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I: And I Can't Wait To See You Again17,782 words
II: Haelan13,680 words
III: The Valley Of The Dead And Wicked [WOEFULLY INCOMPLETE]7,912 words

III: The Valley Of The Dead And Wicked [WOEFULLY INCOMPLETE]

Escaping Blackcamp had proven difficult, more difficult than the group had expected, but the crates and barrels that kept food and drink safe for import into the prison camp had also proven spacious enough to smuggle themselves out. Once the caravan that moved the goods from Hekirm to Blackcamp had traveled far enough away from the perimeter of the prison, the group ditched their disguises and hopped out the back of the wagon they had been in and hid in the underbrush on the side of the road. After that, they started heading north.
After traveling in silence for a few minutes to make sure none of Chancellor Sverth's cronies would overhear them, Bubble Cherry asked, "Alright! Now we're out, we just gotta find the Alabaster King, right?"
"Yup. Find the king, find the Queens, and give that Chancellor asshole a taste of his own medicine," Damien repeated.
"Yay!" Bubble Cherry went back to focus on running for only a second before she turned back and asked, "Which way is north...?"
Snowdust whispered, "I think we should just follow Lucky Moonbeam. She'll know the way."
"Just keep your eyes on the sky," Madison said as she looked up at the blue expanse above the trees, "and if you see anyone above us, pray they don't see you first."
~ The Isle Beyond Imagining, page 70

This castle was as magnificent as Canterlot Castle. It was hard to measure an unquantifiable attribute, granted, but from what they had seen, Celestia and Luna noticed many similarities between them; massive rooms with vaulted ceilings, fine art hung on walls in every other hallway, spires that pierced the sky, and precious metals gilded onto railings, sculptures, and doorways. The only real differences were the location, as Canterlot Castle was situated so that the four seasons affected it equally, and Equestria's castle served two princesses who were also demigods. This castle, however, was perpetually locked in eternal winter, and served only a single king.

But while he couldn't move the sky with magic, in this place, he may as well have been a god.

Celestia and Luna stood in front of a raised dias holding a singular throne of marble and silver with two soldiers posted alongside it. They were dressed in snow-white armor, steel plates and frog-mouth helmets, and both of them barely into their prime. They slammed the blunt ends of their spears on the ground and announced loudly, "His lordship, King Winter the Sixth!"

Upon the throne itself sat an old man in fine blue silks, a mink fur mantle draped over his shoulders, and a golden crown placed on his head. His hair was pepper-grey, white closer to the top of his scalp, and there were wrinkles slowly creeping their way toward the center of his face; yet his eyes belied that he still had the fire of youth deep inside him, and it had been that way for awhile. "So..." The old king leaned forward and lightly slapped his legs for emphasis. "My high field marshal told me you said you came from a very faraway place, you call it...'Equestria,' yes?"

"Yes," Celestia replied. "Although I'm not entirely sure why. In the vision, I only saw myself and Luna discover a portal to your world and walk north until we found your kingdom, which my student, Twilight Sparkle, would follow. I have no doubt she and her friends are already on their way here."

"Hmm." He pursed his lips and leaned back in his throne, polished to a mirror sheen, and he began to scratch his whiskered chin. After a thoughtful pause, he glanced back down at Celestia and Luna and said, "You know, this story seems a bit suspicious. After all, you approached the gate of my kingdom, claiming to have been sent by a vision. When Miriel asked you for proof, you told her my name, and now you tell me there's more following you. You could be spies sent by Thulst, for all I know."

Luna raised her head and stared the king directly in the eye. "And doth thee believeth thy own accusations?"

Another pause before The Winter King smiled and leaned forward again. "Not a bit."

This wagon was small, definitely not meant to support ten individuals crammed into one space, even if one of them was a baby dragon. All of them were chained to the front wall, where the driver was sitting outside, and they were all so close together that it made moving their arms and legs near impossible. The chains around their wrists and ankles exacerbated the fact, and the time for uncomfortable chafing had been over a long time ago; now it was relegated to an annoyance none of them could shake.

Twilight and Rarity had the magic-dampening nets replaced with a magic-negating collar. Ironically, they were made of solid platinum and studded with rubies and emeralds, and likewise, the wing bindings on Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash (and Twilight by extension) had been swapped out with polished steel ones inlaid with sapphires. Rarity had complained about the conditions, then had a minor panic attack, and then was shut up when the driver yanked on the iron chains from outside, causing everyone to yelp and lurch to the side. On the other hand, Twilight had a major panic attack and started hyperventilating. Megan had tried her best by gently patting her knee, but it was small comfort and after while, Twilight just went silent. If she was just thinking about how to get them out of this mess, they didn't know. Applejack and Fluttershy had remained quiet, Fluttershy from fear, while Applejack was stewing in her own resentment. Rainbow Dash had fought the most, and managed to give one of the guards who threw them in there a shiner, but after a couple hours, she had stopped trying. Now, she was just as quiet as Applejack, and just as angry, if her perpetual frown and bitter mumbling was any indication. Pinkie Pie, oddly enough, had kept to herself. She had tried to start singing a song, and Danny even joined in for a couple bars before the driver yanked the chains again and almost sent them tumbling. Spike had been on Rarity's lap for most of the ride, nervously twiddling his thumbs. Megan, Danny, and Molly had stayed mostly quiet as well, though Danny had, like Pinkie, tried to lift everyone's spirits with jokes. They didn't work.

