Piercing the Heavens

by Calm Wind

Chapter 157: Overburdened

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 157: Overburdened

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“Hmmm…” Sombra hummed to himself as he looked up into the sky between the dense crystalline leaves.

From within, Soarin perked up as Sombra made the noise, focusing to see through his eyes for a moment, but once he saw nothing but the sky and crystal trees, he relaxed, going back to doing… well… nothing. Aside from gazing upon the bound, ever slumbering image of Dash’s soul beside him he really couldn’t do anything else. Sombra hadn’t said anything for the past few days, barely making a sound even, but it looked like it was nothing more than a sigh or a passing thought.

The silence was starting to annoy Soarin, ironically. He had gotten sick of Sombra and Celestia constantly bickering in his head, but now the silence was mind numbing. But he wasn’t really sure which he preferred more. Either way there was nothing he could do. They had both made their cases to him very clearly and he felt trapped between the wills of two others.

But he wasn’t willing to succumb to either. Neither of them had given him a reason to play along or trust them and neither of them seemed to fully consider how they were using him and barging in on his life to meet their own ends. Ultimately, they were intruders in HIS body and all he really wanted was be rid of them. Instead he had to sit still and put up with conflicting stories and pressure from two sides that he was more than infuriated with at the moment.

He felt like he was being used, like he was just a pawn in two grander, conflicting schemes and that really pissed him off to no end.

“They saw us,” Celestia suddenly chimed in, breaking the long silence.

It took Soarin a moment to register what she had just said. ‘They saw us’. He quickly refocused to look through his eyes again, but still only saw the sky as Sombra kept his head tilted up.

“I know,” Sombra replied calmly.

“What? Who?” Soarin frantically asked, the sudden development catching him entirely off guard.

“They were behind us,” Sombra answered. “Just took off. Purple and black suit with a thin yellow lightning bolt pattern. Red headband and red goggles.”

“A Renegade?!” Soarin was too surprised to say more, much less look for where Sombra saw them fly or wonder why he just sat there and did nothing.

“I’ve no doubt both parties have been looking for us,” Celestia spoke up as Soarin continued to process it. “I’m glad the side that stands for good found us first.”

Sombra released loud snort.

“Listen to yourself… ‘The side that stands for good.’ What a farce.” He commented harshly.

“There is no argument to be made here,” Celestia adamantly defended her statement, but Sombra had none of it.

“There very much is,” Sombra said with a scoff. “You merely call them that because they are sided with your sister. To me, and those who have opened their eyes…” he paused and Soarin felt a sudden extra presence, as if sensing that Sombra was looking at him. “They are just another part of the world you control.”

“By that logic,” Celestia hissed back at him. “They are a part of a world that you personally think is wrong.”

“Okay, no. STOP.” Soarin cut in quickly, already missing the silence he was just scorning. “We all know where this is going to go. Just shut up before I have to hear you two endlessly bitch at one another again.”

“TCH!”

“Hmph!”

The two went quiet again. And Soarin was surprised they actually listened. At least they both felt the same way he did about their arguing. It never went anywhere and just spun in circles because neither of them were willing to give an inch when it came to who was in the right. But with them quieting down, it gave Soarin a moment to think about what had just happened.

They had been found. Considering how quickly and discreetly they had come and gone, it was probably a member of Descent’s skilled scout team. This was changing his perspective on the situation… even if just a little bit. And now he felt that there may be some things that neither Sombra nor Celestia were considering. Specifically, they didn’t understand how his friends think and were both framing the situation as good vs. bad as if everypony in the Crystal Empire was on the same page.

And… Soarin one hundred percent knew that wasn’t the case. If a Renegade saw them and flew off, he had every reason to believe that Spitfire and Descent had some sort of plan in the works. There was no way, after all the revelations and everything they had been dragged through… that his best friend and his respected rival would bend over backwards and accept whatever story was fed to them by Luna after he was consumed.

“So…” Celestia spoke up again, causing Soarin to grimace and prepare a rebuttal if she started any more shit. “You’ve been spotted. What will you do now?” she asked.

Soarin held his tongue. Frankly, it was a good question and he was curious too.

But… Sombra didn’t answer.

“Well…?” Celestia pressed. “Or are your plans thrown off now?”

Sombra still didn’t answer.

“If you had a plan of attack, you can say goodbye to your element of surprise,” Celestia added, beginning to sound like she was verbally jabbing at him.

Which seemed to coax a reaction because Sombra slowly began to growl quietly.

“I swear you don’t even make an attempt to listen to me,” Sombra finally spoke up. “I already made myself clear about this, yet again you assume that I’m willing to devastate my own kingdom? I’m not the mindless monster you fought a thousand years ago and it’s pitiful that you keep acting like I am… you’re not going to convince Soarin that I am either, so keep that royal mouth of yours closed before you utter any more nonsense.”

“I’ll speak as I please,” Celestia shot back sharply, grunting as she shifted and her bindings tightened on her. “If you didn’t want my opinion than you should have bound my lips as well.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Sombra snarled.

“If you’re so sure of yourself, then where is your reason? What is your goal? You’ve been pacing about out here for days and now you’ve been spotted, never once making a move towards your supposed target. You think we don’t notice? You think we’re blind to your hesitation? Who are you trying to fool?!”

Sombra went quiet for several seconds. He sounded like he was murmuring something to himself.

“My goal hasn’t changed…” Sombra finally answered in a slightly hushed tone.

“You don’t know what to do,” Celestia threw out there adamantly. “Just say it, Sombra.”

“I’M TAKING BACK WHAT’S RIGHTFULLY MINE!” Sombra lashed out.

“Kind of hard to do that when you’re hiding in the Crystal Forest,” Celestia added.

“I…” Sombra was on the defensive. Soarin was intrigued, so far, most of the time the script had been the other way around. Come to think of it, Celestia was on to something here. Why was Sombra spending so much time out here? He made the case that he was taking in old sights at one point, but after several days?

“Out with it, what’s stopping you?” Celestia pressed onward. Sombra again, held a lengthy silence. Soarin had purposely passed up several chances to tell Celestia to cut it out, and at this point he was hoping Sombra noticed this too. He was equally intrigued and Sombra was stuck with their curiosity. And for once… he wasn’t in a position of verbal dominance.

“I haven’t made my move yet… because my current state is not ideal.”

Soarin and Celestia both perked up in surprise. Not ideal? Did Sombra just acknowledge a weakness?

“I’m no fool, Celes,” Sombra went on. “When I was first released and seized control of this body, I thought that was it. I thought I had full control, that I was untouchable… and I asserted my will over your sister and that detestable snake as if it was my chance to end their pitiful reigns as ‘gods’ for good. My immediate plan was to show them how helpless they were before me, to make them feel and taste fear at my hooves before destroying them both and moving on to reclaim my throne. From there… to begin a new era in Equestria.”

He paused and shook his head.

“But then before my moment of triumph could arrive… Soarin fought back. I did not think it possible, I did not believe his will could challenge mine, much less even remain. But it wasn’t simply him being strong… he had help. Help from that one mare…”

“Dash…” Soarin perked up, shifting his focus within his mind to peer down at the image of Dash bound beside him.

“She was… invisible. Or was she?” Sombra went on. “I had no idea what had happened. I don’t know how I could not sense her so close to me. My senses were fine tuned to every presence, I could have easily counted how many ponies were around me, but she slipped right by. And then even more troubling, my magic passed right through her with no effect. I had used a pulse to blow away all those coming at me, yet it did not even touch her. It was like she wasn’t even there, like she was completely immune to all of my power. It has to be because of the connection they share… This, piece of her soul that’s present with us. I cannot say I know for sure, but whatever it is, it crippled me. It drained me of my strength and clouded my focus. I was forced to flee, it was an effect I could not comprehend. All she did was touch me… and Soarin suddenly had unimaginable strength and will power to fight me from within, to challenge me for control.”

Soarin stared at Dash as Sombra readily acknowledged everything that happened. But Celestia didn’t waste any time chiming back in.

“Hmph,” she huffed. “So now you understand why—”

“I know that’s why you did it, Celes. That much is obvious,” he cut her off, but added an extra snarl as his silhouette inched towards her. “And you disgust me… using two ponies who share such a strong connection to meet your ends. Who gives you the right to make such decisions?”

Any smugness and confidence Celestia had been exhibiting faded instantly as Sombra inched even closer.

“This connection through their souls you have forced them into… I have felt its strength first hoof and have broken down how it works,” Sombra released a loud snort of discontent. “It’s only as strong as their love, their care for one another. Am I right?”

Sombra paused as Soarin glanced up from Dash towards Celestia. She was staring into the featureless silhouette with her eyes wide and her mouth shut tight.

“It would not work if they were at odds or did not feel strongly for each other. The pain that shot through me when she touched me… I have never felt more spiritual pressure before in my life. My great power and tremendous strength meant nothing, it felt like mountain had been dropped right on my back, crushing my entire body.”

He made a sharp move forward, causing Celestia to flinch and lean back as far as her bindings let her, gasping as the movement caused the restraints to tighten once more.

“THAT… is how strong their connection is,” Sombra hissed in a low, angered tone. “THAT is how important they are to one another. THAT… is the power of true love. They have an unbreakable collective will to stay strong for the sake of the other no matter the pain or cost. And you should be ASHAMED of yourself for intruding in this wonderful romance of theirs and twisting their joyful lives into an endless chaotic mess!”

Celestia was frozen as Sombra used the harshest words imaginable to put her actions into a very different perspective for her.

“Feh…” Sombra pulled away and shook his head. “But what’s done is done and you’ve gotten what you’ve wanted, right? Rainbow Dash… is the reason I haven’t made my move. She is a threat to my goals that I currently have no answer for.”

Soarin immediately looked down at the image Dash and stared at her for several moments.

So that was it? Sombra was afraid of being caught in a confrontation with Dash involved.

No… afraid didn’t seem to be the right word.

“And because of that…” Sombra went on. “I’m hesitant. I know they all saw what happened when she touched me. I’ve every reason to believe that they will try to use that against me. If I advance carelessly, I’m setting myself up for failure, or worse.”

Definitely not afraid. Sombra was being smart about it. And… the more Soarin thought about it, the more it made sense to him too, but from a different angle. They did have a weapon to use against Sombra… it was Dash. Could she… possibly be the key to him regaining control of his own body? Was she his ticket to ending this mess and pushing Sombra out of him?

“But I must admit… I envy you, Soarin… greatly,” Sombra suddenly continued. “Having felt the strength of your connection with Rainbow Dash… what a frighteningly powerful bond…”

Soarin flinched in surprise as Celestia gasped just loud enough for him to hear.

“To know that such a strong love can exist…” Sombra droned on.

“Stop it.” Celestia spoke up sharply.

“I can only imagine how great it must feel…”

“Sombra, STOP IT!” Celestia shouted, the bindings tightening severely as she made an actual effort to move. “AH!” she cried out in pain as the bindings squeezed and forced her to stay put. Soarin furrowed his brow as Sombra’s silhouette casually flowed over to Soarin and bent down without fully facing him.

“Please, Soarin… tell me. How good does it feel? Because I wouldn’t know.”

“Knock it off,” Soarin quickly shot back, causing Sombra to shift away a little as Soarin gave him a harsh glare. “Again with this crap? Drop it. I’ve had my fill of you two and your melodramatic romance problems. At this point I’ve heard enough to write a damn tragedy musical complete with a half hour encore repeating the Free Bridle guitar solo twice.” He said very sarcastically, but Sombra didn’t make any real moves, he just turned his head away slightly and looked down.

“Free… Bridle?” he muttered quietly in confusion, but Soarin didn’t give him time to think further.

“You’re damn RIGHT I don’t like how she messed up my life and caused this severely screwed situation, but right now it’s also keeping your ass from kicking me out of my own body. That doesn’t excuse her, but right here and now it’s sure as hell helping. So cut out the petty personal attacks, both of you! It always goes nowhere so just shut it!”

“Hmph, fine…” Sombra replied and turned his back to Soarin. Celestia just remained quiet, pouting as she turned her head away from them both.

But they only all sat still for a moment, Sombra suddenly moving a little further away.

“Enough talking then,” he said as he looked up, returning his focus to Soarin’s body and shaking his head. “A moment of confrontation no doubt approaches and I am unsure of how to proceed. We’ve said all that has to be said… the rest is up to you, Soarin.”

“Pardon me if I haven’t already heard that a few dozen times too,” Soarin said sarcastically in response. “Are we really going to go through this again? How many times do I have to tell you to eat shit?”

“My offer still stands,” Sombra pointed out while ignoring Soarin’s crude comments. “There is no doubt that there will a conflict. There is no compromise in sight, we have three parties with differing views and nopony is giving an inch. All I can offer you is a solution from my perspective, and my word as a fellow stallion. If you allow me to take control of your body, I will personally make sure that this all ends without a single drop of mortal bloodshed.”

“What about Dash?” Soarin interjected. “Suddenly have an answer for her? That was quick, enlighten me.”

“I will FIND a way around her… even if it means going through your friends,” Sombra shot back. Soarin blinked, his eyes growing slightly. “I don’t want to hurt them, Soarin. But if you continue to resist and they get in my way… I will be forced to. If I’m tied down and have no choice but to act, for my own sake, I cannot ensure I will pull punches. So again, that’s up to you. It’s your choice.”

Soarin went quiet for a few moments, but it didn’t take long for him to shake any doubt from his mind and hold his ground.

“Your offer still stands, huh?” Soarin repeated Sombra’s words and snorted. “Well, guess what, my ‘go fuck yourself’ hasn’t budged either. You can bait me all you want with sympathy for my friends, but I will never give up. And if you knew my friends, that’s what they’d want too.”

“Hmph…” Sombra huffed. “Very well…”

Soarin steeled himself for Sombra to make another statement about his lack of foresight or something else he could shoot down as more grandstanding, but surprisingly, he said nothing and left it be. Soarin looked towards Celestia as he felt his body moving again, but she looked silenced, likely stricken by Sombra’s ‘true love’ jab at her moments ago. Despite their bickering, it was clear that there were still some strong feelings lingering between the two of them, and Sombra’s words might as well have been a stab right to the heart.

But Soarin could care less, he was more focused on the here and now… including these new developments. He felt a strange wave of confidence all of a sudden, likely due to being found by a Renegade scout. It gave him hope that something was in the works, and he had no doubt it was a plan separated from Luna. If Spitfire and Descent decided to listen to Luna now, then he would actually question their sanity.

But on the flip side, he also had a new worry… Sombra’s recognition of the threat Dash posed to him. He had given no indication that he knew what to do about it, but after being around Sombra and learning about his intuition and resourcefulness, there was no reason to believe that he wouldn’t figure something out. Either a clever way around it or… a way to remove her from the equation? No, that was thinking too far. He wasn’t even able to touch her without ramifications and his magic apparently didn’t work on her. And even if he found a way… what would happen if he killed Dash?

