I made my way back up through the keep and out into the open courtyard, which was still bustling with soldiers. After sweating myself to the point of dehydration down stairs in the forge, stepping out into the night air where the sky was heavy with clouds, resulted in a very dramatic shift in body temperature. While I stood there shivering, looking about to see what everypony was up to now that Cragsburg belonged to us, I was startled when Hex teleported next to me in a flash green light.
“Ah Rarity, perfect timing,” he began, sounding quite panicked. “Your friend Pinkie Pie asked me to come find you; there’s been a problem with… whatever it is she’s doing back at the assembly area.”
“What?!” I exclaimed, quickly forgetting the cold as I grabbed him by his robes and pulled him close enough that I could stare wide eyed into his face. “What problem?! What’s going on?!”
“I don’t know,” he replied, a bit sheepishly. “I don’t know a thing about chaos magic, but she seemed pretty worried about whatever was going on.”
I quickly let go of Hex and started trotting away from the keep, calling back to him over my shoulder.
“I’ll go see to her now!” I shouted. “Can you go down stairs and help with the dragons?”
“Sure, I’ll just go an…” Hex began, starting to turn towards to keep gates before he did double take. “Wait, dragons?!”
I didn’t slow down to explain, the others could fill him in once he got inside, I was too worried about my friends. I galloped right through the city from the keep at the most northern end, to the ruined section of wall at the south. My behaviour didn’t draw any attention from ponies I passed, they probably figured there was any number of urgent events that required immediate attention. As I ran out through the breach in the wall and started through the camp, I could see the assembly area not far off, a familiar sight awaiting me as I drew ever closer.
As I came skidding through the gravel and ash into the clearing, Pinkie Pie stopped her frantic pacing and came charging at me. Just beyond the roaring campfire in the centre of the clearing, was the door to the chaos world, it hovered several inches off the ground, a single tall tear in the fabric of reality, stretched open to offer a window into the other plane of existence, the outline of which shimmered with a plethora of colours. Some ponies glanced at it as they passed by, wearing concerned or slightly fearful expressions on their face before quickly going about their business; others had actually stopped to sit in the clearing and stare, transfixed at what they didn’t understand.
“Rarity!” Pinkie exclaimed, grabbing my coat by the lapels and shaking me hard. “It’s awful, just awful!”
“What’s awful?” I tried to question, my voice vibrating as she shook me. “What’s happened?”
“Well… I don’t actually know,” Pinkie admitted, letting go of me so suddenly that I dropped to the ground. “But something has definitely happened!”
“What do you mean?” I pressed, picking myself up and dusting myself down of the ash that clung to my clothes. “How can you tell something is wrong?”
“Because of these!” Pinkie declared, waving her silver clad hooves in my face. “It’s faint, but I can feel something coming from Twilight’s Element… like she was calling out for help.”
“But you can’t go in,” I finished, remembering what she had told me when we first put Stranglethorn away.
“No,” Pinkie responded, her whole body sagging. “And it’s taking everything I’ve got just to keep this door open, but they’re taking way too long, something awful must have happened to them in there. Oh no, what if they were eaten by a tatzlwurm… or abducted by a swarm of fruit flies… or they breathed too much air and now all they want to do is sing nursery rhymes for all eternity… or… or…”
I quickly shoved my hoof in Pinkie’s mouth to silence her, and hopefully give her a moment to calm down.
“Calm yourself Pinkie,” I instructed her, although I felt anything but calm myself. “You need to have faith in Twilight and Sufferthorn. However, just to be safe, I will go in and try to find them myself.”
“You?” Pinkie repeated in a muffled voice, my hoof still shoved into her mouth.
“Yes, well I did say I would go after Strangle myself when the time came,” I reminded her, removing my hoof and starting towards the doorway. “Now I’ll just be going after Twilight and Sufferthorn as well.”
“Okay, but it could be dangerous going in their alone without Twilight to protect you,” Pinkie pointed out, pulling out her mask and offering it to me. “Take this, it might stop you from going insane long enough for you to find her.”
“Might?” I repeated in a worried tone as I pulled the grinning mask on.
Pinkie just shrugged, while offering me a slightly guilty look. I sighed, deciding it would be better than nothing… even if nothing was exactly what it did for me. I felt the eyes of Pinkie Pie and multiple soldiers on me as I walked up to the door, stopping to take a deep breath and mentally prepare myself before I leapt forward, diving into the portal and feeling my whole body stretch as I was sucked in. I felt myself spinning around and around at a thousand rotations a second, as all around me the world dissolved into a sea of colours so bright and contrasting, that I thought my eyes were going to bleed just looking at it.
When the spinning finally stopped, I was dumped unceremoniously onto a patch of grass… grass that was a sickening shade of violet, and smelled strongly of pencil sharpenings. Looking around myself, I saw the sky, or perhaps the entire world had become a vibrant miasma of purple blotches and blue waves rippling and flickering. I was instantly reminded of when Pinkie had used her chaos magic while fighting Twilight to create the illusionary world… only this time it was all real. The grass I had landed on was part of a small hill that floated in the void, a narrow dirt path winding and looping away from it, apparently trailing off into nothing.
The moment I landed, I heard the ringing in my ears. It was faint, but manageable, I wondered if that was due to the mask or just because I hadn’t been there long enough, and it would very quickly build up to unbearable levels. I looked around, hoping I might see Twilight or Sufferthorn, or perhaps even Stranglethorn somewhere. There were dozens of floating islands, some drifting lazily, while others zoomed past like comets, and one or two that disintegrated shyly as I looked at them. Some of them had grass like the one I stood one, others had patterned ground like checkers or stars, while a few seemed to turn from solid in the middle to liquid at the edge, dripping down like multi-coloured waterfalls to pool in other platforms below, or just flow down forever until my head spun trying to follow it with my eyes.
Some islands had exotic plant life, like trees of bizarre proportions, with foliage ranging from polka dots to candy floss. On a few, I saw structures like a quaint little cottage that looked completely out of place, to a towering statue intended to parody the one in Manehattan, Equestria, depicting a serpentine creature that looked like a dozen animals smashed together. Naturally my friends were nowhere in sight, I never believed it would be that easy, but something did catch my attention… it was a door, not a portal like the one I stepped through to enter this world, but an actual wooden door and frame just sitting on a distant island, apparently leading nowhere.
I don’t know why exactly it caught my interest, everything I had seen was equally out of place and weird, but something about it just called to me. I walked over to the edge of my hill, looking out across the wide gulf that separated me from it, wondering how I could get over to it, when suddenly my own platform began to rotate, shifting the entire winding path with it, which ended up fitting neatly between myself and the place I wanted to be. Smiling, I began to walk along the path in the direction of the door, gravity apparently being quite fluid and allowing me to walk safely on it, even when it twisted upside down.
As I made my way along and started getting closer to the door, the ringing in my ears was joined by another sound, the sound of laughter. It wasn't sinister or maniacal, it was quite simply the sound of foals playing and laughing together, two of them by the sounds of it. The closer I got to the door the louder and clearer it became, they sounded so happy together, and that made me happy in turn. Reaching the door I saw that it was very neat, the door itself was painted a glossy shade of lime green, while the frame was a soft shade of pink.
I reached out to the door handle and gave it a turn, sure it would somehow take me somewhere, despite not physically connecting to anything. Just as I predicted, as I pushed the door open, I saw nothing but a weird grey light on the other side, which began to seep out as I opened the door even wider. Before long, the light flowed out and washed everything else away, including both the world around me and the sound of laughter. When the light began to dim, I was able to make out my new surroundings, although interestingly there was no colour anymore, everything was grayscale, and in the background I could hear a jaunty tune playing.
I was standing in an open meadow, I could see the lush grass and the wild flowers, saw how they blew about in the breeze that I could not feel. Then, over the sound of the music, I heard that same laughter again. I turned my head slightly to see two young ponies running through the meadow, one was a colt, skinny, with a spikey tuft of a mane, while the other was a filly who looked a little stouter, her own mane tied back in pigtails. They were both earth ponies, and they seemed to be racing to the top of a small hill, laughing as they played together. The colt was faster and pushed on ahead, reaching the top of the hill first and turning to blow a raspberry at the filly… who dive tackled him when she caught up, and the pair went tumbling down the other side of the hill, still laughing their heads off.
I kept watching, completely confused by the relevance of the scene, but I found it oddly heart-warming at the same time. As I watched, the two ponies appeared to arrange a game of hide and seek. The colt dropped onto his belly and pressed his face into the grass, presumably so he wouldn’t peek while the filly hurried off to hide. She disappeared from view, but I kept watching as the colt finished his silent count before looking up and glancing about. The filly wasn’t in his immediate sight, so he started running about, trying to look for her, and I found myself following after him.
As we both walked, we heard the distant sound of voices. The colt quickened his pace, and as we came over another hill, we found the filly, but she wasn’t alone. There were another four ponies there, all looking to be the same age as the pair, but it was clear they weren’t friends with the two. Just as we arrived on scene, we saw one of the fillies step forward and shove the filly we had been looking for, pushing her to the ground while all four began laughing and jeering. I looked back at the colt and saw him bristling with anger, very quickly starting to run downhill towards the group.