Time had lost most meaning after they'd been shunted into the wagon. It felt like they'd been confined for at least two weeks and there was barely any cues from the outside world that they were going anywhere, save for the vehicle stopping infrequently for the driver to whip the back door open and toss in a small plate with leafy vegetables on it before he slammed it shut again just as fast. The wagon had no windows at all, so all of them were in near-blackness, the sounds of birds and the rumbling of the carriage along the dirt road the only indication they were all still alive.

But then, after what felt like an eternity, the rumbling slowed, and stopped.

It got everyone to perk up immediately, almost washing away the tiredness of sitting up for too long with no sleep.

"...We stopped," Spike murmured.

Dash bitterly squinted at the door in the back of the wagon. "I could've told you that."

There were other sounds now. Sounds of boots hitting the ground. Multiple pairs. It didn't sound like they were on dirt anymore; it sounded like those boots were hitting stone and were converging on the carriage. Fluttershy swallowed the lump in her throat and shrunk in on herself, and started to shiver. "I d-don't l-l-like...this is b-bad..." she squeaked.

Before Megan could offer some form of encouragement, the back door swung wide open once more, but instead of just the driver, there was now the driver and eight other Gilded Eagles surrounding the door, armed with spears. One of the soldiers had a sword and a ledger instead of a spear, and it was this man who jerked his hand back with his thumb toward him and he stated, "Out."

The whole group glanced nervously at each other for a moment before the officer scowled and repeated "Out," more forcefully. They complied hesitantly; they all stood up and found the chain that connected to the outside was now slack. It allowed them to exit the wagon, but due to staying cooped up in the carriage for so long with little to eat but leafy vegetables, they all did so slowly. Fluttershy and Spike looked like they was about to keel over, and the rest of them weren't far off. They exited in a scared single-file, at the mercy of the Gilded Eagles. As they left, the other guards fanned out to surround them, and the group found themselves inside some sort of large stone chamber lit by large torches. Directly in front of them was a large set of iron doors, as tall as all of them were if they could stand on each others' shoulders. Another command from the officer, who pointed to somewhere behind them. "Move."

They all tried to turn around, somewhat unsuccessfully, as the chains did nothing but trip up Molly and Fluttershy. Unsatisfied with their performance, one of the soldiers poked Molly in the back, which made her yelp and stumble forward, and to Megan and Danny's horror, she fell flat on her face.

The soldiers' laughter was merciless.

Fluttershy gasped and went to Molly's side as fast as the chains would allow her and helped her back up. Molly herself was shaking like a leaf in a gale-force hurricane, and her sobs were almost imperceptible over the cackling of the guards. Megan, on the other hand was frozen in place, watching her sister suffer, and then she suddenly felt much, much hotter than before. She gritted her teeth and whipped around to face the commanding officer who, unlike the regular grunts, kept his face as stoic as a rock. "I hope you're proud of yourself," she seethed. "I hope you get a disease that causes blood to pour from every opening you've got but the doctors decide not to end your suffering quickly. I hope you realize you're a degenerate piece of shit who does nothing but sit on his laurels and pretends to feel good about himself while you jack yourself off at night, alone. I hope—"

Megan was cut off as the officer backhanded her right across her cheek. She coughed, staggered, and dropped to her knees and then slowly turned her head back up to face the soldier, her nose bleeding freely. All he did was stare back down at Megan impassively and comment, "If you're done running your mouth off, allow me to say something that's actually important." Megan only stared at him in, half in shock, half in fear.

"Hey, what's the big idea!? You can't just hit my sister like that and act like—"

Danny was cut off as the officer spoke over him. "Your names have not been found on any census records of Thulst. The ruling law is that if there is no name to match you to any official records, you will be labeled enemies of the state and treated as such. Your sentence..."

