face remained inscrutable.

“Dashie!” Pinkie Pie jumped and cheered loudly. “It was you all along! Ha ha! You have us so, so worried!”

Discord couldn’t bear it and laughed aloud. “What’s with the song just now? Rainbow Dash and humility? Ha ha ha!”

“Rainbow, how in the hay did you become a duchess?!” Rarity asked in disbelief.

The cyan mare only looked at the raucous mares and grimaced. Her left eye slightly narrowed and then widened, but then she just shook her head. The other Cruzesian ponies in the hall also shot heavy glares of disapproval to the group.

Mistral Trail bowed to the cyan mare, and made a curious gesture in front of her chest. The cyan mare behind the desk blinked, and the mint-green unicorn began.

“Your Grace, these ponies clearly do not know ways in front of a duchess. Moreover, they seemed to be engaged in suspicious espionage. I propose that we should arrest them for the crime of lese majeste."

The cyan mare looked a bit surprised for a split-second, but that was barely caught by the mares, who were more shocked at the accusations made by the ostensibly friendly unicorn offier. The cyan mare replaced her expression with a neutral one, gazed hard at all the ponies present and quickly said authoritatively.

“Make it so.”

The group gasped and sharply turned to Mistral Trail, and then the cyan mare. “Dashie! Do you not recognize us?” 

Pinkie Pie yelled. Her pupil shrank as she and her friends were restrained by the guards nearby.

Rarity gritted her teeth. Could they have wrongly recognized the Cruzesian duchess as Rainbow Dash? After all, it did seem more likely for the two to be two individuals with striking resemblance, than Rainbow Dash somehow becoming the duchess of a far-flung nation. 

However, the resemblance was too hauntingly close, down to the mane-style and color of her eyes. Unfortunately though, her cutie mark was covered by her uniform, so she could not pin it down yet.

Discord also frowned deeply as he glanced uncertainly at the cyan mare. He then turned to Rarity, but the white mare bit her lips and shook her head. The defense nearby was too heavy for them to safely break out in one piece.

They were hurriedly herded to a storage room of sorts behind the hall, and then the door banged close, confining the group inside.

Spike put his ears to the door and listened as the sound of hoof-steps grew distant, and then he nodded to the others.

“That’s it?” Applejack frowned. “They threw us into a storage room and expect us to just stay here?”

Rarity let out a frustrated breath. “They must be quite sure of their degree of security to keep us here despite the fact that there are two magic-users and a dragon.”

“Or they’re just stupid.” Discord scoffed. “Why didn’t we resist arrest just now? I can blast a way out at least.”

“I still don’t believe we’ve mistaken. That mare must be Rainbow.” Rarity said.

“But we didn’t get to see her cutie mark.” Fluttershy shook her head.

“And Dashie wouldn’t have done something this mean to us…” Pinkie Pie sulked. “Maybe she wasn’t Dashie, she just looks really like Dashie.”

“No use sulkin’ here, diplomacy failed even before it begins. We should find a way out first and return to the princesses with our information.” Applejack said.

“How about this?” Spike pointed towards a ventilating shaft at the corner of the room. He walked near it, climbed the wall and attempted to dismount the cover, but to everyone’s shock, it suddenly dropped and knocked Spike on the head.

“Ouch!”

“Oh dear, I’m sorry, Spike!”

“Eh?!” The mares let out a yelp of surprise.

The mares and Discord watched with widened eyes as two ponies emerged from the newly opened shaft. One of them was Mistral Trail, the other was the ‘duchess’ they just saw, minus the coronet.

The cyan mare helped up the dragon and turned with a slight frown. “I say, Mistral Trail, that’s one weird way to get the officers out of the room.”

Mistral Trail looked discomfited. “Your Grace, I’m terribly sorry. I just noticed that the officers were dismayed at how they, um, hollered at you, and I figure that they might not be satisfied if something is not done. It just happened that you need an alone time to talk with them, so I figure that I might be able to do two things at once.”

The mint green unicorn peeked at the cyan mare, who still said nothing. She flustered and added. “I- I, Your Grace, I do think that there is a need to assuage the hurt in their pride. These officers are all sons and daughters of Overseers, and while their loyalty is undoubted, they absolutely can’t stand authority being shouted at. If we didn’t do something back then, th- they would-”

The cyan mare scratched her head and said. “Okay, Misty, I get it, I’m not blaming you a bit. I was just thinking how to explain to them later that these are indeed my friends.”

“Wait.” Rarity said. “So you are Rainbow Dash?”

“What the hay, Rainbow! That’s one Tartarus of a greeting after six darn moons of no-see.” Applejack scoffed.

The cyan mare grimaced and flustered a bit. “Come on, I’m sorry, okay? I’m now the commander of the Cruzesian expedition and Grand Duchess of Nova Esperança, I need some manners and decorum in front of all the general and minister-types. We also need a private space to reconnect, and Misty put it well. ”

“Oh by Harmony, we have so many questions.” Rarity rolled her eyes up.

“Hang on…” Spike said to Mistral Trail. “Now you can speak good Equestrian?”

“Well…” Mistral Trail scratched her head. “I’m the one who kind of… persuade Her Highness to Cruzesia in the first place.”

“’Duped’ would be a better word.” Rainbow grinned helplessly.

“No, Your Grace, it is by fate and divine mandate that you’re the savior of our teetering nation!” Mistral Trail corrected emphatically.

“Fate?” Spike said in doubt.

Mistral Trail sensed the disbelief in the group’s eyes, but she merely nodded. “It’s a long story, but I promise I will get there.”

“It’s not like we have anything to do other than listening to your blabbering here.” Discord said with barely contained sarcasm.

The mint green unicorn seemed to be oblivious to his biting remark. “I was the listener of the winds in my arboretum. My job was to occasionally come out of the dome and use my magic listen to the Envoys, different birds that sing about news of good or bad omens.” 

“The Cruzesians are mostly pegasi, right? Why don’t they live on clouds?” Applejack asked.

“Our forefathers decided to build our homes on the trees, or arboreta, in a small part because we have a few unicorns, like me, in our midst. However, we built the arboreta mainly because of the frequent conflicts ever threatening presence of the Boiúna.” 

Mistral Trail bit her lips. “The Boiúna, or Black Snake, was a very powerful being that waded through the Amarezons and can take on various shapes. She destroyed the settlement of our first forefathers, before we managed to build the fortified arboreta, arm ourselves to the teeth and made an uneasy peace with her, at the expense of cutting off communications with the outside world. Boiúna literally fed on pony’s pain, so ponies in the arboreta had to appease her by ritualistically self-flagellate periodically, or something much, much worse would happen.”

Mistral Trail unbuttoned her uniform and showed the lash scars on her shoulder. The mares and Spike wheezed in shock. Discord, however, just glanced with passing curiosity. 

“Boiúna was a being of discolor that quite literally sucked the color of life out of ponies, the dweller of the Amarezons believe that he would finally be defeated by a Pony of Many Colors.”

