I have separated the Harmony Event into four processes: Charging, Reassociation, Reconstruction and Renewal. Each process happens in that order, but it can also be accurately said that each happens simultaneously. It is best to imagine a Harmony Event not as a proper sequence of events in time so much as a logical progression where each element flows from the previous one.

... The Charging sequence is the one we are most familiar with, as it and the Renewal process are the only observable parts of a Harmony Event. This is the process by which the Elements of Harmony create the energy used in the Magic of Harmony. The Charging sequence takes the form of a self-feeding resonance across all dimensions that grows via its own constructive interference at a simple geometric rate, doubling with each period. Experiments have verified that the starting energy of the sequence is the total energy that makes up the ponies wielding the Elements at the time they initiate a Harmony Event or Proxy Event.

... This geometric growth has an absurdly short period, with the major difference between a Proxy Event and a Harmony Event most evident in the varying length of this period. A Proxy Event's period is approximately 8.3x10E-2 seconds. For an average Charging sequence of three seconds, this generates more than enough power to accomplish any practical goal.

For a true Harmony Event the period is much, much shorter. While measurements are wildly inaccurate at these scales, from the equations described above I have been able to discern the period during a Harmony Event must be no more than 6.234x10E-40 seconds, and may in fact be orders of magnitude less. The total time the Charging sequence takes is between two and four seconds from a perspective internal to the Event. This, unfortunately, cannot be verified objectively, since any external points cease to have meaning less than half a second into the sequence.

-From the seventh section of Harmony Theory by Twilight Sparkle

Chapter Fourteen: Loyalty

The empty hills stretched out before them, indistinct in the rain save as darker shadows against the black sky. Calumn followed Blaze as the earth pony kept up a brisk pace despite the darkness. Normally trotting or running in the dark was a bad idea over open land, as there was no way to see pitfalls or rocks that could break legs and worse. For Blaze, though, this was probably equivalent to a walk in the park. No floating skulls, no alluring voices, no targeted lightning, and no giant undead bears. Calumn figured that the dark and the rain might be a welcome vacation from the malicious chaos of the Everstorm.

A sudden intense burst of feeling made Calumn stop, turning to stare back at the compound. “Hey, what’s up?” Blaze asked, noticing his stare.

Calumn nodded. “I didn’t think the connection was still open. I guess it was. I just felt it snap. It only does that when the pony I’m connected to dies.”

“I don’t know, but he died scared,” Calumn said, frowning at the memory of the last emotion to come to him through the bond. It wasn’t the usual fear he’d gotten from Conrad, but it was close. Instead of a colt’s fear of getting caught being naughty, it was a colt’s terror at having been caught.

“Come on, buddy,” Blaze said, turning back to the dark hills. “We’ve got a long way to go yet.”

Lieutenant Hard Boiled scratched at the bandages that wound all the way around his torso. The wounds that the would-be assassin left him with itched. None of them had been life-threatening, but they’d taken him to a hospital anyway, where he'd been stitched up and was now healing slowly but cleanly. He’d wanted to get back to work immediately but his superiors had insisted he spend at least the night in the hospital. He’d obliged, if only because they gave him enough painkillers to dull the roaring ache of his horn to a sullen throb. A good night’s sleep later, though, and he was up and working again. Mandatory injury leave be damned, he’d finally gotten a break in his case.

Barry had been extremely helpful in HB’s end-run around the rules. He’d surreptitiously brought the case files to HB in the hospital and covered for him as he’d slipped out. He was seriously re-evaluating his opinion of the earth pony. Barry was nowhere near as clueless as he first appeared. He was still a little too eager to please, but that could be chalked up to youth and inexperience, and it kept him working the long hours Hard Boiled was demanding of him.

Not being officially on the clock had another bonus for him: it meant he didn't have to log what he was doing now in the records. That would be good for him, and even better for the pony he had come to meet.

HB sat on a plush bench in the spacious grand foyer of Senator Alan Birchfield's mansion. The ceiling was high and domed in glass, allowing the moon to shine down from the cloudless sky. The centre of the foyer had an artful arrangement of plants and statuary, the centrepiece being a life-sized statue of a playful mare with a frizzy mane, her head thrown back in laughter and a gem gleaming blue at her throat. It caught his attention and it wasn't until another pony came to collect him that he realized he'd been staring at it. He flicked his magic on for a moment, but nothing important jumped out at him so he dismissed the oddity as simple fatigue.

"The Senator will see you now," the unicorn butler said, gesturing for HB to follow him. The detective obliged. He followed the butler down the north wing of the mansion, trying not to stare at the ostentatious displays of wealth that adorned every wall. It wasn't often that a cop got to make a personal visit to the estates of the powerful. Senators weren't above the law, but they were usually rich enough to make them close to untouchable. No, when a Senator did wrong it wasn't a pony like HB that would bring them down. That wasn't a good thing for them, it just meant the ponies who did bring them down were much, much harsher about it than a law-bound detective could ever be.

He was led into a warm study, plush benches and chairs spaced around a thickly-carpeted room that was lit by a fireplace and a few old-looking lanterns set into the walls. Bookshelves full of leather-bound tomes were set between displays of antique art and trophies won in distant lands across the seas. Senator Birchfield had been a renowned adventurer, soldier and diplomat in his youth, and had seen much of the world outside the borders of the Republics. This was part of the reason HB had sought a meeting with him now.

The other part was displayed behind enchanted glass in the center of the room, taking up a place of honor amongst so many other trophies of times long past. It was a small statue of a pegasus mare taking flight, her wings wide and her eyes trained upwards. The work was exquisite, and so well kept that it looked almost new, despite being a millennium old.

"Beautiful, is it not?" Birchfield asked, standing next to the display as Hard Boiled entered the room. He was an aging pegasus, his sandy feathers running to gray and a well-trimmed silver beard giving his muzzle greater definition. His accent was refined, but still held the sharp edge of a stallion used to barking orders in the field. He turned, walking with a pronounced limp up to the detective. "It cost a fortune at auction. Three hundred thousand full moons. Which is nothing compared to all the tax I've had to pay to keep it since. So much spent on such a small piece of stone. Yet it is beautiful."

"It is," HB agreed, stepping closer to the other pony. "Though I noticed you have more like it in your foyer."

He chuckled. "More statues, yes, but none like this. Which is why you've asked after it, and not one of them."

HB ducked his head in acknowledgment, though something about what the Senator had said bothered him. He shoved to the back of his mind and focused on the conversation. "This is one of three pieces of art to survive the Schism with provenance intact."

"Indeed, and the only one not in a government museum," the Senator said. "I'm surprised that you have an interest in art history, Lieutenant Hard Boiled."

"I don't," HB admitted. "But my current case has forced me to become an expert in at least a small part of the field: Art found or saved from pegasus cities. Specifically the crash sites of old pegasus cloud cities."

The Senator quirked an eyebrow. "Cloud cities? I thought you earth-bound ponies believed them to be a myth."

"I did, until recently," HB said. "Circumstances have changed my opinion. I know that there were cloud cities, I know that they crashed during the Schism. I also know that there have been several artifacts recovered from those crash sites over the years, many of them illegally, and that you are holding forty percent of the ones I was able to find out about."

Both the Senator's eyebrows rose at this. "Is that so? Are you here to arrest me then, Lieutenant?"

HB shook his head. "I'm not here in my capacity as an officer of the Orion City Police. I'm just trying to get answers. Nothing you tell me here will lead to charges against you or will be put in any official report."

"Is that a promise?" HB nodded. Birchfield stretched his wings out as he contemplated that, resettling them as he smiled at the detective. "I've heard you're an honest stallion, Lieutenant. A good reputation to have for someone in your position."

"Quite. For what it's worth, you seem to have done your homework, at least. What questions do you have for me, and what does this have to do with old pegasus art?"

HB took a deep breath, glad that the Senator believed him. If he hadn't, there wasn't much the detective could do to force the issue. "You collect more than just art. Any artifacts that are linked to pre-schism pegasi you like to snatch up at the first opportunity. White, gray or black market, you have buyers working for you in all three. You are especially interested in anything to do with the cloud cities."

"My people once ruled the sky, Lieutenant," Birchfield said. "We may have lost those heights, but once we touched the heavens and slept among Luna's stars." He turned back to the small statue, looking at it with undisguised longing and sadness. "I wish I knew what that was like. I dream of it sometimes. Do you ever dream of magic, Lieutenant? Do you ever imagine wielding power such as your ancestors once did, when all the forces of the cosmos were theirs to command?"

HB shook his head, though the old Senator wasn't looking his way. "No. I can't say that I do." His dreams had always been bizarre and disjointed, when he could remember them at all.

Birchfield accepted his answer with a shrug. "I dream so brightly. But then I wake, and all that is left of that dream is in these. Artworks and artifacts, our only link to a better, more glorious past. So I gather them and cling to them. And I let myself dream my foolish dreams in hope that one day I shall find something that can make them true."

"Found anything that can fulfill your dreams? Return the powers of a classic pegasus?"

Birchfield let out a disbelieving laugh. "Of course not! Something like that I would share with the world, not keep to myself! What made you think there would even be something like that?"

An impossible mare, HB thought, then nodded. "Right. What do you know of Max Cash?"

Birchfield snorted. "Too much. He's a businesspony and a crook. Too much money for one bank to handle and not enough morality to fill a teacup. He's funded several of my opponents during election season, and has successfully gotten some of his puppets elected to high office on more occasions than I'm comfortable with."

"He's also a rival in artifact collection," HB pointed out. "You've butted heads with him several times. You also served with him briefly."

"Very briefly," Birchfield stressed. "And he was a civilian contractor, never a true member of the Republics forces."

"I'm not sure that he does," Birchfield said. "He picks them up, but they're back on the market two months later."

"Perhaps he's looking for something," Birchfield sighed. "He's not in it for the same reasons I am, that I am sure of."

The Senator frowned at him. "What makes you think I would have the faintest idea?"

"You're the closest thing to an expert on black market artifact collection I have access to," the detective pointed out. "You're also his rival, and that means you're aware of his purchasing history and patterns. You may not know for sure, but I'd lay odds you have a guess."

"That's a bet you'd lose," Birchfield told him. "There's barely a rhyme or reason to what he buys. Sometimes it's pegasus artifacts, sometimes it's unicorn, sometimes it's earth pony."

"Sometimes them too," the Senator confirmed. "Sometimes an important piece will come up for sale and he won't make a twitch for it, and sometimes something innocuous is brought up and he falls all over himself to get his hooves on it. I really cannot say what it is he wants from them."

"No," Birchfield said, looking pensive. "He was at the auction, bought several other pieces, but he never made a bid for it. He took a long look, though, when they had it on display. I was grateful at the time, since he could have outbid me, but I remember that it was odd."

"Because if there is one pattern he has, it's a favourite artist," Birchfield explained. "Some of the pieces he will definitely work to acquire are done by one artist, the same one who created this beauty."

