Leaving her daughter with Big Macintosh, both to make sure she was left in good hooves and with someone she trusted to do a good job, Applejack brought Twilight along with Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Spike through a tunnel leading up to the surface. The tunnels were not dark, being lit mostly with dangerous flows of magma. Some warmth would have been welcome, but this amount was just too much for Twilight as they walked a tad too close to the burning substance. She couldn't stop sweating.
"At least we can see where we are walking, Dear," said Rarity.
"We're lucky we have these," said Rainbow Dash.
"Nah, luck doesn't have anything to do with it. We placed these ourselves," said Applejack.
"Really? Why?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"So they can see where they are going without leaving an obvious trail of torches to follow, obviously," said Spike.
"Spike gets it," said Applejack. "We made sure to make them look as natural as possible. Sharp's ponies are often running about, looking for us. It's funny how they mostly being pegasi make us safer if we hide underground, they don't like that."
"Have you ever been discovered?" asked Twilight.
"Once, so of course we had to move mighty quickly. Not a lot of ponies in Promise Peak remember this old mine, though. We expanded it to suit us better. It's not really home, though," said Applejack.
They rounded a corner, and Twilight saw natural light again, along with feeling a hint of cool fresh air. It had been far too long since she had seen proper sunlight, and she would have felt relaxed if not for the fact that in these areas, sunlight meant you were in the open, completely vulnerable. Fortunately, they had timed their journey well. Within the hour, the sun would set. The white snow, like always, covered as far as the eye could see.
"I can't believe I've spent more than a day underground," said Twilight.
"I can't believe how large this type of land is," said Spike, almost sounding impressed. "The only one bigger I've seen would have to be the ocean, or maybe a desert once."
"There's an ocean?" asked Applejack.
"Oh yeah, we've built a little outpost, or are building it, anyway. I guess the plan is to make a fleet of boats to see if there's something on the other side," said Rainbow Dash.
"Your brother had been there a while, looking over it while it's been built. He's doing a great job," said Twilight.
"He told me. It... it was really nice to get to talk to him again. It's good to know he's doing well, and that Applebloom's safe," said Applejack.
"Alright, everypony, we're out of the cave, so you better put on your fabulous camouflage," said Rarity, bringing out a set of woolen clothes for them to wear. They were white, with just a tiny hint of gray in a few spots. It matched the snow very well. Though, when Twilight was given it and put it on, the fact that it was so warm meant much more to her than anything. The air was slowly becoming colder as the sun went down.
As they walked, Spike got more and more attentive. Once darkness fell, he quickly checked their surroundings almost every ten steps, as well as the sky.
"I can't believe my brother is in this world, it's unbelievable," said Twilight.
"It was hard for me to face too, Twilight, but it's true," said Applejack.
"Can I ask you something, Applejack?" asked Spike.
"Go ahead, Spike."
"Why didn't Shining Armor just contact you instead of that jerk Clear Cut? I mean, you trusted him as soon as you saw him," said Spike.
"I asked him that too, but he simply hadn't know that we were from Ponyville, he didn't know they had passed Ponyville at that point, nopony on the train really did except for the conductor... and she was killed as soon as they came here. Shining Armor had been looking for a way back while taking care of the troops," said Applejack. "He had to risk going to Promise Peak himself on the last day because it got really desperate. He was just as surprised as me, and mortified when I told him I didn't know what had happened to you, Twilight."
"Wait, something's been bugging me," said Twilight.
"Yeah, why did only the conductor know where they were going?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"No, no, I meant-"
"It was a secret escort. There was a lot of criminals there who belonged to some loyal groups. Only a few knew the way they were gonna take. They couldn't have risked that the train would be ambushed or something like that, so it was all very secret," said Applejack.
"Hang on, Applejack, there's something I don't really understand. You've talked about ponies dying, but that doesn't make sense. We should have seen at least a few at the Temple of Return," said Twilight.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"The Temple of Return... Well, not too far from Haven, we have this weird place where ponies might come back if they've died. It doesn't always work, but sometimes it works two or three times. Do you have your own and forgot to mention it?"
