Piercing the Heavens

by Calm Wind

Chapter 156: A Tangled Mess

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 156: A Tangled Mess

Three days.

Dash was definitely not expecting the next step to be so elusive.

It had been three days since Dash had had her breakthrough meeting with Twilight and she still hadn’t had an opportunity to gather up her squad and other reliable Wonderbolt friends. What was stopping her? She kept hesitating, but it wasn’t hesitance out of cowardice. She was suddenly feeling the weight of her actions. She did not regret the direction she was taking things, but she wasn’t expecting how tense it would make the situation for her. She was determined to continue, but now she was suspicious and wary of everything around her. She was working a subversion campaign under the nose of another subversion campaign, so she had twice as many eyes and ears to worry about.

She wasn’t willing to take any chances as long as there was any chance that somepony around her would overhear her plans… and so far the right moment had not arisen. She had to keep up the air that she was playing along with the Wonderbolts, so she couldn’t make it look like she was sneaking off at any point. She had not once had a moment where there was not some kind of Wonderbolt presence around her and also had not had a moment where her group had been all together. She needed both of those factors to be met to pull this off, or at least have the Wonderbolts distracted enough to make a move. With Spitfire and the rest on high alert to sneak around Luna, it was hard to find a moment where they wouldn’t notice her making moves.

She had also been cut off from Twilight and had no idea how her end of the plan was going. Had she had a chance to gather up and speak to the rest of their friends yet? She hoped things were going smoothly for her as well, because at some point they needed to all meet up again. How that would work, Dash hadn’t a clue, but they couldn’t wait much longer. It was only a matter of time before Sombra was found and everything was set into motion.

But after these three days… she may have just gotten her chance.

Dash wore a wet towel around her neck as she threw open the shade covering the window of her hotel room. She had just finished showering after a quick, light workout and emerged from the bathroom to the noise of lots of shouting and whistling coming from outside. She blinked and her eyes widened slightly as she looked through the glass and up into the sky.

Wonderbolts?

Lots and LOTS of Wonderbolts… And Dash didn’t recognize a single one of them. For a moment she just stared, confused as she tried to figure out what she was looking at. It went beyond the fact that she didn’t recognize them, there were just so many. The Wonderbolt force was made up of eighty elites of different tiers, the few recruit squads and…

Reserves.

“Ooooh…” Dash quickly realized. Of course, the reserve Wonderbolts! She remembered hearing Spitfire mention bringing them in, but she had completely forgotten it amongst everything else happening.

But then she began to wonder… they were just flying in? With the Shadowbolts out there somewhere?

There was only so much she could determine from looking out the window, they seemed to be coming in for a landing near the hotel.

“What’s going on?” Little Star suddenly asked as she poked her head out of the bathroom and looked towards Dash. “WHOA!”

Dash stayed put as Star hovered towards her, her little eyes wide as she landed beside Dash and nearly pressed her face against the window.

“Are those the reserves?” she asked as her pupils grew large in astonishment. She glanced up at Dash when she didn’t get an answer and blinked. “Dash?”

Dash had narrowed her eyes slightly as if lost in careful thought. Star looked back and forth between her and the large number of Wonderbolt reserves coming in for a landing.

“Earth to Dashie…” Star poked her in the arm, but still got no response… at least for a few seconds.

“Come on,” Dash said as she suddenly dropped the towel from around her neck, picked up Star around the stomach like a puppy, and turned towards the door.

“What the, HEY!” Star squeaked and flailed as Dash carried her along.

“Let’s go see what’s going on,” Dash suggested without elaborating.

“But I haven’t showered yet! I’m all smelly!” Star whined as Dash opened the door.

“You smell better than Matty ever does, you’re fine,” Dash said in a flat tone as she continued to force Star along.

She continued to protest, but Dash paid no mind. She saw a possible opportunity here. She wouldn’t know until she was down where the reserves were gathering, but she had to get there first. If she was right... she’d need her protesting filly-sized friend there too, smelly or not.

“This way, this way, line up!” Spitfire’s voice met Dash’s ears before she was even within view.

“Dash, can you put me down now?” Star asked with a pout as Dash stepped around the corner. She heard Star, but she was immediately distracted as she entered the lobby and stared in awe. There was a huge crowd of reserve Wonderbolts, some already suited up, some not and carryign bags slung over their shoulders. Some had appeared to have flown in, those with baggage likely had taken the train from further off locations. Though it was still odd to think they had made it in so easily, unless the Shadowbolts really were so focused on Soarin and Sombra that they didn’t even bother addressing the arrival of new combatants, or they didn’t notice… which seemed highly unlikely.

Spitfire was yelling directions to them, trying to get them to line up neatly. It appeared to be a bit of a task though, as the crowd of reserves extended well out the front doors. The Streak twins and Misty Fly were present, doing their best to help Spitfire get them organized, and pushing a few of them back outside so they could form a smaller, organized line that would allow Spitfire to address them one by one.

“DASH!” Star yelled. Dash flinched.

“Oh, sorry,” she finally let go of Star.

“Jeez, what was that for?” she demanded with her pout remaining. Dash didn’t answer, she kept staring. Star scrunched her face and blew air through her closed lips, making a funny noise as they flapped before turning. “Seriously, I need to shower.”

“No,” Dash stuck out a wing and turned her back around. “You’re staying right here.”

“Why?!” Star whined as she grabbed her ears and pulled on them. “I think this is cool too, but what’s so important?”

“Just wait, okay?” Dash hardened her tone as she shot her a quick glare. It caught Star off guard, causing her to flinch and stare slightly wide eyed.

“O…okay…” she agreed, wondering what this was all about.

Dash returned her focus to the lobby, stepping out slightly to get a better view. She didn’t want to give off the air of sneaking around, so she stepped out to show visible curiosity to all those who could see instead. There were several more elite Wonderbolts present. Fleetfoot was standing with Spitfire, Surprise was hovering about. Blaze and High Winds were not there, but others were present from both high tier and low tier elite squads.

“HO! THE CAVALRY’S HERE!”

Dash flinched as Air Mach suddenly yelled from RIGHT behind her, trotting in with his chest puffed out and adjusting his sunglasses. “THIS SHALL ONLY MAKE OUR STALLION SPIRIT STRONGER!” he yelled as he moved towards Spitfire.

“Shut up, Air Mach,” Spitfire said casually as she continued to try and direct the organization of the reserves into a tidy single file line.

“Yes ma’am!” Air Mach saluted and stood attention near her with a wide grin on his face.

Dash shrugged and kept observing, the reserves slowly moving into place, several now back outside as a line slowly formed.

“Come on…” Dash said quietly to herself. "Seriously, I know you guys are curious, where are yo—”

Right as she was saying it, her ears stood up as she caught a glimpse of something large moving in from the opposite hallway.

Matteo. He stepped into the lobby and immediately took in the view, blinking as he tipped his head back and forth.

There was one… Now she was hoping the rest would show.

Dash was betting on this being a moment she could use. No doubt the arrival of the reserves would distract the Wonderbolts, and at the same time it would definitely spark curiosity, drawing others to the lobby to see what was going on. Matteo was the first of her friends to show and she already had Star there with her, now she just needed the rest to show up.

“Whoa… looks like the rest made it!”

Dash quickly glanced over her shoulder to see Thunderlane walk up behind her. Her eyes lit up subtly as she noticed he wasn’t alone. Bulk Biceps was with him, and appearing behind him once he moved his massive bulk aside was Derpy, who had Storm Front in tow. They all moved up near Dash and Star to view the large influx of reserves that were now neatly lined up with Spitfire’s top tier helpers making a few final checks to keep them organized.

“Fire, did we finalize arrangements with other lodging locations nearby?” Spitfire asked.

“They weren’t happy about it, but yes,” Fire replied, peeking up over the line of reserves.

“They can deal with it. Send a few elites to notify them their ‘guests’ are here,” Spitfire said with slight sarcasm.

Dash kept her eyes peeled, looking over those who had joined her, keeping an eye on Matteo sitting across the room with a few other curious ponies, and getting an idea of just how occupied the Wonderbolts were.

This was perfect so far. Everything was going exactly how Dash had hoped. Now there was just one piece missing…

Where was Squall? He wasn’t with the group behind her and she couldn’t see him with Matteo. Come on, he had to be curious. It would be normal if he just said ‘whatever’ and didn’t bother, but Dash needed him there.

“Name and hometown,” Spitfire asked the first reserve in line.

Dash briefly turned her attention back to Spitfire as she began addressing the reserves one by one. She heard some of the responses, listening more to the locations than the names. As expected, some were near and some were far, those near were mostly the ones already geared up and those far were mostly those carrying bags. She leaned a bit to get a look at the line and realized that Spitfire was going to be busy for quite a while. With the reserves all lined up neatly it looked like the line extended for a mile, at least around the street corner with several elites making sure they stayed organized.

Dash was well aware that the reserves existed… but she never really put much thought towards how many reserves existed. Then again, considering that fifteen of the twenty ponies in each recruit class became reserves by default, and recruits were brought in more than once annually, it made sense that there were so many. Some young, some older, but all had earned the right to call themselves Wonderbolts. Not at as high of an honor or rank as those based in the compound, but they earned it nonetheless. The reach of the Wonderbolts extended all over Equestria through the reserves it seemed, and with these numbers…

No, superior numbers didn’t necessarily mean they would trounce the Shadowbolts. She had no doubt the reserves could handle themselves, but there was a reason they were reserves, they didn’t quite match up to the rest. And the Shadowbolts commanders could create an army of clones of themselves. They had mostly refrained since the elite Wonderbolts had been taught how to quickly dispatch the clones with a well-placed blow to the forehead between the eyes, but it would be reckless to assume the reserves would be as adept as the elites in this regard.

The numbers at least gave them an edge over how they had been approaching it all thus far, and the greater numbers would no doubt provide a confidence boost. They needed every bit of morale they could muster to address everything going on.

But what was going on in front of Dash gave her more confidence that this was her chance to make the move and talk to her friends. Spitfire was going to be busy for a while with this, and would have to enlist many of the elites to help spread the plan and drill it into their heads that Luna was not to be trusted during the operation. Perfect, she had a window.

Now where the hell was Squall?! He seriously wasn’t curious at—

Dash blinked as she glanced towards Matteo again.

Speak of the devil. As she was looking over the reserves and thinking about them… Squall had appeared beside Matteo.

Without a moment to loose, Dash stole a brief glance towards the line of reserves. All the top tiers present were occupied, most importantly, Spitfire was dead focused on them.

With her chance secured, Dash lifted a wing and waved it while staring towards Squall and Matteo. She knew Squall wasn’t going to notice, but nothing got past Matteo’s eyes.

In less than a second his head turned towards her. As soon as Dash locked her eyes with his from across the lobby, she pointed at Squall and then made a subtle head motion to her left, hoping he understood that meant ‘get over here’.

Matteo seemed to catch on, quickly nudging Squall. Squall flinched and glared at him, but looked towards Dash when Matteo pointed.

With both of them looking, Dash repeated the head motion. They both nodded and started moving across the lobby. Neither of them knew what Dash’s intentions were, so the movement looked completely natural.

“Guys,” Dash quickly glanced at the rest. “I don’t know if any of you have plans right now, but…” she said quietly as she looked at them all carefully, easily catching their attention. “I need to talk to all of you, in private. And yes, this is important. More important than anything else going on right now.”

“What could be so important?” Matteo suddenly asked as he and Squall reached them. Dash glanced over her shoulder and looked back and forth at him and Squall. She made one last peek towards Spitfire before hardening her gaze into one that rivaled Matteo’s natural look.

“I can’t tell you here. All of you, come with me,” Dash said and started walking past them into the hall before any could ask or protest. None of them moved for a moment. Dash stopped and looked back at them. “Well, come on.” She exhaled through her nose and kept walking.

Curiosity gripped all of them, which was exactly what Dash wanted. She couldn’t say a thing with other Wonderbolts so close by, so she planted some confusion with a promise to elaborate if they cooperated.

And as she thought, they all started to follow. Now she just had to quickly cycle through her options on where to speak to them. She couldn’t leave the hotel with a large group following without drawing attention. The only place she felt comfortable taking them was back to her room, despite it being so close to the elites. But this was a five star, luxury resort hotel. The rooms were well insulated well enough from noise, so it was unlikely anypony would hear them unless they were within a few yards and actively trying to hear what was going on. And with the Wonderbolts distracted, the hallways were likely to be empty anyway.

“Dash…” Storm suddenly whispered as he moved up right beside her.

“Hm?” Dash hummed, but didn’t look at him.

“Is this about Spitfire’s plan?” he asked. Dash’s ears twitched, but she didn’t react. She kept up her demeanor.

“And if it is?” she asked in a slightly sharp tone. Storm blinked at her tone, but pointed at Bulk.

“Spitfire didn’t give us authorization to tell him.”

“I don’t give a damn,” Dash answered without any hesitation.

Storm stopped dead in his tracks, speechless with his mouth hanging slightly agape. But Dash didn’t even look back at him. She just kept walking and the rest kept walking too. The only one that looked at him as they passed was Derpy.

Storm shook his head out and swallowed before following, not sure what else to do. Dash had an ear turned to make sure she heard the sound of his hooves moving again, and once she heard it, she just kept moving, nearing the stairs to make their way up.

“What’s that stench?” Squall suddenly asked as they made the turn towards the stairs. Dash blinked and immediately scrunched her face to stifle a snort. “Seriously, am I the only one that smells that?” he asks as he sniffed the air. “It smells like sweat.”

“Hrmmmmm…” Little Star quietly groaned right behind Dash as the group started up the stairs.

Once in her room, and four or five checks up and down the hall later… Dash had them all gathered together.

And… she told them everything.

It was the scenario with Twilight all over again, but she spoke with much more confidence, assuming that she didn’t have to convince any of them her intentions weren't misguided. They all knew her, and despite the many looks she received as she explained, she could tell they were all giving it deep thought.

Obviously Thunderlane, Bulk, and Derpy all looked incredibly confused, but that was to be expected. All three of them had been safe in Ponyville as all of this happened, but they were different from Twilight. None of them had a deep connection to the goddesses, they just knew and respected them like the good little ponies they had always been taught to be around them. But Dash wasn’t worried about them, they all trusted her, and they all had gone through part of the Wonderbolt experience with her, even if it was just the tryouts for Derpy and Bulk.

As for the rest, they had experienced everything, they all saw everything that caused Dash to make this decision. So overall, this felt so much easier than it did with Twilight. She felt like she didn’t have to do any convincing, they were already aware of everything she was talking about, everything she was using for her reasoning, even with regards to Spitfire and her disagreement with her plan.

And that made it go smoother as well, she was relaxed throughout all of it, didn’t hesitate or think about a single word. She was locked in now, everything was being set into motion.

“And…” Dash gave a firm nod. “That’s where I currently stand.” She hardened her eyes into a sharp glare, aimed specifically at her squadmates and Storm. “And if any one of you tries to tell me that you don’t understand where I’m coming from, then you’re full of shit. I know you’re just as tired of this as I am and feel like nopony has control of this situation. I don’t care how hard Spitfire is trying, she has no idea what to do. At this point she is only hell-bent at undercutting Luna, beyond that she is flying blind. The reason I went to Twilight and told her everything is because I DO have a possible solution, but I knew Spitfire wouldn’t approve. So now we have this plan… and if it’s to work we need your cooperation.” She finished with a loud blast of breath through her nostrils, making them flare as she locked eyes with each one of them for a couple of seconds. “So? Are you all with me?” she asked, expecting to get a quick and definitive response.

But she may have been a bit hasty, not because they might say no, because they looked a bit… shocked. And it likely had to do with Dash’s demeanor. She was being much firmer and stern than she had ever been before, more or less trying to emulate the way Silver always took control of situations, but none of them had experienced yet. So she gave them a moment to soak it all in.

