Return of the Mare

by Victoria

Part IV - Chapter 21: A Change In Plans

CHAPTER 21 – A Change in Plans

Even Clipper seemed a little sick when he examined the ingredients up close and was told what they really were. Starlight quickly transferred them into her saddlebag, far from everypony’s eyes.

It was a relief.

After seeing that disgusting stuff with my own eyes, I began to question if the end justified the means. But when it was either that or the bloodbath that would inevitably occur if we were to go against Tenebris in her full power, there wasn’t really much of a choice.

I briefly wondered if we still would have gone for it if we’d had to procure the ingredients ourselves.

“I know what you intend to do next,” Clipper said as soon as we left the Bank. “I, however, have a different proposal.”

Everypony glanced at the pegasus with interest. A panicked thought flickered in my mind — he wanted to prevent us from making the Stone — but then I realized that that couldn’t be it. For the brief time I’d known Clipper, I’d gotten the impression that this pony wasn’t afraid to break a few eggs to achieve his goals.

His next words fully alleviated my concerns.

What Clipper had in mind was to send some of his fastest pegasi to deliver the ingredients, instead of our little group. The whole process of forging a void stone was a lengthy affair; according to the book, it would take no less than a whole week. So while the alchemist was working on that, we would have absolutely nothing to do.

Clipper couldn’t allow such a waste.

“Don’t you have some other ponies to do this?” Rarity asked, flicking her ear nervously.

“I do,” Clipper confirmed with a nod, “But as a good leader, I shall consider every resource available to increase my chances of success.”

“Resource?” the mare repeated incredulously. “I am not just some reso—”

“I don’t have time to listen to your whining, lady,” Clipper interrupted a shocked Rarity with a wave of his hoof. “I’ve got a city to save. There would be no point in defeating Tenebris if there were no country left afterward.”

It was a statement nopony could refute.

“We need to discuss the matter privately if you don’t mind,” I said, interposing myself between Clipper and a fuming Rarity. Her face was so red that I was afraid she’d get a stroke.

“Okay,” Clipper nodded, completely oblivious to the livid unicorn behind me. “I’ll be waiting for your answer in my office. Don’t take too long, please.”

Having said that, he and his guards got into the government carriage that had delivered us here in the first place and took off, quickly disappearing in the traffic.

I sighed — I’d really hoped to hitch another ride in it… It wasn’t often that I got to enjoy such a luxury. Twilight’s Castle was good, of course, but not exactly what I’d been expecting from a pony of her status. A moment later, I dismissed those silly thoughts to hear what Rarity was saying.

“This Clipper is such a ruffian,” Rarity shook her head in dismay, redness coming off from her cheeks. “No manners whatsoever. I have to admit, I liked him better when he was quiet all the time.”

“But he’s right, though,” I countered, ignoring Rarity’s irked glance. “I think we should do what he says. What about you all?”

Ruby stood beside me. “I’m with Sunny.”

“Well, I’m not sure I want to trust some stranger with this”, Starlight nodded towards her saddlebag. “It’s our best shot against Tenebris, after all.”

“You can go with Clipper’s pegasi to make sure the ingredients are safe,” Ruby offered. “I’m sure pulling a chariot with you on it won’t slow them down much.”

Starlight drooped her ears. I flickered a glance at Ruby to make sure she wasn’t making this offer just to get rid of Starlight because she was still harboring some grudge, but saw nothing that would support that suspicion.

“I don’t want us to separate,” Starlight said with a sullen expression. “What Clipper wants could be pretty dangerous. What if something happened to any of you because I wasn’t there to help?”

I sighed. I hated the idea of separating with any of my friends myself, but I had to put Equestria above my personal desires. I steeled my resolve, ready to accept any decision my friends would make.

“I can’t let Manehattan starve if I can do something about it,” I stated firmly. “Whatever all of you decide on, I’m going to Fillydelphia.”

Rarity cleared her throat. “If I may,” she began when everypony looked at her, “I want to say that I’m inclined to accept Clipper’s offer as well. Even though he was rather rude, I can’t deny his logic. By helping him free Fillydelphia, we’ll be much more useful than simply sitting on our flanks in Tartarus, waiting for the alchemist to make the stone. I spent a week there, so believe me when I say that place is dreadful.”

“But somepony needs to make sure the alchemist is doing what he’d promised to do,” Starlight pointed out. “Who knows what’s on his mind after hundreds of years of imprisonment?”

“If you know what to do, why don’t you make the stone yourself?” Marcus suddenly asked.

Starlight shook her head. “I could try, but I’ve never done it before and the process is pretty complicated, even for me. We have only one shot at this and I’d rather trust somepony who’s done it before, even if it’s somepony like him.”

“So, are you going to Tartarus?” I asked.

“Yeah, I have to do it,” Starlight waved her hoof. “It’s fine. I just really hate that we have to split up…”

“I completely understand and share your feelings, darling,” Rarity approached her, embracing the mare in a hug. “I miss the girls every day. But sometimes, you have to do what’s necessary.”

Still in her hug, Starlight bobbed her head in agreement. She blinked a few tears away. “Yeah... Speaking of the girls, I wonder how they’re doing in the Crystal Empire?”

The two mares separated from the hug and Rarity gave her a warm smile.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” she said. “They’re probably already marching towards Canterlot with the Crystal Army.”

“It would be awesome,” Ruby said. “I’ve never seen a Crystal Pony before.”

A smile flickered on Rarity’s lips. “Their coat looks simply divine, darling,” she said and then looked in the direction where Clipper had gone earlier. “That damn stallion couldn’t have waited for us just five more minutes,” I heard her mutter.

***

I offered to go to Clipper’s office on hoof. It was a strain on my legs, but I insisted on doing it anyway. I wanted to be ready for the upcoming journey, and being too easy on myself wouldn’t help. Of course, I was also careful not to overstretch myself. It was important to keep the balance between the two.

And so far, I had succeeded.

I was so proud of myself when I finally saw the familiar building. Sure, the journey had taken us longer than if we’d taken a cab, but the little delay was worth the result. Besides, Clipper would be launching the mission tomorrow, so we had some time to spare. It was not even noon yet.

As we were approaching, however, I realized something. Unlike my friends, the whole army wouldn’t wait for me if I weren’t able to keep up. Despite my best efforts, I still couldn’t go fast for too long without causing some pain to my muscles. That meant that if the pragmatic Clipper learned about my injury, he wouldn’t let me come.

And there was no point in trying to hide my condition.

“Sunny, what’s wrong?” Ruby asked, noticing my rapidly deteriorating mood. Those expressive ears…

I shared my fears with the rest.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind some company,” Starlight said after a moment of silence.

I cringed. It wasn’t that I was against the idea of being with Starlight, I just didn’t want to uselessly sit in Tartarus while my friends were risking their lives.

“Don’t worry, Sunny, I won’t leave you alone,” Ruby said, nuzzling my neck.

“Yeah, me neither,” Marcus added.

I looked at them with mixed feelings. On the one hoof, it was nice to know they wanted to support me, but on the other, I didn’t want them to trade in an opportunity to help the whole city for being bored with me in Tartarus.

“Let’s not be too hasty,” I said, my tail twitching. “I’ve got an idea.”

We entered the building in silence. The secretary gave us a nod and we walked past her to Clipper’s office. I had a feeling of déjà vu when we found the same young mare with a brown coat having a meeting with Clipper.

The earth mare looked back at us accusingly, making me feel bad for having to interrupt her meeting again. I gave her an apologetic smile and then switched my attention to the stone-faced Clipper.

“We will join your army,” I announced.

“I knew you would,” Clipper said with a curt nod. “Now let us discuss—”

“But we have a little problem,” I interrupted the pegasus, feeling a strange satisfaction from observing his eyebrows furrowing slightly. “I was injured recently and I haven’t fully recovered. I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up. But you’d have some carts going along, right? I can hitch a ride if it gets too hard.”

Clipper was silent for a few seconds, pondering the news.

“It sounds reasonable to me,” the young mare offered her input. “We’ll be pulling along a couple of supply carts, and I’m sure we can squeeze one little mare onto one of them.”

I wasn’t sure I liked her little remark — she wasn’t a giant herself — but I let it slip.

“Is it wise, Lady Blade?” Clipper asked and the mare looked at him. “Sundae will be a liability in her condition.”

“She’s not a liability!” Ruby stomped her hoof in a sudden flash of anger. “Besides, she’s a unicorn, so it doesn’t matter if she can’t walk fast enough, as long as her magic is up to the task. And I can assure you, it is.”

I gave Ruby a nuzzle at her cheek, grateful for her words of support.

“Please, I want to go,” I said, addressing Clipper. “Besides, my friends won’t go without me.”

“I won’t reject any able citizen willing to join me,” Blade stated firmly.

“Fine,” Clipper waved his hoof in slight annoyance. “As long as the job gets done, I have no objections.”

I smiled, relieved at the outcome, and nodded towards Lady Blade to thank her for the support. As that issue had been settled, Starlight took a step forward.