Applejack just stared at Twilight in disbelief.
"Maybe, maybe the temple is out of their reach?" Spike suggested.
"You're not making any sense," said Applejack.
"Or... maybe it just doesn't work anymore," said Twilight. Everyone but Applejack, still confused, just went silent.
"No, that can't be right. I heard that Strong Will died and returned, about three months ago, and the ponies here must have died before that," said Spike.
"For someone named Strong Will, he didn't take it very well," said Rarity. "By the time we left, he was still going on about the void."
"Please don't talk about that, I'm not in the mood to think about it," said Rainbow Dash, turning away her head.
"The void?" asked Applejack.
"I... I'll tell you later," said Twilight, giving Rainbow Dash a concerned look.
"Anyway, to me, nothing has really changed. It doesn't matter if we have it or not, death might still stick. But, this just makes Clear Cut more of a jerk. Threatening to kill you, and them trying to kill me, thinking there wasn't even a chance of us coming back," said Spike, then mumbling angrily.
"They are just extremely careful. They've been told about almost everyone in Promise Peak, but nothing about a dragon. You could have been a threat as far as they knew. I agree that it's terrible, but I honestly think they did the right thing to protect their friends and kin. Not to mention that there's children and innocent ponies hiding down with us," said Applejack.
"Personally, I'm surprised they didn't recognize Twilight. You would think a former guard would know who the princess was," said Rarity.
"It's possible they hadn't even seen a picture of her. I think they used to work pretty far away back in Equestria," said Applejack. "Your coronation wouldn't have been that long ago by that time. Feels like ages now, though."
"True. Well, let's pick up the pace. The sooner we can get a good look at Promise Peak, the sooner I can come up with a plan," said Twilight.
***
"Keep looking forward. Enderponies," said Spike after a quick sweep.
"Where?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"At seven o'clock. Be ready in case they teleport," said Spike.
"Having to fight an Enderpony would waste a lot of time and be dangerous," said Twilight. "I don't really like Enderponies. They remind me of the fact I can't use magic anymore," she said, looking down at the ground, slightly to her left in melancholy. Years of neglecting her talent; she had almost forgotten what using magic felt like.
Suddenly, in her sulking, in the corner of her eye, she noticed something standing alarmingly close. A pair of long dark legs were standing just a few feet behind her. Twilight jumped in shock, and overpowering her instincts to look at the threat, she turned her eyes away from the monster.
"Twi... light."
Remembering waking up before the assault a few nights before, Twilight slowly, carefully turned towards the speaker. Suddenly she found herself gazing into the green eyes of the Enderpony. It was staring directly at her. Except for a couple of empty bright pits being the eyes, the creature's face remained just a big blur lacking any defining features. All Twilight could gather from its body language, how it seemed to stretch its long neck to get a closer look at her, was curiosity. In a way, Twilight felt like she had right before Applejack's warriors had struck, like she was dreaming.
"Twilight... Spar... kle."
"Twilight?" asked Applejack, slightly worried.
"What?" asked Twilight, turning to Applejack, then turning back to the Enderpony, but there was nothing there. She felt strange, disoriented.
"I was asking you about Applebloom. Has she really grown, just like Spike has?" asked Applejack.
"Wait, didn't you see it?"
"See what?" asked Spike, turning to her.
"The... the... nevermind," said Twilight, getting a closer look at her surroundings. It was so odd. She could have sworn she had stopped when the creature had appeared, but judging from her position it was as though she had kept walking uninterrupted, in fact she still was. Why had nopony else seen it? At least last time there had been the excuse of it being dark and very late, but now it should have been more than obvious it had been there with them. Was she losing her mind? The truly crazy thing would have been that such a prospect wouldn't be nearly as terrifying as some of the recent revelations: Time Turner a changeling, Applejack a betrayed mother... and her brother trapped in some tower somewhere, possibly malnourished, tortured and dying of thirst.
