The day following the delivery of their orders proceeded without incident since the three unicorns remained locked in their cell for its duration. The three had been left alone to their thoughts and in their current situation there was no more dangerous a place for them to be. Sombra stewed and Crystal Clarity cried. Treeling, however, batted at her hair and kept her self pleasantly amused. She had seen both physical and metaphysical prisons of all shapes and sizes by now and she was spinning one of her own into her mane.
The dream thread woven therein was itself a spell trace from her first encounter with the moon. From what Nurse Clarity had said on the castle steps, despite their great distance from the source of the magic, her physical body was apparently more than capable of grasping her gilt even though her dream-self could not. Though the word "consequences" was one that Nurse Clarity had pushed on her, Treeling had never considered them until now, because this thread certainly came with some.
She rolled onto her back and swiped at it when it jingled after which the jingling stopped. Her focus turned to Asheveld's sudden and drastic change in her appearance while giving little thought to the gradual change in her own. As it jingled again she stroked it again. She wondered how thread was plucked by the once volcanic mare on the steps of the crystalline castle. Though it certainly was amusing to play with; it also ate at her like the yellow armies. That was because Asheveld had awoken something in her that she did not understand while using the methods of Clarity.
The day turned to night and the night turned again to day as the trio waited in silence. Nurse Clarity finally ran out of tears to shed when Lieutenant-Commander Hurricane came to retrieve them. "Preparations are complete. We're setting out for the southern border," he said. The trio was clasped in irons that had been enchanted with the same disrupting spells of their cells. Their order was that of ascending height with Sombra at the rear so that he could see what would happen if they misbehaved.
Over the course of the journey to the outskirts of town Treeling had to learn to flick her hair against her horn, because her hooves would not reach while she was forced to march in manacles, and if she didn't bat at the spell thread it would continue to jingle incessantly in her head.
The reality set in early that if she was not going to walk then they would drag her by the throat and that was not an experience she could tolerate for long. Quickly she found herself again conforming to city life. She frequently struck the magic thread with her horn as she looked over her shoulder to observe her "parents". Crystal Clarity was lost in the fallout of previous nights' events, and Sombra was strangely quiet as if he too was similarly displaced. She thought it best, for now, to simply go where the breeze would take her and in the city the weather was controlled by the pegasai.
Lieutenant-Commander Hurricane and his three prisoners met up with his platoon at the edge of the city. The military personal parted for the prisoners as they came in and saluted to their commanding officer. As they left the bounds of the city, stepping over the crystal circle where the shield once emitted from, Sombra cleared his throat in preparation to speak but said nothing. The other members of the squad looked at him, but he simply looked down to the ground, and then back to the city. They did the same and slowly realized the gravity of the situation. They were leaving the city for the first time on the march to war.
"Did you tell them?" Sombra quietly asked LCDR Hurricane, "They have a right to know."
"No talking," Hurricane barked back as an earth pony delivered the butt of a spear to Sombra's ribs.
Sombra coughed in pain. "Three unicorns who can't use magic and you're afraid that I'll just talk my way out of these chains?"
"They know," Hurricane replied.
"Not about the filly," Sombra indignantly responded, "There is no way they wouldn't. I meant the mission."
"Give me some credit," Hurricane said as if to an old friend. "I'm a Lieutenant-Commander. I knew that you weren't talking about the filly, and I fully explained the parameters of the mission to the mares and stallions under my command."
Hearing that they were talking about her caused Treeling's ears to perk up. Sure there were lots of fillies but she was the only one anypony called the filly. She looked to the nearby platoon members for their reactions. They seemed to think that Sombra was up to something and she certainly hoped that was true.
"So," Sombra smiled meekly, "You still don't believe it yourself then. I mean, you're a Lieutenant-Commander after all, there's no way you that wouldn't have put it together."
"What, that this is a suicide mission?" Hurricane asked with a laugh as he turned to face Sombra while they walked. "Engaging Discord is your job. I'm not putting my subordinates at risk."
Now it was Sombra who returned Hurricane's words, "Give me some credit, even a Private can see that chaining an unwilling trio of unicorns, to a squad of fifty soldiers, endangers this mission. The youngest of which decimated thirty of your last squad, without the help of her guardians... that spells out suicide squad." He paused and motioned over to the recently promoted cadet. "Isn't that right, Pansy?" before turning back to Lieutenant-Commander Hurricane. "I meant the other thing."