A low rumbling shook the entire chamber, and the wrought-iron doors in front of them slowly began to open, letting sunlight in. "...Is to be imprisoned in The Valley for life, with no parole. However, you will be allowed to retain your autonomy in this prison, and you may do as you wish for the rest of your miserable lives. Work the mines, steal and rob others if you're stupid enough to want to survive, or, my personal recommendation, lie down and die." The other guards began to pull around and reform behind the entire group, spears still up and pointed at them. The doors opened fully, and the outside became apparent: a great vista of rolling hills with small wooden shacks scattered across them. Off to each side, there were massive stone edifices that, when the glare of the sunlight faded, were revealed to be walls that nearly pierced the clouds.

The officer raised his fist and the other Gilded Eagles thrust their spears forward, poking everyone in the back and pushing them forward one by one; they continued to do so until they had pushed them out of the previous chamber and into the open. The officer walked up to Megan after they were done and placed a strange stone, multicolored and covered in strange etchings, on the manacles on her ankle and continued, "If you do decide to throw yourself off the highest cliff, though, at least try to land neck-first. Makes our jobs a lot easier."

When he backed away, the stone began to glow, and it proceeded to dissolve the chains and cuffs that had connected the whole group together, save for the magic-dampening collars and the wing bindings. The officer and guards quickly retreated back into the holding room and the doors began to close. When Rainbow Dash saw this, and saw their chance at freedom slipping away, she grit her teeth and made a beeline for the door.

It slammed shut in her face, and she nearly ran into it headfirst. She could just barely hear muffled, mocking laughter behind it.

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and began bashing against it with her fists. "Hey! Where do you think you're goin'? You talk real tough, but all I see are a bunch'a cowards hiding behind a door! Open up right now so I can break your stupid noses! C'mon, get out here already!" she yelled.

As Rainbow tried unsuccessfully to bash the door open or goad the Gilded Eagles into showing their faces, everyone else looked around at the plaza they found themselves in, though it was only a plaza in the loosest sense; the immediate area was clear, surrounded by several ramshackle cottages, some built on top of each other and crammed together in the world's ugliest condominium. There were sparse trees around the edges of the clearing, and shrubbery was places arbitrarily around as well.

Of course, the most unsettling thing was that they weren't alone. From several feet away, they could see others, humans and ponies both, clustered in small groups of about three or four in the shade of the trees or standing behind the bushes. There were a larger congregations closer to the cottages, running around doing who-knows-what. One of the groups under a tree consisted of three human men and one woman, wearing shabby rags and squinting in the group's direction.

One of them was tossing a shiv lazily up in the air and catching it by the handle.

Fluttershy squeaked and shrunk behind Applejack and Rarity also pulled herself closer to the center of the group. Rainbow had given up trying to get a fight out of their captors by now, and turned around to join the rest of the group. When she noticed the other groups around them sizing them up, she returned a vitriolic glare of her own. Twilight bit her lip and started massaging her forehead. "Oh, this is not happening," she breathed. "This is not happening. This is not happening."

Molly reached out to grab Rarity's wrist and began pulling her in. Though she flinched at first, when she turned to Molly and their eyes met, Rarity realized what she was doing and followed her example, reaching out to grab Applejack's wrist. It didn't take her long to catch on to what the others were doing, either, and she immediately reached out to grab Rainbow Dash and pulled her in to the group. Megan, upon noticing Molly was pulling everyone together to provide a sense of security, also reached out to grab Twilight's shoulder. She jumped and whipped her head around to look at Megan with alarm, but she kept her grip firm and began to pull her back. After a minute, they were all as close together as they could get without being in each others' personal space. "We should get out of here," Megan quietly suggested. "Preferably into the forest."

"Y-yeah," Twilight whispered back. "Come on, girls, let's go!"

"Ain't gotta tell me twice," Applejack replied as the group turned to the right and walked around the perimeter of the plaza, toward the tree line beyond. As they passed the two shacks, they were met with stares from what most of them guessed were the occupants, two grizzled old stallions (also dressed in rags), one with a scar over his left eye, and an older woman on the rickety platforms above them, eyeing them suspiciously. They all tried to pick up the pace after that.

Soon enough they all made it to the edge of the forest behind the plaza, and they relaxed a bit. Twilight stepped forward, into the trees, looked back and said, "I...I think it goes without saying, but let's not get separated."

"Sounds like a plan," Molly said. She took a few steps forward but stopped at Twilight's side to look back and gesture for everyone to follow. "C'mon, everyone!"

The others paused for a moment to look at each other before Danny followed her. He had to step over a large fallen tree trunk to do it, though, which made him grouse, "Dammit, Molly, we're not all as young and spry as we used to be."

As they all marched into the woods, Spike fell back and joined Rarity's side and declared, "Don't worry, Rarity! The woods may look spooky, but I'll protect you!" as he puffed out his chest.

She looked down, smiled, and gently nuzzled his cheek. "That's my Spikey-Wikey."

Everyone followed quickly after that, however, with Twilight and Molly in the front and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy guarding the rear; Fluttershy herself couldn't help but sigh. "Well, this is, um...pretty bad. I don't think it could get worse, though."