“I won’t be joining my friends this time,” she said with a note of sadness. “I’ll be more useful in Tartarus. I can’t allow the alchemist to work unsupervised.”

Clipper sighed. “I was counting on you the most,” he explained. “Your magical prowess would be useful for the task at hoof.”

Starlight smirked and pointed at me and Rarity. “My friends are perfectly capable unicorns in their own right.”

Reluctantly, Clipper nodded.

“Whatever. I’ll give the order to have a chariot prepared for you.”

Despite what Starlight had said about me, I didn’t feel all that powerful. I was an average unicorn, which I’m sure they’d already have plenty of in the army. I wasn’t going because I thought the mission would fail without me — I wasn’t that arrogant.

“I’m Blade, by the way,” the earth mare introduced herself. “Swift Blade. I’m going to lead our army to Fillydelphia. Though calling us an “army” would be a big stretch,” she chuckled.

“Lady Blade here is an ex-guardsmare,” Clipper explained. “When the fighting started, she organized a group of volunteers. Their help was crucial in cleaning the enemy out of the city.”

I looked at the mare with some new interest, noticing a few scars on her body I hadn’t seen at first. Her brown coat hid them well enough. Her well-toned muscles caught my attention and I found myself staring for too long to be considered polite. I quickly switched my gaze to her face before anypony, especially Ruby, made any wrong assumptions.

The rest of my friends introduced themselves to Lady Blade in turn, though I wasn’t sure “lady” was an appropriate term for her. She was even less lady-like than a sweaty Applejack on harvest day. Her shortly cut red mane didn’t help one bit.

The mare had her own beauty, though.

“I want to make one thing clear — you would have to listen to my orders as long as you’re going along,” Blade furrowed her eyebrows to give us a hard stare. “Is that acceptable?”

We exchanged glances and slowly nodded one by one. It was a reasonable request, after all.

After that, Starlight discussed the details of her own task with Clipper.

“As soon as the stone is ready, I’m going to Canterlot with it,” Starlight said.

“Why?” Clipper shook his head. “The stone is a double-edged sword. Tenebris won’t be able to use magic, but neither will you. You won’t be able to get to Tenebris without an army. I’d suggest you bring the stone back to me.

“As soon as Lady Blade has secured the supply route from Fillydelphia, I’ll be able to move our forces to Canterlot. We’ll take it by storm and once Tenebris is vulnerable, we will kill her using the stone.”

“Whoa, you have it all thought out,” Ruby said, looking at the pegasus in surprise.

I mulled over Clipper’s plan. We were counting on the Crystal Army coming to our help, but it wasn’t guaranteed, despite Rarity’s earlier assurances. So overall, Clipper’s idea was pretty solid.

“Besides, if the Royal Palace were to fall while the stone is in there, we’d just lose it,” Clipper added. “It would be more secure with me.”

That was something I’d forgotten to consider. It wouldn’t matter if the Crystal Army came or not, if the void stone was lost to the enemy. Our side could still win, of course, but the fight with Tenebris would wreck the city. Starlight had realized the same thing, judging by her slightly agape mouth.

“Oh, I see,” she said. “Very well, I’ll return with the stone to Manehattan and we will discuss it further then.”

“Good idea. I want to kill Tenebris personally,” Clipper said, and for the first time I saw him smile.

***

Starlight left soon after the talk.

After we had exchanged a parting hug, she climbed into the chariot that was waiting for her outside and flew off as we waved her goodbye. I sighed. I really didn’t want her to go, but she was right — somepony had to watch the alchemist. I comforted myself by hoping that we’d meet again soon.

If nothing bad happened to prevent it...

Suppressing that particular train of thought, I paid a visit to my mum and dad to warn them about me leaving tomorrow as well. They wanted me to stay with them for the night, but as much as I would like that, I had to decline the offer.

“Don’t you want to spend more time us?” mum said, giving me a heart-wrenching look.

“I do,” I answered, breaking the eye contact. “But...”

“What? Spit it out, filly.”

I tried to come up with a good way to say that I wanted to spend some quality time with my marefriend, but was drawing a blank. It was kind of weird to do that while your parents were literally behind the wall, but talking about that with them would be ten times worse.

“Well, me and Ruby are marefriends, right?”

Mum nodded, exchanging a confused look with my dad.

“And we won’t have any private time on the road...” I continued, hoping they’d pick up on the implication.

They did.

My dad blushed furiously, unwelcome pictures probably rushing through his mind right now, while my mum had a coughing fit.

“I... see,” she chuckled nervously. “Well, if that’s the case, who are we to stop you? Just promise to be careful on the journey.”

“I promise.”

I gave my parents a tight hug. My mum sniffed, trying to hold back the tears and I nuzzled her, assuring her that I’d be fine.

After having said my goodbyes, I left the apartment and rejoined my friends, who were waiting downstairs. Together we proceeded to a hotel where Rarity had generously booked a room for the night. It was on the top floor of a tall skyscraper, so we had to ride an elevator.

When Rarity opened the door, I realized that it was more than a simple room — it was a whole suite. It was truly luxurious. As I explored the spacious rooms, I wondered how much it had cost even for one night, but I couldn’t just ask Rarity directly...

Ruby didn’t have such qualms.

“Whoa, Rarity, it must have cost a fortune!” she said, rolling on the thick carpet.

“That used to be the case, darling, but the prices have taken a hit recently,” Rarity explained, chuckling at Ruby’s antics. “I got it for a tenth of the real price, though it’s still a lot, I have to admit. But I think we deserve some pampering after all our troubles, don’t you?”

We spent the rest of the day without leaving the suite. I filled the time by chatting with my friends, trying to keep our topics light-spirited. I’d just finished talking with Rarity — we had discussed Manehattan’s sense of fashion — when I noticed Marcus and Ruby having some argument on the other side of the room. Swiveling my ears in their direction, I slowly approached without interrupting the two.

“Are you sure you don’t want to just wait for us here?” I heard Ruby asking. Marcus rolled his eyes.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Ruby,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Just because I’m not a pony, you think I can’t be useful?”

“That’s not—”

“What’s your problem with him going?” I asked directly, having lost my patience.

Both looked at me. Marcus just shrugged in answer, while Ruby lowered her eyes to avoid my heavy stare. She even looked a little ashamed for some reason. It wasn’t like her to behave that way, so my annoyance was immediately replaced with concern.

I beckoned her to the other room to talk privately and she followed me in silence. Sturdy was doing push-ups there, but he left when I asked him to give us some space. I scrunched my muzzle — a strong smell of perspiration still lingered even after the changeling had left — but I forced myself to ignore it.

“So, what’s wrong?” I asked, turning to my marefriend.

Ruby let out a heavy sigh and mumbled something unintelligible under her muzzle. Even with my ears being turned towards her, I couldn’t distinguish any of it.

“What was that?”

“I’m just…jealous, okay?” Ruby repeated more loudly.

I raised my eyebrows quizzically, waiting for her to elaborate. Ruby dug at the floor with her hoof, still holding her gaze down.

“I know you think of him as a friend, but you used to date before, right?” she said. “The way he follows you around all the time… I just don’t like it. I don’t want to be that over-jealous partner in our relationship, but I can’t help it.”

“Oh,” I opened my mouth, thinking of what to say. I chuckled nervously. “You shouldn’t worry, Ruby. We had only one date and besides, Marcus doesn’t like ponies that way. That’s what ended our relationship in the first place.”

Ruby finally looked me in the eyes.

“Oh, you haven’t seen the way he stares at your flank when you’re not looking,” she said, twitching her left ear. “Especially when you move your tail and flash your—”

“I got it!” I interrupted my marefriend, blushing heavily.

“Not that I can blame him for that,” Ruby winked, glancing behind me. “But your flank — and other parts — belong to me.”

I smiled back, but Ruby’s words were echoing in my mind. I considered Marcus to be a good friend, but if he still had some lingering feelings for me, then we had a potential problem on our hooves. However, it could be just a normal male’s reaction to being around creatures who walked around naked most of the time.

The fact that our anatomy resembled that of humans didn’t help the issue.

It had taken me a while myself to stop paying attention to exposed body parts that humans always covered. I learned to simply ignore it most of the time — except when in heat — but humans were basically in heat all the time. Plus, Marcus hadn’t had a girlfriend in months…

I shuddered, imagining how tense he must be feeling right now.

“Well, Marcus is a grown man,” I said out loud. “He knows that we’re in a relationship, so he will deal with it. It’s only you that I love.”

A big grin washed away all the other emotions from Ruby’s face. I briefly wondered why, until I realized what I had just said for the first time.

“Aw, I love you too, Sunny.”

The next moment Ruby tackled me, almost crushing my barrel in a mighty hug. I groaned and struggled to breathe under her heavy body; thankfully, the thick carpet had softened my fall. Ruby eased her grip, making it more bearable, and kissed me on the muzzle. I returned the kiss on her lips.