“Oh, I know what’s coming.” Spike glanced at Rainbow Dash, who smirked diffidently.

“Came one day, an ararinha-azul arrived by my side when I listened to the winds. In legends they say ararinha-azul only appears when cataclysmic changes are coming. It descended from the tail-end of a rainbow, gestured to the far north, beyond the celestial equator, and sang of a vanquisher of great evil. I immediately reported to the Overseers and urged them to send out an expedition to find this hero, but they refused. They said it was because our numbers are dwindling, and they care for stability of the arboretum above all things.”

Mistral Trail inhaled sharply. “Still following?”

“Well, yeah…” The mare muttered, while Discord let out a big yawn.

“I’m sorry for the long-winded lecture, but it’s needed for you to know why we’re here and why Her Grace became our leader.”

“So,” Spike asked, “You went north to Equestria, found Rainbow Dash and make her your duchess?”

“Er… I didn’t ennoble Her Grace, nor could I. It could only be done by the King of Cruzesia in theory, but we don’t have any royal ruling over us for thousands of years. The Overseer’s Council took the liberty of assuming royal powers and conferred the honor on Her Grace.”

“Okay…” Spike decided to leave the intricacy of Cruzesian government system to later discussions.

“But indeed, I left the protection of my arboretum to search for the Pony of Many Colors alone. It was a dangerous journey, and I almost lost my life just to get out of the Amarezons and reach the coast. Then I spent most of the time building a small boat and sailed across the sea. Even though I had maps of old, the journey was still longer than I expected, and supplies almost ran out. Fortunately, after forty days, I eventually landed, and I wandered through the Little Amarezons… ‘Forbidden Jungle’ as called by Equestrians, then the Badlands and the dry deserts in the south for moons. On my journey, I managed to learn a bit of Equestrian from the few pioneers there, and I wanted to gather more information before moving further north.”

“Okay, may I continue from here?” Rainbow Dash interjected. “Figure you all need my perspectives as well.”

Mistral Trail nodded, and Rainbow Dash continued. “So I went to the Badlands to find Twilight. I quickly tracked down each and every individual sighting of changelings, but they were all duds. I flew all the way across the jungle to the Skull Coast, and stopped by a small sheep village called Dibebito, that’s where I met Mistral Trail. She was injured and emaciated. I asked the villagers, and found out she was attacked by a Tatzlwurm. The villagers and I helped her to a bed, but since she was barely conscious and only murmured in Cruzesian, and I was the only pony who knew Cruzesian there, I sort of became the temporary care-taker out of necessity.”

Mistral Trail couldn’t help but chuckled. “Her Grace may sound brash, but she’s one of the kindest ponies I have ever met. She took care of me for a few days. When I finally awoke, heard her Cruzesian despite not being my compatriots, and saw her flowing rainbow mane, I knew I have found the one.”

“I still think the whole prophesy thing is ridiculous. Vanquisher of evil in the north… It can mean anything!” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“Well, you also carried with you a flying turtle. Who else would bring a symbol of Hahnunah around if she’s not somepony special?”

“Hah-what?” Spike asked.

“Hahnunah is the Divine Flying Turtle that lifted the Amarezons out of the seas. He is held sacred by most of us.”

“I’d never in a thousand years think that Tank would become a religious symbol.” Applejack massaged her forehead to a brightly grinning Pinkie Pie.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and smiled wryly. “So yeah, when Mistral Trail seemed to have recovered and I was about to leave, she mentioned to me that she had been wandering in the Badlands for a long time. So naturally, I asked if she had seen Twilight or Chrysalis. And that’s when the biggest blunder happened.”

Rainbow Dash clasped her face while Mistral Trail chuckled. "Misty said she had never seen Twilight, but when I mentioned to her that I was hunting down a shapeshifting black creature who can feed on life force, her eyes almost lit up like a signal flare. I swear she wanted to immediately drag me across the sea right there and then.”

Rainbow Dash exhaled in defeat. “So I thought I was onto something. We then pretty much rushed south across the sea… As far as you can to make a thousand-league sail anyway.”

“Thousand leagues! It’s more than double the distance from Manehattan to Vanhoofer! Are you saying that you went that far away from Equestria?” Spike gasped.

“It’s way down across the Equator, so absolutely yes! Distance is not really the biggest problem though.”

“Why?”

Rainbow Dash made a scary face. “The seas around the Amarezons are cursed…”

The dragon widened his eyes. He gulped, but then he calmed himself down and asked with an uncertain gaze. “How? It can’t be that bad if you all safely crossed the sea, right?”

The cyan mare threw her hooves up and said. “Tsk, you’ve grown a bit too smart to scare.”

Rainbow Dash gave a careless glance to Mistral Trail, who then picked up and said. “Ever since the ancient times, the seas to the south are notorious for mysterious disappearances of ships. This is what earned the Sea of Miasma its name. The discovery of a safe route to Amarezons was a matter of trial and error by our forefathers. With nautical maps, we’re largely safe. But it’s still understandable that ponies other than us would not want to sail near a sea that famously swallowed so many pony fleets.”

“So what did you two see and do when you’re back in the Amarezons?” Rarity asked.

Mistral Trail looked to the cyan mare and bit her lips. “We did not encounter any threat from the minions of Boiúna on our way back to the arboretum. It turned out to have a reason. Boiúna somehow caught wind of my journey, and ordered her minions, a horde of black flying snakes, to siege and destroy our arboretum as punishment. The dome of the arboretum was broke open and the Overseer was already knocked out. It seemed to be just a matter of time that the arboretum would fall.”

She then smiled. “Fortunately, there was not only something magical with Her Grace, she was an exceptional commander as well. She created a Sonic Rainboom to repel the initial attack by its shock-wave, which not only shifted the balance of the battle towards us, but also boosted our morale immensely. She then gathered up the remaining defenders and dug in. Just as the legends foretold, the forces of Boiúna were weak against the power of many colors, as they became much easier to dispatch with after being shone by Her Grace’s rainbow aurora. Finally, we successfully repelled the attack, and we for the first time realized that the forces of Boiúna were not invincible.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “It was still a brutal fight.”

Mistral Trail turned silent and looked at Rainbow Dash. After a while, Rainbow Dash continued. “Anyhow, I began to understand that it was a huge misunderstanding and the Black Snake was not Chrysalis. But by that point I simply couldn’t just abandon the Amarezonian dwellers to their fate. If my Sonic Rainboom was the only effective weapon of offense, then this was a duty that I couldn’t shirk from. So I started to marshal across arboretum to arboretum to try to recruit more soldiers.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. Mistral Trail then added. “We had underestimated the toll of centuries of isolation and disunity. While our arboretum threw their wholehearted support to Her Grace, the other arboreta were at first much cooler, even hostile, as they mistakenly thought we were raiders.”

“Well, ha, luckily, the Amarezonian dwellers definitely had a thing for fist-pumping speech and rousing songs.” 