HB nodded, feeling one of the puzzle pieces realigning in his head. "That is interesting. The subject of this sculpture, it was one of the ancient heroes, right? One of Twilight Sparkle's companions."

Birchfield smiled. "Quite right. This is a maquette, a kind of rough draft for a larger, more detailed piece that was said to have been displayed in the city of Cloudsdale, one of the greatest of the old cloud cities. That statue was lost with the Schism, but this was in the keeping of a unicorn family who safeguarded it through the chaos afterwards and ensured that its history was not lost, as so much else was."

"This mare, the one this, ah, maquette depicts, she's come up several times in my investigation," HB said. "Did the artist that created this make any more with her as the subject?"

Birchfield shook his head. "Not that I am aware of, no. He was supposed to have done a series on them, Twilight Sparkle and her friends. They were shown far and wide across the old Equestria before the Schism. All are now lost."

HB's horn gave an aching throb at that. Something about what Birchfield had just said didn't ring true. He couldn't fire up his magic and find out, though, that would end this interview faster than anything but pulling a weapon could. And likely his career would follow shortly after. He made a mental note to remember what was said and look into it later, though. "Do any of the other maquettes survive?"

"A few," Birchfield said. "But they don't have a clear provenance, so we cannot be absolutely sure if they are legitimate. Most of them are out of our reach in any case. Captives in the sunlands."

"Loyalty?" Birchfield asked, his eyes widening. From the context HB could gather that was the title of the statue. "Beyond price, Lieutenant," the Senator shook his head. "Legally, at least. The Senate would declare it a national treasure in seconds, and it would be in the Library of the Senate before the ink was cold on the declaration."

Hard Boiled closed his eyes as the weight of that number sank in. "Enough to kill for," he breathed. "How about in the sunlands? Would it be worth as much up there?"

The Senator shrugged. "Probably. It's a lot harder to be a private collector in the Kingdom, though. The Royals keep all the best pieces for themselves. "

"But it would still be worth a lot," HB asked, and Birchfield nodded. "You said it was part of a series. Where were the other statues kept?"

The Senator frowned in thought. "I know that the most important of them, Twilight Sparkle's statue, was in Ponyville, and is completely lost. I believe there was another in Canterlot, and there was a rumor for a long time that one of them was in Las Pegasus before it fell. The others? No one can be sure exactly where they were, all the records were lost."

"Yes," Birchfield said, watching the detective warily. "Your questions have a point to them, don't they Lieutenant? Should I take this to mean one of them has been found, and by Max Cash no less?"

"But you have a suspicion." HB didn't make any reply to that, keeping his face carefully neutral. It wasn't enough to keep the old soldier from seeing the truth. "More than a suspicion," he said. "Tell me."

"I'm sorry, I can't do that," HB said, shaking his head. "The investigation is ongoing."

"All the more reason why I can't divulge details of the case," HB said, knowing he'd given too much away already.

"I can help, Lieutenant," Birchfield said. "I've answered all your questions freely. Bring me in on this and I can help."

HB paused, considering it. He hadn't learned everything he wanted to. There were still many questions he had come to the Senator with that had yet to be touched on. But for all that he was willing to bend the rules and come out here on his own, he wasn't willing to compromise the investigation for what might turn out to be nothing. He shook his head and smiled as politely as he could. "Thank you for your time, Senator, but I should probably be going now."

The smile dropped from Birchfield's face. "I will find a way in on this, Lieutenant. Don't anger me by making me do it the hard way."

HB nodded. "I don't intend to anger you, but I can't talk freely about an active investigation. You said yourself I have a reputation as an honest stallion."

"And a reputation is only good so long as you live up to it," Birchfield nodded. "I understand."

"Lieutenant," Birchfield called out, making the detective pause. "One more thing. If Cash has found Loyalty, then he might not be taking it into the sunlands to sell it."

"For us, and for most works, that is true." Birchfield chuckled. "But not for these. There is one who can verify them, the same one who created them."

Birchfield nodded. "He lives in the sunlands. Reclusively, to be sure, but a known figure all the same."

"A thousand years," HB said, putting it together. "He's a Dragon. One of the eldest."

"If he verifies it, that hypothetical statue goes from priceless to absolutely priceless," Birchfield said. "And the black market price more than triples."

HB swallowed hard. "What about if there were a pair of them? Two from the series? Or more, what would the price be then?"

"A pair?" Birchfield shook his head slowly. "Lieutenant, wars have started over less."

"I'm always happy to help the police, Lieutenant," Birchfield replied. A pulse of pain from his horn only confirmed what HB already suspected: the Senator was lying.

The rain hadn't let up, but Dash could feel the clouds beginning to lose their strength. It was an odd sensation, she'd never realized how much she could actually sense the weather until she was in a world where she didn't control it. The storm had gone on for too long, but soon the remnants of the Nightmare's power would finally be spent. It wasn't going to go without one last blast of fury, though.

Despite the evacuation, the muddy streets between the metal buildings weren't quiet, far from it. They could hear the shouts of the remaining guards as they ran through the rain, looking for the intruders that had so disrupted their compound. Dash didn't know what Astrid had done to cause all the havoc, but she was sure it left a lot of dead bodies behind. She didn't know how to feel about that, but she decided that no matter what her personal feelings were, it wasn't going to change how she saw the Griffin warrior. Astrid did her job, and had never pretended to be anything other than what she was.

Star Fall had barely seemed to notice the death of the guard right in front of her, a fact that made Dash think she had already seen her fair share of such things. For all of the danger she'd faced in her life, Gamma had been right about Dash. She'd come from a time of peace and didn't quite understand the necessity of killing. She could accept it, but didn't understand it.

All of that contemplation kept her uncharacteristically silent as the three of them made their way between buildings towards the brightly lit dig site. The closer they got to it the more a feeling of wrongness grew in the pit of Dash's stomach. It was like the first time she'd leapt off a cloud to fly on her own, the anticipation of the fall before her and the thrill of danger in her untried wings.

"Dash," Star Fall said, staring at her. "Your eyes are glowing again. Are you alright?"

"They are?" Dash said, stopping for a moment. She didn't notice anything different. The anticipatory feeling was getting worse, but it wasn't anything like what had preceded the scream from earlier.

"What the hell?" Astrid said, the words coming out in a disbelieving whisper. "When did this happen before? What does this mean, Fall?"

"I don't know," Star Fall said, swallowing hard. "But she did this right before she screamed."

"Don't do that again, Dash," Astrid warned, her eyes wide and fearful as she grabbed Dash by her shoulders. "Do you hear me? Whatever it was, do not do it again!"

There was a surge of anxiety that leapt up through Dash, nearly choking her. She staggered and had to steady herself on a nearby building to keep from falling. Then, just as suddenly as it had come the feeling was gone and she felt normal again. "Am I still glowing?"

Star Fall shook her head. "We don't have time to figure it out now. If you start feeling whatever it is start again, warn us. It could be important."

The sandbag walls that had been set up to protect the dig were still intact, a quick patch job shoring up the places where Dash's lightning strike had toppled a tower down onto them. The ground inside was still muddy, the covering tarp unable to keep out all of the blowing rain, but far less so than the dirty rivers that the streets in the compound had become. They cleared the sandbag wall with a few spare flaps of their wings, and were about to rush forward when Dash jumped ahead and put both front hooves out wide, halting her companions.

"There's someone in the tunnel," Dash said, narrowing her eyes in the glare from the bright lights. The large entrance to the excavation yawned black and nearly impenetrable in front of them, but Dash could see a lighter patch of shadow waiting in the darkness.

"Good catch," the shadow said, stepping forward to reveal Charisma, smirking at the three of them with an eager gleam in her dark rose-colored eyes. She held her wings half-flared, ready to propel her in whatever direction she wanted to go, and a wicked knife was strapped to her side, in easy reach if she wanted to grab it. Dash could detect no trace of fear in her at facing three opponents, one of which was a Griffin. Only excitement. "Ah, my lady. I should have known you would have more than a single pony as your escort. But a Steelwing Griffin! I am left in awe of how your clear superiority to us common folk requires such a retainer."

"That's not going to get to me, Charisma," Star Fall said, carefully pulling out one of her completed spell-sheets.

"Good enough to kick your ass!" Dash replied. Astrid winced next to her, shaking her head slightly. Dash ignored the gesture. "I saw what you did to Blaze. You got some real payback coming."

If anything the gleam in her eyes only grew brighter. "Blaze. You don't happen to have him with you, do you?"

"He got out," Dash said, readying herself to charge and flaring her wings wide. Anger flared in her remembering the treatment he'd been subjected to. "They were beating him. On your orders."

She shuddered in clear pleasure, eyes dilating. "That's my stallion," she said, tossing her mane back from her face.

"She's stalling," Astrid said, stepping forward. "Cash is in there. We've got to get past her."

"Good luck," Charisma said, laughing. She had a pretty laugh, as pretty as the rest of her and just as deceptive. "Well, come on! I haven't fought a Griffin in years. You obviously know who I am, but you don't look familiar to me. Did we ever spar at the palace?"

"Then you know what to expect," Charisma said with a nod. She glanced at Dash and Star Fall. "What about you, my lady? Are you going to lower yourself to the level of base violence? Dirty your hooves a bit?"

"You know what, Charisma? I only have one thing to say to you," Star Fall said, glaring at the pink pegasus.

"As above, so below," Star Fall intoned. "As within, so without." The spell-sheet she'd readied flared to life. The burning crimson sigils of her power flashed bright and leapt off the page as the magic extended into long chains that reached for Charisma. The enforcer jumped away, trying to avoid the attack, but the chains lashed like whips and caught her. They wrapped around her wings, tying her two back legs together, and then doing the same to her front. A length of chain bound tightly about her neck and dragged her down to the ground, a leash still connected to Star Fall's spell-sheet.

"What the hell is this?" Charisma shrieked, eyes wide as she struggled in the magical bindings.

"On it," the Griffin replied, pouncing at Charisma. She raised a claw, talons gleaming in the worklights, then brought it down.

Astrid hesitated, eyes flashing to Dash. Charisma wasted no time and took full advantage of the pause. She writhed on the ground, twisting her body so that she bounced up and into Astrid's talons. They sank into flesh, but were caught between links of the magical chain, exactly as the enforcer wanted. Charisma kicked at the ground hard, sending her into a somersaulting spin. Astrid was too heavy to be pulled with the spin and too surprised to roll with it, and her claws paid the price. Scaled flesh tore as the bones and talons snapped under the twisting pressure.

Astrid shrieked in pain, drawing back her mangled claw. She left a pair of talons behind, buried in Charisma's flesh, but the pegasus barely seemed to notice. She twisted again, bringing her tied back legs to bear and kicking Astrid hard enough to send the off-balance Griffin staggering back into Star Fall. The scholarly pegasus tried to evade, but it was all happening too fast for her. All she managed to do was get her legs tangled with Astrid's, bringing them both to the ground.

