//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11 – The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized 
// Story: Evenfall: Verdant White 
// by Yinglung 
//------------------------------//

Spike solemnly nodded. To an expectant Pinkie, he whispered his choice.

“I choose to-”

He yawned with a wry look. “- call it a night… well, on o’clock terms anyway.”

Pinkie’s hopeful expression dropped, and she looked stunned. “W- What?”

“Of course, all these things are as important to you and they’re to me. But by goodness they’re so much to digest and think over! I need at least a night of sleep, and I would also need to call a meeting with everyone. It will not be my decision alone.”

“B- But-”

“Besides, I want to put things of ‘national importance’ aside first. We’ve been speaking about everypony for an hour, but how about ourselves? We just see each other after so long and so many troubles, and we can afford to be selfish for a moment, can’t we?”

Spike gave the pink pony another powerful hug, and then he planted a passionate kiss on her lips. Crimson red quickly bloomed on her face, as she looked at him with a dazed expression.

“I miss you, Pinks. I miss you terribly. Yes, it might’ve hurt to be shot, it might’ve hurt to be stabbed, but none can compare to the hurt when I knew that you’ve fallen into Sunset Shimmer’s hooves. Now that we’re finally together again, can we at least have a small moment together? Just for tonight?”

Pinkie gulped hard, and then vigorously nodded. She showed him the first true smile since they met.

However, noticing the puffy eyes and her general tiredness, he cooed. “Pinkie, you look… Have they mistreated you?”

Spike sighed softly and scratched his cheeks. “Also, not to sound mean or anything, but who let you out? You know, technically you’re an important captive and all…”

Pinkie blinked and gingerly shifted. “T- That ‘Firstling’ mare came to see me, and then set me free.”

“Oh, you mean Frigg?”

“Yes, her.”

Spike noticed that Pinkie was being a bit too succinct about Frigg, and he asked. “… Uh, what did you two talk about?”

“We just kind of exchanges names, and she asked if I am really your ‘be- betrothed’.”

“Ah… You see, the concept of love and marriage being separate things is not that common in their society. I guess you'd be savvy to that kind of things, with all the big knowledge and whatnot.”

“Yes, b- but it’s still a bit embarrassing to be asked that outright!”

Spike suppressed his amusement at how demure Pinkie was acting. “You should know that in many cultures, hers included, courtship is something of family and community interests. She simply doesn’t get the distinction between being a drakefriend and being a fiancé. Besides, she’s herself somepony who pretty much gave up her personal life to become the High Vala, it’s probably an even more foreign concept for her.”

“So she’s not your new marefriend?”

Pinkie covered her mouth after she realized how blunt it sounded. Spike widened his eyes, but then simply broke into a heartfelt laughter. “Hahaha! No way! We are not in that kind of relationship at all! She’s a priestess to a religion that worship the old great dragon, and I’m kind of his surrogate. That’s the only reason why we’re linked up.”

Pinkie was careful not to sound too relieved as she let out her acknowledgement. But then, her guilt for her own jealousy welled up instead. She again thought of how she fell afoul of Sunset Shimmer’s spells because she was vulnerable.

“Hello, Equestria to Pinkie?”

“Uh- Ah! Yes?”

“You should put a little more stock and trust in me, Pinks. Whatever I do, and whatever the future holds, I will not let you feel hurt. I’ve grown much since I left Ponyville, and I promise I’d be a much better drakefriend than before.”

Pinkie frowned again. “… I… It is at heart not your problem, Spike. It’s me who’s being insecure.”

“With me by your side, why would you feel anything less than secure, Pinks?”

“Our relationship... I don’t think it’s meant to be.”

Spike was truly shocked by her statement. He quickly asked. “Why? What do you mean?”

“In Twi’s vision, we two didn’t get together at all and stayed friends. Only Rarity seemed likely to get close with you.”

Spike sounded relieved. “… Just that?”

“B- But it’s the fut-”

“Excuse me, but buck that vision to Tartarus in this particular case!”

“Eh-?”

“We’re our own persons, and whoever these alternate Spike and Pinkie Pie and Rarity are, they are their own persons as well. Our destinies did not diverge when Chrysalis had her ways, but rather likely since the very, very beginning. If you believe that we have the power of choice and free will, then why would you get so attached at that particular version of future?”

“W- Well, that future seems much happier, peaceful and-”

“It’s true that we’re at war. It’s true that ponies are maimed and their livelihood ruined. But look at what we’ve achieved so far, and think of what 
could have happened otherwise.”

He breathed out slowly. “Don’t look at us for a moment. Think Rainbow Dash. Even though the reason she left was the sad disappearance of Twi, but if she had not gone south to the Amarezons, a whole pony civilization would likely be snuffed out of existence.”

Pinkie muttered. “And if you haven’t gone to the Frozen North…”

“… If.”

“Yet we’re here. Life is full of unknowns and possibilities, it should not be dictated by visions and prophecies. They might offer us some pointers, but at the end it’s us who need to fight for a good ending. We might easily meet with sadness and bitterness in our way, this is what makes the end result, if it’s happy and hard-earned, particularly sweet. So much have already ‘changed’, and won’t you agree that some of them was a blessing to have happened? Like you becoming my marefriend?” 

Pinkie again blushed deeply, and fervently nodded.

“Then all is right within the world. We’re going to work together and with our friends new and old, to bring peace back to this land.”

He paused and grinned, as he reached to blow the lights out. “But for now, it’s time for sleep.”

Pinkie looked a bit sad and lonely, as she prepared to get up and leave. Instead, she was pulled by a strong arm and into the bed sheets. She gasped aloud, but had her mouth gently covered by a dragon paw. “Be with me for the night, Pinks.”

Pinkie shuddered, but then relented as she was dragged onto the bed and embraced by the purple dragon. She never felt so at peace and blissful since she had been released from the orange unicorn’s control.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike stretched his arms, yawned and jumped up of his bed. As he requested, the nurse helpfully lit up the many oil lamps within the room in the ‘morning’. He found that having a daylight cycle helped him function better in general.

However, Pinkie was somehow nowhere to be seen. Her warmth and scent still remained in the bed. Then Spike remembered that a visitor like her was not supposed to be here with him in the hospital, and she must have slipped away before the nurse came in and discovered them.

Sighing wistfully, he went out to the corridors and greet the hospital staffs. They were respectful enough, but someone must have instructed them not to get overly close to him for security reasons. After getting more lukewarm responses, he decided that he should no longer bother them, who were busy caring for the injured personnel in the previous battles anyway.

He went down the stairs and reached an area with visibly heightened security. A few Villian pegasi raised their spears at his sight, but lowered them as they saw it was him, electing to merely watch him closely as he passed by. Deeper into the corridor there were some of his own aggregating outside a reinforced door – a smattering of white wolves, muskoxen, ponies and deer.

After hailing each and every one of them, he was stopped by a white she-wolf.

“Respected Spike…”She called out in heavily-accented Equestrian, but her dejection and nerve was apparent.

Spike slightly tilted his head. He did not recognize this she-wolf at all. He responded in Susian. “Greetings. And I must apologize, we did not seem to have met before.”

She spluttered. “I- I am sorry, white titan. I forgot that I have not properly introduced myself. I… I am Gumpa. I come to guard Puuska.”

Spike raised a brow at the lack of title she used for the white wolf prince, but he first corrected her. “Well met, Respected Gumpa. Please call me Spike, or Commander Spike if you insist. But please don’t call me white titan, I am not white like Nighthewer, nor was I gigantic… for long anyway.”

“Yes, Commander Spike…” She still looked incredibly nervous.

“It sounds like that you know him personally.”

Gumpa raised her head abruptly, then lowered it again. “… I was his betrothed.”

Spike raised his brows. “So you are the she-wolf Puuska told me about? The one that left Kiova because of the Ursians?”

Gumpa looked ashamed, and she turned her head away. “I… have been regretting that decision since.”

“Okay… But forgive my bluntness, how are you here?”

The she-wolf shifted uncomfortably. “I was there, fighting for Puuska in a disguise and with a false name. I wore a helmet all the time so that Puuska won’t recognize me... which is probably why you don’t either.”

“Oh, but why the disguise?”

“I… still love him. I always do since we’re pup playmates.”

She quietly continued. “But I don’t feel like ‘reuniting’ with him again, giving the circumstances of my departure. I am the one who tore up the betrothal because of my cowardice, I don’t want to be seen as a leech to his status, and I have no wish to remind him of the events back then as well. He must’ve had enough. I am merely trying to shake off my cravenness.”

Her voice then turned emotional. “But now… now such bloodshed befalls the line of the paramount. I’m worried for him…! Please, Spike, don’t punish him further! He’s-”

“Of course I’m not going to punish him. He’s being forcibly controlled by his brother, who… have already received his dues. I merely come to check on Puuska’s conditions.”

The she-wolf looked up with gratefulness apparent in her eyes. She gulped, and seemingly with great bravery, she spurted out. “S- Spike, I know this is preposterous given your leniency already, but please bring him out of this depressed torpor! Susia has no wolf but him now, and we can’t afford to lose all our leaders at once!”

She added with a smaller, more whimpering voice. “I- I can’t afford to lose him as well…”

“Don’t worry, Gumpi, I’m here exactly for that. Whatever the future holds, the white wolves are definitely in the picture. This is time to mend wounds and raise our spirits to face future challenges. I will try to encourage him to raise his head up again as well.”

Gumpa for once sounded hopeful. “I thank you with all my heart, Commander Spike. May good health and fortune line your way forward.”

Spike nodded and squirmed past the guards at the door. Opening and closing the wooden door as carefully and quietly as possible, he turned to the bed where the dreary white wolf lied.

There he was, staring out of the window, placidly scanning the city view of Ville de Platine. 

The white stone pavement and the equally white buildings were somewhat marred by painted-on revolutionary slogans in glaring red, and there were still some signs of property damages by lawless mobs. However, it also seemed that Lion Muzzle had been able to organize some volunteers to begin clean-up already.

Spike felt some pain in his chest when he noticed that Puuska was hugging two jars – ashes of his only families in the world, one of them he killed with his very paws.

The white wolf did not even turn back as he said with a raspy voice. “Spike, isn’t it?”

“I’ve come, Puuska.”

“If you want to hand out any pun-”

“Why is it that all of you think I am going to punish you? If you were intentional, then yeah, perhaps. But it clearly wasn’t your fault-”

“It’s my fault for lowering my guard, it’s my fault for plunging the dagger into your eye, it’s my fault for being a foolish enabler, and at the end having to commit the worst crimes of them all to stop my brother. I am a fratricidal monster, and the furies of our ancestral spirits shall plague me forever and ever till the end of time.”

“If they’re being unreasonable, that is. I, on the other hand, am a perfectly reasonable… ‘authority figure’, heh. I think the argument is pretty solid that mind-controlled individuals should not be held against their actions, given that they are opposed to these actions and would’ve never done them.”

