//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13: Judgment 
// Story: Melancholy Days 
// by Zurock 
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	Their bags were seized while their captors brought out a great length of vine-rope and cut lines from it to use as bindings.  Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were bundled around their barrels, encasing their wings tightly.  A similar setup was used on James and Spike, who were wrapped chest to waist with their arms inside.  Poor Spike was also tied an extra time with a vine-gag that dug into the corners of his mouth; a measure probably taken in an attempt to restrict his fiery breath.  The rest of them were given no unique bindings but all eight were leashed together; a few coils draped and knotted around each neck one at a time in a line; nooses that weren't tight enough to be choking but that still rubbed a burning sensation onto their throats.  The strands that joined any two prisoners were relatively slack, sagging when they stood at close, comfortable distances, but the leashes did keep any one of them from trying to race off without dragging the rest of the others behind them.
Rarity was also restrained magically using another one of the unusual, gemmed horn-caps, identical to the one that had been placed on Twilight.  Whenever either of them attempted to use their magic the only effect was a soft green shine which emitted from the jewels on top.
When the last of them had been bound, they were surrounded and then marched along.  The humongous stallion who had pinned James earlier was clearly the pony in charge.  He stomped along in front; a stout leader of the procession; a muddy green goliath who was deferred to loyally by the other strange ponies.  His weighty clops could have been crashing trees and the heavy swishes of his tail were like the smashing swings of a carpet beater.  It couldn't be said if his authority came from his indomitable power or perhaps from some other trait.
It didn't take long for the oncoming sound of rushing water to grow louder than the parade of ponies.  They were lead straight to the stream that they had been keeping within ear's reach.  Only once they arrived they saw that it wasn't a stream anymore.  Wider, deeper, and faster, the water now surged with a hungry noise.  It crashed and splashed through bumps and dips with a solid roar.  There had been a subtle allure in the gentle stream, so far away now, that could have coaxed anypony in for a quick soak on a hot day but this new beast offered nothing that would have been inviting even in the worst of summer.  Despite lacking the unstoppable crush and stampeding foam of a canyon carver, it still had an inescapable sense of danger.  It was hard to look at without suffering a sinking feeling inside; a sensation of being caught and carried away.
It was an unfortunate trait because the river also had something most unusual about it which encouraged stares.  Although a few stones jutted up out of the water here and there, breaking its flow, far more common were giant crystals that sat like knives driven into the riverbed.  They rose up in many colors, at many angles, sometimes in clusters.  Some were as big as doors and others were as large as street corner lamp posts, and the water wound its way past and between them, swirling and swishing.  Undoubtedly there were more than could be seen; smaller crystals that held fast below the surface, not yet grown enough to breach.  The constant abrasion from the water rubbed a glittering dust off of them that gave a clean, rainbow shimmer to the river and left a brilliant layer of sediment on the banks.  It was only in dull, echoed memories that any of the captured onlookers remembered seeing the thinnest traces of such color in the stream; the last of what hadn't been taken back by the forest riverside; a vibrancy mistaken at the time as no more than the natural glory of the water.  The crystals themselves also glowed with a faint but noticeable luminescence like they were drawing something in from the river, or the air, or the very earth they rested in.
The group was lead close to the banks of the rolling water.  The ground softened, growing wet with flaky mud, and the trees grew a bit further between than they were elsewhere.  From there, the whole company turned and followed alongside the wet road, marching upstream.
Well, most of them marched anyway.  Pinkie Pie bounced along in spirited leaps like an amorous skunk, never losing the huge grin that flashed across her face.  While all the others were kept under the suspicious gaze of their captors, the leaping pony got stares of a more dumbfounded nature.  The ropes connecting her to her neighbors flopped and tugged with each of her jovial jumps.
Rarity, none too pleased with the flailing rope, whispered over to her hoarsely, "Must you be so happy about all this?"
"Oh, sure!" Pinkie Pie giggled.  "What's there to be not happy about?  We met some new ponies, and we played some games, and then they gave us all these vines and stuff!  They even gave you that nifty horn hat!"
"Pinkie, this isn't some joke!"  Rarity had difficulty keeping her frightened and frustrated voice low; they had all immediately noticed that violations of volume brought only negative attention from their keepers.  "We've been tied up by Celestia knows who and now they're taking us back to whatever awful place they came from and they're probably going to do terrible, nasty things to us and we'll never see anypony ever again!  And if being ponynapped weren't enough..."  She looked up distressfully at the lock which was clamped down on her horn and the emerald-like gem which topped it.  "... it's autumn and green isn't even in season anymore!  I wish I could get myself free of this ugly thing!" she moaned.
Spike, Rarity's neighbor on the other side, tried to say something to her but his voice came out completely muffled and indistinct through his gag.  She complained of not being able to understand him despite his repeated attempts to get a clear sound out.  Eventually the dragon gave up and slunk his head down.