“She is right,” Matteo broke the silence, causing a subtle grin to crawl onto Dash’s face as the rest looked towards him. She had no doubt he’d be the first to follow her lead, but she also appreciated him speaking up. It would help set them on the right course. “I am not one to question higher authority, but it is as she says,” Matteo said stoically while nodding. “I have been watching the situation closely, and I find it harder to agree with both the gods and Captain Spitfire. Princess Luna is constantly trying to force us in line with her desires, and the Captain seems to be giving orders based on Luna’s actions instead of trying to grasp every bit of the situation.” He folded his crest feathers back and gave a firm nod. “I am following Dash, this has gone on long enough.”

Star and Squall didn’t say anything, but they were looking at Matteo in a manner that implied deep thought, not hesitance. If both Dash and Matteo gave similar observations, any doubts that may have been forming in their minds were suddenly becoming clearer. Thunderlane, Derpy, and Bulk… Dash wasn’t expecting them to fully understand everything from the get go, she wanted them to just soak it in for now.

“Is… this a good idea?”

Dash flinched. Her eyes widening for only a moment before her serious expression forced its way back into place. She slowly turned her head towards the source of the voice as everypony else did the same.

Her eyes locked on Storm leaning against one of the beds as he wore a conflicted look.

“If you do this, it will be defying direct orders!” he continued, adding strength to his voice as he stepped forward, moving a little closer to Dash. “Forget about whether it works or not for a moment, what will happen to us after that? Captain Spitfire is going to be furious!”

Dash suddenly felt a lump in her throat and tried her best to swallow it as she held firm and kept a glare trained on Storm.

She… didn’t expect this.

She had not thought for a moment that she would get any resistance from any of them. After Twilight, she assumed those she was closer to within the Wonderbolts, who had actually been through all of the cacophony with her wouldn’t hesitate to agree.

Was she wrong to believe they’d all simply fall in line? Or was Storm a case she had not thoroughly evaluated? His situation was slightly different than the rest of them, being a member of the elites and all. While some minor internal panic began to rush within her, she kept her cool. She still had control of the situation. She may have just made a drastic slip-up, but if she did… then she just had to fix it.

But to her surprise… somepony else spoke up first.

“Are you not tired of what’s happening around you?” Matteo addressed Storm. Causing Dash to hold off and step back to let him speak.

Storm furrowed his brow and tipped his head.

“Well, yeah, but how does that justify us ignoring orders? Don’t the Wonderbolts exist to handle messed up situations like this? That’s our designation!” he argued. Squall and Star continued to remain quiet, now focused on Matteo and Storm as they began exchanging opinions. Dash kept a close eye on them. It was good that Matteo was defending her, but on the off chance they felt Storm had a point, she had to be ready.

“So you’re going to walk blindly behind the leader even when you believe something isn’t right?” Matteo questioned him.

“How do we know what Spitfire wants is wrong?” Storm threw a hoof out.

That was Dash’s cue. She was curious if Matteo could handle it for her, but once Storm questioned her views on Spitfire’s actions, she couldn’t stay quiet.

“Spitfire has no clue what’s going on,” Dash stated as she stepped towards them.

“And YOU do?” Storm quickly fired back at her. His tone was hard to read. While he was pushing back, he didn’t sound like he was trying to assert himself. It was as if he was trying to convince, not refute.

“I never claimed I did,” Dash said with an angered snort. “But Spitfire is just pulling ideas out of her ass. It’s gotten to a point where we’re keeping secrets from allies and constantly surrounded by a tense, nervous environment with no idea how it’s going to turn out. Not to mention her ‘master plan’ for Sombra after we finish clenching our plots through this shitshow equates to nothing more than ‘let’s see what happens.’ Do you want to dive headlong into the unknown again after we just got done doing that for so long?!”

Storm stayed quiet, but his expression did not change, he still had a look of concerned defiance.

Good, because Dash wasn’t done with him.

“What I’m proposing is something that has a definitive goal in mind, using logic from past experiences that is being rejected by Luna, and using methods that Spitfire is going to be anal about us even suggesting. There’s a reason I’m looking to defy orders here, because I KNOW this has a chance of working. That’s a hell of a lot better than not having a damn clue what will happen and hoping for the best.”

Dash kept her eyes glued on Storm, looking right through him as he gritted his teeth and averted his eyes. Dash did not assume victory, she kept her eyes on him and kept glaring hard. Storm had expressed dissent against her plan and she was not going to risk only half convincing him. She had come too far in this effort to have him ruin it.

“Storm…”

Dash and Storm both turned their heads as Little Star suddenly spoke up.

“You gotta admit it… she has a point,” she said as she approached, joining Dash and Matteo in facing Storm. “I get where you’re coming from, but after all we’ve been through?” She shook her head. “I’m following Dash. She has always come through for us as our squad captain, so if she thinks this is the best course, I’m on board.”

Dash couldn’t suppress another grin as Star vouched for her. Storm’s resolve looked weakened. He had taken a step backwards and the strength in his eyes had halved.

“Well?” Star spoke again as she looked over her shoulder at Squall sitting silently by himself. He lifted an eyebrow.

“Well what?” he asked in a flat tone. Star pouted at him.

“Oh, stop that. You know what I mean. Are you with us?” she asked as if speaking the very words Dash was thinking. Squall scoffed and flipped his head, again forgetting that his crystal form did not allow his mane to flip and flow.

“What are you even asking for?” he asked with a slightly annoyed tone as he made a subtle head motion towards Dash. “I’ve stuck with you guys this far, why wouldn’t I now?” he stated as if they never had to doubt he was with them.

“Good!” Star smiled and clapped her hooves together once.

“No, no, NO! Stop!” Storm suddenly blurted out, drawing all attention to him again. He turned around and shook his head out, swallowing as he took a few breaths. “Just… THINK about this for a moment, will you?!” he said loudly as he turned back around, his teeth grinding together as his opened wide. He looked frantic. “If we’re going to go through with this we can't do it behind Spitfire’s back!”

“Storm…” Dash scrunched her face, bared her teeth and began to growl quietly.

“I’m serious!” Storm continued as his eyes darted between all of them. “This plan of yours will only complicate things further! Isn’t it all bad enough already?!”

“So you’d rather stick with something complicated that has no destination in mind…” Dash growled louder as she stepped right up to him, their noses nearly touching as they stood eye to eye. “Than push it a little farther with a chance to solve it all?!”

“You THINK it will!” Storm didn’t back down despite Dash holding much more strength all over. “But you don’t KNOW if it will! You’re masquerading here like you know better than the damn LEAD CAPTAIN of the Wonderbolts!”

Everypony flinched as Dash suddenly thrust a hoof forward, pressing a hoof into Storm’s chest and pushing him backwards. His weak, leaning posture made it easy for her to get him off balance. His hooves slipped and skidded until she slammed him against the wall. Nopony else moved, even Matteo’s eyes widened a little as she made the move. Derpy gasped, but Thunderlane instinctively grabbed her shoulder to hold her back.

“NOW YOU LISTEN TO ME!” she yelled into his face. Storm’s eyes opened wide as she glared at him and forced him a little further down the wall so she was standing over him. Dash opened her mouth to yell again, but then remembered to be wary of where they were. She gathered herself and lowered her tone, but didn’t intend to lower her pressure on him. “Spitfire not only has no idea what she’s dealing with, but while she’s shutting out Luna and other authority figures, she’s also shutting out those who might actually help us!”

Respect of rank be damned. Dash didn’t care if Storm was technically elite Wonderbolt. And while the fact that they were in the same cadet class made her a little bolder, she probably wouldn’t have approached this any differently if it were Fire Streak or Fleetfoot, or whoever.

“Spitfire has become paranoid to the point that anypony who has any sort of relationship with Luna is guilty by association. This includes my oldest friends from back home, whom I know are not just blind followers! I’ve already let Twilight in on this, she has seen Luna’s odd behavior for herself. I’ve told her about Spitfire’s lack of trust, and she agrees with me that we need to take this matter into our own hooves. She’s meeting with my old friends the same way I’m meeting with you all now! They can help us in ways the gods can’t, but Spitfire doesn’t trust them!” Dash kept her voice down the whole time, but emphasized nearly every word.

Storm, however, did not cave. He forced himself back up and grabbed her arm that she held against him.

“Then why not go to Spitfire and tell her that?! What do we have to lose there?” he asked, doing his best to counter Dash’s verbal strength.

“Storm…” Dash held steady despite him pushing against her. “My LIFE is on the line here, and from my observations of her, if we tell Spitfire about this, there’s a good chance she’ll flip shit and completely bar us from action. It could ruin our chance to even try this plan.”

“Why risk it?!” Storm continued to fight back. “Why not take the chance with her?! If this plan has a better chance of saving Soarin as you say, what makes you think she won’t be interested?!”

“I’m risking it because I need to, Storm,” Dash lowered her tone, but kept her glare hardened as she spoke calmly. Storm was caught off guard by her shift in tone as her pressure against him lightened as well. “There is no way to play this safe without it potentially crashing down over our heads. I’ve made the choice to defy our orders because I DON’T AGREE with them and I think they’re WRONG. It is our duty, as Wonderbolts to follow orders, but it’s also our duty to recognize when our orders are misguided or unjustifiable… and to take action if need be.” She slowly removed her hoof from his chest, but didn’t step back. “Until this is all over, I’m done following hesitant, careful orders that get in the way of us actually solving this mess of problems. I don’t care if Spitfire kicks me out of the damn Wonderbolts for it, if I simply follow her lead into a dead end, it will mean absolutely nothing. I have to do this for my sake, and for Soarin. He means more to me than any rank or status as a Wonderbolt ever could.” She paused and pointed at Storm. “Now… are you with me? Or are you not?”

Storm just stared, not sure how to reply. Dash wasn’t sure how to take his silence, but if anything he was thinking about what she just said.

“Heh,” a quiet chuckle suddenly came from behind them. Both of them glanced to see Thunderlane smiling. “Well, you can definitely count me in,” he said as he moved forward, passing by Matteo, Star, and Squall as everypony locked eyes on him. Storm’s expression completely changed. The glare he was holding towards Dash was replaced with a bewildered look trained on Thunderlane.

“I don’t have a full understanding of everything going on… I feel like I’ve been thrown into some weird sci-fi action movie,” Thunderlane joked with a shrug. “But…” He smiled at Dash. “I’ve known Dash for a long time. She can be a bit brash, and she kicks my ass a lot for no reason, but if there’s one thing that’s always been true about her, it’s that she never flies blind.” He turned his eyes to Storm and the two stared at one another for a few seconds. “Look, Storm… I get what you’re worried about. Of all of us here, you’re the lucky one. You got elevated from cadet straight into the elite ranks of an organization most pegasi can only dream of being a part of. You have a lot of pressure on your shoulders, and you’re not taking your opportunity for granted.” Thunderlane touched a hoof to his chest. “By comparison… I’ve barely touched a fraction of what you’ve achieved. I almost made it to where the rest stand,” he motioned to Dash and her squad. “But I fell one step too short. I’m a Wonderbolt, but I’m a reserve. I sit back and watch over my comfy little hometown and only get involved with the rest of you on the off chance I get called upon.”

Thunderlane took a deep breath, looking down for a moment.

“But…” he slowly tipped his head back up, looking Storm in the eye again. “I’m still a Wonderbolt. And Wonderbolts are trained to take action in extreme circumstances, right? You just said that yourself. I’m not afraid of being punished if I do what I’ve been given the right to do. I also trust the ponies Dash is talking about just as much as she does. I think it’s wrong that the captain wants them locked out when they have had no hoof in the way things have gone for you all thus far.” Thunderlane nodded decisively. “So I’m following Dash. And if you trust her, and I know you do… you should do the same.”

“YEEEEE—” Bulk began to yell in agreement with Thunderlane, but instantly stopped as Dash shot him a glare. He remained frozen in place, mouth open and flexing his muscles as he glanced back and forth. “—eeeeaaaah!” he finished much quieter. “I ain’t no reserve, but you can count me in!” he agreed as he trotted up to Thunderlane and smacked him on the back so hard he grunted and fell flat to the floor.

“Ow… thanks…” Thunderlane gasped as he pushed himself back up and teetered a little.

Storm averted his eyes from everypony, eventually looking down and thoroughly examined the floor as his gritted teeth parted and he blinked several times.

“Storm…”

Storm flinched hard as a quiet, innocent voice met his ears. He glanced up, nearly gasping as Derpy moved towards him, Dash moving aside to let her pass. Her ears were drooping down, her crooked eyes were wide and she looked up at Storm as if silently pleading for him to listen.

“Please… help Rainbow Dash,” she asked him quietly as Storm remained stuck in place, his eyes wide and pupils shaking slightly as Derpy softly confronted him. “I have no idea what’s going on, but I know that she’s in danger and needs you…” she gently placed a hoof on his chest. “Please help her?”

Storm’s mouth hung slightly agape as he stared into Derpy’s eyes. He frantically looked up and saw everypony else staring at him. He looked cornered and put on the spot. Derpy’s words had a clear effect on him, but to what extent?

“I…” he shut his eyes and began to shake. “I…” he suddenly exhaled loudly and sat down, his head and neck drooping. “Fine… I’ll… I’ll help…” he clearly forced the words out, and Dash immediately took notice. Everypony else seemed to react positively, but Dash… she wasn’t so sure. “I don’t like this at all, in fact I HATE this, this is wrong, but… fine…” Storm growled to himself. “I’ll help… Just…” he trailed off.

“Just what?” Dash snapped at him, catching the rest by surprise as she stepped up beside Derpy. Derpy flinched and shied away from Dash as she came forward. She and Storm once again stared eye to eye, both of them holding strong looks that clashed.

“Nothing…” Storm looked away with a huff. “I’ll help.”

The room was suddenly filled with silence. As she stepped back, Dash’s skepticism seemed to spread to the others a little. While they did not project it quite as hard as she was, Storm’s agreement did not seem completely committed, nor genuine.

Dash herself wasn’t sure what to think. Storm had just ‘agreed’, but to what end? What else was on his mind? She had never considered meeting resistance from within those she thought she could trust. She was one hundred percent sure they would all be on her side without question. But it appeared that there were some factors she had not considered with Storm. Most notably, his rank as an elite. He had spent more time among the higher ranked Wonderbolts and undoubtedly had formed a bit of a connection with them just like Dash had built one with her squad. Not to mention Thunderlane was spot on, he had been given the opportunity of a lifetime and didn’t want to screw it up, regardless of the situation, he had that pressure on his back as well.

But it went deeper than that. Dash found herself considering factors that she probably should have thought about long before bringing him along. Thinking about it now… this plan of hers happened to go against the plan that HIS FATHER was on board with. Sometimes she completely forgot that his long lost daddy was in their extended ranks and expecting Storm to move against him without question was a stretch.

She refused to show it, but a few worries began to bubble up in Dash’s stomach. While Derpy had lent an unexpected hoof in getting Storm to agree, just how much weight did her request hold for him? Would Storm really do it just because she asked? It didn’t seem like the sturdiest foundation to rely on. But say he was on board… he clearly didn’t want to be. So what if he went walking around now looking conflicted? She wasn’t worried about Spitfire noticing with all the Wonderbolts she had to watch over… but Descent? A father has a knack for noticing when his son looks put off. Then what?”

“GOOD PLAN! HOPE IT WORKS!”

Dash’s eyes went so wide it was a wonder they didn’t pop right out of her head. Gasps and yelps of surprise rang out from around all of them as the familiar voice met their ears. Dash spun around along with everypony else.

Twister was lying upside down on the bed behind all of them. Dash’s voice nearly leapt out of her mouth.

