Age of the Tyrant

by BeingFrank

Complications

"You sure you can do this?" Smooth Talker asked Blaze.

The two of them were alone in the back of their transport. It was a small, sleek ship, with four seats on either side and a cockpit in the front. It was moderately high tech: instead of being held up by balloons, it had a small Charm engine to power it and a set of wings for gliding. In front sat an orange Pegasus, too focused on the sky to pay attention to his occupants.

Blaze nodded. "It'll definitely be hard, maybe near impossible, but I'll give it a shot."

"It's just nerve-wracking Blaze. I mean, what if one of them tells the princess that you're trying to get them to betray her?"

"Then the plan fails, both of us get sent to Tartarus, and we'll have to hope the Republic can last without us. See, Smoothie, it helps if you don't think about those kinds of things."

Smooth seethed with anger. "Don't call me Smoothie. Ambassador, Smooth Talker, Smooth if you must, but not Smoothie."

Blaze grinned. "Sorry Smooth, I'm just trying to get relaxed. Doing something this hard and putting up an "I don't care" act is a lot more stressful than it seems." He turned to the pilot. "How long until we land?"

The Pilot turned back, grinning. "Funny you should ask that."

The transport landed down in Canterlot garden. When it's back door opened, there were several royal guards waiting for them.

"What will you do Blaze?"

Blaze turned to the Ambassador. "I might as well start with Twilight Sparkle. The file says she's the princess's student, so there's a good chance she'll be around here."

Smooth looked at Blaze. "All right then, I'll see you when I see you. Just make sure that when you finish, I'm the first pony you let know." The ambassador left with the guards.

Blaze turned back to the pilot. "All right then. Get this ship somewhere safe. When we're ready I'll notify you with this." He lifted up his hoof, revealing the screen strapped to it. "Thanks for the ride by the way."

The pilot nodded. The ship took off and flew out over the towering buildings of the city.

Blaze looked around at the garden now that the guards had left. Nice place, he thought. Twilight Sparkle can wait. Right now, there are more important things to do. Blaze walked through the garden until he found a bench. He laid down on it and closed his eyes.

******************************************

Inside the castle, Celestia's student was finishing her report when a guard came in.

"Princess, the Ambassador is here."

Celestia turned to her student. "I'm sorry Twilight, but I guess that's all the time we have for now. It's been great seeing you, and as always, I'll see you next week."

"Are you sure, Princess? Maybe you can let him wait a little more."

Celestia sighed. "I'm sorry Twilight, but the two of us have important matters to discuss. It pains me to end these meetings early, but sometimes, I have to."

Twilight nodded and left the room. As she walked through the halls, a guard spotted her and trotted farther into the castle to notify Cassius. Cassius was in Ponyville, so in his absence he had set up a system to know when she left so he could send a pony to escort her to the train. Though Twilight insisted she didn't need it, she would rather have guards with her than the chance of Damien stalking her.

When she got to the garden, she looked for a place to sit while she waited for the guard. Somewhere it would be unlikely for Damien to find her first. When she got deep enough into the garden that she felt comfortable, she sat down on the first bench she found, an uncharacteristically uncomfortable one.

"You know, nothing against you and all, but you could at least look before you sit," said a voice from below her.

Twilight sprang up, nearly flying, off of the bench, She turned around to see a red unicorn, groggily rubbing his eyes. "Sir, I'm so sor-"

"Gah! Where is it?" shouted the unicorn. He looked around the bench in a panic. "Ah ha, there it is." He turned around, levitating a red fez onto his blue mane.

"Sorry about that. Now, how can I help you?" He turned to face her. Twilight felt a strange feeling come over her and noticed he was moving his eyes up and down.

Twilight was horrified. "ARE YOU CHECKING ME OUT?" she shouted.

The pony smiled. "My apologies, force of habit. I'm Blaze, assistant to the Ambassador of the New Lunar Republic. Now, who do I have the displeasure of accidentally insulting?" He held out his hoof as if expecting a shake.

Twilight didn't know what to do about this strange unicorn. On one hoof, he had just checked her out. On the other, he seemed nice enough, and didn't act like he had done it intentionally. She decided, at least for the time being, to trust him. She bumped his hoof. "Twilight Sparkle."

