//------------------------------// // Second Day, Morning—Ensemble // Story: Cutie Mark Crusaders Fantasian City-State Historians, YAY!!!!!! // by Dragonborne Fox //------------------------------// Breakfast proceeded as it had the day before, although this time the Crusaders found themselves sharing the table with their wraithling escort, who was busy helping herself to a large insect with a butterfly's black body and giant purple wings and eyes. They had finished their food, and watched her chow down on the insect that was bigger than she was. She took out whole chunks, chewed, and swallowed with gusto. Amusingly, her face sported a green mask anchored mostly to her split mouth, which was opaque and did a decent job of keeping the food in those jaws. Some of the other soldiers were watching as well. Blue Crow came over to sit at the table, frowning a little. "Goodness, I didn't think she could pack away as much as she's done," he noted, seeing Katie's belly slowly expand to house the food. "Already ate half the wasp and she's still going." Sweetie Belle turned to Blue Crow, eyes wide. "That's a wasp?" She turned to the half-devoured insect and added, "That looks more like a butterfly to me." "Trust me, that's a wasp. At this rate, she's headed for a food coma," Blue Crow muttered, shaking his head at the sight. It took a few moments more for Katie to finish the wasp completely, down to its wings and even the stinger, but she cleaned her plate, leaned back, and let loose a loud belch that had some soldiers laughing. "'Scuse me," she said, taking another moment to lick her lips clean. Her wings snapped open and buzzed, then closed again. "Are you sure you can walk? You look like you might need to be rolled," Blue Crow said, grinning. Katie waved him off with a hoof. "I'll be fine; I could tell the wasp had love in it, and it'll help me digest," she replied. "This ain't the first time I've ballooned out like this." Blue Crow sighed and buried his face in one of his talons. "Alright, suit yourself…" he grumbled under his breath. A burst of green light flashed next to the table, and as it vanished it revealed Anna. She trotted over to poke the wraithling in the gut, enabling the Crusaders to take a better look at the sanded smooth wood on her legs. Come to think of it, they began wondering what kind of plants had wrapped themselves around the wood, and why they were there to begin with.. "Yep, that's a full gut alright. Do you want me to take over for the day?" Katie looked to the ceiling, then shrugged. "If I get sick, then yeah," she said. "But you should be just on standby in case that happens." She gestured to the Crusaders. "As fat as I am right now? I don't think I could wrangle those three hooligans for a few hours." That got a snort out of Anna, and a roll of the eyes. "Alrighty then," she muttered. "So are you a timberpony? Like in those stories where they transform under a full moon?" Scootaloo asked. Anna turned to her and bobbed her head, not quite nodding, but not quite shaking her head either. "Well… this is more of a permanent thing, and I don't transform under a full moon… so I'd say yes," she said after a moment. She glanced upwards towards one of the booths for a moment, as if seeking answers from elsewhere. The Crusaders looked up in that direction as well, finding Lance slowly nodding back. Anna brought her eyes back to the trio's level and added, "Technically, I'm also cursed… but what can you do?" "So what's with that alphabet thing on your body? Is that another language?" Apple Bloom asked, causing many of the soldiers to start side-eyeing her. She noticed the extra attention she was receiving through that question alone. "What?" Anna sighed. "Yes. It's another language, and because we don't know what group of sentients coined it first, we just call it 'ancient alicorn' for convenience's sake," she answered, causing the soldiers who began the side-eyeing to relax and return to their meals. Sweetie Belle gestured to the group of green-maned ponies who sat at their own table. They seemed to be sulking still. "What's with them?" she asked, Anna's eyes averted to the group for a moment, but she didn't move her head to look at the lot. "Oh, those guys…" She huffed and snorted, "Those guys are from Greenwood. They're… getting used to everything here, especially the 'how we're run' part of things," she said, though the girls got the impression there was a lot more to that story that she was leaving out, probably for their sake. "It was a mess when we found them, and devolved