It lasted a few seconds until Ruby broke away, only to lightly bite me on the neck. I reacted with a delighted nicker. Seeing where this was going, I locked the door with my magic and we spent the following hours showing our love for each other.

I hoped the walls were thick enough.

***

Lady Blade had ordered us to be at the bridge by six in the morning, so we woke up a few hours before that. I hadn’t gotten enough sleep, but having spent the night with Ruby had been worth it. I noticed the mare herself looked fresh, despite having been much more active than me. Those earth ponies...

After a quick a shower and some breakfast, we took a cab to get to the place in time. Thankfully, a lot of them were parked close to the hotel — it must have been a juicy spot with all the tourists who used to stay there. As usual, Rarity paid for our ride.

“How come you always have the money to pay for stuff?” Marcus suddenly asked.

I glanced at Marcus to make sure he wasn’t peeking at my flank and then switched my attention to Rarity. I doubted she’d had any money with her when we had freed her from Tartarus and we hadn’t been to Ponyville, so Rarity couldn’t have gotten it there.

“I’m a successful fashionista, darling,” she smirked. “I have some savings, you know.”

“He was probably wondering where you got the money you have with you now,” I clarified my friend’s question.

Marcus nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, I mean, Princess Celestia gave us some money for the road, but I don’t think it would be enough to afford a suite, even with the prices being so low.”

“No, of course not,” Rarity shook her head. “That’s what the Bank is for, remember? I withdrew some bits from my account on our first visit.”

Marcus and I exchanged a look. Rarity’s answer was obvious in hindsight and we both felt foolish for not having come to that conclusion on our own. Ruby cleared her throat and nuzzled me on my cheek. I glanced at her a little annoyed — surely, she didn’t think I wouldn’t look at my friend just because she was feeling a little jealous?

We spent the rest of the short ride in an uncomfortable silence.

An unorganized crowd of ponies was waiting for us when we arrived at the bridge. There were about a hundred of them so far, with some stragglers joining constantly. I realized that this had to be the army Clipper was sending to Fillydelphia.

So far, the “army” didn’t look impressive. Only a few ponies had some kind of armor protecting them; most of them had nothing at all. They all had different weapons — from old swords and clubs to spears. A few of them even had crossbows. It was just a militia, not an organized army.

We stood apart from the crowd, observing them. Ruby was the first to voice her concern.

“They don’t look like professional soldiers,” she said.

“Far from it,” Sturdy confirmed. “Now I see why Clipper wanted us to go.”

“They look enthusiastic at least,” I tried to defend them, though my heart wasn’t in it.

“Now, dears, let’s not be too hasty,” Rarity intervened. “My friends and I aren’t soldiers either, but we’ve managed to save the world a few times. Clipper said those volunteers had played a big role in saving the city, didn’t he?”

I shrugged. We went silent when Lady Blade arrived with a cart, loaded with rusty suits of armor. She climbed on top to make herself visible and yelled in a surprisingly loud voice.

“Greetings, soldiers!”

Everypony in the crowd looked at her at once, ceasing their conversations. Total silence hung over us.

“As you all know, we’re going to Fillydelphia to help our brothers and sisters there,” she began. Some ponies nodded, but most stayed silent. “I have some good news for you — one of the Element Bearers, Rarity, was sent by the Princesses to help us in our noble goal.” Rarity bowed as the crowd’s attention was brought upon her. Commander Blade continued, raising her voice slightly, “We must not disappoint the Princesses, everypony. I know that it won’t be easy, but we will succeed if we work together. We will make that scum pay for breaking a millennium of peace in our beautiful country. Let’s not waste any more time. For Equestria!”

“For Equestria!” the crowd yelled as one.

After the speech, Blade’s officers began distributing some suits of armor among the ponies, as they divided themselves into smaller units. Each unit got at least a couple of them, but there weren’t enough for everypony.

Making sure the process was going smoothly, Blade approached us.

“I see you’ve come prepared,” Blade commented. “Good.”

Each of us had our own sword and light armor that had proved so useful to us before. Even Rarity owned a set. It was small enough to carry in our saddlebags, which we had previously done in order to avoid unnecessary attention.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “But I see that most of your troops aren’t. No offense.”

Blade frowned and nodded curtly. “I know. The armory was destroyed during the fighting, so we’re short on equipment. But it wasn’t an issue, since the enemy had the same problem.”

I nodded in understanding.

After that, Blade explained what role we would play in her militia. Her force had been split into units of a dozen ponies each, but she told us that we weren’t going to join any of them. She wanted our group to remain as it was and follow her until we got to the city.

“Pick a leader among yourselves; I’ll have a special job for you once we reach Fillydelphia.”

“What kind of job?” I asked.

“A diversion,” the mare said. “Clipper spoke highly of you, so I believe you’ll be able to do it.”

“A diversion?” I repeated, looking at her in surprise.

“Yeah, a diversion,” the commander confirmed. “You sneaked under Tenebris’ nose once and stole something from her, right? So this should be foal’s play to you. I’ll explain my plan in detail later, but I want you to destroy the enemy’s armory if possible. Eliminating the factor of their enchanted armor would greatly improve our chances.”

I mulled over the idea and nodded. If that what was necessary, then I was ready to try. I looked at my friends and they too expressed their agreement, though without much enthusiasm.

After everything was ready, Blade gave the order to move out. The whole force formed a two-pony-wide column, with the supply carts following behind. I glanced at them, but right now I felt strong enough to walk on my own hooves. We weren’t going all that fast anyway — even Marcus was able to keep up.

We’d been ten minutes into the journey, when my human friend suddenly asked, “So, how far is Fillydelphia?”

***

It took us three days to reach the city’s vicinity.

Clipper’s army moved at a quick pace and I was able to keep up most of the time. If I got too tired, I rode on one of the supply carts, but it was happening less and less, as the last consequences of Starlight’s spell were extinguished from my body.

“What’s that?” one of the soldiers suddenly asked, pointing at the black column of smoke appearing far ahead. I squinted my eyes — there seemed to be a village there.

“That’s the reason why we came here,” Lady— no, Commander Blade answered. “Let’s hurry up.”

Her lieutenants relayed the orders and everypony advanced to a trot to reach the source of the smoke faster. It got thicker and thicker as we got closer; the fire must have been getting more powerful. I glanced at Commander Blade — she had a determined expression on her face.

“Be ready for a fight,” she threw at us.

I nodded, though I had been already recalling the combat spells in my mind. If there was an enemy there, I doubted they would stand a chance against our numbers, but it didn’t mean they wouldn’t fight until the bitter end.

Soon, we entered the village. Nopony could be seen on the streets. The smoke was coming from its center and that was where we found the villagers. They had gathered on the square in front of the burning building, making no attempts to extinguish the fire.

At first, I was puzzled by their passivity, but then I saw the reason.

The crowd parted, revealing a group of about two dozen armored ponies coming in our direction. Half of them were wearing the infamous enchanted armor, while the rest were wearing a simpler one.

I prepared my horn to unleash my magic.

“And who are you clowns?” their leader asked, drawing his sword in one swift motion. “You’d better get away from here before we cut you down.”

The pony’s confident attitude surprised me — our force outnumbered his five to one, but he was acting like it was the other way around. When I looked at his companions, however, I noticed how they were shifting from leg to leg and exchanging glances.

“We’re a militia, here on behalf of the princesses,” Blade stated firmly. “And you are?”

“There are no more princesses, you fool,” her opponent sneered. “They’ve been killed, as well as their six errand girls. The true queen Tenebris assumed the throne weeks ago.”

My stomach dropped into my hooves, even though I knew it was a blatant lie. Rarity – one of said “errand girls” – was standing by my side at this very moment. But this pony was claiming this with such conviction that it was likely he believed it himself…

“Don’t be ridiculous, darling,” Rarity said, stepping forward. She gave the pony a murderous stare. “I am Rarity and I am quite alive. As are the rest of my friends, let me assure you.”

I couldn’t see the pony’s expression, but he was silent for at least ten seconds. His pals murmured behind his back.

“You’re not Rarity,” the leader finally shook his head, as if trying to deny my friend’s very existence. “You don’t even look like her!”

Rarity narrowed her eyes. “You’re making a fool out of yourself, dear.”

One of the enemy soldiers took off his helmet and approached his boss. The pony was clearly agitated and there was mix of fear and anger on his face. The boss turned his head to the soldier, swiping his tail across his armored flank.

“It is Rarity,” the soldier said firmly and threw his helmet onto the ground. “I saw her once and she’s pretty hard to forget.”

“So what?” the boss growled. “Get back in line and let’s finish those peasants!”

“No! I’m tired of you and your bloodthirstiness! I only liste—” the pony’s tirade was interrupted by a sword taking his head clean off.

I gasped, seeing the head rolling on the ground. The killer lowered his sword, blood dropping from it, and looked at the headless body that was still standing. The next moment, the body fell on its knees and remained that way.

Everypony was totally silent. The villagers, our militia and even the rest of the enemies were all looking at the killer in shock. Ruby took a step forward, but Blade blocked her way with her hoof. She shook her head in answer to Ruby’s questioning glance.

