//------------------------------//
// Get Ready to Meet your Maker 
// Story: Knights of Haysead 
// by Kaiser Perminente 
//------------------------------//

	Well, here it is. I "damn well" felt like uploading it. Here it is, without further ado, Chapter 7!                

-Knights of Haysead Ch. 7:
Aquila Umbra wasn’t particularly interesting. At least, that was how he saw himself. He had his fair share of inconsistencies that made him unique. One of these was his gifted engineering skill. He was in charge of building and maintaining his party’s advanced weaponry. He used weapon-crafting as a pastime. In fact, he was creating a new set of knife-equipped armor for himself when he heard the door swing open violently.
“Aquila!” Rainbow Dash yelled from the front of the Curio Shoppe.
Umbra quickly ran out of the secret annex to meet the cry. In front of him, stood Rainbow Dash, sweaty, exhausted and disheveled. His mouth fell open.
“What happened?”
“Green Hoof, the changeling…” She coughed and spat on the floor. “He attacked us, Wisp is…”
Aquila could see tears begin to well in her eyes.
“She’s dead, Aquila, he killed her!”
Umbra nearly fainted at those words. He had known Wisp since they were both foals. They had gone through nearly their entire lives together. They went through training together, and rose through the ranks together. He had even had a small crush on her at one point. But now she was gone. It couldn’t be true. He held back his water works as best as possible, but ultimately failed, letting a slow stream of saltwater flow down his face. 
“Rainbow Dash, where is that bastard?!” The pure rage in his voice was clearly audible. 
“The same place where I found Sly Horn… That’s where… she is.”
Aquila grabbed some of his equipment, much of it being from his own workshop, and burst through the door. He ran towards the location which Dash had described. He felt the same sense of urgency as he did when he had heard her blow that whistle two weeks earlier. Rage, fear, devastation, and absolute frenzy coursed through his veins.
He arrived at the Ponyville home which had become unfortunately notorious for Khazae murders recently. He hopped up a series of nearby crates to the shingled rooftop. What he saw made him sick to his stomach. There she was, sprawled across the roof with a long, red slit across her neck. Aquila dropped next to her and felt her face. She was stone cold. Her heart had stopped long before he got there. 
He sat and wept next to her corpse. This mare had been full of energy not an hour earlier. She was ready to go out and find Sepulchre, to take him down in the name of Admissarius Rex, in the name of Celestia. But now, she was a lifeless body. Thoughts no longer occurred in her head, her hatred for the enemy no longer drove her further. Grey Wisp was gone forever.
“You son of a bitch… I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apple Bloom dipped her quill into the inkwell on the table. She had been told, by her older sister, to write if anything significant happened. Well something significant was certainly happening. She began to compose the letter like she’d seen her sister do for the princess.
Applejack,
You told me to write if anything bad happened, well something bad is happening. Big Mac and Green Hoof still haven’t shown up and those assassin guys you were watching have just disappeared. There was a fire in town three days ago. But, the Royal Guard has said it’s nothing to be worried about. There’s also some weird stallion who keeps showing up at the market yelling about the Guard keeping secrets about the truth of the fire. He’s been coming by the farm asking if we’ve seen Green Hoof. 
I’m starting to think that he has something to do with them going missing. Scootaloo seems to think that there’s some sorta crazy military takeover going on. I told her she’s crazy but I still don’t know… 
, Apple Bloom
She inserted the letter into the Apple Family mailbox and put up the flag. She trotted back inside and saw the same stallion that she’d mentioned walking up to her. 
“Have either of them shown up yet?”
Apple Bloom got really angry. “No, now will ya quit askin’? It’s hard enough to deal with ma brother goin’ missin’ without you houndin’ me about it all the time!” She hung her head low and began walking inside again.
“Wait…”
She turned back.
“I didn’t want to have to tell you this, but…” He took in a deep breath. “I think your brother might have been in that fire.”
“Wha…?” Apple Bloom’s eyes began to tear up.
“Now, I’m not sure, but I think that the pony who started that fire was an enemy of mine. The building that burned housed my colleagues. Whoever did that was set out to kill them, and I think he dragged McIntosh into it. I’m sorry, but your brother may have been killed.”
Apple Bloom was speechless. She just couldn’t believe that Big McIntosh could be dead. She refused to. She buried her face in her shoulder and ran into her house.
The stallion walked up to the door which Apple Bloom had just slammed, and quietly knocked. There was no answer. He raised his hoof knock again, but before he made contact, an angry looking old mare answered the door. 