Rainbow Dash struggled as she went along.  If she wasn't trying madly to flex her restricted wings, she was cranking her head back to try and snap at the knot that sealed her bindings.  Their captors had extra eyes on her because of all the activity but they never appeared too worried.  Indeed, the angry pegasus made no progress in freeing herself.  Her wrappings were so uncomfortably tight that they would barely bend and bulge when she pushed with her wings, and the impossibly small knot was never anywhere close to being within reach.
"Hey, Applejack, could you lend a hoof here maybe?" she finally requested silently.
The farm pony had made a few short-lived efforts to get at the knot of her own noose but her head didn't spin in the impossible way it would need to in order to reach the back of her neck.  She edged a bit closer to Rainbow Dash and inspected the vine jacket with a dismal frown.  "I dunno, that's some crazy kinda knot like I've never seen before.  I wouldn't know where to begin," she said quietly.
"Just pull on it or something," the irritated pegasus commanded.
"Like they ain't gonna see that," Applejack shook her head.  "'Sides, how do I know that won't just make it tighter?  Last thing I want to do is squeeze the air outta ya."
Rainbow Dash poured all her strength and anger into another attempt to tear free, pressing her wings out with every last reserve of power she had, but it was to no avail.  "Gah... it's so tight on my wings..."
"Hmm, well... strangely, you ain't the only one," Applejack whispered peculiarly as she cast a queer look over their watchful escorts.
They hadn't had the chance to get a good look at their captors during all the chaotic carnage but now that they had the opportunity they began to spot unusual things about the ambushers.  They had been waylaid by a gang twice their number; earthen hued ponies in shades of browns and greens and grays of light, dark, and in-between tones.  The mares and stallions of the forest company all wore manes that were like bushes, with strands of hair clumped together like leaves.  The mysterious ponies also all shared that bizarre, distinctive mark that the one large stallion had: a ring of black pigment around the right eye which extended at one corner to reach the forehead.  Even the filly who had captured Twilight (the only young pony amongst them) was marked.
The specific detail that had caught Applejack's eye, which she pointed out to Rainbow Dash, was perhaps the most unusual of all: half of the ponies were wrapped around the barrel with vines just like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were, despite being the attackers themselves.  Small bumps could be seen on their backs, beneath their bindings, so presumably they were pegasi also.  The knobs were minuscule though, almost barely noticeable, especially when compared to the two captured pegasi.  Thinking back, Rainbow Dash realized that all the ponies who had chased her, making astounding leaps up into the trees and between branches, were these bound ponies.
Though the strange self-shackling was a detail that had not escaped Twilight's notice, it was something else that truly caught her attention: there weren't any unicorns in the group of ambushers.  Not a single one.  She murmured to herself, "The legend of Unicorn Spring Forest..."
In front, the brown filly walked alongside the large stallion.  Like all the other pegasi, she was coiled in vines which crushed her tiny wings against her body.  While the rest of the ponies carried on seriously, she was truly upbeat and celebratory.  She danced and jumped as she went, taking off to heights tall and small, but always landing deftly on a hoof or two.  Sometimes she even did flips, sticking each landing perfectly.  The two long bunches of pale purple hair that sprung up out of her head whipped through the air with each of her leaps, and her cutie mark of a thin leaf wrapping around a twig seemed to float about like it was caught in the breeze.
When she couldn't keep her joy to herself any longer, she looked up at the big pony with expectation and excitedly asked, "So, not half bad, huh Broken Oak?  I really nailed her, spot on!"
The stern stallion, who had been so cold and solid when springing the trap, suddenly changed.  Happy and proud, there was a warmth to his deep voice as he said, "You sure did.  I don't think there's ever been a Branch Dancer as nimble as you at your age."
"There certainly hasn't!  I'm the best!"  The little one held her head up with a puffy confidence, reveling in the praise in the way that young ones tend to do when so commended.  There was a shine to her amber eyes, like glitzy gold catching torchlight.
"Haha, that you are!" Broken Oak chuckled approvingly.  A tender, brotherly quality exuded from him.  "You'll lead the Heartwood Guard one day for sure."
Still gleefully accepting, but now fawning a little, she replied, "Aw, I could never make as good a captain as you."
Again the big pony laughed, happy with the display of humility.  Dipping into both honest truth and playful teasing, he said, "You will some day!  Hold yourself up to it!  Just think... 'Captain Hoppin Poplar!'"
She shrieked in embarrassed excitement, "Come on, Broken Oak!  Don't call me that!"  Redness flushed her cheeks, distraught with the mention of her full name, and she insisted somewhat more quietly, "'Captain Poppy' would be just fine."
Broken Oak laughed yet another time, rubbing the filly's head.  "That's the spirit!" he encouraged.  "Don't let go of that thought!  Prideheart proud!"
The whole group, a circle of guards with a core of prisoners, continued along and never veered once from the river path.  Twilight stayed pensive and quiet, taking in every detail she could.  Noticing this mood, Rainbow Dash turned to her and asked in a hush, "Come on Twilight, you've figured a way out of this, right?"
The unicorn hummed deeply but didn't otherwise respond.
"Can't you just zap us out of here or something?"
