//------------------------------// // Broken Circle // Story: Tales From the Phoenix Empire // by Chengar Qordath //------------------------------// Movie night had been something of an informal tradition with me and my friends back in Flight Camp, and we’d gotten right back to it now that we were all together again. It helped that now we could go to an actual theater instead of having to make do with whatever we could find lying around at Camp. Not that making fun of forty-year-old PSA films wasn’t fun, but... While I thought we were enjoying a slightly higher standard of entertainment now, not everyone agreed. As the rest of us trotted out of the theater idly chatting about our favorite parts of the movie, Rainbow paused to glower at one of the film’s posters and let out a loud snort. “So there's two hours of my life I'm not getting back.” I glanced back at her. “You’re kidding, right? Sacrifice of an Imperial Hero is a classic, and for once the remake didn’t screw it up too much.” Rainbow scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Did we even watch the same movie, Cloud? Or are all you Solarises just really into stupid patriotic movies? If I wasn’t with you guys I would’ve walked out in the first five minutes. The whole thing was a huge load of horseapples!” Derpy sighed and shot a patient look back at her. “You do know the whole movie’s based on real events, right? And they actually tried to have the remake be more historically accurate than the original?” “Twilight said she only found fifty-seven historical errors in the movie,” Fluttershy added. “And most of those were things like costume design or combining a few characters to keep things simpler. It was much easier to just have one Equestrian general that Rossfreund worked with when he really had to coordinate with dozens of officials.” I still wasn’t sure what to make of Fluttershy talking so casually about the Empress’ personal protege and descendant. I knew she, Derpy, and Rainbow were all mixed up in something that kept them at the palace—something high-level enough that they wouldn’t tell me anything about it. Everything I knew about it came from unofficial sources, so I had to play dumb whenever I was around them. I wasn’t exactly wild about lying to my friends, but orders were orders. Rainbow snorted again pointedly turning her back on the poster. “I’d take Twilight’s stupid egghead history commentary track any day over actually listening to the dialogue in that ... well calling it a movie is an insult to good cinema like Bulk Biceps and the Plant Monsters of Doom or Tirek Versus Chrysalis III.” Only Rainbow would call those cheesy low-budget action movies quality films. Though speaking of Rainbow’s love of action... “I would've thought you would really like the battle scenes, at least. Even if they did go a little overboard up the MGI.” “I miss when they didn’t use magically generated imagery for everything,” Derpy sighed softly. “I guess it’s cheaper and easier than practical effects, but knowing it’s all a bunch of illusion spells really just takes me out of the movie. It’s just ... sometimes it’s too obvious that it’s not actually real.” She shook her head. “Plus, I’ll never be able to blow something up for a movie.” “I don’t care about the effects,” Rainbow snapped. “I just couldn’t have any fun when the whole movie is just a bunch of lies to make it seem like the Empire conquering Gryphonia wasn’t such a bad thing.” Fluttershy shuffled uncomfortably. “Well, Heinrich Rossfreund did ask our armies to remove the horrible Duke of Gryphonstone who burned his village. Just like the movie said...” Rainbow groaned and rolled her eyes. “Yeah yeah, I’m sure they technically got a lot of the facts right. But they used all those facts to tell a big stinking lie! C’mon, guys, the whole point of the movie was obviously that the gryphons should be grateful that we conquered them, because they’re just sooo much better off now than they were under their old rulers.” “I don’t think you can use facts to lie to people, Rainbow,” I shot back dryly. “It’s totally BFO that there was probably a bit of spin on it, I have a decent GOFO, Dash. It’s inevitable when the film got backed by the MoH. I heard they even got a magus to help them out with the MGI, and the IMA helped them with extras. Explains why the battle scenes were PFA.” Rainbow smirked and poked me in the side. “Cloud, you’re speaking in acronym again.” Derpy chuckled and shook her head. “Need me to translate? I’m reasonably fluent in TLA.” At Rainbow’s confused frown Derpy grinned and explained, “Three Letter Acronym.” “I think I got the gist of it,” Rainbow grunted. “Let’s not talk about that stupid movie anymore, it’s just annoying the horseapples out of me. Wanna go do something else?” “Sure.” I was more than happy to move on from the budding argument before things got serious. “But we can’t be out too late, I’ve got an ITX in the morning.” Rainbow glared at me, and I held up my hooves in mock-surrender. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop.” Derpy nodded sympathetically. “I hear that loud and clear, I’ve always hated training exercises. Good idea in theory, but it usually wound up being a WOFT—er, a waste of time and money.” She shot a halfhearted glare my way. “Now you’ve got me back to speaking in Acronym too. Anyway, it's been much too long since we had a chance to catch up. Even now that we’re all back in one place, it seems like there’s always something going on.” “Ugh, tell me about it,” Rainbow groaned. “Being in the ‘Bolts is awesome and all, but between training, shows, more training, public appearances, and more training, I’m running all over the place. Is it the same with you being a Knight, Flutter-butter?” “I do need to train a lot,” she agreed. “Not to mention all my medical work. There are lots of times when the hospital really needs an extra set of hooves.” “Oof, yeah.” I wrapped a wing around her. “Being a Knight Hospitaller means you must be pulling some serious double duty.” “I don’t mind,” Fluttershy answered with a gentle smile. “It’s a lot of work, but I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing when someone needs help.” “I still don’t get how the whole Knight Hospitaller thing works.” Rainbow casually replaced my wing with her own. “So you beat people up, and then you heal them? I guess that’s one way to make sure you have job security.” While Derpy struggled not to snicker at her, Fluttershy shook her head. “It's not exactly like that, Rainbow. Well, maybe once or twice, but most of my medical work is in charity—” “You know I'm just kidding,” Rainbow cut in, chuckling and mussing her mane. Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed slightly, and there was soft grumble in her voice. “Rainbow...” While subtlety normally isn’t in Dash’s dictionary, she managed to pick up on the warning signs and stopped messing with Fluttershy’s hair. “Okay, okay...” Naturally, I couldn’t resist an opening like that. Everyone knows that an important part of being friends is ruthlessly mocking your dear companions any time one of them leaves you an opening. Well, good-natured ruthless mockery. “I think Rainbow's scared of big bad Knight-Shy.” Derpy snorted and joined in on the fun. “Don't worry, Rainbow—we'll make sure Fluttershy doesn’t beat you up and steal your lunch money.” Alas, the joys of mockery and teasing were largely lost upon Fluttershy. Probably ‘cause of Flight Camp. The instructors clamped down hard on bullying, and the rest of us were there when the teachers weren’t, but we couldn’t stop everything. Anyone who tells you all children are innocent little angels hasn’t spent enough time around kids. Thus, she didn’t join in on the fun. “Oh, I wouldn't want to scare my friends. And Rainbow’s so brave, I couldn’t imagine her ever being scared of me or anyone else.” “Exactly,” Rainbow agreed with a satisfied nod. “Fluttershy’s way too nice. I could never be scared of her.” She paused, looking Flutters over with a faint smile. “Although, you are getting to be something of a badflank, aren't you ’Shy?” “Um ... maybe?” she answered modestly. I smirked and leaned over to faux-whisper, “Hey Derpy, five bits says Fluttershy could beat Rainbow in a fight.” Derpy sighed and rolled her eyes. “Cloud, I'm not going to bet against my friends like that.” She let that hang in the air a moment, then amended, “Now if you want to make things interesting, I could go for thirty bits...” Rainbow scoffed and pointedly turned her back on us. “You guys suck, you know that?” “I would never want to fight Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy added in, her eyes nervously flicking to the mare in question. “I mean, maybe a training spar with lots of safety equipment, but never an actual fight. What if I hurt