into absolute insanity," Katie said, waving a hoof at the ponies of Greenwood. "You'd have thought Discord had a paw in it, but surprisingly, he didn't for once. He may have watched the fiasco with popcorn, though." Anna propped her chin on her wood-covered pasterns, her elbow resting on the table with almost feline flexibility. "I wouldn't doubt that he would," she said with a shrug. It was at that moment that a golden-furred teddy bear with a ribbon on its neck climbed up Anna's tail, scaled her back, and moved to stand on her head. She looked at the bear cross-eyed. "Whatcha want, Mr. Muffin?" Mr. Muffin hopped onto the table and meandered over to the Crusaders, crossing his arms and looking them up and down. "Wait, he can walk?" Scootaloo asked, turning to Anna. Anna nodded, smiling faintly. "He could, ever since I was a baby. Rarity fixed him up recently, and found his enchantments still work," she said, eyes gleaming as she seemed to reminisce on better days. Scootaloo turned to Mr. Muffin, grinning wide as she reached over to pick him up. "That's so cool!" she said, making sure to be careful just in case Mr. Muffin was sentient somehow. The plush just looked at her strangely, but then waved at the table with one of his arms. She set him down right away, and he cocked his head. "But… why would you want to enchant a teddy bear to walk?" "Lots of reasons; protecting the kids, playing with them, helping with chores…" Anna smiled and flexed the digits on her other claw, and Mr. Muffin took the hint and waddled back to her. "He's an awesome bear." Blue Crow smirked. "Protection?" he asked, evidently imagining a teddy bear trying to protect kids with household gadgets. "How would that work?" Anna patted Mr. Muffin with her free claw, giggling. "Well, he's quite the crafty one; you give him something sharp, he'll take care of the rest," she said. She turned to the Crusaders and added, "But he shouldn't harm you guys; he knows you mean well." Mr. Muffin puffed his chest like he was huffing, and brought the ends of his arms to his hips as he looked at Anna. She looked back with, "What?" He lifted an arm to point at the Crusaders and waved it emphatically. "They'll be safe here. We'll keep an eye on them to make sure they don't get hurt," Anna said. Mr. Muffin put his arms down and nodded, slumping his shoulders. Then he looked to the wraithling, lifted an arm and swung its end back and forth in front of his little beady eyes. Katie laughed and buzzed her wings, reaching over to pat the bear on the head. "Sorry little dude, but I don't pick on creatures smaller than me," Katie said, her grin evident in her voice. "You'd have better luck proposing to Angel bunny than fighting me." Somewhere, the Crusaders heard a rabbit screaming in what they could only assume was embarrassment, and giggled as Mr. Muffin lifted his arm in front of him diagonally as he flinched back. If his little beady eyes could widen, they would have done so in that moment. Some of the soldiers snickered, and the Crusaders couldn't help but giggle. Anna picked the bear up in her claw and brought him to her chest, lifting her chin so she could pet him with the other one. She looked at him fondly and said, "Oh don't worry about her, she's weird for certain, but she won't bite if she can help it." Mr. Muffin crossed his arms in a pout, and probably would have grumbled if he had the capacity for speech. Fluttershy trotted over, smiling faintly as Angel bunny sat on her head with his face buried in his paws and Owlowiscious on her back, snickering into his wing. "I can help, if that's okay with you," she said, her face beaming with warmth as Harry the bear walked up behind her with a grin. "That would be much appreciated," Katie chirped, wings buzzing again. She glanced at Angel and added, "By the way, how's he holding up?" Fluttershy giggled and glanced up at Angel. "Aside from shock, he's doing fairly well," she said, still smiling. Angel grumbled something in rabbit-tongue, and Fluttershy shook her head. "Now now, we don't use bad words like that, Angel," she said in a somewhat reprimanding tone, causing the rabbit to slump his shoulders in defeat. "Eh, we don't mind the potty mouths," Anna said, taking a moment to put Mr. Muffin on her head. "We get them all the time here." Blue Crow sighed as he stood up on his paws, stretching his talons over his head and interlocking them together to pop the digits. "Well, I better go back to my table before Red Barrel decides she wants to make me eat cucumbers again," he said. With that, he