Rainbow Dash said. “I was not a writer myself, but with the help from the arboretum dwellers, I managed to craft a good speech about the importance of being united. Three other arboreta changed their minds eventually after our persuasion, but the remaining two refused to open up. It’s only after we helped repel several attacks on their arboreta that they trusted us enough to send a few volunteers. So I recruited and drilled the soldiers, and arranged for the arboreta to gear for war. Since most of Cruzesians had some rudimentary battle training due to strong militaristic tradition and actual need, so I whipped them into a formidable force in just a few moons.”

Rainbow Dash then sardonically grinned. “We repelled a few feints, and then decided to strike deep into the lair of the Black Snake. We made a huge amount of preparation and trained to the point of exhaustion. All those ships you saw in the harbor were built then for us to transport troops upstream, the runic patterns were carved as charms to protect against harmful spirits. However, it turned out to be a super anti-climactic affair.”

“Don’t say that!” Mistral Trail gasped. “Her Grace was most resplendent in her glory, when she led first from the front line, circled the Boiúna and created two bands of rainbow trails that enclosed her in a giant light sphere. Then without one casualty, she managed to dissipate and defeat her. We don’t know how exactly it happened, but Her Grace proved to be our true protector and vanquisher of Boiúna.” 

“So is Rainbow Dash now your princess or something, or not?” Spike asked with a raised brow.

Mistral Trail’s face turned a strange shade of pink, while Rainbow Dash groaned.

“Holy, this is going to need some explanation.” 

The cyan mare sighed. “First of all, I’m not in the Amarezons for crowns or any sort of power, my focus was finding Twilight and it still is. But after the uprising against the Black Snake, I held strong sway over the army. The soldiers were eager to install me, their representative, as the supreme leader of ‘Novo Cruzesia’. This severely threaten the positions of the former Overseers and their associates, also making the officer class uneasy. Cruzesians, before coming to the Amarezons, had a long royal lineage, but the last king failed to make it across the sea when the troubles in the old continents boiled over. Since then, they had not known a king or queen for millennia.”

Mistral Trail suddenly burst out. “Her Grace should have been our princess imperial! Who deserves the crown more after fulfilling the prophesy and liberating us from the oppression of Boiúna?”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “Not this again. I don’t want to ignite a civil war because of a crown that I don’t want and don’t deserve.”

The mint green unicorn’s face grew red, but she suppressed her urge to argue.

“So yeah, a great council was held to determine the future of Cruzesian Amarezons. About a third of the delegates preferred me to become their new queen. But the other two-third preferred the continual governance by the Overseers until the restoration of Cruzesian crown, to the agnatic descendent of the last Cruzesian king… that is if there is any. There’s no point for me to step forward if all it does is division. So I propose to the head honchos that I would lead an expedition overseas to find the true king of theirs, bringing with me the bulk of army.”

“That’s just an excuse, isn’t it, nearly-crowned head?” Discord said.

Rainbow Dash snorted, not at all offended. “Not entirely. I’ll fulfill my side of the contract someday, but they haven’t set a date. Of course, my first priority as the expedition leader is to scour the world for any news of Twi.”

Mistral Trail sneered. “The Counselho is just filled with power-hungry types anyway. Why would they want a ruling monarch to return for real?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “So they readily agreed, mainly because I voluntarily brought away what they thought was the tool for a coup, and withdrew from the game of power. They even conferred on me the title of ‘Grand Duchess of Novo Esperança’, even though their authority to do that without royal assent is doubtful… Not that I care too much for royal titles.”

“But heh, Ah guess we do have to call you Your Grace for now on.” Applejack smirked.

“That’s the spirit.” Mistral Trail grinned.

“Stop it!” Rainbow Dash snapped. “I was… and to be honest, am still quite uncomfortable with a coronet on my head. I swear to Harmony again I did not get into the whole ‘defeating the Black Snake’ thing in order to get any kind of power. I just want to ask for a bit help for finding Twilight at most. Besides, I’m just a young inexperienced pony.”

“Your Grace, you led us through at least several dozen skirmishes and repelled at least three major attacks on Alto Alegre alone. If you’re inexperienced then I don’t know who I can call experienced. I still think that Your Grace should have accepted the crown.”

“If everything was like smacking flying blackfish down to the river with my hooves, then yeah. But rulership is far more than showing charisma to fellow soldiers and fighting wars.”

Mistral Trail frowned. “A crown belongs most to the one who does not desire it, but merely wears it out of duty. Your Grace did not choose to forsake us even when she was only on her way to seek out her friend, but partake in our struggle against oblivion. What more can this say about her suitability of being our leader?”

Rainbow Dash waved her hooves to dismiss Mistral Trail’s lavish praise. “No more talks on this. I have made my decision. A foreign mare like me wasn’t royal material at any rate.” 

She paused and scratched her cheek. “Enough about politics anyway… I have just thought up a theory on how the Black Snake was defeated.”

Mistral Trail turned to the cyan mare in surprise. “Your Grace?!”

“I was too concerned with defeating the Black Snake and returning to find Twilight, I didn’t really have time to sit down and recollect.” 

Rainbow Dash said. “Now that we have talked about it all over again, I realize something. The Black Snake was probably the Spirit of the Amarezon River.”

Mistral Trail gasped. “That’s impossible! How could such a… being be the goddess of our sacred river?”

“We all noticed her power to manipulate the river to her will, and her ridges even turned land into river as she crawled through. She was clearly closely tied to the Mother River.”

“But why- uh, how could a river be, um, evil?” Spike asked.

“Rather than defeating an evil, I increasingly felt like I was defeating an evil within. Disunity and isolation often disrupts the natural harmony, just like how the windigos once threatened the nascent Equestria by freezing it over. This is just my wild speculation, but I’d like to think our sheer display of unity had purified the Spirit of the River, returned her to the natural ambient magic of the forest and calmed the waves. My Rainboom simply served as a conduit of some sort.”

“Whoa, Dashie.” Pinkie Pie said. “That’s deep!”

Mistral Trail was speechless. After a while, she quietly asked, “Why did she attack our forbearers in the first place, and then feed on our pain?”

“… Sorry, no idea.” Rainbow Dash said. “This is the extent of my thought, and I spent the past few moons figuring this out. When I finally found that egghead Twilight, you could grab her down south and have her investigate.”

The mares and Spike winced at the mention of Twilight, even Discord frowned.

“Now, don’t give me that face.” Rainbow Dash scolded. “It was why I set out on this journey and I’m not going to stop.”

“So, um, how do you end up in here and somehow occupy Las Pegasus?” Fluttershy changed the subject and asked.

“Oh dear, that’s another lecture in the making.” 

Rainbow Dash facehoofed. “So after the dust is settled in the Amarezons, I led the ships and soldiers up north and sailed past the Butterfly Strait. However, blue water sailing was radically different to green water sailing. We were lucky to not encounter any major storm when we were on a small sailboat, but when there was a hurricane on the seas, not even a full warship of pegasi could do much. As a result, we are blown severely off-course on the way to Zebrica.”