With Star Fall's concentration gone the spell faltered. Charisma rolled free of the disintegrating chains with a grin on her face and blood dripping from the pair of talons sticking out of her side. She looked at Dash and winked. "Hey, hot stuff. Thanks for the assist," she quipped, then leapt at her prone opponents.

Dash couldn't believe how badly she had just screwed up. She couldn't even remember making the decision to stop Astrid, and now her friend was hurt. Because of her. With a scream Dash launched herself at Charisma. The enforcer had started her leap first, but Dash was faster by orders of magnitude. She hit the other pegasus in the side, and the two of them went barrelling out into the dark and the storm.

The rain lashed at them as they rocketed out above the compound. Charisma cursed and jabbed a hoof into Dash’s side. The pain from such a small attack was impressive, but nothing that Dash hadn’t felt before. She grit her teeth and continued, looking for something to smash the other pegasus into. She ignored Charisma’s next jab, which quickly turned out to be a mistake.

With a wrenching pop that Dash felt through her whole body, Charisma’s probing hoof managed to catch her in exactly the right place to dislocate her left wing. Dash called her magic up instinctively, thickening the air to cushion her as they began to spiral down. Charisma fought to disengage, but Dash held on, struggling to keep the enforcer from doing any more damage.

They crashed into the mud with a splash, rolling over and over as they bled momentum and tried to end the spin on top. Dash was stronger, but Charisma moved with a violent precision that didn’t allow Dash to put that strength to use. Eventually they slid to a stop, each on their side, legs straining against the other’s.

Charisma’s grin looked like a manic rictus as she applied her whole body to keeping Dash from overwhelming her. “Who are you?” she grunted. “I know all the best fighters in the Kingdom and Republics. You don’t fight like any of them.”

“You’ve never seen anything like me before!” Dash snarled, pushing harder. “I’ve got moves like you wouldn’t believe. So, are you going to give up nicely, or do I have to start showing off?”

Charisma laughed. “Oh, I like you. You’ve got the attitude, let’s see if you’ve got the skills.” With a rolling twist of her forehooves Charisma slapped Dash’s knees, locking them as she dove in and closed her teeth around Dash’s throat.

Dash threw herself back, feeling the tug on her neck hairs as she barely avoided Charisma’s bite. She rolled to her hooves, but the pink pegasus was already moving. Charisma slid along the mud, splashing it up into Dash’s eyes and making her rear back. Dash twisted, trying to fall away, but still got a glancing kick to the gut.

Knowing Charisma was going to keep attacking, Dash turned her fall into a series of quick backflips, heedless of what direction she was going in and counting on her superlative reflexes to keep her from falling or crashing into something. She used her good wing to wipe the mud from her eyes, and came back to her hooves looking for her opponent.

Charisma had taken to the skies, but even splattered with mud her light-colored coat stood out in the darkness. Dash saw her coming and leapt to the side as Charisma dropped on her. The enforcer hit the ground and immediately rolled towards Dash, lashing out with a wing that sprayed more mud towards her eyes. Dash was ready for it this time, using her own good wing to shield her face while she stomped down with her forehooves.

She missed Charisma’s body, but caught her mane, stalling her roll. Charisma changed tactics in an instant, using the caught mane as a pivot to slide her body around so her rear legs were in a position to kick up at Dash. She caught Dash full on this time, throwing her away.

Dash hit the ground wheezing for breath. It had been a hard hit, but nothing like what she’d done to herself on occasion. She blocked out the pain and jumped away, barely avoiding another strike by Charisma. The enforcer kept up the attack, but Dash kept moving, going purely defensive and keeping ahead of the other pony through sheer speed.

Suddenly Charisma stopped her attack, stepping back and regarding Dash with an air of amused calm. “I’m impressed,” she said. “Most would be down by now. You’re obviously a Speed Talent, but you took that kick like an earth pony.”

“Yeah, well you’re … crazy,” Dash said, cursing herself for not being able to think of something cooler.

“Come on. You know who I am. You have to know what I do,” Charisma said. She began to walk sideways and Dash mimicked her, keeping her distance as they circled each other. “But you’re right here, fighting me anyway. Not that I don’t enjoy it, but that’s a kind of crazy all on its own.”

Charisma laughed again. “Oh, that’s beautiful. I was wrong, you really don’t know who I am. Okay, you win, you’re not crazy. Just stupid.”

“I’m not stupid,” Dash snarled. “And I don’t care who you are. You hurt my friend. I’m not going to let you hurt anyone else.”

“Do you actually hear yourself when you talk?” Charisma asked. “You’re very heroic, I’ll give you that, but you have to know all the words in the world won’t save you.”

“Seems to me like you’re the one doing all the talking,” Dash said, giving her own cocky grin. “Are we going to get to any actual fighting tonight, or are you just trying to bore me to death?”

Charisma shrugged. “Just thought you needed a time out.” She leapt at Dash without any warning, her hoof streaking right for Dash’s eye. Dash reacted in an instant, spinning to the side and kicking out. Charisma twisted, lashing out with a back hoof even as her initial attack missed. They hit each other at the same time, Dash knocking Charisma from the air but getting dropped to the ground herself in return.

Charisma scrambled at her, punching out and striking the already injured wing joint. Dash hissed and grabbed the enforcer, bringing her close to deliver a vicious headbutt. Dash had been through a lifetime of head-on collisions with various unyielding substances and was barely fazed while Charisma was momentarily stunned from the blow. Dash took full advantage, wrapping the enforcer in a bear hug and heaving up. Without the use of both wings she couldn’t gain momentum like she had when fighting the soldiers, but she still managed to pile-drive Charisma face-first into the muddy ground.

The enforcer slumped down. Dash backed off, getting to her hooves and watching her opponent for any signs of movement. There were none. In fact, after a moment it looked like Charisma wasn’t even breathing. Wary of a trap, Dash waited. Still Charisma didn’t breathe, face covered fully in mud.

Would you kill? The question weighed heavily on Dash. She didn’t know. Even if her answer was yes, was this the situation in which she would do it? When she’d already won the fight and her opponent was at her mercy? The answer was easy, which of course meant it wasn’t easy at all. She trusted her friends, and so believed them when they had said Charisma was terrible and dangerous. She had seen what Charisma had ordered done to Blaze. She had seen Charisma’s reaction to hearing about it. There was no doubt in her mind that Charisma was evil, and letting her die in the mud would be a boon to the world.

Yet she was Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash didn’t let ponies die, she saved them. Even when it was a bad idea. Even when it was probably a trap. She might kill under the right circumstances, she didn’t know. But she would never, ever just let someone die when she could have saved them.

Decision made, she stepped forward and rolled Charisma onto her back. The enforcer’s head lolled to the side, limp and unresponsive. “Damn it,” Dash swore, wiping the mud from Charisma’s face. She put her ear to the enforcer’s chest, hearing her heart beat strong and slow. Dash knew in that moment it was a trap.

Charisma’s hooves flashed out, a kick hitting Dash in the inner thigh and making her entire right flank go numb. Another hard-edged hoof caught her just under her ribs, digging in and seizing up her chest so she couldn’t draw breath. Dash dropped to the mud, good wing fluttering as she tried to inhale. Charisma sucked in a deep breath of her own, and wasted no time in kicking Dash aside.

“You almost had me there,” Charisma wheezed. “But I guess the hero talk wasn’t all for show.”

Dash finally got her lungs to respond, drawing in a breath as she tried to stand. Her rear right leg was unresponsive, though, and so she only managed to flop into a sitting position. “I knew it was a trap,” she growled.

“Good for you, you can see the blindingly obvious,” Charisma snapped back. Then she grinned again. “You know what? I’m not sure which of us is going to win. I’m better than you are, but you’re just so damn tough and I have no idea why. If I snapped your neck, would that stop you? Or would you just shrug it off and keep coming?”

“I’d like to see you try,” Dash replied, forcing herself up on three legs.

Charisma started towards her, but paused mid-motion and shook her head. “Oh, I’d love to. I really would. But I’ve got more important things to do right now. Stay strong, hot stuff, we’ll fight again.” Charisma whirled and took off, flying back towards the dig.

Dash yelled after her, trying to follow. Her injured wing and numb leg made the attempt futile. “Damn it!” Dash screamed, pounding at the muck. The feeling was slowly returning to her leg, but she was at a real disadvantage so long as her wing was dislocated. She remembered Star Fall relocating Astrid’s wing that morning, and decided she could do the same if she found something solid to use. She’d never had to fix her own wings before, there had always been hospitals or medic ponies about to take care of that part, but she’d had it done often enough that she figured it wouldn’t be too hard.

She lurched towards one of the watchtowers. The heavy steel leg beams would do. With care she held her wing out wide with her teeth, and slammed her side into the metal. Pain ripped through her, bad enough to make her momentarily black out. When she came back to her senses her wing was throbbing like it was on fire and still dislocated. Frustrated with her failure she slammed into the beam again, with similar results. “Dumb wing! Just go back in your socket!” Dash screamed, and tried again. This time the agony was accompanied by the satisfying pop of things moving back into place.

She stood there panting for a long moment, letting the pain fade to a dull ache that she could easily ignore. She gave a few tentative flaps of the injured limb, and while each motion sent new spikes of agony through her body it was strong enough to support her. Triumph and adrenaline surging through her, Dash took to the air and rushed towards the dig.

When she got close she looked down and saw a unicorn standing in front of Astrid, the Griffin crouched and trembling. She recognized him. A picture in a dossier she couldn't read. A flash of magenta light in the darkness. The smell of blood and the sound of a body hitting hard earth. She was afraid of him. Terribly afraid. This was Max Cash.

Her wings trembled and she lost a few feet of altitude, but she steadied herself. Don't let Cash talk. Well, he was talking now, and she had to do something about it. Astrid was hurt, and Star Fall might be too. Her fear was nothing. Her pain was nothing. Her friends needed her. Dash took a deep breath and grit her teeth, wrapping her fear in determination. Then with a cry she called out her best speed and dove.

"Damn it!" Astrid swore, rolling off of Star Fall. She cradled her injured foot to her chest, looking at the twisted wreckage with more annoyance than pain.

"Oh yeah, perfect." Astrid rolled her eyes. "Dammit Dash! Did you have to be such a wimp?"

"In a bit, help me bind this up first," Astrid said, reaching into a pouch on her harness and drawing out a roll of gauze and medical tape.

"Sure," Astrid said, "but not quickly. If I'm going to help her I need to get this fixed, so are you going to help me or not?"

Star Fall stared at her friend for a moment before sitting down and grabbing the gauze between her forehooves. "What do you need me to do?"

Astrid inspected her injury, turning it to see the extent of the damage. "I'm going to straighten these out, then you need to bind them together. I'll make a fist and then we'll tape it that way. It won't be pretty, but I should be able to walk on it."