her?” Unfortunately, that remark hit Rainbow right in the pride. She whirled around to face Fluttershy, eyes narrowed and teeth clenched. “Oh, so I'm just a pushover now? Just ‘cause the Wonderbolts are a PR unit and I’m not a knight doesn’t mean I can’t handle myself in a fight!” Fluttershy blinked and took an instinctive half-step back. “O-of course not! Rainbow followed her, poking her in the chest. “You don't think I can throw down?” Instead of backing away again, Fluttershy stood her ground and met Rainbow’s eyes. “I never said that.” Derpy hastily interposed herself between the two of them before things could get any more heated. “That’s enough of that, let's change the subject.” She paused, fumbling for anything. “Um—so, er, how've your sex lives been?” Credit where it’s due, Derpy’s question thoroughly distracted both of them from what they’d been arguing about. Rainbow’s eyes bulged out and her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, while Fluttershy’s face turned so red I had to wonder if there was any blood left in the rest of her body. “Oh ... um ... er ... I haven't ... uh ... oh my...” I looked at the two of them, then chuckled softly. “I think you broke them.” Derpy was looking pretty flustered herself, grinning sheepishly at the chaos she had wrought. “Oops. My bad.” Rainbow was the first to recover from her shock, swatting Derpy on the back of the head. “You bubble-brain! What the hay was that?! You can’t just go around asking ponies about their ... gah! What is wrong with you?!” I swooped in to back Derpy up—partly because I’m a gentlemare, but mostly because it was obvious she’d struck a nerve with Rainbow and I wanted to get a few hits in. I poked her in the ribs, smirking like a kid in a candy store. “Speaking of sex lives, I do recall reading about something in the tabloids...” Rainbow’s eyes widened, and she hissed, “Shuddup!” Like a big, grey, wall-eyed shark, Derpy smelled blood in the water. “Ooooh, what's this about the tabloids? I don’t normally bother with them, but...” “Oh, you know...” I deliberately left her hanging for a few seconds before delivering the goods. “They ran a story a while back about some Wonderbolt locker room shenanigans. I wouldn’t have paid any attention to it if not for the interesting photo of my old flight camp buddy on the front page.” Rainbow’s cheeks lit up again. “That picture was taken outta context! It’s not—it wasn’t what they said it was!” “Another case of someone lying by telling the truth?” I shot back with a smirk. Rainbow hit me with a supremely frustrated glare, while Derpy stared at both of us (wall-eyes are handy for that), then desperately turned to Fluttershy. “Come on—details, somepony!” “Oh, I'm sure all those stories about wild Wonderbolt sex parties are exaggerated,” Fluttershy answered reassuringly. Then she froze, her face soon going even pinker until it matched the color of her mane. “N-not that I read about that kind of thing. I only even saw the article because Zephyr showed it to me. I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for why it looked like Rainbow, Spitfire, and Soarin’ were—” Rainbow let out a strangled squeak, planting her hooves over Fluttershy’s mouth. “They're not true! I mean, look, maybe our parties get a little wild: a little booze, some pranks and shenanigans, but there’s no sex! For Celestia's sake, we're professional fliers, not a college fraternity!” She snorted and shook her head. “Besides, they’ve been training me since I got out of flight camp. Mom always joked that Fleetfoot was pretty much an honorary aunt. Getting busy with them would just be ... weird.” “Oh, guess that makes sense.” I shrugged, slightly disappointed to know that all the delicious gossip was just horseapples. It took away so much teasing fodder. “Though I suppose that if you want some wild college stories...” I chuckled and nudged Derpy with a wing. “We definitely got up to a lot back at IMA.” Derpy groaned and shook her head. “Empress' teats, Cloud, you had to bring those up again.” She held up a hoof to forestall any objection on my part. “Don’t get me wrong, those were fun times. Little embarrassing in hindsight, but it was fun at the time. Let's just focus on turning Rainbow beet-red for now, then we can fly down memory lane.” Rainbow sat down and crossed her forelegs over her chest, pouting. “You're all a bunch of perverts. Why’s everyone gotta pick on me?” “Because it amuses us,” I answered with commendable honesty. “So, you want some cheese to go with all that whine you’ve got?” Rainbow answered with a less than polite wing gesture. “You’ll get yours, Solaris. You just jumped to the top of my pranking list. You too, Derpy.” Derpy shrugged helplessly and offered an innocent smile. “This is all news to me. I'm just going off of what Cloud and Fluttershy said.” “No way.” Rainbow wrapped a wing around Fluttershy. “You're in my corner, right, ’Shy?” “Of course,” Fluttershy answered with a smile. “I only ever read the article because Zephyr showed it to me. And ... well I was curious about how you were doing. I’m glad none of it was true though.” She blinked, then hastily amended, “Not that I would be upset if you were in a happy relationship with one of your teammates. I just want all my friends to be happy.” I chuckled and shook my head. “Okay, I think you’ve had enough. This time. Guess that means I need to find something to tease Derpy about...” Derpy smirked and stepped over to Rainbow’s side. “Or the three of us could all team up on you instead. Turnabout is fair play.” “But I’m far too lovable to tease.” I was about to join in on the group hug when something stopped me. Or rather, someone. Thankfully, she hadn’t seen me yet when I spotted her. I quickly darted behind my friends. “Oh horseapples, hide me!” The only answer I got was three blank, confused stares and three variations on, “Huh?” I groaned and ducked down. “It's my ex.” Derpy glanced over, her eyes widening slightly. “Oh, I remember her. Weren’t you two dating way back in IM—” “History lesson later!” I snapped. “Hide me now!” Derpy nodded and shifted to the side a bit to hide me more effectively. That also resulted in her stepping on my hoof, but I bit my lip and bore through it. I was a soldier, I could deal with someone stepping on me. Rainbow leaned against the wall, blocking quite a bit of my line of sight with her (admittedly very nice and athletic) butt. Fluttershy covered the rest of me, though I didn’t want to risk moving enough to see if she was checking my assets out. I’m gonna blame that on stress, though maybe Rainbow was right about me being a bit of a perv. As for Derpy, she was still standing on my hoof, frozen indecisively. Moving too much might give me away, but on the other hoof—ow. She tossed a nervous look back at Fluttershy, then with forced cheer asked, “So, uh ... any new developments from Zebrica?” Fluttershy made a conscious effort to look innocent, and like most ponies who are trying to look like they’re not up to anything, that instantly made her seem twice as suspicious. “Oh, no, nothing. Everything is totally, one hundred percent normal and not conspicuous or awkward at all.” Rainbow groaned and facehoofed, grumbling under her breath. “I swear, I’m supposed to have magical honesty powers and I can lie better than both of you.” While my three friends continued to do a remarkably bad job of trying to blend in, my ex trotted past. I guess she either didn’t notice Derpy, didn’t recognize her, or just didn’t feel any need to acknowledge somepony who was only the friend of a mare she dated several years ago. Whatever the answer, I wasn’t going to complain. She still looked just as nice as she had the last time I saw her: a purple coat so light it verged on being pink, offset by a darker purple mane with a teal stripe running through it. That stripe matched the aura coming off her horn as she levitated a small bag of popcorn. Her indigo eyes were narrowed as she trotted past, looking vaguely annoyed by something. Probably whatever was on her mind at the moment. Unless she’d undergone a major personality shift since the last time I saw her, it wouldn’t take her long to find something she didn’t like. The movie we’d just seen certainly wouldn’t be to her taste. Once she was safely out of sight and earshot I let out a relieved sigh. “Damn ... what’s she doing back in town?” Derpy frowned after her. “Okay, I think I need to know the rest of the story. You and Starlight were still pretty tight when I deployed. I half-expected that the next time I saw you there’d be wedding bands and a cute little unicorn or pegasus foal scampering around the place.” I grimaced and shook my head. “Didn’t exactly work out that way. And, as you probably guessed from the running and hiding, things between me and Starlight