Soarin shook his head out, immediately striking the idea from his head. If it were any other adversary, that would be something to worry about, but Sombra? This Sombra? No. He had yet to kill anypony and made it clear that he didn’t want to kill anypony, aside from the gods at least. He wouldn’t even entertain the thought. Soarin had no way of knowing what would happen if Sombra got desperate, but Sombra seemed intent on staying true to his morals, if for no other reason to prove to those he wished to lead that he was not the mad king the history books painted him as. But even if he had the bloodlust to do so… there was no knowing what would happen if he killed her. Soarin was still a part of their conscience. If Sombra killed Dash… and Soarin died as a result, who knew what would happen? With only a partial grip on Soarin… maybe it would destroy Sombra too? There was no way Sombra hadn’t thought about that, assuming he considered that a possibility.

Soarin exhaled through his nose and decided to stop speculating. Who knew what was going to happen? He was stuck here and could see nothing going on in the background. Either way, a clash was approaching. All he could do was hope that Spitfire and Descent had some sort of plan in the works behind the scenes… because the usual senseless, mindless conflict would not be a solution to this and should it turn into that… it could easily be the worst case scenario for all parties involved.

---

“Are we all ready?” Cadence asked after taking a long, deep breath. She looked back and forth between Luna and Twilight. Twilight glanced around as the clerics continued to check on the crystal afflicted ponies. The wizards and scholars had moved on, joining the efforts of the rest focusing on Sombra as the clerics worked to prepare the afflicted for the stasis spell.

“I believe so. They’ve all been stabilized and the pain soothing magic has been refreshed,” Twilight explained. “If our theories are correct, it will diminish at the slowed rate once they are sealed inside, just like the spread of the sickness. That should help them last even longer.”

“We are ready to assist with the spell,” Luna cut in and nodded. “It is well within our ability and will greatly lessen the burden on yourself.”

“Oh, it isn’t that hard of a spell,” Cadence smiled. “I know it’s alicorn magic, but I’ve gotten used to the pressure. I appreciate it though, Auntie. It’ll be nice to go without the headache.” She perked up as a cleric approached, pulling down her white hood and nodding.

“The last one is ready to go,” she stated.

“Good… now we just…” she trailed off as she glanced around, her eyes landing on Wave Chill.

“She isn’t here yet,” Twilight spoke up as soon as she saw where Cadence was looking. Cadence frowned slightly and sighed.

“Then we wait,” she stated adamantly. “We’re not doing this until she has had one last moment with her beloved.”

Twilight looked down, her ears flopping down as she thought about it. Luna’s expression did not shift, but she looked away, as if trying to hide cracks in her demeanor.

There had been strains in trust, there had been arguments and fights… but none of that prevented her from having sympathy towards this situation. As the Princess of Love, Cadence was representing her designation flawlessly and it made Luna happy to see.

Everypony in the room perked up and turned as the sound of the doors opening filled the room.

Spitfire had arrived.

She looked… blank, no real recognizable or distinguishable expression on her face. It was as if she was tired, emotionally drained, but doing her best to set it aside. She had done her share of wallowing already, tears would be pointless here. It was time to be real and face the facts and she looked like she was doing everything in her power to hold that mindset through her emotions.

She stood in the doorway for several moments before taking a deep breath and turning towards Wave. The three alicorns said nothing as they watched Spitfire move towards him, staying on the sidelines and allowing it to play out at her pace.

The door slowly swung shut behind her, but right before it could close completely, it was thrown open again. Blaze and High Winds came through quickly, Blaze more or less riding on High Wind’s side as she clung to her. The door barely began to move again before the rest of the top tiers came through as well.

Fleetfoot led the way with Air Mach and squad three close behind.

Spitfire suddenly stopped a few paces away from Wave. He was looking at her, but she had a sudden tightness in her chest. She swallowed a few times, trying to loosen the knot, but it was taking quite a bit of effort. The rest of the top tiers came to a halt and waited a moment, but when they saw Spitfire was locked in place for more than a few seconds, they continued on, gathering around Wave. He looked at each and every one of them as they circled his bed and smiled weakly.

Spitfire looked down, her eyes narrowing and her teeth gritting as she tried to rid herself of the choked up feeling in her throat, but she perked up and blinked when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Cadence was right beside her and gave her a reassuring nod.

“Take your time,” she encouraged, and said no more as she turned and made her way back over to Twilight and Cadence.

Spitfire blinked, looked back down, and shut her eyes tight. She held her breath for a moment or two before exhaling and shaking her head out. She looked up and forced herself forward making her way towards Wave and the rest, but stopping outside the ring they had formed around him… because it looked like they all wanted a chance to see him.

The first to move was Blaze, who ripped free from High Winds and almost flopped her whole body onto the bed as she reached out and gave Wave the biggest hug she could without hurting him. The Wonderbolts all flinched in surprise, but calmed down when they saw Wave slowly return the embrace with one arm, patting her back lightly as she shook.

“You’re gonna be fine!” she yelled, sniffling. “I don’t care what any of these fucking wiztards, scowlers, cleardicks, or whatever the fuck you call them says!” she belted out, sniffling again as she looked Wave in the eye with a face that was half angry, half sad, with tear droplets in the corners of her eyes and her lip quivering. “As soon as this shit’s done, we’re gonna fix you and get you out… I promise!” she said as her quivering lips scrunched into a pout. “You’re not allowed to kick the bucket, you hear me? If Silver’s old ass survived, you better fucking do the same…” she trailed off and buried her face into his shoulder almost scraping her cheek on a crystal formation in the process.

“Heh…” Wave chuckled weakly as he gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Thanks, Blaze…”

“What she said…” High Winds spoke up as she walked up behind Blaze and pressed a hoof atop her head, causing Blaze to squeak quietly. Winds stared at Wave, she opened her mouth to yawn, but cringed and gritted her teeth to suppress it. Keeping her usually lidded eyes open as she fought back her usual state. “We’ve got your back. You’ll be out of there and back with your wifey in no time,” she said as she made a head motion toward Spitfire. “Come on, Blazey,” she gave a light tug on Blaze’s shoulder, but she clung to Wave.

“NO!” she whined, but Winds eventually pulled her free.

“Come on, let’s let everypony else have a chance,” she said as Blaze whimpered and flailed her hooves towards Wave to no avail.

Squad three made their way forward, Lightning Streak stepping out first and giving Wave a light jab on the shoulder.

“Hang tough, Chiller… keep it together bro, we’ll be back for you,” he said simply as Fire Streak joined his brother’s side.

“We’re fighting for you just as much as we’re fighting for Soarin, commander. You’ll be in our thoughts as we take flight,” he reassured Wave. But before Wave could say anything, Surprise hopped up onto the bed and flopped down, grabbing and hugging Wave’s hoof.

“I promise we won’t take long!” she wailed as she stared at him with watery eyes. “Then we can get you out, make you better, and I can make you smile again! I’ll be ready the moment you’re out!” she whimpered as she reached forward and gave him a hug. Wave grinned and patted her on the head.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he said as she looked up to him and tried to smile through the sadness. “And I look forward to it.”

She sniffled and nodded quickly several times before sliding off the bed and plopping on the floor with her chin just barely reaching high enough to stay rested on it.

Wave’s attention quickly turned as Misty squeezed her way past the Streak twins and placed a hoof on the bed, wearing an intense look of concern on her face as she locked eyes with Wave. Wave looked at her carefully and then reached a hoof up to his mouth, swiping it back and forth while smiling.

Misty blinked as she watched, but understood what he meant. She swallowed and turned her frown into a smile, doing her best to hold it even though her eyes were still sad.

Wave nodded as soon as she smiled, placing his hoof over his mouth before slowly moving it in her direction, giving her the sign for ‘thank you.’

The gesture sent visible jitters through Misty, she covered her face for a moment as she shook in place before reaching forward and giving him a big hug, rubbing her cheek into his shoulder. Wave reached his hoof up to return her embrace before lightly patting her on the head and back.

When she finally let go, she pulled away and stared at him with a determined look. She nodded several times vigorously, reaching out and giving his shoulder a firm pat. Wave smiled, understanding it was her way of reassuring him, giving her a nod of acknowledgement before she stepped back.

Air Mach came forward next, looking surprisingly serious.

“Chiller, dude…” he began in an uncharacteristically soft tone. “I know I ain’t really a top tier Wonderbolt…” He paused and slowly removed his glasses, the rest of the Wonderbolts staring in slight shock at how serious he was being. “But that doesn’t stop us from being brothers. I got a chance to fly with the best of the best, and that chance has made me respect you guys more than I ever have.” He pounded a hoof on the mattress. “I swear to you, bro… on my honor as a stallion. Once we know how to fix you, I’m personally going to kick your crystal to pieces to let you out.”

Wave chuckled weakly and nodded.

“Just give me a head’s up before you do,” he said jokingly with a wink. This seemed to charge up Air Mach as he slammed his glasses back over his eyes.

“Now that’s what I like to hear!” he stepped back and pointed victoriously at Wave. “You’re burning fire of passion isn’t going out… not while WE have anything to say about it!”

“Alright, calm down,” Fleetfoot groaned as she yanked Air Mach back and stepped forward, reaching up and placing both of her front hooves on the bed.

She just stared quietly for a moment, not giving much of an indication of how she was feeling, but it definitely wasn’t happy. Her face seemed to slowly slip in that direction the longer the silence went on.

“I’m… going to be quick here.” She shook her head. “Because we all know who needs you the most,” she said as she glanced over her shoulder towards Spitfire. Spitfire had her eyes averted, as if she couldn’t stand watching the whole scene. “But…” Fleetfoot turned back to Wave. “We’re going to save you. We’re going to make everything normal again. That’s all I want… and you’re very much a part of that.”

“Thank you, Commander,” Wave said in the most dutiful voice he could muster while giving a light nod. Fleetfoot’s ears twitched and she smiled weakly.

“Even like this you’re being formal…” she sighed and swallowed, trying to hold back tears. “Thanks for… still being you,” she said in a shaky tone as she looked over her shoulder again. “Now I’ll get out of the way. Spitty!”

Everypony turned as Fleetfoot called to her. Spitfire perked up and blinked, looking towards them and seeing all the eyes trained on her.

“What are you doing? Get over here,” Fleetfoot demanded while tapping a hoof on the mattress.

For a moment, Spitfire didn’t move, she sighed and looked about the room.

She noticed they weren’t the only ones that had arrived. Descent had shown up at some point while she was distracted. He was going around and taking a moment to speak to each of the Shadowbolts. But… there was a clear difference between him and her. Descent wasn’t showing emotion, nor did he look stricken in any way. He was handling it like a champ, despite having to go and face so many more who were counting on him than she was. They weren’t loved ones… but to Descent, they were family. So it was probably a very hard thing for him to do and he wasn’t shying away from it.

Something about it struck Spitfire with some inspiration. She looked back at all the Wonderbolts waiting for her. Fleetfoot had moved aside, allowing Wave to see her to. She took a deep breath and tried to balance her emotions. She had to keep them in check… no more outbursts, she had done enough of that. Wave didn’t need to see tears… he needed to see confidence, he needed her reassurance.

After another deep breath, Spitfire made her way forward, the rest moving aside so she could come right up to the bed. When she reached him, the two just stared deep into one another’s eyes as if that would do half the talking for them. But it wasn’t long before Spitfire leaned down, placed her chest on the mattress and got down really close to him, letting out a sigh as they enjoyed the close proximity.

“I hope you didn’t cry too much,” Wave spoke first. Spitfire froze in place.

“I wasn’t—!” she shut her mouth quickly looked down and sighed hard. “Okay, maybe I did a little… or a lot, but I was, um…”

“I know why,” Wave shook his head. “It’s not the outcome I wanted either, especially after how hard you worked for my sake.”

Spitfire looked up and locked eyes with Wave. Her lips quivered for a brief moment, but she held steady and slid her hooves closer to him.

“We’re going to save you, Wave,” she said with strength in her voice that sounded forced, but she was trying to sound as determined as possible. “Once we’re in the clear, I’m not going to rest until you are out of this spell, cured of these damn crystals, and back on your hooves.”

“You know…” Wave smiled and chuckled weakly. “Even if you didn’t say any of that, I would’ve assumed it anyway,” his soft words and tone made Spitfire’s heart throb as if every word touched her. “You’ve gotten me this far already. It’s no miracle, it’s you. You’ll do it. I know you will.”

Spitfire felt her strength dwindle. Her ears began to droop down and she couldn’t stop her lips from quivering. Wave slowly reached a hoof towards her, but was only moving it for a second before Spitfire reacted, reaching out and grabbing it. She squinted her eyes, fighting as hard as she could to keep any tears from welling up. She took several short breaths, her head twitching as she held back any signs of sadness.

“No… no no no,” she said out loud as Wave stared at her curiously. “I’m not crying, I refuse to cry right now!” she berated herself as Wave caught on and smiled, Spitfire whipping her head back and forth and giving him a serious glare. “It’s time to shape up and focus. To hell with these dumb emotions, you’re my motivation, not a burden!” She clasped both of her hooves around his, giving it a tight squeeze. “They better keep you nice and comfy in that crystal, because once you’re out, if there is so much as one new scratch on you, I’m going to kick every sparkling crystal ass in this room.”

“Hehe…rgh… heh…” Wave bounced slightly as her words made him laugh, cringing a little as the jittery motion caused some pain. But he quickly smiled at her again. He looked happy… and that warmed Spitfire’s heart.

But the smile she returned only lasted briefly, a look of distraught trying to make its way back onto her face as if all her strong words were still struggling against the reality of the situation for her.

It didn’t take long for Wave to notice, and the pressure on his hoof made it all too clear.

She didn’t want to let go of him.

Spitfire’s ears stood straight up and her eyes widened a little as she felt a light tug on her hoof. Wave was trying to pull her closer. She quickly saved him the trouble and leaned forward, resting her chest and stomach on the mattress and putting her face up close to his. Once she was within range, Wave let go of her hoof and reached his around her head, slowly sliding it through her mane and to the back of her neck, never breaking eye contact as he touched her softly.

“Stay strong, Spitfire…” he whispered to her. The softness of his voice sent shivers through her. “I’ll see you soon.”

Spitfire couldn’t contain herself. She immediately reached forward and cradled his face, leaning in and kissing him. She didn’t care that it was in front of everypony this time. She was so upset about Wave only to have him pull her out of it himself. She felt put at ease… and it was the exact kind of feeling she was looking for to help her confront this situation and the approaching challenges.

The kiss was as passionate as she could make it without going overboard, and lasted just long enough to keep the line drawn between love and lust. But even once they pulled away from one another, they remained very close, practically nose to nose.