went elsewhere in the mess hall, making some of the other soldiers snicker again. "What are they laughing about?" Scootaloo asked, turning to Katie. Katie shrugged, then belched again. "Probably an adult euphemism," she muttered. She turned to the Crusaders. "So, have you decided to check anything in particular out today?" Sweetie Belle nodded. "We've decided on the slime ranch; that looks cool," she answered. Katie's ears twitched. "Oh? That's… huh." She furrowed her brow for a moment. "I was expecting the medical wings or something like that, but…" She tilted her head. "Eh, kids'll be kids. I should know better than to question it." Apple Bloom frowned. "You didn't have a good childhood, didja?" she asked. Katie shook her head. "I was largely ignored by the hive I belonged to. Made fun of because I was different when my existence wasn't being sidelined, and only fed purple wasps to keep me quiet," she said with a shrug. "It happened to every mutant of the hive. Until the hive fell, it was pretty much that whole song and dance all day, every day, since the second I hatched." She looked at the Crusaders, with an emotion they couldn't place shining in her orbs. "Come to think of it, they were like that to everyone who was not of the hive, either. Maybe it's better that they're gone." Scootaloo shared glances with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, then looked back to the wraithling. "Could you shapeshift back then?" she asked. Katie shook her head. "Before my horn was broken, no. I never picked up on it," she answered. "Didn't have a grasp of fire magic either, or… any of the other kinds of magic that was paraded as the be-all, end-all of changeling society back then." She lowered her head a little bit, as if ashamed. "I wasn't considered of any use to the hive." A green-eyed changeling trotted over to pat her on her withers. "Hey, kid," he said, causing Katie to look at him. "You have a home here; it doesn't matter that you can't shapeshift or that your powers are more ice-based than the rest of us." He donned a warm smile and knelt to her eye level, gripping her withers gently. "You're just as good a changeling as the rest of us here. We don't play favorites depending on who can do what." "Besides, if Lance decides you got the talent to be here, we can't fault his judgement anyway," the changeling went on, moving to ruffle Katie's stringy mane, being careful to avoid her broken horn. "Yeah, we heard about what you managed to pull off in Greenwood from Lieutenant-General Windwood herself," another chirped with a smile. "That takes serious guts to pull off, kiddo." That one glanced to Lance to see if it was safe for her to continue, and when she saw his cautious nod, she added, "Not to mention that draining hate and despair is immensely useful, not only because it's something none of us can do, but it seems to help heal the land wherever you do it." "But I thought the Elements of Harmony did that," Katie protested, wings shining faintly as confusion twinkled in her orbs. "Yeah, but they seemed to have been strengthened by the lack of hatred and despair," the cautious changeling countered, smiling. That seemed to have gotten a small nod from Fluttershy. "I'd wager they can't function as well in those kinds of areas; one of their policies literally is Kindness, and despair and hatred are pretty much anathema to it." The other changelings muttered in agreement, making sure to be just loud enough that Katie couldn't misconstrue them. Some of them even praised her for actually making it into the army to begin with, with nothing more to show for it than the fact that she was alive from her first foray. Katie shuddered a bit, unsure of how to take this as her orbs sparkled in confusion. "I… uh…" She felt a few of her innards squirming, but not in discomfort—rather, something about the praise seemed to make her feel… fuzzy? She couldn't place the emotion, nor any names to what she was experiencing. In fact, it seemed to help her keep the food down, too. Anna giggled, and reached over to pat her head too. Mr. Muffin waved one of his arms in a friendly greeting, though Katie had the feeling she might actually spar with the animated plush later, as weird as that thought sounded the moment it entered her head. The Crusaders grinned, ideas spinning in their own heads as they shared glances. Perhaps the slime ranch would work more wonders than just their cutie marks yet. "And hey, if Granny Smith decided she likes ya enough to help us sort apples, she musta seen something in ya too," Apple