didn't end so hot.” Derpy gently wrapped a wing around me. “What happened?” I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “Things were going great for a while, but then she kinda got a little bit ... uh...” Rainbow decided to finish the thought with her usual bluntness. “You dated crazy, didn't you?” Fluttershy scowled at her. “That's not very nice, Rainbow.” Rainbow shrugged nonchalantly. “Hey, I know what Cloud is like.” I shot her an annoyed glare. “Gee Rainbow, thanks for all the friendship, support, and understanding.” I knew Rainbow wasn’t the most diplomatic of ponies, so I decided not to press the issue beyond that. It’s not that she’s trying to be a jerk, it’s just that when you try to talk to her about tact she usually gets confused because she thinks you mean the little pins you use to hang things up on walls. I turned back to Derpy, and my annoyance with Rainbow quickly faded into the background. “Starlight wasn't crazy when we ... well it was college, so her getting worked up about politics wasn't that weird.” Derpy nodded along. “Yeah, I remember her dragging you off to a big ‘Save the Breezies’ benefit concert. Or that protest about how ponies shouldn’t have three tribunes while every other race in the Empire only gets one. And that time when she wanted them to raise the minimum wage to fifteen bits an hour. Or the huge fuss she kicked up about her school spending more on the hoofball team than the academic decathlon because it wasn’t equal. Or—” “Geeze, sounds like she was always getting her tail in a twist,” Rainbow cut in. “It’s not like she was the first college student to ever get worked up about politics,” I shot back. Sure, we might’ve broken up, but that didn’t mean I was okay with Rainbow ripping on her. “But ... yeah. It’s one thing when she was running around trying to change the world in college. It was something else when she was still pushing radical politics while I was in the Guard.” Rainbow tapped her chin thoughtfully. “How radical are we talking about?” “Radical enough,” I grunted out. “It cost her a chance at getting into the Magus Corps, and after that she decided to not bother with a job and just become a full-time protest organizer. That was pretty much the beginning of the end for us.” I sighed and shook my head. “I wanted a slot in the Phoenix Guard, and ... well you can imagine what being married to an anti-government dissident would’ve done for my chances. There just wasn’t a future for us.” Fluttershy frowned disapprovingly. “So you broke up with her just to get a better job? That doesn't seem very fair for her.” Rainbow’s nose wrinkled and she nodded sharply. “Gotta agree, Cloud. Dumping her just to get a promotion doesn't sound classy.” Derpy sighed and shook her head. “No, I think I see where Cloud’s coming from. I can’t imagine things would work out too well if Starlight reacted to Cloud getting deployed by launching a public protest. Spending months or years away from home is hard enough without your wife going on about how you’re part of the oppressive system holding down the masses.” She shot a sympathetic look my way. “Not to mention it would make things hard on her in-laws. Shockingly, someone who hates the government usually doesn’t get along too well with a military family.” I sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I always had to warn Mom and Dad not to bring up politics whenever I brought her over. Which worked for a while, but then she just brought it up on her own. And then once things got heated I backed up Mom and Dad instead of taking her side.” My shoulders slumped at the memory. “That was ... well we didn’t break up for a couple weeks after that, but I think that was when I finally admitted to myself that it wasn’t gonna work.” “Oh.” Fluttershy’s wings drooped, and she gave me a sympathetic nuzzle. “Um ... that does explain things a bit. I’m sorry we jumped to conclusions.” “It’s alright, you didn’t have the full story.” I sighed and ran a hoof through my mane. “Anyway, that's why I'd rather not run into her again. Starlight and I had some good times, but if I talked to her we’d probably just end up opening up old wounds.” I glanced in the direction she’d trotted off, frowning thoughtfully. “Wonder what she's doing back in town anyway? She moved to Manehattan after we broke up. I hope it's not—” I quickly cut myself off before I could say too much. Rainbow poked me in the side. “C’mon, spill.” I knew Rainbow well enough to realize that she wouldn’t give me a moment’s peace until I told her. “I heard some crazy Nightmare cult stirred up some trouble recently. And ... well Starlight was pretty radical.” Fluttershy frowned. “Oh dear. That’s more than just reformist politics, that’s crossing the line into outright treason.” “I know.” I grimaced as the reached the unavoidable and extremely unpleasant conclusion. “Dammit, I'm gonna have to talk to her.” Derpy frowned pensively. “Is that really a good idea? Like you said, the best case scenario is that you're just going to open up some old wounds.” “And worst case, we've just let some crazy Nightmare cultist walk right past us!” Rainbow snapped out. “We better warn somebody before she tries to—” Derpy’s eyes widened, and she quickly shoved a hoof over Rainbow’s mouth. “No, Rainbow! For the love of—think before you act! Just once! If you report her as a Nightmare cultist she’d end up in a Ministry holding cell. I’d rather not do that to anyone unless I’m absolutely sure they deserve it, and I’m pretty sure you feel the same.” Rainbow answered with an annoyed grunt and a nod. I suspect that when it came to the MoH, Dash would probably get along pretty well with Starlight. “If she's in trouble...” I sighed, my shoulders slumping in weary resignation. “Dammit, I can’t just leave her hanging out to dry. If she’s in trouble I have to do something about it. Otherwise it’ll eat me up.” Yeah, I’d broken up with her, but that didn’t mean I hated her or anything. Maybe I’m too sentimental for my own good, but there was definitely a part of me that still cared about her. Maybe even a stupid little part that was hoping she’d gotten over all her crazy political ideas and was back in Canterlot because she wanted to reconcile with me. I knew that kind of thing only ever happened in really stupid, cheesy romance stories, but... Derpy was staring at me, and from the worried look her face she obviously had some inkling of what was going on in my head. “If you're that concerned about it, then you should talk to her.” She paused, shooting a rather pointed look at Rainbow. “Alone. The last thing she needs is us hovering over her shoulder.” “Unless she wants our help,” Fluttershy offered. I smiled gratefully. “Thanks, but I think I'd rather handle it on my own.” Rainbow grumbled something under her breath about how I was stupid and stubborn before finally conceding with the amount of grace and tact I’d come to expect from her. “Fine. But don’t come crying to me if it all blows up in your face. Stupid Solaris.” Derpy rolled her eyes. “That’s Rainbow-ese for ‘I’m worried about you and hope you’ll be okay.’” She chuckled and patted Rainbow on the back. “We'll be at my parents' place when you're done. Good luck.” I took a deep breath and nodded. “Thanks. I'll need it.” Despite what I told my friends, I didn’t go looking for Starlight right away. For one thing, I had no idea where to find her. Even if she was still somewhere in the theater, I’d be stuck searching all over the place and probably pissing off the staff in the process. Not to mention that if things got heated, I’d rather not have it be in the middle of a public venue. It was a lot smarter and safer to just go to Star and have her set up a tracking spell. I still had a couple of Starlight’s old things that she’d left behind, and she’d never given me any contact information. But that wasn’t the real reason I was holding off from meeting her. Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Derpy had their secret work for the Empress, and I had a couple secrets of my own. Starlight needed to be reported, and out of the two ponies I could report to I certainly wasn’t going to pick Dad. This whole situation was awkward enough without bringing him into it. And so, I found myself knocking on the front door to Sparkle Manor. After a minute or so, a teenager who I vaguely recognized as the youngest of the Sparkle children answered the door. She greeted me with the sullen stare of a teen who’d been dragged away from her teenagerly activities. “Yeah?” I put on my friendliest smile in the hopes of thawing the ice. “Hello. Is your mother in?” “Yeah,” she grunted out. She looked back over her shoulder and shouted, “Mom! There’s a Guardpony here to see you!” “Tell her I’ll be there in a minute,” her mother called back. “Take her to the parlor and get her something to drink.” There was a brief pause, and then she added, “And don’t stand in the doorway shouting down the hall, Amethyst. It’s not ladylike.” “‘Kay!” Amethyst yelled back. She turned to face me, a sardonic grin on her face. “Mom’ll be with you in a bit. Wanna chill in the parlor until then? I can get you something to drink, if you’re thirsty.” She smirked and leaned in closer. “If you want something with a little kick, I can get you that too. Mom’s not as good at hiding the hard stuff as she thinks she is.” “My hearing, on the other hoof, is just as good as ever,” her mother shot back dryly. The teenager groaned and facehoofed. “Well, I’m busted. I swear, she must have some kinda monitoring spell on me.” She sighed and led me to a rather large and impressive parlor. “Mind if I ask what you're here for? If it's that thing with Momma and her fertilizer project, she'll start her reports back up s'soon as the lab's rebuilt.” Despite a bit of understandable curiosity, I decided not to ask just what she was talking about. “Sorry, my business here is need-to-know.” Amethyst answered me with a teenagerly eyeroll. “Damn, so much for my plans to sell the info to the Cat-Petting Eyepatch-and-Monocle Combo League of Evil.” She snorted, then politely asked, “So, you hungry or thirsty?” “I’m good, thanks.” I settled down onto one of the very large and extremely comfortable couches. “Right, cool.” Amethyst flopped onto the couch across from me,  levitating over a cheeseball and some crackers for herself. “Sooo, you look weirdly familiar.” I shrugged and offered her my hoof. “Major Cloud Solaris, Phoenix Guard.” Considering I was part of her brother’s chain of command and stationed in the palace where her sister lived and worked, we’d almost certainly met in passing at some point. Amethyst shook my hoof, staring curiously at me. “Solaris? You got a sister? Grey dapple, blue mane, magnifying glass?” “Sounds like my cousin Star.” “Huh, cool.” She shrugged and affected an air of forced nonchalance. “I've seen her around a bit, but never caught her name.” I could guess where she’d spotted Star, judging from my own experience. I smirked at her and leaned in. “Lemme guess, the high school mares still like ogling the IMA cadets whenever they’re doing drill practice?” Amethyst’s cheeks lit up in a way that made it clear I’d hit the mark. She stumbled for several seconds before finally managing to speak something reasonably coherent. “I wasn’t—I was just—it’s uh—IMA? Wait, Imperial Military Academy, right? With Shiny around I had to learn a little bit of Acronym.” “That’s right.” I grinned. “And nice job changing the subject from how you like staring at my cousin enough to remember her butt symbol.” Amethyst groaned and buried her face in her hooves, but after a couple seconds seemed to shake it off. “Er, no. You’re wrong. A lady doesn't ogle, and Mom raised a proper lady.” She let out a very prim and proper huff, sticking her nose up in the air and crossing her forelegs over her chest. She held the post for a couple seconds, then grinned and whispered, “I'm just a work in progress, s’all.” “A work in progress who's also supposed to be doing her homework and chores,” Twilight Velvet announced as she trotted into the parlor. “Not bothering my guests.” “Aw, Mooom!” Amethyst whined out in a tone familiar to any teenager suffering the horrors of parental oppression. “You told me to get the door, so I got the door.” She stuck her nose up in the air again and adopted a ridiculous parody of a posh accent. “And a proper lady never leaves a guest unattended until the hostess is ready.” “Well played,” her mother conceded with a slight smirk. “But as you can see, the hostess is ready now. Which means you’re free to get back to work.” Amethyst let out a melodramatic sigh that let me know just how horribly her mother was repressing her. “Yes, Mom.” She got up and trudged for the door, looking over her shoulder and waving to me as she went. “Cool to meet you.” “Likewise.” Amethyst had a bit of a smartflank streak to her, so Star probably would like her if they ever met up. Which I might wanna arrange at some point, come to think of it; Star could certainly do worse than marrying into the Empire’s unofficial royal family. Once Amethyst was safely out of the room, Twilight Velvet turned to me with a welcoming smile. “Cloud, it's good to see you again.” I smiled politely, but my heart wasn’t in it. Now that Amethyst was gone, I had to get back to business. “The Circle remains unbroken.” “May it remain whole,” she answered automatically. The phrase and counterphrase exchange always struck me as a bit silly and melodramatic, but maybe you needed that kind of thing in a secret society. Her horn lit up, presumably putting a privacy spell over the room. “I take it that means this isn’t just a social call?” I sighed and nodded. “Yeah, we’ve got a problem. Starlight's back in town.” Mrs. Sparkle frowned. “I see. That explains why you’re reporting to me instead of your father. Do you know anything about why she’s back?” “No, I just spotted her from a distance. But I can't help wondering...” I ran a hoof through my mane and let out a loud breath. “We kicked her out because she was too extreme. And then the MoH rolled up a bunch of crazy Nightmare cultists a couple months back. And now she’s back in town. Maybe it’s all just one big coincidence, but one of the first things Dad told me back when I was initiated is that we’re never supposed to assume something’s just a coincidence.” I groaned and my shoulders slumped wearily. “It's—look, I'm worried about her, and for her.” The older mare nodded, rubbing her forehead. “So am I. Especially since I was the one who sponsored her initiation. If she’s gotten herself into some sort of trouble because of the world we introduced her to ... well, I can’t help but feel a little responsible for it.” I couldn’t entirely disagree. I’d first met Starlight through the Circle, back when we were both young and idealistic kids who loved the idea of being part of an ancient secret society dedicated to truth, justice, and the Equestrian way. A lot of stuff had changed since then. It was easy to dream about changing the world when you hadn’t really lived in it. I’d thought all that was ancient history, but now it looked like it was about to become relevant again. “Anyway, when I saw her I thought I ought to report in, see if you had any orders. Is Siren still out of town?” “Near as I know,” she confirmed, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “I know it might be a bit awkward for you, but I would like for you to try and talk to Starlight. You were the one closest to her, after all. See if we can bring her back into the fold. For all we know, that might even be why she’s back in town. Barring that, at least try to convince her to moderate herself so that she doesn't get anyone hurt, herself included.” I nodded along. “That was pretty much what I planned to do. I don’t wanna jump to any conclusions, but I’m wary of getting my hopes up.” “Agreed on both counts.” The older mare offered a sympathetic smile. “For your sake, I really do hope she’s here to mend some fences instead of burning bridges. If that’s the case, I’ll even sponsor her for provisional readmission. Her zeal for the cause was admirable—she just took her enthusiasm a bit too far. The Circle’s role is to subtly influence Imperial policy, not start a public crusade against every decision we don’t like.” “Yeah, she was always pushing to direct action.” I groaned and flopped back against the couch. “I really hope she hasn’t gone from talking extreme to acting extreme. If those cultists the MoH purged were tied to her, we’re going to be in for all kinds of trouble.” “If that is the case, then we might very well have to be more proactive than I’d like.” Twilight Velvet frowned. I had a feeling that I wouldn’t like what sort of ‘proactive’ measures she had in mind. “We're getting to a very sensitive period of time right now, and we need to be careful in how we manage events. What we have planned is going to be hard enough as it is. The last thing we need is to bring extra attention down on our heads along with the sorts of associations that would land us all in hot water.” “Exactly what I’m worried about,” I agreed. “If the MoH decides she's a Nightmare Cultist, they’re going to give her the third degree and take a hard look at any of her known associates. It’s not exactly a secret we were dating for a long time, and if Starlight cracks and tells them about the Circle...” The older mare’s grim scowl told me exactly what she thought about that. “If the Ministry finds out about the Circle and can tie us to a Nightmare Cultist, we’re all going to spend a long time getting familiar with the layout of