Blaze's eyebrows raised. "Huh, no kidding. So I fall asleep on a random bench and the pony that sits on me is the one I'm looking for. Talk about luck and deja vu. Hold on a second, let me get the speech out." He held up the screen attached to his leg and pressed it a couple of times. Eventually, words appeared on the screen.

"Uh hem. Greetings, Twilight Sparkle. I, Blaze, am here on behalf of Princess Luna of the New Lunar Republic to convince you to join our side. I extend to you this offer, and a hearty hoof shake, in hopes that you will accept and join us to fight the Solar Empire. It's a chance for excitement, adventure, and really wild things. What do you say?" He put down the screen and looked to Twilight.

An answer came quickly to her. "Are you for real? Would you actually expect me to betray my mentor, give up my home, and leave my friends just become some random pony I've never heard of shows up and asks me to? Why would I ever do that?"

She expected him to back off or al least get a little mad. Instead, he remained perfectly calm. "If it's your friends you're worried about, I'm going to ask them anyway."

"Oh, and what makes you think any of us would do that? We're all loyal to the princess, none of us would ever betray her."

"Yes, but are you loyal to the Empire? Look, I think we'd both be a lot more comfortable somewhere you want to be."

"Why would I do that when I can tell you No here with less effort?"

A voice echoed through the garden. "Twilight, is that you? We have to continue where we left off." It was Damien.

Damien turned the corner and saw Twilight. "Oh good, it is you. I didn't want to keep wandering around. After our talk last week, I decided I was a little to hasty to get mad at you. I mean, I never even told you all of the benefits of being with me. Number one: Being with me. Number t- " Damien stopped when he got closer and saw Blaze. His jaw closed and opened repeatedly. "Bl-Bl-Blaze!" He stuttered.

Blaze took a step forward. "Hello! And who might you be?"

Damien let out a screech like a filly and took off through the garden. "BLAZE IS HERE! BLAZE IS HERE!" he shouted. "HELP! HE"S GOT TWILIGHT! HELP!"

Blaze turned to Twilight. "So where would you like to go? I think your library would be good enough."

Twilight sighed. She might as well go with him. Anywhere was better than here with Damien running around. "That's an idea, but I can't teleport that far in one go. That's why I take a train."

"And I can't teleport for Jack shit, but there is something I can do." he stepped forward, his horn glowing with orange-red energy and touched Twilight's horn.

"What are you doing?"

"It's magic transfer, transferring some of my energy to you for a temporary boost. Try teleporting to your library with me."

Blaze was right. Twilight felt large amounts of magic flowing through her veins. It was like she had the magical powers of two unicorns. She felt like she could do anything. She thought of her library and closed her eyes. She was enveloped in an aura made up of purple, red, and orange. When she opened her eyes, she and Blaze were standing in her library. Quickly, she felt the energy fade, and she and Blaze collapsed onto the floor.

"Woo," said a worn out Blaze. "Magic transfer always wears me out. Got any alcohol or coffee or anything?"

"There's some coffee in the kitchen. Could you get me some too?"

"Sure thing!" Blaze walked towards the kitchen as a thought came to him. "But before I forget, who was that pony back there?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "That's Lord/General Damien Silver Scroll, the biggest prick I've ever met."

Blaze chuckled. "The legendary asshole-in-chief, as we call him. Smooth Talker has a ton of stories about him, all bad."

Twilight finally got her head straight. "So that's magic transfer. I've read about it, but I've never seen it done. It's supposed to be high level magic, how do you know it?"

Blaze came back in with the coffee in his aura. "Well, most of my noncombat magic, like my teleporting, was always crappy. But I wanted to help other ponies with those kinds of things, so I asked Luna for help. It took months to realize there was nothing I could do, but I was persistent enough that Luna decided to teach me magic transfer instead."

Twilight looked up at him big-eyed. "Could you teach me?" she pleaded.

Blaze let out a chuckle. "I could, but we're not on the same side." Twilight's eyes drooped now that her hopes of learning new magic had vanished. "Speaking of which, we have business to discuss." Before Twilight could say anything else, a movement outside caught Blaze's eye. He trotted over to the window and Twilight followed. His gaze was focused on a mint green unicorn and a pony with a pink and purple mane. "Oh, seeing them reminds me of the good old days."