"No," she answered.  "This horn-cap is blocking my magic."  She demonstrated it for the pegasus by flashing the gem at the top.
Already drowned in frustration from her failed attempts to break free, yet still determined, Rainbow Dash almost refused to believe it.  "So, what, you can't use ANY magic at all?  Really?" she nearly whined.
Twilight breathed a sober sigh.  "Well...," she began, tossing some thoughts about in her head, nodding with each one.  Then she thought out loud, "I don't mean to get too technical but...  Magic ebbs and flows.  I think this cap works by 'catching' my magic and redirecting it towards the crystal, which changes it, and then it harmlessly radiates away as light.  So... maybe I can't?"
The pegasus blinked.  "I'm not following."
"The cap has to absorb and convert my magic, so that means-"  But it was clear that the details weren't coming through in a form that Rainbow Dash's frantic brain was ready to understand.  Twilight thought for a second before responding, "You can think of the cap kind of like a leaky bucket.  It'll catch the water you put in it and slowly let it drip out.  But if you fill it with too much all at once... it'll spill right over."  She looked once more at the restraining device holding onto her horn like a tick and said with emerging confidence, "I think if I really exerted myself and pressed all my magic into it in one good go, I could overload it and bust it right off."
Spike perked up and rushed closer to her, nearly tripping half of the crew.  Rainbow Dash and Applejack stumbled as he passed in front of them and Rarity wheezed as his movements yanked at his bond with her.  He tried to force words out of his gagged mouth but again nothing he said could break through the vines intact.
"Come again, Spike?" Twilight requested.
Though he tried more forcefully to get his words out, he couldn't.  When they didn't understand, his mumbles turned angry for a moment before he merely sighed, returned to his place, and carried on walking in a funk.
Rainbow Dash pressed in closer to Twilight and said, "Alright, so you can break yourself out?  What are you waiting for?  Go ahead and do it."
"Don't," James immediately whispered.  He was connected on the other side of the unicorn and had been equally silent since capture, stoically absorbing everything that was happening.
Twilight looked back up at him.  She had been so preoccupied with determining whether she would even be able to force herself free that she hadn't yet given consideration to whether she should.  She was curious as to what he had considered.
Rainbow Dash was flabbergasted however.  "Don't?!" she cried in surprise, a bit too loudly.
Up front, Broken Oak's chipper attitude vanished and he swung back to being an abrasive guard master.  "Keep quiet back there!" he shouted at them brutally.
The pegasus regarded the barking pony disdainfully for only a split second.  She repeated, better controlling her volume, "Don't?  What the hay do you mean 'don't?'  Why not?"
With both of the ponies looking at him, James chose to direct his comments to Twilight.  "If you have a way to slip your bonds, you hold on to that ace up your sleeve until there's a better moment."
"Better moment?" Rainbow Dash hissed.  "Is being captured and hauled away not a good enough reason for you?"
Now equally annoyed with the pegasus as she was with him, he breathed harshly and sprayed his words at the objecting pony, "That's not the point.  They caught us already.  What's Twilight going to do if she gets free?  Fight them off?  That didn't work so well before.  Run for it?  Where?  We don't know the terrain; they do.  They surrounded us without even alerting us before.  She'd get caught again for sure.  The only thing an escape attempt would do right now is let them know that we could get away, and then they'd ramp up security."
Twilight's eyes flashed with seriousness.
But again Rainbow Dash was in complete opposition.  She spat out a disbelieving gasp and then tried to circle around his logic.  "If she gets free she can use her magic to get ME free.  Then I'll fly straight up through the trees out of here before they can catch me.  I'll go get help," she argued.
"And then what?" James countered.  "You don't know where they're taking us.  Maybe we'll keep following the river, maybe we won't.  Could you lead help back to us?  Plus, they'd have reason to treat us even more harshly if you got away.  Could you get back before anything happened?"  He shook his head.  It was frustrating to him because he understood how bad this situation was and how much potential it had to become worse, and this brash pony was risking plunging everything headlong into greater disaster.  But he was also keenly aware of how much they were being watched and it kept him from even remotely raising his voice, no matter how strained he got.  To ameliorate Rainbow Dash, he elaborated, "If Twilight has a way to break free and we keep that hidden, then she can get you out to scramble away at any time later IF it proves necessary.  Right now the best plan is patience."
Exasperated, the pegasus ground her teeth.  Finding the man impossible, she turned to her closer friend and pleaded, "Come on Twilight, don't listen to this."
The thoughtful unicorn was quiet for a moment.  Then she looked painfully at Rainbow Dash.  "I agree with James.  We should sit tight for now," she apologized.
"What?!" Rainbow Dash cried loudly.  Everything inside her tightened, she washed over with incredulous fury, but she was also hurt in a way.
"I said settle down!" Broken Oak fumed, stamping his hoof.
Once more Rainbow Dash acknowledged the large stallion with only an exceedingly brief, contempt-filled stare.  Lowering her voice again, she desperately contended, "Twilight, come on, you can't be serious!  Why have you suddenly been listening to this guy so much lately?"  Her fighting eyes glanced at James, fully revoking any camaraderie she had built with him.