"Ugh.Normally, I'd tell you not to say that, but I think you're right," Rainbow Dash muttered. She briefly looked back at her wings and tried to get them to extend, but the binding held them fast, no matter how hard she strained. "Oh, come on!"

"Rainbow Dash, please don't push yourself. If those, um, cuffs won't come off, just don't bother. It's not worth getting a sprained wing over."

"No, I can't just give up, I...argh!" After another valiant effort, Rainbow Dash stopped and bent over, the muscles under her fur visibly releasing their tension after trying to extend her wings again. Fluttershy stood over her dutifully while she caught her breath, and after a minute, she grit her teeth. "I hate this. I feel so useless, so...so the-exact-opposite-of-awesome, whatever that is..."

"It's okay, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy consoled her. "You're still just as awesome as you always were, we just need some time to, um, find a way out of this. But we'll get through it, I know we will."

Placing a reassuring hand on her back, Fluttershy waited until Rainbow Dash was back up right and, while not smiling, looked far more cocksure. She would have offered more words of encouragement if Rainbow Dash hadn't pointed out they were falling behind and ran off to catch back up with the group. Fluttershy squeaked and followed them along into the shady woods as fast as she could.

After awhile, the group found themselves in the middle of a lush grove, the canopy of leaves above them filtering the light of the sun into dozens of patterns that swayed in the breeze. Maybe it had been miles. Maybe it had been only a dozen feet, but either way, when Twilight sat down at the side of the rough trail they had stumbled upon, they all took it as a sign to rest. Most of the ponies simply plopped down on the side of the trail as well, except Rainbow Dash, who flopped over a large rock nearby, which Danny rested against as well.

"How long have we been walking?" Fluttershy panted as she sat down on the opposite side of the trail.

After a small pause, Rainbow Dash picked her upper torso off the rock and leaned back on her elbows to reply, "Uh, I think the more pressing question is, 'How the hay do we get out of here?'"

"I wish I knew," Twilight muttered. They all went quiet and turned to look at her. She shook her head and continued, "I...ugh. I can't see any easy way out of this. We can't fly, or use magic, and we've got nothing else with us but the clothes on our backs."

"And I think our phones are out of battery."

The ponies looked at Danny with mild confusion as he held up his phone, its screen black and lifeless. Megan glared as she slugged him in the shoulder. "Danny, not the time!"

"Ow! Jesus, I'm trying to make a joke!" He rubbed the spot where she hit him and curled back up against the rock.

"Danny, we're in prison. The time for joking passed a long time ago," Megan scolded.

Danny didn't really have a retort for that, because she was right. At that moment, all of them simply relaxed (or tried to, given the circumstances) under the green oaks and spruces as they waved in the breeze. Then the silence settled over them, almost perfectly subtly, until they could all pick out the sounds of a fox's howl in the background and the chirping birds above them. This silence persisted for a few minutes that allowed them all to simply come to terms with their new situation and, while they weren't necessarily happy, they found a kind of calm. "So what're we gonna do?" Applejack asked after another couple minutes.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Get out, hopefully."

Applejack scowled at her and quickly grabbed the back of her jacket and lifted it over her head, eliciting a surprised yelp from as she scrambled to get it put back on correctly. Rainbow dash shuffled her clothes back into place and glared at Applejack, who met her stare with an almost invisible smirk and said, "Y'all know what I meant."

"Okay, look," Megan began as she stood up straight after leaning against a tree for the past few minutes, "this place is big. Huge. Obviously. That means there's gotta be a lot of people...and ponies...in here, right?"

"...Yeah," Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Fluttershy said in unison.

"So if we ask enough people...or do enough favors for the right ones, I don't know...we could ask them to help us stage a breakout," she said.

That got some of them to perk up, namely Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Danny. The hot-blooded ones, mostly. The three of them shared intrigued glances, all wide eyes and pursed lips that said "That might work, but if it doesn't, it'll be one hell of a lightshow."

"Yeah!" Molly exclaimed as she jumped up from sitting between Rarity and Twilight. "At least one of the people in this crappy place has to know about a way out! And like Megan said, if it doesn't, we'll make one!"

Another round of nodding and words of agreement. Twilight, however, seemed deep in thought until Megan walked up to her and bent down to look her in the eyes. "And hey," she said, "We're probably gonna need someone that we know has our backs. What do you think?"

She paused a moment before Twilight smiled back at Megan and replied, "It could work." Then she went quiet again before another facet of The Valley became clearer. She snapped her fingers and exclaimed, "Or, taking the size of this place into account, there has to be part of it the Gilded Eagles overlooked, someplace they don't pay attention to. We could sneak out that way!"