"You know Lyra and Bon-Bon?"

"Oh yeah! We got along great, well, me and Lyra anyway. The crazy shit we got ourselves into, and every time Bon-Bon would have to bail us out and yell at me for hours." He smiled at the thought.

"Why don't you go out and see them?"

"Not a bad idea, but at the same time, a pretty bad idea. I'm part of the rebellion, and they're high up enough in the imperial army to be basically required to kill me on sight."

"Them, high up in the army? A musician and a confectionist!" Twilight laughed.

Blaze was done talking about his old friends. "Let me just say this. I know them in a far different way than you. I know what they're really like, and trust me, they're a lot more dangerous than you'd think. Now, where was I?"

Twilight filed away Blaze's opinions of Lyra and Bon-Bon for later. "You said something about trusting the Empire."

"Seems right. So you say you're loyal to the Princess. But what if I said that Celestia's only a figurehead now, and that the her lords are actually the ones in control?"

"I wouldn't believe you."

"That's understandable. But when you think about it, who seems more likely to destroy Cloudsdale just to enrage their ponies enough to want war: Celestia or her lords?"

"Whoa whoa whoa! What do you mean by destroying Cloudsdale? The Republic did that."

"The Republic doesn't endanger civilians. And, more important than that right now, how could a Republic airship get all the way from the Macintosh Hills to Cloudsdale, especially one of that size, without any pony noticing and raising the alarm?"

Twilight was shocked. It made so much sense. Why didn't any pony think about it? "But, but that's impossible. The Princess wouldn't let that happen."

Blaze sighed. "I just said she's not in charge anymore. She's a figurehead, but whatever she says still goes. But the thing is, she doesn't say anything. She formed her own secret army, Celestia's Army, with ponies like Bon-Bon and Lyra, to fight against her lords, but she still won't fight. You know why she does that?" Blaze leaned closer. Twilight leaned in to hear his whisper. "She's too obsessed with something to fight back."

"What could she be doing that would stop her from doing anything?"

"I don't know. No pony knows. No pony can ever get close enough to know everything she does, let alone every strange thing she does."

"Strange" stuck in Twilight's head, trying to connect something from earlier that had made her think the same thing. Something with Celestia. Something before her meeting

"The video!" she burst out saying.

"What video?"

"This video she has. I once walked in on her watching it, but all I heard was a colt saying something about some pony seeing him again before she stopped it. She's been watching it before most of our meetings. I even heard her program that runs it saying something about watching it 3000 times. Does that seem obsessed to you?"

Blaze put his chin in his hoof. "It's an idea. Those are always good to have. Plus, it's better than anything we've got."

Blaze stood up. "Thanks for the coffee, the info, and the talk. It's always nice to talk to some pony who isn't overly formal to me or just insults me. But I need to have an answer."

Twilight was nervous. She couldn't decide. She had known the princess her whole life, but what Blaze said made sense. "I don't know."

"Let me add some things. If you join us but regret it, we will return you here if you wish. Second, our goal isn't to kill or harm the princess in any way. We have no problem with her, just the lords. And why we're curious about the obsession is because if we can overcome it she can help us. And if you still don't know because you think Celestia's still in charge, I want you to do something. In the castle's dungeon is a pony named Mist. A week ago the Ambassador came here to negotiate her freedom. A deal was made, but Mist is still there. If you still have doubts, find Mist. That should be enough for you to make your choice."

"How long do I have to decide?"

"If you want to find Mist, I suggest doing it fast. But your actual choice, you have until I convince the rest of your friends. In other words, it can be any time."

Twilight paused. "Alright, I'll find Mist. And when I do, I'll make my decision. How will I find you?"

"I'll find you."

Twilight sighed. Thinking about betrayal felt worse than actually doing it. "I never thought I'd be doing something like this. And now that I'm going to, It really makes me regret some things the princess and I did. Thinking of those things make me think that I'm betraying her, even If you're saying i'm not."

"What kinds of things?"

Twilight leaned forward and whispered something in Blaze's ear. His eyes went wide in amazement.

"You fucked the Princess!" he shouted, smiling.

Twilight blushed. "When you word it that way it makes me feel like you're insulting me."