They stared at one another for a long time, neither of them saying anything because they knew this was the last chance they’d have for a while. It would feel like an instant for Wave, frozen with his last thoughts of her. But for Spitfire, it would feel like an eternity.

“I love you,” Spitfire said strongly, keeping sliding her hoof on his shoulder and gripping it tightly.

“I love you too,” Wave replied with a smile, softly sliding his hoof down the back of her neck and to her shoulder.

Spitfire flashed a grin in return, the warmth felt by those words poking through the heavy emotions that she was fighting to keep at bay. She lightly brushed a hoof through his mane, leaned back in and planted a light, quick kiss on his cheek.

“Sleep well,” she said softly to him as she slid her hoof down his arm and gripped his hoof. Wave simply smiled in return as they pulled away from one another VERY slowly. Spitfire did not let go of his hoof until she was physically out of reach, their arms remaining extended towards one another for a moment even as they let go.

As Spitfire backed away and joined the rest of the Wonderbolts. Cadence approached Wave, looking like she was trying her hardest to hold back an incredibly wide smile. She looked between the two of them.

“Are you ready?” She asked Wave. Wave let his head lean back and he closed his eyes.

“I could use a good nap,” he replied casually.

Cadence stole another glance at Spitfire and saw that she was smiling. The Princess of Love could barely contain the starry look in her eyes. Not even the weight of the situation could stop her from recognizing the strength of their feelings for one another.

“Very well,” she said with a nod, keeping focused.

Cadence stepped back and made her way to the center of the room. All of the clerics cleared away, moving to the front of the room where the Wonderbolts stood. Descent joined them as well, but he didn’t say a word nor did he look at anypony. Twilight and Luna joined Cadence in the center, their magic alight on their horns and ready to assist with the pressure as they waited for Cadence to begin.

Cadence took a deep breath, setting her hooves firmly as she lifted her horn into the air. The light blue aura of her magic gently surrounded it and grew brighter as she closed her eyes. She grunted quietly as she tipped her head down and thrust it upward, opening her eyes to reveal they had been engulfed in the same light as her horn. The aura growing larger as she tapped into the alicorn magic reserves gifted to her by the gods.

Twilight and Luna tipped their heads towards her, the auras around their horns extending outwards and touching the pulsating form of Cadence’s magic. It caused her flow of power to calm down, remaining large, but appearing smoother and steadier as if Luna and Twilight were soothing it and allowing Cadence to work more comfortably.

The Wonderbolts began shielding their eyes as the light from Cadence’s horn grew brighter. The light grew so intense that they could no longer look directly at the alicorns. Then several streams of magic shot outward, each one reaching towards an afflicted pony and surrounding them in the same light blue glow.

But while most of them focused on keeping the bright light out of their eyes… Spitfire squinted and kept her eyes focused towards Wave as she did her best to shield the rest with a hoof beside her face.

She felt a lump in her throat as she saw the magic surrounding him, all sorts of thoughts running through her head. He was about to be frozen… locked in place at this very moment in time. Something about it felt so wrong, like it was unnatural and maybe even harmful, but they didn’t have a choice. This was their best bet to preserve him until they knew how to fix him. But how long would that be? She hoped with all her heart that it was not long.

Then her heart skipped a beat… as Wave tilted his head towards her… and smiled.

A single tear fell from Spitfire’s eye, the only one that managed to escape.

A flash of light exploded forth from the alicorns, forcing everypony, even Spitfire to completely cover their eyes.

And then just like that, in an instant, the magic had ceased.

Slowly, everypony moved their arms and hooves away from their eyes, blinking and squinting as their eyes readjusted. Spitfire felt the faint wetness on her face and instantly wiped the one tear clear of her face, looking up frantically towards Wave as her eyes strained and fought to refocus.

And when they did… she found herself staring at Wave… encased in a big, clear crystal. The sight caused her to freeze, as if she wasn’t ready for it despite all she had just done to ensure she was.

The Wonderbolts all sat still as well, every one of them silent as they slowly adjusted and stared towards Wave with Spitfire. None of them uttered a sound as Cadence exhaled and wobbled slightly, both Luna and Twilight moving to support her. But she quickly shook her head.

“I’m fine… Check them, quickly!” Cadence ordered, while looking towards the clerics. She pushed free of Luna and Twilight, joining the clerics as they rushed forward, all of their horns alight and waving them over the crystals that now contained frozen ponies.

The Wonderbolts all held their breath as the process unfolded, but Spitfire still had not moved, or so much as taken a breath.

Cadence sighed loudly, drawing attention to her as she stepped back from one of the crystals and her magic ceased. Several clerics began disengaging as well.

“They are stable,” she said with a tone of relief. “At least this one is, anything wrong with the others?” Cadence asked as she looked around. The clerics began nodding one by one as they finished checking the others.

The Wonderbolts kept their eyes locked on the cleric examining Wave, and a collective feeling of pause rushed over them as she turned and nodded to Cadence as well.

“Good…” Cadence said as she looked around. “Then we can declare this a success. I want half of the clerics here to remain to regularly monitor them and the rest to join the efforts of those researching a separation method for Soarin. Right now we should be…”

She went on to give more orders, but the Wonderbolts stopped listening. Spitfire was breathing again, but she still hadn’t moved. Fleetfoot was about to reach up and touch her, but right before she could, Spitfire suddenly rushed towards Wave’s crystal. She slid to a halt in front of it, peered in…

And… stood there. She stood for a very long time, just looking at Wave frozen within. Reaching up and placing a hoof on it as her lips turned into a small frown and her ears drooped.

But… Wave was smiling. It was the same smile he flashed to her right before he was frozen. Despite the look on her face, his smile brought warmth to Spitfire’s heart. He looked comfortable… and had been frozen in a moment where he felt good, a moment of happiness in seeing her.

She found herself putting up a different perspective in her thoughts. The last thing Wave saw made him smile… and Spitfire decided that the first thing he would see when he was released would also make him smile. They would find a way to fix him, they would find it quick… and then they’d let him out. She’d be the first thing he saw when they did.

The rest of the Wonderbolts approached to look too, but none of them got as close as Spitfire. They didn’t want to interrupt her moment. But after a few seconds, Spitfire took a deep breath, exhaled, and turned to face the rest.

“As long as he’s alive… I have hope,” she said with new determination in her voice. “And while Wave is waiting for us… we have another friend that needs us.”

The silent reactions she got from them all were mixed, some stronger than others, but they all agreed one hundred percent. Thanks to this spell, Wave was going to last until they knew how to help him. For now… it was time to help Soarin.

Spitfire started walking, and didn’t look back at Wave. She moved right between the Wonderbolts and they all turned to follow.

Cadence blinked in surprise when she saw them leaving and furrowed her brow. They weren’t going to thank her?

But Luna tapped her shoulder, drawing her attention.

Luna simply shook her head.

---

Rainbow Dash perked up and looked towards the doors as they opened. Her squad and numerous other Wonderbolts were present in the large hallway around her, all doing the same as the doors opened.

Spitfire and the top tier elites emerged.

Several ponies stood up, many of them moving quickly towards the elites and firing off questions about Wave. Dash found herself stuck in the back, unable to get close with how quickly the rest had mobbed them.

“Hrm…” she groaned before looking to her right. “Matty, come here.” She motioned to Matteo, who did as he was told, shifting towards her.

“What is i—” before he could finish asking, Dash hopped up on his back.

“Hold still,” she said as she climbed onto his head and looked over the top of the crowd to see the top tiers in the middle of the crowd.

“Don’t you have functioning wings?” Matteo asked with a grunt as he was used as a stepping stool.

But Dash didn’t reply. She could have just hovered, but she was enjoying resting her wings for a spell.

While viewing the elites, she noticed an odd mixture of emotions among them. There were varying degrees of sadness mixed in with what appeared to be confidence and drive. And judging by the way they were smiling and nodding to the questions about Wave, it was safe to assume the stasis procedure went well, which was more or less what she wanted to know. And judging by Spitfire’s strong appearance, she assumed she had a chance to get a moment with Wave too.

It made her happy to think about… even though she was basically working behind their backs. She still cared about them, nothing would change that.

As the crowd slowly began to dissipate, Dash hopped down onto Matteo’s back, but didn’t slide off to the floor right away. Her eyes caught something else.

Storm Front was moving back and forth around the crowd. He was probably looking for Descent. She stared at him for a moment… because no matter how many times she saw him since the little episode with their planning, she always had a bad feeling. She couldn’t get into his head, couldn’t figure him out or get a grip on what she should do about him. Would he play along, or would he back stab her? That was the question that never faded.

“Are you done?” Matteo suddenly asked, turning his head around to glare at Dash while puffing out his feathers. Dash blinked and turned to him, rolling her eyes when she met his harsh glare.

“Surprised you’re not used to this by now, ya giant fluff ball,” she said as she slid off his back.

As she touched her hooves to the ground, she could mostly see through the slowly dissipating crowd. She blinked in surprise as she saw Spitfire staring directly at her, focusing the look of determination her way.

What was she giving her that look for?

But it didn’t last long. Descent had just emerged behind her a moment prior and his sudden halt near Spitfire drew her attention to him. Out of curiosity, Dash looked in the direction Descent had turned.

It was Astral, Descent’s head scout. He had just turned the corner, but stopped briefly as the odd looking changeling member of his team suddenly rushed over to him.

“What?” he asked, sounding a little frustrated. “Make it quick.”

Dash looked back and forth between Astral and Descent, noticing that Spitfire was staring now too.

“Alright, alright, now get going!” Astral ordered, the changeling quickly nodding and scurrying off.

At this point the rest of the Wonderbolts had noticed as well.

“HRM!” Spitfire suddenly cleared her throat loudly. With a brief glance, Spitfire made a small head motion away from Descent. The Wonderbolts all fell into line, and moved with her as she stepped away, moving towards some of the other Wonderbolts that were still lingering.

Catching on, Dash averted her eyes as well, motioning for the rest of her squad to do the same even though they were not ordered to.

Once they were all acting casual, Dash subtly kept her eyes on Spitfire instead.

Spitfire waited patiently, periodically glancing at Astral and Descent as they spoke. She was too far away from them to hear any of it, but that probably wouldn’t have mattered because Descent was slightly bent down and Astral appeared to be whispering. Spitfire looked about subtly at the guards posted around the hall, but they looked much more focused on staring straight forward than listening in on conversations. The alicorns were still in the room with the frozen afflicted too, so they appeared to be safe.

Spitfire’s eyes shifted back to Descent as he sat up straight, appearing to have finished receiving the report and remaining still for several moments. Spitfire began lightly tapping her hoof on the floor as she grew impatient, trying to keep an air of casual conversation among her and the other Wonderbolts. She was hoping they’d hurry up so she could get the information before they began to appear suspicious. Some of the guards were starting to glance around, one of them was staring at Descent and Astral.

“Good,” Descent spoke, Spitfire’s ears catching his voice. “See if you can figure that out. Otherwise, monitor and keep me updated as much as you can.”

“Will do,” Astral nodded, turned, and left quickly.

With Astral gone, Descent turned and slowly made his way towards the Wonderbolts, or at least somewhat towards them. His path was angled so that he would pass by them. But he and Spitfire locked eyes briefly, and Descent made a very faint upward head motion.

Spitfire broke away from the group of Wonderbolts, but could clearly see some of the guards still looking in Descent’s direction. This wasn’t going to look good, how were they going to—?

“I trust you shared a moment with Wave Chill?” Descent spoke up suddenly as they came together, his voice was slightly louder than usual, but not to a very noticeable degree. Spitfire blinked in surprise. She wasn’t expecting that at all, but went along with it.

“Uh, yeah…” she replied naturally. “It was hard, but I got to talk to him one last time.”

“I’ve no doubt, but that’s good,” Descent replied, his volume still a little elevated and went quite as he continued to look on her.

Suddenly, Spitfire caught on, he was making casual conversation within earshot of the guards. Spitfire didn’t look directly, but a few had already stopped looking their way.

“What about you?” Spitfire asked, playing along. “I saw you going to all of the Shadowbolts.”

“I could only give them my assurance that I would be back for them, and that they were the highest priority once we took care of business here.” Descent sighed quietly. “It would have been easier to handle if Starry was with me, but you know…”

“I get you,” Spitfire quickly nodded, stealing another glance around. All the guards had gone about their business or had stopped paying them mind. Spitfire looked back at Descent, tipping her head very subtly. Descent cleared his throat and lowered his voice.

“Astral has informed me… that Soarin has been located,” he said in a very hushed tone. Spitfire’s ears perked up briefly, but she quickly forced them back into their natural position to avoid drawing attention. “He is in the crystal forest a mile north of the city bounds.”

“Hmmm…” Spitfire hummed casually, holding herself steady despite the major revelation.

“But,” Descent went on. “He’s not out there alone. The Shadowbolts are actively searching for him. However, according to observations by Astral’s team, it appears that their crystal magic cannot penetrate the dense brush. But they have no idea why. It’s forcing the Shadowbolts to look for him conventionally and their reliance on their crystals has dulled their efficiency.”

“That’s… interesting,” Spitfire pondered quietly. “Is there something special about that forest and magic?”

“I’ve asked them to look into it. One or two of them are probably already at the library or in the archives looking it up. I expect to hear back from them quickly. Otherwise, I have asked them to keep tabs on Soarin and to update me on his location accordingly in case he moves.”

Spitfire nodded, and two went quiet. They stared at one another for several moments.

“So I guess this is it, huh?” Spitfire broke the silence, glancing to her right very briefly as Rainbow Dash walked by a few yards away.

“It would appear so,” Descent answered with a nod of his own.

“Then we have no time to lose.” Spitfire tapped a hoof on the floor and hardened her expression. “It’s time to get the plan rolling. I’ll handle the Wonderbolts. Get the Renegades up to speed and we’ll meet once more after everypony is organized.”

“Very well,” Descent acknowledged.

But while both of them agreed it was time…

Off to the side, Rainbow Dash’s eyes were wide as her ear turned away from the two conversing leaders. She started to internally panic. Her subtle pass by them was successful, she just wasn’t expecting to hear that it was going to be show time soon.

This was bad… She had not had a chance to touch base with Twilight yet. She swallowed as she looked over her shoulder to see Spitfire making the rounds, quietly ordering the Wonderbolts present to spread the word, await further orders, and be ready to suit up at a moment’s notice.

She had to think… she had to remain calm. She had gotten this far by staying cool and handling things as they came up. She had to—

“Dash?”

Dash flinched and blinked, looking up as Spitfire stood beside her with an eyebrow raised.

“Did you hear me?” she asked as she tipped her head slightly. Dash shook her head out.