“How would you prove my intention was always pure, though? For all you know, I could have been a traitor-in-waiting.”

“I am not all-knowing, of course. I only call it as I see it. Besides, finding blame and assigning responsibility are not the reasons that I come.”

He finally turned back. The white fur on his face was crumpled. And as if it was possible, he looked even paler than his fur. “… Then what do you come for?”

“I come to check up on you, Puuska. This must be a painful time for you. Whatever they’ve done, family is family. I can’t imagine the amount of shock, turmoil and betrayal you had in your head when you made the decision to…”

“I did what I had to do. Despite our blood tie, subjugating my mind and making me his murder puppet is way too far.”

His determination quickly faded away, as his glance swept across his brother’s ashes. “I… might be able to do something else to subdue him, though. He treated me well otherwise, and at death’s throes, he said nothing but words of kindness and regret.”

Spike winced. “… There was nothing you could do. Those were your brother’s most loyal guards, right? If you did nothing short of… that, they were going to tear you apart the moment you wavered.”

“You need not say these to absolve my sins, good Spike. You though… I am simply floored by your lenience. Remember, I’m the one that stabbed your eye out.”

“You don’t need to remind me, because it did verily hurt.”

Spike continued. “I am also just a petty dragon, and despite what Frigg and her lots believe, a mere mortal troubled by mortal concerns. If you did blind one of my eyes, I would probably be a lot madder at you than I am now.”

“Your honesty is welcomed. I must thank the old white titan, then.”

“There’s no need for honeyed lies now. This clearly hurt all of us… a tragedy all around. We might have fought, but you’ve been a good-humored wolf ever since we have a chance to talk, and I feel really bad seeing you in such dismal spirits.”

“… Say, what do you want me to do for you?”

Spike was a bit taken aback. The white wolf silently put the jars of ashes on the nightstand nearby. Though he still looked rather pale, he jumped down onto the floor and bowed his head low in front of the surprised dragon. 

“I should be thankful enough that I am not punished for my crime. And though many white wolves witnessed my paws reddened with brother’s blood, they merely keep their disgust in their hearts rather than showing through open disloyalty. It seems that I have no time nor recourse to be an effeminate wolf and mope, now that you’ve come yourself as well.”

“Puuska…”

“Name your order, Commander. I will sort it out promptly.”

Spike crossed his arms and glared at the wolf intensely. After a while, he softened his gaze and merely shook his head. “Puuska, I see that you still don’t trust me enough to confide in, nor do you truly believe that I care for you as a person, not just someone who could order a large group of soldiers around for me. That I understand.”

The expression of the white wolf’s face was tumultuous, and Spike added. “No, I don’t have anything for you, other than telling you that you’ll face no punishment from me, and if anyone else demands it, I will oppose it myself. If you do feel like it, though, think of your fellow white wolves. They have been in disarray since losing two leaders in such a quick succession, and I heard many of them are openly expressing their worries. They need you.”

“… You…”

Spike abruptly turned. “I will come back to you when you’re in better shape.”

As the dragon turned and walked towards the door, he was stopped by the white wolf calling out to him. “A moment, good Spike, before you go!”

Spike sharply turned. “Hmm?”

“My brother… I had thought he was merely being his willful self. But he told me about the true, greater reason of his actions.”

“And that would be?”

After a pregnant pause, he said with a cut-glass voice. “… He wanted to remove magic from the world, and restore balance between the races.”

Spike widened his eyes. Puuska suddenly looked much older, as he stroked the jar of ashes of his brother again. With a strained voice full of regret, he began.

“He told me that he could see the Sielulintu in his dreams. It’s said to be the Soul-bird of our people, and it’s the shepherd of life and fate. We… the white wolves, however, do not all believe in matters of supernatural that much. It’s simply not in our nature to talk about forces beyond our control like the muskoxen. We strived to be the masters of our fate, that’s why we build the most civilization out of all Nordland races. Isojoki might be no ‘La Ville’, yet it is much more bustling than any other settlement in the north.”

Puuska bit his lips. “That’s why my brother must be a queer specimen in mother’s eye. He talked of the future in vague visions, yet they tragically coincided with father’s disappearance. Mother must have wrongly blamed brother for jinxing father’s journey, and she tried to suppress his visions and ‘correct’ his behaviors with mind-altering means. If only I had known…”

Spike said with a sad voice. “I’m very sorry for that.”

Puuska shook his head. “… My point is, brother’s actions might be… wrong, and I wish I could defuse the situation otherwise, even turn back time and hold back my frenzied paw… but his intention was not at all malicious.”

“But he wanted to take away magic from the world…So many things would stop working at once! Heck, I heard theories that the first dragons are born from the bath of ambient magic, and Nighthewer’s experiences certainly support that. Without magic, there could easily be no dragons! The weather… the sun and the moon… they might go out of whack at once!”

“I understand, so I was not wholly convinced of my brother’s project… which led to him taking my mind forcibly at hostage.”

He held his temple with a paw and frowned. “But he’s not entirely without logic either. Things run on their own outside of this landmass. In Ursia, for example, rain just falls and wind just blows. When the sun and the moon passes beyond this sky, beyond the control of the sun mare and the moon mare, they merely go on their own merry way. This land, out of all lands, is bathed in strong magic… magic that the equine lots called the Harmony. Though we never hooked up on it, our grey brothers were said to be also heavily entwined with it.”

He looked out to the city view and said. “Yet what brothers said haunt me. I personally have no qualms against magic in general, though I do resent the irregularities risen from the misadventures of ponies, which now deprive us of the light of day and night. But what brothers said… Magic does now seem to me such an unbalanced thing… Those who are born with it course through their lives, and those who lack it wallow in mediocrity. It uplifted the ancient ponies and caused our illustrious ancestors, though so strong and resourceful, to be eclipsed.”

Spike could find no answer to Puuska’s existential inquiry. He, though not so much as ponies, was also a product and benefactor of magic. In fact, without Twilight’s magic, he would not have been born.

“… Legends have it that we come from a wide wild plain to the east, where food was plentiful, the sun shone bright, and there were rivers of milk and honey.”

“Paradise on earth…”

“Yes. But we were driven out of it by force. It was then the white and the grey parted ways, we opted to go alone, and they went off to search for some distant brethren that a priest in their tribe told of. It was many, many thousands of years ago, and few other than passioned soothsayers still sung about this story.”

“… Were the wolves chased out because of ponies?”

“I don’t know. No white wolves nowadays know. The ‘eastern plains’ were so mysterious that none of us are sure if it really exists. I surely did not hear any of it even when I was at Kiova, the farthest east most wolves got. But brothers seemed to imply that the ponies were the culprit, the reason that we have to live on the corner of this land.”

“But… the white wolves do thrive eventually.”

“Yes, so I spoke against brother at the time. That does not mean his words were meaningless. If he was right, and he did succeed in his plan to take away magic, then perhaps…”

He looked up and scanned Spike’s face, then shook his head. “… At the very least, magic will no longer interfere with the natural rotation of the sun, moon and stars, and a day cycle would return.”

Spike frowned. “… There must be a reason for the very need to raise the sun and the moon by magic. If a lack of magic solves the problem, why the need to use magic? What are the purposes of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s cutie marks?”

“I don’t profess to know. But incidentally, brother told of a way for him… and me to complete our ‘destinies’.”

“Your destinies?”

“He said that we were supposed to work together, and tracked down the sun mare and moon mare. He studied legends, not only from the wolves, but also ancient Firstlings. And he concluded that we must tore them apart and devoured them, he the ‘sun’ and I the ‘moon’.”

Spike’s face turned green. “Didn’t the white wolves forgo-”

“Yes, but yet brother suggested so. Bloodying our snouts and sloshing our stomachs with coppery red. I suppose this ties to our discussion about celestial revolution just now. But I… I don’t even know those two mares.”

“If you knew them, you would know them to be good ponies who don’t deserve that!”

“I don’t wish to do so to anyone sentient, in any case. It would feel like cannibalism, and my honor forbids it. But no smoke without fire, I don’t believe my brother is a mad wolf, and all he saw were merely hallucinations.”

The white wolves gulped, and looked Spike directly in his eyes. “Spike, commander, successor to the white titan, I have sinned against my blood to turn away from this path, and I don’t know if I am even right.”

“Puuska…”

“I told you all these because I want a promise. A promise that only you can make.”

“… Yes, I’m listening.”

“The old white titan wanted to build an alliance of peace, but he failed. Now you come along and tried to do something even bigger. Can you promise that in that new world of yours, the white wolves would have a place of our own?”

“Of course-”

“Not only that. You hear the deep-seated worries of my late brother. He feared being casted aside, he feared the inequity between races, and he feared the disruption of nature by the unnatural. I will atone, and I will listen, but only if you promise me, under your watchful eyes, none of those would happen, or at the very least worsen.”

Spike gulped hard, but then he nodded with a similar level of vigor.

Puuska looked relieved, he slid back onto his bed sheet and nodded off, hinting to Spike that he needed some sorely lacking rest.

The dragon silently nodded back. He quickly made it to the door and pushed it open, which startled someone outside the door when they ran into each other.

“Ah!”

“Ouch! I’m sorry, Gumpa-”

A sharp gasp could be heard from behind him. “Wait, did you say Gumpa?”

Gumpa, who had again put her helmet on, let out a muffled sound, as she was about to turn heel. Puuska, though, had already rushed out with unseen vigor.

The she-wolf was going to run, but Spike pulled at her gently and said. “Well, what’s done’s done, might as well face him now. You need to sort it out eventually.”

“B- But-”

“Just go!”

With that said, Spike pushed the she-wolf into the chest of the pale prince. Puuska looked up with some shock, as he sniffed her scent. “Gumpa, it really is you!”

With some reluctance, Gumpa removed her helmet. Puuska shook with emotion, and he looked up to the dragon with bemusement as well as a bit of gratitude.

Gumpa was uneasy and full of shame, but Puuska’s face only had the expression of a wolf who just found his long lost family. He did not think that he needed to stay around and be a bother to their reunion.

As Spike walked out to inform the guards that he would soon leave the hospital for the barracks to meet with his own commanders, he briefly threw back a glance. The severity on Puuska’s face a moment ago had mostly melted away, and the dragon felt much more relieved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Pinkie! Oh by my beloved trident, is that really you?”

Geuse’s calmness was completely gone the second she saw Pinkie walked into their tent in the vast verdant greeneries. 

The army was staying, per the Crystallians’ demand to split them up, partly at Caserne des Célestins, which name survived the republican regime because of its oblique reference to Celestia, who was after all a benevolent monarch. 

The other part of the army, including Geuse and Kanipha and mainly consisting of non-ponies, were hidden from the citizens’ sight in Parc de la Libération. This park, located at the periphery of the city, had been promptly renamed from Parc des Princes. Few Villians, even the closet royalists, were willing to openly oppose the measure that omit the reference to a widely hated position. 