Megan grinned and stood back up. "Atta' girl."

Twilight sprang up after her and motioned for everyone to gather up closely. "Okay, everypony, here's the plan." They all closed in, making sure to include the three humans just as much as anyone else. "Here's what I'm thinking; we camp out in these woods since, apparently, there's a lot of...unsavory ponies living in the towns in here. We'll send two of us back into that plaza to ask questions while the rest of us maybe build some simple shelters, and then go from there."

"A good start," Rarity said.

Twilight nodded. "Anypony else?"

"I mean, it sounds kinda boring, but sure," Rainbow Dash said.

"In that case, you and I'll go into that plaza as soon as we find a spot to set up camp." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as Twilight stepped back, and the group separated, but almost as soon as they had stopped getting further from each other, they heard something knock. Many of them jumped a bit, Fluttershy went rigid and shrunk in on herself while Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Spike began swiveling their heads around violently to find the source of the noise. The knocking came again, and it sounded like someone was rapping on the trunk of a tree.

A lone voice spoke. "Uh, I'm sorry, may I...um...may I interject...?"

They all looked around them to try and find the source of this voice, some of them taking it in better stride than others, but Pinkie suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, look!" and pointed at a tree with a wide trunk only a few feet away, to the left of the trail. It was twisted, and the lighting was somewhat dim, but as they looked harder, they saw something hiding behind it with only its neck and shoulders poking out from behind. Human. A boy who looked no older than twenty, with long, matted black hair and dirt streaked on his face; oddly though, he was still clean-shaven. Pinkie continued to call out to the man, despite the warning looks she was getting from Rainbow Dash and Danny. "Hi...! Hey, there! C'mere, don't be a strange stranger!"

The man flinched, but slowly took a step out from behind the tree, revealing the light green tunic and brown tights he wore, and more dirt staining both it and his hands, and strung on his back was a quiver of arrows and a hunting bow. He took another step forward, bringing himself closer to the light. "Yeah, just like that! Hi! We won't bite! Because we're not timberwolves or piranhas or other really angry, bite-y animals!" Pinkie exclaimed again.

Finally sensing danger was no longer apparent, the human straightened up to his full height and gingerly stepped over a stump and onto the road where the others were, though he did quickly swivel his head from left to right, as if looking for anyone else who might be listening in. "Ah...hi. Hello, um...my apologies, if I startled you," he began. "I just...I couldn't...I couldn't help but, uh, overhear...that you might...you want to leave this place?"

All of them shared a couple uncertain glances, and eventually, Applejack said, "Uh, pretty sure we were just discussin' how to find a way out. If ya were listenin' in, you'd prolly know that."

"Yes, yes, I heard that," he replied. "But you must realize that it's impossible. The Gilded Eagles patrol the walls and the sky above, and everything that Lord Thulst built has been enchanted so that nothing can knock it down or destroy it."

Twilight looked down at Spike, then over to Megan, and finally back at all her friends before she cleared her throat. "I'll admit, we're...not in a good position right now...but we've been through a lot more than you may think, and we've always been through it together! With our friends by our side, there's nothing we can't do. You understand, don't you, mister...?" she trailed off.

He stared at Twilight for a moment before seeming to come back to reality. "Oh, I'm sorry! I got so excited and nervous, I...I completely forgot my manners." The man cleared his throat, bowed his head slightly, and explained, "I am Jafcin Masema, and it's a pleasure to meet you. The Valley doesn't get such...colorful characters very often. If ever, uh, really."

Twilight smiled gently and replied, "It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Jafcin! I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is my assistant, Spike." The dragon proudly puffed out his chest and Twilight continued, "And these are my friends: Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash..." Twilight found herself needing to pause and breathe before she finished, "Danny, Molly, and Megan!"

They all greeted him, and Jafcin returned that greeting with another small bow, but before he could speak, Molly piped up from the back of the group, "Well, since we're all on good terms now, I guess, what are you even doing out here? I would've thought people would be living anywhere but in here?"

"Ah, yes, I live in the forest, and was out hunting. There's a lot of people who live in these woods for one reason or another...usually, it's just to avoid the crowded towns full of the more...unsavory individuals," Jafcin explained.

"Okay, about that," Spike interrupted. Everyone's eyes turned to him as he continued, "If you don't mind my asking...what is this place, really? I get that it's a prison, or supposed to be, I don't know...but this seems a little...extreme? Like, what kind of crime would get a small town thrown into jail?"

