Tiny was finding herself less and less of a focus to her older sisters now. Tiny had a number of sisters now, at least two dozen at that, she didn't even know all their names yet. Almost all of them were young. Older than her, but still young. Most of them were nice to her, few were a little mean, but Tiny knew that they needed to be that way for other ponies to take their orders seriously. They were all different too, unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies. Two of them were soldiers, the majority of others were workers of some kind, one was an artist. One of them said that they all came to see Daybreaker one time or another, they all got the same response as Tiny had and since none of them had anywhere left to go, they all settled in the closest city where no one would question who they were and why they came. They all were from different lands too, Tiny never heard about most of those places.
The last couple of days, all of them spent attending to their food needs outside the city. Tiny was mostly left to her books, Nightmare Moon only occasionally coming to check on her progress.
"Once an Empress always an Empress," Mister Rich explained to her with a sigh. The stallion became less aggravated with the arrangement since the time they were on the ship. "I am glad to see her again, don't take me wrong. It's just that it took a little time to get used to being told around that's all. Back in the day, we were usually left to our own devices."
Mister Rich and Shadow seemed to be the only ones without a sister inside them. Mister Rich managed to retain somewhat warm relations with everyone, while Shadow kept to herself and only talked to anyone who wasn't either Daybreaker or Nightmare Moon when she had to. She still provoked much interest from the sisters, no one ever saw Shadow eat anything after all. Someone regularly asked her about it, but the changeling would either answer very short with no details, or would try to avoid the question entirely.
Tiny was certain the older sisters knew, but Daybreaker was much too intimidating to annoy with unessential questions and Nightmare Moon simply did not allow almost anyone to talk to her unless permitted. This arrangement at first proved discouraging for their new subjects, but they almost immediately acclimatized, regaining their morale again.
For now, having exited the city to avoid new clashes with the authorities, they set up camp a few hours away from the outer wall. It wasn't visible from their forest encampment, but everyone knew it was there. Nightmare Moon then ordered a list of their sisters to be drawn including their professions and two names for each: the host's and the sister's, if she ever thought about choosing her own. While her sisters were busy, Nightmare Moon consulted with Daybreaker privately. Tiny didn't know exactly what they were talking about, but it was easy to guess that they were forming a plan on how to get to their destination with this company in tow.
Daybreaker soon charted another circle on the ground and brought a few more camping supplies for those who didn't have their own. Tiny didn't think she had any more back at her house and Daybreaker sternly told everyone that their tents and backpacks should be in perfect condition whenever she decided to check.
As soon as the immediate problems were settled, Daybreaker began re-aligning her circle. She was done with that the same day, but Nightmare Moon has not given the order even three days later. Tiny tried to ask her, but her older sister only said that it had to be this way. So, all of them waited. The terrain was easy to forage, so no one really minded waiting a little.
On the second day of their encampment, Nightmare Moon asked the two soldiers with them to take the weapons they took from the city guard and teach others how to use them, which snuffed out any discontent anyone had over waiting for seemingly nothing. Tiny personally wasn't impressed by bladed weapons. In her hometown, even in her younger years, she saw much more impressive weapons. She asked Mister Rich once and he told her that those were called "guns." They were awfully loud, though.
The day after that, something finally happened: another group of ponies carrying backpacks and pulling more wagons. There were another five in total, they seemed to be a family. Nightmare Moon gave them a long stare as they were arriving and ordered the camp to be folded. Daybreaker set to opening the gate. Tiny saw one of those ponies before they left the city. She was asking very persistently to speak to Nightmare Moon but as soon as she did, she was gone. Others cheered for her return.
Soon the gate was operational again and Daybreaker walked in first. She was gone for a few minutes, before returning back to declare that the other side was safe. Ponies were staring at the shimmering gate with suspicion and it took another few travels back and forth to convince them to go through. Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker both made their ponies form an orderly line and move through without obstructing anyone. Once everyone was on the other side, it was their turn. Mister Rich went first.
"Daybreaker, would you go now?" Nightmare Moon asked. "I wish to have a moment with our little sister in private." The bright mare gave her sister a blank look but obeyed without a word.