Geuse was immediately apologizing profusely, her voice full of shame and guilt. “I- If I had rescued you back then, you would not need to bear with the indignity of becoming Sunset Shimmer’s thrall.”

“Say no more, Geuse. It’s none of your fault. You could’ve done nothing at that situation.”

“But you almost chomped your own tongue in half!”

Geuse gritted her teeth. “Whatever you’ve experienced must be utterly humiliating and marred your psyche… And I’ve done nothing to stop that!”

Pinkie winced. She lowered her head and said. “… I… I wasn’t thinking clearly. For a brief moment, I wanted to end it all, as my own self came flooding in, and along with it my burning shame. But maybe I wasn’t that sure after all, or else I would’ve gone all the way.”

The pink mare gulped. “But really, given the security she placed around me at the time, you could’ve done little. She wanted me to split the Element-bearers. She also wanted me for my weapon skills. She was at the time trying out this mind-control spell. For whatever reason, she eventually did not go and mass-cast this spell on everypony. But if you barged in at the time, she might as well act on her threat and controlled you as well. That would have been a double disaster.”

Geuse bit her lips. “Regardless, I’m still a knight in name, and I didn’t manage to save you. Even if I take a step down and consider myself as a glorified mercenary, failing to make good on my ‘contract’ is still the highest dishonor.”

“Geuse, the true dishonor is on my part. I- I have lied to the press and-”

“I’ve read those already. Some Crystallian recruits thought it would be funny to throw those headlines to my face. Spike was with me too, and he too saw it, but he did not say anything other than showing a deep frown.”

Pinkie gasped. She immediately looked evasive and fearful, but the orange pegasus merely shrugged. “Yeah, it’s a pretty outrageous story, and I only hope that clearer heads prevailed in Ponyville so that Vernie is not mistreated and blamed by association to me. But lies are what they are, they would disappear like dew in the sunshine, when truth is finally brought out. What’s important is that we keep on fighting, so that truth will not be forcefully bent and swept into the dust of history. That would require us to work together as one.”

Geuse shook her head. “You were under control, but I have failed you with my full agency.”

“If this is a competition on who fails who, then I am going to win it all, because I have failed all my friends by helping Sunset Shimmer out.”

“But you failed them because I failed you!”

Pinkie showed the orange pegasus a weathered smile. “This is getting out of hooves. We can do nothing if we’re stuck in a loop of who’s going to take the most blame. Let’s agree to disagree that we both messed up royally.”

“… Agreed.”

The two mares then went silent for a long time. Geuse eventually twitched a bit, and got up to pour a cup of water for both of them. However, Pinkie called out from behind her with a nervous voice.

“I- I’m so, so sorry about what happened in the room…”

The pegasus stopped in her track, and turned with a bemused look. “Um, what?”

The pink mare winced, as a blush developed on her cheeks. “I… I must’ve crossed the line back then in the Crystal Castle…”

Memories came flushing back in the orange pegasus’s mind, and her face alternated from blue to red, and then back. But then, she let out a quiet sigh, and out of nowhere, she planted an impassioned smooch on the pink mare’s lips, in the exact manner Pinkie did to her.

Utterly confused, Pinkie could only look at the grinning pegasus in awe and shock.

“Now, there. We’re even. Mind ya, I’m still not into mare-on-mare action.”

Pinkie immediately shook her head like a rattle drum. “M- Me neither! Sunset Shimmer’s commands just stripped me of too much autonomy and personality that I was barely thinking for myself!”

Geuse asked half-jokingly. “Oh? So how come you’re able to command an army just then?”

“I- I told her when she asked, and she might have done some fine tuning afterwards to allow me to act more naturally in front of others. Besides, I- I was not really in charge of anypony either in the labs or in the army… The officers as well as… Laske did the heavy lift-”

Suddenly, there was a loud ‘clank’ near the entrance of the tent. The two mares turned sharply at the source of the sound, and were surprised to see a zebra colt hiding behind an overturned pot with tomato-colored cheeks.

He blurted out quickly. “I- I saw nothing, nothing at all! Ha ha ha!”

Geuse immediately flew in front of the colt and flicked his forehead. “Of course you don’t! Why are you peeping at us anyway?”

“Hey, this is my tent too!”

He crossed his hooves and immediately retorted. Then he turned doubtful. “You can’t be serious-”

“No, no no no. Pinkie’s all Spike’s. I’m just making it even for something that… uh, have happened before.”

Kanipha looked at the pegasus with a long, steady and suspicious gaze. But eventually, he just shrugged. “Alright, if you say so.”

“Hmm, you’ve really grown smarter these days. I swear the Kanipha a year ago would have insisted to stick your nose to where it does not belong.”

The zebra colt grinned. “Huh, it seemed that you two would do enough of that to each other already, there’s no need for yours truly.”

“… What?”

This time, Geuse merely looked back with a blank, non-understanding look. It was Pinkie whose cheeks became burning red after a click in her head. The pink mare spluttered. “K- Kanny!”

The zebra colt held his belly and bellowed at an uncharacteristic deep voice. “Haha, you get it, Pinkie... I know you’re the type! But when have you become so easy to embarrass? You used to be an excellent comedian and party planner extraordinaire!”

“What the hay do you mean ‘the type’?! You’re still a foal! Don’t make a joke so crass in front of mares!”

“That’s unfair! Technically I’m only a year smaller than Spike. And I have already cut down on my crassness. You should hear more of my glorious exploits from Geuse.”

“Shut it, Kanny! And I thought you’ve been reforming!” 

Geuse turned to the pink mare with a frown and asked quietly. “But I don’t get it… Pinkie?”

The pink pony again gulped and quickly whispered something into the pegasus’s ear. The blush then immediately became infectious, as the pegasus let out a stirred yell. “Ukuhlakanipha Okusezingeni!”

“Whoa, how in the world do you, Geuse, remember that? I am amazed! You never, ever, managed to say my name in full correctly before!”

“You racy little rapscallion! How dare you mock me like this? I- I’m gonna get you good!”

The zebra colt already bolted towards the entrance. “As if you can do it with that barely preened wings of yours, ha ha!”

Pinkie looked with wide-eyed as the pegasus chased the small zebra colt out of the tent, playfulness apparent in their eyes. After a while, she sat down with a content smile on her face, and unbeknownst to her, some puffiness also returned to her mane.

As she sat in the tent to savor the precious moment, she heard another voice coming from outside the tent.

“Hello Geuse, are you here? I’ve come back from the meeting...”

Pinkie looked over, and a yellow crystal pony walked into the tent tilted her head left and right, then up and down like an owl.

Pisacan then mumbled. “You’re here, right? Don’t play with me please, I’m serious.”

Her spirits boosted somewhat by her previous encounter, she joked. “Hi Serious, I’m Pinkie!”

The yellow pony gasped. She flustered and said. “S- Sorry, Miss Pie, I don’t know you’re here.”

“You can just call me Pinkie!”

Her smile then faltered somewhat. “And you don’t need to be that mellow with me too. I was in complete cahoots with your enemies after all.”

Pisacan widened her green glazed eyes, and then she slowly shook her head. “So you see, Pinkie… I used to be pretty mad at Cadenza and Shining Armor too. They were also in the thrall of the orange witch at the time. I was just so angry that they appeared to be turning a blind eye when I personally appealed to them. Now I realize that they are two pretty passionate and compassionate ponies, just fallen into the wrong hooves with no choice. Presumably you’re also similar.”

She smiled. “Spike also said a lot of good things about you, so I’m sure you’re a good pony too.”

“But I probably do much more damage than them… I propped up her rule that scattered your clan and even put some of them into slavery in all but name. You should hate me and yell at me…”

“As I said, I did exactly that to Cadenza and Shining Armor. No good came out of that, though.”

Pisacan blew her lips and let out a sigh. “As the Vinidi matriarch, the clan’s survival is my goal first and foremost, not pursuing some meaningless vendetta…”

She breathed through her teeth and nearly hissed. “Though I might well make an exception for the orange witch.”

She then calmed down a bit, used her hoof to adjust her mane slightly and continued. “You’re a valuable ally, you certainly know much about the inner workings of the orange witch’s rule. Not to mention your very presence cheers Spike up. He’s the pillar of our whole coalition. He’s the very real dragon hero who saved our plots time after time. I can’t be mad at you both at a personal level and a purely utilitarian level. If anything, I pray to Father Vinidius that you’re safe and sound, so that we might one day see to the downfall of the orange witch.”

“I will try my very, very best, Miss Pisacan!”

“Just call me Pisa, Pinkie.”

Pinkie slightly cheered up at the warming conversation. “Pisa, thank you so much for your understanding. I’ll try not to disappoint you and everypony like I did before…”

Pisacan nodded, and drily coughed for a bit. Pinkie took it as a cue and poured a cup of water for her. The yellow crystal pony, however, flailed her hoof as she got up and accidentally swatted the cup onto the ground, spilling the water inside and onto herself.

“Oh dear! I’m so sorry, Pisa! Let me help you clean up a bit!”

Shaking the water off herself, Pisacan put out a tongue. “Nah, it’s me who’s blind as a bat and should be sorry.”

“I should’ve told you that I was pouring a cup of water…”

Pinkie sighed. “… Pisa, your eyes…?”

“I don’t think they could be healed, even though I’m not an expert. The last thing I saw before I was blinded was a ridiculously strong light. Spike told me that it might have burnt the back of my eyes and even seared the nerves. I guess it’s pretty fortunate that I still look roughly normal, not a bloodied-eyed ghoul… or zom-pony like what Equestrians say it nowadays?”

“Your eyes are green and beautiful!”

Pisacan drily chuckled. “I would swap the look for the function if I can, but thanks.”

“T- There must be some magical spells out there that can be tweaked a bit to fix your eyes…”

“Ehh… Sorry if I sound negative, but isn’t finding a cure for Twilight Sparkle’s disabilities the reason Spike left his home and went on an adventure? If fixing a disability this severe is just so straight up doable, then he won’t have to do that, right?”

“Actually, the reasons he went was more complicated… Geuse and I basically went to places together for a similar reason, and it was to try to harness the power of Harmony from the Tree of Harmony. It had previously granted healing power to Twilight after we’ve shown that two of her friends have grown as a pair, and we hope that by keeping at it, Twilight would be fully healed.”

“Good for her. Though that seems to suggest it’s even more unlikely that a mere crystal pony like me would enjoy a grace from Harmony itself, like an Element-bearer would.”

“Don’t say that, Pisa-”

“Pinkie, I’m coming to term that I might not be able to see for the rest of my life. I am already blessed to be extra-prepared with my knowledge and skills. While it would be good to see again, for now your attention is needed not on me, but certain bigger things.”

Pinkie raised her brows and her ears perked up. “Hmm? Please tell me, Pisa, I will try to help to the best of my ability.”

“Pinkie, Spike had checked himself out of the hospital earlier today and called for a meeting.”