Bloom added with a grin. "Not to mention it would be kinda cool to have a wraith fer a friend. I reckon that if everypony in Ponyville stopped losing their minds for a minute, they might want ya for a friend too." Katie rubbed the back of her head as she turned to Apple Bloom, orbs sparking in confusion. Her mouth moved, but no words came out. She felt touched, and unsure of how to answer. Apple Bloom reached over to hug her, and hesitantly, she returned it. She felt more of that warm energy, and the emotion she couldn't place, soothing some of her lingering worries about this whole she-ding. The two parted, and turned to Anna as she snorted. "That is, if everypony in Ponyville stopped losing their marbles for a minute," Anna piped up, smirking.  "Pretty big 'if,' since they were still raising a ruckus the last time I checked," Scootaloo said with a shrug. "Although… they've been less talkative about it lately." "Saw no use in bitching about it anymore?" Anna asked. The Crusaders shook their heads, and she relaxed a little. "Alright, guess that means they're chill now… although I wonder about how many useless adults are in Ponyville…" "Useless adults?" Apple Bloom asked. Anna nodded. "How many just spend their days talking out their asses, spreading false rumors about other ponies and the like, without actually going to do anything about what's making them angry," Anna said. That made the Crusaders share looks. "I take it you know a few?" Scootaloo turned back with a nod. "Oh yeah. Ponyville's head of the school board would count even if she weren't loaded with bits," she said with a frown. "I wonder why more ponies aren't treating her like a nutcase." Anna shrugged. "Well, I don't have a lot to go on there, so I wish I knew." Still, she seemed to be making a mental note to not send any future foals of hers to Ponyville's school, lest she end up doing terrible things to the head of the school board there. A thought hit her, and she turned to Sweetie Belle and asked, "Oh yeah, and speaking about useless adults, what about that foalsitter Natz told me about? How do you think she's taking it?" Sweetie Belle shrugged. "As long as she's out of my mane, I'm good," she said. "Rarity looked like she might turn her into a pincushion." Anna barked out a laugh, grin widening. "If she does, have her hit me up first. I know of ways to turn ponies into pincushions," she chirped. The Crusaders started to pity the erstwhile foalsitter, and a feeling she might not make it out of that discussion alive set in. Anna rolled her eyes and added, "Oh don't worry, she'll be alive and intact… mostly. I'd be happy to give her something to really bitch about, though." ~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~ Discord was smirking, giddy and chuckling as he wormed his way into Parliament's little box in Canterlot Castle, a squirming burlap sack held in a tightly-enclosed paw by its mouth. Within, obscenities only he could hear were being shouted into the uncaring void. He was whistling a jaunty little tune, and the guards merely side-eyed him as he approached the doors and threw them open. Inside, several nobles who were arguing amongst themselves turned to him, scowling at the interruption to their proceedings. He sought the gazes of Equestria's Princesses, who looked ragged and tired, with bloodshot eyes and wing feathers askew. "I just wanted to lighten the mood in here, do feel free to judge this prude however you want," he said, throwing the bag onto the floor before the podium where they sat. The bag vanished, and he teleported in a puff of confetti to reveal one confused, wide-eyed Stern Lecture looking up to find herself before the Princesses of the land. The nobles turned to Stern Lecture, wondering why Discord dragged her in a burlap sack to begin with. Stern Lecture seemed perplexed at first, before her eyes widened. "I… I would like to report a foalnapping," she began, waving to where Discord was. "This… goat thing has taken Sweetie Belle to who knows where, and I would also like to report that I was foalnapped and brought here against my will." Princess Luna found her voice. "I… we can see that," she said. "Anything else?" Stern Lecture puffed her chest, courage welling up within. "I would also like to report Sweetie Belle herself: I have tried everything I possibly could to get her to obey and be a decent mare. But she won't do it; no stallion would ever want a mare like her. I know you seem busy, but this is of the utmost importance!" The unscrupulous nobles sneered at this, and the few