The situation was too severe to waste time. If there was the possibility for a plan, she had to find it as soon as possible. Twilight felt anxious to get to Promise Peak. Once she knew the town, saw the problem, analyzed it, then a course of action would be easier. It was dangerous, but in case of not retuning to the base, Big Macintosh and Soarin had explicit orders to return to Haven and do whatever it took to get help.
***
"Promise Peak should be visible once we round this corner. Now we need to be even more careful. During the day these parts are patrolled by the criminals. It's likely they have at least one lookout somewhere close at night," said Applejack.
The area they walked through was surrounded by steep cliffs. Twilight had never seen an area this packed with mountains. Threats of monsters had been replaced with the threat of being spotted by something potentially far worse. Wherever they looked there was at least one torch giving plenty of light. They couldn't move back into the ironically safer darkness.
"Are you sure we can't just tunnel our way there?" asked Rainbow Dash, clearly suspicious and keeping a lookout for things moving in the sky.
"We need to get a good look at the place from somewhere high, Rainbow Dash. We have to make good time, making tunnels here is too slow and dangerous right now," said Twilight.
***
After very carefully scaling a nearby cliff, always keeping an eye out for threats, Twilight finally reached the top of a mountain without leaving any trails. At a point on the way up, she had spotted the faint light coming from a town, just over the edge of another small cliff blocking her view. Now, once up, she saw the town of Promise Peak in full, and she was blown away.
Basically covering the entirety of the upside of a leaning mountain, the widest, tallest and most massive she had ever seen, there was a town, and what a town it was.
Surrounded by a tall, thick wall of stone bricks, there were endless amount of houses, built tightly together. There were overhangs and bridges seamlessly built into the architecture, leading whatever which way one would wish it to go. Houses were built in layers on top of layers. It must have been covering at least twice the living space of Haven, but on only a fourth of the same surface area. It was a town of alleyways, tight and filled with light. Almost all of the buildings ended with a pointed roof of dark wood, built upon the towers of cobble, stone bricks and smooth stone. The details achieved with stone and wooden fences was incredible. Despite blocks never wavering in this strange realm, their use of pillars, fences and other little touches made the entire town seem oddly mighty and even more steady than it had to be, just like the mountain it was built upon. Roads, while thin and steep, somehow fit into every nook and cranny, seemingly allowing one to reach the other end of the town in minutes if one only knew one's way. There on the very top of this sprawling tight city, a tall and thin castle overlooking everything within the eye's reach: Applejack's home.
Epic. That was the only word Twilight could come up with to describe this marvel. There was no longer any doubt in Twilight's mind why Applejack's warriors, her ponies, felt such pride and felt like this was where they belonged.
This was their home. This was the proud city of Promise Peak. And from the amount of intimidating pegasi flying among the pointed roofs, it was clear it was in its darkest hour.
Without wasting a single second, Twilight quickly got down on the ground, lying in the soft cold snow, getting a good look on the entire area.
"I see about twenty pegasi above the town at one time. How many are out patrolling?" asked Twilight.
"My warriors says it has to be at least thirty during the day. It's around fifteen at night. Give or take," said Applejack.
"Do you have anything more precise?" asked Twilight.
"I don't remember the exact numbers. Clear Cut's wife should know," said Applejack.
"Hm, alright. How is it if we would tunnel in?" asked Twilight.
"Not a good idea. We made an automatic system down there. It detects if anyone has dug in and sets of an alarm, and from what I've heard Sharp's designed a system that floods everything under the city with lava if one tries. If we would try using stealth, that won't be any good," said Applejack.
"How about the houses? They are all basically touching each other. Are there ways throughout the city if you stay inside the buildings?" asked Spike.