“Really?” Pinkie was a bit surprised that Spike acted on his words so quickly.

“He knows that you would want to rush there to join, but he wants you to take more rest. He really loves you very much, I can see that.”

The pink mare nodded with a blush. Pisacan continued. “Since you’re here, I might as well relay something that have been talked about in the meeting. Food for thought, you know?”

“Of course!”

“Spike already mentioned to us the three plans suggested by you, and we have discussed and debated on them extensively.”

“Whoa, that’s quick!”

“We have so far strongly inclined to stay away from the Empire for the moment. The expected resistance from there is too strong. We’ve already seen too much bloodshed, and it would be much better if we can return in better numbers and equipment. Also, not that we don’t want to exploit the weakness in their ranks, but it still seemed that we alone won’t make it through.”

“If we can persuade the Villian army and surrendered Crystallians to go with us, then perhaps it could be done? I am not sure about the Prench, but for the crystal ponies, maybe the combined efforts of you, Princess Cadance and me can make it happen.”

“I don’t want the blood of my clan to spill any more…”

Pisacan gritted her teeth and continued reluctantly. “… than absolutely necessary.”

With a sigh, she shook her head. “Selfish reasons aside, the morale of the crystal ponies would be dismal, especially if they’re pitted against their compatriots. The white wolves might have so much warrior blood in their veins, that shifting commander thrice a day would not faze them as long as there’re some foes to fight… But these are crystal ponies recently defeated, and before that slaving away in mines. Most Vinidis were ponies working in offices and merchant halls before we’re dragged in this mess. You can’t expect draftees to fight with any sort of vigor after all these.”

Pinkie looked at the ground in sadness. But then she raised her head and asked tentatively. “What about the Villians?”

“Nopony knows what they’re thinking. I doubt that even the Villians themselves know. But one thing is damningly certain – they’re definitely not thinking for us.”

“… It’s everypony for themselves in a time of turmoil, isn’t it? But can we, you know, sway Lion Muzzle, hmm? Defeating Sunset Shimmer could only be good to him?”

“Lion Muzzle is a genuine competent leader, but he did not seem particularly warm to us. I also suspect he had an agenda unknown to us… or even the Villian public.”

The pink pony looked surprised. “Why would you say so?”

“I’ve talked to him for several times since we arrived, because I’m the only pony fluent in Prench here, not counting you or Spike. I was trained to be a merchant, so knowing Prench and Villian traditions is a must. It’s better than nothing even though my knowledge might be a thousand years out-of-date. Not that he doesn’t know Equestrian, everypony here does, but we suspected that it would please him more if we make an effort to speak in his mother tongue. It’s Spike’s lesson.”

The yellow mare smirked. “As I thought, he was above that. He’s a charming stallion and slick diplomat as well. He always hedged his words, but did not sound any less assertive. Moreover, I can vaguely sense that he was not a republican through and through, which was confirmed when I talked with more ponies, like the Crystallian captives who have extensive history with him and Villians in general.”

Now this truly stunned Pinkie. “What? B- But he’s the face of the revolution!”

“Others might cynically say power corrupts, but I say he’s much more complex than that. To outsiders it might seem like he’s the chief agitator of republican sentiments, and it’s plain that he too agrees with many ideas of a republic for all. In truth, though, he almost was never the one who directly called for purging the nobles. He certainly would have not overly humiliate or antagonize any royalists, like the riot some days ago, should he have had his ways.”

“Are you saying that he is a closet royalist?”

“I doubt that, but I don’t really know. There are hints that he is amenable to overriding power, since he had already issued several edicts without consulting the revolutionary council or the old commune leaders. He also tracked the opposition, not only royalists, but also radical factions in the communes, but it’s by no means a witch-hunting craze yet. Despite his authoritarian streak, he had not yet slipped into a despot or a dictator like the orange witch, as he showed keen interests in convincing the Villians that he has the common touch and cares for them personally.”

“He does sound like a complicated pony… How come you seem to know about him so well in just days?”

Pisacan’s smirk grew wider. “As I have discovered… Ponies, consciously or unconsciously, look down on the blind.”

Pinkie immediately frowned. “Pisa-”

“Now now, I am not wallowing in self-pity, I’ve done doing that long time ago. I’m only saying that this can be a good thing, especially when you’re out to extract information. When ponies patronize, they lower their guards. You can then exploit that to get what you need to know.”

Pisacan raised a brow. “For instance, I gathered that he actually was also reluctant to exploit the weakness of the orange witch’s lackeys after their big defeat.”

“Don’t tell me…”

“His true reasons we cannot know, but yes, the most educated guess is that he doesn’t want peace to return to Equestria this quick. If the next day the orange witch somehow gets shot to the moon, and Celestia and Luna return triumphantly to Canterlot, the most likely outcome for him was to reluctantly give up his power and position to some royal cousin.”

Pinkie bit her lips. “Do you think that they would not respect the will of ponies in La Ville?”

“Public opinion can be shaped, and their images among ponies are good enough for that to be done easily. Even though their own positions, secured by thousands of years of rule, are in no way threatened by an upstart, they would still need to soothe the nerves of the couple thousand kings and princes and assorted thoroughbreds in and out of Equestria, who would turn green knowing that the ‘peasantry’ would be inspired to pull the same trick on them.”

She tutted, and then picked up the half-spilled glass of water flawlessly. After giving it a big gulp, she continued. “If they’re smart, Blueblood would definitely have to go, but they would certainly find some other distant relatives to replace him. If they tell the Villians to accept a prince of their choosing, or stick with a director and a republic and earn enmity from every feudal lands in this world, the choice of the Villian public would be obvious. In any case, this would spell the end of the republican experiment. He clearly would not want to see that happen.”

Pinkie frowned. “So he’s an opportunist? Somepony who want to encourage Equestria to fall into total chaos so that he can take advantage? If so, he’s no better than Blueblood!”

“Heh, that’s a bit harsh. As I said, there’s probably a bit of an idealist in him too. And personally, I hope their experiment… or rediscovery of republicanism ends well. I just have this feeling that he’s aiming for more than the survival of the Prench Republic… more than even this conflict. From what we’ve seen, l’Armée is a force to be reckoned with under his command. With Lion Muzzle in charge, La Ville will not be brought down as easily like Cloudsdale, and he would probably want to do more than holing up in here. If not onwards to Empire proper, then…”

Pinkie frowned. After some thoughts, she said. “If so, it might be better for us to be careful, and even better for us to keep some distance from him, or we might be pieces of his strange game.”

Pisacan nodded with an appreciative look. “Agreed. We need to preserve our strength and link up with more reliable… or at least understandable allies with obvious overlapping interests. We have to quickly obtain our deserved supplies and support in exchange for our protection of their city, and then quickly pull out of here. That’s what we’ve concluded in our meeting as well.”

“Other allies? You mean the eastern cities? Or Hollow Shaders?”

“They might prove useful allies. But that’s a big-if, since we know next to nothing about them. Since the northern alliance is one heart and soul united behind Spike, there’s no urgent desire for them to return north yet. Rather, we should go to your home and join force with the ones who pull off the miracle at Raritan.”

“P- Ponyville?”

“Yep. First, you’re a bearer of the Elements. Bringing you back there and reuniting you with the other bearers will be our best hope to end this with as little bloodshed as possible. Failing that, more hooves the better for our coming fight, since Spike told us in absolute terms that they would be completely on our side.”

Pinkie slightly winced at the possible consequences at home for her ‘betrayal’, but she nodded.

Pisacan continued. “… The south of Equestria, according to Spike, had become a veritable bread basket thanks to immigration and improvement in farming. With food production going down along with the sun, and signs of famine lingering in the horizon, we’d do well to move quickly to somewhere we can feed ourselves and somewhere that is willing to feed us.”

“I… I agree with all these, but how? We’re a long way from Ponyville here.”

“We ended the meeting without making a final decision. Though personally, going overland seems to be the most logical way to do it.”

Pinkie frowned. “Sunset Shimmer had set down a fixed barrier to prevent the Ponyvillians to link up with the East. It’s a highly advanced and magic-consuming spell powered by special crystals she placed in Canterlot. She wasn’t keen on the details to anypony, but from Canterlot the barrier shot southeast, cutting through the Rambling Rock Ridges and possibly even farther to the Eastern edge of Badlands. She's so confident on the strength of the barrier that she even let me try Big Dora on it as target practice. There’s no way we can simply pass the barrier.”

“Can we go around it?”

“Either we walk through area under her control, or make the impossible march through Hayseed Swamp, and possibly the Forbidden Jungle and Badlands deep down south.”

Pisacan quickly shook her head. “Goodness sake. I’m not putting myself through this. And there’s also no way those thick-coated northlings can survive the conditions down there.”

“If so, going to the Eastern Seaboard and go by sea seems to be our only option.”

“All the way around the distant southern seas and around the Skull Coast? Besides, what about the griffon raiders?”

“With an army this large, marching overland is also going to take similar amount of time compared to sailing on seas. Besides, there’s as much chance that we will be intercepted by Sunset Shimmer’s patrol on land as we will be interdicted at seas by griffons. At least at seas we will have a better chance to hoist full masts and turn tail.”

“But unlike in the north when the Firstlings are close to home, we’re at the mercy of the eastern cities if we want some ships of our own, or at least to obtain materials to build ships. Given the war and blockade, I doubt there will be…”

“We’re gonna try, aren’t we? I’ll try my best to pull threads and walk over… unburnt bridges when we’re there.”

“I suppose… Heh, if you’re there, our meeting would be done so much faster. You’re a wily character yourself, huh?” Pisacan grinned.

Pinkie lightly chuckled. “I’m just trying to help in my own small ways. Pisa, you’re also a very, very clever and learned mare!”

“Hah, I’m not gonna be humble on this one. This is why I’m the matriarch, and Clepy…”

Pisacan suddenly turned pensive. “And Clepy…”

Pinkie bit her lips. “Asclepias… is still in Villian custody, right?”

“They locked him in the prison tower. And then earlier when there was a protest against the presence of Cadenza, he was dragged out along with other Crystallian officers and Villian nobles, beaten up and paraded in the streets. I used a telescope to look at him. He looked miserable.”

“I’m so sorry…”

“… He deserved this much for supporting the orange witch willingly.”

“Pisa! H- He must’ve done this to make sure that what’s left of your clan can survive! Since you’re not there-”

“Enough of this talk, Pinkie. The matter of our clan remains ours.”

Pinkie flinched. “I- I’m sorry I overstepped my mark.”

“Don’t worry, I can feel that you care, and no offense was meant.”

Pisacan turned aside forlornly, and began after a pause. “Of course, he’s still my brother. I’m angry at him, but we’re tied by blood, by clan, and…”

She shyly chuckled. “And more. So I’d rather not have him continue to linger weakly at the unkind hooves of the Villians. This also goes for all other Vinidi prisoners, of course.”