“WHAT THE F—”

“OH SHIT!” Twister rapidly turned upright and gripped the bedsheet so hard that it completely untucked from the bed and spun until he had rolled himself into a ball within the sheet. “I GOTTA USE THE BATHROOM, CLASS DISMISSED!” he yelled and immediately catapulted himself backward, taking the whole bedsheet with him as he crashed through the window, shattering it to pieces.

But as Dash rushed forward to look out the broken pane, all the shards suddenly all shot back into place, reconstructing the window and sealing solid as if it were never touched.

Dash just stood still, staring at the rebuilt window with a mixed look of shock and disturbed on her face. Nopony else said anything, nor moved either for at least half a minute.

“At least he didn’t stay,” Squall finally broke the silence.

“I… SWEAR…” Dash growled as she bumped her head against the window, air hissing loudly from her nostrils as she gritted her teeth. “I have had it up to HERE with that insane asylum reject!” Dash grumbled as she lifted a hoof above her head.

Everypony blinked and stared towards Dash as she slowly began turning away from the window.

“If he keeps pulling this crap with me, I’m going to bury my hoof so far into that little shit-faced grin he always wears that he’ll be seeing out of his own ass!” she finished as she turned around… and met all the blank stared of the others. Dash paused and lifted an eyebrow. “What?”

Everypony glanced between one another, but Star broke the silence with a giggle.

“Just how much time have you been spending around Silver anyway?” she asked as she continued to giggle. Dash blinked, her eyes widening slightly. “Seriously, I could totally hear all of that in his voice.”

“Uh… eheh…” Dash could barely contain it as several more of them cracked grins as well, even Matteo. She was trying to be serious about this situation, but it was hard not to be thrilled about being compared to her mentor. She had to suppress the welling feeling of giddiness in her stomach and regain her composure. She cleared her throat and shrugged, taking control, but unable to get rid of the smile. “Well, I bet Squall agrees.”

“I do,” Squall almost replied before she finished.

“As do I,” Matteo added before Dash could speak again. She flattened her brow and rolled her eyes.

“I was being sarcastic,” she said with an amused snort.

“About what you said, or about us?” Matteo asked, tipping his head slightly.

“About you,” Dash pointed.

“Now I’m just confused…” Squall furrowed his brow. Dash waved a hoof towards them.

“Okay, okay, enough…” she said with a slight chuckle, more or less ignoring the sudden appearance of Twister in favor of getting back on track. “You all know what the current plan is, and we’ll iron it out once I hear more details from Spitfire. When the time is right, Twilight and I will gather up both groups so we can share what we know and figure out exactly what to do,” she gave them all a firm nod. “Now we better get back out there and act casual so we don’t attract any suspicion. Keep a low profile for now and keep your ears in the air for anything new. Got it?”

Everypony nodded back… except for Storm. Dash’s eyelids twitched as they instinctively began to narrow.

“GOT IT, STORM?” she repeated with a harsher tone. Storm averted his eyes for a moment and exhaled through his nose. After a few seconds he looked back at Dash and nodded. “Good. Now let’s get out of here.” Dash motioned.

They began moving without another word, but Star quickly shifted and turned towards the bathroom instead.

“I’m showering first!” she yelled as she turned, pointed, and glared at Dash.

“Good because you smell bad,” Squall added nonchalantly.

“HNNNNRGGGGG!!!” Star growled and pouted at Squall. “Bleh!” she stuck her tongue out at him before slamming the door shut, earning a few select giggles from some of the others.

But as they began shuffling out, Dash locked her eyes on the back of Storm’s head. She couldn’t help but feel she had made a major mistake by including him. Her success with Twilight had gone to her head and she didn’t foresee any of the others she wanted to involve resisting. She wasn’t entirely convinced that she managed to sway his clear dissent and now she was worried that she had unwittingly added a snag to her own plan. She had to keep tabs on him, but how? She had plenty of other things that required her attention regarding their way forward, she couldn’t afford to split her focus.

She suddenly felt a nudge to her side as they left the hotel room and began walking down the hall. She glanced to her left… and up at Matteo as he suddenly grabbed her shoulder and stopped her in place, allowing the rest to walk a little further before he bent down toward her ear.

“I’ll try to keep an eye on him. You worry about everything else,” he suggested. Dash was surprised, but only for a moment. Matteo was as perceptive as ever.

“Thanks big guy,” she replied quietly with a nod as they continued on. She was glad she could rely on him without even saying a word.

They had to make this work, they were already too far down the path to turn back. She wasn’t going to let Storm’s misgivings get in the way.

The group dispersed as they made their way out, going separate ways, some leaving the hotel, some going back to their rooms. Dash, with her mind still on her own goals, found herself wandering back towards the lobby. She slowed her pace as she neared the end of the hallway, the sound of Spitfire’s voice met her ears, but… she was saying the exact same words she was saying when they left.

Dash hugged the right wall and stopped less than a yard from the end of the hall. She leaned forward and peeked around. Spitfire was, as she heard, still addressing reserves. Dash didn’t know how long she had been with her friends just now, but it wasn’t just a few minutes. Spitfire looked like she was trying her best to hold a firm expression as her monotonous, repeating orders for every single reserve in line seemed to weigh on her. ‘Name, hometown, report to hotel down the road.’ Over and over and over. Though it looked like Fire had stepped in to help split the identification duty as the other present top tiers handled leading them back out the door and in the right direction.

Despite the fact that it was still going on, it looked like they were almost done. The end of the line was now in the lobby, with only a few late arrivals showing up and joining the line as the task neared its end.

Seeing no reason to hide, and to avoid looking suspicious, Dash detached from the wall and casually walked out. Fleetfoot and Surprise looked towards her for a moment as she made her way over to one of the couches and sat down, but they quickly went back to work assisting the reserves. Spitfire didn’t even glance, she was too busy.

The couch Dash sat on was not entirely facing the activity, but it was turned far enough that she could glance and act like she was just observing the reserves. In reality, she was keeping an ear up for anything said once the last few in the reserve line had made it through.

By the time she sat down there were only about fifteen reserves left in line. They split between Fire Streak and Spitfire, Dash waiting patiently as the two repeated what had been said to the rest. Then finally… the last reserve turned away from them and was directed back out by Lightning Streak.

Spitfire took a deep breath, that was likely going to end in a sigh, but at the last moment one more reserve burst through the doors, an older stallion who looked to be in his late thirties. He gasped and panted as he hauled a large duffle bag towards Spitfire and saluted.

Spitfire swallowed her breath and quickly threw her serious expression back on.

“Name and—” she suddenly twitched and coughed. “Pardon me. Name and hometown?” she quickly regained herself.

Dash held in a snort as Spitfire nearly choked on her own words, clearly tired of saying the same thing over and over again.

The stallion nodded as Spitfire mentioned the hotel down the road, and he was led out by Surprise.

“I think that’s it,” Fire Streak said as the stallion left and turned to Spitfire. Spitfire exhaled loudly and sat down.

“Unreal, I didn’t know we had that many reserves,” she said as she shook her head out. Fire chuckled.

“Don’t you have a list of them in your office?” he asked as Lightning Streak, Fleetfoot, and Surprise approached. Blaze and High Winds were still not there. At some point Air Mach had left too, Dash couldn’t see him anywhere.

“I do, but I’ve never counted them,” Spitfire said with a shrug as she stood back up. “I mean, I didn’t even know most of their names. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that last guy before.

“Oh, him?” Fire pointed over his shoulder. “He was called in once for a mission when Lightning and I were recruits. His name is…” Fire suddenly trailed off, his eyes widening and blinking. “Brother, what was his name again?”

“Huh?” Lightning tipped his head. “Hell if I know.”

“Never mind then…” Fire said, embarrassed as he turned back to Spitfire.

“Well… they are never around…” Fleetfoot said somewhat awkwardly. “Should we know their names? I feel kind of bad that I don’t.”

“No, enough,” Spitfire shook her head. “Don’t feel bad about it, they are here to fulfill their duty. We should be happy that they showed like we asked. We just have to direct them,” she paused, getting serious as she narrowed her eyes and nodded towards the rest of them. “We need to relay our plans to them.” She turned to Fire. “Get together with the rest of the elite captains and organize an effort to efficiently and discreetly inform the reserves of everything that’s happened up to this point and how we plan to move forward… and BE VERY CLEAR about WHY we are circumventing Luna. I don’t want any of them even thinking about mutiny. Threaten them with discharge if you have to, I won’t have any dissenters.”

Dash flinched as she heard that, recalling Storm’s concerns and now thinking about herself since she heard it right from Spitfire’s mouth.

Discharge, huh… if she went through with her plan and failed… would she be kicked out of the Wonderbolts?

Dash blinked and lightly shook her head out.

No. That wasn’t important. If she didn’t take action there was a good chance she wouldn’t even be ALIVE to BE discharged. This was a risk she had to take.

Dash perked up as the others left, leaving Spitfire and Fleetfoot alone.

“Should I go help them?” Fleetfoot asked. Spitfire was not looking her, but suddenly blinked and looked up.

“Oh, uh…” Spitfire looked towards the lobby doors. “Yeah, go help them,” she said with a weak nod, turning back to Fleetfoot. “I’m going to stick around for a few more minutes in case any others show up.”

“Okay,” Fleetfoot started to turn, but she barely made it ninety degrees before Spitfire suddenly reached out to her.

“Wait! Wait…” she said frantically at first, but calmly second. Fleetfoot flinched in surprise as Spitfire’s hoof came near her, but didn’t touch her. “Sorry,” Spitfire apologized for starling her while shaking her head out. “I’ve been meaning to ask…” she paused as she sat down, still looking down towards Fleetfoot due to their difference in size. “How are you feeling? Your body I mean. Have the crystal dew treatments helped?”

Fleetfoot looked surprised again, but for a very different reason, mostly because of how much Spitfire’s tone changed from moments before. It was much softer, and full of worry. She turned to face Spitfire directly while taking a moment to test the motion of her limbs, moving different part of her body. She tensed and released her chest, rotated her shoulders, opened and closed her wings, and hopped up and down a little. A very faint grimace appeared on her face as she tested every movement she could think of. Spitfire noticed, but didn’t say anything, waiting to hear from Fleetfoot herself.

“Well…” Fleetfoot sighed as she finished and sat down slowly and gently. “I can still feel it… it’s not really painful any more, but everything is a bit tense. Like I did a ton of full body workouts in a row for a whole day.”

“Hm…” Spitfire hummed quietly, nodding as Fleetfoot explained.

“But, overall I feel a hell of a lot better. Those weird crystal dew baths they have here have helped a lot.”

Spitfire perked up.

“Before I started hopping in those, it was much worse…” Fleetfoot blinked as she saw Spitfire’s sudden look of interest. “What?”

“Nothing,” Spitfire shook her head. “Just made me think of something on my mind before.”

Fleetfoot kept staring.

“Nothing secret, just about the baths,” she clarified. “I’m glad they’ve worked wonders for you. Especially since you were in far worse shape than most of…” Spitfire’s eyes grew a little and her ears drooped, her voice trailing off before she could finish the sentence.

“Spitty?” Fleetfoot frowned as she noticed the shift. Spitfire looked down quickly, but before Fleetfoot could say anything else, Spitfire reached towards her and clasped a hoof on her shoulder. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Eventually, she just looked down again.

“Sorry, I just… this is all…”

Fleetfoot’s lips quivered, her ears drooping down as well as she read exactly what Spitfire’s demeanor meant. She quickly scooted forward, reached up, and hugged Spitfire as far as her arms could reach around her large body, planting the side of her head into Spitfire’s chest.

“I miss him too…” Fleetfoot said quietly, her voice muffled against Spitfire. Spitfire wasted no time returning the hug, wrapping an arm around Fleetfoot as she kept the other hoof planted to the ground.

“It’s so hard without him…” Spitfire shook her head. “The three of us… we’ve always been in it together. It’s hard.”

Off to the side, Dash continued to listen… but she had purposely sunk down into the couch to hide her presence.

Soarin… They were talking about Soarin. It was suddenly making her sad too.

“I hope we can get him back…” Fleetfoot said as she continued to squeeze Spitfire the best she could.

“I hope so too…” Spitfire lightly pushed Fleetfoot away so she could look her in the eye. “But… if worst comes to worst… and we can’t save him… please watch yourself,” she pleaded. Rubbing Fleetfoot’s shoulder as they stared at one another with eyes that seemed just a few steps away from tears. “I don’t want to lose you too.”

“I will,” Fleetfoot quickly assured her while touching a hoof to Spitfire’s. “Same goes for you.”

Spitfire smiled weakly, leaning down and giving Fleetfoot another hug.

The two parted and nodded to one another.

“Go on,” Spitfire gave a gentle head motion. “I’ll catch up with you all later.”

Fleetfoot flashed her own weak smile as she slowly turned and walked out. Spitfire sighed heavily, sitting in the middle of the lobby. She, nor Fleetfoot had cared that they were not alone in the lobby, resort employees moving about and several at the reception desk.

Dash suddenly felt trapped in her spot. She didn’t want to get up immediately because she was sure the moment just now was incredibly personal for Spitfire.

But she didn’t feel like moving, because said moment was helping put things into perspective. She had spent so much of her recent time plotting against the word of Luna, and more specifically the orders of Spitfire, it had gotten to the point where she had been somewhat painting Spitfire as an antagonist to those she needed help from.

But this just brought it all back around… reminding her of who Spitfire was… who Fleetfoot was… and how she was acting against those she really did care for.

It hurt… but… she wasn’t doing this because she thought it was going to be easy. She was doing this because she had to. Sympathy for Spitfire wasn’t going to change her view on Twilight, nor change her reaction if Dash were to try and convince her to do things her way.

Instead of hesitating, Dash decided to frame it differently.

Spitfire and Fleetfoot wanted Soarin back… but they didn’t know if anything they could do would work. She did. So… even though she had to work against them, she had to do it for them too.

She groaned quietly as she placed a hoof over her forehead. There was so much at stake here. She had never felt so much pressure before in her life. She felt great about the strides she had made, but… how did Silver do this so… effortlessly? At least it seemed like it was effortless. Did he ever have to make decisions that ran against those he really cared about? Did he ever have to sit and listen to ponies who trusted him while working behind their backs?

Now she was just overthinking it… She couldn’t assume that Silver was simply a badass that just knew how to do everything by default. He probably had several situations like this… where he had to simply go by his gut and make the choices he felt were right.

If he were in her hooves right now… he probably wouldn’t be doubting himself.

Dash glanced towards Spitfire again, and she couldn’t look at her without imagining the sight of her and Fleetfoot embracing while hoping the best for their missing best friend.

Dash slumped back into the couch and narrowed her eyes, staring down at the couch cushion between her legs.

“Just do it…” she whispered very quietly to herself. “Do it for yourself… but do it for them too… do it for everypony…” she kept going, coaching herself. That was the best way she could look at it.

While she was working behind the backs of other ponies… she wasn’t doing it for selfish reasons.

She could do this.

“Captain Spitfire?” A voice suddenly caught Dash’s ears. She perked up and glanced over again. Spitfire was sitting upright, all traces of worry and weakness in her body language and expression gone in an instant as… Princess Cadence walked in?

The resort staff all stopped what they were doing and bowed as she walked in and moved towards Spitfire.

“I see the reserves have arrived,” she said as she approached, but there was a clear lack of… brightness in her voice. She wasn’t smiling either. Keeping her gaze firm, Spitfire nodded.

“Yes, we just finished sorting through all of them,” she answered politely, but quickly shifted focus. “Is there something wrong?” she addressed Cadence’s lack of gusto.

“Well…” Cadence stopped in front of her and sighed while looking down. “We have a bit of a problem.”

Spitfire’s ears stood up, her eyes widening a little. She was afraid to ask what immediately came to mind, but forced it out anyway.

“Is it about Sombra?” She paused and swallowed. “Or… the afflicted?” she asked, holding her breath. Cadence looked her right in the eyes for a few moments.