"He's right, Rainbow Dash!"  Twilight struggled when she saw how heavily her friend was taking the decision.  As friendly and as sympathetically as she could, she tried to explain, "We've been captured by these ponies but we still don't know who they are, or what they want, or anything about them really.  Even if we were able to make a clean getaway, what good would it do?  We've learned nothing so far."
"But he thinks this is some kind of war or something!" the agitated pegasus rasped.
"No, it's... it's not... we... we just need a chance to learn what's going on," Twilight tried to justify.  She felt weak and nervous, caught between the two sides.  Rainbow Dash's pleas were hard to listen to, being so despairing and agonized.  It was also devastating to disappoint her friend who was so full of faith and trust.  James, on the other hoof, was cold and quiet but his logic was all in place; there was more they could learn by waiting patiently for the right time to act than by making an unlikely escape.  "If we can discover a little bit about them then maybe we can get the chance to explain ourselves," she hoped.
"This is ridiculous," Rainbow Dash asserted, positively bitter.  "I'm not waiting around!  I'll just get out on my own!"  She clamped down and stretched her wings as hard she could in another attempt to tear herself free.  Her groans were unreserved; deep rumblings to match her incredible effort as the sweat poured down her red face.
With a whistle and an angry stamp, Broken Oak brought the company to a halt.  He turned around, stomped up to the still struggling Rainbow Dash, and pushed a stare down into her that was so strong it could have drilled her straight into the ground.  "Unless you want somepony else to do it for you, KEEP THAT MOUTH IN LINE," he warned.
Collecting all her runaway tension at the situation, all her frustration with Twilight, and especially all her animosity towards James, she balled it up and redirected carelessly at the threatening pony.  "Make me," she dared.
"Fine."  One side of him sounded very pleased with the opportunity.
He was so tall that he easily and swiftly got his hoof up on the back of her neck and rolled her head down some.  Then, before she even had a chance to respond, he laid his hoof flat behind her face and swung it straight down.  Dropping forward to her knees, her face plowed into the mud with a dirty splat.  Broken Oak twisted his leg back and forth to bury her in more.
There were cheers and hoots and other general cries of enthusiasm from his fellow ponies.  Poppy bounced about elatedly, calling out, "You show'em Broken Oak!  Teach that Sun-kisser a thing or two!  Make her eat dirt!"
"Hey, step off!" Applejack yelled as she rushed forward.  She flung her shoulder into the large stallion but his immeasurable weight was too much to move.
He pushed back on the farm pony effortlessly, knocking her onto her tail without ever taking his hoof off of Rainbow Dash.  "As soon as she learns her lesson," he grunted.
The pegasus fought to get herself out from under him, with no success.  All she could do was wiggle and squirm, blowing furious words into the mud.  He leaned in and pressed more of his weight upon her, pushing her down deeper.  The rising hills of soaked soil crawled up the sides of her face, nearly reaching her ears.
At last he seemed satisfied and released her, stepping back.  Whirling about to lead the company again, he darkly advised, "Now keep quiet."
Rainbow Dash tried to pull herself out of the ground, assisted immediately by Applejack and Twilight.  There was a hearty sucking sound when she at last ripped free of the earth.  A huge mask of soil was stuck to her and it slowly drooped off in chunks, with squishy plops and plunks.  Almost as soon as she was standing up straight again, she took off after Broken Oak, growling.
Applejack seized her tail, holding her back.  "Easy there, firecracker.  Ain't worth it."
The vengeful pegasus temperamentally relented and started rubbing mud off her face and spitting some out of her mouth.  "Pfft!  Bah, if only I had my wings... then I'd show him," she assured herself.
Fraught, uncertain, troubled, and worried, Twilight looked back once at James.
As Broken Oak whistled once to get them all going again, the man reminded the unicorn quietly, "Patience..."





The journey never broke from the river.  They followed it until new noises started to rise above the churning water.  It wasn't more of the usual clicks, snaps, rustles, chirps, and other remote cries of hidden life in the forest.  It was the sounds of a completely different kind of life.  Chatter bounced through the leaves: everyday talk like greetings and goodbyes, hushed rumors traded by busybodies and busy bodies, and charged shouts of all kinds sprinted from one corner to another.  All of the buzzing was backed by endlessly active clops which echoed all around the trees and from the branches.  Louder and louder the noises came, until the sight suddenly opened up.