“… I will-”

“Trust me, I tried everything, and there’s likely little you can do, especially given your status as their enemy. It’s bad enough that I’m a crystal pony myself, and I’d have been beaten up in the street if not for the escorts. Lion Muzzle won’t even let Clepy and I talk, so we need to escalate and put it in the demands on a negotiation table... Not now, but eventually.”

Pinkie looked disappointed, but she nodded. “I understand.”

“You’re a good mare, Pinkie. Spike is so lucky to have you as his marefriend.”

Pinkie’s head shot up in surprise, and she quickly blushed. “E- Eh?”

“I mean, you don’t need to feel tied down by your actions under the orange witch’s control. Spike said that you have an infectiously cheerful spirit, though I suspect that you’re in no mood to live up to your Element at the moment given what have happened.”

“Pisa, I…”

“But you can help in some other ways.”

“R- Really?”

“We need something to cheer ourselves up. The soldiers that follow us need to hold their head up high in good spirits to make the march ahead as well. It so happens that I’m going to hold a festa for the soldiers here to boost their morale.”

“A- A party?” Something long dormant had stirred in Pinkie’s mind.

Pisacan smiled. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Where does the food come from?”

“The supplies Marin brought with him. I checked, and turned out that it is almost all corn powder. Immediately I had an idea, and I got the nod from Spike as well. We’re not going to eat them all in a go, of course, I just want everyone to feel the buoyant mood of a traditional Crystallian and Vinidian festa.”

The yellow mare scratched her cheek and chuckled. “Although I’m not quite used to hold a festa myself. I used to have other ponies help with this kind of stuffs. And to be honest, it’s rare for a matriarch like me to plunge myself in festas, since it’s an activity usually enjoyed by, um… commoners more.”

“I- I will help! You can count on me to organize the best part- I mean, festa for everyone!”

“Excellent, Pinkie. With your help, I’m more confident that the festa would be a roaring success.”

“Hehe. But Pisa, what do you want to do with a big lump of cornmeal?”

“Aha, let me explain as we prepare for it…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the bright street lights on the rues and boulevards went out one by one, signaling that bedtime was about to come in the Ville, activities were conversely beginning to heat up in the Liberation Park.

Although chiefly a Crystallian and Vinidian-styled celebration, Spike negotiated with Lion Muzzle to let as many attendees from their own army to join as possible. After some wrangling, they were permitted to hold a celebration as long as it was entirely within the confines of the park, and allow Villian patrols to watch over them.

Marin’s brigade was, for once, not under heavy guard by the others, but rather placed in the middle of everyone around a giant bonfire, and allowed to roam freely around the camp.

The crystal ponies looked upbeat, as they streamed about and poured bags upon bags of cornmeal in metal pots of various size. There was also an enormous pan next to the fire. Even the non-crystal ponies were helping to carry buckets of water and poured them into the giant pan.

“Holy, Pinkie…”

Pisacan’s ears perked and twitched, and she realized that there was a big pile of instruments unloaded in front of her. She extended her hooves, touched and gasped. “Where in the Ville do you get so many accordions and genuine organettos?”

“Heheh! Not only those!”

Pinkie beamed brightly, as she pulled out instrument after instrument from her puffy mane. “I’ve also got flutes, bells, castanets, tambourines, and this!”

Pinkie pulled out a horseshoe-shaped metal instrument with a reed in between. She then put it inside her mouth, and began to pluck the reed with her hoof. A series of whimsical vibrating tones immediately came out of her mouth.

“Oh my goodness, is that a rebèba?”

Pisacan bloomed into a big smile. “I haven’t played with one of those since I was a foal myself!”

“It’s called a donkey’s harp in Equestrian, but I know that you guys played it all the time, and a festa needs that to be more fun!”

“Whoa, you know how to play all these?”

“Of course!”

“And these are all specific instruments we usually use in our music as well. You really are superb! Ten leagues above any hired entertainers I’ve met!”

Pinkie smiled even brighter. “Heheh, so let’s begin the festa already! I will play, and you will sing!”

“M- Me? Sing?”

Pisacan looked stunned. “I- I…”

Pinkie smirked. “Are you worried that you would seem less like an imposing matriarch if you sing?”

Pisacan huffed. “Of course not, they know better than to judge me on my appearance. It’s just that… well, I have never sung in public, much like in front of my clan members.”

“Come on now, Pisa! This is not a concert, and you don’t even need to sound good! Everypony would just join in anyway! Just give it your all, and I will help out a bit with my instruments!”

Pisacan licked her lips. “Alright, here we go then.”

She took a light step onto a dais, and knocked on a tambourine. Every crystal pony immediately stopped browsing around and listened with attention.

“My dearest blood, fellow Crystallians and welcomed guests of the Vinidi, I, Pisacan, matriarch of the Vinidi clan bid you welcome. This is a trying time for many of us, but tonight, let’s throw all the worries behind and join us in this joyous festivities! We celebrate food, warmth, safety and a comfy place to settle down, and we’re going to make enough food for everyone!”

“Hooray!” “Yay-!” “The more the merrier!”

“Excellent! The Festa della Polenta shall start right now!”

The crystal ponies cheered aloud. Though most are in ragged military attires, they still managed to find some colorful stripes to wrap around their hooves and necks to make their dances livelier. They also began to move the big pan onto the red-hot fire, and began pouring cornmeal and water into it.

Pisacan coughed with some nerves, but as soon as she heard Pinkie’s instruments playing, she threw her worries over her shoulder and into the winds. With a cheery and cut-glass voice, she sang.

“Cuàndo se pianta la bèla polenta,
la bèla polenta se pianta cussì,
se pianta cussì, se pianta cussì.
Bèla polenta cussì.
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum.
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum.

Quando la cresse la bèla polenta,
la bèla polenta la cresse cussì,
se pianta cussì, la cresse cussì.
Bèla polenta cussì.
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum,
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum.

Quando fiorisse la bèla polenta,
la bèla polenta fiorisse cussì,
se pianta cussì, la cresse cussì,
fiorisse cussì.
Bèla polenta cussì.
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum,
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum.”

The crystal ponies, mostly Vinidi laborers, were more than surprised that their lordly matriarch began to sing in the folkish tune of their humble hearths. Cornmeal mush, or polenta, was a staple food for poorer crystal ponies, and Crystallian families often gathered around the stove and the dining table, singing La Bèla Polenta, as a bonding exercise. The fact that she was singing the song greatly warmed their hearts.

Other non-crystal ponies simply were piqued at the lively and cheery tune. Some of them began to dance around and pass around the meagre liquor ration in the camp, and happily drank.

Pisacan cleared her throat, as the whole fireteam of crystal ponies somehow got ahold of a large wooden stirrer and lowered it onto the pan. With much sweat and effort, they mixed and stirred, occasionally smacking the cornmeal mush with the blunt end.

However, the yellow crystal pony was surprised that another voice chimed in before she could restart. 

“When you go stir the lovely polenta,
the lovely polenta, you stir it like this,
you plant it like this, it grows by like this,
it blooms wide like this, you stir it like this.
Lovely polenta like this.
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum.
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum.”

Amazed that the pink mare somehow was able to sing an Equestrian-version of their folk song, Pisacan shook her head and chuckled, and promptly ordered the crystal ponies to watch the fire carefully, lest it burnt and became a lump of charcoal.

As now more understood the meaning of the polenta song, they was attracted to the celebration, and the central circle now consisted of a mishmash of ponies, muskoxen and white wolves. Orange sparks of the fire reflected upon their glinting eyes, and Pinkie was overjoyed that most of the attendees were enjoying themselves.

The soft lump of polenta was carefully unloaded onto a giant, cleaned wooden plank. Like beating a dummy, the crystal ponies then used the blunt end of their spears to repeatedly bash the giant cornmeal mush. Other first looked on with bemused, stunned looks, but they quickly caught on. 

Under the instruction of crystal ponies, they too found whatever clean wooden stick they could lay hooves or paws on, and join in the exhilarating exercise of beating something up without a need to pull back. Even some neighboring Villians came out from their homes, attracted by the salivating scent, and the soldiers did not stop them from joining in the grand polenta bashing.

After bashing the lump for a while, the crystal ponies then brought out rolls and rolls of threads. Under the watchful eyes of the others, they use the thin threads to cut the polenta into smaller servings and distributed them out to everyone. 

“Quando se taja la bèla polenta,
la bèla polenta se taja cussì,
se pianta cussì, la cresse cussì,
fiorisse cussì, se smissia cussì,
se taja cussì.
Bèla polenta cussì.
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum,
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum.”

Intrigued at the curious method of cutting food, the attendees took a serving one by one. The cornmeal mush was a simple dish, and while most of the soldiers would just eat it as it was, some brought their private sauces, like tomato paste to mix into the polenta. Whether seasoned or not, however, the attendee ate them joyfully all the same, the worry and fear they had a moment ago dissolved in the impromptu festivities.

“When you go taste the lovely polenta,
the lovely polenta, you taste it like this,
you plant it like this, it grows by like this,
it blooms wide like this, you stir it like this,
you cut it like this, you eat it like this,
you taste it like this.
Lovely polenta like this.
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum.
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum.”

As the night wound down, the giant lump of polenta got sliced smaller and smaller, and most attendees began to rub their full bellies and sat around with satisfied looks. Pisacan aptly began to sing the last stanza of the polenta song, ‘lamenting’ the running out of polenta, while in actuality bringing the food sharing session to a close, and let the nightly chat begin.

“Quando fenisse la bèla polenta,
la bèla polenta fenisse cussì,
se pianta cussì, la cresse cussì,
fiorisse cussì, se smissia cussì,
se taja cussì, se magna cussì,
se gusta cussì, fenisse cussì.
Bèla polenta cussì.
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum,
Cia cia pum, cia cia pum.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Pinkie, can you answer me an honest question?”

The Vinidi matriarch sat down next to the pink mare after mingling with her own clan. Immediately, she leaned over the small fire and asked.

“Hmm?” 

Pinkie somehow had with her a bag of marshmallows and was grilling them over the fire. She chewed on one and handed another to the yellow mare. “Try one! BBQ’d marshmallow!”

Pisacan waved her down and said. “Sweet, but later, Pinkie. Listen to me first.”

Sensing the seriousness in the yellow mare’s voice, Pinkie put down the marshmallows and said. “I’m listening!”

“Is it true that every one of the Element-bearers are as maddeningly competent as you?”

Pinkie slightly shifted and blushed at the question. “You’re being way too generous again, Pisa. I’m just a simple-”

“I’m not joking around, Pinkie. I need that information to gauge how worthwhile it would be to go to Ponyville, even though it’s been decided.”

Pisacan then smirked. “You know about our customs, which is surprising already. And so far, you display knowledge about weapon making, battle planning, linguistics, history, cooking, music, diplomacy, magical theories, and more. I know somewhat about each of these topics because I was trained intensively by father and attended a maddening amount of lessons from various hired tutors, all for my eventual takeover as the clan leader. But according to Spike, you’re just a baker and party-planner in Ponyville.”