"Far from it. If anything, this gives me a lot more respect for you. We're a lot more alike than you think."

"Great way to make me not regret telling you. Can we drop the conversation?"

"You're the boss. Any thing else before I go?"

"I think that's it." A feeling of realization overcame her. "Cassius! I completely forgot about him! He must be worried about me!"

As if Twilight's call summoned him, Cassius stormed in through the door. "Twilight, how'd you get here so fast. Damien said he saw you with a strange pony and I got wor- " he paused. He saw Blaze. "Blaze?"

Blaze's eyes lit up with recognition. "Cassius!"

The two ponies ran towards each other, bumping their hooves together when they met.

"You know each other?" explain Twilight.

"Oh yeah, me and Cass go way back, We trained together in military school and were closer than brothers ever since. Well, until I left the army."

"It's great to see you again Blaze!" exclaimed Cassius. "But I didn't exactly just show up. I waited outside and heard what you were talking about. What's this about Twilight joining the Republic?"

"Umm, well, you see, um...," began Twilight.

"It's alright, I trust Cass. I'm offering Twilight and her friends a chance to join the Republic."

"And what'd she say?"

"She's still deciding."

"Hmm, well, may I put in my opinion?"

"You may."

Cassius turned to Twilight. "Well then, there's not much I can say, other than good luck with whatever you choose. I hope you end up choosing the path that's right for you."

"Wait a minute," replied Twilight. "You're the leader of the Empire's army and you'll let me leave and join the enemy just like that?"

"Twilight, I'm going to be honest with you. I've treated you like a daughter. And when I started to, I knew that eventually you'd grow up and leave. And I promised myself that I wouldn't stop you."

Twilight was overcome with emotion. "I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything. Knowing you was more than enough. And I hope that the next time we meet, it won't be as enemies." He turned to Blaze. "As for you, you'd better watch out for her, because If you don't, then I'll find you, and trust me, you'll be in trouble. Secondly, I told myself that I'd help Twilight. Years ago, If you had said some of what you had said to her before I came in, she would have slapped you at the very least. She's changed Blaze, and if I can't help her, then I want you to. If she goes with you, can I trust you on this?" He held out his hoof.

Blaze bumped it. "Always, old friend. I hope to see you again someday." Cassius left without another word.

Twilight looked surprised. "He said something so personal like that, and he says nothing more about it. It feels a little like he didn't mean it. Like he just wanted to say something."

"Not at all. I know him. Cass is the kind of pony that will say what he has to say, and then think nothing of it. And from my experience, he's only been that emotional twice. And those were very emotional times."

Twilight thought about that. He was right. Even though Cassius barely shed a tear, she'd never seen him be that emotional in all the time she'd known him. "You're right. It's just I'm used to ponies showing more emotion with things like that. But with Cassius, he's always straight-faced when he shows emotion."

"Don't take it personal. I knew him for years, and it took me a year to realize that he knew how to laugh. It's been fun and all, but I should hurry, since Smooth Talker's probably almost bored your princess to death already. And Twilight, before I leave, do you know where I can find Rainbow Dash?"

Twilight shrugged. "She'll probably be on a cloud somewhere around town but I'd be careful, she'll be the hardest one to convince."

Blaze grinned. "Which is why I'm starting with her. Hopefully, I can overcome the hardest challenge first and then talk to the others. I'll be back soon for your decision, hopefully with the rest of your friends on my side."

Twilight watched as Blaze left, and a thought struck her. She had told him everything! What she and the Princess did, the Princess's video. What was it about him that made her trust him like that?

*********************************************************

"No. Fucking. Way."

Blaze wasn't too surprised. From his experience, long speeches, like the one Smooth Talker suggested he use to convince Rainbow Dash, worked about as much as a crack suicide squad. The only thing it managed to do was save him time explaining Celestia's Army and all that boring stuff. "Are you sure?"

"Hell yeah! After what I saw you guys to do Cloudsdale, what makes you think I'd trust you? I'm still loyal to the Princess. I'd never go with you."

"What about Twilight?"

"I don't know why she would go. And even if she does, there's still hope can convince her not to."

"So, you don't want to go because of Cloudsdale, even though I told you we had nothing to do with it, and your loyalty to the Princess. Then may I ask why are you loyal to her."