their holding cells. And that’s if we’re lucky. I’ve seen what was left of the cult lair they raided in the Undermountain.” She took a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s not dwell on doomsday scenarios. For now what we need to do seems pretty simple. I want you to find Starlight and—” The doorknob started glowing, and her mouth abruptly snapped shut. A couple seconds later, her elder daughter Twilight Sparkle stepped into the room. She looked at me, then her mom, then back to me. Her eyes narrowed, and her gaze finally settled on her mother. “I didn’t know we had company, Mom. Who is this?” The matriarch smiled, but there was a hint of brittleness to it. “Hello dear. This is Major Cloud Solaris, General Tornado’s daughter. Cloud, I'm sure you remember my daughter, Provisional Magus Twilight Sparkle.” I put on my best charming smile. “Of course. Hard to forget the Empress' protege.” My attempt at charm hit a brick wall as she scowled balefully at me. “So you're one of those types of family friends, then?” I hesitated, a bit taken aback by the hostility. “Uh ... what type would that be?” Her mother stepped forward, her tone gently chiding. “Honey, Cloud is a guest within our home. Would you please—” Her daughter cut her off. “Don't play dumb with me!” She turned her back on me, fixing her mother with a positively furious glare. “You know I hate that! I'm pretty sure I made that pretty clear in the essay I wrote to you about this. You think I can't figure out what you mean when you say she's a family friend and you have a bucking privacy spell over the room? Or did you think your sweet, innocent, oblivious daughter was too stupid to connect the dots?” Twilight Velvet took several deep breaths, and while she managed to retain a calm, pacifying tone there was obvious strain in her voice. “Dear, as I've tried to tell you—” “Tried to tell me?!” the younger Twilight shrieked at her mother. “When were you going to tell me she was part of the Circle?!” She stomped forward and jabbed her mother’s chest. “Huh?! Maybe sometime after you've sent us off on a playdate? Gone out to see a play or movie together. Or maybe something along the scale of never.” Her mother scowled at her. “Now you're just making crazy things up and not even giving me a chance to talk.” “Well how about we talk now?!” She shifted her attention to me, clenching her teeth, then glared at her mom. “Let’s talk about how you lied to me for years! How you’re part of some crazy conspiracy to overthrow the Empress and put Nightmare bucking Moon on the throne!” “Uh...” While I was rather tempted to correct her clearly mistaken impression of what the Circle did, that would mean jumping into this mess. Like most ponies trapped in the middle of someone else’s ugly family arguement, my first instinct had been to either discreetly get out of the room, or keep quiet and wait for the noise to stop. There was just no way it could possibly end well for me; both of them would resent me sticking my nose into something that was none of my business, and I’d probably just end up pissing both of them off if I tried to play peacemaker. On the other hoof, I wasn’t wild about abandoning a Circle meeting just because things were getting a little uncomfortable. I was in the middle of discussing some really important stuff with her mother, and whatever family drama she had going on couldn’t be allowed to stop that. This stuff with Starlight could be huge. Velvet apparently agreed. “Twilight Sparkle!” her mother snapped in the most authoritative tone she could manage. “That isn't the tone we take when there’s a guest present.” She turned to me with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry Cloud, but maybe you should—” “Yes,” Twilight growled at me. “You should. I don’t know what sort of plot you two are hatching now, but I’m not going to let it happen right under my nose. If you think I’m just going to let you treat me like an ignorant little child you can ignore and manipulate...” “If you don’t want to be treated like a child,” her mother cut in acidly, “then perhaps you should stop acting so childish.” That’s when I did something I probably shouldn’t have. In my defense, Velvet had just scored a very nice bit of snarkery against her daughter. I couldn’t really be blamed for chuckling at it. Unfortunately, that reminded Twilight that I was still there, and laughing at her when she clearly wanted to be taken seriously was ... not the most diplomatic move. Twilight whirled on me, glaring angrily while her cheeks flushed. “You ... why are you even still here? So you can plot treason and make fun of me?” “Twilight!” her mother snapped, stomping over to her daughter. “For the love of—this is not about you! We’re in the middle of a very important discussion, and you’re throwing a temper tantrum like a little filly who didn’t get her favorite sweets!” “Excuse me?!” Twilight shouted back. “Oh, so being just a little bit upset to find out you’re involved in some crazy ancient conspiracy is just me being a stupid little foal now? Maybe you didn’t notice, Mom, but I’m a grown mare now. No wait, of course you didn’t notice; the Empress spent far more time taking care of me than you ever did!” “Then maybe your father and I should’ve stopped with Shining! Magetrix at least gave me a daughter I’m not ashamed of!” A second after the words left her lips Velvet blinked in shock, one hoof slowly coming up to cover her mouth. Right, that was my cue to get out of there. I probably should’ve been long gone a while ago, but now I was definitely one hundred percent sure I wanted to be anywhere but where I was. Discretion was the better part of valor, and all that. I managed to make it to the door before things boiled over, and quickly slipped out and slammed the door shut behind me. The shouting started as soon as it latched shut, and even the privacy spell still hanging over the room didn’t do more than muffle things a bit. I couldn’t make out any of the specific words, but the sheer volume was more than enough to get the general message across. I sighed and shook my head. “Well, my relationship with my mother just started looking a lot healthier.” Finding Starlight was the easy part of the plan. All I had to do was find Star and give her a few of the things Starlight left behind. Eventually my cousin was able to find enough of a trace on one of them to get a fix on the mare herself. After that, there was just one other stop to get myself a backup plan. After my run-in with Twilight Sparkle I wanted to be sure I’d be safe from any pissed-off, unstable, and magically powerful unicorns. Maybe going out after Starlight while fully armed and armored was a bit much, but I think my paranoia was justified under the circumstances The tracker led me in exactly the direction I’d hoped it wouldn’t: down into Undermountain, towards where the Nightmare cult had set up shop. “Dammit Starlight, what the hay have you gotten yourself into?” I followed her trail past some carefully shifted crime scene barriers, and into a series of charred tunnels that stank of several things I couldn’t identify, along with a few other things I just wished I didn’t recognize. Then I spotted the all-too-familiar teal glow of her magic. I rounded the corner and finally spotted her, poking through what was left of a metal filing cabinet. She was far too focused on her work to notice me coming up behind her until I announced myself. “Hey, hot-flanks.” Starlight jerked in shock, then whirled around and leveled her horn at me. A second later her eyes widened in recognition. “Cloud?!” Despite the circumstances, I grinned. “The one and only.” “What are you doing down here?!” she hissed out. “I could ask you the same thing,” I shot right back. “After all, I’m down here because I was following you. Normally I don’t hang around in burned-out crime scenes.” She took half a step back, eyeing me warily. “And why exactly were you following me?” “I knew you were back in town,” I answered simply. “The open question is why you’re back in town. And specifically, why the first thing you’re doing after coming back to Canterlot is poking around down here.” Starlight sighed and shook her head. “I'm trying to figure out what happened to some ponies I knew.” “The Nightmare cultists?” I groaned and ran a hoof through my mane. “For the love of—I was hoping I was just jumping at shadows, but you actually went and did it! Starlight, what were you thinking?!” Her eyes widened and she desperately shouted out, “It's not what you think!” Her gaze fell to the soot-stained floor. “I only knew some of them. We worked in some of the same social circles, and as soon as I found out Just Cause was working for the Nightmare I cut all ties with him. You think I would be walking around Canterlot if I was involved with