“The afflicted.”

Spitfire visibly flinched, but otherwise held her demeanor. Dash’s ears stood up as she heard as well, and even though she was sitting a little ways away she could see the cracks in Spitfire’s armor, subtle signs of emotion poking through as she tried to keep her professional air about her.

“Come with me,” Cadence said nothing more as she turned and started walking towards the lobby doors. Without hesitation, Spitfire followed close behind.

Dash just stared for a few seconds as the two of them made their way through the doors and out into the street. And after a few moments of thought… she rocked forward, sliding off the couch and planting her hooves on the floor. Part of her was telling her it wasn’t a good idea to follow… but the other part said it would help her cause. She had to be a part of what was going on, and it wouldn’t look suspicious to Spitfire if she showed a willingness to be involved in everything happening. If she asked, she just happened to overhear them.

She wanted to be around as much as possible to absorb everything, the more she knew about the situation as a whole, the more she could plan her own moves.

And admittedly… she wanted to know what was going on with the afflicted Shadowbolts and… Wave Chill.

To appear casual and inconspicuous, Dash kept just enough distance behind Spitfire and Cadence to ensure they didn’t know she was following them. She knew what their destination was, so even though she lost sight of them once or twice she was able to stay on the right path. Her plan was to enter the room about ten to twenty seconds after they did to give the likely appearance that she noticed them going towards the castle and curiosity motivated her.

She kept this up as they entered the castle, pausing around corners to make sure she didn’t get too close. She drew a few looks from guards, but never paused long enough to give off the air of sneaking. Eventually she neared the door leading to where they were keeping Wave and the rest of the afflicted, waiting to hear the door open and close before she turned the corner and approached the door herself.

The guards posted outside the door didn’t even blink as she approached, and made no indication or effort to block her from entry, so she let herself right in, quietly opening the door and slipping in.

She immediately took in the sights, a tightness gripping her chest. It didn’t matter how many times she saw them. Even though Moon’s efforts had bought them some time and comfort, those suffering from the crystals spreading over their bodies were always such a hard thing to look at. The room was a bit different than when she last saw it. New tables were everywhere, and they were stacked with books and notes. Crystal Empire scholars and clerics were everywhere, wearing green and white robes respectively. There was a lot of communication going on, the scholars speaking directly to the clerics as their magic worked on the afflicted. It appeared they were simply casting magic to help soothe the pain for the time being, because nothing they were doing was affecting the crystal growths.

Dash flinched as the door closed behind her with an audible thump, but quickly steeled herself as Spitfire glanced over her shoulder and spotted her. They made eye contact… and stared at one another for a moment, but Spitfire made no objections and seemed to buy what Dash was hoping to sell, that she simply followed out of curiosity. To stay inconspicuous, Dash made her way forward, moving up beside Spitfire as if everything was normal.

She had to keep it that way. Spitfire was as perceptive as a hawk. If Dash showed any imbalance in expression or body language, she’d notice.

As she took her place and stayed quiet, she noticed a few others in the room. Luna was there… as well as Twilight. Twilight looked up briefly when she saw her, but true to their plan, did not have any visible reaction. She went right back to speaking to Luna and now Cadence as Dash and Spitfire waited patiently. Dash stole a glance at Spitfire and noticed that she was looking exclusively at Wave laying in a bed near them, but both of them quickly refocused as Twilight, Cadence, and Luna approached them.

Dash held her breath… and was sure Spitfire was doing the same, albeit not noticeably. None of the three alicorns had a very reassuring look on their face.

“We’ve…” Cadence began, pausing and look down. “We’ve hit a bit of a dead end.”

Dash thought she could almost hear something inside Spitfire snap. The tightness in her chest grew stronger, but her thoughts had instantly turned to Spitfire the moment Cadence revealed the news. Dash stole a glance. Spitfire’s ears were standing straight up, her eyes had opened a little wider and her mouth was slightly agape. Her pupils were jittering as if she was hit so hard by the words that she didn’t know how to properly react.

But barely three seconds passed before Spitfire suddenly hardened her gaze and locked her eyes on Cadence.

“Elaborate,” Spitfire stated in a very strong tone, sounding ready to jump on any sign of something off due to a certain goddess standing behind Cadence being involved. Cadence sighed.

“We have no means within our current possession to reverse what has been done to them,” she explained further.

A certain few words stuck out to Dash, and she had no doubt Spitfire had zeroed in on the exact same words. Twilight came forward as before anything else could be said.

“We’ve read every spell book and scripture from the palace archives twice over, front to back and back to front. There is no place in Equestria that has a more complete information database on crystals and their magical properties than what we have here. And we were unable to find a cure for their current—”

Dash flinched as Spitfire suddenly rushed forward and reached towards Twilight. Twilight yelped as Spitfire poked a hoof to her chest hard enough to force her a step back.

“You said ‘currently in your possession’!” she yelled into Twilight’s face. “What does that mean?!” she pressed. Twilight was unable to speak, caught off guard by Spitfire’s advance. Dash wanted to move in, but didn’t want to blow her cover. When Twilight didn’t answer, Spitfire shifted her attention to Cadence. “Explain! NOW!” she yelled as she removed her hoof from Twilight and was about to press it to Cadence, but she stopped Spitfire’s arm in place with her magic.

“Captain Spitfire, please!” she spoke up loudly, but kept a tone of sympathy. “We wanted to be upfront and honest with you FIRST. We have concluded that we have no means to save them here and now, but we do have some… theories on what can be done. We simply don’t possess the means to act on them.”

“SO WHAT ARE THEY ALREADY?!” Spitfire barked, forcing her arm forward against Cadence’s magic. She grunted in surprise as Spitfire’s strength pushed her magic back towards her.

A magic aura suddenly shown forth from Luna’s horn. Two magical barriers appeared between Cadence and Spitfire, pushing them both apart. She stepped forward as the barriers vanished while staring towards Spitfire. Spitfire growled and pointed a hoof sharply towards Luna.

“I don’t like that look you’re giving me PRINCESS…” she said as she began to grit her teeth hard. “SPILL WHAT YOU KNOW! And you better not be hiding anything, because even for YOU that would be LOW!”

Luna looked completely taken aback, her eyes widening but angling into a glare.

“How dare thou accuse us of such a thing!” she snapped back at Spitfire, but Spitfire didn’t back off.

“It’s your own damn fault that ‘I dare!’” Spitfire growled as she turned her eyes to Twilight and Cadence. “What did she say to you, huh?” she asked them while waving a hoof in Luna’s direction. “What sort of bullshit has she been feeding you?” she slammed a hoof to the floor and redirected her glare back to Luna. “Has it been as good as the crap she’s been feeding us?!”

Dash kept her lips shut tight. She wasn’t expecting a confrontation. But then she made very brief eye contact with Twilight again. If Twilight had any reserves about what Dash had told her about Spitfire, it was being laid bare for her right now.

“That’s enough!” Cadence interjected while moving in front of Spitfire to block her view of Luna. “Luna did NOT head the research into the affliction. Twilight did!”

Spitfire focused on Cadence for a moment, her eyes filled with a seething anger that she struggled to hold back. She slowly looked towards Twilight, just barely keeping herself under control.

“Please,” Twilight began softly while approaching, her body posture relaxed and her ears folded back as if trying to appear as non-threatening as possible, likely to try and diffuse the growing tension of the moment. “Let me explain.”

“I’m LISTENING.” Spitfire said in a very harsh tone. Twilight swallowed, clearly intimidated by Spitfire, but going on regardless. She cleared her throat, standing upright again as she prepared to speak.

“As Cadence said, we don’t have the means within our power to undo their affliction, but we know of two forces that might be able to do the job,” she explained.

“Go on…” Spitfire verbally nudged as Twilight paused, eager to pry it all out.

“They are, unfortunately, two forces that nopony here currently possesses, nor can use. The first is… well… chaos magic.”

Dash perked up, something was coming back to her as she thought about that, but she couldn’t quite remember. Spitfire seemed to have the same reaction, her head tipped to the side and her eyes narrowed. It wasn’t a threatening expression, it was a doubtful one… because she was certain this was something they had already heard.

“The crystals themselves were caused by heavy exposure to some sort of chaos magic,” Twilight continued, not noticing the looks being given by Dash and Spitfire. She also couldn’t see Luna looking away behind her. “Chaos magic has wild and unpredictable properties that make it invulnerable to other magic and in general breaks the natural laws of existence that the rest of the world and mystic driven forces are built on. One of the only things that can break chaos magic… is chaos magic itself. So if we were to find Disc—”

“I’m afraid that’s not an option.”

The new voice in the room startled everypony, causing them all to flinch and look around to locate the source. Eventually all eyes turned to a nearby wall that was completely bare less than an instant prior.

Discord was leaning his back against the wall, arms crossed, and holding a neutral expression that was impossible to read.

“You’re wasting your breath, Twilight. I have already had this discussion with them.” He continued as he gently pushed off the wall and started walking towards them.

“YOU!” Spitfire yelled angrily as she turned towards him and pointed. “WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU—”

Discord waved a hand nonchalantly and a purple band of magic that resembled a rope wrapped itself around Spitfire’s mouth, forcing it shut and tying itself off in a neat bow.

“Busy,” Discord answered her without looking as he kept moving towards Twilight. Spitfire grunted and yanked on the binding rope, but it didn’t budge. She exhaled heavily through her nose and gave in, content to just glare at him until Discord removed it. “I didn’t come here to get yelled at again. You’ve done enough of that,” Discord said as he came to a halt and glanced over his shoulder at her. “So be a good little mare and shut up.”

“But where hast thou been?” Luna asked, causing Spitfire to glare harder because Discord didn’t do a thing to stop her from asking. He sighed and looked up towards the ceiling.

“Doing some much needed thinking… and looking for a reason to give a damn,” he said in a manner that resembled talking to himself before looking around at all of them. “I effectively lost all reason to care about what happens after Sombra gained control of Soarin’s body. It was my one task, my one real priority… to make sure that didn’t come to pass because such an event would create a being that not even I could stand up against… among other things…” he trailed off for a moment, but when he noticed he was getting a few confused looks, he quickly shook his head. “Your little ‘plan’ is cute… and I guess it technically should work, but I don’t think any of you truly realize what you are up against,” he looked towards Luna specifically. “Not even YOU.”

He turned his back as Luna blinked in surprise.

“If you want my one hundred percent honest opinion… it’s all just a waste of time. My magic had no effect against him. It bounced right off like it were nothing. You just said it yourself, Twilight. There is little to no other force in existence that should be able to affect my magic, but everypony that was out there with me saw it happen. My magic operates outside the bounds of what is supposed to be possible, if it didn’t work against Sombra, there is no reason to believe the Elements will.”

“Then…” Twilight furrowed her brow and tipped her head. “Why are you even here?”

The question seemed to be the obvious one, but regardless it looked to catch Discord off-guard. It was also a little surprising that Twilight was the one to ask, Dash assumed Spitfire would be the one to press him since they had been through so much crap with him too.

After a quick glance, Dash quickly remembered that Spitfire’s mouth was currently bound shut. That explained it. It looked like Discord wasn’t expecting anypony else to press him.

“You said ‘among other things’ regarding your goals, what did that mean? What else were you trying to protect?” Twilight kept pressing. Dash couldn’t conceal a slight smirk. Twilight was working him over, nothing got past her.

“Because…” Discord turned back to her, glaring down, but he paused. He blinked several times before looking towards Luna. Luna tipped her head curiously as they made eye contact, but Discord only gritted his teeth. He turned away from them both, but didn’t turn his back again. “I have my reasons,” he dodged the question while crossing his arms.

“Which are?” Twilight rotated a hoof in front of her.

“My own,” Discord shot back in a slightly harsher tone.

Dash perked up as Spitfire began to audibly growl loud enough for it to get through her muffled lips. Discord glanced at Spitfire, meeting her harsh glare head on. He just stared at first as her growl and glare both grew more intense. He sighed and snapped his fingers. The magic rope vanished, freeing Spitfire’s mouth.

“QUIT YOUR BITCHING YOU GODDAMN ANIMAL AMALGAMATION! IF YOU KEEP BEATING AROUND THE BUSH, I’M GONNA TIE YOUR ASS INTO A DOUBLE KNOT AND—”

Discord snapped his fingers again and the rope reappeared, once again forcing Spitfire’s mouth shut.

“Honestly, I don’t know what I expected,” Discord said while rolling his eyes.

“MMMMRRRPPPPHHHH!!!!!” Spitfire released a noise that sounded like an enraged roar muffled by a pillow. Discord huffed and gave her a stern look while placing his hands on his sides.

“Look, I’m only letting you talk again if you have something to say besides how much you hate me, deal?” he offered.

Spitfire stopped making the noise and flattened her brow, but visibly calmed down.

“Good,” Discord twirled a finger in the air and the rope vanished. Spitfire exhaled loudly, closing her eyes and tipping her head down to calm herself before looking back at him again.

“Okay… let’s just forget about Sombra for a moment…” she motioned to the afflicted Shadowbolts and purposely held her hoof out longer as it landed in the direction of Wave. “He’s NOT what we’re focused on at this moment so—”

“You should be,” Discord cut her off abruptly. Spitfire immediately lost her cool.

“WILL YOU—!”

Discord held his hand up with the finger together, ready to snap them. Spitfire shut her mouth and puffed her cheeks out, holding in the urge to yell at him again.

“Indoor voice, please. Let’s be civil about this, okay?” he said in a slightly condescending way as he put his hand back down. Spitfire let the comment slide, forcing herself back to the topic.

“Look,” she tapped a hoof on the floor. “You’ve already made it clear that you’re giving up because you tried to hit him… JUST ONCE, I might add, and he smacked you aside.”

“It’s not as simple as that,” Discord said while furrowing his brow. Spitfire shook her head.

“I don’t care, that’s what I saw out there and you’ve already curled up and wussed out. So stop trying to explain yourself,” Spitfire somehow managed to keep her tone normal while saying some very choice words she had for him.

“Feh…” Discord snorted, glancing away as he did his best to practice what he was preaching about tone of voice.

“But again, let’s talk about them first,” Spitfire continued, again motioning to the afflicted.

“Did you already forget what I told you not so long ago?” Discord asked while swaying his head a little.

“Tell them,” Spitfire pointed to Cadence and Twilight.

Discord turned, but he didn’t even look at Cadence, he only stared at Twilight. She had an intense curiosity in her eyes that he knew, from experience, meant that she would demand to know more if he didn’t start talking.

“You can’t use your chaos magic to help them?” Twilight pressed, proving his very thought correct. “Why?”

Discord kept his eyes locked on her for a moment before exhaling through his nostrils and looking towards the wall nearby instead.

“This doesn’t fall under your reformation restrictions,” Twilight went on as she trotted around to get in his view again. “There’s nothing reality bending about dispelling chaos magic that’s already in form.”

“I don’t follow those rules to begin with,” Discord said with a scoff. “And frankly, it’s laughable that you think I do or would.”

Twilight’s eyes went as wide as possible and her ears stood up. Her mouth remained shut as she quickly looked towards Luna as if Discord just admitted to doing a great wrong, but Luna only rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“But that’s irrelevant, and none of your business,” Discord went on, re-catching Twilight’s attention. “The possibility of me handling this has already been brought up once before, but I declined. It isn’t wise to handle chaos magic of unknown origin, even by me. If it were cast by me, it would be a different story… I know every inch, fiber, property, and capability of my powers. I haven’t a clue where this magic came from and it could be wildly different for all I know.”

He paused and looked towards Wave Chill, who had one eye open and was looking and likely listening too. Discord slowly walked over to Wave and stood over the bed, prompting the rest to instinctively follow. He reached a hand over Wave, but kept it at least an inch from touching any of the crystals.