"She's the Princess!"

"Blind loyalty isn't a good thing. You have to have an actual reason for loyalty. And if you're loyal to her just because, then why would you be loyal to an empire she wants to fight, instead of a neutral side."

Rainbow wasn't a pony who thought a lot. She believed that anything that made sense when she first heard it, or was common sense, was more important than something you needed to think about to figure out. What Blaze had just said made sense to her, but she still had one more thing to say. "That made sense, but still, after Cloudsdale, no way."

Blaze lifted the screen off of his leg. "I'm done here, it's their turn. Return this to me after they're done and give me your decision. I'll be at the Carousel Boutique."

"Hey, wait! What do you mean by 'they'?" But Blaze was gone.

Rainbow stared at where he had gone until a voice from the screen startled her. "You there, Dash?"

Rainbow looked at the screen and was surprised to see a familiar, gold-yellow Pegasus looking back at her. "Spitfire? Where are you?"

"With the Republic. They took us in after the Empire destroyed Cloudsdale."

"Let me talk to her!" whined a white Pegasus. Spitfire shoved him away from the screen.

"Don't mind Soarin'," said Spitfire. "He's just doing this to get on my nerves."

But Rainbow paid no attention to Soarin'. "Back up a minute, okay? Did you say you're with the Republic? You mean the Empire actually destroyed Cloudsdale and everything Blaze said was true?"

"Exactly!"

Rainbow was shocked. "I can't believe it."

"No pony could."

Rainbow uncharacteristically thought for a minute. It couldn't be true. But Spitfire was saying it. Rainbow trusted her. She believed her. "I have to find Blaze."

Spitfire looked hopeful. "You're in?"

"I'm in."

Spitfire almost cheered. "Every pony, she's in!"

There was much rejoicing.

****************************************************

"...So that's it. Twilight and probably Rainbow are in, but what about you?"

Blaze was in a situation he was uncomfortable in. He had been beaten, tortured, stabbed, threatened, shot, forced to write a play for a malevolent dictator and suffer through the scathing reviews, nearly killed, and sworn at, one time all at once. Now, he was knee-deep in enemy territory, a place where he would be killed if he didn't watch his step, and was having a suit made for him against his will.

The unicorn making it didn't seem to notice him struggling with it. She had seen him, and before he could explain why he was there she had taken his measurements and started making a white suit-jacket. She wouldn't let him refuse, saying she felt generous, and ignored his complaints to the point where Blaze just gave his speech.

"Well, darling, that is interesting. But I still won't say anything until you apologize for what you did earlier.

Blaze's hoof went to the bruise around his eye where the pony had hit him. "Sorry. Like I said, force of habit."

Rarity had put on a dress while Blaze wasn't looking, hoping he wouldn't notice. It was a perfectly normal dress, although with a slight modification.

Silently, a red aura lifted a pistol from where it was hidden in rarity's dress and brought it over to Blaze. "You mind if I ask what you were doing with this?"

"You have a very keen eye, darling." Rarity was nervous. So much for hidden guns.

"You know why my checking out mares is a force of habit? When you've been a soldier as long as me, you get into the habit of scanning everything and every pony you come across. I saw the slight bulge in the dress and knew some pony as experienced as you wouldn't leave that in by accident. Why would you have this anyway?"

"For protection."

"From what?"

Rarity searched for an answer and chose the first one to come to her mind. "Haypaches."

Blaze laughed. "Good old fashioned excuse. You've earned yourself a point. Now, why would you want to pull a gun on me?"

Rarity took the opportunity to act. She moved into the center of the room, and in her most dramatic voice, said, "It was my sister Sweetie Belle! She was perfectly innocent, minding her own business, when suddenly -" she gave a long, dramatic pause "- you blew it up. The town she was in, perfectly safe, you blew it up." Rarity was done acting at this point. She ran up to Blaze and started smacking him with her hooves, even if they did nothing to him.

Blaze was unfazed. He calmly put a leg around her for comfort and she took it gratefully, not caring who was comforting her. After a minute she pulled away.

"What town was she in?" asked Blaze.

"What does it matter, it's gone?" sobbed Rarity. After a moment, she added, "North Appleloosa."