"Like fiery fuck, but I'll deal. Here, hold this." She tossed the tape to Star Fall, who caught it in her mouth. Then Astrid gripped one of her broken fingers and yanked it straight. The pain made her wince and clack her beak, but she refused to cry out. She repeated the process for the other finger that was grossly misaligned. She poked at the third, but decided it didn't need to be forced into place. "Gauze," she said, holding the injured claw out to Star Fall.

The pegasus quickly set to wrapping the injury, taking care around the digits so as not to aggravate the breaks any more. The gauze quickly became a mitten that tightly bound the broken fingers. Astrid clipped it with a sharp snap of her beak before tying it off. Then, with a single grunt of pain Astrid folded the fingers down and Star Fall set to work taping the claw in place. When it was done Astrid set her foot down and tested her weight on it.

"Not good," Astrid replied. "It'll do, though." She quickly stowed the remains of the gauze and tape. "I can't hear them out there."

"Help her with what?" a new voice asked. Max Cash stepped out of the tunnel, magically tucking a book into the saddlebags he wore.

"Shit, new priority," Astrid said, leaping between Star Fall and Cash, her head low and her wings outstretched protectively.

Cash regarded the Griffin with an amused smirk. "I don't think this qualifies as 'everyone' Lady Star. You probably should have waited for your real backup."

Astrid gave a slight nod and lowered her wing to obscure Star Fall from the unicorn's view. "Maximillian Oswald Cash," she called out to him. "You have violated the laws of the Solar Kingdom. You are hereby taken into custody to stand trial before the light of the sun and have your guilt weighed."

Cash's eyebrows rose at this proclamation. "Wow. That's a fancy way of saying I'm under arrest. Are you going to read me my rights?"

"You're a Republican criminal on Kingdom soil," Astrid said, narrowing her eyes. "You have no rights."

"I've got no rights, you don't either," he replied, a friendly smile splaying lazily across his face. "The way I hear it, Griffins are more like fancy pets and guard dogs than actual citizens. In fact, don't Dogs actually have more freedom than your kind?"

"Am I wrong?" he continued, ignoring her threat. His eyes caught hers, and she found she could not look away. "Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me you have all the same liberties as the pony you stand there protecting. Tell me you chose this life. Come on, be honest."

It was like a terrible weight had fallen on her, his words striking like a hammer-blow. Her legs trembled, her wings drooped, her remaining talons dug into the mud as she fought the compulsion that welled up in her. It was a futile effort. "No!" she gasped out. "No I don't have the same freedom she does, I didn't choose this life. You're not wrong."

His smile widened to a vicious grin. "In that case, I've got an offer you might be interested in."

"Astrid no!" Star Fall called from behind her. There was an electric snap that sounded through the air and a smell like ozone. Suddenly the pain in her injured wing was too much to hold it up. Her injured claw throbbed to insistent life, forcing her to clutch it close as the pain nearly brought her to her knees.

Cash staggered, eyes wide and blinking drunkenly at the world as he steadied himself. "What was that?"

"Magic dampening spell," Star Fall said, coming around to stand beside her Griffin friend. "No more of your tricks."

"Astrid, are you alright?" Star Fall asked, laying a comforting wing on Astrid's back.

“Whatever it was, he can’t do it now,” Star Fall said, turning towards Cash. “You’re done, Cash.”

He laughed, throwing his head back and letting loose wild, braying laughter that grated against their ears. “Oh, nice,” he said. “You really got me. Reversed the last situation entirely. Now I’m in your power. That’s poetic, it really is.”

“It’s not poetic,” Star Fall snapped. “It’s just what needed to be done.”

He shrugged. “Sure. Why not? Well, I commend you for a gambit well played. I am at your mercy, please don’t hurt me in your wrath!”

“No.” The dark look in Star Fall’s eyes told Astrid she knew exactly what this meant.

“I may not have all the freedoms that others do, but I do have rights. Rights others don’t have. For instance, when dealing with enemies of the Crown, I have the right to be judge, jury and executioner.” She forced her injured foot to take her weight, and raised her good claw, spreading her talons wide. “You are an enemy of the Crown.”

He saw what she was about to do and smiled. “And I think you’re forgetting something. Something that I have, and you don’t. Something that beats out your rights and this spell a hundred times over. Something that means you won’t make a scratch on me.”

The pink pegasus slammed into Astrid, knocking her to the side. Star Fall gasped, trying to get out of the way, but Charisma was too fast, kicking her in the head and sending her rolling into the mud, dazed.

“I was busy,” Charisma replied, eyes narrowing at Astrid. “Their third wheel is a real talent.”

Charisma shook her head, and Astrid’s heart surged. Dash was still alive, and from the look of Charisma, able to actually hold her own against the enforcer. She rolled into a defensive crouch. Charisma smiled. “We’ve got to get out of here, Max. I’ll break the kitten’s neck and we can go.”

“Hold off on that,” Cash said, stepping towards Astrid. “Hey, we were cut off earlier, sorry about that. Your friend doesn’t have a very good opinion of me.” Astrid didn’t respond, wondering what the hell he was up to. “So. I think we left off at me giving you an offer.”

“But you haven’t heard my offer yet,” he said. “It’s a real simple one. You see, I’ve started having some openings in my organization, and I think a Griffin like you would be a perfect fit.”

Astrid was agog. “You’re offering me a job?” In the background Charisma seemed similarly incredulous.

“A way out,” he replied. “An option. You admitted you have no freedom. You have no rights either, not really. You got your fancy judicial powers, sure, but you really don’t. You’re given instructions, orders, expected to behave and do as you’re told and never given a choice about anything. Lady Star has the same problem, and I’ve offered her the same solution. I’ve got plans, Astrid, plans that you are going to be very interested in. I’m going to shake this world, and nothing on either side of the Storm is going to be the same ever again. You can come with me, be a part of that, have a say in how it all plays out. You and Lady Star both. Not as a puppet, or a tool, or as a leashed animal given orders to obey, but as an equal, as a partner.” His eyes held her again. She knew Star Fall’s spell was still in effect, she could feel the lack of magic making her weak and slow. Yet she could not look away, could not even blink as his gaze bored into her and burned away all the layers of determination she had wrapped around the weak core of her soul.

“For a lot of reasons,” Cash said. “Mostly because I see something in you. Something stronger than steel and deeper than the ocean, something that connects you to others beyond the simple bonds of society. You have a greater purpose than just being a tool of the Crown, Astrid. You have more to offer the world, but you can only fulfill that promise if you are free to do it, and you will only be free if you cast off the yoke of your servitude and take your destiny into your own claws. Join me, Astrid. It isn’t wrong, it isn’t even a hard choice. You have so much to gain, and only your oppression to lose. All it takes is one. Little. Be-”

Max was gone in an instant, the book he had put into his saddlebag spinning in the air before falling with a splat into the mud. A rapidly fading pink and blue streak hung in the air, crossing through where he had been standing. It led into the tunnel, back into the darkness. The wind of Dash’s passage blew mud and water all around, but Astrid barely noticed. She was free of whatever compulsion Cash had laid on her, and she had no time to be gawking at her miraculous rescue. She aimed herself at where she remembered Charisma to have been and leapt through the ethereal trail.

Calumn was content to follow Blaze in silence as they walked through the rainy darkness. He’d reassumed Strongheart’s form soon after feeling Conrad's death, the familiar body comforting him. He thought about Conrad, wondering what had made him so important to Cash. He hoped Dash wouldn't share his fate. He also hoped that Dash would rescue her friend and get out of there without running into Cash. The thought of the criminal unicorn sent chills into Calumn’s heart. Whatever it was Cash had done to him had shaken Calumn’s entire sense of self.

Now, walking in the darkness, his mind ran in circles. Who did he want to be? It was the question Dash had asked him, a question that Blaze had echoed. The truth was, Calumn wasn’t sure anymore. He knew who he didn’t want to be: the kind of person who would force someone else to abandon their friends just for the sake of a mission he didn’t fully agree with himself. What did that mean? What did that make him?

He was breaking. Everything he thought he knew about himself was thrown into doubt and contradiction. He’d never had to face questions like this before, never been tested like this before. The loyalty of Changelings was their core, but he’d lost that. In his despair he’d found that there were higher principles for him than his mission. What did that mean? Too much of himself was lost. He felt like a monster pretending to be a proper civilized person, while underneath was the black, evil truth.

Yet no monster would have let Rainbow Dash go. No monster would be so conflicted over the choice between doing his duty and doing what was right. Even if they were, a monster would not have come down on the side of right. What did that make him?

Perhaps it was his friendship with Blaze that started all of this. A friendship without illusions, without pretense. He’d never experienced anything like it before, he didn’t think any Changeling he knew of had either. They hid as a matter of course, and as a matter of survival. Their handlers knew the truth underneath the illusion, but they weren’t friends. Straff was never anything other than professional with Calumn, and for good reason. Anything closer opened a connection to the Changeling, opened the handler to influence.

Changelings couldn’t be trusted. He couldn’t be trusted. He’d just proven it, throwing his mission aside for the sake of the one who was supposed to be his target. Or did he prove the opposite? Did he prove that there was more to his species than guile and manipulative hunger? Could he be trusted? Not as a Changeling following orders, but as a person with his own wants and dreams and motivations?

Who did he want to be? He didn’t know, and as he followed Blaze into the night he could think of nothing else.

Something rumbled in the clouds overhead. At first Calumn ignored it, expecting it to be more thunder. It wasn’t until Blaze tackled him to the ground that he realized it was something more.

“Head down, buddy,” Blaze said in a harsh whisper. “We’ve got company.”

Calumn looked up and saw the clouds swirl and part as a flying vehicle dropped through them. It was a heavy aerial transport, a Kingdom military vehicle designed for moving troops large distances at a quick pace. It was suspended in the air by six large crystals that glowed white with the magic charged into them. There would be a dozen unicorns inside providing power for them, supplemented with arcane batteries and electrical generators. Calumn remembered seeing reports on these vehicles, and knew they were rare and valuable. Too valuable to be used without very good reason.

The transport hovered just beneath the clouds, a glowing shape that resembled some enormous fly that was standing on the roof of the world. Soon enough the doors opened in its underbelly and two flights of pegasi dropped out. These ponies flew with precision and coordination, their dark forms hard to make out. Calumn was still able to clearly see that they were wearing armor and carrying weapons ready. One flight took up positions around the transport while the other circled once before winging off towards Cash’s compound. A minute later the transport ascended back into the clouds, most of its pegasi escort going with it.

Calumn let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Thank you,” he told his friend. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“You’ve got a lot on your mind,” Blaze said, standing up and moving off of Calumn. “What do you think they’re here for?”

“Cash maybe,” Calumn said, getting back on his hooves. He snorted. “No. I’m an idiot again. Star.”

“She’s Twinkle Shine’s apprentice, or something similar,” Calumn said. “If she knows her student is in trouble, then Twinkle Shine can get whatever she wants.”