Sweeping her fleecy mane away from her face, Pisacan continued. “I’m not inclined to disbelieve either you or Spike, so the only conclusion I can make here is that you’re a very bright pony for your age. Can I expect to see such level of competence in the rest of your friends?”

Pinkie gulped, but then turned serious with a confident smile. “Well then… You betcha, Pisa! For one, Dashie – I mean, heard of Rainbow Dash?”

Pisacan muttered repeatedly as if to refresh her memories. “Ah, the bearer of Loyalty. Before the orange witch really clamped down on the press, I managed to read some snippets about her. She’s also mentioned in the government gazettes because she somehow came to lead the Cruzesians?”

“Yes! Dashie’s a brilliant leader herself! She’s an excellent flyer, and rose from managing a weather team to leading a whole nation of ponies! She’s also a battle veteran, leading them to defeat an army of ancient evil dwelling in the Amarezons!”

“What about the rest?”

“Well, Fluttershy is not only good about animals, she’s also standing up for ponies and speaking for them in the media that she was in charge of!”

“Ah, so that’s what the Manehattans mean when they say ‘media mogul’.”

“Heh, I don’t think Fluttershy would particularly like this label. But my other friend, Applejack is definitely a railroad and farming tycoon! She built farms in the dry south and an irrigation system that can sustain them, and a dense network of railroads that transports goods around at lightning speed! She and I as well as other tinkering experts were working on a remote communication device that can be used by anyone before I left.”

“By anyone? Even me? Without unicorn magic?”

“Of course! No strings attached! It is basically a machine that converts your voice and sends it out in the form invisible light and also receives it from any other device in the area! There’s both a wired and a wireless version!”

“How ‘remote’ are we talking about though? 10 yards? 30 yards? Half a furlong?”

“It really depends on how high off the ground they are, and whether there’s any objects blocking our way… But say, if the two ponies are communicating over a flat plain, it could theoretically reach over six miles.”

“By Vinidius, two leagues?! If we have this device on the battlefield, it would be immensely helpful!”

Pisacan then frowned worriedly. “But Pinkie, did this piece of technology fall into the hooves of the orange witch?”

Pinkie shook her head a bit nervously. “N- No, of course not!”

“But why? At the risk of sounding rude, didn’t the orange witch have complete control over their captives?”

Pinkie applied her best mental control to not sweat beads. The yellow mare was getting dangerously close to her secret. She did briefly wonder whether it was fine to share her secret further, but even though Pisacan seemed like a trustworthy mare, she knew her for too short a time to fully know her.

With a sigh, she said. “… I used some mental discipline to block some of the more sensitive knowledge of mine, so that she could not fully exploit them for her nasty works. As you see from Big Dora, it is not as successful as I hope it would be.”

Pisacan merely went silent with a shocked look. Then she said with disbelief apparent in her voice. “You can do that? Just use your willpower against her wicked strong magic, and partially succeeded? Jeez, some ponies really are born different than another.”

Pinkie shifted and bashfully grinned at the unabashed statement, but she tried to shift the topic. “Hey, let’s talk about the rest of my friends!”

“Sure.”

“So this leaves us with Rarity-”

Pisacan’s smile suddenly intensified. “Hey, I heard about her too.”

“Right? She’s a top-quality fashionista, even having boutique branches in Manehattan, but she’s also an industrial entrepreneur! She mines not only gems for decoration, but also those for spell-casting! She also mines different metal ores and makes the best steel! She-”

“I’m sure she’s brilliant as well, but I’m more interested in something else… You two share Spike, right?”

Pinkie screeched to a halt, and she let out an exaggerated gasp. “I- I- I-”

“Deep breath, Pinkie.”

Pinkie did as told, and breathed in and out for several times. She then looked up and down nervously, but eventually nodded without a word.

Pisacan licked her lips and grinned. “No judging there. I am just so curious, if you would excuse me.”

“H- Heh?”

“How does that work in practice? I’ve never seen multiple relationships work in pony societies. In the ‘Land of Love’, the Crystal Princesses always promoted monogamy and subtly encouraged ponies to frown on ‘cheaters’... So you don’t get jealous whatsoever?”

Pinkie’s face grew red, this time not out of cutesy embarrassment, but intense tumult and shame. But then she remembered her talk with Spike after the traumatizing moment at their reunion. 

With a slow, steady voice, she said. “I did get jealous from time to time. In fact, being jealous had put me in a weak position against Sunset Shimmer’s controlling magic.”

Towards Pisacan’s surprised face, she continued. “Of course, there’s a reason why ponies would prefer a one-to-one relationship, even if we take out the whole concept of being faithful or whatnot. There’s simply so much time in a day, and the more partner you have, you simply can physically pay less attention to each of them… The use of magic excepted.”

She smiled. “But ultimately, the problem is not multiple relationship itself, but the entitlement that comes from it. We get together because we love each other, and love is not something that diminishes as you share. The challenge is there, of course, both from the judging outside and from the somewhat more limited time that we can share. However, that’s what makes it more precious when it does work out.”

“Ah… So, take this as a purely hypothetical situation… Could you envision a situation where there are more ponies in the equation?”

Pinkie’s smile froze, she was a bit concerned about the direction of this conversation. Still, she said. “I- It depends. But I’ll try my very best to accommodate if that’s what Spike wishes. After all, I did promise not to let my love for him turned into poisonous jealousy anymore.”

“I see, I see…” Pisacan nodded with a mysterious smile on her face. Pinkie almost wanted to ask her the pertinent question aloud, but at the end, she was too flustered to do it.

In any case, Pisacan quickly straightened herself. “Sorry for asking something this personal, Pinkie. I promise to tell you my story to the fullest, if you’re interested of course.”

“N- Not at all… And of course.”

“For now though, it seems that you haven’t told me about…”

Pinkie drew in a breath. “Twilight, isn’t it?”

“Yes, her. She’s the leader of the Element-bearers, right?”

“You can say so.”

“I know that she’s also a royal student of magic under Princess Celestia. I heard that before we came back as a nation, she saved the capital city by blasting herself alongside the queen of the invading changelings. What a mare, what a character!”

“She is…”

Pinkie looked down on the ground worriedly. “She is a very magical and very competent unicorn no doubt, bound to do great things. But to us, her friends, she’s just Twilight. And now she’s…”

“She’s lost her memories, I know. Spike told me quite some time ago. It’s a sad situation indeed.”

Pisacan again leaned forward, this time seemingly simply for warmth rather than to make a gesture. “If I was the spirit that resides in the Tree of Harmony…”

She grinned a lopsided grin. “Well, if so, I would first question my morals then. If it’s really so much more powerful than the Crystal Heart, and it can affect the happenings in the mortal realm to its whim… Putting you guys along with everypony else through this gigantic mess is simply cruel and unusual. There surely is a better way to give you all a chance to grow as a person, no need to plunge Equestria into a war... Ha.”

Pinkie’s face again turned somewhat sour. Pisacan seemed to have sensed her displeasure and said. “Just kidding, I believe in the agency of ponies. And even if this has all been planned out, I’m still not questioning the divine. They’re scary, and I would rather not invite their wrath by mocking them.”

“Don’t say that, the Spirits of Harmony surely are benevolent…”

Pisacan’s eyes, though unseeing, did shine a strange glint. She blinked and wistfully chuckled. “I’m just saying that if I was the one who decided whether you guys have passed the ‘test’. The one that is supposed to bring Twilight Sparkle back to health… This should be waaaay more than enough. You lots have suffered enough.”

“P- Pisa… Thank you for your kind words. I really hope so. Everyone have suffered enough as well.”

Pisacan smiled steadily. However, out of a sudden, she then stomped her hooves and looked annoyed. “Ugh…”

“W- What’s wrong?”

“I have to go now, just remember. Marin says he had something for me after the festa. Now I swear to Vinidius if it’s not something important, I’ll…”

“Marin…”

Pinkie muttered. “He... He seems very happy to know that you’re alive. His smile looks genuine now.”

“I don’t want to talk about him, sorry Pinkie.”

“B- But…”

Pisacan sharply turned back to the pink mare, seemingly remembering something. “Ah… I did say I need to be honest to you about myself, didn’t I. Well, then may I say that I think that he’s the posterchild of what you call ‘entitlement’ just now.”

“Eh?”

“He’s the quintessential ‘nice guy’. He showered me with his ‘gentleness’, ‘compassion’ and ‘helpfulness’. But being helpful does not necessitate me to return with love. If that’s true, I guess I probably have to Prench-kiss a lot of people now, like Geuse.”

Towards an embarrassed Pinkie, Pisacan added sarcastically. “For more detailed information, please consult Cadenza, she likes to think herself as the love expert.” 

She then turned grouchy. “I want nothing to do with him. The very reason that he approached me was my inheritance.”

“He seems to genuinely care for you even though his father told him to come near you at the very beginning. He and his father are two different ponies.”

“I’m sorry, Pinkie. I really can’t bring me to like him even by a hair of an ounce. Maybe, just maybe if he forcefully drags me in front of his beloved ‘Guida’… urgh, and has me brainwashed. Then I might become his little ‘love birdie’. Yuck, I have to rinse my mouth after this.”

Pinkie winced and flinched. Pisacan coughed and said. “Sorry to have brought it up again, Pinkie. But yeah, I, uh… already set my eyes on somebody else, now that I no longer have to worry about building clan alliance with myself as the chip.”

Pinkie’s ears perked up. “C- Can I know-”

“Lady Pisacan!”

Marin’s voice came from the direction of the bonfire. “Lady Pisacan! I’ve been looking for you all over the-”

“Yeah, yeah…”

Pisacan turned to Pinkie. “Sorry, I must go now. We can talk more about… that later. Now I must deal with Marin.”

She stood up and yelled back. “Turn down your volume, knobhead! I’m blind, not deaf!”

Marin immediately flinched and apologized profusely. “S- S- Sorry, Lady Pisacan…”

“Tsk, let’s go already.”

Pinkie looked at the cousin duo walked into one of the many tents nearby, her heart inexplicably tied into a knot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The slumbering peace in the Liberation Park was suddenly shattered by high-pitched yelling, sounds of metal clanking, and general chaos.

The soldiers were ambushed in their sleep, completely caught flat-footed that somehow, in a friendly city, there could be a sneak attack on them. The few guards on duty were swept aside.

However, the intruders seem to be careful in choosing who to attack. They targeted only crystal ponies with their gleaming coats, and mostly evaded the others, only returning blows when they were attacked.

After a whirlwind-like operation, the camp was left in shambles. When the commanders scrambled to organize a counter-attack, the intruders were already cantering away down the wide boulevard with their shocked crystal pony captives.

When Pinkie finally managed to squeeze past the half-panicking soldiers and exasperated officers to meet up with Geuse, Kanipha, Yolana and Puuska, she discovered that Pisacan was conspicuously missing.