Blaze brightened. "Then there's still hope." He saw that Rarity was confused. "The Empire destroyed North Appleloosa, like Cloudsdale, to get a reaction. But the difference between them was that this town was taken prisoner. Somewhere, in some prison, your sister's alive. I know it's not much to go on, but it's a pretty good possibility."

"That can't be possible." Rarity was shocked. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was obvious Blaze was making this up.

"You think I'm lying, right?" Blaze had read her like a book. "Listen to me. Would you rather believe what you've always thought, that your sister's dead, or believe in that chance, no matter how small, that she isn't."

Rarity saw what he was saying. But she had one more thing to ask. "If we find her, can I leave with her?"

"Of course."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Well then, darling, I think we've come to an arrangement."

"I suppose we have. I'll be back when I'm done talking with the others."

He started to take the suit off. Rarity stopped him. "Oh, no keep it. It suits you. But if you want some advice, get rid of that." She pointed at his fez.

Blaze was repulsed. "No way. This hat was a member of the New Lunar Republic far before you. If anything it has the authority to get rid of you." The over the top way he said it made her laugh.

After he left, Rarity thought about what she was doing. Sure, she hated what she was about to do, but the thought of Sweetie Belle being alive was worth it.

***********************************************

The dungeon underneath Canterlot was strangely abandoned. As well as the rest of the castle, which had no guards at all in it. Twilight was worried that they were all waiting for her in the dungeon, or worse, capturing her friends. Even after what Blaze had said about trusting Cassius, she still thought that he could have betrayed them to the Princess.

She put her fears aside as she reached the bottom of the stairs, where Blaze said Mist would be. She set about to looking for the Pegasus.

Fortunately, she was in cell by the stairs, crying on a small, straw bed.

"Mist?" Twilight asked as she approached.

The pony stopped crying and turned towards Twilight, stone-faced.

"Are you Mist?"

The pony said nothing.

"Blaze sent me."

At the mention of his name, Mist perked up. "He knows I'm here! He is coming! I was right all along! He didn't forget me!" She started crying again, this time out of joy.

"I promised I'd come back for you, didn't I? And I keep my promises."

This unexpected voice caused Twilight and Mist to turn around. Mist ran to the wall of her cell and started shaking it. "I knew you'd come Blaze! Can you get me out of here? Please?"

Blaze approached her and stroked her mane with his hoof. "Not yet. But I'll be back later, I promise."

Mist's eyes darkened. "Over two weeks I waited here, for you to rescue me like you promised. Two weeks I hear nothing from you and then you show up just top tell me to wait! Why even show up? Why not just have me wait here until I die, huh? They both do the same thing for me, nothing!"

"We have tried to get you out. Smooth Talker came to negotiate and Celestia didn't hold up her end, so I took matters into my own hooves."

Mist searched his eyes, trying to find any sign of him lying. "You're.. you're telling the truth. You did try."

"And I'll be back later, when I can do more than rescue just you."

She calmed. "Just don't keep me waiting."

"I've already done that enough, old friend." Turning to Twilight, he asked, "So, did you make up your mind?"

Twilight was confused. She was expecting a long story that was actually supposed to convince her to do something. Instead, she had no idea what that was supposed to achieve. "What was that conversation supposed to convince me of?"

Blaze shook his head. "Nothing. Mist isn't the only pony down here you know." Twilight gasped. In each cell there was at least one pony, all looking at the source of this commotion. But none of them looked dangerous. They were store-owners, merchants, other ponies Twilight knew. But what really caught Twilight's eye was that in the cell next to Mist there was a mare, not much older than Twilight, and a young foal that couldn't be more than a month old.

"If you still believe Celestia's in control, think about these ponies trapped here. I wasn't just some low-level soldier when I was in the army. I was high up, I actually knew her. The Celestia I knew would never imprison innocent ponies like this. How about the one you knew?"

"No. No, she would never do something like this. I believe you Blaze. The ponies that did this, they must pay."

"Does that mean you're in?"

"On one condition. You said you have no fight with Celestia, right? Then swear to me that you won't harm her. Then I'm in."

Blaze held up his right hoof. "I swear not to harm Princess Celestia unless she does something where I have no choice. Now, If we want to leave, we're going to have to hurry." He started to run up the stairs, with Twilight following.