“What are you waiting for? Kill those peasants!” the enemy boss pointed his bloody sword at us. I flickered one of my ears nervously, glancing at its sharp tip. It seemed to be aimed straight at my heart.

The soldiers weren’t rushing to do their boss’ bidding, however. A few of them even made a couple of steps back, lowering their weapons.

“You’re damn cowards…” the pony sighed.

Having said that, he suddenly dashed right at Rarity, who was standing closest to him. It took the stallion mere seconds to reach her, while nopony had any time to react.

Nopony but me.

I had a spell ready at the tip of my horn and I cast it on reflex as soon as he began to move.

A protection bubble sprung to life around my friends and me. The attacker crushed into it, making me grunt with a strain — the shield barely held against the force of the collision. His enchanted armor sucking up my magic made holding the shield all the harder.

The attacker took a step back without realizing how close he was to breaking through. With his mad charge having failed, he seemed to be at a loss as what to do next.

“Lower the shield, Sundae,” Blade ordered and I did it without hesitation, since I was about to lose control of it anyway.

Blade jumped at her opponent the moment it dissipated. The pony barely deflected her first attack, but the next followed right behind and he missed a hard blow to his head. His helmet had saved him from death, but he got distracted enough to miss another hit to his legs.

The force was enough to drop the stallion onto the ground. Blade punched his sword out of his grip and stomped on his head, denting the helmet with her hoof. It hadn’t knocked him out, but Blade was done anyway.

“Restrain him,” she said, and a couple of our ponies rushed to execute the order.

Seeing their leader defeated, the others lost whatever will to fight they still had. One by one, they dropped their weapons onto the ground and began to take off the armor.

“We surrender,” one of them announced.

As if awoken from a slumber, the crowd of villagers advanced towards the enemy group, rumbling menacingly. The panicked ponies galloped into our direction and Blade interposed a few dozen of her soldiers between them and the angry mob.

The prisoners were quickly secured and escorted behind our lines, saved from the villagers’ rage that they’d probably deserved.

“Thank you for your help,” one of the villagers said. “Those bastards wanted our food and when we refused, they set our Town Hall on fire.”

The pony looked at the burning building and sighed. Even I could see that it was beyond saving now. The fire had fully spread along its walls and the roof had fallen under its weight.

Together we did what we could and put out the fire, but a blackened carcass was all that was left from the Hall in the end. I comforted myself with the thought that at least the fire hadn’t spread to its neighbors.

“Not everypony was able to make it out after the fire had started,” the villager said grimly, observing the ruins. “I hope you’ll make those bastards pay.”

***

I was setting up my tent — Commander Blade had ordered us to set up camp just outside the village. An hour had passed, but the villager’s words were still rolling around in my head. I knew that most of those who had joined Tenebris hadn’t done so of their own accord, but it didn’t make them any less responsible for the crimes they were committing.

There would be a lot of hard feelings and grudges even after the war was over...

“You’ve saved my life, Sundae,” somepony said, distracting me from my heavy thoughts.

I turned around and saw Rarity, who looked at me seriously.

“Yeah, I did,” I admitted.

“Thank you!” The mare gripped me in a hug with a strength I hadn’t expected from somepony like her.

“Well, that’s what friends do…” I said, patting her on the back.

“It was absolutely terrifying!” Rarity exclaimed. “Can you imagine?!”

“Well, yes,” Ruby threw in, observing our hug with a frown. “She almost died just a week ago, remember? And we had a few close calls before that too.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, darling,” Rarity said, finally releasing me. “I seem to forget how the times have changed. Equestria is much more dangerous than it used to be.”

“I know,” I sighed. “The monster attacks, disasters — I was shocked to learn all that had happened while I was gone. And now this war...”

Too bad the Doctor wouldn’t get what he deserved. Having observed the consequences of his actions with my own eyes, I began to wonder if Celestia had been too hasty to punish him with just banishment from Equestria, rather than something more severe. Though we had saved our friends with his information...

But it wasn’t like he had given it willingly. I was sure that if Tenebris hadn’t wrestled the Doctor’s organization out of his hooves, he would be celebrating his success right now. He had admitted that fact himself in our last conversation.

When I was done with my tent, I excused myself and went to look for Commander Blade. I quickly found her blue tent among the sea of gray ones and saw her talking with one of her lieutenants. After the lieutenant had left, I approached her to ask my own question.

“So, what do you plan to do with the prisoners?”

“Just cut their heads off,” she said coldly.

I flattened my ears and opened my mouth to offer an objection, but noticed a grin blossoming on her face.

“Nah, I’m not that ruthless. They’ll be kept here under guard until we finish our job in the city,” Blade explained. “Then I’ll hand them over to some authority.”

I nodded in agreement; it was the most reasonable thing to do.

“Anyway, it’s good that you’re here,” Blade said and looked me in the eyes. “Remember what I wanted you and your friends to do? Well, now is the time.”

Blade went inside her tent and returned a minute later with a bunch of city maps. She told me what she knew of the enemy forces in Fillydelphia, as well as our allies, and I listened, trying to remember as much as possible.

Our friends in the city knew about us — Clipper’s representatives had warned them we were coming. As Blade had briefed me, the city was split between loyalists and Tenebris’ supporters. Their forces were evenly matched, so our arrival was supposed to tip the scale in the loyalists’ favor.

“I could just march in there and engage the enemy, but I don’t think it would be wise,” Blade explained. “Even if taken by surprise, they would inflict serious losses on our army. That’s why your task is so important.”

Unfortunately, the commander didn’t know where the enemy was keeping their equipment or if they had a centralized place for it at all, but that was our job to find out.

“I’ll be awaiting your return tomorrow. The sooner we free Fillydelphia, the better it’ll be for Manehattan.”

“Sure,” I accepted the order. I knew that the schedule would be tight and I was ready to do my best. No doubt my friends would think the same.

“Don’t take the human with you, though,” Blade said as I was about to leave. “He wouldn’t be very inconspicuous.”

I nodded and went back to my friends to share the news. I found them exactly where I’d left them — they’d managed to set up their own tents while I’d been gone. Too bad we wouldn’t be able to use them tonight. They were sitting together and were having some snacks.

“Did you find Blade?” Ruby asked.

“Of course,” I said, settling close to her and grabbing a roasted hay-straw from her plate.

As I was chewing, I quickly repeated what Blade had told me about our mission.

“Do we have to go right now?” Marcus complained. “I just ate.”

He showed me a piece of bread and then threw it into his mouth.

“Don’t worry, you’re not going.”

“What? Why?”

“Well, Blade thinks you’ll be too conspicuous,” I explained. “And she’s kind of right.”

Marcus shook his head in dismay.

“I see how it may be an issue, I guess...”

“Cheer up, Marcus,” Sturdy slightly punched him in the shoulder. “At least you get to sleep tonight.”

Marcus only grunted in response.

***

Fillydelphia was unlike Manehattan in many ways. Both cities had a large pony population, but while Manehattan had buildings as tall as its skyscrapers, the tallest building I’d seen in Fillydelphia had no more than three floors.

Right now, there weren’t a lot of ponies going about their business on the streets. The ones who were carefully observed their surroundings, as if expecting an attack at any second. I could definitely understand their concern.

Plenty of buildings we passed had some signs of damage on their exterior. Some had even been burned down, with only blackened ruins left in their place. Most of the stores had their windows boarded up. Seeing how grim the situation looked, I started appreciating Clipper’s work in Manehattan more and more.

“I knew the fighting had been bad, but I couldn’t imagine it would have been this bad,” Rarity murmured.

“The fighting still continues,” Ruby corrected her. “That’s why we’re here.”

I nodded absentmindedly, while examining the city map I was holding before my eyes. It had parts colored with red and blue to point out our enemies and allies respectively. I didn’t know if it was up to date, but it was the best information Blade had.

Each side had a main base of operations and dozens of outposts all over the city. In the weeks of fighting, they had been passing from one hoof to another almost every day, but neither side was strong enough to attack the main base with any hope of winning without crippling loses.

It was about to change with our arrival.

“What’s wrong, Sunny?” Ruby asked after I spent a whole minute just staring at the map.

I sighed. The truth was that I’d gotten lost. I couldn’t see any street name signs to compare our position to the map and I wasn’t good with maps to begin with. That was one of the reasons I preferred to live in a small town.

“Don’t worry, darling, we can ask for directions.”

Having said that, Rarity approached a couple of ponies in turn, but nopony was in the mood to answer. The most she got out of them was an annoyed stare, as they quickened their pace.

“They don’t look too friendly,” Rarity said after her attempts had failed.

“We can find the place on our own, let’s go,” said Ruby, grabbing the map in her mouth and trotting in a seemingly random direction.

I shrugged and followed her.

The place we were looking for was the loyalist base. It had been set up in the city’s Town Hall, which looked easy to reach on the map. Unfortunately, it didn’t account for the damage done to the city. Having to go around zones controlled by the enemy only made finding it harder.