"I suppose one could tunnel room to room, covering up the tracks, but one of Sharp's stallions are bound to hear it. They would get suspicious. It's forbidden to mine, dig or do anything like that without permission, and almost never during the night," said Applejack.
While intently listening to her friend, Twilight made sure to keep every single little thing she saw or noticed about the town, positions, wall patrols, nooks, angles, basically everything, inside her mind. Twilight had thought of herself as a sister, a scholar, a friend and even a princess, but these didn't properly touch what she really was: a problem solver. As she observed the town, something started to form in her mind: a plan.
"Hm, Applejack, where is the cave where that book was, the one that taught you about Intent?" asked Twilight.
"It's on the other side, at the very foot of the mountain, under the overhang. Why?" said Applejack.
"Well, it seems reasonable to believe that's where Sharp got the book that allows flight. I was curious, because after we've saved Promise Peak, I will check out that cave for anything else of interest," said Twilight. "Of course, now it's likely that Sharp has got the book with him at all times, or has hidden it somewhere."
"Dang," said Rainbow Dash.
"Do you think we can do it?" asked Rarity.
"I do, and I think I know how," said Twilight. "We are going to use something they don't have."
"What is that?" asked Applejack.
"Tell me, do you have any prisoners from Promise Peak?" asked Twilight.
"Just, just one," said Applejack. "He's basically a runt. The only reason he got captured was that he couldn't follow the orders from the guy above him, plus he didn't have any wings."
"Perfect. Let's go back, we're done here," said Twilight, standing up.
***
Several hours later, being back at the base, Twilight stood at the top of a large set of stairs, looking down upon the many warriors and refugees. Her friends were right there by her. Applejack had summoned each and everypony in the entire base to come listen, for this was important.
"Alright, everypony, I need you to listen closely," said Twilight, raising her voice. She heard slight mumbling among the crowd. It was clear several of the ponies didn't trust her all the way, but Twilight frankly didn't care. "I have made a foolproof plan that will allow us to gain the ability to fly from Sharp Edge, and through that we will take back Promise Peak within the month!" said Twilight.
"Is she serious?" a pony could be heard among the group.
"She's crazy, that's what," said another.
"It's actually quite simple. We are going to use something that they simply don't have," said Twilight. She gestured to her side, where something shiny and dark walked up to her side. "Our very own changeling," said Twilight.
Surprisingly shy, Timey bowed awkwardly towards the crowd. They obviously did not approve of somepony being able to make changeling follow her wishes, and to their credit, Twilight thought they were right.
"And not only that, we will use our only prisoner to achieve this," said Twilight. "The plan is simple, yet there is no way that they are going to see this coming. Timey, this proud changeling, has learned how to act like that meek prisoner. He's an expert at imitating. Starting tomorrow night, he will imitate the prisoner, then go to Promise Peak where he will act and move around the city unnoticed. He will be able to learn their secret to flying, learn about their defenses, and with a little luck, he will be able to assassinate Sharp in his sleep."
"Woah, Twilight, are you sure? Isn't that a little... a lot extreme?" said Rainbow Dash.
"I agree that this isn't really like you, but considering what those scum are doing, I don't really mind. It's a tough decision, but it has to be made," said Spike.
"I will do this without fail. I shall follow the orders of my princess! Sharp Edge is going to die!" shouted Timey.
A single triumphant hurrah went through the cave.
"We will wish you good luck, Timey. The rest of you, this plan hinges on Timey being able to play his role well, and that means telling the criminals where he 'escaped' from. We are going to have to start moving to another location immediately. Within three days we will have moved. Timey will be leaving in two days. We have to start now, we have to keep to a schedule if we want to succeed in this. The reason we have to be quick is that Timey won't have enough energy to disguise himself for very long if we wait," said Twilight.
***
"I think that went well," said Twilight as the group went into a small room to talk about the plan.
"Did I do well?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Very well, Rainbow Dash," said Twilight.
"Quite so, but personally I think Spike was a little too cold," said Rarity, nudging his cheek a bit with her hoof.
