"Trailblazer, what are ya thinkin'?" asked AppleJack. "You can't take them all on yerself!"
"Maybe I can't," Trailblazer thought. "But if I use stealth, they can't stop me." He turned back to the equipment and looked through it to see what he could use. "Can't kill what you can't catch."
"You can't just go there alone!" shouted Pinkie Pie. "An army of one never works!"
"Don't you want us to come with you?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I don't know. I really don't want to put you six into harm's way."
"Oh, stop it, sugarcube!" AppleJack stepped in front of him. "Ah know for a fact that you'll fail if you go alone. Besides..." She stopped and wrapped her front legs around him, resting her head under his chin. "It's gonna hurt me deeply if ya do. Ah care for ya too much to keep you from goin' on this... this suicide mission."
Trailblazer looked at her, with a look of guilt. He already felt that he hurt her feelings by being so headstrong.
"We're coming with you, Trailblazer, wether you like it or not," said Twilight.
"...Do you insist on helping me THAT much?"
All of them were saying "Yes".
"Well, I guess I shouldn't stop you."
The other five walked in and joined AppleJack to search for supplies that they could carry.
"We might need these," said Rarity. the other six looked at her to see that she was holding up a first-aid kit.
"You know, seeing that, I'm thinking that I should've allowed you all to support me from the start," said Trailblazer.
"That's what friends are for," replied Rainbow Dash.
After the seven ponies gathered supplies that they planned on using, Princess Celestia's guards flew them all towards Tethleon. Trailblazer was leading the front guard, directing him as he flew to lead them all there.
"Here's the thing..." Trailblazer mentioned between his directions. "Even with you six with me, we still can't just barge in and attack like this. We need to look and act like one of them to find Silver Soul and get rid of him."
"Do you know how we're going to do that?" asked Twilight.
"We'll have to disguise as their spies to blend in. I know just where to get them. Unfortunelty, they're in the castle, so we'll have to remain out of sight until we reach that room."
They landed a safe distance from the castle, and all seven got out of the chariots. The guards stood in place as the seven ponies walked to the castle courtyard. Upon reaching the enterance to the courtyard, Trailblazer peeked from the wall and saw several soldiers patrolling the area.
"Ah, crap. It looks like they're prepared." Trailblazer hid back behind the wall. "There are several soldiers patrolling this area. We'll have to REALLY be stealth in order to get past this."
"Hey, Trailblazer, maybe I can help this cause," Twilight Sparkle proposed. "I know a spell that can turn all of us invisible for a short time."
"Do you have an exact time for it?"
"Tests have shown it to last nine seconds long during each invisibility period. After that, it takes some time to regain that invisibility."
"Okay, but what about each other?"
"We can still see each other even when invisible."
"Okay. Let's do this then." Trailblazer looked at the courtyard again. "When we're in here, do as I do, understand?"
All of them said "Yes" again.
"Good. Let me just take a look here." He scanned the area until finding some cover a short distance from the enterance. "Okay, activate the invisibility, and follow me."
Twilight used her magic and all of them became cloaked in a transparent veil, giving them full invisibility. Trailblazer walked to the small pile of rocks and all of them followed. They got there two seconds before the cloak wore off. They stayed there out of sight until the cloak became active again. They snuck past the soldiers, undetected, and reached the castle security room enterance.
"I'll take care of this door," said Trailblazer as he deployed his knife. He knocked on the door. It was unbolted from inside, and a soldier opened it. Trailblazer thrust the knife into his throat, killing him instantly. Two other scouts were in the same room, and he slashed them accordingly.
"Pardon me," he said sarcastically.
"Trailblazer?" Twilight asked. "Do you know where the uniforms are in this place?"
"We're in that room right now," he answered.
They looked off to the right side of the room to see a closet with uniforms in them. Armor for soldiers and hoods for spies hung on by hangers.
"Hoods are the only way we'll be able to blend in. Going in there without a uniform will give us away."
"And if we get caught?" questioned Rainbow Dash.
"I'll make sure that they don't tell their friends," Trailblazer answered, holding up his knife. "Also, Twilight, don't cloak us while we're in the castle."
"What? Why?" she asked, confused.
"If we do while in the enemy's presence, it'll gives us away. None of these spy ponies here share this ability."
Trailblazer grabbed a key ring from the soldier's pocket loop and juggled the keys until he found one that allowed them to unlock the castle enterance. He opened it and walked inside.
"Cheers," he said to the dead soldier.
The others followed him inside. Upon coming to a certain enterance down the hallway on the right side, two soldiers were standing guard in front of it.
"What business do you have here?" the one on the left asked.
"I have a date with Silver Soul," he joked.
Both soldiers looked at each other, confused. While they were focused on themselves, Trailblazer took out his knife and backstabbed the one on the right. The guard fell, and before the left guard could understand what was happening, he knocked his head to the stone wall, sealed his mouth shut with one hoof, and cut his neck with the knife in the other, leaving no attack noise from him. He too, fell down.