“Leave her alone!” he cried out in a high pitched voice.
The four others all looked up in mild surprise; they were still laughing, but not for much longer as the colt trotted up close before leaping forward, head-butting the filly who had pushed his friend hard. They stopped laughing after that, the filly he hit falling back and wailing like a foal as she clutched her head. The colt glared at the other three, who quickly scarpered, the fourth filly hurrying after them, still crying loudly. The colt turned around to the filly he had been playing with and reached out to help her up, she accepted, trying not to look at him and let him know she had cried herself when they pushed her.
“Thanks,” she muttered, reaching up and wiping her eyes with a hoof. “Mum’s gonna be so mad when she hears.”
“Ah don’t care…” the colt muttered, kicking the ground awkwardly.
The two stood in uncomfortable silence for a moment, before the filly reached out and pulled him into a hug.
“You’re the best brother in the whole world.”
And that was it, the music stopped, even though I was barely noticing it at that point. The light came in strong once more, and this time when it faded, I was left standing on another floating island back in the chaos world. I looked around me, everything had changed, none of the platforms were the same, and the door I had opened was now gone, it was like I had moved to an entirely different section of the world. Confused, I started looking around myself, wondering in the back of my mind what that had been all about. The two ponies, the filly and the colt had been siblings, playing together. Of course it was hard to tell because of the lack of colour, but a part of me was certain they had been Stranglethorn and Sufferthorn… so had it been a memory?
My eyes landed on a second door, identical to the first one. Once again it was on a different island, but this time there was a collection of tiny islands lining up between myself and there. If I jumped from one to the other, just as I had done when Pinkie and I were trying to escape the Covenant cathedral, then I could reach the other side. I made a start, finding it much trickier once I was actually doing it, as these stepping stones all trembled beneath my weight as I landed on them, counting down the few seconds before they plunged into the abyss, forcing me to move fast. This time as I got closer to the door, the ringing in my head, which had become slightly more intense, was joined by a very different sound.
It was the sound of ponies cheering; a great fanfare, like there was a parade right outside. I wondered if this door was also going to show me something, and if the sound was in some way related, the same way the foals laughing had been. When I reached the last stepping stone and threw myself to the safety of the final platform, I made my way up to the second door. From a distance it had appeared identical, but now that I was right up beside it, I noticed that the green paint didn’t have quite the same shine to it, that and the brass doorknob was looking a wee bit tarnished, tiny differences that hardly mattered, but I was only able to pick up on because of my discerning eye.
This time when I opened the door and the light swallowed all the colours, the sound of cheering did not fade with them, but rather remained as my new grey surroundings came into focus, and that same music began playing once more. I was now standing in the backyard of a small house; it had high fences and was absolutely packed with troughs and pots where countless species of plants grew. It resembled a garden centre, and while it was small, it looked very professional, but only one pony was present in it. This time there was no doubt in my mind, the lack of colours didn’t matter, I would recognise Stranglethorn anywhere.
He was sitting by a trestle table, an open book lay before him, and he appeared to be in the process of drying and pressing a flower to put inside it. He hummed contently and wore a small smile as he worked, which surprised me, I knew he was a bit of an expert when it came to plants, but I never would have thought of it as a hobby for him. I glanced down at his flank, suddenly curious as to what his cutie mark was, but for some reason the image there was blurry, like I wasn’t being permitted to see it. Before I could contemplate this however, the back door opened, and an equally familiar Sufferthorn entered the garden, her cutie mark equally obscured.
“Good morning…” she greeted in a chirpy voice that I would never have imagined her using, but I was distracted form that as she continued. “####, how are you this fine morning?”
I blinked in confusion, it was like her voice became all scratchy and distorted when she tried to say Strangle’s name, but then spoke perfectly fine after that. Once again, I didn’t have time to think about that, as the next thing that happened caused my heart to skip a beat, it was so unexpected.
“I’m very good,” Stranglethorn replied in a warm voice, smiling up at her. “Although I would love to know what’s gotten you so pleasant this morning.”
“What are you talking about?” Sufferthorn asked innocently, although I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I just heard Stranglethorn speak, to really pay attention. “I’m always like this.”
“Of course ####, of course,” Strangle replied, turning back to his work and shaking his head in amusement. “I’m sure you being particularly happy would have nothing to do with a certain… Maverick holding a rally in our quaint little town of Glean.”
“Again, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sufferthorn replied calmly as she put on a battered gardening apron, although she didn’t keep up the act for long. “Oh ####, you really should have been there, it was just so… inspiring!”
“I’m sure it was,” Strangle replied. “I don’t think you can become such a famous rabble rouser if you’re not inspiring to some degree.”
“I heard ponies saying that Equestria would go to war before they gave us independence,” Sufferthorn told him, a little chillier.
“Well that’s going to suck for business,” Strangle replied, still not looking up from his work. “But I’m sure the Princess will work out something that works best for everypony.”
“Maybe…” Sufferthorn replied as she started looking around the plants, clearly too distracted to work. “####... if it ever did come to war… do you think that we should, you know, volunteer?”
Stranglethorn let out a loud laugh, it was so rich and full that it pained me to think that a memory was the only time I would hear it.
“Good one ####,” he muttered in an amused voice, but then Sufferthorn didn’t reply and he looked around at her with a serious expression. “You’re not joking, are you?”
“I just… really think we have a duty as citizens of Panchea to serve alongside our fellow country ponies,” Sufferthorn told him in a tentative voice.
“But… we’re gardeners,” he reminded her in a disbelieving tone. “We aren’t soldiers… hay; the most amount of fighting we’ve ever done was with the other kids growing up.”
Sufferthorn didn’t respond, just let out a long sigh as she started into her own work. Stranglethorn looked slightly guilty at that, chewing on his lip as he mulled it over.
“Look, ####,” he began again in a hesitant voice. “It probably won’t come to fighting… I really hope it doesn’t, but if it does, and it’s really so important to you that we do our part… then I’ll stick by you, just as I always have.”
Once again, the sound of the cheering ended along with the music, leaving the world to fade out and back in again with colour. Just like last time, the chaos world had completely rearranged itself when I returned, and just like last time, I set about looking for another door, sure it wouldn’t end after just two. I found the next one a lot quicker, it being on the same island as myself, it was just that the platform was considerably bigger than most of the others I had seen up to that point. I started making my way over to it, faintly aware that each time I came back from a memory, the ringing in my head was growing stronger, and that in turn was making the sickening feeling more pronounced.
As I drew closer to this door, the sounds I heard were those of marching and a loud, authoritative voice barking indistinct commands. I was temporarily waylaid on my way over to the door, by a massive, vibrant coloured toad, that crawled up over the edge to the platform to stare at me with bulging eyes that looked like they had seen some things in their time, before it spat its tongue out, which stuck to the trunk of a tree. The tree was uprooted, and the frog swallowed it whole before wandering back off the edge of the island, never taking its eyes off me the whole time and leaving me with a creeping sensation.
When I reached the door, I hesitated right before turning the handle, noticing the paintwork was now scuffed and peeling in a few certain areas. Pushing that to the back of my mind along with the growing list of questions, I turned the handle and allowed the memory to take form. I recognised my new grey surroundings as being the courtyard in the Defences District back in Port Mule, directly beneath the watchful gaze of the Fort, which looked much closer to how I remembered it back when I used to live in Mule myself. All around me were Rebel soldiers marching and going through their drill exercises, but my eyes were automatically drawn to Sufferthorn, who was standing not far off from the front gates of the Fort, staring down at her hooves in shame.
The reason why, I deduced to have something to do with the other pony being carried away on a stretcher behind her, and the presence of another figure I recognised, standing directly in front of her, looking down at her with cold eye.
“I’m… I’m sorry,” Sufferthorn tried to say, her voice quavering. “I didn’t mean to lose my temper with him.”
“Look me in the eye whelp,” Iron Sights ordered her, a look of mild disgust as he regarded her. “What do you think you’re doing here?”
“I… uh, I’m here to fight for the Rebellion,” Sufferthorn answered uncertainly.
“No, you’re here to waste the Rebellion’s time!” Iron Sights snapped at her. “This country is at war, and you are asking us to waste our time and resources in turning you from a worm, to a worm that might last more than one minute in a battle situation!”
“Please, if you just give me a chance…” Sufferthorn tried to say, her voice shaking as she regarded Iron Sights with wide pleading eyes.
“And you will address your superiors as Sir!” he bellowed at her, drawing the attention of some nearby soldiers, including one I recognised. “Look at you shaking, you’re a joke! What were you thinking, volunteering for the army?! I could leave right now and come back after ten minutes with a homeless pony who would make a better solider that you will ever…”
He didn’t get any further than that, as Stranglethorn had broken off from his own unit, ignoring his drill instructor's shouts as he stormed up behind Iron Sights and tapped him on the shoulder. Iron Sights stopped mid-rant to turn around and glare at who was interrupting him, only to have his head grabbed and brought smashing down upon Strangle’s armoured knee. The entire courtyard fell deathly silent as everypony stared in horror at what he had done, while Iron Sights stumbled about, looking like he was about to keel over.