"Do you think this plan is going to work, Twilight?" asked Spike.
"All I know is that this plan shouldn't be able to be found out by Sharp Edge, no matter how intelligent he's supposed to be," said Twilight. "Prepare to tell your warriors what we are going to do here, Applejack. If everything goes according to plan, then nopony will have to die."
***
A whole day later, far away from the underground base, a red mare was running as quickly as she could through the winter landscape, having finally spotted the mountains in the distance. The mare simply had to get there in time. Following the slithering openings between the mountains, over hill and under overhangs, she finally saw the city.
Not wasting any time, the red mare, only known to Twilight as Clear Cut's wife, hurried up to the front gate. The princess was still back in the base, unaware of where Clear Cut's wife actually was. She stood on the bridge, looking up at the wall where some of the large intimidating ponies were standing, bows drawn.
"So, why have you come back?" asked the pony guarding the gate.
"Because I have news that Sharp needs to hear. It is important," said the mare.
"Do they know you're a traitor?" asked the stallion.
She just smirked. "They have no idea."
He returned the wicked grin. "Let it in!" he yelled, unable to really hide the underlying, almost chronic rage in his voice.
The gate opened and the red mare walked inside. She was in a hurry. As Applejack's warriors were making their move, it was important the timing was correct.
***
The red mare quickly traveled up all the way to the top of the mountain, walking inside the door. She turned to a living room on her right, seeing a fireplace lit and a pony sitting in front of it in a brown wool couch.
"What are you doing here?" asked the orange and red Sharp.
"Sharp, King of Criminals, I have very important news," said the mare.
"Fine, but stop looking like that. I hate red," he said.
"Thank you, this form is starting to become uncomfortable," said the mare. A green flame enveloped her, and suddenly a changeling, a female judging from the subtle details and differences from a male, was standing in front of Sharp.
"So, what's so important you've had to risk our only infiltrator?" asked Sharp.
The changeling's voice was much smoother than that of a male, almost seductive. "It's the resistance. They've gotten a changeling now. Some new ponies came with it, and one of them made a plan to hurt you, the fool told everyone of their plan" said the changeling. "Tomorrow, Runt Rascal will be mimicked by their changeling. He will try to kill you and get the secret of flying. I can't let that happen to my king," said the changeling.
"It would have been clever, but it's pretty clear this new pony isn't used to war-tactics. Never announce your plans like that," he said, shaking his head at the idiocy.
"Also, the resistance will move their base again in two days. As their strategy relies on the other changeling being convincing, he will tell you from where he 'escaped', so they have no choice but to move. However, it's clear they will leave a trap once they're gone," said the changeling.
"A viable strategy," said Sharp.
"But, I have some good news. I know exactly where they will be in two days," said the changeling.
"Hm... this is good, I can use this," said Sharp. "There's no need for you to go back. There won't be much to go back to. We will ambush them at their new hideout. You've been useful leaking their plans to us, but it's time we get rid of them one and for all. Us, surprising them in a place we will know better than they do and that they haven't secured. This is a rare opportunity. They won't stand a chance," said Sharp, giving a wide, terrible smile that managed to make the changeling a bit uncomfortable.
***
Back the day before, inside the small room in the underground base, the group was gathered.
"I think this is a clever plan of yours, Twilight," said Applejack.
"As long as Timey isn't wrong, and we only have one traitor here, then this should work," said Twilight.
"And what if we have more than one traitor?" asked Spike.
"Not possible. Everypony else are completely loyal to our cause," said Applejack. "I guarantee it."
"Though, Timey, could you perchance explain something to me?" asked Rarity.
"What is it?" asked Timey.
"You were able to sense the other changeling, but wouldn't it know you knew about him or her and then run away?" asked Rarity.