“What do you want?” She had clearly spoken to Apple Bloom.
“Ma’am, my name is Aquila. I need to talk to you about your grandson…”
“What did you tell Apple Bloom?!”
“I only told her what I knew. Maybe I should have talked to you first, ma’am. I’m sorry.”
Granny Smith, who was still seething with anger, squinted at Aquila.
“What the hay happened to McIntosh?”
Aquila began to relay the story of Green Hoof, a traitor to the Princess who had found a comfortable hiding place in Ponyville. He told her about Dius Cognatio, Sly Horn, Silent Step’s trial, Rainbow Dash’s affiliation, Grey Wisp, and of course, hiring McIntosh to keep an eye on the changeling.
Granny Smith politely listened to the whole tale without uttering a word.
“… That’s why he set fire to the Curio Shoppe. We had a secret bureau there. I think McIntosh might have been lured inside before the blaze was set off.”
The old mare remained steady. “Now tell me one thing, Sonny.”
“What’s that ma’am?”
“I’ve seen ya around the market yellin’ somethin’ about corruption in the Royal Guard. What’s that about?”
Aquila sighed before continuing. “Well, the Royal Guard aren’t exactly our biggest fans. They’ve been trying to disperse us for centuries. If word of that fire got to Canterlot, we could easily exonerate Silent Step, which they don’t want to happen. They’ve been watching me, and aren’t going to let me leave town.”
Granny Smith waited before speaking again. “Come inside.”
Aquila was confused. “Excuse me?”
“Get in the house.”
He obeyed and stepped in. He kept his eyes from wandering too much, in fear that he might turn to see that filly crying in a corner at the loss of her brother.
“Do ya know where he is?”
Aquila shook his head. “No. He left long before I got to Wisp’s body.”  
“Are y’all sure McIntosh was in that fire?”
“I’m not certain, but I’m pretty sure.”
Granny Smith took a deep breath. Aquila had been surprised at her ability to keep her composure despite his terrible news.
“You’re gonna stay here until we can catch that maniac. He’s probably still lookin’ for ya.”
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Silent Step looked up and down the newest expert in his trial. He was some professor at Canterlot University and an expert in forensics and weaponry. Silent Step saw confidence in his eyes, arrogant confidence. He saw a certain flair that was unique to tenured doctors. He hadn’t bothered to listen to the stallion’s name. He would have forgotten it anyway, let it bleed into his unmistakable, cocky character.
The Professor took his place at the stand and took his oath. Cold Justice came up to begin asking about the details of Sly Horn’s murder. 
“Professor, you examined the body at the scene of the crime, correct?”
“Yes I did.” His sneer tone confirmed Silent Step’s earlier suspicions.
“And did you get a good look at the wound?” 
“Yes, sir.”
“Now, were you able to identify what kind of weapon was used to make that wound?”
“Yes, based on my observations, I would say that it was made by a Saddle Arabian steel scimitar, pardon the alliteration, circa third Era 420.” 
Silent Step began making more judgments. The professor was obviously court- trained. He spoke with certainty and clarity, and even threw in the little joke, showing familiarity with the courtroom.
Cold Justice spoke again. “How certain are you that this was the weapon used?”
“I’d say about eighty percent.”
Cold Justice’s expression told Silent Step that he wanted the professor to be about 20% more certain. He quickly recovered from the sudden shock of the low certainty and resumed his follow- up questions.
“Now, being the ancient arms expert that you are, surely you know about the weaponry distributed through the Khazae ranks, am I correct?”
“You are.”
“So, would you mind telling us what sorts of arms are given to assassin parties?”
“Saddle Arabian steel scimitars, usually from the fifth century of the Third Era.”
The jury members began to furiously scribble on legal pads and notebooks. 
Silent Step nodded at Closed Case who promptly stood and slammed his hoof on the table, hushing the crowd.
“Objection!”
Fair Verdict looked at Silent Step, annoyed. “What is it?”
“My client’s weapon was found not to be the murder weapon. In fact neither the murder weapon nor Sly Horn’s swords were found.”
Fair Verdict’s expression changed. He quickly became impressed. “Sustained.” He turned to the cartographer. “Take the Professor’s last quote off the record.
Silent Step once again breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe, he wasn’t completely doomed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The gullible moron was gone. Sepulchre stood once again. He peered through the open doorway where the bookcase used to be. He could see the other Khazae, most of them performing mindless tasks, not paying attention to him. They obviously hadn’t heard the conversation that had just occurred between him and Aquila. 