“Nopony…” Stranglethorn growled at him. “Talks to my sister like that.”
Sufferthorn was looking back and forth between her brother and Iron Sights, who was starting to steady himself, a look of undisguised terror on her face. Iron Sights stared back at Stranglethorn with barely contained rage, and before anypony could say anything, he charged in, lashing out at Stranglethorn with his bare hooves. The fight didn’t last long, Iron Sights was too angry too focus, while Stranglethorn turned his own emotion into strength, moving out of reach of Iron Sights’ attacks before coming in with his own.
The fight didn’t last long, and by the end of it, there was no doubt who the victor was. Stranglethorn and Sufferthorn were staring at each other, the former remaining perfectly calm, while the latter trembled uncontrollably. They didn’t notice, but I was able to see two figures emerging from the open doors of the Fort, Typhoon who was looking furious as he started marching toward the scene of the crime, and Maverick who dawdled behind him, regarding Stranglethorn with a look of curious fascination. When the memory faded away and I returned to the chaos world, I found it very hard to ignore the ringing in my head, which had once again picked up in intensity.
I tried to ignore it anyway, looking around me for the next door, eager to find out where all this was leading. It took a little longer than usual to find it, because it turned out to be on a floating island directly below my own. I was able to reach it however by riding the magenta waterfall down into a swimming pool next to the door. As I flowed down it, the sound that began to resonate was one that got my heart racing for what I was about to see, it was the sound of a pony running for dear life, crying out in pain and fear. I quickly pulled myself out of the swimming pool, stopping only briefly to notice how the paint was now coming off the increasingly worn door in large chunks.
I reached out and grabbed the rattling handle and turned it, pushing the door open and beckoning the light that brought on the memory. I was quickly finding that that jaunty tune was becoming quite maddening, in just how inappropriately cheery it was for how grim things were becoming. I somehow knew that we were back in the meadow, even though the grass and flowers had been trampled and torn up beneath the hooves of all the ponies in the camp that had been erected there. I quickly found Sufferthorn, her screams of fear and anguish drawing my gaze.
She appeared to be fleeing the camp, even as Equestrian soldiers took chase after her, and others were roused from their tents by the noise. She was desperately trying to stumble away on only three legs, her other foreleg clutching her side, where blood was flowing freely from a fresh wound. In her hoof, she also clutched a bunch of papers, which were slowly getting stained in her own blood as she held them close. The guards were nearing her, their weapons ready to strike her down, she couldn’t hope to escape them no matter how much adrenaline pumped through her system, or how important it was that she escape with those documents.
The fastest guard was just about to reach her, pulling his spear back to thrust into her hindquarters, only he was stopped at the last second. The rushing of hooves signalled Stranglethorn’s appearance, as he burst out from between two tents and tackled the guard to the ground, getting back to his hooves in a flash and drawing his blades to block the rest from pursuing his sister. Sufferthorn came to a brief halt, look back at her brother with a look of dread. For a moment I was sure she was going to turn and help him, but then Strangle called out to her.
“Just go!” he yelled, trying to fend off the attackers, while ensuring they didn’t get past him to go after her. “Now!”
She waited for only a second longer, looking between her brother and the documents she carried before she clenched her eyes shut and tore off out of the camp, through the meadow and into the night. I felt myself being pulled along with her, the camp fading into darkness so neither of us saw what happened… only heard Stranglethorn’s scream of pain. When the memory ended and I found myself back in the chaos world, I felt particularly numb to everything that was going on around me, even the ringing that made it feel like an earthquake was occurring inside my own skull.
When I finally pulled myself together and looked around me, I saw the next door waiting for me at the end of a beautiful stone bridge, at the start of which I was standing. I began drifting towards it, not in any particular rush, really it felt like my legs were carrying me there of their own free will. With every step I took, I could hear the bridge crumbling away behind me. A quick glance back when I got roughly half way across, showed me that the fragments were simply disappearing into the void, forcing me to go on, even as the sound of crying began to get louder and louder, the closer I drew to the door.
The wood was chipped and cracked, hardly any of the original paintwork remained, and the bits that did were faded and peeling. I reached out and grabbed the door handle, the whole thing half falling out as I turned it, allowing the door to creak open of its own accord, as if the hinges were loose. As that old jaunty tune started to play, it sounded… odd, like it had grown slow and lazy, but as my new surroundings appeared, the first thing I saw was an old gramophone, playing that very music, the record spinning away as it flowed from the horn, completely failing at drowning out the sound of crying.
I turned and felt myself grow faint as I saw Sufferthorn leaning over the body of Stranglethorn, her body wracked with sobs. They were in a small, but neat bedroom, Stranglethorn was lying in the only bed and appeared heavily bandaged. My eyes navigated to his mouth, and I wondered if this was after he lost his tongue. Another pony strode through the room, walking behind Sufferthorn, over to the gramophone and pulling the spike off the record to bring the music to a screeching halt.
“That’s enough of that,” Maverick said calmly, as he turned and surveyed the pair of siblings. “Now my dear ####, I was hoping we could have a word regarding what happened.”
It didn’t escape my notice that even he couldn’t say her name, and now that Sufferthorn was no longer wearing her armour, I saw that her cutie mark was still blurry.
“He… he almost died,” Sufferthorn murmured, her voice thick with tears. “The medic told me he’d never speak again after they… after they…”
She couldn’t finish that sentence, curling up in her seat and clenching her eyes shut to try and hold back her tears.
“It is… most unfortunate,” Maverick said in that sickly sweet voice of his, as he walked across and placed a hoof on Sufferthorn’s shoulder. “But the important thing is that you completed the mission.”
“Only because he sacrificed himself for me,” Sufferthorn mumbled. “He’s always looked out for me, even when we were kids, and now he’s never going to speak again… and it’s all my fault.”
“#### made his decision,” Maverick told her, squeezing her shoulder slightly. “And the Rebellion owes him a great deal for it… you as well ####. You’ve done this country a great service… and me.”
Sufferthorn looked up at him with wide, shimmering eyes, quickly averting her gaze when her cheeks began to darken.
“I think you’ve proven yourself to be more capable than any mere soldier,” Maverick went on, a sly grin on his face that Sufferthorn couldn’t see. “What would you say to the idea of becoming agents under my direct command? You’d be able to use your skills much more effectively for our cause… and we’d be able to work much closer.”
“M… me? An agent?” Sufferthorn stammered, but then she looked at Stranglethorn once more. “But what about ####?”
“Once he is recovered, the offer will be extended to him as well,” Maverick assured her. “You might have to change your names, but I’m sure that is a small price to pay for dedicating your services fully to the Rebellion. You still want that, don’t you?”
“Of course!” Sufferthorn told him, looking back at him with eager eyes. “I wan… uh, we want that more than anything!”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Maverick replied, smiling sweetly at her, before turning away. “Take a day for yourself, then I will come find you and we can start discussing your new work.”
“Of course… Sir!” Sufferthorn replied, standing up and snapping to attention as he exited the room.
Once he was gone, she turned back and slowly sank back into her seat, looking down at her brother with a pained expression.
“I’m so sorry…” she breathed, her eyes wet with tears. “R###.”
And with that, the memory came to an end… and I was hurled from it back into the chaos world, like I’d just been bucked by Applejack. The mask Pinkie had given me was most certainly not helping alleviate the symptoms of exposure any, it felt like my mind was expanding and compressing all at the same time. I reached up to my ears, and when I took my hooves back, there was blood on them. The ringing was so intense, but now it sounded like it was ringing made up of thousands of very high-pitched voices, all talking in my ear at once.
As I picked up my head, that now dragged me down like a dumbbell, I saw that I had arrived at a brand new area of the chaos world. Here the land felt expansive, as opposed to just tiny fragments scattered in a void, beneath a sky that looked almost normal. Until I released the light was not coming from any sun, but rather, an aurora spread out above me, made up of millions of golden butterflies. I stood at the bottom of a path that wound its way up the mound in front of me, and all around, the world seemed rife with astonishing new life.
There were great roots that burst from the ground, and either twisted off into the air, or arched over before plunging back into the earth. Trees that resembled giant capped mushrooms, and dozens of smaller plants, including luminescent blue pods and stumpy looking trees with large pustule like spores growing on their bark. Despite the unending noise, I could vaguely hear the sound of blasting coming from the top of the mound, so picking myself up, I hurried up the path to see what it was.
Along the way, a number of weird snake like heads poked out of the ground and began trailing after me, watching me with curious, beady little eyes. I ignored them, too focused on what was waiting at the top of the incline, I only looked back when I heard a loud munching noise, and saw the half dozen heads being devoured by something that resembled a giant venus flytrap with teeth. Once I reached the top, I was practically dragging myself up, the pain spreading from my head to my limbs, but once I reached my destination and saw what was going on, I swiftly forgot about the aching feeling or the annoying ringing, although they didn’t go away.
The mound resembled a volcano once at the top, due to the gaping hole in the centre of it. Peering down the edge, I could see an endless tunnel, filled with crisscrossing roots, many of which grew as far and spilled out over the top, twisting and spiralling up into the sky. It was within all this, running along and jumping between thick roots as tough as tree bark, was Twilight Sparkle and Sufferthorn, each with their weapons drawn, each trying very hard to kill one another. Well, that’s what it looked like at a glance, but as I watched in confusion, I realised that for the most part, Twilight was just trying to protect herself while Sufferthorn was the one going all out.