Merged with the very heart of the forest was a village of ponies, different in every way from the arrangement and order of Hamestown.  It was wild and open, growing off the trees and out of shrubs.  Huts, shacks, and homes assembled from wood, leaf, and vine; all kinds were built buried under raised roots, or between the many trees, or even elevated up in the limbs which spidered everywhere.  Many of the high up ones were packed tight with spreading balconies or great, extended terraces.  Steady platforms joined by wooden walkways, ramping up and rolling down from tree to tree, created something like airborne neighborhoods.  Some trees had steps driven into their bark that raced up around their trunks, pathways to the canopy towns, yet other trees could apparently only be climbed with raw agility.  The thickest trees had sections of trunk that were hollowed out at different heights, even with multiple floors in some cases; natural towers in the woods.  Hung everywhere were lanterns that didn't burn with any fire but cast dim light from shaved jewels set inside, augmenting the beams of sunlight that rained through the canopy leaves.  At the very center of it all was a sort of concourse; huge, flat, dry, clear of trees, longer than it was wider, well-worn from trotting, and dusty with ash from a history of blazing bonfires.
Here it could be seen that the river sourced from a smooth, broad lake which sat close to the center of the village, on one of the thinner sides of the concourse.  A blurry mirror, the trembling water cast shadowed trees into an upside down jungle.  But just like the river it had crystals of many sizes and colors which dotted the water like cattails shooting up from a swamp.  Erupting from the middle of the lake were many small mountains of cobbled together rocks and crystals; slabs, boulders, and spikes heaped and stacked repeatedly upon each other, rough and round and sharp all at once.  Springs of water burst out of every crack of the rocky piles, spewing icy cold liquid from top to bottom, rolling down and splashing into the lake.  The river was also not the only child of the lake.  Looking along the shores, a dozen other sibling waterways were visible.  They ran off in all directions, vanishing into the forest.  This wellspring was the very beating heart of the woods, pumping water down its many arteries.
Far off on the other side of the vast clearing was a single tremendous tree, more gigantic than any other tree in the forest.  Its splitting roots were like pillars and buttresses holding up a wooden skyscraper.  The trunk itself was wider around than even Twilight's library and it soared straight up into the forest canopy.  Its impossible size was the symbolic essence of the forest's strength; the brawniest arm nature had to offer.  At around four stories' height, just above where the massive roots joined the trunk, there were carved-out windows and a grand, open doorway, from which streamed glowing lights.  A balcony was strapped tightly around the tree's palace hollow, and a long, broad ramp sloped gently down from it straight into the concourse.
As the captives were lead into the center of the clearing they ran their eyes around to absorb the strange environment.  From the other perspective however, many eyes were drawn towards them.  Ponies up high, ponies wandering low, ponies under roots, ponies in the leaves, ponies from huts, ponies from holes; all crawled out to steal a peek at what the guard captain had brought in.  Some gazed fearfully, hiding partly behind wall, or trunk, or root, or bush, or brush.  Others stared scornfully, approaching close enough to plainly display their disgust.  Still others watched merrily, like some great victory had been achieved.  But what the prisoners most noticed was that every last pony was like those that had captured them: earthy colored fur, a foliage-mimicking mane, vine bindings if they were pegasi, no unicorns at all (not a SINGLE one,) and a black mark on the right eye which ran to the forehead.
When they reached the very center, Broken Oak came to a stop and again relayed instruction to his followers through a stamp and a whistle, this time adding a loud pronouncement of, "Heartwood home!"  Most of the guards broke away, scattering off into huts or up into trees via ramp or soaring leap.  However, new and fresh guards emerged to take over the vacant duties immediately, called out by the whistling of the captain.  The new guards shoved the prisoners, forcing them to line up almost shoulder-to-shoulder in the order they were bound, from Fluttershy on one end all the way to James on the other.
Twilight noted that some of the departing guards had deposited her group's pilfered bags in a tent built of vines and large, heavy leaves.  Just inside the crack of the tent she could see barrels and crates which were clearly not of a forest design.  There was no need to guess where those goods were from; they were the stolen supplies from Hamestown.
Poppy also ran off when the guards split.  She dashed up the grand ramp and into the main tree.  It was only a short time later that she returned, again holding her head up with a youthful pride.
Following behind her was an old mare of a pony.  Though saddled with creaky bones and sagging skin, there was enough bodily strength in her to drag herself along without assistance, and a demeanor which refused to let her be labeled as an old nag.  Her hair appeared as hundreds of braided strands that hung down like waterfalls on either side of her wrinkled face.  Almost all of her was faded gray: fur and eyes, mane and tail; as if time had washed the color from her.  Even her cutie mark was an ashy spectacle, being a much contorted and weathered branch of a willow tree with leaves whose color had died, if they even clung to life at all.  The one predictable exception to her bleak body was the distinctive black mark around her right eye.
Every forest pony there, whether one of the guards or just an observer, showed an immense respect for her.  There were bowed heads, plenty of kneeling, and complete silence.  Even mighty Broken Oak, so large compared to her that he could've squashed her like an insect, stood to one side and humbled himself low with a deep bow.  Poppy, indulging in being the presenter of such an important pony, gave a grandiose flourish when she reached the bottom of the ramp.  Then she scooted off to Broken Oak's side and copied his respectful pose.
The old mare eased her way closer to the prisoners, who all watched her with rapt attention.  When she was a stone's throw away, she stopped and ran her narrow eyes back and forth across the line of outsiders, not approvingly at all.  At last, she spoke with a bold voice, far more vigorous than her age would suggest.  The forest village was so silent that it was as if the very passage of time was carried along only by the words she produced.  She cast them to the side, off to Broken Oak, asking, "So, these are the first, finally come, at long last?"