Suddenly, we saw a group of soldiers led by a black-armored pony. I looked at them startled — it was supposed to be the friendly part of the city! The ponies on the street had ignored the patrol and we pretended to do the same in the hopes of passing by unnoticed.

The soldiers weren’t paying much attention to the citizens. However, something in our behavior must have gotten their attention because one of them looked in our direction and beckoned us with his hoof.

I exchanged a worried glance with my friends. We had our weapons and armor tucked into our saddlebags, but if the fight were to start now, we wouldn’t have any time to put them on.

“Act casual,” I whispered to my friends.

I smiled as we approached the group. The soldier took off his helmet and gave me a stern glance, not at all distracted by it.

“What’s wrong, sir?” I asked in the most innocent voice I could muster.

“I don’t know, filly,” he said. “You tell me.”

I noticed Ruby shifting slightly, getting ready to pounce at the first sign of trouble. I tensed up too, but still kept up the innocent façade. If they hadn’t attacked yet, there was a chance of resolving the situation peacefully.

“I don’t know, sir,” I lowered my eyes. “My friends and I were just going—”

“Exactly,” the soldier interrupted me. “Didn’t you hear about the new rule? Citizens are forbidden from walking in groups of more than two, otherwise you’d be considered the enemy’s supporters.”

I drooped my ears, cursing on the inside. I had no idea such a rule existed. However, the stallion didn’t appear to be in a hurry to arrest us or something. I realized that he must be expecting a bribe.

“Terribly sorry, darling, but we had no idea,” Rarity said, flapping her eyelashes. “There must be something we can do to remedy this mishap!”

“Well, I’m a reasonable pony,” the soldier grinned. “A hundred bits in cash and I’ve never seen you.”

Ruby gasped at hearing such an outrageous sum, but Rarity simply reached into her purse and passed the required number of bits to the pony. He raised his eyebrows in momentary surprise, but then nodded, accepting the money. I briefly wondered why he had demanded more than we could possibly have, until I realized his true motives.

The large sum was simply a way to indebt us to demand something else in return. Like having his pals spend a good night with three mares...

But since the soldier had gotten the bribe he’d asked for, he had enough honor to keep his word. The stallion waved his hoof in dismissal and continued on his patrol without saying another word. The others followed him.

“We should have taken them out,” Ruby grumbled unhappily.

“Don’t be silly, dear,” Rarity said. “It would have been suicide.”

Ruby frowned. “Probably. I just really didn’t like the way he was looking at us.”

“Me neither,” I cringed, recalling the soldier’s friend’s ogling gaze.

“Me three,” added Rarity.

“Nopony paid an ounce of attention to me,” Sturdy suddenly complained. “I should just turn into a mare...”

***

The rest of the way went smoothly. We met a few more patrols but, having learned our lesson, we moved in pairs on opposite sides of the street. Soon we got into the part of the city controlled by the loyalists, at least according to the map.

I saw a trio of ponies whom I recognized as our allies. Their gray armor was the same type as what half of our enemies wore, but they had put a yellow band on their forelegs to avoid confusion. It looked like their equipment situation was much better than ours, if they could afford to give a set to every patrol pony.

“Hello, guys,” the mare in front of us greeted us, when she noticed me staring. “My name is Magni. Would you like to join the resistance?”

“We already have, darling,” Rarity told her.

The mare bestowed a confused glance upon her and I explained, “We’ve come from Manehattan with reinforcements. Take us to your leader, please.”

The mare chuckled.

“Hah, nice one,” she said with a humorless smile. “Reinforcements... Anyway, I don’t have time for jokes.”

“No, we’re very serious,” I assured her. “Your leader is supposed to know we’re coming, so please take us to him.”

“Her,” Magni corrected me. “And fine, I’ll do it. But if it’s some kind of prank, you’ll regret it, got it?”

I nodded curtly.

She and her friends quickly escorted our group to their base. The road leading to the Town Hall had been barricaded by loads of broken furniture, rocks and what-have-you. A couple of guards were walking on top of it, looking for any potential intruders.

They opened a makeshift gate for Magni and we walked through it to the square in front of the Hall. The whole square was just bursting with activity. Some ponies were training, some eating and some were just trying to relax.

The mare dismissed her companions and led us straight to the Town Hall building.

Most of its windows were broken and the walls were covered in black stains, likely from spell discharges. The massive front door, however, appeared to be mostly intact. Magni opened it and led us inside.

“It’s not too late to admit you’re joking,” she said, turning to look at us. “We’ll have a good laugh and then you can just leave.”

“It’s not a joke, dear,” Rarity answered for all of us. “Please, proceed.”

The office was upstairs, but the leader of the resistance wasn’t there. Magni asked around and learned that she was away on some urgent business, but had promised to return soon.

And so we waited.

“Oh my gosh, it’s Daring Do!” Rarity suddenly exclaimed.

I looked in the direction of her stare — a confused brown mare stood at the end of the corridor. I recognized my old friend immediately and gave her a smile. She smiled back and waved in return.

Ruby was much more enthusiastic. She galloped towards her friend and embraced her in a hug. I could see Daring’s face twist, as the air was squeezed out of her, but she returned the favor.

Magni watched the scene with a half-opened mouth.

I gave Daring a hug when she approached, though it was more gentle. Rarity, having composed herself after her outburst, exchanged greetings with Daring Do as well.

“So what are you doing here, Ro—Daring?” Ruby asked. “I thought you were supposed to get back to us.”

Daring Do looked away, drooping her ears. “Well, I was going to. But Fillydelphia is my home city and when I learned what was about to happen, I flew here as fast as I could.”

“And arrived just in time, ma’am,” the Magni added.

“Thanks.”

“Anyway, what are you all doing here?” Daring Do asked and as soon as she did her eyes flung wide open. “Wait, did you come with reinforcements from Manehattan?”

“We did, dear,” Rarity smiled. “We need to meet with the loyalist’s leader to discuss something important. Surely, you must know where she is?”

Daring Do snorted. “Of course I do. That’s me!”

***

“...So that’s how I ended up like that,” Daring finished her quick story and leaned back on her chair.

“Really impressive,” I said, digesting her story.

Daring Do had gotten to the city when the local guard had been overwhelmed. However, she had managed to find and organize the survivors into striking back. Some brave citizens had joined her cause in the following days, but it still hadn’t been enough to completely break the enemy.

“We had some adventures too, but I’ll tell you later,” I said, ignoring a pout on Ruby’s face. “Right now, we have more important things to discuss.”

Ruby’s expression turned serious.

“Right. Blade, the commander of our forces, sent us here to create a diversion,” Ruby cut straight to the chase. “She wants us to destroy the enemy’s armory. The thing is, our army is poorly equipped and this would even out the chances.”

Daring Do nodded and scratched her chin.

“Yes, it sounds logical,” she said. “But I’m afraid it won’t work.”

“What? Why?”

“Well, their soldiers keep their equipment with themselves,” Daring Do explained. “They don’t store it in some centralized locations, so there is simply nothing to destroy.”

I flickered my ear, but otherwise accepted the news calmly.

“Well, then we’d better go and tell that to Commander Blade.”

A calculating expression appeared on Daring Do’s face. She stood up and approached a board where the city map was spread out. The mare pointed her hoof at one of the flags that was sticking into the map.

“This is their base,” she said. “Most of their forces are concentrated there. It’s well-defended and we can’t take it by storm without risking a counterattack. But with your commander’s forces, we can probably do that, depending on how many you have.”

“Well, about a hundred, but as I told you — the equipment is the issue.”

Daring Do nodded, staring at the map in concentration. I didn’t like her plan, to be honest. It was just a direct attack — I’d been expecting more elaborate plans from somepony of Daring Do’s caliber. I was about to carefully express my concern, but Ruby was faster.

“This is a bad plan,” she said, waving her hoof dismissively.

“Well, I’m no tactical genius,” Daring Do countered, with an obvious offense heard in her voice. “I see no other way. I tried to set up some ambushes and traps, but they’re very careful. And most of the citizens just want to stay out of the conflict, I’m afraid, so we’ve been getting little help from them.”

“That sounds rather depressing, dear,” Rarity said, patting the pegasus on the back. “But I assure you, the enemy soldiers are even less happy with the fighting. Most of them would surrender, given the chance.”

Having said that, Rarity explained what had happened in the village earlier today. Daring Do listened carefully, her face lightening up.

“I think I know how to—” Daring Do began excitedly, but then her face fell again. “No, forget about it. It wouldn’t work.”

I hated it when somepony did that — piquing your curiosity and then refusing to explain. My friends and I besieged the mare, until she finally spilled the beans.

“Well, I thought that if we got all of them to one place and then Rarity made a grand appearance, they’d turn against each other. With your reinforcements, we’d also be able to make sure they wouldn’t escape if they refused to surrender,” Daring Do explained and sighed. “But I have no idea how to draw them out of their base...”

“I like that idea much more than your previous one!” Ruby said, stomping her hoof on the floor.