“Twilight!” I shouted out, although even my own voice sounded far off.
Twiligth had just sent Sufferthorn blasting off with her sceptre when she heard me, glancing down in surprise, before teleporting over to me.
“Rarity, I’m so glad you’re here,” she greeted in a relieved tone.
As soon as she said that, she raised her sceptre above our heads and summoned a barely visible, gold bubble around the both of us. Once we were enclosed inside, I felt the pressure on my brain ease and the noise start to die down.
“Thanks,” I said, letting out a deep breath. “What’s going on?”
“Things got too difficult…” Twilight began, before looking over to the roots. “For some of us.”
I followed her gaze and saw Sufferthorn bouncing up and down and back and forth between roots. Her whole body twitching and jittering, as she growled and screamed from behind clenched teeth and gripped the sides of her head.
“I don’t understand,” I began. “What happened to her? And did you find Stranglethorn?”
“Yes, we did,” Twilight replied, pointing.
I shifted my gaze from Sufferthorn to where Twilight was pointing, at one particular root which had grown higher than all the rest, at the tip of which, was dangling what appeared to be a cocoon. While wearing the mask, I could see a purple cloud inside the flesh of the cocoon, at least that meant he was alive in there.
“As for her,” Twilight went on. “It wasn’t easy getting this far, we got separated for a bit and during that time… I guess this place just got to her.”
“I’ll go talk to her,” I told Twilight. “You get Stranglethorn out of there, and we’ll meet you back here.”
“She won’t listen to you,” Twilight warned me. “I don’t even think she’s really aware of what’s going on anymore.”
“I’ll make her listen,” I replied simply. “Because she’s going to want to hear what I have to say.”
Leaving Twilight on her own, I cantered out of the protective bubble and started towards the edge of the pit, feeling the chaos slowly creeping its way back into my mind, now that I was no longer protected again. Once at the edge, I leapt off the solid ground, finding that my jump had quite a bit of extra bounce in it, allowing me to reach the nearest root easily. I kept hopping from place to place, until I was within shouting distance of my target.
“Sufferthorn!” I called out.
She had been busy banging her head against a root when I shouted, but then her head snapped around to face me. She was breathing heavily, practically seething, although she refused to unclench her teeth. She looked positively demented, not helped by the fact that her eyes now stared off in different directions.
“I want to talk to you,” I told her calmly, but drawing my sword, just to be safe.
It was a good thing I did, as Sufferthorn sprung right off her perch and flew at me, hacking through the air with her own sword. I stood my ground and blocked her, using all my might to stop her from breaking through my own guard.
“I know… what happened,” I told her, as I fought against the mounting pressure. “I know… how you feel.”
“You don’t know anything,” Sufferthorn hissed.
She pulled back and swung her sword down from above. I dodged out of the way by jumping to another root, where I immediately propelled myself off to another. Sufferthorn was already pursuing me, but I kept on the move, choosing to keep up the conversation as we travelled.
“I do!” I called back to her. “I saw the memories; I know how he lost his tongue… I know that you blame yourself.”
“Shut up!” Sufferthorn growled, diving for me and swinging her sword into one of the roots.
It managed to get completely stuck, and while she struggled and wailed to pull it back out, I slowed down to try and speak more.
“You ran away,” I went on. “It was your first big mission, it went wrong and he came to rescue you. He told you to run and that’s exactly what you did, you ran.”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Sufferthorn screamed, forgetting her sword and rushing after me, intend on beating me to death with her hooves.
“You’ve being blaming yourself ever since!” I went on, staying just slightly out of her reach as we bounced around. “You’ve become obsessed with failure, terrified of it… but you don’t have to be, what happened was not your fault.”
“It was!” Sufferthorn bellowed at me. “He was my only family, and he…”
“He made his own choice!” I cut in, staring at Sufferthorn from across the gulf between us. “And it was the exact same choice you would have made if you were in his position. You ran, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of, you were scared, it was natural.”
“You… you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sufferthorn tried to say, but her voice was cracking.
“I do,” I said again. “When I first went to Cragsburg, I went there to save Fluttershy. They were going to cut her wings off when I stopped them; we were going to get away when… when I fell behind. I told Fluttershy to go on, and she did, she was scared and she left me to save herself, and did I resent her for it? Not one bit, she was my friend, and I would do it again in an instant if necessary, just as Stranglethorn would have done for you.”
“It wasn’t just that,” Sufferthorn spat back at me. “He never gave a damn about the Rebellion, he only ever joined because he wanted to watch over me. I knew, but I never said anything, I… I was afraid he would leave. I know all he ever wanted was to go back home and tend to the garden, that’s what always made him happy, and I wanted him to be happy, I really did, but… I wanted myself to be happy more. I watched him throw away everything that made him happy, just so I could live out my stupid fantasies…”
“You mean Maverick?” I asked in a gentle voice, Sufferthorn nodding in response.
“He… he only ever wanted him,” she went on, her voice strained. “But like I said, he never cared about the Rebellion, so Maverick went through me to get him. He asked me to be an agent as well, because he knew I could keep my brother on a leash for him, and like a school filly with a crush on her teacher, I said yes. I treated my brother, who had given his voice for me to live, like some bargaining chip, just to help me advance myself.”
“And what? You think he resents you for it?” I questioned sceptically.
“No… maybe… I don’t know!” Sufferthorn answered in a torn, frustrated voice. “I know he would never complain, but I know that he isn’t happy either, he hasn’t been happy for a long time. He insists he takes those drugs to help him with his missions, but I know it’s a lie, I know he uses them to escape. I thought maybe if I could become better, stronger and more efficient, that Maverick would be satisfied with me alone. Then he could leave and go home, not that there was a home to go back to after the war. Maverick never wanted me, it was convenient for him to make me Marshal, and I forced myself to get good at whatever he asked of me, but nothing I did would ever change the fact that it was never me he wanted.”
“So what now?” I asked. “Will you stay here… leave us now when we all need you the most? Or will you finish what you started at Pivot, face your regrets and mistakes head on, be honest with your brother, make amends and rid yourself of this guilt that’s weighed you down all these years?”
“I… I need… I can’t…” Sufferthorn tried to say, groaning as she clutched her head.
I saw her drifting about, looking like she was about to drop right off the root she stood on, so I leapt forward and tried to balance on the same narrow platform, while I reached out with my forelegs and held her up.
“Sufferthorn, we need to get you out of here,” I told her, feeling the strain on my own mind as I said it. “The chaos magic is affecting your mind; if you stay here much longer, it could do permanent damage.”
“But… R…” Sufferthorn tried to say, struggling to get the words out.
“He’s going to be fine,” I cut in quickly. “Twilight’s getting him now. If we hurry, we can all leave together and she can purge him.”
“What if… what if I didn’t go?” she asked, looking up at me with desperate eyes. “You could tell him I didn’t make it, then… then things would be fixed, they’d be set right after I lived while he had to suf…”
She was stopped when I slapped her hard across the face, staring back at me in stunned silence with a look of surprise. She then looked all around us, as if just realising where we were and what was happening, before turning back and giving me a defiant look.
“We are leaving here… together,” I told her firmly. “And you are going to talk to your brother, and you will see that there is nothing for you to feel guilty over.”
Sufferthorn opened her mouth, before quickly closing it, nodding rapidly at me while still looking a bit dumbfounded. With that, I crouched down and indicated for her to climb onto my back, which she only half reluctantly agreed to, looking a bit like a lost foal as she did. Just as I was able to bounce with unnatural springiness, I was able to hop my way from root to root without feeling hindered by the added weight. Once I had disentangled ourselves from the mess of roots, and landed back on the edge of the pit, I saw Twilight standing at the bottom of the winding path where I had started. She had Stranglethorn’s unconscious body draped over her own back, and was waiting anxiously beside the door back to the real world.
“You see? They’re right there waiting for us,” I told her, pointing them out, while she stared with a distant expression on her face. “Let’s go Sufferthorn.”
I started walking forward, assuming she would keep up, but she didn’t move. I didn’t realise she wasn’t following me until she spoke up, after I had already walked a few metres down the mound.
“Lily.”
“I’m sorry?” I questioned, looking around to see her staring down at me with a hard set eyes. “Did you say something?”
“My name,” she elaborated, starting to walk down the mound towards me, and only continuing when she was right beside me. “Is Water Lily.”
I blinked at her for a moment while I digested the new information, but then I smiled at her.
“It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you Lily,” I told her genuinely.
Then we both turned and carried on down the mound to where Twilight waited for us, looking deeply relieved that I was able to get through to her and get back while the portal could still be opened. Lily stopped for a moment to check that Strangle was alright before we moved on. As I watched, I began to wonder what his name was, but I decided to hold off on asking until we were outside and things were ironed out between them. When she was happy enough to move on, Twilight led the way back through the door, getting sucked in after she was about half way in, taking Stranglethorn with her.