"Yes," he answered while taking an attentive stance (a pose all the guards and Poppy immediately mimicked.)  "They penetrated deep into our forest, searching for us.  But we were able to catch them first."
She steadily bobbed her head in acknowledgment and looked once more upon on the intruders with spurning eyes.  "The next step, after so many years.  It is the true beginning...," she muttered.  Then, loud so all could hear, "... but we have long been ready!  Good work today, Captain.  A Prideheart exemplar you are."
"Thank you, great Willow Wise."  The humongous stallion again brought his bulk down low, this time in a gracious bow.
Twilight was trying to make sense of everything.  This forest village wasn't some hastily cobbled together staging ground for thieves to organize their raids from.  It would have taken a good number of years to set this up.  But there was even more than that.  The air of the space was completely lived in.  Long lived in.  This settlement had to have been at least as old as Hamestown.  Or even older?  For all the time that these ponies must have been here however, the frontiersponies had never found out about them.  There apparently had never been a hint of them until the recent thefts.
It was also obvious now that these ponies were not simple brigands exploiting the hard work of a fresh settlement.  They were definitely responsible for the recent difficulties that had visited Hamestown but the reasons were still unknown.  Twilight looked at James, recalling his guess of military strategy.  What did he think now?  She couldn't puzzle his theory into what she knew.  At least, not yet.
This elderly mare that had come before them might be the answer, though.  She was undoubtedly the leader.  Just the chance to speak with her would answer so many questions and, more importantly, it would present the opportunity to erase the misunderstandings that had resulted in their current predicament.  Once this Willow Wise granted an opening, Twilight would be able to turn all this trouble into water under the bridge.
But the old mare didn't look particularly giving.  As she continued to study the captives, she appeared offended by their presence more than anything.  Each passing second that she had to share the same space with them only seemed to make things worse.  
Apparently unhappy with the pace of the proceedings, Broken Oak approached her unprompted and gave her his thoughts, saying, "I believe they are close to the wicked Sun; sent personally to strike at us.  We should learn what we can from them.  If it is true then there's much to gain by having them in our keep."
"And what makes you believe they are close?" asked Willow Wise testingly.  There were tingles of doubt in the back of her throat.  "They don't look like anything I'd expect from her army."
"They came from afar in a train that was repulsive with her unsightly vainglory," he spat, offended at even the thought of the ornate train.  Then he pointed out, "And they must be trusted by her.  See the war beasts they bring?  A dragon!  Monstrous and unforgivably insulting that she sides with them now!  And I fought with the ogre myself."
As each increasingly ludicrous statement came out, one after the other, Twilight's jaw only dropped wider.  James would have slapped his own face if he could have only gotten his hand free.
Willow Wise reflected on her captain's opinion before she suggested, "Maybe so.  Greater than her magic is the Sun's deceptions...  It would not be surprising if her chosen hid behind an unusual facade.  They may have something more than we can see."
Broken Oak jumped at this, immediately nodding towards Twilight.  "They do, great Willow Wise!  That one, there, is the true danger!  She's undoubtedly one of the Sun's most powerful sorceresses!" he accused venomously.  "Even here she was able to assault us with her terrible magic!"
That twisted truth was too much for Twilight to take and, half-buried in the fear that things were slipping out of control, she tried to protest, "What?  No, that's not-"
An ear-shattering hoof clap left a small crater in the dirt.  Broken Oak hadn't grown any more willing to tolerate a word from them.  Staring down Twilight, he roared at her, "You will not speak EXCEPT to answer Lady Willow!"
"But you-" the unicorn frantically started again.
He shook the trees as he stomped right up to her.  "SILENCE!"
This time she was quiet, partly intimidated by the explosive force of the stallion.  But her goal never left her mind and after several tense seconds she managed to look past him, staring right at the elderly pony.  "Lady Willow, if you could just let me-"
Growling, Broken Oak threw his face into hers, their eyes nearly touching.  He snorted like a geyser, and Twilight even thought she could smell the acidic anger steaming out of him.  He raised a hoof up, tense and shivering with an overflowing strength that was desperately crying out to be used.
"Broken Oak!" Willow Wise called to him like a stern parent.
He froze, still shaking, but then managed to rein in his ire enough to pull back several steps.  Even as he went, he never took his fury-filled eyes off the unicorn.
Willow Wise took his place, stepping up in front of Twilight.  Mismatched in height, Twilight bent her knees slightly to even things up while she smiled nervously.  This was at last going to be her one chance to straighten everything out so it was important that she be deferring and polite.
But she was caught off her readiest guard when the old mare spoke first.  With her gray eyes still disapproving and her frowning scowl still disgusted, the mare's tone was at least straight, if mildly superior, when she declared, "You have failed, Sun-witch.  Don't insult me by trying to sing your lies and tricks to me, or whatever story your wicked Sun commanded you to tell."  Somehow a ringing of concession was in her voice, as if she felt she was being unduly and mercifully generous.