decent members only shook their heads in pity. The Princesses shared glances. "Isn't that Rarity's little sister?" Celestia whispered, to which Luna nodded. Both turned to Stern Lecture, their faces grim. "And how did you come upon Sweetie Belle to begin with?" Celestia asked, somewhat grateful for the brief break of the Parliamentary monotony that Discord had brought her, even if the case wasn't as clear-cut as she would have liked. "Her parents entrusted me to foalsit her," Stern Lecture replied, her courage becoming too daunting for normal, not-so-dense ponies to handle. "Princess Celestia, I beseech you: find Sweetie Belle, and tell her that all she needs to succeed in life are a good stallion and her own personal kitchen!" Celestia's face darkened. Her horn started to glow. "If that is what you so desire…" she said ominously. She glanced up as the doors opened again, and this time found a royal guard juggling no less than half a dozen stacks of papers, with a rather harried and unnerved look on his face. "Speak," she ordered, her horn dimming. The guard bowed. "Your Majesty, disturbing reports of a foal-trafficking ring have emerged from the cities of Vanhoover, Manehattan, and Las Pegasus," he began, shuffling through the papers. A foal-trafficking ring, spanning at least three cities? That got the nobles to mutter amongst themselves. "Has it been dealt with?" Luna asked, her own face darkening slightly. The guard nodded. "We are looking into it as we speak… reportedly, the foals are being taken to a supposed correctional facility that was supposed to have been shut down a hundred years ago," he said, straightening his posture. He looked up to meet his Princess's gaze and added, "And recently, reports have come up concerning one of the potential foal-smugglers, an elderly unicorn mare who went under several aliases." Stern Lecture paled, just a little. "Well, I do hope the foals can be found and returned to their families," she said with just enough concern to convince some of the dumber nobles, but not enough for Celestia's liking. The trio of alicorns looked at her with alarm bells ringing in their heads. "After all, trafficking is a serious crime…" The guard turned to Stern Lecture, frowning a bit as he took her in. "Wait a minute…" He trotted up to her, and then around her to take in her features. "You look just like the elderly unicorn in the reports I have received… and what's strange is, all the reports detailed a pony without a cutie mark…" Celestia stood up, wings snapping open. "I'd like to see those reports myself, please…" The guard nodded, and hefted one to her. A quick scan confirmed the gruesome suspicions, which only served to sour her mood. The nobles took heed of her darkening expression and silenced themselves, turning to watch the proceedings as the fireworks unfolded. Another scan of the paper by Luna had her making the same motions as well, and the same held true for Cadence. A flurry of papers later, each one detailing frighteningly similar details, was all it took for Celestia to look at Stern Lecture with damnation in her eyes. Cadence and Luna held darkened expressions as well, promising suffering after they had a look-see at the reports to confirm their own suspicions. "We do not tolerate foal-traffickers in Equestria…" Celestia muttered darkly. Her horn blazed brightly now, and Stern Lecture found herself paling and sweating nervously. "I am not a foal-trafficker! I-I merely relocate my charges so they can undertake the needed lessons in life!" Stern Lecture uttered out, but not only was it too little too late, but that may have ended up accelerating her damnation. "We'll take that…" Luna began, horn flashing, "as a confession. Tell us all you know, and who you know, so we can dismantle the trafficking ring." ~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~ It was an hour later, and the Crusaders were contemplating whether or not to talk to everyone else in the mess hall before heading for the slime ranch, when a plaid and lightning portal opened up for a few seconds, and a pony with her mane smoking in places fell through to land unceremoniously in the floor snout-first. She landed with a sickening crack that made everyone wince and turn in that direction. Sweetie Belle made a noise that sounded like euch, with one eye widening, the other narrowing, and her tongue sticking out as the sound left her mouth. Anna conjured a stone and crystal arrow, gripped it in her claw, put Mr. Muffin on the table, and went over to gently poke the smoking pony on the