“Very,” Calumn confirmed. “It’s a good thing we got out of there when we did. That transport is going to reach the camp in a few minutes. After that, no one’s getting out.”

Calumn considered the question. She had not turned out to be what he was expecting, but he had no idea how far those differences went. What he did know was that she was no fake. The power he had felt from her still left rainbow traces at the corners of his vision. She was no normal pony, and he was sure that she would survive to meet them in the capital. “She’ll be fine,” he assured Blaze. “Somehow I think nothing short of the Gray Mare herself could stop Rainbow Dash.”

HB left the same way he came in. His head was pounding, but not enough to do more than make him wince. He kept going over the conversation with the Senator. He knew that Birchfield had been lying, more than once, but he couldn’t quite tease out where the real lies were and where he had just been trying to cover up some of his own illegal activities.

On the plus side he’d confirmed some of HB’s theory, but unfortunately that only left him with many more unanswered questions. Stealing a piece of priceless artwork was one thing. That was a matter of money, and money was a motivation that HB could easily understand. Yet Cash was not lacking in funds. His legitimate activities alone brought in more revenue than most Senators could boast. He had money.

Was it something else, then? The same sort of drive that made Birchfield spend his own resources in acquiring old statues and trinkets? That was possible, but it didn’t fit. Cash bought his trinkets, but then immediately sold them again. The evidence said that Cash didn’t care about art or history. He didn’t care about money, either. It wasn’t really clear what he did care about, save manipulating others and sneering at the law.

HB didn’t know what to make of this. He knew he had more pieces to the puzzle, but he also knew that something wasn’t right with how he was fitting them together. His horn ached with the knowledge of a truth lying just beyond his grasp. It was infuriating, but at least he was on the right track.

“Lieutenant,” a voice called out. HB stopped, looking up from his contemplations to see a pale off-white unicorn standing at the gate to the mansion, a dark car parked behind him. “I would like to have a few words with you.”

If being identified disturbed the pony, he didn’t show it. His intense blue eyes never left the detective as he stepped to the side, gesturing at the open car door. HB sighed and slid in. He was surprised to find a pretty yellow earth pony mare already sitting in the car, smiling at him. HB took her in, noting a few details that made his horn pulse, then sat in the middle as the pale unicorn got in after him.

“Detective, thank you for all the work you’ve put in for us,” the mare said. Her voice was like silk, smooth and cool. “I’m sorry it got you in trouble.”

“No trouble,” HB said, though being sandwiched between the two other ponies made him uncomfortably aware of his stitched injuries. “Cash has to be caught.”

“He does,” she agreed. “Though I think you might be going a bit too far in your investigation. No evidence we have points to Senator Birchfield in any way. If you’ve found something new you should have informed us before following up on the lead.”

“I’m taking what steps I think are necessary,” he said. “Considering there’s a mole in your organization.”

That gave her pause, though in his peripheral vision HB noticed that the pale one didn’t react to the statement. “What makes you think there’s a mole?”

“I was attacked by an assassin,” he said, giving her a sharp look. “That doesn’t happen to cops often. Not even detectives investigating murders. We get bribed, threatened, cajoled or stonewalled. Actually trying to kill us is a mark of desperation.”

“That is odd,” she allowed. “But it doesn’t mean that we have a leak, merely that your quarry is, as you say, desperate.”

“She gave me a message,” HB said. “While she was strangling me. ‘Max Cash wants you to know you shouldn't go poking your horn into things that don't concern you.’ That’s what she said. Max Cash, by name. I’m investigating James Bay’s death, but Cash’s name has not come up in the investigation. Not even once. So why did she make a point to mention it? The solution is simple: she knew that my real investigation was into Cash. No one in my department knows, therefore the leak is in yours.”

“I assure you, we run a tight ship,” she said, her voice going low and dangerous. “There is no leak.”

“You’ll forgive me if I want to hear that from someone who isn’t an insect,” HB said. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to snarl something at him, but was interrupted.

“That’s enough, Traduce,” the pale unicorn said. His voice was soft, but cold and HB could hear the iron bands of control that backed it. “Lieutenant, do not antagonize my assistant.”

HB peeled his gaze from the false mare as she shut her mouth and relaxed into the seat. The unicorn wasn’t looking at him, but was instead contemplating the view out the window as they drove through the night streets. “You have a mole in your organization.”

“I am forced to consider the possibility,” he replied. “Traduce, what is your estimation?”

“He’s good enough,” she said. Her voice had lost its snarl, back to being cool silk. She even flashed him an amused smile. “I figure he made me the moment he got in the car.”

“Overall impression was right, details were wrong,” HB grunted. “You know my abilities, why in Luna’s night am I sitting in this car taking tests?” He gave a pointed look to the unicorn. “And who the hell are you?”

“I am Director Straff, of the Republics Intelligence Agency,” he replied. “I am the one in charge of the investigation into Max Cash.”

HB’s eyebrow rose quizzically. A director was a serious authority in the RIA. “And you’ve been my liaison?”

“As you have surmised,” he confirmed. “Traduce was not exaggerating, we keep a very tight seal on this case. Very few know the details of it, and I personally picked all those involved, including you. I had thought there was no possibility of a leak.”

“Lieutenant, the only ponies I trust with your investigation are in this car,” Straff said.

“Director, she’s a Changeling,” HB said. She snorted back a laugh. “Her kind are all about lies and manipulations. How can you be sure of anything about her?”

“Because it is my business to be sure,” Straff said. “And because you are here. Traduce, if you will.”

There was a flash of green fire, and suddenly the pretty mare was replaced with a chitinous horror that stared at HB with hungry green eyes. “I have no guise and no defenses now,” she said, and he could hear her voice double over, like there were two of her speaking just very slightly out of synch with each other. “Use your Talent, detective. Hear my truth.”

HB’s eyes narrowed. “I can’t be sure of your abilities. You might be able to defeat my Talent.”

He weighed her words. He’d heard something like that before, but never seen it put to the test. He shook his head, horn lighting up with a copper glow as he tapped into his truth-detecting magic. “Fine. State your name, allegiances and intentions clearly and unambiguously.”

“I am Traduce,” she said. “I serve the Republics as a whole, and Director Straff as an individual. I hold no allegiance to Max Cash or any of his allies. I intend to find the traitor in our ranks and scour their mind clean. I also intend to bed you as soon as possible.” HB blinked and pulled back. She grinned, fangs flashing in the passing streetlights.

“Traduce, strive for professionalism,” Straff admonished. “If you will direct your magic at me, Lieutenant?” HB gave a worried look at Traduce before turning to the unicorn. “My name is not Straff, but that is the one I have gone by for three decades now. I serve the people of the United Lunar Republics first, the RIA second, and the Senate last. I hold no allegiance to Max Cash, and furthermore believe he is a direct threat to all three of my stated allegiances. My intentions are many, but germane to this discussion I intend to allow you to continue your investigation unimpeded, but also learn what you have learned. I intend to see Cash caught, and I intend to see him swinging from a gibbet. Is that sufficient?”

HB nodded, letting his horn go dark. The headache was only slightly worse than it had been, it was always easier when there were no lies to detect. “As near as I can tell, you’re both truthful. What of the driver?”

“This section of the car is soundproof, and I personally swept it for listening devices and spells,” Straff said. “We are secure enough.”

“They’ll still be watched, of course,” Traduce said, reassuming her pony disguise. “But they won’t be a problem.”

HB took a deep breath and laid it all out for them. The things Barry had discovered, and the additional research HB had put into it. He told them about the cloud cities, and the artifact hunts that Cash funded that targeted them. He told them of what he had learned from Birchfield, and his own suspicions about what it all meant.

“Art,” Traduce said, shaking her head in disbelief. “This can’t all be about art.”

“No, it can’t,” HB agreed. “But the art’s only part of it. I think it’s just a part of some bigger plan. It could be bait, or a bribe. Birchfield said that the right sorts of people would go to war over this. People like him. How many of those people are in the Senate?”

“We don’t have the full picture,” HB said. “We’ve got some of it, but not nearly enough. His plans only look like chaos because we don’t see how it all fits together. A key piece of what we’re missing is his motivation. He doesn’t want money. He doesn’t want the art, I’m fairly sure of that. He doesn’t want fame. He doesn’t have any political goals that anyone’s been able to discern.”

“There are only three other possibilities,” Straff said. “Religious, ideological or personal. I doubt the first, and the second would be better served by exerting political pressure, which he has not done.”

“Which leaves personal,” Traduce said. “As in he’s doing it for either love, a need to prove himself, or shits and giggles.”

“None of those fit him, either,” HB said, shaking his head. “No, we’re going around in circles. We know what he doesn’t want, but not what he does.”

“We know one thing he does want,” Straff pointed out. “Whatever is in those places he’s digging up. You said you know what his next target here is going to be.”

HB nodded. “The last cloud city crash site. He hasn’t touched it, no one has. I don’t think anyone but me has ever put together the clues for where it went down.”

“From all the times his people have accessed the college records, he’s done most of the same research I have, and probably more,” he said. “I don’t think he’ll miss it for long.”

“But it does give us the chance to get the drop on him,” Straff mused. “Yes. I can use this. Lieutenant, you will continue your investigation. We will contact you at regular intervals so you can keep Traduce and I informed of your progress, and only Traduce and I. Cultivate your paranoia, do not trust appearances. Confirm it is us before you pass along any information. We will provide assistance where we can, but until we discover the source of this leak our hooves are tied. You will be left to your own devices. I will, however, guarantee your job security should you need to go beyond conventional policing procedures and tactics.”

HB knew what he meant, and didn't like the implications one bit. “That’s it?” he asked. “Just ‘get back to work, feel free to break the law'?”

“What were you expecting, Lieutenant?” he asked with the barest wisp of a smile. "A medal?"

Star Fall shook her head, trying to clear it, but it only made her feel like she was going to throw up. She looked around, but the world spun in her unfocused vision. Giving up on orienting herself for the moment she closed her eyes and concentrated on getting one thought to properly follow another. She knew she had just sustained head trauma, that was the only explanation for her current symptoms, but she couldn’t quite grasp how it had happened.

She felt cold, wet and dirty. That was a place to start. She contemplated why she was feeling these things, and concluded that the best explanation for all three was that she was lying in mud. She basked happily in her inductive reasoning for a moment, then set to work building on that foundation. She was lying in mud and had sustained head trauma. Likely explanation: she hit her head and fell down. From the difficulty organizing her thoughts it was a serious blow her head had taken. Natural pegasus reflexes usually allowed her to avoid such serious accidents, which meant that this was more likely the result of an attack.

She’d been attacked. She felt comfortable with that conclusion. Now, attacked by whom? Again, her natural reflexes were usually sufficient to avoid this level of injury, even against superior opponents. That meant whoever attacked her must have been extremely proficient, very fast, operating with surprise, or some combination of all three. Astrid would have shielded her from any attack she could foresee, so surprise was likely. As was speed, since surprise alone would not be sufficient if the attacker could not overcome Star Fall’s reaction times. Skill was the outlier, but reasonable to include. Pure luck was also a possibility, but could be ignored in favor of intentional action.