“I can feel their energy… it’s definitely chaos magic and I’ve no doubt I could seamlessly yank it all from his body right now if I tried, but what happens the moment I do is unpredictable. The possibilities are endless. It could save him, it could kill him, it could slip right out of my grip and cause a massive distortion, it could make this whole castle vanish, it could kill everypony around me… Any good or bad scenario you can imagine is possible.” He pulled his hand back and turned back to them. “And while I’m able to clean up my own messes caused by my magic, I likely would not be able to fix anything caused by an adverse reaction by this magic.” He turned and looked at all of them. “Given all those risks I just laid out, I’m certain none of you want me to try it. You’ll have to scratch that option off the short-list.”

Silence spread between them all, save for Twilight humming to herself as she looked down and rubbed her chin, thinking. Spitfire took the moment to glance towards Wave, her eyes widening slightly when she saw him looking right at her… and reaching a hoof out. She quickly shifted over and placed a hoof on the bed, hooking it with his as she waited for more to be said.

But the silence extended, Twilight still humming to herself. And Spitfire got fed up with waiting, pushed on by the hoof squeezing hers.

“Okay, okay…” she spoke catching everyone’s attention as she held tight to Wave’s hoof. “Now that everypony is up to speed on how Discord is useless, what’s this other option? It’s definitely not something I’ve heard about yet.”

Discord glared as everypony else was brought back to attention, but he said nothing. He crossed his arms, looked away, and shifted backwards, releasing a quiet hiss from his lips as his snake tongue poked out between and flipped up and down.

All eyes went to Twilight, but she was still humming and looking down.

“Princess,” Spitfire said slightly louder.

“Huh?” Twilight looked up and noticed all eyes were on her.

“The other option,” Spitfire specified simply, her grip on Wave’s hoof tightening.

“Oh, right, right…” she cleared her throat again. “If Discord isn’t an option… then the other option is… The Elements of Harmony.”

For a moment, Dash became completely unaware of everything around her as those three words rang in her head. Her ears stood up and she blinked, quickly coming back to reality as Spitfire’s head instantly turned and she locked her eyes on her for a second.

“Go on…” Spitfire encouraged Twilight using a much calmer tone than her previous push as she looked back to her. Dash glanced about and saw that Luna looked surprised as well. Not so much ‘shocked’ but that she wasn’t expecting the suggestion. Looks like Twilight really had done work on this on her own. It was reassuring that she was trying to keep independence.

“Well, to be honest this is more of a theory than it is a solid option,” Twilight continued. “But… Discord has been sealed away more than once by the elements. That means they can hold down Chaos magic.”

She paused as Discord released a quiet grunt, a few glances went his way, but all the attention went right back to Twilight.

“From their ability to hold down the embodiment of chaos magic itself, we can reasonably conclude that the Elements are one of few, specific forces that can be used against chaos magic in general. But, while they can seal it away, I am not certain if they can dissipate it.”

“So…” Spitfire slowly tipped her head and scrunched her brow. “What does that mean?”

“Well… I don’t know, that’s just it,” Twilight admitted, earning a flat look from Spitfire. “I’m not saying it won't work, I’m saying that based on past evidence it might. It’s an educated hypothesis and it definitely wouldn’t hurt to try.”

“Then what are we waiting for?!” Spitfire blurted out while gripping Wave’s hoof tighter and looking down at him again.

“It won’t work,” Discord cut in. Twilight’s voice squeaked as she opened her mouth preemptively, but had yet to form a thought to retort with. The rest just stared blankly as Spitfire glared.

“Okay, wise guy…” Spitfire did her best to keep her tone at the ‘inside voice’ level. “Why not?”

“Don’t get smart with me,” Discord hissed at her as he kept his body turned slightly away from her. “I’m serious. It won’t work. Are you going to argue with the only one here who actually knows what chaos magic’s properties are? Twilight is right that chaos magic can be frozen, but the Elements of Harmony still abide by the rules of reality while chaos magic does not so they can’t simply cancel it or push it aside. The elements are one of the most powerful forces in Equestria, but in your possession their uses are limited, at least to perform what you are suggesting.

“Wait, what did you just say?” Twilight stepped closer. “In the way we’re suggesting…?”

“If you wanted any sort of chance to get the elements to go beyond what you and your little friends can make them do… you are missing a key piece. And no, it isn’t friendship. That only lets you use them.”

“Then what are we missing?!” Twilight pressed. Discord sighed and shook his head, holding a hand out in front of him.

“There are only two forces that exist… or that are allowed to exist… that are powerful enough to fully dispel chaos magic.” His slight shift didn’t go unnoticed, clearly again referring to the encounter with Sombra. “I will admit that I’m impressed you were able to identify at least half the second.” He bounced his hand and a puff of purple smoke shot up from it, revealing a miniature version of himself dancing in place. “You’re looking at the first, but we’ve already been over why I’m not risking it. It’s not MY chaos magic so I’m keeping my hands off. The second…” He closed his fist around the tiny Discord, a loud POOF sounded from his hand. Purple smoke dissipating above it as bright yellow rays of light began seeping through his fingers. “The elements are simply the medium required to trap and stabilize the unpredictable and reality bending nature of chaos magic. They cannot act beyond that with the power you currently have access to. A power source is needed to… ‘supercharge’ them if you will. A power that would flow through the elements as they are being used by the bearers and make them strong enough to push further and ultimately break the chaos magic apart. Think of it like focusing sunlight through a magnifying glass to burn ants on the ground. And… there only exists one source of power that’s more potent on an energy output level than chaos magic.”

He paused, his hand still glowing with the yellow lights seeping through as he held it out in front of him. But he only had blank looks staring back at him.

“Oh, come on. Is it really that hard to figure out?” he asked sarcastically.

Twilight’s ears shot up.

“Celestia!” she blurted out, all eyes shooting to her and Luna audibly gasped.

“Precisely…”

Discord opened his palm and a small, elegant silhouette of Princess Celestia made entirely of yellow light stood up and whisked it’s mane around. “Alicorn magic is the only force that is capable of overpowering chaos magic.”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhh…” Spitfire sarcastically spoke up. “EXCUSE ME?!” she yelled as she slowly motioned a hoof towards the three Alicorns in the room.

Twilight blinked and looked at Cadence.

Cadence blinked and looked at Luna.

Luna suddenly realized all eyes were on her. She frantically looked back and forth before whipping her head to the side and hiding her face a little with her mane.

“Do you mean to tell me…?” Spitfire went on, a growl building in the back of her throat. “That we had the means this whole time?!”

Discord narrowed his eyes and extended his head and neck towards Spitfire.

“You really don’t think much of me, do you?” he asked with an annoyed tone.

“You DON’T make it that hard!” Spitfire snapped back.

“Look, you...” Discord extended his body all the way over the bed and over Wave’s body to poke Spitfire in the chest with his other hand. “Did you listen to a word I just said? If it were that simple I would have suggested it from the start!” he said as he held the small image of Celestia out right in front of Spitfire’s face. “We need CELESTIA!” he waved his other hand towards Twilight and Cadence. “Those two are useless. They have access to alicorn magic and enhanced power reserves, but they are mortals, simply blessed by Celestia’s magic. And…” he shifted his hand towards Luna. “Don’t expect Lulu to put out the kind of power Celestia is capable of. Why do you think Celestia is the one sitting on the throne?! It’s not just because she’s better looking, more charming, and has a bigger, more shapely rump.”

“Hey!” Luna yelled and took a step forward, but a purple rope tied her mouth shut. Her magic flared up on her horn, but a cork appeared and wedged itself onto the point of her horn with a loud creaky squeak, effectively preventing her from speaking, or retorting with magic. She just glared and puffed her cheeks out.

“Only Celestia is capable of putting out the kind of power you need to seamlessly and safely dispel this affliction.” Discord explained and left it at that.

Nopony moved or spoke for a moment, Luna sat down behind them and looked down, free from anypony’s gaze. The rope around her mouth and the cork disappeared as if Discord could sense her soaking in the reality of what he just said.

“Okay, then…” Spitfire narrowed her eyes and stared directly into Discord’s as she finally let go of Wave’s hoof. “Knowing that… how about we shift to something related?” she pointed at him harshly. “YOU... know where she is, right? You told us you do so don’t try denying it.”

Discord’s eyes opened wide as she pressed. Twilight visibly flinched in Spitfire’s peripheral vision as well.

“I don’t care if you promised her to keep your mouth shut about it… now is not the time. And I’m going to call you out now before you contradict yourself again. Your mouth keeps saying it’s all over and nothing matters anymore and then your ass says you have to respect her wishes and you stand firmly by it. If you circle on us like that one more goddamn time I will bend you backwards all the way around and feed you your own ass!”

“WHAT?! CELESTIA?! WHERE IS—” Twilight freaked out on the spot, but was instantly silenced as she earned her turn with the magic rope tying her mouth shut. She continued to make muffled squeaking noises as if determined to speak regardless. Cadence looked ready to speak up as well, but quickly held back to avoid the same fate as Twilight.

Discord growled angrily, scowling at Spitfire and shaking his head as he completely ignored the two mortal alicorns.

“You have this really bad habit of assuming that I’m hiding some miracle solution to all of our problems.” He threw and arm out. “So what if I’m honoring a promise? Don’t blame ME for HER actions. I’M not the one who took a risk and cut themselves off from being ready and available. Even if I did tell you what I know about her whereabouts, it wouldn’t change the fact that she CAN’T help us!”

“You’re a real son of a bitch, you know that? Have I ever told you that? If I haven’t I should do it more!” Spitfire throttled him with as much sarcasm as she could muster. “Forget everything else… you know where she is! If ‘nothing else matters’ as you keep putting it so eloquently then what the hell is it going to hurt?”

“You must be really charming at parties,” Discord hissed into her face, his snake tongue batting her nose as he fired the sarcasm right back. “Yes I do know where she is, but… forgive me, I need to rewind here!” he pulled out an old cassette tape player and smashed his finger on the rewind button so hard that it broke off and the tape eventually self-ejected, launching across the room and making the sound of glass breaking where it landed. Discord threw the player right over his shoulder, grabbed Spitfire by the face, yanked her forward until his forehead was pressed to hers and opened his eyes as wide as he could without breaking his glare. “SHE. CAN’T. HELP.”

Spitfire reached up and shoved his arm away from her head, taking a step back and scrunching her face up, visibly holding in all sorts of anger that was just screaming to be let loose.

“You’re not getting out of this one, snake-breath…” Spitfire stomped a hoof on the floor. “How about we reframe the question then? Is there anything you can tell us? I mean, come on! If you can’t tell us where she is, how about you tell us why she can’t help? That would be nice to know too! And don’t go telling me you made a promise not to reveal that either. If you do, you’re full of shit.”

The sound of Discord’s teeth grinding together was so loud that the surrounding ponies cringed as if hearing a hoof being scratched on a chalkboard. But before he could shoot anything back at Spitfire, there was a sudden noise that sounded like a bump, a table scooting on the floor, and few books falling over. Everypony instantly looked towards Luna, who had shifted uncomfortably to the point where her plot had bumped into the table behind her.

Luna’s eyes went wide as she realized everypony was staring at her… and Spitfire didn’t miss a beat.

“Do YOU know?! She asked while quickly disengaging from Discord and pushing her way right past Cadence and Twilight. “This can’t be a hard question your HIGHNESS,” Spitfire pressed, pointing a hoof up at her. Luna was visibly uncomfortable, which only hardened Spitfire’s resolve. “Does this have anything to do with what happened in Ponyville after the tornado?! You know, that freak witch-doctor magic crap she pulled that I was involved in? You were there too! Answer me!”

“Stop pressing her,” Discord suddenly spoke up in defense of Luna, his voice calm as he faced away from all of them. All the attention went right back to him as Spitfire turned and glared at him. “Celestia’s power…” Discord slowly turned, holding a very grumpy expression. “Is currently separated from her spirit.”

Silence filled the room, and it was no surprise that the whole conversation had now attracted the attention of all the scholars and clerics present as well. All ears were on them now, probably even the afflicted that were awake.

“Come again?” Spitfire broke the silence, lifting an eyebrow. Discord crossed his arms and released a loud huff and scoff, appearing to be angry at himself for caving.

“Where her mind and spirit currently resides… she doesn’t even have a fraction of her magical power within her. Keep in mind, that fraction is still more potent and powerful than any mortal being, but it is nothing, at least compared to her full power.” He shifted and looked towards the wall. “The rest of her enormous reserve of power is currently locked away in a location that IS accessible, but is completely hidden and unknown to all save for two guards that she posted outside of it for some odd reason… and me, because she can’t hide from me if she tried.”

Everypony just stared at him.

Spitfire’s mouth opened slightly, her right eye twitching.

“I’m… going to pretend I understand what you’re talking about for a moment to I can ask a question,” Spitfire admitted while lifting a hoof. “You said… accessible. She’s not available, but can her power be used?”

“Again,” Discord pointed to himself. “Do I look like a miracle worker?” he asked with a slightly sarcastic tone. “No. It isn’t simply a matter of taking and using her power like it’s some sort of tool anypony can use. There is, listen to me closely here, there is NOPONY, no existing being that can control Celestia’s power. Even a tiny sliver of her energy would likely make an average unicorn’s head explode. And even if they could handle it, they would be overwhelmed. The power would consume their mind, twist them into an uncontrollable state of euphoria. Eventually the pressure would destroy them from inside out, not to mention that they would eventually be floored by the burdens to come with her power that even she struggles to bear at times.”

Discord paused and shook his head.

“Anypony that would attempt to use her power, especially to create the amount of force that’s required to do what you want to do here…” he made a nonchalant motion around the room at the afflicted. “Would not last. And before you ask, that includes Lulu… and me too. Even we would be destroyed by it if we tried.” He paused and exhaled. “And to give even a deeper perspective, that unholy monster that was created by Sombra taking over Soarin’s body? I doubt even he would be able to control it. That’s just how powerful Celestia is. It’s immeasurable and unquantifiable. And even she would admit that its strain on her can be taxing, but that should be obvious by now since she nearly blew herself apart reviving Soarin with a spell she didn’t fully understand. Her power isn’t something we can just take and use without something going terribly wrong.”

He looked back at all of them briefly, his eyes landing on Luna as she sat down quietly and tried not to draw attention to herself. She wore an expression of shame, Discord’s words about Celestia’s vast superiority to her sinking deep.

“Oh, I give up…” Spitfire suddenly said with a loud, annoyed groan.

“What?” Discord glared at her. “I answered you question, didn’t I? What else do you want from me?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Spitfire rolled her eyes. “This is just another thing I have to add to our long list of things that would have been nice to know from the start!”

“I don’t see how this is much different from what I’ve already revealed to you,” Discord snorted and flicked his snake tongue at her. “So I added one insignificant detail. Has the situation changed at all? No.”

“You aren’t helping me trust you or the gods, though,” Spitfire hissed right back.

“Stop… please just stop,” Luna suddenly spoke up, breaking her long silence. “That’s enough, we aren’t getting anywhere.” Her tone caught Spitfire off-guard. She sounded defeated. “It’s clear that what we need is not in our grasp. We can’t dwell on what we can’t solve without further searching.” She turned to Cadence and Twilight, glancing between the two of them. “Is there anything else we can do to help these ponies for the time being? We must focus on the threat at hoof, but if there is something we can do to ease their pain for now, please do so.”

“SEE?!” Discord cut her off abruptly, throwing his arms out towards her. “At least Lulu gets it! Nothing you do for them here or later will mean anything if we can’t stop Sombra! So I suggest you stop grilling me for useless information and get on that instead!” He jammed a finger into Spitfire’s face. “I know your little lover is in play here,” he said with a brief head motion towards Wave Chill. Spitfire’s eyes shot open as he brought him up. “But take my advice. If you want him to be cured and wake up in a world that still exists, you’d best get your priorities straight!”