He took a quick count of those in the room. Three, he added four to account for Silent Step, Sly Horn, Grey Wisp, and Aquila Umbra. That sill left three of them who were probably patrolling the streets, looking for signs of trouble. He decided to wait for them to get back. Or perhaps he could coerce them back to the Curio Shop.
Still in the form of Rainbow Dash, he took off out the door, intent on bringing the Khazae patrol back with him. 
He found them all grouped together walking through the market. He quickly landed and started frantically yelling something about Aquila needing them. He couldn’t even understand half of what was coming out of his mouth. Somehow, they seemed to decode the message and, all of them being pegasi, flew back to the Curio Shoppe, Sepulchre in tow. 
He had them all now, well, except Umbra, but he would be necessary to send the message. Sepulchre followed the patrol into the Khazae base. While the first of the group was in the middle of opening the secret entrance, Sepulchre picked up one of a candle off of the front desk. The others in the room didn’t seem to notice as he stepped back out of the building, dropping the candle as he flung the door open and jumped out. The fire caught the wood floor immediately. A wall of flame blocked the only exit. 
Sepulchre laughed, but was still upset that he wouldn’t be able to stick around and watch his enemies burn. Somepony would soon see the smoke and call the fire brigade. Sepulchre took off and made his way back to Rainbow Dash’s cloud home. After all, he had to pack before leaving for Canterlot tomorrow. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was about two o’clock in the morning. Aquila Umbra was reading an Equestrian Book of Law which he had retrieved from the library. He was sitting at a desk in the Apple family home, a lone candle bringing light to the pages of the six pound hardback. He was looking for something, anything about that would allow him to ignore the Royal Guards orders. He knew they were obstructing evidence in a high- profile federal case. There had to be something about that.
His eyes drifted across a passage. National statute 15.31, section B, article 3. He had been taught about this statute by the Khazae. This was their ace in the hole, set up by Princess Celestia herself. Being as exhausted as he was, he couldn’t quite remember the details of it. He read over the first half. He noticed the ‘Exempt from all charges’ part. But before his hopes got to high, he read the next half. 
“Royal orders.” 
He slammed his head on the desk, a bit too hard. His nose began bleeding profusely. He yelled out a string of curses with impunity.
Granny Smith opened the door. “Would ya keep it down in here? It’s too darn early!”
He walked out and moved to the restroom to examine his bloody nostrils. He looked at himself in the mirror. After cleaning off his face with some nearby tissues, he noticed the bathroom window in the mirror. Through it was Canterlot. If he could only fly, there were no guardsmen in the way. Nothing blocked the strait path to the Equestrian Capital. I only he could reach it. He would burst into the courtroom and be the first to tell them of the murder of his companions. He could get Silent Step freed. If only… 
“Holy Crap…” 
If ever there were a perfect idea alarm, it would have been blaring right then. 
“Granny Smith!” He called out into the hallway. 
The old mare peeked her head out of her bedroom door. “Eh, what d’ya want?”
“I need to find a pegasus!” 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight was the one on the stand this time. She was the only witness to the crime that was willing to take the prosecution’s side. She had already taken the oath and was in the middle of recalling the fateful night. 
“One of them, I don’t know which, jumped out behind me, put a sword to my neck, and told me that this was ‘none of my concern.’ I decided it would just be better if I went home. But on my way, I heard a loud whistle blow. I went in that direction and found Silent Step standing right next to Sly Horn’s body. When I tried to confront him, he ended up accidently backing off the roof.”
Cold Justice waited a second to make sure she’d finished. “Now, was there anypony else there?”
“Not that I could see.”
“I see, and-”
He was interrupted by a loud bang as the large double doors of the courtroom fly open. Running in, was Aquila Umbra, followed by a gray, blonde- maned pegasus.  Two Royal Guards were chasing them. Aquila quickly surveyed the crowd watching him. He stopped as he approached the front of the aisle. 
“Silent Step!” 
He was immediately tackled to the ground. He reached out, trying to get his words out as the guardsmen obstructed his airflow. Fair Verdict smashed his gavel against the bench multiple times. 
“What is the meaning of this?!” He motioned for the guards to let Aquila speak.
Once he caught his breath, he spoke with urgency. “The Royal Guard is tampering with the evidence of this trial!”
The judge wasn’t amused. “How dare you accuse the guard of such a thing!”
Aquila’s companion slammed down her hoof. “It’s true, your honor!”