"Why?"

"Do you know why there are no guards here? That's because they got sent out to capture your friends. They got Fluttershy, but the rest of your friends are in my ship. We're going to go there and figure out our game plan."

*******************************************************

"So that's the plan. I go into the dungeon, rescue Mist and Fluttershy, and come back to the ship and we all leave. Any questions?"

Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Smooth Talker, and the pilot listened to Blaze as he described his plan. Pinkie Pie was unconscious in one of the seats. Twilight raised her hoof. "What about Spike?"

"Who?"

"My assistant. He wasn't at the library when we went by, so shouldn't he be there too?"

Blaze thought for a second. "Good point. So I'll rescue him too. Any pony else?"

Twilight again. "What if they're aren't there?"

"Then I send back any pony I can rescue, you head back to the Republic, and I go on a near-suicide mission to Tartarus to rescue them." The others looked at him like he was joking. He was completely serious.

"You can't be serious!" shouted Smooth Talker. "Sure their loss would be a tragedy but the Republic needs you Blaze!"

"I made a promise to Luna that I'd bring them all back safe. One missing isn't all of them."

"You and your damn promises Blaze! One day you're going to realize that there are some promises you can't keep. Didn't you promise Luna that you'd come back too. The way I see it, you can either do one or neither, but not both."

Rainbow stood up. "If you're going to rescue Fluttershy then I'm coming with you."

"Seriously, is any pony listening to me?" grumbled an exasperated Smooth Talker.

Blaze looked Rainbow up and down, sizing her up. "Are you sure? Keep in mind that if we end up in Tartarus, it's highly unlikely we can get out."

"Fluttershy's a friend. I'm always ready to do that for a friend."

Blaze smirked. "You really are loyal."

"Just who in the hell do you think I am? I'm Rainbow Dash. I'm as loyal as they come. So are we going to do something or sit here talking all day."

And before any of the others could say or do anything, they were out the door and heading straight towards Canterlot.

"Is she always like this?" asked Smooth.

"Sometimes she's even more impulsive," answered Twilight.

Smooth looked nervous. "Luna help us, it's like another Blaze."

"He can't be that bad."

"About a month ago we got a tip on the location of Imperial spies. Blaze was halfway there before we could look into it. Turns out the place was a pet store. He destroyed the place by the time we got there."

"Did he find anything?" She thought it would help her case a bit if he was a little right with the assumption.

"Nope, nothing and no pony. But that didn't stop him from roughing up the gerbils quite a bit, though."

***************************************************************

It was like they never left the castle. No ponies. No guards. Only Blaze and Rainbow, sneaking in through the underground tunnel Blaze had used earlier.

Blaze was trying to keep them entertained. "So who would you rather do...?" he started to ask before Rainbow cut him off.

"No more of those! You only thought of twenty different ones before you started repeating them."

Blaze sighed. "All right, fine. Who would you rather start a small business with? Sapphire Shores after a safari or TV's Gary Colestallion?"

"This sounds like a sex thing."

"No it is not."

"Then what the hell does a safari have to do anything? Wait, you know what? Enough with the jokes! We're almost there, why don't we just talk? I've been meaning to ask you what that spot on your cutie mark is." She pointed to Blaze's cutie mark, which was in the shape of a large fire.

"What spot?" Blaze put his head near the mark to see what rainbow was pointing her wing at, close enough for her to slap him in the face with the wing.

Rainbow burst out laughing. Despite his best efforts, Blaze smiled.

"I can't believe you fell for that!" she shouted while laughing.

"I've fallen for worse."

"Like what?"

"One time, Princess Luna comes up to me and asks if I can look at a weird dark spot on her back. So, naturally, I put my face near it, and my face was covered in ink for weeks." They both laughed.

"What does it mean, anyway?" asked Rainbow. "The cutie mark I mean."

"Oh yeah, that. Well, the fire is supposed to show my skill with fire and other aggressive magic and the fire is large to show that I'll live a long time. So, I'm destined to live a long time and be good with aggressive magic. That's it!" But Blaze's strained expression told a different story.

"I don't think that's what cutie marks normally mean. And doesn't fire normally mean-"

"No, I'm definitely right about this."