Spitfire looked like she was about to let all of her pent up anger loose, but Luna rapped a hoof against the floor.

“Discord. Stop. Don’t bring her personal matters into this,” she asked calmly.

“Feh!” Discord scoffed and turned his back to everypony, crossing his arms and tapping a finger impatiently against his arm.

“Spitfire understands the situation,” Luna added simply. Spitfire immediately held in anything and everything she wanted to say and played along. If Luna really believed what she just said… then she had to play along for the sake of her plans. “Cadence? Twilight?” She turned to them. “We assume your research turned up more than just solutions?”

The scene continued to unfold, and several included had no knowledge of just how knotted it all really was beneath everything being discussed.

While Twilight was aware of how deep the rabbit hole was going, she had only just tipped over the edge and was still caught on the front of the stage.

Rainbow Dash… had been sitting quietly and observing. She was watching and listening very carefully and doing her best to keep her expressions and body language consistent with what was being said and done.

She was looking at Luna carefully… and… wasn’t buying her sudden quiet tone. This was what it had come to. Luna looked visibly stricken by what Discord had said, but Dash could not bring herself to believe she felt the way she looked. Stripping the emotions out of what was going on, the situation spoke for itself. Luna was putting on a false air quietly agreeing with Discord that Sombra was more important. Now she was asking if there was anything they could do to ‘help’ the afflicted until after Sombra was dealt with… Not only that, but there was the inconvenient fact hiding from the stage lights. Luna’s plan to stop Sombra might very well sacrifice her. And without her… they wouldn’t be able to use the Elements of Harmony to save the afflicted. She was sure Twilight had put together the same thing, but was holding back all the same.

The gods really were putting Sombra ahead of everything else and were hoping that nopony would notice the holes that kept popping up in their stories and reasoning. It was making Dash sick to her stomach. She wasn’t about to try and understand what Discord had just explained about Celestia either, but she didn’t care. For all she knew he let that cat out of the bag just to provide another distraction to cover for what was really going on. She was too pissed to think about it anyway… and was doing everything in her power not to let it show.

“There is something we can do,” Twilight’s voice caught Dash’s attention, turning her ears and turning her mind away from all the crap for a moment. “Cadence? This is your expertise.” She as she stepped aside and motioned to Cadence.

“Yes, well…” Cadence cleared her throat. “It’s not a solution by any means, but we have discovered a way to keep them preserved and alive without getting worse while we search for more options. And it’s something that my magic is capable of by itself.” She turned to Spitfire, who was staring at her blankly like she didn’t know how to feel. “I can freeze them in crystals.”

Spitfire’s face contorted and her eyes visible twitched. Cadence quickly caught on what her concern was, she was actually expecting it.

“No, it’s nothing even remotely similar to what’s already happening to them. Not the same kind of crystals,” she reassured her. “It’s a crystal spell I learned while delving into the spells and wizardry of my ancestors. It can completely encase an object within a large, transparent crystal. Anything inside is frozen solid, protected, and preserved in the form it was in when the spell was cast.” She paused and glanced down. “I admit that I… have never used it on a living being before, but if our theories are correct, they will be in a state of near complete stasis, and all bodily and nervous function will be ground to a dragging crawl. It won’t save them, and won’t halt the spread of their sickness, but it will dramatically slow down their infection nearly ten to twenty fold, giving us plenty of time for additional research outside of the empire.”

No words could describe the look on Spitfire’s face as it seemed to change at a moment’s notice, it looked like her own emotions were fighting one another while she tried to listen carefully and remain serious. Cadence clearly took notice, as did others, but they didn’t say anything.

“One thing I’m also not sure of…” Cadence went on as she tapped a hoof to her chin and looked towards Wave Chill, being the closest of the afflicted. “Is how it will affect them mentally. They will be completely shut out, like they’re trapped in a moment in time with no knowledge of the world moving on outside of their state. I’m worried that if they remain inside like that for too long, it could have traumatic effects when they are released.”

Spitfire flinched so hard that her hooves shifted hard against the floor.

“They’ll be fine,” Discord spoke up suddenly before Spitfire could say whatever denial she was about to throw at Cadence. Cadence looked at him curiously, but Spitfire kept staring at Cadence, her teeth gritted and her face stuck in a wide eyed, half shocked, half worried expression. “Take it from one who’s been in that kind of situation,” he put a hand to his chest as he turned around and faced them. “It’s like waking up from a nap.”

“You’re a god, though,” Cadence quickly pointed out. “I’m sure you would have been just fine regardless. Also, this isn’t the same. You were sealed in a stone statue.”

“It’s not like you have another option,” Discord added with a shrug as he sighed. “I’m just giving you my two bits so we can hurry up and focus on, oh I don’t know, figuring out how to make sure that all these soon to be crystal popsicles have a world to wake up to.”

Dash couldn’t believe that Spitfire was somehow managing to hold herself steady. She was visibly stricken, and shaking a little. How she was not breaking down right now was beyond Dash. She knew that Spitfire was a professional, and constantly proved how well she could hold that air, but considering the circumstances? She was more or less informed that her efforts, her determination, everything she had done to save the pony she loved… ended in a stalemate. It wasn’t a failure… but it certainly was very far from a victory and not what Spitfire was hoping with all her heart… That their arrival at the Crystal Empire would lead to freeing Wave Chill from his pain and bringing him back into their ranks where he belonged.

In a way… it was ironic. As much as they had all gotten sick of the gods, Dash was certain that Spitfire sure wished they had Celestia right now. Every second Dash kept her eyes on her, she thought Spitfire was going to break. Her composure was faltering and her emotions were trying to erupt. It was incredible that she was keeping it all held down.

“Sp… speaking of Soarin…” Spitfire stuttered briefly, but forced her voice into a serious tone as she tried to shift the subject, both to refocus and because she was curious. Dash perked up, obviously the subject of Soarin catching her ears.

But before she could go on, Luna cleared her throat loudly. It was sudden and abrupt, like she was trying to cut off Spitfire.

“We had a feeling you would ask,” she began. “We have been personally overseeing this search and seen to it that no stone is unturned. We are nearing the end of our research with the help of the Crystal Empire scholars, but… we have turned up empty thus far.”

The reaction was instant, no sooner did Luna finish uttering the last syllable did Spitfire begin to stare her down, narrowing her eyes into a glare that seemed to gain strength from her bottled up emotions. Luna did not hesitate to return the glare.

“Do NOT give us that look,” she replied sharply. “We are doing exactly as you requested and also wish to find a solution. But we cannot make one out of thin air. As Discord said, we are not a miracle worker! We can’t drag this out any longer either. The longer we do, the more danger we put ourselves in!”

Spitfire just continued to glare as if Luna’s words held zero weight to her.

Dash swallowed, expecting this to escalate, but as the brief silence between the two leaders drew out, Dash found herself glancing towards Twilight.

Twilight was glancing at her too.

Dash couldn’t believe it… what Twilight said was true. Luna really WAS ignoring the exorcism spell the Elements of Harmony were capable of.

Why?

WHY?!

It was infuriating. Dash found it harder and harder to keep her expression neutral as it all sunk in, stabbing her right in the chest.

What was it about Sombra that made the gods act so irresponsibly?! Did they really fear him that much? Was there no price too high to pay to be rid of him?

“Do you wish to say something to us?” Luna broke the silence as Spitfire refused to drop her skeptical glare.

“Luna, I want you to look me right in the eyes…” Spitfire leaned forward and pointed to her face. “And tell me that you REALLY looked through all the possibilities!”

“We did!” Luna snapped back, baring her teeth slightly as her lips parted and twitched in anger.

“Did you TRY?!” Spitfire pressed. “Or are you just fast tracking the process so we can do things your way? You’ve made it clear how high priority eradicating Sombra is to you!”

“Do not be so crude!” Luna stomped a hoof, but remained in place. “We gave you our word that we would look into it and our findings have not been optimistic!”

“You better not be pulling my wing…” Spitfire hissed as her wings twitched. “Because I’m not too happy with the only solution you’ve suggested ‘thus far’.”

“You mock us…” Luna snorted as she looked away briefly and huffed. “But this is the reality we face! We have searched, we wish to part Soarin from Sombra if we can, but as we near the end of our research, our original plan remains the only feasible solution! Sealing him away is the only known way to effectively contain him! He is powerful! He is dangerous! And he presents a great threat to all living things!”

“But at the expense of Soarin?!” Spitfire blurted out, her wings flaring outwards and she shook with anger. “And maybe even Dash too?!” she added while throwing a hoof backwards towards her.

Everypony in the room flinched as Luna stood up and slammed a hoof to the floor again, but this time it caused a loud booming, echoing crash that made the tables and beds surrounding them shake.

“IF IT COMES TO THAT…” she yelled in the Royal Canterlot Voice. “YES! THIS IS A PROBLEM THAT IS MUCH LARGER THAN TWO PONIES!”

Dash’s jaw dropped and her eyes grew wide. She was glad nopony was focused on her because her goal was not to show much of any reaction to everything. But how could she simply let that one slip by? There was even an audible gasp from Twilight that went unnoticed by Luna.

Spitfire was giving Luna the most disturbed look that had ever graced her face. She didn’t even know what to say and one glance at Discord proved that he completely agreed. His posture, face, and look had not shifted even the tiniest bit as Luna dropped that line.

“You clearly do not fully understand and are wholly underestimating the threat we face!” Luna went on, ignoring the looks she was getting… and equally ignoring Discord’s brief point earlier that she didn’t fully understand it either. “We would not suggest, nor resort to such extremes if it were not necessary!” She looked down, gritting her teeth. “A folly of our sister’s has created this mess, so it is we who must bear this burden and take the necessary steps and actions whether we like them or not!” She looked up and focused her attention towards Rainbow Dash. She noticed her look of shock, but did not seem affected by it. “If there were another way without these unknowns, we would take it. Alas, as of now, we have none!” Luna shouted adamantly as Discord subtly nodded in approval off to the side.

At this point… Dash couldn’t hide her shock. She was glad that her expression fit the situation, but it was for entirely different reasons.

It took everything, everything in her power and every ounce of her self-control not to come forward right then and there and give Luna a piece of her mind. The urge was so great that Dash had to avert her eyes just to keep the urge from boiling over. She looked at the one thing, the only pony she could think to look at during that moment. Chance would have it that Twilight was also looking at her again. Actually, it was no chance… they were both likely thinking the same thing, because Twilight looked just as put off as Dash did.

Luna had just completely and blatantly lied through her teeth right in front of all of them, and with Twilight sitting right behind her no less. Luna was fully aware that Twilight knew she was lying and she still did it. Twice now, TWICE Luna had willingly acted as if the exorcism spell of the Elements didn’t exist in favor of sealing Sombra in stone instead. She was openly suggesting that they sacrifice Soarin, and her too… an ELEMENT OF HARMONY… while knowing full well there was another way. It didn’t matter if this way had a higher chance of success, it wasn’t worth the consequences… but Luna didn’t seem to care, it was more important to ensure that Sombra was dealt with regardless of the cost.

Everything Twilight had said was true… It was so unnerving.

Twilight looked so ashamed, and rightfully so. Dash could imagine how she felt, having trusted and respected the royal sisters for so long. At this point Dash was relieved she had taken the steps she had so far and put her faith in Twilight, because all of her fears were coming true right before her very eyes. Luna was blatantly lying, and Spitfire’s rage against Luna, while justified, reinforced Dash’s commitment to stick to her plan.

Dash was on her own. She could not expect greater help from the Wonderbolts. Spitfire would not trust Twilight, not with her connections to Luna and this ongoing conflict between her and Luna.

Spitfire suddenly let out a very loud, frustrated groan that was almost a shout while throwing her hooves into the air and turning her back on Luna.

“You know what?! No! This is bullshit!” she yelled. Luna blinked and furrowed her brow.

“We beg you par—”

“NO! SHUT UP!” Spitfire turned back around and pointed at Luna angrily. “WE STILL HAVE TIME! I refuse to accept this outcome while we still sit here waiting! KEEP LOOKING!” she demanded outright, and turned to Cadence before Luna could retort. “And please, Princess Cadence, or Twilight, or whoever is in charge with this god damn half-assed mess…” She paused and motioned to Luna and Discord. “Set aside your commitment to these liars for a day or two and be THOROUGH!”

Cadence gasped and covered her mouth as Spitfire flat out called Luna a liar.

“Why did you have to rope me into that?” Discord spoke up as he lifted one of his crossed arm and held his palm up. Spitfire rolled her eyes and gave him a very flat look.

“Because you’re just as much of an asshole!” she said bluntly, her usual professional air dropping completely as she began hurling insults, yelling in an unhinged tone that slowly began to eerily resemble her half-sister. “This crap keeps going on and on, and now on top of it I learn that after all the HELL I went through to reach the Crystal Empire, I couldn’t outright save the stallion I love!” She yelled louder and louder, her voice cracking once or twice as her eyelids twitched madly. “I’m in a SHIT mood! I didn’t think it could get any worse, but it just fucking did!” she yelled without restraint, several ponies present backing away with wide eyes as Spitfire started letting it all pour out. “So I’m going to leave now!” Her voice began to get shaky. “Before it gets even worse!”

Dash could hear Spitfire’s voice slipping, she was breaking down fast. She stole a quick glance over at Wave Chill, he was awake and watching Spitfire with a sad look of concern. Dash could only imagine how much it hurt him to hear Spitfire breaking like this and being unable to do anything about it.

“This isn’t over!” Spitfire yelled, pointing towards Luna. “I’ll have more choice words for you when I’m not tempted to punch you in your damn face!” her voice was nearly screeching now. Dash had never heard Spitfire let loose so uncontrollably before.

But before she could think further Dash flinched as Spitfire swiftly turned around, her eyes narrow and her teeth grinding together as she stomped towards her and forcefully pushed her out of the way, storming right out the door.

The room was left in complete, painful silence. Nopony said a word and only glances were exchanged between them all.

“Hmph…” Discord suddenly grunted and disappeared in a dim flash of purple light.

Luna grumbled quietly to herself, turning around and walking to the other side of the room.

Cadence was frozen in place, completely at a loss for words… with Twilight keeping her mouth shut beside her.

Dash and Twilight exchanged looks one more time, very briefly. They just saw all they needed to see. If there was any doubt left about their plan, it was gone, all justified by what they just witnessed. Dash quickly decided there was no need to stick around. She turned and started moving towards the door herself as she tried to process all the upfront confirmations of everything she had heard and learned from Twilight.

She pushed the door open and stepped out… but before the door even closed she was suddenly grabbed by the arm and yanked aside.

“AH!” she yelped in surprise, her head whipping around as she tried to regain her balance. By the time she was upright again, the door had shut, and she found herself staring right into the slightly bloodshot and wet eyes of Spitfire, glaring at her.

“Come with me. Right now,” she ordered, the shaky tone still in the back of her throat.

Dash blinked, caught completely off-guard, but Spitfire gave no indication that it had anything to do with her or suspicion of her.

“Yes, ma’am,” she agreed without hesitation.

The only thing Dash could do was wait quietly and patiently. It was just her and Spitfire alone in her hotel room she shared with Fleetfoot. She dared not say anything as Spitfire paced back and forth, never once looking at Dash as the steady pace of her hooves against the floor repeated in Dash’s ears over and over again. Spitfire’s face was constantly scrunching and her eyes constantly changing. No one emotion seemed to remain constant, at least that Dash could read, but could she blame her? After what they had just went through at the palace, it was a wonder Spitfire wasn’t breaking everything she passed by.

Now hopefully Dash was right and Spitfire suspected nothing of her… because if she were to find out about her plans to circumvent the Wonderbolts as they circumvented Luna, she was sure that would put Spitfire right over the edge.