“Yeah, sorry,” she lied. She didn’t actually hear Spitfire’s words, but she knew it was the same thing she was saying to everypony else. “Just a lot on my mind.”

“Understandable,” Spitfire nodded, but instead of turning and leaving like Dash had hoped, Spitfire stayed put and placed a hoof on her shoulder, leaning in to whisper. “Don’t forget what we discussed. I have some matters to attend to quickly and then I am planning to meet with Luna again to pick up our meeting that ended prematurely two days ago. We need to set up the façade of your cooperation with her before we do anything else. So don’t go far, stay on the palace grounds, but KEEP CASUAL. I’ll have a guard sent to find you when we call the meeting… and act surprised when you’re requested.”

It was a hell of a lot for Dash to absorb at once, but she heard her loud and clear, and she did remember what she had discussed with Spitfire. It was a key part of her own double-double-misdirection play, but the irony made it hard to forget regardless.

“Yes, ma’am,” she answered quickly with a very non-descript and monotonous tone, but Spitfire seemed more focused on her tasks than analyzing Dash. All she did was give her another tap on the shoulder and a quick nod before turning and trotting off quickly.

And Dash was glad she left because she needed to think, and think fast. The amount of time available to properly put all of her own pieces in place had suddenly hit a brick wall. She had to get to Twilight quickly. She had a small window of time here. Her own squad was still here and Storm was still around too… surprisingly. She assumed he would try to follow Descent, but he had stayed put. Now she just had to hope Twilight was in a position where—

Her thoughts were cut off and she quickly looked over her shoulder as the large doors opened again. A few clerics stepped out and dispersed, but they were followed by Luna, Cadence, and Twilight. Luna and Cadence were conversing, the two pausing after a few paces away from the door. Twilight sat with them, but then casually looked about and locked her eyes with Dash.

Dash glanced back and forth between Twilight and the other two princesses. This was absolutely no time to say anything, not with Luna RIGHT there. This only made her grind her teeth harder, to have what she needed so close yet inaccessible.

But then Twilight suddenly turned and began walking towards her, at least that’s what it looked like at first.

Twilight didn’t even look at her as she moved, and her steps took her on a slanted path that passed near Dash, very similar to the way Descent had approached Spitfire.

Unsure of what was going through Twilight’s head, Dash turned and looked towards her squad instead, paying no mind to Twilight save for a glance or two. To keep the air free of suspicion from other pairs of eyes, Dash looked her squad over instead. Little Star appeared to be trying to pry something out of Squall, but he wasn’t having it. Matteo was… of course he was keeping an eye on Storm. He was sitting upright as Star nagged Squall in front of him, appearing to look straight forward, but his smaller, yet powerful eyes allowed him to keep a subtle gaze towards Storm over with some other Wonderbolts.

And of course hell if she knew where Twister was. She hadn’t seen him since his library stunt.

Dash perked up as she heard what sounded like the soft jingle of a magical aura. Before she could turn and glance at Twilight moving by, she felt something press against her wing and shove in between her feathers. She didn’t react to the sudden push, but she DID look very briefly at Twilight just in time to see a very faint aura dissipate from around her horn.

Dash played it cool, waiting about a minute before she shifted her wing and reached a hoof beneath it.

A note fell out.

Dash blinked, glancing around as she moved toward her squad.

“I’m just saying,” Star’s voice hit Dash’s ears. “I’ve never had a raspberry pie better than my mother’s! I wasn’t trying to one up you!”

Dash lifted an eyebrow as she closed in.

“Why are you always so confrontational?! I’m sure your grandma made great pie too, it’s called having a conversation! It wouldn’t kill you to loosen up!”

“Hnnnnnggghhhhh…” Squall groaned, gritting his teeth and looking away, turning his head every time she tried to move into his view and seemed to be putting up with her poking him.

Dash blinked and shrugged as she kept walking, noticing that Matteo was paying zero attention to the random argument, if one could even call it that. Matteo noticed Dash as she passed by him, but before he could say a word, she grabbed one of his wings and pulled it all the way around her, effectively blocking herself from anypony’s view.

“Why?” Matteo asked simply with a grunt, her use of him as a stepping stool still fresh in his mind.

“Shush, just give me a second,” Dash quickly denied as she looked down at the note and opened it quickly under the cover of Matteo’s massive wing.

Her eyes widened.

North side of the castle.

Fifteen minutes.

I’ll bring the others there.

Bring everypony from your end.

-Twilight.

Dash did not give it a moment of thought. She quickly crumpled up the paper and held onto it.

“Guys.” She emerged from Matteo’s wing.

“Why are you still like this after all this time? It’s not like I can get conversation out of Matty,” Star whined to Squall with a pout.

“Leave me out of this,” Matteo snorted.

“GUYS!” Dash snapped in a harsher tone, but remained hushed. They all flinched and looked at her. “Follow me, and don’t ask questions…” she paused and blinked as they all nodded. “Matty, get Storm, you’re the least likely to get resistance.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Dash quickly turned and motioned to Squall and Star.

“Where are we—?”

“I said don’t ask questions, Squall!” Dash hissed without looking at him.

“Well, sheesh! Everypony’s on my ass right now…”

“I wasn’t even—rggghhhh!” Star grumbled and rolled her eyes.

Dash paid them no mind as she moved, and she was confident Matteo was dragging Storm along if need be. They didn’t have time to lollygag.

---

Luna turned another corner, making her way through the halls of the palace. She was making her way into the west wing of the premise, towards the entrance to the underground levels where the thestrals had been staying during daylight hours. It had become a little bit of a pain to constantly go back and forth to keep Captain P.L. up to date on everything going on, but this was how the Lunar guard operated.

She entered the west wing, turning into a large, open, high ceiling hallway. Her eyes shifted, locating the doors halfway through the long hall that led to the descending stairs.

But she had not even taken three steps into the hallway… when she sensed something abnormal. She blinked, her eyes widening slightly as one by one… every single guard posted and patrolling throughout the long hallways suddenly vanished in flashes of light. She looked back and forth as she was suddenly alone… but she wasn’t alone for very long.

“So…” a familiar voice came from high above. “Any actual bright ideas?”

Luna instantly calmed down and looked up.

Discord was standing upside-down on the ceiling directly above her, arms crossed and wearing a serious look despite his positioning.

“Or are we just going to keep acting like we know what we’re doing?” he added, not budging as Luna just stared up at him blankly. Discord snorted and started walking across the ceiling towards the wall. “And don’t look at me like I have an answer,” he said with a light growl as he reached the wall, stepped onto it, and started walking down the wall towards the floor. “Well?”

Luna looked away and towards the ground as Discord continued his way down the wall.

“We… are going forward with our current plan. That is all we can do,” Luna answered, but she did not sound sure of herself at all. Discord stopped in his tracks, standing halfway between the floor and the ceiling.

“I’ll take that as a no,” he said with a loud snort of disapproval as he turned around and faced upward. “Why did I even bother asking?”

“We are going to TRY!” Luna suddenly yelled, staying just outside the range of her Royal Canterlot Voice as her head snapped up and she shot him a harsh glare. Discord glanced over his shoulder down at her. “The way he batted your magic aside was a development with terrifying implications, but we must exercise all options!” she stated adamantly as Discord turned back around, facing her as he remained on the wall. “We refuse to lay down and let that fiend walk Equestria. We’d very much rather he be destroyed, but if we lack the raw power to do so, then sealing him away is our next best option. We just need to make Rainbow Dash understand the severity of the situation, and with her help—”

She was abruptly cut off as Discord scoffed loudly and shook his head.

“What?!” Luna demanded angrily as Discord started moving down again.

“Just listen to yourself…” Discord sighed as he reached the floor and turned upright, moving towards her. “You’re assuming you can convince Rainbow Dash to do something that she believes could not only potentially end her own life… but end her lover’s life as well?”

“But…” Luna stuttered. “We must not assume that will happen…”

“Listen Lulu…” Discord reached her and bent down, narrowing his eyes as he stared into hers. “I suggest you take a better look around you, because you seem to be pushing along without considering just how frustrated the Wonderbolts and Renegades have become with us. You can tell them all you want that everything will be fine, but don’t expect them to take you at your word. We’ve lost their trust many times over.” He pulled back and shook his head. “If you want my honest opinion, you should be keeping a much closer eye on them… and should expect some funny business.”

Luna’s eyes widened and her ears perked up.

“They… they wouldn’t!” she denied weakly.

“They definitely would,” Discord snorted and turned his back to her. “And you certainly aren’t doing yourself any favors.” He waved a hand in the air. “Don’t even get me started on what you did to Twilight Sparkle.”

“What?! You saw…” Luna was caught off-guard.

“I haven’t been sneaking around the castle keeping tabs on everything, but I just so happened to be around to catch that little scene,” Discord explained as he turned and faced her again. “Now… don’t get me wrong. I absolutely agree with you that the sealing spell is more powerful and our best option, but do you HONESTLY believe Twilight took your words, your frantic outburst lightly? Let’s frame this from an outside point of view, shall we?” Discord leaned back and used his hands to make a box with his index fingers and thumbs, it was uneven with his hands being different shapes, but it still worked. “You scolded the prize student of your own sister, a pony who has earned the right to access alicorn powers through her highly successful studies into the strength of friendship… demanding she forget thinking about a less dangerous alternative when the life of one of her best friends is on the line…” Discord parted his fingers and slowly shook his head. “You haven’t thought this through one bit, have you? Do you even know Twilight? She didn’t earn her wings by following the careful route, you know. I wouldn’t be surprised if she took the issue directly to Rainbow Dash, and maybe even Spitfire too.”

Luna stayed completely still as Discord finished and waited for her to say something.

But she said nothing.

“Well, am I wrong? Or do you actually believe you still have some semblance of control?” he prodded. He blinked as Luna abruptly turned around, but remained standing upright as if she didn’t want him to see her face. Discord lifted an eyebrow as he watched her stand stiffly, or at least try to, but she couldn’t stop herself from shaking lightly.

“W…we…” she spoke up in a broken voice pattern, clearing her throat. Discord crossed his arms and waited patiently as she found her words. “We are only doing what we must. We have made missteps, that is very clear to us, but we MUST do this!” she turned around and looked Discord right in the eye, her expression was all over the place, not one single emotion dominating as she seemed unable to pin any of them down. “We don’t care if we lose their trust forever! Sombra MUST be stopped no matter the cost! His very existence at this point defies all order and balance in the world!”

“I don’t disagree with you,” Discord remained steady as Luna remained off balance. “But say we succeed… have you thought about what happens after that?” he asked, causing Luna to freeze again. “Have you thought about the distrust and anger you’ve sown in those who are supposed to believe in us as the gods of this world? These are very influential ponies that we’ve pulled through our quagmire of secrets, this isn’t just going to go away.”

Luna quickly shook her head out and forced her eyes into a glare.

“Whatever may happen… we care not. It won’t be as bad as Sombra taking over everything.”

“Pfft…” Discord scoffed and smacked a hand against his forehead, rubbing it harshly down his face and tugging on his beard. “You’re no better than your sister…” He turned and threw his arms out. “Just be glad I plan to babysit you when you take the dive into this pit of broken glass. I doubt we can stop him, but like you said… we at least have to try.”

Luna’s ears perked up.

“Wait, you are helping?!” she asked, caught completely off guard. Discord let his arms fall to his sides and his head drooped down.

“Yes, yes, yes…” he mumbled with a lack of enthusiasm and released a long sigh. “As long as you don’t tell anypony beforehand. I have a reputation to consider outside of this mess. Or whatever’s left of it.” He suddenly turned around quickly and stomped right up to Luna, getting into her face and poking her in the chest. “But this is my choice and I’m doing it my way. So don’t expect me to start snooping around here for you to figure out who’s doing what behind your back. This is your mess, not mine. My problem is out THERE, not HERE. So I’m focusing entirely on that.”

“But…” Luna tipped her head. “Why? Why the sudden change?” she asked.

Discord held his position, still up close to her and glaring as he slowly removed his finger from against her chest. His right eye twitched a couple of times as his snaggletooth visibly pressed into his lower lip. Then he suddenly grunted, leaned back, crossed his arms, and looked away.

“I still have a few… debts to honor. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I just let go of them. Besides, I don’t think…” he trailed off for a moment and exhaled through his nostrils. “I don’t think your sister would like it very much If I just laid down and quit without at least giving it another effort…” his lips parted, revealing his gritted teeth as he released a quiet snarl. “Not to mention I’ve been internally boiling since Spitfire called me a coward…” he grumbled quietly as if he didn’t want to admit it.

But he didn’t have to worry, because Luna didn’t focus on a single word after he finished talking about a certain somepony.

“Our sister…” she spoke softly as Discord continued to grumble, but his ear turned as she spoke, catching her words. “Please…” Luna stepped up to him, causing Discord to turn his head to her. “You must tell us.”

“Tell you what?” Discord asked as his left eyebrow slowly elevated.

“Our sister!” Luna emphasized, reaching a hoof up and grabbing Discord’s arm, her eyes growing wide in a pleading manner. “You must tell us her whereabouts! She could change everything! She could fix all of this! She—!”

“For crying out loud, Lulu… Do I REALLY have to repeat it, AGAIN?!” Discord abruptly cut her off and roughly grabbed her hoof. “I feel like I've explained this at least ten times now? I don’t know, I’ve lost count! Is nopony listening to me?”

“Thou clearly stated she could not hide from you!” Luna yelled as she ripped her hoof free from his grip and replaced it on his arm with more pressure. “And you only ever told us where her power resides! WHERE IS HER SPIRIT?!” she demanded.

Discord glared down at her, his face scrunching up as he felt her hoof shake against his arm.

“Discord, PLEASE!!!!!!!” Luna yelled, reaching her other hoof up and lightly pounding it against his body. “TELL US!”

Discord didn’t move and his eye didn’t falter. He just lightly shook his head.

“No,” he said as he took a step back, causing Luna’s hooves to fall to the floor, the look in her eyes a mixture of rage and desperation. But Discord bared his teeth and scowled at her. “I refuse.”

Luna’s eyes widened greatly in shock.

“R…refuse?” she sputtered.

“You heard me,” Discord doubled down. “I refuse.”

Luna stood speechless, unable to formulate a response, but she didn’t need to. Discord turned to the side but kept his eyes on her, his arms folded and his scowl remaining.

“Don’t give me that look. I have chosen to not say,” he stated firmly. Luna took a step forward, but the instant she moved, Discord thrust an arm out and pushed a finger against her nose. “And before you try to give me any business for it… I’m refusing to say for your sake… as well as the sake of everypony else involved.”

He slowly removed his finger from Luna’s nose and was met with a long, confused stare. She looked as if she had never been denied so harshly in her life. Discord stared into her eyes, and suddenly found himself feeling uneasy. He quickly turned his back to her to avoid showing it.