"It's not something we can know just like that. We basically have to assume there is another changeling here before we can look for it. It's like taking the train only when you know it will leave, why else would you be on the station? Or something like that, I'm not good at analogies. She had no reason to think I would assume a changeling was around. It's not pleasant to do. If there isn't a changeling nearby, it hurts a lot."
"Well, alright, but why did you assume it was?" asked Rarity.
"Because of Princess Twilight," said Timey, looking with respect at Twilight.
Applejack turned to the princess. "Twilight?"
"Because of two things I've heard since I came here: one, that you've failed twelve whole times against Sharp, almost like they knew about the plans to begin with. It doesn't matter how smart your opponent is, because when you have royal guards making plans, they tend to work. The second reason is how a royal guard would suddenly shoot an arrow without permission by their commanding officer. Guards aren't perfect, but they just don't do that type of mistake. Shining Armor is my brother, I know this stuff. That arrow being fired was really only good for Sharp in that situation, so I assumed the possibility there was a traitor. But, again, royal guards just don't do that. However, because I had changelings in mind ever since I learned about Time Turner..."
"You're always ready for anything," said Spike proudly.
"Stop with the flattering, Spike. Now, to go over it once more," but before Twilight could tell them the whole plan again, the door opened.
A guard was standing in the doorway. "Chief, it's just like you said. We kept an eye out on the ponies you specified, and one of them did indeed try to get out of the base."
"And now we have the other changeling," said Timey. "I'll check just to make sure later, and get the information I need from her. Sorry it was so vague, it was hard pinpointing her in that big group."
"Who was it?" asked Applejack.
"It was the warden's wife," said the guard.
Applejack shook her head. "Poor Clear Cut, he will not be happy when he hears about this."
"I still don't like that jerk, but I wouldn't have had this happen to him, not in a million years," said Spike, shaking his head.
Twilight caught their attention again. "Please, I know this is not cheerful news, but we need to go over the plan again. It's like this: Sharp will believe his changeling warned him about the plan ahead, not realizing that was the plan to begin with. He will most likely order an ambush at the new position, basically setting up shop before we would have a chance to, because if he's as smart as you say, he won't try to attack us here directly. Here we are too well prepared. His ponies waiting in an ambush that will never be triggered will likely cut Sharp's numbers in at least half for a time. We can trap the first half and then focus our efforts into getting rid of the other. Divide and conquer."
"Considering the new fake base is underground, Sharp will likely only move his earth-ponies and unicorns there, leaving the pegasi to guard Promise Peak. Because of the reduced number, there won't be much patrol that night at all, allowing our troops to get close to the city with little fuss," said Applejack.
"Though, there is still the pesky fliers raining down death from above," said Rarity.
"That's were our team comes in. At a specified time, Timey will disable the security redstone system, allowing me, Spike, Big Macintosh and Rarity a chance to get inside by tunneling our way in. Once inside, we will split up. Spike and Rarity will go to the prison and release all the prisoners, including my brother. Me and Big Macintosh will go up to Sharp where we will force him to give up the book, assuming Timey hasn't found it by then."
"And Rainbow Dash, you will be...?" asked Spike, ensuring she knew her assignment.
"Beneath the mountain. Since Twilight should be able to quickly read and learn the way of flight, she will fly down to me where she will teach me it and give me the book. I will then fly, as quickly as I can, to Applejack and her ponies, so their pegasi can learn it from me."
"And once we can fly, it doesn't matter how many pegasi they have, because ours are much better at what they do, even if they might be rusty," said Applejack with confidence.
"Step one: Timey baits half of Sharp's ponies. Step two: Timey shuts down the security. Step three: Spike and Rarity free prisoners. Step four: Twilight and Big Mac get the book. Step Five: Rainbow Dash learns how to fly. Step Six: Applejack's ponies gets the same knowledge from Rainbow Dash. It should all take less than an hour optimally, two at the most." said Twilight. "Is that all clear?"
"You forgot step seven," said Spike, smiling to himself.
"Hm?"
"Victory," said Spike.