Lily briefly glanced back at me and I gave her an encouraging nod, before she turned back and dived through herself, that just left me to jump in after her. The journey back was just as disorienting as the journey there, except when I was thrown out, it would have been onto hard stone rather than spongy grass. Thankfully Hex was standing by to catch me with his telekinesis as I dropped out, and set me down next to the others. Pinkie then let out a long, exhausted breath and the door sealed itself, making a noise reminiscent of a balloon having the air slowly let out and flying around the room.
Things were carried out pretty quick following that, Hex and Twilight started setting up a magical perimeter of various warding spells to help hold off Blueblood’s influence. When they brought Stranglethorn around, they couldn’t risk Blueblood taking control again when he was right in the middle of our camp, and due to Blueblood’s vastly increased power, magical bindings weren’t going to cut it alone. Lily wanted to stay, but she was politely, but firmly encouraged to leave. That got her a bit emotional, but Pinkie agreed to take her to the medical tents to see Fluttershy or one of the other sisters, she needed to be checked for any side effects of exposure.
I probably should have as well, but I was eager to get to work, and check on other things while waiting for Twilight to finish with Stranglethorn, so I just gave Pinkie her mask back and lied, saying it did wonders. She regarded me with suspicion for a moment, as if she knew I was lying through my teeth, but then she brightened up and just seemed to accept it, bouncing away with Lily in tow. I started back out of the camp and through the city towards the keep, naturally I wanted to get back and make sure that any remaining slaves had been freed and were being taken care of… and that the dragons could tell the difference between the ponies who imprisoned them, and the ponies who rescued them.
I had faith that Spike would keep things diplomatic though, so when I reached the keep, I went straight on in and made my way down stairs. Typhoon met me at the top of the spiral staircase leading down to the forge, he looked exhausted, no doubt from being down there in the heat for so long, it would be draining for anypony.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” he grumbled at me, when he saw me approaching.
“What do you mean?” I asked, a little unsure.
“Letting those things go,” he explained. “Now don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not about to go defending what these brutes did, but having this forge could have been invaluable for the upcoming battle.”
“Slow down a second,” I requested. “What’s going on exactly, I had to go deal with some other stuff.”
“This forge,” Typhoon explained. “It’s a dragon forge, used for making dragon armour, by dragons… from dragons.”
“You mean…” I began in a disgusted tone.
“Yes, Gaia culled off a number of the brood,” Typhoon went on. “Dragon bones are akin to metal ore, but they can only be refined and moulded in dragon fire. Like I said, I don’t approve of it, but there’s already so much bone left over down there, it feels like a waste to let the dragons go, when at the very least we could make up the remaining armour so our soldiers are better equipped for the upcoming battle.”
“Well, I do agree it’s a shame to let it waste considering what is approaching,” I admitted. “But we have to keep in mind that those are the remains of their kin, and we don’t have the power to force them to stay. Any attempt to do so would only antagonise them, and we really can’t afford to have dragons trying to kill us as well.”
“True,” Typhoon muttered. “Besides, there might not have been enough time to make up any new armour anyway.”
“Indeed, let’s just gather up what we can from the fallen enemy and use that to equip as many of our soldiers as we can,” I instructed, to which he nodded.
“I’ll get right on that,” he agreed. “Rainbow Dash had some ideas regarding how to equip the soldiers now that they’re all part of the Union.”
“I’ll go speak to her about it,” I replied, before starting down the staircase, leaving Typhoon to carry on his way.
Once down in the forge, I saw Rainbow Dash and the mixture of soldiers that had been assigned down there to help, all standing near the entrance, well out of the way as the dragons climbed and roamed free around the cavern.
“What’s happening?” I asked, approaching Rainbow from behind.
“Oh, well we found this tunnel that leads away out of the city,” Rainbow explained. “We figure that’s how Gaia got them all down here in the first place; I mean, they couldn’t exactly walk down those stairs. Spike’s up near the end now, talking to the alpha, we’re just waiting back here until he’s made sure that they don’t, you know, have the munchies for ponies.”
“Of course,” I replied, nodding. “Typhoon mentioned you had an idea regarding armour.”
“Huh… oh yeah,” she uttered, suddenly remembering. “Just a little thing, since we don’t need different armour to identify factions anymore, we could switch them about based on their weight and uses. Like, obviously Battlemages and crusaders have their own getups, but for regular soldiers, we could give them a choice of the Dragoon, Liberator or Rebel armour. The old Dragoon stuff is the lightest, best for manoeuvring and moving quickly, that black stuff the Liberators wore is heaviest and can take the most punishment, and the Rebels gear is a good balance of both.”
“That sounds perfect,” I replied, quite impressed as it was easy to forget Rainbow was a professional solider. “Can I trust you to organise that? Typhoon is looking into gathering up the dragon armour from the defeated Children of the Earth, you could see about giving those out as well.”
“Sure, if we can find anypony who will want to wear the stuff,” Rainbow replied in a grim voice.
“I think ponies will quickly forget its association when they realise how it’s almost indestructible,” I pointed out, craning my neck to try and see Spike past the heat haze. “You know, I think I’m going to go see how it’s going with Spike.”
“Uh, are you sure?” Rainbow asked in a wary tone, but then she saw the look on my face and shrugged. “Well, you’re a grown mare; you can make your own decisions.”
I started down the metal walkway, feeling the eyes of the soldiers piercing into the back of my skull as I walked. Once I got far enough down, I could see Spike standing near the dragon forge. He was communicating with the same great red dragon who had finished off Gaia, in the background I could see the dragons moving towards the far left corner, presumably that’s where the tunnel exit was. As I got closer, I could begin to make out what Spike and the alpha were saying, although they spoke in their own tongue, so I didn’t know what exactly they were saying to one another.
“Nuz mu fozir niin kogaan!” Spike declared, his voice surprisingly booming in his own tongue. “Malkey lahvu los facing suleykaar paal.”
“Daar paal los ni un hahvoth goraan gein,” the alpha replied, in a voice that absolutely dwarfed Spikes. “Mu fozir nid wah malkey lahvu.”
“Nuz nust stin hi,” Spike went on, looking slightly desperate. “Dreh ni pentaar niin fah vosod do gein wo poltor hi.”
“Dreh hi lorot Zu'u los ful prudil?!” the alpha roared down at Spike. “Zu'u krii tol sosin fah niin, nuz nu Zu'u kent frolok mindin dii brod.”
“Ko tol trun zu'u fey,” Spike responded defiantly as the alpha began to turn around, causing him to snap his head around in surprise. “Waan hi fen ni krif voth niin, ruz Zu'u fen dreh ful naalein. Nust lost genun zey dremsilaar ahrk eimend, Zu'u korah til vis kos vahzah fahdonmaar nix mii, nuz tol huvut ont skilaan enook vorey.”
The alpha stared back at him for a long time before finally replying, turning away as he did so.
“Hi dreh fos hi lorot los viilut,” and with that utterance, he began walking way toward the tunnel.
Any dragons that had been dawdling about, followed his lead and began to walk or fly towards the exit, leaving Spike to slouch and start walking back over to me.
“What was that about?” I asked him in a tentative voice, knowing it couldn’t have been anything good.
“Oh, uh, it doesn’t matter,” Spike replied, only just realising I was there when I spoke up. “They’re going back to the old nest now, but I… I want to stay, I’ll keep helping.”
“And we’re all very glad to have your support,” I told him, inviting him to climb up onto my back.
Once he was on board, we made our way back to where Rainbow Dash was, I quickly told her the dragons were all leaving and didn’t seem to be causing any bother for us. She told me she would get started in managing the troops and I bid her farewell, walking back upstairs with Spike still on my back. We left the keep and made our way back out through the city, occasionally stopping to lend some aid to other ponies or resolve disputes, until we finally neared the city gates where I saw Applejack, but as well as her, I also saw Big Mac and…
“Oh no…” I groaned as I saw who was with them.
Big Mac was looking annoyed, but Applejack was absolutely livid, the two fillies standing between them looked like they were really starting to question their life choices.
“And ah can’t believe you’d be so irresponsible to bring Scootaloo along as well,” Applejack was saying to her younger sister. “Not only have you endangered yourself, but you’ve put another pony in danger!”
“Applejack, ah’m real sorry, but…” Applebloom tried to say, but she was swiftly cut off.
“Don’t blame her Applejack,” Scootaloo insisted. “I was the one who came up with the idea, I pushed her into it, blame me instead.”
Applejack clearly lost her steam for telling off the fillies at that point, either uncomfortable about telling off somepony who wasn’t officially her family, or touched by Scootaloo’s honesty… so she then directed her ire at Big Mac instead.
“And you mister,” she said, jabbing a hoof into his chest. “You realise this is all your fault, how in the hay do you manage to cross half a country with two fillies hidin’ in your cart and not notice?!”
“Ah… didn’t stop walkin’ much,” Big Mac admitted, looking down at his hooves in a guilty fashion.
“Well, well, I really shouldn’t be surprised by this,” I said, announcing my presence. “But I actually am, I really thought I emphasised to you girls how dangerous this was going to be.”
“We’re sorry Rarity,” both fillies chorused, looking even more ashamed now.
“And now we’ve gotta get you two back home,” Applejack grumbled. “Mac, go get your cart.”