Jafcin sighed and explained, "It sounds like you've heard it before, but this is The Valley...'The Valley of The Dead and Wicked' is its full title, and it's not just a small town. It's hundreds of square miles all enclosed by a great wall. I've lived here my whole life; I was born here, to a mother who died young and to a father who was the great-great-grandson of a traitor. The Valley was founded and built..." He sat down on the tree trunk nearby, as everyone else listened intently. "More than two-hundred years ago, I think, when some...when the old Winter King led an army south to defeat Thulst, sensing his wickedness. Along the way, he gathered support from small villages that dotted the countryside that had been under Thulst's thumb, and even some people from the city itself when his army arrived. Those old villages are long gone now...at least, I think they would be."

Jafcin stared off to the south, down the road and wherever it led to. There was silence for a minute before Fluttershy quietly spoke up, "What...what happened to them?"

Jafcin turned back to her with a morose look in his eyes and said, "Well, you can probably guess. The Winter King's assault failed; he was struck down personally by Lord Thulst himself. I don't know the details, but it's rumored the man didn't even last two seconds against him. There was some sort of blinding light and then he was just...dead." His eyes fell, as did Fluttershy's, Molly's, Twilight's, and Spike's expressions. "And for punishment, Thulst had...forced the soldiers of the King's army to build...this. The entire Valley and the walls surrounding it. And then he threw them all in with the people who turned on him with no hope of escape. And the weeks turned to months, and the months turned to years, and all the soldiers died and left their children behind." He paused only a second before he said, "Or maybe it happened somewhat differently, but still ended with the Winter King's army in chains...I only know what my dad told me."

More silence. And then Rainbow Dash asked incredulously, "And everypony just...sat there and took it? No resistance, no nothing?"

Jafcin shrugged. "I did say Thulst killed the Winter King extremely quickly. Imagine how demoralizing it would be, seeing a leader who promised you freedom from tyranny, utterly annihilated in the blink of an eye."

It caused another hush to fall across the group, until Twilight stood up and said, "Okay, um, changing the subject, but I think maybe we should go back to working on finding a way out of here? If everypony's ready?"

Pinkie almost immediately popped up next to her and rambled, "Oh, I am so totally ready to leave! They don't even have any shops to buy party stuff! No streamers, no confetti, no nothing! Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but all the houses look so sad and old, and there's only so much Equestria's premier party pony can do, y'know!" She scratched her chin as she continued, "I could probably dress up one house really good, but only one! And then it'll look out of place next to all those other dumpy houses and we can't have that! There's gotta be a way to find more party supplies in here..."

"Alright," Twilight said as Pinkie continued to ramble. "Rainbow Dash, come on. Let's get back to that town square and start asking around." She started walking away and motioned for Rainbow Dash to follow her; Rainbow grunted as she stood up and they started to walk away, but Jafcin called after them before they got too far.

"Hmm? What town square?"

Twilight and Rainbow stopped to look back, but Megan turned to face him before she said, "The, uh, place we started at when we got thrown in here."

"Oh." Jafcin looked away for a moment before he added, "I have...a passing awareness of that settlement. You won't find much of worth, I think."

Rainbow Dash groaned and retorted, "Okay, so where should we go? C'mon, we're wasting daylight and I wanna get these stupid wing cuffs off so I can get back to doing what I do best: flying circles around the jerks who threw us in here!"

"You'll want The Hub, then," he replied. "It's a filthy, infested cesspit, but it's where everything happens, or where to make things happen." Jafcin paused and pointed in the opposite direction Twilight and Rainbow were walking, deeper into the forest. "You'll find it just beyond the woods, in a small basin. Very hard to miss, it has the most developed structures in The Valley."

"Oh. Well, thanks for the tip. And the warning, I guess," Twilight replied as she looked in the direction he was pointing.

Jafcin lowered his arm and tentatively added, "A-and when you return, you're...you're more than welcome to follow me back to where I live. There are some other people living nearby. While we don't have much, I know we'll try to assist you in any way we can." He looked up at Twilight, and then around to everyone else, a hopeful glint in his eyes.

Danny pursed his lips and leaned over to whisper, "Sounds hella sketch to me..." to Molly.

"Danny, if he wanted to attack us, he had the opportunity to do it earlier, when he was eavesdropping," she whispered back.

The group remained silent. "I-if you don't m-mind..." Jafcin muttered sheepishly.

"Oh, darling," Rarity began, "I am certainly not one to turn down such an offer."

"Shoot, beats havin' to scrounge for wood to build one lean-to," Applejack added. Fluttershy just smiled gently and nodded in agreement, as did Megan, Molly, and Danny after he sighed and rolled his eyes. Jafcin sighed in relief, dropping the tension from his shoulders.

Twilight glanced around, waiting for someone else to talk, and then said, "Well, I guess that settles it. Rainbow Dash and I'll go into The Hub and look around, and then we'll come back as fast as we can. Until then, wait here."

Before she could turn around, Spike jogged up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist in the strongest bear-hug he could muster, and Twilight raised her arms up in surprise. "Be careful, okay, Twilight?" Spike looked back up at her with pleading eyes, but she only smiled gently down at him and patted his head.