So she’d been attacked by surprise, her assailant being at least pegasus fast and likely very skilled. She was lying in mud, so outdoors. She didn’t feel rain falling on her, but could hear it, which meant she was underneath something. An image came to her of a hill with a piece of it sheared off to reveal a buried building. Cash’s dig. She was in Cash’s dig, which meant that the likely culprit for the attack was Charisma.

Memories snapped into place and Star Fall opened her eyes. The world came into focus, just in time for her to see Astrid leap through an ethereal trail at Charisma. The pegasus reacted quickly, but not fast enough to prevent Astrid from landing on her and slashing a trio of deep cuts along her flank. Charisma lashed out, becoming a flurry of striking hooves and wings.

Star Fall tried to get up, but the motion made her head spin again, and she fell back into the muck. She could only watch as her best friend fought the greatest warrior the Kingdom had seen in generations. They parted, Charisma calmly examining the new cuts dripping blood down her leg and Astrid nursing her broken foot while coughing up bloody phlegm. Then they squared off again, and the fight began in earnest.

Astrid had the advantage of size and reach, as well as slashing talons that could rend flesh. If Charisma got too close or engaged in a grapple then Astrid could bring her back claws to bear as well, shredding her opponent to ribbons. Charisma knew this, of course. She’d fought with Griffins, had in fact been responsible for training many of them. She knew how to fight them, knew all their tricks and every way she could take advantage of their weaknesses.

Usually a pegasus relied on superior speed and maneuverability, taking to the air and making it a game of chase where they could keep ahead of their opponent. Charisma didn’t bother with normal pegasus tactics. She stepped right in to Astrid’s reach and proceeded to show her exactly why she was feared.

Astrid slashed, bit and kicked. Charisma moved like water, ducking and weaving her way through the Griffin’s attacks. Charisma didn’t strike with her hooves, but every chance she got she slapped out with her wings. The blows didn’t do any damage, but Star Fall could see that they were aimed at joints, repeated blows weakening Astrid’s limbs and forcing her to fight more defensively.

Frustration showed in the Griffin’s golden eyes. She knew she was losing this fight. Star Fall tried to rise again, managing to stand. Her legs were weak, though, and she had no idea what she could do to help even if she had been perfectly fine.

Charisma surged forward, the motion completely untelegraphed. She ducked under Astrid’s swinging claw and came up with her knife held in her mouth. Astrid tried to jump back, but the mud was too slippery and all she managed to do was unbalance herself. Charisma slashed across Astrid’s injured leg, cutting muscle and making the claw go limp. Astrid scrambled back, but the damage was done. She couldn’t use the limb to support herself while she attacked with her talons anymore. If she wanted to slash she’d have to sit on her haunches to do it, giving her no mobility.

Astrid spread her wings, striking out with them as Charisma advanced. She used the limbs as distractions, looking for a chance to either bite or set herself to claw her opponent. Charisma wasn’t distracted, and in a motion so fluid Star Fall could barely follow it she rolled with one of the flapping wings, using it as cover to hide herself from Astrid’s sight. The Griffin blinked, momentarily confused by the enforcer’s maneuver. Charisma slid up right next to Astrid and sunk her knife deep into the Griffin’s side. Astrid’s breath left her in a strangled gasp. The wound only gave her pause for a moment before she twisted to attack. Charisma was already moving, ripping her knife out and jamming it into the shoulder of Astrid’s uninjured foreleg.

Astrid went down. Her back legs scrabbled at the mud, but her forelegs were unable to support her. Charisma leapt on her back, leaving her knife in Astrid’s shoulder. She struck out multiple times with her hooves, battering the Griffin’s wings until one of them broke with a loud snap and the other fell into twitching stillness shortly after.

Charisma hopped off of Astrid, giving a casual kick to the Griffin’s flank that paralyzed a fifth limb. Immobile and bleeding into her lung, Astrid could only glare balefully at the pink pegasus.

Charisma stepped around in front of Astrid, kneeling down just out of biting distance, a satisfied grin spread across her face. “You are wonderful,” she said. “I give you high marks for skill, top marks for determination, and a special mention for good use of a distraction. Passing grade, overall. You’ve still got to work on your situational awareness, though. Also, you forgot the cardinal rule: fight from advantage. If you and hot stuff had come at me together, that would have been a much more even fight. Either of you alone?” She eyed Astrid’s prone form. “Well, you know how that works out. It’s too bad I have to kill you now, or –“

Star Fall didn’t let her finish. Strength surged into her legs and she rushed at Charisma with a scream. Charisma twisted and bucked Star Fall with both hooves. The force of the blow threw her back, out of the sand-bagged area and into the rain. She landed on her back. She lay still for a moment, stunned, but the thought of Astrid at Charisma’s mercy forced her into action. She tried to get up, only to find a hoof on her chest, holding her down.

“My lady, did you have something you wanted to interject?” Charisma asked, faux-sweetness dripping from her voice like poison. “A plea for the life of your retainer, perhaps?”

Charisma’s eyes went dark and she dropped onto Star Fall, holding her in place with her weight. The enforcer’s hooves found Star Fall’s throat and began to squeeze. “You’ll kill me? You? You pampered little puppet! You had your chance with the magic chains, and you blew it! Now here you are, no Griffin, no glowing chains, only you and me and a world of pain.” She shook her head in disgust. "What made you think you ever had a chance against me?" Charisma snarled, breath hot in Star Fall's face as her hooves pressed into her throat, cutting off her air.

Star Fall's eyes bulged, her hooves scrabbling uselessly against the pegasus on top of her. Any attempt to shove Charisma off of her was foiled, any strike blocked by snapping wings. She looked up into the sky, the rain falling into her open eyes and sliding down her face like tears. Her thoughts were scattering again, falling apart almost as soon as she put them together. She wished the clouds weren't there, that her last sight could be of the stars. The thought of the clouds in her fading thoughts brought to mind a vivid image: Dash's weather-manipulation lesson.

A sudden hope surged through her, cutting across her graying vision like the first rays of sunlight. She forced her oxygen-starved brain into motion, falling deep into the meditative exercises drilled into her by her mentor. She needed absolute focus, and she found it deep beneath the layers of thought and psyche that made up her conscious mind. Down where her soul met her body, in the place from whence her magic came.

She stopped struggling, instead only putting a feeble hoof on Charisma’s chest. The enforcer let her, knowing that Star Fall didn’t have the strength to push her away. She gathered her magic, all that she could, all that she had in her, and focused it into that hoof. Then, with all the effort she could muster, she kicked.

Light and thunder exploded from her. Charisma didn’t even have a chance to yell as she was thrown back, arcing high over one of the buildings and slamming into the side of a guard-tower. She dented the metal wall with her impact, then fell insensate to the ground below, well out of sight.

Star Fall heaved in a breath, then started coughing. She rolled to her side and tried to control both her gasping and the reflexive coughing that came with it. Finally she managed to breathe smoothly. Her throat felt half-crushed, and when she swallowed it felt like a whole apple was sliding down her esophagus. Still, she was breathing and that was the important part.

She looked in the direction that Charisma had fallen, smirking. “Magic, bitch,” she whispered hoarsely. “That’s what.”

Darkness engulfed them. Dash held on to the unicorn with all her strength as her wings propelled them at dangerous speeds down the dark, earthen tunnel. She was uncomfortably reminded of the headlong run down another tunnel that had started her journey. Unlike then, however, she could see the end of this tunnel.

They broke through a door made of wooden planks, sending splinters everywhere into the cavernous room beyond. The impact wrenched Cash from her grip and sent her skipping along the ground like a flat stone across still water. Dash rolled to a stop, breathing heavily, and took a look around.

The sight that greeted her was like a waking nightmare. Half-collapsed buildings thrust their way out of the earth and rock of the walls, sitting bizarrely tilted compared to each other. Brilliant white work lights around the cavern threw everything into stark contrasts of light and shadow, making angles seem sharp as knives. Doorways and windows were like eyes and mouths opening onto oblivion, staring at her from every angle.

She swallowed her fear, forcing it away as she searched for Cash. The floor was uneven, though paths had been smoothed out by the many hoofsteps of the workers as they excavated this cave, and left many places to hide. She caught sight of a dirty shape near the center of the cavern and leapt for it.

Instead of Cash, she found a body. The pony had been a unicorn stallion, his cutie mark proclaiming his skill at games. His throat gaped from a deep slash that had spilled his blood into the earth. Blood still oozed slowly out of the wound, he had died very recently. Next to him was a pit, but Dash didn’t care to look into it.

She felt the squish of the dirt under her hooves, and knew there was blood on them again.

“Conrad was fun.” Cash’s voice echoed around the chamber as he spoke. “It’s a real shame what happened to him here.”

“You did this,” Dash said, tone dark as she flew up to get a better view of the cavern.

“Me? I hardly think Conrad was my fault,” Cash replied, chuckling. “I gave him every chance, after all. All he had to do was one little thing, and he could have walked out of here free and clear. Sadly, he insisted that I kill him.”

“I doubt that,” Dash muttered. She couldn’t see him, but she knew he would make an appearance. Don’t let Cash talk. She had to find him to shut him up.

“It’s true!” Cash said, laughing. “In the end, he said he wanted me to do it. Quite the noble sacrifice of him, if you think about it. ‘Greater love hath no pony than this, to give their life so another may take what he desires!’ At least, I think that’s what the passage was saying.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dash said, looking for incongruous shadows, anything that might give the unicorn away.

“You should brush up on your literature,” Cash suggested. “You could critique me on my gross misrepresentations of scripture.”

There. Dash dove, blasting through an ancient wall and into one of the excavated structures. Cash leapt away, surprised at her maneuver, but laughing. She jumped at him, and his horn lit up with magenta light, freezing Dash in place.

This wasn’t anything close to the absolute hold Umbra had caught her in, though, and with every slow, agonizing beat of her wings she came a little closer to the unicorn. “Shut up!” she snarled.

“Wow, you are determined,” Cash said, smiling even though his brow furrowed at the strain of keeping her suspended. “You know, I hadn’t given you a second thought. I saw Lady Star and thought: yay, this is great! Then I saw the Griffin and, wow, even more great! Both of them are exceptional, both of them exactly what I need. I had no idea the real ace was waiting in the wings.” He winked at her. “Get it? Wings? Because... yeah, you get it.”

“You! You’re just exploding with power. I have no idea where they found you, but, seriously, are there more? ‘Cause it would be very nice if there were more.”