“Wait, what’s it about Zebrica?” Spike interrupted.

“Just following the leads I received when I’m back in Badlands. Changeling sightings were reported by traders from the West, so it can’t hurt to check out. After all, Zebrica’s the changelings’ old home. Besides, if there’s any Cruzesian left aside from in the Amarezons, it has to be to the West of the old continent. Since it’s not Equestria, it could only be Zebrica.” 

She shrugged. “Now that I have thousands of soldiers, we can comb through Zebrica in the next few years and see if we can find anything.”

“Years?!” The mares gasped. “You will not be with us for years?”

Rainbow Dash looked aside for a moment. Eventually, she said slowly. “You have to finish what you started.”

After a protracted silence, Applejack said. “… So you’ve been blown off-course to the port of Las Pegasus? But why in the hay did you attack it? We’re goin’ to be hard-pressed to explain to the princesses.”

“It was another tragic case of miscommunication.” Mistral Trail shook her head and sighed, but she was clearly smirking with pride, without even a slight hint of regret.

Rainbow Dash added. “Language barrier, it sucks.”

“What happened?” Spike asked.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “After our last forage in the Butterfly Strait, we planned to sail across the South Luna Ocean directly to Zebrica.”

“Alas.” Mistral Trail said. “So as Her Grace said, though we were able to reconfigure our ships into sea-worthy ones using our ancient shipbuilding knowledge, our sailors are too inexperienced. They could handle sailing on rivers, but on blue water they were at the mercy of the winds.”

“Basically, we were blown off-course and anchored at a cove to the south of Las Pegasus.” 

Rainbow Dash said. “Alegria was the only ship that managed to enter the port of Las Pegasus. We had a protocol for captains to ask for permission to dock and resupply, so naturally that’s what the captain and his crew did. But they had unfortunately entered an off-limit area by mistake, and they were arrested by the coast guards. Despite my best wishes, not all my soldiers are as gifted with language as Mistral Trail, but I swear I did try my best to teach them basic Equestrian. Sadly, it was not enough for them to explain themselves well.”

“I’m honored, Your Grace.” Mistral Trail smiled, but then lightly huffed. “But Cruzesians are no pushovers. When the Las Pegasus Coast Guard refused to release our soldiers, we-”

“I really doubt that they knew that we’re demanding their release.” Rainbow Dash interjected.

However, Mistral Trail simply continued. “Our officers merely made the only reasonable decision—to forcibly seize the detention center and rescue our brothers and sisters.”

“And it’s not due to any prejudice for the rank-and-file Equestrians, no.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“What?” The mares all exclaimed in bemusement.

“To put it simply, Cruzesians never quite saw eye to eye with the northerners.”

“They knew about Equestrians?” Spike asked in surprise.

Mistral Trail shrugged and explained. “We did not know what happened to our mazombos siblings until Her Grace filled us in about what happened in the millennia, during which we closed ourselves off from the world. Indeed, we’re quite shocked that they chose to join the Equestrian fray, because we Cruzesians used to think that Equestrians were an overbearing bunch intending to usurp the imperial glory of our sister nation, much like the laughable pretense of the Griffish ‘Roaman’ Emperor in Griffonstone.”

Rainbow Dash helpfully slipped in and reminded the confused dragon. “In case you’re not entirely clear about what she meant, crystal ponies were among the first groups of ponies who set hooves on the Equestrian continent, the Crystal Mountains being one of their many colonial outposts. However, they kept to themselves and never expanded beyond the Crystal Mountain to the south. When the three tribes came over later, Cruzesians became concerned that Equestrian princes and leaders would flood the place with their own and made the crystal ponies their vassals.”

“Why did Cruzesians care about the crystal ponies exactly? They're on the other side of the world!” Spike asked.

Mistral Trail said. “We Cruzesians were blood-sisters to crystal ponies, our alliance dating back to our ancient common struggle against barbaric invasions. So we staunchly opposed the attempts from Equestrians to bring our former ally into their sphere of influence. Although Her Grace’s presence somewhat soften the attitude of my compatriots, we now know that it was an Equestrian unicorn that again caused the doom of our ancient ally. This naturally displease us even more.”

Spike blinked. “That guy’s name’s Sombra, right?”

Fluttershy nodded, and Pinkie Pie beamed. “Wow, you remember that, Spike!”

“I ain’t gonna forget what Twilight made me recite dozens of times.” Spike smirked with a hint of sadness. He was now beginning to understand that ancient history that Twilight forced him to read do have effects that could be felt in the present day.

“I have to say though.” Rainbow Dash sighed and shifted the topic. “The garrisons in Las Pegasus are dismally trained… and seriously, complete wimps. There were only four hundreds and five of us on Alegria, but despite outnumbering us, the defenders couldn’t hold a spear if their lives depended on it. They fled upon seeing our battle-trained formation, and surrendered by the time our other troops marched into the city. They must have mistaken us for ruthless conquerors like the darn changelings.”

“To be fair… Equestria hasn’t seen war for quite a while. It’s a thing that we should celebrate.” Rarity said. “So why do you cordon off the city afterwards?”

“It was arranged by the officers at first.” Rainbow Dash said. “But I decided to enforce it because we don’t want the news of our… accidental conquest to spread. It might cause panic and net us an unnecessary confrontation with Equestrian troops. In fact, we were going to quickly depart after calming the populace and resupplying our ships. But still, I’d really wanted to send you an update first, so I told Mistral Trail to covertly go to Ponyville and carry my message.”

“Eh?”

Mistral Trail nodded. “That didn’t happen anyway. Just before I was about to leave, sisters in my brigade reported they saw a suspicious pegasus mare that highly resembled what Her Grace described to me as senhorita Fluttershy, whom she suggested me as the contact.” 

She pointed to Fluttershy. “That’s you, right?”

Fluttershy spluttered a bit, and Pinkie Pie grinned. “That’s actually me disguised as Fluttershy!”

“Huh, that would explain the discrepancy from the report.” Mistral Trail stroked her cheek.

“Uh, Pinkie, why would you disguise as Fluttershy? Isn’t the whole point of donning a disguise to be someone untraceable?” Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie Pie strangely.

“Oh no Dashie, I just thought being a pegasus would blend in better in Las Pegasus.”

“Uh-huh.” Rainbow Dash said. “But actually, thank goodness you choose that, because otherwise we wouldn’t pick up on it, and Mistral Trail would have missed you altogether.”

“Gotta ask...” Applejack said. “What on Earth was with our trip up here? That still doesn’t make a lick of sense!”

“Yeah! You didn’t answer me why you accented up.” Spike frowned at Mistral Trail.

Mistral Trail said. “I did that to avoid standing out, since most Cruzesian soldiers still speak broken Equestrian.”

“Also.” Rainbow Dash said. “She’s our security and intelligence chief, she does these kind of stuffs. She probably feigned being bad at Equestrian to lower your guard, hoping to catch anything you accidentally spilled.”

“Your Grace…” Mistral Trail hesitantly said.