"Of course I will. And I'll be back before you know it." Satisfied with her answer, Spike grinned and let Twilight go, and then she turned around and started walking away. Rainbow Dash waved back and winked once before she turned around too, and they both disappeared down the trail.

The woodland melted away quickly after a few minutes of walking, and Twilight and Rainbow Dash found themselves walking through a large stretch of hilly land. Off in the distance, they could see the walls of The Valley standing sternly over the countryside, and small figures wearing golden armor patrolling the sky. Rainbow Dash kept glaring at them as they crisscrossed her field of view, something Twilight had to correct by grabbing her arm and dragging back onto the dirt trail several times. After the sixth time, she stumbled back into lock-step with Twilight, paused, and groaned, "Are we there yet?"

"I don't think so," Twilight replied. They hadn't seen any sign of a settlement, natural or not, aside from the walls for half an hour.

"Ugh...!" Rainbow moaned and stretched, trying to get herself to do something besides just walking. She thought for a moment and said, "Y'know, as soon as I get these stupid...things off my wings, I'm gonna start flying circles around those idiots."

"You and me both," Twilight agreed.

Rainbow paused and then glanced over at Twilight with a smug grin. "Actually, that might be a good idea," she said. "If you can crash into'em, I bet it'll knock them out of the sky!"

"Wha—!? Hey!" Twilight whipped around and put her hands on her hips; Rainbow Dash just covered her mouth to try and muffle her laughter. "Just because I prefer to walk places doesn't mean I'm a bad flyer!" she fumed as her face got red.

"Tell that to the skid marks you left in Canterlot Castle's garden!" Rainbow Dash retorted.

Twilight clenched her jaw and turned back toward the open road, and they walked on in silence. Rainbow retained her smug grin, content with one of her rare verbal victories against Twilight. They met no one else, saw no other figures traversing the trail, nor in the fields of wildflowers and tall grasses. In the distance, the walls of the prison loomed. From where they were, they rose slightly over the tops of the trees closest to the road, and those trees were tall enough that three humans or ponies stacked on each others' shoulders could reach the top. The height of the walls was masked even more by the fact they had receded so far into the distance, now blurred by the dust in the air, tinged blue against the sky. And then...

Twilight blinked a couple times as they crested a hill and then exclaimed, "Look!" Below them sat a vista of a town, far larger than the one they found on the way in, with larger houses, cobblestone streets, and a couple small farms on the outskirts. "That must be The Hub!"

Rainbow only grimaced and quirked an eyebrow. "Huh...Is that really it? I kinda expected it to be, y'know...bigger."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Well, whether or not it was what you expected, Dash, we have to get down there and look around. Ask if anypony knows a way out."

Rainbow Dash grinned and almost immediately took off ahead of Twilight. "Then what the hay are we waitin' for? Let's get going! The sooner I can get these wingcuffs off me, the better!"

Twilight called after her and started running as well. They ran all the way down the hillside and onto one of the roads that led into the town after only a few short steps, and in contrast to the city of Thulst, The Hub was noisy and considerably in better shape, in relative terms. There was a distinct smell of tanneries and smoke, mixed with body odor (as well as tosspot waste) hanging in the air. The street they walked down became flanked by townhouses, ramshackle and rundown, even though there were people and ponies poking their heads out of the windows. Most were yelling at each other.

[Rainbow and Twilight eventually run into a pony named Firefly. They talk to her, and befriend her after letting slip they aren't from Haelan. They eventually discuss the possibility of escaping and Firefly mentions a tunnel in a smaller villa named Tergaron]

"And you found it?"

"Yeah...I just wasn't the first." "I heard about it through some rumors and did some digging to find out...yeah, there's an escape tunnel...but it's just as well guarded as the gates are."

"Does Thulst know about it?"

Firefly scoffed and rolled her eyes. "If he does, he sure doesn't care."

[Scene switches back to the main party, now at Jafcin's cottage]

Jafcin chuckled and he stood up to adjust his cap. "Not to pat myself on the back, as it were, but I'm the best damn archer and fletcher in the whole Valley."

[Rainbow, Twilight, and Firefly come back. Firefly and the Williams have a small reunion. They make their way to Tergaron and start up a distraction to infiltrate the tunnels, but are discovered. However, they put up a fight and Jafcin stays behind as a distraction to let the others escape and is captured.]

It rose high above the city, this grand palace, its spires piercing the smog of Thulst. It was large, larger than it had been, at one point; its lord and master razed dozens of city blocks to expand the treasury alone. But that was so many years ago that no one was alive to remember, and so the truth had faded into myth.