“Geuse, where is Pisa?”

“They’ve got her, bastards!” Geuse massaged her side, and spat out some red liquid from her bloodied mouth.

“Who are they?!” Pinkie gasped.

Kanipha also covered his black eye and hissed. “Who else, the Villians have turned on us, those traitorous sons of b-”

Yolana said sharply, her stone-encrusted scepter still firmly in her shaky hooves. “As Zarlik is my witness, these southerners lied to us when they said we’re guaranteed safety in the walls.”

Rainga’s face was bright red from exhaustion. “They almost bash me in the head if I didn’t leap into the air in time. Horrible people these ponies!”

Puuska muttered something under his breath, and then wiped some blood off his face and said in accented Equestrian. “Their target was not us though.”

“Huh?” Pinkie looked confused.

Kanipha narrowed his eyes. “Isn’t that obvious? These Villian mobsters only targeted anypony who’s ostensibly crystal pony.”

“B- But why?”

“Who the heck knows! But one thing’s for certain, they’re not carrying them to a great banquet when everyone’s asleep!”

Geuse added sharply. “They took Pisacan, we must-”

Another ruckus developed at the entrance of the park, but this time it quieted down quickly. The Firstling and Lucentian contingents who were staying over in the barracks have arrived. However, they seemed to have fought through someone to get here, and the equipment on them looked hastily put on.

Spike quickly ran towards the group and gritted his teeth. “The Villian mob have come, haven’t they?”

Kanipha replied. “They took all the crystal ponies away!”

Spike asked with an even darker tone. “Even Pisacan?”

Geuse nodded slowly with sadness and shame. But then she asked. “What happened? Why did the Villians turn on us?”

“The Villian army didn’t turn on us. The Villian public did.”

Spike clearly thought for a bit to try to make his explanation short and quick. “They hate the Crystallians, and they don’t bother or don’t care about whatever clan they belong. They only know that a bunch of them are roaming free in our army, instead of chafing in their oubliette. Some rabble-rousers must have planned this in advance. ”

Pinkie said angrily. “There’s no way Lion Muzzle doesn’t know this! He has eyes all over La Ville!”

Spike sighed, but it came out nearly as a hiss. “Pinks, we can find the blame later. On our side, Cadence and Shining Armor fought them back successfully and alerted the entire army, that’s why we can come to you so quickly... Not without some fighting.”

The couple galloped from behind and joined the group. Shining Armor, who had some battle scratches on his face, grunted. “We need to go as soon as possible. They seem to be going towards the city center.”

The group nodded together. The army was then rapidly merged and made ready to move out of the park.

Marching down the rue with hurried pace, the army encountered scattered resistance from the Villian public. Ponies living in row houses next to the street also threw trash and foul water to the army.

Magnar was livid. He yelled at a particular saboteur in Firstling tongue, and then switched to heavily accented Equestrian. “Unthankful ponies! We used our blood to shield your city, and this is what we get?”

Stellan said with a low voice. “These ponies really despise crystal ponies, I’m afraid.”

Magnar suddenly grinned. He patted Stellan’s back forcefully and said. “You lots should be glad that you no longer glitter like those pyses. All thanks to strong Firstling blood!”

Stellan shook his head. ”If they want to turn on us, they are welcome to try.”

On the other side, Geuse was asking Spike more about the situation as they ran forward.

“Spike, how exactly was the saboteurs able to get into the barrack and reach them? Aren’t there walls and guards?”

Spike gasped for air, and then said. “I don’t know, but someone familiar with the layout of the barracks must be involved.”

“This ‘Ville’ sounds more and more like a giant trap…” Kanipha grunted.

“At least they are not inherently hostile to all of us.” Yolana muttered.

“They stole the crystal ponies under our noses and beat everyone up! If that’s not hostile, I don’t know what is!” Rainga complained.

Puuska shook his head. “If they want to snuff us out in our sleep, they could’ve done so.”

Rainga was about to retort, when the army abruptly came to a halt. Following the hoofsteps of the ‘mob’, they again arrived at the Place de la Concorde. This time, the vast plaza was heavily guarded with actual Villian army soldiers. 

The mobsters they’ve seen earlier were gathering in the middle of the plaza, ironically around a big bonfire. However, this time the bonfire was surrounded with wooden pillars, and around those pillars were fearful crystal ponies, stripped of their armors and weapons, left shuddering without knowing what their captors would do to them.

Spike stopped the march, and scanned the scene with his green eyes. Before he could pick out anyone who looked to be a leader, however, he was already approached by a familiar-looking pegasus.

“Lieutenant, what is the meaning of this?” Spike asked with barely hidden annoyance, not bothering to address the pegasus by name.

Octavie-Fontaine looked dismissive. “Commander, it’s rather late at night. Considering that there’s no longer the sun and the moon to follow, it’s understandable for you and your army to lose track of the time. And since the Ville is a big city, getting lost is also likely for newcomers. We will forgive you for accidentally harming our citizens, but-”

Geuse already angrily cut her off. “You screwy shrew! You’re the ones who beat us up in the middle of the night and robbed ponies away! Give them back to us at once!”

“No can do, I’m afraid. Please just return to your camp and barrack. I promise you this is the extent of our action.”

Spike was utterly bemused by Octavie-Fontaine’s attitude. Of course, he had known the pegasus to be blunt and not exactly diplomatic from their previous encounters, and he had expected it. 

However, so far she had not shown any inclination to harm their physical safety. Especially on the matter of prisoners and Crystallians captives, he would expect her and her soldiers to be a moderating force against brutal excesses. He was at a loss why she now seemed to be an utter enabler of these mobs, when she had explicitly told him that the directory and the army will not allow this kind of actions, which would have completely fit the bill of ‘overly damaging actions’.

Cadance tried to use a softer tone and pleaded. “Please, be kind and spare a thought for-”

“We have already extended our maximum thought and appreciation for you, Sua Altezza, when we allowed you, living symbols of autocratic entitlement and Crystallian tyranny, inside the walls. We will not in any circumstances act against the very everyday heroes that made the revolution possible, especially when it aligns with the interests of the Republic.”

Cadance looked wounded, and Shining Armor held her while glaring daggers at the pegasus. With a pout, Pinkie complained. “You meanie! I can’t believe you Villians are so two-faced, hmm!”

“That’s an interesting way of taunting, Madame Pie. Knowing who you’re, you should be grateful already that you’re not among the wanted of these courageous citizens. We certainly haven’t forgotten the devastation caused by your weapon.”

Pinkie Pie’s anger was doused by the guilt she felt. Spike quickly grunted and said. “I told you lots multiple times. You know very well that she’s a victim of mind control by Sunset Shimmer, so were Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. But now this is a blatant violation of our guest right, especially since we’ve helped defend your city with our blood and toil!”

“As I said, Commander Spike. These ponies are volunteers from the ranks of Villian citizens. They’re not under our direct command.”

Rainga asked with raised brows. “But what are they going to do to these crystal ponies anyway?”

Octavie-Fontaine blatantly ignored Rainga and went on. “…They merely felt-” 

Rainga’s face grew red. She shouted. “Hey! I’m talking to you!”

“The ability to speak or walk on four does not make you intelligent, doe.”

Spike gritted his teeth as he pulled back his adopted daughter, who almost charged at the pegasus horn first like an enraged bull. 

“They merely felt the righteous anger of seeing so many treacherous foes roaming around unbounded, and potentially causing troubles for the safety of the republic. So the army is not going to involve ourselves in their action, but if you foreigners would disrupt or attack them, the Villian Army would not hold back.”

Spike’s eye twitched. “The Crystallians already in our custody are… technically our… war spoils. You take them from us just like this, and it’s a hostile action.”

He then raised his voice with a huff. “And everyone in my army is under my protection. Pisacan wasn’t even part of Crystallian army, yet she was kidnapped. This is unacceptable.”

He added with an ominous tone. “You see, when you mess with the hoard of a dragon, bad things happen.”

Octavie-Fontaine narrowed her eyes. “Dragons, tsk. I know you are a miserably greedy lots.”

Kanipha yelled. “Hey, take that back, you sanctimonious hypocrite! Who’s the one that beat us all up and robbed the crystal ponies away from under our muzzles, huh?”

Spike shook his head. Veiled threat did not seem to work, so there was no point escalating the tension. Though secretly hoping that he could give the mare in front of him a good telling-off or something more ‘direct’, he swallowed his ire, calmed down the angry murmurs on his side, and coldly demanded. “I want to talk to Director Muzzle. Now.”

The highfalutin look on the pegasus’s face temporarily shook, but she immediately huffed. “Director Muzzle is busy dealing with important national matters.”

Spike was about to push back, when a series of noises began to develop in the middle of the plaza, drawing their attention.

The group looked on as the prisoners, seemingly those captured by Villians in the previous battles, were brought out from the prison tower and brought into the plaza. The confused and emaciated captives did not look at all delighted to see their compatriots. Rather, they looked at the giant bonfire in the middle of the plaza with looks of clear dread.

“Wait, what are they doing?” 

Cadance dropped all hints of subtlety as she pointed towards the events in shock and horror. “T- They’re raising the wooden pillars on the fire!”

Even Magnar and Puuska looked disgusted. The Firstling Thane said. “Huh? So these ponies are trying to set their prisoners on fire, after they have surrendered?”

Puuska merely shook his head. “Where’s the honor in this?”

Magnar smirked. “Hm, agreed. Fire should be used to shepherd the valorous fallen to the realm down under, not this. And they call us barbarians!”

The white wolf returned with an almost imperceptible smile. “Seems like we have some common ground after all.”

“Don’t get too over yourself yet, pup. We thought of you lots as our prophesized nemesis for millennia, and you’ve so far done only so much to change our ancient perception.”

Puuska, however, did not seem to in the mood of biting back. He merely said placidly. “Very well. Trust could not be built in a day, I understand. For now though, we need to stand united behind him.”

Magnar snorted and harrumphed. He did not respond, but some surprise could still be heard in his voice. He looked back to the ‘him’ Puuska referred to, and saw the dragon questioned in shock.

“What, pray tell, can be more important than a bunch of ponies about to be burnt at stakes outside his grand palace?! Have you all lost your mind? Your sense of basic decency?”

“The people’s will be done. That’s why the Prench people have decided that the aristocracy has to be gone.”

Octavie-Fontaine crossed her hooves and coldly added. “And if you want to know about decency, ask why Sunset Shimmer and Blueblood started all this, not us. We cannot let you through no matter what. I suggest you all to retreat to your quarters and avert your eyes if this discomforts you.”

Rainga yelled. “Why talk to her anymore? It’s useless! I’ll order the hornsdeer to slice them through like melted butter!”

Magnar barked a laughter. “Gutsy lass, I say screw them as well. If they want to be a bunch of ingrates, then let them!”

Spike shook his head difficultly. Despite the jingoistic words, he knew that they would be dead meat if they really started a fight here, right in the middle of the city surrounded by Villian soldiers and hostile civilians.