"But fire-"

"Ooh look, a shiny door! Let's go through it!" Blaze opened the door that lead into the castle dungeon.

Rainbow looked at Blaze skeptically. The more she got to know him, the more she was worried. She hoped that as soon as she and the others saw Luna, she could get some actual answers. She left him off the hook for now."

"Things are just too easy!" Blaze exclaimed as he approached Mist's cell. In the cell with her was a small purple dragon, fast asleep. "They definitely knew we were coming."

He walked up to the cell. "Mist! Dragon-guy! Let's go!"

Rainbow quickly saw a flaw in the plan. "Um, Blaze? How do you expect to get them out?"

Blaze glanced at her with disapproval. "Rainbow, you've known me for hours now." He touched his horn to the lock. "Normally, ponies learn to trust me by then." Red light burst from the horn and hit the lock. It turned blue.

Rainbow gasped. The lock was turned to ice. Blaze aimed a buck at the lock, breaking it and causing the door to open.

Mist ran out and hugged Blaze with her wings. Spike, true to form, was still asleep.

"Mist, did they bring a yellow Pegasus down here?"

Mist let go of Blaze. "No, why? Aren't we escaping?"

Blaze looked at Rainbow. "Take Mist and Spike back to the ship. All of you get back to the Republic. I'm going for Fluttershy."

Mist stepped in front of Blaze. "What do you mean? I thought we were all going together?"

Rainbow walked up to Blaze. "There's no way you're going by yourself. If you're going to Tartarus, I'm going with you."

Mist was horrified. "You can't be serious! Why would you go there?"

"The Pegasus we're after is being sent there. And before you try to stop us, I plan on getting Him out too."

A look of hope filled Mist's eyes. "You'll really get Him out? And the others?"

Blaze nodded. "All of them. Our ship's on the other end of that tunnel. You and the dragon go to it and we'll meet you back at the Republic."

Mist picked up Spike. "Just be careful. Both of you." She flew through the tunnel.

Blaze went up the stairs. "You coming? Just as a thought, don't hurry up the stairs. These are going to be our final moments of freedom for now. Savor them."

They walked up the stairs. No guards. They walked to the main hall. No guards. As they approached the door, Blaze turned to Rainbow and smiled. "You ready?" She nodded. He opened the door and they walked out.

Every guard in Canterlot surrounded them instantly. Everywhere they looked around them was a spear, gun, or crossbow pointed right at them.

Blaze stepped forward. The weapons followed. "Greetings guards of Canterlot!" he shouted. "Now, let's hurry this up, and take us to your leader!"

The guards murmured to each other. One part of the circle split and a white unicorn stepped forward. Rainbow gasped. Aside from the fact the pony was wearing armor and had his mane in a rugged style, It was clearly Prince Blueblood with a sniper rifle.

Blaze kept smiling.

Blueblood approached them. "Blueblood, always a pleasure to see you!" Blaze said, smiling.

Blueblood smirked. "Likewise." Without warning, he hit Blaze in the face with the butt of the rifle. He fell to the ground. Rainbow stepped back.

Blaze looked up, bleeding from his nose. "You always were one to hold a grudge, eh Bluey?"

"I told you I'd kill you the next time I saw you. I intend to keep my promise."

"You won't kill me. She won't let you."

"Oh, and what makes you think she'll stop me?"

Blaze smirked. "Call it intuition."

Blueblood was about to lower the rifle again when Celestia came out of the castle. The soldiers lowered their guns. Including Blueblood.

She looked down, her gaze unreadable, at Blaze. "You. Back to the kingdom you betrayed, I see. And you." As she turned to Rainbow Dash, her gaze softened. "Now, what are you doing here Rainbow Dash? You shouldn't be here. My little ponies, get her back to Ponyville as soon as possible."

Rainbow was at a crossroads. She could continue to Tartarus and face near-ceratain death, or just go home. As much as she wanted to just be left away, she couldn't. Her friend needed her help.

"No. I'm not going. I know everything you're trying to do to us. What you did with Fluttershy. I'm not going to let you do that to me."

Celestia was distraught. With a sigh, she said, "Fine then. Guards, take her where she'll be safe. As for him -" she had a strange look in her eyes as she turned to Blaze "- Prep him for interrogation. I have a feeling I can learn a little from him."