“Yes? No?” He shrugged. “Hard to figure out what you meant by that. Doesn’t really matter anyway. Lady Star and her Griffin friend are exactly what I need, but you, oh you, you’re perfect.” She was getting closer. His magic couldn’t hold out forever. It was already weakening, but he didn’t seem even a little worried, and he wasn’t trying to get out of the way. “I’m pretty good at reading people. I’ve got this knack for figuring them out. It’s a bit of a give and take, though, and you’re not giving much, so I’m going to keep this simple. You want something.”

“Yeah, but more than that,” he said, cocking his head to the side as he looked at her. “You want something, and you’re afraid that you aren’t going to get it. Am I close? Lukewarm?” Dash refused to listen, focusing all her attention on breaking his hold and clobbering him. “Nothing? Damn, okay, usually I like to talk them down, but since I’ve got nothing going here, I’ll just get to the meat of it. I want you to come with me. I can offer you whatever you want. I mean that. Whatever you want, no limits, open season on your deepest desires.”

“I don’t want anything from you, except for you to stop talking!” Dash growled, forcing herself another inch closer.

“You don’t really mean that,” Cash said. “Or, you do right now, but you won’t after you’ve thought about it a bit. Trust me. Everyone’s got a breaking point, everyone’s got something they want more than anything else. I can give it to you. Luna’s honest truth. Not immediately, but soon. Riches? Fame? Power? Stallions? Mares? Hot and cold running adulation and worship from everyone alive? I can give it to you.”

He winced, his horn shooting little magenta sparks as his magic began to tire. “I’m not even asking you to turn against your friends. I don’t need that. I don’t need you to sacrifice your family, or kill your buddies, or eat a kitten. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do except one thing.” Dash lurched closer, Cash’s magic failing. “All you have to do is stop. Right now, just stop attacking and listen. You don’t need to agree with what you hear, you don’t need to make any promises. All you need to do is stop, despite what you’ve been told to do. All you need to do is make one.” Cash’s control slipped. Dash’s wings sped up to a blur. “Little.” Cash’s magic winked out. Dash rushed at him, hooves outstretched. “Betrayal.”

Dash dropped to the ground next to Cash, limbs beating against the ground as she seized. Her back arched until it felt like her spine was going to snap. Her wings flapped aimlessly, pulling at the already injured muscles until they simply could not move anymore. She choked, bile filling her throat. Finally the seizure ended and she fell to the dirt, vomiting out everything she had swallowed that day.

She couldn’t move. This was exactly like what she had felt after the scream. She didn’t know what had happened. One moment she was almost on him, the next her whole body fell apart on her.

He laughed. “I have no idea,” he said. “You look like a mess, though. Want some help?”

“Get away from me,” Dash snarled, unable to even lift her head to make the implied threat meaningful.

“Yeah, you want some help.” Cash’s magic grabbed her, dragging her away from the puddle of vomit and out into the open cavern. He wasn’t gentle, and she was dragged over rock and soil. He flipped her onto a shelf of stone, then leapt up after her, standing above her and looking around the cavern, smiling. “This is a nice spot,” he said. “A good place for the foreman to stand, giving orders and making sure everyone’s doing their job. I’ll admit a little bit of jealousy. I wasn’t here as they carved this place out, but I would have loved to see it take shape. Can you imagine it? A little corridor of earth slowly being peeled back like the skin of a cat to reveal the beautiful structures within. I wish I’d been here for it.”

"You know, I thought so too for the longest time," Cash said, and gave her a shove so that she rolled onto her side, pinning her wing in a painfully awkward position. "I hear these voices in my head, these silly little nagging voices talking at me all day and all night. They keep telling me to do things, pushing me on and on. So I did the only sensible thing: I checked myself into an institution, got the help I thought I needed. Do you know what I found out?"

He chuckled. "No. That everyone hears voices in their heads. Absolutely everyone. Most just don't admit it. They give them names like 'conscience' or 'pride' or 'temptation'. They stuff them into neat little boxes and then shove them aside so that they can ignore them until they want to hear from them. I just have some trouble with the ignoring part. So you see, I'm not crazy. I'm just a really good listener."

“You, on the other hoof, are a terrible listener.” His horn lit up. “And unless you have the weirdest dye job in history, your roots are showing. Let’s get a real look at you.” Magic blasted out of his horn, scraping across her. It felt like a million needles digging into her skin, and she would have struggled against it if she could have gotten her limbs to move more than a twitch. It took moments, but it seemed like minutes as his spell stripped away the dye in her coat and mane and spread it all over the rock she lay on. When it was done Cash’s eyes widened. He said something in a language she didn’t understand, but it sounded like the same one the police had used right before trying to beat her up. From the tone and the hushed way he said it, she figured he was shocked. “This is incredible,” he said, switching back to Solar.

He threw his head back and laughed. “I know you!” he crowed. “Oh, this is impossible! Unbelievable! Too good to be true!” He knelt down, practically lying on top of her. “Rainbow Dash,” he breathed, and she went cold. “I’m your biggest fan.”

He just laughed in her face. “How are you here? No, wait, it doesn’t matter. You’re here now, and that’s just.” He paused, breathing in as if smelling a sweet aroma. “Perfect.” She spat in his face. It was the best she could do. He didn’t even react. “You know, this might not be the best time,” he continued in a conversational tone. “But I’ve got a gift for you.” She struggled, her body slowly responding. “I was actually saving it for someone else, but, well, she’s probably dead by now. The good news is that it’s practically meant for you anyway.” His horn lit up, his magic opening a flap on his saddlebag and lifting something out. Dash looked up and saw the necklace dangling in a field of magenta. Golden, with a central red gem in the shape of a lightning bolt. The Element of Loyalty. “So, what do you say? Want it back?”

“No!” Dash screamed, struggling with all of her feeble might. “No!” She could feel the Element. It was wrong, twisted. She knew that if he put it around her neck something terrible would happen. At the same time she was drawn to the necklace. She could almost feel the weight of it, the crystal hot and strong on her chest. It felt like confidence, like power. She wanted it.

“No?” Cash asked, quirking an eyebrow. “You’re giving me some mixed signals here.”

“Get it away from me!” Dash pleaded, unable to take her eyes from that red lightning bolt.

“Huh. Gimme a sec,” Cash said, frowning. His saddlebag lit up again, pouches opening as he searched through it. “I think there was something about this in… in… damn.” His eyes grew dark. “I must have dropped it.” He sighed and rolled off of Dash. “Well! That’s awful.” He tucked the Element of Loyalty away, and Dash felt an immense pressure suddenly lift. “Sorry about this, Miss Dash,” he said, sounding genuinely apologetic as he patted her head. “I’ll get this cleared up as soon as possible. You just wait right there. If I’m not back in ten minutes, come find me. Kay?” He grinned at her, the expression chilling and devoid of any recognizable emotion.

Then he turned and strode away, chuckling to himself. Dash lay on the flat stone, shivering as thoughts of red lightning flashed in her mind. She knew it now, even if she found a way back to when she was supposed to be tomorrow, even if Nightmare Umbra was going to kill her for sure, she couldn’t leave. She had to stop him. No matter what the cost.

Star Fall staggered into the dig. She immediately rushed over to Astrid’s side. Her friend’s eyes were closed, but her chest still rose and fell. Star Fall let out a sigh of relief. Astrid’s wounds were terrible, but if Star Fall was able to staunch the bleeding she would pull through. To that end she snapped open the case on Astrid’s harness that held the spell-sheets she’d taken. Another moment to find a pen to draw with and she started to sketch out a quick healing spell. It wasn’t much, but it would stop bleeding and keep her friend alive until she could set up a more powerful healing array.

She completed the spell quickly, double checking to make sure it wasn’t going to go terribly awry. She didn’t have the time to go over it with a fine-toothed comb and make sure it wouldn’t cause some damage along the way, but any problems it created would only manifest in the long term, and she needed the help now. Star Fall set the completed spell-sheet against the Griffin and focused her magic. It hurt -- she’d used too much of herself in blasting away Charisma -- but she managed to energize the spell.

The script on the sheet flared to a bright red and began to move. It was sluggish, though, and Astrid could already see the effects of it fighting something. She cursed as vilely as she could and tried to figure out what was blocking her spell.

It only took a moment for her to realize that her dampening spell was still in action. Charisma had broken her concentration on it, but she’d invested it with enough energy to keep it going in a weakened form for minutes yet.

She turned away from Astrid, looking through the mud to spot the telltale spark of crimson that was her magic. She spotted something and rushed towards it. Instead of her dampening spell she found a book lying open in the muck. She ignored it for the moment, still searching, and finally spotted her mud-covered spell not far away.

She pounced on the spell and ended it with a thought. Immediately the script of her healing spell began to spider-walk across the page with greater speed, infusing her friend with its power and keeping her alive. Star Fall let out a breath of relief, slumping down into the mud.

A moment later her eye caught the book again and she slid herself over to it. It looked old, but well preserved. It was open to a page near the end of the book. The paper had been covered in mud during the fighting, but she could still see a few words clearly, and they were in Old Equestrian. She was filthy with mud herself, but she wiped her hoof off as best she could on her wing and scraped some of the muck off. Words became clear, but only a short passage’s worth:

Nothing can stand against the Elements. Not even my faith.

I’m sorry, Princess. I’m so sorry.

“Elements,” Star Fall whispered. “Elements of Harmony?” She closed the book, wiping the mud off its leather cover. Emblazoned there was an image of a magical array laid out in a five-pointed star. At each of the points was a strange image, an image that she recognized even when it didn’t make sense. A red lightning bolt, an orange apple, a purple diamond, a pink butterfly, and a blue balloon. In the center of the design was another symbol, a six-pointed magenta star. Above the image was the title and beneath it the name of the author.

By Twilight Sparkle

Star Fall’s breath caught in her throat. She’d never heard of this book. She had never even seen any references to it. It couldn’t be real.

“Hey, you found it,” Max Cash said, exiting the tunnel. Star Fall scrambled away from him, clutching the book to herself. He watched her with an amused gaze. “Ah, it’s gotten all muddy. That sucks.” He looked over at Astrid’s prone form, then kept scanning the dig. “You didn’t happened to see my bodyguard around here, did you?” Star Fall kept silent, watching him warily. He was dirty in places and had several cuts and scrapes, but otherwise looked no worse for wear. Dash should have been able to trounce him, but here he stood, practically unhurt. “No? Yes?” She said nothing, but he nodded as if she had. “Yes, then. Mind telling me where she went?”

“Ouch, you sound terrible,” he said, wincing in mock sympathy. “She really did a number on you, huh? Well, sorry about that. I didn’t want it to come to this. I really didn’t. If you’d just stayed in the room you could have… well, alright, one good thing did come of this.” He bared his teeth in a sly grin. “You know your friend’s a legend, right?”

“Not a clue,” he said, laughing at her fear. “I’m pretty sure she’ll be fine, though.” A scream echoed to them from out in the compound, and the sound of gunfire made rapid pops in the dark. Cash shook his head and shrugged at her. “So little time nowadays, huh? Well, there’s your backup, and my cue to leave. About my girl, Charisma? I’d really appreciate it if you told me where you last saw her. Come on, be honest.”