“Now Applejack, slow down,” I told her in a calm voice. “Big Mac doesn’t have the time to take them all the way back to Sweet Apple Acres and get back here before Blueblood arrives, and we’re going to need every able pony we can get.”
“Ah am not allowing these two anywhere near this place when that maniac comes rollin’!” Applejack exclaimed, aghast at the idea. “Surely we can spare somepony to get them out of here.”
“Would you trust just anypony to look after these girls?” I asked, knowing full well that she wouldn’t. “Applejack, they will just have to stay in the city with the rest of the civilians, the plan is that we don’t let Blueblood get as far as here, if he does, then we aren’t doing our job right.”
Applejack opened her mouth to argue more, but she was cut off by a familiar voice speaking up.
“Excuse me,” it said, drawing all our attentions. “I couldn’t help but notice you were having a slight problem, well I might be able to offer a solution.”
“Oh, hello Cogs,” I greeted, a little surprised to run into him. “How can you help with these two?”
“Well, as you know, I’m working on my latest creation,” he explained, walking closer. “Zee new weapon to help counter ze Dreadnaught, I have been looking around for ponies who don’t seem to be busy, who might be able to assist me, but so far, no luck.”
“And you want these pair to help?” Applejack questioned. “How will that help them stay out of harm’s way?”
“Well I certainly don’t plan on being anywhere near the fighting,” Cogs replied with a little laugh. “But I will be able to keep an eye on zem, and I’m sure zey will make perfect assistants.”
“What do you say Applejack?” I asked, liking the idea myself. “It means they would be out of the way of any danger, we’d know exactly where they are at all times, there will be somepony we know and trust looking after them… they’ll even be able to help.”
“Ah’d still rather they went home,” Applejack muttered, before glaring down at them. “Or that they just never snuck up here in the first place.”
“Well we can’t change the past,” I told her. “And I know I’d feel more comfortable knowing precisely where they are, rather than never knowing for sure that they got back home.”
“Ah guess…” Applejack relented.
“Don’t worry Applejack,” Applebloom assured her. “We’ll behave ourselves.”
“And we’ll do our best to help too!” Scootaloo added, jumping up and down excitedly.
“Fine,” Applejack agreed with a small groan. “Mac, take them over to wherever it is this thing's gettin’ built, make sure they know what they’re doin’ and they won’t just be gettin’ in the way.”
As the four of them left, the two fillies talking loudly and excitedly to Cogs, asking him questions about what they were building and what the deal with his accent was, I turned to Applejack, who looked tired.
“Need somethin’ Sugarcube?” she asked, trying to give me a smile.
“I was saying about the civilians staying in the city,” I began. “While Rainbow and the others are sorting out the troops, will you be able to work with Fluttershy and the sisters in making sure all civilian ponies are taken care of? Some may prefer to evacuate, that’s fine, but those that don’t… or can’t, make sure they’re well taken care of, and find safe places in the city where they can take shelter during the battle.”
“Ah can do,” Applejack assured me. “Is that all?”
“Hopefully, if I need anything else, I’ll come find you,” I told her.
Once we said goodbye and she went off to find Fluttershy, I started continuing on my way into the camp, but barely got a few paces when Feather Duster came zooming up and landed in front of me.
“Hey Rarity,” he greeted, slightly breathless. “Lady Sparkle wanted me to come find you; they’re done helping your friend.”
“Oh, excellent news,” I replied eagerly, as I picked up the pace in the very direction I was heading in. “Has Lily also been informed?”
“Who?” Feather Duster asked, slightly confused as he flew along next to me.
“Oh, uh, Sufferthorn,” I specified.
Realising it would still take some time for her new name, or old name, to get spread around, just like the new name I chose for the army. Although just from listening on snippets of soldier’s conversations, I could tell that one was picking up considerably quicker than I expected.
“Yeah, I found her before you,” Feather Duster informed me. “She ran off as soon as I told her, so she’ll probably be there already.”
Indeed she was, pacing impatiently around the protective wards while Twilight leant over the much more active body of Stranglethorn, probably just doing final checks before she gave the all clear. I walked up to Lily, noticing that for the first time since I met her, she wasn’t wearing armour and she had washed the green dye from her flank, revealing her cutie mark, which was a lily pad with a soft pink flower blooming upon it. I asked Spike to run on and give us some space for a moment, before I tried to speak to her.
“How are you feeling?” I asked her.
“Better,” she muttered in response. “That place… it was so hard to think straight. Your friend checked me over, said I would be fine.”
“So about Stranglethorn…” I broached, wondering if she would now tell me his name.
“You want to know his name, don’t you?” she questioned, seeing right through what I thought had been a subtle emphasis. “You can ask him yourself. Don’t worry though, he likes you, so he’ll probably have no problem with it… he might be quite glad to stop using his agent name.”
“Well, I suppose he won’t be an agent anymore,” I commented.
“About that…” Lily began in an uncomfortable voice. “I’ve decided that I’m going to wait until after the battle before talking to him.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?” I asked in a wary voice. “Remember, there’s no guarantee there will be an afterwards.”
“I know, but… just trust me,” Lily requested. “I hate it, but right now we need him ready to fight… not fertilize.”
“If that’s what you think is right,” I responded slowly, looking up just as the wards were lowered.
Lily trotted past me, not even stopping to speak to or thank Twilight, before she dropped down beside Stranglethorn who was trying to sit up, looking tired.
“How are you feeling?” she asked in an affectionate voice I had only heard her use in the memories.
Stranglethorn nodded to her, indicating that while he could have been better, he was ready to get moving.
“Not right now,” Lily told him. “Take tonight to rest and eat, you can start helping tomorrow, and that’s not open for debate.”
Strangle looked like he was going to argue anyway, but then his shoulders slumped in resignation. Then Lily took him, and everypony watching, completely by surprise by pulling him into a tight hug and burying her face slightly in the nape of his neck.
“I’m so glad you’re alright…” she told him as she pulled her face back to look at him. “Rose.”
Rose blinked in confusion at her addressing him using his real name, or at least, the shortened version of it, she later told me that his full name was Rose Bud. As much as I wanted to speak to him myself, I decided that I wouldn’t interrupt their reunion, so I made my way over to Twilight.
“Rose?” Twilight murmured in surprise. “I’m not even going to question that, how’s everything going? Did you need me to do something?”
“Everything should be going well,” I told her. “These next few days will be critical for us, but we’re going to need all the warning we can get when Blueblood gets close, can I trust you to take care of that? Use your magic and try to figure out how far away he is?”
“I’ll get right on it,” Twilight replied, with a curt nod before waving Feather Duster over. “I’ll go to the northern section of the wall to work, I’m keeping Feather Duster with me at almost all times, he is my responsibility after all.”
“Well in that case you might be interested to know that we found another pony who will be your responsibility,” I informed her, to which Twilight raised a curious eyebrow. “You remember Spitfire, don’t you?”
I wasn’t wrong when I said the next few days would be critical, each and every one of us was kept busy, there was no end to the preparations required for the upcoming battle. The morning following our victory at Cragsburg and Rose’s purging, I was meeting once again with Twilight, on the wall where she had been working through the night. Flanking her like bodyguards were Feather Duster and Spitfire, the latter now wearing her old Wonderbolt’s pin on the breast of her flight suit. In the background I could see Pinkie Pie pacing the wall, looking sulky that Twilight and I made her give it back.
“And that’s what I’ve found out,” Twilight finished, lowering her sceptre and the magical display vanishing as she did. “At the rate they seem to be moving, they could arrive on the horizon any time from tomorrow afternoon onwards.”
“Well that’s much too late to start getting everypony into position,” I replied, looking out over the wall at the vast stretch of barren wasteland, which would very soon become the stage for our final battle. “We need our fastest scouts positioned further ahead, and we need ponies stationed here to sound the alarm once the scouts return. I don’t want a single pony in this city left in any doubt of what’s happening, when it happens.”
“I’ll speak to Rainbow and Lily about that,” Twilight assured me. “We can take it from here, if you want to go check on the other preparations.”
There weren’t many things for me to do personally, so much of it was simply making decisions and having one of my friends see to it that they were carried out, but even then, I trusted them all to be able to do things of their own initiative without having to consult me every time. I was able to find an opportunity first thing that morning to go see Rose, it was then that he told me his full name via a written note, and gave me permission to call him by it; although he made it clear I never needed to ask in the first place. Like Lily, I also got to see his cutie mark, without it being obscured by apparel of dye, it wasn’t a huge surprise that it was a lone rose.
He seemed to approve of my friends ganging up and declaring me to be the new leader, even more so when I told him briefly about all that happened while he was out of commission. I could sort of understand Lily’s desire to wait until after the battle before opening up to him, nopony could afford to be letting personal matters get in the way of what was to come, but I decided I would take the first small step in helping him. I asked him that he wouldn’t resort to smoking those herbs he often did before missions, while he didn’t seem too pleased at the thought, he agreed to do it for me. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him, but just to be safe, I asked him to work alongside Applejack and Fluttershy, while privately telling both of them to keep an eye on him.