shoulder with its fletching. Katie turned to Sweetie Belle and gestured at the scene. "Is that…" Sweetie Belle nodded. "The foalsitter Mom and Dad thought was good enough to watch me," she hissed. Anna's ears twitched as she caught it, and the young Lieutenant-General whirled around to face the highest booth where Lance sat. "What should we do with the foalsitter?" Anna asked. Lance spread his wings, jumped from the booth, and flew over, hovering to ensure he wouldn't hit anyone with wingbeats large enough to effectively rival Celestia for a stallion just a half-head shorter than Shining Armor. He wobbled and tilted for a bit, legs flailing for a moment, before he got himself back under control. "Wow," the Crusaders chorused as they watched him hover. "Those wings are so cool! And huge! Not as awesome as Rainbow's, but still cool in their own right!" Scootaloo said in a high-pitched squeal, earning chuckles from the other two. Katie idly nodded. "May as well have traffic lights stapled to them, like what Mom and Dad are probably seeing in Manehattan," Sweetie Belle muttered, somewhat impressed but nowhere near as Scootaloo was. Still, she was smiling. "At least he can fly again." "How does he manage them things? He might as well be part dragon," Apple Bloom piped up, her head cocked as she tried to rationalize to herself how such large wings could be used so effectively. Though, at least she had to admit to herself that Lance stayed out of feather-tickling range. Those things were liable to make ponies sneeze if he teased their noses enough with them. Stern Lecture hadn't moved, but she did let off a muffled groan that indicated she was still among the living. Everyone traded looks, wondering who she had upset and how to have been launched all the way here. Everyone waited for the moment she would rise, and eventually, Stern Lecture figured out her legs weren't broken and made to stand rather wobbly on the unfamiliar ground. The Crusaders winced when they saw her snout was now a little bit crooked, and bleeding a little. Katie winced too, making a noise of discomfort. "Wh… where am I?" Stern Lecture groaned, lifting a hoof to rub her head. Her legs wobbled, and she set the hoof down to balance herself out. She looked around, seeing changelings and gryphons everywhere. "Oh damn it all, first I beseech the Princesses, and now I'm stuck with carnivorous halfbeasts and filthy frumptious insects?!" she yelled, the utterance alone making every gryphon and changeling scowl in her direction. She spotted Anna, and frowned as she took in her features. "Figures I'd run into a foul timberbeast here too… tell me, false unicorn, where I am and how to leave this disgusting place." Anna made her arrow vanish in a burst of viridian light. "You're in the Fantasian city-state of Irongrey Aerie," she said, frowning. "As for how to leave… well, we'd be more than happy to show you the door—" Stern Lecture donned a sickly smile. "Excellent; perhaps I can be in the company of proper—" "—except the door is on the top of the mountain, and if you don't put a can on the racism, you're going to go splat on the bottom," Anna finished, her frown morphing into a scowl. Apple Bloom leaned over to whisper to Katie. "They don't like racists here?" Katie shook her head to answer. Stern Lecture noticed the sound of wings beating, and looked up to find Lance hovering above her. "Oh look, a feather duster," she spat, glaring at Lance. Her denseness was such that she didn't falter when Lance glared right back, his crimson eyes promising to lay on the hurt no matter how old she was. "Why don't you go back to the weather factories, like your kind belongs," she continued. She lit her horn, magically hefted up Blue Crow, who then squawked as she threw him bodily towards Lance. Lance caught the poor sap and shook his head, seeming unfazed about having one of his own soldiers being sent flying in his direction. Lance smirked, and let Blue Crow hop back down with nothing more than a slight wobble. "We don't have weather factories in Fantasia," he said, eyes gleaming. "But we have just the place for racists like you." He pointed a hoof at her. "Take her to the Iron Hold." Two changeling soldiers nodded, and moved to hoist Stern Lecture by her front hooves. Her horn glowed, and she used her magic to shove the soldiers away. Their horns glowed in turn, and a thick green slime quickly wrapped itself around her in a viscous gooey cocoon that hardened into a gelatinous state in seconds and immobilized her in a flash. Stern Lecture's eyes