A weight crashed down on Star Fall. She tried to fight it, but it crushed her before she had the chance to resist. “I knocked her into the guard tower over there,” she said, pointing with a hoof. “She fell. I don’t know what happened after that.” The weight vanished as suddenly as it had come, leaving her coughing and gasping.

“Thanks,” he said with an affably warm smile. “And thanks for finding that for me.” His horn lit up and pulled the book from her hooves. She tried to hold onto it, but in the midst of her coughing fit she could barely keep herself from falling over. He tucked the muddy book into his saddlebag, securing it tightly. Then he stepped up to her and gave her a pat on the shoulder. “You should probably see a doctor about that cough, Lady Star. In this kind of weather, you’ve likely caught a cold. Here, have a cookie. Try it. Trust me, you’ll like it.” He floated a little chocolate chip cookie and dropped it on her head. Then with a grin he walked away as she stared helplessly after him. He stopped just as he got to the exit and gave her a wry look over his shoulder. “Oh, and by the way? Offer’s still open. Anytime you want a real choice, come see me.” Then he was gone.

By the time Dash managed to get herself out of the dig, Gamma’s forces were already cleaning up the remains of Cash’s security. The massive transport hovered over the compound, dropping three squads of Royal Marines onto the already broken defences of the dig. It didn’t take long. Soon the entire place was secured and the transport landed in a clear space just beyond the buildings.

Dash stayed with Star Fall and Astrid as the latter was carted to the transport for immediate medical attention. She barely paid attention to the huge flying machine as they went inside and got the Griffin to a unicorn doctor who spent ten tense minutes looking her over before declaring that she would be fine. After that Dash and Star Fall collapsed into a pair of cots and fell deeply asleep.

Hours later Dash woke. She felt like garbage. Her wings were so sore they barely moved, and the leg Charisma had kicked was similarly stiff, making her limp as she walked. She could smell food, though, and ignored the pain in her back to tend to the pain in her stomach.

The interior of the transport was a wide open space with three levels. There were exterior doors on each level, and a large bay door in the belly that could be opened to drop troops or let pegasi fly. The top level was devoted to command and control, where the ship was flown from, where troops could be directed from, and where the unicorns that powered its flight were stationed. The second floor was where the infirmary was, as well as the on-board mess and facilities for a long flight. The lowest floor was the staging and cargo area, with weapons, ammo, and plenty of room for smaller vehicles or anything else that might be needed on a mission. It was more like a large airborne boat than the sleek, balloon-lifted airships Dash was used to from her time. Now that she had the chance to admire it, she decided that it was both cool and awesome. Not radical, though, it was too military-efficient to have any real flair.

The food smell was coming from the mess area, so Dash made her way over there. A dozen ponies sat around metal tables, shoveling food into their mouths. They looked up as she limped past, but none of them said anything. She didn’t know if they were being friendly or not, and she was still too tired to really care. All she wanted was to get some food and maybe go back to bed.

The soldier doling out the food stared at her too, but he still gave her a heaping plate full of scrambled eggs, oats and cooked hay. She mumbled her thanks and took her food to an empty place at the tables. She looked around at the ponies staring at her. “Hey,” she said. One of them opened his mouth to speak, but another put out a hoof, stopping him. The soldier rethought what he had been going to say, and then just gave Dash a nod before looking away. The others also returned to their meals, eating quickly.

Dash sighed. She didn’t know what to make of that. The look the soldier had given her had been curious and a little awestruck. She didn’t know why, but she figured she’d find out later. Without any other thought she dug into her food. It was both horrible and delicious all at the same time, and she couldn’t imagine it any other way.

When she had finally finished her food she looked up to discover that Gamma had taken the seat across from her at some point, and the rest of the mess was deserted. She couldn’t remember the other mare sitting down or the soldiers getting up, but she figured being focused on food had a lot to do with that. “Hey,” she said again.

Dash took stock of herself. She hurt all over, especially in her wing joints and right rear leg. She was still filthy, and still incredibly tired. She’d spent what sleep she’d gotten dreaming of ashen Alicorns and red lightning bolts. “M’okay,” she said.

“Excellent,” Gamma said, her flat gaze declaring exactly how much she believed Dash’s statement. “Since you are the first to awaken, I have decided to begin the debrief with you.”

“Tell me what happened, Agent Dash,” Gamma clarified. “Beginning with the Destroyer.”

“Half the world knows about Umbra,” Gamma said. “The other half will know by the end of the week. What they don’t know, what no knows, is exactly what happened with her. I know you were there. Tell me everything.”

“Now, Dash,” Gamma commanded, then frowned as she looked over Dash’s dirty coat. “If you’d like a shower then you may have one, but I will be joining you in there and you’d better be talking the whole time.”

Dash saw no reason not to take her up on the offer, and so began the story as they made their way to the showers next to the infirmary. She’d seen enough of Gamma’s incisive mind not to intentionally leave details out, but she still had to backtrack several times as she forgot sequences of events or was asked to clarify things she’d thought were obvious. Overall it took two hours to get all the relevant information out, from Nightmare Umbra all the way up to Max Cash and the Element of Loyalty.

“And you’re sure this is the Element of Loyalty you wielded against Nightmare Moon?" Gamma asked.

Dash had decided to stretch her legs after the shower, so they were now walking around the compound. Umbra's storm had completely dissipated, leaving clear skies from horizon to horizon. The morning sun was just above the hills, and the mud was drying slowly at their hooves. Soldiers had taken up residence in the guard towers, watching for any of Cash's forces that they might have missed in the night.

Dash nodded to Gamma's question. "Yeah. No doubt at all. I could feel it. I don't know how to describe it, I just knew."

Dash nodded again. "Like everything about it was flipped upside down and backwards."

Dash shrugged. "I don't think so. You gotta be loyal to your friends to use it, and even then it's just a fancy necklace without the others. At least, I think it is. We were never too clear on how they did their thing."

"Star hadn't either," Dash sighed. "But before Nightmare Moon, neither had I. I guess they got lost again or something. That Schism thing really messed Equestria up."

"Yes," Gamma agreed. "It did." They walked in silence for a minute before Gamma spoke up again. "We found the body in the cavern. Without access to my files I can't be sure, but I think he's a pony named Conrad Sherman. A low-birth unicorn. He's on record as a petty criminal, con artist and pathological liar."

"So you’ve said," Gamma replied. "I believe that is confirmation enough, but I want to be sure."

"I suspect so. I sent an agent to investigate him not too long ago. At her last report she'd been jumped in a nightclub, left unconscious in a bathroom stall. By the time she had awoken Sherman was gone. The window to his hotel room was broken, as was the door. I suspect that he found out Cash's intention to kill him, and did not come here willingly."

"What happened here, Gamma?" Dash asked, coming to a stop. "I mean, I was here and I don't get it! Who is this Cash guy? Why does he have the Element of Loyalty? Why did he kill Conrad? Why did Umbra try to stop me from coming here? Is it because of the Element? Did she know he had it and just not want me getting it?"

"That's what I've been calling them. Invisible connections. Between you and Cash, between Umbra and you, even between Agent Fall and you. There are so many questions, and the questions themselves point to some greater events going on where we can't see them, connecting all of you into some sort of grand design." Gamma sighed. "Every new bit we learn brings us closer to seeing that design, but it also brings that design closer to fruition. We have to see it before it becomes unstoppable, but so long as these questions hang over us, so long as those connections are invisible..." She trailed off.

Gamma gave Dash a flat look. "Agent Dash, if I were not going to help I would not be here. Whatever you are embroiled in, it threatens the Kingdom. It is my duty to ensure that no threat to the Kingdom goes undiscovered and unanswered. Of course I'm going to help. I'm going to be running the damned show. You are going to be helping me."

Dash laughed again, but grew serious. "He's dangerous, Gamma. I don't know how, but he scared Star, and he did something to me. Something that messed me up bad in that cave. I've got a freakin' Nightmare gunning for me, and he's the one I'm really scared of."

Gamma let out a little shudder. Barely enough to be noticeable, even to Dash's keen eyes. "Don't underestimate Umbra," Gamma warned. "You should be afraid of her. Scared for your life."

"Yeah, I get that, and I am," Dash said. "But that's a normal sort of scared, you know? She's just going to kill me. Cash? He's wrong. Seriously wrong. I think if you spend too much time around him, some of that wrong starts to get into you. Like with Charisma."

"Charisma was an unstable personality long before she met Cash," Gamma said. "But I will agree that his influence has been detrimental even to her. Her skills, however, are by all accounts even sharper than when she worked for us. You should be proud that you fought her to a standstill."

"I kinda got my ass kicked," Dash admitted. It was hard, but not as hard as she had expected it to be. Gamma knew all the details at this point, and boasting about that fight wouldn’t make her feel better about it. "She said the only reason I was doing okay was because I'm so tough. I kinda believe her on that, after what she did to Astrid."

"Both of you are lucky to be alive," Gamma said. "And even if it was your superior resilience that allowed you to fight her and live, it's a testament to Sergeant Steelwing's skills that she managed to do the same. Charisma is a killer, make no mistake. She has a confirmed bodycount in the triple digits, most in melee combat."

"Which was when she was working for you guys, right?" Gamma nodded. "Yeah, Cash got into her. She was almost happy that I was going hoof-to-hoof with her. It was like a dream come true. That's crazy, Gamma. That's Max Cash crazy."

They walked in silence for another minute, coming up to the dig site. It looked different in the sunlight. Less imposing, less stark. "Still looks like a barn to me," Dash quipped.

"I think it has a more municipal feel," Gamma said. "Certainly there must have been a town here at one point, though even our oldest maps don't have any mention of it."

"Maybe for you guys it looks, um, municipal, but back in my time we... do you hear that?"

"Somebody calling for help," Dash replied, her ears swivelling to find the source of the sound.

She lurched into the tunnel, cursing her sore wings and her stiff leg. The shouts had stopped, but she could hear the sounds of a pony struggling from up ahead. She struggled through the darkness, tripping on the uneven path. Finally she burst out into the cavern, blinking in the glare of the work lights. She saw who had been calling and skid to a stop, mouth hanging open.

"Nevermind, got myself out," the pony said. Her Old Equestrian was perfect, but laced with an unmistakable country drawl. She dusted some dirt off of her orange coat with a beaten old stetson that she then placed neatly atop her blonde mane. She gave the pit she had crawled out of a nasty look, but when she turned to Dash her green eyes lit up. "Rainbow Dash! Well aren't you a sight! Mind tellin' me where in the wide, wide world of Equestria we happen to be? 'Cause I have to admit I have no idea how I got here, and I am mighty confused right now."

Finally Dash managed to work up enough spit to swallow. Then with a hoarse voice that verged on sobbing she said the only thing she could think of right then: "Applejack?"

Harmony Theory

by Sharaloth

Chapter 14: Loyalty