"You got blood on my coat," scolded Trailblazer to the corpses as he wiped their blood off of his chest and right foreleg. He even rolled his eyes at them.
"Trailblazer!" whispered Twilight. "Don't you think that they'd find the bodies?"
"I've made sure that the castle enterance was sealed shut and won't open on the outside. This is the only enterance to get into the heart of the castle."
Although they couldn't argue about his successful attack, they began to think about whether or not he was being too cruel now.
As they walked into a winding corridor, three other spies were walking in their direction. Fluttershy turned around.
"Now what do we do?" she asked. But the four looked around each other. Trailblazer was gone.
"Did he just ditch us??" Pinkie Pie whispered.
"What do we have here? Some outsiders pretending to be one of us?" one of the spies said. The six looked to see the three enemy spies closing in on them.
"Hey, maybe they'll make a good meal for our rodents in our dungeon," the second one said.
Twilight Sparkle backed away while biting her lip. She was the most disgusted at that thought.
"Shall we get rid of them?" a fourth one asked.
Wait... Four of them?
Trailblazer was standing behind them.
"Why don't we, then?" the third one said.
AppleJack mouthed the words "How could you??" to Trailblazer, but he didn't answer. The ponies had their backs against a wall as the three spies and Trailblazer creeped towards them. Little did the spies know that Trailblazer was targeting them. While the enemy spies were preparing their own daggars, Trailblazer prepared his own.
"May I make a suggestion? RUN," he told his friends. But the enemy spies were unaware of which side he was really on. He stabbed away at the enemies before they had a chance to kill his friends.
"I never really was on your side," he told the dead bodies.
"Oh, I see what you did there," said Pinkie Pie.
"Have mercy, darling!" Rarity said, shaken. "Aren't you taking these killings too far??"
He stopped and looked back at the moments that he had when he killed the other few enemy ponies, and what he said to them when he killed them.
"I'm sorry," he began. "I guess that I got carried away and let my anger get to me."
He walked away again, letting the others follow him again. Trailblazer did not go killing any other enemy from that point on, and walked trough the castle some more until he got to the door that led to the throne room.
"Here's the room," Trailblazer said. Then he scowled. "Well, THIS was a disappointment!"
"What?" asked Fluttershy.
"I expected to be sneaking past MEN. Silver Soul has almost made our former Rising Warriors weak!"
"I don't think that's important," said Twilight, annoyed.
"Wait. Trailblazer," AppleJack said, showing concern. "Do you know what yer up against?"
"He's a unicorn," he replied.
"That's the thing. You're just an earth pony."
"I already know what he does and how he'll use his spells..."
"Trailblazer..." AppleJack began to tear up and drooped her ears. "What if ya don't come back?"
Trailblazer couldn't think of anything to say.
"Ah'm worried about you..." AppleJack spoke up again.
Trailblazer began to realize that even the thought of being gone upset her to the point of shedding actual tears. He walked back to her.
"I'll be just fine, AppleJack."
Trailblazer showed his gentle side. He walked up to her and nuzzled her neck while giving her a reassuring hug. AppleJack responded by hugging him back tightly, showing no intention of letting go.
"There now, I hate to see you sad like this. It hurts me too..." he whispered. "Don't worry, I'll be just fine. I've dealt with tougher situations before." He started to stroke her mane too, and she began to feel better.
"Okay, AppleJack," Trailblazer spoke up. "I have a job to do."
AppleJack let go of him. Now was neither the time or place.
"Sorry. I just had a feelin' that things would turn for the worse," she told him.
"I need you to be strong. Show it like it is for me."
AppleJack shook her head, then lowered her eyebrows and smiled, showing that she was. "Yeah, Ah'm ready all right."
"Okay then, let's go." Then, under his breath, "I'm coming for you, you menace." He finished with an eerie whistle.
He backed away, ready to barge through the doors. Then...
"Wait," Trailblazer walked back to the door. "Change of plan."
"Wait, what are we doing now?" Rainbow Dash wondered, growing a little impatient.
"We may not have to fight him after all." Trailblazer hid his knife in his hood. "If I act like one of his recruited spies, then I can pull off an ambush when he least expects it. And then, we run like hell."
"Trailblazer, what if he figures out that we're not on his side?" Pinkie Pie asked, sensing that the plan wouldn't work.
"Then I'll have to fight him. But for now, just follow me."
He opened the doors. A brilliant throne room was beyond it, complete with a red throne, red carpet, silver and gray tiles, and red curtains. On that throne sat Silver Soul. His appearance didn't change since Trailblazer last saw him, except that he was slightly smaller than Big Macintosh. There were no guards in the room. Big mistake, Trailblazer thought.
"My lord, Silver Soul, I come rearing urgent news."
"So, you've decided to come back, TRAILBLAZER?" he asked.