“I have nothing else to say on the matter…” he began as he looked down. “It already weighs enough on me as is. I’m not going to burden anypony else with it.”

Luna blinked, her eyes losing their quizzical haze as she tipped her head curiously.

Discord glanced over his shoulder briefly, but the moment his eyes met Luna’s he turned right back and waved a hand in the air nonchalantly.

“Just… go, go on… go meet with Puppy Hugger. That’s where you were headed, right? I’ll be around.” He suggested, his tone turning soft.

Luna looked down and sighed, accepting that she was going to get no answers out of him. She did as he suggested, slowly turning to leave.

As she started moving, Discord glanced over her shoulder again. He stared at her back for several moments.

He turned his head and looked towards the hall she came from.

Then back at her.

Then back at the hall.

He looked down, closed his eyes, and took a long deep breath, letting the air slowly escape between his lips.

Then in the blink of an eye, he teleported from his spot and appeared directly in front of Luna. She came to an abrupt halt, just barely stifling a yelp as he popped up in front of her. He looked right down at her, but his expression had completely changed, it had no anger or frustration in it. It was neutral… but serious.

“You know…” he began slowly. “You might be able to do it.”

Luna blinked, staring blankly at him.

“Do what?” she asked.

Discord kept staring at her for a moment, then pointed over her shoulder towards the path she came from.

“Save the afflicted ponies.”

Luna’s ears shot up and she leaned back slightly as if the words smacked her right in the face.

“We… What?!” she blinked and looked at him with cautious curiosity. “What dost thou mean?”

“I mean exactly what I said,” Discord stated firmly as he placed his hand on his sides, but Luna could not get read on him at all.

“But, before in our meeting… you said that we would not be able to handle our sister’s power!” she pointed out. Discord nodded.

“Yes, that is what I said… but I was speaking candidly based on my own understanding of her power. Could I use it?” he placed a hand on his chest. “Most definitely not, my body and my mind are not built to even begin comprehending her power or how to use it. It would either drive me mad or destroy me outright… but you…” he reached up to her head and lightly tapped a finger against her horn. “You are her sister, both goddesses of the same kin… both daughters of Astron.”

Luna flinched hard, and scooted backwards. But Discord huffed and placed his hands back on his sides.

“How do you think Celestia became as powerful as she is?” Discord asked her as he stepped forward to be directly in front of her again. “It’s not just because ‘she is’. She became that powerful over time through her own effort… her own pain… her own resolve. She did it because she had to, because she needed to become the god, the icon of hope for Equestria. She may not have the power once touted by your father, but I’ll be damned if I don’t recognize that she has come within reaching distance. So what say you?” Discord asked as he began slowly walking a circle around her. “Astron… had great power. Demetra… had great power. Celestia followed both of your parents and mastered her divine spirit to gain great power herself. I think you can see where I’m going with this.”

Luna just continued as Discord made a full circle around her and stopped before her again.

“You are capable. If your family line has anything to say about it, you are VERY capable. The very power Celestia unlocked within herself is also within you. The question is whether or not you have the will to try… and if you’re willing to take the dive?” He asked.

But Luna stayed silent.

“Can you handle the stress as your sister has? Can you bear the burdens she has?” He went on.

But Luna again stayed silent.

“Need I remind you, that this isn’t a question of whether or not the power will destroy you… but a question of whether or not the power will make you destroy yourself…?”

But Luna… stayed silent.

Discord pulled back and crossed his arms, angrily tapping a finger against his forearm as he looked her up and down carefully. He shook his head and pointed a thumb over his shoulder.

“You don’t believe they will turn on you? You don’t believe they have a reason to take action against our wishes after what we’ve put them through? That’s naïve, especially if you are still clinging to illusions of control. We’ve lost their trust and now we face something that threatens all we stand for… with nopony outside of our closest subjects believing in us.” Discord snorted loudly. “Want to get them back? Want them to believe in you? Want them to trust you? A sacrifice like this would be the perfect way to start, taking on something that is dangerous to you for the sole purpose of saving those in need, including the lover of a captain who currently wants your head on a pike if she gets the chance.”

Luna flinched as Discord stepped forward, slamming a hoof to the floor.

“NOT… TO… MENTION… it would easily grant you the power to handle Sombra… probably all on your own! Perhaps it could provide you insight on how to successfully separate him from Soarin while we’re at it. I can’t even begin to tell you what possibilities might lie before you if you were to also successfully absorb and wield the power your sister left waiting!”

He got right down in her face, her blank expression was starting to annoy him.

“All you need to do… is TAKE. THE. RISK.”

Luna’s pupils began to shake as her eyes remained stretched open, but when she finally spoke…

“You…” her voice was weak and raspy. She swallowed and shook her head. “You are speaking as if… our sister is not coming back…” she pointed out. Discord’s eyes twitched briefly, but he did not lighten his gaze one bit, keeping the pressure on her.

“If she isn’t,” he narrowed his eyes further. “What are you going to do about it?”

Luna inched backwards as he turned the question around and put her on the spot.

“Please!” she demanded frantically. “Answer us! Why are you saying she won’t—?”

“WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!” Discord yelled loudly, interrupting her and causing her to freeze.

One could’ve heard a pin drop as silence overtook the space between them and the whole hallway. Luna did not budge, nor show any signs of answering the question. And once several moments had passed, her head began to tip down, her shocked expression never shifting as her eyes eventually met the ground.

“Feh…” Discord scoffed as he turned away from her. “Spineless…”

“We… are not…” Luna shakily tried to deny, but Discord quickly turned back to her and pressed a finger to her nose.

“You are,” he stated firmly. “And you always will be as long as you keep hiding from everything Celestia put herself through to become what she is… shying away from what you’re truly capable of. If you were still young I would understand your struggle, but you have no excuses Lulu. You’ve had thousands of years to figure this out, but you’ve always defaulted, always backed off and let Celestia take the lead. Even now you’re pleading that I reassure you about her as if she’s going to come back and take care of things for you!” He looked down upon her with disgust. “And you wonder why I never pitied you for the Nightmare Moon incident. You demand the same respect and recognition as your sister without doing a fraction of the work.”

Discord turned his back to her and snorted. Saying nothing for a moment as he just shook his head.

“I should have known you’d cower, you never change.”

“Sh… shut up…”

Discord blinked, his eyes widening slightly.

“Ex-CUSE me?” he said sharply as he turned around and met a faltering glare from Luna.

“You… YOU…!” she gritted her teeth. Discord just lifted his brow and waited.

“Well? Have something to say?” he said condescendingly, prompting Luna to angrily point a hoof at him.

“You have NO RIGHT to criticize us for our shortcomings!” she said sharply as he face contorted and scrunched into the most angered expression she could manage. “And do not invoke the names of our parents when thou does not truly understand what he speaks of!”

“I understand enough,” Discord huffed, but Luna stomped a hoof angrily.

“THOU DOST NOT!” she roared, the Royal Canterlot Voice finally booming forth. “YOU are not US! YOU cannot comprehend what holds me back from what you claim I’m cowering from!”

Discord looked away and scrunched his mouth as Luna continued to press him.

“And thou cannot act as if thy own part in all of this is not as significant, if not more! Don’t tell US what is expected of us!” she narrowed her eyes and snarled. “Lest we remind thee… that Sombra would have never been a problem in the first place… had it not been for YOU!”

Discord’s eyes lit up with anger, his lips parting and revealing his teeth pressing together so hard they were making grinding noises. His horns came alight with a distorted purple glow, his hands clenching into fists with the same aura surrounding them.

But… he didn’t lash out. He quickly turned his back to her and tensed his body. His magic slowly dissipated and he exhaled.

“You know what? Forget about it… fine.” He waved a hand in the air. “I was only making a suggestion… I don’t want to turn it into a he said, she said.”

Luna blinked, her expression lightening as the tone in Discord’s voice changed rapidly, the strength fading so fast it was like anger had flipped off like a switch.

“I said what I came to say,” he continued as he started floating up. “I guess I’ll see you out there when the time comes. We’ll do this your way,” he kept going as he lifted further and further upward. “But I don’t want to hear any complaints if it all crashes and burns.” He stopped as he reached the ceiling, his voice quieter and echoing down from above. “The choice is yours, Lulu. Better start making the important ones…”

And before Luna could say another word, he phased through the ceiling, disappearing.

Luna just stared for a few moments, mixed emotions waging war within her head after all that was just exchanged.

She flinched and blinked in surprise as several flashes of light filled the room and all of the guards reappeared right where they had vanished, those patrolling still in stride as if nothing had happened. One of them strolled right up to Luna and looked at her curiously.

“Princess Luna, is everything alright?” he asked, completely unaware.

Luna looked at him, sighed, and shook her head.

“No,” she answered as she started walking and moved right by the guard.

The guard watched, following her with his eyes as she made her way towards the doors to the stairs. He shrugged and kept patrolling.

---

“So that’s what’s happening now,” Dash nodded. “We know where Soarin is and Spitfire has already started the clock.”

Dash looked around, meeting all the eyes in the room as she spoke. He squad, Storm and her Ponyville friends, including Thunderlane, Derpy, and Bulk who were all brought in with them. This was the first time she had faced her Ponyville friends since her meeting with Twilight. She could see mixed feelings in their eyes, but she didn’t have time to address their misgivings or explain herself, she figured… no, she knew Twilight had already filled them in and explained the reasoning for everything.

Dash was trying to be quick about it. Obviously it was risky to be speaking about this at all while still on the castle grounds. Twilight had pointed her towards the furthest north room in the castle, a wing that was mostly used for entertainment and hosting, so it was usually empty compared to the rest. But who knew what could be lurking around? They were in a small banquet room and there were no guards posted outside, but it would be unwise to relax.

“We probably won’t get another chance to meet after this,” Dash continued. “So we need to put our heads together right now and come up with our measures before I’m pulled away again.”

Everypony present looked around at each other as she finished, but Dash focused on Twilight, who was not sitting among the rest. During the whole explanation, she had been circling the room and shining her magic towards the walls and doors to keep tabs on activity outside the room. Twilight was being just as careful as Dash was, ensuring that nopony was within range or even close to walls at the risk of their cover being blown.

Satisfied that Twilight was keeping the surrounding areas in check, Dash took a moment to examine everypony else as they absorbed everything she had just said. While they all had their own personal ways of quietly expressing their thoughts on the matter, nopony looked off in terms of how Dash expected them to react.

But there it was again… that slight feeling of something being off. It was from the same source it had been from the moment Dash realized her possible mistake.

Storm. He was the only pony looking at her. Even with a clearly nervous Derpy at his side. Dash couldn’t tell if he was doing it on purpose or not, but that look of subtle disapproval was slapped across his face again as it had been since Dash pressured him into playing along.

She was getting real tired of his shit. She shot a glare in his direction, which he noticed as he lifted an eyebrow. It was time to tear him a new one again. This time, she would do it in front of the rest of them to really nail down who was top dog. But before she could…

“I don’t like it.”

Dash flinched in surprise, but the moment the voice registered in her head she quietly sighed and rolled her eyes. She turned to see Applejack sitting on the floor with her arms crossed and an angry, pouty look on her face.

“Why do we gotta go leading everypony on like this? It’s wrong,” she voiced her frustration.

“Applejack…” Twilight spoke up as her magic ceased and she walked towards them. “We already had this discussion.”

“I hate lyin’.”

“We know.” Both Dash and Twilight said at the exact same time. The two of them looked at one another. Dash waved a hoof towards Twilight to let her speak.

“This is a unique case, Applejack,” Twilight went on as she came around in front of all of them, focusing her eyes on their stubborn friend. “There is nothing straightforward about what we’re dealing with. We’re not misleading others because we want to. We have to in this case, especially with what’s at stake and with how other parties are behaving.”

“That don’t mean I gotta like it,” Applejack grumbled and snorted as she looked down and continued to mumble to herself.

“For Celestia’s sake, A.J…” Dash spoke up and shook her head. “This isn’t the time to be so stiff about your morals. Morals have been thrown right out the window everywhere else.”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t gonna do it,” Applejack looked up, the heavy pout still on her face. “But I still don’t like it.”

Dash blinked, realizing that Applejack was, well… just being Applejack. This wasn’t a case like Storm at all, this was just how she operated. She could still count on her. She rolled her eyes and blew air through her nostrils.

“Then focus, please,” Dash asked. “We can’t have you fuming over this in your head while trying to use the elements or else it won’t work properly.”

Applejack nodded, but kept grumbling. Dash flattened her brow, turning her eyes to Thunderlane standing right beside her. Thunderlane glanced between Applejack and Dash a few times. He eventually stopped his eyes on Dash, chuckled, and shrugged.

“Okay, okay…” Dash tipped her head back and forth. We all know Applejack is just being herself…” she paused as she looked at the rest of her old friends. “I’m assuming all of you are okay with it?”

“Of course, darling!” Rarity instantly spoke up out of nowhere with lots of gusto, catching Dash and the others slightly off guard. “I simply REFUSE to let such a beautiful romance disappear! I’m behind you one hundred percent!”

Dash lifted an eyebrow and looked at Rarity carefully.

“Don’t want to lose a line of gossip, is that it?” she asked sarcastically.

“Absolutely!” Rarity answered with zero hesitation. “Motivation, dear! One must always have it!”

Dash looked at Rarity blankly, her mouth hanging slightly ajar.

“Are… any of you taking this seriously?” Dash asked while looking at Pinky and Fluttershy.

“Um…”

“YOU BETCHA!” Pinkie abruptly cut off Fluttershy as she popped up right in front of Dash’s face. She didn’t even flinch though, she had had lots of practice with this kind of behavior as of late. “I’ve always wanted to be part of an organized insurgency!” Pinkie stated excitedly while bouncing up and down.

“Wha…?” Dash’s eyes twitched.

“It’s on my bucket list!” Pinkie went on, pulling a bucket out of her mane and turning it over. A long list started dumping out of it… and kept going as the seemingly never ending piece of paper began to pile up on the floor and spread out towards everypony else.

“I, um…” Fluttershy tried to speak up as the paper began to pile up around her, reaching up to her chin. “I want to…” she trailed off as she tipped her head up, slowly sinking into the paper.

“THERE!” Pinkie yelled as the flow of paper suddenly halted despite the bucket still being turned over. Pinkie giggled as the front tip of her mane reached forward and pointed at an entry on the list. “Take part in an organized insurgency! It’s right between skydiving without a parachute and force feeding Applejack pears!”

“What the hey—?!” Applejack flinched, but before she could say anything else, the paper suddenly zipped back into the bucket at twice the rate it dumped out, making the noise of a cash register ringing up as it all shot back in. Pinkie tossed the bucket over her shoulder and it landed right on Applejack’s head with a hollow, metallic BONK, followed by a muffled yelp and cursing.