a Nightmare cult that just got burned? I’d be running for the farthest corner of the Empire I could find!” I wanted to believe her, I really did. “I don't know what to think when it comes to you. I haven't for a long time.” She reared back and glared at me. “And what's that supposed to mean?” I sighed and shook my head, already regretting the words. “This whole conversation is awkward enough without us digging up all our old baggage.” In a move I really should’ve seen coming considering how many times it had happened in the past, Starlight didn’t let it go. Instead she stomped up and poked me in the chest. “Hey, you came looking for me, not the other way around.” “I was worried about you!” I snapped. “You have a funny way of showing it,” she snarled acidly. “As long as we’re talking about the past, let’s not forget that you’re the one who dumped me because I was holding back your oh-so-precious career working for the bucking Empress we’re both plotting against!” I grunted and shook my head. “Maybe I was the one to make it official, but you’re the one who left me first.” “Only because you wouldn't come with me!” Starlight shouted. “I'm doing important things, Cloud—things that need to be done for the good of the entire world. What are you doing? Guarding hallways all day?” “I’ve been working with the Circle,” I shot back. “Oh, please.” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you still buy all the horseapples they’ve been peddling, They're not getting anything done. It's just been nine hundred years of them patting themselves on the back over one or two little tweaks to imperial policy, while the Empress keeps getting her way with everything that really matters.” “Sometimes you have to be subtle and work within the system,” I explained patiently. “Change things a little bit at a time.” “And sometime you need to tear the system down and start fresh!” she yelled loud enough to disturb some of the soot on the ceiling. “You can’t fix the Empire as long as the Empress is sitting on the throne, pulling all the strings.” I groaned in disgust and ran a hoof down my face. “Do you have any idea how much chaos and destruction that would cause? I’m not exactly the Empress’ number one fan, but what happens if we just get rid of her? The Empire would tear itself apart!” “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” She shook her head. “I'm not saying any of this would be easy or painless, but we have to take a stand. Yeah, there’ll be losses, but in the end the world will be better for it. Call it a sacrifice for the greater good.” My eyes narrowed. “That's a cold-blooded way to talk about a lot of innocent beings dying.” “Not all of them are so innocent as you think,” Starlight scoffed. “Just look at our good old Circle contact, Twilight Velvet. How can she be a revolutionary when she's benefitting from the system she’s allegedly trying to fix. The Sparkles just love reminding everyone how they’re descended from the Empress herself, and even though we always say that doesn’t matter, she’s far more wealthy than most people, politically influential, and a powerful magus. You honestly think she's going to enthusiastically support the common people when she has so much to lose if the system gets upturned?” I frowned at her. “Twilight Velvet's been a member of the Circle since before we were born. I don’t think she’d be involved for that long if she didn’t believe in it.” Starlight snorted derisively. “Yeah, I'm sure she's doing everything she can. I bet in between the trips to the fancy opera house to eat thousand bit a plate meals and going to sleep on a gilded bed with silk sheets, she’s spending all her time busting her flank to help the poor, homeless, and unemployed.” “So what?” I demanded. “You'll burn Equestria down to save it?” “If that's what it takes,” she shot back stubbornly. “Besides, you make it sound like the current Equestria is worth saving.” “I dunno about you, but even if the system’s flawed there’s still plenty of things I like in this Equestria.” I shrugged. “All my stuff is here. I’ve got friends and family. That’s a lot to lose just because you think you can get things done a bit faster than the Circle.” Starlight snarled and slammed a hoof down on the cavern floor. “Your family is holding you back! See, this has always been your problem—everypony's problem. You're not willing to risk what you've got for something better! You're scared about losing the table scraps you've got, so you cling to them like they're a lifeline.” Alright, no more Miss Nice Mare. I stormed up and got right in her face. “It's not a lifeline you stupid nag, it's a feathering life! You're so wrapped up in your precious little cause that you’ve thrown everyone and everything else into the garbage heap! You talk about how ponies should sacrifice for the greater good, but that’s easy when you don’t have anything to lose!” Starlight glared right back, getting muzzle-to-muzzle with me. “The cause is everything! I want to make Equestria better! I want to make it fair! I want to make it right! I'm telling you to open your eyes, but you’re too scared! You take one look at the truth of the world around you, and then you decide you’d rather spend the rest of your life hiding from it! Well bad news, Cloud. Just because the Circle likes to pretend they’re making a difference while sticking their heads in the sand doesn’t mean the truth goes away!” Okay, I’d had just about enough of her horseapples. “Dammit, what about this truth?!”  And then I grabbed her and kissed her. It seemed like the thing to do at the time. It was … rougher than how we used to do it, but all things considered we ran with it. Starlight squeaked in surprise when I grabbed her mane, then quickly tried to assert control, wrapping a foreleg around my head. We melted into it, finding old patterns and stroking familiar spots. I wanted to keep going, but I knew there was too much left to resolve. I slowly broke the kiss, gazing into her eyes and whispering softly. “What about that?” Starlight at me, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly as half a dozen different emotions played across her face. Finally, her shoulders slumped down, and she refused to meet my eyes. “You think I liked breaking it off?” “If you didn’t like doing it, then why’d you do it?” She looked up, setting her hooves stubbornly. “Because I know what's important.” “No, you don't.” “So what?” she snapped out, angrily pacing back and forth. “I should give everything up I believe in because I like kissing you?” I blinked and stepped back, stung by her choice of words, and she her gaze shifted down and to the side. “No ... not just that. I loved you.” “Same here.” I couldn’t quite meet her eyes either. “Except ... maybe the past tense doesn’t apply in my case.” “The kiss kinda gave that away.” She sighed and shook her head. “I thought we were done. Have to move on with our lives, right?” “I thought so too, until I saw you again.” I grumbled, impotent frustration welling up in my voice. “Soon as that happened, it was like we were right back where we started.” She slowly nodded. “Same here. Makes things a lot more complicated. Guess that explains why we both wanted to say it was all over: the relationship might’ve crashed and burned, but apparently nobody got around to telling our hearts about that.” “Guess not.” I took a deep breath, and shifted to a slightly less volatile topic. “The Circle's scared you'll bring heat down on us.” Starlight’s eyes narrowed. “I'm not with the Circle anymore. You should know, you were there when they kicked me out.” “I know, but you were. That’s enough for it to be a problem, from our perspective.” I tried to keep my tone gentle and even—the last thing I wanted to do was start another argument. “If you end up in an MoH cell...” “I wouldn’t talk,” she answered instantly. “I’m sure most ponies who get caught by the Ministry say that,” I responded. “They’re good at what they do, and even if you’ve been gone for years, you know enough about our membership and operations to give out some damaging intel.” “That’s only a problem if they catch me.” I caught a hint of a confident grin on her face. That borderline arrogance had always been one of her more interesting qualities. On a bad day it made me want to strangle her, but on a good one it could be very attractive. Confidence is always sexy. “If I have anything to say about it, they’ll never catch you.” I paused for a moment, then amended. “And I mean that in the good way, not the ‘We'll kill you to keep your secrets safe’ way. Just thought I should be clear.” She smirked at me. “Glad to hear that, because I'd have something to say about that if you tried.” “It has been a while since our last friendly spar.” I grinned and rapped a hoof on my armor. “I did come prepared. Not