Even Treeling began to get nervous at the notion of an idea more dangerous than being stuck in a suicide squad and she wasn't alone. Earth Ponies and Unicorns alike showed concern at the idea as well as they marched through the tundra snow; so too did the Pegasai who flew overhead.
"There is no other thing."
Sombra nodded but quietly added: "If you insist."
***
The creeping cold set in as they made camp for the evening. The distant howl of monsters could be heard in the Crystal Song Woods. Lieutenant-Commander Hurricane sat in the midsts of the camp; staring at the trees. They were as transparent as the ploy to ruffle his mane. Though the words swirled around in the back of his mind as he contemplated what Sombra was getting at, and why had the unicorn just gave up. Though it had been hours ago it still ate at him.
The LCDR got up and brought food to the prisoners. He dropped the mess's mess in front of the trio—one large bowl for them to share—before sitting down next to them. "What other thing?" he asked.
Sombra watched the filly and the mare go for the gruel with gusto for a short moment before responding, "Where were you when the shield dropped?"
Hurricane stood up to leave. "I'm not going to play these games," he said.
"It's personal," Sombra said hoping to get him to stay, "the other thing. How I knew about it is personal. You wan't me to answer a personal question then I get to ask one first. The games are how we keep score."
LCDR Hurricane rolled his eyes and sat back down on a log in the cold snow. "I was prepping my platoon for this mission. How did you find out about this other thing?"
Sombra smiled and said: "I was there when it happened. Where were you when the shield went up?"
"Where?" Hurricane asked, to which Sombra nodded. "No I mean where were you?" Hurricane repeated.
Sombra shook his head. "No, it was my turn." he said before repeating the question.
A long drawn out sigh came from LCDR Hurricane, "Returning home from leave. Where were you?"
"I was in the Queen's court when the shield came up," Sombra said, "Who were you visiting on leave?"
Hurricane gasped at what was clearly a cheat. "That's not what I meant."
"It's what you asked," Sombra replied.
Hurricane again considered walking away, but instead relegated himself to be more careful. "Visiting my mare-friend. Where were you when you found out about the other thing."
"Also in the Queen's court," Sombra repeated, "You mean my daughter don't you? Princess Platinum?"
"Yes..." Hurricane slowly admitted in a somber tone, "She was the first thing I thought about when the shields went up..." before defiantly adding: "What is the other thing?"
"Mine too..." Sombra replied in sorrowful kind, "She's the only family I have left, and I think about her all the time..." He allowed himself a moment sullen silent moment, after which he collected himself, and repeated his first answer to the question: "I told you: it's personal."
"That's not good enough!" Hurricane barked.
"Between the Queen and Discord. This fight is personal. She's using you to get revenge on him for taking her daughter. I was standing right there when it happened. Apparently he only did that because she had him imprisoned." Sombra explained, "With everything that's going on—all the good your platoon could do out here—do you really want to throw away their lives on her revenge?"
"I'm not throwing their lives away," Hurricane authoritatively replied.
"I understand. You're stuck with a hard choice..." Sombra said, while pausing for a moment to inspect LCDR Hurricane, "but if you take that child–" he said pointing to Treeling, "off those chains, and try to force her to do something she doesn't want to. Then you will be condemning your entire squad to death."
"So... what? You want us to just turn around and go home?" Hurricane laughed as he rubbed Sombra's transparency in his face.
"No." The words came as a bit of a shock, but Sombra continued: "Continue your mission as defined by the parameters. Patrol. There are plenty of things out here that would love to destroy the Crystal Empire and you must put a stop to them."
"What about you and that filly?" Hurricane asked.
"It doesn't matter if we find Discord because the facts do not change with that filly. She will kill everypony here," Sombra said with the same measure of authority that Hurricane issued earlier. As their attention turned to her Treeling grinned and licked the food from war-worn face.
"Why should I believe you?" Hurricane questioned, "You told us that they would be fine, that nopony was going to get hurt, and three of them died."
"The situation was a regrettable one," Sombra confessed to Lieutenant-Commander Hurricane, "Even with a fully stocked trauma team on standby when the child lost control... If their deaths are to have meaning we must honor them. Do not let fifty more blindly follow in their hoof-prints in some vain attempt to settle another's personal score."