“So count me IN!” Pinkie sat back and pounded a hoof against her chest.

“Can I please…?” Fluttershy tried to cut in.

“BLAH!” Applejack grunted as she pulled the bucket off her head, some of the paper hanging out.

“Um…”

“Darn it, Pinkie!” Applejack suddenly blinked as her eyes landed on the piece of the list hanging out of the bucket, her eyes widening. “TEACH FLUTTERSHY AND BIG MAC HOW TO PROPERLY F—?!”

“WHOOPS!!!” Pinkie zipped over to Applejack and yanked the bucket away from her, frantically stuffing it back into her mane. “You weren’t supposed to see that one, heheheh…”

“Oh my…” Fluttershy turned bright red, hiding her face behind her wings and mane.

Dash came very close to smacking a hoof over her eyes, but halfway through the motion, she stopped and thought about it. A smile slowly crept onto her face.

“You know, actually…” she turned to Twilight and chuckled. “Never mind, this is exactly how I want it,” she started motioning to each one of them. “Applejack being stubborn, Fluttershy being sheepish, Rarity fishing for gossip, and Pinkie Pie being… Pinkie Pie.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Twilight smirked and giggled. “The elements are tied to us. As long as we’re all still being ourselves, they’ll work like a charm.”

“Mmhmm,” Dash nodded. “And I may be breaking a few loyalties here, but I’m remaining committed to what I feel is the right cause to help everypony… and of course, you’ve still got a really big head.”

“Hey…” Twilight furrowed her brow, but Dash’s attention was drawn away as Little Star hovered over to her.

“Okay so…” she shrugged. “How exactly are we going to do this? And what are they going to do?” she asked while motioning a hoof towards Derpy and Bulk.

Acknowledging Star, Dash scanned the room as she put her brain to work. That was a very good question. Thunderlane would be out there with them already, or at least among the Wonderbolts as a whole, so what would she do with Derpy and Bulk? Neither of them were trained in combat like they were, but there had to be something they could do. There was no such thing as having too many assets to make use of in a life and death situation.

But as she looked about, her eye were once again drawn to Storm. His expression had not moved an inch since they last locked eyes. Still scowling, still not thrilled, and still disapproving. Dash gritted her teeth, but stifled a growl. He was becoming a thorn in her side. He hadn’t done anything wrong yet, but his attitude was driving her up the wall.

“Indeed!”

Everypony flinched, and a few yelped. Dash immediately broke her focus from Storm as a voice she didn’t immediately recognize spoke up.

“What is the plan of action, then?” the voice went on, seeming to come from thin air.

“Wait, that voice!” Rarity suddenly spoke up as everypony looked around frantically. “Is that…?!” she trailed off as she kept looking with the rest.

“Correct, Miss Rarity!”

Dash nearly broke into an instant sweat, her eyes and the eyes of everypony else snapping to the same spot nearby as a faint yellow light the shape of a cylinder began flickering. Once the cylinder was fully visible, it began to sink, falling like a veil or shade. It slowly rolled down…

Revealing Fancy Pants, Big Macintosh, and Braeburn.

“I must say!” Fancy stepped forward, looking completely relaxed and wearing a smile. “Quite the situation we have on our hooves, wouldn’t you agree?” he asked, looking directly at Dash, but she was too shocked to muster an immediate response, her mind was racing in circles. Twilight was blinking with wide eyes and her jaw hanging open.

“How?!” Twilight demanded while taking a step back. “How did I not…?! How did you…?!” Her pupils darted around the room.

“You weren’t easy to elude, Princess,” Fancy chuckled. “But I have my ways.” Fancy sounded like there was nothing about the situation that bothered him or put him off. Behind him, Braeburn was holding his usual, casual smile and Mac was just stone-faced, staring straight forward like he always did.

But Fancy’s friendly tone did not sway Dash. She was staring wide eyed and was struggling to properly read the situation.

She had been caught… apparently spied on and caught by somepony from outside those she was comfortable including in her plan. What were they sneaking around for and to whom were they aligned with?

Though honestly, she had not given a single glance to either Big Macintosh or Braeburn. She didn’t know what to think of their presence, but they were at least related to Applejack.

One hundred percent of her attention was on Fancy Pants. What were his intentions? She suddenly forgot all about Storm Front because a much larger problem was brewing in her head. She only knew one thing about Fancy’s involvement throughout all the recent events… that he was called in by LUNA to teach Soarin how to handle his magic. If that didn’t raise a red flag to the moon, then nothing would.

“That look you’re giving me, Miss Dash…” Fancy suddenly spoke up, causing Dash to lock up and her eyes to twitch. He still wore a friendly expression. “It screams of curiosity.”

Dash bit her lower lip, her eyes shakily narrowing into a glare as she forced herself to remain composed. She was caught off guard, but what would Silver do?

What would Silver do?

What would Silver do?

What would Silver do?

…

Well he wouldn’t panic like a wuss. And she was doubtful that everything always went perfect for him.

Dash stopped struggling, her face naturally scrunching into a serious glare that she aimed directly at Fancy.

“You’re damn right I’m curious…” she said harshly back to Fancy. “And you have exactly one chance to convince me not to knock all three of you into next week!” she threatened, inciting a few gasps from her Ponyville friends.

“HEY!” Applejack took one step forward, but was unsure what to do.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity spoke up, her voice filled with shock. “Fancy is—!”

“Applejack, Rarity, SHUT UP!” Dash swung a hoof towards them without taking her eyes off Fancy. She firmly set her hooves on the floor and spread her wings. “MATTY! SQUALL! ON ME! NOW!”

Dash’s old friend’s looked on in horror as Dash’s two squademates did not even hesitate. They had both moved to her side and readied themselves within a second of her giving the order.

“Whoa, whoa, WHOA!” Braeburn suddenly winced and scooted backwards. “N… now hold on a darn minute!” he stuttered nervously as Squall scowled at him fiercely.

Beside Braeburn, Big Mac didn’t even move or change his usual neutral expression even though Matteo was sending the sharpest battle glare he could in his direction. Mac just blinked, his pupils shifting once to Matteo before passing the string of wheat to the other side of his mouth and looking away again.

“Now TALK!” Dash demanded, keeping her eyes glued to Fancy Pants. But despite her best efforts at intimidation, Fancy still held the friendly smile on his face… it was beginning to annoy Dash.

But then his smile began to edge a little bit, turning into a smirk as his eyes seemed to light up. He began to chuckle quietly, his magic lighting up dimly and removing the monocle from his eye.

“Now this… looks fun. You’re definitely tempting me,” he said smoothly, the monocle sliding into a pocket on his suit before his magic lit up brighter and he too set his hooves.

Dash swallowed, doing her best to remain composed. What was this? She was expecting him to back off the moment she threatened him, but… he took it as a challenge? This wasn’t good. She didn’t doubt her chances, but she didn’t know much about him.

But that wasn’t the main problem. She didn’t have TIME for this! She was already stretched thin!

But it looked like there was no avoiding it.

“I’m warning you!” she yelled towards him, trying to figure out her next move, but then his horn suddenly flashed brightly. And before she knew it, something had grabbed her legs and had yanked them out from right beneath her.

Dash yelped, as her body flipped over. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw that both Squall and Matteo were in the process of falling as well. All three of them landed roughly on their backs, grunting on impact.

“Tempting… but we have more important matters to discuss,” Fancy suddenly said as the three of them opened their eyes and blinked as the magic holding their limbs vanished. “After all, it would be unproductive to fight against those who see things the way I do!” Fancy added with a hearty laugh.

“Wha…?” Dash expressed her confusion as she slowly rolled upright and stared towards Fancy. By the time the three of them had turned over, Fancy had made his way towards them and stood right before them.

“Might want to watch your hooves!” Fancy said as he reached a hoof up and tapped his horn. “There are countless clever uses for magic in combat, you know,” he said as he offered a hoof to Dash.

Dash blinked, staring at him very carefully, but he had piqued her curiosity to the point where her skepticism couldn’t overpower it. She flattened her brow and snorted, feeling slightly embarrassed at how he threw all three of them off balance so easily. Temporarily concluding that Fancy was indeed there not to fight them, Dash reached up and accepted his hoof, allowing him to help her up.

“Okay… what are you on about?” Dash asked, fairly certain that he had just expressed some form of agreement with her. Fancy smiled, not letting go of her hoof after she was up.

“Why… I’d say it’s exactly what you're ‘on about.’” He said with a chuckle, giving her hoof a light shake before releasing it.

“Uh…?” Dash tipped her head, lifting an eyebrow. Fancy’s magic came alight again, lifting his monocle out of his coat pocket and gently replacing it over his eye. Once it was in place, he shot Dash a smug look.

“Why the confusion? I’m well aware of what you’ve been up to,” he explained, bouncing his brow once. Dash’s eyes twitched as she tried to piece together exactly what was happening.

“I’m confused,” Dash looked him up and down as she narrowed his eyes. “Have you been… watching me?” she asked, still treading carefully. Fancy smiled wider, but the somewhat smug look remained.

“Perhaps I have…” he said smoothly as he slowly began walking in a circle around her, but Dash turned to keep her eyes on him. “But… only because I found good reason to.” He stopped after walking a half circle around her and turned to look about at everypony there. “I could tell something was amiss the moment I arrived here. Something was wrong. Something was… off.” He explained. “Obviously I was quite shocked to hear everything that had happened, but once I was brought up to speed I began to take a look around and I noticed some things.” He paused and looked down, adjusting his monocle. “I know many of the ponies here in leadership roles very well, call it part of being a business pony and knowing my way around the block. Princess Luna, Captain Spitfire, Big Puppy, the old Wonderbolt captains, and yes… even Discord. I’ve had my fair share of time around all of them. And let me tell you,” he removed the monocle, but held it in his hoof. “All of their behavior? Perhaps the best it can be best described as… unfocused, derailed, wandering… unstable.” He put the monocle back in place. “If it were just one or two of them having a personal moment or crisis… I would not have batted an eye, but all of them? All at once? Forgive me for my nosiness, but that sparked my curiosity.”

Not just Dash, but everypony was listening intently as Fancy went on, but there was some slight confusion. As Fancy took a moment and looked up at the ceiling, Dash felt a light nudge in her side. She glanced down to see Star beside her.

“Who’s… Big Puppy?” she asked very quietly. Dash blinked, looking up as both Matteo and Squall were looking towards her as well.

A snort forced itself out of her nose too quickly for her to repress, she quickly covered her mouth and shook her head, waving a hoof in the air.

“Don’t worry about it,” she deflected as she refocused.

“This odd pattern of behavior spreading around intrigued me,” Fancy went on. “It pushed me to look deeper and it wasn’t long that my observations revealed some dissent. The Wonderbolts… they were not on the same page as the gods, the Crystal Guard, or the Lunar Guard. Separate plans were being made… defying those in power due to reasons that I had not properly experienced to rightfully judge… but then,” he smirked and looked towards Dash. “Something else caught my attention… A little rainbow moving about all on her own in curious ways that appeared to diverge on a different path.”

Dash’s eyes widened slightly as Fancy winked at her.

“Don’t look so shocked. You can’t blame me for following you around. I was desperate to know what you were up to and why!” he spoke in a flamboyant manner as if becoming absorbed in his own story. Dash began to narrow her eyes little by little. “Why would a young fledgling forsake not one, but two authorities in pursuit of a goal?” he went on. Dash gritted her teeth, his showmanship seemed to be taking over and she was starting to get at the end of her rope. She wanted an explanation not a dramatic recount. All it took was one glance towards Rarity and her starry eyed expression to see the kind of audience Fancy was used to playing to. “I had to follow, I had to understand! The more I looked, the more I learned, and the more I learned, the more I—”

“Is this going somewhere, Money Bags?!” Dash abruptly cut him off loudly while smacking her hoof against the floor. Her sharp, sudden words drew looks of surprise from more than a few present. “Because I don’t have the time or patience to hear about you getting off on personal detective work!” Her words seemed to grow harsher by the syllable.

Fancy blinked, his mouth stuck mid word, but it didn’t take long for his smile to return. In fact, he started laughing lightly for a few moments.

“Well then, I can definitely tell you’re Silver’s protégé,” he said as he lightly shook his head. Dash’s eyes snapped open wide.

“Y…you know…?” she stuttered, but stopped as Fancy placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Listen,” he lowered his tone, sounding a little more serious. “Forgive my sporty way of conveying my endeavors, I am very much one for mystery and adventure… but I’ll cut to the chase,” he gave a firm nod. “I know everything you’re doing… and I’ve been keeping tabs on Princess Twilight as well as everypony else around here…”

As he paused, Dash’s eyes caught something. She blinked, glancing past Fancy for a moment to see Storm… and he looked like he was nervous? Fidgeting? He was still glaring, but his eyes were open a little wider and he was staring at Fancy instead of her.

“From what I’ve seen,” Fancy went on, re-catching Dash’s focus. “I’m very much inclined to believe that you are taking the right course of action. And… I spent a good amount of time helping Soarin learn proper use of magic, I’d hate to see my efforts go to waste.”

“Come again?” Dash asked. She heard what he said, but… wanted to make sure she heard him correctly.

“You heard me correctly,” Fancy chuckled giving her another pat on the shoulder. “And you don’t have to explain anything because I’ve been listening in to all of your conversations,” he revealed. Dash’s eyes grew slightly, and she felt a little… invaded. She had been stalked? She had been so careful to avoid revealing anything, how did she never once notice she was being watched? Or was Fancy just that good at being stealthy? “Sorry if that seems like a bit much, but as I said, I couldn’t resist a mystery, and once I put it all together, I decided it was in my best interest to come forward. And I even brought some muscle along to add to your efforts,” he explained while motioning to Big Mac.

Braeburn leaned over, hoping to be included in that designation, but Fancy made no effort to point to him too.

“That’s me too right?” he asked while jokingly leaning against Mac, his head just barely reaching Mac’s chest.

“It wasn’t that hard to convince them,” Fancy went on, paying no mind to Braeburn. “With a sister, a cousin, and a romantic interest involved, neither of them hesitated to agree.

“Eeyup,” Mac finally spoke, saying no more. Braeburn furrowed his brow and lifted an arm up, flexing it to show off a muscle that was tiny in comparison to Mac’s bulky mass.

“Seriously! Come on! I have muscle too!” he whined, pounding his chest.

“So I will ask again,” Fancy went on, drowning out Braeburn. “What is the plan?”

“Confound it…” Braeburn grunted and pouted as he sat down.

“As I’ve said, I’ve listened in enough to piece together everything going on, now we just need the final touch. If the lovely Elements of Harmony are involved and putting themselves on the line, then the three of us are at your disposal.”

Dash opened her mouth to speak, but paused… and stared. She licked around the inside of her mouth and closed it, narrowing her eyes and looking at Fancy carefully.