While going about my rounds sometime in the afternoon, I came across Hammerhead and his friends, just as they encountered Cirrus and his group. It was certainly an interesting meeting, which I couldn’t help but giggle at. The two groups didn’t exactly part as best friends or mortal enemies, but I got the distinct impression they would much rather avoid one another for the rest of their time there. It was also during that day that we saw the arrival of our remaining forces from Olympus, the addition of which brought our numbers to bursting point.
Sometime during the second day of preparations, I was helping Twilight and Holly establishing the new medical centre at the base of the northern wall on the outside of the city. We would need it close by for when the battle started, rather than have ponies carried on stretchers all the way around the city to the south, where the main camp was still set up. It was during this time that Spike came and found us, and he had a most unusual proposition for us…
“I’m sorry,” Twilight stated, frowning between me and him. “You actually want me pump you full of magic?”
“Only if it’s possible,” Spike specified. “If there was some way you could do what those other ponies did to me, but without me going crazy. I just think I would be able to do more if I was big again… and could fly.”
“Rarity?” Twilight questioned warily, looking my way for guidance.
“If… it’s possible,” I replied slowly. “Do you think you could do that?”
“I can certainly try,” Twilight responded, not sounding too eager. “It’s not exactly something I’ve done before, and if it goes wrong…”
“I’m sure it won’t Twilight,” Spike jumped in in a positive tone. “I mean, who’s better at magic than you?”
“Nopony,” I answered for her, smirking her way. “He seems to have his mind made up, if you think you can pull it off, I wouldn’t say no to a full grown dragon on our side.”
“Well… alright,” Twilight relented, pulling out her sceptre. “But let’s head further north so we’re well out of the way… just in case something goes wrong.”
As they started off further into the Ash Lands, Twilight called back to Spitfire and Feather Duster to carry on helping without her. I myself moved on, along the new medical centre to the place where Cogs was constructing his new device. It too had been moved out around the north, so it would be easier to access when the time came to use it, so it was now relatively centred, in line with where the keep was on the other side of the city wall. I had yet to actually see this invention, so I was quite eager to see what awaited me.
What I found was certainly impressive looking, even in its incomplete stage, but it was still nothing like I was expecting, and I admit to feeling a bit underwhelmed upon first seeing it. It essentially appeared to be a much larger version of the glider I had used to destroy the last Dreadnaught, back beneath Fort Mule. Although that had been appropriate then, as that Dreadnaught had still been under construction and wasn’t even in the air. When it came to the flying war machine that we would be up against, all I could picture was a fly trying to go up against a griffon.
“Greetings Rarity,” Cogs said, appearing next to me. “Do you like what you see?”
“I’ll be honest Cogs,” I began, unable to mask the disappointment in my voice. “I really don’t see this helping us destroy the Dreadnaught.”
“Oh my, not at all!” Cogs replied, sounding appalled at the idea. “Given enough time, I might be able to fit zis plane with enough guns, powerful enough to rip srough ze Dreadnaught’s hull, but zat would have taken weeks, perhaps even montz. No, zis plane will allow you, or whoever you assign to zis mission, to get right on top of ze Dreadnaught. It’s main purpose is transport, fast enough to avoid any projectiles, but tough enough to sustain many hits before it falls from ze sky… you recognise the metal we are using, yes?”
I looked closer, noticing that the plane was crafted from an eerily familiar, blue metal.
“It pained me to strip that beautiful machine down like it was scrap,” Cogs went on. “But do not worry, I made plans of it, we will be able to build a new one whenever we want. But I digress, ze point I was making, is zat ze plane is only intended to get you inside zee Dreadnaught. I am working on somesing else alongside zis, somesing zat will destroy it from zee inside out.”
“Hey Rarity!” Applebloom and Scootaloo interrupted, popping their heads out of the open door of the plane.
“Aha, zere are my two wonderful assistants!” Cogs declared happily. “I must say Rarity; I would never have made as much progress as I have, wizout ze help of zese two fillies.”
“Really?” I uttered, rather surprised by that.
“Yeah, this is great!” Scootaloo declared happily. “I never knew that flying could be done using machines, maybe one day I’ll be able to fly one of these, then it won’t matter that I… well, you know.”
“And ah love workin’ on this thing,” Applebloom added. “It’s just like when ah used to tinker on the harvester back home.”
“Indeed, little Applebloom has a natural talent for zis line of work,” Cogs informed me. “A filly after my own heart, and zat’s not to mention Scootaloo’s sheer passion for it. Why it’s even inspired me to create somesing brand new zat can… eh, but zat will have to wait. Zere is still much to be done, finishing touches to be applied, but I can assure you we will have zis ready for you to use when ze time comes.”
“Alright, well thank you,” I told him, before looking back at the two fillies. “And good work you two, keep it up.”
“Thanks Rarity!” they chorused as I started to walk away.
I barely made it several steps before I was frozen in place by a mighty roar that rent through the air. My head snapped north, my first thought being Blueblood and his army of monsters, but then I saw a familiar, purple scaled dragon stretching his new wings some distance away. He seemed to be behaving himself, even leaning down and allowing the tiny Twilight Sparkle to walk right up to his head, without trying to eat her or cook her… then eat her.
“Cool!” the pair announced in a single, drawn out utterance.
“Cool indeed,” I agreed, more muttering to myself. “Now we have a dragon.”
The rest of the day went by without incident, although I could see everypony beginning to get tense, they knew the battle was approaching, but nopony could be sure when. We managed to get through the whole night without any issue; it wasn’t until the next morning, shortly before midday, as I was walking through the streets of Cragsburg, talking with Fluttershy, that we heard it. It started with a single horn that caused everypony to stop dead in their tracks, but as it sounded, it was joined by another, and then another, until the air was filled with the sound and everypony sped into action.
I galloped through the streets, faster than I thought was physically possible for myself, as I made my way up to the keep where Fluttershy quickly scooped me up without having to be told, and delivered me onto the wall where Rainbow Dash was waiting. I stared out north over the Ash Lands, across the wide open plains, broken up only by the occasional boulder or jutting crag. The sky was heavy with clouds, the light of the sun glaring through to give the clouds a bright outline to contrast their dark grey bodies. All three of us stared in silence, I became deaf to the sounds of the horns and the soldiers hurrying about and getting ready. I felt my heart racing in my chest, could feel my breathing picking up in pace, couldn’t bring myself to blink as I pulled out my spyglass and raised it to my eye.
There was nothing to see, nothing… except the faintest outline, a silhouette of some hulking form suspended in the air at the very furthest reaches in my gaze. I lowered the spyglass, putting it away, knowing it wasn’t going to be necessary very soon. The scouts had not been wrong in their report…
“It’s them…” I breathed to Rainbow and Fluttershy. “They’re coming.”
It was absolutely hectic, everything blurring together as every single pony armed themselves and swarmed to battlefield. My friends and the other officers shouted and bellowed commands, arranging their units and making sure everypony was in position for when things kicked off. I made my own way down, slowly, taking my time to gather my courage and my wits. As I walked through the crowds of thousands to the front line, I thought of my family… my mother, my father and my dear sister, all safe in Canterlot with no clue that I was at that very moment, walking into a battle that I might very well not walk out of.
It was a silly thing to dwell on, as I walked forward as far as I could go and stopped… but I never did send them that letter. I stood there, absolutely still as I saw the dreadnaught come into focus… it was still far away, but I could see it well enough now without the need for my spyglass, and that meant all the ponies standing behind me could also see it. They probably also saw the army that was storming towards us beneath it, stretching far both east and west, churning up clouds of ash as they marched, which failed to hide how disturbing even their outlines looked, ranging dramatically in shape and size so it looked like a writhing mass was rolling its way towards us, as opposed to a force made up of individual creatures.
I turned slowly, looking out over my own force, only now realising just how much the Union force had grown with the addition of each new faction. At the very back, closest to the city wall, were the sisters of the Celestial Sisterhood, all prepared to treat the wounded as they came in. Just ahead of them was Cogs, who was now rather desperately trying to complete the plane and his other weapon. After them was the main bulk of the army, everypony split up into their units and squads, and visually differentiated by their armour. We had the battlemages from Arclight in their blue robes, joined by anypony from the other cities who felt more confident in their spell casting over their close combat, overseen by Hex.
There were the crusaders, led by Holly, and while they were easily the smallest of all the units, they were using their enchantments to their fullest. Their armour and weapons, which included maces as well as halberds, longswords and broadswords, all shone with holly, golden light. Then we had the primary Union soldiers, I recognised individuals such as Squadron Leader Gale, Cirrus, Eerie, Zephyr, Cyclone, and Alabaster among the light armour regiments, Big McIntosh in the heavy armour groups as well as Rainbow’s friend Dew drop who had switched up, while Hammerhead and his team could be seen among the medium armour squads. There was also the smaller group composed of ponies decked out in dragon armour, although I didn’t know the names of anypony there.
Typhoon was standing in the same position as the other officers, no longer wearing his uniform or medals, but a set of medium armour himself, he had probably compromised on the bases that heavy armour would weigh him down too much while flying. Water Lily too was wearing the same brand of medium armour that she had worn during Blueblood’s attack on Pivot, while Rose Bud, who was standing next to her, had gone for the barest amount of light armour. Scanning my eyes from them, I saw Feather Duster and Spitfire, both wearing similar flight suits, the former with a simple short sword, while Spitfire drew the baton she had taken from Fleetfoot and extended both curved blades.