that I didn’t trust you, but I had an ugly run-in with a unicorn earlier. Made me decide I needed some insurance before meeting you. You’re a lovely mare, but you always did have a bit of a temper.” “Pissed off another unicorn did you? What happened? Jilted girlfriend?” Starlight asked with an unreadable look. “Nothing like that.” I shook my head. “Just got caught in the middle of someone else’s family drama.” I caught a very faint smile flickering across her lips. “Good.” She squared her shoulders. “And for the record, I came ready for trouble too. You never know who you might run into digging around a Nightmare cult base.” “All things considered, you lucked out only running into your ex.” We shared a quick smile, and then got back to the matter at hoof. “So ... what’re you looking for down here? Because I’m pretty sure the MoH has already picked the place clean.” “Probably,” Starlight agreed. “But considering just how much I’ve got at stake, ‘probably’ wasn’t good enough. I had to come down and check everything myself.” “So basically, the same thing we’re panicking about?” I concluded. “That’s the fun thing about working against the government.” She chuckled humorlessly. “If one group gets burned, everyone with any sort of connection to them has to worry they might be compromised. And then everyone connected to someone who might be connected to them, and so on...” She shook her head. “Big surprise, but I’m not all that wild about the prospect of ending up in a MoH interrogation cell.” “I'm right there with you.” I grinned, finding a bit of humor in the whole ridiculous, grim situation we’d found ourselves in. “Y'know, if they arrest you I’d almost certainly be right there with you in a more literal sense. Odds are they’d have some questions for your one-time long-term girlfriend.” Starlight’s eyes narrowed. “See, that's exactly the type of thing I'm fighting against. You shouldn’t have to worry about getting arrested just because I’m—” I held up a hoof to cut her off. “Can we not? Please?” She grumbled something under her breath, but nodded. “Fine. It’s not like talking about it one more time would make a difference.” “I think we're both pretty set in our positions,” I agreed. “You have to go out and fight against tyranny and oppression, and I have to keep working with the Circle to try and fix things our way.” My shoulders slumped wearily. “Dammit.” She sighed and shook her head. “Not exactly fair, is it?” “No, it isn't.” She was quiet for several seconds, then very softly whispered, “You can still come with me, you know. I’ve got a group in Manehattan. It’s not much, but they’re all dedicated to making the world a better place. We could really use your help.” For a moment I was tempted, but I knew it was nothing more than a dream. I couldn’t just drop my entire life—my career, my friends, my family, everything—just to run off with my ex and go play at being a revolutionary. Maybe I just wasn’t built to be a fanatical true believer. I liked having a house, a steady job, and a safe, predictable life. The Circle let me have all those things while still working to make the Empire a better place. Of course, running off with Starlight wasn’t the only option. “You could stay.” I took a deep breath, then repeated myself. “I want you to stay. Please.” “And then what?” she asked. My ears drooped, because I already had a pretty good idea how that would go. “You'd utterly loathe being a Guard wife, wouldn't you?” “I’d hate it,” she agreed with a sad smile. “Do you really see me sitting alone at home, wringing my hooves and taking care of the kids, quietly hoping you come back every time you go out on deployment? Hay, I’d probably be out protesting against whatever stupid war you’d be off fighting. You can bet that would make all the other spouses and your entire family despise me.” She shook her head. “No, back when we were dating I met some of those Guard spouses. I could never be like that.” “I know. To be honest, that was part of why I liked you.” I chuckled at the cruel irony of it all. “Guess that means it was never gonna work, if the things that made me like you so much were the same things that ensured we could never be a long-term thing. So ... I guess that means you have your cause, and I have my duty.” “Yeah,” she agreed resignedly. “Looks like it.” Neither one of us said anything else for a while. Really, what more could we say? I still loved her, and she apparently still loved me, but we both knew it would never work out. Not unless one of us completely threw away everything we believed in just so we could be together. Which ... yeah, maybe that would work in a fairy tale, but I didn’t think we were that lucky. We’d probably end up miserable and unhappy, with whichever one of us gave up everything resenting the other. I finally broke the silence with something inane. “I still have some of your old stuff.” “Oh.” She ran a hoof through her mane. “Right. I guess I did leave in a bit of a hurry last time. No surprise I didn’t get everything.” I sighed, and resigned myself to giving up on the last foolish hope that maybe she’d come back for all the things she’d left behind. Her books. Her quills. Her me. “Wanna swing by the compound to pick it up?” “Seems like a good idea,” she reluctantly agreed. We set off for the compound in mutually miserable silence. The walk back to the Compound was one of the more painful and awkward experiences in my life. I kept feeling like I should say something to Starlight, but what the hay was there for us to talk about? The weather? She glanced over at me and half-opened her mouth, then shook her head and looked away. I had no idea what was going through her head, but if I had to guess I’d say it was about the same thing that was going through mine. Breakups suck. It was late enough at night that the streets were pretty much empty. At least the fact that I was still wearing full plate and carrying a pair of wing blades meant I wouldn’t need to worry about anyone trying to mug us. As the painful silence continued on, I finally decided to mare up and say something. “We had some good times, didn’t we?” “Yeah,” Starlight answered with a wan smile. “I wish—” I never got to find out what it was she wished, for at that moment a shadow detached itself from one of the nearby roofs and hurtled down onto her back. The figure drove Starlight to the ground, prompting a shriek of pain and surprise. “What the feather?!” I whirled to face her attacker. The black cloak draped over it hid most of the attacker’s distinguishing features, though I could at least make out a horn glowing with golden light. A second later I found out what spell the unicorn was casting, as I saw some weird magical constructs on the end of its forehooves. More important than the constructs themselves was the fact that it was using them to hold a pair of long, thin, curved knives. The attacker placed one weapon at Starlight’s throat, and a female voice with a light Canterlot accent declared, “Starlight Glimmer, you are under arrest by order of the Ministry of Internal Security.” Feathers. The Ministry of Heart. “Don’t resist,” the MoH agent whispered. “We just want to question you. What’s so bad about letting me take you back to headquarters and ask a few questions? Unless you have something to hide from the Empress?” Before my brain could inform me that it was probably a bad idea to get mixed up in this my wing blades were out and I was moving forward. “Get off of her.” The MoH agent kept her blade at Starlight’s throat, but one of her eyes shifted to me. “You don’t want to get involved with the Ministry of Internal Security, Major Cloud Solaris.” Somehow I wasn’t surprised she knew who I was. “We were prepared to overlook your ties to Miss Glimmer on account of your history of good service to the crown. It would not be wise to give us any reason to question that conclusion, and it would be extremely foolish to throw your life away for her sake. Be smart and walk away.” I took one look at Starlight, pinned down on the ground with a blade at her throat, and I knew there was only one way I could answer. “I don't give a flying feather who you are or who you work for. Get off of her. Now.” “I am a servant of the Empress,” the MoH agent announced flatly. “My orders are to bring Starlight Glimmer in for questioning. I will execute those orders, and will I not allow anyone to stand in my way. Do not think your rank, your father’s rank, or any friends you might have will protect you.” “You’d be surprised,” I growled. “What do you wanna bet that if you tried arresting me, it’ll end with your boss apologizing to me and firing your ass?” Yeah, the MoH had a lot of pull, but there were limits to what they could get away with. Especially when I had plenty of friends in high places thanks to my family