Did he make a good case? Yes. Did he sound sincere? Yes. But… that didn’t change who he was, who he was connected to and the fact that she was not very familiar with him as a whole. It almost seemed too good to be true… a knowledgeable pony like him appearing out of nowhere and offering to help? Then on top of it flat out agreeing with her without her explaining anything, claiming he already knew what was going on, and then adding a quick line about Silver on top of it? Not to mention he made sure to bring up his training of Soarin. It felt like he was trying to be very convincing.

She was skeptical again, the feeling rushing forward and knocking the curiosity right back down. Could this be a ruse? Could he be a spy of some kind? She had no doubt that Big Mac and Braeburn were helping purely for their sake, but could she trust Fancy? For all she knew he could be using the assistance of the apple stallions to lull her into complacency… much like how he dropped Silver’s name.

She didn’t know him personally, but it was hard not to know who Fancy was from an outside perspective. He was a famous billionaire and business pony… a contractor whose name was easy to find on many construction and investment projects all over the land. He was a very well connected and very important stallion, on a first name basis with many other big names around Equestria including the Wonderbolts, royalty, and the gods themselves.

So it begged the question… Why put such an illustrious career on the line? Why risk such connections? Such power? Such influence? There’s no way he couldn’t see the risks to his station should he follow their lead against a ruling power.

But… then again, this was not the very first time she had met Fancy, and while she did not know him personally, she had heard more than her desired share of praise about him from Rarity here and there when she was in one of her starry eyed, fawny moods.

From what she had heard… Fancy was a unique individual among the rich and elite in Canterlot. And he definitely was not known as the kind of pony who swindled and pulled the rug out from underneath others for personal gain. He also had a reputation of being casually blunt, up front, to the point, and having a knack for finding hidden gems among common ponies… which could possibly explain how he picked her out among the rest of the situation…

As she recalled further, Rarity also splurged about Fancy’s thirst for excitement and adventure, which lined up with his dramatic monologue a moment ago. Hardly seemed like a good reason for him to risk everything for something he had little involvement in, but again… this was just what she had heard.

She wasn’t sure how to frame this. She felt like she had equal reason to both accept and deny him… But in her eyes or at least on the surface, the benefits of an alliance outweighed the costs… especially with how smart Fancy was.

So… for the moment, what would be the benefit of having Fancy along? She quickly thought over what she had going so far and searched for holes in the plan, or for factors she had yet to consider. And it didn’t take long for her to realize there was a very important part she had yet to figure out.

Back up, a safety valve.

Should some things not work out, she needed some ponies who’d be able to leap in and handle certain situations. Two possible situations in mind were either Dash failing to reach the Elements in time to link up, or the banishment spell failing all together. Derpy and Bulk were already at her disposal, but again, they didn’t have combat training. Braeburn wasn’t quite on the same rough and tough level as his cousins, so she wasn’t sure about him either. But Mac? Dash had seen him literally vaporize a timberwolf. He was all the muscle and silent brawn anypony could ever ask for. And while she didn’t remember exactly, she recalled Rarity mentioning that Fancy was impressively adept at magical combat, something Soarin said too when he talked about his training sessions. With Mac and Fancy involved, it would be easier to figure out how to use them as a whole.

“Okay,” Dash nodded and held out a hoof suddenly. Her squad behind her all blinked in surprise as she seemed to so easily decide. “I trust you.”

“Brilliant,” Fancy smiled cheerfully and started reaching his hoof out to hers. “I’m glad that we—”

“FOR NOW.” Dash sharpened her tone considerably, projecting strength through her voice and glaring at him as she pulled her hoof back a little before he could touch it. Fancy’s eyes shot open in surprise, the first look of slight shock to grace his face since they appeared. “You can thank Rarity for talking about you too much and giving me a smidgen of a reason to believe and trust you…” She scrunched her face and scowled at him. “But don't press your luck. If I see, or even SMELL the slightest stench of funny business coming from your direction, I will personally make sure you sleep soundly for the next week. And I WILL have more than one pair of eyes watching you.” She pointed a hoof at him harshly, stopping it an inch from his nose. “Do I make myself clear?”

Dash couldn’t see it, but the looks on her Ponyville friends, save for Twilight, were that of shock, awe, and confusion. Twilight had already gotten a good dose of this earlier, but now the rest of them were witnessing a very different Rainbow Dash from the one they knew.

Fancy just stared, his smile had yet to return. But as a few moments passed, a grin crept back onto his face.

“Silver’s student indeed…” he said with a light chuckle. “Very well. You have my word that there will be no funny business, and believe me… in my world? My word is what’s brought me success. I won’t be breaking that habit any time soon.” He edged his hoof forward.

“See to it that you don’t,” Dash added for good measure as she reached forward and actually shook his hoof this time. “Because if what I’ve heard about you is true… you could really help us out.”

“I’m all ears,” Fancy nodded as he stepped back. “And I’m sure the rest are as well,” he spoke, motioning to the very eager looking group assembled. Dash looked around, taking in the waiting looks… and nodded.

“Okay…,” she exhaled and tipped her head down. “Give me a second to think here…” she said as she ran through everything in her head. “We know the plans from both sides, but as it stands… the Wonderbolts currently have a head start and are planning to get the drop on Luna…” she turned and started pacing. “Following the Wonderbolts out there will be my ticket to getting close to Soarin. My squad will be with me, but Thunderlane will be with the reserves should Spitfire feel the need to call the whole force down on Soarin or anything that goes south…” she paused and looked at the ceiling. “So what we need still… is an effective way to get the rest of you out there while making sure it doesn’t hinder my side of the plan or… hmmm… how are we going to pull that off?” she turned and started pacing again, but stopped after two steps as her eyes landed on Storm briefly.

He still looked uneasy, and a bit miffed. His body posture and facial attitude continued to convey that he was being forced to do this against his will. And now his eyes were darting between her and Fancy.

Dash turned away and sat down before Storm could figure out he was being specifically stared at. She looked down and rubbed her chin as she found her thoughts turning to Storm again when she was supposed to be focused elsewhere. She hadn’t heard anything from Matteo yet about him. So either nothing had been seen, or he was just being a grouch as he had been. She had enough on her plate. She didn’t have time to worry about whether or not he’d stab her in the back and tip off Spitfire to her—

Dash’s eyes widened and she perked up as she was struck with an epiphany. All eyes were locked on her as her body language indicated an idea coming.

Tip off…?

Tip off!

“That’s it!” Dash proclaimed while clapping her front hooves together, standing up quickly and turning to face all the eager eyes pointing in her direction. “To make this work, what we need is a situation where the Elements of Harmony can get together without either side interfering. That sounds like a difficult task… but not if we purposely turn it all into an absolute mess!” she said with a somewhat devilish look in her eyes. Her tone and eagerness suddenly put off a few of those listening.

“You have me worried already,” Twilight spoke up as she furrowed her brow. “What are you suggesting?” She asked as Dash quickly turned to her while rubbing her hooves together.

“Think about this for a second, Twi… we have two major parties at extreme odds with one another. They may not be expressing it directly, but I’m sure we’re only one little spark away from lighting one hell of a fire. We need to use this to our advantage.”

“Oh Celestia help me…” Twilight sighed as she sat down and rubbed her forehead.

“What, are you getting cold hooves on me all of a sudden?” Dash asked with a pout.

“No… no… I’m just not real big on purposely starting conflicts,” she flattened her expression and waved a hoof. “Let’s hear it.”

“Ok, so…” Dash quickly got back to it. “The Wonderbolts will likely be leaving in a few hours to put up the guise of training exercises for the reserves, right? And while that’s going on, the small group I’m a part of will be sneaking off to confront Sombra.” She pointed at Twilight. “At that point… we need somepony to tip off Luna about that plan about twenty to thirty minutes into the operation. It will force Luna to order the launch of the Lunar and Crystal guard to come after us with you guys in tow! Based on how Spitfire and Luna are butting heads, I’m pretty sure the two sides will start fighting. With both sides thoroughly occupied… we can make our move and carry out our plan and my squad me can help ensure I reach the elements unhindered. Hell, if the Shadowbolts show up even better! It will get even crazier and nopony will be focusing on us!”

As she finished she was met with silence. Everypony in her direct line of sight was looking at her like she had lost her mind.

“That…” Squall spoke up, his left eye twitching. “Sounds like a terrible idea.”

“I must agree,” Matteo nodded beside him. “That’s quite a gamble.”

“Guys,” Dash narrowed her eyes and lifted her brow. “I haven’t gotten this far by being careful. So I’m not going to start now. We need a knockout punch, not a light jab. If you have any better ideas of how the hell we’re going to get all the pieces in place, I’d love to hear it.”

“Hmmm…” Fancy hummed, drawing her attention. “It does sound awfully risky, but I can see the method to the madness.” He nodded, glancing at Squall and Matteo. “Based on how the factions are behaving, it would ultimately give us free reign once they are intent on bludgeoning the other.”

Squall blinked, but Matteo nodded.

“Perhaps it is a good plan then,” Matteo suddenly agreed. Squall’s eyes widened as he turned to Matteo and glared.

“Are you kidding me? You’re such a kiss ass,” he said with a snort. Matteo glared back at him.

“I do not kiss butts,” he clarified while looming over Squall. Squall furrowed his brow and growled lightly to himself.

“Well Squall?” Dash asked while crossing her arms. “Let’s hear your idea then.”

Squall’s eyes widened as he felt put on the spot, but after a few seconds of silence he looked away and gritted his teeth. He really didn’t have a better idea.

“Ngghhh, whatever—ow!” he yelped as Star poked him in the side and hushed him. But he continued to grumble to himself.

“Anyway, this is perfect… because we can have Twilight do the honors of informing Luna,” she motioned to Twilight, her eyes growing as Dash made the suggestion. “Luna is under the impression that Twilight would never turn on her or doubt her word. Am I right to assume that?” she asked.

“As far as I can tell, yes,” Twilight nodded hesitantly. “I didn’t put up much of a fight when she scolded me.”

“Perfect,” Dash nodded. “You can tell her that you pried it out of me. With the way Luna has been stumbling around the issue of Sombra, I’m sure she’ll be quick to leap in instead of asking questions and we’ll have our clash primed and ready to cause carnage.”

“I’ll do it,” Twilight nodded, sounding anxious, but agreeing. “Just give me a sign of some kind when everything is underway on your end and I’ll time it accordingly. I’ll make sure everypony else is in tow and is brought along with Luna when she makes her move.”

“Good,” Dash nodded as Fancy took a step toward her.

“So what would you have the rest of us do?” he asked curiously.

“I’m glad you asked,” Dash quickly turned to him. “You have perfect timing because you’ve effectively solved one last part of the plan I had left to figure out. I need a group to be ready in case a plan B situation unfolds.” She looked over at Derpy, Bulk, Braeburn, and Mac. “Obviously… this is a very risky operation, and while I’m confident it has a higher chance of success than anything Spitfire or Luna have suggested, I’m not about to act like it’s guaranteed. Should something go wrong before we can cast the spell, or if the spell doesn’t work…” she motioned to her Ponyville friends. “I need ponies to help get my friends to safety. Applejack and Pinkie Pie will probably be fine, but I’m more worried about Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight. Should anything happen such as… Them coming under attack or any of them being knocked out. I need you guys to jump in and get them away from the fighting as quickly as possible. I don’t know what the hell we’re going to do after that, but I don’t want them caught in it.”

“Um, okay…” Fluttershy suddenly spoke up, or at least was heard from behind Rarity. “I was going to ask…”

“Much appreciated,” Rarity agreed with a nod. “I’m not much for violence,” she said with a grimace.

“That’s a good idea,” Twilight added. “Especially since using the elements will leave us exposed, and also maybe a bit drained from the concentration.”

“Exactly,” Dash smiled. “I can’t have you guys in danger if it all goes to hell, now…” she sharply turned to Fancy, hardening her expression and looking him up and down. “I’ll put you in charge of them, you’re clearly the most experience at handling pressure situations. Don’t mess it up,” she added on the end for good measure with a snort.

“I’ll be sure not to,” Fancy agreed, following along and letting her give the orders. “Consider it done.”

“Good,” Dash tapped a hoof on the floor. “Now then, I think… that should do it. Anything I haven’t covered?” she asked Twilight.

“Um…” Twilight looked up for a moment and blinked. “Nope, we’ve been through the situation, the plans, and now our plan. That’s everything.”

“Awesome,” Dash smiled. “Everypony understand their role?”

She looked around carefully as everypony nodded…

Everypony but Storm.

Dash held back the urge to blow the top right off of her head. Would he just STOP killing her confidence high already?!

“Storm…” Dash said his name with a growl, everypony turning to him. “ARE. WE. CLEAR?”

Storm blinked and quickly realized that everypony was looking at him. That was exactly what Dash wanted. Nothing like also showing all the newcomers her displeasure with his behavior.

Storm averted his eyes and bit his lips, grunting quietly before nodding.

“Good…” Dash snorted breaking her focus from him and looking around again. “Now we better break this up. We’ve been gathered here long enough as is, last thing we want is a stray guard to come by and hear anything. Everypony here that isn’t a Wonderbolt… stay calm, stay cool, and wait to hear from Twilight. Everyone here that IS a Wonderbolt, she shot a very quick look at Storm. “Be ready… Spitfire is going to be giving orders soon, I just don’t know how soon. Apparently she wants me to meet with Luna again to quickly finish up a discussion that was cut off very abruptly two days ago, but I don’t know how long that will last, and she’ll probably give the word right after. So… just act natural until you receive orders.”

She took a deep breath and looked into the center of the group.

“Alright, let’s disperse.”

And no other words were said, Twilight quickly checked around the walls near the door with her magic, and once she gave a signal, they began leaving in small groups. Her Ponyville friends left first, followed by Fancy leading out those who weren’t Wonderbolts. Dash held the rest for about a minute before they exited as well.

“Split up, don’t bunch together too much,” Dash ordered, her squad, Storm and Thunderlane nodding as they broke into different directions and turned down different hallways. But Dash stuck with Matteo as they rounded the second corner and broke away from Squall and Star.

“Matty,” Dash spoke quietly as they walked through the halls, guards slowly appearing again as they entered more active parts of the palace. “Has Storm been behaving himself?” she asked broadly, but Matteo understood.

“Aside from appearing to talk to himself angrily a few times…” he trailed off as they passed a guard on patrol. “He has not done anything.”

“Talking to himself?” Dash blinked and tipped her head.

“Cursing, grumbling, barely anything audible. He appears to be really put off by everything you’re doing,” Matteo theorized, but Dash just rolled her eyes.

“Oh, he’s made that crystal clear,” she said sarcastically.