Said master was busy in his throne room. It was massive, the ceiling reaching almost forty stories high. The walls were all made of solid stone painted gold; there were pillars of marble holding aloft strange and wondrous items; a large diamond in the shape of an egg, cut and polished to perfection, a bouquet of flowers made of precious stones and metals, a figurine of a pony standing up right, arms raised and bent, palms facing inward. Its eyes were closed, but sometimes opened to reveal there was a magical light inside. All this and more stood high above mounds and mounds of gold coins, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, artisan furniture carved from the finest wood and marble and inlaid with gold leaf, reaching up to be almost as tall as the marble pillars. Amidst all these treasures were pathways that cut through the piles of gold, except the exact center of the room. This was kept clear, as a throne sat there, carved of rich mahogany and gilded with platinum and mithril, and off to its left was a squat, fat human with bulging green eyes. He was busy turning a geode over in his hands, repeatedly. His labored breaths were quiet, almost imperceptible; he was nearly drooling like a starving dog as he gazed intently at the rock, violating it with his eyes.

But his concentration was rudely interrupted when two Gilded Eagles threw the door to the throne room open and marched inside. "Lord Thulst!"

"Gah...!" Thuslt reeled back and then quickly whirled around to glare at the Gilded Eagles. The both of them, after they stopped, shrunk in on themselves a bit. They were afraid.

They had every right to be.

"What do you want? Can't you morons see that I am very..." He spluttered over his words for a second before he yelled, "Busy...!?"

"O-our apologies, Lord Thulst, a...a thousand apologies, but we...there's been..."

The second soldier smacked the first on the side of his head. He cried out in pain while his companion said, "You stuttering dunderhead, I told you to let me do the talking!" He took a step forward as the other Gilded Eagle nursed the side of his head.

Thulst sneered. "Out with it. My time is a treasure that best serves me and me alone."

"There's been a disturbance in The Valley."

Thulst stared at the man for a moment before his face started to turn red. "That's it...?" The two soldiers flinched. "You interrupted my personal time, you barged in without so much as a warning, just to tell me there's been another riot in The Valley...!?" he roared. "You are an idiot to surpass all others, and considering you are mortal, that's an accomplishment! Why, you ungrateful, lobotomized morons, I should—"

"I-it's not like that, your lordship!" the Gilded Eagle hastily explained. "Th-there w-w-was a riot, yes, but, erm, it was because we found two prisoners in the tunnels under Tergaron."

Thulst shut his mouth immediately, which the man took as a sign to continue. "And th-they were found next to a wall of rock that looked unnatural...we suspected it was a cave-in, and..."

"Did you apprehend them?" Thulst asked.

"O-of course, your lordship!" the Gilded Eagle explained. "But when we interrogated them, th-they implied they actually helped some others...escape." Thulst's eyes widened and his eyebrows rose with them. He remained completely quiet before he sighed and turned away to look back at his treasury. The soldier hastily added, "The, um, one of them said, quote, 'Yeah, you got us, but that's it.'"

"...How many do you think escaped?"

"Honestly, your lordship?" That question was not meant to be a formality or phrase in the conversation. "About...five. Give or take."

Thuslt nodded and waved his hand. "Ah, well then, that isn't worrisome."

"...It's...it's not?"

"Really?"

"Of course not!" he exclaimed as he slammed his fist on the arm of his throne. "In the grand scheme of The Valley? Five is nothing, even ten is nothing."

"Sounds very generous."

"I am not being generous!" he roared again. After a pause, Thulst settled back and continued, "It's simply a matter of logistics. Approximately five, out of...what? Hundreds? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands?" He waved his hand again. "A paltry sum. Five or ten who disappear means nothing. All this tells me is that I need to add more guards to Tergaron Keep."

"On a more positive note," the soldier said, "one of our outpost patrols saw those two Equestrians meet up with a squad of the Winter King's men. They reported the two of them willingly going with them."

"They said they were quite taken with them, too," the other added.

Thuslt groaned and rolled his eyes. "Ugh, as if there was more reason to despise that good-for-nothing with a bleeding heart. First he keeps the treasures of his kingdom away from me, and now this! Harboring enemies of the state and my inner circle."

"If it's any consolation, sir, our forces are ready for a final assault on your command."

"Hmm." Thulst hunched forward, resting his arm on one knee and deep in thought for a few minutes before he sat up and replied, "I will consider it, but I would personally like to strike the royal sisters down myself. A devastating blow to his people's morale, and I could easily take their finery. Is this all...?" "Good. Now leave."

Thulst tilted his wrist around, as if swirling an invisible liquid inside the chalice. After a moment, he looked over to regard it. Certainly not kindly, but with a sense of possession, and perhaps even with a modicum of fondness.

"Yes, indeed, five or ten means nothing, but the Equestrians are strong. It seems you must commit regicide again, my dear."

Will you lead me?

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