“We don’t have to keep anything from them, they’re my closest friends and they will not betray our interests.” Rainbow Dash’s gaze momentarily swept across Discord, who said nothing.

“As you wish.” Mistral Trail nodded. “… I reported the situation to Her Grace. Even though I was fairly sure that the reported mare was senhorita Fluttershy, Her Grace wanted to examine herself, so I was sent to the Lower Quarter. However, there were some discrepancies when I actually saw you in person, because contrary to the report, you looked much less talkative, and you were accompanied by a large entourage. Still, I decided to bring you up, since if you were not what Her Grace was looking for, you are likely Equestrian spies who need to be contained.”

“And once I saw it was you girls, I am absolutely delighted!” Rainbow Dash grinned. “But I had to suppress my urge to immediately reunite with you, because all the generals and ministers were there, and you heard what Misty said about them. So yeah… I kind of wink and nudge Mistral Trail there to cook up something.”

“How did you know what Dashie was thinking?” Pinkie Pie asked Mistral Trail curiously.

Mistral Trail smiled. “Observing ponies is sometimes very much like wind listening. You look at the minute movement on their face, wings and limbs, and make educated extrapolations. And certainly, my time spent with Her Grace helps.”

“Pardon me, you two just dumped a giant train-load of information on us.” Applejack shook her head. “Ah need time and all my mind to digest all these.”

“I still can’t quite believe Rainbow Dash is now a foreign duchess.” Spike said incredulously.

Fluttershy sighed. “I’m worried about the reactions from the princesses regarding this incident and your accession as a foreign noble as an Equestrian citizen.”

Rainbow Dash exhaled. “I’ll deal with it as it goes.”

Mistral Trail slightly scowled. “The diarchs of Equestria have no right to interfere with our internal affairs. We will defend our institution with our lives.”

“Hey Mistral Trail, no need to get defensive yet.” Pinkie Pie tried her best to smile. “I’m sure the princesses would be reasonable!”

“But if you have to choose, would you choose Her Grace or Equestria? Hum?” Mistral Trail frowned and asked intently.

“Mistral Trail.” Rainbow Dash simply tapped the ground with impatience and gave the mint green pony a glare of grave severity.

“I—I’m sorry, Your Grace. I’ve overstepped my mark.”

The mares and Spike gulped. Rainbow Dash had evidently grown an atmosphere of authoritativeness never before seen by them. They all wondered what kind of experiences the cyan mare encountered for that to happen.

Pinkie Pie looked around and fervently thought for a way to distract them from the awkwardness. “… Ah, Dashie! So what’s the deal about ‘Arcoris’? Is that you?”

“Arcoris…?” Rainbow frowned but then raised her eyebrows in realization, “Oh, you mean Arco-Íris! Yeah, that’s just my… courtesy name in Cruzesian.”

“Sua Graça, a Duquesa Arco-Íris Impeto.” Mistral Trail supplied.

“It’s a mouthful.” Rainbow Dash said. “But sometimes you do need some decorum to rouse a sense of respect.”

The group nodded. Rainbow Dash looked to the grandfather clock that was standing at the corner. 

“Geez, we’ve talked for like hours! Don’t worry and stay here for a while, I’ll try to explain to my loyal lieutenants and tell them that you’re our friends and guests after all.”

The group lightly chuckled. Rainbow Dash then grinned. “That’s quite enough for today. I’ll arrange for accommodation for you. We have paid off the hotel owner but we haven’t used one room of theirs, perhaps you’d like to?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was night, and the group had settled in the rooms of the Palacio Hotel. Fluttershy was sleepless at her room. Too many unexpected events had happened in a short period of time. For one, she never thought the mysterious invading army was led by none other than Rainbow Dash. 

She also didn’t expect to sleep on a cozy bed in such a luxurious hotel room on this supposedly dangerous mission. Everything was simply too surreal. Also, how were they going to report to the princesses once Rainbow Dash departed for Zebrica? Fluttershy looked down to the floor and sighed.

She had caught sight of a hotel maid when she was taking a walk in the corridor. The sizable hotel was now devoid of any guest except for them, since all Cruzesian soldiers were camped outside, Rainbow Dash included. Only hotel staff remained for basic maintenance.

Fluttershy managed to persuade the nervous maid to stop and talk to her for a while. According to the maid, although the ponies, especially the business owners of the tourist spot, were quite unhappy that their trades were completely disrupted and their usual customers were unable to enter the city, and the Cruzesians were a bit rowdy for a disciplined army, but they were comforted by the fact that they never really acted against the local populace, and there was also generous compensation given to soften the blow with the losses of visitors. But however polite the Cruzesians were, it would be far better if they left as soon as possible.

Her story seemed to largely corroborate with the version told by Rainbow Dash. Not that she distrusted the cyan mare, but she was worried that the city populace only acted tolerant out of fear of reprisal. It didn’t completely cleared her doubt, but at least she could turn her focus to another concern on her mind.

She gulped and swiftly walked down the stairs to the eerily empty main lobby, and checked out the hall they met Rainbow Dash in the afternoon. However, it was empty. She then walked out onto the garden. A patrolling soldier immediately stopped her, however she pulled out a permit given by Rainbow Dash. The soldier gazed at her for a while, but he eventually nodded and let her go.

The yellow mare reached a large canvas-covered lodge that appeared to be the place where important ponies like Rainbow Dash would stay. An officer just walked out of the lodge, and to Fluttershy’s surprise, it was Mistral Trail.

“Eh?” Fluttershy lightly yelped.

Mistral Trail raised her eyebrows and looked around, and then whispered, “Senhorita, why are you here so late at night? You should rest early, for there are much to do tomorrow. We would soon break camp and leave.”

“R—Really? Tomorrow?”

“Indeed.” Mistral Trail thinly smiled. “We understand that we’re a nuisance to the local trade, and we cannot give out compensation after compensation indefinitely, for it would quickly deplete our meagre coffer. Her Grace dearly wants us to get set for Zebrica as we have already gained our supplies… Anyway, do you want something? I can try to arrange it for you.”

“No, thank you very much, Missus Trail. I merely want to see Ra—I mean, Her Grace.”

Mistral Trail’s lips curled up. “Come then. Although Her Grace had just finished today’s meetings, she would definitely want to talk to one of her dear friends as well.”

The mint green mare then led their way pass the guards, sent Fluttershy into the lodge, and simply bowed out with a smile. 

Fluttershy gingerly looked around. The lodge resembled a cabinet room, with a large round table in the middle. Heaps of document laid around on the table in the otherwise Spartan-looking room, and at the far side of the table, a glasses-wearing and tired-looking Rainbow Dash was reading some reports.

Fluttershy walked near the cyan mare. Rainbow Dash adjusted her glasses and flipped the page, when she suddenly noticed somepony nearby. 

“Who?!” Rainbow Dash turned alarmingly.

“Eeep!”

“Oh, Fluttershy, it’s just you.” Rainbow Dash exhaled and smiled. “Sorry to cause a scare.”