widened, and she looked about, trying to seek help from any source. Her eyes locked with Sweetie Belle's, and she scowled and started to thrash in her limited bonds. "You petulant little brat! When I get out of here, I'll take you to a more proper learning facility, where you'll be taught the things that all decent mares should have learned when they started speaking!" she yelled, albeit somewhat muffled by her prison. Natalie called to the two soldiers as they hefted the thrashing cocoon up in their magic, "Oh yeah, and let Rarity pay a visit to her at some point! She expressed a desire to throttle the nasty foalsitter, and we're not gonna deny an angry big sister that honor!" The soldiers nodded, and proceeded to escort the struggling Stern Lecture out of the mess hall and everyone's sight. "A 'more proper' learning facility?" Anna scoffed once Stern Lecture was shown the door. She turned to Lance, who descended where the smoking mare stood and landed. "Did I hear her correctly?" Lance nodded, and turned to Anna with a firm frown. "You did, you did…" he muttered. "We might have something for Celestia to look into, if only to get the nobles out of her mane for a bit." Another plaid-lightning portal opened up, and Discord popped his head in with a grin. "Already beat you to that punch; it's being investigated as we speak," he said coyly. "And Celestia is personally spear-headding the operation. The nobles can fuss all they want, but even they can't stonewall the Princesses forever." With that, he withdrew his head, and the portal shut behind him. Lance turned to Anna, who looked at him and shrugged. Both then looked to Sweetie Belle, and Anna asked, "Did the foalsitter mention anything about a facility of some kind to you?" Sweetie Belle glumly nodded. "She said she was gonna ship me there if I wasn't going to follow her lessons on the first day of being foalsat, like all the other foals she foalsat before me," she said, frowning. "And what did that facility entail?" Lance questioned, torn ears twitching. At that moment, Rarity trotted over, an eye twitching as a scowl set onto her face. She went around the table and directly to Lance, tail lashing by the tiniest ladylike increments that were physically possible. "Well… let's just say she would have most definitely been horribly abused there, had the foalsitter actually gone through with the threat," she said bluntly. "She had the audacity to tell my little sister some horrid things going on over there at the facility in question, as though being scarred for life wasn't a big deal. As it stands, I'm going to chew our parents out for picking that unladylike wretch for an extended period of time." Lance nodded. "If you need someone to take you to the Iron Hold, we can arrange that," he said, turning to where Stern Lecture had been dragged out. "Given how things are looking, though… I'm starting to think she was banished from Equestria for something very bad." "Good," Rarity hissed. "What's the Iron Hold?" Apple Bloom asked. Katie turned to her and sighed. "That sounds like Irongrey's prison district… and a place we're better off not visiting," she said bluntly. She shook her head and jerked her horn in the direction that Stern Lecture was carted off to. "I'm not sure Lance will even let us visit the Hold anyway." She patted her stomach and added, "Don't want to lose breakfast, do we?" At the trio's unified headshake, she relaxed a little. "Well, good thing the foalsitter's been dealt with, because from what little I heard, I've already got some… choice words for her. And maybe some sharp pointy things." "Fantasians don't play nice when they're mad, do they?" Scootaloo asked. Katie shook her head. "When we play ball, we are not gentle. Though how… rough we get depends on how mad we are, what we get mad at, and who started the whole thing to begin with," she answered. "Let's just say the town of Greenwood got—" At that moment, Anna came over to shove a sanded claw into her mouth. Anna looked to the Crusaders, a rather strained smile emerging on her face. One of her veins, which the Crusaders noted was oddly darkened and showing through her fur already along with several of its fellows, bulged slightly on her forehead. "Let's stop talking about that town now," she said, the corner of her lip twitching as she gave the order. When Katie gave a nod and a muffled grunt of understanding, the sanded claw was removed from her mouth. Mr. Muffin looked at the Crusaders, and they looked at him. Both parties just shrugged at each other over this turn of events.