As soon as they had arrived at the hotel, they had run into the Streak twins in the lobby. Spitfire instantly grabbed them and sent them to find and gather up the rest of the top tiers and the lead Renegades. She didn’t acknowledge any questions and they did as they were told. It was going to be a tight fit. The rooms were luxury, but they weren’t designed for twelve or more. But it was happening either way, and Dash wasn’t sure what was going to happen once they arrived. All she could do was wait.

She had nothing to say to Spitfire because they saw and heard everything with Luna and Discord. But even though neither of them trusted the gods anymore, Dash was still shocked that the gods so clearly and blatantly lied right to their faces. Obviously, the gods were under the impression that they were completely in control of the narrative, but it was still jarring. Thanks to her steps taken with Twilight, everything was being exposed to Dash from top to bottom.

The situation was becoming beyond twisted though… Because Spitfire didn't know what she knew and wasn’t aware of the extent of the lying. She was angry for different reasons. If the circumstances were different, more aligned, she would readily share with Spitfire everything she knew to help calm her down and get a better idea of exactly what was going on but…

That was obviously not an option. It sucked, but that’s how it had to be. Dash was running her own show behind Spitfire’s show behind Luna’s.

It was bad enough that she and Twilight were forced to sit and keep their lips sealed tight during the whole exchange that just took place. Now Dash was stuck in silence, alone in a room with one of the ponies she was actively trying to deceive. The air of the room was incredibly tense, and Dash was hoping she didn’t start sweating. Would the Streak twins hurry up? How hard was it to find the top elites? It’s not like they were going anywhere. Thank goodness Spitfire was completely preoccupied by her own anger and likely the emotions regarding Wave Chill as well… because again, Spitfire was incredibly perceptive. If not for her current state, Dash was sure Spitfire would have noticed something off by now.

Twilight was right about all of this becoming extremely convoluted, but she had no choice. It was this road, or walking blind. And she was DONE walking blind.

“Hm?” Dash’s ears perked up and Spitfire froze in place as the sound of the doorknob turning met their ears. Spitfire instantly turned and focused on the door as it opened.

Fire Streak was the first to enter with Fleetfoot, Misty Fly, and Surprise in tow. He gave Spitfire a simple nod as he came in, but looked back as the door was propped open right before shutting on its own.

Lightning Streak pushed the door back open and had Blaze and High Winds with him.

Fire blinked and leaned to look behind them, but the door closed with nopony else following.

“Where is Air Mach?” Fire asked. Lightning shook his head.

“Dude is standing on boxes and preaching about how big his dick is in the market a few blocks down,” Lightning explained with a completely straight face. Fire’s eyes twitched.

“I’ll… assume that’s slang and not what he’s actually doing…”

“I dunno bro,” Lightning shrugged. “It sure sounded like it was going in that direction. I just didn’t bother, figured this was serious. I heard the last time the captain was mad and he spewed his usual crap, she cold-cocked him in the face.”

Fire blinked and glanced over his shoulder at Spitfire. She wasn’t listening, simply glancing around at them. He turned back to his brother, tipped his head for a moment, and nodded.

“That’s… probably for the best actually,” Fire admitted as he took a brief look around. His eyes landed on Dash for a brief moment, but he and the rest were suddenly distracted as the door opened again.

Descent was the first to appear. Lightning Dust was right behind him with Blazetail and Flashwind following right after.

As they walked in, the Wonderbolts all looked towards Spitfire, expecting her to quickly start talking, but she didn’t. She turned around and started pacing again. They glanced amongst themselves for a moment before Fleetfoot turned her attention to the Renegades and looked between them.

“Where’s Starry?” she asked curiously. All eyes went to Descent as he took a deep breath and released a heavy sigh.

“Truth be told…” he began while subtly shaking his head. “I haven’t seen her since she ran off during our arrival meeting.

“Pardon?” Fire asked as he lifted his brow.

“She’s completely vanished,” Descent continued. “I’ve even had a few of my best scouts comb the city for her and they’ve all come up empty.”

“I’ve had no luck either,” Lightning Dust chimed in with a frown.

“Why would she up and disappear like that?” Fleetfoot asked, tipping her head and pouting.

Descent averted his eyes, as if the subject was hard to address. Dust glanced up at him, quickly noticing he wasn’t going to say anything.

“I’m guessing it’s her crystal form,” Dust answered. “Even before the meeting, she was acting all weird from the moment she changed.”

“Huh…” Fleetfoot looked down. “Well… There’s definitely something different, did you see how drastically her appearance changed compared to the others? Do you think that has something to do with it?”

“Enough,” Descent spoke up harshly, causing both mares to flinch. “Let’s just leave her be for now,” he turned his attention to Spitfire. “Let’s focus on the more pressing matters.”

Dash could hear it clearly, and she was sure the rest could too. There was a very distinct lack of the usual strength in Descent’s voice. The issue with Starry was clearly weighing on him and he couldn’t hide it.

“Spitfire,” Descent called to her after she didn’t acknowledge his previous words.

Spitfire paused and looked up at him, but looked right back down and kept pacing, grumbling to herself.

“Uh…” Descent blinked and tipped his head. “Excuse me…”

Dash quickly cleared her throat and stood up, drawing Descent’s eyes.

“We didn’t have…” she looked at Spitfire as she passed by her, turned and passed back. “The best meeting with Luna just now.”

“Care to elaborate?” Descent asked with a quiet snort, not amused that he was being ignored. Dash rubbed the back of her neck and gritted her teeth.

“Well… it’s kind of complicated,” she admitted. There was WAY too much to repeat in short. “It was mostly more of the same with a few more details.”

She paused and everypony flinched as Spitfire suddenly released an angry growl and punched the mattress of the bed on the other side of the room, causing the sheets to untuck and the pillow to bounce into the air. Fleetfoot scooted backwards and bumped into Blaze and High Winds as they all stared with wide eyes.

“Uh…” Dash blinked and looked back to everypony else. “I think she has a plan now since she called everypony here, but…” she shrugged. “She hasn’t said anything since we got here.” She was doing her absolute best to keep up her own charade, acting like there was nothing beyond that.

“But why the extra anger?” Descent asked, picking out that this was uncharacteristic by Spitfire’s standards. It was no mystery to Dash, though. She sighed and shook her head.

“On top of Luna and Discord keeping up with all the stuff we’re tired of, we also got some bad news regarding the sick Shadowbolts and Wave Chill.”

They all perked up instantly, but all verbal reactions were cut off by a sudden shriek from Blaze.

“BAD NEWS?!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, nearly throwing both Fleetfoot and High Winds to the floor. High Winds quickly pushed herself back up and covered Blaze’s mouth with her hoof, knowing well that they were still in an operation that required secrecy.

Dash quickly held out her hooves and shook her head.

“Let me explain,” she quickly cut in, glancing at Spitfire briefly, but she was still over on the other side of the room. “They haven’t found a way to save them, at least a way we have access to. And before you ask me what can save them, don’t bother. It’s related to the gods and it’s something we can’t do without Celestia. So Cadence is going to use her own crystal magic to freeze them in solid crystal rocks… which will apparently keep them from getting worse while they eventually find another way.”

They were all staring at her blankly.

“Don’t look at me,” Dash rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I understand it all.”

Blaze and High Winds looked devastated, the rest just looked shocked. Descent didn’t seem to take it very well either. Dash sighed and shook her head again.

“So… Spitfire is beyond pissed right now, especially over Wave. She thought, hell we all thought we’d find an answer to this here, but that’s not the case. She blew up at them pretty hard, and stormed out. Now we’re here.”

Dash finished, everypony looking back at Spitfire as she still had her back turned to them. Her body was visibly quivering, quiet, audible grumbles coming from her as her head bobbed a little.

Then she suddenly whipped around and looked at all of them, her face holding a glare that didn’t seem to be directed at anyone or anything in particular.

“Okay, everypony listen to me carefully…” she began as she moved towards them, but Descent didn’t hold his tongue.

“Spitfire, what else happened with Luna and—”

“Shut the HELL up and let me talk!” Spitfire suddenly snapped at him, catching everypony off-guard. Descent’s eyes widened briefly before narrowing into a glare of disapproval. But he didn’t say anything, he wasn’t in the mood to butt heads with her.

Then in a very sudden shift… Spitfire blinked and stepped back as her expression twisted on itself, her lips curled and her face scrunched as she looked away from everyone, spinning back around and putting a hoof to her face. She took several deep, uneven breaths, looked down at the floor and shook her head back and forth so hard that her ears made whipping sounds against her head.

Everypony just stared as her odd behavior continued, not sure what to say.

“Sorry…” Spitfire said as she turned back around, facing them as she tried to force a look of control over herself. It wasn’t working, she looked disheveled and the pain in her eyes was clear as day. “I’m in a terrible mood…” she admitted as she came back towards them and took a few more deep breaths. “Before I start… what’s going on out there? What have you all been seeing?” she asked, her voice failing to hide a slight shaken vibe as she looked between them all.

“Well,” Blazetail came forward first, a serious look in his eyes as he clearly examined her and her demeanor. “We’ve been utilizing our veteran Wonderbolts to keep an eye on the activity of the thestrels,” he explained without saying a word about Spitfire’s clear emotional state. It seemed like he was being respectful, honoring her request for information instead of making an issue out of it.

Spitfire blinked and tipped her head as she thought over what he had just said.

“At night,” Flashwind added for him.

“Ah,” Spitfire nodded as she cleared that up, Blazetail taking over again.

“Flashwind and I felt it would be a good idea to keep tabs on them in case Luna is trying to pull anything behind our backs as well. If that were the case, the thestrels and P.L. would obviously be the ones leading the charge. Call me crazy, but I don’t think she fully trusts the Crystal Guard. That or she’s concluded they don’t know enough about what’s going on to be as useful.” He pondered aloud while rubbing his chin. Flashwind stepped forward and leaned against him subtly.

“We are cycling who is in charge of watching them,” she explained, whisking some loose strands of her mane out of her face. “We’re even planting a few ‘fake’ groupings around to make casual passes so they don’t zero in on any particular ponies and suspect anything. But…” she shrugged. “So far nothing out of the ordinary has been reported. P.L. is often spotted speaking to Luna, but nopony has gotten close enough to hear what’s being discussed. Otherwise… the thestrels are just being their usual, angry, quick-to-bite-you selves.”

“I see…” Spitfire glanced down as she absorbed it, but it wasn’t long before she looked up and towards Fire, curious about her own Wonderbolts. “Fire? What have you been hearing? I know you’ve been around the castle a lot since we arrived.”

“I have been,” Fire nodded and tilted his head slightly. “Though admittedly, I haven’t heard much beyond what we already know. Even if Captain Blazetail’s theory about the Crystal Guard is correct, they are moving in full lockstep with Luna, just as Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight Sparkle are.”

Dash’s ear twitched and she froze in place. Thankfully, she didn’t make a sound and nopony looked at her.

“I thought to watch and see if I could spot any sort of confusion or dissent,” Fire went on as Dash held her composure. “But my exposure has been limited, and from what I’ve been able to see, there’s been no sign of them looking beyond Luna’s word. We weren’t expecting any help from them and it’s safe to assume we won’t be doing any convincing.”

Dash was struggling. She suppressed the urge to step forward despite it clawing at her from within. For a very brief moment, the fact that Fire had made an attempt to look for something off among those around Luna made her believe she could reveal Twilight… but thankfully it was brief and she held her tongue. She had to stick to the plan.

Her hoof slipped as she shifted and made a scraping noise against the carpet.

Spitfire suddenly turned and glanced at her.

Without missing a beat, Dash acted like the shift was intentional and sat back down on the floor while reaching her hoof to her eye like something had gotten into it. But when she finished the false movement and looked back forward, Spitfire was still looking at her.

Though she internally panicked as if she had just blown her cover somehow, she kept her cool. She only blinked and tipped her head, feigning curiosity as Spitfire stared at her. The other ponies were now looking at her too, wondering why Spitfire held her gaze for so long on Dash.

Then as if it meant nothing at all, Spitfire turned away.

“Descent, what about you?” she went right on.

Dash was so confused. Why did she stare at her like that? It seemed very out of place considering Spitfire’s current emotional state. But at the same time she did it right after Twilight was brought up. She had no idea what to read from it.

“I’ve been seeing you moving about,” Spitfire went on, still addressing Descent. “Anything to share?” She continued questioning, the volatile emotional tone never truly hidden as she tried to do something that should be routine.

“I was mostly looking for Starry,” Descent answered.

“Mostly? Is there more?” Spitfire pressed.

“I also instructed Astral and his scout team to assist the Crystal Guard search parties for Soarin,” he went on, remaining stoic as Spitfire sat down and listened, nodding occasionally. “I figured they would do a better job, and it gives off the air that we are on board with Luna’s…”

He suddenly trailed off and lifted an eyebrow as he looked Spitfire in the eyes, staring.

The rest quickly noticed, shifting their focus from Descent to Spitfire. She was holding a firm, professional expression, but her eyes…

They looked misty, watery. One of her eyelids was twitching too as if holding the face was a struggle.

“What?” Spitfire asked, looking back and forth. The motions did the trick, losing some of the buildup and a single tear trickled down her face, over her cheek.

“Are you… crying?” Descent asked.

Spitfire’s ears pointed up and her eyes shot open, the serious look vanishing in an instant. She frantically touched a hoof to her face, feeling the wetness and wiping the tear away vigorously. She turned around, slamming her eyes shut and raising an arm to rub against them.

“I’M FINE!!!!” she shouted, her voice cracking slightly. “I’m…” she kept her back turned to all of them, releasing a loud sniffle. “I’m okay…”

The Renegades were staring… But the Wonderbolts all averted their eyes. They all knew exactly why Spitfire was crying. And honestly, they were surprised she had held herself together this long.

It was because of Wave Chill.

Spitfire was trying to stay on topic, but she couldn’t hide how hard the news about Wave had hit her. She had to swallow the fact that she fought so hard for a temporary pseudo-solution to a VERY personal problem.

Blaze let out a few sniffles of her own, High Winds barely keeping herself in check as well as she held a wing around Blaze. First Silver, now Wave… their squad was like family… an odd family, but family nonetheless. Being forcefully separated for so long was really beginning to hurt.

“Ig…Ignore…” Spitfire suddenly spoke up, putting her head up into the air and taking a deep breath. “Ignore this…” she said as she turned and motioned to her face, which had lost all sign of control and now looked like a sad mess with bloodshot eyes and quivering lips. “I’m fine,” she lied as she shook her head out and swallowed, shutting her eyes tight for a moment before forcing the serious, professional stare back onto her face.

They all wondered why she bothered, it was obvious she was stricken… but Spitfire was determined to try regardless.

“Okay, listen…” Spitfire continued despite her crumbling state. “Dash and I were just speaking with Luna and Discord, and this whole situation is more ridiculous than I thought. They claim that they’re struggling to find a solution to separating Soarin from Sombra… and that they don’t expect to.” She paused as they all reacted, Fleetfoot nearly squeaking as her ears flopped to the sides of her head and her eyes grew wide. Spitfire quickly shook her head. “But, obviously, I’m not convinced at all that they put forth the effort and neither should any of you be. The gods clearly fear Sombra, but it’s to a frightening degree. They are not budging, claiming that their proposed method of stopping him is the only way, despite the risks it poses to Dash and not knowing what will happen to her.” She explained as she made a subtle head motion towards Dash.

“What?!” Fleetfoot stood up. “What do they want to do?!” she asked frantically as she looked between Spitfire and Dash.

“Exactly what Princess Twilight mentioned when we first arrived,” Spitfire reminded them. “They want to seal him in stone using the Elements of Harmony… trapping Soarin in there with him.”

Dash held perfectly still as Spitfire naturally framed it as Twilight’s idea. More reason for her to simply hold her tongue.