“No, I’m sorry to have disturbed you…”

Rainbow Dash slightly frowned. “Now Fluttershy, we’re friends, okay? No need to be so formal and like.”

Fluttershy’s gaze floated across Rainbow Dash’s face, but it swiftly turned aside. “Things just change so quickly, it’s so hard to get used to… Twilight’s gone and you’re now suddenly a member of foreign nobility and a military commander. I feel as if we’re in completely uncharted waters.”

Rainbow Dash inhaled slowly and said. “… I know how you feel, Fluttershy.”

The cyan mare looked at Fluttershy and said, “Have a seat first.”

Fluttershy sat down cautiously. “… Rainbow, do you remember the time Twilight brought us to Canterlot to gather up helping hooves for the Ponyville Mirror?”

“Of course, how can I forget?” Rainbow Dash sighed.

“You said at the time that you felt pained to abandon your dreams and aspirations simply for Twilight’s plan.” Fluttershy hesitated for a bit. “… but now…”

“This is different, okay?!” Rainbow Dash said with a flare of temper. “Are you trying to persuade me not to find Twilight, again?!”

Rainbow Dash looked up to a frightened Fluttershy, and she immediately backtracked. “I’m so sorry, Fluttershy. I...”

“No, it’s okay…” Fluttershy said. “I’m not here to tell you what to do. I’m just worried for you… Since you’re now not just somepony from Ponyville. You will have many duties and you won’t be able to go back to your old simple life.”

“I know.” Rainbow Dash said with a sad smile. “But as long as I fulfill my share of duties and dedication, my loyal soldiers shall give us ample protection against any lurking evils in the world. Still, I know that my dream of going into Wonderbolts will probably have to be… postponed indefinitely.”

Fluttershy gulped, but Rainbow Dash simply continued. “I thought I had seen a lot thanks to Twilight. However, I know it sounds clichéd, but when you’re actually thrusted into places by unforeseen events, you’re kind of forced to deal with it by changing how you think.”

Fluttershy thinly smiled. “We noticed you get more imposing. Pinkie said you’ve got the ‘scary queen vibe’ like when the princesses are angry.”

Rainbow Dash widened her eyes and then guffawed. “What? Aw, I know where you’re coming from. Blame it on me having to constantly drill the recruits. I once even told a guy who messed up badly to mop the starboard in pouring rain for an entire day.”

“That’s not very kind, Rainbow…”

“You can’t make the soldiers obey you if you are all twee and never get harsh on them. Kindness might just be mistaken as weakness, and it should be given out with care.”

Seemingly unaware of Fluttershy’s somewhat worrying look, Rainbow Dash stretched her hooves and smirked. “I bet some of the plebs dream of me as some horned demon in their nightmares.”

She then unthinkingly flipped through the papers on the table. After a moment of silence, she murmured. “Dreams, you say. We pursue them as if you have a tunnel vision. They seem so unnegotiable but so rewarding.”

Fluttershy quietly looked up, her floating gaze briefly met with the cyan mare’s, but she averted it and looked to the table again.

Rainbow Dash leaned back on the chair and sighed. 

“Yes, entering Wonderbolts was my dream, it still is. I thought becoming a Wonderbolt would affirm my ability as a top-tiered flier and seal my reputation as somepony that is totally awesome. Therefore, I kind of freaked out when Twilight told me to get a desk job. I was torn between my loyalty and my dream.”

Rainbow Dash stood up and walked towards the chalkboard behind her, which was scribbled with plans of logistics. 

“I also came to knew about the fact that I could have become a great Wonderbolt because of Twilight. For a long time that drove me to hold tight to my dream, because I was deeply convinced that things would turn out just like what she had seen.”

The cyan mare held her cheek with her hooves and muttered. “Now though, I laugh at my past self. It was such a luxury to cry about my dilemma in the rain.”

“R- Rainbow…”

“No, no. You might’ve misunderstood. I simply mean that, with the craziness in the recent moons, I started to come down and think how and why I had the dream in the first place. 

“Hmm…?”

The cyan mare walked left and right and continued. “My passion of speed and recognition is still here as always, but at one point between now and the time I vowed to become a Wonderbolt when I was young, I evolved, not least because of our adventures together. My life understanding grew and adapted, and most important of all, I’m not the same mare who chose my path in the beginning. I have changed.”

“Rainbow, you…”

“Nah, I’m good. Everypony changes, for better or for worse. I’d like to think that I’d changed for better.” 

Rainbow turned and smiled. “Of course, if they suddenly offer me the top job in the Wonderbolts right here and now, I would probably seriously considered the possibility of resigning from my commandership and shoving everything to Mistral! Haha!”

“Eh? That’s…”

“Just kidding. This thing weighed on my mind for moons, but I finally figured out that my decision was actually much more complex than ‘becoming awesome’ than I thought. As I grew up, friends and feelings of those surround me started to mean much more to me. After all, isn’t bringing ponies a sense of fulfillment, hope and wonder what being a Wonderbolt is about?”

Wryly smiling, Rainbow Dash stroked her feathered quill. “I just wish I learned to listen to my heart from the beginning, then I would have spared myself the anxiety, stress, and worry I had experienced. On the inside I knew what my values were. It was my ambition that got in the way, it prevented me from realizing there can be more than one way to be awe-inspiring, wonderful and at the same time electrify the hearts of those around you. Now I can open up another whole set of opportunities, perhaps even lead my own Bolts when things settle down!”

“… Rainbow, you’ve really grown.” Fluttershy lightly smiled.

“Well, thank heavens for that.” Rainbow Dash smirked. “A mere filly makes no inspiring commander.”

The cyan mare returned to the table and asked. “So how’s Discord? I presume he’s that grey stallion, innit?”

“Yes. And he’s okay, I suppose.”

“He wasn’t naughty or anything?”

“Nothing more than small pranks or feigning sickness to get more attention.” Fluttershy thoughtfully said. “If anything, he’s too spiritless and tame, and this makes me worry.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “You don’t think he would…”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Fluttershy shook her head. “Discord is a natural-born prankster, scheming and speaking sarcastic and thorny words is what I would expect of him. But he seems very compliant, Pinkie would even say that he’s a lot less fun after… you know what.”

The yellow mare bit her lips. “He now lives in with me and I’ve observed him closely. I think he’s still quite sad about the whole affair, but his doubts were still there, just buried under his deep-seated guilt. So he does what he’s told, but I don’t think he’s entirely comfortable. Of course, being glared and called name in the streets didn’t help.”

“Let her who tied the bell on the tiger take it off.” Rainbow Dash said. “I know it, so that’s one more reason I won’t give up my search for Twilight yet.”

Fluttershy went silent in hesitation. The cyan mare looked at her firmly and said. “You’re thinking what-if, aren’t you. Searching for Twilight is not like going after a dream, it’s a matter of principle. Okay, let’s just say I don’t find Twilight after all, but the mere possibility that she is somewhere awaiting for us outweighs the cost and time I put into it.”