He peeked forward, and he suddenly saw someone he distinctly recognized. 

Pisacan was singled out from the crowd. The captors clearly knew that she was distinct from the rest of the captives, but they didn’t seem to heed her desperate cries. The brawling shouts of the republican war song filled the air, eerily calling for the blood of their enemies to be spilt onto the ground.

The yellow mare was shaking, but she seemed to have made a last minute plea to her captors. Though way too far to hear clearly from, her exaggerated body language showed that she seemed to want to plead for the lives of the others in exchange of her own.

The group looked on with impotent anger as she was forcefully shoved back onto the ground. Geuse was ready to bolt out when they seemed to be dragging the helpless mare, face ashen with resignation to her dark fate, to the burning pyre.

“This cannot go on anymore, Spike, do something!” Shining Armor hushed.

Spike gritted his teeth. His ears perked up to the emanating chants, and he sharply turned. “Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, can you cast the strongest volume boosting spell for me?”

Cadance and Shining Armor looked hesitant. The blue-maned unicorn asked. “A- Are you sure you can still get through their heads through words alone?”

Spike had almost lost patience. “Just do it, please!”

“Alright…!”

With the double aura of combined magic from the couple, the air in front of the purple dragon grew a bright white.

Spike gritted his teeth hard, and then sang with his loudest, most pleading voice into the magical glow.

Prench folk, as forgiving fighters,
Please bear and hold back your blows!
Spare those penitent victims,
Who have armed against you with woe… Who have armed against you with woe!

Hearing such a loud, clear and emotional plea sung to the tune of their anthem, the Villians stopped to look at the source of the voice. A small part of them even looked a bit doubtful of their current actions, when they met gazes with their sorry captives again.

Spike drew in another breath, and continued wistfully.

We will share round the idea
Fairness is our doctrine
For this harmony of our mind
We will build a new world that we all live in.

Feeling encouraged by the lowering tension, he carried himself into the rousing chorus of his own version of the chant.

The hope, oh citizens,
shall be our bastion.
March on, march on,
For the peace and future of our nation!”

Spike then slowly walked towards the Villian soldiers alone. The others were about to follow him, but he raised his arms and stopped them, signaling that he would walk alone to avoid raising alarms.

Miraculously, the soldiers merely looked on guardedly but did not stop him. Octavie-Fontaine looked displeased, and was about to lunge forward to stop the dragon. But she somehow stopped mid-sprint, and tilted her head at a curious angle. Without a word, she returned to her original position and ordered her soldiers to stick to observing as well.

He walked right past the line of soldiers and up to the assembled mob, right in front of a young stallion who appeared to be a central figure. Around him many ponies looked unsure as to whether to continue. 

“Villians, I, Spike the dragon, come to you, alone and unarmed. I’d be grateful if you would spare this small dragon a few moments’ time.”

“These crystal ponies before you. You think them vile, you look at them as accomplices to Sunset Shimmer’s tyranny. But where were they mere months ago? They were also just normal ponies like most of you, scrapping by in their life without trying to harm anyone. Why are they now here? First defeated under the high walls of the Ville, then captured and tormented in the city? Do they hate freedom? Do they, somehow by birth, have a visceral distaste for the Prench?”

Spike almost thundered in an assertive voice. “No! They are victims of a tiny few of corrupted minds. A creator of a system that makes ponies fight ponies, dragging in hundreds of thousands of innocent, despairing stallions, mares, colts and fillies. Put yourselves in their horseshoes, free ponies of the city, and realize that your cherished liberty isn’t something that can be afforded by everypony in the world.”


He breathed out and continued. “Please let your uncloven brothers and sisters have a chance to obtain their freedom as well. In grave there are only empty coldness, but not true liberty. The fire that was fueled with the flesh and blood of defenseless prisoners will not brighten the future of La Ville or the Prench Republic, it would only mask it in a paralyzing film of terror. Instead, we should unite and fight to fulfill the promise. A promise to free your fellow souls, better the world, and do away with hate and intolerance. Let us join together, not to light the pyre to burn the sorry victims, but to light our inner fire to take action and free them all.”

Many of the listeners looked genuinely taken in by Spike’s speech, the extent of which surprised even the desperate dragon. The faintly yellow-coated young stallion, who had until then remained silent, walked up to the dragon and said.

“Salutations, Spike the Dragon. I’m Saint Just. Your oratory skills are truly outstanding. The Prench have always admired and idolized excellent orators, no matter their race or creed, so long as their points are cogent and wholly sensible. Indeed, what you have said has clearly moved a lot of us. We indeed hate the Crystallians for trying to take over our homes and enslave us all. However, to inflict the fiery dues on them seems to be depriving them of a chance to repent and obtain freedom on their own.”

“I’m happy that you see reason, Monsieur Saint Just. Seeding the idea of liberty in the wider Equestria… can only be great for the future of the Prench Republic.”

As the tension seemed to be melting away, however, some elements were not moved by Spike’s impromptu lyrical and rhetorical persuasion. Rather, they detested the perceived insult and ‘butchering of their war song, and then the patronizing speech calling for unity.

A sharp yelp saw the very matriarch herself yanked away from the ground by some over-zealous members in the mob. Pisacan initially back-bucked one of the assailants and pressed him onto the ground in an impressive display of self-defense, but as others piled on her, she was dragged away, hooves violently flailing, and tied onto one of the pyre.

It all happened so abruptly and quickly that Spike had to react in a visceral manner. He lunged towards the scene and jumped. Intense emotion coursed through his head, and without himself noticing, his body transformed again.

The mob grew panicked as the dragon magically grew large and muscular. Several potshots were fired, but they merely bounced off his scales effortlessly. They evaded to the two sides the way he dashed.

Now slightly over half of his maximum size, he managed to reach the pyre. One stallion tried to set fire to it before Spike could reach them, but he was body-checked and slammed aside. The purple dragon immediately grasped the yellow mare with his own paws, and rolled away from the wooden pyre. 

The action, however, renewed the tension in the crowd, with some loud cries fanning the flames and encouraging the crowd to attack the dragon. Even the soldiers on two sides were getting itchy, with Spike’s companions ready for combat.

“That’s quite enough, citizens!”

A deeply masculine and roaring voice boomed. It came from behind the lines of Villian soldiers in front of the Palace. They quickly dispersed to two sides, revealing the very director of the Prench Republic himself.

Octavie-Fontaine rushed to the front of Lion Muzzle, but was only met with a hard gaze. She quickly went out of his way without a word.

The director bellowed deeply. “Courageous citizens of the Republic, I bid you well. I know why you are out in the open in this hour. Anger rose within you, when you witnessed the sight of the accursed foes, tyrant’s accomplices within the city. And so I understand fully what drove you to action of such extent to purge them. And yet, Spike the Dragon said it with elegance: Fire would not cleanse our city, but darken it with the foul name of barbarity.”

Hearing the direct denouncement from the director himself caused a lot in the mob to question their action. Some grew secretly resentful, and doubted the loyalty of the director to the revolution, but they kept their mouths shut for the moment.

Lion Muzzle continued. “You know me, citizens, for you have elected me as your director. I am no fan of being mired in the past, when fangless princes and nobles can trample us and make us toil. It was the precious moment of unity that brings brave soldiers and great people of the Ville together. However, we shall be magnanimous in our victory. We are champions of liberty, defeaters of tyrants. If we allow our hatred of tyranny grow into a hatred of the misled and the oppressed, then we too will become cruel oppressors, accessories to those tyrants.”

A series of gasps could be heard in the crowd, many clearly shocked that the director was seemingly accusing them of instrument of tyranny themselves. But before any could voice their opposition, he thundered. “Think! Mere several months ago, these ponies were but ordinary people in the Crystal Empire, living out their own lives like you and me in the Ville. By accident of birth, and fortuitous conditions, we in the Ville are able to shed our shackles and forge our glorious republic on the foundation of the old communes, yet these sorry crystal ponies, either through the tyrant’s poisonous propaganda, or helpless tides of greater events, are now here.”

He shook his head. “People of Ville de Platine, this is the time we make our choice. We either let the revolution descend into anarchy, barbarism and disorder, or use it to guide us onto the light of reason and progress. I ask of you, fellow Prench ponies, for what do we suffer this lack of light, shortage of food, agony of war? We take our fate into our own hooves and build a better Ville for ourselves. However, if we give in to our ravenous, desirous power over their lives, not only do we betray the free and equal ideals of the revolution, but we would also weave a veil of white terror, no different to the blood-infused mantle of the privileged!”

Reaching over to the sitting dragon with Pisacan resting on his belly, Lion Muzzle said. “Let Spike the Dragon’s words be heard, and let go of these misguided warriors of the tyrants. I, director of the Prench Republic, promise you that they will never constitute a threat to our nation. We will announce plans in several days, for now, please return to your homes and work for the future of the Ville.”

Those in the northern alliance who could understand Equestrian looked at the director with amazement and a hint of gratitude. He seemed to say exactly what was need to be said to save the lives of these crystal ponies, and largely called them down.

The only doubtful gazes came from a small, stubborn part of the mob, as well as on-lookers such as Kanipha, Rainga and Puuska.

Adrenaline still coursing through the veins, Spike had little time or mind to dwell on any suspicion. He was only glad that the appearance of the director seemed to have brought this errant episode to a close. This could easily lead to the most horrific episode in Equestrian history, yet it seemed to have been dispersed with songs and short speeches.

“You saved me… and many of our clan as well, Spike.” Pisacan raised her head and said softly.

“Not at all. I would never just sit there and allow this to happen unchecked.”

“Spike…” Pisacan muttered.

“I-”

Spike suddenly felt a pang of unbearable pain. It radiated from his chest to his entire body, causing him to bend and lean forward in agony. He managed to push Pisacan out of his paws, and then lied prostrate on the cobbled stones of the plaza.

The yellow mare stumbled but quickly managed to get up. She felt that some warm fluid drenching her body. Though blind, she could smell the all too familiar coppery smell of blood, and she gasped in shock. “Spike?!”

“U- Uh- I…” The dragon’s voice came through, but it was mostly incoherent gargling. It was as if his mouth was filled with some liquid, presumably blood.

That’s when the pink mare suddenly burst through the line and reached the side of the purple dragon. She yelped. “Help! Please, any unicorn medic?!”

“W- What happened-” Pisacan’s voice was shaky.

“He had mostly likely strained himself by getting into too many greed growths in a short amount of time! I- If this is not treated quickly, his inside would turn into mush and he could… he could…”

Director Muzzle observed the events. With a stone cold look, he turned to Octavie-Fontaine and ordered. “Lieutenant, arrange for unicorn medics to tend to Spike the Dragon, and let the pegasi transport him back to the hospital. Other soldiers should escort the citizens safely back to their homes.”

Octavie-Fontaine silently nodded, and immediately sprang to action. The events in the Place de la Concorde had ended in a peaceful yet discordant note.