Spike was off to one side, trying to stay out of the way of all the neat formations, but his size meant that I was able to see him pretty clearly despite how far down the line he was. That brought me to my friends, all five of whom were standing in a line directly in front of me. Twilight was wearing her purple battlemage robes, the hood still pulled down to reveal her silver crown, her sceptre drawn and levitating beside her with the pink orb pulsating with magical power. Pinkie Pie stood beside her, that same old blue and red striped harlequin outfit, she kept her cowl down and her mask was pulled up over her forehead to allow her actual face to show, while she idly spun her two rondel daggers around her silver clad hooves.
Fluttershy was in the middle, wearing her white cassock and mantle bearing the sun and cross of the Celestial Sisterhood, along with her silver breastplate and gorget, she had her mace drawn, and there was already a golden light shining from within it. Rainbow Dash stood in full light armour, rainbow plumed helmet already on, while her armoured wings matched the rest of her silver armour perfectly, she had her spear already extended and at the ready. Finally Applejack stood, wearing her mix of leather armour on her front half, along with her sallet helmet, the visor still angled up, while her rear half was dressed in silver, her claymore remained fastened to her back.
As I looked around the hundreds and thousands of faces, I saw… fear, wide eyes and rapid breathing, ponies shaking inside their armour and weapons that trembled in their hooves. Some had their eyes shut, others were muttering to themselves, perhaps trying to pretend they were somewhere… anywhere else. We had brought them all together, brought them all this far, but now that the enemy was on the horizon and the end was quite possibly around the corner, so many were getting cold hooves. They might have been screaming internally, regretting their decisions, contemplating running away. When Blueblood’s army met our own, we couldn’t have that, they needed to stand strong and defiant if we were to win.
“Maybe you ought’a say somethin’,” Applejack suggested. “Like a speech, something to rally their spirits.”
“What should I say?” I asked, feeling a bit lost.
“Whatever comes naturally,” Applejack replied. “It’s just like Twilight said, this is the moment, these ponies are all waitin’ for somepony to stand up and be the inspiration they need.”
I nodded slowly, I knew she was right, this would be the moment that could make or break everything we’d been working for… and like an idiot, I had signed up for it, although I had felt coerced. I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked up to see Rainbow Dash, she was holding out the metallic mouthpiece she had used to project her voice back at Olympus. I accepted it in my magic and turned around, seeing a rocky outcrop that would serve as an ideal stage. So once I climbed up and was satisfied everypony could see me, I raised the voice projector to my mouth so they would all hear me. For a moment I just stared, but then I shut my eyes, took a deep breath… and began to speak.
“Hello everypony,” I began, inwardly cringing at how awkward it sounded. “Many of you already know me, but for those who don’t… my name is Rarity, I was born and raised in Port Mule, I owned my own boutique where I made dresses and outfits. I never had strong beliefs or opinions when it came to politics or philosophy, I never thought about my role as a citizen of Panchea or a subject of Equestrian Empire, and when the war came around... I ran. My entire family packed our bags, and we fled to the safety of Canterlot.”
I was getting quite a few odd looks already, but I expected that, and I also knew that if they were to accept me as their leader, then they needed to know who the real Rarity was.
“I came back eighty-five days ago,” I went on. “I arrived at Daybreak Landing after a three week voyage from Equestria. From there, my intention was to return home, confirm that everything was as we left it, and write for my family to come and join me… I was incredibly naïve back then. The war had been a novelty to me, stories of great battles where soldiers fought with honour and earned glory was all I heard, I never knew the truth until I came back and saw it for myself. Everywhere I went, I saw the true horrors of the war, towns and cities brought to the brink of ruin, ponies who lost everything and were left with nowhere to go, families torn apart, leaving the young and elderly all alone.
“I found myself dragged into helping the Rebellion,” I continued. “I got tangled in the affairs of multiple factions and conflicts, and throughout my journey and the many trials I came to face, I learnt something… the war never ended. The Equestrian government may have surrendered and its soldiers left our borders, but for Panchea and its citizens, the war carried on, and every day it claimed more victims. I’ve been made to face a lot of things since my return, both about my country and about who I am as a pony, not all of it was good… but I did find that there was so much here that I cared deeply about, and wanted to do my best to preserve, to shelter and protect. I discovered that I care about this land and those who share it with me.
“So I tried very hard,” I carried on. “I tried to help others in the way I had been helped, I tried to make a difference for the good… but no matter how much I tired, I would never have accomplished anything if I had been alone. Which is why I am glad that I’ve never been alone, in my time here, I have made friends who have stuck by me through it all, supporting me during the bad times, and being there to make the good times better. I’ve done so much, things I’m proud of and things I’m ashamed of, but I know that through their friendship, through the unity we share, I have grown into a better pony than I could ever have hoped to be without them.”
I saw all five of my friends beaming up at me, as well as the many other faces I recognised and cherished, it filled me with elation and allowed me to keep going with heightened passion.
“The war never ended… but it’s about to,” I announced. “Right now there’s an army approaching, it’s led by a creature who doesn’t care who you are, what you believe in, or how you exist. All he cares about is everything submitting to his absolute rule, and eradicating anything that does not. We’ve all come here today to tell that monster ‘no’, that we will not be ruled by a tyrant, through fear and oppression. We have all thrown down our individual banners and come together as one. Where once our beliefs and loyalties divided us, now we are united.”
My speech was starting to rouse the crowd; I could hear the hum of many voices murmuring approval, even some who shouted aloud their support.
“Take heart everyone!” I declared loudly. “Because I have faith in each and every one of you, I have faith that we will win this day. Just as I grew as a pony through the bond with my friends, our Union will not be overcome by this foe, thanks to the unity each and every one of us shares. We are all citizens of Panchea, and today we stand united, stronger than we could ever hope to be alone, stronger than Blueblood and all his abominations combined!”
A huge cheer spread across the entire army, most ponies raising their weapons into the air as they shouted their agreement. I took that moment to reach down and draw my own sword, holding the rapier aloft so the sun glanced of the narrow blade.
“We… are going… to win!” I stated with confidence. “We are going to survive! This day, this final battle, marks an end to the war… and the beginning of Panchea’s new future! So if you are with me, if you will stand and fight by my side, then shout! Let me hear your voices… let the enemy hear the voice of Panchea and the Union army! Let them know that we will be the ones left standing this day, let them know that we are united, now… and until the end of days!”
The noise was deafening, a part of me believed that Blueblood might just hear it from where he was at. Every single pony shouted in unison, they cheered for Panchea, they cheered for the Union… they cheered for me. As I looked out over the sea of faces that no longer looked scared of nervous, but strong and confident, at the thousands of individuals I had inspired with my words, I felt an incredible warmth inside of me, like a fire had ignited in my very soul. Glancing down, I saw my friends’ faces all begin to light up, Pinkie grabbing Fluttershy and shaking her, while jabbing a hoof up at me in excitement. My eyes travelled down to my own body which I could see was beginning to shine with a divine light.
Very soon my whole body was overwhelmed by the light, it felt like I was floating inside a pool of liquid purity. I felt more attuned with my body, mind and soul than I had ever been in my entire life. I could still hear the sounds of cheering, but I didn’t really pay attention to them, as something began to appear before me, a spark of silver amidst the glaring white. The spark seemed to expand, turning liquid, like molten metal, before it began to take shape. I stared in wonderment as the object finished taking form and presented itself to me, revealing itself to be a masque.
I wanted to reach out and touch it, but found that my body was too relaxed to move, even to take hold of it. The Masque was shimmering silver, a very elegant design, with simple and modest facial features. It looked so serene with its ever so slight smile, and eyes that shone like sapphires, but it was the gemstone embedded in the forehead that drew my attention. It was a deep purple gem in the shape of a kite, reminding me of the masks worn by the police in Arclight, but more appropriately, it reminded me of my own cutie mark.
This was it, the final Element of Unity, the Masque of Inspiration. I could almost hear the name resonating throughout my being as the Masque slowly turned around and began moving into my face. It fitted perfectly, causing absolutely no discomfort, resting in place with no need for a strap or anything of the sort. It covered my entire face, from my muzzle to my forehead, cutting off directly beneath my horn. As it fitted into place, I felt my body suddenly brimming with power. Everything felt sharper, enhanced, and the Masque itself didn’t appear to weigh anything, while still allowing me to see clearly through the eyeholes.
I felt my body sinking back down to the ground, felt the rock reappear beneath my hooves as the white light began to part before me, allowing me to see my friends and the army once more. As I looked down at the five of them, at their own shining Elements, I felt the very connection they had spoken of to me, like the one I often felt in my heart when we were all together, but magnified to new and incredible levels. The soldiers were still cheering, perhaps even louder and more enthusiastically, which I had been sure wasn’t possible, but they made it happen.
I smiled beneath the Masque; turning on my platform towards the ever approaching enemy, sweeping my sword out and holding it aloft so the point of the blade was pointed directly at them… it was time for the final battle to begin.