“I’m not going to persuade you against it, in fact, I support you with all my hearts.” Fluttershy smiled to a slightly surprised Rainbow Dash. “Why, I too dreamt of a day we can see the face of Twilight again. And even if we don’t, at least we can say with certainty that we tried.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy meaningfully, and then turned to the scribbles on the blackboard. “Thank you, Fluttershy. Actually, it’s not that bleak, since we’ve done a little more investigation here in Las Pegasus, and we do receive further confirmation from Zebrican traders that there has been turmoil in the West involving what we suspect to be changelings.” 

“Really?”

“Really. Now I won’t bet my saddlebag on its authenticity, because I’ve fell for a big dud once. But any lead is a good lead regardless.” 

Rainbow Dash drily chuckled. “Now, we’re getting late. We’re rolling out tomorrow, so we should all get some rest.”

“It’s true?”

“Oh yes, we’re to go as soon as possible, and it is certainly bad to keep the Equestrian troops under house arrest anymore. As a gesture of goodwill, we told them we’ll move out and return the city to them by the day after tomorrow.”

“Um… we…”

“Hah, you girls.” Rainbow Dash exhaled. “Of course I’ll be more than delighted if any of you can join me, even just for the short trip across the South Luna Ocean. But I understand that you all have duties in Ponyville and other places. Also, it would also be helpful if I have someone in Canterlot to explain this mess so that the princesses don’t send guards to arrest me for treason the next time I’m around, and cause a dang diplomatic incident. So yeah, it’s up to you.”

“… I see.” Fluttershy said. “Good night to you then, Rainbow.”

“Good dreams to you too, Fluttershy.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, the group awoke to a surprising sight, as they looked down to the hotel garden to find it completely deserted. They quickly packed up, left the rooms and gathered at the lobby.

Fluttershy explained what she had known from her meeting with Rainbow Dash last night to the others. That’s when Mistral Trail entered the hotel and waved at the group. 

She walked near and said. “Good m—?!”

The mint-green mare went wide-eyed and took a few steps backwards.

The mares and Spike looked at her strangely, until they took a look at Discord. “Oh, right.”

“What? Maintaining the guise was way too tiring for me.” Discord shrugged.

The usually calm mint-green unicorn was in a rare moment of shock. The mares and Spike gazed at her oddly. Usually ponies did look at Discord like some sort of circus animal, and after the changeling invasion, with hate-filled glares. But except for really young foals, it was rare to see somepony immediately panicked to such an extent upon seeing the spirit of chaos.

“Are you alright, Mistral?” Fluttershy asked with concern.

“Carai mina…!” She gasped and coughed. “I—I mean, what is that?!”

Mistral Trail shakily pointed at Discord, who frowned but couldn’t hide his actual amusement. “Oh dear, is this how you treat your guest?”

“That is just, um, the true form of ‘Grey Wind’.” Fluttershy awkwardly explained. “We didn’t want to cause undue alarm. He’s actually Discord, a powerful spirit of chaos that is also our friend.”

Mistral Trail gulped. “… Another shapeshifting spirit?”

“Don’t be a worrywart!” Pinkie Pie grinned. “He’s reformed and good!”

“To a certain extent…” Spike quietly muttered.

Mistral Trail asked tentatively. “I thought you Equestrians believe in Harmony?”

“Hard to not believe in it, when it is a living and breathing force on the continent.” Applejack said. “Kinda like how you Cruzesians believe in the Mother River.”

Rarity nodded. “We’re a peculiar bunch, because a lot of ponies out there do think that he and the idea of maintaining harmony are inherently incompatible. But we think the important thing is that he agreed to be our friend. What use is harmony if it doesn’t engender goodwill and rapport? In any case, he’s our champion right now.”

Mistral Trail raised an eyebrow and bowed. “… I see. My sincere apologies for being disrespectful, dom Discord. We Cruzesians believe in anima, and we greatly revere powerful and benevolent spirits for they possess such spiritual essence. We may be unfamiliar with your form, but I believe once any misunderstanding is cleared, you will be given the due respect from my compatriots.”

“Hey, someone who appreciate me.” Discord smirked. “That’s something nice for a change.”

The mares frowned slightly, but Discord merely waved them away. “No more boring chit-chat. Lieutenant Trail, I think you come to collect us to somewhere more interesting?”

“Indeed.” Mistral Trail straightened herself. “As you might have noticed, we have decamped and moved out in the early morning. Most of us are already boarding the ships or waiting to board in the port area. If you want to join or say farewell to Her Highness, we should move quickly.”

She looked to Discord and then added. “And stay close, for I will have explain the situation to my fellow soldiers.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The seven of them boarded the balloon and went down to the port of Las Pegasus. The small port was absolutely bristling with activities, with pegasi busy transporting materials onto the ships and others boarding the ships using makeshift planks. It was mostly orderly, with the occasional vexed shouts from officers to some badly-behaving soldiers. A lot of locals gathered and observed as the ‘occupation force’ evacuated largely in peace.

Mistral Trail had led the way, assuaging the fearful and uncertain looks on the soldiers by almost hectic explanations. The mares and dragon looked on, and it was coming through to them that Cruzesians were quite spiritual and to be honest, somewhat superstitious.

Upon closer inspection, there were actually only six vessels that belonged to the Cruzesians in the port, although they certainly dwarfed all other small cogs nearby. They boarded the largest of them and entered the spacious deck. After passing through the winding wooden corridors, they arrived at an office next to the bridge. Then Mistral Trail hailed the guard and brought the group inside.

“Your Grace.” Mistral Trail bowed.

“Thank you for bringing them to me, Misty.” Rainbow Dash smiled. She was wearing a smart white marine uniform.

“Whoa Dashie, this is a very large ship!” Pinkie said.

“And so wondrously designed and decorated too.” Rarity added. “I can’t quite believe that they were made using technologies over thousands of years old.”

“Cruzesians were the most adventurous and sea-faring of ponies. Their shipbuilding technology was far more advanced than others.” Rainbow Dash smiled. “At least that’s before they settled in the arboreta. In fact, my good citizens and soldiers are also very interested to see if the Cruzesians of old had left any trace in other parts of the world.”

“Hey, what’re the ships called?” Spike asked with interest.

“Esperança, it’s the flagship of the fleet. The others are Caridade, Probidade, Bondade, Devoção and Alegria.”

“Obvious choices.” Applejack chuckled.

“You going away already?” Discord said with a mischievous grin. “With how cripplingly ill-trained Equestrian soldiers are, you can probably march onto Canterlot unopposed. They would just send forth some lightly-armored buggers, charge you right in the middle of your line and get ripped apart in a flame of foolish chivalry, because they only read about wars in storybooks. I would love to see the sun butt and moon butt gasp in horror as they helplessly defend against a foreign horde of not-quite their ‘little ponies’.”

Mistral Trail smirked. “Not a bad idea, Your Grace. Our soldiers certainly would not be opposed to the idea of a cakewalk of a conquest. Equestria is so large, bountiful and full of vibrant magic. We can each live like kings and queens if Equestria is in our hooves.”

