The next morning, Trailblazer walked to Twilight Sparkle's library with the trapped spy dragged behind him. He entered the door and dropped the rope at his feet for a moment to speak.
"Twilight Sparkle," he began.
She turned around. "Trailblazer? What are you doing here?"
"Send Princess Celestia a request to meet with her."
"Why?"
"Because..." he grabbed the rope and yanked the spy through the doorway. "THIS."
"Uh, I'm not sure if I should do that..."
"What? Why?"
"Well, it's just that..." But before she could finish her sentence, the other five emerged from the back of the room.
"Listen up, Trailblazer," growled Rainbow Dash. "You'd better tell us what you know about what you talked about last night."
"Well, I was going to, but-"
"Stop right there!" she interrupted. She started to inch towards Trailblazer, forcing him to back away. "We don't want to hear some made-up story you came up with last night! And here are a couple other questions: How do you know about that spy? And how does he know you? And, how can we trust you if you're hiding stuff from us? Are you one of them? Is that why?"
AppleJack bit her tail and yanked her back. "Ya just don't give it up, do ya?" Then she looked at Trailblazer, and all six of them walked slowly towards him, crowding him. "But you sure know what's going on. Dontcha, sugarcube?"
Trailblazer looked back at the spy he bagged, then back at the ponies. "Well, since the spy's presence here shows that something's amiss, I'll tell you why I'm here. Twilight."
"Yes?"
"Prepare a letter to meet with the princess. She'll want to know this."
"Fine." Twilight pulled out a scroll and wrote in it as Trailblazer spoke.
"I lived off in the west side of Equestria. In that area is a castle at the end of a city known as Tethleon. In that castle was our former unicorn ruler: King Gold. He established a guild known as the Rising Warriors."
"Rising Warriors? Never heard of them," Pinkie Pie spoke.
"I'm getting there."
"The Rising Warriors guild was a place of getting tough. We were told to stand up to any kind of danger and save anypony that was in danger. And were also supposed to be good in spirit too. Crying was a sign of weakness in all of Castle Tethleon, and was forbidden. Our policy was to do good and be good, and I fulfilled them quite well. So well that King Gold took me in as his right-hand colt, and he became like a second father to me."
King Gold had a gold luster for his smooth mane, and his coat was a saturated goldenrod, shining like gold as well.
As Trailblazer spoke, his memory played back the events that took place from his perspective.
'Guards!'
'Yes.'
'Bring me the Rising Warrior Trailblazer to me.'
'Yes, sire.'
'Yes, King Gold?'
'Trailblazer, I have observed your good deeds for others as a Rising Warrior. You are undoubtedly the best of them all. I would like to have you be my right-hand colt.'
'Really??'
'Of course! I'm certain that you'll make a great ruler someday. As my pupil, you'll be able to accomplish much more.'
"My musical skills came from there too. As his colt, I got a guitar and learned how to play. When I got good enough, I played for everyone around, and when I got cheered for in my concert, my cutie mark showed up."
"Unfortunately, good times were not meant to last. One day, during a public announcement he was making, King Gold was assassinated by an unseen archer. An arrow struck him in the head, killing him instantly. Yet, to this day, his assassination remains unsolved. Due to the political circle we had, his younger lesser-known unicorn brother, Silver Soul, took his place on the throne after the funeral services we held for King Gold."
Like his brother, Silver Soul gave off a shine, but instead, his mane had a mix of gray and silver stripes, and his coat was a brilliant silver color.
"For a while, his rule was just as good as King Gold's. But power corrupts, and he turned into a warlord."
'So, Trailblazer, do you know what I have in store?'
'No?'
'Expansion! Conquer all that is meant to be ours! This deal will generate millions for our people. King Gold wouldn't want you to miss out on this. We've done so much for many ponies out there, and we won't just let them walk all over us. We're going to make sure that we leave our mark.'
"Silver Soul even had such powers of persuasion. With it, he turned our group of good-hearted stewards into vicious killers."
'Fellow Rising Warriors. Look at yourselves. You work hard for others, you do good deeds for them, and you rescue them too. But they don't ever thank you, nor do they return the favor, nor do they even show you that they're grateful for your hard work. They show no incentive to do anything for you, not the SLIGHTEST thing, to show you their gratitude for your duties. How does this make you feel? Does it get you angry that they are so greedy that they don't thank you for protecting them? Well, I now have a deal that'll get us our just desserts. We shall take back the land that is meant to be ours, and what's even better, we could take over all of Equestria in the name of us! Think about this, my fellow Shadow Rulers, as I invite you to join me.'
"Almost all of the ponies agreed and joined him, and they no longer were Rising Warriors. They are now Shadow Rulers."