Daring Do nodded with a little smile, but then it disappeared.

“Yeah, I like it too. Too bad we have no way of doing it.”

I drooped my ears. The plan definitely had some potential for success. Unfortunately, I also saw no way to make it happen. I looked around, hoping that my friends had better luck, when Sturdy stepped forward.

“I can do it,” he simply said.

Everypony – including me – stared at him in confusion. Then it dawned on me.

Sturdy looked at me and raised his eyebrow in question. I gave him a nod and a moment later a green flash brightened the room, as he returned to his true form.

“Whoa!” Daring exclaimed, taken totally by surprise. Before I’d realized what she was doing, she had grabbed a knife out of nowhere and thrown it at Sturdy.

I managed to intercept it with my magic inches from Sturdy’s head. My heart was pumping like crazy from the adrenaline — my friend had almost gotten killed! Sturdy was frozen still, gazing at the blade before his eyes.

“What in Tartarus are you doing, Rose?!” Ruby yelped, jumping onto the mare and tackling her to the ground. They struggled there for a few seconds, until Daring came out on top, wringing Ruby’s foreleg.

Everypony else watched the two mares without intervening.

“I think this could have gone better,” Rarity said, breaking the trance.

“You don’t say,” I answered, shaking my head in disbelief. “Okay, girls, calm down, please.”

When they didn’t listen, I furrowed my eyebrows and grabbed both Ruby and Daring Do in my magic. I lifted them above the floor and gave them a little shake. Then I put them down close to each other, briefly noticing how effortlessly I had done that.

“Sturdy here is our friend, Daring Do, so please don’t throw knives at him, for Celestia’s sake,” I said, barely keeping my voice from shaking. “I told you about him in Ponyville, remember?”

Ruby glared at her friend as if expecting her to do something crazy again, but the pegasus had calmed down. Daring Do gave me a small nod and then switched her stare to the changeling.

“I’d never seen a friendly changeling,” she said carefully. “I apologize for my hasty reaction. It was just a reflex.”

“Yeah, it’s fine, I guess,” Sturdy answered, flickering his eyes at the knife still hovering before him.

I hastily put it down.

“You were saying something,” I encouraged him

“Well, sure...” Sturdy shrugged. “I wanted to say that I can impersonate the enemy leader and just order everypony to move into the position we want.”

Daring’s eyes lit up.

“This could work,” she said. “This could actually work! But first, we need to prepare the ambush and coordinate everything with Commander Blade. I would prefer the reinforcements to be a surprise.”

I nodded.

“Then we’d better get back and inform her,” I said.

“Don’t bother, I’ll fly to her myself tonight,” Daring Do assured me. “There are things I want to discuss with her personally. But right now, I need to gather my officers and come up with the best way to implement this plan.”

Having said that, Daring Do flew out of her office. While she was away, I was mulling over Sturdy’s plan. As much as I trusted the changeling, I didn’t have much faith in his impersonating abilities. I remembered how quickly we had cracked him when he’d been pretending to be Fluttershy.

It was a flaw in the plan, but otherwise it was great. It was our best chance to end the fighting quickly, without suffering heavy losses in the process.

***

The next morning, we gathered in an alley bordering the rebel’s territory. The pony we’d met before, Magni, was here with us, leading a squad of twenty loyalists. Together, we were planning to capture the enemy general.

“Remember, everypony, we need to finish it all quickly,” Magni said. “Before their reinforcements arrive.”

The ponies nodded in agreement.

With her signal, we all went onto the main street and galloped towards the targeted outpost as fast as we could. A small patrol noticed us from the other end of the street and ran off to warn their friends, but we were right on their heels.

Magni raised her hoof, stopping us right before we took the next turn.

“Their outpost is just around the corner,” she explained. “But they have a powerful unicorn there who can shoot you with a spell, despite the distance.”

“Like a sniper then,” I muttered. Magni shrugged noncommittally and continued.

“So when we attack an outpost, they usually barricade inside and try to hold out until the reinforcements arrive. We need to break the resistance before that happens, because if they get to us in the middle of the fight, it would be bad.”

I nodded, following her line of thought so far.

“There’s no guarantee the enemy general is there, of course,” Magni continued. “But we will assume the information is correct. I have no idea what she looks like, so try to capture as many of them as you can alive.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Okay, now let’s go!”

Having said that, she and her comrades rushed forward from around the corner, with our group following right behind. A powerful beam shot near us, hitting the road. For a moment I gaped at a small crater caused by the beam — this unicorn of theirs was truly ferocious.

I raised a shield in front of me and charged straight at the building ahead. Seeing me as an easy target, the unicorn shot a few more spells at me, which were deflected by my shield. A grin flickered on my face. My shield spell was getting better and better!

“Aaarh,” a scream of agony sounded from my right as one of our soldiers had been hit. The sniper must have realized the futility in trying to hit me and targeted the less protected loyalists. I didn’t look back to see if the pony had survived — the time for that would be after the battle.

When we got close to the outpost building, which had likely been a grocery store a month ago, its door opened and the rebels began pouring out, led by an earth pony mare. Since I was the closest one to her, she dashed straight at me.

While the others around me were engaging their own opponents, I concentrated on handling this mare. Holding my sword in a telekinetic grip, I slashed it at the rapidly approaching earth pony from a distance. I only realized my mistake when it was too late.

The mare had taken a hit at her foreleg armor. I attempted to hit her again, but the armor enchantments weakened my grip of the sword and it simply dropped to the ground. Without giving me any time to recover, she got close and I barely managed to jump back, her sword cutting a piece of my mane.

I reared up, kicking the weapon out of her grip, but she used her other hoof to punch me in my exposed belly. I fell back on all fours, gasping to take a breath. Another punch landed on my shoulder and then another hit my chin.

Stars flew before my vision as I fell on my haunches, covering my head from any more attacks.

When none came, I slowly opened my eyes to see what had happened. At first, I thought I’d been hit hard enough to scramble my brain, but then I realized it was no mere hallucination, however crazy it may have looked.

Rarity was beating down my opponent.

She didn’t even use her weapon while she rained down a flurry of hoof punches on the poor mare. Even with the advantages of her armor, she could barely offer any resistance. The rebel swung her hoof, but Rarity easily avoided it and then suddenly jumped, kicking the mare’s helmet with both of her hind hooves.

It flew off, splashing droplets of blood everywhere.

She stood no chance against Rarity’s fury. In another crazy jump, Rarity flung behind her and made her trip over. The mare fell on her side with a thump and Rarity quickly landed on top, adding a heavy punch to her head in the process. Her opponent wasn’t moving anymore.

I gazed at Rarity in silent shock. Sure, I’d briefly seen her fight in the warehouse in Manehattan, but now I’d seen her in action first-hoof.

“Whoa, Rarity, remind me not to get on your bad side,” I mumbled, invoking a smile from the unicorn.

Rarity corrected her slightly disheveled mane and switched to another opponent, who was attacking one of our own. Despite my headache, I helped her to bring the attacker down. Soon, the last of the enemies were lying on the ground in defeat, and I looked over the street to estimate our own casualties.

First, I checked my friends, who all appeared to be fine. Rarity was panting heavily and I could see a few small cuts, obvious on her white coat, but otherwise she was as fabulous as ever. However, not all of our allies had fared so well — three of them were dead and two were seriously wounded.

“A true lady knows how to protect herself,” Rarity said absentmindedly, as she looked down on the unconscious mare. “She definitely looks familiar...”

Ruby approached to stare at her bruised face directly. “By Celestia’s wet tail, it’s Chief Iron Cuffs!”

Magni joined us, while the rest of the squad was helping the wounded — ours and the enemies’ alike. She herself had a couple of scratches on her armor, though nothing serious.

“Iron Cuffs, you say? According to our contact, the rebel’s general is named Iron Cuffs. Do you think it’s her?”

I nodded confidently.

“I’m sure of it,” I stated. “She used to be a police chief in Manehattan before the rebellion. She was arrested, but escaped and, as I can see, ended up in charge of those bastards in Fillydelphia.”

“Well then, grab her and let’s go inside, so your friend here can do his thing,” Magni whispered and pointed at the changeling with her eyes.

I did as Magni had ordered. Lifting Cuffs in my magic, I carried her into the outpost we’d just taken, and put her on the store counter that had still remained there. The mare groaned, blinking her eyes open. We looked at her intently, as she slowly focused her gaze on us.

“Hah, it’s you,” Cuffs said, narrowing her eyes. “I have you to thank for ruining my career and everything else.”

“You’re welcome,” Ruby bowed to her mockingly, invoking an angry growl from the mare.

I smirked. It was extremely satisfying to watch the ex-chief lying powerlessly on the counter before me. I had no idea she had run to Fillydelphia and was the infamous enemy general, but I was pleased by this turn of events.

“You got me, congratulations,” Cuffs said and attempted to clap her hooves, but I forced them back down. “And I thought I’d been careful...”

“All we had to do was to offer one of your lieutenants a nice sum of bits, while promising a full pardon, darling,” Rarity smirked.