Rainbow Dash glanced at the shocked and horrified faces of her friends, and sighed.
“Yeah, they’re a toss of an army, and it’d totally not bite their collective plots later. I know you two are kidding, but it is worth stressing: we’re a force of protection and self-defense.”

“… To be fair, the princesses have increased training and drilling after the changeling incident.” Rarity let out a sigh of relief.

“And look at its splendid results!” Discord mocked.

“The nation of Equestria is fierce of visage but faint of heart. Not that peace and prosperity are not things that we should all treasure.” 

Rainbow Dash thought of a certain ‘future’ and shuddered. “But evil still lurks in the world and we have to prepare ourselves. The changeling invasion wasn’t just bad in itself, it also showed to other nations that Equestria is a paper tiger, which is really bad for keeping peace.”

Rainbow Dash trailed off, then she elected to change the subject. “Anyway, so any takers? I would love to have you tour the ship.”

The cyan mare then chuckled. “Of course, if any of you want to join me in scouring Zebrica for Twilight, I will immediately stack another bunk on my bed and clean off my mess of a room.”

The mares and dragon looked at one another uncertainly.

“Aye, aye! Here’s one for your mate!” Discord smirked.

“You, eh?” Rainbow Dash put up an inscrutable expression.

“Aye.” Discord snapped his fingers and donned a sailor’s costume. “Seriously though, I’d like a change in scenery. Ponyville is starting to bore me to Tartarus… Figuratively speaking.”

“But aren’t you kinda sworn to the princesses that you would be on standby to help the realm?”

“Meh, they only look for me once a few moons, more than enough for several return-trips to Zebrica.” He then added under his breath. “… Besides, I, uh, want to help.”

Rainbow Dash looked at him in slight surprise, and then grinned. “… Welcome aboard.”

“Well, count me in too, Dashie!”

“Pinkie?”

“My gigs can wait, and I have left enough bits for Mr. and Mrs. Cake to hire helping hooves when I’m gone,” The pink mare grinned, and then added awkwardly. “Not that I’m useful at the factory other than being excess baggage, so I’m free!”

“Don’t say that! But sure, what the hay, do come!”

“Um… I can also come, at least for the trip across the sea.” Fluttershy said. “The Mirror has now gotten on track, and it can run for a while with me out for a while. I’ve arranged Angel, some vet ponies, and even Mr. Greenhooves to keep an eye on my animals when I’m away.”

“Me too.” Spike said. “Now that Trixie got it handled, I don’t really need to hang around the library that much. If there’s anything that I can help, I would want to help.”

The attention then inevitably fell on the remaining two mares. They looked a bit uncomfortable.

Before they could speak up though, Rainbow Dash had simply waved them down. “Absolutely no pressure, girls. You two run much larger businesses, and you’re needed by friends, workers and employees in Ponyville. You’re bounded by duties as much as I do. That’s why I went alone in the first place. Seriously, I was half-joking and I didn’t really expect any of you to actually take up on it, hah. Besides, I need a helping mouth or two in Canterlot as well.”

Applejack and Rarity looked to each other and opened their mouth, but they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Your Grace, reports on the fleet.”

“Enter!” 

Rainbow Dash shouted.

The door creaked open, a young but gruff-looking pegasus walked in. He was a very light yellow stallion with brownish red mane. Conspicuously, there was a large scar on his left eye, giving him a slightly unsettling and fearsome appearance.

Rainbow Dash put up a stern expression and saluted. 

“Speak, Captain Strike.”

Captain Strike saluted back.

“Yes! Our fleet is ready to sail. We are looking forward to your presence on deck for the departure ceremony.”

“Very good. I will arrive in ten minutes. Tell the soldiers to get ready.”

Captain Strike again saluted, quickly excused himself and left.

Rainbow Dash immediately stood up, stacked the documents on her desk and stored them in the drawer. She then took the decorated cap on the hanger and wore it on her head.

Pinkie Pie looked at the closed door and gulped, making gesture to her own eye.

“Yeah.” Rainbow Dash said. “He almost lost his eye in the Siege of Ermida Alta. But he’s already one of the luckier boys. You know what they say, nothing except a battle lost is half as tragic as a battle won.”

The group went silent, as they followed Rainbow Dash and Mistral Trail up onto the deck. When they arrived, the soldiers were already standing in tight square formation. Rainbow Dash then flew up onto the top of the mast, so that soldiers from all six ships could see her.

A lone aqua-blue unicorn stepped forward from the pier. Using magical enhancement, he shouted, “Saudai a tua duquesa!”

“Long live the duchess! Long live Cruzesia!” 

The soldiers thundered.

A rainstorm of drumbeats boomed, and the marines sang aloud the anthem of the Cruzesian Navy.

Like white swans under moon night
sliding into a blue lake
My ship also floats on
the green seas from north to south

Lovely folks who in the unlit night
Go sailing in a vast sea
Brings longing to a beloved land 
My homeland which we yearn for

How much joy it would bring us
To the heart of our motherland
Given by ending our humiliation
and fulfilling our mission

Lovely folks who in the unlit night
Go sailing in a vast sea
Brings longing to a beloved land 
My homeland which we yearn for

Like a beautiful heron who crosses the sky
We go sailing
Under a beautiful rainbow
My people
will also cross the seas
Green seas
The green seas of Cruzes!

As the marines sang aloud, Rainbow Dash partook in a blessing ritual for the fleet which was about to set sail. She flew in circle around the ships, and then rose high to create a small ring of Rainboom atop the fleet. Despite being in formation, some soldiers still let out sighs of wonder.

As the short ceremony drew to a close, sailors on each of the ships were busy making some last-minute inspection on the hulls, ropes and masts. 

Rainbow Dash returned from her ceremonial duties to the observing group on the starboard of the deck. “We will hoist the sails and get going soon, the tide is up and the wind is favorable. Applejack, Rarity, don’t worry about us, we’ll return shortly.”

“Your ‘shortly’ used to mean a few years.” Rarity rolled her eyes.

“Heh.” Rainbow Dash smilingly shook her head. “Tell my old friends in Ponyville and the weather team my good wishes, especially Scootaloo. Little scamp is probably missing me a lot. Remember to say a few good things about me and my good citizens in front of the princesses too. Tell them we regret the misunderstanding and stuff.”

“Hey, Rainbow. Take care of them.” Applejack pointed towards the four departing figures. “And yourself as well.”

“Zebrica is vast, and much of it is still unknown to Equestrians. You must be careful.” Rarity said.

“I’m now not only in charge of the lives of me and my friends, but several thousand loyal soldiers. They all have families and friends, and I’ll not be the one who would recklessly throw their hopes and lives away. If anything turns to south, I will not hesitate to turn our collective snouts backwards.”

“Good. Don’t you dare break this promise.” Rarity smiled.

“Now off you go!” Rainbow Dash jokingly ordered, “Unless of course, you want to swim ashore from the middle of the sea.”