"I couldn't give up doing good for everypony. He's a maniac, and he turned the Rising Warriors into ruthless homicidal soldiers. What's even worse is that if you rejected Silver Soul's new establishment, you were sentenced to death in a dungeon at the bottom of the castle, leaving your body to be devoured by vermin. That is what also made our Rising Warriors turn over to the dark side."
'Out of all ponies who'd reject us, I expected you the least. Trailblazer, my friend, my wingman, and now my betrayer. We will take all of Equestria, even if it has to be burnt down to the ground scattered with the rotting carcasses of the ponies that have taken our help for granted. Nothing, can stop us now. Not even you.'
"Executing me was his personal privilege. He pulled out a bow and shot me with an arrow. I thought fast and caught it between my foreleg and body, making it look as if it actually went through me. And I pretended to die. It is because he fell for that trick that I am still alive today."
"As soon as I was out of earshot and sight, I got back up and snuck out of that dungeon. Already, Silver Soul was preparing scouts and spies to search for land to conquer. I put on a disguise to look like one of the spies and escaped from Tethleon. When I was safe from all of them, I took it off and got away from them. And that's when I happened to head to Ponyville, which is where I met Twilight Sparkle and became a Ponyville resident."
Now that all six of them were aware of his past, they all looked worried about the situation they were brought into.
"Oh, dear. It looks as if we got caught up in something serious just because you made your escape here," pondered Rarity.
"Oh..." Trailblazer turned away, ashamed at himself. "I'm sorry, all. This is my fault. I put you all in danger just by being here..."
"You did whatcha could, Trailblazer," AppleJack said, getting close to him to comfort him. "If you ran off to some other town, they'd be after you and the ponies that lived there too."
"No..." he responded. "Silver Soul will order his army to demolish any town they come across. They'll still try to take me down first because I left them. All because I am a Rising Warrior, not a taker of innocent lives..."
"Oh, come now!" Rarity trotted to his other side. "We shouldn't feel sorry for ourselves at this time!"
Trailblazer shook his head and groaned. Then he looked up at Twilight.
"So, how about sending that letter to the princess?"
"Done," she said.
"Well, I guess I should apologize too..." Rainbow Dash said.
"What for?" he asked.
"I assumed that you were an enemy and took you for granted..."
"You don't have to apologize for that. Besides, you finding that spy last night was almost a God-send. If he got away, he'd send his army here and attack."
A scroll appeared out of thin air in front of Twilight Sparkle.
"That was fast," she thought.
"She must've wanted to take immediate action," reasoned Trailblazer.
Twilight read the letter to herself, mumbling some of the words she read. "She accepts your request and is sending over her troops to discuss the situation Equestria is in."
"Very well."
The next day, Celestia's soldiers came to Ponyville and carried the seven ponies and the spy Trailblazer had trapped to Canterlot by chariot. It was around an hour long flight until they reached Celestia's castle. All of them made their way into the throne room upon arrival.
"My student Twilight Sparkle tells me that Equestria is in danger of being conquered accusing to a new friend she made," she started. "And... I suppose the brown male is the one you're referring to?"
"Affirmative. I'm known as Trailblazer. And..." He dragged the spy into the room. "We have captured intelligence about these Shadow Rulers, but I know for a fact that he won't tell me the truth about what they have planned."
"Maybe I can work that out." using her unicorn magic, she used a spell that managed to get her target to be honest on everything asked by any pony.
"Now then, before we get started, I'd like to know for sure the answers to these things..." Trailblazer started off with. "Did you stalk me that one night when I first arrived in Ponyville?"
"Yes," the spy said.
"Are you the one responsible for setting the Everfree forest on fire, nearly incinerating three fillies in the process?"
"That was the goal. In order to see if you WOULD be brave enough to save them from that fire. We were testing you..."
"And you are also plotting to look for more clues before confirming it with Silver Soul, correct?"
"Yes."
"Indeed."
Rarity became steamed. "You nearly killed my little sister in that fire!"
"As well as mine," inquired AppleJack. "Let's see how ya like it when ya begin to burn."
"Hold on, I'm not done with the questions." Trailblazer looked back at the spy. "Now, what does Silver Soul have planned for taking over Equestria?"
"We were going to find out where you escaped to, run tests to see if you were truly yourself, and once confirmed, attack your new home and try to kill you. Once you were gone, we'd send our entire army to destroy every other town, taking no prisoners if nessecary."
"No wonder you brought this to my attention," pondered Celestia. "Clearly, this is no empty threat."
"From what the spy has told us, I'll have to go back to Tethleon and get rid of Silver Soul so that this doesn't happen."
"But how?" asked Celestia.
"Do you have an armory in your castle?"
"It's just down the hall to the left."
"In that case, I'll need to prepare for this trip."