“Who is that traitor?” Cuffs frowned, but then forced herself to relax. “It doesn’t matter. My successor will be more careful and believe me, he’s much more ruthless than I am. You were lucky to have me in charge.”

“Oh, you still are in charge,” I grinned and waved my hoof to the changeling. “Do you thing, Sturdy.”

Sturdy nodded and approached Cuffs. He examined her face closely and even sniffed her while she watched him in concern. Then in a flash of green light, he turned into her exact copy. Even her armor was present on him.

“Impressive,” I said, coming closer and tapping it. I heard a metal sound. “Is the armor real?”

The ex-chief made some incomprehensible sounds, but I ignored her.

“It’s an elaborate illusion, but it’s quite strong,” Sturdy explained to me. “Though not nearly as strong as the real thing.”

I nodded, wondering what complicated magic was involved here to achieve such a result. The changelings truly had to be the masters of illusion to accomplish it. It would have taken a unicorn years of study to be able to do something similar.

“What?!” Cuffs finally exclaimed, staring at her doppelganger in fright. “You’ve got a changeling on your side!”

I smiled smugly.

“Yep. You chose the wrong side, whorse.”

***

Our group was approaching the enemy stronghold. To the outside, we looked like “General Cuffs” accompanied by two of her bodyguards, but in reality it was just Sturdy, Ruby and me.

We didn’t possess any shapeshifting abilities, so we had to use old school methods of disguise, like wearing the enemy’s enchanted armor with helmets that covered our faces. However, I doubted the rebels would recognize any of us except for Rarity, but she wasn’t by our side this time.

She had a no less important task to accomplish.

“Don’t say a thing,” I warned my friend one more time. “Sturdy will do the talking, got it?”

She grunted affirmatively. To be honest, I had serious doubts in Sturdy’s ability to improvise, but hopefully everything would go according to the plan, so he wouldn’t have to. It was a rather faint hope.

The tower where the rebels had set up their base was about five floors tall, being the tallest construction I had seen in Fillydelphia. It was built out of large chunks of rocks, smoothed over by centuries of exposure. I’d remembered what it was even before seeing the sign over its heavy gates — The Fillydelphia Royal Museum. I’d visited it a few times in my study years.

“Cuffs” took off her helmet when we approached the gates. The two guards standing there saluted her upon recognizing her and allowed us to pass unchallenged.

We stepped onto the big foyer, trying to look confident. A big skeleton of a mammoth stood in the middle of the hall, greeting newcomers. My inner archaeologist went into shock when I noticed a few ponies having a snack right on the skeleton’s back, but I forced myself to ignore that sacrilege.

I would wipe the floor with those fools at any other time, but all I could do now was drill holes in them with my stares. And they couldn’t even see that behind my helmet...

Sturdy trotted past the exhibit. The two barbarians on top of it got quiet and followed their boss with their eyes. I guessed they were afraid of Iron Cuffs. It would be to our advantage if that also applied to the rest of them — the fewer questions we got, the better.

I followed “Cuffs”, as “she” climbed the stairs. After a quick interrogation of the general’s real bodyguards at the outpost, we had learned that her office was on the top floor, so that was where we were headed. A few ponies we met gave their general a salute, which Sturdy simply ignored. So far, the ponies were considering such a behavior to be completely normal.

The office was exactly where we were told it would be. “Cuffs” walked in and froze. When I got around him to see the reason, I saw a large unicorn stallion sitting behind a massive table. He stared at “Cuffs” with big eyes, clearly surprised to see her.

“General,” he said, quickly recovering his posture. “I thought you were going to spend the night out there.”

He stood up and approached us to stand face-to-face with “Cuffs”. I realized that the stallion had probably been using the general’s office without her permission while she’d been away.

“I thought so too,” Sturdy shrugged nonchalantly. “But we were attacked. The outpost has been lost.”

“What?!” Roofer — and that was him based on his description — recoiled in shock.

“Yeah, but that’s not the real issue here. I’ve also learned some bad news from captured loyalists,” Sturdy explained, sounding strangely relaxed. “They are gathering in the Central Square for a massive attack. They want to lay siege to our base and starve us out.”

I cringed from behind my helmet. The bit about captured loyalists was pure improvisation from the changeling, and it was a bad one at that. How would we have taken prisoners if we’d lost the fight? Thankfully, the unicorn didn’t question it.

Roofer smirked instead. “And you’re worried about that? Come on, those undisciplined fools don’t have enough ponypower to do that. Let them come, I say.”

“Cuffs” fell silent. I glanced at “her”, my mind racing.

“They’ve got reinforcements coming!” I blurted out. The stallion slowly turned his head and looked at me. “We need to attack them before they un—”

I was interrupted by a hit to my forehead. My helmet rang, but I was more annoyed than hurt.

“Don’t you dare interrupt us, kid,” Roofer said. “We have some discipline here, in case you forgot.”

I clenched my jaw, holding back the desire to punch him back. He ignored my inner struggle.

“She was wrong to interrupt, but she was telling the truth,” Sturdy said. “Their main force is vulnerable outside of their base’s protection. And as you said, our ponies have more discipline. If we attack immediately, we can win before their reinforcements arrive.”

The stallion looked thoughtful.

“It makes sense,” he said. “But why wouldn’t they wait for reinforcements first, and then march at us together?”

Sturdy shrugged. “We can ask that question after our victory.”

“Fine. But where did they get the reinforcements from in the first place?”

I was getting tired of Roofer’s endless questions. I glared at him looking for any signs of suspicion, but saw only genuine curiosity.

“From Manehattan,” Sturdy answered his question.

Hearing this, Roofer stomped his hoof in rage, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Damn it, Cuffs!” he yelled in her face. “It’s your fault. If you hadn’t failed your task...”

“Don’t you yell at me, boy!” Sturdy suddenly yelled back. “It’s not your place to judge me, when you have this scum running free in this very city.”

The stallion calmed down as quickly as he’d gotten mad. “Fair enough, I guess. Fine,” he nodded, “No point in pointing hooves for now. What do you want me to do?”

“Gather everypony downstairs and we’ll march right away. I’ll send the messages to our outposts to order the troops to abandon them and join us near the Square.”

The second-in-command nodded and left in haste. As soon as he did, I let out a sigh of relief. The meeting had been so intense, but it looked like we had done it! Sturdy had done it!

“Whoa, he bought it,” Sturdy said, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Don’t you dare to sound so surprised,” Ruby chided him. “We’re risking our lives here and you weren’t even sure it would work?”

I chuckled nervously at “Cuffs’” guilty expression.

It wasn’t over yet, however.

After quickly discussing the next stage of our plan, we went downstairs with no further delay. Obviously, we weren’t actually planning on sending any messengers to the outposts — it would be insane.

I gulped nervously, as I saw a crowd in the foyer.

About half of them were wearing the enchanted armor, while the other half were wearing either a simple one or none at all. If my estimates were correct, there were close to two hundred here, and only more ponies were joining them from upstairs. The hall was already barely able to contain them.

While it wasn’t much compared to the city’s population, it was still a sizable force and it didn’t even account for dozens of outposts, each having about a dozen or so soldiers. I shuddered when I imagined what would have happened to our reinforcements if we’d tried to meet the enemy head on.

Hopefully, Daring Do’s loyalists and our own together had the strength to match them.

“Do you want to address the troops?” Roofer asked, noticing her from downstairs.

“No, thanks,” Sturdy rejected the offer, but then heard my angry hiss. “I mean, of course I do. Troops, at attention!”

I flattened my ears to preserve my hearing. It was a surprisingly loud exclamation! All the chatter in the hall ceased immediately and everypony turned their heads towards the source of the noise. “Cuffs” slowly eyed the soldiers.

“There’s going to be a battle, everypony,” she said. “It won’t be easy, but under my leadership, we’re going to win! Let’s move out.”

Unenthusiastic cheers sounded from the crowd, as the ponies exchanged looks of confusion. Roofer just shrugged, apparently unsurprised at “Cuffs’” less than motivational speech.

Together, we got out onto the streets, where the unit commanders were already shaping the crowd into an organized force. In a few minutes, they had lined up everypony into units of a dozen each, and approached the “general”. They were probably hoping to hear a briefing on “her” plan, since they only had only gotten a momentary notice about the upcoming battle.

“So, what’s our move, general?” one of the commanders asked.

I glanced at the “general”. Sturdy had an unreadable expression. I hoped he knew what to say to avoid suspicion, while not causing any trouble to our own allies.

“Well…The enemy is gathering at the Central Square,” Sturdy began. “We need to attack them before their reinforcements arrive.”

“Reinforcements?”

Sturdy nodded and explained the recent events to the commanders. “So that’s why it’s important for us to move fast.”

“It’s a bad idea to launch a frontal attack,” Roofer intervened; the others nodded in support. “You, Pansy,—” he pointed at one of the commanders “—Take Flower and Bristle here and go around the Square. I want you to attack them in the back.”

I cursed silently. That order would complicate things for our friends, but I couldn’t protest.