He quickly covered her mouth. “Derpy, what did I say about letting me do the talking?”
Her ears fell and her head hung in shame.
Aquila resumed his speech. “It’s true. There…” He looked at Silent Step, then Admissarius, whom he had just noticed. “There was an attack on the Khazae that the Royal Guard are covering up.”
A gasp enveloped the crowd.
“Are you saying that the Royal Guard attacked you?”
“No, it was the same pony that killed Sly Horn! But the Royal Guard is trying to keep that information from getting into this courtroom!”
There was another ubiquitous gasp.
“When did this attack occur?”
“Four days ago. They set fire to our Ponyville Bureau. I was the only one who survived.”
Silent Step, Admissaurius Rex, and both Princesses had the same reaction. Of course, everypony else in the courtroom was shocked by the news, but with those four, it really hit home. Silent Step had lost a sister and six other companions. Admissarius lost another seven of his best soldiers. And the Princesses had lost faith. Faith in the fact that they wouldn’t have to do what they were about to do.
Admissarius looked at Princess Celestia, who was already staring back. He nodded and she flew out of her royal seating section. She landed in the floor space right in front of Fair Verdict. Her wings fanned out, gathering everypony’s attention. She took a deep breath.
“By the power vested in me by the Royal Court of Equestria, I hereby issue a royal pardon upon Silent Step and his partner.”
In the confusion, some of the crowd cheered, some were angry at the sudden intervention, others, like Silent Step, were still in disbelief at the message which Aquila Umbra had just delivered. Cold Justice looked as if he wanted to jump upon Princess Celestia and strangle her.
Aquila, himself, was looking around frantically. He really hated crowds, and the almost- riot that was erupting around him brought out the quintessence of his fear. As he was swinging his head back and forth, he caught a glimpse of Rainbow Dash angrily slamming her hoof into the ground. His first thought was about why she would be angry. But then he remembered, up until that point, he thought that Rainbow Dash had perished in the fire. After all, he hadn’t seen her since then.
“SEPULCHRE!” Surprisingly he was able to raise his voice above the chaos.
Nearly everypony in the courtroom stared at him. Sepulchre heard the rage in his voice and knew better than to stay where he was. To his left was a window. Good Enough. He took off at full speed through it. Glass shards punctured his coat, causing him to wince. He flew as fast as he could toward Ponyville. He didn’t even risk a peek over his shoulder. he knew he was being chased. All he could do was fly faster.
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Rainbow Dash, the real Rainbow Dash, slowly nibbled at the hay bed that lined the floor of her prison. It was her only food, and she’d been rationing it for the past few days, or however long she’d been there. She’d lost count without the aid of sunlight. McIntosh had been complaining of a headache and fell asleep an hour earlier. She sat alone again, thinking of whatever there was to think about.
Silent Step’s trial was going on then. She wondered how it was going. He had kept saying that he would surely loose and go to prison or be executed. She began to feel guilty once again for the whole ordeal. Had she not been so stupid and ignorant, this whole thing never would have happened. Once again she felt as though she was going to cry, but she just couldn’t. There was barely enough water in her system to stay conscious, much less a surplus to spend on something like crying.
Interrupting her train of thought was a sound outside. She couldn’t quite tell what it was. It sounded like the not so steady landing of a pegasus. She stood up, listening for something else. Maybe it was somepony who could help her. The next sound she heard was glass breaking, followed by some kind of crackling sound. 
Next came the yelling. There was more than one pony out there. She listened intently, trying to pick up if the unintelligible noise was a voice that she recognized. For a split second she thought she could hear Silent Step. But that was impossible. He was on trial in Canterlot, he couldn’t be here. 
Third and finally came the smell. It was pretty familiar, as it is to everypony. Smoke, there was a fire nearby. Very nearby. Rainbow Dash could feel the heat. That wasn’t good.
“McIntosh! McIntosh, wake up!”
Big Mac woke up and, upon smelling the smoke himself, jolted upward, knocking his head on the top of the crate. 
“What? What is it?!”
“I think there’s a fire!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Follow him, damn it!” 
Aquila yelled at the others in the courtroom. About twenty pegasi guardsmen took off through the broken window following top speed after Sepulchre. Celestia lowered her left wing to Silent Step. At first he didn’t realize what she was doing. But when he figured it out, he was still hesitant.
“Listen, Silent Step, do you want him to get away or not?”
He nodded and climbed onto her back. If there was one thing he wasn’t going to do, it was let that bastard get away. 