“I am more curious as to why you placed your trust in that fancy pony,” Matteo suddenly shifted the subject. Dash blinked, caught off guard, but she quickly composed herself and tapped him on the arm.

“I only considered it because he’s a close associate of my friend, Rarity… I know a few things about him because she splurges about him all the time, especially when she’s drunk.”

“Romantic rambling was your premise?” Matteo narrowed his eyes. Dash quickly shook her head.

“No, no, no… he’s a married stallion. I’m sure Rarity wishes he wasn’t, but if you knew my friend… she showers praise over anypony she finds fashionable… but anyway, I’ve also met him in person before and he’s the one who taught Soarin how to control his magic, so… let’s just say there was just enough there for me to trust him even though I’m a little pissed that he stalked around. I’m not going to tolerate any crap from him though. His late entrance will keep him under scrutiny.”

“Fair enough,” Matteo nodded as they turned into the outdoor courtyard to continue their stroll.

“Anyway, going back to Storm… has he gone anywhere suspicious?” she asked. Matteo shook his head.

“No. He hasn’t been moving about too much and I have yet to see him go to the palace on his own aside from today… at least while I’ve been watching him, and I’ve been watching him quite a lot.”

“I appreciate your commitment,” Dash said with a nod of approval, the two of them stopping beside a crystal fountain on the courtyard path. Matteo blew air through his beak holes.

“A griffon always gives it his all,” he said with a hint of pride, lightly rapping his talon shanks against his chest. Dash lifter her brow and smirked.

“Yeah and that’s why you have two kids with a third coming, am I right?” she asked with a light sneer.

“Pardon?” Matteo tipped his head. Dash snickered and shook her head, waving a hoof at him as her comment soared way over his head.

“Nothing, nothing… thanks for helping out and keep it up. I’m counting on you,” Dash glanced around. “Alright, let’s split here… when I see you guys again, it’s probably going to be go time. Be ready.”

“I shall,” Matteo said with a quick nod before the two turned away from one another and walked in opposite directions.

But Dash had barely gotten ten steps in before a guard suddenly rushed up to her.

“Miss Rainbow Dash?” the guard said her name.

“That’s me,” Dash nodded, lifting her brow and tipping her head as if she didn’t know what he was about to say.

“Your presence is requested by Princess Luna and Princess Cadence in the main hall,” the guard said dutifully. Dash blinked.

“Is Captain Spitfire there too?” she asked, just to be sure.

“Captain Spitfire is already on her way,” the guard replied, his expression never changing beneath his sparkling helmet.

“Okay, I’ll head there now, thanks,” Dash nodded.

The guard turned and hurried away.

“Well… the countdown begins…” Dash said quietly to herself as she started walking in the direction of the main hall.

---To Be Continued---

Author's Note:

(Art in this chapter by Foxenawolf)

So looks like everything is is in place and its about to get started. (Or at least it will after this last meeting scene that was supposed to be in this chapter but would have made it way too long) <---but once that's over, it's time to go right? Is Dash ready? or will the pressure start to really start pressing down on her? I guess we'll find out.

Sombra knows what's coming... but he's aware that Dash is an obstacle... what will he do? If anything? One might think, 'just kill Dash' but if only it were that easy, not to mention he is clearly not a cold hearted killer.

Spitfire sure has been put through a lot of crap huh? While this wasn't a loss, it certainly wasnt a victory. But she was able to have her moment with Wave, and her gave her his reassurance that he had NO DOUBT she'd come through for him. Seems to have lit a fire within her.

What the hell was all that With Discord and Luna? Astron? ( Astro = Greek referring to the stars or study of (with a N added to make a name)) Demetra? (Greek name for 'of the earth'). Not the first time the parents of the sisters have been mentioned, but now we have names hmmm? And it looks like Luna is a little behind in terms of masting her true capabilities, but is it because she is afraid of it? because she can't? or because of something else? Discord tried to take her to task for it... only to be berated for claiming to know what Luna truly fears about it... and to have his own missteps brought to the fore. The gods are a mess, huh?

The other Wonderverse stallions enter the fray! Bit unexpected, but it seems Fancy was not done being a part of the action after helping out Soarin. But can Dash trust him? He makes a good case, but she can't get careless, not to mention she already has Storm to worry about.

Anyhow... the meeting scene coming up is not going to be long, and it isnt going to be 'oh look ANOTHER scene like this' because i dont want the story to get repeditive, but it will literally pick up from the moment Spitfire stormed out. There's not much left to say, but after everything that happened in this chapter, who's to say it will simply be more of the same?

And the scene after that? The one i've been hyping up without giving details? Oh you'll have to wait and see.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed! And sorry for the extended wait, next chapter should be out much faster.

Comments

[Zoljen]

Did a certain changeling spot Sombra? Prolly went "Oh...shit... uhm... MEEP!" At the sight, though.

[Phoenix Flight]

ITS THE FINAL COUNTDOWNNNNNN (DO DO DO DOOOOOO.... DODODO DO DO..... DO DO DOOO DOOOOOOOOO)

Also, I’m calling it. FANCY IS TWISTER. TO SNEAKY NOT TO BEEEEEEEEEEEE. lol just kidding probably not.

And.

WAVEFIRE. MUH SHIP. MOARRRRRRRRRRR.

[Lucas318]

Hyype.

[0PinkamenaDianePie0]

Why tf am I nervous lmao

Also...

OMMMGGG WAAVVVEEFFIIIRREEEA
*cries*

[NyOs29]

9175444
No I think Fancy is someone or something much worse.

[The Pony Eclipse]

Worth the wait?... yes. Worth the addiction to this story...*twitch*

[TexasDragon1995]

Come on Storm, don't fuck this up because you have daddy to worry about. Though, with his backstory I can't blame him for at least acting so begrudgingly. That part is still one of my favorite parts of this story

Nice call back to MacXShy's saucy story Still love it.

Can't say much else except SHOW YOURSELF KAYN OST YOU FUCKIN BALL FONDLER!!! It would be the perfect opportunity to do so in the mess that's probably going to happen soon. He's gotta be sick of waiting by now, surely. Though, with my record, how could I possibly predict anything that's going to happen in a story like this?

Keep up the good work my good man

[Night Frost 18]

Oh it is oooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Next chapter

[Midday Giggle]

I swear I was expecting anyone but Fancy in that moment. I stood up, turned around, stared blankly at the wall for thirty seconds straight, and went back at reading while snickering.

I dunno, Fancy seemed a bit... Off, to me. Maybe that's just my impression, but anyway...

“A griffon always gives it his all,” he said with a hint of pride, lightly rapping his talon shanks against his chest. Dash lifter her brow and smirked.

“Yeah and that’s why you have two kids with a third coming, am I right?” he asked with a light sneer.

Oh my

[Those Kids In The Corner]

Something is nagging at the back of my mind that while Fluttershy kept being interrupted, she realized some hole in this plan that they hadn't considered yet but she didn't get to speak it.

[Pause]

The more she strong arms Storm into this the more likely it'll backfire on her and that'll be on her.

[Animak]

Discord has luna on edge of ponies going behind her back, rattling her with what can boil down to" You aren't as good as your sister but you want the same respect"

seems like discord knows celestia is in soarins head, does that mean she's free from her earthly coil?

also what happens to an alicorns power when they are killed.

also soarin seems to rather be miserable about the former lovers bickering than ask them questions about whats going on with the crystal stuff now, unless there are scenes we aren't privy to

[Hooper_Canson]

Good, good

[Delphina34]

He paused and shook his head.

“She was… invisible. Or was she?” Sombra went on. “I had no idea what had happened. I don’t know how I could not have sense her so close to me. . . . And then even more troubling, my magic passed right through her with no effect, <-- (this should be a period) I was force to flee, it was an effect I could not comprehend.

"sensed" and "forced."

“We have made missteps, that is very clear to us, but we MUST do this!” she turned around and looked Discord right in the eye, her expression was all over the place, not one single emotion dominating as she seemed unable to pin any of them down.

“For crying out loud, Lulu… Do I REALLY have to repeat it, AGAIN?! ” Discord abruptly cut her off and roughly grabbed her hoof. “I feel like explained this at least ten times now? I don’t know, I’ve lost count! Is nopony listening to me?”

"like I've explained"

Discord pulled back and crossed his arms, angrily tapping a finger against forearm as he looked her up and down carefully. He shook his head and pointed a thumb over his shoulder.

"against his forearm"

That's all for now, I'll post the other ones I find tomorrow.

[Brightblue]

Found a few spelling mistakes, but nothing to serious. I like it. I hope Rainbow Dash plan work and for heaven sake Twister need to get his insane butt to help! I mean literally! I laugh with how Fancy Pants ignore Braeburn like he doesn’t exist. And Braeburn trying to look or act tough! Update when you can!

[Mr mustash]

media.giphy.com/media/wWE1pAnw6axMc/giphy.gif
media1.tenor.com/images/54451401d52c0dd2fe9ee5752857d53c/tenor.gif?itemid=3579864

[jnzsblzs]

I really don't like how you hadnled the Fancy situation. This was a twist without a lead up, like the Mark Ruffalo turn in "Now you see me". That being said apart from his blatant OP-ness I always liked the chap so I'm glad he is back. (I actually think your best works are the Rarity stories not the PtH) Also it's always a possibility that there were clues I just missed them all.

I think I have a new favourite line in the book, definitely my favourite joke from Aj Pinkie:

“TEACH FLUTTERSHY AND BIG MAC HOW TO PROPERLY F—?!”

This is so meta I'm still smiling like an idiot just thinking about it.

[jnzsblzs]

Also does anybody can still count how many different sides there are in this book:
There is

1. Rainbow
2. Spitfire
3. The gods
4. Sombra
5. Kayn Ost
6. Moon
7. Ruin
8. Apparently Storm Front I guess

Did I leave Someone out?

[Soaring Soarin]

The feels with spitfire and wave...my heart

Also, god damn pinkie has quite the bucket list

anyway pretty great to see more work from ya calm see you in the next one!

[Leventego]

REEEEEREEEE

[Delphina34]

“I can’t even begin to tell you what possibilities might lie before you if you were to also successfully absorb and wield the power you sister left waiting!”

you --> your

And once several moments had passed, her head began to tip down, her shocked expression never shifting ash her eyes eventually met the ground.

ash ---> as

“Might want to watch you hooves!” Fancy said as he reached a hoof up and tapped his horn. “There are countless clever uses for magic in combat, you know,” he said as he offered a hoof to Dash.

you --> your

“Following the Wonderbolts out there will be my ticket to getting close to Soarin, My squad will be with me, but Thunderlane will be with the reserves should Spitfire feel the need to call bring the whole force down on Soarin or anything that goes south…”

Period after Soarin.
"call bring": pick one or the other, "bring" sounds better.
Italicized part: this sentence is kind of a run on, trim it a little or use a semicolon after "Soarin" or "me".

His body posture and facial attitude continued convey that he was being forced to do this against his will.

continued to convey

Dash's plan is going to cause so much chaos. Right when I thought this story couldn't get any more convoluted. . . . Everything's gonna go to hell and I can't wait.

[goldenshadowfire]

Calm winds the chapter was worth the wait it was just so comical what with pinkie pie's bucket list what included 2 things that made me laugh like mad no.1 forcing apple jack to eat pears and no.2 teach macintosh and fluttershy how to properly f. Also the part where dash technically told matteo that he couldn't keep it between his legs lol. Texas dragon1995 that comment about kayn ost although funny it was also uncalled for how do you know that he is a ball fondler you don't. Anyway enough rambling I hope the next chapter lives up to the hype you been giving us yours faithfully Golden Shadow Fire the husband of luna and the sarosian mare evening rose

[Halfdemonpyro]

You know that excited feeling you get thats like a rumble far off in the distance that keeps getting louder and the ground starts vibrating, etc? Thats kind of how I feel right now. The time is nearly upon us!

[Calm Wind]

9175381

I hear he's a little buggy

[Calm Wind]

9175444

Nope, Fancy is Fancy I admit I don't feel like his inclusion here worked as well as i hoped, but he's here. (But is he on their side? )

[Calm Wind]

9175533

[Calm Wind]

9175539

the feels...

[Calm Wind]

9175551

Fancy is indeed just Fancy, the very same from earlier in the story and from my other works. But it still remains to be seen if Dash can really trust him. It does seem all a bit sudden.

[Calm Wind]

9175558
mwahaha

[Calm Wind]

9175579

Hehe you never know how things are gonna turn out with me, eh?

Storm is being a butt, but yeah, he's got different circumstances that Dash didnt consider before bringing him in and now it's coming back to bite her.

But hey, it would be boring if everything simply went smoothly, right?

[Calm Wind]

9175585

hopefully soon

[Calm Wind]

9175681

I will openly admit that my introduction of Fancy here did not turn out as well as i thought it would. If it seemed abrupt and out of nowhere, it kind of is, im acknowledging that. But this is significant to upcoming chapters and was not something i could strike from the outline without breaking things further down the road so it had to be done

[Calm Wind]

9175685

meep

[Calm Wind]

9175764

I guess we'll find out, won't we? Afterall, while she's trying her best to emulate the Silver Lining way of handling things, it IS her first time doing so

[Calm Wind]

9175788

No Celestia isn't dead, and her power was willingly separated from her body to take the form she is stuck in now. It is a separate entity with no conscious, but she can still feel a connection with it. Nothing would happen to it if her spirit were destroyed, it would just sit where it is. It would only vanish with her if she had it when she is destroyed.

[Calm Wind]

9175893

[Animak]

9179450
hmmkay

[Calm Wind]

9175961
9177470

Thanks for those!

And yep, it's going to be wild

[Calm Wind]

9176025

Yes, Twister would be very helpful right about now!

[Calm Wind]

9176196

[Calm Wind]

9176240

nothing sums this up more perfectly than that.

[Calm Wind]

9176651

I don't disagree with you at all. Im not happy with how this particular point turned out. It's been in the outline as part of the story that has an impact going forward, but once i got to it i realized that it was very out of nowhere. This is likely something that suffered under the length of the story. Fancy held a role early in the story, had some dust ups with Discord and showed a passion for challenge. But at this point that significance is long gone. I didn't really think about it until as i was writing this scene. If i HAD thought about it, i might have included more scenes with all three of these stallions in between the arrival of the mane six and now, but i didn't. So it's flat. I agree.

[Calm Wind]

9177323

too many feels, can't hold them all

[Calm Wind]

9177364

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Calm Wind]

9177629

glad you liked it

[Calm Wind]

9177777

You can feel it

[TexasDragon1995]

9179434
You’re goddamn right keep up the madness

[DecembertheAlicorn]

Yay! It's finally here!

[Midday Giggle]

9179444
Oh, so that's why. I was thinking he was a changeling or something like that

[Menelaus Redz]

9179474
Define "helpful" when it comes to Twister.