“Good idea,” Sturdy said and then chuckled nervously. “Well, now everything is in order, so let’s go.”

Everypony went back to their units and the whole force moved. Our group, along with Roofer himself, were walking behind the lines. I followed a few pegasi with my eyes, as they flew up to the skies.

It was the risky part of our plan.

While Daring Do and most of her forces were supposed to play the bait, Blade with her own fighters should be preparing an ambush near the Square. They’d gotten in position at night, hiding right in the simple citizen’s apartments, and waited.

The observers hadn’t raised any alarm, so I guessed it was fine.

The streets we were walking on were empty — nopony was foolish enough to stand in our way. The Central Square was supposed to be near the rebel’s stronghold, so I was ready for the battle to start at any moment.

“To be honest, I thought you’d be out in the front, as per usual,” Roofer said, addressing “Cuffs”.

Sturdy flickered his ear nervously.

“Yeah, well... I was wounded,” he explained.

Before Roofer could answer, I heard battle cries from ahead and everypony quickened their pace. His ears perked up and he put on the helmet. The battle began.

“Try not to die,” the stallion said and rushed forward.

Ruby and I exchanged a glance and followed him. Together, we trotted out to the spacious Central Square, only to see the battle already ending. The rebels were crushing the tents only to find them empty, while the last of the loyalists were barricading themselves in adjacent buildings. While the rebel soldiers were trying to break through the doors, Roofer quickly approached us.

“Something’s wrong here,” he said, looking around in concern. “As soon as the fight started, they just—”

Suddenly, a series of explosions sounded. I’d been expecting it to happen, so my friends and I ducked to avoid getting hit by any debris. When I lifted my head half a minute later, I saw that every street adjoined to the Square had been blocked by some rubble left by the blown up buildings.

The enemy was trapped!

While most of the rebels were shocked by the explosion and their commanders tried to regain control, our own ponies appeared on top of the newly made barricades, as well as on the roofs overlooking the square. A lot of them had crossbows pointed at the crowd below.

“It’s a trap!” Roofer screamed, though I could barely hear him; my ears were ringing.

“You bet,” I mumbled and drew my sword.

As he turned his back to us, Ruby and I nodded to each other.

The next moment, we jumped on him together. In one swift motion, we stabbed him into the back of his neck. I felt a little bad as he fell on his face, but I knew it was necessary.

Despite the general confusion, somepony noticed us attacking their leader. Five of them rushed towards us from the other end of the Square.

“Protect the general!” one of them yelled, attracting more attention to us.

There was only one thing I could do. “Get your armor off!”

I set an example by frantically pulling the pieces off. My friends looked at me like crazy, but began doing the same. Thankfully, I wasn’t crazy.

As soon as we were done, I embraced my friends in a hug and charged up my horn with an abundance of energy. I had the time for just one try, since the rebels were almost upon us.

The next moment, two of my friends and I flashed out of existence.

***

I opened my eyes, feeling empty.

“Sunny, are you okay?” Ruby asked.

I nodded and stood up groggily, looking around. We were standing on the roof of a building and nopony was trying to kill us, so it looked like I’d succeeded. I couldn’t see the Square itself from here, but I saw our allies standing on rooftops far ahead from us. I could also see dozens of pegasi hovering above, preventing the enemy from escaping by air.

“That was awesome, Sundae,” Cuffs said.

For one crazy moment, I was scared, but then I remembered it was just Sturdy in disguise. I flashed a tired smile at him, “Thanks.”

We spent the next few minutes trying to find a way to join our friends, but unfortunately, the door leading downstairs was locked and I was in no condition to blast it open with my magic. Ruby bucked it with force, but it stubbornly held its ground.

I lifted my head when I heard the flapping of wings and saw Daring Do along with a group of pegasi landing on our roof. She waved a hoof and her companions lowered their weapons.

“That was a bold move, killing that pony while you were trapped with the enemy,“ she grinned. “I like it!”

“Thanks,” I said. “He was one of the enemy leaders. Without him, the rebels are more likely to lose control.”

“And it worked,” Daring Do stated. “Come on, you don’t want to miss the show.”

Having said that, she ordered something to her guards and took off. A moment later, we were picked up by her companions who were following her. I didn’t even have the time to shriek in fright, when I was put back down.

She could have warned me, at least! I glared at Daring Do, who was standing at the edge of the roof, overlooking the enemy in the Square. Quelling my irritation for the moment, I followed her gaze.

The rebels were trying to organize themselves. I could hear somepony shouting orders, as they were slowly pulling themselves together. If we gave them enough time, they would definitely try to escape.

“Everypony please, I have an announcement!” a loud voice, clearly magnified by a spell, almost deafened me. I flattened my ears and looked to the left to see a white unicorn with a glowing horn speaking. “My name is Rarity and I am here on behalf of Princesses Celestia and Luna. They asked me to relay their grave displeasure with your actions so far.”

The rebels fell silent, their attention was fully concentrated on Rarity.

“Long live Tenebris!” somepony broke the silence.

“The Princesses are dead!” another one yelled.

The voice was joined by a low rumble of support.

Rarity laughed openly at such a claim.

“And you believed such nonsense?” she asked, shaking her head. “It’s a blatant lie, I say. Your leaders told you that my friends and I are dead as well, and yet here I stand before you, while they are nowhere to be seen.”

This caused a commotion in the enemy camp, as they frantically tried to find their general and failed. Rarity watched their futile efforts with a tiny smile.

“Your general has been captured,” she announced.

On a cue, the guards escorted ex-chief Iron Cuffs to stand besides Rarity. Her legs were chained and she had a gag in her mouth. She growled something angrily.

The crowd went still.

“Surrender now and you will receive a fair trial,” Rarity’s enchanted voice easily carried above the Square. “Refuse and you will likely die in the needless battle that would ensue.”

Something shifted in the crowd.

One by one, they began to drop their weapons as what little order that had remained among them slowly dissolved. Some of their commanders tried to prevent this rather harshly, but their own ponies turned at them.

This was our victory!

***

Two days had passed since our victory.

The city was fully under control of the loyalists and quickly recovering. Daring Do even sent detachments to small neighboring towns and villages to make sure they were secure from rogues and bandits who may have escaped the fate of their comrades.

But the most important news was about the food. While chaos had reigned over the city, the farmers had been simply storing their food instead of selling it, but now they had opened their storage bins and the trade was rapidly growing again. The first freighters bound to Manehattan were already being loaded up with supplies for Manehattan already to make up for the missed deliveries.

My friends and I were standing in Daring’s Do office, as she was discussing the message that had just arrived from Clipper with Commander Blade. The discussion was rather heated and emotional.

“He wants me to abandon the city!” Daring Do exclaimed, hitting the table.

“It’s not abandoning the city,” Blade argued calmly. “It’s helping the city. Clipper is right, we should gather everypony we have and go to Canterlot while there is still time.”

“Yeah, we’ll have a weapon against Tenebris ready soon,” Ruby added.

“Maybe so, but Fillydelphia is still under threat. Baltimare is under rebel control and who knows what they’re planning there. For all I know, they’re marching here right now!”

“Tenebris is the key,” I said. “If we deal with her, it’s only a matter of time until we deal with the rest.”

Daring Do furrowed her eyebrows, still unconvinced, but I could see that she was on the breaking point.

“But... I’m afraid if I leave, everything will fall apart...”

“Everything will fall apart if we allow Tenebris to grow her power base in Canterlot,” countered Blade. “Please, Daring Do, there is no time to lose. You need to make a decision now.”

I looked into her eyes and added, “We helped you to take back Fillydelphia, now you help us to take back Equestria.”

Daring Do lowered her gaze and sighed. Then she met my eyes.

“Fine. I’ll give the orders,” she said solemnly. “But if something happens here because I left, I will never forgive you.”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

If the main OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like?

[Vortex Clipper]

9425645
In my opinion, Sundae will have voice lower than average girls according to previous chapters, probably like Letty in Fast & Furious. Ruby may be like Smolder but less hoarse. Marcus... dunno, Michael from GTA V maybe, but in British accent. Sturdy Peak is probably in deep voice like other bodyguards, or with an upper-class gentleman voice. Clipper, mix of Mike Toreno (from GTA San Andreas) and James Bond (Daniel Craig).
Sorry but I know too little about celebrities.

[Vortex Clipper]

great chapter as usual, despite spelling errors

[Victoria]

9426304
There are no spelling errors

[Vortex Clipper]

9426458
Alright my bad.

[Comnislasher]

9433987
Don't remember exact episode. really. As far as remember Glim-Glam wandered around Twilight castle and behind one door find Spike who washes his hands in the washbasin. I dig around the show a tell you exact episode later.

UPD.
It takes some times but some finding...
Spike and washbasin.
Sludge trow away bathtub from the castle. Well, bathtub with Glim-Glam in it :). But its kinda suggested that Castle have at least one bathroom with bathtub.

[Victoria]

9434005
Ah, I just didn't get to those episodes yet