Celestia took off and also flew through the place where the intricate, stained glass window used to be. Out in front, Silent Step could make out the formation of guards following a rainbow colored trail. Sepulchre had Rainbow Dash’s body, which meant he had all of her physical abilities. They would never be able to beat him to Ponyville. They would just have to apprehend him when they got there, which may take a while. Silent Step felt a burning rage growing in his stomach. He just wished that he were the one flying. With the amount of adrenaline pumping through his body, he would be able to make it to Ponyville in ten seconds flat. 
He then got an idea, an insane idea. But his blind rage blocked any reason or second thought. 
“Princess?!” He had to yell over the intense wind.
“What?!”
“I want you to throw me at him!”
Celestia was utterly shocked at this proposal. There was no way that she was just going to chuck him at Sepulchre. First of all, missing was a huge possibility. Second, even if he did hit Sepulchre, they would both end up tumbling out of the sky to their inevitable deaths.
“I can’t do that, Silent Step!”
“With all due respect, Princess, it wasn’t a suggestion.”
She sighed. She wasn’t going to argue with him right now. He was beyond reasoning with. He had one thing in mind, and Celestia knew this. If he wanted to be flung at a changeling, she was going to fling him at a changeling. 
Celestia reached onto her back and grabbed Silent Step. “Ready?!”
“As I’ll ever be!”
With one, swift motion, she chucked Silent Step at full force toward Sepulchre. Once he was in the air, he spread out his forelegs to use as ailerons. He grew ever closer to his adversary, over passing the guardsmen. Within five seconds he slammed into an unsuspecting Sepulchre. He tried to grab on to the changeling, but failed, falling away into the woodlands below. 
Sepulchre, however, was knocked a bit, but was still able to fly. He landed roughly next to a very familiar warehouse. He got up and angrily began stomping the ground. He looked up at where the guardsmen were flying. They were still a considerable distance away. He came to a decision.
“Fuck the ransom.” 
He grabbed a lantern hanging from the front of the warehouse, lit it, and tossed it through a small hole in the wall. He heard a satisfying crash, followed by the crackle of the fire catching the wood.
Before he could enjoy the sound too much, a figure appeared in the forest. The figure moved ever closer before Sepulchre figured out what it was. He began to back up, and just as he had reached a running speed, Silent Step tackled him. He began to beat him furiously. 
“This one’s for Sly Horn!” Wham! “This one’s for Dius Cognatio!” Wham! That continued for the other six Khazae, before he finally arrived on the one he’d been waiting for. “This one… is for Wisp!” He stood on his forelegs and brought the rear two down heavily upon Sepulchre’s face. The changeling screamed louder than anything else in the forest. Silent Step panted savagely standing over the near-dead changeling. 
It wasn’t until then that he’d noticed the burning building next to him. He looked over at it and thought he heard screams. He listened closer and recognized their source almost immediately. He pried open the door of the ware house, letting out a tsunami of smoke. He ducked down, coughed, and made his way in. 
This was about the time when the Royal Guard had made it to the scene. A few of them entered the building after Silent Step. Two of them went over to Sepulchre’s broken figure. And the rest of them remained in the air, trying to keep the smoke from spreading anywhere.
Inside the warehouse, Silent Step couldn’t see anything. He worked solely following the sound of Rainbow Dash’s fading cries. He found the crate in which she’d been locked. After failing to pry it open, he simple picked up the entire crate and dragged it outside. The guardsmen that went in with him found the crate that contained Big McIntosh and were able to move it out of the warehouse. 
Once they were safely outside, one of the guardsmen picked up a rusty metal stake off the ground and pried McIntosh’s crate open. He immediately rolled out and took a deep breath of the fresh air, which he had sorely missed. 
The stake was passed on to Silent Step who inserted into Rainbow Dash’s crate and was able to force it open. Rainbow Dash, too, rolled out. But she wasn’t awake. Silent Step went wide- eyed. He began to shake her.
“Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash wake up!”
She slowly opened her eyes and coughed out the last few liters of smoke in her lungs. 
“S- Silent Step?”
All he could do was smile, something he hadn’t done honestly in a long time. Rainbow Dash returned the facial expression, her face covered in ash. He leaned down and pressed his lips firmly against hers. She couldn’t help but let it happen. Time began to slow to a freeze. And the moment was pure magic.


Well, that's all, folks! I will be uploading an epilogue eventually, followed by a "The Making Of" in a blog post. Thanks for sticking with me. Also thanks one more time to Yoonicorn and space_pony