“Luna even outright expressed that the possible risk to Dash due to her spirit connection with Soarin was irrelevant and not as important as stopping Sombra,” Spitfire added. She waited a moment as she got the exact reaction she was expecting. Gasps and looks of shock spread around the group. Fleetfoot froze on the spot, like the words hit her upside the head.

“But… But…” Fleetfoot stuttered, her lower lip quivering.

“You heard me,” Spitfire went on. “Luna believes that the threat of Sombra to Equestria is bigger than the lives of two ponies we value and care about. She has completely taken ‘the greater good’ approach. And… I’m sure you’ll all agree with me when I say that’s utter bullshit. Especially after what we’ve already been through with them. They are so afraid of Sombra that it’s clear they are not giving us the full truth and what his existence means to them. They are neglecting EVERYTHING they should stand for just to take him down.” She shook her head. “So… it’s settled. We need to get to the bottom of this… we need to talk directly to Sombra. Either we take this risk, or we take theirs. And I’m not playing by their rules anymore.”

Dash continued to remain still, looking down to keep her eyes from looking about.

“This…” Fleetfoot’s legs began to wobble. “I can’t…” She looked down, confusion and dejection wrought all over her face and body posture as she slowly sat down.

“I know, Fleet…” Spitfire sighed. “But this is what things have come to.”

“What do you propose?” Descent spoke up, getting right down to business. Spitfire just stared at him for a moment, somehow sticking to the subject at hoof despite her state.

“I… have a plan,” she began. Dash perked up quickly, but did her best to tame her own reaction midway through. “A two tier plan, part of which you’ve already started for me,” Spitfire went on while looking at Descent.

Dash focused and listened carefully. This was it. Spitfire was about to lay out her plans.

“I have?” Descent asked, curious.

“Yes, your scouts,” Spitfire nodded. “You’re having them ‘help’ the Crystal Guard, correct?”

“Yes, but they’re already out there, I can’t give them new orders immediately,” Descent explained.

“Well, assuming they don’t find him tonight, will they be returning here?” Spitfire broadened.

“Yes,” Descent answered with a nod.

“Then give them new orders when they return,” Spitfire began laying it out. “Have them appear to ‘help’ but have them conduct their own in depth searches outside of the Crystal Guard scope. Based on what I’ve seen of your lead scout team, they are likely better and much more thorough than anything the Empire’s common military has at their disposal. I want them to discreetly broaden their search and find Sombra first… then report to us without telling Luna.”

“That’s quite a gamble to have as our key starting point…” Descent pointed out while furrowing his brow.

“But am I wrong about your scouts?” Spitfire asked with a tip of her head.

“No,” Descent answered without hesitation. “Astral and his team have no match when it comes to gathering intel.”

“Then let’s trust them to get the job done.” Spitfire quickly turned to the rest before Descent could say anything more. “So… assuming that we get the information first, we will organize an operation to sneak out under the guise of a ‘training exercise’ to get the reserves organized. The whole force will be right outside the empire where they can be seen clear as day. We can have most of the elites stay right out there with them to give the appearance of an organized scene with drills and the like while we…” she motioned to the top tiers, “Slip away during the commotion with maybe three or four other elite squads as backup. While the rest hang back and keep up the spectacle, we can approach Sombra.” She looked towards Dash. “Your squad is going to be included in that small group, Dash. You had a unique effect on Sombra last time. I’m going to guess it has to do with your connection to Soarin.” She pointed at her. “Should things go south, you’ll be our trump card.”

“Alright,” Dash nodded, but said no more as she took it all in and processed it. She was holding off trying to formulate any of her own plan until she heard every tidbit and detail.

“What about the Renegades?” Blazetail spoke up.

“I’ll leave that up to you guys,” Spitfire answered as she turned back to them. “But it would probably be good to have some high-end representation from your ranks as well so Sombra can see that we’re both outside the jurisdiction of Luna. So do what you must to have a similar diversion to ours and have a select group of your best to meet up with us once we know our target location and can set up a rendezvous point.”

“We can do that, right?” Flashwind agreed while quickly passing it to Descent. Descent blinks and snorted.

“Yes, I suppose we can, but…”

“Good,” Spitfire cut him off. Descent glared for a moment, but Spitfire wasn’t even looking at him. She was already focused on the group as a whole again, and appeared to be rushing things along. “Now ideally… we want to make this all happen smoothly right underneath Luna’s nose, but should we end up having to confront her for any reason…” she paused and exhaled. “I guess… I don’t know actually.” She shrugged. “We’ll cross that bridge when we need to. I don’t have a good plan off the top of my head for fighting against a god.” She turned quickly before anypony could react to her non-answer solution to that particularly scenario. “Now Dash…”

Dash blinked, holding herself extra steady. Spitfire already mentioned their squad being involved… there was more? Did it have to do with that look she got earlier?

“Yeah?” Dash acknowledged quickly and steadily.

“Look…” Spitfire suddenly stepped forward and placed a hoof on her shoulder, looking Dash right in the eyes.

It was a strange experience, definitely not the first time Spitfire had done something like this to speak directly and get a point across… but she looked so sad, it was sending mixed emotions through Dash. Nothing that would change her plans, but it was very unpleasant to see the lead captain of the entire force in such a wrecked, barely holding together state.

“I know this whole situation has been particularly difficult for you. Your life tied to Soarin’s notwithstanding, we’ve also asked you to act against some old, trusted friends of yours, but…” she trailed off for a moment.

But Dash suddenly saw an opening. The window was small and sure to close any second, but this could be her chance to solidify some trust.

“Spitfire,” Dash spoke up before she could continue. She threw on a look of determination and even reached up to place her hoof on hers. “This is for Soarin. My friends from home are involved, but that’s not going to stop me from doing what I have to do. I have no other choice with my life on the line.” Dash held her expression, despite feeling like she probably could have put that better. She felt like it was a little forced, but Spitfire seemed to be convinced. While her face didn’t change much, Spitfire nodded.

“Good… because I have a special job for you.”

Dash blinked and lifted an eyebrow.

“Special job?” she asked.

“Yes,” Spitfire said and cracked a small grin that didn’t really fit the overall state of her expression. “We’re going to add an extra layer of subversion here.”

Dash remained perfectly still, doing everything in her power to remain that way.

“In order to gain trust in Luna and make her feel like she has full control… I want you, at some point, to tell her that you’re on board with her plan to use the Elements of Harmony.”

“Uh…” Dash slurred. She heard Spitfire loud and clear, but her reaction was more geared towards the fact that Spitfire had NO CLUE that this was technically already part of Dash’s own plan, at least in part.

“You heard me,” Spitfire went on, completely oblivious. “I’m asking you to lie to her face. Tell her you’ve come to understand the situation and… I don’t know… say something related to how you’re an Element of Harmony and your duty as one to Equestria means more than anything else. Hell, if we happen to be present when you do it we can use that to our advantage too and ‘acknowledge’ your decision.”

Dash felt like her head was going to explode. The tangled mess was only becoming more tangled. She was now getting orders to lie to Luna’s face. And to keep up her own charade… she was about to lie to Spitfire’s face. But, she didn’t let the whirlwind knock her off balance. This was another opportunity to dig her hooves in and set up an extra screen for her own plan. Spitfire had to be convinced just as much as Luna that she had nothing going on in the background.

“Won’t she suspect funny business though?” Dash asked, keeping up the act. “The two of you have not been all smiles and sunshine recently, you know. She might think it’s a trick.”

“True,” Spitfire nodded. “But you’re a smart spectrum of colors. Use every mean at your disposal to convince her, like your friends for instance. All of you used to answer directly to Celestia and Luna. I’m sure she’ll think you have a strong reason to stick with them… plus you’re the Element of Loyalty, right? Swear by it to her while giving us a reason to ‘agree’ right after.”

“That’s… a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?” Dash scrunched her face to give the appearance of deep thought and hesitance.

“Hey,” Spitfire smiled again, giving her firm pat on the shoulder. “You’re Silver Lining’s chosen student. I’ve no doubt you’ve picked up some of his habits and approaches to things. Put that experience to good use and you’ll figure it out."

It took every ounce of effort not the fall backwards as Dash heard those words come out of Spitfire’s mouth. The irony levels had reached critical mass. If only Spitfire KNEW… that she was already doing exactly that, just not in the way she was asking.

“Okay then…” Spitfire turned back to the rest and exhaled. “That’s pretty much all we can do for now.”

“Hold on a minute,” Descent quickly cut in. “‘We’ll cross that bridge when we need to’ isn’t going to cut it with Luna. We need a solid plan for that scenario, wouldn’t you agree?” he asked, knowing that nopony got to speak up when she brushed it aside before. Spitfire simply looked at him flatly.

“Well, what do you suggest?” she asked with a hint of sarcasm. “How exactly to we ‘plan’ to fight a god? Maybe more than one god should Discord decide to pull his head out of his own ass?”

Descent opened his mouth, but said nothing. His mouth remained agape for about ten seconds before he closed it and snorted.

“Point taken…” he said grumpily as he flattened his brow.

“Let’s just break for now… I’ve had a rotten day and need some time to…” Spitfire trailed off as her eyes landed on Fleetfoot. She looked incredibly sad, on the verge of tears while all hunched over and nearly curled up. “Fleet… don’t give me that look…” Spitfire said as the shaking tone in her voice returned. Fleetfoot sniffled loudly and her lips quivered.

“I just want all this crap to end already,” she barely managed to say in a blubbery tone. “I want Soarin back… I want to go back to Canterlot… I want us to be in control of things… right now it’s all wrong.” She forced every word out, sniffling several times.

“This is part of our duty, Fleet,” Spitfire said in a very unconvincing tone.

“Being backstabbed and lied to is our duty? Being chased by enemies we don’t know much about in some ancient flying building is our duty? Having a best friend stolen by some freak spirit of an old king is our duty?! Spitfire I’m losing my mind here!”

“Commander, enough of that…” Fire Streak suddenly detached from Misty and stepped over to her.

“Fire, let her be,” Spitfire ordered before he could touch her, approaching Fleetfoot herself and pressing a hoof lightly into her mane atop her head. “She’s right. This is far outside what we’re supposed to be dealing with. We handle abnormal threats… but it’s disheartening when those threats… seem to be from our own side too.” She slid her hoof down to Fleetfoot’s shoulder and pulled her into a light hug, looking around at the rest. “Let’s hope… that whatever happens here will be the end of it. Period. For all we know, everything we’ve been through up to this point has really only been about this… secret personal goal of the gods.”

“Hrmmmmmm…” Fleetfoot groaned, digging her face into Spitfire’s chest fur.

“We’re not going to know anything for sure until after the fact… and that’s assuming this all works and we live through it… and from there…” she looked down. She bit her lip and her body subtly shook, she inhaled sharply for a moment and shut her eyes, quickly lifting her hoof from Fleetfoot to rub them. She turned her back to all of them again. “That’s… that’s all for now,” her voice had fallen back into its emotional tone, her words jittery as she reached up and rubbed her eyes again.

It was easy to conclude that Wave was on her mind again, but Wave alone was not the only thing weighing so heavily on her. The rest felt just as burdened.

“Let’s get things started tonight,” she glanced briefly over her shoulder and waved at Descent. “And we’ll see where it goes.”

She immediately returned to her position, facing away and shaking, clearly trying to hold in bottled up and battered emotions that were trying to get loose.

It seemed like an abrupt end to a very important conversation, but Spitfire was clearly done and didn’t look like she was going to hold up much longer.

Descent was the first to move. He had more he wanted to discuss, but could tell Spitfire wasn’t in the right state of mind to do so. He made a head motion to Lightning Dust, Blazetail, and Flashwind. Flashwind didn’t budge at first, staring at Spitfire, but Blazetail gave a light tug on her shoulder, shaking his head. The Renegades all left, leaving just the Wonderbolts behind.

Fire Streak sighed quietly to himself, motioning to his squad towards the door and doing the same to the rest. Misty resisted, pointing at Spitfire with a very determined and worried look on her face and shaking her head at Fire every time he tried to make her leave. Fire eventually had to give her a stern look and spell out ‘leave her alone’ in sign language before she reluctantly obeyed. High Winds ended up having to pick up Blaze and carry her out. She wasn’t resisting, but didn’t seem able to move.

That left only Dash, Fleetfoot, and Spitfire in the room.

Dash felt it best that she leave. She had a feeling Fleetfoot was going to stay. The two of them really needed each other at the moment with everything going on, especially without Soarin there. While she had become good friends with them… this was much deeper and more personal, a lifetime connection they had that Dash wasn’t really a part of.

She got up from her spot and slowly made her way towards the door…

But she was only halfway there when Spitfire suddenly whimpered and sniffled loudly. Dash came to an abrupt halt and looked over her shoulder.

Spitfire was sitting on the floor, her hooves over her eyes, and her body shaking. She was sniffling loudly, quick, jittering hiccups jumping from her throat as her shoulders bopped up and down.

She suddenly wiped her arm against her eyes and shook her head back and forth, tears whipping from her face and leaving small droplet stains on the carpet. She sharply turned to her right while tilting her head back and taking a long, heavy breath…

“AAAAUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!!!” Spitfire cried out as she threw her head forward.

She slammed her hooves to the floor a few times before crumpling, falling forward onto her stomach with heavy, heaving breaths as she started to full on cry. Everything was pouring out at once.

Fleetfoot was up in an instant. She rushed right up to Spitfire and nearly slid on her hooves as she quickly bent down in front of Spitfire. The moment Spitfire looked up and saw her, she reached out and hugged Fleetfoot as tightly as she could. Fleetfoot squeaked and gasped as she was grappled, but quickly pulled her arms free to hug Spitfire right back.

It was… difficult for Dash to watch. She averted her gaze, her lips scrunching as she closed her eyes, the sound of Spitfire crying filling her ears and hitting her hard in the gut.

She had to get out… not just to let them be alone, but to also stop herself from feeling so much unhinged… sympathy. It was hard enough to be carrying out this risky plan behind Spitfire’s back… seeing Spitfire in such a broken and fragile state over everything going wrong was only making it harder.

Dash moved quickly, pushing her way out the door and shutting it softly behind her. She stepped away from the door and moved far enough down the hall until she could no longer hear even the slightest hint of Spitfire’s crying.

The moment it was dead silent, Dash slumped against the wall and let out a long, uneasy sigh.

This was going to be much more difficult than she thought… She had no qualms undercutting Luna, but Spitfire? She cared about Spitfire. And both before in the lobby and just now in her room, Spitfire was unconsciously reminding Dash that this was a comrade, a partner, and a friend who trusted her that she was plotting against. Spitfire trusted her… and she placed her trust in her while all these other things were crashing down over her head, reducing the strong, stoic, captain of the Wonderbolts to a crying heap on a hotel floor.

“Hgn…” Dash suddenly groaned as she sat down and placed her hooves on the sides of her head. She purposely grinded them a little roughly against it before shaking her head out.

No.

She had to stay strong.

She couldn’t back down.

Seeing the real side of Spitfire and how all this was affecting her was painful… but that didn’t change the fact that Dash’s plan was their best chance at success. And once they had that success, Spitfire could focus on saving Wave again. One thing at a time… Soarin was kind of important for her own sake too.

She had the plan… or at least the meat of it. It was time to really put some serious thought into the greater details of her own. And she hoped that she would have the time to relay it to the rest of those involved. With so much security and so many eyes and ears around, how was she going to get her Wonderbolt and Ponyville friends in the same place without drawing suspicion?

That would have to wait. For now, she had to actually come up with the plan. With Descent’s scouts shifting their objective, there was no telling how soon it would be before they were forced into action.

Dash took a deep breath and exhaled, focusing her eyes down the hall as she started walking.

At this point… there seemed to be only two possible outcomes to all of this.

Either it was all going to come together and work out…

Or it was going to fall apart at the seams and crash hard.

Hopefully… it would be the first.

---To Be Continued---