and the Circle. “You wanna talk to Starlight? Fine. Instead of jumping her in the middle of the night like a thief, come to the clan compound in the morning and talk to her like a civilized pony. I want your name, and your supervisor’s name.” “You don’t get to set terms or make demands, Major.” The agent pressed her knife against Starlight’s neck, drawing a little blood. “I let you go, and she’ll be long gone come morning. She’s coming with me now. If you think I’m overstepping, try to get an appointment with the Empress and tell her you don’t like how Agent Lyra Heartstrings is doing her job. I’m sure Her Imperial Majesty would love to hear your assessment of my performance.” Starlight gasped as Lyra shifted her blade, leaving behind a small cut left on her neck. The new wound seemed to finally shift her from being frozen in terror to acting. Her horn lit up, disrupting one of the agent’s blade-holding constructs and sending the weapon clattering to the ground. “Get off of me you psycho!” Lyra slammed the hilt of her other blade onto Starlight’s horn, disrupting the spell. “Bad move. Resisting arrest will only make things worse for you.” As Starlight groaned in pain and Lyra started bringing her free blade back up to her throat, I did something very brave and a bit foolish. I rushed forward and reared up on my hind legs, lashing out at the MoH agent with my forehooves. Lyra easily rolled back and to the side to avoid my attack, but that got her off of Starlight’s back, which had been my main goal. Her eyes narrowed, but despite the facemask I could make out a hint of a smile on her lips. “That was a mistake.” Starlight quickly scrambled to the side, getting as far away from Lyra as she could before glaring back at her defiantly. “You wanna talk about mistakes, look at your ministry!” She tried to put together a spell, but it fizzled halfway through casting. Lyra must’ve hit her horn pretty hard. Lyra called back her dropped blade and remade her other hoof construct to hold it, then started advancing on Starlight. I immediately put myself between the two of them. “I don't think so.” “Fine,” Lyra answered flatly. “I’ll take you both in.” She reared up on her hind legs, and actually stayed standing on them, then rushed forward with both blades held in her hoof constructs. I managed to catch her blades with mine, but the angle was weird. I’d never seen a pony who fought like this. After a few exchanges she managed to catch both my blades in a lock, then smirked and pulled out a pouch from within her robes and threw it at my face. I had no idea what was in that pouch, but I was pretty sure I didn’t wanna find out by getting a faceful of it. I quickly ducked my head, using my helmet crest to bat the object aside, then rolled out of the blade lock. I was still in between her and Starlight, and feeling pretty good about my chances. The fighting style was weird, but I’d been trained to deal with weird. “You sure you wanna do this? I’d rather not have the mess of killing an MoH spook, but you’d be surprised what you can live through.” “I know that better than you do,” Lyra shot back coldly. “Perhaps I’ll give you a few lessons in the subject while you’re in Ministry custody.” “You're overstepping,” I answered without missing a beat. “Torture threats? Please. You’re way too full of yourself if you think you can get away with that—not to mention you have to beat me first, and that’s not happening.” “We’ll see.” She telekinetically threw out several darts, but I recognized the feint and just shifted to the side, letting the projectiles bounce off my armor. A second later the main strike came, with Lyra using her constructs to swing both blades at me from polar opposite angles. I managed to block one of them, but the other broke through my defenses. The good news was that I’d deflected the strike enough that the blade just bounced off my armor, but if not for my gear... “Nice trick with that spell,” I conceded. “You’re surprisingly competent for someone who usually only fights by stabbing unaware targets in the back.” “I'm just getting warmed up,” Lyra answered with a confident smirk. She pressed the offensive, throwing out more of those lightning fast cuts and thrusts. Her fighting style was weird, but it seemed to give her a definite advantage in reach over my wing blades, and there were a couple tricks I’d never run into before. Which wasn’t good, since she’d almost certainly been trained to fight against a wing blade wielder. As we whirled about exchanging blows, I caught a glance of Starlight out of the corner of my eye. Her horn was glowing, but she was growling in frustration. “Cloud, move away from her! I can’t get a clear shot!” Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Much as I liked the idea of just letting Starlight blast the spook, right now the fight was too intense for me to be able to disengage. I’d be giving Lyra a free shot at my back, and an MoH agent’s probably at their best when it comes to stabbing their target in the back. I was lot better off keeping this as a straight fight. A second later I spotted a potential weak point. Her style gave her range and speed, but it also halved the number of hooves she could keep on the ground. Anyone who really knows how to use a blade will tell you that hoofwork is as important as what you do with the actual blade. “One problem, spook. You're in a straight fight with a soldier, not some scared little civilian or a two-bit untrained thug.” I slashed low, aiming for  her hind legs. While she managed to block the strike, it took both of her blades and put her at an awkward angle. “You think I don't know how to fight soldiers?” she spat out defiantly. “I think you're using light and concealable weapons, and I'm wearing full plate.” I stepped in and shoulder checked her, sending her staggering back and struggling to keep her balance. She managed to throw out a single off-balance slash to try and hold me at bay, but I caught the blade on one of my bracers and batted it aside. Then I followed it up by getting her muzzle closely acquainted with my armored elbow. I don’t think she enjoyed the meeting, but it did leave behind one heck of a first impression. Lyra went down, and before she could get back up again I had a wing blade at her throat, just like she’d done to Starlight. “Word of advice: stay down.” Lyra’s eyes narrowed, and there was no sign of a smile on her face. “Do you really want to throw away your career over this, Cloud? Resisting an agent of the Ministry of Internal Security has severe consequences. Both for you, and those around you. I just want Starlight for questioning. No sense digging a hole for yourself.” “I'll take my chances.” Threats from a spook sounded a lot less impressive when they were coming after I’d kicked her butt. “If you want her for questioning, come to the Compound and ask questions. Don't jump her in the street and put a blade to her throat. Oh, and send someone else to ask, because I don’t like your attitude.” “You made your choice, then.” A second later a thick cloud of smoke erupted from within her robes, blinding me completely. I felt her slip out from underneath me, and I was willing to bet that she had some other dirty trick planned to follow up the smoke bomb. While trying to run out of the cloud risked leaving me open for an ambush, I had wings and Lyra didn’t. Flying up worked just as well as going any other direction, and was a lot safer. I cleared the smoke cloud and managed to blink my stinging eyes back into working condition after a couple seconds. To my relief, Lyra didn’t have any more nasty surprises waiting for me. The bad news was, it wasn’t me she was after: she was closing in on Starlight. Dammit, should’ve realized. I was just a distraction from her real goal. All she really needed was to get me out of her way long enough to— “No!” I roared out, rushing in to try and catch Lyra before she got to the mare I still loved. Starlight grinned savagely, planting her hooves and firing up her horn. “Bring it, bitch!” Right as Lyra was about to close with her, she fired off a massive magical blast. The assassin tried to dodge the attack, but it was a point-blank shot and Starlight had the raw power and training to be a member of the magus corps. All of Lyra’s spook training and reflexes wasn’t enough to make up the difference. Starlight’s attack caught her right foreleg, and a second later the spy didn’t have a right foreleg anymore. Time seemed to slow down for a brief moment as I realized several things. I’d been coming up right behind Lyra when Starlight launched her spell. Lyra’s leg had taken the brunt of the attack, but that hadn’t been enough to stop the spell’s progress. It was still barreling forward, and the next thing in its path wasn’t Lyra—it was my face. “Oh horseapp—”