"W-what?" Twilight stammered, beyond flustered.  "But, you don't-"
She was silenced with an ashen hoof over her mouth and a single word, uttered with precise and firm control: "No."  The old mare then gestured to Poppy, who gave a bow embellished with far too much enthusiasm and then bounced off into a nearby tree, speeding from branch to branch until she disappeared.  Turning back to Twilight, Willow Wise held her head up with sure authority and demanded of the unicorn, "Now, prove that you have at least some dignity in your defeat: be silent and answer my questions.  I want simple, direct answers."
Twilight at last receded into silence with a nervous swallow and nodded.
Immediately Willow Wise charged her, just shy of courtroom levels of drama, "You have come here into Dryearth Forest, with your fellow saboteurs and your war beasts, on behalf of the wicked Sun, correct?"
"Dryearth...?" Twilight questioned in a whisper before she shook herself back to attention.  "We're not-"
"Simple!  Direct!" Willow Wise reminded her with warning.  "Answer!"
"... Princess Celestia sent us here," Twilight admitted with as much brisk confidence as she could muster in the moment.
The elder pony frowned at the name, obviously recognizing it, but she otherwise only nodded along to the answer that she clearly had expected to hear.  She levied her next accusation: "And you're working with the ponies outside the forest?  Those that have been slowly building themselves up, in preparation against us?  Or were they preparing for your arrival?  Those that have already begun acting against us?"
It was a difficult string of questions to answer with the brevity that was being demanded.  Twilight quickly perceived that they weren't really questions at all.  But she still tried her best and answered, "... The ponies of Hamestown requested our help with-"
Willow Wise cut her off without hesitation.  "And you were searching in the forest for us?"
"... We were searching only for clues about who stole supplies from Hamestown and damaged their equipment."
With a huff, the old mare turned away dissatisfied.  At the worst, she despised Twilight.  At the best, she didn't fully believe the limited answers.
Poppy fell back out of the trees, twirling and landing with unconscious grace.  She carried in her mouth a looped string of vine, and swinging below her chin at one end was a medallion of sorts.  The base was a small, round hunk of wood, like a tiny segment of a log.  Tightly grafted to it on one side was a careful arrangement of crimson crystals; largest on the outside and diminishing inwards, all with a slight outwards bend, like a blooming flower.  As with all the others seen in the forest, the glassy minerals glowed subtly from within.  It was a very purposeful piece of jewelry.
The spirited filly met up with Willow Wise as the elder pony stepped away from the lineup.  After a simple exchange of thanks, praise, and honors, the old mare lowered her head down to the ground and Poppy placed the medallion around her neck.  Again she thanked the filly before she faced the line of prisoners once more, tearing them apart with hostile eyes.
With her teeth, she gripped the vine close to the pendant and held it up.  She stalked over to Fluttershy at one end of the line and pressed it closer to the flinching pegasus.  Fluttershy shook and cowered, tremblingly leery of what the medallion might do.  The artifact changed its light very, very slightly but otherwise only continued to glimmer faintly.  Willow Wise made no comment and began to gradually walk the line.  She stopped in front of Pinkie Pie and held it up to the smiling pony, again with no major discernible effect.  Rarity was next in line and this time the crystals grew noticeably much more brighter, but they were still fairly dim and there was no other effect.  The elderly pony harrumphed at the white unicorn before moving on.
Spike, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were all presented before the medallion to a similar result as the first two: a minimum change in the radiating color at the most.  Willow Wise slowed down when approaching Twilight, anticipating a different reaction.  Sure enough, when she held the pendant up the crystals reacted in a startlingly dynamic way.  Their light flared up, burning like fluorescent bulbs, and they started to vibrate and produce a growling hum; a high-pitched gnawing that snuck behind every ear.
Discontented rumblings came up from the crowd of observers; a hundred private conversations publicly trading dark words.  Willow Wise's face bent with riled validation and she shot a foul stare at Twilight.  "Powerful, indeed," she mumbled grimly at the unicorn.  "Finest and most loyal of the wicked Sun's?  Specially selected, hm?  Yes, I think so."  She dropped the medallion out of her mouth and abruptly pointed at Twilight, shouting, "You were sent here to destroy us!"  The crowd roared in anger.
Twilight tried another time to protest, desperately pleading, "No!  We-"
Willow Wise used her outstretched hoof to silence the unicorn with a stiff slap.  More angry cheers came from the crowd.  "Curse you.  And curse the Sun you serve," she said slowly and seriously.  She paced about and called out loud, still addressing Twilight but also making sure that all of her followers could hear, "You have failed!  Your Sun will fail!  And a day will come when the Dryponies will at last be beyond her horrible-"
It was almost like time had suddenly frozen.  While stirring the crowd's passions, Willow Wise had stepped a bit too far past Twilight and in front of James.  The crystals underwent another change, and it was such an unexpected change it killed the impromptu speech outright.  The crowd's furor died with a gasp.  All had wide eyes and motionless hooves.  Even the elder mare's old eyes popped so far open that her wrinkled face seemed to stretch back into being young again.