"How are you feeling, sister?" Nightmare Moon asked unusually softly, looking down warmly at her. Tiny could swear she would be smiling if she had a mouth.
"Okay?" Tiny was unsure about what her older sister wanted to hear.
"Are your relations with the others fine? They don't pick on you?"
"No... They are nice to me."
"Good... I am sorry that I cannot devote more time to teaching you for now. Our sisters insist on following us to mount Aris, you see. Once we are there, everything will be back to normal," Nightmare Moon made a short pause to let Tiny process what was said. "Say, what do you think about your other sisters now that you have met them?"
"I don't know," Tiny honestly answered, she never really thought about how she felt about them, or almost anyone in general.
"Are they different from the ponies you knew before? Are they better or worse? Perhaps they feel different to you?" Nightmare Moon gently nudged.
"They don't try to beat me. They aren't afraid of me. They don't ask where my parents are," Tiny recounted. "I think I like them."
"That is good, very good," Nightmare Moon said, pleased. "have you spoken to any of them yet?"
"With some, Mister Marching Square and Missus Rose Nectar asked me my name and gave me some pellets. They later asked me how I met you."
"Did you tell them?"
"I told them that I used a spell."
"Good, did they ask anything else?"
"They wanted to know if I liked pie. Missus Nectar said she enjoys baking."
"What did you say?"
"I said that I never ate a pie before. She looked at me weirdly after that." Nightmare Moon was silent for a while after that last response, long enough for Tiny to think that her older sister spaced out again. In the end, she told Tiny to join the others. Tiny cautiously approached the gate, not totally sure it won't hurt her if she does something wrong. Nightmare Moon nudged her to simply step into the portal as if it was a doorway. It turned out to be easy. On the other side, she was suddenly greeted with the already familiar sound of the tides washing on the shore and the cries of seagulls. Immediately she was greeted by, as usual, grumpy Daybreaker. She was standing immediately on the other side, waiting to close the gate. Nightmare Moon soon crossed as well and Daybreaker closed the gate as quickly as she opened it.
"Excellent accuracy, sister," Nightmare Moon congratulated without even looking at her and swiftly disappeared among the ponies who were setting the camp over again. The air had a general feeling of confusion in it. Mount Aris was just about an hour away, they could see it from their position on the shore, Nightmare Moon still gave no order to move. Instead, the great mare disappeared for about an hour, before returning again and ordering everyone to be at ease. Tiny returned to her books. Without her sister constantly looking over her shoulder, now she could try something more fun than illusion spells. For example, teleporting.
Teleporting required experimentation, even more so than other spells. If Daybreaker saw her, with how completely submissive to her sister she was, Nightmare Moon would know what Tiny was doing almost immediately after. So Tiny decided to find a spot where she can practice with impunity.
Mister Rich told her once that he only ever knew two unicorns who could teleport. To her, it came very easy. She managed her first teleport in twenty minutes since she started practicing. Back before her older sister started training her, she would've taken this for granted, but now it was unsettling her. This wasn't normal. Spoiled Milk may have been talented, but not to this extreme degree. He didn't progress this fast by himself. It was as if she somehow already knew everything there was to know about magic, she couldn't tell how, she simply knew. Too bad it didn't include her focus, she wouldn't have had to spend weeks holding the orb.
Tiny pondered this puzzle on her way back to the camp from her hideaway behind nearby rocks. Suddenly, she remembered something. It wasn't a complete memory, just a faint picture. Tiny realized that she remembered herself learning to teleport before. The feeling of her stomach being tugged and pulled was familiar.
The young sorceress focused on the memory harder to maybe try and find something associated with it, and she did. She remembered teleporting other ponies and the smell of gunpowder and smoke. A battle?
She also remembered something else - pain. She deduced that she was wounded somehow. Then the pain changed, it became not physical but... different. Then the memory abruptly seized. She could only vaguely remember herself being dragged away by a stallion. She was certain she knew his name, but she couldn't remember.