The crystals' light had perished completely.  No dim glow, no faint flicker; nothing.  No motion, no sound, no color.  Only a thin emptiness was found in them now.
With all the delicate speed of a snail, Willow Wise blindly grabbed the medallion again, never once pulling her stare from the man.  The air had grown so still and quiet that the clacking or her teeth had the jolting rush of glass shattering in a vacant church.  Step by inching step, she pulled closer to James, held the pendant up to him, and the crowd gasped again at what they saw.  If the crystals could glow with darkness, if they could eat light instead of give it, then that it what they seemed to be doing.
After several lifeless moments, the crowd burst into a different kind of noise.  Questions, given in breaths and whispers, ran from one end of the concourse to the other.  Willow Wise locked up, the medallion limply dropping out of her mouth as she stood stupefied in front of the man.  Poppy looked at him as if he were a figment of her imagination; some dream fantasy brought to life.  She trotted over lightly and then prodded his knees with her hoof to see if he was for real.
James was far from taking the whole event in stride but his overall lack of a reaction came from not understanding a single ounce of what was going on.  The whole encounter had started on a grim track that he could at least follow but this bizarre ritual with the pendent had turned everything on its ear.  Inside the eyes of the ponies that were staring at him he read that they weren't seeing him; they were seeing something about him.  He turned to Twilight with the hope that he could gleam some guidance from her face but it was clear that she was puzzled as well... mostly.  While she was obviously still shaken by her frightful confrontation, unmistakably there was also a relentless side of her that was endlessly taking everything in and piecing it together.  Something about what was transpiring was giving her more clues, even if he couldn't pick up on them.  So... patience, then?
He held still, held his tongue, and let come what may.
Barely recovering, Willow Wise looked between the man and her medallion a dozen or so times.  Finally, she gazed up at him in awe and looked into his eyes for what truly felt like the first time, and she said to him, or perhaps herself, "You've come..."  Her gusto suddenly returned but with far more positive energy than before.  Showing a broad smile, she addressed all her ponies loudly, "The Sun would have used him as a weapon against us!  But she has only delivered him to us instead!  The Walking Desert!"
Joyful shouts and salvational cheers spread through the Dryponies instantly.  Amidst the hurrahs and hurrays, Twilight's company mostly gave James mystified stares.  But there was one more pony who also wasn't in line with the revelry.
Broken Oak stood aside with no smile and he released no yells or cheers.  He only quietly eyed the man with a grumbling suspicion.  This was the same creature he had engaged in a brief scuffle with earlier.  It was fair to say that whatever it was which impressed the other Dryponies did not impress him.
But he snapped to attention anyway when Willow Wise suddenly called for him, taking a bow and formally replying, "Yes, Lady Willow?"
"Set this one free," she ordered, directing his attention to James.  "It would be insulting for him to be so restrained when I have so much to discuss with him."  Then, almost as an afterthought, she dismissively waved at Twilight and the others, "Have the rest of them sealed away.  They can wait."
The brutish pony cleared his throat, obviously in objection.  "Lady Willow," he said with reserve, "we shouldn't release even a single one of them so carelessly."
"No, we must embrace this opportunity," she reflected, dismissive of his concerns.  "The wait has been very long but we see now how things are changing.  The tide is shifting in our favor.  Don't be stubborn and resist!"  She ordered again, "Release him."
The stallion grunted, still disagreeable, but he gave in to her command and signaled to some of the guards.  One of the Drypony sentries stepped forward with a knife, approaching James.  There was a momentary fright as the guard came with the ready blade but the man swiftly realized its necessity: these bindings that they used on their prisoners (and themselves!) weren't made to come undone.  The guardpony carefully wedged the knife in, bladed side away from James, and slashed through the vines that were restraining him.
Willow Wise cried out ecstatically to the crowd, her voice straining to overcome their cheers and acclamations, "Dryponies!  We must celebrate!  Go, make preparations, Prideheart patriots!  We'll sing of Heartwood history and Drypony dreams!  Prepare, prepare!"
The crowd dispersed obediently and immediately, running and jumping every which way with irrepressible anticipation.  They nearly all scrambled away, busy and dutiful.  The small few who lingered behind were all guards under Broken Oak's order and they began squeezing in around Twilight and her friends, corralling them.  All except the freshly released James.
The old mare lowered her head before him and apologized, "I am sorry for your treatment thus far, but you will come to understand, I promise.  Please, Walking Desert, follow me while we prepare.  There are things to speak about!"  Her eyes painted the way: up into the enormous tree that she had originally come from.
One last time, James tried to check with Twilight by giving her a glance but the unicorn was too busy being shoved towards the trees by Broken Oak and his guards.  Worried and, for the first time in a good while, struck with a sense of lonesomeness that actually felt undesirable, he trepidatiously nodded to Willow Wise and began to follow her.