She had to abandon her attempts and drop down closer to the sand. Something was going on in the camp. The preparations ceased. Ponies weren't going around, loudly unpacking their supplies and chatting. Instead, the ones going around the camp and going inside tents were hippogriffs, each one armed with a rifle and wearing a blue uniform. They were leading ponies out of their tents and putting them behind the outer tents in the camp center.
Tiny quickly crossed the distance to the closest tent. She was light enough for her gallop to not be heard on the sand. Tiny could hear the hippogriffs grimly grunt orders which her sisters silently obeyed, it looked like the negotiations were already over. Tiny dropped down on the ground and rolled on her back, then lifted the tent's bottom slightly to see what was going on with her sisters.
They were seemingly okay, scared, but unharmed. Daybreaker was there too, she was sitting on the outskirts of the circle with her eyes closed and breathing in a steady rhythm. Her muscles were relaxed and did not produce a single twitch. Nightmare Moon was nowhere to be seen. The scene confused her. The soldiers weren't hurting them, but they didn't treat them very friendly either. They just arrived, they haven't done anything yet. They weren't allowed to talk, since all of them kept completely silent.
Soon, one of the hippogriffs stood in front of the rounded-up ponies,
"You all are charged with illegal crossing of Seaquestria Kingdom's border," he spoke out the learned phrase, not even trying to hide how bored he was. "You shall be detained, investigated and your property searched. Do not resist and you shall not be harmed."
"Do what you must, officer," Daybreaker calmly spoke up without opening her eyes. "None of us has any intention to resist. We shall pick up the camp and go willingly to your city with you."
"That is not necessary. Your property is seized." The dissatisfied murmur rolled over the captive ponies, "Quiet down, or you shall be tied."
"Officer, I am afraid you misunderstand," Daybreaker's tone was starting to sound threatening, while her eyes were still closed and expression perfectly tranquil. "You cannot confiscate royal property. I and my sister are here to meet your queen. Take us to her and spare us both the trouble."
"That's it, I warned you," the officer said without interest and turned away to his subordinates. "Tie them up into a line with a rope, troopers. We set out in five. Longtide, grab someone and start inventorying the camp, the border control would want it done in the next few hours."
"Yes-sir," another hippogriff answered mechanically.
"Officer, you again misunderstand," this time Daybreaker opened her eyes and stood up to her full impressive height, dwarfing both the ponies and hippogriffs around, her eyes drilling into the officer. "You will not treat royalty in such a way."
"And I keep telling you to shut up and you just won't stop making it worse for yourself," the officer turned back to her. "You think I am afraid of you just because you are big and have a horn, eh? Do you know what we say in the platoon? The bigger they are, the larger the target they make," the soldiers gave a short laugh. Daybreaker gave out a loud annoyed sigh.
"For the last time, officer. Call off your ruffians from our possessions or you will regret not doing so," Daybreaker didn't just threaten, she promised. It didn't come as too much of a surprise to Tiny that the officer made a step back from the sheer confidence of the statement.
"Hey, y-you are crazy. There are fifteen of us and just one of you. You realize that you can't fight us?" the officer was now visibly nervous, he was standing right in front of her after all. Without looking away, Daybreaker gave him the most unsettling, predatory grin Tiny ever saw in her life, it sent shivers don't her whole body.
"I assure you, there will be no fight," she purred. Tiny was... impressed, she was forced to concede that her bigger sister was a lot more cunning than she looked.
Suddenly one of the soldiers fired his rifle in the air, causing the ponies still seated in the tight circle to yelp.
"We are authorized to use lethal force!" he shouted and pointed his weapon at Daybreaker.
No, that was too far, Tiny thought. If they were going to hurt her sister even if... No, they won't hurt her sister.
The soldier suddenly dropped his weapon and reached for his neck, his eyes went as wide as they could go. The rest of the soldiers quickly ended up in the same exact predicament. The air was then filled with loud choking from a dozen of beaks at the same time. Then, just as quickly, a series of loud snaps sounded and the hippogriffs dropped down to the ground, then it was quiet again. Daybreaker lost her grin and could only stare in confusion, as to the hippogriffs, they now all lay dead around her.